《Science/Magic》


 Chapter 1: Prologue: Lost in Space

    Chapter 1: Prologue: Lost in Space


    [Warning, hyperspace engine #2 has failed. Activating emergency engine. Warning, Unable to maintain the hyperspace bubble. The ship will exit hyperspace is two hours.]


    "Tito, where are we?!" A woman asked.


    [I''m sorry, master. I''m unable to calcte our current spatial coordinates. I lost all contact with the confederation after we fell in the spacetime singrity and there is no information about our current location in my database.]


    "Dammit, dammit! Those Devourers bastards! I never expected to meet with a Devourer fleet so far away from the front lines!"


    [I''m sorry, master. It was my mistake for not detecting them sooner.]


    The woman closed her eyes and sighed. "It''s not your fault. This ship was not designed for battle, so it''s normal if you fail to detect an enemy fleet."


    The AI remained silent.


    The woman looked at the empty bridge of the spaceship. Traces of blood and battle could be seen on the floor and walls, but not even a corpse could be found.


    " Hey Tito, how are the others?" The woman asked with a deste expression.


    [ All dead.] Answered the AI in a mechanical voice. [You are the only living human in this ship.]


    The woman fell silent. Tears threatened to escape her eyes, and her breathing became ragged. The woman struggled to suppress her desire to vomit.


    However, she still had a bit of hope.


    " My daughter, what happened to her."


    []


    "Dammit, Tito!!! Tell me what happened to my daughter!!!" The woman shouted with rage and despair.


    [ I retrieved her body and put it in a cryogenic chamber. Unfortunately, her sea of consciousness is gone.]


    " Dammit, dammit!!!" The woman screamed and hit the controls of the ship. Her face was filled with tears, and her body trembled in pain.


    It was her daughter, her only daughter. Her only remaining family.


    But even she was taken away by the devourers.


    Hatred and pain consumed the woman. She wanted revenge! She wanted to kill every devourer in the universe! As revenge for her family!


    Unfortunately, it was nothing more than a pipe dream.


    Both hyperspace engines were broken, and the ship was lost in an unknown corner of the universe. Even with her powerful S-Grade ESPer abilities, she was powerless.


    The woman cried and cried, and finally, she fell asleep.


    Tito, the AI controlling the spaceship, looked at its master.


    [Warning, the ship will exit hyperspace in one hour.]


    The spaceship''s auxiliary AI warned again. Tito''s eyes shed briefly before turning dark.


    [ Prepare a cryogenic chamber.]


    It ordered. Instantly, all the robots in the spaceship were put into action to prepare the cryogenic chamber.


    Then, a robot lifted the sleeping woman.


    Tito put the woman in the cryogenic chamber and closed it. The woman, feeling the change, opened her eyes.


    " Tito, what are you doing?"


    [Protocol D-2530. Freezing master to wait for rescue.]


    " Stop it. I want to spend my remaining life conscious."


    [ Master, there is still hope. If you enter the cryogenic sleep, perhaps someone will rescue youter.] The AI tried to convince its master.


    " My daughter is dead. What reason is there to continue living?"


    The AI did not know how to answer. It was a machine, not a human. Even although it was programmed to learn feelings, it did not have experience with something like this.


    However, it did not want to see its master to die.


    Perhaps, it was the only feeling it understood clearly.


    So, after searching through its database for an adequate answer, it found it.


    [ Revenge.]


    The woman''s eyes shed. Her expression contorted in pain, but finally, she closed her eyes.


    The AI understood her intentions and started the cryogenic sleep.


    Before the woman fellpletely unconscious, she moved her lips.


    " Thanks."


    The AI remained silent.


    Twenty minutester, the spaceship exited hyperspace.


    For three years, Tito remained awake, waiting for a signal of rescue while the spaceship wandered through the remote space.


    Three yearster, Tito turned off its system, leaving the auxiliary AI in charge of the spaceship.


    Three hundred yearster, the spaceship fell onto a.


    The auxiliary AI shed briefly, but the long years of wait had deteriorated it too much for it to continue its functions.


    Four hundred yearster, a boy found the spaceship.

 Chapter 2: Prologue II: The Exiled Prince

    Chapter 2: Prologue II: The Exiled Prince


    "Uncle Sebastian, why are you doing this!?" A child around eleven years old sobbed while staring at the middle-aged man in front of him.


    The middle-aged man put on aplicated expression and sighed. "I''m sorry, your highness. It''s the king''s order. The royal family can''t have a manaless child."


    The child cried even more. He could not believe that something like this was happening. His uncle Sebastian, who always pampered him, suddenly took him away and brought him to this ce in the middle of the night.


    Sebastian sighed sadly. To be honest, he rather liked the boy. The boy was kind, smart, and curious. Unfortunately, the royal family could not afford to have a cursed child, a manaless.


    So, the child must disappear.


    Sebastian took a beautiful ring and put it on the child''s hands, then he gave him a short sword. "Your highness, hear my words carefully. This is a storage ring. I left a bit of my mana inside, so you will be able to use it for one year without a problem. There are food and freshwater inside. Also, your mother packed some clothes and clean bedding.


    "This ce is the exilednds. I heard that there are humans living inside, so if you want to survive, you must find them From today onwards, you are no longer a member of the Skysword family. Glenn Skysword died tonight."


    Glenn cried sadly. He could not believe it. He could not believe that his father sent him to this scary ce. He could not believe that his mother agreed. He could not believe that he had been abandoned.


    Sebastian looked at the child onest time and sighed.


    "Your highness, take care." With those words, the middle-aged man vanished.


    As for the child, he remained crying for a long time.


    "Father! What did you do?! Answer me!!!" A young girl shouted furiously. Her ck eyes were covered in tears, and her fists were clenched angrily.


    However, the man before her remained silent. He looked at the crying little girl and heaved a sigh. "Eres, the royal family can''t have failures."


    "He was not a failure! He was my brother! My brother! Mother, say something!"


    "I''m sorry... I''m sorry I''m sorry My son, I''m sorry Mother did not have more options" A beautiful ck-haired woman covered her face with her hands and cried softly.


    "You You knew" Eres''s face turned white. Then, she screamed.


    "You!!!"


    Powerful mana surged out of her body. The walls of the castle trembled, and the people in the surroundings shivered in fear.


    However, her father just sighed.


    "Sleep." He touched her head and the little girl fainted.


    "Such a powerful magic power." The king said with aplicated expression. "I don''t understand why the other child was a failure then. Could it be that a twin inherited all the magic power of the other?"


    He then looked in direction of the exilednds. "The royal family can''t have a cursed child. And if there is one, he must disappear."


    Looking at his crying wife and his daughter lying on the ground, the king could not help but sigh again.


    "Someone, take the princess to her room."


    A servant nodded respectfully and lifted the little princes lying in the ground.


    Tears flowed out of the little girl''s eyes. Even after fainting, her lips continued moving softly.


    "Glenn,e back"

 Chapter 3: The First Battle

    Chapter 3: The First Battle


    "Mom" The boy sobbed. Tears rolled down on his face, and his small body trembled due to the wind.


    However, nobody answered his call.


    One day passed, but the boy continued crying, crouched in the ground.


    Two days passed, and the boy stopped crying, but his face was filled with despair.


    Three days passed, and his body was covered in dust.


    The boy ate when he had hunger, he drank water when he was thirsty, and slept when he was sleepy.


    However, he never moved away from where he was.


    His eyes turned empty, and his face turned expressionless. If someone were to see him now, they would think they saw a ghost.


    Finally, five dayster, something changed.


    *Growl*


    Lifting his head, the boy saw a fox walking towards him.


    The fox was dirty, with a rotten smell and blood-red eyes shining ominously, but it was the first creature that the boy saw froming here.


    The boy looked nkly at the fox, not showing the slightest bit of reaction.


    But a few secondster, his eyes recovered a bit of light.


    " A fox?" The boy tilted his head.


    The fox looked towards him warily and growled. It stared at the strange creature it had never seen before and circled him slowly.


    But soon, it realized that the boy was not dangerous.


    Instantly, it began to drool.


    *Growl*


    Slowly, the fox approached the boy.


    The boy opened his eyes wide and realized that something was wrong. He grabbed the sword that Sebastian had left and held it shakily.


    But when the fox saw his movement, it decided to attack.


    Before the boy could unsheathe the sword, the fox pounced towards him.


    "GROOOOWLLL!"


    The boy paled. Flustered, he put the sword on his chest to defend against the attack!


    The fox fell on him and pinned the boy to the ground. Then, it tried to bit his neck!


    Perhapsdy luck smiled at him, but the boy was able to move the sword in the nick of time. The fox''s jaw then bit the sword''s handle strongly.


    "H-Help!" The little boy shouted, but he then remembered that nobody was going to help him. He was alone, he had been abandoned.


    The fox struggled with the sword, trying to take it off of the boy''s hands, but the boy held it with all his strength. The sword was his only hope to survive.


    Soon, the fox realized that it was not causing its prey damage like this.


    So, it let go of the sword and bit towards the boy''s arm.


    "Arrggghhhh!" The boy cried. Blood flowed out from his wound, dying his clothes red.


    However, maybe because the material of his clothes had pretty good defenses, the fox''s bite did not injure him gravely.


    But the bite awakened the boy.


    The pain and despair of seeing death straight to its eyes granted the boy strength.


    "Ahhhhhh!" With a scream, the boy threw the fox away. The fox rolled in the ground and moaned in pain, but it quickly stood up once more. It then stared at the boy with even more hunger and anger than before.


    But the boy''s gaze also turned firm.


    I don''t want to die! The boy thought.


    I don''t want to die! The boy raised his sword.


    "I DON''T WANT TO DIE!!!" The boy yelled.


    Then, he ran towards the fox.


    The fox was almost as big as him. A beast that could have killed him easily.


    And him, he was just a little boy. His body was manaless, and he had never trained to wield a sword.


    However, he was determined to survive.


    He was not going to die here, not like this!


    So, when the fox jumped towards him, the boy shed with his sword.


    It was an ugly sh, without any technique whatsoever, but it was filled with the boy''s desire to survive.


    "Awooooo!" The sword cut its leg and the fox cried in pain, but its ws also cut the boy''s chest. The boy then shed the fox''s back, but it shed his leg.


    Head, legs, arms, chest, mouth. Both of them shed against each other, fighting with their nails and teeth to eke a victory against their mortal enemy.


    This battle was not glorious. Instead, it was ugly and without grace. However, it would determine the fate of the two creatures.


    Maybe both of them were weak, but their will to live was strong. The fox needed to kill the boy to eat, and the boy needed to kill the fox to survive.


    Finally, the boy''s sword cut the fox belly.


    "Awooo" The fox fell in the ground and whimpered painfully. It looked at the boy with sad eyes, trying to convey its strong desire to survive.


    However, the boy did not hesitate.


    His body filled with injuries and scratches approached the fox, and then, he stabbed it with his sword.


    Right into its heart.


    The fox gave the boy onest gaze filled with unwillingness and took itsst breath.


    As for the boy, he stood before the corpse of the fox and bit his lips.


    Then, he cried.


    He cried harder than ever before.


    For half an hour, the boy cried.


    Then, he wiped his tears.


    He took some clothes out of the space ring and tended his injuries, and then, he walked forward.


    Finally, the boy left.


    "From today onwards, I''m not longer Glenn Skysword.


    "Those were myst tears. From today onwards, I''ll not cry again.


    "I died today and was born again.


    "So, my name is Bloed, because in blood I was reborn."


    Under the blood-red sun of the exilednds, the boy disappeared on the horizon.


    His back seemed much bigger than before.


    Far away, in a mountain, a middle-aged man was looking to the boy.


    He saw when the boy cried, when the boy despaired, and when the boy fought.


    Then, he saw how the boy left.


    When the boy disappeared from his sight, the middle-aged man heaved a sigh.


    "Forgive me, your highness, but the royal family can''t have cursed blood."


    Then, he disappeared.

 Chapter 4: The Exiled Lands

    Chapter 4: The Exiled Lands


    As the name implies, the exilednds were a ce of exile.


    ording to the myths of old, the exilednds were a ce abandoned by the gods. One hundred years ago, when the cmity struck and killed a third of the world poption, the exilednds became a ce of filth and ruins, filled with savage beast and creatures of nightmares.


    What once was a green forest filled with life, had be into a desert full of dust, rocks, and filthy water. The few monsters that still lived here had to struggle each day to survive.


    So, after some years, the exilednds began to be used as a ce of exile. Political enemies, dangerous criminals, and people that must not exist were sent to this ce to die.


    ording to some rumors, some people have createdmunities inside the exilednds. Small viges and towns made up of people struggling to survive.


    However, even after wandering for one month, Bloed had not met another human.


    After he killed the fox, Bloed faced many more enemies. The first night, he was ambushed when he was sleeping in the tent he found inside the storage ring.


    Bloed almost died that night, but fortunately,dy luck smiled to him and allowed him to kill the monster that attacked him, a panther-like beast.


    From then, Bloed stopped using the tent to sleep and slept on the branches of the trees.


    One weekter, he faced a pack of wolves. The wolves chased after him for two hours, forcing him to hide inside a cave. But the wolves guarded the entrance of the cave for two days until finally they were scared off by another predator.


    Once, he was bitten by an unknown small insect. Bloed suffered from fever and headache for three days. In fact, Bloed was not sure how he survived the insect''s poison.


    But the time when he was the closest to death was when he met a colossal monster. The monster woke up when Bloed was near it, causing a powerful earthquake that killed countless smaller monsters. Bloed also suffered grave injuries, but maybe because fate had pity on him, he survived the catastrophe.


    In thest month, Bloed fought not less than one hundred battles. Each time he was the weaker party, and each time he survived. Even when he faced monsters that could use mana, Bloed relied on his sword and wits to kill them in the end, although more than once he was close to death.


    After one month, his smooth skin had turned dark. His body was filled with scars of every size, some on his face. His clothes were filled with dirt and blood. Bloed stopped changing his clothes when he discovered that the smell of blood and dirt helped to mask his scent.


    After all, Blood existed everywhere in this ce.


    His tender face turned vicious, and his eyes shed with a murderous light. No trace could be seen of the kind and smart prince of the kingdom of Alterna. Instead, he had turned into a small monster living between monsters.


    After three months, Bloed aura became even more murderous. His sword had chipped in many ces, but it was the only weapon he had. He had lost the count of the number of monsters he had killed during thest three months.


    Even after three months, he did not find traces of living humans. He once saw an abandoned vige, but it had been destroyed long ago.


    Bloed had begun to forget how to speak. He had tried to talk to himself during the nights, but he soon realized that it attracted predators, so he stopped doing it.


    More than once, Bloed thought about taking his own life, but every time he considered the idea, he remembered all the lives he had killed until now. He had stolen their right to survive, so it was his duty to survive in their ce.


    After six months, Bloed was unrecognizable. His childish face was filled with so many scars that nobody could see his original features. Even his ck eyes seemed to have turned darker, and his once silky hair had be long, messy, and dirty.


    His sword had broken long ago, but Bloed created a few makeshift daggers using the ws and teeth of monsters he killed. The daggers were not as useful as the sword, but at least, they granted him a bit of self-protection. To be honest, Bloed continued being at the bottom of the food chain even after six months. Most of the time, he was the prey and not the hunter.


    As of now, the food in the storage ring was over. Even the mana inside the storage ring had been spent, so Bloed simply threw it away. He never would be able to use it due to hisck of mana anyway.


    Bloed continued wandering the exilednds, facing the dangers of this ce and doing his utmost to survive. From time to time, he would remember the beautiful outside world.


    However, even that memory had started to be fuzzy.


    Bloed did not care though. Such memories were just a burden for the current him.


    Unfeeling, murderous, and cold. He was even more of a beast that the true beasts. Only knowing how to kill.


    He forgot about the books he used to like.


    He forgot about the family that betrayed him.


    He forgot about the knowledge he liked to learn.


    For Bloed, only surviving was important.


    But one day, Bloed found a strange cave.


    He was being chased by a giant serpent. His body was riddled in injuries and two of his ribs were broken.


    Desperate to survive, Bloed entered inside a strange cave. The serpent continued chasing after him, but Bloed made use of the narrow passages to escape from it.


    Finally, he shook off the serpent''s pursuit.


    But then, he realized that he had arrived at a strange ce.


    An enormous metallic wall, filled with strange symbols and ornaments, was standing in front of him.


    Bloed was startled. However, his curiosity got the best of him. He remembered all the stories he had read in the pce about someone finding an opportunity and then bing a legendary master of his era.


    Thus, he approached warily towards the wall and put his hand on it.


    Nothing happened.


    Bloed smiled wryly. ''What was I expecting? Really''


    But in the next instant, a blue electric current shed in the wall.


    "Argh!" Bloed screamed in pain. The electric current burned his hand and threw him away. Bloed hit his head against the wall and then fell unconscious.


    Thest thing he saw was some strange characters appearing on the wall.


    [Detected abnormal activity outside the ship. Initializing procedure E-1901]


    [It has been confirmed that the abnormal activity is due to the presence of a foreign lifeform. Executing the corresponding action, wait]


    [ording to the protocol, someone with the corresponding clearance is needed, wait]


    [Executing procedure, A-1250. Starting up the ship''s main AI.]


    [Wee Tito, please decide the next course of action.]


    A short silent fell in the insides of the spaceship.


    Then, the entire spaceship lit up.


    [ It has been four hundred years, huh. Has master''s long wait finally ended?] Tito mechanical voice resounded through the ship''s systems.

 Chapter 5: The Encounter

    Chapter 5: The Encounter


    [ It has been four hundred years. Has master''s long wait finally ended?] Tito spoke. Its single mechanical eye shed briefly. [AI, give me a report of the situation.]


    [Understood. Today is xh&5*/2$ - *$5/&@... Error, please re*&%]


    [It''s broken, huh] Tito heaved a sigh. Despite being an AI, its sigh sounded very much humanlike.


    But it did not have time to feel pity for its fellow AI. As the personal AI of its master, Tito had a duty to fulfill.


    Quickly, it manually eded to the ship''s database and learned everything the ship experienced in thest four hundred years.


    It did not take Tito long to detect the many anomalies in the ship.


    [Strange. The shipnded more than one hundred years ago. Why did the procedure E-1901 activated only now?] Tito asked itself. [This Its conditions are perfects to sustain life. And this is A human?]


    Tito''s CPU moved quickly to process the''s information. [Is this an human colony? But these coordinates are not in my database A colony discovered in thest four hundred years? But then, why did nobody answer our SOS? The ship has been sending signals of help all this time.]


    Despite being a highly advanced AI, Tito was unable to reach a clear answer due to theck of information. Fortunately, outside was someone that could help it to resolve most of its doubts.


    [Bring the human inside. Treat his injuries and put him in the quarantine room.] Tito proceeded to order some auxiliary robots. Then, the light on its lone eye shed briefly before it took a decision.


    [Activate the protocol D-2350. It''s time to wake master up.]


    Two hourster, a woman opened her eyes.


    "Where am I?" The woman tried to speak, but she soon discovered that she could not open her mouth.


    The woman was startled, but as an experienced scientist and powerful ESPer, she quickly calmed down. She ignored the countless lights shing around her and the bothersome beep on her ear and focused her mind in herst memories.


    Then, her expression contorted.


    "Aghghgh!!! Damn it, damn it!!! Arghhhg!!!"


    The woman screamed and cried. Her voice returned to her and her eyes returned to normal. The tears frozen during four hundred years fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.


    Four hundred years, but to her, it was less than one minute. The pain was as strong as when she fell asleep.


    When she finally calmed down, she realized that an AI was hovering beside her.


    " Tito."


    [Master.] Tito mechanically responded. Unfortunately, its voice could not transmit its concern.


    "How many years have passed?"


    [ Four hundred.] Tito hesitated before answering. Although it did not want to answer, its master''s orders were absolute.


    "Four hundreds, huh So much time What happened to the war?"


    [Currently, I don''t have new information about the war, master.]


    "Oh, and where are we now? Did someone receive our SOS?"


    [I don''t know, and nobody received our SOS.]


    " Then, why did you wake me up?"


    [ We fell on a with human life, but I don''t know where it is. I''ll exin the situationter, master. Before that, I need to check the state of your body.]


    "I see... Proceed then." The woman spoke and closed her eyes.


    Her body felt weak, but it was normal after sleeping for four hundred years. However, her soul felt even worse.


    For Cami, even after knowing that this was a with humans that could help her, she felt empty.


    Everybody she loved was gone, and her only memories of them were lifeless data guarded insideputers.


    Perhaps, death was better for her.


    Closing her eyes, bitter tears rolled down on her cheeks.


    When Bloed woke up, he was inside apletely white room.


    White walls, white ceiling, white floor, white bed. Even the clothes he was wearing had changed from dirty rags to a strange white robe-like thing.


    Quickly, Bloed realized something frightening.


    ''My weapons!!!'' Bloed opened his eyes in panic. He looked around searching the only things that could bring him a little sense of security, but he soon realized that they were gone.


    In fact, Bloed''s weapons were nothing impressive, but they were the only things that could protect him against the powerful beasts and horrible monsters of the exilednds. Without his weapons, he was nothing but a snack.


    Bloed desperately searched for his weapons, but besides a bed, there was nothing more in this white room. Quickly, his uneasiness grew. Before long, he was hitting the walls and screaming as crazy.


    "SSSomeune! SSsommmone! Sssommeone!" For the first time in a long time, Bloed spoke. After so long, he had almost forgotten how to speak, but he managed to produce some strangely-sounding words.


    Unfortunately, his words failed to be answered.


    One hour, two hours, three hourster, Bloed finally stopped screaming. He tiredly lied on the bed, which seemed to be the only good thing in this ce.


    But when he was about to sumb to despair, someone, or something, appeared before him.


    The roof opened, and a floating metallic sphere descended into the room. The sphere looked at the young human with its lone red eye and spoke.


    [&%$%x*/?]


    "Huh?" Bloed jumped back and retreated against the wall. Soon, though, he realized that the sphere was trying tomunicate with him.


    "Who are iou?" Bloed tried to reply, but he saw the lone eye of the sphere frown. After that, the sphere said a lot of gibberish before letting out a bright blue light.


    Less than one minuteter, the sphere spoke again.


    [Hello, my name is Tito. What is your name?] Tito said mechanically. Bloed, weary and exhausted, opened his eyes in surprise, asking himself why the monster could speak humannguage.


    This was the first encounter between Tito and Bloed.

 Chapter 6: Contact (1)

    Chapter 6: Contact (1)


    Outside the quarantine room, a woman was seated in a wheelchair with a sphere hovering beside her.


    A giant screen was showing everything that happened in the room. The woman could see a ck-eyed, ck-haired boy looking towards a floating sphere warily.


    The sphere, a terminal of Tito, suddenly spoke.


    [Hello, my name is Tito. What is your name?]


    But as expected, the boy put on an expression of confusion. After a few seconds, the boy answered in a strangenguage.


    [&%$%x*/?]


    The woman frowned instantly. "Tito, can you recognize thisnguage?"


    [I''m sorry, master. Thatnguage is not in my database.]


    "As I thought... So we are truly in a new and undiscovered. Tito, can you decipher thenguage?"


    [Of course.] Tito replied instantly. [But I''ll need to scan the surroundings to find arge enough poption and collect data.]


    "How much energy?" The woman asked.


    [It depends on how far is the nearest human town, master.] Tito''s eye shed with countless data. [However, we made contact with a human already, so I think we will find some kind of gathering ce nearby.]


    The woman nodded. "I understand, proceed then."


    [Understood. Beginning scan.]


    When Tito''s mechanic voice sounded, a bright blue light filled the spaceship. Quickly, the light spread outside the spaceship and extended outwards.


    But contrary to Tito''s expectative, it failed to find a sign of human life even after searching in a radius of 300 kilometers.


    The blue light continued advancing. In less than five seconds, it extended five hundred meters in each direction.


    Finally, Tito found a town.


    The town was not veryrge, with only ten thousand inhabitants, maybe a little more. It was a very small considering the Human Confederation''s cities with millions of inhabitants.


    However, Tito could not afford to waste more energy searching for another town and decided to use this one.


    In less than one minute, Tito recollected a great amount of information. Its incredibly advanced CPU processed all the information in an instant, from thenguage and customs to the average level of education and the average level of civilization.


    For one minute, the entire town was frightened by the sudden blue light. However, Tito did not care about it. It only cared aboutpleting its mission.


    Finally, when it got a rudimentary understanding of thenguage, it stopped.


    [Language deciphered. 12.65% of the energy reserves were used.]


    "Why so much!?" The woman was startled before shaking her head. "Forget it, send the information about thenguage to my brain and resume themunication with the boy."


    [Yes, master.] Tito then connected its CPU with the woman''s head and sent the information. A normal human would have fried his brain trying to receive so much information, but the woman was a powerful ESPer and she could cope with it.


    Once more, Tito attempted tomunicate with the boy. [Hello, my name is Tito. What is your name.]


    The boy''s face changed. A look of surprise appeared on his eyes, but in the next second, his expression turned aghast.


    ''Demigod!'' Bloed screamed inwardly. He had read that only demigod monsters or monsters with a very powerful lineage could speak humannguage.


    And neither of the two possibilities was good news for him.


    "Yoo can spak!" He said.


    Tito''s lone eye narrowed. It realized that it could barely understand the boy''s words. However, it was sure that its current mastery of the boy''snguage was enough to keep a normal conversation.


    In other words, the problem was with the boy.


    The boy also seemed to realize this. He frowned for a brief moment before barely forming some words. "S-Sorry. I didn''t spoken in a long time."


    [Don''t worry.] Tito''s eye focused its gaze on the boy''s face. [What is your name?]


    " Bloed." The boy replied after thinking for a moment.


    [Nice to meet you, Bloed. Do you mind answering some questions?]


    Bloed furrowed his brows and looked at the strange metallic creature with wariness. "What kind of monster are you? Where''s it? I am here Why?" He asked without caring for Tito''s words.


    Tito, however, remained unaffected. Attempts tomunicate with a native were normally very difficult. Bloed was already being very cooperative inparison.


    [Mmm. Let''s make a deal then. I''ll answer your question and you will answer mine. What do you think?]


    Bloed looked at the floating sphere before nodding. He realized that the monster did not seem hostile.


    [I''ll start then. My name is Tito. I am abat AI belonging to the spaceship [Autumn Vanguard]. My codename is T-2548963254, and my ce of production was the third automaton factory located on the Alges.]


    Bloed waspletely confused. Despite hearing the floating thing clearly, he understood less than a third of the things it said.


    However, he held back his desire to ask. He had the feeling that asking more about it was going to confuse him more.


    [It''s my turn now, what is your age?] Tito asked.


    "Age 12 I guess Why I here?"


    [I found you outside the spaceship unconscious, so I decided to bring you inside and treat your injuries. Don''t worry, we don''t have bad intentions.]


    Bloed nodded. He had already noticed that his injuries had been healed. Not only his recent injuries had healed, but even the scars he had received long ago were gone. Bloed felt as though his body had been reborn.


    ording to his knowledge, only the highest-level healing magic could achieve this effect. This floating monster had to be very powerful to use magic like that.


    Like that, Tito and Bloed continued exchanging questions. Tito asked about very basic things, such as his family, where he was from, what he was doing here. Even when Bloed refused to answer a question, Tito did not insist.


    Bloed, on the other hand, asked about his weapons. He had to suppress his desire to pounce and destroy the floating thing when he learned that it had disposed of that ''trash''.


    Fortunately, Tito quickly promised him a better weapon, effectively calming the boy.


    Besides it, he made questions about this ce and Tito.


    In fact, Bloed was a very curious child. It''s just that the Exiled Lands had turned him into an uneducated savage. When he was still a prince, Bloed''s favorite hobby was to read about the world.


    After exchanging questions for half an hour, Tito received some information. It read the information and looked at its master. When the woman nodded, the terminal beside the boy spoke.


    [Bloed,e with me, master wants to meet you.]


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He was instinctively wary about this ''master''. Unfortunately, without weapons and in front of a monster that could speak, Bloed knew that he did not have more options but to obey.


    He just prayed that this ''master'' was not interested in human meat.

 Chapter 7: Contact (2)

    Chapter 7: Contact (2)


    Fortunately, the appearance of the sphere''s master was not so terrifying as Bloed thought.


    Instead, Bloed was very surprised when he met a beautiful mature woman seated in a strange chair with wheels. The woman had short brown hair in a bob cut and a pair of ck eyes that emitted a sharp gaze.


    Another thing that attracted Bloed''s curiosity was her clothes. Her clothes were like nothing he''d ever seen before. They had a strange style simr to the style of the ship, and their aspect was metallic, but Bloed was sure that he had never heard of a metal that could be used as clothes.


    But nothing of that was so important as the woman''s aura. The woman''s aura was something that left Bloed surprised and terrified.


    Despite her sickly appearance, her presence felt frighteningly powerful.


    After surviving for almost one year in the Exiled Lands, Bloed had developed a kind of instinct that helped him to measure a creature''s level of danger. Tito felt rtively powerful, but some beasts in the exilednds were much stronger.


    However, this woman was absolutely terrifying.


    Bloed was sure that she just needed a thought to annihte him.


    "Nice to meet you Bloed, my name is Cami Norman." The woman introduced herself politely.


    Bloed nodded. His body waspletely tensed up, ready to run away at the first sign of danger, even if he knew it was useless.


    The woman, Cami, did not mind Bloed''s reaction. She observed the boy carefully before looking at the sphere beside her. "You already met my AI, Tito. We are the only survivors of the [Autumn Vanguard]. We ended here due to an ident. Unfortunately, we don''t have enough information about this ce. So, do you want to make a deal with me?"


    "Deal?" Bloed asked warily.


    "Yes, a deal. We''ll give you food, clothes, and weapons in exchange for information. You need only tell us everything you know about this ce."


    Bloed fell silent for an instant. He then decided to ask a question he was curious about. "Are you a demigod mage? A tamer?"


    "Huh? Mage?" The woman put on a puzzled expression.


    [Master, in the information I recollected I found that the people in this world use [Magic]. I''m not sure if it''s a kind of ESPer power or apletely new system of abilities.]


    "How interesting. Bloed, why don''t you start talking about magic?"


    Bloed was confused, but he started to talk. At the same time, he reached a frightening conclusion based on the woman and the floating thing''s words.


    They referred to this ce as [World].


    ''Are they from another world?'' Bloed asked to himself, but he was too afraid to ask. After all, otherworlders were very terrifying for the people of this world.


    Soon, however, he let go of his concerns. He was just a cursed child fighting against death every day after all. Things like the fate of the world were meaningless for him.


    He did not mind exchanging it for benefices that could help him to survive one day more.


    Bloed talked about all the things he knew about magic. He was very smart, and he had read many books, so despite being unable to use magic, his knowledge about it was incredibly high.


    "Do you mean that all the people in this world can use magic?" Cami was slightly surprised. "Can you show me?"


    Bloed expression darkened. He fell silent for a moment before shaking his head. " I can''t use it."


    "Huh?"


    " I''m an exception."


    Cami looked at the boy in curiosity. However, she could see that the boy was ufortable with the topic, as such, she decided to ask about another thing.


    Quickly, though, she was surprised by the boy''s knowledge.


    To be honest, she was not expecting much of a savage-looking boy filled with injuries, but the boy quickly showed her that looks are deceiving. Despite being just twelve, the boy''s knowledge could bepared to a high school student from the earth. Of course, he was behind in things like mathematics, physics, or science; but his knowledge about the world was incrediblyplete.


    He even drew her a map of the continent and signaled each nation and its name.


    "You are pretty smart." Cami showed a little bit of admiration, but Bloed remained indifferent. " A good memory" was everything he said.


    "Many thanks, Bloed. Your information is very useful. Tito, is the food ready?"


    [Yes, master. It had been served in the dining room.]


    "Good. Come with me, Bloed. Tell me more things about the world while we eat."


    Bloed nodded. He was still a bit wary though. Who could guarantee him that he was not going to be the meal?


    But when he smelled the food in the table, he found it hard to keep his guard up.


    It was the first time he smelled and saw such a delicious-looking food. Bloed was sure that not even the food in the pce smelled so nice like this.


    "The meat has been conserved for four hundred years, and the vegetables were grown inside the ship. Even I can only sigh in admiration before the power of technology."


    Technology? What was it?


    Of course, although the food was incredibly enticing, Bloed''s will was very firm. After seating in the table, he looked at the food longingly before looking at the woman.


    Seeing that, the woman smiled for the first time. To her, the little boy''s actions were very cute.


    For an instant, she could not help but think about her daughter.


    Then, her smile disappeared, and her expression turned sad. Cami heaved a sigh and brought a mouthful of food to her mouth.


    Of course, Bloed failed to notice the change in her mood. Once he saw the woman eat a mouthful of food, he hesitantly brought a little to his mouth.


    Afterward, he was unable to stop.


    Bloed could not recognize most of the ingredients, but he knew that this food was the most delicious food he had eaten in his entire life. Moreover, he had been eating raw meat and drinking blood for almost half a year. Eating proper food for the first time in a long time made the food even more enjoyable.


    The food was so good that Bloed even thought that he did not mind being eaten after eating something like that.


    Of course, that thought disappeared in the next instant. After all, he did not want to die yet.

 Chapter 8: Contact (3)

    Chapter 8: Contact (3)


    Bloed looked back to the ship briefly. He thought about all the incredible things he saw inside and showed a small smile, then he departed.


    This time, though, he seemedpletely different than when he came. He was wearing a set of ck tight-fitting clothes, a ck military bag, and a ck armor. To Cami, those were just the basic equipment of the confederation''s soldiers, so she did not mind giving them away. But for Bloed, this equipment could save his life in a life and death situation.


    He also carried a new sword and a military knife. Bloed was incredibly impressed by the sword and the knife''s sharpness. Even without a magic enchantment, the weapons were incredibly sharp,parable to the best weapons in the pce.


    But the weapons he loved the most were the two ck things on his waist. The woman called them [Energy Guns], and ording to her, they were a kind of weapon that could shot lethal sma projectiles against enemies.


    Bloed loved the weapon from the first time the woman showed it to him. He quickly learned the basics of using them and received two as payment for the information.


    It was something unimaginable to Bloed. He could not believe that they gave him such incredible weapons so easily.


    Quickly, Cami and Tito had be Bloed''s favorite people, and the spaceship had be the best ce he ever visited.


    But although this ce was incredible and he loved the food here, he had to leave.


    Bloed was a wanderer, a cursed child. The Exiled Lands were his home, and the starry sky was his roof.


    And he knew that the woman and he were frompletely different worlds, literally.


    After Bloed left, Cami remained seated in her wheelchair and put on an empty expression.


    Grabbing a cigarette from thest cigarette box in the space ship, Camille lit it up and started to smoke, lost in her thoughts.


    Before long, Tito appeared.


    [Master, the results are out.]


    " Tell me."


    [The cryogenic slept caused major damage in your cells. Many of your cells are starting to undergo necrosis. Fortunately, your enhanced body is quickly recing the cells and holding out, but it''s just a matter of time before that stops being enough.]


    " I slept four hundred years, so that is normal. What else?"


    [ Master, this ship does not have the ability to treat the problem.]


    "Is it so?" Cami exhaled a cloud of smoke and fell silent. She then heaved a sigh and asked. " How long?"


    [ Four years. But master, if you enter in cryogenic slept again, then we can extend the time to two hun


    "Stop it, Tito." Cami smirked. "It''s enough."


    []


    "I have lived for a very long time anyway. Moreover, my family is already dead. Living any longer than this is meaningless."


    [But master, maybe someone wille to find you. With the right facilities, they can treat your problem and allow you to live and fight the devourers again.] Tito continued, its mechanical voice taking a pleading tone. Cami, however, shook her head.


    "You know that something like that will not happen. It has been four hundred years Tito, nobody wille. And even if someonees, I''m sure that the war has ended long ago. I have lived enough, it''s time for me to meet my family again.


    [ What are you going to do then, master?]


    "... I''ll make a tomb for my family, and you will bury me beside them."


    If the first time Bloed entered the spaceship was a coincidence, the second time was his own choice.


    Even Bloed himself was not sure about the reason that he returned to the spaceship. Perhaps it was curiosity about the two people inside, perhaps it was a desire to eat good food again, or perhaps he just missed having someone he could talk with.


    The important thing is, one week after Bloed left the spaceship he returned again.


    Bloed did not know it, but Cami had just finished building her own tomb. If Bloed came one dayter, he would not have found anyone alive.


    When Bloed knocked on the spaceship''s door (?), Tito was the one who answered.


    [Hello boy, how have you been? Do you need something?]


    Bloed fell silent. He tried to think about a reason to justifying here, and finally, he remembered something.


    Quickly, he searched inside his bag and took out a small bird-like monster.


    " I brought food."


    [Food? But we don''t need food.]


    " Very tasty. I want to give it to you."


    For one instant, even an AI like Tito did not know how to answer.


    But at that moment, Cami, who had been observing everything from inside the ship, opened her mouth.


    "Let him enter. I''m curious about his food."


    [Yes, master.] Tito''s eye shed in acknowledgment and it opened the door.


    After leading Bloed until the dining room, Tito sent a robot to receive the bird and started to prepare it (of course, it first confirmed that the bird wasn''t poisonous).


    Cami, who was still seated in the wheelchair, smiled at the boy. "Good to see you again, Bloed. I didn''t expect you to bring us something to eat."


    " I just thought about it."


    "Is it so? I thought that you wanted to eat our food again but were too ashamed to ask for it, so you brought the bird as excuse."


    Bloed blushed slightly. Actually, Cami was right. A great part of the reason he came back was due to the food.


    Seeing through the boy''s thoughts, Cami smirked. She thenughed happily and shook her head.


    As the food was prepared by robots, it was done quickly. In less than twenty minutes, a dish of fried chicken (?) with potatoes was on the table.


    When Bloed felt the nice smell of fried food, he had to struggle against himself to not pounce towards the dish immediately.


    Fortunately, Cami did not mind it. She calmly waited until the food was ready and started to eat elegantly. She only could to eat a few mouthfuls of food though. Bloed devoured most of the food in seconds.


    When they finished eating, Bloed looked at the cleaning robots in curiosity. He then turned towards Cami and asked with a look of puzzlement.


    "How do you control those monsters?"


    "Huh?" Cami tilted her head in confusion, but when she understood Bloed question she could not help but start tough.


    Thus, she decided to give Bloed a small lesson about Earth.

 Chapter 9: Heir

    Chapter 9: Heir


    Although she had already noticed it before, Cami was once more surprised by Bloed''s intelligence.


    Not only he epted quickly the concept of apletely new world, but he also understood many of the exnations about technology easily.


    But what earned most of Cami''s admiration was his curiosity.


    As a scientist, Cami knew how important curiosity was. Curiosity is the fuel that drives science. The desire to find answers is the spark that motivates mankind to explore the unknown.


    So, instead of getting irritated by Bloed''s endless questions, she patiently answered him.


    With each question she answered, Bloed asked a new one. He asked about robots, about cars, about airnes, about schools, about science, about the humans on earth. Every time he learned something new, he could not hide the astonishment on his face.


    "Amazing" Bloed let out a sigh of admiration. Cami could not help but lift up the corner of her lips when she saw such a childlike expression on him. She thought that such an expression was much more suitable for a child of his age.


    "Bloed, what do you think about our world?"


    " It sounds amazing. I can''t believe that anyone can fly using that airne thing. Moreover, humans on your don''t have magic!"


    "Hahahaha, yes, but we had science and technology. In our world, even the weakest human could fly through the skies."


    " I would like to see it."


    Cami smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, I can''t take you there"


    Bloed nodded. He could not deny that he was slightly disappointed, though. In a corner of his mind, he wanted to see a world like that.


    "Bloed, where is your family?" Cami suddenly asked.


    Bloed fell silent. He gritted his teeth and looked at the ground as though thinking about how to answer.


    " I don''t have a family." He said after a while.


    Cami''s eyes shed. Many different emotions appeared in her eyes in an instant, and then, she sighed.


    " Me neither."


    An awkward silence descended in the dining room.


    Blood took a deep breath and calmed down. After talking with Cami, he realized that the otherworlders were not so terrifying as he thought. In the books he read in the pce, otherworlders were described as terrifying creatures that devoured magic.


    However, Cami was instead very beautiful, kind, and knowledgeable. Plus, she didn''t treat him as a cursed child neither she minded teaching him new knowledge.


    To be honest, he wanted to stay here for a little longer.


    But


    " I think it''s time for me to leave." Bloed said.


    "Already? You are right, we have spoken for a very long time." Bloed had arrived in the morning, but it was already afternoon.


    "Thank you for the food." Bloed said softly. He then stood up from the chair and grabbed his things.


    But when he was about to leave the spaceship, Cami opened her lips.


    "Bloed, do you mind helping me with something?"


    "Huh?"


    "You see, our food reserves are running out, and you are pretty good at hunting. Do you mind bringing us food every day? Don''t worry, we will pay for it. Plus, you can eat here."


    Bloed was startled, but in the next second, he nodded while trying to hide his excitement.


    "Okay!"


    Then, he left the spaceship hurriedly.


    Cami smiled and shook her head. After Bloed left, she took a deep breath and fell deep into thoughts.


    At some point, Tito had appeared beside her.


    [Master, what was that for?]


    " Tito, I slept for four hundred years Four hundred years is a very long time."


    []


    "When I fell asleep, the war against the Devourers was at its peak. Each day, hundreds of battles were fought in the human confederation''s territory. However, you and I know that we were losing"


    [Master]


    "Each day, we received reports of defeats and colonies lost. Although we won some battles, that was far from enough to change the situation."


    Camille sighed. Although she hated the devourers that killed her family, she had to admit that they were a very powerful enemy.


    Precisely due to that, she hesitated.


    "Tito, answer me a question, do you believe that human confederation had any hope of winning."


    [ ording to my calctions, humans only had a 23.56% probability of winning the war.]


    "23.56% huh Howughable." Cami smiled self-deprecatorily. "Then Tito, do you think it''s possible for the human confederation to endure four hundred years of war against the devourers?"


    Tito did not answer, but its silence was enough of an answer.


    "Perhaps I''m thest survivor of the Human Confederation."


    The spaceship fell silent.


    For a few seconds, none of the two spoke, but finally, Cami opened her mouth.


    "I think it''s fate, Tito. Although Bloed is a bit aggressive, he is a very kind and smart child. I tested him before, and his intelligence and curiosity are impressive even for me.


    " Maybe God doesn''t want for the human legacy to end, so he sent him towards us. Don''t you think it''s a miracle that someone like him was the one that awoke us?


    "Hahaha, it looks like God doesn''t want for me to be reunited with my family yet. It doesn''t matter though, I can wait for a few more years, I''m sure they will not mind.


    "Tito, prepare everything. We will make Bloed the heir of our race''s legacy."


    Tito fell silent. It looked at its master with its lone eye and hovered silently beside her.


    Then, with a smiling-like gaze, it nodded.


    [Understood, I''ll prepare everything.]


    It was more than happy about seeing its master live for a little bit longer.


    From then on, Bloed''s sses started.


    Every day he would bring the prey he hunted and Tito would prepare it for them. Then, Cami would teach him knowledge about the earth.


    Bloed was very happy about that. He found Cami''s stories very interesting. Moreover, he liked Cami very much, so spending time with her was enjoyable.


    Eventually, he stopped leaving the spaceship after sses and started to use it as his base. That way, he could spend more time learning from Cami.


    Cami was a very good teacher, and Bloed was an excellent student. Plus, this spaceship originally belonged to a scientific fleet, so the knowledge inside its database was incredibly high. Bloed probably could not learn it even if he studied all his life.


    At the same time, Cami and Bloed''s rtionship grew closer and closer. Cami found that spending time with Bloed helped her to forget about her pain, and Bloed found in Cami the concern he never found on his family.


    Like that, one year passed.

 Chapter 10: Son

    Chapter 10: Son


    "Bloed, you have never told me about your family." Cami said one day after their training. Cami had been teaching Bloed aboutbat besides his sses about technology. She taught him various styles of martial arts, and also gunfighting and military sabersmanship.


    Bloed was startled. The topic of his family was something of a taboo for him. However, now that he heard the question, he realized that he no longer found it hard to talk about it.


    Thinking for a moment, he decided to be honest with Cami.


    Bloed had never expressed it, but he loved Cami. He was still a bit too young to be conscious of men and women''s rtionship, but the first signs of love were already sprouting on him.


    "You don''t need to tell me if you don''t want." Cami said.


    "Huh? No, it''s not that." Bloed replied hurriedly. "It''s just that I don''t know how to start. My family huh"


    He then paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts.


    " Actually, I''m a Prince."


    "Ah?" Cami was surprised. "A prince? Like the son of a king?"


    "Yes." Bloed smiled bitterly. "My father is the king of Alterna, the greatest human kingdom on the continent. I''m his second son and was born together with my twin sister.


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    "Being born a prince, my future was supposed to be the best. Unfortunately, not much longer after I was born, things took a turn for the worst.


    "In this world, people without magic power are considered cursed, people that carry the blood of devastation on them. Most of the time, when someone like that is discovered, that person is instantly killed.


    "And unfortunately, I was born without magic power.


    "In fact, I didn''t understand the problem when I was a child. Although I was manaless, besides the fact that my father avoided me and the servants talked about me behind my back, the only thing I hated about my situation back then was that I could not use cool magic as my sister used. Everybody praised my sister as a genius andpared her to me.


    "But one night, something happened." Bloed stopped for an instant before continuing. "That night, my mother came to my room and started to cry.


    "Mother cried for a long time. I remember I asked her why she was crying, I told her that everything was going to be alright. But my mother never spoke. She just looked at me sadly and continued crying. I apanied her all night until I fell asleep.


    "Thinking about it now, I''m sure that mother already knew what was going to happen." A bitter smile appeared on Bloed''s face. "The next time I woke up, I was already here."


    Cami was unable to speak. She could feel how much pain Bloed was feeling at this moment.


    Even now, Bloed could feel the pain and despair he felt back then. He could remember how that pain turned into hatred with the time, and how that hatred turned into indifference.


    Sometimes, he dreamed that his mother came back for him. That Sebastian appeared before him and told him that everything was a joke, but when he woke up, he was still in this hell on earth.


    Bloed had never forgotten the words that Sebastian said the day he left him here.


    Even after two years, the words continued resounding on his mind.


    "The royal family can''t have a manaless child. Those were the words that the man that brought me here said before leaving me."


    " I''m sorry. I should not have asked about that." Cami sighed.


    "It''s alright." Said Bloed with a smile. "Actually, I feel better after talking to you about it."


    Cami stared at the young child and heaved a sigh of pity. Such a small and innocent child, and he had been left to die in this infernal ce.


    " Bloed, I have observed you all these days and I can assure you that you are not a cursed child. All the contrary, you are the smartest and most talented child I have seen in a long time. The fact that your parents thought that you were cursed and threw you here means that they are utterly ignorant! I''m sure none of them is half as good as you are!"


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Thank you for your words, Cami. But it''s a fact that I''m unable to use magic. Besides, it''s true that a manaless descendant would have impacted the royal family negatively."


    "What are you talking about!?" Cami snorted coldly. "That is not an excuse to send a child towards his death! Besides, I''m not joking when I told you that you are better than them!"


    Seated on her wheelchair, Cami looked at Bloed with her pitch-ck eyes. She then spoke in an absolutely confident tone.


    "Bloed, do you know how my world became so strong? It was thanks to knowledge! Science and technology are the basis that showed to my people the scenery beyond our world! So what if they have magic!? Has any of them gone beyond this world!? Do they have the power to destroy entire worlds!?"


    Cami''s prideful voice resounded in the spaceship. Her words filled with pride shocked Bloedpletely. He remembered the stories that Cami had told him, he thought about the images she had shown him, he thought about all the things he had learned in thest few years.


    Science Thinking about that word, Bloed could not help but feel a sense of excitement surging out from his body.


    "Let me tell you something, Bloed. Science is more powerful than you think. Besides, being manaless is perhaps not a bad thing."


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Cami looked at Bloed and put on a mysterious smile. Her short brown hair waved softly and her eyes shone with a powerful glint.


    Then, a hint of determination appeared on her face.


    "So what if your family abandoned you? Bloed, let me ask you a question. Do you want to be my son?"


    " Huh?"


    "What is that face for? I asked you if you want to be my son! Tell me, do you want to? Yes or not!"


    Bloed''s expression froze. He looked at Cami as though he had heard something crazy.


    But soon, a change appeared on his face.


    Seeing the gentle smile on Cami''s face. Tears started to umte on Bloed''s eyes. Then, his face distorted and his tears started to roll down his cheek.


    Bloed felt pathetic. He had promised himself that he was never going to cry again, however, the tears surged out regardless of his intentions.


    He tried to wipe his tears away, but more tears appeared to rece the ones he wiped. In seconds, his face had be a mess.


    But despite it, he finally managed to form a word.


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    " Yes."


    A gentle smile appeared on Cami''s face.


    "Come here." She said and moved her wheelchair towards Bloed. In a smooth movement, she brought his face to her chest. "Silly boy, from today onwards, you are my, Cami Norman''s son. My only family in this world."


    " Yes mom."


    "Nowe." Cami released the hug and looked straight into Bloed''s eyes. "I''ll show you the power that science can give you."

 Chapter 11: ESP Abilities (1)

    Chapter 11: ESP Abilities (1)


    "Cami, what is this?" Bloed asked.


    "Call me mom."


    "Huh?"


    "M. O. M."


    Bloed opened his eyes wide, but when he saw that Cami was not joking, his face turned red.


    Finally, he forced himself to answer despite his embarrassment.


    " Mother." He said very, very softly.


    Cami''s lips curved up. "Although I would have preferred mom, it is enough for now."


    She then stopped teasing Bloed and looked at the giant machine in the room.


    "Bloed, do you remember what was my profession?"


    " Scientist." Bloed opened his lips hesitantly. "Also, you said something about sper."


    "It''s ESPer." Cami corrected. "Besides being a scientist, I was also a very powerful ESPer. Mmm, I guess I have not exined to you what an ESPer is."


    pping her hands, a screen lit up in the room. On the screen, the image of a man holding a ball of fire on his hands could be seen.


    "ESP stands for [Extra-Sensory Perception]. It''s the ability to use the mind to realize things impossible using the five senses. In other words, ESPs are superpowers."


    "Superpowers!?" Bloed was stunned. Although he had spent most of his time studying important knowledge, he also saw some movies during thest year, and some of those movies were about people with superpowers.


    However, he always thought that it was fiction. But now, Cami was telling him that, not only were superpowers real, but Cami herself had superpowers.


    "Don''t be so surprised. Our technology had reached heights that you can''t imagine. ESP abilities are just one of the results of that technology.


    "Returning to the topic, the term used to refer to the people possessing ESP abilities is ESPer. ESPer''s powers are very varied, going from the ability to wield fire, to teleportation and partial time maniption. Of course, the number of people able to use something so powerful like partial time maniption can be counted in the fingers on one hand."


    Cami then extended her hand and created a small electric spark.


    "This is my ESP ability, [SS-Grade Nuclear Fission]. I was a very powerful S-Grade ESPer. A person able to destroy cities singlehandedly!"


    Bloed''s mouth formed an ''O'' shape. The information that Cami had given him thisst minute was too incredible.


    But then, an expression of excitement appeared on his face.


    "Mother, do you mean that"


    Cami smiled. "You see, I was a bit interested when I heard that all the people and creatures in this world could use [Magic], so I used some of the beasts you hunted to perform some experiments. In those experiments, I discovered that magic was actually a kind of ESP ability."


    "!!!"


    "Surprised? But it''s truth. Although I find it incredible, the truth is that, in fact, each creature in this world is born with an ESP ability.


    "I have a theory about that. ording to the information I collected in thest year, I discovered that this world possesses a very special kind of energy in the air, the energy that you call mana. This energy is very gentle, and can easily interact with living beings. If I''m not wrong, the reason that each creature in this world is born with the ESP ability to wield mana is that they evolved through the years to assimte this energy more easily.


    "And when this energy stimtes them, their ability to use mana manifest itself without the need to realize an ESP activating operation.


    "When I learned about that, I thought about your inability to use mana."


    Cami then looked straight into Bloed''s eyes with a confident look.


    "Bloed, each person has a limit to the amount of ESP abilities they can bear. Most have zero abilities, some have one or two, and a very few have three. However, all the creatures in this world have at least one ESP ability. Then, why do you have none?"


    " You think I have another ESP ability different than mana control?"


    "Yes. There is a very high probability that your inability to use mana is because your calction zone is already filled with another ESP."


    Bloed eyes shone. If Cami''s words were true, it means that he had superpowers! He was not cursed as his family said!


    Seeing his excitement, Cami put on a happy expression. She then pointed at the giant machine in the room with an expression of pride.


    "This machine here is an ESP Activating Capsule. Once you enter inside, it will generate a powerful psychic wave that will hit the calction zone in your brain. Once your calction zone is hit, your ESP abilities will feel it and start to defend against the attack instinctively. Little by little, your ESP abilities will awaken, and you will be an ESPer."


    Bloed gulped down a mouthful of saliva and nodded.


    "Then, are you ready?" Cami asked.


    "Right now?"


    "Of course. Your current condition is pretty good, and you are already older than twelve, the minimum age to awaken ESP abilities. I think this is the perfect gift I can give you now that you are my son."


    Bloed was moved. He could see the care and concern in Cami''s eyes. It was a very nice feeling.


    It was something that he never felt with his former family.


    Making a determined expression, Bloed nodded.


    Cami smiled, she then looked at Tito, that had suddenly in the room, and opened her lips.


    "Start the preparations."


    [Understood, master.]

 Chapter 12: ESP Abilities (2)

    Chapter 12: ESP Abilities (2)


    [Master, you know that there is a considerable probability that Bloed doesn''t have an ESP ability, right?]


    " Of course, I know."


    [Then, why did you fool him like that? If the operation fails and Bloed doesn''t manifest an ESP ability, I fear the blow will be too heavy for him.]


    Cami looked at the capsule where Bloed was sleeping and sighed. "Can''t you see it, Tito? Bloed''s inability to use magic has always been a source of inferiority for him. How can my child be inferior to others? So what if he doesn''t manifest an ESP ability? Don''t we have the capacity to give him an artificial ESP power? Even if doing so will limit the strength and potential of his ability, at least, his family''s shadow willpletely disappear from his heart. Tito, after this operation, Bloed''sck of confidence will disappearpletely. Then, with his intelligence and our knowledge, is there anything in the world he can''t aplish?"


    Tito''s eyes shed as though agreeing with its master''s words.


    [ By the way, master, were you serious about epting him as your son?]


    Cami fell silent.


    She could not help but think about the things she had done thisst year, the time she spent with Bloed as she taught him about earth''s knowledge. Cami had realized that, without she noticing, the pain and despair in her heart had reduced significantly.


    Actually, she had started to see Bloed as her own child from a few months ago.


    "I''m just an old ghost waiting for death, Tito. So, if I can do something for this child before dying, I''ll do it. Bloed has never had familiar love, so I''ll give it to him. Since the day Bloed started to learn from me, he became my child!"


    [I see.] Tito''s hovering body moved as though nodding. He then looked at the boy sleeping inside the capsule and turned silent.


    [Then, from today onwards, I''ll call him young master.]


    Cami smiled. "Yeah, that is fine. Tito, start the ESP Activating Capsule."


    [Understood master. Confirming vital signs Nothing out of ce. Confirming the width of his brain waves The width of his brain waves is normal. Loading subject data Data recognized Starting in three, two, one]


    *Tsuuuuuu!!!*


    Suddenly, a powerful brain wave was released in the capsule. The brain wave was so powerful that Cami felt a brief headache despite her being a powerful ESPer and standing in another room.


    The spaceship lights turned dim for a brief moment before returning to normal. Then, a powerful consciousness pulse surged out of Bloed''s body.


    [Psychic reaction confirmed. Master, we have confirmed the presence of ESP abilities in young master''s body.]


    "Is it so? It''s a relief" Cami smiled in pride. "Do you know what ESP ability is it?"


    [Not yet. We are trying to awaken it.]


    Cami nodded. She then fixed her gaze on Bloed''s body with an expression of concern. Now was the crucial moment to know if Bloed''s abilities could be awoken or not.


    Awakening ESP abilities was not as simple as Cami made it sound. Many times, the ESP abilities failed to manifest even after the operation. In fact, the ESP Awakening Operation was notpletely wless.


    It was impossible to control the reaction of the brain when it was invaded by a foreign psychic wave. Although most of the time it activated its own abilities to fight against the invading psychic wave, sometimes, the brain will choose not to fight and instead keep a passive state.


    This situation is a nightmare for any ESP aspirant. After all, that means that their ESP abilities were almost impossible to awaken, at least using the current science standard.


    Fortunately, though, Bloed''s awakening proceeded smoothly.


    [Confirming calction zone''s activation. Master, it''s a sess. Young master''s ESP abilities are starting to resist.]


    "Thank god." Cami sighed in relief. She looked at the screen showing Bloed''s information and curved her lips up. "Tito, give me Bloed''s ESP information."


    [I''m working in that, master.] Tito''s lone eye shed with an enormous amount of data. Then, it let out a sound of admiration. [ It looks like your deduction was right on the mark, master.]


    "What happened?"


    [Young master calction zone is trulypletely filled. He doesn''t possess one ESP ability, but two!]


    "Dual ESPer?" Cami was startled, but quickly, her expression turned excited. "Hahahaha, worthy of being my son! Quickly, tell me what are his abilities!"


    Titoplied. [The first one is pretty average but very useful. [C-Grade Enhanced Brain Capacity]. It enhances his intelligence and all the skills rted to the brain. It''s very suitable as aplementary skill.]


    "Pretty good." Cami was even more excited than before. "Mm, an ability like that is very suitable for someone carrying the inheritance of our civilization on his shoulders. That exins why Bloed is so smart. It''s probably due to the influence of this ability. What is the second?"


    Tito fell silent for a moment.


    "What happened?" Cami realized that something was wrong. "Is there a problem with Bloed''s second ability? Is it not very good?"


    [ No, master. In fact, this ability is incredibly good. However Master, I''ll show it to you directly.]


    Cami nodded. The next instant, a screen filled with data was projected from Tito''s Eye.


    Instantly, Cami understood the situation.


    "This"


    [Molecr Disintegration. SSS-Grade. Currently unusable. Requirements for use: S-Grade Psychic Abilities.]


    ...


    Remember to read my other novel, Fourth Prince''s Debauchery, and support me on P4TR30N to read chapters ahead of my two novels.


    P4TR30N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 13: Specialization

    Chapter 13: Specialization


    [Molecr Disintegration. SSS-Grade. Currently unusable. Requirements of use: S-Grade Psychic Abilities.]


    " Tito, exin." Cami said.


    Tito nodded. [Actually, under normal circumstances, young master would have been able to use this ability freely, but]


    "But?"


    [As I said before, young master''s calction zone ispletely filled up and [Molecr Disintegration] is too strong. The calctions necessary to activate this ability are tooplicated, so using it is nigh impossible in the current circumstances. Moreover, to make things worse, young master possesses yet another ESP ability, upying even more of his calction zone. Right now, young master will be unable to use this ability until he expands his calction zone enough, and ording to my estimations, it will be impossible if he doesn''t be an S-Grade Esper.]


    Cami fell silent. She did not expect her happiness to be so short-lived.


    To exin it, the grade of an ESP ability doesn''t represent just its strength, but also its potential. An S-Grade ability means that the user has a high chance of bing an S-Grade ESPer with enough time and hard work.


    Of course, it''s possible to go beyond the grade of the ability. Many B-Grade ESP holders had managed to improve their psychic power to A-Grade, bing A-Grade ESPers. But once you reach the limits of your ESP, taking even a step forward is incredibly hard.


    Bloed has an SSS-Grade ability, so under normal circumstances, bing an SSS-Grade ESPer was highly possible, but now that he is unable to use this ability, he has to depend on the C-Grade ability, [Enhanced Brain Capacity], to improve his psychic power.


    However, the limit of [Enhanced Brain Capacity] is C-Grade. To improve it further until S-Grade and unlock his second ESP will be incredibly hard.


    "Tito, what do you think?" Cami held her forehead and asked.


    Tito focused its sight on Bloed. [The situation is not hopeless, master. Although improving young master''s psychic power three levels after the limit is hard, it''s not impossible. We need to exin the situation to young master and support him with all our capacity. The rest will depend on young master''s efforts.]


    Cami shook her head. "Even if it''s not impossible, it''s not far from that. I only know of two or three people that managed to improve three levels beyond their limit, and most of them took decades to achieve it."


    [We can only trust young master''s talent.]


    "... You are right. Besides, my son is a genius. I''m sure he will find a way." Cami smiled proudly. "Tito, wake Bloed up. I''ll tell him about his abilities."


    [Understood, master.]


    "Mother." Bloed walked towards Cami awkwardly. He was not yet used to call her mother, so he felt a bit awkward every time he had to speak to her.


    "Sit." Cami pointed to a chair beside her. "How are you feeling after the operation? Are you ufortable in any ce?"


    "No, mother. Tito already checked my body up and confirmed that everything is normal."


    "Good." Cami nodded gently. "Bloed, I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"


    " The good news?"


    Cami smiled. "Your ESP activation was sessful. Moreover, you didn''t awaken one ESP ability, but two!"


    "Really!?" Bloed was excited.


    "Yes. One is [C-Grade Enhanced Brain Capacity] and the other is [SSS-Grade Molecr Disintegration]"


    "SSS-Grade!!!!?" Bloed''s mouth opened in an ''O'' shape. Cami had exined the ESP grades to him before, so he knew that an SSS ability meant.


    Having an SSS-Grade ability means that his future potential is limitless! Moreover, it would be easier for him to take the step after SSS-Grade and step in the legendary realm that only a handful of ESPer had touched in history.


    Seeing his excitement, Cami proceeded to exin the characteristics of his abilities. Bloed was even more excited when he learned that [Molecr Disintegration] allowed him to break down all the matter into atoms, or even subatomic particles!


    But then, Cami told him the bad news.


    " In other words, I can''t use [Molecr Disintegration]." Bloed sighed.


    "Yes, you need to be an S-Grade ESPer before being able to make use of that ability."


    Bloed fell silent.


    "Are you alright?" Cami asked.


    Bloed nodded. "I am. Just give me a bit of time to think." He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, his gaze had turned firm.


    "I just need to be an S-Grade ESPer, right? What do I have to do?"


    Cami grinned. "Don''t worry, I''ll teach you everything you need to know."


    "I understand. When do we start?"


    "Soon, my child. By the way, have you decided which career option you will choose?"


    Bloed nodded. He had finished learning all the basic knowledge a few days ago, so Cami had asked him to choose a specialization to continue learning.


    To be honest, Bloed wanted to learn everything.


    Learning new knowledge was one of Bloed''s favorite hobbies. Plus, he was very intelligent, so most of the time he did not need much time to learn something new. Due to that, he wanted to learn many different things, but Cami did not allow it.


    ording to Cami, each individual branch of knowledge was impossible to studypletely. Trying to learn more than one at once was biting off more than one can chew.


    It was better to choose a branch and specialize in itpletely. And even if he was going to choose two, then he should focus on one and use the second to supplement the first.


    Bloed agreed with her words after thinking for a while, so in the end, he was forced to choose one career between the many he wanted to learn.


    "So, what is your choice?"


    Bloed looked at the machines in the room and curved up the corner of his lips.


    "I''ll learn mechanical engineering."


    ...

 Chapter 14: Thought Capacity

    Chapter 14: Thought Capacity


    "And Done!" Bloed''s excited voice resounded in the spaceship. "Tito, what do you think?"


    Tito''s lone eye observed Bloed''s work carefully. [Well done, young master. I never saw anyone progressing so quickly as you.]


    "Hahaha, do you think so?" Bloed grinned. He then looked at the artifact in the ground and smiled in pride.


    It had been six months since Bloed started to learn mechanical engineering, and he was already almost fourteen years old. Bloed''s days had been busy and fulfilling. He practiced his fighting techniques up to 9 in the morning. Afterward, he had breakfast and trained his ESP ability. Finally, at 2 in the afternoon, he started his engineering sses until it was night.


    Although his schedule was tight, Bloed was happy. He could feel that he was growing visibly stronger and smarter each day. Plus, he enjoyed the Cami''spany.


    Bloed''s growth could be seen clearly every time he hunted. Recently, he found it much easier to hunt stronger monsters. Although he could not face the truly strong monsters yet, many of the monster that he found threatening before were now his prey.


    Such improvement was not only due to his strongerbat techniques and better equipment, but also thanks to his ESP ability. Although [Enhanced Brain Capacity] was not an attack-type ESP ability, its uses in battle were many.


    Increasing his reaction time, predicting the enemy''s movements, determining the best course of action in battle, finding the enemy''s weakness. The advantages of [Enhanced Brain Capacity] in battle were countless. Bloed felt that his battle strength doubled just by virtue of his ESP ability.


    Unfortunately, his current psychic power was Peak E-Grade. Otherwise, his strength would be many times greater.


    Anyway, today Bloed was constructing his first high-tech machine. It was nothing too impressive, just a hovering skateboard, but it was constructed by Bloed from scratch. He designed everything, from the smallest piece until the hovering mechanism. Something like that was incredibly impressive for someone that had less than one year learning mechanical engineering.


    [As expected of an academic-type ability. Although its uses inbat areckluster, it shines in an academic environment.]


    " I think that its uses in battle are already excellent enough, though." Bloed said.


    [It looks useful because your current battles are too low-leveled. Against B-Grade enemies, a quick brain ispletely uselesspared to a giant explosion.]


    Bloed was unable to refute that. Actually, he had already noticed the limitations of its ESP ability. However, he continued thinking that this ability was incredible.


    Furthermore, he just discovered a new way to use it. Of course, he needed to put it into practice before he could be sure that it was doable.


    [Okay young master, I have confirmed that nothing is wrong with the skateboard. It''s time to show me how it works.]


    "Understood." Bloed smiled. He then took a small sticker-like transmitter from a table and put it on his temple.


    [A transmitter? So you used a thought-controlled mechanism. Admirable, but it will use a part of your thought processes, making it useless in dangerous situations.]


    "Did you forget my ESP ability? This small amount of thought processes is insignificant if you take my thought capacity into ount."


    Thought capacity is the ability of an individual to multitask. A normal person needs specialized training to be able of multitasking skilfully. But an ESPer is different. Thanks to their psychic energy, ESPers can multitask more easily and skilfully than normal humans. Stronger ESPers can realize until five different tasks at the same time.


    It was widely known that thought-controlled machines need of a strong thought capacity to be used. Due to that, only ESPers can use this kind of technology inbat, but even S-Grade ESPers can only use two or three thought-controlled machines at the same time.


    But Bloed was different. His thought capacity was around four times stronger than an average ESPer.


    Tito fell silent before nodding. [So you tailored it to your abilities. A very good idea.]


    Bloed nodded. He then stepped on the skateboard and sent a thought to activate it.


    The next second, the skateboard started to hover.


    "It worked!" Bloed shouted excitedly. "Tito, it worked!"


    [Excellent, young master.]


    "Hahahahaha! It''s cool! Let me check if everything else works!"


    Bloed then manipted the skateboard ording to his thoughts. He was a bit unfamiliar with the controls at the start, but soon, he was moving at full speed through the corridors of the spaceship.


    "Hahahaha! It''s incredible!"


    [Be careful, young master. Don''t break anything.]


    "I know, I know! Don''t worry!" Bloed shouted and continued using the skateboard.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s powerful brain turned him into a skillful skateboarder. He skillfully flew through the spaceship without breaking anything despite his high speed.


    Quickly, his movements turned more and more daring. Some of his movements were so impressive that even a professional skateboarder would have found it hard to mimic him.


    After circling all the spaceship, Bloed appeared in front of a mature-looking beautiful woman seated in a wheelchair.


    "Mother!" Bloed shouted excitedly. "Look! I seeded!"


    Cami smiled gently. "Congrattions, my child. I''m impressed by your progress."


    Bloed scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.


    "Thanks, mother."


    Now that he had grown a bit more, Bloed started to feel embarrassed in front of Cami. It was a strange feeling, he liked it when she praised him, but he also felt embarrassed and disliked it when she treated him like a child.


    Unfortunately, Bloed waspletely clueless when it came to love. All his love experience came from movies and TV shows. Due to that, not even he had realized that Cami was his first crush.


    Cami was even more oblivious to that. She saw Bloed purely as her son, so she could not imagine that he was seeing her as a romantic interest.


    Perhaps, the only one that had an inkling of the situation was the non-human Tito.


    "Bloed, we are going out tomorrow." Cami suddenly said.


    "Huh? What is it?"


    "Tito found a human vige this morning. The vige was abandoned, but it had signs of being inhabited not long ago. I''m nning to visit it tomorrow to find more about the situation."


    "Ah? Mother, but your legs."


    Cami smiled mysteriously. "You will see tomorrow."


    ...

 Chapter 15: Destroyed Village (1)

    Chapter 15: Destroyed Vige (1)


    "Amazing!" When Bloed saw Cami the next morning, he stood frozen with his mouth agape.


    Dressed in a military-style uniform, with her brown hair in a bob cut, and her pitch-ck eyes looking sharply to the horizon, Cami''s bearing resembled a powerful general leading thousand of troops.


    And more astonishingly, she was standing!


    Cami was walking confidently while wearing a silver military-ish exoskeleton. Maybe due to the exoskeleton, her body seemed unusually tall and strong. Bloed felt that, although Cami was a woman, the term handsome was adequate for the current her.


    When she saw the stupefied Bloed, Cami grinned.


    "What do you think, son?"


    " Mother, you can walk!? Did your body recover!?"


    Cami shook her head bitterly. " Unfortunately, not. I''m currently using this exoskeleton to assist my body to walk. It''s a thought-controlled militarybat suit I finished modifying a few days ago."


    An expression of disappointment appeared on Bloed''s face, but it was quickly reced by his curiosity about thebat suit.


    Cami noticed the change in his gaze and smiled. "Don''t worry, I''ll allow you to study itter. You will be able to build your ownbat suit soon enough."


    Bloed''s eyes shone. "Alright!"


    "Now let''s go. If we hurry, we cane back before night."


    Bloed nodded and departed together Cami and Tito (one of its terminals) in a vehicle.


    For this travel, Tito prepared a buggy that could transport up to four people. This buggy was the only vehicle that Tito was able to rescue from the spaceship. The other vehicles were either too damaged due to the crash, or too old deteriorated after four hundred years.


    In fact, even this buggy was repaired using parts of other vehicles and some materials found on the ship before it could be used.


    Of course, that did not affect the vehicle''s performance. Tito made sure of making this buggy better than any recently-build military car. It had a 1000-horsepower engine and could drive in any terrain without fear of being damaged.


    Using the buggy, it took the trio less than five hours to reach their destination.


    "Son, be careful and keep your weapons ready. We don''t know what we will find there." Cami reminded Bloed.


    Bloed nodded. He confirmed that his two energy guns were working and put them back in its holsters. He then checked that his saber and military knife were in good condition before leaving the vehicle.


    Bloed was wearing a ck hooded parka with a military armor below. The armor was a high-technology product that could generate a rtively powerful forcefield to protect the user from attacks.


    Same for the saber and the knife. Both weapons used osciting technology to vibrate one thousand times per second, with 0.05 mm of oscition range. This kind of weapon could cut practically anything as though it was butter, but it needed repeated maintenance to work perfectly.


    Of course, that was not a problem for Tito, a high-ss AI, and Bloed, a mechanical engineer (student).


    When they entered the vige, they were greeted by a deste scene.


    No sign of life could be found in the vige, but it had traces of people living here until not long ago. ording to Tito calctions, the people in the vige had disappeared less than one week ago.


    Unfortunately, Tito did not know why they left.


    But it knew the reason was not something good.


    No matter how Cami, Tito, and Bloed observed the vige, they came to the same conclusion. The people living here had left the vige to escape from something.


    And probably, many of them did not manage to escape.


    Cami and Bloed found trace after trace of battles. The traces were spread around all the vige, as though the vige would have been surrounded and then attacked to not leave anyone to escape.


    Strangely, though, none of the three found traces of blood.


    "How strange" Cami furrowed her brows. "Tito, what do you think?"


    [I don''t know master. The exilednds are inhabited by many dangerous creatures, and even with my scans, I have failed to identify many of them and their characteristics. Plus, we don''t know enough about this world''s magic. Maybe something like this can be done through the use of magic.]


    Cami fell silent.


    " I think I saw something like this before." Bloed said suddenly.


    "Huh?"


    "It was when I just entered the exilednds. The man that brought me here told me that other people were living in this ce and that I could try to find them. I never found anyone, though. But I remember I saw another vige like this one."


    [Can you describe it, young master?]


    "Let me think I remember it seemed much more dpidated that this vige. But everything else was the same. It was as though all its inhabitants had left the vige in a hurry, and you could see signs of destruction everywhere. I did not stay there for long, though, so I''m not very sure of my judgment."


    Cami expression turned serious. " I hope you are mistaken, Bloed. If your words are true, it means that there is something out there hunting people, and it has somehow destroyed two viges already, maybe even more."


    [ Master, I fear things are worse than you think.]


    Cami was startled. "What do you mean, Tito?"


    [I''m detecting multiple signs of life nearby.]


    Cami''s expression tensed up. "Where?"


    [ Everywhere.]

 Chapter 16: Destroyed Village (2)

    Chapter 16: Destroyed Vige (2)


    [Everywhere]


    Cami''s expression changed. She did not hesitate to close her eyes and spread her psychic power to the surroundings. Instantly, she found thousands of life signals.


    "This is"


    "Mother, what happened!?" Bloed asked.


    A serious expression appeared on Cami''s face. "We are surrounded. There are around one thousand monsters around us, probably even more. Tito, I need the exact number."


    [Master, I have detected 2456 life signals, and more iing.]


    "Dammit. Bloed, let''s go."


    Bloed nodded. He held a gun on his hand and followed his mother through the debris of the vige.


    Even after knowing the number of enemies, Bloed remained calm. He wasn''t affected in the slightest by the fact that the enemies had surrounded them.


    As someone that had survived in the hell known as the Exiled Lands, Bloed had lost the count of the number of life and death situations he had faced. Even if he knew he was going to die in the next second, he would not lose his calm.


    Plus, he had realized that despite the urgency in her tone, Cami was also rxed. It seemed as though this number of enemies was nothing to her.


    And in fact, for an S-Grade ESPer, numbers were meaningless.


    "Tito, report the situation." Cami said.


    Tito hovered beside her. [The monsters are rushing towards us. ETA: Two minutes.]


    "Good. Find me the best ce to face them."


    [Understood. Turn to the right now. There is a small hill 200 meters away.]


    "Thanks. Let''s go, Bloed."


    "Yes, mother."


    After climbing the small hill, Bloed and Cami understood the gravity of the situation.


    Monsters of all the sizes and shapes were rushing towards them. The monsters'' bloodshot eyes shone with the sun, and their fierce appearance made them look as though they had been starved for months.


    As a scientist, Cami quickly noticed something wrong.


    "Strange, why are those monsters not attacking each other? I thought that we were facing a herd, but most of those monsters are frompletely different species Bloed, is it normal?"


    " It''s my first time seeing something like this."


    "As I thought... Tito?"


    [ording to my scans, the monsters show erratic brainwaves. Simr symptoms are found when a mind maniption ESPer controls a target.]


    "So we are facing a monster that controls other monsters to attack us, huh. This world sure is interesting."


    [Master, the weapons are ready to fire.]


    "Huh? Weapons?" Bloed was startled, but Cami just smiled.


    " Light up the fireworks then."


    [Understood.]


    Then, a metallic arm grew out of Tito''s body.


    The arm was holding a small metallic box and let it fall to the ground. But before touching the ground, the metallic grew tens of times bigger, until bing in a giant artillery battery.


    Bloed''s mouth opened wide. "That is"


    "Spatialpression technology. It allows carrying objects in a space smaller than their size. Unfortunately, the energy it consumes increases exponentially with the object''s size, so its uses are very limited."


    At that moment, Tito''s mechanical voice sounded.


    [Opening fire in three, two, one]


    Then


    *BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!*


    Tens of surface-to-air missiles were shot simultaneously, flying towards the sea of enemies.


    The explosion made the ground shake. Hundreds of meters were engulfed in burning sma. The smell of burning hair and flesh filled the entire vige.


    Bloed''s eyes lit up. The scene of tens of missiles exploding at the same time could be described as breathtaking.


    When the explosions finally stopped, a tenth of the monster had been killed.


    "Hahahaha, the weather is great today, Bloed."


    [Unfortunately, I used all my missiles in this attack.] Tito said.


    "Hahaha, don''t worry about it. Tito, how many survivors?" Cami asked.


    [I counted 325, most of them gravely injured.]


    "Perfect! Bloed, do you want to y a game with your mom?"


    "Huh?"


    "The one who kills more monsters wins. Don''t worry, I will not use my ESPer powers."


    Bloed looked at Cami and smiled savagely. "I''m in!"


    "Hahaha, that is the spirit. Tito, keep the score."


    [Understood, master.]


    "What are we waiting for then? Let''s go!"


    The next second, Cami jumped towards the monsters.


    Instantly, Bloed realized that he had been duped.


    Cami''s jump covered thirty meters effortlessly, and her movements were incredibly fast. In a second, she had appeared before the monsters.


    "Dammit!" Bloed cursed under his breath and charged towards the monsters too.


    Taking the gun out of the holster, he started to shot.


    Most of the monsters were pretty weak, with the strongest being the equivalent to a C-Grade ESPer. Of course, Bloed was not strong enough to face a C-Grade monster yet, but Cami seemed to know that, so she proactively went after the stronger monsters and left the weaker to Bloed.


    As for D-Grade monsters and below, Bloed could barely handle them with the help of technology.


    Like that, a game of killing monsters started. Bloed used his weapons freely, making use of his ESP ability to its greatest advantage. But even like that, he could not bepared to Cami.


    Cami did not use guns and only fought the monsters with a military saber, but her armor and herbat techniques gave her an overwhelming advantage against them. She never needed more than three swings to kill a monster, no matter how strong it was.


    Furthermore, her stamina seemed infinite. She did not seem tired even after thirty minutes of battle, even though Bloed was already sweating cold.


    "What happened, son? Too young to win against your mom?"


    " You are a monster."


    "Hahaha, thanks for thepliment."


    Bloed shook his head. To be honest, he felt a bit disappointed after losing. He knew that Cami was stronger than him, but he did not expect that even without her ESP abilitites the difference was so big.


    Even without her ESP abilities, Cami''s armor and battle techniques were overwhelming enough to leave Bloed ashamed.


    "Hahahaha, this old mother wins this time, Bloed!" Camiughed happily. She then looked towards Bloed and grinned.


    But suddenly, her expression changed.


    "Look out!"


    With an expression of terror, Cami charged towards Bloed.


    Bloed was surprised. Before he could react, Cami had pushed him away.


    The next instant, an enormous monster jumped out of the sand.


    Then, it swallowed Cami whole.

 Chapter 17: A ESPer’s Power

    Chapter 17: A ESPer¡¯s Power


    Bloed''s body froze.


    Disbelief filled his face. In his mind, the image of his mother being swallowed alive repeated again and again.


    The monster''s mouth closed. His giant body, filled with tentacles and scales, jumped out of the sand and roared loudly.


    "ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!"


    Then, Bloed finally understood what happened.


    "Mother!" Bloed bellowed. He rushed towards the monster frantically, forgetting everything about keeping calm and using his brain.


    In his head, his only thought was about how to save his mother.


    "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" His saber was unsheathed. The osciting de of the saber roared into life. Sparks of electricity covered the de, filling it with an incredible lethality.


    But when the de shed the monster, Bloed understood.


    This enemy was not something he could face.


    A mana barrier flickered around the monster, stopping the depletely. Bloed''s attack was unable to cause the monster even a scratch.


    The next second, the monster moved.


    Then, Bloed''s body was sent flying away.


    One movement. It was all the monster needed to deal with Bloed.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s armor absorbed part of the attack. Otherwise, he would have died instantly.


    Bloed coughed a mouthful of blood. Two of his ribs had been broken, and his right arm was bent in a strange shape. Bloed was evidently out of battle.


    Tito hurriedly flew towards Bloed. The AI created a quick energy barrier that was destroyed stopping the monster follow up attack. Tito then lifted Bloed and carried him away.


    [Young master, are you alright?]


    " Cough Tito, mother." Bloed looked at Tito and his eyes turned red. "Mother is Mother is"


    [Calm down, young master.] Tito said. [You underestimate master. It''s impossible for her to be defeated for a monster of this caliber.]


    "But, but"


    Tito created another barrier and stopped another of the monster''s attacks. It then looked at Bloed with its lone eye.


    [Young master, this monster''s energy level is around A-Grade. How can something like this kill master? Stop worrying, we just need to get away.]


    Bloed was startled. Then, his eyes recovered a bit of hope.


    The monster continued trashing, using its tentacles to attack them. But although the monster was powerful, it was rtively slow. Maybe it was the reason it controlled other monsters to hunt for it.


    Tito, on the other hand, was a very advanced AI. Its round body moved through the gaps between the tentacles while it carried Bloed. When it was unable to avoid an attack, it put on an energy shield and used it to escape.


    Finally, it escaped far enough to get away from the tentacles'' reach.


    [I think it''s enough. Master, we are out of the danger zone.] Tito suddenly said.


    [ Finally!] A woman''s voice sounded from Tito''s body. [I was already tired of this grotesque thing.]


    Bloed''s sighed in relief. "Mother!"


    [Hahahaha, were you worried about your mom, child? Don''t worry. This monster is nothing in front of your mother. Look how I destroy it for you!]


    Then, she shouted.


    [Explode!]


    Cami''s ESP Ability, [Nuclear Fission], was activated!


    Instantly, a muffled roar sounded.


    Under Bloed''s gaze, the figure of the monster swelled up eerily. Then, a blinding ball of light lit up the vige.


    The next second, a deafening sound impacted Bloed''s ears.


    *BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!*


    "ROAAAAAARRRRR!!!" The monster roared in pain. Two-thirds of its body was consumed by the attack and the small mushroom cloud created by the nuclear explosion clouded the sun.


    Above the monster, Cami was flying using the propulsors of her suit. Not even a scratch could be seen on her body, as though she would not have been swallowed by a monster just a moment ago.


    She was watching the monster with a thoughtful expression. One of her hands was touching her chin as though she was thinking hard about something.


    "How interesting It''s still alive even after losing most of its body. Also, neither Tito nor I were able to feel it before it attacked. Could it be thanks to the mana or maybe it''s something inherent of its species?"


    She then shook her head in disappointment. "Unfortunately, I don''t have time to study it. Otherwise, I would take its body to theboratory. Such a shame."


    Once she finished speaking, the monster''s body swelled up again.


    ... And another explosion swallowed its remaining body.


    Only ashes remained of its body.


    Bloed''s mouth opened wide. It was his first time seeing Cami''s full power. The fact that she was able to destroy such a powerful monster in seconds was unbelievable.


    For the first time, he truly understood the meaning of being able to destroy a city singlehandedly.


    Forget a city, Cami probably could turn an entire region into ashes if she goes all out.


    A strong yearning filled Bloed. This was true strength. This was the power he desired with all his being.


    "What do you think, son?" Caminded in front of Bloed and smirked. "Your mom is incredible, right?"


    Bloed nodded silently. She truly was incredible.


    Seeing his reaction, Cami smiled widely. "You will also be like that in the future, son. You only need to work hard!"


    "I will." Bloed promised.


    Cami nodded satisfied. "Very well. Let''s go back then. Using my ESP abilities after so long left me starving! Tito, bring the buggy here."


    [Understood master.]


    A few minutester, the group departed back to the spaceship.


    Unfortunately, none of them noticed the thing that remained in the crater caused by Cami''s explosion.


    When the monster turned into ashes, a mass-like ck thing appeared.


    The ck thing screeched in pain and hatred. Then, it twitched eerily and turned into a small rat-like animal.


    One instantter, the animal burrowed into the sand and disappeared.

 Chapter 18: The Worst Mother

    Chapter 18: The Worst Mother


    The way back to the spaceship was engulfed inplete silence.


    After the excitement of seeing Cami''s power left Bloed, his expression turnedplicated. Bloed remembered that he was the reason Cami was swallowed by the monster.


    If it would not have been Cami but another person without the ability to escape from that situation, then today would have ended in tragedy.


    Bloed hated that. He hated that his carelessness put his mother in danger. He always prided himself on having survived the Exiled Lands by himself, but this time, his carelessness almost caused a tragedy.


    Cami also seemed to be thinking about something, so she did not pay attention to Bloed''s mood. Tito was the only one that seemed ''normal'', but as a very professional AI, it stayed silent to not interrupt its masters'' thoughts.


    When the buggy arrived at the spaceship, Bloed finally opened his mouth.


    "Mother, sorry"


    "Hmm?"


    "If, if I would have been more alert, this would not have happened."


    Cami smiled. "Don''t worry about it, son. It''s normal for children tomit mistakes, and as a parent, my duty is to make sure that you have the opportunity to learn about your mistakes."


    Bloed bit his lips and lowered his gaze. For some reason, hearing Cami calling him a child only made him feel worse.


    " It will not happen again." He whispered.


    "Hmm?"


    "I promise you, it will not happen again." Bloed looked up with a determined expression. "I promise you I''ll be strong enough to never put you in danger. I swear!"


    Cam was stunned, but in the next second, she smiled.


    Her smile, however, was hiding her deep pain.


    "I''ll be waiting for that." She said gently. "Now go to the infirmary. You need medic treatment."


    A few minutester, when Cami and Bloed separated.


    "Cough cough cough!"


    Violent coughing sounds resounded in Cami''s room. She leaned her body forward and vomited a few mouthfuls of blood and pieces of internal organs.


    When her coughing fit finally ended, she wiped off the blood on her lips and looked at Tito with a tired face.


    " Tito, give me a diagnostic."


    [ Master, using your abilities this time caused a huge burden to your body. The process of necrosis elerated drastically and damaged some of your internal organs.]


    Cami fell silent. She looked at the ground and sighed deeply.


    " How much longer I have?"


    [ Less than one year.] Tito replied after a pause.


    Cami bit her lips. " So little."


    The next second, she smiled bitterly.


    "How ironic, one year ago my biggest wish was to die, but now, I want a little bit more of time"


    Tito remained silent. It hovered around its master and asked.


    [I don''t understand master. If you stayed in the spaceship, this would not have happened.]


    "You are right, Tito, but I''m a mother. When you told me that you detected a life signal simr to a devourer, I could not stay quiet without doing anything knowing the danger it could represent to my son Fortunately, it was a false rm."


    [Yeah, although that creature''s life signal was simr to a devourer, there were some differences. Furthermore, I analyzed its tissue and confirmed it did not belong to a devourer.]


    "That is good" Cami sighed in relief. She theny down on the bed and used her arms to cover her eyes.


    Suddenly, she spoke.


    "Tito, what do you think will happen to Bloed once I''m gone?"


    []


    "... I''m afraid, Tito. Bloed is a pitiful child. If even I, his only family, leaves him, he will crumble down."


    [Young master is very strong, master.]


    "Do you think so?" Cami smiled self-deprecatorily. " I''m a coward. I''m not even able to tell him the truth."


    Tito did not reply.


    "Tito, I have been thinking Do you remember the project I had been working on when the devourers attacked us?"


    [I do. The project Valkyrie.]


    "Yes. I had been searching for a way tobine a human brain with an AI."


    [Master''s advancements in that field were impressive. If you would have been given twenty years more, you would have seeded.]


    Cami chuckled bitterly.


    "Actually, I seeded."


    []


    "Just before we were attacked, I made a major breakthrough. I have seventy percent of confidence in creating a hybrid Valkyrie. A perfect war machine."


    [I see.]


    "... If I create a Valkyrie for my son. One that protects him and stays with him when I''m gone Will he be happy?"


    Tito stopped moving. [Master, you are not thinking of using your body to]


    "No. My body is too damaged to endure the operation. Even if I want, it''s impossible."


    [ But if it''s not you, where are you going to find a suitable body?]


    Cami''s expression turnedplicated. She fell silent for a moment before heaving a sigh of resignation.


    " There is a suitable body in this spaceship."


    [ I see.] Tito understood its master''s meaning instantly.


    "I''m sure I am the worst mother in the world." Cami chuckled in a self-deprecatory manner. "First, I left my daughter die in front of my eyes, then, I recognized a son irresponsibly despite knowing the pain I would cause him. And now, I''m going to desecrate my daughter''s body to pave a future for my son..."


    A heavy silence filled the room. As an AI, Tito could not find a way to console its master.


    It could not understand its master''s feelings.


    "Tito, prepare the body and theboratory. This will be myst gift to my son."


    The only thing it could do was to follow its master''s orders.


    [Understood, master.]


    Such was its fate as an AI.


    ...


    If you like the story, leave a review...

 Chapter 19: Saber

    Chapter 19: Saber


    Six monthster, Bloed was already fourteen.


    It had been two years since the day he met Cami, and Bloed had grown into a handsome young man.


    With a healthy body, short ck hair, and a pair of deep ck eyes, Bloed was the dream lover of any girl. Unfortunately, nobody besides Cami knew it.


    Thest six months had been very eventful to Bloed. After the incident in the vige, he dedicated even more time to his training. Bloed stopped seeing movies or ying games in his free time, and instead, put all his attention on his ESP abilities and his studies as a mechanical engineer.


    And his hard work was rewarded with amazing results.


    Even Cami could only sigh in admiration seeing Bloed''s progress. In two years, he went from beingpletely ignorant about technology to being a qualified mechanical engineer.


    Three months ago, Bloedpleted his firstbat exoskeleton. It was a thought-controlled armor that increased his strength and speed three-fold. Besides it, it allowed flight and had an energy barrier that could defend against C-Grade attacks and below.


    In fact, Bloed could create an even stronger armor, but his psychic energy could not support the energy consumption of a stronger armor. As such, Bloed decided to use this one until he grew stronger.


    Bloed had also created many other interesting artifacts, such as smart sses, an all-terrain vehicle, a new kind of energy gun, and a small robot.


    On the other hand, His psychic energy showed noticeable growth. He had be a D-Grade Esper four months ago, and his psychic energy had reached to middle D-Grade a few days ago. Bloed did not want to boast, but he was confident in breaking through to C-Grade in a year. Such a speed of advancement was first-rate even in the human confederation.


    But there was something Bloed felt even more proud yet.


    Currently, Bloed was about to seed in his most amazing project to date.


    A saber.


    The futuristic-looking sable was one meter long, made usingyeredpression technology. More than one hundred kilograms of steel had beenpressed in twentyyers to create the de of the saber. It gave the saber a hardness and resistance iparable to any material in this world.


    Of course, its extreme weight was a drawback, but Bloed nned to wield it only when wearing his armor anyway.


    However, the greatness of the saber was neither in its design nor in the materials used. Instead, it was in the runes Bloed was carving in the de.


    Magic runes.


    When Bloed finished carving thest rune, he heaved a tired sight and wiped away the sweat on his forehead.


    "It''s done." Bloed smiled in satisfaction.


    [ I still don''t know what you are nning, young master.] Tito said. [I can''t see anything extraordinary in this saber besides the material.]


    "I told you, Tito, the secret is in the runes."


    [Young master, you said the same with thest three sabers you made, but they ended as three normal sabers with beautiful marking on their des.]


    Bloed''s smile froze on its face. "Hahaha Well, I''m sure I''ll seed this time."


    [I hope so. Are you going to test the saber right now, young master?] Tito asked.


    Bloed nodded. "Yes, I will be unable to rest without knowing if I was sessful or not."


    [Understood. I already prepared the test room.]


    Bloed nodded and followed Tito. Soon, they reached the room used to test new weapons.


    Bloed took a deep breath, wore his armor and grabbed the saber. He then walked towards a two-meters-tall metallic block made with the same materials as the saber.


    Closing his eyes, he focused his mind in the saber on his hands. He then called upon his sleeping power. Once he was ready, he opened his eyes.


    Psychic energy surrounded the saber. For a brief instant, the runes in the de lit up with a dim light.


    Then, Bloed raised the saber and shed downwards.


    The next second


    *sh!*


    The metallic block was cut into two.


    Bloed opened his eyes wide. He looked at the saber on his hands with an expression of disbelief.


    "I Seeded?"


    [ I think it can be considered a sess. Congrattions, young master.]


    Instantly, Bloed''s face morphed into a wide smile.


    "Hahahahaha! I seeded! Tito, I seeded! Look, I used [Molecr Disintegration]!"


    [Well done, young master. Even I can''t understand how you managed to activate it. Is it thanks to the runes?]


    "Yes." Bloed answered with an excited look. "Those are magic runes, Tito. I read about them when I was a child, and when I stepped into D-Grade, I was able to remember them. I thought I could use them to activate my ESP ability, but unexpectedly I seeded!"


    Tito''s eye rotated and focused on the runes. [So those are magic runes. I never expected they had this effect.]


    Bloed smiled proudly. Actually, although he described the process as something simple, he needed an enormous amount of hard work to make it work.


    The runes he saw when he was a child were the runes of basic spells. Those runes were already ensembled to get a specified effect. In other words, they were already aplete system.


    But Bloed disassembled the spell runes to get the most basic runes of magic. He then relied on his deduction and countless experiments to determine the effect of each rune.


    Such experiments already exceeded 99% of the mages in this world. Even although Bloed could not use magic, his knowledge of magic runes surpassed most mages.


    Once he was done determining the effect of each rune, he experimented to see if the runes could be used with other types of energy.


    Unfortunately, normal energy could not be used. However, the experiment using psychic energy showed that it was possible to use it to activate the runes, but limited to one''s ESP ability.


    So, Bloed got the idea to use the runes to ease the use of [Molecr Disintegration].


    The reason [Molecr Disintegration] can not be used is that the calctions necessary to activate it exceeds the current capacity of his calction zone. But if he used the runes to realize most of the calctions and then uses his psychic energy to activate the runes, then it''s possible to use his dormant ESP ability.


    When Bloed was sure that his deduction was, in fact, possible, he excitedly developed a weapon to use [Molecr Disintegration] with.


    Thus, this saber was created.


    Unfortunately, Bloed current capabilities limited the weapons he could create. He thought about creating a gun, but the number of runes needed would make the gun five meters long, maybe longer, making itpletely useless in battle.


    So, Bloed decided to start with a saber. He would think about creating a gunter.


    [Young master, are you going to see master?] Tito suddenly asked.


    Bloed was startled before nodding. "Yes. I''m going to show the saber to her. I''m sure she will be very happy."


    Tito''s eye shed briefly. [Perfect. Master asked you to go to her room. She has something to show you.]


    Bloed smiled. "Oh? Mother has been working on a secret project for thest six months. Could it be about that?"


    Tito nodded. [Correct. It''s master''s biggest achievement in her life. You will be surprised when you see it.]


    Bloed was stunned. But then, he smiled excitedly.


    After hearing Tito, he was really curious about Cami''stest creation.


    But not even in his wildest thoughts he could have imagined what he was going to see next.

 Chapter 20: Heritage of the Gods

    Chapter 20: Heritage of the Gods


    "Congrattions, son. This saber of yours is something that has surpassed the confederation''s technology." Cami smiled proudly.


    "I was lucky." Bloed scratched his cheek in embarrassment, but Cami shook her head.


    "No, Bloed. You need more than luck to do something like this. Worthy of being my son!"


    Bloed did not know how to answer.


    Cami, on the other hand, smiled slyly. "I guess that as your mother I can''tg behind, huh. Fortunately, I also finished a groundbreaking project today. Something that will crown me as the best bioengineer of all time! Are you ready for it, Bloed?"


    Bloed nodded with a smile.


    Cami then took Bloed inside herboratory. When they were inside, Cami pointed at a girl seated in a chair and smiled.


    "Bloed, meet Reginleif, [Heritage of the Gods], thest Valkyrie, and your partner from today onwards!"


    Bloed eyes opened wide.


    Long tinum hair, golden eyes, and incredibly pale skin. Reginleif beauty was incredibly breathtaking. Beauty such as hers could be called perfect.


    Her delicate-looking body seemed so frail, and at the same time so strong. Her face waspletely devoid of expressions, but her eyes were filled with confusion. A simple white dress was covering her body, and her naked feet rested softly on the ground.


    Bloed was sure that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. The only reason he did not fall in love with her instantly was that he already had someone in his heart.


    " A girl!?" Bloed asked startled.


    Cami giggled. "What do you think? She is beautiful, right?"


    "B-But A girl? How?"


    "I already told you." Cami replied with a face full of pride. "She is myst project, my best creation, the best Valkyrie ever!"


    "Valkyrie?" Bloed was surprised. "An AI?"


    Cami shook her head.


    "Not exactly. Although she is a Valkyrie, she is different than the Valkyries before her. Actually, she is part human, part AI. Mmm, you can say that I imnted an AI into a human body, and gave her human emotions and feelings. She even has her own ESP ability. Unfortunately, she needs a long time to define her personality. That will be your task."


    "Mine?" Bloed asked surprised.


    Cami nodded smilingly. "Of course, yours. Reginleif will be your partner, bodyguard, friend, and servant. I designed her for you, Bloed. She ispletely loyal to you, and everything about her is yours."


    Bloed''s expression turnedplicated. On one side, he was happy that Cami worked so hard to give him such a gift, but on the other side, he was frustrated that Cami gifted him a woman.


    Having the woman you love giving you a woman... It''s a very-hard-to-describe feeling


    Unfortunately, Cami failedpletely to see this.


    "Come, let''s see her." She pulled him inside.


    Bloed followed reluctantly.


    Cami walked towards Reginleif and pushed Bloed towards her.


    "Reginleif, he is Bloed, your master."


    Reginleif looked at Bloed in confusion.


    "Master? So he is master Master"


    Cami looked at Bloed and elbowed him.


    "What are you waiting for?"


    Bloed smiled awkwardly. "Hello, Reginleif."


    "Hello, master." She stood up and bowed respectfully.


    Bloed smiled bitterly. "Please, stop with that. Simply call me Bloed. I call you Regina."


    "I understand, master."


    Bloed''s expression twitched.


    "I told you, call me Bloed."


    "I know, master."


    " Regina?"


    "Master?"


    Bloed looked at the girl''s innocent face and sighed. "Whatever. I guess I''ll have to get used to it."


    Cami looked at the two of them and giggled. "Okay, now that you have introduced each other, it''s time for me to exin you Reginleif''s functions. Actually, you only need to know that she is a very advanced AI and has SS-Grade powers, but I limited her strength to your level. She can only unleash her entire strength when you are in a life-and-death danger."


    "Huh? Why?" Bloed tilted his head confused.


    "It''s for your own good." Cami exined. "You need to constantly use your ESP abilities to improve them, and battling is one of the fastest ways to improve your ESP abilities. If Reginleif is too strong, you will be too dependent on her and thus, you''ll be unable to unleash your maximum potential."


    Bloed nodded in acknowledgment. The fact that ESP abilities improved faster through battle wasmon knowledge in the federation. The reason was notpletely known, but most thought it was due to the soul unleashing its maximum potential when its survival was in danger.


    "But mother, I don''t think I need a servant." Bloed frowned. "It''s enough with the robots in the spaceship."


    Cami smiled bitterly.


    "If you don''t want a servant, what do you think about a friend? You don''t have any friends, Bloed. Having someone you can spend time with is good for you."


    Bloed could only nod reluctantly.


    Cami watched it and sighed. She then caressed Bloed''s cheek gently. "Bloed, take care of Reginleif. I hope you can teach her how to be human."


    Bloed stared at Cami''s eyes and finally nodded. "Don''t worry, mother. I''ll treat her as my sister."


    Cami smiled. "That is good. Now go back to yourboratory. I need to make somest adjustments to Reginleif."


    Bloed nodded again and left obediently.


    When Bloed was gone, Cami closed her eyes with a pained expression. She then walked towards Regina and hugged her.


    "Mother?" Regina tilted her head confused.


    " Yes, you are my daughter Sorry, Lina, sorry sorry"


    Seeing the falling from Cami''s eyes, Regina lifted her hand and wiped them away.


    "Are you ill, mother? My scans said that some of your organs are at risk of failure. You need immediate treatment."


    Cami shuddered. She knew it. The girl on her arms was not Lina, she was Reginleif. Lina died four hundred years ago, her soulpletely destroyed.


    But even so, she was also Reginleif''s mother.


    Because she created her, using the body of her only daughter.


    "Don''t worry about that, Reginleif Also, don''t mention my situation to Bloed."


    " I understand mother."


    " Please, take care of him. You can use your entire strength if you consider it necessary, but try not to stunt his growth. Help him to grow into an amazing man."


    "Don''t worry, mother, I''ll protect master with all my being."


    Cami smiled.


    " Sorry, Lina And I love you, my daughter."


    Regina lowered her head in confusion.


    She could not understand. She was not Lina. She did not know Lina. That name was not in her database.


    And she could not understand the meaning of love.


    ...


    Guys, my P4TR30N has the next five chapters (the end of this arc). You can also read the next twenty chapters of my other novel, [Fourth Prince''s Debauchery] if you want. Go and pledge if you want to support me.


    P4TR3ON: /aidnovels

 Chapter 21: Happiness and Love

    Chapter 21: Happiness and Love


    "Master, coffee."


    Regina served Bloed a cup of coffee politely.


    "Thank you." Bloed smiled and asked her to put it on the table while he finished his current experiment.


    As a helper, Regina was incredibly versatile. From cooking, washing dishes, and preparing coffee, to helping with Bloed''s experiments and being his sparring partner. Regina could do almost anything. Even Bloed could only sigh in admiration with such a perfect assistant.


    Bloed life had be many times easier since Regina appeared in his life. Having a personal assistant that could answer all his needs made his work way smoother. Moreover, Regina was easy to the eye. Bloed was much happier having a beautiful girl beside him than having a hovering talking ball of metal.


    Her only defect was that she rarely spoke. She seldom started a conversation. And the few times she did, it was because she wanted to ask about something or she wanted to help Bloed with his experiments.


    Most of the time, Regina simply stood there thinking about something unknown. Bloed did not know what she was thinking about, but ording to Cami, she was trying to learn about ''feelings''.


    Bloed rather liked Regina. In fact, he liked that she was a quiet girl. After all, he needed to be fully concentrated during his experiments, and any small distraction could mean failure.


    Almost six months had passed since Regina was created, and Bloed continued progressing as fast as a rocket. He had started to study bioengineering a few months ago, and his progress in the field wasmendable.


    He had some projects in mind, but he was not sure if Cami was going to approve them. To be honest, even Bloed thought they were a bit crazy, but he also felt they were perfect for him.


    Besides studying bioengineering, Bloed had also built a few more artifacts sessfully and received his body enhancement surgery one month ago. The surgery was something all the soldiers received before being deployed to space, and it consists of strengthening his body gic''s makeup.


    After the surgery, Bloed was five times faster and stronger, his body was much more resistant to extreme situations, and his height had increased noticeably. Currently, Bloed was almost 1.80 meters tall despite not being fifteen yet.


    Bloed needed almost one week to adapt to his new body, but Cami said that normally you would need two months, so he was pretty happy with his results. He concluded that it was another perk of [Enhanced Brain Capacity].


    Normally, the minimum age to receive the surgery is fifteen, but for some reason, Cami decided to realize it before it. She never exined the reason though, but Bloed trusted Cami blindly, so he never asked it.


    Today, Bloed was working on a new project of his.


    His hand was holding an electric plier, and his other hand was holding an incredibly small artifact, less than one centimeter long. It seemed like a small metallic ball.


    When he was done, he let out a heavy breath and put the ball on the table.


    "Let''s see if it works." Bloed muttered to himself. "Regina, give me energy."


    "Yes, master." Regina nodded and turned on the electricity.


    Bloed stared at the ball withplete focus. When the electricity reached it he held his breath and waited patiently.


    But nothing happened.


    " It''s a failure, huh." Bloed said after waiting for almost one minute. He then looked up and sighed. "Dammit, I have tried everything I can think about. What is wrong?"


    "Master, you are using a program tooplex for a piece too small. The result you want is simply impossible."


    Bloed looked at Regina and smiled. "Are you not supposed to cheer me up? What kind of assistant are you?"


    "I''m simply trying to help you to save time. I think it''s better if you work in more meaningful projects." Regina said.


    Bloedughed. "Hahaha, yeah, perhaps you are right. However, I''m pretty confident in my idea. I just need to change my focus and I''ll find the answer."


    Regina frowned. "Master, what you want is simply impossible with the current technology. Moreover, you still want to make it interact with more pieces as a hive. I can''t see a way it can work."


    "Yeah, it has to interact As a hive As a hive As a hive! Regina, you are a genius!"


    "Huh?"


    "That is the answer! A hive! Mmm Nope, a is a better name. Yes, if I connect them with a and allow them to share information in real-time, storing just a bit of information in each piece andbining the pieces to make a whole Hahahaha, it''s possible! What do you think, Regina?"


    " Master, your idea is crazy But it could work"


    "Hahaha, you see I told you it''s possible!"


    Regina sighed and put on a smile. "I admit defeat. By the way, master, dinnertime is in twenty minutes."


    "Oh? It''s already sote." Bloed shook his head. "Thank you for reminding me, Regina. I don''t want to leave mother waiting for me."


    "It''s my duty."


    Bloed nodded and quickly changed his clothes. Of course, he asked Regina to leave his room first. Even if Regina was technically his servant, he was not going to change his clothes in front of a girl.


    Moreover, his heart already had an owner. Showing his body to another woman was disrespectful to his love.


    Although technically, his love did not even know about his feelings.


    When Bloed and Regina were walking towards the dining room, Regina suddenly asked something.


    "Master, can I ask a question?"


    "Of course, do ask."


    Regina fell silent for a moment. She then opened her lips hesitantly.


    " I have been trying to understand the concept of happinesstely, but there is something I don''t understand. Why are you sometimes happier than at other times?"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "For example, every time you are about to see mother or when you speak to her or about her, your heart rate elerates, your secretions of serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin increase drastically, and your steps be lighter. However, that does not happen when you talk to me or Tito."


    Bloed froze. He then looked at Regina with an awkward expression.


    "Is it very obvious?"


    Regina furrowed her eyes and nodded.


    "The signs are around twenty percent stronger."


    Bloed smiled wryly. How was he supposed to answer this?


    Fortunately, he thought an answer quickly.


    "Actually, Regina, it''s hard to exin When you fall in love with someone, you will understand."


    Regina furrowed her brows.


    "Love, huh"


    "Yeah, love. You feel happier when you are with someone you love, and sad when your love is sad. You care about the person you love, and that person is always in your thoughts At least, I think love is like that."


    "Love" Regina could not help but think about that word.


    But after thinking for a long time without finding an answer, Regina once more confirmed something she had realized a while ago.


    Human feelings are unnecessarilyplicated.

 Chapter 22: Every Beginning Must Have and End (1)

    Chapter 22: Every Beginning Must Have and End (1)


    "You are here." Cami greeted Bloed and Regina with a smile.


    "Mother." Bloed smiled. Regina also nodded briefly.


    "Sit. The food will be served soon. I heard Tito say that today''s dinner is fried chicken with French potatoes bathed in cheese. My mouth is already watering."


    Bloed grinned. "Nice! I''m starving"


    "Hahaha, you are always starving. Do you think I don''t know you hid potato chips in your room?"


    Bloed was embarrassed. To be honest, though, anybody would love food as much as him after surviving one entire year eating raw meat and insects and drinking fresh blood.


    "Reginleif, will you eat?" Cami asked.


    " Food is not something necessary for my body But I think I want a little." Regin said.


    "That is good." Cami nodded. "Food is one of mankind''s best pleasures. Learning to enjoy food will help you to be more human."


    " More human, huh." Regina nodded and fell silent.


    A few minutester, the food was served. As was the habit in this family, the food was gone in an instant. Actually, Bloed was the one that ate the most. He ate almost five times more than Cami and Reginabined.


    Plus, after the body enhancement operation, Bloed''s appetite had be increasingly bigger. He was still thinking about repeat again.


    At that moment, Cami looked at him.


    "Bloed, what are your ns for the future?"


    " ns?" Bloed was stunned. Cami had never asked him something like this.


    "Yes, ns." Cami turned serious. "You are not thinking about staying in this corner of the world forever, right?"


    Bloed fell silent. Actually, he never considered leaving.


    This ce was like his paradise. Here, he had Cami, Tito, and Regina, his only loved ones. What reason he had to leave?


    Cami seemed to understand everything from his silence. With a sigh, she tapped the table twice and spoke.


    "Bloed, the world is very big. You can''t spend all your life here. Sooner orter you will have to leave. And when you do, you will have to face the world that abandoned you."


    "But mother, what is wrong with staying here? I like this ce. What else ca"


    *BAM!*


    Cami mmed the table hard.


    "Bloed, stop being a child! You are already fifteen! Don''t you have a dream? Something you want to do? You are my son! I want to be proud of my son and be able to say, he is my son!"


    " Are you not proud of me now?"


    Cami was startled before shaking her head with a bitter smile. "Of course, I''m proud of you. But you can''t spend all your life here. Bloed, you must go to the outside world, meet the sights this world has to offer and discover the unknowns you can''t discover here."


    Cami then moved her wheelchair beside Bloed and caressed his cheek. " Go, my son. Find your dream."


    Bloed fell silent for a moment.


    " Will you go with me?" He suddenly asked.


    Cami''s expression turnedplicated. " No. I can''t apany you this time."


    "Why?"


    " It''splicated, Bloed, but I can''t. Don''t worry, Regina will go with you."


    Bloed turned silent.


    Bloed did not want to leave. He did not have good memories of the outside world, and besides, he considered the spaceship as the perfect ce in this world. Here, he could experiment freely, he could eat with his mother, the woman he loved, and could tease Regina when he was bored.


    But he also understood Cami''s point. Actually, going to sightsee around the world was not so bad.


    But he wanted go with Cami.


    "Mother, I will not go without you."


    " I''m sorry, Bloed. I can''t."


    "I don''t understand. You can use your armor to walk, and I read once that there is a very powerful healing mage somewhere in the continent. Maybe he can heal your body!"


    "Don''t insist, Bloed."


    "But"


    "I said not!"


    Bloed froze.


    Cami''s reaction was strange.


    Instantly, a bad presentment filled his heart.


    " Mother, are you hiding something from me?"


    ""


    " Tito, what is happening?"


    [ I''m sorry, young master. I''m not authorized to talk about it.]


    " Indeed, there is something."


    "Bloed, please stop"


    Bloed furrowed his brows. For some reason, his heart felt unusually heavy. Now that he thought about it, Cami''s behaviortely had been strange.


    She brought his operation forward without a reason and increased Bloed''s sses with her. She even offered herself to teach him bioengineering, and even now, she was talking about his future ns


    It was as though she was preparing him for something.


    As though she was going to


    *Cough cough!*


    " Mother?"


    " I''m fine." Cami smiled weakly towards Bloed. But then


    *Cough!* *Cough cough cough!* *Cough cough cough!*


    Cami started to cough blood.


    "Mother!" Bloed''s expression changed. He hurriedly tried to help her, but the coughing did not stop. Instead, it became stronger!


    "Tito! Regina! Help! Something is happening to mother!"


    "*Cough* W-Wait Bloed, I have something to tell you *Cough cough!*"


    "S-Stop mother, everything will be alright. Tito! Where are the robots!?"


    [They areing, young master.]


    "What is happening!?"


    []


    "Tito!"


    "S-Son *Cough* P-Please, l-listen, *Cough cough!*"


    "Mom mom, I''m here, tell me."


    Cami looked at Bloed and smiled. She then opened her mouth to say something.


    But then, the coughing fit turned increasingly intense.


    Cami coughed and coughed, unable to stop the blood from escaping her mouth.


    Today was the day. Finally, her organs could not endure anymore.


    Cami stared at the panicked Bloed with a saddened gaze. Unfortunately, she did not have more time.


    The next second, her consciousness faded out.


    Only Bloed''s cries of panic could be heard.


    ...


    Only three chapters until the end on this arc, :p

 Chapter 23: Every Beginning Must have an End (2)

    Chapter 23: Every Beginning Must have an End (2)


    I''ll post today and tomorrow''s chapters today. These two chapters are supossed to be read together, so you know... No chapter tomorrow...


    ...


    *BAM!*


    "Why did you never tell me about this, Tito!?"


    [I''m sorry, young master. But master forbade me from telling you about this.]


    "So you simply hid the fact that mother was dying from me!? Great, hahaha! I did not even know my own mother was dying!"


    [Master''s orders are absolute.]


    Bloed fell silent. He felt his blood boiling from the rage, but he knew that Tito was not at fault. As an AI, Tito waspletely loyal to its master. It would never vite its master orders, even if it means putting its own safety at risk.


    "Dammit!!!" Bloed hit the wall and cursed. He could not believe this was happening.


    " How is she?" He suddenly asked.


    [Most of her organs have shut down. I have managed to keep her alive through the use of the medical systems, but she will not endure for long I fear master will die in less than ten days.] Tito replied mechanically.


    Bloed bit his lips. His hands clenched into fists and his breathing turned heavy.


    "Is there nothing we can do?" Bloed asked.


    [ I''m sorry. This spaceship does not have the technology to stop the degeneration of her cells.]


    Bloed fell silent. His body slid on the wall and fell on the ground.


    For an instant, Bloed felt as though the world was crumbling around of him. The pain he was feeling was greater than anything he had felt before.


    Cami was dying.


    And he could not stop it.


    " Hey, Regina."


    "Master?"


    " You knew?"


    " Mother asked me to keep it a secret."


    " So I was the only one did not know, huh." Bloed chuckled bitterly and held his head. What was he supposed to do now?


    Heaving a sigh, he stood up. " Tito, please open the door. I want to see mother."


    [Master is unconscious. You won''t be able to talk to her.]


    "It doesn''t matter. I want to be there when she wakes up."


    Tito''s eye shed momentarily before nodding and opening the door.


    Bloed entered with a lifeless expression. Regina wanted to follow after him, but Bloed stopped her.


    " I want to be alone."


    Regina fell silent and nodded.


    When Bloed was gone, she held her chest and frowned.


    " So it''s sadness huh And this other feeling guilt"


    Regina''s heart felt very painful.


    She never wanted to feel like this again.


    Cami did not wake up for days.


    Every day, her condition deteriorated more and more, but there was nothing Bloed could do. He could only apany her beside the bed, seeing each day how his beautiful mother turned weaker and weaker.


    Bloed stopped eating. Regina and Tito tried to persuade him to take care of his body, but Bloed ignored thempletely. Even although he knew it was not their fault, he was extremely angry with them for hiding Cami''s condition.


    Finally, after five days, Bloed spoke to Tito again.


    " Hey Tito."


    [Young master?]


    "The cryogenic chambers are working normally, right?"


    [ They are.]


    "If we put mother in cryogenic sleep, how much can shest?"


    [ Master''s body is already too damaged. Even cryogenic sleep can only extend her life around ten or twenty years more.]


    Bloed nodded and his expression turned determined. "It''s enough. I''ll find a cure by then. Tito, start preparing the cryogenic sleep."


    []


    "Tito?"


    [I''m sorry, master.]


    Bloed''s expression changed. "Tito, I''m giving you an order! Start preparing the cryogenic sleep!"


    Tito hovered silently beside Bloed. [I can''t do it.]


    "Dammit, Tito!" Bloed stood up and mmed the wall. "I''m giving you an order!"


    Tito did not answer. It only stared at Bloed with its lone eye silently.


    At that moment, a weak voice sounded.


    " Stop, it Bloed."


    "!!!"


    "How are you, son?"


    "Mother!" Bloed''s expression turned excited. "You are awake! Mother, mother! Don''t worry, you will be fine! I''ll find a way to cure you! I assure you mother! I''ll g"


    "No, son." Cami interrupted him. "I''m going to die."


    Bloed turned pale. "But mother! The cryogenic chamber!"


    "I will not sleep again."


    Bloed fell silent.


    "My son, I already slept for too long. My life should have ended four hundred years ago. It''s already time for me to go To meet with my family..."


    "But mother Please."


    "My son." Cami lifted her hand weakly and caressed his cheek. "I also want to stay with you a bit more... But not like that It''s time already My time has reached."


    "Mother mother"


    "Stop crying, son." Cami rebutted him, but her cheeks were covered in tears. "You are a man, be strong. Didn''t you promise yourself you were not going to cry again? Don''t be a crybaby."


    " I understand, mother I''ll not cry anymore." Bloed wiped his tears away and tried to force a smile, but his smile was incredibly ugly.


    Cami, however, smiled seeing that.


    "Do you know, Bloed? You were thest gift God gave me I''m incredibly happy of having a son like you You brought happiness to myst years of life


    "My son, your mother has many regrets, but you are not one of them. I want to see you bing in a handsome and sessful man, showing the world the greatness of technology. I want to see you married, and carry your children in my arms Unfortunately, my time is not enough"


    "Mom"


    "Grow strong, leave this ce and show the idiots that abandoned you how wrong they were. Make my legacy proud Show the world how great you are How great humans are"


    At some moment, tears had covered Bloed''s eyes again.


    Cami tried to wipe them, but the tears continued flowing. They were like a river that could not be stopped.


    " Take care of Lina Reginleif She is my daughter, make her happy If you want, marry her Heh, don''t worry about having children, I made sure of making her able of that."


    Bloed tried to smile, but he could not.


    " Tito,e here."


    [Master.]


    " From now onwards, Bloed is your master. You must follow all his orders and obey him in all. Guide him in the future."


    [ Understood.]


    Cami smiled. "Thank you."


    She then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Is Regina here?"


    "I''m here mother." Regina entered hurriedly through the door.


    " My daughter Please, be happy."


    " Yes, mother"


    Cami lifted the corner of her lips. "I''m happy. I have an amazing son and a great daughter. God blessed me in the end, giving me back the family I lost


    "But now, it''s time to go"


    With a sigh, she closed her eyes.


    "Do you know, Bloed? I can see my family waiting for me."


    "Mother, mother Please Don''t go... I love you I love you."


    " Yeah, I love you too, son."


    Then, Cami''s breathing stopped.


    That day, Bloed lost his teacher, his mother, and his first love.


    And that day, Bloed finally grew up.

 Chapter 24: An AIs Loyalty

    Chapter 24: An AI''s Loyalty


    This is tomorrow''s chapter...


    ...


    ording to her will, Cami was buried in the tomb of her family.


    Bloed, Tito, and Regina stood in front of the tomb, looking to the words Bloed himself wrote.


    [Here lies the world''s greatest mother.]


    Bloed stopped crying. His eyes seemed empty, looking at the tomb as though he wanted to engrave that sight in his mind.


    A few minutes after Cami was buried, Tito suddenly spoke.


    [Young master, can I tell you a story?]


    " Do speak."


    [ I was originally a toy. I was created by master''s parents as a toy for her daughter. I was the first robot master ever had. Back then, my AI was very simple, far from the current me. I was just a toy, without feelings, and without the ability to think.


    [When master grew up, she started to upgrade me. She first made me a mascot, then a robot that could help her to study. A few yearster, I could already be considered an advanced AI, always besides master.


    [One day, master was chosen as the captain of a ship. By then, I was an excellent AI. But it was not enough Master needed an AI to control ship, to help her with her experiments, and I could not do it I had reached my limit, it was time for master to abandon me.


    [But master did not give up. She tried to upgrade me again and again, even when it was much easier to get a new and better AI.


    [And one day, she finally achieved a miraculous breakthrough. She gave me feelings, she gave me the ability to grow.


    [I remember that my first feeling was curiosity, and the second was happiness. I was never able to understand other feelingspletely, but those two feelings I remember clearly.


    [Since then, I apanied master always. When she fought, when she cried, when she married, when she gave birth. I was always beside her, seeing her bing someone renowned through the confederation.


    [Even when master lost her family, I was there. And when she woke up four hundred yearster, I was there too.]


    Tito then paused as though it wanted to think the words it was going to say.


    [Young master, as an AI, I couldn''t choose the way I was born, I couldn''t choose who was my master, and I couldn''t choose my life I was even unable to choose between saving my master or following her orders. Master ordered me, and I had to obey her orders.


    [However, I wanted to choose at least one thing. Young master, I want to choose how to die.]


    Bloed bit his lips.


    [Young master, master asked me to follow your orders. She told me to guide and help you from today onwards. But I want to be selfish this time I want to apany my master this time Unfortunately, I can''t defy my master''s orders.]


    " Tito."


    [Young master... No, master Please, permit me to turn off my systems.]


    "" Bloed clenched his fist. The tears he had suppressed filled his eyes again. He looked at Tito with a gaze full of pleading.


    But Tito''s gaze was firm. [Please master. I beg you.]


    " I allow you." Bloed said with gritted teeth.


    Tito''s eye moved towards Bloed''s face.


    [Thank you.]


    He then hovered over the tomb of Cami and rested on it.


    [I was sad when master was sad, and happy when master was happy. I was worried when master cried and I was excited every time you made a new discovery.]


    It then looked at the sky and heaved a sigh.


    [I wonder if that is love.]


    Then, Tito''s eye dimmed off.


    All the information about Tito was wiped from the spaceship database.


    Until the end, even when its master died, Tito apanied her.


    That was its purpose in life.


    Bloed remained silent before the tomb. His heart felt incredibly painful. Not even when his family abandoned him he felt as sad as now.


    "Goodbye, Tito."


    Bloed then kneeled before the tomb and started to cry.


    For hours, Bloed cried. Forgetting the promise he made to himself. He simply wanted to cry, he wanted to let his tears wash away the pain he was feeling.


    When he finally stopped crying, it was already night.


    And his bodyy unconscious before the tomb.


    Regina stood behind him, seeing everything calmly, unable to exin the feelings she was feeling.


    The death of Cami pained her, the death of Tito saddened her, but there was something that hurt her even more.


    Seeing her master like that, Regina''s heart felt heavy.


    She wanted to see her master happy. She wanted to see his smile again. She wanted to help him to bear this pain.


    Crouching down, she put his head on herp and started to caress it.


    " Love, huh."


    Even the stars seemed to cry that night.


    ...


    Remember to leave a review if you liked the story. Just one chapter until the end of this arc...

 Chapter 25: Oath

    Chapter 25: Oath


    Sorry it''ste, something came up yesterday... This is yesterday''s chapter...


    ...


    Regina knocked on Bloed''s door.


    "Master"


    ""


    "Master, the food is ready"


    ""


    Regina put on an expression of worry. It had been one week since Cami''s death, and Bloed had not left his room since then.


    Including the days Cami was unconscious, Bloed had not eaten anything in almost two weeks.


    "Master, please open the door"


    ""


    "Master"


    Suddenly, a sound came from inside the room.


    A few secondster, the door opened, and a handsome young man appeared.


    But contrary to his handsome features, his appearance was a mess. His hair was messy, and his eyes were red. He had be much thinner, and his eyes had lost its usual glow.


    "Master" Regina''s heart constricted in pain.


    Bloed forced a smile. "Sorry, Regina. I made you worry. Don''t worry, I''m alright."


    "Mm I know."


    Bloed smiled. "Please prepare me a bath. I will take a bath before eating."


    "Understood." Regina nodded hurriedly and went to work.


    Once he was alone, Bloed looked up and sighed.


    A week had passed, and it was time to move forward.


    Even although it was still painful, Bloed remembered the words of his mother. She had great expectations of him, of the things he could do. And he was not nning to disappoint her.


    After taking a bath and changing his clothes for clean ones, Bloed went to the dining room and waited for breakfast.


    When he observed the dining room, his heart felt heavy. Not long ago, this dining room was the ce where Cami and he chatted about their day to day with Tito hovering silently and hearing their conversations.


    But now, they were gone.


    Those were Bloed''s happiest days, but now, they were no more.


    "Master, here is breakfast." Regina brought two portions of food to the table. Normally, the smell of food would be enough to cheer Bloed up, but now, he had to force himself to eat.


    Even although Regina had cooked the food personally, and it honestly was delicious, Bloed was unable to eat more than a few mouthfuls.


    "Master" Regina looked at him in concern. "Was the food not to your liking?"


    "Nothing like that." Bloed shook his head hurriedly. "Sorry, your food was incredible, but I''m simply not hungry."


    Regina fell silent and lowered her gaze.


    " I''ll do better next time."


    Bloed could only smile bitterly.


    When they finished eating, Regina washed the dishes personally.


    Regina never left any work rted to Bloed to the robots. She considered it as neglecting her duties. For her, everything rted to Bloed should be done for her personally.


    In fact, since the day Cami died, none of the robots had been activated even once.


    Maybe due to that, the spaceship felt even more empty.


    When she finished, she sat across Bloed and raised a question.


    "Master, what are your ns now?"


    Bloed fell silent. He thought for a moment before opening his mouth.


    "I''m nning to leave the exilednds."


    "Oh? Where are we going?"


    Bloed smiled bitterly. "I don''t know."


    "Huh?"


    "But I''m thinking about it."


    Regina looked at Bloed and nodded. "I understand. When are we leaving?"


    Bloed touched his chin and thought.


    " I need a bit of time. One year or so to prepare some things. Also, I want to be a C-Grade ESPer before leaving. It will make things easier in the outside world."


    He then took a deep breath and put on a serious expression.


    "Regina, I''m the heir to mother''s legacy, to her civilization''s legacy So, I have decided. I want to see her legacy to flourish!"


    Regina was startled.


    "Master, are you going to introduce technology to this world?"


    Bloed nodded. "I know it''s difficult, and we will face many troubles. But, I''ll definitively do it. Then, I''ll go around the world and learn about everything this world has to offer. Finally, I''ll leave this world and find about the fate of mother''s civilization."


    " Master."


    "In fact, it will be much harder than it sounds. We need to be powerful enough and have the support of a ruler that understands the wonders of technology Perhaps, the rest of the world will pursue us due to my goals, but I want to do it!"


    Regina looked at Bloed and her expression turned firm.


    "I understand, master."


    Bloed smiled.


    "So, Regina, I wanted to ask you a question."


    "Master?"


    Bloed stood from his chair, looked at Regina and bowed. "Will you follow me from now onwards? To help me to pursue my dreams and make mother proud?"


    Regina was surprised. She looked at Bloed with an indescribable expression.


    Then, she also stood up.


    Walking towards Bloed, she raised her face and smiled at him.


    One secondter, she kneeled in a knee.


    "I, Reginleif Norman, swear that I''m master''s. All my life belongs to master, and in life and death, I''ll follow master. When master have to fight, I''ll be your sword. If master is in danger, I''ll be your shield. When master needs help, I''ll be your wings, and when the world condemns you, I''ll be your partner. Life and death, nothing will separate me from master!"


    Bloed looked at Regina in surprise. For an instant, an indescribably feeling surged inside him.


    Finally, Bloed smiled.


    "Yeah, nothing will separate us."


    A new chapter was about to start.

 Chapter 26: The Fall of Humanity

    Chapter 26: The Fall of Humanity


    1/2 backstory chapters...


    ...


    In the year 2356. The Devourers first appeared.


    A scientific team was investigating a recently discovered sr system. In one of thes, they discovered a very aggressive group of organisms. All the organisms shared the same features, ck skin, very resilient lifeforce, devoured different forms of energy, and were very aggressive towards other living beings.


    Half of the scientific team died due to this new species. The Human Confederation ssified the with a danger grade of ''S'' and forbid the ess to it.


    It was the start of humanity''s nightmare.


    No muchter, humanity discovered that the organisms they discovered were just the tip of the iceberg.


    Capable of intelligent thought, with strongbat capabilities, and capable of interster travel. The Devourers, as humanity called the collective group of organisms sharing the same characteristic, became humanity''s worst enemy.


    It was not the first time that humanity made contact with another interster civilization, but it was the first time the results were so tragic. The Devourers seemed obsessed with destroying and killing all the other lifeforms in existence.


    They were like locusts. Destroying everything in their way. After they invaded a, they killed all the lifeforms inside including nts, and then, they abandoned it.


    They were destruction incarnate.


    Since then, humanity and the devourers fought hundreds of battles. But the devourers prevailed most of the time. Many human colonies were lost, and tens ofs fell in the hands of the nightmarish creatures.


    No attempt tomunicate with them was sessful. Humans despaired as more and mores were defeated.


    Then, hope appeared.


    Valkyries, invented by a group of scientists led by the renowned bioengineer and ESPer Cam Norman.


    They were humans turned into weapons. Each one was a weapon of mass destruction, able to fight fleets enemies singlehandedly. Valkyries became humanity''s protector angels.


    But the price of creating a Valkyries was very high. Each Valkyrie was an AI in a woman''s body. In other words, a female ESPer was sacrificed to create a weapon.


    Moreover, not every ESPer had the potential to be a Valkyrie. Only one in ten thousand female ESPers could be Valkyries.


    And Valkyries had a ring weakness.


    They were machines in human bodies. Unable to think like humans, they were at a disadvantage against scheming enemies. In less than two years, the Devourers had found a method to deal with Valkyries without suffering too many casualties.


    The war entered a stalemate for a few years. Until humanity made another shocking discovery.


    Humanity was not the only civilization fighting the devourers.


    Tens of different interster civilizations were facing the Devourer threat at the same time. Those civilizations gave to humans more information about this terrifying race.


    The Devourers they faced were the weakest of the bunch. Some devourers were big enough to devours to absorb the energy of their core. There was even a rumor about a devourer swallowing a star.


    Devourers were night indestructible. Their cells could survive in extreme conditions. Temperatures below 100C were unable to destroy them, and they could survive being frozen for years. Even the void of space was unable to kill them. Once a Devourer fell in space, it would enter a hibernating state that could allow it to survive until 100 years. And if they managed tond on another suitable for life, they could start to reproduce again.


    Finally, humanity learned about the reason devourers hunted other races.


    Souls were the devourers'' favorite food.


    Scientists had discovered the existence of souls many years ago. No much was known about it, only that it was a very special kind of energy found in every living being, from insect to nts.


    Beings with more of this energy were usually more doted in certain areas, and it also influenced the ESP potential of a human.


    And this energy was what devourers desired the most.


    Apparently, soul energy could elerate the devourer''s evolution, making them stronger and smarter.


    After humanity acquired this information, they realized that the situation was grimmer than they thought. Humanity tried to ask for help from other civilizations, but all of them were too busy trying to save their own civilization to help. The best that was achieved was a treaty to share technological advances freely with some races, but even that required manypromises.


    Ten years after the start of the war, a giant devourer fleet invaded the human territory. The fleet appeared suddenly, and nobody was able to foresee them. More than tens fell in just one year.


    In view of the situation, the government requested the help of the most renowned scientists and ESPers of the confederation. They wanted to reunite them on a to work in a secret weapon.


    But unfortunately, the devourers learned about it.


    The spaceships transporting the scientists and ESPers were attacked by the enemy''s fleets and more than fifty percent of them died or disappeared.


    Including Cami Norman.


    Humanity was unable to recover from that blow.


    Fifty yearster, eighty percent of humanity territory had been lost.


    Seventy yearster, human civilization had mostly disappeared.


    Only a few humans survived after escaping to faraway systems, hoping to forget the nightmare thatsted almost one hundred years.


    ...


    I don''t know if the cover can be ready before the end of the month... Wish me luck...

 Chapter 27: The Nightmare of One Hundred Years Ago

    Chapter 27: The Nightmare of One Hundred Years Ago


    One day, a star fell from the sky, and an unfortunate small country was destroyed, burned downpletely.


    This event shocked the world. Many famous mages and schrs went to investigate it, but besides the ruins of a country, they failed to find anything.


    Weekster, the mages concluded that the ''starfall'' was a natural phenomenon and that it was not going to happen again in a while. ording to them, it was normal for starts to fall asionally.


    There was nothing to worry, they said.


    Until the Blight appeared.


    Terrifying manaless beings that devoured everything they touched.


    In one day, they ate a small city. In one week, half a country was devastated, and in one month, a fifth of the continent had been destroyed.


    They devoured mana and swallowed souls. Magic was almost useless against them, and only the strongest mages were able to cast spells strong enough to threaten the monsters.


    Before the terrifying enemy that threatened to destroy all the life on the, the five main races formed an Alliance tobat them.


    Humans, Beastmen, Elves, Demons, and Beast. The races sent their strongestbatants and their most powerful armies to face the monsters. For the first time in history, the five races had joined hands.


    The war was incredibly harsh. The number of deaths could be counted in the millions, and the countries destroyed surpassed ten.


    Two-thirds of the world powerhouses perished in battle. They sacrificed their lives to stop the Blight from advancing.


    Finally, the gods sent an oracle.


    The Blight, invaders of another world rejected by the mana. Only by annihting thempletely, turning their bodies into ashes, could peace be returned to the world.


    So, the gods made the biggest sacrifice possible.


    Of each race, one god stepped forward to bring an end to the cursed gue.


    Five gods fell in the day that yearster would be known as Godsfall.


    Each one of them used a very powerful magic spell in the territory affected by the Blight, burning their own souls in the process and finally erasing every trace of the Blightpletely.


    But the powerful magic used destroyed thendpletely. The mana in a fifth of the world turned chaotic, making the climate harsh and killing the creatures unable to adapt.


    Fearing the Blight''s resurgence, the remaining gods created a mountain range to block the ess to that part of the world.


    The Abandoned Lands.


    So was how it was called.


    A ce forgotten by the gods, where only cursed creatures lived.


    With time, the abandonednds turned into a ce of exile. The punishment for the criminals that could not be executed. Where the trash of the world was sent.


    Then, its name changed to The Exiled Lands.


    After the war, the world entered a period of peace. The numerous deaths were enough to stop even the most ambitions ruler from desiring war.


    But at the same time, The Blight became the biggest taboo in existence.


    Quickly, people without mana started to be discriminated against. The first few years after the cmity, all the children born without mana were killed. Even their parents were not spared.


    They carried the curse of the Blight, they said.


    Cursed Children, so they were called.


    Mothers drowned their children so nobody discovered the curse. Fathers beheaded their sons to get forgiveness.


    The churches preached against them. Kill the children of the devils, kill them, kill them!


    For tens of years, hundreds of children were killed.


    Until finally, one hundred years passed.


    When the Skysword Queen gave birth to twins, the entire pce celebrated.


    But when the boy was checked for magic power, he was discovered to be manaless.


    The king, in anguish, killed all the people that knew about it. He then created a magic tool to hide the child''s condition from the world and forced all the servants to swear a magic oath to never reveal the truth.


    But even like that, rumors about the child started to spread, and people started to doubt.


    Hence, the king made the choice he had been thinking for years.


    When the prince was eleven, he suddenly disappeared.


    It was reported as a sudden death, but some people knew the truth.


    The kingdom had a cursed prince, and he was abandoned in the exilednds.


    ...


    I''ll be a bit busy the next few days, so releases can be a bit unestable...

 Chapter 28: Ying (1)

    Chapter 28: Ying (1)


    "Princess, hurry and run!" A man shouted while he stopped the attacks of a monster and protected the girl behind him.


    "No! Uncle Hao, I will not run away alone!" The girl replied with tears in her eyes.


    The man gritted his teeth and forced the monster back. He then grabbed the girl by the back of her neck and started to run.


    "You must survive, princess! Our sacrifice must not be in vain! You are our only hope! Our hope to bring back the glory of the Liu family!"


    "No! Please uncle Hao! Don''t abandon me!"


    The man put on a sad look and sighed. "I''m sorry, princess. This Hao is unable to continue protecting you Please live"


    He then filled his arm with mana and threw the girl away.


    "No! Uncle Hao!" The girl started to cry. Behind her, her caring uncle smiled onest time and turned around.


    To face the horde of monsters that was chasing after them.


    Tears filled the girl''s eyes. Her parents, her siblings, her friends, and now her uncle. Everybody had left her. Now she was alone in the world, alone inside this nightmare.


    Her powerful mana protected her against the impact, but she was unable to avoid being injured. The hot sand cut into her skin mercilessly, drawing drop after drop the blood.


    But the girl did not cry. She suppressed her pain, her sadness, and her despair and stood up. Her loved ones sacrificed themselves to save her life, so she was not going to die here.


    Her small legs supported her weight and helped her to run. She could hear the cries of battle and the growls of monsters behind her, but she did not turn around. She had to run.


    Miraculously, no beast chased after her. The girl''s tears started to fall again, knowing that her loved ones'' gave up their lives to get her time enough to escape.


    So, she continued running.


    One day, two days, three days.


    Until her body was tired and her throat ached due to the thirst.


    Unfortunately, the girlcked experience finding water and food. Moreover, the exilednds were a merciless ce. Water and food were scarce, and each bit of sustenance had to be fought with the life in the line.


    Someone like her was easy prey in a ce like this.


    Dust and sand were the only things in the girl''s sight. The few trees she asionally found were charred ck due to the strong heat. This was a ce filled with death and suffering.


    When the girl''s strength started to leave her, monsters started to appear.


    Foxes, hyenas, vultures, and wolves. The hungry beasts started to surround the girl, waiting for the moment to eat her flesh.


    They could feel the girl''s powerful mana, so the beasts were wary. However, their hunger soon overwhelmed their reason.


    *Growl!*


    A hyena was finally unable to continue waiting. If it waited longer, even more enemies woulde topete for the girl''s flesh and blood.


    Kicking the ground, the hyena jumped towards the girl.


    The girl''s vision was already blurry. Her hunger and thirst made her consciousness fuzzy, but her desire to survive was stronger than ever.


    Instinctively, her body reacted to the hyena''s attack, and her hand formed a fist.


    *St!*


    The head of the hyena exploded.


    The girl''s furrowed her brows. She then smelled the blood on her hand and brought it to her mouth.


    Timidly, she licked a little bit of blood.


    Then, her eyes brightened.


    " I''m hungry." She said.


    And everything started.


    Crazed by the smell of blood, the beasts in the surroundings charged towards the girl. Their red eyes stared at the girl and the corpse in the ground while saliva fell from their mouths.


    *ROAAAARRRR!!!*


    A wolf bared its teeth and tried to bite the girl''s neck, but the girl spun instinctively and nted a kick on its head.


    Another beast tried to bite her arm, but the girl grabbed its jaw and tore it into two.


    Vultures dived towards from the skies, but the girl grabbed their wings and crushed their heads.


    Nobody would have expected that the girl''s small arms hid the strength of a dragon.


    The feast of blood attracted more and more predators. Stronger and stronger beasts started to appear. The girl was forced to release her mana, using the gift in her blood to face the wave of beastsing against her.


    The horn in her forehead lit up. The chaotic magic power in the surroundings surged towards her body, provoking a grunt of pain. But the girl did not even flinch.


    The life and death situation stimted the girl''s bloodline. For the first time in her life, her aspect awakened. A giant monster of mana materialized on her back, granting her body even more strength than before.


    She was the princess of the Liu family, the royal family of the demons. No monster would have a taste of her blood!


    The girl fought and fought, until rivers of blood formed around her. The corpses of monsters created a mountain of flesh and gore that would make the most experienced warrior vomit.


    But her reckless fight finally attracted the attention of a powerful predator.


    A twenty-meters-long serpent lifted its head, looking at the girl with its long vertical irises.


    The girl paled. Her instincts screamed that she could not beat this monster. She had to run!


    But she had reached her limit.


    The serpent hissed and swung its tail. The girl instinctively brought her arms forward to stop the attack, but the strength of a B-Grade monster was not something she could resist.


    Her body was helplessly thrown away, crashing against a rock and breaking two of her ribs.


    *Cough!*


    A mouthful of blood let her mouth.


    With her blurry sight, the girl managed to see the serpent slowly slithering towards her.


    Sorry, father, mother, uncle Hao I failed to live to your expectations She smiled bitterly to herself.


    But when she was about to close her eyes


    *sh!*


    A sh of light cut through the dim sky.


    Time seemed to stop in that instant.


    *EEEEEEEEANNNNNHHHHGHHH!!!*


    The serpent screamed in pain. Its giant body twisted painfully in the ground, and a river of blood spurt out of its neck.


    "Oh? You are still alive? Such a powerful lifeforce." The girl heard the voice of a boy.


    The boy waspletely calm, as though he was not facing a terror-inducing monster but a little pet. His eyes were observing curiously the monster agonizing in the ground.


    Then, he raised his hand.


    The next second, the saber light shed again.


    The serpent was unable to resist. In front of the glow of the saber, its struggle was useless.


    The saber strike easily beheaded it.


    The person responsible for it, a blue-haired boy dressed in strange armor, sheathed its saber back and turned towards the girl.


    " I never thought I would meet another person in a ce like this."


    When those words entered her ear, the girl''s body finally gave out.


    The next second, her consciousness faded out.

 Chapter 29: Ying (2)

    Chapter 29: Ying (2)


    "Ugh" The girl opened her eyes with difficulty. Her body felt heavy, and her head ached so badly that she felt as though it was going to explode.


    When she opened her eyes, she realized she was inside a strange house.


    The house had metallic walls, and a strange light stone was emitting dim light. She could see a table, a chair, and a small kitchen nearby, but strangely, they seemed fixed to the ground.


    Looking down, she saw she was sleeping in the mostfortable bed she had slept in many years. Unfortunately, the state of her body made it hard for her to enjoy thefy bed.


    " Where am I?" She muttered groggily.


    An unexpected voice replied to her.


    "Finally awake, huh."


    The girl was startled. She looked up and saw a blue-haired boy standing in the door. The boy looked at her with a smile and walked inside.


    The girl sat up nervously, but the boy ignored her and walked towards the table. He grabbed a pen-like object and started to write something in a book.


    "You slept for three days." He said without raising his face. "Your body was filled with injuries, and you were starved, and dehydrated. Plus, you werepletely spent. To be honest, it''s a miracle you survived like that."


    " Where is it?" The girl asked.


    "My tent." Replied the boy. "I brought you here and gave you an intravenous solution and smalls amounts of water. Now that I think about it, you must be hungry. Wait a moment, I will get you something to eat."


    "W-Wait." The girl stopped him and grabbed her head. Her headache was bing worse. "Who are you? Why did you save me?"


    The boy was stunned. He then smiled and stared at her. "My name is Bloed. And it''s normal to help someone that needs help, right? Besides, I did not do much. Regina was the one that took care of you." He then left the tent to get her something to eat.


    The girl looked at the boy leave and furrowed her brows. Was saving her not much? Furthermore, he even treated her injuries and healed her body. She did not know what an intravenous was, but she knew the state of her body before copsing. Even a powerful healing mage would have needed to try incredibly hard to save her.


    Thinking about it, she realized that the boy was strange. His hair was bright blue, the same as his eyes. But his eyes were strange. She had never seen pupils like his. They were bright blue and seemed filled with uncountable lines and strange symbols.


    To be honest, he looked very strange... And handsome.


    Besides, she could not feel mana from him.


    His name was also strange. Bloed? What does it mean?


    Shaking her head, the girl stopped thinking about it. The important thing was that she was alright. She did not waste her family''s sacrifice dying in the jaws of a beast.


    The boy did not take long to return, but this time, he was not alone. An incredibly beautiful girl was with him, so beautiful that the girl on the bed doubted her eyes. It was impossible for someone so perfect to exist.


    Golden eyes, tinum hair,pletely pale skin, expressionless face, and a petite body. The girl was perfection itself. She stood there quietly, as though nothing could affect her.


    She arrived behind the boy, following him respectfully. When she entered, the first thing she did was to look at the girl and frown.


    "Master, how did she recover so fast? My scans told me she would sleep for one week."


    "It was mana, probably." Bloed said. "Her bloodline is also a bit special. I think it has a regenerative factor."


    "Oh? It exins her fast recovery. Okay, I''ll prepare something nutritious for her.


    "Please, Regina."


    The girl then turned around and walked towards the kitchen.


    Only when the Regina was gone, the girl in the bed reacted. She was even more surprised now.


    Not only was this girl so beautiful that it was unbelievable, but her strength was the real deal. Although the girl could not feel any manaing from her, the instincts in her blood warned her that the silver-haired girl was a monster.


    Aplete monster. More terrifying than anything she had met before.


    "She is Regina, my partner." Bloed said when he saw the girl looking at Regina. "Although she looks a bit cold, she is very kind, so don''t worry."


    "Master please, don''t go around speaking badly of me." Regina snorted.


    "Sorry, sorry, it was a joke." The boy smiled cheerfully. He then turned towards the girl with a curious expression. "By the way, it''s the first time I met a demon. Where are you from? I thought we were the only intelligent beings in the exilednds."


    " My vige was destroyed." The girl thought for a moment before speaking.


    "Huh?"


    "All the viges were destroyed. Monsters attacked the viges and killed everything in sight. My vige was thest, and I was the only survivor." The girl bit her lips and clenched her hands. Bloed could see the tears falling from her eyes, hitting the bed drop after drop."


    " Sorry about it." He said after a long silence.


    "Don''t worry." The girl shook her head and forced a smile out. " I felt better now that I talked about it."


    Bloed just sighed.


    Although ording to the girl''s words...


    "I thought we killed that monster." Bloed wrinkled his brows.


    "Huh?"


    "The monster controlling the other monsters to destroy the viges." Bloed exined. "Mother and I met it once and mother killed it. It looks like it was not the only one, though."


    The girl smiled bitterly. "It''s normal. The exilednds are filled with monstrosities and creatures of nightmare. But your mother is very strong. We knew that the monsters were being controlled, but we never even discovered where the controller was."


    Bloed nodded. It was normal. Even Tito and his mother only discovered it when the monster decided to attack personally.


    "By the way, I have not asked about your name."


    The girl lowered her head and hesitated slightly.


    A few secondster, her melodious voice answered.


    " Liu Ying. My name is Liu Ying."


    ...


    :p

 Chapter 30: After One Year

    Chapter 30: After One Year


    "Master, don''t you think the monster destroying the viges is weird?" Regina asked after they left the tent.


    Bloed frowned. "Actually, I''m also curious about it."


    "Do you want to investigate it?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No. As Lui Ying said, the exilednds are filled with monsters able to destroy human viges as easily as flipping a coin. If we investigate each dangerous monster, we will never finish. Plus, we are already leaving this ce anyway, there is no need to dy our journey for something unnecessary."


    After saying that, Bloed fell silent and put on a thoughtful expression.


    "Master, did something happen?" Regina asked curiously.


    Bloed thought for a moment and shook his head. "Nothing, it''s just that the name Liu Ying rings a bell."


    " An acquittance?" Regina tensed up.


    "Nothing like that." Bloed smiled wryly. "But I think I know who she is."


    "Huh?"


    "The Demons'' royal family carries the surname Liu, and If my memory does not fail me, the name of the demons'' current princess is Ying."


    Regina was startled. "Is such a coincidence possible?"


    "I think not, she is definitively the demon princess." Bloed affirmed confidently. "Everything matches. Age, race, name, features, and her powerful bloodline. She must be the princess."


    Demons and humans shared many features, but demons had a horn on their foreheads that humans not. The Demons'' royal family was a bit more special, though. They were known for their fiery red hair and amber eyes, just like the girl they just met. Of course, perhaps the hair and eyes were a coincidence, but when the name, age, and other things also matched, then it was almost certain that she was the one.


    "What is a princess doing in a ce like this?" Regina asked with a frown.


    Bloed looked at her with a smile. "I''m wondering the same question. It looks like the world changed a lot since I was gone."


    Regina nodded in agreement.


    It had been four years since Bloed was abandoned in the exilednds, and now he was sixteen. It was normal for the world to see some changes during this time. Bloed, himself, had also changed a lot in thest four years. Thest year, in particr, was one where he changed greatly.


    Not only he was now taller and more handsome than one year ago, but his face showed signs of maturity rarely seen in people of his age.


    However, the most important change was in his eyes and hair.


    When Bloed entered the exilednds, his eyes and hair were pitch ck, but now his eyes and hair had turned blue.


    It was a result of one of his experiments in bioengineering and biomechanics.


    Ten months ago, Bloed decided to modify his body, much to the worry of Regina. Specifically, he decided to change his hair and eyes.


    His new eyes were custom-made devices that, not only increased his field of vision, but also added new features such as microscopic vision, telescopic vision, thermal vision, energy vision, enhanced perception, and mathematical predictions.


    Bloed added every feature he could think of and could add. Currently, his new eyes were filled with all kinds of surprises. Unfortunately, they could not shotser rays.


    Apparently, shootingser rays through the eyes was much harder to achieve than he thought. Bloed ran into tens of problems when he started the experiments.


    Back to the topic, such eyes were impossible to use for anyone else. The thought capacity necessary to keep up with all that information the eyes supplied would fry a normal brain. But with Bloed''s ESP ability, the thought capacity required by the eyes was not even a third of his total capacity.


    The blue hair was something simr, but with more subdues effects. They could only measure temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, and also perceived light waves to get an approximated image of everything ten meters around Bloed.


    In other words, Bloed did not have blind spots.


    Those modifications, together with his now C-Grade ESPer capabilities, his new armor, his saber, and the other things he had created during thest year, brought his strength up to a levelparable to normal B-Grade ESPers. Moreover, if Bloed decided to use his trump card, then maybe he could face an A-Grade opponent.


    Unfortunately, now that he reached C-Grade, his psychic energy started to show signs of stagnation.


    Bloed was already expecting it, so he was not too worried. Plus, he managed to find a way to use his second ESP ability, even if barely, so his psychic growth was notpletely stagnated, just much slower than before.


    And he was still experimenting with new ways to use his second ESP ability. He had already gotten some results.


    When they left the tent, a small animal charged towards Bloed.


    *Woof!*


    The puppy jumped into Bloed arms and started to lick his face. Bloed caressed its jaw happily and smiled. "You are very yful today, Tito."


    *Woof!*


    "Yes, yes, you did a good work guarding the tent."


    *Woof Woof!* Tito waged his tail happily and ran around Bloed. He then ran towards a giant wolf-like dog that was sleeping in the ground. The wolf-like dog was called Leto.


    Tito and Leto were another of Bloed''stest works. They were two mechanical pets, a puppy and a wolf, named after the deceased AI. Of course, they were more than just pets. Tito and Leto could be considered as two of Bloed''s proudest works.


    Regina also smiled when she saw the puppy. She had to admit that Bloed became much happier since he created the dogs.


    So, she had to make sure that nothing destroys his newfound happiness.


    " Master, what are we going to do with the girl?"


    Bloed fell silent. " What do you think?" He asked after a few seconds.


    "We know nothing about her, master. And we already helped her enough."


    Bloed smiled wryly. Of course Regina would say something like that.


    She was not wrong, though. Bloed couldn''t simply help any pitiful person he meets. The fact that he saved her life and helped to heal her injuries is already more than enough kindness.


    But


    " Let''s do it, Regina. We will take her with us until we leave the exilednds. After that, we part ways. We are leaving, anyway, so bringing another person is not a problem."


    Regina thought for a moment but she did not refuse. They had already saved the girl, so taking her out of the exilednds was the least they could do to guarantee she continues alive. Even if Regina did not like the thought of another girl traveling with them, she did not mind having anotherpanion for a few days.


    Anyway, everything was alright as long as they part wayster.


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N if you like the story. It only has 6 chapters ahead, but I''ll add more this week :p


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 31: Departure (1)

    Chapter 31: Departure (1)


    One dayter, Liu Ying had recovered enough to leave the tent.


    Bloed and Regina were surprised by her healing speed. Liu Ying wounds could be considered tragic, and even with the technologically advanced treatment Bloed gave her, she was not supposed to stand up until a few dayster.


    But even although Bloed and Regina examined her carefully, they failed to find anything wrong with her body. Not only had her injuries recoveredpletely, but her body was brimming with mana, in perfect condition.


    Bloed heaved a sigh of admiration.


    " Truly a powerful bloodline. Just the regenerative factor it offers is enviable."


    Liu Ying''s body tensed up. Hearing the word ''bloodline'' made her wary, but Bloed just smiled and stopped speaking.


    Liu Ying furrowed her brows. Could it be they discovered her origins?


    She, however, did not ask. After all, if they had not discovered anything, she asking would mean that her bloodline was in fact special.


    Fortunately, Bloed and Regina did not seem interested in the topic.


    Liu Ying shook her head and decided to stop thinking about it.


    She came close to Bloed and Regina and bowed. " Sorry for the inconvenience I caused, and thank you for saving my life."


    Bloed smiled. "It''s nothing. Liu Ying, what are your ns after this?"


    Liu Ying was startled. She thought for a moment before shaking her head. " I don''t know. I think I will wander through the exilednds until I be stronger, and then"


    Bloed nodded. "Actually, Regina and I are in the way to leave the exilednds. If you want, you cane with us."


    "Huh?"


    "There is nothing in the exilednds besides monsters and dangers. Leaving is for the best. Of course, if you want to stay, we will not force you."


    Liu Ying was surprised. Bloed''s words were too incredible to be true.


    It was not that it was impossible to leave the exilednds. Any powerhouse able to fly over the mountain range bordering the exilednds could leave easily. The problem is that you need to be S-Rank to do it, and nobody that powerful was sent to this ce.


    As for someone weaker than that, they needed to go through the mountain range filled with terrifying monsters and hide from the eyes of the countries guarding the borders of the exilednds. It was suicide.


    The strongest people exiled here were around C-Rank, and the exilednds were filled with incredible dangers. In history, the number of people that left the exilednds could be counted in one hand.


    And now, someone was telling her that he was going to leave this ce.


    For an instant, Liu Ying wondered if they were crazy.


    Bloed seemed to realize her doubts because he smiled confidently. "Don''t worry. Leaving is not a problem. What do you say, do you want toe with us?"


    Liu Ying thought for a moment. Bloed''s offer was very tempting, and even if they failed, it was much safer to travel the exilednds with other people than travel alone.


    After thinking about the pros and cons, she nodded. "Okay, I agree."


    "Good." Bloed smiled. "Regina, is everything ready?"


    "Yes, master. We can leave anytime."


    "Haha, perfect. I was already tired of camping here. Regina, pack up everything, we are leaving."


    Regina nodded and walked towards the tent.


    Under Liu Ying astonished gaze, the tent became smaller and smaller until turning into a beautiful ck jewel.


    Regina then grabbed the jewel and put it on a bracelet on her wrist together with another seven or eight jewels like that.


    "That is Space magic?" Liu Ying was stunned.


    Bloed shook his head. "Nope, it''s spatialpression technology. Mmm, you can consider it a kind of space magic, but a bit different."


    " Incredible All those jewels are space magic items?"


    Bloed just smiled without answering.


    Space items were rare, but someone with Liu Ying status had surely seen one before. In fact, she owned a space ring before being exiled here.


    What surprised her was the number of space items. If each jewel was one, how extravagant was it?


    Furthermore, they used a space item as a house! Even an emperor would feel the pinch of doing something like that.


    Liu Ying became curious about the identity of her two weird newpanions.


    Fortunately, she did not know about the other things the space technology was used for. Bloed even wanted topress some missiles to use against powerful enemies, but unfortunately, their materials were not enough.


    Hence, he had to be satisfied with bringing his differentboratories, a healing chamber, a tent, a storage room (for clothes, water, and food), and a manufacturing room to manufacture the new pieces and the spare parts of his machines.


    After Regina packed everything up, Bloed put his fingers in his mouth and whistled.


    *Whistle!*


    Two mechanical animals came running to Bloed after he whistled.


    Liu Ying was startled and scared when she saw them.


    Not so much for the cute puppy charging towards Bloed, but mainly when she saw the giant two-meters tall wolf behind it. She even got ready to start to fight.


    But when she realized that Bloed and Regina were unperturbed, she understood.


    "Magic pets?"


    "Something like that." Bloed replied and patted the wolf in its leg. "Leto, we are leaving."


    Leto nodded and crouched down. Bloed and Regina, with Tito on her arms, did not hesitate to jump on it. Liu Ying reacted and jumped on one secondter.


    Three chairs had appeared in the back of the wolf. Bloed and Regina seated calmly while the even more surprised Liu Ying tried to understand what was happening.


    "Leto, protect us from the sun. You know the destination."


    Leto nodded. One secondter, Leto''s body transformed and a small roof appeared over the group stopping the UV rays.


    Then, Leto started to run.


    Liu Ying was dumbfounded trying to understand what was happening.


    ...


    :p


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 32: Departure (2)

    Chapter 32: Departure (2)


    Traveling on Leto''s back was much morefortable than traveling in a normal car. Bloed spent almost two months making sure that the shock and tremors caused by Leto''s steps could not be felt when traveling on its back.


    "Bloed, what kind of magic beast is it? I have never heard of it." Liu Ying asked after she calmed down. She was looking around and touching Leto while trying to remember if she knew a beast like this.


    She was sure that a metallic wolf able to change its shape would not be an unknown magic beast, but strangely, she could not find any information about it in her memories.


    Regina looked at Liu Ying in disdain. "How ignorant"


    Liu Ying furrowed her brows, but she did not talk back. She had seen the death of all her loved ones, so a small insult like this was nothing to her.


    Bloed smiled wryly. "It''s not a magic beast."


    "Huh? Is it not?"


    "How can I exin it Leto and Tito are mechanical constructs. Mmm, a kind of golem if you want to call them like that."


    "Golems?" Liu Ying could not believe her ears. She had seen golems before, and none was so cool, beautiful, and incredible like this.


    Bloed smiled at her and tried to exin. "Leto and Tito were created using nanorobotics. They are made of millions of nanorobots the size of a grain of sand connected through an electronicwork that allows them to share information and change shape at will."


    Liu Ying was stupefied. She could not understand anything Bloed said.


    However, she did not want to look ignorant. Besides, she knew a bit about golems.


    "A construct like this must use a great amount of mana, right? How did you get it?" She asked.


    An expression of pride appeared on Bloed''s face. "The energy source was a stroke of genius. Both Leto and Tito had a core inside them. I used magic runes to use [Molecr Disintegration] passively as a source of energy. Each second, the cores catch small molecules found in the wind and disintegrate them until turning them into pure energy. In other words, if the core is intact, their energy is limitless!"


    Liu Ying looked at Bloed and got the impression they were living inpletely different worlds. They could understand nothing.


    Regina saw Liu Ying''s expression and sneered. "Master, don''t waste your words with her. It''s obvious she can''t understand anything."


    Liu Ying''s expression darkened. She shot an angry gaze towards Regina.


    Unfortunately, Regina''s words were right. She gotpletely lost after hearing the first twenty words.


    Bloed smiled helplessly when he heard Regina. "Sorry about it, I got excited when I talk about technology. Also, Regina, stop looking for trouble. It''s normal if she doesn''t understand."


    Regina smiled arrogantly. "You are right, master. How can someone like her understand science?"


    Liu Ying flushed red in fury. Now she felt even more indignant than before.


    Moreover, what was science? Technology? Molecules? Disintegrate? Liu Ying had confidence in her education as a princess, but she did not understand half of the words Bloed used.


    Bloed smiled wryly and tried to exin again. This time, he tried to use words that Liu Ying could understand. But although Liu Ying understood the words, she did not understand what he was trying to exin.


    She simply did not understand the concepts exined by Bloed.


    Bloed sighed resignedly. As expected, It was hard for the people in this world to understand science and technology.


    After all, everything in this world was based on magic. Magic could do many things, leading to a magic-based civilization where all the researchs were focused in the field of magic.


    Bloed did not think it was wrong, though. Maybe a few hundreds of yearster, magic could reach to a level simr to earth''s industrial revolution, or maybe the information age. But meanwhile, this world was far behind the confederation when ites to the understanding of the world.


    Bloed decided to lead the conversation to other topics. It was obvious that talking about technology would only make Liu Ying ufortable, plus, he was curious about what happened to the outside world after he was exiled.


    Bloed''s social skills were pretty good, despite living a great part of his life isted and other small part fighting against monsters. It was probably thanks to Cami. Cami was very sociable and outspoken, so Bloed learned it from her.


    In just a few minutes, he had learned many things from Liu Ying. He learned that she was exiled one year ago after her parents and siblings were killed.


    Bloed used that information to conclude that the demon empire went through civil strife, and the former emperor lost. As a member of the imperial family, Liu Ying was supposed to die, but for some reason, she was spared and instead exiled to this ce together with some of her family retainers.


    Unfortunately, Liu Ying did not have much information about the other kingdoms. It was normal, after all,munication between kingdoms was scarce, and most of it came in the form of rumors brought by merchants.


    Bloed also told her some information about him, such as when he was exiled and how he survived his first days of exile. However, he did not mention anything about why he was exiled or his former family.


    Regina talked the least of the three. She just sat beside Bloed with her eyes closed and asionally shot Liu Ying distrustful gazes.


    Liu Ying did not know why Regina seemed to dislike her, but she bore with it. After all, they would not be together for long.


    Suddenly, Regina opened her eyes.


    "Master, trouble."


    Bloed frowned. "Magic beasts? Again?"


    "Yes." Regina nodded. "But this time the amount is much higher than before."


    Bloed''s expression turned dark. "This is the fourth attack in thest few days. It looks like we attracted the attention of the controller."


    Liu Ying tensed up. She stood up and looked to the distance but could not find anything besides a lone eagle in the sky.


    "Where are they?" She frowned.


    Regina smiled. "You will see them soon. Actually, it''s in part your fault. We started to be attacked after we rescued you."


    Liu Ying froze.


    Bloed sighed and hit Regina''s head with a karate chop. "Stop that. it''s not her fault. Rather than that, tell me the ETA of the enemy."


    Regina pouted and nodded. "Two minutes, but more monsters are approaching quickly. We will be surrounded soon."


    "How troublesome. Leto, full speed ahead! Tito, armor!"


    *Woof!*


    Tito''s body turned into metallic sand and enveloped Bloed. One secondter, a beautiful sci-fi looking armor was covering Bloed''s body.


    Liu Ying did not have time to be surprised, though, because the monsters were already in sight.


    Seeing the unending sea of monsters, Liu Ying started to think that maybe she was not going to survive today.


    ...


    :p


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 33: Beasts’ Attacks (1)

    Chapter 33: Beasts¡¯ Attacks (1)


    Bloed was not as nervous as Liu Ying. He was confident that with all his trump cards, nothing below S-Grade could stop him if he wanted to escape, and it was without considering Regina.


    He ordered Leto to speed up and stood on its back observing the monsters with a serious look.


    Leto''s speed doubled. It quickly reached three hundred kilometers per hour and continued increasing its speed. Liu Ying was forced to hold the wolf''s back to not fall.


    But despite its increased speed, the monsters did not fall behind.


    Around them, monster after monster started to appear. As Regina said, the monsters were trying to surround them.


    Bloed frowned. He activated one of his eyes'' functions and connected to a satellite heunched before leaving the spaceship. The image of everything around him appeared.


    Instantly, Bloed''s expression changed.


    All the monsters in the exilednds were converging towards their position.


    Thousands and thousands of monsters were chasing after them. None of those monsters was stronger than B-Grade, but just the numbers alone were enough to cause despair.


    "Regina, are you seeing this?"


    Regina nodded. "I underestimated the number of monsters in this ce. I need to go all out if I want to wipe out these many monsterspletely"


    "But you will not, right?"


    Regina nodded. "Of course. Master''s goal is to escape, not to fight. And I judged that you are not in life-threatening risk yet. Unleashing all my strength means that master will not have the opportunity to grow."


    Bloed smiled wryly. Well, he was already expecting something like that.


    Leto continued elerating, but some of the fastest monsters were already catching up with them. Especially a group of flying monsters. They were already circling above the wolf.


    Mana was very powerful. Although flesh and blood alone could not aplish speedsparable to Leto, the addition of mana made things different. Some monsters were even faster than him.


    Bloed sighed. "Well, it''s time to fight. Leto, weapons!"


    Bloed submerged his hand into Leto''s back and took something out. At some point, a part of Leto''s body had turned into a supercharged energy sniper rifle.


    It was the true purpose of Bloed''s two pets. Tito was his armor, and Leto was his armory.


    Bloed held the sniper rifle on his shoulder and activated his eyes. The blue mechanical eyes and his enhanced brain worked together to give him the perfect aim.


    Putting his finger on the trigger, he smiled.


    "Let''s fly."


    Then, a sh of light flew towards the sky, right into an eagle''s head.


    The eagle was unable to react and its mana-enhanced body was unable to block the projectile. In an instant, the result was out.


    "Headshot!" Bloed whispered, and pressed the trigger again.


    Liu Ying opened her eyes wide. Every time Bloed pressed the trigger, a ray of light was shot, and a beast was killed. Not one managed to survive his attacks.


    "W-Wat kind of magic is that?" She asked surprised.


    But Bloed was too concentrated to answer. In his ce, Regina''s right hand lit up and pointed towards the sky.


    "It''s technology. Below A-Grade, firearms are the kings. Even an A-Grade can''t receive a sniper bullet like these head-on. He will have to avoid the bullet to survive."


    "A-Grade? Do you mean A-Rank?"


    "It''s the same." Regina aimed up and shot a ray of light from her arm. Although she would not unleash her entire strength if Bloed was not in life-threatening danger, using C-Grade attacks was alright.


    Liu Ying was astonished. Bloed and Regina shot down the monsters incredibly easily. It did not even seem as though they were having trouble.


    For an instant, she was a bit envious. Her bloodline was closebat rted, so her long-ranged abilities left much to desire.


    But soon, she stopped being envious. Despite Bloed and Regina''s astonishing rate of killing, the number of monsters closing to them was only increasing.


    When the closest monster was less than a hundred meters away, Bloed frowned. He turned the sniper rifle into two small energy guns and continued shooting.


    The energy guns were less powerful and precise than the sniper rifle, but the rate of fire was many times higher and it was easier to use. Much better for medium-rangedbat.


    Rays of superpressed energy were shot quickly. With Bloed''s marksmanship, he never needed more than two bullets to kill an enemy.


    Then, the first monster reached them.


    "Hey Regina, are you ready?" Bloed asked excitedly.


    Regina smiled. "I''m needing a bit of exercise."


    "Hahahaha, perfect! Liu Ying, take care of yourself!"


    "Don''t worry, I won''t die before you!"


    Bloed grinned and unsheathed his saber.


    When the first monster jumped into Leto''s back, Bloed took a step forward and


    Disintegration Saber!


    The monster was cut into two.


    Seeing that, Regina did not fall behind. She formed two energy des in her hands and jumped towards a vulture. The vulture tried to pierce her with its beak, but Regina''s activated her anti-gravity device and moved behind it.


    With a swing of the energy des created through her ESP ability [Energy Materialization], the C-Grade vulture could not even to feel pain.


    More and more monsters attacked. Bloed continued swinging his saber and moving skillfully between the monsters. Each swing of his saber was a limb cut, and each monster he passed was a life taken.


    From time to time, he used his gun to shot the monsters he could not reach with his saber. His movements were so elegant that it seemed as though he was taking a stroll instead of fighting.


    To Liu Ying''s surprise, she was the weakest of the group. Despite being a powerful C-Rank demon, her battle strength could not bepared to the pair before her.


    She could not understand. Her bloodline gave her a powerful physical power, and she felt that her speed and power were greater than Bloed and Regina. But when she finished an enemy, they had killed five each.


    It was as though they were an entire level above her.


    Asparing a child with an adult.


    ...


    :p


    The Cover is not ready yet. I was very busyst week and failed to make any advances. I''ll try to finish it in one week, but I don''t know...


    Support me on P4TRE0N if you like this story (I''m still adding chapters)...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 34: Beasts’ Attack (2)

    Chapter 34: Beasts¡¯ Attack (2)


    Bloed and Regina''sbat style could only be described with a word, precise.


    Especially Bloed. His ESPer ability and his eyes allowed him to calcte the best method to attack in a thousandth of a second. Moreover, his eyes were constantly perceiving information about his surroundings and his enemies, in other words, the longer the battle, the more advantageous it was for him.


    His saber was another plus. [Molecr Disintegration] was a very overpowered ability almost impossible to stop. At the same level, and even one level higher, it was virtually unstoppable.


    Maybe a person with a very special talent could stop it, but none of the monsters attacking had that capability.


    Regina was even more of a monster. She was literally abat machine. Even without Bloed''s ESP ability, his AI-like brain plus his SS-Grade Psychic abilities made it incredibly easy for her to kill any monster. Even if she suppressed her abilities to C-Grade, a mouse could not hope to defeat a cat, no matter how small the cat is.


    Liu Ying was also incredible in her own way, but she fell shortpared to monsters like Bloed and Regina that could kill one monster each second. She was a bit weaker.


    Of course, Liu Ying''s battle experience was much lower than the technological pair, plus she was unable to show the greatest potential of her bloodline yet, so it was normal if she was weaker.


    Thebat against the beasts intensified. Despite Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying''s attempts to repel the horde, the number of monsters attacking them was increasing exponentially.


    "Master, at this rate we will be overwhelmed!" Regina warned.


    " We just need to endure a bit more. Leto will escape the encirclement soon!"


    Regina nodded. "Okay, but be careful, master."


    Bloed smiled confidently.


    Liu Ying let out a relieved sigh when she heard they were about to escape. She was starting to be overwhelmed by the constants attacks.


    But now that hope was in sight, she decided to make sure of surviving until then. Her amber eyes shone powerfully, and the mana inside her surged out powerfully.


    The mastermind behind the attack seemed to realize the group''s goal. It ordered the monsters to attack Leto, but the monsters'' bites and ws could not hurt it. Even when a monster was able to damage Leto, the damage would be repaired almost instantly.


    The monsters quickly realized that normal attacks were ineffective. So, they opted for using their own bodies to stop the wolf''s advance regardless of their lives.


    When Bloed felt Leto slowing down, he wrinkled his brows.


    In the next second, he gave an order coldly.


    "Leto, battle mode!"


    This time, Leto finally made a sound.


    *GROOOOWL!*


    A terrifying growl escaped of its throat. An armor of metallic thorns took shape around Leto. The thorns started to vibrate at high speeds, generating a cutting force that tore the monsters nearby into pieces.


    At the same time, Leto opened its mouth.


    Then


    *BOOOOMMMMM!*


    A ray of energy cut through the desert, turning into ashes all the monsters in its way.


    "It could do something like that!?" Liu Ying let out a cry of surprise.


    "The sma ray has very high energy consumption, so I don''t like to use it, but yeah, it can." Bloed replied with a smirk.


    Liu Ying opened her mouth in an ''O'' shape. She looked at Bloed without hiding her admiration. She truly could not imagine that someone so young could create such a powerful construct.


    In fact, even although she had seen stronger golems, none could bepared to Leto. All the golems she knew about were limited to physical attacks and could not shot magic or change shape so freely.


    Leto''s sma breath and destructive armor improved the group''s situation greatly. Although some monsters still managed to pass Leto''s defenses and attack the group, they were easy kills for the trio.


    Furthermore, they were already very close to escaping the encirclement. Bloed could already see the end of the monsters.


    But when he thought they would be able to escape withoutplications, a lion-like monster appeared behind them.


    The lion looked at Leto and growled. It then kicked the ground and jumped.


    In one second, it appeared above the group.


    Then, it hit Leto''s head.


    *BOOOOMMMM!*


    Leto''s head exploded into countless metallic pieces.


    "Master!" Regina jumped and hugged Bloed. The next second, the shockwaves of the impact turned Leto into metallic sand.


    Regina, Bloed, and Liu Ying flew through the air with astonished expressions. They looked at the proud lion with expressions of fear.


    The Lion did not wait for them to fall to the ground. Almost instantly, it jumped towards Bloed and Regina and opened its mouth.


    Regina reacted quickly. She activated her anti-gravity device and evaded the attack easily. She thennded in the ground and looked at the lion with narrowed eyes.


    The lion looked at the pair in surprise. It was wondering how its prey managed to avoid its attack.


    Instantly, wariness appeared on its face.


    "A-Grade!" Bloed shouted gravely.


    " How troublesome." Regina observed the monster carefully. Feeling the mana wavesing from it, she furrowed her brows.


    However, it was not enough to release her true strength.


    Bloed tensed up and got ready to fight. At the same time, he called out to his otherpanion.


    "Liu Ying, are you alright?"


    " I''m alright." Liu Ying answered with a grave expression. Although the fall caused her some scratches, her powerful body mitigated most of the damage. However, she was not rxed, she could feel the strength of the monster in front of them, and it was much, much higher of the other monsters.


    It was the stronger monster she had met in the exilednds.


    And with their mean of transport destroyed, they were unable to escape the encirclement.


    " Sorry, guys, you were involved in this due to me. Even Leto was destroyed." Liu Ying bit her lips and apologized.


    However, Bloed just smiled.


    "What are you saying? Leto was not destroyed."


    "Huh?"


    Before she could understand Bloed''s meaning, a storm of metallic sand formed around them and took shape behind Bloed.


    In seconds, it took the shape of a wolf.


    But although it seemed that Leto recoveredpletely, looking closely, you could notice that its size had reduced by a few centimeters.


    "Master, at the current rate, we will be unable to escape the encirclement." Regina furrowed her brows.


    Bloed nodded. " It looks like we can only use it. Liu Ying, get ready. At my signal, jump onto Leto."


    "O-Okay!"


    Bloed smiled and looked at the lion. The lion was moving slowly around them and waiting for the other beasts to surround thempletely. It had be wary after Regina evaded its attack.


    Anyway, with it here, the prey could not escape.


    However, it underestimated Bloed, and it underestimated Leto.


    When the lion was finally about to attack, Bloed smiled.


    "Now!"


    None of them hesitated. Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying jumped onto the metallic wolf''s back.


    The lion realized they were nning to escape and tried to attack, but at that moment, Bloed threw something in the air.


    "Boom" He whispered.


    And a strong blinding light and deafening roar struck the surrounding monsters.


    The monsters, including the lion, received theplete impact of the stun grenade. For a second, none of them was able to move.


    Even Liu Ying was affected, losing her sight and hearing momentarily. She closed her eyes and held her ears in pain. Fortunately, Bloed grabbed her hand or her would have fallen from Leto''s back.


    When she opened the eyes again, Liu Ying once more realized that she underestimated the Bloed, and she underestimated wolf.


    It was flying in the sky.


    ...


    Yesterday''s chapter...

 Chapter 35: Fried Chicken with French Fries

    Chapter 35: Fried Chicken with French Fries


    " So it can fly too, huh." Liu Ying could not hide the disbelief in her voice.


    Bloed smiled and readied his sniper rifle again. He then started to shot down the flying monsters still chasing after them.


    In less than five minutes, all the flying monsters had been killed and Leto had left the horde of monsters behind.


    "Sigh It was close." Bloed wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead and returned Tito to its puppy form. "Damn, I was not expecting an A-Grade."


    "We underestimated the monster controlling the horde. Until now, our database did not have information on it controlling A-Grade monsters." Regina nodded.


    Bloed smiled bitterly. "Fortunately, Leto can fly. Although escaping like that leaves a bad taste in my mouth."


    Regina just shook her head and refused to answer.


    After hearing their conversation, Liu Ying calmed down and seated across them. She then looked at Bloed and frowned.


    "I don''t understand, why did you wait until a powerful monster appeared to fly? Would it not been better to escape flying since the start."


    "Oh? Are you curious?"


    Liu Ying frowned. "You don''t have to tell me if you don''t want to."


    Bloed did not mind Liu Ying''s attitude. He could understand where it wasing from knowing that she lost all her family not long ago.


    But Regina showed a displeased expression. Fortunately, Bloed spoke before she could get the rude girl in her ce.


    "Unfortunately, Leto''s flight is not unlimited." Bloed exined


    "Huh?"


    "Although I designed a way to supply Leto with energy constantly, the flight mode consumes more energy than it can produce. Leto''s reserves of energy will be used up in half an hour and we will be forced back to the ground again. Moreover, it will need three days to recover its reserves of energy and at least one day to be able to fly again."


    "That means"


    "Yes." Bloed nodded. "We will be unable to use this method of escape until one dayter. But don''t worry, half an hour is enough to get us hundreds of kilometers away from the horde."


    Leto used an anti-gravity engine to fly, and it could reach 400 km/h. It was slower than an airne, but it was the most Bloed could get taking into ount all the functions he had added to the wolf.


    It was enough, though. Only A-Grade individuals could reach such speeds, and only during short bursts of speed. Of course, it was different if it was a monster or ESPer specialized in speed, or a flying monster.


    " Hey Bloed, does Leto can do anything else?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    "Why? Are you curious?"


    Liu Ying looked at Bloed and scoffed. "You don''t have to tell me if you don''t want to."


    Bloed shrugged and smiled mysteriously. Liu Ying wanted to punch his smiling face badly, but she was not confident she could beat him.


    Moreover, there was nothing wrong with Bloed hiding Leto''s abilities. After all, a trump card was much more valuable when fewer people knew about it.


    Half an hourter, Leto''s flight finally reached its end.


    "Good work, boy." Bloed patted Leto''s head. The wolf snorted in pride andy on the floor to recover its energy.


    Meanwhile, Bloed checked up Leto''s state.


    "How is it, master?" Regina asked, not minding that Liu Ying was paying attention to their conversation.


    A frown appeared on Bloed face. "Leto lost 4% of its nanorobots during the chase. Fortunately, the energy core was undamaged."


    Regina sighed in relief. "4% is good. We can restore it back to normal quickly."


    "Yes." Nodded Bloed. "But we can''t afford to repair it now. I fear the monster horde will not give us that time."


    " Do you think they will continue chasing us?" Regina asked.


    This was something Bloed was wondering too. However, he had the feeling that the monsters would not give up so easily.


    For some reason, the mastermind behind the horde seemed determined to eliminate all the humans from the exilednds.


    Bloed thought for a moment and closed his eyes. He connected his eyes to the satellite in space and observe the situation of the monster horde.


    Just as he expected, the horde was still chasing after them.


    Bloed shook his head and sighed. "They are still after us."


    Liu Ying''s face changed. "Seriously? Why are they so insistent?"


    Regina shot a suspicious look in Liu Ying''s direction. "Maybe the demon took something from them and that is the reason they are chasing us."


    "You" Liu Ying took a deep breath and swallowed the words she wanted to say. Fighting would only make things harder to bear. Moreover, she was sure that Bloed would take Regina''s side in the case they fought.


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. "Regina, stop it. You know that is not the reason..." He then thought for a moment before shrugging. "I can think of anything... Let''s talk about itter. Regina, prepare our lunch. We will depart when Leto recovers enough energy to continue."


    Regina nodded. "Understood, master. Do you want to eat something in particr?"


    "Fried chicken with french fries?"


    "Okay." One secondter, the portable tent had appeared beside Leto.


    In minutes, the mouth-watering smell of fried chicken assaulted Bloed''s nose.


    ...


    Leave a review if you like the story...

 Chapter 36: Death Swamp (1)

    Chapter 36: Death Swamp (1)


    Half a dayter, the group stopped in front of a swamp.


    Countless trees grew in muddy waters that emitted a pungent odor. The intertwined trees seemed to extend until the horizon, stopping the sunlight from reaching the swamp. Due to it, the swamp was dark, damp, and dangerous.


    "Bloed, you are not thinking about entering, right?" Liu Ying asked with a frown.


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying with a bitter smile. "I don''t want to go inside either, but I fear we don''t have many choices."


    The frown in Liu Ying''s face became deeper. "Are you crazy? This is the death swamp! One of the most dangerous zones in the exilednds! The exilednds are paradisepared to it!"


    "I know." Bloed nodded.


    "Then"


    "But if we take a detour, we will need one week to leave the exilednds. And the horde of monsters chasing after us only needs one day to catch up."


    Liu Ying was stunned.


    She looked at the dark and tenebrous swamp in front and then at the dry and hot sand behind and gulped a mouthful of saliva.


    Bloed carried Tito on his arms and sighed. "We have two options. One, we go through the swamp and with a bit of luck, we go through it in one day and left the exilednds, or we take a detour and are chased for thousands of monsters for seven days. Tell me, what do you think is the best option?"


    Liu Ying looked at the sky before heaving a big deep sigh.


    "I just hope that the crocodiles are not very hungry Hey Bloed, do you know if the crocodiles prefer human meat or demon meat?"


    Regina was the one that replied.


    "I''m sure that demon meat is tastier. Master, we can use her as bait if the situation turns hard."


    Liu Ying gritted her teeth. "Woman, why did you hate me so much!?"


    Regina just looked at her indifferently before moving her gaze away in disdain.


    How could she not hate this girl that forced herself inside her master''s life?


    Regina knew how much suffering other people had caused to her master. He was betrayed by his family, by the people he loved, and finally, even the person he loved the most and respected the most preferred to leave instead of staying with him.


    Regina respected Cami as her mother, but she hated her for dying. Cami could have chosen to sleep in a cryogenic chamber and wait until Bloed found a cure to her condition, but she instead decided to die and leave Bloed behind, even although she knew all the pain her death would cause him.


    So, now that someone else wanted to be part of her master''s life, she was not going to allow it.


    Her master did not need people that could betray or abandon him. She was more than enough for him. She could take care of him, hear him, talk to him, cook for him, and maybe love him.


    In fact, if not that she was afraid her master gets angry with her, she would have killed the demon long ago.


    Fortunately, the demon would leave soon enough, or Regina would be unable to endure the urge to strangte her.


    The group of three plus two mechanical pets entered the swamp.


    Leto''s body was too huge and heavy to enter, so Bloed put most of Leto''s nanorobots inside a space capsule and reduced Leto''s size to one meter tall. This size was perfect to walk and fight in the swamp efficiently.


    But once they entered the swamp, the faced their first great obstacle.


    The stench.


    The entire swamp reeked of rotten meat and gastric juices. The intense stench assaulted Bloed and Liu Ying''s enhanced sense of smell and forced them to cover their noses. Even the usually expressionless Regina frowned facing such a stench.


    It was as though the smell of thousands of rotten eggsbined with rotten fruits.


    *Retch!* Liu Ying put a hand on her mouth and suppressed the impulse to vomit.


    Bloed frowned and looked at Regina. "Regina, breathing masks, please."


    "Understood." Regina nodded and took out two breathing masks. One for Bloed and another for her.


    She then looked at Liu Ying with a look of pride.


    Even although Liu Ying never had seen masks like those, she instantly realized their function.


    So, seeing that Regina was not nning to give her one, she looked at Bloed with pitiful eyes.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or cry.


    "Regina, give one to Liu Ying too."


    "Hmph!" Regina snorted angrily but obeyed her master orders.


    Of course, she did not forget to give the demon a hateful re that Liu Ying returned with a smile of triumph.


    The group sighed in relief as soon as they wore the breathing masks. Now that they could finally breathe, they focused on examining their surroundings.


    Due to the trees blocking the sunlight, the swamp was rather dark. A normal person could see at most a few meters ahead, but neither Bloed nor Regina nor Liu Ying were normal people. None of them was troubled by theck of light.


    When Liu Ying felt the mud in her feet, she grimaced.


    "It feels disgusting."


    Bloed nodded. Walking in the swamp was not only tiresome but also disgusting. Moreover, the mud was the perfect hiding ce for depredators. Bloed was not even sure if his thermal vision could detect the monsters if they hid in the mud.


    THis world was a magic one, after all.


    Thus, he had to be wary of ambushes.


    "This is a bad idea" Liu Ying mumbled with a despondent look.


    Regina did not hesitate to shot back. "Stop being a wuss. Nothing will happen."


    Liu Ying just shot her a displeased look and looked away. She was not in the mood to bicker with Regina now, not when she had to be wary of serpents or crocodiles.


    But suddenly, she felt something grabbing her ankle.


    Liu Ying turnedpletely pale.


    "B-Bloed?"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-There is something below"


    Bloed stopped walking. When he turned towards Liu Ying, he realized that her expression was filled with fear.


    "B-Bloed"


    "Don''t move." Bloed extended his hands and tried to calm her down while he unsheathed his saber. Liu Ying nodded nervously, but then, her expression changed.


    Before Bloed could react, her body was swallowed by the mud.


    ...


    My P4TRE0N page is just about to hit the next goal and increase the releases to 8 chapters/week. Check it if you are interested...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 37: Death Swamp (2)

    Chapter 37: Death Swamp (2)


    Sorry, busy yesterday. I''ll try to post that chapterter...


    ...


    "AH!" Liu Ying let out a short scream before being swallowed by the mud.


    Bloed''s expression changed. "Liu Ying!"


    The next instant, Tito turned into armor and covered Bloed. Bloed charged towards the ce where Liu Ying disappeared and brandished his saber.


    He could see Liu Ying''s location through his thermal vision, so he calcted the location of the enemy dragging Liu Ying down and filled his saber with psychic energy.


    "EEEEKKKKKK!" An ominous cry resounded in the forest and assaulted Bloed''s ears. The saber attack had cut whatever it was.


    Unfortunately, it was not dead.


    Bloed clenched his teeth and ignored it. After that, he pulled Liu Ying''s out of the mud.


    *Cough cough!" Liu Ying vomited a mouthful of mud and took a deep breath.


    But then, something attacked Bloed from above.


    "Careful, master!"


    Regina formed an energy sword in her hand and shed the attacker. She then spun swiftly and cut another thee attacks that wereing from different directions.


    But by then, tens of projectiles were flying towards them.


    Bloed held Liu Ying in his arms and jumped aside. The brown and grey projectiles chased after them,ing from the mud and the trees and cutting their routes of escape.


    "It''s the trees!" Bloed eximed. "The trees are alive!"


    "Master, behind you!"


    Bloed did not hesitate and jumped aside, barely evading a spear-like branch. He then shook Liu Ying''s body. "Liu Ying, get a grip on yourself! We need to fight!"


    "Y-Yes!" Liu Ying wiped the mud off her face and entered into a fighting stance.


    The branches and roots of the surrounding trees pierced towards them. Hundreds of spear-like branches and roots attacked at the same time. The power behind each attack wasparable to a bullet!


    Although Bloed was confident that his armor could endure the attacks, he did not want to bet with his life and blocked each blow. Plus, even if a branch alone could not pierce the energy shield of his armor, hundreds of branches would eventually overwhelm his defenses.


    Moreover, the trees were not only trying to pierce them. Some roots tried to entangle their bodies and drag them into the mud to be used as fertilizer.


    Bloed''s expression turned grave. They werepletely surrounded by trees, and the number of attacks was so overwhelming that they had their hands full just defending. It was impossible to attack. Moreover, he was not sure how which trees were monsters and which were trees.


    Bloed estimated the trees'' strength as D-Grade. Normally, Bloed could kill tens of monsters like these easily, but the number of trees was too great, and the attacks wereing from every direction, making even defending very strenuous.


    In the end, Bloed knew that he had to use Leto, even if that meant that Leto would need more time to regain the ability to fly.


    "Leto!" Bloed shouted.


    Instantly, the metallic wolf''s body turned into thousands of high-speed oscition des. The des spread on the surroundings as small insects, cutting the branches and trees until making them sawdust.


    *EEEEEEKKKKK!* Under the attacks of Leto, the spear-like branches were unable to reach the group.


    With that, the group finally got a brief respite.


    "Regina, how many enemies are there?"


    "I don''t know." Regina shook her head. "They are mixed between the normal trees and I''m unable to differentiate them before they attack. Their killing intent is very well hidden."


    Bloed nodded with a dark expression. He realized that the attacks were not decreasing despite Leto destroying tens of trees. Instead, he got the impression that more and more branches were trying to skewer them.


    At the current rate, Leto would use up its energy before killing all the monsters.


    Hence, Bloed decided to end everything quickly.


    "Leto,e back!"


    *Woof!*


    Leto''s metallic particles joined again into a metallic wolf. The trees took advantage of that opportunity to attack them again, but Bloed was already ready.


    Cutting a branch with his saber, he looked at Liu Ying and asked something.


    "Hey, Liu Ying, do you know what trees hate the most?"


    Liu Ying tilted her head in doubt. " Fire?"


    Bloed smiled excitedly.


    "Leto, burn ''em down!"


    With Bloed''s order, a ball of superpressed energy formed in Leto''s mouth.


    Then, Leto unleashed it with a roar.


    *ROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!*


    This time, the sma breath did not fly in a straight line. Instead, it descended as balls of fire that rained in the surroundings.


    *EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKk!*


    The demonic trees screamed in pain. The extreme heat caused by the sma evaporated the water and burned the trees in seconds. A fire grew quickly, spreading to the trees nearby and licking the water of the swamp dry. Bloed and the others saw many trees unrooting themselves from the ground and trying to run away.


    Unfortunately, they were too slow to escape from the fire.


    But the trees were not the only ones affected.


    The heat of the fire was quickly spreading to Bloed and the others.


    "Get up on Leto, quickly!" Bloed shouted and took out Leto''s remaining nanorobots. Leto quickly grew in size until bing a three-meters-tall, enough for the three of them to ride on it.


    Then, it unleashed another sma breath that created a path between the mes and charged out.


    In seconds, they had left the fire behind.


    Liu Ying heaved a sigh of relief. She then looked at Bloed with aplicated expression and bit her lips.


    " Hey."


    "Hmm?"


    " Thank you. You saved me again."


    Bloed was startled before smiling gently. "Don''t mind it. Just be more careful next time."


    " I will."


    Liu Ying then smiled.


    This was perhaps the first time she smiled since meeting Bloed, since herst family died.


    Regina, who watched their interaction from a side, wrinkled her brows.


    She did not like it. Her master was bing closer and closer to the demon, and that was not something good.


    Her master was gentle, so he easily trusted others. Even although he just met Liu Ying a few days ago, she could feel that his wariness towards Liu Ying had diminished considerably.


    In fact, Liu Ying was unable to harm Bloed in the slightest. Plus, with Regina here, Bloed''s safety was guaranteed regardless of Liu Ying''s intentions. Bloed knew it, so he was even less wary of Liu Ying.


    But Regina could not trust the demon so easily.


    If Liu Ying and Bloed be closer, Bloed will be in much pain once Liu Ying betrays him.


    Once she learns Bloed''s secret.


    Regina could not allow it. She could not let the demon hurt her master''s feelings, not again.


    For an instant, a slight killing intent shed in her eyes.


    However, Regina hid it quickly.


    [ Master, Liu Ying will leave us once we exited the exilednd, right?] Regina spoke directly into Bloed''s mind so Liu Ying could not hear their conversation.


    Bloed was startled, but he nodded. Regina then furrowed her brows and looked at him.


    [ Master, don''t trust her too much.]


    Bloed fell silent. He looked at Liu Ying briefly and furrowed his brows before nodding. [I know, don''t worry.]


    Regina fixed her gaze on Bloed. When she saw that he understood, she sighed in relief. [I trust you, master.]


    She then looked at Liu Ying and her gaze turned ice cold.


    "Demon, how long are you nning to make us endure the stench of your clothes!"


    "Huh?" Liu Ying looked at her mud-filled body reeking of rotten meat and eggs and her face turned bitter.


    Finally, she could only look at Bloed with a pitiful look.


    Bloed let out a tired sigh.


    "Regina, can you lend some of your clothes to Liu Ying."


    Regina was surprised. She then looked at Liu Ying gently a nodded.


    "No, master."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 38: Death Swamp (3)

    Chapter 38: Death Swamp (3)


    Eventually, Regina agreed to lend some of her clothes to Liu Ying, although her unwillingness was evident in her gaze.


    When Liu Ying put on the clothes, she frowned.


    "They are rather tight. Mainly in the chest."


    Bloed was not sure if he imagined the killing intenting from Regina.


    Liu Ying was just 15 years old, but her body was already rather developed. Although her height was not different from Regina, her bust and butt were much more noticeable.


    As for Regina Well, petite was the best description of her appearance.


    In all the senses of the word.


    Until now, Liu Ying had been used a coat and the clothes Bloed had found her with. Bloed had asked Regina to repair the clothes so Liu Ying could continue using them.


    Those clothes were rather loose, so her curvaceous body was not very apparent. But now that she wore Regina''s tight-fitting clothes


    Bloed decided that it was better not topare. He could feel Regina''s killing intent slowly encroaching him, as though waiting for him to say something.


    " Bloed, don''t you think these clothes are too tight? I feel like they are squeezing my chest." Liu Ying looked at Bloed and asked.


    "Demon, what are you insinuating!" Regina clenched her teeth.


    "Huh?" Liu Ying was startled, but she then looked at Regina''s body and smirked. "I see. I understand why the clothes are so tight."


    Regina''s gaze turned frigid. "Master, can I kill this woman?"


    Bloed just decided to ignore their conversation.


    The journey in Leto was pretty peaceful for a while, but Leto''s recently recovered energy was mostly used up after the two breath attacks.


    So, less than ten minutester, the group was walking in the swamp again.


    "What are we going to do if we meet the demonic trees again, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked. Even now, they were surroundedpletely by trees. Liu Ying shuddered in fear when she thought that many of these trees could be monsters in disguise.


    But contrary to Liu Ying''s worry, Bloed was rather rxed.


    "Actually, it''s rather easy to identify the demonic trees Let''s call them treants. There is an easy method to discover them."


    "Huh?"


    Bloed smirked. "Regina, will you make the honors?"


    Regina nodded. She created a de of energy on her hands and used it to sh the tree beside her.


    The tree was cut into two and fell to the swamp.


    " That is it?" Liu Ying looked at Regina in confusion. Regina stared at her as though she was an idiot and did not bother to answer.


    Bloed smiled wryly and exined. "Treants disguise themselves like trees to ambush their prey, so we just need to cut the trees in our path to know if it''s a tree or a treant."


    Liu Ying furrowed her eyes in thought. "But what are we going to do if we find a group of treants? Maybe after you discover and kill a treant, the others nearby will attack."


    Bloed nodded. "Yes, but by then, we will have an escape route."


    Liu Ying instantly understood.


    The treants were very slow. Actually, Bloed and the others would have been able to escape easily if not that they have been surrounded with branch-like spears attacking them from all directions.


    But with Bloed''s method, they could guarantee that at least a direction did not have treants. In other words, they could escape easily.


    After exining the method to Liu Ying, the three of them took turns to destroy the trees on their way. Doing so slowed their speed considerably, but it was clearly useful.


    The group was able to find treants'' ambushes several times thanks to it. And as Bloed expected, they escaped easily each time.


    However, treants were not the only risk the group faced.


    Not long after they fought the group of treants, the group was ambushed by a C-Grade crocodile. This time, though, Bloed had detected it beforehand with his thermal vision.


    But such as Bloed suspected, his thermal vision was less useful than he expected.


    Some monsters had the ability to hide their thermal and energy signatures. One of them, a B-Grade serpent, almost swallowed Liu Ying whole after an ambush.


    Fortunately, Bloed and Regina reacted quickly and killed it before it could truly hurt Liu Ying.


    Moreover, some monsters used magic. Such monsters were much harder to fight. Even a C-Grade bird that could use magic was more troublesome than the B-Grade monsters in the monster horde.


    But due to it, Bloed soon realized something.


    " Regina, Liu Ying, have you not noticed?"


    "Huh?"


    The two girls looked at Bloed with looks of confusion.


    Bloed put on a pensive expression and looked at the corpse they just killed. It was a B-Grade crocodile that was killed after Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying joined hands in a difficult battle.


    " Don''t you think that the monsters in the swamp are stronger than the monsters in the horde?"


    The girls were startled. Regina furrowed her brows and thought about it.


    "Master, do you think that there is a problem with the monsters in the swamp?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before shaking his head.


    "No, the problem is with the monsters in the horde."


    "Huh?"


    Liu Ying and Regina were surprised.


    Bloed nodded. "Yes, thinking about it, none of those monsters used magic, despite there being thousands of them. Don''t you think it''s weird? Even their strength was weaker. The B-Grade monsters in the monster horde felt as though the C-Grade monsters here."


    "What does that mean?" Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed shook his head. "I don''t know. Maybe the monster controlling the horde needs to pay a price to control the monsters. Probably, the mind control makes the monsters weaker Hmm, I''m curious about the method used to control the monsters."


    "Do you want to investigate it, master?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. "It''s not necessary. We are going to leave the exilednds soon, so we will probably never meet that monster again."


    Liu Ying wrinkled her brows. "But Bloed, and if that monster controls the horde to attack outside the exilednds?"


    Bloed fell silent for a moment before replying with a shrug.


    "Well, that has nothing to do with me."


    Bloed and Regina continued walking.


    As for Liu Ying, she stood frozen in her spot, surprised by Bloed''s words.


    ...


    Guys, I have already 10 extra chapters in my P4TRE0N. Go and check if you are interested...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 39: Desire for Strength

    Chapter 39: Desire for Strength


    For a long while after that, Liu Ying stayed silent. She seemed to be thinking about somethingplicated. asionally, she looked at Bloed as though wondering if he was serious.


    Bloed did not expect that his words would impact Liu Ying so much, but he was being honest. The truth was, Bloed did not care much for the world.


    In fact, Bloed felt disgusted towards this world. After all, this was a world that believed that people like him must die. It was a world where children like him were killed or abandoned.


    Bloed did not hate magic. Rather, he liked it. He was curious about mana and why it could have such effects. ESP powers were powerful, but they were not as versatile. Mana, on the other hand, allowed people to do many things that were impossible with just an ESP power.


    But his liking for magic was purely scientific, and it does have nothing to do with the people in this world that wield mana. Even with Liu Ying, he always felt that there was a barrier between them.


    After all, he was different. He was manaless in a world where mana was everything.


    For an instant, Bloed remembered the spaceship. He had left it for just a few days, but he already missed it.


    That ce was his home. There, he was normal.


    Bloed shook his head and stopped thinking about that. He was going to leave the exilednds soon, going back to the world that abandoned him. Depressing thoughts were not going to do him any good.


    He had to face the world again eventually.


    The group continued walking for a few hours. Soon, the already dark swamp started to turn even darker. Bloed checked the time and realized it was almost night.


    " We will rest here." He announced.


    Regina nodded. "Understood. I''ll start to prepare everything."


    "Alright." Bloed smiled.


    As soon as the tent was installed, Regina entered to prepare dinner. Meanwhile, Bloed stayed outside and installed some sentry robots and an energy barrier around the tent.


    With the sentries, the barrier, and Tito and Leto keeping guard during the night, Bloed did not have to worry about being attacked while they sleep.


    At least, he would have enough time to get ready to fight.


    When he finished, he realized that Liu Ying was looking at the sky absentmindedly.


    "Liu Ying?"


    Liu Ying was startled and looked towards Bloed with a forced smile on her face.


    "What is wrong?" Bloed asked.


    Liu Ying fell silent for a moment before heaving a sigh and looking straight into Bloed''s eyes.


    "Do you have time for a chat?"


    Bloed was surprised.


    "Of course. Is anything wrong?"


    Liu Ying smiled bitterly and sat in the ground. She did not mind that the ground was filled with mud. Anyway, there was mud everywhere in this swamp and her clothes were dirty after one day of travel.


    Bloed followed and sat beside her.


    For a few minutes, both of them stayed silent.


    " Bloed, why were you sent to this ce?" Finally, Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. That question was taboo. It was not something he wanted to talk about.


    Liu Ying also seemed to realize it, so she did not insist. Instead, she started to talk.


    "I was sent here after my family lost in a power struggle."


    As expected Bloed muttered inwardly.


    Liu Ying continued talking. "My father, mother, grandfather, uncles, and aunts. All of them were very powerful. In fact, we probably were stronger than the other side, but"


    For an instant, an expression of hatred appeared in her eyes.


    Liu Ying clenched her fist until they turned white. Her amber eyes turned slightly red, and her breathing became shorter and shorter.


    " We were betrayed." She finally spat out.


    Bloed heard her silently.


    "One of my father''s friends poisoned my father, my mother, and grandfather before killing them. After that, the armies of two allied families attacked our home, suddenly killing all our loyal warriors and most of my family.


    "In the end, only my uncle, two cousins, and I survived.


    "Heh Thinking about it, they probably would have not minded killing us. However, the remaining forces of our family resisted fiercely. In the end, they orded to surrender in exchange for guaranteeing our lives. The enemy agreed, but we were forced to go to the exilednds. Afterward, you know the rest of the story"


    Bloed nodded. In truth, Bloed did not find Liu Ying''s story surprising. He was already expecting something like this when he deduced her identity.


    Power struggles between families, kingdoms, and races were the daily bread of this world. Each time, the defeated party was killed, taken prisoner, or exiled; and the winning party would rece them.


    Hence, although Bloed felt a bit of pity for Liu Ying, it was just it, pity.


    Liu Ying took a deep breath to calm her emotions. She looked at the ground and clenched her fist while remembering the night when her family fell.


    While remembering thest words of her uncle.


    "When the horde of beast attacked our vige, the servants of my family, my uncle, and my two cousins that were exiled here with me sacrificed their lives to give me a chance to escape They... Theirst wish was to restore the glory of my family"


    " Is that your goal?" Bloed asked.


    Liu Ying smiled bitterly and shook her head.


    "No"


    Bloed was stunned.


    A wry smile appeared on Liu Ying''s face. "I know myself rather well. I''m not smart enough to restore my family... Plots and struggled for power... I''m not good at things like that. Most of the time, I''m a bit rash instead My only talents are my bloodline and my cultivation speed. I managed to reach C-Rank before turning 15, that is pretty impressive.."


    Bloed nodded. "Then, what are you nning?"


    Liu Ying exhaled and looked at the sky.


    "I want revenge."


    ""


    "I want to kill all the people that killed my family. I''m not smart enough to restore my family glory, but I''m confident I can be a demigod eventually. And then, I''ll kill every one of them Strength, that is what I want." Liu Ying''s voice was brimming with determination.


    "A demigod, huh. That is a big goal." Bloed sighed.


    "I know." Nodded Liu Ying. "But I''ll achieve it."


    She then looked at Bloed and bowed deeply. "Bloed, I''m very thankful to you and Regina. The two of you rescued me, healed me, feed me, and even took care of me in this hell. Maybe you will not trust my words, but believe me when I told you that I will repay this debt one day.


    "However, I want to ask you for a favor I know it''s rather shameless, but I must do it."


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying deeply.


    "Do speak."


    " Can you teach me to fight?" Liu Ying bit her lips and asked.


    "Hmm?"


    "You and Regina are not much stronger than I am. Rather, I feel I''m faster and maybe a bit stronger than you However, in actualbat, I''m much weaker. You and Regina''s movements It feels like everything is under your control."


    " So you want to learn it, huh."


    Liu Ying nodded.


    Bloed fell silent. He looked at the sky and thought about many things at the same time.


    In fact, Regina could not learn hisbat style. After all, she did not have the calction capacity of Bloed.


    However, he could teach her other things.


    But... Bloed did not know if teaching her was alright.


    After a few seconds, he finally opened his mouth.


    " There is not much I can teach you, but I will try."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 40: The One Living in the Swamps (1)

    Chapter 40: The One Living in the Swamps (1)


    "Ha!" Liu Ying shouted and threw a punch to the air. The strength of the punch broke the sound barrier and created shockwaves that shook the trees on the surroundings.


    Without confirming the effects of the punch, Liu Ying took a step forward and threw another punch with his other hand.


    "Ha!"


    This time, the punch was a bit weaker.


    "You did it wrong." Bloed chastised Liu Ying harshly. "You must use all your body when you attack, not just your arm."


    Liu Ying panted heavily and nodded. She then started to punch again since the start.


    After Bloed promised to teach Liu Yingbat techniques, they decided to start the next morning one hour before departing.


    Bloed was not sure about what to teach her. He asked Liu Ying if she had experience in any weapons, but Liu Ying had only used a spear before.


    Bloed had never used a spear. The only weapons he had used in his life were swords (when he just got exiled), daggers (Made with monsters'' fangs and ws), and sabers (Cami and Tito taught him).


    So, Bloed opted for teaching her hand-to-handbat.


    Bloed knew a few styles of hand-to-handbat, and he was rather good at them. In fact, he had integrated and adapted many styles ofbat in his sabersmanship to make it moreplete. So, he did not have trouble teaching her one or two styles.


    However, Bloed soon discovered a problem.


    It took Liu Ying longer than he expected to learn a technique.


    Bloed remembered that he only needed to see a technique once to imitate it; after a bit of practice, he could grasp it to perfection, and after one day, he had already integrated the technique to hisbat style.


    But when Bloed started to teach Liu Ying, he discovered that most people did not learn as quickly as him.


    In fact, Liu Ying was very talented, and she just needed a bit of training to learn a move, but whenpared to a super genius like Bloed, she fell a bit short.


    Well, Bloed''s ESP ability was [Enhanced Brain Capacity] after all. Learning something faster than others was something normal.


    Anyway, when Bloed discovered that Liu Ying could not learn as quickly as him, he decided to adapt the lessons and concentrate on the basics. Punches, kicks, and evasive moves seemed like a good option, so he chose a Muay Thai variable as herbat style.


    Like that, Liu Ying''s first session of training started.


    " Master, do you think it''s a good idea?" Regina frowned beside Bloed. "Why did you agree to teach her? Master, you are not thinking about keeping her with us, right?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Of course not. Actually, you can think of this as a bet."


    "A bet?" Regina tilted her head.


    "Yes, a bet." Bloed replied. "Liu Yinges from an illustrious background. Even although her family fell, there is a possibility that one day she will be able to regain the glory and authority her family lost."


    Bloed then watched how Regina practiced the punches and kicks with a serious expression.


    "Today I''m doing Liu Ying a favor, nting a seed. If one day, Liu Ying bes someone powerful, she will remember this favor and repay us. Who knows, maybe she will be the next demon king."


    Regina furrowed her brows. "Master, the probabilities of that happening are very low. And even if she seeds and manages to recover the glory of her family, perhaps she will not repay our favor and instead will be our enemy. After all, she and you are different. She is not one of us."


    Bloed nodded. "Perhaps you are right, hence it''s a bet. If I win, we will have a valuable ally in the future. If I lose, then I just taught her a bit of Muay Thai, I did not lose much."


    Regina fell silent before nodding.


    Liu Ying was very talented. At just fifteen, her cultivation had already reached C-Rank.


    Moreover, Bloed discovered that Muay Thai was very suitable for her. Maybe it was due to her bloodline, but each one of her attacks seemed to carry a special overbearing pressure that Bloed''s movescked.


    This world''s cultivation ranks were simr to the human confederation''s grades. G-Rank was the weakest, followed by F, E, D, C, B, and A.


    However, when it came to the equivalent to an S-Grade ESPer, the name changed.


    Instead of being called S-Rank, they were called demigods.


    Bloed didn''t find it strange that the strength ssifications were simr in both civilizations. Mana was an ESP ability, after all, so the amount of mana someone could manipte depended on their psychic energy, that in this world was called soul power.


    Due to that, for someone to reach B-Rank in this world, their psychic energy (soul power) had to be at B-Grade, the human confederation''s equivalent to a B-Grade ESPer, hence the simrities.


    Of course, cultivation levels or ESP grades were not everything in a fight. Bloed was a good example of that. As a C-Grade ESPer, he could fight B-Rank monsters as an equal.


    Liu Ying was simr. Her special bloodline granted her an inherent advantage against otherbatants, so she could also face B-Rank opponents, although with a bit of trouble.


    Liu Ying finally finished all the moves and stances correctly after failing five times. Even then, her moves had some ws, but Bloed considered her result barely enough to give her a pass.


    With a smile, he grabbed a towel and passed it to her.


    "How do you feel?" Bloed asked.


    Liu Ying furrowed her brows. " A bit strange. This martial art you are teaching me is different from the ones I had seen before."


    "Oh? Where is the difference?"


    Liu Ying thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I don''t know. I just feel it''s more savage? Wild? I don''t know. How did you say it was called?"


    "Muay Thai." Bloed replied.


    "Muay Thai, huh A strange name... Bloed, everything about you is strange. I''m curious about where are you from."


    Bloed smiled wryly. It was not as though he could tell her that Muay Thai was a martial art of another world.


    But suddenly, a voice came from the trees.


    "Indeed, everything about him is strange."


    Instantly, the group''s faces changed.


    Regina''s reaction was the fastest. As she stood in front of bloed protectively, she materialized an energy de on her hand and shed towards the trees.


    Instantly, everything in two hundred meters was cut into two.


    But the voice remained rxed, and only showed a bit of admiration.


    " Such a powerful puppet."


    ...


    Guys, sorry for the slow pace, but there are many things I want to show, and 1000 words per chapter are not enough. Unfortunately, increasing the word count is not a good idea. With my two novels I publish in total around 20.000 words each week, sometimes even more, and that is a rather high number.


    But there is a good new. Next week, Science/Magic will go from 7 chapters/week to 8 Chapters/Week (Due to P4TRE0N goals).


    So, support me on P4TRE0N if you want to read ahead or simply support my work. There is 11 Science/Magic chapters ahead on P4TRE0N, and 20 Fourth Prince chapters ahead too. So, consider supporting me.


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 41: The One Living in the Swamp (2)

    Chapter 41: The One Living in the Swamp (2)


    Yesterday''s chapter...


    ...


    "Such a powerful puppet" The voice let out a sigh of admiration.


    Regina furrowed her brows. She held her energy de in her hand and looked in direction of the destroyed trees. Despite feeling a mana fluctuation, she could not find the enemy.


    At the same time, Liu Ying and Bloed ready to face an enemy.


    "Who are you!?" Bloed asked warily.


    The voice chuckled. "Calm down, I''m not an enemy. I just was curious about the people that invaded my ce."


    "Your ce?" Bloed was stunned. "The swamp?"


    "Smart." The voice replied. "You are right, it''s my ce."


    At that moment, the owner of the voice appeared.


    A beautiful multicolored birdnded in a branch and looked at the group with a teasing look. He observed each the tree of them for a few seconds before putting on an amused expression.


    "Such a weirdbination A puppet, a manaless child, and the daughter of the former demon king. A very strangebination indeed."


    Bloed and the others'' expressions changed. They looked at the multicolored bird warily. It had seen through them after one look.


    Especially Regina. She started to emit killing intent and prepare herself to attack.


    The bird felt the killing intent and put on a serious expression. "Demigod? And a strong one. Such an interesting puppet. But, why are pretending to be human?"


    "Who are you!?" Regina asked coldly. Energy weapons had started to take shape behind her, starting with sabers, swords, spears, and arrows.


    A powerful pressure spread with her with the center. The pressure was different from the one caused by mana. It came from the psionic energy on her body and felt as countless needless prickling one''s skin.


    "I told you, I don''t want to fight." The bird watched Regina with interest. However, great amounts of mana had left its body.


    It was obvious that it did not dare to underestimate Regina.


    Bloed and Liu Ying were stunned. They watched the two powerful beings with awe and fear in their eyes.


    Liu Ying, in particr, was astonished. She had suspected that Regina was very strong when she first met her, but after seeing her performance duringbat, she thought that she was mistaken.


    But looking at the powerful energy leaving her body now, she knew that Regina was truly powerful. Much more powerful than she expected.


    "Master, stay behind me. This bird is dangerous." Regina warned


    Bloed nodded. "Be careful, Regina."


    Regina grunted in answer. A short sword appeared in each of her hands, and her body tensed up, ready for battle.


    It seemed as though they could start to fight at any time.


    "Master?" The bird tilted his head curiously and looked at Bloed. "You are her master, boy? Interesting Tell me, boy, where did you get this puppet?"


    Bloed face turned cold. "Regina is not a puppet!"


    The bird chuckled. "You can''t fool me, boy. Although she looks like a human on the outside, her heart is not human, her bones are not human, many of her organs are not human, and her soul is iplete. She is a puppet, just like the two dogs behind you."


    The bird then looked at Bloed with interest. "You are also a pretty weird child. A manaless child, but you use a strange kind of energy. Moreover, your body is strange... And your eyes, such beautiful eyes. All those gadgets are pretty strange too Mmm, if not that I can''t felt the Blight in you, I would have killed you without hesitation." The bird said.


    But it was a bad idea.


    As soon as it mentioned the word ''killed'', Regina moved.


    In an instant, her body reappeared in front of the bird. The two energy swords on her hands shone brightly and cut towards the bird.


    The bird reacted instantly. A mana barrier appeared and blocked the swords, but it was destroyed instantly by the energy swords.


    However, the bird did not panic. It opened its beak and spat out a lightning bolt straight towards Regina''s body.


    Regina leaned aside and evaded the bolt. Her swords created afterimages in the air that engulfed the colorful bird.


    But then, the bird opened his wings.


    "Fury!"


    With a bellow, hundreds of lightning bolts surged out of wings and rushed towards Regina.


    Regina narrowed her eyes. An energy barrier formed around her, stopping all the attacks. At the same time, the energy weapons floating behind her were shot.


    "Puppet, stop!" The bird cried while evading the attacks. "I don''t want to fight!"


    Regina ignored it. The bird had mentioned its intent to kill her master, and it was powerful enough that Regina did not dare to let it try.


    Therefore, the only solution was to kill it.


    To kill it and ensure her master safety.


    "Are you crazy, puppet!?" The bird bellowed and unleashed multicolored lightning bolts that stopped the weapons. "Do you truly want to see a fight between demigods!?"


    Regina replied with a sh.


    The bird scoffed and stopped its ws, but the powerful energy in her swords burned the bird''s skin.


    "Woman, if you don''t stop, I''ll get serious!" The bird bellowed furiously.


    "Go on." Regina smiled coldly and held her shortswords in a backward grip while creating even more weapons behind here.


    But Bloed spoke at that moment.


    "Hold on, Regina. Let it speak."


    Regina frowned and stared at the bird coldly. "Master, this bird is dangerous. It''s better to kill it to avoid trouble."


    The bird snorted coldly. "Such a warlike puppet. Do you think you can kill me? I have been a demigod longer than you have been alive!"


    Bloed walked forward and held Regina''s shoulder.


    "Calm down."


    " I understand." Regina nodded and stood behind Bloed. However, she kept the shortswords ready.


    The bird heaved a sigh of relief and pped its wings. "Such a terrifying puppet. Young man, where did you get it?"


    Bloed expression turned dark. "She is not a puppet. Her name is Regina, and she is my partner."


    The bird fixed its eyes on Bloed and shrugged. "Very well, where did you get her? It''s my first time seeing a puppet with intellect and soul, even if iplete."


    "I told you, Regina is not a puppet." Bloed''s face was dark. "If you mention again the word puppet, I''ll let Regina attack!"


    Regina was his partner, and the fact that the bird treated her like an object displeased Bloed.


    He could feel Regina''s gaze fixed on his back. Yes, she was not a puppet, she was his one and only partner.


    She was his family, his friend.


    ...


    So sleepy...

 Chapter 42: The One Living in the Swamp (3)

    Chapter 42: The One Living in the Swamp (3)


    The bird looked at Bloed with interest. It seemed slightly amused by Bloed''s reaction.


    "It looks like I was impolite. Very well, I''ll not ask any more about the topic. Just seeing a puppet like her is already worthwhile. Besides, I''m also curious about you A manaless child wielding strange powers The power in your saber is very frightening but weak. I can see ites from you, boy."


    Bloed frowned. "What do you want?"


    The bird put on a smile. "I''m just want to satisfy my curiosity. It has been a long time since thest time I had visitors, interesting visitors like you three are even rarer. Tell me, boy, how do your abilities work?"


    Bloed fell silent. He was not nning to reveal his secrets to aplete stranger that he just men and could be an enemy.


    The bird saw Bloed''s expression and sighed. "Let''s do it. We will exchange questions. One question each, and if you don''t want to answer a question, I''ll change it. What do you say?"


    Bloed just looked at the bird with a sneer. "I''m sorry, but I don''t want to ask you anything."


    "Are you sure?" The bird fixed its gaze on Bloed. "I''m a demigod, you know? The number of valuable secrets and powerful information I have is uncountable. Besides I''ll give you a reward after all of this, that is my best offer."


    Bloed fell silent. He looked at Regina to ask for her opinion. Regina though for a moment and nodded. Even she could see that the bird conditions were advantageous for them.


    Besides, there was something they needed to know.


    "Okay, I agree." Bloed said. "I will start asking. Who are you?"


    The bird pped its wings and flew closer to the group. "My name is Chorius. A Demigod. I''m one of the guardians of the Exiled Lands."


    "Guardians of the exilednds? What is that?" Bloed was surprised.


    The bird grinned. "That is another question, and it''s my turn now. Boy, what is the power than you and the pu Regina use."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. That question was much more valuable than his, however, he did not want to refuse Chroius''s first question.


    " I can only tell you that it''s called ESP. Extra Sensorial Perception." Bloed replied after thinking for a while.


    The bird narrowed its eyes. "Extra Sensorial Perception, huh Don''t worry, the name is enough. You wanted to ask about the guardians, right?"


    Bloed nodded.


    "The guardians of the Exiled Lands are the demigods in charge of watching out for the reappearance of the Blight. There are five of us, each one keeping an eye on a part of the border. I''m the one guarding the swamp."


    "The Blight?" Liu Ying was surprised. "Was it not destroyed one hundred years ago?"


    Chorius shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? The Blight was so strange that even the gods are not sure about its destruction. Fortunately, it has not appeared again until now. Mmm, this answer was free. Courtesy of my part. Now it is my turn. Boy, the two dogs following you Who created them?"


    That was not a secret. Bloed easily admitted it. "It was me."


    "Oh?" Chorius directed its gaze towards Bloed. "You are much more interesting than I thought, boy. Such perfect constructs, able of independent thought, shapeshifting, and with an energy sourcepletely different from mana. Is it ESP too?"


    Bloed shook his head.


    The bird nodded. "I see. Okay, this is your turn."


    Bloed thought for a moment about his next question, but Regina stepped forward before he could decide.


    "What do you mean for an iplete soul?"


    "You don''t know?" The bird seemed surprised by the question. "Your soul is iplete. It''s like a newborn soul that has not finished forming. Moreover, your soul is a bit strange In fact, even I don''t understand itpletely."


    Regina fell silent. She nodded briefly and returned behind Bloed.


    Bloed was a bit worried about her, but when Regina smiled at him in reassurance, he was relieved.


    Now was the bird''s turn to ask a question.


    "Your eyes are very beautiful." It said while looking at Bloed bright blue eyes. "Were you born with them?"


    Bloed shook his head and looked at the bird. "I made them."


    "Again?" The bird furrowed its brows in doubt. "I''m more and more curious about you, boy. Where are you from?"


    Bloed wrinkled. "It''s my turn, and I will not answer that question."


    "My bad, my bad." The bird apologized with a chuckle. "I was a bit excited. Okay, do ask."


    Bloed thought for a moment. He looked at the bird with a grave expression and asked the question he considered the most important. "How did you see through us?"


    The bird chuckled. "So you are afraid of someone else sniffing your secrets, huh."


    Bloed did not deny it. Although demigods were not something you could meet every day, Bloed did not want to risk it. He did not want a demigod chasing after Regina or him to dissect them and learn their secrets.


    The bird chuckled again. "Don''t worry about it. The reason I saw through the two of you is that my eyes are a bit special. A normal demigod will at most discover that you are manaless, but it will not find anything wrong with the puppet girl. Well, you should think of a way to hide your peculiarities, though. Not every demigod can see through your secrets, but I''m not the only one."


    Bloed agreed. He needed to think about a solution to this problem.


    Well, he had to deal with this bothersome bird first.


    "My turn." Smiled the bird, but then, its voice turned grave. "What do you know about the Blight?"


    After asking that question, the bird narrowed its eyes.


    It did not exin it to Bloed and the others, but its eyes were not just a bit special. They could see through truth and lies, exposing the truth of everything on its sight. It was one of the reasons it was chosen to guard the Exiled Lands.


    Since the start, when it fixed its eyes on Bloed and Regina, it was suspicious. After all, although it did not find traces of the Blight, Bloed and Regina were too conspicuous to not be suspicious.


    Hence, this was the most important question of all. Depending on Bloed''s answer, Chorius could have to kill them.


    Bloed seemed to realize the seriousness behind Chorius''s question. However, he just chuckled and shrugged. "We know nothing. We are not rted to the Blight."


    Chorius looked at Bloed and the other two for a moment. When it failed to find anything wrong, it smiled. "I see. That is good. Well, you can ask your next question."


    Bloed shrugged. He had already asked everything he wanted to know.


    Although he still had some doubts, it was not worth to exchange his secrets for the answers. He could investigate itter.


    But before he could speak, Liu Ying raised her hand.


    "I have a question."


    Chorius looked at Liu Ying with a smile. "Tell me, descendant of the demon king."


    Liu Ying stared at the bird with a cold look. She clenched her fist and took a deep breath to calm down and ask.


    "How do you know who I am?"


    The bird grinned. " I met your father before, girl. Your bloodline is the same as his, almostpletely identical. So, you can only be her sister or his daughter. And judging for your age, the answer is obvious."


    Liu Ying fell silent. After thinking for a moment, she let out a sigh and nodded. "You can ask."


    The bird looked at Liu Ying with a smile. "Your father and I wererades once, so consider that answer as something free. Any other questions?"


    The group remained silent.


    Chorius nodded. "I thought so. What do you think about visiting my abode?"


    ...


    Sorry for thete chapter. I posted yesterday chapter in P4TRE0N but was feeling a bit unwell so just posted it here now.


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N if you like this novel. Currently, P4TRE0N is 11 chapters ahead (I will add more chapters soon).


    Your support motivates me to continue writting...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 43: The One Living in the Swamp (4)

    Chapter 43: The One Living in the Swamp (4)


    Sorry for the short hiatus, guys. I left an announcement about it in P4TRE0N but as most of you didn''t see it, I''ll exin here.


    My grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer, and due to some situations, I''m the one that is helping her in this process. Thest two days, (mainly yesterday) I was apanying her in some check-ups she must do before the surgery.


    Those check-ups take the whole day, and when I was back home I was very tired to write.


    Don''t worry, I''ll post today all the chapters I owe (Three Science/Magic today)...


    ...


    In the end, although Bloed was reluctant to follow Chorius, they decided to go when the bird insisted.


    Bloed was slightly suspicious of Chorius''s friendliness, but the bird exined that not many people visited the exilednds, so he learned to enjoy each opportunity to have a conversation.


    Plus, after seeing Bloed and Regina''s specialness, it did not mind being a bit more friendly.


    In the way, Chorius continued pestering Bloed and the group with questions. It asked about the martial arts he was teaching Regina, about Bloed''s saber, about ESP powers. To be honest, the image of demigods in Bloed''s mind was starting to crumble due to the bird.


    Bloed answered some questions he deemed adequate but he did not answer anything important. At the same time, he asked some questions about the outside world.


    Actually, Chorius''s endless chattering was a bit helpful. It helped Bloed to avoid the awkwardness between Regina, Liu Ying, and him.


    Ever since Chorius exposed the group''s secrets, Liu Ying had been a bit awkward around Bloed and Regina.


    Finally, when they had walked for about five minutes, Liu Ying forced herself to talk.


    "Hey Bloed"


    "Hmm?"


    "Sorry Sorry for hiding my identity I-I did not want to be treated differently if you discovered that I was the demon princess."


    Bloed smiled. "Don''t worry about it, everybody has secrets. Plus, I already knew it."


    "You knew?" Liu Ying was surprised.


    "It was pretty obvious. Surnamed Liu, red hair, amber eyes, and a powerful demon bloodline. I was 99% sure you were from the demons'' royal family, and 90% sure you were a demon princess. I confirmed itst night after you told me about how you ended here."


    Liu Ying blushed. She did not expect to be seen through so easily.


    " You don''t mind?" She asked with a bit of dread.


    "Why would I mind?" Bloed was startled.


    Liu Ying bit her lips. "Well, the demon king''s family is not well-liked between humans I heard that humans think of us as monsters."


    Bloed nodded. That was true. Before the cmity of one hundred years ago, humans and demons warred constantly. In fact, they were the two races with more hatred between them. The situation turned a bit better after the Blight, but the demons'' royal family was still considered as subjects of fear and hatred between humans.


    Actually, some human kingdoms were very xenophobic against demons, at such level that they were killed at sight. Of course, Bloed did not share such a view.


    "Of course I don''t mind. I think that hating a particr group of people due to their race, religion, or family is a very backward practice. Only ignorant people do that."


    Liu Ying was surprised. She looked at Bloed carefully to find any sign of lies on his face, but she failed to discover anything.


    Hence, she started to smile.


    "Thanks And I don''t mind that you are manaless either Well, I admit I was surprised when I learned about it, but we have traveled together for a while, and I''m sure you are not evil or a monster." Liu Ying blushed a bit at the end.


    Bloed smiled. He looked at Liu Ying for a moment and realized that her smile was very beautiful. He opened his mouth to speak again, But then


    "Hmph!" Regina snorted.


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked away instantly. For some reason, both of them felt a bit guilty.


    At that moment, Liu Ying looked at Regina.


    "Regina, you too. I don''t mind what you are, I consider you my friend."


    Regina scoffed. "I don''t need friends. Master is enough."


    Both Liu Ying and Bloed smiled wryly. Well, Regina was still Regina.


    "You three are pretty admirable." Chorius suddenly said. "Being able to look beyond races and prejudices despite your young ages. Not many people can do it even after they are much older."


    "Oh? You don''t mind I''m manaless?" Bloed asked curiously.


    "Of course not." Chorius snorted. "I fought in the war against the Blight one hundred years ago. And like all the demigods and powerful people of this world, I''m clear than the Blight is not rted to having mana or not. In fact, I''m a bit sad that the fear of the Blight caused so many deaths."


    Bloed was surprised. "You mean that there is nothing wrong with people like me?"


    The bird looked at him. "Are you not clearer than me about it?"


    Bloed fell silent. Chorius was right, he had learned long ago that hisck of mana was not something wrong or evil.


    However, hearing someone in this world ept it so easily was surprising. He had grown hearing that he was evil or cursed, so hearing someone denying it so naturally was a bit unexpected.


    For an instant, he did not know what to think.


    But then, a doubt appeared on his mind.


    " If people like you knew the truth, why did you do nothing to stop it?"


    Chorius looked away. It thought for a few seconds before sighing. "It''splicated. Actually, there were many reasons behind it, but the main one was that the people needed someone to me.


    " Someone to me?"


    Chorius nodded. "The war took too many lives, and after the Blight was killed, nothing could console the people that lost their friends and family. Eventually, someone said that the people born without mana were children of the Blight.


    "People needed it. Someone to me, someone to receive their hatred. So, although many people knew the truth, they turned a blind eye. Besides, people with mana were already considered lesser and severely discriminated even before the Blight."


    Bloed gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. For an instant, a powerful rage ran through his body.


    All his suffering, all his pain, just for that reason?


    Did the king and queen also know the truth? Yes, as rulers of the greatest human kingdom, they surely knew.


    But even so, they exiled him.


    Regina grabbed his hand silently. She looked at him with her golden eyes and nodded as though telling him that she was with him.


    Bloed took a deep breath and calmed down. Now was not the time to think about his pain.


    While they were walking, they arrived at a huge tree.


    With almost one hundred meters of height, the tree was standing in the middle of the swamp proudly. No tree grew in two hundred meters around it, and the dirty swamp water seemed much cleaner near it, like a shining green jewel.


    Chorius took the group to the tree and flew towards it. "Wee to my humble abode, guys. This is an Archon tree, the core of the swamp and the ce where I have lived in thest one hundred years."

 Chapter 44: Treasures and Books (1)

    Chapter 44: Treasures and Books (1)


    The Archon tree was a very valuable treasure. It could gather and purify mana before spreading it to the surroundings.


    Normally, Archon trees only grow up to fifteen meters. However, this Archon tree was almost one hundred meters tall. Even if it was not the tallest Archon tree in the world, it was one of the tallest.


    "Amazing, right?" Chorius spoke in pride. "It was the pay I received for guarding the borders of the exilednds. This tree is probably the most valuable of its kind in the entire world. I don''t want to brag, but cultivating here is around five times easier than in the outside world."


    "Impressive." Bloed whistled.


    "Mm mm." The bird nodded pleased. "This tree alone is responsible for creating the entire swamp. Moreover, have you not noticed yet?"


    Bloed tilted his head in confusion. He observed the tree carefully for a few seconds, but he could not find anything strange.


    Regina was the one that rescued him.


    "Master, the mana here is different."


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    " It''s not berserk." Liu Ying mumbled in astonishment. "Impossible all the mana in the exilednds is supposed to be berserk."


    The bird nodded pridefully. "This tree is the cause. It calmed down the mana in hundreds of meters around it, eliminating all the side effects of the Exiled Lands."


    Berserk mana was one of the Exiled Lands'' distinctive features. Due to the great battle that urred one hundred years ago where gods fell and thousands of forbidden spells were used, the mana in this part of the continent turned berserk. Since then, cultivating here was many times harder, and if you were not careful, the berserk mana could injure you or even turn you crazy.


    That was the reason behind the bloodthirstiness of the monsters in the exilednds. The berserk mana made them much crazier and ferocious that their counterparts outside the Exiled Lands.


    "Come, follow me inside. I trust that none of you need my help to climb the tree, right?" After saying it, Chorius flew towards the treetop. He then flew inside a hole-like opening and disappeared from the group''s sight.


    Bloed looked at the others. "Let''s go."


    But before he could jump, Regina stopped him. "Master, let me go first. It could be dangerous."


    Bloed thought for a moment and nodded. They just met this bird, so Bloed could not trust itpletely. Although it had shown goodwill until now, maybe it was just a way to bait them to a trap.


    The next second, Regina kicked the ground and jumped directly into the hole.


    Liu Ying opened her mouth wide.


    "Bloed, there is something I don''t understand." Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed indicated her to ask while waiting for Regina''s signal.


    " If Regina is so strong, why did she not destroy the beast horde directly?" Liu Ying said unable to hide her confusion. "With her strength, we would not have needed to escape."


    Bloed smiled wryly. He thought for a moment and decided that there was no need to hide it.


    "It was to not stunt my growth."


    "Huh?" Liu Ying was taken aback.


    Bloed exined. "Battles and life and death situations are the best way to temper one''s strength. Before dying, my mother asked Regina to keep me safe, but at the same time, she told her to not interfere with my growth. Due to it, Regina will normally not use her true strength at least my life is in danger. In fact, Regina will probably not act even if I''m gravely injured. She will only move in situations like today, where the threat to my life is evident and I can''t resolve it through my own strength."


    Liu Ying nodded in understanding... Soon, however, she noticed something in Bloed''s words.


    "Mother?" It was the first time Liu Ying heard Bloed talking about his family.


    But instantly, she saw Bloed''s expression turn downcast.


    ''Right, he said that his mother died!'' Liu Ying instantly regretted not being more careful. It was obvious that this topic bothered Bloed.


    "S-Sorry, it was not my intention to"


    Bloed shook his head. "Don''t worry, It''s just I was reminded of something. My mother, she She was an amazing woman."


    Liu Ying wanted to continue asking, but at that moment, Regina''s voice came from the hole.


    "Master, everything is fine."


    Bloed nodded. He instantly jumped on the tree and stepped on the branches to reach the hole.


    Liu Ying could only suppress her curiosity and follow behind him.


    The hole was located fifty meters up from the ground, but it was not a problem for superhumans such as Bloed or Liu Ying. In a few seconds, both of them reached it.


    Chorius greeted them with a displeased face.


    "Boy, why is this young girl so distrusting? Even although I told her that there was nothing wrong, she insisted on examining each notch of the ce!"


    "I have to ensure my master''s safety." Regina replied indifferently. "Besides, I don''t trust you."


    The bird scowled. "Boy, I think that this puppet has a w in her personality."


    Bloed ignored the bird''s words. He even didn''t correct the bird for calling Regina ''puppet''. It was obvious the bird did no care about his opinion.


    The three of them watched Chorius''s home with interest. Bloed was very surprised. Chorius''s abode was filled with all kinds of valuable treasures. Bloed saw gold, jewels, magic cores, precious nts, and even a big luxurious bed. Some of these treasures showed energy fluctuations that blinded Bloed''s eyes.


    Apart from these, the bird also had a big library that upied more than half of the space. The library was filled with books, mainly about magic. Bloed saw many books about magic theories that he did not even know existed.


    "This is my library." The bird said when it saw Bloed''s interested gaze. "It''s filled with the most valuable books I had found in my life. Some of the books are incredibly valuable, so valuable that kings would kill to have them."


    "Amazing" Bloed could not hide his astonishment.


    Chorius looked at Bloed with a smile. "Do you like books?"


    Bloed nodded with an embarrassed smile.


    "Me too." Chorius said happily. "Since the day I was able to coherent thought and learned to talk, I was charmed by the worlds hidden in the books. The information you can find in the sea of words is incredible."


    Bloed agreed with him. "Yeah, I have also loved books since I was a child. Unfortunately, I have read most of the books I have."


    The bird grinned. "Well, It''s hard to meet with a kindred spirit. Go ahead, you can read them."


    Bloed was not polite and walked towards the library. He started grabbing a book about lightning magic and in seconds, he waspletely immersed. He only raised his face to ask some question to Chorius from time in time.


    Regina smiled wryly and decided to observe the treasures. She analyzed theirposition and characteristic and added them to her database. This information could be useful to Bloed someday. Of course, she made sure of keeping an eye on Bloed in case the bird tried something funny.


    Liu Ying could only look helplessly while the other three busied themselves. The bird hadpletely ignored her and perched on Bloed''s shoulder, talking with him about magic theories.


    She could only walk towards the treasures and examine them, but unlike Regina, she could see nothing beyond their beautiful shapes and the abundant mana inside them.


    Only after one hour, Bloed and Chorius stopped their reading and conversation.


    "Such a satisfying chat. Boy, you are very knowledgeable about magic despite your inability to use it. Are you interested in staying here with me to study magic together?" The bird said with sincere admiration. It was in awe of Bloed vast knowledge. Some of Bloed''s opinions about magic were so enlightening that Chorius was still thinking about them.


    Regretfully, Bloed shook his head. "Although that is a tempting proposal, unfortunately, I must leave."


    The bird sighed. "Such a shame. Well, if one day you get bored of the outside world, you cane here."


    Bloed smiled. "Of course."


    Afterward, the bird flew up and perched in a branch.


    "It''s time to give you the reward I promised Mmm, what about this, each one of you can choose a treasure from my collection."

 Chapter 45: Treasures and Books (2)

    Chapter 45: Treasures and Books (2)


    "So generous?" Bloed was surprised. He could easily discern that the items disyed here were very valuable. He would be happy if he received even one of them, let alone three.


    Chorius just grinned. Actually, it was not nning to be so generous, but after talking with Bloed about magic theories, he decided to help the boy a bit.


    Chorius was a very odd magic beast. It was not very interested on fighting or traveling around the world, and instead, was deeply obsessed in studying mana and magic.


    That was one of the reasons it agreed to keep an eye on the exilednds. For it, staying here for years to study magic was not so bad, besides, he could get treasures and a valuable Archon tree for it. A great deal.


    So, now that he met a young man with deep knowledge and a different understanding of magic, it was truly excited. What were a few treasures inparation?


    Most of the treasures Bloed saw were useless for Chorius, and it did not mind giving them away. He only kept them because they were nice to the sight. As a bird, he liked to collect shiny and valuable things.


    Bloed and the others fell deep in thoughts. Finally, Bloed looked at the books and decided to ask about them.


    "What about the books? Can I take some of them instead of the treasures?"


    Chorius put on aplicated expression. "Sorry boy, each one of these books is very valuable. I can''t afford to give them to you."


    Bloed understood. Actually, he was not expecting to get them in the first ce.


    His goal was another.


    "Can I then check them briefly? I don''t want to waste this opportunity to see so many great books."


    This time, the bird agreed easily. "Of course. You can use all the time you want."


    Bloed grinned.


    "Okay, let''s see the treasures first. If something catches your eye, tell me." Chorius said.


    Bloed nodded. He looked at Regina and used their mental link to talk.


    [Send me the information about the items.]


    Soon, all the information about the treasures appeared in Bloed''s eyes.


    Bloed wanted to whistle in surprise. So many treasures, with so many incredible uses. Bloed wanted to take everything here with him.


    Unfortunately, he couls choose only one, two if Regina''s share was counted.


    After looking through all the treasures, Bloed was leaning towards three of them.


    The first one was a magic core. It was a core belonging to a demigod-level magic beast. Bloed''s energy sight could see a blinding light emanating from it, and Bloed was sure he could use it to create many new gadges.


    The second and the third treasures were two chunks of metals. One was mithril, and the other was adamantine. Both were mana-conducting metals.


    Bloed had realized that normal metals could not conduct mana effectively. Gold and silver were a bit useful, but not enough to create high-quality magic items.


    However, he knew that some metals natives to this world could conduct mana much more easily and efficiently.


    Mithril and adamantine were two of them. Bloed knew that such metals were very valuable, and the supply was much lower than the demand.


    And Chorius had two chunks of them, each one weighting around fifty kilograms.


    Bloed truly did not know what to choose.


    Finally, he opted for the magic metals. After all, his recent researches and experiments were focused in mechanics. The two metals would be a good aid on it.


    Bloed looked at Regina to ask her opinion.


    "Don''t worry, master." Regina smiled. "You can choose what you want. I''m not interested in anything here."


    Bloed smiled. "Thank you."


    He then looked at Chorius and told it his choice.


    "We want the two chunks of magic metals. The mithril and adamantine ones."


    Chorius was bewildered. "Are you sure? I have many treasures here. What about this sword? It can create a sea of fire with each swing." The bird pointed to a beautiful-lookind red sword.


    Bloed had seen the sword before, but he just gave it a glimpse before looking away in disinteres. "I prefer the ores."


    The bird looked deeply to Bloed before nodding. "Very well, I don''t have a use for them anyway. I''m curious to know what are you going to use then for, though."


    It then looked at Liu Ying. "What about you, demon king''s daughter?"


    Liu Ying looked around with aplicated expression. To be honest, many of the treasures here were so incredible that her eyes shone each time she looked at them.


    But in the end, she looked at Bloed.


    "Bloed, you choose."


    Bloed was taken aback. "Are you sure? Everything here is very valuable."


    Liu Ying shrugged. "It doesn''t matter. You have helped me a lot since we met. If I can use this to repay you even a little bit, I will be happy."


    Bloed stared at Liu Ying fixedly before smiling. " Then, I will not be polite." He then pointed to the mana core. "Chorius, I want the mana core."


    "Oh? The mana core?" Chorius was surprised. "Are you sure?"


    "Why, is anything wrong with it?"


    The bird showed a struggling expression before sighing. "It''s nothing. Now that I promised you, I will not go back on my words."


    Chorius then flew towards the core and grabbed it with its ws. "This is the core of a demigod-level dragonkin, a very valuable treasure. I got it many, many years ago due to a stroke of good fortune Hmm, although it pains me to part with it, I''m a bird of his words."


    Chorius reluctantly put the core on Bloed''s hands.


    Bloed smiled excitedly. Feeling the pure energy within the core, he was incredibly excited. He could imagine the countless things he could do with it.


    In fact, he had already some ideas. His lips curved up in a smile of anticipation.


    "It looks like you are very happy." Liu Ying said from a side.


    Bloed nodded. He then looked at Liu Ying with a sincere expression. "Thank you, but this gift is too valuable."


    Liu Ying waved her hands with a flustered expression. "D-Don''t mind it. It''s nothingpared to all the help you have given me."


    "I understand." Bloed smiled. "However, I can''t simply ept this gift just like that. Let''s do it, you don''t have a good weapon, right? I guess I can make something you will like."


    "A weapon?" Liu Ying tilted her head.


    "Yes, just like my saber. Well, a bit different, but I assure you that it will be very powerful."


    "Really!?" Liu Ying eyes lit up in excitement. She had seen the strength of Bloed''s saber, and she was very envious of its sharpness. Thinking about owning a weapon like that, her excitement shot through the roof. If not that Regina was shooting her an ice-cold look, she would have hugged Bloed tightly.


    Bloed nodded. "Now that I have mithril and adamantine, I want to experiment making some magic items Regina, theb can work with these materials, right?"


    Regina looked at Liu Ying with an unwilling expression and snorted. "They need to be purified before, but yes, it can."


    "Perfect! Liu Ying, I''ll make sure of finish them before you leave."


    Instantly, Liu Ying froze.


    Looking at Bloed and Regina, she could not help but smile bitterly.


    " Yes, before I leave."


    ...


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 Chapter 46: Leaving the Swamp

    Chapter 46: Leaving the Swamp


    (Changing Chorius''s pronoun from It to he.)


    Bloed and the others stayed a few days more in Chorius''s nest. Mainly because Bloed wanted to check all the books Chorius owned.


    Chorius found Bloed''s behavior strange. He realized that Bloed only checked each book for a few minutes before passing to another book. This process repeated many times for three days.


    "What are you doing?" Chorius could not help but ask. "If you want to read the books, you don''t need to hurry. Just stay here all the time you want. I don''t mind if you stay for one or two years."


    Unfortunately, Bloed could not waste all that time. Besides, checking the books once was enough.


    Actually, his eyes were scanning all the information in the books and sending it to a storage device. If Chorius knew that Bloed was copying his books to read themter, he probably would have been stupefied.


    But even with that method, Bloed took a total of three days to finish.


    When he finished, it was finally time to leave.


    Chorius was reluctant to let Bloed go. During thest three days, he had conversed with Bloed many times and realized that Bloed''s knowledge was even deeper than he expected. More than once, Chorius discovered that Bloed''s opinions helped him to resolve some of the questions that had been guing him for years.


    Bloed had inherited the human confederation''s knowledge after all, so the things he knew were different from the knowledge of this world. More than once, the different perspectives were enough to show Chorius the answer.


    But no matter how he tried to convince Bloed to stay, Bloed was determined to leave.


    In fact, Chorius considered using strength, but each time he recalled the terrifying strength of Regina, he gave up. Although Chorius did not think he would lose, he was not confident about defeating her either.


    He did not want to make a demigod-level enemy without reason.


    "Okay, if you are leaving, I need to tell you something."


    "Hmm?"


    "You were being chased for a monster before entering the swamp, right? Well, that monster brought a horde and surrounded the swamppletely."


    Bloed was stunned. "It has not given up yet?"


    "Nope. In fact, the only reason the monsters have not entered the swamp is that the controller fears my presence, but once you leave, it will surely go after you."


    Bloed fell silent for a moment. "... Chorius, do you know anything about the monster controlling the horde?"


    "No, nothing. There are too many strange monsters in this ce, so if they are not rted to the Blight, I don''t care about them."


    Bloed nodded. "I understand. Thank you for the information."


    "It''s nothing, consider it a farewell gift." Chorius then looked at Regina. "Girl, are you sure I can''t check your body even once? Just for research purposes."


    Regina scoffed. She looked at the bird with a warning look, as though she wanted to pluck all his feathers.


    Chorius''s felt cold sweat running on his back. For an instant, he felt a murderous vibeing from the silver-haired girl.


    Bloed did not understand why, but Regina disliked Chorius even more than Liu Ying. He once tried to ask the reason, but Regina called him an idiot and walked away.


    Well, Chorius was rather rude towards Regina in the first ce.


    After everything was ready, Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying left the tree. Bloed took Tito and Leto out the space device they were stored and looked at Chorius onest time.


    "Be careful in your way, boy. Remember to visit me!" Chorius waved his wings and said his goodbyes. Bloed grinned. "Don''t worry, I''ll make sure of visiting youter." He then turned around and left.


    Although Chorius was a bit of an oddball, Bloed rather liked him. Not only Chorius was very strong and knowledgeable, but he was also humble and polite. He never despised Bloed for hisck of mana or for his low strength.


    To be honest, Bloed could not associate the weird bird to the title of ''Demigod''.


    When they were far enough of the Archon tree, Regina heaved a sigh of relief.


    "Finally, we got rid of the bird."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "I think Chorius is a good guy. Just a bit rude."


    "You don''t understand, master." Regina looked at Bloed and exined. "The bird only seemed a good guy because I was nearby. I''m pretty sure he thought more than once about kidnapping you and taking you all for himself."


    Bloed''s face twitched. "You are exaggerating."


    "No, I''m sure. My female instincts never fail me." Regina dered confidently. Although Bloed did not understand what female instincts have to do with it.


    Liu Ying, on the other hand, was unable to resist chuckling. "Yeah, that bird seemed as though it wanted to kiss Bloed and marry him."


    Bloed put on a strained smile. "Now I''m feeling chills."


    Liu Yingughed happily, and even Regina showed a smile.


    "By the way, demon." Regina suddenly stared at Liu Ying. "When are you nning to leave?"


    Liu Ying froze.


    She looked at the ground with aplicate expression and fell silent.


    Bloed could not help but frown. "Regina, enough."


    But Liu Ying shook her head. "It doesn''t matter. Don''t worry, Regina, I''ll leave after we find a city."


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying and sighed. He said nothing, though, and just continued walking.


    An awkward silence enveloped the group. Bloed tried to break the silence in more than once asion, but Liu Ying just would show a forced smile and reply perfunctorily.


    Just like that, the group arrived at the edge of the swamp after walking for another two days.


    And just like Chorius said, it was filled with monsters.


    Bloed activated his satellite sight and saw thousands of monsters waiting for them. There were at least twenty thousand monsters out there.


    " So many monsters." Liu Ying grimaced. "Bloed, how are we going to pass them?"


    Bloed looked at Regina and smiled. "Did you forget?"


    "Huh?"


    Bloed patted Leto''s head and smiled. "Three days have passed."


    Liu Ying was stunned, the next second, an expression of realization appeared on her face.


    "How could I forget!? Leto can fly!"


    Bloed''s curved his mouth in a smile. He then let out the nanorobots in the spatial device and Leto started to grow.


    When its height reached to five meters, Bloedmanded.


    "Leto, flight mode!"


    One minuteter, three people, a puppy, and a wolf were flying in the skies.

 Chapter 47: Facing the Lion Again (1)

    Chapter 47: Facing the Lion Again (1)


    ''Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.''


    The first time Bloed heard about Murphy''sw, he scoffed in disdain. It was impossible for him to believe something like that.


    But now that he was seeing it with his own eyes, he did not know what to think.


    After all, he could not find another way to exin why the lion-like beast was standing in front of them with a bloodthirsty expression.


    Let''s go back to a few minutes ago.


    After the group boarded Leto''s back, they flew over the group of monsters and reached the mountain range separating the exilednds from the outside world.


    In the beginning, everything was alright. However, not even five minutes after the flight started, Bloed and the others ran into the first problem.


    The mountain range was taller than Bloed expected.


    Due to it, Leto''s energy consumption increased drastically, and the time it couldst afloat was reduced to twenty minutes.


    That was not much a problem, though. Bloed was confident they could leave the exilednds before the time was up.


    Until the wind started to blow.


    Strong winds of more than 100 km/h crashed against Leto. The high-altitude winds added to the mountain range''s extreme cold forced Bloed to activate Leto''s energy barrier. It increased the energy consumption even more and reduced the flight time to 13 minutes.


    Hence, Bloed and the others were forced to end the flight before exiting the mountain range.


    Fortunately, they only needed to walk for another fifty kilometers before being able to leave.


    But as someone once said, there is not lone evil, and after twoes three.


    Bloed had heard that the mountain range separating the exilednds from the outside world was filled with monsters, he never expected THIS many monsters.


    The group was attacked by a monster every five minutes, literally. Tigers, panthers, wolves, and eagle-type monsters. It seemed as though all the monsters in the mountain range were determined to make them stay behind.


    But even that was not much of a problem. The strongest monster they faced was a B-Rank gori, and Bloed killed it quickly with the help of Regina and Liu Ying.


    However, Bloed and Liu Ying soon started to be tired. They fought more than fifty monsters to advance the first twenty kilometers and still needed to go through thirty kilometers more.


    Bloed felt his head aching just imagining the number of monsters they would have to fight before leaving this cursed ce.


    But when he thought that things could not get worse, it appeared.


    The A-Rank lion-like beast.


    It jumped down from a boulder and blocked the group path, looking at them with a bloodthirsty expression.


    When Bloed felt the powerful A-Rank auraing from the lion, he smiled bitterly.


    "Say, why that monster hates us so much? It even sent the lion to chase us for so long."


    Regina and Liu Ying were speechless too. They could not think of an answer to Bloed''s question.


    Unsheathing his saber, Bloed got ready to fight. "Regina, don''t you think it''s a good moment to release your strength?" He asked.


    Regina thought for a moment and shook her head. "Nope, I think master is not in fatal danger yet."


    Bloed smiled wryly and looked at the growling lion that was circling slowly around them. "So you expect that I fight that?"


    Regina shrugged. "Master, you yourself said that the controlled monsters are weaker than other monsters of the same grade. Plus, I will also help and you can use the demon as bait. I think we have an opportunity."


    "Hey!" Liu Ying red at Regina with a displeased gaze, but Regina ignored her.


    In the end, Bloed could only sigh. "Okay, let''s do it. Regina, Liu Ying, get ready!"


    Both of them nodded with serious expressions.


    The lion continued circling them warily. It was especially wary of Regina. It remembered that she evaded its attack once


    However, it was unable to resist its impulse to attack for long.


    Less than five secondster, the lion charged towards them.


    "Roar!!!"


    "Leto!" Bloed called at the wolf and the wolf charged to the lion. Both beasts shed with a powerful boom.


    Flesh and metal met.


    *Crash!*


    Leto was the loser of the sh. His body was turned into metallic sand, but at the same time, it managed to stop the lion''s charge.


    Bloed took advantage of that opportunity. He kicked the ground and shed the lion.


    But the lion''s reaction was above Bloed''s expectations. It detected the saber''s sh and leaned aside to evade it. At the same time, it lifted a w and went for Bloed''s chest.


    *Boom!* Bloed''s armor, Tito, created an energy barrier to stop the attack, but the lion''s strength was too great. The forcefield cracked quickly and Bloed was thrown back.


    "Master!" Regina shouted in worry and attacked the lion with her two energy shortswords. The lion evaded the attack again and bit towards Regina''s neck, but Regina twisted her body and sent a kick to its belly.


    "Hooowlll!!!" The lion howled in pain. It used its red-blood eyes to look at Regina and swung its w towards her chest.


    But before the attack could reach her, the lion felt an impact on its side.


    "Ha!"


    With a bellow, Liu Ying punched the lion hard. She followed the attack with a kick, then an attack with her elbow, and a roundhouse kick.


    The next instant, however, she saw the tail of the lioning towards her from a blind spot.


    "!!!"


    Liu Ying crossed her arms to receive the blow, but it was not enough to stop the whip-like tail.


    "Ugh!" Liu Ying was sent flying and crashed against a boulder.


    The lion then tried to finish her, but Regina was already attacking with her energy weapons again. A stab, followed by a sh, a thrust, and finally a lunge.


    "Arrrrggggg!!!" The lion screamed in pain. The energy weapons cut through its hide, leaving itpletely bloodied. However, Regina knew that none of her attacks had pierced deeply.


    She hurriedly evaded the lion counterattack and jumped back. The lion wanted to chase after her, but a bullet stopped in on its tracks.


    *Bam!*


    The impact caused the lion to stagger a little, and a hole was formed on its neck. The lion turned around and saw Bloed kneeling on the ground with a sniper rifle on his hands.


    "Roooaaaaaar!!!"


    With a cry of rage, the lion pounced towards the human. Bloed pulled the trigger of the sniper rifle again, but this time the lion perceived the danger beforehand and jumped aside.


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. "Seriously!? Avoiding bullets!?"


    Before he could shot again, the lion was already before him.


    Bloed rolled aside and changed the sniper rifle for his saber. He shed towards the lion''s leg and this time, the lion was too slow to evade.


    The saber had managed to cut it!


    "Hooool!!!" The lion cried in pain. Although the saber did not sever its leg, it had left a deep wound.


    The lion stopped chasing Bloed and jumped back. It looked at its injury and then at Bloed with a hint of wariness.


    However, Bloed realized a frightening fact.


    The lion''s injuries were quickly healing.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 48: Facing the Lion Again (2)

    Chapter 48: Facing the Lion Again (2)


    "Regeneration?" Bloed wrinkled his brows. "And it looks like a strong variant."


    Regina walked behind Bloed and nodded. "Yes. Moreover, its defenses are very strong. Neither my attacks nor the demon''s blows were able to significantly injure it."


    Bloed nodded. The same happened with the sniper bullet. Despite leaving a hole on the lion''s neck, it didn''t truly injure the lion.


    "So, it''s the strength of an A-Rank, huh." Bloed shook his head bitterly. This lion could be considered as a weak A-Rank monster, but even so, it was incredibly dangerous.


    Not only its defenses and regeneration, but even its attacks were frightening. Bloed''s chest still hurt after the lion''s attack, and it was even after the attack was mitigated by the energy barrier and Tito''s armor.


    If Bloed would have received the attack directly or the lion would have attacked again, Bloed would be dead.


    While Bloed''s group and the lion were in a standoff, Liu Ying returned to the fight. She wiped a drop of blood off her lips and clenched her fists.


    "Damn it, I almost died." Liu Ying grumbled. "Hey Bloed, do you have a n?"


    Bloed nodded. "My saber can injure it. It looks like [Molecr Disintegration] can break through its defenses."


    "I see, so we need to give you an opportunity to attack it, huh." Liu Ying smirked and nodded. "Easily done."


    "Don''t worry, master, I''ll create an opportunity for you." Regina put on a determined face.


    Bloed nodded. "Let''s finish this monster then!"


    Then, the group charged towards the lion again.


    The lion was not intimidated. Once the bleeding on its leg stopped, it also charged towards them.


    Regina was the first to attack. She extended her right hand towards the lion and shot an energy bullet.


    The lion evaded the energy bullet easily, but more energy bullets were shot towards it, hindering its movements. Enraged, the lion finally stopped caring about the bullets and charged forward regardless of them.


    "ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!" Making use of its powerful defenses, the lion charged through the rain of bullets and arrived in front of the group. Regina wrinkled her brows and formed two energy des. She then kicked the ground and appeared in front of it.


    *Swish!*


    The energy des danced and cut the lion''s neck. The lion was enraged and replied with a w attack, but Regina leaned aside and evaded the attack skillfully while replying with another sh.


    Worthy of her title as Valkyrie, Regina was not at a disadvantage against the lion despite having her stats lowered to C-Grade. She was able to move leisurely through the lion''s attacks using her skillful martial arts andbat techniques.


    Unfortunately, her attacks were unable to truly injure the lion and the lion could heal the damage she caused in just a few seconds. Furthermore, the lion was crafty. It baited Regina to attack its weak spots before counterattacking fiercely. If not that Regina''s reactions were quick, she would have been injured more than once.


    However, all of them knew that if Regina was slightly off while evading, she would be blown away.


    Taking advantage that Regina was distracting the lion, both Bloed and Liu Ying nked it. Liu Ying put into practice Bloed''s lessons and used her body to attack. A kick, followed by an attack of her knee and two punches.


    But just like Regina said, her attacks were mostly ineffective against the lion. Although it grunted in pain, it ignored her and put all its attention on Bloed and Regina.


    However, that was a mistake.


    Liu Ying''s eyes turned cold. Suddenly, a giant red figure materialized behind her, and her amber eyes turned blood red. The horn on her forehead lit up brightly, and the mana in one hundred meters surged towards her body.


    Liu Ying endured the pain caused by the berserk mana and tensed up her muscles. Then, she released her most powerful blow until now.


    "Die!" She bellowed.


    An incredible sense of danger filled the lion, but it was toote to avoid the attack. Underestimating Liu Ying earlier had cost it the brief window of time it could have used to evade.


    Out of options, it raised its front paw to receive the attack.


    *BOOMMM!!!*


    The w and the punch shed, then


    *Crack!*


    The lion''s leg was fractured.


    "HOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWL!!!*


    A terrifying howl of pain shook the surroundings. Liu Ying was thrown back and her body fell to the ground,pletely devoid of strength.


    However, she had given Bloed and Regina an opportunity.


    While it was receiving Liu Ying''s attack, Regina''s energy des shed and closed on its eyes.


    The lion panicked. It hurriedly moved its head away, but one of the des managed to reach its goal. With a disgusting sound, it pierced and destroyed one of the lion''s eyes.


    "HOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWL!!!*


    The immense pain turned the lion crazy. It looked at the silver-haired girl with hatred and swung its other w towards her.


    But Bloed was waiting for that.


    Appearing from behind Regina, he brandished his saber towards the lion''s w.


    When the lion saw it, it tried to stop the attack, but it was toote. With a sh of light, the lion''s leg was severedpletely.


    This time, the lion was not even able to roar in pain.


    With its remaining eye, it saw the silver-haired girl rushing towards it with two des on her hands while Bloed followed behind her full of killing intent.


    "ROAAAAAAAARRRR!!!"


    The lion roared fiercely. A powerful shockwave left his mouth, blowing Bloed and Regina away.


    Then, it looked at the group


    And ran away without hesitation.


    However, Bloed''s curved his lips up.


    "Do you think you can escape easily?"


    Instantly, metallic sand surged up from the ground.


    It was Leto!


    The metallic sand morphed into various chains that wrapped around the lion, stopping its movements!


    Leto had been able to return to the battle long ago, but Bloed had kept it hidden to use it in a situation like this!


    The lion struggled to free itself from Leto''s bindings, but now that it had lost a leg and the other was injured, it was unable to exert its entire strength. It would be unable to escape from the wolf''s bindings without a few seconds of time.


    But a few seconds were more than enough for Bloed.


    "Haaaaah!"


    With a sh of light, his saber cut through the lion''s second leg. Bloed then turned around and shed again.


    The lion tried to struggle, but Leto''s chains limited its movements. In the end, it could only look in despair while Bloed''s saber sliced its waist.


    Then, Bloed walked towards its head.


    Looking at the lion''s remaining eye, he smirked.


    "Hasta vista, baby."


    And the saber was swung down.


    ...


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 Chapter 49: Black Mass-Like Thing

    Chapter 49: ck Mass-Like Thing


    "Are you alright, master?" Regina asked from behind me.


    I nodded. "Yeah, don''t worry. How is Liu Ying?"


    "The demon is alright, she just suffered a few fractures, but with her body regeneration she will be alright after a bit of rest."


    Bloed nodded. "That is good." He then looked at the lion for a moment before cutting its chest with his saber.


    "Master?" Regina was taken aback.


    "I''m searching for its mana core." Bloed exined. "It''s the mana core of an A-Rank monster. I don''t know when I can get another one like this."


    "But you just got a demigod-level mana core from the bird."


    Bloed turned towards Regina with a helpless expression. "Well, I can''t start experimenting directly with it, can I? I''ll start with lower-level mana cores and slowly find the best way to use it. Only that way can I get the best use of the demigod-level mana core."


    " I see. I understand. But master, do you know what you are going to use the mana core for?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. "I just have a fuzzy idea. To be honest, I''m notpletely sure about what I can and I can''t do with it." He then pressed the saber down and opened the lion''s chest.


    But when Bloed finished cutting the lion''s chest open, something jumped out of it.


    "Careful, master!" Regina extended her hand and cut whatever the thing was. Bloed also managed to react and leaned his head aside.


    *SCEEEEEECHHHHH!!!!*


    The thing let out a cry of rage. A tentacle extended from it, forming a spike-like appendage that pierced towards Bloed''s neck.


    However, Bloed''s reaction speed was boosted by his eyes and ESP ability. He hurriedly rolled aside and swung his sword, cutting the appendage into two.


    Only until now Bloed managed to get a clear look at the creature. It was a ck mass-like thing with strange appendages growing from its body.


    The mass-like thing had been cut into two by Regina, but the two partsbined again. Even the appendage Bloed cut seemed to return to the creature.


    "What is that!?"


    "Master, be careful. It''s just as powerful as the lion." Regina warned with a wary tone.


    Bloed nodded. He could feel that the mana fluctuationsing from that thing were equivalent to an A-Grade monster.


    And if that thing was inside the lion all the time...


    "Wait, could it be the creature that has been controlling the horde all this time?"


    Regina thought for a moment before nodding. "Perhaps."


    Until now, Bloed had never gotten a look at the controller. But seeing this monster now, he got the feeling it was it.


    The disgusting mass-like thing twisted its appendages eerily. Bloed could see that it seemed enraged.


    Then, suddenly, a mouth filled with serrated teeth appeared on it.


    *SCEEEEEECHHHHH!!!!*


    With another cry, the disgusting creature jumped towards Bloed. Bloed reflexively used his saber to deflect it, but the creature did not bother to avoid him. Instead, it was cut into two while both parts created spikes that pierced towards Bloed''s face.


    "!!!"


    Bloed expression changed. Tito hurriedly created an energy shield, but the creature''s spikes pierced through it and continued straight to Bloed''s face.


    But Bloed was not fighting alone.


    *Swing!*


    With a sharp sound, the spikes werepletely cut.


    However, Regina was not content with that. She brandished her des tens of times in less than one second until cutting the creature into countless pieces.


    "Ha!"


    Piece after piece of the ck mass fell to the ground powerlessly.


    Bloed looked at that scene stunned.


    "Say, Regina. You used your entire strength, right?"


    "... I did."


    "But you were not supposed to use your true strength unless it was strictly necessary."


    Regina looked at Bloed indifferently. "I judge master was in danger, so I acted."


    Bloed was not buying it. Although the situation was certainly dangerous, he thought he could have managed for himself, at least for a while.


    But then, Bloed thought of something.


    "Could it be, you were afraid?"


    Regina''s eyes turned ice-cold. "What are you talking about, master?"


    Bloed pointed to the small bits of the creature twisting on the ground. "Look, it''s regenerating."


    Regina instantly extended her hand and shot a powerful sma ray, incinerating itpletely.


    Bloed was stupefied.


    "Hey Regina, that"


    "Master, we''ll never speak about this again, understood?"


    "U-Understood."


    For some reason, something in Regina''s gaze scared Bloed.


    ''So even someone as powerful as Regina fears disgusting things, huh.'' Bloed smirked inwardly.


    "Anyway, that monster was unexpected. Such a shame, it even ate the lion''s mana core." Bloed shook his head in disappointment.


    But suddenly, he thought of something.


    "Hey Regina, that creature"


    "Hmm?"


    " Could it have been a devourer?"


    Regina was startled. Her face instantly turned grave as she recalled the creature''s shape and means of attack.


    She then searched in her database for information about the Devourers, but in the end, she failed to find anything rted to a creature like this.


    " I think not." Regina finally shook her head.


    Bloed sighed in relief. In fact, he was almost 100% sure it was not a devourer, but even the slightest possibility that it could be was enough to chill his spine.


    Now that Regina had denied his suspicion, he was relieved. "You are right, thinking about it, a devourer would have directly assimted the creature instead of controlling it."


    Devourers were known for many things, such as their extreme rate of reproduction and their ability to consume energy and souls, but mind control was not one of them.


    Bloed could not help but think that he was being too paranoid.


    "There is nothing else to see here. Let''s go, it''s time to leave this ce." He then walked towards Liu Ying followed by Regina.


    Liu Ying was in a semi-conscious state. She moaned painfully when she saw Bloed and Reginaing.


    But when Bloed was about to lift her, Regina moved faster than him and carried her brusquely on her arms before putting her on Leto''s back.


    Bloed smiled wryly, but he did not say anything. Anyway, Regina''s possessiveness was not something new.


    Half a dayter, they finally left the mountain range.


    ...


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 Chapter 50: Preparations

    Chapter 50: Preparations


    Guys, I know my schedule has been a mess recently, but I''m doing my best. Things have beenplicated at home, and sometimes I simply did not have the energy to sit in front of theputer and write. Despite it, I''m keeping the release rate, so 2 chapters tonight, yesterday''s and today''s...


    ...


    Compared to the exilednds, the outside world was a paradise.


    Blue skies, green grass, clear water, and fruit-filled trees. Even the wind felt different here than in the exilednds. It was cooler and less dry.


    Bloed and Liu Ying could not help but take a deep breath of this fresh air. After living so many years in the monster-infected exilednds, this peaceful world felt nostalgic.


    Even Regina seemed in a better mood. She looked at the green in extending towards the horizon with a rare smile.


    After enjoying this change for a few minutes, Liu Ying spoke.


    "Where are we going now?"


    Bloed thought for a moment. Currently, they were on the southern border of the kingdom of Alterna, where his former father was king. The closest city was called Calice and was about fifty kilometers away.


    Bloed did not want to stay long in this kingdom, however, he had to pass through Calice if he wanted to go to the neighboring kingdom. So, going to Calice was a must.


    Well, Bloed was not too worried. Calice was pretty far from the kingdom''s capital, so nobody really knew him here. And even if someone there had seen him when he was still Prince Glenn, he doubted they could recognize him.


    He had changed a lot in thest five years, plus his blue hair and blue eyes werepletely different from the royal family''s ck hair. Even if someone found him familiar, that person at most would think he had a bit of resemnce to someone he met before.


    Probably only people that were really familiar with him, such as the king, the queen, or the royal family, could manage to recognize him.


    Bloed considered the idea of changing his face, but he really did not want to do it. He was not a criminal or a monster, why should he hide his face?


    Anyway, Bloed decided to go to Calice first. But before that, they needed to rest.


    "Lest''s camp here tonight. We will depart to Calice tomorrow." Bloed decided after exining Liu Ying their situation. Neither Regina nor Liu Ying had an objection, and to be honest, both of them wanted a rest badly.


    So, they found a river nearby and decided to camp there.


    Besides the metallic tent (that was more like a portable house), Bloed asked Regina to take out hisboratory. He wanted to make some things before entering the city.


    So, after a few seconds, a rather grand camp had been erected.


    Bloed got to work immediately. He did not know how long he would take to finish the things he needed, so he wanted to begin as soon as possible. He could restter.


    So, while Regina prepared dinner and Liu Ying took a bath, Bloed worked on the things he needed to enter the city.


    The first thing he wanted to make was a tool to disguise Liu Ying''s hair. Bloed did not take much time on it. He just used the same one he used for his hair, but without the extra functions his had.


    The next part was a bit difficult. He needed to hide the group''s uniquenesses so nobody suspected anything.


    Chorius was right when he said that Bloed''s group was very odd. In fact, Bloed thought they were probably the most troublesome group on the entire continent. One was a manaless young man carrying the heritage of apletely different civilization, another was a Valkyrie, a war machine made to face armies by herself, and thest was the exiled daughter of the former demon lord.


    Not matter how Bloed thought about it, their identities were each one more troublesome than the other.


    Bloed took almost eight hours to finish this part. He ignored Regina''s call for dinner and spend the entire time immersed in hisboratory until he got a satisfactory result.


    As a result, when he finished, it was alreadyte at night.


    Bloed left theboratory with a satisfied smile. He stretched his body and walked towards the metallic tent. He wondered what Regina had prepared for dinner.


    But to his surprise, bot Regina and Liu Ying were outside the tent, around a bonfire. Regina was reading a book (one they brought from the spaceship) and Liu Ying was practicing her martial arts.


    "Master, you are finally out." Regina lifted her eyes from the book and looked at Bloed with a smile.


    When Liu Ying heard her, she stopped training. "Woah, you sure took long. I''m already starving."


    Bloed was startled. "You have not eaten yet?"


    Liu Ying smiled. "We wanted to wait for you. Hurry up, Regina prepared something delicious."


    Strangely, Regina did not refute Liu Ying this time. She entered the tent and took out three portions of food. Bloed''s stomach rumbled when he saw the steaming hot food that seemed just made.


    "This is?"


    "A variant of beef with onions and potatoes. I used the meat of one of the monsters we killed in the way and onions from the spaceship."


    "It looks delicious." Bloed was almost unable to resist throwing himself to the food.


    Good food was one of the things Bloed enjoyed the most, just below research and learning new things. Maybe it was because he lived an entire year eating raw meat and drinking fresh blood.


    And to be honest, Regina was an incredible cook. Her cooking level had probably surpassed the human realm. Bloed could swear that nobody in this world cooked so well.


    Actually, the reason Regina cooked so well was due to Bloed. If Bloed liked to research and learn new knowledge, Regina''s hobby was cooking. She constantly researched new ways to cook, just so she could see Bloed''s satisfied face.


    So, the group of three enjoyed their dinner harmoniously.


    When they finished, Liu Ying looked at Bloed.


    "Hey, what took you so long? I even thought you would note out until tomorrow."


    Bloed smiled wryly. He then took out four objects from a pocket and showed them to the girls.


    Two nes, a ring, and a bottle containing weird ck liquid.


    "This is?"


    Bloed smiled and exined. "To disguise ourselves. I made them so nobody could find about our secrets. I''m not sure if it can fool someone at the level of Chorius, but a normal S-Grade Demigod will probably be able to see through them."


    He then took the bottle and opened it on Liu Ying''s head.


    Liu Ying was startled. But in the next second, she saw her hair bepletely ck.


    "Your red hair is very umon, so making it ck can help you to go unnoticed. This willst you around one year. After that, you will have to think about something yourself." He then took one of the nes and gave it to her.


    "Wear it."


    Liu Ying was still surprised by her hair, so she did not hesitate much to wear the ne. Bloed then pressed a ck jewel on it and the ne lit up. In the next second, Liu Ying''s horn disappeared.


    "That is!"


    "An illusion. In fact, it''s a very simple one. I used a magic stone and some magic runes to make this magic tool. It can be considered the first sessful magic tool I made."


    Although demons were not forbidden in the kingdom of Alterna, they were not very well received. This magic tool could not fool true powerhouses, but it was enough to make Liu Ying''s life many times easier.


    Liu Ying''s expression turnedplicated. She looked at the ground for a moment before looking at Bloed.


    "Thank you."


    Bloed just smiled.


    He then turned towards Regina (who was already a bit grumpy) and showed her the other ne.


    "This is for you."


    "Master?"


    "This ne uses your psychic energy to emit a mana signal of the same intensity, but you can control the output of the magic signal if you want to hide your strength. With this, everybody will think you are a magic practitioner."


    Regina nodded in understanding. She did not have mana, so it could cause her trouble if someone powerful enough realized it.


    She took the ne and examined it carefully. It had a silver jewel embedded that matched with her hair. A small golden glow appeared asionally on it.


    Regina smiled softly. She then thought for a moment before giving the ne back to Bloed and lifting her hair.


    "Master, please help me to wear it?"


    Bloed was surprised. He turned slightly embarrassed, but in the end, he nodded.


    With his heart beating quickly, he put the ne on her neck. Regina looked at it with a bewitching smile. "Thank you, master."


    For some reason, Regina felt all the dissatisfaction she umted recently disappearing silently.


    Bloed coughed to hide his embarrassment and looked away. He realized that Liu Ying was looking at them with an envious look and turned even more embarrassed.


    Fortunately, he still had the ring, so he used it to change the topic.


    The ring was the same as Regina''s ne. With this, nobody would discover that he couldn''t use mana."


    Finally, they were ready to face the world.

 Chapter 51: Calice (1)

    Chapter 51: Calice (1)


    Calice was the southernmost city of the kingdom of Alterna. It neighbored the Exiled Lands at the south and the Diadel Duchy to the west.


    Due to its closeness to the Exiled Lands, Calice city''s surroundings were filled with monsters. Most of these monsters were the descendants of monsters that escaped from the exilednds, reproducing through the years until bing a threat to the people of the city.


    The kingdom tried more than once to eliminate the monsters, but the killed monsters were quickly reced by new monsters that emigrated from the exilednds, attracted to the abundantnds in this side of the mountain range.


    In the end, the kingdom could do nothing about the source of the monsters, the exilednds. So, after various expeditions, the kingdom stopped trying to kill all the monsters.


    Thus, the monster poption grew. Weak and strong monsters of different sizes and different shapes reproduced and thrived in thisnd. The surroundings of Calice soon became in a paradise for monsters.


    But where is a supply, there is a demand.


    With the increasing number of monsters, people that gained a living through the killing of said monsters started to arrive in the city.


    Some of them were experienced hunters and adventurers, others were nave youngsters with the fantasy of killing a mystical beast and bing rich overnight. Many of them died under the fangs and ws of the monsters, but others survived and managed to achieve their dreams.


    It created a delicate bnce with humans and monsters killing each other. asionally, some strong monsters would attack the city and kill many people, and other times, a courageous adventurer would kill a powerful monster and show his spoils of war to gain the praise of the entire city.


    After some decades, Calice started to be called with another name.


    The City of Dreams and Nightmares.


    "A rather fitting name." Regina nodded when she finished hearing the story of the city.


    Bloed smiled. "Calice can be considered as one of the economic centers of the kingdom. The yearly earnings the kingdom gets due to the killing of monsters is equivalent to a seventh of the kingdom''s total ie."


    " Bloed, you are pretty knowledgeable about the kingdom, huh." Liu Ying looked at Bloed in curiosity. Bloed could only smile wryly. It''s not as though he could tell her that he was once the prince of Alterna.


    Currently, the group was lining to enter the city. Instead of entering through the southern entrance (which goes to the exilednds), Bloed and the group flew over the city and entered through the northern entrance, the entrance that goes to the kingdom.


    The southern entrance was mostly used by hunters, explorers, and adventures that left the city to hunt monsters. It would be suspicious if Bloed and the group used it to enter the city. After all, someone could wonder why a group of neers arrived through the southern gate instead of the northern one.


    If for some reason, anyone suspected that Bloed and the others came from the exilednds, things could turnplicated. Bloed and the others were people with secrets, so thest thing they needed was people being suspicious of them.


    The line to enter the city was pretty long. The group had to wait for almost two hours before it was finally their turn. Then, they had to pay to enter the city.


    Liu Ying turned nervous at that point. How could they have money when they just left the exilednds?


    But to her surprise, Bloed took out the money for the three of them and gave it to the guard.


    However, the guard did not immediately let them enter after Bloed paid.


    Instead, he pointed to Tito and Leto (Whose size had been reduced to one meter and fifty centimeters of height.)


    "Are these magic beast yours?" The guard asked.


    "Yes." Nodded Bloed. "Their names are Tito and Leto."


    The guard observed at the puppy and the wolf carefully and furrowed his brows.


    "I have never seen monsters like them before. Are they perhaps of an exotic race? Mmm, I can''t feel magic from them, so they probably are not very powerful."


    The guard was even more sure of his hypothesis after it saw Tito''s cute shape and behavior. Of course, it was still a bit wary about the wolf.


    "Magic beasts are allowed in the city, but you will have to pay extra for them." The guard exined. He then put on a grave expression and looked at Bloed and the girls seriously. "Besides, you will be made responsible if your beasts cause any problem, so you better keep them under control."


    Bloed nodded politely. "I understand."


    The guard was slightly surprised by Bloed politeness. Bloed''s clothes seemed pretty fine and he was apanied by two refined-looking beautiful girls, plus, he had also two exotic magic pets with him.


    When the guard first saw him, he thought he was the son or descendant of some noble.


    It was not weird for nobles toe visiting this city seeking the adventure and glory this city offered, of course, not many were as polite as Bloed.


    Hence, the guard could not help but get a slightly good impression of him.


    "Boy, I will give you a piece of advice. I don''t know your background, but you don''t seem someone simple. However, this city is not as beautiful as rumors. The chaos and danger in this city is not something you can imagine. And someone like you, who is apanied by beautiful girls and valuable looking magic beats is definitively a good target. Believe me, many will not care if you are a noble or not and will attack you due to their greed."


    For a moment, Bloed did not know how to answer to the guard. Although the guard had good intentions, Bloed was not the one in danger. Instead, if someone dared to plot against the girls or the dogs, they will have to be ready for a beating.


    Of course, Bloed did not bother to exin it to the guard. Instead, he nodded in thanks and entered the city.


    Not even one minuteter, Liu Ying was unable to suppress her curiosity.


    "Bloed, where did you get the money from? Did you rob someone? Why did I not see anything?"


    Bloed smiled wryly before Liu Ying''s great imagination. He looked at the demon with a smile and shrugged.


    "The method to mint coins in this kingdom is rather undeveloped. I just needed a bit of gold, silver, and the design of the coins, and I was able to replicate it perfectly."


    Liu Ying was stunned, but soon, she shook her head. "Yeah, I should have expected something like that from you. You even created a flying golem, so making money did not seem crazy inparison."


    Bloed shrugged. Well, Liu Ying was right.


    The interior of the city was very crowded, with carriages and people walking through the narrow streets. Bloed and the girls had not taken more than a few streets and they were already frowning. The smell of their surroundings was not the most pleasant.


    They were surrounded by sweaty men, fat merchants, animals in cages, and moldy buildings. It seemed as though the guard''s words about the city not being as beautiful as the rumors were not exaggerated.


    Bloed decided firstly to get an inn, one in a better part of the city. They needed a ce to spend the night during the days they would be here.


    However, before their first ten minutes in the city, they were stopped by an elegant middle-aged man.


    "Friends, my young master has asked for your presence."


    ...


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 Chapter 52: Calice (2)

    Chapter 52: Calice (2)


    Can I vent a bit? Don''t worry, it''s nothing about you. You all are great and support me always.


    Today is the seventh day I''m in quarantine, without leaving my house. How to describe it? Stressful! I live with my parents and siblings and staying in a closed space with other people for seven days is tiring. God, even sleeping is bing a chore.


    I''m a rtively sociable person, so I''m used to visiting my friends, ying ser, going to the mall, etc. However, I can''t even go jogging in the mornings now!


    I hope this ends soon. Good luck to you is you are in this situation too...


    ...


    "Your young master?" Bloed furrowed his brows. Had troublee to them so quickly?


    Before he could reply, Regina stepped forward.


    "Who do your young master think he is? Does he think he can simply ask my master to go to see him and my master has to obey?"


    The elegant middle-aged man frowned. He examined Regina briefly before putting on an expression of wariness.


    ording to his senses, this girl was a C-Rank practitioner, however, he felt as though she was unfathomable.


    "Can I ask for your name, youngdy?" The middle-aged man asked.


    Regina snorted. "Go away, master doesn''t have time to see you now."


    The frown in the middle-aged man''s face deepened. For an instant, he did not know if to advance or to retreat.


    Fortunately, Bloed rescued him.


    "Stop it, Regina. We will go."


    "Master?"


    "We are new here. It''s a good idea to talk with a local."


    Regina nodded and retreated behind Bloed. Bloed then smiled to the middle-aged man. "Please guide us."


    The middle-aged man looked deeply to Bloed before nodding.


    Bloed and the others were guided to a carriage a few meters away. Inside the carriage, a young man and a youngdy were seated. Both of them had beautiful features and carried a noble-like aura.


    But when Bloed observed them carefully, he realized something else.


    Both of them shared simr features.


    Blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.


    The young man seemed a bit more mature than the young girl, around 18 years old. As for the young girl, Bloed put her age around 15 or 16.


    ''Siblings?" Bloed deduced their rtionship in his head. It seemed the pair were the young master and young miss of some noble house.


    But after Bloed finished observing the siblings, he noticed something amiss.


    Suddenly, he realized someone was standing behind the girl.


    It was a servant-like young woman with ck hair and tanned skin. She had the eyes closed and her back was resting against the back of the carriage.


    When the woman felt Bloed''s gaze, she opened his eyes and looked at him in surprise.


    ''How came!!!'' Bloed was taken aback. Even with his special eyes and the increased perception his hair granted him, he needed more than ten seconds to realize that the woman was here. Bloed was sure that without his eyes, he would have been unable to notice anything amiss.


    Even now, after he confirmed her existence, he had the feeling he could lost her if he looked away for one second.


    Of them, only Regina had managed to detect the girl since the start. Liu Ying seemed as she had not realized anything even now.


    ''How terrifying.'' Bloed felt cold sweat in his back. If he would have been alone, and the woman attacked him, he would have been unable to react.


    The middle-aged man went to the carriage and whispered something in the young man''s ear. The young man put on an expression of surprise and looked at us with interest.


    "I apologize if my butler was rude. Nice to meet you, I''m Gerald Arkavol, the current heir of the Arkavol house. This is my sister, Erika."


    Erika had her eyes fixed on Tito and Leto. But when her brother caller her name, she raised her head to greet them.


    However, once she saw Bloed, she froze. One secondter, her face turned slightly red.


    Regina could not help but frown seeing it.


    Bloed nodded as greeting. "My name is Bloed Norman. She is Regina Norman, my partner." He said while signaling Regina. Then, he pointed to Liu Ying. "She is Liu Ying, a friend."


    Gerald showed an interested expression. "Bloed? Such a unique name. Same with Liu Ying. Names like hers are very rare in this part of the world."


    "Well, wee from far away." Bloed said.


    Gerald nodded in understanding. "So it''s like this. Is it your first day in Calice?"


    "Yes, we arrived just now. We were going to search for an inn when your butler interrupted us."


    "Sorry if he offended you." Gerald apologized again. "Bloed, I will go straight to the point. My sister is interested in your magic beasts. Are you selling it?"


    Bloed''s eyes narrowed. "How unexpected. I didn''t think the city lord''s son would be interested in my pets."


    "Oh? You know about my identity?" Gerald was slightly surprised, but Bloed just smiled. "Well, there is only an Arkavol house in Calice."


    Gerald chuckled. "You are right. It looks you are well informed about the city. Then, are you interested about selling them?"


    This time, Bloed shook his head without hesitation.


    "I''m sorry, young master Gerald, but I''m not selling them."


    A sharp glint appeared on Gerald''s face. He looked deeply at Bloed before chuckling. "Okay, I understand. Sorry for bothering then."


    The girl beside Gerald was startled. She looked at her brother and seemed as though she wanted to say something, but a re of Gerald rendered her silent.


    Bloed, on the other hand, just shook his head indifferently. "Don''t worry about it. If young master Gerald don''t want anything else, we will be leaving. We need to find a ce to stay as soon as possible, after all."


    "I rmend you to go at the exchange center." Gerald suggested. "You probably will find what you need there."


    "Thank you. If I have the opportunity, I''ll invite you to somethingter. My treat."


    "I''ll waiting for the opportunity."


    With a smile, the two young men bid farewell and Bloed left.


    When Bloed and his group was finally out of sight, the girl looked at his brother with an expression of anger.


    "Brother, what happened!? I wanted that puppy!"


    "Silly girl." Gerald shook his head. "How can you not to realize these people are not simple? Did you not realize that none of them seemed respectful of us even after learning of our identities?"


    "Huh?"


    "I suspect the three of them have a significant background. There is no need to offend an unknown power just for a puppy. Moreover, a puppy without mana."


    The girl looked at her brother and pouted. "But I wanted that puppy. It was so cute, and weird I wonder where they got it."


    The butler sighed at that moment. "Young master is right. I observed their demeanor carefully, and every one of them carried themselves with confidence and emitted an air of nobility. Moreover, the silver-haired girl called the young man ''master''. If I''m not wrong, their background is not below us, perhaps even higher."


    Gerald nodded thoughtfully. He then looked at the young woman behind him and asked.


    "Sara, what do you think about them?"


    The young woman fell silent. She thought for a moment before giving an answer.


    "The young man and the silver-haired girl discovered me."


    "Huh?"


    This time, the other three werepletely surprised.


    "Are you sure?" Gerald asked.


    "I am. I think the young man only discovered me due to his eyes. But the silver-haired girl I''m not sure. In fact, the three of them were very talented. All C-Rank, and judging by the killing intent around them, they are rather experienced."


    "His eyes, huh. Certainly, I had never seen eyes like his."


    Erika nodded. "They were very beautiful. Thinking about it, that young man was very handsome."


    "Sigh, Erika, you only think about things like that."


    "And? It''s not like I''m going to marry him or something. I just think he is handsome."


    Gerald shook his head in amusement. He then turned towards the butler and put on a serious expression.


    "Investigate their background. I want know everything about them as soon as possible. You can start by searching information about the Norman family. Maybe you will find something."


    "Yes, young master."

 Chapter 53: Calice (3)

    Chapter 53: Calice (3)


    "Bloed, that Gerald is not a good person. He probably will try something funny." Liu Ying said as soon as we left Gerald''s sight.


    "I know." Bloed nodded. "But don''t worry, he will not try anything."


    "Huh? Why are you sure? His sister seemed dissatisfied."


    This time, Regina replied with a snort. "Are you an idiot, demon? They obviously are wary of our background."


    Liu Ying wanted to refute Regina''s words, but to be honest, she still did not understand.


    It was not that Liu Ying was stupid, however, she was not very good when ites to plots and hidden intentions. As she said to Bloed before, she was not suited to be a ruler.


    Fortunately, Bloed was here to exin to her. "Think about it, Liu Ying. What is the first thing thates to your mind when Regina calls me master?"


    Liu Ying tilted her head. A few secondster, however, she understood. "... That you are a young noble."


    "Bingo. I heard Gerald''s butler whispering to him that we were probably of a noble background. Plus, anyone can see that the three of us are not simple people. They just need to feel our strength and our demeanor to realize that we are different than normalmoners. It''s true that Gerald''s intentions were not good, but he is not a fool. He will not make an enemy he doesn''t know anything about just for a puppy for his sister."


    "In other words, we are safe."


    "Notpletely." Bloed shook his head. "There is the possibility that I overestimated them and they are foolish enough to attack us. But if something like that happens, we just need to retaliate. At most, we will kill the people they sent."


    Liu Ying nodded with a smile. "You are right. We just need to kill them."


    In the end, Liu Ying was someone that survived inside the exilednds where powerful monsters roam. She was not easily scared.


    Besides, with Leto with them, they could escape if the situation turned dangerous.


    "Let''s not worry about them." Bloed shrugged indifferently. "Now, we need to worry about finding a ce where to sleep."


    "Master, I will go to ask in the inns."


    Bloed shook his head. "No, let''s go to the exchange center Gerald mentioned. Perhaps we will find something useful there"


    The exchange center was the ce where the city''s administration buys mana cores and monster''s materials. After the adventurers and hunters return from an expedition, they would bring their loot there to exchange it for money.


    But with the time, the exchange center had be much more than that. Currently, you could not only sell materials there but also buy weapons, get information, and take missions between other things. You could say that the exchange center was the core of Calice''s economy.


    The group did not need much time to find it. As a popr ce in the city, everybody knew about it. Bloed just needed to ask around to get detailed information on how to reach there.


    When they arrived at the ce, they were greeted by apletely crowded giant building. There were hawkers selling things, people shouting for missions, adventurers searching for a group, and people selling magic cores. For an instant, Bloed got the feeling he had entered a video game.


    Of course, if you ignored the bothersome noise of the crowd talking and the stench of people in a middle-age-like city.


    After Bloed asked around to know where to go, someone pointed to a line.


    Bloed and the girls went there.


    After he lined up for the second time today, a clerk-like woman attended them.


    "Good morning, we are searching for a ce to stay."


    The woman nodded. She observed the group carefully and saw that their clothes and demeanor seemed refined. Quickly, she judged them to be nobles, in other words, people with money.


    "Of course, what kind of ce do you need?" She asked enthusiastically.


    Bloed thought for a moment. His first idea was a simple inn, but now that he thought better about it, he decided to ask for a better ce.


    At least, he needed a ce with three rooms, a bath, a kitchen, and a big courtyard where he could install hisboratory.


    When the clerk heard Bloed''s requirements, her face brightened. Only expensive ces had big courtyards, and expensive ces meant moremission for her.


    "I understand. Let me see through our archives to see if we have something for you."


    She then searched through a huge stack of papers until finally taking five of them out.


    "These are the only ces in the city that meet your requirements. What do you think about them?"


    Bloed simply chose a random one between them without much thinking. He was just going to stay here for one week, after all, so he did not need to be so picky.


    But when the clerk heard that Bloed and the girls only were renting the ce for a week, her expression dimmed.


    "One week?"


    Bloed nodded. "Yes. We are not going to be in this city for long."


    The clerk shook her head. "I''m sorry, young master. But you need to rent the ce for at least one month. That is our rule."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He looked at the price of the house and fell silent.


    It was very expensive.


    In truth, Bloed did not care about the money. Money was nothing more than something slightly useful for him. If he wanted, he could mint his own money easily. In fact, simply selling the mana cores in his possession was enough to buy ten houses like this one.


    But he did not like the feeling of paying for something he was not going to use.


    Bloed sighed. But when he was about to concede and pay the entire month of rent, someone came and whispered something to the clerk.


    The clerk''s expression changed. She looked at Bloed and the girls nervously and nodded.


    "Young master, we just received information about a ce avable, and the owner agreed to rent it for one week."

 Chapter 54: Calice (4)

    Chapter 54: Calice (4)


    In a house in Calice city.


    It was a beautiful house with three rooms, a kitchen, an underground hot spring, and a huge courtyard. Way above Bloed''s expectations.


    "You will not regret this choice." The clerk took out a contract and passed it to Bloed. Bloed checked it to make sure that nothing was wrong and signed.


    Afterward, he paid thirty percent of the money in advance, as stipted in the contract. The remaining amount would be paid when he leaves.


    Once the clerk left the house, Liu Ying was the first to look at Bloed and ask. "So, what is happening?"


    "It was probably Gerald. The clerk received orders from the city lord''s family to get us to rent this ce."


    After the modifications his body received, Bloed senses were incredibly sharp, so he was able to hear the order the clerk received even although it was just a whisper.


    "I think Gerald is trying to sell us a favor. Of course, his intentions are notpletely genuine. If I''m not wrong, the city lord''s people can easily keep surveince on us here."


    Liu Ying was stunned. "Why did you ept then?"


    Bloed shrugged. "Why not? This ce is rather good, cheap, and perfect for us. Besides, it has been a long time since thest time I took a hot bath. As for Gerald''s intentions, why would I care about them?"


    Bloed was Cami''s heir. He was someone that carried the knowledge of an entire civilization on his shoulders. Why would he show fear when the enemy had not even attacked yet?


    Not only Bloed, but even Regina seemed indifferent about it. In fact, Regina cared even less for Gerald''s purpose. As an SS-Grade Valkyrie, Regina could probably erase this city of the map if she wanted.


    There was not demigod in Calice. In other words, there was nobody that could go against Regina if she decides to go crazy.


    As such, even if they knew that Gerald''s intentions were not genuine, they feigned ignorance and just epted the gift.


    Liu Ying was slightly stunned when she learned the truth, but she stopped caring about it after Bloed spoke. If Bloed did not mind it, why would she, a demon princess, mind?


    So, the group of three simply decided to enjoy thefy house.


    The first thing they did was to choose a room for each one. Regina then took out Bloed''s luggage from the storage ring and put it in his room while she took her luggage to her room.


    At that moment, though, something awkward happened.


    Liu Ying had nothing.


    Until now, she had been using Regina''s clothes, but now that they finally were in a city, she urgently wanted to buy her own things.


    However, she felt too embarrassed to tell Bloed about it. She did not want to bother Bloed anymore after all the help he had given to her.


    Fortunately, Bloed was pretty observant and quickly noticed her stiff expression.


    With a smile, he gave her a bag with enough money to buy the things she need. "Take it, go, buy new clothes."


    Liu Ying''s face turned red. She felt her cheeks burning of the embarrassment.


    "B-But-"


    "Hurry up, or are you nning to continue using Regina''s clothes forever?" Bloed hurried her. "You probably don''t know, but Regina has asked me more than once if she can kill the demon that wants to steal her things."


    Liu Ying turned stiff. She moved her gaze and saw Regina''s cold expression that caused shivers on her spine. Finally, she epted the money.


    For the record, Regina was not speaking about clothes when she said Liu Ying wanted to steal her things.


    " Sorry, I''ll repay you one day. I promise you." Liu Ying bowed at Bloed, but Bloed just smiled. "Just remember to buy something nice for me. Meanwhile, I''ll start working in your weapon."


    Liu Ying froze. The word weapon reminded her that her time with Bloed and Regina wasing to its end.


    However, she forced herself to smile.


    "Okay."


    "Right, take Leto with you in case someone tries something funny."


    "Mm."


    When Liu Ying was gone, Regina snorted.


    "Master, you are too nice to that demon. You have not taken a liking to her, right?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Of course not. I simply want to help a friend. Actually, I don''t understand why you dislike her so much."


    "It''s because she is dangerous and master trusts her too much. Besides, I don''t like how she looks at you."


    Bloed looked at the jealous Regina and did not know whether tough or to cry.


    In the end, he just shook his head and sighed. "Just take myboratory out. I''ll start working on Liu Ying''s weapon. Mmm, I already have a good idea."


    "I understand. I''ll prepare lunch while you work. What do you want to eat today, master?"


    "Surprise me."


    After saying that, he entered in hisboratory.


    For Liu Ying''s weapon, Bloed was nning to use part of the ores he got from Chorius. He had refined the ores long ago and they were ready to be used.


    Firstly, though, Bloed had toplete the weapon''s design.


    Fortunately, Bloed had already a good idea of what he was going to make. He quickly took a paper and a pencil and started to sketch the weapon. He carefully illustrated every one of the weapon''s features, down to the slightest details. Even the runes he was going to use were carefully measured to get the best effect.


    In this world, building a magic weapon was not easy. It required precious materials and a skilled smith able to engrave the magic runes on the weapon. This process of engraving was very difficult, and the probabilities of failure were very high.


    And even if the runes were engraved sessfully, it was possible for the magic effects to be a failure, making the magic weapon downright useless.


    In truth, most of the magic weapons in this world had rather simple effects, like increased sharpness or shooting a fireball. Powerful magic weapons were very rare.


    However, this word''s difficulties to manufacture magic weapons were easily done for Bloed. He could use a high-technology method to forge the weapon, and then useser technology to engrave the runes. Moreover, theser''s precision allowed Bloed to be very willful with the runes he engraved. Bloed was confident he could engrave hundreds of different runes to create a very powerful effect.


    Unfortunately, his current knowledge of magic runes was not enough to do it.


    But for Liu Ying''s weapons, he needed less than thirty runes.


    In a few minutes, the weapons had been drawn in the paper.


    It was a pair of very beautiful gloves.

 Chapter 55: Gina (1)

    Chapter 55: Gina (1)


    " What in the hell is wrong with this city?" Liu Ying mumbled inwardly while returning from the market.


    Leto was walking beside her carrying two bags with the clothes and essories Liu Ying bought. The wolf just looked at Liu Ying briefly and nodded silently.


    After spending the afternoon buying clothes, Liu Ying should be happy, however, she could not bring herself to smile. The reason was the things that happened while she was in the market.


    She was attacked, on three different asions, by three different groups of people.


    And the three groups were targeting Leto.


    Maybe because they thought Liu Ying did not seem very strong, they decided to test their luck and try to rob the wolf. Unfortunately, Liu Ying was not a normal C-Rank.


    Furthermore, Leto was not weak either. To sum up everything in a few words, Liu Ying and Leto steamrolled the three groups of robbers.


    But in the meanwhile, Liu Ying''s mood worsened.


    "Sigh If I would have known about this, I would havee alone." Liu Ying heaved a tired sigh. Beside her, Leto seemed to be nodding too.


    It was tired too.


    After walking for a few minutes, the pair of a demon and a wolf arrived at their living quarters. Liu Ying sighed in relief when she saw their house''s door without being attacked again in the way.


    But when she was about to enter the house, she saw a girl looking towards the entrance.


    The girl felt Liu Ying''s gaze and turned towards her with a smile.


    "Hello."


    " Hello?"


    "Eto, can I ask you something? Are you the one that moved to this house?"


    Liu Ying was startled. She looked at the girl carefully before nodding.


    "Great!" The girl smiled brightly and walked towards her. "I wanted to meet you. My name is Gina, and I live in the house next door. Nice to meet you!"


    Liu Ying was a bit overwhelmed by the girl''s enthusiasm. For an instant, she did not know how to react.


    Gina was a very beautiful girl. She seemed around 15 years old, but a bit younger than Liu Ying (who was also fifteen).


    Her hair had a soft honey-colored tint, and her eyes were of a breathtaking silver. Liu Ying could feel her innocence and gentleness from miles away.


    However, her body seemed a bit weak, and her skin was of a sickly pale color.


    Liu Ying was certain this girl had never fought before. Moreover, she was probably ill.


    She was like a beautiful orchid growing under the love of the sun but being hit but the merciless cold of winter at the same time.


    Strangely, Liu Ying could not help but feel pity for her.


    " Nice to meet you. Name''s Liu Ying."


    "Liu Ying, huh. Such a beautiful name. You are not from Alterna?"


    Liu Ying shook her head.


    "Mm mm, I knew it. Yes, I''m sure you are the one. Liu Ying, can I take your hand?"


    "Huh?" Liu Ying was startled, but seeing the pleading expression in the girl''s innocent eyes, Liu Ying was unable to say no.


    Finally, she heaved a sigh and gave Gina her hand. Of course, she made sure of being ready in case of a sneak attack.


    But when Gina took her hand, her silver eyes became dim.


    " The princess"


    "!!!"


    Liu Ying opened her eyes wide. She looked at Gina warily and tensed up her body.


    Gina, on the other hand, looked into her eyes and smiled innocently.


    The next second, she fainted.


    " Hey? Hey!" Liu Ying hurriedly caught the girl and tried to wake her up, but Gina remained unconscious. Instead, her breathing started to turn weak.


    Liu Ying turned pale. Quickly, she lifted the girl and carried inside.


    Then, she rushed towards the only person that could help her.


    "So, who is this girl?" Bloed sighed and asked after making sure that everything was alright with the fragile-looking girl.


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. "Actually, I don''t know. She was waiting outside the house and talked to me when I appeared. She said her name is Gina."


    Regina''s expression turned dark. "So you brought a girl you just met to our house?"


    "Hey, she fainted in front of me. What was I supposed to do? I was not going to leave her outside in her condition!"


    Regina snorted but did not refute Liu Ying. Besides, she could see this girl was not dangerous.


    However, she did not like seeing more girls around her master.


    The girl woke up at that moment. She opened her eyes sleepily and looked around. But when she saw Bloed, her eyes brightened.


    "My hero!"


    Instantly, the atmosphere froze.


    Bloed could feel Regina''s eyes fixed in his back. Even Liu Ying was looking at him suspiciously.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. It was obviously a misunderstanding.


    He looked at the fragile-looking girl and asked in confusion.


    "Do I know you?"


    Gina was startled. She then smiled sheepishly and scratched her cheek. "Sorry, I mistook you with someone else. Nice to meet you, I''m Gina."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. For an instant, he got the feeling this girl was hiding something.


    However, he failed to find anything wrong with her.


    "I''m Bloed, and she is Regina. You already met Liu Ying outside."


    "Bloed and Regina. Mmm, I like your name. Bloed It sounds weird but cool. Also, sorry for fainting suddenly. My body is a bit weak, you see."


    Bloed smiled wryly. It was the first time he heard someone saying that his name was cool.


    To be honest, even he thought his name wasme. Sometimes, he scolded his younger self for choosing a name like this.


    But now, his name was linked to too many memories. He did not want to change it.


    "Do you need some special medicine or something?" Bloed asked. "If you want, we can take you to your home."


    "No, no. Don''t worry, I''m alright. Besides, my older sister is not at home and so there is nobody else there. If you don''t mind, I want to stay here for a while."


    Bloed fell silent. He looked at Liu Ying and Regina and asked for their opinions.


    To be honest, none of the three thought that the girl was dangerous. Of course, there was the possibility she was sent to spy on them, however, they just had to be careful with their words.


    Besides, the girl seemed a bit weak and Bloed was not sure about her condition. So in the end, they decided to let her stay until her sister returned.


    When Gina heard that, she smiled brightly.


    However, Regina frowned.


    For some reason, she felt that Gina''s gaze towards Bloed was strange.


    It felt like A girl in love?


    Regina shook her head and sighed. She was being paranoid. She could not believe she was jealous of even someone she just met.


    Nheless, she decided to be a bit wary of her.

 Chapter 56: Gina (2)

    Chapter 56: Gina (2)


    "So delicious! This, this This is amazing!"


    Gina''s eyes were shining while she ate Regina''s food. She ravished the food as though she had not eaten in months.


    Today, Regina had prepared meatballs with patacones and cream cheese. The meatballs had been made using the meat of a C-Rank monster and cheese, and Regina''s cooking had given it the perfect texture.


    Gina could swear she had never tasted something so delicious in her life. The meatballs had a strange spicy vor mixed with the soft vor of the cheese. The patacones had been soaked in garlic water, and the cream cheese had been spread over them, making them even more delicious.


    Regina''s food was heavenlypared to the food Gina had tasted before. The different spices used perfectly together with the ingredientsbined with the astonishing work of a great cook brought mouth-watering food to the table.


    Even Bloed and Liu Ying, who had gotten used to Regina''s high-level cooking, found the food delicious. But for Gina, it was paradise.


    In less than two minutes, the food in the table was gone. Surprisingly, Gina had eaten as much food as Bloed.


    The group was astonished by the petite girl''s appetite. Bloed wondered where she sent all the food she ate. It was obvious it was not to her breast, at least.


    "Miss Regina, your food is the best I have eaten ever!" Gina stared at Regina with sparkling eyes. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"


    "I learned by myself." Regina smiled in pride. Seeing Gina''s undisguised admiration, she could not help but soften her expression a little bit. "I learned to cook to make master happy."


    "You sure are fortunate, Bloed." Gina sighed in envy. "Unfortunately, I can''t cook due to my body, or I would ask you to teach me."


    Regina smiled and remained silent.


    Gina was a very outgoing girl. Despite her frail body, she enjoyed talking.


    So, once the finished eating, she started to ask questions to the group.


    Such as where do theye from, where are they going, their age, their experiences, etc. Bloed and the group glossed about most of the questions vaguely, but Gina did not seem to mind.


    Instead, she started to talk about herself. She said that she lived with her older sister who took care of her. Their parents had died when she was a child, so her older sister was like her mother.


    The name of her older sister was Sara. Gina said that her sister was very cool and powerful and that she would introduce her to Bloed and the others one day. ording to Gina, they surely would like her sister.


    Seeing the bright and innocent look on Gina''s face, Bloed could not help but smile. To be honest, he missed having a conversation with someone like her.


    Simple, rxed, and without second intentions. Gina waspletely different from Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina. She was someone that still believed in the goodness of the world.


    Bloed was even a bit worried about her safety. She was the kind of girl that could be abducted with sweet words.


    While they were talking, someone knocked on the door.


    "Huh? It must be your sister." Bloed said. He then stood up and walked towards the door.


    But then, Gina grabbed his shirt with a nervous expression.


    "Please, don''t go."


    "Huh?"


    " I don''t want to go with them."


    Bloed frowned.


    "Gina?"


    "Please, Bloed." Gina looked at Bloed in worry. "It''s not my sister. They are bad guys. They must be searching for me."


    " Is anything wrong?" Liu Ying furrowed her brows.


    Gina bit her lips and looked down.


    Bloed fell into thoughts. He then smiled at Gina confidently.


    "Don''t worry, let''s see who it is. And if it''s not your sister, I will not let them take you away."


    Gina stared at Bloed and the others and nodded. She then stood up and followed behind Bloed, but she was still grabbing his shirt.


    The other two girls followed after them.


    When Bloed opened the door, two serious-looking men were outside.


    "Good afternoon, young master. We are searching for our miss."


    "Your miss?" Bloed was startled.


    "Yes, miss Gina." Said one of the men. "We are her bodyguards, but she escaped a few hours ago. Fortunately, we finally found her." He then looked at Gina behind Bloed.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. Something was wrong here.


    Her bodyguards? Then how Gina escaped? Bloed could see that the two men were C-Rank practitioners, while Gina''s mana was almost inexistent. How could she escape from them?


    Moreover, they took so long to find her. What kind of bodyguards are they?


    The men did not seem to feel Bloed''s wariness. One of them took a step forward and tried to grab Gina.


    Gina paled in fear. But at that moment, Bloed grabbed the man''s wrist.


    " You don''t look like her bodyguards."


    The man frowned. "Young master, we just want to do our work. Are you nning to make things difficult for us?"


    Instantly, a sense of threat surged out from the two men. Mana and killing intent pressed Bloed, proof that they had killed before.


    However


    "Hmph!"


    Regina snorted.


    Instantly, the two men''s killing intent was erased.


    At the same time, Bloed released his own pressure. His psychic power surged and filled his sword, and his muscles tensed up ready to battle.


    "Who are you!?" Bloed''s expression turned cold. The killing intent and bloodthirstiness cultivated in the Exiled Lands attacked the two men, causing their expressions to pale.


    The men looked at each other. They saw the wariness in their eyes and realized they had kicked a steel bar this time.


    However, they could not leave the girl here, or their master would be crazy.


    But when they were about to take out their weapons, an ice-cold voice came from outside.


    "Stop!"


    Then, a girl suddenly appeared behind the two men. The girl''s ice-cold gaze froze the two menpletely, and even Bloed felt his blood slowing.


    But then, the girl behind Bloed smiled brightly.


    "Sister!"

 Chapter 57: Gina (3)

    Chapter 57: Gina (3)


    "Sister!" Gina rushed from behind Bloed and jumped to the girl''s arms.


    The girl''s expression softened. She hugged the petite Gina and smiled gently. "Gina, what did you do now?"


    "Nothing. It''s only that they wanted to take me away."


    Gina said while looking at the two frozen men.


    The girl frowned. She looked at them with the coldest gaze Bloed had ever seen in his life and narrowed her eyes.


    "Exin, what is happening?"


    The two men trembled. Under the girl''s threatening gaze, one of them forced himself to talk.


    "M-Miss Sara, m-miss Gina r-ran away from the house earlier this a-afternoon. W-We just wanted to b-bring her back."


    "Ran away? Is my sister your captive!? You don''t have any right to control her!"


    The two men were paralyzed in fright. "W-We were j-just following orders."


    Sara''s expression was full of killing intent. She was looking at the two men as though she wanted to kill them.


    But in the end, she sighed and waved her hand.


    "Get lost, I don''t want to kill in front of my sister."


    "Y-Yes, t-thank you very much."


    The two men did not care for their image. They bowed at Gina''s sister in fear and ran away.


    Once the men were away, Gina''s sister turned towards Bloed and his group.


    "You are Bloed, right?"


    "We meet again, miss Sara." Bloed smiled at her. "I never imagine you were Gina''s sister."


    Gina''s sister was someone Bloed knew. To be exact, he met her earlier today, when he and Gerald talked.


    Yes, she was the mysterious bodyguard behind Gerald''s sister.


    Tanned skin, ck hair, and ck eyes, together with faint killing intent and an elusive presence. Bloed could not forget someone like her easily.


    "Do you know each other?" Gina was startled before smiling happily. "That is great! Sister, they are my friends Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina. They are great people, and Regina''s food is delicious! Besides, Bloed, he"


    She then lowered her head and blushed. "No, nothing Anyway, they helped me."


    Sara put on a suspicious expression. She looked at Bloed and the others warily.


    However, when Gina finished exining how they met, her wariness decreased.


    "Is it so?" Sara sighed. She then bowed at Bloed and the others gratefully. "Thank you very much for helping my sister. She has been weak since she was a child and she faints sometimes. Fortunately, you were there to help her, or I don''t know what I would have done if something happens to her."


    "Don''t worry about it." Bloed waved his hand nonchntly. "In fact, it was fun to chat with her."


    "That is good." Sara nodded. She then bowed once more and grabbed Gina''s hand. "Well, it''s time to go back home. Many thanks."


    "Huh? Already? Sister, I want to chat with Bloed a bit more"


    "Gina."


    " Okay." Gina pouted and followed her sister unwillingly. Before leaving, though, she turned around and smiled at the stupefied group.


    "Such a strange pair of sisters" Bloedmented when they were gone.


    "I like Gina." Liu Ying said. "She is very pure. I remember I was like her back then I wonder what is the problem with the two men, though."


    Bloed shrugged. "It has nothing to do with us." He then turned around and returned to the house, followed by Liu Ying.


    Regina, however, stayed in the door in looked in direction of the girls with a pensive expression.


    "Am I being too sensitive? But I''m sure this Gina"


    She then went inside and sighed. "Master, what do you think about using a disguise."


    "A disguise?"


    "Yes, one with an ugly face."


    "Gina, you are causing trouble again." Sara was angry while walking back to their home. "Why did you escape the city lord''s surveince?"


    "Sister, you know I don''t like them. They are bad people, and I don''t like that you work with them."


    "You know our circumstances, what can I do?"


    "... Sorry. I know you are doing it for me, and yet..."


    "... It''s not your fault, Gina. It''s my duty as your elder sister." Sara sighed and looked at Gina gently. "But look at the troubles you caused. You fainted in the street! Fortunately, they were good people, or I fear something could have happened to you."


    "You don''t have to worry about that, sister. Bloed is the hero!"


    "Ah?" Sara was startled. "Hero?"


    "Yes, the one in my dreams!" Gina seemed very excited. "The hero, the doll, and the princess! They are finally here sister, they came to rescue us!"


    "Again with that?" Sara had a headache. "I told you that dreams are not real."


    "Mine are!" Gina retorted with an anxious face. "You know it, sister, I can see things nobody else can! He is the hero, the one I will marry!"


    Sara was speechless. Marry him? This girl just met him and was already a lovestruck fool!


    Moreover, she fell in love with him due to a dream!


    "Stop it, Gina. Don''t cause more problems."


    Gina''s expression turned serious. "Sister, are you not tired of this? I don''t like this life, sister. I don''t like what you do And now, now the hero is here. He is our hope..."


    Sara shook her head. "Silly fool. He can''t help us, nobody can''t help us. Stop talking about it, or if someone hears you, we will be in trouble. Even worse, you will get them in problems."


    Gina fell silent. She looked at the ground and sighed.


    "You know I''m right sister. My dreams are true. You have been saved more than once thanks to them"


    "That was a coincidence." Sara shook her head.


    Her sister was someone very special. Sara knew it, her sister was different than others.


    But She was cursed.


    Sara hated it. She hated her powerlessness to protect her sister. She hated the fact she had to serve the people she hated to protect her loved one.


    But she knew better than anyone that this was the only way.


    Changing fate was not so easy.


    And heroes were not real.

 Chapter 58: Sudden Attack (1)

    Chapter 58: Sudden Attack (1)


    The next day.


    Bloed and Regina (followed by the puppy, Tito) went to the exchange center to sell the magic cores they got from the monsters.


    Although Bloed could mint his own money, that was not a long-time solution. After all, he needed to use his ores for that, and using his valuable materials to make money was a waste.


    Besides, he did not need so many magic cores. He just left some for his experiments and sold the others.


    At the same time, Bloed tried to see if he could find something interesting being sold in the exchange center. Something like valuable ores or rare materials, unfortunately, nothing good caught his eye.


    Well, things like that were not easy to find.


    After they left the exchange center, Regina asked Bloed to go with her to the market. She wanted to buy new ingredients for their meals, mainly spices, and grains of this world she could use for new dishes.


    Bloed agreed easily.


    "This is the first time we do something like this." Regina smiled while walking beside Bloed. "Could this be considered a date?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Perhaps. Well, a date is more about having fun, so it''s not exactly one."


    " But, I have fun just by being with master I like it. Walking around the city, only master and I, without the demon or any other girl around us Master, it has been a long time since thest time we chatted like this."


    "Is it so?"


    "Yes. Lately, that demon is always around I don''t like it."


    Bloed smiled wryly and remained silent.


    In truth, he thought that Regina''s wariness towards Liu Ying was exaggerated. To be honest, Bloed rather liked Liu Ying. Not like a romantic interest of course, but like a good friend.


    Liu Ying was a hardworking and outgoing girl. She was someone that pressed forward despite the suffering she had gone through. Bloed could not help but see himself on her.


    But in the end, Regina was his family, the person he trusted the most, and Liu Ying was just that, a friend. A few dayster, they would part ways, and perhaps they would never meet again.


    Both Bloed and Regina were pretty good-looking. Bloed was a handsome young man and Regina seemed like a beautiful dolling to life. Thus, the pair easily attracted the surrounding''s attention while they walked.


    Most people sent lukewarm gazes toward the young couple, but a few others looked at them with malicious eyes, either due to Regina''s beauty or for the exotic pet walking behind them.


    Bloed and Regina, however, simply ignored them. They focused on enjoying their time together and bought the things they needed to buy.


    But Regina was not content with simply walking beside Bloed.


    Looking down, she looked at Bloed''s hand and hesitated.


    Then, she extended her hand slowly.


    But


    "Hey, you, the guy of yesterday! Stop!"


    Someone interrupted her.


    Bloed and Regina frowned. They looked behind and saw a blonde girl walking towards them with an angry expression, followed by a tanned beauty with a cold gaze.


    Bloed recognized the pair with a nce. One was the daughter of the city lord, Erika, and the other was her bodyguard, Sara.


    "This damn girl. What is she doing here!?" Regina muttered in dissatisfaction. For an instant, she wanted to kill this untimely girl that destroyed her great n.


    "I don''t know." Bloed shook his head. He considered the idea of ignoring her, but he did not want to offend someone rted to the city lord unnecessarily.


    "Miss Erika, right? What do you want?" Regina asked icily.


    But Erika ignored Regina. She looked at Bloed and narrowed her eyes. "You are Bloed, right? Give me a price. I want to buy your puppy?"


    Seeing her haughty expression, Bloed felt a headacheing.


    To be honest, he did not want to deal with this girl.


    "Miss Erika, I told you yesterday. I''m not selling him. It''s not a matter of price."


    Erika frowned. "I like that puppy, and I want it!"


    Bloed''s expression darkened. He looked at this spoiled girl and furrowed his brows.


    But someone spoke at that moment.


    "Young miss, stop being willful. Have you forgotten young master''s words?"


    It was her bodyguard, Sara.


    " I know, I know But there is no problem if I ask him how he got it, right?"


    Sara frowned and finally sighed. "Whatever."


    Erika''s expression brightened. She then looked at Bloed with shining eyes. "Can you tell me where did you get the puppy? I want to get one like it."


    Bloed smiled wryly. In the end, he could only shake his head again.


    "Sorry, Tito and Leto are unique. I have not heard of another like them in the entire world."


    " Ah? Seriously?"


    Bloed shrugged. "I don''t have a reason to lie to you."


    A disappointed expression appeared on Erika''s face. She really liked this puppy and the fact she could not get it left her unsatisfied.


    She considered asking Bloed again for a price, or even forcing him to sell it. But remembering her brother''s words, she finally gave up.


    " Then, can I touch it at least? Just a little bit."


    Seeing her puppy eyes, Bloed heaved a sigh.


    "Okay. But miss Erika, we are busy now. So please be quick."


    "I know, I know." Erika smiled and rushed towards the puppy happily.


    While Erika yed with the puppy, Sara walked towards them. "Sorry about my young miss behavior. Actually, young miss is not a bad person. It''s just that she has been a bit spoiled since birth."


    "Don''t worry about it. I understand." Bloed said.


    Fortunately, Erika did not spend much time ying with Tito. She just patted it curiously and held it on her arms for a while before returning it to Bloed with a look of reluctance.


    Of course, part of the reason she returned it so quickly was that Regina''s ice-cold gaze was starting to scare her.


    "Thank you, Bloed. Are you sure you don''t know where I can get one?"


    "Sorry, miss Erika, I don''t know."


    "I see. Such a shame. Well, I will not interrupt your date then."


    With a smile, Erika turned around and to leave.


    But at that moment, something happened.


    Suddenly, one of the people in the market attacked the group.


    More specifically, he attacked Erika.

 Chapter 59: Sudden Attack (2)

    Chapter 59: Sudden Attack (2)


    The first one to realize that something was wrong was Regina, but when she realized the target of the attack was not Bloed, she decided not to move. Anyway, the blonde girl had her own bodyguard.


    Bloed and Sara realized the situation an instantter.


    "Young miss, Careful!" Sara shouted and rushed towards Erika. She held a dagger in her hand and tried to intercept the man.


    But before she could reach Erika, another man attacked from behind.


    "I''m your opponent!"


    Sara''s expression changed. She hurriedly twisted her body and turned around, barely stopping the attack, but that left the first man free to attack Erika.


    Erika opened her eyes wide. A mix of surprise and fear appeared in her eyes, and her face turned pale.


    The man extended her hand and tried to grab her neck, but suddenly, a ne on Erika''s neck lit up.


    *BAM!*


    A mana barrier appeared around Erika and stopped the man''s attack.


    The man, however, did not seem surprised by that. Without changing his expression, he raised his fist and swung it down!


    *BAM!*


    *CRACK!*


    With just the first punch of the man, the barrier cracked.


    "Young miss!" Sara panicked. She tried to rush towards Erika again, but the man she was fighting against attacked her fiercely. It was obvious he did not want to defeat Sara but just to stall her.


    However, his strategy was effective. While Sara was busy defending against the second man''s attacks, the other man punched the barrier again!


    The punch shook the surroundings and multiplied the cracks on Erika''s barrier.


    A smile appeared on his lips. At this rate, he just needed a few seconds to destroy the barrier and take the girl away.


    But at that moment, Sara recalled the pair standing behind the man and an idea urred her.


    "Young master Bloed, please help the young miss!"


    Instantly, the attention of all the people fighting was directed to Bloed and Regina.


    Bloed frowned. He was not nning to get involved in this fight. No matter how he saw it, it was not a good idea.


    Nevertheless, if he did not help, he risked being suspected of working with the attackers.


    However, the attackers did not care about Bloed''s considerations. Almost instantly, the one fighting Sara gave out an order.


    "Someone stop them! Don''t let them get near!"


    As soon as his words sounded, two people fell in front of Bloed and Regina and attacked the pair.


    "Damn it!" Bloed''s expression darkened. He jumped aside, barely evading the dagger of one of the men and unsheathed his saber. At the same time, he bellowed.


    "Tito!"


    "Woof!"


    The puppy barked eagerly. It turned into metallic sand that surrounded Bloed. In less than one second, a beautiful bluish armor had appeared on Bloed''s body.


    Then, Bloed''s ESP ability was activated.


    His eyes glinted with blue light, and his armor shone with electricity. Under the astonished gaze of his attacker, Bloed kicked the ground.


    Just a nce was enough for Bloed to get an idea of the enemy strength. Peak C-Rank, specialized in agility and assassinations.


    Countless data shed through his eyes. He quickly calcted the enemy''s next movement and moved ording to it.


    With a sh of light, his saber shed down.


    The assassin facing him snorted coldly. He evaded Bloed''s sh and leaned his body forward. He then grabbed another dagger from his waist and threw it towards him.


    ''25% probability of throwing a dagger.'' That thought appeared briefly in Bloed''s mind, but it was quickly reced by new information.


    Bloed rotated the handle of his saber and changed the direction of the sh. He then took another step forward, closing the distance between the assassin and him, and ignoring the flying dagger.


    But before the dagger could touch him, his body leaned aside, avoiding it narrowly.


    His saber, on the other hand, was already in front of the assassin.


    The assassin did not panic. It could feel Bloed''s mana fluctuations and knew he was at the C-Rank, just like him. The assassin was confident in defeating most opponents in his same rank.


    Calmly, he raised his dagger to block Bloed''s Saber. At the same time, his other hand went to the belt on his waist to take another dagger.


    Once his dagger blocked the saber, he would use the other dagger to stab his heart.


    But that was his mistake.


    When his dagger shed with Bloed''s saber, he did not felt the expected impact. Instead, Bloed''s saber sliced cleanly through his dagger, continuing towards his body, and cutting his neck.


    Until the end, the man could not understand what happened.


    But Bloed did not stop to celebrate his kill. Instead, he fixed his gaze in the man battering Erika''s shield. During the time Bloed was being distracted, the barrier had been hit several times.


    It was just about to be broken!


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. Now that he had been forced to fight, he would fight to the end.


    Kicking the ground, he covered the distance between the man and him and swung his saber towards his arm.


    The man could only stop attacking Erika to defend against Bloed''s saber.


    "Damn it! Can you not stop him for even one second!" Helpless, he crossed his arms and coated his body with mana.


    Unfortunately, the man had not seen how Bloed killed hispanion.


    When the saber touched his crossed arms, the man realized that something was wrong.


    In an instant, the man saw Bloed''s saber cut through his arm as though it was butter!


    ''Impossible!'' The man''s expression turned to one of terror. However, he was a B-Rank practitioner, much stronger and more experienced than his C-Rankpanion.


    While hispanion could only watch helplessly while the saber sliced his neck, he managed to move his body back and save his life at the cost of an arm!


    "AHHHH!!!" With a shout of pain, he used his remaining arm to unleash a counterattack in Bloed''s direction.


    But Bloed just scoffed in disdain.


    Since the start, he was not fighting alone.


    Regina suddenly appeared beside Bloed. She created an energy barrier, stopping the man''s punch. At the same time, she leaned his body aside and used her two energy des to cut towards the man''s neck.


    She had managed to kill her opponent and hade to help Bloed!


    The man widened his eyes in surprise. Without hesitation, he moved his head back, but his movement created an opening for Bloed.


    Taking advantage of that opportunity, Bloed crouched down and jumped towards the man''s chest.


    "Checkmate!"


    But then, the situation changed again.


    In Bloed''s perception, a man suddenly appeared.


    The man moved quickly. In an instant, he had appeared before Bloed and raised a glowing shield.


    *nk!*


    For an instant, the shield stopped Bloed''s saber.


    But then, the saber continued moving forward.


    "Oh?" The man was surprised, but he did not panic. He let go of the shield and grabbed hispanion for the neck. Before Bloed''s saber could reach him, he jumped away onto a roof with hispanion.


    "Retreat." The neer said to the assassin fighting Sara.


    "Understood." The assassin nodded. Before Sara could react, he jumped back and disappeared into the crow.


    Not even one secondter, Bloed felt a terrifying presence flying towards them.


    "Who dares to touch my daughter!?"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 60: Dinner with the City Lord (1)

    Chapter 60: Dinner with the City Lord (1)


    "Who dares to touch my daughter!?" A thunderous voice came from the distance.


    Bloed was startled. He looked in direction of the voice and saw a man rushing towards them while emitting an intimidating aura.


    Almost instantly, Bloed deduced the identity of the man.


    ''The city lord!''


    The man took less than one second to arrive from the moment he spoke. He then released his entire aura, forcing all the people in the market to kneel.


    Only Bloed, Sara, Erika, and Regina were able to remain standing. However, they felt unpleasant.


    Regina frowned. She emitted her own aura and protected Bloed. At the same time, she shot a re filled with animosity to the city lord.


    When the city lord felt her gaze, he looked at her and snorted.


    "Hmph! So it''s you!"


    Then, he unleashed a punch towards her.


    "Dad, stop! They saved me!" Erika cried out, but the attack had already beenunched.


    Fortunately, Regina managed to jump aside and evade it easily.


    However, Bloed could felt that Regina''s gaze had turned incredibly cold. She was just a step away from killing him.


    Quickly, Bloed rushed towards her and held her hand. "Calm down." He whispered in her ear.


    Regina looked at the city lord again and nodded.


    At the same time, the city lord was talking with Erika.


    "They saved you? Sara, exin. What happened?" He asked Erika''s bodyguard.


    Sara bowed and exined the entire situation.


    When the city lord heard that it had been Bloed and Regina who stopped the assassins from taking Erika away, he furrowed his brows.


    "Is it so?"


    He then turned towards the pair and apologized.


    "Sorry about it, young miss. I acted rashly out of worry. I hope you don''t keep it against me."


    Regina and Bloed frowned. No matter how they saw it, the city lord did not seem sincere.


    However, Bloed did not want more trouble. Thus, he simply nodded.


    "Don''t worry about it, we understand. Now that everything is resolved, we will leave." Then, he and Regina turned around and started to walk away.


    "Wait!" The city lord stopped them.


    "Anything else, city lord?" Bloed asked.


    "No, nothing. I just wanted to thank you for saving my daughter. I will make sure you receive an adequate reward."


    "It''s not necessary." Bloed shook his head. "We did not do it for a reward."


    Then, without giving the city lord time to talk again, the pair left.


    The city lord looked at them with a frown in his face. He was someone much more experienced than his children, so he quickly discovered that Bloed and Regina were not simple.


    "Erika, Sara, who are them?"


    "Their names are Bloed and Regina." Sara replied. "Young master and young miss met them yesterday." She then exined to him everything she knew about the pair.


    The city lord fell deep in thought. Suddenly, he looked at the shield that Bloed had cut.


    Walking towards it, he grabbed it and examined it carefully.


    Then, his face turned into one of surprise.


    "This is, adamantine?"


    The next second, his expression turned grave.


    "Sara, who cut this shield."


    "Huh? It was the young man, Bloed. He cut it with his saber."


    "Yeah, dad! He was very cool!" Erika blushed. "He cut the man''s arm with a sh and then continued attacking!"


    "Is it so, huh? With the saber" The city lord fell silent for a moment before returning to normal.


    While they were talking, the city guards finally arrived.


    "City lord!"


    "Investigate who attacked my daughter." The city lord said coldly. "I want all the people rted hanged in the za! Nobody attacks MY daughter in MY city and escapes alive!"


    "Yes, city lord!"


    "Mm, now go. I want all the information about the case on my desk tonight!"


    Once he said it, he grabbed Erika''s hand.


    "Let''s go back to home. This ce is dangerous."


    "Yes, dad."


    Before leaving, though, Erika looked briefly in the direction Bloed had disappeared.


    That afternoon, in the city lord''s mansion.


    *Knock Knock*


    "You asked for me, father?" Gerald knocked on the door and asked the man seated behind the office desk.


    "Yes,e inside."


    Gerald nodded. He then sat in a chair across his father and waited for him to talk.


    A few secondster, the city lord opened his mouth.


    "That boy, Bloed. How much you know about him?"


    "Huh...? Father, why are you interested in him?"


    " Look at this." The city lord fell silent for a moment and grabbed a shield from below his desk. It was the shield Bloed had cut with his saber. "This was caused by that boy."


    " I don''t understand. I can do something like that too." Gerald was confused. Although cutting a shield into two was difficult, a C-Rank practitioner could do it with a bit of effort.


    "Oh?" The city lord smiled mysteriously. "So you can cut an adamantine shield into two with a sh, huh. My son sure is incredible."


    "!!! Adamantine!? But how?"


    "I want to know the answer too. A young man at the C-Rank managed to cut an adamantine shield easily. Don''t you think it''s weird?"


    Gerald fell silent.


    "Now tell me, what do you know about him and his group."


    Gerald shook his head. "Nothing. Uncle Seas was investigating them, but he did not find information about any Norman family."


    "I see How interesting. I don''t remember hearing about any famous family or demigod surnamed Norman." The city lord nodded.


    "Gerald."


    "Yes, father."


    "Invite them for dinner tomorrow. Tell them that it''s to thank them for saving Erika."


    "I understand."


    Gerald then bowed slightly and left the city lord office.


    Inside, the city lord continued observing the shield with a pensive expression.


    In somece in the city.


    "I''m sorry, leader. We failed." A man was kneeling on the ground with a fearful expression. He had a severed arm, and his face was pale due to the loss of blood.


    "Get up." A ck-dressed man replied coldly. If Bloed would have been here, he would have recognized him as the assassin with the shield. "It was not your fault. We simply had back luck to meet that young man and woman when you attacked."


    The man on the ground gritted his teeth. He recalled the face of the young man that severed his arm and his eyes turned bloodshot.


    "Leader, should we kill them?"


    The leader frowned. "That young man is interesting, but not. We came to this city with a mission, remember? Now is not the time to think about your petty revenge."


    The man on the ground nodded. Although he was unwilling, he knew his mission was more important.


    "Then, what about the city lord''s daughter?"


    " The city lord will be ready now that we failed to kidnap her. So we will give up and change the ns a little bit. Also, have you found the girl master asked for?"


    " Not yet, but our men are searching for her."


    "Mmm, very good. You have one week. After that, we will put our ns in march."


    "Understood, leader. For the master."


    "For the master."


    ...


    Remember my P4TRE0N if you want to support me...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 61: Dinner with the City Lord (2)

    Chapter 61: Dinner with the City Lord (2)


    "A dinner?" Bloed furrowed his brows when he heard the butler''s words.


    "Yes, young master Bloed. Our master invited you tonight to thank you for saving his daughter."


    Bloed frowned. His first reaction was to reject him, however, he thought better afterward.


    Bloed knew a bit about politics, and rejecting the invitation of a city lord without a good excuse was not a good idea.


    He looked at Regina beside him and used their mental link to ask for her opinion.


    [What do you think?]


    [ I''ll follow master''s decision.]


    Bloed smiled wryly. That was not a very useful opinion.


    In the end, he heaved a sigh and nodded to the butler.


    "I understand, tell the city lord we will be there for tonight. By the way, can I bring another person?"


    "Is it miss Liu Ying? No problem, the city lord''s invitation is also for her."


    After the butler left, Bloed told Liu Ying about the invitation and asked her if she wanted to go. Liu Ying seemed reluctant at the start, but in the end, she agreed.


    Anyway, she was getting bored of staying in the house.


    It was soon night, and the time for the dinner approached. Bloed and the girls rented a carriage and took it to the city lord''s mansion.


    For tonight, the three of them were dressed elegantly. Bloed was wearing a ck cape with a light blue shirt and dark blue pants. His blue eyes were shining brightly, and his hair wasbed elegantly, giving him the vibe of a handsome young master.


    Regina wore a grey dress with golden flowers embroidered in the sleeves. The golden flowers were of the same golden as her eyes. On her neck, she was wearing the ne Bloed gifted her. Regina was already very beautiful, but she was even more stunning tonight.


    As for Liu Ying, she was dressed rather simply. A light red sleeveless dress without decorations with a red rose in her hair. Strangely, though, these simple clothes brought forth Liu Ying''s fiery beauty. She was even as beautiful as Regina, in a different way.


    When the group of three arrived in the city lord''s mansion, all the people that saw them were briefly stunned.


    "Bloed, here!" They were greeted by the city lord''s daughter, Erika, Once they arrived. She walked towards them followed by Sara. Both of them were dressed adequately for the asion, with a blue and a gray dress respectively. Unfortunately, they were greatly overshadowed by Regina and Liu Ying.


    "Miss Erika, good night." Bloed greeted her back.


    Erika smiled brightly. She then started searching behind Bloed, but when she failed to find Tito, she put on a disappointed expression.


    "Tito is not with you?"


    "Well, it was not appropriate to bring him on an asion like this."


    In truth, Tito and Leto had been put in Regina''s storage equipment. Tito and Leto were Bloed''s armor and weapons, so he was not nning toe to a potentially dangerous ce without them.


    "Is it so?" Erika slumped her shoulders. But then, she seemed to remember something and put on a curious expression. "By the way, I saw Tito turning into an armor yesterday. He can do it?"


    "He can." Bloed admitted it frankly. Anyway, many people had seen it already. "Tito is a special kind of lifeform that can turn into armor at will."


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes hearing Bloed lying so easily.


    The group entered the city lord''s mansion and followed Erika to the dining room. Once there, they met with the city lord and Gerald, who were already seated in the table.


    "Bloed, nice to meet you again." Gerald stood up with an enthusiastic smile. Almost instantly, though, he was captivated by Regina and Liu Ying''s looks. "M-Miss Regina and Miss Liu Ying too, nice to meet you."


    Liu Ying smiled slightly in reply but Regina ignored himpletely, making Gerald a bit awkward.


    Bloed could not help but cough briefly. "How are you, young master Gerald? Thank you for inviting us tonight. Also, city lord, nice to meet you."


    "Mm." The city lord just nodded.


    Gerald smiled awkwardly seeing it, but as the city lord''s son, he knew what to do next. So, he invited the group to the table.


    Bloed and the others sat down.


    The dining room was decorated luxuriously, with many delicious-looking dishes, and silver cutlery. The tableware was made of an expensive-looking crystal, and the tables and chairs were decorated with magic beasts'' leather.


    To describe it with one word, it would be ''expensive''.


    However, neither Bloed nor the girls were surprised by this. The three of them were people used to living in luxury, so this dinner was a most just slightly extravagant.


    The city lord did not talk at all for a while. Instead, he observed the group of three carefully.


    But when the group started to eat, he frowned.


    Of the three of them, none seemed satisfied with the food.


    Although Bloed hid it very well, it was obvious that he found the food''s tastecking. Regina and Liu Ying, on the other hand, frowned openly.


    In other words, the three of them were used to eat better food than this.


    "How is the food, Bloed?" To confirm his suspicions, the city lord asked.


    Bloed smiled. "It''s good. Just a bit different than the food I''m used to."


    "Is it so?" The city lord nodded, confirming his earlier conjecture. "That is good. Right, I have a question. I heard you are called Bloed Norman. However, I have never heard of the Norman surname in the surrounding countries. Is it perhaps from a faraway ce?"


    "Very far away." Bloed replied without pausing. "Norman is not amon surname, so it''s normal if you have not heard about it."


    "So you are not from this country, huh. How did you finish here?"


    "Well, my mother asked me to leave and explore the world. Calice city is just one of my stops."


    The city lord nodded and did not ask anything else.


    Bloed, however, was wary. It was obvious that the city lord was interested in their origins.


    Although Bloed did not show it in his face, he had started to wonder if anything was wrong. Of course, there was the possibility that the city lord was simply interested in the people that saved his daughter, however, it was not wrong to be cautious.


    Fortunately, the city lord did not ask anything else after that. So Bloed soon rxed.


    The rest of the dinner passed without anything interesting. Only Erika asked them some things asionally. In truth, Erika was talking mainly to Bloed, which displeased Regina.


    That detail was quickly caught by Gerald. He put on a pensive expression and looked at Regina.


    "Miss Regina, are you and Bloed lovers?"


    For an instant, the atmosphere froze.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N if you like this story!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 62: Dinner with the City Lord (3)

    Chapter 62: Dinner with the City Lord (3)


    "Miss Regina, are you two lovers?" The question that came from Gerald waspletely unexpected.


    The dining room fell dead silent.


    Liu Ying and Erika perked up her ears instantly. They moved their gaze between Regina and Bloed with curious expressions.


    However, Regina did not show any expression besides flinching slightly.


    " We are not." She said calmly. "I''m master''s servant. I don''t dare to call myself his lover."


    "Oh, that is good." Gerald smiled. "I thought my little sister doesn''t have hope, but it looks like I was mistaken."


    "Brother!" Erika turnedpletely red. She then peeked at Bloed from the corner of her eye to see his reaction.


    To her disappointment, though, Bloed just smiled wryly andughed it off. "I''m sure that miss Erika is not interested in an uncultured person like me."


    "N-No, I..." Erika did not know how to reply. Regina, on the other hand, smiled triumphally.


    After that, the dinner was enveloped in an awkward silence.


    Fortunately, the city lord quickly came to the rescue.


    "It is good to be young." He said with a small smile. "Let''s talk about another topic. Bloed, if I''m not wrong, you are around fifteen years old, right?"


    "Sixteen."


    "Sixteen, huh. Very young, however, you are already at the peak of C-Rank. There are not many young people as talented as you in the kingdom. I''m curious about the person that managed to teach someone like you."


    The ring Bloed crafted before entering the city had the ability to turn psychic waves into mana waves. In other words, although Bloed was a C-Grade ESPer, he looked like a C-Rank magic user in the city lord''s eyes.


    Reaching peak C-Rank at sixteen years old was a great aplishment. Although it was not top-ss in the continent, it was enough for Bloed to be considered as a promising genius. No normal force could train someone like him.


    Even Gerald, the city lord''s son, had the same cultivation as Bloed despite being two years older than him.


    So, when the city lord asked about the person that taught Bloed, he was actually trying to get information about his background.


    However, Bloed was not so nave to fall for that trick. Of course, revealing some thing was not a problem.


    "I was taught by my mother." Bloed replied vaguely


    "She must be a great woman."


    " She is." Bloed said after a moment of silence. "She is the greatest woman in the world."


    " It looks like you admire her a lot."


    Bloed just smiled without replying. He then smiled at Regina to indicate to her that he was alright.


    The city lord narrowed his eyes. He wanted to continue asking, but Regina opened her mouth at that moment.


    "By the way, have you learned anything about miss Erika''s attack?"


    " Nothing." Gerald smiled wryly. "We searched all the city for clues, but it seems like they disappearedpletely."


    "Hmph! They are underestimating me. Nobody can attack my daughter in my city without suffering the consequences." The city lord said arrogantly. "They can hide for a while, but I''ll definitively find their rat hole."


    Bloed was not so sure about it. No matter how he saw it, those assassins did not seem that simple.


    ording to Bloed''s observation, they seemed like the kind that was after a clear goal. If they dared to go against the city lord, they surely had something they could rely upon.


    Well, that had nothing to do with him.


    The rest of the dinner continued like that. The city lord tried to get a bit more information out of Bloed and the girls'' mouths, however, the three of them were very careful with their words. Until the end, they did not reveal anything they could not reveal.


    To be honest, Bloed found the meal ufortable. Not only was the food not as good as Regina''s, but the city lord''s constant prying was distasteful.


    Bloed would have preferred to use this time to finish Liu Ying''s weapon and enjoy Regina''s homemade cooking.


    Unfortunately, he could do nothing about it.


    Instead, he swore he was noting back to this ce ever again.


    Finally, the dinner ended. Bloed suppressed the urge to sigh in relief and stood up.


    "City lord, I think we will leave already. Many thanks for the dinner."


    "Oh? You are already leaving? So fast?"


    "Yes, it''s alreadyte after all and we don''t want to impose."


    "I understand." The city lord nodded. "Okay, Gerald, Erika, apany our guest to the door."


    "Yes, father"


    "Okay, dad."


    Bloed and the girls then were led to the exit. Erika and Gerald kept talking about random topics during the way until they reached the carriage.


    "Young master Gerald, miss Erika, once more, thank you for the invitation."


    "It''s nothing." Gerald smiled. "Now that I think about it, you promised me to invite me a mealst time, right?"


    Bloed was startled. Thinking about it, it was true.


    "Mmm Why don''t youe with us tomorrow then? Erika and I are going to the outskirts of the city to hunt some magic beast, and I''m sure Erika will love it if you go with us."


    Bloed frowned. "Outside the city? After she was attacked?"


    Gerald smiled wryly. "I will not lie to you. In truth, father is trying to use this opportunity to fish out the culprits."


    "Is it so?"


    Bloed then looked at Regina and Liu Ying.


    Both girls were indifferent. To be honest, after spending a long time surrounded by magic beasts, they found the idea of going to hunt them unattractive.


    Moreover, both of them could feel something strange about this invitation.


    However, Bloed did not refuse instantly.


    Instead, he thought for a moment before nodding.


    "Okay."


    "Great! We will meet at the south entrance tomorrow morning!"


    "I''m looking towards it."


    After that short exchange, the group departed.


    When Bloed and the girls were gone, Gerald separated from Erika and walked towards the city lord''s office.


    "Father?" He knocked on the door.


    "The door is not locked."


    Gerald pushed the door open and looked at his father. "It''s done." He said.


    "Good job. They did not suspect anything, right?"


    "Nothing But father, are you sure about this?"


    " I''m not. It''s obvious their background is not simple. Perhaps theye from a hidden family or are the disciples of a demigod. However, I can''t confirm it."


    "Then"


    "However, a demigod artifact is too attractive."


    Gerald fell silent. He could see the greed in his father''s eyes.


    "Don''t worry, we just need to be careful about not injure them and erase all the clues linking us to the matter. At worst, we will return the artifact if the situation gets out of control. I don''t believe they dare to kill a city lord of the kingdom if I insist it''s a misunderstanding."


    "I understand."


    "We will make the first move tonight. If it fails, then we will implement n B tomorrow."


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N. You can read until 15 chapters ahead there, plus 20 chapters ahead of my other novel. Besides, you are supporting my work and motivating me to continue writting...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 63: Like

    Chapter 63: Like


    After Bloed and the others returned home...


    Currently, Bloed was in the underground hot spring of the house they rented. Bloed decided toe here and rx after the diner in the city lord''s mansion.


    '' So nice.'' Bloed heaved a sigh and rested his body in the hot water. To be honest, the hot spring was what he liked the most about this house. It was great.


    ''I wonder if I can construct one like this to take in our travels...'' Bloed got that idea and thought about the materials he needed to build it. However, he soon shook his head and gave up.


    The problem was that he did not have materials to make another space-type artifact. He used all of them to construct hisboratory, tent, warehouse, factory, and the other things he needed. And even if he had enough materials, there were more useful things he could use it on.


    "So it looks like I will have to forget the idea of a bath for a while" Bloed sighed in resignation. It was such a shame.


    At that moment, he heard a soft noiseing from the door.


    "Huh?" Bloed was startled. He hurriedly looked back and saw a beautiful woman entering the bath with a towel wrapped around her body.


    "Master, can Ie in?" Regina spoke softly. Her voice was the same ice-cold and indifferent voice of always, but for some reason, Bloed could feel a bit of shynessing from it.


    Bloed was stunned. His thoughts frozepletely, and only Regina''s pale skin remained in his mind.


    When Regina felt Bloed''s gaze, she blushed. Her golden eyes looked at the ground and her lips curved in a smile.


    "Master?"


    "S-Sorry." Bloed finally reacted and looked away in embarrassment. "W-What are you doing here?"


    "I came to help master with his bath." Regina said and walked towards the hot spring. She did not care about Bloed''s nervousness and submerged herself in the water, walking forward until she was behind Bloed.


    To be honest, Regina''s heart (or core) was beating very quickly. She watched Bloed''s body timidly and her face turned red.


    Regina took a deep breath and Gathered her courage. She raised her hand and put in on Bloed''s back.


    "Let me help you, master."


    " Sigh, go on." In the end, Bloed gave up with a sigh and rxed his body.


    Regina nodded. She put both hands on Bloed''s back and started to wash it. She was very careful, moving her hands through Bloed''s back with the greatest attention possible.


    When she felt her toned muscles, her face turned hot.


    The hot spring''s atmosphere turned strange. Bloed tried to calm his beating heart and not to think about the girl behind him.


    In truth, Bloed was not as dense as to not realize Regina''s feelings for him. Well, he only noticed them recently, more exactly, after Liu Ying appeared.


    In fact, before Liu Ying''s appearance, Bloed only saw Regina as his friend, or perhaps as his sister. Back then, he thought that Regina''s feelings for him were the same.


    But when Liu Ying appeared, he noticed that Regina''s feelings were slightly different than his.


    Maybe due to the sense of threat that Regina felt from Liu Ying, Regina started to show her feelings more and more, to the point where Bloed had to be blind to not notice them.


    But even if Bloed knew about her feelings, he was not ready to face them yet.


    After all, he had not escaped the shadow of his first love yet.


    Maybe sensing the thoughts in her master''s mind, Regina stopped washing Bloed''s back. Suddenly, she extended her hands and wrapped them around Bloed''s chest.


    Bloed stiffened. He felt Regina''s heat against his skin and her breathing against his neck. Instantly, his lower body turned hot.


    Bloed had a powerful urge to simply turn around and jump towards her, devouring the prey that threw herself to his arms.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s willpower was very firm.


    Regina blushed. She put her chin on Bloed''s shoulder and let out a sigh.


    " Master, do you like me?"


    "Regina?" Bloed was dumbfounded by the sudden blow.


    " I like you, master. A lot. You once told me that love is when you feel happy about being close to the person you love, and sad when your love is sad. You care about the person you love, and that person is always in your thoughts."


    ""


    "I feel like that, master." Regina whispered. "I feel happy being around you, and sad when you are depressed. But I also feel angry when you are talking to other girls Is that also love? I wonder about it, I''m not sure"


    "That is jealously."


    "Yeah, jealously Do you like Liu Ying, master? She is a good girl Maybe you prefer girls with a huge chest? Or you don''t like me because I''m not human?"


    Bloed did not know how to reply to that.


    "Or maybe master wants a harem? I remember you liked to watch that kind of stories back in the spaceship."


    "Cough Cough Regina"


    "Well, if master likes harems, I can ept it I will be a bit sad and angry, but I can ept everything of master But master, I hope you can love me too"


    A wry smile appeared on Bloed''s face. Hearing Regina''s heartfelt confession, he did not know how to react.


    ''A harem? God, that is so crazy''


    Well, he could not deny he was tempted, though.


    Feeling the heat of Regina behind him, Bloed sighed.


    " Regina, I like you."


    "Really!?"


    "But I don''t know if it''s the same kind of like you feel for me To be honest, I don''t think I''m ready for that kind of rtionship now"


    " Is it due to mother?"


    Bloed fell silent.


    A bitter smile appeared on Regina''s face, but soon, her expression changed to one of resolve.


    "I understand, master." She then stood up and walked in front of Bloed. Under Bloed''s stupefied gaze, she leaned forward and kissed slightly his lips.


    "Master, I will make you love me as you loved mother. No, even more than that. I will make you love me only me. Master only needs me, and I only need master." She then smiled brightly and blushed.


    Bloed could not deny that he was utterly captivated by that smile. For an instant, he felt his heart beating violently.


    "You sure are frightening, Regina" He shook his head with a bitter smile. "I''m waiting for that day."


    At that moment, a sound came from the courtyard.


    *Woof!*


    Tito barked fiercely tomunicate with its master. Bloed frowned and connected his eyes to Tito and Leto''s systems, to detect whatever they detected.


    After a few seconds, he sighed.


    "It looks like our bath hase to an end"


    Regina wrinkled her brows. "I was not expecting they make a move so soon. As expected, there was something wrong."


    Bloed nodded. He then sighed and stood up.


    "Let''s go, we need to show them that we are not easy prey."


    It looks like they were not going to rest early tonight.


    ...


    Support me to read until 16 extra chapters (Moreing soon)...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 64: Night Battle (1)

    Chapter 64: Night Battle (1)


    Bloed and Regina hurriedly left the bath and put on their clothes. After Bloed grabbed his saber, the pair walked towards the living room.


    The invaders had not attacked yet. They were surrounding the house and waiting for the signal to attack. Bloed and Regina also made their preparations and knocked on Liu Ying''s door.


    When Liu Ying opened the door, Bloed informed her of the situation.


    "They are here."


    " Huh?"


    "Get ready, the battle can start at any time."


    "Wait wait wait, were you not joking when you told me that we could be attacked tonight?"


    "Of course not." Bloed shook his head. "I told you, the city lord doesn''t have good intentions, and there is a small possibility of we receiving an attack tonight."


    Liu Ying looked at Bloed and sighed. "Well, being with you is always entertaining." She then changed her clothes for something more suited forbat.


    In less than one minute, the group of three plus two mechanic pets was in the living room, waiting for the enemies'' attack.


    But maybe because they noticed the strangeness of the situation, the enemies took longer than expected to attack.


    " Bloed, are you sure they are here?" Liu Ying could not help but ask.


    "Demon, are you doubting my master?"


    "Of course not." Liu Ying shrugged. "I''m just a bit curious. Besides, I don''t understand why the city lord sent people to attack us By the way, Bloed, why did you ept Gerald''s invitation If you already knew the city lord has ill intentions?"


    " I want to know his motive. Think about it, we have only met the city lord twice, however, for some reason, he already sent people to attack us."


    That was Bloed''s main doubt. When he was in the dinner with the city lord, he noticed that he was strangely interested in his background. Moreover, more than once, Bloed saw traces of greed in his eyes.


    Although the city lord tried to hide it very well, Bloed''s sight was very sharp. So, since the moment he found the first trace of greed, he raised his guard.


    "Whatever the reason is, it was enough to provoke the greed of a city lord. Fortunately, we can deal with this kind of situation this time, but what if we provoke the greed of someone much more powerful? What if we provoke the greed of the king or a demigod? By then, we will truly be in danger.


    "So, I need to know his motive to create countermeasures and stop something like this from happening again."


    Liu Ying thought for a moment and nodded. "I understand."


    At the same time, she was once more in admiration towards Bloed. Not only he realized the city''s lord''s ns after a simple conversation, but he also started to think about the reason and how to avoid something like this.


    Liu Ying had to admit that she could notpare to Bloed when ites to intelligence.


    ''Fortunately, he is my friend'' For some reason, Liu Ying sighed in relief inwardly.


    At that moment, Bloed finally felt the enemies making a move.


    "They areing." He warned the group. At the same time, he called upon his connection with Tito.


    Tito turned into metallic particles that wrapped around Bloed, bing a beautiful bluish futurist armor.


    At the same time, part of Leto flew towards his hand. The next second, two elegant-looking energy guns were in his grasp. Bloed held them with a serious expression and looked outside.


    "Let''s go!"


    As soon as he spoke, the group of three charged towards the courtyard.


    "Huh?"


    A sound of surprise came from the courtyard. The group of ck-dressed men was surprised when they saw tonight''s targets appear suddenly in front of them.


    But before they could react, the guns in Bloed''s hands lit up.


    *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*


    Seven bullets were shot consecutively, each one directed to one enemy.


    The energy bullets covered the distance between Bloed and the ck-dressed men in an instant, hitting their chests!


    "Agh!" Five of the enemies fell instantly in the ground, dead. As for the other two, they managed to barely avoid the bullets, but one of them was injured in the arm.


    "Dammit, what is this!?" The injured ck-dressed man shouted in fear. The next second, though, a rain of bullets wasing towards them.


    "Marcus!" One of the men managed to jump away from the bullets, but the injured one was unable to evade them was impacted in the head.


    Another killed.


    But before Bloed and the others could celebrate, more people jumped out from the shadows.


    Bloed counted a total of eighteen people, all powerhouses of the C-Rank or higher. Counting the seven of before, a total of twenty-five people had been sent, and three of them were B-Rank!


    Normally, such a line-up would be more than enough to kill three C-Rank youngsters easily, but incredibly, Bloed had killed six of them as soon as they appeared, one of them a B-Rank!


    "Careful with the artifact in his hands!" The only survivor of the first wave shouted at hispanions. He was one of the B-Ranks, and that was the reason he managed to survive the rain of bullets.


    In Humanity Confederation, firearms were considered as the kings below A-Grade. It meant that no B-Grade ESPer and below could escape unscathed from a firearm impact in his body.


    Of course, some ESPers with especial talents were different. Furthermore, B-Grade and even some powerful C-Grade ESPers could avoid bullets if they were careful.


    In the same way, no B-Rank magic practitioner could defend against the attack of a bullet, with very few exceptions, they could only evade.


    And the people in front of Bloed were not different.


    Bloed remained confident against the group of enemies. Calmly, he pulled the trigger, once, and again, and again, and again.


    At the same time, Liu Ying and Regina jumped into the fray.


    Strangely, Bloed''s bullets seemed to predict the enemy''s movements and avoid the girls'' path. Bright blue bullets of supercharged energy flew in the courtyard honing into the ck-dressed men and killing them one after another.


    Even with the B-Rank ck-dressed man''s warning, five men were killed by Bloed''s bullets. At the same time, Regina and Liu Ying killed another three.


    In seconds, the group had been reduced from eighteen to eleven!


    "Dammit! Josh, stop him or all of us are going to die here!"


    "I know!" One of the B-Ranks snorted. He kicked the ground and rushed towards Bloed with a dagger in each hand.


    Regina''s frowned. She twisted her energy des and beheaded a man. Then, she charged towards the B-Rank man going towards Bloed.


    But the other B-Rank was not going to allow it!


    "Where are you going, little missy!?"


    With a swing of his sword, he blocked Regina''s path.


    ...


    April''s Announcement!


    Hey guys, a new month is starting!


    A lot of things have happenedst month. The COVID-19 has affected many people, myself included. I have not left my home in almost 15 days!


    Fortunately, the situation in my country is still manageable with just a few deaths. I have seen in the news that many people are dying in a lot of ces.


    Anyway, some new patrons and some others gone. I''m a bit sad due to that, but I know that some of you need the money due to the situation. In the end, your wellbeing is first, so I can understand it.


    As for the releases.


    Fourth Prince - 9 chapters weekly.


    Science/Magic - 7 chapters weekly.


    Of course, if the patreoon surpasses the goal again, it will return to 10 and 8 so don''t worry.


    Oh right, I''m still working on the cover of Science/Magic. Unfortunately, I have been short of timetely, so I have not finished it. It''s almost done, I only need to finish the shadows and the background. I''ll try to finish it this week (I don''t promise anything).


    The characters in the cover are Bloed and Regina.


    It''s everything for this month, so stay well, follow the prevention measures and see youter.


    Aidka :p


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 65: Night Battle (2)

    Chapter 65: Night Battle (2)


    "Get lost!" Regina bellowed. Psychic energy flowed out of her body in the form of a shockwave.


    However, the current her was limiting her strength to C-Grade. Against a B-Rank opponent, her shockwave was almost useless.


    The ck-dressed man endured the shockwave and smirked. He rotated the edge of his sword and shed towards Regina!


    But Regina just snorted. An energy shield materialized around her. At the same time, her two short des danced under the night sky, creating a of sword energy that engulfed her opponent.


    While Regina was busy fighting the B-Rank swordsman, the dagger-wielding ck-dressed man closed the distance between him and Bloed and crisscrossed his daggers to create a sharp attack.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. He was forced to stop his suppressive fire and focused on the maning towards him.


    One of his guns aimed at the ck-dressed man, shooting an energy bullet and forcing him to jump aside. Almost instantly, Bloed discarded his other gun and unsheathed his saber.


    With a crazy fast movement, his saber left the sheath and cut towards the ck-dressed man''s neck.


    However, the ck-dressed man just scoffed. He twisted his body weirdly and avoided the sh, at the same time, his left foot kicked the groundunching himself towards Bloed''s back.


    Seeing the daggering towards him, Bloed pressed the finger of his gun, shooting four energy bullets, one towards him and the other three towards his possible routes of escape.


    ''This kid!'' The assassin''s expression turned serious. He realized how cunning this attack was and became warier. An attack like this was enough to injure some B-Ranks.


    However, the assassin also had some tricks under his sleeve.


    All of sudden, a stream of mana left his body and wrapped around the assassin''s feet. Then, he jumped up and stepped in the air, evading the attackpletely!


    "That is!" Bloed was surprised, he was not expecting something like that.


    It was [Air Step], a technique to use mana as foothold and step in the air. It could only allow the user to step in the air.


    The assassin could only use it twice in normal circumstances, but it was more than enough to add many more variables to his battle style.


    Once he had avoided Bloed bullets. The assassin stepped in the air again, but this time, shooting himself in direction Bloed.


    But suddenly, a saber appeared in his path.


    ''Dammit!'' He had heard about this saber from his employer and he knew he could not afford to block it.


    But in his current circumstances, avoiding was not an option!


    The assassin gritted his teeth. He hurriedly put his daggers forward and filled them with mana, using them to block the saber.


    *Shin!*


    The saber and the daggers shed. A sharp sound was produced when [Molecr Disintegration] shed against the mana, but it disappeared quickly.


    And the saber cut through the daggers.


    But the expected scene of the saber bisecting the assassin did not happen. Instead, the assassin managed to use the instant when the saber and the daggers shed to force himself to step in the air again and avoid the saber by a hairbreadth.


    Cold sweat filled the assassin''s back, but he realized that Bloed was preparing another attack.


    Gritting his teeth, the assassin jumped back and created a bit of distance between them.


    ''Dammit, how are we supposed to steal it without hurting them? That is impossible!'' The assassin swore inwardly. Looking around him, he saw that the other B-Rank assassin was fighting evenly against the silver-haired girl. Meanwhile, the other girl was taking care of the remaining C-Ranks assassins for herself.


    "It looks like I can''t expect help, huh." The assassin mumbled and looked at the blue-haired boy wielding a saber and a gun in his two hands. "I just need to be wary of his attacks and everything will be fine."


    The problem was, although Bloed''s movements were slower than his, he got the feeling that Bloed was always a step ahead of him. As though each one of his movements was being read.


    Besides, he could not afford to receive even one attack of Bloed. If not that the assassin''s strength was an entire rank higher than Bloed, he would have lost long ago.


    Bloed, on the other hand, was rather rxed. When he realized that Regina and Liu Ying could take care of the remaining enemies, he decided to use this assassin as a sparring partner. Bloed even ordered Leto to not interfere in the fight, otherwise, he would have won long ago.


    His blue-eyes glinted with electric light, while countless data shed through them. Bloed stared at the assassin while calcting his next move and how to counter it.


    After looking at each other for five seconds, the assassin finally moved.


    A dagger flew through the air, straight to Bloed''s throat. Bloed calmly raised his gun and shot it down, at the same time, he leaned his body aside and evaded the blow of the assassin that suddenly appeared in front of him.


    The assassin''s eyes narrowed. He kicked the ground again and wielded his dagger in an upward sh. When Bloed evaded that attack, he kicked the air this time and used his other hand in a downward sh.


    The assassin''s tridimensional movements surprised Bloed, but he reacted ordingly. His saber suddenly was raised, stabbing towards the ce the assassin was going to be an instantter.


    "!!!" The assassin reacted quickly. He leaned his body aside and evaded the saber, only to see an energy bulleting towards his face. Helpless, he raised his remaining dagger to block it.


    *nk!*


    Unfortunately, it meant he lost hisst weapon.


    Seeing that another bullet wasing towards him, the assassin jumped back. But he immediately realized that more bullets were flying towards him, blocking all his routes of escape. This time, not even stepping in the air would be enough to escape.


    The assassin did not panic. He took off his coat and filled it with mana to use it as a shield. The improvised shield was not enough to block the bullets, but it stopped them for a tenth of a second, enough time for him to escape.


    But at that moment


    "Arhg!"


    With a tragic noise, Regina''s short des pierced the other B-Rank throat and heart, killing him instantly. At the same time, Liu Ying struck thest two C-Rank assassins, creating an enormous crater and blowing their bodies into bits.


    "Shit!" The assassin''s expression turned ugly. Without hesitation, he kicked the ground and jumped away to escape.


    But when he looked towards Bloed, he saw a smirk on his face.


    A terrifying chill ran through his spine.


    Suddenly, the assassin saw a shadow above him.


    *ROARRRR!!!*


    Leto''s enormous metallic body jumped out of the shadows. It looked at the assassin with its ice-cold eyes and raised its ws.


    *Bam!*


    An enormous mechanic w hit his back.


    Before falling unconscious, the assassin heard Bloed''s ice-cold voice.


    "Search for survivors, perhaps we can make them spit out useful information."


    ...


    Check my P4TRE0N to read until 17 chapters ahead and 20 chapters ahead of my second novel...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 66: Death Warriors

    Chapter 66: Death Warriors


    "Ufff! Perfect! I was needing to stretch out my body!" Liu Ying exhaled with a satisfied expression.


    Bodies after bodies of people were lying around her. All of them had suffered violent deaths, most of them crushed by a punch, and a few others with their head pulverized. As for Liu Ying, she only had a scratch on her cheek and another in her arm, but both were healing at a visible rate.


    To be honest, the fact that Liu Ying managed to defeat a group of around ten C-Rank practitioners without suffering major injuries was a bit mind-blowing.


    "Amazing." Bloed could not help but praise her honestly. "You probably can fight a B-Rank practitioner by yourself, Liu Ying."


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. "Even if I can, I can''t do it so easily as you or Regina."


    Bloed did not deny it. After all, he and Regina had faced a B-Rank practitioner each, and neither had suffered injuries.


    In truth, Liu Ying was already a very outstanding individual in her age group, it''s just that Bloed was a bit too much of a monster. Moreover, his weapons granted him an enormous advantage against his enemies.


    This time, his enemy was a B-Rank focused on speed, but if it would have been one focused on strength or defense, Bloed probably would have managed to defeat him easily simply by virtue of [Molecr Disintegration].


    At that moment, Regina returned from checking up the bodies. "Master, the only survivor was the one caught by Leto."


    "Is it so?" Bloed nodded. "He will be enough. Leto, take him inside. We will interrogate him after he wakes up."


    *Woof!* Leto nodded and bit the assassin on the nape, carrying him inside the house.


    After Leto carried the unconscious assassin inside the house, Liu Ying observed the mess in the courtyard and furrowed her brows. "Bloed, what about the bodies here?"


    Bloed hesitated for a moment. To be honest, he was not sure about what to do.


    It was not as though he could put them inside the storage devices, right? Bloed did not want to bring corpses with them until they find a way to get rid of them.


    But he did not know of any other better way he could use to get rid of the bodies.


    Bloed decided to create something for situations like thister. Mmm, maybe he could create nanorobots that dipose the corpses into atoms or turn them into dust. Yes, that was a good future project.


    While Bloed was thinking about a way to get rid of the bodies, Regina tensed up. She then red towards a shadow in a corner of the courtyard and created an energy de.


    "Who are you!? Stop hiding!"


    Bloed and Liu Ying instantly tensed up their body. Bright electric light shone on Bloed''s eyes while he followed Regina''s gaze.


    However, he needed a few seconds to find the person hiding.


    "Calm down, I''m not an enemy." A tanned girl walked slowly from the shadows. She looked at the ground filled with corpses, craters and burns and wrinkled her brows. "It looks like you had a great party just now." The girl said.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. "Miss Sara, what are you doing here?"


    "I live next door, remember? I heard themotion and came to see what was happening."


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. Since the moment when the fight started until now a considerable amount of time had passed. Sara was a B-Rank practitioner, she needed less than twenty seconds to arrive here from her house.


    The fact that she appeared only now was downright suspicious.


    Besides, Sara was a servant of the city lord; in other words, a potential enemy.


    Sara frowned when she saw the suspicion in Bloed''s eyes but she did not bother to exin anything. She just looked at the bodies and sighed.


    "It looks like you already took care of everything, huh You guys are a lot stronger than you look huh."


    "Do you need anything, miss Sara? If not, we are tired and want to rest." Bloed asked coldly. It was obvious he was indirectly asking her to leave.


    Sara smiled wryly inwardly. Then, she shook her head. "You need help with the bodies, right? Don''t worry, I will take care of that."


    Bloed was surprised, but he nodded at the next instant. "I''ll thank you for that then, miss Sara."


    Sara took a magic stone out of her pocket and put mana on it. Bloed recognized the sone as amunication magic crystal.


    It was a useful artifact able to transmit limited information on a certain distance. A useful gadget, but with too many ws in Bloed''s eyes.


    After holding it for a few seconds, Sara nodded and looked at Bloed.


    "Someone will being in a few minutes to take the corpses away."


    "I understand. Miss Sara, the girls and I will be returning inside then. We are a bit tired after being attacked."


    Sara understood his meaning. "Don''t worry, I will take care of things here."


    Bloed nodded in thanks and returned to the house with Regina and Liu Ying.


    But when he was about to close the door, Sara called out at him.


    "Young master Bloed."


    "Yes, miss Sara?"


    Sara fell silent for an instant before looking into Bloed''s eyes with a solemn look.


    "You should leave this city as soon as possible. I think it''s better if you leave tomorrow. And about the outing with my young master and young mistress, I advise you to not go."


    Bloed was startled. He looked at Sara deeply to find a sign of deceit on her face.


    When he failed to find anything, he smiled. "I understand, miss Sara. But don''t worry, we have our own ns."


    After saying that, he closed the door.


    *Ssh!*


    *Cough cough cough!*


    A bucket of cold water and a coughing fit woke Josh up.


    He opened his eyes and realized he was in an unfamiliar ce. His body felt heavy, and her back hurt badly.


    Almost instantly, Josh recalled everything that happened before he fell unconscious.


    " Dammit, I was caught." He chuckled bitterly and lifted his face. In front of him, he saw the three targets of tonight.


    The blue-haired body was standing in front of him with an ice-cold expression while the silver-haired girl was standing behind him. As for the ck-haired girl, she was leaning in a wall with her eyes closed.


    "Mr. Assassin, I trust you know your situation."


    "Yeah, you don''t need to exin anything. Cough, cough." Josh coughed and smiled in a self-deprecating manner. "You want information, right?"


    "Smart." Bloed nodded. "I hope you spit it out voluntarily. I don''t like torture people and I''m sure you will not like it either. Now, tell me, who did send you and what is his goal?"


    "Heh." The assassin chuckled. "Unfortunately, it''s useless to catch me, boy. I will not say anything. No, I can''t say anything."


    Instantly, the mana inside Josh surged out.


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. He grabbed his saber in case Josh was nning something funny. But in the next instant, he understood what was happening.


    "Dammit!" Bloed rushed towards Josh, but it was already toote.


    Before Bloed could reach him, a bluish me engulfed the assassinpletely.


    "Farewell, boy. I will wait for you on the other side."


    Then, his life came to an end.


    Bloed and the girls wrinkled their brows. They were not expecting this.


    "Death warriors." Liu Ying opened one eye and said. "Warriors trained to follow their master''s orders or die trying. They are absolutely loyal, preferring to die before betraying their masters."


    " It''s my first time seeing one, I thought they were just rumors." Bloed sighed. He had been careless.


    Well, it was not as though he had a way to stop him from killing himself.


    "It looks like it will not be so easy, huh"


    " Are you truly nning to apany the city lord''s children tomorrow, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked with a frown. "That will be dangerous."


    "I will go with Regina." Bloed nodded unhesitantly. "I need to know what it is all about."


    "I''ll go with you."


    "Huh?"


    "I will go with you, Bloed. Perhaps I can help if you are in danger."


    "Demon, do you think master will be in danger with me beside him?" Regina snorted.


    "Even so, I want to go." Liu Ying did not flinch in front of Regina''s words. She looked at the Valkyrie with determined eyes, expressing that she was not going to take no for an answer.


    Regina clicked her tongue in displeasure and looked away, epting Liu Ying''s help.


    Bloed stared at Liu Ying in surprise. But in the next second, he curved his lips up. "Sure, why not? You are ourpanion after all."


    "Perfect!" Liu Ying smiled brightly and nodded.

 Chapter 67: Hunting the Lightning Cat (1)

    Chapter 67: Hunting the Lightning Cat (1)


    The next morning, Bloed and the others met Gerald and Erika at the southern gate of the city.


    "Hey Bloed, we are here!" Gerald called out at Bloed when he saw them.


    When Bloed and the girls walked towards them, they realized that Gerald and Erika were not alone.


    They were apanied by five persons. One of them was Sara, Erika''s bodyguard, and the other four were a group of men Bloed had never seen before.


    Gerald noticed their confusion and introduced them. "They are the Blood Wolf Group. Father contracted them to apany us in today''s mission. Don''t worry, they are trustworthy."


    Bloed nodded in understanding. He looked at the four men briefly and a strange light shed through his eyes.


    This group had three B-Rankbatants, and the fourth one was at the peak of C-Rank, just one step away from breaking through B-Rank.


    It was obvious they were an impressive group.


    At that moment, the leader of the men spoke.


    "Young master Gerald, you tell us nothing about three more people."


    Gerald was startled before smiling apologetically. "Sorry about it. I just told Bloed about today''s huntst night, so I did not have time to notify you."


    " I''m sorry, young master, but the three of them are not in our contract. Besides, look at them, the girls are not even wearing armor or weapons and they brought two pets with them. Do they think it''s a game? I don''t want to carry two burdens during the hunt."


    Liu Ying frowned. "Do you have a problem with us?"


    "I just don''t like to babysit noble children."


    Liu Ying''s expression turned ice-cold, but before she could attack, Bloed stopped her.


    "Gerald, we will leave if it''s a bother."


    "It''s not necessary." Gerald furrowed his brows. He then looked at the leader of the men. "Harold, I can guarantee that they are as strong as me. You don''t have to worry that they are a burden."


    " I understand, but my men will not care about their safety. I will only protect you and young miss Erika if something happens."


    Gerald frowned deeply, but in the end, he looked at Bloed with a helpless expression. Bloed scoffed inwardly seeing this farce, but he did not show it in his face.


    "Don''t worry, we understand."


    In fact, Harold''s words were not baseless. In truth, watching Regina and Liu Yinging to the hunt wearing normal clothes, without wearing armor, and weaponless, anyone would think that they came here to y.


    Even Bloed was only carrying his saber and was dressed in rather casual clothes. Moreover, he was being followed by two manaless pets.


    But Bloed had the feeling that Harold would have found an excuse to go against them regardless of it.


    Bloed moved his gaze between Gerald and the men briefly before falling deep in thoughts.


    After that, the group of ten departed.


    Their destination was a forest twenty kilometers away from the city. ording to Gerald, they were going to hunt a peak B-Rank lightning cat. It was a magic beast specialized in speed that had migrated near the city recently. Apparently, it had killed some adventurers already.


    Bloed did not care much about it. In the end, he knew that hunting the beast was not the main part of today''s trip.


    Instead, he cared more about the hidden dangers of it.


    "Bloed, I heard you were attackedst night." Erika suddenly asked with a worried expression.


    Bloed looked at the city lord''s daughter and nodded. "It was a group of ck-dressed men. Unfortunately, we did not know anything about their origins."


    Gerald heard it and put on an angry expression. "It must have been the guys that attacked Erika. They probably wanted to take revenge because you foiled their ns. Fortunately, you guys were strong enough to repel them."


    " It was my fault." Erika smiled guiltily and looked at Bloed and the others. "Sorry guys, I caused you problems."


    "Don''t worry about it, miss Erika. It''s not your fault." Bloed smiled and shook his head. "Besides, I knew about the dangers when I decided to help you, so you don''t need to feel guilty about it."


    Erika looked at Bloed in a daze. One secondter, she blushed deeply and looked at the ground.


    At the same time, Regina pinched Bloed''s waist fiercely. Bloed forced himself to not change his expression despite the pain.


    Meanwhile, he was observing the siblings'' expressions.


    ''It looks like Erika is not aware of anything, huh.'' Bloed thought to himself after seeing Erika''s reaction. He was sure that Erika''s concern was not feigned.


    Gerald, however, was lying through his teeth.


    Bloed just needed to observe his face carefully to notice the minute changes in his expression and eyes that revealed he was not telling the truth.


    To be honest, the city lord''s n was truly ingenious. Anyone else would have been fooled thinking that the culprits were the men that attacked Erika and that the city lord was in their side.


    After all, it was true that Bloed had offended an unknown party a few days ago. It was normal if he was attacked as revenge.


    Unfortunately, they did not know that Bloed and the girls had seen through their plot long ago. Although Bloed was showing a sincere look in his face, he was smiling disdainfully in his heart.


    Bloed looked behind Erika and saw that Sara was looking at him with an expressionless look. She shook her head slightly and sighed. It was obvious that she had realized that Bloed''s was acting. He was following Gerald''s script and acting as though he knew nothing.


    However, in the end, Gerald was the one being fooled.


    The group could not use horses to travel because the horses could not go inside the forest, and if they leave them outside, the horses most probably will be eaten for monsters before two hours.


    Fortunately, twenty kilometers were not long for mana practitioners, so they rann through the ins at moderated speed and arrived at the outskirts of the forest in less than one hour. Of the group, only Erika was carried by Sara because she could not keep with the group''s pace.


    Once they arrived at the forest, they decided to rest for a while.


    In truth, none of them were tired, but one of the most fundamental rules when you hunt magic beasts is to remain in top condition as much as possible, so a short rest was necessary.


    After they rested for half an hour, the group stood up and got ready to enter the forest.


    But at that moment, something happened.


    "You three, stay behind, it would be bad if you get scared when you see a monster." One of Blood Wolf''s men looked at Bloed''s group and mocked.


    "You are right." Said another man. "Girls are not suited for this kind of ce. If you want excitement, you just need to ask me. I''ll make sure of giving you so much excitement that you will never forget about it."


    Seeing thescivious look in the man''s face, Liu Ying frowned. She then smiled slightly and walked towards him.


    "Oh? You are rather capable then, huh?"


    "Of course, much better than the sissy behind you." The man stared at Liu Ying''s chestsciviously before shooting a condescending look to Bloed. Bloed frowned felt Regina behind him getting ready to kill someone.


    But before she could act, someone else moved.


    "Is it so?" With a smile in her face, Liu Ying clenched her fist.


    Then


    *Boom!*


    With a thunderous sound, her fist hit the man''s belly.


    The man smiled disdainfully. But an instantter, he was sent flying away, vomiting blood and knocking off some trees.


    Liu Ying red at him disdainfully and put on an ice-cold look while crossing her arms.


    "I''m sorry, but you are not even a hundredth as good as him."


    ...


    Two chapters today given that I did not post yesterday. Enjoy.


    Support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 68: Hunting the Lightning Cat (2)

    Chapter 68: Hunting the Lightning Cat (2)


    None of the people in the group was able the react. They looked agape while Liu Ying''s fist hit the man''s belly.


    In fact, the man even smiled disdainfully. After all, he was a B-Rank practitioner. How much damage could provoke ais C-Rank little girl''s punch?


    However, underestimating her was his mistake.


    As soon as Liu Ying''s fist touched the man, he felt an incredible strength impacting against his body, then, her body was sent flying!


    *Boom!*


    *Crash!*


    Only after knocking a pair of trees down, the man stopped flying.


    "Little brother!"


    Harold, the leader of Blood Wolf, cried in panic and rushed towards the man. He grabbed his arm and sent and a bit of mana into his body to stabilize his condition.


    *Cough cough!*


    The man vomited a mouthful of blood and opened his eyes. He then looked towards Liu Ying in fear.


    Not only had Liu Ying sent him flying with one blow, but she even managed to do so without breaking any of his bones or internal organs. In fact, besides the mouthful the blood he vomited before and a bit of pain, the man waspletely uninjured.


    The strength and control that Liu Ying showed frightened the man.


    Liu Ying felt his gaze and snorted in disdain. "You are not even a hundredth as good as him." She then turned around and walked towards Bloed as though losing interest in him.


    "You Stop!" Harold, the leader of Blood Wolf, stood up and looked at Liu Ying angrily. "What do you think you are doing!?"


    "What? It was just a punch. Besides, he started it." Liu Ying shrugged indifferently.


    Harold''s face turned ugly. He looked at their men and nodded. In the next second, Blood Wolf''s men had unsheathed their weapons.


    However, Bloed and Regina reacted at the same time.


    With a droning sound, two energy des appeared on Regina''s hands. At the same time, Bloed grabbed his saber and Tito and Leto got ready to fight.


    In an instant, the situation had escted near a boiling point.


    Gerald was the one that stepped forward at that moment.


    "Stop! What are you doing!?"


    Neither Bloed and the girls nor the other group moved. They just looked at each other without caring for Gerald''s shout.


    "Harold, order your men to lower their weapons." Gerald frowned.


    "Young master"


    "It''s an order!"


    Harold furrowed his brows, but in the end, he nodded and waved his hand.


    Bloed looked at them and shrugged, putting the saber back in his sheath.


    Gerald sighed in relief. "Okay, now let''s talk."


    "There is nothing to talk about it." Harold said. "The girl must apologize to my brother, or I will not let this pass."


    Liu Ying snorted. "Who do you think you are? You should be grateful that I held myself back, or you would be seeing his corpse. Pei, a few years ago, the fact that he dared to insinuate something like that was enough to kill his family and all the people rted to him."


    Gerald frowned. He looked at Bloed as though asking him for help, but Bloed just shrugged. "I''m sorry, I''m with Liu Ying this time."


    Behind me, Regina smiled. "Master is right. Besides, I agree with Liu Ying''s words, he is not even a hundredth as good as my master, how does he dare to insinuate otherwise? At most, we will kill all of you and continue for ourselves."


    Liu Ying heard Bloed and Regina''s words and smiled gratefully towards the master and servant.


    But Gerald''s expression was not so good.


    In truth, he was the one that asked Blood Wolf to provoke Bloed''s group. In fact, when he saw Liu Ying''s attack, heughed inwardly, rejoicing that things were going ording to his expectations.


    But he never expected that Liu Ying was so strong. With just a blow, she incapacitated a B-Rank practitioner!


    It was a B-Rank! One rank higher than her! Even if part of the reason she was sessful was that the man underestimated her, the fact that she just needed a blow meant that she probably would be a match for him even in a fight.


    Since that point, everything escaped his control. He could see that Harold was truly nning to attack the group, but he knew they could not defeat Bloed and the others. On the other hand, Bloed''s attitude was unexpectedly tough, as though he did not even consider easing the tension.


    Of course, Bloed did not consider it. Although he did not know Gerald and Blood Wolf''s ns, he only needed to think for a moment to understand most of it. So, he simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the show.


    When Gerald saw that Bloed and the girls were not nning to take a step back, he sighed. He exchanged gazes with Harold briefly and shook his head.


    Understanding his meaning, Harold frowned.


    In the end, he ordered his men to rx and shot at a deep look to Bloed and the girls.


    "You better be careful. Many people die identally in hunts like this."


    Liu Ying scoffed and Regina wrinkled her brows. Bloed, on the other hand, just shrugged.


    "Thanks for your advise."


    Harold looked at Bloed and the other onest time and turned around.


    "Let''s go, we will reach the Lightning Cat''s habitat soon."


    Regina looked at the group carefully. She then whispered in a voice that only Bloed and Liu Ying could hear.


    "Master, should I kill them?"


    "It''s not time yet." Bloed shook his head. "Wait a little bit more, they will make a move soon."


    Regina nodded. She then looked at the back of the men with an ice-cold look.


    Since the moment they dared to say her master was useless and a sissy, they were dead men walking in her eyes.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 69: Hunting the Lightning Cat (3)

    Chapter 69: Hunting the Lightning Cat (3)


    The group advanced gradually in the forest. Blood Wolf walked ahead, scouting the path and searching for signs of the lightning cat.


    Bloed and the girls were at the back of the group.


    After Liu Ying''s attack, the atmosphere of the party had been tense. Blood Wolf''s men were constantly shooting menacing looks to Bloed and the girls. Erika was doing the same, but with worried looks instead of menacing ones.


    At that moment, Gerald approached Bloed and the girls.


    " Bloed, miss Liu Ying, miss Regina, sorry for the trouble Harold''s men caused. It was my fault. Next time, I''ll make sure of contracting a better party. I hope this incident doesn''t affect our friendship."


    Bloed snorted in disdain inwardly facing this fake apology, but he did not show anything in his face. Instead, he smiled and shook his head.


    "Don''t worry, I know it''s not your fault, young master Gerald. Besides, we don''t care much about it, for us, they are not more than a joke."


    Gerald frowned. For an instant, he felt as though something was wrong, but he could not put a finger on it. In the end, he med it on his imagination.


    After Gerald returned to Erika and Sara''s side, Liu Ying snorted in disdain.


    "Bah, hypocrite. I don''t understand why you still tolerate him."


    "I exined to you the reasonst night, Liu Ying." Bloed said with a shrug. "I need to know the reason behind this situation."


    "You are right, but I truly want to kill him. I hate backstabbing bastards like him the most. People like him were the ones that killed my family."


    " It''s not so easy." Bloed said with a bitter smile. He could understand Liu Ying''s feelings. When you trust someonepletely, but that person betrays you, it''s the worst feeling.


    ... Such as when his family exiled him.


    But he knew he could not simply kill the son of a city lord. Not only because if he died now, Bloed would be the most likely suspect, but also due to the consequences of it.


    Bloed did not fear the city lord in the slightest, but he did not want to be wanted for the kingdom his family ruled just after he exited the exilednds.


    No matter how he thought about it, that was not a good idea.


    Even if he changed his hair, eyes, and grew a bit after the years in the exilednds, if he is wanted for the kingdom, it will be just a matter of time before he gets recognized.


    Thus, even if Bloed ends killing Gerald or the city lord, he must do it without leaving behind any clue.


    The group walked for a while. From time on time, they were attacked by beasts, but the strongest was just at the C-Rank, and the group killed it easily.


    Gerald looked at the beast that Bloed just bisected and whistled.


    "One-hit kill, again. You seem like someone used to hunt beasts, Bloed."


    "I am." Bloed said. "I have killed many more beasts than you think."


    Gerald nodded. He then looked at Bloed saber with a curious light.


    "Your saber is a magic weapon, right? Does it has a sharpness enchantment?"


    "Something like that." Bloed replied without caring too much. Gerald saw it and narrowed his eyes deep in thoughts.


    After almost half an hour walking, one of Harold''s men stopped in his tracks. One secondter, he raised a hand.


    Understanding the signal, the entire group stopped and fell silent. The man actin as scout closed his eyes and concentrated in the sounds on the surroundings.


    Almost three secondster, he opened his eyes with a grave look.


    "It''s here! Protect miss Erika!"


    Almost instantly, a shadow jumped from the trees!


    The shadow moved incredibly quickly. One second, it was in the branch of a tree, and in the next second, it was in front of the weakest member of the group, Erika.


    But before it could touch her, a dagger suddenly appeared in front of its eyes.


    It was Sara!


    At some point, she had disappeared from the group''s perception, only to reappear when her dagger was to stab the cat.


    The lightning cat''s fur stood up. Its ck eyes shone with a surprised glow and its body tensed up.


    Facing the unavoidable attack, lightning surged out of its body, engulfing itpletely.


    The next instant, its body elerated suddenly, bypassing Sara''s dagger and raising its w to kill Erika.


    But


    *Bam!*


    A barrier appeared suddenly, stopping its attack.


    Erika turned pale. Despite the barrier on her ne activating, the fact that the lightning cat managed to reach her frightened the young girl.


    "Damn beast!"


    Gerald''s expression turned ugly. He raised his sword and shed towards the cat, but the cat just jumped slightly, evading the blow.


    Then, it looked at Gerald with a mocking look.


    Gerald''s expression darkened. He looked at Harold and bellowed.


    "Harold, what in the hell are you doing!?"


    "Sorry, young master." Harold apologized in a hurry and stood in front of Erika. At the same time, his three subordinates surrounded the cat, blocking its escape routes.


    The cat just narrowed its eyes. It looked at the group with a mocking-like expression.


    Bloed observed the beast carefully. The lightning cat was not big, around Tito''s size, but its body exuded powerful waves of energy. It had lightning-like patterns on its back fur, and its eyes showed wisdom seldomly seen in animals.


    Just with a look, Bloed knew it was one of the strongest beasts in the B-Rank. Moreover, as a beast focused on speed, it could easily escape even if it could not win.


    But Harold hade prepared to hunt this beast.


    "Donald, do it!" Harold shouted.


    "I know, boss!" One of the men nodded and sent mana into a magic crystal on his waist.


    Instantly, the spell engraved on the stone was activated.


    With a swoosh, a mana barrier was activated, surrounded the lightning cat together with the group.


    "Nice!" Harold smiled. He then looked at the cat with scornful eyes.


    The cat noticed that something was wrong. It immediately charged towards the barrier, trying to escape, but


    *Bam!*


    The barrier just shook briefly, stopping the cat''s escape.


    "Stupid beast, it''s a restriction barrier. Even a B-Rank needs a bit of effort to break it. And do you think we will give you that time? Arnold!"


    Arnold, the weakest man of the party and a C-Rank practitioner, smirked. He aimed the bow on his hand towards the cat and shot an arrow!


    *Woosh!*


    *Meow!*


    The cat evaded the arrow and looked at Arnold angrily. It then rushed towards him, but Harold appeared in front of it and raised his shield!


    *ng!*


    The shield and the w shed. But in the end, the shield won. In the end, the cat was a speed-focused beast, so its strength could notpare to the B-Rank shieldwarrior.


    *Meow!*


    The cat cried in rage. It moved its body around the four men, trying to attack them, but the men cooperated wlessly, attacking the cat without rushing and slowly tiring it out.


    After almost two minutes, the cat started to panic.


    His attacks became wilder and wilder, but at the same time, they became less effective.


    After a while, the cat was injured for the first time.


    It was just a scratch caused by an arrow, but it was followed by another wound, and another, and another.


    In despair, the cat tried to find a way to escape. Unfortunately, the barrier stopped it from running away.


    When the lightning cat realized it was going to die, its eyes turned red. It then looked at the group hunting it with hatred in its eyes.


    If it was going to die, it was going to bring some of its enemies with it!


    So, when it saw a gap in the four men''s formation, it did not hesitate to rush through it.


    Straight towards Bloed and girls!


    A shrewd light shed through Harold''s eyes. He looked back towards Bloed and smirked.


    In an instant, the cat had appeared in front of Bloed and the others!


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 70: Hunting the Lightning Car (4)

    Chapter 70: Hunting the Lightning Car (4)


    Bloed snorted in disdain towards Harold''s petty tricks. He held his saber on his hands and fixed his gaze on the lightning cat.


    But someone moved first.


    "Let me!" Liu Ying smiled and took a step forward. She clenched her fist and wrapped them in blood-red mana.


    When the Lightning cat reached her, Liu Ying unleashed her fist.


    "Die!"


    The next instant, the demon and the cat shed.


    *Boom!*


    A terrifying shockwave struck the surroundings. The trees around Liu Ying shook fiercely, and some of them were unrootedpletely.


    Then


    *Meow!*


    The lightning cat cried in pain. It was thrown back a few meters and crashed against the ground, leaving behind a giant crater.


    Liu Ying smiled. Her right arm had turned bloody, but it recovered quickly. In seconds, the injure caused by the lightning cat was no more.


    The lightning cat, on the other hand, walked out of the crater limping. One of its legs had been almost destroyed.


    Bloed whistled in admiration. Liu Ying''s brute force was truly incredible. At the same level, and even a level above, not many were her match.


    For the lightning cat to try to sh head-on against her, it was seeking its own death.


    ''Worthy of the bloodline that ruled the demons for many generations.'' Bloed praised inwardly.


    Liu Ying had not even used her aspect, but her brute force and regeneration speed were already this outstanding. If she uses her aspect, her power will increase for at least one level.


    Even Bloed has to be wary if he faces Liu Ying in her strongest state.


    The lightning cat stared at Liu Ying in fear. It could not understand how this lithe-looking girl was so strong.


    Now that Liu Ying had injured it, the lightning cat was truly out of options.


    Harold and Gerald were dumbfounded, but before they could react to the situation, Liu Ying moved.


    She kicked the ground and charged towards the lightning cat with her fist clenched.


    The lightning cat panicked. It jumped aside hurriedly to evade the hit and retreated in panic.


    But Liu Ying just smirked. Once her fist hit the ground, she used the recoil caused by the shockwave of her attack to shrunk her body and unleash a kick towards the cat.


    It was abat technique she had learned recently from Bloed!


    *Bam!*


    The lightning cat was kicked against the ground, creating another giant crater.


    But this time, the lightning cat was unable to stand up again.


    Liu Ying stretched her neck and looked at the lightning cat and then at Harold''s group with a disappointed look. "So weak, I was expecting more after I saw you guys having so much trouble fighting it."


    Harold''s face flushed in embarrassment. Hearing Liu Ying''s words, he was regretting allowing the lightning cat to attack them.


    In truth, the only reason Liu Ying finished it so easily was that Harold''s group had already tired it out. Moreover, Liu Ying''s first blow was stronger than the cat expected, injuring it critically.


    In a normal condition, Liu Ying would have found it hard to win against it.


    Liu Ying walked towards the cat on the ground and lifted it. The cat looked at Liu Ying with a pitiful and begging look, but Liu Ying was a girl used to killing. Such tactics were useless against her.


    She stared at the cat indifferently and grabbed its neck before twisting it.


    *Crack!*


    With an unpleasant sound, the cat died.


    Harold, Gerald, and the others turned pale seeing that scene. Erika even felt she was about to throw up.


    For an instant, they felt a bit of fear towards Liu Ying''s indifferent expression when she killed the cat.


    But Liu Ying smiled in contempt when she saw it.


    "It''s done." She looked at Gerald and threw the lightning cat towards him. "Can we go back now? I don''t want to spend even a second more near some people."


    "Y-Yes, of course." Gerald stuttered briefly and replied. He then flushed in embarrassment when he realized he was intimidated by Liu Ying''s aura.


    Gerald looked at Harold and signaled something to him with his gaze. Harold nodded and removed the barrier.


    So, with one of Harold''s men carrying the lightning cat''s corpse, the group started their return trip.


    But before they exited the forest, Bloed''s lips curved up.


    "Regina, did you notice?"


    "Of course, master, I noticed them a few minutes ago."


    Bloed nodded. He then looked at Liu Ying with a smile. "It looks like today''s main course is here."


    " So they attacked after all."


    Bloed nodded. "I can feel a group of people approaching us from all directions. They are very stealthy, but nobody can escape my perception when in ten meters around me."


    Bloed was not bragging. With his hair and eyes'' perception abilities, almost nothing could escape his perception in ten meters around him.


    Until now, only two people had been the exception, one was Chorius, the demigod-ranked bird, and the other was Sara, who managed to remain unperceived for a few seconds before Bloed discovered her. Bloed was still not sure how she had managed to do it.


    Although Bloed and the girls detected the enemies, they did not show it in their faces. Bloed observed Gerald and Harold carefully, and as expected, they were looking at each other suspiciously.


    At that moment, Sara looked in Bloed''s direction briefly. Bloed noticed it and smiled at her.


    Sara furrowed her brows and looked away.


    In that tense atmosphere, the group continued walking, all of them waiting for the moment to strike.


    Unexpectedly, though, the men did not attack immediately. Instead, they waited silently for their signal.


    Where the exit of the forest finally appeared in sight, Erika smiled.


    "Finally out, I was already tired."


    As soon as her words sounded, the shadows descended from the trees.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 71: Intense Battle in the Forest

    Chapter 71: Intense Battle in the Forest


    This is yesterday''s chapter. Anotehr chaptering tonight (I think)


    ...


    "Careful!" Harold cried out and took out his shield. He and his men instantly moved to protect Gerald and Erika.


    In one second, they had formed a circle with the city lord''s children in the center. They then pointed their weapons to the people charging towards them.


    An instantter, the ck shadows shed with them.


    *Bam!*


    "Erika, the barrier!" Gerald shouted. Erika nodded shakily and activated the barrier in her ne.


    Just like that, the fight between the ck shadows and Harold''s men started.


    But not all the shadows attacked them. Half of the shadows attacked Bloed and the girls.


    However, Bloed could not help but wrinkle his brows at that moment.


    He had thought that Gerald and the others would turn againsts them at this moment, joining hands with the ck-dressed men to attack them while they exined the reason behind it.


    In fact, Bloed was even expecting to fight the city lord. Regina had told him that if the city lord appeared, she was going to take care of him.


    But for some reason, not only Gerald''s group was not attacking them, but they even were fighting against half of the ck-dressed men.


    ''Could it be that I was mistaken? Is the city lord not the one behind the attacks?''


    For an instant, Bloed could not help but doubt his judgment.


    But he shook his head in the next instant.


    ''No, I''m sure I''m right. Then They want to make us believe they are not with the ck-dressed men? But why are they still feigning ignorance at this point?''


    Bloed did not know the reason, but if they wanted to y, Bloed was going to apany them.


    "Tito!" With Bloed''s voice as the signal, the mechanical puppy moved. It instantly turned into metallic sand that flew in the air until wrapping around Bloed''s body.


    Then, the metallic sand turned into a bluish armor!


    Bloed movements were smooth. Before the armor took shapepletely, his hands were grabbing two energy guns created from Leto''s body. He aimed to the ck-dressed men charging towards them and shot.


    *Bam!*


    With the first shot, one of the ck-dressed men fell.


    Then


    *Bam bam bam bam!*


    Bloed''s eyes glinted with a ice-cold light. He pressed the trigger once and again, aiming to the ck-dressed men and killing them in droves.


    In the first second, he had killed three of them!


    However, these men seemed to have received information about Bloed''s weapon from yesterday''s battle. They started to move erratically, managing to evade the bullets and avoiding death.


    Bloed did not care, though. He was already expecting something like this. Instead, he continued shooting calmly.


    The ck-dressed men continued rushing to the group like a ck wave. Bloed''s senses felt more than thirty life presences around them, and the number was still growing!


    Half of them were attacking Gerald''s group, and the other half were attacking Bloed and the girls.


    But although they tried to hide it well, Bloed realized that the half attacking Gerald''s group was not giving their all.


    Instead, the half attacking them were like crazy men that wanted to eat Bloed and the girls'' flesh and drink their blood.


    When the men were about to reach them, the girls moved.


    Both Regina and Liu Ying moved at the same time. Regina stood in front of Bloed and Liu Ying stood behind him. They looked at the ck-dressed men and snorted.


    "Die!" Regina materialized a energy de in each hand and spun around. Her des moved like agile snakes, each one searching for the enemy''s throat and killing them in one move.


    Liu Ying, on the other hand, filled her punches with mana and bellowed.


    "Ha!" With a cry, her blood-red mana surged outwards, crushing everything in front of her and stopping the enemies in their tracks.


    Meanwhile, Bloed provided support to the two girls, shooting to the men attacking them and killing one every time he found an opening.


    With this formation, Liu Ying and Regina were the vanguard and Bloed was the rearguard.


    The battle intensified quickly. Although no B-Rankbatant had shown himself yet, the sheer number of D-Rank and C-Rank practitioners attacking them was overwhelming.


    But the two battles taking ce at this time werepletely different. In Gerald''s side, nobody had died yet, but in Bloed side, there were already fifteen bodies after less than thirty seconds.


    That scene surprised all the people present.


    At that instant, a voice sounded from the forest.


    "Take care of them first or we will lose all our men!"


    As soon as the voice sounded, half of the people attacking Gerald''s group changed targets.


    Bloed smirked inwardly. ''So, this the excuse they are going to use, huh.''


    Even so, he did not show anything in his face. He just frowned and continued pressing the trigger.


    With the increase of the enemies, the situation of the group worsened. Regina and Liu Ying''s felt the pressure on them increasing, and Bloed bullets became less and less effective.


    For each enemy they killed, another two took their ce. In truth, the enemies were not very strong individually, but even ants could bite an elephant to dead.


    Erika, who noticed that situation, turned anxious.


    "Mr. Harold, help them!"


    But Harold smirked. "Young miss, our responsibility is only to protect the young master and you. We can''t put your safety in risk for unrted people."


    Erika''s expression fell. She turned to Sara, but Sara shook her head.


    "I''m your bodyguard, young miss. If something happens to you, I will not be able to bear the consequences."


    Erika''s face turned pale. Finally, she stared at Gerald.


    "Brother!"


    Gerald, however, just smiled. "Don''t worry, nothing will happen to them. Father is just waiting until all the enemies show themselvespletely to catch they all in one fell swoop."


    Sara, who heard such at obvious lie, closed her eyes and sighed. She could only pray that nothing happens to Bloed and the others.


    In truth, she wanted to help them, but she could not do it, not when her sister''s life was in the city lord''s hands.


    So, she could only watch.


    Bloed and the others'' situation quickly worsened. Before long, Liu Ying was injured; and although the injury healed quickly and she continued fighting, anyone could see that she could notst long and this rate.


    As for Regina, although she had not been injured yet, the space where she could move was turning smaller with each passing second.


    But when it seemed the situation could not turn worse, a shadow appeared above them.


    Instantly, an intense pressure surged out of the shadow. The pressure attacked Bloed and the girls, slowing their movements.


    At the same time, the shadow extended its hand, forming a w and aiming for Bloed''s arm.


    ''B-Rank!'' That thought appeared in every person spectating the fight.


    In an instant, the w reached him. Erika and Sara could not help but cry out.


    "Watch out!"


    But then


    *Growl!*


    Suddenly, a powerful grunt sounded.


    Then, the metallic wolf standing beside Bloed looked up.


    Before the shadow could understand what was happening, it saw a wing towards its neck.


    Finally, Leto had moved.

 Chapter 72: Sudden Change (1)

    Chapter 72: Sudden Change (1)


    ''This is'' The shadow was surprised. He hurriedly leaned his head aside to avoid the wolf''s attack.


    At the same time, he retracted the hand attacking Bloed to defend against the wolf.


    But at that instant, Leto''s body turned into metallic sand. The metallic sand wrapped around the B-Rank''s arm, restricting his movements for an instant!


    And in that instant, Bloed''s gun was aimed at him.


    *Bam Bam!*


    With two shots, the head of the B-Rank bursts open.


    The scene silenced the forest. Both the ck-dressed men and Gerald''s group could not help but pause their movements.


    But Bloed was not done yet.


    Now that Leto had shown its power, he was not going to hold back.


    "Leto, do it!"


    *Woof!*


    With an intimidating sound, Leto nodded.


    Instantly, its entire body turned into metallic sand. The metallic sand surged like a wave, crashing against the ck-dressed men!


    At the same time, one of the ck jewels on Regina''s wrist lit up and let out even more metallic sand. In one second, Leto''s entire body had been released towards the ck-dressed men.


    The ck-dressed men panicked. They tried to attack the metallic sand, but even more metallic sand rushed towards them, entangling their limbs.


    And when their limbs were caught by the sand...


    *Bam bam!* *Swish!* *Boom!*


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying started to harvest lives.


    Heads burst open, necks were pierced, and bodies were crushed.


    In less than one second, the three of them killed almost ten men.


    "Stop!" An enraged roar came from the forest. Almost instantly, four new ck shadows joined the fight.


    They rushed towards the trio and attacked at full strength.


    At the same time, one of the ck shadows created a magic circle in the air.


    Bloed turned serious. Just one nce was enough for him to realize the strength of the neers.


    Four B-Rank, and one of them was a mage.


    ''Finally serious, huh.'' Bloed''s eyes narrowed. But instead of stopping, he used his mind to give a new order to Leto.


    [Kill them!]


    The next second, the metallic sand turned into spikes.


    With a sick sound, tens of ck-dressed men were skewered by the spikes.


    The gory scene made the people around pale. Erika even covered her mouth with her hand, forcing herself to not vomit.


    The B-Rank ck-dressed men, on the other hand, turned red of rage.


    "Damn beast!" One of the B-Rank bellowed in fury. He unleashed a powerful punch that destroyed a part of Leto''s body.


    One secondter, the B-Rank mage finished his spell. A ball of fire flew towards Bloed''s group of three.


    Bloed''s expression turned solemn. With a thought, Leto''s body transformed once more, turning into a metallic barrier that stopped the fireball!


    *Boom!*


    A powerful explosion resounded in the forest. Bloed felt the shockwave passing through of his body, and at the same time, half of the barrier created by Leto was destroyed.


    The ck-dressed men smirked in delight. Seeing the beast that killed theirpanions injured like this was very satisfying.


    One secondter, though, their expressions froze.


    Miraculously, Leto''s scattered body due to the explosion moved by itself, slowly forming a wolf again.


    This time, thanks to the metallic sand Regina had let out, it was even bigger than before.


    Leto took form behind Bloed and looked at the group of four B-Rank with a savage look.


    "Impossible!"


    The mage spoke in a hoarse voice. It was their first time seeing a creature reform itself after being almostpletely destroyed.


    Moreover, that same creature had just killed many of theirpanions a few seconds before.


    Bloed patted Leto''s neck and smiled at the four B-Rank. He also paid attention to the group attacking Gerald through his perception.


    For a few seconds, the four B-Rank did not know how to proceed.


    One secondter, though, one of them spoke.


    "You all, what are you waiting for!? Attack them!"


    "Y-Yes!"


    The remaining ck-dressed man did not hesitate. The twelve of them that had still been attacking Gerald''s group charged towards Bloed and the girls.


    At the same time, the four B-Rank''s practitioners attacked too!


    Four B-Rank and twelve C-Rank and D-Rank practitioners. For an instant, even Bloed felt a bit ttered by that line-up.


    However, his brain remained calm.


    "Liu Ying, take care of the small fry!"


    "Roger!"


    "Regina, Leto, it''s time to work! Be careful of the mage!"


    "Understood!"


    *Woof!*


    The group then moved. Liu Ying charged towards the remaining ck-dressed men while Bloed, Regina, and Leto charged towards A B-Rank each.


    As for the fourth ck-dressed man, the mage, Bloed could not do anything about him for now.


    He could only try to kill his current enemy as quickly as possible.


    However, he soon discovered that it was harder than he thought. Bloed wielded his saber in a hand and an energy gun in the other, but his B-Rank enemy managed to avoid all his attacks. He paid special attention to Bloed''s saber, making sure of keeping it always in his sight.


    However, that was not the main problem. The main problem was the mage. He constantly unleashed spells towards Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and Leto. The three of them were forced to ce part of their attention on the mage, making their fights with their respective enemies even harder.


    Moreover, Leto had been hit a few times. The only reason it had not been destroyed yet was due to its ability to reform its body again. But even like that, Bloed knew that many of the nanobots making up its body had been destroyed.


    Although nobody could notice the difference yet, soon the enemies would notice that Leto was bing smaller.


    Bloed thought about using his trump card, but it was not time yet. Moreover, he still had not found the reason behind this attack.


    But he soon noticed something strange.


    Most of the ck-dressed man''s attacks were aimed at his right arm, the arm holding his saber.


    At the same time, when the mage attacked him, his attacks were aimed at his arm too.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. ''Could it be?''


    Meanwhile, Erika, who was observing the battle from afar, could not help but look at Gerald in rage.


    "Brother, what are you waiting for!? They will die to this rate!"


    Gerald frowned. To be honest, he was having a headache now.


    No matter how he looked at things, the fact that the enemies were attacking only Bloed''s group was clearly suspicious. It would be strange if Bloed did not notice something strange.


    Even if he could use the excuse that they wanted to avenge their men, nobody here was an idiot. Death warriors did not care aboutradeship.


    However, now that they had lost so many men, they could not afford to fail.


    So, he shot a ce to Harold. "Mr. Harold, help them!"


    Harold understood his meaning. He signaled something to Arnold, the C-Rank archer, with his gaze.


    Seeing that, Arnold smiled. He took an arrow and put it in his bow.


    He then aimed his bow and got ready to shot.


    ... To shot towards Bloed.


    But at that moment, Regina''s expression changed.


    "Master, careful!"


    Instantly, her speed became twice so fast. She grabbed Bloed by his arm and pulled him away!


    Every person in the forest was startled. Regina''s sudden action confused them


    An instantter, though, they understood.


    The ground trembled.


    Then, a giant shadow surged out of the ground, swallowing everything in its path.


    ... Including the B-Rank man currently fighting Bloed.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 73: Sudden Change (2)

    Chapter 73: Sudden Change (2)


    The change was so fast that most people, including Bloed, were unable to react.


    Bloed''s attention was focusedpletely on the four B-Rank enemies and Gerald''s group. He had to be wary about their intentions, and after he saw Arnold take out an arrow, all his focus was in it.


    Due to that, he failed to notice the signs of the much greater danger underground.


    Fortunately, Regina was there to save him.


    Bloed''s face changed. Seeing the giant monster bursting out from the ground and swallowing a B-Rank as though it was nothing, he felt a chill on his spine.


    He could not help but look at Regina in thanks. Regina, though, waspletely focused on the monster in front of her.


    It was a worm-like monster, with brown skin and spikes around his body. His mouth was filled with serrate teeth and his tail had a spear-like spike growing on it.


    Only a nce was enough to know that this monster was not normal.


    The monster roared. It chewed the meat on its mouth in delight without caring for the people around it.


    Just the pressure it was releasing froze all the people here.


    But the monster did not attack them as the group was expecting. Instead, it roared once more and burrowed into the ground.


    "W-What was that" One of the ck-dressed men fighting Liu Ying stuttered.


    Nobody replied. However, all the people here were pale. At this moment, nobody cared about the fight anymore.


    "W-Was it an A-Rank monster?"


    "I-Impossible! What is a monster like that doing here!?"


    "I-Is it gone?"


    Bloed frowned and focused on his senses. He could feel the ground below him trembling slightly.


    "It''s still here."


    His voice was soft, but everybody heard it.


    "H-How do you know?" Gerald asked, but Bloed ignored him. He just focused his senses on the ground.


    An instantter, his expression changed.


    "Liu Ying, move!"


    "!!!"


    Liu Ying did not hesitate. She instantly kicked the ground and jumped as high as she could. Unfortunately, the ck-dressed men around her did not react as fast.


    Less than one secondter, a giant mouth appeared on the ground, swallowing five ck-dressed men whole.


    But this time, the monster did not go away like thest time. Instead, after swallowing the five men, it jumped towards Erika''s group.


    "Young miss!" Sara reacted instantly. She grabbed Gerald and Erika for their clothes and jumped away.


    Harold did not fall behind. He reacted almost as quickly as Sara, jumping back like a frightened rabbit.


    His men were not so lucky, though.


    The next second, the worm swallowed the archer and the man Liu Ying had punched before.


    "Little brother, Arnold!"


    When Harold saw it, his expression froze, then, his eyes turned bloodshot.


    "Little brother, Arnold! Arrrghhhhh!" With a roar of pain, he raised his shield and charged towards the monster.


    But before he could take two steps, he felt a strong pain on his chest.


    Looking down, he saw a ck w filled with blooding out of his heart.


    Behind him, a lightning cat was looking at him with blood-red eyes.


    "A-Another?"


    Those were hisst words.


    Then, the lightning cat meowed to the sky.


    *Meow!!!*


    That was the signal.


    In an instant, tens of shadows jumped from the forest. Wolves, cats, rabbits, wild boars, tigers, and birds.


    The beasts'' eyes were filled with bloodthirstiness and violence. They looked at the people in the forest and roared in hunger.


    They then rushed to devour them!


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. He instantly realized what was happening.


    "This is"


    "Master, more monsters areing!"


    Bloed''s expression turned grave. "Damn it! Regina, Liu Ying, we need to get out of here!"


    They nodded. Bloed then ordered Leto to return and got ready to face the horde.


    *Bam bam!*


    Two bullets were shot, instantly killing two monstersing towards them. At the same time, roars of pain sounded in the forest.


    Bloed could see the ck-dressed men being killed. In less than five seconds, the remaining C-Rank and D-Rank ck-dressed men were killed. Besides them, another B-Rank and thest member of Harold''s party were killed too.


    The two ck-dressed men remaining were struggling with all their power, trying to escape. At the same time, Sara, Erika, and Gerald were being chased by a group of monsters.


    But Bloed was not in the mood to pay attention to them. He hurriedly jumped onto Leto''s back, followed by Regina and Liu Ying.


    As soon as the three of them were on it, Leto kicked the ground and started to run.


    However, Leto''s enormous body quickly attracted the monsters'' attention.


    Before the group could escape the monsters'' wave, an enormous sense of danger assaulted Bloed.


    "Careful!" Regina cried out. She extended her hand, materializing an energy barrier around the group.


    Then


    *Boom!*


    A giant brown body crashed against the barrier.


    Regina''s expression turned solemn. Feeling the power of the monster, she was forced to use more of her strength. In an instant, her strength skyrocket from the peak of C-Rank to the peak of B-Rank!


    Regina then clenched her fist and bellowed.


    "Begone!"


    *Boom!*


    With a powerful punch, the monster was sent flying away!


    Bur perhaps due to coincidence, or perhaps in purpose, the monster fell a few meters away Sara and the others.


    Instantly, Gerald, Erika, and Sara''s expressions turned white.


    The monster roared in pain and rage. Blood flowed out of its mouth, and its body twisted on the ground.


    When it detected the three humans near it, it opened its mouth to devour them.


    "Damn it!"


    Sara''s expression changed. She hurriedly jumped away while carrying Gerald and Erika with her, evading the monster''s attack by a hairbreadth.


    But when she thought it was safe, she saw the spiked tailing towards her.


    ''It''s the end!''


    That was the only thought in Sara''s mind.


    A secondter, though, a man appeared in front of her.


    "What do you think you are doing to my children!?"


    With a roar of anger, the city lord raised his sword and shed towards the monster.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 74: Sudden Change (3)

    Chapter 74: Sudden Change (3)


    "Die, beast!" The city lord shed towards the worm.


    *Boom!*


    A thunderous sound resounded. The shockwaves of the sh between the city lord''s sword and the worm''s spear-like spiked tail forced Sara, Gerald, and Erika to take a few steps behind.


    *ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!*


    The worm roared in pain. An enormous cut appeared on its tail, and green blood flowed from its wound.


    At the same time, the city lord took a few steps back and spit out a mouthful of blood.


    The worm continued roaring in pain. It trashed in the ground fiercely before finally burrowing in the ground.


    The city lord frowned. He could feel that the worm was still nearby, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.


    He then looked in Bloed and the others'' direction. When he saw Bloed''s saber, a sh of killing intent appeared in his eyes, but it disappeared quickly when he felt Regina''s gaze.


    In the end, he just nodded to Regina and the others and grabbed Sara and his two children.


    "Let''s go!"


    "But dad! what about Bloed!"


    "Don''t worry about them, Erika. They can escape for themselves." The city lord smiled at his daughter and put her on his back.


    Once Sara and his two children were secured, he looked back at Bloed and the others onest time before leaving.


    Making use of his A-Rank abilities, he quickly escaped the monsters'' encirclement and rushed towards the city.


    The worm did not chase after him. It knew the city lord was as powerful as it, and without the help of the other monsters, it probably would lose.


    Instead, it focused on the other group escaping.


    Regina frowned. She looked at the ground and instantly warned Bloed.


    "Master, we need to leave quickly. I can feel that the monster is quickly approaching."


    Bloed nodded. "Leto, you know what to do."


    With a nod of the wolf, its body changed, turning into a shape more suited for flight.


    One secondter, the anti-gravity engine was activated, and the wolf took flight.


    In seconds, the group was fifty meters up in the air.


    Bloed looked down at the forest. He could see the two remaining B-Rank ck-dressed men still fighting against the beasts, trying to escape the encirclement to survive.


    However, the number of monsters was too great. No matter how many they killed, more were there to take their ce. The two ck-dressed men were soon covered in injuries and filled with despair.


    Less than five secondster, Bloed saw one of the men being swallowed alive by the wave of monsters.


    As for thest ck-dressed man, it was bitten into two by the giant worm that burst from the ground.


    " This is horrible." Liu Ying said from beside Bloed.


    Bloed nodded. " Yes, it''s Regina, could these monsters be"


    Regina fell silent for a few seconds. She then looked at Bloed and sighed.


    "It''s just like master thinks"


    Bloed fell silent.


    Looking at the countless monsters filling the forest, Bloed felt a rush ofplicate emotions filling his body.


    " Master, it''s not our fault."


    "Do you truly believe it?" Bloed smiled bitterly. "Do you truly think it''s a coincidence?"


    Nither Regina nor Liu Ying replied. None of them were fools, they could easily make the connection between this wave of beasts and the ck mass-like thing they killed when they were leaving the exilednds.


    Bloed sighed. "Let''s go home. I''m tired."


    Regina and Liu Ying nodded.


    Later that day, in the city lord''s mansion.


    Gerald was standing across his father with a serious look.


    " We failed." The city lord sighed. "Even worse, we lost almost half of our forces in the two operations against them, and despite it, we did not get any result."


    Gerald bit his lips. He could not help feel slightly frustrated, and afraid, after today''s events.


    " Father, I don''t understand. You could have killed them earlier when you appeared! We could have said that the beasts killed them and nobody would have suspected us!"


    The city lord shook his head. "You don''t understand. I wanted to, but I could not."


    "Huh?"


    " That silver-haired girl, Regina, she is definitively not a C-Rankbatant. No, when she punched the A-Rank monster away, her mana waves were equivalent to the peak of B-Rank, maybe even stronger. I fear she is probably just a bit weaker than me."


    "Impossible! She does not look older than eighteen!" Gerald''s eyes opened wide.


    The city lord sighed. "Yeah. Can you imagine it? An A-Rank younger than twenty-years-old. Simply the prospect of that is terrifying. Of course, I''m confident that I can win if we fight."


    "Then"


    "But if I fought her, you and your sister probably would have died under the ws of the beasts Gerald, even if a Demigod artifact is very attractive, I will not exchange it with you and your sister''s lives."


    " Father" Gerald lowered his head. "Then, are we going to give up?"


    The city lord thought for a moment. "Let''s see what happens. If an opportunity presents itself, we will act. If not, then there is no need to force things. Just keep the surveince on them."


    "I understand."


    At that moment


    *Bam!*


    Someone opened the door with a m.


    "I knew something was wrong" Erika said while looking at the ground and clenching her fist.


    "Erika?"


    "It was obvious. I have met Harold before, and he is never like that. And the men in ck, they were your men, right dad?"


    " Erika, that is"


    "Shut up!" Erika shouted in fury with tears in her eyes.


    The city lord sighed and looked at his daughter.


    "Dad, he saved my life! I don''t know what would have happened if he would have not risked his life to save me!"


    " I know." The city lord sighed again.


    "Then, why did you"


    "But the interests of the family are over everything."


    Erika bit her lips. She looked at her father with a gaze full of sadness and disappointment. She was not expecting her father to say something like this.


    " Dad, I like him."


    The city lord''s expression turnedplicated.


    " Erika, if you help us, I promise we will not hurt him."


    Erika''s eyes opened wide. She then looked at her father as though she could not believe his words.


    An instantter, she turned around and ran out to her room while crying.


    The city lord sighed again and shook his head. Now he was feeling like shit.


    " Dad, if Erika likes him, perhaps we can"


    " One of the dukes asked me to marry her to his son one month ago." The city lord simply said.


    The empire had three dukes, and each one was very powerful. It was said that every dukedom had at least a demigod behind them.


    Gerald sighed. Those words were enough for him to understand.


    It seemed like the first love of his sister was destined to be fruitless.


    "Let''s not think about that now." The city lord exhaled tiredly. "Instead, focus on the beasts'' that attacked today. The fact that so many different species of monsters cooperated to kill people is not normal. I fear there is something strange behind it."


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N.


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 75: Glove

    Chapter 75: Glove


    The next day


    *Boom!*


    A strong shockwave was produced by Liu Ying''s fist after she punched the air. The shockwave shook the trees nearby, and even the walls of the house trembled slightly.


    "How is it?" Bloed asked.


    Liu Ying looked at the glove on her hand and could not hide her surprise. She could feel that the strength of herst punch was at least twice as strong as before.


    Moreover, that was not the only effect of the glove.


    "This is I can''t believe it."


    Bloed put on a smile of pride. He looked at the glove on Liu Ying''s hand and nodded in satisfaction.


    The glove was made of mithril and a bit of orichalcum. Bloed designed it as a red fingerless glove mixed with amber in some parts. Yes, just like Liu Ying''s hair and eyes.


    But the beautiful design was just a part of its charm. The best part of this glove was its functions.


    Bloed used magic runes rted to [Power], [Pration], and [Impact] on it. The three kinds of magic runes were fused to give the glove the ability to increase exponentially the strength and pration of the wielder''s attacks.


    Liu Ying only needed to supply it with a bit of mana to see its effects.


    To be honest, even an A-Grade practitioner would be jealous after seeing a glove like this.


    "Come, return it to me." Bloed said.


    Liu Ying put on a reluctant look. She looked at Bloed like a child begging to keep her candy.


    Bloed could not help but twitch his lips seeing that.


    "Come on, you know I have not finished it yet. I still need to do some adjustments and finish the other."


    Liu Ying pouted, but in the end, she returned the glove to Bloed.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry when he saw her eyes filled with longing and reluctance.


    "It looks like you liked it."


    Liu Ying nodded in embarrassment. "It''s great. I can''t believe you managed to make it in just a few days."


    "Well, I''m amazing."


    Liu Ying scoffed, but her face had a smile.


    "Then, did you find anything wrong or strange with it?" Bloed asked Liu Ying while observing the glove.


    Liu Ying hesitated slightly before speaking. " I think the flow of mana was a bit messy in the fingers, but I''m not sure. However, that is something normal. Most magic weapons have that problem."


    "Is it so?" Bloed fell deep into thoughts.


    "B-But it''s still great!" Liu Ying quickly continued speaking. "To be honest, even my family didn''t have many artifacts as good as it! I think no weapon below demigod artifacts canpare."


    "But they are still wed." Bloed simply said.


    Liu Ying did not know what to say.


    To be honest, the glove was more than perfect if she had to give an opinion. That tiny w was nothing inparison.


    In fact, most magic weapons had bigger ws.


    Great consumption of mana, being hard to wield, harming both the user and the enemy, etc. Stuff like that wasmon with magic weapons.


    But as an engineer, Bloed could not tolerate even that tiny w.


    The basis of mechanics was perfection. Many times, a tiny w in the design was enough to cause a lethal malfunction.


    Plus, Bloed''s pride as an engineer did not allow him to make a wed weapon.


    So, after asking Liu Ying some other questions about the design, he returned to theboratory.


    In the courtyard, a girl was looking at that scene with her hands on her cheek.


    "Nn-nn, as expected, my hero is incredible" Gina smiled brilliantly.


    " Your hero?" A sharp voice came from behind her.


    "R-R-Regina!? H-How long have you been here?"


    "That is not important, miss Gina. Exin, what is that about your hero."


    Gina panicked. She looked right and left to find a way to get herself out of this situation.


    At that moment, she saw Bloeding out of theboratory again.


    "R-Right, I had to tell him something important!"


    Then, she ran towards Bloed like a frightening rabbit.


    Regina frowned. "As expected, this little girl''s intentions are not pure."


    Gina quickly reached in front of Bloed. When Bloed saw her expression, he tilted his head.


    "What is it?"


    " This... You want to know why the city lord is doing this, right?"


    "Oh, that. I already know."


    Gina was stunned. " You already know?"


    "Yeah, I discovered the reason during the fight yesterday. By the way, how do you know about this?" Bloed looked at Gina suspiciously.


    Gina was startled. She then smiled sheepishly andughed Bloed''s question off.


    Bloed''s narrowed his eyes. But when he was about to interrogate her, Liu Ying interrupted him.


    "Huh? Do you already know the reason? What is it?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Bloed shrugged and took out his saber. He then showed it to Liu Ying.


    "What do you think about my saber?"


    "A good weapon." Regina replied without hesitation. "Its ability to cut through anything is truly frightening. If not that only you can use it, it could be easily considered a demigod-level weapon."


    Bloed smiled. "Now you understand."


    Liu Ying was startled. But in the next second, her eyes opened wide.


    "So that is the reason"


    Bloed smiled wryly. "It was my mistake. To me, this saber is just a medium to use my ability, but in the eyes of people below demigod rank, it''s a de able to cut through anything. I fear the city lord discovered the unusualness of the saber when I saved his daughter and got greedy for it."


    Liu Ying did not know whether tough or to cry. To think that all this issue was due to a misunderstanding.


    "What are you going to do, then, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed shrugged. "What can I do? I will finish making your gloves and leave the city. As for the city lord, I don''t want to kill him to avoid problems, but if he goes too far, I don''t mind killing him... Sigh, how troublesome. I will have to be more careful about this next time."


    Liu Ying nodded. She agreedpletely with Bloed.


    But when she remembered that the time to separate from Bloed and Regina was approaching, her expression turnedplicated.


    In the end, she could only sigh.


    At that moment, a timid voice interrupted.


    " Hey Bloed, is it alright for me to hear this conversation?"


    Bloed was startled. He then remembered that Gina was here too.


    A frown instantly appeared on Bloed''s face. ''Strange What happened?''


    It was strange. Bloed normally did not make such a novice mistake.


    Furthermore, despite knowing that Gina had heard such a dangerous conversation and that she had ties to the city lord, Bloed could not bring himself to feel wariness towards her.


    ''How strange''


    For an instant, Bloed could not help but look at this bubbly girl with a curious look.

 Chapter 76: Chased by Shadows

    Chapter 76: Chased by Shadows


    Gina was running.


    She ran through the gardens, through the alleys, and through the streets. But no matter how much she ran, she could not escape her pursuers.


    Gina did not know who her pursuers were, but she knew she could not let herself be caught.


    Unfortunately, no matter how much she ran, her pursuers were always behind her.


    Every time she looked back, she could see the shadows behind her, approaching little by little, meter by meter. Each second, they were a bit closer to her.


    ''Someone, save me!''


    Gina tried to scream, but her words were caught in her throat. She tried to speak, but she could not open her mouth.


    Looking around, she realized that the streets were deste. The merchants that normally were selling their wages were not around, the adventurers and hunters going to hunt monsters had disappeared, and the people chatting with their neighbors were gone.


    There was nobody there to help her.


    ''Sister, where are you?'' Gina''s eyes turned red.


    In a panic, Gina could only keep running.


    Gina did not know how much she ran. She only knew that her body was incredibly tired, and her legs hurt. Even taking one step more was hard for her.


    It was normal, though. Gina''s body had always been weak. The fact that she managed to run all this while was a mystery.


    However, now that she was tired, she could not run anymore.


    Gina did not want to give up. She tried to continue, but her legs gave up and she copsed in the ground.


    ''No!''


    Gina''s face was dyed with despair. She looked back and saw the shadows approaching andughing mockingly to her futile attempts to escape.


    " Please" Gina managed to blurter out, but her pleading was answered by cruelughs and smirks.


    Then, one of the shadows extended her hand.


    But


    "Don''t you dare to touch her!!!"


    Salvation finally appeared.


    "Gyaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!" With a cry of pain, the shadow grabbed its severed wrist. It cried and screamed in pain and rage while rivers of blood spurt out of its wrist.


    She stood there, in front of her. Sara, her sister and protector. She confronted the shadows without fear, unafraid of the unknown enemies. Strangely, the blood of the shadows could not touch her, as though she was an ethereal existence untouched by mortal dust.


    "Sister!" Gina cried happily. Sara looked back over her shoulder and smiled at her little sister, telling her that everything was going to be alright.


    Then, she looked at the shadows with a look of anger.


    And pounced forward.


    Her daggers danced under the moonlight. Each sh of her dagger drew blood, and each stab pierced a heart. Bodies fell around her, corpses of the shadows that tried to devour Gina.


    But the shadows were unending. They advanced unstoppably, like a flood trying to swept everything in its path.


    Sara fought, and fought, and fought, and fought. Mountains of bodies formed around her, and rivers of blood formed below her feet, but eventually, she was injured.


    "Sister!"


    And injured again.


    Gina''s face turned pale. She wanted to stand up, to fight beside her sister, to protect her, but she could only look while the shadows killed her sister slowly, leaving wound after wound in her sister''s beautiful body.


    Soon, Sara''s arm was severed.


    "Sister!"


    And her leg was crushed.


    "No!"


    A sword pierced her belly.


    "Please!"


    And a dagger stabbed her back.


    "No, stop it!!!"


    Gina closed her eyes. She did not want to see it, she wanted to wake up. She did not want to see any more of this nightmare.


    But it was futile. Even when she closed her eyes, she could see. Even when she covered her ears, she could hear. Even when she tried to ignore everything, she could feel the pain her sister was feeling.


    Finally, when Sara could not endure anymore, she copsed in the ground.


    "Sister" Gina sobbed. Her body trembled in fear and her eyes cried blood.


    She could feel the shadows extending their hands to grab her. To take her away. To bring her to the darkness.


    She was the reason behind everything. Behind her sister''s suffering, behind her sister''s pain, behind her sister''s death.


    Because she was alive, her sister had to serve the people she hated the most. Because she was alive, her sister was trapped in a cage of constant suffering.


    And now, because she was alive, her sister was going to die.


    "Please someone" Gina begged. "Someone save us"


    At that instant, she recalled someone.


    Blue eyes, blue hair. It was him, the hero of her dreams.


    So, Gina made a wish


    "Save me"


    And the shadows were erased.


    .


    ..


    "Gah cough! Cough cough! Cough cough cough!"


    "Gina?" Sara rubbed her eyes sleepily. But when she looked at her sister, her expression changed.


    "Gina! What is wrong!?" Sara grabbed Gina''s shoulders in panic.


    "Cough cough Cough Sob Sob"


    "Gina, what happened!?"


    " Thank god"


    "Gina?"


    " Thank god, sister Thank god you are alright Wahhhhhhh!!!"


    "Shhh Calm down, calm down Everything is alright." Sara sighed and hugged the fragile body of her sister. "Don''t worry, It was only a dream."


    "Waaaaahhhhhh..."


    That night, Gina hugged her sister as tightly as she could.


    And she cried as bitterly as she could.

 Chapter 77: The Dreamer (1)

    Chapter 77: The Dreamer (1)


    "Are you sure about it, Liu Ying?" Bloed asked with a serious look.


    Liu Ying nodded. "Yes. I heard the news when I was in the market. I was not sure if it was just a rumor, so I asked around and in fact, it''s the truth."


    Bloed fell silent. He was thinking about the news Liu Ying brought just now.


    Several hunter parties and adventurer parties were attacked in thest two days. The attacks happened mainly in the south and east of the city.


    The ones behind the attacks were monsters. The survivors spoke about several species of monsters working together to kill the parties.


    A powerful A-Rank hunter went to investigate the situation and returned gravely injured. He said that the number of monsters is incredibly high, and they are approaching the city slowly.


    ording to him, Calice city will be hit by an unprecedented beast wave. It''s estimated that the beast wave will have at least twenty thousand monsters, and he confirmed the existence of three A-Rank monsters, but perhaps there is more.


    The city lord has asked for the assistance of all the practitioners in the city in order to defend against the beast wave.


    The city lord already asked for assistance from the pce. Apparently, a demigod who was nearby is rushing to the city at this moment.


    Bloed sighed. This was the worst.


    " Master, this is not your fault." Reginaforted Bloed.


    "You don''t have tofort me, Regina." Bloed smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Wait a moment, I will confirm the situation."


    Bloed then closed his eyes and connected himself to the satellite.


    With a thought, he made the satellite focus in the zone between the exilednds and Calice city.


    Instantly, his expression crumpled.


    "Dammit, this is bad."


    "Master?"


    "Bloed?"


    " Twenty thousand monsters? There are at least fifty thousand of them, perhaps more. And more monsters are stilling from the exilednds."


    Liu Ying paled, and even Regina wrinkled her brows.


    That was not a piece of good news.


    " But, don''t we killed the ck mass-like thingst time?" Liu Ying asked anxiously.


    Bloed sighed. "It looks like it was not the only one. Now, itspanions came for revenge, and they brought an army with them."


    The three of them fell silent.


    " Dammit, what is Chorius doing?" Liu Ying grumbled.


    Bloed could not help but smile wryly. "Chorius''s duty is only to stop the Blight if it appears again. With its character, it probably does not care if a monster wave destroys the entire kingdom."


    "You are right." Liu Ying made a bitter smile.


    "Master, what are you nning to do?" Regina asked with a frown.


    Bloed did not know how to respond. To be honest, he wanted to simply board Leto and leave this city. Anyway, he doesn''t care if this kingdom is overturned for monsters or not.


    However, it''s different if he is the cause behind the monsters'' attack.


    Bloed could not live with the guilt of causing the death of thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of people. At the very least, he had to do something.


    " Regina, sorry about this."


    Regina was startled, but she soon understood. "Why are you apologizing master? I''ll support you if you want to fight, and I''ll support you if you want to escape. You are my master, supporting you is my raison d''etre."


    "Thanks." Bloed smiled.


    Seeing that, Liu Ying could not help but smile too. "Well, it looks like we will have to fight soon. Mm, Bloed, do you think my gloves will be ready for then?"


    Bloed nodded. "They will."


    "Perfect. Nothing better than some monsters for their first battle." Liu Ying smiled savagely.


    Bloed could not help but return her smile.


    Both of them ignored the fact that once the gloves were done, they were going to part ways.


    At that moment, someone burst through the door.


    "My hero!"


    "Gina, stop!"


    "Sister, let go! I need to talk to my hero!"


    "Gina, stop this nonsense! I told you that was just a dream!"


    "Why don''t you believe me!?" Gina bellowed in anger and sadness. "I told you it''s real!"


    Watching themotion, Bloed and the others looked at each other in confusion. In the end, the three of them went to see what was happening.


    "Gina, miss Sara?" Bloed asked.


    "My hero!" Gina instantly freed herself of Sara''s grasp and charged towards Bloed''s chest, hugging him. "Please, help me!"


    "Help you? Gina, what is happening?"


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying were confused. Bloed looked at Sara to ask what was happening, but Sara just shook her head and sighed tiredly.


    Fortunately, Gina calmed quickly and exined the situation.


    " So, you are telling us that you have prophetic dreams and that in your dreams Bloed saves you?" Liu Ying could not hide her skepticism after hearing Gina''s story.


    "Liu Ying, I''m telling the truth!"


    "I told you, Gina. That was just a dream. Stop bothering other people."


    "Sister, you have to believe me!" Gina was already between tears. "Bloed, you believe in me, right?"


    Sara sighed. She wanted to tell her sister that nobody would believe such nonsense, but when she saw Bloed and Regina''s thoughtful faces, her words got caught in her mouth.


    A few secondster, Bloed opened his mouth.


    "Gina, are you not joking just now?" Bloed asked.


    Gina shook her head. "Of course no, Bloed. You have to believe me."


    "I see Then, you have seen Regina, Liu Ying, and I in your dreams. How long have you been having these dreams?"


    "Since I was a child But Regina and you only started to appear around two weeks ago. Miss Liu Ying appeared a few dayster."


    Bloed and Regina looked at each other. Both could see the astonishment in the other''s eyes.


    " Bloed, do do you believe me?"


    Bloed did not answer immediately. Instead, he asked another question. "Gina, when you told me a few days ago that you knew about the city lord''s purpose... You saw it in your dreams too?"


    Gina was startled, but she nodded one secondter.


    Bloed exhaled.


    After a few seconds, he patted Gina''s head. "Yes, I believe you."


    Gina''s eyes opened wide. One secondter, her eyes were filled with tear and she started to sob.


    "B-Bloed, you Y-You are the first person that believes me I knew it, you are my hero" She then hugged Bloed tightly.


    Bloed smiled wryly and Regina could not help but frown; but in the end, none of them stopped her.


    Liu Ying and Sara looked at the scene with a stupefied look. Finally, Liu Ying could not help but open her mouth.


    "H-Hey, w-what is happening?"


    "I will exin it to youter." Bloed said. "Regina, prepare the ESP activating capsule."


    "Understood, master."


    ...


    Two chapters tomorrow~


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 78: The Dreamer (2)

    Chapter 78: The Dreamer (2)


    I said I was going to post two chapters yesterday, and, well, I didn''t. But don''t worry, I''ll post three chapters today so forgive me for breaking my promise :p


    1/3


    ...


    ESP, Extra-Sensory Perception. In other words, going beyond human senses.


    Before ESP abilities were proved, it was normal that some people get premonitions of things that were about to happen. Such as someone feeling the presence of a killer, or someone that detected a disaster before it happened, or even the famous deja vu.


    In truth, it waster proved that the reason behind these was psychic power. When someone had a psychic power above average, they could sometimes feel things most people could not feel, going as far as avoiding danger.


    This phenomenon was called external perception.


    However, a very small number of people went beyond simply detecting the danger around them. Some people could feel danger days or months before it happened or feel that something was going to happen half a world away from them.


    These people were known as prophets.


    And although most of them were in fact, fake, a few of them were truly people with asleep ESP abilities rted to precognition. Such ESP abilities showed themselves in that way.


    And one of the mostmon ways such ESP abilities showed themselves was through dreams.


    That was the reason Bloed and Regina looked so serious when they heard Gina''s story.


    " Bloed, are you sure this is safe?" Gina asked in a nervous tone.


    Bloed smiled gently and patted her head. "Don''t worry, nothing will happen." He then closed the ESP activating capsule with Gina inside.


    Gina gulped down, but she decided to trust Bloed despite her nervousness. One secondter, though, she started to feel really sleepy.


    "This is"


    But before she could understand the situation, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.


    "Master, the anesthesia was effective."


    "Good. We can start the process then." Bloed nodded. He then pressed some buttons on the floating screen in front of him to configure the capsule.


    At that moment, the other two people beside him were unable to suppress their doubts.


    "Young master Bloed, what are you doing to my sister?" Sara asked coldly. She seemed ready to unsheathe her dagger at the first sign that something was wrong.


    Bloed, however, was unruffled.


    "Don''t worry, I just want to know if my guess is right."


    "Guess?" Sara frowned. To be honest, since the moment Regina activated a ck jewel and this chamber appeared in the garden, she waspletely lost.


    Just the fact that Regina was in possession of a spatial artifact was incredible, but after she entered inside, her surprise multiplied. She saw many things that she had not seen before and she did not have any idea of how they worked. It was as though she had entered apletely new world.


    When Bloed asked her little sister to enter the strange capsule andter put her to sleep, Sara got the impulse to attack them. If not that she didn''t feel any ill willing from Bloed or Regina, she would have attacked already.


    "Bloed, could it be that you truly believe Gina''s words?" Liu Ying asked curiously. "I have head about prophets before, but they are always swindlers. Even the gods themselves admitted they could not predict the future."


    "Hey, are you telling Gina is a liar?" Sara''s eyes turned cold.


    Liu Ying shrugged. "I just said that it''s impossible to see the future. Maybe she just had a strange dream and is confused."


    "Now now, stop it." Bloed shook his head. "Now is not the time to argue. And yes, Liu Ying, I believe her."


    "Huh?"


    Bloed smiled mysteriously. "Liu Ying, the universe is bigger than you think. Believe me, the ability to pry into the future truly exists, and I''m 60% sure Gina has it."


    Both Liu Ying and Sara were stunned.


    Bloed then looked into the capsule. "We are here to prove it. Regina, start the process."


    "Master, are you sure you don''t want to activate her ESP abilities? She will need to rest 15 days if she did not activate them today."


    Bloed hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "Better not. I''m not sure if I want to bring ESP abilities to this world yet."


    Regina nodded.


    She then pressed a button, and the process started.


    "Confirming vital signs Nothing out of ce. Confirming the width of her brain waves The width of her brain waves is normal. Loading subject data Data recognized Starting in three, two, one"


    *Tsuuuuuu!!!*


    With that sound as a signal, a powerful brainwave was released. The brainwave was powerful enough for Bloed, Liu Ying, and Sara to feel a slight headache.


    Sara''s expression turned worried. "Are you sure everything is alright?"


    "It is, don''t worry." Bloed smiled to relieve her.


    Sara nodded. However, her hand clenched the hem of her shirt.


    At that moment, Regina spoke.


    "Psychic reaction confirmed. It looks like there are ESP abilities in her body after all."


    "As expected." Bloed nodded with a smile. "Do you have the data?"


    "Wait a moment Here it is. Miss Gina has a total of, mm?"


    "Regina? What happened?" Bloed looked at Regina in surprise.


    Regina shook her head with a wry smile. "It''s nothing, I was just a bit surprised. Master, miss Gina has a total of three ESP abilities."


    "Three!!!?"


    "Yes, three." Regina nodded. "One more than you."


    Bloed was speechless. He was not expecting this.


    " Whew~ Is this girl some kind of monster?"


    Regina did not know how to reply. She just shook her head and exined the data.


    "The first one is nothing great. [E-Grade Mana Maniption]. It''s the standard ESP ability of this world''s inhabitants, but hers is not very strong."


    Bloed nodded. He already knew that although Gina could use mana, she was not very talented at it. Such a result was normal.


    "What is the second?"


    " [C-Grade Allure]" Regina said with a strange expression.


    Bloed''s expression turned weird. "This is a very strange ability."


    Thinking about it, Bloed remembered that he was normally unable to raise his guard against Gina. This was probably the reason.


    [Allure] is a very umon ESP ability. It did not have any uses in battle but was very good for negotiations and interpersonal rtionships.


    It was a kind of passive ability that affected the people around the user. The people affected will find the user more approachable, and find it hard to have ill will against him.


    Gina''s current psychic power was around E-Grade, so currently, this ability of hers was not very effective. But if she raised her psychic power to the C-Grade, or even higher, people will find it hard even to talk badly of her behind her back.


    "[Mana Maniption] and [Allure] huh What is herst ability?" Bloed asked.


    Regina looked at Bloed with a serious expression.


    "As you expected, master, it was a predictive ability, and it''s of a rather high grade."


    Regina then stared at the girl sleeping in the chamber with aplicated expression.


    "SS-Grade, [Precognition]."

 Chapter 79: The Dreamer (3)

    Chapter 79: The Dreamer (3)


    2/3


    ...


    "I see" Bloed fixed his sight in the girl sleeping in the capsule. "It was [Precognition], huh."


    [Precognition] was once of the mostmon abilities rted to the future, although it was umon to see one of such a high grade.


    In truth, what [Precognition] shows was not truly the future. The future is something that is not written yet, so seeing it is impossible.


    Instead, it shows the [Possibilities].


    In other words, the possible futures.


    Of course, the number of possible futures is countless, and many futures differed from others only in small details. Besides, the longer the period of time you want to predict is, the more variables will exist and the less precise will be the prediction.


    Due to it, [Precognition], like most predictive ESP abilities, only shows futures rtively certain and that will ur in a short span of time. For example, when Gina predicted Bloed and the othersing to the city, it was only two weeks ago, and only after Bloed and Regina decided to leave the spaceship ande to Calice city.


    Moreover, such predictions are often limited by the information the ESP ability is able to get. Thus, a [Precognition] user will probably not detect than a meteor is about to crash on the unless the meteor is just about to hit or the user tried to predict specifically about the topic.


    Of course, a powerful [Precognition] ESPer can use this ability to search between the countless futures for the future he needs, however, it''s very hard to do so, and most of the time it''s not sessful.


    But even with all its limitations, [Precognition] is a very powerful ability. In the Human Confederation, every ESPer with prediction abilities was treated like royalty and strictly safeguarded. After all, knowing the future is a great advantage.


    "SS-Grade [Precognition]. In the Human Confederation, someone like her would have been a celebrity."


    " Unfortunately, not everything is good news, master." Regina suddenly said.


    "Mm?"


    "Look at this." Regina then showed something to Bloed. Bloed looked at the words on the screen and furrowed his brows.


    " I see. This is not good, huh."


    "Young master Bloed, did something happen?" Sara asked worriedly when she saw Bloed frown. "Besides, what is it about SS-Grade, precognition, and Allure. I don''t understand."


    Bloed sighed. "Let''s wake Gina up first before exining the situation."


    Sara thought for a moment before nodding in understanding.


    Half an hourter, the group of five was seated around a table.


    Bloed and Regina had pensive expressions, and Sara and Gina had anxious looks. Only Liu Ying seemed rtively normal, but even she was a bit ufortable with the atmosphere.


    Finally, Gina broke the silence.


    "Bloed, is anything wrong? Could it be that there is something wrong with my dreams?"


    Bloed smiled softly when he heard Gina''s anxious look.


    "Don''t worry, there is nothing wrong with your dreams. In fact, it''s great. To be honest, it''s so great that I''m surprised."


    "Seriously?"


    "Yes." Bloed then exined to her about her abilities.


    Of course, neither Sara and Gina nor Liu Ying knew anything about ESP abilities, so Bloed exined them as abilities with the same origin as mana. It was not exactly true, but it was not exactly wrong either.


    " Are you saying that my sister has the potential to be a demigod?" Sara was surprised.


    "She does." Bloed nodded. "If she trains her [Precognition] ability, she probably will manage to be a Demigod in ten or twenty years, maybe a bit longer. It''s because a higher psychic power, or soul power as you call it, will allow her to control more mana. Of course, she needs a special method of training to achieve this."


    Gina''s face brightened. Her smile was so wide and bright that it was blinding.


    "Do you hear that, sister? I will be able to protect you this time!"


    "Mm!" Sara nodded. Although she was feeling a bitplicated, she could not deny that she was happy.


    But


    "However, there is a problem."


    "Huh?" Both Gina and Sara were startled. The sisters looked in Bloed''s direction asking him to exin himself.


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    "Gina is very talented, too talented to be exact, but all that talent is not necessarily good."


    "What do you mean?" Sara frowned.


    " You told me that Gina has always had a weak body since she was a child, right?"


    ""


    "... This is the reason behind it. The nature and strength of her abilities cause them to overflow and hurt her body."


    Sara and Gina fell silent.


    Bloed continued. "If I''m not wrong, you have been using some kind of medicine on her, right? That medicine is certainly effective, but that did not treat the problem.


    "Sara, Gina, I will be frank with you. Gina''s abilities are too strong, so strong that they are causing a burden in her body. ording to our exams, she only has five years of life."


    "!!!"


    The two sisters turned pale.


    Gina''s face turned ghastly white, and Sara opened her eyes wide. They were unable to process Bloed''s words.


    But one secondter, Sara''s face turned red.


    "You! What are you saying!? Do you want to die!?"


    Bloed sighed and did not reply. Seeing that, Sara turned even angrier.


    But


    "Sister, stop."


    "Gina?"


    " Actually, I already knew."


    "Huh? Gina, what are you"


    "I can see the future, sister. So it''s normal if I can see my own death."


    Sara was stunned. She looked at Gina as though she could not believe her words.


    "I didn''t want to tell you, but I guess there is no point in hiding it anymore."


    Sara bit her lips. "Gina, you, why"


    Gina lowered her head. Tears started to form in her eyes, and she clenched her hands. "I-I j-just didn''t want to worry I-If you knew, I-I d-don''t know what you would have done"


    Bloed and the others, who saw that scene, sighed. They could imagine how the sisters were feeling now.


    Sara had lived her entire life protecting her little sister and trying to give her a safe home, but in the end, she did not know that her little sister was going to die, and she was hiding it from her.


    As for Gina, she preferred to hide the truth from her sister and endure alone the pain of watching her life vanish little by little than make her sister suffer.


    Bloed heaved a sigh. " In truth, there is a solution"


    "Really!?" Sara jumped towards Bloed and grabbed his neck. "Quickly, tell me!"


    "Stop!" Regina stood up and grabbed Sara''s hand. "Do you want to die!?"


    "S-Sorry, I''m sorry I was a bit excited." Sara quickly apologized and took a few steps back. She then looked at Bloed with a mix of fear, hope, and despair.


    "Stop it, Regina." Bloed smiled at his servant before looking at Sara. "The solution is very simple. She must be stronger. The stronger she is, the lesser will be the burden on her body and the longer will be her lifespan. If she reaches A-Rank before she dies, she will be cured."


    Sara''s expression turned excited. But soon, she frowned. A-Rank? How much would she need to be A-Rank?


    Moreover...


    "... Even if you say so, normal training methods don''t work on Gina. She had tried before, but her strength has stagnated in the E-Rank."


    Bloed nodded. "I told you just now. Gina''s talents are very special, so she needs a special training method to be stronger... To be honest, I have a training method suited for her, but..."


    "But?"


    Bloed looked at Sara and Gina with a wry expression.


    "To be honest, I don''t know how much I can trust you."


    Sara was startled. She opened her mouth to say something, but in the end, she was unable to speak.


    Sara understood Bloed''s meaning.


    In the end, she was serving to Bloed''s enemy. Why would Bloed help his enemy?


    In truth, there was a much simpler solution to Gina''s problem. Bloed just needed to perform a body enhancement surgery on her and problem solved. With a stronger body, Gina would not have to fear her powers burdening her body.


    But in the end, Bloed was not sure about if do it or not. Although the prospect of having a friend with [Precognition] was tempting, if Sara and Gina decided to stay with the city lord, he would be creating an enemy able to see the future.


    That was obviously not a good idea.


    " Let''s end this talk here. I think all of us need a bit of time to think." Bloed finally said with a sigh.


    Sara could only nod.


    As for Gina, she stared at Bloed as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

 Chapter 80: Strategic Meeting

    Chapter 80: Strategic Meeting


    3/3


    ...


    " Sorry about this, Bloed. Father thought that it was a good idea to have you here given that you have experienced the fight with the monsters."


    Bloed nodded. "Don''t worry, I understand."


    Gerald nodded in relief and guided Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying inside the hall.


    Currently, Bloed and the others were in the city hall. The city lord had convoked a meeting with the leaders of the adventurers and hunter parties plus the powerhouses in the city. The meeting was to discuss the strategies to face the monster''s wave.


    Gerald had gone to Bloed''s house in the morning to invite them to the meeting, and Bloed did not refuse.


    For Bloed, this was a good opportunity to share what he knew about the monsters.


    When Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying entered the hall, they realized that it was already full. More than one hundred warriors and mages were seated or standing inside the hall. Each one of them sported serious expressions and were looking anxiously in the direction of the city lord.


    Bloed was surprised when he observed the people here. He realized that there were another three A-Rank practitioners in this hall besides the city lord.


    One of them was a buff man with a greatsword resting beside him, the other was a refined-looking old man seated in a chair with his eyes closed, and thest one was a mage-like woman standing behind a group of warriors with an ice-cold expression.


    Each one of them emitted a sense of pressure that intimidated the people in their surroundings. It was obvious that they were the top people in this city.


    When most of the people invited arrived, the city lord started his speech.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, we are reunited here due to the disaster our city is facing. I think that everybody here knows the gist of the situation, so we will not exin that. Instead, I will focus on defensive strategies."


    The city lord then talked about the ns for the defense, the number approximated of monsters, the logistics during the battle, the distribution of the hunters, and some other things.


    But when he reached a certain point, amotion arose in the hall.


    " City lord, are you saying that we are forced to participate in the defensive battle?" An insidious looking man asked. He had a scar in his cheek, and his eyes seemed filled with venom. "Why would we risk our lives in a battle like this?"


    "It was an order of the kingdom. If any of the people in the city runs away, the kingdom will brand them as traitors and punish them."


    "Hahaha, city lord, stop joking. Many of the people here are not from this kingdom. To be honest, the only reason I''m here is that it''s more convenient to hunt in this city. As for risking my life for this city? Hahahaha, you need more than a threat like that to make me stay. To be honest, I don''t care if I''m branded as a criminal. At most, I will leave this country."


    The city lord frowned. He could see that although only the insidious-looking man spoke, many of the warriors in the hall seemed to share the same thought.


    In the end, no many people were noble enough to risk their lives to fight a twenty thousand strong army of monsters for a city and people they barely knew.


    In the end, the city lord sighed.


    " I understand. How about this, the city hall will pay double the price of all the spoils you get in this battle. That is enough as a reward, right?"


    The insidious-looking adventurer smiled and closed his eyes. It was obvious that he was content with the city lord''s words.


    At that moment, it was the buff looking man, one of the three A-Rank beside the city lord, turn to speak.


    "City lord, I heard the kingdom is sending a demigod here. Do you know how much he will take to arrive here, and what demigod is it?"


    The city lord shook his head. "Unfortunately, I don''t receive information about his identity, but he will arrive tonight. Well, no demigod is weak. I''m sure whoever that demigod is, he will make the battle much easier."


    The buff man nodded.


    After that, some others asked some questions, and the city lord replied to them. After half an hour, most of the questions were replied.


    "Any other opinion?" The city lord asked after replying to thest question.


    Nobody raised his hand, so the city lord heaved a tired sigh and got readied to put an end to this meeting.


    But at that moment, someone spoke.


    "I have something to say."


    Everybody turned in direction of the voice.


    Instantly, they saw a blue-haired young man leaning against the wall. The young man had his eyes closed, and he was leaning against the wall leisurely. Two girls were standing beside him, each one beautiful beyond words.


    When the city lord saw the young man, he frowned.


    "Bloed, what is it?"


    " City lord, I fear the information you have is wrong."


    "Huh?"


    "Wrong? What do you mean, young man."


    " The number of enemies is not twenty thousand, it''s fifty thousand."


    "!!!"


    Instantly, amotion ensued in the hall. Some of the adventurers stood up, while others turned pale. But nobody was able to remain calm after hearing those words.


    "And who are you, boy, and why would we believe you?" The A-Rank old man looked at Bloed with sharp eyes. "Could it be you are trying to lower our morale."


    Instantly, the pressure of an A-Rank attacked Bloed.


    But Regina, who was beside him, snorted. She instantly blocked the pressure as though it was nothing and looked at the old man with an ice-cold expression.


    Anyway, she had already shown part of her strength when the worm attacked, so it did not matter if she showed it again, at least while they were in this city.


    The old man''s eyes narrowed. Not only him, but every strong person in the hall looked at the beautiful young girl in surprise.


    The city lord furrowed his brows. "Everybody, stop!" He then looked at Bloed. "Bloed, can you tell me how did you get this information."


    Bloed nodded.


    "You probably noticed it, city lord, but my eyes are special."


    Then, he opened his eyes.


    All the people in the hall were surprised. They saw a pair of bright blue eyes that glinted with electric light. Strange symbols appeared and disappeared from Bloed''s pupils constantly, and lines shed regrly through them


    "One of my eyes'' abilities allows me to see things far, far away from me. Yesterday in the morning, I used it to find the number approximate of monsters... And believe me, fifty thousand is a conservative estimate."


    The city lord was stunned. He fell silent for a moment to consider Bloed''s words.


    In fact, anyone would realize the uniqueness of Bloed''s eyes after seeing them once, however, it was the first time the city lord heard of their abilities, so he could not just believe Bloed''s words without proof.


    " Do you can prove your words, Bloed?"


    Bloed looked fixedly at the city lord and shrugged. "Why do I need to prove them? The city lord can decide if you want to believe me or not. I don''t care."


    The city lord narrowed his eyes. "I see, you are right. By the way, is there anything else you want to say?"


    " Just one thing. Be careful of the ck things."


    "ck things?"


    "Don''t ask me, I don''t know much about them either. I only know that these things are the culprits behind all of this."


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N to read until 20 chapters ahead (And twenty of my other novel)


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 81: The Night Before

    Chapter 81: The Night Before


    "Hey, Bloed. Were your words true?" Gerald asked after the meeting ended.


    Bloed looked at him indifferently and shrugged. "Why would I lie about something like this?"


    "That is true" Gerald nodded. "Anyway, thank you for the information. I''ll make sure that father takes it seriously."


    "Good." Bloed nodded and boarded the carriage followed by Liu Ying and Regina. "I''ll go to make my preparations for tomorrow''s battle."


    Although Gerald wanted to talk with Bloed a bit more, he did not have an excuse to keep him behind. Thus, he could only watch Bloed and the others leave.


    " I hate that hypocrite." Liu Ying sneered inside the carriage. "How I would like to punch him in the face. At least once, no, twice."


    Bloed smiled. "Me too. But we can''t be rash. Punching the city lord''s son is the same as putting the entire city against us."


    "Master, if you want, I can kill them."


    Bloed rolled his eyes. "Were not supposed to hide your strength? You are not putting effort into it."


    "Hmph, I was not going to let that old man humiliate master. Besides, the city lord already witnessed I using this level of strength. There is no point in hiding it anymore."


    Bloed smiled wryly and heaved a sigh. "Anyway, I hope they truly pay attention to my words and don''t ignore them. In fact, the ideal would be if they evacuate the city."


    "Evacuate the city? So serious?" Liu Ying was surprised.


    "Liu Ying, do you think this town has the strength to fight against a wave of fifty thousand monsters? Even with a demigod, the will unable to protect the entirety of the city walls. And once a monster gets inside the city, even a C-Rank one, the number of casualties on the poption will be immense."


    Liu Ying fell silent. She could see the truth behind Bloed''s words.


    " Then, the city lord"


    "He probably will not evacuate the poption."


    "Huh?"


    " There is simply too little time. Besides, if the poption evacuates there is the possibility that some practitioners will take the opportunity to desert. The best conclusion is the city lord leaving behind a special team to take care of the monsters that break through the defensive line."


    In the end, Bloed could only wish for the best.


    " I hope not too many people die this time."


    At night, in the city lord mansion.


    " Mr. Sebastian, it''s an honor to have you here."


    "Don''t be so courteous, city lord. I''m here in orders of the king."


    The city lord smiled, but he kept a respectful and humble attitude. "To be honest, I''m surprised. When I heard that the king was going to send a demigod here, I was not expecting The King''s Right Hand himself."


    Sebastian just looked briefly to the city lord and ignored his obvious attempt to ttery.


    " How is the situation?" He asked.


    The city lord then proceeded to exin everything to Sebastian.


    Sebastian frowned. And when he heard that the estimate of enemies was between twenty thousand and fifty thousand monsters, he scowled.


    "Twenty thousand or fifty thousand? How can your intelligence to be so inurate."


    The city lord smiled wryly. "In fact, our intelligence indicates that the number is around twenty thousand, but This morning, someone can here and told me that the number is actually fifty thousand."


    "Someone? Is that person reliable?"


    " I think so." The city lord nodded. "However, I have been unable to confirm his words."


    Sebastian furrowed his brows. It seemed that it was right of him toe here.


    Sebastian was the right hand of the king, he could be considered as the kingdom''s butler. He was the demigod that took care of the most secretive matters in the kingdom.


    Thus, he normally would not be sent to this kind of mission. This time, however, he was nearby taking care of another matter for the king, so he decided toe in passing.


    But hearing that fifty thousand monsters were about to attack the city, even he could not remain calm.


    "Have you evacuated the citizens?"


    The city lord turned embarrassed. "We were too short on time. Besides, I didn''t want to cause chaos."


    "... I see. I need to know tomorrow''s defensive strategy. But first, I will take a look at the situation and confirm the number of enemies."


    "I understand." The city lord bowed respectfully.


    At that moment, though, he put on a hesitating expression.


    " Mr. Sebastian, can I make you a personal question?"


    "Hm? Do ask."


    " Does the surname Norman rings a bell?"


    "Norman? That is an unusual surname." Sebastian then fell silent and started to think. "Norman? I don''t remember any demigod or hidden family with that surname. At least, there is none nearby."


    "Is it so?" The city lord fell deep in thought.


    "Why the question?"


    "Huh? No, nothing. I was just curious about something."


    That night, Bloed stayed untilte at night in hisboratory.


    Although he was a bit tired, Bloed did not care. He waspletely focused on the work he was doing.


    Finally, after a few minutes of anxiousness, Bloed smiled.


    " It''s done."


    Looking at the gloves in the table and wiping off the sweat on his forehead, Bloed could not hide his excitement.


    His preparations for tomorrow were done.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 82: Separation

    Chapter 82: Separation


    This is yesterday''s chapter. Another oneing tonight...


    ...


    " In other words, we will be a response force?"


    "Yes. Father thought that it''s the best position for you. Although it will be a bit risky to face the monsters that pass through the defense line, the risk is less than in the frontlines."


    Bloed nodded. To be honest, he was happy with this arrangement. This way, he could try to protect as many civilians as possible.


    "You will be behind the defense line in the south of the city with another three teams. Also, although there are teams in the other parts of the city, you must be ready to reinforce them if the situation turns dangerous."


    Bloed nodded. "I understand. Don''t worry, I know what to do... Young master Gerald, can I ask how is the situation?"


    " Things are not looking good. Yesterday, the demigod of the kingdom went to check the situation and he confirmed that the number of monsters is over fifty thousand It looks like you were right, Bloed.


    "Fortunately, the kingdom sent a particrly strong demigod this time. You will not believe it, but they sent The King''s Right Hand himself! With him, I''m sure we will manage to defend against the monster wave. Bloed, are you alright?"


    "Huh? Oh no, it''s nothing. I was just thinking about something." Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. Inwardly, though, he was feeling a rush ofplicate emotions.


    Butler Sebastian, The King''s Right Hand.


    One of the strongest in the kingdom, the king''s confidant, and a powerful martial artist.


    And also, one of the people Bloed did not want to meet the most.


    "Well, I have to go, Bloed. The monster wave will arrive in four hours. So get ready for then."


    Bloed nodded absentmindedly.


    When Gerald left, Regina approached Bloed with a concerned look.


    "Are you alright, master?"


    Bloed smiled bitterly. "I am, don''t worry. It''s just that I was a bit surprised."


    "Bloed, do you know The King''s Right Hand?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. Liu Ying understood his clue and did not ask anymore.


    Instead, she got ready for theing battle.


    With a tight-fitted shirt and a short skirt, Liu Ying put on the two fingerless gloves on her hands. The red and amber gloves fitted perfectly in her small hands, as though that was the ce they were supposed to be since the start.


    [Framover]. Forward.


    That was the name Bloed gave the gloves.


    Liu Ying caressed them softly. She could feel Bloed''s feelings in the gloves. His wish for her to continue forward, no matter the obstacle in her path.


    She could not help but feelplicated seeing them. She felt happy, but deer inside her, she felt sad.


    But that was not the only thing Bloed prepared for her. Besides the gloves, he also gave her a set of light armor with [Mana Shield] and [Reduced Impact] enchantments. Bloed said that he had made it in passing, but Liu Ying could see the dedication and care he had put on the armor.


    An armor like this was enough to be considered a treasure even for an A-Rank practitioner.


    "That idiot" Liu Ying muttered softly and wore it.


    Once she put on the armor, Liu Ying had transformed from a lively-looking young girl into a valiant goddess of war.


    Unfortunately, her hair and eyes were disguised by Bloed''s magic tool, or she would look even more stunning.


    Liu Ying then left the room and went to the courtyard. Bloed and Regina were already there waiting for her.


    When Liu Ying saw them, she for the first time got the feeling she did not belong here.


    " It''s time to go, huh." Liu Ying smiled bitterly. Unknowingly, she had gotten used to Bloed''s smile and Regina''s sharp words.


    "Liu Ying, you are here." Bloed called out to her.


    Liu Ying bit her lips and sighed. "I guess the sooner I get done with this, the better."


    "Huh? Did you say something?"


    Liu Ying took a deep breath and looked straight to Bloed''s eyes.


    " I think it''s time for me to go."


    Bloed stiffened.


    " I thought you were going to wait until after the battle."


    "Better not. I think I will not bear to part if I postpone this." Liu Ying smiled wryly.


    Bloed did not know what to say.


    In the end, he only managed to sigh.


    " I see."


    "I will go to the defense line to do my part and afterward I will leave for the demon empire. Don''t worry, I''ll be fine. I''m sure there are people in the empire still loyal to my family. They will surely help me." Liu Ying forced out a smile and looked away to hide her red eyes. "Perhaps, you will hear of me when I be an empress."


    Liu Ying felt her words getting caught in her throat.


    "Then, I''m going. See youter, Bloed, Regina." After these words, Liu Ying turned around and left resolutely.


    After a few seconds, Bloed managed to reply.


    " See youter, Liu Ying."


    For some reason, Bloed thought that Liu Ying''s back seemed incredibly small.


    " Master, if you want, you can ask her to stay."


    "Regina?" Bloed was surprised.


    " To be honest, I don''t like her. But I have watched her closely, and even after she learned that you can''t use mana, she never looked at you differently. Furthermore, although she is in a position where she needs all the help she can get, she never tried to take advantage of us or asked us to help her, not even when she learned of my true strength or your forging talents."


    Bloed fell silent.


    "Master, if you want to aplish your goals, she will be of great help." Regina finished with those words.


    " Thank you, Regina."


    "Why? I''m just doing my duty."


    Bloed smiled softly. "Well, you are doing a great job."


    "Then, about Liu Ying"


    "Let''s wait a bit more. I''ll feel a bit awkward if I go after her just after she left."


    " That is stupid."


    "I know... Just... shut up."


    In another part of the city.


    "Don''t worry, Gina. You''ll be safe here." Sara patted her little sister''s head with a smile.


    " I know, sister. You be careful." Gina replied.


    Sara smiled gently. She took something out of her shirt and put it on Gina''s hand. "Take thismunication crystal with you. If something happens, tell me."


    "I understand. Don''t worry sister, I''ll be safe."


    Sara nodded with a frown. For some reason, she felt strangely jittery today.


    "Then, I''m going." With ast smile, Sara turned around and left for the battle.


    Gina saw her sister go with a smile. Her smile was more beautiful and brighter than ever.


    Even when her sister was far away, she was still smiling.


    " It''s better like this, sister. It''s better like this." Gina whispered.


    Gina knew that if she asked her sister to stay, Sara would stay.


    However, she did not do so.


    Only one of them was the target of the shadows. Her sister must note to harm due to her.


    " I wonder if my hero wille for me."


    With thatst whisper, Gina closed her eyes.


    ...

 Chapter 83: Fighting Against Fate

    Chapter 83: Fighting Against Fate


    In the walls of Calice city.


    Thousands of adventurers were standing nervously. They were looking towards the horizon, waiting for the attack to start.


    Liu Ying was among them. Her body was standing straight, and her long hair tied in a ponytail waved with the wind. She seemed like a heroic warrior ready for an epic battle.


    But despite her battle-ready stance, her face had a dazed expression.


    "Are you alone, miss?" A young guard beside her asked curiously.


    Liu Ying was startled, but she quickly recovered and nodded. " Yeah."


    "Eh? Are you not afraid?" The young soldier smiled. "Well, it doesn''t matter. Stay close to us, we will be sure to protect you when the monsterse."


    Liu Ying was surprised. The next second, she smiled wryly. She could see that the young man was just an E-Rank practitioner, just a bit stronger than a normal human.


    However, she did not want to look rude.


    "Sure, thank you." She smiled.


    The young guard blushed slightly. The city guards beside himughed and chuckled amusedly.


    "Beto, stop flirting with the adventurers! Besides, you are just a little boy! How can you protect her?"


    "Shut up! Old man!"


    "Hahahahaha! So, spring came for our Beto!"


    "She looks like a good girl! Take care of him, okay?"


    "Hey, you still don''t know if the girl likes him!"


    Liu Ying heard the city guards'' talk with a wry smile. In truth, she did not even blush when she heard them.


    Since the day her family was destroyed, she had matured a lot. Things like this were not enough to fluster her.


    Besides


    "Sorry, I have already someone I like."


    "Huh?" The city guards were startled. Then, one of them started tough.


    "Hahahaha! Poor Beto, he lost even before starting!"


    "Hey Beto, don''t cry! Sometimes you win and sometimes you lost!"


    "Yeah, this girl looks like too much for you!"


    "Shut up!" Beto flushed in shame. He then looked at Liu Ying with an apologizing look. "Sorry about it. T-They are just joking. D-Don''t take it seriously."


    Liu Ying smiled calmly. "Don''t worry about it, I don''t mind."


    " The guy you like must be very fortunate."


    Liu Ying looked at the sky with a lost expression. " Do you think so? I wonder. I''m not sure if he likes me too Hell, I''m not sure if I truly like him."


    She then looked at the ck line that suddenly appeared on the horizon.


    Thousands and thousands of monsters, advancing furiously towards the walls to destroy the city.


    The adventurers, hunters, and guards turned pale. Some of then even started to shake when they saw the great number of monsters marching towards them.


    But Liu Ying just kept her heartbroken look. Clenching her fist, she smiled in such a way that all the people around her felt pity for her.


    " I''m not even sure if I can see him again."


    In another part of the city.


    The city lord and his son, together with the three A-Rank warriors of the city and some other important people were standing behind a middle-aged man with an imposing presence.


    Sebastian, The King''s Right Hand, looked at the wave of monstersing towards them.


    Despite the overwhelming number of monsters, his expression did not change. As a demigod, Sebastian did not fear the monsters in the slightest.


    " I''m sure I will remember this sight for a long time." Sebastian muttered. He then grabbed a longsword that was leaning against a table and walked until the edge of the city wall.


    "City lord, how are the preparations?"


    "Everything is ready. We have five thousand people ready to fight the monsters, and with the help of the city walls and Mr. Sebastian, we are confident in defeating them."


    "That is good." Sebastian nodded. "Make sure to keep the casualties at the minimum. The kingdom can''t afford to lose much of itsbat force."


    "I understand." The city lord replied seriously.


    "Very well, I''m off then."


    As soon as he spoke, the city lord took a step forward.


    But instead of falling to the ground, he stepped in the air as though he was stepping on an invisible foothold.


    Then, he kicked the air.


    And rushed towards the monsters.


    The city lord and the others looked at that scene with an envious expression.


    " So that is a demigod, huh. How powerful."


    "Just the fact that he can fly makes him almost invincible against non-demigod enemies." The A-Rank woman mage shook her head wryly. "Unfortunately, there is a huge gap between A-Ranks and demigods. I don''t know if I have a chance to bridge that gap in my lifetime."


    The other A-Ranks nodded.


    At that moment, a man approached the city lord and told him something in his ear.


    The city lord was startled, but quickly, his expression turned to one of contemtion.


    Then, he looked at the three A-Ranks beside him.


    "My friends, can you help me with a little thing?"


    Gina was sleeping on a table. Her honey-colored hair rested against the table and her chest moved up and down slowly.


    But suddenly, she frowned in her slept.


    Cold sweat flowed on her forehead, and her face turned pale. It was as though she was experiencing something incredibly frightening.


    Less than one minuteter, she opened her eyes.


    " I wonder if I can change fate." She smiled wryly.


    Gina furrowed her brows. She could feel the shadows approaching her. There was not much time left.


    However, Gina did not want to give up so easily.


    So, she stood up and walked towards the entrance.


    "Even if it can''t be changed, I must not give up."


    With such resolute words, she left the house.


    Strangely, none of the people guarding her noticed when she left.


    ... The shadows were quickly approaching.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 84: The Battle of Calice City (1)

    Chapter 84: The Battle of Calice City (1)


    Sebastian was standing in the air above the monsters.


    Thousands and thousands of monsters marched towards the walls of the city. The roared and screeched with bloodthirsty eyes, eager to taste the blood of the humans behind the walls.


    Sometimes, bird-like monsters attacked Sebastian. Every time that happened, Sebastian would swing his sword, bisecting the monsters before they could approach one hundred meters near him.


    However, Sebastian knew how useless this was.


    Even if he killed one hundred, one thousand, or ten thousand monsters like these, it would be useless. Fifty thousand monsters and forty thousand monsters were equally dangerous for the people of the city. But he would have drained his strength.


    No, his task here was to kill the strongest monsters. A-Rank monsters. Once he killed the monsters that could threaten the city walls, he could spend his remaining strength in the small fries.


    Fortunately, he did not need too much time to find the first one.


    Three kilometers away, he saw a tiger-like monster standing over a rock. The tiger roared angrily to the sky, disying its fury and desire for blood.


    Just a nce was enough for Sebastian to detect its strength.


    A-Rank.


    Sebastian''s eyes narrowed. He shook off the blood on his sword and kicked the air.


    Then, he appeared just above the tiger.


    "Die." With an ice-cold tone, his sword shed down.


    *Booom!!!*


    The sword sh crashed against the ground. Powerful mana waves exploded in the surroundings, killing all the monsters nearby. Just that sword sh was enough to create a one-hundred-meters-long crevice on the ground!


    But


    "How unexpected. To think The King''s Right Hand himself would appear so far away from the capital."


    A voice spoke from the ground.


    A ck-dressed man appeared in Sebastian''s sight. He was holding a narrow long sword while defending the tiger-like monster from the attack.


    Then, something even more unexpected happened.


    The tiger kneeled down on the ground and growled submissively to the ck-dressed man. When the man nodded, the tiger stood up and ran away.


    Sebastian was surprised. The scene of an A-Rank monster bowing to a human was enough to give him too many things to think about.


    "Who are you?" Sebastian asked.


    "You don''t need to know." The ck-dressed man chuckled. "You only need to know that the reason I''m here is to stop you from interfering with our master''s n."


    " Master?" Sebastian was surprised. "Are you telling me that this disaster was caused by someone?"


    "What do you think?" The ck-dressed man tilted his head. "Okay, you don''t need to know too much. Are you going to fight or not?"


    "Hmph!" Sebastian snorted. Strong sword intent surged out of his body, charging towards the ck-dressed man.


    But the ck-dressed manughed. With a wave of his sword, sword winds were created, dissipating the sword intentpletely.


    The next second, both swords collided in an earth-shattering sh.


    Just like that, the fight between two demigods started.


    Meanwhile, the monsters arrived at the walls of the city.


    And unfortunately, there was not a demigod to stop the strongest monsters from attacking.


    The first monsters that attacked the city were the flying monsters.


    Pigeons, eagles, vultures, nightingales, hawks, bees, flies, and many other kinds of birds and insects charged towards the humans on the walls.


    The human''s replied with their own attacks. Arrows and spells flew from the city walls, crashing towards the cloud of monstersing to the city.


    ***Screeeeeechhh!!!***


    The screams of pain and rage from the flying monsters assaulted the defenders'' ears. Corpses fell from the sky, crushing the monsters below and causing confusion on the beast wave.


    But many more monsters managed to survive the rain of arrows.


    ***Screeeeeechhh!!!***


    With the bloodthirsty cries of the eagles and hawks, the first birds managed to reach the walls. Then, their ws turned into a grinding machine that reaped flesh and blood, killing tens of defenders in the first five seconds.


    Moreover, many flying monsters did not even bother with the defenders. They flew over the city walls, going to the undefended parts of the city to feast in the flesh and blood of the civilians.


    "Kill the monsters!" A mage shouted valiantly. Tens of fire arrows were shot towards the monsters, burning them into cinders.


    But at the same time, more powerful monsters were attracted to the man. The hawks cried in rage and dived towards the mage with their ws ready.


    The mage did not panic. Mana shields were created in front of him while fire whips entangled and burned the monsters. Just this was enough to show how experienced this mage was inbat.


    Unfortunately, not even a B-Rank mage was guaranteed to survive in this hell.


    Suddenly, a very strong eagle charged towards him. The peak B-Rank eagle pierced the shields as though they were paper, and its beak crushed the mage''s head.


    Then, it flew to another part of the battle.


    It killed and killed, using its wings like sabers and its ws like swords.


    City guards and adventurers fought against it, using their swords, spears, and arrows to try to kill it.


    But even when the eagle was covered in injuries, it continued killing. It ignored the spear piercing its belly, and the sword that severed its wing. The arrows on its neck and chest only served to make it more infuriated.


    Even when it seemed as though the eagle was about to bleed to death, it continued fighting. Its bloodthirsty eyes shone maliciously while its beak crushed everything in its path.


    Just this eagle alone was enough to create a giant hole in the city defenses.


    "Stop it!"


    "Don''t let it escape!"


    "Someone, help my brother!"


    Amidst the terrified cries of the crowd, the eagle finally set its sight in one of the city guards.


    It was a young city guard, frozen in fear in front of the beast''s pressure. Even when the beast was about to crush him, he could not move.


    *Screeeech!*


    The eagle screeched madly. It extended its w and swung it to the poor city guard.


    But


    *Boom!*


    A punch hit its head.


    Blood-red man bloomed above it, surrounding a beautiful and slender girl with an indifferent face.


    "Hey."


    The beautiful girl clenched her fist and her gloves lit up with beautiful crimson light.


    "Get lost!"


    With a punch of the demon, the already injured eagle was crushed against the ground.


    With the next punch, its heart stopped beating.

 Chapter 85: The Battle of Calice City (2)

    Chapter 85: The Battle of Calice City (2)


    *Boom!*


    When the flying monster reached the wall, the whole city saw how they shed against the defenders.


    At the same time, they saw many of the flying monsters bypassing the wall and flying inside the city.


    "God!" One of the citizens opened his eyes wide in fear. He could see the ck cloud of monsters flying towards them.


    Almost instantly, all the people that were still on the streets ran inside their houses. Fear and panic filled the city.


    Only a few people stayed outside.


    And Bloed and Regina were two of them.


    "Master, I can feel two very powerful energy fluctuations outside the city. They are shing right now."


    "How strong?"


    " A bit weaker than me if I go all out."


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. "Demigods? The monsters have a demigod-level fighter?"


    "I fear so, master."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. It seemed that this battle was going to be much tougher than he expected.


    " Regina, do you think you can kill the demigod monster?" Bloed asked.


    " Master, if you order me to, I''m dutybound to do it. But I don''t want to. My duty is to protect you, master. Not to protect this city."


    Bloed expression turnedplicated, but he knew Regina was right.


    In truth, Regina waspletely indifferent to the fate of Calice city.


    The only reason she was still here was that Bloed had decided to stay, so she stayed with him.


    And although she would leave Bloed to fight the monster if Bloed asked her to do it, Bloed knew Regina would be unhappy. And in the end, although Regina was technically his servant, he considered her his partner. And Bloed did not like to force his partner to do something against her will.


    " I understand. Let''s go to take care of our task then."


    "Understood, master."


    Climbing onto Leto''s back, the pair of master and servant rushed towards the nearest flying monster.


    At the same time, part of Leto''s body turned into the sniper mode of Bloed''s energy gun.


    Bloed''s eyes were as calm as ake. He raised the weapon, aimed towards one of the birds and


    *Bam!*


    The first bullet was shot.


    And the first monster fell.


    Bloed''s expression did not change despite killing it, however. Instead, he mechanically aimed at his next target and pulled the trigger once more.


    *Bam bam bam bam!*


    The process repeated several times. Astonishingly, Bloed did not fail even once despite most of the monsters being far away and moving in the air. Each monster was killed with the first shot.


    Just in terms of killing rate, Bloed was probably the number one in the entire city!


    The people in charge of killing the monsters that bypassed the defenses were surprised. They did not know who was killing the monsters, but they were in awe of his strength.


    Each time, they only managed to see a blue ray charging towards the sky at supersonic speed. Every time, the blue ray would hit the monster''s head. Even when the monsters tried to evade, it was as though the projectile knew where the monster was going to move.


    But soon, stronger and stronger monsters started to appear.


    When the first B-Rank flying monster entered the city, Bloed''s bullet failed for the first time.


    The monster seemed to detect danger ahead of time, twisting its body and avoiding the bullet just when it was about to hit it.


    Then, the monster looked at the ground and locked into its enemy.


    When it saw Bloed, Bloed pressed the trigger again.


    *Bam!*


    The bullet flew, and the bird rotated in the air to evade the attack. Next, the B-Rank flying monster dived towards Bloed.


    "Regina!" Bloed calmly aimed again and called out to his partner. Regina nodded and extended her hand forward. A mass of energy formed in the center of her hand.


    "Die!"


    The energy mass was shot towards the flying monster!


    The flying monster narrowed its eyes. Just likest time, it rotated its body airborne and evaded the bullet. But


    *Bam!*


    A bullet flew straight to the ce where the bird evaded, hitting it on the chest.


    *Screech!*


    With a short scream of pain, the flying bird crashed against the ground and stopped moving.


    "Next one."


    Bloed and Regina shot and killed monster after monster. It was as though they were killing insects instead of powerful beasts.


    Their killing rate was overwhelming!


    But in the end, four hands were not enough to change the situation.


    "Master, the number of monsters is increasing too quickly." Regina said with furrowed brows. "At this rate, we will be unable to take care of them before they reach us."


    Bloed did not reply, but he knew that Regina was right.


    At the start, his bullets were enough to keep the flying monsters at bay. But currently, more and more monsters managed to cause damage to the city.


    Now, Bloed could see more than ten clouds of smoke in different parts of the city. Bloed did not need to think too much to know that fierce battles were being waged in these ces.


    Moreover, perhaps because Bloed''s killings were too notorious, many monsters had put their eyes on hin.


    *Screech!*


    With a cry, a group of bat-like beast attacked them.


    Bloed frowned, but Regina took a step forward before he could move.


    "Master, leave them to me. You focus on shooting them."


    "Mm." Bloed did not hesitate to put his trust in her.


    The bats were very fast, and their movements were unpredictable. Besides, they used sound waves to confuse the enemy.


    But none of these was a problem for Regina. Generating two energy des on her hands, she jumped.


    *sh!*


    One movement of her de bisected a monster. Another bat tried to use the fact that she was in the air to attack her, but Regina kicked the corpse of the bat she just killed and changed her direction, passing below the new bat and slicing his belly open.


    Meanwhile, an energy spear materialized above her shoulder and flew towards another bat that nned to attack.


    *Spurt!*


    With a disgusting sound, the spear pierced the bat''s neck and pinned it to a wall.


    With such impossible-like movements, Regina continued moving in the air. Sometimes, she kicked a wall, sometimes, she kicked a corpse, sometimes, she kicked a branch. However, she always managed to evade the bat''s attacks before killing them.


    Even when the bats tried to get out of her range, she created an energy spear or an energy arrow and impaled them.


    Even more astonishing was that she never used energy beyond the C-Grade in any of her attacks or movements!


    Bloed looked at the scene in awe while he aimed and pressed the trigger of his weapon.


    But quickly, more and more flying beast were congregating around him. In the end, Bloed did not have more options but change his strategy.


    "Regina, we need to move. Leto!"


    *Woof!*


    The metallic wolf nodded and kicked the ground. It then started to run through the empty streets of the city while Bloed and Regina rode it and killed the flying beast.


    And when any flying beast was foolish enough to attack the wolf, it would use its metallic ws to show them it was not any weaker than its master and mistress.


    The battles through the city intensified. The number of monsters grew exponentially, and cries and screams of pain filled the streets.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. He could see the situation was quickly worsening. Just the flying monsters were much greater than anticipated.


    And at that moment.


    *Boooooom!!!*


    A strong impact shook the city.


    The city walls trembled. Some of the adventurers fighting on the walls fell to the ground, and pieces of debris crumbled from the city walls.


    Finally, the main attacking force of the monster wave had reached the city.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 86: The Battle of Calice City (3)

    Chapter 86: The Battle of Calice City (3)


    Guys, sorry for not posting yesterday, but I brought three chapters today to beg for your forgiveness...


    Enjoy :p


    ...


    "Arrows! Fire!"


    With themand of the city lord, hundred of arrows were shot towards the monsters.


    The arrows flew towards the monster wave, piercing hundreds of monsters and killing some of them instantly. Some other monsters were injured and then killed by the monsters behind that stepped over them


    But these monsters were just a drop in the ocean.


    Almost instantly, they were reced by more and more monsters.


    Then


    *Boooommmm!!!*


    The monsters shed against the wall.


    The wall shook, and the city trembled. It was as though an earthquake had urred. The impact of thousands of monsters crashing against the city wall simultaneously was shocking.


    Fortunately, the city walls of Calice City were tough enough. Even the doors were made of an alloy of steel and mithril.


    It remained firm even when many monsters tried to knock down it.


    But the city lord knew that it was only a matter of time before things changed.


    "Mages, fire your spells! Warriors, get ready to fight the monsters that climb the wall!"


    """Hah!"""


    Almost at the same time as the city lord finished speaking, some of the monsters jumped on the city walls. Monkeys, ferrets, rats, and lizard monsters climbed the city walls and attacked the warriors defending it.


    At the same time, the monsters unable to climb the walls continued attacking it trying to find a weak spot to could destroy the walls and enter the city.


    The city lord unsheathed his sword and shed towards the monsters. He fought bravely in front of all the warriors, increasing the morale of the defenders.


    However, inwardly he was worried.


    He could see that the demigod was entangled in a battle with a powerful enemy. In other words, there was no hope of the demigod assisting them soon.


    Even worse, he could feel a few powerful presences hiding in the monster wave. Such presences belonged to the top monsters attacking the city. A-Rank monsters.


    In the short time since the attack started, the city lord had detected not less than seven A-Rank presences. Fortunately, these monsters had not attacked yet, or the city lord would be panicking now.


    The defense line remained firm. Even with some monsters climbing the city walls and killing some defenders, the defenders managed to deal with them. Sometimes, there would appear holes in the defenses, but they would be quickly filled by other warriors.


    However, the number of casualties was enormous. At least one hundred casualties had urred in the first ten minutes of battle. And that was without counting the casualties caused by the monsters that bypassed the city walls and attacked the civilians.


    ''Damn it!'' The city lord cursed in his mind. This was almost the worst situation possible.


    And soon, the situation worsened even more.


    Suddenly, a giant bear-like monster roared.


    *ROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR!!!*


    The white bear''s roar silenced the monsters. The monsters opened a path for the bear to pass!


    The bear was almost two meters tall, with white fur and armor-like skin covering its back. It emitted strong mana waves, showing its strength as an A-Rank monster!


    The bear growled and walked forward. When it was just one hundred meters from the city, it looked at the people on the walls before looking at the door.


    Patting the ground twice, the Bear leaned down and narrowed its eyes.


    The next second, it kicked the ground strongly and shot himself towards the city doors!


    "Damn it! Vilma!" The city lord expression turned ugly. He hurriedly called out to the A-Rank woman mage.


    "On it!" The woman nodded. A magic circle formed behind her, and then, a burning giant ball of fire appeared.


    "Go!"


    With the woman''s words, the ball of fire flew towards the monster!


    *ROOARRR!* The bear''s eyes were red. It did not show any signs of stopping even when the ball of fire was flying towards it.


    Thus


    *BOOOMMM!!!*


    With a terrifying explosion, the ball of fire engulfed the monster. Super high temperatures consumed everything in the mes'' path, killing many of the monsters in the surroundings.


    But soon


    *ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!!!*


    With a powerful roar, the monster charged out of the mes.


    Its fur had turned ck, and part of its skin was charred. But besides that, the monster seemedpletely uninjured.


    "Impossible! Its skin has anti-magic properties!" The A-Rank mage panicked. A monster like this was practically her bane.


    And currently, it was about to reach the door!


    "Dammit, dammit!" The city lord cursed. He did not n to bet if the door was capable to endure the attack or not. Helpless, he could only jump out of the city walls towards the bear!


    "Vilma, support me!"


    "I know!"


    But at that moment, the city lord felt another A-Rank presence advancing towards the city.


    And another.


    And another.


    The people that understood what this meant paled. Many of them fell into despair seeing this situation.


    But the city lord knew he could not hesitate. He could only trust that the other A-Ranks took care of the situation.


    For an instant, the city lord felt lucky that none of his children were in the walls right now.


    At the same time, in another part of the city.


    A bloody smell filled a house. Beheaded and crushed bodiesy killed on the ground.


    A group of shadows was standing beside the bodies. Currently, they had ugly expressions.


    "The target is not here."


    "How is it possible? Was our information mistaken?" Another shadow asked.


    "No. The guards were here. If I''m not wrong, the target left for some reason."


    "Dammit. What are we going to say our master then?"


    One of the shadows frowned. "We must find the target quickly. If the target is killed by a monster, the master will be very angry."


    The other shadows paled. They were aware of how terrifying their master was when he was angry, and none of them wanted to see it.


    """Understood!"""


    With resolute words, the shadows disappeared from the house.


    If Bloed would have been here, he would have noticed that one of the shadowscked an arm.

 Chapter 87: The Battle of Calice City (4)

    Chapter 87: The Battle of Calice City (4)


    In another part of the city, a group of men was moving quickly.


    In the middle of them, a blonde young man was advancing with a frown in his face.


    It was Gerald, the city lord''s son.


    "How long until we reach her?" Gerald asked.


    "Five minutes, young master. Don''t worry, I left two of my men watching her." One of the men replied.


    Gerald nodded.


    When the city lord learned that Liu Ying had separated from Bloed and Regina, he instantly sent some of his men to catch her under Gerald lead.


    Gerald and his father could not believe that an opportunity like this hade. They had already almost given up on getting the demigod artifact, but this opportunity fell from the sky.


    But Gerald was a bit nervous. He was still not sure about this operation. However, his father told himst night that Bloed was most probably not rted to any known demigod.


    Of course, there was the possibility of him being mistaken or Bloed using a fake surname, but his father was just one step away from bing a demigod himself. With that artifact, he had a high chance of bing a demigod.


    Although he would antagonize an A-Rank practitioner to get it, the city lord thought that the opportunity was worth taking the risk.


    While Gerald was thinking about the n in his mind, one of the people in their group stopped abruptly.


    Gerald was startled. He looked back only to realized that it was Sara.


    Strangely, she had turnedpletely pale.


    "What happened?"


    " My sister. I lost contact with the people guarding her. Wait a moment, I''ll contact someone nearby!"


    Sara grabbed amunication stone put mana into it, but thirty secondster, she stumbled back in fear.


    " They are dead The people guarding Gina are dead, and she is not there!"


    Gerald wrinkled his brows. ''Damn it, at this timing!''


    "No, something happened to her!" Sara said with an anxious look. "I must go back!"


    "Sara!"


    "I''m sorry, young master, but my sister is first!" Sara said firmly. For some reason, she thought about the dream her sister told her a few days ago.


    ''The shadows''


    Sara had a bad feeling. Her instincts were warning her that she must do something before it''s toote.


    But when she was about to leave


    "Sara, I forbid you from leaving!" Gerald ordered coldly.


    Sara''s scowled. She looked at Gerald with so much killing intent that he turned pale and took a step back.


    However, he knew he could not let her go.


    "Sara, you are an important part of this n! You must stay! Besides, even if you go, how are you going to find your ister!?"


    Sara ignored him. She turned around and ran in direction of her sister.


    But


    "If you leave, my family will stop supplying the medicines for Gina!"


    These words froze her in her steps.


    It was the reason Sara was working for the city lord. Because the city lord was the only one with the channels to supply the medicine her sister needed.


    Sara could manage to get the medicine one of two months by herself, but eventually, she would fail to get it. The city lord, on the other hand, had the resources and means to get the medicine each month.


    Seeing that Sara stopped, Gerald sighed in relief.


    " I''m sorry Sara, but I can''t let you go. However, I can send two B-Rank men to check the situation. If something truly happened to Gina, they will manage."


    Sara bit her lips. Her instincts were screaming to her that something was wrong. She wanted badly to go to find her sister.


    However, her reason was telling her that Gerald''s way was the best way.


    At that moment, she recalled the dream of her sister.


    ''Could it be...? Yes, that is possible''


    In the end, she bit her lips and gritted her teeth.


    " I understand."


    "Wise choice." Gerald sighed in relief and patted Sara''s back. He then signaled something to two of the B-Ranks in his team.


    With a nod, the two men departed towards the ce where Sara left Gina.


    As for Gerald''s group, they continued towards Liu Ying''s location.


    Liu Ying felt her blood boiling. Every time she threw a punch, something inside her body seemed to awaken.


    The blood, the screams, and the roars in the surroundingsbined to create an atmosphere of danger and fear. She could see how many of the people around her fell under the fangs and ws of the monsters, and at the same time, she reaped the lives of all the beasts around her.


    Many of the people that were beside her when the battle started had died. Liu Ying saw how the old guard that teased her not long ago had his head bitten by a bird. He also saw how a young mage was taken into the air before his body was torn apart.


    However, she continued fighting. Her punches always found a target, her gloves gave her strength to defeat her enemies, and her armor protected her from the monsters'' attacks.


    Every time an enemy''s attack was stopped by her armor, Liu Ying could not help but think about Bloed. She wondered if he was alright and how he was doing now. Was his situation as tough as hers?


    Liu Ying did not know, and she did not have the leisure to think about it.


    Because the monsters were bing more and more.


    She could feel some very powerful auras around her. The strongest powerhouses of the city were trying to kill the A-Rank monsters while the A-Rank monsters killed the adventurers nearby.


    More than once, Liu Ying felt the A-Rank monsters moving near her and killing people in her surroundings. But fortunately, she was never attacked.


    At that moment, Liu Ying saw a small girl cowering nearby.


    The young girl of honey-colored hair was squatting on the ground looking at the monsters in fear. At the same time, she was looking around as though searching for someone.


    And suddenly, her eyes met Liu Ying''s.


    The girl''s eyes brightened.


    ''Gina?'' Liu Ying was surprised, but suddenly, one of the monsters noticed the defenseless girl.


    *Screech!* The eagle-type monster screamed in delight. It extended its talons to grab the young girl.


    Gina''s face paled.


    Liu Ying, however, was not going to allow it.


    "I will not let you!"


    With a cry, she kicked the ground. Her body broke through the sound barrier for an instant, and she appeared in front of Gina.


    Then, taking a deep breath, she tensed her body like a bow and finally, released a punch.


    *Boom!*


    The powerful punch turned the eagle into bits of flesh that rained in the surroundings.


    Liu Ying panted heavily. Although she managed to kill the eagle, she burdened heavily her body.


    But when she turned around to scold the honey-haired girl, she saw a pair of eyes looking straight to her.


    "Sister Liu Ying, I finally found you! We need to hurry up, Bloed and you are in danger!"

 Chapter 88: The Battle of Calice City (5)

    Chapter 88: The Battle of Calice City (5)


    "Those bastards! To think they nned to use me to harm Bloed!" Liu Ying punched the city wall angrily and created a crater on it.


    Currently, she had left the defensive line together with Gina. On the way, Gina had exined to her what was happening.


    When Liu Ying heard that the city lord was nning to use her as a hostage to get Bloed''s saber, Liu Ying was furious.


    "Where are they now?" Liu Ying asked.


    "They will reach here soon. Sister Liu Ying, we need to leave. Let''s go to find Bloed."


    " I understand. Do you know where he is?"


    Gina nodded. She closed her eyes for a moment before pointing in a direction.


    "That way."


    An expression of surprise appeared on Liu Ying''s face. "How do you know?"


    "No idea." Gina shook her head. "I just know. I think it''s the talent Bloed said, [Precognition]."


    Liu Ying nodded in understanding. Although she did not know much about Gina''s talent, Bloed had confirmed its existence, and Liu Ying trusted Bloed.


    So, she decided to trust Gina''s directions.


    But before that.


    "Sister Liu Ying, you need to take care of the people keeping an eye in you first."


    "Mm? Where are they?"


    Gina smiled and pointed to a building. Aware of her meaning, Liu Ying smiled savagely and walked towards the building.


    Thirty seconds and two screams of painter, Liu Ying had taken care of the men.


    "It''s done." Liu Ying threw the body of a man away indifferently.


    Gina looked at her with an admiring expression. "Sister Liu Ying, you are very strong."


    Liu Ying grinned.


    Before she could say anything, though, Gina''s face turned pale.


    "Gina, what happened?"


    " The shadows Sister Liu Ying, we need to go! Now!"


    "Gina?"


    "Hurry up!"


    Liu Ying could only nod in confusion. One secondter, she put Gina on her back and left following Gina''s directions.


    Meanwhile, tens of shadows moved around the city, slowly cornering them.


    Five minutester, Gerald, Sara, and the others arrived at the ce where Liu Ying killed the two men.


    When Gerald saw the two corpses, his face turned ugly. "Damn it! How did she discover them!?"


    Nobody could answer him. Although the strength of these two men was nothing great, they were trained to erase their presence almost perfectly. If they kept a certain distance, then even people one or two ranks above them could not detect them.


    Gerald cursed his luck inwardly. Was their n going to fail before even starting?


    However, he soon calmed down and started to think.


    Gerald was not ready to give up. This was the perfect opportunity to get the saber, and this was the opportunity for his family to rise to power.


    It was time for a change of ns.


    Gerald touched themunication stone in his pocket. He could only hope that she cooperated with the n.


    In the walls, the fight against the monsters had intensified.


    With the apparition of the A-Rank monsters, the situation turned even moreplicated. The city lord and the other three A-Rank practitioners of the city were forced to fight the A-Rank monsters so as to avoid having the city''s defenses broken.


    The problem was, the number of A-Rank monsters was way higher than the number of A-Rank humans. Fortunately, the A-Rank monsters were a bit weak for their level, and for some reason, none of them used magic. But even so, the situation was very precarious.


    More than once, the city''s defenses were about to crumble. In one of the asions, an A-Rank monster managed to climb the city walls and started to massacre the humans.


    But when everybody thought that the city was done for, two old men appeared and joined the fray. Astonishingly, both of them possessed strength in the A-Rank, lightening a bit the burden of the city and improving the situation.


    They probably were former famous powerhouses living their retirement in the city.


    But even with them, the defensive line''s fall was only dyed a bit. With time, more and more A-Ranks monsters appeared.


    Before long, and even after the humans managed to kill two A-Rank monsters, the number A-Rank monsters attacking the city had increased to ten!


    "Ugh!" One of the two old men received an attack of a tiger-like beast. The attack threw him against a wall and made him vomit a mouthful of blood.


    The tiger roared savagely. It then raised a w and sliced the old man''s neck.


    Just like that, the first A-Rank of the city was killed.


    The death of the A-Rank old man was like a basin of cold water for the people defending. They watched how the tiger moved arrogantly towards the city''s doors after killing the old man.


    It lifted a w and


    *Booom! *


    Then


    *Booom! *


    With each attack of the tiger, the city''s giant doors creaked, once and again.


    The humans watched with bated breaths and expressions of despair how the tiger attacked the doors. Some courageous adventurers stood bravely and jumped from the walls to attack the tiger, but most of the time, the tiger did not even need to move and the monsters around it killed the men.


    Finally


    *Booom!!!*


    *Crack!*


    The city''s doors cracked.


    The city lord expression turned pale. He roared fiercely and tried to rush towards the door, but the two monsters he was fighting attacked him crazily, stopping his movements.


    In the end, he could only watch how the tiger attacked again and ultimately knocked the doors down!


    *ROOOOAAAAAAR!*


    The tiger roared in delight. It stood in front of the monsters and looked to the city that was finally open for them to enjoy.


    But suddenly


    *sh!*


    ...


    *BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!*


    A terrifying sword light shed down from the sky.


    The sword light was so powerful that it seemed to stop time itself. No monster nearby managed to react to it.


    The tiger and all the monsters in two hundred meters of the door were instantly killed!


    But at the same time


    *Spurt!*


    Sebastian vomited a mouthful of blood.


    "Hahahaha! How expected of the King''s Right Hand. To think you chose to receive my attack before letting the monsters invade the city. However, the doors have already fallen. Even if you stop them this time, can you stop them forever?" The ck-dressed demigodughed mockingly.


    Sebastian wrinkled his brows. He knew his enemy was right.


    However, he could do nothing but this to change the situation.


    In truth, he was at least one level stronger than his opponent. Although it was a bit hard to make his enemy stay, in normal circumstances, he could defeat him easily.


    The problem was the ck-dressed man''s strange techniques. For some reason, the strength of Sebastian''s attacks were halved when they struck the ck dressed man.


    Thus, he could only continue attacking while he thought of a way to kill his enemy.


    Sebastian looked at the city and sighed. Some adventurers and hunters stood behind the fallen doors to stop the monsters from entering the city.


    But five minutester, and after another two A-Rank humans and four A-Rank monsters were killed, the city''s entrance was finally breached.


    Then, the monsters entered the city.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TREON!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 89: Already Knew It

    Chapter 89: Already Knew It


    The fall of the doors could be seen from the entire city. Commoners and practitioners witnessed how the city''s doors were breached and heard the joyful roars of the monster.


    Everybody understood what had happened.


    The defenders had failed.


    Bloed was not the exception. As soon as the saw the doors fall, he knew that hundreds of monsters were about to invade the city and massacre themoners.


    His first reaction was to hurry towards the doors. Bloed wanted to kill as many monsters as possible such that more people could survive this disaster.


    Bloed felt partially responsible for this monster wave. Although he was not sure he was the reason behind it, he was seventy percent certain that he was the one that led the monsters here.


    Of course, there was a high likelihood of the monster wave urring eventually even without his intervention. However, such a situation probably would have taken a few years to ur.


    So, Bloed wanted to do his best to kill as many monsters as possible.


    But when he was about to hurry towards the city lord, someone called out at him.


    "Bloed!"


    Bloed was surprised. He looked back and saw Erika rushing towards him followed by two guards.


    "Erika, what are you doing here?" Bloed asked suspiciously.


    Erika stood before him and panted briefly before speaking. "B-Bloed, it''s Liu Ying. S-She is in danger!"


    Bloed frowned. "Liu Ying? Are you sure?"


    "Y-Yes! S-She was kidnapped by the ck-dressed men!"


    Bloed frown became deeper. He closed his eyes for an instant before opening them. Then, he stared straight into Erika''s eyes deeply.


    "Are you sure Liu Ying is in danger?"


    "Y-Yes!" Erika replied after stuttering slightly.


    "How do you know?"


    Erika was stumped. However, she did not take long to answer.


    "O-One of dad''s men was nearby when it happened! H-He had seen Liu Ying before in the mansion, so he told me about it! I-I hurried here as soon as I learned about the situation!"


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. He looked at Regina as though asking for her opinion and Regina nod.


    Thus, he turned to Erika.


    " Take me there."


    Erika''s expression turnedplicated for an instant before she nodded.


    However, that did not escape Bloed''s sight.


    " Even you, huh." Bloed muttered softly.


    Erika was startled. "Huh? Did you say something?"


    "No, nothing."


    Erika tilted her head. For some reason, she felt as though something bad was about to happen.


    However, she had already made her choice.


    Erika led Bloed, Regina, and Leto to a deserted part of the city. Even although Bloed knew that Liu Ying was supposed to be in the city walls, he said nothing. He simply followed silently behind Erika.


    Finally, when she arrived at an alley, Erika stopped.


    " Bloed, sorry."


    "Stop. Don''t apologize. I don''t want to hear it."


    Erika bit her lips. She wanted to say something to excuse herself, but she did not know what to say.


    In the end, she could only look down and grab the hem of her dress.


    " Don''t worry. Brother promised me that he will not hurt you."


    "Yeah? I must make sure to thank himter then." Bloed smiled mockingly.


    Erika heard the sarcasm in Bloed''s words; however, she did not know what to say. For some reason, though, her heart felt very painful.


    At some point, the alley where they were had been surrounded by a group of ck-dressed men.


    Bloed and Regina looked at them with an indifferent face, not even a bit worried. The pair had already checked their strengths, and none of them was in the A-Rank.


    At that moment, a voice came from the other side of the alley.


    "Erika,e here."


    "Brother"


    Erika''s expression turnedplicated. She wanted to say something, but when she saw her brother''s severe expression, she nodded meekly and walked towards him after giving onest apologizing nce to Bloed.


    Bloed remained indifferent, though. He did not seem surprised due to Gerald''s presence or the men around him. Instead, it seemed as though he was already expecting this.


    Gerald frowned when he saw his expression. However, when he looked at the people around him, his confidence came back.


    "I''m sorry about meeting you this way, Bloed. However, I don''t have more options."


    Bloed shook his head. "Stop, stop, stop. I don''t want to hear your hypocrisy. Just speak quickly and don''t waste my time."


    Gerald''s expression darkened. A trace of anger appeared on his face, but he quickly took a deep breath and calmed down.


    "Then I will not be polite. I hope you can give me your saber."


    "Oh? This?" Bloed lifted his saber calmly and showed it to Gerald. "I''m sorry, but this is my weapon. I can''t give it to you."


    "It looks like you don''t understand your situation. We have miss Liu Ying in our hands. If you don''t give me the saber, she will die!"


    Bloed stared at Gerald as though he was a fool. Both he and Regina curved his lips in mocking expressions.


    "I see. Then kill her." Bloed said calmly.


    Gerald was startled, but when he saw Bloed''s expression, he understood.


    "So you know, huh."


    Bloed did not reply. Instead, he just continued looking at Gerald mockingly.


    Yes, since the start, Bloed knew that Liu Ying was alright.

 Chapter 90: Gerald’s Trump Card

    Chapter 90: Gerald¡¯s Trump Card


    Bloed was not an idiot. Quite the opposite, he was very smart. Normally, his thoughts were already one or two steps ahead of the situation.


    Then, how could someone like him not to think about Liu Ying''s safety when he knew the city lord was plotting against them?


    Liu Ying did not know it, but Bloed had left a small trick in her armor. It was a program that sent Liu Ying''s life signals to him. Of course, Bloed didn''t put it on there to spy on her. Instead, it was a measure to know if Liu Ying''s life was in being threatened or not and her approximate location.


    Furthermore, Regina had left a small bit of her power on the armor too. It was set up to activate when Liu Ying''s life was in danger or when she was unconscious, and could protect her for one minute. Enough time for the SS-Grade Regina to move tens of kilometers and rescue her.


    In other words, while Liu Ying was in the city and if she did not face a demigod-ranked powerhouse, Regina could always rescue her if she was in danger.


    That was the reason why Bloed was not worried about Liu Ying and did not insist when she said she wanted to leave. Bloed was confident that nothing was going to happen to her, and even if something happened, they would have enough time to react.


    So, the first thing Bloed did when Erika told him that someone had kidnapped Liu Ying was to check on her life signals. And ording to her life signals, Liu Ying was currently in a pinch but she was not in danger.


    Moreover, Regina indicated that her protective measure had not been activated; thus, Liu Ying''s life had not been threatened and she was not unconscious. Knowing Liu Ying''s personality, Bloed could not think of a way they could kidnap her without meeting these requirements.


    Bloed recalled the time when he met Liu Ying. She was fighting bravely even when death was before her, not giving to despair. Liu Ying was that kind of girl. The kind that would fight until the end even if she did not have a chance of victory. How could she allow herself to be kidnapped without a fight?


    In other words, Gerald''s plot was destined to be useless. Even if Gina did not take Liu Ying away, Gerald would have been unable to kidnap her and instead would have told Regina and Bloed about his intentions.


    Of course, neither Gerald nor Gina knew it. In the end, Gina''s [Precognition] was still inactive, so the things she could see were rather limited. The fact that she managed to piece together as many pieces of the puzzle was already amazing.


    Bloed and Regina looked at Gerald with a mocking gaze. It was as though they were looking at a fool that overestimated himself.


    Gerald''s expression fell. Unconsciously, he took a step back.


    However, he was the son of the city lord. He quickly managed to get a grasp of his emotions.


    Taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth.


    "I don''t understand. If you already knew, why did youe?"


    Bloed shrugged and a bit of killing intent leaked from his eyes. "Of course, to see what your father and you were nning this time. Besides, I thought this was a good opportunity to take care of you. If you are killed now, most people will suspect the beast wave instead of a nameless young man like me. Such a shame your father is not here, otherwise, our work would have been easier. Well, now that we havee this far, I''ll have to find a way to kill him so as to avoid future problems."


    Gerald paled. Not only him, but even Erika who was behind him turned ghastly white. A feeling of fear and horror was born in their hearts. The fact that Bloed spoke of killing them so lightly was chilling.


    Plus...


    "You You knew since the start?" Gerald asked.


    Regina snorted. "Do you think we are fools? Your greed could not be more obvious. We simply yed along because of a certain reason. Otherwise, I would not have minded killing your entire family long ago."


    Regina did not bother to disguise her killing intent. She let it loosepletely, drenching the two siblings and the ck-dressed men around them.


    The killing intent of an SS-Grade ESPer was overwhelming. It was as though the air itself was frozen, making her enemies unable to move.


    "I wonder." Regina narrowed her eyes while looking around indifferently. "I can''t feel anyone stronger than B-Rank here. Are you nning to use this group of riffraff to take care of us?"


    Gerald''s expression turned unsightly. He could feel the disregard Regina and Bloed had towards them. Since the start, neither the master nor the servant had treated the city lord''s family as something of concern.


    However, he was going to make them regret.


    With a voice of anger, he pointed his finger to them. "Attack!"


    Instantly, the ck-dressed men moved. Tens of ck-dressed men attacked the pair simultaneously, moving like a surging wave of des.


    Bloed unsheathed his saber, and Regina snorted. Two energy des appeared on her hands, glinting with electric light.


    Regina narrowed her eyes and stepped forward. Her body spun in ce, moving her des through theing wave of people and cutting theing ck wave into two.


    Blood spurted out instantly. Her des gutted the stomachs of the approaching enemies. At the same time, her body moved skillfully, avoiding theing des by a hairbreadth and dancing between the enemies like a graceful swam.


    Regardless of rank, the ck-dressed men were unable to take even one blow of her. Even one B-Rank ck dressed man was killed instantly.


    Now that Regina had released her power up to the peak of B-Rank, nobody below A-Rank could even dream of resisting her.


    The scene was incredibly bloody, making Erika vomit and Gerald pale. Bloed and Regina, however, remained unaffected. For them, blood was something they had gotten used to.


    At that moment, though, Bloed realized something unusual.


    Gerald was calm. Too calm for someone in his situation.


    Then, he noticed something.


    "Regina, careful!"


    But it was toote.


    A glow appeared below Regina''s feet. The magic circled expanded quickly, covering her in an instant.


    Regina quickly found the source of the spell and killed a ck-dressed man, but it was useless. The spell had been activated using a scroll, and unless Regina could destroy the magic circle, it was unstoppable.


    But although Regina''s strength was enough to destroy the magic circle if she would have tried, shemitted a mistake.


    Instead of destroying the spell, she opted for the less consuming strategy. Creating an energy barrier to protect herself.


    Normally, that would have worked. But this time


    " Regina, it''s a teleportation spell!"


    Bloed''s words came an instant toote.


    In a sh of light, the magic circle lit up brightly and swallowed Regina.


    And then, Regina disappeared from the alley.


    Bloed was stunned. The change was so sudden that he was unable to react in time.


    But at that moment, his eyes detected something.


    Bloed hurriedly jumped aside. Almost simultaneously, a dagger appeared in the ce where he was just one moment ago.


    *Swing!*


    With a sharp sound, the dagger cut through the wind, barely missing him.


    Bloed clicked his tongue. " Sara, huh."


    The ck-haired girl frowned. She stared at Bloed in surprise as though she could not believe he managed to avoid her attack. Then, she disappeared again.


    Geraldughed at that moment. "You were not expecting this, right Bloed? Father asked for a favor of the A-Ranks in this city to get this teleportation scroll! I''m sure that your Regina must be enjoying being in the middle of the magic beasts now! Of course, you are not in a position to worry about her! Unfortunately, father cannot leave the defensive line with the demigod nearby, or he would have loved to see your expression of despair!"


    Erika''s face turned pale. "Brother! You tell me that"


    "Shut up, Erika! I was lying, okay? Father will never allow such dangerous enemies to continue living! Someone, take my sister away!"


    Erika''s guards nodded and grabbed her shoulders. "Young miss..."


    Erika was stunned. Aware that she could not resist, her face turned pale and she looked at Bloed with tears in her eyes.


    But contrary to her expectations, Bloed did not seem worried.


    Instead, he was looking at Gerald with interest.


    "Good move, Gerald. Mm, I''ll take this as a lesson to never underestimating my enemies. Fortunately, the number of enemies is still manageable or I would have been in trouble... Now, why don''t we fight a bit more seriously."


    As soon as his words ended, the silver wolf behind Bloed turned into metallic sand.


    Then, an energy gun appeared in Bloed''s hand.


    " You already showed me your trump card. Now let''s see if you manage to make show mine."


    And his body was engulfed by the sand.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 91: Dagger in the Back

    Chapter 91: Dagger in the Back


    A silver-haired girl appeared suddenly in the middle of the monster wave.


    As soon as she appeared, a group of monsters rushed towards her. They did not know how this prey fell here, but they did not care. For the monsters, it was enough as long as they could eat a tasty snack.


    Unfortunately, this tasty snack was not something they could eat.


    Suddenly, the girl let out an enormous pressure. The pressure was so strong that even the two demigods fighting in the air were surprised. They quickly retreated and took defensive stances.


    But Regina did not care about them.


    "How careless of me." She said with a frown. "To think I allowed myself to be separated from master."


    Then, psychic energy surged out of her body. The psychic energy was so great and powerful that all the monsters nearby felt the urge to lower their heads.


    Regina handled that energy as though it was her hands and feet. With a thought, it wrapped around her body and materialized creating a set of beautiful armor depicting an ancient goddess of war.


    Two small flowers bloomed over her shoulders. The flowers hovered silently while emitting threatening arcs of lightning that seemed to twist space.


    [Krigsrustning]. The armament installed in each Valkyrie when they are created.


    It was a Valkyrie''s weapon and armor.


    With the set of armor, the Valkyrie [Reginleif] took a step forward. This step brought her to the air, as though she would have bent space itself.


    Then, she kicked the air.


    *BOOOM!*


    An enormous shockwave shook the surroundings. The monsters and two demigods only saw a sh of light advancing at incredible speed towards the city.


    In less than five seconds, Regina had already flown above the city walls, leaving behind a group of frightened monsters and two demigods wearing grave expressions.


    If Gerald would have known that Regina needed less than ten seconds to return, he probably would have fainted of fright.


    At the same time, a fierce fight was unfolding inside the city.


    Bloed, with a saber in a hand and a gun in the other, was fighting against a group of ck-dressed men. At the same time, Leto had turned itself into ck sand that protected Bloed and restricted the enemies so Bloed could kill them.


    Leto and Bloed''s cooperation was wless. One of them restrained while the other killed. Despite him being surrounded by tens of ck-dressed men attacking frantically, Bloed did not seem too disadvantaged.


    Quite the opposite, he was calmly dealing with the attacksing towards him.


    Gerald''s expression was dark. He thought that Bloed would panic after Regina was gone, but contrary to his expectations, he appeared leisure, as though it was nothing but a game.


    Of course, he could not know that Bloed truly considered this just a game. For Bloed, even if he could not win, he could then order Leto to turn on its flying mode and escape from here. By then, unless a demigod appeared, Gerald would not have a way to make him stay.


    So, he was fighting leisurely, using this opportunity to test the limits of his strength and see how far he could manage to go.


    The ck-dressed men that were attacking him were a total of twenty-five after some of them were killed by Regina. Two of them B-Rank.


    Originally, there were six B-Ranks, but two went to check the situation of Gina, one was killed by Regina, and one more was protecting Gerald, leaving only two of them to fight Bloed.


    But Bloed was not too worried about the two B-Rank ck-dressed men. With Leto''s help, he was confident he could put a fight against them even if he could not win.


    The one that made him wary was Sara.


    Sara''s ability to disappear was truly top grade. Even Bloed had trouble to find her unless she was in ten meters of him. But Sara''s seemed to have noticed it, so she always waited beyond that distance and attacked when she found an opportunity.


    Bloed felt a headache each time he had to deal with her ambushes.


    In truth, she was the main reason he was at a disadvantage.


    Due to the fact that he had to be wary of her attacks, Bloed could not put his entire focus on the ck-dressed men. Moreover, the ck-dressed men knew how lethal Bloed''s weapons were, so they moved erratically to avoid being honed on by his gun and avoided his saber as though it was a gue.


    But even with that, Bloed had managed to kill five of them before two minutes passed!


    Gerald felt angry and terrified. Seeing Bloed''s calm faced while he killed his men and noticing that he had not been injured even once, his face distorted in rage.


    "What are you doing, fools!? Can you not take care of even one man!"


    The ck-dressed men felt angry too. How could they know that his young man would be so troublesome?


    Even when they found an opportunity to attack, the metallic sand would be there to obstruct them or stop their attacks. And even when they decided to ignore the sand, they would realize that their movement had been predicted by Bloed and they jumped into a trap.


    In fact, two of the men Bloed killed had died like that.


    One of the B-Rank ck-dressed men gritted his teeth.


    "Dammit! Suror, use that!"


    The other B-Rank nodded. Instantly, his knife was wrapped in mes. The mes grow in size quickly, turning into a raging dragon of fire.


    Then, the ck-dressed man jumped towards Bloed!


    "Die!"


    The mes consumed everything in the men''s path. Leto turned itself into a barrier to stop the attack, but the me-infused dagger burned the entire barrier, slowly making a hole on it.


    Seeing that the barrier was about to break, the ck-dressed man bellowed in delight. "You are done for, boy!" He increased the mana in his dagger and put more strength in his arms.


    Bloed looked at that scene with wrinkled brows. He could see the second B-Rank preparing a follow-up attack behind him and his senses were picking up the faint killing intent Sara emitted.


    ''... It looks like I will have to use it, huh.'' Bloed sighed and connected himself to Leto.


    But suddenly, he was stunned.


    Then, he smiled.


    In the next instant, a shadow fell from the sky.


    "Die!"


    The blood-red shadow roared in fury. A blood-red giant of mana materialized on her back, lifting its punch together with the shadow!


    The next second


    *Boom!*


    Liu Ying struck the B-Rank attacking the barrier!


    Her punch shook the surroundings. The strength of the bloodline-boosted Liu Ying plus the enhancement of the gloves was so powerful that not even a B-Rank could receive it slightly.


    A cloud of dust formed, and blood sttered in the ground. When the dust cleared, a red-haired girl with a horn in her forehead was standing beside Bloed. As for the B-Rank, his crushed body was unrecognizable.


    "D-Demon!" Gerald stuttered. At the same time, the ck-dressed men took a step back.


    Liu Ying scoffed. "Are you alright, Bloed? I didn''te toote, right?"


    "Your timing was perfect." Bloed smiled at his friend before looking at Gerald. "It looks like your n is destined to fail."


    "Y-You You are a demon!"


    Liu Ying snorted in disdain. "What? is it your first time seeing one?"


    Gerald opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. But then, he started tough.


    "Hahahaha Hahahahaha! Perfect, this is perfect! When the people in the city learn that you have a demon with you, you will have nowhere to go! Bloed, I want to see how you will escape this ti Ugh!"


    Suddenly, something stabbed his back.


    "Ugh... Cough cough... Wha..."


    Looking over his shoulder, he saw a ck-haired tanned girl looking at him with an ice-cold look in her eyes.


    Gerald vomited a mouthful of blood and asked in a hoarse voice.


    " S-Sara, why?"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 92: Arkavol and Sviel

    Chapter 92: Arkavol and Sviel


    " S-Sara, why?"


    The tanned girl did not reply. Instead, she eyed coldly at Gerald before disappearing from her position.


    One secondter, that ce was hit by a powerful attack.


    *Boom!*


    The B-Rank protecting Gerald had finally reacted.


    "Sara, what have you done! Do you know what this means!?"


    Sara reappeared beside Bloed and snorted. "Of course I know. I''m betraying the city lord."


    The entire ce fell silent. Even Bloed and Liu Ying were dumbfounded by the sudden change.


    "This Miss Sara, why?" Bloed asked.


    Sara closed her eyes and replied. "Why are you so surprised? I have been on your side since the start."


    "Huh?"


    "Do you think you would have been able to detect me so easily if I don''t leak my killing intent? I admit that your eyes are pretty useful against me, but I''m an entire rank above you. Moreover, I have already learned about the limitations of your eyes so I''m confident in injuring you if I go all out. Fortunately for you, Gerald was my target since the start, but the guy beside him was too alert so I did not find an opportunity. I have to thank miss Liu Ying for that. Her sudden arrival gave me the opportunity I needed."


    Bloed was stunned. Thinking about it, he had always been able to feel Sara''s faint killing intent during the battle.


    To think she was leaking it purposely so Bloed could avoid her attacks. Bloed had to admit it was ingenious.


    However, Bloed could not understand the reason yet.


    Not only Bloed. Gerald and the ck-dressed men could not understand either.


    Sara smiled coldly. "Let me tell you a story." She said while looking at Gerald. "Many years ago, there were two powerful families in this city. One was the Arkavol family, and the other was the Sviel family.


    "Both families controlled the city. One of them had the position of the city lord, and the other controlled the underground. For many years, the two families were allies and worked together to keep the city in their grasp.


    "But twelve years ago, one of the families was no longer happy with the status quo.


    "The forces of the Arkavol family, led by the current city lord, attacked the Sviel family in a bloody night. All the people of the Sviel family died, and their most loyal subordinates were killed. It was an incredibly ruthless and effective move that put the whole city in the city lord''s grasp.


    "But unbeknownst to the city lord, two people survived that night. Two young girls were protected by the family''s servants and escaped through a secret tunnel. They are thest two descendants of the Sviel family. Young master Gerald, do you understand now?"


    " Impossible." Gerald paled. He vomited another mouthful of blood and staggered backward.


    Sara snorted in disdain.


    "Six years ago, I joined the Arkavol family seeking revenge. Back then, I was still young and weak, but very talented. The city lord noticed my talent and nurtured my talent and loyalty for the family.


    "I knew instantly it was my opportunity. So, I feigned my loyalty and hid my killing intent, slowly gaining the city lord''s trust until the day I could show my fangs and kill the city lord and his entire family.


    "But fate yed a joke on me. One day, I learned that my sister was sick and the medicine she needed to continue living was very hard to find. Only someone of the city lord''s status could get it easily.


    "Hahahaha, what a joke. I badly wanted to kill him, but I had to work for him to protect my only family. Is it not funny?" Sara''s voice was brimming with hatred and unwillingness. For many years, she had badly wanted to take revenge for her family, however, her sister''s illness robbed her of that opportunity.


    With Sara''s current strength and her special talent to erase her presence, she was confident in her chances of killing the city lord if she made enough preparations. Unfortunately, her sister''s condition made it nothing more than a pipe dream.


    "But I did not give up." Sara continued speaking. "I secretly started to search for ways to get the medicine my sister needed. I was very careful to avoid the city lord finding about it and bing suspicious. Unfortunately, it''s hard for a bodyguard like me to ensure enough of my sister''s medicine each month.


    "Even now, I''m not sure how long I can manage." Sara said with a self-deprecating smile.


    Gerald''s expression was twisted. He wanted to say something, but the pain in his body made him unable to speak.


    Moreover, he could feel that his lower body was paralyzed.


    The B-Rank examined his injury and realized that it had turned ck.


    "Poison" He said with wrinkled brows.


    " It''s Death Lily." Sara said. "Unless you can find a demigod healer or the antidote in less than ten minutes, Gerald will die."


    Gerald turned pale.


    His body shook and heughed bitterly. "I don''t understand, why now? You have had many opportunities to kill me, why now?"


    Sara remained indifferent. "It''s simple, my sister is in danger, and young master Bloed is the one that can save her."


    "Huh?" Bloed was startled. "Me?"


    "Remember that dream? That is the answer."


    Bloed understood instantly. He recalled Gina''s dream about the shadows chasing her and Bloed appearing to vanish the shadows.


    " Even if the possibility is slim, I have to do it. My sister''s whereabouts are unknown, and the people guarding her are dead. So, I must bet that you will eventually save her." Sara chuckled bitterly.


    Gina was Sara''s everything. Thus, when she learned Gina was missing, she knew she had to do everything to find her.


    Then, she remembered Gina''s dreams.


    And if Gina''s dreams were true, she will need Bloed''s help if she wanted to save her little sister.


    Bloed nodded. "I understand. Don''t worry, I''ll help you."


    Liu Ying interjected at that moment. "Speaking of that, I met Gina earlier. She was the one that led me here. Don''t worry, she is in a safe ce."


    Sara smiled in relief. "That is good. As expected, my decision was right. Now, let''s finish them first."


    Bloed nodded with a smile. Then, he looked at the remaining people around them.


    Now that the tables had turned, Gerald was the one at a disadvantage. He was fighting Bloed, Liu Ying, Sara, and Leto; the equivalent to four B-Rank. His side, on the other hand, had only two B-Ranks and neen other practitioners.


    It was easy to see who had the advantage.


    Gerald''s eyes were filled with despair.


    ...


    Guys, I finally finished the cover! It took me a long time, but my photoshop skills are not the best (I literally took a crash course to learn to use it just to make this cover, so, yeah).


    I have read manyments asking me for a cover, but as I was doing it for myself, it took longer than I thought. In truth, I''m notpletely satisfied with it, but I did my best


    Please, don''t be so hard on it and I hope you like it (The characters on it are Bloed and Regina)...


    P4TREON: /aidnovels

 Chapter 93: Not One Left Alive

    Chapter 93: Not One Left Alive


    Let''s go back in time to a few minutes ago, when Liu Ying and Gina just separated.


    One kilometer away, in an abandoned house, a honey-haired girl was resting in a chair with her eyes closed.


    Suddenly, she opened her eyes. Without hesitation, she stood up and rushed towards a door.


    But


    " So you were here, huh. We finally find you."


    A shadow suddenly appeared in front of her.


    The honey-haired girl''s face changed. She looked at the shadow with a mix of fear and despair.


    "The shadows. So you already caught up"


    "Mm?"


    Gina sighed. "Is fate so difficult to change? I wonder if this is enough."


    Looking up, her eyes seemed to see through the distance separating her and Bloed.


    " Are you not here too, my hero?"


    Unbeknownst to her, everything happening here had fallen in a pair of golden-colored eyes.


    Gerald''s lips turned white. At the same time, the poison in his body spread even more.


    With the poison plus the blood loss due to injury, Gerald would die in less than ten minutes.


    Gerald panicked. "The antidote! I''m sure she has it!"


    Sara smiled indifferently. Antidote? Why would she carry something that could save her enemy?


    However, Gerald was already grasping at straws. His fear of death had blinded his reason.


    "Get her!"


    His shout awoke the ck-dressed men, reminding them of what they had to do.


    Even although the enemies were strong, they did not care. As death warriors, their master''s orders were absolute.


    The remaining twenty-one enemies charged towards the group of two humans, a demon, and a wolf.


    When the ck-dressed men moved, Bloed and the others moved too. Sara disappeared from her position, Liu Ying entered in abat-readied stance, and Bloed raised his gun. The next second, Leto turned into a wave of metallic sand that surged towards the enemies.


    The battle unfolded once more, but this time, the results were overwhelmingly in Bloed''s group favor. In just one minute, the four of them managed to kill eight enemies!


    Moreover, Sara had made use of her stealth to gravely injure a B-Rank.


    It was not even a fight; it was a massacre.


    "Young master, we can''t continue like this. All our men will die if we continue like this."


    Gerald''s face was bloodless. He stared at Bloed and the others with hatred and unwillingness.


    Then, he smiled bitterly.


    "You are right. This can''t end like this."


    Then, he took a deep breath and made the best choice he could do in this situation.


    "Forget about me and retreat. If even one of you survives, tell father everything that happened here."


    "Yes, young master."


    The change was immediate. The ck-dressed men instantly retreated and started to escape.


    Sara''s expression changed.


    "Young master Bloed, they can''t escape! If the city lord learns about what happened here, our situation will turn bad!"


    Bloed and Liu Ying understood the situation. They quickly rushed to kill as many enemies as possible.


    At the same time, Sara and Leto went after the B-Ranks.


    The fight was incredibly bloody, but now that the ck-dressed men had lost their will to fight, they could not put a fight against the four killing machines.


    Of the eleven remaining enemies, Bloed killed four and Liu Ying killed another two. Sara managed to finish one B-Rank, and Leto killed another two enemies.


    Unfortunately, one of the B-Ranks and a C-Rank managed to escape.


    Sara''s expression turned ugly.


    "Dammit!"


    Seeing that, Gerald started tough.


    "Hahahahaha Bloed, Sara, perhaps you survived this time, but father will avenge me and kill you! I''ll wait for you in hell!"


    "Shut up!" Liu Ying snorted and punched him in the face. Gerald''s body flew for a few meters and crashed against a wall. One secondter, he spat out two broken teeth.


    "Idiot." Liu Ying scoffed and looked at Bloed worriedly. "What now? I think it''s better if we escape the city as soon as possible. These men know my identity as a demon, so the city lord can easily rally the city against us. Who knows, perhaps he will even use us of the beast wave."


    But Bloed shook his head. "What are you worried of? Don''t worry, the city lord will not learn anything."


    Gerald scoffed. "Hehe, and how are you going to do that?"


    Bloed ignored Gerald''s loser sarcasm and looked in a certain direction. "Regina, you have them, right?"


    "Of course, master." A voice replied from above them. Sara and Liu Ying were surprised and looked up, only to see a silver-haired girl carrying two unconscious men in her hands. "How can I left master enemies to escape?"


    Gerald was surprised. "You How are you here!? That teleportation scroll was supposed to send you to the middle of the beast wave!"


    "And?" Regina shrugged. "I only needed eight seconds to return. I did not appear before because this was a good opportunity for master to practice, otherwise, I would have appeared long ago.


    Gerald was stunned and terrified. Eight seconds? How was it possible?


    Unless


    Gerald paled. No, it was impossible. How could it be?


    No demigod would lower himself to be the servant of a young man!


    Regina noticed the expression on Gerald''s face and smiled in disdain. She then threw the two men on the ground and created two small arrows of energy, killing them instantly.


    "With this, the city lord will not learn of the situation here for a while." Bloed smiled.


    Gerald paled. In ast attempt to salvage the situation, he tried to grab themunication crystal he carried with him, but an energy arrow Regina''s shot destroyed it.


    "Just die peacefully and stop causing trouble." Regina said before turning towards Bloed. "Master, there is something I think you want to know."


    "Mm?"


    "Someone kidnapped the girl of the dreams."


    ...


    Two chapters tomorrow (perhaps, I''m not the most reliable when ites to schedules)...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 94: Returning Dusk

    Chapter 94: Returning Dusk


    "Someone kidnapped the girl of the dreams." Regina said as though it was nothing important.


    However, her words were like thunder in Sara''s ears.


    "What did you say!?"


    " It was the men that attacked the city lord''s daughter at that time." Regina continued. "Probably the so-called shadows."


    Sara''s face turned pale, then, her paleness turned into anger.


    "Why did you do nothing!?"


    "Why would I?" Regina countered coldly. "Until just a moment ago, you were my master''s enemy. The fact that I bothered to keep an eye on her is already more than I should do."


    Sara wanted to rebuke, but her words were caught in her throat. Plus, she was too worried about her sister to quarrel with Regina.


    "Now is not the time for this! Damn it! I need to find Gina!"


    Sara stopped caring about them and started to think about the situation.


    Bloed sighed at that moment.


    "Calm down, your sister is fine."


    "Huh?"


    "Regina, can you tell me what happened and where is Gina?"


    Regina nodded. She then recounted everything she saw as shortly as possible.


    "The girl was put to sleep, but they did not dare to injure her, apparently because they had orders to keep her safe. I thought that master would be interested in her location, so I left a bit of my energy on her body to track her."


    Bloed nodded and turned towards Sara.


    "See? Although Regina speaks like that, she is just a tsundere deep inside. I''m sure She would have acted if Gina was truly in danger."


    Sara grunted in dissatisfaction, but the coldness around her decreased slightly. Bloed smiled seeing that.


    "Let''s go then. Regina, led the way."


    "Understood, master."


    "By the way, what are we going to do about him?" Liu Ying kicked the still alive Gerald and asked.


    Sara snorted in hatred. "It doesn''t matter. He will die soon anyway."


    Liu Ying shrugged.


    Thus, the group of four jumped onto Leto and rushed towards Gina''s location.


    As for Gerald, he could only look at the sky while death slowly came for him and the pain of the poison tortured his mind.


    Finally, after five minutes, a wolf monster arrived at the alley attracted by the smell of blood.


    When it saw the corpses, the wolf howled. Soon, the alley was filled with hungry wolves thirsty for blood.


    Then, one of them bit Gerald''s neck, finally releasing him from his suffering.


    On Leto''s back, the group advanced quickly through the streets of the city.


    But before even one minute passed, they stopped abruptly.


    Liu Ying''s eyes opened wide.


    "This is"


    Bloed sighed and clenched his fist. "Damn it."


    In front of them, a scene of destion could be seen.


    Monsters after monsters were hunting in the city, ughtering the powerless citizens and having a feast of human flesh and blood.


    Bloed could hear the people''s cries and desperate screams of help. Some adventurers tried their best to protect the people and help them to escape, but the overwhelming number of monsters meant that they were quickly drowned by the ws and fangs.


    Bloed''s eyes turned red. Instinctively, he turned part of Leto into the sniper rifle and started to shot the monsters.


    But the monsters he killed were just a drop in the ocean.


    Watching so many people losing their lives under the monsters'' fangs, Bloed could not help but feel guilty.


    Regina saw that and put her hand on Bloed''s shoulder.


    "Master, I forgot to tell you something. When I was outside the city, I saw the two demigods fighting The one in the side of the monsters was human too."


    " Human?" Bloed was surprised.


    "Yes, master. I''m sure he was the one behind all of this."


    " I see." Bloed took a deep breath to calm down. After he heard Regina''s words, although he still felt bad, he felt less guilty. "Let''s go, we need to catch up with Gina''s captors. Also, let''s try to help as many people as we can during the way."


    The three girls beside him nodded.


    The fight between Sebastian and the mysterious demigod continued. The two mighty powerhouses exchanged tens of moves each second, trying to kill each other.


    But even after fighting for a long time, none of them was able to get an edge over the other.


    Sebastian was a bit stronger than his enemy, but the mysterious demigod had a way to halve the power of Sebastian''s attacks. Due to that, neither of them coulde close tond a decisive blow.


    Sebastian''s expression had be chilling. He could see how the monsters broke into the city and started to ughter the citizens. More than once, he attempted to leave the fight to deal with the monsters.


    But in the end, there was not much he could do under the watch of another demigod. In fact, each time he tried to ditch the fight and assist the city he ended getting a new injury.


    "What in the hell you want?" Sebastian said without hiding the anger and hostility on his voice. "Are you happy causing this meaningless ughter!?"


    "It''s not meaningless." The demigod said with a chuckle. "No, there is a very noble purpose, Mr. Sebastian. All these people are nurturing my master''s n with their lives."


    "Master? Who in the hell is your master!"


    "You don''t need to know. Not yet at least." The mysterious demigod shook his head. He then raised an eyebrow and took amunication crystal out.


    After he heard the message of his subordinates, he smiled.


    " Well, it looks like my men finished their job. Perfect. Then, Mr. Sebastian, it was a pleasure to meet you but I have to go. Till the next time we meet."


    The mysterious demigod bowed funnily and smirked. Then, he kicked the ground and ran away in the direction of the city.


    "You! Do you think you can escape like this!?" Sebastian was enraged and sent a wave of sword energy in his direction. "Nobody that attacks this kingdom will escape punishment!"


    "Hahahaha, we will, Mr. Sebastian. Because nobody can stop us, just like nobody can stop the day from turning into night."


    Sebastian froze. Instantly, a memory of many, many years ago appeared on his mind.


    His body shook briefly. Softly, he whispered something.


    "You Those words Are you from a member of Returning Dusk?"


    "Oh? You know about us?" The mysterious man asked in mirth.


    Sebastian did not reply. Instead, his mana and killing intent waspletely released, turning everything in the surroundings in a blood-red color.


    Suddenly, his eyes turned red as though he was crazy. Then, he raised his sword.


    "Returning Dusk, Returning dusk... All of you deserve to die!!!"


    The next second, a sword sh cut everything in its path into two.

 Chapter 95: Controlled Monsters

    Chapter 95: Controlled Monsters


    A group of ck-dressed men was standing above the walls of the city while looking at the destruction caused by the monsters.


    None of them seemed to care about the human lives ughtered by the monsters. Quite the opposite, some of them seemed delighted by this destruction.


    " This is art." One of them sighed. "I wonder how long we will have to wait before seeing something like this again."


    "Stop spacing out." A ck-dressed man arrived carrying an unconscious girl on his shoulder and scolded them. "Don''t you know the importance of this mission? If something happens, the master will kill us."


    "Come on, leader. We already finished everything the master asked for. Can''t we rx a bit now?"


    "Our mission ends only when we report to the master. Until then, we can''t rx. You never know what can happen during a mission!"


    The scolded ck-dressed man snorted. He mumbled some curses under his breath before raising his hands. "I understand, I understand. Geez, so strict."


    The leader frowned and shook his head. "How is the other girl? Did you get her?"


    The ck-dressed man shrugged and pointed to a corner where another girly unconscious.


    The young blonde girl was uninjured, but her face carried an expression of fear, and her cheeks had marks of dried tears.


    It was Erika, the city lord''s daughter.


    "It was not hard. The men guarding her were too weak." One of the ck-dressed men said.


    "Good." The leader nodded. "I have already got the other girl. Take the creature and get ready to leave."


    "Yeah, yeah. So boring."


    A ck-dressed man put Erika on his shoulder while another walked towards a cage nearby.


    Inside the cage, a horrendous ck creature screeched. The creature had several appendages twisting violently, and a mouth-like thing filled with serrated teeth that ttered ominously.


    "Keeeesh!"


    "Calm down, little thing. Nobody will hurt you here." The ck-dressed manughed. "To think this little thing caused all this disaster."


    "Be careful. The master will kill us if something happens to it."


    "Come on, what can happ"


    *Screeeeeeeech!!!*


    "Hey, calm down!"


    "What happened!?" The leader asked in a panic.


    "I don''t know! It started to scream suddenly! What the hell?"


    *Screeeechh!!!*


    The leader frowned. But suddenly, his expression changed.


    "Dammit! Shut it up! Hurry up!"


    "Huh?"


    "It''s calling the monsters here!"


    The ck-dressed man''s face changed. He hurriedly cast a barrier to block the cries of the monster, but it was already toote.


    Suddenly, four powerful auras rushed towards the city walls.


    An eagle, a wolf, a panther, and a serpent. Four powerful A-Rank monsters surrounded the group.


    "Dammit! I thought it would not attack us!" A ck-dressed man said.


    " It wants to escape!" Another ck-dressed man cursed.


    The ck thing in the cage twisted and thrashed violently. It continued screeching as though it wanted to call more monsters. Fortunately, the barrier blocked its streams, and no more monsters rushed towards the ck-dressed men.


    "Leader, what now?"


    The leader sighed. It walked towards the cage and stared at the ck things with ice-cold eyes.


    "Stop it. Now."


    "Screeeech!"


    "Last warning, monster. I know you can understand me. Stop it, or I will. And you will not like it."


    The ck mass-like thing stopped moving. It moved its appendages in the direction of the leader as though it wanted to say something.


    Then, it started to crackle.


    "Keh Kehkehkeh DiEdIeDiEDie YoU WIlL dIE"


    "Stupid thing." With a snort, the leader took a magic stone from his pocket. Looking towards the monsters around them, he infused mana into the stone.


    "Do you think we were not expecting your little tricks?"


    Then


    *Fuuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiii!*


    A soft whistle sounded.


    At the next instant, the monsters let out bloodcurdling cries of pain resounded and started to thrash around.


    But the monsters were not the only ones that suffered. The thing trapped in the cage''s screams were just as bloodcurdling and terrifying.


    Soon, a terrifying scene happened. The four thrashing monsters started to bleed from their pores. ck blood dyed the city walls while the monsters were turned into lumps of flesh.


    "Your kind is very dangerous, little creature. How can we not prepare countermeasures in case you try to escape? This spell resonates with the blood of your kind, making it rot.


    "Perhaps, you can endure this process. But what about the monsters that have a part of you inside?"


    The monster thrashed and screamed in pain. It only stopped moving when the leader stopped supplying mana to the stone.


    By then, the four A-Rank monsters plus all the monsters in one kilometer around the ck-dressed men had turned into ck goo.


    The leader looked at the creature in the cage indifferently. "In the end, you are nothing more than a monster." He then walked forward while hurrying his men. "Let''s go, we are alreadyte."


    The ck-dressed men nodded.


    But at that moment


    "Careful!"


    The leader''s face changed. He hurriedly jumped aside while warning his subordinates.


    The ck-dressed men moved without hesitation. Each one jumped away from their positions in an attempt to escape the unknown danger.


    A good choice.


    The next instant


    *BOOOM!!!*


    A bluish ray of energy impacted the city walls.


    Then, four people riding a wolf appeared in front of the ck-dressed men.


    "Good, we are not toote yet."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 96: Using an Enemy to Fight Another Enemy

    Chapter 96: Using an Enemy to Fight Another Enemy


    A few seconds ago...


    Sara put down themunication stone on her hand.


    "Is it done?" Bloed asked.


    "Done. He''ll be here soon. Are you sure about this?"


    "Well, I can think only about this method. Let''s go. They are about to leave. Leto, do it!"


    *Woof!*


    At Bloed''s signal, Leto opened his mouth and shot an energy ray towards the city walls.


    Then


    *Boom!*


    An enormous explosion ensued.


    Amidst the smoke, Bloed and the others arrived at the city walls.


    "Good, we are notte yet."


    Regina rolled her eyes.


    As soon as they arrived at the city walls, Sara looked around for a familiar figure. When she saw her unconscious sister, she could not help but call out in concern.


    "Gina!"


    Sara wanted to rush towards her sister but Bloed stopped her.


    "Stop. Don''t be reckless. Remember the n."


    "But"


    "Calm down. Although Gina is unconscious, she is uninjured. Besides, do you think you alone can against all of them?"


    Bloed had already grasped the situation. Seven enemies, three A-Ranks and four B-Ranks.


    The situation wasplicated. Bloed, Liu Ying, Sara, and Leto could barely fight an A-Rank, and Regina could fight another, so they still needed a way to take care of thest A-Rank and the four B-Ranks.


    Of course, Regina could release her demigod-level strength and take all of them for herself, but that was not going to happen.


    " We need to wait a bit more." Bloed said.


    Sara bit her lips and nodded. She then took a deep breath to calm down.


    "Sorry, I lost my calm."


    Bloed nodded. At that moment, he heard Regina''s voice.


    "Master, look at that."


    "Huh?"


    Bloed followed Regina''s sight. Instantly, he was stunned.


    "That is..."


    "Yes, the same monster as back then."


    A ck mass-like thing with several tentacles twisting revoltingly.


    It was the same monster as the one Bloed and the girls killed while they escaped the exilednds.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. "In other words, they are the ones behind this?"


    "Yeah, but it looks like that was not their only goal." Regina said while looking at another unconscious girl in a corner.


    It was Erika, the city lord''s daughter.


    An ice-cold look appeared on Bloed''s face.


    He was not the only one. Liu Ying, Sara, and even Regina had angry expressions.


    The group of four had passed through the city to reach here, and in the way, they had witnessed how the monsters chased and ughtered innocent civilians.


    Even although the four of them did their best to help, what they could do was limited. The number of monsters was too huge. It was virtually impossible for them to kill each one of them.


    Even Regina thought about releasing her true strength. But in the end, she did not dare to spend her strength killing weak monsters with two demigods nearby.


    Even more when both demigods could easily be enemies.


    One was the leader behind the ck-dressed men and the other was the man that exiled Bloed.


    Regina had to keep herself in top condition in case they attack her master.


    While Bloed and the others were observing the ck-dressed men, the ck-dressed men were observing them. The leader frowned when he saw the four of them plus Leto ready to fight.


    "Troublesome Fortunately, none of them seems too strong."


    But at that moment, one of his men, a ck-dressed man thatcked an arm, trembled.


    "What is wrong?" The leader asked.


    The one-armed ck-dressed man gritted his teeth.


    "It''s him!"


    "Hmm?"


    "He is the one that cut my arm!"


    The leader''s eyes shrunk. He then looked again at the group and recognized three of them.


    The blue-haired body, the silver-haired girl, and the tanned girl.


    They were the ones that frustrated the kidnapping of the city lord''s daughter and killed several of his men some days ago!


    Even his adamantine shield was destroyed by the boy''s saber!


    The ck-dressed leader narrowed his eyes. "It looks like your revenge will not have to wait then. The goddess of fortune is smiling to us it seems. Men, kill them! Make it quick!"


    When he finished speaking


    *Boom!*


    The seven ck-dressed men released their auras! Three A-Rank practitioners and four B-Rank practitioners got ready to fight!


    "Two of you, keep an eye on the creature and the two girls. The rest, let''s kill them!"


    """Yes!"""


    When Bloed and the girls saw the situation, their expression turned serious. It seemed they could not continue waiting.


    But just when Regina was going to show her true strength


    "Sara, what the hell happened!? Exin!"


    Sara''s expression changed when she heard that voice.


    "City Lord!"


    The city lord arrived.


    He had rushed towards here with a group of men after he heard Sara''s words. But he was not expecting to find Bloed and his group here too.


    However, that was not the time to worry about them. The city lord moved his anxious gaze towards the ck-dressed men and then, his expression froze.


    " Erika"


    At that moment, Sara''s enraged voice put thest nail in the coffin.


    "City Lord, they kidnapped young the miss and my sister! And the young master... The young master is dead!"


    The city lord staggered. He looked at the ck-dressed men with an expression of grief and rage.


    "G-Gerald, he"


    "They killed him! They are the ones behind the beast wave! City lord, you have to avenge the young master!"


    The ck-dressed men were startled. Even the leader could not understand what was happening.


    But they would never know they had been used as scapegoats.


    "BASTARDS!!!!"


    The city lord let out a heartbreaking cry. His eyes turned red and his grief turned into hate towards the ck-dressed men.


    Thus, the curtain of the final battle of Calice city opened.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 97: The Power of an A-Rank

    Chapter 97: The Power of an A-Rank


    The city lord never doubted Sara''s words. Not only because Sara had always been loyal to his house, never showing a sign of betrayal; but also because Erika''s unconscious body was on the ground beside the ck-dressed men. That was enough evidence.


    Thus, he did not hesitate to use his full strength since the start!


    Of course, Bloed''s n had some loopholes and it was just a matter of time before the city lord discovered that something was wrong with Sara''s story, but by then, it would be toote.


    Bloed was slightly surprised by Sara''s acting skills. With such an oscar-winning performance, it was not strange that the city lord was fooled.


    Now that she did her part, it was their turn.


    "Regina, Liu Ying, let''s go!"


    "Understood!"


    "Roger!"


    Just like that, the fight against the ck-dressed men started.


    The leader of the ck-dressed man scowled.


    "Dammit, such shitty luck."


    He, however, knew that it was not time to hesitate. "Onde, contact sir demigod! As for the others, kill them quickly! It will be bad if more people are attracted here!"


    One of the ck-dressed men nodded and took out amunication crystal to ry the sudden change in the situation to the demigod fighting Sebastian. At the same time, the other six charged towards Bloed and the others.


    The leader decided to take care of the city lord himself. He looked around and sighed in relief when he realized the city lord was the only A-Rank.


    His side had two extra A-Ranks, so the situation was in their favor. Moreover, the city lord was tired and injured after resisting the beast wave. Thus, although the situation was bothersome, it was not critical yet.


    The leader even regretted asking for the demigod''s help.


    Unfortunately, his expectations were soon betrayed.


    Before the other two A-Ranks could kill someone, Bloed''s group moved.


    Regina was the first to step forward, forming two energy des in her hands and intercepting one of the A-Ranks.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Leto faced the second A-Rank. At the same time, the men that came with the city lord charged towards the other enemies.


    Sara, on the other hand, had disappeared at some point without anyone noticing.


    The A-Rank Bloed was facing smirked and twisted his neck. "Get lost!"


    *BOOM!!!*


    The A-Rank''s punch created a shockwave that impacted the surroundings!


    Bloed''s eyes shed. Before the punch could touch him, Leto''s body turned into a barrier that protected him. At the same time, he moved below the metallic barrier and shed towards the A-Rank!


    The A-Rank snorted. Although he was slightly surprised about Leto''s transformation, he was not too concerned about a B-Rank monster.


    As for Bloed and the others, just how much problem could a group of C-Ranks cause?


    The ck-dressed man looked at Bloed''s attack disdainfully. He just gathered mana around his arm and extended it to stop the saber. That was more than enough to deal with a C-Rank brat.


    But in thest second, his expression changed.


    A huge sense of danger assaulted him. Without hesitation, he withdrew his arm and took a step back.


    But Bloed''s saber managed to cut his arm. The [Molecr Disintegration] ability in the saber easily cut through the mana defenses and sliced the flesh!


    Unfortunately, the ck-dressed man managed to react in time, barely moving his arm away and saving it from being severed.


    "You!"


    However, he did not have time to be surprised. At that moment, he saw a punching to him from the side.


    This time, the A-Rank man did not dare to be careless. He instinctively answered with a hurried punch of his own!


    Then


    *BOOM!!!*


    "!!!"


    The monstrous strength on Liu Ying''s punch assaulted the man. The man hurriedly twisted his body, managing to redirect great part of that strength to the ground, but even like that, he felt his arm hurting.


    ''This is!''


    Unable to hide his surprise, the ck-dressed man jumped back. But this time, he saw two blue rays of lightsing towards his face!


    His instincts kicked up making him raise his arm. As soon as he did it, he felt a searing pain burning through his flesh!


    The two bullets had pierced his arm, burning his skin and showing the man''s bones.


    But the A-Rank man did not have time to register what happened. He instinctively jumped away, barely avoiding another three bullets that Bloed had shot!


    Then, the ck-dressed man looked fixedly at Bloed and Liu Ying before looking at the injuries caused by the saber and the bullets.


    "You two Hahahaha, to think I would be injured by two C-Rank brats! Great great! However, do you think you can defeat an A-Rank so easily!?"


    When the man finished speaking, a powerful wave of mana erupted from his body.


    Bloed''s expression was grave and his muscles werepletely taut. Although the ck-dressed man was surprised that Bloed managed to injure him, Bloed was even more surprised.


    ''This monster To think he received two bullets head-on and he is only slightly injured!''


    For the first time, Bloed saw for himself the formidableness of an A-Rank. Until now, Bloed''s bullets were one of his main means of attack. Even a B-Rank practitioner didn''t dare to receive them head-on.


    However, it seemed that they could only y a supporting role against this new enemy. Perhaps the sniper rifle would be more useful, but in the current circumstances, he could not use it.


    Fortunately, his saber continued being as useful as before.


    Bloed narrowed his eyes and focusedpletely on the fight. His eyes were in overdrive, catching each change in his surroundings.


    Bloed was aware that in this kind of fight, he could not allow himself to make even the slightest mistake.


    The next second, the A-Rank enemy kicked the ground!


    Bloed''s blue eyes caught the enemy movement. Without hesitation, he gave an order to Leto.


    The metallic sand turned into a shield protecting Liu Ying. An instantter, the man''s punch impacted the shield!


    *Boom!*


    But this time, the shield was unable to endure even a blow!


    Liu Ying''s expression changed. She hurriedly moved aside and barely evaded the attack. However, she saw another attacking for her head!


    Fortunately, Bloed''s energy bullets flew towards the A-Rank''s head at that moment.


    The A-Rank did not have more options than move back to evade them. But before Bloed could sigh in relief, a punch wasing towards his face.


    The punch was so fast that the only reason Bloed managed to see it was thanks to his enhanced eyes!


    Once more, Leto''s metallic sand saved his life. At the same time, Bloed shed with his saber!


    However, the ck-dressed man was already not there. Instead, a kick wasing towards him from behind.


    ''Dammit!'' Bloed barely managed to order Leto to form a shield. However, the shield did not endure even a blow. Bloed had to roll aside to barely evade the attack before shotting his gun again.


    The ck-dressed man snorted. His body shed and disappeared from his location, appearing this time above Bloed.


    Bloed''s expression changed. He once more rolled in the ground and evaded the attack. Then, he willed Leto to turn into a wave to restrict the man''s movements.


    But the man just punched and created a hole through Leto before using it to rush towards Bloed!


    Liu Ying appeared at that moment. She jumped from a blind spot and punched towards the man''s head! This time, though, the result was different thanst time.


    Astonishingly, the man used his shoulder to receive Liu Ying''s punch, only taking a few step backs and letting out a grunt. Then, he unleashed a punch towards Liu Ying''s belly!


    Fortunately, Leto''s barrier mode once more managed to save the day.


    Liu Ying hurriedly jumped back, retreating beside Bloed.


    "How are we supposed to win against someone so strong?" She grimaced.


    Bloed replied with silence. In fact, he was thinking the same inwardly.


    Facing someone two entire ranks above him, Bloed felt helpless.


    The ck-dressed man did not continue his attacks. Instead, he looked at Bloed, Liu Ying, and Leto in curiosity.


    Then, he smiled like a predator ying with his prey.


    ...


    We are already reaching the end of this arc!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 98: Chaotic Melee

    Chapter 98: Chaotic Melee


    Although ranks were not absolute in this world, they were close to it.


    Ranks represented the amount of mana you could hold and wield. Although the exact amount differed slightly between people in the same rank, it was around the same.


    A higher rank meant a higher amount of mana, and a higher amount of mana meant a greater number of possible strategies and stronger techniques. In other words, a greater battle strength.


    Normally, four or five C-Ranks were needed to fight a B-Rank. Going one level higher, you needed eight to ten B-Ranks to face an A-Rank. As for A-Ranks defeating a demigod? It was unheard of.


    Despite it, though, the world nevercked geniuses. Stories of people defeating enemies of a stronger rank were not umon. Each certain time, you could hear a story about a young genius somewhere managing to do it.


    In fact, Bloed and Liu Ying were two such people.


    However, it was mostly limited to defeating someone one rank higher.


    As for defeating someone two entire ranks higher? At most, you could find one or two people like that in each generation, and most of the time, luck yed a decisive factor in the victory.


    And now, Bloed and Liu Ying were exactly in that situation.


    And Bloed finally understood how wide a difference of two ranks was.


    ''This monster''


    It was the first time Bloed felt so powerless during a fight.


    The A-Rank was many times stronger than him, his speed was several times faster, and his battle experience and explosiveness were at another level.


    It was at the point where Bloed could not keep with his movements. Although his eyes could follow the ck-dressed man, his body was too slow to react.


    Besides the first few attacks that took the man by surprise, none of his attacks had managed to hit.


    In fact, the only reason he was still alive was that Leto was a very trusty shield. Nevertheless, the ck-dressed man had been very close tonding a blow.


    However, Bloed and Liu Ying''s situation was not the worst. At the very least, they had not been injured yet.


    Instead, it was the city lord whose situation seemed grim.


    Even although the city lord was also an A-Rank, he was already tired after fighting the beast wave. Moreover, not every A-Rank was the same, and it was obvious that the leader of the ck-dressed men was one of the strongest in this rank.


    In the end, the city lord was being one-sidedly suppressed. Despite his desire to avenge his dead son, he could not even touch the hem of the leader''s shirt.


    Instead, the opposite happened. The fight between the city lord and the ck-dressed leader quickly turned into a scene of the leader constantly injuring the city lord. Slowly wearing him down to find an opportunity to kill him.


    Fortunately, the city lord was not alone and he had brought some of his men with him.


    More than once, these men''s sacrifice was the reason the city lord was able to avoid a deadly injury, but even like that, it was obvious he could notst long.


    Moreover, the ck-dressed men had reinforcements too. Besides the three A-Ranks fighting Regina, Bloed, and the city lord, there were also four B-Ranks. One of these B-Ranks was guarding the unconscious girls and the creature, but the other three were fighting against the city lord''s men.


    But not every person fighting the ck-dressed men was losing.


    There was an exception, and it was Regina.


    Contrary to Bloed''s fight and the city lord''s struggle, Regina''s battle was more like her toying with her enemy. She was dancing around him calmly, wielding her two energy des while she circled the A-Rank ck-dressed man and filled him with injuries.


    In the end, Regina was an SS-Grade Valkyrie, a war doll. Even if she suppressed her strength to the peak of B-Grade, she could easily fight an A-Rank opponent like him.


    In fact, if she wanted, she could have ended the fight long ago and gone to help her master. However, that was meaningless. If she needed to help her master every time he was in a difficult situation, Bloed would never be a true powerhouse.


    No, she only needed to be there to guarantee he does not die before bing truly strong.


    The battle in the city walls intensified, and soon, both sides had casualties. Many of the men that the city lord brought had been killed, but at the same time, a B-Rank ck-dressed man had died too.


    The situation was obviously advantageous for the ck-dressed men. Although they were surpassed three to one, theirbined strength was higher than the strength of the city lord''s men.


    Moreover, if either the city lord or Bloed and Liu Ying were defeated, then an A-Rank would be freed, and the battle would be in their hands.


    Bloed knew it, and that was the reason hepletely focused on the fight. He and Liu Ying had stopped attacking the A-Rank ck-dressed man and instead werepletely in the defensive.


    Bloed''s goal was to gain time. As soon as he could draw the fight long enough for his n to work, victory would be his regardless of if he kills the A-Rank or not.


    But his opponent did not n to make it easy for him. The attacks of the ck-dressed man had be faster and stronger, and more than once, he had been extremely close catch one of them.


    The only thing keeping Bloed and Liu Ying alive was Leto. Leto''s undying characteristic meant it could reform again even if it was destroyed. So, although it could not injure the ck-dressed man, it could protect Bloed and Liu Ying repeatedly.


    The ck-dressed man had also realized it. At the start, he did not pay the wolf much attention, but after it saved Bloed and Liu Ying''s lives repeatedly, the ck-dressed man understood that he had to kill the wolf first if he wanted to kill Bloed.


    But that was easier said than done. He punched, crushed, and pulverized Leto''s body more than once, but Leto''s body always reformed again as though nothing happened. Even after destroying Leto''s body more than twenty times, it did not seem any weaker than at the start.


    If not by the fact that some of the metallic sand had stopped working, the ck-dressed man would have given up in despair.


    Even like that, though, he found this fight the most frustrating fight of his life.


    "Damn hell! What kind of monster is this!?"


    Bloed panted and did not reply. He did not dare to be distracted even for one second against this kind of opponent.


    ''Damn, how much longer'' Bloed thought to himself while observing the situation on the other fights. Currently, the city lord was already in hisst legs. He could die at any moment!


    As for Regina, she seemed as leisure as always. She even had time to turn around and smile at Bloed.


    Bloed could not help but smile wryly.


    As though answering his prayers, the change he was expecting happened at that moment.


    Suddenly, the ck-dressed man guarding the girls froze.


    Then, he grabbed his chest and coughed a mouthful of blood.


    At some point, an ice-cold girl had appeared behind him and stabbed a knife in his heart.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 99: The Finishing Blow

    Chapter 99: The Finishing Blow


    The de of the knife pierced the ck-dressed man''s heart. It was impossible for him to survive this kind of attack.


    "You" The ck-dressed man coughed a mouthful of blood.


    Sara just looked at him indifferently and swung the knife aside, slicing his body apart!


    The bloody scene was noticed by every person on the walls. Instantly, the ck-dressed men paled.


    "Someone, stop her!" The leader bellowed. But neither Bloed nor the city lord was going to allow it.


    "Stop them!"


    The city lord and his men attacked crazily as though their lives depended on it. At the same time, Bloed and Liu Ying engaged their enemy ferociously to stop him from stopping Sara.


    Sara knew the situation was critical. As soon as she killed the ck-dressed man, she rushed towards her sister''s location.


    "Sara, take Erika away!" Shouted the city lord.


    Sara grunted. Although she did not want to save her, now was not the time to garner the city lord''s suspicion.


    In seconds, she grabbed the two girls with her and jumped down the city walls.


    Bloed''s expression brightened. "Great. Girls, it''s time to leave!"


    Liu Ying and Regina nodded. Regina punched her enemy on the belly and threw him against a wall while Bloed shot several bullets to his opponent to give Liu Ying time to run.


    But


    "Where do you think you are going!?" The A-Rank fighting him roared. Then, he used his arms to protect his vital parts and rushed through the rain of energy bullets.


    Bloed''s expression changed. He hurriedly jumped aside and evaded the bulldozing A-Rank. Then, he used his mind to give an order to Leto.


    Leto instantly turned into a wolf, although it was noticeably smaller than at the start. Bloed jumped on the wolf without hesitation and gave it the order to leave.


    At the same time, the two girls jumped after him.


    "Do you think you can escape!?" The A-Rank man shouted. But suddenly, he saw a small ball floating in front of his eyes.


    And


    *sh!*


    The bright light and deafening sound of the stun grenade paralyzed him.


    "Arrrrghhhhh!!!" The man screamed and covered his eyes. Bloed took advantage of that opportunity to sh with his saber!


    But unexpectedly, the man avoided the attack while staggering!


    Furthermore, he unleashed a counterattack one secondter!


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. The A-Rank''s sharp instincts astonished him.


    He instantly knew that killing him today would be impossible. Without hesitation, he jumped back onto Leto.


    "Leave!"


    But how could it be so easy to leave?


    When Bloed was about to reach Leto, a shadow appeared behind him!


    "Die, brat!"


    A ck-dressed man had attacked him! It was the one-armed ck dressed man of back then!


    Bloed grunted. In fact, he had perceived the one-armed man''s presence long ago. However, he did not think he would attack now.


    Despite it, though, Bloed did not panic.


    Twisting his body, he evaded the punching towards him. At the same time, he raised his gun and pointed to the man''s chest.


    But the man leaned his body aside, evading the bullets. Then, he unleashed a kick towards Bloed''s legs.


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. With a twist of his wrist, his saber appeared on the kick''s way. The one-armed man suddenly realized that if he continued his attack, he would lose his leg!


    Clicking his tongue, he stepped back, only to notice Liu Ying''s punching for him!


    The man leaned his body aside and counterattacked with a kick. Liu Ying received the kick with another kick and staggered two steps back. But the ck-dressed man took three steps back.


    And during this time, Bloed aimed his gun again. This time towards the new enemy''s face!


    Two bullets were shot.


    *Bam bam!*


    But the bullets did not hit! A hand suddenly appeared in the way, blocking the bullets!


    Yes, the A-Rank ck-dressed had recovered from the stun grenade''s effects.


    "Dammit!" Bloed cursed. He thought the effects of the stun grenade wouldst longer.


    As expected, it could not be so easy.


    He looked back to see if Regina nned to help him, but she was only looking indifferently without any intention to help. It was obvious she was not going to intervene.


    But help came from an unexpected ce.


    When Bloed thought his only option was to resort to his trump card, a knife stabbed towards the A-Rank''s back.


    "!!!" The A-Rank''s face changed. The sudden feeling of danger was even greater than when Bloed''s saber was about to cut his arm.


    He forced himself to twist his body aside, but even after that, the knife stabbed his rib!


    Behind him, Sara''s ice-cold eyes gleamed with killing intent.


    "Damn girl!" The A-Rank bellowed he threw a fist. Sara was unable to avoid the attack and was hit on the chest!


    "Ugh!"


    After crashing against a wall, Sara vomited a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious.


    But her strike changed the situationpletely.


    His dagger had cut three ribs of the A-Rank and injured his lungs gravely. Moreover, although she failed to pierce his heart, the dagger was poisoned!


    The ck-dressed man felt the poison and paled. He hurriedly moved his mana to stop the poison from spreading.


    But Bloed finally had an opportunity.


    "Regina, help Sara!" Trusting that the Valkyrie would follow his orders, Bloed and Liu Ying charged against the two ck-dressed men!


    Bloed pressed the trigger of his gun repeatedly. At the same time, his saber cut towards the A-Rank''s head.


    This time, the A-Rank was unable to react as quickly as before. Although he avoided Bloed''s saber, most of the bullets hit him!


    Meanwhile, Liu Ying shed against the one-armed B-Rank.


    Bloed gritted his teeth. It was now or never!


    Leto once more turned into metallic sand. Its body turned into chains that tried to trap the A-Rank.


    The A-Rank bellowed. Mana surged out of his body and crushed the chains. But the chains reformed instantly into a metallic wave that surged towards him.


    "Not enough!" With a cry, the man''s punch blew away half of Leto''s body.


    But when Leto''s body disappeared, Bloed appeared in front of him, thrusting his saber towards his chest.


    At this distance and with the A-Rank injuries, this attack was impossible to avoid!


    It was the true intent behind Leto turning into a wave!


    The feeling of deathing closer stimted all the potential in the A-Rank''s body. In an instant, the pressureing from his body multiplied greatly.


    "Dream on!"


    With a cry of outrage, the A-Rank gathered all his mana into his right hand. Then, he punched towards Bloed''s saber.


    And


    *Boom!*


    Bloed''s saber was stopped!


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 100: Killing an A-Rank

    Chapter 100: Killing an A-Rank


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide! It was the first time his [Molecr Disintegration] had been stopped!


    No, it was not stopped. Bloed could feel that [Molecr Disintegration] was still working. However, the amount of mana in the A-Rank''s punch was so great that that Bloed could not disintegrate it fast enough. He probably needed around two seconds more to disintegrate it.


    But how could his enemy give him two seconds?


    It was a brute-force method that only worked because the A-Rank was two entire ranks above Bloed!


    The A-Rank was also surprised, but he immediately smiled savagely. He endured the pain on his chest and threw a kick towards Bloed''s waist.


    Bloed barely managed to transform Leto into a shield and withdrew his saber. He then moved towards the A-Rank''s back and sent another cut towards his waist.


    But as expected, the A-Rank did not avoid the attack. Instead, he created a thickyer of mana in the ce where the saber cut.


    And just like before, Bloed''s saber was stopped.


    Bloed cursed his luck and jumped back instantly. One secondter, the A-Rank punched the ce where Bloed was just a moment ago.


    However, he did not seem bothered by the fact that Bloed managed to avoid his blow.


    "It looks like I found the way to stop your saber, boy. What are you going to do now?"


    Bloed wrinkled his brows in thought.


    Until now, although the fight had been hard, Bloed had always keep his confidence. After all, he only needed tond one attack to win the game. However, now that his [Molecr Disintegration] was no longer effective, his possibilities of victory reduced significantly.


    In truth, not even Bloed thought that his [Molecr Disintegration] could be stopped that way, but he understood the reason once he thought about it. Once more, the root of the problem was the fact that he could not truly use this ESP ability yet. His saber was just a downgraded solution he improvised using his psychic energy and magic runes.


    But although that method could allow him to barely use [Molecr Disintegration], he could not put much psychic energy on the attacks. Due to that, when the target he tried to break down, in this case, mana, was greater than the output of his ability, it needed a bit of time to work.


    However, Bloed was notpletely hopeless.


    Narrowing his eyes and smiling, he took a deep breath and kicked the ground again.


    His body was shot towards the A-Rank man and his saber thrust towards his heart.


    The A-Rank grunted. He filled one hand with mana to stop the saber and he used the other to punch Bloed.


    Bloed''s eyes shed coldly. In thest instant, his body leaned downward, barely evading the punch. At the same time, he took out his energy gun and shot four times towards the A-Rank''s face.


    The A-Rank hurriedly raised his hand to block the shots. However, that created an opening.


    Once more, Bloed swung his saber. This time towards the leg.


    And


    *Swish!*


    The saber managed to cut his leg.


    With a disgusting sound, blood spurt out of the leg.


    "Agh!" The A-Rank cried in pain. He swung his arm in an arc to try hit Bloed, but Bloed had already crouched and was attacking another part of the man.


    Shoulder.


    Then Knee.


    Waist.


    Back.


    Bloed executed tens of saber moves in an instant. The A-Rank tried to use the old method to block the saber, but he only managed to seed half of the time.


    In the end, although that method was effective, he needed to control his mana almost perfectly to seed. However, how could he do that while he was using a portion of his mana to suppress the poison?


    Ultimately, the A-Rank''s mana control was not especially outstanding. In top condition, stopping Bloed''s saber repeatedly would have been possible, but now that was nothing more than a pipe dream.


    Bloed took advantage of that. He moved quickly around his body, trying to attack his blinds spots or the parts where he felt the A-Rank could not move his mana quickly to.


    But the A-Rank was not a fool either. When he realized Bloed''s goal, he concentrated his mana in his vital zones and the ces that could affect his battle ability. Meanwhile, he swung his arms and legs and tried tond a hit on Bloed.


    However, the injury Sara caused showed its effect at this moment. Due to the poison, the A-Rank movements slowed a lot, and that problem increased every time Bloed injured him.


    Bloed continued moving. His saber shed coldly, reflecting the sunlight. He gave his everything in this battle. At this point, it was not about rescuing Gina. It was about surpassing his limits.


    With his saber and gun, he moved around the A-Rank as a small wolf slowly hunting his prey, umting wounds in the A-Rank and waiting for the chance to finish him.


    ''Damn it, at this rate I''m going to lose!'' The A-Rank panicked. In despair, he let out a roar.


    "AAAAAARRRRRGGHHHHH!!!"


    A powerful shockwave erupted from his body. Bloed tried to retreat as soon as he noticed the A-Rank''s intentions, but he was a bit too slow.


    In the end, he suffered part of the brunt of the shockwave.


    "Ugh!"


    A sweet taste spread in his mouth. Bloed''s stopped himself from spitting blood and keep his entire focus on the A-Rank.


    But contrary to his expectations, the A-Rank did not continue attacking. Instead, he ran away!


    Bloed was surprised, but his reaction was not slow. He turned his energy gun into the sniper rifle and pressed the trigger!


    *Bam!*


    Although the A-Rank tried to avoid it, his body moved a bit too slow. In the end, the bullet hit his chest.


    "Agh." The A-Rank grunted and copsed on his knees.


    Bloed''s body rxed. He released the breath of air he was holding and walked towards the A-Rank. When he was in front of him, he raised his saber.


    "Farewell."


    "You will not kill me today, brat!" The A-Rank cried suddenly. He put his remaining strength in onest blow towards Bloed''s chest.


    But as though he was expecting it, Bloed took a step aside and evaded the attack leisurely.


    Then, he swung the saber through the A-Rank''s waist.


    Immediately after that, he put his saber back into his sheath.


    Behind him, a rain of blood spurt out from the A-Rank''s waist.


    Bloed remained indifferent. He turned towards Liu Ying and realized that she had just finished her opponent too.


    Lastly, he looked in the city lord''s direction. Right now, the leader of the ck-dressed men was thest one standing of his group. He was winning against the city lord, but his expression was incredibly ugly.


    After all, his entire team had been wiped out.


    The city lord smiled widely. "Bloed, help me."


    But Bloed did not pay attention to him. Turning around, he walked towards Leto.


    "Let''s go!"


    Suddenly, Regina''s face changed.


    She hurriedly stood in front of Bloed and Liu Ying and created an energy barrier around them!


    Then next second


    *BOOOOM!!!*


    A terrifying sword wave hit the city walls.


    ...


    Just three chapters until the end of this fight, and ten chapters until the end of this arc...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 101: Finally Free

    Chapter 101: Finally Free


    Sorry, no chapter yesterday, but three chapters today, so...


    ...


    *BOOOM!!!*


    The giant sword wave appeared suddenly, crashing against the city walls and cutting it into two!


    The powerful attack stunned all the people present. In an instant, several people were killed.


    Only three people managed to react. The city lord, the leader of the ck-dressed men, and Regina.


    "AHHHHH!" The city lord bellowed and put all his mana into defense. Like that, he barely managed to avoid being killed.


    The leader''s situation was not much better, but he seemed to have managed to escape the radius of the attack in thest second, so his injuries were less severe.


    In the end, it was only Bloed''s group that remained unscathed thanks to Regina''s quick reaction.


    At that moment, a powerful demigod-level pressure crashed against the walls. Bloed managed to see the ck-dressed demigod getting ready for a second attack, but at that time, someone intervened.


    "Returning Dusk Scum! Where do you think you are going!?"


    "Dammit! Are you crazy!? If we fight here we will destroy half of the city!"


    But the angry Sebastian seemed as though he did not care about the consequences. He raised his sword and attacked the ck-dressed demigod with a devastating attack, forcing him to move aside and evade.


    Fortunately, Sebastian still seemed to have a bit of reasoning left, because he dissipated the sword attack before it caused destruction on the city.


    The demigods shed again. Just the shockwaves of their sh destroyed some buildings, and the mana in the surroundings became unstable.


    Their battle was like a natural disaster devastating the city!


    Bloed could not help but show admiration towards this level of strength. This was at the level where they could destroy cities singlehandedly.


    It was the S-Rank, demigods!


    At that moment, the ck-dressed demigod shouted something.


    "One, take the creature and leave! Forget about the girls for now! I will exin to the master!"


    The Leader of the ck-dressed men moved as soon as he heard these words. Even although he probably could kill the city lord if he continued fighting for another five minutes, he abandoned the fight without hesitation and rushed towards the cage holding the creature.


    Unfortunately for him, the city lord was not nning to let him escape.


    "Where do you think you are going!?"


    The sword of the city lord cut through the air, advancing towards the ck-dressed man full of killing intent.


    "Tsk!" The ck-dressed man clicked his tongue. He jumped aside and counterattacked with an attack of his own. In a few seconds, he managed to disengage the city lord again.


    That process repeated a few times until the ck-dressed man reached the cage.


    The city lord''s eyes reddened. Facing the man suspected of killing his son and kidnapping his daughter, and watching how he escaped while he was powerless to stop him, how could he remain calm?


    Suddenly, he saw Bloed and the others from the corner of his eyes.


    Although he was slightly surprised that they managed to escape the demigod''s attack unscathed, the city lord was not in a situation where he could think about that.


    Instead, hemunicated his intentions with a yell.


    "Bloed, miss Regina, miss Liu Ying! help me to stop him!"


    Bloed frowned. Help? Now?


    Even without mentioning that the city lord was an enemy and he did not have any reason to help him, just the fact that Sebastian was nearby meant that Bloed wanted to attract as little attention as possible.


    And Regina and Liu Ying thought the same.


    "Let''s go!" Bloed said and jumped onto Leto, ignoring the city lord. Regina and Liu Ying followed behind him.


    The city lord''s expression turned ugly. "Damn it!"


    However, he did not give up and instead continued pursuing the enemy leader.


    "Stop there!"


    The leader ignored him. When he arrived in front of the cage, he grabbed it and jumped down the city walls.


    But at that moment, a terrifying feeling of danger attacked him.


    Looking around, he saw a worm-like creature burrowing out of the city walls and jumping towards him!


    It was the A-Rank worm monster that Bloed had met before!


    It had appeared so suddenly that when the leader noticed it, it was already less than one meter away of him, with its mouth opened to devour him.


    The leader of the ck-dressed men reacted instantly. Without thinking, he took out the control stone and injected mana into it.


    But then Nothing happened.


    No bloodcurdling cry of pain, no trashing around, and no ck blood erupting from its skin.


    Instead, the serrate teeth of the monster pierced the waist of the leader and tore his body into two.


    Even in his death, the ck-dressed man did not understand what happened.


    But when his eyes met the creature in the cage, he thought he saw a smirk-like expression mocking his idiocy.


    The worm broke the cage, and the tentacled creature waked out. It then extended its tentacles and pierced the remaining body of the ck-dressed man before tearing it into pieces in rage.


    Once it was done with its revenge, it grabbed the stone the leader used to control the monsters and destroyed it.


    Finally, it opened its mouth and let out a loud cry of hunger.


    *Screeeeeeeech!*


    As though waiting for its signal, hundreds of monsters appeared instantly.


    These monsters had been waiting just outside the range of the stone for the moment when their leader was free.


    Even more frighteningly was the fact that at least ten of these monsters were A-Rank, moreover, they had not shown their capabilities until now.


    In a choir, the monsters roared and screeched to the sky.


    When the mysterious demigod heard that, his expression changed.


    "Oh, damn"


    At the same time, Bloed and the others, who managed to see everything, felt a terrifying chill in their spines.


    The mass-like ck creature was finally free.

 Chapter 102: [Overdrive] (1)

    Chapter 102: [Overdrive] (1)


    In the end, the reason the creature managed to escape was that everybody underestimated it.


    In fact, when the creature manipted the A-Rank monsters to attack the ck-dressed men the first time, its goal was never to escape. It knew that escaping under the watch of so many ck-dressed men was night impossible.


    No, its goal was to find the person holding the control stone. When it confirmed that the control stone was in the hands of the leader, it achieved its goal.


    The rest was to wait. Wait for an opportunity to kill him.


    The leader of the ck-dressed men knew that the creature was cunning, but he never expected it to be this cunning. Since the start, it had managed to control a creature without injecting its flesh and blood on it.


    It was the worm, the one that killed the leader.


    That was the reason the control stone did not work on it.


    That was the reason the worm could burrow in the earth. It used magic to separate the earth and stones and move quickly.


    In the end, the creature''s n was sessful. Against all the odds, it managed to escape the ck-dressed men''s control.


    Now, it was free.


    Free to ughter as much as it wanted.


    *Screeeeeech!!!*


    The cry of the creature reverberated in the city and was answered by hundreds and thousands of monsters. The bloodthirsty monsters bowed to its master and weed its freedom.


    Then, the feast of flesh and blood started.


    *Roar!!!*


    Houses were destroyed, doors were knocked down, children were torn apart, and parents died defending their children. It was as though the monsters had turned berserk, killing even more savagely than before.


    Screams of pain and fear filled the city streets. The adventurers and soldiers still defending the city watched how theirrades were ughtered, falling under the jaws of ferocious beasts and dying with expressions of despair.


    "Hey! You need to stop! We need to stop that creature first!" The ck-dressed demigod shouted to Sebastian, but Sebastian ignored him. He seemed not to care about the creature or the monsters killings the citizens.


    Since the moment he learned that the mysterious demigod belonged to Returning Dusk, it was as though nothing else mattered.


    The ck-dressed demigod clicked his tongue. ''Damn it, what is with this crazy man!'' He then looked down at the city and his expression turned ugly.


    In the current situation, his priority should be to recover the creature, however, doing so right now was the same as giving up his life to the demigod fighting him.


    Thus, he could only go for the next best option.


    With a grunt, he coursed his mana through his body and released it with a st towards Sebastian!


    "Die!"


    Sebastian received the attack with a snort. Then, he responded with a sword sh.


    But suddenly, he realized that the ck-dressed demigod was already two-hundred meters away.


    "Where do you think you are going!?"


    "Crazy man, I''m not fighting anymore! I need to report it to the master!"


    After saying that, the demigod rushed out of the city.


    Behind him, Sebastian did not hesitate to chase after him.


    At the same time, Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Sara (still unconscious and being carried by Regina), and the city lord were surrounded by monsters. Ten A-Rank monsters were followed by hordes of weaker monsters that bared their fangs to them.


    Monsters of all the ranks were attacking the city lord. D-Rank monsters, C-Ranks monsters, and B-Ranks monsters attacked him nonstop. They disregarded their own allies and attacked crazily to the city lord without caring about their lives.


    "AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" The city lord bellowed and released sword shes after sword shes, but his situation quickly worsened. Under the besiegement of hundred of monsters and ten A-Rank monsters lying in wait, his death was just a matter of time.


    Bloed and the others were in the same situation. Bloodthirsty monsters charged towards Leto without regard for their lives. From birds to wolves, they attacked the group wildly.


    Bloed and the others fought them while escaping the encirclement, but the number of monsters was crazy. Even with Leto in its battle mode killing the monsters that charged towards itself, the situation was not looking good.


    The reason was the A-Rank monsters watching the group and waiting for an opportunity to attack.


    Fortunately, Regina had acted and beaten the A-Ranks back when they tried to attack, but even so, the situation was critical.


    "Master" Regina looked at the monsters and frowned. Bloed expression was grave too. Their current situation was simr to the one they faced in the Exiled Lands but much worse. Just the number of A-Rank monsters was ten times higher!


    Moreover, there was still the strange creature watching them. Bloed could feel that this creature was a lot stronger than the one they killed when leaving the exilednds. Just the number of monsters it controlled was proof of its strength.


    "Bloed, we need to hurry up or we will not escape!" Liu Ying eximed.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. Currently, he had two options.


    The first one was to activate Leto''s flying mode. With the speed of Leto''s flight, they could easily leave the city and escape.


    However, it meant leaving countless innocent people to die.


    The second option was to do something about it. But Bloed ran the risk of exposing his identity or Regina strength to Sebastian, who could be nearby.


    In the end, Bloed heaved a tired sigh.


    "Regina, I''ll use that."


    Regina was startled. One secondter, her expression changed. "Master, are you sure? If you want, I can make a move."


    Bloed shook his head. "No, I don''t want to reveal your true strength as easily. Besides, I think it''s the perfect time to test it inbat."


    Regina did not stop Bloed anymore after hearing that. Instead, she curved her lips up.


    "I understand. Go all out, then, master. I''ll be here to protect you."


    Bloed smiled. Then, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


    When he opened his eyes again, his blue biomechanical pupils were glowing with electric arcs of light.


    "[Overdrive]."

 Chapter 103: [Overdrive] (2)

    Chapter 103: [Overdrive] (2)


    "[Overdrive]."


    The transformation was immediate.


    Blue''s blue eyes turned deep, and his aura changedpletely, turning profound and vast, with a feeling of domination.


    However, that was just the start.


    The next instant, Leto turned into metallic sand that wrapped around Bloed and transformed into a silvery-blue armor!


    The armor superposed over Tito''s armor. It made it even more beautiful than before and domineering than before, with blue electric lines cursing through the armor and expanding to the surroundings.


    Besides Bloed''s head, his entire body was covered by the armor.


    It was [Eitr], the hero''s armor!


    But that was not everything. Next, another part of the metallic sand wrapped Bloed''s saber and turned it into a two-meters-long squarishnce. Thence shone with an ominous blue light that seemed to tear space itself and rested in Bloed''s right hand peacefully.


    [Gungnir], the god-killing spear!


    Lastly, the remaining metallic sand dispersed around Bloed like satellites orbiting a sun, and created a bubble-like barrier protecting him!


    [Svalinn], the shield protecting the brave!


    Instantly, a powerful aura erupted from Bloed''s body. His psychic energy surged out and pressured all the monsters nearby, and his body hovered overbearingly in the air!


    Everybody, from the monsters to the humans, felt the change. Liu Ying opened her eyes wide, Regina smiled in pride, and the honey-haired girl sleeping far away muttered ''the hero''.


    Even the two demigods fighting far away changed their expressions. Both of them turned towards the city with expressions of shock and astonishment!


    *Screech!!!* The ck creature cried in fear. Its instincts warned it that whatever the thing floating was, it was a threat to its life.


    So, without hesitation, it ordered its most powerful monsters to attack!


    Bloed took a deep breath. His body felt strong, and his mind felt freer. It was as though he had been living in a cage before and now he was released.


    But he did not drown in the feeling of power. He knew that his time was limited, and he needed to end everything quickly.


    Thus, he raised [Gungnir] and aimed at one of the A-Rank monsters.


    "Begone." He ordered.


    Following his voice, his right hand pressed a trigger, and his ESP ability was activated.


    Then, the A-Rank monster shivered.


    And half of its body turned into ashes.


    "Ten." Bloed whispered softly and aimed again.


    Silently, he pressed the trigger once, twice, and thrice.


    Two B-Rank monsters werepletely eradicated, and a Mammut-like A-Rank monster lost its head.


    Nine.


    A group of B-Rank monsters roared in anger and fear. They rushed towards Bloed crazily to tear its limbs apart.


    But each time they touched the bubble around him, their bodies twitched briefly, before being disintegrated into dust.


    Meanwhile, Bloed pressed the trigger another four times, killing two A-Rank monsters and another two monsters nearby.


    Eight.


    The ck creature realized how grave the situation was. It screeched in panic while ordering its army of monsters to kill the threat.


    But they only rushed towards their deaths. Meanwhile, another A-Rank monster was killed.


    Seven.


    The A-Rank worm surged out of the ground. It opened its teeth-filled mouth to devour the floating enemy whole, but when its head touched the bubble, it suddenly stiffened. Then, its mouth and half of its body simply dissapeared.


    Six.


    Bloed aimed [Gungnir] towards a wolf-like monster in a wall. The wolf seemed to feel the danger and jumped away to escape the attack, but half of its body was still caught, disappearingpletely while blood and guts spurted out crazily.


    Five.


    The ck creature panickedpletely. It extended its tentacles and controlled a flying monster to attack Bloed, but the next second, it jumped away in panic.


    Just an instantter, the ce where the ck creature had been turned into dust.


    Another A-Rank monster died.


    Four.


    Bloed frowned. He once more aimed at the ck creature, but tens of creatures rushed in front of it and blocked Bloed''s field of vision. Bloed snorted and pressed the trigger five times, killing another A-Rank and four other monsters.


    Three.


    While the monsters rushed crazily towards Bloed, Bloed continued pressing the trigger. He tried to kill the ck creature, but it hid behind other monsters while controlling them to block Bloed''s sight, so he could not lock-on the creature.


    Two.


    Bloed clicked his tongue. Aware that he was unable to kill the ck creature, he focused on the remaining A-Rank monsters, killing another one.


    One.


    In thest second, Bloed searched for thest A-Rank monster, a vulture-like beast with bloodshot eyes and grayish feathers.


    Without hesitation, he pressed the trigger onest time.


    Then, a powerful headache attacked Bloed.


    And he cked out.


    Regina moved instantly. As soon as the armor surrounding Bloed dissipated, she jumped towards him and held his body on her arms.


    Then, she looked at the ck creature that was trying to escape with a sneer.


    "Stop right there!"


    As her voice sounded, tens of energy spears appeared behind her. The energy spears shivered briefly before being shot towards the ck creature!


    In an instant, tens of monsters were killed. The ck creature tried to run away using the same strategy from before, but Regina just sneered and controlled the spears with her mind!


    One secondter, a spear nailed it to the ground.


    *Screeech!*


    The creature screamed in pain, but another spear pierced its belly and shut it up.


    Followed by another spear.


    And another.


    And another.


    Finally, the creature twitched and stopped moving.


    Regina narrowed her eyes. With a thought, the spears turned into an energy sphere that encapsted the monster.


    Then, the sphere flew towards her and was sent into one of the space stones on her wrist together with Tito and Leto''s metallic sand.


    Finally, she looked at the paralyzed monsters around her and snorted, releasing her psychic energy in the form of a powerful pressure.


    "Scram!"


    Immediately, all the monsters surrounding them dispersed in fear.


    Regina snorted. She looked at Bloed''s unconscious body on her hands and her lips curved into a soft smile.


    She could feel hundreds of gazes on them filled with astonishment, respect, and fear. Bloed''s show of power had inevitably attracted the attention of many people that had felt his surge in strength.


    Thinking about the awestruck gazes from the people around, Regina felt a surge of pride in her heart.


    He was her master!


    The person she had sworn her life to!


    Finally, she looked at the city lord with an indifferent gaze and snorted.


    ''You are lucky there are many gazes on us.''


    But he was not going to be lucky for long.


    Then, she turned towards Liu Ying.


    "Let''s go, our task here is done."


    Liu Ying nodded absentmindedly and followed after the silver-haired girl with Sara on her back.


    Half an hourter, Sebastian returned to the city.


    Twelve hourster, the monsters were finally exterminated.


    That day, more than fifteen thousand people died during the monster wave.


    The tragedy of that day waster known as Calice City''s nightmare, and it was considered the first signal of the chaos that spread to the entire continent.


    ...


    Next, we enter to the epilogue of this arc...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 104: Darkness and Fate

    Chapter 104: Darkness and Fate


    Hey guys, Aidka here! I saw some questions in thements. I usually don''t answer them to not give spoilers, but I''ll do it this time to clear some things.


    1. About ESP abilities and magic: I liked the exnation someone left in thements. People have like a limited slot for ESP abilities, and magic is also a kind of ESP ability named [Mana Maniption]. Bloed''s slots are already upied, so he tically can''t used magic. But well, the novel is called Science/Magic, so he will use magic at some point of the story. Just that it will not be because he suddenly awakens to magic or something like that. Instead... Nope, anymore and it''s already a heavy spoiler.


    2. About [Overdrive]: Someone asked for an exnation of this ability because it felt like it appeared suddenly. There is a exnation, but I put it some chapters ahead to not interrupt the fight (it''s in chapter 106).


    Thank you for yourments. I read them and use them to make my history better, soment a lot if you like. Also, thanks for following this story.


    Enjoy... :p


    ...


    Twelve hours after Bloed fainted.


    A ck-dressed man entered a room and kneeled down.


    Another man was standing on the other side of the room with his back towards the neer. He was looking at a giant experimental tube containing a ck heart-like thing fixedly.


    Only until one minuteter the man opened his mouth.


    "Speak, what happened?"


    The ck-dressed man kneeling on the ground spoke.


    "Master, the experiment was a sess."


    "Oh?"


    "The creature that we sent to Calice city managed to control more than fifty thousand monsters, so it can be considered a sess. Also, the demigod we sent to the city met Sebastian, the butler of the royal family, and fought him to a standstill despite being weaker than him. Obviously, the modifications we made to his body were useful. However"


    "However?"


    " The creature showed very aggressive behavior. It plotted against our men and managed to get them killed and leave the cage.


    "Oh? Did the creature escape?"


    "Someone in the city killed it."


    The man nodded. "That is good. It would be troublesome if that creature escapes. Is there anything else you want to report?"


    The ck-dressed man hesitated slightly. Finally, he gritted his teeth and spoke nervously." Yes. We failed to catch the girls you wanted."


    "Oh?" The man observing the experimental tube frowned."That is a shame... Well, don''t worry, I''ll send another team to the city to get them."


    "Understood." The ck-dressed man nodded in understanding and sighed in relief.


    "Good. If there is nothing else, you can leave. Don''t bother me if it''s not important."


    "Yes, master."


    The ck-dressed man stood up and bowed respectfully before leaving.


    The man addressed as "master" continued looking at the experimental tube. He stared at the heart-like thing floating in it as though he wanted to discover all its secrets.


    He seemed like he was spellbound by whatever was in the tube.


    Unfortunately, his observation was interrupted by a lively and shrill voice.


    "Hi, Old friend! I havee to visit you. I see that your interest in The Blight has not waned."


    The man wrinkled his brows. " Three. What do you want?"


    "Nothing much." The voice called [Three] chuckled slightly. "I just want to know you if you have another creature you can lend me."


    "Another? What happened to the one I gave you before?"


    "Well, I released it. I wanted to get data about its behavior and see if it could find a way to reproduce itself. Unfortunately, it was killed before it could reach that point. Well, I acquired interesting data thanks to that, so it was a good tradeoff."


    "You released it?" The man asked casually. "Even if my modifications eliminated the creature''s devouring ability, releasing it is not a good idea. Do you want to repeat the disaster of one hundred years ago?"


    "Why? You don''t like it? I always thought that was your goal, Zero."


    Zero did not reply. He simply looked at the experimental tube as though he had not heard Three''s question.


    In the end, Three clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.


    "How boring. Hey, will you give me another creature or not?"


    " One of my men will send it to you in a few days."


    "Nice. I will wait for it then." The voice belonging to Three replied happily. "I''ll tell you if I find anything interesting."


    Zero did not reply. Instead, he continued staring at the experimental tube fixedly.


    It was as though nothing could move his gaze away.


    Mount Fate was the ce where the headquarters of the Church of Fate was located.


    This was a ce constantly hidden by fog. The fog was so dense that once inside you could hardly see beyond your hand. It was not umon to hear news of people getting lost in the fog.


    Due to that, there was a rumor that only people with the guidance of the goddess of fate, Axalia, could find the temple hidden in the fog.


    Thus, this temple received the name of [Hidden Temple of Fate].


    This night, a man wearing a heavy armor entered the inner part of the temple hurriedly.


    There, he found a nun-like girl praying piously while kneeling on the ground.


    "Saintess." The knight kneeled in a knee to show his respect and looked at the ground. "The pope told me that you needed to meet me."


    The nun-like girl nodded. She opened her deep gray eyes and looked at the sky as though worried about something.


    "I received an oracle, captain."


    The knight was surprised. Instantly, he brought his right hand to his chest and closed his eyes in reverence. "I''m ready to listen to the goddess''s guidance."


    The saintess closed her eyes. "There is chaos in Calice City. Remnants of an otherworldly danger have appeared, and the time of chaos is approaching."


    The knight expression changed instantly. "The Blight!"


    The saintess nodded gravely. "You must go and investigate. If you can find it, kill it without hesitation. If not, get all the information rted you can find. Remember, The Blight can''t be allowed to appear again."


    "Understood. I''m willing to die in my mission."


    "Good. Take apany of the Knight Order with. I''ll inform the kingdom of the situation so they don''t interfere with your mission."


    "Praise the guardian of fate." The knight brought his hand to his chest respectfully.


    The saintess nodded with an expression of worry. "Praise the guardian of fate."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 105: Farewell, City Lord

    Chapter 105: Farewell, City Lord


    In the city lord''s mansion.


    The city lord was seated beside a bed holding a cup of water. In the bed, Erika was sleeping soundly.


    The city lord was gravely injured. His body was wrapped in bandages, and one of his arms hanged weirdly. This was the result of the battle against the monsters and the ck-dressed men.


    But there was something even worse affecting him right now.


    At that moment, someone knocked on the door.


    "City lord."


    "Enter." The city lord replied with a calm tone. A calm tone that hid a raging storm.


    The person that entered was the butler of the city lord''s mansion. It was the same butler that Bloed met the first day he came to Calice City.


    Today, though, his expression was nothing like that time.


    Instead of calm, he was nervous, and scared?


    When the butler saw the city lord, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and spoke nervously.


    " City lord, the men are back."


    "What was the result?"


    " The young man and the girls left. Furthermore, we can''t find Sara or her sister either."


    *Crack!*


    The cup of water in the city lord''s hand shattered.


    " I see. They left." The city lord said calmly, but a powerful killing intent had filled the room.


    " C-City lord." The butler shivered. He felt a powerful pressure impacting against his body, stopping his breathing.


    "Heh. Do they think that they can escape after killing my son? I''ll kill each one of them!"


    *Bam!* The city lord punched the ground and destroyed it.


    Erika, who was sleeping, woke up.


    "Father"


    "Erika."


    " They are gone?"


    The city lord nodded and hold his face despondently. He was filled with regret and sadness about the death of his son.


    After the monsters werepletely killed and when Erika woke up, he had asked her about the situation.


    Then, he had learned that his son did ambush Bloed. Moreover, Sara participated in the encirclement.


    But he had seen Sara acting together Bloed in the city walls, moreover, their rtionship seemed very close. That was nothing like the rtionship of someone that was attacked and his attacker.


    When he thought about that, the city lord could not help but think again about Sara''s words when she told him that his son had been killed by the ck-dressed men.


    Quickly, he found some suspicious elements. The main one being the fact that Sara was the only survivor, while the other men participating in the mission were dead.


    That, and the fact that Sara and Bloed were acting together, painted a picture in the city lord''s head.


    Gerald was killed by Bloed.


    And Sara had helped him.


    " Father, what are you going to do?" Erika bit her lips and asked in concern.


    The city lord clenched his fist in anger.


    " I''ll kill them! Even if I can them kill them personally, I''ll make sure that they die! I''ll inform the capital about my son''s death and put a bounty in their heads! I''ll not rest until I see their dead bodies personally!"


    " Unfortunately, that will not happen." A voice suddenly interrupted the city lord.


    The city lord was startled. He hurriedly looked behind him and saw a silver-haired girl standing in the entrance of the room.


    Beside her, a tanned ck-haired girl was looking at the city lord coldly. Her face was filled with hatred and rage that seemed to consume her.


    " You! You dare to appear before me! Guards!" The city lord bellowed.


    "It''s useless." Regina smirked coldly. "They are dead, like everybody else in this mansion. Only the three of you are still alive."


    Regina then looked at the butler and waved her hand.


    *Spurt!*


    With a sickening sound, his head flew and fell to the ground.


    "Now you two are the only ones alive."


    ...


    ...


    "Kyaaaaaaaa!!!" Erika screamed in fear and then started to vomit. She vomited and vomited while closing her eyes and shivering in fear.


    "What are you doing!?" The city lord bellowed and tried to attack Regina. But Regina snorted.


    "Hmph!"


    Instantly, her psychic power turned into an enormous pressure that struck the city lord.


    "!!!"


    The city lord was unable to resist. As soon as the pressure impacted him, his body turned heavy and he was forced to kneel on the ground.


    "You" A gaze of surprise, fear, and astonishment was directed to Regina.


    "I wanted to do this for a long time." Regina smirked.


    "Y-You Y-You are a demigod." The city lord stuttered in terror. How could he not understand the meaning of the pressure he was feeling.


    Only a demigod could suppress him with such ease.


    "You can say so." Regina replied casually. "Why? Are you surprised?"


    The city lord''s expression changed several times, then, he finally sighed despondently.


    "Can you spare my daughter at least?" The city lord seemed to age several years after saying these words.


    "Dad!" Erika panicked. But the city lord just smiled at her and shook her head.


    " What a fool I am. To think that you as a demigod would lower yourself to serve a young man. All of my ns were probably a joke for you, right?"


    "You are right." Regina nodded indifferently. "Everything you did was nothing more than a joke. Since the moment you decided to attack my master, you were already dead. Before this, though, you were still useful to sharpen my master''s saber. Now, though, you are no longer useful, and I can finally kill you."


    "Hehe Sigh, greed is the sin of men after all. I have onest question. Sara, why did you betray us? I always treated you like a daughter and Erika treated you like a sister. Why then?"


    Sara sneered coldly. "Do you remember the Sviel family?"


    The city lord was stunned. Then, he shook his head bitterly.


    " I see. I understand now. It looks like it''s time to pay for my sins."


    Sara nodded with a look of hatred. Then, she looked at Regina.


    Regina shrugged indifferently and took a step back. Seeing that, Sara''s expression brightened.


    Then, she took a dagger out and started to walk toward the city lord.


    "Sister Sara!" Erika screamed, but Sara ignored her. She continued walking towards the city lord as though nothing else mattered to her.


    At some point, her eyes had filled with tears. The tears run through her cheek and fell to the ground drop after drop, but she was smiling.


    She was smiling happily.


    Smiling for finally avenging her family.


    "Sister Sara!" Erika shouted again in distress. "Please, he is my dad!"


    " Sorry, young miss. But he must die today!" With these words, she stabbed the dagger in the city lord''s heart.


    Then, she stabbed again, and again, and again. Until she was sure that the city lord was dead.


    Finally, she withdrew the dagger and left it to fall to the ground.


    In tears, Sara stared at the roof and screamed.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Sara took a deep breath and started to cry.


    "Father, mother I finally avenged you"


    And she copsed in the ground.


    Regina saw that scene and sighed. She then looked at Erika and walked towards her.


    Erika''s state was worse than Sara. She was crying and screaming I''ll kill you!" while trying to stand up from the bed.


    When Regina appeared in front of her, Erika looked at her with eyes full of hatred.


    "I''ll kill you! I swear I''ll kill you!"


    "I''m sorry, but I can''t allow it." Regina said coldly and put her hand on Erika''s forehead. "Although you didn''t attack master, you participated in the plot against him. So, you also must pay for it.


    "But don''t worry, you will not die, and you will not feel pain anymore. In fact, you will feel nothing."


    Then, with a thought of her, a wave of psychic power invaded Erika''s mind.


    In an instant, her calction zone and thought zone were destroyed.


    From today onwards, Erika would be a fool.


    Regina''s expression was indifferent during the entire process. She did not seem to care about destroying the life of a young girl or killing tens of people.


    In fact, she did not care. After all, this was for her master.


    Regina stared indifferently at Erika onest time and turned around, she then pulled Sara up and pushed her out of the room


    "Let''s go."


    Then, the two girls disappeared in the darkness of the night.


    The next morning, the news of the massacre in the city lord''s mansion spread to the entire city.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 106: Welcome to the Family

    Chapter 106: Wee to the Family


    A bit longer chapter...


    ...


    That night, on the outskirts of the city.


    Bloed was sitting outside his metallic tent near a bonfire.


    At that moment, he heard movement nearby. Even without looking back, Bloed was able to recognize the owners of the footsteps.


    "Regina, Sara, you are back." Bloed said while throwing a small rock to the fire.


    Both Regina and Sara were startled. Regina then smiled awkwardly and walked towards Bloed.


    " Master, you are awake."


    "I awoke a few minutes ago. However, I could not find any sign of you two. Well, Liu Ying told me that you two had left one hour or so ago, so I was not worried."


    Regina nodded quietly. She then stood behind Bloed silently.


    An awkward atmosphere filled the bonfire. Only after one minute passed Regina spoke again.


    " Master, I killed them."


    " Everybody?"


    " Sara killed the city lord, and I left the girl alive, but she will be unable to cause you problems."


    Bloed heaved a sigh and nodded. "I understand."


    " Sorry for not telling you beforehand."


    Bloed shook his head. "Don''t worry, I understand. I''m not so nave or ungrateful to fault you for doing this. Besides, I was nning to kill the city lord too."


    Regina smiled. "Thank you."


    Sara had been standing behind Regina silently. When she saw we finished speaking, she opened her mouth.


    " How is Gina?"


    "I checked on her after I woke up. Don''t worry, she is alright. It''s just that she overused her ESP ability and needs a bit of relief."


    "I''m d." Sara sighed in relief before putting a concerned expression. "Now I only need to think in a way to get her medicine regrly. Bloed, can I ask you for a favor?"


    "Of course."


    "Then The technique Gina needs to be able to train Can you give it to me? Don''t worry, I''ll make sure to repay this favor!"


    Bloed fell deep in thought. The technique Sara was speaking was the technique to train psychic power. It was the method Bloed told Sara to cure Gina, although it would take a lot of time, and there was the possibility of Gina dying before reaching A-Rank.


    But


    " Wait until Gina wakes up. I need to speak about something with you two." Bloed said. He had alreadye to a decision about Gina.


    Regina interrupted at that moment. "Master, Gina overused her ESP ability? But we did not awaken it."


    "She awakened it by herself." Bloed smiled wryly. "Don''t look at me like that, I''m also surprised about that. I think that she probably used mana as a catalyst to awaken it."


    Regina was surprised. Mana could do that too?


    While they were speaking, Liu Ying came out of the metallic tent. She was carrying two servings of food on her hands.


    When she saw Sara and Regina, she was surprised.


    "You are back? Good, I just finished preparing dinner."


    " Dinner?" Regina frowned. "I thought dinner is my job."


    "You were not here so I decided to do it for you." Liu Ying shrugged. "Although don''t expect much. Everything I learned about cooking was learned in that ce." Liu Ying avoided mentioning the exilednds because Sara was here. "So you already can imagine the results."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Don''t worry about that, I''m sure I have eaten worse. Besides, just the fact that the food was readier by a beautiful girl like you adds a few points to it.


    Liu Ying snorted. "Please stop trying to flirt with me. I don''t want to be killed by Regina."


    And just like Liu Ying said, Regina was looking at them with ice-cold eyes.


    Sara and Liu Ying wondered briefly if the chill they were feeling on their backs was real.


    As Liu Ying said, her cooking was nothing great, but it was passable, and the group had eaten nothing since the battles in the city, so they ate it ravenously.


    After that, Sara offered herself to wash the dishes. Regina wanted to decline and do it herself, but Bloed stopped her and shook her head.


    In the end, only Regina, Liu Ying, and Bloed remained seated around the bonfire.


    "Master"


    "Hm?"


    "The side effects How bad are they?"


    Liu Ying was surprised. "Side effects? Are you referring to the technique you used at the end?"


    Bloed smiled wryly when he saw Liu Ying concerned expression. "Don''t worry, I''m alright."


    "Really?"


    "Really."


    Bloed then proceeded to exin Liu Ying the technique he used and its side effects.


    Actually, [Overdrive] was a very simple technique, and just its name speaks lengths of its effects.


    [Overdrive] is a derivate technique of [Enhanced Brain Capacity]. Bloed managed to create it after experimenting with this ESP ability a lot.


    [Enhanced Brain Capability] is a passive-type ESP ability. Normally, its effects are shown as long as Bloed has psychic power.


    But [Overdrive] is different. It can be considered as the only active technique of this ESP ability. It works forcing his brain to work over its capacity for a brief while, granting Bloed abilities beyond his ESP Rank.


    Of course, Bloed is still just at C-Grade ESPer, so even [Overdrive] is unable to make him able to use [Molecr Disintegration] directly. However, it allows him to perform many more calctions than before.


    The rest is rted to Leto. Using the same technique Bloed used in his saber, Bloed added a lot of tiny magic circles to each particle on Leto''s body. These magic circlesbine each other, and together with the increase in Bloed''s calction zone brought by [Overdrive], they allow Bloed to use [Molecr Disintegration] with more freedom.


    The result of that were [Gungnir] and [Svalinn]. One is a giant rifle that shots [Molecr Disintegration] against a target, and the other is a barrier that uses [Molecr Disintegration] to stop any attacking towards Bloed.


    By the way, [Eitr], the armor that Leto transforms into when Bloed is in [Overdrive], doesn''t use [Molecr Disintegration]. It''s just an armor that increases Bloed''s physical capabilities and grants him the ability of flight.


    Unfortunately, [Overdrive] has rather serious side effects.


    Besides the fact that Bloed can only use it for ten seconds before losing consciousness, once Bloed uses [Overdrive] he will be unable to use psychic power for the next three days.


    In other words, he bes a normal person after using it.


    Due to that, [Overdrive] can only be used as a trump card or a desperate move.


    Liu Ying nodded when she heard Bloed''s exnation.


    "But even so, that technique is incredible! You can probably fight a demigod in that state!"


    Bloed shook his head bitterly. "Impossible."


    "Huh?"


    This time, it was Regina who exined.


    "Demigods are stronger than you think. Even the weakest of them will be able to avoid master''s attacks when he is in [Overdrive]. And [Overdrive]sts only ten seconds, so master will be a sitting duck after that time passes.


    "In fact, even defeating more than 2 A-Ranks will be hard. Today''s situation was a bit special because the A-Ranks were under the control of the creature and rushed to attack master. But in other circumstances, the A-Ranks would have retreated after they felt the threat of master''s attacks. And in those circumstances, it would have been great if master manages to kill three of them.


    "It''s even worse if the A-Ranks are people. People are wiser than beasts, so they will probably take defensive measures as soon as they feel something is wrong. In these circumstances, even killing two A-Ranks is hard."


    Liu Ying was stunned. She had not thought about that.


    However, Bloed was not so nave. In fact, he knew clearly about the limitations of [Overdrive].


    In the end, it was better to not use it if it was not necessary.


    The group fell silent after hearing Regina''s exnation. For a few minutes, none of them said anything.


    Bloed, though, thought that this was a good chance to speak with Liu Ying.


    And it seemed as though Liu Ying was thinking the same thing because she bit her lips and looked at Bloed.


    "Bloed, about leaving. I know I said I was going t"


    "Stop." Bloed extended his hand and stopped Liu Ying from continuing. "Before you continue speaking, there is something I want to tell you."


    "Huh?"


    " Liu Ying, do you want to form a team with us?"


    " Huh!?" Liu Ying was startled and stared at Bloed and Regina in surprise.


    Bloed smiled and scratched his cheek. "I know it''s sudden, but to be honest, I like to spend time with you. Besides, you are strong and I consider you my friend. I would love it if we can continue traveling together."


    Liu Ying opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, unable to speak.


    "Of course, if you don''t want, you d"


    "I want!" Liu Ying eximed and stood up abruptly. "Of course, I want!"


    Bloed and Regina looked at Liu Ying, surprised by her reaction. Liu Ying blushed and grabbed the hem of her skirt.


    " Sorry, but I want to be with you as well Regina, Bloed You two are my first true friends since I lost my family I-I feel happy when I with you Sometimes, I even forget about my family so"


    Bloed smiled softly. "I understand. Then, wee to the family?" Bloed looked at Regina.


    Regina smiled as well. "Wee to the family."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 107: The Wrong Person

    Chapter 107: The Wrong Person


    Although Liu Ying was very happy, she was tired after one day of fighting. So, she went to sleep not muchter.


    Thus, Bloed and Regina were the only ones that remained beside the bonfire.


    Regina closed her eyes and put her head on Bloed''s shoulder. Bloed did not stop her, and instead,bed her hair with a smile.


    The pair remained like that for a while. In front of the bonfire, they seemed like a pair of lovers enjoying each other warm.


    However, their intimate moment did notst long.


    Bloed heaved a sigh and looked in direction of the forest.


    "The person observing us, how long are you going to keep it?"


    Nobody replied for a few seconds, but after Bloed fixed his eyes in a part of the forest, a shadow sighed and walked towards them.


    " Your highness Glenn, I was not expecting to meet you here." A middle-aged man looked at Bloed with a mncholic expression.


    Bloed''s expression turned cold. "You have the wrong person."


    The middle-aged man was startled. He then heaved a deep sigh and shook his head.


    "Your highness, although your hair and eyes are different and you have matured a lot since thest time I saw you, I can still recognize you. I''m the butler of the royal family and he worked for them during years. I can recognize a Skysword with just a nce."


    "I told you, you have the wrong person." Bloed expression turned colder. Regina, who was leaning on Bloed''s shoulder, opened her eyes and looked at the demigod in front of her with a chilling gaze.


    Sebastian, however, ignored her. His attention was fully on Bloed.


    "Are you truly going to do this, your highness? I can see you managed to use mana, was it during the time you were in the exilednds? Your talent is very outstanding too. I heard you were the one that killed the strongest monsters that attacked the city. Worthy of someone of the Skysword bloodline. The name of Glenn Skysword is not wasted in you."


    Bloed''s eyes turned frosty and a slight killing intent surrounded his body. "I will say it onest time, my name is not Glenn Skysword. I''m Bloed Norman. I''m not rted to whatever Skysword you are speaking about and I don''t want to be rted to them. In fact, I would love if I don''t have to see any of them in my life. Now leave, before I stop being polite."


    "Is it so?" Sebastian sighed and looked at Bloed in pity.


    He still remembered the child that he left in the exilednds. The pitiful child sobbing desperately while he begged him to not abandon him. Back then, the prince was weak and pathetic, a little boy that anyone could kill.


    But today, five yearster, that boy had grown up. He was tall and handsome, and his hair and eyes were different. But the greatest change was his aura. Sebastian could feel the mysterious power circting around him, eager to be unleashed.


    And the killing intent. Sebastian did not know how many lives the boy took to acquire such a dense killing intent.


    In truth, when he took a glimpse of the boy while fighting the ck-dressed demigod, he doubted his eyes.


    Back then he was too lost in his hatred to care about Bloed, so he did not confirm his identity. But now that he saw the boy again, he confirmed it. The boy in front of him was, in fact, Glenn Skysword, the second child of the current ruler of Alterna.


    Sebastian could not imagine what the boy went through to be the person he is today.


    " Prince, I know that it''s normal that you hate the king. However, have you not thought about returning?"


    ""


    "Now that you can use mana, I''m sure that nobody in the kingdom will object to your title of prince. Don''t you want to p the faces of the people that humiliated you when you were a child? With the talent you showed today, that is not an impossibility."


    Bloed continued looking at him coldly. He seemed not to care about Sebastian''s words.


    Seeing that he was not doing any progress, Sebastian sighed.


    " Your mother has missed you all this while."


    "She is not my mother!" Bloed snarled. "I had only a mother, and her name is Cami Norman!"


    Sebastian frowned. He did not recognize that name.


    But that did not matter.


    " You know she is not your true mother."


    As soon as these words sounded, a frightening killing intent erupted from Bloed''s body.


    The killing intent was so powerful that it seemed to chill the air. Sebastian felt a sickening smell of blood and raw flesh assaulting him!


    It was a killing intent so horrifying that Sebastian could not believe it came from a sixteen-year-old boy. Even his own killing intent was not so dense.


    "If you repeat that again, I''ll kill you."


    Bloed chilling words reverberated in Sebastian''s ears clearly.


    At this moment, Regina''s body was alreadypletely tensed up. Although she was not emitting even a hint of killing intent, she was ready to stand in front of Bloed and attack the man in front of them at the slightest sign he was going to hurt Bloed.


    Fortunately, nothing happened.


    Sebastian frowned. He already expected to have trouble convincing Bloed, but even he was surprised by this.


    Briefly, he considered the idea of using force to take Bloed away. But when he looked at the golden eyes of the girl beside the prince, he stopped himself from acting.


    For some reason, he felt a faint sense of threating from her.


    And although her cultivation seemed to be just at the C-Rank, Sebastian was a man that trusted his instincts.


    In the end, he just sighed and took a step back.


    " It looks like your highness is not happy with me. I''ll leave then, but your highness should consider my words."


    Bloed grunted in displeasure. Sebastian understood the signal and disappeared in the forest.


    Only when Bloed was sure Sebastian was gone, he heaved a tired sigh and closed his eyes.


    " Master, why did you stop me from attacking?" Regina asked in confusion.


    "What do you think your chances of killing him are?"


    " Seventy percent. There is a thirty percent chance of him escaping."


    "That is the reason. If you attack and Sebastian escapes, then the royal family will know about your true strength. I don''t want it."


    " But, he will surely tell the king about you."


    "And?" Bloed gazed at the sky with an indifferent expression. "What about that? I was already expecting to be recognized eventually, it just happened sooner than expected. Besides, did you forget? The current me ''can use'' mana. So the king doesn''t have a valid reason to exile me again.


    "Of course, there is the possibility of the king thinking that I want to take revenge. That is the reason I told Sebastian clearly that I didn''t want anything to do with the royal family. To make my stance clear."


    Regina sighed. " Master, I fear they will not let things rest here."


    Bloed shrugged. "Well, I have you with me. What is there to fear?"


    Regina was startled before smiling beautifully. "You are right, master, I''m with you. Thus, even if you die, I''ll die with you." Then, she leaned forward and pecked his lips briefly.


    Regina blushed, but she did not move her gaze away. She used her golden eyes to look straight into Bloed''s blue ones and express her determination.


    " I''ll be with you forever, my master."


    Bloed felt his heart beating madly.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 108: Oath of Loyalty

    Chapter 108: Oath of Loyalty


    Hey guys, Aidka here!Reading yourments I can see there are mixed opinions about Bloed''s rtionship with his family. I liked it, thus, I decided to leave my own opinion too.As someone said, the king''s decision can''t be described as evil. In reality, that was the most appropriate he could take AS A KING. After all, having a manaless child in the royal family was a destabilizing factor for the Skysword family''s rule.But as a father, there were many better ways he could go about it.He could have exiled him to a remote vige, with people loyal to the king guarding him while hiding his identity as a prince, for example. There is still a factor of risk in this method, but it''s much less cruel than exiling him to a ce where he almost definitively was going to die.


    Hell, the only reason a manaless child such like Bloed survived in the exilednds is that he is the protagonist. Otherwise, he would have been eaten clean long ago.Thus, from my perspective, Bloed has every right to hate the king and the queen. They were very cruel parents, after all.If you have an opinion, leave it in thements! I love reading them!Aidka! :p


    ...


    The next morning, after Gina woke up.


    The group of five was standing in front of a chamber inside theboratory.


    " Are you serious?" Sara asked with a mix of fear and excitement. She feared that Bloed was only ying with them, but at the same was excited by the glimmer of hope he was showing to them.


    Bloed smiled confidently. "Don''t worry, I assure you that there will not be any problem during the operation. If you trust me, I''ll cure Gina''s problem."


    Sara did not know how to react. Yesterday, she was worried about how to get the medicine her sister needed without the help of the city lord, but today Bloed told her that he had a way to cure her permanently!


    "B-But you told me she needed to get to the A-Rank before she could be cured. W-Why are you able to cure her so suddenly?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Well, to be honest, I was able to cure her since the start. The thing is, we could be considered enemies back then, so there was not really a reason to help you."


    An expression of understanding appeared in Sara''s face.


    However, that made her hesitate even more.


    As Bloed said, they were enemies until recently, and the debt of when Sara helped them was already repaid. What reason Bloed had to help her little sister then?


    But before she could think about that, Gina spoke.


    "Sister, I''ll do it."


    "Gina? Wha"


    "I trust him, sister." Gina smiled brilliantly. "I know that he will not harm me. Brother Bloed, you can perform the operation."


    "Perfect." Bloed nodded with a smile. "We will start the Body Enhancement Surgery after breakfast then."


    As its name indicates, the Body Enhancement Surgery is an operation to strengthen the body. It uses advanced medical technology together with psychic energy and bio-engineering to strengthen the body from the inside, making the cells, muscles, bones, and organs much more resistant than before.


    This surgery was obligatory for professional soldiers of the Human Confederation and it was also the best solution for Gina''s situation. If the problem is that Gina''s ESP ability is too strong and her body can not endure it, then the best solution is to strengthen her body.


    The Body Enhancement Surgery puts a huge burden on one''s body, so the rmended age to use it is 15 years old (Although Bloed went through it when he was fourteen). Gina was already fifteen, so there was no problem in going through the operation now.


    Of course, Bloed needed to realize some exams and analysis of her body before he could start the surgery. But fortunately, everything was alright as Bloed expected.


    So, after they ate breakfast, Bloed took Gina to a surgical room and put her to sleep.


    "Master, we are ready." Regina indicated. Bloed nodded and pressed some buttons in a panel to activate the psychic waves.


    When her entire body was stimted by the psychic waves, Bloed injected several needles in her body. The needles were connected to a tube containing the body enhancement liquid.


    "Start the process," Bloed ordered. Regina nodded and opened the valve of the body enhancement liquid.


    When the liquid started to flow into Gina''s blood, Bloed took a syringe and injected it in Gina''s bone marrow. Then, he injected another in her legs, one in her brain, and one in her heart.


    Just like that, the two liquids entered Gina''s body and started to remodel it from inside.


    After almost half an hour, Gina''s body finally started to react.


    Her body twitched and spasmed violently. It was as though Gina wanted to struggle out of the bindings holding her body in ce.


    Bloed expression turned serious.


    "Regina, what is the situation?"


    " Everything is alright, master. This reaction is normal." Regina said.


    Bloed nodded. It was his first time performing this surgery, but he was rather confident of his chances with a Valkyrie beside him. Besides, the surgery was not very difficult and the technology in the room did most of the work.


    Four hourster, Bloed and Regina left the surgical room.


    " How is Gina?" Sara asked Bloed as soon as she saw him.


    Bloed nodded with a smile. "Don''t worry, everything went alright. Gina will probably wake up tonight, but she will need around one month to getpletely used to her new body."


    Sara let out a sigh of relief. "Can I see her?" She asked anxiously.


    "Of course." Bloed nodded. He then asked Regina to take Sara to Gina''s room.


    As Bloed expected, Gina woke up at night. Sara was relieved when she confirmed that Gina waspletely alright besides feeling slightly tired.


    In a few days, however, she started to see the effects of the surgery.


    The next day after the operation, Gina identally bent the spoon she was eating with. Sara looked with widened eyes on how her ''weak'' sister bent a spoon so easily.


    The second day, Gina started to walk again. Unfortunately, her strengthened body meant that she was unable to use the right level of strength in her movements, causing her to stumble in her steps and walk awkwardly.


    By the fifth day, Sara and Gina confirmed that the symptoms of Gina''s illness were gone. Gina felt as though her body had unlimited strength, and the weakness she normally felt waspletely gone.


    That day, the two sisters cried in happiness.


    However, something even more astonishing happened that night.


    When the group was gathered to eat dinner, Sara walked towards Bloed and kneeled in front of him.


    "Sara?" Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying were stunned.


    Sara''s expression waspletely serious. She put a hand on her chest and looked at Bloed with a determined face.


    "Bloed, I want to thank you for curing Gina. I don''t know the reason you did it, but regardless of it, you saved my only remaining family and there is no way I can repay such favor in my entire life." Sara smiled wryly. "Thus, after thinking for a long time and consulting with Gina, I came to a decision.


    Bloed, I want to offer you my loyalty."


    "Huh? Loyalty?"


    "Yes. Since today, I swear you are my lord. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your god my god. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I break this oath."


    The oath of Sara reverberated in the room and her determined words astonished Bloedpletely.


    Even Regina and Liu Ying werepletely stunned after hearing it.


    Only Gina was looking at Bloed and Sara with a mysterious smile.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 109: Parting Ways

    Chapter 109: Parting Ways


    " So, you are leaving, huh." Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying stood in front of the pair of sisters withplicated emotions.


    Sara nodded. "I''m sorry, my lord. But there are some things I need to deal with now that I have avenged my family. I need to find a ce for the servants that helped us to escape the night my family was killed and tell them the news."


    Bloed nodded. "I understand. But why don''t you wait a few days more? Gina still needs to get used to her new body."


    Sara shook her head. "No. I can''t wait until she recoverspletely. Besides, the sooner I deal with this, the faster I can return Don''t worry, my lord. I promise I will go to search for you one yearter."


    "Yeah, brother Bloed. Don''t worry too much. We will be alright." Gina smiled brilliantly.


    Bloed shook his head. "Well, I''ll not insist then. Have a good trip."


    "Goodbye, my lord."


    "Bye bye, brother Bloed, sister Regina, sister Liu Ying!"


    After bidding the group farewell, the two sisters walked away.


    Bloed looked to the two girls with aplicated expression. To be honest, he was not sure about how to feel after getting a new subordinate and a little sister.


    "Do you think they will return?" Liu Ying asked.


    "Who knows?" Bloed shrugged. "But I have the feeling we will meet again."


    "I''m sure they will return." Regina said with an exasperated sigh.


    "Oh? Why are you so sure?" Bloed asked curiously.


    Regina looked at her master as though he was an idiot. "Woman''s intuition. By the way, master, have you thought about my suggestion?"


    "Suggestion?"


    "Yeah, master. About disguising yourself with an ugly face."


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. Liu Ying, on the other hand, erupted inughter.


    In the end, Bloed could only shake his head and return to his tent.


    "Stop with the jokes, girls. Instead, let''s hurry up. We need to get on our way too."


    Liu Ying was startled. "Hey Bloed. You have not told me where we are going."


    Bloed looked up at the sky and smile. For an instant, a smile of anticipation appeared on his face.


    "Academy City."


    "Hm~ Hm~ Hm~" Gina was humming a song while skipping happily.


    "You look happy." Sara looked at her little sister with a smile.


    "Of course, sister. I finally don''t need to worry about dying suddenly one day."


    Sara smiled. "You are right. To think that our fate would change so suddenly I guess I must thank Bloed for that."


    Gina giggled. "I told you he was our hero, didn''t I? As expected, he did not fail us! Yeah, my hero is the best~"


    "Sigh My sister has turned into a lovestruck fool." Sara shook her head. "However, you will need to work very hard if you want to defeat Regina."


    "That is not a problem. I''m sure we will eventually marry him! Then, my hero and us we''ll live happily forever after!"


    Sara rolled her eyes. This sister of hers was alreadypletely lost.


    For an instant, Sara felt mncholic. To think that her beloved little sister was already thinking about who she was going to marry. They grow so fast.


    But at that moment, Sara noticed something about Gina''s words.


    " Wait a moment. Gina, you said ''we''."


    "Hmm?"


    " It''s not ''we''. It''s Bloed and you."


    An expression of realization appeared on Gina''s face. But then, she stared as her sister with a mischievous look.


    " Could it be, I have not told you, sister?


    " Told me?" Sara tilted her head confused. For some reason, though, a bad feeling invaded her.


    And as though confirming her feeling, her little sister spoke with a wide smile.


    "You see, sister. In my dreams, I''m not the only one marrying my hero You too."


    ..


    .


    ...


    " Huh!? Wait, Gina, what do you mean!"


    Gina giggled and ran away to escape from her sister. In her mind, however, she was thinking about her hero.


    She was thinking about the day she was going to meet him again.


    In Calice City.


    A beautiful girl was crouching in the corner of a room. She had long blonde hair and a pair of stunning blue eyes.


    Her gaze, however, waspletely empty. She was looking at the wall of the room while shivering slightly, as though she was experienced the most terrible nightmare.


    At that moment, a man entered the room. The man was dressed in a long ck robe, and his face was hidden below the shadows of the room.


    The man appeared so suddenly that nobody realized his presence. Even the caregivers of the beautiful girl seemed to ignore his existence.


    Only the girl, Erika, seemed to move her gaze towards him.


    " So it''s true, huh. I was doubtful when I heard the city lord''s daughter became a fool, but I can''t deny it after I confirmed it with my own eyes." The man said.


    Erika did not reply. Instead, she continued looking at the man foolishly.


    The man shook his head. "Damn it. Of the two girls I was sent to find one disappeared and the other became a fool I hope master doesn''t be too angry."


    With a heavy sigh, the man walked towards Erika and put her on his shoulder.


    " I wonder if a fool will be useful. Though, thinking about it


    She will die anyway, right?"


    The man disappeared from the room, taking the blonde girl with him.

 Chapter 110: Of Royal Blood

    Chapter 110: Of Royal Blood


    In the capital of the kingdom of Alterna.


    The first thing Sebastian did after returning from Calice was to report to the king.


    When the royal guards saw the middle-aged man walking towards the pce, they saluted him respectfully and let him pass. Sebastian returned the salute and entered the pce.


    Then, he went straight to the royal hall.


    Today was the day of the royal court, so the hall was filled with ministers and nobles reporting about the kingdom situation. The king was seated in a throne at the end of the hall, with the queen seated beside him and the crown prince standing behind the two of them.


    As soon as Sebastian entered the hall, he bowed slightly towards the king.


    "Your majesty."


    "Sebastian, my friend. You are back. Please rise." The king smiled gently and waved towards the other people in the hall. All the people here were experienced, and they knew the meaning of the king''s gesture. So, in seconds, only the royal family and Sebastian remained in the hall.


    The king was a handsome man, with very young looks, and approachable face, and the characteristics features of the Skysword family, ck hair and ck eyes.


    But nobody that knows about the king dares to underestimate him. The king is someone known for being ruthless towards himself and his enemies. Moreover, he was incredibly strong, one of the strongest demigods in the world. In fact, many people considered him the greatest king Alterna has ever had.


    "I heard you were involved in a messy situation this time, Sebastian. Sorry for the trouble." The king said apologetically.


    "I''m just doing my duty, your majesty."


    The king smiled satisfied. "I know, I wish I had more subjects as loyal as you. Okay, tell me everything you know. I already received a report, but I''m sure you know more than the reports say."


    Sebastian nodded. Quickly and orderly, he recounted the situation to the king. He started by telling him about how the monsters were discovered, how many monsters attacked the city, the number estimate of casualties, etc.


    When he reached the part of the enemy demigod, the king frowned.


    "Returning Dusk? Are you sure?"


    "Your majesty knows that I can never be mistaken about them."


    The king nodded. The story between Sebastian and Returning Dusk was not a secret. The hatred between them was as immense as heaven and earth. In fact, Sebastian''s goal in life was to destroy that organization.


    "But Returning Dusk has barely acted in thest ten years. Why did they make such a move now?" The queen, who until now had been silent, asked in confusion.


    " I don''t know, your majesty. But they clearly had a kind of goal. Unfortunately, I was unable to get enough information."


    "I see." The king nodded and fell deep into thoughts. A few secondster, he looked at Sebastian again. "Tell me about the murder of the city lord, do you know anything about it?"


    "Unfortunately no, your majesty." Sebastian shook his head bitterly. "The entire situation was very strange. I left the mansion briefly to reunite certain information, and when I returned, everybody was dead It was probably the work of the Returning Dusk too."


    "Returning Dusk, Returning Dusk What are these bastards nning?" The king could not help but scowl. " Son, help me tomunicate the reappearance of Returning Dusk to the other kingdoms. If they are nning something, they will not stop after just a monster wave."


    "Understood, royal father." Replied the young man standing behind the king, the crown prince of the kingdom.


    "Is there anything else you want to report?" The king asked Sebastian.


    Sebastian hesitated slightly and looked at the queen and the crown prince with a gaze of hesitation.


    The king furrowed his brows in understanding. He then turned towards his wife and spoke gently. "Love, can you leave us alone?"


    The queen shrugged without minding it and stood up. "I''ll visit some noblediester, okay? I''lle back at night."


    After saying that, the queen left the royal hall. The crown prince, understanding his father''s intentions, followed after her.


    Once they were gone, the king frowned. "Sebastian, what is so important that my wife and heir can''t hear?"


    " I meet someone in Calice City, your majesty"


    "Someone?" The king was confused.


    "The little prince."


    "!!!" These words were like thunder resounding in the king''s ears. "Impossible! Are you sure!?"


    "I am. He was... different than before, but I''m sure he was the little prince. Also, he was pretty strong Did you hear about Bloed Norman, your majesty?"


    "Bloed Norman? I think I saw his name in the report. He is the young man that killed several A-Rank monsters, right? A young talent indeed Wait a moment, could it be!?"


    "Exactly. He was the little prince."


    The king fell silent. If Sebastian''s words were true, then the son he exiled became strong enough to kill several A-Ranks in just five years!


    " He learned to use mana?"


    " He did. In truth, he was just at the peak of C-Rank, but his mana was very strange, and he could use a strange kind of magic. I''m not sure what it is."


    "What do you mean?"


    " Your majesty, I think we were mistaken. The prince probably was not manaless, but instead, he was born with a very special type of magic. That magic was asleep during his childhood, but He probably awakened it during the life and death fights in the exilednds, then, he managed to use it to escape."


    "Peak C-Rank, huh But he managed to reach this level in five years, so his cultivation speed is pretty good. Moreover, he managed to fight monsters two ranks above him and kill them Such talent can be considered monstrous!"


    Sebastian nodded silently. He thought the same. When he saw Prince Glenn again, he could not help but marvel about his talent.


    Such talent wasparable to the little princess, perhaps even higher.


    "Where is he now?" The king asked.


    "He left Calice City in the direction of Diadel Duchy. I talked to him before returning and asked him if he wanted toe back to the pce, but he refused."


    "Mm, that is normal. I would have found it stranger if he agreed."


    The king then stood up from his throne and started to pace around the hall. It was something he did when he was deliberating about something important.


    Finally, after almost five minutes, he closed his eyes and sighed.


    "There are people keeping track of his location, right?"


    "Yes." Sebastian nodded. "I asked our informants outside the kingdom to keep an eye for him. The little prince''s features are very distinctive, so finding him is easy. And when our informants see him, they will report his location to our intelligencework."


    "Perfect." The kind nodded indifferently. "Sebastian, I have a mission for you. Go and bring the prince back, I want to talk with him. Use force if it''s necessary."


    "Your majesty, are you sure? The prince probably will not like it."


    "And?" The king replied indifferently. "Does he have a choice? If your words are right, he has the potential to be a demigod. Do you think I will let a potentially future demigod with a grudge against the royal family free? Bring him here. Even if he is displeased, he is just a sixteen-year-old boy. I don''t believe he will prefer a life of wandering through the continent over the riches and honors of living like a prince.


    "The best result is that he decides to work for the kingdom after I apologize. Of course, if he is too stubborn to see what the best for him is, I don''t mind using the hard way. He surely will agree after a while."


    I''m not so sure about that Sebastian wanted to say that, but in the end, he just sighed.


    He could see the king was not going to change his decision.


    Moreover, the king was right. The prince had the potential to be a demigod. And such a person could be very valuable or very dangerous.


    And even if the prince was dissatisfied, what could he do? In front of the greatest human kingdom, he was just a powerless boy.


    "I understand, your majesty. I''ll aplish this mission."


    ...


    Hey, Aidka here!


    This chapter finishes this arc.


    Thank you to all my readers, the ones thet write in thements, and the ones that leave behind their suggestions. I always read them (or almost always) to see what do you think about the story.


    There were some points in the story I didn''t like so much. Maybe due to my inexperience, I was unable to make them as good as I would have liked, but well, this story is also a good learning experience. I hope that the next arc is much better than this.


    By the way, this is a good moment to leave your reviews. So go for it! They help me a lot!

 Chapter 111: Devourer/Blight (1)

    Chapter 111: Devourer/Blight (1)


    *Boom!*


    *Wuuu*


    *Boom!*


    *Wuuu*


    *Boom!*


    "Die!"


    After a shout, Liu Ying punch impacted the deer-like magic beast.


    The deer-like magic beast tried to avoid it, but it was already too tired after being chased constantly by Liu Ying. In the end, it was just a little D-Rank magic beast.


    So, after Liu Ying hit it, the magic beast copsed.


    Liu Ying smiled. "Great! I''m sure this will be enough for Dinner. Leto,e and help me!"


    *Woof!*


    The pair of a demon and a wolf then brought the prey towards the group''s camp. Once there, Liu Ying passed the deer to Regina.


    "Where is Bloed?" Liu Ying asked when she did not see him around.


    "Still in theboratory." Replied Regina indifferently.


    "Is he still investigating the creature?"


    Regina nodded. That was the only thing Bloed did in thest few days.


    This was the second time the group faced this kind of creature, and after seeing the destruction it caused in Calice City, Bloed decided it was better if he learned a bit more about it. There was the possibility of them facing it again after all.


    Furthermore, he knew that the ck-dressed men were responsible for controlling the creature, so that made Bloed even more curious about it.


    Regina had thought the same, so she had taken the creature''s body after she killed it and gave it to Bloed.


    Normally, she would have helped Bloed in studying it, but Regina felt too disgusted to help Bloed this time. So, Bloed was forced to make everything alone.


    That, together with the fact that his specialty was not biology, resulted in the investigation advancing at a slow pace.


    "Mmm I think I''m going to see how he is doing." Liu Ying said. "Hey Regina, do you know if he already started to work in the thing he promised me?"


    "Not yet." Regina shook her head. "He will start after he finishes with the creature."


    Liu Ying shrugged. She was already expecting that answer, so she just asked for asking.


    When she arrived at theboratory, Liu Ying found Bloedpletely focused on the creature. He had a grave and pensive expression and seemed worried about something.


    Liu Ying thought for a moment and decided not to interrupt him. Instead, she looked around theboratory in interest.


    Although this was not her first time here, she always felt curious and interested in the strange artifacts here. Bloed called them technology and exined how they worked to her, but to be honest, Liu Ying still did not understandpletely.


    It was not that Liu Ying was stupid. Instead, it was that the concepts of science and technology werepletely different from everything she had seen in her life. So, although she more or less understood how they worked, she failed to understand the underlying reasons behind it.


    While Liu Ying was looking around theboratory, Bloed finished with the creature and noticed her.


    "Liu Ying?"


    "Oh! Hey Bloed, are you still busy? Did you discover anything?"


    Bloed nodded. "Yes. In fact, I already learned most of the stuff I wanted to know."


    "Really? Can you talk to me about it?"


    Bloed hesitated slightly before sighing. "Wait a moment. I asked Regina toe. I''ll exin everything when she is here."


    Although Liu Ying was curious, she was not in a hurry. So, she waited until Regina came.


    and fortunately, Regina entered theboratory less than two minutester.


    "Master, I brought you a cup of tea. You told me you discovered something about the creature. What is it?"


    But as soon as Regina looked at Bloed, she noticed his serious expression.


    "Is it bad?"


    Bloed nodded. "Very bad. I found the origins of the creature."


    "The origins? What do you mean?"


    " It''s a Devourer."


    *nk!*


    The cup in Regina''s hands fell the ground.


    "Impossible! There is not Devourer like that in my database! Besides, it doesn''t have the assimting and mutating characteristics of Devourers!"


    Bloed nodded gravely. "You are right. In fact, I thought the same. But the results don''t lie. This creature was modified artificially to erase its assimting and mutating characteristics, turning it into a more controble creature. Thus, it can be considered as a new variant of Devourer, but it''s still a Devourer... I only discovered this after I examined its DNA carefully."


    Regina wrinkled her brows. "That doesn''t make sense. The Human Confederation tried for many years and was unsessful in its attempts to modify the Devourers'' core DNA. Are you telling me that someone in this world managed to do this?"


    "Yeah." Bloed nodded bitterly. "I''m also surprised. Whoever was responsible for creating this, that person is a genius. He almost seeded where the entire humanity failed. That is crazy."


    "Almost?" Regina was startled.


    "Yes, almost. In the end, that person was unable to erasepletely the Devourer''s mutating and assimting characteristics. Instead, they are just asleep. As it''s now, it''s just a matter of time before they awaken again. Maybe two or three generationster, or maybe after a few days Regina, this thing is a time bomb."


    Regina''s expression turned grave. In other words, there was someone out there experimenting in a group of creatures that could destroy the world!


    "Eto" Liu Ying raised her hand at that moment. "Devourer? Time bomb? What is it all about?"


    Bloed was startled before smiling in embarrassment. "Right, I forgot you don''t know them as Devourers. Let me rephrase it for you. Liu Ying, the thing that caused the disaster in Calice is the Blight. The same Blight that destroyed a fifth of the continent one hundred years ago."


    "!!! T-The Blight?" Liu Ying paled.


    "Yes. Some crazy man is thinking of using the creatures that almost destroyed the world as weapons."


    ...


    Not the greatest revtion because it was already rather obvious. Anyway, plot is advancing, and some sentences in this chapter are very important...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 112: Devourer/Blight (2)

    Chapter 112: Devourer/Blight (2)


    Bloed already suspected that the Devourers and the Blight were one and the same, but he only confirmed it now.


    One hundred years ago, a star fell from the sky, unleashing the gue that almost destroyed the world.


    The Blight.


    And one hundred years ago was also when Cami''s spaceshipnded on this.


    Coincidence? Possible, but Bloed did not think so. Their features share too many simrities.


    The most likely possibility was that tissue of a Devourer was stuck in the spaceship''s hull when it crashed on the. In space, it was unable to reproduce and entered in a period of hibernation, but once it reached a ce where it could reproduce, it awakened once more and started whatter would be known as the war of the Blight.


    But that was only Bloed''s spection. Before today, he did not have a way to prove that the Blight and the Devourers were the same. But now that he found a trace of the Devourers on the, most of his spections were proved true, and he knew things are much more serious than he expected.


    "I-Impossible!" Liu Yung took two step backs involuntarily. "The Blight was destroyedpletely one hundred years ago! The gods killed it!"


    "Well, they were not thorough enough." Bloed said. "To be more exact, someone kept a specimen secretly to experiment on it. Furthermore, that person or organization has achieved some kind of sess and this creature is proof of it."


    Liu Ying took a deep breath to calm down. She then looked at the creature with a dismayed expression. "Why someone would do something like that?"


    "Is it not obvious?" Regina sneered in disdain. "For greed. The Devourers, or the Blight as you call them, are a very powerful race. They are able to absorb energy and souls and assimte other organisms to evolve into stronger lifeforms, and once they evolve until a certain point, they be almost undefeatable. It would not be strange if the people of this world feel tempted by that kind of power and try to find a way to make it theirs."


    Bloed sighed. "The problem is, these idiots underestimated the Blight. Liu Ying, what do you know about my mother?"


    " Only that she is already dead. You don''t talk much about her."


    "Well, I''ll tell you something now. My mother is not from this ce It''s hard to exin, but you can say that she is from a ce beyond the continent."


    "B-Beyond the continent?" Liu Ying was surprised. "T-Then, th-that exin why you know so many strange things."


    "Yes." Bloed nodded glossing over her words. "And you know why she ended here?"


    "???"


    "Because her birthce was attacked by the Blight. When mother came to this continent, her people were losing the war against the Blight."


    "T-That is"


    "Do you want to know another piece of information?" Bloed asked with a bitter smile.


    "W-What?"


    "The ce from where my mother came was thousands of times stronger than this continent."


    "!!!" Liu Ying opened her eyes wide.


    "Do you understand now?" Bloed asked in a self-deprecating tone. "They were thousands of times stronger than this ce and able to use weapons more destructive than you can imagine. But even so, they were being defeated by the Blight. And in this ce, someone was idiotic enough to try to find a way to control it. They are seeking death."


    "What are you going to do, master?" Regina asked worriedly.


    Bloed smiled wryly. "What can I do? I did not even know who the person behind this is or why he is doing it. Even if I want to do something, I have to find a ce where to start."


    "B-But, we can try to tell the churches about this! Bloed, I''m sure the churches will do something!" Liu Ying eximed.


    "And how are we going to do that?"


    "T-That is"


    "We don''t even have proof. The only proofs are my words and the results of this technology''s analysis. But nobody else around knows about technology, so they hardly will believe the results it reaches to."


    Liu Ying fell silent and lowered her head.


    "Don''t worry too much." Bloed looked at her and smiled. "Actually, your idea is pretty good. We just need to find a way to implement it. Plus, I think we still have time. Judging by the events in Calice City, the people behind this are still experimenting with the creature. We are not in the worst-case situation yet. What we need to do now is to be stronger as quickly as possible. That way, we will be able to defend ourselves if the Blight appears again."


    Liu Ying thought for a moment and nodded. "You are right. We need to be stronger. Not only to defend ourselves but also to avenge my family. Bloed, I promise you I''ll be stronger."


    "It''s good you understand." Bloed curved his lips up. "And until you be strong enough, I''ll support you. Mm, I think I''ll start to work on the stuff I promised you."


    "Really?"


    "Really. I''ll guess it will be ready when we arrive at Diadel City."


    "Good!" Liu Ying smiled happily. "Then, I guess I''ll go to train. See youter, Bloed, Regina!"


    Liu Ying then left theboratory happily.


    Bloed shook his head helplessly. Beside him, Regina narrowed her eyes into slits.


    "Master, I think you treat Liu Ying too well. Could it be"


    Bloed rolled his eyes. "Stop being jealous and help me with this."


    "Master, I left our lunch in the stove."


    "Okay, okay. I can do this for myself."


    Regina bowed with a smile and left the room.


    Diadel Duchy was the territory directly neighboring the Kingdom of Alterna. It was also known as thend of merchants due to the great number of merchant caravans that pass through thisnd every year.


    Different from the human-only kingdom of Alterna, it was not umon to meet other races in Diadel Duchy. Approximately twenty percent of the poption of Diadel Duchy belonged to other races, with the mostmon ones being beastmen. Elves and demons, on the other hand, were much rarer.


    And today, a group of three people apanied by two strange pets arrived at the entrance of Diadel City, the capital of the duchy.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 113: New Gear

    Chapter 113: New Gear


    Diadel city, in an inn.


    "How long are we going to stay in this city?" Liu Ying asked while she watched Bloed work in a bunch of metallic pieces.


    "One or two days. I''m nning to recollect information about Academy City. We will leave after that."


    "I see But this city sure is different, huh."


    Bloed agreed with Liu Ying''s words.


    Different from Calice, Diadel did not have so many mercenaries, hunters, or adventurers; in fact, few people carried weapons in the streets. On the other hand, you could see a great number of merchants selling their wares, together with beastmen and sometimes elves or demons selling the specialties of theirnds.


    Hence, xenophobic discrimination in this city was almost unexistent. And although the conflict between races was notpletely eliminated, it was kept to a minimum.


    Thus, Liu Ying was free to show herself as a demon. Due to that, Liu Ying had been in a very good mood since they entered this city. She had canceled part of the disguising device''s functions and showed her demon horn proudly.


    Of course, she still hid the true color of her hair. Liu Ying''s original red hair was very unique, and although her name was not enough for someone to associate her with the exiled demon''s princess, if she also kept her original hair color then it was just a metter of time before someone starts to link the clues.


    Five minutester, Bloed finally finished the work he had been doing and wiped the sweat off his forehead with a smile of satisfaction.


    "It''s done."


    "Finally!" Liu Ying spoke excitedly. "Quickly, show me! You told me you had a surprise for me!"


    "Calm down first. I''ll show you. But first, let''s take a look at this."


    Bloed waved his hand and a part of the metallic pieces on the table turned into metallic sand, before reforming into a gun on Bloed''s hand.


    "That is your gun, rigWait! This one is bigger!"


    "Correct." Bloed nodded. "I call this form [ster mode]!"


    This was Bloed''s upgrade to his gun after the battle of Calice city.


    During the fight against the A-Rank, Bloed realized the power of the gun mode was very limited. Unless he managed to hit the enemy''s eyes or neck, the damage the gun could cause was unsatisfactory.


    On the other hand, the sniper mode was too cumbersome to use in closebat. So, Bloed decided to program apletely new mode.


    ster mode.


    Its power was five times as strong as the gun mode, so it could cause much more damage to A-Rank practitioners. Unfortunately, Bloed was forced to sacrifice the rate of fire in exchange for power, so while the gun mode could shot energy bullets continuously, the ster mode could only shot once each three seconds.


    But even like this, this change gave Bloed many more possible fighting strategies. Although the ster mode alone was not enough to defeat an A-Rank, it gave Bloed a greater chance of victory when facing one.


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. "I don''t know what to think about the fact you are preparing to face A-Rank practitioners."


    "Well, it''s better to be ready. Just in case." Bloed shrugged.


    Liu Ying could only agree with Bloed. After all, they had already faced an A-Rank before. Who could guarantee they were not going to face another after today?


    "Okay, I already saw your new toy. Where is my surprise?"


    Bloed shook his head helplessly. "I prepared two things for you. First, remember you were unable to go through the Body Enhancement Surgery?"


    Liu Ying nodded. She had asked Bloed if she could go through the same surgery Gina went through, but after Bloed examined her body, he shook his head helplessly.


    Liu Ying was a demon, not a human. Although demons and humans shared many simrities, their internal organs were a bit different from each other. It was just like a lion and a tiger. They were simr but different.


    In such a situation, the body enhancement surgery that had been optimized for human use could not be used in Liu Ying. Otherwise, there was a chance of Liu Ying suffering some side-effects.


    Therefore, Bloed could only promise her he would try to modify the operation to make it suitable for her body.


    "You already modified it?" Liu Ying asked in anticipation.


    Bloed was a bit embarrassed. "Well, biogics is not my camp of study, so my work with the body enhancement surgery has faced some stumbling blocks? Anyway, I have not made much progresstely. I''ll need a lot more time."


    "Then why are you mentioning it?" Liu Ying pouted.


    "You see, although I did not make progress in the surgery itself, I got an idea while working on it." Bloed then took a small tube and showed it to Liu Ying. "Can I?"


    Liu Ying tilted her head confused, but she nodded. "Of course."


    Bloed smiled and walked behind Liu Ying. He then lifted her hair and whispered softly. "This will hurt a bit."


    " Mm." Liu Ying hummed while blushing.


    Bloed did not hesitate anymore and put the tube against Liu Ying''s neck. He then pressed it against her skin and activated it.


    "Ouch!" Liu Ying jumped away and looked at Bloed warily. "Hey, that hurts!"


    "Sorry, sorry, but I''m already done. Try activating your aspect."


    Liu Ying was confused, but she followed Bloed''s instructions. And when she activated her aspect, her expression changed.


    Instead of the Chaos Titan denoting her bloodline, what appeared was a fearsome ck knight wielding a ive.


    "This is"


    "Many people know that the Chaos Titan is the aspect of the demons'' former royal family." Bloed exined. "So if you use it repeatedly, someone is bounded to recognize it eventually. I thought about it a lot and finally found a solution. I injected some nanomachines below your skin. These nanomachines detect when you activate your aspect and use a bit of its mana to cast an illusion around it. Unfortunately, the illusion can''t be too far from the real thing, so I just changed its red color to ck, added an armor over it, and added a ive. I think I did a good job."


    Liu Ying was startled. She lifted her hair and looked at her back in a mirror. In her neck, a small ck tattoo was shimmering dimly.


    Aplicated expression appeared on her face. She understood Bloed''s intention, but she did not know how to feel about hiding her bloodline.


    Bloed smiled as though reading her thoughts. "Don''t worry, you can activate and deactivate it using your mind. When you are strong enough to show your bloodline proudly, then this little thing will lose its use. Try it if you want."


    Liu Ying tried and realized that Bloed''s words were true. She only needed a thought to deactivate the illusion.


    "With this, you can use your full power anytime without fear of someone recognizing your identity." Bloed said.


    " Thank you, Bloed."


    "Stop it, you will make me feel embarrassed. Okay, now that we are done with that, I let the best part for the end."


    "The best part?"


    "Yeah well, I also worked in some other gadgets, but this one I created especially for you."


    Liu Ying was interested. She rarely saw Bloed being so mysterious, so she was curious about what he did.


    In fact, he had promised Liu Ying he was going to create a gift for her, but he never spoke about what it was. So Liu Ying had been curious for a while.


    Seeing the look of curiosity on Liu Ying''s face, Bloed took a box and passed it to her.


    "Open it."


    "What is inside?" Liu Ying unraveled the box while asking Bloed.


    "Well, I was not very satisfied with the armor I gave youst time, so I thought of making you a new one. And as you were always envious of my two pets, I"


    " Bloed, this is"


    "So, what do you think? Do you like it?"


    Liu Ying fell silent with a dumbfounded expression. But slowly, it changed into an excited smile.


    "I have my own pet!"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 114: Liu Liu

    Chapter 114: Liu Liu


    "Hmm hmm hmm hmm" Liu Ying hummed happily while caressing the small animal on her shoulder.


    " Can you stop that?" Regina asked with a fed-up look.


    "What? Are you jealous of my pet?" Liu Ying shot Regina a provocative look.


    Regina snorted. "I already have Tito and Leto." She said while pointing to the puppy and the wolf walking behind them.


    "They are not yours, they are Bloed''s."


    "Everything that is master''s is mine as well."


    Liu Ying was speechless. How much did Regina hate to lose?


    Having won the fight, Regina smiled victoriously. Liu Ying snorted and looked away to continue ying with her new pet.


    Liu Ying''s pet was a small horned ferret. It had amber-colored metallic skin and two small ears that moved around constantly.


    In terms of size and function, it was the same as Tito. It could turn into a set of armor at will, enhancing Liu Ying''s attributes and granting her a greater defense plus a defensive force field (mana barrier).


    The only difference with Tito (besides the shape and the color) was its energy source. It did not work using matter-to-energy conversion through [Molecr Disintegration], and instead, used Liu Ying''s mana as fuel.


    Liu Ying was very satisfied with her new pet. She had always been jealous of Bloed''s two pets. They were not only cool and cute but also very useful in battle. The perfect battle pets.


    So, now that she had one, Liu Ying could not hide her excitement.


    "By the way, how did you name it?" Bloed asked curiously.


    "Liu Liu. What do you think? Cute, right?"


    "It''s good." Bloed nodded.


    Liu Liu the ferret opened its eyes and yawned. It then jumped down from Liu Ying''s shoulder and looked at the two pets walking behind it.


    Leto just gave it a nce before ignoring it again. Tito, on the other hand, was much more curious about its newpanion. It jumped and circled around the ferret while barking yfully.


    Unfortunately, it seemed that Liu Liu did not share its feelings, because it extended its front paw and pped Tito''s head annoyed.


    Tito whimpered sadly before growling.


    Then


    A game of tag between Tito and Liu Liu started.


    "Hey Tito, don''t bully Liu Liu!" Liu Ying shouted in panic.


    " I think it was Liu Liu who bullied Tito first, though"


    With an exasperated sigh, Bloed shook his head and observed the streets of Diadel City.


    Wide streets where luxurious carriages passed through, fat merchants and businessmen selling merchandise, beautiful women wearing bright clothes and revealing clothes, and elegant men flirting with them. At a single nce, this city seemed much more prosperous than Calice City.


    It was normal, though. Calice was in the end, just a border city. Despite the huge number of adventurers and hunters that lived on it, it could not bepared to a duchy capital like Diadel City.


    Plus, Diadel was better in terms of restaurants and luxury facilities. Calice City was more like a city for warriors, so the businesses on it were more focused on weapons and armor.


    Bloed sighed in admiration. To be honest, even Bloed was slightly amazed by the beauty of this city.


    "I wonder Where we can get the information we need." Bloed blurted his thoughts aloud.


    "What about a tavern?" Liu Ying suggested. "Or you can also try with an information broker. Mm, my family had their own informationwork, so I don''t know much about the normal ways to go through it."


    Bloed nodded while thinking about Liu Ying''s suggestions. A tavern or an information broker seemed like a good ce to start.


    In a world without news and with limitedmunication between countries, information about faraway ces was very hard to find. This was not like on earth where you only needed to use the inte to get information about almost any city in the world.


    Thus, if Bloed wanted to learn more about Academy City, he needed to find a channel specialized in the trade of information.


    While Bloed was thinking about where he could find an information broker, Regina frowned.


    "Master, someone is watching us."


    "Mm?" Bloed was startled. "Do you mean there is someone following us?"


    Regina thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No, it''s different. They are not following us. They are just watching us It''s hard to exin, but I have felt more than fifteen strange gazes since we exited the inn. Most of the time, it''s only one gaze each time, but sometimes, we are observed by two people at the same time. I thought I was imagining things, but now I''m sure."


    Bloed frowned. "In other words, some group or organization is keeping an eye on our movements, right?"


    "I fear that is the case, master. They hid their intentions very well, but they can''t escape my senses." Regina nodded.


    "Are you sure?" Liu Ying showed a surprised expression. "Why would someone follow us? I don''t think we have offended anyone in this city Could it be, have them discovered something about us?" Liu Ying''s expression turned grave.


    Bloed and Regina looked at each other. with just a look, the pair of master and servant came to the same conclusion.


    ''The kingdom of Alterna! Sebastian!''


    Bloed nced at Liu Ying and thought about telling her the truth. After a moment, he sighed and made up his mind. If they were truly being chased by the kingdom, then Liu Ying should know. They werepanions after all.


    First, though, he needed to confirm his suspicions.


    With an ice-cold look, Bloed nodded to Regina.


    "Do you think you can locate them, Regina?"


    " Yes, master. Wait a moment, I''ll find a target that we can attack without causing amotion."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 115: Game of Spies

    Chapter 115: Game of Spies


    "Ugh!" The man in front of Bloed vomited a mouthful of blood after being punched by Liu Ying.


    "Why are you watching us?" Liu Ying asked coldly.


    "You are crazy! Help, help! Someone is trying to kill me!" The man shouted with a frightened voice.


    Bloed sneered. "Stop shouting, nobody will hear you." Bloed then pointed to four small gadgets located in each corner of the alley. "Sound absorbers. They create a small forcefield able to rebound the sound and stop it from spreading beyond their area of effect."


    The man''s expression changed. Although he could not understand Bloed''s wordspletely, he got a gist of their meaning.


    In other words, nobody was going to hear him.


    The man looked at the three people around him with a look of fear. "W-Why a-are you doing this? I-I don''t know you!"


    "Hmph!" Liu Ying snorted and kicked the man on the belly.


    How could a weak E-Rank man endure a kick from Liu Ying? His body flew against a wall and crashed against it. He then coughed again and vomited another mouthful of blood.


    "Do you think we are idiots? Speak now if you don''t want to die." Bloed''s voice was frosty.


    The man coughed again and held his abdomen in pain. He then wiped the blood on his mouth with his wrist and sighed.


    "Damn, this work does deserve better pay."


    Then, he activated his mana.


    Bloed''s expression changed. "Not this again. Regina!"


    Regina kicked the ground and appeared in front of the man. Her palm was covered by lightning sparks that hit the man''s chest.


    Instantly, a surge of energy rushed into the man''s body. The overwhelming energy invaded his mana channels and suppressed his mana, stopping it from going berserk, thus stopping the man''s suicide.


    But although the man was surprised, he did not lose his calm.


    Instead, he vomited another mouthful of blood.


    And this time, the blood was ck.


    "Poison?" Bloed''s furrowed his brows.


    The man smiled wryly. "People in our line of business don''t fear death. Instead, we fear to suffer a fate worse than death. We are used to having more than one way to kill ourselves. You know, in case one of them fails."


    " You sure are very talkative." Bloed''s face was ice-cold.


    The man chuckled bitterly "These are myst words after all."


    One secondter, ck blood started to flow from his eyes and ears.


    Bloed sighed. Waving his hand, he indicated Regina to stop the man''s suffering.


    And with a stab of Regina''s energy de, the man died.


    " Well, this didn''t go as well as we expected." Liu Ying said.


    Bloed did not answer and instead searched for clues in the man''s clothes. But as he expected, he failed to find anything useful.


    "They are very professional, huh."


    "He did not even hesitate to kill himself. Master, these people are strictly trained to never reveal a secret. Even if we capture one of them and find a way to stop him from killing himself, that person will probably not speak."


    "We need to think of another way then" Liu Ying said.


    "I have an idea." Bloed touched his forehead in thought. "Regina, can you find another of them?"


    "I can."


    "Let''s go then."


    The group of three left the alley and continued wandering the city. Soon enough, they felt another gaze on them.


    They had just killed the man and the information about his death had not spread to the rest of the people observing them. Thus, a new fish quickly took the bait.


    It was a middle-aged man with a kind face. To be honest, he seemed nothing like someone secretly spying on a group of youngsters.


    This time, the group did not attack him. Instead, they approached the man while feigning they did not know anything.


    "Excuse me." Bloed called out at him.


    The man was startled. For an instant, a nervous expression appeared on his face, but he hid it quickly.


    "Yes, how can I help you?"


    "Do you know where I can get information about the surrounding kingdoms?" Bloed asked with a feigned expression of apology.


    "Information?"


    "Yes. You know, like a ce where I can pay to buy the information I need."


    The man thought for a moment before answering.


    "You can try in the red-light district, I''m not sure. Perhaps you will find what you are searching for there Oh right, go at night. Most of the establishments are closed in the day."


    Bloed smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I''ll keep that in mind." He then nodded at the man and walked away.


    The man frowned for a brief moment, but when he confirmed neither Bloed nor the girls seemed to have realized something, he walked away too.


    Meanwhile, Liu Ying was staring at Bloed confused.


    "What was that?"


    Bloed curved his lips up and took out a very tiny button-like thing from his pocket.


    "I created it after the events of Calice city in case a simr situation happened. It''s a listening and tracking device. It only works at a certain distance, so we can''t be too far from the target, but otherwise, it''s perfect."


    "Then"


    "I put one on his back. We only need to wait until he reports to his superiors and we will find who is the person behind him and with a bit of luck, the reason they are keeping an eye on us."


    Liu Ying was stunned and amazed at the same time.


    "That is a good n."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 116: Slavers

    Chapter 116: vers


    The man did not return to see its boss after his encounter with Bloed. Instead, he strolled through the market like a normal person.


    Bloed and the girls, meanwhile, already expected to have to wait for a while before they could get useful information, so they did not mind it.


    Thus, the group made sure to keep the man''s in the range of Bloed''s transmitter without arousing his suspicion.


    What they were not expecting was that they had to wait until thete afternoon before they could get results.


    When it was almost night, the man finally changed his behavior and walked towards the south of the city.


    Bloed and the girls looked at each other and followed after him.


    When the man arrived in the south of the city, he increased his pace and went through several alleys and streets repeatedly. It was a trick used to detect and lose anyone following him. Unfortunately for him, this trick waspletely useless when his location was being transmitted directly to Bloed.


    After a few minutes and after confirming nobody was following him, the man slowed down and walked towards a building near the slums.


    Bloed and the girls frowned. This ce


    "It''spletely different than the city we saw before." Liu Ying said with furrowed brows.


    Bloed nodded. If the Diadel city they saw earlier was a beautiful artwork, this part of the city was trash thrown to the trash bin.


    The city was filled with garbage, waste, and excrement; the houses and buildings were dpidated, and the people they could see were malnourished.


    A stench of rotting filth filled the streets, and homeless children together with suspicious-looking men threw the group gazes filled with caution and greed.


    In less than ten minutes, the group was the target of pickpockets thrice!


    Bloed could only sigh andment the difference between the beautiful Diadel City and its slums.


    When the man entered the building, Regina frowned.


    "Master, I can feel several of the presences that were spying on us inside that building."


    Bloed nodded. "As expected. It''s them."


    "Are we going to enter, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed shook his head. "Not yet. Let''s wait first to hear their conversation. We can decide after that."


    After saying that, Bloed led the girls to hid on the roof of a building nearby and took out the transmitter.


    Not muchter, the conversation inside the building reached their ears.


    [How were the results today?] A hoarse voice asked.


    [Boss, we got a great prey today!] A man said excitedly.


    "Prey?" Liu Ying was startled.


    Bloed frowned and continued hearing the conversation.


    [Oh? How good?]


    [A boy and two girls around fifteen years old. And the two girls are devastating beauties! We checked and the three of them are C-Rank practitioners, nothing too difficult.]


    [C-Rank? It''s rare to see three youngsters with such cultivation around here. Did you check their background?]


    [Yes. We got the information from the inn they are staying on. The boy registered the room with his name, Bloed Norman, but we did not get information about the girls. After we investigated, we discovered there is not [Norman] between the people we need to pay attention to.]


    [Is it so? However, three C-Rank fifteen-year-old kids traveling together are definitively not normal. Even if the master is needing talented ves, we must not act before making sure they are clean. It''ll bad if they had a mysterious background and we offend them.]


    Another voice spoke at that moment.


    [Boss, I have information that perhaps can interest you.]


    [Do speak.]


    [They were asking for an information dealer. We can use that information toy them a trap.]


    The boss fell silent for a brief moment.


    [Good idea. Moreover, we can use that opportunity to sound them out and learn about their background. Oh right, did they have any noticeable feature?]


    [Well, one of the girls had silver hair and golden The boy was even more unusual. His hair was blue, and his eyes They did not seem normal.]


    [His eyes?]


    [Yes. They were glowing with strange symbols. Why, is anything wrong?]


    [ I think I heard something about a young man with strange eyes recently Wait a moment, I''ll ask the master.]


    Bloed sighed and turned off the transmitter.


    "Well, this was unexpected." Bloed said with aplicated expression. To be honest, he had his expectations betrayed.


    He was ready and expecting to face the intelligencework of the kingdom. But instead, he got a local gang.


    Liu Ying''s face was dark. "ves!? They were nning to capture us as ves!?"


    Bloed frowned. Yeah, he also felt offended.


    "Master, there is something wrong." Regina furrowed her eyes and said.


    "Hm?"


    " very was forbidden in Diadel, wasn''t it?"


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. "very is forbidden in most of the continent, but it''s still practiced secretly, mostly by nobles. However Normally, very is limited to people of other races. At least, it was so in the demon empire. I thought it was the same in the humannds, but it looks I''m mistaken."


    "It doesnt matter." Bloed shook his head and looked at the two girls. "Liu Ying, Regina, how do you want to deal with this?"


    "Let''s kill them!" Liu Ying said immediately. "Scum like them deserves to die."


    Regina nodded. "That is the best option. They look like they will cause us troubleter, so it''s better to attack first and take the initiative."


    "Kill them, huh. How is their strength?" Bloed asked Regina.


    "... Three B-Ranks practitioners. The rest are just C-Ranks."


    Bloed fell silent briefly and thought about it. Even if the vers had a powerful background, Bloed and the others would leave the city tomorrow, so they did not need to worry about that if they were careful. Furthermore, just like Regina said, it was better to take the initiative than to wait to be attacked.


    Plus, Bloed thought this was a good opportunity to try some new things.


    With a nod, Bloed asked Regina to take something out of the storage bracelet.


    Three small amulets-like devices. Their design was rather simple, with a ck ss-like material with a blue button in the middle.


    "They are stealth devices. You put one on your chest and it diverts the light around the user to create a limited invisibility effect. Be careful, though; if you move too fast, people with sharp eyes will be able to notice that something is wrong. But it''s night already, so there will not be a problem even if you are a bit less careful. Now, let''s get this done and return for dinner."


    "Hehe, yeah."


    "Understood, master."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 117: Finding Clues in an Unexpected Place

    Chapter 117: Finding Clues in an Unexpected ce


    So sleepy~


    By the way, double chapter tomorrow...


    ...


    Inside the building, the vers continued their conversation.


    " Boss, what are we going to do then?"


    "I''ll go to see the master." The leader of the vers spoke. "Meanwhile, keep an eye on them. Once I confirm the situation, we will make a move. Remember, we need to be quick. We can''t attract the attention of the city guards."


    "Hahahaha, great. I can already see the expression of the young man after we capture him and his girlfriends Boss, can we y with the girls after we capture them?"


    The boss frowned in displeasure, but before he could scold his subordinate, his expression changed.


    "Careful!"


    But it was toote.


    In an instant, a wave of metallic sand flooded the room where they were reunited.


    The wave moved quickly. In an instant, it covered the entire room. Then, It turned into chains that wrapped around the people inside.


    "Damn it, what is this!?" The ver of before tried to struggle against the chains, but


    *Bam!*


    Together with that sound, his eyes opened wide.


    A hole had appeared in the location of his heart.


    "Why don''t you repeat the words you just said? Whose girls were you nning to y with?"


    When the ice-cold voice sounded, a blue-haired man appeared suddenly from the shadows, holding an energy gun in each hand.


    "Y-You!"


    "Enemy!"


    The vers reacted. Each one of them took the most appropriate measure in the current situation. Their mana surged out and attacked against the chains, trying to get rid of them.


    Bot how could they get rid of Leto''s chains so easily? Only the three B-Ranks managed to get free, and only because Leto was using part of its strength to restrain the C-Ranks.


    But before the B-Ranks could do anything, Bloed pressed the trigger of his guns repeatedly.


    *Bam Bam Bam Bam!*


    With pinpoint uracy, each bullet pierced the vitals of the C-Ranks trapped in the chains.


    In just seconds, only the three B-Ranks and Bloed remained standing.


    Bloed whistled in admiration. "As expected, using Leto to ambush weak enemies like this is a very good strategy. They did not even have the chance to struggle before they were killed."


    "It''s you!" One of the B-Ranks spoke in rage. It was the man that Bloed intercepted before. "How are you here!?"


    Bloed smiled gently. "Of course, thanks to you. You brought me here after all."


    The man''s expression changed. "You followed me!"


    "Well, you and yourpanions had been following us for a while. I was just curious about your motives. But very huh That is a very sick thing."


    Before the man could reply, he was stopped by the boss. " Bloed Norman, that is your name, right?"


    "Nice to meet you."


    " Such strength at such a young age. You should not be someone unknown. However, you are too arrogant. Do you think you can take the three of us by yourself?"


    "Well, I can try." Bloed shrugged indifferently.


    The boss chuckled. "I see. Unfortunately, I''m not nning to fight you. But don''t worry, you will know about us soon. Do you think you can kill our men without consequences!?"


    Then, as though they had nned it long ago, the three B-Ranks jumped in different directions.


    Towards the windows and the entrances!


    Even for Bloed, stopping three B-Ranks from escaping was impossible.


    But he did not need to stop them.


    With a thought, Leto turned into metallic chains that followed one of the B-Ranks. At the same time, two figures materialized from nothing in front of the two remaining B-Ranks.


    They were Liu Yin and Regina!


    The two B-Ranks were stunned. However, their reaction was not slow. Instinctively, they attacked the new enemies.


    *Bam!* *Swing!*


    After a punch from Liu Ying and a sh from Regina, the two B-Ranks were forced to retreat.


    " So you came prepared, huh." The boss looked at Bloed and the girls with narrowed eyes while he evaded Leto''s chains.


    Bloed shrugged. "Well, it would be troublesome if one of you escapes andes back with new friendster. I think it''s better if we kill all of you here."


    The boss''s expression fell. Then, it turned into a ferocious look.


    "You will have to stop us first!"


    *Boom!*


    The boss kicked the floor and charged towards Bloed. His speed was so fast that his steps demolished part of the floor!


    Bloed remained calm. With a twist of his body, he avoided the enemy''s de and unsheathed his saber. Then, he shed towards the boss.


    Sounds of rm ringed in the boss''s ears. Instinctively, he decided to avoid the sh instead of parrying it. But the feeling of danger did not diminish, instead, it increased!


    The next second, he saw an energy bullet flying towards his face.


    Helplessly, he could only use the de to receive the bullet, but that left him exposed to the next attack of Bloed''s saber.


    Moreover, three metallic chains surged from the ground and entangled his feet.


    ''Damn it!'' The ver cursed. A torrent of mana surged towards his legs, destroying the chains and allowing him to jump back.


    But unfortunately, he did not manage to avoid Bloed''s saberpletely.


    A sh injury had appeared on his chest.


    The boss cursed inwardly. ''Damn, is this monster truly a C-Rank?''


    Looking around, he could see that his two otherpanions werepletely suppressed. One of them was being repeatedly injured by the silver-haired girl, while the other was being suppressed by the demon girl with the help of the metallic chains.


    ''It looks like our only option is to stall for time. With thismotion, our men outside surely already noticed that something is wrong.''


    Unfortunately, he did not have much time to think. Bloed kicked the ground and pressed on the attack, using abination of sabersmanship and gunmanship to slowly suppress the boss.


    Moreover, Leto would use its chains asionally to obstruct his movements. If not by the fact that Bloed was using Leto''s chains to support Liu Ying as well, he could have finished the fight much faster.


    Even so, it was no good news for the boss. He could see his men were struggling to face the other two girls.


    And soon, his fears turned into reality.


    *Swish!*


    With a swing of Regina''s energy des, the head of one of the B-Ranks flew away!


    Not even two secondster, the other B-Rank was trapped by Leto''s chains and was unable to avoid Liu Ying''s punch.


    *Boom!*


    "Ugh, cough"


    The man groaned, vomited his internal organs, and copsed dead.


    Now, the boss was the only one alive.


    "Give up." Bloed spoke calmly. "You don''t have an opportunity against the three of us."


    The boss chuckled darkly while using his mana to suppress the injuries caused by Bloed''s attacks. "Do you truly believe I''ll give up?"


    Inwardly, though, he was coursing his men for taking so long to appear.


    Bloed seemed to read his thoughts because he smiled. "Are you perhaps waiting for reinforcements? Oh, I forget to tell you. I made sure that nobody outside this building can hear what is happening here."


    The boss froze. One secondter, he smiled bitterly.


    "So you were nning to do a clean job since the start."


    "Well, it would be troublesome if the person or organization behind you discovers that we were the ones that killed you. Having a mysterious enemy trying to kill us is not a very good prospect. So, why don''t you answer a few questions for us? I promise you we will kill you quickly after that."


    The boss chuckled again. He had been had.


    However, Things were not going to go as Bloed expected.


    " I never thought I was going to have to use this."


    It happened just after the boss finished speaking.


    His clothes... were torn apart.


    Dark tentacles erupted from his chest, creating a nauseating scene. At the same time, his skin turned dark and pale, and his expression turned ferocious.


    "Hahahaha, if I will die, then let''s die together!"


    And power erupted from his body.


    Bloed was stunned. Looking at the transformation of the man, he cursed his luck in his mind.


    Having studied it recently, Bloed needed only a nce to identify the abomination on the man''s chess.


    It was a Devourer/Blight.


    He had found a clue about those monsters in an unexpected ce.

 Chapter 118: [Positive-Negative Energy Conversion]

    Chapter 118: [Positive-Negative Energy Conversion]


    Bloed was not sure if this could be considered good or back luck. Just a few days ago, he wasmenting that he did not have clues to follow about the devourers; and suddenly, a new clue appears.


    Bloed never expected that a ver he decided to kill without thinking too much would be connected to that feared race.


    However, now was not the time to think about that.


    "Regina!" Bloed bellowed and jumped away. One secondter, a tentacle hit the ce where he was just now.


    Regina understood Bloed''s intention and kicked the floor. Her body leaned forward and rushed towards the devourer-fused man. Then, she shed upwards!


    But contrary to her expectations, her attacks failed.


    Instead, the energy des seemed to dissipate when they touched the man''s body!


    Regina''s expression changed. Without hesitation, he jumped back while evading the attacks of the tentacles.


    ''This is''


    "Energy Devour!" Bloed cursed under his breath. To prove his theory, he turned the energy gun into ster mode, shooting a super-condensed energy bullet.


    But just like with Regina''s de, the bullet quickly dissipated before reaching the devourer-fused man. Only one-tenth of the bullet power managed to reach the enemy, but it was useless in front of the devourer-fused man''s defenses.


    "Dammit!"


    Cursing his luck, Bloed jumped aside and evaded a punching towards him.


    "DIe diE dIE dIe!" The devourer-fused man shouted crazily. His body moved quickly through the room, using the walls and the roof as springboards.


    Even now, his energy fluctuations continued climbing crazily, only stopping when they reached the peak of B-Rank!


    With a twisted smile, he extended his arm and thrust it towards Bloed.


    Bloed snorted and rolled aside. He then dissipated the gun and focused only on his saber.


    At the same time, he used his mind tomand Leto.


    In an instant, Leto turned into tens of chains and spikes. The chains and spikes filled the room and chased after the abomination closely.


    But the creature did not seem to be bothered by that. It continued attacking the group of three while evading the chains. And even when the chains touched it, it used its strong body to break them and continue the chase.


    "What in the hell is that!?" Liu Ying asked with a look of disgust.


    "The Blight!" Bloed replied. "Liu Ying! Try to not use your mana externally or this creature will absorb it!"


    Liu Ying''s face turned pale, but she did not allow herself to be paralyzed by fear. She moved nimbly through the room avoiding the abomination''s attacks while at the same time holding her mana carefully to not have it absorbed.


    But the fact that she could not use her mana freely put her on a disadvantage. Countless tentacles pierced towards her, blocking all her routes of escape.


    However


    An energy de appeared, cutting each tentacle cleanly.


    Regina grunted. "Do you think your little tricks can stop my attacks? I''m a Valkyrie. My raison d''tre is to kill insects like you!"


    With these words, her des lit up and cut towards the abomination.


    "AAAAhggggaAAAhhhgaGGhggG!!!" The abomination roared in an intelligible voice. Its tentacles formed a shield in front of it to stop the des. At the same time, it tried to devour the energy of Regina''s des.


    But suddenly, the energy on Regina''s des changed. It became incredibly berserk and destructive, burning through the tentacles of the creature and piercing towards its chest!


    "EEEAakkkkEEkKk!!!" The abomination roared in pain. It jumped aside and hurriedly moved away while looking at Regina with a frightened expression.


    The fact that it did not manage to absorb her energy frightened it. It felt as though Regina''s energy was poison for its body.


    And in fact, it was worse than poison.


    As weapons of war designed to fight the devourers, each Valkyrie was designed with a way to counter the devourers'' energy absorption.


    Regina''s was called [Positive-Negative Energy Conversion]. She could turn her psychic energy into negative energy, and once that energy was absorbed by the devourer but before it could digest it, she would turn her energy back into positive energy, using it to attract the recently-absorbed energy in the devourer''s body and destroy it from the inside.


    It was a skill verypatible with her ESP ability, and therefore very suitable for her. With this, any devourer trying to absorb her energy was basically courting death!


    The devourer-fused man crouched down. Its cut appendages twisted on the ground, but Regina used her des to cut them into bits and burning them to dust.


    "Dirty creature, die!" Regina called out and rushed towards the devourer.


    The devourer cried again. Recognizing the danger, it jumped away and kicked a wall, rushing towards a window.


    But a metallic wall rose in the middle of its path. Then, the wall turned into chains that tried to restrict its body.


    The devourer growled. Its tentacles shed against the chains, devouring the energy on them. Then, it pulled its arm back and threw a punch!


    *BOOM!!!*


    Astonishingly, its punch broke through the metallic wall!


    A shadow appeared at that moment. Using the wall as cover, Bloed appeared suddenly beside the devourer and shed with his saber, cutting through several of the devourer tentacles!


    It was [Molecr Disintegration]! In front of an attack that could cut energy itself, not even a devourer could devour it!


    Once more, the devourer growled in pain. This time, it opted for jumping up. It nned to destroy the roof to escape!


    But the group was not nning to give it that opportunity. With a silver sh of light, Regina appeared above it, brandishing her two energy des crisscrossedly.


    Out of options, the devourer-fused man could only sacrifice its remaining tentacles in exchange for its life. Then, it jumped towards the only remaining ce where it could escape.


    In Liu Ying''s direction.


    Liu Ying did not panic. Instead, she drew her punch back and circted her mana through her body.


    Behind her, a dark knight materialized. The knight mimicked its master''s movements and drew its arm back too.


    Then


    *BOOOM!!!*


    A punch filled with shocking destructive force met the devourer, creating a powerful destructive shockwave that blew away part of the building!


    *SCREEEEEECHHHHH!!!* The devourer screamed in pain. Its already injured body was unable of enduring Liu Ying''s punch and flew away, crashing against a wall!


    Liu Ying staggered several steps back. Her body wobbled weakly at the edge of copse, and the aspect behind her disappeared.


    Meanwhile, Bloed and Regina walked towards the devourer and looked at it.


    Materializing two energy spears on her back, Regina used them to impale the devourer-fused man, finally killing it.


    But as soon as the man was killed, something strange happened.


    The body of the man dried up at visible speed, quickly turning into a desated corpse.


    "This is" Bloed frowned.


    Unfortunately, he did not have time to think about the strange situation.


    "Master, someone ising. Liu Ying''s attack attracted too much attention."


    Bloed nodded. "Let''s go. We are done here." He then walked towards Liu Ying and help her up.


    Pressing the device on his chest, Bloed''s figure blended with the surroundings. Regina and Liu Ying followed after him.


    When people finally arrived at the scene, they couldn''t find anything besides several bodies gruesomely killed.

 Chapter 119: Putting Your Idea Into Use

    Chapter 119: Putting Your Idea Into Use


    It did not take long for people to arrive at the building after Bloed and the others left.


    Just one minute after Liu Ying''s punch blew part of the building away, a crowd had formed around it. At that moment, the city guards arrived after hearing themotion.


    But when they entered and saw the carnage inside the building, their expressions turned pale.


    Fifteen minutester, the captain of the city guards arrived apanied by a detective.


    " Damn, whatever did this was very ruthless." The detective whistled.


    "What do you think, detective?" Asked the captain. The detective brought his hand to his chin and observed the scene with a look of focus.


    After a few seconds, he sighed. "Give up, you probably will not find the culprit."


    "Huh?"


    "If I''m not wrong, whoever did this was not alone. They were two, no, three. Each one a very powerful practitioner, probably around the B-Rank, and at least one of them was at the A-Rank. Look here." The detective then pointed to the bodies that had either a hole on their chest or on their heads. "Judging by the fluctuationsing from the corpses, they were C-Rank practitioners, but each one of them was killed after one attack and they were unable to struggle. Moreover, the wounds had traces of burns. Probably a powerful fire mage killed them all as soon as he arrived. And believe me, only an A-Rank mage can do something like that."


    The captain nodded. "What about the other bodies?"


    "Three B-Ranks." The detective affirmed without hesitation. "They offered a bit more of struggle and probably tried to escape, but they were killed before they seeded. Judging by their injuries, one of them was killed by a martial artist and the other by an enemy wielding a sharp weapon. The problem, though, is the third person."


    The detective then pointed to a dried-up body with several disgusting tentacles protruding from its chest.


    "You see, the people behind this were very meticulous. I asked around and nobody heard anything besides the final explosion that blew away part of the building. Thus, I dare to affirm that the explosion was something unexpected. Most probably, thest B-Rank realized he did not have a chance to escape and used something akin to a forbidden technique to increase his strength exponentially and bring his enemies to the grave with him. He failed, obviously, but his sudden increase in power was unexpected, and it took by surprise the enemies and when they shed, the explosion happened."


    "And the reason you said I will not find the culprit is"


    "I told you, the killers were very meticulous. If not by thest explosion, nobody would have known about this homicide until tomorrow morning at the earliest. People like these will definitively not leave behind clues. I''m sure that even if you ask around to know if someone saw something suspicious, you will get nothing. In fact, there is a big possibility of the killers leaving the city soon. By then, finding them will truly be impossible."


    The captain wrinkled his brows. Although he could see the truth behind the detective''s words, they left a bad taste in his mouth.


    The detective saw that and patted his shoulder tofort him. "Just forget about this. From what I can see, the people killed here were members of a criminal syndicate. They probably offended someone they couldn''t offend and were killed due to that."


    The captain sighed. "I understand. However, I''ll have to inform my superiors first. I''ll tell them about your suggestion and they will decide if we continue investigating or close the case."


    But at that moment, a smiling man walked towards the captain.


    "Captain Hugo?"


    "It''s me."


    The man took out a document and passed it to the captain.


    "I have an order from the city lord. From now onwards, this case is under my jurisdiction. You can leave."


    The captain''s expression changed, but before he could say anything, he was stopped by the detective.


    "Leave it. It''s better if you don''t get anymore embroiled in this."


    "What are"


    "Have you not noticed? Whatever happened here probably involves more than you can afford to know." The captain''s expression was grave.


    The smiling man showed a brief expression of surprise and moved his gaze towards the detective.


    "You are a very sharp person, mister."


    For some reason, the detective felt chills on his spine.


    In the middle of the crowd, a hooded person was looking towards the building with a frown on his face.


    Nothing could be seen about him besides the fact he was rtively short, and his nose.


    His nose was sniffing repeatedly.


    "Dammit." Cursing under his breath, the hooded person turned around and left the ce.


    Quickly, his figure disappeared between the crowd.


    Bloed and the girls returned to their inn without any problem.


    After they returned to their rooms, Bloed helped Liu Ying to her bed.


    "Are you alright?"


    "I am, don''t worry. Just a bit tired."


    Bloed frowned. He could see that Liu Ying''s face was pale. The only reason she did not copse before reaching the inn was that Bloed and Regina helped her in the way.


    " The Blight It sure is frightening." Liu Ying suddenly said.


    "It is." Bloed nodded.


    Liu Ying clenched her fist with a bitter smile. Today, she had learned why the Blight was so feared.


    It was a sh, less than one second, and she was victorious. But despite it, she lost almost all the mana in her body during the process.


    If she would have been alone and the Blight would have not copsed after her attack, then she could have been killed easily.


    " So this was what the books meant when they talked about monsters that devoured mana, huh."


    "Well, you were an entire rank weaker than it, so its energy devour was more effective than normal. Against a Devourer of the same rank, you would have been able to resist it a bit more. Don''t worry, you will get better after one night of rest."


    Liu Ying nodded with a forced smile.


    "Master, what are we going to do now?" Regina asked.


    Bloed thought for a moment before replying. "Let''s observe the situation tomorrow to see. I don''t want to let the matter of the Devourers like this."


    Regina frowned. "Master, it''s obvious that the people behind the Devourers are not weak. I don''t want to pour cold water on you, but our strength is far from enough to get ourselves involved in this kind of situation."


    "You are right. Therefore, we will ask for help from people able to get involved."


    "Mm? Do we know someone like that?" Liu Ying asked confused.


    Bloed smiled. "What are you talking about? I''m just putting your idea into use. Regina, can you get me a pen and paper?"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 120: Three Churches

    Chapter 120: Three Churches


    As a city where merchants and people from different regions and races gather, Diadel City was a ce with great cultural diversity. It was normal to see people eating food and wearing clothes from different parts of the continent.


    This diversity was also seen in religion. In Diadel city, there were more than twenty chapels belonging to different churches. But only three of these churches had enough power and weight to influence the development of the city.


    The Church of Fate, with branches in every corner of the continent. This church did not care about races or origins, epting demons, elves, beastmen, and humans as its adherents. There were even rumors of some intelligent monsters epting the faith of the Goddess of Fate.


    The Church of the Sun God, the main church in the humannds. This church preached human supremacy and was not well-received in non-human territories. In fact, even some human kingdoms did not like it, such as the Kingdom of Alterna, which was constantly trying to reduce the church''s influence.


    Lastly, there was Moonlight Glow.


    Different from the other churches, Moonlight Glow was more like a point of gathering for beastmen. It was a ratherx church whose purpose was to protect the beastmen people.


    Almost every beastmen believed in the moonlight goddess, and even some elves, demons, and humans shared that belief. The ratherx nature of the Moonlight Goddess was perfect for people that sought the protection of a god but had a free and adventurous personality.


    Its nature also meant that this church was very trusted by the beastmen countries. Many beastmen countries and gods received the support of Moonlight Glow on repeated asions, so they kept an amicable rtionship with this church.


    The next day after Bloed killed the vers, amotion happened between the higher-ups of these churches.


    In Moonlight Glow, a stern woman was holding a letter on her hand while looking at the church''s personnel in front of her.


    "Tell me about your opinions. Do you think this information is true?"


    "We don''t know, hallowed one. The information in this letter is too incredible. We will need to confirm it first."


    "I see. What about the people we sent to investigate? Any results?"


    "The case was taken by the city lord''s personal men. We were unable to get valuable information."


    The stern woman''s expression turned grave. "Very suspicious. Perhaps, the words in the letter are true. Contact the headquarters and tell them about this. Also, mobilize all our men to investigate this situation."


    "But hallowed one, we don''t even know the origins of the letter. Don''t you think we are exaggerating too much?"


    The stern woman scoffed. "Exaggerating? This letter appeared on the desk of my office! Nobody noticed an intruder, and nobody knows how it reached there. How is that possible? Even if there is no demigod guarding this church, the number of A-Ranks can be counted in two hands. What kind of person will take the effort to hide from their senses and arrive at my office only to make a bad joke? Furthermore, even if it''s a joke, it''s a joke rted to the Blight. We can''t afford to be careless!"


    The church''s personnel looked at each other with grave expressions., finally nodding.


    "Understood, hallowed one."


    "Also, send someone to the city lord''s state. Tell him I need to meet him as soon as possible."


    In another part of the city, in the Church of the Sun God.


    The archbishop in charge of the city was holding a letter with a serious expression.


    "The Blight"


    He then looked at the desk where the letter appeared.


    He had stayed in this office the entire night and never left. Despite it, though, the letter appeared suddenly and did not manage to see the person who brought it.


    A term appeared on the archbishop''s mind when he thought about such a level of skill.


    "Demigod"


    In the Church of Fate.


    The Knight Captain of the Order of the Guiding Light was holding the letter the archbishop passed him.


    He was passing by Diadel Duchy on the way to Calice City, following the guidance of the saintess. However, he was not expecting to get a clue even before reaching his destination.


    "What do you think, captain?" The archbishop asked with a frown.


    The knight captain''s expression changed several times before finally sighing.


    "I will not hide it anymore, archbishop. My mission this time was a direct order of the saintess. She sent me to Calice City to find traces of the Blight."


    " Calice? Not Diadel?"


    The captain nodded. "It looks like things are much moreplex than we thought. I''ll contact the saintess and inform her of the situation. Meanwhile, I want all the information you can find about the people that were killed in that building."


    The archbishop nodded without hesitation.


    Later that night.


    Bloed and the girls went to the red light district. The group of three was using Bloed''s disguising devices to disguise their features while wearing long robes to cover their bodies and faces.


    Last night, Regina had infiltrated the three biggest churches of the city and left a note telling them that the vers he killed were rted to the Blight.


    And just like he expected, these notes caused amotion.


    This morning, the city entered a partial lockdown state. Even although you could still leave the city, you must go through a very rigorous inspection in the process. Moreover, if you seemed slightly suspicious, you would be detained.


    Moreover, city guards and knights of the different churches were patrolling the city with grave expressions, stopping each suspicious person they saw. Bloed''s group had been stopped on several asions.


    "Are you sure it''s around here?" Bloed asked.


    Regina nodded. "ording to the information I heard in the inn, it should be nearby."


    "Speaking about the inn, Bloed, do you know how the vers managed to get our information?"


    "It was probably the owner. Either he is cooperating with the vers or he was threatened to reveal the information. Either way now is not the time to deal with him."


    "Huh?"


    "The entire city is tense about these killings. If the owner is killed now, we will be unable to avoid the suspicion of the churches and the city lord. Moreover, if there is someone else that knows about the owner''s rtionship with the vers, that person perhaps can connect the dots to reach us."


    Liu Ying sighed. "Soplicated."


    At that moment, the group of three arrived at an establishment with a dubious faade.


    "It''s here, master."


    "Animal paradise, huh."


    "This is that kind of ce, right?" Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed nodded. Just the name and the atmosphere were enough to recognize what kind of business this was.


    A brothel.


    "Master, don''t get separate from me."


    Bloed looked at Regina with a speechless expression. "What are you insinuating? You know the reason we are here."


    "I''m just saying in case master is tempted by these women."


    Bloed was too speechless to retort.


    When they entered the establishment, a seductively dressed rabbit-eared woman walked towards them.


    "Wee, dear customers. Do you require an individual service, or will you y together?"


    Regina''s expression turned ice-cold instantly.


    Bloed sighed and took a step forward. "I''m sorry, miss. We are here for your other bussiness, information."


    The rabbit-eared woman frowned and observed the three of them carefully. After five seconds, she nodded and turned around.


    "Follow me."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 121: Wolf Girl, Cat Man (1)

    Chapter 121: Wolf Girl, Cat Man (1)


    "It''s here." The rabbit-eared woman pointed to a door. She then knocked on it.


    "Who is it?" A voice from inside asked.


    "It''s me. I brought customers." The rabbit-eared woman answered.


    "Customers, huh. Let them in."


    When Bloed and the others entered, they saw a beautiful wolf-eareddy seated behind a table.


    Silver hair, silver eyes, and a sharp gaze. The woman examined the group carefully and sniffed the air twice with her nose.


    Afterward, she narrowed her eyes before calling at the rabbit-eared woman and whispering something in her ear.


    Bloed tried to hear their conversation, but it was in the beastmen''s native tongue. Thus, he was unable to understand it.


    After the rabbit-eared woman left. The wolf-eareddy spoke to the group.


    "Customers, wee. Please sit."


    Bloed and the girls sat across her.


    "I suppose you are here for information, right? What kind of information do you require?"


    Bloed thought for a moment and opened his mouth.


    "Two things. Firstly, I want detailed information about Academy City."


    "Oh? Are the three of you on a journey towards that city? That is a nice ce Mmm, yes, we have it. However, Academy City is a bit far from here, so the price of this information will be very expensive."


    Bloed nodded. "No problem. We have enough money."


    "Is it so?" The wolf-eareddy smiled satisfied. "Okay. We can get that information ready for tomorrow. What is the other thing you want to ask about?"


    Bloed fell silent for a moment. Then, he narrowed his eyes and spoke in a serious tone.


    "I want information about the thing that happened yesterday in the slums."


    Instantly, the wolf-eareddy narrowed her eyes.


    "You are not the first to ask for that information."


    "Can you give it to us?"


    " Mm. Let me think."


    At that moment, the rabbit-eared woman returned and nodded towards the wolf-eareddy.


    Seeing that, the wolf-eareddy smiled at the group.


    "If you are interested in that information, please follow me."


    Bloed frowned. He then looked at Regina and used his gaze to ask if anything was wrong, But Regina shook her head.


    There was no malice nor killing intent in the wolf-eareddy''s words. Everything was alright.


    The wolf-eareddy stood up and opened a door behind her. She then entered the door while gesturing the group to follow.


    Led by her, the group walked through a long corridor. Finally, they reached a door that the wolf-eareddy pushed open.


    As soon as she entered there, she kneeled on a knee and spoke respectfully to the people inside.


    "I have brought them here."


    "Well done, Illina." A male voice replied gently.


    Then, that male voice spoke to Bloed and the others.


    "Nice to meet you, my friends. My name is Javelin, and I''m the person in charge of the Beastmen''s Information Branch in Diadel City."


    ''A cat, huh.'' Bloed knitted his brows while looking at the man in front of them. It was an elegant-dressed catkin with brown hair and eyes. He emitted an aura of elegance, and his eyes glowed sharply.


    A panicky-looking girl was standing beside him. Bloed needed to look at her twice to recognize her race. A lizardkin.


    After observing carefully the people in front of him, Bloed spoke. "I don''t understand, why did you bring us here? Is this necessary just for a piece of information?"


    The catkin smiled apologetically. "I''m sorry about this. In fact, this is not necessary. Normally, we would give you the information one or two days after we received the payment without going through this. However, today''s circumstances are a bit special."


    "Care to exin?"


    "Mm You can say that we need to ask you three a favor."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. Something was definitively strange about this situation.


    Bloed was ready to reject them, but the catkin, Javelin, spoke first.


    "Please hear my proposal first before deciding if you want to reject us. If you help us, we will give you all the information you require free of charge, plus a juicy remuneration. Furthermore, we will add another very valuable reward if everything goes well."


    " Heh." Liu Ying snorted. "Something smells fishy. Why would you ask for help from people you just met? Are you sure you are not trying to scam us?"


    Javelin nodded. "I understand your doubts, but there is a reason behind this. Let me exin the mission first. You need to help us to rescue a very important person that was kidnapped. That person must be rescued as soon as possible, and nothing can happen to him. As for their kidnappers, they belonged to the same group that was killed a few days ago."


    "Mm?" Bloed raised an eyebrow while hiding a feeling of surprise. ''Could it be''


    "Mister Javelin, I don''t understand." Bloed looked at Javelin fixedly and spoke in a sharp tone. "You look like someone strong, A-Rank if I''m not mistaken. And we are just three C-Rank practitioners. I don''t understand how we can be of help."


    "You are right." The catkin nodded without caring for Bloed''s sharp re. "In normal circumstances, we would never have asked for your help. The thing is, after that important person was kidnapped, we follow some clues and discovered a group of vers rted to that kidnapping event. These people were staying in a certain building. Our n was to keep an eye on them and wait until they led us to the ce where that important person was being kept, but"


    Javelin''s eyes narrowed into slits.


    "Yesterday, your group killed these people and severed almost all our clues leading towards him."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 122: Wolf Girl, Cat Man (2)

    Chapter 122: Wolf Girl, Cat Man (2)


    "Yesterday, your group killed these people and severed almost all our clues leading towards him." The words of the catkin froze the atmosphere in the room.


    Bloed knitted his brows, however, he did not show any sign of panic or surprise in his gaze. It was as still as a calmke.


    Surprisingly, Regina and Liu Ying remainedpletely calm as well. It was as though Javelin was not talking about them just now.


    "That is a heavy usation, Mr. Javelin." Bloed replied calmly. "Tell me, why do you think it was us who killed these people?"


    Javelin was slightly surprised by the group reaction, but he did not show it in his face. Instead, he moved his gaze towards the wolf girl that led the group here.


    "Illina, do you care to exin the situation to our friends?"


    Illina nodded and took a step forward. "Due to our beast characteristics, we beastmen have slightly better senses than other races. And even between beastmen, we of the wolf tribe have an excellent sense of smell."


    An expression of realization appeared on Bloed''s face. "So it was that, huh."


    Illina continued. "Yesterday, after we learned that the vers were killed, I hurried towards the building to learn more about the situation. There, I managed to catch a whiff of the scent of three people that were not among the killed.


    "Unfortunately, that was far from enough to find them. You see, although my sense of smell as a wolfkin is several times better than a normal human, it''s far fromparable to a true wolf. It''s impossible for me to track the culprits just using their scent. In fact, unless they are less than ten meters away from me, I would be unable to recognize them."


    Bloed chuckled bitterly. After hearing until this point, he could only curse his back luck.


    "So, you recognized us as soon as you saw us, huh."


    Illina nodded. "You three have a rather peculiar smell. One of you smells like a demon." She said while looking at Liu Ying. Apparently, her disguise had failed to fool them.


    Illina then turned to Bloed. "You, mister, smell like a human, but your smell is mixed with a trace of metal." Bloed whistled without hiding his admiration. It was a rather urate description.


    Finally, the wolf girl looked at Regina. "And yours is the most peculiar one. You smell like a human, but for some reason, you felt fake."


    Regina''s eyes narrowed.


    "Thank you for your exnation, Illina." Javelin smiled at the wolf girl and indicated her to step back. Then, he looked at the group of three again. "So, what are you going to do? Are you going to ept our proposal?"


    Bloed fell silent and thought about the situation.


    To be honest, he was feeling rather depressed. He was sure he had not let any clue that could rte them to the people they killed in the crime scene. At least, nothing that could be found with this world''s level of criminalistic.


    The problem was that Bloed thought of this world as the same as the human confederation. He failed to consider this world''s uniqueness.


    In the human confederation, using one''s smell to identify a murderer was something only seen in television series.


    But here, there were people with a sense of smell good enough to really do such a thing.


    But in the end, the damage was already done. Now he could only try to fix everything as much as he can.


    Therefore, he could not show weakness right now.


    "Assuming that your words are right, are you not afraid that we will kill you after you told us all of this?"


    Instantly, the atmosphere in the room turned tense.


    Bloed could see the wolf girl crouching slightly, ready to attack, and the girl beside Javelin taking a step back in fear. Javelin, however, remainedpletely calm.


    "Well, as you said before, I''m confident in my strength. Besides, you don''t have any reason to attack us."


    "And why is that?"


    "Because we are not nning to reveal this to anyone."


    This time, Bloed was unable to hide his surprise.


    Javelin smiled. "It looks like you are misunderstanding something, Mr. customer. My intention is not to use this information to threaten you. As I said before, we want only to ask you for a favor. I hope you can help us to rescue the person that was kidnapped."


    "And if we choose not to?"


    "Then nothing will happen. We will sell you the information about Academy City and keep the fact that you killed the vers to ourselves. Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide you the information about the vers and the people behind them."


    Bloed nodded and observed the catkin in front of him carefully.


    This was the first time that Bloed dealt with a man like this. Someone that could understand other people so well.


    The fact that he chose to use a more amicable method instead of directly threatening Bloed shows that he only needed a short conversation to determine that such a method would be useless.


    Thus, he instead offered something that could tempt Bloed.


    And in fact, Bloed was very interested in the information about the people behind the vers.


    More urately, he was interested in the information rted to the Blight.


    However, Bloed was not so nave as to agree simply because the other party left a good impression on him. Before that, he needed to confirm what their true intentions were.


    Bloed narrowed his eyes and tapped the arm of the chair where he was seated twice.


    "Tell us more about the situation."


    Javelin nodded. "In truth, the people you killed were just one of the clues we had to find the person we are searching for. We have another clue, but unfortunately, we arecking in personnel. Thus, the help of strong and resourceful people like you is very needed. If you decide to help us, we will include you in the n and give you more information."


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. "However, we are just three C-Rank practitioners. I''m sure you don''tck people of our strength. Why did you need our help?"


    "Yes, you are just at the C-Rank. Three C-Rank practitioners that killed three B-Ranks and several C-Ranks easily while leaving almost no clue. To be honest, even if I myself try to do the same, I''m not confident in seeding." Javelin did not try to hide the admiration he was feeling towards Bloed''s group.


    Bloed fell silent. At this point, he couldn''t find a reason to reject him.


    He then looked at the two girls beside him. Both Regina and Liu Ying nodded, agreeing to leave the decision on his hands.


    After thinking for a while, Bloed finally sighed.


    "We will think about it first. I''ll give you our reply tomorrow night."


    Javelin nodded. "Very well, I''ll wait for your reply."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 123: Wolf Girl, Cat Man (3)

    Chapter 123: Wolf Girl, Cat Man (3)


    After Bloed and the girls left, Javelin, Illina, and the afraid-looking girl beside them stayed in the room.


    "Illina, what do you think about them?" Javelin asked.


    Illina wrinkled her brows. "To be honest, Captain, I''m not sure if what you are doing is alright. Can we trust them? We did not even know their true faces. What if they betray us during the mission?"


    "And why would they? They did not even know who the person we want to rescue is. They probably think we want to rescue some wealthy young master or someone like that. As for the fact that they came in disguise, well, we own this kind of business. I''m sure they will not be the first nor thest to bring a disguise when they came here."


    After saying that, Javelin sighed.


    "To be honest, I don''t want to do this either, but we are almost out of options. We need to rescue the prince before someone learns about his disappearance, and we must do it while raising as few waves as possible. If someone learns that a beastmen prince came here in secret, and then he was kidnapped, the rtionship between our two countries can turn bad. In the worst of the cases, it can initiate a war. Fortunately, the kidnappers don''t know he is a prince either, or things would be much moreplicated."


    Such a headache Javelin grabbed his head while he muttered in a bad mood.


    "S-Sorry." The afraid-looking girl beside them bowed with an agonizing expression. "T-This situation is my fault."


    "It is." Javelin nodded in a cold tone. "As the young prince''s attendant, your duty is to stop him from doing foolish things. But not only you did not stop him when he sneaked into a caravaning towards the Diadel Duchy, but you also followed him when he left the group because he wanted to sightsee the city! Miss Clear, you better pray that nothing bad happens to the prince, or your head will roll when you return to the kingdom! To be honest, I''m not sure how safe your head is now."


    Clear bit her lips with an ashamed look. "I know my mistakes. Don''t worry, I''ll ept my punishment when I return to the kingdom."


    Javelin snorted coldly. Then, he turned towards Illina.


    "Keep a look in the situation. Also, tell me if they return. But keep your guard up. We need to be ready in the case they try something funny."


    Several hundreds of meters away from Animal Paradise, Bloed finished retelling the conversation of just now.


    "So that is the situation. It looks like a prince was kidnapped and they need to rescue him."


    Liu Ying nodded. "I guess that exins why they are so desperate to get help. But I don''t understand. They can ask for help from Moonlight Glow, right?"


    Bloed shrugged. "I''m sure they have their circumstances. The important part is that, ording to their conversation of just now, they were sincere in their request towards us. Then, what do you think?"


    Liu Ying furrowed her brows briefly. "Bloed, is it possible that they knew you were spying on them? Maybe they had that conversation purposefully to lower our guard."


    "I don''t think so." Bloed shook his head. "I don''t want to brag, but the method I used to listen to their conversation is very different from anything used in this world. It''s not something that can be detected with magic, so unless they knew about it beforehand, it''s impossible to detect it."


    It''s true. In this magic-based world, the advanced technology of the human confederation was something never-before-seen. Moreover, the listening device Bloed installed on Javelin was incredibly small. Without knowing about it and without the proper tools or skills to find it, it''s almost impossible to detect.


    Moreover, Bloed''s eyes meant that he was pretty good to read the expressions of other people. And Javelin did not seem like the plotting kind.


    "Regina, what do you think? Do we agree or not?" Bloed asked.


    "Master, to be honest, I think this is an unnecessary risk. I understand why master is so interested in this, after all, it''s something rted to the Devourers, but master is still too weak to get involved in something of this level."


    Hearing that, Liu Ying frowned. "I don''t think so. If the Blight goes out of control, many innocent lives will die and perhaps the entire world will be destroyed. This is no something we can ignore simply because we are not strong enough."


    Regina frowned. "We are not ignoring it. We are just leaving the job for someone more qualified." Then, she looked at Bloed. "What is your decision, master? I will follow whatever you say."


    Bloed fell silent for a moment. He could understand Regina''s stance. In fact, he knew she was probably right, and in other circumstances, he probably would have followed her suggestion.


    The problem was that this time''s situation was rted to the Devourers.


    And even ignoring the danger to the world the devourers represented, Bloed had other reasons to not ignore them.


    Bloed could not simply ignore it if it was rted to the devourers.


    After a sigh, Bloed put on a determined expression.


    "We will do it. Tomorrow, we will meet again with Javelin."


    "Understood."


    "Okay."


    "But before that." Bloed continued. "We need to take care of some things."


    "Huh?" Liu Ying was confused.


    Bloed smiled mysteriously. "Don''t worry, tomorrow you will understand."


    The next day, Bloed and the girls departed towards ''Animal Paradise'' again.


    Before that, though, the group took care of several things.


    They rented a house and left the inn they had been staying in. Now that they were nning to stay in the city for several days more, it was better to get a more private ce.


    Once that was done, Bloed spent the rest of the day in hisboratory.


    Only when it was almost time to depart, Bloed exited it while holding two vials on his hands.


    "Drink it." He told Liu Ying.


    "Huh? O-Okay."


    Liu Ying drank the vial confused, but even after drinking it, she did not notice its effects.


    Curious, she was about to ask Bloed, but Bloed just smiled mysteriously and drank the other vial.


    Next, the group put on their disguises and departed towards ''Animal Paradise'' again.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 124: The Plan

    Chapter 124: The n


    Bloed and the girls went to ''Animal Paradise'' again.


    But when they arrived there, a problem surged.


    "Who are you!?" Illina, the wolf girl, growled threateningly to the group when she saw them.


    Liu Ying was startled. But in the next second, her face morphed into a scowl.


    "Is this your way to greet your allies? If you are going to behave like this, then we better leave."


    Illina snorted. "Who do you think you are fooling? Even if you look the same, you can''t fool my nose! Tell me who are you!? What did you do to them!?"


    Liu Ying was startled. But one secondter, she understood the situation.


    Turning around, she looked at Bloed and found him smiling. Instantly, her suspicions were confirmed.


    "You So that was that potion''s use."


    "Well, I don''t like to repeat my mistakes. Besides, it was pretty easy. I just changed the chemicalposition of our sweat temporarily so the scent produced when bacteria dpose it is different than normal."


    Liu Ying did not know what to say. It was the first time she heard that body smell could be changed.


    Unfortunately, this method was not very useful in Regina. Regina was not human, but a Valkyrie. Sweat was something she did not need to worry about.


    But Regina had other ways to go around it. She simply created as an invisibleyer of energy around her skin to block her body smell from spreading out. Like this, she did not have to worry about being tracked.


    That was Bloed countermeasure for the beastmen''s scent tracking.


    Now that he confirmed it worked, Bloed would make sure that a situation like yesterday where they were discovered through their scent wasn''t repeated.


    Bloed and the others took a while to clear the misunderstanding with Illina. In the end, although Illina was a bit disbelieving of the fact that they managed to alter their body smell, she did not have more options to believe them.


    Thus, they were once more brought to Javelin.


    "You are here. Sorry for themotion of before."


    Bloed shook his head. "Dont worry. It was partially our fault after all."


    Javelin did not insist on the topic. Instead, he went straight to today''s main issue.


    "I assume that you are agreeing with our request now that you are here, right?"


    Bloed nodded. "In exchange, we want all the information you have about Academy City and the vers. Also, you promised a separate reward before, so I''m looking towards that."


    "Don''t worry. If you do a good job, I don''t mind being generous."


    Javelin then invited Bloed and the girls to sit and started his exnation.


    "The name of the target is Bernard, a recognized merchant in the city. Through some sources, we know he is the person behind the vers. He pays them a sizeable amount of money for the ves captured and then sells them in illegals auctions to the best bidder.


    "Unfortunately, Bernard is more of a behind-scenes boss. He never interacts directly with the ves and never appears in the ce of the auction. In fact, these auctions have been cracked several times by the city lord''s men, but they have never found evidence that can incriminate Bernard."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. "How hard is to catch him?"


    "That is a problem." Javelin said. "Bernard is very rich and with a wide range of connections, and he is also very wary. He is always apanied by several bodyguards, one of them an A-Rank practitioner. In other words, attacking him directly is not a good idea."


    Bloed frowned. An A-Rank practitioner. He didn''t want to fight someone like that again anytime soon.


    Javelin noticed Bloed expression and smiled. "Don''t worry, we are not nning to face him either. An A-Rank practitioner is too much of a variable, so unless we are 100% certain that we can kill him, it''s better not to provoke him."


    Bloed nodded. "Then, what is the n?"


    "As I told you, our goal is to rescue the person that was kidnapped, not to kill Bernard. At the start, we tried to keep an eye in Bernard until he led us to the ce where our person is kidnapped. But as I told you, neither Bernard nor his direct subordinates are directly involved in the kidnappings. He is only responsible for moving the money.


    "Thus, we hit a deadlock. Fortunately, one of my men managed to get a valuable piece of information recently."


    Javelin then narrowed his eyes and received a document from the lizardkin girl beside him. "In two nights, he will meet with several important and secretive people. We don''t know their identities, but we think they are directly rted to the kidnappings."


    Liu Ying frowned. "Do you n to spy on their meeting?"


    Javelin nodded. "We want to identify his partners and see if we can use them as a lead to reach the ce where the people they catch are kept. But"


    Javelin showed them the document he received before.


    "The problem is, we can''t find a way to infiltrate the ce where they will have the meeting."


    Bloed read the document. It was about an establishment in the city called ''Auspicious Night''.


    Auspicious Night was a very famous and high-ss night club. It was a ce where important people gathered to discuss business and secret meetings.


    Your identity, who did you meet with, what were you speaking about, everything was kept a secret.


    The people working in this ce were strictly selected. Every one of them was incredibly loyal, and in fact, ''Auspicious Night'' boosted a reputation of more than ten years without any leaked secret.


    It''s said that there are several A-Ranks guarding the ce in case of any unexpected situation.


    Thus, infiltrating ''Auspicious Night'' was almost impossible.


    "We thought about tailing each person that enters Auspicious Night that night, but Auspicious Night receives around one hundred customers every night, thus it''s virtually impossible to tail every one of them. if we have more time we would have considered that option, but to be honest, we are short of time." Javelin said with a helpless expression.


    "Then, you only need a way to infiltrate inside their private gathering, right?" Bloed asked.


    Javelin nodded. "Do you have an idea?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before nodding. "I have a way. You probably already noticed it, but our current faces and hair color are fake. Moreover, if I want, I can alter my face to copy anyone else easily." He would need to modify the appearance-changing device slightly, but Bloed could do that in a few hours.


    Javelin was startled. "Is that true?"


    "There is no reason to lie to you." Bloed said calmly. "Thus, if we manage to identify who are the people in charge of serving in Bernard''s meeting, we can find people with simr builds to rece them. We only need to take the originals out of the picture and rece them."


    Javelin put on a serious expression and considered Bloed''s words. After thinking for a few seconds, he nodded.


    "If your words are right, then that is doable. At least, I think we have a considerable chance of sess."


    Bloed nodded. "Perfect. If we manage to enter the room of the meeting, then I have a method to hear their conversation even after we leave."


    Javelin showed a surprised expression. "Is that method safe? Bernard is a very wary person. I''m sure he will have someone casting detecting magic constantly to find anything unusual."


    Bloed smiled. He had already taken that into ount. That was the reason he did not suggest turning invisible to hear their conversation.


    Besides, an A-Rank practitioner had very sharp senses. Maybe he would detect Bloed if he tried to approach even when invisible.


    But his listening devices were different. At least, they were not something that could be detected with the current systems of magic.


    "Don''t worry, I''m confident they will not find anything."


    When Javelin heard that answer, his lips curved into a wide smile.


    "It looks like I was right when I suggested cooperating with you."


    Thus, the n for that day was agreed upon.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 125: Auspicious Night (1)

    Chapter 125: Auspicious Night (1)


    Two nightster.


    A slightly fat man arrived at Auspicious Night apanied by three bodyguards. Of the three bodyguards, one emitted a very powerful pressure, equivalent to the A-Rank, while the other two were a line weaker, at the peak of B-Rank.


    When this group arrived, they were greeted respectfully by a gorgeous-looking woman.


    "Mr. Bernard, wee to our humble ce."


    "Hehe, Miss Ak is as beautiful as always. Are you not interested in apanying me for a night?" Bernard, the slightly fat man, spoke with a frivolous tone.


    The gorgeous-looking woman, however, replied without changing her smile. "I''m sorry, Mr. Bernard, but I''ll be busy tonight, so I can''t apany you."


    "Such a shame, I would have liked to know Miss Ak better." Bernard said without hiding his lustful thoughts. "Anyway, is my room ready?"


    "Of course. It has been prepared with the highest service we can offer. Why don''t you follow thisdy there, Mr. Bernard?" Ak said while pointing at the girl behind her.


    "Very well." Nodded Bernard. "Also, you know what to do when the otherse, right? I don''t think I need to mention it again, but nobody can know about the talk inside."


    The gorgeous woman smiled. "What are you worried about, Mr. Bernard? You know that nobody is better than us to keep the privacy of our customers."


    "I hope so." After saying that, Bernard and his men followed the beautifuldy that led them to their private room.


    When they were gone, Ak''s smiling expression turned into a frown.


    "Increase the security of the surroundings. I have a feeling that something troublesome will happen tonight."


    "Mistress?"


    "Just follow my orders." Ak said and went inside Auspicious Night.


    As soon as she entered, she saw another troublesome person on the first floor of the establishment.


    Ak quickly changed his frown into a smile and greeted him. "Mr. Javelin, it has been a while since thest time I saw you here."


    The brown-haired catkin in front of her smiled. "Well, I was feeling bored tonight, so I thought it was a good idea to visit this ce."


    Ak nodded. "I''m happy that you thought about us. Mr. Javelin, We in Auspicious Night treat our customers as our gods, more if the customer is someone so respectable like you. So, if you need anything, don''t hesitate to tell us."


    "Thank you, but I''m alright. If I need something, I''ll make sure to let you know."


    "I understand." Ak curtsied with a smile before bidding him farewell and leaving.


    In her mind, however, she was wondering what this two-faced man was nning and if she should keep an eye on him.


    Once Ak was gone, Javelin put on a serious expression.


    "How is it going?" He asked softly.


    Almost instantly, an answer came from an earpiece in his ear. [It''s done. Bernard was slightly suspicious when I knocked on him, but he was unable to detect the tracker I put on his clothes.]


    Javelin did not try to hide his admiration. "Mr. One, you have a lot of useful artifacts. I''m curious about how you got them."


    [I made them myself.] Bloed replied indifferently. By the way, One was the name he gave to Javelin.


    Javelin knew it was a fake name, but he did not mention it. He could understand Bloed''s desire to keep his identity a secret.


    By the way, Regina and Liu Ying''s names were Two and Three respectively.


    [By the way, Mr. Javelin.] Bloed asked. [Do we truly need to take this risk? The tracker I put on Bernard''s clothes is enough to hear the conversation inside.]


    "Yes, but we need to see the people inside, just in case. Only like that can we increase the probability of finding the person we are searching for."


    "Very well, I understand," Bloed said and stopped talking. Anyway, their n since the start was to rece the servants in charge of Bernard''s room and use their identity to enter the room where the meeting was being realized.


    Now, they only had to wait until to know the identities of the servants they were going to rece.


    And soon, they got that information.


    [They appeared. A young man and a youngdy.] Another voice sounded in Javelin''s ear. [Around sixteen to eighteen years old.]


    "How are their builds?" Javelin asked.


    [The young man''s build is very simr to Mr. One. But there is a problem with the youngdy.]


    "What is it?"


    [Her build is slightly different from Illina.]


    Javelin frowned.


    Although it was not strictly necessary for Illina to be the one that enters the room, it was better that way. Illina''s sense of smell would allow them a greater range of strategies.


    After a few seconds of hesitation, Javelin gritted his teeth. "It doesn''t matter. We only need to be a bit more careful and not to interact with the people of Auspicious Night. As for Bernard and the people with him, I doubt they can notice the slight difference in a servant they just met. Now, get ready to start the operation."


    [Understood.]


    "Illina, Mr. One, get ready. We will act when the servants left the first floor."


    Bloed nodded from a corner of the first floor and took a deep breath.


    The following part was the most difficult of the n.


    They must knock the servants unconscious and rece them as quickly as possible while avoiding to be discovered by the people of Auspicious Night.


    The problem was that they could not use magic or mana. The slight use of mana could alert the people of Auspicious Night and warn them that something was wrong.


    Bloed followed the indicationsing from his earpiece and moved to the arranged location. Soon, he saw the two servants they were going to rece.


    The meeting rooms of Auspicious Night were located upstairs. Bloed waited until the servants started to walk up the stairs, then, he made his move.


    Quickly, he turned invisible and chased after the servants.


    Two C-Rank guards were keeping watch in the entrance of the stairs, stopping anyone unauthorized from going up, but Bloed made use of his invisibility and stealthy movements to pass between them without being detected.


    Then, he followed the servants.


    When the servants arrived at a ce out of the sight of other people, Bloed acted.


    Walking softly behind them, he chopped to the back of their necks. Easily, the two cultivationless servants were knocked out instantly without making a sound. Bloed held their bodies carefully and stopped them from falling in fear of rming someone with the noise.


    Then, Bloed turned visible and injected a sleeping drug in their bodies. With this, they would not wake up until five hourster.


    When Bloed finished injecting the drugs, someone materialized beside him.


    "Good work. You are pretty good at this."


    Bloed shot a nce at the silver-haired wolf girl and nodded. "Hurry up. If we take too long it will arouse suspicion."


    Illina smirked. She then touched the jewel on her neck and faced it to the girl servant. One secondter, a dim light was emitted from the jewel and scanned the servant''s face.


    Illina put then put the jewel on her neck and pressed the jewel again. In seconds, her face turned identical to the face of the girl on the ground. Even the hairstyle had been imitated by the illusion.


    Then, she took off the dress she was wearing. Below it, there was a uniform identical to the servants of Auspicious Night.


    Besides a slight difference in the build, Illina had turned into an exact copy of the servant.


    When she looked beside him, Bloed had also finished his preparations, and his face had turned into the face of the other servant.


    When they finished changing, a slight ripple appeared beside them and Regina appeared.


    Regina grabbed the two unconscious servants and the clothes Bloed and Illina took off before looking at Bloed. "Be careful." She said before turning invisible with the two servants on her arms.


    "Don''t worry." Bloed replied softly and tidied his clothes. He then looked at Illina and nodded.


    "Shall we go?"


    "After you."


    ...


    Double chapter tomorrow~


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 126: Auspicious Night (2)

    Chapter 126: Auspicious Night (2)


    Auspicious Night was divided into two parts. The first one was the first floor, a nightclub-like ce, where anyone with enough money and status could enter. Javelin had used his connections to bring Bloed and the others here.


    The second part was the upper floors, where the private rooms for important dinner and meetings were located.


    There were a total of four upper floors. The higher the floor, the more luxurious the private room, the stricter the security, and the higher the cost.


    In terms of safety, the lower floors had D-Ranks and one or two C-Ranks keeping watch. The higher floors, on the other hand, had C-Rank practitioners guarding the stairs, and C-Ranks and B-Ranks stationed on each floor.


    Bloed could swear he felt the presence of an A-Rank on the fifth floor.


    The fact that an establishment like this had an A-Rank working as a guard was pretty astonishing to Bloed.


    Bloed looked at Illina beside him. he could feel that the wolf girl was a bit nervous, and her breathing was uneven.


    Control your breathing." Bloed whispered softly. "You look nervous."


    Illina looked at Bloed startled before nodding. "I understand. Don''t worry."


    Bloed furrowed his brows, but there was nothing he could do. He could only hope that this girl doesn''t blow their disguisester.


    Fortunately, Illina''s breathing had turned steady when they arrived at Bernard''s room.


    "I will be the one talking, okay?" Without waiting for Illina''s answer, Bloed knocked on the door.


    "Come in." A voice said from the inside.


    Bloed pushed the door open and entered the room. Then, he moved his gaze through the people inside.


    It was just a brief nce, though, so nobody noticed anything strange.


    "Sirs, we brought the food you asked for." Bloed said.


    "Why did you take so long?" Bernard asked displeased. "It has been almost ten minutes!"


    "I''m sorry sir, we prepared it as quickly as possible." Bloed apologized respectfully.


    Seeing that, Bernard clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.


    "Anyway, hurry up, do your job, and leave."


    Bloed nodded. He and Illina then started to put the food on the table.


    Bloed was a bit nervous during this part. He did not have knowledge about the etiquette used to serve the food, so he was afraid of the people inside noticing something strange. Fortunately, Illina seemed knowledgeable about it, so Bloed just followed her lead.


    At the same time, he examined the people inside the room again.


    There were six masked people seated around the table, each one apanied by several guards behind them. Bloed only recognized one of them, Bernard. As for the others, he did not know who they were.


    Despite it, Bloed tried to remember as many of their features as possible. Perhaps, he could use these features to identify themter.


    When Bloed and Illina finished serving the dishes, they took a step back respectfully.


    "We are done, do you need anything else, dear sirs?" Bloed asked.


    Bernard waved his hand exasperatedly. "Just go. We will call you again if we need anything."


    Bloed nodded and turned around to leave with Illina.


    But at that moment


    "Wait."


    One of the bodyguards standing behind a man spoke.


    Bloed cursed inwardly while making his best to not show any sign of nervousness.


    "Yes, sis? How can we be of help?"


    The bodyguard smiled and looked at Illina. "It''s nothing. I''m just curious about the beautiful miss here. Miss, do you want to have a drink with meter?"


    Illina was startled but she quickly recovered herposure and replied with an apologetic look.


    "I''m sorry, sir. I must consult it with my boss first."


    "Is it so? I see."


    One of the men in the table snorted at that moment. "Jaden, control your men. Do you think this is the ce to flirt?"


    "Stop fussing, old man. This was nothing more than an innocent joke." The one called Jaden said. He then smiled at Bloed and Illina. "I''m sorry for my subordinate''s conduct. Don''t worry, you can go."


    Illina smiled politely. "It''s nothing." Then, she and Bloed left the room.


    Once outside, Bloed let out a sigh of relief while looking at Illina in praise for her quick witness.


    Then, the pair left the ce without mentioning a word.


    From this moment, they were in a race against time. The longer they took to leave this ce, and the more people they came into contact with, the greater the probability of they being discovered.


    They hurriedly walked towards a bathroom, took off their servant clothes, and exchanged them for the set of clothes below, identical to the ones they were using when they arrived at Auspicious Night.


    Then, the pair activated the invisibility device and returned to the first floor.


    Fortunately, it seemed that nobody noticed their absence or anything wrong with them.


    Once there, they made eye contact with Javelin and nodded to indicate that everything was alright. Then, the pair left Auspicious Night.


    Less than five minutes after that, they arrived at the meeting ce they had orded before.


    "Master."


    "Bloed.


    Regina and Liu Ying walked towards Bloed with concerned expressions. When they made sure he was alright, they sighed in relief.


    But before Bloed could give them a recount of the situation, Javelin arrived.


    "Beautifully done, guys. The n went without a hitch."


    "Unfortunately, everybody was wearing a mask, so I was unable to see their faces." Bloed said.


    "You don''t need to worry about that, Mr. One." Javelin smiled. "Illina, how is it? Do you find him?"


    Illina curved her lips up. "I think so. One of the people inside carried the smell of several human and beastmen children, plus a slight scent of blood and stagnation. If I''m not wrong, he is someone that deals with ves constantly, that is our target."


    "Do you think you can follow his scent?"


    Illina nodded. "When I was inside, I blew a very special pheromone on him. It''s undetectable for the human nose, but for me, it''s like a lighthouse in the dark. I can follow such a scent from five hundred meters away."


    "Perfect." Javelin nodded. "We already have a target. However, I''m interested in their conversation, maybe we can learn more about our enemy through that. Mr. One, is the thing you said before ready?"


    Bloed nodded and took out a small device from his pocket, putting it on a table.


    This device had been recording the conversation inside Bernard''s private room.

 Chapter 127: A Plot in Diadel City

    Chapter 127: A Plot in Diadel City


    After Bloed and Illina left the meeting room, the people in the room kept silent for a brief moment.


    Then, under that serious and heavy atmosphere, one of them spoke.


    It was the one called Jaden.


    "Then, can any of you exin what happened with the group that was killed a few days ago?" Jaden said and looked at Bernard as though waiting for an exnation.


    Bernard scoffed. "Why are you looking at me? I don''t have any idea about what happened."


    "Yeah? But they were your men. If you don''t know, who is supposed to know?" Jaden said with an ice-cold smile.


    Bernard furrowed his brows, but before he could speak, someone else interrupted.


    "Calm down, guys. This is not the time to fight between us."


    It was one of the masked people seated around the table.


    However, Jaden did not relent under his intervention. "Do you expect that I calm down? We are in a critical part of the operation, and an incident such as this happens. Moreover, that idiot even used the creature! What is one of the attackers suspects something after seeing it?"


    Bernard grunted. "You people of the church of ughter are always so paranoid. How many people in this world can identify that creature? Plus, the city lord took care of the aftermath quickly. Don''t worry, I''m confident that the n has not been leaked."


    "I would not be so sure about that, Bernard." Another masked person said. "Although my men took care of the situation quickly, it raised the suspicions of several parties. I received a visit from Moonlight Glow recently demanding all the information about this case. They probably suspect something. Plus, we have not identified the attackers yet."


    At that moment, an aged voice spoke with a sigh.


    "Things are much more troublesome."


    The voice from before wrinkled his brows. "What do you mean, archbishop?"


    " There is a rumor spreading in the churches of the city that this incident is rted to the Blight."


    *nk!*


    A cup fell to the ground.


    "Impossible!"


    "Who leaked it!?"


    "That is outrageous! Nobody should be able to identify the creature in its current form!"


    "It''s true." The one called archbishop said in a serious tone. "Although they have not confirmed it, several churches are already suspicious and the way the city lord managed the situation did not help. I don''t think I need to say this, but my church can''t afford to be associated with the Blight. Thus, if you don''t find a way out of this situation soon, we will pull back."


    "You hypocritical bastard! Stop making yourself look righteous after being involved in this shit!" Jadenughed mockingly. However, the archbishop remained indifferent. "Involved? No no, our church has not participated in anything yet. To be honest, I loathe coborating with people like you."


    Thement of the archbishop froze the atmosphere in the room.


    Bernard coughed awkwardly and tried to shift the topic.


    "Anyway, we will have to be more careful after today and hurry up with the n. Bernard then stared at one of the two people that had not spoken yet. "Kevin, how are the sacrifices doing?"


    "We are almost ready, master." The one called Kevin replied respectfully. "Although there have been some small issues, we are confident we will be ready for the next week."


    "Sacrifices, huh. That is a nice way to call them." Jaden smirked and looked at one of the masked men. "But who would have thought that the righteous lord of Diadel Duchy would fall so low as to plot against his own people."


    "Don''t try to make me feel bad, dog of the gods. As the Dieadel''s lord, I always have my people as the priority."


    "Your people? Hahahaha! Such a funny joke! Is killing your people for your personal benefice the best for them!?"


    The city lord just nced at him indifferently. "When I became the lord of this duchy, this ce waspletely ruined. People died from hunger, children were sold as ves, and bandits raided the towns and cities recklessly. But now, this duchy is one of the most prosperous ces on the continent. It was me that achieved all of this. However, there is much more I need to do, and for that, this is something necessary."


    Jaden smirked condescendingly. "That is the reason I hate sanctimonious bastards like you. The greater good, hahaha, do you think the lives lost for your ''greater good'' would think the same as you?


    "I''m different, though. What is wrong with enjoying death and ughter!? Even if I kill, I don''t go around looking for excuses!"


    "Crazy bastard." One of the masked men said.


    Jaden shrugged and swallowed a cup of wine messily. Many of the masked people in the room frowned when they saw that.


    Finally, Bernard sighed and looked at the only person in the table that had not spoken until now.


    "Envoy, what do you think?"


    Thest masked man shook his head in disinterest. "I don''t care about your ns or plots. My job is just to supply you with the tools, how you use them is your problem."


    The other people looked at each other with wariness in their eyes


    and the city lord opened his mouth.


    " To be honest, Mr. Envoy, you are the person I trust the least in this room. Your people have never been trustworthy."


    The envoy shrugged, toozy to even answer.


    At that moment, someone knocked on the door.


    The people in the room frowned before signaling a bodyguard to open the door. At the same time, every person in the room tensed up ready to fight.


    But when they saw a gorgeous woman behind the door, their expressions rxed.


    "Miss Ak, what does bring someone like you here?" Bernard asked curiously.


    The gorgeous woman giggled softly and narrowed her eyes. "Nothing, dear customers. I just wanted to know if you are satisfied with our service. After all, not every day we receive so many important customers."


    "Hahahaha, satisfied, very satisfied." Jaden grinned while ogling to the beauty in front of him. "The food and the wine are the best I have tasted in a while. Moreover, this ce has such a beauty like you. Just being able to get to know such a fairy like miss Ak is worth the price."


    Ak frowned briefly, but it was quickly hidden by her usual smiling expression. "Is it so? I''m happy then. Unfortunately, I have to check the other customers, so I can''t spend more time here. Enjoy the night."


    Upon saying that, Ak left.


    And instantly, her expression turned grave.


    "Fortunately, they did not notice anything."


    "Madam, what should we do?" A strong-looking man asked the gorgeous beauty. "I''m sure the people behind this were targeting that room. Should we tell them about it?"


    Ak shook her head. "There is no need. Just find the missing servants and forget everything."


    "Madam?"


    "Don''t you understand, Zaroth? I don''t know these people target, or what are these bigshots nning, but my instincts are screaming it''s not something we can get involved in."


    "Then?"


    "Find the missing servants. If they are alright, we will forget about what happened today."


    One hourter, the missing servants were found sleeping in a warehouse.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 128: A Plot in Diadel City

    Chapter 128: A Plot in Diadel City


    A heavy silence filled the ce where Bloed and the others were gathered.


    After a few seconds, Javelin heaved a sigh and wrinkled his brows. "This is very troublesome."


    "Captain, what is the meaning of this? They can''t be serious, right?" Illina, the wolf girl, spoke in an anxious tone.


    "Calm down, Illina." Javelin tried to keep his calm even in this situation. "Now is not the time to panic." He then stared at Bloed''s group and narrowed his eyes.


    "Mr. One, did you know anything about this?"


    Bloed shook his head. "Although I know more than you, I was not aware it was such a serious situation."


    Bloed and Javelin''s reactions were normal. After all, the information they got eavesdropping that conversation was enough to blow up the mind of a normal person.


    Firstly, there was an ominous n in course, and this n involved sacrificing many lives.


    Second, the people that have been kidnapped recently will be used as sacrifices. That includes the person Javelin and his group want to rescue.


    Third, for some reason, the Blight was rted to whatever was happening.


    Andst, there were at least five powerful parties involved in this.


    Three of these parties were easy to identify. One was Bernard and the vers, another the lord of Diadel Duchy, and thest was the Church of ughter.


    As for the other two, the group knew only that one was the archbishop of a church, and the other was a mysterious man.


    "Damn, things are much more troublesome than we expected This has gone beyond our capabilities." Javelin shook his head.


    Bloed''s expression was not much better. In fact, he was regretting the fact that he gave information about the Blight to the churches.


    Back then, his intention was to get the churches involved and use them to put a stop to whatever the people behind the Blight were nning.


    But he never expected that even a church was involved in this n.


    "We will have to ask for help." Javelin said in resignation.


    Illina''s expression changed. But captain, if someone learns about this, the punishment we will receive...!"


    "No, Illina. It''s already out of our control." Javelin''s face was unusually grave. "We are facing the ruler of this territory, the church of ughter, and several other organizations nning a mass-scale sacrifice. Plus, I have heard about Jaden before. He is one of the higher-ups of the church of ughter, a demigod that enjoys killing people indiscriminately. Tell me, Illina. How are we going to face such a group?"


    Illina paled and fell silent.


    Javelin sighed and looked at Bloed. "Mr. One, thank you very much for your help. You cane tomorrow to get the things I promised you."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. "I thought our deal was to help you to rescue someone."


    Javelin smiled bitterly. "I''m not even sure if we can rescue him. I''ll go to talk with Moonlight Glow, they will be able to help us. Don''t worry, I''ll tell you if we need your help. Of course, with a suitable reward."


    Bloed nodded. Moonlight Glow was perhaps the only safe ce to ask for help.


    Although Moonlight Glow was a church in name, its structure was not religious-like. They did not have a pope or archbishops; just a saintess and an administrativemittee.


    Therefore, the archbishop in the meeting could not belong to Moonlight Glow. Plus, the city lord said that Moonlight Glow had been investigating the case, reinforcing the idea that they were not rted to this.


    Bloed nodded. "Very well." He then nodded at Regina and Liu Ying before leaving.


    When Bloed''s group left, Javelin turned towards Illina.


    "Illina, follow the person in charge of the ves. Try to get the location of the prince."


    "What about you, captain?"


    " I''ll go to Moonlight Glow. I need to talk with her personally and convince her to interfere. Illina, if the prince dies here, none of us will be able to keep our heads."


    Illina gulped nervously and nodded.


    The current situation was as grave as it could be.


    A prince entered a neighboring state without permission, moreover, he was kidnapped when he was in it.


    The political and diplomatic implications of something like that were enough to start a war!


    Now, Illina could only hope that the prince is rescued safely.


    "Right, have you been able to find Mr. One''s true identity?"


    Illina shook her head. "They are very careful and wary. Even when they leave, they never leave traces of their identities behind."


    Javelin frowned. "They are not simple, and I''m afraid they know more than they are showing."


    "Captain?"


    " Let''s ignore the situation with the Blight for now." Javelin said. "I don''t know how the artifacts they use work, but the fact they can''t be detected by magic is frightening, besides" Javelin thought about the means Bloed used to eavesdrop the conversation between Bernard and the others.


    For an instant, he wondered if Bloed had done the same to them.


    In the end, he could only swallow his doubts and shake his head.


    "I have the feeling they know more about our situation that we told them. I only hope they are not our enemies, otherwise, this situation will be even worse than now."


    This was the first time in a long time that Javelin felt so helpless.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 129: More Beautiful Than Her

    Chapter 129: More Beautiful Than Her


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying returned to their residence in a heavy silence.


    The three of them had a lot to think about after hearing the conversation in the private room. Mostly Bloed and Liu Ying, though. Regina did not care as much as the other two.


    When they reached the ce where they were staying, Regina looked at Bloed.


    "Master, are you alright?" Regina asked concerned.


    Bloed forced a smile out. "I''m alright. I''m just thinking about the situation."


    Regina hesitated slightly before sighing. "Master, I don''t think she would have liked to see you put yourself in danger due to this."


    Bloed was startled before nodding with a wry smile. "You are probably right. It''s just my own stubbornness."


    " I only hope you can escape from her shadow someday, master. There are people waiting for you. I''m waiting for you."


    Bloed smiled softly. "Don''t worry, I won''t make you wait for long."


    A soft curvature appeared on Regina''s lips. "I hope so. Then, I''ll go to prepare dinner."


    Bloed nodded. He thought about going to work in hisboratory for a while to clear his mind, but he was stopped by Liu Ying.


    "Bloed, can youe with me?"


    "Hmm? Where to?"


    Liu Ying smiled and pulled Bloed''s hand, bringing him to the courtyard.


    "Come, sit." Liu Ying sat down in the grass and patted the ce beside her.


    Bloed nodded confused and sat down.


    Liu Ying smiled. She then gazed at the night sky and heaved a long sigh.


    " Bloed, when I lost my family, I did not know what to do. Every night, I remembered the expressions of despair and hatred in my siblings and parents'' faces, I remembered my uncle''s determination and the expression of my grandpa after seeing the family fall.


    "In fact, it still happens. Many times, I wake up in the middle of the night due to nightmares. It''s as though they are asking me to avenge them Every day, I think about how I''m going to kill the people that betrayed us." Liu Ying chuckled bitterly.


    "It must be hard. Bloed said.


    "It is." Liu Ying replied. "But it''s much better now than before. Do you know, Bloed? Since the day I met you and Regina, the nightmares have be less and less. Of course, I still dream of the day I can kill those traitors with my own hands."


    Bloed could feel the hatred and anger in Liu Ying''s voice.


    "Revenge huh" Bloed sighed and fell deep in thought.


    "... Bloed, I feel that same hatred in you." Liu Ying suddenly said.


    Bloed was stunned.


    "What do you mean?"


    "The first time, I thought it was my imagination." Liu Ying said while looking at the sky. "But I soon realized it was not. Although you hide it very well, I can see it in your eyes."


    Liu Ying then stared at Bloed with a smile. Bloed could see his silhouette being reflected in her amber eyes.


    "The Blight is dangerous, I know it. I also understand it must absolutely be destroyed. But I feel the reason you are obsessed with it is different. It goes beyond a feeling of duty, and seems more like hatred."


    Bloed fell silent. He could not deny those words.


    Indeed, he was obsessed with the Devourers.


    Just like Liu Ying said, he hated them.


    Maybe even more than his own parents.


    After hesitating for a moment, Bloed sighed.


    "Before I was called Bloed, I had another name. Well, that part is not important. The important part is that one day, I lost everything. My family, my name, my friends. Everything was taken from me and I was thrown into the exilednds." Bloed said in a reminiscent tone. "The one that rescued me from that darkness was my mother."


    Liu Ying was startled.


    She had heard Bloed mention his mother several times, but this was the first time she heard about this.


    "Then, your mother"


    "Yes, Cami is actually my adoptive mother."


    "She was a great woman." Bloed chuckled softly. "She taught me everything and gave me everything I have today. My mother made me the man I''m, and I I loved her."


    Seeing Liu Ying''s confused reaction, Bloed chuckled again.


    "It was not familiar love. It was different. She was my first love."


    Liu Ying was stunned. No Regina?


    Before she could ask, Bloed continued talking.


    "It was just a one-sided love, to be honest. Although I loved her, Cami always thought of me as her son. I did not care, though. For me, it was enough if I had her in my life." Bloed said without hiding his smile. "But"


    Suddenly, Bloed''s expression clouded.


    "One day, she fell ill."


    "... So that was the reason she died."


    "Yeah, but She did not have to die."


    "Huh?"


    Bloed stared at the sky in a daze. "Although it was not one-hundred percent certain, there was a way to keep her alive. A way to keep her alive long enough to find a cure. I would have to go through many difficulties, but at least, there was hope... Unfortunately... Mother refused."


    "Refused!?" Liu Ying was astonished.


    Bloed nodded. "That day, I learned that although Cami was still alive, her heart was already dead."


    " Is that rted to the Blight?"


    "It is." Bloed expression was indifferent, but his heart was twisted in pain. "Mother lost everything due to the Devourers. Her family, her daughter, her husband Even her world was lost. To her, death was a kind of release.


    "Thus, even when there was a way to keep her alive, she still chose death."


    "That is sad."


    "Now you understand, right?" Bloed smiled wryly. "The Devourers were the enemy of my mother. It''s true they are dangerous, and it''s true they can destroy the world, but the true reason I''m obsessed with them is that I carry my mother''s hatred with me." Bloed''s face was full of determination. "She gave me everything, so if I have the opportunity to kill it, I will not let it pass."


    Liu Ying fell silent.


    Through this conversation, she seemed to understand the human being called Bloed a bit more.


    Moreover, she understood how huge the ce Cami Norman upied in his heart was.


    It was such a huge ce that it seemed impossible to rece.


    But Liu Ying was not discouraged.


    "Thank you for telling me that."


    Bloed shrugged with a smile. "We are family. You told me about your situation, it''s fair to tell you about mine."


    Liu Ying''s lips curved up. She hugged her legs and stared at the sky happily.


    Then, she put her head on Bloed''s shoulder.


    "The Blight, huh. I wonder how strong the people behind it are."


    "Probably much stronger than us."


    "You are right, but I''m sure we will manage to surpass them one day." Liu Ying''s eyes were filled with conviction.


    Bloed smiled. "It''s great to be confident."


    Liu Ying shrugged. "Well, that kind of confidence is necessary if I want to avenge my family. Sigh, I should work harder. There are a lot of people I want to surpass."


    Liu Ying then looked at Bloed and smiled sweetly.


    "Hey Bloed, was your mother beautiful?"


    Bloed was startled before answering. "Very."


    "Is it so? But I think I''m more beautiful than her."


    So, look me closely. I''ll show you how great I am.


    In another part of the city.


    Javelin was bowing in front of a stern-looking cat woman.


    The woman stared at him with a hard-to-read expression. Finally, after almost one minute, she grunted.


    "Do you think I''m here to clean your messes?"


    "I''m sorry."


    "I don''t need your apology. If you would have told me about this earlier, things would not be soplicated!"


    " I''m prepared to ept my punishment."


    The stern-looking woman sneered. "You better. Very well, I will help you."


    Javelin sighed in relief. "Thank you, Madeline."


    "You don''t need to thank me. Since the moment the Blight was involved in it, it was not something we can ignore. Besides How can I not help my little brother?"


    Javelin smiled wryly.


    "I want all the information you have about the situation on my desk as soon as possible." Madeline said. "Let''s see which bastard is crazy enough to use the Blight."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 130: Issue of Identity

    Chapter 130: Issue of Identity


    The next day, Bloed and the girls went to Animal Paradise to get the information Javelin promised them.


    But when they arrived, they were received by a serious-looking Illina.


    "Mr. One, the captain wants to see you."


    Bloed was startled. "Did anything happen?"


    "Well, yeah." Illina nodded with a strange expression. She then put on a look of hesitation and apologized to Bloed. "Mr. One, don''t me our captain. Miss Madeline is a strange person, and for certain reasons, the captain can''t go against her."


    Bloed tilted his head. Madeline? Who was that?


    But soon, he received his answer.


    When he entered Javelin''s room, he saw a stern-looking woman staring at him while Javelin stood behind like a bullied subordinate.


    To be honest, Bloed thought it was funny that the usually elegant Javelin was like that.


    But at the same time, he understood that this woman was no simple.


    Otherwise, why would an A-Rank in charge of the information of a city like Javelin be so respectful of her?


    When Bloed''s group was examining the woman, the woman was also examining them.


    She was a bit surprised when she felt their cultivations. From the way Javelin spoke of them, she thought they would be stronger than this.


    But her doubts disappeared when she looked at Regina.


    Even although Regina''s aura seemed like a C-Rank practitioner too, Madeline''s beast instincts were screaming that she was very, very dangerous.


    ''What the hell!?'' Madeline tried hard not to show her shock in her expression. It had been a long while since she felt something like this.


    After staring at Regina for a few seconds more, Madeline moved her gaze towards Bloed again.


    "So, you are that Mr. One, huh."


    Bloed nodded. "Nice to meet you."


    Madeline observed Bloed briefly before chuckling. "My name is Madeline Sharpw. I''m the director in charge of the Diadel Branch of Moonlight glow. Nice to meet you too."


    Madeline was a beautiful woman. ck hair and brown eyes, with the particrs traits of a catkin, and a well-developed body.


    But contrary to her beautiful looks, she emitted a sharp and intimidating aura that pressured the people around her.


    Plus, her cultivation at the peak of A-Rank made her one of the strongest people in the city.


    "Mr. One, I''m curious about something." Madeline narrowed her eyes. "A few days ago, a received an anonymous letter informing me about a murder case being rted to the Blight.


    "Although I was suspicious about the letter, the Blight is a very sensitive topic, so I tried to investigate it. Unexpectedly, I meet with obstacle after obstacle during this investigation. It was as though the entire world was against me. Even after several days of investigations, I failed to find a clue.


    "But yesterday, Mr. Javelin asked me for help, and coincidentally, his request was rted to the Blight. Plus, he was working with the people directly responsible for the murders. You can imagine my surprise when I learned of it." Madeline''s eyes showed a dangerous glow.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows and looked at Javelin with a dissatisfied look. He was not happy with the fact that he revealed that information to a third party.


    Bloed now understood the meaning of Illina''s apology before.


    Javelin, on the other hand, had an apologizing and embarrassed look.


    Bloed sighed. "Miss Madeline, go straight to the point."


    Madeline nodded. "I''ll be blunt then. Mr. One, I need to know your true identity and the reason you knew about the Blight. You see, I interrogated the people that went to investigate the bodies before Diadel''s lord took control of the case, and none of them saw traces of the Blight.


    "Of course, I understand the reason you want to keep your identity hidden. However, I must be very careful with anything rted to the Blight. Thus, I need to confirm you are not dangerous."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. This conversation turned just like he expected.


    However, he was already prepared for this. Actually, Bloed had already discussed this kind of situation with the girls before.


    Nobody would coborate with a suspicious person in something as critical as the Blight. If Bloed wanted to cooperate with Moonlight Glow, revealing his identity was a must.


    Plus, there were more advantages than disadvantages to revealing his identity here. Just the fact he could forge a rtionship with Moonlight Glow was good for Bloed.


    "I understand." Bloed nodded calmly. He then deactivated the disguising device to reveal his true features.


    Liu Ying and Regina followed suit (although Liu Ying kept her hair color ck instead of showing her true red color.)


    When Javelin, Madeline, and the others saw the group''s true features, they were surprised.


    Mainly when they saw Bloed''s hair and eyes.


    "You are" Javelin''s expression turned to one of recognition.


    "Do you know them?" Madeline asked in curiosity.


    Javelin nodded.


    "I received a piece of intelligence recently about a young man." Javelin said while looking at Bloed. "Blue hair, a pair of strange blue eyes, apanied by two girls, and with two strange pets following them. If I''m not wrong, your names are Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, right?"


    Bloed was slightly surprised. "I didn''t think you would recognize us so easily."


    Javelin shrugged. "I work in the information business. If I''m unable to identify the hero that saved Calice city, then I failed in my work."


    "The hero that saved Calice city?" Madeline and Illina were surprised.


    Javelin nodded and exined the situation to them. When Madeline finished hearing him, the way she looked at Bloed changed.


    "So you were so famous, huh. Well, I guess that makes you more trustworthy. Still, I would like to know how you recognized the Blight."


    Bloed smiled.


    "Although it can sound a bit arrogant, I don''t think there is someone in the world that knows more about the Blight than me."


    " You are right, that sounds a bit arrogant."


    "My mother was a demigod and a researcher," Bloed said. "And you can say that eradicating the Blight was her mission in life."


    Madeline''s expression changed.


    " Demigod? Your mother was a demigod?"


    Bloed nodded.


    Madelina was surprised, but she recovered her calm quickly.


    "Very well, I''ll believe you for now. Can I ask you to tell me what you know about the Blight?"


    Bloed nodded. Although telling Madeline everything was obviously impossible, he did not mind sharing a bit of information.


    But before he could start to speak, Madeline stopped him.


    "We can talk about thatter. There is something more important we need to do now."


    Madeline then turned towards Javelin.


    Taking a step forward, Javelin spoke.


    "Illina discovered the possible location of the person we are searching for."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 131: The Battle in the Mansion (1)

    Chapter 131: The Battle in the Mansion (1)


    Hey Guys, I''m back!


    Sorry for theck of releases. I left an announcement in P4TRE0N, but if you don''t know, I caught a cold and only today I''m feeling a bit better. I''ll post two chapters of Science/Magic and Fourth Prince now, and maybe another one of each tonight. The chapters I owe I''ll try to post them tomorrow.


    Thank you for your understanding, Aidka :p


    ...


    "It''s here." Illina signaled the ce on a map. "I followed the scent of the person in the private room and it led me to this ce."


    "What is there, Illina?" Javelin asked.


    " On the surface, it''s a mansion in an affluent part of the city, it''s owned by an A-Rank practitioner. But when I infiltrated inside, I smelled the scent of several people in non-optimum conditions. Besides that, I smelled the prince''s urine... Unfortunately, the ce was so severely guarded that I was forced to retreat before getting enough information."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow when he heard the word prince. Javelin looked at him and shrugged. "You already knew about it, don''t you?"


    Bloed did not deny it. Both of them were smart people, and Bloed already expected Javelin to make the connection when he showed him the listening device.


    "How about the people guarding the ce." Bloed asked.


    Illina shook her head. "Unfortunately, I don''t know too much about that, but I believe there is at least one A-Rank, the owner of the mansion, and nine or ten B-Rank, plus several C-Rank and D-Rank practitioners."


    Liu Ying whistled. "That is a lot. How are we going to rescue them?" She asked.


    Javelin looked at Madeline. Madeline thought for a moment before opening her mouth.


    "Our priority is the prince''s safety instead of killing the people in charge of that ce. Plus, it will be troublesome someone bes crazy and kills the kidnapped people while we are fighting the guards.


    "Therefore, we will form two groups. The first group will bemanded by me. I will bring the people of Moonlight Glow to attack the mansion and attract the attention of the guards. Meanwhile, the second group will bemanded by Javelin, and their mission is to infiltrate the ce and rescue the prince. Are you okay with that?"


    Javelin and Bloed nodded.


    "I don''t have a problem with that n."


    "Neither I do." Bloed said. "When are we starting?"


    "We can''t afford to waste time, so we are going to do it tonight. At midnight, we''ll start the operation."


    Bloed looked at the girls to ask for their opinion. When he saw they were alright with it, he agreed.


    "Okay, at midnight it''s. It will give me enough time to prepare somethings."


    "Great." Madaline nodded. Now, let''s discuss the specifics of the n."


    The group then proceeded to study the location and the possibles enemies they were going to face, finallying with aplete n.


    At midnight, in a certain mansion in Diadel City.


    A guard yawned while looking at the empty street in front of him.


    "Damn, I hate night watch. Is it necessary to increase security like this?"


    The guard beside him rolled his eyes. "Stopining and pay attention. If something happens because of your negligence, the boss will kill us."


    "What can happen?" The first guard shrugged. "Even if one of the ves underground tries to escape, with the security underground he will be unable to reach even to the surface. Plus, with the number of people the boss stationed in the mansion, you would need an army to break in this ce."


    "I heard that one of our bases was attacked recently. What if they attack this ce next?"


    " Now that you mention it, I heard something simr." The first guard put on a serious look. "They have not found the culprits yet, right?"


    The other guard shook his head. "That is the reason the boss is so paranoid. The boss suspects the reason behind that attack is one of the people we kidnapped, probably someone important. And if that is actually reason, the enemies may attack again."


    "Damn, such bad luck." The first guard cursed.


    "I just hope that the nigh passes without an incident." Said the other.


    Unfortunately, their wishes were destined to not be conceded.


    Because at that moment, they heard a very slight noise.


    The two guards turnedpletely alert.


    " Did you hear that?"


    "So it was not my imagination, huh."


    Seeing the wariness in each other''s eyes, the two guards looked vigntly to the surroundings in search of the source of the noise.


    However, they were unable to see anything.


    " Could it have been a small animal?" One of them asked.


    "It''s better if we don''t take any risks. Inform the others to be careful."


    The guard nodded and took out amunication stone from his pocket. But when he was about to put his mana into it


    *Swing!*


    "Huh?"


    He saw the hand holding the stone falling to the ground.


    But before he could process the pain, a dagger stabbed his throat.


    The other opened his eyes wide in fear and terror. Instinctively, he tried to shout, but a slender hand held his throat firmly.


    "I''m sorry, I can''t allow you to scream." Madeline looked coldly at the guard.


    The guard''s eyes shook. His fear and terror mixed into a silent plead for mercy.


    Unfortunately, he was pleading to the wrong person.


    "Scum like you doesn''t deserve to continue living." Madeline''s chilling voice reached the guard''s ears.


    Then, she tightened her grip.


    With a cracking sound, the neck of the guard was crushed, killing him instantly.


    Madeline then put his body on the ground silently while looking at the men behind her.


    "You know what to do, right? Don''t leave anyone alive."


    The men behind her nodded in silence and took their weapons out.


    Madeline smiled.


    "Now go, let''s paint this ce in blood."


    With these words, the beastmen of Moonlight Glow rushed into the mansion.


    Catkins, wolfkins, rabbitkins, roonkins, lizardkins. Several kinds of beastmen invaded the mansion in droves, moving towards the locations of the guards.


    But as expected, so many beastmen could be hidden only for so long.


    And soon, a shout of panic alerted to the people inside the mansion.


    "E-Enemy attaagh!"


    With that shout as the signal, the lights of the mansion lit up.


    Soon, the sound of weapons shing and bodies being stabbed swallowed the silence of the night.

 Chapter 132: The Battle in the Mansion (2)

    Chapter 132: The Battle in the Mansion (2)


    In the middle of the chaos caused by the multiple battles, Madeline advanced calmly. The catkin woman waspletely unruffled by the cries of death and despair.


    asionally, some blind men would attack the apparently defenseless woman, but a twist of her wrist and a slight movement of her body was more than enough for her to stab her daggers on them.


    But soon, her leisure movements came to an end.


    When she reached the main hall of the mansion, a man appeared in front of her, surrounded by several beastmen''s bodies.


    Madeline frowned seeing her dead subordinates. And when she looked at the man, she felt the powering from his body.


    A-Rank.


    "Madeline Sharpw. Moonlight Glow." The man growled in a subdued tone. "Why are you attacking my home?"


    "Are you the person in charge of this ce?" Madeline asked.


    "My name is Kevin, and I''m the owner of this mansion. Now, if you don''t give me a reasonable exnation for this, tomorrow the entire city will know of your church''s atrocities!"


    Madeline smirked. "Heeh. A reason, huh? Well, I have one. Several days ago, one of my people was kidnapped while strolling in the city. And when we followed the traces of his kidnappers, we arrived at this ce. Is that enough reason?"


    The man''s face changed. This was the worst situation possible.


    They had kidnapped someone they should not. And that attracted the attention of a powerful party.


    Such a blunder was enough to jeopardize the sess of their n.


    Quickly, he searched in his mind for a way to resolve this situation.


    " I''m sure that was a misunderstanding. Miss Madeline, we both are smart people. Are you sure you want to start a battle against us just for a person? Let it pass. If you want, you can tell me his name and I''ll get him for you, plus reasonablepensation."


    Madeline nodded. "That is a good offer. However, you forgot something."


    " And what is it?"


    "Why should Moonlight Glow agree when we can easily get rid of scum like you?"


    Kevin furrowed his brows. He could see in Madeline''s eyes that she was nning to cause a bloodbath today.


    "Miss Madeline, do you truly want to do this? The forces behind me are not something you can easily offend!"


    "Is it so? Heh I want to see what kind of force is strong enough to threaten Moonlight Glow!"


    With a bellow, Madeline kicked the ground and appeared in front of the man.


    Her two daggers danced in the air, slicing towards his neck at breakneck speed.


    The man reacted quickly. His sword slithered like a serpent, shing twice against the daggers.


    Just like that, their battle started.


    At the same time.


    As soon as the battle in the mansion started, Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, plus Javelin and Illina, infiltrated the mansion.


    Their task was to secure the safety of the prince while Moonlight Glow''s men attacked the mansion, and if it was possible, they would protect the other ves too.


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying made use of Bloed''s invisibility artifact to blend with the surroundings and move through the mansion unnoticed. Furthermore, Bloed also lent one of his artifacts to Illina so toplement her infiltration techniques.


    Javelin, on the other hand, used an unknown technique to blend with the darkness of the night and disappear.


    "Cats are nocturnal animals, huh." Bloed muttered.


    The group followed Illina''s lead to find the prince.


    ording to Illina, the ce where the prince was kept was probably some kind of underground dungeon. Therefore, they first had to find the entrance to the dungeon.


    In normal circumstances, just finding the entrance would take an enormous amount of time. However, Illina''s nose was very useful in this situation. She filtrated the smells and searched for the ces where people usually take great amounts of food to.


    Using that as the criterium, and after ten minutes of searching and three mistaken ces, the group finally found the entrance leading to the underground dungeon.


    "Is this the ce?" Javelin asked softly.


    Illina nodded. "I can feel the fetid stench of waste and despairing from that ce. The entrance is definitively there."


    Javelin nodded and looked at the ce Illina was pointing. A warehouse-like building located behind the mansion.


    "There are three people inside." Regina closed her eyes and said. "One B-Rank and two C-Ranks."


    "Then that is definitively the ce. The fact that there are still people guarding this ce in this situation means that this ce is important." Bloed opined.


    Javelin thought for a moment before nodding. "Let''s move then. Kill them as quickly as possible. It would be bad if the battle prolongs and attracts more people to this ce."


    The group nodded and moved.


    Bloed was the first to act. Three shes from his saber and a kickter, and the door of the warehouse fell.


    And as soon as the door fell, the other four moved.


    "What happened!?" The B-Rank asked surprised. But before he could understand, a dagger emerged from the shadows and stabbed his throat. It was Javelin.


    The fate of the two C-Ranks was simr. One was beheaded by Regina''s energy de, and the other was crushed by a palm in his sr plex, courtesy of Liu Ying.


    "Let''s go." Illina did not bother to confirm the kills and searched for the entrance. Quickly, she found a door leading underground hidden below a carpet.


    "Gotcha." Illina smiled. She then sniffed the air twice. "There are people below. They probably heard themotion we did so they are waiting to ambush us."


    "Four B-Ranks, seven C-Ranks, and several others D-Ranks and E-Rank." Regina said with a frown. " Probably there is an A-Rank too."


    "That is a lot." Liu Ying whistled in surprise.


    " We need a n." Javelin furrowed his brows. "If we enter like this, we will be assaulted as soon as we open the door."


    Bloed thought for a moment before speaking.


    "Are the kidnapped nearby?"


    Illina shook her head. " No, their smell is farther away."


    "I''ll take care of this then." Bloed said calmly.


    "What are you going to do?" Javelin asked curiously.


    Bloed smiled. "Just watch." He then nodded to Regina. Understanding his intention, Regina took the metallic wolf, Leto, out of her spatial storage.


    "A wolf!?" Illina and Javelin were surprised, but Bloed did not bother to exin it to them. Instead, he turned part of Leto into an energy gun.


    It was the third form of Bloed''s energy gun.


    ster Mode.


    Without hesitation, Bloed aimed at the door and pressed the trigger.


    A loud roar sounded, and a bullet of superpressed energy hit the door.


    *Bam!*


    The powerful bullet created a bowl-sized hole in the door, surprising both allies and enemies alike. Bloed could see the stunned faces of the people underground through the hole.


    Unfortunately, they were not going to be surprised for long.


    Bloed grabbed a metallic ball from his pocket and threw it into the hole.


    "Hey, what are you doing!?" Illina asked in surprise.


    "Cover your ears." Bloed just smiled and put his hands on his ears. Regina and Liu Ying followed suit without hesitation.


    Seeing that, Illina and Javelin instinctively covered her ears as well.


    The next second


    *BOOOOMMMM!!!*


    An enormous explosion and a blinding light urred underground.


    The warehouse trembled strongly, and Illina cried in surprise. Even with her hands covering her ears, the strong explosion affected her greatly.


    Fortunately, Bloed was there to stop her from falling.


    "W-What?"


    "Stop daydreaming, let''s go!"


    With a serious expression, Bloed kicked open the remains of the door and charged to the underground dungeon.


    ...


    Another chaptering tonight I think, and If I can, another two more tomorrow. Wish me luck.


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 133: Diadel’s Underground Tunnels

    Chapter 133: Diadel¡¯s Underground Tunnels


    Sorry guys, I was unable to postst night. However, I''m posting three chapters now, so please forgive me :p


    ...


    The practitioners of this world had never seen a grenade before. Therefore, they were slow to react when they saw the small metallic ball falling through the hole in the door.


    By the time they realized something was wrong


    *BOOM!!!*


    The grenade had already exploded, shooting shrapnel and superpressed sma into the surroundings.


    The underground passage turned into a fiery hell. Many of the practitioners waiting to ambush Bloed andpany were killed by the extreme heat caused by superpressed energy, while another part of them was killed by the shockwave and shrapnel of the explosion.


    Despite it, Bloed did not lower his guard. He put strength on his legs, kicking the semi-destroyed door open and charging into the underground structure.


    Something charged before him, though. Leto turned into a wave of sharp metallic sand, flooding the underground structure and cutting everything inside, alive or dead.


    Such an attack was more than enough to kill most of the enemies still alive after the explosion.


    When Bloed reached the ground, only a few enemy practitioners were still alive.


    And for them


    *Bam Bam Bam Bam!*


    Bloed''s bullets were already waiting.


    "Dammit! What the hell!"


    "W-What is happening!?"


    "S-Someone!"


    Many of the practitioners screamed in panic and confusion in front of the sudden wave of attacks, unable to react properly. Only a few B-Ranks realized the gravity of the situation and tried to organize the remaining practitioners to perform a better defense.


    "Get a grip of yourself!"


    "Mages, put a stop to the fire!"


    "Don''t panic!"


    Unfortunately for them, they took too long.


    Suddenly, the shadows seemed toe alive, engulfing the still-alive enemies. The next second, a pair of daggers emerged from the shadows, stabbing neck after neck at an astonishing speed.


    It was Javelin!


    Like a god of ughter, his movements left behind a path of blood and death. He made use of the shadows and darkness to assassinate the enemies in seconds.


    But he was not the only one that acted.


    Regina, Liu Ying, and Illina also fell into the underground structure. Same like Javelin, they charged towards the enemies and started to kill.


    Bloed supported them with his bullet whilemanding Leto to continue entangling and killing enemies.


    "Let''s go, this is the way!" Illina shouted, pointing in a direction. The group nodded and followed her.


    At that moment, the group realized this underground structure was much more vast than they expected. It was filled withplicated passages that interconnected together to form a giant underground maze.


    The passages were dark, moist, and cold. Javelin took out an illumination stone he had with him and used it to lit up the way.


    " Incredible, I thought it was a rumor." Javelin muttered in disbelief.


    "A rumor?" Bloed asked curiously.


    "I heard about this ce before. A rumor about a of underground tunnels below Diadel City. I always thought it was just an urban myth. I never expected I would see it one day."


    Bloed nodded deep in thought. He could imagine how hard it was to build a structure like this.


    It was so vast andplicated that you would get lost if you don''t know the way. Fortunately for the group, theck of wind and sun made it so the scents took much longer to dissipate. Thus, Illina was able to track the prince''s smell and guide the group in the right direction.


    How did they know it was the right direction?


    Simple, they continued encountering enemies in the way.


    "Stop them!"


    "Don''t let them continue!"


    Waves after waves of enemies attacked the group nonstops.


    "How many of them are there?" Liu Ying frowned. "We had killed around thirty or forty already!"


    Javelin frowned. "Illina, how far!"


    " The scent is bing stronger. Two hundred meters or so!"


    "That is good." Javelin nodded while stabbing the heart of a man. "Guys, just a bit more!"


    "Roger!" Liu Ying grinned.


    Bloed frowned. He could feel that the resistance had increased greatly. Although they had not met any A-Rank yet, the number of B-Ranks they had faced was at least five.


    ''They put a lot of effort into defending this ce''


    But then, Bloed felt the resistance lightening.


    And suddenly, there were no more enemies targeting the group.


    ''Have we killed them all? No, this is''


    Bloed did not need to think for long to guess the reason.


    And as he suspected, his thoughts were spot on.


    After running for another minute, they arrived in front of what seemed like an entrance.


    "It''s here!" Illina stopped and said.


    But then, they realized something strange.


    The entrance... tt was opened.


    "There are enemies inside, around ten of them." Regina said.


    Bloed nodded. He could feel the obvious energy fluctuations from practitionersing from inside.


    Moreover, ording to Illina, there were a lot of ves and kidnapped people inside. If they were not careful, they could end hurting them.


    Javelin frowned before looking at Bloed. "Any idea?"


    Bloed nodded and grabbed a grenade from his pocket. But before he could throw it inside, Javelin stopped him.


    "Are you crazy!? The prince is inside too!"


    Bloed smiled. "Don''t worry, this one will only stun them."


    Before Javelin could understand the meaning of his words, Bloed threw the grenade inside.


    But before the grenade passed through the entrance, there was a sh of light.


    Then, the grenade was cut into two.


    "Oops. That looks dangerous." A leisure voice came from the entrance.


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. It seemed like the same trick was not going to work twice.


    " It has been a long time since thest time we had invitees." The voice of before continued. "As the host, it''s my duty to give you the best reception possible."


    With these words, a thick fog started to fill the underground passage.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. ''Could it be, poison? No, this fog is normal.''


    But although the fog was not poisonous, it was very thick. Just after a few seconds, the group''s sight started to be affected. Even Javelin''s illumination stone stopped being useful.


    Bloed frowned. So that is his intention...


    Javelin seemed to have understood it too. Thus, his expression turned very serious.


    "Who are you?"


    "You are invading someone else''s property and are you asking who I am? That is pretty rude." The voice chuckled.


    One secondter, the group heard the sound of footsteps. Whoever was the owner of the voice, he was walking towards them.


    However, he was still hidden behind the fog.


    "I''m surprised, though." The voice said. "It''s the first time in history someone reaches this far."


    "What is this ce?" Javelin asked.


    The voice chuckled again. "You see, the Duke is a great man. When he started his rule, he abolished very and increased the security of the duchy. Before him, Diadel Duchy was a ce of chaos and crime, but he transformed it into the prosperous state it''s today.


    "However, not everybody was happy with it. For years, Diadel Duchy had been the paradise for very and human trafficking. It bordered with the beastmen countries and its geographical location allowed to realize business with half of the continent. Thus, when the Duke abolished very, the people that lived from such a business had to find a way to survive.


    "And this ce was their answer. A of tunnels that covers a third of the city, allowing to imprison and transport ves to the different underground auctions."


    "I can''t believe a ce like this exists." Javelin frowned in disgust. "Such a dirty ce. How did you manage to keep it hidden? Such a of tunnels is not something easy to overlook."


    The manughed smugly. "The people behind this are more powerful than you think, young man. Their means are not something you can imagine, and hiding this ce is very easy for them. I congratte you oning this far, though. Even the duke has not managed to do it.


    "Well, enough chitchat." The man hidden in the fog said. "I think this amount of fog is already enough."


    Bloed and the others frowned. Currently, the fog was so thick that he could hardly see his hands.


    It was obvious the reason the owner of the voice had been talking to them was to wait until the fog filled the passagepletely.


    With a soft chuckle that seemed toe from everywhere, the man bellowed.


    "Now, you can die!"


    It was as though the man was the fog itself. He suddenly materialized behind Illina, with a knife ready to stab her.


    But suddenly, a strong sense of danger assaulted him.


    Without hesitation, the man jumped aside; only to see bowl-sized bullet of energying towards his face.


    And behind it, a pair of bright blue eyes glowed in the fog, following his movements.

 Chapter 134: Fighting in the Fog

    Chapter 134: Fighting in the Fog


    When the man hidden in the fog felt the pair of eyes fixed on him, his expression changed.


    ''He can see me!? How?''


    He could not afford to think about the reason, though. The man quickly moved back, evading the bowl-sized energy bulleting in his direction.


    He could feel that the energy bullet was very threatening. Although he was not sure how a C-Rank young man''s attack could feel so dangerous, he was not nning to test his doubts with his body.


    But at the moment he evaded the bullet, his expression changed.


    Another bullet was flying closely behind the first. It had been hidden for the first bullet, so he had been unable to see it.


    And it was flying in its current direction.


    "Dammit!" The man cursed. He hurriedly twisted his body weirdly, finally avoiding the second bullet safely!


    And then


    *Swish!*


    A pair of daggers cut towards his neck and heart.


    It was Javelin. Finally, he had made his move.


    ''When!?''


    The man was astonished. He was unable to figure how Javelin had moved behind him.


    How could he know that Javelin had trained in the darkness since he was a child? For him, fighting in this environment was the same as fighting normally.


    In fact, when the man appeared and started to speak, it was not that Javelin failed to notice that the man was buying time for the fog to spreadpletely. Instead, Javelin was also plotting against the man.


    The fog was the man''s territory, but it was also Javelin''s.


    And the man did not know it, resulting in him being unable to predict Javelin''s sneak attack.


    Both Javelin and the man were A-Ranks. Their abilities were around the same. Thus, now that Javelin managed to sneak attack him sessfully, he had the advantage.


    *Spurt!*


    A dagger pierced the man''s shoulder.


    In the end, the mas was also an A-Rank. At thest instant, he managed to block one of the daggers with his knife while twisting his body to receive the other dagger with his shoulder.


    "Bastard!" The man bellowed. Instantly, strong ice-cold mana surged from his body, attacking Javelin.


    Javelin moved calmly. Instead of continuing his attack to finish the man, he retreated.


    "You"


    "Both of us are A-Rank, and I specialize in speed." Javelin said indifferently. "Now that you are unable to move one of your arms, the advantage ispletely mine. I don''t need to rush it and kill you while risking an injury. Instead, I prefer to tire you out slowly, until you are unable to continue fighting."


    The man gritted his teeth. "Bastard, you fooled me!"


    Javelin shrugged. "We are enemies after all."


    The man''s face flushed in anger. He then raised his hand and shouted.


    "Attack!"


    As soon as he spoke, a rain of arrows came from the entrance.


    Javelin''s expression changed. Even although he could avoid the arrows in the darkness, it was not the same for the others.


    But when he was going to warn them, he saw an incredible scene.


    Leto turned into a metallic barrier that protected the group.


    Then, Bloed and Regina looked at the other enemies with disdaining expressions.


    "Leto, protect the girls!" Bloed ordered to his wolf with a smile.


    "Hey Bloed, what is happening? This damn fog!" Liu Ying asked irritated, but Bloed ignored her. In his mind, though, he decided to make her a special visor with night and infrared visionter, in case something like this happens again.


    The next instant, he kicked the ground and rushed towards the enemies.


    In normal circumstances, the fog would have been a perfect strategy against invaders. The enemies were already trained to fight in the fog. Thus, although theirbat level would not be as good as in normal conditions, it would be enough to overwhelm the invaders that had never fought in this kind of condition.


    And in fact, Liu Ying and Illina were almostpletely powerless in this kind of environment.


    But Bloed and Regina were different.


    With his special eyes, Bloed did not have any problem to see through the fog. It could be said that for him, it was the same with or without fog.


    Regina was the same. As a weapon of war, being able to battle in any environment was the basic requirement.


    Like wolves in the middle of a herd of sheep, the pair of master and servant attacked their enemies fiercely. Strangely, the fog ended working in their favor and impeding the enemies'' vision instead, allowing Bloed and Regina to kill them more easily.


    Three B-Ranks and six C and D-Ranks. Nine enemies in total were killed by Bloed and Regina in less than three minutes.


    Meanwhile, Javelin sighed in relief and looked at the pale face of the injured man.


    "It looks like your n failed."


    Then, he walked backward and disappeared in the shadows, appearing again behind the man.


    "Kuh!" The man grunted. He tried to use his knife to stop the daggers, but with a shoulder injured, his movements werepromised.


    Thus


    *Spurt!*


    He suffered another stab, this time in his abdomen.


    "Good job, you blocked an attack." Javelin smiled. "Let''s see how long you canst."


    He then twirled his daggers yfully and disappeared in the shadows again.


    Legs, arms, chest, back. Javelin continued attacking the man repeatedly. He never went for a decisive blow, instead, he recurred to small attacks with the purpose of sapping the enemy''s strength.


    Slowly, his enemy became weaker and weaker, and his mind was invaded by despair.


    "It''s like a cat ying with a mouse." Regina, who had already finished her enemies, walked beside Bloed and opined about Javelin''s fighting style.


    Bloed nodded. " Such a scary fighting style."


    Javelin''s battle did notst much longer. Two minutester, the man was unable to continue resisting.


    Bloed frowned. He was expecting the man to use the Blight just like the one he fought in the building. However, even when the A-Rank enemy was about to die, the Blight did not appear.


    " Is there something I''m ignoring?" Bloed asked to himself.


    Unfortunately, he was unable to find an answer.


    When Javelin finally killed his enemy, He walked towards Bloed and the others.


    "Lets go. We don''t know if they still have reinforcements. We need to rescue the prince quickly."


    Bloed and the others nodded. "Let''s go."

 Chapter 135: The Cruelty Underground

    Chapter 135: The Cruelty Underground


    *Bam!*


    One of Bloed''s bullets hit a magic circle.


    Almost at that instant, the fog started to dissipate.


    "Done."


    "Finally" Liu Ying said with a sigh. "I can''t believe I ended bing a burden."


    Bloed patted her in the shoulder. "Don''t worry about it, you already helped enough before reaching here."


    Liu Ying nodded, but Bloed could see she was notpletely convinced.


    With the fog gone, the group could finally start to search the prince.


    They went through the entrance the man of before was defending and reached a long corridor. At the end of the corridor, there was a giant iron door.


    "This is the ce." Illina said. "The prince is behind."


    Without waiting for Javelin to say anything, Bloed unsheathed his saber and shed towards the door.


    After three shes, the door fell apart.


    After the events on Calice City, Bloed had done some modifications to his saber; the biggest modification being the fact that a magic-circle-like thing appears every time he uses [Molecr Disintegration].


    This way, anyone that sees the saber''s sharpness will think ites from a technique Bloed practices, instead of the saber itself.


    Bloed did not want to have people trying to kill him to steal his "demigod-level weapon", like Calice''s city lord. Thus, this modification was necessary.


    When the door fell apart, Illina and Javelin rushed inside.


    But before their third step, their expressions changed.


    "Ugh!" Both Illina and Javelin covered their noses and mouths and their expressions turned purple.


    With the door gone, the fetid and foul smell trapped on the other side assaulted the group''s noses.


    It was a mix of rotten flesh and blood, plus urine, shit, vomit, and whatever thing you could think. The smell had been concentrated inside the room, beingpletely released when the door was opened.


    Unfortunately, Illina and Javelin''s great sense of smell meant they were badly affected by the sudden stench.


    Bloed and the girls frowned, but their reaction was better than Illina and Javelin.


    The ce behind the door waspletely dark, but with Javelin''s illumination stone, they managed to get a glimpse of the situation.


    And when they saw what was behind, the group was filled with anger and killing intent.


    Tens of boys and girls, trapped like animals in small one-cubic-meter cages. Many of them were malnourished or injured, with whip marks on their arm and legs.


    "God How they dare!?" Liu Ying gritted her teeth in rage. I could feel her killing intent spreading outwards. It was obvious she wanted to cut the people responsible for it into pieces.


    Even Regina, who normally was indifferent to everything, frowned visibly, disgusted with the scene inside.


    " This is worse than I thought." Javelin said with a sigh.


    Bloed nodded. He never thought he would see such a cruel thing in his life.


    For the first time, he realized how far humans could go due to greed.


    "W-Who are you?" A boy opened his eyes weakly and asked the group.


    As though it was a signal, several voices sounded after him


    "M-Mommy Where are you, mommy?"


    "L-Little brother"


    "H-Help"


    "P-Please Someone, please"


    Javelin looked away with aplicated expression. He could not bear looking at this.


    "Illina, where is the prince?"


    "W-Wait a moment." Illina sniffed the air trying to filter the terrible smells in this ce.


    A few secondster, she walked towards a cage in a corner of the room.


    " P-Prince?"


    The young boy inside the cage opened his eyes with difficulty and stared at Illina.


    "S-Sis"


    "Prince!"


    Instantly, Illina rushed to open the cage. "Damn, where is the key!" she shouted.


    "Calm down." Bloed said. "Let me."


    Several shes of his saberter, and the cage and the chains were cut open.


    "Prince!" Illina rushed and hugged the boy tightly. The boy inside the cage smiled relieved and closed his eyes. Secondster, he fell unconscious.


    Illina bit her lips with tears on her face and an expression of wrath.


    Such cruelty. This was something inhuman. Bloed could not help but think that.


    But when he thought things could not get worse, he heard Regina''s voice.


    "Master,e here."


    Bloed followed at Regina curiously and he arrived at another room behind the ce where the ves were being kept.


    And when Bloed saw what was inside, he felt his insides churning.


    " What in the hell?" Bloed''s voice was hoarse.


    Inside the room, several young men and women were lying in surgical tables, dead.


    Around them, there were several cabs with internal organs floating inside bottles. Eyeballs, torsos, hearts, lungs. Every kind of human organ was there.


    Some of the people in the surgical tables had their chest opened. When Bloed approached them, he noticed signs of something growing inside their chest and afterward digging their way outside. Just like in the movie [Alien].


    But the biggest shock was when he reached thest table.


    Someone he knew was there.


    Erika, the daughter of Calice''s city lord.


    She was dead, with her eyes opened wide in fear, and a giant hole on her neck.


    Bloed felt his impulse to vomit. He had never felt so angry in a long, long time.


    " They were using people to experiment with something."


    "The Blight?" Regina asked.


    "Perhaps." Bloed said with aplicated expression. "I''m not sure."


    " Master, are you alright?" Regina asked concerned.


    "Don''t worry. It''s just that seeing someone I know in this situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth."


    "... Master."


    To be honest, Bloed himself was not sure how he felt.


    He simply wanted to blow this ce up.


    "God, what is this?" Javelin entered the room at that moment. When he saw the scene inside, her brows crumpled.


    Bloed shook his head and shifted the topic. "Has you already finished?"


    "Yes. Illina and I will take the prince to our base to give him treatment."


    "What about the other ves?"


    Javelin''s expression wasplicated.


    " We simply can''t take them with us That is not realistic"


    "Are you going to leave them here then?" Bloed asked.


    " I''ll tell Madeline about this. She wille for themter."


    Bloed thought for a moment before sighing.


    "Maybe more enemies will arrive her by then and take them away. I have a better idea. Regina, can you blow up the roof?"


    Regina instantly understood Bloed''s intention.


    "No problem. I will make sure that nobody is injured."


    Ten minutester, an explosion shook the entire Diadel City.


    ...


    Three chapters today!


    Remember to support me on P4TREON (if you can). My P4TRE0N is /aidnovels

 Chapter 136: There Are Other Ways to Go About It

    Chapter 136: There Are Other Ways to Go About It


    Inside the mansion, Madeline was looking indifferently at the dead body of the man she fought.


    " Such a pity. I wanted to ask him some questions. But as expected, it''s very hard to catch an A-Rank practitioner alive."


    She then turned around to leave the mansion. In the way, a beastman approached her and bowed slightly.


    "Director, we already suppressed all the enemies."


    "Well done. How many did you capture?"


    " We caught ten of them but" The beastman showed a bit of hesitation.


    "What happened?"


    "Two of themmitted suicide after we caught them, and the other eight seem like they don''t know much."


    Madeline frowned. "Well, It could not be so easy. What about my brother? Do you have news of him?"


    "Nothing ye"


    *BOOOMMM!!!"


    A powerful explosion shook the city before the beastman could start to speak.


    "What happened!?" Madeline''s face turned grave, but nobody around her knew what was happening.


    It was only five minutester that she learned about what happened.


    When Madeline heard that her brother''s group had blown up a giant hole in the middle of the city, she was stunned.


    Then, her face broke into a huge smile.


    "Hahahaha, they are crazy!"


    The events of that night quickly spread to the entire city.


    Moonlight Glow realized an operative that culminated with the discovery of a giant of very. The fact that several kilometers of tunnels existed below the city and were being used for criminal activities caused a greatmotion.


    ording to Moonlight Glow, they found more than one hundred boys and girls in conditions of very. Several of them were suffering from malnutrition and several other affectations.


    The next morning, the city hall made an announcement praising Moonlight Glow for the operative, but they also condemned the church for mobilizing such a huge military power without informing the city hall.


    At the same time, the city hall announced they would work to avoid something like this happening again.


    Javelin and the others finished hearing the report with serious expressions.


    " Well, it looks like everything went alright, more or less."


    "Miss Madeline is not in trouble, right?" Bloed asked.


    Javelin shook his head. "Don''t worry about it. Madeline was already ready for the bacsh when she approved this operation. Besides, she got results and cracked the biggest case of very in thest thirty years. Even if the Duke is discontent with her, there is nothing he can do besides expressing his dissatisfaction."


    "Hmph! That man is fishy! It''s obvious there is something wrong with him! We should simply go and catch him." Liu Ying snorted.


    Bloed and the others looked at Liu Ying with helpless expressions. If they could do that, the situation would be much simpler.


    "Anyway, how is the prince?" Bloed asked.


    Javelin smiled bitterly. "He is alright. Although he suffered some injuries during the time he was caught, he only needs a few days before he recovers. Fortunately, the prince was wise and did not reveal his true identity to his captors, otherwise, the situation would have turned ugly."


    Bloed did not need to be a genius politician to understand Javelin''s meaning. The fact that a prince entered another country in secret was already bad, but if that prince is then kidnapped, the situation bes even worse.


    Thus, Javelin and Moonlight Glow were trying to hide the prince''s existence as much as possible. In fact, the number of people in the city that knew of the true reason behindst night''s battle did not surpass ten.


    " How in the hell the prince managed to enter Diadel Duchy in secret?" Bloed could not help but wonder that.


    Javelin smiled wryly. "That is a long story... The only thing I can tell you is that the prince is a very mischievous child."


    Bloed was speechless. This was way beyond being mischievous.


    But in the end, it was not his problem. Instead, there was another thing he was more interested in.


    " And the Blight. Do you have any news about it?"


    Javelin''s expression turned serious instantly.


    "I wanted to talk to you about it. We searched the entire ce, but we found nothing. Actually, Madeline is even doubting that the Blight''s existence in the city itself."


    Bloed fell silent. He knew what Javelin was implying.


    If not by the fact that Javelin heard the conversation in Auspicious Night, and thus he knew that whatever these people are nning is rted to the Blight, he probably would suspect Bloed''s words about the Blight being true too.


    Bloed sighed. " I''m also worried about that I checked the corpses we found in that room, and some of them have traces of an organism being incubated inside their bodies."


    "The Blight?"


    "Unfortunately, I don''t have proof." Bloed shook his head. "Even although I''m rather certain it''s rted to the Blight, I can''t prove it."


    " In other words, our clues end here."


    "Unfortunately." Bloed could not help but feel dispirited.


    It was not as though they could interrogate the Duke or something like that and ask him about the Blight. No to mention that nobody would agree to it, but just the forces behind the Duke made it very hard.


    Bloed was sure that at least two demigods were supporting the duke.


    "Anyway, now that our task is done, we will leave." Bloed stood up and got ready to leave.


    "Thank you for your help all this time, Bloed." Javelin said with a grateful smile. "Right, I know I promised you an extra reward, but can you wait a few days for it? I need to deal with some things now, so"


    "It''s alright. I don''t mind."


    "Great." With a wide smile, Javelin bid farewell to Bloed and the others.


    In another part of the city, inside an office.


    *Crash!*


    The sound of something shattering against the ground reverberated.


    "Moonlight Glow! Damn Moonlight Glow!" A man growled in rage.


    "Calm down." A voice came from another side. "Now is not the time to get angry."


    "You are right." The first voice took a deep breath to calm down. "It looks like we will have to do some changes to the n."


    "I agree. These beastmen have been sniffing around too much recently. Besides, the church of fate has started to move too."


    " But, what about the sacrifices? It will be hard to get the ves again."


    A soft chuckle resounded in the room. "Don''t worry, there are other ways to get sacrifices."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 137: Saintess of Fate (1)

    Chapter 137: Saintess of Fate (1)


    The next few days were rtively peacefully for Bloed.


    Bloed and the girls spent most of the time in the house they rented in Diadel City. Bloed in his experiments, Liu Ying training, and Regina taking care of the cooking and everything else.


    It must be said that Regina was very good when it came to housewife-like duties. From washing the clothes to preparing the bath, cooking, and cleaning the house. She truly seemed like the perfect wife.


    Liu Ying, on the other hand, was not very good at anything rted to housework. Perhaps it was rted to her background as a princess, but most of the time she ended causing a mess.


    Her cooking was barely passable, though. But Bloed still preferred if it was Regina who cooked. Regina''s cooking wasparable to the best chefs, and even with the scarce ingredients in this word, she always managed to make exceptionally delectable dishes.


    Changing the topic, Bloed had recently realized that he was very close to breaking through. He was so close that he could breakthrough at any moment.


    Breaking through for ESPers relied on umting and growing their psychic energy, and the best way to umte psychic energy was using ESP abilities. Stronger ESP abilities would have a greater stimulus in one''s calction zone, making the growth of psychic energy much faster than normal.


    The problem was that when A ESPer became stronger, his calction zone also became more resilient, and the ESP ability needed to be stronger if it wanted to properly stimte it.


    For that reason, Bloed was supposed to face a very hard bottleneck at this level. In the end, [Enhanced Brain Capacity] was just a C-Grade ESP ability, and its potential was only until this level. Once he reached C-Grade, the stimulus [Enhanced Brain Capability] brought to his calction zone was not enough to promote the growth of his psychic power.


    If he was a normal ESPer, Bloed''s only option would have been to rely on harsh training, upgrade his ESP ability, or finding other ways to stimte his calction zone if he wanted to advance. But each option was harder than thest.


    Fortunately, Bloed had another ESP ability. A very strong one, by the way.


    And even better, Bloed managed to find a way to use it.


    Although Bloed''s method of using [Molecr Disintegration] relied a lot on external factors, it was a fact that he was using an SSS-Grade ESP ability. Thus, his calction zone was greatly stimted, making the breakthrough to B-Grade several times easier than it should have been.


    However, Bloed knew that such a method would not work forever.


    Once he reached B-Rank, his current method of using [Molecr Disintegration] will not be enough to bring him to the A-Rank.


    Now, though, Bloed did not need to think about that.


    Instead, he decided to concentrate on breaking through B-Rank.


    Actually, although Bloed felt he was close to breaking through the B-Rank, the truth was that he was not sure how long it was going to take. The only thing he knew was that it would not take more than one year. It could easily be tomorrow, but it could also be six or seven monthster.


    Bloed could only try his best and be patient. He nned to use the next few days to train while he waited for Javelin''s reward and news about anything rted to the Blight.


    Contrary to his expectations, though, he received word from Javelin sooner than he expected.


    Two dayster, someone knocked on his door.


    " Illina?"


    "Hello, Mr. Bloed."


    The wolfkin girl bowed respectfully to Bloed. She then looked up with a serious expression.


    "The captain sent me to tell you that your reward is already ready."


    Bloed was startled before smiling. "Really? That is good. By the way, do you know what is he going to give us?"


    Illina smiled wryly. "Unfortunately, I don''t. Captain has kept the reward a secret, but from the looks of it, it''s a very good one.


    Bloed could not help but show an interesting expression. This was a reward for saving a prince, so he expected to receive something good.


    He could only suppress his curiosity for now, though. Anyway, he would know it soon.


    Bloed told Liu Ying and Regina about the news and asked if they wanted toe with him. As expected, both of them showed interest in it and nodded.


    Before they left the house, though, Illina said something very strange.


    "By the way, someone asked about you recently."


    "Huh?"


    "You know what our business is, right?" Illina nced at Bloed before continuing. "Well, someone asked for your details recently. He seemed very interested in your abilities."


    Bloed frowned. Nobody would like to know that he was being investigated.


    "What did you tell them?"


    Illina shrugged. "Well, we couldn''t refuse them or it would have looked suspicious. Thus, we sold to them just superficial information; information they would have been able to find in any other business like ours. Plus, we are telling you so you keep an eye on it."


    Bloed nodded. Although he was notpletely happy by the fact that Javelin and Illina sold his information to other people, he could understand their position. In fact, they had broken the ruled by telling him.


    " Do you know who is asking for that information?"


    "Unfortunately, no." Illina shook her head. "They disguised themselves when they visited us. The captainter asked us to follow them, but we lost them quickly."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. Quickly, he thought about who could be interested in his information.


    Soon, a list of suspects appeared in his mind.


    '' How troublesome.'' With a sigh, Bloed decided to think about thatter. The only thing he could do now was to keep an eye open in case something happens.


    "Let''s go to see your boss," Bloed said.


    Illina nodded. The group then departed in the direction of Animal Paradise.


    But before they could travel for long, they were stopped by a nun-like girl followed by a two-meters tall knight.


    "Excuse me, are you Mr. Bloed?" The nun girl smiled gently and asked Bloed.


    Bloed was surprised. But before he could ask anything, the girl spoke again.


    "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Charise Amra. I''m the current Saintess of the Church of Fate."


    ....


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 138: Saintess of Fate (2)

    Chapter 138: Saintess of Fate (2)


    In this world, the church of fate was one of the most influential powers.


    Its influence was not limited to the humannds. Rather, it had churches also in the territory of the elves, beastmen, and demons. Even some intelligent monsters had epted the teachings of the Goddess of Fate, Axalia.


    And the biggest dogma of the church of fate was "Protecting the World".


    Each high-ranking member of the church of fate was a zealot whose only goal was to make the world a better ce and to destroy anything that could threaten the world.


    In fact, the knight order of the church of fate, [The Order of the Guiding Light], had as the goal "Correcting dangerous fates".


    That was the reason the church of fate was so widely epted throughout the world. And after the disaster of the Blight one hundred years ago, the number of people that believed in the teachings of fate increased even more. Nobody wanted to see another disaster like that again, after all.


    But despite its wide eptance throughout the world, the Church of Fate was also one of the organizations less liked by other organizations and countries.


    The reason? Because nobody liked having someone interfering in their affairs.


    And with the Goddess of Fate''s ability to peer into fate and the church of fate zealousness to protect the world from any threat, they constantly meddled with the affairs of other organizations and countries. A lot.


    Several times they even threatened the sovereignty of a nation just to "correct a fate".


    ''A troublesome bunch it''s better not to mix with''. That was how the zealots of the church of fate were normally described.


    Thus, when the nun-like girl in front of Bloed introduced herself like the saintess of the church of fate, Bloed''s first reaction besides surprise was wariness.


    Charise''s appearance matched the stereotype of a saintess. She wore a white habit that covered her entire body, only showing her hands and face. But even that habit could not hide her otherworldly beauty.


    With around twenty-two years, she had a pair of green eyes that seemed to see through any lie, and her oval face was the very definition of gentleness. Her face carried a sincere smile that made it hard to distrust her.


    Fortunately, Bloed was used to seeing beautiful women, so Charise''s beauty was not enough to make him lose his wariness.


    And perhaps noticing that the saintess who called herself Charise put on a strained smile.


    "Don''t worry, Mr. Bloed. We don''te here with bad intentions. We only want to chat with you for a bit."


    " And why would the church of fate send the saintess herself to speak to a nobody like me?"


    "A nobody? I''m not so sure about that." Charise smiled gently. "Mr. Bloed, it looks like several people here don''t know about your true identity, however, the goddess knows about it well. A nobody, hehe, definitively not."


    Bloed was stunned. The next instant, his face turned ice-cold.


    "... I don''t know what have you heard about me, but the current me is just a nobody. I have nothing to do with them."


    " Rather blunt, huh. I like that." Charise said smilingly.


    Bloed grunted. Although he did not know how much this saintess knew, he was sure about something.


    She knew about his true identity.


    His identity as Glenn Skysword.


    He could see Liu Ying looking confused at him. She probably was curious and worried after hearing the saintess.


    However, now was not the moment to pay attention to her.


    "Calm down, Mr. Bloed." Charise smiled softly. "As I told you before, we don''t have bad intentions." She then shivered briefly and looked at Regina. "Also, can you ask your friend to stop? I can barely endure her killing intent."


    Regina snorted, but she retracted the pressure she had been releasing until now. Her eyes, however, were fixed on the knight behind the nun-like girl.


    When Bloed saw that, he looked at the knight too. Instantly, his eyes shrunk.


    That man, he was incredibly powerful.


    Definitively a demigod.


    Things had just turned more serious than before.


    "But your group sure is unusual, huh," Charise said with a look of interest. She first looked at Regina before moving her gaze to Liu Ying. Instantly, she smiled as though she saw something very funny. "I heard that people with simr fates gather together, but it''s the first time I see a real-life example as urate as this."


    " What are you speaking about?" Liu Ying said with a frown. Since a while ago, she had been unable to follow the rhythm of the conversation.


    Liu Ying now understood why his father disliked the church of fate so much. He always said he hated how they never talked clearly.


    "Anyway." Charise stopped looking at Liu Ying and moved his gaze at Bloed again. "Why don''t we search for a more private ce to have our conversation."


    Bloed''s expression was cold. "You have not told me yet the reason you are here."


    Charise nodded. "You are right." Instantly, her expression turned serious, and the smile of before disappearedpletely. It was as though her gentle look of before was a lie.


    "I''m here to talk about the Blight." Charise''s gentle voice reached the group''s ears.


    ''As expected'' Bloed sighed inwardly. "So it was that after all."


    The saintess nodded. "I hope you can tell us everything you know about the Blight, Mr. Bloed. It''s something that concerns the future of this world, so I hope you cooperate."


    Bloed fell silent.


    To be honest, he wasn''t against cooperating with the church of fate.


    The thing is, he was not sure how much the church of fate knew about him, and which was the church of fate''s position regarding his abilities.


    After all, Bloed''s true identity was that of a manaless child. A child of the Blight.


    And it was the believers of fate the ones who discriminated against people like him the most.


    Currently, he was using a ring to disguise his psychic energy as mana. But the truth was that he did not have even a drop of mana. If Charise learned about that, Bloed did not know how she was going to react.


    Charise frowned. She did not seem very happy that Bloed was taking so long to reply.


    But at that moment, several people appeared in the street, surrounding the group.


    "Stop!"


    An imposing voice boomed. Then, a ck-haired cat woman appeared suddenly and stood between the saintess and Bloed.


    "Miss saintess, it''s an honor to have you here."


    "You are Madeline Sharpw, right?"


    Madeline bowed slightly. "I''m honored that someone like you remembers my name."


    "You don''t need to be so cordial. Your position is not much lower than mine, after all. Can I ask, what are you doing here?"


    "I should be the one making that question, saintess," Madeline said with a stern expression and cold eyes. "Can I ask why are you stopping my people in the middle of the street?"


    "Oh?" Charise''s eyes glinted with interest. "I see, so they are rted to you, huh."


    With a soft giggle, Charise used her beautiful eyes to scan Madeline.


    "That is great. I think you can help me then. There is something I want to discuss with you."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 139: Saintess of Fate (3)

    Chapter 139: Saintess of Fate (3)


    A few hourster, several people were gathered in the headquarters of Moonlight Glow.


    Charise, Madeline, Javelin, Illina, Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and the knight standing behind Charise.


    After a few minutes of talking, Madeline gave Charise a recount of the situation with the Blight.


    " In other words, you are telling me that the duke, a demigod of the church of ughter, a powerful merchant of the city, and the archbishop of an unknown church are among the people rted to this case."


    Madeline nodded.


    "It looks like the situation is moreplicated than we thought." Charise''s expression turned grave.


    " It feels like you believed our story about the Blight very easily." Madeline said with a suspicious expression.


    Charise shrugged. "Well, I know that you are not one to joke with something like this Besides I already knew about the Blight beforeing here."


    Bloed and the others were stunned.


    "What are you speaking about?" Madeline asked.


    It was the knight who answered.


    "Actually, the saintess received an oracle from the goddess recently. ''There is chaos in Calice City. Remnants of an otherworldly danger have appeared, and the time of chaos is approaching.'' I think you can understand what that means."


    "The Blight? In Calice city?" Javelin asked surprised.


    Charise nodded. "I think that our friend Bloed knows about it, right?"


    All the eyes in the room turned towards Bloed. Only Regina and Liu Ying were not surprised by Charise''s words.


    Bloed thought for a moment before nodding.


    " I learned about it a few days after the disaster of Calice city. The people behind the monster wave that destroyed part of the city used the Blight to control the monsters."


    "!!!"


    Bloed could see expressions shock on Madeline, Illina, and Javelin''s face.


    "A-Are you sure?"


    Bloed nodded. "More urately, they used a strange monster created by manipting the Blight'' DNA. It''s not a Blight, but it will turn into one with enough time."


    " DNA?"


    Bloed looked at Charise and rolled his eyes. Now he was not in the mood to exin her about it.


    Fortunately, Charise seemed to understand the situation, so she did not insist.


    With a nod, she continued the conversation.


    "We already knew that the Blight was rted to the disaster in Calice City. Thus, when our branch in Diadel received a mysterious letter about the Blight, I did not hesitate toe here. I then asked the goddess for help and she used the fate of the letter to determine the person who wrote it, thus reaching to Mr. Bloed."


    Bloed smiled wryly. He thought he had been careful enough, but even so, he was found by someone.


    Using fate to locate the writer of the letter. How could he know that something like that was possible?


    It seemed like he could not underestimate the means of this world.


    Although they did not have the human confederation''s technology or ESP abilities, the magic and special talents of this world were sometimes just so impressive.


    " Unfortunately, we have hit a deadlock in our investigations about the Blight. It''s not like we can go to interrogate the Duke about it, can we?" Madeline said with a dispirited face.


    Bloed frowned and looked at Charise. "Can''t you use your powers of fate to learn about the duke''s ns? Perhaps we can find something that way."


    "That is not so simple as it looks." Charise smiled bitterly. "The goddess''s ability to see through fate is not omnipotent. In fact, many people in this world have found ways to hide things from the goddess''s sight. Plus, the other gods don''t like it when the goddess tries to see through fate, so they tend to use their power to interfere. Due to that, the probabilities of sess are very small when it''s something rted to other churches. In fact, even watching the fate of the letter was veryplicated. Fortunately, Miss Regina was not using her power to shroud your fate, or we would have not been able to find you."


    Bloed was confused. There were several things about Charise''s exnation he found strange.


    It seemed like the gods of this world also have their limits.


    Furthermore, Regina seemed to have the ability to interfere with the goddess''s foresight. Bloed decided to investigate more about itter. He did not want to have his secrets leaked to a voyeur who calls herself a goddess.


    "Then, what are we going to do?" Bloed asked.


    Charise thought for a moment before looking at the Knight behind her.


    "Kallevang, do you think it''s possible to catch that Bernard guy."


    Kallevang nodded. "Saintess, you only need to give the order and we will catch him this same night."


    "Wait wait wait." Madeline was startled. "You are going to attack an important merchant of the city without any proof!? Are you crazy!? Everything will be alright if you find something linking him to the Blight. But if you don''t, you will put the entire city against your church!"


    Charise tilted her head before smiling sweetly. "It looks like you have a small misunderstanding about us, Miss Madeline. We are not like Moonlight Glow who is overconcerned with diplomatic issues and avoids causing trouble.


    "We are the church of fate! Our duty is to protect this world from danger! And if that means going against the world itself, we will not hesitate! As for the Bernard guy, he is just a merchant. Even if we kill him wrongly, what can the duke do about it?"


    Charise then chuckled and stroked her habit like an innocent girl.


    "To be honest, I would have liked to confront the duke directly, but just Kallevang alone is not enough to take care of the duke''s demigods. We need at least three demigods if we want to have an opportunity, and that is assuming the demigods of the church of ughter don''t participate."


    Madeline put on a strained smile.


    "Now I understand why our saintess says that you are crazy."


    Charise just smiled and changed the topic.


    "Then, it''s decided. We of the church of fate will capture Bernard tonight. With luck, that will lead us to the Blight."


    Madeline smiled wryly. But in the end, she agreed.


    Madeline was aware that catching Bernard was the best option. If not by the fact that she could not afford the bacsh of catching an important person like him without enough proof, she would have ordered it herself.


    "Then, we will leave this conversation here." Charise stood up elegantly and bowed to the group. "We will contact you after tonight''s operation."


    Before leaving, though, Charise seemed to remember something and turned around to face Bloed.


    "By the way, Mr. Bloed. I forgot to tell you something. When our goddess used the letter to find you, she also saw a bit about your fate. Do you want to know?"


    Bloed hesitated slightly. But his curiosity ended winning over.


    Charise smiled.


    "There is a trial waiting for you soon. The eyes of your past are looking at you closely."


    Bloed was startled before falling silent.


    Then, he bowed slightly to Charise.


    "Thank you. I''ll keep an eye on that."


    Charise chuckled.


    "You don''t need to thank me... I''m just sympathizing with a poor child that was abandoned by his family."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 140: Guest of Honor

    Chapter 140: Guest of Honor


    " The eyes of your past are looking at you closely? What in the hell that mean?" Liu Ying grumbled with an ufortable tone. "Zealots of fate and their love for talking in riddles. Can they not say everything clearly?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. Inwardly, though, he sighed.


    Although Liu Ying found Charise''s words confusing; Bloed and Regina, on the other hand, understood her meaning almost quickly. A trial rted to Bloed''s past could only mean his former family.


    In the end, it seemed like they decided to chase after him.


    Regina grabbed Bloed''s hand and nodded to him in concern. Bloed gave her a small smile of thanks as a reply.


    Yes, he was not alone.


    Whatever his former family was nning, it didn''t matter.


    At most, he would fight them. It''s not like he was afraid of them.


    He could always use Leto to escape, after all.


    After the meeting with Charise and Kallevang, Bloed''s group was led by Javelin and Madeline to a warehouse-like room in Moonlight Glow.


    " Bloed, I promised you a reward when you agreed to help us to rescue the prince." Javelin said with a smile. "You already received the information you requested from Illina, and now I''ll give you the other two things I promised."


    Javelin then took out a folder containing some documents and passed it to Bloed.


    "What is it?" Bloed asked.


    "A money ount. This document certificates that you own an ount with money in Moonlight Glow. You can use it to deposit or withdraw money from any of our branches, or even is some other churches. The specifics are in the documents."


    Bloed revised the documents and was slightly surprised.


    In this world, the churches also worked as a kind of bank. Many people used them to keep great amounts of money and withdraw it when it was necessary.


    And the document JAvelin gave Bloed served as proof of ownership for an ount in Moonlight Glow, the problem was the amount of money in there.


    There were one hundred thousand gold coins deposited in the ount. Normally, a family of four needed around ten gold coins to live for one month, so one hundred thousand gold coins were a small fortune.


    Due to his circumstances, Bloed normally did not care about money. But even he was very surprised by Javelin''s generosity. Even Liu Ying, a former princess, was agape when she saw the number in the documents.


    ''I guess that a prince is just that important, huh.'' Bloed smiled wryly. Thinking about it, he was a prince too.


    "Of course, that is only a part of the reward." Javelin said as though all that money was not important. " I was not sure about what to give you besides the money. Fortunately, Madeline gave me a good suggestion." Javelin then looked to Madeline and asked her to continue.


    Madeline smiled and took three badges from a pocket, giving one to Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying each. "Take this."


    Bloed received the badge confused. It was a silver badge depicting a fox gazing to the moon. Moreover, Bloed could feel a slight magical pulse inside the badge.


    "This badge makes you a guest of honor of Moonlight Glow. With this badge, you can go to any of our branches to request amodation, information, and even assistance in case you need it. But pay attention to how you use it. If Moonlight Glow deems that you don''t deserve the badge anymore, they will take it away."


    Bloed was truly surprised this time, even more than when he received the money.


    With this badge, it was the same as having one of the strongest churches of the continent backing him.


    Of course, backing him was exaggerating a bit, but it did not make the badge less valuable. Moonlight Glow was a very huge organization, and the help it could provide Bloed was incredibly high.


    " Are you sure about this?" Bloed asked a little moved.


    Madeline smiled. "Don''t worry. In fact, part of the reason I''m giving this badge to the three of you is due to your talent. The three of you are among the most talented people I have seen in your generation." Madeline said while looking at Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying. "Thus, giving you this badge now is a way to create a tie with you. If one day in the future, one of you bes a demigod, then today''s badge will have be a great investment."


    Bloed fell silent for a moment before nodding and keeping the badge.


    Although Madeline was trying to make it sound that it was not a big deal, Bloed knew how valuable this badge was. This was the kind of thing that was not easily given out.


    "Then, are you satisfied with the reward?" Javelin asked.


    Bloed let out a smile. " Yeah, I guess that helping you was the right choice, after all."


    "Hahaha, I''m also d that I asked for your help back then. To be honest, it was a risky bet, but it worked. I hope we can cooperate like this again in the future."


    "Well, our cooperation has not ended yet." Bloed smiled.


    Javelin nodded. Right, they still needed to deal with Diadel City''s problems.


    "By the way, Javelin." Bloed suddenly spoke with a bit of hesitation. "Maybe I will need your help with something."


    That same day, in another part of Diadel City.


    A middle-aged man, apanied by two people whose bodies were covered under long robes, knocked on the door of a house located in the south of the city.


    One secondter, the door opened slightly and a male voice came from the other side.


    "What do you want?"


    The middle-aged man spoke. "I came for the mission you received a few days ago."


    " Mister, I don''t know what you are speaking about."


    The middle-aged man nodded and. He then took something out of his clothes and passed it to the man behind the door. "This is my identification."


    The man received it and used a few seconds to confirm its authenticity. Less than one minuteter, the door opened revealing a cunning-looking skinny man.


    "Wee, Mr. S. I was waiting for you. Something to drink?"


    The middle-aged man shook his head. "I prefer to focus on my work. How is the situation with the target?"


    " There were a few inconveniences, but fortunately, we did not fail the mission."


    He then walked towards a wall and revealed a secretpartment behind a painting.


    "This is all the information we got about the target."


    On the first page of the document, there was a name and the drawing of a young man.


    Bloed Norman.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 141: City on Fire (1)

    Chapter 141: City on Fire (1)


    Bloed Norman.


    The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes when he saw that name. He then opened the document and started to read the information inside.


    When he finished reading, he furrowed his brows.


    "This information is almost useless. Besides the ce where he is living right now, everything else is something I already know."


    The skinny man in charge of recollecting information smiled bitterly.


    "You can''t me us for that. Originally, we nned to follow the target to monitor his movements and thus learn about his habits, likes, and dislikes. Unfortunately, that n fell apart the first day."


    "What happened?" Asked the middle-aged man.


    "Well, he and hispanions managed to find out that they were being monitored. Then, they located one of our men and caught him, forcing him tomit suicide. When we learned of that, I immediately retracted all the men in charge of monitoring him. I didn''t dare to send more men to his deaths. The information I gave you was something I got after asking for help from some people of the city hall and investigating with some information brokers."


    The middle-aged man frowned. "Does the boy know about us?"


    " I think he doesn''t." The skinny guy said after a bit of hesitation. "Our men are professionals. They will reveal nothing even in front of the worst torture."


    "Good." The middle-aged man nodded. "This is enough. From today, you are relieved from your duties in this city. Return to the capital for your next assignment."


    " R-Really?" The skinny man was startled and nervous. "B-But, did I do anything wrong?"


    "Nothing like that. It''s just that the work you have done in this city has been deemed enough for a promotion. Return to the capital, you will receive the details there."


    The skinny man turned excited. Without hesitation, he bowed to the middle-aged man before running to his room to pack his things.


    Finally, half an hourter, he departed under the orders of the middle-aged man.


    But as soon as he left the house, the middle-aged man looked at one of the people with him.


    "You know what to do. Wait until he leaves the city."


    "Understood, Mr. Sebastian." The hooded person kneeled on the ground before disappearing.


    Sebastian continued looking at the documents carefully. Even although most of the information here were things he already knew, he still did not ignore it.


    At that moment, the other hooded person spoke.


    "Is he our target? A C-Rank boy?"


    "He is."


    The hooded person giggled in amusement. "Hahaha, how interesting. A demigod and two A-Ranks were sent to catch a little C-Rank boy. Is this boy a prince or something like that, Mr. Sebastian? Or could it be that you alone are not enough to catch him?"


    Sebastian frowned. A few secondster, Sebastian shook his head.


    " You are right. Normally, this lineup would be overkill for just a boy. However, I have a bad feeling about it?"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Sebastian did not answer. Inwardly, however, he remembered the silver-haired girl beside the prince.


    He still remembered the sense of danger he felt when he saw that girl''s eyes.


    Even although that girl seemed like nothing more but a C-Rank practitioner, Sebastian knew well to trust his instincts.


    Thus, just in case that girl is strong enough to fight in par with him, he brought two extra A-Ranks.


    " Let''s just hope that I''m imagining things."


    Bloed and Liu Ying were seated in the courtyard while looking in the direction of the center of the city.


    Charise, the Saintess of the Church of Fate, had said that she was going to attack Bernard tonight. Thus, Bloed and Liu Ying were looking in the direction of Bernard''s mansion in hopes of catching a glimpse of something announcing the start of the fight.


    Unfortunately, even after the sun hid and the moon lit up the night sky, nothing seemed to happen.


    " Could it be that nothing is going to happen?"


    Bloed shrugged. "Perhaps it already started, just that we did not notice anything."


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. " Yeah, that is a possibility too." She then hugged her legs and put on a pensive expression. " But that saintess She sure spoke a lot."


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying with an amused look. "What? Are you curious about the things she said about me?"


    "Huh? Y-Yes N-No! I mean, I''m not Well, perhaps a bit. But if you don''t want to talk about it, you don''t need to."


    Bloedughed briefly. "You don''t need to be so nervous. Actually, you already know so much about me that knowing about this is not a problem It''s just that I don''t like to talk about it very much."


    " Is it about before you were sent to the exilednds?"


    Bloed nodded. "Yeah I told you that my mother adopted me, right? It''s about my family before that. To be honest, I don''t want to talk about them now."


    Liu Ying fell silent. Seeing Bloed''s reluctance to talk about them and remembering the fact that he is manaless, she quickly arrived at a possibility.


    They exiled you."


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    "And they sent people for me now."


    Liu Ying''s face turned cold.


    "Do they want to throw you into the exilednds again?"


    "Perhaps, who knows?" Bloed shrugged. "Whatever the reason, though, I don''t want to meet them again."


    "Yeah, I understand." Liu Ying nodded. She then stared at Bloed with her beautiful amber eyes. "Don''t worry, I will help you."


    " Sorry for involving you in my troubles."


    "What are you saying? We are friends, are we not?"


    Bloed smiled and nodded.


    At that moment, the pair heard a set of footstepsing towards them.


    Turning around, they saw Regina approaching with a serious expression.


    "Master, I just felt several powerful energy fluctuationsing from different parts of the city."


    " Energy fluctuations? Do you mean mana? Could it be that there are people fighting in the city."


    But before Regina could answer, the ground trembled.


    Then


    *BOOOMMM!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the entire city.


    And a giant magic circle shrouded Diadel City.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 142: City on Fire (2)

    Chapter 142: City on Fire (2)


    Double chapter today :p


    ...


    *BOOOOOMMMMM!!!*


    The giant explosion shook Diadel City. At the same time, hundreds of houses around the city lit up on fire.


    The next second, the entire city was shrouded by a giant magic circle.


    "Hahahahahahaha! It''s toote, saintess! It has already started!" Bernardughed uproariously. "Even if you try to stop it now, it''s already toote!"


    Charise frowned. She did not like what she was seeing.


    " I don''t understand, don''t you know how dangerous the Blight is? Millions of people will die if this goes out of control!"


    Bernard smirked. " There are things I can only get by using it, Saintess. That is the only reason Unfortunately, it looks like fate was not on my side."


    "Tell me who else is cooperating with you," Charise ordered. "If you do that, perhaps I can find a way to make your time in prison easier."


    "Prison?" Bernard shook his head. "No, I''m not going to go to prison."


    Then, his body lit up.


    Instantly, a powerful strength filled his body. It was as though the magic circle shrouding the city was empowering him.


    "It''s it! hahahahaha! It''s true poweh?"


    Suddenly, Bernard felt a floating sensation.


    Looking back, he saw his body falling to the ground, headless.


    ''Damn it...''


    Then, his head fell to the ground.


    That was the end of one of the greatest merchants of Diadel City.


    Kallevang put his greatsword back on his back after killing Bernard.


    "Sorry, Saintess, but I thought it seemed dangerous."


    Charise shook her head. "It''s alright. Instead, there is something more important we need to take care of."


    Kallevang nodded and looked at the direction of the city. Fire and smoke had be the owners of the night, and Kallevang and Charise could smell the iron-like smell of blood.


    Diadel City had turned into hell.


    Bloed and the girls jumped onto the roof of the ce they were staying. Once there, they managed to get a glimpse of the situation in the city.


    Fire and smoke filled the streets, with people running away and other people chasing after them. Sometimes, someone would use a sharp weapon to behead or kill a citizen mercilessly, clearly enjoying it.


    In just a few minutes, Diadel City had be into a ughtering ground, with hundreds of innocents dying each second.


    Bloed''s expression turned ice-cold. With a thought of his, his eyes focused on the people causing this evil.


    And just after a few seconds, he managed to identify them.


    In their arms, legs, or chest, they had a symbol of a wolf tearing apart a body.


    " The church of ughter." Bloed said.


    The girls nodded.


    "Has it already started?" Regina asked bewildered.


    Liu Ying nodded. "I think so. I never expected they would act so soon"


    "Master, what is the n?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before opening his mouth.


    "For now, let''s meet with Javelin and the others before deciding what to do next."


    The girls agreed to his words. Quickly, the trio prepared their weapons and armors for theing fight.


    And that fight came much sooner than the group expected.


    When the group of three was about to leave the house, the door was kicked open.


    *Bam!*


    "Hahahaha, look what we have here It looks like nobody has visited this ce yet." A manughed maliciously and licked his lips. Behind him, Bloed could see tens of other people.


    That man scanned the house with squinted eyes. And when he saw Bloed and the girls, his eyes brightened.


    "Hehehe, we have beauties, and they are just my type. Good, it has been a long time since thest time I enjoyed a good woman!"


    Behind him, the other men alsoughed and squinted their eyessciviously. It was obvious they did not take the group of three seriously.


    Liu Ying and Regina frowned, but it was Bloed who spoke first.


    "We are short on time. Do it quickly."


    Hearing that, Liu Ying smiled excitedly.


    "On it~"


    As soon as her words sounded, Liu Ying kicked the ground!


    Then


    *BOOOMMM!!!* A powerful shockwave shook the house and the man that kicked the door just now was blown apart by Liu Ying''s punch.


    Before the others could react, a metallic wave surged from behind Liu Ying, engulfing the remaining enemies and restraining their movements.


    At the same time, Bloed and Regina made their moves.


    Bullets and des of energy shed in the darkness of the night, leaving behind screams of pain and death.


    In seconds, the entrance of the house had turned into a river of flesh and blood.


    Liu Ying wiped off a drop of blood that fell on her face and shook her head.


    " What a mess."


    Regina snorted. "Try to be less savage next time. Most of this disaster was caused by you. Can you not use a more elegant fighting style? Just like me."


    Liu Ying shrugged. What could she do? Punches and kicks were in her blood.


    Besides, she was never very good at using swords.


    Bloed shook his head exasperatedly. "Stop quarreling like children and hurry up. Leto, take us to Animal Paradise!"


    *Woof!*


    When Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying climbed on the back of the metallic wolf, Leto let out a soft roar and kicked the ground.


    Then, its body elerated through the streets of Diadel City.


    In another part of the city.


    Sebastian shook off the blood on his sword and looked at the corpses in the courtyard of the ce he was staying.


    Behind him, the two hooded people finished killing their enemies.


    " What is happening?" One of the hooded people looked at the city in shock. The screams of pain, terror, and despair surprised him.


    Sebastian frowned. "It looks like Diadel City is less peaceful than we expected."


    " Damn, so much blood. And these men Are they from the church of ughter?" Asked the other hooded person.


    "These madmen. I wonder what are they nning this time."


    "It looks like something big."


    When Sebastian heard the conversation of the two hooded people, his expression turned very serious.


    After a few seconds, he came to a decision.


    "Change of ns, we will move tonight."


    "Huh? Mr. Sebastian?"


    " It would be bad if something happens to that boy."

 Chapter 143: Demigod vs Demigod (1)

    Chapter 143: Demigod vs Demigod (1)


    The fire and smoke quickly spread to the entire city. In less than fifteen minutes since the start of themotion, the whole city had been shrouded in an atmosphere of terror.


    Bloed and the girls frowned. In their way to Animal Paradise, they met hundreds of civilians running away, being chased by teams of the church of ughter who killed people without a care for age, race, or sex.


    Bloed and the girls killed all the members of the church of ughter they met in their way, however, it was nothing but a drop in the ocean that was Diadel City. Bloed estimated that there were at least one thousand followers of the church of ughter causing chaos and killing crazily.


    "Is the duke crazy!? How can he allow something like this!?" Liu Ying asked in anger. Watching how innocent people were being killed had put her in a terrible mood.


    Bloed was not much better. Although he did not know or was rted to the people of the city, watching them die cruelly in front of his eyes was not a good experience.


    Actually, Bloed already had a rather good idea of why the duke allowed this. Based on the conversation he eavesdropped and the things he had witnessed, Bloed reached a rather terrifying conclusion.


    " They are sacrifices." Bloed''s expression was dark.


    "Sacrifices!?" Liu Ying was astonished. Bloed nodded and exined his thoughts to her. "Look at the magic circle around the city. Have you not noticed that it has turned brighter than before?"


    Liu Ying was startled. "Do you mean"


    "Whatever the duke wants to do, he needs sacrifices," Regina said. "And because we rescued the ves he was going to use as sacrifices, he had to improvise."


    "That is Very cruel." Liu Ying clenched her fist angrily. Her mana seeped out of her body, pressuring the surroundings with fiery killing intent.


    Bloed sighed. "The Duke is crazy. Does he want to be the public enemy of the entire continent? Wait a moment, could it be"


    "Huh? Did you think of something, Bloed?"


    Bloed nodded to Liu Ying question. " I think that perhaps things are not so simple as we thought. Think about it, the Duke''s position in Diadel Duchy is incredibly exalted, he practically has everything he can desire. Someone like that, why would he do something so risky like this? What is his true goal? Besides, where does the Blight fit in all of this?"


    Bloed''s mind moved at the fastest speed possible. He thought about all the clues he had and tried to find an answer.


    However, he felt like he wascking something.


    There was still an important piece of the puzzle he needed if he wanted to understand everything.


    In the current situation, Bloed felt as though he was half-blind.


    "Soplicated" Bloed heaved a tired sigh and looked at the front. Anyway, he would soon know the answer to his questions.


    The group of three rode Leto through the streets of the city. After a few minutes, they were approaching to Animal Paradise.


    But at that moment, Regina''s expression changed.


    "Master, stop!"


    Bloed did not hesitate. As soon as Regina spoke, he used his mind tomand Leto to stop.


    The wolf obeyed. It stopped abruptly and looked in front with its shining blue eyes.


    Bloed also directed his gaze in that direction.


    At some point, three figures had appeared in front of Bloed''s path, and Bloed instantly recognized one of them.


    The person in the middle, the middle-aged man with a sword on his waist.


    " Sebastian." He said and narrowed his eyes.


    Sebastian looked at Bloed and nodded with a respectful expression.


    "Your highness, it''s good to know that you are alright."


    These words were like a bolt of the blue for both groups. Not only Liu Ying, but even the two hooded people behind Sebastian widened their eyes in surprise.


    "Y-Your Highness B-Bloed, is he speaking about you?"


    Bloed sighed and nodded. "I''ll tell you about itter."


    Although surprised and confused, Liu Ying knew that this was not the moment for this. Quickly, she controlled her emotions in focused on the people in front of them.


    Soon, however, her expression turned ugly.


    These three people, she could feel they were much stronger than Bloed, Regina, and herself.


    Especially the middle-aged man. He felt like an unending sea, his power immensurable.


    However, Liu Ying realized that Bloed was not nervous.


    Instead, he remained as calm as before.


    " If you are here, it means that you are under his orders, right?" Bloed asked.


    Sebastian nodded. "It''s good that your highness understands. His Majesty has ordered you to return."


    Bloed sneered. "And why should I obey? I''m sorry, but I like my current freedom, thank you very much."


    Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "It looks like you have misunderstood something, your highness. Your opinion is useless. The orders of the king are absolute!"


    When he finished speaking, overwhelming sword intent erupted out of his body, oppressing the entire street.


    Bloed and Liu Ying turned pale. The sharpness of the sword intent felt as though it wanted to pierce their skins and cut their bones.


    But before Sebastian''s sword intent could be fully released, the silver-haired girl beside Bloed snorted.


    "Hmph!"


    Then


    *Zap!*


    A powerful torrent of energy sweep Sebastian''s sword intent away. Regina''s presence surged, bing as powerful as a goddess of war.


    ring at Sebastian with a look of absolute coldness, Regina took a step forward.


    "Who do you think you are to talk like that to my master!?"


    The city shook, and the clouds of the sky were blown away. Regina''s presence was so powerful that the two men behind Sebastian were unable to breathe!


    Even Sebastian was frowning with a serious look. The worst possibility had turned to be true.


    " So, my instincts were right, you are a demigod."


    Regina sneered.


    "Piss off, or tomorrow there will be one demigod less in the world."


    Sebastian wrinkled his brows, but he was not intimidated.


    "I''m sorry, young miss, but the orders of the king are absolute."


    Then, his sword rang out in his sheath.


    And with a smooth movement, it flew towards his hand before shing in Regina''s direction!


    The giant sword sh seemed to cut the world into two. Its power was such that the people nearby were unable to breathe.


    But Regina just materialized an energy de on her left hand, then, she shed upwards.


    As though the power of Sebastian''s sword sh was a lie, it was instantly swallowed by the powerful energy!


    Then, the energy turned into a giant sword that descended in Sebastian''s direction.


    The battle between demigods had finally begun!


    ....


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 144: Demigod vs Demigod (2)

    Chapter 144: Demigod vs Demigod (2)


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here!


    A lot ofments inst chapter, so I say a bit too.


    Fisrtly, I said it before but the novel is called Science/Magic. So, yes, Bloed will eventually find a way to use magic.


    Then, about the ESP abilities. Bloed''s calction zone is already full. His two ESP abilities ocuppy all the space, making it impossible for Bloed to use [Molecr Disintegration]. However, the calction zone grows with the user''s strength. For Bloed, if he wants to truly use [Molecr Disintegration], he needs to be an S-Grade ESPer first (Equivalent to a demigod). Only when he reaches S-Grade, his calction zone will be big enough to allow the calctions necessary to use that ability.


    Is it possible to create a new ESP ability? Perhaps, I will not discard that possibility.


    Can ESP abilities evolve? Yes, they can. I mentioned it before.


    I hope that answers any question you have. Anyway, write me ament if you have any doubt or suggestion. I almost always read them, and if I''m in the mood (And with enough time), I''ll answer your doubts.


    ...


    "Fall!" Regina ordered, and the giant sword of energy descended.


    *BOOM!*


    The powerful explosion was apanied by a shockwave that rocked the entire city and raised a cloud of dust. This attack had by far surpassed the level normal people could meddle in!


    Moreover, after such a giant sword of energy appeared, every person in the city had realized that a demigod was fighting.


    Regina furrowed her brows. Despite having hit Sebastian with the attack just now, she did not seem happy.


    And one secondter, the reason appeared. A whirlpool of mana emerged in Sebastian''s location. It then released a powerful current of sword intent that blew the cloud of dust away.


    With the cloud of dust gone, Sebastian appeared once more in front of Bloed and the others. He was holding his sword with both hands, stopping the giant sword of energy in its tracks.


    "Very powerful" Sebastianmented. He then swung his sword calmly as though cutting the air.


    One instantter, the sword of energy was cut into two.


    "But not enough."


    Regina snorted and waved her hand. Instantly, hundreds of energy weapons appeared behind her.


    Swords, spears, arrows, sabers,nces. It was a manifestation showing the great power of her ESPer ability, [Energy Materialization]!


    When Sebastian saw that, his expression turned serious. Although each one of these weapons was smaller than the sword of before, Sebastian could feel that the power inside them was not less threatening.


    "Last warning. Get lost and we can end things peacefully. Otherwise, I''ll kill you." Regina''s ice-cold voice seemed to freeze the air itself.


    Sebastian narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "I''m sorry, young miss. Please, show me your strength!"


    "Wrong choice."


    After saying that, Regina kicked the ground.


    In an instant, she appeared in front of Sebastian. With one energy bade in each hand, Regina stepped on the ground and used it as a fulcrum.


    Then, her body spun in a deadly dance of energy!


    "Good!" Sebastian grunted. Instantly, sword intent filled his weapon. With a forward sh, he stopped one of Regina''s energy des.


    However, Regina''s second energy de moved at that moment. It created an arc in the air and cut towards Sebastian.


    Sebastian narrowed his eyes. His body took a step back, and the mana inside his body erupted. Then, his sword intent turned into a barrier that stopped Regina''s second de.


    Regina calmly pulled her de back. She then leaned her body forward and kicked the ground again. With an upward sh, she shed against Sebastian, before kicking the air for a downward sh, followed by a horizontal sh, and another vertical sh.


    Each time her des shed against Sebastian''s sword, she would kick the air or the ground, continuing her attack in storm-like movements. Her movements turned quicker and quicker, soon reaching a point where they were invisible to the human eye.


    Only a blurry silver figure could be seen moving at godly speed around Sebastian, while the silver lightning in her hands whipped against him in a try to break through his defenses.


    "Ugh!" Sebastian grunted. He hurriedly tried to counterattack, only to realize that he had fallen in an inescapable.


    Not only were his movements slower than Regina, but he also had only one sword to face Regina''s twin des. In the current situation where he was being pressed by Regina''s attacks, he was quickly losing ground.


    But when he thought that the situation could not turn worse, the weapons of energy that Regina created before lit up.


    ''Damn, I forgot about them!''


    Sebastian''s expression changed. The next second, the energy weapons rained towards him.


    But Sebastian was a demigod. In this situation, he did not panic. Instead, the sword intent around him gathered on the tip of his sword.


    Then, his sword lit up in a blinding light.


    "[Rising Dawn Sword Style: Deadly Storm]!"


    There was a sword sh, then, all the weapons attacking Sebastian were cut down by illusory sword phantoms.


    At the same time, tens of sword phantoms attacked Regina. Regina opened her eyes wide and crossed her energy des in front of her chest. At the same time, several energy shields were created simultaneously.


    *BOOOM!!!*


    The sharpness of the sword attack shed against the shields, bisecting several of them in a go. Only after more than ten shields were cut was the power of that sword attack stopped.


    Regina squinted Thatst attack was threatening even for someone of her level!


    Moreover Regina looked in the direction of the two A-Ranks behind Sebastian.


    She had sent two energy weapons towards them in the confusion, trying to kill the pair without Sebastian noticing. However, the demigod noticed Regina''s n ant cut these weapons down too.


    "You are very strong, miss. However, I would prefer it if you limit your attacks to me. You would not like it if I attack the people behind you, right?"


    Regina frowned. That was not something that she wanted to see. Although she was confident in protecting Bloed regardless of the circumstances, she did not want to test that confidence against a demigod.


    But these two people Regina sighed and decided to trust in her master''s n. In the worst of the cases, she would use her strongest attack to destroy everything in several kilometers around them, rescuing Bloed in the confusion.


    Regina closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, her gaze was filled with coldness.


    "Let''s go up then."


    Jumping up, Regina flew at great speed, reaching the clouds in a few seconds.


    Sebastian did not hesitate to follow her, leaving the situation here to his two subordinates.


    When both of them reached above the clouds, Sebastian stared at Regina again and readied his stance.


    "What is your name, miss? Someone as powerful as you should not be unknown And, why is a demigod like you calling a C-Rank master? Don''t you think it''s shameful to your status?"


    Regina did not answer him and instead raised her energy de.


    "Do you know? My powers are of the destructive kind. Due to it, when I go all out, everything in my surroundings is destroyed."


    As soon as her words sounded, her energy de grew in size, turning several kilometers long in a second!


    Sebastian opened his eyes wide. This was way beyond what a normal demigod should be able to do!


    Regina held her de as though it was nothing and smiled elegantly.


    "Thankfully, there is nothing to destroy several kilometers around us. Thus, I can finally fight to my full power."


    Then, the energy de was swung down.


    And the power of the Valkyries, the greatestbat weapon of the human confederation, was finally shown in this world.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 145: Blink (1)

    Chapter 145: Blink (1)


    Bloed looked at the sky with an expression of awe. Since a while ago, the cloudy sky had been filled with blinding shes of silver light.


    As the only person in this world that knew about Regina''s ESP ability, Bloed knew that these shes of silver light were due to Regina attacks.


    [Energy Materialization]. As an S-Grade ESP ability with the capacity to materialize energy in different shapes, it''s a truly overpowered ability that grants her great power.


    Despite [Energy Materialization] being only an S-Grade ESP ability, its attack-oriented nature meant that it wasparable to some SS-Grade ESP abilities. Moreover, Regina was a Valkyrie, and her psychic power was at the SS-Grade, making her an SS-Grade ESPer. With such strength, she can be considered as one of the top existences in the world.


    And that is before she activates her [Valkyrie''s Equipment]. Once Regina activates it, she bes literally into a walking weapon of mass destruction.


    Not for nothing were Valkyries considered the ultimate weapon of mankind against the Devourers.


    The fight between Regina and Sebastian was incredibly shy. Every time a sh of silver lightning urred, the clouds were blown away, and the strong currents of air caused by Regina''s attack crashed against Diadel City.


    Even when the battlefield was located several kilometers up in the air, the fact that the aftershocks of the battle could be felt on the city showed how powerful that battle was.


    Unfortunately, although Bloed wanted to observe the battle badly, he needed to take care of other things first.


    For example, the two hooded A-Ranks in front of Liu Ying and him.


    " Man, I never thought we were going after a prince. It means that we need to be careful about not hurting him too much, right?" One of the hooded people said. The other thought briefly before sighing. "It doesn''t matter, just make sure that his limbs are intact and everything will be alright."


    " Are you sure?"


    "No, but you can see the fight up there. In the unlikely case that Mr. Sebastian loses and he has to escape, we should be as far from here as possible before that happens. Thus, it''s better if we take care of this fast."


    Bloed narrowed his eyes hearing their conversation.


    "You two are very confident, huh."


    "Sorry about that, your highness." Said one of the hooded people sarcastically. "But you are just a C-Rank. Without your nanny demigod protecting you, how are you going to stop us?"


    "Is it so?" Bloed smiled. He then formed a gun in each of his hands.


    Understanding his intentions, Liu Ying took a battle-ready stance. Without hesitation, her aspect materialized behind her, revealing a giant dark knight.


    "Woa That looks dangerous." One of the two hooded men said. "But not enough to stop us!"


    When his words finished, the hooded man disappeared, only to reappear the next second in front of Bloed and Liu Ying!


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. ''This is''


    Without hesitation, he jumped back. One secondter, a dagger cut the ce where he was just a moment ago!


    But Bloed did not stay quiet. As soon as he evaded, he aimed his Energy Gun: ster Mode towards the A-Rank''s face.


    But the A-Rank did not even bother to avoid the attack! Instead, he disappeared suddenly before appearing again, this time behind Liu Ying.


    "Careful!" Bloed shouted, but even before shouting, he had alreadymanded Leto. A barrier of metallic sand formed between the A-rank and Liu Ying, stopping the attack briefly!


    Liu Ying was surprised. Fortunately, her battle experience kicked in, allowing her to make the best decision in that situation. Jumping away!


    But at that moment, the second A-Rank moved!


    Different from the first, the second one did not move at godly speed. Instead, he just punched the ground.


    And


    *BOOOMMM!!!*


    The earth and stones rose like waves, surging towards Bloed and Liu Ying overwhelmingly!


    Bloed''s expression changed. Without hesitation, he jumped up and avoided the wave. But when he was still in the air, the first hooded man appeared.


    "You are mine!" With a dagger on his hand, he stabbed towards Bloed''s abdomen.


    But when he thought Bloed could not avoid his attack, Bloed shot his ster gun, using the recoil of the shot to move away from the path of the dagger.


    At the same time, his other gun aimed to the hooded man again, only for him disappear just like before.


    Liu Ying, on the other hand, was using Leto''s help to barely keep herself alive from the strange attacks of the other A-Rank. However, the attacks of the two A-Ranks were slowly cornering the pair.


    Not even ten seconds after the battle started, Bloed and Liu Ying were already at the brim of losing!


    ''Damn! A-Rank practitioners are too strong! And there are two of them!''


    Bloed bit his lips and put his entire focus on the fight. Against this kind of enemy, even the slightest negligence could be fatal.


    In fact, even if Bloed and Liu Ying fought perfectly, winning was an impossibility.


    The first hooded person continued moving bizarrely around the field of battle, appearing suddenly in the ce Bloed less expected it.


    The fact that Bloed and Liu Ying had managed to avoid him for so long was already almost a miracle.


    Actually, that hooded person was just as surprised as Bloed. The fact that two C-Ranks like Bloed and Liu Ying avoided his attacks for so long was definitively no normal.


    ''I guess he is a prince after all, huh.'' The hooded person clicked his tongue in admiration.


    With that thought in mind, the hooded person narrowed his eyes and upped his speed. This time he appeared in front of Bloed!


    But when he appeared, his eyes opened wide.


    In front of him, the muzzle of Bloed''s ster gun was aiming at his chest.


    ''Fuck''


    Without hesitation, the hooded person jumped aside, avoiding the attack. Then, he tried to teleport again, but he realized that something was grabbing his ankles!


    At some point, the ground he was stepping on had been covered by metallic sand, and that metallic sand had turned into two chains that grabbed his two legs!


    But as an experienced A-Rank, the hooded person did not panic. Instead, he blew up a bit of his mana, using it to disperse the metallic sand hindering him.


    In total, he needed less than one-tenth of a second to escape his bindings.


    But that tenth of a second was enough for an experienced assassin.


    Without a warning, a pair of daggers appeared from the shadows surrounding the hooded person, stabbing towards his neck and back.


    The hooded person''s face changed. Under his hood, his eyes opened wide.


    The daggers pierced his skin, cutting his neck and back mercilessly.


    But before the daggers could kill him, the hooded person disappeared.


    When he reappeared, he was ten meters away, bleeding intensely from his neck and back.


    With an expression of disbelief and rage, he looked at the shadows responsible for hurting him.


    The shadows then turned tangible, revealing a handsome catkin man with an elegant smile.


    "Yo! I came to help my friend with a favor."


    Javelin was here.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 146: Blink (2)

    Chapter 146: Blink (2)


    The hooded man was bleeding profusely from his neck and back. The injuries he received, although not fatal, were very grave.


    "You" Rage and surprise appeared in the hooded man''s eyes. He had not realized Javelin''s presence until he was attacked!


    Javelin walked out of the shadows and he was twirling yfully his two daggers. With a smile, he walked beside Bloed and Liu Ying.


    "Well, what do we have here? Hey Bloed, when you told me you were going to need my help with something, you never mentioned that this something was a demigod plus two A-Rank powerhouses."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Actually, I was expecting only a demigod. The two A-Ranks are an extra."


    Javelin did not know whether tough or to cry. Only a demigod? ''Only''?


    Although looking at the fight in the clouds, he understood why Bloed said ''only a demigod''.


    "Damn, I was already surprised when you told me that your mother was a demigod, but why in the hell is your servant a demigod too? What kind of family do youe from?"


    " It''s a long story. And I don''t think the two friends in front of us will give us the time to talk about it."


    Javelin also nodded.


    Although now that he was here the situation was much better than before, Bloed, Liu Ying, and Javelin were still at a disadvantage.


    " The people of Moonlight Glow will be arriving soon." Javelin said with a serious look. "We will have to endure until then."


    Bloed nodded. That was the only thing they could do for now.


    The reason Javelin was here was that Bloed asked him toe. When Javelin gave Bloed the reward earlier today, Bloed had already told Javelin and Madeline that he would perhaps use their help soon.


    It was because Bloed had learned from Charise, the saintess of fate, that people from the kingdom would being for him.


    In normal conditions, Regina alone would have been enough to take care of anyone the kingdom send. But out of caution, and in the unlikely case the kingdom sent a demigod, Bloed decided to enlist some help.


    Thus, he gave Javelin a small device through which Bloed could send a help signal. In case Bloed needed Javelin''s help, this device would emit a high-pitched beep and show Bloed''s approximate location to Javelin.


    And when Bloed saw Sebastian appear with two A-Ranks, he knew he did alright to ask for Javelin''s help.


    Hence, he decisively activated the transmitter.


    Regina knew about Bloed''s preparations. That was the reason she did not attack Sebastian as soon as he appeared and instead talked to him for a while. To gain time.


    In fact, when Regina and Sebastian started their fight in the clouds, Javelin had already arrived.


    However, he did not attack immediately and instead waited for an opportunity to realize a sneak attack. When the opportunity presented itself, he attacked.


    And although he did not kill the A-Rank when he attacked, he injured him severely, affecting hisbat ability.


    "Then, how are we going to do this now?" Javelin asked.


    Bloed thought for a moment and took two earpieces from a pocket, giving one to Liu Ying and one to Javelin.


    "You fight the uninjured A-Rank and take care of him," Bloed said to Javelin. "Liu Ying and I will take care of the fast one."


    Javelin observed the earpiece curiously and put it on his ear before looking at the injured A-Rank. "Are you sure? Although that man is injured, I think he is more dangerous than the other. Even I don''t understand how he is appearing and disappearing so mysteriously."


    Bloed smiled softly. "Don''t worry, that man will not be able to take us down."


    Javelin furrowed his brows. Unfortunately, he did not have time to ask Bloed about the details. Because at that moment, the two hooded people resumed their attacks.


    Without a warning, the injured hooded person disappeared.


    Bloed acted instantly and raised his gun in Javelin''s direction, shooting a bullet of superpressed energy.


    But before the bullet could hit Javelin, the air in front of him distorted and the hooded figure appeared.


    "!!!"


    The figure was surprised and hurriedly moved away, losing his opportunity to attack Javelin. At the same time, Bloed shouted.


    "Javelin, leave him to us!"


    " Make sure to not die!" Javelin shouted back and disappeared in the shadows. Then, he emerged in front of the other hooded person.


    Instantly, a fierce fight between shadows and earth started.


    Meanwhile, Bloed fight against the disappearing A-Rank continued.


    To the hooded man''s surprise, though, not only were Bloed and Liu Ying not being suppressed, but they even seemed to have a slight advantage.


    "Kuh!" The hooded person grunted and disappeared again, trying to appear behind Liu Ying. But when he appeared, he felt the chains made of Leto''s metallic sand wrapping around his legs. At the same time, Liu Ying''s punch wasing towards his waist.


    "Hah!"


    ''Damn!'' The hooded person could only cross his arms to stop the attack, but Liu Ying''s punch was not something as easy to receive. Much less when the destructive power of her attacks was being boosted by the gloved Bloed''s crafted.


    "Agh!" The hooded person felt his arm bones groaning under the pressure of the punch. Hurriedly, he erupted the mana in his body, destroying Leto''s chains and jumping away to reduce part of Liu Ying''s attack.


    Unfortunately, another one of Bloed''s bullets wasing in his direction. Thus, the hooded person was forced to disappear again.


    But when he reappeared, another one of Bloed bullets wasing towards his face!


    This time, the hooded person was forced to receive the attack. His dagger cut towards the energy bullet, triggering a powerful explosion that blew the hooded person away!


    "Ugh!" The hooded person grunted in pain. The cape covering his body was destroyed, and the injuries caused by Javelin became worse.


    Bloed, however, was surprised by something else.


    The person under the hood was not a man as he had thought. Instead, it was a woman.


    "Cough cough" The hooded woman coughed a mouthful of blood and looked at Bloed warily while wiping off the blood on her lips.


    "You You have a way to predict where I''m going to appear, right? Is it your eyes?"


    Bloed did not deny it. The woman was not an idiot, so it was normal that she noticed after Bloed predicted her attacks several times.


    Although Bloed was not sure how the woman did it, the ability she was using was a kind of [Blink]. In other words, short-ranged teleportation.


    Unfortunately for the woman, that ability had a few ws.


    The first one was the energy fluctuations it emitted. Each time she blinked and before she reappeared, the ce where she was going to appear emitted a very slight energy fluctuation. This energy fluctuation was very small, almost unnoticeable, but as clear as the day in front of Bloed''s eyes.


    And the second w was that the woman''s blink had a very brief ''cooldown''.


    After she blinked, she needed a fraction of a second before she could blink again.


    These two ws, plus the fact that the woman had been injured by Javelin before, made the fight much easier for Bloed and Liu Ying.


    Bloed used these three points to gain the advantage in the fight against the woman.


    On one hand, he used the earpiece he passed to Liu Ying to tell her the ce where the woman was going to reappear. On the other hand, he shot his ster gun and controlled Leto to attack the ces where the woman was going to reappear, forcing her to avoid or take the attacks and disrupting her rhythm.


    When the woman confirmed that Bloed had a way to predict her teleportation ability, she sighed.


    " ording to my knowledge, the kingdom has only two princes. One is the crown prince, who is already twenty years old. The other is princess Eres, whose talent is considered the greatest the royal family has seen in thest three hundred years.


    "However, a few years ago, there were three princes instead of two. The third prince was a young boy by the name of Glenn. That boy was always very mysterious, and there was very little information about him. However, he died mysteriously six years ago."


    Bloed fell silent. It seemed like this woman had realized his identity after hearing Sebastian''s words.


    When the woman saw Bloed''s silence, she confirmed her guesses.


    " Nice to meet you then, Prince Glenn Skysword."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 147: Blink (3)

    Chapter 147: Blink (3)


    " Nice to meet you then, Prince Glenn Skysword."


    Not only Bloed, but also Liu Ying, Javelin, and the other hooded A-Rank heard the woman''s words.


    Bloed''s expression turned ice-cold. Ignoring the gazes of surprise in Liu Ying and Javelin''s face, he sneered.


    "My name is Bloed Norman. Glenn Skysword died long ago."


    The woman nodded softly. "I see When the queen gave birth to twins back then, the entire kingdom celebrated. It was said that the talent of the twins was so great that the mana in the entire pce rushed towards them.


    "Since then, though, people only spoke about the talent of the princess. Many people guessed that there was a problem with the other twin. But now that I''m seeing you, I know that it''s not true.


    "Your eyes And your talent. Although your cultivation is a bit lower than the princess, your talent is definitively top ss. I''m curious now about why you were hidden from the world, prince, and how did you end in this ce." The woman then licked her lips and raised her dagger. "I guess I will know about it if I catch you."


    "... You should speak after you catch me."


    The woman shrugged. "I admit that I underestimated you, prince. However, you still underestimate the power of an A-Rank!"


    As soon as her words finished, the woman disappeared.


    Bloed instantly aimed at the ce where he felt the energy fluctuation, but at that moment, he felt a second energy fluctuation behind him!


    "!!!"


    Bloed hurriedly changed his aim towards behind him, but then, the woman appeared in the ce of the first energy fluctuation!


    This time, the dagger was cutting towards Bloed''s back.


    However


    *Bam!*


    At some point, another gun had appeared in Bloed''s other hand, recing his saber. That gun aimed and shot a bullet towards the woman.


    ''He had another!?''


    "Tsk!"


    The woman clicked his tongue and avoided the bullet, but it meant she failed to attack Bloed. And at the same time, Leto''s chains and Liu Ying''s attacks came towards her.


    The woman''s avoided both attacks and retreated again.


    Unfortunately, another bullet was flying in direction to the ce where she moved to!


    "Hmph!" The woman grunted and twisted her body to avoid the bullet. After she experienced receiving a bullet before, she did not dare to receive another.


    In fact, the bullet she received had greatly damaged her dagger. She could feel that her dagger''s edge had turned duller, and part of the dagger had melted.


    But


    "So your ability to predict the ce where I appear is not perfect, huh."


    The woman smirked and disappeared again. And just likest time, there were two energy fluctuations before she reappeared.


    Moreover, the location of one of the energy fluctuations was being blocked by Liu Ying! With Liu Ying in the way, Bloed could not shot in that direction!


    Bloed''s thoughts moved quickly. In a thousandth of a second, he made his choice.


    His two guns aimed at one of the energy fluctuations, while he let Liu Ying and Leto attack the other.


    But suddenly, another energy fluctuation appeared!


    This time, behind Bloed!


    This was the true target of the woman!


    Although surprised, Bloed did not panic. Without hesitation, he crouched down and let go of his guns.


    The woman appeared. Her dagger glowed brightly, aiming towards Bloed''s shoulder.


    No matter how Bloed tried, he could not avoid this attack!


    Thus, Bloed did not try to evade it. Instead, he unsheathed his saber, sending his psychic energy into it and swinging it towards the dagger.


    The saber lit up with a soft glow. A magic circle appeared around it, symbolizing the activation of a technique.


    It was the first time Bloed used his saber to attack the woman since the battle started!


    But although the woman saw Bloed''s attack, she did not pay attention to it. As an A-Rank, if her dagger was unable to overpower the hurried attack of a C-Rank, then all her training had been in vain.


    The next instant, though, her expression changed.


    Without hesitation, the woman forced his movements to a stop and jumped back.


    Unfortunately


    *Swish!*


    She was a bit toote.


    The saber shed against the dagger, but instead of the expected metallic sound, the saber cut the dagger as though it was butter!


    Moreover, it even managed to injure the woman''s hand!


    "Ugh!" The woman held her hand and teleported away. She then looked at Bloed with an expression of astonishment and disbelief.


    "Good try," Bloed said. "But not enough."


    "Damn, this is bad" The woman said under her breath. She looked at the blooding from her right hand and her expression turned bitter.


    Not only she lost her dagger this time, but also her dominant hand. In its current condition, her right hand would be useless for the rest of the fight.


    "What in the hell is that technique" She wondered in confusion. It had cut through her dagger and defenses as though they did not exist!


    ''Could it be Skysword!?''


    Skysword was not only the surname of the Kingdom of Alterna''s royal family. It was also the name of their most powerful and secret technique.


    Skysword, a sword that can cut through anything.


    And if the prince could use that technique, defeating him would be much harder.


    To be honest, even without her blinking skill, the woman was strong enough to take Bloed, Leto, and Liu Ying for herself without much problem. The problem was the injury that Javelin had inflected to her before.


    That injury had taken away at least fifty percent of herbat capacity. And although she hated to admit it, fighting Bloed and Liu Ying with the remaining fifty percent was a bit difficult.


    And now that she had lost her dagger and injured her dominant arm, the situation had turned even worse. At most, she could use thirty percent of her strength!


    ''Damn it, I''ll be the joke of my friends if they learn that I''m losing to a pair of kids.''


    Bloed and Liu Ying walked close to each other and looked at the woman warily. Even although the woman had been injured again, they did not lower their guard.


    In fact, Bloed felt a bit regretful. He expected to use the factor surprise of his saber to cause the woman a greater injury. Unfortunately, even if the woman was injured, she was a true A-Rank. As soon as she felt that something was wrong, she retreated without hesitation.


    " Prince, what was that technique?" The woman asked.


    Bloed did not bother to reply to her. Instead, he raised an eyebrow before smiling.


    The woman was startled, but soon, she understood why Bloed was smiling.


    Around them, several beastmen appeared, led by a powerful catkin woman.


    "Stop!" Madeline shouted to the woman and the other hooded person. "If you don''t stop now, we will kill you!"


    The woman raised her hands helplessly to indicate that she was not going to resist. At the same time, the A-Rank facing Javelin stopped too.


    "Damn, we are in trouble." The woman smiled bitterly.


    But almost instantly, the situation changed again.


    "Miss Madeline, can you stop, please? These people are my friends."


    A voice came from behind Madeline. Then, a nun-like girl appeared followed by several knights.


    It was Charise, the saintess of the church of fate.


    Madeline''s expression turned ugly. "Charise, what is the meaning of this!?"


    "Calm down, Madeline." Charise smiled gently. She then looked at Bloed and Liu Ying. "Don''t worry, Mr. Bloed. I''m not your enemy."


    Bloed frowned confused, while Liu Ying clenched her fist ready to fight. But before they could understand the situation, three new people appeared suddenly.


    They were Regina, Sebastian, and Kallevang, the knight that always followed behind Charise.


    Regina moved beside Bloed instantly, while Sebastian and Kallevang moved near their respectivepanions


    "Okay, now that everybody is here, can we talk?"


    For some reason, Charise''s smile seemed a bit mischievous.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 148: Wiping It Off The Map

    Chapter 148: Wiping It Off The Map


    One minute before Charise appeared


    Above the clouds, Regina and Sebastian''s battle was still on-going.


    Weapons from energy materialized around Regina, attacking Sebastian mercilessly. One of the weapons, a giant sword-like snake, slithered in the sky while its body filled with des shed against Sebastian''s sword.


    Sebastian blocked the sword with difficulty and flew away, only to see a beam of energy fleeing in his direction.


    "Dammit!" Helpless, Sebastian could only take the attack head-on while using his mana as a barrier.


    Unfortunately, his mana shield was unable to block the beam of energypletely. His left arm was badly burnt, forcing him to retreat again while gasping for air.


    At this point, the stronger party in this battle was already evident.


    On one side, Regina was standing indifferently with spotless clothes. There was no trace of struggle or tension in her expression, and instead, she seemed like she was simply taking a stroll.


    Sebastian, on the other hand, was filled with injuries through all his body. Burns and cuts filled his arms, and his once neat hair waspletely messy.


    " So weak. Do you truly want to take my master away with this little strength?" Regina spoke in a condescending tone.


    Sebastian grunted with a grave expression. Instead of answering, he took advantage of this moment to move his mana through his body in an attempt to recover even a little of his injuries.


    "I don''t understand," Sebastian said. "Why is a demigod like you following the prince around and even calling him master? Moreover, do you know what are you doing? You are opposing the Kingdom of Alterna like this!"


    "And what about it?" Regina said without changing her expression. "Just a tiny kingdom. If they dare to hurt my master, I don''t mind wiping it off the map."


    Sebastian''s expression changed. "You Do you know what are you saying!? Even if you are a demigod, you alone can''t go against the kingdom! Heh, the number of demigods like you and me in the kingdom is greater than you imagine."


    Regina did not even bother to reply to him. In fact, as a weapon of mass destruction belonging to a more advanced civilization, Regina disdained the powerhouses of this world.


    And in fact, she has a reason for her thoughts. In terms of pure destructive power, Regina was much stronger than practically any demigod in this world.


    Seeing that Regina was ignoring his words, Sebastian sighed.


    "Actually, the king does not have bad intentions this time. He only wants to restore his highness''s title as prince."


    "Is that everything you want to say?" Regina stared at Sebastian coldly. "Regardless of your king''s intentions, my master doesn''t want to see him. Master wants nothing to do with your kingdom. In fact, you should count yourself lucky that master doesn''t want to destroy it, otherwise, I don''t mind doing it for him."


    Sebastian''s face was ugly. This girl was impossible to reason with!


    Regina looked down from the clouds to the battle in the city and realized that it was already ending. She then withdrew the energy weapons around her and heaved a sigh.


    "It looks like master managed to surmount this trial again. Perfect. I guess I have to thank you for that. Although I don''t like you, only with enemies like you can master grow stronger quicker."


    After saying that, a great amount of psychic energy surged out of Regina''s body.


    The psychic energy was much greater than anything she had used before. It instantly wrapped around her body, turning into a beautiful set of armor like an ancient goddess of war.


    Then, two small silver flowers bloomed over her shoulders. The flowers hovered silently while emitting threatening arcs of silver lightning that seemed to rend space apart.


    It was [Krigsrustning]. Regina''s Valkyrie Armament.


    Sebastian''s face changed. After that armor appeared, the pressure Regina was emitting increased frighteningly!


    It was as though she was several times stronger!


    "I guess that there is no need to continue this fight anymore," Regina said indifferently. Then, she raised her right hand, and the silver flower over her right shoulder turned into a beautiful silver sword that fell in her hand.


    Holding the beautiful silver sword elegantly, Regina red at Sebastian.


    "Now, die!"


    Together with that ice-cold voice, Regina swung down her sword down.


    Sebastian''s expression turned grave. Without hesitation, his entire mana pool was used to unleash his strongest defensive move.


    But at the next instant, the sword turned into a ray of energy that severed the sky into two. It then shed against Sebastian''s defenses, destroying them in an instant!


    But when it seemed that Sebastian was going to die


    *ng!*


    Someone appeared at that moment.


    Raising his greatsword, that man managed to stop Regina''s sword!


    However, Regina''s attack was too powerful. In the instant the man received the sword, he felt as though his entire body was inside a furnace. Moreover, silver lightning rushed towards his body, tearing his insides apart.


    "AAAAHHHHHH!!!" The man raised opened his mouth and bellowed. Instantly, mana erupted from his body, sending Regina''s attack away.


    When Regina saw that, she frowned and stopped her attack before looked at the neer with a chilling look.


    "You are Kallevang, right? Does the church of fate n to take their side? If so, I don''t mind killing you with him!"


    "Please wait, miss Regina." Kallevang hurriedly said and lowered his sword. "We are not your enemies."


    Regina furrowed her brows and observed Kallevang carefully. Just like he said, Regina could not feel maliceing from him.


    Although he saved Sebastian just now, Kallevang did not seem to have the intention of fighting Regina. In fact, despite being wary of Regina''s strength, Kallevang had lowered his weapon to show that he was not an enemy.


    "Do speak then," Regina retracted her killing intent briefly. "Why did you stop me from killing him?"


    " Are you sure you want to kill a demigod from the Kingdom of Alterna? Once you do it, the kingdom will treat you and your master as mortal enemies. By then, they will not stop until the two of you are dead."


    Regina sneered. "And what about it? Besides, this time they send a demigod against my master and failed. Next time, they will probably send two, and next time after that three. If we are destined to be enemies anyway, it''s better if I chip away as much of their strength as I can."


    Kellevang felt cold sweat running through his back. Facing the chilling killing intent of this girl, even he felt pressured.


    In fact, he was not sure that he could win against her, even with the help of the demigod behind him.


    Fortunately, he never intended to face this girl.


    "Don''t worry about that, miss Regina," Kallevang said. "Our saintess has already thought about that. Why don''t you return with your master first? The saintess will tell you about her ns. Mr. Sebastian, you should return too."


    Regina narrowed her eyes, but after thinking for a moment, she nodded.


    "Very well. I hope that the words of your saintess are worth my time."


    Upon saying that, she returned to the city.


    Kallevang sighed in relief and looked at Sebastian with a wry smile. Then, the two of them returned to the city as well.


    ...


    This chapter was not suppossed to be like this, but when I started to write about Regina''s OPness, I could not stop :p


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 149: Not Asking for Your Opinion

    Chapter 149: Not Asking for Your Opinion


    "Okay, now that everybody is here, can we talk?" Charise said with a soft smile.


    Her face, however, froze as soon as she saw Sebastian''s condition.


    Although she knew that Sebastian was losing against Regina, she never thought the difference in strength was so big.


    Not only Charise, but most of the others were also stunned when they saw the pitiful state of the demigod.


    Instantly, the way they looked at Regina changedpletely. Regina being a demigod was already very astonishing, but the fact that she managed to trash Sebastian, a famous demigod, so easily while remaining uninjured, was even more mindblowing. Such strength was definitively higher than most demigods!


    "Miss Charise, are you going to exin why you stopped our fight?" Bloed reminded Charise of her purpose here.


    Charise was startled before smiling apologetically. " Oh Sorry. I was just a bit shocked. Where I was? Right, Mr. Bloed, I hope you can let Mr. Sebastian and the others go."


    Bloed frowned. He was not exactly happy with that suggestion.


    Perhaps feeling Bloed''s dissatisfaction, Charise smiled wryly and exined. "Mr. Bloed, you and I know that if you kill them here, you will turn himself into a mortal enemy of the Kingdom of Alterna. Furthermore, Mr. Javelin and Miss Madeline will end embroiled in this mess too as the people that helped you. Are you sure that is what you want?"


    Bloed fell silent. Charise''s words were right. However


    "Even if I let them go now, they will just return again before long. From that perspective, killing them now is better. At least, there is a demigod less from the kingdom I need to worry about."


    Charise smiled. "Don''t worry, I will help you with that." She then turned towards Sebastian. "Mr. Sebastian, I hope your kingdom stops making things difficult for Mr. Bloed from now onwards."


    Sebastian wrinkled his brows. "Saintess, although I understand your intentions, I hope you stop interfering in our kingdom''s affairs. Moreover, I follow my king''s orders. If my king wants to bring Prince Glenn back to the kingdom, I will do it even if it costs me my life."


    Charise stared at Sebastian briefly before chuckling. Then, her expression turned icy.


    "It looks like you are misunderstanding something, Mr. Sebastian. I''m not asking for your opinion; I''m giving you a warning. If you or your king insists on chasing after Mr. Bloed after today, you will go against our church of fate too. Are you sure that is what your king wants?"


    Sebastian''s face changed. Bloed, however, was not much better. He and the others were looking at Charise in bewilderment.


    Charise had just stood in Bloed''s side even when it meant going against a kingdom!


    Even Kallevang seemed slightly surprised. However, he just nced at the saintess briefly before restoring his stoic expression.


    "Saintess, I hope you reconsider your words." Sebastian scowled.


    "There is nothing to reconsider, Mr. Sebastian. Mr. Bloed and his friends are people under the church of fate''s protection. Any act against them means going against our church."


    "Our Moonlight Glow too!" Madeline stepped forward at that moment. "Mr. Bloed is a guest of Moonlight Glow. If you decide to go against him, you will have to consider the response of our organization."


    Sebastian looked at the people around him and narrowed his eyes. No matter how he looked at the situation, things were as bad as they could get.


    On one side, he was badly injured and one of his two subordinates could barely use thirty percent of her strength.


    As for the other side, they had two demigods in top condition. Plus the knights of fate and the beastmen of Moonlight Glow who were ready to attack at any moment.


    Sebastian thought for a moment before closing his eyes and sighing. When he opened his eyes again, he looked at Bloed.


    "Your highness, I hope you reconsider returning to the kingdom. Regardless of the past, your true family is still there."


    Bloed did not even bother to reply to him. His choice was already made. There was nothing to reconsider.


    Sebastian sighed again. "Very well, we will take our leave then."


    But at that moment, he saw Kallevang unsheathing his greatsword and releasing his aura against him!


    Sebastian''s face changed. Instantly, he stood in front of his two subordinates and stared at Kallevang warily.


    Charise spoke at that moment.


    "Mr. Sebastian, I think you should stay for a bit longer." She tilted her head and smiled gently.


    Sebastian''s expression turned ugly. "Saintess, what is the meaning of this?"


    "Nothing much." Replied Charise. "Just, don''t you think you should return the favor after we saved your life? It was Kallevang''s intervention that stopped Miss Regina from taking your life."


    " What do you want?"


    "Well, you can see the situation of the city, right?" Charise pointed to the magic circle around the city and the ashes and smoke floating in the air. "The thing is, we need a bit of help. Can you give us a hand?"


    Sebastian was cursing inwardly. However, he knew he did not have the right to refuse in the current situation.


    Even although Charise would probably not kill him even if he refuses, she could use the fact that he attacked Bloed as an excuse to keep him imprisoned for a long while and give a blow to the kingdom''s reputation.


    Thus, after he heaved his third sigh since he started this conversation, Sebastian agreed.


    "Very well."


    "Great. Then, I think it''s better if we hurry up. We don''t have much time left."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 150: Three Nodes

    Chapter 150: Three Nodes


    "How is the situation?" Bloed asked.


    Charise shook her head with a grave face.


    "Very bad. We never expected the duke to take such a drastic measure, so he caught us unprepared."


    "I can''t believe the duke is so crazy." Madeline gritted her teeth in rage. "Does he think the churches will let something like this pass? He will be hanged like the criminal he is!"


    "Quite the opposite." Bloed shook his head. "I fear the duke will end like a hero after everything ends."


    Charise, Madeline, and the others were startled and looked at Bloed without understanding what he was speaking about.


    Bloed sighed. " I have been thinking about it for a while. No matter what the goal of the duke is, using living humans as sacrifices will turn him into the enemy of the world. I don''t think he is idiotic enough to do something like that. Thus, he must surely have something he is relying on."


    Charise, Madelina, and Javelin furrowed their brows in thoughts, but they were unable to connect the dots so quickly.


    Instead, it was Liu Ying who seemed to have noticed something.


    "The church of ughter?"


    "Yes." Bloed nodded. "Think about it. We know that the duke and the church of the ughter are allies, but the duke will never admit something like that. If my guess is not wrong after the duke aplishes his goal, he will send his men to kill the members of the church of ughter, he probably will go to the frontlines personally, fighting heroically and ending like a hero."


    "Are you saying that the duke is nning to betray the church of ughter? But these crazy men are not that stupid, how can they be fooled so easily?" Javelin asked.


    Charise shook her head with an expression of realization. "No, the church of the ughter knows about the duke''s n. In fact, they agreed to it."


    "Huh?"


    "Think about it, Mr. Javelin." Charise smiled softly, but an ice-cold rage was burning behind her smile. "Why would the church of ughter agree to cooperate with the duke? What did the duke offer to them?"


    "You can''t mean!" Madeline and Javelin were aghast.


    Charise nodded. "The duke offered his citizens and the destruction of the city as payment. After everything ends, the duke will end like a hero, while the church of the ughter will retreat with few casualties and its name will resound through the continent as one of the biggest dens of criminals, growing quickly in power. It''s a win-win situation for both of them."


    Bloed nodded. Although there were still several parts of the puzzle he did not understand yet, he had now a basic outlook of everything.


    Both the duke and the church of ughter were acting in a sick y where only the innocent citizens will suffer.


    That was so


    " repugnant." Liu Ying finished Bloed''s thought.


    Still, there was something Bloed did not understand.


    What is the duke nning to get with all of this? Why did he do something so cold-blooded and risky?


    Why did he need so many sacrifices?


    What about the Blight?


    No matter how much Bloed thought about it, this n was not something someone sane would agree to. It could go wrong in many ways.


    And how Bernard and the other people in Auspicious Night fit in this n?


    Probably with the same doubts than Bloed, Charise sighed.


    "Unfortunately, we did not manage to get any information from Bernard. So we will have to do with what we have now."


    "What is the n then?" Madeline stared at Charise and Bloed. Charise waved her hand softly, creating a magic circle that turned into a miniature tridimensional image of the city.


    "We are not sure about the duke''s ns, but it''s obvious the giant magic circle is the key. This magic circle has covered the entire city, therefore, it needs a very powerful source of power. ording to my calctions, the main node of the spell should be here." Charise pointed to the city hall. "If we destroy it, the spell should stop."


    Bloed thought for a moment and looked at Charise. "Can you show me the spell they are using?"


    Charise was startled, but she quickly agreed. With a wave of her hand, the projection of the city vanished and was reced by a tridimensional image of a magic circle.


    "ording to my observations, this should be the spell they are using. I have seen this spell several times before, so I''m almost one hundred percent sure."


    Bloed frowned briefly. He had been analyzing the spell since it appeared, and if he was not mistaken...


    "Regina, did you see the whole magic circle when you were on the clouds? Can you show it to us?"


    Regina thought for a moment before extending her hand. Instantly, a magic circle made of energy appeared over her hand. But the group noticed that although this magic circle was simr to the one Charise showed, it was slightly moreplex.


    "As expected." Bloed nodded and observed the spell fixedly. The next instant, his mechanical blue eyes lit up dimly, and his ESP ability, [Enhanced Bran Capacity] was put into action.


    "What are you doing?" Charise wanted to ask, but she was stopped by Regina and Liu Ying.


    Not even three secondster, Bloed eyes returned to normal.


    He then asked Regina to use energy to make a map of the city and pointed to three ces. One was the city hall, and the other two were in the north and south of the city respectively.


    "Charise is right. The magic circle that is being used was the one she showed us, but it has been modified slightly. It has three main nodes instead of one. If we destroy only one or two of them, the remaining one will still keep the spell working, fueling the spell without a problem."


    The group was startled.


    "Are you sure?"


    Bloed nodded.


    "My knowledge of magic circles is first-rate. Although I can''t use magic, I''m sure not many people in the world know more about magic circles than me."


    The group looked at Bloed in astonishment. What he just did was beyond just ''first-ss''.


    He literally decoded a spell he saw for the first time and found its weakness in just three seconds!


    However, something like that was not difficult for Bloed. Bloed''s ESP ability was perfectly suited for this kind of analysis, plus his knowledge about magic circles was gotten from Chorius''s library, the demigod bird they met before leaving the Exiled Lands. Each book in Chorius''s library was incredibly valuable, and the knowledge in them was very depth. In other words, Bloed''s theoretical foundations on magic were very solid.


    Normally, Charise and the others would have found it hard to believe that someone of Bloed''s age could do something like this, but they had already gotten used to Bloed''s unusualness. Moreover, someone who a demigod called master surely must have one or two things he was exceptional at.


    "In other words, we need to destroy the three nodes if we wish to stop everything, huh." Charise frowned briefly.


    Obviously, the three nodes would be strongly protected. Destroying the three was going to be a difficult task.


    Fortunately, the number of demigods in this ce matched the targets.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, your group will take care of the node in the north. Mr. Sebastian, you and Moonlight Glow will destroy the node in the south."


    "Are you not afraid of me betraying you guys?" Sebastian, who had been silent until now, stared at Charise coldly.


    "You can try," Charise smiled gently. "But I hope you are prepared to bear the consequences."


    Sebastian grunted, reluctantly epting Charise''s orders.


    "Then, the church of fate will take care of the node in the city hall," Charise said. "Any objection?"


    When she saw nobody objecting, Charise nodded.


    "Then, start moving. We can''t let these viins seed."


    With these words, the operation tonight started.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 151: The First Node

    Chapter 151: The First Node


    Sebastian and Moonlight Glow''s group was the first to depart.


    Meanwhile, Charise, Bloed, and the others stayed behind for a bit longer.


    The reason? there was something Bloed needed to ask.


    "Why?" Bloed asked Charise.


    Charise smiled charmingly and tilted her head. "What is it, Mr. Bloed? I don''t understand your question."


    "Don''t y dumb, saintess." Bloed''s expression was cold. "No matter how I see it, I can''t think of a reason you helped us before."


    Charise looked at Bloed briefly and giggled. "Mr. Bloed, you are not used to receiving others'' goodwill, right? Don''t worry, I''m not going to ask anything of you. However, there is something I want to tell you."


    " Do tell."


    "If one day you be strong enough to influence the fate of the world, don''t forget you are from this world too."


    Bloed fell silent and thought about Charise''s words. A few secondster, he nodded.


    "I''ll think about it." Then, he left.


    Kallevang, who was standing behind Charise, spoke at that moment.


    "Saintess, are you sure about this?"


    Charise sighed. " That boy And the girls beside him. They are filled with potential. The exiled prince of the Kingdom of Alterna, a mysterious demigod with an iplete soul, and the former princess of the demon empire. If they have time to develop their abilities, maybe they can be another beacon of hope for this world. Moreover I fear that if they and the kingdom continue crossing paths, the final result will be a tragedy."


    "A tragedy? Do you mean, the boy will die?"


    Charise sighed. "Who knows? But I have the feeling it will be something worse."


    Bloed''s group was riding Leto at full speed.


    His group was formed by four people. Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and Javelin, who chose to support Bloed''s group instead of going with Moonlight Glow.


    To be honest, Bloed''s group was the smallest of the three. Madeline even suggested to have some of the beastmen of Moonlight Glow going with them, but Bloed rejected the suggestion. In fact, he would not have brought Javelin with him if not by the insistence of theter.


    Javelin only understood Bloed''s intentions when he experienced Leto''s speed.


    " I see. Certainly, this creature of yours is very fast, but the number of people it can carry is limited. If we bring more people, our speed would slow down drastically."


    Bloed nodded. "Exactly. The most important part of tonight''s operation is speed. If we finish our part quickly, we can go to support Charise and the others."


    "I understand By the way, Bloed, should I call you Prince Glenn from now onwards?"


    Bloed shot Javelin a cold look, making theter stiffen. "A Joke! It''s a joke!"


    Bloed sighed. "Just call me Bloed. I don''t have anything to do with that family anymore."


    "Even so, I was surprised when I learned you were a prince." Javelin sighed in admiration.


    Liu Ying nodded at that moment.


    "To be honest, I thought it was destiny."


    "Destiny?" Javelin asked confused. Liu Ying, however, just smiled and looked at Bloed with gentle eyes.


    Regina squinted her eyes and red at Liu Ying before snorting. Bloed could only smile wryly and ignore them.


    To be honest, he could not understand how the two of them could be so rxed in the current situation.


    But soon, the Valkyrie and the demon stopped with their antics.


    Instead, they put on serious expressions.


    The group had arrived at their destination.


    "Halt!" A city guard stood in front of the group with his sword unsheathed. Several other city guards were standing behind him.


    "Who are you!? What are you doing here!?"


    Bloed frowned. The node of the magic circle was behind these guards, however, the ce waspletely surrounded.


    Moreover, Bloed was not sure if the guards were involved in this plot or were simply being fooled by the duke.


    Fortunately, he did not need to fight them.


    "Regina. Do it quickly."


    The Valkyrie nodded. Calmly, she floated in the air and extended her hand.


    The city guard''s expression changed. "You You must be one of the viins destroying the city. Men, attack them!"


    Instantly, tens of arrows were released from the city guards. However, it waspletely useless in front of Regina. With an indifferent expression, she gathered energy in the palm of her hand and aimed at the node.


    When the city guard saw that, he kicked the ground and charged towards her.


    "I won''t let you!"


    A sword sh cut through the air, flying towards Regina.


    But Javelin moved at that moment. With a twirl of his daggers, he stopped the A-Rank city guard''s attack.


    "Sorry about that, man, but we need to destroy this ce."


    While Javelin was speaking, Regina finished gathering energy.


    Then


    "Go."


    A thin beam of energy was shot towards the node.


    *BOOOMMMM!!!*


    The powerful explosion shook the surroundings, however, the beam Regina just used was designed to prate and destroy. Despite its immense power, it did not hurt any of the guards nearby.


    Unfortunately, it did not destroy the node.


    A barrier of light in front of the beam, stopping it momentarily.


    The shield of light was quickly destroyed, but then, another thicker and stronger barrier appeared behind it. This time, it was a woman who created it.


    "A demigod." Bloed and the other turned serious.


    Although they already suspected that something like this was likely to happen, seeing it in person made them realize how important this magic circle was for the duke.


    "I''m sorry, but I can''t allow you to destroy this ce." The woman sighed. She then waved her hand, creating instantly several magic circles behind her.


    "It has been a long time since thest time I fought another demigod seriously." The woman said. "Why don''t you show me what you are able of?"


    Regina smirked. Then, a silver flower appeared over her right shoulder. The flower hovered silently while silver lightning circled tamely around it.


    "Unfortunately, master asked me to destroy it quickly. I don''t have time to y with you."


    When Regina finished speaking, the flower lit up.


    Then, an even greater amount of energy gathered on it.


    The demigod woman''s expression changed. Instantly, she cast several shields around her and the and the node.


    And in the next instant


    *KABOOOMMM!!!*


    The second beam of energy was shot.


    And this time, it was much thicker and stronger than before.


    In just an instant, he prated several barriers, finally arriving in front of the demigod.


    Without hesitation, the woman crossed her arms. Her mana surged, transforming into a powerful shield of energy.


    And this time, she resisted for a bit longer.


    But just like before


    *Crash!*


    With a sound like ss breaking, thest shield shattered.


    Then, the beam of light pierced the demigod''sst defenses.


    One secondter, an even more powerful explosion shook the city.


    And this time, the node did not manage to survive.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 152: The Duke

    Chapter 152: The Duke


    *BOOM!!!*


    Regina''s attack pierced the mana barriers before hitting the node and destroying it.


    In front of the destructive power of her beam attack, nothing managed to stand.


    Bloed could feel the magic circle on the city shaking slightly before recovering to normal. It was evident that destroying this node was effective, but the magic circle could be destroyed only if the three nodes were down.


    At that moment, a figure came from the site of the explosion and rushed towards the skies at great speed.


    Regina frowned and formed several weapons of energy around her, but Bloed stopped her.


    "Let her go."


    "Master?"


    "Even if you are stronger than her, you will be unable to kill a demigod quickly if she is hellbent in escaping. Now, our priority is to destroy the other two nodes. Besides, I managed to get a look at her and her injuries are very serious. She will not be a threat anymore."


    Regina thought for a moment and nodded before returning to Leto''s back.


    Before leaving, Bloed nced at the stunned city guards briefly before giving an order to Leto.


    "Go to the city hall."


    The metallic wolf nodded and turned around at full speed.


    In the city hall.


    When Charise, Kallevang, and knights of the church of fate arrived at the city hall, they met with an army ready to fight them.


    Moreover, in front of that army, a demigod was standing with two swords on his hands.


    "Hugo," Kallevang whispered with a grave expression. Hugo was the name of the strongest of the three demigods serving to Diadel Duchy. He was a twin-sword user famous for his fierce and lightning-fast attacks.


    Hugo heaved a sigh. " Saintess, Mr. Kallevang. I never expected to have you as my enemies."


    "Hugo, why are you still defending the duke!?" Charise yelled with an ice-cold look. "Can''t you see the atrocities he is doing!?"


    "Please, don''t ask such a foolish thing," Hugo said. "As a demigod, I will not change my mind easily. There is no use in trying to convince me of turning against my master."


    "You are right," Kallevang said and took a step forward, his bulky body and heavy armor creating an intimidating aura around him. "So, I think it''s better if I kill you. Saintess, I''ll leave the node and the duke to you."


    "Be careful."


    Kallevang nodded. He then unsheathed the greatsword on his back and narrowed his eyes.


    The next second


    *BOOOMMMM!!!*


    His greatsword shed against the twin swords of his opponent!


    The battle between the two demigods became fierce instantly. Both Kallevang and Hugo shed a few times before bringing their battle to the clouds to avoid affecting the people around them.


    At the same time, the knights of the church of fate surged forward like a wave, crashing against the men of the duke in a bloody battle.


    Charise also moved at that moment. She cast an unknown spell and her presence was concealed from the battle, allowing her to move through the battlefield and enter the city hall without being noticed by anyone.


    Perhaps, the demigod Hugo would have noticed her if he was still here, but nobody else in this battlefield had that ability.


    As soon as she entered the city hall, though, she felt a chill on her spine.


    " How unlucky." A deep voice reached to Charise''s ears. "To think that despite all my preparations and after masking the fate of this city we still ended attracting the madmen of the goddess Axalia."


    "Duke Diadel," Charise muttered angrily.


    "Saintess." The duke returned the greeting and turned towards her, showing Charise his current state.


    His back was straight, as though protecting the node behind him, and he emitted an air of nobility. Despite his old age, the duke still appeared dignified and filled with wisdom, like a sage instead of the madmen behind the holocaust in this city.


    Around him, several chains of mana filled the city hall. The chains glowed with multiple colors, and a slight bloody light showed itself asionally. When Charise observed more closely, she realized that the end of the chains was connected to each of the duke''s limbs and his chest.


    "Beautiful, right?" The duke said. "This magic circle gathers the souls of the people that had died in this city tonight before sending them to the chains that are connected to my body. A true artwork. Even I''m impressed by its design."


    "I find it repugnant, instead." Charise sneered. "I can''t believe someone I once thought was a virtuous person is doing such a repulsive act like devouring the souls of others What is your purpose? I don''t think you are doing this in a whim."


    The duke stared at Charise briefly before smirking. "You don''t understand, saintess. What I''m doing is for the greater good. You see, since I started to govern this duchy, the lives of the people have improved, there are almost no poor people, and banditry has fallen to the lowest level in history. This duchy was transformed from the trash it was once to the paradise it''s today!


    "But, there is too much I need to do yet. I need to build more roads, to create schools, to train a powerful army. There are still many things thus duchy still needs. Unfortunately, I''m too old. I can feel I''m going to die soon, saintess."


    Charise frowned, but then, a look of realization appeared on her face.


    "You"


    "It looks like you realized it, huh. You are right. These souls are being used to increase my lifespan." The duke smiled wickedly. Then, under the stunned gaze of Charise, he took off his robe, revealing his naked chest with a strange-looking creature twisting inside this.


    "One year ago, someone came and brought it to me. This creature can absorb the souls of other living beings to grow stronger, and when it''s inserted on my chest, that strength is transferred to me!


    "Do you know, saintess? I have been stuck at the peak of A-Rank for thirty years! For thirty years, my cultivation has not taken a single step forward! I just need a step, a step to be a demigod and transcend humanity! A step to increase my lifespan!


    "But although this creature can absorb souls to be stronger, even it can''t help me to break through the limits of humans so easily. Thus, I needed souls. A lot of souls. Hundreds and thousands of souls to take that step! And now... Now I''m very close! I can feel my strength growing! Soon, soon I''ll be a demigod!"


    Charise''s face turned ugly. "You are crazy! You even dared to use the Blight! Don''t you know the monster in your chest can bring destruction to the world!?"


    "You don''t need to worry about that, saintess. Everything is under my control." The duke chuckled.


    But at that moment, the node in the city hall shook. The duke was stunned. Immediately after, though, he was enraged.


    "The node!"


    Charise, who saw that, smirked. "Everything is under your control, huh." Then, her face took a chilling semnce. "But you are right, I don''t need to worry about that. I only need to kill you."


    Looking up at the sky, Charise joined her hands and prayed.


    "[Fate]!"


    Instantly, her aura exploded powerfully, filling the city hall with a sacred presence.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 153: Battle in the City Hall (1)

    Chapter 153: Battle in the City Hall (1)


    Divine arts consist of borrowing the power of the gods to enhance one''s techniques.


    Different from martial arts or magic, divine arts are more like a boost. A warrior can use divine arts to boost his attacks or gain certain abilities, and a mage can use divine arts to make his magic stronger or acquire new spells.


    Unfortunately, not every person can use divine arts. To use divine arts, you need to have a strong thread of faith connecting to a god. That thread of faith is the mean the god uses to transfer part of his abilities to his adherents.


    Charise''s case, however, was a bit more special.


    As the saintess of the church of fate, Charise was ironically terrible at using fatews. By herself, she was unable to use any ability rted to fate.


    However, Charise had a very special talent.


    [Soul Vessel].


    That is the reason she was chosen as the saintess of the church or fate.


    Through this talent, her soul works as a vessel to receive the powers of another individual, in this case, the goddess of fate, Axalia.


    This way, she could use fate indirectly.


    And when she uses this ability at full strength, she can borrow enough strength from the goddess to be several times stronger.


    "[Fate]!" Charise eximed.


    In an instant, her strength was from the beginning of A-Rank to the very peak, even going beyond that!


    Although it was not enough to make her a demigod, she could be considered a half-demigod.


    Her surge of strength was so intense that the duke''s expression changed. Without hesitation, he extended his hand.


    "Stop her!"


    Instantly, three shadows jumped from the corners of the city hall. Each shadow was an A-Rank practitioner!


    But Charise remained calm. She just waved her hand and opened her mouth


    "[Verdict]!"


    And the three warriors were stopped in their tracks.


    Then


    "[Sinners]!"


    As though it was a judgment from the heavens, three lightning bolts descended from the skies, smiting the three A-Ranks into ashes!


    Charise did not stop with that. Instead, she extended her hands towards the duke.


    "[Verdict]!"


    The duke''s expression changed. Instantly, a curtain of blood-red mana surged around him and charged towards Charise.


    "Die!"


    "[Sinner]!"


    *BOOOMMM!!!*


    Three lightning bolts, even thicker than before, descended from the skies and attacked the duke!


    But when they were about to kill him, the curtain of blood-red mana turned into a whirlpool that shed against the lightning. Then, the monster in his chest opened his mouth, sucking the lightning as though it was a snack!


    Charise''s expression changed. She did not wait for the result and opened her mouth again.


    "[Curse]! [Repercussion]! [Karma]!"


    The first word put a curse of fate on the duke, turning his luck into negative. The second word used fate to bring a bacsh towards the duke, making his mana unstable, and the third word called upon the sins of the duke to bring retribution.


    The retribution came in the form of the souls he was absorbing. Suddenly, the souls turned berserk and went out of control, injuring the duke greatly!


    "Damn bitch!"


    The duke growled. He extended his hands, making the chains in the city hall wriggle and charge towards Charise.


    Charise''s face morphed into a scowl. With a wave of her hand, a barrier was cast in front of her. Then, she opened her mouth again.


    "[Verdict]!"


    "Not that again!"


    With a snarl, the duke hit his chest. Then, the creature on his chest let out a shrill screech!


    *Screeeeeeech!!!*


    Charise involuntarily covered her ears. After hearing that screech, she felt that her mana was impossible to control. The shield she had cast before crumbled, and her body twitched in pain.


    But the duke was not done yet. Once the creature screeched in pain, he used the blood-red mana to form several spears that were thrown in Charise''s direction!


    At thest second, Charise managed to roll aside, but one of the spears managed to hurt her arm. Charise, however, used the pain to shrug off the effects of the creature''s scream andpleted her spell from before.


    "[Judgement]!"


    It was as though the goddess of fate herself hear her words! Instantly, a powerful presence appeared on the clouds and descended in direction of the duke in the form of a lightning bolt!


    The duke turned pale and his face was filled with fear. That strength was not something he could go against!


    "Jaden! When are you going to make your move!?" The duke shouted.


    At that moment, a powerful aura came from behind the duke. Then, a handsome man appeared in the path of the lightning bolt and stopped it with his hands!


    "Ugh!" Jaden took several steps back and grunted in pain with blooding from his lips. However, he managed to endure.


    Charise''s expression changed. Without hesitation, she joined her hands again and bellowed.


    "[Judgement]!"


    Once more, the powerful presence appeared on the clouds.


    But this time, it was stopped before it could descend!


    Jaden wiped off the blood on his lips andughed. "Hahahaha, sorry saintess, but gods are forbidden to interfere directly with secr matters!"


    The duke sighed in relief. Then, he formed several new spears of mana around him.


    "How are you going to fight now, saintess?"


    The spears flew towards Charise, but Charise managed to avoid them. However, her expression was not good.


    She could feel that her connection with her goddess was unstable!


    Obviously, the other gods had detected Axalia''s actions and had interfered with her.


    Charise''s expression turned ugly. Without the power of the goddess, she was at a disadvantage against the almost-demigod duke. Moreover, there was still a powerful demigod looking at her with amusement that could attack at any moment.


    However, the situation changed once more.


    Suddenly, Jaden''s put on an expression of rm. He did not hesitate to turn around and throw a punch in the direction of the entrance.


    Before the others could understand his intentions, a powerful ray of energy charged towards him, shing against his punch and creating a powerful explosion.


    Charise instantly recognized that energy.


    "Miss Regina!"


    As soon as she finished speaking, she saw four people and a wolf appear inside the city hall.


    Reinforcements had arrived.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 154: Battle in the City Hall (2)

    Chapter 154: Battle in the City Hall (2)


    "Miss Regina!" Charise was excited. But Regina did not reply to her. Instead, she fixed her gaze in the man in front of her.


    Jaden.


    Likewise, Jaden waspletely fixed in Regina.


    Then, his lips curved up in an excited smile


    "Duke, I think I''ll be unable to continue helping you."


    The duke wrinkled his brows. He could also feel the strong pressureing from the silver-haired girl.


    It was unmistakably the pressure of a demigod.


    "Master, be careful," Regina said to Bloed and took a step forward. She did not hesitate or pay attention to anything else. She knew who was her enemy.


    On her hands, two energy des appeared, and behind her, tens of different weapons surfaced, ready to be wielded.


    But Jaden''s aura did not fall behind Regina. He clenched his fists with an eager smile and crimson-ck mana circled around them, extending outwards and creating the image of a bloodthirsty wolf behind him.


    "Beautiful miss, please."


    Regina''s face turned ice-cold.


    "As you wish.


    Then, her body flickered.


    The next instant, her two des were hacking towards Jaden''s head.


    Jaden replied crossing his arms over him, stopping the des. Then, he kicked the ground, throwing a punch towards the Valkyrie, that was stopped by a barrier that appeared around Regina.


    After the first exchange, the pair shed again and broke through the roof of the city hall, bringing their battle to the clouds.


    With the addition of Regina and Jade, four demigods were fighting on the clouds of Diadel City.


    But although the fight between demigods was very fierce, it was not the main show of tonight.


    While Regina was fighting Jade, the other four people and a wolf inside the city hall confronted the Duke.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Javelin, and Charise charged towards the Duke.


    "Be careful!" Charise shouted. "He is using the souls he harvested tonight to increase his strength! His goal is to break through to demigod and increase his lifespan!"


    Bloed instantly understood the duke''s n.


    Normal people and practitioners have a lifespan of eighty to one hundred years, with some of them living a bit more. Stronger practitioners can keep their youth for longer, but their lifespan is essentially the same.


    Even a peak A-Rank practitioner can not live longer than a normal person.


    But it is different when you reach demigod.


    Demigods were divided into three levels, with the first being called [Transcendence], the second [Sainthood], and the third [Apotheosis]. They were equivalent to S-Grade, SS-Grade, and SSS-Grade of the human confederation.


    Regina was an SS-Grade Valkyrie, so her cultivation was roughly equivalent to a saint as Sebastian, although her traits as Valkyrie made her much stronger.


    For humans, a transcendent could live up to 120 years, a saint up to 150 years, and an apotheosized up to 180 years!


    In other words, if the duke seeded, his lifespan would increase for at least twenty years!


    And now, although he had not seeded yet, he was very close. His cultivation was constantly climbing, approaching to the demigod level. Currently, he was as strong as a half-demigod!


    Bloed was the first to attack. Turning his gun into ster mode, he shot a bullet of energy in direction of the duke.


    But the blood-red mana around the duke stopped the attack. It then turned into a serpent-like monster that assaulted Bloed.


    "[Protection]!" Charise prayed. Instantly, a barrier of light appeared around Bloed, stopping the attack. Bloed took advantage of that opportunity to resume his attacks.


    Meanwhile, Javelin appeared suddenly behind the duke. He wielded his two daggers as vipers that bit towards the duke''s neck. But it was as though the duke had eyes on his back. Without warning, the chains around him trembled and moved to stop the daggers. Then, they tried to entangle Javelin.


    "Dammit!" Javelin cursed and tried to evade the chains. Fortunately, Charise''s support came at that moment. She called upon lightning and struck the chains allowing Javelin to escape.


    Meanwhile, another one of Bloeds bullets flew towards the duke. The duke snorted and waved his hand, turning his mana into a barrier that stopped the bullet. Then, the blood-red mana turned into hundreds of mana arrows that flew towards the group.


    "Continue attacking! I''ll take care of them! [Protection]!"


    Even although Charise could not call upon too much power of the goddess in the current situation, her own strength was still at the A-Rank. If she focusedpletely on defense, she could manage to stop most of the duke attacks.


    Thrusting Charise''s words, Bloed, Javelin, and Liu Ying ignored the arrows. At the same time, Leto tried to turn into a wave of metallic sand that assaulted the duke.


    But the duke let out a roar that dispersed the metallic sand, he then stopped Javelin''s new attack with a barrier of mana while using another barrier to stop Bloed''s saber that wasing from the right.


    But suddenly, he felt something wrong. Without hesitation, he jumped back evading Bloed''s saber, but at that moment, he saw a ck-haired girl jumping towards him.


    "Hah!" Liu Ying let out a bellow. Her mana turned into the ck-Knight-like aspect that clenched its fist and filled her body with strength.


    Then, she unleashed a punch!


    "Die!"


    The duke grunted. A new barrier appeared blocking Liu Ying''s punch. The barrier cracked fiercely, but in the end, it resisted.


    Then, the duke clenched his fist and unleashed a punch of his own.


    "Kuh!" Liu Ying crossed her arms to resist his punch, but even so, she was sent flying away, destroying several walls in the process.


    If not that Charise and Liu Liu''s barrier stopped part of the punch''s strength, that attack could have killed her.


    But while the duke was fighting Liu Ying, Bloed raised his gun and aimed again.


    Towards the location of the node!


    "Dream on!"


    The duke shouted. Instantly, a barrier of blood-red mana appeared around the node, stopping Bloed''s bullet easily. And before Bloed could make another attack, several spears of mana wereing towards him.


    "Damn!" Bloed cursed under his breath and jumped away. Meanwhile, hemanded Leto to turn into several metallic spikes that attacked both the duke and the node.


    However, the duke turned his mana into a whirlpool that blew the attack away. Moreover, the barrier defending the node held strong.


    At that moment, Charise called upon several lightning bolts that struck the duke and the barrier, but both of them remained standing without suffering damage.


    Bloed frowned. "It''s useless to attack the node. The barrier protecting it is connected to the magic circle. Unless we are able to destroy it in a blow or kill the duke, it will hold strong!"


    "Dammit! How are we supposed to kill that pervert then!" Javelin spat out. "The amount of mana he can use is astonishing! That mana has already surpassed the level of an A-Rank!"


    Bloed nodded. Although the duke was not a demigod yet, with the support of the magic circle, he could use much more mana than a normal A-Rank.


    While evading the attacks of the duke, Bloed thought about the situation. Soon, his gaze fell upon the node.


    In the end, that node was the key to this battle.


    At that moment, an idea came to his mind. But before he could put it into practice


    *BOOMMM!!!*


    A powerful surge of mana urred behind them. Sand, rubble, and stones were blown away.


    Then, a beautiful figure jumped out from the cloud of dust.


    "BASTARD!"


    Liu Ying''s punched with all her strength, unleashing the entire power of her aspect in a blow.


    And astonishingly, her mana fluctuations climbed at the B-Rank!


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 155: Battle in the City Hall (3)

    Chapter 155: Battle in the City Hall (3)


    "BASTARD!" Liu Ying''s cry was filled with rage. Her figure was wrapped by blood-red mana that coalesced around her body.


    Breakthrough!


    Liu Ying had broken through to the B-Rank!


    Her aura surged upwards, breaking from the C-Rank and ascending to the B-Rank. The powerful surging aura caused a shockwave that blew away the artifacts disguising her features.


    Her hair turned fiery red, and her eyes turned of a beautiful amber color. At the same time, a giant figure appeared behind her. The figure was that of a blood-red giant filled with savagery.


    It was a Chaos Titan.


    Liu Ying''s aspect!


    Using the momentum of her breakthrough, Liu Ying kicked the ground and appeared in front of the duke, clenching her fist and unleashing a powerful blow.


    "Die!" Liu Ying bellowed.


    The duke''s eyes opened wide. Instantly, a barrier of mana appeared in front of him, blocking Liu Ying''s punch. But almost instantly, the barrier cracked up until shattering. Then, Liu Ying''s punch continued forward and sent the duke flying.


    *BOOM!!!*


    The powerful impact resounded through the city hall, making the building shake violently. Bloed, Javelin, and Charise stared with their mouths wide open at the overwhelming strength Liu Ying had shown.


    It was the power of the Chaos Titan aspect, the special talent of the former demon''s royal family known as the greatest talent in terms of pure brute strength.


    Unfortunately, that strength was not enough to take down the duke.


    As though Liu Ying''s attack was a lie, the dukended on his feet. He looked at his chest where he received the blow and coughed a mouthful of blood.


    Then, he red at the panting Liu Ying with a look of rage.


    "Damn brat!"


    Instantly, his mana turned into a blood-red serpent that attacked Liu Ying.


    Fortunately, Bloed was nearby and managed to push Liu Ying away. Then, he shot with his ster gun in the direction of the barrier. At the same time, Leto returned to its wolf form and started to umte energy on its mouth.


    The duke''s expression changed. He turned his mana into several blood-red spears that attacked Leto.


    But


    "[Protection]!"


    Charise was there, creating several barriers in front of Leto. She then raised a hand casting a new spell.


    "[Curse]!"


    Instantly, the duke felt as though something was taken from him. His movements turned slow, and his body turned heavy.


    Using that opportunity, Leto unleashed a breath of sma towards the barrier protecting the node!


    "Useless!" The dukeughed while the breath of sma was being repelled by the barrier.


    With a bellow, the creature in his chest opened its mouth, swallowing a torrent of mana and freeing the duke from Charise''s spell. He then gathered the mana into a ball that exploded near Leto, blowing it into pieces.


    But during that time, Bloed and Javelin had arrived in front of him, one of them wielding his two daggers in a crisscrossed stance while the other shed with his saber towards the creature in his chest.


    The duke hurriedly cast a new barrier, barely stopping Javelin''s daggers at the cost of a small injury on an arm. But due to that, he was unable to evade Bloed''s attack.


    The duke was nning in using his mana to cast a barrier to stop Bloed''s saber, but in thest second, a strong feeling of danger made him use his left arm to protect his chest from Bloed''s attack.


    And at that moment


    *Swish!*


    Bloed saber cut through the barrier of mana easily, severing the duke''s arm into two.


    The duke''s eyes turned round. An enormous pain assaulted his body, and his mind nked.


    But then, the creature on his chest opened its mouth and


    *SCREEEEEECCHHHHHH!!!*


    The creature''s shrill cry was like a hammer that hit Bloed and Javelin''s mind. Their bodies stiffened involuntarily, and their faces twisted in pain.


    During that while, the creature extended several tentacles that pierced towards Bloed and Javelin.


    Liu Ying arrived at that moment. With the Chaos Titan on her back, she clenched her fist and unleashed another punch.


    "Go down!


    The punch struck the tentacles, blowing several of them into bits in an instant. But at the same time, Liu Ying felt her mana decreasing at an astonishing rate.


    Liu Ying''s attack seemed to have awoken the duke from the shock of losing an arm. His face twisted in hatred and his mouth let out a terrifying cry.


    "BASTAAAAAAAAARDS!!!"


    Following his cry, the mana around him turned into a colossal three-headed serpent that attacked Bloed and the others.


    "[Fate]!"


    Charise''s spell came at that moment. Her sacred and holy mana turned into a barrier that stopped the serpent''s attack briefly, then, Bloed and the others were pulled away from the duke.


    "[Reward]!"


    Charise''s second spell was cast. The powers of fate from the goddess were wielded by the saintess and turned into a reward towards the people fighting for the wellbeing of the world.


    Bloed and Javelin felt their minds clearing, and the pain caused by the creature''s screech dissipated.


    The pair did not stay still, and instead, they resumed their attacks on the duke.


    However, the duke seemed like he had turned crazy. Blood-red mana surrounded him, turning into blood-red mes that seemed to represent the rage he was feeling.


    "CURSED BASTARDS!!! DIE!!!"


    The mes turned into a pir that rose until the clouds and fell towards the group!


    The group expressions'' changed. Charise tried to stop the mes using her barriers, but the mes were much stronger than before. It was as though the duke''s strength had grown exponentially.


    Although it was not in the domain of a demigod yet, it was infinitely near!


    Out of options, the group could only disperse around the city hall to escape the duke''s mes. But at that moment, the duke revealed his real target!


    When the group was divided, he appeared in front of Bloed and cast a tongue of mes!


    "YOU ARE MINE!!!"


    Bloed''s opened his eyes wide. In thest second, metallic sand gathered in front of him, turning into a thick shield that protected him from the mes.


    But then


    *BOOM!!!*


    The mes exploded, sending Bloed flying away.


    "Bloed!" Liu Ying shouted in panic, instantly jumping towards the duke to stop him from chasing after Bloed. The duke smirked and answered with another tongue of mes that exploded in front of Liu Ying.


    "Agh!"


    "Useless!" The dukeughed crazily. "You can''t win against me! I can feel myself bing stronger!


    But suddenly, his expression changed.


    Instinctively, he looked in the direction he sent Bloed flying.


    There, he saw Bloed standing beside the barrier protecting the node with a smile.


    With a mocking gaze, he stabbed his saber into the barrier, using [Molecr Disintegration] to cut through it and create a small hole.


    Of course, that was not enough to destroy the node, but Bloed was not done yet.


    With his right hand, he threw a small metallic ball inside the barrier.


    "STOP!!!" The duke screamed, but it was toote.


    In the next second


    *BOOOOMMMM!!!*


    The second node was destroyed.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 156: The Father, The Son, The Betrayer

    Chapter 156: The Father, The Son, The Betrayer


    *BOOM!!!* The deafening sound of the grenade exploding reverberated through the city hall.


    With the grenade exploding inside the barrier, theter was unable to protect the node. Quite the opposite, the barrier endedpressing all the power of the explosion in the node.


    Bloed could see the panic in the duke''s face. When he saw the node being destroyed, his eyes turned bloodshot, and the rage in his face was even greater than when Bloed cut his arm.


    The magic circle around the city shook violently, as though it was about to break. However, that was just a momentary illusion. In thest second, the magic circle returned to normal.


    When Bloed and the others saw that, they looked at each other with grave expressions.


    "Just a node more," Javelin said.


    "It''s time to leave." Charise indicated without hesitation.


    The others nodded. Bloed waved his hand gave amand to his pet wolf to activate its flight mode.


    It was something Bloed had been avoiding to use due to the great amount of energy the flight mode used and the short time it could be kept, but now, they needed Leto''s flight speed to escape this ce and go to thest node.


    "Everybody, to its back!" Bloed shouted.


    The group did not hesitate. Bloed, Liu Ying, Javelin, and Charise rushed towards Leto''s back.


    But


    "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING!!!!????" The duke screamed crazily. Even more mana surged out of his body, filling each corner of the city hall. The mana then turned into spears and tentacles that attacked the group.


    "[Purification]!"


    Charise''s spell came at that moment. A ball of mana appeared above her head before exploding!


    Pure white light blinded all the people in the city hall. When the light touched the duke''s mana, it escaped of its control and returned to nature.


    The duke, however, was not going to give up so easily. Suddenly, the chains around the city hall moved before transforming into snakes that slithered towards Bloed''s group!


    Furthermore, several of the chains wrapped around Leto, chaining it down.


    Leto howled in fury. Its body turned into metallic sand before reforming a few meters away. At the same time, each one of the members of the group used their own means to evade or block the snake-like chains.


    Bloed was the most violent of them. When the chains tried to attack him, he severed them with his saber.


    That made the duke scream in panic. Almost instantly, the cut chains withdrew before fusing again slowly.


    When Bloed saw that, an expression of realization appeared on his face.


    '' If I cut these chains''


    However, the duke had be wary of his saber. Most likely, Bloed would not have another opportunity to cut the chains.


    And even if he cut one or two of them, the chains could fuse together again with a bit of time.


    Thus, Bloed focused on escaping. The priority now was to destroy the third node.


    Bloed did not know what kind ofplication Sebastian and Madeline were facing, but the fact the node had not been destroyed yet was not good.


    Unfortunately, although Bloed and the others wanted to leave, the duke was giving his all to keep them here. He unleashed several attacks in session against the group. At the same time, the creature in his chest became much more active, unleashing several troublesome screeches that constantly harmed the group.


    Bloed tried to throw a stun grenade to the duke, but the duke had already seen the power of the grenades when Bloed destroyed the node, so the duke impaled the grenade with a mana spear before it coulde close to him, making Bloed''s efforts useless.


    Meanwhile, the duke''s strength continued growing. The grow was almost negligible, but Bloed and the others could feel that a terrifying power was being gestated inside him. At this rate, he would advance to demigod before the group could leave this ce.


    Aware that they needed to hurry up, Charise gritted her teeth and put on a determined gaze.


    "Guys, I need five seconds!"


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Javelin did not reply, but the three of them moved at the same time. Even Leto started to participate in the battle once more, turning his body into several metallics spikes that pierced towards the duke.


    "GET LOST!" The duke bellowed and unleashed a torrent of mana that blew Leto''s spikes away, however, they reformed almost instantly and turned into a whirlpool of metallic sand that surrounded the duke.


    But even before the whirlpool could formpletely, the creature in the duke''s chest roared and generated a shockwave that dispersed the metallic sand.


    The duke then extended his hand and the mana around him gathered in the shape of a wall and was shot towards Charise.!


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Javelin moved at that moment. Javelin appeared behind the duke and tried to stab him with his daggers, but the creature in the duke''s chest used its tentacles to stop Javelin''s daggers.


    Although Javelin managed to cut the tentacles into pieces, a great part of his mana was drained away, and he was forced to retreat in panic.


    Meanwhile, Liu Ying stood in front of Charise and gathered all her remaining mana into a punch. This punch hit the wall of mana the duke created, but Liu Ying only managed to stop it briefly before she was sent flying away.


    Fortunately, her attack was notpletely useless. The wall of mana cracked in several parts, but it continued advancing towards Charise.


    Bloed''s eyes lit up with a bright glow. In an instant, tens of calctions went through his mind before he decided on the best course of action.


    He hugged Charise''s body with his right hand while his left hand wielded his saber at great speed.


    His saber danced in the air. [Molecr Disintegration] was activated at full power, using the cracks on the wall to create a hole through which Bloed and Charise jumped.


    Charise kept her eyes closed during the process, casting an unknown spell. She did not interrupt her casting even when she felt Bloed hugging her. Bloed, on the other hand, did not have time to have any untoward thought.


    As soon as he passed through the wall, he was faced with several spears of mana piercing towards him.


    Fortunately, Javelin appeared in front of him and blocked several of them with his daggers. At the same time, Leto''s metallic sand gathered again in a wall that stopped the spears that passed Javelin.


    The few remaining spears that managed to bypass Javelin and Leto were cut by Bloed''s saber.


    At that point, Charise opened her eyes.


    "Stop attacking! [Frozen Fate]!"


    A magic circle appeared behind Charise, showing several runes that rotated mysteriously and emitted a sacred glow.


    When the magic circle appeared, a strange presence descended the city hall. Charise''s white habit danced in the wind, revealing her lustrous dark hair hidden below her headpiece.


    Then, from the magic circle, thousands of threads appeared.


    The threads winded around the city hall, finally wrapping around the duke and stopping his movementspletely!


    "We need to leave now! The spell will not resist much!" Charise eximed before copsing in the ground. It was obvious that thest spell had cost her a lot.


    Bloed did not ask why Charise told them to leave instead of killing the duke. From Charise''s actions, he understood that this spell had several drawbacks. Being unable to attack the people under the effect of this spell was probably one of them.


    They moved quickly. Javelin rushed towards Charise and carried her in his arms while Bloed did the same for Liu Ying, who had fainted after unleashing herst punch.


    At the same time, Leto activated its flight mode again. Bloed and Javelin jumped onto it and Bloed urged the metallic wolf to leave.


    But at that moment, the magic circle around the city shook again.


    Bloed and Javelin looked at each other with excited looks. Madeline and Sebastian''s group had finally destroyed thest node!


    They seeded!


    Nevertheless


    *BOOOOOMMMM!!!*


    Suddenly, Bloed, Charise, and Javelin felt the duke''s aura spiking.


    Then, the threads around him snapped, one by one.


    When he was free again, the duke''s lips curved in an arrogant smirk.


    "Ha Hahahaha Hahahahahahahaha! I seeded! I SUCCEEDED!"


    The duke had be a demigod.


    The creature in his chest screeched in excitement, and the duke clenched his fists feeling the overwhelming strength inside him. It was a power beyond anything he had felt. A power beyond the realm of humans.


    Once he was done with that, he looked at Bloed''s group with a vicious smile.


    " Little bugs."


    Bloed cursed inwardly. ''Dammit! Should I use that!?''


    Bloed''s trump card. He did not want to use it because he would faint afterward, and in the current situation, fainting would mean leaving his life in the hands of others.


    Before he could decide, though, the situation changed once more.


    All of sudden


    "Cough Cough, cough Cough! Ugh!"


    The duke started to cough.


    Blood, flesh, and internal organs. The duke coughed violently and felt an intense pain in his chest. Then, the mana inside his body started to leave him.


    "W-What Cough W-What is happening?"


    "Simple, father." A voice came from the entrance of the city hall. "You are poisoned."


    Under the duke''s disbelieving gaze, a middle-aged man and several cleric-like people appeared.


    In the chest of the clerics, there was an image of the sun shining gloriously.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 157: The Father, The Son, The Betrayer (2)

    Chapter 157: The Father, The Son, The Betrayer (2)


    "P-Poisoned? W-When?" The duke was startled. Blood and internal organs left his mouth every time he coughed.


    The middle-aged man that just appeared continued talking indifferently. "Before the ritual started I put mana poison inside the magic circle. Each time you absorbed power from the magic circle, you were absorbing a part of the poison. The amount you absorbed each time was negligible, so you did not notice it, but now that you absorbed enough, it has finally erupted, killing you slowly."


    The duke paled and staggered several steps back.


    Finally, he heaved a sigh, and his shoulders hunched.


    " Son, why?"


    "Do you need to ask?" The middle-aged man sneered. "Look at what you have done to the city. Do you think you are still suitable to be the duke? You have be crazy, father, so it''s time for me to rece you."


    The duke fell silent. At some point, he stopped coughing and his face regained a bit of color.


    "I always knew you were ambitious, Ryzen. But I never thought you would betray your own father." The duke said.


    "Please, father. This would not have happened if you remembered your responsibilities as the duke." Ryzen said indifferently. "Now, if you still have a bit of sanity left on you, stop resisting. The poison in your body doesn''t have an antidote, and with how much it has spread now, whatever you try is useless. Just die quickly so I can be the new duke and bring back peace to this ce."


    The duke stared at his son with a trace of disappointment. Then, he chuckled.


    "My son, I know I''m going to die. I felt it when the poison first erupted. However, resisting is not useless. In fact, it already achieved its objective."


    The duke''s son frowned. But before he could understand what his father meant, blood-red mana started to ooze from the duke''s skin.


    The mana was like a cursed me that burned with sins. It seemed ominous and cruel, and carried the power of a demigod.


    Then, the duke smiled.


    "My son, the little bit of time I gained while resisting the poison will be useful... To kill you!"


    When these words sounded, the duke roared.


    Instantly, his mana turned into a horrifying snake-like fiend that opened its mouth and attacked the Ryzen!


    The fiend was so powerful that Bloed and the others paled. It had already surpassed the power of an A-Rank. It was an attack on the level of a demigod!


    However, Ryzen did not panic. When the serpent-like fiend was about to touch him, one of the clerics beside him opened his mouth.


    "[Purify]!"


    Instantly, white-hot mes ignited the serpent-like fiend. The mes burned so fiercely that the fiend the duke created was instantly turned into ashes!


    Then, the mes continued advancing towards the duke!


    "CHURCH OF THE SUN GOD!" The city lord cried in fury and fear, creating a barrier of mana in front of him. The barrier managed to stop the white mes, but it was destroyed in the process.


    Behind the barrier, the duke looked at the cleric with bloodshot eyes.


    "You were supposed to stop the other churches from interfering with the n! I should have known you betrayed us when the Church of Fate and Moonlight Glow appeared here!"


    "Betrayed you?" The cleric shook his head calmly. "Our church never cooperates with despicable viins like you. Viins that kill their out men and made use of something as vile as the Blight."


    "YOU!" The duke growled furiously, but then, he shook his head and started tough. "How expected of religious hypocrites like you. I should have never trusted your church''s words Are you going to help my son to take my ce as the duke?"


    "Mr. Ryzen is the legitimate heir of the duchy. We are just doing what we need to do."


    "Hehehehe You even sent a demigod I see you came prepared." The duke chuckled self-deprecatingly.


    At that moment, a voice came from the clouds.


    "Duke!"


    A man then appeared in front of the duke with two swords in his hand. He was Hugo, the demigod that had been fighting Kallevang.


    Kallevang also appeared beside Bloed and the others. Apparently, he and Hugo had stopped their battle when they realized the situation changed.


    Even Regina had appeared at some point. When Bloed asked her what happened with the demigod she was fighting, she said that he escaped when he felt noticed the suspicious movements of the church of the sun god.


    "My Duke, are you alright?" Hugo asked with concern. When he saw the duke cough a mouthful of blood, he red at Ryzen and the clerics of the Church of the Sun God in hatred.


    "Mr. Ryzen, do you know what you are doing!?"


    "I''m just doing the right thing," Ryzen replied calmly. "Killing the monster that hurt the citizens of this city is my duty as the future duke. You shoulde to my side too, Hugo. Why would you follow a man without a future like my father?"


    "Hahaha, you are crazy." Hugoughed in disdain. "Are you doing this to be the new duke? Mr. Ryzen, although I respect you, you can''t be even one hundredth as good as your father when ites to governing this duchy. I will never serve someone useless like you. I prefer to die!"


    For the first time since he appeared, Ryzen lost his calmness. An angry expression appeared on his face, but instantly, he recovered hisposure.


    "Is it so? That is a shame. Although I was expecting something like that."


    "Stop talking, Hugo." The duke growled. "Help me to kill this bastard!"


    "As you order!"


    Hugo roared and kicked the ground, appearing in front of Ryzen in an instant!


    But the demigod of the church of the sun god moved too. His index finger moved in a circle, creating a barrier in front of Hugo. Then, he waved his hand to create a sword of light that attacked.


    But while Hugo was distracting the demigod, the duke moved. With a wave of his hand, he summoned hundreds of blood-red spears.


    "DIE!"


    When Ryzen saw that, he shook his head.


    "How pitiful."


    Then, he unsheathed the sword on his waist.


    And shed towards the spears.


    The sh seemed strangely slow, but for some reason, it waspleted before the spears could arrive in front of Ryzen.


    And when the sh finished, all the blood-red spears had been shed into two.


    The duke opened his eyes wide.


    "Are you surprised?" Ryzen spoke indifferently when he saw the surprise on his father''s face. "I broke through to the demigod level one year ago. And unlike you who relied on a dirty and despicable method breakthrough, I did it with my own strength."


    The duke staggered another two steps.


    "I-Impossible Y-You don''t have that talent!"


    Ryzen shook his head slowly and didn''t bother to exin that.


    "Currently, the knights of the church of the sun are killing the believers of the god of ughter and the soldiers that allowed this atrocity. Give up, father. Everything ended."


    "You Bastard!"


    The duke snarled and created several more blood-red spears, but Ryzen just shook his head and took a step forward. That step put him in front of the duke.


    Calmly, Ryzen wielded his sword, destroying the blood-red spears around the duke and stabbing towards his heart.


    *Spurt!*


    The sword pierced the duke''s heart, exiting through his back.


    "Even if both of us are demigods, I have been one much longer than you. Moreover, with the poison in your body, you can''t show even thirty percent of your strength. This is your end, father." Ryzen said.


    "Duke!" Huge cried, but he was being suppressed by the demigod of the sun god. In the end, he could only watch how the duke was killed.


    The duke vomited a mouthful of blood. He red at his son with a look of rage, and then, he took a decision.


    With a thought, he released the power of the creature in his chest! He let it go berserk!


    But one secondter, his eyes opened wide.


    A sh of understanding appeared on his face. Staring at his son, he started tough in resignation.


    But Ryzen''s gaze waspletely indifferent.


    Pulling back the sword in the chest of his father, he waved his hand again.


    And the head of the duke flew away.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 158: The Church of The Sun God’s Scheme

    Chapter 158: The Church of The Sun God¡¯s Scheme


    *Ting!*


    The sword of Ryzen let out a soft metallic din when it returned to its sheath, breaking the silence after the duke was beheaded.


    When the head of the duke fell to the ground, Hugo screamed.


    "RYZEN!"


    His voice was filled with anger and hatred. His mana erupted uncontrobly, helping him to escape from the demigod of the church of the sun at the cost of an injury on his abdomen.


    Then, he rushed towards Ryzen.


    "DIE!"


    But before he could reach him, several chains of light coiled around his arms and legs.


    It was a spell from the demigod cleric!


    "GET LOST!" Hugo bellowed, breaking the chains using brute force. But in the short instant when he was caught by the chains, he felt something piercing his chest.


    It was Ryzen''s sword.


    "Ugh!"


    Hugo grunted. His body stopped abruptly, and his eyes looked at the Ryzen in disbelief.


    Ryzen pulled back his sword and looked at Hugo indifferently.


    "Shame. You are a good warrior, but too loyal to my father. If I let you alive today, you will surely try to kill meter."


    Hugo panted briefly and looked at the blood on his chest. Then


    "ARRRRRGHHHH!!!"


    Ignoring his wound, he raised his twin swords and shed towards Ryzen!


    But the injured Hugo could not be faster than Ryzen.


    With a sh of light, Ryzen moved past Hugo, and Hugo''s head flew through the air.


    Just like that, another demigod had been killed.


    Bloed looked at the scene with aplicated expression. Two demigods. Two people powerful enough to dominate a part of the world had died in one night.


    At some point, Madeline''s group had arrived too. They were also looking at the scene with surprised and confused looks.


    After Ryzen killed Hugo, he put his sword back in its sheath and walked towards the cleric.


    "Thank you for your help, Cardinal. How is the situation in the city?"


    "Don''t worry, Mr. Ryzen." The cleric-like man, a cardinal of the church of the sun god, nodded calmly. "The knights of the church are hunting the viins behind all of this. The situation is under control."


    "Thank you, Cardinal." Ryzen smiled gratefully. Then, he turned towards Bloed''s group and his expression became ice-cold.


    "As for you, I will ask the headquarters of Moonlight Glow and the Church of Fate for an exnation."


    "An exnation?" Charise, who had recovered enough to stand up again, asked with a frown.


    Ryzen nodded indifferently. "That is right. The actions of your churches tonight have contributed to the chaos in the city. Several good men died due to your rash actions."


    The group was startled. One secondter, Madeline''s chilling voice sounded.


    "What is the meaning of this, Mr. Ryzen? I guess the purpose of our actions is clear. Are you going to ignore our contributions!?"


    "Your help, Miss Madeline, was unnecessary," Ryzen replied. "As you can see, we had already a n to deal with the situation. Your actions instead only added to the chaos."


    "Sophistry!" Madeline bellowed. But when she was going to continue speaking, a hand stopped her.


    It was Charise.


    She was looking at Ryzen and the people of the church of the sun god with narrowed eyes.


    "Stop it, Miss Madeline. Can''t you understand the situation?"


    Madeline was startled, but quickly, a look of realization appeared on her face.


    At the same time, Bloed sighed.


    The church of the sun god had backed Ryzen to be the new duke, so now Ryzen was giving all the credit of tonight to the church of the sun god.


    At the same time, he took advantage of this opportunity to suppress the other two big churches.


    Still, the situation was not so simple.


    When Bloed spied the conversation in Auspicious Night, he learned that an archbishop of an unknown church was helping with the duke''s n.


    Now, Bloed learned from the duke that the archbishop belonged to the church of the sun god.


    And although in the end, the church of the sun god did not truly cooperate in tonight''s incident, Bloed could not help but feel disgusted by them.


    The church of the sun god knew about what was going to happen tonight. Ryzen knew it too.


    But they did nothing to stop it.


    Instead, they used it for their own gain.


    It was a scheme where Ryzen became the new duke and the church of the sun god the second biggest winner.


    As for the people that were sacrificed tonight? They were just hapless victims of a power struggle.


    Charise stared deeply at Ryzen before turning around.


    "Let''s go back. Tonight''s show has ended."


    Bloed and the others nodded.


    When they left the city hall, Javelin could not help but show his unwillingness.


    "Are we really going to leave like this? So many people died tonight just for that shit to be the duke!"


    Charise gazed at the night sky and opened her mouth. "Many innocent people die unjustly every day, Mr. Javelin. This time at least, the main culprit was killed. As for Mr. Ryzen... Although I admit he is despicable, the truth is that he killed the duke. We don''t have any reason to attack him."


    Javelin fell silent, unable to answer. Although he did not want to admit it, he knew Charise was right.


    The real world was like that.


    The next day, Diadel City was shrouded by a gloomy atmosphere.


    Thousands of people died during the night. Men, women, children, and elderlies; killed mercilessly.


    Most of the church of ughter''s men were caught or killed in the end, but some of them escaped. The main culprit, a demigod named Jaden, was never found.


    The son of the Duke, Ryzen Diadel, announced that his father was partially responsible for the situation. ording to him, his father became crazy because of his impending death and colluded with the viins of the church of ughter tomit a blood sacrifice and increase his lifespan.


    Fortunately, Ryzen had discovered his n and stopped him with the help of the church of the sun god, foiling the dead duke''s ns.


    After exining the situation, Ryzen announced he was going to be the new duke. He also thanked the Church of the Sun God for their timely assistance and criticized the Church of Fate and Moonlight Glow for adding more chaos to the city.


    Finally, he announced that as thanks to the church of the sun god for their timely assistance, he will make the church the official religion of the duchy.


    Like that, the massacre of Calice City came to an end.

 Chapter 159: Bloed’s Dream

    Chapter 159: Bloed¡¯s Dream


    In the house where Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying were staying


    Bloed, Madeline, Charise, and the others regrouped here afterst night''s events. Only Sebastian and his men had separated from the group after they left the city hall. Bloed did not know where he was, but to be honest, he did not want to meet him again.


    Of the group, Liu Ying was still unconscious after using up all her mana and Kallevang was keeping watch in case someone attacks. The rest of the group was seated in the living room with serious expressions.


    "We have been had," Charise said with a depressed sigh.


    Madeline and Javelin beside her were equally depressed. They could not help but grit their teeth every time they remembered the new duke and the words he announced this morning.


    Bloed could not help but smile wryly when he saw they like that.


    Actually, although he was also displeased by the new duke''s attitude, he was just mildly annoyed. In the end, Bloed''s goal was to kill the Devourer, and the Devourer was killed. Thus, he had aplished his objective.


    Charise and Madeline on the other hand


    " These bastards! How dare them to nder our churches like that!" Madeline cursed angrily.


    Bloed thought for a moment and looked at Charise and Madeline. "What are you going to do?"


    Charise sighed.


    "Now that the new duke made the church of the sun god Diadel Duchy''s official religion, the church of fate will start to retire from the duchy. I think that Moonlight Glow will do the same."


    Javelin nodded. "Not only Moonlight Glow, but also most of the beastmen, demons, and elves in Diadel Duchy will leave. The church of the sun god preaches human supremacy, and they are greatly xenophobic. Now that they are the official religion of the duchy, it''s just a matter of time before they start to oppress the people of other races."


    At that moment, Illina entered the living room.


    "Excuse me." Bowing slightly towards the group, Illina walked towards Javelin and whispered something in his ear.


    When Javelin heard her words, he was startled. Then, he put on a wry smile.


    "It looks like the beastmen countries already learned about the situation here. I received orders from my superiors to leave the duchy as soon as possible and bring the prince back."


    "I''m also nning to leave soon," Bloed said. "I guess in the following days."


    "Now that you mention it, you are nning to go to Academy City, right Bloed?" Javelin asked.


    Bloed nodded. That was his n.


    Academy City was a city governed by a famous powerhouse. A city with the best schools and institutes of learning in the entire continent.


    It was said that Academy City experiences advancements in magic and martial arts daily, and the amount of knowledge stored there is unimaginable.


    Bloed had two targets going to academy city. The first was to learn as much about magic and mana as he could. Bloed had realized that magic was a very profound science, and the rules that governed it were astounding. Plus, Bloed felt curious about the results of mixing magic with technology.


    Of course, Bloed''s knowledge and wisdom alone were far from enough to create a magic-technological system, but that was where his second goal came.


    Bloed nned to use Academy City as the ce pilot to spread the human confederation''s technology to this world.


    A reason for that was that a schrly ce like Academy City could ept new ideas, such as technology more easily. But that was not the most important reason.


    The main reason Bloed chose Academy City as the ce to start spreading technology was that he did not want his technology to be a source of disasters.


    The power of technology was astonishing. If a country alone gained that power, Bloed was sure that said country would get ambitious, and it will try to use that technology to conquer the continent.


    Academy City waspletely different. ording to the information Bloed had obtained, Academy City waspletely neutral, and its ruler was an oddball with zero interest in power and authority. The city had teachers and demigods from every race and country cooperating together to create the best academic ambient.


    Of course, Bloed was not so nave as to believe that only that was enough to stop the ambitions of the people. Even if the stories about Academy City were true, Bloed was sure that eventually, someone would realize the war potential of technology and will try to use it to fuel his ambitions. But by then, Bloed could use Academy City as a springboard to spread his technology to every race at the same time (or at least he could try).


    All of that, though, had to wait until Bloed arrived at Academy City. In the end, Bloed''s current n was still very immature, and it was highly likely to fail. He needed a lot more information before he could make his dream reality.


    "Hey, Bloed." Javelin spoke at that moment. "What do you think of traveling with us?"


    "Huh?" Bloed was startled.


    Javelin exined. "You are going to Academy City, right? Well, the country I''m from is in the same direction, you only need to take a very small detour to visit my country. If you want, we can travel together and reach the capital. I''m sure that the king will be happy to meet the person that helped to save his son. What do you think?"


    Bloed thought about that proposal. It was not a bad idea. In fact, it was very good.


    Having connections with a king could be useful in the future. Plus, he would only lose a bit of time in the worst of the cases. There was not a reason to refuse.


    However, he still nced at Regina to ask for her opinion. Regina smiled softly and nodded.


    "I will go wherever you are, master."


    Bloed was slightly embarrassed by her words but he quickly hid it and replied to Javelin.


    "I still have to ask for Liu Ying''s opinion, but I guess that is a good idea."


    Javelin grinned. "Great! Don''t worry, I assure you I''ll be a great host!"


    "You better, Javelin," Madeline grumbled before looking at Bloed. "To be honest, I would have liked to travel with you too, but I have to stay here and take care of Moonlight Glow''s retreat."


    "Well, then I think we will separate here," Charise said with a gentle smile. "But don''t worry. I have the feeling we are going to meet again soon. And you should trust the feelings of a saintess of fate."


    Bloed did not know how to answer.


    To be honest, he felt prettyfortable around Charise and Madeline, so he did not mind spending more time with them. But he wanted to avoid getting embroiled in another situation like this.


    He could only hope that next time they meet, it''s in more peaceful circumstances.


    After chatting for a bit more, Charise, Javelin, and Madeline left, returning the house to its peaceful normalcy.


    A few minutester, though, Bloed saw Liu Ying walking towards him with a dazed expression.


    When she saw Bloed and Regina, Liu Ying put on a face of disbelief.


    "Did I breakthrough?"


    ....


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 160: Thieving Demon

    Chapter 160: Thieving Demon


    Guys, not sure I can post tomorrow. A bit busy. If I can''t, I''ll post tomorrow''s chapter together with Wednesday''s chapter...


    ...


    One hourter, Bloed and Liu Ying were in Bloed''sboratory (Regina had gone to prepare breakfast).


    Liu Ying was lying inside a transparent capsule while a strange artifact scanned his body. Bloed was outside the capsule, looking fixedly at a screen and examining Liu Ying''s data.


    Five minutester, the artifact finished examining Liu Ying. Bloed heaved a sigh and opened the capsule, letting Liu Ying out.


    "How is it?" Liu Ying asked.


    "Amazing," Bloed said without hiding the admiration in his voice. "Just your mana alone is fifty percent more abundant and twice as pure as before. Moreover, each cell in your body seems to have evolved to a new level, making the stats of your body around thirty percent higher."


    "Seriously?" Liu Ying asked in disbelief. "Exactly how much stronger am I now?"


    "You are easily twice as strong as before, and you are still at the initial stage of B-Rank. When you reach the peak of B-Rank, yourbat ability will be around five times higher than when you were at C-Rank."


    That was a great increase in strength. With Liu Ying''s talent, she was already able to fight B-Rank practitioners as an equal when she was at the peak of C-Rank. Now that she was at B-Rank, nobody below A-Rank was her opponent with a few exceptions.


    A-Rank, on the other hand, was still a bit too much for her. A normal A-Rank was around ten times stronger than a normal B-Rank, thus, Liu Ying still needed to be a bit stronger if she wanted to face enemies like that.


    "Hahaha, great!" Liu Ying smiled in excitement and rushed to hug Bloed. "Finally I''m a B-Rank! It was so slow!"


    Bloed was speechless. Currently, Liu Ying was only fifteen, one year younger than him. If she was considered slow, then, what about him?


    Perhaps noticing Bloed''s expression, Liu Yingughed sheepishly.


    "I''m sorry. I was a bit too excited. Don''t worry, I''m sure you will breakthrough soon too."


    Bloed smiled without answering. In fact, only a thinyer was separating him from B-Grade. The current Bloed could be a B-Grade ESPer at any time.


    Although to be honest, Bloed had to admit that he felt a bit weird knowing that Liu Ying broke through before him.


    "Anyway, how are you feeling? You don''t feel anything wrong, right?" Bloed asked.


    "Nope." Liu Ying shook her head and clenched her fist. "Quite the opposite. My body feels full of energy. I never felt so great."


    Bloed fell deep in thought. That was a bit unusual.


    At least, he never felt that his body was full of energy when he broke through before. He only felt his mind refreshed and his thoughts moving faster.


    Although after thinking for a while, Bloed concluded that it was a result of the differences between ESP cultivation and Mana cultivation.


    After spending time with Liu Ying, Bloed had noticed some differences between the two cultivation systems.


    ESP cultivation relied uniquely on psychic energy to grow.


    Mana cultivation, on the other hand, relied more on mana. And although psychic energy was still important (In this world it was called soul power), it was less important than mana.


    Of the two systems, ESP offered stronger individual power and greatest specific abilities (most of the time), but mana was more versatile. In fact, mana cultivation could strengthen the body and increase lifespan (theter when you be a demigod), something that was impossible for ESP cultivation.


    In hindsight, though, the human confederation''s Body Enhancement Surgery could increase the lifespan of normal humans and ESPers as well. Stronger ESPers, particrly, could get a much greater lifespan through body enhancement surgery.


    In the information Bloed read about the human confederation, there were records of powerful ESPers beyond SSS-Grade living more than five hundred years.


    When Bloed exited his thoughts, he realized that Liu Ying was looking at him fixedly.


    "Liu Ying?"


    "Oh? Sorry. By the way, Bloed, wanna spar for a bit?"


    " Are you getting cocky now that you are stronger than me?" Bloed asked in amusement.


    "Nonono, never. I just want to test how much stronger I am. Then, are we doing it? Or are you afraid?"


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying and sighed. "Okay, but we need to hold back when we attack. Let''s do it, we will stop just before hitting the opponent. Besides, I will not use my guns or [Molecr Disintegration], and you will not use your aspect either."


    "Okay."


    Just like that, Bloed and Liu Ying walked to the courtyard.


    Bloed and Liu Ying stood each in a side of the courtyard, separated by ten meters of distance. Liu Ying was clenching her fist in excitement and Bloed holding his saber.


    Then, as though they had read the thoughts of the other, both of them moved at the same time!


    Liu Ying kicked the ground, closing the ten meters of distance in an instant. Then, she swung her punch in a powerful uppercut.


    Bloed evaded her attack calmly. His eyes narrowed, looking at each movement of Liu Ying, and his saber shed towards her.


    As though reading his intention, Liu Ying twisted her body and spun around, unleashing a kick that Bloed evaded by ducking. Then, he counterattacked with three kick thrust.


    When Liu Ying evaded them, she realized that a kick wasing towards her.


    Bloed continued his kick with as sessive series of attacks. He did not limit himself to using his saber, and instead, used his entire body to attack Liu Ying.


    At this point, something interesting happened. Although Liu Ying was much faster than Bloed, she was being quickly cornered!


    Liu Ying was surprised. She hurriedly tried to take control of the fight, but with each second, the fight seemed to lean more in Bloed''s favor.


    ''Impossible!'' Liu Ying suppressed her surprise and hurriedly jumped back, evading another attack.


    "H-How?"


    "Did you forget about it?" Bloed smiled softly. "I taught you how to fight. Besides, although you are faster and stronger now, your movements are much less precise. There are a lot of ws to pick."


    Actually, that was just half of the reason. The other half was that Bloed was too familiar with Liu Ying''sbat style.


    Bloed''s first ESP ability, [Enhanced Brain Capacity], was perfectly suited to calctions. That,bined with Bloed''s mechanical eyes, were perfect tools to predict the enemy movements.


    Of course, Bloed needed to study the enemy and learn his attack pattern first if he wanted to predict his movements, but Liu Ying was someone that lived with Bloed and had fought several times beside him. Bloed knew practically everything about Liu Ying''sbat style.


    In that situation, Bloed found it easy to predict Liu Ying''s movements.


    It was like a game of chess where Bloed knew almost all the movements of his opponent beforehand. Even if his opponent level of chess was higher than Bloed, unless the difference was too great or Bloed was an idiot, he could not lose.


    Liu Ying bit her lips. To be honest, she was expecting to win easily now that she broke through. So she was not expecting something like this.


    After several seconds though, she took a deep breath and put on a serious expression.


    "I don''t believe I can''t beat you!"


    With a roar, Liu Ying rushed towards Bloed at full speed. In an instant, she was in front of Bloed again.


    Like before, she started the exchange with a punch. Bloed evaded it easily while shing towards her waist.


    But at that moment, Liu Ying''s movement transformedpletely!


    It was a movementpletely outside Liu Ying''s usualbat style. Instead of punching, elbowing, or kicking Bloed, she opened her arms and kicked the ground.


    Then, using her maximum speed, she...


    ... Hugged him.


    Bloed opened his eyes wide. Before he could react, Liu Ying''s weight was already atop him.


    The next second


    *Bam!*


    The pair fell on the ground and raised a cloud of dust.


    Liu Ying curved her lips up and straddled Bloed''s waist.


    "I won."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Are you going to hug your enemies during a fight?"


    Liu Ying shrugged. "Well, you are not my enemy."


    At that moment, though, she noticed how embarrassing their current position was.


    Instantly, her expression turned red in embarrassment.


    Bloed also realized the awkwardness of the situation. But when he was going to say something to alleviate it, he saw Liu Ying leaning forward.


    Then, her lips touched his.


    Bloed was stunned. For a brief instant, he did not know how to react.


    Liu Ying, on the other hand, turned even redder. However, instead of stopping, she gathered all her courage and went to kiss Bloed again.


    When suddenly


    *sh!*


    The sound of something falling on the ground reached their ears. Then, an intense killing intent assaulted Bloed and Liu Ying.


    The pair turned pale and looked in the direction of the killing intent.


    There, they saw a silver-haired girl staring at them with a beautiful smile.


    "Master, should I kill this thieving demon?"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 161: Silent Touch

    Chapter 161: Silent Touch


    Hey guys, today''s chapter is here!


    I know I owe yesterday''s chapter, but as I said in sunday''s chapters, I''m a bit busy recently, so my time to write has been slightlypromised. Hopefully, everything will return to normal tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.


    Enjoy, Aidka :p


    ...


    Ten minutester


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying were seated around a table eating breakfast.


    The atmosphere, though, was pretty tense.


    Bloed was trying his best to eat normally, but the pressureing from Regina''s body made the food to feel tasteless. Bloed was someone that liked to eat good food. A lot. But in the current situation, he could hardly swallow what was in his mouth.


    As for Liu Ying, she had not touched the food yet. Instead, she had a guilty look on her face and was looking around as though trying to escape from the table.


    Only Regina seemed rtively normal, but the cracked bowl and the bent spoon on her hand showed that her mood was not as good as she showed.


    When Regina finished eating breakfast, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she looked at Bloed.


    "Master, can you leave us alone for a while?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. Inwardly, though, he was panicking.


    Regina was not going to kill Liu Ying, right?


    To be honest, Bloed was a bit afraid of Regina right now.


    Unfortunately, Bloed''s experience with women was almost zero. So now that he was found ''cheating'' (Regina was not her lover yet, though) he found it hard even to meet Regina''s eyes.


    "Bloed, don''t worry. It''s alright. I also need to speak to her." Liu Ying smiled softly and nodded. Seeing that, Bloed could only sigh.


    "Okay. I''ll be in myboratory."


    After Bloed was gone, neither Regina nor Liu Ying spoke for a while. Instead, they looked at each other silently.


    Finally, after almost five minutes of heavy silence, Regina narrowed her eyes.


    "Is there something you want to tell me?"


    Liu Ying bit her lips and bowed. " Sorry."


    " Nothing else?"


    Liu Ying hesitated. But soon, her expression turned firm, and her eyes shone with determination.


    "I like him."


    Regina tapped the table twice before sighing. "I know. It was pretty obvious."


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. Well, she thought she had hidden it rather well.


    Regina took a deep breath and looked up at the roof. To be honest, what just happened was something she feared was going to happen sooner orter.


    And she was not happy with that.


    "What are you going to do then, Liu Ying? Are you nning to be my enemy?" Regina asked with a bit of killing intent leaking from her body.


    "Huh? N-No, of course not!" Liu Ying denied it flustered. "Is it a joke? You can kill me, like, with a wave of your hand. I''m don''t want to seek death like that."


    "Then"


    "Well... If you don''t mind it, I can be the second one." Liu Ying suggested after a bit of hesitation.


    "Second one?" Regina narrowed her eyes. "Are you asking me to share master with you?"


    Liu Ying looked at Regina with uncertainty and nodded. "Is anything wrong with that? Father had three wives and a lot of concubines. My mom was the main wife."


    Regina was stunned.


    It was then that she remembered something she had forgotten until then.


    This world was not the same as the Human Confederation.


    Here, polygamy was widely epted. In fact, most nobles had more than one wife.


    The question was... What did her master think about that?


    Regina frowned. For an instant, several thoughts passed through her mind.


    In the end, she sighed.


    "You said you like master, right?"


    Liu Ying nodded hurriedly. "I do!"


    "Then, do you swear you will never betray him?"


    Liu Ying was briefly startled, but she soon understood and raised a hand. "I swear!"


    "Good." Regina nodded. But instantly after that, an incredibly powerful killing intent drowned Liu Ying.


    Then, with a voice colder than the coldest ice, she spoke.


    "Demon, if one day you betray this oath, I promise you I will find you, and I''ll kill you!"


    Liu Ying paled and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. For an instant, she felt as though she was going to die.


    Fortunately, the killing intent disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, making Liu Ying sigh in relief and fear.


    When Liu Ying recovered from the sudden killing intent, Regina stood up from her chair and turned around, walking towards the courtyard.


    "I ept you as my master''s friend, however, anything beyond that depends on you. If master epts you as his wife, I will not refuse Maybe with your help, we can rece the shadow in master''s heart more quickly.


    "What do you mean?"


    "My mother, Cam Norman. Master will not truly ept us as long as her shadow is still in his heart."


    Liu Ying tilted her head. But then, she smiled confidently. "That is easy. Mom once told me that if I like someone, I only need to take the initiative and he will definitively fall... She said something about most men being unable to resist the advances of women."


    "... Is it so? Take the initiative..." Regina fell deep in thought before nodding. She then stared at Liu Ying. "Follow me."


    "A? O-Okay."


    Soon, the pair was in the courtyard. Regina brought Liu Ying in front of a tree and opened her mouth.


    "Demon, how much have you advanced in your martial arts?"


    "Well, I still need a bit more training, but I have grasped the essence of almost all the martial arts Bloed taught me." Liu Ying replied. "ording to Bloed, I''m very talented in closebat."


    "You are." Regina nodded. "You have a bloodline that gives you superhuman strength and explosive speed, and your aspect amplifies these advantages even more. In closebat, these factors are the most important... However, you are not using your talent at your full potential."


    "What do you mean?" Liu Ying asked confused.


    "You have shed twice against the devourers. I''m sure you noticed something."


    Liu Ying lowered her head before nodding. The two times she shed against a devourer, she lost most of the energy in her body. In both situations, she would have died if she was fighting alone.


    Regina smiled and extended her hand. "When ites to fighting against devourers, nobody is better than us Valkyries. I use a technique called [Positive-Negative Energy Conversion], but unfortunately, that technique is not suitable for you."


    Regina then clenched her fist and raised her hand.


    "But"


    With a soft smile, she punched the air, stopping one centimeter away from the tree.


    The punch seemed like a normal punch, and Liu Ying did not notice anything strange with it. But before one second passed, the tree in front of Liu Ying shook, then, it exploded into splinters!


    Liu Ying opened her eyes wide. That was


    "[Silent Touch]," Regina said calmly. "It is one of the methods developed to fight against the devourers and thebat technique of a powerful Valkyrie.


    "Like you, that Valkyrie specialized in superhuman strength and closebat. However, the way she used her strength was different than you. Instead of hitting the target directly, she stopped just before touching it and transformed all the energy in her body into kic energy, then, that energy was transmitted through the air to the target, delivering a powerful destructive blow directly in the target''s body."


    "That is..."


    "Amazing, right? Unfortunately, I don''t know much about that technique besides the theory and information in my database. I can barely imitate it through my ESP ability, but that is far from the level of that Valkyrie.


    "However, I''m pretty sure that with my guidance, you will be able to replicate it. And believe me, if you master this technique, yourbat power will grow around three or four times."


    "T-Three or four times!?" Liu Ying was surprised and excited. If Regina''s words were true, that technique was godly.


    However, Regina''s next words poured cold water in Liu Ying''s excitement.


    "Don''t get too excited. At its highest level, [Silent Touch] allowed that Valkyrie to ignore any defenses. Moreover, she could form an armor of kic energy around her body that reacted when someone attacked her, stopping the attacks and delivering a powerful counterattack automatically. It was so powerful that in closebat, she was virtually invincible. However, if you want to reach that level, you need to train for many, many years. To be honest, I''m not even sure you can reach her level in your life."


    Liu Ying''s excitement faded slightly. But not even one secondter, her face lit up with determination.


    "I can! I''ll definitively learn it! Regina, please teach me!" Liu Ying said and bowed her head.


    "Very well." Regina nodded with a smile. "If you want to be master''s woman, you need to be strong enough to be at his side. Get ready, I''ll not go easy on you."


    "Understood!


    When Bloed left theboratory, he was surprised to see Regina and Liu Ying training together in the courtyard.


    ...


    If you like the story, consider supporting me on P4TRE0N. Your support motivates me to continue writing...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 162: Died That Night

    Chapter 162: Died That Night


    Two dayster


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying arrived at the entrance of Diadel City apanied by Tito, Leto, and Liu Liu (the three pets). They were ready to leave for the beastmen countries.


    As soon as they arrived, they saw a group waiting for them there.


    The leader of the group, Javelin, waved his hand when he saw Bloed.


    "Hey, ready to go?" Javelin asked in curiosity when he saw the group traveling without luggage. Bloed pointed to the bracelet of ck jewels in Regina''s wrist, and Javelin immediately understood.


    "Right, I forgot you are a rich guy. I guess it''s normal if you have spatial equipment."


    " I''m sure there are richer people than me out there. Anyway, are we leaving like this? Without a caravan or something like that?"


    "You will see." Javelin smiled mysteriously without exining. "I''m sure you will be surprised when you see it."


    Bloed was curious, but he did not insist. Anyway, he was going to know soon enough.


    Before leaving, though, Bloed saw several acquittances nearby.


    The first one that approached them was Madeline. She walked calmly towards Bloed''s group and put on a soft smile.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, Miss Regina, it was a pleasure to meet you. I wish you a good trip."


    "Thank you, Miss Madeline. I hope you can finish your work soon." Bloed answered.


    A bitter smile appeared on Madeline''s face. "I doubt it. To be honest, there is a lot I need to do here. Just coordinating the retreat of Moonlight Glow and the repatriation of the beastmen will take months. Moreover, I can''t just send the beastmen back to their countries and forget about them. I also need to coordinate their new jobs and ces to stay so as to avoid unrest."


    "You sure have it hard." Bloed smiled wryly. Liu Ying, beside him, nodded.


    "Anyway, please give my regards to my king when you see him," Madeline said. "Also, keep an eye on my little brother. He usually looks reliable, but he tends to get swept with the flow easily."


    " You know your little brother is an A-Rank, right?" Liu Ying asked dumbfounded. Could it be that Madeline was an overprotective brocon?


    Bloed quickly covered Liu Ying''s mouth, afraid of she voicing out her thoughts. He then nodded to Madeline. " Don''t worry, I''ll keep an eye on him."


    Madeline nodded with a smile and left.


    After Madeline, Charise walked towards the group, followed by the usually silent and stoic Kallevang.


    Charise stared at the group of three and put on aplicated smile.


    "So you areving, huh."


    Bloed nodded. "There is nothing to do in this ce anymore."


    "You are right. Then, what do you think of a farewell gift?"


    "Farewell gift?"


    Charise smiled mischievously and put her mouth on Bloed''s ear.


    "You are going to the beastmen countries, right? When you are there, try to get the recognition of the fox." Then, she breathed on Bloed''s ear.


    Bloed was slightly embarrassed, but he was more curious about Charise''s words.


    ''The fox?'' Bloed wanted to ask more. But before he could, Charise moved back and grinned while looking at Regina and Liu Ying with a yful look.


    "Goodbye, Mr. Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, Miss Regina. See you soon~ I hope the goddess of fate guides your path."


    Then, she turned around and left.


    Behind her, Kallevang bowed slightly and left too.


    When the pair of the church of fate was gone, Bloed felt Regina and Liu Ying''s stern gazes on him.


    "Master, what did that woman say?"


    "Could it be, she too?"


    "Please, stop imagining things." Bloed smiled wryly. He did not know if it was his imagination, but since the day he and Liu Ying kissed, he felt that Regina and Liu Ying had be much closer.


    Of course, he was d for that. However, he also felt that they had be much more open about their feelings And more possessive too. It was as though the pair were taking turns to keep an eye on him.


    Bloed was curious about what kind of agreement they reached that day; but no matter how much he asked, they keep silent about it.


    After a sigh, Bloed told them Charise''s words.


    Liu Ying put on a dissatisfied expression almost instantly.


    "That is the reason my father never liked the chatans of the church of fate. They speak a lot but say nothing, and you can never understand what they are speaking about!"


    " I''m sure we will know what she means when the timees." Bloed could only say so.


    "Are you done with the farewells?" Javelin asked with a smile. "Then, it''s time to depart. Illina, lead the way."


    "Understood."


    With the wolfkin girl leading the way, the group finally left Diadel City.


    Unfortunately, they were stopped before they could walk for long.


    This time, it was a middle-aged man apanied by two people wearing hoods.


    As soon as the group saw them, they tensed up, ready to start a battle at any moment.


    "Don''t worry, we don''t have the intention to fight this time," Sebastian raised his hands to show he was not armed. He then looked at Bloed with aplicated look.


    "Your highness, are you sure you don''t want to return?"


    "Still with that?" Bloed asked in a clearly irritated tone. "Mr. Sebastian, do you remember the words you told me the day you left me in the exilednds?"


    ""


    "You told me, ''Glenn Skysword died tonight''. You were right, Mr. Sebastian. Glenn Skysword died that night. From that day onwards, I have not been rted to the Skysword royal family anymore."


    "I see." Sebastian stared at Bloed fixedly before nodding. "I guess I''m unable to convince you then, your highness. However, I think there is something you need to know."


    "Hurry up then. I already lost too much of my time with you."


    " The princess is still searching for you. In fact, she has gone to the exilednds several times in thest five years. I think you can understand her motive"


    Bloed shivered. For an instant, the image of a cute ck-haired little girl appeared on his mind.


    His twin sister, his closest person before he was exiled. The little girl that always screamed ''big brother!'' while bragging to him the results of her training.


    The only person that never minded hisck of mana.


    Bloed sighed. After a few seconds, he asked a question.


    " Eres, how is she?"


    " The little princess has turned into a beautiful woman, your highness. She is the pride of our nation."


    "Is it so?" Bloed nodded. Then, his bright blue eyes returned to their previous indifference. "If she asks for me again, tell her I''m dead."


    Because Glenn Skysword exists no more.

 Chapter 163: World Burning Princess Witch

    Chapter 163: World Burning Princess Witch


    The chapter I owed...


    ...


    In the eastern region of the Kingdom of Alterna


    A beautiful girl was seated on a horse. The girl had an ice-cold expression, with her long ck hair tied in a ponytail and dancing in the wind.


    She was wearing a beautiful set of tinum armor, and an elegant-looking silver rapier was hanging off her waist. The girl was using her pitch-ck eyes to look at the scene in the distance.


    There, a certain city was burning in mes. Knights of the kingdom were using their weapons to fight against an enemy army, while at the same time defending against the civilians around them.


    The battle was incredibly intense, however, in the eyes of the girl, the winner of this confrontation was already clear.


    "Arrieta." The girl called out in a soft voice. "Get the third unit prepared. Tell them to attack from the right using the wing formation. That should be enough."


    "Understood, Your Highness!" A knight respectfully bowed before urging his horse. In less than one minute, he wasmanding his subordinates to attack the ce the girl pointed.


    And as the girl said, that attack put an end to the battle.


    In a matter of seconds, the enemy army started to retreat. They fell like flies, being killed without being able to retaliate.


    asionally, a powerful powerhouse would appear to try to turn around the situation. But each time, a powerhouse of the knights'' side would be there to stop them.


    In less than five minutes, most of the city was once more under the kingdom''s control.


    But at that moment, a man appeared behind the girl.


    The man appeared suddenly, without anyone noticing. He was wielding a dagger in each hand, and his entire mana had been used for this one attack!


    It was an A-Rank assassin!


    In less than one second and before the knights around the girl could attack, the assassin reached her!


    """Your highness!""" Several knights panicked, some of them were even ready to sacrifice their lives to gain time in case the girl was severely injured.


    However, that was not necessary.


    When the assassin''s daggers were about to stab the girl, he stopped abruptly.


    Then, his eyes opened wide with an expression of fear.


    The girl did not even bother to look at the assassin. Despite being one rank below him in cultivation, the girl seemedpletely uninterested in this kind of opponent.


    Instead, her lips opened to pronounce two words.


    "Burn, [Skymes]."


    The effect was immediate. From around the girl, transparent mes that seemed to burn the reality itself materialized, swallowing the assassin and consuming his body until not even ashes were left!


    There was no scream, no blood, no nothing.


    Everything was swallowed by the mes.


    It was a manifestation of the girl''s monstrous power. The power that gave her the title of [World Burning Princess Witch].


    The Skysword royal family inherited a technique through the generations. A technique created by the founder of the Kingdom of Alterna that was undefeated while he was alive.


    [Skysword].


    A sword able to cut through anything.


    Few people in the royal family are able to use the technique. Sometimes, not even one person in one hundred years can use it.


    The girl, however, was different.


    Not only she was able to use the technique since the first time she practiced it. She also modified it,bining it with her own original spell matrix to create a new and more suitable spell for her use.


    [Skymes].


    mes able to burn reality itself.


    After the assassin died, the girl continued looking at the city indifferently. Only when thest seed of chaos was erased, the girl moved her gaze away.


    "Your highness, the enemy leader has surrendered." A knight approached and said. "Do you want to see him?"


    "It''s not necessary." The girl said indifferently. "Just do the usual and find the reason behind the rebellion. Also, leave a squadron behind in the city in case someone has funny ideas. We are departing."


    "Now? But your highness, it''s almost night. Besides, it would be good if your highness shows your face to the citizens to calm them down."


    "I don''t have time." The girl shot him down coldly. "I have businesses to attend in the pce. Besides, my mission was only to stop the rebellion, not to take care of a city."


    The knight lowered his head and nodded. "Understood."


    The girl nodded. She then turned her horse around and gave her men the order to get ready to depart.


    As though machines, the knights followed her orders, showing theplete loyalty they had towards the girl.


    However, she did not pay attention to them.


    Instead, she galloped towards another of her subordinates and asked him something.


    "Any news?"


    "Yes, your highness. There is information from the people you sent to the exilednds."


    "Already? Did something happen?"


    " They are dead. Only one survived and came back to bring the news, but he died shortly after that."


    The girl frowned. For a brief moment, an expression of loss and despair appeared in her beautiful ck eyes.


    But soon, her eyes were filled with resolution again.


    "Organize another team. And make sure this time they are better prepared. I will not tolerate another failure."


    The man nodded. Although he did not understand the girl''s reasons to send men into the exilednds, he did not question her.


    His duty was just to follow orders.


    And in this kingdom, perhaps only the king could question the girl in front of him.


    She was the greatest genius the kingdom had seen in hundreds of years, a talent almost unrivaled through the entire continent.


    [The General Princess], [Alterna''s Loftiest me], [World Burning Princess Witch].


    Her name was Eres Skysword, the only princess in the Kingdom of Alterna.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 164: Sixteen

    Chapter 164: Sixteen


    I an unknown part of the continent


    "Master." A ck-dressed man entered a dark room and kneeled on a knee.


    A few secondster, a voice came from the other side of the room.


    It was a man with an indifferent expression.


    He was staring fixedly at an experimental tube in front of him, observing each little change on the ck heart floating inside.


    "What is it? Did something happen?" The man asked.


    "Yes." The man kneeling on the ground nodded. "Some of the seeds we nted have sprouted. Unfortunately, the results were not as good as we expected."


    "Oh? Tell me about it."


    "Understood." The ck-dressed man kneeling on the ground nodded. He then started to report the situation.


    "We were unsessful in the beastmen countries. When the n was about to start, the saintess of Moonlight Glow appeared suddenly and eliminated all the men we had stationed there. Nobody survived. Moreover, she grasped some of ourmunication channels, so we were forced to sever them to not expose more of our ns."


    The man in front of the tube nodded indifferently. "How unlucky. That n had a high chance to seed Well, failing is normal if that troublesome fox and her adherents are involved. What else?"


    "We failed in the Kingdom of Alterna too." The ck-dressed man continued his report. "ording to the news I received, the rebellion we incited was quelled by the general princess. It was not even one percent as effective as we expected."


    "... The general princess." The other man sighed. "Well, I was not expecting much from our n in the Kingdom of Alterna. Their foundations are too solid to be shaken by something like this It doesn''t matter. We just need to try again. For now, ask our men there to keep a low profile."


    "I understand." Replied the ck-dressed man. "Thest report is about Diadel Duchy... We seeded there."


    This time, the man in front of the tube could not help but turn around.


    " So Ryzen seeded." He said slightly surprised. "Well, he had nned this for a long time."


    "True. At thest minute, the Church of Fate and Moonlight Glow intervened, but they were unable to change the situation. Everything developed as we expected."


    "I see... Okay, you can go. Oh, right, what about the sacrifices I asked for?"


    " They will be arriving soon."


    "That is good. Their talents will be useful for my ns. Also, recently I confirmed the existance of a new valuable sample. Now I think about it, he was coincidentally in Diadel Duchy. He should have a special power rted to destruction. Find him and bring him to me."


    "I will, master."


    With these words, the man kneeling on the ground disappeared on the shadows and left.


    After the ck-dressed man was gone, the other man continued looking at the ck heart. Only when he was sure the situation with the heart was not going to change in the next five minutes, he moved his gaze away and walked towards a table nearby.


    In the table, a two-meters long map of the continent was spread.


    The map contained the name of each country, region, and city; plus information about the forces inhabiting it. Surprisingly, it included even the most hidden forces that the churches and royal families kept hidden.


    A white chess piece was standing in each country or region, simbolizing the current status of the man''s ns. However, two ces had different colored chess pieces.


    The Exiled Lands.


    The Demon Empire.


    In both ces, the white chess piece had been reced by a pitch-ck and ominous chess piece.


    After the man finished observing the map, he extended his left hand. He then took away the white piece in Diadel Duchy and used his right hand to rece it with a ck piece.


    Strangely, the number ''0'' was tattooed in the back of the man''s right hand.


    "Soon." The man muttered. "Soon."


    Shaking his head, he returned in front of the tube containing the ck heart and continued observing it.


    For an instant, though, his gaze seemed to pierce space, arriving at a room in Diadel Duchy.


    There, the new duke was looking at himself in the mirror.


    He was half-naked, with only his pants on, revealing the powerful muscles in his upper body.


    "Do you know, father?" The new duke, Ryzen, spoke to himself. "Since the start, you were just a chess piece."


    With a smallugh, Ryzen walked towards a box nearby.


    When he opened it, a disgusting ck-creature appeared in front of him.


    The creature trashed fiercely against the box, but the seals on it meant the creature could not break it no matter how much it struggled.


    "Finally, you have beenpleted." Ryzen smiled with a gaze full of desire. He then extended his hand and grabbed the creature.


    The creature struggled, but its strength was iparable to the demigod. Moreover, for some reason, it could not use its ability to absorb energy.


    "So many lives, just for a little creature like you to mature."


    Ryzenughed again. But this time, hisugh was filled with greed. Greed for the terrifying power this creature could give him.


    Then, he brought the creature to his chest.


    As though the creature had discovered something incredibly enticing, it bit his chest, opening a hole almost instantly and burrowing in it.


    "Ugh!" Ryzen grunted, but he endured the pain without showing it in his face. The pain that could make a normal human faint was nothing to the demigod.


    Eventually, the creature finished entering his body, and Ryzen smiled in excitement.


    Nobody, not even Bloed, Charise, or the church of sun god, realized that Ryzen never killed the creature in the duke''s chest and instead had stolen it.


    Nobody, not even the church of the sun god, realized that Ryzen was the true mastermind behind the entire incident. Even the church of the sun god was just a pawn in his n.


    And nobody, not even the gods themselves, knew of the tattoo with the number ''16'' engraved in Ryzen''s chest.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 165: Airship

    Chapter 165: Airship


    Hey guys, Aidka''s Here!


    Sorry for the dy (again), but to be honest, this week has been a bit hard for me. I have been running around for several reasons (Even with the pandemic around) and have been unable to write as much I wanted.


    Yesterday, especially, I was busy the entire day, and when I returned I was too tired to write. Fortunately, today is Sunday. I''m nning to post all the chapters I owe today.


    I would like to tell you that things will return to normal soon, but unfortunately, I''m not done yet. Next week will probably be the same. Of course, I''ll try to follow the schedule as much as I can, but I may miss one day or two.


    Thank you for your understanding, Aidka.


    ...


    The blue sky extended endlessly before Bloed''s eyes. He could feel the soft wind caressing his face as white clouds passed close to his eyes.


    It was a scenery a normal person could not enjoy in his life. Even in the human confederation, few people would have had the opportunity to enjoy something like this.


    Currently, Bloed was standing in the deck of an airship.


    Bloed was very surprised when Javelin showed it to him. He had heard of airships, but he had never used one before.


    Well, Bloed rarely left the pce when he was a prince, much less the capital, so there was no opportunity for him to use an airship.


    And to be honest, he somehow regretted never trying it before. It waspletely different from flying using Leto, or an airne (although Bloed never flew in an airne before). When you traveled in an airship, you could go to the deck to enjoy the soft and cold high-altitude wind and observe the beautiful scenery below; something that you could not do when using an airne.


    But it was not as though Bloed waspletely satisfied with the airship.


    Well, the travel was certainlyfortable, but when Bloed saw the airship, his engineer mind could not help bute up and criticize the countless ws non-efficient parts of this luxurious vehicle.


    Bloed found the shape of the airship absurd. The airship was like a dirigible with a deck propelled by magic. It burned a lot of magic ores (a kind of mineral burnt to get mana) to activate several arrays which gave the airship the ability to fly in the air.


    That method was notpletely wrong, but it limited greatly the airship maximum speed. It could hardly reach one hundred kilometers per hour.


    During the time Bloed had been in the airship, he had thought already of more than twenty-seven modifications he would have done to this vehicle to improve its efficiency. Unfortunately, this airship was not his, and Bloed was not sure it was a good idea to make his ideas public.


    He did not want to be chased by this world''s countries due to the knowledge he possessed.


    In the end, he forced himself to just keep his ideas in his mind. However, Bloed promised himself that one day, he would create his own airship. He already had the basic idea in his mind. He was nning to design it following the design of an aircraft carrier.


    Unfortunately, Bloed was not sure how long he was going to need before making that image reality.


    "Master, you are here."


    A soft voice came from behind Bloed. When he turned around, he found Regina and Liu Ying walking towards him.


    "Bloed!" Liu Ying ran towards him and hugged his back. Bloed instantly felt the warmth of her body pressing against him, making him a bit awkward.


    Fortunately, Regina quickly grabbed Liu Ying by her nape and pulled her away.


    "Stop bothering master, demon."


    She would have been more convincing if she was not looking at Bloed''s back with a trace of longing.


    Liu Ying pouted. "Don''t be a coward, Regina! Just hug him if you want!"


    "..."


    "Then I will hug him again."


    " Demon, don''t go too far, or you will see."


    Liu Ying shivered and stopped instantly with a strained smile on her face.


    After experiencing Regina''s hellish training, Liu Ying was noticeably a bit afraid of Regina.


    Thinking about what Regina could do if she became angry, Liu Ying could not help but ask Bloed for help with her gaze.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    To be honest, he was feeling a headache recently. The girls (mainly Liu Ying), had been much more straightforward when it came to express their feelings with physical contact.


    Liu Ying, for example, frequently found excuses to hug him or to sit beside him. Sometimes, she put her head chin on Bloed''s shoulder and stayed like that for a long while.


    To be honest, that was nice. In fact, Bloed felt really ttered that such a beautiful girl showed interest in him.


    The problem was that Liu Ying''s behavior stimted thepetitive part of Regina''s personality.


    Andtely, Bloed realized she was looking at him with a strange gaze.


    Bloed was not even sure he was ready to start a romantic rtionship yet. But he knew that at this rate, he would soon be unable to resist.


    While Bloed was thinking about that, someone called his name.


    "Bloed, you are here."


    Three people came from inside the ship and walked towards him. Bloed was familiar with two of them. The catkin Javelin and the wolfkin Illina.


    As for the third, it was a skinny lionkin boy with a pair of spirited eyes.


    If Bloed was not wrong, he was


    "Bloed, I have not introduced you to him, right?" Javelin smiled. "He is Prince Calisto Firstmane, the prince that you helped us to rescue."


    "Nice to meet you." The boy bowed slightly to Bloed and the girls.


    "Nice to meet you." Bloed and the girls returned the greeting. At the same time, Bloed observed this lionkin prince carefully.


    Calisto was around twelve or thirteen years old, with soft blonde hair and blue eyes. Bloed could not help but think that the boy handsome.


    No. Cute was the right word.


    Although he was still a bit malnourished due to the days he spent trapped underground, he did not show any other sign of having suffered something as terrible as a kidnapping. Instead, he seemed more like a lively and shy girl (although he was a boy).


    "Mr. Bloed, mmm I wanted to give you my thanks for helping Javelin to rescue me."


    "It''s nothing," Bloed said with a smile. "It''s good to know that you are alright."


    "Hehe." Calisto smiled sheepishly before looking at Liu Ying and Regina. "I also want to thank you, Miss Regina, Miss Liu Ying. The two of you are very beautiful. Mr. Bloed is very fortunate of having two lovers like you."


    Bloed felt himself freezing briefly. But Liu Ying and Regina, on the other hand, seemed very happy with the boy''s words.


    "You are also a very cute child, prince." Liu Ying said and patted his head. "Next time, however, you should be more careful. Also, you should train more and be strong so nothing like this happens again."


    "I understand!" Calisto smiled seriously. "Don''t worry, I will train a lot Although I think I will have to receive my father''s punishment before that."


    Bloed could not help but let out a small smile when he saw the disheartened expression in the lionkin prince.


    After shaking his head, he decided to ask Javelin something.


    "By the way, how long until we reach the beastmen countries?"


    "No much." Javelin replied. "However, we still need to travel for another two days before reaching the capital."


    "Two days, huh."


    That was a lot of time.


    Fortunately, the airship included rooms, baths, and luxurious food, so the long travel was not going to be so tiring.


    Bloed was especially interested in the baths. He had not seen them yet, but he heard they were very luxurious.


    "I guess I''ll use that time to work in some things I thought recently." Bloed thought aloud. "Who knows, perhaps I can get something good by the time we arrive."


    "Don''t worry, two days will pass very fast." Javelin smiled. After that, though, he put on a mischievous smile and whispered something on Bloed''s ear.


    "Why don''t you take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy a rest with the two misses? Righ, Which one between Miss Regina and Miss Liu Ying are you going to choose? Or are you nning to marry both?"


    Almost instantly, Bloed got the feeling that Regina and Liu Ying were looking towards him.

 Chapter 166: Don’t Take Too Long

    Chapter 166: Don¡¯t Take Too Long


    Bloed was not sure how he managed to escape from that situation.


    For an instant, Bloed considered the idea of stabbing Javelin. Although the bastard ''whispered'' it in Bloed''s ears, all the people nearby were literally superhumans. They heard his words clearly.


    Thus, it created an awkward situation where Regina, Liu Ying, and even Illina, were looking at Bloed weirdly.


    How was he supposed to answer in that situation?


    "Sigh So troublesome" Bloed sighed and took off his clothes before entering the bath. He hade here to rx after the incident in the deck.


    As expected from an airship used by royalty, the bath was very luxurious. It was made of aromatic wood with A big bathtub heated slightly to adjust the temperature of the water.


    The bath was just perfect considering the slightly cold temperature caused by the airship''s height.


    When Bloed''s submerged himself in the water, he let out a long sight of satisfaction.


    Almost instantly, though, his expression turnedplicated.


    Now that he was alone, Bloed could not help but think again about his current situation.


    " What should I do?" Bloed asked himself and heaved a sigh of exasperation. "Dammit, it''s so hard..."


    Bloed was pretty smart, but he was just as inexperienced when it came to love. Besides, although he had kissed both Regina and Liu Ying before, he was not sure if he wanted that kind of rtionship with them.


    In truth, Bloed liked both of them. Both Regina and Liu Ying were extremely beautiful girls. Furthermore, facing Regina''s devoutness and Liu Ying''s daringness, it was impossible not to be charmed.


    But, liking was different from love.


    Plus, when Bloed thought of someone he loved, the face of that woman appeared on his mind.


    Cami.


    " I''m an idiot."


    With a self-deprecatingugh, Bloed closed his eyes and let the water wash his body.


    At that moment, Bloed heard the door of the bathroom opening.


    For an instant, a bad presentment appeared on Bloed''s mind.


    ''It can''t be, right?''


    Fortunately, when Bloed opened his eyes, Regina was not there.


    Instead, a handsome male catkin entered the bath with a towel wrapped around his waist.


    Javelin smiled at Bloed. He then walked towards the bathtub and submerged himself on the water.


    After a long sigh of contentment, Javelin stared at Bloed smilingly.


    "You look troubled, huh. Why? Are you having women troubles?"


    Bloed''s expression crumbled. For an instant, he wanted just to jump towards him and stab a de through his chest.


    Unfortunately, the catkin was stronger than him.


    "Hahahaha, well, I''m sorry for what happened in the deck. I admit that I wanted to tease you for a bit."


    " Forget it." Bloed exhaled with a tired expression. "Just Stop the teasing. I''m already at the edge of my reason just dealing with Liu Ying and Regina''s advances for you to add fuel to the mes.


    "Hahahaha." Javelinughed again. He then stared at Bloed fixedly before putting on a serious expression.


    "I don''t understand, Bloed. It''s obvious that Miss Regina and Miss Liu Ying are head over heels for you. Why are you avoiding them then?"


    Bloed fell silent. Honestly, he did not want to talk to Javelin about this.


    Soon, though, he thought better.


    " Javelin, do you have experience with women?"


    "Well, I''m not an expert. But I think I can give you a good piece of advice. Tell me, what is troubling you?"


    " If If you love someone, but that person never looked at you like that, and you know you can never be with her What should you do?"


    Javelin was startled. Soon, though, he put on a bitter smile.


    "Damn. That is a hell of a problem. I guess I understand your situation now Why do you think you can never be with that person? Is she married to someone else or something like that?"


    " She is dead."


    Javelin froze. He then sighed and put on an apologizing expression. "Sorry."


    "It doesn''t matter." Bloed shook his head. "Just help me with my question."


    Javelin fell silent before shaking his head.


    "You already know the answer, right? You must let go."


    Bloed nodded. He already knew it.


    But it was not so easy.


    For Bloed, Cami was not just his mother. She was his everything.


    When he had nothing, she gave him everything.


    Strength, warmth, a surname, a home a family.


    Everything Bloed is today was thanks to her.


    Thus


    " I''m not sure I can forget her."


    Javelin smiled bitterly. "Well, that is normal. I guess I understand now why you are so evasive with the two misses Bloed, let me tell you a story."


    "A story?"


    "Yes Maybe it will help you." Javelin said and looked at the roof with an expression of pain. "You perhaps don''t know about it, but my family is pretty important in my hometown. The Sharpw family has produced generations of outstanding assassins. The number of demigods in the story of my family is as high as three, although none of them is alive today.


    "I was born in that kind of family. So, since I was a child, everybody had high expectations of me. Fortunately, my talent did not let my family down. Every day, I trained incredibly hard, and I had results to show for that training.


    " But eventually, I grew tired of that training. I wanted to be like other children and enjoy ying around. Unfortunately, every time I suggested it, my elders scolded me and tell me to train harder.


    "In that kind of life, I met a girl." Javelin smiled softly. "I was just eleven back then, and the girl was eight. She was a servant the family assigned to me.


    "She was the only person of my age I could interact with, so eventually, I grew close to her. When I was fifteen and she was twelve, I was sure I wanted to marry her, and I suspected she also loved me.


    "But As a child of a powerful family, my marriage is not something I can decide easily.


    "When I turned sixteen, my father told me I had a fiance, and I had to marry her.


    " To be honest, I did not think much about it at that moment. However, the girl I loved was different.


    "She knew that her status as a servant was unable to match me. But she said nothing. Inwardly, though, she was waiting for my words.


    "She was waiting for me to make a decision. I''m sure she would have epted even if I took her as my concubine."


    I never said what she wanted to hear.


    Bloed could hear Javelin''s longing and pain in his bitter words. It was as though he was cursing himself for his idiocy.


    "And one day... that girl suddenly disappeared.


    "When I asked around, I learned my father had sent her away. He learned of my feelings for her, so to stop me from making a mistake, she sent her away.


    "I became very angry. I loved her, but now, she was away. And I did not know where she was.


    "At that moment, I regretted never expressing her my feelings.


    "After that day, I away ran from home. I started to work with the intelligencework of the kingdom in hopes of finding her again.


    " When I turned twenty, I finally found her."


    Bloed sighed. From Javelin''s words, he knew this story did not have a happy ending.


    Javelinughed bitterly.


    "She was married to someone else."


    " I''m sorry."


    "No." Javelin shook his head. "It was my fault. Iter learned that it was her way to cope with our separation. She wanted to forget me and make me forget her, so, she married someone else.


    "When I found her, she already had a child... I was unable to tell her I loved her...


    "After that, I offered myself to go to Diadel Duchy. I went there to escape from the pain.


    "For a while after that, my life was a mess. I slept with a new woman every day. Hell, I even forgot about my fiance To be honest, I feel sorry for her."


    "What happened to her?" Bloed asked.


    Javelin smiled. "Illina is my fiance."


    Bloed was stunned. He never expected the two of them to have that kind of rtionship.


    Although he had noticed they were a bit closer than normal.


    " I owe a lot to Illina." Javelin said with a smile. "She endured at my side even when I rejected her and slept with other women... This time, I''m nning to marry her after returning I have already made her wait for too long, so I must do my best to give her the happiness she deserves


    "Bloed, I don''t know what you will choose in the end But, how long are you going to let these two incredible girls wait for you?"


    " How long, huh."


    Javelin smiled. "Just not take too long or it could be toote by then. I hope my story was of help."


    "It was," Bloed nodded with aplicated expression. "Thank you."


    ...


    I''ll try to post another chapter tonight...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 167: The Great Savanna

    Chapter 167: The Great Savanna


    The Beastmen Countries.


    Five beastmen countries joined in an alliance. The five countries, plus Moonlight Glow and some other organizations, form a council dedicated to deal with any problem affecting the beastmen of the continent.


    In terms ofnd, the beastmen are the race with the smallest portion of the continent; but in terms of military power, they are not below humans, elves, daemons, or beasts.


    Moreover, the beastmen have Moonlight Glow, making them the second race most closely knitted together, only being surpassed by the Demon Empire under the absolute government of the Demon Emperor.


    The five beastmen countries are respectively ''The Great Savanna'', ''The Forest of Wolves'', ''Almer''s Canyon'', ''The Frend'', and ''The Land of the Moon'', the birthce of Moonlight Glow.


    Bloed and the others'' destination was The Great Savanna. A country governed by the Firstmane lionkin tribe.


    ording to Bloed''s knowledge, The Great Savanna was a ce of both drought and abundance. During half a year, the country would not be visited by rain, and during the other half a year, the rain would be abundant, gifting the savanna with bountiful harvests and all kinds of resources.


    And this time, Bloed was visiting the savanna in the half a year of abundance.


    From the airship, Bloed could see the bright green fields of grass and trees extending till the horizon. It was a beautiful in filled with every kind of animal and magic beast enjoying the blessings given by the rain.


    The scenery was amazing.


    Bloed was surprised to see so many different species in the same ce. Fortunately, Bloed''s field of study was engineering and not botanic nor zoology, otherwise, he would have been tempted to jump down from the airship and study the many species here.


    However, there was another thing that attracted Bloed''s attention.


    "That is"


    "Indigenous tribes." Javelin answered while looking at the ce where Bloed was pointing. "They are nomadic tribes living from hunting animals. They rarelymunicate with outsiders and have very little contact with the central government of the beastmen countries."


    Javelin then proceeded to exin their situation to Bloed.


    Apparently, the Beastmen Countries were a bit different than Bloed''s expected. Although it was true that many beastmen were living under civilized societies, the truth was that more than half of them were still living in indigenous tribes.


    ording to Javelin, they refused to forget the customs of their ancestors and treated the beastmen living in the civilization as heretics that forgot their roots.


    "They are just fools." Javelin said with a tired sigh. "They did not understand that if not by the efforts of the beastmen council and Moonlight Glow to establish the beastmen countries, our brethren would still be treated as ves by the other races. Instead, they stubbornly refuse to change citing their foolish customs and drag down our entire species."


    Bloed heard Javelin''s words in silence.


    In fact, to Bloed, those beastmen were not necessary in the wrong. The problem was that the world was constantly changing, and those who refused to change with it would eventually be left behind.


    Perhaps, one hundred yearster, these indigenous beastmen would be reduced to a fraction of their current poption.


    "Anyway, get ready Bloed." Javelin shook his head and changed the topic. "We will arrive at the capital in one hour."


    As Javelin said, the airship arrived at the capital one hourter.


    Bloed was once more surprised when he saw the capital of The Great Savanna. After seeing the tribal societies across the country, he was expecting something simr when he arrived at the capital.


    But his expectations werepletely betrayed.


    The capital of The Great Savanna was called Apso, and it was a beautiful and magnificent city bigger than any city Bloed had seen until now.


    The city was enormous, filled with stone streets and streamlined yellow buildings that followed the customs of The Great Savanna.


    In the center of the city, a giant pyramid-like tower was standing pridefully. The pyramid was made of countless golden bricks For an instant, Bloed wondered if these bricks were truly made of gold.


    Javelin denied it at the next instant. He said that the bricks were not made of gold. Instead, the surface of the pyramid was coated in a goldyer to give it that pompous appearance.


    The group was speechless. Using gold to coat the surface of that enormous pyramid Bloed was not even sure if he could use the word ''extravagant'' to describe it.


    " Well, this pyramid was something my people built when this country was founded." Javelin exined awkwardly. "In fact, the current king is very embarrassed due to it, but he can''t demolish it due to its important historical value."


    Bloed nodded. To be honest, this building gave the impression of a country bumpkin showing off the wealth he suddenly gained.


    " We are not going to live there, right?"


    "Not even the royal family lives there. Javelin shook his head. "They are too embarrassed to live in that ce. Thus, there is a royal mansion nearby That pyramid is just like a symbol. It''s only used on very important asions."


    " That is good." Bloed sighed in relief. He did not want to find himself living in a ce like that.


    After the airship entered the city, it descended in anding spot close to the pyramid. Javelin then led the group towards the exit of the airship.


    The first one to exit was the little prince, Calisto Firstmane. Javelin, Illina, and the lizardkin maid Bloed saw before were following after him. Bloed''s group was behind them.


    Contrary to Bloed''s expectation, though, the group was not received with a grand reception.


    Instead, four soldiers were waiting outside the airship led by a stern-looking middle-aged male catkin.


    For some reason, though, Bloed thought his appearance was very simr to Javelin.


    ''His father?'' Bloed wondered inwardly, but he did not show anything in his face.


    "Wee, prince." The middle-aged man bowed slightly. "I hope that your trip was good. If you don''t mind, pleasee with me. His majesty is waiting for you."


    Calisto trembled slightly. "R-Right now?"


    "Of course." The middle-aged man nodded. "You caused a lot of troubles for us this time, so His Majesty is in a bad mood. I hope you are prepared for your punishment."


    Calisto''s expression turned pale. He turned around to look at Javelin, Illina, and then Bloed and the others, but unfortunately for him, nobody came to his rescue.


    In the end, his ears and tail dropped pitifully.


    "... I understand."


    "Very well." The middle-aged man nodded before looking at Javelin. "Javelin, take our guest to their residences. Someone will soon inform them of their itinerary. Also, report to His Majesty afterward. He wants to hear everything from your mouth."


    "Understood, father." Javelin lowered his head respectfully.


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. So the middle-aged man was Javelin''s father after all.


    After the middle-aged man was gone, Javelin turned towards Bloed and the others.


    " Okay. Guys, Let''s go."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 168: Fox (1)

    Chapter 168: Fox (1)


    Javelin and Illina led Bloed''s group towards a beautiful mansion near the pyramid.


    In the way, Liu Ying could not help but speak up.


    " Javelin, why does it seem that your father is not very happy about seeing you or the prince?"


    Javelin smiled wryly. "Well, my father is usually like that. Besides The prince almost caused an international incident that could have created a war. As for me I ran away from home a few years ago, so my father is not exactly happy with me."


    "Oh? I''m sorry, I did not know"


    "It doesn''t matter." Javelin shook his head nonchntly. "Anyway, we are here." He then pointed to a beautiful mansion in front of them. "You are our kingdom''s guest, so you will be treated like one. Your food and necessities will be supplied by the servants here, and in case you need something, don''t hesitate to ask."


    "Thank you." Bloed nodded. To be honest, this ce was more than he was expecting.


    "The servants here will help you with the rest. I now need to report to the king and go through several procedures so I probably will only be able to see you again tomorrow." Javelin smiled apologetically.


    "Don''t worry about that and do your job." Bloed smiled in understanding.


    After Javelin and Illina made sure that everything was alright, they left for the pce (pyramid).


    As for Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina, they spent the rest of the morning organizing their belongings.


    When it was noon, the servants of the ce served them a very delicious dinner. Regina was a bit dissatisfied by the fact that someone stole her usual duty, but after she tasted the food, her dissatisfaction disappearedpletely.


    The food was delicious.


    Of course, it could not bepared to the food Regina''s prepared using more technologically advanced means and better spices, but it had an exotic vor and foreign texture that surprised the group.


    As Bloed expected, Regina stood up just after she finished eating.


    "Master, I''ll visit the kitchen. I wish to know the ingredients and preparation methods they used here."


    Bloed smiled wryly. Well, cooking had be Regina''s hobby, so he was not very surprised by her request.


    " Please, be careful of not offending anyone."


    "Don''t worry, master, I know what to do."


    After Regina was gone, Liu Ying looked around hesitantly before looking at Bloed.


    " Hey Bloed, what are you going to do this afternoon? Do you want to spar with me again? I have recently been training a new technique, and I''m confident of my chances this time."


    "The technique Regina is teaching you? [Silent Touch] is it"


    "How do you know about it!? No, I already know. Regina told you, right? Sigh... She can''t even guard a secret, what kind of friend is her? I was even nning to surprise you with that technique during our spar..."


    " Please, don''t use that technique on me. I heard [Silent Touch] is pretty deadly."


    "Don''t worry, don''t worry, I will hold back~ Then, are we going to spar or not?"


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. Looking at Liu Ying''s excited expression, he wanted to agree. But after thinking for a moment, he shook his head. "Let''s not. Instead, I think I''ll work on your equipment today. It''s something rted to your directbat strength and I have been postponing it for a while after all."


    "My equipment?"


    "Yes. Liu Liu and the gloves. You just broke through to B-Rank, so I need to calibrate them so they can adjust to your current mana output."


    Liu Ying tilted her head in confusion. " I think they are aright like this."


    "Just give them to me," Bloed twitched his lips. "You will realize after the change I finish."


    " I''ll guess I''ll have to train alone then." Liu Ying shrugged and passed her gloves to Bloed. Afterward, Bloed went to find Regina and asked her to let out hisboratory and the three pets. (Regina had been keeping Tito, Leto, and Liu Ying in her storage device during the trip in the airship).


    Tito, Leto, and Liu Liu were pretty happy about seeing the sun after two days. Unfortunately for Liu Liu, its happiness did notst long. Before it could start to y in the grass, the metallic ferret was grabbed by Bloed and taken to theboratory.


    For the rest of the day, Bloed waspletely focused on Liu Ying''s equipment. He utilized the data he got after Liu Ying''s breakthrough and modified Liu Liu and the gloves to better adjust them to Liu Ying''s new strength.


    In fact, Bloed did not need to do much. The current gloves and Liu Liu were almost perfect for Liu Ying''sbat style. So, he instead focused on adjusting the input and output of mana to calibrate it to Liu Ying''s new stats.


    After almost four hours of work, both pieces of equipment were ready.


    Bloed used his eyes to analyze the two pieces of equipment and when he found nothing wrong, he nodded in satisfaction.


    Although the basic functions of they remained the same, they were much stronger than before.


    The boost to the body Liu Liu offered increased by thirty percent, and its defensive abilities doubled. As for the pair of fingerless gloves, [Framover], Bloed increased their three features (increased impact, increased pration, and boosted strength), by fifty percent.


    Just by virtue of Liu Liu and the gloves, Liu Ying''s strength was almost doubled.


    "I guess I''m done with this." Bloed smiled and wiped off the sweat on his forehead. Afterward, he cleaned theboratory and left it.


    As soon as Liu Liu left theboratory, the lively ferret did not hesitate to run towards the courtyard. Bloed smiled wryly, sure it was going to mess with his puppy, Tito.


    But when he arrived at the courtyard, Bloed froze.


    A gorgeous girl was crouching in the courtyard, ying with Tito and Liu Liu happily.


    The girl was extremely beautiful,parable even to Regina. Her long golden hair fell until her back, and her fluffy fox tail and two long ears twitched softly. Bloed estimated her age around eighteen or neen years old, but he was not sure.


    When Bloed arrived, the girl instantly detected him. She greeted him elegantly and stood up with Tito on her arms.


    "Are you the owner of these creatures? I''m curious, what are them?"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 169: Fox (2)

    Chapter 169: Fox (2)


    "Are you the owner of these creatures?" The golden-haired girl looked at Bloed and asked. "I''m curious, what are them?"


    Bloed furrowed his brows. His first reaction was to use his eyes to grasp as much information as he could from the fox.


    One secondter, though, his frown became deeper.


    That girl Bloed could feel nothing.


    He could not feel mana or energy fluctuations of any kinding from her. However, that was impossible. In this world, practically every being had mana inside their bodies.


    Thus, unless the girl was manaless like him, she was a very powerful powerhouse able to control her mana perfectly.


    A demigod. And probably one stronger than Sebastian or the others demigods Bloed had met until now. Although Bloed was not sure exactly how strong she was, just judging by her control over mana, he had the feeling she was the strongest person he had met until now.


    "Who are you?" Bloed asked warily. At the same time, he used his mind to send a message to Regina.


    Danger.


    The girl frowned. Then, she stared at Bloed with a look of interest.


    "How strange That fluctuation just now It was not mana, right? Moreover, you have such a pure and powerful soul power, and your mana feels weird It''spletely different than normal practitioners. It''s almost as if your cultivation is soul-power-based instead of mana-based And your eyes They are so beautiful but so unnatural. How peculiar... Tell me, Mister, what are you?"


    Bloed kept an indifferent look on his face, but inwardly, he was shocked. This girl, she had seen everything about him with just a nce!


    It was as though he was naked in front of her golden-colored eyes. Fortunately, she did not manage to discover he was manaless, but she noticed practically everything else.


    Fortunately, reinforcements came at that moment.


    Without a warning, Regina appeared in front of Bloed. The silver-haired girl created two des of energy in her hands and stared at the girl in front of her with wariness.


    "Master, are you alright?"


    "I''m alright, don''t worry. It''s just that this girl She is dangerous."


    Regina nodded. Her gaze was fixed in the fox in front of her, ready to move at any moment.


    The fox-eared girl, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow when she saw Regina. Soon, though, her eyes opened in disbelief.


    "You You are not human What are you? How can you be alive with an iplete soul?"


    "Miss fox girl, I don''t think it''s impolite to ask for the secrets of others," Bloed grunted displeased.


    The fox girl was startled. Almost instantly, she nodded and bowed apologetically.


    "You are right. I''m sorry It''s just that I rarely meet so many peculiar things so I was too excited. My name is Eve, Eve Moonglow. Nice to meet you."


    "I''m Bloed, and she is Regina."


    Eve nodded. She then looked at Regina and frowned. "Miss Regina, can you please lower your weapons, I don''t have any intention to fight you."


    Regina did not move. Instead, she used her mind to ask for Bloed''s opinion.


    Only when Bloed nodded, Regina''s des vanished.


    Eve stared at the two of them strangely and furrowed her brows. "Soul connection? No, it''s different, but also the same Besides, Miss Regina''s soul power is very strong Even stronger than mine How is that possible? A special training technique?" The fox girl, Eve, whispered to herself in confusion. When she was unable to find an answer, she looked at Bloed and Regina again. "Mister Bloed, Miss Regina, what kind of technique do you practice?"


    Bloed''s expression was strange. This girl Did she just ask them for their technique just like that?


    In this world, cultivation techniques were some of the best-guarded secrets. Telling someone else about your cultivation technique was the same as telling him about your weakness.


    When Eve saw Bloed''s expression, she noticed her mistake. She instantly bowed slightly with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, my mistake. That was impolite of me. How about this? Ask for anything you want. I''ll give it to you in exchange for the technique you practice. Besides, I''ll swear in the name of the Goddess Evanesse I will not leak it."


    Evanesse? Moonlight Glow''s Goddess?


    Bloed was speechless. Who in the hell was this girl?


    She even dared to use the name of a god so casually.


    " I''m sorry, I''m not selling it." Bloed said after a sigh. His gaze towards the girl, though, had changed from one of wariness to a strange one.


    He had realized what kind of person she was.


    Curious, strong, smart, but unaware of the ways of the world. She probably was a powerful demigod that did not care about normal conventions.


    That was the reason why she reacted as she did. She did not have bad intentions; instead, she was just acting to satisfy her curiosity.


    "That is regretful." The fox girl sighed in disappointment. But then, her gaze moved to the two metallic pets in her hands. "Then, what about them, can you give them to me?"


    "I''m not selling them either Miss Eve, can I ask why you are here?" Bloed asked.


    "Oh, that I was just passing by when I noticed your pets. I was curious about them, so I stayed here. Hey, what are them? They did not have souls, so they are not living beings Are they golems? Puppets? No, they are different Their shapes are very detailed to be golems, and their movements are too independent to be puppets Moreover, they look like they have emotions. If not that I can see they did not have souls, I would have believed they are real living beings."


    "They are robots, a kind of construct," Bloed replied. "Their behavior is controlled by AIs with their own personalities, so they are practically the same as living beings. Miss Eve? What are you doing?"


    "Oh? Sorry, I wanted to see how they work."


    "... Miss, they are not toys. Please, stop shaking them."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be careful. Robots? What is that?" Eve was groping each part of the mechanical puppy as though a curious child. She even ignored thest part of Bloed''s words.


    The poor Tito seemed like it wanted to cry.


    Bloed smiled wryly. Talking with this girl was truly hard.


    However, Bloed was not bothered by that. Instead, he was looking at the fox-eared girl in front of him with a curious expression.


    Now that he had determined that the girl was not an enemy, Bloed started to consider other things.


    For example, Charise''s words before leaving Diadel City.


    ''Try to get the recognition of the fox, huh.''


    Although Bloed was notpletely trustful of Charise and the Church of Fate''s intentions, the truth was that she had helped them a lot in Diadel City. Thanks to her help, Sebastian (and with a bit of luck the Kingdom of Alterna) stopped harassing them.


    At the very least, Charise did not seem to have harmful intentions towards him.


    In other words, following her advice could be a good idea.


    But


    ''So she is the fox, huh?''


    Looking at the powerful, but a bit of an oddball, fox girl in front of him, Bloed had the feeling that getting closer to her and gaining her recognition was going to be easier than he thought.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 170: Fox (3)

    Chapter 170: Fox (3)


    The fox girl, Eve, was still ying with Tito like a curious child.


    Her inexpressive face, though, made it hard to know what she was thinking.


    She even seemed to forget that Bloed and Regina were there. In fact, she seemed to have forgotten that the little puppy belonged to someone else.


    "Miss Eve, can you please release Tito? It doesn''t look happy." Bloed could not help but remind her.


    Eve was startled before nodding. "You are right How strange, it''s obviously man-made but it can show such a degree of emotions. Moreover, I can''t feel it doesn''t have a soul Where are its emotionsing from then?"


    Eve then put Tito on the ground and stared at Bloed (Tito ran to hide behind Bloed as soon as it escaped from the fox''s clutches).


    "Mr. Bloed, was it you who made them?" Eve asked pointing to Tito, Leto, and Liu Liu.


    Bloed hesitated before nodding. "It was me."


    Eve''s eyes stared at Bloed curiously, her inexpressive face seeming to be more alive. "How do they work? How did you manage to give them feelings? What is an AI? I can feel a mental connection between you and them, where does ite from? What is their source of energy?"


    Bloed was feeling a headache. This fox girl was definitively the kind he was no good with.


    Looking at Regina, he could see that her expression was awkward as well. It seemed as she was not good with this kind of person either.


    Bloed thought for a moment and decided to give Eve a brief exnation about AIs, but before he could start, he saw the ears of the fox girl twitch.


    Then, her expression changed.


    " Oh no, they are alreadying for me. Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, help me to hide."


    Upon saying that, Eve''s body turned illusory and she disappeared.


    "She disappeared?" Bloed was surprised.


    "No. I can feel her around her." Regina answered. Bloed thought for a moment and tried to use his eyes and other enhanced senses to find her, but he could feel nothing.


    ''Well, she is a demigod after all. It''s normal.''


    Not even three seconds after the girl disappeared, Bloed heard someone knocking on his door.


    He stared at Regina and she nodded, indicating she was going to keep an eye on the girl. Bloed nodded back and went to open the door.


    When he opened it, he saw three serious-looking beastmen standing outside.


    In Bloed''s eyes, none of the three beastmen were very strong, but they were not weak either. Two B-Ranks and one A-Rank.


    "Yes? Can I help you?" Bloed asked.


    "Hello, young man. Sorry for bothering you. Have you seen a fox girl around here?"


    "A fox girl?" Bloed asked with a curious expression. "One with golden hair and golden eyes?"


    The beastmen were startled. "Have you seen her?"


    Bloed nodded. "She was here until just now. But she then said someone wasing for her and ran way."


    Bloed saw the three beastmen smiling wryly. Judging by their reactions, it seemed like something she did often.


    "Young man, please if you see her again, tell her that she needs to return to the headquarters."


    "Headquarters? Okay, I''ll do it."


    The beastmen nodded gratefully and left.


    When the beastmen were gone, Bloed closed the door and returned to the courtyard.


    He did not deny seeing the girl for two reasons. One, to not look suspicious, and two, to get more information about her without raising suspicions. And judging by the three beastmen''s reactions, she is at least not a dangerous criminal.


    ''Well, a thing less to worry about.''


    When Bloed was returned to the courtyard, he found Regina looking around with a frown.


    "Regina?"


    "Master, she is not here anymore."


    "Did she leave?" Bloed asked curiously. But at that moment, his expression changed.


    One of his rms had been activated.


    The one in hisboratory.


    "Dammit! How did she get there!?"


    Without hesitation, he ran towards hisboratory and opened it. When he went inside, he found the fox girl looking around with a curious expression.


    "Oh, you are back? What is this ce?" The fox girl asked with a nk look.


    Bloed''s expression turned dark. "How did you enter here?"


    "Mm? Oh, that. I went through the walls." The fox girl said as though it was nothing important.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows in exasperation. This girl.


    " Please leave, this ce is private."


    The fox girl was startled. When she turned around, she realized that Bloed and Regina were looking at her with an unkind look.


    "It looks like I did something wrong... I''m sorry." The fox girl bowed and apologized expressionlessly.


    What she did, though, was not something that Bloed could let slide with just an apology.


    "Miss Eve, I don''t know who you are, but this ce is myboratory. If you are going to sniff around my things without my permission, then you are not weed here."


    The fox girl was dazed. She then nodded and bowed even deeper than before.


    " I''m sorry. I was just curious. My intention was never to offend you. If there is something I can do to get your forgiveness, then please tell me.


    Bloed stared at her and sighed. Looking at Regina, he could see that her expression was the same as his.


    This girl What kind of oddball was her?


    "Just Let''s go outside, okay?"


    "Okay." The fox girl nodded. She then followed Bloed and Regina outside the building.


    When she left theboratory, she turned around to look at it again before looking at Bloed.


    "Mr. Bloed, you said you made these robots was it? Can you make one for me?"


    "Do you want one? Why?"


    The fox girl tilted her head. "They are cute?"


    Bloed was speechless. Girl, you are a demigod. Act like one.


    He then stared at Eve''s face and fell deep in thought.


    If he was going to follow Charise''s instructions, the best option was to make one for the fox girl. Anyway, it was not as though she could use it to learn how to make them.


    With such a huge gap in technology, it was impossible for anyone in this world to learn the method to create a pet like Tito or Leto just by seeing them. They needed a very high psychic, mechanical, and logicalputing knowledge at the very least, something that in this world was almost inexistent.


    While Bloed was hesitating, Eve spoke up again.


    "Is it a problem of money? Don''t worry, Mr. Bloed, I will pay you an appropriate price. Also, I''ll owe you a favor, how about it?"


    Bloed looked at Regina to ask for her opinion. Regina wanted to refuse, but when she thought about Charise''s words, she hesitated.


    After all, the words of a saintess of fate were surely not baseless.


    After a few seconds, she sighed and nodded before speaking in Bloed''s mind.


    [Master, there is nothing to lose.]


    [ You are right.]


    After another sigh, Bloed nodded.


    "Okay, but you will have to supply the materials and I will need to collect some of your data. I will give you a list."


    "Great!" The fox girl eximed happily. And for the first time since she appeared here, Bloed saw her inexpressive face showing a small smile.


    "Can you make a fox, please?" Eve asked.


    Bloed nodded helplessly. " I can."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 171: Bloodstained Moonlight

    Chapter 171: Bloodstained Moonlight


    "Did something happen?" Javelin asked the next day when he saw Bloed and Regina''s tired faces.


    "Nothing." Bloed shook his head. "We just met someone very troublesome yesterday."


    Javelin was confused. What was that supposed to mean?


    Currently, Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, together with Javelin, Illina, and Prince Calisto (Who had already received his punishment) were walking through Apso, the capital of The Great Savana.


    This morning, Javelin and the others arrived at the ce where Bloed''s group was staying and asked them if they wanted to sightsee through the city.


    Bloed''s group had nothing better to do, so they agreed. Anyway, now that they were in the city, it would be a shame if they leave without taking a proper look at it.


    "So, where are we going?" Liu Ying asked.


    Prince Calisto smiled. "Well, Apso is a very beautiful city, but we can''t obviously visit every nice ce today. We will just take you around the most important ces of the city and show them to you."


    "Don''t worry, we will end before lunch." Javelin continued. "You need to go to the pce tonight, so it''s better if we don''t take too long."


    Bloed''s group nodded. In the itinerary they received yesterday, they were told they were going to meet the king tonight. Apparently, he was going to receive them during a ball.


    "Oh right, Javelin. Do you know who is Eve Moonglow?" Regina suddenly asked.


    Almost instantly, the atmosphere froze.


    Javelin, Illina, and Prince Calisto looked at Bloed''s group of three with strange expressions.


    "Could it be, the troublesome person you said you met was her?" Javelin asked.


    Bloed nodded, curious about their reaction.


    Javelin and the others looked at each other with serious expressions. In the end, Illina looked at Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying with a grave face.


    "Guys, it''s better if you don''t be too close to her."


    "Huh? Is she dangerous or something like that?" Bloed was curious. From what he saw yesterday, she did not seem like someone to be careful of.


    Quite the opposite, she was a bit of an airhead.


    Prince Calisto smiled wryly. "Mr. Bloed, Eve Moonglow is the saintess of Moonlight Glow, and one of the most powerful demigods in the world. Even if you don''t know her name, I''m sure you have heard of her nickname. [Bloodstained Moonlight]"


    Bloed and Liu Ying''s expressions changed.


    Regina did not know about her, but Bloed and Liu Ying were people of this world, and in this world, few people did not know about ''Bloodstained Moonlight''.


    The Saintess of Moonlight Glow. A powerful demigod famous by the hordes of enemies she had killed through the years.


    The reason the saintess of Moonlight Glow received that nickname was due to an incident that urred around ten years ago. ording to Bloed''s knowledge, there was a skirmish between a human country and a beastmen country that quickly escted until it was about to turn into a war.


    During the skirmish, ten thousand human soldiers reached a beastmen vige and attacked it. Their n was to take control of the vige and build a stronghold there.


    The problem was, they did not know the saintess of Moonlight Glow was staying in that vige.


    It was aplete ughter.


    Of the ten thousand human soldiers, less than one hundred survivors.


    The other soldiers, including two demigods, perished. ording to the records, even their souls were destroyed.


    Since then, the title of [Bloodstained Moonlight] became famous throughout the continent. It was said that whenever the saintess of Moonlight Glow appears, all her enemies run away.


    "In fact, Miss Eve is feared even among the beastmen." Prince Calisto said without hiding his fear. "You probably have heard that Moonlight Glow is not interested in authority or power, right? That is true, Moonlight Glow''s role is purely that of guardians of the beastmen.


    "But, if they consider that something or someone threatens the safety of the beastmen, they will not hesitate to get rid of them, regardless of their position or authority. Even if the other party is a beastmen too, they will not hesitate


    "And Miss Eve is usually the one that delivers these punishments. I heard that once she killed an entire beastmen n and did not spare even the children."


    Bloed and Regina looked at each other with bewildered expressions. They never thought the innocent and inexpressive fox they met yesterday was so dangerous.


    In fact, Bloed could not imagine someone like her causing the bloodshed she was rumored to.


    " So you can never judge a book by its cover, huh."


    "I have never seen her, but I''m sure she must look like a scary monster." Prince Calisto said and shivered nervously.


    Bloed was speechless. For some reason, he felt the beastmen parents used Eve''s name to scare children.


    After Javelin and the others warned Bloed''s group to be careful of Eve once and again. The group finally continued sightseeing through the city. They started with the city square and then went to the market and other ces.


    The sightseeing was very enjoyable, and Bloed saw several things he found interesting. For example, he saw several tamed magic beast walking through the city.


    Even Calice City, the first city Bloed entered after leaving the exilednds and a ce famous for its adventurers and mercenaries, did not have so many magic beasts as this ce.


    ording to Javelin, beastmen found it easier to tame magic beasts and monsters. Of course, most tamed magic beasts were pretty weak, with the strongest ones being around C-Rank or so. Apparently, taming stronger magic beasts was very hard.


    Besides the magic beasts, another thing that attracted Bloed''s attention was the food.


    Bloed had already noticed it, but the food in this ce was very different than the food in human countries. It was spicier, and usually, it had wilder vors.


    Bloed and Liu Ying could be considered as foodies. They were not very picky about food, but after their terrible experience in the exilednds, they loved to eat good food more than almost anything.


    Thus, every time they saw a delicious-looking dish, they were attracted to it like moths to mes.


    Regina, on the other hand, was also interested in the food of this ce. But her interest was more professional. She was interested in the ingredients and cooking methods of the local dishes.


    Before long, the sightseeing tour ended bing into a food tour.


    "You three sure like food, huh." Javelin smiled wryly. Not every day he saw people so crazy over food.


    Liu Ying was slightly embarrassed, but Bloed just shrugged. "Well, good food is a pleasure. It''s good to enjoy it when you can."


    Javelin nodded speechlessly, although if he knew about Bloed and Liu Ying''s experiences, he surely would have understood their craze over food.


    After visiting each food stall in their route, Bloed''s group finally reached their final destination for the day.


    A stadium-like building.


    When Bloed saw it, he thought it looked like a famous colosseum he saw in the human confederation''s information.


    It had around fifty meters of height and almost two hundred meters of length. Several beastmen were entering and exiting it each second, and the ce emitted a wild atmosphere.


    "This is"


    "The arena." Prince Calisto replied with a childish look of pride. "It''s one of the most famous ces in the capital. Every day, tens of beastmen fight against each other here. It''s the best ce in the capital to hone your abilities."


    Liu Ying''s eyes sparkled. "Can we enter?"


    "Of course." Javelin answer. "Why? Are you interested in participating?"


    Liu Ying did not say anything, but the sparkle in her eyes was enough of an answer.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 172: Apso’s Arena (1)

    Chapter 172: Apso¡¯s Arena (1)


    The arena was more crowded that Bloed expected. It was notpletely full, but there were at least two thousand or so people in there.


    "Is it like this every day?" Bloed asked.


    "It will be fuller soon," Illina replied with a smile. "I asked around and apparently there is an event one hour or soter. Beastmen are a verybative race, so the number of people thates to watch these events in the arena is always pretty big."


    Bloed nodded while looking around. As Illina said, the beastmen were looking at the arena in excitement, shouting and cheering the twobatants currently in the arena.


    To be honest, they were not very strong, just two C-Rank practitioners. But their fight was pretty intense. Bothbatants shed against each other repeatedly, using their bare hands to hit their enemy.


    Liu Ying smiled in excitement. "That looks fun."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Do you want to participate?"


    Liu Ying did not reply. But the look in her eyes was enough for Bloed to know her answer.


    "If Miss Liu Ying wants to participate, what do you think about participating in the event ofter?" Javelin asked.


    "Mm? What is it?"


    "A battle royale." Said Illina. "It will be divided by ranks, and the winner of each rank will receive a generous reward.


    Liu Ying''s lips curved up. She seemed pretty eager to try.


    "What about you, Bloed?" Javelin asked, this time looking at Bloed.


    Bloed shook his head. "I''m alright, I prefer just to watch. By the way, is it not dangerous?" Bloed asked. No matter how he saw it, such duels could easily lead to death.


    To his surprise, though, Javelin shook his head.


    "Although beastmen are a very battle-oriented race, we in fact dislike senseless killing. Therefore, despite there being tens ofbats every day in the arena, we seldom have deaths. In fact, every fight is supervised by one or several people of a higher rank, and there are several members of Moonlight Glow outside the arena waiting to treat the injured."


    "That is rather unexpected." Bloed nodded in understanding. He had the image of this kind of ce being wild and uncultured.


    In the end, Liu Ying was the only one of the group that signed up to participate. Bloed, Illina, and Javelin were not interested in participating. And although Prince Calisto seemed eager to participate, his status as prince stopped him from signing up.


    As for Regina, well, she did not participate for obvious reasons.


    Later, Bloed heard that the slots for the battle royale were already filled, but Prince Calisto and Javelin made use of their influence to arrange a ce for Liu Ying.


    Half an hourter, the battle royales started.


    The first group to participate was the D-Rank, and twenty D-Rank practitioners went to the arena.


    This battle was pretty underwhelming, at least to Bloed''s group. However, the beastmen''s audience was very excited. Bloed could see several beastmen cheering loudly for their favoritebatant.


    In the end, the winner was a lizardkin spearman by the name of Ho. He got the victory after showing very neat spearsmanship and deft movements.


    The second group was the C-Rank contestants. Same with the D-Ranks, twenty of them participated.


    This time, the battle was much more intense. Bloed saw several outstanding warriors, including a birdkin archer, a catkin dagger wielder, and a wolfkin using a greatsword.


    This time, the winner was the catkin. He made use of his agility to move through the battlefield and slowly kite his enemies. By the end of the battle, the other warriors were already tired but he still conserved most of his battle ability.


    "That catkin is pretty good." Javelin could not help butment. "However, I still think he is weaker than you, Bloed."


    Bloed did not deny it. After seeing the battle, he was pretty confident in getting the victory even without Leto''s help.


    This battle, however, was an eye-opener to Bloed.


    "So it''s [Beast Senses], huh." Bloed said in admiration. "I now understood why beastmen are considered the race most suitable to be warriors."


    "Unfortunately, few beastmen tribes have the talent to wield magic as consequence," Illina said with a bitter smile.


    Bloed did notment. Instead, he repassed thest battle through his mind while analyzing the various beastmen''s fighting styles.


    To Bloed, that was valuable information.


    [Beast Senses] was a trait unique to the beastmen, just like the demons'' [Aspects]. It could be considered as the beastmen''s racial talent.


    Although not as noticeable as the demons'' [Aspects], [Beast Senses]''s advantage in battle was not much inferior.


    It was different from beastmen to beastmen, but it basically consisted of the ability to use certain features from the race they belonged to. Catkins, for example, inherited outstanding eyes, ears, sense of equilibrium, and abilities to hide in the darkness. That was the reason most of them opted for assassin-likebat styles.


    Wolfkins, on the other hand, had above-average strength, great ears, and monstrous fighting instinct. When in battle, it made them very fearsome opponents.


    Unfortunately, as Illina said, [Beast Senses] were more suited to closebat and inhibited the beastmen''s ability to use magic. Only a few tribes like the foxkin tribe were the exception, but even these tribes had a high percentage of warriors.


    By the way, the humans'' racial talent was called [Versatile Body]. This talent was of not much use in directbat, but it was pretty good when it came to training. It was the reason humans''bat styles were the most diverse across the continent.


    At that moment, a beastmen came to tell Liu Ying it was time for her battle.


    Liu Ying nodded and stood up excitedly.


    "Guys, wish me luck."


    "Don''t overdo it," Regina said with a serious expression. "Also, make sure to control your strength."


    " I still don''t understand why you are so interested in this kind of fight." Bloed sighed.


    Liu Ying shrugged. "Well, I need suitable opponents to test my recent training. Fighting against you is very frustrating, Bloed. And sparring with Regina is the same as asking for a beating."


    "... Anyway, good luck." Bloed shook his head with a smile. "Show them what you are made of."


    "Thanks, I will!"


    A few minutester, Liu Ying plus other neenbatants were standing in the arena.


    But at that moment, a group of people approached to Bloed''s group.


    They were a group of beastmen led by a lionkin with simr features to Prince Calisto.


    "Little brother, you are here." The lionkin said with a smile.


    Calisto froze instantly.


    Only after several seconds, he managed to reply with a tense expression.


    "... Big brother."


    "I could not help but notice that one of your men is participating in the arena," The neer lionkin said. "Who is her?"


    "She is not one of my men. She is a friend."


    "A friend? So now you are friends with demons." The lionkin smirked. "What a coincidence, one of my friends is participating in this round too. I wonder how he will do."


    The lionkin then looked in direction of a tall and strong beastman standing close to Liu Ying.


    He was a horned beastman with a cow tail and wielding a hammer.


    A peak B-Rank opponent.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 173: Apso’s Arena (2)

    Chapter 173: Apso¡¯s Arena (2)


    The atmosphere around Bloed''s group was tense.


    Bloed did not need to be a genius to realize that the neer lionkin was here to stir up trouble.


    "His name is Gimbal." Javelin whispered in Bloed''s ear. "He is the second prince of The Great Savannah."


    Bloed clicked his tongue in displeasure.


    "Power struggles?"


    Javelin smiled wryly. "The beastmen countries are a ce where might makes right. Thus, when a prince is born, he automatically bes apetitor for the throne. When it''s time for the king to retire or when he dies, the most outstanding prince bes the next king.


    "Due to that reason, the princes always search for opportunities to give a blow to their opponents'' reputations... But Prince Calisto is very down in the hierarchy, and to be honest, he has never shown much interest in the royal struggle. That is the reason he escaped the countryst time."


    "But his brothers do not think the same," Bloed added while observing the smirking Prince Gimbal and the anxious Prince Calisto.


    Javelin nodded helplessly. "In the end, Prince Calisto is also apetitor. I think that Prince Gimbal probably mistook us as part of Prince Calisto''s faction, so he also sent a man to the arena when he learned Miss Liu Ying was going to participate."


    Bloed heaved a tired sigh. He did not want to involve himself in this kind of situation.


    In fact, Regina, Javelin, and Illina had simr expressions. They were not the kind to like this kind of senselesspetition.


    In the end, though, Bloed did not stop it. This was a good opportunity for Liu Ying to train, and Bloed was not worried about Liu Ying''s safety.


    Even if Liu Ying was not the strongest person in the B-Rank, she was surely near the top.


    "The fight is about to start." One of the followers of Prince Gimbal said.


    The lionkin prince nodded. Looking at the timid-looking Calisto, he smirked.


    "Little brother, why don''t you have a bet with me?"


    " It''s not necessary, right?"


    "Why not? Hear me first. If you win, my follower in the arena will be your follower from today onwards. But if I win, I want the demon. Although usually, I don''t like that cold-blooded race, a good specimen like her will be good to warm my bed."


    Calisto''s expression turned ugly.


    But before he could say something, the expression of all the people present changed.


    Two intimidating sources of killing intent appeared simultaneously. The killing intent filled the ce, creating a nauseating bloody smell that assaulted the group''s noses!


    Prince Gimbal staggered several steps back, and Prince Calisto paled. As for Javelin and Illina, they were looking at Bloed and Regina in fear.


    "Mister, you know you are speaking about mypanion, right?" Bloed''s leisurely voice sounded. His gaze was in the arena instead of Prince Gimbal, but for some reason, the lionkin prince felt he was being stared by a very dangerous predator.


    "W-Who are you?" The lionkin prince stammered. Bloed nced at him briefly before shaking his head in disappointment and moving his gaze away.


    "The battle started."


    These words seemed to return everything to normal. The killing intent disappeared from the stands as though it never existed.


    The people around Bloed and Regina looked at each other in terror. Even Javelin, who could be considered as Bloed''s friend, was slightly afraid after being exposed to such thick killing intent.


    Fortunately, the battle started at that moment, shifting the group''s attention towards it.


    "Master, should I?" Regina whispered in Bloed''s ear and a ruthless glint shed through her eyes. But Bloed shook his head. "Let''s watch first. Even if that idiot tries something funnyter, we can act then."


    This time''s battle was the same as the ones before. Twenty B-Rank practitioners stood in the arena facing each other.


    Each practitioner seemed rtively strong. In fact, just in terms of cultivation alone, Liu Ying''s initial B-Rank was the weakest.


    Therefore, when the battle started, Bloed was not surprised that several beastmen attacked Liu Ying.


    The demon smiled. Clenching her fist, she took a step forward, weaving among the beastmen attacking her and unleashing a punch in the direction of a tigerkin!


    But the tigerkin evaded the attack. He twisted his body slightly, avoiding Liu Ying''s attack by a paper-thin margin difference and using that opportunity to attack Liu Ying''s chest.


    Suddenly, though, the tigerkin''s expression changed.


    A powerful impact hit his right nk, sending him flying away.


    That was the ce where he had avoided Liu Ying''s attack!


    "That is" Bloed''s eyes opened wide. That technique was surely that.


    [Silent Touch]!


    And as expected, the same situation repeated several times. Liu Ying unleashed punch after punch, hitting their enemies. But even when her enemies avoided her attacks, somehow the impact still managed to reach them!


    At a distance of ten centimeters, she could send the entire strength of her attacks directly to her opponents'' bodies.


    It was as though they were attacked by an invisible hit.


    "Amazing." Bloed could not help but say. "To think she is already this proficient in that technique."


    Regina nodded. "To be honest, even I''m in awe of Liu Ying''s talent. It''s as though [Silent Touch] was tailor-made for her. She only needed a few days to master the basics of it and she even managed to control the direction of the kic force. At this rate, she will need less than ten years to learn [Silent Touch]pletely."


    Bloed nodded.


    "Wait a moment, do you know what is happening?" Javelin asked confused. He, Illina, and the rest were staring at Liu Ying''s battle while trying to understand what was happening.


    Bloed nodded, but he did not exin and just smiled mysteriously.


    In fact, Javelin and the rest were not the only ones confused. In the arena, several beastmen were looking at Liu Ying warily. Some of them had opted to keep a distance from her.


    That, however, was far from enough to stop the demon. With a smile, she kicked the ground and flew towards a catkin rapier user, unleashing a kick.


    The catkin seemed to have understood a little about Liu Ying''s technique, so he tried to keep his distance.


    But when Liu Ying saw that, she grinned and punched the ground, causing the ground to tremble!


    Then, while the catkin tried to regain his bnce, Liu Ying appeared in front of him and hit his stomach.


    "Ugh!" The catkin coughed a mouthful of blood and copsed in the ground.


    Liu Ying smiled and looked around. At this point, almost all the participants had been eliminated.


    Only three people were still standing. Liu Ying, the cow beastman, and a cloaked man wielding a sword.


    "Girl, you are pretty good." The cow beastmen said. "Do you want to serve my master."


    Liu Ying grinned. "Sorry, I already have an owner."


    Then, she rushed towards him.


    The other two moved at the same time. On one side, the cow beastman swung his hammer, creating a powerful current of wind that pushed Liu Ying away!


    At the same time, the cloaked man swung his sword. Instantly, a cold current filled the arena, trying to engulf Liu Ying and the cow beastmen!


    Liu Ying''s eyes shed. When the cold current reached her, she took a deep breath. Immediately after that, her body vibrated slightly, creating a field of energy that pushed the cold current away!


    Bloed and Regina''s expressions changed. They looked at each other saw the disbelief in the other''s eyes.


    Just now, Liu Ying had used kic force as a barrier to shrug off the enemy''s attack!


    That was definitively not something a novice in [Silent Touch] should be able to do!


    But that was not the end. After pushing the cold current away, Liu Ying kicked the ground and her body rushed forward at great speed in a leaning-down posture.


    Then, she unleashed an uppercut in the direction of the cow beastmAn!


    The cow beastman was still busy dealing with the cold current. In that situation, he could only cross his arms to try to receive Liu Ying''s punch.


    However, trying topete against Liu Ying in brute force was suicide.


    Before touching the cow beastman, Liu Ying''s punch turned into a palm. Then, a powerful shockwave spread through the arena.


    The next instant, the cow beastman copsed.


    Liu Ying did not stop. She used the cow beastman''s body as cover and evaded an attacking from the cloaked man.


    Next, her body moved like a pendulum. One of her feet pressed the ground, and all the muscles of her body tightened, finishing with a powerful high kick that went towards the cloaked man''s head!


    But before the kick could reach him, a wall of ice appeared between Liu Ying and the cloaked man.


    *Boom!* The wall of ice was turned into bits by the strength of Liu Ying''s kick. Using that opportunity, the cloaked man hid in the ice and appeared behind Liu Ying, aiming to her back.


    His sword moved like a snake, leaving behind a cond wild that seemed to freeze Liu Ying''s skin!


    But at that moment, Liu Ying''s back trembled slightly, creating a repulsive force that managed to stop the cloaked man''s sword for an instant.


    And in that instant, Liu Ying twisted her body, ducking intuitively and unleashing an upwards kick!


    This time, the cloaked man was unable to evade it!


    He hurriedly tried to form another barrier of ice, but the hurriedly-formed barrier was not enough to stop the kickpletely. A powerful boom sounded, and the cloaked man was sent flying away.


    When hended, he coughed a mouthful of blood and stared at Liu Ying with a serious expression.


    "Good!" Liu Ying eximed. Her eyes narrowed into slits, and her body got ready to pounce forward.


    But suddenly, the cloaked person lifted his hand.


    "I surrender."


    With these words, the battle came to an end.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 174: The Dilemma of the Prince

    Chapter 174: The Dilemma of the Prince


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here!


    Firstly, sorry, I have not been reading thementstely. Thest two weeks were really hectic for me, and I barely managed to keep the schedule.


    Done with that, it''s time for the good news!


    Since today until next Sunday, we will have double chapters every day!


    Thanks to my P4TRE0NS that supported me to do this possible!


    Now, enjoy :p


    ...


    "I surrender." The cloaked man raised his hands and yielded.


    Liu Ying was dumbfounded. She was just getting started!


    In fact, only now Liu Ying was finally feeling pleasure.


    Unfortunately, as soon as the cloaked man raised his hand, the referee stopped the battle.


    "The winner is miss Liu Ying!"


    With these words, the battle finished.


    When Liu Ying returned to the stands, Javelin and the others were looking at her in awe.


    "Miss Liu Ying, you are awesome!" Prince Calisto said with sparkling eyes. He seemed as though he had finally met his idol.


    But not everybody was happy with the results.


    "You How did you do that?" Gimbal, the second prince of The Great Savannah, spoke up. "What kind of trick did you use?"


    Liu Ying tilted her head confused. She then stared at Bloed asking him what in the hell was happening.


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. He was not in the mood to lose his time with this fool.


    Javelin was different, though. He smiled mischievously and smirked at the prince. "It looks like you lost the bet, Prince Gimbal. When are you going to pay?"


    The prince''s face turned cold. "Let''s bet again. You are at the A-Rank, right?" He said while looking at Javelin. "I will send one of my A-Rank men to the arena. The bet is the same."


    "W-Wait, big brother. There is no need." Prince Calisto waved his hand flustered. "I-I don''t care about the bet. J-Just forget about it."


    Gimbal snorted. "I won''t go back in my words, little brother. Now, send your man to the arena. I''ll send mine too."


    Prince Calisto fell silent and bit his lips. He was looking at his brother with an aggrieved expression.


    But at that moment, Javelin took a step forward with a smile.


    "Where is the man you will send?"


    Gimbal stared at Javelin for a moment before calling out one of the men behind him. "Anir, step forward."


    A two-meters tall wolfkin man stepped forward. He stared at Javelin with an intimidating gaze as though daring Javelin to fight him.


    Javelin curved his lips up in a smirk. "So he is the one, huh." Then, his figure disappeared.


    "Careful!" One of the prince''s men warned, but before someone could move, Javelin appeared again, this time behind the A-Rank with a dagger pointing to his neck.


    "Such trash, he doesn''t deserve my time." With a mocking smile, Javelin retrieved his dagger and returned to his previous location. "Prince Calisto, Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, Miss Liu Ying, sorry about this situation. I think it''s better if we go back."


    Bloed looked at Javelin in amusement and shook his head, taking the initiative to leave. Regina, Liu Ying, and Illina followed after him.


    Only Prince Calisto was still dazed unable to understand the situation. But when Javelin pulled his arm, he also left.


    "Are you sure it is alright?" Bleod asked when they left the arena. "He is a prince after all. It was not necessary to offend him like that."


    Javelin shrugged. "He is just a prince, there are several others like him. Besides, although my rtionship with my family is not the best, my position is not low. I don''t need to fear an arrogant prince."


    " I still don''t understand what happened." Liu Ying muttered confused. Illina smiled and exined everything to her.


    Meanwhile, the little lionkin prince bit his lips and bowed to Bloed and the others.


    "Sorry about that, I ended causing you problems."


    Bloed sighed. " You should not be like that, prince. Giving way to the people that go against you will not make them stop. Instead, they will continue asking for more each time."


    " I know, but I''m not interested in this I don''t think I have what is needed to be a king. If I fight back, my siblings will take me as apetitor."


    "While you remain here, you will continue being apetitor," Bloed said with certainty. "If you are truly not interested in the throne, then find a way to leave. Go to a ce distant enough where you can''t influence the situation here. Only then your siblings will lose interest in you. Of course, you can stay if you want, but then you should get ready to face your siblings as enemies."


    " I''ll think about it."


    Bloed nodded and did not say anything else. He had said enough, the rest depended on the little prince himself.


    Instead, he stared at Liu Ying and smiled. "Congrattions on your victory, by the way. Five thousand gold coins, huh. That is a lot."


    Liu Ying grinned. "It''s a shame he gave up in the middle. I was just getting started and he got cold feet."


    Bloed smiled without replying. He was not so surprised by that. After all, the abilities Liu Ying showed were a bit overwhelmingpared to her enemies.


    But speaking about Liu Ying''s abilities


    "I think I did a mistake." Bloed sighed dejectedly.


    "Huh?" The group stared at Bloed in confusion, unable to understand what he meant.


    Bloed smiled wryly and pointed to Liu Ying''s gloves.


    "These. They are a nice piece of equipment, but its effects only activate after contact with the enemy, so they are notpatible with [Silent Touch]. I guess I will have to modify them again Mmm, I''ll need to think of a way tobine them with [Silent Touch]. Liu Liu too. She also needs a few modifications."


    " Is it alright?" Liu Ying asked a bit embarrassed. But Bloed just grinned. "You even stole a kiss from me, why are you embarrassed about this?"


    Liu Ying blushed and lowered her head.


    " Idiot, that is not the same."


    Bloed smiled after teasing Liu Ying, but then, he realized the group was looking at him strangely.


    " Is there anything on my face?"


    "No no." they shook their heads while Regina spoke up. "It''s just that it''s our first time seeing master flirt in public. Master, do you mind doing it with me too?"


    Bloed shook his head amused. Were they trying to make fun of him?


    "By the way, Mr. Bloed." Prince Calisto suddenly raised his hand with a curious expression. "Do you know how to craft magic tools?"


    "A little bit."


    "Wow." The prince''s eyes shone excitedly. "Can you teach me, please?"


    "Prince, stop bothering Bloed." Javelin scolded him. " You should not ask about the secret techniques of others."


    Bloed smiled and did not answer. Suddenly, though, he noticed that Liu Ying was frowning with a pensive expression.


    "Is anything wrong?"


    Liu Ying shook her head. "Nothing, it''s just that Javelin, are humansmon in The Great Savannah?"


    "Humans? I don''t think so. It''s unusual to see other races in the beastmen countries apart from in the headquarters of Moonlight Glow. Why are you asking?"


    "Nothing important It''s just that I think the cloaked man I fought against was a human."


    The group was taken aback. Javelin then put a hand on his chin and furrowed his brows.


    "Certainly, that is unusual."


    In the arena.


    The cloaked man arrived in front of a group with a helpless look in his face.


    "... I lost."


    "Pfft... Hahahaha, to think you were so smug but ended being defeated by a girl!" A voiceughed happily at the cloaked man.


    "It was truly unexpected." Another young man said with a smile.


    The cloaked man sighed with a despondent expression. "That demon girl was good. It was hard to avoid her attacks, and it felt as though an invisible enemy was attacking me. Of course, I could have won if I showed my trump card, but it''s something we need to keep hidden for now."


    The young man nodded in understanding before putting on a curious expression.


    "A demon, huh Do you think they are here for the same reason as us?"


    " I don''t think so. The demons have nothing to do with the current situation. Although we can''t discard the possibility of theming to fish in muddled waters."


    The young man nodded.


    "We need to pay attention just in case then. Let''s go back. We were invited to a ball tonight."

 Chapter 175: The Ball

    Chapter 175: The Ball


    2/2


    ...


    Evening.


    Bloed checked up his appearance in the mirror.


    He was wearing a ck suit with blue threads decorating it. His bright blue hair was elegantlybed, and his blue eyes glowed faintly in the night.


    These were the clothes he was going to use in the ball of tonight.


    In this world, clothes such as suits were unusual, or at least Bloed had never seen them before. Despite it, Bloed decided to go with a suit to show his identity as the heir of the Human Confederation (although it was not as though someone else knew about it).


    Plus, Bloed felt suits suited him.


    After he was done, Bloed left the room and went to the courtyard to wait for his two partners tonight.


    Less than five minutester, they appeared.


    The first one to exit was Regina. She was wearing a knee-long white dress with small blue flowers printed on it, and a beautiful golden ne hanging from her neck, matching with her deep golden eyes.


    A bracelet with several ck jewels was hanging from her right wrist, and two silver heeled sandals covered her feet.


    Regina''s appearance was truly stunning. Bloed could not help but look agape at the silver-haired Valkyrie in front of him.


    A few secondster, Liu Ying followed after Regina.


    Liu Ying was also wearing a dress, but hers was a tight-fitted red one with a ck belt on her waist. Because of her disguise, Liu Ying''s crimson-red hair and amber eyes had turned ck, but that was not enough to hide her great beauty.


    If Regina was a moving and elegant beauty, then Liu Ying was an explosive one. Bloed could not help but wonder how Liu Ying would look five yearster when she is in her twenties and her figure finishes developing.


    "How is it? Are we beautiful?" Liu Ying asked with a teasing smile when she saw Bloed''s look. At the same time, Regina stared at Bloed expectantly.


    Bloed smiled and nodded. "You two are always beautiful, although tonight you are more beautiful than usual."


    Liu Ying blushed, but her lips curved in a grin.


    "Good answer. As expected, you will make a great husband."


    Bloed was speechless.


    Fortunately, he was already getting used to Liu Ying''s straightforward teasing, so he was able to keep a calm look.


    When the group of three left the house, they found a carriage waiting for them.


    "You are finally out." The voice of Javelin came from beside the carriage. When the group looked in his direction, they found at Javelin standing with Illina beside him, hand to hand.


    Bloed was slightly surprised.


    "It looks like your rtionship has advanced a lot."


    Illina blushed. "Javelin was to talk this afternoon with my parents and a lot of stuff happened. In the end, We set the ceremony around one monthter. You three are invited, by the way."


    "We will be pleased to go," Bloed replied with a smile. Although spending a month in the beastmen countries was outside his ns, he thought it was alright if he postpones his ns to go to the marriage of a friend.


    But when Bloed looked in the girls'' direction to ask for their opinion, he realized they were staring at Javelin and Illina enviously while asionally ncing at him from the corner of their eyes.


    Bloed did not need to be very smart to understand the meaning of their gazes.


    Fortunately, Javelin came to his rescue before the situation turned awkward.


    "Let''s board the carriage, guys. The ball will start soon."


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying nodded.


    When the group arrived at the pce (pyramid), several people were already present.


    Beastmen of all the races, sexes, and ages were entering the pce one after another. They entered alone or in pairs while saluting their acquittances in the crowd.


    ording to Javelin, each person attending this ball was someone of great importance or with the right connections. This was literally a ball for the highest society within the beastmen.


    Soon, it was Bloed''s group turn to enter. Javelin and Illina walked at the front, holding hands and smiling like a happy couple. At the same time, Regina and Liu Ying hugged an arm of Bloed each, as though the three of them were lovers.


    Bloed was slightly embarrassed, but he did his best to not show it in his faces. Instead, he smiled calmly while matching his pace with his two partners for tonight.


    As soon as they entered the hall, they heard someone announcing their names.


    "Mr. Javelin Sharpw with his fiance, Miss Illina Snow, and his friends, Mr. Bloed Norman, Miss Regina Norman, and Miss Liu Ying."


    Bloed felt several gazes on them. Some curious, some inquisitive. Most likely, they belonged to beastmen curious after seeing two humans (?) and a demon partaking in this kind of ball.


    Nobody was idiot enough to question their participation, though. All the people here were people with power, connections, or authority, so they were clear there must be a reason Bloed and the others were invited.


    Of course, although nobody came to seek trouble with them, nobody tried to converse with them either. Bloed was happy with that. He was not very interested in socializing with nobles he was probably not going to see again after tonight.


    Unfortunately, though, Javelin and Illina needed to do their duties as nobles and greet the familiar nobles in the hall. So they were forced to leave Bloed''s group alone for a while.


    A bit bored, Bloed looked around to see if he found something to do. At that moment, the music started to y.


    As though it was a signal, several people moved to the center of the hall to dance. Bloed saw several males inviting their choices of a partner for the dance.


    At the same time, he felt Regina and Liu Ying beside him tensing up in anticipation.


    Bloed smiled wryly, but he soon made up his mind. With a smile, he extended his hand towards the girls.


    "Any of you wish to dance, beautifuldies?"


    Regina and Liu Ying smiled shyly before nodding.


    The first to go was Regina. She grabbed Bloed''s hand and walked towards the center of the hall with a nervous look.


    Bloed was a bit amused. To think that the usually cold Regina could show such an expression.


    At the same time, he got the urge to tease her.


    "You are very beautiful tonight, Regina."


    " Thank you, master... You are very handsome too. I''m sure you are the most handsome man in this ce."


    Bloed smiled wryly. That was surely an exaggeration.


    ''Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, huh.''


    Shaking his head, he started to dance with Regina while looking straight to Regina''s eyes.


    Soon, his lips curved up in a gentle smile.


    He remembered the words of Javelin in the airship. To not wait until it was toote.


    Bloed had been thinking about these words for a while. And today, he decided.


    He was going to answer to Regina and Liu Ying''s feelings.


    He was not sure if what he felt for them was love, but he knew he liked it when he spent time with them.


    Maybe feelings the thoughts in Bloed''s mind, Regina''s put on a moving smile.


    "Master."


    "Mm?"


    "I love you."


    " I know."


    "I''ll love you always, master."


    Bloed fell silent and scratched his cheek in embarrassment. He was a bit weak against this kind of straight attack.


    Fortunately, the song finished at that moment, so Regina reluctantly moved away and yielded her position to Liu Ying.


    As for the demon, she took advantage of the opportunity to glue to Bloed''s body and giggle happily.


    "I''m sure you are the envy of all the young beastmen here. They must be wondering who you are to gain the favor of two absolutes beauties."


    Bloed was speechless. Was she ttering him or ttering herself?


    With a wry smile, Bloed retorted.


    " Are you sure it is not the contrary? Perhaps the young beastwomen are envious of you for having such a perfect partner like me."


    "Bah, you wish. I have already been invited by three young nobles in just five minutes. Of course, I reluctantly tell them I already have a partner, so you should feel fortunate."


    Bloed stared at Liu Ying''s shy smile and nodded.


    "You are right, I''m very fortunate."


    "It''s good you know."


    The dance continued for a while, and during that time, Bloed danced with Regina and Liu Ying once and again, talking about many silly topics.


    To be honest, Bloed found it more enjoyable than he expected. Suddenly, however, the musicians stopped ying.


    At the same time, a voice came from the entrance of the pce.


    "His Majesty, King Arlen Firstmane, is here."


    Instantly, the people in the hall moved out of the way, giving way to the ruler of this ce.


    The king of The Great Savannah.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 176: King Firstmane

    Chapter 176: King Firstmane


    1/2


    ...


    King Arlen Firstmane walked forward with an indifferent expression. He did not pay attention to any of the people around him, as though he was the only man in the world.


    The lionkin king was very simr to Prince Calisto, with blonde hair and brown eyes, but older and more mature. Moreover, he carried himself with a powerful bearing only found in someone with authority.


    To be honest, once you see him, you would immediately think of the word ''king''.


    The King of The Great Savannah walked until the end of the hall and sat down in a throne that had been prepared for him. Only then he opened his mouth and greeted the people in the hall.


    "Wee, my subjects."


    With these words, the frozen atmosphere in the hall regained life. Some beastmen who had unknowingly held their breaths, breathed again, as though released from a spell.


    The king looked at that scene with a look of pride and chuckled.


    "I know tonight is a night of celebration, so I will be quick. Before we continued with tonight''s ball, I want to announce something. Calisto, step forward."


    The little lionkin prince nodded. He looked at his father with a nervous expression before walking and standing in front of him.


    "As you know." The king continued. "Calisto is my youngest son who I love a lot. Recently, however, he was embroiled in a troublesome matter that almost causes him to lose his life. Fortunately, several heroic and promising young men and women stepped forward bravely at that moment, stopping the situation from turning into a tragedy."


    When these words sounded, the beastmen nobles looked around in curiosity. Only a few of them seemed to know the truth about the matter, but they remained silent while keeping a smiling face.


    After the atmosphere of anticipation was good enough, the king spoke up again.


    "Javelin Sharpw, Illina Snow, Bloed Norman, Regina Norman, Liu Ying, step forward please."


    Bloed looked at his twopanions and nodded. They had already been told about this, so they did not hesitate to step forward.


    Thus, the three of them plus Javelin and Illina stood in front of the king with dignified expressions.


    The king nodded in appreciation when he saw them. He seemed satisfied by the behavior Bloed and the others shown.


    After moving his gaze through each one of them and pausing briefly on Regina, the king started the rewarding process.


    "Javelin Sharpw, for the bravery you show when rescuing Prince Calisto Firstmane and your outstanding work in Diadel Duchy, I promote you to head of foreign rtionships. I hope you work hard."


    Javelin bowed respectfully.


    "I thank your majesty for your kindness."


    The king nodded with a smile and moved his gaze to Illina. "Illina Snow, for your participation in rescuing Prince Calisto Firstmane and your outstanding work in Diadel Duchy, I promote you to vice-head of foreign rtionships. I hope you can continue supporting Javelin as you have done until now."


    Illina lowered her head barely suppressing her excitement.


    "I thank your majesty for your kindness."


    Satisfied with her answer, the king finally turned towards Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying.


    This time, though, he paused slightly as though considering his options.


    Finally, he sighed.


    "Bloed Norman, Regina Norman, Liu Ying. Your contributions in the rescue of my son Prince Calisto Norman are undeniable. However, you are not beastmen nor belong to my country. So, I have struggled a lot while thinking of an adequate reward for you.


    "Finally, I decided to grant the three of you a peerage. Since today, Bloed Norman will be considered as Baron Norman, and Regina and Liu Ying, as his fiances, will receive the same rights as him. Moreover, you will receive a territory close to the capital, Apso. Do you ept?"


    Bloed put on a surprised expression to the words of the king. He seemed like someone excited by the king''s offer.


    Inwardly, though, he was cursing the sly king.


    Since the moment when the king mentioned the word ''peerage'', Bloed knew they were in trouble.


    To be honest, the offer of the king was not bad. The problem was Bloed and the others'' stance. One of them was an exiled prince, another the equivalent to a demigod, and thest one the former princess of the demon empire.


    King Firstmane probably did not know about Liu Ying, but Bloed was sure he knew about him and Regina. Therefore, he could only see the king''s offer as an attempt to tie useful political pieces to The Great Savannah.


    Moreover, the king did the offer in front of so many important nobles. In other words, He made it difficult for Bloed and the girls to refuse. It was almost the same as trying to force it on them.


    Bloed could not help but feel slightly displeased when he reached that conclusion.


    But the king underestimated Bloed''s group.


    Just a nce at the girls'' faces was enough for Bloed to understand their intentions.


    They were going to refuse.


    Even if it was going to be a bit troublesome, the king could not fall out with Bloed''s group during the ball. And after that, Bloed and the girls could use Leto to leave the country unimpeded.


    Bloed did not believe the king was so silly as to offend a demigod (Regina) with links to two churches (Moonlight Glow and the Church of Fate) just for a slight embarrassment.


    But when Bloed was going to open his mouth, someone else spoke up.


    "Hold on." A calm and deadpan voice came from a corner of the hall. "Your Majesty, what do you think you are doing?"


    Bloed was surprised. When he looked in direction of the voice, he saw someone he was not expecting to see here.


    "Saintess Eve." The king furrowed his brows.


    The golden-haired fox girl stared at the king indifferently. She nced a Bloed briefly and nodded before looking again at the king.


    "Don''t you think it''s disrespectful of you to poach the people of other organizations, Your Majesty?"


    The king raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Miss Eve?"


    "Just like I said." Eve continued calmly. "Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, and Miss Liu Ying are people rted to Moonlight Glow. You don''t have any right to give them peerage."


    Bloed and the girls were startled. They looked at each other in confusion.


    However, Bloed was not silly enough to interrupt at this moment.


    He could see that whatever Eve was doing was to help him.


    ''is this Charise''s intention when she asked me to get the recognition of the fox?'' Bloed could not help but wonder inwardly.


    King Arlen Firstmane frowned. "Saintess Eve, if I''m not wrong, they are just silver guest of Moonlight Glow. Since when are they members of your church?"


    Eve shook her head. "Your information is outdated, Your Majesty. Yesterday, I went to visit Mr. Bloed and Miss Regina and met with them. After talking for a while, I found myself interested in Mr. Bloed''s abilities, and Mr. Bloed showed interest in our organization. Thus, after a long chat, he decided to make his group part of Moonlight Glow. Of course, we have not made it official yet, but they are already one of us."


    The king fell deep in thought before staring straight at Bloed''s eyes.


    "Is it like that?"


    Before Bloed could answer, he heard Eve''s voice in his mind.


    [Say yes. Don''t worry, Moonlight Glow is pretty loose. Even if you be part of our organization, you will not be forced to do anything against your will.]


    Bloed nodded inwardly. Moonlight Glow''s reputation was well known, and judging by Charise''s words, Eve was more trustworthy than the king.


    "That is right, Your Majesty," Bloed said. "I agreed to be part of Moonlight Glow."


    The king frowned, but there was nothing he could say.


    In fact, it could be said he was in the wrong this time.


    Besides, there was no need to create an unnecessary enmity with Moonlight Glow or Bloed''s group.


    After several seconds of silence, he put on a bitter smile.


    "It looks like I made a mistake. Bot worry not, Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying. I''ll think of another reward suitable for you. If you are interested in something, please tell me."


    Bloed marveled at the king''s resourcefulness. The fact he could be so flexible in this situation showed his qualities as a king.


    "We will think about it." He and the girls said.


    With that, this brief interlude finished.


    And just then, someone''s arrival was announced.


    "Priestess Elwha Aerin, Princess of the Elves, has arrived."

 Chapter 177: Priestess, General, and War

    Chapter 177: Priestess, General, and War


    2/2


    ...


    "Priestess Elwha Aerin, Princess of the Elves, has arrived."


    The announcement was apanied by the entrance of three people.


    Elves.


    Two of them were male, and the one in the lead was a young-looking female elf with the looks of an eighteen years old girl.


    Looks were deceitful in elves, though. For everything Bloed knew, she could be a fifty-year-old hag while keeping the features of a young girl.


    The girl carried herself with an elegant bearing and a gentle smile. Her long pale white hair was tied behind her, and her silver eyes were looking directly at The Great Savannah''s king.


    When she reached in front of the throne, the elven girl bowed slightly as a sign of courtesy.


    "Your majesty."


    Her voice was soft and clear, easily reverberating through the entire hall.


    Strangely, Bloed could feel himself bing refreshed after hearing her voice. He could not help but think that this girl was truly beautiful.


    To be honest, if not that Bloed was used to living with and enduring the advances of beautiful girls like Regina or Liu Ying, he would have been dazed by thedy in front of the king.


    In fact, he could see several beastmen males staring at the elf girl with an infatuated expression, as though they wanted nothing but obey each one of her words.


    But suddenly, Bloed heard a voice in his mind.


    [Master, use your psychic energy.]


    Bloed was stunned, but his face changed at the next instant. Without hesitation, he activated his psychic energy and used it to stimte his mind.


    Almost instantly, he felt his mind turning clear.


    "This is"


    [Mind Maniption.] Regina''s words sounded in her mind. [A kind of charm, if I''m not wrong She is just faintly using it, though. It is just making her aura a bit more alluring to increase the goodwill others feel towards her. A petty negotiation trick.]


    Bloed nodded. With Regina''s reminder, he was able to understand the situationpletely.


    The elf princess in front of him was using a kind of mind maniption spell. She was not using it on the public, though, but instead on herself to make others feel goodwill towards her.


    The effects were very simr to one of Gina''s ESP abilities, [Allure]. But Gina did it unconsciously, while the elf princess used the spell in purpose.


    By using the spell on herself, this little trick was virtually undetectable. Only people like Bloed or Regina, who were susceptive to the changes in the soul, could detect something like this.


    Looking beside him, he realized that even Liu Ying was staring at the elf princess with eyes full of admiration.


    Bloed smiled wryly and touched her arm, sending a bit of psychic energy to her mind.


    With a shiver, Liu Ying returned to normal. Almost instantly, she realized something was wrong.


    "Wha"


    "Shh. I''ll exin it to youter."


    Liu Ying was confused, but she decided to hear Bloed''s words.


    At the same time, Bloed noticed that the elf princess looked briefly at them with a confused expression. Bloed decided to feign ignorance and acted as though nothing was wrong.


    Meanwhile, the conversation between the princess and the king continued.


    "I hope you like the ce where you are staying, princess."


    The elf princess nodded. "I would have liked more trees, but everything else was perfect."


    "Good." Nodded the king. "I would hate it if our guests are displeased with our hospitality."


    After some other pleasantries, the princess bowed slightly to the king again and moved away, indicating that she finished speaking to the king.


    But then, the arrival of another person was announced.


    "Pdin Edward Stell, General of the Sun Kingdom, has arrived."


    This time, the entire pce fell silent.


    But almost instantly, amotion erupted.


    Bloed also wrinkled his brows. Now he was sure that something was wrong here.


    The Saintess of Moonlight Glow, a Priestess and Princess of the Elves, and a General from the Sun Kingdom.


    Bloed was not an idiot as to think this was a coincidence. They obviously were here for a reason.


    Moreover, it was an open secret that the Sun Kingdom was a human supremacist kingdom. The Sun Kingdom was a theocracy ruled by the Church of the Sun God, a church that preached human supremacy.


    It was virtually impossible for a general of that kingdom to visit the capital of a beastmen country without a good reason.


    The same thought was in the mind of several people in the hall. They stared at the middle-aged man entering the hall with gazes full of curiosity, confusion, and hostility.


    The general of the Sun Kingdom, on the other hand, did not pay attention to their gazes. Instead, he walked through the hall with his head held high and his aura fully released.


    The pressure of his aura caused several beastmen to turn pale. It was definitively the pressure of a powerful practitioner.


    A demigod.


    The middle-aged man continued advancing arrogantly. Such arrogance was enough to enrage many of the beastmen here.


    If not that the king was still wearing a calm look, Bloed was sure several of them would have already tried to attack the general.


    "General Edward, wee to The Great Savannah." The lionkin king said with a smile.


    The general nodded indifferently, not bothering to bow or to reply to the kind.


    The king, though, seemed not to take offense by the general''s obvious slight. Instead, he continued smiling while staring at the human male in front of him carefully.


    "How are your amodations, general? I hope you and your men found them to your liking."


    " Barely enough," The general replied. "Although I was not expecting much considering that animals like you are the hosts."


    Bloed could feel several beastmen gritting their teeth in rage after hearing these words. The atmosphere inside the hall had turned incredibly tense.


    The hostility in the air was almost tangible. And the worst part was that some of the beastmen were sending part of that hostility towards Bloed and Regina.


    Bloed smiled wryly. He did not expect to get caught in the crossfire.


    Contrary to the beastmen in the hall, King Arlen Firstmane did not seem offended. Quite the opposite, when he heard the general answer, he smiled.


    "Is it so? I''ll make sure to get you new amodations then. I''m sure the new amodations will be what you expected."


    The general froze. He had the feeling the king was mocking him.


    Plus, judging by the king''s amused gaze, his new amodations were not something he was going to like.


    A small trace of hatred passed through the eyes of the general. He stared at the king several seconds before speaking up.


    "If this is everything you need, I think I''ll be leaving. I already lost a lot of my time assisting this useless event."


    The king smiled. "Calm down, General. I still have something to say."


    Then, King Arlen Firstmane pped twice, attracting the attention of all the people in the hall.


    "Everybody, I have an announcement to do tonight. Get ready, my subjects. If nothing goes wrong, soon the elves'' Boerner Forest, humanity''s Sun Kingdom, and the beastmen''s Great Savannah and Moonlight Glow, are going to be a war."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 178: The Real Eve Moonglow

    Chapter 178: The Real Eve Moonglow


    1/2


    ...


    "Get ready, my subjects. If nothing goes wrong, soon the elves'' Boerner Forest, humanity''s Sun Kingdom, and the beastmen''s Great Savannah and Moonlight Glow, are going to be a war."


    The king''s announcement rang out in the hall.


    Expressions of astonishment appeared in every person present. Even Eve, Priestess Elwha, and General Edward were looking at the king dumbfounded.


    "Your majesty, are you crazy!?" Priestess Elwha bellowed, but the king just threw her an indifferent nce and raised an eyebrow.


    "Is there anything wrong with my words, Princess? You and I know that our countries are just a step away from war."


    "That is absurd! You know that it''s not the result the elves want!"


    "Is it so?" The king looked at the princess of the elves with interest and nodded. "You are right, elves are a race that dislikes wars. However, do you think it''s the same for the others?" The king then looked in General Edward''s direction.


    The general of the Sun Kingdom was staring at the king with an inscrutable gaze, but anyone could see a fire burning in his eyes.


    Plus, judging from the Sun Kingdom''s history, they would not mind waging a war against The Great Savannah.


    "Even so." Elwha took a deep breath and stared at the king with a determined look. "I hope you stop mentioning something like war so lightly. Do you know how many families lose their loved ones each time a war happens?"


    The king nodded. "I know. And that is the reason I''m telling about it to my subjects since now." He then looked around at the beastmen gathered in the hall. "My people, the Sun Kingdom and the Boerner Elven Forest are trying to steal what belongs to us! Are you going to allow it!? Are you going to let them take what belongs to our race!?"


    Expressions full of determination appeared in the beastmen in the hall. None of them seemed intimidated by the king''s words.


    "Then get ready to fight! We, the beastmen of The Great Savannah, are not cowards that fear the schemes of other countries! If the elven forest or the Sun Kingdom wants a piece of us, we will give it to them!"


    Tonight''s ball finished in a dead serious atmosphere.


    After the king finished his speech, all the beastmen bowed towards him, showing their support and readiness to participate in the war.


    Although most of them were not aware of the reasons behind the possible war, they were ready to put their armors and fight bravely in the frontlines.


    "Now I understand why the beastmen are considered as a warlike race." Bloed heaved a tired sigh inside a carriage.


    Currently, he was returning to his residence with Liu Ying and Regina. Javelin and Illina had stayed behind in the pce.


    ording to them, they needed to deal with some important issues after today''s announcement.


    "Bloed, do you think there will be a wat?" Liu Ying asked with a concerned expression.


    Bloed shook his head. " I don''t know. However, I think it has not escted to that level yet."


    Liu Ying tilted her head confused, so Bloed sighed and exined.


    "Judging by the king words, it looks like the elves, the Sun Kingdom, and the beastmen arepeting for something I''m not sure what it is, but it must be very valuable if even the elves are interested.


    "That object must be valuable enough for the three countries to go to war for it. However, I''m sure none of the three parties wants a full-blown conflict. If my inference is not wrong, they must be in the middle of negotiations now.


    "What the king did today was a negotiation trick. He was expressing to both the Sun Kingdom and the elven forest that he did not mind going to war to protect his country''s interests. You saw how the beastmen in the hall reacted. None of them seemed to disagree with their king''s choice.


    "It''s the same as though telling the Sun Country and the Elven Forest to think well about their stances because they were already prepared to go to war. And in the worts case scenery, they did not mind going along with it."


    Liu Ying fell deep in thought. " In other words, things are still under control."


    "Yes, but not for much longer. I fear that if the negotiations fail, the continent is going to see its first full-blown war after The Blight." Bloed put on a troubled expression.


    At that moment, a deadpan voice came from outside the carriage.


    " It looks like you have a good understanding of the situation, Mr. Bloed."


    "Who!?" Liu Ying was startled. But opposite to her, Bloed and Regina were calm, as though they were not surprised by the voice.


    "We were waiting for you, Miss Eve," Bloed said with a smile. "Please,e inside."


    "Thanks."


    Following the fox girl''s soft voice, a figure appeared inside the carriage. She was like a ghost passing through the walls of the carriage and sitting across Bloed.


    As soon as the fox girl sat down, Bloed put on a serious expression and bowed slightly.


    "Firstly, thank you very much for your help today. Things would have turned troublesome if you don''t intervene."


    "Nn-nn." Eve shook her head indifferently. "You don''t need to thank me, Mr. Bloed. I did it because I wanted to Besides, you look like a free-spirited person who dislikes being tied to useless responsibilities. I''m also like that, so I know how it feels when you are forced in a position against your will."


    "is that the reason why you helped me?"


    " Also because you promised me to make a fox for me."


    Bloed smiled wryly. So his efforts yesterday were useful after all.


    However, today''s events showed Bloed apletely different side of Eve than the one he saw yesterday.


    When Eve suddenly appeared in his courtyard yesterday, she was a beautiful fox girl with a strange personality. But after the events of today, Bloed got a new impression of her.


    If yesterday, she was a bit of an indifferent but passionate fox girl true to her interests, today''s Eve showed Bloed that she was also the Saintess of Moonlight Glow.


    Someone with power and authority enough to go against a king in his kingdom without fearing the consequences.


    The fox stained in blood, Bloodstained Moonlight.


    Perhaps it was the real Eve Moonglow.

 Chapter 179: Willful Eve

    Chapter 179: Willful Eve


    2/2


    ...


    "Anyway, thank you for your help," Bloed said again. Regardless of Eve''s intentions, the truth was that she had helped him.


    Eve nodded without changing her expression. She then seemed to think about something and took out a golden badge from A storage ring in her finger.


    "Take this." She gave it to Bloed.


    The badge was a beautiful art piece. It showed a beautiful fox howling to the moon.


    Bloed had seen this kind of badge before.


    In Diadel City, Madeline had given one of these to Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying each.


    But the ones Madeline gave them were silver instead of golden.


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. "This is?"


    "... The report from Diadel City said that you received a silver badge, right?" Eve asked with a nk face. "Unfortunately, a silver badge is not enough to justify my interference tonight. So, you need to receive this golden badge. With this, you will be a member in name of Moonlight Glow."


    Bloed grabbed the golden badge and held it with a troubled expression.


    "Miss Eve, I''m thankful for your help, but I hope you understand we are not nning to be tied down to any organization.


    Eve nodded. "I know. As I told you, you are like me, so I understand your position. Plus, I know my help tonight is far from enough to get the loyalty of a demigod, and the prince of the Kingdom of Alterna."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "So you know even about that, huh."


    "... Sorry." Eve apologized with her usual deadpan expression. "I investigated you after I met you yesterday, and coincidentally, I found a lot of information about you in Diadel Duchy''s report."


    Bloed was not surprised about that. He expected something like that after the events of Diadel City.


    He could only hope that this information is not spread to the rest of the continent too quickly. He did not want to be bothered by people interested in making use of his status as a prince (exiled).


    "... I hope you consider this badge a symbol of Moonlight Glow''s goodwill," Eve continued saying. "To be honest, Mr. Bloed, even without your identity as a prince, just your ability to craft the strange constructs you call robots makes you eligible to receive this badge... Plus I have the feeling your abilities are not limited to that."


    "You have a high evaluation of me, huh." Bloed smiled wryly, but Eve nodded with a serious expression. "I do. It''s the same for Miss Regina and Miss Liu Ying though."


    Bloed nodded. After ying for a while with the golden badge, he sighed and passed it to Regina.


    Regina understood and put it inside one of the ck jewels on her bracelet.


    "Thank you again, Miss Eve."


    The fox girl nodded with her usual nk expression. "I know I told you I did not help you to recruit you, but if one day you decide to seek the support of an organization, I hope you consider Moonlight Glow first."


    Bloed did not hesitate to nod.


    To be honest, he had a very favorable impression of this organization. Until now, Moonlight Glow had helped Bloed''s group on several asions while asking for nothing in exchange.


    Of course, Bloed knew that part of the reason behind Moonlight Glow''s goodwill was his abilities and the fact Regina was a demigod. But even so, Moonlight Glow had not hesitated to stand up for them on two different asions. Bloed could not just ignore something like that.


    "... I guess I will have to put a bit more effort into that fox, huh."


    Eve''s eyes lit up, her expression changing for the first time. " That is a good idea. Make sure it''s cute enough."


    "Yeah, yeah, I will."


    "By the way, you three seemed interested in the words of the king, right?" Eve asked. "Do you want to know what is happening?"


    Bloed and the girls looked at each other and nodded. they were certainly curious.


    "It''s rather simple, really." Eve sighed. "You see, The Great Savannah, the elves'' Boerner Forest, and the Sun Kingdom share a border. That border is a very disputed mountainous territory. For years, the three countries have disputed the right of that territory. Mainly the Sun Kingdom and The Great Savannah, though. The elves never showed too much interest.


    "However, these mountains were verycking in resources, so although none of the countries wanted to give it up, they were not interested in making a fuss for it either. For years, the situation remained like that."


    " But something changed recently, right?" Liu Ying opined.


    Eve nodded. "Yes. A few months ago, someone from the sun kingdom discovered a deposit of mana ores in these mountains. A very valuable deposit, with enough high-quality ores to mine for several decades. As for the rest, I think you can imagine it."


    Realization appeared in the faces of Bloed''s group. So that was the reason.


    Mana stones were a very valuable resource. They were literally crystalized mana. Their uses ranged from training and alchemy to war.


    It was a pure source of energy that almost any country coveted.


    Bloed could now understand why the three countries were about to go to war.


    But


    " How strange. I thought Elves did not use mana stones." Liu Ying muttered.


    Bloed nodded. Certainly, Elves usually don''t like things that can damage nature.


    And few things are more damaging to nature than mining. Why are they so interested in this mine then?


    "I don''t know either." Eve sighed while shaking her head. "The only thing I know is that the elves have shown an unusual interest in this."


    Bloed fell deep in thought. A few secondster, though, he shook his head.


    There was no point in continuing to think about this topic.


    "Tomorrow, King Arlen Firstmane, Priestess Elwha Aerin, and General Edward Stell will sit to negotiate about this topic," Eve said. "I will participate too, by the way Although to be honest, I would have preferred to use my time in something more productive."


    Bloed smiled wryly in understanding. Yeah, that sounded like something boring.


    Looking at the disheartened expression of the fox across him, Bloed could not help but shake his head.


    But suddenly, he saw Eve''s expression freezing.


    Then, as though she got an incredible idea, she moved her face closer to Bloed''s group.


    "Mister Bloed, Miss Regina, Miss Liu Ying, are you busy tomorrow? Do you want to go with me?"


    Without hesitation, Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying shook their heads. "Of course not. Besides, I don''t think it''s alright if we participate in something like that."


    " Why?" Eve tilted her head inexpressively. "You have a golden badge, so you are also members of Moonlight Glow now. You can participate."


    "... Miss Eve, I thought we were members just in name, right?"


    Eve paused. But then, she stared at Bloed fixedly.


    "Don''t you think you owe me a favor after I helped you today?"


    Bloed''s expression twitched. Miss, what happened with your words of before.


    " Miss Eve, I''m sure Moonlight Glow has already sent people for this meeting, right? They are surely more suitable than us." Bloed suppressed a sigh and tried to convince Eve, but it was useless.


    "... They are just boring old men, I will bore at death if I go with them." Eve said as a little child. "It''s decided, one of you must apany me tomorrow."


    Bloed and the girls looked at each other. Judging by Eve''s serious expression, she did not seem as though she was ready to give up on her idea.


    "... Well, I''ll be busy training tomorrow, so I don''t think I can." Liu Ying forced a smile and said. "But Bloed is pretty free! He can go!"


    Bloed''s was stunned. He could not believe Liu Ying sold him.


    Looking at Eve, he could see her gaze was fixed in him.


    With a sigh, he shook his head and changed his evaluation of Eve again.


    She was definitively a willful woman.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 180: The Elven’s Princess Proposal

    Chapter 180: The Elven¡¯s Princess Proposal


    1/2


    ...


    In the end, it was decided that Bloed and Regina would apany Eve to the conference.


    Although Bloed tried to convince Liu Ying to go too, the ex-demon princess was not interested in the slightest in this kind of gathering. No matter what Bloed said, he did not manage to convince her.


    Regina, on the other hand, told Bloed that she could go in his stead. But this time it was Eve who refused. ording to her, going together with an ice block like Regina was not different than going with the old men of Moonlight Glow.


    Plus, Bloed did not feel good making Regina go to such a boring ce alone.


    In the end, the master and the servant decided to go together.


    So, the next morning, they were riding a carriage together with Eve towards the pyramid-like pce of The Great Savannah.


    The three of them arrived at the pce without a problem, and after Eve showed her identification to the guards, they were allowed to enter.


    The atmosphere in the pce today waspletely different than the atmosphere during the ball one night ago. Instead of the festive mood ofst night, only a tense air could be felt.


    The guards in the pce were tensed up, as though prepared to start a fight at the slightest sign that something was wrong.


    " They look like they are prepared for war." Bloed sighed.


    Eve nodded silently. Same as Bloed, she did not like the atmosphere in the ce.


    When Bloed''s group arrived at the hall of the conference, they realized they were thest group to arrive.


    Apart from them, the three other groups were already seated around a table, looking at each other with wary expressions.


    On one side was the King of The Great Savannah, Arlen Firstmane, together with the first prince and a catkin Bloed recognized as Javelin''s father.


    On the side of the elves was Elwha Aerin, Priestess and Princess of the Boerner Forest, followed by the two elves that apanied her yesterday to the ball.


    And on the side of the Sun Kingdom General Edward Stell was being followed by two young men.


    Bloed found one of the young men familiar.


    After staring at him for a few seconds, Bloed finally recognized him.


    " He was the one that fought against Liu Ying in the arena."


    Regina was startled. "Are you sure, Master?"


    " Their figures and aura match. I''m pretty sure it''s him."


    Now, Bloed knew where the human that fought Liu Ying came from.


    As soon as Eve, Bloed, and Regina entered the hall, the other three groups fixed their gazes on them.


    "Miss Eve, you arete." The king said.


    Eve did not reply and just sat in her chair before gesturing them to start.


    The king frowned, but after a few seconds, he sighed and stopped paying attention to the fox girl.


    He was long aware of the personality of Moonlight Glow''s saintess. Moreover, Moonlight Glow was here to support his kingdom, so he wanted to avoid going against Eve.


    "Very well, now that everybody is here, let''s start." General Edward said.


    Princess Elwha nodded. "Then, what are your proposals? How are we going to divide the mine?"


    "Divide? Why should we divide it?" King Arlen snorted. "That territory has always belonged to the Great Savannah, the mine is ours!"


    " Is it so? But your majesty, I remember that it was our Sun Kingdom who discovered the mine. In that sense, it should belong to us, right?"


    "Heh." King Arlen sneered. "Your group of clowns will only receive that mine over my dead body!"


    Bloed raised an eyebrow in surprise. It seemed like today''s negotiation did not have a future.


    He was not the only one that seemed to think like that. Looking beside him, he could see that Regina and Eve had simr expressions.


    "I don''t understand, can they just divide the mine into three parts and be done with this?" Regina asked confused.


    Bloed shook his head. "They can, but none of the three groups will ept it."


    "Master?"


    "If the information about the mine is right, it means whatever country gets it will gain a boom in all its industries. Perhaps in just ten or twenty years, that country willpletely surpass the others. The other two parties will definitively not allow it."


    "Then"


    "I already thought about it yesterday, but now that I''m seeing the situation here, I''m even surer. At this rate, war will surely erupt."


    The discussion continued for several hours. During the entire time, the three parties did not manage to reach an ord.


    Quite the opposite, the discussion had turned more and more heated. In fact, the three groups were close to starting a fight on several asions.


    The biggest problem was between the Sun Kingdom and The Great Savannah. Bloed realized that the bad blood between both countries was much worse than he thought. They hated each other to the bone.


    But when Bloed thought the discussion was not going to reach anywhere, Princess Elwha mmed the table.


    *Bam!*


    "Gentlemen, we can''t continue like this!"


    King Arlen and General Edward fell silent, none of them ready to take a step back.


    Suddenly, though, one of the young men behind the general spoke up.


    "What do you suggest then, Princess?"


    Elwha furrowed her brows and tapped the table twice. Then, she opened her mouth.


    "What about this? Let''s decide the owner of the mine with apetition."


    "Apetition?"


    "Yes. As you know, we elves dislike bloodshed. Thus, how about this? Each party will send three people to the territory where the mine appeared. They will participate in a test we will discusster, and the winner will receive the mine. I propose to go with the young generation. Nobody older than thirty and beyond the B-Rank should participate to avoid escting the conflict."


    Both parties fell deep in thought. This suggestion seemed not bad.


    " How are we going to guarantee that the other party doesn''t go back in their words?" The catkin behind The Great Savannah''s king asked.


    "We will make an oath witnessed by the higher-ups of several churches and our three countries. If any of the countries goes against the agreement, the other parties will cooperate to force them to do as promised."


    The Sun Kingdom and The Great Savannah''s people fell deep in thought.


    Bloed thought this was a good way to solve the situation. Although there were still some rough corners in Elwha''s proposal, they could be resolved.


    At the very least, it was much better than starting a full-blown war.


    The King of the Great Savannah wrinkled his brows for several seconds before staring at the elves and humans across the table.


    "I can agree at that, but under two conditions."


    "Do speak." Princess Elwha said.


    "First, thepetition will decide the ownership for the next ten years. After ten years, the ownership of the mine will be disputed again."


    The elves and humans looked at each other. This condition was not bad. That way, each country could ept defeat more easily.


    After all, they still had another opportunity even if they failed.


    "We don''t mind." General Edward nodded. "What is the second condition?"


    "Make it six people! Nothing less than that."


    " Six people?" The general furrowed his brows in confusion. "Why do you insist on six people?"


    "Just tell me if you are going to agree or not!"


    The general was silent. Something was definitively wrong.


    He stared at the two young men behind him to see if they could understand the beastmen king''s intentions. But they shook their heads.


    Even so, he was sure there was a trap behind the beastmen king''s condition.


    But at that moment


    "We don''t mind." The Elven Princess spoke up. "Six people it is."


    The general of the Sun Kingdom was startled. He then stared at the princess as though trying to read her thoughts.


    Elwha did not look at him. Instead, she stared at the beastmen king. "We can ept that arrangement, your majesty. Anyway, I don''t think the elves will lose."


    "We agree too." This time, it was one of the young men behind the general who spoke. "But only this time. The number of participants will be negotiated again for the nextpetition."


    "Your highness!"


    "Calm down, General. My father gave me the authority to make decisions in today''s negotiations, and this is my decision."


    The general fell silent for a moment and finally nodded.


    "Only this time, huh. Okay, I agree." King Arlen agreed easily.


    In fact, he was already satisfied with this result.


    Although he would have an advantage only this time, that was more than enough.


    If he was too greedy, the other parties surely would realize that something was wrong.


    "It''s decided then. The details of thepetition will be negotiatedter."


    Just like that, the three parties reached an agreement for the ownership of the mine.

 Chapter 181: Spiritual Fruits (1)

    Chapter 181: Spiritual Fruits (1)


    2/2


    ...


    In the living room of the mansion where Bloed was staying.


    Seven people were seated around a table, looking around with an awkward silence.


    The reason for the awkward silence? The golden-haired fox girl drinking a cup of tea with an indifferent expression on her face.


    Eve Moonglow, Moonlight Glow''s Saintess.


    Watching the famous saintess drink tea with an expressionless look, Javelin could not help but look a Bloed with a questioning look.


    " Why is the saintess here?"


    Bloed shrugged, unable to answer. He was wondering the same question.


    Several hours had passed since the conference finished.


    Bloed and the girls plus Javelin, Illina, and Prince Calisto were seated around a table talking about several topics when Eve appeared.


    She just knocked on the door and invited herself inside without exining anything.


    And well, it was not as though Bloed could be impolite and urge her to exin the reason she came. He was sure it was a good enough reason.


    Probably.


    Anyway, the presence of Eve made the situation but awkward. Mainly because Javelin, Illina, and Prince Calisto seemed as though they were standing in thin ice.


    Illina did not even dare to breathe too loud. The wolfkin girl was looking at the ground without raising her gaze.


    As for Prince Calisto, Bloed was pretty sure he saw the young lionkin prince shivering in fear.


    Noticing the strange situation, Eve expressionlessly looked at the three beastmen and nodded.


    "Don''t worry about me. Just treat me like a normal girl."


    Javelin and the others forced a smile out.


    It was not easy to treat the foxkin princess famous for ughtering thousands of people like a normal girl.


    Gathering his courage, Prince Calisto raised his hand timidly.


    "Ehh S-Saintess? Is it true you like to drink blood instead of water?"


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. That story was obviously something made up to scare children.


    And as he expected


    "Of course not. That is just a rumor..."


    Prince Calisto sighed in relief.


    "... Blood is better used to take baths. It helps to keep the skin young and stic. That is my secret recipe."


    The other six people in the room stiffened.


    Bloed was pretty sure it was a joke, but it was hard to say with Eve''s expressionless look.


    In fact, Prince Calisto seemed as though he wanted to cry.


    " It''s a joke." Eve finally said after several seconds with a very small smile.


    Liu Ying smiled wryly and shook his head. " Miss Eve, I think your joke scared the little prince.


    "Is it so?" Eve tilted her head and stared at Calisto. "Why? Could it be he thinks I''ll use his blood to take a bath?"


    Tears were already falling from the prince''s eyes. He grabbed Javelin''s shirt and hid behind him cowardly.


    " I''m joking." Eve said again.


    Bloed sighed. "Miss Eve, please stop scaring the prince. Anyway, what brings you here?"


    "Hmm? Are we not friends. I thought I coulde to visit you as a friend."


    "... You can." Bloed smiled wryly. "But I''m sure you are here for a reason, right?"


    Eve nodded. "The details of thepetition have been decided." Eve then put the cup of tea on the table and stared at Bloed with a serious expression. "It will be a monthter. Each country will send six B-Ranks to the mountains to participate in apetition for the mine."


    Bloed tilted his head confused. Although it''s true he was curious about that information, he did not think It was enough to make the saintess of Moonlight Glow visit him personally.


    Although thinking about it, taking into ount Eve''s previous behavior, it''s not so strange.


    Perhaps she just did it in a wink.


    Unfortunately, that guess disappeared at the next second.


    "I''m here to ask you if you want to participate."


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and the others were stunned.


    Seeing the confusion in their faces, Eve asked a question expressionlessly.


    "Why do you think the Great Savannah''s king insisted on having six participants in thepetition?"


    Bloed furrowed his brows. That was something he did not understand even now.


    He had thought of several possible reasons, but he could not find a satisfactory answer yet.


    "It''s because a bigger number of participants is advantageous for the beastmen," Eve exined. "For thispetition, each country will surely send their strongest B-Rank practitioners. They will send the top geniuses of their respective countries and put them topete against the geniuses of the beastmen.


    "However, unlike the Sun Kingdom and the Boerner Elven Forest, The Great Savannah is a country of beastmen, and the beastmen race is very united race.


    "While the Sun Kingdom and the Boerner Elven Forest can only select their contestant from the B-Ranks in their countries, the Great Savannah can and will receive the support of the other four beastmen countries plus Moonlight Glow. Thus, they will have five times more geniuses to choose from. Tell me, who has the advantage then?"


    Bloed was slightly stunned. He was not expecting that.


    However


    "Can''t the Sun Kingdom and the Elves to do the same?"


    Eve shook her head. "Besides the beastmen countries, no other country will risk their carefully cultivated talents to help another country. Of course, if the Sun Country or the Elves have enough time to prepare, they will surely be able to convince other countries to help them, but in just one month, they will be lucky if they manage to get one or two outstanding B-Ranks from other ces."


    Bloed nodded. That exined why the lionkin king insisted on six B-Ranks per country.


    But it didn''t exin why Eve asked Bloed if he wanted to participate. After all, Bloed was not a beastmen.


    Sensing Bloed''s confusion, Eve spoke up her reasons.


    "King Arlen already sent a message to the other countries asking them to send their outstanding B-Ranks to the Great Savannah''s capital. One week before thepetition, the B-Ranks of the five beastmen countries plus Moonlight Glow willpete for a ce in the six B-Ranks. You and miss Liu Ying are part of Moonlight Glow, so you are also qualified to participate."


    "But we are not beastmen." Liu Ying instinctively said.


    Eve shrugged. "Nobody said only beastmen are allowed to participate from the beastmen country. In fact, although it''s unusual, there are humans natives to the beastmen countries as well. Plus, I heard Mr. Bloed has a way to disguise himself and others as beastmen, so even in the worst case, your race is not a problem."


    Bloed furrowed his brows and looked at Regina and Liu Ying. The valkyrie and the demon had simr expressions. Obviously, they were not sure about Eve''s proposal.


    Besides


    "I''m just a C-Rank. I don''t think I''m the best option to participate." Bloed could not help but say.


    " Mr. Bloed, I know that in Calice City, you fought against several A-Rank monsters and killed them. That is not something a normal C-Rank can do."


    "The circumstances were a bit special back then. That is not something I can do every time I want."


    "I know," Eve said. "But even so, your strength makes you unrivaled in the C-Rank, and even some B-Rank practitioners are not your match. Once you breakthrough to the B-Rank you will surely be one of the strongest B-Ranks in the continent."


    " Exactly. Once I breakthrough. But even I''m not sure how long that is going to take."


    Eve nodded in understanding. But then, she took a small box from her storage ring and passed it to Bloed.


    "What is it?" Bloed asked curiously.


    Eve smiled slightly, finally changing her expressionless look.


    "Your breakthrough to B-Rank."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 182: Spiritual Fruits (2)

    Chapter 182: Spiritual Fruits (2)


    1/2


    ...


    Bloed was surprised.


    ''My breakthrough? Does she mean the thing inside can help me to breakthrough to B-Grade?''


    Curious, he opened the box.


    Inside were three small grape-like fruit emitting a faint sweet fragrance.


    "We call them spiritual fruits," Eve spoke up while the group observed the fruits. "This thing can help someone below demigod to increase their soul power by a certain amount. It''s only useful for the first two or three times, though. And after the first time, the effects decrease greatly until it turns into just a very delicious fruit."


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. This fruit It was literally something able to increase psychic power!


    "Your cultivation method is specialized in soul power, right Mr. Bloed?" Eve stared straight into Bloed''s eyes. "I''m sure that with just one or two of these fruits, you can take the next step."


    Bloed did not reply. He could not deny Eve''s words.


    When he used his eyes to observe the fruits, he understood that Eve''s words were right. Although he still needed to confirm their effects in hisboratory, he was eighty percent sure they could help him to advance to B-Grade.


    "I hope you understand how important that mine is for the beastmen, Mr. Bloed," Eve continued seriously. "As the Saintess of Moonlight Glow, the wellbeing of the beastmen is my greatest priority. Once you consume this fruit, you will be one of the strongest B-Ranks in the continent. As for miss Liu Ying, she overwhelmingly defeated several B-Ranks a few days ago in the arena. With that strength, I''m sure the two of you will increase our probabilities of victory."


    Bloed sighed and closed the box. He then looked at Regina and Liu Ying asking for their opinion.


    Regina wrinkled her brows and Liu Ying shrugged. In the end, both of them left the decision in Bloed''s hands.


    Seeing that, Bloed thought for a moment before turning towards Eve.


    "You will need more than this if you want to make us participate."


    Eve nodded. "Don''t worry. The king of The Great Savannah will reward the six people chosen to participate and then reward them again if they win. Besides it, Moonlight Glow will support you with everything you need for thepetition."


    "Everything?" Bloed raised an eyebrow.


    "Everything."


    "That is A good deal." Bloed nodded. "By the way, can we take the mechanical pets with us? Without them, our strength will fall greatly."


    "Beastpanions are not allowed." Eve shook her head immediately. "But there are no restrictions on equipment."


    Bloed was startled before smiling. "I understand Okay, we are going to participate. However, you will have to help me to get some things I will need."


    Eve mirrored his smile.


    "Do speak."


    After Eve, Javelin, and the others were gone, only Bloed and the girls remained in the house.


    Regina furrowed her brows and looked at Bloed in doubt.


    "Master, are you sure about this?"


    "I am," Bloed replied calmly. "What is the worst that can happen? I don''t think we will lose to other B-Ranks, but In the worst-case scenery, you just have to rescue us. Besides, Eve''s conditions are pretty good." He said while looking at the box on his hands.


    These were the three spiritual fruits Eve gave to him.


    "I agree." Liu Ying agreed with Bloed. "This is a good opportunity to get morebat experience, plus we will face the geniuses of the elves and the Sun Kingdom, I''ll sure we will learn a lot."


    Regina nodded. "You are right. Besides, once master advances to the B-Grade, I''m sure no other B-Rank will be his match."


    Bloed nodded before putting on a grave expression. "We can''t underestimate the geniuses of other countries though. I''m pretty sure they will not be less talented than us, plus their cultivation will surely be higher, most likely at the peak of B-Rank."


    "Even so, I don''t think master will lose."


    Bloed didn''t think so either, but he preferred to be careful anyway.


    Before that, though, he needed to deal with the spiritual fruits.


    Bloed was wondering if he should eat them now or not.


    Spiritual fruits.


    Bloed had read about them when he was still a prince. They grew in a very special tree that could be found in the headquarters of Moonlight Glow, and could be used to increase soul power, aka psychic energy.


    To be honest, they were just a bit useful for the people of this world. After all, although this world''s [Mana Maniption] could be considered as a kind of ESP ability, the people of this world focused more on mana instead of psychic energy.


    But for Bloed, whose entire cultivation relied on psychic energy only, these fruits were a true treasure.


    If he used them now, he could guarantee his advancement to B-Grade.


    But if he used them when he was at the peak of B-Grade, the fruits would likely be enough to help him to breakthrough to A-Grade.


    Unfortunately, the energy in these fruits made it unlikely they could help him to breakthrough to S-Grade, even if he was at the very peak of A-Grade.


    But even so, the fruits would be much more useful if he waited to use them when he needed to breakthrough to A-Ranks. After all, he was confident he could breakthrough to B-Grade using his own strength, although it would take him a while.


    His breakthrough to A-Rank, on the other hand, was much harder.


    Bloed was undecided for a few minutes. To use them, or to not use them.


    But after a few minutes of hesitation, he just sighed.


    In the end, Bloed decided to use them.


    Eve gave him these fruits to make him a B-Grade before thepetition. Bloed could not ept her kindness without keeping his words.


    Plus, although he could use the fruits to help with his breakthrough from B-Grade to A-Grade. What was he going to do when he needs to be an S-Grade, a demigod?


    By then, he will have to rely on himself if he wants to seed.


    Thus, He could use his breakthrough to A-Grade as a practice for when he needed to breakthrough to S-Grade.


    "When are you going to make the breakthrough, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Bloed took a deep breath and clenched his fist.


    "Tomorrow."

 Chapter 183: B-Grade (1)

    Chapter 183: B-Grade (1)


    2/2


    ...


    The next day.


    Bloed closed himself in hisboratory. He instructed Regina and Liu Ying to not bother him for the next day. But if after one day he doesn''t leave theboratory, he told Regina to enter theboratory without hesitation and confirm he is alright.


    Bloed was not sure if his breakthrough was going to go smoothly, so he told Regina that just in case.


    After he made sure everything was in order, Bloed sat cross-legged on the ground and started his psychic power training technique.


    It was not necessary to sit cross-legged to train psychic power, but Bloed had gotten used to this method due to his mother. ording to his Cam, sitting cross-legged made it easier to clear his mind from unnecessary thoughts.


    Perhaps her words were right, or perhaps Bloed was already used to this method; but just after ten seconds, Bloed''s mind waspletely focused on his psychic energy training method.


    That processsted one whole hour. After one hour, Bloed opened his eyes again.


    At this point, this method was not very useful to increase Bloed''s psychic energy. His energy had reached a limit, a bottleneck.


    If he wanted to continue advancing, he needed to stimte his calction zone and made it expand.


    Normally, A ESPer would rely on his ESP ability to get the stimtion his calction zone needed. But by this point, Bloed''s [Enhanced Brain Capacity] had reached the limit of its potential, and [Molecr Disintegration] could barely be used, so Bloed needed a lot of luck before it could produce the breakthrough.


    But with the spiritual fruits Eve gave him, it was a different story.


    When Bloed was sure he was in top condition, he took out the wooden box and opened it.


    Three glistening grape-like fruits appeared before his eyes.


    Bloed stared at them fixedly. After a few seconds, he grabbed one of them.


    Then, he put it on his mouth and swallowed it.


    Nothing happened in the first few seconds.


    But suddenly, something changed.


    A sudden rush of psychic energy charged towards his brain!


    The psychic energy was like an uncontrolled flood. It charged towards his calction zone and hit it!


    Bloed''s expression changed. Without hesitation, he calmed his mind and prepared himself to receive the psychic energy.


    Then


    *Boom!*


    A thunderous roar filled his mind.


    Bloed felt his psychic energy struggling against the new psychic energy! It was rejecting the foreign invader!


    Bloed knew about this part of the process. In the end, the psychic energy inside the fruits was not his. If he wanted to make it his, he had to refine it first.


    Therefore, he focused on refining the psychic energy.


    Each strand of psychic energy was slowly attacked and assimted by the psychic energy is Bloed''s mind. Each second, his psychic energy grew little by little.


    And Bloed felt the barrier towards B-Grade loosening.


    The process was as though more water was being added to an already-filled bottle. With each drop added, the pressure inside the bottle increased slightly, and it was closer to exploding.


    But no matter how much water Bloed added, the bottle did not explode.


    Instead, it continued holding on stubbornly.


    After one hour like that, Bloed furrowed his brows.


    He could feel he was very close to breaking through. His calction zone was trembling constantly, about to give in.


    But it continued resisting stubbornly.


    Moreover, the energy in the spiritual fruit he consumed was already almost exhausted.


    Bloed heaved a disappointed sigh.


    He had the hope of just needing one fruit to breakthrough. That way, he could save the other two fruits for when he needed to breakthrough to A-Grade.


    Perhaps they would not be enough toplete the breakthrough, but they could make the process easier.


    Now, though, he could only resign himself to use the second fruit.


    With a slightly reluctant expression, Bloed swallowed another spiritual fruit.


    Just like the first time, the fruit soon turned into an enormous amount of psychic energy that rushed towards his mind. The energy went inside his calction zone and reinforced the energy of the first fruit.


    Instantly, the pressure Bloed''s calction zone was enduring increased greatly!


    But at the same time, Bloed noticed that his psychic energy rejected the new psychic energy faster than before.


    Bloed now understood why the fruit was only useful for the first few times. After that, his psychic energy would get used to the new psychic energy and will reject it before he could make the psychic energy his.


    Suppressing the disappointment in his mind, Bloed focused on assimting as much psychic energy as he could. At the same time, he used his psychic energy to push against the barrier stopping his advancement.


    One minute, two minutes, three minutes.


    Little by little, his psychic energy increased.


    The growth was slow, but it was constant. At the same time, his calction zone shook greatly, as though it could not endure anymore.


    Aware that the critical moment hade, Bloed gritted his teeth and pushed his psychic energy at the limit.


    Then


    *Boom!*


    Something broke.


    And Bloed psychic energy climbed at an unbelievable rate.


    As though the stalemate of before was a lie, the psychic energy continued growing at a crazy rate. The growth was so intense that it seemed like it was not going to stop.


    Moreover, part of the second spiritual fruit still needed to be assimted. That increased his psychic energy even more.


    Bloed suppressed his excitement and just concentrated on increasing his psychic energy as much as he could. He was not going to miss this opportunity.


    Thus, after almost one hour, the growth of his psychic energy finally calmed down.


    A smile appeared on Bloed''s lips. Then, he opened his eyes.


    Instantly, his psychic energy spread to the entireboratory.


    He had reached B-Grade.

 Chapter 184: B-Grade (2)

    Chapter 184: B-Grade (2)


    1/2


    ...


    B-Grade.


    The changes Bloed experienced when he reached B-Grade were not many.


    Compared to the changes Liu Ying experienced during her breakthrough, Bloed''s changes were very little.


    In fact, besides his increased psychic energy, and the now stronger [Enhanced Brain Capability], everything else was almost the same.


    Even hisbat power did not increase by much.


    It was understandable, though. In the end, Bloed''s current main ESP ability, [Enhance Brain Capacity], was not abat-type ESP ability.


    As for his second ESP ability, [Molecr Disintegration], he needed to wait until S-Grade if he wanted to truly wield it.


    Bloed was not disappointed, though. Quite the opposite, he was pretty happy.


    After all, although his directbat strength had not increased by much, the things he could do now were much more than before.


    His mind felt much clearer, and his thoughts moved faster. He briefly got the feeling that time was moving slower around him.


    Furthermore, his ability to thought-control machines was much greater than before.


    Thanks to [Enhanced Brain Capacity], Bloed ability to Thought-control was already much higher than average. At C-Grade, he could thought-control four artifacts; his eyes, hair, Tito, and Leto.


    For a normal ESPer, even an S-Grade one, wielding four thought-controlled machines was amazing. In fact, Liu Ying controlled only one, Liu Liu, even although she was at B-Rank.


    Bloed, though, was not satisfied with that.


    And now, he felt his capacity of thought-control almost doubling.


    In other words, he could control three or four artifacts more than before. Perhaps even more if they were not tooplex.


    And each artifact he could control was an increase to hisbat strength.


    That was just one of the changes after his breakthrough, though. The second change came from his second ESP ability, [Molecr Disintegration].


    Although Bloed could barely use a part of [Molecr Disintegration] with the help of magic runes, after his breakthrough, his calction zone had grown for a little.


    It was not enough to allow him to use [Molecr Disintegration] at will, but it allowed him to release a bit more of its abilities.


    Bloed still had to experiment to know what he could do now, but at the very least, he could upgrade Tito and Leto now.


    He could make the two mechanical pets much stronger than before.


    After Bloed finished checking his changes, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes.


    "So it''s how B-Grade feels like, huh."


    B-Grade. In this world, a B-Grade (B-Rank) could easily live afortable life. Although it was not enough to be someone truly important, it was enough to be famous in a small region.


    For Bloed, though, B-Grade was just the start.


    His goal was the top of this world, and then, the sea of stars.


    And today, he had taken another step towards that goal.


    After Bloed ended his breakthrough, he looked at the remaining spiritual fruit and decided against eating it now. He nned to study it to see if he could use it to find a way to advance to A-Grade.


    A-Grade was going to be the first big hurdle in Bloed''s cultivation.


    When Bloed left theboratory, he found Regina and Liu Ying waiting for him.


    "Congrattions, master," Regina said with a happy smile. "You are finally a B-Grade ESPer."


    At the same time, Liu Ying rushed towards him.


    "Well done~"


    Liu Ying grinned and hugged his arm as a spoiled girl. Bloed smiled wryly and rubbed her head.


    Then, he looked at Regina.


    "I''m a bit hungry now."


    Regina nodded.


    "I already prepared something for you, master."


    "Thank you. As expected, you are the best."


    Liu Ying pouted. "Hey! I also helped!"


    "You only cut some vegetables, demon."


    "So? Cutting vegetables is also a part of cooking."


    "Yes, yes, well done." Bloed smiled and consoled Liu Ying before following the two girls to the dining room.


    After a sumptuous lunch prepared for Regina, Bloed spoke to the girls about his breakthrough and the changes he experienced after that.


    "In other words, you need to upgrade your equipment now." Liu Ying said.


    Bloed nodded. "Yes. Only when my equipment is upgraded will my breakthrough truly show its effect. Otherwise, my strength will not increase for much."


    "Speaking of that, master, the fox brought the things you asked for."


    "In good time." Bloed smiled. "Some of the things I asked her will be useful for constructing my new equipment."


    "What new toys are you thinking of creating, master?" Regina asked curiously.


    "Well I have a few ideas in my mind, but I''ll keep them a secret for now."


    "How mysterious." Liu Ying rolled her eyes. "Right, the saintess also told you to remember the thing you promised to her."


    "Oh... The fox, huh."


    "I suppose so Bloed, don''t you think you are getting a bit too close to her?" Liu Ying suddenly narrowed her eyes.


    Regina was the same. She was staring at Bloed with a suspicious expression.


    Bloed smiled wryly. Girls, can you stop your baseless jealously.


    "Come on, Miss Eve is a very powerful demigod. The only reason she seems interested in me is that I''m helping her with something. I''m sure her interest is not romantic or something like that."


    Liu Ying and Regina squinted their eyes. But after thinking for several seconds, they realized Bloed''s words were reasonable.


    "You are right, there is no way someone like her will fall in love with someone like you." Liu Ying shook her head and sighed in relief.


    "Hey!"


    Bloed was speechless. Did she truly need to diss him like that?


    Seeing Bloed''s expression, Regina smiled and grabbed his hand.


    "Don''t worry, master. It''s enough if the two of us know about your good points. As for the other women, the less they understand the better."


    "Right, right, we two are enough." Liu Ying nodded in agreement. But then, she seemed to think of something. "By the way What about that little girl, Gina?"


    " We don''t need to worry about someone that is not here."


    Bloed twitched his lips. Since when had Regina and Liu Ying be so close?


    They were not even lovers yet, but Regina and Liu Ying were already stopping other women from approaching him.


    Well, it was not as though Bloed wasining. He already had enough headaches with the valkyrie and the demon.


    He definitively did not want more women in his life.

 Chapter 185: Eve’s Strength (1)

    Chapter 185: Eve¡¯s Strength (1)


    2/2


    ...


    From the next day onwards, Bloed spent all his time thinking and working in his equipment for B-Grade.


    He had gotten a lot of valuable resources from Eve, some that he already had a use for, and others he nned to use in his future experiments. He was intending to use a part of these resources in his new equipment.


    He started modifying his current equipment, aka, Tito (puppy/armor), Leto (wolf), and his artificial eyes.


    But when it was time to think about his new equipment, Bloed reached an impasse.


    Now that he broke through to B-Rank, Bloed''s capacity to thought-control machines increased greatly. If the machines were not tooplicated, he could perhaps thought-control seven or eight simultaneously. That was three or four machines more than now.


    But Bloed was not quite sure about the kind of equipment he wanted to create.


    Actually, it was the opposite. Bloed already had an idea about the equipment he needed, but he did not know if his current engineering ability could allow him to create it.


    Unable to decide, Bloed decided to focus on what he could do for now and try to think of a solution for the rest meanwhile.


    One week passed by like that.


    Today, someone knocked on Bloed''s door.


    When Liu Ying went to open the door, she found a fox girl staring inexpressively to her.


    "Saintess Eve?"


    "Mm." Eve nodded and went inside, not even asking Liu Ying for permission.


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. Well, she was already getting used to Eve''s personality.


    "What are you doing here?" Liu Ying asked.


    " I came to see how you are doing. Also, I need to talk with Bloed."


    "Bloed? He has been closed up in hisboratory since one week ago. He only leaves to eat and sleep Sometimes, he even forgets about that."


    " Laboratory?" Eve was startled. But then, her eyes brightened.


    "Take me there."


    "No." An ice-cold voice suddenly appeared.


    It was Regina. She was staring at Eve as though she was looking at an enemy.


    "Master doesn''t like to be bothered when he is working."


    Eve stared at Regina for a few seconds and then nodded. " I see A shame."


    But perhaps because Eve''s luck was very good, the door of theboratory opened up just at that moment.


    Then, a tired-looking Bloed swaggered out and yawned.


    Bloed nced at the three girls and was slightly surprised to see Eve. However, he immediately knew why she was here.


    "Are youing for the fox?"


    "Mm" Eve nodded with an expressionless look, but her eyes were shining brightly.


    "Great. I have already finished most of it, but I need your help for the next part. Wait a moment, I''ll take a bath and eat something first."


    "I understand By the way, congrattions on attaining B-Rank."


    "Thanks."


    Half an hourter, a refreshed Bloed was in theboratory with Regina, Liu Ying, and Eve.


    In fact, he only needed Eve, but the other two girls insisted on apanying him.


    Different from a few days ago, theboratory was a bit messy now. Regina had been cleaning theboratory twice each day, but even so, it was very messy.


    It was proof of how hard Bloed had been working in his equipment.


    Several pieces and parts were scattered all around theboratory, and some burned parts were thrown away in the corners. To be honest, it seemed like the secret base of a crazy scientist.


    " Sorry about this. I have been a bit busy here recently."


    "How is your equipment going, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Well, I already modified Tito and Leto. My new eyes still need a bit of work, but they are in the right way. The problem is my new equipment I have hit an impasse with one of the things I need."


    "An impasse?"


    "Yeah Well, in truth, I have a way to go around it, but it''s not what I truly want To be honest, even I''m not sure what exactly I want I still need to think a bit more about that."


    Bloed did not exin much. It was not that he did not want to exin. Instead, it was not something the girls could help with.


    As he said, even himself was not sure what exactly he wanted. The only thing he was certain about was that he was not happy with the simplest solution.


    Heaving a long sigh, Bloed led the group to a corner of theboratory.


    When they reached there, they saw a robot in the form of a fox sleeping elegantly inside a ss box.


    "This is" Eve''s eyes were shining like a child.


    Bloed smiled wryly and opened the box. He then used his mind to order the fox toe out.


    Instantly, the fox jumped out of the box to his arms.


    "I used a lot of valuable metals on it, mainly mithril and orichalcum. Also, I ground several A-Rank magic cores and used them as the cores for each individual nanorobot Do you want to touch it?" Bloed asked Eve.


    When he saw Eve nod, he immediately told the fox to jump towards her.


    Eve held the fox with shining eyes. She seemed like an excited little girl ying with her favorite toy.


    Soon, however, she realized that something was wrong.


    The fox


    "It''s weak."


    Bloed was startled before nodding.


    Certainly, the fox was weak. Weaker than Tito or Liu Liu, who were the same kind of mechanical pet.


    "I told you it''s iplete. I still need to synchronize it with your mana and set its main method of attack. Currently, it''s nothing more than a beautiful toy."


    "My mana?"


    "Yes." Bloed nodded and exined. "You see, robots need a source of energy to run. I can use mana stones or mana cores, or even batteries as the source of energy. But if I use that method, the source of energy will have to be reced regrly. Therefore, I normally synchronize the pet with the user and use the user''s energy as the source of energy.."


    Just like Tito and Leto relied on an application of [Molecr Disintegration] to move, and Liu Liu used Liu Ying''s mana to work, this fox also needed a source of energy.


    Eve nodded after hearing Bloed''s exnation. "What do I need to do then?"


    "Well Firstly, I need to know your normal output of mana."


    With these words, Bloed took Eve to a machine designed to measure the energy output. Initially, it could only measure the output of psychic energy, but Bloed had modified it to measure mana too.


    "Put your hand on there and release your mana. Try to release as much mana as you can without using special techniques."


    Eve nodded and did as Bloed said.


    Instantly, a strong pressure engulfed theboratory.


    And the numbers on the screen started to increase.


    Soon, though, Bloed expression changed.


    The number had already reached a terrifying level, and it continued climbing without stopping.


    When it finally stopped, the number had surpassed even Regina''s numbers.


    Eve removed her hand from the machine and stared at the number with a curious expression. Then, she turned towards Bloed and tilted her head.


    " Is it alright?"


    " To be honest, it''s much more than I expected."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 186: Eve’s Strength (2)

    Chapter 186: Eve¡¯s Strength (2)


    1/2


    ...


    It was the first time Bloed designed a mechanical pet for a demigod.


    Moreover, Eve was not a normal demigod. ording to the standards of this world, she was at the third rank of demigod, [Apotheosis].


    That was the equivalent to an SSS-Grade ESPer.


    Even Regina was just at SS-Grade. Of course, she was a Valkyrie, so her strength was a bit higher than her grade. But even like that, she could not guarantee she could win against Eve in a fight.


    Regina''s level of energy was incredible. But Eve''s was even more exaggerated.


    The unit used to measure an ESPer''s psychic power was called Psy, and it was roughly equivalent to 1 Megawatt of energy.


    An F-Grade ESPer, the weakest ESPer, has roughly 1 Psy of energy, and his normal output is a thousandth of that (0.001 Psy).


    But ording to the numbers showed on the screen, Eve''s normal output of mana reached 134,3 Psy. If that number was transformed into energy, it was roughly 134 Megawatts of energy.


    In other words, just Eve''s output of mana alone was around a tenth of the output of a normal nuclear nt.


    You could say that one attack of Eve used enough energy to keep a small town lit up for one month!


    Moreover, if Bloed calcted Eve''s total mana based on her normal output, it should go beyond 134000 Psy!


    Inparison, Regina''s energy output as a peak B-Grade Valkyrie was 45,7 Psy, and her total energy was around 45000 Psy.


    Just in terms of energy, Eve was more than twice as strong as Regina.


    Of course, the amount of energy alone was not enough to determine someone''s strength, but it was enough to roughly estimate it.


    For the record, Bloed''s energy output was just 0.05 Psy, and his total energy was around 50 Psy. Liu Ying''s numbers were roughly the same as his.


    Inparison to Eve, Bloed and Liu Ying were nothing more than ants.


    Eve could not understand the meaning of the numbers, but when she saw Bloed''s awkward face, she knew that something was wrong.


    "I there a problem?"


    Bloed smiled bitterly. "Well, yes Actually, there is no problem with you. It''s just I don''t think I have the necessary abilities to work with your level of mana."


    "Mm?" Eve tilted her head confused.


    "You see, Tito and Liu Liu are mechanical pets, but they are also pieces of equipment. In terms of strength, they should be as strong as a C-Rank practitioner, and at the same time, they increase their user''s abilities by around thirty to fifty percent.


    "But you are too strong, and your mana pool is too massive. Even if I do my best, the most I can do is create a mechanical pet as strong as the weakest demigod? Moreover, the boost it will give to your abilities will be at most 1%... That is too little for the amount of mana it will consume. To be honest, it will be nothing but a beautiful toy for someone like you."


    Eve was startled for a moment before smiling.


    "I see Don''t worry."


    "Huh?"


    " I only want a pet. If it''s as strong as a demigod it''s more than enough."


    Bloed smiled wryly. Right, he had forgotten that.


    But even so, he did not feel satisfied with that.


    As an engineer, the fact that his abilities were not up to par was something he hated. He was a wound to his pride.


    " It looks like I need to work harder."


    Shaking his head, Bloed decided to stop thinking about that and started to work in the fox.


    Because most of the work was already done, Bloed only needed to calibrate the fox to ept Eve''s mana.


    At the same time, he decided to eliminate some of the fox''s abilities.


    He had originally designed it like Tito and Liu Liu, with the capacity to turn into an armor. But taking into ount that the protection it could offer was useless for someone like Eve, he eliminated that function form its program.


    Instead, he made it purely a pet.


    Of course, it was not a normal pet. With Eve''s mana, itsbat strength was equivalent to a weak demigod, plus Bloed installed severalbat modules on it.


    Bloed needed almost seven hours to finish these modifications.


    When Bloed was done working in the fox, he passed it to Eve.


    "It''s done. Now, clear your mind and don''t resist."


    Eve nodded.


    Soon, she felt a soul power link trying to connect with her mind.


    Eve was startled, but she soon reacted and epted the link.


    Instantly, she felt a connection forming between her and the mechanical fox.


    Eve''s eyes lit up in surprise. "This is You can use soul power like this?"


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. "Is anything wrong?"


    "No... It''s just that... I specialize in soul techniques, so I''m very susceptible to soul power. But I have never seen this way to use soul power. I can even use it to control the fox''s movements, right?"


    "You are right." Bloed nodded. "It uses psychic energy, what you call soul power, to form a mental link with the user. With enough practice, you can control it as though it''s a limb. But even if you don''t control it, it can move independently thanks to the AI programmed on it. Now you only need to give it a bit of your mana into it and it will be done."


    Eve nodded and touched the fox''s head. One secondter, mana started to flow into the fox.


    The fox purred and stared at Eve happily. Eve observed the fox for a few seconds before looking at Bloed in admiration.


    "Amazing."


    " Thank you."


    "It''s truly amazing I''m not sure how exactly you created this, but just the soul power link is something astonishing In fact, I think you gave me an idea for a new technique."


    Bloed shrugged. "That is good then. Anyway, I also benefited from this. I got to know the limit of my abilities."


    Eve smiled. She then seemed to remember something and looked at Bloed and Liu Ying.


    "Right, I forgot to tell you something. I already inscribed Liu Ying and you for thepetition. Do you think you will be ready by then?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before nodding.


    "I will."

 Chapter 187: Elven Council

    Chapter 187: Elven Council


    2/2


    ...


    Elves.


    Together with the humans, beastmen, demons, and beasts, are one of the five races inhabiting the continent.


    The children of nature, as many call them, are known by their powerful mana and extraordinary beauty. They live in the elven forests, and seldomly leave their territories. Moreover, they have little contact with other races.


    But the elven forests does not consist of a forest alone. Instead, they are several forest and jungles scattered through the continent where the elves live.


    One of them is the Boerner Elven Forest, home of the Boerner Elves.


    And today, an important meeting was being conducted inside the sacred tree in the center of the forest.


    " That concludes my report." Elwha Aerin said after exining what happened in The Great Savanna.


    "Well done, priestess." A middle-aged elf seated in a tree throne nodded. "We are satisfied with your work."


    He was the Boerner Elven King, Eani Aerin. The highest authority in the Boerner Elven forest.


    Several other elves were seated around him. Each one of them was a powerful elf in wielding great authority. They were the elves belonging to the elven council.


    Strangely, though, the elders seemed eerily respectful of Elwha.


    It was not because Elwha was a princess. Elven kings were not decided by bloodline. Instead, the wisest and most talented elf in a generation was chosen as king by the elder council.


    Moreover, elves don''t care much for social positions. A princess was the same as other elves, just with some extra responsibilities and privileges.


    Thus, the reason the elders were respectful towards Elwha was due to her other title.


    Priestess of the Boerner Tree.


    The sacred tree in the center of the Boerner Forest, protector of the elves.


    For the elves, their sacred trees were like their guardian deities. They were even more important than their gods.


    Each sacred tree was respected and protected by the elves. Each elf had the duty to protect the sacred trees with their lives.


    And the priests and priestesses that served and talked to these trees were like divine servants.


    Elwha looked around at the elders with a solemn look. When she realized none of them was going to say something, she spoke up.


    "Have the five elves that will apany me for the mission been decided?"


    "Not yet." One of the elders said. "We need to choose the best of the best. We can''t take any risk during this mission."


    "However, the fact that the teams will be made of six people is troublesome." Another elder said. "I''m sure The Great Savannah will ask for the support of the other four beastmen countries and Moonlight Glow. We can expect strong enemiesing from them."


    "It''s already a good result." The elf king sighed. "We elves are innately more talented than the other races. Even if they send the best geniuses of five countries, they will be unable to bepared to the geniuses of our forest."


    "Even so, it''s better not to underestimate them or we can end suffering at the hands of the beastmen." An eldermented.


    Another elder sighed. "Fellow elders, remember that our mission is not to win but to get the heart hidden in these mountains. Moreover, we must avoid being discovered by the humans or the beastmen at any cost."


    "Sigh, how unlucky. Who would have expected the humans to discover a mine there at this kind of time? Fortunately, they did not find the heart."


    "But we can''t take it out easily now either. The humans and beastmen will definitively realize that something is wrong if we make any strange movement."


    "Yes, so this battle is perhaps ourst opportunity to take the heart unnoticed. Otherwise, we will have to face a bloodbath before attaining our goals."


    The elf king heard the opinions of the elders silently. Meanwhile, he stared at his daughter with a profound gaze.


    Then, he seemed to have thought of something.


    "Priestess Elwha, tell me something."


    "Do ask, your majesty."


    " The human prince Why did he ede to The Great Savannah''s king terms so easily?"


    "Huh?" Elwha was startled. But then, a brief expression of panic appeared on her face.


    The king was observant enough to notice her small change.


    "So you used it, huh."


    " I''m sorry, Your Majesty."


    King Eani''s expression turned cold.


    "Elwha, I can understand the reason you did that, but it was too risky! Manipting a prince of another nation is foolish! If the humans of the beastmen would have noticed something, all our efforts would have gone down the drain! Besides, what if the prince realizes that something is wrong after the effects of your maniption fade out!?"


    "But your majesty! Nobody noticed! Plus, I didn''t manipte him! I just used the arrogance inside him to guide his thoughts in a certain direction! He will definitively not notice anything!"


    " Perhaps." The king shook his head and sighed. "But the risk you took was not necessary, there were better ways to go about it. Elwha, I know that your intentions were good, but sometimes being overeager will instead be detrimental. Fortunately, everything went alright this time, but if your little trick would have been discovered, the goal of our forest would have been jeopardized. I hope you reflect on that."


    " Yes, your majesty." Elwha bit her lips and nodded.


    "Very well, you can go now. Get ready for the mission. In one week, you will meet the other five elves that will apany you."


    "Understood."


    After saying that, Elwha bowed slightly and left the sacred tree.


    " Your Majesty, don''t you think you are being too harsh with her? In the end, she did a good job."


    King Eani sighed. "You are right, but she took an unnecessary risk. Elders, Elwha is very talented, but due to that, she is very arrogant and rash too. As her father, it''s my duty to correct her when she errs. It''s my duty to turn her into a good leader for our race."


    The elder that spoke before shook his head and said nothing. In the end, King Eani''s words were not wrong.


    Elwha was the Boerner Forest''s hope. As such, she had the bear the weights her position brought.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 188: Prelude to the Selection (1)

    Chapter 188: Prelude to the Selection (1)


    1/2


    ...


    Two weeks after the meeting with Eve, the day of the selection arrived.


    The day to choose the six people that would represent The Great Savannah in the battle for the mines.


    Bloed and the girls boarded a carriage towards the arena. That was the ce where the candidates will meet.


    When they arrived at the arena, they were received by Eve.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, Miss Liu Ying, you are here." Eve greeted the group expressionlessly.


    Bloed and the girls returned the greeting before following Eve inside the arena.


    Once inside, they realized a big number of beastmen were already there.


    Most of the beastmen were teens, but there were a few adult beastmen between them too.


    What attracted Bloed''s attention, however, was the young beastmen''s aura.


    Each one of them was a peak of B-Rank practitioners. Moreover, they emitted a powerful atmosphere worthy of their titles as geniuses.


    They were the strongest B-Ranks in the beastmen countries.


    "They look strong." Liu Ying grinned. It seemed she was already anticipating the battle.


    Bloed nodded and smiled wryly.


    At that moment, Bloed saw Javelin in a corner of the arena. He was about to call out to him when Eve brought three beastmen before Bloed''s group.


    A rabbitkin girl, a wolfkin young man, and a racoonkin young man.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, they are Rana, Gorde, and Tyke. They are the other three B-Ranks Moonlight Glow nominated." Eve said.


    Bloed and Liu Ying nodded to them


    "Nice to meet you, you can call me Bloed."


    "Name''s Liu Ying~"


    The rabbitkin girl put on a happy smile in answer and waved her hand.


    "Hi! I''m Rana."


    But when it came to the wolfkin boy and the ronkin young man, they ignored Bloed and Liu Ying''s greeting and stared at them with a displeased expressions.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He did not remember meeting them before. Why were they showing so much animosity then?


    But then, he understood.


    It seemed like some people were not happy with Bloed and Liu Ying participating in thispetition.


    Bloed was not too surprised about that, though. Actually, he was expecting something like this already.


    After all, he and Liu Ying were a human and a demonpeting for a spot to represent the beastmen in an important battle. It was normal if some beastmen find something like that humiliating.


    Eve also realized the strange situation. She frowned instantly and red at the two young beastmen with dissatisfaction.


    "Gorde, Tyke, I know what you are thinking, and I''m not asking you to agree with my decision. However, there is a reason I invited Mr. Bloed and Miss Liu Ying here. Show them the minimum respect."


    "Understood." "Okay." The two beastmen nodded, but it was obvious they were not taking Eve''s words seriously.


    At that moment, the beastmen king appeared in the arena.


    As soon as he appeared, all the people in the arena looked in his direction.


    Using a microphone-like magic tool, the beastmen king moved his gaze through all the people in the arena and spoke up.


    "Young beastmen. Each one of you is the pride of your respective kingdoms. The reason you are here is that your talents are recognized for your brethren, and they are confident your abilities will not shame the pride of our race.


    "However, only six of you will be chosen to participate this time. The rest of you, unfortunately, will be unable to receive this honor.


    "Now, I hope you remember the reason you are participating in thispetition. Your mission is not to harm your brethren. Instead, it''s to bring pride and honor to your people and your race. Thus, I hope during thepetition you are careful to not kill your opponents, understood? I know that swords and des have no eyes, but the people that wield them do have. Am I clear?"


    """Yes, Your Majesty!!!"""


    "I hope so. Now, get ready. We will leave for the battleground in five minutes."


    When the king finished speaking, an airship descended in the middle of the arena. It was the transport they were going to use to go to the ce of thepetition.


    The young beastmen boarded the airship one after another. Bloed''s group was one of thest to board.


    In a side note, Regina was also allowed to board the airship as a member of Moonlight Glow.


    When all the participants boarded the airship, the airship took air and flew towards the north.


    At that moment, Javelin approached Bloed followed by a catkin girl.


    "Bloed, you are here! Congrattions on your breakthrough."


    "Thanks." Bloed smiled. "By the way, why are you here? Is it rted to the girl following you?"


    Javelin grinned. He then pushed the girl towards Bloed''s group and introduced her.


    "She is Aya Sharpw, my little sister. Aya, greet my friends."


    "Hello," Aya said indifferently before falling silent. She did not seem very interested in interacting with Bloed''s group.


    Javelin smiled awkwardly. " Sorry about that. Aya is always like that. You probably already noticed, but Aya is also participating in today''spetition. Thus, if any of you meet her, I hope you can help me to take care of her."


    "No problem," Bloed said.


    "Okay~" Replied Liu Ying.


    Aya frowned, probably displeased by her brother''s words. However, she said nothing against him.


    Aya was a very beautiful young girl. She was around fourteen or fifteen years old, with ck hair and pitch-ck eyes plus a doll-like body.


    Her expression, however, was theplete opposite of Javelin and Madeline, her siblings. Javelin and Madeline gave out a casual and amicable expression, but Aya seemed cold and sharp, like an unsheathed dagger.


    She gave the vibe of an assassin.


    After Javelin introduced Aya, the group continued talking about several topics.


    Mainly about today''s selection.


    "Do you know where are we going, Javelin?" Liu Ying asked curiously. She thought the selection was going to be in the arena.


    "About that. I heard we are going to a nearby ruin. The king chose that ce to realize the selection. I don''t know the details, though. King Arlen made sure to not leak them."


    "Is it so...? Well, I don''t think I''m going to lose anyway." Liu Ying shrugged.


    "You look confident, huh," Javelin asked in amusement.


    "I am." Liu Ying asked calmly, causing the catkin girl, Aya, to click her tongue.


    Javelin smiled wryly and patted his sister''s head to calm her down.


    "Well, I wish you luck, Liu Ying. You too, Bloed."


    Bloed nodded and looked at Aya.


    "Good luck to you too, Javelin''s little sister."


    Aya looked coldly at Bloed before looking away.


    "... I won''t need it."

 Chapter 189: Prelude to the Selection (2)

    Chapter 189: Prelude to the Selection (2)


    2/2


    ...


    One hour after the airship took flight, an abandoned city appeared in the distance.


    Old and destroyed buildings, trees and nts growing in the streets, and an air of destion. It was the perfect image of the ruins of a city.


    "Many years ago, this ce was a famous city called Primendol." Javelin exined to Bloed and the girls. "Back then, the beastmen were a race of ves. Our people were hunted and treated like livestock, and this city was the capital of one of the nations that ved us.


    "But one day, our people raised in rebellion. They killed and expelled the people that ved us, creating this free nation. Then, this city was abandoned and Apso was created as the new city of our people. You probably don''t know, but in the tongue of our ancestors, Apso means ''New Hope''."


    " That is a good story." Bloed said. "Is this the ce where the selection will be realized?"


    "It must be. Although I don''t know about the details."


    While Bloed and Javelin were talking, the airshipnded outside the city ruins.


    Then, the people on the airship went out.


    A group of beastmen was waiting for them outside the ruins. Bloed realized that some of them were people he saw during the ball one month ago.


    Without much thought, he arrived at the conclusion they were the people in charge of the selection.


    And just like he expected, not much after they left the airship, the people outside started to exin the details of thepetition.


    "The name of thepetition is [Hunt]." One of the beastmen waiting for them, a burly tigerkin, exined with a solemn tone. "As the name indicates, it basically consists of hunting other participants until only the winners remain.


    "Each participant will be dropped in a random part of the city. Afterward, you will have one hour to move around the ruins and find a ce to hide or to ambush others.


    "Remember, you are forbidden to attack anyone during that one hour. Moreover, you must limit your movements to five kilometers from the ce where younded. Anything more than that and you will be disqualified.


    "At noon, you will see a signal in the sky, that marks the start of thepetition.


    "However, a simple hunt will make things too easy. Therefore, we decided to modify the game slightly and add some special rules to truly test the abilities of the participants.


    "The first special rule is the existence of [Hunters]. As the name indicates, Hunters have the task to hunt the participants. Each hunter will be an A-Rank practitioner, so it''s best if you don''t think about defeating them. Instead, your task is to escape from them if you met them.


    "Of course, we know about the difference between B-Ranks and A-Ranks, so the hunters will not use all their abilities when they meet you. The task of the hunters is to test you, not to eliminate you. But if your performance is not satisfactory, you will be eliminated regardless."


    Bloed frowned. This rule made things a bitplicated.


    Before he could to think too much about it, though, the burly beastmen continued talking.


    "The second special rule is called [Base]. Each candidate will have twenty-four hours to reach to the center of the city, where the base is located. Only the candidates that arrive at the [Base] in twenty-four hours will be eligible for the next round of selections. But remember, the number of hunters will increase the closer you are to the base, so you must be careful."


    Several of the participants looked at each other. This rule did not seem tooplicated. In fact, twenty-four hours seemed like more than enough time.


    "The third special rule is called [Badge]. And this rule is a bit unusual." The burly beastmen paused for a moment, looking at each one of the candidates. "As you know, we don''t want to see deaths in thispetition. Thus, each candidate will receive a badge before the start of the battle. This badge will represent your right to continue in thepetition. If you lose it, you will be disqualified. Besides, to encourage the battles among participants, the candidates with the greatest number of badges will gain an advantage in thest part of thepetition."


    How troublesome. Bloed furrowed his brows. The existence of this rule meant thatpetitors would fight against each other as soon as they meet.


    Plus... When Bloed reviewed the rules in his mind, he realized a catch in the words of the burly beastman.


    He could only hope that his suspicions were unfounded. Otherwise, this selection will be much harder than expected.


    "Thispetition will test several things." The burly beastmen said when he made sure everybody understood the rules. "I hope you understand that being strong is not enough for the mission you will carry, so if you don''t show qualities worthy of participating in the mission, you won''t be chosen. Now, any question?"


    None of the candidates spoke up.


    Bloed thought about the rules in his mind. The first rule, [Hunter], was to test the survival abilities of the candidates, the second, [Base] was to test their ability to attain goals, and if his fears were true, to work in a team; and the third rule, [Badge], was to test their abilities inbat.


    In the end, the three rules were made to test theprehensive abilities of the contestants.


    Looking around, Bloed counted 120 candidates. Bloed knew that five, including Liu Ying and him, belonged to Moonlight Glow. 15 came from the aboriginal tribes, and the remaining one hundred came from the five beastmen countries, each one sending 20 participants.


    Bloed could imagine that some of these beastmen were surely very talented and powerful practitioners.


    However, he was confident in himself.


    While Bloed was lost in thoughts, the burly tigerkin spoke up again.


    "If none of you have a question, let''s start thepetition."


    The young beastmen nodded.


    Then, the 120 candidates were divided into six groups of twenty people.


    Eve was in charge of Bloed''s group. She would take them to their respective locations in the ruins.


    "Master, be careful," Regina said before Bloed left. "You too, demon."


    "Don''t worry." Bloed and Liu Ying smiled confidently and went with Eve.


    Then, Eve waved her hand, wrapping the twenty contestants in ayer of mana and flying with them.


    Bloed was surprised. Looking around, he realized that the other five groups were being transported in the same way.


    In other words, at least six demigods were present in this ce!


    Bloed did not have too much time to be worried about that, though. Soon, Eve reached to Bloed''s starting ce.


    When she put Bloed on the ground, the fox nodded to him.


    "Good luck."


    Bloed nodded in thanks and at the same time looked at Liu Ying.


    "Be careful."


    Liu Ying grinned and waved her fist.


    "Fighting~"


    Then, Eve and she left.


    Bloed sighed and looked around. The ce where Eve left him was on the roof of an old building.


    Bloed was not nning to stay here, though. From this moment, he had one hour before the start of thepetition.


    He was going to take advantage of that time as much as he could.


    ...


    Hey Guys, Aidka''s Here!


    With today''s two chapters, the week of double chapterses to an end.


    It was a bit hard, to be honest. Together with Fourth Prince''s chapters, I published a total of 24 chapters this week, which is three chapters daily, and taking into ount that I''m in college, that was bit hard. Fortunately, I did not fail you.


    Thanks to my P4TRE0NS for the support you have shown me until now, and my readers for apanying me every day. Unfortunately, I have not read thements recently (Sorry if you asked something), but I promise to start to read them again tomorrow.


    Very Happy, Aidka :p

 Chapter 190: Prelude to the Selection (3)

    Chapter 190: Prelude to the Selection (3)


    We are back to one daily chapter...~


    ...


    The first thing Bloed did after Eve and Liu Ying left was to activate his stealth device.


    Before entering thepetition, Bloed received one of the storage jewels Regina carried with her. He had stored Tito, Leto, and some things he was nning to use during thispetition inside.


    One of them was this stealth device.


    By the way, he had given a stealth device to Liu Ying as well.


    When the stealth device was activated, Bloed''s figure disappeared, hidden from sight. He then kicked the ground and moved out.


    ording to the rules, he had one hour before the start of the Hunt. That hour was the time given to him to make the preparations he needed.


    Bloed was nning to use that hour as much as he could.


    Perhaps to other people, one hour was not much time, but Bloed could do a lot of things using that time.


    Moving through the city, he found a ce hidden from sight and deactivated his stealth. Then, he used his psychic power to activate the storage device.


    One secondter, the mechanic puppy, Tito, appeared before him.


    *Woof!*


    The current Tito was a bit different than before. Its size was the same, but its figure was a bit sleeker.


    If before, Tito looked like an adorable puppy, now it looked like a puppy learning to hunt.


    However, its appearance was not the only change.


    With his ascension to B-Grade, Bloed had modified his trusty puppy.


    Firstly, Bloed increased Tito''s individual capabilities. Now, the puppy could show C-Rank abilities for itself.


    Moreover, in armor mode, Tito''s defensive abilities doubled and the enhancement it could provide to Bloed increased by thirty percent!


    Besides that, Bloed also added a new ability to the puppy. It was called [Overboost].


    Overboost''s use was simple. When needed, Bloed could activate this ability and Tito''s specs would double for a limited amount of time.


    This ability had a drawback, though. Just like Leto''s flight, Bloed needed to use Titos reserves of energy each time he activated this ability.


    Thus, he could use it only for half an hour at most, and after that, he needed to wait twenty-four hours to activate this ability again.


    But even like that, this ability was a great boom for Bloed. Mainly because it could make up for Bloed''s main shoring; his physical strength.


    After Bloed took out Tito, he ordered the puppy to turn into armor mode. Tito barked once before turning into metallic sand that wrapped around Bloed''s body.


    With his armor on, Bloed took out his second pet.


    Leto.


    Just like Tito, Leto was a bit different now.


    The wolf was much bulkier than before. Taller and stronger too.


    Before, Leto''s height reached three meters in his strongest form. Now, though, its height increased to four meters!


    As for its strength, the wolf had reached peak B-Rank.


    However, Leto''s main changes were not those. Instead, Bloed reced and added a pair of new features.


    Firstly, he gave Leto the ability to split itself. A wolf of four meters of height was too tall to move freely in some circumstances, so Leto could split itself into two two-meters-tall wolves, each with medium B-Rank abilities.


    Bloed improved Leto''s sand mode as well. During his recent battles, Bloed had realized that he relied a lot on Leto''s sand mode, not only as a shield, but also as a weapon, and as a tool to stop the movement of his enemies.


    Thus, Bloed added an electric current to Leto''s sand mode.


    Now, each time Leto wrapped around an enemy, he would emit a powerful lightning current that could stun or outright kill Bloed''s enemies.


    Plus, if the enemies were stunned, Bloed could take advantage of that to use any of his sure kill methods to deliver the final blow.


    In exchange, though, Bloed eliminated Leto''s breath attack. The main reason behind that was that Bloed''s new machine already filled that role.


    With Bloed''s order, Leto turned into two wolves that stood in each of his sides. The wolves were ready to start the battle at any moment.


    But Bloed was not finished yet. With a thought, a third machine came out of his storage device.


    It was an eye-like machine of one meter of diameter.


    The machine hovered beside Bloed silently, scanning Bloed''s surroundings and sending information to Bloed''s eyes.


    This was Bloed new machine. And the only brand-new machine he created after his breakthrough.


    He called it, [Oculus].


    The eye in the sky.


    As its name indicates, Oculus''s main purpose was to observe.


    It had a stealth module installed on it that allowed it to move in the sky in an almost undetectable manner. Furthermore, it transmitted the images it saw to Bloed''s eyes, allowing Bloed to have bird sight of the situation at any time.


    Oculus''s second function was scouting. With a thought of Bloed, it would split into thirty small dragonfly-like drones that can act independently while retaining most of Oculus''s observation mode''s functions.


    Unfortunately, when Oculus turned into dragonflies, the information Bloed received simultaneously multiplied, burdening heavily his mind. Thus, Bloed would be unable to realize any other task while this mode was activated.


    Finally, Oculus''s third function was heavy firepower.


    When Oculus was in its observation mode, it could attack in two forms. The first one was an AoE suppressive fire, and the second one was a single-target sma ray.


    Bloed was confident than even an A-Rank practitioner would die if he receives this attack head-on.


    Unfortunately, Oculus needed to charge for three seconds before realizing this attack. Bloed was satisfied with this, though. After all, Oculus could charge the attack in stealth mode while Bloed distracted or stopped the enemies.


    It was especiallypatible with Leto''s sand mode.


    After taking Oculus out, all of Bloed''s new equipment was ready.


    Of course, Bloed had also realized some other upgrades during thest month, mainly to his eyes.


    After his advancement, his eyes were much stronger than before.


    Bloed took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then, he activated Oculus''s scouting mode.


    With a thought, the floating eye turned into tens of dragonflies. The dragonflies then turned invisible and spread through the city.


    For the next hour, he was nning to use them to find the location of the hunters and the other contestants.


    Oculus''s scouting mode showed its usefulness almost immediately. During the hour before the hunt started, Bloed located two hunters and thirteen candidates.


    Using that information, Bloed thought on a strategy.


    Soon, it was noon.


    And


    *Boom!*


    An explosion sounded in the sky, creating a blinding ball of light that brightened the city ruins.


    That was the signal to start.


    Opening his eyes, Bloed ordered Oculus to return to its observation mode and started to move.


    Now, it was time to hunt.


    ...


    P4TREON: /aidnovels

 Chapter 191: First Bullet

    Chapter 191: First Bullet


    Hey guys, Aidka''s back!


    Three short days of rest, but enough for now.


    I used them to sleep untilte and binge watch some series on Netflix and PrimeVideo I wanted to watch since a few days ago.


    About the corona... I''m pretty alright, to be honest. My case is surely one of the mildest ones. Besides a few days with fever and headache and a lonsting chest pain, I''m pretty good. At the very least, I don''t think I''m going to die for now.


    Even so, there are some days when I wake up feeling pretty bad, just like a few days ago. Bad enough that I only want to sleep and read some lighthearted novels. Mainly when it rains. I think the cold wind of the rain affects me a lot.


    Thus, expect irregr releases for a while. At the very least, until this virus is gone off my body. I''ll try to keep the schedule, but I promise nothing.


    Lastly, about the chapters I owe... I''ll post them eventually, but please give me a bit of leeway. I''ll try to release them in the course of the next two weeks if it''s possible... But with the current situation, I''m not sure.


    Thank you for your good wishes, enjoy reading, and take care of yourselves...


    Aidka :p


    ...


    Bloed thought out three strategies for the hunt.


    The first one was to defeat as many enemies as he could while advancing towards the middle of the city.


    This strategy was pretty straightforward, but the problem was that he could meet an enemy he could not defeat. Well, Bloed could always escape if something like that happened.


    The second strategy was to use his stealth to go towards the middle of the city while avoiding to fight against others.


    This strategy was perhaps the most effective, but the problem was that he did not fight, he could not get badges; and ording to the rules, umting badges was going to be usefulter.


    The third strategy was to try to team with other candidates.


    This strategy was the hardest one, and normally, Bloed would have not considered it.


    However, for some reason, Bloed had the feeling he would need the strength of a team during thete parts of the hunt.


    When the rules were exined, the rule [Base] said that the number of hunters would be higher closer to the base.


    The rules did not exin how much higher it was going to be, though, but Bloed had the feeling it would be much more than he could cope with.


    If for example, more than three A-Ranks were protecting the base, Bloed did not have confidence in passing through them even with his stealth.


    In other words, if his guess was true, thest part of today''s selection would need the cooperation of several candidates to seed.


    Bloed weighed his options for a moment. But after a while, he decided to discard the third option.


    Although he wanted to proceed with this route, Bloed was almost one hundred percent certain this strategy would hit a dead end.


    After all, the rule of [Badge] put the candidates against each other. In such a situation, no other candidate would trust his words no matter how reasonable they seemed.


    Perhaps only Liu Ying would trust him.


    And even if someone epted his proposal to form a team, there was a fifty percept of probability that person would try to backstab him at some point.


    In these circumstances, the troublesomeness of this strategy overweighed the merits.


    Instead, Bloed decided to adopt a mix between the first and the second strategy.


    Using his stealth, he would try to ambush and defeat as many enemies as he could, and when he was tired, he would hide and wait until he was rested.


    Bloed closed his eyes and recalled the information the dragonflies drones sent him a few minutes ago. Soon, a map of his surroundings detailing the location of two hunters and thirteen practitioners appeared.


    With that information, Bloed nned his course of action.


    Then, he moved.


    In less than one minute, he arrived at a building. Bloed then jumped and climbed to the building''s roof.


    Once there, he touched Leto and a part of the wolf turned into a gun.


    An Energy Sniper Rifle.


    Bloed grinned andy on the ground. Then, he used his blue eyes and the informationing from Oculus to locate one of the contestants.


    It was a male cowkin. The cowkin was moving carefully through the streets of the city while paying attention to his surroundings.


    However, he could not know that five hundred meters away, someone was aiming at him.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    With a muffled sound, the energy projectile flew a great speed and reached the cowkin!


    Before he could react, the bullet impacted him, gravely injuring his right leg!


    "Agh!" The cowkin copsed on the ground and held his leg painfully.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s intention was not to blow his leg off, or the young cowkin would have lost it.


    Instead, the attack he received only resulted in a grave injury.


    This kind of injury could be easily treated using A-Rank healing magic.


    Bloed retrieved the sniper rifle and kicked the roof, moving a great speed through the city and reaching the ce where the cowkin copsed in a few seconds.


    Then, he deactivated his stealth and walked towards the cowkin expressionlessly.


    "Your badge," Bloed ordered.


    The cowkin gritted his teeth in unwillingness, but he knew that in his current circumstances, defeating Bloed was impossible.


    Thus, he grabbed his badge and threw it to Bloed brusquely.


    Bloed grabbed it and put it in his storage device.


    "Thanks."


    Then, he turned around and left, disappearing from the ce in seconds.


    The cowkin stared in Bloed''s direction with aplicated expression before sighing.


    To think he would be eliminated so soon.


    Seconds after Bloed left, a demigod descended from the ground and took the cowkin away.


    Before leaving, though, he stared in Bloed''s direction and furrowed his brows.


    Then, he smiled.


    "How interesting."


    At the same time, outside the city.


    Several important people were gathered before a giant screen-like object, observing the progress of the hunt.


    The contestant did not know it, but the city ruins had been engraved with a giant magic array that allowed the people outside to see the situation in the city in real-time.


    It was a measure put there to avoid cheating and to evaluate the youngsters participating in the selection.


    Currently, the screen was showing the moment when Bloed took the badge and left.


    King Arlen Firtsmane observed that scene for a few seconds before looking beside him, where Eve and Regina were standing.


    "That participant... His name was Bloed, right? He is quite interesting. To think he can attack an enemy from such a long distance."


    Eve was also surprised, but she did not show it in her face. Instead, she nced at Regina to see her reaction.


    The Valkyrie was looking at the screen with an expression of pride,pletely ignoring the king and the fox saintess.


    "By the way, saintess." The king suddenly said. "About the creatures that follow the boy, you know that familiars, golems, and other external sources of strength are forbidden, right?"


    Eve nodded. "I know, but don''t worry, the boy''s wolves are not an external source of strength."


    "Oh?"


    "Instead of golems or familiars, these creatures are better described as weapons or puppets. The boy uses his soul power and mana to control their movements. In other words, their abilities dependpletely on the boy''s abilities."


    "I see Just like the fox in your shoulder, huh."


    Eve nodded and patted the head of the metallic fox Bloed created for her.


    "Yes, just like the fox on my shoulder."

 Chapter 192: Atai (1)

    Chapter 192: Atai (1)


    Bloed continued using the same strategy after that. To his surprise, it was more effective than he thought.


    For the next hour, Bloed continued moving towards the center of the city while hunting other candidates. He used the information he got from Oculus to guess the locations of other candidates and then find them.


    Once he found a candidate, he would move towards a sniping location and wait for the right moment to attack.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    With a bullet in the leg, he would take down the enemy.


    Until now, the strategy had not failed him. Of the three candidates he had met until now, none had managed to escape.


    Well, one of the targets managed to avoid his first bullet, but the second one sealed the deal.


    Bloed started to think that maybe this selection would be easier than he thought.


    With these thoughts in his mind, Bloed moved towards the next location with Leto following closely behind him.


    At that moment, another person appeared in Oculus''s sight.


    Bloed paused for a moment before wrinkling his brows.


    The new enemy was a middle-aged man. He was standing leisurely in the city ruins with a smile, as though he was on a vacation.


    A nce was enough for Bloed to know the identity of this person.


    A Hunter.


    An A-Rank practitioner. Two kilometers ahead of him.


    Bloed sighed. It seemed like he needed to change his route.


    At the very least, he wanted to reduce the probability of meeting this hunter at the minimum.


    But suddenly, something happened.


    From Oculus''s sight, Bloed caught the hunter frowning, and then, the hunter looked in Oculus''s direction.


    Without hesitation, Bloed ordered it to move away and retreat.


    At the same time, he was surprised by the sharp instincts of the beastman.


    To think he even managed to feel Oculus''s observation.


    "I guess this route is not possible anymore, huh."


    Still using stealth, Bloed changed his route ording to the information Oculus was giving him.


    And before long, he found his new target.


    It was a young beastman standing on a rock with a cold expression.


    Different from the other beastmen Bloed had met, this one was wearing tribal clothes and wielding a bone bow in his hands.


    Several bone daggers were hanging from a belt in his waits, and a quiver with bone arrows rested in his back.


    The race of the young beastman was a bit hard to determine. Bloed thought he was a catkin at the start, but his features were slightly different than one.


    Bloed was sure he was some kind of feline beastmen though.


    Well, his race was not important.


    Like usual, Bloed used Oculus to find a location to snipe the beastman. He theny on the ground, turned his gun into sniper mode, and aimed.


    One second, two seconds, three seconds.


    When Bloed was confident he could hit his leg, he pulled the trigger.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    The bullet flew.


    But it did not hit.


    At the moment Bloed pulled the trigger, the young beastman jumped aside, evading the bullet!


    Bloed was slightly surprised, but he kept his calm. Not even one secondter, the sniper rifle was pointing to the beastman''s leg again.


    *Bam!*


    The second bulled flew, and the beastman evaded again.


    Just like before, he jumped slightly aside just at the moment when Bloed''s pressed the trigger.


    This time, Bloed''s expression turned serious.


    It seemed like he had finally met a tough opponent.


    But his surprises were just starting.


    Just after the beastman avoided the bullet, he looked in Bloed''s direction and rushed towards him.


    He had found Bloed''s location following the energy bullet''s glow!


    The young beastman was very fast, even faster than Bloed. He moved at great speed, closing the distance between them absurdly fast.


    Bloed took a deep breath and aimed again. This time, though, he did not pull the trigger immediately.


    Instead, he focused on his target.


    His eyes glowed briefly, and an enormous amount of data started to flow through his brain. That data allowed him to calcte the perfect shot.


    Then, Bloed found it.


    Suddenly, the beastman jumped slightly, creating a brief instant where neither of his foot was touching the ground.


    At that instant, Bloed pulled the trigger.


    But this time, he saw something surprising.


    When Bloed pulled the trigger, the young beastman moved his hand, grabbed a bone dagger from his waist, and throw it forward.


    The entire process was done in an instant. Before the energy bullet impacted his leg, the dagger had appeared before it.


    *Bam!*


    With a slight explosion, the bullet hit the dagger, destroying itpletely.


    But the young beastman escaped unscathed once more.


    Moreover, his expression did not change even for an instant. His face was firm, and his gaze indifferent, only fixed in the ce where Bloed was shooting from.


    This time, Bloed was unable to hide his surprise.


    "Crazy."


    Not just the boy''s speed of reaction, but also his instincts.


    Yes, Bloed was almost one hundred percent sure the young man was relying on his instincts to avoid the bullets.


    Unless the boy could somehow predict the future, that was the only way he could avoid his bullets like that.


    But instead of bing discouraged, Bloed smiled.


    "Leto, let''s move."


    Without hesitation, he left his sniping ce followed by his trusty wolf.


    Currently, the young beastman was relying on the glow produced when the sniper rifle was shot to determine Bloed''s location.


    But if Bloed moved, the beastman would have to rely on his other senses to locate Bloed. Furthermore, Bloed was in stealth, so finding him would be much harder.


    In other words, the initiative was still in Bloed''s hands.


    In two seconds, Bloed hid in an alley a few meters ahead of the ce where he was shooting before.


    ording to Oculus''s images, the beastman would pass for this ce very soon.


    Quickly, Bloed readied his sniper rifle for onest attempt. At the same time, he gave his wolf an order to turn into sand and spread around the ce.


    Three secondster, the beastman appeared.


    Bloed stared at him through his bright blue eyes and pressed the trigger.


    *Bam!*


    And as though the young beastman had predicted the bullet, he twisted his body, avoided the bullet, and turned around.


    At the same time, a bone dagger appeared in his hand and was thrown in Bloed''s direction.


    Straight towards his neck!

 Chapter 193: Atai (2)

    Chapter 193: Atai (2)


    The attack of the beastman was incredibly fast. In an instant, the bone dagger was already before Bloed''s neck.


    However, Bloed''s reaction was not any slower. Before the dagger could touch him, his saber appeared before it.


    *Ting!*


    With a metallic sound, the saber and the dagger shed, and the dagger was cut into two.


    The young beastman did not seem disappointed due to failing in his attack, though. In fact, he linked his next attack immediately.


    Just after he threw the dagger, he kicked the ground and rushed towards Bloed while clenching a bone dagger on each hand!


    His movements were incredibly swift. In terms of pure speed, he was at the very least one level above Bloed.


    Bloed knew that if he tried topete with the young beastman in speed, he would definitively lose.


    But Bloed was not foolish enough to pit his weakness against his opponent''s strength.


    When the young beastman was half a meter away from Bloed, his expression changed.


    He then hurriedly kicked the ground, jumping aside in fright.


    At almost the same time, the ground seemed toe alive, trying to trap him!


    It was Leto!


    The wolf had turned into metallic sand that covered the ground, and when the young beastman stepped on it, it acted.


    In an instant, Leto turned into a giant mouth that swallowed the beastman!


    No matter how quick the beastman was, he was unable to escape Leto in that situation.


    Metallic sand wrapped around his body, tightly holding his legs, waist, and arms and stopping his movements!


    At the same time, a powerful electric current attacked his body!


    The young beastman''s face distorted. He felt his body bing heavy, and his nerves were paralyzed.


    At this rate, he would bepletely defeated before the next second passed!


    But in the next instant, the situation changedpletely.


    The mana inside the beastman''s body surged outward, creating a powerful shockwave that pushed Leto''s sand away.


    At the same time, the beastman charged in Bloed''s direction, trying to deal with him directly.


    But to his surprise


    "Huh?"


    Bloed was not there.


    He could not see his figure anywhere.


    Stealth!


    Bloed had used the stealth device to hide from his enemy.


    But it was not all. While the young beastman was surprised by Bloed''s disappearance, the metallic sand charged again towards him.


    Like a world-swallowing monster, the metallic sand turned into a giant wolf head that tried to swallow him!


    Aware of the danger of the sand, the young beastman jumped away, but the sand continued attacking him restlessly, slowly cornering him.


    In fact, the metallic sand had surrounded himpletely. The only reason it had not trapped him yet was that he was constantly using his mana shockwave attack to push it away.


    Despite it, however, the metallic sand had managed to limit his movements to a small circle.


    And that was enough for Bloed.


    With a thought, the eye floating above the battlefield lit up, then, the eye aimed at the young beastman.


    In the next instant, tens of energy bullets were shot at the same time, attacking everything in ten meters around the young beastman.


    Almost instantly, the young beastman felt an intense sense of dangering from above him.


    Instinctively, he grabbed the bow in his back and nocked an arrow, shooting it in direction of Oculus.


    *Boom!*


    Both the bullets and the arrow impacted at the same time.


    An explosion shook the ce where the beastman was standing, and simultaneously, the arrow hit Oculus head-on.


    A giant hole appeared on Oculus, and its stealth faded out. Moreover, it was forced to stop shooting!


    As for the beastman, he was panting heavily with small burns in his arms and legs.


    In the instant when Oculus''s bullets hit him, he twisted his body to avoid as many bullets as he could. As for the bullets he could not avoid, he made sure to receive them in the non-lethal parts of his body.


    Moreover, he filled his body with mana beforehand, using it to stop the damage caused by the bullets.


    Each bullet of Oculus''s suppression mode had the same strength as Bloed''s gun in its normal mode.


    Thus, although they were powerful, they were made to defeat the enemy with numbers. Someone with a strong body and sturdy defenses could manage to stop some of them.


    Just like the young beastman. He managed to receive Oculus''s bullets with barely any damage.


    In the sh between Oculus and the young beastman, the young beastman was the winner.


    Bloed was surprised. He was sure that not even an A-Rank could have escaped hisst attack so easily.


    Part of the reason was that the young beastman managed to locate and hit the invisible Oculus as soon as it started to shot. Such a feat was unbelievable!


    But unfortunately for the young beastman, his attack was far from enough to defeat Bloed''s machines.


    Before he could celebrate destroying the eye in the sky, the young beastman saw how the eye reformed itself, bing whole an instantter and then twisting the light around it, hiding from sight and ready to attack again.


    Yes, just like Tito and Leto, Oculus had the ability to reform itself!


    While the young beastman was surprised by the scene of the eye regenerating, Leto''s sand mode turned into a wave that tried to engulf him.


    The young beastman furrowed his brows.


    He was in a seemingly hopeless situation. Not only he was being attacked by the wave of metallic sand, but he also had to pay attention to the possible attacksing from the eye in the sky.


    Plus, even now, he did not know where Bloed was.


    But despite having the odds against him, the young beastman remained calm.


    His face waspletely indifferent and his movements were calm. He seemed like a predator ready to pounce on his prey.


    And suddenly, incredibly powerful killing intent surged out of his body.


    Then


    *ROOOAAAAARRR!!!*


    He roared, and everything stopped.


    The roar was a technique that mixed his mana with his killing intent. It created an intimidating pressure that stunned his enemies.


    Even Bloed was stunned for a brief instant after hearing that roar.


    And as though waiting for that opportunity, the young beastman moved.


    Crouching his body, he kicked the ground and advanced at incredible speed in Bloed''s direction!


    Somehow, he had managed to locate Bloed.


    Mana surged from the young beastman''s body. The man covered his body and created a cougar-like figure that shed against Leto''s sand and pushed it away.


    In less than one second, the young beastman was in front of Bloed with his daggers ready!


    Bloed was inwardly astonished. He did now know how the beastman found him when he was in stealth.


    His gaze met with his enemy''s, instantly feeling the hidden ferocity in the young beastman''s eyes.


    It was as though he was dering Bloed''s death sentence.


    The young beastman was sure he had Bloed this time. After all, the style of battle Bloed had shown until now was that of a long-range fighter.


    But he underestimated Bloed.


    When the young beastman''s daggers were about to touch Bloed''s skin, Bloed''s twisted his body.


    His blue eyes lit up brightly, and his body moved as though he could read the young beastman''s movements.


    Then, his saber shed, cutting towards the young beastman''s chest.


    And blood flowed on the battlefield.


    ....


    P4TREON: /aidnovels

 Chapter 194: Atai (3)

    Chapter 194: Atai (3)


    Bloed looked at his saber and furrowed his brows.


    ''Thus guy He is strong'' He thought to himself.


    At the same time, Bloed stared at the young beastman in front of him.


    The young beastman was standing in front of him silently. He waspletely uninjured, save for some burns in his arms and legs plus a small cut in his shoulder.


    Yes, that small cut in his shoulder was everything Bloed managed to achieve in hisst attack.


    Astonishingly, the young beastman had managed to twist his body at thest second, barely avoiding Bloed''s attack.


    Moreover, he even counterattacked in that situation, throwing a dagger towards Bloed. If not that Bloed read his intentions beforehand and stopped the dagger with Leto''s sand, he would have been injured.


    Besides Liu Ying, it was the first time Bloed met someone that could face him at the same level.


    As expected of a ce where the strongest B-Rank of the beastmen countries were gathered. Some of them were bound to be truly outstanding.


    " You are strong." The hoarse voice of the young beastman reached Bloed''s ears. "What is your name?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before deciding to reply. An enemy like this was worthy of his respect.


    "Bloed Norman. Nice to meet you."


    "Bloed, huh. It''s the first time I met a B-Rank practitioner as strong as you. My name is Atai, I''m from the cougarkin tribe of At."


    Bloed nodded. So he is a cougarkin, huh.


    If he was not wrong, a cougarkin''s racial talents were: Increased speed, increased strength, and enhanced senses.


    Certainly, he could see traces of these talents in Atai.


    Mainly his speed and senses. Atai had the fastest speed and the sharpest senses Bloed had seen in a B-Rank practitioner.


    In fact, in terms of speed, he was vastly superior to Bloed.


    "You are very strong So strong I''m not confident in defeating you without using my entire strength." Atai said with narrowed eyes. "But Only this kind of battle is exciting."


    Bloed smiled wryly in his mind.


    Another battle maniac, huh.


    Although to be honest, he thought the same.


    Only a battle like this could show Bloed how much he grew after breaking through B-Grade.


    Thus, he held his saber with a hand and a gun with the other hand, without moving his gaze away from Atai.


    At the same time, Atai grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow on it.


    In the next instant, both of them moved.


    Leto''s sand surged from behind Bloed, trying to drown Atai.


    But suddenly, an orange ray of light came from Atai. A powerful arrow broke through Leto''s sand and advanced towards Bloed!


    Bloed leaned his body aside to avoid the arrow and entered in stealth. At the same time, he ordered Oculus to shot.


    Atai moved. He kicked the ground, avoiding Leto''s sand and Oculus''s energy bullets. Then, he kicked a wall after another, moving in dazzling tridimensional movements that made it hard for Oculus''s bullets or Leto''s sand to catch him.


    Then, he grabbed another arrow and shot it.


    Straight towards Bloed''s chest!


    Bloed''s expression changed. He moved out of the path of the arrow and narrowed his eyes.


    As expected, the cougarkin had found a way to discover his stealth.


    Bloed knew it was not through smell. Since the day when Irina had seen through Bloed''s disguise due to his smell, Bloed made sure to take it into ount each time he needed to move in disguise or stealth.


    Then, how was he discovered?


    Now that Bloed stared closely, he could see Atai''s ears twitching slightly, as though he was reacting at each sound in the surroundings.


    It was a crazy theory, but it was the only answer Bloed could find.


    In the end, he could only resign himself to abandon his stealth.


    Bloed''s figure appeared on the battlefield again. He then put back his saber, opting to hold a gun and each hand.


    Then, he started to move through the battlefield, firing the guns (in ster mode) repeatedly.


    Bloed''s guns had also been improved after his advancement to B-Grade. And the main improvement was in the ster mode.


    Besides increasing the power of the shots, Bloed also managed to reduce the time between shots from one every three seconds to one per second.


    In other words, he could currently shot two of such powerful bullets every second!


    Atai seemed to know that these bullets were different to the ones shot by Oculus. He was constantly moving through the battlefield, avoiding them and retaliating with his bone arrows.


    At the same time, he was constantly trying to find a way to close the distance between Bloed and him.


    However, Bloed did now allow it. He controlled his movements precisely, making use of Leto and Oculus attacks to keep a certain distance from Atai. No matter how much Atai moved, he could not close the distance between Bloed and him in the slightest.


    In fact, he got the feeling that each one of his movements wasy bare before Bloed''s eyes. Each time Atai looked at Bloed''s blue eyes, he felt as though he was naked.


    On several asions, Atai had got the feeling that he could close the distance with Bloed, only to realize that a powerful attack wasing towards him when he moved. As though Bloed would have predicted his movements.


    If not that he had very sharp instincts, Atai was sure he would have been defeated long ago.


    ''But this can''t continue!''


    Atai thought to himself.


    Currently, the initiative of the battle waspletely in Bloed''s hands. Atai asionally retaliated with his bone arrows, but these attacks were easily avoided by Bloed.


    Atai knew that if the situation remained this way, he was going to lose eventually.


    Hence, he decided to change his strategy.


    "Come!"


    With a strong roar, Atai kicked the ground. At the same time, a cougar-like figure engulfed his body, emitting a powerful aura and killing intent that assaulted Bloed.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. He immediately ordered Leto and Oculus to attack and restrict Atai''s movements.


    But to his surprise, Atai did not avoid the attacks this time.


    Instead, he continued forwards restlessly!


    Then


    *Boom!!!*


    The cougar-like figure shed against Leto!


    Arcs of electricity surged from Leto''s body, trying to consume Atai. At the same time, tens of energy bullets were shot from the sky towards him!


    But Atai roared. Once more, a shockwave pushed Leto''s metallic sand away. Then, he twisted his body and increased the mana protecting his body, enduring Oculus''s attacks!


    At the cost of several minor injuries, Atai broke through Leto and Oculus and reached Bloed once more!


    With a bone dagger in each hand, Atai shed towards Bloed''s body.


    But instead of panicking, Bloed smiled.


    Then, his body danced, moving elegantly and avoiding each attack of Atai.


    His movements were slower than the cougarkin, but they were always one step ahead.


    Before Atai could attack, Bloed had already evaded.


    Then, Bloed''s saber shed, and [Dimensional Disintegration] was activated.


    Atai''s instincts screamed in rm. A powerful feeling of death engulfed his entire body.


    But even in these circumstances, he remained calm. With bizarre movements, he twisted his body out of the saber''s path, only receiving a slight skin injury.


    At the same time, his dagger cut towards Bloed''s shoulder to put an end to him.


    Bloed grunted. Metallic sand appeared around him, blocking the dagger while his saber moved in an arc for another attack.


    The two of them remained in closebat for a long time. Both of them attacking and counterattacking at each second.


    In the end, though, it was Bloed who had the advantage.


    Atai also realized that. He could feel he was slowly losing.


    In that situation, a fierce expression appeared on her eyes, and his mana started to boil.


    He was getting ready for a big technique.


    But suddenly, Bloed and Atai''s expressions changed.


    An incredibly powerful pressure approached them from the distance!


    At the same time, Oculus caught the image of a beastman advancing in their direction


    It was A-Rank beastman Bloed had seen before!


    With a grin, the beastman unleashed a punch, and a beam of mana flew towards Bloed and Atai.


    Then


    *BOOM!!!*


    An explosion swallowed both of them.


    When the explosion finished, both Bloed and Atai appeared uninjured, several meters away from each other.


    Their gazes, though, were fixed in the powerful beastman walking towards them.


    The [Hunter] stared at both of them and grinned.


    "I finally found prey."

 Chapter 195: Hunter

    Chapter 195: Hunter


    "I finally found prey."


    The hunter, an A-Rank beastman, grinned savagely to Bloed and Atai.


    Fuck. Bloed cursed in his mind. This was the worst situation possible.


    He had met an A-Rank.


    It was the same A-Rank Bloed had seen a while ago through Oculus.


    Bloed had made sure to keep an eye in the A-Ranks and to avoid meeting them. This time, though, he was too focused in his battle with Atai that he failed to notice that the A-Rank was approaching.


    The A-Rank was probably attracted here due to themotion Bloed and Atai caused.


    "Nice to meet you, kids." The hunter spoke up cheerily. "Now, are you ready to face the hunter?"


    As soon as he finished speaking, a terrifying pressure was emitted from him.


    The powerful A-Rank pressure assaulted Bloed and Atai, as though it wanted to make them kneel.


    Just that show of power was enough for Bloed to know he was not a match for this enemy.


    Bloed looked and Atai and found the cougarkin looking towards him as well. Obviously, he had also realized how grim the situation was.


    Without hesitation, Bloed and Atai nodded to each other. Both of them agreed to cooperate with that nod.


    The hunter stared at them and grinned. He then grabbed a greatsword from his back and took a step forward.


    "Come on, kids. Show me what are you made of."


    After saying that, his figure disappeared.


    Bloed and Atai reacted instantly, both of them kicking the ground and jumping away.


    The next instant, the A-Rank appeared just in front of them and swung his sword!


    Then


    *Boom!!!*


    The sword sh cut through the ruins of the city, destroyingpletely the building behind Bloed and Atai.


    The pair''s expressions turned solemn. If they did not evade in time, they would have been defeated with just that attack.


    The A-Rank looked at them and nodded. "Good. You were able to evade that. Then, how about this."


    With a smile, his muscles tensed up!


    Then, his sword cut the air, creating a storm of sword energy that assaulted Bloed and Atai!


    Bloed and Atai responded immediately. One of them called upon Leto and used it as a barrier, while the other materialized a cougar-like figure around him that barely stopped the attack.


    Then, the two of them moved.


    Both towards the A-Rank!


    Saber and daggers cut through the air at great speed, arriving in front of the A-Rank.


    But it was useless. With a twist of the hunter''s body, both attacks were evaded. Then, the hunter stomped the ground, causing it to shake.


    Bloed and Atai lost their footing briefly. Using that opportunity, the A-Rank swung his greatsword again.


    Bloed and Atai watched how the sword became bigger and bigger before their eyes.


    At thest second, though, Leto turned into several chains that wrapped around the greatsword, slowing it down and giving Bloed and Atai enough time to jump back.


    At the same time, Leto''s metallic sand lit up fiercely, creating countless arcs of electricity that traveled through the sword and arrived at the A-Rank''s body.


    "Argh!" The A-Rank grunted and pain and swung his sword, blowing Leto''s metallic sand away. But during the brief instant the A-Rank was stunned, Atai shot an arrow and Bloed fired his ster guns.


    Unable to move due to the effects of electricity, the A-Rank could only receive the attacks forcibly. He used his greatsword to stop Atai''s arrows and one of Bloed''s energy bullets.


    As for the second energy bullets, he braced himself and received it with his shoulder.


    "Ugh!!!"


    Pain filled the A-Rank''s body. The ster bulled burnt his shoulder, creating a dangerous-looking injury.


    But Bloed''s expression was ugly. Although the injury seemed ugly, he knew it was not as threatening as it looked.


    In fact, the bullet had barely burned his muscles.


    "BRATS!" The A-Rank roared in pain. He then kicked the ground and charged towards Bloed.


    But at that moment, Atai appeared behind him.


    Using his monstrous speed, Atai wielded his two daggers in a crisscrossed manner and cut towards his back!


    Suddenly, though, the A-Rank spun his body and raised his feet, unleashing a kick.


    *Bam!*


    Atai was sent flying away and crashed against a wall.


    The A-Rank was prepared to continue attacking Bloed, but then he felt something wrapping around his legs.


    Looking down, he saw the metallic sand covering from his feet to his knees.


    And


    *Zak!*


    Electricity danced, paralyzing his body.


    The A-Rank reacted instantly. With a thought, mana erupted from his body, sending the metallic sand flying away.


    However, his body had been paralyzed for a brief instant.


    And since the start of the battle, more than three seconds had passed.


    At that instant, a ray of light fell from the sky, straight towards the A-Rank''s body.


    It was Oculus''s sma ray!


    The A-Rank''s eyes opened wide in astonishment. Surprisingly, his instincts were warning him of danger.


    Without hesitation, he unleashed her entire mana.


    "Argh!"


    With a roar, he forced his body to move. Then, his greatsword lit up with a terrifying glow that shed against the sma ray.


    *BOOM!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the surroundings, and the blinding light produced from the sh between the sma ray and the sword was visible from kilometers away.


    When the light faded, the A-Rank walked out of the epicenter of the explosion with his body covered in burns.


    His face, however, was showing an excited smile.


    "They escaped, huh."


    As he expected, the two kids made use of that attack to escape.


    However, he was not disappointed.


    Instead, he was happy the candidates were so outstanding.


    "Mm, who should I go after? The human or the indigenous boy?"


    With a grin, he decided.


    "I guess I will follow the king''s orders."


    And followed after Bloed.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 196: Being Chased (1)

    Chapter 196: Being Chased (1)


    Five minutester, Bloed appeared in the roof of a building several kilometers away.


    The first thing Bloed did after appearing was cursing.


    "Dammit. That was close."


    He never expected the hunter would be so strong.


    Even between A-Ranks, that hunter could be considered a very powerful one.


    Bloed felt it during the battle. Even with Atai helping him, he was not confident in defeating that monstrous beastman.


    The only method Bloed thought could defeat him was to use his saber in a surprise attack and take the A-Rank out of the battle in one move. But if he failed, the A-Rank would be wary of his saber from there onwards, and his opportunities of winning would be zero.


    Due to that, both Bloed and Atai reached the same conclusion.


    To escape.


    Fortunately, Oculus''s sma ray managed to stall the A-Rank long enough for Bloed to use his stealth and run away and Atai to escape.


    Even so, when Bloed saw the A-Rank survive the head-on attack of Oculus''s sma ray with just a few burns, he was stunned.


    At the same time, he sighed in relief.


    Fortunately, the A-Rank purpose was just to test them, so he did not use his entire strength during the battle. Otherwise, Bloed would have had to use all his trump cards just to escape.


    But although the battle against Atai and then the A-Rank was dangerous, Bloed gained a lot from it.


    Firstly, he managed to test the performance of his new equipment.


    And second, he finally tested one of his most important upgrades after attaining B-Grade.


    When Bloed advanced to B-Rank, his [Enhanced Brain Capacity] ESP ability gave him the ability to thought-control three or so more machines.


    One of these slots was given to Oculus.


    As for the second, Bloed did not use it in a new machine.


    Instead, he used it to upgrade his mechanical eyes.


    More urately, he added a new program to his eyes.


    Bloed called it [Battle Simtion].


    The function of this program was simple. It used information in the database to calcte the likely next movement of an enemy and how to react to it.


    In fact, this function was not something new. At C-Rank, Bloed could already do something simr. Just that he used his brain to realize the calctions instead of a program.


    This program was the upgraded version of that ability.


    Different from before, this program gathered information of each enemy Bloed fought, using some new functions of Bloed''s eyes such as energy sight and x-ray sight to grasp the movements of his enemies'' muscles, bones, and mana. Then, the program collected that information in a corner of Bloed''s brain and used it as a database.


    In other words, each enemy Bloed''s fought was like fertilizer nurturing this program.


    Unfortunately, this program was still far from perfect. And Bloed realized it during this fight.


    The problem was in the energy sight.


    Bloed tried to use the energy sight to understand the enemy''s flow of mana, and ording to that, calcte the next technique his enemy was going to use.


    Unfortunately, the flow of mana was different from person to person. Plus, currently, Bloed did not have enough data to make use of that information.


    During the fight against Atai, this function ended being more of a burden than a help.


    " I guess I was too ambitious, huh." Bloed smiled bitterly. "I will have to calibrate the program after this For now, I''ll suppress the energy sight until I collect more data."


    Well, failure is the key to progress.


    Bloed consoled himself with that thought.


    At that moment, an image appeared in Bloed''s eyes.


    It came from Oculus.


    And it was showing a greatsword-wielding beastman running in his direction.


    '' Such shitty luck. Why is he chasing after me?''


    Bloed cursed in his mind and changed his direction.


    But one minuteter, his expression turned grave.


    The A-Rank was still chasing after him.


    And for some reason, he was going straight towards him.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows and an ominous premonition appeared on his mind.


    To make sure he was not imagining things, he changed his direction again.


    But just like before, the A-Rank adjusted his direction a few seconds after Bloed, as though he knew Bloed''s movements.


    Bloed tried a few more times but the situation remained the same. No matter how much he tried, the A-Rank continued in his trail.


    Moreover, he even shed a grin to Oculus, as though telling Bloed he could not escape.


    Fortunately, each time Bloed changed his direction the A-Rank needed a bit of time to adjust his direction again. Otherwise, the situation would have turned even worse.


    However, Bloed knew he needed to find a way to shake the A-Rank off his tail.


    Bloed smiled wryly. Was the selection supposed to be this difficult?


    With a thought, he turned off his stealth. His stealth had shown to be useless in the current situation.


    Afterward, he climbed on Leto''s back and told it to run as quickly as possible.


    As a peak B-Rank robotic wolf, Leto''s speed was considerably faster than Bloed.


    Then, he sent an order to Oculus.


    Instantly, Oculus''s eye lit up. Then, it aimed at the A-Rank.


    In the next second, tens of energy bullets started to fly towards him!


    The A-Rank''s expression changed. He hurriedly moved aside to avoid the bullets. However, Oculus''s bullets followed after him.


    Frowning, the A-Rank used his sword to block the bullets. To his surprise, the bullets were less powerful than he expected.


    The problem was the number of bullets.


    Even as an A-Rank, the hunter could not afford to block each bullet. His mana would notst that way.


    But when he tried to avoid the bullets, he realized the bullets'' purpose was not to injure him but to dy him.


    While he tried to avoid the bullets, the boy was constantly gaining distance.


    The A-Rank grinned. "Great!"


    Then, he raised his greatsword and shed towards Oculus!


    The eye moved aside to avoid the blow, but even so, a part of its body was blown away!


    One secondter, though, its body reformed again, making the hunter frown.


    "How troublesome"


    The situation remained like that by fifteen minutes. With Bloed escaping and the A-Rank avoiding the bullets and asionally attacking Oculus.


    But with each passing second, Bloed''s expression turned darker.


    In the end, the number of bullets Oculus could shoot was limited.


    Plus, although Oculus seemed to be immune to damage, it was not like that.


    With each attack Oculus received, its reserves of energy diminished and parts of its body werepletely destroyed, falling to the ground.


    In the fifteen minutes since the chase started, it had be almost ten percent smaller!


    What should I do? Bloed thought to himself, trying to find a way to escape this situation.


    Quickly, he got an idea.


    Bloed did not hesitate and ordered Oculus to find another contestant.


    Soon, someone appeared in Bloed''s sight.


    The next second, Bloed changed his direction once more.

 Chapter 197: Being Chased (2)

    Chapter 197: Being Chased (2)


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here!


    I will not say much. The next few days will probably continue with irregrs releases like this until I''m feeling better, so I hope you guys can understand.


    I''m trying to keep a count of the missing chapters, and writing when I''m feeling better, but in the end, my health is first, and I don''t want to force myself to write when I''m feeling unwell.


    Enjoy today''s chapters, and with a bit of luck, I''ll post again tomorrow.


    With love, Aidka :p


    ...


    Truthfully, Bloed did not need long to discover the method the hunter was using to track him.


    He was following a scent.


    But it was not Bloed''s scent. Bloed had made sure to eliminate the scent of his body before starting the hunt.


    Instead, the hunter was following a scent he left on Bloed when they fought before.


    Bloed was not sure when he did it. But at some point during their encounter, the A-Rank had left a special scent in Bloed''s body. Then, he had used that scent to track him.


    Bloed only noticed it when he realized the A-Rank hunter was chasing after him.


    Unfortunately, even if Bloed knew how he was being tracked, he could not get rid of the scent now.


    The best way to get rid of that scent was using water to wash his body. But he needed a considerable amount of water if he wanted to do that and there was no way he could find such amount of water around here.


    Furthermore, even if he somehow found a source of water, washing his body meant giving the A-Rank enough time to catch up to him.


    In other words, Bloed needed to think about another method.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s quick mind quickly came to a solution.


    He needed to use a stronger scent to hide that special scent.


    And Bloed had the perfect candidate.


    Blood.


    But that was not enough. If the hunter''s sense of smell was as good as Bloed thought, he would realize Bloed''s intention quickly and change his target from the special scent to the scent of blood.


    Thus, Bloed needed a distraction.


    With a thought, Bloed ordered Oculus to find another contestant. Oculus followed his orders and used its eye to observe the surroundings.


    Soon, Bloed found an appropriate target.


    Without hesitation, he moved towards him.


    In less than three minutes, Bloed was in front of a wolfkin contestant.


    The wolfkin noticed Bloed at the same time. When he saw Bloed, he got ready to fight.


    Bloed did not bother to speak to the wolfkin. Instead, he directly attacked him.


    Naturally, the wolfkin retaliated.


    The wolfkin was pretty strong for a B-Rank. Unfortunately, he was weaker than Bloed. In fact, he was noticeably weaker than Atai.


    However, Bloed''s intent was not to defeat him. The wolfkin had another use.


    Instead, he used his saber to make a cut in the wolfkin''s arm during one of his attacks.


    Afterward, he took a bit of blood and used it to suppress the scent in his body.


    In a few seconds, Bloed was able to block the scentpletely and reced it with the smell of blood.


    The wolfkin held his injured arm and stared at Bloed strangely and warily. In fact, he was looking at Bloed with a bit of fear.


    For a moment, the wolfkin could not help but wonder if Bloed was doing a kind of strange ritual.


    Bloed, however, did not care about that. Instead, he focused on Oculus to know how far the A-Rank was.


    To his surprise, he was already less than one kilometer away!


    For an A-Rank, that distance could be closed in seconds!


    Bloed did not hesitate. First, he put Leto back into his storage device. Then, he took an artifact out of it and used it to scan the wolfkin in front of him


    A few secondster, Bloed''s appearance changedpletely, turning the same as the wolfkin in front of him.


    Watching the stunned wolfkin in front of him, Bloed grinned.


    "I advise you to run away. An A-Rank ising for us."


    The wolfkin was stunned. But soon, he felt a powerful pressure approaching.


    "I found you, boy!" A voice came from the distance.


    Instantly, the wolfkin''s expression changed. Without waiting for the A-Ran to arrive, he turned around and ran for his life.


    At the same time, Bloed ran away in the opposite direction.


    From here onwards, everything was up to luck.


    When the A-Rank arrived, he found two identical wolfkin running in different directions. Even their smells and movements were very simr.


    The A-Rank was startled. But he did not need to think for long to understand what was happening.


    Although he did not know exactly Bloed did it, he knew it was a trick to escape from his tracking.


    " Quite good, boy."


    With a smile, the hunter decided to chase after one of the wolfkin.


    Fortunately for Bloed, the one he followed was the real wolfkin.


    Bloed sighed in relief. It seemed like his bet paid off.


    But he was not out of danger yet. It was just a matter of time before the A-Rank discovered he was fooled. And by then, there was a chance of himing for Bloed again.


    Bloed had to use this time as much as he could.


    The first thing he did was to summon Leto again. He then rode the wolf at maximum speed.


    Meanwhile, he ordered Oculus to search for more contestants.


    He needed to make sure the A-Rank could not trace his scent again.

 Chapter 198: Teaming with A Cat (1)

    Chapter 198: Teaming with A Cat (1)


    "Your badge," Bloed spoke up indifferently to the girl lying on the ground in front of him.


    A snakekin girl. She was hisst prey.


    The girl gritted her teeth and threw him her badge unwillingly. She then closed her eyes and started to cry silently.


    Bloed ignored her. In this game, they were allpetitors. If he did not defeat her, she would have defeated him.


    With a nod, he put her badge in his storage device and left, not caring for the girl anymore.


    With this badge, he had gathered a total of eleven badges. In other words, he alone had gathered almost a tenth of the badges.


    Although he was not sure about how the others were doing, Bloed thought it was a pretty good result.


    Hence, Bloed''s mood was pretty good.


    He could not help it. Just one hour ago, he had finally managed topletely shake off the A-Rank going after him.


    After he used the wolfkin as bait, Bloed mixed between the other contestants and distanced as much as he could from the hunter.


    In that situation, the hunter could only give up in Bloed.


    When Oculus''s confirmed the hunter was not going after Bloed anymore, Bloed heaved a sigh of relief.


    Then, he focused on the game again.


    He hunted as many enemies as possible, getting their badges. Some of the enemies even had more than one badge, so Bloed''s badges increased quickly.


    Soon, though, the number of enemies had started to decrease.


    Well, a few hours had passed since the start of the hunt, and most of the weaker candidates had already been eliminated. Plus, the ones still alive were definitively going towards the center of the city.


    " I guess I should hurry up too, huh."


    Shaking his head, Bloed entered on stealth and started to advance again.


    At the same time, he asked Oculus to scout the way ahead.


    But when he saw the information Oculus sent to him, his expression turned solemn.


    The number of A-Ranks in the way ahead was greater than he thought.


    Just in five kilometers around him, he managed to catch the figures of three different A-Ranks.


    And although that number seemed small, an A-Rank could easily run one or two kilometers in one minute.


    In other words, if his location was discovered, at least an A-Rank woulde in his trail.


    In fact, during the time Oculus was scouting, Bloed managed to catch the scene of a candidate being suppressed by an A-Rank hunter in less than twenty seconds.


    Bloed could not help but reach a conclusion when he saw that.


    " They are here to weed out the discovered candidates, huh."


    Yes. Judging by the current situation, although the A-Ranks were suppressing their strength, they were much stronger than the contestants.


    In other words, a normal contestant was destined to be eliminated once he is spotted by a hunter.


    Following that line of thought, the key to surviving this gamey in not being spotted. The hunters were here not to test the candidates''bat strength, but instead to test their abilities to hide and avoid danger.


    Of course, there were a few contestants with strong enough abilities to escape the chase of a hunter.


    Just like Bloed.


    But Bloed was sure most of the candidates would be unable to do something like that.


    Heaving a tired sigh, Bloed moved carefully to avoid the hunters and continued on his way.


    Fortunately, his luck was pretty good. In the way, he met with another contestant that he defeated using his usual strategy.


    And not muchter, he spotted more candidates.


    This time, though, they were more than one.


    Three candidates were fighting in a ruined street. Two of them were joining hands to defeat the third candidate.


    To Bloed''s surprise, he recognized the third candidate.


    "She is Aya, right?"


    Aya Sharpw, Javelin''s little sister.


    She was currently fighting the other two beastmen with all her power. Unfortunately, she was at a disadvantage.


    Although her movements were fast and unpredictable, the teamwork of the two beastmen fighting her was impable. They never gave Aya the opportunity to take out any of them.


    Bloed was a bit surprised by that. From what he could see, these two candidates seemed used to cooperating with each other.


    '' They have probably fought together often in the past.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    At the same time, he realized he was not the only one to notice the loophole in the rules.


    Yes. Since the start, the rules never forbid teaming up.


    Quite the opposite, Bloed was pretty sure they were silently encouraging it.


    Aya and two beastmen continued fighting fiercely. On one side, Aya was trying to find an opportunity to defeat them or escape, and on the other side, the two beastmen were trying to defeat her as quickly as possible.


    But Aya was pretty strong herself. Bloed noticed herbat style was very simr to Javelin, using quick movements and shadows to attack her enemies from unexpected directions.


    That probably was the usual fighting style of the Sharpw family.


    But in the end, fighting going against two enemies for herself was very difficult.


    Before long, Aya''s disadvantage became cleared and clearer. Moreover, her enemies were being very careful to not give her the chance to escape.


    The fact that she had not been defeated yet was alreadymendable.


    Even so, Bloed knew her situation was far from good. Moreover, Oculus told him that a hunter was advancing towards the ce of the fight. He would arrive in less than one minute.


    Bloed hesitated for a brief moment before sighing and transforming his gun into sniper mode.


    Javelin was one of his few friends, and Bloed had promised him to take care of his sister if he met her.


    Now that he met his sister, and she was in trouble, the least Bloed could do was to keep his promise.


    Quickly, he climbed on a roof and aimed towards the battle. Then, he waited.


    One second, two seconds, three seconds. The time until the A-Rank arrived was bing shorter.


    But Bloed remained calm. He needed to seed with his first shot. Otherwise, the situation would turn more troublesome.


    And soon, the opportunity presented itself.


    With an indifferent expression, Bloed aimed to the leg of one of the beastmen and pulled the trigger.


    *Bam!*


    And the bullet flew towards the enemy.

 Chapter 199: Teaming with a Cat (2)

    Chapter 199: Teaming with a Cat (2)


    When Bloed pulled the trigger, a bullet of sma flew straight towards the battle!


    Before Aya or the others could react, the bullet hit the leg of one of Aya''s enemies.


    The sudden attack stunned the three beastmen. For a second, none of them managed to react.


    But an instantter, Aya moved.


    Although she did not know the origin of the attack, she knew this was her opportunity.


    Without hesitation, she faded in the nearby shadows, moving at great speed and reappearing behind the injured beastman.


    Then, her daggers went towards his back, hitting his spine and paralyzing his body.


    With a thud, the beastman copsed in the ground.


    It was an assassination technique she had learned in her family. A method to immobilize her enemy without killing him.


    With this attack, the beastman would be unable to attack unless he was healed by healing magic.


    "Bastard!" The other beastman finally reacted. With a roar, he charged towards Aya!


    Aya narrowed her eyes and avoided the attack calmly. She then used her daggers to counterattack and created an injury in her enemy''s arm.


    Now that one of the beastmen was down, Aya was confident in taking care of the other enemy.


    With her strength, she could take care of an enemy like this in less than three minutes.


    To Bloed''s surprise, though, she was not in a rush to defeat the other beastman. Instead, she moved carefully, as though she wanted to drag the fight out.


    At the same time, her ears and eyes were moving constantly, paying attention to her surroundings.


    Only then Bloed realized that Aya was wary of his attack.


    However, he did not have time for that. The A-Rank was approaching quickly.


    Less than three secondster, his eyes were fixed in the second enemy. Then, waiting for the moment when Aya attacked, he pulled the trigger once more.


    *Bam!*


    With a muffled sound, the second beastman fell.


    Aya was surprised and wary. Immediately, though, she realized that whoever the person attacking was, he seemed to be helping her.


    And while she was stunned in ce, a voice reached her.


    "What in the hell are you waiting for!? Hurry up, the hunter will arrive soon!"


    Aya''s eyes opened wide. She recognized Bloed''s voice.


    Thus, she stopped hesitating.


    She briefly hesitated about if she should grab the badges or not. But Bloed spoke up again.


    "Javelin''s sister, hurry up!"


    "O-Okay!"


    Aya nodded and turned around, running away from the battlefield.


    But Bloed frowned. Coincidentally, Aya chose to escape in the direction of the A-Rank!


    The A-Rank was very close at this point. At this rate, there was a very high likelihood of him spotting Raven.


    "Tsk." Bloed clicked his tongue and ordered Leto to move. Now that he had intervened, then he was decided to help Aya until the end.


    "Turn around! Come in my direction!"


    Aya did not hesitate. She could hear the urgency in Bloed''s voice, so she understood she was in trouble.


    Fortunately, both Leto and Aya were pretty fast, so Bloed met Aya less than ten secondster.


    "Climb up!" Bloed spoke up and extended his hand. Aya nodded and grabbed on it, jumping on the metallic wolf''s back and seating behind Bloed.


    "Hold tight!" Bloed instructed Aya and patted Leto twice on its head.


    Aware of its owner''s intentions, the metallic wolf kicked the ground and started to run at full speed.


    Aya was taken aback by the wolf''s speed. Unconsciously, she hugged Bloed''s waist.


    She soon realized her mistake, though. With an embarrassed expression, she tried to remove her hands.


    But at that moment, a powerful pressure assaulted them.


    Bloed''s expression turned solemn. Through Oculus, he could see that the A-Rank hunter was very close to them.


    He patted Leto twice in its head, indicating it to hide inside the ruins of a house.


    When the wolf entered a building, Bloed signaled Aya to keep silent.


    "Don''t move." He whispered solemnly.


    Aya understood the gravity of the situation. She tried her best to slow down her breathing and suppressed her mana.


    Meanwhile, Bloed was using Oculus to observe the A-Rank hunter.


    The hunter arrived at the ce where the battle urred and furrowed his brows. He found the two candidates Bloed and Aya defeated lying on the ground.


    One of them was unconscious and the other was moaning in pain. Moreover, both of them still had their badges on them.


    After a simple observation, the hunter concluded that the battle had happened no long ago.


    Moreover, the ones that defeated the two beastmen somehow discovered he wasing and escaped hurriedly, leaving even the badges behind.


    In other words, they were still nearby.


    Closing his eyes, the hunter expanded his senses in all directions, hoping to find any sign that could give away the location of the other candidates.


    Half a kilometer away, Bloed bit his lips nervously. He was so nervous that his back was full of cold sweat.


    If the hunter discovered their location, they would not have any other option but to fight.


    He looked at Aya and sighed. As expected, being a good friend was not easy.


    Fortunately, the A-Rank seemed to have failed to find them even after twenty seconds.


    In fact, he did not even notice Oculus. Apparently, the senses of this hunter weren''t as sharp as the hunter Bloed met before.


    When the hunter realized he could not find traces of Bloed or Raven, he sighed and walked towards the two beastmen lying on the ground. He then removed their tags.


    A few secondster, a demigod descended from the sky and took the injured beastmen away.


    The hunter checked his surroundings once more before leaving. When he confirmed he could not find the other candidates, he jumped on a roof and left.


    Bloed waited until he was sure the hunter was gone. Finally, he heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at Aya.


    "It looks like our luck is pretty good."


    Aya stared at Bloed for a few seconds before nodding shyly.

 Chapter 200: Teaming with a Cat (3)

    Chapter 200: Teaming with a Cat (3)


    Hey Guys, Aidka''s here!


    We finally reached the 200th chapter! (Hurrah!!!)


    It''s a good time to leave a review if you like the story. Consider it if you want...


    July was very hard for me. As I wrote in an announcement, I tested positive in coronavirus. My symptoms were very mild, with the worst being chest pain and slight shortness of breath.


    Around the 25th of July, I tested again and this time it was negative. The virus was already gone.


    However, I continued feeling chest pain regrly, and a few days ago, I was attacked by a sudden and strong chest pain again at night. I called my doctor the next morning and told him about it. My doctor, slightly concerned, suggested me to take an x-ray and other tests.


    One dayter, I was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. Apparently, I had it from before I tested positive for corona, but the corona worsened it.


    Fortunately, I''m a healthy (mostly) young man, so it''s nothing concerning. But I started treatment with some tablets and inhalers. ording to my doctor, I''ll be alright after twenty or thirty days.


    In conclusion, I not dying yet. In fact, I''m feeling much better recently (although the pain has not disappearedpletely). I miss cold drinks, though. The doctor forbade me from drinking cold drinks and after several days of drinking only warm water and tea, I crave to drink a bottle of soda more than anything.


    About the releases. They will return to normal this week, and I''ll start to release the chapters I owe. I owe a lot, so I don''t know how long I''m going to take, though...


    I wish you a good August, and I hope my August is better than July. Take care of yourselves, Aidka :p


    ...


    When Bloed was sure the hunter was gone, he sighed in relief and smiled at Aya.


    "It looks like our luck is pretty good. The hunter is gone."


    Aya nodded. She then stared at Bloed for a few seconds before blushing slightly.


    Bloed was surprised by her reaction. But then, he realized the reason.


    Currently, he and Aya were close, very close. Their bodies were practically glued to each other.


    Moreover, Aya was hugging his waist tightly.


    Because Bloed had told her to not move, she had remained like that since Bloed rescued her.


    When Bloed realized the awkward situation, he hurriedly moved away and smiled stiffly.


    " I''m sorry. It was not intentional."


    "Nn" Aya shook her head in answer. "Don''t worry, it was not your fault. Also... thank you for helping me."


    "Well, I could not feign indifference when you are Javelin''s little sister."


    Aya nodded again. Her face, however, was still slightly flushed.


    Bloed did not know how to react. He could only hope he did not create a strange g with his friend''s little sister.


    That would be pretty awkward.


    Plus, he already had his hands full with Regina and Liu Ying. He did not need more rtionship problems.


    Fortunately, Aya''s blush disappeared quickly and her face returned to her usual ice-cold look, as though nothing would have happened.


    Bloed sighed in relief inwardly.


    As expected, something like Aya falling in love with him after he helped her once was not going to happen.


    Right?


    Bloed ordered Oculus to continue keeping an eye on the A-Rank hunter. When he waspletely sure the hunter was not going toe back, he and Aya left the ce where they hid.


    Meanwhile, Aya''s eyes were fixed in the wolf.


    " I heard my brother mention it when he talked about you Its name is Leto, right? It''s very beautiful and powerful."


    "Mm? Javelin talked about me?" Bloed could not help but ask.


    Aya nodded.


    " A lot. Like, he has talked a lot about you since he returned home."


    Bloed was surprised. He never thought he left such a deep impression in the catkin.


    Although, knowing that someone was talking good about him felt nice.


    Bloed smiled wryly. He now felt much better about helping his little sister.


    "What are you going to do now, Aya?" Bloed asked.


    Aya thought for a moment before looking towards the center of the city. Bloed understood she was indicating she was going to continue with the test.


    Therefore, he proposed something to her.


    "Do you want toe with me?"


    "Huh?"


    "Well, as you saw, we can form teams. Plus, I think we will need to team up for thest part of this test. I''m sure other contestants must have realized it too."


    Seeing that Aya was confused, Bloed decided to exin to her his thoughts about the rules.


    Aya fell silent. and a momentter, she nodded.


    "... Okay."


    "Great." Bloed smiled. Pretty satisfied with his first teammate.


    Judging from her battle with the two beastmen of before, Aya was pretty strong. She surely would be a good addition to their team.


    "Then, let''s go. Leto, you know what to do."


    With Bloed''s words, the wolf split itself into two wolves. Bloed climbed on one and indicated Aya to ride the other.


    Aya was surprised. But she quickly reacted. With a jump, the ck-haired cat girl climbed on the wolf.


    At the same time, she looked at Bloed and the two Letos with a curious expression. She was unable to hide her admiration seeing the wolf split itself like that.


    Bloed did not exin it to her, though. Smiling mysteriously, he gave Leto the order to advance.


    But at that moment, Bloed furrowed his brows.


    Oculus had just sent him an image.


    A young man was flying in the sky one kilometer away. For some reason, he was looking in Bloed''s direction.


    Bloed was surprised to see someone flying.


    Initially, he thought the young man was a demigod. But one secondter, he realized he was mistaken.


    With pointed ears, ck eyes, and a pair of leather-like membranes going from his arms to his torso, the identity of the young man was clear.


    A batkin.


    "Mr. Bloed? Did something happen?" Aya suddenly asked.


    Bloed stared at the batkin fixedly until the batkin left. He then shook his head.


    "It''s nothing. Also, please stop calling me Mr. Bloed. It feels awkward. Just Bloed is enough."


    " Okay You too... My name is not Javelin''s little sister."


    Bloed smiled. "I call you Aya then."


    In another part of the city ruins, the batkin young mannded on a building.


    When hended, two young beastmen were waiting for him.


    "How is it?" One of the young beastmen, a racoonkin, asked.


    "I found one of them." Replied the batkin. "The human. He is seven kilometers in that direction together with a catkin girl."


    "Oh? That is good." Replied the racoonkin young man with a smile. He then stared at his otherpanion, a male wolfkin, and grinned. "What do you say, Gorde? Are we going to hunt him?"


    "Of course, Tyke. A human doesn''t have the right to participate in thispetition."


    "Hehe, you are right. Let''s go then." The racoonkin, Tyke, smiled and spoke to the batkin. "Take us to the human."


    The batkin nodded. He then sent mana to his mouth and emitted a muted sound that spread to the surroundings.


    Ten secondster, an inaudible echo reached the batkin ears.


    In an instant, an image of the surroundings appeared in the batkin''s mind. The batkin then searched for the human he had found before.


    Less than one minuteter, he nodded.


    "Let''s go."


    He then started to run in Bloed''s direction.


    Gorde and Tyke smiled at each other and followed after the batkin.


    As for Eve''s warnings before the hunt started? Gorde and Tyke did not pay it any mind. Anyway, Eve could not criticize them as long as they followed the rules.


    And one of the rules was to get as many badges as possible.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 201: The Wolf, The Raccoon, and The Bat (1)

    Chapter 201: The Wolf, The Roon, and The Bat (1)


    Outside of the city ruins.


    King Arlen Firstmane was observing the battles inside the city ruins with an interested expression.


    asionally, he would give ament or two about one or two contestants, but most of the time, he remained silent, as though he was gauging the abilities of the contestants.


    Suddenly, though, he seemed to find something that attracted his attention.


    Without hesitation, he erged one of the many scenes showed on the screen and grinned.


    "Miss Eve, two of these three candidates are from your Moonlight Glow, right?"


    Eve furrowed her brows. Just like the king said, two of the candidates showed on the screen belonged to Moonlight Glow. One was the wolfkin, Gorde, and the other was the roonkin, Tyke.


    "They are, Your Majesty. Is there a problem with them?"


    "Oh No no no, there is not a problem. It''s just, I''m curious about the route they are following." He then erged the scene showing Bloed and Aya.


    "What do you think?" The king asked.


    Eve''s expression remained unchanged, but inwardly, she was cursing the wolfkin and the roonkin.


    Even if she was an idiot, she could understand what they wanted to do.


    "Fools." Regina, standing beside Eve, smirked disdainfully.


    "Oh?" The king raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Miss Regina, right? You seem very confident about yourpanion."


    "Of course." Regina did not hesitate to smile and show her pride. "There is no way master will lose to enemies like them."


    "Woah, you are very confident. I hope you are right." The king smiled and returned to watch the screens. A considerable part of his focus, though, was in Bloed.


    But at that moment, Regina spoke up.


    "Your Majesty, I''m curious about something."


    "Mm? Do speak."


    " The A-Rank that chased master before He was a bit too tenacious; don''t you think? None of the other A-Ranks have acted that way."


    The king did not reply. Instead, he looked at Regina with a small smile.


    Almost instantly, Regina''s face turned cold, and a strong pressure started to surround her body.


    Fortunately, Eve grabbed her arm at that moment.


    "Calm down."


    Regina said nothing. Instead, she stared at the king for a few seconds.


    After that, she moved her gaze away.


    At the same time, her hostility disappeared.


    When Eve saw that, she sighed and relief and looked towards the king.


    "Your Majesty, don''t you think it''s unfair?"


    "He is not a beastmen, miss Eve. Even if he is part of Moonlight Glow, as a human, the bar for him to pass is slightly higher than others."


    Eve did not reply. Her displeasure, though, was obvious for everybody to see.


    But contrary to her expectations, Regina did not seem angry after hearing the words of the king.


    Instead, she was staring at the screen silently.


    Eve did not know it, but in Regina''s mind, there was no way her master was going to lose.


    It didn''t matter even if the test was more difficult for him or not.


    To Regina, her master was that outstanding.


    "I found another contestant," Bloed suddenly said.


    Aya was surprised. They were currently traveling in the two wolves'' backs, and she had not found any sign of an enemy nearby.


    However, she had already noticed Bloed had an unknown way to get information from the surroundings.


    Since they started to travel together, Bloed had told her to change directions more than once. Each time, he did not exin the reason.


    At the start, Aya did not understand his intentions. But on one asion, she felt an outburst of manaing from the direction they avoided.


    Aya immediately understood that Bloed was avoiding the hunters.


    Although she did not know how he managed to detect them, the method seemed very effective.


    "Where is the contestant?" Aya asked.


    "One kilometer away from us. It''s a male foxkin, so he is probably a mage. What do you think?"


    "... Let''s go to defeat him."


    Bloed nodded. With a thought, the two wolves advanced in the direction of the new prey.


    By Aya''s suggestion, Bloed decided to leave the attack to her and only support her if it was necessary.


    Aya acted fast. When they were two hundred meters away from the enemy, she jumped down from the wolf''s back and hid in the shadows.


    Then, she advanced quickly towards the foxkin.


    Less than one minuteter, Aya was already close to him. She then hid in a shadow nearby and waited for the foxkin to approach.


    When the foxkin was less than ten meters away from her, Aya moved.


    Almost at the same time, the foxkin expression changed.


    Without hesitation, he cast a defensive spell around him and shot a barrage of arrows in Aya''s direction!


    But Aya moved faster. Her body was engulfed by shadows, disappearing briefly and appearing behind the foxkin.


    Then, she wielded her daggers deftly and stabbed his spine, easily piercing through the barrier the foxkin cast.


    One secondter, the foxkin copsed on the ground, immobile.


    Bloed whistled in surprise. That was fast.


    Moreover


    ''As I thought, her battle style is very simr to Javelin.''


    Nevertheless, Bloed realized another thing from that battle.


    Although Aya''s battle style was very simr to Javelin, she was slightly inferior to him.


    When Javelin attacked, he did not leak the slightest bit of killing intent. His enemies only felt his presence in the instant he delivered the blow.


    But Aya was a bit inferior. Before attacking, she leaked a bit of killing intent.


    That was the reason the foxkin managed to cast a barrier and unleash a spell when she attacked.


    Fortunately, Aya managed to break through the barrier with her attack. Otherwise, the battle would have taken much longer before it was decided.


    Thinking about it, Bloed noticed that barrier was broken too easily.


    For an instant, his eyes were drawn to the daggers. Immediately, Bloed''s eyes shed with an expression of realization.


    These daggers were special.


    "Well done." Bloed nodded to Aya as soon as she returned.


    Aya nodded indifferently. However, the happy glow in her eyes betrayed her true emotions.


    A wry smile appeared on Bloed''s face. He could see that Aya was still a bit immature. Shecked a bit of battle experience.


    Well, she was just fifteen. That was normal.


    Bloed shook his head. He then ordered Leto to continue advancing towards the center of the city.


    But not even ten secondster, Oculus sent an image to his mind.


    Three beastmen were advancing towards Aya and him.


    Moreover, Bloed recognized the three of them.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. He did not want to risk fighting against three enemies. If the fight took too long, it could attract the attention of a hunter.


    Soon, however, he realized a battle was unavoidable.


    Through Oculus, he could see the three beastmen wereing straight towards him.


    Even when Bloed tried to change directions, the enemies seemed to know his movements and moved ordingly.


    With a sigh, he told Leto to change its direction. If he needed to fight, then he wanted to fight as far from the A-Ranks as it was possible.


    At the same time, he spoke up to Aya.


    "Get ready. Three enemies areing for us."


    Aya was startled, but she nodded promptly. Then, she grabbed her daggers with an unafraid look.


    Soon, Bloed and Aya arrived at the ce Bloed chose for the battle. It was a small square located in the middle of several destroyed buildings.


    This square was the farthest ce to the A-Ranks. ording to his calctions, the closest A-Rank would need around three minutes to arrive here.


    This was the perfect ce for the battle.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 202: The Wolf, The Raccoon, and the Bat (2)

    Chapter 202: The Wolf, The Roon, and the Bat (2)


    Bloed and Aya waited in the square for the enemies.


    " Do you have a n?" Aya asked.


    Bloed thought for a moment and nodded.


    "I have one Aya, the opponents are a wolfkin, a roonkin, and a batkin, which do you think we need to take out first?"


    " Wolfkin, roonkin, and batkin, huh I think it''s better if we take out the batkin first"


    Bloed raised an eyebrow and waited for her exnation.


    "You see, batkins are born with the ability to fly. Although in the lower ranks they can''t keep flight for long, a B-Rank batkin can easily fly for twenty minutes to an hour. Moreover I heard once a rumor that some batkins can use a special kind of magic."


    " Huh? A special kind of magic?" Bloed asked curiously, but Aya shook her head.


    "I don''t know much. There are very few batkins in existence. In the past, most of them were hunted down because other races thought of them as devils. Therefore, very few batkins remain today, and they are normally very secretive."


    Bloed nodded. He had heard about that story before.


    Due to their ''leathery wings'' and rat-like ears, the batkins were treated as creatures of bad omen and devils. Even when other beastmen were treated like ves, batkins were killed at first sight.


    In the worst days, killing a batkin was an honor worthy of praise.


    It was almost a miracle their race was notpletely extinct.


    " I see. Okay, I''ll try to take out the batkin first." Bloed said.


    Aya tilted her head curiously. But Bloed did not exin his n to her. Instead, he gave an order to Leto.


    Nodding its head, the metallic wolf turned into metallic particles that spread through the square. In less than ten seconds, the metallic wolf had disappearedpletely.


    Except for people that knew about Leto''s ability to turn itself into grains of sand, nobody else would be able to find a trace of the wolf in the square.


    Bloed took a deep breath. With a thought, the gun in his hand turned into the sniper rifle, readied to fire at the enemies.


    At the same time, he told Aya to get ready.


    Two minutester, the three enemies appeared.


    Gorde, the wolfkin, Tyke, the roonkin, and the unknown batkin. The three of them appeared on the other side of the square.


    As soon as they saw Bloed and Aya, they smiled.


    "So you were waiting for us, huh," Gorde said.


    Bloed sighed tiredly. "Of course. You were chasing us for so long. It would have been impolite of us to not wee you."


    Gorde smiled wickedly. But his fried, Tyke, frowned.


    He felt that something was wrong.


    Tyke was not the only one that thought so. Just like him, the batkin also frowned when he saw Bloed and Aya waiting for them.


    After all, his echolocation technique was virtually undetectable for other races. The fact that Bloed and Aya managed to detect them beforehand spoke highly of their abilities.


    The batkin looked cautiously to his surroundings and used his echolocation technique to find anything wrong, but he failed to find any sign of a trap.


    Even so, he did not lower his guard.


    Bloed observed his three opponents and squinted.


    " I''m curious about something. Why are youing for us? Two of you are also of Moonlight Glow, right?"


    The wolfkin, Gorde, smirked. "Don''t you know the answer already? It''s because you are human."


    "As expected." Bloed smiled wryly. It was the first time he experienced how troublesome it was when you are discriminated against due to your race.


    In all honesty, Bloed thought of such thoughts as rubbish. He had been raised by Cami, a human ESPer and scientist belonging to a civilization that had long stopped caring for such trifling things like race or skin color.


    But it was undeniable that in this world, racial disputes were all toomon.


    And in this kind of world, the fact that the saintess of the beastmen race chose a human instead of a beastmen for this kind of event would obviously lead to resentment from some people.


    '' Well, I suppose that this level of difficulty is normal.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    At that moment, Tyke spoke to Aya.


    " Miss Catkin, our business in only with the human. You should not interfere with this."


    Aya frowned. But instead of leaving, she held her daggers tighter.


    Obviously, she was not nning to care about Tyke''s words.


    If she abandoned the person that helped her before, she would be too ashamed to call herself an assassin of the Sharpw family.


    Seeing that Aya did not intend to leave, Tyke shrugged.


    "I warned you."


    He then stared at Bloed.


    "Mr. Human, I hope you don''t hate us after this. To be honest, although I don''t like humans very much, I don''t have anything against you. It''s just that You should have not participated here."


    "Tyke, why are you giving him so many exnations? Let''s just get done with this quickly." Gorde smirked coldly.


    Bloed nodded.


    "You are right. It''s time to start."


    As soon as he spoke, Bloed''s eyes lit up.


    In the next instant, countless grains of metallic sand surged from the ground, stones, and buildings in the surroundings, trying to engulf the three beastmen.


    Gorde, Tyke, and the batkin changed their expressions. The three of them did not hesitate to move away, showing their formidable battle experience.


    Gorde roared and kicked the ground, opening a path in the direction with the least grains of sand; while Tyke jumped towards a wall, kicking it and moving several meters away in an instant.


    As for the batkin, he extended his membrane-like wings and rose to the sky.


    Unfortunately for him, he was Bloed''s target since the start.


    Suddenly, the metallic sand turned into destructive whirlpool pulsing with electricity that chased after the batkin and grabbed his legs, stopping his movements briefly.


    The batkin panicked. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth.


    And


    *OOOOoooooOOOOO!!!*


    Waves of high-intensity sound filled the square, attacking Bloed from all the directions.


    The consequences were immediate. The soundwaves ravaged his body and injured his ears, causing blood to flow from his ears, nose, and lips.


    By that point, though, Bloed''s sniper rifle was already aiming to the batkin.


    Thus, enduring the biting pain, Bloed pressed the trigger.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    A flower of blood bloomed on the batkin''s abdomen.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 203: The Wolf, The Raccoon, and The Bat (3)

    Chapter 203: The Wolf, The Roon, and The Bat (3)


    *Bam!*


    A flower the blood bloomed on the batkin''s abdomen.


    The batkin gasped and vomited a mouthful of blood, directly stopping his sound attack.


    At the same time, the whirlpool of metallic sand grabbing his legs pulsed with electricity, electrocuting his already injured body and knocking him out.


    Less than one second after the battle erupted, one of the enemies was already taken care of.


    Unfortunately, Bloed suffered more than he expected.


    Even though he knocked out the bat, at the same time, the bat''s high-intensity sound attack injured his body considerably.


    Bloed felt a high-pitched sound resounding in both of his hears. Furthermore, he felt nauseous, as though he wanted to vomit, and his chest hurt.


    He knew that his body was in bad condition. He needed to rest.


    Unfortunately, he could not afford to rest right now.


    "Bastard!" The wolfkin bellowed in rage when he saw hispanion being defeated. With a roar, his muscles bulged out and he unleashed a powerful punch that created a shockwave that flew towards Bloed.


    Bloed barely suppressed his spinning head and hurriedly ordered Leto to create a shield in front of him.


    Fortunately, Leto and Oculus knew that his master was not in good condition, so although Bloed''s orders were not that precise, they understood what they should do.


    Leto roared. The metallic wolf transformed into a barrier of metallic sand that protected Bloed from all possible attacks. At the same time, a part of the metallic sand attacked the wolfkin, turning into countless spears and chains that attempted to finish him.


    At the same time, Oculus unleashed a barrage of energy bullets from the sky. The countless bullets attacked the wolfkin, making him change his expression and move right and left to avoid them.


    Meanwhile, a battle of speed had started between Tyke and Aya. The catkin and the roonkin unleashed numerous techniques in seconds, shing against each other repeatedly.


    Aya suppressed her concern for Bloed. She could see that he had been injured by the batkin''s attack, but there was not much she could do for him now.


    The only thing she could do was to take care of the enemy in front of her as quickly as possible and then got to help Bloed.


    In fact, the soundwaves attack should have not been enough to injure Bloed like that. At most, it should have caused him some light injuries.


    Unfortunately, this kind of attack coincidentally attacked Bloed''s weakness.


    His body.


    In the end, Bloed''s physical capabilities were, at most, equivalent to a peak C-Rank practitioner. And with the boost of Tito''s armor, his body could show B-Rank capabilities.


    Unfortunately, sound attacks could bypass most defenses, attacking the body directly.


    In such a situation, Bloed''s body could hardly endure the attack of a peak B-Rank practitioner.


    "Cough" Bloed coughed a mouthful of Blood and did his best to regain his bearings. With a thought, he took out a syringe from his storage device and injected it on his arm.


    Cell-Regenerating Fluid!


    Almost instantly, he felt his pain fading out. At the same time, the regeneration of his cells was stimted, healing his internal injuries at a visible rate.


    Bloed took a deep breath and calmed down. As soon as he felt his body recovering, he focused on the battle again.


    Currently, Leto and Oculus were fighting against the wolfkin, Gorde. Unfortunately, the metallic wolf and the sky eye were at a disadvantage against the wolfkin.


    Every time Leto tried to engulf the wolfkin with his metallic sand, the wolfkin unleashed punches or kicks that blew everything in his surroundings away. At the same time, his high-speed movements made it very hard for Oculus''s bullets to get him.


    The wolf was a human-sized war machine specialized in speed and strength. His movements were so quick and fierce that Bloed''s two robots seemed unable to injure him.


    Fortunately, they at least managed to gain Bloed enough time to attend his injuries.


    Bloed gritted his teeth and turned his sniper rifle into two ster guns. Then, he ordered Leto to stop his defenses and started to fire.


    At the same time, the wolfkin grinned. With a roar, he unleashed a storm of mana that blew everything in his surroundings away. Then, he kicked the ground, creating a giant shockwave that destroyed a building nearby and send him flying towards Bloed like a cannon bullet.


    Bloed grunted and took a step aside, avoiding the wolfkin attack and retaliating with two shots of his ster gun.


    Simultaneously, Leto turned into metallic sand that circled around Bloed, creating an absolute defense that reacted to each one of the wolfkin''s attacks.


    In the middle of the high-intensity battle, Bloed suddenly felt a sense of crisis. Without hesitation, he jumped away!


    Next, the ce where he was just a moment ago exploded.


    Bloed''s face turned stern. He looked in direction of the attack and realized the attack hade from the batkin.


    At some point, he had recovered consciousness. Although he was still injured, he could already stand up and attack Bloed.


    Moreover, Bloed could see the blooding out of the batkin''s body twitching and moving to recover the batkin''s injuries.


    Bloed immediately ordered Oculus to attack him. Anyway, Oculus''s attacks were not doing damage to the wolfkin.


    The next second, a rain of bullets fell on the batkin''s location.


    One secondter, another high-intensity sound spread through the battlefield. Then, the batkin jumped out and flew away with his body covered in injuries.


    Bloed frowned. However, he did not bother to stop the batkin from escaping. Although he would have liked to stop him, now he could not afford to get distracted from the wolfkin.


    In fact, during the short instant he ordered Oculus to attack the batkin, the wolfkin had taken advantage of Oculus''s bullets stopping to charge towards Bloed.


    Bloed grunted and twisted his body slightly, barely evading the wolf''s attack. At the same time, his saber flew out of its sheath, shing at great speed towards the wolfkin''s chest.


    [Molecr Disintegration]!


    Iaido!


    The saber was too fast for the wolfkin to react properly. He barely managed to twist his body to protect his vital organs and tense his muscles to stop the saber from doing too much damage.


    Unfortunately, Bloed''s saber was not something that could be stopped by tensing his muscles.


    *Swish!*


    With a sharp sound, the blood of the wolfkin flew through the air.

 Chapter 204: The Wolf, The Raccoon, and The Bat (4)

    Chapter 204: The Wolf, The Roon, and The Bat (4)


    With a sickening sound, Bloed saber cut through the wolfkin''s flesh.


    *Spurt!*


    The blood of the wolfkin flew through the air, dying the ground with a blood-red color.


    Bloed could see the expression of surprise and pain in the wolfkin''s face. It was as though he could not believe he was injured like that.


    But in the next instant, the wolfkin clenched his fist and unleashed an attack towards Bloed, not caring about his injuries.


    Bloed was surprised. He hurriedly used Leto''s sand like a shield and jumped back.


    But then, he saw the wolfkin roar.


    As though answering to his roar, mana erupted from his body, wrapping around him and creating a me-like aura that seemed to burn the air in the surroundings.


    The working smirked. He then touched his injury with his hand before licking a bit of his blood.


    "Not bad."


    Then, he kicked the ground and charged towards Bloed!


    The wolfkin was ignoring his injurypletely!


    ''Dammit!''


    Bloed cursed in his mind. He twisted his body aside, evading the wolfkin''s charge. Then, he jumped back and attacked with his saber again.


    But this time, the wolfkin was ready. Now that he knew the danger of Bloed''s saber, he was not going to let himself be injured again.


    With a grin, his body crouched on the ground and avoided the saber. Then, he jumped up and threw and spinning kick towards Bloed''s face.


    Bloed moved his head back, barely evading the attack. But suddenly, his body trembled briefly.


    The wolfkin did not hesitate to capitalize on that opportunity. With a sharp gaze, his upper body tensed up and his right armshed towards Bloed''s chest.


    "Die!"


    Fortunately, Leto arrived at that moment, turning part of his body into a barrier of metallic sand and the rest of his body into spears that attacked the wolfkin.


    The wolfkin furrowed his brows and jumped back, avoiding Leto''s attacks.


    Bloed took that opportunity to take a deep breath. He could feel a sweet taste in his mouth, and his body felt heavy.


    His body was screaming to him for rest.


    In the end, the injuries caused by the batkin had not healedpletely. Although Bloed injected himself with the cell-regenerating fluid, it could not heal his injuriespletely in such a short period of time.


    Plus, the fight against the wolfkin was quickly aggravating his injuries.


    The wolfkin growled. He ignored the injury on his chestpletely and chased after Bloed, throwing punch after punch as though he could not feel any pain.


    In fact, he was even faster than before. He seemed nothing like someone with a lung punctured.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. Even if the injury his saber caused was not lethal, it should have been enough to weaken the wolfkin considerably.


    But in fact, his movements had not slowed in the slightest.


    Soon, however, Bloed realized what was happening. With his mechanical eyes, he could see a great amount of mana rushing towards the wolfkin injury.


    Making use of that mana, the wolfkin''s body was regenerating to a speed visible to the naked eye!


    Bloed''s expression turned dark. Things had turned even more troublesome.


    With a sigh, he exchanged his saber for his ster guns again. He nned to use his eyes'' predictive abilities to try to hit the wolfkin with the ster guns.


    Unfortunately, the wolfkin was too fast, almost as fast as Atai, the cougarkin Bloed fought before. Moreover, Bloed was injured, so his movements were unavoidably a bit slower than normal.


    And the wolfkin was nning to take advantage of that situation as much as possible.


    With each step, he pressured Bloed more and more. He kicked the ground and moved around Bloed, unleashing punch after punch in an attempt to break through his defenses.


    And even although Leto was holding the fort outstandingly, Bloed knew a defensive fight was disadvantaged to him.


    In fact, if not that the wolfkin was wary of Oculus''s constant barrage of bullets and had to move around to avoid them, he would have broken through Leto''s defenses long ago.


    ''What should I do?'' Bloed moved his mind quickly while trying to find a solution. He knew that he could not leave the situation to continue like this.


    His eyes moved through the battlefield, trying to find any kind of information that could be useful for him. At the same time, he did his best to avoid and block the attacks of the wolfkin.


    "What is wrong, human? Are you a turtle that only knows how to defend!?" The wolfkin, Gorde, mocked.


    Bloed ignored him and continued thinking about his options. And soon, his eyes lit up.


    Without hesitation, he turned his guns into the sniper rifle again and fired.


    Gorde''s felt a powerful sense of danger. As soon as he saw the muzzle of the sniper gun facing towards him, he jumped away.


    The next second, he saw a bullet hitting the ce where he was just a moment ago.


    ''Fast!''


    Gorde was astonished. This attack was much faster than the onesing from the sky and the ones Bloed shot before.


    Even so, Gorde did not find them too hard to avoid. He only needed to keep an eye on Bloed''s weapon and avoid the ce where the muzzle was aiming to.


    Bloed did not seem to care about that it, though. He continued aiming his sniper rifle to Gorde, shooting bullet after bullet without stopping.


    Even when he failed to hit Gorde repeatedly, Bloed did not seem discouraged.


    The disadvantages of a sniper rifle quickly showed up. A bigger weapon with greater power meant more time to aim it and a lesser rate of fire. And in the current situation, that was enough to tilt things in the wolfkin direction.


    But instead of rejoicing, the wolfkin frowned. For some reason, he had the feeling something was wrong.


    However, he failed to find the reason no matter how much he thought about it.


    In the end, he decided to continue attacking Bloed.


    As soon as he could hit him, his victory would be assured regardless of Bloed''s ns.


    When the wolfkin attacked, Bloed fired his sniper rifle again.


    And just like before, the wolfkin evaded the bullet.


    But then, he heard a grunt of pain behind him.


    "Ugh!"


    The wolfkin''s face changed. Instinctively, he looked behind him.


    There, he saw his partner holding his leg in pain, while the cat girl fighting him took advantage of that opportunity to stab his back.


    "Tyke!" Gorde shouted, but before he could move, he felt the muzzle of the sniper rifle aiming to him again.


    Gorde gritted his teeth and jumped away, avoiding the energy bullet. Meanwhile, Aya pulled her dagger out of the racoonkin''s back and charged into Bloed''s battle.


    Aware that the situation had turned for the worse, Gorde clicked his tongue.


    "Dammit!"


    He then red at Bloed angrily and jumped away to escape.


    Aya frowned. Instinctively, she tried to chase after him.


    But Bloed stopped her.


    "Don''t chase after him! The hunters will be here soon! Take the badge of the roon and let''s go!"


    Aya did not insist. Following Bloed''s instructions, she retrieved the badge of the roonkin and left the battlefield together with Bloed.


    Less than one minuteter, an A-Rank hunter arrived at the battlefield followed by a demigod.


    But they found only an unconscious roon.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 205: After the Battle

    Chapter 205: After the Battle


    Several kilometers away, Bloed and Aya were resting inside an old and ruined building.


    " Are you alright?" Aya asked while looking at Bloed''s pale face.


    "I''m alright" Bloed nodded with a wry smile. "I just need to rest for a while." He then sat on the ground with his back against the wall.


    Aya furrowed her brows, but she did not insist. Instead, she sat down beside Bloed.


    In fact, Bloed condition was not as bad as it looked. Although the batkin''s attack had caused him several internal injuries, most of these injuries could be healed with a bit of rest and the help of the cell-regenerating fluid he injected himself before.


    Bloed was sure he would be back in top condition in less than half an hour.


    However, this battle once more put afloat Bloed''s weakness.


    His body.


    In the end, although Bloed was a B-Grade ESPer, and his abilities could bepared with the strongest B-Ranks of this world, his body was far weaker inparison.


    Bloed''s body was equivalent only to a peak C-Rank practitioner. And that was with the help of the body-enhancement surgery.


    In the B-Rank, this disadvantage was not too obvious yet, but if things continued like this, Bloed was sure the situation would be even worse at A-Rank.


    Bloed sighed inwardly. At the same time, he strengthened his resolution to find a way to strengthen his body.


    The easiest way was to use the Body Enhancement Surgery again. Unfortunately, there was a reason because Bloed had not done it yet.


    The Body Enhancement Surgery strengthened the bones, muscles, organs, and cells forcibly. It was initially a method used by the Human Confederation to bring the bodies of their soldiers to the next level.


    But the Body Enhancement Surgery had a drawback. You could only use it once every ten years. Five years was the bare minimum.


    Otherwise, you ran the risk your body rejected your organs and crashed down.


    And even if you waited the ten years, using the Body Enhancement Surgery thrice was the limit. More than it created the risk of gic copse.


    In other words, that option was not viable now.


    Thus, Bloed had to think of another way.


    The problem was, Bloed had been unable to think of a good way until now.


    Constructing a stronger armor to strengthen his body even more was a good way, but it only treated the symptoms, not the problem.


    Plus, his current armor, Tito, was already the best he could do with his current abilities. If he wanted to make a stronger armor, he needed to sacrifice some things, like making his armor slower and much bulkier.


    That was not the result Bloed wanted.


    Sighing inwardly, Bloed decided to stop thinking about that and instead closed his eyes to rest and wait for his injuries to heal.


    Half an hourter when his injuries were healed, he opened his eyes and stood up.


    Aya had been sleeping beside him, but she woke up as soon as she felt his movements. It was obvious she had remained alert even while they were resting.


    " Are your injuries alright already?" Aya asked with a frown.


    Bloed smiled.


    "They are. It looks like it''s time for us to resume moving."


    Aya nodded. Then, as though remembering something, she took out a badge from her clothes.


    " The badge I got from the roon"


    "You take it," Bloed said generously. Anyway, Aya had been embroiled in that fight due to him, so that badge could be considered as her remuneration.


    But Aya shook her head.


    "No I took thest badge. It''s only fair if you take this."


    Bloed was stunned. But soon, he smiled jokingly.


    "I guess I just got an even better impression of you. Javelin sure has a great little sister. I''m so envious."


    Aya blushed slightly.


    " You don''t have siblings, Bloed?"


    Bloed stiffened.


    Aya immediately realized she asked something she should not have asked. But when she was about to apologize, she saw Bloed smile bitterly and shake his head.


    " Siblings, huh Well, before I would have told you that Regina is like my sister, but if she hears that she will be angry As for my other siblings I''m not sure if I have one yet."


    " You are not sure? What does that mean?"


    Bloed did not reply immediately. Instead, he thought of the beautiful little girl with ck hair and ck eyes.


    His twin little sister, Eres


    It had been more than five years since thest time he saw her.


    And ording to Sebastian, Eres had been searching for him for thest five years.


    To be honest, she was the only one Bloed did not resent in his former family.


    Bloed sighed and smiled apologetically to Aya.


    " Sorry, I don''t want to talk about that."


    "N-No, it''s my fault I should not have asked about your private life."


    Bloed shook his head.


    "No, it''s normal for friends to ask about things like that. It''s just that my circumstances are a bit special."


    Aya nodded and blushed slightly. Bloed could not help but think she was blushing a bit too frequently.


    Once more, he got a bad presentment.


    Quickly, though, he got rid of that thought. Even if he considered himself handsome, there was no way a girl he just met could fall for him so quickly.


    In fact, it was a stretch to say Aya liked Bloed. At most, she had a good impression of him.


    However, Bloed was the first male acquaintance besides her family that she had hugged, even if that hug was nothing romantic.


    Moreover, due to her upbringing, Aya had very few friends, let alone male friends. Bloed could be considered her first one.


    That,bined with the fact that Bloed helped her before, made Aya''s impression of Bloed very high.


    Bloed knew nothing about that, though. He just focused on guiding the way for Aya and him through the city ruins.


    Thanks to Oculus, the group did not meet any other difficulties during the rest of the way. In the next two hours, their travel was smooth.


    Bloed and Aya met some other candidates during the way, but the pair ended them easily, getting two new badges each.


    And when it was almost night, Bloed and Raven finally arrived at the center of the city.


    Unfortunately, they were forced to stop there.

 Chapter 206: Meeting Liu Ying (1)

    Chapter 206: Meeting Liu Ying (1)


    When it was almost night, Bloed and Aya arrived at the center of the city.


    Unfortunately, they were forced to stop short of their goal.


    The reason? The people guarding the ce where they need to go.


    Five hunters. Five A-Ranks.


    " Are you sure?" Aya asked with a solemn look.


    Bloed nodded with a bitter smile. "I''m sure. Five A-Ranks are guarding that ce. If we tried to continue, we''ll surely be caught."


    Aya''s expression turned solemn. This was bad news.


    How were they supposed to pass through five A-Ranks without being caught? That was almost impossible.


    Bloed was also a bit surprised, but not as much as Aya.


    He was already expecting this kind of situation, after all.


    Since the start of the hunt, he had suspected the ce where they needed to go would be guarded by several A-Ranks.


    Although even he did not expect five of them.


    Bloed observed the scene with Oculus and sighed. The eye in the sky sent him an image of a ruined tower, the ce where they needed to reach to pass this round of selection, and five different A-Ranks patrolling the surroundings of the tower with wary expressions.


    Bloed was sure these A-Ranks would not hesitate to stop whoever tried to reach the tower.


    " What are we going to do, Bloed?" Aya asked with a concerned look.


    "Let me think," Bloed said and started to y with his hair while thinking.


    In the end, he could only think of a solution.


    " We need to team up with the other contestants." Bloed sighed and spoke up.


    "???"


    " I told you about this before, right?" Bloed continued. "That I suspected thest section of this trial would require to team up with other candidates if we wanted to pass it. Actually, I thought it would be enough if we formed groups of four or five. But now, I think that five people will not be enough."


    Aya fell silent. She was an intelligent girl, so she quickly started to think about the implications of Bloed''s words.


    " If there are five A-Ranks, then not even ten candidates working together will be enough to guarantee everybody''s sess If we want to have a good chance of sess, as many candidates as possible must work together huh..."


    Bloed nodded. "Exactly. The higher the number of candidates working together, the higher our chance of reaching the tower."


    After all, if the five A-Ranks could stop ten candidates from reaching the towers, and fifteen candidates teamed up, then the chance of seeding would be only 33%.


    But if thirty candidates teamed instead, and the A-Ranks stopped the same ten, then the chances of seeding would increase to 66%.


    " That is strength in numbers." Bloed said.


    Aya nodded. But her expression was not very good.


    " The problem is how to convince the other candidates to work together."


    Bloed agreed with her. However, he already had an idea.


    "Let me see if I can locate the other candidates first."


    With a thought, Oculus scanned the surroundings in search of more candidates.


    Some candidates were hidden inside the destroyed buildings, so the process was a bit long. Fortunately, Oculus could divide itself into tens of small insects to search around the ruins without attracting attention.


    Due to that, Bloed was confident in finding all the candidates nearby before long.


    To Bloed''s surprise, the number of candidates he found was higher than he expected. There was a total of 24 candidates in one kilometer around the tower.


    Obviously, they had also discovered the situation and they were thinking of ways to break through the A-Ranks'' blockade.


    And to Bloed surprise, he found someone very familiar among the candidates.


    A beautiful ck-haired demon.


    Bloed''s lips involuntarily curved up in a smile.


    " Bloed?" Aya tilted her head curiously in doubt.


    Bloed smiled. " It''s nothing. I just found my friend."


    "Your friend?" Aya was startled, but she quickly understood. "Could it be Miss Liu Ying?"


    Bloed nodded. "Come on, let''s meet her."


    Bloed and Aya then moved towards Liu Ying''s location.


    Bloed was very careful to avoid the ces where other candidates were hidden. He did not want to start a conflict with them now.


    Soon, they arrived at a semi-destroyed house six hundred meters away from the central tower.


    Almost at the same time, the people inside the house moved.


    They had detected that Bloed and Aya''s arrival.


    One secondter, a ck-haired girl exited the house with an ice-cold face.


    But as soon as she saw Bloed, her expression changed.


    Without hesitation, the demon rushed towards him with her arms open.


    "Bloed!"


    Bloed smiled wryly and received her hug. But suddenly, he felt something warm touching his lips.


    Bloed froze in the spot, surprised by Liu Ying''s unexpected attack. After Liu Ying moved her lips away, she looked at Bloed with a mischievous smile and her eyes twinkled.


    "I missed you."


    Bloed rolled his eyes. "We have not been separated for even one day..."


    Do you think I don''t know you are trying to find an excuse to give me that kiss? Bloed sighed to himself.


    Liu Ying smiled sheepishly. She then hugged Bloed''s arm and looked at the cat girl behind him.


    "She is Javelin''s little sister?"


    Aya looked at Liu Ying stunned. She then moved her eyes between Bloed and Liu Ying as though trying to guess their rtionship.


    "Aya?" Bloed coughed softly.


    Startled, Aya''s reacted and nodded.


    "H-Hello, Miss Liu Ying."


    "Hello, Javelin''s little sister. I did not expect to see you with Bloed."


    "I met her in the way," Bloed exined. "We decided to travel together after that."


    "Is it so? Well, I also have a travelingpanion."


    As though reacting to Liu Ying''s words, a rabbit girl walked out of the ruined house with a bubbly smile.


    "Hi, Mister Bloed! Nice to see you again!"


    She was Rana, a rabbitkin girl, and thest person that Eve had brought to the hunt.


    "Hello, Miss Rana." Bloed smiled politely. "Thank you for helping Liu Ying."


    "No no, she was the one helping me! Ying Ying is very strong~"


    "Ying Ying?" Bloed raised an eyebrow at Liu Ying curiously.


    Liu Ying''s lips twitched slightly, but instead of exining, she just sighed.


    "Let''s go inside first."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 207: Meeting Liu Ying (2)

    Chapter 207: Meeting Liu Ying (2)


    Bloed was not surprised by Rana''s presence. After all, he had already seen her thought Oculus before.


    Instead, he was surprised by the fact that the rabbit girl teamed up with Liu Ying. After all, Gorde and Tyke, the wolfkin and the roonkin of Moonlight Glow as well, did not leave a very good impression on him.


    When he heard their story, though, he understood.


    A few hours ago, Liu Ying and Rana had met in their way towards here. And after a few words, they started to fight.


    Unfortunately, their fight attracted the attention of a hunter, so the two girls were forced to work together to escape him.


    In the end, they managed to escape the A-Rank''s chase. And after that, they decided to team up. Apparently, the girls hit off very well with each other.


    "Rana is very strong." Liu Ying exined with a bit of admiration. "To be honest, we would have not escaped the A-Rank if not for her magic."


    "No no, Ying Ying is the strong one." Rana giggled with a soft smile. "You don''t know how surprised I was when she received an attack of the A-Rank head-on and only took a few steps backward."


    "You are a mage, Miss Rana?" Bloed asked interested.


    "... I am." Rana said with a proud smile.


    Bloed was a bit surprised. Very few beastmen could use magic due to their innate talents.


    Although now that he thought about it, it was not umon to see rabbitkins using magic. In fact, rabbitkins and foxkins were usually the two beastmen species that used magic the most.


    Rana did not exin deeply about her magic, and Bloed did not ask. After all, that was a private matter.


    Instead, he opted to speak up about the things he experienced today.


    When he arrived at the part where he fought Gorde and Tyke, Rana''s expression dimmed considerably.


    "So that happened, huh"


    "Sorry about that."


    "You don''t need to apologize, Mr. Bloed." Rana shook her head smilingly. "This is apetition, there is nothing wrong with you defeating them."


    Bloed looked at the rabbit girl for a few seconds before nodding slightly.


    Inwardly, he got a much better impression of this girl.


    At the very least, she seemed much more mature than her twopanions.


    The atmosphere became a bit awkward momentarily, but fortunately, Liu Ying shifted the topic at that moment.


    "By the way, Bloed, do you have a n to reach the tower?"


    Bloed appreciated Liu Ying''s attempt to shift the topic and nodded.


    "I have, but I want to wait for a bit more before putting it in action."


    "Mm?"


    "I need to get a grasp of the abilities of the A-Ranks guarding the tower."


    Bloed did not exin anything else. Instead, he took out some things from his storage device.


    "For now, let''s eat something first. It''s alreadyte and I''m hungry."


    When they heard these words, the eyes of the three girls sparkled.


    Bloed abilities in the kitchen were not bad. Although Regina was usually the one that cooked, Bloed was not too behind her in terms of cooking skills.


    Moreover, his storage device gave him a bit of freedom to carry ingredients and tools, so he managed to cook something good despite the ce where they were.


    In less than half an hour, an appetizing smell filled the ce.


    The girls gulped, and Rana''s stomach grumbled. The rabbitkin girl was so embarrassed that her face turned red.


    "Sorry" She smiled sheepishly.


    It was normal, though. In the end, they had fought and moved a lot during the day. Their bodies were anxious for a good meal.


    And although the girls had brought rations with them for the trial, it could not bepared to hot and freshly cooked food.


    Bloed smiled wryly and served a portion of food to each girl. Almost immediately, the girls started to devour it.


    "Delicious~" Rana sighed joyfully. "Mr. Bloed, I never thought you could cook so well. Are you interested in being my personal chef?"


    Bloed rolled his eyes to the anticipating expression on the rabbit girl''s face.


    After talking with her with a while, he had realized how bubbly and yful this rabbit was. She was the kind to joke casually with the people around her.


    Fortunately, the other two girls were much calmer. Aya was eating silently, and Liu Ying was eating beside Bloed with a smile.


    Aya looked at Bloed and Liu Ying seated together and decided to ask about something she had in her mind for a while.


    " Bloed, what is your rtionship with Miss Liu Ying?"


    "Hou... I''m also interested in that." Rana grinned.


    Bloed was surprised by Aya''s question. Instinctively, he wanted to reply they were friends.


    But then, he realized that Liu Ying was a bit tense.


    In the end, he smiled wryly and took a deep breath.


    "Liu Ying is my girlfriend."


    " Oh" Aya nodded and lowered her head to continue eating without showing any expression.


    Unbeknown to Bloed, though, her eyes shed with a briefplicate look.


    Liu Ying, on the other hand, was looking at Bloed wide-eyed.


    But an instantter, her face formed a very beautiful and shy smile.


    She then put her bowl of food away and grabbed Bloed''s hand, intertwining her fingers with his.


    " Boyfriend, huh"


    Bloed just smiled without speaking.


    To be honest, he was a bit embarrassed.


    In the end, he decided to follow Javelin''s advice. He did not want to make Liu Ying''s wait.


    Thus, this was a way to confirm their rtionship.


    Plus, the demon had already kissed him twice. Saying that they were boyfriend and girlfriend was normal.


    The same went for Regina.


    Bloed decided to confirm his rtionship with her after this event.


    Without Bloed and Liu Ying''s knowledge, though, the scene in the ruined city was being watched by Regina at that moment.


    Briefly, a powerful killing intent escaped from the silver-haired Valkyrie, scaring Eve and King Firstmane.


    Almost instantly, though, the killing intent disappeared and everything returned to normal.


    But when Eve looked at Regina, she could not help but shiver after seeing her expressionless look.


    Inside the ruined house, the rabbit girl was looking at Bloed and Liu Ying with sparkling eyes.


    "So you two are lovers! I think I now understand why Ying Ying was talking so much about you~"


    Bloed raised an eyebrow to in surprise, making Liu Ying blush and lower her head embarrassed.


    " She is exaggerating. I only mentioned you a little bit."


    Bloed chuckled softly in amusement. Then, he continued eating his food.


    The improvised diner continued like that, with Liu Ying leaning her body towards Bloed intimately and Aya and Rana eating silently.


    When they ended diner, Bloed put everything back in the storage device.


    But suddenly, he received an image from Oculus.


    What he was waiting for was finally here.


    Bloed put on a serious expression and looked at the girls.


    "Someone is attempting to reach the tower."


    The girls were surprised. Instantly, the three of them stood up in surprise.


    The next second, the group of four went to observe the situation.

 Chapter 208: The A-Ranks Guarding the Tower

    Chapter 208: The A-Ranks Guarding the Tower


    Bloed and the girls climbed to the roof of a nearby building and looked in the direction where Bloed was pointing.


    But although they were doing their best to observe the situation, they could see nothing.


    "I don''t see anything" Rana said with a doubtful look.


    "Wait a moment, you will see soon," Bloed said with a serious expression.


    Currently, Oculus was tracking the beastman that was trying to reach the tower.


    It was a catkin young man. The catkin was moving skillfully between the shadows, taking each step silently and avoiding the ces where the A-Ranks were.


    Bloed could not help but sigh in admiration. This catkin''s stealth skills were very outstanding.


    In fact, even Oculus was having trouble keeping an eye on him. His skills were that outstanding.


    But Bloed did not think that was enough to pass the A-Ranks guarding the tower.


    And as Bloed expected, when the catkin was less than one hundred meters away from the tower, the ear of one of the guards twitched.


    Then, he grinned in the direction of the catkin.


    Bloed narrowed his eyes.


    "Pay attention. It''s going to start."


    As soon as his words sounded, the A-Rank moved.


    He bent his knees and jumped at high speed in the direction of the catkin!


    The catkin instantly realized he had been discovered. Without hesitation, he stopped caring about stealth and rushed towards the tower.


    It was just one hundred meters away. He needed just a few seconds to arrive there.


    But the A-Rank was faster than he expected.


    In less than three seconds, he was already in front of the catkin, wilding a spear skillfully!


    The catkin gritted his teeth and took out a shortsword. He then bent his body and redirected the attack of the A-Rank away.


    *Boom!* A powerful explosion happened, creating a giant crater around the catkin and the A-Rank, but to the A-Rank''s surprise, the catkin was uninjured!


    Although his expression was slightly pale, he had managed to deflect the blow without receiving any injury.


    A brief trace of admiration shed in the A-Rank''s face. Although he suppressed his strength just now, his attack was not something that a B-Rank should be able to stop!


    But despite his admiration for the catkin''s abilities, he did not stop his second attack.


    At the same time, the catkin sprinted once more towards the tower!


    He knew he could not defeat the A-Rank. His only hope was to reach the tower before the A-Rank could defeat him.


    Sixty meters, fifty meters, forty meters.


    The A-Rank attacked again, but this time, the catkin did not defend.


    Instead, he gritted his teeth and circted his mana furiously.


    Instantly, a dark shade erupted from his body, bringing his speed at a new level and helping him to avoid the next attack.


    With this, he was just twenty meters away from the tower!


    Excitement appeared on the catkin''s face. He could already see the tower in front of him.


    His bet paid off!


    But suddenly, a magic circle appeared around him.


    Then, countless chains of light surged from the ground, wrapping around his body and stopping his movements.


    At the same time, a translucent barrier appeared around the tower to stop the catkin in case he managed to break through the chains.


    The catkin''s face turned ashen. In a panic, he tried to use his shortsword to cut the chains.


    Be before he could, the shaft of a spear hit his abdomen.


    "Gah!" The catkin vomited a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground. Next, his consciousness started to fade.


    But before his consciousness fadedpletely, he managed to see a fox woman walking calmly towards him while holding a staff on her hands.


    She had been the one that cast the chains and the barrier.


    "This boy was pretty good." The beastman with the spear grinned to the fox woman. "Unfortunately, he was too rash and overestimated his abilities."


    "It means he is not suitable for the mission." The fox woman shrugged indifferently. "Return to your post. It would be bad if someone sneaks in while we are busy with this boy."


    The spear-wielding beastman grinned and returned to his previous location.


    Meanwhile, Bloed and the girls were looking at that scene with stern expressions.


    Each one of them could be considered a rather powerful powerhouse, so they managed to see the battle clearly despite the distance.


    Not only them. Some of the nearby candidates also heard themotion and ran outside to see what was happening.


    And when they saw the catkin boy being defeated so easily, their expressions turned grave.


    " They even had a mage. Moreover, she managed to cast a barrier that covers the entire tower." Rana said with a frown. "This will be harder than we thought."


    Bloed nodded. "As expected, if we want to seed, we need all the help we can get."


    "You are right, but how are we going to convince the other beastmen to work with us. In the end, each one of us can be considered an enemy." Liu Ying asked.


    "Don''t worry, I have a n. Let''s go back to the house."


    Hearing Bloed''s words, the girls nodded and returned to the house where they were staying.


    Once inside, they saw Bloed crouch down and close his eyes.


    "Bloed?" Liu Ying, Aya, and Rana looked at Bloed curiously.


    Bloed''s lips curved in a smile.


    "Liu Ying. Do you remember Oculus''s abilities?"


    "Huh? Of course. It can hide, scout, shot a barrage of bullets, shot a powerful beam attack, and divide itself in a lot of small bugs to scout better."


    "Correct. But these bugs have another use besides scouting."


    "Mm?"


    "You see, if I want, I can use the mechanical bugs to create amunicationwork, using each one of them as a transistor and receptor of information," Bloed said with a proud smile. "In other words"


    " You will be able to talk to all candidates nearby at the same time." Liu Ying said with a look of admiration.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 209: Contacting the Other Participants

    Chapter 209: Contacting the Other Participants


    Bloed closed his eyes and focused on Oculus. With a thought, the eye in the sky turned into tens of dragonfly-like metallics insects.


    Then, each insect flew in direction of one of the candidates, and one flew towards him and the girls. It was so Aya, Liu Ying, and Rana could hear the conversation as well.


    To be honest, controlling thirty dragonflies at the same time was a bit hard. Having thirty different perspectives in his mind and coordinating them was not something a normal person would have been able to do.


    And even with Bloed''s [Enhanced Brain Capacity], it was hard enough that Bloed needed to focuspletely to not make any mistakes.


    Even so, he managed to send each dragonfly to its respective location.


    To his surprise, some beastmen managed to detect something wrong with the insect when it approached them. One of them even destroyed the dragonfly as soon as it appeared!


    Fortunately, the dragonflies were made with the same metallic sand technology like Tito and Leto, so it reformed itself instantly.


    Bloed then coughed, transmitting his voice through the dragonflies.


    "Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Bloed, one of the participants."


    Gasps of surprise and expressions of fright appeared in some of the candidates, while others looked at the dragonflies with expressions of wariness and alert.


    The next second, twelve more of his dragonflies were destroyed.


    Bloed smiled wryly and reformed the dragonflies again. He then transmitted his voice once more.


    "Please don''t attack the dragonflies, okay? I don''t have bad intentions."


    Bloed''s words were passed through the insects, reaching each candidate.


    [Who are you?] Someone asked. Through the dragonfly, Bloed saw it was a lizarkin girl.


    "As I said before, my name is Bloed, one of the participants. You can consider the insects talking to you as my familiars. I have sent a dragonfly to each candidate near the tower with the purpose of allowingmunication between us. Each one of you can talk to the dragonfly and your voices will be heard by the other candidates."


    A brief silence was transmitted through the dragonflies. For a few seconds, none of the candidates spoke up.


    But before long, someone decided to speak.


    [What do you want? And how can we know the insects are not dangerous and you are not nning to kill us?]


    Bloed smiled.


    [ Don''t worry. Some of you already attacked the insect, and as you can see it doesn''t have any attack power. Their only advantages are the fact they are very hard to kill. Plus, I can also use them to scout or do something like this.]


    After these words, a new wave of attacks flew to the dragonflies, as if the candidates wanted to confirm Bloed''s words.


    Bloed smiled bitterly and shook his head. He then reformed the insects again.


    " Please stop attacking the insects, okay? It''s troublesome."


    [How interesting... What are them?] One of the candidates asked.


    "... That is not important right now. Let''s talk instead about the reason I contacted you."


    [What do you want?] Another of the contestants asked.


    "Obviously, I want to find a way to reach the tower. And I hope we can cooperate with a n."


    [And why should we help you?]


    Bloed sighed. "I''m sure some of you already noticed, but there are five A-Ranks protecting the tower. I got a glimpse of their abilities, and to be honest, even if ten of us rush to the tower at the same time, perhaps not even one person will be able to seed in the end.


    "Each one of us can be considered as someone outstanding among the people of our level. So I''m sure you should be able to see that our best chance to reach the tower is by cooperating."


    [ He is right.] One of the candidates agreed with me. [I also saw the abilities of the guards, and to be honest, they are a bit too strong.]


    [What is your n then?] Another candidate asked.


    "Simple," Bloed said confidently. "All of us need to attack at the same time."


    Bloed only received silence as an answer. None of the other candidates seemed to agree with Bloed''s strategy.


    [ It''s too risky. Some of us will fail.]


    "I know," Bloed said. "But it''s the strategy with the greatest chance of sess."


    Through the dragonflies, Bloed could see that the candidates were hesitating about his words.


    But suddenly, someone spoke up through the dragonflies.


    [ I agree with you.] An upbeat voice of a girl said with a sigh. [I also think that is the best n.]


    Bloed was surprised. Looking behind him, he saw Rana winking to him with a smile.


    The rabittkin girl was the one that had spoken!


    And with someone agreeing, several people more showed their agreement.


    [... I also think that is the best nt.]


    [If we attack at the same time, most of us will manage to seed."


    [... It''s risky, but worth the risk.]


    Even Aya and Liu Ying spoke through the dragonflies to support Bloed''s n. And soon, he had the support of almost all the candidates.


    Nevertheless


    [However, we can''t trust you so easily.] One of the candidates, a cowkin young man, spoke up. [How do we know it''s not a trap and you are not nning to use us as bait?]


    But Bloed was already ready for that question.


    "DOn''t worry, I''ll be as transparent as possible. Hear my n first."


    Bloed then ordered the dragonflies to fly to the ground and draw a basic map of the surroundings of the tower with their legs.


    Then, he pointed out the locations of the five A-Ranks in the map.


    "The A-Ranks are in these five locations. The one in the north is a bearkin that wields a spear, the one in the east is a tigerkin wielding twin swords, the one in the south is an otterkin with a staff, probably a mage, and the one in the west is a lionkin with a longsword. Besides them, there is a foxkin mage moving between the four locations.


    "Currently, there are twenty-five candidates that need to reach the tower. We will divide ourselves into five groups of five people, and each group will choose an enemy to attack. Even if the A-Rank hunters are powerful, I think that five of us attacking together are enough to take care of one of them. But we need to attack together, or the other A-Ranks wille as reinforcements.


    "We will attack tomorrow just before noon to give the contestants that have not arrived yet the opportunity to arrive. Although to be honest, I think we are most of the survivors. Then, what do you think about my n?"


    For a while, nobody answered.


    But then, someone spoke up.


    [I agree with your n.]


    Through the dragonflies, Bloed recognized Atai as the one that spoke up. He was the cougarkin Bloed fought before.


    With Atai''s approval, others started to jump in.


    [I think it''s a good n too. Much better than rushing by myself at least. Count me in.]


    [Count me in too.]


    [ I think I will participate then.]


    [That n is good. I''m in as well.]


    [There are still some details we need to discuss, but it''s a good rough n. We can n the rest afterward.]


    [I have a question.] Someone suddenly asked. [Who is going to be the leader?]


    That question silenced the other voices.


    Fortunately, Bloed replied quickly.


    "No leader. There is no need to make things soplicated. We will just team up for our interest, so as long as everybody attacks when it''s time, it''s alright. I think that nobody will have a problem with that arrangement."


    [ I like your proposal.] The person before said. [Count me in too.]


    A few secondster, the rest of the candidates gave their consent.


    Bloed nodded satisfied. "Very well, let''s discuss the details of the n then."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 210: The Fifth Member

    Chapter 210: The Fifth Member


    The next morning.


    Bloed was on the roof of a building, looking in the direction of the tower with a pensive look.


    Last night, he had contacted the other candidates and came with a n to cooperate with them.


    And now, he was waiting for the time strike.


    While he was looking at the tower, someone climbed to the roof and walked towards Bloed.


    " So you are here, huh." The neer said.


    Bloed looked back and found a rabbitkin girl walking towards him.


    She was Rana, a member of Moonlight Glow currently cooperating with him.


    "I''m keeping an eye on the A-Ranks guarding the tower," Bloed said. "I want to be ready in case something unexpected happens."


    "How careful..." Rana nodded admiringly, but Bloed tried to ignore her. He just continued looking at the tower silently.


    Unfortunately, Rana seemed interested in striking a conversation with him.


    "By the way, I was surprised when you managed to convince the other contestants yesterday," Rana mentioned without hiding her astonishment. "To be honest, I did not think you would seed."


    "It was in part thanks to your help. If you would have not spoken when you did, then I would have not seeded so easily."


    "You don''t need to be so modest." Rana giggled and her eyes shone with a mysterious glow. "In fact, I''m pretty sure they would have agreed even without my interference. At most, it would have taken a bit more of time."


    Bloed did not reply. Instead, he looked at the rabbitkin girl carefully before looking away.


    This girl was definitively not simple.


    Bloed had already noticed it, but as expected, the participants gathered in this ruined town were outstanding talents in their own ways.


    Even this seemingly bubbly and happy-go-lucky girl gave Bloed an unfathomable feeling.


    Even when she was praising him, Bloed could not help but keep his guard up.


    At that moment, someone else came up to the roof.


    It was Liu Ying.


    The demon was startled when she saw Rana, but she ignored her and spoke up to Bloed.


    "Bloed, he is here."


    "Mm?" Bloed raised an eyebrow in surprise. "He is early. Let''s go to see him."


    Liu Ying nodded. The group then returned to the ce they had been using as their hideout.


    As soon as they returned, they felt a dangerous presence prickling against their skins.


    Bloed recognized this presence easily. In fact, he had faced it just yesterday.


    And as he expected, he saw a cougarkin young man standing coldly in front of the entrance with his eyes closed.


    He was the fifth member of Bloed''s team for the attack.


    When he felt Bloed''s arrival, the cougarkin opened his eyes and stared at him.


    "... Bloed."


    "I can see you are alright, Atai."


    "Of course. The other candidates are unable to injure me." Atai said matter-of-factly; as if the other candidates being inferior to him was something normal.


    Bloed smiled wryly. He could see Atai was not someone good at socializing.


    Just like yesterday, Atai was wearing the clothes native to his tribe, with a bone bow and several bone arrows on his back, plus an assortment of bone knives hanging from his waist.


    His expression was indifferent, bordering in coldness, and his body was tensed up, ready to attack at any moment.


    When he looked at Bloed and the girls, he seemed like a savage beast eyeing his prey.


    "Thank you for joining us in our n," Bloed said, trying to bear the killing intenting from the cougarkin.


    Atai shook his head.


    "I just think your team is the most likely to seed. And if I join this team, there is no way an A-Rank practitioner alone can stop us."


    Bloed did not reply, but it was obvious he agreed with Atai''s words.


    Just like Atai said, Bloed was confident in his chances.


    To be honest, he was confident in his chances just with Aya, Liu Ying, and him; and with Atai and Rana joined their group, the chances of sess were much greater.


    But even so, Bloed did not let his confidence get the best of him.


    Instead, he kept calm at every moment, constantly keeping an eye on the situation in case of an unexpected incident.


    The morning advanced slowly. While Bloed and the others waited for the time to start the attack, two more participants arrived.


    To Bloed''s surprise, he recognized both of them.


    They were Gorde plus the unknown batkin that attacked Bloed and Aya before.


    As soon as they appeared, Bloed exined to them the gist of the situation.


    Fortunately, both the wolfkin and the batkin agreed to Bloed''s n easily (Rana''s help to persuade them had a lot to do with that). They easily integrated themselves with two of the groups and got ready for the time to move.


    But when there were three hours until the time they agreed, Bloed''s expression changed.


    The eye in the sky, Oculus, sent an image to his mind.


    A middle-aged beastman with a greatsword in his back was rushing towards the tower.


    "Dammit!" Bloed cursed.


    An unexpected ident had happened.


    One much worse than anything he imagined.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and the others were surprised. But before they could ask Bloed what was happening, Bloed closed his eyes.


    With a thought, Oculus divided itself into five dragonflies that flew towards each group.


    "Guys, the situation has changed," Bloed said with a grave tone of voice. "A new A-Rank has arrived at the tower."


    [[[!!!]]]


    Through the dragonflies, Bloed could see and hear the gasp of surprise of the other contestants.


    Even Liu Ying and the others beside him were surprised.


    [What do you mean?] One of the contestants asked.


    "Just like I said, a new A-Rank has arrived at the tower. Now six people are protecting the tower instead of five."


    [That is]


    [Impossible!]


    [You are joking, right?]


    "I''m not joking," Bloed said immediately. "I fear we need to move now. Otherwise, if more A-Rankse, we will not have any chance to reach the tower."


    Silence was transmitted through the dragonflies. Obviously, the other contestants were considering Bloed''s words.


    Finally, one of them spoke.


    [ What are we going to do about the sixth guardian?]


    Bloed hesitated. But in the end, he gritted his teeth and told them the hard truth directly.


    "We can do nothing about him. If we divide the groups more than this, the chances of sess will reduce considerably Hence, we need to continue with the n Unfortunately, one of the groups will have to face two A-Ranks... That group should curse their bad luck."


    Nobody replied. All of them knew the meaning of meeting two A-Ranks.


    Failure.


    But finally, one of them sighed.


    [ There is not another option. Let''s do it.]


    [Yeah, it looks like we don''t have more options.]


    [Damn, why did they make this test so difficult?]


    Bloed exhaled and looked around to hispanions. Liu Ying and the others nodded to him, showing their support.


    Bloed exhaled heavily and spoke up again.


    "We will start in ten minutes."

 Chapter 211: Forty Meters Away (1)

    Chapter 211: Forty Meters Away (1)


    Hey Guys, Aidka''s Here!


    I have been very productive this week, posting a total of 23 chapters and almost 27000 words between Fourth Prince and Science/Magic. Thanks to that, currently I only owe 1 chapter of Science/Magic but still eight of Fourth Prince...


    From tomorrow, I''ll focus on posting the chapters I owe of Fourth Prince. ording to my calctions, if I post two chapters of fourth prince daily, I''ll finish paying the chapters I owe in two weeks... That is... No so hard.


    So, wish me luck, and enjoy... Aidka :p


    ....


    Ten minutester, the twenty-seven remaining candidates stood in their positions, ready to start the attack.


    Three groups of five people and two groups of six people. Each group had already decided on the enemy they were going to attack.


    Bloed''s voice was transmitted through the dragonflies.


    "Is everybody ready?"


    [Group one ready.]


    [Group two ready too.]


    [Group three is waiting for the signal.]


    [Group four here. Let''s do it~]


    Bloed nodded and looked at the faces of his team. When he saw them nod back, he spoke up again.


    "We are ready here too."


    [Great. Then, when are we going to start?] A female asked.


    "Wait for my signal," Bloed replied. "I will cut themunication now. When you see the ray of light, you will know it''s time to act."


    [ Are you sure you can''t leave the dragonflies with us? Having the ability tomunicate during the battle will help us to coordinate better.]


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.


    "It''s impossible. As I told you yesterday, I can''t keep them out for a long time."


    That was a lie. Bloed could sustainmunication using the dragonflies for as long as he wanted.


    But unfortunately, when the dragonflies were active, Bloed needed to use his entire brain to coordinate and control them. Thus, he was unable to do anyplicated action practically defenseless.


    Of course, there was no way Bloed was going to tell a group of strangers about such a weakness, so he lied to them and told them instead that the dragonflies could not be kept out for a long time.


    After confirming with the dragonflies that everything was in order, he ordered them to reform into Oculus once more.


    Then, he sent the eye to observe the situation around the tower.


    "You ready guys?" Bloed asked Liu Ying, Aya, and the others.


    "Of course~"


    "Mm."


    "Ready here~!"


    ""


    Liu Ying, Aya, Rana, and Atai answered (Atai just nodded).


    With the confirmation of hispanions, Bloed took a deep breath. Then, he ordered Oculus to ready its stronger attack.


    After three seconds, a ray of burning sma descended on the tower.


    The sudden attack stunned the six A-Ranks, but at the same time, the five groups around the tower moved.


    That burning ray of sma was the signal they had agreed to.


    Bloed did not try to aim the attack at any of the A-Rank. With Oculus''s long charging time, they would be able to feel the danger and evade it beforehand, moreover, it would tell them that something was wrong one or two seconds before.


    And that one or two seconds were crucial for Bloed and the others.


    "Let''s go!" Bloed shouted. He then climbed on the back of Leto and charged towards the tower.


    The others followed behind him. Liu Ying, Aya, and Atai were running in their feet, and Rana, who was a mage (and hence slower than the rest of the group) was riding a duplicate of Leto.


    The group moved quickly. In less than ten seconds, they had already appeared before their target.


    Each group had chosen one of the A-Ranks as their target. As for Bloed''s group, they had chosen the spear-wielding bearkin.


    ording to Bloed''s observations, he focused on physical strength, so it should be easier for Bloed''s group to pass through him.


    The bearkin was slightly stunned when he saw Bloed''s group charging towards him, but he did not panic.


    Instead, he opened his mouth in a grin and readied his spear.


    "Good! You are finally here!"


    Taking a step forward, he thrust his spear in the direction of Bloed''s group.


    The group''s expressions changed. For an instant, they felt an overwhelming pressure changing towards them!


    But just a little bit of pressure was not enough to intimidate Bloed''s and the others. As soon as the bearkin attacked, Bloed''s group responded.


    "You know what to do!"


    Bloed''s words were the signal.


    In answer, Rana waved a small wand in her hand, and the spell she had readied beforehand was cast.


    "[Pressure]!"


    The effect of the spell was instantaneous. With a grunt, the bearkin felt his body turning heavy, and his movements became slower.


    That was everything Bloed needed. With a thought, Leto turned into a wave of metallic sand that engulfed the bearkin!


    The bearkin snorted. With a roar, his spear was swung against the ground, creating a shockwave that sent Leto''s sand flying away.


    But during that time, Atai had readied an arrow.


    And


    *Swoosh!*


    The arrow hit the bearkin''s leg.


    "Ugh." The bearkin grunted in pain, but he did not seem to bother with the arrow. Instead, he swung his spear again.


    To Bloed and the others'' surprise, the arrow failed to pierce his leg.


    Instead, it was stopped when it reached his bone.


    Bloed''s group had already anticipated something like that, though. In the sky, Oculus lit up, unleashing a torrent of energy bullets that forced the bearkin to stop his attack and evade.


    At the same time, Rana cast a second spell.


    "[Subduing]!"


    A ck sphere appeared around the bearkin, creating a strong suctioning force that constricted his movements.


    Moreover, Leto''s move again, arriving at the bearkin''s leg and unleashing a powerful electric current that zipped the bearkin.


    Affected by the Bloed and Rana''s techniques, the bearkin''s movements were momentarily stopped.


    And that was everything Bloed''s group needed.


    Using that opening, they rushed towards the tower.


    Aya, one of the fastest of the group, carried Rana on her back and rushed toward the tower. Meanwhile, Bloed and the others followed behind her.


    But the bearkin was not nning to let them go so easily! Even when his movements were severely restricted, he bellowed and raised his spear, filling it with mana.


    "BRAAAAATTTTTSSSS!!!"


    With a shout, the spear erupted in blinding light and flew in Bloed and the others'' direction!


    The spear was so fast and the distance was so short that it was unavoidable.


    But at that moment, Liu Ying turned around, tensed up her muscles, and took a defensive stance.


    She unleashed her aspect and gritted her teeth. Then, she threw a punch and bellowed!


    "STOP!!!"


    The spear and the punch shed, creating a powerful shockwave that blew several nearby rocks away.


    But even Liu Ying''s godly strength was not enough to remain uninjured from the attack of an A-Rank!


    However, a ray of light fell on her at thest moment, increasing her defenses for a brief instant.


    It was one of Rana''s spell, [Guarding Light]!


    With the help of the spell, Liu Ying managed to barely resist the spear.


    And when she had dissipated most of the spear''s strength, she took a small jump backward.


    Borrowing the remaining strength in the spear, Liu Yingunched herself towards the tower!


    But suddenly, Bloed''s expression changed.


    Using Oculus, Bloed saw to see an attack flying towards them at great speed.


    The attack would reach them in an instant!


    Bloed did not hesitate. With one of his hands, he grabbed Liu Ying''s body and hugged her; and with a thought, he ordered Leto to form a barrier around the five of them.


    The next second


    *BOOOMMM!*


    A sword sh impacted Leto.


    Bloed expression turned grave. The worst situation had happened.


    Through Oculus, he could see the grinning face of a beastman wielding a greatsword.


    A second A-Rank had appeared.

 Chapter 212: Forty Meters Away (2)

    Chapter 212: Forty Meters Away (2)


    *BOOOOOMMMMM!!!*


    A strong impact hit Leto.


    The impact was incredibly powerful. So powerful that not even Leto was able to stop itpletely.


    Behind Leto, Bloed and the others were thrown several meters backward.


    But none of them had the time to care about that.


    Each one of them was fixed in the neer greatsword-wielding A-Rank in front of them.


    And at the same time, the spear-wielding A-Rank had also recovered from the group''s attacks.


    In other words, they now had an A-Rank in front and an A-Rank behind them.


    Neither retreating or advancing was an option.


    "Dammit!" Bloed cursed under his breath. This was the worst situation possible.


    How bad could be their luck that the greatsword-wielding beastman precisely chose them as targets?


    But despite the incredibly dangerous situation, Bloed did his best to keep his calm.


    Even when he felt some of hispanions panicking, he continued analyzing the situation calmly.


    There were less than forty meters between the tower and them.


    Forty meters. With their speed, they needed less than three seconds to run that distance.


    He had already reached so far. He was not nning to give up so easily.


    A fraction of second after the second A-Rank appeared, Bloed''s mind had already calcted the best course of action.


    Thus, without hesitation, he bellowed.


    "Spread out and try to reach the tower! At this distance, they can''t go for each one of us!"


    The others understood his meaning immediately.


    If they spread out and each tried to reach the tower from a different route, the A-Ranks would be unable to go after all of them.


    But at the same time, it meant that if the A-Ranks decided to chase after any of them, that unlucky person''s odds of sess would fall to the ground.


    That was much better than the entire group failing though.


    Hence, none of them hesitated to follow his words.


    As soon as Bloed''s words sounded, each member of the group rushed at full speed towards the tower.


    And as expected, the A-Ranks were briefly startled.


    But only briefly.


    An instantter, the two A-Ranks seemed to choose their targets, each one going after one of the five youngsters.


    One went after Bloed.


    And the other went after Liu Ying.


    Bloed''s eyes caught all of that. With the help of Oculus, he saw the decision of the two A-Ranks.


    And due to that, he realized.


    The reason the greatsword-wielding beastman chose to stop this group particrly.


    Since the start, his goal was to stop Bloed and Liu Ying!


    For some reason, the A-Rank beastmen did not want to see Bloed and Liu Ying pass this hunt.


    Unfortunately, Bloed could not afford to think about the reason now.


    Instead, he narrowed his eyes and started to calcte.


    Now, he was less than thirty meters from the tower. He needed only two seconds more to arrive.


    But the greatsword-wielding beastman was already in front of him.


    At the same time, the spear-wielding beastman reached Liu Ying.


    The first to attack was the spear-wielding beastman.


    With a stern gaze, he thrust his spear towards Liu Ying''s back.


    Liu Ying''s hair stood up. A powerful sense of danger filled her body.


    But that danger only fueled the stubbornness of her bloodline.


    "HAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"


    With a cry, Liu Ying turned around and her aspect was released.


    The figure of Chaos Titan disguised as a ck knight appeared on her back, showing a majesty presence.


    Then, the knight pulled back its arm, and Liu Ying pulled back her arm too.


    With a calm face, she shouted.


    "DIE!!!"


    And she unleashed a punch.


    All of Liu Ying''s remaining mana and her physical strength were put into that punch. At the same time, she used the technique she had been practicing until now.


    [Silent Touch]!


    Liu Ying''s mana and physical strength were turned into kic energy that shed against the spear.


    *BOOM!!!*


    A powerful explosion resounded, shaking the surroundings of Liu Ying and the A-Rank and sending countless small rocks flying.


    But miraculously, the bearkin''s spear did not manage to touch Liu Ying''s punch.


    Instead, it was stopped one millimeter before touching Liu Ying''s glove.


    Liu Ying paled. A sweet iron taste filled her mouth, and a line of blood slid down her lips.


    Her eyes, however, were filled with glee.


    Using the strength of the bearkin''s spear, Liu Ying kicked the ground, and under the bearkin''s surprised gaze, her body flew backward towards the tower.


    Due to the strength of the spear attack, she needed less than one second to reach the tower, sessfully fulfilling the goal of the hunt.


    Almost at the same time, the greatsword wielding beastman in front of Bloed swung down his sword.


    A powerful pressure attacked Bloed. He could feel the wind in the surroundings pressing against his skin, hindering his movements.


    Moreover, a sharp and heavy sword intent pickled against his skin.


    But in contrast to the violent attacking towards him, Bloed''s mind was unusually calm.


    In an instant, his sky-blue eyes went through countless calctions to find the slightest chance of sess in the current hopeless situation.


    Thanks to that, Bloed realized.


    Even now, the A-Rank did not show any bit of killing intent.


    ''Right! He can''t kill me!''


    When Bloed thought of that, a crazy idea appeared on his mind.


    However, he did not hesitate to put it into action.


    Without hesitation, Bloed let go of all his defenses, running straight towards the greatsword. He also took out a metallic ball from his storage device.


    Bloed''s action surprised the beastman. Afraid of injuring him, the beastman was forced to weaken the strength of his attack ever so slightly.


    And due to that, his sword slowed down for a fraction of a second.


    At that moment, Bloed knew that his bet was sessful.


    That fraction of a second was everything he needed.


    Without hesitation, he threw the ball on his hand towards the beastman. Simultaneously, he pulled the trigger on his energy gun, hitting the ball when it was at the height of the beastman''s eyes.


    When the beastman saw that, he instinctively circted his mana around his body to protect it from whatever attack Bloed was nning.


    Unfortunately, the grenade''s use was not to attack him.


    Instead


    *sh!*


    A blinding light and a deafening sound erupted from the metallic ball, dazzling the beastman briefly.


    As soon as the grenade exploded, Bloed ordered Leto to surge forward and at the same time, he activated his stealth.


    Then, he rushed towards the tower!


    "Arghhhh!!!!" The beastman roared in pain and rage. Hurriedly, he tried to use his remaining senses to find Bloed.


    However, he realized that a powerful attack wasing towards him.


    It was Leto charging towards him in its wolf mode!


    The A-Rank instinctively wielded his greatsword in Leto''s direction, bisecting the wolf''s body.


    But that attack gave Bloed enough time to bypass him.


    When the A-Rank realized what had happened and tried to attack again, both Leto and Oculus in the sky attacked again. Leto using its metallic sand in the form of spears, and Oculus unleashing tens of energy bullets.


    Helpless, the beastman could only unleash his mana in the shape of a tornado, blowing both attacks away.


    However, Bloed had already aplished his purpose.


    When the greatsword-wielding beastman finally recovered his sight, he found Bloed panting inside the tower, looking towards him with a smirk.


    ...


    P4TREON: /aidnovels

 Chapter 213: Badges

    Chapter 213: Badges


    Bloed and Liu Ying''s sess to reach the tower surprised not only the two A-Rank beastmen but also all theirpanions.


    To be honest, when the other members of their group realized the A-Ranks had gone after Bloed and Liu Ying, the first thing they felt was relief and the second was pity.


    None of them expected Bloed and Liu Ying to seed after being intercepted by two A-Ranks.


    But in the end, and to the surprise of many, Bloed and Liu Ying managed to sessfully bypass the two A-Ranks.


    "You two are awesome~!" Rana said without hiding her admiration. In fact, she seemed like she wanted to jump and hug Bloed and Liu Ying due to her excitement.


    Unfortunately for her, Bloed and Liu Ying were not interested in receiving her hug at this moment.


    After facing these two A-Ranks, even if only for a few seconds, they felt so exhausted that they wanted to fall asleep.


    Before that, though, they needed to find the results of the other three groups.


    Soon, the other three groups arrived at the tower too.


    And miraculously, of the twenty-seven people that participated in this operation, twenty-two managed to arrive at the tower.


    Only five candidates were caught by the A-Ranks.


    And three of them were caught by the foxkin mage. ording to what Bloed heard, she used several restraining spell, catching off-guard the group that chose her and knocking out three candidates.


    In fact, the other three only managed to reach the tower due to luck. They were lucky that the foxkin woman did not target them.


    But even so, Bloed was content with that result.


    Twenty-two of twenty-seven was a pretty good result.


    Even the other beastmen were in a good mood. So much that none of them showed any dissatisfaction or hostility when they realized Bloed was human.


    Some of them even walked towards him to thank him for his help.


    When he confirmed the sess of the other groups, Bloed''s tiredness finally caught up to him. He sat on the ground exhausted and leaned his back against a wall.


    Soon, soft snoring sounds came out of his mouth.


    He was not the only one, though. Several other candidates also decided to rest after their exhausting confrontations against the A-Rank.


    They only woke up around three hourster, when the hunt finally came to its end.


    And to nobody''s surprise, no other candidate arrived at the tower after Bloed and the others.


    Once the hunt came to an end, the A-Rank hunters and several other people, including some demigods and the King of the Great Savannah, walked inside the tower.


    Regina and Eve were among them. The Valkyrie and the fox nodded to Bloed and Liu Ying with smiles on their faces.


    Meanwhile, the King of the Great Savannah stared at the twenty-two candidates that passed the hunt.


    For an instant, he did not know if to feel proud or to feel exasperated.


    " To be honest, I never thought so many of you would pass this trial. Only ten or so of you should have remained by this point. I guess this trial was too easy after all."


    The candidates looked at the king with speechless looks.


    Easy? Several of them almost died before reaching the tower, and this was easy?


    Ignoring the candidates'' thoughts, the king smiled.


    "Well, it means that the future of the beastmen countries is promising, and I''m proud of that. However, it''s a fact that only six of you can be selected. Thus, you will have to go through another trial." The king then narrowed his eyes and looked at each candidate with an imposing presence.


    Bloed and the others could feel the air around them turning heavy. The imposing pressureing from the king felt like a majestic mountain.


    It was full of pride and authority.


    Seeing the expressions on the candidates'' faces, the king nodded. He then said two words.


    "Follow me."


    The candidates were confused, but they followed the king.


    Less than five minutester, they arrived in front of a big and severely ruined coliseum.


    When the candidates saw the coliseum, they understood the theme of the next trial.


    It was definitively to fight.


    And most probably, they would have to fight against each other.


    "It looks like each one of you understands what you need to do next." The king smiled. "You are right. You need to fight for a ce between the six chosen. Next, I''m going to exin the rules."


    Bloed and the other candidates tensed up.


    "But before that," The king continued. "I will ask each one of you to give me the badges you collected."


    The candidates nodded. Then, they took their badges to the king one by one.


    First was a deerkin girl. She managed to gather a total of seven badges.


    Surprisingly, she had one of the best results among the twenty-two candidates.


    Most of the others had only three or four badges. One of them even had only one badge, the one he received at the start.


    In fact, when Aya showed her eight badges, the other candidates looked at her with admiration and wariness.


    Then it was Rana and Liu Ying''s turn. Rana gathered ten badges, one more than Liu Ying who gathered nine.


    Soon, Bloed''s name was called.


    Bloed nodded and walked towards the king. Expressionlessly, he handed his badges to the king.


    The king looked at the badges then at Bloed and grinned.


    "Fourteen, huh. That is a lot."


    Amotion arose in the surroundings, but Bloed just nodded without showing any expression and returned to his ce.


    He could feel the gazes of the other candidates on him. Their gazes were filled with wariness, admiration, and envy.


    Fourteen badges were four badges more than the second-best after him, Rana with ten badges.


    "Well done!" Liu Ying grinned and grabbed Bloed''s hand intimately. Almost instantly, though, she felt Regina''s ice-cold gaze on her, making her move her hand away hurriedly.


    " Scary" Rana, standing beside Liu Ying, trembled slightly. Apparently, she had also felt Regina''s ice-cold aura.


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    Fortunately, he did not know that Regina had seen when he called Liu Ying his girlfriend, otherwise, he would have been sweating bullets right now.


    While Bloed and the others were lost in their own world, the king continued calling to the other candidates.


    Finally, he arrived at Atai, the cougarkin.


    With an indifferent expression, the cougarkin handed his badges to the king.


    A total of sixteen badges.

 Chapter 214: Duels

    Chapter 214: Duels


    Atai''s sixteen badges once more shocked all the candidates.


    If Bloed''s fourteen badges were already astonishing, Atai''s sixteen badges were even more so.


    You must know that to get that number of badges you needed not only very strongbat power but also great tracking abilities. After all, finding a candidate in this huge city was not easy.


    King Arlen Firstmane observed Atai for several seconds before grinning satisfied.


    "Good, good, you have brought pride to our race."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. For some reason, he felt as though the king was a bit less gloomy than before.


    As though he was happy by the fact a human was not the one with the biggest number of badges.


    Fortunately, Bloed was mature enough to not pay attention to something like that.


    Quite the opposite, Bloed was relieved by Atai''s achievement. After all, the fact that he had gotten the biggest number of badges among the candidates could make some beastmen to feel that they lost face.


    Atai nodded at the king indifferently and returned to his position.


    He did not seem excited or happy by the fact he was praised by the king himself.


    It was as though his result was just something normal.


    Even the gazes of the other candidates felt like a breeze to him.


    Atai was thest beastmen to hand out his badges. Now that every candidate had handed out their badges, it was time to exin the rules for the next segment.


    The king coughed slightly and looked at the remaining twenty-two candidates.


    "The rules for the next part are simple. The twenty-two of you will fight each other in one-against-one duels, finally selecting twelve of you. Next, the twelve remaining candidates will fight again, finally choosing the final six.


    "But there is a problem. There are twenty-two of you. Only enough for eleven battles and eleven winners, but as I said before, there must be twelve of you for the next round.


    "That is where the badgese into use. As there are twenty-two of you, we will select the two candidates will the highest number of badges. Atai, Bloed, step forward."


    Bloed and the cougarkin nodded and stepped forward.


    "You two will be exempt from the first round of battles, directly passing to the next round. As for the remaining twenty, each one of you will face another candidate in a duel to select the other ten candidates that willpete for the six positions."


    The candidates were slightly surprised by the king''s decision.


    However, they easily epted it.


    After all, since the start, it had been specified that acquiring more badges was going to be advantageous in the next round. Bloed and Atai were the two candidates with the most badges, so they earned this advantage.


    When the king saw nobody objected to his words, he spoke up again.


    "In the case of the remaining twenty of you, your enemies will be determined ording to the number of badges you got. The candidate with most badges will fight the candidate with the least badges and so on. Of course, some of you will maybe think this pairing is unfair, but it''s a fact the candidates that got more badges have already shown more outstanding abilities, so I think this little advantage is normal."


    Once more, no candidate objected to the king''s word.


    Of course, there were some that seemed ufortable with the way the battles were being paired, but owing to the king''s firm attitude, no candidate took the initiative to mention it.


    The king nodded in satisfaction when he saw that.


    "Now that the rules had been exined, you can go to rest and prepare. The battles will start in half an hour and continue until the final six candidates are chosen."


    With these words, the king left.


    Each candidate then went to see the person in charge of them. In Bloed, Liu Ying, and Rana''s case, they went to see Eve.


    Eve seemed rather satisfied with Bloed and the others'' performance. In fact, of the five candidates she brought, four reached this round.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Rana, and the wolfkin Gorde.


    To Moonlight Glow, it was something that gave them a lot of face.


    Unfortunately, Bloed could not share her happiness.


    Mainly because the wolfkin, Gorde, was looking at him as though he wanted to hit him.


    Eve frowned when she saw that, but she said nothing in the end. Although she was a bit dissatisfied with the wolfkin, she did not want to scold him in front of Bloed and the others.


    But although Eve said nothing, there was someone else that was unable to continue watching that.


    "You. I don''t like the way you are looking at my master."


    Gorde was startled. His gaze then met the ice-cold gaze of the Valkyrie, that seemed as though she wanted to crush him.


    Gorde shivered instinctively, and an enormous fear assaulted his body. But at that moment, Bloed spoke up.


    "Regina, stop."


    "Master?"


    "Let him be. He is just a bit vexed because he was unable to defeat mest time."


    Gorde''s face darkened. Although Bloed did not have that intention, Gorde felt as though Bloed was mocking him.


    But remembering Regina''s terrifying gaze, he just clicked his tongue and walked away without saying anything.


    Eve shook her head when she saw that.


    " Sorry about that. Gorde is a good boy, he is just a bit arrogant."


    Bloed smiled and waved his hand. In all honesty, he did not care about that.


    In the end, it was not as though the wolfkin could hurt him in any way. Bloed could only see him as an immature brat too conscious of himself.


    The time before the start of the battles passed quickly. Bloed and the others took advantage of it to eat a light meal and drink a bit of water. Then, they got ready for their battles.


    The first one to battle was Rana, the rabbitkin.


    Her opponent? A lizardkin young man with only one badge.


    Rana walked towards the arena with a small smile,pletely opposite to the lizardkin stern, wary, and grave expression.


    Even although the lizardkin was way taller than Rana, he did not dare to underestimate her. The fact that Rana managed to gather ten badges already showed that she was going to be a very strong opponent.


    Once the two of them were in the stage, the referee looked at them.


    "Are you ready?"


    When Rana and the lizardkin nodded, the referee gave his signal.


    "Then start!"


    Instantly, the lizardkin kicked the ground and rushed towards Rana.

 Chapter 215: The Rabbit’s Trick, The Demon’s Strength

    Chapter 215: The Rabbit¡¯s Trick, The Demon¡¯s Strength


    The lizardkin''s movements were incredibly quick. In an instant, he crossed half of the distance separating him from his opponent.


    Rana put on a serious expression. With a wave of her hand, her wand lit up and produced a spell.


    "[Mana Arrows]!"


    Tens of magic circles appeared behind Rana, creating a rain of arrows that rained on the lizardkin!


    The lizardkin kept his stern expression. Seeing the arrows descending towards him, he grunted and formed a circle with his spear.


    Instantly, mana surged out of his body and formed a circle around him


    And as though stopped by a strange force, the mana arrows froze in the air eerily!


    When Rana and the spectators were still dumbfounded by the strange situation, the lizardkin waved his spear away, making the mana arrow fly in apletely different direction.


    "That is!"


    "Territory!"


    "Impossible!"


    Several of the expecting beastmen stood up in surprise. Unable to believe the technique the lizardkin used.


    Territory. Sometimes called Domain.


    Using mana to demarcate a zone around you as your home ground. It was a technique sometimes used by demigods.


    Although the lizardkin''s use of it was very crude. It was a fact that he used a territory. Moreover, he managed to use the territory to stop and afterward change the course of the mana arrows!


    Even Rana seemed taken aback by that technique. She never thought her spell could be defeated so easily.


    For a brief instant, a sh of panic appeared on her face.


    The lizardkin did not waste that opportunity. Kicking the ground, he increased his speed, appearing in front of the rabbitkin girl.


    Rana hurriedly cast a shield in front of her and jumped back, trying to gain time to cast a new attack spell.


    But then, the lizardkin''s spear lit up, tearing through the barrier and stabbing Rana''s body.


    To his surprise, though, Rana suddenly smiled.


    Then, her body faded out, as though it was an illusion.


    The lizardkin instantly realized that something was wrong. He hurriedly tried to jump away to evade Rana''s counterattack, but it was toote.


    In an instant, several magic circles appeared around him, then, chains of mana surged out of the magic circles, entangling his body.


    At the same time, the gravity around him increased in intensity, and the mana in the surroundings was disrupted.


    Although the lizardkin tried to retaliate using his spear, that was not enough to escape from Rana''s carefully crafted trap.


    Less than two secondster, hey on the ground, with his body wrapped by several chains, unable to move.


    While the spectators were still stunned by the sudden change, the figure of Rana appeared from a ce where there was nothing just an instant ago.


    Then, she spoke to the referee.


    "Is it enough?"


    The referee stared at Rana deeply for a few seconds before smiling.


    "Well done. It''s your victory."


    "Yay~!" Rana jumped excitedly and waved to Bloed and the others innocently.


    However, nobody dared to underestimate that innocent smile.


    Even Bloed and Liu Ying were looking at her with serious expressions.


    To be honest, when Bloed saw the lizardkin''s territory, he thought Rana would have a bit of trouble defeating him. Even Bloed himself would have needed a bit of time to defeat that kind of technique.


    Rana, though, she ended the battle swiftly.


    Even although she used a trick to do that, her strength and wits were undeniable.


    "As expected of one of the geniuses of Moonlight Glow, huh." Bloed could not help but say.


    Liu Ying beside him nodded.


    Rana soon returned to her seat. Simultaneously, Liu Ying stood up and looked at Bloed.


    "It''s my turn. Wish me luck."


    "Good luck." Bloed smiled.


    But Liu Ying did not move away. Instead, she looked at him with an anticipating expression.


    Bloed smiled wryly aware of Liu Ying''s intention. However, now that he decided to ept her as his girlfriend, he did not mind giving her this little incentive.


    Thus, standing up, he pecked on her lips softly.


    Liu Ying blushed and grinned foolishly. She then turned around and walked towards the arena with an aura as though she could destroy the world.


    ''This girl...'' Bloed shook his head wryly.


    ... Also, he did his best to ignore the piercing gaze stabbing his back.


    He needed to start thinking in a way to please Reginater.


    Liu Ying''s opponent was a kind of horned beastman girl. Bloed was not sure about her specific race, but when he asked Eve, she told him she was a goatkin.


    The goatkin girl was wearing revealing clothes, with a de hanging from her right hand and a quiver of arrows plus a bow in her back.


    When she saw Liu Ying, the goatskin girl''s eyes shone with fighting intent.


    Liu Ying just smiled and clenched her fist. She then waited for the referee''s signal.


    And as soon as she heard the word ''start'', Liu Ying moved.


    Her muscles tensed up like a spring, erupting with an incredible strength that sent her flying directly towards the goatkin girl!


    Then, Liu Ying threw a mana-filled punch.


    The goatskin girl did not fall behind. Her two hands grabbed her de and swung it downwards with a mountain-like aura that seemed to crush everything in front of her.


    The next second


    *BOOOMMM!!!*


    The punch and the de shed.


    It was a sh of power against power, relying solely on brute strength to determine the winner.


    It was obvious both girls were confident in their physical strength!


    However, relying on pure strength to defeat the girl that was once the princess of the demon empire was suicide.


    Mainly because Liu Ying''s aspect, the Chaos Titan, was widely epted like the strongest when it came to physical strength.


    And in the next instant, the reason behind that was shown to all the spectators.


    When the goatkin girl''s de and Liu Ying''s fist shed, the stalemate did notst more than an instant.


    As soon as she felt Liu Ying''s overwhelming strength, the goatskin girl''s expression changed. She instantly realized that using strength against Liu Ying was a mistake.


    But it was toote.


    Under Liu Ying''s overwhelming strength, his body involuntarily took two steps backward, making the goatskin girl lose her bnce and creating an opening in her defense.


    Liu Ying''s eyes glinted. Without hesitation, she clenched her other fist and threw a punch to the goatkin girl''s abdomen.


    "Gah!" Vomiting a mouthful of blood, the goatskin girl flew away, rolling for several meters and finally stoppingpletely unconscious.


    The winner had been decided even faster than in thest battle.

 Chapter 216: The Cat vs The Lioness

    Chapter 216: The Cat vs The Lioness


    Liu Ying''s battle caused a shockpletely different than Rana''s.


    The reason? Liu Ying needed less than three seconds to end it.


    Since the moment when the fight started until it ended, Liu Ying only attacked twice, not needing to attack further to knock out her enemy.


    The referee stared at Liu Ying briefly dazed, but when he saw the demon look at him, he snapped off his daze and announced the result.


    "Winner, Liu Ying."


    Liu Ying smiled happily and walked back towards her seat. When she arrived, she smiled at Regina before sitting beside Bloed and grabbing his hand.


    "It was amazing," Bloed said.


    " Thank you." Liu Ying blushed slightly without hiding her happy smile.


    Regina snorted, obviously displeased with Bloed and Liu Ying flirting in front of her. She then looked around and decided to grab Bloed''s other hand, ignoring Bloed surprised expression.


    Unfortunately for Bloed, that gesture ended bringing even more attention to him.


    "Woah, a flower in each hand. You are sure a lucky guy~" Rana grinned teasingly. "Should I join t"


    Before her words could end, she felt a chilling pressure attacking her body.


    "It''s a joke!" Rana waved her hands frantically, looking at Regina as a frightened animal. "Geez, how cold. I was freezing!"


    Regina did not reply, but Rana did not dare to tease Bloed or her anymore. Feeling Regina''s killing intent was enough to give shivers on her spine.


    Bloed nced at Regina briefly, but the Valkyrie snorted and looked away, visibly displeased.


    " You owe me an exnation about Liu Ying, master."


    Bloed could only nod bitterly.


    While the group was chatting happily (?), two new candidates walked towards the arena.


    And one of the candidates was another acquittance of Bloed.


    Aya, Javelin''s little sister.


    Aya''s opponent was a lionkin girl. Apparently, she was a distant rtive of the Firstmane, the Great Savannah''s royal family.


    Bloed was rooting for Aya, obviously. He had fought together with Aya during the hunt, and she was the little sister of his friend after all.


    Coincidentally, Aya also looked in his direction before starting the fight. Bloed was not sure, but he thought he saw her nod to him.


    After hesitating for a moment, Bloed nodded back.


    A small smile appeared on Aya''s face. She then stared at her opponent and her smile turned into an expressionless look.


    At the same time, a faint killing intent started to spread through the arena.


    Her opponent responded in kind. Holding her ive forward, the lionkin girl smiled savagely and released her own killing intent.


    The referee saw the two girls'' actions and nodded. Raising his hand, he gave the signal to start the battle.


    "Ready? Start!"


    Immediately, both girls moved.


    Aya kicked the ground, lowering her body and moving at great speed.


    At the same time, the ive-wielding lionkin girl took a step forward, swinging her ive in a half-moon shape and creating several powerful and sharp currents of wind that flew towards Aya!


    Aya''s eyes shone coldly. As though she was a cat, her body moved agilely through the currents of wind, evading the attacks and closing the distance between the lionkin girl and her.


    When the distance between them was closed, Aya swung her daggers!


    But the lionkin girl was not a pushover. She wielded her ive skillfully, using its long reach to keep a certain distance from Aya and stop her daggers from reaching her.


    Her skillful use of the ive allowed her to keep control of the battlefield. Her ive attacks were like a violent storm, attacking Aya with sharp shes that wanted to rip her flesh apart.


    It was obvious she was slowly kitting Aya until finding the chance to defeat her in one blow.


    Aya kept her expressionless look. She continued chasing after the lionkin girl as though she could not understand her opponent''s intentions.


    But suddenly, her movements changed.


    Gathering mana in her daggers, Aya shed in a crisscrossed shape.


    Then, an x-shaped wave of energy flew towards the lionkin girl.


    The lionkin girl narrowed her eyes. Her ive lit up briefly before smashing towards Aya''s attack, destroying it directly.


    But at that point, her expression changed.


    Without her noticing, Aya had disappeared.


    "Dammit!"


    The lionkin girl knew something was wrong. She hurriedly jumped away, attempting to avoid Aya''s unknown next attack.


    But suddenly, she felt something sharp pressing against her neck.


    The lionkin girl froze immediately, and cold sweat filled her back.


    Feeling the cold edge of the daggers on her neck, she did not dare to move.


    Aya stood expressionlessly behind her, pressing the daggers against her opponent''s neck while looking at the referee.


    The referee confirmed that the lionkin girl could not retaliate and spoke up.


    "This duel has ended. The winner is miss Aya Sharpw."


    Aya nodded. She ignored the bitter look in the lionkin girl''s face and removed her daggers, walking back towards her seat without changing her expressionless look.


    Bloed, though, could see her tail wagging gently.


    " She looks like a dog." Liu Ying could not help but say, stealing the words from Bloed''s mouth.


    Bloed nodded and smiled slightly, happy with the cat girl''s victory.


    After all, if he had to cooperate with someone whenpeting against the elves and the sun kingdom, he preferred to team up with people he knew.


    After Aya''s battle, the duels continued.


    Bloed noticed several candidates that showed very highbat power. Some of them even himself found threatening.


    For example, the batkin guy he fought before. He defeated his enemy in less than five seconds using a very eerie method. Bloed only managed to notice that the batkin used soundwaves to get that result, but he was not sure of how he did it.


    Another outstanding candidate was the wolfkin, Gorde. He defeated his opponent using extreme speed, strength, and fighting skills. In less than four attacks, his enemy was defeated.


    There was also a deerkin girl that used a spear to control the wind, defeating her opponent with a beautiful spear dance.


    All in all, several of the candidates were very strong. Each one of them easily worthy of being called geniuses or prodigies.


    When the first round of duels ended, ten candidates plus Bloed and Atai remained for the next round.


    And like in thest round, the first one to battle was Rana.


    ...


    This is thest chapter I owed of Science/Magic. Thus, no more double chapters for a while. Except by the double chapters in Sunday...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 217: The Last Six (1)

    Chapter 217: The Last Six (1)


    Twelve people remained of one hundred and twenty candidates, and after one more round of battles, only six candidates would remain.


    The twelve candidates, including Bloed, were tense. They were looking at each other while wondering who was going to be their next enemy.


    Inwardly, Bloed was praying that his enemy was not Liu Ying. The probability was not zero, though. He had realized that some beastmen were not very happy with a human and a demon participating in thispetition.


    Unaware of Bloed''s concerns, the king stood up and looked at the candidates.


    "Each one of you is very outstanding, and to be honest, I''m sure none of you will shame the name of the Great Savannah if you are chosen, however, only six of you can participate in the mission.


    "And only the six strongest will be chosen.


    "Thus, I have paired the battles ording to the strength you have shown until now.


    "Rana, Liu Ying, Aya, Rhone (The batkin), Bloed, and Atai. You six had the best performances until now, so you will have a slight advantage in this round. As for your opponents, Cho, Arno, Greta, Cliff, Gorde, and Deana, the performance of you six have been slightly below them, so you will have to fight them if you want to get a position in the six chosen.


    "The first battle will be Rana vs. Cho!"


    Rana and Cho nodded and walked towards the stage.


    Cho was a wolfkin young man. He was almost two meters tall, with a burly body and a savage aura.


    He fought using his bare hands like ws, with a very wild battle style. All in all, he was not bad.


    As for Rana...


    This girl had hidden her abilities very well. She had not shown much of her capabilities in herst fight.


    Even until now, Bloed was not exactly sure how strong this rabbitkin youngdy was.


    But he knew he could not underestimate her. As someone able to reach this ce while hiding her strength, she was definitively very strong.


    The two of them went to the stage.


    The wolfkin, Cho, was sporting an ice-cold expression. As for Rana, she was smiling innocently, as though this was an outing.


    The referee looked at the two of them and confirmed they were ready before opening his mouth.


    "Start!"


    Instantly, the wolfkin kicked the ground and charged forward.


    At the same time and just like in thest duel, Rana waved her wand and cast a spell.


    [Mana Arrows].


    But that was not the end.


    [Sharpening].


    [eleration].


    [Lightning Enhancement].


    [Explosion].


    [Enhanced Pration].


    Several different spells were cast on with mana arrows!


    Bloed was surprised.


    That was


    "Multi-casting And such a number at that Sigh, this girl can be considered almost invincible in the B-Rank." One of the people in the stand said without hiding his admiration.


    Several people around him nodded while looking at Rana on the stage.


    Multi-casting.


    As its name indicates, it means casting several spells simultaneously.


    It''s not very umon. Quite the opposite, any qualified mage is able to do it after a bit of training.


    But casting more than sixth spells simultaneously, and so easily, is somethingpletely different.


    It''s not something a normal B-Rank should be able to do.


    But Rana did it with just a wave of her wand and a smile on her face, as though it was not hard!


    Even Eve and the king showed expressions of admiration.


    Tens of arrows hovered behind Rana. They aimed at the wolfkin waiting for Rana''s orders.


    With a slight smile, Rana snapped her fingers and the first arrow was shot.


    The wolfkin''s expression was grave. He hurriedly tried to evade the first arrow, but he soon found it was impossible. Under Rana''s several spells, the arrow was too fast to be avoided!


    Instinctively, the wolfkin circted his mana through his entire body and increased his defenses as much as he could.


    But even so


    *Puk!*


    The first arrow prated through his defenses and exploded!


    *Boom!*


    Arcs of lightning burned the wolfkin''s skin. The wolfkin grunted and barely endure the attack while sustaining light injuries.


    Seeing he managed to block the arrow, the wolfkin sighed in relief.


    But when he looked up, he saw the remaining arrows shake.


    Then, as though mocking his hopes, they descended too.


    The wolfkin''s eyes shook briefly, but the determination in his face remained. Suddenly, his muscles expanded and his mana turned wild.


    *ROOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!*


    With a roar of rage, all his muscles erupted with strength. His right punch was wrapped in mana and flew forward to receive the arrows without showing fear.


    But at that moment, a sigh sounded.


    "It''s enough."


    Then, all the arrows were stopped.


    "Let''s stop it here. If the battle continues, perhaps thed will die." An expressionless voice came from the stands. "Is it alright, your majesty?"


    " You are right, miss Eve. It''s obvious Mr. Cho can''t endure this attack." The king nodded.


    Rana was stunned. She could feel that her mana waspletely frozen. She could not budge it an inch.


    It was the same for the wolfkin. His body waspletely paralyzed in a punching stance.


    The two of them looked at Eve in fear and admiration.


    This was the power of a demigod.


    without giving Rana or Cho the time to recover, the king continued.


    "It''s Miss Rana''s win for this round. She is the first one to be chosen. As for you, I''m sorry about this. The two of you, return to your seats."


    "O-Okay."


    "... Understood."


    Rana said hurriedly. Cho, the wolfkin, bit his lips unwillingly, but in the end, he nodded.


    In his heart, he knew he did not have a way to stop Rana''s attack.


    Meanwhile, in the stands, Bloed was wearing a serious expression.


    He was surprised by Rana''s strength.


    That girl, she was much stronger than he expected.


    Even he would have found it hard to stop such a spell.


    Seeing the rabbitkin girl hopping towards them with a carefree smile, Bloed once more realized how powerful the geniuses of a race were.


    While he was lost in his thoughts, Bloed felt the seat beside him stirring.


    He then noticed Liu Ying standing up with a smile.


    "It''s my turn."


    "Good luck. You can do it." Bloed said.


    Liu Ying nodded. For an instant, she considered asking for another kiss from him.


    But when she saw Regina''s ice-cold gaze, she decided to stop tempting her luck.


    Regina had been already very generous when she allowed the first kiss but based on her current expression, it was obvious she was not in the best of the moods.


    With a slightly awkward smile, Liu Ying walked towards the stage.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 218: The Last Six (2)

    Chapter 218: The Last Six (2)


    Liu Ying''s opponent for this battle was called Arno, a bearkin young man wearing a pair of metallic gloves and kasaya-like clothes.


    The first thought that came to Bloed''s mind when he saw Arno was that he was huge. He was around 2.3 meters tall, with huge bulging muscles and an oppressive atmosphere around him.


    Bloed could feel the ground shaking slightly with each step he took.


    " So it will be a battle of strength against strength, huh." Bloed muttered softly.


    Near him, Eve nodded.


    "It looks so. Generally, bearkins have high physical strength, and this Arno took it to the extreme. He is widely known around the beastman countries as the [The Valiant], praising his extreme physical strength unrivaled in his rank."


    Bloed nodded and looked to Liu Ying, slightly concerned about her chances of victory.


    Certainly, Liu Ying was strong, and her bloodline was unrivaled when it came to physical strength at the same level. However, Liu Ying''s cultivation was considerably lower than her opponent.


    In the end, Liu Ying just broke through B-Rank recently, while her opponent was already a peak B-Rank practitioner.


    Perhaps feeling Bloed''s concern, Regina spoke.


    "You should not worry, master."


    "Huh?"


    " Just watch the battle. You will understand soon."


    While Regina was talking, the referee observed the two fighters of this battle.


    On one side, Liu Ying was standing with a slightly defensive stance. And on the other side, the bearkin was looking down at Liu Ying as though he was going to crush her as soon the battle started.


    "Ready?" The referee asked. When neither Liu Ying nor Arno said nothing, he opened his mouth. "Start!"


    Both Regina and her opponent moved at almost the same time, kicking the ground and rushing forward.


    Less than one secondter, the demon and the bearkin met in the center of the stage.


    Then


    *BOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!*


    Punch against punch shed creating a powerful shockwave.


    Both Liu Ying and the bearkin took a step back, but immediately after that, they forced their bodies to stop and charged forward again!


    *Boom!!!*


    Their punches shed again. Liu Ying''s small punch against Arno''s huge punch met in the center of the stage, causing explosive sounds that reverberated in the arena.


    And without stopping, both of them unleashed another punch with their other hand.


    *Boom!!!*


    It was a bizarre scene. Despite Liu Ying''s smaller stature, she was not falling behind the bearkin in terms of strength.


    Seeing a delicate-looking girl like her unleashing such destructive punches was mind-blowing.


    "Hah!" Liu Ying cried out, unleashing her aspect and increasing the strength of her attacks.


    Following her example, the bearkin roared and his muscles bulged out, granting him even more strength in each attack!


    *Bam!* *Boom!* *Bam!* *Bam!*


    Punch met punch, and kick met kick, a battle of pure brute strength unfolded in the stage.


    It was as though both of them agreed to just sh in a duel of power. None of them bothered to avoid the other''s attacks.


    Several of the spectators were astonished and speechless. The weaker ones even paled slightly after feeling the shockwaves caused by their attacks.


    Surprisingly, even after more than twenty shes, they seemed evenly matched.


    But


    "Do you see, master? I told you, Liu Ying will win this time." Regina said with a slight smile.


    Rana, who was seated near us, was startled. No matter how she looked at the fight, Liu Ying did not hold the advantage.


    But Eve and Bloed nodded to Regina''s words.


    "... What an amazing fighting technique." Eve praised Liu Ying.


    " It''s [Silent Touch], huh" Bloed could not help but sigh in admiration. "It''s truly an incredible technique."


    "Of course, master. It''s after all a technique created to face The Devourers and the signature move of a Valkyrie. Even if Liu Ying can''t use it perfectly right now, the little of the technique she has learned gives her a great advantage against her opponent."


    Bloed nodded. He could see it in the battle.


    Although it seemed like Liu Ying and the bearkin were evenly matched, the truth was that Liu Ying held the advantage.


    It was because each time they shed, Liu Ying''s punch stopped one centimeter away from her opponent''s. Thus, the bearkin''s attacks did not manage to reach her body and could not hurt her.


    But Liu Ying was using silent touch, so her attacks could reach her target despite the distance.


    In other words, although it seemed they were hitting each other, the truth was that the bearkin was receiving a one-sided beating.


    Few of the people observing the battle had noticed it. Even the bearkin himself had not noticed. He had been umting damage since the start of the battle, but Liu Ying was still unscathed.


    And soon, that was made apparent.


    "Ugh." With a grunt, the bearkin took a step back. A thread of blood slid down his mouth, dropping to the ground.


    Liu Ying immediately took advantage of his retreat and pressed on with her attacks.


    "Hah!"


    With a shout, her punch gathered mana, exploding in the bearkin''s chest!


    The bearkin barely managed to use his arm to stop the attack, but due to that, he was forced to go on the defensive.


    And now that Liu Ying did not have to worry about his attacks, she could focuspletely on attacking!


    Punch after punch flew towards the bearkin, hitting his arms and shoulders and making him retreat repeatedly.


    Finally, he grunted in pain again. Unable to continue enduring Liu Ying''s frenzied attacks, he ended showing an opening.


    Liu Ying grinned at that and raised her knee, hitting the bearkin''s belly!


    "Gah!" The bearkin vomited a mouthful of blood at kneeled on the floor.


    He stared at Liu Ying with unwillingness. In fact, his muscles were tensing for hisst attack, in a desperate attempt to turn around the situation.


    Liu Ying smiled. With a fast movement, she unleashed a palm attack, hitting his chest before he could move.


    *Crack!*


    When this palm hit, several of the bearkin''s ribs were fractured.


    Then, he copsed to the ground, knocked out.


    Liu Ying smiled slightly and looked at the referee. When the referee confirmed her enemy was knocked out, he nodded at her with a little bit of admiration.


    "The winner is Liu Ying!"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 219: The Last Six (3)

    Chapter 219: The Last Six (3)


    "The winner is Liu Ying!" The referee announced.


    Liu Ying smiled sweetly. She then turned around and returned to her seat proudly.


    Several people were looking at her with expressions of admiration. Her enemy, Arno, was a very famous B-Rank practitioner. However, he was defeated by Liu Ying and Liu Ying did not suffer any injury.


    In other words, this match could be considered an overwhelming victory.


    "Well done," Bloed said when Liu Ying returned. Liu Ying grinned and said nothing, but it was obvious she was feeling happy.


    Bloed smiled slightly and looked at the stage again.


    After Liu Ying''s battle, it was Aya''s turn.


    The catkin girl walked to the stage under the gaze of the people in the coliseum. When she arrived at the arena, her opponent was already there.


    Greta, a spear-user deerkin girl.


    Greta was a bit taller than Aya, with two deer antlers growing from her brownish hair and a pair of adorable deer ears.


    She gave out a slightly sacred feeling, as though she was a priestess hearing the voice of the world; and small whirlpools of wind circled her body, like wind spirits greeting a pure maiden.


    And as one of the twelve candidates that reached this stage, she was very strong.


    In fact, she was one of the candidates Bloed was wary of.


    However, Aya was not any weaker than her. Although she was still a bit inexperienced, Aya''s strength was undeniable.


    Thus, Bloed could not predict who was going to win this time.


    Greta and Aya stood at both ends of the stage. The stared at each other while waiting for the referee to start the battle.


    When the referee confirmed they were ready, he swung his hand down.


    "Start!"


    Aya and Greta moved at the same time.


    Kicking the ground, Aya moved through the stage at blinding speed. She narrowed the distance between her and Greta in an instant.


    Greta stared at Aya calmly. Taking a step forward, she stabbed her spear forward elegantly.


    But that elegant stab became deadly instantly. It was as though her spear summoned all the wind in the surroundings, sending it towards Aya furiously.


    Aya narrowed her eyes. Her petite body abruptly stopped before crouching down and avoiding the barrage of wind. She then put a hand on the ground and threw herself towards Greta.


    *nk!*


    Daggers and spear shed, and sparks appeared in the air. It was the first sh between the deer and the cat.


    But Aya''s expression changed instantly. She did not hesitate to jump back, avoiding a sudden de-like gust of wind that surged towards her from below.


    But the wind did not stop there. Following Aya''s movements, it continued chasing after her. Furthermore, even more gusts of wind closed on her from all directions and threatened to slice her flesh into bits.


    Unable to avoid the numerous gusts of wind, Aya clenched her teeth and swung her daggers furiously, destroying a portion of the wind and escaping through that opening.


    Unfortunately, Greta seemed to have predicted her escape. Not even one secondter, her mana-filled spear appeared before Aya''s eyes.


    Aya managed to avoid the attack leaning her head aside, but Greta continued pressing on her.


    Stab, thrust, swipe, swing. Countless spear attacks flew towards Aya''s body, creating tens of spear shadows that seemed to attack her form each direction.


    Even worse, each spear attack was apanied by a powerful and sharp gust of wind, cornering Aya even more.


    The catkin girl''s face turned stern. But she did not panic. Her body moved dexterously around the spear attacks evading each one of them. At the same time, her daggers shone brightly and released a powerful mana wave.


    *Boom!!!*


    The mana wave shed against the gusts of wind, destroying thempletely and then continuing towards Greta.


    But Greta grunted. Her spear shed with the mana wave, cutting it into two easily, but when she was going to continue attacking Aya, she realized the catkin girl had disappeared.


    Greta''s expression changed. Without hesitation, she swung her spear around her, releasing a current of air in all directions and trying to make Ayae out.


    But Aya was not caught by the attack. Instead, Greta felt a powerful killing intenting from her back.


    Like a ghost, Aya appeared behind her, and her two daggers cut simultaneously towards Greta''s neck and heart!


    The attacks were so quick and deadly that they were night unavoidable.


    But when everybody thought Greta was unable to avoid these attacks, the situation suddenly changed.


    A whirlpool of wind surged out of Greta''s body, surrounding her body and stopping Aya''s daggers!


    Aya''s expression changed. Feeling that something was wrong, she tried to jump away and escape.


    But to her surprise, her body could not move!


    It had been trapped by Greta''s wind!


    Greta''s wind could not restrain Aya for long. With the catkin girl''s abilities, she could escape in less than one second.


    But in this kind of battle, one second was far too long.


    And Greta was not going to let go of this opportunity.


    Her spear moved like a snake, piercing Aya''s abdomen!


    "Agh!"


    Aya opened her eye wide in pain. She hurriedly tried to circte her mana to escape from her predicament and try to turn the situation around.


    But to her surprise, the mana in her body suddenly vanished.


    "Surprised?" Greta said calmly. "It''s the ability of my spear. It''s a demigod artifact with the ability to drain mana when it cuts the opponent''s body. And in front of a B-Rank opponent, this ability is lethal I''m sorry, but it''s the end."


    With these words, Greta raised her leg and kicked Aya''s chest.


    *Bam!*


    The catkin girl flew away, leaving the stage and falling on the ground several meters away.


    Before closing her eyes, thest thing she heard was the words of the referee.


    "Winner, Greta Oak."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 220: The Last Six (4)

    Chapter 220: The Last Six (4)


    "Winner, Greta Oak!"


    The words of the referee echoed in the coliseum, dering the victory of the deerkin girl.


    Hearing that, Bloed could not help but sigh in pity.


    " She lost, huh."


    Liu Ying nodded beside him. "Well, her opponent was rather strong."


    Bloed could not deny it. Certainly, that deerkin girl was very strong.


    In fact, since the start of the battle, she always had the advantage.


    Her skillful use of the spear plus her ability to manipte wind made it hard for Aya to face her.


    Aya was strong too, of course. She even had a clear opportunity to win when she disappeared and ambushed Greta.


    But in the end, she ended dancing on Greta''s palm. Greta not only predicted her ambush and used her wind maniption to stop the daggers; but at the same time, she managed to use Aya''s all-out attack against her, grasping the instant when she put everything in her attack and using wind to restrain her movements.


    After that, victory and defeat were already decided.


    " In the end, the catkin girl was too inexperienced." Regina sighed and said.


    "Inexperienced?" Rana and Liu Ying tilted their heads confused.


    "Yes. You probably did not notice, but the reason the deerkin girl managed to grasp the opportunity sessfully was that the cat girl emitted too much killing intent when she tried to ambush her. It ended helping the deerkin girl to find the cat''s position, allowing her to use that brief bit of time toy a trap."


    "Regina is right." Eve nodded. "That girl, Aya, is a cat from the Sharpw family. The Sharpw family has been a family of assassins for generations, and Aya has enough talent to be considered as a genius even between them. However, an assassin must not emit killing intent before an attack, much less when the target is a powerhouse. That is a taboo for assassins."


    Bloed nodded. Certainly, he had battled beside Javelin several times, and Javelin was incredibly good at hiding his killing intent.


    Aya''s assassination techniques were child''s ypared to him.


    Even so, Bloed thought it was a shame Aya lost. To be honest, he would have preferred if she was the one that won.


    After all, they could be considered as acquittances. Plus, he had fought beside Aya, and the two of them had pretty good synergy.


    He was sure they could cooperate pretty well during the mission.


    While Bloed and the girls were talking, Aya was taken to a healing mage to treat her injuries. Bloed could see Javelin standing near her with an expression of concern.


    Meanwhile, the next pair of candidates went to the stage.


    One of them was a batkin, another acquittance of Bloed. He was the batkin that Bloed injured one day ago during the hunt.


    Bloed learned that his name was Rhone Nightwhisper. He was the heir of one of the remaining families of batkins, and a known genius in The Frend, one of the five beastmen countries.


    As for his opponent, his name was Cliff. A two-meters tall turtlekin that wielded a mace.


    Contrary to Bloed''s expectations, turtlekins did not have a shell on their back. Instead, they were blessed with a robust body and a tough skin filled with small scales in their arms and legs that granted them outstanding defenses.


    Their astonishing defensive abilities were considered one of the best through the continent.


    When the battle started, though, Bloed realized that even the best defense was not impregnable.


    The batkin, Rhone, attacked fiercely since the start. He pped his wings, flying at low altitude and rushing towards Cliff, evading his mace and hitting his chest with his palm.


    That palm attack was enough to show who was the superior one.


    Hundreds of low-frequency sound waves invaded Cliff''s body, messing his internal organs and rupturing several veins and vessels.


    Even although Cliff tried to endure and retaliate with another attack, Rhone evaded it easily and attacked again, this time hitting Cliff''s shoulder, followed by his abdomen, neck, and back.


    By the fifth attack, Cliff was unable to continue standing. His body copsed heavily on the ground, bleeding from his mouth, nostrils, eyes, and ears.


    In fact, when the healing mage checked on him, he said he would have died if he remained like that for five or ten minutes more.


    The results of this battle made Bloed increase his wariness towards the batkin.


    He had already tasted the effect of the batkin''s soundwaves attack during the hunt, so he knew how powerful it was. In fact, he probably would have copsed much sooner than the turltlekin if he received that barrage of palm attacks.


    "In the end, my body is still a weakness, huh." Bloed smiled bitterly. He had to find a way to make up for this weakness, and fast.


    But now was not the moment to think of that.


    With Rhone and Cliff''s battle finished, it was Bloed''s turn to go to the stage.


    Taking a deep breath, he stood up and got ready to face his opponent.


    "Good luck, Bloed."


    "Master, take care."


    "You must win, Mr. Bloed~"


    Liu Ying, Regina, and Rana encouraged him. Bloed nodded to them with a confident smile and walked towards the stage.


    Soon, his opponent appeared before him.


    And when Bloed saw him, he smiled wryly.


    This time, his opponent was another acquittance.


    Gorde, the wolfkin belonging to Moonlight Glow.


    "So it''s you, huh" Bloed sighed heavily.


    "Surprised? I think it''s good. I can eliminate you personally this way."


    "If you say so," Bloed said casually and stopped paying attention to the wolfkin''s words.


    With a thought, his mechanical puppets were summoned from his storage ring.


    Several people raised an eyebrow when Tito, Leto, and Oculus appeared on the stage. After all, summoned creatures, constructs, and other external objects that did not rely on the user''s mana to work were forbidden.


    But neither the king nor the demigods say anything, so the people in the coliseum understood that somehow the mechanical pets did not vite the rules.


    Plus, some sharp people directly noticed that Leto, Tito, and Oculus were not simple. Instead, they dependedpletely on Bloed''s abilities to work.


    Ignoring the gazes on him, Bloed ordered Tito to turn into a set of armor. At the same time, Oculus turned invisible, and Leto turned into a whirlpool of metallic sand circling Bloed.


    "I''m ready," Bloed said.


    The referee looked at Bloed fixedly and nodded. He then looked at Gorde to confirm he was ready.


    When Gorde nodded, the referee raised his hand.


    "If you are ready, start!"

 Chapter 221: The Last Six (5)

    Chapter 221: The Last Six (5)


    "Start!" The referee announced.


    Hearing the referee''s signal, Gorde moved.


    His right feet stomped on the ground,unching himself towards Bloed at full speed.


    At the same time, he gathered mana in his hands. The mana quickly coalesced forming two translucid oversized wolf ws around his hands.


    In less than one second, he was already less than two meters away from Bloed.


    But Bloed did not stay quiet.


    With a thought, Leto''s sand surged forward, turning into a giant wave that blocked the wolf''s way forward!


    "That will not work!" Gorde bellowed. Raising his right hand, he swung it down, creating a giant mana wave that opened a path in the middle of Leto''s wave!


    Gorde rushed through that path and charged towards Bloed''s location.


    But Bloed was no longer there!


    Instead, Gorde was greeted by a powerful ray of smaing from the sky!


    "!!!"


    It was Oculus''s main attack, able to gravely injure or even kill an A-Rank if he was not careful!


    Bloed had timed it perfectly, aiming it to the ce where he was before as though he had predicted Gorde''s actions!


    Unfortunately, his prediction was slightly off. When the sma ray fell, Gord''s instincts screamed to him that something was wrong. Due to that, he resolutely jumped back and used as much mana as he could to form a protectiveyer over his skin, evading the brunt of the attack.


    Even so, part of the sma ray still fell on his body.


    "Ugh!"


    Gorde grunted in pain. Even after evading most of the attack and using mana to defend himself, his right shoulder and arm had been badly burnt!


    Moreover, Bloed''s attack had not finished. As though he had predicted that Oculus''s attack was not going to be enough, Leto turned into several metallic spears that attacked his current position.


    "Get lost!!!" Gorde suppressed his pain and roared, creating a powerful shockwave that forced Leto''s sand back.


    Using that opportunity, he jumped away.


    At that moment, though, his instincts once more screamed to him.


    Without bothering to find what was wrong, Gorde twisted his body aside and kicked the ground, trying to evade whatever was attacking him.


    But even like that


    *sh!*


    A saber de cut through his abdomen, giving him a serious injury.


    Moreover, a bullet flew from Bloed''s gun, aiming at the ce where he was evading!


    Gorde grunted and tensed up the muscles of his abdomen to suppress the bleeding. At the same time, he used the wolf w in his left hand to barely block Bloed''s bullet.


    But, how could Bloed''s ster bulled be blocked so easily?


    When Gorde''s w shed against Bloed''s bullet, the superheated sma burned through the mana, reaching until his hand and burning his skin.


    Gorde''s face was twisted in pain. Thebined damage caused by the injuries in his right arm, abdomen and left hand caused him to turn dizzy.


    Moreover, he discovered that Bloed''s saber was againing towards him. Moreover, Leto''s metallic sand had returned, taking the form of several metallic appendages that attacked his body from different directions!


    It was a hopeless situation!


    But even so, Gorde was not ready to give up.


    "NOT YEEEEEEEEEEET!!!" With a cry of fury, mana erupted from his body, creating a me-like aura that wrapped around him.


    The powerful mana created a vortex of air around Gorde. At the same time, the injuries in his right shoulder, abdomen, and left hand started to heal at visible speed!


    "Limit Break!" Someone in the stands eximed in surprise after seeing the technique.


    [Limit Break]. A technique that burned one''s mana in exchange for a forced boost in strength. However, the user''s body could not endure such an unnatural boost easily, so the technique could only be kept for a short period of time.


    Limit Break was not easy to use, though. To use it you needed to have perfect control over the mana in your body. Otherwise, the burning mana could damage your internal organs and mana pathways, provoking death in the worst scenery.


    But Gorde was very talented. He took this technique one step beyond normal. He found a way to use the boost of [Limit Break] to increase the resilience and innate regeneration speed of his body. In other words, he was not only stronger than before but he also could disregard most injuries and continued fighting regardless of them.


    It was as though he had turned into a berserk warrior.


    Gorde''s movements turned faster, and his injuries stopped hurting. Quickly, he stomped on the ground,unching himself upwards to evade Leto''s appendages and Bloed''s saber. He then sent mana to his feet, creating a shockwave in the air that sent him in Bloed''s direction, with his w ready to take Bloed''s life.


    Bloed remained calm. Countless calctions shed in his mind, and each one of Gorde''s movements was clear before his eyes.


    When Gordeunched himself towards him, Bloed gave an order to one of his pets.


    ''Fire!''


    And the eye in the sky fired.


    Tens of sma bullets were shot from Oculus, intercepting the wolf in the air.


    Gorde''s face changed. He was unable to avoid the bullets in the current situation!


    Hence, he just gritted his teeth and put all his mana into defense, nning to endure Oculus'' attack for a few seconds while he knocked Bloed out.


    But his n was destined to fail.


    Suddenly, a wall of metallic sand appeared in front of him.


    It was Leto.


    Gorde''s expression turned ugly. Bellowing, he unleashed a powerful punch that blew Leto away.


    But due to that, he was forced to stop.


    And Oculus''s bullets reached him.


    *Boooom!!!*


    Countless bullets rained in Gorde''s location, creating a cloud of dust that swallowed the stage.


    After several seconds, Bloed waved his hand, and Oculus stopped attacking.


    With another wave of his hand, Bloed shot a wave of psychic energy from his mind that blew the cloud of dust away.


    When the cloud of dust was cleared, Gorde appeared kneeling on the ground.


    His body was covered with injuries and burns of all the sizes, and his mana was almostpletely drained after defending against Oculus barrage.


    But even like that, Gorde was ring at Bloed''s with bloodshot eyes.


    "It''s your loss," Bloed said indifferently.


    " Not Yet"


    Bloed raised an eyebrow and looked at the referee.


    The referee put on a pensive expression and looked at Gorde. When he saw his injuries, he decided that Gorde was not in conditions to continue fighting.


    Before he could speak, though, Gorde''s mana erupted for onest time.


    "Die!"


    With a cry of anger, he flew towards Bloed and aimed his w towards Bloed''s neck.


    But suddenly, Bloed''s figure disappeared.


    Then, Gorde felt something sharp piercing his back.


    " How predictable." Bloed shook his head and withdrew his saber.


    Behind him, Gorde opened his eyes wide and copsed on the ground. He discovered he could not move his body anymore.


    Bloed''s saber had pierced his spine, cutting several important nerves and immobilizing him.


    He then sheathed his saber and looked in direction of the referee.


    One secondter, the voice of the referee was heard.


    "Winner, Bloed Norman!"

 Chapter 222: The Last Six (6)

    Chapter 222: The Last Six (6)


    Bloed''s battle caused amotion among the spectators. In fact, several beastmen were looking at him with astonished gazes.


    Bloed did not know it, but Gorde was very famous among the beastmen''s young generation. He was considered one of the favorites in this selection.


    However, he was defeated by Bloed. Moreover, since the start, he did not manage to hurt Bloed even once.


    " His style of battle is very troublesome." A middle-aged male catkin muttered.


    "Troublesome?" Javelin asked confused. "What do you mean, father?"


    " Your friend, he predicted all the actions of Gorde from start to end. Gorde was dancing in the palm of his hand. I even have the feeling your friend has not shown his entire strength yet. Moreover, his saber sh cut through Gorde''s defense as though it was nothing Is it [Skysword]? Amazing as expected"


    Javelin was surprised after hearing his father''s praise. You must know that although his father was not a demigod, he was just half a step away from bing one. In fact, he had assassinated a demigod before.


    Unfortunately, he had not been able to take thest step to be a demigod. In thest twenty years, his cultivation has not improved even a bit.


    That was one of his father''s greatest regrets.


    But even so, as one of the best assassins of the continent, Javelin''s father''s eyesight was exceptional. He managed to see the exceptionalness of Bloed''s saber.


    He was unaware of the existence of [Molecr Disinteration] though, so he linked the ability of Bloed''s saber to cut through anything to a very famous technique rted to Bloed''s former family.


    " [Skysword] is the secret technique of the Kingdom of Alterna, right?"


    "Yes. It''s the most overbearing sword in the continent. Even in the Skysword family, it''s very difficult to learn. Sometimes, nobody can learn it in one hundred years." Javelin''s father exined. He then looked at Bloed and sighed. "How unexpected. In this generation, the Skysword royal family gave birth to two geniuses able toprehend that technique. Fortunately, fate was kind to us."


    "Huh?" Javelin was confused by his father''s words.


    Javelin''s father chuckled bitterly. "Think about it. Just the [World Burning Princess Witch] was enough to make all the countries surrounding the Kingdom of Alterna wary of her potential. Imagine then what would have happened if another genius as her appeared in the Skysword royal family? I don''t know why your friend cut ties with his family, but to be honest, it''s fortunate to us. Otherwise, once he and his sister mature and realize their full potential, the Kingdom of Alterna will see a new golden age, and the kingdoms in the surrounding will live in fear."


    " You are exaggerating, right?"


    "I''m not." Javelin''s father sighed and stopped talking. Instead, he stared at the blue-haired young man exiting the stage.


    [World Burning Princess Witch]. It was the nickname of the princess of the Kingdom of Alterna.


    Javelin''s father was not only the patriarch of the Sharpw family, but he was also the right hand of the king of The Great Savannah. Due to that, he once had the opportunity to travel to the Kingdom of Alterna and met the princess. That was two years ago.


    Back then, he remembered wondering how could such a genius exist?


    Her talent, strength, and wisdom were incredible for a girl of her age. Moreover, she somehow leaned [Skysword], and not content with that, she transformed it into the [World Burning me], a me able to burn space itself.


    Javelin''s father was an assassin, so he was used to observing and measuring the strength of the people he met. And two years ago, when he met the princess, he managed to get a glimpse of her strength.


    The princess of back then was as strong as Rana, Liu Ying, Greta, or the other beastmen that fought today.


    Back then, she was just thirteen, but her strength was already approaching the A-Rank.


    How strong was her today then? Javelin''s father was not sure, but he was sure she was much stronger.


    As for her brother To be honest, he seemed considerably weaker than her.


    But as an assassin, Javelin''s father trusted his instincts a lot.


    And his instincts were telling him that Bloed was dangerous.


    Very dangerous.


    As though he could at any moment destroy everything around him.


    " What a pair of siblings." Javelin''s father mumbled softly, so softly that nobody heard him. "Fortunately, one of them left that family."


    After that, another thought entered at Javelin''s father''s mind.


    " I wonder if there is a way to tie him to this country."


    Bloed was not aware that someone was thinking about him.


    Currently, he was walking towards his seat while thinking about the battle of just now.


    To be honest, Bloed was pretty satisfied.


    Gorde was strong, very strong. Comparable to some weaker A-Rank practitioners.


    But even so, Bloed managed to defeat him easily.


    To Bloed, it was proof that the path he was taking was right.


    When Bloed arrived at his seat, Regina and Liu Ying smiled at him.


    "Congrattions, master."


    "Well done! It''s good you trashed him! I never liked that guy!"


    Bloed smiled wryly. He could see an awkward expression in Rana''s fate. After all, Gorde and her were both acquittances from Moonlight Glow.


    To his surprise, Eve did not seem bothered even although he defeated Gorde.


    "Well done. As expected, I was right to ask you to participate in this selection." Eve said smugly, proud of pulling Bloed and Liu Ying to Moonlight Glow''s side.


    After all, thanks to the two of them, three of the six people that will participate in the mission belonged to Moonlight Glow.


    Such a result was going to increase Moonlight Glow''s reputation among the beastmen greatly.


    Bloed did not care about that, though. The reason he participated here was in part due to the rewards and in part to create a deeper bond with Moonlight Glow.


    Plus, it was not too dangerous, and he could get valuable battle experience fighting the talents of his generation. To Bloed, participating here had mostly advantages with almost no disadvantages.


    '' I also got an idea about how strong the young generation of the continent is.''


    Rhone, Rana, Gorde, Aya, Greta, and Atai.


    Each one was an incredible talent.


    Thinking about that, Bloed could not help but look towards the stage.


    There, the twost candidates were about to start their battle.


    On one side, the cougarkin Atai was crouching with his daggers ready, and in the other, the tigerkin Daena was holding a de.


    As soon as the referee gave the signal, both of them moved.


    And in the next second, the battle ended.


    Throwing a dagger, Atai forced Daena to parry it. Then, he elerated powerfully, arriving behind Daena and stabbing his second dagger in her spine.


    Daena did not even manage to react.


    It was all Atai needed to end the battle.


    " As expected, he is strong." Bloed could not help but mutter.


    Atai He was the strongest candidate Bloed had met.


    Evenpared to Rana or Liu Ying, who also showed overwhelming abilities, he was probably stronger.


    In fact, even Bloed himself was not confident in defeating him unless he used hisst trump card.


    " I guess I still need to be stronger, huh."


    While Bloed thought about the ces where he needed to improve, the duels came to an end.


    Rana, Liu Ying, Greta, Rhone, Bloed, and Atai.


    The six participants from the beastmen side had finally been chosen.


    One weekter, they would face against the outstanding talents from the Boerner Elven Forest and the Sun Kingdom.

 Chapter 223: Returning to the Capital (1)

    Chapter 223: Returning to the Capital (1)


    Like that, the selection of the six practitioners representing the Great Savannah in thepetition for the mines ended.


    The rabbitkin Rana, the demon Liu Ying, the deerkin Greta, the batkin Rhone, the human Bloed, and the cougarkin Atai.


    Six candidates chosen from the one hundred and twenty strongest members of the young generation in the beastmen countries.


    Some people were a bit discontent when a human and a demon were chosen among the six representatives, but the king seemed very supportive of the idea, plus, Bloed and Liu Ying were technically members of Moonlight Glow.


    Moreover, both Bloed and Liu Ying showed very outstanding performances during the selection, so not even the most xenophobic beastmen could deny that Bloed and Liu Ying''s abilities were going to be very useful during the selection.


    But although the selection had ended, it did not mean Bloed and the others could rest until the day of thepetition.


    Quite the opposite, they had a tight schedule until the day of thepetition.


    Certainly, Bloed and the others were very outstanding among the young generation, but the six of them had no experience fighting together.


    They could not participate in thepetition like that.


    Thus, during the following days, they would be trained to teach them to fight like a team.


    Fortunately, the king understood that the six of them were tired after two days of constant battle, so he gave them one day to rest before starting the training.


    An airship arrived to take the candidates back to the capital. It was the same airship that brought them here.


    Bloed felt the trip back was very short. Mainly because he fell asleep as soon as he boarded the airship. His body was so tired that as soon as he rxed, his eyelids closed by themselves.


    When Bloed woke up, he felt a weight against his right shoulder.


    Opening his eyes, he saw Liu Ying snoring softly with her head on his shoulder.


    Bloed was slightly startled, but then, his lips curved up in a smile.


    He stared at Liu Ying''s face tenderly. Her white skin, her long eyshes, the horn in her forehead, and her long hair.


    She looked so peaceful sleeping on his shoulder. As though she did not have any worry.


    '' She is truly beautiful.'' Bloed smiled softly andbed her hair.


    But at the same time, he felt distressed.


    Liu Ying She carried so much on her shoulders.


    Even her true appearance was not something she could show to others easily. She was forced to hide her beautiful red hair and her amber eyes in case someone recognized her identity.


    Even her aspect, the Chaos Titan, the pride of her family, could not see the light of the day.


    She must hide it under the disguise of a ck knight in fear of being recognized by the enemies of her family.


    She was once a proud princess of the demons, destined to live a life offort and be admired by others.


    Instead, she lost her entire family and was thrown to the exilednds.


    ''Well, my circumstances are not any better.'' Bloed smiled wryly to himself. He was also a prince once, after all.


    While Bloed was caressing Liu Ying''s hair, the demon frowned and slowly opened her eyes.


    Still dazed, Liu Ying''s stared at Bloed confused. She then smiled and nted a kiss on his lips.


    " Morning."


    " Morning, I guess." Although it was almost night already.


    With a wry smile, Bloed shook his head kissed Liu Ying''s back.


    A shade of red appeared on Liu Ying''s cheeks, but she received the kiss happily.


    "Hey, Liu Ying."


    "Hm?"


    "One day, when the two of us are strong enough to not fear anything, I''ll help you to get your revenge. I promise you."


    "Huh?" Liu Ying was startled. For a few seconds, she was unable to process Bloed''s words.


    But when she understood his meaning, her face bloomed in a beautiful smile.


    " Really?"


    "Of course."


    " Even if they are very strong?"


    "We will be stronger."


    " You are right... Thanks, Bloed."


    Bloed smiled and knocked her head softly.


    "You don''t need to thank me. I''m your boyfriend after all."


    Liu Ying smiled shyly and lowered her head. At the same time, she grabbed Bloed''s hand and intertwined her fingers with his.


    For a few minutes, the pair continued like that, just feeling the warmth of each other.


    And with each passing second, Bloed could feel the shadows of his mother fading from his mind.


    Unfortunately, good things do notst forever.


    And the pair had forgotten the existence of someone.


    "Ahem."


    The sound of a cough reached Bloed and Liu Ying''s ears.


    Instantly, the pair froze.


    Then, their necks moved in direction of the cough like broken dolls.


    And they saw the chilling gaze of a silver-haired girl.


    " I thought of giving you a bit of time alone as a reward for your victories, however, don''t you think you are showing off your love too much?"


    "R-Regina, hi"


    "How are you, master? Was your sleep good?"


    "I-It was."


    "Is it so? How about you, demon? Did you enjoy sleeping on master''s shoulder?"


    " I did?"


    "Good. Now, don''t you think the two of you need to tell me something? Like, since when you two became lovers?"


    Bloed smile wryly. He knew this conversation was going to happen sooner orter.


    Now, he needed to rack his brains to think of a way to please Regina.


    Fortunately, it seemed like Bloed''s luck was pretty good today.


    When Liu Ying and he were being pressed by Regina, the airship arrived at the capital. Taking advantage of that, Bloed suggested to let this conversation for when they returned to the ce where they were staying.


    To Bloed''s relief, Regina agreed to his suggestion.


    ''I guess I have a few hours more to think about a good answer Sigh, what am I afraid of? It''s not like Regina is going to kill me''


    Plus, he had already chosen to ept both of them Although he was not sure about how Regina was going to react to that.


    Fortunately, Regina and Liu Ying''s rtionship seemed much closer recently, so probably Regina will not kill Liu Ying in a fit of rage right?


    While Bloed was worried about something that would have made any other man jealous, he exited the airship together with the two girls.


    But when they were leaving the airship, they identally bumped with a group of three.


    "Ah." A startled voice sounded.


    Bloed was slightly surprised when he saw the people in front of him.


    They were a group of three catkins standing there awkwardly.


    Aya, Javelin, and their father.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 224: Returning to the Capital (2)

    Chapter 224: Returning to the Capital (2)


    Bloed looked at Aya, Javelin, and their father with a slightly surprised expression.


    After that, though, he could not help but feel a bit awkward.


    Mainly due to Aya.


    The catkin girl had just been lost the opportunity to represent the Great Savannah in thepetition for the mines while Bloed and Liu Ying managed to get it. Obviously, she would not feelfortable after seeing them.


    As though proving Bloed''s guess, Aya lowered her head with a gloomy expression as soon as she realized it was Bloed.


    Bloed sighed. Now it was awkward.


    The worst part was that he could not simply leave now. If he did, Aya was going to feel even worse.


    Javelin smiled wryly. Understanding Bloed''s worry, he took the initiative to greet him.


    "Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, congrattions on your victory. Miss Regina, nice to meet you again."


    "Thank you, fortunately, I had a bit of luck."


    "Thank you, Mr. Javelin."


    "Mm."


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina returned the greeting.


    Javelin''s father spoke up at that moment. He looked at Bloed and sighed.


    "It was not luck, young man."


    "Huh?"


    "Your victory. It was not due to luck. I watched your performance during the selection, and to be honest, I was very surprised."


    Bloed was stunned by the catkin''s words, but he quickly recovered and smiled.


    "Thank you for your praise, but there are still a lot of things that I need to improve."


    Javelin''s father narrowed his eyes briefly before nodding.


    "You are right. But you are still young. Same with you, Miss Liu Ying. Young people like you have a lot of potential. Who knows? Perhaps one day the two of you will be two new demigods."


    "I hope so. But it''s not so easy to be a demigod." Bloed smiled and replied. Suddenly, though, he realized that Aya was tightening her fist.


    Bloed''s expression turnedplicated. After hesitating briefly, he finally sighed and spoke up.


    "Miss Aya, do you know why you lost?"


    "Huh?"


    "It was not because you were not strong enough. Quite the opposite, I don''t think your strength was inferior to your opponent. However, she had more experience."


    Aya was startled. Involuntarily, she raised her head to look at Bloed.


    When she did, she was greeted by an encouraging smile.


    "Cheer up and practice hard. This time it was impossible, but I would like to have another opportunity to fight beside you."


    After saying these words, Bloed bid farewell to the catkin family farewell and left with the girls.


    Behind him, Aya continued looking at Bloed''s back dazedly until he disappeared in the crowd.


    Javelin''s father''s expression turned strange.


    He looked at the dazed look of his daughter and patted her head.


    "That boy is destined to reach very far, my daughter. And if you want to walk beside him, you must work hard."


    Aya nodded without looking at her father. Hesitating slightly, she opened her mouth.


    " Dad, can I go to see thepetition?"


    "Huh?"


    " I want to see what I''mcking."


    The catkin middle-aged man was startled. But soon, he smiled softly.


    "Of course."


    After Bloed and the girls left the airship, they went directly to their house.


    In the way, Regina and Liu Ying were looking at Bloed strangely and exasperatedly.


    Finally, when they arrived at the entrance, Bloed was unable to endure their strange gazes anymore.


    "Okay, what is it?"


    " Master, can you please stop raising gs with every pretty girl you met?"


    " Do you mean Aya?"


    "Mm-Mm." Liu Ying nodded bitterly. "Regina is right. That poor little girl must be experiencing her first love right now."


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    "I''m sure you two are exaggerating."


    "We are not, master," Regina said with a sigh. "Please, consider my suggestion of disguising your face Use an ugly face if it''s possible. A mask will work too. That way, only the demon and I will be able to see your true face and fewer girls will fall for you."


    Bloed was speechless.


    "Anyway, I know you said that to cheer that cat girl, master. But be more conscious of yourself and others. If you say something like that to a girl in that situation, it would be strange if she does not start to fall for you."


    " I''ll be careful."


    Regina narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Finally, though, she shook her head.


    "I hope so." She then sighed. "Anyway, master, I''m going to prepare dinner. Is there anything in particr you want?"


    "Anything is alright. Everything you cook is great." Bloed said casually. "I guess I''ll take a bath meanwhile. I feel dirty after two days without taking a bath."


    "A bath?" Regina was startled. But then, her eyes lit up.


    She then red at Liu Ying with narrowed eyes.


    "What about you, demon?"


    "I think I''ll wait until Bl I-I mean, I''m feeling a bit sleepy. I guess I''ll go to my room."


    "Good." Regina nodded with a small smile. "I''ll start preparing dinner then." Upon saying that, Regina left hurriedly.


    Bloed was confused. For some reason, he felt that there was something wrong with thest interaction between Regina and Liu Ying.


    Shaking his head, he decided not to think about that and walked towards the bath.


    Taking off his clothes, Bloed submerged himself in the warm water. Instantly, he felt as though the fatigue of thest two days was disappearing slowly.


    Bloed let out a groan of satisfaction and closed his eyes.


    Perhaps because he was a bit too tired, Bloed soon started to doze off. Eventually, the hot bat made him fall asleep.


    But in his sleep, he felt someone approaching him.


    Bloed ignored it initially. After all, he knew he was safe with Regina around.


    But when he felt that person entering the water as well, he finally remembered where he was.


    Bloed opened his eyes hurriedly and looked beside him. To his surprise, a beautiful silver-haired girl was submerged on the water and staring at him. Her glistening skin was covered only by a towel.


    " Master." Regina muttered softly and a slight blush appeared on her face.


    Bloed gulped down a mouthful of saliva.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 225: The First Time

    Chapter 225: The First Time


    Finally here :p


    ...


    "Master" Regina whispered softly.


    Bloed was stunned. He looked at the perfect figure in front of him in a daze, causing Regina to blush and lower her head.


    Thanks to that, Bloed snapped out of his daze.


    "Sorry"


    "It doesn''t matter. I don''t mind if you look"


    Bloed did not know how to react to that.


    Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes to calm down his emotions. When he opened them again, he looked at Regina and smiled wryly.


    "You know I''m a man, right? What are you going to do if I''m unable to control myself?"


    "If master wants, I don''t mind giving my body to you."


    Bloed was speechless. Right, he forgot he was talking with Regina.


    This Valkyrie surely would be more than happy to give herself to him.


    While Bloed was thinking about how to answer, Regina moved towards him.


    "Master, I''ll help you to wash your body."


    "That is"


    "What is the problem? I''m your servant. I''m just doing my duty."


    Without giving Bloed time to react, she moved behind him and started to wash his back.


    Bloed could only sigh and resign himself to the current situation. Well, it was not as though he disliked it.


    Regina was very gentle washing Bloed''s body. She used her hands to scoop water and pout it on Bloed''s neck and hair. Then, she softly caressed his body, as though she was admiring each part of him.


    Bloed could not deny he was slightly embarrassed, but at the same time, he felt very excited.


    Fortunately, it was not the first time he took a bath with Regina. Otherwise, he would have been unable to control himself.


    Suddenly, he felt Regina putting her chin on his shoulder.


    "Master"


    "Mm?"


    " About Liu Ying Don''t you think you need to tell me something?"


    Bloed thought for a moment and nodded apologetically.


    " Sorry, I should have told you about it before."


    "No." Regina shook her head. "Master does not need to apologize to me. Im just your servant, your bodyguard. Although I can''t deny I felt a bit displeased by that."


    " You know that I don''t think of you like that, Regina."


    "Then, what do you think about me, master?"


    Bloed fell silent for a few seconds before sighing.


    "I''m not sure I don''t know very much about this But, I don''t want to disappoint you."


    Regina smiled softly. Although she was notpletely satisfied with Bloed''s answer, she could feel the sincerity behind his words.


    "I will never be disappointed with master," Regina said and leaned her body towards Bloed''s back. Before Bloed could react, Regina wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her body against his.


    Her skin was only separated from his by a towel. But soon, the towel started to slide down, until there was nothing separating them.


    Bloed gulped down loudly. He forced his mind to makeplex calctions to keep his sanity.


    But it was not easy.


    And Regina was making it even harder.


    "Master, I love you," She whispered shyly, like a young maiden confessing her feelings to the man she loved.


    "... I know." Bloed replied seriously." And I like you, Regina. Believe me, I''m doing an effort to respond to your feelings properly."


    "Is it so?" Regina smiled sweetly, hugging him with even more strength. "I''m happy to hear these words, master To be honest, I don''t mind it if Liu Ying bes your girlfriend. I only hope you don''t forget about me. Of course, I''ll be angry if you go around flirting with every pretty girl you met."


    " Who do you think I am?" Bloed asked without knowing whether tough or to cry.


    "The most outstanding man in this world?"


    "You sure have a high opinion of me" Bloed was speechless again.


    Even if he was confident in himself, he was sure there were people more outstanding than him out there.


    Regina chuckled happily. Then, as though thinking about something mischievous, she moved from Bloed''s back and sat on his thigs. At the same time, she brough her face close to his.


    "... Regina?" Bloed was surprised. At the same time, he could not help but look at the glistening skin of the valkyrie.


    Regina smiled at that. She felt proud that the man she loved showed so much interest in her body.


    But, she still wanted more.


    "Master, now that we are official lovers, there is something we must do."


    "???"


    "You already kissed that demon a lot of times. What about my kisses then?" Regina asked seductively.


    " You know you are naked, right? I don''t think I can endure if we do something like that." Bloed could not help but say.


    "It doesn''t matter!"


    "Hey wait!"


    Regina did not wait. She used her arms to press Bloed against the wall of the bathtub and pressed her lips against his.


    It was a very long kiss. For several seconds, their lips were connected together.


    When their lips separated, a silvery thread of saliva glistened connecting their lips.


    I love you, master."


    Bloed was dazed. Looking at the beautiful face in front of him, he instinctively took the initiative to search Regina''s mouth again.


    At the same time, he used his arms to hug Regina''s back.


    Regina responded to his kiss lovingly. Their tongues entwined with each other, and their bodies felt each other warmth.


    Regina''s face turned slightly red and several waterdrops rolled down her body. That scene was so beautiful and seductive that Bloed felt his blood boiling.


    However, Regina did not n to stop here.


    Separating her lips from Bloed, she panted softly while caressing his chest with her hands.


    Then, she straddled his waist.


    " Regina..."


    "That demon became your girlfriend before me. But I will take the lead this time." Regina said with a voice full of expectations.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. This girl was still thinking ofpeting with Liu Ying in this situation.


    However, he thought that side of her was very cute.


    Bloed hugged her waist and kissed her lips. Then, he moved his weapon towards her sacred ce.


    Regina cooperated with him. And when her sacred cave was in position, she sat down.


    The next second, the two of them became one.


    With a soft moan, Regina''s hugged Bloed''s body and smiled. She then started to move her waist up and down, coordinating with her master.


    Bloed did not fall behind. With a grunt, he attacked Regina once and again. His mind waspletely nk, unable to think of anything but the heavenly pleasure he was feeling.


    Like that, soft groans and moans echoed in the bath.


    That night, Bloed finally became a man.


    ...


    p4tre0n: PATR-EON.COM/AIDNOVELS

 Chapter 226: Regina’s Unexpected Gain (1)

    Chapter 226: Regina¡¯s Unexpected Gain (1)


    Bloed woke up veryte the next morning. It was the first time he woke up sote in years.


    He felt strangely refreshed, though. But his waist felt a bit sore.


    When he looked beside him, he noticed that Regina was no longer in the bed. She probably had woken up earlier.


    Bloed shook his head and remembered what happenedst night. For the first time, he realized why many people say men think with their lower half.


    After he and Regina started to make love, they were unable to stop.


    Bloed was not an expert or anything like that, but his body was very strong thanks to the body-enhancement surgery. Plus, he was very young, so his stamina was incredible.


    Thus, after they did it once in the bath, they did it again, and again. Only after the fourth time did their passion start to cool down.


    They then left the bath and went to the bedroom. And once there, their passion ignited once more.


    And this time, it did not stop until after several hours of battle.


    It was already dawn when they finally fell asleep.


    And even so, when Bloed remembered the image of Regina''s body and the feeling of hugging her naked figure in his arms, his blood ignited again.


    Looking at his erect lower body, Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    Shaking his head to stop thinking about pervert things, he put on his clothes, brushed his teeth, and went to find something to eat.


    As soon as he arrived at the kitchen, he saw Regina cooking and humming an unknown song happily while Liu Ying looked at her with a strange expression.


    Liu Ying then turned towards Bloed with a curious expression.


    "Bloed, what happenedst night?"


    How was he supposed to answer that?


    Liu Ying noticed Bloed''s awkwardness and narrowed her eyes. Then, she looked at Regina again, and then at Bloed, and then at Regina, and


    "It can''t be"


    "It was, demon," Regina said proudly. "This time, I won."


    Liu Ying was speechless. But then, she blushed deeply and ran away from the kitchen, leaving behind only one word.


    "Perverts!"


    Regina snorted.


    "Bah, she is still a kid. Master, you are awake. I prepared breakfast for you. I get this turtle meat earlier in the market to prepare a soup. Plus, I also made a sd with sweet potatoes, eggs, beet, and carrots. The drink is made of banana and coconut. This is a perfect breakfast to recover your energy."


    Bloed''s lips twitched.


    " Regina, I think you are exaggerating."


    "Nothing like that, master. If we will do it several times each day, you need to recover as much energy as you can."


    Several times each day?


    Bloed felt cold sweat rolling down his back.


    Although thinking about it, it did not sound like a bad idea.


    ''No no, don''t fall to the temptation! Indulging too much in pleasure is bad Although I think there is not a problem if we only indulge ourselves a little bit''


    While Bloed was having an intense internal struggle with his weak self, Regina sat across Bloed and put her chin on her hands, watching Bloed eat with a happy smile.


    The scene seemed strangely beautiful, like a pair of husband and wife seated in a table and enjoying the morning.


    Bloed could not help but let out a small smile at that. ''I''m pretty fortunate, huh.''


    He was sure any man would dream of having a woman as beautiful as Regina.


    '' I guess Javelin was right after all. It''s better this way.''


    Thanking his friend in his mind, Bloed finished his breakfast.


    He then offered himself to wash the dishes, but Regina refused him vehemently. Instead, she asked for a kiss as a reward and told him to not worry about it.


    Unable to refuse her, Bloed decided to go to hisboratory briefly before taking a bath.


    In the way, though, he found Liu Ying training in the courtyard.


    But perhaps because she was thinking about what happened in the kitchen, she seemed rather distracted.


    And as soon as she saw Bloed enter the courtyard, she turnedpletely red and spat out a word.


    "... Pervert.


    Bloed smiled bitterly. Come on, it was just a normal act of reproduction, right?


    Shaking his head, Bloed decided to let Liu Ying alone so she could cool down her head. But Liu Ying called out to him before he could leave.


    "Bloed"


    "Mm?"


    "That Did you truly do that with Regina?"


    Bloed twitched his lips. What was wrong with this girl?


    " I did?"


    "That is H-How did it feel?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Bloed could not help bit stiffen.


    This was rather awkward.


    Was he supposed to tell his girlfriend about how he had sex with his other girlfriend?


    In the end, he forced himself to give an answer.


    " It was alright, I guess?"


    "Really? Mom told me that it is painful the first time. Was it painful for you?"


    " I don''t think it''s like it works"


    "No? Mmm Should I try it as well?"


    Bloed was speechless. He did not know how to answer that.


    But Was it something you could be so casual about?


    Seeing Bloeds strange expression, Liu Ying tilted her head.


    "Is anything wrong? We can''t?"


    "No Nothing. It''s just tha-"


    "What are you talking about? What do you want to try?" Suddenly, a voice interrupted them.


    Bloed and Liu Ying were startled. They hurriedly looked in the direction of the voice and saw a golden-haired fox girl tilting her head in doubt while looking at them.


    Liu Ying panicked immediately. "I-It''s nothing M-Miss Eve, w-why are you here?"


    "Mm? I came to tell you about the arrangements for the training, but Miss Liu Ying, are you alright? You look red."


    "Y-Yeah? I''m sure it is because I was training just now."


    Eve tilted her head in doubt. But suddenly, her nose caught a strange smell.


    And it wasing from Bloed.


    Eve furrowed her brows. She had the feeling she had smelled this scent before.


    But before she could remember where she smelled it, Regina appeared.


    "Miss Eve?"


    And as soon as she appeared, Eve opened her eyes wide.


    She then rushed towards Regina and grabbed her shoulders excitedly.


    "You Miss Regina, How did you do it!?"


    "Huh?"


    "Tell me, how did you do it!? It''s amazing!" Eve asked again and started to examine Regina''s body with an excited expression. Bloed had never seen her like this.


    Regina was feeling awkward. She looked towards Bloed to ask him for help with this situation.


    Confused, Bloed asked Eve to calm down.


    "Did something happen to Regina?" Bloed asked curiously.


    "You don''t know?" Eve was surprised.


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying shook their heads.


    "It''s Miss Regina''s soul!" Eve said unable to hide her excitement. "It''s moreplete than before! In fact, it''s almost whole! It''s impossible! I remember it was not like this yesterday Miss Regina, you must have done something that caused this change!"


    Bloed and Regina were stunned. Instantly, they thought about that.


    But, was that supposed to have this kind of effect?


    Liu Ying also seemed to reach the same conclusion, because she blushed deeply and looked away.


    Feeling that the atmosphere was a bit strange, Eve tilted her head confused. But when she was about to ask if they thought of something, her nose twitched.


    Then, a strange scent entered her nose.


    The same scent she felt in Bloed''s body.


    But this time, it wasing from Regina.


    "This scent" Eve furrowed her brows. She was even more sure now that she had smelled it before.


    It was


    Suddenly, Eve''s eyes widened.


    She then looked at Bloed and Regina repeatedly and smiled softly.


    "Congrattions."


    Bloed put a hand on his forehead. How in the hell this did girl notice?

 Chapter 227: Regina’s Unexpected Gain (2)

    Chapter 227: Regina¡¯s Unexpected Gain (2)


    Regina''s soul was iplete. It was something Bloed and the others knew already.


    The first time they heard about it was when they met the demigod bird, Chorius, in the Exiled Lands.


    But to be honest, Bloed and the others did not know if it was something bad. Regina had never shown any sign of being affected by that after all.


    Even so, when they suddenly learned that Regina''s soul became moreplete, Bloed and the others could not help but be curious about the reason.


    However, Eve seemed a bit more interested in another thing.


    "So you two are lovers after all" Eve nodded to herself, ignoring the awkward expressions on Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying''s faces. "You two seemed more like a guardian and her protegee Is it your first time having intercourse?"


    "Cough" Bloed coughed and looked at Eve with a helpless expression. But it was as though Eve could not see Bloed''s gaze.


    "How strange It''s my first time hearing about intercourse having this kind of effect in soul wounds Are you sure the change was when you two intercourse, Miss Regina?" Eve asked expressionlessly, but for some reason, she looked like a curious scientist.


    By this point, Liu Ying had turnedpletely red and Bloed was looking away, trying to escape from this situation. Even Regina seemed rather ufortable.


    " Miss Eve, can we please stop talking about this?"


    "Mm? Is anything wrong?" Eve asked.


    Then, Eve''s eyes opened wide, finally understanding the problem.


    "Oh S-Sorry, I was a bit too excited." Eve turned slightly red in embarrassment.


    " Don''t worry, it''s alright." Bloed smiled awkwardly and tried to y off the situation. He just wanted to shift the conversation to another topic.


    Unfortunately, it seemed like it was not going to happen.


    And this time, it was Regina who spoke.


    " Now that I think about it, I''ve been feeling strangely light today. Moreover, my emotions feel unusually strong I thought it was because I was in a good mood, though."


    "Is it so?" Eve''s eyes lit up. "Actually, I''m curious about something. Miss Regina, how did your soul became like that? A normal person would have been unable to survive with just half of a soul Could it be rted to your race? Right, I don''t know what is your race, Miss Regina. You are not human, right?"


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying looked at each other. Now that they thought about it, Eve did not know that Regina was a Valkyrie.


    Although she could see through souls, Eve only knew that Regina was not human, but that was everything she could see. She could not see through the fact Regina was an artificial living being.


    Even her soul was the product of mixing an AI with part of the consciousness of who was once Cami''s daughter.


    Bloed was not nning to tell Eve about that, though. But at the same time, he thought it was necessary to know about the changes in Regina''s soul.


    Hence, he fell silent for a moment while thinking about the right way to word it.


    " About that Regina has been like that since she was born." Bloed decided to exin it like that.


    Eve was startled. One secondter, she wrinkled her brows.


    " Since she was born? No, that is Impossible How did she manage to be a demigod then? A person like that should not be able of even cultivate How strange"


    ''Well, Regina never needed to calcte. She was created with that level of power.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    At that moment, Eve stared at Regina with a frown.


    "Miss Regina, why don''t you check the condition of your body? Tell me if there is a change."


    "Okay." Regina nodded and closed her eyes. But less than one secondter, her eyes opened in astonishment.


    "Master, my psychic power increased!"


    Bloed was stunned.


    "Do you mean"


    "Yes. It''s around ten percent stronger than before." Regina was excited. "Master, it''s incredible."


    Bloed was astonished too. You must know, Valkyries were unable to cultivate.


    In other words, they could not grow stronger. Their level of power was decided since the moment they were created.


    " Is it rted to your soul?"


    "Probably." The one who replied was Eve. "I''m not sure about the specifics, but the technique you and Miss Regina practice is rted to the soul, right? Then, if Miss Regina truly was born with an iplete soul as you say, it''s normal if her strength increases now that her soul is moreplete. In fact, her strength will probably continue increasing slowly. And if her soul bes even moreplete, her strength will increase even more. There is even a chance she can break through the next level of demigod, reaching the level of apotheosis, where she will be just one step from bing a god."


    Both Bloed and Regina were stunned. In other words, there was a chance of Regina bing an SSS-Grade ESPer.


    "Wait a moment." Liu Ying suddenly interrupted with a flustered tone. "Do you mean that if Regina and Bloed continue having s-sex, Miss Regina will be stronger?"


    " It can''t be like that, right?" Bloed said with an awkward tone. He truly did not want to talk about his sex life anymore.


    But the girls did not seem to have any problem talking about that. In fact, even Regina was looking at Eve in anticipation now.


    Eve thought for a moment and shook her head.


    " I don''t think it will work."


    "Why is it?" Regina asked.


    " Actually, I don''t think intercourse has the ability to make your soul whole. Instead, it should have been caused by the strong and new emotions you felt during intercourse. In other words, it was a one-time thing. Your soul will probably not experience more grow even if the two of you have intercourse another one hundred of times."


    " I see. It''s a shame." Regina seemed genuinely disappointed.


    "Can you stop talking about it, please?" Bloed finally snapped and said. "This topic very ufortable."


    "S-Sorry"


    "?"


    " Understood, master."


    Liu Ying, Eve, and Regina reacted differently.


    Bloed sighed exasperatedly and shook his head. Were all women so open about this topic?


    "Anyway, it''s god news that Regina''s strength grew," Bloed admitted. "I wish I was as lucky as her."


    Eve tilted her head.


    "Mm? Don''t you just breakthrough not long ago?"


    " It''s not about it It''s just that I realized the strength of my body isgging behind my cultivation, so I''m trying to find a way to strengthen it."


    "Your body, huh... Certainly, the strength of your body is barely at the B-Rank." Eve nodded convinced. "But that is pretty easy to fix. You just need to cultivate a technique specialized in strengthening the body. Moonlight Glow has a few good ones. I can give them to you if you want."


    Bloed smiled bitterly. It would be great if the solution was so simple.


    "It''s not so easy." He said and shook his head.


    Eve tilted her head confused.


    Bloed hesitated for a moment. He was not sure if he should tell Eve about his condition.


    In the end, though, he decided to reveal a bit while lying about the rest.


    " You see, the technique I practice is a bit special. Due to that, I can''t control mana to strengthen my body like other people. And it''s not like mana will automatically strengthen my body by itse"


    "... Mm? Mr. Bloed?"


    " I''m an idiot."


    "Master?"


    "Bloed?"


    Bloed ignored Regina and Liu Ying''s confused voices and grinned.


    "I think I have an idea."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: PATR-EON.COM/AIDNOVELS

 Chapter 228: A Crazy Idea

    Chapter 228: A Crazy Idea


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here!


    As of today, I have posted a total of seventy chapters in thest three weeks between Fourth Prince and Science/Magic, and with this, I finally posted all the chapters I owed.


    It was a bit tiring, to be honest, and I felt the quality of the chapters fell a bit in thest few days. In fact, I repeatedly made mistakes recently like confusing names and things like that. But all in all, it was a... Interesting experience.


    Anyways, with the chapters I owed gone, I''ll take one day of rest tomorrow to watch some series on Netflix or perhaps y CoD with my friends, I don''t know.


    Both Fourth Prince and Science/Magic will return on Tuesday.


    With love, Aidka :p


    ...


    The reason Bloed could not use mana was very simple. His soul was unable to control it.


    ording to Bloed''s observations, the ability to use mana was a kind of ESP ability, and because his soul already housed two ESP abilities (One of them upying too much space), it did not have enough space to house the ability to handle mana.


    Due to that, he could neither feel nor wield mana. It was like infrared light. It was there, but normal people could neither feel nor use it.


    Although such an exnation was not one hundred percent urate, it was pretty much true.


    In other words, the problem was not in Bloed''s body, but in his soul.


    Thus, what if he found a way to absorb and control mana without the need of the specific ESP ability?


    In theory, it could allow him to use mana and magic despite hisck of talent.


    Of course, such a thing was easier than done. The current Bloed was far from being able to do something like that.


    But if it was only to strengthen his body, then it was much easier.


    After all, the nature of mana itself was to strengthen and enhance objects and organisms, so Bloed only needed to find a way to absorb mana and send it to his body.


    And fortunately, he already knew of something that could resolve the absorbing part.


    Inside hisboratory, Bloed was observing carefully a beautiful glowing piece of crystal.


    It was a magic core belonging to a demigod-level beast. Bloed had received it from Chorius when he exited the exilednds.


    Through his eyes, Bloed could see the blinding amount of energy contained inside the core. Moreover, each second, mana was being absorbed and released by the core, creating a beautiful bnce between the core and the mana in the air.


    " You are right, master." Beside Bloed, Regina nodded. "This core can certainly absorb mana. But how are you going to use it? Are you going to transnt it in your body? But even if you imnt it in your body, controlling it will be a problem."


    "You are right. Even if I have twice the mana inside this core for my use, it will be a problem if I''m unable to control it the way I want. Plus, if I just transnt the core inside my body, the core will only be an external object. Eventually, I''ll have to rece this core because it''s unable to keep with my needs."


    "Then, what are you nning to do?" Regina asked.


    Bloed smiled. "You see, Regina, surprisingly, this core is made of organic material. Countless cells interacting with each other to create this marvel of nature."


    "Cells?"


    "Yes, cells. Thus, I thought of a crazy idea."


    Regina frowned. She did not like where this was going.


    "Master, you are not thinking of modifying your gic makeup to make your body a giant magic core, right?"


    Bloed was stunned. "Is anything wrong with it?"


    "Master, I will not allow it!"


    "Wait, Regina"


    "It''s too dangerous! If something goes wrong and your gic makeup copses, you will die a horrible death!"


    Bloed smiled wryly. It seemed like Regina misunderstood him.


    "Please, hear me first. Don''t worry, I will not y with my life like that."


    " Tell me exactly what you are nning, master."


    Bloed nodded. "In fact, what I want to do is a bit different. Making my entire body a magic stone is suicidal and impractical. And although in theory, it can strengthen my body, it will also create a lot of troubles. Instead, what I want to do is to create is a kind of virus."


    "A virus?"


    "Yes, a virus. This virus will be a kind of bio-mechanical genome strand. Once it invades my body, it will modify my cells to create a miniature magic core in the cells'' nucleus. At the same time, it will create a kind of biological receptor, allowing me to control the input and output of mana in the cores through my psychic power. Eventually, the virus will modify all the cells on my body, allowing me to use my own version of [Body Strengthening]. Plus, when my psychic power grows stronger, I''ll be able to handle more mana and my body''s strengthening will be stronger."


    Regina fell silent. No matter how she heard about it, it sounded like a crazy idea.


    There were millions of things that could go wrong with this.


    Bloed, however, was pretty confident.


    He had been learning bio-engineering recently. And among the things he learned, cell modification was just the basics of the basics.


    You would be surprised to know how many experiments were realized in humans to find a way to make them stronger. Especially during projects like the supersoldier project, where they created creatures that could not be even called humans.


    Bloed was very smart, and one of his ESPer abilities, [Enhanced Brain Capability], was very suited to learn new knowledge. Thus, his current bio-engineering abilities were already at a pretty high level.


    And although it was still not enough to create something like a Valkyrie, it was more than enough to create a virus with such functions. He could even custom the virus to only work on his DNA, avoiding some terrible consequences like a mortal virus appearing from his experiments.


    Bloed was confident he could make the first prototype in three days.


    Of course, that was just the first prototype. He still needed to experiment a lot before creating something he could use in himself. When you worked at a cellr level, even the slightest mistake could bring very serious consequences.


    But it was not as though Bloed was nning to use his body to experiment.


    Regina was still notpletely convinced, but after Bloed promised her he would be extremely careful, she gave in.


    Thus, Bloed started his new project.


    He asked Eve for a lot of magic cores of different ranks and closed himself in hisboratory for the rest of the day, working in the bio-mechanical virus.


    Unfortunately, he was forced to pause his experiments soon.


    It was already time for the training to face the elves and the practitioners of the Sun Kingdom.

 Chapter 229: First Night of Training (1)

    Chapter 229: First Night of Training (1)


    The training was scheduled to start one day after the six participants were selected, and it wouldst until one day before thepetition for the mines.


    In fact, the training was not going to be done in the capital, Apso. Instead, the group of six was taken to a small city called Thone, located a few kilometers away from the mountains in dispute.


    Bloed and the others took an airship to go to the city. The airship flew for four hours, finally arriving at the city just before sunset.


    Once there, Bloed and the others were guided to their lodgings; a military base guarding the border of the Great Savannah in case of an invasion from the Elves or the Sun Kingdom.


    Bloed clicked his tongue when he saw the room assigned to him. It was a small bedroom with three individual beds and a small bath behind.


    Bloed, Rhone (the batkin), and Atai (the cougarkin) shared a room. The girls were also sharing a bedroom, by the way.


    The room was not exactly bad, but to be honest, Bloed recently had been living in rather luxurious ces. Even the tent he used when he was traveling was better than this.


    Although his tent was a bit too good, to be honest.


    Bloed did not mind it too much, though. He used to spend nights sleeping in a branch and wary of the slightest sound when he was in the exilednds. This was like paradise inparison.


    Atai did not seem to mind either, probably because he belonged to an indigenous beastmen tribe and was used to sleeping in tents. Rhone, on the other hand, frowned visibly when he saw the room.


    He said nothing, though. He was not so immature as toin just because of a room.


    The three of them did not have much time to study their rooms, though. Not even five minutes after they arrived, they were called to the training grounds of the military base.


    The girls were already there when Bloed''s group of three arrived. And they were not the only ones there.


    A two-meters tall lionkin was standing in the middle of the training grounds, looking at Bloed and the others with an intimidating gaze.


    The lionkin had long blond hair, bulky muscles, and a small scar below his right eye that made him look even more intimidating.


    Moreover, he was a demigod!


    Another three people were standing behind him. They were respectively Eve, Regina, and Javelin''s father.


    The lionkin coughed to attract Bloed and the others'' attention. When he confirmed they were looking at him, he spoke up.


    "My name is Leon Secondmane, General of the Third Army of The Great Savannah, and in charge of guarding the eastern borders from invaders. I and the three people behind me will be the ones in charge of your training this time. They will introduce themselvester, though.


    "I already know everything about you, so you don''t need to introduce yourself. You only need to know that this training will make you stronger to face the enemies you need to face one weekter."


    "Stronger?" Greta, the deerkin girl was confused.


    The lionkin nodded. "You are indeed talented, the six most talented youngsters in the Beastmen Countries. But to me, you are stillcking. There is a lot you can learn"


    Bloed frowned briefly before smoothing his frown. True, he also thought himself wascking.


    But not all of them thought the same.


    Particrly Rhone, Greta, and Liu Ying. Although they said nothing, their doubts were obvious.


    Leon saw their expressions and smiled.


    "It looks like you don''t believe me, huh? Well, you will soon realize it yourself. Firstly, though, I''ll exin to you your schedule for the next week.


    "You will wake up at dawn to eat breakfast. After that, you will learn outdoor survival methods during the morning, and tactics and strategies in the afternoon. At night, you will have different kinds ofbat training. After thebat training finishes, you will have two free hours before going to sleep. Any questions?"


    "Yes, General." The deerkin girl, Greta, raised her hand. "Who are we going to train with?


    "Good question." The lionkin general smiled yfully and then looked at the people behind him. More specifically, the silver-haired Valkyrie. "Mis Regina, why don''t you introduce yourself."


    "Okay." Regina nodded and walked forward.


    Bloed and Liu Ying were surprised. Regina was going to train them?


    When did she agree to this?


    They looked at Regina in confusion, but Regina acted as though she did not know them.


    "Nice to meet you. My name is Reginleif Norman, a saint. And I''ll be in charge of yourbat training. During the next week, the six of you will fight together against me each night."


    Bloed felt the other participants taking a deep breath after hearing Regina''s words.


    Demigods were divided into three levels, Transcendence, Sainthood, and Apotheosis, equivalent to S-Grade, SS-Grade, and SSS-Grade ESPers.


    In other words, Regina was not just any demigod, but a saint. Someone that had already surpassed the first level of demigod.


    The thought of fighting against someone like that was crazy to the others.


    Even a demigod in the first level, a transcendent, could kill them with just a wave of his hand. How were they supposed to face a saint then?


    Seeming to understand their thoughts, Regina smiled.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll suppress my cultivation to your level. In other words, the six of you will fight against a peak B-Rank me."


    When the group heard that, they sighed in relief.


    But immediately after that, several of them frowned.


    Regina''s curved her lips up.


    "It looks like most of you don''t think I can defeat you."


    The batkin, Rhone, hesitated slightly before nodding.


    " To be honest, even if you are a saint, I don''t think you will be a match against the six of us at the same level."


    "Is it so?" Regina''s smile turned very bright. "Why don''t we try then? Come on, tonight I''ll teach you your first lesson. I''ll show you the true difference between your strength and the true peak of B-Rank."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 230: First Night of Training (2)

    Chapter 230: First Night of Training (2)


    Before the start of the battle, Regina gave Bloed''s group five minutes to prepare themselves.


    Thus, Bloed''s group of six gathered in a corner to talk about the strategy during the battle against Regina.


    Or at least that was supposed to happen.


    Instead, they stood there awkwardly looking at each other faces.


    But Bloed realized something from their expressions.


    Most of them were confident in their victory.


    Even Liu Ying seemed rather confident they could win.


    Bloed did not think the same, though.


    It was because Bloed had sparred against Regina many times.


    In fact, when Bloed still lived in Cami''s spaceship, most of the time Regina was in charge of hisbat training.


    Every time, Regina suppressed her cultivation to Bloed''s level And every time, Bloed lost.


    Yes, Bloed did not manage to win even once. Even although their cultivation was the same, it was as though they were onpletely different levels.


    The way Regina used her psychic power was much better than Bloed. It was worlds apart from him.


    Furthermore, Regina was a Valkyrie, a war machine. She was created to fight and kill the greatest enemies of the Human Confederation.


    The number ofbat styles, tactics, and methods she knew was countless.


    Even Bloed''s greatest advantage, his deduction abilities, were weaker than Regina''s deduction abilities as a Valkyrie.


    Even with the six of them fighting her together, Bloed thought their chances of winning did not surpass forty percent.


    Thus, when he saw their confident expressions, he decided to warn them.


    "Guys, I think you are underestimating her too much."


    The other five were startled. They looked at Bloed confused by his words.


    "Do you mean we will lose?" Greta, the deerkin girl, asked with a frown.


    "Think about it, do you think a saint is a fool? If she proposed this fight, it''s because she has confidence in herself Plus, I have fought her before at the same level, and believe me, she is very strong."


    The other five fell silent. After several seconds, Liu Ying broke the silence and nodded.


    " Bloed is right. We should be careful."


    "Right, it''s better to be cautious." Rhone, the batkin, agreed. "She is a saint after all."


    "Should we make a n then?" Asked Rana.


    Bloed thought for a moment before shaking his head. "It doesn''t matter. We are not used to fighting together anyway. If we try to cooperate rashly, we will only end interfering with each other."


    "You are right." Greta nodded. "Then, we can only do our best and try to win."


    Bloed nodded. He then looked at the only person that had not spoken until now.


    "Do you have any opinion, Atai?"


    Atai shook his head silently, signaling he had nothing more to add.


    The five minutes came to an end at that moment. The six of them then walked towards the training grounds and stood opposite to Regina.


    In the way, Rana could not help but mutter something.


    " The king sure invested a lot in this training."


    Bloed looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"


    "Just think about it. Of our four teachers, three are demigods. Moreover, Miss Regina is a saint and Miss Even is at Apotheosis. Even Mr. Tenen, the weakest of the four, is considered as one of the strongest people below demigods. I heard he is strong enough to kill transcendent demigods (S-Grade) easily."


    Bloed nodded. Certainly, a lineup like this just to teach them was very luxurious.


    But it showed how important the mines were for the Great Savannah''s king.


    Regina looked at the six of them with an expressionless look before extending her hand and materializing an energy de on it.


    "You can start. I advise you to give your all from the start. Otherwise, you will not know how you were defeated."


    None of the six was arrogant at this point in time. Following Regina''s suggestion, they got ready to go all out.


    Even Bloed summoned his three pets, ready to give his all in the battle.


    When Regina saw they were ready, she smiled slightly.


    "I''ll start then."


    Then, she stomped the ground.


    Following that, her body flew towards the group.


    The six of them reacted instantly. As though they had agreed beforehand, they split in different directions to avoid Regina''s charge.


    At the same time, they prepared their attacks.


    Atai aimed his bow, Rana cast a spell, Bloed fired his gun, Rhone howled a sonic attack, Greta shot several des of wind, and Liu Ying charged towards her.


    However, the results were out of their expectations.


    Reina''s body elerated suddenly, turning twice as fast as before and making the attacks miss her. Then, she shed towards the person closest to her, Liu Ying!


    Liu Ying did not back down. Clenching her fist, she unleashed a powerful punch towards the de.


    But to his surprise, the de disappeared suddenly, and her punch missed, making her lose her bnce!


    Before Liu Ying could react, Regina''s palm arrived at her abdomen.


    Then


    *Boom!*


    Liu Ying''s body was sent flying away, crashing against the wall of the training ground and fainting immediately.


    Such a result stunned the other five.


    Liu Ying had been defeated less than one second after the start of the battle.


    But it was not the end. Without even checking Liu Ying''s state, Regina changed her direction, charging this time towards Greta!


    Greta''s expression changed. Her body instinctively moved by itself, thrusting her spear in Regina''s direction and unleashing several des of wind against her.


    But suddenly, a circle of light pulsed around Regina, stopping the des of wind. At the same time, a de rematerialized in her hand, shing with Greta''s spear.


    *ng!*


    The spear and the de shed, but strangely, the de pushed the spear aside easily. It then seemed to be longer and stabbed towards Greta''s chest!


    Greta''s expression paled. But when she thought she was going to be defeated


    *Whoosh!*


    A wall of metallic sand appeared in front of her, stopping the de in its tracks.


    It was Leto!


    Regina''s lips curved up. She then looked yfully towards her master and smirked.


    "Bad move, master."


    Bloed''s expression changed immediately. Without hesitation, he ducked down!


    The next instant, a giant de of energy cut the ce where his chest was just one moment ago.


    At some point, a giant energy de had materialized in Regina''s second hand. She used it to unleash an attack that cut through half of the training grounds.


    And although Bloed''s managed to avoid it, not everybody was so fortunate.


    Rana, who was in the middle of casting a powerful spell, was unable to react and received the entire grunt of the attack, copsing immediately.


    Bloed did not know if she was alive or dead, but he did not have time to care now.


    Because Regina was attacking again.


    "Dammit!" Cursing in his mind, Bloed jumped aside and ordered Oculus to open fire. At the same time, he turned his gun into the ster mode and started to shot as well.


    Regina did not dare to receive the attacks of Bloed bullet. She skillfully jumped backward and ran through the training grounds, avoiding the bullets. At the same time, she cast an energy shield to stop an arrow that Atai had shot at some point.


    Immediately afterward, she created several energy arrows and shot them towards Oculus.


    *Boom!*


    The arrows exploded, blowing Oculus away. Oculus started to reform in the next instant, however, it was forced to stop its barrage of bullets for a brief moment.


    Using that opportunity, Regina attacked the batkin.


    Strangely, although Rhone had been using his sonic attack since a while ago, it was useless against Regina.


    Through his energy vision, Bloed could see that Regina was constantly creating invisible energy waves to counter Rhone''s soundwaves.


    Rhone did not know that, though. Thus, he intensified the power of his soundwaves expecting to injure Regina this way.


    It was a bad choice.


    "Move away!" Bloed shouted, but it was toote.


    Without even changing her expression, Regina jumped towards him and punched towards his chest.


    Rhone pped his wings and tried to avoid her, but suddenly, he felt his body bing stiff for an instant.


    And in that instant, Regina''s punch reached him, sending him flying.


    Now, only three people remained.


    Bloed, Greta, and Atai looked at Regina gravely. They then nodded at each other, deciding to charge towards Regina at the same time.


    Regina received them indifferently and materialized a de in each hand, not hesitating to fight the three of them head-on.


    When they were about to sh, though, Regina''s figure trembled.


    Then, another two Reginas appeared in the field of battle.


    Like that, the three Reginas attacked each an enemy.


    Bloed did not panic, though. His eyes easily allowed him to discover that only one Regina, the one attacking Greta, was real.


    However, neither Atai nor Greta knew that.


    Thus, Atai and Greta stopped abruptly to face the figureing towards them.


    ''Damn it!'' Bloed cursed in his mind. He realized Regina''s intent.


    She had turned a battle of three against one into a one against one battle.


    While Atai and he were being stopped by her clones, her true self would take care of Greta.


    Fortunately, Bloed managed to see through her n and send Leto to defend Greta.


    But then, his eyes widened.


    Through his eyes, he saw how Regina''s energy clones turned bright and


    *Boom!*


    Two explosions happened on the training grounds.


    Fortunately, Bloed managed to see through Regina''s clones'' self-destruction and jumped away at thest second. He also called Leto back and used it as a shield.


    Unfortunately, it meant he was unable to help Greta.


    And as expected, Regina used that time to knock Greta out with a kick.


    Moreover, Atai had been injured by the clone''s explosion. Although he managed to avoid most of it, his right leg was limping.


    Due to that, he was unable to endure for long even with Bloed''s help.


    Less than five secondster, he was also defeated.


    Bloed smiled wryly. In the end, only Regina and he remained standing.


    Regina''s lips curved up. "What are you going to do, master?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and readied his saber. "Please go easy in me."


    "Of course, master. Don''t worry, I promise you it will not hurt."


    Ten secondster, Bloed was also knocked unconscious.

 Chapter 231: Team Leader (1)

    Chapter 231: Team Leader (1)


    When Bloed woke up again it was alreadyte at night.


    Looking around, he realized he was lying on a bed in the infirmary. Liu Ying, Rana, and the others were still unconscious on the beds beside him.


    "You are awake, master." A voice suddenly called out at him. When Bloed looked up, he saw a beautiful silver-haired girl seated beside his bed.


    "Regina," Bloed said with a wry smile. "Was I the first one to wake up?"


    "Of course." Regina nodded. "Your injuries were the slightest. The others will take a bit more to wake up."


    Bloed''s expression turned strange. Certainly, thinking about it, when Regina knocked him out she did it by chopping at the back his nape.


    But the methods Regina used to knock the other five out were a bit more violent?


    Could it be Regina was showing him favoritism?


    " By the way, who did suffer the most serious injuries?"


    " It was Liu Ying. I identally used a bit more of strength when I hit her." Regina avoided Bloed''s gaze while replying.


    Yeah, it was confirmed. Regina was showing him favoritism.


    Not just it. She was using the training as an excuse to vent her personal grievances.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    " Is it alright to do this? Eve and the others did not mind?" He could not help to ask.


    "Don''t worry about it." Regina shrugged indifferently. "I only eded the offer to help with your training because master was here. Plus, it''s not like I held back when fighting you. Moreover, master, you are obviously the strongest of the six candidates. And if you go all out, even I need to use S-Rank-level strength if I want to defeat you."


    " It''s not like I can simply go all out when I want." Bloed could not help but say.


    If Bloed wanted to go all out, there was only one method he could use.


    Using Overdrive to activate Leto''s armament and forcibly using [Molecr Disintegration].


    The thing is, Bloed could not use that ability freely.


    When he was at C-Grade, Bloed could use it only for ten seconds before having to rest for three days.


    Bloed had not tried it since he broke through B-Grade, but ording to his calctions, the current him could most likely use it around fifteen seconds give and take.


    Fifteen seconds seemed little, but if Bloed used it together with Leto''s armor, spear, and shield, ([Eitr], [Gungnir], and [Svalinn]) acquiring so the ability to wield [Molecr Disintegration] more freely, he was confident he could defeat anyone but demigods.


    However, the cost of using it was too great. Being defenseless for three days was too dangerous.


    Thus, Bloed did not n to use it unless he waspletely out of options.


    Bloed could not help but chuckle bitterly. How good it would be if he could use [Molecr Disintegration] freely?


    Even with the output of a B-Grade, he would be as strong as a half-step demigod.


    That is the power of an SSS-Grade attack type ESPer ability!


    But there was no use thinking about the impossible.


    Instead, it was better if Bloed used his time working in methods to strengthen himself.


    Shaking his head, Bloed stood up from the bed to leave the infirmary.


    "Where are you going master? You should rest."


    "I don''t have time," Bloed said and shook his head. "For the next week, most of my time will be busy with the training. Thus, I want to use the little time I have remaining working in my Body Strengthening Project. At the very least, I want to finish the first prototype before thepetition for the mines."


    Regina smiled and nodded. "I''ll go with you then."


    The next day at dawn, the group of six was again on the training grounds.


    This time, though, they were here to start their lessons.


    The first ss of the day was outdoor survival methods. The goal of this lesson was to teach the group of six to survive in the wild for a long time.


    To Bloed''s surprise, the person in charge of this lesson was Javelin''s father. Although thinking about it, there were many situations where an assassin needed to survive in the wild.


    For example, in case he needs to escape from his pursuers after seeding or failing a mission.


    Before the lessons, though, Javelin''s father moved his gaze through the group of six and chuckled.


    "You truly were beaten badlyst night. The entire fight did notst even thirty seconds."


    Bloed could see awkward expressions in Liu Ying and the others. Even the usually ice-cold Atai was clenching his fist in frustration.


    " Miss Regina is a bit too strong." Rana said with a bitter smile, making the others nod.


    Seeing their reactions, Javelin''s father could not help but shook his head with a smile.


    "In fact, your abilities in itself are not too apart from Miss Regina peak B-Rank abilities. Of course, she is much stronger than any of you in a one to one situation, but if three of you fight her with the same cultivation you should have a thirty percent chance of winning, and if the six of you fight together, your chances of winning should be around fifty percent at least. It should not be likest night where she swept through you and you werepletely unable to resist."


    The group of six was surprised.


    "Then, why were we crushed like thatst night?" Greta raised her hand and asked.


    "It''s simple, you know nothing about teamwork." Javelin''s father chuckled. "Only with good enough teamwork can you defeat her. What happenedst night was that Miss Regina fished you one by one, putting her strengths against your weakness. Moreover, only Mr. Bloed showed a little bit of team awareness, but even he could have done better."


    Bloed nodded. He was aware of that.


    Unfortunately, it was his first time fighting beside most of this group. The most he could do was to avoid interfering with their movements.


    Seeing that the six of them seemed pensive, Javelin''s father smiled and spoke up once more.


    " To be honest, you should not be too bothered by your defeatst night. The truth is that even if Miss Regina suppressed her cultivation to peak B-Rank, she is still a saint, and she is very strong. She is probably one of the strongest saints in the continent. Plus, herbat instinct is outstanding. You still need a lot to catch up with her. But all of you are young and talented. Who knows? Perhaps in several years some of you will be saints too.


    "For now, though. Let''s start with today''s sses."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 232: Team Leader (2)

    Chapter 232: Team Leader (2)


    The training continued for several days. Each day, Bloed and the others learned survival methods with Javelin''s father in the morning, tactics and strategies with the lionkin general in the afternoon, and finally, they were gruesomely beaten by Regina in the night.


    Sometimes, Eve would fight the group instead of Regina, but the results were the same. In fact, for four days, Bloed''s group did not win even once.


    However, it did not mean they did not show progress.


    Quite the opposite, the time they could endure under Regina''s attacks increased from thirty seconds to almost twenty minutes!


    It was unbelievable progress considering it happened in just five days.


    And the cornerstone of that progress was Bloed.


    In fact, after the second day of training, the four instructors unanimously decided to make Bloed the leader of the team.


    Not just them, but even the other five representants also agreed to that.


    It was due to Bloed''s outstanding performance during the training.


    When it came to the survival training, Javelin''s father sighed saying that he had nothing to teach Bloed. He even asked Bloed where he learned his survival abilities.


    It was not as though Bloed could tell him he learned them after surviving several years in the exilednds, though.


    The situation was simr when it came to the lessons of tactics and strategy. Bloed''s [Enhanced Brain Capability] made him very suited to this.


    In fact, after the second ss, the lionkin general sighed and said Bloed could be a very sessful general if he followed this path.


    And when it came to the practical lessons, Bloed took the position of the brains of the team.


    He would stay in the rearguard to direct the movements of the team and support them with his guns and Oculus.


    asionally, he would also take the frontlines with his saber.


    This setup greatly increased the team''s fighting abilities. In fact, they even managed to injure Regina several times during the training.


    Despite that, though, they never managed to defeat her.


    Bloed did not find it strange. In the end, Regina was a Valkyrie, a war machine. Plus, her ESP ability was very powerful and versatile. Although [Energy Materialization] was not as powerful as Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration], Regina could use her ESP ability at will while Bloed could barely use it.


    And tonight, it was theirst battle against Regina.


    Regina was moving quickly through the training grounds. Moreover, her speed increased and decreased irregrly, making her movements difficult to predict.


    But the team did not panic. The one that went to face her was Liu Ying, who took the role of vanguard.


    Activating her aspect, she stood in front of Regina, receiving her attack head-on.


    *Boom!*


    Regina and Liu Ying shed, creating a powerful shockwave that shook the training grounds.


    In terms of strength. Liu Ying was stronger. But Regina managed to parry most of her strength away and counterattacked with a sh of her de.


    However, a spear suddenly appeared and stopped the de. Greta did not stop with just that, though. With a shout, she created several des of wind that flew towards Regina.


    Regina jumped back and retaliated creating several energy arrows that stopped the wind des. Suddenly, though, she jumped back once more.


    Instantly, the ce where she was just a moment ago exploded.


    It was Rhone. He extended his hands, shooting several sonic bombs from the rear that forced Regina to keep moving to avoid them.


    But while she was avoiding the attacks, her expression changed.


    Without hesitation, she tried to jump away.


    But it was toote. At some point, her feet had been entangled by metallic sand!


    Then, several arcs of electricity shed in the metallic sand and attacked her body!


    Unfortunately, this attack was not useful against Regina. Her ESP ability, [Energy Materialization], made her almost immune to electricity.


    Thus, she stomped on the ground, blowing the metallic sand away. But due to that, she was unable to avoid one of the sonic bombs created by Rhone!


    Aware that she could not avoid the attack at this point, Regina created an energy barrier around her to stop the sonic attack.


    But to her surprise, the barrier was unable to stop it!


    It was due to Rana. As soon as Regina cast the energy barrier, she also cast a spell.


    [Dispersion]!


    A spell she learned yesterday just to face Regina''s energy barrier!


    *Boom!* The sonic bomb hit Regina, creating a cloud of dust. The group did not celebrate, however. They knew this was not enough to take care of the silver-haired girl.


    And as they expected, a figure broke from the cloud of dust at the next instant, rushing towards Rana.


    Rana cast several mana arrows hurriedly, but Regina moved like a swallow and evaded them, arriving in front of Rana in an instant.


    But when she tried to knock her out, a shadow appeared from Rana''s back and stabbed two bone daggers towards the Valkyrie.


    Atai!


    He had hidden behind Rana since the start of the battle waiting for this opportunity.


    Regina''s eyes shed coldly. Even in this situation, she remainedpletely calm.


    Her body twisted weirdly, abandoning the attack to Rana and avoiding the daggers by a narrow margin.


    Then, she lifted her leg and unleashed a kick towards Atai.


    However, a barrier of metallic sand appeared to stop her kick. At the same time, the metallic sand wrapped around her legs and stopped her movements.


    Then


    *Boom!*


    Oculus shot a sma ray from the sky, hitting Regina''s directly.


    For the first time, Regina''s expression changed.


    Without hesitation, she cast several barriers over her. However, the barriers were destroyed one after another in less than one second.


    But that one second was enough for Regina to escape from the epicenter of the attack.


    However, a spear attack was waiting for her when she escaped.


    When she avoided it, Liu Ying punched the ground close to her, forcing Regina to jump to not lose her bnce.


    However, several sonic bombs attacked her airborne figure. Not just it, but Rana also unleashed tens of me arrows towards her!


    "Not yet!"


    With a shout, Regina unleashed an energy shockwave that blew away all the attacksing towards her.


    Then, she used that opportunity to recover her bnce.


    Suddenly, though, she felt something sharp against her back.


    Regina was stunned. When she looked behind her, she saw the figure of a blue-haired young man materialize slowly. One of his hands was pressing a saber against Regina''s back, and the other was pressing a gun against the back of her head.


    "Checkmate." Bloed smiled and said.


    Regina chuckled softly and nodded.


    "You are right, it''s your win, master."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 233: The First Prototype

    Chapter 233: The First Prototype


    "Hahahahaha! We Won!"


    "Finally!"


    Liu Ying and Rana eximed happily. Rhone and Greta were smiling beside them, and even the usually stoic Atai had a small smile on his face.


    Regina smiled at that and looked at Bloed. "Well done, master."


    Bloed stared at Regina deeply before smiling. "Thanks."


    While the six of them were celebrating, Eve, the lionkin general, and Javelin''s father walked towards the training grounds.


    "Well done, guys." The lionkin general said with a wide smile. "To be honest, I''m surprised by your progress."


    "As expected of the most outstanding geniuses of the beastmen countries. You truly live up at your name." Javelin''s father said with a sigh.


    "True." Eve nodded expressionlessly. "Well done, everyone. Now I''m a bit more confident of sending you topete against the elves and the Sun Kingdom."


    Bloed and the others thanked them gratefully.


    Seeing their attitudes, the lionkin general nodded.


    "We have already taught you most of what I can teach you in this little time. As for the rest, you will have to rely on yourselves. We will not train tomorrow. You can use that day to rx before thepetition. The day after tomorrow we will take you to the mountains where you willpete."


    Bloed and the others looked at each other and nodded.


    The group, mainly the girls, seemed pretty happy with this arrangement. They had been training non-stop for almost one week, so they craved a bit of rest and rxation.


    But


    "You are free to use the day off as you want. But I must remind you that you must be in top condition for thepetition, so remember to restrain yourself." The lionkin general warned them.


    """Understood.""" Bloed and the others replied.


    "Very well, you are dismissed."


    The group nodded and left the training grounds.


    Bloed could feel that the mood of the group was pretty good. Obviously, the fact they had managed to defeat Regina was very good for their morale.


    Bloed could not help but sigh when he thought of that. If only they knew


    "Why are you sighing, captain?" Rana could not help but ask. "Could it be you are worried about your experiments?"


    "Right, now that you mention it, I heard that the captain killed several animals in bizarre manners thest few nights Could it be that the captain has a strange hobby?" Greta could not help but opine when she heard Rana. When she finished speaking, she intentionally took several steps away from Bloed.


    Bloed twitched his lips. "I''m a normal person, okay?"


    "Really?" Rana tilted her head in doubt. "I heard that one of the animals explode in a rain of blood and gore."


    "Girls, you don''t understand." Rhone, the batkin, interjected. "It must be a new technique he is training for thepetition."


    "Really? That sure is a brutal technique." Rana said.


    Bloed was speechless. He did not even have the strength to refute them.


    He could see Liu Ying''s lips twitching as though she was suppressing herughter. Obviously, she wasughing at his misfortune.


    The thing the group was talking was about Bloed''s Body Strengthening experiments.


    Two days ago, Bloed finished the first prototype of the virus.


    Therefore, he decided to realize some tests in animals to recollect practical information. Thus, he asked Regina to catch some small animals for the test.


    But Bloed did a mistake.


    Because his portableboratory was a bit cramped to do tests with living animals, he went to a forest nearby and realized the test there.


    The problem was that the results of the test were a bit more bizarre than Bloed expected.


    A rabbit turned into a mummy in less than five seconds of being injected by the virus, a small fox bleed through its pores to its death, and a rat''s heart exploded causing its entire body to burst apart.


    And some of the soldiers saw the results of Bloed''s experiments.


    The next day, some strange rumors about him started to spread, and some of them were very crazy.


    One even said that he could extract the blood of his enemy just by touching them.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry when he heard that.


    In the end, he consoled himself with the thought this was for the good of science(?).


    Also, he decided that from today onwards, he was going to do all his tests in hisboratory, no matter how cramped it is.


    By the way, it''s already obvious but the first prototype was aplete failure. Bloed did not even want to think about what would happen if he injected it in humans.


    "Anyway, what are you nning to do tomorrow?" Bloed asked the group in an attempt to shift the topic.


    As soon as he asked that, Rana''s eyes lit up.


    "Right, right. I talked with Ying Ying and Grey Grey and we thought it would be a good idea to pay a visit to the town. I heard this ce has one of the best night markets of the beastmen countries. It would be a shame if we return to our homes without experiencing it. What do you say? Do you want toe with us?" Rana asked the three young men.


    Rhone nodded after a bit of hesitation, but Atai said he was going to visit an acquittance that lived in the city.


    "What about you, captain?" Rana asked Bloed.


    Bloed did not reply and instead looked at Liu Ying.


    As though they were connected, Liu Ying looked back at him and smiled.


    Bloed smiled back.


    "Sure. It''s a good opportunity to have a date with Liu Ying."


    Liu Ying smiled shyly and her face turned slightly red.


    "You two Thinking about it, I should not have invited you. I''ll feel awkward seeing you two flirting all the while." Rana twitched her lips and said.


    Bloed shrugged. "It''s toote now."


    "... Should I find a lover for tomorrow as well? Hey Grey Grey, do you want to be my lover?"


    Greta red at Rana ufortably. "Crazy girl!"


    "... It looks like I''m not very lucky in love. Right, what about you, captain? You can have a date with a girl on each arm?"


    "... Stop it, Rana. I''m sure I''ll wake up dead tomorrow if I try something like that."


    In fact, Liu Ying''s lips were already twitching.


    After talking for a while more, the groups returned to their rooms. Bloed then took a quick bath and excused himself to go to hisboratory.


    He had done this every day after training, so his two roommates did not find it strange.


    When Bloed arrived at hisboratory, he found Regina already waiting for him there.


    "Master."


    "You are here, Regina." Bloed smiled. "Oh right, thank you for letting us win today."


    Regina smiled and tilted her head. " What are you talking about master? You won fairly."


    "You don''t need to lie to me, Regina. Do you think I was not going to notice?"


    Regina could only smile without answering.


    Yes, Regina had left them to win.


    In fact, since the start of the training, she had never shown all her strength.


    At the very least, she never showed her Valkyrie''s Armament.


    "But master, you never showed your trump card either, so we are even."


    Bloed shrugged. That was true.


    "Well, that doesn''t matter now. Master, what are you nning to do now?"


    " I''ll guess I''ll try to eliminate the lethal side-effects I found in the first prototype." Bloed said with a listless sigh. "Perhaps if I''m lucky I''ll have a second prototype ready tomorrow."


    "Is it so? Mm Hey master, I was thinking about something."


    "Yes?"


    Regina smiled bewitchingly and walked towards Bloed.


    "It has been a few days since we did it, right? In thest few days, you were busy training so we could not spend the night together, and after tomorrow you will be in thepetition and we will not be able to be together for a few days So, what do you think about ying with me tonight?"


    Bloed was startled. But then, he smiled.


    Hugging Regina''s waist, he nted a small kiss on her lips


    "You are right. I think a change of pace will be good."


    A few minutester, soft moans started to leak from theboratory.

 Chapter 234: Frozen in Panic

    Chapter 234: Frozen in Panic


    When Bloed woke up the next morning, he felt something heavy on his body.


    Looking down, he saw a naked body with the eyes closed sleeping on his chest.


    As though feeling his gaze on her, Regina opened her eyes and looked at Bloed.


    "Good Morning, Master." Regina smiled.


    Bloed smiled and caressed her silky silvery hair. Happy with that, Regina closed her eyes and brought her lips close to Bloed for a kiss.


    "How spoiled"


    Suppressing the urge to smile, Bloed kissed Regina''s lips softly and hugged her back.


    Currently, the two of them were on a sofa inside theboratory. Both of them naked.


    The reason? After ying naughtily untilte at night, Bloed decided to spend the rest of the night apanying Regina.


    The sofa was a bit cramped for the two of them so Regina had to sleep on him. Fortunately, Bloed''s physical strength far surpassed a normal human, so sleeping like this was not ufortable in the slightest.


    Quite the opposite, Bloed found it pretty nice.


    ''As expected, waking up with a beautiful girl in your arms feels different after all'' Bloed could not help but mutter to himself.


    Regina stared at Bloed''s pensive expression and tilted her head curiously.


    "What are you thinking about master?"


    "Mm? Oh, nothing important. I just thought it feels nice to wake up like this."


    Regina was startled. Soon, though, her lips curved up in a mischievous smile and she licked her lips.


    "Master, I know of a way to feel nicer."


    " I think I do as well."


    "Then Shall we?"


    Bloed would not be a man if he refused.


    Thus, for the next half an hour, theboratory was once more filled with naughty sounds.


    When they finished, Regina sat on Bloed''s waist and kissed his chest tenderly.


    " I like this kind of life, master."


    "Me too," Bloed admitted easily. "In fact, I think that spending the rest of our lives like this would be nice."


    "Right? We can even have a child and raise him as an outstanding young man."


    This time, Bloed frozepletely.


    Regina was confused.


    "Master?"


    " I don''t think I''m ready for something like that." Bloed forced himself to say that.


    Regina was stunned, but then, she chuckled amused.


    "Don''t worry, I know it''s not the time yet. We should have one someday, though."


    Bloed nodded a bit reluctantly.


    He did not want to think about having children, to be honest.


    Although he did not know the specifics, he knew his mother made it possible for Regina to bear children despite being a Valkyrie, but he never thought about being a dad.


    And now that he thought about it, he had not been careful when sleeping with Regina.


    ''Should I start to use contraceptives?'' That thought suddenly appeared in Bloed''s mind.


    As though reading his thoughts, Regina put on an exasperated expression.


    "Stop being silly, master. It''s not so easy for me to get pregnant. At the very least, it will not happen if I don''t want it."


    Is it so?" Bloed said with a stiff expression.


    Regina rolled her eyes.


    "Anyway, you should go to take a bath. I''ll go to prepare breakfast."


    Bloed nodded awkwardly. The pair then stood up from the sofa and searched for their clothes that had been thrown around theboratory.


    Bloed and the others were entitled to receive food from the military canteen during the week of training, but Bloed and Liu Ying usually ate the food Regina prepared regardless of that. It was because although the food of this world was not exactly unptable, the food Regina prepared was of much higher quality.


    Lately, though, the food Regina prepared for Bloed was much more energizing?


    ... Even if Bloed understood her intention, he thought she was exaggerating a little bit.


    Well, it was not as though he minded it very much.


    Shaking his head to get rid of these thoughts, Bloed went to the room he shared with Atai and Rhone to take a bath.


    Thinking about it, he did not returnst night to the room due to Regina. He did not know what Rhone and Atai thought about it.


    Well, even if they suspected something, he could brush them off telling them he was too immersed in his experiments and forgot to return.


    That was a pretty good excuse.


    While Bloed was thinking of what to say in case they asked something, he passed by the training grounds.


    Suddenly, he heard the sound of someone fighting inside.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. Was someone training at this kind of time? So early in the morning?


    Looking around, it was just past dawn. Besides the soldiers in duty, there was nobody else around the base.


    Bloed knew the training grounds had been reserved for their use during this week, so he could not help to be curious about who was training at this time.


    Losing to his curiosity, he went inside the training grounds.


    When he arrived, though, he was surprised by the person he saw there.


    It was a cat girl wielding a pair of daggers and fighting against a group of training dolls.


    "Aya?" Bloed muttered to himself surprised.


    He was a bit curious about the reason Aya was there, but soon, he was attracted to her battle.


    The cat girl seemed not to notice him. She continued wielding her daggers to fight against the training dolls, moving around the training grounds skillfully.


    However Bloed frowned.


    Training dolls were a kind of golem, a kind of construct. They relied on magic stones and a magic formation engraved in the training grounds to move.


    They could unleash strength going from the E-Rank to the A-Rank ording to the magic stones inside them. Moreover, the materials used in their creation made them virtually impossible to destroy unless you were a demigod.


    This kind of golem was used to train the recruits and soldiers''bat experience. The goal of the training was to endure as much as possible against the attacks of the dolls.


    In fact, Bloed and the others had used them during their training, so Bloed knew how hard it was to battle them. Back then, they fought against six beginner A-Rank dolls, and although the group steamrolled the dolls at the start, after half an hour of battling against the untiring dolls, Bloed and the others could not help but be tired.


    From that point onwards, the battle against the dolls became a nightmare.


    In the end, the group endured a bit more than one hour. ording to the lionkin general, it was already an unbelievable result for six peak B-Rank practitioners.


    Of course, Bloed could have destroyed the dolls if he used [Molecr Disintegration], but that went against the goal of the training.


    The problem was that Aya was currently fighting against five of these training dolls. Four of them had peak B-Rankbat strength and thest have beginner A-Rank strength.


    No matter how he looked at it, it was too hard for her.


    Aya was moving around the training ground skillfully, focused only on avoiding the dolls'' attacks. However, it was obvious she was already tired and she was being slowly cornered.


    She had probably been fighting against the dolls for a while already.


    Bloed watched how Aya struggled against the dolls, gritting her teeth and doing her best to endure for as long as she could. Even when the dolls hit her and sent her flying away, she clenched her teeth and continued fighting.


    Eventually, she was hit in the shoulder and crashed against a wall.


    Aya panted heavily and tried to stand up, however, her body was already too exhausted to continue.


    Even so, she tried to stand up again, forcing her body to continue despite its state.


    Perhaps it was Bloed''s imagination, but he thought he could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

 Chapter 235: Aya’s Hardwork

    Chapter 235: Aya¡¯s Hardwork


    Bloed watched the scene with aplicated expression. He did not know if to admire Aya''s determination or to criticize her rash actions.


    He could see Aya trying to stand up, using the wall as support to force her shaking legs to stand up.


    Eventually, Aya stood up and put on a defensive stance.


    As though feeling Aya''s desire to continue fighting, the training dolls moved towards her.


    As golems, they were programmed to stop when their enemy gave up. However, the current Aya did not seem to have the intention of giving up, and in that situation, the training dolls were not going to stop.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He could not help but think this was dangerous.


    With a thought, he got Leto out of his storage device and put it in standby just in case.


    Meanwhile, the golems moved again to attack Aya.


    Aya breathed heavily and crouched, evading a punching towards her chest. She then kicked the ground and jumped away, avoiding another doll.


    A doll attacked her figure while she was in the air, but Aya counterattacked with a dagger, making use of the doll''s strength tounch herself away from the dolls encirclement.


    However, the strength of the dolls was not something she could shrug easily, much less when she was tired.


    A grunt of pain escaped Aya''s lips. When shended in the ground, her body staggered and her face turned pale.


    At that moment, another doll arrived in front of her, throwing a punch towards her chest. Unable to evade, Aya could only cross her arms to receive the attack.


    "Ugh!" Aya took several steps back and grunted in pain. A bit of blood slid down from her lips, showing she had received internal injuries.


    The training doll did not care about it, though. Taking another step forward, it unleashed a second punch.


    Aya tried to stop the attack with her daggers, but suddenly, her vision turned blurry, her face turned pale, and her body lost strength.


    ''Move!'' Aya shouted in her mind, but her tired body refused to obey her.


    Despite her wishes, her body refused to move.


    In the next second, her blurry vision turned dark.


    Thest thing she remembered was a sh of blue stopping the doll''s attack.


    After stopping the attack of the dolls, Bloed rushed towards Aya and caught her unconscious body in his arms.


    The training dolls did not stop their attacks, though. Now that Bloed was here, they recognized him as a new enemy and attacked him instead.


    Bloed snorted and ordered Leto to entangle their legs. It was impossible for the metallic wolf to hold back five peak B-Rank and stronger enemies for long, but it could easily hold on for two or three seconds.


    And that was enough for Bloed.


    Using the time Leto gained, Bloed rushed towards the control of the array and turned it off.


    As soon as Bloed turned the array off, the training dolls stopped moving.


    Bloed sighed in relief and looked towards the cat girl in his arms with aplicated expression.


    "This girl She sure is rash"


    Training dolls were programmed in a way that it was virtually impossible to die while training with them.


    The prerequisite, though, was to follow the proper security measures during the training.


    And obviously, Aya was not following them.


    In fact, if Bloed did not stop the training dolls during thest attack, even if Aya did not die, she would have been gravely injured.


    And that was not something Bloed wanted to see.


    In the end, Aya could be considered his friend.


    Bloed stared at Aya''s unconscious figure again and sighed. This troublemaker girl.


    Although thinking about it, Bloed understood the reason behind her rash actions.


    It seemed that her defeat during the selection had affected her more than he thought.


    Bloed sighed again. "What should I do with this girl now?"


    After hesitating briefly, Bloed decided to take her to the infirmary.


    During the way, though, Bloed felt Aya stirring.


    Aya opened her eyes in a daze. The first thing she saw was Bloed''s face.


    " Bloed?


    For a few seconds, the car girl seemed confused by the strange situation.


    Soon, though, she remembered what she saw before falling unconscious and her face turnedpletely red.


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.


    "Are you alright?"


    " Yes I''m sorry" Aya replied with a mosquito-like voice, obviously embarrassed.


    "It''s alright. You should be more careful, though. You could have been gravely injured."


    Aya nodded silently.


    She then forced herself to look at Bloed and spoke with a red face.


    " Can you release me, please."


    Bloed smiled and helped Aya to her feet. However, when Aya tried to stand up by herself, her legs gave up and her body fell to the ground.


    Fortunately, Bloed reacted in time and caught her up.


    Bloed could not help but look at Aya with a strange expression.


    "How long were you training like that? For a B-Rank like you to be so tired Could it be, you did not sleepst night?"


    Aya lowered her head embarrassed.


    Bloed was speechless.


    " Let''s go, I''ll take you to the infirmary."


    "No." Aya shook her head softly. "I''m alright."


    "Stop being so stubborn," Bloed said irritated and carried her on his arms again. "You should not do anything like that again. Although I understand your desire to be stronger, forcing your body like that will be counterproductive instead."


    Embarrassed, Aya nodded her head shyly. Bloed could not help but notice that even her ears werepletely red.


    ''Now that I think about it, I think I nted another g, huh'' Bloed smiled bitterly to himself.


    ''Could it be I''m innately suited for a harem route? If Regina knows about this, she will be mad.''


    Trying to shake off the terrifying thought that appeared in his mind, Bloed carried Aya to the infirmary.


    When he reached the infirmary, he met a healing mage that checked Aya''s condition. Fortunately, the healing mage said Aya was just tired, and she would be alright after resting for a while.


    "That is good. You heard him, Aya. You should rest for now."


    "Mm." Aya nodded and looked at Bloed hesitantly. " Thank you and sorry again."


    "Don''t worry about it, we are friends after all. Try not to behave so rashly again, though. I was pretty scared this time."


    Aya nodded silently with a tinge of red in her cheek.


    " Tomorrow I''ll go to see you."


    Bloed was surprised by her words, but then, he smiled.


    "Is it so? Wish me luck then."

 Chapter 236: The Night Before (1)

    Chapter 236: The Night Before (1)


    After Bloed left Aya in the infirmary, he returned to his room.


    A quick bathter, he was ready to start the day.


    Today, Bloed nned to spend most of his time working in the virus. He wanted to have the second prototype ready for tonight.


    The n to sightsee the city was at night, and he did not have anything else nned for the rest of the day, so Bloed dedicated himself to his work after breakfast.


    With Regina as his assistant, Bloed started to work.


    The first prototype of the virus had shown very undesirable side-effects, so Bloed had to find a way to solve them. Unfortunately, it was not something easy.


    His experiments with the first prototype showed three main adverse effects.


    Dehydration/Mummification.


    Severe hemorrhage.


    Bursting of the heart.


    Bloed did not need long to find the reason behind the three side-effects.


    In the end, it was rted to Bloed''s attempt to give a magic core to each cell of the body.


    In the first case, when the magic core was formed, the cells tried instinctively to fill them with energy. The problem was that instead of getting the energy from the surroundings, they tried to get energy from the body itself. In the end, it caused the body to quickly dehydrate until dying.


    In the second case, the formation of the magic cores caused a gic copse, so the cells and internal organs started to breakdown one after another, causing severe hemorrhage until the subject died.


    In the third of the cases, the red blood cells acquired mana first, greatly increasing the blood cirction of the body. Due to that, the heart was unable to endure the new burden, bursting in the process.


    All three problems were lethal and urred not long after the virus was injected. In other words, until Bloed did not resolve them, the virus was nothing but a lethal weapon.


    Of course, Bloed was not nave enough to believe everything would be alright after taking care of these three problems. In fact, these were just initial problems. Bloed was sure that once he resolved them, more problems would surge.


    During his time learning bio-engineering, Bloed read that sometimes bio-engineers needed to resolve hundreds of problems before getting a sessful product.


    "It can''t be so easy, huh," Bloed muttered to himself.


    Well, he was already prepared for a long project since the start.


    In fact, this project would be worth it even if he took five to ten years toplete it. Much less just one week.


    And it was not as though he was nning to take so long.


    Bloed immersed himself in the process of perfecting the virus. With the help of samples of his blood, he analyzed the behavior of the virus and slowly worked in the solutions.


    Perhaps because he was immersed in his work, but Bloed felt time passing quickly. By the time he finally finished the second prototype, Bloed realized it was already night.


    "Is it done?" Regina asked.


    Bloed nodded. "For now. I don''t know what kind of problem will crop up after this, though."


    "At the very least, it''s already an improvement."


    Bloed nodded. Regina was right. At the very least, he was confident his next subject would not bleed to death from its pores.


    "Master, now that you are finished here, don''t you think you forgot something?"


    "... My date with Liu Ying, huh." Bloed smiled bitterly.


    Regina nodded and sighed. "She has been waiting for you outside theboratory for half an hour already. You should hurry and go with her. I''ll clean the mess here."


    " Sorry about this, Regina. And thanks."


    "Don''t worry about it, master. Also, be nice to her tonight."


    Bloed nodded with a smile.


    At the same time, he could not help but feel happy by the fact Regina''s rtionship with Liu Ying did not seem as bad as at the start.


    As Regina said, Liu Ying was waiting for Bloed outside theboratory.


    As soon as Liu Ying saw Bloed, she frowned.


    "You Sigh, what am I going to do with you? We are leaving fifteen minutester. Hurry up and take a bath!"


    "Yes, ma''am. Sorry, ma''am."


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes and sent Bloed to take a bath.


    Fortunately, as a man, Bloed did not need too much time to change. After a quick bath, he grabbed a set of casual clothes and put on a bit of perfume.


    Just with that, he was ready to go.


    Liu Ying was waiting for Bloed outside the room. When she saw Bloede out, she smiled.


    "Great. If we hurry up, we will arrive before it''ste."


    "Let''s go then. Right, can I hold your hand, beautiful miss?"


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes.


    "So mushy."


    Despite saying that, Liu Ying blushed slightly and gave her hand to Bloed.


    Bloed grabbed her hand firmly and intertwined his fingers with hers.


    He could feel the warmth of Liu Ying''s hand and her quickened pulse. Just with that, he could feel Liu Ying''s nervousness, happiness, and expectations of tonight''s date.


    Perhaps infected with her mood, Bloed could not help but feel a bit nervous himself.


    Now that he thought about it, this could be considered as his first official date.


    Looking at Liu Ying, he noticed she had dressed up beautifully for tonight. Her usual ponytail-styled hair was let free, falling until her waist like a pitch-ck curtain, and instead of wearing easy-to-move clothes, she was wearing a red jacket with an amber shirt below, plus a short blue skirt.


    To be honest, Bloed could not deny she looked stunning.


    In fact, Bloed was in a daze for an instant after looking at her.


    " What are you looking at?" Liu Ying asked with a slight blush.


    Bloed was startled before smiling and holding her hand tighter.


    "Nothing It''s only I just realized my girlfriend is stunning."


    "You just realized it now?" Liu Yin asked with a frown. Her lips, however, were curved up in a smile.


    Bloed was briefly tempted to steal her lips at that moment, but in the end, he resisted.


    Mainly because they had already reached the ce where they orded to meet with the others; and Rana, Greta, and Rhone were looking at them with strange smiles.


    Even so, he could not help but want to tease her just a little bit.


    "Should I give you a kiss now?"


    " Idiot Later, okay?"


    "Later then."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 237: The Night Before (2)

    Chapter 237: The Night Before (2)


    Five minutester, a group of five was walking through the streets of Thone.


    Thone was a pretty small city, small enough to be considered a town instead. However, it had several features that made it popr in the Great Savannah.


    As a city near the borders of both the Boerner Elven Forest and the humans'' Sun Kingdom, Thone was a kind of hub for merchants of the three races. In other words, it was a very prosperous city.


    You could find traces of the three cultures spread through the city, giving it a beautiful vibe. Moreover, in this city, you could easily buy things that would be hard to get in other parts of the continent.


    In fact, the only reason Thone was just a small city was due to the military barracks located on the outskirts of the city. For the military, a big city would be harder to defend in case of an invasion. The current Thone, on the other hand, could be easily defended, thus bing into a tough nail to defend against the invaders.


    And one of the most famous features of this city was its night market.


    Streets lit up by magic lights, stalls selling all kinds of strange merchandise, and people of all kinds of cultures and different races talking with each other.


    Different from other cities in the beastmen countries, it was easier to find people of other races in this city. In fact, Bloed had already seen around seven humans and four elves just after five minutes of entering the night market.


    "Evenpared to Diadel Duchy, this city is pretty lively, huh." Bloed could not help but mutter.


    Rana giggled. "Well, Thone is a ce safeguarded by a military barrack, so the safety here is very good. Due to that, merchants of different races can sell their merchandise without being afraid of being robbed. Plus, as this city is on the border of three races, discrimination is not verymon here. I heard that there are cities like that in the Boerner forest and the Sun Kingdom too, although apparently, the border city in the Sun Kingdom is not veryfortable.


    "The humans there preach human supremacy and practice very to other races. So neither beastmen nor elven merchants feel safe going there." Greta, the deerkin girl, exined with a sneer.


    Bloed smiled wryly. Hearing someone condemning human supremacy felt weird, mainly because he was human too.


    Seeming noticing Bloed''s expression, Greta hurriedly apologized.


    "Sorry, captain. I know you are not like that."


    "Don''t worry about it. I was not offended."


    "Yeah, obviously our captain doesn''t care for discriminates against other races. Otherwise, he would not be dating such a beautiful demon like Ying Ying~" Rana said with a smirk.


    Liu Ying blushed slightly and Bloed shook his head exasperated.


    In fact, humans were not the only race with such extreme thoughts. Each race had a portion of their poption that believed they were superiors to the other races.


    The situation was a bit better now because there had not been any big war between races in a long time, but apparently, before the disaster of the Blight one hundred years ago when all the races warred constantly, xenophobia was much worse than now.


    Back then, even thinking of marrying someone of a different race was considered scandalous.


    "Anyway, there are a lot of nice things here." Rana''s eyes were sparkling brilliantly. "Look at that ne. It''s so beautiful!"


    The other two girls nodded in consent. Both Liu Ying and Greta seemed very interested in many of the things being sold.


    Strangely, the things they were interested in were not weapons, armors, or artifacts; but instead little trinkets with little value beyond its beauty.


    That was not something Bloed and Rhone, the batkin, could understand. Different from the girls, they were mainly interested in the weapons, armors, and strange artifacts that were being sold.


    They did not buy anything too valuable, though. Even although many of the objects here were pretty novel, the five of them could be considered as rich people in their own way. The things being sold here could not bepared to the things they owned.


    Bloed, in particr, only bought an object. It was an elven hairband made with the sap of a valuable tree and two rubies in the shape of two small fishes.


    When Bloed saw it, he could not help but think it was perfect for Liu Ying.


    Therefore, he did not hesitate to pay for it despite the slightly expensive price. Anyway, it was not like Bloed cared much about money.


    When Liu Ying saw the hairband, she smiled shyly and turned her back to Bloed, as though asking him to put the hairband on her.


    Bloed did not refuse. With slightly clumsy movements, he tied her beautiful hair into a ponytail.


    "How is it?" Liu Ying asked with a bit of red on her cheeks.


    "It''s not as beautiful as you."


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes. "Since when are you such a smooth talker?"


    Bloed smiled wryly. He could not tell her he used the spaceship database to study how to make women happy, right?


    ... He had to admit that the tricks he read were pretty effective, though. Even now, Liu Ying was smiling happily and sticking her body to him.


    "Tsk. As expected, it doesn''t feel nice to see others show off their love. Hey, Grey Grey, are you sure you don''t want to be my girlfriend for one night?" Rana asked the deerkin girl.


    "Psyco!" Greta rolled her eyes and looked away.


    "Tsk. What about you, captain? A flower in each hand sounds nice, what do you think?"


    "Ask my girlfriend." Bloed did not hesitate to evade the question.


    And judging by the sharp gaze Liu Ying was directing to Rana, his answer was right.


    Even Rana seemed a bit stiff after feeling Liu Ying''s sharp gaze.


    " Rana, I can be your boyfriend if you want." Rhone raised his hand timidly.


    "Thanks, but no thanks. I''m not searching for a boyfriend right now. I would consider it if you were a girl, though."


    Rhone put on a stiff smile.


    Bloed could not help but chuckle seeing their interaction. With a smirk, he patted Rhone''s shoulder twice.


    "Good luck friend. You have it hard."


    " Get lost..."


    Chuckling again, Bloed grabbed Liu Ying''s hand and continued exploring the night market.


    Eventually, intentionally or not, the pair of lovebirds distanced themselves from the rest of the group.


    Soon, they had fallen behind and were watching how the others yed around.


    "Rana, that girl, she sure is lively," Bloedmented with a smile.


    "I think that aspect of her is very likable." Liu Ying giggled.


    "Really? I, on the other hand, pity the guy who marries her. Poor Rhone, he sure has it hard."


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes and snorted. "Really? By the way, I think I felt your heart beating faster when she proposed the idea of a flower in each hand."


    "You are imagining things. My beautiful demon is enough for me." Bloed praised himself inwardly for his smooth answer.


    And as he expected, Liu Ying''s lips curved up when she heard him.


    " I wonder what Regina would think if I told her your words of just now."


    Bloed could not help but stiffen briefly.


    " Please, spare me of that, okay?"


    Liu Ying giggled and hugged Bloed''s arm. "I''m joking. I''m aware of how much you like her."


    Bloed decided that the best answer in this situation was to not answer.


    Just like that, the pair continued wandering through the night marker silently, holding each other''s hand and asionally joking about random things.


    Eventually, they were left behind by the others and arrived at the end of the market.


    Bloed and Liu Ying did not mind, though. Tacitly, both of them continued forward until arriving at an empty clearing.


    "Being together like this feels nice." Liu Ying said with a small smile. "I wish my mother would have met you... She would have liked you."


    Bloed fell silent. He could feel the sadness hidden behind Liu Ying''s words.


    However, there was nothing he could see to console her.


    Thus, he just held her hand tighter.


    Feeling Bloed''s concern, Liu Ying smiled softly. She then looked around shyly before pulling Bloed behind a tree.


    Seeing Bloed tilting his head, Liu Ying giggled mischievously.


    "I promised you a kiss, remember?"


    Bloed shook his head bitterly. This girl


    However, he did not refuse her.


    The next second, he could feel her lips pressing against his, and her breathing blowing against his nose.


    Liu Ying''s lips tasted sweet, and they felt pretty soft. Instinctively, he could not help butpare them to Regina''s.


    In the end, though, he was unable to determine which felt better.


    This was not Bloed''s first time kissing Liu Ying, but for some reason, he felt this time was different than the previous times.


    It felt more romantic?


    Even his heart was beating faster.


    Unfortunately, the pair was forced to stop their romantic moment.


    Because suddenly, they heard a crying from the distance.


    "Damn you!"


    Bloed and Liu Ying were startled. Exchanging nces, both of them realized they recognized the owner of that voice.


    It was Rana!


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 238: The Night Before (3)

    Chapter 238: The Night Before (3)


    "Rana!" Liu Ying eximed and looked at Bloed. "Something happened!"


    Bloed nodded with a grave expression.


    "Let''s go!"


    Without hesitating, the pair ran towards the direction of the scream.


    Bloed frowned. At that moment, he seemed to think of something.


    "Liu Ying, get ready to fight."


    "Huh?"


    "The situation is not simple. Rana is a B-Rank, plus she is with Greta and Rhone who are at B-Rank as well. With the three of them being B-Ranks, what kind of situation can make Rana scream like that? Moreover, tomorrow is thepetition. Don''t you find it suspicious?"


    Liu Ying was startled. But she was smart. Just these words of Bloed were enough for her to understand his meaning.


    " Do you mean, someone wants to sabotage us?"


    "Most likely. And if it''s like that, then perhaps someone wille after us as well." Bloed affirmed and got ready for battle. With a thought, he got Tito, Leto, Oculus, and his saber out of his storage device.


    At the same time, he used his link with Regina to tell her about the situation.


    When Liu Ying saw that, she put on aplicated expression.


    " Sorry, I left Liu Liu and the gloves in the room."


    ". I understand. Just in case, keep close to me."


    Liu Ying nodded.


    At that moment, Bloed''s expression changed.


    "Careful!"


    With a thought, he got Leto to form a barrier of metallic sand around them.


    The next second, several arrows rained towards them!


    *ng! ng! ng! ng!*


    Several arrows hit Leto''s barrier, some of them even piercing it!


    Bloed''s expression turned ugly. He had realized that two of the enemies were A-Ranks.


    "Bloed!" Liu Ying shouted in worry. But Bloed remained calm. The situation was still manageable.


    With Regina''s speed, she would arrive here in less than ten seconds. He was confident he could endure until then.


    Thus, what he needed to do know is to gain time.


    And he knew the perfect way to do it.


    "Leto!"


    Bloed shouted and threw something out of Leto''s barrier. Leto''s understood its owner''s meaning and instantly covered Bloed and Liu Ying in the barrier again.


    The next second


    *Bang!*


    The grenade exploded, releasing a piercing sh of light and a loud shrill sound.


    The effect was immediate. All the ten enemies fighting them were momentarily stunned.


    Without waiting for them to recover, Bloed gave another order.


    This time to Oculus!


    The floating eye lit up in answer and aimed to the ground.


    The next instant


    *Boom!*


    Tens of bullets hit the assassins ruthlessly!


    Five of the assassins, five C-Ranks, were shredded into pieces instantly. Three B-Ranks were also gravely injured, and they were probably going to die soon.


    The problem was the two A-Ranks!


    When Oculus fired, the two A-Ranks relied on their instincts to escape the attacks. At the same time, they rushed towards Bloed''s again.


    With a dagger in each hand, the two assassins charged towards Bloed and Liu Ying.


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. Following his will, Leto surged like a wave towards the two A-Ranks.


    The A-Ranks did not stop, though. Instead, they elerated even more, nning to break through Leto''s barrier using brute force.


    But when they broke through it, both Bloed and Liu Ying had disappeared!


    They had taken advantage of the instant when the A-Ranks'' sights had been blocked by Leto''s barrier to enter in stealth.


    However, Bloed knew their stealth could not fool his enemies for long.


    Thus, he decided to take this opportunity to take the initiative in the fight.


    While the A-Ranks were still confused by Bloed and Liu Ying''s disappearance, one of them suddenly felt an incredible sense of danger attacking him!


    Instinctively, he twisted his body away.


    Unfortunately, that was not enough topletely evade Bloed''s next attack.


    *Swish!*


    Bloed''s saber cut through the flesh and bone, severing one of the assassin''s arms.


    Recently, Bloed had been unable to use his saber properly due to the fact it was too lethal to use it during a friendlypetition.


    But against these A-Ranks, he did not need to have these reservations.


    Once Bloed cut through one of the assassin''s arms, he crouched down and stomped on the ground, swinging his saber towards the assassin''s chest.


    But to Bloed''s surprise, the assassin did not seem to care about his safety.


    Instead, he ignored his wound and attacked Bloed with his remaining arm.


    Moreover, the second assassin also took advantage of this opportunity to attack.


    Three daggers cut through the air in Bloed''s direction.


    Only now Bloed realized that there was something wrong.


    The assassins did not seem to care about their lives!


    It was as though they did not mind dying as long as they could hurt him.


    Almost instantly, his eyes shed and caught on something.


    ''Poison! In the daggers!''


    Bloed''s expression turned ugly.


    Without hesitation, he canceled his attack and ordered Leto to create a barrier between him and the assassins.


    Then, he kicked the ground and jumped away.


    However, the assassins'' did not give up so easily. They bellowed loudly, exploding with even stronger mana and breaking through Leto''s defenses in less than one second.


    "Oculus!" Bloed shouted to the eye in the sky.


    And a new barrage of bullets rained from the sky, targeting the two A-Rank assassins.


    But even Oculus''s bullets were not enough to deter them. They coated their bodies with mana and broke through the rain of bullets, ignoring the energy bullets just to reach Bloed.


    Several injuries appeared in their bodies, but the assassins'' did not care. It was as though dying was alright if they could kill Bloed.


    Bloed clicked his tongue. ''Damn crazy guys! At this rate, I''ll have to fight them at close range!''


    But at that moment, he heard Liu Ying yell.


    "Get lost!!!"


    From the distance, an enormous rock flew towards the two A-Ranks.


    The two A-Ranks were forced to avoid it, allowing Bloed to distance himself from them and Leto to return to Bloed''s side, creating another barrier.


    Meanwhile, Oculus continued firing more energy bullets.


    The assassins clicked their tongues and rushed through the bullets, going after Bloed again.


    However, Bloed smiled.


    "Checkmate," He said to himself.


    Bloed was confident he could keep the assassins at bay for at least three seconds.


    And counting the time


    "Bastards!!!"


    An ice-cold voice came from the sky.


    Then, a giant sword of energy descended, bisecting the two A-Ranks cleanly.


    One instantter, Regina appeared in front of Bloed.


    "Are you alright, master?"


    "I am, don''t worry. More importantly, we should hurry up to help Rana and the others."


    Regina nodded. "Allow me."


    She then grabbed Bloed with a hand and Liu Ying with the other hand.


    Kicking the ground, the Valkyrie rose on the air carrying her twopanions before flying in Rana''s direction.


    ...


    Remember to support me in P4TRE0N if you like my story! Your support motivates me to continue writing!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 239: The Night Before (4)

    Chapter 239: The Night Before (4)


    Yesterday''s chapter...


    ...


    "Gre ta? Rana whispered stunned, her headpletely nk.


    In front of her, she could see the pained face of her deerkin friend.


    With a dagger stabbed in her back.


    A dagger Greta had received while defending her.


    Time was moving slowly around Rana. She could see Rhone shouting, she could see Greta''s expression twisted in pain, and she could see several passersby suddenly turning into assassins and rushing towards them.


    Everything happened too fast. She was unable to react when an assassin suddenly rushed out of a stall and attacked her.


    If not that Greta managed to notice the situation and pushed her out of the way, receiving the attack in her ce, she would be dead right now.


    Instead, it was the deerkin girl who was gravely injured.


    The sight of her friend bleeding profusely shocked Rana greatly.


    Hence, she exploded.


    "Damn you!!!"


    With a roar, her mana surged out, creating a wave that pushed all the assassins rushing towards them several steps back.


    Even the A-Rank assassin that stabbed Greta and another A-Rank assassin about to stab Rana''s heart was forced to take several steps backward.


    Tens of magic circles then formed around the rabbitkin girl, creating a beautiful and deadly scene.


    "Descent, [Whisper of the Raging God of Fire]!" Rana bellowed.


    Following her will, the magic circles resonated with each other, creating giant enchantment that covered tens of meters around her.


    Then, a storm of fire took shape with her in the center.


    *Boom!*


    The storm of fire erupted, burning everything around her to cinders.


    It was Rana''s trump card. A powerful technique created by a demigod that she learned in Moonlight Glow.


    The power of this technique was enough to kill amon A-Rank practitioner easily. In fact, several of the assassins were burned to ashes just by a touch of the storm of fire.


    Fortunately, Rana still retained a slight bit of reason, so she stopped the fires from hurting Rhone and Greta. Otherwise, they would have been in danger as well.


    But the assassins were anything but weak. A total of twenty assassins, with four A-Ranks, six B-Ranks, and ten C-Ranks had epted this mission.


    And although five C-Rank assassins died when the fire started, the remaining fifteen joined hands and barely managed to hold back the fire.


    However, Rana''s technique was incredibly powerful. Even with the assassins joining hands, they would be eventually killed if the situation remained like that.


    If the situation remained like that.


    Suddenly, a sense of dizziness attacked Rana.


    The sudden dizziness caused her to stagger. At the same time, her control over the technique was broken.


    And less than one secondter, the technique faded out.


    In the end, the technique Rana used was something designed to be used by a demigod. Although she managed to force herself to use it with her peak B-Rank of cultivation, she could only keep it for three seconds at most.


    And as soon as the technique disappeared, the assassins moved.


    Like sharp unsheathed daggers, they rushed towards the weakened rabbitkin girl.


    "Rana!" Rhone yelled out. A shrill sound then escaped from his lips, spreading towards the assassins and causing everyone but the four A-Ranks to stagger and bleed from their orifices.


    However, the four A-Ranks remained uninjured, charging towards their prey.


    Gritting his teeth, Rhone flew in front of Rana and howled.


    "OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO!!!"


    A mix of high-frequency and low-frequency sound wavesbined into a beam of sound that attacked the four A-Ranks.


    *Boom!!!"


    The sound beam exploded in front of the four A-Ranks. It left traces of destruction in its path that showed the great power behind the attack.


    However, when the explosion ended, only one of the four A-Ranks was gravely injured.


    As for the other three, they were still rushing towards them.


    In fact, one of them was already in front of Rhone, swinging his daggers towards his head.


    Rhone was not nning to make their work easy, though. Just after shooting the sound beam, he evaded the dagger attack and emitted several low-pitched sounds from his throat. These sounds were imperceptible for the human ear, however, the assassins quickly felt their effects.


    Suddenly, several of them lost their bnce, almost falling to the ground.


    Rhone was ready to continue with another attack. But at that moment, a cry came from behind him.


    "[Explode]!"


    Following the voice of the rabbitkin, the ce where the assassin that attacked Rhone was standing exploded, blowing the assassin''s leg apart.


    Rena had used herst bit of mana in that attack!


    Unfortunately, they were so focused on the A-Ranks assassins that they forgot the existence of the others.


    Some of the B-Rank and C-Rank assassins who had been injured by Rhone''s first attack had already recovered. Moreover, two of them had appeared close to Rana without warning and were swinging their dagger towards her.


    And another four joined hands with the remaining two A-Ranks to attack Rhone.


    Rhone pped his wings and barely avoided them. However, Rana could not do it.


    Without mana, she could only watch how the daggers pierced towards her heart and throat.


    But


    "AAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"


    A cry came from beside her.


    And Greta, who had been copsed until then, moved.


    Mana flowed from the surroundings to her body, creating a whirlpool of mana around her that blew away everything in her surroundings.


    Before the assassins could react, the deerkin girl was swinging her right arm towards them with a fierce expression.


    Even although she did not have her spear, Greta''s attacks were equally frightening. It crushed the chest of one of the assassins and pushed the other away.


    However, it only gave them a little bit of time.


    After that outburst, Greta copsed once more, her safety unknown.


    Aya was the same. Without mana, she was only a burden in this battle.


    Only Rhone could still battle, however, he was already cornered under the joint attacks of several assassins.


    It happened then.


    Suddenly, a thunderous sound came from the sky.


    Then, the silver-haired Valkyrie opened her mouth.


    "Die."


    And tens of rays of light descended to the ground, impaling the enemies.

 Chapter 240: The Night Before (5)

    Chapter 240: The Night Before (5)


    "Die!" Regina dered with an ice-cold voice.


    And tens of rays of light descended from the sky, impaling the enemies.


    Spears, swords, sabers, arrows, pikes, and several other weapons attacked the assassins mercilessly, piercing their arms, legs, chests, and hearts.


    "Let some of them escape!" Bloed said at that moment. "We can use them to find the mastermind!"


    Regina paused briefly before nodding. Then, she carefully manipted some of her weapons, mainly the ones attacking the A-Ranks and B-Ranks, and slowed them to give the assassins the opportunity to escape.


    And as she intended, the two A-Ranks and four B-Ranks managed to avoid the first barrage of attacks.


    They then looked up at Regina with a look of fear. Realizing she was a demigod, the assassins turned around and ran away at once.


    Of course, Regina was not going to let them escape so easily. Even if she wanted to locate the mastermind behind the assassins, if a demigod like her let too many people escape, it would be suspicious.


    Thus, a new barrage of energy weapons descended from the sky.


    The assassins turned pale in fear. They hurriedly did their best to evade the weapons, but evading Regina''s attacks was not easy even if she was holding back.


    After the second barrage of attacks, two of the B-Ranks and one of the A-Ranks were directly killed.


    Moreover, one of the B-Ranks lost one leg, making it impossible for him to escape, and the remaining A-Rank lost one arm.


    Gritting his teeth, that A-Rank rushed inside a house nearby, finally escaping. Besides him, The uninjured B-Rank also managed to escape.


    Regina red at them but did not attack again. She then descended to the ground while carrying Bloed and Liu Ying.


    "Amazing" The batkin Rhone looked at Regina with an expression of admiration.


    Rana''s reaction was simr. However, she quickly remembered about her deerkin friend.


    "Miss Regina, please help Greta!"


    Regina frowned and walked towards Greta. But at that moment, another voice came from the sky.


    "Let her to me."


    The group looked in direction of the voice and saw an expressionless fox girl descending towards them.


    "Miss Eve, you are here!" Rana eximed happily.


    Eve nodded.


    "Sorry for beingte. I came as soon as I noticed themotion. It looks like Miss Regina arrived first though."


    "Miss Eve, please help Greta!" Rana pleaded with a look of worry.


    Eve nodded and floated towards the deerkin girl. She then grabbed her wrist and frowned.


    " Such a powerful poison."


    When Rana heard that, her face turned pale white.


    "Miss Eve, Greta"


    "Don''t worry. Nothing will happen to her with me here." After saying that, Eve''s hands lit up, and then, a soft glow wrapped Greta.


    One secondter, Greta''s expression turned much better.


    "Done. Now her life is out of danger. I''ll have to take her to the infirmary immediately though. I need to check her body in case there is any hidden danger."


    "Thank goddess." Rana sighed in relief.


    Eve nodded. She then looked at Regina with an apologetic expression.


    "Miss Regina, sorry about it but can you help me to bring the rest of them to the base?"


    "I can."


    "Great. I''ll be going first then."


    Eve said and waved her hand, making Greta''s unconscious body float beside her. After that, she kicked the ground and the two of them rose to the sky and flew towards the base.


    Regina looked at Rana, Rhone, Liu Ying, and Bloed and spoke up.


    "Let''s go as well."


    With a wave of her hand, the four of them were enveloped in a burble-like sphere of energy and flew with Regina towards the base.


    Five minutes after they arrived at the base, the group met with the lionkin demigod and Aya''s father. Atai also arrived with them after hearing about the situation.


    "It''s good you are alright." The lionkin demigod sighed in relief.


    "Instructor, why were we attacked?" Rhone asked while gritting his teeth, not hiding his rage in the slightest.


    "Sorry, we are not sure yet." The lionkin demigod shook his head apologetically.


    "That is"


    "Don''t worry, my men are already tracking the people that escaped from miss Regina. I''m confident we will catch them soon."


    "What about the injured assassins? They surely know something." Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Not all the assassins died or escaped. A few of them suffered grave injuries and were caught by the beastmen. They could use them to get more information.


    But the lionkin general shook his head with an expression of regret.


    "Unfortunately, they took their own lives as soon as they realized they could not escape. Currently, we are analyzing their corpses, but besides the fact most of them were humans, I don''t think we can find anything useful."


    Rhone and Rana lowered their heads and gritting their teeth.


    They were the most affected by what happened. After all, one of theirpanions almost died due to the attack.


    Rana had it the worst. Every time she closed her eyes, she could not help but remember the scene when Greta was injured to save her.


    She could not help but think that it was her fault that Greta almost died.


    "By the way." The lionkin general narrowed his eyes and looked at Bloed. "What is with Mr. Bloed?"


    The rest of the people could not help but look in Bloed''s direction.


    Currently, Bloed had his eyes closed as though he was thinking about something. He did not bother to open them even when the lionkin general and Aya''s father arrived.


    When he heard his name being called. Bloed opened his eyes and looked at the lionkin general and Aya''s father.


    "I think I found something."


    " Mm?"


    "Can we talk in a private ce?"


    Although they were startled by Bloed''s request, neither the lionkin general nor Aya''s father hesitate to agree.


    Five minutester, Eve, Regina, the lionking general, Aya''s father, and Bloed were talking inside a room.


    Are you saying that Regina let two of the assassins escape in purpose? And that you are currently keeping an eye on them."


    "Yes." Bloed nodded. "The method I use to track them can''t be detected with magic, so as long as I''m careful, they will not discover it. I want to use this opportunity to find the mastermind behind it."


    Bloed was referring to Oculus'' dragonflies. Currently, two dragonflies had separated from Oculus'' main body and were following the two assassins.


    "Then? Do you have any progress?" Aya''s father asked.


    Bloed shook his head. "They are more careful than I expected. Currently, they are moving from hideout to hideout and they did notmunicate with anyone. They probably are wary of being followed."


    Eve, Aya''s father, and the lionkin general looked at each other in surprise.


    "What do you suggest then?" Aya''s father asked.


    Bloed thought for a moment before speaking. " Let''s continue the act. We will intensify the search to make the assassins to think we are searching for them, but we are going to let them escape detection for a slight bit No, let''s catch the B-Rank after a while. This way, it will be less suspicious. We will wait until dawn. If by then the A-Rank assassin doesn''t contact the mastermind, we will catch him. After all, I can''t keep this technique forever."


    Eve, the lionkin general, and Aya''s father looked at each other before nodding.


    "Very well, we will follow your n."


    ...


    Consider supporting me on P4TRE0N if you like my story...


    P4TREON: /aidnovels

 Chapter 241: The Surviving Assassin

    Chapter 241: The Surviving Assassin


    The A-Rank assassin was hiding inside the house of a family.


    This was the third house where he had hidden. He had been hiding here for several hours already, using his stealth abilities to enter the house undetected. Even the family of beastmen living here knew nothing of his presence.


    Even so, it did not mean the situation was good.


    He had lost one arm, and although he had already applied first aid himself, a sharp pain attacked him asionally, reminding him of his now gone arm.


    Moreover, he could hear the sounds of beastmen soldiersbing the streets of the city, searching in each house for traces of him.


    That was the reason he had changed hideouts twice already.


    Even so, he knew he could be found at any moment.


    In fact, around half an hour ago, he heard sounds of battleing from the distance. When the assassin heard it, he instinctively realized that the other assassin that escaped the silver-haired demon had been caught.


    The silver-haired demon.


    Even now, each time the assassin remembered her, he felt shivers in his spine.


    Her beautiful face, her ice-cold eyes, and her chilling killing intent suppressing everything around her.


    Furthermore, her overwhelming power.


    He felt he had used all the luck in his life when he escaped her.


    He had already prepared himself to die when he epted this mission. But when he found himself facing the power of that silver-haired demon, he was overwhelmed by fear and his mind turned nk.


    He only managed to evade her attacks thanks to his sharp instincts honed after years of missions.


    In fact, when he just escaped the silver-haired demon, he found his luck quite suspicious.


    With the strength of that demon, he was sure she could easily track and then kill him.


    That was the reason he did not return to his boss when he escaped and instead moved from hideout to hideout. Because he suspected he had been let escape in purpose.


    But that suspicion had disappeared almostpletely now.


    No matter what trick he used, he could not detect traces of the silver-haired demon or anyone else tracking him.


    Thus, he finally believed that his escape was real.


    Thinking about it, perhaps the reason the silver-haired demon did not chase after him immediately was that she needed to treat the girl they injured.


    In other words, he was lucky.


    Sighing in relief again, the assassin continued waiting in this hideout silently.


    Soon, he realized the sun was about to rise again.


    The assassin started to move then. He knew that the soldiers were still searching for him, but at this time of the day and after one night of harsh search, even the most disciplined soldier could not help but be slightlyx.


    And as an experienced A-Rank assassin, he was confident he could make use of the gap created by this to move through the city undetected.


    Everything went ording to his expectations. Making use of his outstanding stealth, he moved through the city undetected, finally climbing over the walls and advancing towards a forest nearby.


    He kept his guard up during the entire time. Even when he entered the forest, he was carefully observing his surroundings to make sure nobody was following him.


    But when he failed to find anyone, even an experienced assassin like him could not help but let out a sigh of relief.


    He then moved through the forest at great speed. Finally reaching a cave hidden behind dense foliage and entering in it.


    Inside the cave, there was a maze with countless possible paths. Even the most experienced explorer would need several weeks to find the right path through it.


    But the assassin moved through that maze with great familiarity, as though he had been here hundreds of times. And finally, he reached his destination.


    A small room located in the depths of the maze.


    A man was waiting for him there.


    Nothing could be seen about this man besides the ck cloak covering his body. Even his face seemed covered by shadows and was impossible to recognize.


    "You are here." The cloaked man said.


    The assassin kneeled respectfully and bowed his head. "Boss."


    "Were you the only one that survived? You were not followed, right?"


    "Nobody followed me. As for the others, I fear they died."


    "It means you failed, huh."


    " Yes." The assassin said with a bitter voice. "We only managed to injure one of the girls, but I don''t know if she survived or not. Before we could injure the others, a demigod arrived and killed almost all our men."


    "Is it so?" The mysterious man sighed regretfully. "It''s a shame. Things would have been easier if you seeded."


    "I''m sorry."


    "It doesn''t matter. This was just one of our many ns. It would have been great if it seeded, but we will not be affected even if it failed." The mysterious man said indifferently. He then looked at the assassin kneeling in front of him. "You know what to do now, right?"


    The assassin nodded silently.


    " I must pay the price for failing the mission of our god." After saying that, he took out his dagger, and without hesitating, he stabbed his own heart with it.


    The mysterious man nodded satisfied. "Your soul will be received in our god''s divine realm. Rest in peace."


    After saying that, the mysterious man prayed silently for several seconds before his figure vanished from the cave.


    Even until the end, he failed to notice the small insect on a wall of the room.


    No, he noticed the insect. But in the end, there were tens of insects like that spread around the caves.


    There was nothing special about one more.


    At the same time, in the Boerner Elven Forest.


    *Swish!*


    With a swift movement, an elven demigod decapitated a man.


    He was thest of the assassins that attacked their group.


    "How strange." The elven demigod said with a frown. "These assassins are a bit too weak to attack a group guarded by demigods."


    "Perhaps they just wanted to test the waters?" Another elven demigod shrugged indifferently. "Anyway, we were already expecting an attack."


    " You are right." The first elven demigod nodded. He then looked at the six young elves that would represent them in the battle for the mines.


    Including Princess Elwha, each one of the six elves was an outstanding member of the younger generation.


    And of them, only one had been injured during the attack of the assassins.


    "Are you alright, Ethen?" The demigod asked.


    " I''m alright. It was just an injury on my arm."


    The demigod nodded.


    "That assassin was pretty good. If I''m one secondter, Ethen would have died."


    "Who do you think the ones behind it are?" Princess Elwha asked while frowning.


    "Is it not obvious?" One of the B-Rank elves sneered disdainfully. "The assassins were humans, and only humans like to y this kind of trick."


    Princess Elwha thought for a moment before nodding.


    " It looks like the Sun Kingdom is determined to get the mines this time."


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 242: Change of Lineup

    Chapter 242: Change of Lineup


    Meanwhile, in Thone''s military base.


    Bloed, Regina, Eve, the lionkin general, and Aya''s father were wearing serious expressions while hearing the assassin and the mysterious man''s conversation.


    When the conversation ended and the mysterious man left, the three beastmen looked at each other with dark expressions.


    " These bastards of the Church of the Sun God." The lionkin general snorted. "As always, they are ying their tricks."


    "As expected, it was them." Aya''s father said with a dark expression.


    Only Eve was silent, as though she was considering something. However, the ice-cold pressureing from her body made it obvious she was not in a good mood.


    " Should we chase after the man that received the assassin?" Aya''s father asked.


    Eve shook her head. "He is probably a demigod. If he wants to escape, we will be unable to stop him."


    " Are we going to do nothing then?" The lionkin general asked darkly.


    Eve fell silent. She then shook her head and sighed.


    "For now, there is nothing we can do. I''m sure the Sun Kingdom will deny our usations as we actually don''t have proof. Even until the end, neither the assassin nor the man that received him mentioned what church they belonged to. They were very careful until the end. Plus, all our captivesmitted suicide and refused to talk."


    Aya''s father and the lionkin general looked at each other wiht pensive expressions.


    "Now is not the time to think about this," Eve said and looked at Bloed. "Mr. Bloed, are you alright? You have been using that technique the entire night, and thepetition will start in around four hours."


    Bloed replied with a wry smile.


    "Don''t worry, one or two hours of sleep will be enough for me to get back in top condition. Just this is not enough to affect my performance."


    "Good. Go and rest then. We need to confirm if Miss Greta will take part in thepetition."


    With only four hours before the start of thepetition, Bloed decided to take a nap first.


    Two hourster, he woke up again, ate breakfast, and got ready for thepetition.


    When there was only one hour before the meeting time with the humans and elves, Bloed and the others gathered inside the training grounds.


    "You are here." The lionkin general said when he saw them. The group, however, noticed that the lionkin did not seem in a good mood.


    "What about Greta?" Aya asked concerned when she did not see the deerkin girl.


    The lionkin general shook his head.


    "Unfortunately, Miss Greta will be unable to participate in thepetition."


    Bloed and the others wrinkled their brows. In other words, Greta''s situation was that grave.


    Aware of the group''s concerns, the lionkin general shook his head and reassured them.


    "Don''t worry, Miss Greta''s life is not in danger. It''s just that the poison she was inflicted with is very strong. It eroded Miss Greta''s mana core greatly and weakened her body. Moreover, Miss Greta used a secret technique to force her body to move in that condition, and as a consequence, her cultivation regressed."


    "Her cultivation regressed?" Rana turned pale.


    There was nothing more despairing for a cultivator that losing what they worked hard to get.


    If Greta lost her cultivation due to this, Rana would live her entire life feeling guilty of this.


    Fortunately, the situation was not so grave.


    " Certainly, her cultivation fell to the C-Rank, but you don''t need to worry. We will supply her with the necessary resources to recover her cultivationpletely, and besides that, we willpensate her for what happened."


    "That is good" Rana patted her chest and sighed in relief.


    Fortunately, it was nothing grave. Otherwise, she did not know what she would do.


    "What is going to happen then?" Bloed asked with a frown. "We are not going to participate with a person less, right?"


    "Don''t worry, we were already ready for something like this." The lionkin general said calmly. "We told the beastmen who showed outstanding results during the selection but failed to be selected to remain in standby just in case of an unexpected incident like this, so one of them will rece Greta. We never thought our opponents would be as despicable as to attack you, though."


    "Who will rece her then?" Rhone asked.


    "Because of theck of time, we decided for someone who was already a bit familiar with some of you. Miss Aya,e inside please."


    When the lionkin general finished speaking, a catkin girl entered the training grounds.


    Bloed was slightly surprised, but he already expected it a little bit. Certainly, Aya had cooperated with him for a while, plus she also familiar with Liu Ying, Rana, and Atai.


    In other words, she was the most suitable person to rece Greta.


    "Aya showed outstanding results during the selection, but unfortunately, she lost against Miss Greta and was eliminated one step away from bing one of the six representatives." The lionkin general exined. "Thus, in terms of strength, we are sure she is suitable. Unfortunately, due tock of time, you will be unable to train your teamwork with her before thepetition, but there is nothing we can do about it. You can only do your best."


    """Understood.""" Bloed, Liu Ying, and the others nodded.


    "As for you, Miss Aya, don''t disappoint us."


    "I will not," Aya said with a firm and determined expression.


    "That is good. Now let''s go. The humans and the elves should arrive soon."


    With these words, the group went towards the meeting point.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 243: Arrival of the Humans and Elves

    Chapter 243: Arrival of the Humans and Elves


    Eve, Regina, and Aya''s father were waiting for Bloed''s group outside the training grounds.


    When Bloed and the others arrived, they then boarded an airship that was going to take them to the ce agreed with the humans and elves.


    Ten minutester, they arrived at the peak of a mountain located at the center of the territory in dispute.


    A small pavilion had been constructed there. It was rather simple, with just a wooden roof supported by several wooden pirs without walls or anything else.


    Just enough for the representatives of the three races to meet.


    Bloed''s group was the first to arrive. Counting Eve, Regina, the lionkin general, and Aya''s father, plus the six B-Rank participants, a total of ten people hade.


    Of them, Aya''s father, as an important minister of The Great Savannah, was the person in charge of the group despite not being the strongest.


    Not long after Bloed''s group arrived, another group of ten arrived floating in the sky.


    It was a group of beautiful men and women dressed in light green clothes and with a peaceful and calming aura around them.


    They were the elves of the Boerner Forest.


    Six of them B-Rank elves just like Bloed''s team of six. However, the four people leading them were different.


    Bloed felt that their auras were unfathomable. They were people the current him could not go against right now.


    In other words


    ''Demigods''


    When the elves arrived, the one in charge, a male elf, looked at Bloed''s group and bowed slightly.


    "It looks like your group arrived first, Mr. Tenon. Are they the young geniuses that will represent your country?"


    Aya''s Father, Tenon Sharpw, bowed back politely.


    "Fortunately, we managed to gather a group of young prodigies. With a bit of luck, they will bring excellent results back to the Great Savannah."


    "Is it so? I''m surprised, though, I never expected to see a human and a demon in your group." The elf said with a sharp glint in his eyes.


    Aya''s father did not show any signs of nervousness. With a calm gaze, He just nodded as though it was normal.


    "It''s not like they are not humans living in the Great Savannah. Plus, there was never a rule saying that only beastmen could participate."


    The elf narrowed his eyes, but he said nothing.


    At that moment, though, a booming voice came from the clouds.


    "Hmph! I expected no less from savages like you. To think you could think of this excuse to search for outside help."


    The voice belonged to a middle-aged man dressed in white garments filled with golden decorations.


    The man was floating over a cloud with nine other people standing behind him, creating an extravagant and awe-inspiring image.


    He was one of the archbishops of the Church of the Sun God and also a demigod, James Red.


    Just like with the elves, the four humans leading the group of the Sun Kingdom had unfathomable auras. Apparently, the Sun Kingdom also sent four demigods to hold the fort.


    Tenon''s face turned dark when he heard the words of the archbishop.


    "At the very least, we are not as shameless as the Church of the Sun God that resorted to attacking the participants of other countries, Archbishop Red."


    The middle-aged man frowned. He then realized that the elves were also looking at him unhappily.


    Without needed to think much, he knew that the elves had also been attacked.


    " I don''t know what are you speaking about." That was everything he could say.


    "Is it so? Well, I knew you were not going to admit it. Otherwise, you would not be part of the despicable Church of the Sun God."


    The archbishop snorted indifferently. For an instant, though, his eyes were filled with an ice-cold chill.


    However, he said nothing.


    In truth, he knew nothing about the attacks, but when he thought about it, he realized one of his colleagues might have done it without his knowledge.


    Something like that was rather possible. Plus, he himself thought it was not a bad n.


    Unfortunately, it seemed like it was not very sessful. Otherwise, the beastmen and the elves would be much more enraged than now.


    "Okay, it''s enough." The elf said coldly. "We are not here to discuss who is responsible for the attacks. Let''s talk about thepetition."


    Aya''s father looked at the archbishop for a few seconds before moving his gaze away. "Are we going to follow the rules we agreed beforehand?"


    "Yes." The elf said. "Each one of the youngsters participating in thispetition is a valuable genius of our countries, and we don''t want to put them in risk unnecessarily. Due to it, we will not make the teams fight against each other to the death. Instead, we will organize a game called [Hunting Spree]."


    Aya''s father and the archbishop nodded. The three countries had agreed to this kind ofpetition after the negotiations.


    "Are the monsters prepared?" Aya''s father asked.


    The elf nodded. "As agreed, we elves released twenty B-Rank monsters, five A-Rank monsters, and one half-step demigod monster in the ce of thepetition."


    "The Sun Kingdom also released twenty B-Rank monsters, five A-Rank monsters, and one half-step demigod monster." The archbishop nodded as well.


    "Perfect." Said Aya''s father. "We also released the same number of monsters. In total, sixty B-Rank monsters, fifteen A-Rank monsters, and thee half-step demigod monsters will be roaming the mountains during thepetition. The three groups will hunt for the monsters, and the group with the greatest score gets the rights for the territory."


    "How will the monsters be scored?" The archbishop asked.


    "Let''s follow the scores we agreed to before. A B-Rank monster will be worth 1 point. An A-Rank monster will be worth five points, and one half-step demigod monster will be worth fifteen points." The elf said.


    Aya''s father and the archbishop nodded in agreement. This scoring was pretty fair.


    Although killing a half-step demigod level monster gave a lot more points than killing a normal monster, a monster like this was not something a group of six B-Ranks could easily hunt without casualties.


    And if one of the three groups managed to hunt one, then they deserved at least that amount of points.


    " Lastly." The archbishop said at that moment. "Is robbing from other teams going to be allowed?"


    Aya''s father and the elf expressions turned serious. This was something that none of the three groups had decided beforehand.


    However, if they allowed it, it could give the three teams the chance to turn the things around at thest minute.


    In the end, they nodded.


    " It will." Aya''s father said. "However, if we think one of our representatives is in mortal danger, we will move to rescue him."


    "Fair enough. We don''t want to sacrifice our geniuses pointlessly, so we will do the same. Of course, if a participant is rescued, said participant will be disqualified." The archbishop said.


    "I agreed." The elf said.


    "Then, let''s start the game half an hourter."

 Chapter 244: Little Tricks

    Chapter 244: Little Tricks


    When the representatives of the three countries finished speaking, the three teams distanced themselves from each other.


    Each team went to a corner of the pavilion. Then, the demigods gave the participants somest-minute advice.


    In Bloed''s team, Eve waved her hand, creating a transparent barrier around the ten of them.


    "With this, neither the humans nor the elves will be able to hear our words," Eve said.


    The lionkin general nodded. He then looked at Bloed''s group of six and put on a serious expression.


    "You heard our conversation just now, and we already exined the rules of thepetition to you. However, there are some things we did not tell you.


    "For this [Hunting Spree], each country provided twenty-six monsters, including five A-Rank monsters and one half-step demigod monster. It was done like that for the sake of fairness. However, we yed a little trick in the monsters we provided. A trick to help you to catch these monsters easier."


    Bloed and the others were stunned.


    " That is cheating, right?" Rana could not help but blurt out.


    The lionkin general chuckled softly. "Perhaps. However, I''m sure we are not the ones who did it."


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Rana, Aya, Rhone, and Atai were speechless. Was it a kind of tacit understanding between countries?


    As though feeling their doubts, the lionkin general chuckled again.


    "In fact, it''s just a very small trick. So small that it technically doesn''t break the rules. After all, the demigods of the other countries are keeping an eye on the situation as well. It will not be good if we are too obvious."


    "This little trick What is it?" Bloed asked.


    " Well, the monsters we provided for thepetition share amon feature. They regrly emit strange noises. Normal people are unable to notice anything strange about them, but for a bat, these sounds are noticeable from kilometers of distance." The lionkin general then looked at Rhone.


    Bloed and the others'' expressions turned strange.


    Certainly, this was not against the rules, but at the same time, it was clearly advantageous for Bloed''s team.


    But Bloed suddenly thought of something.


    If The Great Savannah yed this little trick to help them to catch the monsters, then


    " Don''t tell me that there is something special about the half-step demigod monster you provided as well?" Bloed asked half-certain, half-in-doubt.


    The lionkin general gave Bloed a look of praise.


    "As expected of you, Mr. Norman. To think you already thought of that. You are right, we also chose a very special half-step demigod monster. It''s called Phantom Mole. A very powerful monster, blind but able to use sounds to perceive its surroundings. Besides, it burrows in the arena at a very fast speed and in a very stealthy manner.


    "Due to that, it''s very hard to detect before it attacks, leading to most of its victims dying without knowing what attacked them. And even if you avoid its first attack, it burrows in the ground again and disappearspletely, waiting for another opportunity to attack or searching for new prey. That is the reason it''s called Phantom Mole."


    " It looks like a pretty dangerous monster for me." Rana said softly.


    Bloed nodded before smiling wryly.


    " Let me guess. It has a weakness then. Sound?"


    "More urately, high-frequency sounds." The lionkin general smiled smugly. "High-intensity sounds disorient it and make it unable to show even half of its true strength."


    The group looked at Rhone again.


    "It looks like I''m the trump card for thispetition," Rhone said jokingly.


    "You are right. You can be considered our trump card in a certain sense." The lionkin general admitted easily. "However, the six of you should not focus on catching the beast we provided only. The true key in thispetition will be in how many of the other countries'' monsters you can steal."


    Bloed and the others nodded.


    Certainly, they had an advantage when catching the monsters provided by The Great Savannah.


    But in the same way, the other teams had an advantage when catching the monsters provided by their countries.


    Just catching the monsters provided by The Great Savannah was unlikely to bring them to victory.


    "Fortunately, we have several people here with excellent detection abilities." The lionkin general then looked at Bloed, Rhone, and Atai.


    Bloed could use Oculus and its dragonflies to find the monsters scattered in the mountains. Rhone could use his echolocation to search for monsters in his surroundings, and Atai, as a beastman belonging to an indigenous hunting tribe, was an excellent tracker and hunter able to find the slightest trace left behind by a monster.


    "Of course, you should not be overconfident. To be honest, I don''t know how you will fare against the other teams. I''m not too worried about the humans, but the elves are known as the children of the forest. I fear they will have several methods to find and track the monsters in the mountains. Just do your best. I trust you will show great results."


    Bloed and the others nodded.


    " Finally, there is onest thing I want to remind you." The lionkin general said and put on a grave expression. "Be careful if you meet the other teams. Although on the surface we will not allow any death, the truth is that your safety is not one hundred percent assured."


    "What do you mean?" Liu Ying asked.


    The lionkin general hesitated briefly before answering.


    "You don''t need to worry about the elves. Our rtionship with them is not bad. In fact, it can be considered friendly. It''s just that this time our interests are conflicting. The humans, however, are apletely different story If I''m not wrong, the participants of the human side have orders to try to kill you if it''s possible. And they will not hesitate to follow them. Thus, if you meet the humans, fight to kill them, and don''t show mercy! Understood?"


    Bloed and the others looked at each other before nodding.


    Finally, the lionkin general looked at Bloed.


    "Mr. Norman. I have observed you for one week, and during that time, I managed to see you are not someone that cares about races or countries. To be honest, I admire that quality of yours a little. Even I''m not as unbiased towards other races like you. That is the reason I agreed to make you the team leader despite you being human. Don''t disappoint us."


    Bloed nodded firmly. "Don''t worry. I promised Miss Eve I was going to help her with this, so I''ll do my best."


    Eve looked at Bloed and nodded satisfied with her usual expressionless look.


    But contrary to her expressionless look, her fox tail was wagging slightly.


    Bloed was not going to admit he found it slightly cute. No with his two girlfriends nearby.


    The lionkin general gave Bloed''s team a few more instructions before stopping. Then, the group got ready to start the game.


    Half an hourter, the Hunting Spree started.


    And the three teams departed from the pavilion in three different directions.


    ...


    Hey Guys, Aidka''s here!


    Last month was not a bad month, but it was not too good either. It was a rather average month.


    Here in my country, we are still quarantined. And due to that, I have noticed that my lifestyle has be muchzier than before. I probably gained a few kilos of weight in thest two or three months.


    Even so, it''s good that there are Netflix and PrimeVideo to distract me, so I don''t get bored even when I spend practically 24/7 inside my house.


    Anyway, I have a confession to do. Thisst month I have not readments even once. Yeah, sorry about that. I usually read most of thements, but as I said before, I think I''m turningziertely. But don''t worry, I promise to start reading them again from tomorrow (Readingments is a good way to know if I''m doing something well or not).


    I''m also nning to adjust my schedule, but it''s a bit hard. Now that I''m not in college, my schedule is a mess. Some days I fall asleep at fourth or five in the morning, so when I woke up, it''s already almost noon, and when I want to finish writing the chapters to post them it''s alreadyte at night.


    Anyway, nothing too important to say in this announcement. Right, remember to support me on P4TRE0N. I know I said it a lot, but your support in P4TRE0N motivates me to continue writing.


    With love, Aidka :p


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 245: Bloody Payment

    Chapter 245: Bloody Payment


    Inside the pavilion.


    The remaining four people belonging to the beastmen, elves, and humans watched as their respective protegees departed.


    None of them spoke up. Each one of them just watched silently, as though contemting the chances of victories of the three teams.


    Finally, the middle-aged man leading the Church of the Sun God opened his mouth.


    "Wanna do a bet?" He asked with a slight smile.


    The elves looked at him indifferently, and most of the beastmen were the same. Only the lionkin general looked at him with interest.


    "What kind of bet, James?"


    "Is it not obvious? About which team is going to win."


    The lionkin general chuckled. "And what do you want to bet?"


    The archbishop of the Church of the Sun God put on a mysterious smile.


    "A Seed of Divinity."


    "!!!"


    In an instant, the atmosphere changed.


    Both the beastmen and the elves looked at the archbishop with astonished expressions, as though they could not believe his words. Even Eve was looking at him with a serious look.


    Only Regina remained indifferent to the situation.


    After taking one second to calm down his shock, the lionkin general furrowed his brows.


    " A Seed of Divinity, huh. You are very confident about your kids'' victory, James."


    "Of course I''m confident. Otherwise, I would have not bet something like this."


    The lionkin general narrowed his eyes. Yes, if the archbishop took out a Seed of Divinity, it meant he was that confident.


    You must know that a Seed of Divinity is perhaps one of the most valuable objects in the world. It has a small chance to appear when someone tries to achieve godhood and fails. In very rare cases, part of thews the person tried to use to be a god mix with mana and thews of the world and create what is known as a Seed of Divinity.


    And someonepatible with thesews can use the Seed of Divinity to understand thews inside, bing much stronger quickly.


    Of course, just a Seed of Divinity is not enough to make someone a god. But even the shabbiest Seed of Divinity can greatly increase the strength of the person that uses it.


    The lionkin general fell silent. He did not know if to ept the bet or not.


    It''s not that he was not confident in Bloed and the others'' chances, but a Seed of Divinity was too valuable. He would lose a lot in the case he fails.


    "What? Could it be you are not confident in the kids you brought?" The archbishop taunted the lionkin general with a smirk. "Thinking about it, your group is the only one with three demigods. Perhaps it''s because you know your group is the weakest?"


    Before the archbishop could even finish speaking, he heard a soft snort.


    "Weakest? Just me alone is enough to take care of your group and the elves. I don''t even need to use my entire strength for that."


    The archbishop froze and looked at the owner of the voice.


    An expressionless face looking at him as though looking at a fool.


    Eve Moonglow.


    She was not someone he wanted to offend.


    In fact, even the elves were silent.


    It was because they also knew how strong the fox girl was.


    Bloodstained Moonlight. The Fox of Blood and Death.


    One of the strongest demigods in the world, only below the gods themselves.


    To be honest, the archbishop wanted to curse when he realized she was here.


    He was that wary of her.


    In the end, though, he could only swallow his curses.


    Aware that he could not go against the fox, the archbishop decided to stop with his provocations.


    But to his surprise, Eve did not seem bothered by his provocation.


    Quite the opposite, she seemed interested in the bet.


    "Just a Seed of Divinity, right? Very well, we will bet one as well. Is it alright?"


    The archbishop wrinkled his brows briefly, but he then nodded with a smile.


    "Of course. I know someone like Miss Eve will not go against her words." He then looked at the elves. "What about the lot of you? Are you going to participate in the bet?"


    The leading elf looked at him indifferently before shaking his head.


    "I''m not bored enough to lose my time ying with you." Then, he and the other elven demigods walked to a corner of the pavilion, sat down, and closed their eyes, as though they did not care about what happened here.


    The archbishop narrowed his eyes.


    "If that is what you want, very well. I guess the bet will be only between humans and beastmen then."


    "Mm." Eve nodded expressionlessly and looked away, not caring for the archbishop anymore.


    An ice-cold glint shed in the archbishop''s eyes, but it disappeared as though it never existed.


    But suddenly, the archbishop felt a gaze on him.


    When he looked in the direction of the gaze, he found a beautiful silver-haired girl looking at him with an ice-cold gaze.


    The archbishop squinted. That girl


    "A human demigod amongst the beastmen To think there are humans that mix themselves with these animals" He said derisively.


    But Regina just shot him an indifferent gaze and closed her eyes, as though he was not worthy of any more of her attention.


    Instead, all her senses were focused on her master''s location.


    she did not care in the slightest if the beastmen win or lose thispetition.


    But if she felt her master was in danger, she was going to move immediately.


    Even if she had to destroy everything in front of her.


    At the same time, tens of kilometers away.


    An average-looking man was eating a dish of a rice-like food from what could be considered a cheap stall.


    Suddenly, the man''s eyes lit up.


    Then, he looked in direction of the pavilion.


    "It has started, huh."


    With a small smile, the man put down the te on his hand and walked away towards the pavilion.


    "Hey you! You have not paid yet!" The stall owner screamed angrily.


    The average-looking man was startled. Turning around, he scratched his head and smiled apologetically.


    "Sorry sorry, I forgot about it."


    In the next instant, the stall owner was shredded into small pieces of flesh.


    "That is it. As payment for your food, I have given you a swift death."


    Then, before the people in the surroundings could react, the man turned around again and spoke in a cheerful voice.


    "Devour."


    With that word, a giant and terrifying monster appeared from his shadow.


    Then, it roared and jumped towards the defenseless citizens.


    For several seconds, only screams of pain and despair could be heard.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 246: Acting Separately

    Chapter 246: Acting Separately


    *Swoosh!*


    Six figures moved through the dense forest at great speed.


    Leading them was a blue-haired young man looking forward with a pensive expression.


    " Where are we going, captain?" Rana asked curiously.


    "Let''s find a base first. We can start thinking about the rest after that." Bloed replied immediately.


    "A base?" Rana asked confused.


    "Yes. I already sent Oculus to search for one."


    Rana nodded in understanding.


    After one week of training together, the group knew a lot about thebat techniques of the others. Of course, each one of them hid their trump cards, but their usual techniques were more or less known.


    Due to that, the group knew about Oculus'' scouting ability. They did not know about the specifics, weakness, or how it worked, but they knew the floating eye was very useful to find things.


    And just as they expected, Oculus brought back results soon enough.


    "Follow me, Oculus found a good ce," Bloed said.


    The others nodded and followed after Bloed. Less than five minutester, the group arrived at a mountain.


    Climbing the mountain, they finally found a big cave near the top.


    "Is it the ce?" Rhone asked.


    Bloed nodded. "From here we can have a good view of the surroundings, plus the ce is easy to defend."


    "You are right. This ce is pretty good." Liu Ying agreed with him.


    The others also agreed after thinking about it briefly.


    Seeing that, Bloed nodded.


    "Now, let''s talk about our strategy."


    Rana, Liu Ying, Aya, Rhone, and Atai looked at each other before looking at Bloed.


    After working together for one week, they knew Bloed was much better than any of them when it came to ns.


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    "I''ll guess I''ll exin my n then... What do you think is our greatest advantage?"


    "Our greatest advantage?" The others were confused.


    " I think it''s the fact we can use more than one method to find the monster, right?" Rana raised her hand timidly.


    The others nodded. They seemed to agree with that opinion.


    Only Liu Ying and Atai seemed pensive.


    Bloed smiled. "That is a big advantage, but it is not the greatest."


    "It''s not?" Rana was confused.


    Instead Bloed, it was Atai who replied.


    " Communication." The cougarkin said with an expression of understanding.


    Liu Ying''s eyes lit up. "You are right, that is our greatest advantage."


    Seeing that Rana, Rhone, and Aya were still confused, Bloed exined it to them.


    "Think about it, guys. Most of the monsters we need to hunt are just B-Rank monsters. Any of us can defeat a monster like that easily, thus, it''s a waste if we move together to hunt them. The problem is, Rana, Liu Ying, and Aya are not very good at tracking monsters, so they will not be very effective if they move alone. Plus, if we move separately, we run the risk of meeting the enemy teams or a monster we can''t defeat, so it''s not worth the risk. But, everything changes if we canmunicate with each other regardless of the distance."


    The three of them were startled. But after thinking for a few seconds, they opened their eyes wide.


    " You are nning to use the same method that you used during the hunt?" Aya asked.


    "Yes." Bloed nodded and raised his index finger. One secondter, a mechanic dragonfly materialized from the air andnded in his raised finger. "The five of you will move separately, and each one of you will carry a dragonfly you will use tomunicate with the others. Meanwhile, Rhone will use his sonic abilities to detect the approximate location of the monsters and send their location to me. As for me, someone needs to stay to guard the base. Plus, I''ll also use Oculus to confirm Rhone''s information and send it to the rest of you. At the same time, I''ll provide you support fire from here. That way, we will be able to hunt the monsters several times fasters than the other teams. What do you think?"


    The others looked at each other in surprise.


    "... That is a good n. Excellent in fact." Rhone said. "But what if we met with an A-Rank monster or the other teams?"


    "Easy. If you met a monster you can''t defeat, I''ll provide support through Oculus. And if that is not enough, the nearest person will rush towards your location while you try to gain time. I don''t think it will be hard unless you meet one of the three half-step demigod monsters. As for the other teams..." Bloed paused at this point before smiling mysteriously. "We only need to pay attention to the elves. As for the human team, they will be unable to approach us without being noticed."


    The group was stunned.


    "You did something to them, captain?" Rane could not suppress her curiosity and asked.


    Bloed did not reply and just smiled. However, it was enough for the group to confirm their suspicions.


    They knew their captain had done something.


    Yes, when the game started, Bloed stealthily put a dragonfly in one of the members of both teams to keep an eye on them.


    These dragonflies were currently in an inactive state due to the fact Bloed needed to use his entire concentration when he wanted to use them, but at the very least he could use them to keep an eye on the location of the other teams.


    Plus, Bloed could activate them at any time, using them to recollect information on the enemies.


    Unfortunately, the elves detected the anomaly almost immediately and destroyed it. Bloed was not sure about how they discovered it, but he thought it was rted to the fact elves were very attuned to nature.


    As for the dragonfly he put on the humans, it was still perched in the backpack of one of them,pletely undetected.


    In other words, unless they find the dragonfly, Bloed was going to be able to predict almost every move the Sun Kingdom''s team does.


    "Okay, it''s time to start. Time is gold. Rhone, try to see if there are monsters nearby. As for the others, get ready for the action."


    "Understood, captain."


    "Yes~"


    " Mm."


    "Okay!"


    ""


    Rhone, Rana, Aya, Liu Ying, and Atai replied each in their own way.


    The group started to move immediately. Rhone closed his eyes, using his bat ears to filter the sounds of the surroundings and try to locate the nearby monsters.


    Not even one minuteter, he opened his eyes.


    "I found two. One at the north around one kilometer away from us, and another one at the southeast, less than one kilometer away."


    "Good." Bloed nodded and waved his hand. Instantly, two dragonflies separated from Oculus''s body and flew in the directions Rhone told him.


    Around twenty secondster, Bloed''s lips curved up.


    "Liu Ying, you go to the north. It''s a kind of wolf monster. Atai, you go to the southeast. It''s a squirrel."


    "Leave it to me!"


    "Understood."


    With that, the demon and the cougarkin departed.


    A few secondster, Rhone spoke up again.


    "I found another. At the west, two kilometers away."


    "Aya, it''s your turn."


    " Mm."


    "Another one. This one is"


    "Rana, you know what to do."


    "Okay dokay~."


    Finally, Rhone opened his eyes onest time.


    "I guess this one is mine, captain. It''s in the northwest, two kilometers away."


    "Go. Also, keep trying to locate the other monsters. I will also use Oculus to help you." Bloed nodded at him.


    Rhone smiled. "Understood, captain."


    "Good luck."


    "Thanks."


    When Rhone left, only Bloed remained in the base.


    Currently, his mind was burdened with the information being sent by tens of dragonflies. That was the true reason he remained in the base. The current him could not show even thirty percent of his strength.


    Even so, it was not as though he was powerless.


    With a thought, a metallic wolf and a metallic puppy were taken out of his storage device.


    "Leto, Tito, it''s time to work."

 Chapter 247: First Day

    Chapter 247: First Day


    "Leto, Tito, it''s time to work." Bloed took a deep breath and spoke up.


    Immediately after that, Tito turned into Bloed''s armor, and part of Leto turned into an energy sniper rifle.


    Just like that, Bloed was ready to go.


    Lying on the ground, he activated his stealth device and focused on the information transmitted by Oculus''s dragonflies.


    He remained like that for a long time,pletely quiet as though he had fused with the surroundings. Only the asional orders he gave to his teammates through Oculus could be heard.


    But suddenly, though, Oculus sent a particr image to his mind.


    An ape monster almost three kilometers away, currently moving towards the southeast.


    Bloed closed his eyes. In an instant, his mindpleted hundreds of calctions, eventually concluding with the result it was viable.


    Thus, he moved slightly and aimed his sniper rifle in the direction of the ape.


    Although Bloed could not see it, thanks to the information he received from Oculus plus the calctions he realized beforehand, he was confident in his chances.


    This shot was going to hit it.


    Thus, he pulled the trigger.


    And


    *Bam!*


    A dry sound reached Bloed''s ears, then, the sniper bullet flew at great speed in the direction of the ape.


    Despite the ape being almost three kilometers away, the bullet needed less than one second to reach it.


    And it hit the ape on its temple.


    The monster was unable to react. The attack was so fast that it only felt a slight pain and let out a soft whimper before its life came to an end and its body copsed.


    Bloed saw all of that through Oculus.


    "It was better than I expected," He said to himself before looking at his metallic wolf. "Leto, you know what to do."


    *Woof!*


    Barking, the metallic wolf divided itself into two. One of the metallic wolves then went to retrieve the magic stone while the other remained behind to protect Bloed in case of an enemy attack.


    Meanwhile, Bloed was evaluating hisst shot.


    In terms of power, Leto''s sniper mode was one of Bloed''s strongest attacks, only below his disintegration saber and Oculus''s beam attack.


    Moreover, Bloed''s sniper rifle specialized in long-distance attacks. ording to Bloed''s calctions, the attacks of the sniper rifle were effective in B-Rank enemies at three kilometers of distance and in A-Rank enemies at one kilometer of distance.


    It was an outrageous attack range.


    Of course, no normal person could hit a target at that distance. A normal person would be lucky if he could hit a target at half the distance.


    That was not a problem for Bloed, though. With his ESP ability and Oculus'' support, hitting a target at three kilometers of distance was possible.


    The sniper rifle only w was that it was hard to wield at short distances and its rate of fire was outrageous slow.


    But for the current situation, where Bloed could snipe monsters from the top of the mountain, this weapon was perfect.


    Moreover, because the monsters were so far away, they could not feel Bloed''s killing intent. By the moment they felt something was wrong, it would be already toote.


    Unfortunately, not everything was perfect.


    Not all the targets could be attacked. If there was a rock or an obstacle between Bloed and the monster, attacking would be useless.


    At most, the energy bullet could prate through one or two trees before losing its effectiveness.


    Due to that, not all the targets Oculus located could be attacked.


    Plus, there were not many monsters in three kilometers around the mountain, so Bloed''s targets were limited.


    Even so, it was already better than Bloed expected.


    At that moment, a voice sounded in Bloed''s mind.


    "Captain, I already took care of my target."


    It was Rana.


    Bloed nodded to himself job. "Good. Your new target is four kilometers east of your location. It''s a snake."


    "Understood~"


    Rana nodded cheerfully and started to move again.


    Just like that, Bloed''s team continued hunting monsters.


    The results were much better than Bloed expected. In just the first day, they hunted a total of fifteen B-Rank monsters.


    Moreover, four of them were monsters belonging to the human and the elves.


    Unfortunately, Bloed noticed that their efficiency fell quickly.


    In the first six hours, they hunted nine of the fifteen monsters, but they only hunted six for the rest of the day.


    Right now, the group had hunted most of the monsters nearby. If they tried the same tomorrow, their harvest was going to be pitiful.


    Thus, after discussing it with the rest of the team, Bloed decided to search for a new base the next day and repeat the process.


    They nned to hunt like that for the first three days of the Hunting Spree.


    The Hunting Spreested for a total of five days, but by thest two days, most of the monsters would have been hunted, so this method would stop being so effective and the group would need to focus on hunting the A-Rank and half-step demigod rank monsters.


    Therefore, after the third day, they would stop moving individually and would move as a team.


    Something was bothering Bloed, though.


    It was the bet the archbishop of the Church of the Sun God did with Eve.


    Bloed had heard about it through his connection with Regina. And due to that, he could not help but think about what trump card the Sun Kingdom was hiding.


    He was sure that none of the other teams would be as efficient as them when it came to hunting monsters.


    Then, what was the Sun Kingdom''s team relying on for the archbishop was so confident in his victory?


    '' I''ll guess I should be a bit more careful, just in case.''


    While Bloed was lost in his thoughts, the first day of the hunt ended.


    Inside the pavilion.


    The demigods of the humans, elves, and beastmen were looking towards the mountains, using their senses to keep an eye on the situation.


    When the first day ended, the lionkin general smiled yfully and looked at the archbishop of the Church of the Sun God.


    " How many monsters did your team hunt, archbishop?"


    ""


    "Well, if you don''t want to tell me, I can check for myself. Just seven, huh? That is eight less than our team." the lionkin general smirked condescendingly.


    "... There are still four days before thepetition ends, Leon. You should not count your eggs before they hatch."


    "Is it so?" the lionkin general grinned. "From what I''m seeing, though, I can''t see how your kids are going to surpass mine."


    The archbishop fell silent.


    Even he had to admit he was surprised about this result. In fact, the elves were just as surprised as him.


    After all, the beastmen team had hunted fifteen monsters in just one day. A lot morepared to the seven the humans hunted or the ten the elves hunted.


    For an instant, he could not help but wonder if his team could win after all.


    But when he thought of their trump card, his confidence grew again.


    In the end, humans could notpare to elves and beastmen when it came to hunting.


    Thus, they never nned to win through hunting since the first ce.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 248: Two A-Ranks

    Chapter 248: Two A-Ranks


    The next day, in the afternoon


    A beautiful girl was running through the forest, moving between the trees at great speed without daring to stop.


    Her movements were so fast that a normal person would be unable to keep with her. Despite that, though, she could not escape the chase of the monster behind her.


    "Dammit it! Bloed, how long!?" The girl, Liu Ying, shouted to the air.


    One secondter, the answer came through a dragonfly on her shoulder.


    [The others will be ready soon. Just a bit more.]


    "It''s easy for you to say that! You are not the one being chased by an angry cheetah!"


    [Come on, it''s not like it has injured you. Right, you should jump to your right.]


    "???"


    Liu Ying did not hesitate to follow Bloed''s advice.


    One secondter, an enormous wind de swept through the ce where she was just one second ago, destroying several trees in the process.


    "That is crazy!" Liu Ying''s face twitched when she saw the destruction caused by the attack.


    Even worse than that was the fact that the monster chasing after her had caught up to her, again.


    In front of Liu Ying, a light green cheetah walked towards her slowly, measuring its steps as though calcting the perfect moment to attack her.


    " Bloed?"


    [On it.]


    Suddenly, a barrage of energy bullets rained on the cheetah!


    The monster jumped aside to avoid them immediately, however, the bullets chased after it without rest.


    Making use of that opportunity, Liu Ying left the cheetah behind once more.


    However, the cheetah seemed ready for it. Suddenly, mana gathered around it, creating tens of wind des that torn apart everything in its surroundings.


    Liu Ying''s expression changed. Instinctively, she twisted her body to avoid several of the wind des. At the same time, her arms and legs were filled with mana, unleashing several punches and kicks against the wind des she could not avoid.


    But during that time, the cheetah and thrown a wind de towards Oculus, destroying it momentarily and once more focusing on Liu Ying.


    "Bloed! It did not work!"


    [I''m aware. It looks like using the same trick more than once taught it how to cope against it.]


    "What should I do then?"


    [Just endure for a little bit more. I''ll find ways to support you when you need it.]


    "Bloed, you owe me at least five kisses for this!"


    [Aye, aye, ma''am.] Bloed''sughing voice was transmitted through the dragonfly.


    Liu Ying did not have the leeway to pay attention to it right now, though. While she was bantering with Bloed, the cheetah had kicked the ground and threw itself towards her.


    Liu Ying grunted and took a step aside, avoiding the attack of the cheetah. At the same time, her right fist flew towards it in a beautiful uppercut.


    However, the cheetah was already aware of the power behind Liu Ying''s punches. It had suffered once due to it, so it was wary now.


    Its body moved agilely, using the trees in the surroundings to propel itself and avoid Liu Ying''s punch. At the same time, it gathered mana in its tail and created a wind whip that attacked Liu Ying''s neck.


    Liu Ying did not dare to take it on. She did not hesitate to kick the ground and jump backward, barely avoiding the wind whip.


    But the cheetah continued attacking her, moving through the forest like a ghost and using its speed advantage to force Liu Ying to receive its attacks.


    It was obvious Liu Ying was in the losing side in this fight. In fact, it was normal. It was already very miraculous that a recently advanced B-Rank could endure for so long against a middle A-Rank monster.


    However, if the battle continued like this, it was obvious she was going to fight.


    But at that moment, Liu Ying heard a roar from the distance.


    *ROOOOAAARRRR!!!*


    It was a roar filled with pain and helplessness, and at the same time, a plea for help.


    And surprisingly, the cheetah stopped attacking abruptly.


    [It''s done.] Bloed''s voice came from the dragonfly on her shoulder. [Follow the n.]


    "Okay okay!"


    Liu Ying kicked the ground and jumped on the branch of a nearby tree, distancing herself from the monster.


    The cheetah growled softly. It red at Liu Ying as though it wanted to attack her, but when it remembered the roar of just a moment ago, it hesitated.


    It was the roar of its mate. A female cheetah.


    And it was asking for help.


    Growling onest time, the cheetah stopped hesitating and rushed towards the direction of the roar.


    "It''s going towards there!" Liu Ying said.


    [Good. It was easier than I thought.]


    "I was the one being chased around, remember!?"


    [... Good job. You are a good girl.]


    "You are dreaming if you think that will be enough. And I''m not a pet!"


    Both Bloed and Liu Ying chuckled softly. In the meanwhile, Liu Ying chased after the cheetah while Bloed observed the situation through Oculus.


    Less than thirty secondster, they arrived at another battlefield.


    A second cheetah was fighting fiercely against a cougarkin and a batkin.


    It was severely disadvantaged, though. Its body was filled with several injuries and blood was flowing from its mouth and nose. Even moving seemed difficult for it.


    The male cheetah roared in rage. It released absurd amounts of mana from its body and threw it towards the pair.


    But at that moment, the shadows behind it materialized forming the figure of a girl.


    It was Aya!


    Brandishing her daggers, the cat girl cut towards the legs of the first cheetah.


    *Spurt!*


    Both daggers pierced the cheetah''s legs, severing its muscles and reaching until its bones.


    Unfortunately, the cheetah managed to react at thest second and avoided losing its legs.


    The monster was angry. With a snarl, it tried to bite Aya''s neck.


    But the cat girl vanished like smoke. In her ce, Liu Ying was standing with her fist ready to punish the monster.


    *Bam!*


    Liu Ying''s punch hit the monster squarely.


    The immense strength behind the attack was not something an A-Rank could easily endure.


    Without surprise, its body was sent flying and crashed against a nearby tree.


    The second cheetah saw its mate being injured and panicked. It tried to help its mate, however, Atai and Rhone attacked it fiercely, worsening its injuries and stopping it from moving.


    And at that moment, Rana''s spell was prepared.


    "Be caught, [ming Mana Chains]!"


    *Whoosh!!!*


    mes surged from the ground, turning into several burning chains that wrapped around the two cheetahs and burned their skin.


    The monsters roared in pain. They instinctively released several powerful currents of wind that blew everything in their surroundings away, creating a massive amount of destruction, but it was useless.


    However, the male cheetah did not give up. Making use of its powerful mana, it broke several ming chains apart, trying to release itself and its mate.


    Unfortunately


    *Spurt!*


    A ray of light came from the distance and hit one of its legs, burning it into cinders.


    It was Bloed''s sniper bullet!


    And that was thest straw for the cheetah.


    The male cheetah copsed in pain, and the mana it had gathered dispersed helplessly.


    In the end, it could only watch how Atai, Rhone, and Rana made use of their arrows, sound bombs, and magic to st it and its mate apart.


    A few secondster, the two cheetahs were history.

 Chapter 249: The Humans Move

    Chapter 249: The Humans Move


    "Dammit, finally" After the cheetah died, Rhone heaved a tired sigh and copsed on the ground.


    "I thought they were not going to die." Rana could not help but say with a look of fatigue.


    "Yeah. These two monsters were pretty hard." Liu Ying agreed with them.


    They had met these two cheetahs early today. And up to now, they were the strongest monster they had met.


    Both of them were around the middle of A-Rank, but when they fought together, the strength they showed was several times greater.


    Due to that, the group had a lot of trouble to hunt them.


    "Who was so crazy to release those monsters for the hunt?" Liu Ying could not help but ask.


    "It was not us, at the very least. None of them produced any strange sound." Rhone said.


    At that moment, a voice came from the dragonflies the group was carrying.


    [Probably the humans, or maybe the elves. It was a good trick.]


    The group looked at each other in confusion.


    "What do you mean, captain?" Rana asked.


    [Think about it. Normally, six B-Ranks would be unable to defeat these two monsters without suffering injuries or casualties. In fact, if we would have fought them head-on, some of us would have suffered injuries even if we defeated them, plus, there was the possibility they would have escaped and we would have been unable to stop them.]


    Liu Ying, Rana, and the others nodded at Bloed''s words.


    Certainly, these two monsters were so strong that around three of them would have been necessary to defeat even one of them.


    Moreover, their cooperation was impable when they fought together. Even the six of them would have been in trouble if they faced the two monsters at the same time.


    That was the reason Bloed put in march this n. They separated the two cheetahs, and while Liu Ying distracted one, the rest of the group fought the other.


    However, they did not kill it. Instead, they injured it gravely and used it as bait to set a trap for the other cheetah.


    Thanks to that strategy, they managed to kill both monsters without many injuries.


    But even like that, the group was dead tired by the end of the fight.


    That was the reason Bloed thought these two monsters'' purpose was to cause injuries to the team that meet them.


    And if Bloed was not mistaken, the team that released them possessed a method to defeat them much more easily.


    That way, the team that released them could defeat the cheetahs easily if they met them first. But if another team met the cheetahs first, there was a high chance of them suffering injuries or even casualties.


    In the end, though, their n backfired and Bloed''s team ended benefiting from it.


    When Bloed exined his thoughts to the group, they changed their expressions.


    [As expected, we can''t underestimate the other teams. Come back to the base, guys. This will be ourst battle for today.] Bloed said through the dragonflies.


    Half an hourter, the group of six had gathered in a nearby cave.


    It was a different cave than the one they used the first day, but it was also located at the top of a mountain and could be used to overlook the surroundings.


    This was the base Bloed had chosen for today.


    "Good job, everyone," Bloed said and served each member a bowl of hot food he just cooked using the ingredients in his storage device.


    "Captain, I love you~" Rana jumped in joy when she saw the food and grabbed her bowl hurriedly. She then started to devour the food without caring about the looks of the others.


    Well, the others reacted simrly as well. Everybody was tired and hungry after one day of hunting.


    After everybody finished eating, Bloed summarized their results of the day.


    "In total, we hunted eleven B-Rank monsters and tree A-Ranks monsters. Counting the monsters that we killed yesterday, we have a total of forty-one points."


    "That result is good, right?" Rhone asked.


    "Very good." Bloed nodded. "Today is just the second day and we already have forty-one points. In theory, we need ny points if we want to guarantee our victory, but I think around seventy or eighty points should be enough."


    There was a total of sixty B-Rank monsters, fifteen A-Rank monsters, and three half-step demigod monsters.


    B-Rank monsters were worth one point, A-Rank monster five points, and half-step demigod monsters fifteen points.


    180 points in total.


    Based on that, gathering ny points meant guaranteeing their victory.


    " We should not be overconfident, though. If I''m not wrong, finding monsters will be harder from today onwards. Plus, the other teams will eventually try to attack us if they fail to gather enough points." Bloed could not help but say.


    The group nodded with serious looks.


    "What is the n for tomorrow then, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed though for a moment before opening his mouth.


    But before he could say anything, his expression froze.


    Then, his lips curved in a small smile.


    "I just discovered something interesting."


    "Huh?" Seeing the confused expressions of the others, Bloed smiled.


    " The Sun Kingdom''s team is about to hunt their half-step demigod monster."


    Liu Ying, Rana, Aya, and the others were shocked.


    "Bloed, are you sure?" Liu Ying asked.


    "Yeah. I was unable to hear their entire n, but I got the approximate location of the monster Guys, I think this is a good opportunity."


    The group was startled.


    One secondter, Liu Ying smiled.


    "You are thinking of attacking the humans, right?"


    Bloed smirked.


    To be honest, he was wary of the trump card the humans could be hiding.


    And due to that, he believed attacking them first was a good idea.


    "I don''t think you will mind a night expedition, right?" He asked the group.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and the others looked at each other. To nobody surprise, every one of them had an excited expression.


    "I guess that is a yes then."


    "Let''s go! I have not vented enough after being chased by that cheetah for so long!"


    With Bloed and Liu Ying''s words, the group got ready for a night attack.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 250: Saint of the Church of the Sun God

    Chapter 250: Saint of the Church of the Sun God


    Once the group decided to act, they moved fast.


    Following Bloed''s lead, they quickly got to the ce where the half-step demigod monster was.


    It was a cliff several hundred meters tall.


    Even from one kilometer of distance, the group could see the half-step demigod monster clearly.


    It was a blue-feathered eagle almost thirty meters tall. The eagle was standing proudly on the cliff, rustling its feathers while asionally using its sharp eyes to look at its surroundings.


    The group had to be very careful to avoid being noticed by the eagle''s sharp sight.


    In fact, on more than one asion, they got the feeling they were about to be spotted.


    Fortunately, the eagle seemed not to be wary of its surroundings. It was so confident in its own strength that it did not bother to watch out for enemies.


    " As expected of a half-step demigod level monster. Even from here, I can feel how strong it is." Rhone sighed in admiration.


    "Captain, where are the humans?" Rana asked when she failed to spot the Sun Kingdom''s team.


    Bloed closed his eyes and focused on the dragonfly he had put in the humans.


    " They are already here." Opening his eyes, he looked at a ce several kilometers across them.


    Immediately, his bright blue eyes found the people he was searching for.


    Six humans, led by a blonde young man, were advancing stealthily towards the eagle.


    And Bloed recognized the young man leading the Sun Kingdom''s team. Not just him, he also recognized one of his team members.


    Back then, when the three countries were negotiating the ownership of the mine, they were the two young men apanying the general of the Sun Kingdom.


    One of them was the one that fought Liu Ying on the arena.


    And if Bloed was not mistaken, the other


    "He is a prince, right?" He muttered to himself.


    However, that was not important.


    "Get ready, everyone," Bloed said to the group. "The battle will start soon."


    "What is the n?" Asked Liu Ying.


    "Let''s not do itplicated. We will wait for both parties to fight each other. When both parties are weakened due to the battle, we will attack. Rana, Rhone, prepare your long-distance attacks. Aya, Atai, Liu Ying, and I will try to get as close to them as possible without getting discovered."


    """Understood.""" The others replied.


    The group moved as soon as they heard the n. Rana and Rhone got ready to unleash their most powerful magic and sound attacks while Aya, Atai, Liu Ying, and Bloed made use of their stealth abilities to get closer to the ce of the fight.


    Coincidentally, Aya, Atai, Liu Ying, and Bloed had all pretty good stealth abilities. Aya was an assassin and Atai a hunter. As for Liu Ying and Bloed, they could use Bloed''s stealth device to blend themselves with their surroundings.


    While Bloed''s group was getting ready to ambush the Sun Kingdom''s team, the Sun Kingdom''s team started moving.


    As soon as they reached the cliff, one of the members of the team unleashed a powerful fireball towards the eagle.


    Feeling the fluctuations on the mana, the eagle reacted instinctively and avoided the attack.


    *Boom!*


    The fireball hit the cliff, sending several pieces of rock flying towards the surroundings.


    Provoked by the attack, the eagle screeched angrily and dived towards the humans.


    Bloed had been curious about how they were going to hunt the eagle. After all, it was a half-step demigod level monster. Moreover, a flying one. It was not going to be easy to defeat.


    However, his answer appeared soon.


    As soon as the eagle dived towards the group, one of the humans took a step forward. Then, several metallic chains surged from his cloak and flew towards the eagle!


    The eagle tried to avoid them, but suddenly, a second human appeared and extended his hand, casting a spell on the eagle that increased the gravity around it several times.


    Under the effects of that spell, the eagle was unable to avoid the chains.


    *nk!*


    With a metallic sound, the metallic chains wrapped around the eagle''s ws and wings. Then, the other extreme of the chains extended towards several enormous rocks nearby and wrapped themselves around them, thus sealing the eagle''s flight ability.


    *SCREEEEEECH!!!*


    The eagle screamed loudly. It tried to use mana to break the chains apart, but they were more resilient than the eagle expected. Even when it used all its strength, it failed to even scratch them.


    Furious, it opened its beak and aimed at the humans nearby.


    Then, a vortex of icy air descended towards them.


    The temperature in the ce descended quickly, and several nearby nts froze. The icy attack of the eagle was so strong that it seemed the humans were going to be turned into popsicles.


    However, the young man leading the humans smirked.


    Then, he took a step forward, and a pair of ming wings appeared on his back.


    Following that, mes so hot that seemed to burn the world itself surged forward, shing against the ice.


    And to Bloed''s surprise, the mes of the young man did not lose against the ice of the monster!


    Bloed was astonished. The eagle was a half-step demigod level monster, while the young man was just a B-Rank. But even so, the eagle''s ice could not gain any advantage against the young man''s fire.


    "A Saint!? Impossible!" Rana''s shocked voice reached Bloed''s ears at that moment.


    Bloed frowned. "Are you saying he is a saint?"


    Rana furrowed her brows before nodding. "I''m sure. His mes are borrowing strength from the Sun God. That is the reason they are so strong."


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. He was not expecting this.


    Until now, Bloed had met two saints. Charise Amra, the Saintess of the Church of Fate, and Eve Moonglow, the Saintess of Moonlight Glow.


    Thus, Bloed knew a little bit about saints.


    Priests and pdins relied on their faith to form a link with their gods and borrow a bit of the god''s strength, so making their attacks stronger.


    But saints were different.


    Saints were usually people very attuned to thews of their god. And due to that, they could borrow much more strength than normal from the god they served.


    Sometimes as much as thrice what a normal priest could borrow.


    In the case of the young man, although borrowing the strength of the Sun God was not enough to defeat the half-step demigod for himself, it was enough to negate its ice abilities.


    That, together with the chains stopping the eagle from flying and the attacks of hisrades, made hunting this eagle monster rather easy.


    Bloed frowned. This result was not good for them.


    If things continued like this, they would have to fight against a saint with most of his strength remaining plus five other talented B-Ranks.


    Even if they could win, victory was not going toe easy.


    Thus, without hesitation, he turned part of Leto into his sniper rifle and aimed towards the Sun Kingdom''s team.


    "Change of ns! Attack now! Don''t attack their leader. Focus on the others!"


    As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled the trigger, and a ray of light flew towards the humans.


    An instantter, the sma bullet burned the legs of one of the humans to cinders.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 251: Miscalculation

    Chapter 251: Miscalction


    The sh of the bullet was so fast that none of the humans was able to react. They only saw a ray of light flying towards one of theirpanions before he had his legs burned into cinders.


    The human was stunned. He copsed on the ground slowly while trying to understand what was happening.


    Then, he opened his mouth and


    "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Screamed out in pain.


    "Enemy attack!" Another of the humans bellowed, trying to warn hisrades. But it was already toote.


    Before they could get themselves ready to defend against the unexpected ambush, Rana hatred-filled voice resounded.


    "Descend, [Whisper of the Raging Fire God]!"


    Her mana surged out, turning into tens of magic circles that took shape around her.


    Then, the rabbitkin girl extended her hand out. Following that, the tens of magic circles resounded with each other and formed a storm of fire that descended towards the Sun Kingdom''s team!


    It was Rana''s most powerful attack, a technique able to kill an A-Rank practitioner easily if it managed to hit.


    But at the same time, it was a technique that cost a lot of mana.


    In all honesty, Bloed thought it was unnecessary to use this kind of technique in this situation.


    But when he saw Rana''s eyes, he understood.


    He had miscalcted.


    When Bloed attacked before, he made sure to aim to the legs of his target. That way, although the injury would be grave, the Sun Kingdom would be able to treat him if they paid a high enough price.


    But Rana was different. She still remembered how Greta almost died protecting her, and how Greta''s strength was reduced as the consequence of that, going from being one of the strongest talents in her generation, to barely being a C-Rank practitioner.


    And knowing it was the Church of the Sun God behind it, she did not n to be merciful.


    With a swoosh, the storm of fire raged, descending towards the humans and trying to burn them into cinders.


    However, the team members of the Sun Kingdom were no pushovers. They immediately realized the danger of the technique and did their best to protect themselves and avoid the attack.


    Except for one person.


    The one whose legs had been destroyed by Bloed.


    "Raul!" One of the Sun Kingdom''s members cried in panic. Without hesitation, he burned his mana to create a barrier to protect himself and hisrade.


    But it was at that moment that a new attack arrived.


    *OOOOoooooooOOOO!!!*


    Intense soundwaves attacked the B-Rank practitioner, messing his internal organs and interrupting the casting of his barrier.


    And during that opening, the storm of fire rushed towards the two of them.


    Before they could manage to react, they were consumed by the storm of fire.


    The fate of the two humans stunned the Sun Kingdom''s team. They watched how the storm of fire consumed two of theirrades, taking their lives mercilessly.


    Finally, at this point, the prince of the Sun Kingdom reacted.


    "DAAAAAMMMMMNNN YOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!"


    With as much rage as he could express, he spread out his wings of fire, creating a wave of sun mes that swept away Rana''s mes!


    But by that point, there were no traces of the two teammates that were consumed by the mes!


    Not even their ashes remained.


    "I''LL KILL YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!!!"


    Rage burned in his eyes. Not just him, but all the other humans were wearing the same expressions.


    This is bad Bloed frowned to himself.


    He did not expect the situation would turn like this.


    In fact, he underestimated the hatred of the beastmen towards the Sun Kingdom.


    Of course, Bloed did not fear the youngsters here. But thest thing he wanted was to create an unreconcble feud with the Sun Kingdom.


    It was already toote for it, though.


    At this point, he could only grit his teeth and continue forward instead of hesitating.


    "Aya, Liu Ying, Atai!"


    Bloed''s orders were acknowledged by hispanions. Without showing any hesitation, the three of them jumped towards the remaining Sun Kingdom''s team members.


    And Bloed and Rhone joined them.


    "YOU ALL WILL DIE!!!" The prince screamed in hatred. His wings spread out, releasing waves after waves of mes that tried to consume them.


    But Bloed did not even bother to pay attention to him.


    Because something else was not nning to let him go.


    As though waiting for this opportunity, the half-step demigod eagle that had been suppressed until now screeched in fury.


    Its sharp eyes shone with immense killing intent, and its mana was released in a fearful wave of ice that seemed to freeze the air itself!


    The prince''s face changed. In front of the threat of death, he could only redirect his mes to sh against the eagle.


    However, it meant he could not pay attention to the fight against Bloed''s group.


    "Forget about him!" Bloed instructed, already expecting this situation. "Focus on the others first!"


    Then, Bloed charged towards one of the three remaining Sun Kingdom''s members. While Atai was after another and Rhone and Liu Ying went after thest.


    This time, Bloed did not bother using his sniper rifle. In this situation, with his enemy already prepared and at such a close distance, his other means of attack were more effective.


    Thus, he just unleashed his saber. At the same time, a ster gun appeared in his left hand, and a storm of metallic sand surged from behind him.


    The metallic sand took the shape of a wolf''s head, opening its jaw and attacking the young man Bloed was facing.


    "Get lost!" The young man threw a punch towards the sand, blowing part of it away. However, a small part of the sand managed to reach his feet.


    Then, the sand entangled him and released a powerful electric current that paralyzed his movementspletely.


    Bloed arrived at that moment, wielding his saber skillfully and cutting towards the young man''s spine.


    Bloed''s intention was just to seal his opponent''s movements instead of killing him. Currently, he did not want to make the situation even worse.


    But things were not going to go as he nned.


    While his opponent was paralyzed by Leto''s electricity, an arrow flew from Atai''s direction.


    In an instant, the arrow pierced the young man''s head, killing him instantly!


    It was not the end, though. Ignoring the opponent he was fighting (Who was already kneeling on the floor), he unleashed another arrow towards Liu Ying and Rhone''s battle.


    But when he was about to shot it, an enormous pressure came from the sky.


    "STOP!"


    The pressure was so powerful that it froze Bloed and the others'' movements. Even the half-step demigod monster was unable to move in front of it.


    At the same time, the person in the sky extended his hand, trying to grab Atai.


    But then, an even more powerful pressure appeared.


    "What do you think you are doing?"


    With an expressionless voice, Eve waved her hand, destroying the archbishop attack and sweeping away his pressure as though it was nothing.


    And as soon as he was released from the pressure, Atai did not hesitate to take action.


    With just an arrow, he pierced the neck of the person fighting Liu Yin and Rhone.


    The fourth member of the Sun Kingdom''s team had been killed.

 Chapter 252: Demigods Interfere

    Chapter 252: Demigods Interfere


    Atai''s arrow stunned all the people present.


    Nobody, not even Eve or the archbishop, thought he would be so bold.


    He literally killed the protegee of a demigod in front of the demigod himself.


    "KID, YOU ARE DEAD!"


    The archbishop roared. Blue mes surged out of his body, descending towards Atai in the shape of a bird of fire.


    But with Eve here, his n was destined to fail.


    "I won''t repeat myself again," Eve said while waving her hand and dissipating the bird of mes as though it was nothing. "What do you think you are doing?"


    Despite her expressionless voice, the archbishop could not help but shiver when he heard her.


    The ice-cold chill he felt from Eve was overwhelming. He could not believe he felt such fear when facing her.


    He knew that Eve was strong, but this was on apletely different level than he expected. This was not a strength a demigod was supposed to possess.


    This strength It was already approaching the level of the gods.


    However, despite feeling Eve''s strength, the archbishop could not afford to step back right now.


    "Miss Eve, what is the meaning of this!?"


    "I should be asking the same to you. Who gives you the right to attack one of my people in front of me? As a mighty demigod, are you not ashamed of yourself after attacking a junior?"


    "Ashamed? Are you asking me if I''m ashamed!? FOUR! FOUR OF THE GREATEST TALENTS OF THE SUN KINGDOM DIED, AND YOU ARE ASKING ME WHY DID I ATTACK THAT BASTARD!?"


    Eve did not seem bothered by his words, though. She just stared at him expressionlessly.


    "It''s your fault for failing to save them in time."


    The archbishop red at Eve andughed. It was augh filled with fury and hatred.


    "And who do you think is at fault for that!?"


    Even did not reply. She just looked at the archbishop as though she did not care about his words.


    At that moment, the rest of the demigods arrived at the scene.


    Not just the human demigods, but also the beastmen and elven demigods.


    However, the expressions of the three groups werepletely different.


    The humans were wearing expressions of rage, and there were traces of battle and injuries in their bodies. The beastmen demigods were also injured, but their injuries were much lighter, and they were smiling in schadenfreude.


    As for the elven demigods, they were looking at both groups as though watching a good show.


    The situation was very tense. Both humans and beastmen seemed ready to fight. In fact, the only thing that was stopping them was that none of them wanted to start an all-out war between the two countries right now.


    Plus, Even was here, so the humans could only endure the humiliation regardless of their rage.


    When Bloed saw that, he more or less understood what happened.


    And Regina''s words that sounded in his mind confirmed his suspicions.


    When the human demigods realized that their team was in danger, they tried to hurry towards here. However, the beastmen demigods interfered with them and restrained their movements.


    In the end, only the archbishop managed to rush towards here and acted in rage, but Eve followed him and stopped his attacks.


    The result was as Bloed saw.


    Bloed was slightly surprised after hearing that. ording to Regina''s words, only the lionkin general and Aya''s father acted at the start.


    In other words, the two of them managed to restrain three human demigods by themselves.


    Of course, Eve''s intimidating strength had more than a little effect on that result, but even so, it could not be denied that the lionkin general and Aya''s father were stronger than he thought.


    Mainly taking into ount that Aya''s father was not even a demigod yet.


    At that moment, the archbishop took a deep breath and spoke up to Eve.


    " Order your team to retreat."


    Eve said nothing. Instead, she just looked at the eagle who had been unable to move under the pressure of so many demigods.


    When the archbishop saw that, his expression turned indescribably ugly. However, he knew there was nothing he could do now.


    Thus, he just waved his hand and sent a bird of blue fire towards the eagle, incinerating it instantly.


    When the eagle perished, he made a gesture of grabbing at the air and the mana core of the eagle flew towards him.


    Throwing it towards Eve, the archbishop scowled.


    "Is it enough?"


    Eve nodded. She then looked at Bloed at the others and smiled.


    "Withdraw."


    Just like that, Bloed''s group departed with the beastmen demigods following after them.


    Bloed, however, could feel the gazes of hatreding from the Sun Kingdom glued to their backs.


    In front of that, he could only sigh.


    " You were very reckless this time." Eve spoke up at that moment, looking at Rana, Rhone, and Atai. "You should have not been so rash."


    "But Miss Eve! Greta, she"


    " I understand you are angry. But killing four of them was a bit too much."


    Rana fell silent, but it was obvious she did not agree with Eve.


    Eve could only sigh at that. In the end, they were only kids.


    It was fortunate she was with them this time. Otherwise, with how angry the Sun Kingdom''s demigods were, they would have not cared about the consequences and attacked them to vent their rage.


    "Anyway, good job." Eve shook her head expressionlessly. "With your current results, you only need to hunt another demigod and victory will be practically in our bags."


    Bloed and the others nodded.


    But for some reason, Bloed was strangely uneasy.


    For some reason, he had the feeling something was wrong with the situation of just now.


    Furrowing his brows, he reyed the scene of the previous battle in his mind. And suddenly, his eyes shed.


    As expected, something was fishy.


    Meanwhile, in the Sun Kingdom''s team


    The archbishop was looking at the remaining of the dead contestants with an ugly expression.


    At that moment, the Sun Kingdom''s prince spoke up with a hatred-filled voice.


    " Archbishop, what are we going to do next?"


    The archbishop did not reply immediately. His eyes shed with severalplicated expressions, before finally sighing.


    " We are withdrawing."


    "But archbishop! I have still didn''t use that! It was due to that damn bird! If I would have used that, I would have killed all these beasts!"


    The archbishop thought briefly before shaking his head.


    "It''s too risky. Certainly, I''m pained by the deaths of these young elites, but your life is much more important than them. I can''t risk it in the current situation."


    But just when the archbishop finished speaking, the only other survivor of the battle just now intervened.


    " Archbishop, I agree with his highness''s suggestion."


    "Ulises?" The archbishop looked at the young man surprised.


    If Bloed would have been here, he would have noticed this young man was the same who fought Liu Ying on the arena around one month ago.


    The young man had a look of unwillingness in his eyes. Clenching his fist, he stared at the archbishop with a face full of determination.


    " This time, I was unable to use my talent due to the situation. But if Ibine my talent with his highness''s abilities, I''m sure we can at least kill several of them. At the very least, we will not die so easily. Please, give us another opportunity."


    The archbishop frowned. To be honest, he was not very sure about this.


    However, he was not satisfied with the current situation.


    Plus, if none of the beastmen participants dies after killing four of his participants, he would have to face a lot of criticism when he returns to the Sun Kingdom.


    Such criticism was not something he could handle easily, even with his position as archbishop. After all, many other people were eyeing his position and resources.


    In the end, he put on a determined expression and gritted his teeth.


    "Very well, you have my approval. But at the slightest sign that something is wrong, you must retreat. Understood!?"


    ""Understood!""


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 253: Suspicious Point

    Chapter 253: Suspicious Point


    Yesterday''s chapter...


    ...


    Bloed''s group plus Regina, Eve, Aya''s father, and the lionkin general returned to their base silently.


    But despite the silence, the group was in a good mood. It was obvious that as the young B-Ranks as the demigod representatives were very satisfied with the blow that they inflicted on the Sun Kingdom.


    In the end, both countries could be considered as long-time enemies. Plus, Rana, Rhone, and the others were still holding a grudge after they were attacked by assassins and Greta was seriously injured.


    Bloed, however, was unable to share their mood.


    Quite the opposite. He had his brows furrowed since the moment they left the ce of the battle.


    Currently, he had reyed the fight of just now several times in his mind, even including the images Oculus caught from the sky to confirm his suspicions. And the results were not something good.


    Regina was the first to notice that something was wrong with Bloed.


    Wrinkling her brows, she transmitted her voice directly to his mind.


    [Master, you have been frowning since a while ago.]


    Bloed did not reply immediately. Instead, he thought for a moment before replying.


    [Regina, you have been in contact with the elven demigods for thest few days, have you noticed anything strange with them?]


    [Master?] Regina was surprised. Furrowing her brows, she tried to remember the behavior of the elven demigods.


    However, even after thinking for a while, she failed to find anything wrong.


    [ I don''t think so.] In the end, she could only reply like that. [ Master, have you noticed anything?]


    Bloed nodded. [I did. Regina, the day we were attacked by the assassins, Atai was not with us, right?]


    [ He was not. Do you think that is suspicious?]


    [ A bit, but that is not enough to think he is a spy or something like that.] Bloed said after deliberating briefly. [But during today''s battle, I noticed a very suspicious point.]


    [What is it?] Regina looked at Bloed curious.


    [The two arrows he shot at the end. He killed two of the humans with these. But Why did he not kill the human he was battling?]


    Regina frowned. Now that she thought about that, that was strange.


    That was the suspicious point Bloed noticed. When Atai killed the two humans that Liu Ying, Rhone, and he were battling, Bloed remembered that Atai''s enemy was already incapacitated. In fact, he was kneeling on the ground.


    In other words, Atai could have killed him easily. Much more easily than killing the other two.


    However, for some reason, he chose to kill the two more difficult targets instead and left his opponent alive.


    [Certainly, that is suspicious.] Regina nodded, sending her voice inside Bloed''s mind. [What do you think is the problem?]


    [There are two options I find the most likely.] Bloed said after thinking for a moment. [The first is that Atai knew that young man beforehand and they were acquittances or friends, so he decided to spare him in the end. To be honest, though, I think this option is very unlikely.]


    [You are right. Something like that is very unprovable. What is the second option?]


    [ What if there is a third party trying to sow discord between the Sun Kingdom and the beastmen? The reason Atai did not kill that human is that they were part of the same group. As for the other two humans, killing them would make the situation between the Sun Kingdom and the beastmen tenser Of course, there is also a chance that I''m overthinking everything.]


    Regina was startled. [ So that was the reason you asked about the behavior of the elves.]


    [Yes.] Bloed nodded. [No matter how I look at this, they are the ones that benefit the most with this conflict.]


    Regina fell silent. Looking at it from this perspective. Bloed''s reasoning seemed very probable.


    However


    [Some things don''t fit, master. Firstly, I remember the elves reported that they were also attacked by assassins. Of course, they could have been lying to not raise suspicions. But then, when we used one of your dragonflies to spy on the conversation the assassin I let go had with the mysterious man, they mentioned a god. And elves usually don''t believe in gods.]


    Bloed nodded. He had also thought about that.


    There were very few elven gods.


    Usually, the faith of elves was centered on their great trees. And even the elves that believe in gods put the great trees above their gods.


    That was the reason Bloed could not confirm the elves were the ones behind this.


    Even so, it was enough for Bloed to know there was something fishy with the current situation.


    [ In fact, now that I think about it, elves usually don''t care about mines, but this time, they decided to participate in thispetition for the mines in this territory. That is suspicious in itself I''m still missing something, though I feel like there is something I have not noticed yet.]


    [ What are you nning to do, master?] Regina asked after a moment of silence.


    [Nothing for now.] Bloed said and nced at Atai briefly. [My promise with Eve was to help her to win thispetition. As for if there is a plot behind this, to be honest I don''t want to be involved. Of course, I will have to be more careful of Atai in case he is truly an enemy.]


    That was everything Bloed could do for now.


    [ I''ll help you to keep an eye on the elves then, master.]


    Bloed nodded and stopped speaking. He would have to do with that.


    In truth, he was not even sure if the elves were truly plotting something. At this point, this was nothing more than an assumption based on circumstantial evidence.


    But it was enough for Bloed to raise his guard.


    He did not want to be caught off-guard in a dangerous situation.


    When the group returned to their base, Eve, Aya''s father, and the lionkin general left somest instructions for the group before returning to the pavilion together with Regina.


    At almost the same time, Rhone found traces of a B-Rank monster nearby.


    Using this opportunity, Bloed asked Atai to hunt it.


    Atai nodded, finding nothing wrong with Bloed''s request. But when Atai left, Bloed called at the others and spoke up in a grave voice.


    "Be careful of Atai. I think there is something wrong with him."


    Just in case, he wanted to be prepared.


    At the same time, several kilometers away.


    Elwha Aerin, Princess of the Elves and Priestess of the Boerner Tree, opened her eyes and looked at the five young elves apanying her.


    "The elders have sent a message. The humans and the beastmen just fought a fierce battle so they are not paying much attention to us right now. This is our opportunity. We are going to start our operation tonight. For the great tree."


    The five young elves around her looked at each other and nodded.


    """For the great tree."""

 Chapter 254: Uneasiness

    Chapter 254: Uneasiness


    The next day arrived and Bloed''s team continued hunting monsters.


    During the entire day, Bloed''s team hunted six B-Rank and two A-Rank monsters, plus one monster Atai huntedst night, they reached a total of eighty-three points by the end of the day.


    This amount of points was already almost enough for the group to assure victory.


    Even so, Bloed could not feel happy.


    Quite the opposite, a feeling of uneasiness had been guing him for a while.


    The main reason behind it was that the elves had not made any move even now.


    Moreover, Bloed had kept an eye in Atai during the entire day, trying to find anything suspicious with his movements, but in the end, he failed to find anything.


    Bloed even thought he was overthinking things.


    But that feeling of uneasiness was bing stronger and stronger, as though something bad was about to happen.


    It was at the point that Bloed decided to use his connection with Regina tomunicate with her despite the risk of it being noticed by any of the demigods around her.


    Fortunately, only Eve seemed to notice something strange. But she remained silent and said nothing.


    [ Are you there, Regina?] Bloed once more sent a message to Regina.


    [Yes, Master.]


    [Have you found anything suspicious?]


    [ Nothing for now. I have kept an eye on the elves just like you told me, but their team is just chasing after their half-step demigod monster. They have not done anything suspicious.]


    [Is it so?] Bloed furrowed his brows. Could it be he was mistaken?


    [Right, what is their half-step demigod monster?]


    [A worm, I think. They chased it inside some caves, and they have been fighting it inside for a while.]


    [ I see.] Bloed sighed to himself. In the end, it seemed there was nothing wrong with the elves.


    Could it be that he was truly overthinking?


    Bloed''s expression was a bitplicated.


    Well, it was better to prevent than toment.


    ''I''ll guess I''ll simply take the team to hunt the remaining monsters we need and wait for thepetition to end. That way, even if someone is plotting something, nothing should happen to us.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    [ Master, I think you should be warier of the humans instead.] WHile Bloed was lost in his thoughts, Regina hesitated slightly before saying that.


    Bloed frowned. That was another thing he was not expecting.


    He thought that the Sun Kingdom would give up in thepetition after losing four contestants, but for some reason, they decided to continue with only two members.


    Bloed could not understand why they took that decision. But after thinking for a while, Bloed and Regina reached the same conclusion.


    They probably were nning some kind of revenge against them.


    Thus, there was a chance of them being attacked by the Sun Kingdom in the next few days. Even worse, perhaps they would join hands with the elves and attack them together.


    Unfortunately, the dragonfly Bloed had put in the Sun Kingdom''s team was burnt to cinders by Rana''s magic, and because Bloed did not think they would continue on thepetition, he did not bother putting another.


    Thus, the current him was unable to know the movements of the two remaining B-Ranks of the Sun Kingdom.


    Regina had tried to use her senses as an SS-Grade Valkyrie to spy on them and tell about their movements to Bloed, but the human demigods were too alert, using their senses to pressure the beastmen representatives. Due to that, she had been unable to find any useful information.


    In the end, Bloed could only sigh and prepare as much as possible.


    [Don''t worry. I''ll be wary just in case.] Bloed said.


    [Understood. Be careful, master.]


    Bloed nodded and cut themunication with Regina.


    Even although theirmunication had not been discovered until now, Bloed did not dare to keep it for long. In the end, Regina was around eight possibly hostile demigods, so it would be troublesome if they discovered something.


    While Bloed was processing the information he received from Regina, he heard Rhone gasp.


    "Captain!" Rhone hurriedly stood up and shouted excitedly. "I found it!"


    "Hmm?" Bloed and the others looked at Rhone startled.


    "What did you find?" Rana asked curiously.


    "Our half-step demigod monster!" Rhone was excited. "The Phantom Mole! I found it!"


    Bloed and the others looked at each other in surprise.


    "Are you sure?" Bloed asked again.


    Rhone nodded hurriedly.


    "I''m sure. It should be five kilometers to the east. I can hear its distinctive sound."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. The phantom mole, huh


    "Bloed, what should we do?" Liu Ying asked when she saw Bloed stay silent. "Should we hunt it?"


    Bloed did not reply. Instead, he looked at his team to see his reactions.


    Rhone and Rana seemed excited by the news, eager to hunt the half-step demigod monster.


    Liu Ying was a bit calmer, but her eyes were shining brightly. Obviously, she also wanted to hunt it.


    As for Aya and Atai, they were usually expressionless so Bloed found it hard to gauge their reactions, but judging by the small changes in their expressions, they seemed interested as well.


    Bloed thought for a moment before looking up at the sky.


    " It''s almost night. Are you sure you want to hunt it now?" He asked the group.


    "We know the weakness of the mole, so hunting it should not be too troublesome with Rhone here," Rana said with an excited smile.


    Bloed thought for a moment and agreed with her.


    In truth, hunting the mole was not a bad idea.


    Hunting it meant getting fifteen points more. That was more than the points they needed to assure their victory.


    And with Rhone''s sound attacks, it should not be too difficult to defeat the mole.


    Thus, after thinking for a moment, Bloed finally nodded.


    "Very well. Get ready, we will depart in five minutes."


    "Yay~!" With Rana''s excited voice, the group started to prepare.


    Half an hourter, they arrived at a small mountain nearby.


    There, they found a giant mole sleeping over a big rock.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 255: Beam of Fire

    Chapter 255: Beam of Fire


    "Is that our monster?" Rana asked with a curious look. "It''s so big!"


    Bloed nodded. Just from a nce, he estimated that the mole was around five or six meters tall.


    To be honest, it looked a bit silly and cute. The round body of the mole made it seem nothing like the deadly monster Bloed''s group was expecting.


    Even so, the six of them knew they should not underestimate it.


    "How are we going to do this?" Liu Ying asked in anticipation.


    Bloed thought for a moment before speaking up.


    "Rhone, you are in charge of using your sound attacks to disturb it. Rana, use your magic to stop it from going underground no matter what. As for the rest, you already know what to do."


    """Roger!"""


    "Very well, let''s do it."


    The group moved quickly. In less than five minutes, each one of them was in position.


    Even now, the phantom mole was still sleeping on the rock. Bloed was not sure if it was because it had not detected them, or if it was just toozy to move when its enemies were just a bunch of B-Rank kids.


    Bloed found it fortunate.


    He preferred to have the initiative after all.


    Looking at the giant sleeping mole, Bloed''s eyes shed coldly.


    "Start!"


    "Hahaha, okay!"


    The next instant, Rhone howled.


    Immediately, soundless sound waves left Rhone''s mouth and flew towards the mole, hitting it!


    "EEEEEEeeeeee!!!"


    The mole let out a high-pitched shriek. It jumped awake and held its head with its front pawns in obvious pain.


    As soon as they saw that, the rest of the group moved.


    Bloed was the first to attack. With a thought, Oculus released a beam of energy towards the mole''s body.


    The beam of energy hit the mole. However, the mole managed to react at thest second, using its front pawns to block the beam.


    Oculus''s beam attack was not so easy to defend, though. The beam of sma easily burned through the mole''s skin, calcinating its muscles and creating a hideous-looking injury.


    "EEEEEeeeeeekkkkkk!!!" The mole screamed in pain again. It tried to use its senses to find the enemies that dare to injury it, however, the bothersome soundwaves attacking its body made it unable to focus.


    And meanwhile, Aya, Liu Ying, Atai, and Bloed arrived in front of it.


    Aya''s dagger pierced the mole''s right leg, Liu Ying''s punched its back, Atai stabbed its left leg, and Bloed used his disintegration saber to attack its heart.


    The mole barely managed to avoid Bloed''s lethal attack, however, it could not avoid Aya, Liu Ying, and Atai''s attacks.


    Its situation turned even direr!


    With the injuries that it received from Oculus''s attack plus the injuries it received just now and Rhone''s soundwaves, it was in grave danger!


    Aware of it, the mole did not hesitate to jump away and try to burrow on the ground.


    But at that moment, Rana''s voice sounded.


    "[Imprison]!"


    Following her voice, several mana chains appeared around the mole, wrapping around its body one after another and stopping its movements.


    At the same time, Leto surged towards the mole and turned into several metallic chains that grabbed the mole''s legs and emitted electric currents, causing it to scream in pain.


    The mole roared. Mana erupted from its body, breaking most of Rana and Leto''s chains no even one second after they appeared.


    But using the brief time Rana and Leto earned for them, the group intensified their attacks.


    In an instant, several attacks rained in the mole increasing its injuries massively.


    Bloed did not miss this opportunity. Brandishing his saber, he shed towards the mole''s right leg, severing itpletely.


    By the time the mole free itself from the chains, it was in itsst legs.


    With its front paws injured and its right leg severed, it could not even try to escape.


    *Eeeeeekkk!* The mole let out a whimper of pain. Then, its body copsed on the ground.


    It was already about to die.


    "It was easier than I expected." Liu Ying said with a bit of disappointment.


    Bloed nodded. Well, they had targeted the mole weakness, plus used a surprise attack. It would have been strange if it would have not been so easy.


    But when he was about to give thest blow, Oculus caught sight of something.


    Bloed''s expression immediately changed.


    "Careful!"


    Without hesitation, he ordered Leto to form a metallic barrier around him plus Aya and Liu Ying who were close to him!


    The next instant


    *Boom!!!*


    A beam of fire fell from the sky.


    The beam of fire caused a powerful explosion. It burned most of the trees in the surroundings and created a powerful shockwave that spread on several kilometers.


    In the distance, a blonde young man was hovering in the sky with a pair of fire wings on his back and a bow in his hands.


    He was the prince of the Sun Kingdom! He had used this opportunity to ambush them!


    And his target had been Rhone.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s warning came in time, so Rhone managed to barely evade the attack. But even so, he suffered heavy injuries.


    He definitively could not defend against another attack like that!


    And the prince was not done yet.


    Calmly, he pulled the bowstring back.


    Grinning with a cruel look, he looked at the batkin young man


    "Die."


    And fired another fire arrow.


    "Rhone!" Rana shouted and a barrier appeared on the path of the arrow. She did not hesitate to use most of her mana to protect the batkin against this attack.


    But to the rabbitkin girl''s surprise, the barrier only managed to stop the arrow for one second before it broke.


    And


    *BOOM!!!*


    Another powerful explosion happened, sending Rana and Rhone flying.


    "Damn it!" Bloed cursed to himself. He extended his hand and part of Leto turned into a sniper rifle.


    But just when he was about to fire, his expression changed once more.


    Because he heard a strange sounding from the underground.


    Instinctively, Bloed rushed towards Liu Ying and hugged her. Then, he ordered Leto to wrap itself around them.


    Before he could think in anything else, a thunderous sound much stronger than the ones before shook the ce.


    Then, the ground copsed, swallowing the six members of Bloed''s team.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 256: Betrayal, [Slaughter]

    Chapter 256: Betrayal, [ughter]


    Yesterday''s chapter


    ...


    "Master!"


    When the ground copsed, Regina noticed it immediately.


    She had been paying attention to Bloed''s battle since the start. In fact, she was more than ready to act as soon as she noticed something wrong.


    With her abilities, she just needed one second to reach her master''s location.


    However, even she was not expecting the ground to copse.


    That was the reason her reaction was slightly dyed.


    Aware that things had gotten out of her control, Regina did not hesitate. In an instant, her psychic power erupted powerfully, creating a whirlpool of energy that surprised the demigods around her.


    Regina''s Valkyrie armament, [Krigsrustning], appeared on her body. The beautiful set of armor made her look like a goddess of war ready to kill demons and gods.


    Two small flowers hovered over her shoulders. The flowers emitted threatening arcs of lightning that seemed able to destroy anything.


    Armed with her Valkyrie armament, Regina kicked the ground.


    In an instant, she had left the pavilion behind.


    But suddenly, her expression changed.


    At some point, the human demigods had moved. Several of them attacked her at once!


    "Where do you think you are going!?" The archbishop roared, creating a bird of fire that threatened to consume her.


    Of course, the beastmen demigods did not fall behind. As soon as the humans moved, they moved as well.


    But Regina did not need their help.


    Regina''s eyes shone with ice-cold light. Suddenly, an enormous amount of energy appeared around her, turning into an enormous sword that seemed able to sever the world itself into two.


    Then, under the human demigods'' dumbfounded gazes, Regina grabbed the hilt of the sword and swung it around.


    "Get lost!"


    Together with her ice-cold voice, the attacks of the six demigods were instantly neutralized.


    Moreover, several of them were sent flying away.


    The scene was so unbelievable that nobody could believe it. Even the elves and beastmen demigods were stunned in ce.


    But Regina was not in the mood to pay attention to them.


    Once she got rid of the bugs stopping her from going to her master, she shot herself towards Bloed''s direction once more.


    It was at that moment that a terrifying feeling of danger assaulted her.


    Regina did not hesitate. With a thought, psychic energy surged out of her mind, turning into a giant energy barrier that protected her.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    A giant monster suddenly appeared behind her, pping Regina and the barrier away.


    The sudden change stunned the people present. Nobody knew where that monster came from.


    At that moment, they heard a gentle voice reaching their ears.


    "Oh? You stopped that?"


    At some point, an average-looking man had appeared in the sky, looking as though he would have been there long ago.


    The average-looking man was looking in Regina''s direction with a surprised expression.


    It was because Regina was standing in the air,pletely uninjured despite the attack and ring at the man with a furious expression.


    Once more, she had been stopped from going to her master.


    With rage and worry burning inside her, Regina moved her hand to her right shoulder.


    Instantly, one of the flowers hovering over her shoulders turned into a sword that fell on her hand.


    As soon as the sword appeared on Regina''s hand, all the demigods nearby felt a sense of danger greater than anything they had felt before.


    "I''m not in the mood to lose time with you," Regina said with so much killing intent that it seemed to freeze the world around her.


    But suddenly, Regina froze.


    Then, she sighed in relief.


    "Good Thank god."


    And the killing intent around her dissipated as though it never existed.


    "Miss Regina?" Eve, Aya''s father, and the lionkin general arrived beside Regina at that moment. Eve then red at the neer warily while wondering about why Regina calmed down.


    "Master is alright. He is with Liu Ying and Miss Aya."


    That was everything Eve needed to understand. In fact, she had already noticed the connection between Bloed and Regina.


    "Is it so? That is good." She nodded before focusing on the average-looking man. "By the way, who are you? Why are you stopping us?"


    The average-looking man smiled.


    "Is it not obvious? I''m here to kill you."


    Eve frowned. " What do you mean?"


    The neer did not reply. Instead, he looked at the elves and humans before nodding to himself.


    "It looks like our n is a sess. How lucky."


    Before Eve could ask what he meant, she caught something from the corner of her eyes.


    At some point, the lionkin general had started brandishing his greatsword in Eve''s direction.


    And


    *Spurt!*


    Blood flowed from Eve''s waist, dying her clothes in red.


    Eve''s expression was astonished. Her usual expressionless look was gone, reced by shock.


    Moreover


    ''My mana!?''


    Her mana had be hard to control. That was the reason she failed to stop the lionkin general''s attack.


    At the same time, something simr happened in the human camp. One of the human demigods suddenly attacked the archbishop, injuring him severely!


    "Leon! What are you doing!?" Aya''s father screamed in rage. However, the lionkin general did not bother to answer. Instead, he just muttered something.


    "It was more effective than I thought."


    Before Aya''s father could understand the meaning behind his words, he felt something wrong with his body.


    For some reason, his mana suddenly became messy.


    He was not the only one. The human and elven demigods also showed the same symptoms.


    The average-looking man smiled satisfied.


    "As expected of a poison prepared by a god. It''s truly effective."


    " What is it?" Eve held her injured waist and looked at the lionkin general and at the neer warily.


    "Mana poison." The lionkin general said. "I have been spreading it in the pavilion for several days already. None of you noticed, of course. After all, I used such small amounts that you would only notice once the poison starts to take effect."


    Eve''s expression fell. Quickly, though, she returned to her usual expressionless look and stared at the lionkin general


    " Why?"


    "Why?" This time, it was the average-looking man who replied. "It''s because our God wants something. And it''s our duty to get it for him."


    "You god?" Eve asked confused.


    "[ughter]." The average-looking man said with a smile. At the same time, he showed a tattoo of a wolf on his shoulder.


    Eve''s face changed for the first time.


    "... ughter. Is he not afraid of offending the Moonlight Goddess and the Sun God?"


    The average-looking man shrugged and looked at the elves.


    "It''s worth it. Mister elves, you know what I want, right?"


    The elves said nothing. Instead, they took out their weapons and got ready to fight.


    They were not the only ones. Although the human demigods and Aya''s father were still confused by the situation, they knew they needed to join hands now.


    "Oh? It looks like you will not give up so easily." The average-looking man smiled rxedly. "What can you do, though? Now that you are being affected by the mana poison, you can at most show ten percent of your strength. The three of us are more than enough to take care of you." He said while pointing to the lionkin general and the traitor human demigod.


    "You will not seed." One of the elves said darkly.


    "We will see about that."


    At that moment, though, Regina spoke up coldly.


    "Are you already done with the useless talk?"


    "Mmm? You are"


    "The three of you stopped me from going to where my master is. That is unforgivable." Regina said while holding a thin sword on her hand. "I don''t care about what you are nning. But the three of you are going to die today."


    Then, Regina waved her hand.


    And a wave of energy severed the world into two.

 Chapter 257: Inside the Tunnels (1)

    Chapter 257: Inside the Tunnels (1)


    "Cough, cough" Two muffled cough echoed in a rock-filled dark tunnel.


    The tunnel seemed to extend endlessly with no trace of light. Only rock, dust, and stones could be seen.


    Suddenly, a soft bam sounded.


    Then, another.


    And another.


    Finally, several nearby rocks fell, revealing a metallic ball underneath.


    As soon as the rocks covering it fell, the metallic ball turned into metallic sand and revealed three people inside.


    They were Bloed, Liu Ying and Aya.


    They had fallen here after the tunnel copsed.


    " Are you alright?" Bloed took antern-like object from his storage device and asked the girls.


    Liu Ying and Aya nodded. They only had some small scratches and a bit of dust in their bodies despite how close to death they were.


    " Where are we?" Liu Ying asked while coughing.


    Bloed shook his head. He looked around, but the only things he could see were rocks and more rocks.


    Furthermore


    Bloed looked up, but he could not see the slightest bit of light.


    In other words, they were trapped underground.


    "Such shitty luck." Bloed muttered with a sigh.


    " At the very least we were not crushed by the rocks." Liu Ying smiled wryly.


    Bloed could only nod when he heard that.


    Certainly. They survived, so they could be considered lucky.


    Moreover, at the very least, it did not seem like this cecked oxygen. So they did not need to worry about dying anytime soon.


    "That damn fellow! I swear I''m going to punch his guts out if I see him again!" Liu Ying gritted her teeth in frustration. It was obvious she was very upset by the fact they were ambushed like that.


    "We need to leave this ce first for that." If there is an exit.


    Bloed did not say thest part out loud.


    Liu Ying frowned. At the same time, Aya looked at Bloed with a worried expression.


    " Bloed, what are we going to do now?"


    Bloed furrowed his brows. "Wait a moment. I want to verify something."


    The girls nodded. Bloed then closed his eyes and used his mind tomunicate with the outside world.


    The first good news was that his connection with Oculus still existed, however, the eye in the sky could not be used now it was separated from Bloed by ayer of rocks and stones.


    And the second good news was that he could stillmunicate with Regina.


    But when hemunicated with Regina and learned of the situation on the surface, Bloed wrinkled his brows.


    "The Church of ughter?" He muttered to himself in confusion.


    "Is anything wrong?"


    " Bloed?"


    Liu Ying and Aya tilted their heads when they saw Bloed''s expression.


    " Sorry, I was thinking about something. It looks like I have more bad news."


    ""Huh?""


    Seeing the confused expressions of the two girls, Bloed smiled wryly and gave them a quick exnation of the situation on the surface.


    Liu Ying''s face turned grave, and Aya became worried.


    " Is my father alright?"


    "Don''t worry, he is alright." Bloed smiled softly to reassure the cat girl. "It''s not easy to poison powerful powerhouses because they will feel when the poison starts to harm their bodies. Thus, the poison the Church of ughter used is not lethal and only affects their ability to use mana. However, such kind of poison is ineffective against Regina. And with her strength, protecting your father should not be a problem. However, it means we should not expect any help from them soon."


    Aya sighed in relief, however, she still seemed uneasy.


    After all, it was a fact her father was currently in a dangerous situation.


    "But the Church of ughter? What in the hell are they doing here?" Liu Ying asked with a confused expression.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He also had the same doubt.


    After all, even if the God of ughter was considered an evil and crazy god, Bloed did not think even for a second that someone that managed to achieve godhood was a fool.


    However, his current move could only be described as crazy. He had antagonized three countries and two powerful churches at the same time. Moreover, none of the five parties was weak.


    That was not something someone sane would do.


    Unless


    " There is something he can win of all of this."


    "Ah?" Liu Ying was startled.


    Bloed furrowed his brows to organize his thoughts. Soon, a clear image of the situation appeared in his mind.


    In fact, many of the things he did not understand before became clear.


    " What if Atai is a member of the Church of ughter as well? If he is, why did he choose to participate in thispetition? Why did the Church of ughter do something like this? And why did the elves take part in a battle for a deposit of mana ores they usually don''t use?"


    Liu Ying and Aya were startled by Bloed question. But after they analyzed his words, their eyes opened wide.


    " Do you mean"


    "Yes." Bloed nodded with a grave expression. "I fear that there is something more valuable than mana ores in the mountains in this territory. And whatever it is, it''s valuable enough for the Church of ughter to make such an outrageous move."


    Liu Ying and Aya''s expressions turned grave.


    Bloed''s expression was not much better. In fact, he was feeling really unlucky now.


    Because if his conjecture was right, then it means the purpose of the attack against Regina, Eve, and the others was not to kill them.


    Instead, it was to distract them while other people of the Church of ughter searched for whatever the God of ughter wanted.


    He could only hope they are not unlucky enough to meet the people of the Church of ughter.


    Bloed sighed. ''There is no point in worrying about that now. Instead'' Bloed then looked at the tunnel they were in. He could see it extended to the distance, but he did not know where it led.


    But judging by the fact the oxygen here was abundant, Bloed was pretty certain this tunnel led to the surface.


    "Let''s go. For now, we should try to find a way to get out of here."


    Meanwhile, on the surface.


    "U-Ulises W-Why?"


    The young prince looked behind him with an expression of disbelief.


    Because Ulises, his long-time friend, was stabbing a dagger in his back.


    "Sorry, your highness. It''s not personal. It''s just that you are no longer useful."


    " Y-You" The young prince coughed a mouthful of blood. He could not believe that Ulises, the friend he trusted the most, had betrayed him like this.


    At that moment, several people appeared behind Ulises.


    They were powerful practitioners, each one with fierce expressions and bloodthirsty auras. Moreover, they had the image of a wolf tattoed on some parts of their bodies.


    When the young prince saw that, he opened his eyes wide in astonishment.


    " T-The C-Church of S-ughter Cough U-Ulises, h-how dare y-you to betray your people for t-these c-crazy people?"


    "My people?" Ulises tilted his head and looked at the prince with a mocking look. "Hahaha, what a funny joke! When I was nothing but trash that everybody looked down on and even the servants treated like a fool, where were you or the Church of the Sun God? No, the one that helped me back then was the God of ughter. He made me who I am today. Since the start, he is the only god I believe in."


    The prince''s eyes shook.


    He wanted to open his mouth to say something, but only more blood came out, exhausting hisst bit of life force.


    Just like that, he breathed hisst.


    Ulises looked at his corpse with an indifferent expression before addressing to the men behind him.


    "Let''s go. We need to hurry where the elves are. Otherwise, Atai is going to steal all the credit."


    The men of the church of ughter nodded respectfully and followed after him.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 258: Inside the Tunnels (2)

    Chapter 258: Inside the Tunnels (2)


    In some part of the tunnels


    An injured rabbitkin girl was using her body to drag away an unconscious batkin young man.


    The rabbitkin girl''s injuries were grave, with blood flowing from her arms and a dangerous-looking gash in her chest. However, she did her best to ignore them. She just gritted her teeth, endured the pain, and continued dragging her friend through the dark tunnels.


    Finally, after almost five minutes like that, the rabbitkin girl lost herst bit of strength.


    Stumbling, she fell on the ground with the batkin young man.


    "Ugh..." Rana groaned in pain. At the same time, the batkin young man opened his eyes groggily.


    " Rana you are alright"


    "Rhone! You are awake! How are you!?"


    " Calm down, Rana." Rhone said weakly. "I''m alright Right, what happened to Atai?"


    As soon as Rhone mentioned Atai, Rana gritted her teeth in rage.


    "That bastard! I swear I''m going to kill him!"


    "Rana" Rhone''s expression was aplicated mix of anger and disappointment.


    He did not want to believe that Atai betrayed them.


    In fact, when Rhone heard Bloed say that Atai was suspicious, he thought he was bullshitting and refused to believe it.


    However, he could not deny it anymore.


    Not when Atai had just tried to kill them.


    In fact, if not that Rhone acted quickly, using his soundwaves to copse a part of the tunnels and block Atai, then perhaps he and Rana would have been dead already.


    But even although they survived, they suffered grave injuries.


    " What should we do now?" Rana asked with a despondent look.


    Rhone furrowed his brows before speaking up.


    "We should find the captain. Currently, we arepletely out of battle strength. If we meet Atai or any other enemy like this, we will unable to survive."


    " I wonder if the captain is alright." Rana''s expression was worried.


    "He surely is." Rhone nodded confidently, perhaps to convince himself. "Don''t worry, I''m sure everything will be alright if we meet him."


    " I hope so."


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya started exploring the tunnel.


    Bloed did not know where the tunnel led to, but he realized the oxygen here was abundant. In other words, there was wind circting inside it.


    Following that line of thought, he decided to use the flow of wind to find the exit.


    It was not so easy to feel the wind, though. Mainly because it was so weak it was almost unnoticeable. Even so, Bloed managed to do it after focusing his senses and choose a direction to advance.


    The tunnel waspletely dark, so Bloed used antern-like object to lit it up. Even so, he could barely see what was in front of him.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s eyes allowed him to see pretty well in the darkness. On the other hand, Aya was a catkin, so her eyes were also pretty good.


    Only Liu Ying seemed to have trouble with the dark environment.


    There was nothing Bloed could do about that, though.


    While the group was walking, Bloed suddenly realized something.


    With a surprised expression, he looked towards the walls of the tunnel.


    "Bloed?" Liu Ying and Aya looked at Bloed confused.


    Bloed said nothing. Instead, he used his saber to cut a portion of the wall.


    He then showed it to the girls.


    "That is"


    " Mana ores."


    Both Liu Ying and Aya were surprised.


    Yes, what Bloed was holding on his hands was a crystal-like piece of rock emanating a faint glow.


    A piece of mana ore.


    Moreover, it was not the only piece. In the nearby walls, Bloed could see many other pieces like this sticking out.


    And each piece was of rather high quality.


    "Are we inside the deposit of mana ores?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Bloed nodded. "It looks like that. This tunnel was most likely created naturally and must have existed for thousands of years. These mana ores then slowly started to form due to the mana trapped here."


    Mana ores were literally mana crystallized. Thus, it could be used for training or as a source of energy among other things.


    That was the reason it was so valuable. In this world, it was more valuable than gold.


    But here, you could pick up pieces of mana ore as though they weremon stones.


    " I guess I now understand why the Sun Kingdom and the Beastmen are so interested in this piece ofnd." Bloed could not help but mutter to himself. With such an abundant deposit of mana ores, any country would be greedy.


    As the group continued walking, the number of mana ores they saw increased. It went from a few asional pieces scattered in the walls and grounds to giant house-sized crystals glowing beautifully.


    Such a sight made even the usually expressionless Aya bbergasted.


    But no matter how much the group walked, they did not find any trace of an exit.


    It made Bloed wonder how long this tunnel was.


    But then, Aya''s cat ears suddenly twitched.


    Aya stopped abruptly. With a wary expression, she pulled Bloed''s shirt.


    " I hear voices."


    "Voices?" Bloed was startled.


    "Mm." Aya nodded. " Also, I think the ground is shaking It''s almost unnoticeable, but I can feel it."


    Bloed furrowed his brows.


    "Do you think there is someone fighting ahead?"


    Aya hesitated slightly before she nodded.


    " Perhaps."


    Bloed''s expression turned serious.


    This was problematic


    "What should we do, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked with a frown.


    Bloed did not reply immediately. Instead, he fell deep in thought and tried to decide what to do.


    In fact, they did not have many options.


    After all, the exit was most likely in that direction.


    Of course, he could try to find another route, but he had not seen any crossroads until now.


    In other words, this was probably the only route towards the exit.


    However, Bloed did not need to think for long.


    Because a girl''s voice interrupted his thoughts.


    "The ones hiding in the tunnel. Come out."


    The trio''s eyes opened wide.


    For some reason, they felt as though that voice was transmitted directly into their minds.


    Moreover, Bloed recognized that voice.


    " Perhaps she is not talking about us?" Liu Ying asked in hesitation.


    However, the next words they heard shattered her hopes.


    "I''m talking about you. The three of you,e out now. I don''t want to have to chase after you."


    Liu Ying and Aya looked at Bloed to ask him what to do.


    Bloed hesitated slightly, but in the end, he nodded.


    They did not have many options after all.


    At the same time, Bloed took a deep breath.


    Then, his eyes shed with ice-cold light.


    The current him was fully ready to activate his trump card.


    [Overdrive].


    If the people in front of them had hostile intentions, he nned to use his trump card and kill them without hesitation.


    The group walked for around one hundred meters before they found the owner of the voice.


    A beautiful girl, as beautiful as a fairy, was looking at them with a stern expression.


    Five people were standing behind the girl. They were ring at Bloed''s group with wary looks, ready to attack them at any time.


    As Bloed expected, the girl was Elwha Aerin, the Princess of the Boerner Forest.


    They had met the elven team.

 Chapter 259: Inside the Tunnels (3)

    Chapter 259: Inside the Tunnels (3)


    Long white hair, silver eyes, and goddess-like beauty.


    She was Elwha Aerin, Princess of the elves.


    And currently, she was looking at Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya with a small smile in her lips.


    "Oh? So it was the beastmen team. What are you doing here?" Elwha asked while moving his gaze between Bloed''s group.


    Bloed did now answer. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and looked around.


    The ce where they just arrived was a dome-like cave filled with mana ores glowing on the walls. Five tunnels were connected to the cave, including the tunnel from where Bloed''s group came from.


    The elven team was standing in the middle of the dome, with Elwha in front and the other five behind her ready to attack Bloed''s group.


    However, Bloed did not pay them much attention.


    Instead, he looked at the thing behind the elves.


    There, a giant worm-like monster was digging on a giant mana ore crystal tens of meters wide, trying to destroy it.


    To be more urate, it wanted to dig out the thing in the center of the giant crystal.


    A head-sized purple crystal emitting incredible amounts of mana.


    Each second, the worm used its jaw to bite out a part of the giant crystal, slowly approaching to the purple crystal in the middle.


    That was the reason behind the vibrations Aya felt.


    However, there was another thing that attracted Bloed''s attention.


    '' This is Psychic energy!?''


    Yes. The purple crystal was emitting not just mana, but also enormous amounts of psychic energy.


    This level of psychic energy was greater than anything Bloed had seen before. Even Regina''s psychic energy paled inparison.


    '' Is that what the elves and the God of ughter want?''


    Bloed furrowed his brows. Judging by the situation, his guess was right.


    After all, just a nce was enough to know that purple crystal was valuable.


    But why?


    Although certainly, it seemed like an extraordinary treasure, it did not seem valuable enough for the elves to use four demigods and a princess to fool the other races, neither it seemed like something the God of ughter needed to get even if it meant offending three countries and two churches.


    Unless this treasure had a special use.


    Bloed fell deep into thought. His mind moved quickly, trying to find an answer using the knowledge in his mind.


    Then, something clicked on him.


    Looking at Elwha, he blurted it out.


    " You want to create another great tree?"


    Bloed could see Elwha and the other elves'' expressions stiffening briefly.


    "So I was right, huh," Bloed muttered to himself.


    "Another great tree!?" Liu Ying looked at the elves and at the purple crystal in surprise. For an instant, she did not know how to react.


    The Great Trees were the core of the Elven Forests. In fact, each Elven Forest grew around a Great Tree.


    It was not just due to the religious meaning the Great Trees had for the elves. That was just one of the reasons.


    The main reason was due to the power the Great Trees held.


    Each great tree increased the mana in the surroundings and made nts grow faster. Moreover, they had an even greater ability.


    The great trees allowed the elves to create a mindwork using all the trees on the forest, and through thatwork, the elves couldmunicate with each other at kilometers of distance.


    Thatwork made it much easier for Elves to defend against enemy attacks and repel invaders.


    That was one of the reasons behind the elves'' invincibility in forest battles.


    However, great trees were very rare. Only a few existed in nature, each one of them being the core of an elven nation.


    But, there was a certain rumor about the Great Trees.


    The elves knew how to create new Great Trees.


    The process, though, was apparently veryplicated. In fact, the elves had created only one great tree in thest two hundred years.


    Bloed, however, was sure when he saw the purple crystal.


    To create the kind of mindwork that the Great Trees built, the key was psychic energy.


    Great amounts of psychic energy.


    Just like the psychic energy of the purple crystal.


    "You How do you know about that!?" Elwha squinted and asked. At the same time, a slight killing intent started to leak from her body.


    Not just her, the five elves behind her were also looking at Bloed''s group full of killing intent.


    Aya and Liu Ying''s expressions turned grave. They took battle-ready stances and looked at the elves with wariness.


    Bloed was the same. He knew the current situation was very dangerous.


    Due to that, he was ready to activate [Overdrive] as soon as he noticed anything wrong.


    On the surface, though, he remained calm.


    " Princess, do you truly want to kill us?"


    Elwha said nothing. Instead, one of the elves behind her snorted.


    "Now that you know about this, do you think you can survive? The birth of a great tree is of the utmost importance for the elves. Nobody can go wrong with it. Thus, we need to kill you in case the other countries learn of this information and try to stop our mission."


    Bloed nodded and shook his head.


    "Unfortunately, it''s already toote. After all, the Church of ughter somehow managed to learn of your ns, so it''s no longer a secret. And just now, I sent this information to one of the demigods that brought us here."


    Elwha and the elves froze.


    "You!" The elf of just now gritted his teeth in rage. "Damn human! Princess, give me the order to kill him!"


    Elwha, however, did not reply. Instead, she looked at Bloed deeply


    " Your name I think it''s Bloed, right? Why are you telling me this? Are you not afraid of me giving the order to kill the three of you?"


    Bloed smiled. "As expected of the Princess of the Boerner Forest. You are smart. You are right, I''m not afraid. In fact, killing us is the stupidest thing you can do right now, that if you can even seed."


    " And why is that?"


    "If I''m not wrong, you have a way tomunicate with the elven demigods, right? Thus, you already know about the Church of ughter''s attack."


    " You are right. I do."


    "Then, you probably already reached the conclusion that attack is just a distraction. If I''m not wrong, a team of the church of ughter is currently rushing towards here to kill you and get the thing behind you. Do you truly want to waste your strength on us when you need to fight a much more dangerous battle soon?"


    Elwha said nothing, but her expression turned much graver.


    When Bloed saw that, he sighed in relief inwardly.


    He truly did not want to fight right now.


    Even if he was confident he could win if he used [Overdrive], he would be weakened after that. And if he met the Church of ughter in that state, his group would be in grave danger.


    Thus, the best was to reach a deal with the elves and leave this ce.


    After thinking for several seconds, the princess sighed and opened her lips.


    "Why should I trust you? Perhaps you will just wait for an opportunity to ambush us after the battle against the Church of ughter. After all, if we manage to produce a new Great Tree, the strength of the Boerner Forest will increase greatly. That is something neither the beastmen countries nor the Sun Kingdom wants to see. That is the reason we tried to keep this operation a secret."


    " You don''t have many options right now, Princess. Of course, you can choose to fight us, but you already know the consequences. And I assure you that if I go all out I''m confident in killing at least half of you."


    Elwha and the elves'' expressions turned tense.


    "Princess!" The elf of before spoke out again. "You are not nning to trust this human, right!? What if he has bad intentions towards us!?"


    "Stop it, Ethan." Elwha closed her eyes and chastised the elf with a stern expression. She then sighed before looking at Bloed. "You are right, Mr. Bloed. We can''t afford to fight you right now. But I have a proposal for you.


    "Huh?"


    "Help us to fight the Church of ughter."


    Bloed furrowed his brows.


    "And why should we?"


    Elwha smiled looked straight into Bloed''s eyes before at the entrance of a nearby tunnel.


    "Because they are already here. And I''m sure they will not let you go wither."


    Surprised, Bloed looked in the direction that the princess was looking.


    There, a young man wasing out of a tunnel followed by around twenty dangerous-looking people.


    Each one of the twenty was a powerful practitioner, the weakest being at the B-Rank. Moreover, they emitted a bloody aura filled with killing intent.


    Bloed''s expression immediately turned grave.


    They were the people of the Church of ughter.


    ...


    Still owe one chapter... Coming tomorrow, perhaps...

 Chapter 260: A-Rank Psychic Energy

    Chapter 260: A-Rank Psychic Energy


    "Oh? What do we have here?" The person leading the practitioners of the Church of ughter said with a smile.


    He was a young man with ck hair, ck eyes, and a sword on his right hand. He looked towards Bloed and the others as though seeing something interesting.


    When Bloed saw him, he narrowed his eyes.


    Because he was one of the members of the Sun Kingdom''s team.


    In fact, he was also the young man Liu Ying fought in Apso''s arena.


    Elwha also seemed to notice that. When she saw the young man, her eyes narrowed.


    "The Sun Kingdom?"


    "About that, I betrayed them." The young man smiled and said. He then looked at the purple crystal the worm was trying to get and his eyes brightened. "So that is what our God wants, huh. It looks impressive."


    " You are dreaming if you think I''m going to give you it." Elwha growled.


    The young man chuckled. "Don''t worry. I prefer to take it for myself. Men, kill everybody! Get it done before Atai''s men arrive!"


    """Understood!"""


    The people of the Church of ughter moved without hesitation. The twenty practitioners behind the young man rushed towards Bloed''s group and the elves.


    Seeing that, Princess Elwha''s expression turned grave.


    "Mr. Bloed! We need to cooperate if we want to survive! Attack when you heard my signal!"


    Bloed could only nod in the current situation. However, his expression was not good.


    The strength of these practitioners was much greater than them.


    "Liu Ying, Aya! Stay close to me!"


    Liu Ying and Aya followed his instructions. They formed a triangle formation with Liu Ying as the vanguard and Bloed and Aya behind her, ready to face the enemiesing towards them.


    Fortunately, most of the practitioners went to attack the elves, however, five of them went after the Bloed group.


    Moreover, two of them were A-Ranks!


    As for the elves, five A-Ranks and ten B-Ranks were attacking them!


    The situation could only be described as hopeless.


    At the very least, Bloed could not think of any way to survive unless he used [Overdrive]!


    At that moment, though, Princess Elwha snorted and took a step forward.


    "[Stop]!" She spoke.


    And the enemies froze.


    It was just one second, just one second. But during that second, the twenty enemies stopped simultaneously with dazed expressions.


    "This is!" Bloed was surprised. Was it the signal she meant?


    But this This was a kind of mental attack!


    Moreover, Princess Elwha''s psychic energy was at the peak of A-Rank! That was the reason her attack was useful in so many targets at the same time!


    The elves were ready for this. Taking advantage of the enemies'' daze the five elves behind Elwha moved, unleashing their most powerful ranged attacks against the Church of ughter''s practitioners, killing five enemies instantly.


    They were not the only ones. Bloed also realized this was a good opportunity and used his ster guns to shoot two B-Ranks enemies to death.


    Unfortunately, Aya and Liu Ying specialized in closebat, so they failed to capitalize on this opportunity properly and only killed one enemy with the two of thembined.


    Even so, when the enemy''s practitioners got out of their daze, eight of them had died!


    The Church of ughter''s practitioners were stunned. When they realized what just happened, their expressions turned pale.


    Even Ulises, the young man that betrayed the Sun Kingdom, stared at Elwha in fear.


    However, he recovered quickly.


    "A soul attack! Protect your souls!"


    The church of ughter''s practitioners reacted quickly and used mana to protect their souls. Then, they resumed their attack.


    Seeing that, Elwha clicked her tongue in displeasure.


    Now that the enemy knew about her abilities, it was impossible for her to stun the rest of the enemies at the same time again.


    It did not matter, though. Now that they managed to kill eight enemies, the rest of the battle was going to be much easier.


    Plus, she could still one of two enemies simultaneously.


    "Mr. Bloed. You and your group take care of four of them!"


    "Alright." Bloed nodded. Fighting four enemies was going to be hard, but it was possible.


    The next second, the enemies reached them.


    The battle intensified quickly. Turning very intense.


    Bloed used Leto skillfully, creating barriers of metallic sand that stopped the enemy''s attacks while at the same time counterattacking.


    And taking advantage that the enemy did not know about his disintegration saber, Bloed managed to kill a B-Rank practitioner.


    However, the situation was not good.


    Just one minute after the battle started, two elves died!


    Fortunately, the elves managed to kill two enemies as well, more or less bncing the situation.


    Even so, the situation was discouraging. After all, their numbers were less than the enemy, and a battle of attrition was not going to do them any good.


    A grave expression appeared on Bloed''s face. He was fighting two A-Rank enemies and a B-Rank enemy with the help of Liu Ying and Aya.


    Thanks to his teamwork with the girls, they were not disadvantaged, however, after the three enemies saw him kill a B-Rank practitioner with his saber, they became warier. So Bloed and the girls could not gain any advantage either.


    Thus, the battle entered a stalemate with both parties waiting for one of them to make a mistake.


    But at that moment, amotion came from the center of the dome.


    *Rumble!!!*


    With a thunderous sound, the mana ore protecting the purple crystal was finally broken through by the half-step demigod monster.


    *Screeech!!!* The worm screeched happily and weakly, having finally arrived at the core.


    Looking at the crystal with eyes full of greed, the worm tried to approach to it.


    But when it was about to touch it, its eyes dimmed and it copsed on the ground, dead.


    The seal the elves had put in the worm, that forced it to work for them, activated when it showed greed for the heart, killing the worm immediately.


    After all, that heart was too valuable. Just touching it without the due care could bring unimaginable consequences.


    "Princess, the heart!" One of the elves, the one called Ethan, cried out.


    "Get lost!" Elwha''s bellowed, using a wave of mana and psychic energy to st away the enemies surrounding her. Then, she charged towards the purple crystal.


    But someone else arrived first.


    Ulises, who had been observing the battle from behind, grabbed towards the stone.


    "It''s mine!"


    Elwha''s expression changed.


    "Stop it! You can''t grab it!"


    However, it was toote.


    Because Ulises''s hand had already touched the stone.


    Then, under Elwha''s frightened look, a powerful wave of psychic energy and mana surged out of the stone.


    In the next second, the world turned white.

 Chapter 261: Soul World (1)

    Chapter 261: Soul World (1)


    White.


    When Bloed recovered his consciousness, everything around him was white.


    Bloed frowned. He looked around to see if he could find anything. Left, right, up, and down, but besides a blinding white, he could see nothing else.


    There were no traces of Liu Ying, Aya, Elwha, the elves, the humans, or the giant worm.


    " An illusion or a dream?" Bloed muttered to himself.


    Closing his eyes, he tried to activate his psychic energy to return to the real world.


    One secondter, though, he wrinkled his brows.


    Nothing happened.


    Even although he was sure he was inside some kind of illusion, he could not get out of it.


    "What the hell?"


    Confused, he thought of other methods to escape. But at that moment, the white nothingness around him started taking shape.


    One secondter, he was in a wastnd, surrounded by dust, stones, and chaotic mana.


    And in front of him, a middle-aged man was standing with aplicated expression.


    "Uncle Sebastian, why are you doing this!?" A child''s voice sounded, surprising Bloed.


    ''That voice''


    It belonged to himself.


    To his younger self.


    Bloed was stunned. He tried to control his movements, to control his voice, but it was as though he was an observer inside the body of the little child.


    And the man in front of him


    "I''m sorry, your highness. It''s the king''s order. The royal family can''t have a manaless child."


    Bloed''s eyes shook.


    This scene, he remembered it clearly.


    It was the day when he was sent to the Exiled Lands.


    Bloed watched the scene with aplicated expression. He watched how the royal''s butler gave his younger self a storage ring, how Sebastian exined to his younger self where he was, and how Sebastian''s mercilessly crushed his hopes.


    " From today onwards, you are no longer a member of the Skywsword family. Glenn Skysword died tonight." Sebastian said coldly.


    His younger self cried. He shed tears bitterly alone in the mountain, hoping for this to be a kind of joke.


    At this point, Bloed closed his eyes.


    Then, he spoke out.


    " I was so weak back then."


    As soon as his words sounded, the scene around him crumbled.


    The mountain, the sun, the stones, the wastnd, everything disappeared.


    Bloed then opened his eyes again.


    This time, though, he was not in the wastnd.


    Instead, he was inside a white room.


    ''This is The spaceship?''


    Just like before, Bloed was unable to control his movements. He was just an observer, following the movements of his younger self.


    But soon, Bloed''s eyes opened wide.


    In front of him, a beautiful woman with short brown hair in a bob cut, ck-eyes, and a sharp gaze, appeared.


    Bloed''s body shook. This...


    The woman sickly appearance, her fragile body, the wheelchair she used to move.


    Everything was the same as back then.


    "Nice to meet you," The woman smiled and introduced herself. "My name is Cami Norman."


    Suddenly, the scene froze.


    Bloed''s eyes were fixed in the woman. She was just like he remembered her, beautiful, smart, and filled with wisdom.


    His mother.


    His first love.


    The woman that shaped him into the man he was today.


    "Mom" Bloed blurted out, despite the fact he was supposed to be unable to speak.


    Then, he extended his hand and touched her cheek.


    Unfortunately, he could not feel the warmth he expected to feel.


    "After all, you are not the real thing."


    With a bitter smile, he closed his eyes.


    Instantly, the scene started to crumble around him.


    The white walls, the metallic ground, and the AI hovering behind Cami.


    Finally, only Cami remained.


    But soon, she disappeared as well.


    When Bloed opened his eyes, the scene had changed again.


    This time, he was in front of a medical room in the spaceship.


    Bloed already knew what scene was next.


    The day when his mother died.


    However, the scene froze as soon as it started.


    "This is so distasteful." He said with a bit of killing intent in his voice.


    And once more, the scene started to copse.


    This time, though, it did not manage to take the shape of a new scene.


    Because Bloed did not want to see anymore.


    With a snort, the string of psychic energy invading his mind and seeing his memories was broken.


    Then, he returned once more to the white space.


    This time, though, the white space was different than before.


    Because at some point, the ce had been tainted.


    ck, red, yellow, blue. Many colors started to appear in the white world.


    Not just colors, but also doors, streets, paths, houses, rooms, and many other things.


    The scene was chaotic and bizarre, as though someone would have drawn the mind of a psychopath and brought it to the real world.


    While Bloed was looking at it with furrowed brows, someone called out at him.


    "So you managed to get out of your memories, huh. Impressive."


    Startled, Bloed turned around only to see a familiar white-haired and silver-eyed woman.


    "Miss Elwha?"


    "How are you, Mr. Bloed? Congrattions on escaping from your memories. Not many people are capable of that." The princess of the elves said with a smile.


    "My memories, huh." Bloed nodded. He then looked at the chaotic mess around him with a confused expression. "Where is it? What in the hell is happening?"


    Elwha walked until she was beside him and smiled. "This, Mr. Bloed, is the result of that idiot touching the [Heart of the Forest] without the proper preparations."


    "Heart of the Forest?" Bloed asked confused. "Do you mean the purple crystal?"


    "Yes." Elwha nodded while looking at the chaos around her with a grave expression. "Heart of the Forest is the name we gave to treasures like these due to their ability to give birth to new Great Trees. Hearts of the Forest are objects filled with enormous amounts of soul power, that if handled mistakenly, can cause grave consequences."


    "Like this?"


    Elwha nodded before putting on a wry smile. "This phenomenon is called [Soul World]. The Heart of the Forest created it after it was touched to defend itself, absorbing the minds of all the people nearby and constructing this based on their thoughts. Fortunately, this soul word is rather simple. It looks like we were lucky."


    "Lucky?"


    "Yes. Because this Heart of the Forest doesn''t seem to have a mind of its own or it''s very undeveloped. Due to that, it doesn''t have control over the soul world. Otherwise, it would have not been so easy to escape from your memories."


    Bloed nodded in understanding. "Is there a way to get out of here?" He asked.


    Elwha looked at Bloed and nodded.


    "There is." She said with a smile. "We just need to reach the core of the soul world and destroy it. After that, the soul world will crumble, bringing us back to the real world."


    "Then, where is that core?"


    Elwha smiled bitterly and pointed to the chaos around them.


    "I don''t know. We need to search for it inside the chaos around. Unfortunately, finding it is not so easy In fact, it''s rather dangerous."


    Bloed tilted his head in doubt. But before he could ask the reason, something crawled out of the ground in front of him.


    Surprised, Bloed looked at it. It was a strange monster with three eyeless heads, long tongues, and a disgusting appearance.


    At that moment, Elwha finished her words of before.


    "Because soul worlds are filled with [Nightmares]."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 262: Soul World (2)

    Chapter 262: Soul World (2)


    Bloed looked at the strange creature that crawled out of the ground with a stunned expression.


    "What in the hell is that?"


    "[Nightmares]," Elwha replied calmly. "Traumas. Manifestations of the darkness inside one''s mind. Most of the time they are not too dangerous. But they can be very troublesome."


    At the same time she spoke, a bow materialized in her hand. She then pulled back the bow, releasing an arrow that pierced the nightmare''s heart.


    But to Bloed''s surprise, the nightmare did not die. Instead, it roared angrily and charged towards them!


    When Elwha saw that, she frowned and pulled her bowstring back, releasing arrow after arrow that turned the nightmare into a sieve.


    Finally, when the fifth arrow hit it, the ugly monster copsed on the ground before dispersing in the air.


    "Sigh, how troublesome." Elwha sighed tiredly.


    Bloed, on the other hand, was looking at Elwha deep in thought.


    Suddenly, he extended his hand.


    Instantly, a saber appeared in his hand from nothing.


    "So it''s how it works, huh." Bloed nodded to himself.


    Elwha stared at him with a startled expression. "Impressive... You learned the trick without needing an exnation. Yes, this ce is technically an imaginary world, so you can create anything here and use it as your means of attack."


    "Anything? Can I then create a sun and destroy everything if I want?"


    "That is not like it works." Elwha chuckled amused and shook her head. "In theory, that is possible. But in practice, your subconsciousness finds it hard to imagine things you are not used to. Thus, it''s best if you only use the abilities you can use in the real world. Otherwise, you run the risk of your attack being useless, or even worse, injuring yourself."


    Bloed thought for a moment and nodded.


    "Let''s start to search the core then. I don''t like this ce."


    "You are right. This ce is very dangerous, so it''s better if we get out of here as soon as possible." Elwha nodded. "Follow me. We will go in that direction." She said while pointing to a strange floating path in front of them.


    Bloed shrugged and followed after her.


    But as soon as they started to walk, they realized this ce was much more chaotic than he thought.


    Houses, streets, cities, mountains. Everything was mixed up in a strange way that made one dizzy.


    In fact, after a while, Bloed became unable to differentiate if he was moving up or down.


    Soon, they reached a door.


    Bloed and Elwha looked at each other and pushed the door open.


    When they went through the door, they appeared in what seemed a corridor inside a castle.


    Strangely, there was no sign of the chaos of before here.


    "Where is it?" Bloed asked confused.


    "The memories of someone." Elwha looked around and said. "Someone that has not woken up yet."


    Bloed nodded in understanding. But in the next instant, his expression froze.


    In front of him, he saw a beautiful little girl crying while holding the dead body of a woman.


    "Mom, mom P-Please M-Mom Wake up"


    Amber eyes, red hair, and a lone horn in her forehead.


    " Liu Ying." Bloed muttered to himself.


    At the same time, his expression turnedplicated.


    He already had an idea what kind of dream this was.


    Seeing the little girl crying inconsbly, Bloed could not help but want to walk towards her.


    But a hand stopped him.


    "No."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow towards the elf princess. Elwha sighed and shook her head before looking at the crying demon girl.


    "The wave of soul power released by the Heart of the Forest awakens the most imprinted memories inside one''s heart. That what you can''t forget no matter what. And currently, this girl is lost inside one of these memories. If you try to wake her up, in the worst of the cases, you will cause an irreparable injury in her soul."


    Bloed furrowed his brows.


    "Is there a way to wake her up?"


    Elwha thought for a moment and sighed. "The best way is for her to wake up by herself. However, very few people are able to do that. After all, these memories are the most important memories inside our hearts. In fact, I was surprised when you did it, Mr. Bloed."


    " What if she is unable to wake up then?"


    "Then she will be lost in her dream forever."


    Bloed''s expression turned ugly instantly.


    There was no way he was going to allow something like that.


    Seeing that, Elwha grabbed his arm. "Calm down. The situation is not so grave. Once we destroy the core, the Heart will be unable to continue providing soul power to this soul world. By that point, the world will disappear by itself and your friend will return to the real world automatically. With a bit of luck, she will be alright by then."


    Bloed could only nod after hearing that.


    After all, he did not have any better way to help her.


    The pair then got ready to leave the dream. But suddenly, the dream started to crumble.


    Elwha and Bloed looked at each other in surprise and excitement, thinking Liu Ying was going to wake up.


    It would be much easier to destroy the core with three people.


    But to their disappointment, a new scene appeared after the dream shattered.


    This time, a beautiful girl was fighting in the desert, defeating monster after monster with a body ridden with injuries.


    However, the monsters were bing stronger and stronger each second, and no matter how many she killed, more monster appeared.


    Until finally, a giant serpent appeared.


    The serpent was so strong that the young girl was unable to face it. In just a few seconds, the girl was sent flying against a rock, spitting out a mouthful of blood after the impact.


    Then, the serpent slowly slithered towards her while the girl looked at it with a gaze full of despair.


    But at that moment, a sh of light cut through the desert.


    The serpent screamed in pain. Blood flowed out of its neck, dying the desert sand in blood.


    Enraged, the serpent looked at the young man who just appeared in front of it, protecting the copsed girl behind him like a knight in the old tales.


    The young man smiled. With a wave of his hand, he brandished his saber again, beheading the serpent with a smooth movement.


    Afterward, he turned around, smiled, and spoke to the copsed girl with a maic voice.


    "Nice to meet you, beautiful girl. I''m here to save you."


    Bloed wanted to die when he heard that.


    He was sure as hell he did not say such a corny line when he met Liu Ying the first time.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 263: Turned into Dust

    Chapter 263: Turned into Dust


    Meanwhile, Bloed looked at that scene and twitched his lips.


    "Is that like the two of you met?" Elwha looked at Bloed with a teasing smile. "You are such a yboy."


    " I''m sure that it was slightly different back then."


    "Really? But that girl doesn''t seem to think that." Elwhaughed softly and looked at the scene. At some point, the boy had lifted the girl in his arms and carried her away. "You don''t need to worry too much. It''s almost impossible to remember the past exactly as it happened, thus, people usually fill the nk parts to their convenience. The fact that her mind filled it this way means she likes you very much."


    " Perhaps, but I''m going to die of embarrassment right now." Bloed smiled bitterly.


    Inwardly, though, he thought it felt nice.


    "Heh. Right, Mr. Bloed, why is your friend''s hair red? If I''m not wrong, it was ck in the real world."


    " Things happened and now it''s like this." Bloed said off-handedly, trying to y it off.


    Fortunately, Elwha did not seem to mind it much and she did not insist on the topic.


    "However, this is good." Elwha suddenly said.


    "Huh?"


    "This girl, the fact one of her most important memories is something like this is good. It means her mental state is alright, so there is less danger of her suffering any issue after this end."


    "Is it so? That is good then." Bloed said and looked at Liu Ying for a few seconds more. He and Elwha then left her memories and continued their way.


    Once more, they appeared in the convoluted chaos belonging to the soul world.


    Unable to say right from left or up from down, the pair chose a random route to try to find the core. Bloed was not sure if going like this would work, but Elwha exined that in this kind of convoluted world, you would go deeper as long as you intended to go deeper, no matter which direction you chose.


    Fortunately, the group did not meet any ''Nightmare'', as Elwha called them, in the way. Thus, besides the dizzying scenery, the pair did not run into any problem.


    Before long, they arrived in front of another door.


    Just like thest time, Bloed and Elwha looked at each other before opening it and going inside.


    But as soon as they entered, they discovered this memory waspletely different than Liu Ying''s.


    They appeared in a training-camp-like ce, filled with dead bodies and blood flowing everywhere.


    And in the middle of that ce, a young man was stabbing a dagger into the belly of another man.


    "F-Fred? W-Why? W-We were friends" The man being stabbed asked with an astonished look.


    The young man called Fred did not reply. Instead, he twisted his dagger and cut upwards, killing the other man.


    Then, he pulled the dagger back, and the dead body of his friend copsed on the ground, bleeding out slowly.


    At that point, the young man raised his head and looked at the sky, with tears filling his eyes.


    "This is"


    "Probably someone of the Church of ughter," Elwha replied with an expression of disgust. "I heard they gather hundreds of children in some ces and train them for years. Then, on thest day, they force them to kill each other, and thest one is chosen as an elite of the Church of ughter."


    Bloed wrinkled his brows.


    "That is sick"


    "I think the same," Elwha said and started to walk. "Let''s go, I don''t want to spend another second here."


    "Wait a moment," Bloed said and walked towards the young man.


    And that moment, the young man looked back towards him.


    And as soon as his eyes met Bloed, he brandished his dagger and pounced towards him, reaching in front of Bloed in an instant!


    "Careful!" Elwha cried out in panic when she noticed the danger.


    To his surprise, though, Bloed waspletely calm.


    In fact, although he was slightly surprised when the young man attacked him, it did not matter.


    If he was right, the current him did not need to fear this kind of enemy.


    Extending his hand, Bloed called out to the powers sleeping inside his calction zone.


    Then, as though answering to him, a destructive presence erupted from his body.


    The next second, the young man froze.


    And his body turned into dust and disappeared.


    "As expected, I can use it here," Bloed muttered to himself. "Is it due to the psychic energy of the Heart of the Forest, or perhaps is it because it''s an ability I can use in [Overdrive] so I can use it in this imaginary world too? But it''s strange Even if it''s a dream, I felt the ESP ability in my calction zone activating. This should not be possible."


    After all, the reason he could not activate [Molecr Disintegration] was due to hisck of calction capacity. It was not something he should be able to change even if he was in an imaginary world.


    However, [Molecr Disintegration] was being activated. It was not that the soul world imitated its activation, but that it was truly activated.


    It was as though something in this world was making up for hisck of calction capacity.


    Bloed was confused, but before Bloed could reach an answer, the world around him started to crumble, quickly turning into the convoluted chaos usual of the soul world.


    At that moment, Bloed realized that Elwha was looking at him with an expression of astonishment.


    "W-What was that?"


    "Mm?"


    "You Did you erase his soul? No, that is impossible Then, why"


    "Miss Elwha?"


    "Huh? Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something." Elwha waved her hands awkwardly and yed it off.


    Bloed furrowed his brows, but he did not insist. He did not want to exin to her about [Molecr Disintegration] anyway.


    However, Bloed soon noticed something strange.


    Elwha had be wary of him.


    No, wary was not the right word. The right word was afraid.


    She nced at him on several asions, moving her gaze away as soon as Bloed turned towards her, as though afraid of him noticing her nces.


    It happened several times, at the point that Bloed was bing tired of it.


    Furthermore, she consciously or unconsciously was keeping a certain distance from him she had not been keeping before.


    Obviously, Bloed''s use of [Molecr Disintegration] had shocked her more than Bloed thought.


    Even so, it did not affect their search for the core of the soul world. Just like before, they moved through the convoluted and chaotic world, trying to move forward.


    But not much after they left the memories of the young man belonging to the Church of ughter, the first obstacle in their search appeared.


    In front of Bloed and Elwha, tens of grotesque figures took shape from nothing, rushing towards them with expressions of hunger and bloodthirstiness.


    "Nightmares!" Elwha cried out in panic and took out her bow. "Damn it! Why are so many of them!?"


    But in the next instant, her eyes opened wide.


    Because Bloed extended his hands


    *Swoosh!*


    And everything in front of him turned into dust.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 264: A Dream?

    Chapter 264: A Dream?


    *Swoosh!*


    Elwha''s eyes opened wide. She stared with an expression of disbelief as tens of nightmares disappeared in front of her eyes.


    Then, she looked at the person responsible for that.


    The blue-haired young man, Bloed Norman.


    Unconsciously, she gulped down a mouthful of saliva.


    She needed to use all her willpower to stop her body from shaking in fear.


    Yes, fear.


    Elwha was not a normal elf. Different from normal elves, she owned a very special talent.


    The ability to see the souls of others.


    And the ability to slightly influence them.


    That was the reason she was chosen as the priestess of the Great Tree of the Boerner Forest.


    The first time she saw Bloed, during the ball in the pce of the Great Savannah, she noticed him precisely due to his soul.


    When Bloed shook off her charm, she noticed his soul was pure and beautiful. And at the same time, it was strangely captivating.


    Back then, Elwha thought his soul was one of the most beautiful souls she had seen ever.


    And when she saw him again during thepetition, she thought that his soul was as beautiful as always.


    Now, however, it was different.


    Just like she could see Bloed''s soul, she could see the souls of others.


    Thus, she managed to see how Bloed''s strange ability erased everything in front of him, even souls, as though they never existed.


    Each time Bloed''s soul pulsed, everything in front of him disappeared.


    When Elwha saw that, the beautiful and pure soul of the blue-haired young man became incredibly terrifying before her eyes.


    Like a monster waiting to destroy everything in its path.


    It was not something that should exist in this world.


    "Miss Elwha?" Bloed called out at the elf princess when he noticed she was looking at him with strange eyes.


    Elwha snapped out of her daze and smiled awkwardly. "S-Sorry, it''s just I never thought Mr. Bloed was so powerful."


    "I can still improve." Bloed shrugged and said.


    But although it sounded as though he was trying to be modest, the truth was the Bloed was saying the truth.


    And he felt even more right now.


    It was the first time Bloed was able to use his sleeping ESP ability with total freedom.


    And he could not help but think it was really powerful.


    ''As expected of an SSS-Grade ESP Ability...'' Bloed smiled wryly to himself. ''It''s very overpowered.''


    In truth, the grade of an ESP ability did not represent its attack power or usefulness.


    Instead, it represented its potential.


    An SSS-Grade Ability meant that its owner could attain SSS-Grade without a problem unless there was a special circumstance.


    However, it was also true that higher grade ESP abilities tended to be stronger and more useful than lower grade ones.


    And virtually all the SS-Grade and SSS-Grade ESP abilities were powers beyond the domain humans should be able to wield.


    They could be described almost as godly abilities.


    And even among them, Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration] was at the top when it came to attacking power.


    Therefore, now that Bloed could witness its power, he felt more eager than ever to truly wield it one day.


    However, Bloed quickly calmed down.


    Even if this power was incredible, he could not get drunk on it.


    After all, this was not a power he could wield freely.


    Thus, the feeling of omnipotence he was feeling right now was nothing more than an illusion.


    Shaking his head, he looked at the elf princess beside him.


    "Should we continue?"


    "Y-Yeah, l-let''s go."


    Nodding slightly, Elwha resumed walking with Bloed following after her. They moved through the convoluted world trying to find the core.


    They continued walking for a long time, entering some other memories in the way. Every time they entered a memory, Bloed checked if they belonged to an elf or a member of the Church of ughter. He did nothing if the memory belonged to an elf, but if it belonged to someone of the Church of ughter, Bloed used [Molecr Disintegration] to kill them.


    He killed another two people like that.


    But each time Bloed killed someone, Elwha seemed to be more afraid of him.


    It was as though she had seen something terrifying.


    At first, Bloed did not care much about it.


    But eventually, he started to feel a bit awkward.


    After all, having someone looking at you as though you were a monster was not nice.


    Even so, he tried no to be too mindful about Elwha''s gaze. Plus, it was true that Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration] could seem a bit terrifying.


    Anyone would be afraid if you see others being erased from the world as though they never existed.


    Moreover, Bloed and Elwha were not exactly allies. They were working together now due to the circumstances, but it was possible they would turn against each other if the circumstances changed.


    Thus, it was normal that Elwha was wary when a possible enemy showed such strength.


    Deciding to stop thinking about that, Bloed followed Elwha inside another memory.


    But as soon as they entered the memory, Bloed recognized the ce.


    The barracks, the training room, the bedrooms.


    It was the military base where Bloed and the others trained for thepetition.


    Slightly surprised, Bloed looked around to find the owner of the memories.


    But at that moment, Elwha patted his shoulder.


    "Mr. Bloed?"


    "Mm?"


    Elwha put on a strange expression and pointed towards a direction.


    "You should look at that."


    Bloed was confused, but he nodded and looked at the ce where Elwha was pointing.


    There, he saw a blue-haired young man carrying a cat girl in his arms.


    And for some reason, it seemed as the young man was going to kiss the cat girl at any moment.


    Bloed was speechless. He needed to be an idiot to not identify the owner of this memory after seeing this scene.


    " Mr. Bloed, you sure are a yboy. To think you are in the most important memories of two girls." Elwha giggled while looking at the young man and the catgirl inside the memory.


    " Yeah, I was not expecting this either." Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. He already suspected Aya had feelings for him, but he never thought her feelings would be so big.


    At that moment, the memory around them started to crumble, turning into the convoluted world of before.


    "Huh?" Elwha put on a startled expression. "She escaped her memory? Amazing!" Elwha eximed without hiding her admiration.


    Bloed was also surprised. He did not expect Aya to break her memory either.


    Apparently, this cat girl''s willpower was stronger than he thought.


    When the memory crumbled downpletely, the cat girl looked around her and saw Bloed.


    " Another dream?" She tilted her head in confusion and walked towards him.


    "Aya?" Bloed called out at her, but Aya ignored his words. She just walked until she was in front of him and furrowed her brows.


    Then, under Bloed and Elwha stupefied gazes, she tiptoed and kissed Bloed''s lips.


    "... Even if it''s a dream, it feels nice." Aya blushed slightly with a smile and lowered her head.


    Bloed felt very awkward. How was he supposed to react now?


    Elwha, however, felt she needed to say something.


    "Errr Miss Aya, right? This is not a dream, you know?"


    ...


    ...


    "Huh!?"


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 265: About Beyond SSS-Grade ESPers and Gods

    Chapter 265: About Beyond SSS-Grade ESPers and Gods


    I already posted in P4TRE0N about it, but I have been recently busy with a new project recently, so sorry for the inconsistent releases. It willst one or two weeks more. Please bear with me until then.


    Aidka :p


    ...


    Stare.


    Look away.


    Stare.


    Look away.


    Stare.


    Look away.


    Watching Aya staring at him from the corner of her eyes and then looking away as soon as she felt he was about to look at her, Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    He could understand her behavior, though. After all, she had just kissed him in front of the princess of the elves while thinking she was still inside her dream.


    In other words, she had not only revealed her feelings to her crush in almost the worst way possible, but someonepletely unrted had witnessed everything.


    Aya was so embarrassed that she wanted to dig a hole and jump inside.


    In fact, Aya''s current behavior was a bit better than before. When she just realized she did kiss Bloed, she turned so red and flustered that Bloed could swear he saw smokeing out of her head.


    Aya had frozen in shame, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly but unable toplete a single word. In the end, she covered her face with her hands and crouched down with a strange whimper.


    Bloed felt incredibly awkward when he found himself faced with that situation.


    Fortunately, Aya ''recovered'' before long. But even now, she was still unable to look at Bloed directly and her cheeks were dyed in a deep shade red.


    The only reason she had the courage to look at him from the corner of her eyes was that she wanted to see Bloed''s reaction after the kiss.


    As for Bloed, he was currently at a loss.


    In the end, he was not a yboy incredibly experienced in courting girls. Moreover, he already had two girlfriends and he had not even considered getting another one.


    He had to admit that he found the current Aya incredibly cute, though.


    More than once, he was tempted to tease her.


    Even so, he suppressed his impulses. He did not want to make the situation even more confusing.


    Plus, he was not nning to feed the eyes of the smirking elf princess beside them.


    Much less when Elwha was moving her gaze between them as though she found something extremely interesting.


    ''... At the very least, she stopped looking at me as though I was going to kill her at any minute.''


    Sighing tiredly to himself, Bloed decided just to focus on finding the core for now.


    As for Aya, he would decide what to do after he was done with this troublesomepetition.


    "How far are we from the core?" In an attempt to stop thinking about the kiss, Bloed looked at Elwha and asked her about the situation.


    Elwha stopped smirking immediately and put on a serious expression.


    " We should be close already. The soul power here is much denser than before, so it means we are closer."


    Bloed nodded. Certainly, he could feel that the psychic energy around him, what the inhabitants of this world called soul power, was bing denser and denser.


    It probably was a sign that they were approaching the core of the soul world.


    At that moment, Bloed decided to use this opportunity to ask something to Elwha.


    Something he was curious about since a while ago.


    "Miss Elwha, I understand why the elves want this treasure so badly, after all, creating a new great tree is of utmost importance for your race. But, why is the God of ughter interested in it too? He even went to such lengths of sending several demigods and even offending two powerful churches and three countries just for that purple crystal."


    Elwha looked at Bloed and hesitated slightly. She could see that not only Bloed but also Aya was curious about the God of ughter''s motives.


    In the end, Elwha sighed and opened her mouth.


    "Mr. Bloed, how much you know about gods?"


    "Gods?" Bloed furrowed his brows. He did not know much about them.


    He knew that godhood was the level after the third level of demigods, Apotheosis, but that was all.


    But although Bloed did not know much about gods, he knew about their equivalent in the Human Confederation.


    Legendary ESPers. ESPers who had gone beyond SSS-Grade.


    Even in the entire Human Confederation, with hundreds of billions of inhabitants, only a handful of people attained that level.


    There was not a name for that realm, nor a known method to break beyond SSS-Grade. ording to the information in Cami''s spaceship, each Legendary ESPer surpassed SSS-Grade differently.


    But there was something that was known about beyond SSS-Grade ESPers.


    They were absurdly powerful.


    The true trump cards of humanity.


    There was not much information about beyond SSS-Grade ESPers even in Cami''s spaceship, however, Bloed remembered reading something about one of these ESPers.


    In the war against the Devourers, a beyond SSS-Grade ESPer once infiltrated the Devourers territory alone, destroying five Devourerss, more than twenty-five fleets of spaceships, and then returning to the Human Confederation alive.


    He then died a few dayster due to the injuries he received.


    But even so, his battle record speaks of the power of that kind of being.


    That was truly a power worthy of being considered divine.


    Thus, Bloed did not dare to underestimate the power of gods, beings with power equivalent to beyond SSS-Grade ESPers.


    After thinking for a moment, Bloed shook his head.


    "I don''t know much about gods, to be honest. I only know that godhood is the level after demigods."


    Elwha nodded. "That is true. However, attaining godhood is not so simple. To be a god, your understanding of a set ofws must gain the recognition of the world. After that, you assimte your body and soul with thew you that gained the recognition of the world and thatw bes into your godly position. However, all the otherws you haveprehended besides thatw are forgotten. In exchange, your proficiency in thew you used to be a god bes much greater."


    Bloed frowned. Laws?


    He remembered reading about something like that in a book when he was still a prince, but he did not know much about them.


    In fact, there was no information aboutws in the spaceship''s information.


    Was it something like the rules governing the universe?


    He looked at Elwha and wanted to ask her about that, but Elwha continued with her exnation before he could.


    "The problem is whates after that," Elwha said with a sigh.


    "Problem?"


    "Yes." Elwha nodded. "You see, to be a god, you need to assimte with thews of the world. But, how can the soul of a mortal endure the greatness of the world''sws? Due to that, after a being bes a god, he slowly starts to lose his sense of self, until finally bing nothing more than a part of thews themselves."


    "... In other words, he dies." Bloed furrowed his brows.


    "Yes," Elwha said with a serious expression. "Until now, no god has managed to avoid that fate. However, there are ways to dy it. For example, faith."


    Realization shed upon Bloed''s mind.


    "Do you mean, the reason churches exist is to harvest faith for the gods?"


    Elwha nodded. "It is not something bad. Giving faith to a god doesn''t affect mortals. Plus, most gods usually reward their most devout followers and support the people that worship them in some ways. That way, it forms a mutually beneficial rtionship between gods and believers. But besides faith, there are other ways to dy the assimtion."


    "For example, the purple crystal." Bloedpleted Elwha''s sentence.


    "Yes." Elwha did not deny it. "Each Heart of the Forest possesses an enormous amount of pure soul power. Something like that is an incredible tonic for any god. If they get it, they can suppress the side-effects of assimting with thews for at least twenty or thirty years."


    Bloed nodded in understanding. At the same time, he understood another pair of things.


    The reason why elves did not like gods.


    And the reason why the elves tried so hard to hide the existence of the purple crystal.


    Because if Elwha''s exnation was true, once the existence of the purple crystal was made public, very few gods in the continent would be able to resist the temptation of going after it.


    If the elves did not handle this situation carefully, it could even turn into the spark that started a giant war that enveloped the continent.

 Chapter 266: Floating Island

    Chapter 266: Floating Ind


    After Bloed heard Elwha''s words, he had a better understanding of the current situation.


    Moreover, he understood some things that he could not understand before.


    "In other words, the God of ughter will not give up in getting the purple crystal, right?"


    Elwha put on a bitter smile. "Yes. In fact, most gods will resort to any means to get the Heart of the Forest in their hands."


    Bloed nodded in understanding. At the same time, he thought about something.


    If the purple crystal was so valuable, then the Goddess of Moonlight Glow probably also wanted it.


    In other words, there was a high chance of the beastmen countries and the elves going to war for it.


    It also meant he should be warier of Elwha. After all, if they were destined to be enemies, Elwha could attempt to get rid of them right now to avoid future problems.


    As though feeling Bloed''s worries, Elwha smiled hurriedly and shook her head in panic.


    "Y-You don''t need to worry about that, Mr. Bloed. Our rtionship with Moonlight Glow is pretty good, plus, Moonlight Glow''s goddess in considered one of the most reasonable gods around. I''m sure that if we offer her enoughpensation, she will not only not fight us for the Heart of the Forest, but also help us to protect it."


    " Then, why did you not do that since the start?" Aya asked at that moment.


    "Well, we would have to pay a very high price if we do that," Elwha said with a bitter smile. "Why should we do that when there was a much better option?"


    "You are right. But it ended causing us a lot of trouble." Bloed could not help but say.


    Elwha smiled wryly. What could she say? She was not expecting this situation either.


    In fact, she still did not know how the information about the Heart of the Forest leaked to the God of ughter.


    At that moment, Elwha stopped abruptly.


    Then her face turned pale.


    "Oh no!"


    Bloed wanted to ask what happened, but then, his expression changed.


    Because he felt the world around them tremble.


    Bloed expression turned grave.


    "Miss Elwha! What happened!?"


    "I-I''m not sure! B-But we need to get away from here!"


    Bloed was going to ask what she meant, but he then saw the reason.


    All around him, the world started to crumble.


    The houses, the mountains, the paths, all of them started to copse, falling towards the infinite nothingness below them.


    "Dammit!" Bloed spat out. He then pulled Aya''s hand and started to run.


    Unfortunately, no matter how much they ran, they could not outrun the destruction of the world.


    "It can''t be This was not supposed to happen..." Elwha said while looking around. Her expression seemed like she just saw something frightening.


    Bloed did not have the freedom to ask what happened though. He waspletely focused on trying to find a way to survive.


    However, it did not take him long enough to realize he could not escape just like this.


    No matter how fast they ran, they could not escape when the entire world was crumbling.


    "I hope this works." Cursing inwardly, Bloed used his mind to try to materialize something.


    The next second, metallic sand appeared around him, quickly taking the form of a wolf.


    "Leto, flight mode!" Bloed ordered in a hurry.


    The metallic wolf heard the order of its owner and nodded. One secondter, it had turned into a flying wolf.


    Without hesitation, Bloed pulled Aya with him and jumped on the wolf''s back while a confused Elwha followed behind them.


    When the three of them were on its back, Letokicked the ground and took flight.


    And not even three secondster, the world below crumbledpletely.


    "What in the hell happened?" Bloed asked Elwha with a sullen expression. But the elf princess was just looking ahead them with a confused look.


    "Miss Elwha?"


    " I''m not sure. The elders did not tell me anything about this kind of situation. However, I think I know where to find our answers." The elf princess said while looking ahead them.


    When Bloed followed her gaze, he saw an ind floating in the middle of the nothingness.


    "That is"


    "I think we found where the core is," Elwha said with a serious look.


    Bloed furrowed his brows and nodded. He then told Leto to fly towards the ind.


    At that moment, Aya seemed to think about something. She looked at Bloed and hesitated slightly before opening her mouth.


    " Bloed."


    "Hmm? What is it?"


    "What about Miss Liu Ying and the others?"


    Bloed stiffened.


    Looking around him, he could not see any sign of the demon or any other living being.


    Moreover, it seemed like their memories disappeared together with the chaotic world.


    A sinking feeling filled Bloed''s chest.


    However, he shook it off immediately and looked at Elwha.


    "Miss Elwha. What do you think?"


    Elwha wrinkled her brows, just as confused as Bloed and Aya.


    " I don''t know. I''m sorry, Mr. Bloed, but I did not expect to meet this situation either. We can only pray they are alright."


    "I hope so," Bloed whispered to himseld.


    Although Bloed was very worried about Liu Ying, he knew now was not the time to enter in panic.


    Instead, he needed to focus on ending this troublesome situation as quickly as possible.


    The longer he took in finding the core, the greater the danger Liu Ying would face.


    Under a heavy mood, the group arrived at the floating ind. And to their surprise, the ce was pretty normal.


    Weirdly normal, taking into ount the things the group saw before reaching here.


    Green ins, beautiful trees, clean creeks, and even some small animals.


    In fact, if not for the white nothingness surrounding the ind, this ce would have looked like a beautiful paradise.


    However, the group was unable to enjoy the scene for long.


    As soon as Bloed and the others stepped on the ind, the paradise disappeared immediately.


    Bloed felt it. Hostility. Coming from everything on the ind.


    It was as though the entire ce wanted them dead.


    And soon, something confirmed his suspicions.


    All around them, figures started to take shape.


    Dark figures filled with malformations that could be called anything but normal. Monsters that could not exist in reality.


    There were thousands and thousands of these abominations surrounding them, each one facing in their direction with hunger and killing intent in their eyes.


    Aya turned tense. She grabbed her two daggers and stood in front of Bloed, ready to protect him.


    As for the elf princess, she was looking at the scene with a look of disbelief.


    "Impossible" Elwha said with an ashen white face. "How can there be so many nightmares? Unless"


    "Unless what?" Bloed asked with a grave expression.


    " Mr. Bloed, I fear the Heart of the Forest became ''alive''... And it wants us dead."


    Together with her words, the horde of nightmares charged towards them.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 267: Horde of Nightmares

    Chapter 267: Horde of Nightmares


    Hearts of the Forest.


    Bloed thought the name was not appropriate, but it was the name the elves gave to the oddities formed by the umtion of great amounts of soul power, also known as psychic energy.


    Hearts of the forest were very valuable and hard to get. But with the right method, getting them became very simple.


    However, there was an exception to that rule.


    When the Hearts of the Forest became ''alive''.


    In some very special circumstances, Hearts of the Forest would gain awareness, bing into living beings with incredibly powerful abilities.


    And if you were pulled into the soul world of such a Hearts of the Forest, then unless you were incredibly powerful, your only end was death.


    And Bloed was experiencing that right now.


    Nightmares. Horrifying, disgusting, and bizarre creatures formed from traumas and negative thoughts.


    And currently, thousands of these bizarre beings were charging towards them with hunger in their eyes.


    The sigh of that caused shivers in Bloed''s spine.


    Without hesitation, he called upon his psychic power and his strongest ESPer ability!


    [Molecr Disintegration]!


    Tens of nightmares were turned into dust! In front of the SSS-Grade ESP ability, the nightmares were unable to resist!


    The scene was so incredible that Aya, who was getting ready to die soon, was stunned!


    However, it was too soon to celebrate. As soon as these nightmares disappeared, even more nightmares took their ce and continued towards Bloed''s group.


    Bloed did not hesitate to use his ESP ability again. He unleashed his psychic energy without restrain, clearing a creature after another.


    But the nightmares seemed endless. No matter how many Bloed killed, there were even more of them behind.


    Moreover, because it was Bloed''s first time using his ESP ability so freely, his control over it was a bitcking and the number of creatures he could kill each time was limited.


    Due to that, the creatures were slowly but surely gaining ground.


    It was like a slow countdown towards their death.


    Seeing that, Aya hurriedly went to help him. She grabbed her daggers and charged towards the horde of creatures to kill as many as she could.


    The creatures were not very strong, and Aya could kill them with just a blow, so she managed to kill a lot of them easily. But even so, that was just like a drop in the ocean. Nothing inparison to the thousands of creatures behind.


    "We can''t continue like this! Miss Elwha, any idea!?" Bloed asked the elf princess.


    Elwha was dazed. She was currently looking at the horde of nightmares with an ashen white expression.


    She was filled with so much fear and panic that her thoughts stopped briefly.


    But she was, in the end, the princess of the elves, and the priestess of a great tree. As soon as she heard Bloed''s voice, she snapped out of her daze and tried to think in a solution flusteredly.


    "A solution... But what can we do? If the heart is alive then... No, we would have died long ago if the Heart of the Forest was truly alive. Then Is it in the process of gaining self-awareness...? Yes. At most, right now it''s not smarter than a child!" Elwha''s expression brightened when she thought of that. "Mr. Bloed! We need to get to the core now! Otherwise, all of us are going to die here if it bes smarter!" Elwha shouted.


    "Where is the core!?"


    "In the centermost part of the ind! It should be there!"


    "Got it! Get on Leto!"


    The three of them then jumped on the metallic wolf who quickly changed into its flight mode. It then rose in the air and flew towards the middle of the ind, flying over the heads of the monsters.


    Bloed, Aya, and Elwha could not help but sigh in relief.


    But not even one secondter, the nightmares started to transform!


    Wings appeared on their backs, allowing them to fly. They then threw themselves towards Leto!


    "Dammit!" Bloed cursed out and activated [Molecr Disintegration] to kill them.


    "Mr. Bloed, can''t you erase the monsters all of them in one go!?" Elwha asked in a panic.


    "Do you think it''s so easy to erase so many monsters!?" Bloed spat out while killing as many monsters as he could.


    Aware that Bloed could not take care of the monsters alone, Elwha took out her bow and started to shoot down some of the monsters.


    But the monsters wereing from all directions. Thus, some of them soon started to get on the metallic wolf.


    Fortunately, Aya was there. The few monsters that managed to get on the wolf were quickly dispatched by the catkin girl and her daggers.


    Bloed, however, knew they could not continue like that.


    Eventually, the sheer numbers of nightmares would overwhelm them!


    Several ideas appeared in his mind. He first tried to create a nuclear bomb to see if he could use it to kill the monsters.


    Quickly, though, he realized his understanding of it was not enough to make it work.


    He had never tried to create one in real life after all. Therefore, if he wanted to create a fully functional bomb here with hisck of knowledge, it would use most of his soul power.


    Plus, he had the feeling he would die as well after the bomb exploded.


    Elwha had said it was dangerous to use attacks in this world beyond his true ability. But Bloed realized it was not just attacks. Creating things beyond his understanding was equally dangerous.


    In the end, it was more effective to continue using [Molecr Disintegration].


    But suddenly, Bloed had another idea.


    With a thought, another Leto appeared in front of him. Then, under the girls'' surprised look, Bloed gave it an order.


    "Leto! Activate [Svalinn]!"


    With Bloed''s words as the signal, the second wolf turned into metallic sand that spread outwards.


    Then, that metallic sand turned into a that surrounded the flying Leto.


    Before the girls could understand Bloed''s intentions, one of the nightmares reached the.


    And as soon as the nightmare touched it, the part of its body that couched the disappeared, turning into dust.


    The girls were surprised, but before they could ask Bloed what was happening, the scene repeated again, and again, and again.


    Monster after monster rushed towards Bloes''s group, only to disappear as soon as they touched the.


    It was one of Leto''s abilities, designed by Bloed for when he used [Overdrive].


    [Svalinn]! Disintegration Shield!


    Using Leto as the medium to cast [Molecr Disintegration], Bloed created a protective sphere that would disintegrate any enemy or attack that touched it.


    " Amazing" Aya said while staring at Bloed with an entranced expression.


    However, their happiness did notst long.


    Suddenly, something twinkled in the center of the ind.


    And in the next instant, a beam of fire impacted the metallic wolf.

 Chapter 268: Red Hair and Amber Eyes

    Chapter 268: Red Hair and Amber Eyes


    *Boom!!!*


    A beam of fire flew from the center of the ind, hitting the flying wolf!


    Bloed''s disintegration barrier activated immediately, standing in front of the beam of fire and stopping it from reaching Bloed''s group.


    However, the amount of energy inside the beam of fire was too great. It was not something that Bloed''s B-Grade psychic energy couldpare to.


    Before long, Bloed felt that his disintegration barrier was unable to endure anymore. Then, it broke!


    Fortunately, the barrier managed to win enough time for Leto to evade the beam.


    "W-What was that!?" Elwha asked astonished. However, Bloed could not afford to answer her.


    Because at that moment, another beam of fire was flying towards them!


    Bloed once more forced his disintegration barrier to stand in front of the beam of fire, but it had not managed to recover from the previous blow. This time, it was broken even faster.


    And although Leto once more managed to avoid the beam of fire, it was obvious the situation was bing increasingly dangerous.


    "Dammit, do you think you are the only one that can attack!?" Cursing in low voice, Bloed materialized his sniper rifle on his hand and aimed towards the ce where the beams of fire wereing from.


    A disfigured dragon-like monster was standing there, looking at Bloed''s group with a fierce expression.


    Bloed did not hesitate and pressed the trigger. This time, though, instead of firing a sma bullet, he used the sniper rifle as a medium for his powerful ESP ability.


    [Molecr Disintegration]!


    As soon as Bloed pressed the trigger, the monster felt the danger and tried to evade the attack.


    However, it was toote.


    Before it could move away, half of its body was turned into dust.


    With a cry of pain, the monster copsed on the ground, dead.


    And with that monster dead, there was nothing that could stop Bloed''s group from reaching the core.


    "There it is!" Elwha cried out, pointing to a purple crystal floating in the middle of the ind. "Mr. Bloed, I need to touch it!"


    "Understood! Leto, full-speed forward!"


    "Woof!"


    Barking, the flying wolf dived towards the core!


    But at that moment, a change happened to the core.


    Inside it, a human figure took shape, quickly getting out of the purple crystal and looking straight towards Bloed''s group.


    "He is!" Elwha was surprised.


    "The guy of the church of ughter," Bloed said with a serious tone.


    Yes, he was Ulises, the young man that betrayed the Sun Kingdom and sided with the Church of ughter.


    Currently, his skin had turned dark, his eyes had turned red, and his body had taken several demonic features. However, it was unmistakably him.


    But before long, Bloed quickly noticed something strange.


    "Wait a moment. His expression"


    " It''s nk." Aya frowned and said.


    Yes, his expression was nk, as though he was just a puppet without his own will.


    However, Bloed did not ponder about it for long.


    Regardless of what happened to him, Bloed''s goal would not change. To reach the core and end this soul world.


    And just a young man was not going to stop him.


    Calling upon his ESP ability, Bloed extended his hand towards the young man.


    "Disappear."


    And [Molecr Disintegration] was activated!


    But then, the young man opened his mouth.


    And


    *ROOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!!!*


    A powerful roar escaped from his lips, shaking the soul world.


    At the same time, an enormous amount of psychic energy rushed out of the purples crystal behind the young man, turning into a wave that shed against [Molecr Disintegration]!


    An expression of surprise appeared on Bloed and the others'' faces.


    "I understand! He fused with the Heart of the Forest!" Elwha cried out. "That is the reason the Heart of the Forest gained awareness!" Bloed understood immediately. In other words, he was not fighting against the young man. Instead, he was fighting against the purple crystal itself.


    Moreover, while Bloed was fighting against it, he also had to take care of the nightmares flying towards them from behind.


    "I''ll take care of them!" Aya said immediately "Bloed! You focus on the core!"


    "Thanks, Aya. Miss Elwha, help her!"


    "I know! Make sure to hurry up! We will be unable to stop them for long!"


    Bloed nodded. He then focused on the young man in front of him one more and let loose his abilities.


    With a thought, all his psychic energy surged out. For an instant, a feeling of unlimited power filled Bloed!


    Then, he used all that psychic energy to attack the young man in front of him!


    "Be erased!"


    Following Bloed''s voice, his psychic energy turned into a powerful disintegrative power that charged towards the young man.


    At the same time, the purple stone behind the young man lit up. Several times more psychic energy than Bloed thought possible was released, creating a giant wave that surged towards Bloed''s attack.


    The amount of psychic energy was so great that it seemed to have be tangible!


    But Bloed did not panic. With just a nce, he had managed to see through the weakness of the purple crystal.


    Despite its enormous reserves of psychic energy, it had zero experience when it came to controlling it.


    It was like a child wielding a giant hammer, while Bloed was like a trained adult wielding a small dagger skillfully.


    Thus, while the psychic energy from the purple crystal was fighting against his ESP ability, he stomped the ground,unching his body towards the young man!


    Then, he dded his hand on disintegrative phychic energy, clenching it into a fist and punching towards the young man.


    *AOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!*


    The young man howled. He released an enormous amount of psychic energy that created a wall designed to block Bloed''s attack. But Bloed did not care. He expanded the range of his disintegrative energy, creating a drill-like shape that pierced the wall of psychic energy.


    Then, he went through it and reached the young man.


    "Get lost!"


    With a shout, Bloed punch flew towards the puppet-like young man.


    But then, his expression changed.


    Because a girl appeared in front of the young man, blocking Bloed''s attack in his stead.


    Bloed''s face turned pale. He hurriedly ceased his control over his psychic energy, making it dissipate and stopping his attack.


    But in the process, he also lost control of the disintegrative energybating against the purple crystal''s psychic energy.


    And his body was left undefended.


    The girl looked at him with nk eyes. No expression could be seen on her face, as though she was nothing more than a lifeless puppet following orders.


    Then, she clenched her fist and gathered mana on it.


    Red hair, amber eyes, and a horn in the middle of her forehead.


    Without mentioning a word, the girl, Liu Ying, punched Bloed''s abdomen.

 Chapter 269: Metallic Tsunami

    Chapter 269: Metallic Tsunami


    "Bloed!"


    "Mr. Bloed!"


    Aya and Elwha cried out when they saw Bloed being punched away.


    At the same time, their faces carried astonishment towards the fact that Liu Ying was the one that attacked him!


    The change was too sudden for them to react. Before they could understand what was happening, Liu Ying was already charging towards Bloed to attack him again.


    "Bloed!" Aya expression turned pale white. She hurriedly rushed to protect him, but she was not going to reach him in time.


    But then, something unexpected happened.


    When Liu Ying''s punch was about to hit Bloed, he twisted his body aside and evaded it. Then, Leto appeared suddenly and took the shape of several chains that tried to entangle Liu Ying.


    The demon did not change her nk expression. She stomped on the ground, creating a shockwave that blew Leto away and allowed her to escape from its bindings. However, Leto''s interference gave Bloed enough time to distance himself from her.


    Aya arrived at Bloed''s side at that moment. "Miss Liu Ying, what are you doing!?" She shouted at the red-haired demon.


    "Calm down," Bloed said to Aya while holding his abdomen with a hand. He then looked at the nk expression on his girlfriend''s face and sighed. "It''s useless to shout. She is being controlled."


    Aya was taken aback. "Controlled? Then, she is not attacking us by her own will?"


    Bloed nodded.


    "I understand." With a nod, Aya looked at Liu Ying once more and readied herself to fight against her.


    But the demon did not continue attacking them. Instead, she jumped back and stood protectively in from of the purple crystal.


    Moreover, while the group was distracted by Liu Ying''s sudden appearance, several more figures had appeared around the crystal, protecting it.


    They were the elves and members of the church of the ughter that had been trapped in their memories when the soul world formed.


    And just like Liu Ying, their expressions were nk, like lifeless dolls.


    "This is bad" Bloed furrowed his brows. The situation had just turned from bad to worse.


    With so many elites protecting the crystal, the difficulty of reaching it increased to the next level!


    However, what made Bloed grim was the fact that Liu Ying was being controlled as well. In other words, he would have to face her if he wanted to reach the crystal.


    But there was no way he could use [Molecr Disintegration] on her. In other words, he had to find a way to restrain her without killing her.


    At that moment, Elwha''s panicking voice came from behind them.


    "Mr. Bloed! I can''t stop the nightmares anymore! If you don''t find a way to reach the core soon, we will die here!"


    Bloed frowned. Beside him, Aya gripped her daggers tightly, getting ready for a desperate struggle.


    Catching all of that in his gaze, Bloed took a deep breath.


    "Miss Elwha, if I manage to restrain all the enemies for fifteen seconds, can you destroy the soul world?"


    "Eh? I-I think I can No, I can. I promise to you!"


    "Good." Bloed nodded. "Aya. Protect Elwha in case I can''t stop all the enemies. Also, after this, I left Liu Ying''s safety and my safety in your hands."


    Aya was confused. But when she saw Bloed''s serious expression, she nodded.


    "Don''t worry. I''ll protect you with my life."


    "I trust you." Looking towards Liu Ying and the purple crystal behind her, Bloed put on a confident smile.


    Then, his bright blue eyes shed with a trace of electricity.


    "Activate, [Overdrive]." He spoke.


    As soon as that word left his mouth, Bloed felt the world slowing around him.


    For an instant, his mind became faster, and his thought became smoother. Even his ability to control [Molecr Disintegration] became much stronger.


    With this kind of power, Bloed was confident he could destroy the crystal before long.


    However, Bloed knew he did not have enough time.


    [Overdrive]. An ability derivated from [Enhanced Brain Capability], able to heighten Bloed''s mental capacity several times over for a brief period of time, and in exchange, he would be powerless during three days after that.


    Normally, Bloed would use it to force his calction zone to activate [Molecr Disintegration]. But this time, he could not do that. He could not kill Liu Ying.


    Thus, he decided to try an idea he just had.


    "Materialize!"


    With a thought, tens of metallic wolves materialized around him. Each metallic wolf then turned into metallic sand that fused with each other, creating a giant whirlpool of metallic sand that seemed to extend without an end.


    Using [Overdrive], Bloed forced himself to increase the number of thought-controlled machines he could control at once. Then, using it together with the ability to materialize his thoughts in this world, Bloed created this giant whirlpool.


    And once the whirlpool took shape, Bloed gave it an order.


    "Fall."


    And the whirlpool descended.


    Like a tsunami, the metallic sand swept away everything in its path. Neither the nightmares nor the people being controlled by the purple crystal were unable to resist it!


    In an instant, they were swallowed by the wave of metallic sand, and their movements werepletely restrained, leaving the purple crystal defenseless for the first time since the battle started.


    "Hurry up! I can''t keep it for long!" Bloed bellowed out, waking up the stunned Aya and Elwha who hurriedly rushed towards the crystal.


    Seeing that, the crystal entered in a panic. It flusteredly tried to materialize more creatures to defend itself, but they were quickly swallowed by Bloed''s metallic sand or killed by Aya.


    Finally, Elwha reached in front of the crystal.


    "You are mine!" Shouting, Elwha released her mana and soul power and extended her hand towards the purple crystal.


    But when she was about to touch it, the crystal shook.


    And...


    *OOOOOOooooooOOOOOO!!!*


    A deafening cry filled the white space.


    One instantter, a wave of psychic energy exploded from the crystal, blowing Elwha away!


    "No!" Elwha paled. She gathered all the mana in her body and tried to resist the wave of psychic energy, but she was not strong enough!


    She could only watch as the opportunity Bloed and Aya got for her vanished in front of her eyes.


    But at that moment, she felt someone grabbing her waist.


    "Not yet!" With a roar, Bloed forced his calction zone beyond his limit, activating [Molecr Disintegration] once more and erasing the psychic energying from the crystal.


    A sharp pain attacked his head, and his vision turned red. Bloed felt as though his body wanted to copse.


    But even so, he continued advancing towards the purple crystal step after step with Elwha in his hands.


    And finally, he and the elf princess reached in front of the crystal.


    Elwha extended her hand once more.


    "Stop!"


    And her hand touched the crystal.


    Everything stopped at that moment, as though time would have ceased running.


    But then-


    *Boom!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the entire ind, and cracks started to appear in the white world.


    The next instant, the entire world shattered.


    Bloed watched that scene as he felt something warm flowing into his mind. The pain of overusing [Overdrive] strangely disappeared, being reced by afortable feeling.


    At the same time, he felt his mind being connected to something.


    Then, his vision turned hazy.


    And his consciousness disappeared.


    ...


    Three chapters today because I did not post yesterday. I hope you enjoyed it...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N...

 Chapter 270: Escape

    Chapter 270: Escape


    *Boom!!!*


    Inside the dome, a surge of energy exploded out of the purple crystal, blowing all the people close to it away.


    Dazed, Aya slowly opened her eyes and coughed a mouthful of blood, looking at her surroundings with a confused expression.


    But one secondter, her mind cleared.


    And she remembered what just happened.


    "Bloed!" Aya cried out and started to search for the figure of the blue-haired young man.


    When she realized she could not find him, she panicked. She was about to shout again when a voice called out to her.


    "Calm down, he is alright."


    Aya was startled. Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw the elf princess looking at the unconscious figure of the blue-haired young man with aplicated expression.


    A metallic wolf was standing in front of the young man, looking at the elf princess with a wary look and stopping her from getting closer to Bloed.


    It was Leto, whose AI was using the energy stored in its body to guard his master until he wakes up.


    However, Leto was a construct that relied on Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration] to get the energy it needed to operate. Now that Bloed was unconscious, its strength and the amount of time it could remain in operation was limited.


    In fact, if Elwha wanted, she could defeat it easily.


    "Bloed!" Aya eximed. She quickly rushed towards the young man and tried to wake him up.


    Perhaps because it knew of the cat girl''s rtionship with its owner, but Leto did not stop her. It just continued ring at the elf princess warily.


    Meanwhile, Aya tried to wake Bloed up repeatedly only to fail. Quickly, her panic increased.


    "Why doesn''t he wake up!?"


    "Calm down, miss cat," Elwha said with a calm tone. "He is alright. It''s probably a side-effect of the technique he used at the end."


    Aya was taken aback. But then, she remembered the words Bloed told her just before falling unconscious.


    He asked her to protect him and Liu Ying.


    Instinctively, she looked around and found the demon girl sleeping nearby. Just like Bloed, it seemed like she was alright, just sleep.


    Aya sighed in relief.


    But at that moment, she felt the underground dome shaking.


    Elwha''s expression changed immediately. "Dammit! Miss cat, we need to leave this ce! It''s about to copse!" She then searched for herpanions and used a levitation spell to carry them.


    To Elwha''s surprise, only two other elves were still alive. Of the five elves that came here with her, only two remained alive.


    Moreover, they were unconscious.


    Such a result saddened Elwha a lot.


    But she could do nothing about it. Instead, she must take care of the ones that were still alive.


    Thus, she went towards Bloed and tried to grab him.


    But Aya and Leto stopped her with hostile expressions.


    " What do you think you are doing?" Aya frowned.


    "Miss Aya, we need to leave quickly. I''ll carry him!"


    "I''ll do it," Aya said expressionlessly, however, the way she was holding her daggers showed she was ready to attack her at any moment.


    But at that moment, another voice sounded behind them.


    "He is my boyfriend. I''ll carry him."


    "Miss Liu Ying!" Aya was surprised after seeing the demon. At some point, Liu Ying had woken up and walked towards Bloed.


    She still seemed a bit weak, but despite it, she carried Bloed on her back and looked at the other two girls.


    "What are you doing? Hurry up! Princess, please keep the wolf in your storage ring. I don''t think it can operate for much longer."


    ""Y-Yes."" Flustered, both the cat girl and the elf princess nodded hurriedly.


    Elwha then stored Leto and the purple crystal on a storage device she had prepared beforehand while Aya stayed close to Bloed and Liu Ying to protect them in case something happened.


    Liu Ying looked at Aya strangely, but she said nothing, agreeing silently with her actions.


    At that moment


    *RUMBLE!!!*


    The ce shook once more.


    And this time, it shook even stronger than before.


    The girls'' expression turned pale.


    "We need to leave! Now!" Liu Ying bellowed,


    "Follow me!" Elwha shouted and pointed to one of the tunnels. "The exit is this way!"


    The girls did not hesitate. Putting strength in their legs, they rushed towards the tunnel Elwha signaled and charged out of the dome.


    And not even ten seconds after that, the dome started to copse!


    "Dammit, hurry up, elf! Where is the exit!?" Shouted Liu Ying in a panic.


    "We need to run for a bit more!"


    "We need to go faster then!"


    As though affirming Liu Ying''s words, a cloud of dust and stones caused by the dome copse rushed towards the tunnel!


    The cloud of dust and stones was moving at great speed through the different tunnels, causing even more widespread destruction!


    Even when the girls ran as quickly as they could, they could feel the tunnel copsing behind them and the cloud of dust slowly catching up to them.


    "Miss elf, how much more!?"


    "We are close! Just a bit more!"


    As though affirming Elwha''s words, the girls saw a ray of light shining in the distance.


    It was like a ray of hope illuminating the hearts of the girl. Seeing the entrance finally at sight, they put even more strength on their legs and rushed towards it.


    But when they were about to reach the exit, Liu Ying''s felt her body turning weak and she stumbled.


    In the end, she had not recoveredpletely from the effects of being trapped inside her memories. And after running at such high speed while carrying Bloed, she could not help but stumble.


    But that small stumble was enough for the cloud of dust to catch up to her!


    Liu Ying''s eyes opened wide. Looking at the cloud of dusting towards her, her face turned pale.


    But then, she felt a hand grabbing her arm.


    And the hand threw her towards the exit.


    "Miss Aya!" Liu Ying shouted, but she could only watch as the cat girl was swallowed by the cloud of dust.


    But suddenly, another change happened.


    "Barrier!"


    Following that word, a barrier appeared between Aya and the cloud of dust, stopping it for an instant.


    "Hurry up! I can''t stop it for long!" Rana''s voice came from the distance, filled with a bit of fatigue.


    Aya reacted immediately. Making use of the brief instant Rana won for her, the cat girl kicked the ground and rushed towards the exit.


    An instantter, a thunderous sound shook the mountains.


    And the tunnel copsed.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 271: A New Ability

    Chapter 271: A New Ability


    Outside the tunnel, a cat girl, an elf, a demon, and three unconscious people were sprawled on the ground.


    " It was close." Elwha said with a relieved look.


    Liu Ying and Aya nodded. Liu Ying then looked at Aya with aplicated expression and sighed.


    "You are a good girl."


    Aya blushed slightly, but nobody knew what she was thinking about.


    Suddenly, she remembered the person that saved her life just now. Looking around, she searched for the figure of the rabbit girl.


    And soon, she found her.


    But then, her eyes opened wide.


    Rana was not alone. She was together with Rhone, the batkin.


    However, their conditions could not be considered good.


    Both of then were riddled with injuries.


    In fact, they seemed much worse than the girls that just escaped the tunnel.


    "Rana!? What happened!?" Liu Ying asked in concern.


    Rana smiled wryly and shook her head. "It''s a long story. Anyway, I''m happy you are alright. But we need to leave, right now!" Rana''s expression became dark in thetter part of her sentence.


    "What happened?" Liu Ying frowned when she saw Rana''s serious expression.


    But suddenly, she saw Rhone''s face changing.


    "They are here." He said with an ashen look.


    Rana paled when she heard that.


    "Rana, what is happening!?" Liu Ying hurriedly asked.


    Biting her lips, Rana was about to open her mouth when another voice came from behind them.


    "Why don''t you allow me to exin the situation?"


    "Atai!" Rana gritted her teeth in rage. "Dirty traitor!"


    "I don''t consider myself a traitor, Miss Rana," Atai said indifferently, ncing at Rana, Liu Ying, and the others as though he could care less about them. "I never considered myself part of the Beastmen Countries in the first ce. I was always a servant of ughter."


    When Liu Ying, Aya, and Elwha heard these words, their expressions turned grave.


    And at the same time, they realized Atai was not alone.


    They had been surrounded.


    Bloed found himself inside a white space.


    The first thing he thought of when he opened his eyes was that he was still inside the soul world, however, he soon noticed this ce was different.


    This ce felt a lot more familiar.


    As though it was something that had been with him since always.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He tried to look around the white space in an attempt to find clues about this ce. And at that moment, something changed.


    All around him, hundreds of screens appeared, each screen showing different scenes.


    Familiar scenes.


    Like when Bloed first met Regina.


    Or when his mother taught him about engineering.


    Or when his mother''s AI, Tito, guided him in assembling his first machine.


    Many memories appeared in the white world. Memories of when he was happy, when he was sad, or when he was angry.


    When he saw these memories, Bloed recognized where he was.


    ''My own consciousness?''


    It was something he had heard from his mother, Cami.


    Some ESPers with special abilities could project themselves inside their consciousness, using it to navigate their memories or defend their minds in case of an ident.


    And now, it seemed like he had this kind of ability.


    It was probably a derivate ability of [Enhanced Brain Capacity] that Bloed himself did not know about. Most likely, it activated automatically to protect Bloed''s mind after he overused [Overdrive] to defeat the purple crystal.


    "This ESP skill is proving to be more useful than I thought," Bloed muttered to himself.


    He had already noticed it, but [Enhanced Brain Capability] was incredibly useful.


    Despite being just a C-Grade ESP abilitypletelycking when it came to attacking power, it was practically perfect as a support-type ESP ability.


    It even gave Bloed [Overdrive], a trump card he could use during a desperate situation.


    After confirming he was inside his consciousness, Bloed started examining the ce to find a way to wake up.


    Unfortunately, he failed to find a way to leave this ce. Instead, he noticed something interesting.


    "My psychic energy grew?"


    With a bit of disbelief, Bloed analyzed himself carefully only to confirm that his psychic energy had indeed grown.


    In fact, he had gone from the beginner stages of B-Grade to almost thete stage of B-Grade. It was an incredibly fast growth for an ESPer.


    Moreover, Bloed realized that his mind felt unusually fresh. He had just used [Overdrive], so normally he should be in a state where he could not use any psychic energy. But instead, his mind felt quicker than normal and his control over psychic energy was much smoother than before.


    He even had the feeling that [Enhanced Brain Capacity] had be stronger.


    And in fact, when he checked it up, he realized it had truly grown stronger.


    It had gained a whole new derivate ability.


    For some reason, [Enhanced Brain Capability] now allowed Bloed to split his mind to execute different tasks.


    Of course, the past Bloed could already multitask. Multitasking was an ability he often used to control his machines.


    But the new ability he gained went one step beyond that.


    When he divided his mind, it was as though another ''Bloed'' existed inside him, and even his psychic energy and calction zone could be split.


    When Bloed realized that, the first thing that appeared on his mind was [Overdrive].


    If he could split his mind to use [Overdrive], then only a part of him would be exhausted after using it while the other part of him would retain hisbat power.


    Bloed did not hesitate. Now that he was trapped in his own consciousness, he thought it was a good idea to experiment with his new ability.


    Quickly, though, he noticed several drawbacks.


    Firstly, with his current grade, he could at most split his mind into three parts. Going beyond that was impossible.


    Secondly, if he used [Overdrive] with just a split part of his mind, its efficiency would be much lesser than normal.


    In fact, using [Overdrive] this way could allow Bloed to use [Molecr Disintegration] only once.


    And even that use of [Molecr Disintegration] would be severely limited. Nothing close to how Bloed could use it when he was in the soul world.


    When Bloed realized that, he was a bit disappointed.


    But he soon shook his head and smiled wryly.


    "This result is already pretty good."


    It gave Bloed a new trump card. And this time, he did not need to lose consciousness and spend three days severely weakened after using it.


    ''Plus, if Ibine it with the runes on Leto, perhaps I can achieve something amazing.''


    As soon as that thought appeared on Bloed''s mind, his eyes brightened.


    Without thinking it twice, he tried to put it into practice.


    Using his knowledge of magic runes, he started to construct a whole new rune that would allow him to release a powerful new attack.


    It would be a trump card he could use to turn the tables around in a desperate situation!


    Bloed could not measure time inside the white world, so he did not know how long he spent working in this new attack.


    But eventually, he finished.


    And coincidentally, he felt something at that moment.


    Fear, unwillingness, despair, and hatred.


    These feelings suddenly appeared on his mind.


    Bloed did not know where these feelings wereing from, but for some reason, he felt as though they were calling out to him.


    As though someone important to him was asking him for help.


    Thus, he did not hesitate.


    Following these feelings, he found his way out of the white world.


    And he opened his eyes.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 272: Opening His Eyes

    Chapter 272: Opening His Eyes


    Yesterday''s Chapter...


    ...


    A few minutes earlier


    When Aya, Liu Ying, and the others discovered they had been surrounded, their expressions turned ugly.


    Twenty practitioners were encircling the group from all the directions, looking at them with ice-cold looks as though they could not wait to kill them.


    Moreover, the group could feel that the weakest member of the enemies was at the B-Rank. Some of them were even at the A-Rank.


    Meanwhile, only three people could fight in their group, and they had two injured and three unconscious people they needed to protect.


    This situation could only be considered as hopeless!


    Atai looked at Rana and Rhone and shook his head. "You truly are good at escaping. Even injured, you managed to escape our pursuit for so long."


    "Bastard!" Rana bared her teeth in rage. "Your soul will burn in the goddess''s hell!"


    Atai shrugged. "I belong to ughter. The goddess''s hell has nothing to do with me." He then looked around before fixing his gaze on Elwha.


    "You are The princess of the elves, right? If you are here, it means Ulises failed. How useless, he was not even able to get such an easy task done. Fortunately" Atai then moved his gaze to Liu Ying, Aya, and Bloed. "I gained an unexpected harvest thanks to his ipetence."


    Liu Ying frowned. "It looks like you have be much more talkative now, Atai. I think I liked it more when you were not a chatterbox, though. I did not need to hear your dirty voice back then."


    "Ouch. Such sharp words." Atai smiled yfully and shook his head. "I don''t understand why the captain likes a girl like you."


    " You don''t deserve to call him like that." Aya growled.


    "Perhaps." Atai shrugged indifferently. "It''s a shame, though." He said while looking at Bloed. "I would have liked to fight the captain again. Ourst battle is still unfinished."


    "You would have lost for sure."


    "I wonder about that." Atai just smiled at Liu Ying''s piercing words before moving his gaze towards Elwha. "Miss Princess, can you give me the Heart, please? I promise to give you a painless death if you do."


    " And what if I don''t?"


    "Then, we will kill all of you in the most painful way possible."


    "Try it." Elwha sneered.


    "Okay." Atai nodded calmly before looking at the twenty men he brought with him. "Finish it quickly. The people in charge of killing the demigods have not arrived yet, so something unexpected probably happened. We can''t lose more time here."


    """Understood!"""


    As soon as they heard Atai''s order, the twenty men of the Church of ughter unleashed their weapons in unison!


    "Atai, fight me if you dare, you traitor!" Rhone shouted furious, trying to get Atai''s attention, but Atai just looked at him disdainfully. "You were not my match even when you were in top condition. Right now, you are not even worthy of talking to me."


    He then walked away as the men of the Church of ughter closed on Liu Ying in the others.


    "Our backs against the mountain!" Elwha shouted at that moment. The group understood her meaning immediately. Without hesitating, they stepped back slowly until they stood in a defensive formation with their backs against a steep mountain, reducing like that the directions the enemy could use to attack them.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Elwha stood at the front, ready to receive the enemies, while Rana and Rhone, who were still injured, stood behind them to support them with their little remaining strength.


    Finally, Bloed and the two unconscious elves were being protected behind Rhone and Rana.


    The battle started at that moment. With Atai observing the situation from behind the men of the Church of ughter, the twenty enemies charged towards the group!


    In an instant, they had arrived in front of the girls.


    The girls waited until the enemies were close before making their move. When the enemies were just two meters away from them, they released their mana and moved.


    The first to receive them was Liu Ying. Instead of waiting for the enemies to attack, she took a step forward, unleashing a punch against one of them.


    Liu Ying''s target tried to stop her punch with her palm and aimed his sword towards Liu Ying''s de. If she did not evade, Liu Ying would suffer grave injuries!


    But at that moment, Elwha opened her mouth.


    "[Stop]!" She spoke.


    And the enemies froze.


    All twenty practitioners froze for a brief instant. It was less than one second, but it was more than enough for Liu Ying and Aya who had already seen this trick underground.


    In this fraction of second, the two girls erupted with all their power and charged forward!


    "Ha!" Roaring, Liu Ying punched the head of the enemy in front of her, bursting it like it was a watermelon, then, she unleashed a kick that destroyed the internal organs of a second enemy and another punch that burst the heart of a third enemy.


    Meanwhile, Aya shed among the shadows, wielding her daggers at an unbelievable speed and slitting the throats of another two enemies.


    As for Elwha, she managed to shoot two arrows that ended in the eye sockets of two enemies more.


    Seven enemies had been killed in an instant!


    The sudden attack of the girl stunned the men of the Church of the ughter. Seeing seven of their own dying so effortlessly, their killing intent could not help but waver.


    However, the girls'' reaction was theplete opposite. They proceeded to take advantage of the enemies'' hesitation to continue their attacks!


    Stomping the ground, Liu Yingunched herself towards another man of the Church of ughter and clenched her fist.


    But at that moment, an arrow flew towards her, forcing her to avoid the attack!


    "Idiots! Protect your minds!" Atai bellowed in rage.


    Atai''s words woke the remaining men up. They hurriedly protected their minds against soul attacks and defended against the girls'' attacks.


    Liu Ying frowned. She clicked her tongue in disappointment and jumped back.


    "Damn. It''s a shame Atai is too far, otherwise, we could have killed him with this trick."


    However, she was forced to stop thinking about that soon.


    Because once the men were no longer afraid of Elwha''s soul attack, they stopped hesitating and attacked the girls fiercely.


    The situation immediately turned around. Even if Liu Ying, Aya, and Elwha were very strong, their ability was limited against twenty elites A-Rank and B-Rank practitioners.


    Moreover, there was still Atai eyeing them from behind the men of the Church of ughter, ready to nt an arrow in their hearts!


    Even so, Liu Ying, Aya, and Elwha were strong. They unleashed as much strength as they could and fought against the enemies with their lives in the line.


    Liu Ying even unleashed her aspect, allowing her to burst with enough strength to kill another enemy before she was suppressed by an A-Rank practitioner.


    In fact, if not by Rana and Rhone asional attacks, and Elwha unpredictable soul attacks that freeze one or two enemies asionally, they would have lost long ago.


    However, the situation was quickly turning worse and worse.


    In less than one minute, the three girls were filled with several injuries, some so grave that they needed immediate treatment.


    At this point, they were enduring just on their sheer will.


    Despair filled their minds, and unwillingness to die like this filled their hearts.


    They hated it. They hated that they were not strong enough to kill the people attacking them.


    But when the girls thought that the situation could not turn worse, Atai raised his bow.


    Finally, he decided to interfere personally.


    But instead of aiming to the girls, he aimed behind them.


    To the ce where Bloed was sleeping.


    And fired.


    "Stop!" Liu Ying cried in panic. She tried to stop the arrow, but one of the enemies stopped her.


    But suddenly, a shadow shed.


    Aya appeared in the path of the arrow, using her daggers to block it sessfully.


    Unfortunately, that allowed one of her enemies to deal a blow to her, stabbing her belly.


    ""Aya!"" Liu Ying and Rana cried out. Rana hurriedly threw a fire arrow towards the enemy that stabbed Aya, but she was so weakened that the enemy easily knocked it aside with his de.


    Then, he raised his de and pointed it to Aya''s neck.


    And swung it down.


    Several things happened in that instant.


    First, a sphere floating in the sky lit up, shooting a barrage of bullets towards the man attacking Aya.


    Second, a metallic puppy appeared from nowhere, jumping between the man and Aya and blocking the otherwise lethal attack with its body.


    And third, Bloed opened his eyes.


    Finally, he had woken up.

 Chapter 273: A Slash (1)

    Chapter 273: A sh (1)


    When Bloed opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Aya kneeling on the ground.


    Then, he saw a man swinging a de towards her neck.


    His reaction was instantaneous. Even before he couldpletely understand what was happening, two of his mechanic pets followed his will to protect her and the girls.


    In an instant, Oculus lit up, aiming to the ground and releasing a barrage of sma bullets that rained on the men of the church of ughter, forcing most of them to disengage the girls and take evasive actions. At the same time, his armor, Tito, turned into a puppy that jumped between Aya and the sword aiming at her neck.


    *ng!*


    With a loud metallic sound, Tito was sent flying away.


    However, it managed to stop the de aiming for Aya''s neck briefly!


    The man trying to behead Aya was stunned. He immediately tried to attack Aya''s again, but at that moment, his body turned cold.


    A feeling of danger filled his bodypletely, telling him to run away!


    Without hesitation, he jumped back.


    The next instant


    *BOOOM!!!*


    sma bullet after sma bullet fell on his previous position, making him pale.


    If he would have not jumped back, he would have been seriously injured.


    "Who is it!?" The man bellowed in rage.


    But then


    *Spurt!*


    A de pierced his heart from behind.


    "Y-You" The man opened his eyes wide. Ashen white, he looked behind him, only to see the blue-haired young man who had been asleep just a moment ago stabbing a saber through his heart.


    "H-How..."


    The man did not know how the young man reached there. He could swear he did not feel anything until the saber was piercing his back.


    Of course, he could not know that Bloed had used his stealth device to ambush him.


    Bloed looked at the man with an ice-cold gaze, his bright-blue eyes glowing with strange and mysterious runes that seemed to possess infinite and unknown knowledge.


    Without caring about the man''s expression, Bloed pulled his saber out and swung it aside, shaking off the blood on it.


    Then, the man attacking Aya fell on the ground, dead.


    Until the end, he did not understand how he died so easily.


    Only at that moment, the people fighting nearby reacted to Bloed presence.


    "Bloed!" "Mr. Bloed!" "Captain!"


    Liu Ying, Elwha, and Rana cried out in excitement when they saw Bloed. It was as though Bloed regaining consciousness gave them hope to escape from this situation.


    Bloed, however, only nodded at them slightly before walking towards the cat girl who was bleeding nearby.


    With a gentle look, he patted her head softly and smiled.


    "Good job protecting me. Don''t worry, leave the rest to me."


    Aya stared at Bloed with a dazed look. She then blushed deeply and nodded with a shy expression.


    " Mm."


    Then, perhaps due to the fatigue umted through the recent events, or perhaps due to the injury on her abdomen, she fell unconscious.


    Bloed held her body gently andy her on the ground. Only when he confirmed Aya was alright, he turned around to face the men of the Church of ughter.


    Due to the unexpectedness of his appearance and due to how easy Bloed killed one of them, the men of the Church of ughter had distanced themselves from Bloed''s group, looking at Bloed warily.


    Bloed observed them carefully, his eyes shing constantly to measure their strength.


    Finally, his gaze fell on the cougarkin young man.


    When Bloed saw Atai, he heaved aplicated sight.


    "So my guess was right, huh. You were an enemy."


    Atai smiled and shook his head. "As expected of captain. You sure are sharp."


    "I would have preferred to be mistaken this time." Bloed sighed again. "I do not want to kill you, after all."


    Atai was startled. But then, he grabbed his belly and started tough loudly.


    "Hahahahaha, you are so funny, captain. Do you think you can kill me in the current situation? Plus, do you think the strength I showed thest time was my true strength? Let me tell you, captain. In the same rank, I''m undefeatable."


    ""


    "However, I have a proposal for you, captain. I would like to finish myst battle with you. If you win, I will let your group leave. But if I wind, you all will have to die. How about that?"


    "Mr. Atai. What are you doing!? Our god told us to get the heart!"


    "Silence!" Atai bellowed, shutting up one of his men who tried to stop him. "My words are thew here, do you understand?" He then looked at Bloed once more. "Then, captain, are you going to ept my proposal?"


    Liu Ying, Elwha, Rhone, and Rana looked at Atai nervously. They could see from Atai''s confidence that he surely had a trump card he had not shown until now.


    However, they had to admit that epting and winning seemed to be the only way out of this situation.


    Bloed did not reply immediately. Instead, he stood up and used his thoughts to give an order to Tito, who immediately turned into metallic sand. Bloed then took out his saber and extended it towards Atai and the others.


    "Actually, I think it''s pretty great you are here." Bloed suddenly said. "You will be perfect to test my new move."


    Atai frowned, feeling that something was wrong. And while he tried to find the source of that feeling, Tito''s metallic sand floated towards Bloed''s saber, slowly taking the form of several magic runes that glued themselves to the de of the saber.


    "I would have preferred to engrave the runes on the saber instead, but I will have to improvise like this for now." Bloed nodded to himself when the runes finished forming.


    Then, he raised his face and once more looked at Atai.


    "About your proposal, I''m sorry, but I think it''s unnecessary."


    Raising his saber over his right shoulder, Bloed activated the ability he just got.


    "After all"


    Part of his mind entered in [Overdrive], giving his calction zone the ability to use [Molecr Disintegration] for an instant. At the same time, the runes on his saber lit up.


    "It''s easier to defeat you all in one go."


    Bloed swung his saber.


    And the world in front of him was sliced into two.


    ...


    Remember to support me in P4TRE0N... Only if you like the story... And only if you can...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 274: A Slash (2)

    Chapter 274: A sh (2)


    There was no shockwave, no blinding sword wave, and no incredible phenomenon.


    It was just a silent sword sh, with nothing noteworthy about it.


    But even so, Atai''s eyes opened wide in fear as though he was looking at a monster.


    He was not the only one. Liu Ying, Elwha, Rana, and Rhone were also staring towards Bloed as though looking at something unbelievable.


    More urately, they were looking at his saber.


    And at the eleven men of the Church of ughter standing in front of Bloed.


    As for the men, they just stood there, frozen with their faces paling in terror.


    But then, the effect of Bloed''s technique finally showed up.


    All of sudden, enormous amounts of blood burst out of their abdomens, throwing the upper part of their bodies away as rivers of blood spurted out of their bodies.


    The scene was incredibly gruesome and terrifying. Blood rained on the surroundings, dying the green grass in red blood, and sshing out on Bloed and the others'' bodies.


    Meanwhile, Bloed looked at his saber and then at Atai and sighed.


    "The range was much worse than I thought. As expected, using Tito''s sand to rece the runes is not a good idea. I should engrave the runes properlyter." Bloed''s voice was apathetic, as though he had not killed eleven people but just eleven flies.


    But strangely, that kind of voice sent shivers to the listeners'' spines.


    Even Atai, who was speaking arrogantly before this, was now covered in a cold sweat.


    "Just now, that was"


    "Mmm I think I''m going to name it [Imaginary sh]. What do you think about the name? Cool, right?"


    "... Impossible"


    Bloed looked at the shocked Atai and shook his head in pity.


    "See? Fighting you is unnecessary. I can kill you easily if I want." Bloed said indifferently and then started to walk towards Atai slowly.


    Atai''s face turned pale in fear. Seeing eleven powerful men die so suddenly and strangely filled him with terror.


    But an instantter, his fear was reced by fierceness.


    Grabbing his two bone daggers, he red at Bloed and pounced towards him!


    "Go die!" Atai bellowed, calling upon the image of a cougar that enveloped him and increased his speed.


    Atai''s movements were incredibly fast, faster than any B-Rank Bloed had seen before. In an instant, he appeared before Bloed with his daggers slicing towards his neck.


    But it was useless.


    Just like before, Bloed calmly raised his saber.


    And shed horizontally.


    Atai''s eyes opened wide. His sharps instincts kicked out, allowing him to react instinctively and try to jump away.


    But despite that, he failed to evade the attack.


    He could feel something invisible breaking through his mana, ignoring his defenses, and slicing his flesh and blood.


    An instantter, Atai fell on the ground.


    But his legs had been separated from his body.


    " Impo sible" Atai whispered to himself with a look of disbelief.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He looked at his saber and shook his head in disappointment.


    "It looks it''s notpletely unavoidable. Someone with sharp instincts can perceive and avoid it. Fortunately, it worked this time. Although I did not kill the enemy, I managed to sever his legs." Bloed said while looking at the now legless Atai.


    Just like Bloed said, it was fortunate his technique worked this time.


    After all, unless he wanted to fall unconscious, he could not use this technique anymore.


    Twice was the limit of using this technique without suffering a bacsh.


    At this point, Liu Ying and the others finally reacted.


    "Bloed, you" Liu Ying looked at Bloed in disbelief. "That attack"


    "Cool, right?" Bloed smiled slightly, his pride apparent in his gaze. "I just created it. I named it [Imaginary sh]."


    "That was [Molecr Disintegration], right? But how? You should not be able to use it this way"


    Liu Ying knew a lot about Bloed''s abilities. Although she did not know exactly what the reason was, she knew that he could not use a part of his abilities because he was not strong enough.


    That was the reason she was so surprised when she saw him using [Molecr Disintegration] with such a power. Moreover, he did not seem to be using [Overdrive].


    "Well, I gained an interesting ability when I was asleep." Bloed smiled mysteriously and said.


    Yes, this technique was a result of the ability Bloed got when he fell unconscious.


    By splitting his calction zone, mind, and psychic power to create a split ''self'', and using it to activate [Overdrive], it allowed Bloed to release [Molecr Disintegration] once.


    Releasing [Molecr Disintegration] once was already powerful, but it had a lot of limitations. Bloed could only use the ability in one target, and its range was limited.


    Thus, Bloed used his knowledge in magic runes to transform this single use of [Molecr Disintegration] into something different.


    He transformed it into a ''de''.


    It was just like when Bloed uses his disintegration saber, but this time, the power of the disintegration saber extended into a five-meters-long invisible de filled with disintegrative power that can be swung once.


    And once it''s swung, all the enemies and objects in the range of the de will be cut down.


    This was Bloed''s new trump card. A powerful technique that anyone would fear.


    And it was not perfected yet. Once Bloed perfected the runes in his saber, he would be able to extend the make the de twenty or thirty meters longer.


    By then, this technique would be an incredibly lethal attack.


    At that moment, Rana and Rhone arrived before Bloed.


    "Captain! That was incredible!" Both of them nodded at Bloed with worshipping looks before fixing their gaze on Atai.


    Immediately, hatred and rage filled their eyes. Their eyes turned red, and killing intent erupted from their bodies.


    They seemed ready to jump onto him to tear his flesh apart at any moment.


    "You two." Bloed sighed and shook his head. "Stop that. We can''t kill him."


    "But captain, he!"


    "I know what you want to say," Bloed said firmly, interrupting Bloed. "I''m also want to kill him a lot. Due to him, Aya was injured like that. But even so, we should not kill him. Leaving him alive so he can be interrogated is the right course of action this time."


    Rhone and Rana bit their lip in dissatisfaction, but in the end, they nodded.


    Even although they were filled with rage towards the betrayal of Atai, they were smart enough to recognize Bloed was right.


    When Rhone and Rana finally calmed down, Bloed sighed in relief before looking at the only person that had not spoken until now.


    He needed to talk with her, urgently.


    Elwha, the Princess of the Elves.


    Bloed frowned, looking at Elwha and thinking about how to start this conversation. As for Elwha, she looked at him with aplicated gaze.


    Both of them stared at each other for several seconds, none of them saying a word to alleviate the awkward silence. But with each second that passed, Bloed frown deepened, and Elwha''s expression turned more and moreplicated.


    It was such awkward silence that even Liu Ying and the others noticed that something wrong with them.


    And for some reason, Liu Ying could not help but have an ominous premonition.


    And one secondter, her premonition was proved right.


    "Miss Elwha, I think you should know what I want to ask, right?" Bloed suddenly asked.


    " I do." Elwha smiled wryly and nodded. "I was not expecting this either."


    "I see... Then, can you please exin to me why our minds are connected?"


    ...


    Consider supporting me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 275: Wings

    Chapter 275: Wings


    Longest chapter of Science/Magic ever...


    ...


    At the same time


    "Dammit, you must be kidding me" The average-looking demigod looked in front of him with a bitter expression.


    Cold sweat was sliding down his back, and his clothes were a mess. Even although the demigod was not injured, it was obvious he was not having a good time.


    He was not having it so bad, though. Beside him, a lionkin demigod was covered in injuries, holding a greatsword, and panting heavily while a human demigod held his abdomen to stop the bleeding caused by an injury he received before.


    And the cause of that was the silver-haired girl standing in front of them.


    With golden eyes filled with enough coldness to freeze the world, a beautiful thin sword in her right hand, a set of armor covering her body, and a beautiful flower hovering over her shoulder, the girl stood calmly on the air, staring at the three demigods icily and ready to kill them at any time.


    Different from the three demigods, her body waspletely spotless, without any trace of injury or tiredness. She seemed nothing like someone that was having a fierce and difficult battle.


    But strangely, her expression seemed a bit out of sorts, as though she was worried about something.


    Even during the battle, the silver-haired was more than once distracted as though worried about something. That gave the three demigods the opportunity to avoid her attacks or counterattack.


    The fact that the three demigods were losing so badly even with these circumstances showed how powerful the girl was.


    But suddenly, the silver-haired girl sighed in relief.


    "Fortunately, nothing bad happened to master" She touched her chest relieved before looking at the three demigods in front of her and frowning. "How troublesome It looks like I can''t go to see master until I finish with this bother."


    The average-looking demigod smiled bitterly when he heard these words. Obviously, this girl did not seem to consider them important.


    To her, they were nothing more than a bother.


    However, it made him curious.


    "Who are you? A demigod so powerful like you should not be unknown." The average-looking demigod asked.


    "I don''t have any reason to answer you," Regina replied calmly. "Not when you are going to die soon."


    As soon as her words finished, the average-looking demigod felt an enormous feeling of danger.


    Without hesitation, he jumped away, only to see the ce where he was just a moment ago being cut by an energy de.


    He snorted and extended his hand, making his shadow to turn into a giant three-headed wolf that charged towards Regina. At the same time, the lionkin demigod and the human demigod attacked Regina from two different directions to seal her routes of escape.


    But Regina did not n to escape. Grunting, she shed around her, creating an energy sh that cut the three-headed wolf into two and forced the other two demigods to defend.


    Then, she kicked the air andunched herself towards the human demigod, swinging her sword down.


    The human demigod paled. He hurriedly created a ring of fire that tried to repulse Regina, but it was easily broken by a pulse of energy that was released from Regina''s body, leaving her face to face against the human demigod.


    But suddenly, a strange creature appeared from the human demigod''s shadow, opening its jaws and biting towards Regina.


    At the same time, several different creatures appeared from her surroundings. Eagles, scorpions, snakes, chimeras, and all types of horrifying creatures used their ws, tails, pincers, and fangs to attack the silver-haired girl.


    It was the average-looking man. He had hidden the creatures there beforehand to ambush Regina!


    No many demigods would be able to escape this attack unscathed!


    Unfortunately, it was useless against Regina. All of sudden, hundred of swords, axes, arrows, and spears made of energy appeared around Regina, flying towards the monsters and impaling them.


    But making use of that opportunity, the human demigod managed to distance himself from Regina. Meanwhile, the lionkin demigod swung down his greatsword, bringing along a powerful pressure that wanted to crush the Valkyrie.


    Facing that attack, Regina just swung her sword, slicing his attack into two.


    But by then, the three demigods had distanced themselves from Regina once more, returning to the situation of the start.


    Regina wrinkled her brows exasperated.


    "How troublesome They are like cockroaches." She clicked her tongue in displeasure.


    It was not the first time this happened. In fact, it had already happened around twelve times before.


    Since the start of the battle, Regina had been on the winning side. She had been using her abilities to suppress the three demigod enemies.


    Unfortunately, defeating them was not so easy.


    Mainly due to the average-looking man belonging to the Church of ughter.


    His army of strange creatures had saved the other two demigods more than once.


    These creatures would have not been a problem if Regina was fighting the average-looking demigod alone. She was confident she could have killed him long ago.


    But with the other two demigods helping him, the situation turned into the current stalemate.


    Although Regina had aplete advantage, she could at most suppress them. If she wanted to defeat them, she needed a lot more time or wait until they made a mistake.


    "How troublesome," Regina clicked her tongue again.


    However, Regina was not the only one troubled.


    In fact, the three demigods she was fighting had it much worse than her.


    After all, their perfect n had been singlehandedly destroyed by the silver-haired girl in front of them.


    They could not understand why the poison did not work on her, and neither they knew how she was so strong.


    Her level of strength was something that only the strongest demigods should possess.


    "Leon, why did you not tell us about this monster before!?" The human demigod growled in displeasure.


    The lionkin demigod shook his head bitterly. "How was I going to guess she was so strong and she was immune to the poison? Dammit"


    "We can''t continue like this. A single slip and one of us will die. By then, perhaps the three of us will meet our maker today." The average-looking man furrowed his brows.


    "Should we retreat?" He human demigod looked at the average-looking man and asked. "It''s obvious the n failed."


    The average-looking man frowned and did not reply immediately.


    In fact, since the start, their main target was not killing the demigods here. Their target was getting the Heart of the Forest.


    And while they were fighting here, two teams of the Church of ughter were searching for the heart.


    If they retreated now, there was a big chance this terrifying girl will go after the two teams searching for the heart.


    And when that happened, the two teams would not have the ability to resist.


    The average-looking man could not allow that.


    The problem was that none of the team had reported they had gotten the heart even although ording to their ns the heart should be in their hands already.


    He did not know if it was because they had not found it or if something else happened, but whatever the reason, it was a fact they had not aplished their god''s goal yet.


    And until then, he needed to continue fighting here.


    "I have an idea." At that moment, the lionkin demigod spoke up. "If we can''t defeat her directly, we can use other methods then." He then looked in the direction of the incapacitated demigods.


    The average-looking man''s eyes lit up immediately. "That is a good idea. Leon, you do it. Michael and I will distract the girl."


    "Got it!"


    Just at the moment when they finished talking, Regina moved again.


    A giant sword of energy appeared in the sky, cutting towards the three of them with impunity!


    The three demigods hurriedly avoided the attack, but then, the sword transformed into a whip sword that slithered towards the lionkin general.


    "Not so easy!"


    A monster materialized at that moment. The giant gori-like monster appeared from the lionkin demigod''s shadow and stopped the whip sword with its body!


    And although it was cut into two at the next instant, it managed to allow the lionkin general to avoid that attack.


    Regina frowned. She was nning to attack the lionkin general again, but suddenly, an army of monsters appeared around her.


    The monsters charged towards her like a tide, fillingpletely the sky and using their overwhelming numbers to attack her!


    And at the same time, several giant birds of fire appeared around her, trying to burn her body into cinders.


    Thebined attack of the average-looking man and the human demigod was so powerful than any other demigod would have been killed.


    But instead, Regina just snorted.


    And suddenly, the remaining flower over her shoulder lit up.


    Energy surged around her body, turning into countless electrics snakes that filled the flower.


    Then, the flower bloomed, taking the shape of a pair of wings!


    Lightning-filled wings, making Regina seem like an angel of punishment!


    At the same time, several orbs of energy appeared around the wings, circling it as small children following her mother.


    Then, Regina opened her mouth.


    "Get lost!"


    And tens of beams of energy were fired from the orbs, bombarding the monsters and burning them into cinders!


    The terrifying power of the beams of energy stunned the two demigods. They stared at Regina''s wings with expressions of disbelief.


    They were so beautiful... and so deadly.


    For the first time, Regina had shown herplete Valkyrie armament.


    [Krigrustning]. A three-piece set consisting of armor, a sword, and a pair of wings.


    And now, its power was directed to the two demigods.


    In front of such overwhelming power, their attacks were quickly overwhelmed. Then, Regina kicked the air, appearing in front of the human demigod once more.


    Pale-faced, the human demigod instinctively released his strongest spells to try to escape Regina''s attacks.


    At the same time, the average-looking man shouted hurriedly, creating tens of shadow monsters that charged towards Regina!


    However, the orbs around Regina''s wing reacted immediately, firing tens of powerful beams of energy that ripped the monsters apart.


    Simultaneously, Regina''s sword cut through the human demigod''s spells, severing them into two and going straight towards his neck.


    But suddenly


    "Stop!" The lionkin demigod bellowed in fury, with his sword against Eve''s neck.


    Regina''s energy sword stopped abruptly one centimeter away from the human demigod''s neck.


    "If you move, she dies!" The lionkin general said with a crazy tone of voice.


    "Despicable!" Aya''s father growled in fury. However, the lionkin general ignored him. He just looked at Regina, waiting for her answer.


    But to his surprise


    "Is it so?" Regina looked at the lionkin general indifferently.


    Then, her hand moved.


    And the head of the human demigod flew.


    "You can kill her for all I care."


    Regina''s chilling voice sent shivers to all the people nearby.


    The lionkin general and the average-looking man shivered. Even Aya''s father was looking at Regina as though he could not believe her words.


    In the next second, the lionkin general''s face turned red in fury.


    "Then watch her die!"


    And swung his greatsword towards Eve.


    But then


    "You are so cold, Miss Regina." Eve''s emotionless voice resounded in the battlefield as she stared at Regina with what seemed to be a pout.


    And for some reason, the lionkin general''s movements werepletely frozen, and his face was pale in fear.


    "Impo Sible"


    Eve looked at him and shook her head. "It was just poison. I recovered from that a long while ago. The only reason I had not attacked yet was to wait for the perfect opportunity to deal a decisive blow. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if the three of you escape when you realize I recovered."


    The lionkin demigod''s face turned ashen white.


    However, Eve did not pay him more attention. Instead, she looked at Regina with a small pout.


    "And you, Miss Regina I thought we were friends."


    Regina just shrugged. Not bothering to reply.


    In the end, Regina only cared about Bloed. The life and death of everybody else were inconsequential.


    Perhaps only Liu Ying was different, and it was only due to the demon''s position in her master''s heart.


    And now, she needed to kill onest person to go to see her master.


    Sensing Regina''s gaze on him, the average-looking man smiled bitterly.


    "It looks like this operation was aplete failure." He said while looking at Regina and Eve.


    Even fighting one of them was impossible for him, not to mention fighting against the two.


    "Give up. Stop resisting." Eve said expressionlessly. "Otherwise, I will make you suffer a lot of pain."


    The average-looking man chuckled softly before shaking his head. Then, he looked at Regina and smiled.


    "Remember, my name is Victor. I have the feeling we will meet again."


    Regina''s expression changed. She hurriedly created a giant energy sword and swung it towards the average-looking man.


    But before the sword reached him, a monster appeared from the man''s shadow.


    And swallowed him.


    When the sword descended, it cut the monster into two, killing it instantly.


    However, the man was already gone, and no trace of him could be found.

 Chapter 276: Connected Minds

    Chapter 276: Connected Minds


    Hearts of the Forest are very peculiar oddities.


    They are made of soul power or psychic energy umted in some way after countless coincidences and years of umtion.


    Sometimes they are in the shape of crystals, other times they are in the shape of amber. Sometimes they can be small animals or other times they can appear like a small sapling.


    But despite their different shapes, there are some simrities they share.


    They are incredibly valuable.


    And being in contact with them can bring unexpected side-effects.


    Such as


    "Learning a new ability all of sudden, huh," Bloed muttered to himself, thinking about the ability he just got.


    Actually, he already suspected the reason he got it was rted to the purple crystal, but it was good to hear Elwha confirming it.


    The problem was the other side-effect.


    And that was


    "Your minds are connected?" Liu Ying squinted and looked at Bloed and Elwha with a not-so-pleased expression.


    Elwha smiled awkwardly.  I''m not sure why it happened either. Perhaps, it was because we were having physical contact when I destroyed the soul world, or perhaps it was because our soul power mixed with the soul power of the Heart of the Forest and created a link between us don''t look at me like that, it''s the first I have seen this kind of situation as well."


    "In other words, you don''t know how to cut off this link," Bloed asked while feeling a headacheing.


    Was he supposed to live while sharing his thoughts with a girl he just met?


    And as he expected, Elwha just looked at him awkwardly, unable to reply.


    But that was enough of an answer.


    Bloed looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.


    "I want to ask something." Liu Ying stepped out at that moment and red at the elf princess. "Princess, exactly how are your minds connected?"


    "That We can feel a little about each other''s feelings, and perhaps we will be able to see a bit about each other memories in certain circumstances. Plus" Elwha turned a bit red.


    "Plus?"


    "We feel a bit of a-attraction for each other?" Elwha blushed slightly and avoided meeting Liu Ying''s gaze.


    When the demon heard that, her eyes narrowed.


    "Attraction?" She stared at Bloed and asked him.


    In this situation, Bloed could only nod helplessly.


    "I see" Liu Ying nodded calmly, but Bloed had a feeling a storm was raging inside her.


    Plus


    "How envious"


    For some reason, Aya chose that moment to wake up and speak up.


    Bloed was speechless. Girl, stop riling Liu Ying up, please.


    But to Bloed''s surprise, Liu Ying did not turn angry as he expected.


    Instead, she walked towards Bloed, grabbed his hand gently, and sighed with a tired expression.


    "You know what I want to ask, right?"


    "It was not my fault," Bloed answered in reflex.


    "I know." Liu Ying nodded. "And that makes it even more frightening. I mean, I was already expecting Aya, but even an elf princess? You never cease to astonish me."


    " I-I''m sorry." Aya said timidly.


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes. Are you going to stop chasing my boyfriend after apologizing?


    She already knew her man was outstanding, but it would be bad if things continued like this,


    In fact, Liu Ying did not mind if Bloed had a few more wives. But there should be a limit.


    Counting Regina, the two sisters who promised to meet again one yearter, Aya, and herself, there were already five potential wives.


    And now, even an elf princess that shared a soul connection with him appeared?


    Liu Ying had the feeling that if she doesn''t nip this problem in the bud right now, this elf princess would end entangled with her boyfriend in the future.


    And by then, it would be toote for regrets.


    Thus, she decided to act immediately.


    "So, princess, what do we need to do to get rid of this connection?"


    "T-That To wait, I think?"


    "Wait?"


    "Yes. This kind of connection must rely on soul power to keep working. Thus, if we are far from each other and are unable to share our soul power, the connection should start to fade soon enough."


    Liu Ying nodded. She then stared at Bloed to ask if he had a better opinion.


    Bloed was deep in thought. In fact, he had already reached the same conclusion before hearing Elwha.


    However, Bloed feared that if they did not severe the connectionpletely, it would return if he and Elwha meet again.


    Unfortunately, he could not think of another solution.


    In fact, even now, he did not know of the underlying reason behind the apparition of this connection.


    Sighing, Bloed nodded helplessly.


    "We can only do that then."


    Anyway, he and the elf princess would part ways after that, and perhaps they would not meet again after that.


    Once that conversation came to an end, it was time to think about the current situation.


    "Captain, what should we do now?" Rana asked with a frown.


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He looked at the two unconscious elves and at the heavily injured Aya, Rana, and Rhone.


    They could not continue like this. It was better if they received medical attention as soon as possible.


    But then, his eyes shed.


    At the same time, he looked up.


    "Bloed?"


    Liu Ying tilted her head. But when she saw the smile on her boyfriend''s face, she understood.


    "Master!"


    A worried voice came from the sky. And then, a silver-haired girl suddenly appeared in front of Bloed.


    Bloed smiled. He ignored the expressions of astonishment on Elwha, Aya, Rana, and Rhone''s faces and took a step forward.


    Raising his hand slightly, he caressed Regina''s hair.


    "I''m alright, don''t worry."


    "I''m d." Regina nodded with a relieved smile, but then, her expression turnedplicated. " I''m sorry, master I could not protect you this time."


    Bloed smiled wryly. He then put his forehead against the Valkyrie''s and closed his eyes.


    "What do you mean? You did more than enough."


    "... But I should be able to do more."


    Bloed shook his head and chuckled.


    However, he felt d seeing this overprotective side of Regina.


    "Okay, can you please stop flirting in front of me? I feel left out." Liu Ying could not help but speak up after seeing the pair of master and servant creating their own world.


    And as though just realizing Liu Ying was there, Regina looked towards her.


    "Mm? Oh, so you are still alive, demon."


    Liu Ying''s lips twitched.


    "If you were not several ranks stronger than me, I would have punched you right now."


    Bloed chuckled again. Only now he felt the danger had finally ended.


    This incident hade to its end.


    ...


    Remember to Support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 277: Slaughter’s Recruitment Strategy

    Chapter 277: ughter¡¯s Recruitment Strategy


    A few seconds after Regina arrived, several other people arrived.


    The five elven demigods, Aya''s father, and an expressionless fox girl.


    And currently, that fox girl was staring at the elf princess and the elven demigods with a stern expression.


    "I think you need to give me an exnation," Eve said.


    A tense atmosphere descended over the ce.


    Eve looked at Elwha and the Elven demigods with an expressionless look. However, the chilling from her voice made it obvious that she was ready to start a battle if she did not hear what she wanted to hear.


    However, that put the elven demigods in a hard ce. After all, they could not reveal the truth behind thispetition without the permission of the council.


    That was the same as bing traitors to their race.


    At this moment, Elwha took a step forward.


    "I''ll exin it, Miss Eve."


    "Princess." One of the elven demigods frowned, but Elwha shut him up with a nce.


    "I will take responsibility for this with the councilter, but now, as the Princess of the Boerner Forest and the priestess of a Great Three, I''m authorized to choose to divulge this information in case of extraordinary circumstances. Plus..." She then looked at me.


    Bloed already knew everything, thus, it was better if she came clean with the Saintess of Moonlight Glow.


    Perhaps this way they could reach a mutually advantageous agreement.


    The elven demigods looked at each other, but none of them objected, silently agreeing to Elwha''s decision.


    "Good." Elwha nodded calmly, fully showing her authority as a princess. She then looked at the fox demigod. "Miss Eve, I know that you want to know about the situation as soon as possible. However, I think that there is something more important we need to do before." She said while looking at the two unconscious elves and three gravely injured beastmen.


    The fox demigod stared at Elwha for several seconds with her usual expressionless face, making Elwha slightly nervous. But in the end, she nodded.


    "... You are right. It''s better if we leave this conversation forter. But Princess, I hope you don''t try anything funny. I don''t want to have to kill a princess."


    " Don''t worry, Miss Eve."


    "Good." Eve nodded expressionlessly, ignoringpletely the cold sweat on Elwha''s forehead. Afterward, she cast a spell on Aya, Rana, Rhone, and the two unconscious elves and flew with them towards the Thone''s military base.


    Helpless, the elves could only follow after her.


    When they arrived at the military base, Bloed asked Regina about the details of the situation.


    When he heard that the lionkin general and one of the human demigods betrayed their countries and ended being part of the Church of ughter, Bloed was very surprised.


    "Is the Church of ughter so powerful that they can afford to use demigods as spies? Doesn''t it mean they are the strongest church in the world?"


    "It''s a bit moreplicated than that." Aya''s father, who was hearing their conversation, intervened with a wry smile. "In fact, it''s not the first time the Church of ughter does something like this."


    "Not the first time?" Bloed and the others looked at Aya''s father in disbelief.


    "Yes." A sigh escaped from Aya''s father''s mouth. "About the God of ughter, nobody knows who he is and where hees from. Nobody knows if he is a human, elf, demon, or beastman. But he is famous for something, and that something is one of the reasons he became one of the strongest evil gods."


    "What is it?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    "His eye for talent."


    Seeing that the group was confused, Aya''s father thought for a moment before starting to talk.


    "You probably have heard stories about how someone talentless suddenly discovers his talents and surpasses his peers, right? These stories are prettymon. There are countless cases in the continent of people suddenly awakening to their talents or having a special encounter that allows them to rise over the people that once stood above them.


    "But there are many cases where those untalented people suffer a lot before they have the opportunity to change their destiny. And the God of ughter is excellent at taking advantage of that.


    "Nobody knows how he discovers their potential, but many talented figures receive help from the God of ughter or his followers when they are just trash. The God of ughter helps them to discover and blossom their talents and transforms them into outstanding practitioners.


    "Due to that, when these talents grow, they be incredibly loyal to him, treating him as their benefactor. But the God of ughter doesn''t poach them. No, he leaves them inside their respective factions or countries to act as chess pieces. And the day when he needs to use these chess pieces, they bare their fangs to the people that once were their allies."


    "That is horrible" Liu Ying said with a frown.


    Aya''s father nodded. "Many organizations know about this, and in fact, today is not the first time demigods betray their factions and dere themselves to be members of the Church of ughter. However, most organizations can''t do anything about this. With a few exceptions, most of the current demigods are people who once suffered under the shadow of others and used it as motivation to grow stronger. However, only a few of them were influenced by the God of ughter. Plus, demigods are the cornerstone of most organizations. You can''t simply interrogate or investigate their past without proof."


    "Then, General Leon..."


    "I remember he was the weakest of his brothers when he was a teen." Aya''s father answered his daughter''s question with a reminiscing look. "Perhaps that was when the God of ughter tempted him."


    Bloed fell silent. Hearing the words of Aya''s father, he could not help but think that this god was terrifying.


    As expected of one of the strongest evil gods. Bloed muttered in his mind.


    Bloed hoped never to meet that god or anything rted to him ever again.

 Chapter 278: The End of the Day

    Chapter 278: The End of the Day


    Only one chapter of Science/Magic and Fourth Prince tonight. I have another chapter of S/M done and another three of FP done as well, but I need to wake up early tomorrow, so I can''t post them tonight. I''ll edit and post them tomorrow once Ie back (Around 10:00 Am GMT -5).


    ...


    As soon as they arrived at the military base, Eve took Rana, Rhone, Aya, and the two unconscious elves with the healing mages to check out their injuries.


    Fortunately, it seemed that Rana, Rhone, and Aya''s injuries were not too serious. ording to the healing mages, with the proper treatment, they would be alright after one or two weeks of rest.


    Of course, it was in part because Moonlight Glow did not pull stops when it came to the resources necessary for their recovery.


    Bloed thought they were rather lucky. Of the three teams that participated in thepetition, their group was the one with the least casualties, the only one being the betrayer, Atai.


    On the other hand, the Sun Kingdom''s team waspletely wiped out. ording to Regina, when their demigods left, their expressions could not be uglier.


    The elves were a bit better, with three members of the team, including Elwha, surviving. However, their expressions were not good either.


    When their two unconscious members were checked up, it was shown that their souls were a bit mangled up. ording to the person that checked them, they could need up to one year to wake up.


    Bloed felt cold sweat on his back when he learned about that. He felt lucky that Liu Ying had managed to wake up quickly without suffering from any side-effects.


    But the problems of the elves did not end there. After everything that happened during thepetition, they couldn''t continue hiding their secret anymore. Mainly because Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya knew about the Heart of the Forest.


    And even if Bloed and Liu Ying did not mind keeping silent about it (to avoid a war and all of that), Aya was the daughter of an important minister of The Great Savannah. She could not hide such information from the beastmen countries.


    And it meant there was a chance of Moonlight Glow showing interest in the Heart of the Forest.


    The Heart of the Forest was something that could extend the ''lifespan'' of a god. It would be strange if the Moonlight Goddess, Evanesse, did not want it for herself.


    In the worst of the cases, if the Moonlight Goddess decided she truly wanted it, perhaps the beastmen countries and the Boerner Elven Forest would go to war.


    Bloed was a bit worried about that.


    After the injured were taken to the healing mages, Eve approached Bloed and Liu Ying and asked them to tell her about what they experienced. The two of them looked at each other before recounting what happened after they fell inside the tunnels.


    When they finished speaking, Eve stared at Bloed and Liu Ying expressionlessly and nodded.


    " I understand. Thank you for your help. You must be tired, so you should go to rest. Tomorrow morning I''ll find you again to discuss some other things."


    Bloed nodded, his fatigue visible in his face. "Thank you. Right, what will happen with the elves?"


    "You must be curious about if we are going to war, right?"


    Bloed kept silent but looked at Eve fixedly.


    Eve curved her lips up. A small smile appeared on her face, briefly stunning Bloed who was used to seeing her expressionless face.


    "You don''t need to worry. Hearts of the Forest, as the elves call them, are certainly useful for gods, but they be less and less useful with each use. The goddess has already used them a few times before this, so she is not too interested in it. Instead, we will make use of this opportunity to extort some benefices from the elves.


    "Moreover, as you have seen until now, our goddess together with the Goddess of Fate are advocates of peace. Plus, many elves believe in the Goddess, so thest thing the goddess wants is to start a war with them."


    Bloed sighed in relief and smiled. He did not want to see was a war between the elves and the beastmen either.


    With the current situation of the continent, a war between them could be the trigger necessary to throw everything into chaos. And with evil gods plotting behind scenes, xenophobic countries raising their banners about ving other races, and the Devourer/Blight hidden in some ce of the continent, Bloed did not want to imagine how bleak the future of the continent was going to be.


    Fortunately, it seemed like the beastmen were not interested in a war right now.


    "Then, I think we will be leaving. See you tomorrow." Bloed said after he finished hearing Eve.


    "See you." Eve bowed slightly and bid farewell to the pair. When Eve left, Regina approached the pair with a smile.


    "Master, Demon, should we eat something?"


    "I''m tired. I think I want to take a bath first." Liu Ying stretched out her body with an exhausted expression. Bloed agreed with her, so he ended joining to the idea of a good bath after several days in the wild.


    Just taking a bath made Bloed felt really refreshed. All the physical and mental fatigue umted during several days surged out at the same time, overwhelming Bloed with a strong bout of sleepiness.


    But when he left the bath, he found that Regina had prepared a sumptuous dinner for them. Thus, he decided to wait for a bit before going to bed.


    After waiting for Liu Ying to join them, the group of three enjoyed a lively dinner and recounted what each one lived during the past few days.


    When Liu Ying heard about how Bloed entered inside her dream and saw the memory where he rescued her, she was so embarrassed that she wanted to die. At the same time, Regina did not miss the opportunity to make fun of her.


    Bloed could not help but feel rxed looking at this scene.


    After several days of battle and after watching the memories of when he was abandoned by his family, Bloed once more confirmed something he had known for a while already.


    This was his family.


    His new family.


    And at the same time, he confirmed something about his feelings.


    He was truly in love with these two girls.

 Chapter 279: A Great Morning

    Chapter 279: A Great Morning


    The chapter I owed...


    ...


    The next morning, when Bloed woke up, he felt something heavy against his body.


    Opening his eyes, he saw a silver-haired girl sleeping soundly with her head on his right chest and a ck-haired girl sleeping with her head on his left arm.


    As soon as he opened his eyes, one of the girls opened her eyes as well, as though she had been waiting for him to wake up.


    "Good morning, master," Regina said softly, moving like a proud cat to give him a kiss on his lips.


    Bloed replied with a smile and another kiss, that was followed for a third kiss, and a fourth, and a fifth...


    If not that Liu Ying groaned at that moment, startling the pair of lovebirds, perhaps they would have made out right there.


    Unfortunately, even although Liu Ying did not wake up, she destroyed the moodpletely.


    " That bothersome demon." Regina clicked her tongue in irritation. "Why did she want to sleep here in the first ce? Interrupting our time together."


    Bloed smiled wryly with a helpless expression. What could he answer in this situation?


    The reason Regina was irritated was thatst night when the three of them went to sleep, Regina sauntered arrogantly towards Bloed''s room, bragging to Liu Ying that they were going to do you-know-what.


    What she was not expecting was that when Liu Ying saw that, she gritted her teeth angrily and charged inside the room with the excuse she was still a bit afraid after what happened and did not want to sleep alone.


    After that, a war of fake smiles and sharp words started in the room, with neither Liu Ying nor Regina taking a step back. Normally, Bloed would have interfered to stop their fight, but he was too tired to bother.


    Thus, he simplyy on the bed and fell asleep.


    And perhaps because Liu Ying was tired as well, or because Regina did not want to bother him, but when the girls saw that, they stopped fighting almost immediately.


    Not much after that, he felt two warm bodies lying down against him.


    Just like that, the three of them fell asleep.


    It was Bloed''s first experience sleeping with two girls at the same time, and although they just slept, Bloed found that he liked it very much.


    Almost immediately, some thoughts that any man would have started to appear on his mind.


    Yeah, he was definitively going to do that one day.


    Although with Regina and Liu Ying''s personalities, he was going to need a while to make that dream reality.


    " Master, what are you thinking about?"


    "Huh?"


    " I have the feeling you were thinking about something I was not going to like."


    "You are imagining things," Bloed said with a straight face, surprising himself by how easy he found it to lie.


    Fortunately, Liu Ying started to wake up at that moment. Opening her eyes groggily, and stopping Regina from continuing her interrogation.


    The demon looked towards Bloed''s face and smiled sillily, nting a kiss on his lips as well.


    "Morning"


    "Morning." Bloed smiled and caressed her hair, making Liu Ying close her eyes happily like a puppy happy to receive its owner''s attention.


    "Demon, you know I''m here as well, right?"


    " Right, I forgot about you." Liu Ying rolled her eyes and kissed Bloed again while smirking to Regina before standing up from the bed with a yawn. "I don''t want to fight with you now. I need to go to the washroom."


    "You are right. We should not fight so early in the morning." Regina smiled and nodded. Putting on a smile so sincere that both Bloed and Liu Ying were startled.


    In fact, Liu Ying took several steps backward a bit creeped out.


    "O... kay?"


    Distancing herself from Regina and wondering if the Valkyrie was plotting something, the demon left the room with a weirded out look.


    And she was right.


    As soon as Liu Ying left the room. Regina grinned victoriously.


    She then went to close the door and locked it up. After that, she looked at Bloedand licked her lips.


    "Master, the demon finally left. It''s still early. Don''t you think we should do something meaningful?"


    Upon saying that, Regina started to slide down her clothes.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    "Please stop bullying Liu Ying so much, okay?"


    "I''ll think about it."


    When Liu Ying returned, she found the door locked and heard the soundsing from the room.


    Furious, she gritted her teeth so hard that they were about to break.


    That day, Bloed was forced to face Liu Ying''s displeased face during the entire day.


    After Bloed and Regina left the room, they ate a quick breakfast and started their day.


    Today, Bloed nned to experiment a bit more with his new ability. He had used it to create a new technique, [Imaginary sh], but Bloed did not n to stop there. In fact, he had already thought about another technique he was nning to create.


    This time, he was nning to create a defensive technique.


    But when he parted towards hisboratory, he met with two acquaintances.


    One of them was a point-yeared girl with long white hair and silver eyes, so beautiful that it seemed like nature itself was praising her beauty; and the other was a golden-haired and golden-eyed fox girl with a deadpan face and transcendent beauty.


    "Bloed." Eve greeted him with a soft nod.


    Bloed was about to return the greeting, but he suddenly noticed a sharp re being directed to his way.


    Stunned, he followed the re to find the white-haired elf looking at him angrily.


    "Miss Elwha?"


    "Hmph!" Elwha snorted and walked away, ignoring Bloed.


    But through their mental connection, Bloed could feel a bit of embarrassment?"


    "What was that?" Bloed was confused.


    " Why is the Elf Princess angry with you?" Eve tilted her head with her usual expressionless look.


    Bloed smiled wryly at a loss. How was he supposed to know why she was suddenly like that?


    He remembered they were alright yesterday.


    "Anyway, it''s good I found you," Eve said, quickly forgetting about the elf princess. "I need to talk with you."


    "Did anything happen?"


    "No." Eve shook her head. "I just want to discuss your additional reward."


    Bloed was startled. Additional reward?


    He did not know about that.


    " You see, you agreed to participate in thispetition for the spiritual fruits. But to be honest, what happened during thepetition and you and your girlfriends'' performance is not something that can bepared to just some spiritual fruits. Thus, I decided to give you an additional reward."


    Bloed nodded in understanding. Not just her, he also thought it was a bad deal.


    Even if he counted the reward he would receive from The Great Savannahter, it was still a bad deal.


    But he ended earning a lot during thepetition, so he did not care too much about it.


    Of course, it doesn''t mean he was going to reject Eve''s offer.


    After all, free things are good things.


    The thing was, Bloed was not sure about what to ask for.


    No, he thought of something. But even he thought it was an outrageous request. He was not sure if Eve was going to agree to it.


    In the end, though, he decided to ask.


    When Eve heard his request, her eyes opened slightly wide.


    Then, she looked at Bloed with a strange expression.


    "That is A strange request."


    And smiled.


    "But I think I can help you with that."


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 280: Door of Nothingness

    Chapter 280: Door of Nothingness


    Unfortunately, although Eve agreed to Bloed''s request, it was not something she could fulfill immediately.


    Thus, it was decided she would fulfill it when they return to The Great Savannah''s capital, after the emperor rewards the group for their results.


    Besides that, Eve also wanted to give an extra reward to Liu Ying, but when she asked the demon if she wanted something, Liu Ying shrugged,pletely uninterested.


    ording to her, she had almost anything she could need. Plus, her gloves and armor were designed by Bloed specifically for her use, so unless it was a demigod-level weapon perfectly suited for her, the gloves would be better.


    In the end, she ended giving her reward to Bloed, and Bloed ended exchanging it for valuable metals like mithril, orichalcum, and adamantine. Bloed nned to use them when he needed to construct new machines.


    By the way, Eve also offered a reward to Regina, but just like the demon, the Valkyrie ceded it to Bloed.


    In the end, Bloed ended earning a big amount of valuable metals, enough to manufacture hundreds of mechanical wolves as Leto.


    Bloed had already thought of hundreds of ideas to use these metals.


    Although none of these ideas was something he could put into action now.


    Instead, Bloed decided to focus on an easier goal.


    The development of a new technique based on the same ability he used to create [Imaginary sh].


    After talking with Eve, Bloed closed himself inside hisb for the rest to work in his new technique.


    The principle behind this technique would be the same that [Imaginary sh]; but instead of using [Molecr Disintegration] as an attack, he was going to use it as a shield.


    Bloed had already done it before. When he uses [Overdrive], he turns Leto into an armor, ance-like gun, and a protective bubble. The protective bubble, [Svalinn], uses [Molecr Disintegration] to create ayer of disintegrative force around Bloed, able to disintegrate the attacks and enemiesing towards him.


    The technique he was going to create this time could be considered a weaker version of that.


    Thanks to that, Bloed progress in the new technique was pretty fast. In just three days, he had managed to create the set of magic runes necessary to activate this technique.


    After that, Bloed needed to carve these magic runes in an object that would work as a medium to use the ability. In the end, Bloed decided to use Tito.


    Hence, his mechanical puppy/armor went through a small upgrade.


    Most of Tito''s stats remained the same after the upgrade, and its appearance in armor-mode was almost the same as before, with only a small difference.


    A metallic bracelet on Bloed''s arm.


    The bracelet was pretty simple, just a twenty-centimeters-long metallic cylinder on his arm, but the power inside this bracelet was a powerful life-saving card.


    Bloed needed three days more to finish these upgrades.


    Fortunately, Eve and Aya''s father were busy negotiating with the elves and the Sun Kingdom, so Bloed was free to work in his new technique until the negotiations ended.


    When he finished upgrading Tito, Bloed asked Regina to help him to test the new technique''s performance.


    Inside a training room, Bloed sent his psychic energy inside the bracelet and activated it.


    Instantly, the bracelet disassembled into four parts that flew in front of Bloed and created a diamond-shaped barrier.


    The barrier waspletely invisible to the naked eye and seemed nothing like something able to stop a powerful attack. But


    "Regina, do it."


    Nodding, the Valkyrie created several arrows of energy and shot them towards Bloed.


    Then


    *Swooosh!*


    The arrows disappeared just before touching him.


    No, they were disintegrated.


    "It looks like it was a sess." Bloed smiled satisfied. With this, he had another trump card he could use.


    "This technique is pretty good, master." Regina nodded in agreement, looking at the diamond-shaped barrier curiously.


    Less than one secondter, the barrier disappeared.


    Unfortunately I can''t keep it for long." Bloed shook his head. "Such a shame."


    "It''s already pretty amazing."


    Bloed smiled and did not refuse Regina''spliments.


    In truth, just as [Imaginary sh], this technique had very harsh limitations.


    First, Bloed could only keep it for a bit more than one second each time he used it. In other words, it needed a very good timing to be useful.


    And second, he could only use it three times before needing to rest, and that number was shared with [Imaginary sh].


    After all, both techniques needed the ''split mind'' ability Bloed just got to work, and Bloed could split his mind only twice, dividing his mind into three parts.


    And each part of his mind could use one of these two techniques only once.


    But even with these limitations, Bloed still thought this technique was pretty amazing.


    It could save his life in an unexpected situation.


    "How should I call it?" Bloed asked Regina.


    "What do you think about [Door of Nothingness]?" Regina suggested. "It means that everything that passes through that shield is turned into nothing."


    Bloed thought for a moment and nodded. " I kinda like the name. Let''s go with that then."


    "Understood. By the way, master, now that you finished creating the technique, are you finally leaving theboratory? You practically lived inside it this entire week."


    "... Almost. I still need to engrave the new runes on my saber," Bloed said with an apologetic smile, making Regina sigh.


    Fortunately, engraving the runes could be done quickly. In less than one hour, the upgrades on his saber wereplete as well.


    With it, the power and range of [Imaginary sh] were greatly increased.


    When Bloed finished upgrading his gear, it was already dusk.


    Bloed and Regina left theboratory and headed towards the ce where they were staying to eat dinner together with Liu Ying.


    But to Bloed''s surprise, someone else was waiting for him there.


    A pointy-eared girl with beautiful and lustrous white hair.


    "Mr. Bloed." Elwha bowed slightly when she saw him.


    "Miss Elwha? Were you not busy with the negotiations?"


    "They finished this afternoon," Elwha revealed with an exhausted smile. "We are leaving tomorrow, so I came to bid you farewell."


    " I see." Bloed expression was a bitplicated.


    Elwha''s expression mirrored his. She seemed even a bit reluctant to part.


    In the end, the two of them had fought and ovee several difficulties together. Thanks to that, they could be considered friends.


    And although the situation with their connected minds made their rtionship a bit awkward, they still considered each other friends.


    "Mr. Bloed, if one day you decided to visit the Boerner Forest, I promise you I''ll be a great host."


    "I''ll think about it. I can''t deny I''m curious about thend of the elves."


    "Is it so?" Elwha chuckled softly. "That is good to hear. Goodbye then, Mr. Bloed, and thanks for your help. I hope we meet again."


    "As I do."


    The next morning, the elven delegation departed towards the Boerner Forest.


    One dayter, Bloed and the others returned to the capital of The Great Savannah.

 Chapter 281: Warm Welcome

    Chapter 281: Warm Wee


    Another two or three chaptersing tonight... perhaps, I''m not sure yet...


    ...


    Apso, capital of the Great Savannah.


    It was not the first time Bloed was here. However, Bloed could not help but be surprised when he saw the city again.


    Not just him. Rana, Rhone, Aya, and Liu Ying were just as surprised as him.


    It was because the city was filled with an atmosphere of joy and celebration.


    People were crowding the streets, raising shouts of celebration, and throwing flowers around the city.


    And when their airship entered the city, the people on the streets started to shout even louder.


    Shouts of congrattion, of pride, and of celebration.


    "This is"


    "A wee. Do you like it?" Aya''s father said with a small smile. "The news of your victory against the other two countries have already spread through the nation, and also the news that the Sun Kingdom''s team was wiped out. Thus, the people of the country are very excited. And when they learned that the five of you would be returning today, this happened."


    The group looked at each other in surprise and excitement. Even Bloed and Aya, the two most reserved members of the team, were unable to hide the smile that appeared on their faces.


    After all, anyone would be excited if they receive this kind of wee.


    They had earned it, though. Not only they defeated the teams of the other two nations, but they also frustrated a n of the Church of ughter.


    Thanks to that, The Great Savannah and the beastmen countries got the rights to mine the deposits of mana ores and also got several advantages during their negotiations with the elves.


    Bloed did not know exactly what the elves offered in exchange for the Heart of the Forest, but ording to Aya''s father, they were bled dry.


    The airship soonnded on the capital and the group got ready to leave it. They followed Eve, Regina, and Aya''s father to leave the airship.


    But as soon as they stepped out of the airship, they realized they had underestimated the enthusiasm of the citizens of Apso.


    Thousands and thousands of beastmen had surrounded the airship, shouting cheers and whistling loudly to wee the heroes.


    A group of soldiers was waiting for them outside the airship to stop the crowd from overwhelming Bloed and the others, but even that failed to deter the masses.


    A great number of beastmen surged towards them, throwing flowers and feathers to wee them and trying to touch, hug, and even kiss them.


    It was so much that the group quickly turned embarrassed. After all, having thousands of people looking at you with such excitement was a first for most of them.


    Fortunately, the soldiers managed to do their work and stopped the excited beastmen before leading the group towards a carriage that would take them to their residences.


    But due to the crowd, they needed almost half an hour to board it.


    "Sigh That was exhausting." Liu Ying said with an exhausted look when she entered the carriage.


    Rana nodded in agreement. "Who would have thought we would be received like that? I even thought they were going to eat us!"


    "Hahaha, you are exaggerating." Said Aya''s father with a chuckle. "It''s normal. For these people, the five of you are the pride of this country. Heroes that showed the world the strength of the beastmen."


    "Yeah, but I''m not used to so much attention," Bloed said with a wry smile. At some point, he had almost asked Regina to grab him a fly away from the group of overexcited people.


    "Well, that is true." After chuckling again, Aya''s father told the group about something important. "By the way, you have to attend a banquet tonight. It''s in the pce and the emperor will reward you during it. If any of you needs clothes or makeup, tell me now and I''ll arrange it for you."


    Bloed was a bit surprised when he heard about the banquet. He thought for a moment and decided to ept Aya''s father''s suggestion.


    He already had clothes he could use for tonight''s banquet, but he thought it would be nice to get something made by the beastmen.


    Like him, the other four also asked for clothes.


    Even Regina asked for a set of clothes, to which Aya''s father agreed easily.


    After that, they were taken to their respective residences to rest and prepare for tonight''s banquet.


    When Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina arrived at their residence, three people were waiting for them there.


    "So the heroes are finally here, huh. How does it feel to be weed like that?"


    "Exhausting,"


    "Tiring..."


    Bloed and Liu Ying replied to their catkin friend with wry smiles. Bloed then looked at his three friends and greeted them.


    "Javelin, Miss Illina, Prince Calisto. How are you?"


    "Hahaha, not as well as you." Javelin chuckled. "I heard about what happened during thepetition. I must say, I never thought you were so strong. I could not believe it when I heard you defeated more than ten A and B-Rank practitioners with just one attack. Hey Bloed, is that true?"


    " Yeah, I guess?"


    "Mr. Bloed, you are amazing."


    Calisto, the young lionkin prince, was staring at Bloed with sparkling eyes full of admiration. Bloed was not sure about how to face such a pure gaze, so he could only avoid his gaze and look at his catkin friend.


    "Anyway, what are you doing here?" He asked Javelin and the others.


    "Of course, we came to congratte you. At the same time, I wanted to thank you for something."


    "Hmm?"


    "My sister, I heard that you took care of her more than once. Thank you for that."


    "It''s nothing. She is your sister and also my teammate. That was what I should do."


    Javelin nodded with a smile. But for some reason, Bloed felt that his smile seemed a bit strange.


    And soon, he realized why.


    "About my sister. Take care of her. She can be a bit inexperienced, but she is a good girl. I''m sure she will be a great wife."


    Bloed''s expression stiffened.


    At the same time, he could feel Regina and Liu Ying''s gazes piercing his back.


    For an instant, Bloed wondered if he should consider finding better friends.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 282: Banquet

    Chapter 282: Banquet


    This was the second time Bloed came to the pce, and he still thought it was a bit too extravagant.


    He could not understand how the beastmen could endure having this showy golden pyramid as their pce.


    Doing his best to ignore the extravagant structure, Bloed descended from the carriage followed by Liu Ying and Regina.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, Miss Regina, wee." A servant received them with a bow and extended his hand towards the entrance of the pce. "Follow me, please."


    The group of three nodded.


    Tonight, Bloed was wearing a long blue robe with a blue shirt below it. This robe was prepared by the beastmen for tonight''s banquet, and Bloed had to admit it fitted pretty well with his blue eyes and blue hair.


    He felt a bit ufortable with it, though. He had be used to using the human confederation''s style of clothing that consisted of shirts and jeans or pants, so now that he was using a robe all of sudden, Bloed felt a bit odd.


    Even so, Bloed had been a prince once, so this was not his first time wearing this kind of clothes. Thanks to that, he quickly got used to it.


    Liu Ying and Regina were dressed simrly, Liu Ying with a short-sleeved white robe plus a red skirt and Regina with a white dress-like robe plus a golden hairpin that ented her golden eyes.


    The two girls were so beautiful that they stole the breath of all the men that saw them. Unfortunately for them, the two girls only showed interest in the young man they were apanying.


    When the three of them entered the pce, a servant announced their entrance loudly.


    "Mr. Bloed Norman, Miss Regina Norman, and Miss Liu Ying!"


    Immediately, all the gazes in the banquet were directed towards them.


    This time, though, the gazes were a bit different than the gazes they received thest time they came to the pce.


    Last time, the gazes they received were mostly curious and inquisitive, some even with a bit of hostility.


    But this time, the gazes were filled with excitement, recognition, and admiration.


    In fact, several beastmen took the initiative to greet them of their own ord,pletely different thanst time when they werepletely isted.


    Bloed even saw several beastmen girls winking at him and blushing slightly when they met his gaze.


    At that moment, several people walked through the crowd towards them.


    "Captain, you are here!"


    Rana, followed by Rhone, and Aya greeted them with a lively smile.


    "Guys, you are already here." Bloed greeted back.


    "We arrived a bit before you, captain," Rana smirked. She then looked at Liu Ying and grinned. "Ying Ying, you are so beautiful tonight."


    ck lines formed on Bloed''s forehead. This girl...


    "Rana, stop flirting with someone''s else girlfriend."


    "Why? If you are jealous, I can be your girlfriend as well. I don''t mind it."


    "But I do." Liu Ying rolled her eyes exasperated. "Rana, stop joking about that. Can''t you see that Rhone is about to cry?"


    Rana shrugged indifferently, "He can cry if he wants. What does that have to do with me?"


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.


    It was not a secret that Rhone liked Rana. In fact, the batkin could not be more obvious. But for some reason, Rana did not seem to like him.


    Bloed thought that their rtionship had be closer after they relied on each other to survive Atai''s chase, but now it seemed that Rhone still needed to work a lot more.


    "You have it hard, friend." Bloed patted the batkin''s shoulder, making him smile bitterly.


    At that moment, Bloed looked at thest member of the group, Aya.


    Tonight, Aya was wearing a ck sleeveless dress with a red rose on her chest. She seemed like a child-sized doll that anyone would want to hug.


    She was staring at the ground the entire time, not daring to meet Bloed and the others'' gazes. Perhaps she was embarrassed due to her clothes.


    Smiling softly, Bloed walked towards her.


    "Aya, how are you?"


    "... T-That is I''m alright M-My injuries are mostly healed."


    "Is it so? I''m d." Bloed said sincerely. "Right, you are very beautiful tonight. I''m sure many young men will be smitten by you."


    A red cloud appeared on Aya''s cheeks. The cloud quickly spread until her ears, making her entire face red.


    She was so cute that Bloed wanted to take a bite of her.


    Seeing her blushing like a tomato, Rana smirked and snickered.


    "It looks like you have a fever, Aya."


    *Poof!*


    Bloed thought he could see smokeing from her head.


    Unfortunately, Bloed could not enjoy Aya''s embarrassed look too much. After all, just thatpliment made Regina and Liu Ying look at him vigntly.


    Although to be honest, none of them seemed too much against the cat girl. Perhaps because Aya risked her life to protect Bloed and Liu Ying more than once when Bloed was unconscious.


    The group of six continue chatting for a while more, sometimes greeting the nobles that came to greet them.


    At some point, Javelin, his fiance Illina, and Prince Calisto joined their conversation, making it livelier. Even Eve appeared for a short while, although she soon left to greet other nobles.


    Thanks to that, Bloed felt that this banquet much less tedious than the ball ofst time. Without him noticing, almost two hours passed.


    But after two hours, the king finally arrived.


    A middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes that emitted a sharp gaze. His aura was one of power and authority, worthy of a man above many others.


    He was the king of the Great Savannah, Arlen Firstmane.


    As soon as he arrived, the entire banquet fell silent.


    It was as though a spell had been cast in the entire hall, making everybody held their breaths.


    Until


    "Wee, my subjects." The king spoke.


    With these words, the spell was released.


    King Arlen Firstmane nodded in satisfaction when he saw the reaction of his subjects. He then looked towards Bloed''s group and smiled softly.


    "This night, we are here to congratte the amazing performance of our team during thepetition against the Boerner Forest and the Sun Kingdom. Thanks to them, our kingdom managed to get the rights to a deposit of mana ores that rightfully belonged to us. Everybody, please give them an apuse."


    Instantly, the atmosphere was filled with deafening cheers and ps of congrattions that resounded in the hall.


    The apusested almost one minute. Only when the king extended his hand to control the situation, the people in the hall stopped pping.


    Next, the king looked at Bloed''s group again.


    "Mr. Bloed, M. Rhone, Miss Liu Ying, Miss Rana, Miss Aya,e here, please. I want to give you a reward for your amazing performance."

 Chapter 283: Being Rewarded

    Chapter 283: Being Rewarded


    Bloed and the others walked before the king in front of the gazes of hundreds of beastmen.


    Each beastmen was looking at them with hot eyes, showering them with excited gazes that made Bloed a bit ufortable.


    To be honest, he would have preferred if the king rewarded him in a more private setting, however, he knew that the king nned to make use of this opportunity to put a show in front of the beastmen and increase the morale of the country.


    Thus, Bloed did not mind it too much. In the end, it was just politics.


    Kneeling on a knee, the group lowered their heads and waited for the king''s words.


    King Arlen Firstmane nodded satisfied. He then looked at the rightmost person with a smile.


    "Rhone Nightwhisper. For your bravery during thepetition, I reward you with the Amulet of Silence."


    Following the king''s words, an attendant walked towards Rhone while holding an amulet on his hands.


    Bloed did not know what the Amulet of Silence was, but based on how Rhone''s face turned red in excitement, it was obvious it was incredibly valuable.


    "T-Thank you, Your Majesty!"


    "That is what you deserve. Continue working hard for the beastmen countries, young man."


    "Y-Yes."


    Nodding slightly, the king looked at the next person, Rana.


    "Miss Rana Salena, for your great performance during thepetition, I grant you the Bracelet of Past Wisdom."


    Rana''s eyes opened wide. She looked towards the king as though she could not believe his words.


    She was not the only one. Bloed and the nobles that knew about the meaning of that name were looking at him in the same way.


    Bloed had heard about the Bracelet of Past Wisdom before. It was a very famous demigod artifact with the ability to save five spells to be released when the user needed them.


    That in itself was amazing, but what made the Bracelet of Past Wisdom so valuable was the fact that it could save spells up to the level of Apotheosis.


    In other words, it could save up to five SSS-Grade attacks that could be used at any moment!


    It was an artifact that any mage would desire!


    Rana was so stunned that she needed several seconds to react. And when she finally reacted, her voice was strangely high-pitched due to the excitement.


    "T-Thank you, Your Majesty!"


    "You deserve it. Next is Miss Aya Sharpw. For your spirit of sacrifice, I grant you the Cloak of Tiabennes."


    Once more, Bloed was stunned.


    Just like the Bracelet of Past Wisdom, the Cloak of Tiabennes was a demigod artifact. It was rumored to belong to a famous thief hundreds of years ago. Apparently, that thief was so good that he even stole from several royal families without ever being caught.


    In the end, he died and left behind an Inheritance, including a cloak with the ability to hide the presence of its wearer.


    It was the perfect artifact for an assassin-like fighter as Aya.


    Aya, however, did not show as much excitement as Rhone and Rana.


    Perhaps it was because she did not know about the cloak, or perhaps it was due to another reason, but the catkin girl just bowed with a stoic expression after receiving her reward.


    "Thank you, Your Majesty."


    The king seemed a bit awkward due to her reaction, however, he quickly glossed over it and looked towards the two remaining people.


    Bloed and Liu Ying.


    When he reached them, the king sighed softly.


    "To be honest, your rewards were the hardest to choose. You two don''t seem to need many things, and to be honest, Mr. Bloed''s artifacts don''t lose to many of the artifacts in my collection. However, I managed to find something."


    Turning towards Liu Ying, the king waved his hand, signaling to one of the attendants to bring forward her reward.


    A part of white boots with blue and ck streaks on their sides.


    When Bloed saw the boots, he shook his head bitterly.


    ''The king sure is being generous with his rewards, huh.''


    "These boots are called [Deity Steps]." The king smiled. "They are my reward for you."


    Liu Ying tilted her head confused, probably unaware of the ability of the boots. However, Bloed knew their ability very well.


    [Deity Steps]. A pair of boots with the ability to perform [Blink].


    With them, its wearer could teleport to a short distance a total of five times before having to recharge them.


    These boots were a godly equipment for someone like Liu Ying, whose fighting style relied on extreme closebat.


    Finally, when it was Bloed''s turn, the king smiled wryly.


    "Mr. Bloed Norman. Yours was the hardest to choose. Actually, I didn''t know what to choose. Thus, I decided to give the choice to you."


    After the king''s words, two attendants stepped forward.


    In their hands, they were holding two items.


    One of them was a breastte. Bloed did not need to look to know it was a defensive-type demigod artifact.


    As for the second, it was a small booklet.


    In its cover, there were two words.


    [King''s Aura].


    Bloed frowned when he saw it.


    "The first item is called Balor''s Breastte." The king exined. "It has the ability to create a shield able to block even demigods attacks. Of course, with your current strength, you can only use it once or twice each time."


    Bloed nodded in understanding, but his face showed he was not interested in it.


    It was normal. In the end, Bloed could not use mana. Demigod artifacts that relied on mana to be activated were useless to him.


    Plus, he just created a defensive technique just as powerful as that breastte. And as it was a technique he created, it would grow stronger together with him.


    Noticing Bloed''s disinterest, the king then pointed to the second item.


    "The second item is called King''s Aura. However, it''s not an artifact. It''s a technique."


    As soon as the king reached this point, Bloed interest fadedpletely.


    He already expected it, but when he heard the king''s words, he was disappointed.


    Just like demigod artifacts, Bloed could not use this world''s techniques.


    After all, he was manaless. He did not have mana.


    However, the next words of the king surprised him.


    " I know that the cultivation technique you practice focuses more on soul power than mana. Thus, the technique I chose is rather special. It''s a technique that has been passed down in our country for generations.


    "Unfortunately, this technique does not use mana but instead uses soul power. Due to that, few people in our country have managed to practice it. In fact, nobody has practiced it sessfully in thest one hundred years. However, I have a feeling this technique will shine in your hands."


    Bloed was stunned.


    Soul power?


    In other words, this technique used psychic energy to work!


    It was the first time Bloed saw a technique like this in his life.


    Immediately, his eyes lit up. He looked towards the technique with an eager gaze that surprised even Liu Ying and the king.


    The king could not help but smile wryly when he saw that.


    "It seems you already made your choice."


    He then waved his hand to the attendant holding the booklet.


    "Take it. It''s yours now."


    Calming his excitement, Bloed bowed slightly and received the booklet.


    "Thank you, your majesty."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 284: Can’t Stay

    Chapter 284: Can¡¯t Stay


    Two chapters today. I''ll try to post two chapters tomorrow again, but I''m not sure. A bit busytely...


    ...


    Bloed wanted to go back home to study the new technique as soon as he got it. He was eager to find how this technique worked.


    In all honesty, this technique was groundbreaking for Bloed. The fact that it worked using psychic energy instead of mana opened a whole new world for him.


    Not even the Human Confederation had something like this. Until now, Bloed thought that the only way to use psychic energy was through ESP abilities or supported by mana.


    But the fact that a technique like this existed changed the situationpletely.


    Perhaps there were other techniques like this out there, techniques Bloed could use to be stronger.


    Unfortunately, no matter how eager Bloed was to study the booklet, he had to wait until the banquet ended first.


    It would be rude of him if he leaves early when he was one of the stars of the banquet.


    Thus, Bloed could only suppress his curiosity and focus on the banquet.


    After the emperor rewarded Bloed and the others, the banquet continued. Soon, several beastmen nobles were surrounding the group, trying to form a tie with them.


    Mainly young beastmen of the opposite sex. There were a lot of young men and youngdies trying to start a conversation with them.


    Before long, Bloed started to find it tiresome, so he found an opportunity to escape from there with Regina behind him.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Rana stayed behind, conversing with some noble girls about different topics. Bloed realized that Liu Ying had hit off well with some of the noble youngdies, perhaps because she was originally a princess.


    Well, Bloed was originally a prince as well, but as a manaless child and the shame of the Skysword family, he never had the opportunity to participate in this kind of noble event.


    Smiling wryly, Bloed found a nearby balcony that he used to hide from the enthusiast nobles and take a bit of fresh air.


    Behind him, Regina chuckled slightly seeing his exhausted expression.


    "You look tired, master."


    "Just a little bit. I''m not used to dealing with so many people."


    Regina chuckled slightly. "Right, I can imagine how exhausting it was."


    Bloed agreedpletely. It was exhausting.


    It was not a problem at the start when one or two nobles approached him. But when more than twenty nobles wanted to chat with him at the same time, it became a torture.


    Moreover, Bloed had the feeling many of these nobles were looking at him with second intentions.


    Bloed knew that none of them had bad intentions. They just want to forge a good rtionship with someone talented.


    After all, there was a high chance of someone among Bloed''s group bing a demigod. Mainly Bloed, whose exploits during thepetition made him the center of attention.


    As a B-Rank that managed to kill around ten A-Ranks and B-Ranks with just a saber sh, it was normal that other people became interested in him and thought of ways to rope him.


    But Bloed did not like it when other people looked at him as though he was just a tool to further their interest.


    Bloed shook his head slightly and sighed tiredly. It was better not to think about that too much.


    Noticing Bloed''s exhaustion, Regina smiled.


    "Wait a moment, master. I''ll get you something to drink."


    "There is no need. I''m alright."


    "I insist. Your throat must be parched after greeting all these nobles."


    Without waiting for Bloed''s reply, Regina turned around and went to search for something to drink.


    Bloed shook his head in resignation and smiled wryly.


    Well, he was already used to Regina''s care.


    At that moment, someone else approached him.


    "So you are here, Bloed."


    Bloed was startled. Turning around, he saw a golden-haired fox girl looking at him with a monotonous expression.


    "Miss Eve, you are here as well."


    "Hi." Even nodded slightly, her expression unchanging. "It looks like you were a bit overwhelmed by the nobles."


    Bloed smiled awkwardly.


    "Don''t worry, I understand. I don''t like this kind of events too much either." For an instant, Bloed thought he saw a trace of exasperation in Eve''s eyes.


    The fox girl then walked towards Bloed and stood beside him, gazing at the capital of the Great Savannah with an unreadable expression.


    "Do you need to talk with me?" Bloed asked while looking at the side profile of the fox girl.


    Eve nodded, her golden eyes twinkling slightly.


    "About the reward, did you like it?"


    "I did. It was better than I thought. Actually, I even think that the reward was a bit too much."


    "You don''t need to worry." Eve shook her head. "In fact, this reward is nothing for a kingdom like this. Although demigod artifacts are valuable, the kingdom has many of them in its treasury. Plus, the five of you are very talented, and what you achieved is worthy of praise. So there is no harm in giving you a good reward and leaving a good impression on you."


    Bloed nodded. In fact, he had to admit that his impression of the king improved after receiving his reward.


    "I guess I don''t need to worry about that then."


    "You don''t." Eve nodded. "Right, about the reward I promised you, I''ll send it to you tomorrow."


    "That is great. I will be able to continue my experiments with that."


    Eve smiled softly, changing her expressionless look for the first time in the night.


    "You are truly dedicated to your experiments. I guess I understand why you are so sessful even though you are so young."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "Thanks."


    " It''s a shame you are nning to leave."


    Bloed fell silent.


    He looked at Eve and smiled bitterly, finally aware of the true reason she was here.


    "Do you want to convince me to stay?"


    Eve nodded. "You have lived with us for a while, Bloed. Don''t you think this is a great ce to live? If you want, I can build aboratory for you in the headquarters of Moonlight Glow. I can promise you that the resources you will get will be top-notch. Moreover, nobody will make things difficult for you with me as your backing."


    Bloed nodded with a bitter smile.


    To be honest, he was a bit tempted by Eve''s words. The beastmen countries were truly a great ce. Moreover, he had friends and people that respected him here.


    However, he could not stay here if he wanted to fulfill his mother''s dream.


    Bloed knew the power of technology. He knew that if he chose a country to spread it, that country would grow stronger quickly and think of ways to use that technology in war.


    When a country''s technology is vastly superior to another, the weaker country would eventually end subjugated by the stronger country.


    And if one of the countries of this world ends getting even ten percent of the Human Confederation''s technology, it would not be strange if that country starts to have ideas about dominating the world.


    Bloed did not want that. He did not want to see the legacy of his mother turning into a cause of bloodshed.


    That was the reason he wanted to go to Academy City.


    Academy City was famous for its neutrality. If Bloed started to spread his technology there, he could reduce these risks at the minimum.


    Of course, eventually there would be countries interested in using his technology for war. But if he made use of Academy CIty''s neutrality, it would be much easier to spread science and technology evenly between the many countries, creating a form of bnce.


    Due to that, Bloed could not stay here.


    At the very least, he needed to go to Academy City and confirm the situation there.


    And then, if what he sees there does not satisfy him, then it would not be toote to return here and think is another way.


    Feeling Bloed''s determination, Eve nodded in understanding.


    "I understand. When are you leaving then?"


    "After Javelin''s marriage."


    "Javelin? The young catkin of the Sharpw family? I understand. Mmm It means I still have a few days"


    Miss Eve?"


    "It''s nothing. I was just thinking about something."


    Bloed put on a confused expression.


    For some reason, though, he thought he saw a mischievous glint shing in Eve''s eyes.

 Chapter 285: Test Subjects

    Chapter 285: Test Subjects


    The next day, two people were in the courtyard early in the morning.


    One of them was Liu Ying, who was doing her daily round of training, punching and kicking the air repeatedly to practice her martial arts.


    The other person was Bloed.


    Bloed was seated on the ground, reading the small booklet he receivedst night with a focused expression.


    The booklet was rather small, enough that it could be readpletely in fifteen minutes at most. But Bloed had been reading it for almost two hours.


    In fact, he had re-read it ten times already.


    With Bloed''s photographic memory, such action was pointless. But the fact that he was doing it despite that showed how much he was surprised by the contents of the booklet.


    "Is the technique inside that difficult to understand?" Liu Ying asked curiously after a short pause in his training.


    Bloed raised his eyes briefly to nce at Liu Ying before going back to read the book again.


    " Not too difficult It''s just that the concept behind this technique is pretty messy It''s as though the person that wrote the booklet was not exactly sure about how the technique worked exactly."


    That was the problem Bloed was facing right now.


    [King''s Aura], as the name indicated, was a technique rted to aura or intent. It worked by using your will to suppress the fighting strength of your enemies.


    That in itself was not too strange. Bloed knew about the concept of aura; and actually, most practitioners could more-or-less use it. Bloed himself could use aura if he wanted.


    In fact, killing intent was a kind of aura.


    But until now, Bloed only took aura as a way to express his fighting intent. Its effect in battle was pretty negligible.


    King''s Aura, however, took the concept of aura or fighting intent one step beyond.


    ording to the booklet, using King''s Aura allowed you to give shape to your fighting will, turning it into a powerful suppressive force against your opponent.


    It was very simr to the concept of Territory'' or ''Domain''. However, King''s Aura did not enhance the strength of the user, only suppressed the enemy.


    The problem was that the exnations on the booklet about how to achieve that were a bit messy and vague.


    For example, when it talked about how to give shape to your aura, it only said that you must focus your will on a point until turning it into something real.


    It, however, did not exin anything else.


    After reading that, Bloed had an idea about why nobody had practiced this technique in thest one hundred years.


    "Let me see it." Liu Ying said, snuggling beside Bloed and reading the booklet together with him.


    When she finished reading it, her expression was baffled.


    "What kind of technique is it? I don''t think it''s possible to practice."


    Bloed smiled wryly. "It''s just a bitplex."


    "A bitplex? How are you supposed to make your will real? Bloed, I think the king scammed you."


    " I don''t think that someone like the king will try to scam someone like me." Bloed looked at Liu Ying betweenughter and tears. "Don''t worry, even although it seems a bitplicated, I think I got the gist of it. I''ll probably be able to grasp it with a bit of practice."


    "Really?" Liu Ying looked at Bloed with an expression of incredulity. "If you say so You should not force yourself too much, though. It''s just a technique. You are already strong enough as you are now."


    "Don''t worry, I know my limits."


    Just as Bloed told Liu Ying, he had already got the gist of the technique and was pretty confident in mastering it.


    In fact, half an hour after that, he started to try focusing his will on a point to turn it real.


    Unfortunately, he was interrupted by Eve before he could achieve anything worthwhile.


    "Did you bring them?" Bloed asked when he saw the golden-haired fox girl in front of him.


    "Let''s go to yourboratory."


    Bloed nodded and followed after Eve, going towards hisboratory.


    Several beastmen soldiers were standing in front of hisboratory with five chained people behind them, two of them were humans and three were beastmen.


    "Are they the ones?" Bloed asked.


    Eve nodded emotionlessly. "Just as you asked, five criminals who are condemned to death."


    "They deserve to die, right?"


    "... Of these five, one of them is a traitor that killed his lord''s family, including five children, another one is a rapist, and thest three belonged to a notorious band of bandits famous for destroying three viges. What do you think?"


    Bloed nodded once, indicating he understood.


    Yes, the five chained people were the additional reward Eve promised to Bloed.


    They were to be used as test subjects.


    Lately, Bloed had hit a bottleneck in his research about the body enhancement''s virus. No matter how much he tried, he had been unable to progress any further beyond a certain point.


    Thus, he decided it was time to take his research one step further.


    He decided to test the virus in people.


    Bloed could not deny that he felt a bit iffy about experimenting in living people, mainly because he knew that the result of injecting them with the unfinished virus was most likely death. However, he decided to continue with the experiments regardless.


    Plus, the people he was going to experiment on were nefarious criminals condemned to death. Bloed did not feel any guilt killing people like them.


    Fortunately, Eve did not find his request strange. In fact, Bloedter learned that using this kind of criminal for experiments was not unusual or frowned upon, and many mages did simr things.


    Of course, these mages were usually powerful demigods, and if they were caught using innocent people in their experiments, they would be branded as criminals.


    "Are these people enough?" Eve asked with a deadpan look. "If you need more, you only need to ask."


    " I will tell you after a few days. Thank you anyway."


    "It''s alright. This small favor is nothingpared to the help you gave us."


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded. He then asked the soldiers to move the criminals inside hisboratory.


    The five criminals were chained with mana suppressing chains, making them of using mana, so Bloed did not need to worry about them escaping or attacking him. Plus, the strongest of them was just a C-Rank practitioner. Even without the chains, Bloed could kill them easily.


    When the five criminals entered theboratory, Bloed could see expressions of fear and terror in their faces. They seemed to know what was going to happen to them.


    Some of them even begged him to spare their lives.


    After seeing that, Bloed wondered briefly if what he was doing was right. However, he quickly got rid of these thoughts.


    He already knew he needed to do this when he decided to start creating the virus. He was not going to get cold feet now.


    If he wanted to be stronger, if he wanted to make his mother''s dream reality, he needed to do this.


    Thus, he took a sample of the virus and injected it into one of the prisoners.


    One secondter, theboratory was filled with screams of pain.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 286: The King’s Plan

    Chapter 286: The King¡¯s n


    The capital of the Kingdom of Alterna, in the pce.


    A ck-haired man was seated on a throne, reading a report silently with an indecipherable expression.


    A middle-aged man was standing behind him with a calm look, waiting silently for the ck-haired man to finish reading the report.


    The two of them had been like that for almost one hour already.


    Finally, the ck-haired man heaved a long sigh.


    "Sebastian, what do you think?"


    The middle-aged man behind the king furrowed his brows briefly before shaking his head with a wry smile.


    "I can only say that the prince surpassed my expectations."


    "You are right. Who would have expected so much talent from a manaless child?"


    Yes, the two people were the King of the Kingdom of Alterna, and his butler and right hand, Sebastian.


    Both of them were once important people in Bloed''s life. One of them was his father, and the other was his caretaker.


    And currently, both of them were reading a report about the happenings during thepetition between The Great Savannah, the Boerner Elven Forest, and the Sun Kingdom.


    The samepetition where Bloed and the others participated.


    When the king read the report, his first thought was that it was a joke. After all, nobody would believe that a B-Rank young man fought and killed more than ten of A-Rank and B-Rank practitioners by himself.


    Moreover, he used only one attack.


    However, the king knew that the source of this report was reliable. It came from a spy that had been infiltrated in The Great Savannah for a long while, and that spy got this information directly from an official report.


    In other words


    "In other words, that kid already possesses the power of a demigod?" The king asked to himself, astonished by his own words.


    "I don''t think so," Sebastian answered with a thoughtful look. "Certainly, a feat like that is something that only demigods or the strongest A-Rank practitioners should be able to do. But the prince should not be as strong as a demigod yet. If I''m not wrong, that attack was the result of a technique with several limitations. Perhaps even with a strong bacsh."


    "You are right. But even so, it shows that the kid has a lot of potential. Moreover, if he bes a demigod with a technique like that, he would be considered one of the strongest demigods immediately."


    Sebastian fell silent. He was also aware of that.


    In fact, he was just as surprised as his king when he learned about the news.


    He had already realized that the young prince was extremely talented when he met him thest time, but he never thought it would be at such a level.


    His talent was definitively as frightening as the young princess. Perhaps even greater.


    "However, it has be a serious problem." The king suddenly wrinkled his brows.


    Sebastian nodded. Yes, the prince''s talent was a serious problem for them.


    In fact, the most talent the prince showed, the greater the problem was.


    No, it was not just a problem. It was a threat.


    After all


    "That kid, Glenn Skysword has the blood of the royal family running in his veins. Furthermore, he carries a grudge against us. If one day, when he develops at the limit of his potential, he decides to exact vengeance on us or get the throne to himself, it will be a problem hard to resolve."


    Sebastian nodded and sighed after hearing the words of the king.


    In the end, Glenn Skysword had royal blood. It meant he had legitimacy for the throne. If one day he was interested in bing the king, perhaps many nobles unsatisfied with the current government would support the young and talented prince to rece his dad as their new ruler.


    In fact, just the talent the young prince had shown until now was enough for many nobles to start developing ideas. Moreover, the young prince also had the support and backing of several powerful organizations that could help him if one day he decides he wants to be king.


    Fortunately, news about him being a prince from the kingdom had not spread out yet, but it was just a matter of time with themotion he caused.


    Of course, Sebastian did not think the current young prince was interested in bing king. The two times he had met the young prince recently showed him that Glenn did not consider himself a member of the royal family anymore.


    But nobody knew if his thoughts would change when he bes older and stronger.


    And Sebastian knew that the king could not let such a hidden danger roam free.


    "Your majesty, what are your ns?" Sebastian asked respectfully, aware that the king was nning something.


    " Unfortunately, we can''t touch him easily. He has the Church of Fate and Moonlight Glow as his backings, and from the reports, his rtionship with the saintess of both churches is pretty good. Moreover, he also gained the favor of the beastmen now. That is without considering the demigod girl acting as his bodyguard I don''t understand, how can that kid have such good luck with women?" The king asked speechlessly.


    He could not believe that his son, just a B-Rank brat, had a close and intimate rtionship with three powerful women like them.


    Sebastian smiled wryly, unable to think in an answer to that question.


    Fortunately, the king was just grumbling to himself and never expected an answer. Thus, after holding his head exasperatedly, he stated his n.


    "Eres is still searching for his whereabouts, right? Find a way to leak his current identity to her You should leak it to the queen as well. She has been feeling guilty since the day we exiled him. She still cries when she remembers him."


    "The little princess and the queen? Your majesty is nning"


    "Yes. Once they learn that Glenn is still alive, they will go to meet him and try to convince him to return. Who knows? Perhaps it will yield unexpected results."


    " Being honest, your majesty, I don''t think this n will work. The young prince did not seem even slightly interested in returning to the kingdom."


    "Do you think so? I, on the other hand, think that there is a pretty good chance of sess. Mainly thanks to Eres."


    The king''s butler was startled, but he quickly understood.


    Certainly, if it was the little princess, who had been searching for her brother for several years without stop, then perhaps she could convince him.


    "I understand. I will do that."


    "Good." The king nodded. "Meanwhile, I will think about other methods we can use... In the worst case, we will have to get rid of him." The king hesitated a bit when he said thest part.


    "!!! Your majesty! But the Church of Fate and Moonlight Glow"


    "I said in the worst case, didn''t I? In the end, offending two churches is better than having a powerful demigod backed by several powerful organizations creating a bloodbath in the kingdom. Even if that demigod is my own son."


    ....


    1/3

 Chapter 287: The Elf Princess’s Nightmare

    Chapter 287: The Elf Princess¡¯s Nightmare


    2/3


    ...


    In the Boerner Elven Forest.


    Elwha Aerin was living a nightmare.


    After leaving The Great Savannah and returning to the Boerner Forest, she thought that everything was finallying to an end. She was sure that she could bring the Heart of the Forest to the elders andplete her mission smoothly.


    Although there were some bumps in the way, and the news about the Heart of the Forest somehow leaked, in the end, she managed toplete her mission.


    However, she never thought that the Boerner Elven Forest, the ce she thought was the safest, would be the most dangerous.


    Without they noticing, their group was ambushed by a team of three demigods.


    Of course, normally that would not have been enough against the five demigods apanying her. Until


    "Elder Lorya Why did you betray us?" One of the elven demigods, an old man with a hunched back, asked the demigod in front of him with a bitter smile.


    Yes, unexpectedly, one of the elven demigods turned to be a traitor.


    When they were facing the ambush of the three demigods, he backstabbed them, killing one of the elven demigods and injuring another gravely.


    Even the two unconscious elves had been killed due to the aftershocks of his ambush.


    Elwha Aerin could not believe her eyes. She could not believe that something like that had happened.


    However, Elder Lorya, who betrayed them, did not seem to feel the slightest guilt.


    "You can''t me me about it." He said with an indifferent expression. "Since the start, I was a devout believer of ughter. ughter saved me when I was nothing more than an ostracized elf, discriminated due to my human ancestry. He showed me the way and guided me into bing the elf I''m today."


    The old elf smiled wryly.


    "To think that you were a believer of ughter as well, huh... Heh, I understand now how that bastard learned about the heart. I don''t understand, though. Why wait until now to make your move then?"


    "Because I was the backup n, in case the first n failed. Do you think our Lord would give up so easily after failing once? No, that was just one of his ns. This is the second one, and even if I fail, I''m sure there is a third n waiting for you."


    The old demigod smiled bitterly. They had been yed like fools by that bastard of ughter.


    He could feel that his connection to the Great Tree had been severed. Even although they were inside the Elven Forest, they werepletely isted.


    Moreover, he realized he could not use the teleportation treasures he brought with him either. This ce was probably under the interference of a powerful formation that stopped teleportation.


    "Just give up." Elder Lorya said calmly and looked at Elwha. "Give me the heart, princess. And I promise to give you a painless death for the old times."


    Elwha gritted her teeth in hatred. She red at the person she once thought was a very kind elder with more rage than she thought she could feel.


    But at the same time, she felt hopeless.


    In this situation, their chances of surviving were very low.


    But at that moment, the three remaining elders gathered around her.


    "Princess, don''t worry. We will make sure to stop them with our lives and give you the opportunity to escape. Make sure to bring the heart to the elders and exin the situation to them." The old elf said resolutely.


    "Elder!"


    "Promise me, princess! Promise me that you will bring the heart to the elders!"


    Elwha bit her lips. Tears of sadness escaped from her eyes, sliding down her cheeks and dripping on the ground repeatedly.


    Finally, she opened her mouth and forced herself to speak.


    " I promise you"


    "That is enough." The old demigod smiled kindly, like a grandfather looking at his granddaughter. He then turned towards the enemy demigods and repeated the same words. "That is enough."


    Instantly, his power and the power of the other two demigods erupted. The three elven demigods burned their mana, their souls, and their lifeforce to fight thest battle of their lives.


    To protect the Heart of the Forest.


    But


    "How touching"


    A yful voice sounded at that moment, sweeping their mana away as though it was dust.


    Then, to the elves'' surprise, a powerful will descended from the sky, falling in one of the demigods.


    Immediately, the other demigods of the Church of ughter, including the traitor, kneeled respectfully, paying their respects to their master.


    """We greet our lord, the great ughter."""


    The God of ughter had descended.


    Opening his eyes, ''He'' smirked amusedly, looking at Elwha and the elven demigods with a gaze full of interest.


    As though looking at four interesting ants.


    Elwha and the three elders turned pale.


    Feeling the powerful will in front of them, theirst bit of hope turned into despair.


    "Impo sible" Elwha spat out with a look of horror.


    She never thought that ughter would go to such lengths to get the Heart of the Forest.


    You must know that when a god descended in the body of a believer, that believer was doomed to die.


    Even a demigod host only meant that the god could use the host for longer, but in the end, the host was going to die all the same.


    There were very few exceptions to that rule, such as Charise, the saintess of the Church of Fate, whose talent made her a perfect vessel for [God''s Descend]. But even she would suffer a serious bacsh if a god descended on her body.


    In other words, when the God of ughter descended in the body of that demigod, that demigod was doomed to die.


    "Are you surprised?" The God of ughter grinned mischievously. "Normally, I would have preferred not to descend personally. Gods are forbidden to interfere with mortals, you see, and if the other gods notice something, they will surely use this opportunity to their advantage. However, I need to get that heart, and I can''t allow another failure."


    He then took a step forward, releasing a bloody aura so powerful that made Elwha and the three elven demigods pale in fear!


    "Unfortunately, this body doesn''t allow me to show too much of my power. However, it will be enough to take care of the three of you. Now, die."


    With these words, ughter extended his index finger and pushed it forward.


    Elwha could only watch as her body and soul were destroyed by that finger.


    But suddenly


    [Stop!]


    Another voice came from the clouds.


    Immediately, a powerful will no weaker than ughter descended, stopping the finger and protecting the elves.


    "Axalia! What is the meaning of it!?" ughter bellowed in rage.


    [I''m sorry, ughter. But I can''t allow it.] A figure of light materialized in front of the elves, protecting them from ughter''s oppressive aura. [Gods are forbidden from interfering with mortals. And I can''t allow a course of fate that brings destruction to this world.]


    "Axalia! Do you think you can stop me!? A mere projection is not enough to defeat the current me!"


    [You are right.] The figure of light nodded softly. [However, I don''t need to stop you. I just need to save her.]


    With a soft smile, the figure of light extended her hand, touching Elwha''s forehead.


    Elwha felt a voice on her mind, soft and gentle like the spring breeze.


    [Go, girl. Leave this ce. Go and meet him, be into one of his wings. Only then you will be able to aplish your mission; and perhaps one day, you will be able to make ughter pay for what happened today.]


    "W-Wait a moment! W-What do you mean!? W-What about the elders!? Who is him!?"


    [You already know who he is, after all, you two are connected by fate. As for the elders, unfortunately, I can only save you today. Don''t worry, I''ll give you my protection. ughter won''t be able to find you easily.]


    After saying that, the figure of light smiled silently, and pushed Elwha''s forehead.


    "Axelia!" ughter roared in rage, using as much strength as he could to attack the figure of light. However, the figure of light received the attack without faltering or interrupting her actions, as though she did not care.


    The next instant, Elwha was sent flying, disappearing in the distance.


    [Go girl, be into one of his wings. Show me that it''s possible to change fate.]


    "Axelia! Damn bitch!" ughter''s face turned ugly. He tried to chase after Elwha but was stopped by the figure of light!


    In the end, he could only rely on the demigods behind him. "What are you waiting for!? Go after her!"


    "We will not allow it!" The old elf demigod roared at that moment. He and the other two demigods rushed forward, using their bodies and souls to earn time for the princess.


    That day, six demigods fell in the Boerner Elven Forest, and Princess Elwha Aerin mysteriously disappeared.

 Chapter 288: Javelin’s Marriage

    Chapter 288: Javelin¡¯s Marriage


    A festive atmosphere filled the capital of the Great Savannah, Apso.


    It was because today was the marriage between the children of two prestigious families, Javelin Sharpw, and Illina Snow.


    Both the Sharpw and the Snow family were prestigious families with people in many important posts of the government and great influence in both politics and military, so their marriage was something that many people pay attention to.


    Moreover, Javelin was most likely the next patriarch of the Sharpw family, making this marriage even more important.


    And as Javelin''s friends, Bloed and the others were more than happy to participate in the marriage.


    But to Bloed''s surprise, beastmen marriages were much more violent than he expected.


    To start, Javelin first needed to go to the house of the bride and fight through severalyers of defenses if he wanted to marry her.


    It was a beastman custom called ''Snatching the Bride''.


    The defenders were the family members of the bride, mainly Illina''s father and brother. However, some guests could join the fun if they wanted, as long as they controlled their punches.


    In the same way, the guests could also join Javelin''s side and help him to rescue the bride, making the event even more chaotic.


    Of course, this event was mostly symbolic, and nobody was really going to make things difficult for the catkin young man, however, the sheer number of people participating made the situation incredibly messy.


    Influenced by the celebratory mood, Bloed decided to participate in the ''snatching the bride'' event as well. However, he quickly found that something about this event was really wrong.


    For some reason, most of the people that attacked him were young and beautiful girls, followed by their jealous pursuers using him of stealing the heart of xxx girl.


    At a loss, Bloed was forced to fight against wave after wave of enemies that seemed endless.


    In the end, he let himself be defeated when Rana and Aya joined hands, with Ayanding the final blow with a shy and excited face (And Rana and other girls gritting her teeth in rage and leaving disappointed).


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head, thinking inwardly that the game had been fun, even if a bit tiring, only to realize that the older beastmendies were looking at him and Aya with warm eyes and Aya seemed embarrassed about something.


    Onlyter Bloed learned that attacking and defeating someone of the opposite sex in this game was a custom used for the beastmen to express your liking to someone you wanted to have as your partner. And if you let yourself be defeated, it meant you epted his or her proposal.


    When Liu Ying and Regina learned about the true meaning of this game, they looked at Aya with speechless looks, wondering when the shy cat girl became so sly.


    Anyway, after the ''snatching the bride'' game, the ceremony continued toward its second part. Here, the groom and the bride expressed their vows towards each other''s parents and family and then towards the goddess.


    Surprisingly, Eve appeared during this part of the ceremony to hear the vows towards the goddess, surprising many of the attendees and making them wonder about the rtionship between the two families and the saintess of Moonlight Glow.


    Bloed was also speechless when he saw Eve putting on a dignified look and nodding slightly at Javelin and Illina''s vows (Who, by the way, were flustered seeing the powerful and terrifying saintess of Moonlight Glow in their ceremony).


    Unfortunately, a look at Eve''s wagging tail was enough for Bloed to know that the reason Eve was here was just to join the fun.


    ... She probably thought it would be exciting to act as a priest after hearing Bloed mention Javelin''s marriage.


    Smiling wryly, Bloed decided to apologize to his friendster. After all, he knew how much they feared the fox girl.


    He did not know why they feared her so much, though. He could only see Eve as an expressionless and friendly dolt who liked to experience new things.


    Fortunately, neither Javelin nor Illina ever heard Bloed''s description of the famous [Bloodstained Moonlight], otherwise, they would have thought he was crazy.


    When Javelin and Eve finally finished giving their vows, it was time to receive the congrattions and gifts of the guest. It was thest part of the event, and after this, Javelin and Illina would go to their bedroom to enjoy their first night as newlyweds.


    One by one, the guest went to congratte Javelin and Illina.


    Finally, it was Bloed and the girls'' turn.


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying went together to congratte the pair. When Javelin and Illina saw them, they smiled with wide smiles.


    "Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying. You are here."


    "Congrattions on your marriage," Bloed said with a grin, passing a small box to Javelin containing their gift.


    "What is it?" Javelin and Illina looked at the box curiously.


    "Open it."


    Having received Bloed''s permission, Javelin and Illina opened the box carefully.


    Inside, they found a matching pair of rings, one with a silver jewel and one with a brown jewel, just like Illina and Javelin''s hair.


    "This is"


    "I call them [Lovers'' Ring]. These rings allow you to feel the state of each other at any moment. Moreover, you can use them tomunicate with each other as long as the distance is not beyond two thousand kilometers."


    Javelin and Illina were surprised when they heard Bloed''s words.


    "This is"


    "So romantic"


    Looking at the shining eyes of the bride, Bloed knew that his gift had been a sess.


    In fact, this world did not have the custom of giving rings when marrying, so Bloed thought it was a good idea to give them a gift with a bit of the Human Confederation''s vor.


    Who knows? Perhaps in a few years the tradition of giving rings would also appear in this world.


    On a side note, when Regina saw the rings, she stared at Bloed fixedly for almost one minute. And although she said nothing, Bloed could see in her gaze that she was asking him about when he was going to give her a ring.


    After Javelin and Illina put on their rings, they looked at Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying with smiles in their faces.


    "By the way, I heard you are leaving soon." Javelin suddenly asked.


    Bloed nodded. "Tomorrow."


    "Is it so? It''s a shame, I think I''ll miss you... Right, I know I don''t need to tell you it, but please take care of my sister. She is a good girl."


    Bloed was startled.


    "Wait. What does your sister have to do with me leaving?"


    Javelin did not exin, just smiling yfully.


    It was not until the next morning that Bloed understood the meaning of his smile.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 289: So, I resigned

    Chapter 289: So, I resigned


    1/3 today, but I''m going out today, so I''ll post the other two when I return (They are already done, but need to be edited)


    ...


    "So, what is the meaning of this?"


    The next morning, Bloed asked with a speechless look when he saw Prince Calisto, Aya, Eve, and Aya''s father plus a team of soldiers waiting outside of his door.


    His first reaction was that they were here to bid them farewell, but when he saw Aya and Prince Calisto dressed as though they were going to travel, Bloed understood that they had other ns.


    The one to answer his question was Aya''s father.


    "About that, Mr. Bloed. We heard that you were leaving for Academy City today. Coincidentally, the king decided to send the little prince to Academy City to study. My daughter, Aya, and the soldiers will be sent as his escorts."


    Bloed was dumbfounded.


    He thought he heard Liu Ying muttering ''that cat sure is sly'' under her breath and Regina clicking her tongue irritatedly, but he decided to ignore them for now.


    "In other words, you are proposing us to travel together," Bloed said, understanding the meaning behind Aya''s father''s words.


    "Yes. Anyway, your destination is the same and there is no need to travel separately. Besides, Prince Calisto will go to Academy City using one of the airships of the country. I''m sure it will be faster traveling on it than if you travel on foot."


    Bloed could not deny Aya''s father''s words, but when he saw Aya''s shy look and the sneaky nces she threw him asionally, he understood that things were not so simple.


    No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like Aya''s Father was finding an excuse to send his daughter to him.


    In fact, Bloed spection was true. Aya''s father had been searching for an excuse to make his daughter travel with him.


    After all, his daughter''s feelings could not be clearer. Plus, if his daughter and Bloed married one day, it meant the Sharpw family would have a demigod (Regina) plus two potential demigods (Bloed and Liu Ying) as rtives.


    Coincidentally, Prince Calisto asked the king if he could go to study at Academy City, helping Aya''s father to find the perfect excuse.


    And when Aya heard about his n, she did not hesitate to ept it. In fact, she epted so quickly that her father wondered if she was the same shy and reserved girl he knew.


    Bloed did not know it, but the reason the little prince decided to go to study at Academy city was due to Bloed''s advice about leaving the country if he was truly not interested in the throne. The little prince thought about it and decided to follow Bloed''s advice, moreover, choosing Academy City as his destination due to his admiration for Bloed.


    When Bloed learned about itter, he was speechless by the way he shot himself in the foot.


    " Bloed, it doesn''t matter if you refuse. I understand."


    "Big brother Bloed, could it be you don''t want to travel with us?"


    Aya and Prince Calisto looked at Bloed as though they were pitiful children about to be abandoned when they saw he was hesitating.


    Bloed smiled wryly and looked at Liu Ying at Regina behind him to ask for their opinion.


    "I don''t mind if Aya travels with us. She is a good girl. Plus, I owe her one fromst time."


    " Even though I don''t like it, the cat protected you with her life before, master. I can''t bring myself to refuse her after knowing it."


    Liu Ying shrugged indifferently and Regina spoke up with a bitter expression, but both ended agreeing.


    Bloed could not help but smile wryly.


    However, he was a little surprised by the fact that the cat girl had already gained the recognition of Regina and Liu Ying.


    '' That Aya, she is scarier than I thought.''


    "Okay, I understand why Aya and Prince Calisto are here." Bloed nodded with a sigh before looking at the golden-haired fox girl who seemed lost in her own world since she arrived. "But what about Miss Eve?"


    " Huh? Oh, me? I''m sorry, but I''m not here in search of a marriage partner as the cat girl." Eve said dazedly.


    Bloed, Aya, Liu Ying, and Regina froze.


    Even Aya''s father was looking at Eve with a speechless look and the little prince was blushing and looking between Aya and Bloed with an expression of interest.


    In seconds, Aya''s expression turnedpletely red. The fact that her ulterior intentions were revealed in public like this made her want to die.


    "Mis Eve" Bloed smiled wryly and looked at Eve with a you-were-not-supposed-to-say-that-out-loud expression.


    However, it seemed like Eve understood his gaze differently.


    " I''m sorry, but I can''t do it If you truly want to be my husband, you need to be at least stronger than me."


    Bloed held his head exasperatedly. This idiot


    Feeling the sharp gaze of Regina on his back, Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    Finally, suppressing the urge to pull the saintess''s ear, Bloed sighed.


    " Miss Eve, can you exin why are you here then?"


    "Huh? Oh I''m going with you."


    "Huh?"


    "I''m going with you. I have wanted to visit Academy City for a while. It''s a good opportunity."


    " I have the feeling that there is something wrong with it." Bloed said and looked at Aya''s father to ask him about what in the hell was happening.


    However, Aya''s father was just as lost as him.


    " She is the Saintess of Moonlight Glow, right? Can she leave the beastmen countries just like that?" Liu Ying asked with a curious expression.


    "Well, I don''t think so. After all, as the saintess, Miss Eve has a lot of work to do." Aya''s father replied hesitantly.


    But


    "You are right. In fact, the old men of the church did not want to let me leave." Eve said with an expressionless voice, as though it was nothing important.


    "I see, then, what did you do?" Bloed asked.


    "I resigned."


    "Oh... I understand."


    And one secondter


    "THE HELL!!??"

 Chapter 290: Towards Academy City… Again

    Chapter 290: Towards Academy City¡­ Again


    Late, but here I am...


    ...


    If Bloed had to describe Eve, he would say she is an expressionless, curious, willful, and a bit of an airheaded fox girl.


    However, despite that, he also thought she was reliable when it was needed.


    Bloed had already witnessed it on several asions. During important situations, Eve became incredibly sharp,pletely different from her usual dazed behavior.


    However, that image of Eve waspletely shattered at this moment.


    " You resigned!?" Bloed asked with a look of surprise and disbelief on his face.


    "I did."


    "B-But, how!? Why!?"


    "These old men would have stopped me from going to Academy City otherwise, so I just resigned," Eve said expressionlessly, as though stating something obvious.


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, Prince Calisto, and all the people that heard the saintess'' words looked at Eve with stiff expressions.


    Most of them could not process the fact that the saintess of one of the biggest religions in the world resigned to her post like that, just because she wanted to go on a trip.


    " I can''t believe it." One of the soldiers escorting prince Calisto could not help but mutter that.


    Bloed sympathized with him. He could not believe it either.


    Is she crazy?


    Taking a deep breath, he looked at Eve and asked a question everybody here wanted to ask.


    "Miss Eve, did Moonlight Glow ept your resignation just like that? They did not try to stop you?"


    " About that, I don''t know. I did not tell them."


    "Huh?"


    Once more, Bloed and the others were stupified.


    What the hell!? Did she resign without telling anyone?


    As though aware of her thoughts, Eve shrugged indifferently and exined.


    "I left a letter in my room exining I''m resigning. I''m sure they will understand after they read it."


    " No, I don''t think they will understand."


    Bloed felt his eyelid twitching.


    For an instant, he could not help but imagine how the people of Moonlight Glow were going to react when they learn that their saintess resigned and ran away without telling anyone. And then, he felt pity for them.


    They sure have it hard.


    " Miss Eve, does it mean you are going toe with us?" Liu Ying asked at that moment.


    "Can''t I?"


    Seeing Eve tilt her head expressionlessly, Bloed held his head tired, feeling a headache approaching.


    " I don''t think that is the problem."


    How was he supposed to deal with this crazy girl?


    But suddenly, Eve''s ears perked up.


    "Oh no..."


    "What happened now?"


    " The men of the church are searching for me... How unlucky. How did they discover the letter so quickly? I should have hidden it better."


    Bloed and the others were speechless.


    Then, without waiting for Bloed and the others to speak, Eve waved her hand, making her translucid and submerging herself into the ground.


    " See youter." Eve blinked expressionlessly and bid farewell to the group.


    Not even thirty seconds after she left, an agitated soldier of the church arrived in front of Bloed''s group with a worried expression.


    "Apologies. Friends, have you seen the Saintess Eve around here?"


    Bloed and the others looked at each other in speechlessness. They did not know if to answer or not.


    Should they help the church to catch Eve, or should they help Eve to escape?


    Both of the options seemed wrong for some reason.


    But there was someone in the group without suchplicated emotions.


    "She used a spell and vanished on the ground," Regina exined to the soldier, even telling him about the conversation they had with Eve earlier.


    And as expected, the soldier turned pale and rushed away to report to his superiors.


    Bloed could not help but smile wryly after seeing that.


    " Regina, you are not thinking she is in love with me as well, right?"


    "Of course not, master. Even you are not that charming. I just want to avoid future problems."


    Bloed smiled bitterly and shook his head.


    The trip to Academy City had not started yet, but he already felt tired.


    He could only hope that the problems ended here.


    Smiling wryly, Bloed turned towards Aya''s Father.


    "Mr. Tenon, when he is the airship going to leave?"


    "Actually, it''s already waiting for you. Let''s go, I will bring you there."


    After that, there were no more incidents until the ship departed, except by the fact that the church tried to stop them from leaving.


    In the end, though, they could not stop the airship of a prince without a good reason, so they could only watch as it left.


    Bloed was curious when Eve did not appear even when the ship took flight, but he thought it was normal given that several men were waiting outside the ship to drag the fox saintess towards the church.


    Plus, Eve was an Apotheosis Demigod. Catching up to this ship with her speed could not be easier.


    Shaking his head, Bloed walked towards the bow of the airship and leaned on the railguards to observe the beautiful scenery below.


    Before long, Regina, Liu Ying, and even Aya joined him.


    "Are you excited master?" Regina asked with a soft smile.


    "Just a bit. I have wanted to meet Academy City for a long time."


    "Well, it looks like one of your dreams is about toe true."


    Bloed nodded with a smile.


    Thanks to this airship, they only needed one week to arrive in Academy City. Finally, he was about to arrive at the ce where his dream was going to start.


    "I just hope nothing happens during the trip," Bloed said with a wry smile.


    What he did not saw, though, was Regina furrowing her brows slightly before nodding.


    "I hope so too."


    For an instant, her gaze moved towards the roof of the airship, as though searching for someone up there.


    But in the next second, her gaze returned to her master.


    " I hope so too"


    In the roof of the airship.


    A golden-haired fox girl was lying on the roof while wagging her tail softly, using her beautiful golden eyes to gaze at the sky with a bored expression.


    Curiously, though, her focus was not on the sky.


    Instead, it was on the blue-haired boy standing on the bow of the airship.


    " I don''t understand. Is it truly necessary for me to be here?" She asked to herself.


    A soft breeze passed through the airship, ruffling her golden hair and caressing her white skin.


    The breeze was not different than any normal breeze, but for some strange reason, the fox girl frowned as though she heard something strange through it


    " Are Axalia''s words really trustworthy? You know it''s not the first time her predictions are mistaken."


    The breeze passed once more, bringing with it an answer to the ears of the fox girl.


    "I understand. In other words, I just need to observe and see how great his potential truly is."


    The soft breeze caressed her cheek again.


    "Okay, okay. I will." Eve nodded with a sigh and clicked her tongue before closing her eyes.


    A few secondster, though, she opened them again and looked in the direction of the blue-haired young man once more.


    "I wonder what is so special about you. Not many people receive the attention of two goddesses."

 Chapter 291: Academy City

    Chapter 291: Academy City


    If you ask a random boy or girl in the streets about what ce in the world they want to visit the most, more than half of them would mention the name of a city.


    Academy City.


    Founded around one hundred years ago after the war against the Blight by a famous and powerful demigod, and bordering the territories of the five great races, Academy City could be considered as the center of the continent.


    Each week, thousands of young men and women would enter this city with dreams and hopes of changing their fate, achieving sess, and surpassing their peers.


    It was a ce of dreams, where discrimination was forbidden, with demons, humans, elves, and beastmen walking side to side without hatred and in pursuit of power and knowledge.


    Over its one hundred years of existence, Academy City had groomed tens of powerful and famous powerhouses, being the ce of study of generals, kings, popes, saints, and demigods.


    Even some gods studied here when they were young mortals.


    Moreover, in this city, it didn''t matter if you were a noble or amoner. As long as you had enough talent, you could rise over your peers and gain the praise of the public, guaranteeing a bright future in almost any ce of the continent.


    All these made Academy City one of the most popr ces in the continent.


    And that was the reason why Bloed wanted to visit this ce.


    In this city, where politics, wars, and religions did not matter, he could start to spread the fires of the Human Confederation''s technology.


    And when Bloed saw the majestic city from the airship, he got the feeling he had made the right choice.


    Academy City was bigger than any city Bloed had visited until now, with giant buildings and magic towers spread all around the city, and hundreds of people entering the city each minute.


    "It''s amazing" Liu Ying could not help but say with a bit of admiration.


    Bloed could not help but nod beside her. In fact, this city wasparable to some cities of the Human Confederation.


    Just looking at it made Bloed feel awed.


    Unfortunately, he could not enter yet. Normal airships could not fly over the city and the people that came in airship needed tond outside the city and then follow the procedure of entry.


    Thus, Bloed''s group (Including Aya, Prince Calisto, and the soldiers he brought as escorts) left the airship and walked towards the entrance of the city.


    At that moment, a golden-haired fox girl appeared beside them.


    "Miss Eve?" Bloed and the others looked at her surprised.


    The group had already seen the ex-saintess of Moonlight Glow several times during the travel towards Academy City, so they knew she was in the airship as well. However, she was usually hidden somewhere, and rarely she appeared like this.


    Eve, however, ignored them and just looked at the city with a slightly nostalgic expression.


    " It has been a while."


    "Hm? You have been here before, Miss Eve?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Eve nodded, still sporting that nostalgic expression.


    " Before bing a saintess, I studied here for a while This ce brings me many memories"


    Bloed and the others were slightly surprised seeing that expression on Eve''s face. It''s the first time they saw her like that.


    However, it quickly disappeared and was reced by her usual nk look.


    " I''m going to visit an old friend, so I will not see you for a while. Take care."


    As soon as she said these words, her body shed and she disappeared.


    Bloed and the others were dumbfounded.


    She left Just like that?


    " As expected, Miss Saintess always does things at her own pace." Prince Calisto said with a bitter smile.


    " Prince, she is no longer the saintess." Aya did not forget to remind him, making the little prince smile even more bitterly.


    However, he quickly recovered and looked at Bloed with an excited expression.


    "Big brother Bloed, what are your ns? I''m sure you are going to enter as a student, right?"


    "I''m nning that." Bloed nodded.


    The people in Academy City could be divided into three groups.


    First, students. People below thirty years could be students as long as they passed a test and paid a slightly expensive fee.


    But if you were amoner and could not get enough money to pay the fee, you could aim for a schrship. Commoners with good talents received schrships where the city paid all their costs (including lodging and food) and even gave them a sizeable amount of money each month to buy the things they need.


    The second group was the teachers.


    The minimum requirement to be a teacher was B-Rank, but not every B-Rank could be a teacher. Each teacher of Academy City was someone extremely talented that had gone through an extensive background check to guarantee their loyalty to the city and with a lot of knowledge.


    Teachers received a sry and welfare from the city, making it a very coveted job. Many students chose to be teachers after finishing their schrship period, remaining in the city to continue with their studies in a different way.


    And finally, there were the guests.


    Guests were people who were neither students nor teachers. These people could stay in the city as long as they paid a very expensive fee each month.


    Normal people would think that the number of guests in Academy City was small, but surprisingly, many people that couldn''t be students nor teachers chose to stay in the city as guests despite the expensive fee. After all, Academy City was publicly recognized as the number one ce to gain new knowledge and be stronger in the entire continent.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina were nning to enter as students, of course.


    And for that, they needed to go through a small test.


    "I wonder what kind of test it is" Liu Ying said with a curious expression.


    "Nothing too hard." Prince Calisto said with a smile. "I''m sure you will be able to pass it easily."


    "Wait a moment, ''You''?" Bloed raised an eyebrow. "Are you not doing the test, Prince?"


    "About that" the little lionkin prince smiled awkwardly.


    One of the soldiers escorting him stepped forward at that moment.


    "The prince does not need to go through the test, Sir Bloed. It''s a small privilege he has as royalty. Miss Aya came here as his follower, so she doesn''t need to go through it either."


    Bloed and Liu Ying were slightly startled.


    " I thought that nobles andmoners were the same in this ce." Liu Ying could not help but say.


    She did not try to be sarcastic, but Prince Calisto and Aya were slightly embarrassed by these words.


    Bloed, however, thought it was normal.


    Even if this ce proimed that nobles andmoners were the same here, it was obvious that there was going to be a small difference in their treatments. It was something that could not be avoided.


    Complete equality was never achieved even in the Human Confederation, much less in this city.


    Plus, it''s true it did not seem right to test a prince to enter the city. In the unlikely case where the prince fails the test and is unable to enter the city, it will cause a diplomatic issue between the city and the prince''s country.


    However, that was not the only benefice Prince Calisto had.


    As a prince, he did not need to wait to enter the city but could enter directly through an entrance specially prepared for nobles. Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, on the other hand, had to wait for almost one hour before it was their turn.


    When it was finally Bloed''s group turn, a young man nced at them briefly and opened his mouth.


    "Name, Age, Race, and Mana Rank."


    "Bloed Norman, sixteen years old, Human, B-Rank."


    "Liu Ying, fifteen years old, Demon, B-Rank."


    "Regina Norman, twenty years old, Human, A-Rank."


    As soon as these words sounded, all the noise around them stoppedpletely.


    Then, both the young man and the people waiting behind them looked at Bloed''s group with stiff expressions.


    "... C-Can you repeat that, please?"


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TREON!!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 292: Academy City (2)

    Chapter 292: Academy City (2)


    " Hey, did you hear that?"


    "Two B-Ranks and one A-Rank? Crazy! And they are so young as well. God, that girl is a B-Rank practitioner when she is just fifteen!"


    "I heard that bing B-Rank before twenty is already enough to consider someone a genius. Are you telling me that we met three monsters more amazing than that here?"


    "Damn, I thought I was a genius because I was about to breakthrough to C-Rank before eighteen. What is with this disparity?"


    "Hey, don''t you think these girls are very pretty?"


    "They must be the descendants of some noble or something like that. What are people like them doing here anyway? Why did they not enter the city directly?"


    "Perhaps they want to cause amotion here?"


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying were a bit surprised by themotion they caused, but they remained calm.


    In fact, they already expected something like this. After all, Bloed and Liu Ying could be considered as top talents of their generation. Anybody would be surprised when they learn about their cultivation.


    Fortunately, Regina hid she was a demigod, otherwise, themotion would have been much worse.


    By the way, Regina''s age was indeed twenty, at least ording to her body. She had been created using the body of Cami''s daughter, who died at twenty years old and was frozen for four hundred years after that. Then, her body was modified to make her a Valkyrie, so physically, she is eternally twenty.


    When the young man processed Bloed and the girls'' words, his expression turned stiff. He hurriedly looked at Bloed''s group again, this time observing them carefully.


    Finally, he noticed the strangeness of the group. Of the three of them, two of them were girls. One was a stunning silver-haired girl, and another was a beautiful ck-haired demon.


    As for the young man, he was pretty handsome as well. Moreover, his eyes were very unique.


    His eyes seemed as though countless unknown runes were shing on them, creating a mysterious image that made the young man dazed.


    Just that nce was enough for the young man to notice that the group in front of him was not normal.


    "W-What did you say? B-Rank, A-Rank?"


    Bloed put on a gently smile and nodded, making the young man gulp down nervously.


    "I-I understand. Y-You are here to be students, don''t you?"


    "Of course. I think we need to pay a fee, right?"


    The young man nodded tensely. He could not be med, though. You must know that he was just a little D-Rank practitioner. To him, B-Rank practitioners and A-Rank practitioners were very powerful.


    Moreover, such young high-rank practitioners surely must have a powerful background. He did not believe someone like that did not have the backing of some powerful force.


    Bloed ignored the young man''s nervousness and smiled gently, making the young man rx a little bit. He then watched how Bloed took a bag of gold coins out of thin air, bing startled again.


    "S-Spatial artifact"


    "Sorry?"


    "N-No, it''s nothing. Y-Yes, I think this money is enough."


    "Great. When can we take the exam then?"


    "W-Wait a moment. Someone wille here soon. Right, I don''t know if you know the rules of the city."


    Bloed knew most of it, but he decided to hear the young man anyway. Who knows? Perhaps he could hear something he did not know.


    Seeing that Bloed and the two girls seemed pretty friendly, the young man rxed a lot more and started to exin.


    "A-Actually, Academy City is an academy in itself. As soon as you enter the city as a student, you can listen to hundreds of free lessons of your preference. However, if you want to hear better lessons or receive individual teaching, you will have to pay extra. Most nobles and rich students chose this option, whilemoners usually chose mostly free lessons, and some paid lessons of their preference."


    Bloed nodded. He already knew this information, so he was not too surprised.


    However, the next words of the young man interested him.


    "Every student will have to undergo a test each year to show his progress, and if your progress is foundcking, you will lose your identity as a student. Besides that, you can choose to inscribe in a club, or if you think you are good enough, create your own one."


    "A club?" Bloed tilted his head curiously.


    "Yes. Clubs are student-led organizations supervised by a teacher. They realize activities such as tournaments, mockbat, explorations, etc. Moreover, the strongest clubs of the city receive resources from the city each month, enough to cause envy." An expression of envy and longing appeared on the young man when he mentioned that.


    Bloed nodded silently and furrowed his brows.


    These clubs They seemed like the perfect ce to start his ns.


    ''Should I create my own club then?''


    At that moment, a twenty-something young man appeared. He walked towards Bloed and the others and patted the shoulder of the young man conversing with Bloed.


    "Send the next one."


    Let me!" Liu Ying raised her hand excitedly, making the young man turn towards her.


    As soon as he saw Liu Ying, his expression froze.


    All of sudden, he put on a ''suave'' expression and bowed towards Liu Ying as a gentleman.


    "To think I would have the honor to meet such a beautifuldy and talenteddy. Can I ask what is your name?"


    "Liu Ying."


    "Liu Ying, huh. What a beautiful name." The young man said with a romantic look that sent goosebumps on Bloed''s spine. " You are here to take the test, right? As your senior, let me tell you something. Normally, the test is very difficult. You are fortunate I''m the one testing you. I just broke through B-Rank, so nobody will mind if I go easy on you."


    "Really?" Liu Ying blinked with an innocent expression, making Bloed almost burst outughing.


    Even the young man that received Bloed''s group information and the people in the surroundings were looking at the neer as though he was a fool, although the young man failed to see it.


    Instead, he continued to stare at Liu Ying with a passionate expression that made Bloed want to kick his face.


    "Don''t worry. I don''t mind helping such a beautiful and talenteddy. Plus, I''m sure you will be as strong as me soon enough."


    "Thank you very much. You are a nice senior." Liu Ying smiled brightly, leaving the young man breathless.


    Only when the young man beside him coughed slightly he recovered hisposure and extended his hand.


    "Follow me, I''ll take you to the ce of the test."


    "Thank you very much."


    "I''m honored to help such a beautiful girl Right, I forgot to hear about your Mana Rank. What is it?"


    "My mana rank? It''s B-Rank as well."


    "B-Rank, huh. As expected of such a talenteddy." The young man said with an expression of admiration. But soon, that expression froze on his face.


    "... Wait a moment, you said B-Rank?"


    Liu Ying smiled brilliantly, but the young man could see a yful and teasing glint on her eyes.


    Finally, the young man realized that something was wrong.


    And for some reason, he felt cold sweat flowing down his spine.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 293: A Shocking Entrance Test (1)

    Chapter 293: A Shocking Entrance Test (1)


    "B-B-Rank?" The young man stuttered with a bit of cold sweat in his forehead. "A-Apologies, Miss Liu Ying, Can I ask how old you are?"


    "Fifteen. Why?" Liu Ying asked with a smirk.


    The young man''s expression turned stiff. He did not know how he should react.


    He could see the people aroundughing softly at him. After all, he bragged so much about how he just broke through B-Rank and how he was going to go easy on Liu Ying, and in the end, Liu Ying was at the B-Rank as well.


    Furthermore, anyone could see that Liu Ying was much younger than him. Although the young man did not state his age, judging from his appearance, he should be in his early twenties.


    Slightly embarrassed, the young man red at his surroundings with a fierce expression, making the peopleughing at him shut up.


    Then, he looked once more towards Liu Ying.


    "Miss Liu Ying, this"


    "Are we going to take the test or not?"


    "R-Right, sorry"


    Still with a stiff smile, the young man led Liu Ying towards the testing grounds. Bloed and Regina, who were also going to take the test, followed after them (Although the young man was so focused on Liu Ying that he did not pay attention to them).


    The tests were done in a small arena located at a side of the entrance. There were several stages one the arena, one after another, where the examiners could test the skills of the aspiring students.


    Actually, the test was nothing hard, and you could pass it as long as your mana rank reached D-Rank. The reason that it required a spar was that the city wanted to use this method to find talented students.


    Due to that, many of the clubs of the city sent some of their members to watch over the test. That way, if they noticed a talented neer they could immediately try to recruit him or her.


    When it was Liu Ying''s turn, she stood in front of the young man with an impish smile.


    "Senior, remember to go easy on me."


    " Please don''t joke with me, miss Liu Ying." The young man said with an awkward expression.


    In fact, he was cursing his luck right now. The fact that Liu Ying had reached B-Rank at such a young age meant she was not someone ordinary. There was a big probability that she practiced some powerful techniques.


    He, on the other hand, had just broken through B-Rank recently, and his new rank had not been stabilized yet. In other words, he was one of the weakest B-Ranks. If he was not careful, he could be easily defeated.


    If the news that he was defeated by a neer spread through the city, he did not know how he was going to face his friends from today onwards.


    He could only pray that Liu Ying did not have much battle experience and he could use that as the edge to win the battle.


    But as soon as the battle started, his hopes were dashed.


    Liu Ying stomped the ground, releasing her B-Rank Mana wildly and appearing in front of the young man in an instant!


    Clenching her right fist into a punch, she threw it towards the young man''s chest!


    Her speed was so fast that the young man could only cross his arms in front of his chest in answer. At the same time, he hurriedly used as much mana as he could to strengthen his defenses.


    But to his surprise, Liu Ying punch stopped an inch away from touching him.


    Then


    *BOOM!!!*


    His body was flung away at great speed, flying out from the stage immediately.


    It was a one-hit kill!


    "T-That is" Several of the people observing the battle were astonished.


    They looked at the young man lying on the ground, and then at the smiling Liu Ying, and gulped down in astonishment.


    "That girl"


    "B-Rank"


    "She defeated Mathew so easily. She can''t be a normal B-Rank"


    "How old is she? She doesn''t look older than eighteen"


    "Hurry up, get all her information! We need to recruit her before the other clubs!"


    Liu Ying ignored all of that. After defeating the young man in charge of testing her, she smiled softly and bowed.


    "Thank you for letting me win, senior."


    The young man''s expression was a bit ugly. However, facing Liu Ying''s mile, he could only do his best to hide his awkwardness and nod stiffly.


    In fact, he was sure Liu Ying had done it on purpose. But he was the one that tried to flirt with her first, so there was nothing he could do.


    "Y-You pass." He spat that out.


    Liu Ying smiled again before looking at Bloed with a smug expression.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. He never thought Liu Ying would be so vengeful.


    Although as her boyfriend, he felt happy about that.


    Plus, he thought it was not too bad. He was already prepared to attract attention once he reached Academy City. After all, what he nned to do was not something he could do quietly.


    '' Thinking about it, perhaps being a bit more forceful here will be good.''


    With these thoughts, Bloed went up the stage.


    His opponent was the same young man Liu Ying just fought. Right now, though, his expression was much uglier, and it was obvious he was in a horrendous mood.


    He had not been injured gravely by Liu Ying''s punch, mainly because Liu Ying held back. But even so, his pride had been wounded.


    He had been defeated by a neer! A girl much younger than him! In one blow!


    In fact, he was even emitting a bit of killing intent. It seemed like he wanted to vent out his frustration with the next examinee.


    "Name, age, and mana rank."


    When he saw Bloed go up the stage, the young man spoke up harshly with an expression that would have intimidated anyone weaker than him.


    Bloed, however, just smiled.


    "Bloed Norman, sixteen, B-Rank."


    The young man was stunned.


    ''Again!?'' He wanted to curse out loud. What was the probability of meeting two genius B-Ranks on the same day?


    Was he cursed by someone today?


    However, Bloed''s next words made him feel chills.


    "By the way, you should know that Liu Ying, the girl you were trying to hit up just now, is my girlfriend."


    The young man immediately stiffened.

 Chapter 294: A Shocking Entrance Test (2)

    Chapter 294: A Shocking Entrance Test (2)


    "G-Girlfriend" The young man''s expression waspletely stiff.


    He could swear he did not have bad intentions when he tried to hit up the demon girl. It was just the natural instinct of a man after seeing a beautiful girl.


    However, he ended offending a B-Rank genius girl and getting humiliated in public.


    And to make things worse, after he was beaten by the girl, her boyfriend appeared in front of him.


    Just by looking at Bloed''s smile, the young man knew Bloed did not have good intentions.


    "Bloed is it? S-So you are at B-Rank as well."


    "Yes, senior. You should go easy on me."


    The young man''s expression could not be stiffer.


    What did he do to deserve this!?


    Bloed, however, was not nning to make things too difficult for him.


    Of course, he was still a bit displeased that someone tried to hit up his girlfriend in front of him, so he nned to punish this young man slightly.


    "Then, are we going to start the test?" Bloed asked.


    The young man nodded. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and took a defensive stance.


    After his experience with Liu Ying, he knew that Bloed was probably stronger than him.


    Of course, it did not mean he nned to get beaten for nothing. In fact, he nned just to sh two or three times with Bloed and then dere that Bloed passed the test.


    He was taken by surprise when he faced Liu Ying, so he was defeated in a blow, but he was confident he couldst for a while if he gave his all.


    After all, Bloed was just a B-Rank like him. The difference in their strengths should not be too big.


    Bloed immediately understood the young man''s intentions when he saw his stance.


    However, he did not care.


    In fact, he thought it was a good opportunity. He could use this battle to test the results of one of the techniques he had been trainingtely.


    As soon as the battle started, the young man released his mana powerfully. He used it to create a film of mana around him and strengthen his defenses as much as he could!


    To his surprise, though, Bloed did not attack him immediately as Liu Ying did.


    Instead, he smiled.


    And took a step forward.


    [King''s Aura]!


    Psychic power surged out of Bloed''s body, turning into a power of will that surged towards the young man!


    Immediately, the young man turned pale. His eyes opened wide in fear, and his teeth ttered loudly.


    "Y-You W-What"


    In his eyes, Bloed seemed to have turned into an absolute king. A ruler of destruction that could end his life at any time.


    He could see how Bloed walked towards him calmly, step after step, as though everything was under his control.


    It seemed as though for Bloed he was nothing more than an ant.


    ''Move!!!'' He screamed loudly in his mind, trying to force his frozen body to move, but besides his arm that twitched slightly, his body did not obey him.


    The strange state of the young man surprised the observers. They looked at the look of fear and terror in the young man''s eyes with confused expressions.


    But when they saw Bloed walking calmly towards him, they understood who was the culprit.


    "That boy"


    "Another B-Rank"


    "And he did not seem older than the girl just now. Did theye together?"


    "It looks like two new geniuses arrived in the city today."


    Bloed ignored the gazes directed towards him. He just continued walking towards the young man with a rxed smile.


    Inwardly, though, he was pretty happy with the results of the technique. He had not grasped itpletely yet, but it could already show such power.


    Of course, part of the reason was that all his will was focused on the young man, but even so, the result was incredible.


    Finally, after his seventh step, Bloed arrived in front of the young man.


    When he saw the look of terror in the young man''s eyes, he felt a bit apologetic.


    With a small sigh, he patted the young man''s shoulders and stopped his technique.


    "You lost." He said.


    Instantly, the young man copsed on his knees.


    He started to gasp in fear, with his eyes and his hands shaking and sweat all around his body.


    He seemed on the verge of hyperventting.


    Bloed could not help but raise an eyebrow. It seemed like the effects of his new technique were stronger than he thought.


    Or perhaps the young man''s mental strength was much weaker than he expected.


    Still, the young man was a B-Rank practitioner. After gasping for several seconds, his expression returned to normal.


    Even so, when he looked at Bloed, his eyes filled with terror.


    "You"


    "Did I pass?"


    " Yes" The young man bit his lips and said, before leaving the stage with aplicated look.


    Bloed shrugged and left the stage as well.


    In fact, he felt a bit bad for the young man. Just a little bit, though. Not enough to prick his conscience.


    When he left the stage, Liu Ying was waiting for him with a wry smile.


    "I thought I was already impressive enough, but even I can''tpare to you. Defeating him with just a gaze? Really?"


    " To be honest, even I didn''t think it would be so effective."


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes in exasperation and pinched his arm. "What am I going to do with you? Can''t you let your girlfriend have the limelight for an instant?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and held her hand affectionally, making Liu Ying pout but effectively calming her down.


    While the pair flirted with each other, it was Regina''s turn to go up the stage.


    Surprisingly, her opponent was the young man again.


    Someone had asked the young man if he wanted to leave and rest, but he refused. He probably wanted to keep hisst bit of pride remaining.


    When the young man saw how beautiful Regina was, his expression stiffened.


    " You will not tell me you are a B-Rank as well, right?"


    "Of course not, don''t worry," Regina said with a gentle smile.


    But just when the young man sighed in relief, Regina continued.


    "I''m already at A-Rank. And the young man that just beat you is my lover and master."


    The young man was sure today was the unluckiest day in his life.


    ....


    With a bit of luck, I''ll post another chapterte tonight...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 295: An Acquaintance

    Chapter 295: An Acquaintance


    Sorry, busy recently. Three chapters right now, perhaps some moreter or tomorrow...


    ...


    In the end, another person ended recing the young man for Regina''s battle.


    Regina was a bit disappointed, making Bloed not to know whether tough or to cry. It was a bit strange when his girlfriend wanted to beat a man that flirted with his other girlfriend.


    At the same time, Bloed thought the young man was pitiful. He was just trying to hit up a beautiful girl, but he ended being beaten by two B-Ranks and almost receiving a beating from an A-Rank.


    Regina''s duel was unsuspenseful. The person that tested her was a B-Rank youngdy, who gave her a pass after receiving one of Regina''s attacks.


    The girl was fortunate that Regina was not interested in beating her, so she was not humiliated like the young man. Due to that, when the duel ended the girl was looking at Regina as though she was her idol.


    Unfortunately for her, Regina waspletely uninterested in her. She ignored the girl''s shy attempt to start a conversation with her and walked immediately towards Bloed and Liu Ying.


    After the three battles, Bloed''s group was led to the second part of the test.


    This part was even simpler. They just needed to stand inside a magic formation that would scan their bodies to verify that the information they gave when they registered was true.


    This magic formation was designed to scan the bone age of the people, and ording to Bloed''s knowledge, it was highly precise. Although it was notpletely foolproof, it was more than enough to be used here.


    Nothing went wrong when Bloed and the others were scanned, making Bloed sigh in relief inwardly.


    To be honest, he was a bit afraid that the scan would give some strange data about Regina and him. After all, Regina was a Valkyrie, and her body was notpletely human. As for him, he had gone through a Body Enhancement Surgery, so his body was slightly different than a normal human as well.


    Fortunately, his fears were unfounded. It seemed that the array was not good enough to detect the peculiarities of Bloed and Regina''s bodies.


    "With this, your registration as students of Academy City has been sessful." A twenty-something years old elf girl, who had taken over their registration after the battle test, spoke up with a smile.


    Bloed was slightly surprised.


    "Already? Just like this?"


    "Just like this." The elf girl nodded in confirmation. "Wait a moment. I will give you your identity cards soon. You need to carry it at every moment when inside the city, without exception. If it''s found that you left your residence without your identity card, you could receive a punishment."


    "What is the use of the Identity Card?" Liu Ying asked.


    "It''s used everywhere in this city. You need it to register in a ss, to use the city''s facilities, and to buy a residence. Besides, there is a magic array around the city that tracks the location of the card. In case an incident happens, the magic array allows the city to know what people were nearby at that moment of the incident and use that information to resolve the case more easily."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. Does it mean someone could track him at any time?


    As though feeling Bloed''s doubts, the elf girl smiled apologetically.


    "I understand your worries, but it''s something necessary to guarantee the safety of the city. Thanks to this system, Academy City is one of the safest cities in the continent despite its incredibly high poption. Plus, the card can only track your approximate location and will not invade your privacy in any way."


    Bloed hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.


    Well, he understood where the girl wasing. Certainly, this system could make people warier ofmitting crimes. After all, they could be discovered with more ease.


    Although if someone truly wanted to do something bad, he just needed to leave its card behind, and it could create the perfect alibi.


    Thinking about it this way, this mechanism was a double-edged sword.


    While Bloed and the others were waiting for the card, a group of people led by a lionkin boy and a catkin girl approached them.


    "Big brother Bloed, you are here!"


    Looking in direction of the voice, Bloed saw the lionkin boy smiling brightly with Aya and his bodyguards following after him.


    "Prince Calisto, Aya. Were you waiting for us?"


    "Actually, we are waiting for our identity cards as well. Right, I heard that two B-Rank neers beat the person in charge of the test twice. It was Miss Liu Ying and you, right?"


    Looking at the bright and excited eyes of the lionkin prince, Bloed did not know how to react.


    Such pure and innocent admiration was hard for Bloed to ept.


    Even Liu Ying seemed a bit awkward with the young Prince''s gaze. She blushed slightly and looked away.


    "It looks like the news about us already spread." Bloed smiled wryly.


    "Yes. A lot of people were talking about it outside."


    Aya nodded expressionlessly. For some reason, though, Bloed thought she seemed a bit envious.


    Could it be she wanted to do the same as well?


    Actually, Aya was envious that Bloed and Liu Ying were recognized as a couple due to that battle. All the people spreading the rumor were talking about a couple of a human and a demon that beat the examiner because he tried to flirt with the demon girl.


    Aya thought that it was rather romantic, and she was a bit envious that it was not her in Liu Ying''s position instead. Of course, there was no way that she going to tell Bloed about that.


    The group did not have to wait for much before their identity cards were ready. Less than fifteen minutester, they had it in their hands.


    "Remember to report it immediately if you lose your identity card, so we can sever its connection from the array as soon as possible. Believe me, many people have lost their identity cards and then suddenly discovered they are being used of a crime they did not have the slightest idea of."


    Bloed and the others nodded. That seemed like something that could happen.


    "Right." The elf girl spoke up again before the group could leave, stopping them. "Take this." She said giving a small card to each one of them.


    Curious, Bloed looked at it and saw something written on it.


    [Martial Arts Club].


    "This is?"


    "An invitation to the Martial Arts Club. The Martial Arts Club is the fourth-ranked club in Academy City, with seven A-Ranks and tens of B-Ranks on it. Moreover, the teacher in charge is a demigod! The three of you are very talented, and we will be more than happy of epting you."


    Bloed was startled. Was she recruiting them? Just like that?


    But not even three seconds after the girl gave them the cards, a voice came from the entrance.


    "Bah! Ilia, how dare you to try to fool the neers! Your Martial Arts Club is just the fourth-ranked club! How can itpare to our [Genius Society] ranked second?"


    "Alex! What are you doing here!"


    "Stopping you from fooling the neers!" A young man said and looked at Bloed and the others with a gentle expression. "Mr. Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, and Miss Regina, right? Don''t listen to her. If you want to enter a club, our [Genius Society] is your best option. The best geniuses of the entire city are in it."


    "Oh? So Alex is already here. Are you thinking of recruiting the neers before us?" A new voice sounded at that moment, this time an elegant girl that seemed like a refined youngdy. "You should stop dreaming. Our [Eternal Dream] will take the neers this time."


    "Diana, so you also came." Ilia, the elf girl, narrowed her eyes with a sharp expression. "You should stop dreaming. [Eternal Dream] is ranked sixth, why do you think they should go to your ce?"


    "Hmph! The only reason we are ranked sixth is that our leader and sub-leaders left on an expedition. If they were here, how can your clubspare to us!"


    "You... Let''s see what club is better right now then!"


    "Hmph! I don''t mind teaching you a lesson!"


    In an instant, the atmosphere was filled with killing intent.


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and the others, looked at each other in confusion. What in the hell was it?


    Bloed could see they seemed to have the intention of recruiting them. However, they seemed a bit too eager about getting them on their clubs.


    Moreover, Bloed could see that more and more people were arriving, most likely with the intention of recruiting them as well.


    Immediately, he felt a headacheing. At the same time, he noticed Regina frowning and Liu Ying smiling with a strained expression.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. But when he was about to speak up and reject them politely, a new voice came from the entrance.


    "Sigh, what kind ofmotion is it? Where do you think you are? A market?"


    As soon as that voice sounded, it was as though a powerful magic spell descended on the ce.


    Immediately, everybody shut up and looked towards the owner of the voice in surprise.


    There, a middle-aged man dressed elegantly and with a gentle expression appeared.


    Bloed could not help but be surprised when he saw him. Because this middle-aged man''s aura was as strong as a demigod.


    He could not believe he met a demigod after entering the city for less of half-an-hour.


    The middle-aged man ignored the people in the room after speaking. He looked towards Bloed''s group and smiled slightly, walking straight toward them.


    "Long time no see you, Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, Miss Liu Ying. Wee to Academy City."


    Huh?


    Bloed tilted his head confused.


    " Who are you?"

 Chapter 296: Dragon Headmistress

    Chapter 296: Dragon Headmistress


    At the same time, in the centermost part of Academy City.


    A huge tower rose over the rest of the buildings of the city, filled with a majesty that astounded all the people that saw it for the first time.


    This tower was called the [Great Library] and was perhaps the most famous building in the entire city.


    However, the fame of this tower did note only from the countless books containing endless knowledge inside, or the powerful people that inhabited it, using this tower as their ce of seclusion.


    No, a great part of the fame of this tower came from the person that owned it.


    The Headmistress.


    She was the maximum authority in Academy City. A powerful demigod that founded this city from scratch, in the center of the continent, and managed to keep the ideals of the city despite the pressure of the five big races surrounding it.


    In Academy City, this person was a legend. Her words were like the words of a god.


    And today, a guest arrived at this tower.


    A golden-haired fox girl, with a doll-like beauty and an expressionless face that made her even more stunning.


    She did not bother to enter through the door. Instead, she flew straight towards the top floor of the tower, going through the walls as though they did not exist.


    Surprisingly, nobody in the tower noticed the intruder. None of the defensive arrays, surveince arrays, or demigods guarding the tower detected her arrival.


    Save for one person.


    "You sure are an unusual visitor, Eve."


    A soft voice resounded in the top of the tower, reaching at Eve''s ears as soon as she put a foot on it.


    "Wave," Eve mentioned the name of the owner of that voice with an expressionless look. Those who know her, though, could notice she was in a very good mood right now.


    "It looks like your personality has not changed even a little since thest time we met." The woman called Wave turned around to face Eve with a smile.


    Wave was incredibly beautiful, with caramel-colored hair descending until her waist and a pair of caramel eyes that seemed to see through the soul itself.


    She carried herself with a schrly aura, and the book in her hand showed how much she loved to learn about the world. Her slightly pointy ears added a touch of grace to her already otherworldly beauty, making someone that did not know well to think she was an elf.


    The truth, however, was that she belonged to apletely different race.


    Dragons.


    The rulers of the monsters and beasts, known for their violence and savagery, and for many people, the strongest race in the entire world.


    Nobody could associate the delicate and schrly girl in front of Eve as a dragon, though. In fact, only the amber jewel-like scale on her forehead and the three small and beautiful scales in each of her cheeks gave away her identity.


    "I must admit that when I heard that you threw away your position as Saintess to run away, I did not believe it. However, it looks like it''s true." Wave said with a risen eyebrow and an amused smile.


    " I was already tired of these old men. They only know how to talk about responsibilities and how I must behave with propriety. They are so boring."


    Seeing the slightly exasperated expression in her usually expressionless friend, Wave could not help but giggle.


    "Yeah, I''m sure that you must be having a difficult time as Saintess considering your personality."


    "I do Unfortunately, I can''t be like you. Life here must be great."


    Wave could not help but smile awkwardly when she heard that.


    Immediately, a small frown appeared on Eve''s expressionless face.


    Even though she had not seen her friend in a long time, Wave was one of the few people in the world she cherished.


    Due to that, she immediately noticed that her dragon friend was troubled by something.


    "What is wrong?" Eve decided to ask.


    Wave''s smile turned bitter.


    "Lately, more and more spies have been entering Academy City. Moreover, the number of nobles from the five races studying here has increased drastically in thest five years"


    Eve''s gaze turned sharp.


    "Do you mean?"


    "... Let''s not talk about it now, okay?" Wave smiled wryly and waved her hand, deciding not to burden her friend with her worries. "Tell me the truth, what are you doing here? I know you well, Eve. Even though you don''t like burdensome things, you are someone very responsible. Something like escaping from your responsibilities is not like you."


    " So you noticed."


    "Of course, just like you noticed that I was troubled. We are friends, after all. Then, what is it?"


    Eve hesitated slightly before finally deciding to reveal a part of the reason.


    " I''m here to observe someone."


    "Huh?"


    "A young man. My goddess and the Goddess of Fate seem very interested in him. I''m not sure of the reason, but the goddess told me to keep an eye on him and help him if it''s necessary, as long as it does not interfere with his growth."


    Wave was stunned. But one secondter, she narrowed her eyes.


    Immediately, she extended her hand, and one of the thousands of books on the topmost floor flew towards her hand.


    She then opened it and started to search between its pages.


    Not even three secondster, she arrived at one of the pages.


    And surprisingly, it contained a lot of information about Bloed, who just entered the city.


    "Bloed Norman, sixteen years old, B-Rank. Has shown one of the greatest levels of talent of this generation. Proficient in sabersmanship and a strange kind of golem-making technique. It''s rumored he killed more than ten A-Rank and B-Rank practitioners with just one sh of his saber. Moreover, he could be rted to the Skysword royal family."


    " As always, your informationwork is astonishing."


    "A lot of people owe me favors around the world. Plus, this boy is a very notorious one. I did not expect him toe to Academy City, though."


    As soon as these words let Wave''s mouth, Eve huffed and pouted.


    Wave could not help butugh seeing that.


    "It looks like you failed to retain him in the beastmen countries, huh But, this boy surely looks interesting Hmm Should I pay him a visit?"


    Eve''s gaze turned sharp.


    "Don''t mess with him. He is part of Moonlight Glow."


    Wave was taken aback. But then, she giggled like someone that just saw an amusing toy.


    "I''ll think about it."


    At the same time, in another part of the city.


    A young girl woke up from her nap.


    As soon as the girl woke up, her eyes lit up in excitement. She then jumped down from her bed and rushed out of her room with her honey-colored hair waving behind her.


    "Sister, sister, he is here!"


    "Gina? What is wrong?" A second girl looked at the honey-haired girl in surprise.


    Different from the delicate and sweet appearance of the first girl, the second girl seemed like a seasoned warrior. Her ck hair was cut short, something she did recently, and her slightly tanned skin revealed how harsh she was in her own training.


    "Why are you so excited all of sudden?" The ck-haired girl asked her younger sister in confusion.


    "Sister, he is here! Finally, he is here! I saw it in my dreams!"


    "Him? What do you mean?"


    But then, the ck-haired girl''s eyes opened wide in realization.


    "Wait a moment. Do you mean"


    "Yes, sister. Our hero is here!"

 Chapter 297: Classes and Clubs

    Chapter 297: sses and Clubs


    Inside a small caf in Academy City, a group was seated around a table.


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Prince Calisto were seated at a side of the table, looking with astonishment at the middle-aged man across them.


    Aya and Prince Calisto were astonished by the fact he was a demigod. They were surprised that Bloed had ties with still another demigod.


    In fact, Aya realized she had met several demigods since the day she met Bloed.


    But when she thought about the fact that Regina, a demigod, was Bloed''s lover and servant, she stopped finding it strange.


    '' I think it''s normal if it''s Bloed, huh''


    As for Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, they were surprised by the identity of the middle-aged man.


    "Let me see if I understood." Liu Ying said with a weird look on her face. "Are you saying you are Chorius? The demigod bird we met in the Exiled Lands?"


    "I am." The middle-aged man said with a gentle look.


    "But, how? I thought you said you could not leave the Exiled Lands. And since when did you be human?"


    "I''m not human and I have not left the exilednds," Chorius exined. "What are you seeing is just a clone I created and shaped like a human. My real body is still in the exilednds."


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other surprised.


    After all, Chorius''s exnation about creating a clone and making it to take human form was very astonishing.


    ording to Bloed''s knowledge and his experience studying magic runes, magic was not something supernatural or illogical. Quite the opposite, magic followed a certain set of rules.


    And these rules could not defy thews of physics.


    When you created a fireball, you were didn''t create it from nothing. Instead, you used the mana inside you or in the environment as the source of energy and used magic runes to make it generate a phenomenon.


    That was the reason Bloed was surprised. Even though it should not be impossible to create a clone and shape it like a human, it should be incredibly hard. At the very least, he was unable to imagine a kind of magic that could turn a bird into a human.


    In the end, he was unable to resist his curiosity.


    "How did you do that?"


    "Do you mean how I created the clone or how did I give it human shape?" Chorius asked as though he expected Bloed to ask him about it. "Creating a human body was not hard. Well, it is not truly a human body. It''s just a manifestation of energy with a human shape. It doesn''t have internal organs. Unfortunately, I don''t have enough knowledge to create a perfect human body. I heard that dragons can polymorph perfectly, but I don''t know how they do that.


    "As for the clone. It was much harder. I split my soul into two, leaving a part with my main body and putting the other in this vessel. Of course, both souls are still ''me'', so the two bodies can share what they see and learn."


    Bloed could not help but look at Chorius in awe.


    He had already realized it when they met in the Exiled Lands, but Chorius''s knowledge when it came to magic was truly astounding. It was something Bloed admired and envied.


    "Hey Chorius, how did you know we were here?" Liu Ying asked at that moment.


    "Well, I heard the news about two talented B-Ranks and an A-Rank entering the city. Curious, I asked about their information only to realize they were talking about the three of you. When I realized that, I decided toe here and wee you. I never expected to find so many clubs trying to recruit you, though."


    "Yeah, you saved us there." Bloed smiled wryly.


    "Hahaha, don''t worry about that. I was just helping a friend."


    "Still, these people were really crazy about making us join their clubs." Liu Ying said with a slightly frightened look. She could not understand why they seemed so determined to make them join a club.


    "Well,petition between clubs here is Academy City is really fierce," Chorius exined with a slight shake of his head. "You don''t understand because you just arrived, but in this city, the top clubs receive advantages and resources that even I am envious of. Due to that, students fight teeth to teeth to increase the ranking of their club and get more advantages. What do you think will happen if they learn that three very talented seeds unaffiliated to any club just reached the city?"


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other with wry smiles.


    "Right, did you decide what sses you are going to choose? How about the clubs? Will you join any?" Chorius suddenly asked.


    Bloed''s group shook their heads. They just reached the city, so there were a lot of things they did not know yet.


    "Do you have any advise, Chorius?"


    "Mm The sses are simple. I don''t think you are interested in things like politics or liberal arts, so we will ignore those. Miss Liu Ying should go for closebat rted sses and some about mana control and cultivation. Bloed''s situation is a bit more unique, but I think you are probably interested in the magic-rted sses, right? I remember you were very interested in magic runes."


    Bloed nodded. Certainly, he used psychic power, so most of thebat techniques taught here were useless for him. However, he was very interested in magic runes.


    He could also try to find some sses rted to soul power. Who knows? Perhaps he could find something good.


    When he saw Bloed and Liu Ying nodded to his rmendations, Chorius continued.


    "Your cat friend is an assassin-like fighter, right? There are also many sses suitable for her in the city, and the young lionkin should focus on mana-control-rted sses. Finally, Miss Regina"


    Chorius paused abruptly when he reached here and looked at Regina with an awkward expression.


    "To be honest, I don''t think the teachers here can teach you anything. You should instead be a teacher yourself and give your own lectures."


    "No, thank you. I''m happy following master."


    "If you are happy with that." Chorius shrugged indifferently.


    "What about clubs?" Liu Ying asked.


    "Clubs, huh." Chorius put on a pensive expression and looked at the group. "If you don''t mind, what abouting with me? Actually, I''m the teacher in charge of one of the city''s clubs."


    "Huh? You are in charge of a club? How is it called?"


    A mischievous smile appeared on Chorius''s face.


    "[Knowledge Seekers]."


    Bloed nodded softly. But suddenly, he realized something strange.


    For some reason, Aya and Prince Calisto were looking at Chorius with weird gazes.

 Chapter 298: Knowledge Seekers (1)

    Chapter 298: Knowledge Seekers (1)


    Four chapters here... So sleepy..


    ...


    On the way to Chorius''s club, Bloed noticed that Aya and Prince Calisto were behaving strangely. It was as though They were about to meet something dangerous?


    Their strange behavior was so obvious that Liu Ying and Regina also noticed it. In the end, Liu Ying could not help but pull the cat girl''s sleeve.


    "Aya, what is wrong?"


    Aya did not reply immediately. She instead looked stealthily towards the front of the group, where Chorius was, before speaking with a soft tone that Bloed and Liu Ying barely heard.


    "Actually, I know a bit about Mr. Chorius''s Club."


    "Is anything wrong with it?"


    " I''m not sure, but I heard the people there are crazy." Aya said after a bit of hesitation.


    Bloed and Liu Ying were startled.


    "Crazy? What do you mean?" Liu Ying asked.


    "As I told you, I''m not sure," Aya shook her head. "Father gave me a rundown about the most important clubs in Academy City beforeing, and he mentioned [Knowledge Seekers] on it. He said that they are a group made of crazy people that pursue the truth of magic, and apparently, they make all kinds of experiments, even experiments in people." By the end of her speech, Aya was slightly pale.


    "She is right." Prince Calisto intervened at that moment with a look of fear. "I even heard they kidnap people for their experiment!"


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina Put on slightly weird expressions.


    Instinctively, Liu Ying nced at Bloed, aware of the fact he used living people for his experiments just a few days ago.


    " It can''t be so bad, right?" She could not help but say.


    "Of course not," Chorius replied from the front. "We are not a kind of evil cult or anything like that."


    "M-Mr. Chorius!" Aya and Prince Calisto jumped in surprise, making the bird demigod (in the shape of a human) chuckle slightly.


    "Why are you surprised? I''m a demigod. Obviously, I can hear your conversation."


    Aya and Prince Calisto blushed in shame.


    Fortunately, Chorius did not take their words seriously and just exined with a smile.


    "We indeed experiment in living people, but it''s always with their consent. Plus, these experiments are generally very safe, like testing the power or effects of a spell. As for the rumor about us kidnapping people, that is nothing more than a stupid lie. Academy City will definitively not allow something like that."


    Aya and Prince Calisto smiled awkwardly.


    However, Bloed thought that their words were a good way to know what to expect.


    After all, rumors exist due to something. Even if it''s exaggerated that they kidnap people for their experiments, it''s probably true that they are a bit crazy.


    And Bloed was increasingly sure of his predictions when he saw the building of the club.


    A big, wide, and beautiful building, with several young men and women going in and out of it each minute.


    At first sight, it seemed like a nice club.


    Save by the fact it waspletely isted. There were at least fifty or so meters until the nearest building.


    Moreover, when people walked near to the building, they hurried their steps, as though afraid of somethinging out of it and eating them alive.


    Bloed was speechless when he saw that. No matter how he looked at it, this club was not normal.


    "It''s my club," Chorius said with a warm smile. "Nice, right? I''m sure you will like it. It''s ranked sixteen in the city, so it''s definitively a top choice if you want to choose a club."


    Bloed and the others were about to agree. But at that moment


    *BOOM!!!*


    An explosion came from inside the building.


    Bloed and the others were startled. Before they could react, a ball of mes burst out of the building followed by the screams of pain and fear of several young men.


    "Hurry up! Stop the fire!"


    "We need to extinguish the mes!"


    "My arm! Help!"


    "Vice-president! Someone fainted here!"


    "We have several injured!"


    Bloed and the others watched agape as a lot of young men rushed out of the building, filled with dust and injuries of varying degrees.


    Most astonishingly, the people inside the club seemed already used to it. In fact, the way they went about treating the injured seemed as though it was not the first time something like this happened.


    "M-Mr. Chorius, w-what was that?" Prince Calisto asked nervously.


    The middle-aged man smiled awkwardly before coughing and calling out to someone.


    "Andre! Come here!"


    "Huh?" A young man in the crowd lifted his face and looked in Chorius''s direction. He then left whatever he was doing and came running towards here excitedly.


    "Teacher! You are here! Mm? They are?"


    "Neers. I was going to introduce the club to them."


    "Neers!" Andre''s face lit up immediately. "That is great! Many of our members were injured in recent experiments, so we are short-handed right now! As expected, teacher knows what we need!"


    Bloed and the others could not help but twitch their lips when they heard that.


    For some reason, they got the feeling the young man was looking at them as materials for his experiments.


    "You are" Bloed could not help but ask.


    "My name is Andre, nice to meet you. I''m the vice-president of the club."


    "I see," Bloed put on a strained smile. "By the way, are you alright?"


    The young man was startled. But soon, he seemed to realize something.


    He looked at his left arm, which had been dangling powerlessly all this time, and smiled gently. "Don''t worry, things like this happen all the time. It will be fine in a few days." He then took a suspicious vial from somewhere in his clothes and drank it.


    " A potion?" Liu Ying asked curiously. "Are you an alchemist?"


    "I am," Andre said proudly. "This potion was something I created personally. It dumbs the pain, fatigue, and sleepiness, plus improves concentration and invigorates the body. I don''t want to brag, but I have not slept for one week and I still feel as new... Just a slight asional headache."


    Liu Ying''s expression stiffened.


    Not just her. Aya and Prince Calisto were also looking at the vice-president with slightly scared looks.


    Even Bloed could not help but take a step back.


    He admitted he sometimes went too far with his research, but even he was not so crazy.


    Perhaps feeling that Bloed and the others were going to run away at this rate, Chorius coughed and changed the topic.


    "Anyway, can you exin to me what happened?"


    "About that We were experimenting with the [Explosion] spell just now. We wanted to increase its power and reduce its area of effect at the same time. Unfortunately, we were unsessful. This time, the spell went out of control and injured some members. But you don''t need to worry, something like this is normal. They will be alright after some days."


    Once more, the group cringed.


    So a spell going out of control and injuring several students was normal? What was abnormal then?


    Andre, however, waspletely oblivious to the group''s thoughts. Instead, his face suddenly lit up in anticipation.


    "By the way, do you want to see the spell? Come with me, I''ll take you to theboratory. You can take this opportunity to see the facilities of the club."


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Prince Calisto looked at each other with awkward expressions.


    "I-I''m not feeling very well right now, maybeter?" Prince Calisto took a step back.


    " I-I need to protect the prince, so I can''t go right now." Aya looked away.


    "There is no way I''m entering that crazy ce." Liu Ying was more direct, refusing immediately.


    In the end, the vice-president directed his gaze full of anticipation to Bloed. Moreover, Chorius also looked at Bloed with a simr gaze.


    Sighing, Bloed decided to risk it.


    "Okay, I''m going with you. Will youe with me, Regina?"


    "Of course. I can''t leave master alone in such a dangerous ce."


    Bloed thought he saw Chorius look away when Regina said that.


    "It''s not so dangerous, you will be fine."


    Bloed was notpletely sure about that.

 Chapter 299: Knowledge Seekers (2)

    Chapter 299: Knowledge Seekers (2)


    Despite how crazy the club seemed, Bloed had to admit its facilities were amazing.


    From theboratories to the testing grounds, each ce of the building was of the highest grade. Worthy of being the headquarters of one of the top clubs in Academy City.


    But at the same time, Bloed realized why the people of this club were considered crazy.


    Many of theboratories seemed like theirs of mad scientists, with strange potions and parts of animals lying around everywhere.


    Even the ssical eye in a bottle could be seen. When Bloed asked Andre about it, Andre told him it was the eye of a basilisk, a monster that had the ability to petrify its victims with its gaze.


    Finally, Chorius and Andre led Bloed and Regina to the room containing the spell that caused the incident just now.


    "It''s the spell," Andre said while pointing at a magic circle in front of Bloed. "As you can see, we modified the [Explosion] spell a little bit, but the results we got were worse than we expected.


    Bloed nodded and started to study the magic circle.


    As Andre said, he could recognize the spell as the typical [Explosion] spell, however, many parts of it were different. In fact, there were several runes Bloed could not recognize.


    However, the idea behind the spell was understandable. It detonated mana to create a powerful explosion and use it to injure the enemies.


    "What is the problem?" Bloed could not help but ask.


    "The effects of the spell. The [Explosion] spell is very powerful, but the area it affects is too wide. Due to that, you can''t use it in urban zones or when there are allies nearby, diminishing its utility greatly."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. The destructiveness of the spell was the reason it was so popr. He could not understand why he wanted to modify it.


    As though understanding Bloed''s confusion, Andre smiled proudly. "If we seed, it means we will make the spell much easier to use. Imagine, the destruction of the [Explosion] spell, but the control of a [Fireball]. Using it inbat will be amazing!"


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded.


    He was a bit of a crazy scientist himself, but even he could not deal easily with Andre''s enthusiasm.


    "Unfortunately, we have been unable to seed. To be honest, I''m already out of ideas." Andre sighed disappointedly before looking at Chorius. "Teacher, can you help me? I have been stuck here for a few days already."


    "Hmm" Chorius put a hand on his chin and stared at the magic circle for several seconds. Afterward, he smiled and looked at Bloed.


    "What do you think, Bloed? Do you have any idea?"


    "Huh? Him?" Andre looked at Bloed in surprise, but Bloed just focused on the magic circle.


    " Actually, it''s not as though there is no way to make the [Explosion] spell more controble, but it will make it much moreplicated as well. It''s not worth the change."


    "Oh?" Chorius smiled yfully and nodded. "You are right. What do you suggest then?"


    "Simple. Change the nature of the explosion. Instead of detonating the mana, we can ignite and expand it, creating a ball of fire in ce of an explosion. And because the mana is not being detonated, the shockwave it causes will be much weaker. Something like that, I think."


    Chorius gazed at Bloed for a few seconds before chuckling.


    "What do you think, Andre?"


    "That is possible. Right, if we change the rune ''detonate'' for the rune ''ignite'', we can reduce the shockwave No, the rune ''ignite'' by itself will diminish greatly the power of the spell Is that the reason behind the rune ''expand''? But even so" Andre muttered to himself with an expression of wonder. Then, he red towards Bloed and grabbed his hand firmly. "Bloed, right? You must definitivelye to this club! I will not ept a no for an answer!"


    "About that" Bloed looked at Andre with an awkward smile.


    At that moment, someone suddenly barged in theboratory.


    "Andre, where are you!?"


    "Shit! The dogs of the headmistress are here!"


    "Who are you calling a dog!?" A young man entered theboratory with a livid expression. "You! It has not been even two days since thest incident! What is with this explosion!?"


    "Hahahaha, sorry sorry, it was just an incident. It will not happen again."


    "You said the samest time! Do you know that the students of the city are afraid of approaching this ce!? Where is your president, I need to talk with him!"


    "The president is busy with an important experiment"


    "Is that experiment more important than the fact your building was almost destroyed again!?"


    Andre''s expression turned awkward.


    Only at that moment, the young man that just arrived realized Bloed, Chorius, and Regina''s presence. He wrinkled his brows when he saw Bloed and Regina, but when he saw Chorius, his expression turned respectful.


    "Teacher, you are here."


    "Hahaha, Roya, it looks like you have it hard."


    "Is it not due to your club?" The young man, Roya, said with an exasperated expression. "Do you know how many incidents rted to your club the sentinels attend each month?"


    Chorius''s expression was a bit awkward, probably because he was aware of how troublemaker his students were. He then looked at Bloed and Regina with a forced smile.


    "The two of you, what do you think about following me to see the rest of the club?"


    Roya frowned. "Teacher, are you going to fool another two students? Hey, you two,ing to this club is suicide!"


    Chorius''s face stiffened.


    Bloed wanted to burst outughing, but he forced himself to keep a straight face.


    Actually, he found Andre and Chorius''s personalities rather likable. Of course, he did not think he could deal with their craziness each day.


    However, they seemed like good candidates as friends.


    After that, Bloed and Regina followed Chorius to the rest of the building, leaving Andre inside theboratory as Roye scolded him.


    The two of them seemed very familiar with the scolding, though. Probably because they were used to it already.


    After they finished the tour around the building, Chorius smiled at Bloed.


    "Then, Bloed, what do you think about the club? Are you going to join it? I''m not sure about Miss Liu Ying or your other friends, but I''m confident this ce is perfect for you."


    Bloed smiled wryly. To be honest, he liked it here a lot.


    However


    "I''m sorry, I will have to decline."


    "I see," Chorius said with a soft smile, as though he already expected it.


    He did not ask about the reason, neither he continued insisting. Instead, he smiled gently and nodded.


    "Well, I hope you can visit us asionally at least. I''m sure you are alright with that, right?"


    "I am."

 Chapter 300: A Cry of Help

    Chapter 300: A Cry of Help


    "Master, why did you not agree? It seemed like you liked the ce."


    As soon as Bloed and Regina left the headquarters of [Knowledge Seekers], Regina asked that.


    "I liked it," Bloed replied with a wry smile. "I probably would have agreed if I don''t have a goal already."


    "But I think that is a good ce to start spreading technology, master."


    "Perhaps." Bloed nodded. "However, [Knowledge Seekers] is a club that focuses on discovering the truths about magic. If I want to aplish my goal through that club, I will have to reform itpletely, and it will take a very long time."


    "I see." Regina nodded in understanding. "Will you then form your own club?"


    "I''m not sure yet." Bloed shrugged. "Perhaps I''ll find a small club and turn it into what I need. It depends on the circumstances."


    "Well, I''ll support you no matter what you do, master."


    " I know that. Perhaps I would have not reached here if not for you."


    "Master" Regina smiled sweetly. She then extended her hand, grabbing Bloed''s hand and looking at him with a shy smile.


    Her smile was so beautiful that Bloed was briefly stunned.


    " God, you are so dangerous. I thought my heart would stop."


    " You are learning to please women quickly, master." Regina said with a slight snort, but her cheeks were dyed with a slight red.


    It was obvious she was rather pleased.


    Unfortunately, their intimate moment was quickly interrupted by an exasperated voice.


    "Can you two please stop flirting in public? I feel awkward when I have to watch that And jealous as well"


    "Hmph. You are just envious master pays more attention to me, demon."


    "That is not right!"


    "Really? We slept together each night. What about you?"


    Liu Ying was speechless. She looked at Regina and gritted her teeth angrily.


    "Dammit! Bloed, we need to do that as well, now!"


    "... Liu Ying, calm down. It''s not something you should decide rashly." Bloed sighed with a wry smile. "Also, did you realize other people are hearing our conversation?"


    Liu Ying was stunned. Immediately, she turned around like a broken robot, only to see Aya and Prince Calisto blushing deeply and the bodyguards of Prince Calisto looking away with awkward expressions.


    Immediately, her expression beet red.


    Fortunately, Bloed was considerate of his girlfriend. He grabbed her hand softly to calm her down and shifted the topic to alleviate her embarrassment.


    "Right, what did you do while we were away?"


    "Nothing much." Prince Calisto replied quickly. "We just observed the surroundings while waiting for the two of you."


    "Nn Bloed, will you join to [Knowledge Seekers]?"


    "No." Bloed replied to the cat girl before looking at the rest of the group. "I don''t think that is the ce for me. I probably will create my own club from scratch or something like that."


    "Really? That sounds amazing! Can I join!?" Prince Calisto asked with shining eyes.


    "Of course you can. Although I don''t know if you will like it."


    "It will surely be amazing if big brother Bloed creates it."


    " Nn. I want to join as well." Aya stated with an enthusiast look.


    Bloed smiled wryly. He was a bit overwhelmed by the two beastmen''s feelings.


    He was about to agree when one of the bodyguards spoke up.


    "Your highness, I don''t think that is appropriate."


    "Hm? Why?"


    "Your father asked you to go with the [Beasts Brotherhood], remember?"


    Prince Calisto and Aya froze. An instantter, the little prince frowned.


    "I will not go there. I don''t know anyone there anyway."


    "But your highness, the [Beasts Brotherhood] is"


    "It''s decided. If I said I will not go there, and I will not go there!"


    "Your highness..."


    The bodyguard looked at Prince Calisto with a helpless look, however, the lionkin prince did not budge.


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying looked at each other with confused expressions.


    "Beast Brotherhood? What is that?" Liu Ying could not help but ask.


    "It''s the club representative of the beastmen in the city." The bodyguard exined. "Actually, most of the beastmen princes and nobles thate to study here join that club."


    The bodyguard then exined about the club to Bloed and the others.


    Only then he learned that although there was no racial discrimination in this city, the different races were notpletely united either.


    In fact, each race had a representative club, and these clubs had a kind of rivalry among them. They constantlypeted against each other in many ways.


    And the beastmen''s club was called [Beast Brotherhood].


    "Prince Calisto and Aya have to join that club, huh." Bloed nodded in understanding.


    "Yes." The bodyguard nodded. "It''s not obligatory, but that is how it has been for many years."


    Bloed fell deep in thought.


    He would prefer if he can be together with Aya and the little lionkin prince in the same club, but he did not want to put them in a tough spot. If they needed to go to that club, Bloed did not mind.


    But as though understanding Bloed''s thoughts, Prince Calisto snorted.


    "You don''t need to worry. Neither Aya nor I want to go to that club anyway. We will go with you."


    Bloed smiled wryly and decided to stop talking about that for now.


    "Anyway, what should we do next? Do we find a ce to eat lunch? Or do you want to find a ce to stay first?"


    "Don''t worry about the ce to stay, Mr. Bloed." The bodyguard of before spoke up once more. "The king gave us orders to let you stay in one of the kingdom''s properties in the city. Prince Calisto and Miss Aya will be staying with you."


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina were surprised, but they did not refuse it.


    There was no reason anyway.


    "Let''s go to see it then."


    The bodyguard nodded and started to walk. "This way."


    However, before Bloed could take two steps, he stopped abruptly.


    All of sudden, a powerful feeling of despair, grief, anger, and hatred filled his mind.


    At the same time, he felt as though he was about to lose something dear to him.


    ''Help!'' A cry of despair reverberated inside him.


    Bloed''s expression immediately changed.


    For an instant, a trace of hesitation appeared on his mind. However, he quickly gritted his teeth and got rid of it.


    "Damn it!"


    Clicking his tongue, Bloed turned around and rushed towards the ce where he felt the feelings.


    "Master?"


    "Bloed?"


    Regina and Liu Ying were surprised, however, Bloed did not have time to exin the situation.


    Looking at each other, the two girls decided to follow after him.

 Chapter 301: The Elf Princess’s Nightmare (2)

    Chapter 301: The Elf Princess¡¯s Nightmare (2)


    Elwha was running desperately through the streets of Academy City.


    She was running as quickly as she could, trying to find a ce where to hide or someone that could help her; however, she could find neither.


    For some reason, she could not see a single shadow nearby besides the people chasing her. And even when she tried to hide, she was quickly found.


    In the end, the elf princess could only bite her lips and continue running.


    '' Dammit, how did they discover me?''


    Elwha could not understand how. She had been very careful all the time, but for some reason, they managed to locate her.


    After the Goddess of Fate helped her to escape, Elwha decided to follow her advice and find Bloed. She did not know why the goddess told her to find him, but she did not think the goddess was nning to harm her.


    Thus, she decided toe to Academy City. She had heard that Bloed was nning toe to Academy City as well, so she thought she could find him there.


    The first thing she did was to disguise herself. She did not have the tools to change her hair or eyes, hence, she could only disguise her face. However, although white hair and silver eyes were umon among elves, there were notpletely unseen. That should not be enough to give away her identity.


    Fortunately, Academy City was not very far from the ce where shended, so she arrived at the city after one week.


    After Elwha entered the city, she started to search for Bloed. She did not know where to find him, so she tried to rely on their connection to locate him. However, after one week without finding him, Elwha started to turn anxious.


    That was when things took a turn for the worse.


    Due to her anxiousness, Elwha tried to contact the elves. She went towards the Elven club and left a stealthy message about her situation.


    She did not reveal her identity, nor she gave away any information that could link her to her true identity, so she believed there would not be any problem Or so she thought.


    That same night, she was attacked by a group of masked men.


    Fortunately, Elwha''s soul was stronger than normal, so she managed to detect the attackers beforehand. Plus, the masked men did not dare to cause too much of amotion in Academy City. making her situation easier.


    It was a fierce battle, but Elwha managed to escape in the end.


    However, she lost almost all of her belongings after that.


    Afterward, it was a constant run and chase between her and her enemies.


    Even now, she did not know the identities of the enemies. She only knew that they repeatedly found her and chased after her.


    Due to that, Elwha had not slept or eaten well in thest two days.


    Today, however, the situation worsened even more.


    Normally, she would be chased for a brief while before the enemies left in fear of being caught by Academy City''s security.


    But today was different.


    For some reason, the masked men had been chasing after her for one hour already. Moreover, she could not see anyone else no matter how much she ran.


    She felt as though she was trapped and her enemies were slowly cornering her little by little.


    ''Am I going to die here?''


    Elwha bit her lips. Despair started to fill her mind, and her hatred towards her enemies grew even more.


    She hated the people that chased after her, she hated the demigod that betrayed them and caused the death of four proud elven demigods; and she also hated the person that revealed that she was in the city.


    She did not want to admit it, but she was almost one hundred percent sure that it was an elf of the club.


    After jumping over a wall, Elwha panted heavily. Her body was already very tired, and theck of food was making it hard to continue running.


    In fact, she could feel that her mana was starting to falter. She probably could not endure for much longer.


    However, she was not nning to give up yet.


    She just needed to run a bit more. She needed to run and find someone, anyone, and ask for help.


    But her hopes were dashed at the next instant.


    "We finally caught you, little elf."


    A bulky man appeared in front of her.


    Elwha''s expression changed. She hurriedly tried to rush in a different direction, but to her surprise, each direction was blocked by someone.


    She waspletely surrounded!


    "It looks like you can''t run anymore, huh." The bulky man smirked with a wicked expression.


    "You How do you dare to do thin in Academy City!? Are you not afraid of being discovered!?"


    "Oh, you don''t need to worry about that, little elf. Our master asked for help from a few people for today, you see. Currently, you are inside a formation. Nobody will break through it and you won''t be able to escape it either. Now" Immediately, the bulky man''s expression turned ice-cold. "Give us the heart!"


    Elwha bit her lips in despair.


    ''It''s over''


    In the end, she was unable toplete her mission.


    However, she was not going to let the heartnd in the hands of ughter.


    "The heart is not with me, idiot." Elwha sneered.


    " What do you mean?"


    "I knew this could happen, so I hid it," Elwha said with a deste smile. "I hid it in a ce you will never find."


    The bulky man''s face fell.


    " Well, it looks like I can only get that information from your mouth. Men! Catch her!"


    "Hahaha! Good, it will be great if I can bring a few of you with me to hell!"


    With tears in her eyes, Elwha got ready to detonate her mana. At the same time, the men around her charged towards her.


    But at that moment, something happened.


    All of a sudden, a rip appeared in the sky.


    No, it was not in the sky. It was in the formation that covered the ce.


    Then, a blue-haired young man fell through it,nding in front of Elwha and looking around before heaving a sigh of relief.


    "It seems like I arrived on time."


    Elwha''s face was filled with disbelief.


    " Mr. Bloed!"


    ...


    Remember my P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 302: For the Glory of Our God

    Chapter 302: For the Glory of Our God


    To be honest, Bloed hesitated slightly about if to help Elwha or not.


    It was not that he was cold-blooded or something like that. He simply was pragmatic. He could imagine that helping Elwha would mean getting embroiled in a whole lot of trouble; trouble he did not want anything to do with.


    Plus, Elwha was not even a friend; at most an acquittance. They shared a connection, right; but even then, she was just an acquittance.


    However, Bloed underestimated how strong the connection between them was.


    Just thinking about letting her die was enough for Bloed to be filled with anxiety and fear, as though he was about to lose something important.


    Moreover, he could feel the despair and fear Elwha was feeling as though it was himself.


    Her feelings were so overwhelming that Bloed felt a weight on his chest. He got the feeling that if he let her die, he would regret it deeply.


    Hence, he decided to save her in the end.


    Locating her was easy. He just followed their connection and it guided him to her. However, when he arrived at the ce, he discovered he could not continue forward for some reason.


    Moreover, something about the ce seemed to suggest him to go away.


    Such a strange feeling was enough for Bloed to know that something was wrong. Thus, he activated all the functions of his eyes, discovering a strangeyer of energy surrounding the ce.


    ''A barrier.''


    The barrier was very strong. Enough to keep an A-Rank practitioner trapped inside for a long while.


    Anyone else would have needed to spend a lot of time to break through it. But Bloed was different. He could be considered the natural enemy of barriers.


    His eyes lit up with a blue glow, searching for the weakest part of the barrier. And once he found it, he filled his saber with psychic power and brandished it.


    *Swish!*


    With a sound as though cutting through paper, he tore a hole through the barrier.


    Then, he jumped through it.


    Landing precisely in front of Elwha.


    "It seems like I arrived on time."


    Bloed''s voice reverberated inside the barrier, stunning the men that were about to caught Elwha.


    "Mr. Bloed!" Elwha exiemd in surprise.


    "Princess. It''s good that you are alright. I almost did not recognize your new face, though."


    "Thank god you are here... Thank god..." Elwha smiled in relief. Her body immediately lost strength, and her legs gave him, making her fall seeted on the ground powerlessly.


    She did not know why, but when she saw Bloed arrive, she got the feeling that everything was going to be alright.


    It was a strange confidence, but for some reason, she did not doubt it.


    And Bloed did not n to disappoint her.


    "Who are you!?" The bulky man looked at Bloed with a wary expression.


    He could feel that Bloed was just a B-Rank practitioner. But when he saw how Bloed broke through the barrier so easily, he knew this young man was not normal.


    However, the situation turned moreplicated at the next second.


    Two more people jumped through the hole,nding at each side of Bloed.


    "Master!"


    "Bloed!"


    Regina and Liu Ying stared at the enemies surrounding them warily. They did not take long to notice Elwha, but due to her disguise, they did not know who she was.


    "It''s Princess Elwha," Bloed exined.


    Regina and Liu Ying were startled. Quickly, though, they understood the gist of the situation.


    Meanwhile, when the bulky man saw that another two people appeared, his expression turned stern.


    For a brief instant, he considered leaving and waiting for another opportunity to get the girl. However, when he thought about everything they invested to create this opportunity without the city noticing, the bulky man gritted his teeth and decided to proceed.


    "End them! They are just three people!"


    Immediately, the people surrounding Bloed and the others rushed towards the group!


    As for the bulky man, he charged towards Bloed.


    Unfortunately, the bulky man forgot about something.


    In this world, there are some people that don''t care about numbers.


    "Regina, Liu Ying. You know what to do."


    "Understood, master."


    "On it~"


    With an indifferent expression, Regina created two energy des on her hands and rushed towards the enemies.


    As for Liu Ying, she released her aspect, and clenched her fist, rushing towards a B-Rank opponent.


    Meanwhile, Bloed took a step forward.


    He watched how the bulky man rushed towards him with a calm look. Then, when the bulky man was less than ten meters away, his eyes lit up.


    Psychic power surged out of his mind, turning into a powerful battle intent that filled the surroundings.


    Then, that battle intent converged upon the bulky man.


    [King''s Aura]!


    The bulky man''s expression changed. All of sudden, he felt as though he was not facing a young man, but a giant.


    Bloed''s blue eyes seemed to be bigger and bigger, staring at him as though he was just a mortal in the presence of a god.


    At the same time, a powerful aura of destruction suppressed his body.


    If not that the bulky man was an experienced A-Rank, he would have kneeled on the spot!


    The bulky man reacted instantly. Mana erupted from his body, pushing away the pressure and allowing him to recover.


    But by that point, the blue-haired young man was already in front of him.


    His saber shed, creating a line on the air as it sliced the bulky man''s body.


    Then


    *Spurt!*


    Blood spurt out of the bulky man''s abdomen, dying the ground red.


    The bulky man opened his eyes wide, surprised by the fact he was defeated so easily.


    If not that he moved his body aside instinctively, he would have bisected, dying instantly.


    However, he knew that although he survived, his situation was no good.


    He tried to put strength on his legs. However, his legs gave in, forcing him to kneel on the ground as blood flowed out of the wound on his waist.


    Coughing a mouthful of blood, he looked towards his surroundings. He then realized that the two girls that arrived with the boy had killed most of the others.


    Especially the silver-haired girl. She left a trail of corpses behind her as she brandished her des.


    By this point, hisst bit of hope disappeared.


    " Monsters." He spat out with a bitter look.


    Bloed stared at him coldly and snorted.


    "I think that the ones that relied on numbers to bully a frail girl are much worse. I never thought ughter''s minions were so cowardly."


    "All is for the glory of our god... Cough..."


    With a cough, the bulky man took out a dagger of his clothes.


    Then, before Bloed could react, he stabbed his own heart, dying instantly.


    Bloed could not help but wrinkle his brows when he saw that.


    "How ruthless."


    This was the third time Bloed crossed paths with ughter''s people.


    And once more, he realized they were crazy madmen.

 Chapter 303: An Elf’s Tears

    Chapter 303: An Elf¡¯s Tears


    The battle finished quickly. With Regina, an SS-Grade Valkyrie, taking part, there was no way a group of A-Ranks and B-Ranks couldst much.


    Her performance was so overwhelming that Liu Ying, who fought beside her, waspletely overshadowed despite killing five B-Rank practitioners.


    Well, it was normal considering that Liu Ying was just a B-Rank practitioner herself.


    Actually, the fact that Liu Ying killed five B-Rank practitioners in such a short time was already praiseworthy. And she only managed to get such results thanks to the boots she got as a reward from the Great Savannah''s king.


    The boots'' ability to teleport near an enemy was incredibly deadly in the hands of someone as lethal at close-rangedbat as Liu Ying.


    Not even two minutes after the battle started, all the enemies were already dead.


    "Master, it''s done."


    "Same here~"


    Regina and Liu Ying reported to Bloed when they finished. Bloed nodded slightly and then he and the girls walked towards the elf princess.


    "Miss Elwha, long time no see you."


    The elf princess stared at Bloed and the other two with her eyes opened wide. But when she remembered the power Bloed showed during thepetition, and the fact that Regina was a demigod, she smiled wryly.


    "I guess I owe you another one."


    "It looks like that. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to return to the Boerner Great Forest."


    " It''s a long story."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow when he saw Elwha''s sorrowful expression.


    He was not an idiot, so he immediately realized that something bad had happened.


    And it should be very bad, judging by Elwha''s current state.


    However, he was not sure if he should ask her about it.


    At that moment, a soft rumble sounded.


    Bloed and the girls put on a strange expression and looked towards the elf princess. That sound


    Elwha blushed deeply and lowered her head in shame.


    "S-Sorry I have not eaten anything in thest two days, so"


    Bloed and the girls were speechless.


    " Should we bring her with us?" Liu Ying suggested.


    Bloed and Regina looked at each other.


    "Okay." Bloed nodded. "Before that, though, we need to take care of the mess here," He then looked at the tens of dead bodies lying on the ground. "We should hurry up before the barrier disappears. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if someone sees this."


    " Yeah. If that happens we will have the entire city after us tomorrow." Liu Ying nodded with a bitter smile.


    Fortunately, Regina had a solution.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of it."


    Regina extended her hand and a small energy me appeared on it. She then threw the me towards the bodies.


    Regina''s control over the me was incredible. In less than five minutes, the bodies had turned into ashes without leaving behind any traces.


    In fact, even the blood that had sshed on the ground and the walls had disappeared.


    Liu Ying whistled impressed.


    "I guess we don''t need to worry about leaving any evidence behind anymore."


    But suddenly, the group heard a soft thud.


    They hurried looked in direction of the sound, only to see a young man hiding behind a wall with a pale expression.


    And judging by his clothes, it seemed like he was part of the same group of before. He probably had been hiding all this time and waiting for an opportunity to escape.


    With a frightened look, the young man quickly turned around and rushed towards the barrier.


    And surprisingly, the barrier allowing him to escape.


    "Don''t let him leave!" Elwha shouted in a panic. Regina nodded and created an arrow of energy on her hand.


    But before she could shoot it, a shadow materialized behind the young man.


    Then, a dagger slit the young man''s throat, sealing his fate.


    One secondter, the shadow took the shape of a petite catkin young girl tilting her head.


    "Am Ite?"


    Bloed chuckled softly.


    "No, you are just on time. Let''s go. Our elf princess is about to die of starvation."


    Exining Elwha''s origin to the others was not too hard. Thanks to her disguise, Bloed and the others only needed to say she was their friend and Prince Calisto''s bodyguards did not suspect anything.


    Elwha''s identity was very sensitive, so the fewer people knew about it the better. Due to it, only Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and Aya, knew her true identity.


    It was not that Bloed did not trust Prince Calisto, but he was still a child, so Bloed was afraid he could reveal something identally. As for the bodyguards, there was a non-zero probability of one of them being rted to the Church of ughter, so the less they knew the better.


    After Prince Calisto heard that Elwha was one of Bloed''s friends, he agreed to let here with them. Thus, the group brought her to the house the people of the Great Savannah had prepared for them.


    Instead of a house, though, it was a mansion with servants included.


    Well, a prince would be staying here, so this level of amodation was normal.


    The first thing they did when they arrived was to get food for Elwha. The poor elf princess was so hungry that she devoured the food without caring about her image.


    Only when she ended her third serving, she stopped eating and slumped on the chair.


    But once she finished the food, it was time to answer Bloed and the others'' doubts.


    "Then, how did you end here?" Bloed asked.


    Elwha''s expression turned sorrowful. She smiled bitterly and started to narrate the story from the start to the end.


    Her voice broke down slightly when she reached the part where they were betrayed and the demigods sacrificed to allower to escape, and her expression was a bit strange when she mentioned the Goddess of Fate helped her. Finally, when she mentioned the words of the Goddess, she stared at the group in hesitation.


    Regina could not help but frown when she reached that part.


    "Are you saying that the Goddess told you to find us and we would help you?"


    Elwha nodded hesitantly. " I know that our rtionship is not that close, and you don''t have any reason to help me. However, you are my only hope. I don''t know who else to trust right now Please..."


    Elwha bowed deeply to the group. She did not seem to care about her identity as a princess nor her dignity.


    Right now, Bloed''s group was her only hope. If they did not help her, she was not sure how long she couldst.


    The expressions of the group wereplicated. Liu Ying and Aya seemed like they wanted to help her, and Bloed seemed to be contemting something.


    Regina, however, had an ice-cold expression.


    "Princess, you know that your request will put my master in grave danger, right? You should know how powerful ughter''s forces are. They are so powerful that even I am notpletely confident about being able to protect my master."


    Elwha bit her lips and nodded. " I know."


    "Then, why are you nning to involve my master in something so dangerous? Why should we help you?"


    By this point, Regina''s gaze had turned incredibly chilling.


    Liu Ying seemed like she wanted to say something, but when she saw Regina''s expression, she sighed and shook her head.


    As for Elwha, she lowered her head even more and put her forehead against the table.


    " I know that." She whimpered softly. "But I don''t have more options... I can''t do it alone, and there is nobody else I can trust."


    At that point, tears slid down Elwha''s cheeks, falling on the table sorrowfully one after another.


    They were tears of pain and despair. The tears of someone that waspletely cornered.


    "So, please Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina Please help me... I beg you..."


    Watching Elwha''s tears, Bloed could not help but sigh.


    Even Regina''s expression softened somewhat. She still did not seem to agree with the idea of helping her, though.


    Instead, she looked at Bloed as though saying she would follow whatever he chooses.


    But when Bloed was about to speak, one of the bodyguards rushed inside.


    " Sorry for interrupting. However, someone important wants to see you, Mr. Bloed. And I don''t dare to make her wait."


    "Someone important?" Bloed was surprised. "Who is it?"


    " The Saintess of the Church of Fate."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 304: Savior of the World?

    Chapter 304: Savior of the World?


    Hi! Aidka''s Here!


    I''m back after four days! Five chapters here (Pretty long chapters, by the way)!


    Don''t worry, my RL should stabilize pretty soon and releases will return to normal...


    ...


    When Bloed followed the bodyguards to the waiting room of the mansion, he found a beautiful girl in a white habit waiting for him together with a two-meters tall man standing behind her stoically like a statue.


    The features of the two were so striking that Bloed recognized them instantly.


    The Saintess of the Church of Fate, Charise Amra, and her bodyguard, Kallevang Am.


    The Saintess of Fate seemed to feel his gaze on her. She opened her eyes gently and looked towards Bloed and the girl following him with a happy expression.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, nice to meet you again."


    " Miss Charise."


    "Hello."


    Bloed and Regina returned the greeting politely. However, they did not seem as happy about meeting again as Charise.


    However, Charise did not seem to notice it. She looked at the two of them with a soft smile and giggled.


    "I told you I had a feeling we would be meet each other again soon, right? It looks like my feeling was right."


    Bloed sighed and nodded.


    " To be honest, I would have preferred if we meet in different circumstances."


    Charise was startled. Finally, she noticed Bloed and Regina''s expressions.


    She immediately put on an awkward expression.


    " It looks like you already have an idea of why I''m here."


    "It''s about Elwha, right?"


    "So you already know, huh. It looks like the princess already told you the story."


    Bloed nodded. He then sat down across Charise while Regina stood behind him, facing Kallevang warily and seemingly ready to fight against him at any moment.


    When Charise saw that, she smiled wryly.


    " It looks like Miss Regina did not wee us."


    "I don''t." Regina did not bother to hide her displeasure. "I''m sorry, Miss Charise. But I can''t say I feel well-disposed towards you right now."


    "Oh?"


    "Last time, your advice ended embroiling my young master into a life-and-death struggle against the Church of ughter. And now, it looks like your goddess is not satisfied with that and sent another dangerous trouble to ourp in the shape of the elf princess."


    Charise smiled wryly.


    " Yeah. However, my advice ended helping Mr. Bloed to be much stronger, right? Moreover, he has now a very close rtionship with Moonlight Glow and the beastmen countries."


    "Perhaps that is right." Regina nodded. "But even so, I don''t like the way your church does things."


    Charise fell silent. She then looked at Bloed and sighed.


    "Does Mr. Bloed also think like that?"


    Bloed nodded firmly. "I fear I have to agree with Regina here."


    " I see." Charise smiled bitterly.


    Bloed looked at Charise''s expression and let out a soft sigh. " Miss Charise, it''s true I think your advice was a good one, and looking back at it objectively, following it was a good choice despite the dangers it brought. However, I can''t just receive you happily after your words put my life and the life of mypanions at risk."


    " Actually, I knew you would meet some trouble, but I did not know the extent of it... I''m not omnipotent, plus, even the goddess has trouble seeing the fate of things rted to gods and powerful beings."


    Bloed stared at Charise fixedly as though to gauge the truth of her words. "... Do you truly think the goddess knew nothing about the ns of ughter?"


    "..."


    "Yeah, I thought so." Bloed sighed.


    "... I guess you are not very happy about seeing me, huh." Charise put on a bitter expression.


    "I''m not. Much less when the reason you are here is to ask me to protect Princess Elwha from the Church of ughter. In fact, I''m sure something like this could have been avoided in the first ce."


    "What do you mean?" Charise asked startled.


    "You see, when I heard Princess Elwha''s story, I could not help but think about something Why did the goddess send the princess in the direction of Academy City? Was it not easier to send her directly to the Boerner Forest''s Capital If she truly wanted to help her?"


    "That is"


    "However, she sent him towards the Academy City and hinted to Elwha to find me. Forgive me, Miss Charise, but I can''t help but find the entire matter fishy."


    Seeing the stern expression on Bloed''s face, Charise sighed. She hesitated slightly before looking at Bloed with a sincere expression.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, I understand why you are displeased. However, I can promise you that both the goddess and I want to help you as much as possible."


    "Really?" Regina sneered. "It doesn''t look like that."


    "... Let''s assume we believe you," Bloed furrowed his brows. "Tell me then, why we should help the princess despite the danger?"


    "Because it will be helpful for your future."


    "Just that?" Bloedughed sarcastically. "Is that everything you are going to say to convince me?"


    "About that"


    "Then answer me something, Miss Charise. What does the goddess expect of me? Why is she helping me? What is her goal?"


    ""


    "You understand that I find your goddess''s actions very suspicious, right? What do you think I''ll think when a goddess suddenly starts to help me without a reason and then asks me to realize certain actions? I''ll think she is trying to use me to achieve something."


    "... Yes, I understand." Charise sighed again. She looked at Bloed hesitantly before letting out a long breath and closing her eyes.


    All of sudden, she started to mumble something softly, so softly that neither Bloed nor Regina could hear her words.


    It was as though she was praying?


    When Bloed and Regina were growing confused, Charise opened her eyes again.


    "I think I can exin some things to you."


    "Great. I''m listening."


    Charise nodded and waved her hand, casting a barrier around the room so their conversation could not be heard by anyone else.


    Both Bloed and Regina were surprised that Charise was being so careful.


    "Allow me to start, then. Mr. Bloed, what do you think is the purpose of our church?" Charise suddenly asked.


    " To get faith for the Goddess of Fate? That is the purpose of all the churches."


    "That is true, but our Church of Fate has another purpose. A much more important purpose... To stop the destruction of the world."


    Bloed could not help but put on a strange expression.


    He had already heard about that before. When the Church of Fate preached the goddess'' teachings, they insisted that the goddess protected the world from its destruction.


    But until now, Bloed thought that it was a hoax. A sham to attract believers.


    "Are you telling me that this world is going to be destroyed?"


    "I''m not sure about that." Charise shook her head. "However, at the very least, our Church has worked hard to stop as many wars and senseless killing from happening as possible. The number of possible wars our church has stopped in thest one hundred years reaches the double digits."


    " That is amazing." Bloed could not help but say.


    "It is." Charise nodded. "However, the situation has taken a turn for the worse recently. In thest few years, the friction between the different races and religions has increased greatly, and the winds of war have been blowing increasingly stronger. Sooner orter, this continent will be filled with death and war once more, perhaps even bringing the world to the edge of destruction.


    "That is where you appear, Mr. Bloed. The reason the goddess has shown so much interest in you is that she thinks that your help will be critical in stopping the danger the world is facing."


    "Why why? Do you mean I''ll stop the wars or something like that?" Bloed could not help but put on a weird expression.


    "That I don''t know." Charise smiled wryly. "Mr. Bloed, although I''m the Saintess of Fate, the truth is that I can only know what the goddess wants to tell me. And this time, she has not told me what she expects of you."


    Bloed fell deep in thought.


    To be honest, he was not satisfied with that answer.


    He could not see himself as the savior of the world or something like that.


    But the truth was that Bloed wanted to believe Charise''s words.


    Charise had helped Bloed a lot. Moreover, she supported him unconditionally against his father, even going as far as to threaten Sebastian with war if the Kingdom of Alterna tried to harm him.


    So, to be honest, Bloed had a good impression of this saintess.


    However, he did not like the feeling of being manipted by someone.


    " Let''s suppose I believe you." Bloed sighed. "Exin then why I should help Elwha. And please, don''t say something like it will be useful for my future again."


    Charise put on a pensive expression, as though choosing her words carefully, before speaking.


    " Mr. Bloed, if you are nning to develop yourself in Academy City, then in the future, your rtionship with Elwha will be very important."


    "My rtionship with her?"


    "Yes." Charise nodded. "It will be great if you manage to get her in your bed"


    "Tsk." Regina narrowed her eyes.


    "But if you don''t want, it''s enough as long as she trusts youpletely." Charise quickly changed her words when she saw Regina''s ice-cold look.


    "Trust me? How much should she trust me?"


    "Enough that she uses willingly the Heart of the Forest for your sake."


    Bloed was startled.


    That was... A lot of trust.


    In the short time he had known Elwha, he had noticed she cared about the heart and her mission above everything else. Perhaps even above her own life.


    He did not know if he could make Elwha use the heart for his sake.


    Charise chuckled softly and put on a gentle smile like a big sister watching over her little sister.


    "Mr. Bloed, it''s your choice if you want to help Princess Elwha or not. But I hope you keep in mind that the situation inside Academy City is veryplicated. You should be very careful. Also, the headmistress of Academy City is someone trustworthy. If you can get her trust, it will be great."


    Bloed fell silent. He stared fixedly at Charise, as though trying to see through her intentions.


    Until the end, though, he only saw concern and sincerity in her gaze.


    Bloed sighed softly.


    " I''ll think about it."

 Chapter 305: Trouble Coming to the Door (1)

    Chapter 305: Trouble Coming to the Door (1)


    "Will it work?" Elwha asked curiously while looking at the ne Bloed gave her.


    "It should." Bloed nodded. "Don''t worry. I will not cut corners now that I decided to help you."


    "... Thank you." Elwha smiled softly. She could not help but stare at Bloed with a grateful expression. Soon, though, her heart started to beat faster and her face turned red, making her look away hurriedly.


    "This stupid connection" Elwha whispered to herself, making Bloed chuckle.


    Yeah. The feelings caused by their connection were sometimes a bit embarrassing and troublesome.


    In the end, Bloed decided to help Elwha.


    In fact, even before he talked with Charise, he was already leaning towards helping her. Back then, however, he was displeased by the way the Goddess of Fate acted.


    He felt the Goddess of Fate was forcing him to do something.


    After he talked with Charise, though, his concerns reduced slightly.


    He was still wary of the Goddess of Fate and her church, but at the very least, he thought he could trust them a little bit.


    Plus, Charise promised him she would do everything in her power to help him while she was in the city.


    It was a big promise, considering it came from the saintess of one of the most powerful religions in the world.


    Now that Bloed had decided to help Elwha, the question was how he nned to go about it.


    Going against the Church of ughter head-on was a definitive no. Bloed had seen a portion of the Church of ughter''s strength, and he was no confident he could protect Elwha from their attacks.


    He was not even sure if he could protect himself.


    Fortunately, he did not need to. Right now, the Church of ughter should not know that Elwha was with them, and as long as the situation remained like that, it would be perfect.


    Unfortunately, Elwha was a Princess, and her features were rather unique. Even her current disguise did not make the situationpletely safe.


    As long as she remained beside Bloed, there was a chance she would be recognized eventually.


    Thus, Bloed decided to decrease that possibility to the minimum.


    And the ne was the tool he was going to use for that.


    It was the same tool Liu Ying used to disguise her hair and eyes. However, Bloed modified it slightly.


    "We can''t change your appearance all of sudden. After all, Prince Calisto''s bodyguards already saw you, and they will find it suspicious if your appearance changes all of sudden." Bloed exined. "Thus, this ne will change your looks gradually instead."


    "Gradually?"


    "Yes. After one month, your appearance will seem simr but different from your original looks. In two months, you will be only slightly simr to your original appearance. And after three months, you will seem like apletely different person. Moreover, because the change is gradual, the people around you will not notice anything wrong."


    "Oh? It sounds convenient."


    "It is. As for your hair and eyes, changing their color at this point will be too obvious. But we can make your eyes slightly dimmer and your hair a bit darker. That way, even someonepletely familiar with you will be unable to recognize you."


    Elwha nodded in surprise.


    "This thing is pretty convenient. I did not know you could create magic tools, Mr. Bloed."


    "It''s not a magic tool." Bloed shook his head softly. "The principles behind it arepletely different. But thanks to that, nobody will be able to detect your disguise through mana fluctuations."


    "Not a magic tool?" Elwha was surprised. Bloed, however, did not exin. He just taught her how to use the disguising device and let her familiarize herself with it.


    After that, he left hisboratory and met with Regina and Liu Ying.


    "So you decided to help her in the end, huh." Liu Ying said with a wry smile.


    "Sorry about that. I know it can bring us a lot of trouble, but even so, I ended helping her."


    "Don''t worry about it. I wanted to help her anyway." Liu Ying shrugged, before suddenly staring at Bloed fixedly. "However, I feel a bit strange by the fact another woman is around you."


    "Mm. The catgirl has not confirmed her rtionship with you yet and there is already an elf princess around." Regina could not help but sigh in exasperation.


    A wry smile appeared on Bloed''s face.


    "You know my rtionship with Elwha is not like that."


    "Perhaps not now, but we are not sure it will be the same after a few months, master."


    "You are pretty good at charming girls, Bloed. I can already imagine Princess Elwha looking at you with a lovestruck expression."


    Bloed could only smile wryly after he heard Regina and Liu Ying''s words.


    At that moment, Prince Calisto appeared followed by Aya and one of his bodyguards.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, Miss Liu Ying, you are here!"


    "Were you searching for us?" Bloed asked.


    "Yes." The lionkin prince nodded excitedly. "Look. This arrived just now!" The lionkin prince said while extending his hand and showing an invitation card he was holding.


    "That is"


    "An invitation to the wee ceremony three dayster. I heard it''s realized once every four months to wee all the new students. We are lucky we will be able to take part in it just after we arrived."


    Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying looked at the lionkin prince with confused expressions. They could not understand why a wee ceremony excited him so much,


    Quickly, though, the bodyguard behind the prince exined the situation.


    ording to him, the wee ceremony was a kind of festival that happened every three months, and through which the different clubs and sses tried to recruit new students.


    Of course, the clubs and sses recruited students all the time, but during the wee event they were allowed to put a show to attract new members


    Moreover, there would be a speech from the headmistress plus some other interesting events. Even Bloed was interested after he heard about some of them.


    "It''s supposed to be one of the liveliest days in Academy City." The bodyguard exined with a smile. "In fact, many clubs prepare for this day during weeks."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow, clearly interested. Liu Ying also seemed interested in such a lively festival.


    Only Regina seemed indifferent to it, but it was normal considering she was rarely interested in something that was not rted to Bloed.


    Of them, Prince Calisto was clearly the most excited one. He was still a child, after all, so he could not help but be attracted to that kind of event.


    However, something that happened right after that dampened his mood immediately.


    With an urgent expression, one of his bodyguards approached him.


    "Prince, people of [Beast Brotherhood] are here."

 Chapter 306: Trouble Coming to the Door (2)

    Chapter 306: Trouble Coming to the Door (2)


    Prince Calisto was a bit nervous about meeting the people of [Beast Brotherhood]. That was normal when you took into ount the fact that he was about to refuse their invitation to instead follow Bloed.


    However, it was not as though he could simply ignore them. The leadership of [Beast Brotherhood] was generallyposed of important young nobles from the beastmen countries, so even him, a prince, had to treat them respectfully.


    In the end, after he stared at Bloed and the others with a pitiful gaze, Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying decided to apany him.


    Besides them, Aya and two of his bodyguards also followed the group.


    When they arrived at the waiting room, they found the people of [Beast Brotherhood] waiting for them.


    Their leader was a wolfkin young man. He had sharp features and a peaceful presence, but his narrowed eyes glowed with wisdom and determination way greater than amon person.


    Just a nce was enough for Bloed to determine his strength.


    Peak B-Rank.


    Moreover, his aura was very stable. He probably was as strong as Aya, Rana, Rhone, and the others. A genius within B-Rank.


    He was a bit older, though. Around twenty-something years old. Compared to Aya, who had the same cultivation and was around five years younger, it was obvious who was better.


    Even so, it was clear that he was not your average young man.


    Behind him, a bearkin young man and a tigerkin girl were standing quietly with respectful expressions. Both of them were Peak B-Ranks as well, but they were noticeably a lot weaker than the wolfkin.


    "Prince Calisto, you are here." The wolfkin young man stood up with a smile when Prince Calisto entered the room. Almost instantly, though, he noticed Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying.


    A startled expression appeared on his face, followed by a sh of recognition, but he quickly recovered and greeted them with the same polite smile.


    "I guess you three are the famous neers that caused amotion when you entered the city. What a surprise, I did not know you were staying with Prince Calisto. Nice to meet you, my name is An Whiterock. I''m one of the four sub-leaders of [Beast Brotherhood]."


    "Nice to meet you." Bloed and the others greeted back, each one of them introducing themselves.


    Once they were done with their introductions, The young wolfkin sat down on his seat and focused on Prince Calisto and Aya.


    "Prince Calisto, Miss Aya, I think you already know why I''m here; however, allow me to exin it anyway. In the name of [Beast Brotherhood], I would like to invite you to our club, to join us in showing the rest of Academy City the pride of the beastmen."


    Once An finished speaking, the bearkin young man behind him took a step forward and extended his hand towards Prince Calisto and Aya, holding two luxurious invitation letters on it.


    To his surprise, though, neither Prince Calisto nor Aya grabbed them.


    Instead, Aya remained standing behind the prince with a deadpan look and Prince Calisto put on an awkward look.


    "About that, Mr. An I think I''m not going to join."


    "Huh?" A nk look appeared on the wolfkin young man''s face for a brief instant.


    Not just him, but also the bearkin young man and the tigerkin girl were stunned.


    In the next second, the wolfkin''s eyes turned sharp, and an ice-cold glow shed through his pupils.


    "Can you repeat that, Prince?"


    " I-I''m not going to join [Beast Brotherhood], Mr. An." The young prince stuttered slightly, but his expression was firm.


    "I see. Can I ask about the reason?"


    The prince was about to open his mouth, but suddenly, he shut up.


    He had just realized that if he revealed that the reason he was not going to join the club was Bloed, then it was very possible that they would hold a grudge against him.


    The young prince hesitated briefly, but at that moment, the voice of a young man cut in.


    "He is nning to follow me," Bloed said with a calm expression, answering instead the little prince.


    The sudden interruption surprised the people of [Beast Brotherhood]. Instinctively, An looked in Bloed direction and narrowed his eyes.


    For some reason, though, he said nothing.


    However, his subordinates were different.


    "What is the meaning of this?" The tigerkin girl said with a look of fury. "Prince Calisto, how can you follow a human instead ofing with your brethren? Do you know the implications of that? And you, do you think you have what is necessary to mess with [Beast Brotherhood]? Just because you showed a bit of strength during the entrance test you think you are something? You"


    "Elena, enough." The wolfkin young man suddenly cut her off.


    "But captain, something like this is"


    "I said enough," An said again, his cold voice shutting up the tigerkin girl immediately. He then looked towards Bloed and the young prince before nodding slightly.


    "I think miss Aya''s choice is the same then, is it?"


    "It is." Aya nodded.


    "I see. However, you should think about it a bit more. The wee ceremony will be in three days, I hope you can give me your final answer after that. I think it''s time to take our leave then. It was a pleasure to meet you, Prince Calisto."


    "Yes." The little prince nodded politely. "Aya, please apany the guests to the door."


    "Understood."


    After An and his two subordinates left, Prince Calisto looked at Bloed with an apologetic look.


    " Big brother Bloed, sorry. I ended involving you in something troublesome."


    Bloed smiled gently and shook his head.


    "Don''t worry about it. I expected something like this since the moment I decided to let the two of you follow me. Plus, to be honest, I''m not afraid of them."


    "Haha..." Prince Calisto could only smile awkwardly.


    At the same time, outside the mansion.


    The people of [Beast Brotherhood] left the mansion with a heavy atmosphere.


    An sported a heavy and cold expression, so cold that neither the bearkin young man nor the tigerkin girl dared to talk to him.


    It was only five minutester that the tigerkin girl gathered the courage to open her mouth.


    " Leader, I don''t understand. Why did you leave like that? You should know we can''t allow something like that! The repercussions our club will suffer if this spread will be too huge! It could even mark a precedent for the future, making other beastmen to choose other clubs instead and leading to the weakening of [Beast Brotherhood]."


    "I know." An nodded. "However, the situation is a bitplicated this time."


    "Huh?"


    "The young man that spoke up for Prince Calisto, I know a bit about him. After I learned of his results during the entrance exam, I investigated his background."


    "Is he some kind of bigshot?"


    "Something like that," An said with a sigh. "That guy is part of Moonlight Glow, and ording to my investigations, he is very close to the Saintess. However, that is not the most important. During my investigations, I read about one of the young man''s battle records Apparently, he used one sh to kill more than ten B-Ranks and A-Ranks."


    "!!!"


    "That is impossible!" The bearkin young man and the tigerkin girl were astonished. "Something like that is impossible! Does that mean he is as strong as a demigod!?"


    "Of course not." An shook his head at the tigerkin girl''s words. "If I''m not mistaken, he probably used some kind of forbidden technique with a heavy bacsh, or perhaps he made use of some powerful treasure. Either way, it''s a fact the young man is very powerful. Even I''m not confident in defeating him."


    The bearkin young man and the tigerkin girl opened their eyes wide in surprise. They looked at each other and saw the disbelief in their faces.


    They knew how strong the wolfkin young man was. He stood in the upper rank of the geniuses in Academy City.


    However, someone like him admitted he was inferior to a young man several years younger than him.


    When An saw the expressions of his subordinates, he sighed.


    In truth, there was something he did not tell them.


    He did not investigate just the young man. He also investigated the girls that follow him.


    And in the information he found, it said that the silver-haired girl behind the young man was, in fact, a demigod; and a powerful one.


    Furthermore, she was still in her twenties!


    That was something that even he found hard to believe!


    "If they are truly that powerful, it''s better not to offend them easily," An exined. "It''s better to be friends than enemies with that kind of person."


    "Then, are we going to give up just like that?" The bearkin young man asked unwillingly.


    "Of course not." An snorted. "I''m sure we are not the only ones that got hold of this information. The other clubs in the city should know about it as well. I''m sure many of them will try to recruit them like crazy.


    "However, only one club will be able to get them. What do you think the other clubs will do then? They will not tolerate the existence of such a danger."


    "That is"


    "Killing is forbidden in the city, however, there should not be a problem if they injure him slightly heavily to hinder his cultivation. Once that happens, we can invite the prince to join us again. I''m sure he will not insist on following him after seeing that."


    The two followers looked at each other and nodded in understanding.


    " But, what if they fail?" The tigerkin girl could not help but say.


    "Then, we will just agree to the prince''s wishes. Anyway, it should be good to keep a good rtionship with that kind of genius." An shrugged. "Three dayste will be the entrance ceremony. The other clubs will most likely act that day Mm, we should also spread the news about the prince''s intention around our club. Some of our most hot-headed members will surely try to have a friendly spar with Mr. Bloed Norman after learning about that."

 Chapter 307: Entrance Ceremony (1)

    Chapter 307: Entrance Ceremony (1)


    Three dayster, it was the day of the wee ceremony.


    The entire group departed together towards the ce of the ceremony, with Prince Calisto leading the group. Only Elwha stayed behind with the excuse she was sick, although the true reason was to avoid being recognized.


    They took their invitation letters with them. They were necessary to participate in the ceremony.


    As soon as Bloed and the others left the mansion, they could feel the festive atmosphere around the city. It was as though they could not wait for the festival to start.


    Bloed saw many students going towards the ce of the ceremony, not just neers. In fact, ording to one of the bodyguards'' words, practically the entire city participated in this festival.


    ording to him, the highlight of the festival would be after the speech of the headmistress. The headmistress would announce the topic of the festival and then the clubs and neers would participate in it.


    Each year the topic was different. Sometimes it was apetition, other times a game, and sometimes a show of talents. It depended on the headmistress''s mood.


    During the festival, the clubs would do their best to show their strength and attract talented neers. In the same way, the neers would do their best to show their talent to win the recognition of the strongest clubs.


    This was the stage for both parties to show their worth.


    During thest three days, Bloed and the others had learned about most of the clubs of the city, from the strongest ones to the weakest ones. They had also investigated the different sses to find which ones they were interested in.


    After three days, the five of them had already more or less decided which sses they were going to take. Bloed''s sses were focused on mana runes, alchemy, and magic constructs; Liu Ying''s sses were mainly aboutbat, and Aya chose sses rted to stealth and assassination.


    As for Regina, she chose the same sses as Bloed. Obviously, she did not care about the sses and only wanted to spend more time with her master.


    When the group arrived at the za where the ceremony would take ce, they were astonished to find that it was fully packed with people.


    The za was around half a square kilometer, but it was so full that even walking was hard.


    Bloed estimated there were around twenty thousand people in the za at the very least, and most of them were students.


    The ce was filled with a boisterous atmosphere. Young men and women of all kinds of races and countries were mixed together, talking and whispering excitedly as they waited for the start of the ceremony.


    But all of sudden, a strong pressure descended on the crowd.


    The numerous students fell silent. The weakest ones turned pale immediately, and the strongest ones looked in the direction of the pressure with wariness.


    There, a demon young man walked onto the stage step by step, releasing his overwhelming aura with each step.


    The atmosphere in the za changed instantly. The whispering stoppedpletely, and many students involuntarily straightened up. Each student faced the young man on the stage with serious expressions.


    Seeing that, the demon young man smiled slightly and opened his mouth.


    "Nice to meet you, my name is Mu Quan, leader of the [Guarding Order], and the strongest student in this city."


    As soon as these words sounded, amotion happened in the za. The new students looked towards the demon young man with expressions of shock, and the other students put on serious expressions.


    The name Mu Quan held that much weight in this city.


    He was the current overlord among the students!


    At just twenty-two years old, he was just one step away from bing a demigod. It was said he could be one at any time.


    Moreover, he led the strongest club in the city, the [Guarding Order]. This club was something akin to the disciplinarymittee of the city.


    It was even rumored that he received direct guidance from the headmistress herself who praised his talent generously.


    Just that was enough to understand how strong and talented he was.


    When Mu Quan saw the effect his words had over the students, he nodded slightly. He then started to give a wee speech.


    The wee speech was pretty normal and boring, to be honest. Bloed and the others stopped paying attention to it after the first half.


    Instead of the speech, Bloed was more focused on the person giving it.


    The top student in the city.


    "Worthy of his title as the strongest." Bloed could not help but nod.


    He could feel Mu Quan''s aura and mana from here. It was solid and firm, like steel that had been tempered by fire over time.


    Bing a demigod in itself was hard, however, Mu Quan was about to attain that level even before turning twenty-three.


    That level of talent was astounding.


    Mu Quan''s speech was not very long. Just after five minutes, he finished it.


    After him, some teachers and important people of the academy went up to give their speeches, but to be honest, Bloed did not pay them much attention.


    But when thest person went up the stage, he could not help but widen his eyes slightly.


    An incredibly beautiful woman stood up in front of all the students, smiling slightly and emitting aforting aura that seemed to calm everybody down.


    Her caramel-colored hair and eyes gave her a kind of ethereal beauty, and the jewel on her forehead added a touch of exotess that seemed to attract all the gazes towards her.


    Moreover, her aura felt so deep that it seemed endless, like the sea itself.


    She was the headmistress of Academy City, Wave Golden.

 Chapter 308: Entrance Ceremony (2)

    Chapter 308: Entrance Ceremony (2)


    When the headmistress appeared on the stage, everything quieted down.


    Every student, even the ones who were dozing off after the boring speeches of the previous people, directed their gazes towards her.


    Both men and women were attracted by the powerful headmistress'' mysterious temperament. They could not help but gasp when they saw the legendary headmistress in person.


    "Is she the headmistress?"


    "She is so beautiful."


    "God, I just fell in love."


    "How can someone be so beautiful?"


    "She looks strong."


    The beautiful headmistress smiled when she heard thepliments of the students. She then waved her hand, causing every student to fall silent.


    "I''m happy to see many new faces today. As the headmistress of this city, I find joy in the fact that so many talented youngsters are interested in studying here.


    "Many of you don''t know it, but when I created this city, I envisioned something like this. A ce where any student, regardless of race or status, could chase after his dreams. A ce where they could develop their full potential.


    "Each one of you is a young talent. Someone with the potential to make a name by yourselves in any ce of the continent. But here, here you will be more than that. Here you will polish your talents to show the world their true worth. When you leave this city, you will be someone worthy of admiration!"


    Bloed heard the words of the headmistress attentively. He waspletely engrossed in her speech.


    For some reason, he found it... inspiring.


    There was something about her aura that seemed to give credibility to her words. It was as though just her very presence was enough to inspire confidence.


    Bloed was sure it was not a kind of mind-maniption technique nor anything like that.


    No, it was just the effect of her aura.


    It was the first time Bloed felt something like that.


    The speechsted almost ten minutes and was the longest speech of the entire ceremony. But strangely, none of the students was distracted or dozed off during it.


    Even the students that had been here for several years and had listened to her speech several times listened with rapt attention.


    It was as though they were afraid of missing a single word.


    In fact, when Bloed looked around him, he could see that Liu Ying, Aya, and Prince Calisto were staring at the headmistress with admiration.


    ''What a woman...'' Bloed smiled wryly to himself.


    The only one that seemed unaffected was Regina, but it was normal considering Regina''s powerful strength.


    When the headmistress finished speaking, the entire za erupted in a loud ovation. The cheers and apusessted an entire minute!


    It was the first time Bloed saw someone with such high poprity.


    Once the apuse faded out, the headmistress waved her hand with a smile, calming the students again.


    "Very well, now that the speeches have finished, it''s time to start with today''s festival! Now, I''ll exin the rules.


    "Each one of you received an invitation for today''s ceremony, right? Please take it out."


    Bloed''s group took out their invitations curiously. At the same time, the students around them took out their invitations as well, each one of them waiting for the headmistress''s next words.


    The headmistress curved her lips up yfully and waved her hand.


    "Activate."


    As soon as that word sounded out, each invitation letter lit up.


    Some of them started to emit a blue glow, and others a red glow. The glow of the letters was so ring that it could be seen from the distance.


    The headmistress smiled. She ignored themotion of the students and started to exin.


    "For today''s event, I have divided the neers into two groups, blue and red. The two groups willpete against each other during today''s festival, trying to defeat their opponents. Once all the members of one of the groups are defeated, that group will lose.


    "Moreover, the members of the clubs will also participate. They can defeat members of any group or fight among themselves to win points. The club with the most points when a group loses will be the winner."


    The students looked at each other stunned. This...


    This was crazy!


    Moreover, how were they supposed to fight against the members of the clubs? They were much stronger than them! And was the headmistress not afraid of students dying during the chaos?


    As though understanding their concerns, the headmistress continued exining.


    "Don''t worry, the clubs can only send a limited number of members, with at most five B-Ranks, ten C-Ranks, and twenty D-Ranks. As for the danger of injuries, that invitation does not only serve to identify your team, but it will also keep a barrier around you constantly. Once that barrier is broken, it will emit a mental shock that will render the user unconscious, dering his elimination. At the same time, it will generate another stronger barrier around the students to protect them from being injured. If someone attacks that second barrier intentionally with the intent to cause injuries, he will be heavily punished. Thus, you don''t need to worry, your safety will be guarantee.


    "Right, it''s forbidden to hide inside a building during the event. If someone does that, he will be immediately disqualified.


    "When the event ends, the neers that survived and the club with more points will receive a reward. Do you understand?"


    The students looked at each other stunned. This game was crazy


    Even Bloed was shocked. To think they created a barrier for each student. This kind of extravagance was unheard of.


    Only this city could think of something like this!


    However, there was something else that was worrying him.


    For some reason, neither his invitation letter nor Liu Ying, Regina, and Aya''s letters were glowing.


    Bloed frowned and looked at the stage with the intent to ask about that. But at that moment, his eyes met the headmistress''s gaze.


    And for some reason, he got the feeling she smiled mischievously.


    Instantly, a bad presentment filled him.


    ''It can''t be...''


    And his bad hunch came true in the next second.


    "Right, I almost forgot about it." The headmistress suddenly said with a gentle smile. "Besides the blue and red teams, there is also another very special team."


    At that moment, Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya''s invitations started to emit a golden glow as the headmistress continued exining.


    "If you defeat someone with a golden glow, you will immediately earn a reward. But if someone with a golden glow survives until the end, he will receive a reward as well."


    Almost instantly, the gazes of all the students fell on Bloed''s group.


    Their gazes were filled with curiosity, confusion, fighting intent, and greed.


    Liu Ying and Aya were stunned, and Bloed wanted to curse. What the hell was it?


    ''Did we offend this woman in any way? But we don''t even know her!''


    ''Could it be a coincidence?''


    However, the next words of the headmistress denied Bloed''s guess.


    "Right, as for the demigod girl mixed with the students, you better don''t think about protecting them. It''s not good to interfere in the fights of children."


    Bloed immediately confirmed it.


    For some reason, the headmistress was targeting them.


    ...


    Please consider supporting me on P4TRE0N to read until 20 chapters ahead. I appreciate each bit of support...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 309: A Crazy Game (1)

    Chapter 309: A Crazy Game (1)


    1/5


    ...


    Before the game started, the headmistress gave the students fifteen minutes to find a ce where to hide or make their preparations.


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and Aya, did not hesitate to run off the za. There was no way they were going to remain there for one second more when all the students around them were looking at them as though they were gold coins.


    Unfortunately, as soon as they left the za, they realized that a huge crowd was following after them.


    In the end, Bloed and the others could only continue running while they tried to shake them off.


    "That woman is crazy! How are supposed to survive until the end of the game like this!? This game is impossible!"


    "Master, did we offend that woman in any way? I got the feeling she was targeting us."


    Liu Ying and Regina spoke up at almost the same time.


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.


    "I don''t know if she is crazy, but I''m almostpletely sure she was targeting us. I don''t know the reason, though."


    "She is bullying us! Bloed, we can''t allow it!" Liu Ying said with gritted teeth. She seemed pretty angry due to the unfair game that was forced on them.


    However, Bloed agreed with her.


    "You are right. We won''t allow being forced to follow these unreasonable rules. Come on, follow me."


    The girls were startled, but they followed Bloed without questioning him.


    To their surprise, Bloed led them to a normal house nearby.


    But after being startled, they realized his intention.


    He was nning to give up the game!


    After all, one of the rules said that you could not hide inside a building or house during the game or you would be disqualified.


    Bloed nned to make use of this loophole to leave the game.


    As for the reward the headmistress promised, she did not even say what it was. Why should he force himself to go through all that trouble for an unknown reward?


    However, when they were about to enter the house, someone suddenly appeared in front of them, blocking their way.


    It was a golden-haired fox girl with golden eyes and an expressionless look.


    " I''m sorry, but I can''t allow you to do that."


    "Miss Eve?" Bloed and the others were surprised.


    In the next second, Regina took a step forward with an ice-cold look.


    "Fox, what is the meaning of this!?"


    "Nothing. I''m just stopping them from giving up the game."


    When Bloed heard that, a bad feeling hit him.


    Could it be


    " Miss Eve, the reason the headmistress is targeting us is it due to you?"


    Eve tilted her head expressionlessly before nodding. "... Perhaps."


    "And this game Was it your doing too?"


    "No." Eve shook her head softly. "... But I think it should be interesting to watch how you escape the chase of thousands of students... Plus, if you seed, you will earn the appreciation of the headmistress. It''s a good thing... Don''t you think so?"


    ''Thest time I earned the appreciation of a powerful demigod, I ended facing a plot of the Church of ughter involving several demigods!''


    Bloed wanted to retort that, but in the end, he forced himself to calm down.


    "... I don''t really want to participate in this kind of silly game.."


    "Is it so?" Eve tilted her head. "Well... How about it? If you win, I''ll give you a kiss."


    Bloed was stunned.


    Almost instantly, he felt two very sharp gazes on him.


    He was sure that if he dared to ept, he would have to face two angry girlfriends.


    With his back covered in a cold sweat, he gnashed his teeth.


    "I''m not interested in it!"


    "... Really? That is a relief." Eve held her chest as though relieved.


    Bloed was speechless. Why in the hell did you propose that in the first ce then?


    "Anyway, can you let us pass?" He said with an exasperated look. "I''m not nning to follow this absurd game."


    "I''m sorry." Eve shook her head expressionlessly. "You should try another ce."


    Bloed''s lips twitched.


    He was sure that Eve would stop him again if he did that.


    Looking at the girls, he realized they were as speechless as him.


    Bloed let out a tired sigh.


    "... Miss Eve, no matter what you do, I''m not nning to follow this game. This is pointless."


    "... Really?" Eve put on a pensive expression and then her eyes lit up. "How about this?"


    All of sudden, she disappeared and reappeared beside Aya, whispering something in her ear.


    Not even Bloed''s stronger than normal managed to pick up her words.


    But immediately after that, Aya''s eyes opened wide. She nced at Bloed and blushed deeply before nodding at Eve.


    " O-Okay."


    Bloed got a bad feeling about that.


    But before he could do something, Eve disappeared again, reappearing beside Liu Ying this time.


    And just like with Aya, she whispered something in her ear.


    Liu Ying''s eyes glowed. She looked at Eve and grinned happily.


    "It''s a deal."


    "Good."


    After saying that, Eve returned to her orginal location.


    "It''s done."


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. He could get a rough idea of what happened just by looking at Aya and Liu Ying''s expressions.


    "Girls, please"


    "I''m sorry, Bloed. She made me an offer I can''t reject. As my boyfriend, you will not abandon me, right?"


    " B-Bloed, I-I want to participate as well."


    Seeing Liu Ying''s smirk and Aya''s embarrassed expression, Bloed knew he had already lost this battle.


    In the end, he could only heave a long sigh and grumbled.


    "I guess I will participate as well then."


    "Perfect." Eve nodded expressionlessly, but Bloed could swear he saw a sly smile appear for an instant.


    "Miss Regina. You stay with me. Don''t worry, this game is very safe. And if something wrong happens, you can appear at any time."


    Regina frowned. She did not bother to hide her displeasure towards Eve.


    But when she saw Bloed nod, she sighed and agreed.


    "Very well. Master, be careful."


    "I know."


    After that, Regina and Eve rose in the sky and disappeared, leaving Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya behind.


    Bloed then looked at his demon girlfriend and at his catgirl friend and put on a curious expression.


    "... What did Eve offer you to make you agree to this crazy game?"


    "It''s a secret~"


    "S-Sorry, I-I can''t tell you either..."


    Bloed shook his head bitterly.


    Well, judging by their reactions, he already had an idea.


    Quickly, though, he stopped thinking about that.


    " I guess I should think in a way to clear the game first, huh." Bloed said as he looked at the tens of students looking at them from the distance.


    Of the fifteen minutes the headmistress gave before starting the game, only two remained.


    "Do you have a n?" Liu Ying asked.


    "I do," Bloed said and activated his storage device, taking his metallic wolf out.


    At the same time, two metallic balls appeared on his hands.


    When Liu Ying saw them, she instantly understood Bloed''s n.


    "That a good idea!" She grinned with an excited expression. "Let''s show to these idiots how hard it is to catch us!"


    Two minutester, the game started.


    Instantly, tens of students rushed towards Bloed and the girl''s location. They were like a crazy tide trying to catch them.


    But before they could reach them, they heard a voice.


    "Liu Ying, Aya, you should close your eyes and cover your ears!"


    And two metallic balls were thrown in front of them.


    The next second


    *Bam!*


    With a deafening sound and a blinding light, the two balls exploded, stunning and dazzling the tens of students rushing towards Bloed and the girls.


    When the students finally recovered, Bloed and the girls were no longer there.


    Instead, a metallic wolf was flying in the sky.


    At the same time, at the end of the crowd rushing towards Bloed.


    "Sister, sister. That was our hero!"


    "Yeah... It was him?" Sarah said with a dumbfounded look.


    Her surprise was normal, though. Even though her sister had already told her that Bloed was in the city, she did not expect to see him in the current circumstances.


    "I told you, he had arrived!" Gina said with an excited smile. She then seemed to think about something and her eyes lit up. "I know, sister. We will help him!"


    "Huh?"


    "Hmph hmph, all those bullies want to catch our hero! We will not allow it! Come on, sister, follow me! I think I know where to find him!"


    "Hey, wait! Gina, wait!"


    "Hurry up, sister! I want to meet our hero already!"

 Chapter 310: A Crazy Game (2)

    Chapter 310: A Crazy Game (2)


    2/5


    ...


    Two minutester, Letonded in a deserted alley of Academy City, and Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya jumped off it.


    "Leto''s flight mode is as useful as always. A shame we can''t use it for longer." Liu Ying said with a bit of pity in her eyes.


    Bloed smiled wryly. Technically, they could use it for around half an hour, but after that, Leto would be out of energy, and Bloed wanted to avoid it.


    After all, Leto''s flight mode was a trump card that could help them in an unexpected situation.


    "Where are we?" Aya asked.


    "We are in the east zone of the city, around twenty kilometers away from the za," Bloed replied. "We are safe here, at least for a while. I don''t think the students can find us easily."


    Aya and Liu Ying nodded. Certainly, it was unlikely that the other students could find them.


    Most likely, nobody would find them until the end of the game.


    After all, although the battlefield for the game was the entire city, most students would probably remain close to the za.


    "Then, we did not need to do anything else?" Liu Ying tilted her head speechless. It was much easier than she thought.


    Bloed nodded. Actually, it was one of the reasons he agreed so easily to Eve''s proposal.


    Even if they participated in the game, it did not mean they needed to fight. They just needed to hide from the other students until one of the teams was defeated.


    Didn''t the headmistress say she would reward them if they survived until the end? Well, he was going to get that reward while doing nothing.


    He was not nning to y at the rhythm of that woman.


    "Let''s see if she dares to mess with us again after this." Bloed put on an evil smirk.


    " So sly." Aya stared at Bloed with an expression of admiration. For some reason, her cheeks turned red.


    Liu Ying waspletely speechless. She could only sigh that girls in love found everything about their beloveds great.


    ''... She is already hopeless.''


    Well, she also found the current Bloed very charming, so she was not much better.


    "However, this is a good opportunity." Bloed suddenly muttered to himself. "Yes. With so many people fighting in the city at the same time, I can collect a lot of data."


    "Bloed?"


    "Girls, follow me. Let''s find a ce to observe the game!"


    By Bloed''s suggestion, the group went to a nearby park and sat down on the grass as though they were in a pic. Bloed then took out Oculus from his storage device and ordered it to turn into tens of dragonflies.


    "Go. Help me to recollect data."


    Immediately, the metallic dragonflies flew towards different parts of the city. Following Bloed''s order, the dragonflies found the students battling through the city and started to record their battles.


    They focused on the stronger students. The dragonflies recorded their movements, their flow of mana, and how their bodies and mana cooperated with each other to achieve different effects.


    All of that had the purpose to perfect one of Bloed''s abilities.


    Battle-Prediction.


    When Bloed reached B-Grade, he added two things to his arsenal. One of them was Oculus, and the other was a new ability for his eyes.


    He installed a program in his eyes that used his calction zone plus the data he had collected through his battles to help him to predict the actions of his enemies during battle.


    However, this ability was not perfect yet.


    Although Bloed''s eyes could predict the movements of the body pretty urately, he had trouble predicting the flow and effects of mana.


    Due to that, Bloed''s prediction ability had been unable to show its true strength until now.


    However, this was a good opportunity to change that.


    With so many students fighting at the same time, Bloed could collect a great amount of data about their flow of mana and the effects it had on their movements.


    Of course, Bloed did not expect to perfect his predictive abilities in one go. But at the very least, he could make them much stronger.


    Moreover, Bloed could not help but consider something.


    If he managed to collect the data about how each student in Academy City used mana, would it be enough to perfect his predictive abilities?


    Just the idea made Bloed''s excited.


    When Liu Ying and Aya heard Bloed''s exnation, they were speechless. Even in the current situation, he was still in the mood for research.


    However, they were already used to this side of Bloed.


    Plus, research was not Bloed''s only goal when he released the dragonflies.


    One of the dragonflies remained in the park. It then projected a giant screen on the air, showing the different battles going through the city.


    In other words, Bloed and the girls were watching a live stream of the game.


    " Somehow, I feel a bit bad for some reason." Liu Ying said with an awkward smile.


    Thinking about it, while the other students were busy beating each other, they were seated on the grass, rxing calmly as they watched their battles.


    Liu Ying did not think about that for long, though.


    Instead, she sat down beside Bloed, hugged his arm, and started to watch the battles with him.


    Aya looked at Liu Ying with an expression of envy. She then seemed to make up her mind and sat down beside Bloed timidly.


    However, she did not dare to hug Bloed''s arm as Liu Ying. Instead, she just pinched his shirt shyly.


    That was enough to make her blush deeply.


    Bloed and Liu Ying did not know whether tough or to cry.


    Just like that, a strange scene appeared in Academy City.


    In the middle of a game that involved almost the entire city, a group of three was seated on the grass enjoying the battles rxedly.


    Bloed would have been happy if the game came at an end like that, without them needing to fight.


    However, it seemed that there was someone that was not happy with that.


    Because half an hourter, an exasperated voice reverberated through the city.


    "Hello, students. I have an announcement to do. Due to the inability of the students to locate the holders of the golden invitations, I decided to help them a little bit.


    "From now onwards, a golden light will appear on the location of the golden invitation''s holders every five minutes. If you want to defeat them and get the reward, just follow the light! Good luck!"


    Immediately after the voice disappeared, a ray of golden light appeared over Bloed and the others'' heads, showing their location to the entire city.


    Bloed cheek twitched irritatedly.


    " That bothersome woman"

 Chapter 311: A Crazy Game (3)

    Chapter 311: A Crazy Game (3)


    3/5


    ...


    "Here is the golden light!"


    "Hurry up! We will be the ones to catch them!"


    "Don''t let them escape!"


    Bloed, Aya, and Liu Ying could hear the voices of the students quickly approaching them. It was obvious the nearest students had seen the light and immediately rushed towards their location.


    In fact, through the dragonflies, Bloed could see many students stopping their battles and rushing towards them at once.


    "That bothersome woman" Bloed cursed the headmistress several times in his mind.


    What in the hell did she have against them!?


    "Bloed, what should we do? Should we escape again?" Liu Ying asked as she and Aya looked at Bloed anxiously.


    Bloed sighed.


    "There is no point in escaping. Anyway, the light will reveal our whereabouts again five minutester."


    "Then"


    "Yes, we will fight." Bloed''s expression turned ice-cold. "The headmistress wants to see us fight, right? We will fight then. We will beat all her students until not even their mothers can recognize them!"


    Liu Ying lips curved in a savage smile.


    "Hehe, I like that~. Come on, let''s teach them a lesson!"


    "Liu Ying, you will be the vanguard. Aya, you will act as our scout and assassin. I will act as support and vanguard at the same time."


    "Yes~!"


    "Understood."


    Just when they finished determining their roles, more than ten students arrived at the park.


    "They are there!"


    "It looks like we are the firsts!"


    "Hahaha, the reward is ours!"


    Liu Ying snorted when she saw the students rushing towards them. Without waiting for Bloed''s instructions, she stomped the ground, leaving behind a one-meter-of-diameter crater andunching herself towards the students!


    Her speed was so fast that when the students managed to notice her, she was already in front of them!


    "Hah!" With a punch on the chest, Liu Ying flung the first student away, destroying his barrier in the spot and leaving him unconscious!


    However, that was just the start. Without even confirming the fate of the first student, she spun her body around, unleashing a high kick on the face of a second student, followed by an axe kick on a third student and a sweeping kick on a fourth student.


    The second and third students were knocked unconscious immediately! As for the fourth, he was greeted with a punch straight to his face just after the sweeping kick.


    In just a few seconds, Liu Ying had defeated four of the students!


    However, neither Bloed nor Aya found it strange. Liu Ying was a genius, a monster. She was at the top of B-Rank when it came tobat power, beingparable to some weaker A-Ranks.


    To her, defeating a bunch of students that were at most C-Rank could not be easier!


    Despite that, even she would have a bit of trouble defeating more than ten students by herself. After all, each student admitted to Academy City could be considered a genius to some degree. And though Liu Ying would not lose against them, she would have to use up a lot of her stamina.


    And as expected, when the fourth student was knocked unconscious, the other students came to their senses and put on serious expressions.


    "Be careful!"


    "She is strong! Don''t get careless!"


    "I heard she is a B-Rank practitioner! Don''t underestimate her!"


    However, Liu Ying''s attack caused them to forgot about Bloed and Aya.


    That was a fatal mistake.


    All of sudden, a shadow materialized behind one of the students as Aya used her dagger to slit his throat.


    The attack destroyed the barrier immediately, knocking the student unconscious and activating the second barrier to indicate that the student had been eliminated.


    Aya''s eyes were indifferent. Without waiting for the student to fall on the ground, she faded into the shadows again, appearing behind a student that was nning to attack Liu Ying and stabbing his heart from his back!


    Then, she twirled her second dagger and blocked an attacking from her right, deflecting it and using it to reach the chest of a third student, stabbing her dagger on the location of his heart.


    She then used the student as cover and disappeared into the shadows, moving unnoticed and appearing behind a fourth student, stabbing her two daggers on his waist and destroying his barrier.


    Four students were knocked out!


    But when Aya tried to attack the fifth student, she saw several energy bullets fleeing towards them, destroying their barriers and knocking them unconscious.


    At the same time, Liu Ying punched the belly of another student, knocking him unconscious as well.


    Just like that, all the students that had attacked them were defeated!


    Just at that instant, several more students arrived at the scene. But when they saw the students lying on the ground unconscious, they stopped abruptly.


    Then, they looked at Bloed''s group with nervous expressions.


    "How weak" Liu Ying look at them and shook her head. With just a nce, she could see that none of them was stronger than C-Rank.


    That kind of opponent was not enough to worry her.


    Behind her, Bloed smiled wryly.


    He did not consider these students a threat either. In fact, Oculus''s rain of bullets alone could take care of a good part of them.


    Although he could not use Oculus right now. He was forced to cut off his connection with it due to the battle.


    After all, he could not fight while receiving information from tens of dragonflies at the same time.


    Hence, he ordered the dragonflies to return and cut off its connection with them. He was going to connect it again when the dragonfliesbine into Oculus again.


    The students that just arrived stared at Bloed''s group nervously. For several seconds, none of them dared to step forward.


    But at that moment, a strong presence appeared.


    All of sudden, a path opened between the students, revealing a B-Rank tigerkin young man with a fierce look.


    "Finally, I found you. Bloed Norman, I defy you to a duel!"


    But before he could end his words, the tigerkin''s expression changed and his face turned stern.


    Because at that moment, a wild and powerful fighting intent assaulted him.


    "Bloed, I want him." Liu Ying said with an excited grin.


    "As you wish, my love."

 Chapter 312: Three Against Hundreds

    Chapter 312: Three Against Hundreds


    4/5


    ...


    The tigerkin''s expression was stern. He stared at the demon girl in front of him and growled.


    "Woman, you are not my target."


    "Is it so? But if you want to fight Bloed, you will have to go through me first!"


    Liu Ying did not give the tigerkin time to process her words. Leaning her body forward, she charged towards the tigerkin and unleashed an uppercut.


    Startled, the tigerkin hurriedly tried to stop the punch with his right hand.


    But to his surprise, Liu Ying''s punch stopped one centimeter away from him.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    A powerful impact hit his hand.


    It was Silent Touch!


    The tigerkin opened his eyes wide. The barrier around his arm immediately weakened, and a numb feeling spread through his right hand.


    If not for the barrier protecting him, he would have lost his right hand with this attack!


    But before he could understand what happened, a leg was cutting towards his chest from the right.


    The tigerkin hurriedly took a step back, avoiding the leg by barely an inch. But in the next instant


    *Bam!*


    Another impact hit his chest, sending him flying away!


    The tigerkin flew for several meters before using his feet to stop himself. He then looked at his chest and saw that his barrier had weakened a lot.


    If not that his instincts warned him that something was wrong and he used mana to protect himself at thest second, he would have been knocked unconscious with that attack!


    Raising his head, he saw Liu Ying looking at him with a startled look.


    It was as though she was surprised that he was still standing after that attack.


    ''What kind of monster''


    "Hey, did you saw that?" One of the students that came to catch Bloed''s group spoke in a trembling voice. "Eauge is losing..."


    "That girl is so strong"


    "Eauge is a B-Rank, but he is losing so easily. How are we supposed to fight them then?"


    "Is she really a neer?"


    The tigerkin, Eauge, put on an ugly expression and looked at the other students.


    "What are you doing!? Attack together! Even if they are strong, they will be unable to defeat all of us! Don''t you want the reward!?"


    These words seemed to wake up the other students. They looked at each other before looking at Liu Ying.


    In the next second, a C-Rank young man charged towards Liu Ying.


    "Die!"


    However, before he could reach Liu Ying, a petite shadow appeared in front of him, walking towards his chest.


    And before he could react, a dagger pierced his chest and another his belly, shattering his barrier.


    That marked the start of the battle.


    Tens of student, men and women; humans, beastmen, demons, and even elves, charged towards Bleod''s group with fierce expressions.


    Magic spells started to appear, flying towards Bloed''s group as swords and spears pierced towards them.


    In the middle of all of that, Bloed''s eyes shed coldly.


    "Leto." He said.


    Immediately, his metallic wolf turned into a whirlpool of metallic sand that surrounded him. Then, it turned into countless spears that flew towards the enemy.


    At the same time, two guns appeared on Bloed''s hands, shooting bullet after bullet towards the students.


    Aya did not fall behind. As soon as the battle started, she hid in the shadows and started to reap the consciousness of student after student, like a petite god of death unable to be seen.


    Thanks to the cloak she received as her reward after thepetition against the Sun Kingdom and the elves, her stealth had be much stronger. In front of C-Rank and D-Rank opponents, she was almost undetectable.


    She moved through the shadows, weaving between the students to ambush them and bring chaos to the attackers.


    Finally, there was Liu Ying. She ignored the other studentspletely, focusing only on the tigerkin young man.


    She did not even care when the other students attacked her, only continuing her battle!


    The tigerkin''s expression was ugly. He tried to cope with the demon attacks as much as he could, but he was quickly losing ground.


    ''This crazy girl Does she not care about the attacks flying towards her!?''


    But suddenly, he realized something strange.


    No matter how many students attacked her, they could never touch her.


    Each and every time, a spear of metallic sand or a bullet of energy appeared suddenly to stop their attacks.


    It was as though Bloed was encouraging her to focus on her battle without minding anything else.


    And Liu Ying agreed happily.


    She used the B-Rank tigerkin to practice [Silent Touch], dealing hit after hit while the tigerkin was unable to defend himself properly.


    He could feel that Liu Ying somehow could attack him even if her attacks did notnd, but he did not understand how. It was as though he was being attacked by an invisible enemy.


    In front of such attacks, he quickly was cornered.


    ''Dammit!'' He cursed in his mind and looked around trying to find a way out of this situation.


    But it only made him more hopeless.


    Because what appeared before his eyes was a scene of countless students copsing one after another, losing consciousness after receiving a fatal blow.


    Each second, Bloed and Aya knocked out several students.


    But what he did not know was that Bloed was frowning right now.


    Even though the situation seemed to their advantage right now, the truth was that they were in trouble.


    Bloed and Aya did not find it difficult to defeat forty of fifty D-Rank and C-Rank enemies, mainly because their battle styles were very suitable for group battles. However, the number of students charging towards them seemed endless.


    And each second, more enemies wereing.


    Bloed knew it was a matter of time before stronger enemies appeared. B-Rank enemies that they would need to take seriously.


    And just when he was thinking about that, a chill ran through his spine.


    Bloed did not hesitate. As soon as he felt that something was wrong, he jumped aside.


    The next second, an arrow prated the ce where he just stood!


    It created a small explosion and left a crater on Bloed''s previous location!


    "Oh? Did you avoid it?" An elf girl smirked to Bloed from a nearby roof. "How about this then?"


    With a swift movement, the elf girl released several arrows in quick session, aiming towards Bloed and the ces where he could avoid.


    However, Bloed did not panic. His blue eyes lit up, and the world became slower in his eyes.


    Then, his saber appeared on his hand, drawing a beautiful line on the air.


    Miraculously, it was as though all the arrows had been drawn to his saber, colliding with it and being cut into two.


    He had predicted the path of the arrows!


    The elf girl''s eyes opened slightly wide. But in the next second, she saw two bullets of energy flying towards her.


    She hurriedly jumped aside, using the agile movements characteristic of elves to avoid the bullets.


    But to her surprise, she saw Bloed rushing towards the ce where she was about tond!


    The elf girl''s expression turned grave. She took an arrow from her quiver and twirled it in her right hand, using it as a dagger to block Bloed''s saber.


    But


    *Swish!*


    "!!!"


    The saber cut through the arrow as though it did not exist.


    The elf girl opened her eyes wide. She could only watch how the saber cut through her arrow and continued towards her neck.


    But suddenly


    "[Burn]!"


    The voice of a girl came from the distance, and a magic circle appeared below Bloed''s feet!


    In the next second, a pir of fire consumed the ce where Bloed was!


    "Bloed!"


    "Bloed!"


    Liu Ying and Aya screamed anxiously and tried to rush towards Bloed''s location. However, the tigerkin fighting Liu Ying attacked her at that moment, and a new B-Rank appeared to block Aya.


    " That was close." The elf girl said with a bit of cold sweat on her back. "Damn, what a strong newbie..."


    But all of sudden, a powerful killing intent assaulted her, freezing her movementspletely!


    It was Bloed''s [King''s Aura]!


    The elf girl was paralyzed. She felt as though she was facing a giant and terrifying monster with limitless power.


    Then, a pair of blue eyes glowed from within the mes.


    And a saber pierced her heart.

 Chapter 313: Three Against Hundreds (2)

    Chapter 313: Three Against Hundreds (2)


    5/5


    ...


    "H-How?" The elf girl looked at the glowing blue eyes in front of her with a look of disbelief. She could not believe she had been eliminated.


    Bloed stared at her silently. A slight burning smell came from his clothes, showing that the spell of just now was notpletely ineffective. Meanwhile, the metallic sand circling around him showed the method he used to defend against the pir of fire.


    The elf girl smiled bitterly and closed her eyes. One instantter, her barrier shattered and her consciousness faded out.


    Pulling his saber back, Bloed waved his hand, making the metallic sand around him turn into a whirlpool that blew away the pir of fire.


    But almost immediately, he was forced to jump away, avoiding the arrows of fire flying towards his location!


    "Lewana!" A human mage girl appeared nearby, crying out the name of the copsed elf girl anxiously.


    She was the person that fired the spells just now, a B-Rank mage!


    Gritting her teeth, the mage girl cast several spells in quick session, throwing them towards Bloed one after another.


    However, without the factor of surprise, her spells were much less threatening.


    Bloed moved swiftly through the battlefield, avoiding her spells narrowly as he squinted his eyes.


    Around him, several C-Rank and D-Rank practitioners threw themselves in his path in hopes of slowing him down ornding a blow, however, Bloed weaved around them using impable footwork, not giving them the opportunity tond any hit.


    However, although these opponents could not touch him, they make it impossible to close the distance between him and the mage girl. Every time he tried, he was hindered by a nearby student, allowing her to distance herself from him.


    She was kiting him! At this rate, she would exhaust him until eliminating him!


    Bloed narrowed his eyes, and a blue glow briefly shed through his eyes.


    Looking at the mage girl, he gave an order to his battle pet.


    "Leto!"


    Understanding his master''s intentions, the metallic wolf turned into a metallic wall between Bloed and the mage girl.


    The mage girl was surprised. With Leto blocking her sight, she was unable to see Bloed.


    She hurriedly jumped away in case Bloed was nning some kind of ambush. But at that moment, a sh of blue light pierced the wall.


    Then, a bullet of energying from Bloed''s sniper rifle struck the mage girl, breaking her barrier as it left a trail of blue light in its way.


    However, before Bloed could celebrate, two new strong presences locked on him.


    Two B-Rank practitioners.


    Bloed frowned. Looking around, he saw a sword-wielding demon young man and a bearkin girl approaching him from both sides.


    They had arrived while Bloed fought the mage girl!


    Furthermore, more and more students were arriving each second, rushing towards the battlefield!


    At that moment, a grunt of pain came from nearby.


    A few meters away, a tigerkin young man kneeled on the ground with a hand on his belly. He looked at the demon girl in front of him with a bitter smile before falling unconscious.


    Liu Ying nced at him slightly before turning around and rushing towards Bloed''s side.


    However, another B-Rank arrived at that moment, standing in Liu Ying''s way and stopping her charge with a shield!


    "Where do you think you are going!?" The shield-wielding young man grinned. Mana surged out of his body, gathering on his shield and releasing a blow towards Liu Ying.


    It was one of the most basic warrior techniques, [Charge]!


    But in the hands of this young man, this technique was enough to send Liu Ying back several meters!


    Moreover, before she couldnd, another B-Rank appeared behind her, thrusting two daggers towards Liu Ying''s back!


    Liu Ying''s eyes narrowed. In an instant, her instinct kicked up, allowing her to react.


    Under the two B-Ranks'' astonished eyes, her body suddenly disappeared.


    Stunned, the dagger-wielding young man hurriedly looked around to find her.


    But-


    "Behind you!"


    The shield user cried out, but it was toote. All of sudden, the young man felt a powerful impact on his back that flung him away.


    *Bam!*


    "Gah!"


    After crashing against a nearby wall, the young man fell unconscious.


    The shield-bearer young man gritted his teeth. He red at Liu Ying angrily only to see her charging towards him.


    "Stop!"


    Pushing his shield forward, he gathered mana on it to use the ''Charge'' technique again.


    However, it was a mistake.


    Because just before Liu Ying''s punch hit the shield, a giant image appeared behind her.


    It was her Aspect! The Chaos Titan disguised as a ck Knight!


    When the aspect appeared, Liu Ying''s physical strength became several times stronger. Crimson mana gathered on her fist, enhancing the power of her attack!


    At the same technique, she used the technique Regina taught her.


    "[Silent Touch]!"


    *Bam!*


    The strong impact bent the shield and sent the shield-bearer young man flying away.


    And before he couldnd, a cat girl appeared behind him, looking at him with an ice-cold look as her two daggers aimed to his neck.


    It was Aya! She had defeated her opponent and came to support Liu Ying!


    Having just received Liu Ying''s attack, the young man was unable to defend against her!


    *Swish!*


    With two crisscrossing shes, Aya''s dagger cut the young man, shattering his barrier and eliminating him from the battlefield.


    "Nice one, Aya!" Liu Ying eximed, but one secondter, her face changed. She jumped away together with Aya to avoid the attack of a new B-Rank enemy.


    Bloed jumped beside them at this moment.


    "We can''t continue like this," He said with a serious expression. "At this rate, we will be tired to death."


    Liu Ying and Aya nodded. Even although the three of them were almost undefeatable in the B-Rank, it did not mean they could take so many students by themselves!


    In fact, they had defeated six B-Ranks and more than fifty D-Ranks and C-Ranks already, however, there were another six B-Ranks in front of them plus tens of D-Ranks and C-Ranks.


    "Are we escaping again then?" Liu Ying asked with a wry smile.


    Bloed sighed and nodded. "I don''t n to stay here to receive a beating, so we are using Leto again."


    But suddenly, a voice reached Bloed''s ears.


    [My hero, long time no see you!]


    Bloed was stunned. That was...


    ''Gina!?''


    He hurriedly searched for her figure in the surroundings, but he failed to find the familiar honey-colored little girl.


    [Fufufu. My hero, no need to search for me. Instead, you should escape this situation first.] A soft giggle reached his ears again.


    ''So it was not my imagination, huh.''


    "Where are you?"


    "Bloed?"


    "What is wrong?"


    Ignoring Liu Ying and Aya, Bloed waited for the honey-haired girl''s answer.


    And soon, it arrived.


    [It doesn''t matter no, my hero. Instead, you should find a way to escape..] The innocent voice of the honey-haired little girl sounded in Bloed''s ears. [I know of a safe momentarily safe. However, you need to find a way to lose the students around you.]


    Bloed smiled. He ignored the strange gazes of the two girls beside him and nodded.


    "That is easy."


    Then, he took two metallic balls from his storage device.


    At the same time, he gave an order to the eye in the sky that just finished taking shape again.


    The next second, a barrage of bullets fell on the battlefield.


    "Careful!" One of the B-Ranks cried out and warned the group.


    But at the same time, two shes of light exploded in Bloed''s location, blinding the students nearby.


    When the light finally faded out, Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya were gone.

 Chapter 314: Reunion

    Chapter 314: Reunion


    Following the voice''s instructions, Bloed brought Liu Ying and Aya to a nearby alleyway.


    To their surprise, they did not meet any student in the way. No, actually, they met several of them, however, each one of them was lying on the ground unconscious.


    It was as though someone had cleared them beforehand to open a path for Bloed and the girls.


    And the identity of the people behind it was revealed as soon as they reached the alleyway.


    "My hero!"


    With an excited cry, a honey-haired young girl threw herself into Bloed''s arms.


    The sudden ''attack'' surprised the group. Aya quickly grabbed her daggers and got ready to cut down the girl.


    Fortunately, she was stopped by Liu Ying. Otherwise, the honey-chaired girl would have received friendly fire before being able to hug her hero.


    Bloed received the petite girl in his arm with a surprised expression.


    "Gina? you are in Academy City already? There are still several months left until the one-year agreement."


    "Well, sister and I finished dealing with our matters sooner than we expected, so we decided toe here earlier to wait for you. My hero, I missed you so so so much!"


    Looking at the excited silver eyes of the little girl, Bloed put on a wry smile.


    "Right, if you are here, it means your sister is here as well, right?"


    Just when Bloed finished talking, a figure descended from a nearby roof, kneeling before Bloed respectfully.


    "My lord!"


    "Sara." Bloed greeted the ck-haired girl with a smile and raised an eyebrow. "Did you cut your hair short?"


    "Mm. My lord, I''m here to fulfill my promise. From today onwards, I''ll be your sword. I, Sara Sviel, will be the shadow that kills your enemies!"


    Bloed smiled awkwardly. To be honest, he was not used to this kind of treatment.


    But looking at the determined eyes in Sara''s straightforward expression, Bloed did not try to refuse her.


    He knew she was not going to change her decision.


    In the end, he just sighed.


    "Please rise. I''m happy to meet you again."


    "Mm." Sara nodded curtly. She then looked at Liu Ying and bowed. "Miss Liu Ying, it''s a pleasure to meet you again."


    " I did not expect to meet the two of you so soon." Liu Ying smiled wryly before ring at the honey-haired girl who was still hugging Bloed''s waist. "And you, little Gina, how long are you nning to hug my boyfriend?"


    "Boyfriend?" Gina tilted her head. Immediately, her eyes glittered in excitement. "So you became lovers officially! Congrattions, sister Liu Ying!"


    "T-That is"


    "How far have you two reached? Have you kissed yet? Mm, you blushed so it means yes. Then, how a-about t-that"


    "Gina!" Embarrassed, Liu Ying charged towards the little girl and blocked her mouth. "Y-Y-You What are you saying!!!???"


    "Hmmp, Hmmp Hmmp hmmp hmmp!"


    Watching the honey-haired girl twisting her body on Liu Ying''s arms as she tried to talk, Bloed could not help but smile.


    He then looked at Sara and the unconscious students nearby with a curious expression.


    "You did it?"


    "Yes, my lord. Gina predicted that you would be surrounded here, so she brought me here and asked me to eliminate the enemies in this direction to create a safe zone. You will not be attacked here for a while."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow in surprise. This was a good idea.


    Unfortunately, just two minutes remained before their location was exposed again and they had to face the students once more.


    However, the fact that Sara managed to do something like this so easily was pretty amazing.


    Observing the girl in front of him carefully, Bloed finally noticed something.


    "Did you breakthrough?"


    "Yes, I broke through to A-Rank recently."


    Bloed was surprised. If he did not remember wrong, Sara was just eighteen years old. Reaching A-Rank at that age was very astonishing.


    However, Bloed discovered that she was not the only one to breakthrough. Gina had also be a D-Rank practitioner.


    Plus, she was a peak D-Rank practitioner, just a step away from reaching C-Rank.


    It was a fast speed considering that she was an E-Rank practitioner just a few months ago.


    "It looks like the technique I gave her was very useful."


    Sara nodded.


    "Yes. Thanks to my lord''s technique, Gina''s mana has grown noticeably. Moreover, her control over her predictions is much better than before. Even I''m surprised by her progress."


    Bloed was not too surprised about it, though. Gina had an SS-Grade ESP ability, [Precognition]. With the appropriate training technique, her speed of growth would be incredibly fast.


    Her situation was much better than Bloed who could barely use his SSS-Grade ESP ability.


    While Bloed and Sara were talking, Gina finally escaped from Liu Ying''s clutches and pouted.


    "Sister Liu Ying is a bully. Wait until I be B-Rank, I will bully you back!"


    "Little girl, it looks like you need to be punished a bit more, huh."


    Noticing Liu Ying''s vexed look, Gina''s giggled and she hurriedly hid behind Bloed.


    "My hero, sister Liu Ying is bullying me!"


    "Gina, stop causing trouble," Sara heaved out a long sigh. "Sorry, my lord. My sister has be much livelier since you cured her illness."


    Gina stuck out her tongue to her sister before looking at the cat girl who had been silent until now.


    "By the way, who is her? A new sister?"


    "What are you talking about? She is Aya, a friend. Aya, they are Sara and Gina."


    "Mm. Nice to meet you." Aya greeted the two girls expressionlessly. However, her gaze waspletely focused on Gina.


    More urately, she was staring at the arms that were wrapped around Bloed''s waist.


    Gina looked at the cat girl for several seconds before nodding as though understanding something. "Nice to meet you. I''m Gina, my hero''s future wife."


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Sara''s froze.


    Even Bloed looked at Gina with a stiffened look.


    One secondter, Liu Ying''s cheek twitched.


    "Little Gina, it looks like you will not be happy until I taught you to not aim for the boyfriend of someone else, huh?"


    "Kyaa! My hero, sister, save me!"


    Bloed sighed tiredly.


    He could already imagine that his days would not be peaceful with this little devil around him.


    Sara sighed as well and bowed deeply.


    "I''m sorry about my sister''s mischievousness, my lord. You don''t need to pay attention to her words. She is not speaking seriously."


    "Do you truly think so?"


    Sara looked away.


    Sighing again, Bloed shook his head.


    Then, he looked towards the clouds with a bitter smile.


    He was sure he could feel a very sharp reing from up there.


    For some reason, it seemed like the re of his slightly jealous silver-haired girlfriend.


    Meanwhile, in another part of the city.


    A man looked was standing a group of healing mages with a stern expression.


    "Remember, you must pay attention to the state of the unconscious students. The safety measures of the headmistress should be wless, but just in case, you should check if they were injured. After that, you must bring them to the infirmaries of the city. Any question?"


    """None, leader."""


    "Very well, you know what to do. Now, go!"


    The healing mages nodded, formed groups of five people, and departed to different areas of the city.


    At that moment, however, the man noticed something strange about one of the teams.


    For an instant, he thought he saw the number ''54'' tattooed on the nape of one of its members.


    However, this number was quickly covered under its shirt.


    '' How weird, did he always have that tattoo there?''


    Unfortunately, the man did not think more about that.


    Otherwise, perhaps many students would have not suffered a tragic fate.


    ...


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 Chapter 315: Messy Battle (1)

    Chapter 315: Messy Battle (1)


    Two unexpected chappies here...


    ...


    Although Bloed was rather happy about the reunion with the two sisters, the truth was that it did not improve their situation much.


    Something fortunate was that the two sisters were also part of the game. They had arrived just two months ago, so technically, they were still neers.


    Sara and Gina''s team was team blue. Technically, they were Bloed, Aya, and Liu Ying''s enemies; however, it was obvious the girls had decided to betray their team.


    But even with them helping Bloed''s group, the situation was still bad.


    After all, three people against hundreds of people and five people against hundreds of people were equally hopeless.


    Plus, it was obvious Gina would not be of much use during a battle. Fortunately, the elder sister, Sara, was much better in that aspect.


    As an A-Rank powerhouse, even if she just attained that level, Sara could be considered as the strongest student among the neers.


    Moreover, she was an assassin, so her lethality was beyond her cultivation. Perhaps even a peak A-Rank practitioner could die at her hands if he was not careful.


    "I guess having her with us is reassuring, huh," Bloed muttered to himself.


    But then, he furrowed his brows.


    Bloed looked in a certain direction and put on a serious expression.


    He could pick up some voicesing from there.


    "They must be nearby! I can see many unconscious students around here!"


    "Find them! They can''t have run far!"


    "Be careful! Don''t try to take them down alone! They are very strong!"


    Aya, Liu Ying, and Sara also picked up these voices.


    "It looks like we can''t stay here any longer." Liu Ying said with a frown.


    Bloed nodded.


    Connecting his mind to Oculus, he used it to observe the situation in the surroundings.


    With just a nce, he saw hundreds of students moving through the streets nearby.


    Furthermore Bloed took out his invitation letter.


    ''It will reveal our location in less than one minute. By then, we will be swarmed by students again.''


    "Do you have a n, Bloed?" Aya asked worriedly.


    Bloed thought for a second before nodding hesitantly.


    "I do. It''s not much of a n, though. However, it''s our only option."


    "Huh? What is it?" Liu Ying tilted her head.


    Bloed smiled softly and his eyes glowed with an ice-cold light.


    "Let''s be the hunters."


    "Huh?"


    Seeing the confusion in the faces of the girls, Bloed exined his n to them.


    "You see, we underestimated the words of the headmistress. When the students heard that the headmistress would reward them if they caught us, they became crazy. They even stopped fighting between themselves just to catch us.


    "If things continue like this, we will be constantly besieged and eventually eliminated before all the members of either team blue or team red arepletely eliminated."


    The girls'' eyes shed in realization.


    "In other words, we need to make sure that a team is defeated before us." Liu Ying said.


    "Yes." Bloed nodded. "We need to eliminate all the students belonging to one of the teams."


    The girls looked at each other with serious expressions. Bloed''s n was easier said than done.


    Moreover, most likely, some clubs were protecting some members of both teams just to avoid this situation. In other words, they would have to face the clubs directly if they wanted to eliminate these members.


    However, that seemed to be their only way to victory.


    "What team are we going to attack then? Team blue or team red?" Liu Ying asked.


    But before Bloed could answer, the lively honey-haired girl raised her hand.


    "Leave it to me~."


    Then, she closed her eyes and put on a focused expression.


    Frowning, Bloed stared at Gina curiously. But quickly, his expression turned into one of surprise.


    He could feel a trickle of psychic energy flowing through Gina''s brain.


    And that energy activated some kind of power.


    It was her ESP ability, [SS-Grade Precognition]!


    It was an ability that allowed Gina to ''see'' the possible futures.


    However, Gina had recently discovered that her ability allowed her to ''see'' much more than the future. In fact, the future was one of the most difficult things to ''see''.


    But if she wanted to see the past or find something in the present, it was much easier.


    And right now, she was using her ability to ''see'' the present.


    Bloed did not know it, but at that moment, countless scenes were shing through Gina''s mind.


    Each scene was different. Some were very vague, and others were very urate. Some were very fantastic, and other incredibly realistic.


    Happy ones, sad ones, tragic ones, all kinds of scenes appeared on the lively girl''s mind.


    But Gina ignored them. Instead, she focused her power to find what she wanted to see.


    And soon, she found it.


    Among the countless scenes, she saw one that had the information she wanted to see.


    Curving her lips up, she opened her eyes and looked at Bloed with a look of pride.


    "You should attack the blue team. They had fifty students less than the red team. I can even tell you the location of all the students on the blue team if you want."


    Bloed was surprised. But in the next second, he grinned and sped Gina''s cheeks happily.


    "You are amazing, little Gina!"


    He then kissed the honey-haired girl''s forehead.


    Gina stiffened in surprise. One secondter, her face turnedpletely red and her mind turned nk!


    "Hehe...~"


    Bloed did not have the time to pay attention to that, though. Now that they had chosen a target, it was time to act.


    But before that


    "Sara, I need your help with something."


    "I''m listening, my lord."


    "Nobody knows that you are on our side, so you will be able to move with much more freedom. Your mission is to eliminate as many people of the blue team as possible while we attract the attention of the crowd. Can you?"


    "Don''t worry, my lord. I will not disappoint you."


    "Good." Bloed grinned. He then took several earphones from his storage device and gave one of them to each girl. "Take it, we willmunicate through them. You know what you need to do."


    "Understood."


    With a determined expression, Sara nodded and took her earphone.


    Five secondster, she and her sister ran off toplete their mission (Gina was still in a daze after receiving that forehead kiss).


    Fifteen secondster, a golden light once more revealed Bloed, Aya, and Liu Ying''s location.


    Thirty secondster, the fierce battle between Bloed, Aya, Liu Ying, and the other students resumed.

 Chapter 316: Messy Battle (2)

    Chapter 316: Messy Battle (2)


    "Dammit, what is happening!?"


    "Where are they!?"


    "They were here just noAgh!"


    "Joseph! Damn yUgh!"


    Countless students were going after Bloed, Aya, and Liu Ying. They were desperately trying to surround them and defeat them to get the three golden invitations.


    However, despite their superior number, the students were unable to eliminate the three of them. Instead, they were being eliminated quickly.


    Moreover, most of them had not even seen Bloed and the girls.


    "Where are they!?" A student asked in confusion.


    "They were here just now! How did they disappear!?"


    "What do you mUgh!"


    "Can Wu! Damn it! Bastards, stop hiding as cowards!"


    Neither Bloed nor Liu Ying or Aya cared about these words.


    Since the start, this game was not fair at all. How could it be fair when hundreds of students were fighting against three students.


    Taking that into ount, Bloed knew that he and the girls could not go against so many students by themselves using normal means.


    Hence, he thought of this strategy.


    With the help of Bloed''s stealth devices, Bloed and Liu Ying mixed between the students and attacked them, focusing on the ones with blue invitations.


    At the same time, Aya hid in the shadows, using her assassination techniques to defeat as many students as possible.


    This strategy was incredibly effective.


    Although Bloed''s stealth device was far fromparable to the stealth of someone like Aya or Sara, it was more than enough in this situation. Making use of the chaos and the optical invisibility granted by the stealth devices, he and Liu Ying could move through the students easily, increasing their chaos and confusion even more.


    And this chaos was very advantageous for them.


    They did notst long in a ce. Instead, they moved through the streets of the city as they defeated student after student.


    The only problem was the B-Rank students. But with Oculus''s help, Bloed and the girls kept an eye on them and made sure to avoid them as long as it was possible.


    However, although this strategy was effective, some students saw through it.


    Under the leadership of the member of several clubs, many students focused on surrounding Bloed and the girlspletely. They knew that as long as they were surrounded, they would be nothing more than turtles in a jar, unable to escape no matter how much they struggled.


    Unfortunately for them, although their n was good, the reality was not so easy.


    Certainly, that n was effective. But precisely due to that, Bloed had thought in a way to avoid it.


    He kept an eye on the entire battlefield through Oculus. Hence, every time he noticed they were about to be surrounded, he would lead the girls to the weakest part of the encirclement, escaping once more and continuing the game of cat and mouse.


    Like that, the number of students they defeated like that quickly approached one hundred!


    Such a feat was so astonishing that the people observing the game were astonished.


    At this moment, the heads of the clubs and some teachers and demigods were looking at a screen-like artifact located in the za with a grave look.


    Each one of them had their eyes focused on the unbelievable battle.


    " It looks like that some monsters arrived at Academy City." The head of one of the clubs said.


    "I thought it was a joke when the headmistress proposed this game, but now I think I understand her intention."


    " You are right. They are definitively on a whole different level than the rest of the neers. At this rate, they will eliminate all the members of team blue before they are defeated."


    While the various students and demigods werementing about the battle, Mu Quan, the strongest student in the city, who had kept his eyes closed all this while, opened them suddenly.


    Then, he stared at the three students fixedly.


    Soon, his entire attention was on the demon girl using her fists and kicks to sweep through the nearby enemies.


    For an instant, a frown appeared on his face.


    However, it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.


    ...


    At the same time, the dragon headmistress had a small smile on her face as she watched the battle.


    "How surprising I was expecting to see something amazing when you told me about him, but this surpasses my expectations."


    " Mine as well." Eve, who had appeared at some point together with the silver-haired Valkyrie, nodded expressionlessly. "As expected of someone who managed to catch the interest of two goddesses."


    "However, I''m interested in these two girls as well." The headmistress with a chuckle, focusing on the two sisters that moved quickly through the city as they eliminated all the members of team blue they met. "It was a miscalction. I never thought they would have two allies I did not know about And that little girl How in the hell is she locating the students on team blue? Miss Regina, do you know about it?"


    The silver-haired Valkyrie red at the headmistress coldly before proceeding to ignore herpletely.


    It was obvious she was very displeased after her master was involved in this kind of incident.


    Of course, she could not deny that she also felt very proud at the same time.


    After all, it meant the entire city would learn about how incredible her master was.


    To Regina, who put Bloed above everything else, the fact that her master''s talents were being recognized satisfied her.


    ...


    While the three powerful women were talking, the chaotic battle continued.


    By this point, the number of students lying unconscious on the streets had increased greatly.


    However, Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya had started to feel the burden of the battle.


    It was because the number of students from the clubs attacking them had increased greatly.


    Just the number of B-Ranks on the crowd had reached the double digits. Furthermore, there were still tens of C-Rank and D-Rank club members attacking the group besides them.


    Compared to the C-Rank and D-Rank neers, the club members were much stronger. Their cooperation was making things way harder for Bloed and the girls.


    "Girls. We need to leave this location quickly." Bloed spoke through the earphone on his ear.


    "Damn it! This is endless!" Liu Ying cursed. "Little Gina, how many students of team blue remain!?"


    "Give me a moment, sister Liu Ying." The gentle voice of the honey-haired girl reached them. "There are just forty-five left. However, twelve of them are under the protection of some clubs! They will be a bit troublesome."


    "Twelve" Bloed frowned. The situation had turned as he feared.


    If they did not defeat these twelve students, this absurd game was not going to end.


    But there was a high probability that these students were under the protection of one or more B-Ranks.


    "My lord, leave it to me."


    "Sara?"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of them as quickly as possible. Gina, give me their locations."


    "Yes, sis! In one second!


    Bloed fell silent for a moment before humming in affirmation.


    "Thank you. Gina, Sara, I leave it to you. As for us, I think we will have to take care of the situation here." Bloed said as he stopped abruptly.


    At the same time, Aya and Liu Ying stopped beside him.


    At some point in time, they had been surrounded by more than ten B-Rank students.


    ...


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 Chapter 317: Twenty-Six Left

    Chapter 317: Twenty-Six Left


    And Aidka said, ''Let there be a chapter of Science/Magic today...''


    ...


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. Using Oculus, he managed to spot a total of fifteen B-Ranks.


    Moreover, there were many more D-Ranks and C-Ranks behind them.


    They had been surrounded.


    One of the B-Ranks stepped forward at that moment.


    Bloed recognized him instantly. He was one of the young men that tried to invite them to a club a few days ago.


    His name was Alex, a member of [Genius Society].


    In fact, Bloed saw several of the students that tried to recruit them when they just entered Academy City, including an elf girl called Illia and a young woman called Diana.


    The three of them were peak B-Rank practitioners, and judging by their auras, they were stronger than their rank.


    As Bloed observed the enemies, the young man that stepped forward stared at Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya with a smile.


    "Mr. Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, we meet again. How have you been?"


    Bloed shrugged indifferently. "As you can see, taking care of some troublesome matters."


    "Is it so? Well, I will be straight with you. You should give up. That way, we can''t put an end to this quickly."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow and Liu Ying beside him snorted.


    "Do you think you alone are able to make us give up?"


    Alex narrowed his eyes. He stared at the group of three with an unreadable expression.


    But at that moment, another of the B-Ranks spoke up.


    "Stop wasting time. Let''s just eliminate them quickly."


    "I heard they three are super-geniuses. I wonder how beating a super genius feels."


    "Hmph! Today, I want to see what they are made of!"


    Bloed frowned. Fifteen B-Ranks were a bit too much.


    Moreover, he realized that some of the B-Ranks were strangely hostile towards them. Mainly beastmen, but also some of the other races.


    ''Did anything happen?''


    Although curious, Bloed did not pay it much attention. Instead, he used Oculus to observe the surroundings while paying attention to Sara and Gina''s situation through the earpieces.


    In truth, Liu Ying, Aya and he were already rather tired.


    Even though they did not show it in their faces, defeating so many students was very hard. Bloed felt that his reserves of psychic power were almost depleted.


    But despite that, Bloed was confident.


    Not just him, the girls as well.


    He still had several cards under his sleeve. If he wanted, he could escape this situation at any time.


    For now, though, the best course of action was to earn time.


    Alex frowned. For some reason, he felt that Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya were a bit too calm, as though everything was under their control.


    ''We should take care quickly of them before something unexpected happens.''


    But when he was about to make his move, Bloed spoke up.


    "Actually, I have a proposal for all of you."


    "Huh?" Alex and the other B-Ranks were surprised.


    "You see, we don''t want to lose this game. But we know that our chances right now are not very high. So, how about it? If any of your clubs manage to protect the three of us until the end of the game, we will not only give that club the rights to the headmistress''s reward, but we will also join that clubs."


    The B-Ranks surrounding the group were stunned.


    One secondter, the eyes of several of them lit up.


    Then, they stared at each other with wary expressions. Some of them even started to show hostility.


    In an instant, the atmosphere had turned tense.


    Alex wrinkled his brows. "Guys, don''t listen to him! It''s obvious he just wants to divide us!"


    The atmosphere calmed a little bit with these words, but the B-Ranks were still looking at each other warily.


    Bloed''s proposal was incredibly attractive. Mainly the fact about joining a club.


    You must understand that with the talent Bloed and the two girls had shown, it was enough to be the cornerstone of any club after a few years. If a club had the three of them, there was a high chance of that club bing the strongest club of Academy City!


    In this ce, where a stronger club meant enjoying more resources, such a proposal was something that every B-Rank here found tempting.


    When Alex saw that, he clicked his tongue inwardly.


    None of the B-Ranks here was an idiot. All of them could see through Bloed''s goal easily.


    But even so, they could not help but be tempted.


    Of course, Bloed was not so naive as to think it was enough to turn the B-Ranks against each other. He just wanted to stall for more time.


    Finally, a youngdy belonging to an unknown club spoke up.


    " Guys, it is not the time to fight among us. I opine it''s better to eliminate them first. Getting a reward from the headmistress is already more than enough."


    "Yes, but, who will get the reward?"


    "It''s firste first served. We will fight them together and the golden invitations will go to the one that deals thest hit."


    " I agree."


    "Good for me."


    "Let''s go with that."


    Bloed sighed inwardly when he heard that.


    ''Well, it was worth a try.''


    However, it was notpletely useless.


    Three minutes had already passed, and surprisingly Sara had eliminated five of the twelve students she promised to eliminate already.


    As for Bloed, following Gina''s instructions and Oculus''s bird sight, he had managed to locate the remaining thirty-three students.


    They just needed to eliminate them.


    Curving his lips up, he opened his mouth.


    "Now."


    As soon as his words sounded, Aya and Liu Ying moved!


    The B-Ranks reacted immediately. Seeing Liu Ying and Aya move, they got ready to face them.


    But at that moment, one of the B-Ranks saw several metallic balls floating in the air.


    They had been thrown by Bloed without them noticing!


    That is


    "Careful! Close your eyes and cover your ears!"


    But it was toote!


    Although some of them managed to react, more than half of the B-Ranks were taken by surprise by the blinding light and deafening sound caused by the grenades!


    As for the rest of them, they saw Bloed, Aya, and Liu Ying jump onto the metallic wolf as it prepared to take flight.


    "They are trying to escape!" Alex bellowed, jumping towards the metallic wolf without hesitation.


    The rest of B-Ranks did not hesitate either. It had cost so much to surround them. They could not let them escape at any cost.


    But Bloed just smiled.


    At that moment, Oculus lit up.


    Then, a rain of energy bullets fell on the crowd of C-Rank and D-Rank students behind the B-Ranks!


    In an instant, more than thirty of them were eliminated, including seven of the blue team!


    ''Twenty-six left!'' Bloed narrowed his eyes. At the same time, he, Liu Ying, and Aya looked towards the remaining blue team members.


    "Let''s end this!"


    "Yes~"


    "Understood!"


    With the resolute answers of his demon girlfriend and cat friend, Bloed started thest battle of the game.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 318: First Use of the Door of Nothingness

    Chapter 318: First Use of the Door of Nothingness


    When you thought there would not be chapter today, a wild chapter of Science/Magic appears...


    ...


    Oculus''s attack startled the B-Ranks, but none of them hesitated. They knew they could not leave Bloed and the girls escape.


    With a wave of her hand, a mage girl created a magic circle just over Leto. Then, a strong gravity assaulted the metallic wolf!


    [Increased Gravity]!


    Under the effects of the spell, Leto''s speed slowed down, allowing many of the B-Ranks to catch up to it.


    Following it, several attacks flew towards the metallic wolf!


    Bloed''s eyes sharpened. Just before the attacks reached the metallic wolf, he used his mind to give it an order.


    Then, the metallic sand forming the metallic wolf dispersed, turning into several metallic spears that rained towards the B-Ranks attacking it!


    Under the effects of the increased gravity, the metallic spears became much faster and heavier! They were so fast that the B-Ranks barely had time to react!


    "Ugh!"


    "Dammit!"


    "Careful!"


    However, each B-Ranks in Academy City could be considered a genius! Despite the sudden attack, none of them panicked.


    With swift movements, they used their weapons or defensive techniques to stop the raining spears!


    But they underestimated Leto''s spears.


    When the spears hit the enemies, Bloed''s eyes shed coldly.


    Then, electricity surged out of the metallic spears, zapping the bodies of the enemies!


    "Ugh!"


    "Damn!"


    "T-This!"


    For a brief instant, several of the B-Ranks were paralyzed by the electricity.


    It was not enough to cause severe damage, but it froze their movements briefly.


    And Bloed and the girls did not n to let pass that opportunity.


    "Go!"


    As soon as Bloed spoke up, the three of them moved. Still in the air, each one of them chose a target.


    Bloed''s saber, Liu Ying''s fist, and Aya''s daggers cut towards three of the paralyzed B-Ranks.


    But suddenly, a magic circle appeared on their way.


    Then, it turned into a barrier that protected the B-Ranks!


    A B-Rank mage on the ground had cast it when it saw the danger!


    The barrier only managed to endure Bloed and the girls'' attacks for one second. However, that second was more than enough for the B-Ranks to recover.


    Bloed''s eyes shed with disappointment. It seemed like eliminating a few of these B-Ranks was not going to be so easy.


    However, this was still in his expectations.


    "Aya, now."


    The cat girl nodded. She nced at the enemies briefly before turning into a shadow and fading out of the battlefield.


    Aya''s technique caught the attention of several B-Ranks. They immediately recognized it as a stealth technique!


    "Stop her! Otherwise, she will ambush us when we least expect it!"


    "On it!"


    Three B-Rank mages reacted immediately. Mana surged out of their bodies, turning into three magic circles designed to fish Aya out.


    But suddenly, they felt a terrifying killing intent locking on them.


    Not just them! Each B-Rank felt the same killing intent!


    It was as though a predator was staring at them! They got the feeling that if they turned their attention towards the cat girl, they were going to be killed!


    Instinctively, they put their entire focus on the owner of the killing intent, wondering how many beings he killed to get such a heavy killing intent!


    It was Bloed!


    He had merged [King''s Aura] and the killing intent he got in the exilednds to create this horrifying pressure and then directed it towards the B-Ranks!


    In fact, using [King''s Aura] in so many targets at the same time lowered greatly the power of the technique. It could at most intimidate his enemies.


    However, that was more than enough in the current situation.


    Because it allowed Aya to leave.


    And she was the key to winning today''s battle.


    Bloed''s killing intent spread through the entire battlefield. His murderous aura filled the B-Ranks with wariness.


    Liu Ying moved at that moment.


    "Hah!"


    Kicking the ground, the demon girl rushed towards the nearest B-Rank at great speed!


    In an instant, her punch was already in front of her enemy''s face!


    However, the B-Rank managed to react. He raised his weapon to stop Liu Ying''s attack as two B-Ranks beside him attacked Liu Ying from the sides and a B-Rank mage cast a spell to attack her.


    To their surprise, though, Liu Ying grinned.


    Then, just before her punch touched her enemy, her body disappeared, only to appear before the B-Rank mage.


    *Bam!*


    The unexpected teleportation caught the mage by surprise. In such a situation, he was unable to block the blow!


    Liu Ying''s attack hit his face cleanly, sending him flying several meters away and eliminating him from the game.


    "Bastard!"


    The B-Ranks around Liu Ying reacted immediately. In a rage, five B-Ranks attacked her simultaneously!


    But the eye on the sky lit up at that moment. It fired a barrage of bullets around Liu Ying that forced them to retreat!


    Seeing that, a B-Rank elf grunted and drew his arc towards Oculus, shooting an arrow that pieced Oculus!


    But at that instant, he felt a terrifying killing intent locking on him.


    Then, a bullet of energy shot from Bloed''s ster gun reached him!


    Fortunately, one of the mages managed to cast a barrier in time, stopping the bullet in time.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows when he saw that.


    ''It looks like we need to take the mages out first, huh.''


    Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.


    Several B-Ranks were attacking Bloed at that moment, using their weapons to release attack after attack in quick session.


    Moreover, different from the mob he had been fighting before, the B-Ranks were very well coordinated. Although their cooperation could not be considered wless, it was enough to not leave any opening Bloed could use.


    That was the reason the C-Rank and D-Rank students were not participating in the battle. Without them, the battlefield was not chaotic enough for Bloed or Liu Ying to take advantage of it.


    The only reason Bloed had managed to endure until now was Leto''s metallic sand acting as a barrier plus his outstanding predictive abilities.


    However, Bloed knew this would notst.


    ''Should I use [Imaginary sh]?''


    Bloed frowned before shaking his head. Imaginary sh was too dangerous. If he used it, at least five or six of the B-Ranks attacking him would die.


    It was not a technique he could use in a ''friendly'' battle like this.


    Liu Ying came beside Bloed at that moment. She was in a simr situation to Bloed, being attacked by several enemies at the same time.


    She still could use Blink three times, however, she had not used it after she eliminated the first B-Rank. She was waiting for an opportunity to take down another enemy.


    But the B-Ranks were wary of that technique after one of them was eliminated. None of them lowered their guard for even an instant.


    At that moment, Oculus recovered from the arrow it received earlier.


    Under Bloed''s order, it unleashed a barrage of bullets that forced the B-Ranks attacking him and Liu Ying to jump back.


    Thanks to that, they got a brief respite.


    However, Bloed and Liu Ying heard an ice-cold voice at that moment.


    "Now!"


    Instantly, five magic circles appeared around them! Each magic circle meant a powerful spell!


    Liu Ying''s eyes widened. It was toote to evade the attack!


    The next second


    *Boom!*


    The five spells were activated, bombarding the ce with fire and lightning.


    Seeing that, one of the B-Ranks let out a deep breath.


    "Finally... Are they truly B-Ranks? How can they be so strong?"


    Alex, the B-Rank from [Genius Society], put on aplicated expression and shook his head.


    "Geniuses are truly different. Anyway, don''t lower the guard. The cat girl is still around."


    But at that moment, his eyes opened wide.


    Because two bullets of light flew out from the dust, hitting two unprepared B-Rank mages!


    ''Wha-''


    Before he could understand what happened, the cloud of dust was blown away, revealing Bloed and Liu Ying standing behind a strange barrier,pletely unscathed.


    It was Bloed''s [Door of Nothingness]!


    The second technique he created after he acquired the ability to split his mind from the Heart of the Forest!


    Bloed''s eyes flickered coldly. And at the same time, a savage smile appeared on Liu Ying''s face.


    Then, her body shed, appearing behind another B-Rank mage!


    "Careful!" Alex cried out, but it was toote.


    With a bam, Liu Ying''s fist hit the mage''s head, sending him flying away and knocking him unconscious.


    Bloed''s lips curved up.


    "Three mages less, only two remaining."


    A chill ran through Alex''s spine when he heard these words.


    ''What kind of monsters are they?''


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 319: Sara’s Stealth

    Chapter 319: Sara¡¯s Stealth


    Back from the dead with five chapters...


    ...


    At the same time, in another part of the city.


    Sara spun her daggers on her hands after eliminating the B-Rank that she had been fighting.


    Around her, seven peopley unconscious. Two of them belonged to team blue, and the other five were the people protecting them.


    Right now, she had already eliminated seven of the twelve B-Ranks she had promised to eliminate.


    "Five more to go," Sara stated expressionlessly as though it was an effortless matter. "Gina, where is the next target?"


    [Thest five are a bit moreplicated, sister.] Gina''s voice came through the earpiece on Sara''s ear. [They are in the same ce, but one of them is a B-Rank. Furthermore, they are being protected by five B-Ranks and ten C-Ranks.]


    "Six B-Ranks in total, huh."


    [ I''m not sure how, but it seems like someone discovered our intentions.]


    "Is it so?" Sara said indifferently. "Just six B-Ranks are not enough to intimidate me. What is their location?"


    "Hehe, as expected of my sister. Okay, follow my instructions."


    Sara nodded. She then kicked the ground and started to run in the direction her little sister indicated.


    Sara''s speed was incredibly fast. As an A-Rank, she could burst at speeds close to sound speed!


    Of course, she could keep such speed only for a few seconds before bingpletely exhausted. But even so, her normal sprinting speed was close to one hundred meters per second!


    It was almost as fast as a bullet!


    With such a terrifying speed, she needed less than one minute to reach the location of her targets.


    However, she did not attack immediately.


    Instead, she stopped several hundreds of meters away from them and took a deep breath.


    Then, her presence disappearedpletely as though she was not there.


    In truth, her body did not disappear, and she did not be invisible either. In fact, nothing about her seemed to have changed.


    However, even peak A-Ranks would find it hard to see her right now.


    Furthermore, because her ability waspletely different from the usual methods of stealth, it was even harder to see through it.


    Such ability was so horrifying that even Bloed, with his special eyes, was notpletely sure he could see through it.


    To Sara, however, this ability was a part of her.


    She remembered that when she was a still child, she was very good at ying hide-and-seek. She never lost a game against someone of her age.


    Even adults and practitioners had trouble finding her if she wanted to hide from them.


    Back then, however, it was nothing more than an unusual talent.


    If her life would have continued normally, perhaps such talent would have never blossomed.


    She would have be a swordswoman or a mage instead of an assassin.


    However, fate had a different n for her.


    When her family was betrayed and killed, Sara swore revenge. She swore she would do anything to kill the people that killed her family.


    Thus, she went to be a subordinate of the Arkavel family.


    She was sent to a death camp together with hundreds of children.


    In that ce, dying was normal, and killing each other was the norm.


    It was there where her ability truly blossomed.


    More than once, the ability to remain hidden saved Sara''s life. More than once, it became the trump card that allowed her to kill her enemies.


    Sara realized that, so she trained it even more.


    And eventually, it turned into her ability of today.


    The ability to remain hidden even while walking in front of her target.


    Sara did not know it, but before separating from Bloed in Calice City, Bloed had studied her special ability once.


    Back then, he concluded something.


    Sara''s extraordinary stealth talent was the result of an ESP ability.


    Just like her little sister, Sara was born with a special gift.


    [A-Grade Hiding Presence].


    Sara had unknowingly awakened it thanks to her constant practice and the mana in her body.


    And now, she had put this ability at the service of her new lord.


    Sara moved calmly. Her footsteps werepletely silent as she approached her targets.


    Just as her little sister said, they were being protected by five B-Ranks and ten C-Ranks.


    In total, she was facing twenty enemies.


    However, the short-haired girl was not intimidated by that.


    Step by step, she approached them. By this point, even her heartbeat had stoppedpletely, and her killing intent waspletely withdrawn.


    When she reached in front of the group, her hands reached for her daggers.


    Then


    *Swish!*


    Her daggers slit the necks of two B-Ranks, shattering the barrier protecting them and knocking them unconscious.


    "Huh?"


    The B-Rank and C-Rank students around her were dumbfounded when they saw her appear suddenly. They seemed unable to understand what was happening, even when two of theirrades copsed on the ground in front of their eyes.


    And Sara was not the kind to waste such an opportunity.


    At that instant, her killing intent eruptedpletely. The terrifying pressure belonging to an A-Rank assassin surged towards the students in front of her.


    Taking a step forward, Sara brandished her daggers murderously and cut down another B-Rank.


    One secondter, the ce was filled with panicked cries.


    The battle between the B-Ranks vs Bloed and Liu Ying intensified.


    After Bloed managed to defend against the magic attacks unleashed by five B-Rank mages, the B-Ranks were momentarily stunned. Due to that, they allowed Bloed and Liu Ying to take out four enemies more.


    When the B-Ranks finally snapped out of their surprise, only nine of them remained.


    Even so, nine of them were more than enough to put Bloed and Liu Ying in a difficult situation.


    Moreover, the two of them had been fighting and running for almost two hours already. Right now, their reserves of mana and psychic power were almost depleted.


    Despite that, the nine B-Ranks did not dare to underestimate them.


    It was because even in that condition, Bloed and Liu Ying proved to be very dangerous.


    Mainly due to Bloed''s saber and Liu Ying''s fists. The B-Ranks had witnessed how two of theirrades had their barriers destroyed instantly after Bloed''s saber cut them and Liu Ying delivered an aspect-powered punch.


    It made them toss away any thought of defending against their attacks. They put their entire focus on avoiding the saber and fist as much as they could.


    However, with each passing second, the expressions of several of the B-Ranks turned grave.


    It was because


    ''They are too calm.''


    Alex muttered to himself.


    ''Moreover''


    Looking at his surroundings, Alex realized that he could not find the cat girl.


    She had not appeared again since she disappeared back then.


    Alex knew that with the cat girl strength, she would have been able to eliminate two or three of them if she took advantage of the moment when they were distracted due to Bloed stopping the all-out attack of five mages.


    If she would have attacked then, perhaps the situation right now would have beenpletely different.


    However, she had not attacked even then.


    ''Did she escape? No, that is impossible. In other words, they are nning something But what is it?''


    Just at that moment, one of the C-Ranks in the distance shouted something.


    "Mr. Alex! They are trying to eliminate team blue! I just received information that all the students in team blue around the city were eliminated! The only ones remaining are here!"


    "What!?" Alex was surprised. Instinctively, he looked in Bloed''s direction.


    There, he saw a pair of bright blue eyes looking at him with a confident smile.


    "Fire."


    Oculus lit up once more, opening fire to three students in the crowd, all team blue members.


    And the cat girl made her move again, stabbing her dagger through the heart of another student. With him, she had eliminated twenty students already without anyone noticing.


    "Only three remaining," Bloed muttered.


    "Crap! Hurry up! We need to protect them!"

 Chapter 320: Attacking and Defending

    Chapter 320: Attacking and Defending


    "Hurry up! We need to protect them!" Alex cried out to the rest of the B-Ranks.


    The B-Ranks realized the gravity of the situation. If thest three members of team blue were eliminated, Bloed and the girls would win!


    However, Bloed already knew the location of the three remaining members. With a thought, he ordered Oculus to aim at another one of them.


    But all of sudden, an arrow was shot from a B-Rank elf.


    "Don''t let it shoot! It needs several seconds to reform every time it''s destroyed! We need to destroy it again before then!"


    The words of the elf made Bloed frown. Even so, the situation did not change.


    "It doesn''t matter."


    Without hesitating, he and Liu Ying rushed towards a target each. Moreover, Aya was already going for the third target!


    "Stop them!" Alex shouted anxiously. He and another two B-Ranks intercepted Bloed as three different B-Ranks went to intercept Liu Ying.


    As for thest three, they tried to find Aya.


    However, different from Bloed''s group, the B-Ranks did not know the location of the three remaining members of team blue nor Aya''s location.


    Thus, less than twenty secondster, a yell came from the crowd.


    "She is here! She eliminated someone!"


    The faces of the B-Ranks changed. They looked in the direction of the yell and saw a copsed student.


    ''Dammit! Are we going to lose!?''


    Alex cursed in his mind as he tried to stop Bloed.


    "What are you doing, idiots!? Students from team blue, run towards us! As for the others, try to protect them!"


    "You should not be distracted while fighting me."


    Seeing Bloed''s smile, Alex''s face fell. All of sudden, he felt a thick killing intent attacking him.


    It was several times stronger than the killing intent he felt before! So strong that he was forced to stop his movements for a brief instant!


    [King''s Aura]!


    Bloed had focused itpletely on the strongest of the B-Ranks fighting him, Alex!


    Even though it only managed to stop him for an instant, it was more than enough for Bloed.


    Taking a step forward, Bloed twisted his body to avoid the attacksing from the other two B-Ranks as he brandished his saber horizontally.


    Alex could only watch as the saber approached his neck unimpeded!


    But suddenly, a weapon appeared in front of it!


    It was one of the other two B-Ranks! He jumped in front of Alex and used his weapon to stop Bloed''s saber.


    Unfortunately


    "That is not enough to stop my saber."


    *Swish!*


    With a soft cutting sound, the barrier of the student was cut apart, triggering a mental blow that rendered him unconscious.


    ''Dammit!'' Alex cursed in his mind. A bit of fear started to appear inside him.


    Alex was a genius. In fact, he was one of the strongest B-Ranks in Academy City. Very few B-Ranks in the entire city could match him.


    Today, however, he saw how the young man in front of him and the demon girl beside him fought against more than ten B-Ranks, he included, by themselves!


    And even more astonishing was that Bloed and Liu Ying had managed to defeat more than half of them without being defeated!


    Only a word could describe this kind of talent.


    ''Monsters''


    Just like these students at the top of Academy City. Monsters whose strength went beyond their mana rank.


    Facing that kind of monster, Alex felt a sense of despondence that filled him.


    ''Is the difference between us so big?''


    At that moment, he saw Bloed lift a metallic artifact with his right hand.


    Alex had seen him using the same artifact several times. He knew it had the ability to release a kind of energy attack in the shape of a projectile.


    Instinctively, he and the remaining B-Rank jumped aside to avoid the attack.


    But to their surprise, Bloed just smiled.


    Then, he pulled the trigger.


    Aiming towards the crowd of C-Ranks and D-Ranks behind them.


    Alex''s face changed. He realized Bloed''s target instantly.


    But it was toote.


    The bullet of energy left Bloed''s weapon, flying unhampered until it hit the chest of a girl.


    Wide-eyed, the girl slowly copsed on the ground, and the blue glow in her invitation card faded out.


    ''It can''t be!''


    Alex''s face was filled with despair. With that girl eliminated, it meant Bloed''s group only needed to eliminate one more student to win.


    Instinctively, his gaze moved towards thatst student. A fat young man rushing towards the three B-Ranks trying to find Aya.


    The three B-Ranks also knew the urgency of the situation. They rushed towards the young man and surrounded him protectively.


    But in the next second, a figure appeared in the shadow of the young man.


    Completely expressionless, the cat girl swung her daggers down.


    *Swish!*


    And the barrier shattered.


    "Impo sible"


    Alex and the other B-Ranks watched in disbelief as the fat young man copsed on the ground.


    For one second, nobody on the entire battlefield moved.


    They had been defeated.


    One secondter, the face of a woman was projected in the skies of Academy City.


    "It looks like we have a winning team."


    With the words of the headmistress, the game drew to a close.

 Chapter 321: The Game Ends

    Chapter 321: The Game Ends


    The words of the headmistress were like a hammer hitting the chests of the remaining students.


    Complete silence filled the ce. Neither the B-Ranks that fought Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya, nor the C-Ranks and D-Ranks observing everything from the distance opened their mouths.


    It was not that they did not want. It was that they could not.


    For a few seconds, the ce remained like that.


    Until an excited voice broke the silence.


    "We won!" With a loud cheer, Liu Ying jumped on Bloed''s back and hugged his neck. "Bloed, we won!"


    "We did. I don''t want to participate in this kind of impossible game again, though."


    Seeing Bloed''s bitter smile, Liu Ying giggled and tightened her hug around Bloed''s neck.


    "Well, I think it was pretty exciting. A shame we did not manage to beat all the B-Ranks."


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry when he saw the glowing eyes of his demon girlfriend.


    This girl They barely managed to survive against all these enemies, but Liu Ying was still thinking of beating them.


    He was even forced to use [Door of Nothingness]. Otherwise, they would have been unable to remain standing after receiving the full-powered attack of five B-Rank mages.


    "Sigh Well, next time you can fight them by yourself. As expected, it''s much better to spend time in my experiments."


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes with a wry smile.


    Soon, though, she felt a heavy sense of fatigue hitting her body.


    Now that the tension of the battle had left her body, she realized she was much more tired than she thought.


    " Hey Bloed, can I sleep on your back?"


    Bloed was speechless. Before he could reply, he felt Liu Ying kissing his cheek and closing her eyes.


    Even though she did not really fell asleep, it was obvious she was dozing off.


    Smiling wryly, Bloed adjusted her body on his back to a morefortable position before heaving a long sigh.


    Only after that did he pay attention to the two B-Ranks in front of him.


    "Well fought," Bloed said with a smile.


    Alex smiled wryly and opened his mouth. Nheless, he was unable to speak.


    Not just him. All the other B-Ranks could not talk. They just looked at Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya withplicated expressions.


    Only several secondster Alex managed to say something.


    "Congrattions."


    He then turned around and walked away.


    Bloed stared at him for several seconds and shook his head. He then turned around, only to see his cat friend walking towards him.


    "Well done. We would have lost if not for you." He said genuinely.


    Aya nodded silently. She then stared at the demon girl resting on Bloed''s back before fixing her gaze on Bloed.


    She stared at Bloed, and stared, and stared without moving his gaze away.


    Bloed could not help but feel awkward after being stared at like that.


    Smiling wryly, he lifted his hand and put it on the cat girl''s head.


    "Well done." He said again, this time patting his head at the same time.


    Aya froze. Her face quickly turnedpletely red as she lowered her gaze in panic.


    At the same time, her tail wagged left and right repeatedly, showing her happy mood.


    ''As I thought, she is sometimes more like a dog.''


    Smiling gently, Bloed patted Aya''s head a bit more before opening his mouth.


    "Let''s go. We need to meet with Sara and Gina."


    "Mm."


    Several kilometers away, Sara and Gina were inside a house, gazing at the sun up in the sky.


    They had entered this house after eliminating the twelve members of team blue. It was because Sara and Gina were, in fact, part of team blue as well, so they needed to be eliminated for Bloed to win.


    And entering a house meant they were disqualified from the game.


    Seated on the window, Gina held her face in her hands as she smiled happily. Behind her, her sister was standing straight with a concerned look.


    "Then, how was it?"


    "Hehe, our hero won, of course!"


    "Is it so? What a relief."


    Gina looked at her big sister and giggled. She then gazed at the distance, her eyes glowing as though she could see what was happening several kilometers away.


    "We did a good job this time. I wonder if I can ask for a reward from our hero Mm, a kiss would be nice."


    Sara frowned.


    "Gina, stop bothering our lord. As his subordinates, our work is to help him, nor to trouble him."


    The honey-haired girl looked at her big sister withplicated eyes and let out a big sigh.


    "Sister, if you continue like this, you will never marry our hero. You must be aggressive. Do you understand? A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!"


    Speechless, Sara decided to ignore her lovestruck little sister.


    At the same time, she decided she had to keep an eye on her in the future.


    Otherwise, she could not imagine what kind of silly n her little sister would cook.


    In the za.


    Students and teachers were discussing the game excitedly.


    None of them could avoid mentioning the impressive performance of Bloed''s group.


    Among them was a group of beastmen.


    One of them was a wolfkin young man. His name was An, and he was the Peak B-Rank that invited Aya and Prince Calisto to [Beast Brotherhood].


    Right now, though, he was standing respectfully behind another beastman.


    "So they are the ones, huh."


    "Yes, leader." An nodded with aplicated expression. "To be honest, I did not think they were so strong."


    The leader fell silent. He stared at Bloed''s image on the screen for several seconds before sighing.


    "Stop any n against him. There are a demon and a beastmen in his group, so he most likely will not join any racial club. At most, he will join a neutral club."


    "But leader, about the prince"


    "There is no need to offend such a genius just for this little thing. Plus, the fact that the prince is with him means it will be easier for us to befriend him. That young man will most likely be the next Mu Quan. Someone like that will be an excellent ally."


    "I understand, leader."


    "Mm I''m sure the other clubs must be racking their brains to recruit them. Hahaha, Academy City will be livelier."


    "Truly an interesting group." A young woman chuckled softly. She watched the blue-haired young man on the screen with an expression of interest. "To think they managed to win even when I interfered in the game."


    Just by her appearance, she was just a very beautiful girl. You could not feel the slightest mana fluctuation in her.


    If you looked closely, though, you could see that her feet were not touching the ground. She was hovering several centimeters over the ground silently.


    Such a feat seemed like nothing difficult for this girl.


    However, nobody would consider it strange when you took into ount her identity.


    Her name was Isabe Castor.


    The second strongest student in Academy City. At the same time, the leader of [Genius Society].


    People called her [Singing Witch].


    After observing the group of three on the screen for several seconds more, the girl looked at the demon young man beside her.


    "Mu Quan, what do you think?"


    Mu Quan, however, did not reply.


    In fact, right now, his gaze waspletely fixed on the demon girl on the screen.


    When the young woman saw that, her eyes twinkled yfully.


    "Could it be that you took a liking to her? She seems to have a boyfriend already, though, so you will have it hard."


    Mu Quan frowned. Immediately, the aura around him became heavy.


    The young woman''s expression stiffened immediately.


    She then hmphed coldly and walked away.


    "How hateful. Wait until I be a bit stronger. By then, I will snatch first ce from you."


    Mu Quan did not reply. Instead, he focused his gaze on the demon girl once more.


    " Could she be the princess? But her aspect is different Am I mistaken?"


    His soft mutter was taken away by the wind.


    A middle-aged man was staring at the screen silently. He watched everything from the start to the end without changing his expression.


    Only when Aya eliminated thest member of team blue did he smile.


    "You are bing more and more interesting"


    Nobody could know about the number three tattoed below his clothes.

 Chapter 322: Shadows Again

    Chapter 322: Shadows Again


    "Well, it was truly an exciting ending. It had been a while since Academy City saw such a lively battle." Wave smiled softly as she watched the end of the battle between Bloed, Aya, Liu Ying, and the B-Ranks. She seemed satisfied with what she saw.


    However


    "I''m curious about something." She narrowed her eyes, her attention on the silver-haired girl standing behind her. "When that young man stopped the five magic spells What kind of technique was that? I''m sure it was not a magic spell No, I''m sure it did not even use mana. How strange"


    Regina frowned as her eyes emitted a sharp and cold light.


    "I hope you stop pestering my master, woman. Although I''m happy with the results of this battle, it did not mean I like it when my master is embroiled in this kind of situation."


    "Master, huh." The dragon-turned-human put on a pensive expression.


    Now that she thought about it, the silver-haired girl had been calling the young man like that for a while now.


    Wave could feel Regina unflinching loyalty in the way she talked about the young man. It was a steadfast belief that she had found her reason to live.


    She found it very puzzling.


    " How can a demigod as powerful as you be the servant of a boy like him? No matter how talented he is, that kind of loyalty is not normal."


    Regina''s eyes narrowed. It was as though she was offended by the fact that Wave doubted her loyalty.


    However, she said nothing. She just stared at the dragon headmistress for several seconds before turning around to leave.


    There was no need to care about the thoughts of people like her.


    Instead, she should hurry up and return with her master. Otherwise, the foxes around him would take advantage of her absence to bewitch him.


    Wave watched Regina leave without stopping her. She was not expecting an answer in the first ce.


    However, that made her more curious about the blue-haired young man.


    "Glenn Skysword, huh."


    " He doesn''t like that name." Eve, who had been silent until now, interjected.


    "Really? How interesting. I''m really curious about that young man now."


    ""


    "Are you not curious as well, Eve? Such a talented young man, but for some reason he cut all his ties with his family and changed his name. Moreover, his rtionship with the Kingdom of Alterna seems unrepairable.


    "Furthermore, the same boy is also someone that got the loyalty of a powerful demigod and the love of two goddesses Mm, that girl is also weird. Her soul felt iplete, but it did not seem to affect her in the slightest Plus, something about her felt inhumane."


    "Like a doll." Eve opined.


    "Yes, like a doll." Wave said deep in thought. "Right, did you hear the news? The Skysword Princess ising to Academy City. What was her name? Eres I think."


    Eve was startled. Lowering her head, she put on a pensive expression.


    " Is sheing for him?"


    "Most likely. There is no other reason for that girl toe here. I heard she is already at the A-Rank, and her strength That girl, she is a true monster. I even heard a rumor that the queen is alsoing, but I was unable to confirm it... Sigh, the already messy situation of Academy City is going to turn messier."


    Eve fell silent with a thoughtful look.


    The fact that the Skysword Queen and the Skysword Princess wereing to Academy City was not good news. Most likely, it meant that the Kingdom of Alterna had not given up on getting Bloed on their side again.


    And for her, that was bad.


    She had seen the potential of Bloed. Someone like him could one day be just as strong as her.


    No, even now, he had the loyalty of Regina, a demigod just as powerful as her.


    People at that level of power were strategic resources able to change the entire world. They were a one-man army.


    Eve was usually silent and expressionless, seeming like she did not care about worldly affairs. But the truth was that as the (ex)saintess of Moonlight Glow, she was not ignorant of the big picture.


    Plus, her loyalty towards her goddess meant she always wanted the best for her.


    And now, the best for her was to keep Bloed and Regina as close as possible.


    "Mm Should I help the Sharpw kitten to seduce him? If they had two or three cubs, Bloed will bepletely tied to the Beastmen Countries."


    Wave heard her friend''s words and rolled her eyes.


    "Why don''t you seduce him yourself then? I''m sure he will be unable to resist your charms."


    Eve thought silently before shaking her head.


    "No I''ll only marry someone stronger than me."


    Wave rolled her eyes once more.


    In this world, what man was stronger than the golden-haired fox girl beside the gods.


    Perhaps only her ancestor or that decrepit old man obsessed with swords.


    It seemed like her friend''s love life was destined to be lonely.


    "My hero! You are here!"


    Gina rushed towards Bloed with a happy smile as soon as she saw him, extending her arms and getting ready to jump towards him.


    Unfortunately for her


    " No."


    The cat girl was there to stop her advances.


    Gina blinked. Looking at Aya, she realized that the cat girl was not nning to let her n seed.


    Moreover, looking at the wariness on the cat girl''s gaze, it was obvious she was aiming for the third ce as well.


    For an instant, Gina''s eyes narrowed dangerously.


    It was as though she was assessing the rival in front of her.


    Bloed decided to feign he did not see thepetition between the two youngest girls of the group. Instead, he fixed his attention on Gina''s big sister who kneeled in front of him respectfully.


    "My lord, I did not betray your expectations."


    "Well done," Bloed smiled softly. "I don''t think we could have won without your help."


    "I''m happy to be of help to master. By the way, master, what happened to Miss Liu Ying?"


    "Oh that," Bloed nced at the demon girl sleeping on his back. "She is just tired, don''t worry. Let''s go, I want to return to our ce to rest, but we need to receive the reward from the headmistress first."


    "Mm."


    "Okay."


    "Understood."


    Hearing Aya, Gina, and Sara''s answer, Bloed proceeded to lead the group towards the great library.


    He followed his connection with Regina to lead the group towards the Great Library and im their reward for surviving until the end of the game.


    In truth, Bloed cared little about the headmistress''s reward (although he was curious about it). His greatest reward in this battle was the information he got through Oculus instead.


    In that sense, his harvest this time had been pretty good.


    He had gotten information about the way hundreds of students handled mana, and each one of these students was considered talented. With their information, his predictive abilities would take a step forward.


    Bloed could not wait to go to hisboratory and upgrade his predictive software.


    At that moment, the group saw a group of men in white robes carrying away the unconscious students.


    "They are"


    "Healing mages from Academy City," Sara replied. "They must be taking the students to a hospital until they wake up."


    Bloed nodded slightly surprised.


    He had to admit that the way Academy City went through a game of this scale was very professional. It was worthy of its reputation as the greatest learning ce on the continent.


    Just the resources invested in this game were much more than some weaker countries'' yearly expenditure in nurturing their talents!


    Just at that moment, Gina turned around and nced at the healing mages.


    But then, she froze.


    And her face paled.


    "No!"


    "Gina!?"


    "Gina!"


    Bloed and Sara were startled. Under their horrified gazes, Gina''s body started to tremble and she copsed on the ground in fear.


    Due to the situation, Liu Ying woke up startled, and even Aya started to circle her mana, realizing that something was wrong.


    "Gina! What is wrong!? Sara asked worriedly. but no matter how she called out at her little sister, the honey-haired girl did not reply.


    Instead, she started to mutter something fearfully.


    "The shadows The shadows They are here They are here They are swallowing the students... They came to me..."


    "The shadows?"


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Sara''s expressions changed.


    Looking at each other, they remembered that thest time Gina mentioned the was


    ''Just before the disaster in Calice City...''


    Bloed''s expression turned grave. He remembered how tragic that disaster was.


    The number of people that died back then was in the thousands.


    Moreover, Bloed knew that the culprits behind that disaster were somehow rted to the Devourers.


    ''But why Gina mentioned them just now? She was just looking at the heali- Wait a moment, the healing mages!''


    Changing his expression, Bloed turned around to look at the healing mages.


    However, they were already gone.


    Moreover, he could not find them even after using Oculus.


    ''It can''t be''


    Looking at the anxious and trembling Gina, Bloed expression turned grim.


    He never expected to find clues about the Devourer in this ce.

 Chapter 323: Disappeared Students

    Chapter 323: Disappeared Students


    Aware that the current situation could be rted to the devourer, Bloed decided to act immediately. He asked Sara to carry Gina (Who was still trembling in fear) and rushed towards a certain ce in the city.


    One of the few people he knew he could trust right now.


    At the same time, he transmitted a message to tell Regina to hurry up to their location.


    In the way, Bloed gave the group a quick rundown of the situation. Liu Ying and Sara, who had been embroiled in the incident of Calice City, knew the gravity of the situation. But Aya knew nothing about it, so she heard Bloed attentively.


    However, she was surprised when she heard Bloed mention the Blight (Devourers).


    She never expected the situation to be so serious.


    Five minutester, the group plus Regina (who had joined them in the way) arrived at a mansion in Academy City.


    As though they knew they wereing, two people were waiting for them at the entrance.


    They were Charise and Kallevang from the Church of Fate.


    "It looks like something bad indeed happened," Charise said when she saw Bloed and the others arrive. She had received a revtion from her goddess that something was wrong, but she did not know the specifics yet.


    Bloed did not beat around the bush, quickly exining the situation and his suspicions to the saintess.


    Instantly, Charise''s expression changed.


    "This is bad"


    She nced briefly to the trembling Gina with a frowning and curious look. But although she wanted to know more about the girl with abilities over fate, she knew it was not the right moment now.


    "Come on, we will need to talk with the headmistress."


    Bloed frowned.


    "Is she trustworthy?"


    Charise was startled. But she soon understood Bloed''s concerns.


    Judging by the developments in Calice City and Diadel Duchy, Bloed concluded that whoever was behind the Devourers was not a single individual, but a powerful organization.


    And when he learned that the healing mages of Academy City were rted to that organization, the first person he suspected was the headmistress of the city.


    Right now, she was the top suspect in Bloed''s list.


    But contrary to his guess, Charise shook her head.


    "Don''t worry, the headmistress of Academy City is one of the fewpletely trustworthy people around the world. In fact, if the organization behind the Blight is the one I think it is, then she is perhaps one of the people that has fought against them the most."


    Bloed was surprised by Charise''s words.


    At the same time, he could not help but be curious about the organization Charise mentioned.


    It seemed like she already knew who was behind all of it.


    Ten minutester, they arrived at the Great Library.


    The ce was just as majestic as Bloed expected. Thinking about the number of books in it, he could not help but want to spend a few days closed inside, swimming freely in the endless knowledge hidden in the books.


    Unfortunately, the current situation did not allow that.


    As soon as they reached the library, Charise took out a small stone from her clothes. It was a magic tool known as amunication stone that could be used to send messages to faraway individuals.


    Charise infused a bit of her mana in the stone and spoke to it.


    "Miss Wave, My name is Charise Amra, Saintess of the Church of Fate. I need to talk with you right now."


    A few secondster, an answer came from the stone.


    [Charise Amra? I have heard about you. It looks like you are not here alone, though. What is so important that you came here without an invitation?]


    Charise fell silent. She thought for several seconds before mentioning two words.


    "Returning Dusk."


    Bloed immediately felt the atmosphere changing.


    When the headmistress replied, her voice was filled with an unconcealed graveness.


    [Come inside.]


    Then, a magic circle appeared below the group''s feet.


    Bloed was startled, but he quickly recognized the nature of the spell.


    A teleportation spell.


    One secondter, they appeared on the top floor of the Great Library.


    Two people were waiting for them there.


    Bloed recognized both of them. One of them was the owner of the voice, Headmistress Wave, and the other was the willful ex-saintess of Moonlight Glow.


    However, Bloed could see neither the cheerful the headmistress had in the wee ceremony nor the usual dazed expression on Eve''s face.


    Instead, both of them were looking at the group with grim expressions.


    "Exin, what happened?" Headmistress Wave demanded.


    "Bloed, tell them about the situation," Charise said.


    Bloed nodded. He nced at Gina, who had already recovered a bit, and started to exin what happened.


    When the headmistress heard Bloed''s words, her expression changed.


    She hurriedly connected her mind to the array covering the city to checked on the situation.


    Not many knew about it, but through the array covering the Academy City, Headmistress Wave could feel practically anything that happened in it.


    When she fused her senses with the array, almost nothing in the city that could be hidden from her.


    But to her surprise, she realized that she could not find the location of several students!


    "Ten, twenty, thirty-three students! Bastards! Returning Dusk! How do you dare!?"


    "Wave, what happened?"


    The headmistress did not reply to Eve''s question. Instead, she used all her abilities to find the missing students.


    And soon, she found something.


    One student had just disappeared from her senses.


    "I found you!"


    Powerful mana exploded out of her body. The amount of mana was so overwhelming that Bloed had never felt anything like this in his life.


    Her mana was even more abundant than Eve''s. At least in mana capacity, she far surpassed the Saintess of Moonlight Glow.


    Moreover, the pressureing from her body was so powerful that Regina and Kallevang could not help but flinch.


    The headmistress waved her hand, creating a giant magic circle in an instant calling upon endless lightning.


    "Where do you think you are taking my student, trash of Returning Dusk!?"


    Her voice resounded through the entire city, and her mana made each and every person in the city pale.


    At the same time, a healing mage carrying a student turned pale in fear.


    When he felt that overwhelming pressure locking on him, he knew he had been discovered!


    His reaction was immediate. Clenching his teeth, he bit the poison pill hidden inside his mouth tomit suicide!


    Unfortunately, he underestimated the person he was facing.


    Just when he bit the poison pill, the endless lightning in the skies descended.


    At the same time, time around him came to aplete standstill, stopping the pill from taking effect.


    The lightning fell on the healing mage, burning his nerves, muscles, mana pathways, and even the poison of the pill!


    But even after receiving such a powerful attack, the healing mage remained alive.


    In fact, the student he was carrying waspletely unscathed.


    It was a disy of magic control that would astonish any mage of the continent.


    But all of sudden, Wave''s expression changed.


    A sharp aura appeared suddenly inside the city. The aura then charged towards the frozen healing mage.


    Wave reaction was instantaneous. She cast a spell around the healing mage to stop the aura.


    However, she soon realized that the aura had zero attacking power.


    But when it reached where the healing mage was, it activated something on his body.


    And immediately, his soul was eradicated.


    "Bastard! How you dare!" Wave''s rage shook the entire Academy City. Her mana pressured the city as she tried to find the person that killed the healing mage.


    However, she could not find the origin of the aura.


    As though it did not exist in the first ce.


    ...


    Sayonara. Until when I have free time again :p

 Chapter 324: Fainted

    Chapter 324: Fainted


    One more XP


    ...


    " These bastards." Wave furrowed her brows. She focused her senses around Academy City, trying to find the source of the aura that killed the healing mage, however, she failed to find it.


    But at the very least, she wanted to see if she could find any other trace of the people that kidnapped the students.


    And she did.


    She found five healing mages more.


    Only that all of them were dead, with their souls snuffed out.


    "How ruthless." She muttered to herself.


    But she had to admit this method was very effective.


    Thanks to it, she was unable to use them to find the organization they belonged to.


    "Was it a failure?" Eve asked.


    Wave nodded with a sigh and exined the situation.


    After Eve finished hearing her, she shook her head.


    "You were too rash. You should have let him alone and then followed him until the base of Returning Dusk."


    Wave sighed and nodded. She knew Eve was right.


    However, you could not me her. With her powers, she could easily catch an A-Rank practitioner even if he wanted tomit suicide.


    After that, she had many methods to find the information she wanted; from torturing him to get a confession, to reading his memory directly.


    How could she have expected that a hidden enemy would manage to kill the men she caught in front of her?


    And the worst part was that she did not have any idea who the enemy was.


    "He should be a demigod. And a very powerful one. At the very least a saint."


    Wave did not agree with Evepletely. She did not believe that a Saint (SS-Grade) was strong enough to do something like that.


    You must understand that Wave was one of the strongest demigods of the continent. She was at the peak of Apotheosis (SSS-Grade); plus, she was a dragon. Dragons had an innate advantagepared to other races when it came to mana and battle strength.


    If she was not mistaken, the enemy that interfered with her was another Apotheosis Demigod.


    But even if her guess was true, such information was useless.


    After all, ording to her knowledge, she and Eve were the only Apotheosis Demigods in Academy City right now.


    "Damn it, they have to choose precisely this timing to attack." Wave smiled bitterly. "The five races will make a fuss after they learn about it."


    " If we are talking about Returning Dusk, then perhaps it is also part of their n."


    Wave could not deny it.


    After all, they were many people unhappy with her Academy City, and Returning Dusk was definitively at the forefront of that list.


    They would be more than happy to cause trouble for her.


    Shaking her head, she turned around and faced Bloed''s group.


    "Saintess Charise, I don''t think your goddess can help us to locate the students, right?"


    Charise put on a troubled expression.


    "You know that many gods are not happy with my goddess''s use of fate. Plus, she recently interfered with the mortal world to stop one of ughter''s ns and many other gods used it as an excuse to pressure her. The help she can give us right now is very limited."


    Wave sighed in disappointment.


    Actually, perhaps even the goddess''s fate would not be enough to find the students.


    After all, they had been fighting against Returning Dusk for generations, but Returning Dusk had managed to hide its important information from the goddess''s sight until now. They probably were doing something simr right now as well.


    However, it was worth the attempt.


    But then, Wave gaze fell on a girl.


    Honey-colored hair, silver eyes, and a petite body.


    "You Your name is Gina, right?"


    "Y-Yes."


    "Gina, you should hold abilities over fate, right? Do you think you can use your powers to find the missing students?"


    Gina was startled. She hesitated slightly, as though thinking about it.


    However, Sara stepped forward before she could reply.


    "No."


    "S-Sister."


    "You are not in conditions to use your powers."


    "B-But" Gina hesitated, and Wave frowned. However, Sara remained firm.


    "I will not agree to it. Using Fate recklessly can injure you."


    Wave frowned briefly and looked at Bloed. She knew that Bloed was their leader, so if he agreed, the other two girls were going to agree albeit reluctantly.


    "Bloed, this is very important. Don''t worry, I''ll make sure nobody happens to her."


    Sara looked at Bloed as well and bit her lips. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but was stopping herself out of her debt and respect towards Bloed.


    But to her surprise, Bloed''s words were different than she expected.


    "I agree with Sara. Gina should not use her powers right now."


    Sara and Gina opened their eyes slightly.


    But then, Sara''s lips curved in a small smile.


    ''As expected, I did not choose wrong.''


    Actually, Bloed also wanted to learn about the location of the students if possible. After all, it was something rted to the Devourers.


    But when he remembered Gina''s state a few minutes ago, he decided against it.


    No matter how much he wanted to learn about the Devourers, he did not n to put Gina''s life at risk.


    Wave sighed in disappointment. She thought about insisting, but in the end, she decided against it.


    She could see Bloed had made up his mind.


    " I understand. I''ll respect your choice."


    However


    " Sister, my hero, I want to do it."


    "Gina!"


    "Sorry sister, but these people are after me as well. Although they have not tried anything recently, we can''t guarantee it will be the same in the future I, I must try to find them now that I have the opportunity."


    Sara opened her mouth slightly. But in the end, she just sighed.


    "I understand."


    "Bloed?"


    "... Sigh, well, I respect your choice, little Gina. Do it then."


    "Thank you, my hero." Gina smiled bashfully before looking towards the dragon woman with caramel-colored hair and putting on a determined expression. "Headmistress, I''m gonna try it."


    "Good." Wave nodded. Try to find the location of the students. However, you don''t need to force yourself. Stop immediately if you feel anything wrong."


    "Understood."


    With a firm expression on her face, Gina closed her eyes.


    Immediately, her ''sight'' activated. Psychic energy surged out, connecting her with the world''s information.


    Soon, countless images started to sh through her eyes.


    And quickly, she found what she was searching for.


    Bad people disguised as healing mages, kidnapping the unconscious students to take them to to to


    "Agh! No! Noooooo!"


    "Gina!"


    "Gina!"


    Bloed and Sara reacted immediately. They rushed towards the screaming honey-haired girl. At the same time, the expression of the headmistress changed. She waved her hands, casting a spell over Gina without hesitation.


    Immediately, Gina stopped screaming before fainting.

 Chapter 325: An Organization with Hundreds of Years of History

    Chapter 325: An Organization with Hundreds of Years of History


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here with six chapters!!!


    More chaptersing tonight (probably)...


    ...


    "Gina! Gina! Are you alright!? You! What did you do to my sister!?"


    "Calm down, Miss Sara." The headmistress sighed softly. "I just made her faint. That was to cut her connection with ''fate'' and stop her visions. She will be alright after waking up."


    Sara''s eyes were fierce. She was ring at the headmistress as though she was her mortal enemy.


    But after hearing her exnation, she calmed down slightly.


    However, she was still ring at the headmistress with hostility. Most likely, the only reason she did not attack the headmistress was that the headmistress was a few hundreds of times stronger than her.


    "What happened?" Bloed asked with a frown. "Why did Gina have such a fierce reaction?"


    "Most likely due to [Fate Interference]." It was Charise who replied.


    "Fate Interference?" Bloed and the others looked at Charise confused.


    The saintess of fate nodded. "You see, scrying ''Fate'' is like searching for something in an endless river of information. People able to ''see'' fate are able to find what they need inside that river.


    "However, seeing fate is not easy. Mainly when you want to see something rted to a powerful existence. The power of these existences can obfuscate everything about them, making it hard to see their fate. Moreover, some existences use their auras to shroud their fate. That was probably what happened to Gina. The fate she was seeing was interfered by existence she should not see and she ended received his aura head-on."


    "A god, huh," Eve said.


    Charise nodded. "If this was truly done by Returning Dusk, then that is most likely the case. We already know that Returning Dusk has at least one powerful god in their ranks."


    Bloed''s group looked at each other with grave expressions.


    At the same time, Bloed thought about the name Charise mentioned.


    Returning Dusk.


    He was sure he had heard about them before.


    If he was not wrong


    "Returning Dusk is a terrorist organization that appeared during the war against the Blight, right?"


    Wave, Eve, and Charise looked at each other.


    After several seconds, Charise sighed.


    "Mr. Bloed, information about Returning Dusk is top secret, only known to demigods or people with important positions. You are not qualified to know it."


    Bloed frowned. But before he could say anything, the silver-haired Valkyrie took a step forward.


    "Is it so? I think I''m qualified then, right?"


    Charise smiled wryly.


    "... Well, technically yes." Charise hesitated and looked at Wave and Eve to ask for their help, but Wave just shrugged and Eve was indifferent.


    In the end, Charise sighed with a helpless expression.


    "Well, I think there is no problem as long as you don''t spread this information thoughtlessly."


    Bloed and the others nodded.


    "Let me exin then." Charise thought for a moment before starting to talk. "Just like Mr. Bloed said, Returning Dusk is a terrorist organization. However, it''s much older than the war against the Blight."


    "Huh?"


    " Most people, even some members of that organization, think that Returning Dusk was created during the war against the Blight. But it''s wrong. Returning Dusk dates from much before. Hundreds of years before that, actually."


    Bloed and the others were stunned.


    Hundreds of years? Doesn''t it mean that Returning Dusk is the oldest organization in the world?


    "It''s as you think." Charise nodded, confirming the thoughts of the group. "Actually, even we did not know when that organization appeared, or which is its real goal. We did not even know who founded it.


    "We only know that it''s behind many of the wars and catastrophes through this world''s history. Normally, though, they are incredibly secretive, so secretive that nobody but the members themselves know about it.


    "One hundred years ago, though, it changed.


    "During the war against the Blight, Returning Dusk appeared on the stage of the continent, killing hundreds of powerful powerhouses and plotting the fall of several gods. Moreover, it interfered with the war against the Blight.


    "Due to that, many people think that their goal is the destruction of the world."


    Bloed put on a grave expression.


    An organization whose goal is to destroy the world?


    He thought something like that only existed in fiction.


    "Actually, that is not entirely correct." Wave interrupted. "Returning Dusk has several members, and the reason they are in the organization is different for each one. As for the im that they want to destroy the world, that is bullshit."


    "Then, what is their goal?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    Wave fell silent for a moment before opening her mouth hesitantly.


    "I''m not sure. However, I once heard someone mention something He spoke about, ''Immortality''."


    Bloed and the others were shocked.


    Immortality? That was crazy!


    Everything in this world had a beginning and an end. The entropy of the universe meant that everything was going to be destroyed in a natural and inevitable way. Something like Immortality was scientifically impossible.


    In fact, Bloed knew that even gods were not Immortal. Even the Human Confederation had not managed to achieve anything close to it.


    But now, someone in this world was nning to be Immortal?


    What a joke.


    "Many people desire to be Immortal." Headmistress Wave shook her head softly. "Even gods can''t resist the temptation of eternal life."


    "Then, what is the reason they kidnapped the students?" Bloed asked.


    "We don''t know. However, we have acquired information that a lot of boys and girls have been kidnapped around the world recently, and the main suspect is Returning Dusk. We believe they want to use them for some kind of experiment."


    Bloed''s group looked at each other with grave expressions.


    If that was true, then what happened in Calice City and in the underground of Diadel Duchy was indeed rted to Returning Dusk


    The ones that kidnapped Prince Calisto.


    The ones trying to kidnap Gina.


    And the ones experimenting with the Devourers.


    Bloed frowned. It seemed he was facing something much bigger than he thought.

 Chapter 326: Three Requests

    Chapter 326: Three Requests


    The information about Returning Dusk surprised Bloed greatly. And at the same time, it helped him to realize what kind of organization he needed to face in the future if he wanted to exterminate the Devourers.


    Moreover, he finally understood why they were experimenting with the Devourers.


    Immortality.


    They hoped to use it to attain Eternal Life.


    Even the Human Confederation found the Devourers astonishing. Their ability to survive in the most hostile environments and to reproduce and devour everything around them was unbelievable.


    Even a small devourer cell could end engulfing all the life of a world with enough time.


    Even although Bloed did not think the devourers could be considered Immortal, they definitively deserved to be called ''Undying''.


    " Miss Charise, do you think you can give me all the information you have about Returning Dusk?" Bloed asked after considering it for a moment.


    Charise looked at Bloed with a bitter smile before sighing.


    " I should not do it, but... Okay, but it''s a special service just because we are friends."


    Bloed smiled softly and nodded.


    Meanwhile, the headmistress castmunication magic and started to use it to give instructions to the security of the city to find the missing students.


    At the same time, she directly canceled the rest of the events of the day. It would be a bit troublesome to cancel the festival just like this, but she did not have more options in the current situation.


    When she finally finished giving orders, almost fifteen minutes had passed.


    Wave then sighed and looked at Bloed''s group.


    "Right, I almost forgot about the issue of the game due to the current situation. Congrattions on your sessful victory. It was an excellent performance. As the three of you managed to survive until the end of the game, each one of you has the right to ask for a reward from me. Of course, you can''t ask for something too outrageous, but as long as it''s not too difficult, I''ll do it."


    "A reward, huh" Bloed fell deep in thought.


    In fact, there were a few things he wanted, so he had a bit of trouble deciding.


    Fortunately, his demon girlfriend seemed to understand his troubles.


    "A reward huh. Actually, I don''t need anything in particr. Bloed, you can have it if you want."


    Bloed smiled gratefully. But before he could reply, he felt someone pulling his shirt.


    " You can have mine too." Aya said with an embarrassed expression.


    Bloed put on an awkward expression.


    "Aya, are you sure?"


    " Mm. I don''t need anything right now. So it''s better if you have it."


    Bloed expression wasplicated.


    It was a reward from the headmistress, an Apotheosis Demigod. There was no way Aya did not find it useful.


    However, she decided to give it to him without thinking.


    A warm feeling filled Bloed''s heart. He patted the cat girl''s head and smiled softly.


    "Thanks."


    "Mm..."


    "... Hey, Aya, please stop flirting with my boyfriend in front of me."


    The cat girl quickly blushed when she heard Liu Ying''s voice. At the same time, she shivered slightly when she felt Regina staring at her fixedly.


    Meanwhile, Bloed could feel Wave looking at him with an expression of interest.


    "It looks like you are pretty lucky with thedies, huh, young man."


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    "I am."


    Wave chuckled. "Okay, let''s stop with the jokes. Tell me, what are your requests?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before opening his mouth.


    "Firstly, I hope you can keep me informed about the development of today''s incident. Is it possible?"


    Wave narrowed her eyes for an instant before nodding.


    "It''s against the protocol, but it''s my city, and I make the rules. Very well, what else?"


    "I wish ess to the Great Library."


    "ess to the Great Library?" Wave thought for a moment and nodded. "Very well, you will have unlimited ess to the lower floor of the Great Library. As for the upper floors, you will be able to enter once and read three books of your preference. That is the most I can offer you."


    Bloed sighed softly and nodded.


    It was much less than he expected, but he was not too disappointed. After all, he heard that only demigods or people with special qualifications could enter the library.


    Being able to read all the books on the lower floor was already a great privilege.


    "Then, what is your third petition, young man?"


    This time, Bloed did not reply immediately.


    Instead, he thought about for almost one minute.


    There were many things he could ask for. Resources, perhaps other techniques like [King''s Aura] that did not need mana, treasures rted to soul power (psychic energy), or even money.


    But after thinking for a while, Bloed decided to ask for something different.


    " I want to form my own club."


    Wave stared at Bloed silently for several seconds. Then, she put on a pensive expression and closed her eyes.


    When she opened them again, she asked him something.


    "Can I ask what kind of club you want to form?"


    " About Magic Engineering."


    "Magic Engineering?" Wave raised an eyebrow curiously. "It''s my first time hearing about that. Do you mind to exin to me about it?"


    Bloed hesitated for a moment before taking something out of his storage device.


    His metallic puppy and armor, Tito.


    Then, he asked it to go towards the headmistress.


    "You can check it."


    The headmistress furrowed her brows and grabbed the puppy. She then started to examine it carefully.


    At the start, she thought it was just a normal golem. But soon, her eyes widened.


    "This is Impossible, it doesn''t use mana! Moreover, how can it work without magic circles? No, there are some magic runes


    but these magic runes No, no, no, something is wrong. Young man, what in the hell is it?"


    "Technology. The reason I want to form my own club is to spread it."


    Headmistress Wave fell silent. She then looked at Bloed and sighed.


    "Certainly, it''s a very impressive and unusual technique. Even I am surprised. Mm, it deserves its own club. However, Mr. Bloed, although I can help you to create a club, I don''t think that is a good idea."


    "Huh?"


    "You see, normal clubs are nothing more than ces where students gather. There is nothing special about them. There hundreds of clubs like these in Academy City. Even without my help, you can create a club like that as long as you have the approbation of a teacher and more than five members.


    "However, a club like that is useless for you. It will stay unnoticed and it will not receive support from the city. If you want to use it to spread your magic engineering through Academy City, then that is not a good option.


    "However, it''s different if it''s one of the top one hundred clubs of the city."


    "The top one hundred clubs? What is special about them?"


    "They receive support from the city and other benefits you will like. Moreover, most students join these clubs, so your magic engineering will quickly be popr. The only problem is that I can''t make a recently-created club one of the top one hundred clubs even if I want. You will need to earn that position by yourself. However, you will need at least one year to achieve it."


    Bloed frowned. One year


    It was a lot of time.


    "However, there is another option." The headmistress suddenly said.


    " What is it?"


    "You see, there is a certain club going through a very bad situation right now. It''s one of the top one hundred clubs, but at this rate, it will lose its position soon.


    "This club focuses on something very simr to your magic engineering, so it''s suitable for you. If you want, I can make you the leader of that club. You will have to take care of some troubles after that, but it''s better than creating a club from scratch.


    "What do you say? Are you interested?"

 Chapter 327: Broken Royal Family

    Chapter 327: Broken Royal Family


    The capital of the Kingdom of Alterna, in the pce.


    A beautiful ck-haired woman was pacing around the garden of the pce anxiously.


    Strangely, the woman''s appearance exuded calm even when she was pacing around anxiously. Each one of her mannerism was filled with grace, elegance, and authority.


    It was the kind of elegance and authority cultivated through years of meticulous execution, showing that the woman was in no way normal.


    And she indeed was not.


    She was the Queen of the strongest human kingdom.


    Normally, the people around her would sigh in admiration of her beautiful grace. But right now, nobody was in the mood for that.


    Not the servants waiting for the woman''s orders in a corner of the garden.


    Not the man that just entered the garden.


    " Are you truly nning to go?" The man asked with a sigh.


    The woman did not look at him when she heard his question. In fact, she did not even bother to reply.


    The man sighed softly. He opened his mouth to speak again, but in the end, he smiled bitterly and shook his head.


    Even though he hated to admit it, their rtionship had not been good since that day more than five years ago.


    Since the day when they decided to exile their child.


    He, the King of the Kingdom of Alterna, did not me his queen for that. Quite the opposite, he could understand her.


    As a mother, nothing was more painful than having to exile her own child, sending him to a ce where his life and death was left to fate.


    That filled her heart with hatred and guilt. Not only towards him, but also towards herself. She had not been the same since then.


    The once warm queen had turned colder and colder with the passing of the years.


    And though he had tried to fix their deteriorating rtionship more than once, the fissure created that day refused to disappear.


    Sighing again, the man approached her, stopping one meter away from her back.


    "What are you nning to tell him? That child doesn''t have any goodwill towards us."


    "Is that strange?" The woman sneered. "What child would hold goodwill towards the parents that abandoned him?"


    "Then, you must know that going there this time will most likely be useless."


    "Even so, I must go. He is my child. I already let him down five years ago. The least I can do right now is to beg him for forgiveness."


    " I see." The man sighed again. "I wish you luck then."


    The woman nodded slightly, not bothering to look at him even once during the entire conversation to the man chagrin.


    But he did not turn angry.


    Because he knew how much she resented him.


    And she resented him more after she learned that he hid the news about her child''s whereabouts from her for almost two months.


    Fortunately, one of the people involved in the operation was loyal to her and leaked the information, or she would have not learned the news about her child yet.


    At that moment, a servant approached them.


    "Queen Majesty, everything is ready."


    "Great. Lets depart then." The woman nodded and turned around, leaving the garden coldly without bidding farewell to her husband, as though he was not there.


    Once she left the pce, the woman gripped her chest strongly.


    Fear, anxiousness, excitement, longing All kinds of emotions were shing in her heart.


    Since the day she learned the news about her son, she had been engulfed by all those feelings.


    The fear of facing her son again, the anxiousness of being met with his rejection, the excitement of finally finding him, and the longing to see his face again.


    "My son, Glenn" The woman whispered softly and put on a bitter smile.


    Then, she boarded the carriage


    Her destination, Academy City.


    In the garden, the king of Alterna watched his wife leave with a soft sigh.


    At some point, his adviser, butler, and friend had appeared behind him.


    "I''m curious about something, Your Majesty. Why did you not tell the news to the empress personally and instead used such a roundabout way to inform her? That was a great opportunity to restore your rtionship with Her Majesty."


    " It''s better like this, Sebastian. She knows me well. If I am the first one to tell her about that child, she will notice my intentions. That was also the reason I did not ask her to convince the child to return to the kingdom. Only if she meets him without ulterior motives will she have a chance to regain a bit of his affection."


    "I see But, are you truly alright with this, Your Majesty? At this rate, the royal family..."


    " As a king, sometimes you have to make certain decisions even if you don''t like it."


    The king''s butler looked at his king and sighed. Yes, there were some things a king needed to do even if he did not want to.


    Such as exiling his child even when he was aware it would mean his child''s death.


    Such as killing him if he deemed him an instability to the future of the kingdom.


    Eres Skysword watched her mother leave the pce and her father standing in the garden with an ice-cold look, her brows furrowing slightly.


    She knew where her mother was going. And she knew why she was going there.


    In fact, she was nning to go there as well.


    Academy City.


    To find her brother.


    "Is everything ready?" She asked the woman behind her, one of her loyal subordinates.


    "Everything is ready, Your Highness. We can depart at any time."


    "Good. Let''s go then. I don''t like staying in this ce."


    The woman nodded respectfully. But then, she put on a hesitating expression before biting her lips.


    "Your Highness, forgive me for the imprudence, but, is it not better if we travel together with the Queen? Our destination is the same after a-"


    Before the woman could finish her words, her expression changed.


    An ice-cold and sharp pressure assaulted her body, making the woman pale.


    "I don''t like being nearby that woman," Eres said indifferently.


    However, when she heard her words, the woman took two steps back subconsciously. Her gaze towards the princess was filled with fear.


    Just now, she felt as though a sword had pierced her heart. The hatreding from the princess was so strong that she almost fainted.


    That hatred It was not something that a sixteen-year-old girl should be able to emit.


    She could not believe that the princess could exude so much hatred when talking about her mother.


    However, that was the reality.


    Eres did not feel any love for her family. She hated her father and mother and was indifferent towards her eldest brother.


    The only person she longed for was the person that was taken away from her five years ago.


    Her brother, her dearest brother. The brother that her father and mother tried to kill!


    " Glenn, big brother I want to meet you again"


    With a nostalgic and slightly happy expression, the princess looked towards the east.


    In direction of Academy City.

 Chapter 328: Golem-Making Club (1)

    Chapter 328: Golem-Making Club (1)


    Wave Golden was standing in front of a window on the top floor of the Great Library with an ice-cold expression.


    She had been like that for almost twenty hours already. But although it seemed as though she was doing nothing, the truth was that she was using the array of the city to try to find clues about the missing students.


    Even for her, using the array for this long was exhausting. The mental calctions she needed to do to analyze all the information the array sent to her mind were outrageous.


    Only someone like her, an Apotheosis Demigod and one of the strongest mages of the world, could keep up with the consumption of soul power and mental energy required to use this array.


    Unfortunately, she had failed to find any information even after all this while.


    It was as though the students hadpletely vanished without leaving behind any trace.


    However, Wave did not give up yet.


    She had the feeling that the students were still inside the city. Her intuition as a dragon was telling her that they were somewhere in her territory.


    And she was prepared to exhaust any possible means to find them.


    While she was focused on the array, someone else entered the top floor.


    "Headmistress, I bring news."


    The neer was a middle-aged man. He was someone with a stern a powerful aura around him, giving away the fact that he was not someone ordinary.


    And in fact, he was no.


    He was a demigod, a saint, someone just one step away from reaching apotheosis.


    One of Headmistress Wave''s direct subordinated.


    "What happened?" She asked.


    "The autopsy of the bodies has been finished. Unfortunately, we failed to find anything that can lead to the students. We also investigated the people close to them, but some of them died before we arrived and the rest knew nothing."


    "So they already cut all the loose ends, huh." Wave sighed softly.


    "It looks like that. However, we managed to find something strange in one of the healing mages."


    "Something strange?


    "Yes. It was a tattoo with the number ''54''."


    Wave''s expression turned cold.


    "Returning Dusk."


    "I fear so." The middle-aged demigod''s expression turned grave "Unless someone is trying to shift the me to them, it''s almost one hundred percent certain it''s Returning Dusk."


    Wave frowned briefly before sneering.


    "It''s them. They had been moving recklessly recently, kidnapping boys and girls all around the continent. However, I never thought they would be so bold as to kidnap people in my city!"


    The man behind her nodded and a sharp light shed through his eyes.


    Just as Headmistress Wave, he was also furious by the guts of Returning Dusk.


    Daring to kidnap students in this city. It was the same as insulting them!


    However, the bad news did not end there


    "I fear things did not end there, headmistress. After I started this case, I realized that other students have disappeared in the city recently. In fact, there have been more than thirty unexined disappearances in thest year."


    Wave''s face changed.


    "Thirty? How did I not learn about something so important like this before!?"


    " The disappearances were spread throughout the entire year, so it was hard to notice. Most of the time, we thought that it was a student that left the city for some unknown reason. We just realized the unusualness of the situation after linking their disappearances to yesterday''s kidnappings."


    "... I see. Returning Dusk sure is bold..." Wave shook her head gently.


    But-


    "Ugh.." The middle-aged demigod grunted and took a step back. He felt a horrifying pressure attacking him!


    No, it was not attacking him. He only felt he was being attacked due to Wave''s overwhelming strength.


    [Dragon Pressure]! One of the Innate Abilities of the Dragon Race.


    Right now, it leaked from Wave due to her extreme anger.


    Fortunately, Wave restrained her anger quickly, controlling it.


    "Investigate it. We can''t allow Returning Dusk to continue messing around in this city."


    The demigod nodded respectfully. But before he could leave, someone else stepped on the top floor of the tower.


    This time, it was a young woman with an anxious expression.


    "Headmistress, bad news!"


    "What now?"


    "It''s the representatives of the four races! They are here asking for an exnation!"


    Wave''s expression turned colder. For an instant, her eyes shed with killing intent.


    However, it was soon reced by a bitter smile.


    "As expected, they will not let this opportunity slide."


    Looking through the window of the Great Library, she saw a blue sky extending towards the horizon.


    However, she knew that dark clouds were approaching Academy City.


    Bloed exited hisboratory with an exhausted expression. But despite his exhaustion, he could not hide the excitement on his face.


    He had spent the entire night studying the data that Oculus recollected during yesterday''s game and using it to upgrade the predictive ability of his eyes.


    And after one night of work, he had managed to upgrade his predictive ability, bringing it to a whole new level.


    Although it had not been fully perfected yet, it was much stronger than before.


    In fact, the result he got was much better than he expected.


    ''I guess I should thank the headmistress after all, huh.''


    Smiling wryly, Bloed went to take a bath before eating breakfast. He wanted to sleep a little bit first, but unfortunately, he needed to do a lot today, so he would have to postpone his sleep until tonight.


    Fortunately, that was not too hard for a B-Grade ESPer like him. Plus, his enhanced body meant he needed much less sleep than a normal person.


    When Regina saw Bloed, she sighed softly.


    "Master, you should not overwork yourself like this. It''s bad for your health."


    "Sorry, sorry I lost the notion of time. Don''t worry, it will not happen again."


    "You always say the same, but it always happens again."


    Bloed smiled wryly. What could he say? Pulling an all-nighter when he was engrossed in a project was not something he could help.


    "Sigh, master, you Anyway, wait at the table. I''ll prepare something for you."


    "Thank you."


    After sitting at the table, Bloed found an excited Prince Calisto sitting across him.


    "Prince?"


    "Big brother Bloed, do you know? We have received more than fifty invitations from different clubs since yesterday!"


    "Fifty?" Bloed was slightly surprised, but he found it normal considering their performance yesterday.


    "Even the top ten clubs in the city sent invitations! It''s obvious they are anxious to recruit you!"


    Bloed put on an amused smile and shook his head.


    "Well, I don''t n to join any of them."


    "I know, I know. But still, it''s so cool. Right, we are going to visit our future club today, right?"


    "That is the n." Bloed nodded in affirmation.


    Yesterday, he ended epting the headmistress''s proposal. Mainly because he thought she was right. It was better to take over a club already established than to start one from scratch.


    However, he had not visited the club yet. He nned to go today after breakfast.


    "Right, Sara and Gina have not returned?"


    "You mean the two girls that are going to live with us? Nope, they have not returned after they left to bring their things. Don''t worry, I''m sure they will be back soon."


    Yesterday, Gina and Sara told him that they wanted to stay with him. Bloed wanted to refuse at the start, but Prince Calisto agreed excitedly when he heard about it, so it ended with theming to live in the mansion.


    ording to them, they had been staying in the ce of an acquaintance, but they preferred if they could live with Bloed.


    Of course, Liu Ying and Regina were not at all happy with it, but surprisingly, none of them objected to it. Seeing that, Bloed did not have any reason to object either.


    "I guess we will go to the club with them then."


    Bloed was anxious and excited to see the club the headmistress spoke about.


    The Golem-Making Club.

 Chapter 329: Golem-Making Club (2)

    Chapter 329: Golem-Making Club (2)


    "Euna! Are you leaving as well? B-But, if you leave, t-then"


    "Sorry Toby, I can''t continue like this. This club has no hope. I received an invitation from Knowledge Seekers two weeks ago, and I decided to agree."


    "B-But, But"


    "I''m sorry, I have to leave."


    "Euna! Wait, Euna!"


    Toby extended his hand helplessly to stop the young girl from leaving, however, she ran off without looking at him again.


    " So she also left, huh."


    Smiling bitterly, Toby sat down in a nearby chair.


    Actually, he did not me the girl for leaving. She was right, this club did not have hope. He sometimes thought about leaving as well.


    However, he never did.


    Perhaps it was because he was nostalgic, or perhaps it was because this was the first ce where he felt he belonged.


    Toby was a seventeen-years young man. However, he seemed much younger than his age. Actually, he was sometimes confused for a child.


    He arrived at Academy City two years ago. But although he was a student of Academy City, he could not be called a genius. In fact, he was just at the initial stages of C-Rank.


    Perhaps his cultivation would be a bit impressive in some parts of the world, but here in Academy City, that was below average.


    But Toby did not mind it. He was already used to being considered below others.


    As the bastard child of a human noble, he had grown under constant abuse and discrimination.


    That was the reason he left home and came to Academy City.


    He wanted to escape that life. He wanted to be in a ce where nobody would mind his identity as a bastard child.


    A new home.


    And he found it here.


    Not much after he entered Academy City, he joined the Golem-Making Club. Actually, he was fooled into joining. Back then, he remembering grumbling when he learned about the nature of the club.


    However, now that he looked back at these times, he thought he was lucky.


    Because the Golem-Making Club soon became Toby''s new home.


    Back then, the Golem-Making club was not like this. Although it could not be considered a strong club, it kept its ce as one of the top one hundred clubs firmly.


    All that was due to Toby''s senior. A talented humandy that literally supported the Golem-Making Club singlehandedly.


    She loved building golems and use them to fight. Her talent on it was enough to make her one of the thirty strongest students in Academy City.


    She was the one that recruited Toby, and also the one that helped him to discover his talent in making golems.


    For Toby, there were the bests years of his life.


    Unfortunately, the good times did notst.


    One day, he received the news that his senior had died.


    She was killed by a monster during an expedition.


    After that, everything changed.


    Without his senior watching over the club, the Golem-Making Club was nothing. Although it had several members, none of them was strong enough to help it to keep its position.


    Moreover, many of the members of the club were in it due to his senior. Half of the members left during the first week after her death.


    The rest continued leaving after that.


    Today, two months had passed since then, and only four, no, three members remained in the club.


    Even the teacher in charge of the club had stoppeding. Although the teacher had not resigned yet, it was obvious he did not care about it anymore.


    Toby could not help but smile self-deprecatingly.


    "It looks like I can only watch as the club is disbanded, huh."


    Toby did not have hopes of retaining the club''s position as one of the top one hundred clubs. In fact, he was happy as long as the club was not disbanded.


    But with only three members remaining when the minimum required for a club was five members, it seemed that there was nothing he could do.


    At that moment, he heard amotioning from the entrance.


    Frowning, he went out, only to see one of the three remaining members of the club leading several young men and women towards him.


    Toby''s eyes brightened immediately.


    "Julius? Did you manage to convince someone to join the club!?"


    However, Toby soon frowned.


    Because he noticed that Julius was avoiding his gaze.


    ''It can''t be''


    With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he looked at the people behind Julius.


    "You are"


    "You must be Toby, right? We are members of [Flying Leaves]. From today, your club will merge with us."


    Toby''s face turned pale.


    He immediately understood the situation.


    He knew Flying Leaves. It was a new club that had been rising to fame recently. Apparently, its leader was a talented A-Rank student.


    However, because it was a new club, it had not managed to get a ce in the top one hundred clubs yet.


    Moreover, getting a ce in the top one hundred clubs was very hard. Even though [Flying Leaves] was a bit famous recently, it did not mean it could get a ce easily.


    That was the reason they were here.


    They nned to merge the two clubs together and that way Flying Leaves could take the rank of the Golem-Making Club.


    Actually, although it was called ''merging'', the truth was that the Golem-Making Club would disappearpletely.


    Toby bit his lips. His eyes turned red, and he could not help but look at Julius with an expression of rage.


    "Julius! How do you dare to do something like this!?"


    However, the young man called Julius did not reply. He just looked away with an awkward expression.


    "Stop making a fuss, boy." Said one of the young men behind Julius. "Your club is going to disband anyway. At the very least, it can be of some use this way."


    "You!"


    "Stop standing in our way, okay? We want to see our facilities."


    "Do you think I will allow it!?"


    The young man in front of him frowned. Immediately, his gaze turned sharp, sending shivers to Toby''s spine.


    "Move away!"


    Toby shivered. However, he did not move.


    He did not want to let things end like this.


    "I guess I''ll make your move then." With a grunt, the young man filled his body with mana.


    B-Rank surged around him, pressing against Toby and making his face ashed white!


    But when the young man was about to make a move, a voice reached his ears.


    "Is it the Golem-Making Club?"


    The young man frowned. Turning around, he saw a blue-haired young man approaching them followed by several people.


    "Who are you?"


    "Oh, sorry, allow me to introduce myself first. I''m the new president of the Golem-Making Club, Bloed Norman."

 Chapter 330: Golem-Making Club (3)

    Chapter 330: Golem-Making Club (3)


    "Allow me to introduce myself first. I''m the new president of the Golem-Making Club, Bloed Norman."


    Bloed smiled softly and introduced himself.


    Strangely, though, the answer he received was different than he expected.


    "President? What is that?"


    "A kind of supervisor?"


    "I don''t know. First time hearing about it."


    Bloed was stunned.


    ''Now that I think about it''


    Looking behind him, Bloed realized that Regina was the only one that knew the meaning of the word president.


    As for the others, including, Liu Ying, Aya, and Prince Calisto, they were tilting their heads at Bloed''s words.


    Bloed forced himself to not cringe and coughed softly to hide his embarrassment.


    "Sorry, a mistake. I''m the new leader of the Golem-Making Club."


    This time, the group''s reactions were different.


    Toby, the delicate-looking young man raised his face in surprise, and the group facing him put on grave expressions.


    "Boy, what do you mean?"


    Looking at the ice-cold expression of the young man in front of him, Bloed frowned.


    "You should introduce yourself first, right? Also, I thought it was not allowed to attack other students inside the city."


    The young man was startled. But then, he smiled.


    "I see. A neer, huh. I was wondering who was so stupid as to be the leader of this club. Well, I''ll introduce myself then. My name is Harold Stevens. A B-Rank practitioner belonging to [Flying Leaves]."


    ''Flying Leaves?''


    This time, it was Bloed''s turn to be confused.


    He looked behind him to see if Liu Ying, Aya, Regina, or Prince Calisto knew about this Flying Leaves club, but each one of them was just as confused as he was.


    It was normal, though. Prince Calisto was royalty, so his information about clubs was limited to the strongest clubs in the city. As for Bloed and the others, they did not care about other clubs in the slightest unless it was a rtively famous club.


    As for [Flying Leaves], it was just a club with potential that was outside the top one hundred clubs. In these circumstances, it was normal if neers such as Bloed and the others knew nothing about them.


    However, Bloed did not dwell in the identity of that club for long. Instead, he looked at the childlike boy standing in front of him.


    "And you?"


    "M-Me? M-My name is Toby. I''m a member of the Golem-Making Club."


    "Oh? In other words, you are one of my people. Well, Toby, can you please exin to me what is happening here?"


    "He doesn''t need to." Harold interrupted before Toby could speak. "We came here to merge our clubs together. So I''m sorry, Mr. Leader, but it''s better if you leave as soon as possible."


    "S-Shut up! I will never allow it!"


    Seeing Toby baring his teeth to Harold and the people behind him, Bloed quickly got an idea of what was happening.


    ''In other words, they want to swallow this club, huh.''


    Bloed had been reading the rules and requirements about clubs recently, so he knew a bit about them.


    And between the things he learned, he remembered seeing something about two clubs being allowed to merge together.


    Most of the time, it was a stronger club swallowing the weaker club to get the members of that club. However, the situation this time seemed different.


    After all, the Golem-Making Club was one of the top one hundred clubs, even if its current situation was pretty bad.


    As for this Flying Leaves Club or whatever it was called, it was the first time Bloed was hearing about it. He was sure it was not one of the top one hundred clubs.


    If he was not mistaken, Harold and the others'' intention was to get the Golem-Making Club''s rank and benefices for their club.


    ''The situation of my club is pretty bad, huh.''


    Smiling wryly to himself, Bloed fixed his gaze in Harold and the others.


    His gaze, however, was very cold.


    "I see. So you want to swallow my club. Pretty bold of your part."


    Harold wrinkled his brows before looking at the young man beside him."


    "Julius, do you know who he is? I thought your club was leaderless."


    "Y-Yeah, it''s my first time hearing about him."


    "I see." Harold nodded and looked at Bloed. "Mr. Bloed, right? It''s my first time hearing about you being the leader of this club. As a third party, you should stop interfering in the affairs of other clubs; otherwise, I don''t mind teaching you a lesson for being meddlesome."


    "Is it so?" Bloed nodded slightly and looked behind him. "Regina, please."


    "Understood, master." With a nod, Regina took something out of her storage device and showed it to Harold and the others.


    It was a document certifying that Bloed was indeed the new leader of the Golem-Making Club, something he received from Headmistress Wave yesterday.


    When Harold saw the document, his face turned sullen.


    ''Dammit, this is the worst situation possible!''


    He suspected that Bloed was someone that another club sent. Probably someone with the same intentions as him.


    ''Damn bastards. They sure move fast.''


    However, Harold did not show his anger on his face. He already suspected something like this could happen when he heard Bloed calling himself the leader of the Golem-Making Club.


    He just nodded softly with a calm expression.


    "I see. However, Mr. Bloed, you should understand the situation of this club. I can assure you that this club will not survive the next War of Clubs. You should consider our proposal of merging our club together. You will not lie the results otherwise."


    "Oh?" Bloed narrowed his eyes. "Are you threatening me?"


    "What do you think?" Harold smiled. At the same time, his Peak B-Rank mana started to leak out of his body.


    Bloed immediately raised an eyebrow. Feeling Harold''s mana, he immediately came to a conclusion.


    ''Pretty strong.''


    He was probably at the level of one of the B-Ranks that besieged him yesterday during the wee game.


    ''It seems like [Flying Leaves] is not a simple club.''


    Moreover


    ''He doesn''t know about us, huh.''


    Many students had watched the wee game and knew about Bloed. These students knew that Bloed was very powerful.


    However, it seemed that Harold had not watched it.


    Otherwise, he would not dare to be so arrogant.


    Bloed could not help but put on an amused smile when he thought of that.


    "I heard it was forbidden to fight other students in the city. You don''t seem to mind it, though."


    "It will be fine if I clean everything before the city guards arrive."


    "Really? That is good then." Bloed nodded in understanding. Immediately after that, his blue eyes turned sharp.


    But then


    "Wait."


    A young man appeared suddenly, grabbing Harold''s shoulder.


    "Sub-leader?" Harold was stunned. "What are you doing here?"


    The young man did not exin. Instead, he stared at Bloed fixedly before opening his mouth with a grave expression.


    "Let''s go back."


    "But sub-leader, he"


    "Calm down, Harold. You are not his match."


    "Huh?"


    Ignoring Harold''s startled expression, the young man looked at Bloed again and spoke up.


    "Your name is Bloed Norman, right? Good, we will see each other in the War of Clubs."


    Bloed smiled slightly.


    "I''ll be waiting then."


    ....


    I hope you enjoyed the chapters. With a bit of luck, two more chaptersing tonight...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N to read until 20 chapters ahead:


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 331: Golem-Making Club (4)

    Chapter 331: Golem-Making Club (4)


    Well, they cameter than expected, but three new chapters here...


    ...


    Once the group left, Bloed let out a short sigh.


    He then turned around to face the young man behind him.


    "Well, it looks like this club is in a worse state than I thought."


    "Y-You... Are you truly the new leader of the club?"


    When he saw Bloed nod, Toby was stunned.


    This club leader He came out of nowhere!


    For a few seconds, he did not know how to react.


    "Boy, your name was Toby, right?"


    "Y-Yes."


    "Well, Toby. Do you know who the young man in the end was?"


    "Huh? Ah, he is the sub-leader of [Flying Leaves]. His name is Yaru. I heard he is very powerful."


    "Yaru, huh." Bloed frowned slightly.


    That young man was definitively not weak.


    Even though he was just a B-Rank practitioner, his true strength was not so simple.


    Although Bloed was not sure, he had the feeling he was stronger than any of the B-Ranks he fought yesterday.


    ''Perhaps at the level of Atai As expected of Academy City. It''s worthy of being the ce where talents of all the world gather.''


    He was definitively a strong enemy.


    Of course, Bloed was sure he would not lose if they fought.


    In fact, Bloed had be much stronger since he fought Atai. Right now, he was sure he could defeat Atai if they fought again even without using [Door of Nothingness] or [Imaginary sh].


    However, if the sub-leader was already that strong, it meant that their leader would be stronger.


    ''A-Rank, perhaps?''


    It seemed that this Golem-Making Club had its fair share of enemies.


    Smiling wryly, Bloed shook his head and looked at Toby again.


    "Okay, can you show me the club?"


    Toby nodded in a daze, still processing the news he just got.


    He was still confused by the situation. Just a few minutes ago, he was thinking that his club was about to be disbanded, but now, the club got a new president all of sudden.


    ''Where in the hell did hee from!? And how did he be the president of the club!?''


    Toby had not watched the wee game of yesterday or he would have known who Bloed was. He was too busy thinking of ways to save the club to pay attention to something like that.


    Thus, he could not help but be suspicious of Bloed.


    His first guess was the same as Harold. He thought that Bloed was someone with the intention of getting the rank of the Golem-Making Club without fighting for it in the War of Clubs.


    Even so, he said nothing. Bloed was now officially the club leader. Even if he wanted to change something, he could do nothing.


    A sense of despondence filled Toby. The feeling of powerlessness to defend what he cherished made him grit his teeth.


    He could only observe and do his best to protect the club as much as he could.


    Actually, he was not wrong.


    Bloed could not care less about the Golem-Making Club. His goal was to use it as a springboard for his own club.


    As for the story of the Golem-Making Club? Bloed could only apologize to it.


    Besides Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Prince Calisto had followed him to the club. Princess Elwha wanted toe as well, but she decided to stay behind due to the issues with her identity.


    Guided by Toby, Bloed''s group observed the facilities of the club curiously.


    The Golem-Making Club was worthy of being one of the top one hundred clubs. Despite its bad situation, its facilities were first ss.


    Bloed saw two training rooms, two golem-making rooms, several bedrooms, a hall, a dining room, an underground bath, severalboratories, several offices, a library, a warehouse, and several other rooms.


    Just like Headmistress Wave said, this club was prettypatible with Bloed''s idea. Many of the facilities could be put to work immediately.


    "It''s pretty good." Liu Ying nodded to herself.


    "Well, our Golem-Making Club is ranked 86th after all. It''s normal." Toby said with a wry smile.


    He then bit his lips and put on an expression as though making up his mind.


    " Mr. Bloed, what do you n to do with the club?"


    "Mm?"


    "Do you Do you n to create a new club? Or are you perhaps going to fuse this club with another club?"


    Bloed stared at Toby fixedly before smiling.


    "You like this club a lot, huh."


    "Well"


    "Are you good at making golems?"


    " Just a bit."


    "Is it so?" Bloed thought for a moment before looking at the delicate-looking young man again.


    "I''ll be honest with you then. I''m nning to create a new club. However, that club is a bit rted to golems, that is the reason I chose this club as my starting point."


    "Golems?" Toby opened his eyes slightly. Quickly, his expression brightened.


    If Bloed''s words were right, it meant that his club still had hope.


    Unfortunately


    "However, the name of the club will be changed."


    His hopes were dashed immediately.


    "W-Wait! W-Why do you want to change the name of the club!?"


    "I''m sorry, but Golem-Making club is a horrendous name, who in the hell names a club like that?"


    Toby flinched.


    Thinking about it, most of the members of the club had been dissatisfied when the previous leader decided to name the club like this.


    Even so, he did not want to change the name.


    To him, this name carried a great sentimental value.


    Unfortunately, nobody in Bloed''s group thought the same.


    "I have an idea." Liu Ying raised her hand smilingly. "How about calling it [Bloed''s Harem]."


    Bloed stiffened. Speechless, he looked behind him only to see Liu Ying smiling teasingly, Aya lowering her head with a shy look, and Regina''s ice-cold look.


    "Rejected," Regina said immediately.


    "Hey! I think it''s a good name!"


    "No, it''s not." Bloed red at the demon exasperated look. "Another idea, please."


    "What about [Master''s Base to Conquer the World]?"


    "Rejected. Regina, I don''t have any n to conquer the world." And it sounded too chunni.


    " Friendship and Unity, perhaps?


    "Aya, your name is very childish."


    "Big brother Bloed, how about [League of the Strongest]!"


    " Please, can you stop? I''m bing embarrassed"


    Bloed looked at Regina, Liu Ying, and the others speechless. What kind of names were these?


    None of the names was normal!


    Sighing, he decided to use the name he had thought beforehand.


    "The club will be called [Machina Revolutio]."

 Chapter 332: Golem-Making Club (5)

    Chapter 332: Golem-Making Club (5)


    [Machina Revolutio].


    The two words came from an oldnguage of the Human Confederation, and their meaning was ''Revolution of the Machines''.


    Bloed thought that the name was pretty appropriate taking into ount his goal. Plus, the name was also cool, so it was perfect.


    Of course, only Regina understood the true meaning of the name, so Bloed had to exin it to the others.


    After that, he asked Toby to tell him about the situation of the club.


    But after he heard Toby''s recount, he could not help but be speechless.


    The situation of the Golem-Making Club was much worse than he thought!


    Actually, he did not expect much after hearing Headmistress Wave''s exnation about the club, but the true situation was much worse than his expectations.


    This club, it was truly deserted.


    Besides Toby, it only had another two members, but one of them just betrayed the club and the other had not appeared in one week.


    As for Toby, he was just a C-Rank practitioner!


    Bloed could not understand how a club ranked 86 ended in this pitiful state.


    But when he heard Toby''s exnation, he understood.


    Apparently, the only reason this club reached this rank was thanks to its previous leader.


    ording to Toby, she was a very talented Golem maker and a powerful fighter. Her battle-style of controlling golems in battle made her famous through Academy City.


    Unfortunately, she died during one mission outside the city.


    Bloed thought it was a pity. He would have liked to meet someone like that.


    Regrettably, it seemed it would be impossible.


    "Actually, Mr. Bloed, I don''t advice you to take over this club."


    "Oh?" Bloed looked at Toby curiously.


    "The truth is, this club has no hope. Plus, the war of clubs starts in one month. And in the current conditions, our club will be unable to keep its rank."


    Bloed nodded in understanding.


    The War of Clubs. It was an event that happened once every three months in Academy City.


    The event started one month after the wee ceremony andsted a month. During that month, the different clubs could fight each other to get better cement in the rankings.


    Moreover, the city would also release different missions that the clubs couldplete to get a better ranking or a reward.


    The problem was the duel between clubs. Weaker clubs could challenge stronger clubs at a duel with the goal of getting the rank of the stronger club.


    If the weaker club won, then they would get the rank of the stronger club. The stronger club could not reject the challenge of the weaker club.


    Fortunately, each club could be challenged only once each week, and each club could only challenge other clubs twice during the war. Due to that, the challenges had to be chosen carefully.


    The problem was that the current situation of Bloed''s club was very bad.


    Most of the clubs in the top one hundred were strong clubs with several A-Rank practitioners holding the fort. The Golem-Making Club, on the other hand, only had a few C-Rank and B-Rank practitioners before Bloed arrived.


    For other clubs, challenging the Golem-Making Club was the best opportunity to get a ce in the top one hundred.


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying and the others with a helpless look.


    Even now, their situation was still bad. Bloed''s group only had one A-Rank, Sara!


    Of course, Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya were as strong as normal A-Ranks, however, they were just three people.


    Even if they got Princess Elwha''s help, they would only amount to four B-Ranks as strong as A-Rank practitioners.


    As for Regina, it was obvious Headmistress Evelyn would not allow her to participate.


    ''Well, let''s not think about that right now. We still have one month to prepare for the war.''


    With that thought, Bloed sent his worries to a corner of his mind.


    Right now, he nned to focus on turning this [Golem-Making Club] into his ideal [Machina Revolutio].


    "What is the n then, Bloed?" Liu Ying could not help but ask.


    "Of course, we need to reconstruct this ce."


    "Is that possible?" Harold asked with a stunned look when he heard about Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya''s exploits the previous day.


    Yaru, the sub-leader of Flying Leaves, nodded with a stern look.


    "I saw it with my own eyes. That young man is very strong. Even I''m not confident in defeating him."


    Harold''s expression turned dark.


    He knew how strong his sub-leader was. He and the leader were two monsters outsidemon sense.


    Although Yaru was just a B-Rank, the truth was that he had defeated several A-Ranks in Academy City already. His name was famous as a great genius with high hopes to be a demigod.


    As for their leader, he was an A-Rank practitioner about to enter the top thirty of Academy City''s strongest!


    The two of them were the backbone of Flying Leaves. The reason their club was about to be one of the top one hundred was due to them.


    But now, one of them, Yaru, was saying he was not confident in defeating Bloed, the new leader of the Golem-Making Club.


    "Sub-Leader, what are we going to do then?"


    "You don''t need to worry." Yaru''s expression was calm. "Certainly, Bloed Norman is strong. But he is still just a B-Rank practitioner. Plus, he is a neer. He probably underestimates the strength of the top one hundred clubs.


    "No matter how strong he and the two girls with him are, they are just three people. Unless they can get the support of several A-Ranks, their club is destined to fall from the top one hundred."


    Harold fell silent and nodded.


    He knew how strong the top clubs of Academy City were. Each one of these clubs was led by a powerful A-Rank and had several other A-Ranks in it.


    No matter how strong Bloed was, he was just a B-Rank practitioner. Even if he could defeat normal A-Rank practitioners, people at the top of A-Rank would not be so easy to defeat.


    Unfortunately, neither Harold nor Yaru knew Bloed''s true strength.


    In fact, only the leadership of the strongest clubs knew a bit about it.


    They knew that in the beastmen countries, Bloed had used one saber sh to kill a group of eleven A-Rank and B-Rank practitioners.

 Chapter 333: Machine Revolutio Tower (1)

    Chapter 333: Machine Revolutio Tower (1)


    While Bloed and the others were in the headquarters of their new club, Sara and Gina were inside another club in the city.


    Currently, they were standing in the main hall of the club, facing the club leader as several other members looked at them withplicated expressions.


    The leader of the club, a human called Oscar, sighed softly.


    "Sara, Gina, do you truly have to leave?"


    Sara nodded without hesitation.


    "I told you it when we agreed to join this club. We would leave once the person we are waiting for arrives in the city. He is already here, so we will go with him."


    "I know that, but Can''t you wait until after the war of clubs ends at least? Without your help, our chances of keeping our ce in the top one hundred will be much lower."


    Sara frowned and hesitated slightly. However, she shook her head in the end.


    "I''m sorry, Oscar. We are grateful for your kindness, and that is the reason we tried to help the club as much as we could while we were here. However, we need to leave right now. No matter what you say, we will not change our decision."


    Oscar sighed softly.


    At that moment, one of the people observing the situation, a twenty-something girl, could not help but step forward.


    "How can you be so ungrateful!? We allowed you to stay with us when you had nowhere to live! We even feed you for free, and now you want to leave!?"


    "Susan!"


    "What is it, leader? How can you allow something like this!?"


    "Enough, Susan!"


    The girl called Susan shut up with a reluctant expression, however, she continued ring at Sara and Gina with rage and resentment.


    However, the two sisters received her re indifferently.


    "We nned to pay for our food and stay since the start, but you refused," Sara said indifferently. "Even so, we don''t mind paying for it now. Gina, please."


    "Yes, sister." The honey-haired girl nodded and took out a small bag from her waist. You could hear the sound of coins clinking inside.


    Oscar smiled wryly when he saw that.


    "It''s not necessary, Sara. Susan is just angry, don''t take her words to heart."


    " Okay. However, we will not change our decision."


    Oscar nodded with a bitter smile.


    "I understand. Before leaving, though, can you tell me where are you going? I want to know where I can find you if I need to."


    Sara furrowed her brows. But before she could answer, her honey-haired little sister replied first.


    "We are going with our fiance."


    Oscar''s expression stiffened immediately.


    Sara wrinkled her brows. She red at her smirking sister with an exasperated look, but in the end, she did not deny it.


    Anyway, this way Oscar would stop being so bothersome.


    Oscar stared at Sara and Gina with a stiff look. He clenched his fist tightly, doing his best to keep his calm.


    In the end, he forced himself to spat out two words.


    " I see."


    "We are leaving then. Thank you for allowing us to stay here, Oscar. I wish you luck in the War of Clubs."


    "... Thanks."


    Without paying attention to Oscar''splicated expression, Gina and Sara turned around and left.


    When they exited the club, Gina giggled softly.


    "Sister, you should have seen his face when I mentioned the word fiance. He seemed as though he wanted to die."


    Sara looked at her sister with a helpless look.


    "You, little devil Sigh, what am I going to do with you?"


    "Hmph! He thought we could not see he had intentions towards you! Dream on! We will only marry our hero!"


    "What marry? Can you please stop with these crazy ideas?"


    " Sister, you are an idiot! Why are you so slow!? We have to take the initiative, initiative! Push our hero down and do the deed. Hmph, that cat thinks I can''t see her intentions! We need to take the third position before she does!"


    Sara was speechless. This little sister of hers, how could she propose something like this?


    Where did she leave her virtue and decency?


    As expected, she had to be careful with her little sister.


    She did not want to end in the bed of her lord after a crazy idea of Gina.


    "What are you doing!?" Toby looked towards the building of the Golem-Making Club with a look of despair.


    The reason?


    Currently, several strange golems were destroying itpletely!


    "Stop stop stop! Why!? don''t destroy it! Hey, what are you doing!?"


    "Calm down, man." Bloed looked at Toby with a speechless look. "It''s just a building."


    "A building!? That is the headquarters of the club! How do you dare to destroy it!?"


    "Well, I need to destroy it to create a new one." Bloed shrugged.


    Toby looked at Bloed with widened eyes.


    This was, this was


    He could barely tolerate Bloed changing the name of the club, but how could he tolerate the destruction of the club!?


    It was his home! A ce with many of his memories!


    However, Bloed did not care about him.


    Well, he somehow understood how Toby felt. He probably would feel the same if someone destroyed Cami''s spaceship.


    However, destroying the club was something he needed to do.


    Although the facilities of the Golem-Making Club were good, they were neither appropriate nor enough for what he had in mind.


    Of course, he made sure to salvage the things he found useful, but the building needed to be destroyed.


    As for the ones in charge of the destruction, they were four construction (and demolition) machines he built recently.


    These machines were pretty simple. They weremanded by a low-level AI and their movements were rather slow. If they had to be ranked ording to the strength of this world, they were barely D-Rank golems.


    However, they were specialized in destroying and building things.


    As soon as they had enough materials and a blueprint, they could build practically anything.


    With these machines, the new building would be ready in fifteen days!


    "Unfortunately, I don''t have the facilities of the spaceship here, or I would have been able to build twenty of these easily. Like that, the work would have been much faster."


    "Faster than this?" Liu Ying raised an eyebrow when she saw a two-meters tall machine destroying the walls of the building as though they were made of paper.


    "Much faster and with more functions. These machines can barely destroy and build the floor and walls. I will have to take care of the rest personally."


    Liu Ying smiled wryly.


    Actually, this was already very amazing.


    After all, although some people in this world used golems to help with construction work, they were mostly used to carry rocks or things like that.


    They could notpare to the work of Bloed''s golems.


    " As expected of Bloed." Aya said without hiding her admiration.


    As for Prince Calisto, his eyes were shining as though he was seeing a shiny toy.


    Bloed shook his head softly and fixed his gaze on the golems taking down the building.


    With this, he had taken the first step towards his dream.


    ...


    Fifteen dayster, a brand-new building had appeared on Academy City.


    ...


    As always, remember to support me on P4TRE0N!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 334: Machine Revolutio Tower (2)

    Chapter 334: Machine Revolutio Tower (2)


    Four chapters right now. Three moreing tonight hopefully...


    ...


    "This is insane"


    That was everything Liu Ying could say when she saw the eighty-meters tall building in front of her.


    Looking beside her, she saw the proud smile on her boyfriend''s face and was speechless.


    " Hey Bloed, how is something like this possible?"


    "Science, of course."


    Liu Ying was amazed.


    She knew that her boyfriend was amazing; and after spending so much time with him, she thought she would not be surprised by anything he does.


    However, when she saw the tall building that Bloed built in just fifteen days, she once realized that her boyfriend was super amazing.


    It was not as though there were no taller buildings in this world. In fact, the great library was taller than this.


    However, the great library needed thousands of people working together for ten years before it waspleted.


    Bloed, however, built this singlehandedly in fifteen days.


    The only word to describe it was astonishing.


    Actually, Liu Ying''s reaction was the most subdued of the group. Aya, Prince Calisto, Sara, and Gina were staring at the building with a how-is-it-possible look.


    Not to speak of Toby and the crowd of students behind unable to understand how in the hell this building appeared all of sudden.


    Yes, it had appeared all of sudden.


    He had used a big-scale stealth device to hide the process of building the tower from the world. And today, he finally revealed it!


    After fifteen days, the headquarters of [Machina Revolutio] finally greeted the world!


    Bloed was proud of this masterpiece. He had designed it personally using several buildings of the human confederation as reference.


    The building had a twisted shape, as though someone would have grabbed both ends of it and rotated them in different directions. The exterior of the building waspletely made of dark-blue ss, creating a beautiful glow under the sunlight.


    As for the interior of the building, it was made of twelve five-meter-tall floors filled with different facilities.


    Besides that, Bloed built an underground room where he installed an energy core used to generate electricity for the entire building and to raise a forcefield that protected it against attacks.


    For the entrance, Bloed put a three-meters-tall ss door that worked as a screen, showing countless images about the wonders of technology.


    Moreover, the entrance was protected by two lion-shaped robots under the control of the main AI of the building. These lions would have the role of statues in normal circumstances, but if the building was under attack, they would be controlled by the AI to fight against the enemies.


    At the top of the building, there was a giant sphere where several images were being projected every second. The images ranged from beautifulndscapes and animals to ster bodies.


    asionally, the images would form two words.


    [Machine Revolutio].


    Bloed spent a lot of money to build this. He used his connections with Moonlight Glow, The Church of Fate, and the beastmen countries to buy the materials and paid them with the money he had umted for several years.


    He spent eighty percent of his total fortune on it!


    Of course, Bloed cared little about money. But even so, the amount of wealth he wasted in this building was staggering.


    But it waspletely worth it.


    Right now, this building was the most eye-catching ce in the entire Academy City.


    Even the Great Library, though taller, paled when it came to beauty and elegance.


    Plus, Bloed used the style of the human confederation to build it, so it waspletely different from the designs seen in this world.


    "Then, what are your opinions, guys?"


    "It''s worthy of being master''s headquarters."


    "What can I say? Even the pce of the daemon empire was inferior to it... Actually, I think you exaggerated a bit.."


    " Amazing."


    "Big brother Bloed, you are amazing!"


    " My hero, this..."


    "...


    Bloed felt even prouder of his work after he saw the reactions of Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, Prince Calisto, Gina, and Sara.


    It was worth all the sleepless nights he spent during thest fifteen days!


    Of course, the building could not be consideredplete yet. Some of the facilities inside needed to bepleted.


    But Bloed already had a group of robots working on it. He estimated the rest would be done in the next five days.


    "Then, should we go inside?"


    The eyes of the group shone when they heard Bloed''s proposal.


    But before they could move


    " Boy, wait a moment."


    A voice came from the sky.


    "Headmistress?" Bloed was startled. "What are you doing here?"


    "I had to appear after this appeared in my city."


    Yes, Headmistress Wave had arrived.


    She was not the only one that arrived. At some point, several demigods were hovering in the sky, looking at Bloed''s tower with expressions of curiosity, confusion, and amazement.


    But when Bloed thought about it, he realized it was normal.


    It was obvious that demigods would be attracted after such a huge building appeared suddenly in the city.


    Headmistress Wave stared at the beautiful and strange-looking building in front of her in amazement. With her knowledge, she could see it was built without using an iota of magic.


    "You built it?" She asked at Bloed with a surprised look.


    "I did." Bloed nodded. There was no point in denying it anyway.


    "But How?"


    Bloed smiled mysteriously and muttered a word.


    "Engineering."


    Headmistress Wave''s eyes narrowed.


    Fifteen days ago, Bloed mentioned that word when he spoke about his club.


    Back then, she found the concept innovative. But it was just that.


    Today, however, she realized she had underestimated Bloed.


    If engineering could do something like this in fifteen days, then


    Narrowing her eyes, she looked at Bloed with a serious expression.


    "We need to talk."

 Chapter 335: Machine Revolutio Tower (3)

    Chapter 335: Machine Revolutio Tower (3)


    Inside the Machine Revolutio Tower


    Bloed, Regina, Headmistress Wave, and Eve (who had appeared beside them at some point in time) were seated around a big round table located in a spacious hall on the eleventh floor.


    This ce was the meeting hall of the tower. It was an enormous hall with ss walls that provided a beautiful view of Academy City.


    Bloed never thought he would use the meeting hall so soon, although using it to hold a discussion with one of the most powerful demigods of the world was a good way to inaugurate it.


    "It''s a beautiful sight." Headmistress Wave said with a sigh, her eyes fixed in the view of the city she built from scratch.


    "Thank you, headmistress."


    "Really, I never thought you would construct something like this."


    "It cost a lot."


    "Yeah, I can imagine it." Headmistress Wave chuckled slightly, ging along with Bloed''s joke as she admired the view in front of her.


    However, no matter how much she liked the view, she hade here for other reasons.


    "You know how many problems this little project yours brought me? I don''t know how to exin the sudden apparition of this building."


    "I thought that clubs had the right to modify their headquarters as they wanted."


    "They can." Headmistress Wave nodded exasperated. "But the problem is that your ''modifications'' were too exaggerated. I can''t start to imagine how many people will try to learn the secrets behind this."


    Bloed''s eyes narrowed briefly, but he was still smiling.


    "They cane if they want. I don''t mind."


    In fact, that was his intention since the start.


    That was the reason he was so high-profile when he built and revealed the building. He wanted to make people interested in it. That way, perhaps he could attract some people that could help him to spread technology around the world.


    And one of the people he wanted to attract the most was the woman in front of him.


    Headmistress Evelyn.


    Bloed was sure she would be a key piece in making the dream of his mother true.


    "I never thought that the ''engineering'' you show me a few days ago would allow you to build something so incredible in such a short time." Headmistress Wave sighed in admiration. "Truly amazing."


    Bloed smiled. "Engineering is the way mankind uses the knowledge and technology they get through science to create wonders impossible otherwise. In fact, this is nothing. With the right resources and enough time, I can do something much better."


    "Science? Technology?" Headmistress asked with a curious expression.


    Smiling wryly, Bloed gave her a quick exnation of these two concepts.


    When Headmistress Wave finished listening to him, she fell silent.


    She then heaved a long sigh apanied by a wry smile.


    "I underestimated you, boy. If you don''t mind, can I ask you where did you learn about this?"


    "It was the legacy of my mother," Bloed replied with a small smile. However, his answer stunned Headmistress Wave.


    Headmistress Wave knew a lot about Bloed. She had even managed to piece together Bloed''s true identity.


    Glenn Skysword, Prince of the Kingdom of Alterna.


    That was the reason she was stunned and confused when she heard him mention his mother.


    She knew about Bloed''s mother, the Queen of the Kingdom of Alterna. However, she was sure that the Queen knew nothing about the things Bloed told her just now.


    Otherwise, she would have used this knowledge long ago to strengthen the Kingdom of Alterna even more.


    Moreover, Bloed was supposed to have a bad rtionship with his family. But he could see longing and nostalgia when Bloed spoke about his mother.


    Quickly, though, she understood.


    Wave''s eyes lit up and she stared at Bloed fixedly, quickly piecing together the entire picture in her mind.


    "I see... Bloed, your mother could not use mana either, right?"


    Bloed froze. Instantly, the gaze he was directing towards the headmistress turned sharp. And behind him, Regina''s aura became ice-cold, as though she was ready to fight Headmistress Evelyn at any moment.


    "So you noticed." Bloed squinted.


    Headmistress Wave shrugged calmly.


    "Obviously I noticed. I don''t want to brag, but I''m one of the strongest demigods in the world. Although you found a way to mask yourck of mana, I managed to detect it when you did not use any iota of mana during the wee ceremony. In fact, this entire tower was constructed without using any way of magic, right?"


    "... You are right." Bloed nodded, but he was still staring at Headmistress Wave with a wary expression.


    Actually, he did not find it so weird that Wave managed to detect hisck of mana. She was not the first one to do it anyway.


    Plus, ording to Oculus, many demigods knew that the myths about ''Cursed children stained by the Blight'' were fake. These rumors were just a product born due to the people''s fear of the Blight.


    Even so, he could not help but be wary when someone he barely knew mentioned hisck of mana.


    Feeling his wariness, Wave smiled.


    "Don''t worry, I don''t care about that. As someone that fought in the war against the Blight, I know that the rumors about cursed children are lies."


    "She is right, Bloed," Eve spoke up at that moment with her usual expressionless look. "Although some people discriminate against manaless people, neither Wave nor I are like that. We know that something like that means nothing. You and Miss Regina are the best examples of it."


    "Well, I can understand why you are so wary." Wave heaved a bitter sigh. "If I''m not mistaken, the reason you cut ties with the royal family of Alterna was due to yourck of mana, right? Did you meet the mother you spoke about after that?"


    Bloed was stunned. He could not help but admire the woman in front of him.


    Not just by the fact that Headmistress Wave knew about its previous identity, but also by the fact that she managed to deduce so much so quickly.


    " You are right." Bloed did not deny it. "My mother, Cami, was a great woman. She was the most knowledgeable person I had ever known, and she was also the one that taught me about science, technology, and engineering. That was her legacy to me."


    Wave smiled slightly.


    She could feel Bloed''s love and gratitude towards his mother from his words, and she could imagine how great she was. After all, she managed to raise someone like Bloed.


    Of course, she was a bit miffed by Bloed''s affirmation that his mother was the most knowledgeable person he had known, but she did not n to discuss that right now.


    "Your mother sounds like a great person. I would have liked to meet her."


    " She was." Bloed smiled bitterly, obviously saddened after remembering her.


    Noticing it, Wave and Eve remained silent for a while.


    When Bloed had returned to normal, Wave spoke up again.


    " Mr. Bloed, about engineering and science, do you think you can teach me more about it?"


    As soon as that question sounded, Bloed and Regina behind him narrowed their eyes.


    Bloed then smiled and nodded.


    "Of course. You can visit our club if you want to learn."


    Wave''s expression stiffened briefly. But she put on a smile at the next instant and nodded.


    "Very well, perhaps I will pay your club a visit."


    She understood Bloed''s underlying message.


    He did not mind teaching her. However, it would be under his terms.


    In the end, even though Bloed wanted to spread the Human Confederation''s technology to this world, he did not want for it to turn into a cause of bloodshed.


    And for that, he needed to control it carefully. Mainly in the initial stages.


    "Anyway, I''m very impressed with your work in this tower, Bloed." Headmistress Wave smiled sincerely, showing that these were her real feelings. "Mm, there will be some troubles due to the way you did things, but I took a liking to you, so I will deal with take care of them for you. However"


    "However?"


    "You know that if you lose in the next War of Clubs you will lose this tower, right?"


    Bloed looked at Headmistress Wave and chuckled.


    "You don''t need to worry about that, headmistress. I''m not nning to lose."


    "Is it so? I''m looking forward to your performance then."

 Chapter 336: New Pets

    Chapter 336: New Pets


    Just like Headmistress Wave said, the sudden apparition of Machine Revolutio''s headquarters shocked Academy City.


    Many students of the city quickly became interested in it, and for several days after that, the tower became the source of many rumors.


    Thanks to that, many people learned about how the tower came to be.


    And they also learned it was the headquarters of a club, the Golem-Making Club.


    No, it should be called Machine Revolutio now.


    After this information spread through the city, curiosity about Machine Revolutio sprouted in the hearts of many students.


    In fact, not just students, but also many teachers showed a great interest in this club, including demigods.


    However, as Headmistress Wave said, she made sure that nothing untoward happened.


    Thanks to her intervention, no demigod came to bother Bloed, allowing him toplete the tower and prepare for the War of Clubs peacefully.


    Bloed was grateful for that. After all, although he certainly wanted to spread the fame of his club, a few days of peacefulness were wee, mainly because he needed to prepare for the War of Clubs.


    In the meanwhile, Bloed took care of some other things.


    For example


    "They are so cute!" Gina''s eyes glistened as she looked at the two beautiful birds in front of her.


    They were Bloed''sst work. A pair of metallic birds he created for Gina.


    They were not the only ones he created, though. Nearby, Sara was holding a metallic eagle with a serious expression and Aya was ying with a metallic cat.


    These were mechanical pets Bloed had created for them.


    Just like Bloed''s Tito and Liu Ying''s Liu Liu, the new metallic pets also had the function to transform into armor and boost the defensive andbat capabilities of the user. They could be considered first-rate armors evenparable to demigod artifacts.


    The first two Bloed made were Sara''s eagle and Aya''s cat. Sara''s pet was called Shi (Bloed thought that the name was a bit too cute for an eagle, but Sara''s seemed happy with it), and Aya called her cat Lily.


    Both pets focused on agility, unlike Bloed and Liu Ying''s ones that focused more on defense and strength. Bloed designed them taking into ount thebat style of the two girls.


    As for Gina''s pets, they were a bit different.


    Instead of one, Bloed built two pets for her. They were a pair of metallic sparrows. Gina called them Kiki and Niko.


    One of them was designed as armor, but unlike the other pet-armors, Gina''s one was focusedpletely on defensive power, without any boost to her physical abilities.


    As for the second bird, Bloed gave it great attacking abilitiespared to Oculus.


    The reason he did it this way was that Gina''sbat power was practically zero. Thus, the two pets could increase her safety in case of an emergency.


    Actually, Bloed would have liked to give her even more pets, but unfortunately, two pets were the limit that Gina could control. And even that was outstandingpared to Liu Ying, Sara, and Aya who could barely control one.


    After all, none of them had a talent like Bloed''s Enhanced Brain Capacity, which allowed him to control many more thought-controlled machines than normal.


    "How is it? Do you like them?" Bloed asked.


    "They are amazing!" Gina replied with shining eyes. "My hero, I love you!"


    "Yeah, yeah, I know. You repeat the same all the time."


    " I think you are not taking me seriously." Gina pouted displeasedly after seeing Bloed''s lukewarm reaction, but she quickly forgot about it to y with her two new pets.


    It was the same for Aya. She was stroking her cat silently, but the small smile on her face showed how please she was with it.


    In fact, she had long been envious of Liu Ying''s Liu Liu; not only because it was very cute, but also because it was a gift from Bloed.


    So now that she received a gift as well, she was over the moon.


    But of the three, Sara''s reaction was the most unique.


    " I''m almost thirty percent faster now. Plus, my explosive speed increased a lot as well. Mm, this armor will be very useful in the future."


    Different from Gina and Aya, she had ordered her pet to turn into armor mode instantly and was now busy testing its performance.


    Bloed could not help but think that Sara was obsessed with strength.


    Actually, he had noticed it before. Perhaps it was due to her experiences as a child and the time she spent in the training camps of the Arkavel family, but Sara''s desire for strength was borderline crazily. Of the group, she was the most obsessed with training.


    Whenever she had a bit of free time, she spent it training her mana or herbat techniques.


    Even Liu Ying, who also trained like crazy, fell a bit behind her.


    "It looks like all of you liked the pets," Bloed smiled when he saw the three girls'' reactions.


    "It''s great!"


    " I like it."


    "It''s much better than my previous armor."


    "Great." Gina, Aya, and Sara''s answers satisfied Bloed. "Get used to them quickly. The War of Clubs will start soon and we need to prepare for it as much as possible."


    " About that, my lord, don''t you think we need more people. I think that with our current strength, we will have trouble preserving the rank of our club. I heard that some of the clubs aiming for the top one hundred ces have five or more A-Ranks."


    Bloed fell silent.


    As the club leader, he also knew about this problem.


    The only people in the club with decentbat capacity were Sara, Liu Ying, Aya, and him. Regina could not participate because she was too strong, and he did not know if Elwha was going to participate.


    Normally, the ideal would be to recruit more members. One or two A-Ranks would be perfect.


    Unfortunately, Bloed knew that currently the club had nothing that could attract A-Ranks.


    In these conditions, the War of Clubs would be difficult.


    However


    "You don''t need to worry. Everything will be alright. We just need to do our best."


    "But, if we lose, this tower"


    "I told you, you don''t need to worry. Even if we lose it, I''m sure we will manage to recover it in the next war of clubs. Let''s just do our best."


    Sara stared at Bloed for several seconds and nodded.


    In her mind, however, she swore something.


    No matter what, she would not let her lord lose this tower.


    Even if she had to die to achieve that.

 Chapter 337: Blocked Breakthrough

    Chapter 337: Blocked Breakthrough


    After giving the girls their pets, Bloed took them to the training hall so they could get used to using them inbat.


    Bloed had made the entire fifth floor of the tower a training hall. It was equipped with everything he could think of; from workout equipment to some new machines he created with the purpose to aid mana training.


    But the main attraction of the training hall was the battle simtor.


    Half of the floor was dedicated exclusively to it.


    It was designed using titanium walls reinforced with a film of energy fueled by the generator of the tower. Thanks to that, the people training inside it could release their abilities without worry.


    Bloed was confident the battle simtor could endure A-Grade attacks without a problem.


    Of course, that was without taking into ount special attacks like Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration].


    The battle simtor was much more than that.


    Using highly advanced technology, the battle simtor could generate ''illusions'' that could be used as sparring partners. These illusionscked attack power, but they could move even as fast as A-Rank practitioners specialized in speed or simte hundreds of differentbat styles, including a variety of magic.


    Plus, because they were illusions, there was no need to worry about damaging them.


    Thanks to that, besides the fact that the battle simtor was useless to practice defensive techniques and could not train your sense of danger, using it was almost as effective as sparring with real people.


    When Bloed and the others arrived at the training hall, they found that Regina and Liu Ying were already there. Regina seemed to be meditating on the ground, and Liu Ying was using the battle simtor to simte ten peak B-Rank practitioners and fight them.


    Regina opened her eyes as soon as she felt Bloed''s presence.


    "Master, you are here. Did you already finish the mechanical pets?"


    "I just did. We came here to test their performance and train the girl''s control over the pets." Bloed pointed to Sara, Gina, and Aya who were walking towards the battle simtor. "They need to get used to them as quickly as possible to prepare for the War of Clubs. By the way, why are you here? It''s rare to see you training."


    Regina was a Valkyrie, and her strength was fixed. Moreover, as a weapon, her performance would be perfect as long as she was in perfect condition.


    In other words, she did not need to train. That was the reason Bloed was surprised to see her meditating.


    Of course, her strength had been passively growing since the first time she slept with Bloed, but that was somethingpletely unrted to training.


    Just at that moment, Liu Ying finished her training and left the battle simtor.


    "I was wondering the same. It''s the first time I see Regina training."


    Regina fell silent for a moment before speaking up with a hesitating expression.


    " Actually, I have been feeling different, recently."


    "Different?" Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other in confusion.


    "I''m not sure either." Regina frowned confusedly. "However, I feel as though my control over my ESP ability is bing smoother. As though it is about to advance to the next grade."


    Bloed and Liu Ying were stunned.


    Regina was about to breakthrough?


    In other words, she was about to reach SSS-Grade, the equivalent to an Apotheosis Demigod.


    No, because Regina was a Valkyrie, herbat strength was higher than her grade. After a breakthrough, she would be as strong as a peak SSS-Grade ESPer or perhaps even as strong as the legendary beyond SSS-Grade ESPers!


    However, Regina soon dashed Bloed''s hopes.


    "Unfortunately, I can''t breakthrough."


    "You can''t?" Bloed and Liu Ying were stunned. "Do you have any idea of the reason?"


    "I don''t know." Regina shook her head. "I feel as I should be able to breakthrough right now, but something is stopping me from taking the next step."


    Bloed furrowed his brows in confusion. He looked at Liu Ying to see if she had any idea of what was happening, but she seemed just as confused as him.


    But then, they heard a voiceing from behind them.


    " I think I know the reason."


    Startled, the three of them looked hurriedly in the direction of the voice, finding a fox girl observing the workout equipment with a curious expression.


    "Eve? How long have you been here?"


    "Just a moment ago. I was bored so I came to see if I could find something interesting here. Hey, how do you use this?"


    Bloed was speechless.


    It seemed that this ex-saintess was just as willful as always.


    Bloed did not care much about it, though. He had already gotten used to Eve appearing and disappearing suddenly.


    Instead, he was more curious about what she said just now.


    "You know what is happening to Regina?"


    "I think so." Eve looked at Regina expressionlessly and nodded. "If I''m not wrong, it''s due to her soul."


    "My soul?" Regina was stunned.


    Eve nodded.


    "Miss Regina''s soul is iplete. I don''t know the reason, but her problem should be rted to that. The w in her soul means that her soul power can''t grow, and that is stopping her from advancing to the next rank."


    Bloed and Regina were surprised.


    However, when they thought about it, they found Eve''s guess reasonable.


    Actually, Regina was a Valkyrie. In the first ce, her strength should not be able to improve.


    The fact it was improving was already abnormal.


    "Do you have a solution?" Bloed asked.


    Eve shook her head. "I don''t. Actually, I still don''t understand how Miss Regina achieved her current strength with an iplete soul. That should be impossible. How did she breakthrough before this?"


    Bloed and Regina smiled bitterly.


    Regina was a Valkyrie. She had her current strength since the day she was created.


    Of course, they were not going to reveal that to Eve. Although they considered her a friend and ally, their rtionship was not close enough to reveal Regina''s origins.


    In fact, the only one of Bloed''s acquaintances who knew a bit about Regina''s origins was Liu Ying.


    Eve did not insist when she saw Bloed and Regina did not n to exin it, and instead, she put on a pensive expression.


    " Now that I think about it, perhaps there is another way."


    "Huh?" Bloed and Regina looked at each other. "What is it?" Regina asked.


    "Last time, your soul became moreplete when the two of you had intercourse for the first time. You should use it as a reference."


    Regina was stunned. Immediately, she stared at Bloed strangely.


    Her gaze seemed to be saying ''Master, should do it more often then?''


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    Regina and he had sex practically every night except for the nights when Bloed was busy with an experiment. Unless they wanted to spend the entire day mating as rabbits, doing it more often was impossible.


    Plus, he remembered Eve saying that the reason Regina''s soul became moreplete was not due to the intercourse in itself, but due to the new and intense emotions that Regina felt back then.


    However, how in the hell could he make Regina experience new emotions? And what emotions were new to her?


    [Perhaps trying new positions could work?] Regina''s voice was transmitted to his mind.


    Bloed rolled his eyes. That definitively was not going to work.


    Although there was no problem in trying.


    "We should do that." Bloed murmured.


    "Understood, master. We''ll start tonight." Regina smiled and licked her lips.


    " Hey, I have a feeling that your conversation just now was strange."


    Facing Liu Ying''s sharp eyes, Bleod decided to feign ignorance.


    Regina, however, smiled smugly.


    "You are still too young to know about this topic, demon."


    Liu Ying twitched her lips.


    " Damn you."


    "Anyway, we should try to find a way to help Regina to breakthrough." Bloed shifted the topic before his two girlfriends started to quarrel. "We should be able to think in a method before long."


    " I have an idea. How about having a spar?" Eve suddenly raised her hand.


    "A spar?"


    "Yes. Sometimes, fighting can help to achieve breakthroughs. If Miss Regina and I fight, it could help her to take the step she needs."


    Regina hesitated and looked at Bloed. Although she was interested, sparring against Eve was not something she could do nearby.


    At the very least, Eve and she would need to fly several kilometers away unless they wanted to cause amotion in the city. However, it meant she could not protect Bloed if a powerful enemy suddenly appeared


    Understanding her worries, Bloed smiled.


    "Don''t worry about that. Nothing will happen. Plus, if you manage to break through, you will be able to protect me even better than now.


    Regina hesitated slightly before nodding.


    "Okay. Please be careful, master. I''ll be back as soon as possible."


    "Let''s go then." Eve nodded before pulling Regina outside the training hall.


    Before leaving, though, Bloed saw Eve ncing at Liu Ying with a nk gaze.


    ''Hm?''


    Before Bloed could understand what was happening, he felt Liu Ying pulling his shirt.


    "Hey Bloed, do you have time today? There is something I need to do in the city."


    ...


    Three more chaptersing tonight, hopefully...


    Please have a bit of patience with the releases. I''m so busy with real life that the only days I can focus on writing are the weekends. Don''t worry, this situation will notst much longer (I hope)...

 Chapter 338: Date in Academy City

    Chapter 338: Date in Academy City


    The three chapters I promised yesterday...


    ...


    Bloed and Liu Ying were walking side by side through the streets of Academy City. ording to Liu Ying, they were going to visit a famous weapon store in the city.


    Bloed, however, knew it was just an excuse.


    After he saw Eve''s smile and after Liu Ying asked him out, he realized what was happening.


    "Was it what Eve promised to you the day of the wee ceremony?"


    Liu Ying looked away without answering, making Bloed smiled helplessly.


    "You know that I would have agreed to go on a date with you if you asked me, right?"


    " Actually, Miss Eve promised me she would give me an opportunity to be alone with you without Regina nearby."


    Bloed put on a strange expression.


    Wait a moment, this kind of promise


    "... She could not have been thinking of that, right?"


    Liu Ying blushed until the ears and lowered her head.


    ''As expected...'' Bloed was speechless. These girls


    He could not believe that Liu Ying and Aya agreed to something like that so readily!


    ''Are the girls of this world all so bold?'' Bloed shook his head with a wry smile.


    Well, he would be lying if he says he is not tempted by such a proposal.


    After shaking his head to get rid of these thoughts, Bloed stared at Liu Ying with an odd expression.


    "Hey, Liu Ying, could it be you are nning to take me to a hotel?"


    "W-W-What in the hell are you talking about!?" Liu Ying''s face turned so red that it seemed an apple, "... W-Well... I was nning to, but then I thought it was too soon... So..."


    By the end of her words, Bloed could barely hear her.


    For an instant, he did not know if to feel disappointed or relieved.


    Smiling wryly, he shook his head and caressed Liu Ying''s hair.


    "Let''s just have a normal date then. I think something like that can wait until you think you are ready."


    Liu Ying''s turned slightly red and nodded.


    " By the way, I''m just asking, but, do you know if Eve promised the same to Aya?"


    Liu Ying froze.


    But then, she put on a strange expression before shrugging.


    "Well, I don''t think Aya will ask for anything beyond a kiss even if she has the opportunity to push you down. Even I got cold feet at thest minute, so someone as shy as Aya will probably faint just at the thought of seeing you naked."


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    However, he agreed with Liu Ying''s words.


    He could not imagine Aya having the courage for something like that.


    In the end, Bloed decided to stop thinking about it and thought he would just pat her head or something like that when the timees.


    Perhaps he could take Aya on a date. She should be satisfied with that.


    After he confirmed that going to the weapon shop was just Liu Ying''s excuse to have a date with him, Bloed decided to give his all as a boyfriend to make this date perfect.


    Thus, he started by intertwining his fingers with hers and pulling her closer and at a more intimate distance.


    After that, the pair of lovers entered fully in date mode.


    Firstly, they visited the weapon shop, but they left a few minutester after realizing there was nothing interesting inside.


    It was not that the weapons and artifacts in the shop were bad, but Bloed and Liu Ying were born in royal and imperial families respectively. They had seen much better artifacts before.


    In fact, Liu Ying''s boots were demigod artifacts, and her gloves and armor (Liu Liu) were made by Bloed using highly advanced technology. They could evenpare to some demigod artifacts.


    Afterward, they visited several famous ces in the city. They strolled around the city like a pair of lovers that came to sightsee.


    asionally, they received one or two strange ces due to how unusual it was to see a human and a demon behaving so intimately, but neither Bloed nor Liu Ying minded it. They just enjoyed their time alone as much as they could.


    Perhaps it was because it had been a while since thest time they were alone, but Liu Ying behaved much clingier and more childish than usual. She hugged Bloed''s arm intimately as she pointed to the different ces in the city with an innocent smile.


    asionally, she would ask Bloed to kiss her, ignoring the people around thempletely.


    When Bloed saw her like that, he could not help but think she was very cute.


    ''Well, she is just a fifteen-year-old girl after all.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    Even though Liu Ying was much more mature than her age due to her circumstances, it did not erase the fact she was still a young girl.


    Well, he was not much older than her, so he was also a bit excited.


    Around two hourster, the pair of lovebirds felt hungry. Hence, Bloed invited Liu Ying to a ssy and expensive restaurant nearby.


    Regina should be returning soon, so it was already time to return to the club. A romantic meal was a good way to finish their date.


    " Hey, Bloed."


    "Hmm?"


    "Thank you I was pretty nice."


    Bloed smiled softly and caressed her hair.


    "We can do it again if you want. I don''t mind."


    "Yeah, but Next time we cane with Regina. I feel a bit bad leaving her behind."


    Bloed chuckled softly.


    "You two have be pretty close."


    "... Actually, despite everything, Regina is very nice. I admire her a lot. I would like to be as strong and confident as her."


    Bloed was surprised.


    "How unexpected I wonder what would Regina think if she hears those words."


    "Keep it a secret from her, okay? It''s pretty embarrassing"


    "Hahaha, okay, I''ll try... Okay, okay, I promise."


    "Hmph! You better!"


    Bloed chuckled nted a kiss on Liu Ying''s lips, making her turn slightly red and look down in embarrassment.


    The pair finished their meal quickly and paid the bill. Then, they left the restaurant.


    Unfortunately, it meant that their date wasing to an end.


    Smiling wryly to each other, the pair held each other''s hand and started the way back.


    But suddenly, they felt a strong gaze on them.


    Startled, Bloed and Liu Ying looked in direction of the gaze while frowning.


    To their surprise, they saw a daemon young man walking towards them.


    Moreover, Bloed and Liu Ying recognized him.


    "Your names are Bloed and Liu Ying, right?" The young man greeted them with a serious tone. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mu Quan."


    He was the strongest student in Academy City.

 Chapter 339: Pleased to Meet You Again, Princess

    Chapter 339: Pleased to Meet You Again, Princess


    "Your names are Bloed and Liu Ying, right? Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mu Quan, leader of the Guardian Order."


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other with surprised expressions. They were not expecting to meet with the strongest student in the city.


    However, Bloed recovered quickly and introduced himself and Liu Ying politely.


    " Nice to meet you, my name is Bloed. She is my girlfriend, Liu Ying."


    "Girlfriend?" Mu Quan''s eyes narrowed. "It''s unusual to see a demon and a human in a rtionship?"


    Bloed and Liu Ying could not help but frown.


    "Do you have a problem with that?" Liu Ying grunted.


    Mu Quan stared at Liu Ying''s ice-cold stare before shaking his head.


    "It''s not that. I was just a bit surprised. Sorry, if I offended you."


    Liu Ying snorted slightly, but she epted the apology.


    Actually, she had already been expecting something like this. It was very unusual to see people of two different races in a romantic rtionship, but a rtionship between a human and a demon was even more unusual.


    After all, the two races could be considered as old enemies.


    Fortunately, the situation in Academy City was a bit better, and asionally you could see humans and demons as lovers, but in most human countries or in the demon empire, their rtionship would have been much more frowned upon.


    Aware of that, Bloed sighed slightly and shifted the topic.


    "Senior Mu Quan, why did you call us?"


    Mu Quan thought for a moment and speaking up.


    "I saw your performance during the entrance ceremony, so I was wondering if you wanted to join the [Guarding Order]. Talents like you two would be well received in our club."


    Bloed smiled wryly ''So this again, huh...''


    He was about to refuse, but at that moment, a snort came from nearby.


    "Mu Quan, I was wondering why you were in such a hurry. So you came to recruit the two neers, huh."


    "Isabe." Mu Quan furrowed his brows.


    "Since when did you start to recruit students personally, Mu Quan? Could it be that your subordinated are unable to do something as simple as that?"


    Mu Quan frowned and red at the young woman hovering towards him with a cold expression.


    However, the young woman was not intimidated. She turned towards Bloed and Liu Ying indifferently and looked at them with interest.


    It was as though she was wondering what was so special about them that Mu Quan invited them to his club personally.


    " Well, you two are rather strong and talented. Could it be that Mu Quan wants to nurture the two of you as his sessors?"


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other frowning.


    At the same time, they were wondering about the identity of the girl.


    But soon, they learned about her identity.


    It was because their ears picked up the whispers of the people nearby.


    "She is Isabe!"


    "She is with Mu Quan!"


    "Why are they here? Moreover, who are the two beside them?"


    "Don''t you know? They are the ones that caused amotion at the entrance ceremony?"


    "What!? The ones that defeated almost twenty B-Ranks!?"


    "It looks like Mu Quan and Miss Isabe want to recruit them."


    Bloed was surprised after hearing that. It was because he could deduce the identity of the girl.


    Isabe Castor, the Singing Witch.


    Publicly known as the second strongest student in Academy City, and at the same time, the leader of [Genius Society], the number two club.


    "Hey, you two." Isabe looked at Bloed and Liu Ying with interest. "How about you joining my club instead? Don''t look at the fact that Mu Quan''s club is number one and mine is number two. All the people in the Guardian Order are stone-faced bores unable to smile. My ce is much better. And I promise you I will make the two of you captains as soon as you enter the club. What do you think?"


    The words of Isabe created amotion in the surroundings.


    The students that heard Isabe''s words could not help but start whispering excitedly between them.


    It was not every day that someone was invited to the two strongest clubs at the same time. Moreover, they were being invited by their leaders personally!


    For many students, it was like a dream made a reality!


    However, Bloed and Liu Ying could only smile wryly.


    After all, they were not interested in joining their clubs. Moreover, they were a bit miffed that their date had been interrupted like this.


    Even so, Bloed made sure to put on a polite expression when refusing them..


    "I''m sorry, seniors. But we already joined a club. We will be unable to join yours."


    Isabe narrowed her eyes slightly, staring at Bloed in curiosity.


    But then, she nodded.


    "Is it so? I''m sorry for the inconvenience then. If one day you reconsider my proposal, you cane to the headquarters of Genius Society.


    " Same here." Mu Quan nodded calmly, as though he did not care about Bloed and Liu Ying''s refusal. "I wish you luck in your club then, goodbye."


    He then turned around and left.


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other and sighed in relief.


    ''Fortunately, they did not seem displeased...''


    Unfortunately, they sighed in relief too fast.


    Because when Mu Quan was already three meters away, he stopped abruptly.


    And-


    " Right, Princess, I''m pleased to meet you again."


    He stared at Liu Ying with a small smile.


    Bloed and Liu Ying stiffened briefly. For an instant, their expressions changed.


    Fortunately, it was very brief, and the pair managed to hide it immediately.


    "Princess? What are you talking about?" Liu Ying tilted her head, feigning confusion.


    Mu Quan stared at Liu Ying fixedly trying to find something wrong with her.


    When he failed to see any crack in her expression, he shook his head.


    "It''s nothing. I must have recognized the wrong person."


    After saying that, he left.


    Bloed and Liu Ying stared at his back fixedly until they could not see him anymore.


    At the same time, Bloed held Liu Ying''s hand firmly, helping her to hide the slight trembling of her fingers.


    He then murmured something in her ear.


    "Calm down, nothing will happen."

 Chapter 340: A Place for Princes in Trouble

    Chapter 340: A ce for Princes in Trouble


    "Princess?" Isabe furrowed her brows and looked at Liu Ying and Bloed as she thought about Mu Quan''s words.


    An awkward smile appeared on Liu Ying''s face when she noticed Isabe''s look.


    "It''s just a misunderstanding. I-I''m not a princess or anything like that."


    "Technically, that is notpletely untrue"


    "Huh?" Liu Ying looked at Bloed in confusion.


    "Well, you are my future wife. That makes you a princess as well."


    Liu Ying was stunned. But quickly, she turnedpletely red.


    As for Isabe, she was startled and then stared at Bloed with a gaze of interest.


    Bloed sighed in relief inwardly. ''With this, she should pay more attention to my true identity than Liu Ying''s.''


    It was already bad that the strongest student in Academy City was suspecting Liu Ying''s identity. So, thest thing that Bloed wanted was for the second strongest student to suspect it as well.


    That was the reason Bloed hinted at his identity just now. he did it to shift Isabe''s curiosity from Liu Ying towards him.


    He did not know how useful his attempt was going to be, but it was everything Bloed could do right now.


    Grabbing Liu Ying''s hand, Bloed spoke to Isabe with a wry smile.


    "Miss Isabe, we have to go. Thank you for your invitation."


    "Oh, It''s alright. Consider my words of before, and see you in the War of Clubs."


    Smiling yfully, Isabe turned around and flew away.


    When Bloed was sure that she had left, he pulled Liu Ying away while ignoring the curious gazes in the surroundings.


    When they left the curious crowd behind, Bloed wrinkled his brows.


    "Liu Ying, do you recognize that Mu Quan?"


    Liu Ying thought for a moment and shook her head. "I don''t. Do you think he knows my identity?" She asked nervously.


    " He should be only suspicious right now. But just the fact that he is suspecting your identity is bad."


    Liu Ying nodded.


    Her identity as the princess of the previous demon imperial family was very sensitive. Once it was revealed, it was very likely that tens of assassins would be sent to end her life.


    That was the reason Liu Ying was so nervous.


    " I don''t understand." She furrowed her brows in confusion. "How did he recognize me? Right now, I''m almostpletely different than when I was still a princess. Only someone really familiar with me should be able to recognize me."


    "I don''t know." Bloed wrinkled his brows and fell deep in thought.


    Just like Liu Ying said, the current her lookedpletely different than when she was a princess. Her hair was ck instead of red, her amber eyes had been disguised as ck as well, and even her appearance had changed slightly after several years in the exilednds.


    Furthermore, the appearance of her Aspect waspletely different than the appearance of the Aspect of the previous demon Imperial Family. Instead of a Chaos Titan, her aspect had been disguised as a ck Knight.


    The only thing that could link her to her previous identity was her name, but the surname Liu and the name Ying were not umon in the demonnds. That was far from enough to link her to her identity as a princess.


    Bloed wondered briefly if it was due to Liu Ying''s fighting style, but Liu Ying''s fighting style was based on the Human Confederation''s martial arts. Even if it was a bare-handed style like the style of the previous demon imperial family, it was apletely different style with no rtion whatsoever.


    With all these options out of the way, Bloed could only think of a reason Mu Quan was suspecting her identity.


    "He should know you when you were still a princess. And he should be rather familiar with you. Liu Ying, you truly don''t remember him?"


    Liu Ying frowned and searched in her memories for him, but no matter how much she tried, his name nor his face ringed a bell.


    When Bloed heard that, he put on a pensive expression.


    Then, he sighed.


    "There is no point in thinking about it anymore. However, you should be careful around him from now onwards. Everything will be alright as long as you don''t reveal any w."


    Liu Ying smiled wryly. "I guess so. However"


    "What is it?"


    Liu Ying hesitated slightly before biting her lips and speaking up.


    " The situation will not be too bad if Mu Quan is part of the faction loyal to my family. However, if he is part of the faction of the new imperial family, things will be more troublesome."


    Bloed squinted.


    "Do you think he will try to kill you without confirming your true identity?"


    Liu Ying nodded.


    "The new imperial family can''t allow my existence. So, if Mu Quan tells them about his suspicions, it''s possible they will send someone to kill me without caring if I''m truly Princess Liu Ying or not."


    Bloed''s expression turned ice-cold.


    "You are right. We need to be careful. I''ll ask Regina to leave a strand of her ESPer ability on you. It should be enough to protect you from a lethal attack, even if the enemy is a demigod. As long as you remain in Academy City, Regina will be able to use that second to reach your side."


    Liu Ying nced at Bloed before lowering her head.


    ". Sorry about it. I ended involving you in my problems."


    Bloed smiled softly and grabbed her hand.


    "Silly girl, why are you apologizing? As your lover, my duty is to protect you and support you. Plus, it''s not even certain that you are going to be attacked. Perhaps we are overreacting and nothing will happen."


    Liu Ying forced a smile out and tightened the hand holding Bloed''s hand.


    " I think I''m falling more and more in love with you."


    Bloed nced at Liu Ying and chuckled. But all of sudden, he put on a startled expression before chuckling amusedly.


    "Bloed?"


    "Now that I think about it, our club is a gathering ce for princes in trouble."


    "Huh?"


    "Think about it. I''m a human prince that was exiled from his home, you are a demon princess whose family suffered a coup d''etat, Prince Calisto is a beastmen prince running away from the battle for the throne, and Elwha is an elf princess being chased by a fanatical church."


    Liu Ying was stunned.


    "Now that you mention it, it''s true"


    "Right? We have a prince of almost every race. We only need a prince from the monsters'' side toplete the collection."


    "A dragon princess perhaps?"


    "Hahaha, yeah, a dragon princess would be nice. Well, I doubt any other prince is interested ining to our club."


    Liu Ying chuckled. "You are right, four princes are already a big coincidence."


    Several yearster, when Bloed and Liu Ying remembered this conversation and thought about the number of princes in [Machine Revolutio], they did not know whether tough or tough.


    ...


    Remember my P4TREON:


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels


    You can read until 20 chapters ahead, plus you will support my stories, so consider it :p

 Chapter 341: Diodora

    Chapter 341: Diodora


    Hey, I''m back!


    Six chapters today, and probably threeing tomorrow... I''m not sure, though...


    ...


    "So that happened..." Regina murmured with a pensive expression.


    Bloed and Liu Ying smiled wryly. They found it ironic that even when this date was supposed to be ''secret'', they finished revealing it to Regina.


    Well, it could not be helped given the current circumstances. It was more important to ask Regina to use her abilities to protect Liu Ying.


    Fortunately, Regina did not react much when she learned about Liu Ying''s date n (besides narrowing her eyes slightly). She also knew that it was not time to bicker with the demon girl.


    "Master, should I use my abilities to add ayer of protection to Liu Ying?"


    "That is my intention." Bloed nodded. "It should be enough to keep Liu Ying safe as long as she is inside Academy City."


    "I understand."


    After closing her eyes in thought, Regina looked towards Liu Ying and extended her hand to her forehead.


    "Demon, don''t resist."


    "Okay."


    In the next second, a small spark was infused in Liu Ying''s brain.


    "Ouch!"


    "Don''t worry, it''s done."


    Looking at Liu Ying''s face twisted in pain, Regina smiled.


    "Ouch ouch ouch... H-Hey, I-Is it supposed to be this painful?" Liu Ying asked while grabbing her head and crouching down tremblingly, to which Regina shrugged indifferently.


    "That is normal, my energy shes against your mana, so a bit of pain is unavoidable."


    When Bloed heard that and saw Regina''s smirking expression, he shivered.


    As someone that had experienced that technique before, he knew that Regina''s words werepletely false.


    He did not remember feeling any pain.


    Plus, how is that a bit of pain? Judging by Liu Ying''s expression, it was obvious she felt as though her head was about to explode.


    ''Women sure are vengeful''


    Just now, he thought Regina had forgotten about Liu Ying''s secret date, but who would have expected that Regina would pay her back so quickly.


    "Master, is anything wrong?" Regina tilted her head and smiled softly.


    But for some reason, he felt as though he was seeing a devil.


    Bloed''s cheek twitched as he did his best to ignore what was happening.


    " I-It''s nothing, don''t worry."


    "Is it so? That is great. By the way, master, we need to talkter pri-va-te-ly."


    " Can I say not?"


    "What do you think?"


    Looking at Regina''s bright smile, Bloed simply gave up.


    It seemed he should get ready to spend the night spoiling Regina and calming down.


    Now that Regina had left a bit of her energy in Liu Ying''s body, her safety could be more or less guaranteed. At the very least, she was not going to die even if a demigod attacks her (unless the demigod is stronger than Regina).


    And if the barrier is activated, Regina would feel it instantly and rush towards Liu Ying''s location to protect her.


    "That should be enough for now."


    At that moment, the AI of the tower sent a message to Bloed.


    "Mm? An intruder?"


    "Master?"


    " It looks like someone is trying to enter the tower Let me see"


    Frowning, Bloed activated the cameras of the entrance, only to see a dark-skinned woman frowning as a child-like young man was standing flustered beside her.


    "Toby?" Regina frowned. "But who is her?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before smiling wryly.


    "It looks like thest member of [Machine Revolution] appeared. Let''s go to greet her."


    Five minutester, Bloed and Regina were in the entrance of the tower facing a dark-skinned young woman and Toby.


    Liu Ying stayed behind, still suffering due to the headache Regina caused. ording to Regina, it would fade out after half an hour.


    Bloed shivered when he heard that. He never imagined Regina was that vindictive.


    As for the other members of the club, Aya, Gina, and Sara were still in the training hall, and Elwha and Prince Calisto were in the mansion where the group was staying.


    By the way, Bloed''s group was nning to move to the tower soon.


    This ce was not only safer, but it had many more facilities, making living here more convenient.


    Prince Calisto was also nning toe with them and bring a few servants with him. Bloed had constructed a group of cleaning robots, so the servants were going to be used mainly to cook and attend the group.


    Back to the topic, Bloed observed the dark-skinned woman in front of him with a curious expression.


    "You must be Diodora, right?"


    "I am." The dark-skinned woman replied in a curt tone. "You are Bloed, right? Toby told me about you. He should have told you that I''m a member of the Golem-Making Club."


    Bloed nced at the child-like young man behind the dark-skinned young woman and nodded.


    "He did."


    Diodora was the name of the dark-skinned woman. She was thest member of the Golem-Making Club that had not appeared until now.


    She seemed around twenty-five years old, with grey short hair and a curt expression. Her dark skin coupled with her ash gray hair gave her an exotic and wild look.


    It was the first time Bloed saw a dark-skinned human. He knew there were several countries whose entire poption was dark-skinned people, but he had never visited them.


    Unfortunately, many human countries discriminated against them. In fact, some countries such as the Sun Kingdom treated them even worse than demons.


    However, besides her beautiful features and exotic appearance, something else caught Bloed''s attention.


    Instead, it was her well-hidden aura.


    Toby did not know much about this member of the club. He only knew that she was rather mysterious and seldomly appeared in the club, sometimes appearing just once in several months.


    But through his eyes, Bloed managed to see the powerful energy hidden under her calm and curt look.


    "Peak A-Rank" Bloed murmured softly.


    However, the dark-skinned woman managed to catch his words.


    " How did you know?" She red at Bloed and narrowed her eyes.


    Bloed said nothing, just pointing to his eyes, making the woman frown before nodding.


    Bloed''s eyes had a very unique look, so the girl easily deduced that his eyes were special and that they were the reason he managed to see through her strength.


    But once she realized the meaning of that, her expression turned ice-cold.


    She immediately created ayer of mana around her body to stop Bloed''s eyes from prying her secrets.


    "I don''t like it when other people try to peek on me." Diodora scowled.


    Bloed wrinkled his brows before nodding and closing his eyes.


    "You are right, sorry. Don''t worry, I won''t use them on you again."


    "I hope so." The woman said and raised her head to observe the interior of the tower.


    " I heard the rumors, but this is beyond my expectations."


    "Do you like it?" Bloed asked.


    Diodora nodded. "It''s nice. However, I''m not sure if it''s what I want."


    "Oh?" Bloed raised an eyebrow.


    "My circumstances are a bit special. I agreed to belong to the Golem-Making Club because the previous leader promised not to hinder my activities with other clubs. In fact, I belong to a total of seven different clubs."


    Bloed, Regina, and even Toby were stunned.


    "That is possible?" Bloed asked.


    "As I told you, my circumstances are special." Diodora shrugged. "Actually, although I belong to seven different clubs, I''m not truly a member of any. I don''t participate in the War of Clubs or anything like that. At most, I help them a bit if it''s in my capability. In exchange, I use them to acquire the knowledge I desire."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. He was not expecting that.


    "Then, you"


    "Yes, I''m nning to leave this club, although I''ll take a look at it first. If I think this club is still worthy of me staying, I n to stay."


    Bloed fell silent and nced at Regina.


    This situation was pretty unusual. He was not sure about what to do.


    But before he could reply to Diodora, the shota-like young man behind her raised his hand.


    "A-Actually, I think I''ll leave the club as well."


    Bloed was startled.


    Then, he furrowed his brows.


    "Are you nning to leave?"


    "Y-Yes I don''t think this club is the same club I belonged to I-I''m not sure if I want to stay here."


    Bloed stared at the young man for several seconds before sighing.


    "Well, I understand. But before that, why don''t youe with me first?"


    "Huh? Where are we going?" Toby was startled.


    Bloed curved his lips up and turned around calmly.


    "To a ce where you can build golems."

 Chapter 342: Making a Golem (1)

    Chapter 342: Making a Golem (1)


    In one of the workshops of the Machine Revolutio Tower, Toby was looking at Bloed and Regina with a strange expression.


    "Why do you want to see me construct a golem?"


    "Of course, it''s to learn about it," Bloed replied without hesitation. However, Toby became more confused when he heard his answer.


    "To learn? I don''t think I can teach you anything. I have seen the golems here and they are much better than anything I have ever made."


    Bloed stared at Toby deeply and smiled.


    "So you have not noticed, huh."


    "Huh? Noticed what?"


    Bloed just smiled and extended his hand. In the next instant, something appeared in the air and fell on the ground.


    It was Bloed''s metallic puppy, Tito.


    The metallic puppy seemed startled after being taken out of the storage device. It looked at Bloed and barked happily before running all around the room.


    "What do you think of this puppy?" Bloed asked Toby.


    Toby frowned for a moment before smiling wryly. "It''s amazing. Its movements arepletely natural, and your control over it is very precise. To be honest, you are the first person besides my senior that I have seen controlling a golem so precisely."


    "Do you think so? Why don''t you observe more closely? Don''t you think there is something strange about it?"


    Toby was startled and looked at the puppy again. But no matter how much he looked, he could not find anything strange about the puppy.


    Instead, it was the dark-skinned woman, that had been observing everything silently since a while ago, who spoke.


    "This is"


    With a surprised expression, she waved her hand, creating an appendage of mana that grabbed the puppy and brought it towards her.


    Tito was startled and barked towards the woman fiercely. However, Bloed calmed it down with a mental order.


    At the same time, he observed the dark-skinned woman with narrowed eyes.


    She hade with them using the excuse that she wanted to observe the tower, and Bloed allowed it because he thought he could use the facilities of the tower to make her interested in the club.


    After all, his Machine Revolutio was needing powerful powerhouses urgently. And a Peak A-Rank like her was more than weed.


    If she decided to help them during the War of Clubs, Bloed would find it much easier to keep the club''s rank.


    And now that he saw how she wielded mana to bring Tito towards her, he confirmed his thoughts.


    Such control over mana It was definitively first rate.


    It was not something that a normal A-Rank could do.


    While Bloed observed Diodora, the dark-skinned woman frowned as she looked at the puppy on her arms.


    "How is it possible? It''s not using mana Moreover, it did not have a fixed shape Wait a moment, why does it look like this golem has self-awareness? No, can something like this be called a golem? It looks like apletely different system Could it be"


    "Miss Diodora? What do you mean?" Toby asked confused.


    Diodora did not reply and instead looked at Bloed.


    "Mr. Bloed, this puppy is not a golem, right? It''s somethingpletely different."


    Bloed nodded.


    "Great observation. You are right, it''s not a golem. It''s apletely different type of construct. I call it [Robot]."


    "Robot" Diodora squinted with an inscrutable expression. "So that is the reason you want to learn how to make golems from Toby. Are you nning to mix the two systems?"


    Bloed stared at the dark-skinned woman with a look of admiration.


    Such sharp observation skills. As he thought, this woman was far from simple.


    "You are right. That is the reason. I hope Toby can teach me to construct golems and if possible use that knowledge to strengthen my robots. Then, Toby, what do you think?"


    Toby''s expression was nk.


    Right now, he did not have the slightest idea of what was happening.


    At the very least, though, he understood that the strange golems in the building were not really golems.


    '' That is the reason I thought they were strange, huh.''


    After thinking for a moment, he sighed and nodded with aplicated expression.


    "W-Well, I think I can teach you how to build a simple golem. Do you have wood?"


    Bloed nodded and took several logs of high-quality wood from his storage device. He already knew that the simplest golems were made of wood, so he had gotten it beforehand.


    Toby observed the wood and finally chose one of the logs. He then took out a carving knife and started to carve the log.


    "Contrary to themon belief, you can''t construct golems just by piling rocks or metal. No, golems are made of several delicate piecesbined together to create a construct."


    Toby exined. In just one minute, he had carved several pieces out of the log, including the torso, limbs, head, and joins. His movements were fast and precise, and the pieces he carved were incredibly detailed.


    Moreover, he exined the purpose and use of each piece clearly without losing his focus!


    Bloed could not help but look at the young man with different eyes. Right now, he waspletely different from his usual cowardly and indecisive self.


    When Toby finished carving out the pieces, he pieced them together to form a small human figure. The figure was rather crude, but it had the basic shape of a golem.


    "It is the first step. Mr. Bloed, why don''t you try it?"


    Bloed nodded and grabbed a piece of wood. He then took a small knife out of his storage ring and started to carve.


    "B-Be careful. S-Slow down, the pieces must be as perfect as posWhat!?"


    "Is anything wrong?" Bloed asked in surprise.


    Toby shook his head quickly and waved his hands.


    "N-Nothing you can continue."


    Bloed nodded and continued his work silently.


    Meanwhile, Toby put on aplicated expression.


    It was because Bloed''s movements were even faster and more precise than his. In fact, they were so precise that they were beautiful; as though it was art.


    It just a few seconds, Bloed had carved out several piecespletely identical to his. No, when he observed them closely, he realized that the quality of Bloed pieces was much better than his!


    "Amazing." Diodora, who was standing beside him, could not help but mutter. "Such dexterity and precision... It''sparable to the previous leader."


    Toby nodded with a wry smile. He had thought the same.


    He thought he was seeing his senior when he saw Bloed work.


    Just thirty seconds after he started to work, Bloed had carved out all the pieces.


    "... Mr. Bloed, are you sure it''s the first time you make a golem?"


    "It''s the first time. That is the reason I''m asking you to teach me."


    "Well, you seem even better than me." Toby sighed softly before putting on a bitter smile.


    ''As expected, he is different''


    He had already noticed it, but Bloed was different than him.


    Not just Bloed. The people that came with him were different as well.


    Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, Sara, and Gina. No matter if it was in looks, personality, or talent; each one of them was someone outstanding.


    As expected, he did not belong to this ce.

 Chapter 343: Making a Golem (2)

    Chapter 343: Making a Golem (2)


    The process of making a golem was moreplicated and troublesome than Bloed expected. It waspletely different than constructing a robot.


    The next step after carving the parts of the golem was carving the magic circles. This part was pretty easy. With Bloed''s knowledge of magic circles plus the help of his eyes and ESP ability, he managed to carve the magic circles perfectly on his first try.


    Toby and Diodora werepletely astounded after seeing that. They could not help but look at Bloed as though they were looking at a monster.


    Even though they could do the same, they had years of experience on it, while it was Bloed''s first time doing this.


    Regina, on the other hand, smiled proudly, finding their reactions normal.


    It was her master, after all. He was that outstanding.


    The second step was easy for Bloed. But when he reached the third step, Bloed finally met a problem.


    He could not construct the mana pathways.


    He knew the concept, but he did not know how to do it.


    To create the mana pathways, it was necessary to use soul power (psychic energy) to guide mana inside the golem pieces and use it to create several ''veins'' through which the mana would travel from the core to the different pieces of the golem.


    The problem, though, was that Bloed did not have mana.


    Bloed sighed silently.


    "Is anything wrong?" Toby asked with a surprised expression. "Could it be that you did not understand something? Should I exin it again?"


    "No, I understand. It''s just that" Bloed smiled wryly.


    It was not as though Bloed could tell him that he could not use mana.


    Furrowing his brows, he thought for a moment before looking at Toby.


    "Why don''t you exin the next step first?"


    "Huh? S-Sure."


    Although confused, Toby proceeded to exin the next andst step.


    Installing the mana core.


    "Usually, the mana core is put in the torso of the golem, although technically you can put it anywhere. What is important is that the core is connected to the main magic circle and the mana pathways. Moreover, you must make sure that the mana pathways can transmit the mana to the limbs and the remaining magic circles unobstructed. As long as you can do that, the golem should work."


    Bloed nodded in understanding and fell silent.


    Then, he took a mana core out of his storage ring. It was something he got from one of the D-Rank monsters he had hunted after he left the exilednds.


    "H-Huh? W-Wait! Y-You must make the mana pathways first! T-That is dangerous!"


    But Bloed ignored the flustered Toby and put the core in the center of the golem.


    Immediately, he used his psychic power to activate the mana inside.


    "Careful!"


    Toby jumped back, expecting an explosion or something like that.


    But to his surprise, nothing happened.


    Startled, Toby looked in Bloed''s direction only to open his eyes wide in astonishment.


    Bloed was using the mana inside the core to build the mana pathways!


    That was the answer that Bloed got after thinking for several seconds. If he did not have mana, he only needed to find something that did have it and use the mana inside it to construct the pathways.


    Bloed knew that psychic energy had the ability to handle mana. Unfortunately, his mana talent sucked, but even so, if he focused, he should be able to control a bit of mana.


    Thus, he tried to control the mana inside the core and build the mana pathways with it.


    Something like this was very difficult. He had to be careful that the mana did not lose control as he extracted it from the core. It was much harder than the normal method.


    Fortunately, his attempt was sessful.


    However, it was not so easy as Bloed thought.


    Because controlling mana was terribly hard.


    Even with the help of [Enhanced Brain Capacity], his blue eyes, and after using his entire focus, he had the feeling the mana in the core was about to lose control!


    However, Bloed did not give up.


    He was decided to make it work.


    One second, two seconds, three seconds. He continued controlling the mana carefully, using it to open several mana pathways in the wood pieces and connect the pieces and magic circles together.


    Finally, after five long and excruciating minutes, Bloed finished.


    "Huh" Letting out a long sigh, Bloed stopped urging the mana of the core and released the golem.


    Immediately, mana rushed out of the core to the mana pathways, traveling through the entire body of the golem and activating the magic circles on it.


    One secondter, the entire golem lit up with a dim blue glow.


    "It''s done" Bloed said with a soft smile. He had seeded.


    But then, he realized something strange.


    For some reason, Toby and Diodora were looking at him as though he was a monster.


    Furthermore, Liu Ying, Aya, Sara, and Gina, who had arrived at the workshop and some point in time, were looking at him the same way.


    " What happened?" Bloed could not help but ask.


    Diodora was the one to answer.


    "How in the hell did you do that?"


    "Huh?"


    "The mana. How did you control it like that?


    "??? Did I do it wrong?"


    "N-No Quite the opposite, that was amazing! It''s my first time seeing someone with such fine control over mana before bing a demigod. I would have understood if it was your mana, but you used were manipting external mana That should be impossible!"


    Bloed was stunned. He looked at Toby, Aya, Sara, and Gina in confusion, but they just looked at him in a daze.


    Diodora frowned and stared at Bloed before looking at the golem. Finally, she let out an amazed sigh.


    "Mr. Bloed, you are the person with the greatest talent for mana I have ever met. How did you do that?"


    ''The hell!?''


    Bloed waspletely speechless.


    Since when did he awaken his talent for mana?

 Chapter 344: Making a Golem (3)

    Chapter 344: Making a Golem (3)


    Imagine if you have been tone-deaf your entire life. When you sing, even the rats run away in fright and your mother tells you to shut up.


    But suddenly, after you took a bath while singing to your heart content, a talent scout approaches you and tells you that you have the most angelical voice he has ever heard and you will be very sessful if you debut as a singer.


    Bloed felt exactly like that right now.


    You could say that hisck of talent over mana was the reason behind everything that happened in his life. Starting from his exile from the royal family to his encounter with Cami and then his adventures through the continent.


    Bloed knew about hisck of mana talent better than anyone. He could barely feel the mana in the environment, and that was after his psychic energy grew to B-Grade.


    But now, a Peak A-Rank practitioner told him that he had the best talent over mana that she had ever seen.


    Bloed waspletely speechless.


    Was she crazy?


    However, after thinking for a moment, he understood what was happening.


    Normally, mana practitioners found it hard to control the mana in the environment.


    Most practitioners could only absorb the mana and then use it to increase their mana pool, making it theirs. However, doing something such as controlling external mana freely just like Bloed did just now was very hard.


    Even mages, whose spells made use of the mana in the environment, did not control that mana. They just relied on the magic circles to absorb the mana and then use it in a spell.


    Of course, controlling the mana in the environment was not entirely impossible. Most geniuses and demigods could do something like that.


    But it was apletely different story if they wanted to control it so precisely as Bloed did.


    At the very least, none of the people around Bloed could do that.


    When Bloed realized that, he noticed the strangeness of the situation as well.


    He tried it in the heat of the moment, but now that he thought about it carefully, how in the hell did he manage to do that?


    It was true that psychic power could control mana. But it was the first time Bloed tried it; plus, his talent over mana was obviouslyckluster.


    Despite all of that, though, he managed to manipte the mana to build the mana pathways perfectly!


    '' Could it be Was it due to Enhanced Brain Capacity?''


    That was the only reason Bloed could think of.


    Enhanced Brain Capacity was an ESPer ability that enhanced all the mental aspects of Bloed. Could it be that it also enhanced his control over psychic power and consequently his control over mana?


    ''I should study itter''


    If his guess was true, then it would open a world of possibilities for Bloed.


    It would be an entirely new way to use psychic energy. It would enhance his abilities greatly!


    This method would bepletely different than his n to create a body-enhancement technique (that was still in progress). Perhaps, he could use true magic!


    Just thinking about the possibilities made Bloed''s eyes brighten.


    At that moment, Bloed felt the eyes of Diodora, Toby, and the others on him. He realized they were still waiting for an answer.


    Coughing, Bloed decided to feign ignorance. After all, not even he was sure about how he did it.


    "Cough Anyway, Toby, I finished the golem, what should I do now?"


    "W-Well, try to control it using your soul power."


    Bloed nodded and did just as Toby said.


    He sent a thread of psychic energy to the magic circle on the torso of the golem and activated it.


    The next second, the mana in the core started to circte and the golem lit up, taking one step forward.


    The golem''s movements were pretty shaky at the start, but before long, its movements became smoother and smoother, until it was walking just like a human.


    "Amazing. You managed to control it perfectly so quickly."


    "Is it supposed to be hard?" Gina, who had arrived while Bloed was building the mana pathways, asked with a curious expression.


    Toby smiled wryly.


    "Of course, it''s hard. It''s like controlling another body besides your body. That is the reason very few people use golems in battle. And the people that do it never use more than one. Well, the previous leader of the club was the exception. She could control three golems as strong as her at the same time and use them to fight beside her."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow when he heard that. If Toby''s words were true, the previous leader of the club was someone more amazing than he thought.


    "Let me try." Gina skipped towards Bloed curiously. Bloed smiled and cut off the link with the golem, allowing Gina to take over it.


    Smiling happily, Gina used her psychic energy to control the golem. But immediately, the golem copsed on the ground


    "Huh?" Gina tilted her head. She tried to make the golem stand up again, but it staggered and fell again.


    "Why is it so hard?" She murmured softly and looked at the golem frowningly. "It''s much harder to control than the birds you made, Bloed."


    Bloed smiled amusedly and nodded.


    "Yes, it''s harder."


    Most of the time, golems were used together with automated magic circles to defend ces. That way, they can move semi-independently, though they could only follow simple orders, such as ''Fight'' or ''Defeat the enemies''.


    Very few people used Golems in battles.


    After Bloed tried to control a golem, he understood the reason behind it.


    Golems were not suitable to be used asbatpanions. At the very least, they could not bepared to Tito, Leto, and Oculus.


    They were not as versatile as his robots, plus, they needed much more focus and training to be used effectively.


    Actually, even Bloed, with his [Enhanced Brain Capacity], could control at most two or three golems at the same time right now, and his control over them would not be as smooth as his control over his mechanical pets.


    That was a low number considering that right now he could control five thought-controlled machines. Tito, Leto, Oculus, the predictive program in his eyes, plus a slot that was still free.


    That made Bloed wonder about the previous leader of the Golem-Making Club. To be able to control three golems proficiently as an A-Rank practitioner showed that she was very special.


    Of course, it was not as though golems did not have any advantage.


    Their main advantage was that golems could use magic.


    "This golem is the simplest one," Toby exined. "If you use better materials, a stronger mana core, and carve stronger and more versatile mana pathways and magic circles, you can make the golems much stronger and even give them abilities such as using fire and lightning or things like that."


    "Really?" Gina asked curiously.


    "He is right." Bloed nodded.


    Of course, that was not the only advantage of golems.


    Another advantage was that they relied on mana pathways and magic circles instead of circuits and electricity to work.


    Now, what if Bloedbined the techniques to make golem with his current robots?


    ''Perhaps I can give my pets new abilities and make them one level stronger!'' Bloed thought to himself excitedly.


    That was definitively possible.


    If Bloed seeded, his battle strength would definitively grow!

 Chapter 345: Can’t See Her

    Chapter 345: Can¡¯t See Her


    Unfortunately,bining golem-making techniques with robotics would not be easy.


    Bloed already had a few ideas about how to start, but he probably would need a while to achieve sess.


    Plus, he would need to expand his knowledge about magic circles if he wanted to give his pets better abilities.


    " I guess I should visit the Great Library soon." Bloed murmured to himself.


    But then


    "Wait a moment, you said the great library?" Diodora asked with a start.


    "Mm?"


    "You Do you have a way to enter the great library?" The dark-skinned girl asked in excitement. "Is that true!?"


    With an excited expression, the dark-skinned girl rushed towards Bloed and tried to grab his shoulders.


    But


    "What do you think you are doing?"


    Regina''s ice-cold voice came from behind Bloed and her hands grabbed Diodora''s wrists.


    "Huh? Oh, S-Sorry, I was a bit excited" Diodora apologized with an embarrassed expression and stepped back, to which Regina snorted and shot her a warning look.


    Bloed was a bit puzzled by that.


    For some reason, he felt that Regina was behaving a bit too hostile towards the dark-skinned girl.


    Well, Regina was usually hostile towards any woman that tried to get too close to him, but he felt as though she was being more hostile than usual this time.


    ''Is anything wrong?'' He put on a puzzled expression. But soon, he decided to stop thinking about it.


    It was better to ask Regina about itter.


    "I do have a way to enter the great library," Bloed said to Diodora. "However, I fear I can''t take you inside if that is what you want."


    Even though Bloed could enter the Great Library, it did not mean he could bring someone else with him.


    Well, he was confident he could get Headmistress Wave''s permission to bring someone else with him if he wanted, but he did not n to tell Diodora that. At least, not now.


    "Is it so?" Diodora sighed disappointedly. "Such a shame. I have been trying to enter the great library for a long time... Anyway, I must say I''m impressed with what I saw here. Just your ''robots'' are something I have not seen in this world before."


    "Oh? Are you nning to remain in the club then?"


    "Most likely. However, I''ll probably keep the same rtionship I had with the previous club leader. So you should not count on my help during the War of Clubs. But before agreeing, can I see the rest of the tower?"


    "Of course. Sara, do you mind apanying her?"


    "Understood, my lord."


    Bowing slightly, Sara led Diodora out of the workshop to show her the facilities of the tower.


    Once Diodora left, Regina wrinkled her brows. However, she said nothing, just putting a pensive expression.


    Meanwhile, Bloed looked at Toby.


    "To be honest, Toby, I would like it if you remain in the club."


    "Huh?"


    "Think about it, you are good at making golems, and you like making them. Don''t you think this is the best ce to use that talent?"


    "That is You are right, however This club is not the same as the golem-making club I don''t feel I belong here."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. To be honest, he wanted to keep Toby in the club.


    Not just because of his talent for making golems, but also due to his identity.


    Toby did not have any kind of rtionship with Bloed. He was aplete outsider.


    Machina Revolutio could not prosper just with Bloed and his friends. He needed people like Toby if he wanted to make it famous through the city.


    After thinking for a moment, Bloed had an idea.


    "How about it? Are you interested in how my robots are made?"


    "Huh?"


    "If you want, I can''t teach you the basics. You can decide if you want to stay or leave after that."


    "!!!"


    Toby put on a shocked expression. At the same time, his eyes lit up.


    He could not deny he was interested in Bloed''s pets since the moment he saw them. And now that he knew they werepletely different than normal golems, his interest was even greater.


    Soon, though, he put on aplicated expression.


    In the end, he could only smile.


    " Even so... Okay, I''ll agree for now... But after I finish learning that, I hope you don''t stop me if I want to leave."


    "I won''t. Chose a room to stay in then. I''ll start teaching you tomorrow."


    "Okay. Thank you very much."


    After that, Toby left the workshop with a troubled smile.


    With Toby gone, only Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Gina, and Aya, remained in the workshop.


    Not even one minute after Toby left, Liu Ying looked at me.


    "Are you truly going to teach him, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked with a frown. "I thought the technique to make robots was very important."


    "Don''t worry, I''m just going to teach him the basics. Plus, I''m nning to spread this technique to the entire world eventually. I can''t do it if I''m afraid of someone learning my secrets."


    Of course, Bloed was going to be careful. He would choose carefully what to teach to Toby and what not to.


    Let''s just wait and see By the way, Regina, what is wrong? You have been frowning since a while ago."


    Regina thought for a moment and looked towards the exit of the workshop.


    " Master, what do you think of the dark-skinned woman?"


    Bloed was startled. Now that he thought about it, he had noticed that Regina was being strangely hostile to her.


    "Did you notice something?"


    Regina thought for a moment and shook her head.


    "I''m not sure. But for some reason, I don''t like her."


    "Huh?" Bloed and the others were startled.


    Bloed then furrowed his brows with a pensive expression. He tried to remember if he saw anything strange about the dark-skinned woman.


    Now that he thought about it, though, a lot about her was strange.


    Her identity, her strength, the fact that she belonged to several clubs simultaneously.


    But he noticed nothing to be wary of.


    "Did any of you feel anything strange, Liu Ying, Aya, Gina?"


    "Nothing?"


    "... No"


    I don''t think so."


    "Strange. Was Regina mistaken then?" Bloed murmured to himself and looked at Regina. Regina, however, was furrowing her brows as though trying to put her finger on something.


    "Let me try." Suddenly, Gina spoke up and closed her eyes. Bloed immediately understood that she was trying to use her abilities.


    But after several seconds, Gina opened her eyes with a shocked expression.


    "My hero, there is something interfering with my abilities!"


    Bloed was stunned.


    "Do you mean"


    "I can''t use my abilities on her! No matter how much I try, I can''t see her!"

 Chapter 346: Encounter in the Great Library (1)

    Chapter 346: Encounter in the Great Library (1)


    One hourter, Bloed and the others were bidding Diodora farewell.


    "I liked the ce," Diodora said smilingly. "Plus, I like the concept of technology, and the training room is something I found amazing. If you don''t mind, I would like to continue being part of this club."


    "Will you help us during the War of Clubs?" Bloed asked but Diodora shook her head.


    "I''m sorry, I will not. Although your tower and technology are things I''m interested in, they are not enough for me to renounce all the benefits I receive from the other clubs. At most, I can help you toplete one or two missions."


    Bloed fell silent and nced at hispanions. When he saw that none of them said anything, he nodded.


    "Very well, from today onwards you are an honorary member of Machine Revolutio."


    "Honorary member, huh. I like that title." Diodora chuckled before nodding. "Very well. Goodbye then, I''lle again another day."


    With these words, the white-haired and ck-skinned girl left the tower.


    As soon as she was gone, Regina put on a pensive expression.


    "Master, are you truly nning to keep her close? She is very suspicious."


    "She is." Bloed nodded. "But perhaps someone like her will be useful. Plus, although she is suspicious, it doesn''t mean she is an enemy. What do you think, Gina?"


    "Well It''s a fact I can''t use my abilities on her, my hero. When I try, I can only see something blurry. I can only think of two reasons for that."


    "And what are these?"


    "The first one is that she is so strong that my current abilities are not enough to see her," Gina exined with a bit of hesitation. "If she is a demigod, this result is normal."


    "She is not a demigod." Regina denied it immediately. "Unless she has a way to fool my senses, that I doubt, then she is not a demigod. Her energy fluctuations did not surpass peak A-Rank."


    "Then it means that it''s the second reason" Gina affirmed. However, her expression was slightly grave.


    "What is the second reason?" Liu Ying asked curiously. "Is it something bad?"


    Gina nodded with a grim expressionpletely different than her usual lighthearted look.


    "The second option is that someone or something very powerful is protecting her from my scrying Most likely, a god."


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Sara, and Aya were stunned.


    " Are you sure about it, Gina?" Sara could not help but ask. "Why a god would protect her?"


    "I don''t know, sister. But I can''t think of another possibility. I only know that strong people can interfere with my abilities to see things. Just like Sister Regina. As she is always beside my hero and Sister Liu Ying, her powerful strength interferes with my visions and I can hardly see anything rted to them. I think that Miss Diodora''s situation should be simr."


    "Wait a moment, Gina, since when did you start to call us Sister Liu Ying and Sister Regina?" Liu Ying suddenly asked.


    Gina tilted her head in confusion. "Is anything wrong with that? Are we not sisters that will serve the same husband?"


    Liu Ying''s eyelids twitched. At the same time, Regina red at the honey-haired girl with a sharp gaze.


    Seeing that, Sara''s felt cold sweat on her back. She could not help but curse her mischievous sister in her mind.


    Bloed was speechless. He hurriedly knocked Gina''s head and sighed.


    "Stop ying around, okay? Girls, what do you think about Gina''s words?"


    Liu Ying, Regina, and Sara looked at each other and fell silent.


    Depending on how Diodora was rted to a god, then keeping her in the club could be very troublesome.


    Just then, the usually silent Aya raised her hand.


    " I think I know what is happening?"


    "Hm?"


    Feeling all the gazes on her, Aya shrank slightly and moved closer to Bloed.


    " Perhaps Miss Diodora is the Saintess or Holy Daughter of some church I think I read in somewhere that people like that are protected by their gods against scryings of fate."


    Bloed was startled and put on a thoughtful expression.


    " That could be possible... If that is true, things are not so troublesome then."


    "Huh? What do you mean, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    "If she is the saintess of some god, it means she is most likely not an enemy unless she is the saintess of an evil god. We still need to be wary of her, of course, but not so much. Plus, she should be very strong. Perhaps, we can make use of her. Someone with her strength could be very useful in the War of Clubs."


    The girls looked at each other in confusion.


    "Master, I thought she said she would not help us."


    Bloed''s lips curved up in an imperceptible smile.


    "You don''t need to worry about that. I think I have a way to convince her."


    Ignoring the confusion in Regina and the others'' eyes, Bloed took a nearby coat and left the tower.


    "I''m going to the Great Library. I think I can get something useful there. Regina, Liu Ying, stay here. You can''t go inside anyway."


    " Understood, master."


    " Okay~."


    The Great Library was just as imposing as always. As the biggest library in this world and the home of the ruler of Academy City, it filled all the people that saw it with awe.


    It was the first time Bloed visited it since the day of the entrance ceremony. Headmistress Wave had given Bloed the right to enter the lower floor of the library, but he had never made use of it.


    Actually, Bloed had wanted toe since the day he received that permission. But unfortunately, he had been rather busy recently, so he had dyed it until now.


    Right now, though, he needed to do something here.


    Well, he did not know if he could do it. But even if not, at the very least he could take advantage of this opportunity to read the books inside.


    When he reached the entrance of the library, he passed his ID to the receptionist, who verified it and told him that he could read the books on the lower floor. But if he wanted to read something on the upper floors, he needed to tell someone and he could choose only three books.


    Bloed already knew it, so he just nodded and went inside the library.


    As soon as he entered, he was met with a ten meters tall floor filled with countless books.


    From history, mathematics, geography, and politics, to magic andbat arts. Bloed could see books about every subject studied in this world.


    It was a magnificent sight, even for someone like Bloed who had knowledge about the libraries of the Human Confederation.


    For an instant, Bloed did not know where to start. He wanted to read everything.


    Soon, though, he chose a topic.


    Magic.


    Theory about magic, magic circles, magic runes, mana control. All these were topics that Bloed was interested in.


    The first book he chose was called Introduction to Magic Runes. Bloed noticed that most of the knowledge inside was the same as the one in some of Chorius'' books in the exilednds, but even so, he found some things he did not know.


    Thus, he took it plus some nearby books he was interested in and walked towards a table.


    But just when he started to read, he heard a familiar voiceing from behind him.


    "Huh? Why are you here?"


    Startled, Bloed looked back and saw a beautiful girl hovering several centimeters over the ground.


    She was Isabe Castor, the second strongest student in Academy City.


    ...


    Consider supporting me on P4TRE0N:


    P4TRE0N: /aidnvoels

 Chapter 347: Encounter in the Great Library (2)

    Chapter 347: Encounter in the Great Library (2)


    Seventh chapter ofst week...


    ...


    Isabe Castor.


    Virtually every person in Academy City knew about her.


    At just neen years of age, she was the second strongest student in Academy City. Something amazing when you considered that some of the students in Academy City were in theirte twenties.


    She was an unrivaled genius even in a ce full of geniuses such as Academy City. Her talent was something praised by teachers and students alike.


    In fact, most people thought that her talent surpassed Mu Quan''s.


    After all, though Mu Quan was currently the strongest student, he was twenty-five years old, six entire years older than Isabe.


    Many people believed that Isabe would be able to surpass him and get the title of the strongest student after one or two years more.


    Bloed could understand why people thought that. Through his eyes, he could see how the mana in the surroundings seemed to bend to her will.


    Moreover, he could not help but be surprised when he saw her hovering over the ground so easily!


    You must know that flying was something reserved only for demigods, with very few exceptions.


    And although Isabe''s technique could not be considered flying yet, it was practically the same!


    But she was not a demigod yet!


    Just the fact she managed to do something like that spoke volumes of her talent.


    Plus, Isabe was a beauty.


    Purple hair and clear blue eyesbined with exquisite featuresparable to the most beautiful elf made her one of the most beautiful girls in Academy City.


    Even though her body was not very developed in certain parts, it did nothing to diminish her beauty. Quite the opposite, it gave her an innocent and delicate look like a lively and mischievous fairy.


    She was worthy of being the dream lover of many young men in the city.


    And right now, such a girl was looking at Bloed with a surprised and curious expression.


    " Senior Isabe, nice to meet you." Bloed bowed slightly after he saw her.


    Isabe narrowed her eyes. She looked at him and then at the books on his table and tilted her head.


    "Magic? I thought you specialized in closebat and controlling golems."


    "I do. But I have always liked to study magic."


    A suspicious look appeared on Isabe''s face, but she soon shrugged and stopped caring about it.


    It was not as though it was her first time seeing someone interested in magic despite not being able to use it.


    " Just to confirm, you are not a dual user of magic and martial arts, right?"


    Bloed was startled before shaking his head.


    "Of course not. I''m not that talented."


    Isabe nodded in agreement.


    "You are right. Using magic and martial arts at the same time is impossibly difficult. Not even a genius like me can do it."


    Although Bloed was slightly speechless when Isabe called herself a genius, he had to admit that she was right.


    Even though he could not wield mana, he had read about how difficult it was to use magic and martial arts simultaneously.


    It was described as writing something different things with each hand at the same time, using two different idioms, and twopletely different topics.


    Unless you trained it for many years, it was impossible.


    Of course, asionally there appeared one or two geniuses able to do that. People able to do the impossible without any difficulty.


    And each time someone like that appeared, he or she would be someone unmatched in their generations. They could easily fight someone a few levels stronger than them.


    In fact, Bloed knew someone like that.


    His little sister, Eres Skysword.


    Since she was a child, she showed the ability to wield magic and use martial arts at the same time.


    An unrivaled talent that the gods themselves envied.


    Compared to the ''talentless'' Glenn (Bloed), she was like the chosen of the world.


    ''I guess that some people are just different, huh''


    Bloed shook his head with a wry smile and looked at the purple-haired girl in front of him.


    "Do you need something from me, senior?"


    "Mm Can I call you Bloed? I''ll call you that. Hey, Bloed, your demon girlfriend, is she a princess?"


    Bloed was inwardly startled, but his expression remained impassive.


    "Unless she is the illegitimate child of some king I don''t know, she is not."


    "Is it so?" Isabe furrowed her brows slightly. "How weird. I''m sure you were trying to deviate my attention from her when you mentioned you were a prince."


    For an instant, Bloed could not help but feel cold sweat on his back.


    In fact, if not that he was already wary when he saw Isabe, he would have looked at her as though she was a ghost and revealed the truth with his expression.


    ''How sharp''


    Bloed smiled bitterly in his mind. He never expected that his attempt to cover Liu Ying made Isabe more suspicious instead.


    Fortunately, she did not seem sure about it.


    "She is not a princess, Senior Isabe. But, senior, don''t you think it''s very unsavory to try to dig into the secrets of others?"


    Hearing the sharp and usatory tone in Bloed''s words, Isabe stiffened.


    She then looked at Bloed with an awkward smile.


    "Sorry?"


    Bloed red at her and sighed.


    "Senior Isabe, nobody likes it when someone digs his secrets. I''m sure that you also have some things you don''t want others to know."


    Isabe fell silent before nodding with an apologizing expression.


    " You are right. It was my mistake."


    "As long as you understand it." Bloed epted her apology, though his voice was still slightly cold.


    Aplicated expression appeared on Isabe''s face. For an instant, she could not help but feel slightly ashamed.


    " How about it, if you want, I can exin to you a bit about magic as an apology. I don''t want to brag, but nobody below demigod knows more about magic than me."


    Bloed looked at the purple-haired girl beside him and sighed. Then, he shook his head.


    "Sorry, but I would prefer it if you leave me alone."


    "R-Really?" Isabe''s expression was stiff. In fact, she seemed as though she wanted to cry.


    But she quickly nodded and looked away.


    "I-I understand. I''m leaving then. Enjoy your reading."


    With a soft snort, the purple-haired girl hovered away.


    Bloed shrugged indifferently.


    Even though he knew he had probably displeased her, he did not care. Anyway, he was already a man with two girlfriends (and several girlfriend candidates). Why should he care if he offended a girl?


    He had other things to care about.


    Like the books on the table.


    But before he could start reading, he was interrupted again.


    This time, it was by the person he was waiting for.


    "Poor little Isabe. Don''t you think you were a bit harsh with her?"


    "Headmistress." Bloed stood up and was going to bow respectfully, but Headmistress Wave stopped him


    "Hehe, there is no need to bow, boy. I don''t mind these little things."


    Bloed nodded and did not insist. He did not care for these formalities either.


    "You should not be so harsh with Little Isabe." Headmistress Waveughed and said. "She is just a bit curious, but she is not a bad girl, and she will never try to harm you."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow.


    "You seem to know a lot about her."


    "Well, not many people know about it, but she is my disciple." Wave smiled softly. "That girl''s story is a bit tragic. I can tell you if you are interested in her, though."


    Bloed was surprised by the news Isabe was Wave''s disciple. Although thinking about it, it could exin a bit about her monstrous talent.


    However, he was not interested in learning more about her.


    "I don''t like to intrude in the privacy of others."


    "Is it so? So you don''t like her that way, huh. Well, of course, with so many beautiful girls around you, it''s normal if you don''t care about my little Isabe."


    Bloed was speechless. As expected, this woman was trying to act as a matchmaker...


    "Please don''t joke about it. I have enough women''s troubles already. Why are you here headmistress?"


    "I need to talk with you about something. Come with me."


    With a smile, Headmistress Wave waved her hand and a magic circle appeared below Bloed and her.


    Then, before Bloed could give his opinion, he was teleported away.


    To the top floor of the Great Library.

 Chapter 348: Sharing Knowledge

    Chapter 348: Sharing Knowledge


    Eighth chapter ofst week...


    ...


    One secondter, Bloed and the headmistress reappeared on the top floor of the Great Library.


    "Come, sit." Headmistress Wave smiled and pointed to a nearby table. "Do you want a drink? Tea perhaps?"


    "No, it''s alright," Bloed said with a strained smile and sat down at the table.


    At the same time, he was looking at the headmistress with a strange look.


    This woman, she did not even ask for his opinion to bring him here!


    ''Sigh Well, I was nning to agree in the first ce.''


    This was the main reason Bloed came to the Great Library after all.


    To talk with Headmistress Wave.


    He was almost certain that once Headmistress Wave learned he was in the library, she would go to meet him.


    After all, from what he noticed when he talked to the headmistress before, she was someone with great hunger for knowledge. Just like himself.


    For people like them, learning something unknown was exciting.


    Such a person would be very curious about many things after seeing Bloed''s tower.


    Most likely, she had been suppressing her desire to find Bloed and interrogate him.


    "You seem interested in magic, boy." Wave stared at Bloed with a curious light in her eyes before sitting across him. "Could it be that you want to learn magic?"


    "You should know that I''m unable to use mana."


    "I do." Wave nodded. "So I''m even more curious to know why you are so interested in magic when you can''t use mana."


    Bloed did not reply. He just remained silent and looked at the headmistress with a smile.


    Seeing that Bloed did not n to reply, Wave shrugged.


    "Well, I''m sure I will learn about it someday. How about this, boy? I can teach you as much as you want about magic."


    "Huh?" Bloed was stunned. "W-Wait a moment, do you mean"


    "Yes, I''ll teach you personally." Headmistress Wave grinned. "Let me tell you, boy, nobody in this world knows more about magic than me. Not even the gods. I''m the absolute authority when it came to magic theory. The number of spells I have created surpasses ten thousand! With my help, you will learn every secret about magic!"


    A nk expression appeared on Bloed''s face. For an instant, he was unable to react.


    This offer It was amazing!


    Learning magic from Wave Golden, the founder and Headmistress of Academy City, was an opportunity that even demigods would fight to get!


    But Bloed quickly calmed down.


    Because it was too good to be true.


    "What do you want in exchange?" Bloed asked.


    Headmistress Wave''s lips curved up in an impish smile, and her caramel-colored pupils glowed brightly.


    "I can teach you everything about magic. But you must teach me everything about technology."


    Bloed fell silent.


    As expected, it was that.


    As the Headmistress of Academy City and perhaps the greatest erudite in the world, there was no way Wave could not see the worth of technology after seeing the Machine Revolutio tower.


    In fact, she had realized that it had the potential to change the world!


    Just the ability to construct such buildings in a short time was something any king and ruler would desire.


    A thoughtful expression appeared on Bloed''s face. He stared at Headmistress Wave fixedly before opening his mouth.


    "How about this? We will exchange knowledge instead. Each week, You will teach me about magic and I''ll teach you about science, technology, and engineering in exchange. A fair trade."


    Headmistress Wave narrowed her eyes and curved her lips up in amusement. She looked at Bloed with a yful gaze before chuckling.


    "You are very interesting, boy. Anyone else would have agreed to my proposal without hesitation."


    Bloed said nothing and just stared at the headmistress, waiting for her answer.


    Sighing, Wave shrugged and put on a mischievous smile.


    "Fortunately for you, I like guys like you. Very well, I agree. What do you think if we start right away? There are some things I would like to ask you."


    Bloed sighed in relief and nodded.


    "Before that, can I ask you for a favor? No, make it two."


    "Oh? So you are already asking for favors, huh. Boy, with that attitude you will never win the heart of girls."


    "I already have two girlfriends, so I don''t care."


    "Right, I forgot how popr you are." Headmistress Waveughed softly and held her cheek with a hand. "Okay, tell me, what do you want?"


    "Firstly, I would like if you can give me a new ID for someone."


    "Oh?" Wave''s expression turned serious. "Tell me about the situation. If it''s not for something evil, I don''t mind helping you."


    Bloed nodded and exined to her about Princess Elwha.


    Bloed had already thought about it. Even if he helped Elwha to change her features, someone could identify her through her ID.


    Unless Elwha nned to not leave the mansion ever, she would have to use her ID eventually. After all, IDs were used everywhere in Academy City.


    However, using her ID meant risking being found by the people of the Church of ughter.


    When Headmistress Wave finished listening, her expression turned severe.


    "The Church of ughter, huh. These psychos... Very well, I''ll help you. I can''t tolerate these bastards living in my city anyway. What is your second request?"


    Bloed fell silent and thought about the girl he met today.


    ck skin, short ash-gray hair, and Peak A-Rank strength.


    He then stated his request.


    "I want permission to bring someone to the Great Library once."


    Headmistress Wave narrowed her eyes with a smile.


    In the end, Headmistress Wave agreed to both requests.


    They were not too difficult for someone like her after all, but even so, she told Bloed that he needed to pay her with pieces of knowledge she found interesting.


    Bloed agreed easily. Anyway, the amount of knowledge the Human Confederation possessed was so abundant that telling some things to Wave would not even pain Bloed.


    Thus, after Bloed taught Wave about the concepts of gravity,s, sr systems, and gxies, the exchange was sessful.


    Moreover, Wave was now looking at Bloed as though she was looking at a treasure.


    Her gaze was so intense that Bloed felt shivers in his spine. He had the feeling she was nning to chain him to a wall and extract everything in his brain.


    Fortunately, nothing like that happened.


    Once they came to an agreement, Wave started to teach Bloed about magic. She first asked Bloed about what he knew before nodding and supplementing his knowledge.


    Quickly, Bloed became shocked.


    Because he realized that Headmistress Wave''s knowledge about magic was more astonishing than he expected!


    Without the need of teaching Bloed new magic runes, she managed to double his knowledge about magic and magic circles.


    Her knowledge of magic was so incredible that Bloed quickly waspletely immersed in it


    However, Bloed was not the only one surprised.


    Headmistress Wave was also looking at Bloed like he was a monster. She could not believe there was someone so talented in the world!


    She did not need to exin anything twice even once! With just an exnation, Bloed would memorize and understand everything!


    Moreover, most of the time he could associate what she just taught him with many other things.


    Sometimes, he even reached conclusions that even Wave had not thought about.


    ''Amazing It''s as though he was born to learn magic!''


    For an instant, Wave wondered if Bloed''s im that he could not use mana was a lie. Otherwise, why his understanding of mana and magic was so impressive?


    Of course, she did not know that Bloed possessed [Enhanced Brain Capacity]. It was the perfect tool for learning.


    In the history of the Human Confederation, each person born with this ESP ability became a famous scientist at the top of a field!


    Quickly, five hours passed. But strangely, neither Bloed nor Headmistress Wave were mindful of it.


    In fact, it seemed like they could continue chatting for two days straight.


    Unfortunately, someone barged on the top floor of the Great Library at that moment.


    "Headmistress, something bad happened! Another student disappeared!"


    ,,,


    Now I need to start to write this week chapters :p


    Wish me luck x)

 Chapter 349: Stopped Being Useful

    Chapter 349: Stopped Being Useful


    Hey Guys, Aidka''s Here!


    I''m posting this announcement together with five chapters of both series. In this announcement, I n to exin detailedly my current situation as well as my ns for the future.


    Firstly, sorry about the irregr releases, but I was very busy with work. I was working on a very important project in RL, and it meant that I could not put as much time as before into writing.


    Actually, writing is not a problem. I love to write very much, and even when I was tired, I could write one or two chapters easily.


    The problem is editing.


    As many of you probably noticed, English is not my native tongue. It means that there are some nuances of the tongue that I find hard to understand. Due to that, I dedicate a lot of time to edit each chapter (around twenty minutes to half an hour) to make the chapters as readable as possible, and even so, it''s normal to see mistakes in the chapters.


    However, editing is boring and tiresome. For the ten chapters I''m posting today, for example, I used almost four hours to edit them. That is a lot of time and the main reason the chapters take longer to be posted.


    Actually, I finished writing the ten chapters yesterday, but only edited half of them, and the rest were edited today.


    Well, changing the topic, the busiest time at work already ended. From this week st week actually), my work hours will be until noon, so I can use the rest of the time to write. In other words, releases should return to normal this week.


    Of course, if there is something urgent at work, I will have to work the entire day, and most likely I''ll be unable to post, but I''ll make sure to announce it beforehand (In P4TRE0N).


    I''ll be posting the chapters I owe fromst week (three for S/M and five for FP), plus the chapters of this week.


    And nope, I''m not nning to drop the novels. As I told you, I like to write a lot, plus, Fourth Prince is close to the end, and I''m going to end it.


    Also, my schedule should change next year. Wait for the news (Good news).


    With love, Aidka :p


    ...


    "Headmistress, something bad happened! Another student disappeared!"


    A young woman barged inside the top floor of the Great Library with an anxious expression.


    Wave frowned. She nced at Bloed briefly before looking at the young woman.


    "Again? When?"


    "Y-Yesterday. H-He went out on a mission and was then kidnapped!"


    "These bastards." Wave''s body shed and appeared in front of the young woman, grabbing the papers she was holding.


    Bloed also stood up and followed after her. The young woman was slightly surprised when she realized there was someone else on the floor, but she did not anything.


    When Headmistress Wave finished reading the information about the student disappeared, her expression sank.


    "Can I read it?" Bloed asked.


    Wave hesitated slightly, but in the end, she passed it to him.


    "Anyway, this information is not a secret."


    When Bloed read the information, he realized the reason behind Wave''s dark expression.


    ording to it, the student kidnapped was a beastman. He was kidnapped when he was doing a mission together with four students else.


    The team of five was attacked in the middle of the night, and although the enemies were repelled, the beastman was kidnapped and taken away.


    Bloed furrowed his brows when he finished reading the information.


    This incident Seemed awfully strange.


    Just when he finished reading, Headmistress Wave asked something to the young woman.


    "Did anything else happen?"


    "W-Well" The young woman hesitated and bit her lips anxiously. "The representatives of several countries, including two beastmen countries, are asking us for an exnation. They want to know how we are going to resolve this problem."


    Wave thought for a moment and nodded. "I understand, you can leave."


    "Understood."


    Bowing respectfully, the woman left, leaving only Headmistress Wave and Bloed behind.


    Before Bloed could ask anything, Headmistress Wave smiled at him with an apologetic expression.


    "I''m sorry, Boy. I think that we will have to end our chat here."


    " I understand. Don''t worry."


    "How about this? We will meet again onceter. That way, both of us will have time to digest what we learned."


    "I''m fine with that."


    "Perfect. I''ll teleport you to the entrance then. By the way, the War of Clubs will start soon. I wish you luck."


    Smiling softly, Wave waved her hand, creating a magic circle below Bloed''s feet that shed and teleported him away.


    Immediately after that, Headmistress Evelyn''s expression turned ice cold.


    "Hmph! It looks like some people are underestimating my Academy City."


    Then, her eyes shed, and her powerful mana spread outwards, covering thousands of kilometers in an instant.


    With a smile full of killing intent, the dragon headmistress disappeared from the Great Library.


    "It''s time to catch some rats."


    When Bloed left the Great Library, his expression was somber.


    He kept remembering the information he read in the report about the student disappeared, thinking about it carefully.


    ''I''m sure of it. Something about it is fishy.''


    Even when he returned to Machinery Revolution tower, Bloed continued thinking about it, convinced that something was wrong.


    Just at that moment, he noticed a fox girlzing on a couch in the hall of the tower.


    "Eve"


    The fox ears of the golden-haired girl twitched when she heard her name. She then looked towards Bloed and tilted her head expressionlessly.


    " Is anything wrong? You look worried about something."


    Bloed fell silent for a moment, thinking about what he just read.


    A few secondster, he opened his mouth.


    " Another student disappeared today." He said.


    "Is it so?" Eve''s ears perked up, obviously interested in the topic. "It looks like Returning Dusk is very activetely."


    But Bloed shook his head.


    "I don''t think it was returning dusk."


    Eve stiffened.


    She then stared at Bloed with a deep gaze, her expressionless look emitting a feeling of utmost seriousness.


    "Tell me about the situation."


    Bloed nodded and repeated what he read.


    When he finished speaking, he looked at Eve intensely.


    The ex-saintess of Moonlight Glow looked down and sighed.


    "So it finally happened, huh."


    "It was not Returning Dusk, right?" Bloed asked. "Until now, Returning Dusk has been incredibly careful with its actions. This kind of badly-executed n where four students escaped doesn''t sound like them."


    " You are right, it was not Returning Dusk." Eve confirmed Bloed''s guess. "It''s something worse. The ones behind it were some rulers of the four races."


    "The four races?"


    "Yes Bloed, what do you think about Academy City?"


    Bloed was startled and fell silent.


    He did not know why Eve jumped topics so suddenly, but understanding that it was somehow rted, he replied after thinking carefully.


    "It''s a great ce. To be honest, it is much better than I expected. I have never seen so many people of different races living together."


    Eve nodded. "It''s indeed a great ce. Wave built it in the center of the continent, a ce bordering the territories of the four races and the beasts'' wilderness. It''s in a perfectly neutral ce, showing no preference for any of the races. Due to it, it managed to be a city where the four races can live together almost without prejudice.


    "Back when Wave built it one hundred years ago, Academy City became a symbol of peace. A banner of hope after the disaster caused by the war against the Blight. It was something like a promise to a ceasefire.


    "... But unfortunately, one hundred years have already passed."


    Bloed was startled, but then, his eyes shed with realization.


    "I see In other words, Academy City stopped being useful and instead became an obstacle." Bloed said with a sarcastic smile.


    "You are smart. Eve did not deny it. "One hundred years have passed, and some parties have grown strong and are not happy with the status quo. The most ambitious ones are waiting for the moment perfect moment to start a war. You have noticed it, right? How the chaos around the continent has increased greatly in recent years"


    Bloed fell silent. Of course, he noticed it.


    He was present during Diadel Duchy''s coup d''etat, and participated in the conflict between The Great Savannah, The Sun Kingdom, and The Boerner Elven Forest for territory.


    However, he never imagined that the situation had reached such a critical point.


    "In truth, students have disappeared in Academy City since forever," Eve said with an indifferent look. "It can''t be avoided. No matter how great Wave is, she is unable to stop all the crimes in the city. It''s normal for someone asionally to die or to disappear, and nobody will make a fuss for it.


    "But now, many parties think that Academy City is unnecessary. It''s an obstacle to their ambitions. But unfortunately for them, Academy City has existed for a very long time, and its foundations are firm.


    "Thus, they can only move like termites, silently chewing off the foundations of the city and crumbling it from the inside. And for them, Returning Dusk''s incident was the perfect excuse."


    "It created an opening." Bloed sighed.


    "Yes, and now they want to expand it. Make the problem as big as they can and then find an excuse to intervene in the city, and if they can, take control of it."


    Bloed''s expression turned dark. Listening to Eve''s words, he could not help but feel disgusted by the greediness of these people.


    He felt disgusted when he learned that Returning Dusk kidnapped students for their nefarious ns, but he felt even more disgusted when he learned that the rulers of the four races took advantage of that to harm the city.


    Understanding Bloed''s thoughts, the usually expressionless Eve put on a small smile.


    "Don''t worry, Bloed. Academy City is not so fragile as you think, and Wave is much more capable than most people believe. They will not fall so easily.


    "Instead, you should worry about your club. The War of Clubs will start soon."


    Bloed nodded with a pensive expression.


    Just like Eve said, it was not his ce to worry about whatever is happening to the city.


    Instead, he should finish his preparations for the War of Clubs.


    ...


    And the start of the War of Clubs arrived.

 Chapter 350: Hunting Rats

    Chapter 350: Hunting Rats


    One weekter, in the outskirts of Academy City.


    A man held a sword in his hand and looked at the caramel-haired woman in front of him as he panted heavily.


    He was wearing a face mask that covered the lower half of his face and a ck coat that hid his entire body, making it impossible to know his identity.


    Right at that moment, blood burst out of several parts of his body.


    "Ugh"


    Grunting, he jumped back, taking as much distance as he could from the woman with caramel-colored hair.


    "How interesting. It''s not every day I catch a demigod rat." Wave, the caramel-haired woman, smiled softly and looked at the sword-wielding man in front of her with a chilling look.


    "Wave Golden" The man murmured with a bitter look. He was not expecting to meet this legend here.


    Five minutes ago, the legendary headmistress of Academy City had appeared in his base, killed all the people inside it, and gravely injured him.


    The only reason he was not dead yet was that he was a demigod and barely managed to endure her attacks.


    But even so, he knew he could not escape her.


    However, he was not despairing.


    Because he still had hope.


    He just needed to endure until his reinforcements arrived.


    But as though she would have read his mind, Wave chuckled.


    "Do you truly think that reinforcement will arrive?"


    "Huh?"


    Before he could process Wave''s words


    *Spurt!*


    A slender hand prated his chest from behind.


    "Gah!" Blood spurt out of his mouth and his mana weakened. The injury he received was fatal!


    Shocked, he looked behind him, only to see a golden-haired fox girl staring at him with an expressionless look.


    The man''s eyes opened wide.


    "B-Bloodstained M-Moonlight"


    "I hate that name," Eve muttered with a frown and pulled her hand out of the man''s body.


    Immediately, blood flowed out of the demigod''s wound like a river and he copsed on the ground.


    Vomiting another mouthful of blood, he chuckled with a despairing tone.


    ''It looks like today is my day, huh''


    Just at that moment, he caught a glimpse of the scene behind the fox girl.


    There, he saw two people copsed on the ground, both of them killed coldbloodedly.


    The man''s eyes opened slightly wide, recognizing the bodies as the other demigods that came with him for this mission.


    "I-I see S-So you killed them already, huh" The man smiled bitterly. "W-Why are you here, Bloodstained Moonlight I-Is Moonlight Glow supporting Academy City?"


    "I''m not Moonlight Glow''s Saintess anymore. I''m just Eve, Wave''s friend, helping her to take care of the rats in her house."


    The man smiled wryly.


    Who would have expected this malefic start to help Wave?


    Actually, the fact that Wave herself came to hunt them was already outside of their expectations.


    They knew that Academy City would not stay quiet after they kidnapped a student, but they never expected such a swift and decisive answer. Their informants in the city did not even manage to warn them.


    Most likely, the headmistress and the saintess of Moonlight Glow moved without telling anyone else.


    And with two of the most powerful demigods in the entire world working together, it was impossible for his group to survive.


    "Such a bad luck" The demigod muttered self-deprecatingly and closed his eyes.


    To never open them again.


    When she confirmed that the demigod was dead, Eve looked at Wave.


    "It''s done. None of them survived."


    "Thank you."


    "It''s nothing, but, are you sure it''s alright to kill them? You could have left one of them alive to extract information."


    "Why?" Wave asked with a smile. "You and I know who is behind this. If I catch one of them alive, I''ll be forced to tear off all pretenses with them. It''s not the time for it yet" She then waved her hand, creating a me that burned the bodies of the three demigods into ashes. "It''s enough like this. It will serve as a warning to those covetous wolves and as an answer to the kidnapping case."


    Eve did not reply, just sighing softly.


    "You can''t avoid the problem forever, Wave. They are bing more and more brazen. Eventually, you will be unable to scare them off anymore."


    "I know, but I''m not strong enough yet I still need more time. Perhaps Perhaps I can make a breakthrough and bring an end to this problem."


    Eve stared at her friend with aplicated gaze.


    A breakthrough? At their level, it was impossibly hard. So hard that Eve only knew of three people that had managed to do it.


    Unless she decides to be a god, making another breakthrough was close to impossible.


    However, she could understand her friend''s stubbornness.


    At that moment, Wave put on a startled expression.


    She furrowed her brows and took out amunication stone from a pocket, using her soul power to receive the information inside.


    When she finished listening to the message, her expression turned ice-cold.


    "Something bad?" Eve tilted her head expressionlessly.


    Wave nodded.


    "Let''s go. The Queen of Alterna arrived at the city."

 Chapter 351: Arrival of the Queen and the Princess

    Chapter 351: Arrival of the Queen and the Princess


    "Your Majesty, wee to Academy City."


    "No need to be so respectful, Headmistress Wave. I''m not here in an official visit."


    Wave nodded with a business-like look, showing the minimum politeness required to the Queen.


    However, anyone that knew her well enough could notice that she was not very pleased with her visit.


    As the ruler of the strongest human kingdom, the Queen of Alterna also noticed it. However, she did not mind it.


    Anyway, she wasn''t here on an official visit. She just wanted to find her son.


    "I have prepared a ce for you, Your Majesty. It''s a mansion near the Great Library. Please, follow me."


    "No need, Headmistress. I know you are someone very busy and I don''t want to waste your time. Just sent one of your subordinates to guide me. That will be enough."


    "I understand. Ellen, help Her Majesty with her amodations."


    "Understood, headmistress. Your Majesty, please follow me."


    The Queen nodded and followed the young woman as her bodyguards protected her.


    But when the Queen was about to leave, she stopped abruptly and turned around to look at the headmistress.


    "By the way, Headmistress, I''m here this time to find someone. One of your students. Do you think you can help me with it?"


    "Oh?" Wave narrowed her caramel-colored eyes. "Can I know his name?"


    " Glenn. Glenn Skysword."


    Wave stared at the queen for several seconds before shaking her head apologetically.


    "I''m sorry, headmistress. But there is no student with that name in this city."


    "Is it so?" The queen nodded and turned around, not asking anymore.


    Wave stared at the back of the queen until she was gone. When she could not see the queen anymore, she heaved a long sigh and closed her eyes.


    " That kid sure brought me a big problem."


    "You don''t n to help her?" A voice asked from behind her. It belonged to a golden-haired fox girl who had suddenly appeared without anyone noticing.


    Wave shrugged indifferently.


    "Why should I? The boy is now in my city, so he is one of my students. Plus You don''t want it, right?"


    Eve said nothing, however, the way her eyes narrowed exined everything.


    A chuckle escaped from the headmistress.


    "You sure show a lot of interest for that boy. However, you should know you can''t stop him from meeting her, right?"


    Eve stayed silent.


    Just at that moment, a voice came from behind them.


    "You should not worry about that. Even if they meet, Bloed will not return with her."


    Wave and Eve turned around at the same time and raised an eyebrow in surprise when they saw the neer.


    It was a beautiful young woman around twenty-something years old wearing a white nun habit that covered her entire body. Behind her, a two-meters tall knight in heavy armor followed silently.


    "Charise, huh Did you see that with your powers?"


    Charise shook her head. "Chaos is approaching to the continent. Every day, the things the goddess can see are less and less. Plus, many gods are still suppressing my goddess''s sight. Right now, the future she can see is limited."


    Wave and Eve looked at each other with serious and grave expressions.


    It seemed that the age of blood and war was unavoidable.


    "Charise, why are you here?" Eve asked expressionlessly at that moment. She knew Charise better than Wave, so she understood that she would not appear here without a motive.


    "I just came to see someone. She should arrive soon."


    "Mm?"


    Confused, Wave and Eve looked at each other. But just then, Wave''smunication stone was activated again.


    Wave was startled and immediately checked it. After that, she looked at Charise with a strange expression.


    "As expected of the Saintess of Fate."


    "It looks like she is here." Charise smiled.


    "She is." Wave nodded. "Come, let''s greet the Princess."


    Five minutester, the three of them meet a beautiful young girl at the entrance of the city.


    Long ck hair, eyes as dark as the night itself, and a destructive aura around her that seemed to burn reality itself.


    The girl just finished the entrance exam, defeating her examiner with just a wave of her hand. Something shocking for a girl of her age.


    " Truly worthy of her fame." Charise could not help but sigh when she saw the way the girl passed the exam.


    Wave and Eve nodded. They had seen a lot of geniuses in their lives, but even then they could not deny that this girl was astonishing.


    The girl, Eres Skysword, was just sixteen years old.


    However, her cultivation was already at the A-Rank.


    As for her battle strength, even Wave and Eve could not see through itpletely.


    "World Burning Princess Witch. What an incredible child." Wave sighed.


    Eve nodded silently, her gaze waspletely fixed on the girl.


    Actually, no matter how talented Eres was or her identity as a princess, it was not enough for the three of them toe here.


    However, they were a bit curious.


    Mainly because she was rted to him.


    "Come on, let''s greet her." Headmistress Wave said and walked towards the ck-haired princess.


    When Eres saw the three women approaching her, she was startled. However, she quickly put on a respectful and polite expression.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet the Headmistress of the city, Her excellency Wave Golden."


    Wave was not surprised when the princess realized her identity. Her features were so unique and noticeable that anyone would recognize her when in Academy City.


    As expected, though, Eres did not recognize Eve and Charise.


    "You should be Eres Skysword, right." Wave chuckled. "You are just as talented as the rumors."


    "I''m not worthy of your praise, Headmistress."


    "Good girl. I just met your mother. I will send someone to lead you to the ce where she is staying."


    Eres''s eyes turned sharp. For an instant, her expression turned much colder than normal.


    However, it quickly returned to normal.


    "You don''t need to worry, Headmistress. I n to stay somewhere else."


    "Oh?" Wave raised an eyebrow curiously before nodding with a smile. "I understand. You should finish your registration then. And wee to Academy City."


    "Thank you." Eres bowed respectfully and left.


    Seeing the princess leave, Wave curved her lips up and put on a smile of interest.


    "It looks like the Skysword royal family has a lot of problems, huh."


    "It looks like that." Charise chuckled. "She should be here to find Bloed as well, just as the queen, but it looks like her rtionship with the queen is not good."


    "How interesting." Smiling softly, Wave took out hermunication stone and used it to give an order to her subordinates.


    "Send someone to keep an eye on the Queen and the Princess. I want to know each one of their movements."


    After receiving an affirmative answer, Wave put themunication stone back in her pocket and sighed.


    "Sigh, that boy is truly a ma for trouble."

 Chapter 352: Meeting Gazes, After Many Years (1)

    Chapter 352: Meeting Gazes, After Many Years (1)


    Academy City was the city of learning, a ce famous for nurturing hundreds of powerhouses and several powerful demigods.


    However, Academy City relied on more than its outstanding teachers and its great foundation of knowledge to achieve that.


    During the one hundred years of Academy City''s existence, it had always promoted thepetitive spirit between the students, offering great rewards and encouraged the students topete against each other to get better rewards.


    At the start, it was through duels andpetitions; however, that was not enough to properly evaluate some of the students.


    Thus, after many years of experimenting, Academy City finally settled with three ways through which students could be evaluated.


    The first one was thebat ranking. It rated students ording to theirbat power, and the strongest ones received more resources than the weaker ones.


    The second one was the mission ranking, through which students could participate in different missions and realize tasks to get points for a better ranking. Many students whose specializations were notbat used this ranking to get more resources.


    And the third one was the club ranking.


    Different than the other two, the club ranking did not evaluate the students themselves, but instead their clubs and their teamwork and strategy.


    Just like with the other rankings, stronger clubs received more resources than weaker clubs. And if a club wanted to get a better ranking, they needed to go through one of the biggest festivals in Academy City.


    The War of Clubs.


    Once every three months, the clubs wouldpete fiercely to get a ce as one of the top one hundred clubs.


    And today was the day when the War of Clubs started.


    Bloed and the girls went to the city''s stadium in the morning. It was a gigantic building almost three hundred meters long, with a capacity for fifty thousand spectators.


    When they arrived, they found that the entire stadium was surrounded by a crowd.


    Teachers, students, and inhabitants of Academy City alike were trying to squeeze to enter the arena.


    That was normal, though. After all, today was the opening of the War of Clubs.


    Unfortunately, most of them could only wait outside the arena, unable to enter.


    The capacity of the arena was limited, and the entrance fee to observe the opening of the War of Clubs was rather expensive, so only a part of the students could see it directly.


    Fortunately, Bloed did not need to pay to enter. One of the privileges of the top one hundred clubs was free entrance to the stadium for the leader and five members of the club. Other clubs could only bring their leader and another person at most.


    Bloed had brought Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, Gina, and Prince Calisto with him. Sara, Toby, and Elwha (Who had registered as a member of the club after receiving her new ID) stayed behind.


    Once the group reached the entrance of the Arena, Bloed showed his invitation card and the group was allowed inside.


    Bloed''s group was one of thetest to arrive. Most of the seats had been taken by this point in time, and practically every club of the city had arrived.


    The thousands of people seated in the stands talked with each other excitedly, creating a stimting scene that made the eyes of the liveliest girl of Bloed''s group shine.


    "So many people" Gina gasped in admiration.


    It was the first time she saw so many people in the same ce.


    In fact, it was the first time for Bloed and the others as well, and it was obvious all of them had been surprised as well.


    "I had heard about the stadium of Academy City, but it''s my first time in it." Liu Yingmented with a sigh. "I heard my father say it''s the biggest stadium in the continent."


    Bloed nodded. Even he could not hide his admiration for this enormous structure.


    He knew the Human Confederation had built bigger buildings, but he had never seen them. It was his first time seeing such a big structure.


    Well, his mother''s spaceship was bigger, but it was mostly buried under sand and rocks, so the visual impact was much lesser.


    Just then, someone appeared in the middle of the arena.


    Caramel-colored hair and eyes, a golden jewel-like scale in her forehead, slightly pointed ears, and some scattered scales of her cheek.


    She was one of the strongest demigods in the world, and the founder and headmistress of Academy City.


    Wave Golden.


    As soon as she appeared, every person in the stadium instinctively stopped talking. The auraing from the beautiful woman made them unable to talk for an instant.


    The headmistress opened her mouth at that moment.


    "Wee, students." Wave smiled softly, her soothing voice spreading through the entire arena. "Today, once more, we are here to begin the War of Clubs.


    "I don''t n to talk much today. I''ll simply wish luck to the many clubs and students that will participate in the War of Clubs. I hope that many of you use thispetition to grow, to be stronger, and to take a step more towards your dreams.


    "Now, let''s wee the top one hundred clubs of the city.


    "Step forward, [Guardian Order]!"


    Immediately, cheers erupted from the stand and two people walked out of the stands.


    The first was a demon young man with a calm smile followed by a beautiful human girl.


    However, the eyes of every student were fixed on the young man.


    "Mu Quan" Bloed heard someone near him mutter.


    At that moment


    "Ha!"


    With a shout, a powerful aura erupted from Mu Quan, shocking the entire audience.


    At the same time, his aspect took shape behind him, turning into a five-meters tall lion of fire!


    The powerful auraing from Mu Quan and the intimidating look of the lion of fire shocked the entire stadium. Students and teachers alike looked at him in admiration.


    And then, louder cheers erupted from the stands.


    It was the students and inhabitants of Academy city showing their respects to the strongest student!


    Once Mu Quan arrived in front of the headmistress, she nodded at him before opening her mouth once more.


    "Now, the second strongest club, [Genius Society]!"


    Immediately, a beautiful purple-haired girl stood up from the stands.


    Then, she waved her hand,manding the wind around her.


    The wind quickly turned into a powerful vortex that surprised the students nearby. Then, it lifted the purple-haired girl, before carrying her towards the headmistress!


    When that scene fell on the eyes of the students, the entire stadium fell silent.


    Then


    "S-She is flying!"


    "Amazing!"


    "She is not even a demigod yet!"


    Students after students spoke up in admiration, filling the stadium with cheers and words of astonishment.


    In fact, Bloed realized that the cheers were louder than when Mu Quan appeared, probably because Isabe was a beautiful girl.


    When Isabe arrived in front of Wave, shended on the ground and bowed respectfully, earning a smile from Wave who then spoke up again.


    "The third strongest club, [Mage Tower]!"


    This time, two young men stood up and jumped towards the arena. Behind them, countless magic circles of different colors and designs appeared and disappeared constantly.


    The two young men were noticeably older than Mu Quan and Isabe. They seemed around twenty-seven and twenty-eight years old.


    Even so, their strength was unquestionable. The peak A-Rank auraing from their bodies filled the spectators with awe.


    The cheers the two young men received were less than Mu Quan and Isabe, however, it was not much worse. Obviously, they were well-known in Academy City as well.


    Then, it was the turn of the fourth club, [Martial Arts Club].


    A young tigerkin man and a human woman stepped up this time. They walked calmly towards Headmistress Wave, without releasing their aura in the slightest.


    But with each step they took, the stadium shook fiercely, as though it was experiencing an earthquake.


    Such a disy of strength silenced many students.


    Next came the fifth club, called [Crystal Beauty].


    ording to Bloed''s knowledge, this club only had A-Rank girls and it was famous for the many beauties in it.


    True to its fame, two beautifuldies stepped out this time. Strangely, the girls'' appearance was rather contrasting.


    One of them had crimson-red hair and a wild expression, and the other was an elf with lustrous silver hair that resalted her ice-cold gaze.


    Astonishingly, when they stepped on the arena, fire and ice appeared behind them, following them as though they were the queens of me and frost.


    They were followed by the sixth-ranked club, [Eternal Dream].


    This club was famous for specializing in illusions and mental techniques, and its leader was a male elf, one of the strongest A-Ranks in Academy City.


    When he stepped into the arena, countless images appeared around him. Wolves, tigers, lions, rabbits, birds. Each image was a lifelike illusion, showing the young man''s mastery in it.


    Then, it was the turn of the seventh club.


    "Step forward, [Wings of Liberty]!"


    With the headmistress''s voice, a young man and a young woman jumped towards the stage.


    Bloed nced at them with interest, noticing that the young man was very handsome, around twenty-five years old and with Peak A-Rank strength.


    He was definitively a top powerhouse among the students.


    But when he saw the young woman, his face stiffened.


    Long ck hair, beautiful ck eyes, and an ice-cold expression that seemed to freeze the world itself.


    When Bloed saw that familiar face, he could not help but let out a soft murmur.


    "... Eres..."

 Chapter 353: Meeting Gazes, After Many Years (2)

    Chapter 353: Meeting Gazes, After Many Years (2)


    Long ck hair, beautiful ck eyes, and an ice-cold expression that seemed to freeze the world itself.


    The girl walked slowly towards Headmistress Wave, carrying with her a regal aura that seemed to silence everything around her.


    Strangely, the young man beside her, who was the leader of the club, was walking half a step behind, keeping always a respectful distance as though he was escorting his liege.


    Such a strange scene startled the students observing the ceremony. They could not help but look at the young woman in confusion and bewilderment.


    "Who is her?"


    "It''s my first time seeing her."


    "Why is she taking the lead?"


    "W-Wait, will they just walk towards the Headmistress just like that? All the other clubs showed something amazing..."


    However, even when they arrived in front of the headmistress, the girl and the young man did nothing special.


    They just walked the entire way, not caring for themotion in the surroundings.


    Well, the girl did not care. The young man, on the other hand, was smiling bitterly with a slight trace of embarrassment. It seemed as though he had been forced to do this.


    But while the entire stadium was confused, someone was looking at the ck-haired girl with a nostalgic and slightly lost expression.


    "Eres" Bloed murmured softly.


    "Huh? Do you know her, Bloed?"


    Liu Ying''s question attracted the attention of the rest of the group, who looked at him in curiosity. Only Regina put on aplicated expression.


    At that moment, Gina''s eyes shed, and her ability activated automatically.


    "W-Wait a moment, s-she is Your sister!?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and did not deny it.


    Yes, she was his sister. His twin sister.


    Eres Skysword, the Princess of the Kingdom of Alterna.


    Liu Ying''s eyes opened wide. She then looked towards the girl in surprise.


    At the same time, she turned slightly nervous.


    After all, she knew about Bloed''s origin and his rtionship with his blood family. Thus, when she learned that his sister was here, Liu Ying could not her but put her guard up.


    "Master" Regina grabbed Bloed''s hand with a worried expression. But Bloed shook his head with aplicated smile.


    "It''s alright. I was just surprised."


    Regina stared at Bloed silently and sighed.


    " Should we leave?" Liu Ying suggested. "If you don''t want, we don''t need to participate in this ceremony."


    Bloed hesitated slightly before shaking his head. "If she is in the city, I''ll need to face her eventually. Don''t worry, nothing will happen."


    By this point, Gina, Aya, and Prince Calisto had realized that something was wrong with Bloed''s sister.


    Although they did not know what it was, they could see that Bloed did not seem eager to meet her.


    However, none of them asked the reason. They just looked at each other with worried expressions.


    The ceremony continued after that. The strongest clubs of the city were called out by Headmistress Wave, and their representatives walked towards her.


    Every representative that stepped forward showed a magnificent entrance. Some of them showed their strength to appeal to the students, others used the specialties of their clubs, and others released spells and techniques with marvelous effects.


    This ceremony was also an opportunity for the clubs to attract new members and to show their status, so none of the clubs neglected the entrance of their representatives. Even the shabbiest entrance was rather amazing.


    Well, with the exception of [Wings of Liberty], whose representatives just walked towards the headmistress silently.


    Several clubs attracted Bloed''s attention, such as [Elf Garden], a club made only of Elves, [Beast Brotherhood] a club made purely of beastmen, and [Glory of the Demons], whose members were all demons.


    There were also some clubs with rather peculiar entrances, just like [Knowledge Seekers] that showed a ''chimera'' and brought it in front of Headmistress Wave.


    But despite the clubs'' efforts, the cheers became softer and softer with each club. When it came to the clubs ranked fifty and lower, the cheers were almost inexistent.


    Eventually, it was [Machine Revolution]''s turn.


    Bloed looked at the girls beside him before smiling at Gina.


    "Are you ready?"


    "I am."


    Looking at the excited expression of the honey-haired girl, Bloed chuckled.


    At that moment


    "Ranked 86, [Machine Revolutio], previously named [Golem-Making Club]!"


    With Headmistress Wave''s voice, Bloed and Gina stood up.


    Then, after nodding at the good luck wishes of the girls and Prince Calisto, Bloed pulled Gina''s hand and jumped towards the arena.


    Just before touching the ground, though, his psychic power surged out, activating the storage device in his wrist.


    Then, a vortex of metallic sand formed below him, quickly taking the shape of a four-meter-tall metallic wolf pulsing with bluish arcs of electricity.


    Bloednded on the wolf''s head with an ice-cold expression. At the same time, two metallic birds appeared out of thin air, one taking shape below Gina, flying leisurely with her seated on it, and the other flying around the group in a lively way.


    The appearance of the three metallic pets stunned the students in the stadium.


    For an instant, the entire stadium was silent.


    But then


    "Amazing!"


    "Are they golems?"


    "That wolf is so cool!"


    "Look at the birds. One of them is flying with a girl on it!"


    "What clubs is that? I would like a pet like that."


    Loud cheers and cries of excitement came from the stands.


    In fact, the cheers could notpare to the ones that the first twenty clubs received, but they surpassed any other club!


    Bloed ignored thements from the stands, just standing on Leto''s head expressionlessly as it advanced towards Headmistress Wave.


    He had already decided to make his entrance as cool as possible, but at the same time, he wanted to get the interest of the students.


    And obviously, he was very sessful.


    Just looking at the four-meters-tall wolf walking with Bloed on its head as it shed with bluish electricity shocked many of the students.


    Anyone would want a mount like that!


    Proud of his idea, Bloed looked towards Headmistress Wave and smiled.


    But all of sudden, he felt a gaze on him.


    Instinctively, he looked in the direction of the gaze, finding a ck-haired girl looking at him with an astonished expression.


    Then, her expression turned into one of excitement.

 Chapter 354: Meeting Gazes, After Many Years (3)

    Chapter 354: Meeting Gazes, After Many Years (3)


    Today''s chapters...


    ...


    The day Eres arrived at Academy City, she was visited by the leader of Wings of Liberty, who invited her to join the club.


    Eres did not want to join the club. She came here to find her brother, not to lose her time ying to factions with people weaker than her.


    However, she knew that joining a club could make it easier to find her brother.


    Plus, Wings of Liberty was a club that only epted humans, and it represented them as a race. Due to that reason, it was the most appropriate club for someone like the princess of the biggest human kingdom.


    Aware of that, the princess reluctantly agreed to the invitation.


    However, the situation changed afterward.


    When she learned about the opening ceremony of the War of Clubs, she thought that it could be the perfect opportunity to locate her brother.


    The ceremony would be watched by more than fifty thousand people, and the entire city would pay attention to it. With a bit of luck, her brother would learn that she was in the city after hearing that she appeared in the ceremony.


    And there was a big chance that her brother would contact her after that.


    With that idea, she told ''nicely'' to the leader of the club that she wanted to participate in the ceremony.


    And by nicely, it means she beat down all the resistance.


    Moreover, she refused to go with the nned entrance. With her ice-cold and stern personality, she found such performances distasteful.


    No matter how much the leader of the club tried to convince her, she insisted.


    In the end, the leader sighed and eded to her request with the condition that Eres agreed to be the leader of the club.


    Considering the Eres was the princess of one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world, he did not want to make her an enemy. Plus, he thought that making Eres the leader of the club could bring the club many benefits.


    Plus, Eres was a well-known genius around the world, so there was not going to be much resistance if they made her the new leader of the club.


    Just like that, Eres Skysword became the new leader of Wings of Liberty.


    Of course, the princess did not care. For her, this club was nothing more than a tool to find her brother. If being the leader of the club could make the process easier, she did not mind doing it.


    But she never thought she would find him so easily.


    Eres opened her eyes wide. She looked at the blue-haired young man standing on the metallic wolf with an astonished expression.


    Her body shook, and her ice-cold expression crumbledpletely. When her gaze met his gaze, her eyes were filled with tears.


    But when she was about to rush towards him, the blue-haired young man looked away, as though he did not recognize her.


    Eres''s body froze.


    ''B-Brother?''


    Was she mistaken? Was he not her brother?


    No, she was sure. He was her brother.


    She was still doubtful after hearing that her brother was in Academy City, but now that she saw him, she was sure he was his brother.


    His hair was different, and his strange blue eyes carried nothing of the gentleness they once had. But it was definitively him.


    Her big brother, the person she had tried to find for so long.


    Then, why?


    W-Why did he no recognize her?


    No, that was not important now.


    ''Glenn.''


    "I-I found you" Her lips parted slightly, murmuring in an almost inaudible voice; and her feet moved instinctively towards the person she had missed all these years.


    But at that moment, a stern voice woke her up from her daze.


    "Princess, what are you doing?"


    Startled, Eres realized that the young man beside her, the previous leader of Wings of Liberty, was looking at her with a frown.


    He did not know why, but he had the feeling that this princess was about to do something troublesome.


    And if for some reason, this willful princess ended messing the opening ceremony and offended the headmistress, their club would be done!


    The young man could not allow something like that.


    But Eres did not care.


    "I''m going to meet someone." She said indifferently.


    "Princess, we are still in the middle of the ceremony. You can''t leave now."


    "I don''t care about it."


    The expression of the young man turned icy. "Princess, you already forced us to bring you to the entrance ceremony, and even stopped us from performing the club''s entrance. Do you want to destroy the reputation of our club now?"


    Eres frowned in displeasure. She red at the young man coldly, warning him to stop bothering her and move away.


    She wanted to go with her brother now. She did not have time for this.


    However, the young man did not move.


    When Eres realized that the young man was not nning to leave her go, her expression turned chilling.


    Killing intent surged out of her body, pressing on the young man and all the people around her. At the same time, her mana circted violently, ready to erupt.


    The sudden burst of killing intent surprised all the students around her. The weakest ones even turned pale!


    But at that moment, Eres felt a chill on his spine.


    All of sudden, she realized that Headmistress Eve was looking at her with a small smile.


    Her eyes, however, were squinted sharply.


    Eres understood the meaning behind her gaze instantly.


    ''If you dare to mess this up, I won''t care if you are a princess.''


    Eres''s expression changed. When she saw that gaze, she was attacked by a powerful fear.


    She bit her lips and looked at the headmistress unwillingly.


    She just wanted to go to her brother! She just wanted to see him after so many years!


    ''Patience I already found him I can wait a bit longer.''


    The headmistress was not someone she could face right now. Plus, it was not wise to make her an enemy.


    With that thought, Eres retracted her mana and killing intent and looked at the young man that had just arrived in front of Headmistress Wave with eyes full of longing.


    "Brother"


    She murmured softly.


    However, the blue-haired young man did not look at her again.


    "My hero, she is still looking at you" Gina whispered softly with a look of wonder. "Amazing. She has not moved her gaze away in thest five minutes"


    Bloed rolled his eyes.


    ''Do you think I didn''t notice?''


    He could not help but sigh and put on a bitter smile.


    " I just hope she doesn''t do anything stupid."


    Bloed knew that Eres had been searching for him, but he did not understand why she was so anxious.


    Certainly, they were very close when he was still a prince, but it had been five years since then. In all honesty, the current him only had a vague impression of this sister of his.


    Fortunately, Headmistress Wave stopped Eres just now, otherwise, he had the feeling Eres would have done something that would have brought him a lot of trouble.


    Just at that moment, thest one of the top one hundred clubs performed its entrance and the first part of the opening ceremony finally ended.


    Now, it was time for the second part.


    Headmistress Wave looked at the representatives of the top one hundred clubs and smiled gently.


    "Following the tradition, one of you will be selected to challenge another club in the first battle of this War of Clubs. Now, I''ll cast a spell that will choose one of you at random."


    The representatives of the top one hundred clubs put on serious expressions and nodded. Seeing that, Wave smiled and waved her hand, creating a magic circle above the group.


    "Choose."


    With Headmistress Wave''smand, the magic circle lit up briefly before turning into a pir of light.


    Then, the pir of light fell on a fox girl.


    The fox girl, leader of [Queens of Fire], ranked ny-six, was startled before taking a step forward.


    "Me Rain, leader of [Queens of Fire]. I''m honored for being chosen."


    "Miss Me, It looks like you are the lucky one." Headmistress Wave chuckled softly. "You can choose your opponent."


    "Thank you, headmistress."


    After bowing slightly, the fox girl looked around at the representatives of the top one hundred clubs.


    Finally, her gaze stopped in a blue-haired boy.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry when he saw that.


    And just as he expected


    "I would like to challenge [Machine Revolution], headmistress."


    The fox girl selected them.


    "[Machine Revolutio], huh." Wave''s eyes looked at Bloed with a yful twinkle as she smiled. "Mr. Bloed Norman, please step forward. You will take part in the first battle of this War of Clubs."


    With a wry smile, Bloed nodded before putting on a serious expression.


    "I understand."

 Chapter 355: Show of Strength (1)

    Chapter 355: Show of Strength (1)


    Bloed was not very surprised when the fox girl chose him. Quite the opposite, he was expecting it.


    The reason? His club was the ''weakest'' of all the clubs here.


    The leaders and representatives of the other clubs were very strong. Even the weakest of them was at thete stages of A-Rank, and many of them were at the peak of A-Rank.


    Bloed, on the other hand, was just ate-stage B-Grade ESPer, and that was after his psychic energy was boosted by the Heart of the Forest two months ago. Otherwise, his cultivation would have been lower.


    That was an entire rank below the other leaders!


    Gina was even worse. She was just a D-Rank practitioner. Many people were even wondering why she was here.


    Thus, thebination of Bloed and Gina was effectively the weakest club in this ceremony.


    After the fox girl challenged Bloed, the other leaders and representatives left the stage. They returned to their seats to watch the battle between [Queens of Fire] and [Machine Revolutio].


    Bloed felt several gazes on him while they were leaving. Some were filled with curiosity, others with schadenfreude, and one of them,ing from a ck-haired girl, was filled with worry.


    However, Bloed did not pay attention to any of them.


    He just took a deep breath to get ready for the battle.


    "Miss Me, how do you want to do it?" Headmistress Wave asked after the other clubs left. "One against one or two versus two?"


    "One against one." The fox girl said with a slightly arrogant smile. "I don''t want to bully them so much."


    Bloed rolled his eyes before smiling at Gina. Understanding his intention, Gina smiled back and returned to her seat together with her two bird pets, leaving only Bloed on the stage.


    Immediately after that, Bloed and Me, the fox girl, got ready to start their battle.


    "Is Big brother Bloed going to be alright?" Prince Calisto could not help but ask with a worried expression. "T-That girl is much stronger than him."


    "Don''t worry. Bloed is very strong. Actually, I can''t imagine him losing unless he faces a demigod." Liu Ying replied with a rxed shrug.


    Prince Calisto was startled.


    Was Bloed really so strong?


    To his surprise, though, he realized that he was the only one worried.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and even Gina were looking towards the arena as though they were going to see a good show. They did not seem worried about Bloed losing


    Only Regina was looking at another ce.


    She was looking at a ck-haired girl looking at Bloed with an anxious and concerned expression.


    And judging by the way her mana and killing intent was leaking out of her body, it seemed like she was going to jump into the battle at any moment.


    Regina frowned. But one secondter, she sighed and whispered something softly.


    "Don''t worry about him. He is not so weak as to need your help."


    Immediately, the ck-haired girl jumped in surprise.


    "Who?" She put on an ice-cold look and looked around her, but she could not find the owner of the voice.


    "Just don''t interfere. He never needed your protection all these years, and he doesn''t need it now." Regina spoke up again indifferently, before stopping paying attention to her and fixing her gaze on her master.


    As for Eres, although she was confused, she calmed down slightly.


    Then, her beautiful ck eyes focused on her brother.


    In the arena, Bloed looked at the fox girl in front of him with a serious expression. He did not hesitate to take Tito out and order it to turn into an armor.


    At the same time, Leto turned into a whirlpool of metallic sand that circled around him while Oculus hid in the sky above them.


    Bloed did not dare to underestimate the fox girl in front of him. Even if her club''s rank was just ny-six, he knew that the fox girl was strong.


    Her cultivation was at thete stages of A-Rank; and she was a student of Academy City, so her true strength should be stronger than her cultivation.


    Of course, Bloed was not afraid. But he just wanted to be ready just in case.


    Seeing that, the fox girl raised an eyebrow with an amused expression.


    "Don''t worry too much, kid. I''ll go easy on you."


    "Really?" Bloed smiled. "Then I should thank you in advance."


    The fox girl was startled before chuckling softly.


    "Hehe, you are an amusing kid. I saw what you did during the entrance ceremony. I must admit that you are pretty strong and talented for someone of your age. Unfortunately, you are still too young. I don''t n to lose to a B-Rank."


    "Well, I can only do my best then."


    "You should." The fox girl nodded and chuckled again. "Don''t make it too easy for me."


    Immediately, her friendly and yful aura changedpletely.


    A powerful fighting intent surged around her, and mes started to leak from her fox tail and ears.


    Even from twenty meters away, Bloed could feel the heat of her mes.


    In an instant, the fox girl had turned into a Queen of Fire.


    "Are you ready?" Headmistress Wave asked at that moment. "Then, let the first battle of the War of Clubs start!"


    As soon as the Headmistress signaled the start of the battle, the fox girl moved.


    "[Fire Queen]!"


    With two words, several magic circles appeared around her, turning into a giant five-meter-tall fox of fire!


    Then, the fox of fire took a step forward beforeunching itself towards Bloed!


    The giant fox of fire arrived in front of Bloed in an instant. It opened its mouth and let out a roar, before raising its paw and attacking Bloed!


    Such a powerful attack surprised many of the spectators. It was an attack reaching the peak of A-Rank!


    It was obvious that despite her words of before, the fox girl did not n to hold back.


    But when the students spectating the battle thought that Bloed was done, the metallic sand around him surged up!


    Then, it turned into a gigantic wolf mouth filled with electricity.


    "ROOOOARRRRR!!!"


    With a roar, the metallic wolf shed against the fox of fire!


    *Boom!!!*


    The sh of the two beasts created a shockwave that extended until the stands. The barrier protecting the audience shook fiercely.


    However, the sharp-eyed students noticed that the two beasts were not equaled.


    Despite its fierce appearance, the metallic wolf was being pushed back by the fox of fire!


    It was obvious it would be defeated before long!


    But despite that, Bloed was calm.


    His blue eyes shed with a confident glow, and his gaze pierced through the gaps in the fire and the metallic sand, meeting the eyes of the fox girl.


    With a thought, [Split Mind] was activated, followed by [Overdrive].


    Then, he raised his saber.


    "[Imaginary sh]."


    With a calm voice that resounded through the entire stadium, his saber was swung down.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N:


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 356: Show of Strength (2)

    Chapter 356: Show of Strength (2)


    Yesterday''s chapters...


    ...


    "[Imaginary sh]."


    When Bloed''s calm voice sounded, the atmosphere in the entire stadium changed.


    It was as though a terrible monster had been released, destined to bring destruction to all things.


    Instinctively, the strongest students in the stands stood up. Even when the attack was not directed towards them, their instincts told them to protect themselves.


    At the same time, Wave''s face changed.


    "Careful!"


    But it was toote.


    Under the fox girl''s perplexed eyes, [Molecr Disintegration] bisected the fox of fire, broke through her mana defenses, cut through her skin, and pierced her bones.


    The fox girl did not even manage to react. Only her instincts as beastman told her that something was terribly wrong.


    ''I''m dead''


    But then


    *Bam!*


    A hand appeared suddenly in the path of the invisible de, creating a wall of mana that blocked it.


    Then, Headmistress Wave grunted, clenching her hand and turning the wall of mana into a powerful mana storm that struck Bloed''s Imaginary sh.


    "Break!"


    Instantly, her mana shed with the disintegrative energy, quickly wearing it down until it disappearedpletely.


    When she was done, she narrowed her eyes and looked at Bloed with a sharp gaze.


    " Very impressive."


    She then smiled before looking at the audience.


    "The winner is Bloed Norman, leader of [Machine Revolution]."


    Only at that moment did the people in the stands reacted.


    " What in the hell happened?" A student could not help but ask confused.


    He only saw the blue-haired young man swing his saber. Then, the headmistress appeared in front of the fox girl and announced that the young man had won.


    But in the next instant, the student''s eyes shrunk.


    Because he saw that the fox girl was standing behind the headmistress with her body drenched in blood and her eyes opened wide in fear.


    And in her body, a long cut extended from her right shoulder, stopping just a few centimeters before reaching her heart.


    "How in the hell?"


    The student was not the only one surprised. Most of the people in the audience could not understand what happened when Bloed swung his saber down.


    Only a few ones were looking at Bloed with a solemn expression.


    "What a monster" The leader of the Martial Arts Club could not stop himself from sighing.


    "Leader, what in the hell did he do?"


    " I don''t know.... However, if someday you have to fight him, you better don''t try to block it."


    "Huh?"


    "Even I am not confident about blocking whatever he did. I will have to avoid it."


    The girl opened her eyes wide in surprise. Then, she looked at the blue-haired boy with an expression of fear.


    At the same time, the leader of [Beast Brotherhood] was staring at Bloed fixedly.


    " So the rumors were true, huh."


    When he heard that Bloed had killed eleven A-Rank and B-Rank practitioners with a saber sh, he did not believe itpletely.


    However, after seeing that saber sh, he was sure that the rumors were true.


    Because


    ''My instincts warned me to keep away from it.''


    Until now, the only two students that had made him felt so threatened were Mu Quan and Isabe.


    Now, a third one had appeared.


    ''A new monster has appeared in the city, huh.'' The leader of [Beast Brotherhood] smiled bitterly.


    Simrly, In a nearby seat, Isabe Castor was looking at Bloed with her eyes opened wide.


    ''Impossible! How could he have injured master!?''


    She was sure of it. She was sure she saw an injury in her master''s hand after she stopped the attack.


    However, the wound disappeared in the next instant. It disappeared so quickly that Isabe thought it was an illusion.


    ''Am I imagining things?''


    Frowning, Isabe looked at the demon young man seated several meters away, trying to gauge his reaction.


    The strongest student in the city, Mu Quan.


    But right now, he was looking towards the arena as though he had met a terrible enemy.


    Meanwhile, the ck-haired girl in the seats of [Wings of Liberty] was looking towards the blue-haired young man with an astonished expression.


    Joy, excitement, pride, and relief appeared on her face at the same time.


    ''So strong! My big brother is so strong! I knew it! He is not trash!''


    But at the same time, her eyes shed with a tinge of confusion.


    " That attack I don''t think it''s [Skysword]."


    While the students in the stands were trying to understand what happened in the arena, the fox girl was looking towards Bloed with an expression of shock and fear.


    "You"


    But before she could say anything, her body shook violently and a lot of blood spurt out of her wound.


    Headmistress Wave frowned slightly before waving her hand. Instantly, a magic circle appeared around the fox girl, suppressing her injuries and slowly healing them.


    "You should not talk or move for a while. Your injuries are very serious. You could have died if I don''t stop the attack at thest second."


    The headmistress red at Bloed angrily when she mentioned that.


    Bloed could only smile wryly.


    "Actually, I would have stopped the attack just before reaching her heart even if you don''t intervene, Headmistress."


    In effect, the fact that the girl was injured and not dead showed that Bloed had held back when he attacked.


    Otherwise, he could have extended the range of [Imaginary sh], and instead of injuring the fox girl, he would have bisected her.


    Or he could have aimed to the fox girl''s neck and not even Headmistress Wave would have been able to save her.


    Perhaps aware of that, Headmistress Wave did not refute Bloed''s words.


    "You are right. Go back to your seat, and congrattions on winning the first battle of the War of Clubs."


    "Thank you. And sorry to you, senior. I''ll treat you to a meal after your wounds heal."


    The fox girl said nothing, but the way her face turned white was enough for Bloed to know that she did not like the idea very much.


    Bloed put on a wry smile and shook his head. Then, he returned calmly to his seat.


    Behind him, Tito and Leto followed him as two loyal pets.


    And an instantter, the entire stadium erupted in cheers.

 Chapter 357: Rules

    Chapter 357: Rules


    Bloed''s battle shocked the entire stadium. Teachers and students alike were looking at him with admiration and surprise.


    They were sure that once the news about the battle spread through the city, Bloed''s name would be famous.


    After all, he had defeated ate-stage A-Rank student when he was just at thete B-Rank.


    It was an entire rank of difference.


    In truth, many students in Academy City had done simr things before. There were a lot of geniuses in Academy City able to defeat enemies with a higher mana rank.


    However, the difference was usually half rank higher at most. Plus, they could not do it as overwhelmingly as Bloed did.


    He had used only an attack to defeat the leader of [Queens of Fire]!


    As for his opponent, she was not even able to react to the attack.


    But despite the hot gazes in his back, Bloed remained calm. After returning to his seat and receiving the congrattion of his club members, he once more looked towards the arena.


    Headmistress Wave sent Me, the leader of [Queens of Fire], to the infirmary before continuing with the opening ceremony.


    It was time to exin the rules of the Wars of Club.


    The rules were rather simple. The War of Clubs wouldst a total of four weeks, during which the clubs of Academy City wouldpete to get a better ranking.


    There were two ways to increase the ranking. Through missions or through challenges.


    Academy City would release a number of missions each day that the clubs could receive andplete. Each missionpleted would give the clubs a determined number of points, and these points were used to determine the club''s ranking.


    If a clubpleted harder missions, it would receive more points and its ranking would be higher.


    The rules of the challenges were a bit moreplicated.


    A club could challenge only clubs with a higher ranking than it.


    A club could be challenged only once each week, for a maximum of four challenges during the War of Clubs.


    Each club had only two opportunities to challenge other clubs. After that, it could not do more challenges.


    If more than a club challenged the same club simultaneously, then they will have a smallpetition to decide who the challenger will be.


    If the challenged club loses the battle, then it will give its points to the club that defeated it in exchange for the points of theter, effectively switching the two clubs'' rankings.


    If the challenged club wins the battle, then it will receive a third of the points of the challenger as its reward.


    In the end, the number of points each club can get before the War of Clubs ends would determine their rankings.


    Something curious was that the challenges did not consist only of battles; instead, there was a total of fifty different modes of challenge possible, including individual battles, group battles, tower capture, hunt, race, and even cooking contests.


    The kind of challenge was decided at random, so most clubs prepared for different sceneries before challenging another club. Bloed was a bit worried about this part. If his club got something like a ten against ten battle when he was challenged, he did not have the slightest idea about how they could win it.


    In the end, he could only pray to the goddess of luck. Unfortunately, there was not such a goddess in this world.


    After the rules were exined, the opening ceremony ended. Bloed''s group then left the stadium and returned to the headquarters of Machine Revolutio.


    On the way, Bloed noticed that a lot of people were looking and pointing at him. Obviously, his performance during the battle against the leader of [Queens of Fire] had impressed a lot of people.


    Even Prince Calisto had been looking at him with start in his eyes since the battle ended. His gaze was so hot that Bloed felt a bit ufortable with it.


    He even wondered for an instant if the young prince was gay.


    Fortunately, his gaze only seemed to contained admiration, making Bloed sigh in relief.


    "It just means that my hero is very impressive. I knew that you were going to win, but I never thought you would be so awesome."


    "Mm Bloed was very cool."


    "I feel a bit of pity for the girl that fought him, though. The poor girl will be traumatized after this."


    Bloed could only smile wryly at the words of Gina, Aya, and Liu Ying.


    Actually, Bloed did not want to use [Imaginary sh] in the battle, but he did not have other choices.


    The leader of [Queens of Fire] was not weak. Quite the opposite, she was very strong.


    She was so strong that Bloed was not confident in defeating her without using [Imaginary sh].


    Thus, instead of fighting her in a long battle that he was not confident in winning, he decided to use [Imaginary sh] from the get-go.


    That way, the overwhelming power of the technique would create a sense of mystery around him and intimidate many of the parties watching [Machine Revolutio] with greedy eyes.


    Right now, many people should be wondering about exactly how powerful he was and if they could defeat him in battle.


    What is the secret behind his technique? Can he use it freely? And if yes, how many times can he use it?


    These doubts would intimidate many of the clubs that wanted to take advantage of [Machine Revolutio].


    Of course, Bloed was not so nave as to think that it would be enough to stop all the clubs that wanted to attack [Machine Revolutio]. But at the very least, it would give them a bit more time.


    Most likely, the strongest of them would wait until they have a clearer idea of [Machine Revolutio] strength to attack.


    But right now, Bloed had other troubles to worry about.


    Not even five minutes after the group left the stadium, they heard someone rushing towards them.


    When the group turned around, they saw a ck-haired girl running towards them with an anxious, apprehensive, and expectant look.


    The girl stopped five meters away from them and panted softly. She then looked at the blue-haired young man in the middle of the group and opened her lips tremblingly.


    " Brother"


    Bloed fell silent.


    For several seconds, he did not know how to reply. He could only look at the girl with aplicated gaze.


    Finally, he opened his mouth with a sigh.


    "You have grown, Eres."


    ....


    I''m not sure if the rules are clear. If you don''t understand,ment and I''ll try my best to exin them...


    ...


    Remember to support me on /aidnovels

 Chapter 358: Brother and Sister

    Chapter 358: Brother and Sister


    In the end, Bloed decided to invite Eres to the tower.


    Eres kept silent during the entire way, asionally ncing at Bloed with an anxious, excited, apprehensive, and happy expression.


    Due to that, the atmosphere for the rest of the group was a bit awkward.


    Most of them did not know that Eres was a princess, but just the fact that she was Bloed''s sister made the situation strange.


    In fact, Prince Calisto, Gina, and Aya did not even know that Bloed had a sister.


    Every time they asked Bloed about his family, he only mentioned his mother, Cami. He had never mentioned the existence of a sister before.


    That was enough for them to notice that something was wrong.


    When the group arrived at the tower, Bloed looked at Eres with aplicated expression and sighed.


    "Follow me, we will talk in a private ce."


    " Okay."


    Liu Ying and Regina looked at each other with worried expressions. "Bloed, should I go with you?" Liu Ying asked hesitantly.


    "It''s alright, Liu Ying. Don''t worry. You too, Regina, stay here."


    "Master"


    "I''m alright." Bloed smiled softly to reassure the girls before looking at his sister.


    "Come with me, Eres."


    Bloed then led Eres to the top floor of the tower, the twelfth floor, where his personalboratory was located.


    After closing the door of theboratory, he looked at Eres with aplicated expression.


    " You have grown a lot, Eres." He finally said with a sigh.


    "Brother" Eres''s voice trembled.


    Bloed could see countless emotions shing through her eyes. Fear, nervousness, anxiousness, excitement, happiness, anticipation


    In the end, all these emotions transformed into tears that slid down her cheeks.


    "Brother!"


    Before Bloed could react, Eres threw herself into his arms, putting her head on his chest and crying bitterly.


    "Brother I-I missed you, brother Hic I-I missed you so much"


    "It''s alright, it''s alright"


    "No! Its not." Eres shook her head fiercely, her tears drenching Bloed''s shirt. "Do you know, brother? I-I have been trying to find you for so long For so long, brother B-But I could not find you"


    Bloed fell silent with aplicated expression.


    "O-Once, I-I even thought that you were dead I cried so much then, brother I cried as I thought that I would not see you again"


    ""


    "Brother I''m so d So d to find you So d"


    Bloed sighed. He looked down at the ck-haired girl crying on his chest and his expression turned bitter.


    He could clearly feel Eres''s emotions. Her sadness after remembering these memories, and the happiness of seeing him again.


    However, he did not know how to respond to it.


    Because he realized that his feelings were not as strong as her.


    Even though Eres was the only person in that family that he did not resent, strangely, he realized that he did not feel much affection for her either.


    Actually, since the day he left the exilednds, he had not thought even once about finding her.


    For an instant, he could not help but feel guilty.


    However, he quickly got rid of that feeling.


    ''I wanted to cut all my ties with that family.''


    But now that Eres was crying bitterly in his arms, he could not be as ruthless as to reject her.


    In the end, he could only stroke her head gently.


    Strangely, though, he realized that Eres''s body rxed after he did that.


    Eres cried on his chest for almost half an hour. Her tears drenching his shirt until it waspletely soaked.


    At some point, she had stopped talking, just gripping Bloed''s shirt as she cried on his chest and Bloed stroked her ck hair.


    Once Eres finished talking, she looked up at Bloed with a sad gaze.


    " Brother, can I hear your story?"


    Bloed hesitated for a moment before nodding. He then started to talk about his life in the exilednds.


    He talked about how he survived after being abandoned, how he met Cami and Tito, and how he met Regina and Liu Ying.


    Of course, he omitted some parts of the story like Regina and Liu Ying''s true identity, or the fact that Cami was someone from another world. He just gave her a brief rundown of his life during thest five years.


    Eres listened attentively, not interrupting even once.


    During the entire time, she was glued to Bloed, her hands gripping his shirt as though she was afraid that he would disappear.


    When Bloed finished his story, Eres''s eyes werepletely red.


    "Brother, you"


    "Stop. You don''t need to pity me. Actually, I think I''m very fortunate. Because thanks to that I met my mother."


    Eres put on aplicated expression.


    When she heard Bloed talking about his adoptive mother, Cami, she could feel the pride and gentleness in his voice.


    It waspletely different from the coldness he emitted when he talked about the royal family.


    Eres sighed. Instead of thinking about that, she decided to tell Bloed about her life during thest five years.


    How she cried when he was taken away, how she swore to herself that she would find him, how she trained harder than anyone to be strong enough to find him.


    As Bloed heard her story, his smile turned wrier and wrier.


    Because he noticed that since the day he was taken away five years ago, Eres had lived her life with a single goal.


    Him.


    Bloed did not know how to feel about that.


    In the end, he could only sigh.


    Eres finished telling her story and once more put her head on Bloed chest as Bloed continued stroking it.


    "Brother?"


    "Hm?"


    " Will you return with me?"


    The hand that was stroking Eres''s hair paused for a moment.


    Then, Bloed sighed.


    "I won''t."


    Eres stiffened. She hurriedly looked up and grabbed Bloed''s hand.


    "Why? You are strong now, brother! Not even father will dare to stop you from going back! You can be a prince again, and we can be together once more!"


    "Eres"


    "Let''s go back, brother. I will talk to father personally. I will make sure he apologizes properly!"


    "Eres"


    "If you want, I can even support you to be the next king. I don''t like our eldest brother, anyway. I''m sure you will be a bett"


    "Eres, stop." Bloed''s voice turned ice-cold.


    The ck-haired princess froze. She trembled when she felt the coldness in Bloed''s voice.


    "B-Brother?"


    "I won''t go back. I''m sorry, but I''m not a Skysword anymore. Right now, my name is Bloed Norman."


    Eres''s eyes opened wide.


    But then, she smiled bitterly.


    " I see."


    She could see it in her bother''s eyes.


    When he mentioned ''Skysword'', his voice was so cold that it seemed as it wanted to freeze the air.


    "So we are not siblings anymore, huh." Eres''s eyes were filled with resignation.


    Bloed fell silent, unable to reply.


    After several seconds, Eres finally took a deep breath and nodded.


    "I understand."


    "... Thanks." Bloed smiled and stroked Eres''s hair again, making the princess''s lips curve up.


    She then wrapped her arms around his back and closed her eyes peacefully.


    " Brother, can we stay like this a bit longer?"


    "Well, we have already been like this for one hour. A bit more doesn''t matter."


    Eres chuckled and hugged Bloed with as much strength as she could.


    Fifteen minutester, she took a step back and looked at her brother with a determined expression.


    "Brother, I need to leave for a while. I''ll be back soon."


    "You cane whenever you want." Bloed smiled gently.


    "Hehe, alright. I like that." Hugging Bloed again, the princess smile and closed her eyes.


    Ten minutester, Bloed apanied Eres until the exit.


    "Wait for me, Brother. I''lle back soon."


    "Okay, okay. Take care in the way."


    "I will By the way, I like your new look, although the ck hair was nice as well."


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.


    He liked the blue hair more.


    After Eres left, Regina, Liu Ying, and the other girls approached him.


    "Are you alright, master?"


    "I am." Bloed smiled wryly. "Don''t worry, Eres is a good girl."


    "I feel a bitplicated meeting my sister-inw so suddenly." Liu Ying said with aplicated smile, making Bloed roll his eyes.


    At that moment, Sara spoke up.


    "By the way, my lord. Something happened while you were talking with your sister?"


    "Huh?"


    Regina, Liu Ying, and the others put on serious expressions immediately.


    "We received a challenge."

 Chapter 359: Gathered Feathers

    Chapter 359: Gathered Feathers


    Half an hourter, the entire club but Diodora was reunited in the meeting hall on the eleventh floor.


    "What club challenged us?" Bloed asked.


    "It''s called [Gathered Feathers]." Liu Ying replied. "Ranked 124. It''s a rtively famous club outside the top 100."


    "And what kind of challenge was selected?"


    The girls looked at each other with serious expressions.


    " Tower Conquest. It''s scheduled for tomorrow." Regina was the one that replied.


    Bloed fell silent.


    Tower conquest was one of the most popr challenge modes. In this kind of challenge, both clubs wouldpete using their headquarters as their bases.


    The objective of the game was to invade the tower of the enemy and destroy the core inside it. The first club to destroy the enemy core was the winner.


    The clubs couldn''t hide the core; and instead, they must put it in a visible ce on the first floor of their base. In other words, once the base is invaded, defeat is almost certain.


    It was a rather simple game, but it tested the strength, strategic ability, and teamwork of both clubs. Due to it, it was very popr.


    However


    "Tower Conquest is very disadvantageous for us." Liu Ying said with a smile. "In this kind of game, clubs with bigger numbers have the advantage. Meanwhile, our club only has nine members without including Regina, and one of them won''t participate in the game."


    Bloed nodded and tapped his forehead a pair of times, deep in thought.


    "Do any of you knows any information about the club?" Bloed asked.


    "I-I do." Prince Calisto raised his hand quickly. "I-I told my men to investigate the clubs when I learned we would be participating in the War of Clubs, and [Gathered Feathers] is included in the clubs I investigated."


    The lionkin prince then passed Bloed a document containing information about [Gathered Feathers].


    To Bloed''s surprise, the document was very detailed. It included the number of members, their strength, their specialties, and the teacher in charge of the club.


    It even included the strength and battle styles of the top powerhouses of the club.


    Bloed looked at Prince Calisto with a praising look.


    "Well done, Prince. This information is very useful."


    "Hehe."


    [Gathered Feathers] was a rtively small club. It had just thirty-three members, with ate A-Rank as the leader and five other A-Ranks as the sub-leaders.


    Of the sub-leaders, one of them was atte A-Rank, and the other four were two at middle A-Rank, and another two at the initial stages of A-Rank.


    Besides them, the club had twenty-eight other members, twelve of them were B-Ranks and the other fourteen were C-Ranks.


    When Bloed finished reading the information, the expressions of the group were grave.


    " It will be hard." Aya said with aplicated expression.


    Regina, Liu Ying, Gina, Sara, and the others nodded.


    But to their surprise, Bloed shook his head.


    "Quite the opposite, we are very lucky."


    "Huh?"


    Seeing the shocked expressions of the group, Bloed chuckled.


    "You can say that this game was made for us. And you, Sara, will be the key to our victory."


    "My lord?"


    "Why are you surprised? You only need to do one thing. To destroy their core. With your abilities, it should be very easy."


    Sara was startled. But soon, her eyes lit up.


    "I see. I understand, my lord. I will not disappoint you."


    "I know you will not." Bloed smiled.


    Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina, who knew about Sara''s abilities, became excited immediately. They could already imagine the results of tomorrow''s challenge.


    But


    "What about the defense, My hero?" Gina tilted her head and asked. "If the five A-Ranks of the enemy attack at the same time, we will be unable to stop them."


    Bloed chuckled and put on a mysterious expression.


    "Can''t you see it with your abilities?"


    Startled, Gina closed her eyes and used her ESP power.


    The next second, she opened them with an expression of surprise.


    "That is possible?"


    "ording to the rules, it is."


    "My hero, you are amazing!"


    Bloed chuckled again and patted the honey-haired girl''s head.


    At the same time, he looked at the confused faces of his club members and grinned.


    "Did you forget the focus of our club?"


    Liu Ying, Aya, and the others were still confused. Only Regina fell deep in thought before her eyes lit up.


    "I see."


    "Hey, can someone exin to me what is happening?" Liu Ying said with an exasperated expression. "Aya, do you understand?"


    The cat girl shook her head.


    "So it was not only me. Bloed! Exin."


    Bloed chuckled at his girlfriend and started to exin.


    Soon, the eyes of the entire group were shining in excitement.


    In the headquarters of Wings of Liberty.


    "Princess, what is the meaning of it!?" The now ex-leader of the club faced the princess of the Kingdom of Alterna with a furious expression. "What do you mean when you said you are leaving the club?"


    "Wasn''t I clear enough?" Eres stared at the leader of the club coldly. "I''m not interested in this club anymore, so I''m leaving."


    "But you are the club leader!"


    "You can be the leader if you want! I don''t care."


    The face of the young man turned ugly. He clenched his teeth and stared at the ck-haired girl in front of him with rage, anger, and humiliation.


    How could he allow this? If Eres leaves the club and then joins another club, the impact on [Wings of Liberty] would be enormous!


    In the worst of the cases, the club could be disbanded!


    After all, Eres was a famous princess of the greatest human kingdom. If rumors spread that the princess left the club to join another club, then many people would put in doubt the legitimacy of Wings of Liberty as the ''Human Club''.


    The problem was that he did not know how to stop her.


    Eres was Alterna''s Princess. She was not someone that he could offend easily.


    It was not as though he could force her to remain in the club.


    But at that moment, his salvation arrived.


    All of sudden, a voice came from the entrance.


    "Eres, you should think about the consequences of your actions. As a princess, you can''t be willful."


    Eres''s face turned ice-cold. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw a ck-haired woman approaching her.


    "Your majesty." She bowed slightly with a mechanical voice.


    However, you could not feel the slightest emotional fluctuation in it.


    The Queen smiled bitterly when she saw that.


    " You should call me mom, Eres."


    "Please stop joking, Your Majesty," Eres said coldly. "As a princess, I can''t be disrespectful to you even if we are family."


    "Eres"


    But Eres ignored the queen and looked at the ex-leader of [Wings of Liberty].


    "Her Majesty is right. As a princess, I can''t be willful. Very well, I will not leave the club."


    The ex-leader of the club sighed in relief. He hurriedly bowed at Eres and nodded.


    "Thank you, Princess."


    "Mm. If there is nothing more, I''ll leave. Your Majesty, it was a pleasure to meet you." Eres then turned around to leave.


    Seeing that, the Queen extended her hand to stop her, but in the end, she said nothing and just shook her head with a sad expression.


    " I''m sorry" She said.


    But Eres feigned that she did not hear it.


    Once she left, Eres bit her lips and put on an unwilling look.


    Just a few minutes ago, she learned that her brother''s club had been challenged. In other words, he needed her help.


    But if she could not leave this club, she could not help him.


    "But I don''t think brother wants to see her And if I join brother''s club, she surely will discover him."


    Eres heaved a long sigh and put on a troubled expression.


    "Brother, what should I do?"

 Chapter 360: Tower Conquest (1)

    Chapter 360: Tower Conquest (1)


    The next day, a lot of people appeared in the surroundings of the Machine Revolutio tower.


    Without exception, all of them were here to spectate the game between [Machine Revolutio] and [Gathered Feathers].


    One hour before the start of the game, more than five thousand students were in the surroundings of the headquarters of both clubs.


    This number was surprisingly high taking into ount that both clubs were of a rather low rank. Generally, clubs of this rank did not gather many spectators.


    However, it was different this time.


    Many people were here after seeing or hearing about Bloed''s battle against the leader of [Queens of Fire]. They came to see the person that took down ate A-Rank practitioner with one blow.


    Surprisingly, even the top students of Academy City were here.


    Mu Quan, the leader of [Guardian Order]; Isabe Castor, the leader of [Genius Society]; Dino Campbell, the leader of [Mage Tower], Selha Deena, the leader of [Crystal Beauty], George, the leader of the [Martial Arts Club].


    "It''s unusual to see so many of us in the same ce." Isabe giggled when she saw Mu Quan and the others.


    They were not only the leaders of the strongest clubs in Academy City but also the strongest students in the city. The fact that so many of them were here showed how much they were shocked by Bloed yesterday.


    "But you were thest person that I expected to see you here, Mu Quan," Isabe spoke to the strongest student in the city. "You usually don''t pay attention to this kind of thing."


    " I had nothing else to do." Mu Quan replied indifferently.


    "Is it so?" A chuckle escaped from Isabe''s mouth, but she did not bother to deny Mu Quan''s obvious lie. "Well, now that you are here, who do you think will win?"


    Mu Quan did not reply. Instead, a burly young man with an overwhelming aura around him spoke up.


    He was George, the leader of the Martial Arts Club.


    "The boy will lose this time. Even if he is strong, the disadvantage is too great."


    "So you think the same, huh." Isabe chuckled, agreeing with his opinion.


    In fact, most students thought like that.


    Even if Bloed was strong, his club had only eight or nine members. That was a huge disadvantage against the thirty-three members of [Gathered Feathers]. At least, in this kind of game.


    At that moment, Isabe saw a young woman looking towards the Machine Revolutio tower with a concerned look.


    ''That girl She is the weird girl that appeared with Wings of Liberty yesterday Weird, the leader of Wings of Liberty is following behind her again. Who is she?''


    Isabe frowned. However, she did not think too much about it.


    Instead, she was more curious about the worried look the girl was directing towards the Machine Revolutio tower.


    ''Now that I think about it, she also behaved strangely when Machine Revolutio appeared in the opening ceremony, right?''


    Isabe narrowed her eyes.


    Her instincts as a woman were telling her that something fishy was going on.


    However, she did not know what the problem was.


    Just at that moment, a demigod appeared in the air between the headquarters of both clubs.


    "It''s time." He said. "Let''s start the Tower Conquest between [Machine Revolutio] and [Gathered Feathers]!"


    .


    "It looks like it''s time." Inside the tower, Bloed looked at the members of the club and nodded. "You know what to do. Let''s win this game."


    "Understood~"


    "Mm."


    "Don''t worry, my hero."


    Bloed smiled at the answers of Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina before looking at Elwha, the princess of the elves that joined the club recently. "Miss Elwha, are you sure you want to participate?"


    "I''m sure." The white-haired elf princess nodded with a firm gaze, her silver eyes glowing with determination. "Don''t worry, nobody should be able to recognize me right now. Plus, I''ll feel bad if I don''t pay you back after all the help you have given me."


    "I understand. I will leave one of the A-Ranks to you. Are you confident?"


    "That is easy." Elwha grinned.


    Bloed nodded and looked at thest person participating in today''s game.


    "How about you, Sara?"


    "Leave it to me, my lord. I promise to you that I''ll destroy their core."


    Bloed chuckled and grinned.


    "Great, then let''s show them that they messed with the wrong club."


    Meanwhile, in the Great Library.


    Headmistress Wave was looking in the direction of the Machine Revolutio tower with aplicated expression on her face.


    "Finally, it''s starting."


    " Are you sure about this, Wave?" A deadpan voice sounded at that moment and a golden-haired fox girl appeared behind the headmistress.


    "I am." Wave replied. "The War of Clubs must be done."


    "You know that they will try to cause chaos using this opportunity, right?" Eve asked. "If they seed, Academy City''s reputation will suffer a huge blow."


    "I know. And that is the reason I can''t stop the War of Clubs. If I''m intimidated by the little tricks of the four races, then Academy City will notst much longer."


    Eve looked at her friend and sighed softly.


    Although she understood her friend''s decision, she did not agree with it.


    Even so, she was nning to support her friend as much as she could.


    "Tell me if you notice their movements." The fox said. "I''ll help you to take care of them."


    "Thanks, Eve."

 Chapter 361: Tower Conquest (2)

    Chapter 361: Tower Conquest (2)


    "It''s time."


    Bloed and the girls walked towards the entrance of the tower after hearing the demigod''s words.


    The ones participating in today''s game were Bloed, Liu Ying, Aya, Princess Elwha, Gina, and Sara. Toby and Prince Calisto were not strong enough to participate in this kind of battle, and Regina''s strength meant that she was not qualified to participate.


    Actually, Gina''s strength wascking as well, but she could use her pseudo-prophetic abilities to keep an eye on the situation and warn the group in case something unexpected happened.


    At the same time, the people of [Gathered Feathers] moved as well.


    Four A-Ranks and eight B-Ranks departed towards the Machine Revolutio tower, leaving ate-stage A-Rank, four B-Ranks, and fourteen C-Ranks behind to defend the base.


    It was obvious that the leader of [Gathered Feathers] did not underestimate Bloed''s group. Even when his club had aplete advantage, he left behind a portion of the club''s members in case of an emergency.


    "They areing. They should be here in ten minutes." Gina''s abilities allowed her to see the movements of [Gathered Feathers]. "Some members of the blub stayed behind, but my sister should be able to take care of them.."


    "Well done, Gina." Bloed nodded and then looked at Sara. "You know what to do."


    "Understood, my lord. I''ll not disappoint you."


    Bowing slightly, Sara took a step backward and activated her special talent.


    One secondter, she had disappearedpletely, bing practically undetectable.


    Sara then left the tower and ran towards the headquarters of [Gathered Feathers].


    Despite her fast speed, Sara''s movements werepletely silent. Furthermore, she somehow managed to not disturb the wind around her with her movements.


    Five minutester, she saw the students of [Gathered Feathers] that were advancing towards the Machine Revolutio tower.


    Instinctively, Sara gripped the handle of her dagger tightly. However, when she discovered she had not been discovered, she rxed.


    She then looked at the students in front of her and shook her head.


    " You are lucky today."


    Her lord had given her a mission, otherwise, she would have attacked them.


    Muttering that under her breath, Sara kicked the ground again, jumping towards a roof and passing by the students of [Gathered Feathers]pletely unperceived.


    Only the leader of [Gathered Feathers] furrowed his brows, feeling something.


    "Leader? Did something happen?" One of the A-Ranks beside him asked.


    The leader hesitated for a moment before frowning.


    " For some reason, I have a bad feeling."


    "A bad feeling?"


    "Mm." The leader nodded. He then looked at the students beside him and made a decision. "Speed up. We need to reach the enemy base as quickly as possible."


    "Understood."


    The students of [Gathered Feathers] did notin and increased their speed. But even so, the leader was still frowning.


    For some reason, the feeling that something was wrong was growing increasingly bigger.


    And when he arrived at the headquarters of the enemy club, that feeling reached the peak.


    As though telling him that their defeat was assured.


    " Dammit, what is it?"


    Looking at the huge building in front of him, the leader put on an expression of hesitation.


    "Should we attack?" One of the students asked him.


    The leader wrinkled his brows and looked at the Machine Revolutio tower.


    Strangely, he could not see any of the members of the enemy club; as though they were not worried about [Gathered Feathers]''s attack.


    '' Something definitively is wrong.'' He thought to himself, convinced that it was a trap.


    Then, he looked at the students of his group and shook his head.


    " Let''s wait a moment first. Something is not right."


    He wanted to discover the cause behind the bad feeling he had been feeling before attacking.


    What he did not know was that his hesitation took away hisst opportunity to win today''s game.


    .


    "What is happening?" One of the students observing the game could not help but frown.


    Right now, the students of [Gathered Feathers] had arrived in front of the headquarters of [Machine Revolutio]. But for some reason, nobody of [Machine Revolutio] came to face them.


    In fact, they had not seen any of the members of the group since the start of the battle.


    And strangely, [Gathered Feathers] did not attack the tower either, as though they were hesitating about something.


    "What are they waiting for?" Another student asked.


    However, several people were looking towards the battlefield with serious expressions.


    They were Mu Quan, Isabe, Eres Skysword, and the top students and teachers observing the battle.


    " Interesting." Isabe''s lips curved up in a smile.


    She looked at the students of [Gathered Feathers], who finally made up their minds to attack the tower, and sighed.


    "Unfortunately, it''s already toote."


    Her gaze then moved in the direction of the headquarters of [Gathered Feathers].


    Although she could not see what was happening inside, she could feel the fluctuations of manaing from inside the club''s headquarters.


    Someone was fighting inside.


    And [Gathered Feathers] seemed to be in the losing end.


    The problem was that she did not manage to see who was the person fighting them, and how that person arrived at the headquarters of the enemy club.


    "How interesting."


    At that moment, she saw Bloed finally leaving the tower to defend against [Gathered Feathers]''s students.


    Isabe heaved out a sigh.


    "It looks like I won''t be able to learn much about him in today''s fight."


    Bloed looked at the students of [Gathered Feathers] in front of him and frowned slightly.


    "Gina, how much longer?" He asked through his earpiece.


    [ Sister should finish in one minute. I''m sorry, the enemy that stayed behind was stronger than we expected.]


    Bloed smiled softly and looked at Liu Ying, Aya, and Princess Elwha.


    "It looks like we don''t need to show this trump card today."


    "Okay~"


    "Mm."


    "I''m fine with that."


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Elwha nodded in understanding.


    Just at that moment, the leader of [Gathered Feathers] stepped forward.


    "Your name is Bloed, right? I''m Kany. Leader of [Gathered Feathers]."


    "Nice to meet you, I''m the leader of [Machine Revolutio]," Bloed replied.


    Kany looked at Bloed fixedly before moving his gaze at the three girls behind him and frowning.


    "Just three B-Rank? It looks like you are underestimating my club a lot."


    Bloed chuckled and shook his head. "Quite the opposite, I overestimated it. It looks like I will not have to make a move today."


    "Arrogant." Kany snorted. "I can''t believe I was worried about facing your club. Students of [Gathered Feathers]! Attack!"


    Bloed shook his head with a smile and did not move.


    Because at that moment, he heard a voiceing from the earpiece he was using tomunicate with Sara and Gina.


    [My lord, I already destroyed it.]


    [My hero, it''s done.]


    And in the next second, the demigod arbitrating the battle spoke up.


    "The battle has ended! Today''s winner is [Machine Revolutio]!"


    Under the stunned gaze of the leader of [Gathered Feathers], Bloed walked towards him and patted his shoulder.


    "See? I told you I won''t have to make a move today."


    The leader of [Gathered Feathers] could only look at Bloed with an expression of shock.

 Chapter 362: Tower Conquest (3)

    Chapter 362: Tower Conquest (3)


    "Is it done?" Sara asked herself after destroying the core of [Gathered Feathers].


    At that moment, she heard the demigod in charge of the game announcing her club''s victory.


    "I guess it''s that, huh." Sara sighed in relief and turned around to leave.


    But before she could leave, a voice stopped her.


    "Y-You Cough H-How did you do that?"


    Sara raised an eyebrow. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young man lying on the ground with an injury on his belly and a pained expression.


    He was Rain, ate-stage A-Rank of [Gathered Feathers] whose job was to guard the core.


    Unfortunately, he was unable to stop Sara.


    And he was not the only one. Right now, four B-Ranks and fourteen C-Ranks besides him were lying on the ground unconscious.


    Some of them had heavy injuries, and others had been knocked unconscious with a hit in their napes.


    "So, you woke up, huh." Sara looked at thete-stage A-Rank with an emotionless expression. "I guess that is normal considering your strength."


    "My strength?" Thete-stage A-Rank could not help but smile self-deprecatingly.


    Remembering how his group was defeated, he smiled bitterly.


    He was the only one that barely put on a struggle against Sara.


    As for the others, they did not even saw her.


    She just walked inside their headquarters without being detected and attacked the core.


    Fortunately, he had put a barrier around the core beforehand, stopping Sara''s fist attack and warning him of her presence. But even that was not enough to stop her.


    When he realized he could not see the enemy, he released an AoE spell and warned the other members of the unseen enemy.


    It was useless.


    Without even showing her face once, Sara knocked all the members unconscious, before stabbing him in the belly and defeating him.


    Then, with the barrier already dispelled, she destroyed the core easily.


    Remembering that, the expression on thete-stage A-Rank''s face turned even more bitter.


    "We never had a chance, huh."


    Sara furrowed her brows briefly before shaking her head.


    "You were just unlucky. This game was not suited for you."


    She then ignored him and left the ce.


    Just then, a voice came from the earpiece of her ear.


    [Well done, sis! Good job! I think that our hero will give us a reward this time.]


    Sara smiled wryly and shook her head.


    A reward? Just the pet-armor she was wearing seemed so expensive that she did not dare to ask how much it cost.


    That was more than enough as a reward.


    Plus, she was her lord''s shadow. Following her lord''s orders was her job. She did not need a reward to do that.


    [Mou, sister! You don''t understand! This is the perfect opportunity to ask him for a kiss! A kiss!!! Well, you can ask for a hug or a date if you are too shy! But, If you don''t take the initiative, we will never win against sister Liu Ying or the thieving cat!]


    Sara was speechless. What in the hell was inside the head of her little sister?


    "... Gina, I don''t have any romantic interest in my lord. It''s just a boss-subordinate rtionship." Sara did not know whether tough or to cry.


    [ Goddess, why is my sister so dense?]


    "Gina?"


    [Sigh. It looks like I have to do all the work. Otherwise, we will not have any hope of marrying our hero in this lifetime.]


    A bad feeling hit Sara when she heard these words.


    "Hey Gina, what are you talking about? Gina? Gina!?"


    Unfortunately, her little sister did not reply.


    She had cut off themunication with her.


    Just at that moment, more voices came from the earpiece.


    [Sara, you knew that we could hear your conversation, right?]


    That was Liu Ying.


    [... I''m not a thieving cat.]


    That was Aya.


    [ Mr. Bloed, I did not know you were such a womanizer.]


    That was Princess Elwha.


    Sara stiffened.


    In the next instant, her expression turnedpletely red.


    "I-I''m sorry. G-Gina was joking!"


    Embarrassed, she took off the earpiece and cut off the transmission.


    She then looked up and heaved a long sigh.


    '' That was so embarrassing''


    Sighing again, Sara shook her head and returned to the Machine Revolutio tower.


    George, the leader of the Martial Arts Club, was slightly surprised after hearing the demigod in charge of the game announce the Machine Revolutio as the winner.


    " It looks like the club leader is not the only strong person in that club, huh."


    He then looked in the distance at the ck-haired girl leaving the headquarters of [Gathered Feathers] with furrowed brows.


    " Is she specialized in stealth? I only became aware of her after she started to attack the enemy base."


    For an instant, he could not help but wonder what would have happened if that girl decides to ambush him.


    " Dangerous."


    With a sigh, the leader of the Martial Arts Club turned around and left.


    Nearby, Mu Quan was staring at the demon girl following behind the leader of [Machine Revolutio].


    She was the reason he was here. To observe her.


    He needed to confirm if she was truly who he thought she was.


    " Unfortunately, I could not see her fight this time."


    With a sigh, he shook his head.


    He could only wait for the next opportunity.


    In another ce, Eres''s sighed in relief after she heard the demigod announce [Machine Revolutio]''s victory.


    ''Great Brother won''


    An expression of pride appeared on her face.


    She was d that her brother did not need her help to defeat a club much stronger than his.


    At the same time, she decided to take care of the matters bothering her as quickly as possible.


    ''But how can I leave the club without mother noticing? Otherwise, she will learn about brother''


    Eres put on a troubled expression.


    This time, her brother managed to attain victory without relying on her help.


    However, after investigating the situation of [Machine Revolutio], she knew that her brother''s club did not have many members and needed as much help as possible.


    I need to think about something. Should I visit brother again?

 Chapter 363: First Victory

    Chapter 363: First Victory


    "Today''s winner is, [Machine Revolutio]!"


    After these words sounded, the students of [Gathered Feathers] froze.


    Including their leader.


    ''How!?'' Kany stared at Bloed with an expression of shock.


    Unable to believe what he just heard, he looked at the demigod in charge of the game wondering if he made a mistake.


    However, he saw the demigod looking at him with a pitying a helpless expression.


    He immediately understood that it was not a mistake.


    Although he did not know how or why, it was a fact that his club had lost the game.


    Kany smiled bitterly.


    ''We did not even fight. How in the hell did we lose?''


    Apparently, the difference between the two clubs was greater than he thought.


    " I understand, this is our defeat." Kany said with a sigh.


    "Boss!"


    "Wait a moment, how did we lose!?"


    "This game must be rigged!"


    "Shut up!" Kany shouted coldly, shutting up the protests of his club members. "If the demigod says we lost, we lost. Stop talking."


    "B-But, how"


    "One of the members of [Machine Revolutio] infiltrate your base and destroyed the core." The demigod said with a cold look, obviously displeased by the words of the members of [Gathered Feathers]. "Do you have any other questions?"


    Kany smiled apologetically and shook his head.


    "No, it''s our defeat." He then looked at Bloed and nodded with a bitter smile. "Congrattions on your victory."


    Then, without waiting for Bloed answer, he turned around and left.


    The members of [Gathered Feathers] followed after him. Although some of them looked at Bloed''s group with an unwilling expression before leaving.


    "Sore losers." Liu Ying snorted.


    "Don''t be so hard with them." Bloed smiled wryly. "It''s normal to react like that."


    "Yeah, they lost without even knowing what happened. It''s normal if they feel a bit unwilling." Princess Elwha agreed with Bloed before smiling wryly. "I feel a bit strange, though. I was ready for a difficult battle."


    Bloed could only smile wryly.


    He preferred this kind of victory, though.


    After that, the demigod in charge of the battle confirmed [Machine Revolutio]''s victory and upgraded the club''s score.


    With this victory, the club advanced to rank sixty-seven.


    However, Bloed knew that it was only momentary.


    Today was just the second day of the War of Clubs, so most clubs had not umted many points yet. This increase in rank was normal.


    Once other clubs start their games and acquire points, the rank of [Machine Revolutio] would fall again.


    ''At least we don''t need to worry about another challenge for a while.''


    With a wry smile, Bloed followed the girls and returned to the tower.


    Just at that moment, Gina rushed towards them.


    "My hero! Congrattions!"


    Seeing the honey-haired girl jumping towards him, Bloed smiled and opened his arms to catch her.


    However, someone was faster than him.


    "Little Gina, you are bing bolder and bolder, huh. Trying to hug my boyfriend even with me here." Liu Ying smiled while grabbing Gina''s nape.


    "S-Sister Liu Ying"


    "Right, I heard that you were instigating your sister to ask Bloed for a kiss."


    Gina immediately stiffened.


    "T-That, that is"


    "And what was that about you and your sister marrying Bloed?"


    "... She also called me a thieving cat." Aya also spoke up.


    Gina blushed. She hurriedly looked away, avoiding the sharp gazes of Liu Ying and Aya.


    But Liu Ying was not done.


    " I think we need to talk, little Gina." She smiled and held Gina''s arm, making the girl with honey-colored hair look at Bloed asking for help.


    Fortunately for her, Bloed understood the message.


    "Okay okay, I''m sure she was just joking."


    "Bloed, she was definitively not joking."


    "Mm. She is dangerous. And I''m not a thieving cat."


    Liu Ying and Aya replied immediately, making Bloed unable tough or to cry.


    " I did not know Mr. Bloed was a womanizer."


    And for some reason, he received Princess''s Elwha piercing re.


    Fortunately, the rest of the club arrived at that moment, so the girls stopped talking about that topic.


    Instead, they put on happy and smiling expressions, excited after the club won its first battle.


    Seeing that, Bloed decided to organize a small party at night to celebrate the club''s victory. It was also a good opportunity to make the members of the club closer.


    Right now, some members of the club barely knew each other, so the party could be a good opportunity to integrate the entire group.


    Now that he thought about it, it was the first time he organized this kind of party. He should have done it earlier.


    Before that, though, he had to deal with an unexpected situation.


    Looking at the group of young men and women standing at the entrance of the tower, Bloed felt a headacheing.


    "Okay, tell me, what is the reason you are here again?"


    The group looked at each other before a young man stepped forward with an excited expression.


    "We want to join [Machine Revolutio]!"

 Chapter 364: New Members and Sub-Leader

    Chapter 364: New Members and Sub-Leader


    Five minutester, Bloed and Liu Ying were looking at the group of boys and girls aiming to join [Machine Revolutio] with strange expressions.


    "Let me see if I understood." Liu Ying held her forehead with an odd look. "Are you saying that you decided to join our club after seeing yesterday''s battle?"


    The boy leading the group nodded with a determined expression. "Yes. You see, you are freshmen like us, but you managed to defeat a senior so easily, and today, you defeated another club as well. We admire that and want to join your club!"


    The boys and girls behind him nodded in agreement.


    Seeing the determined expressions on their faces, Liu Ying felt a headacheing.


    With just a nce, she could see that they did not fit the type of students Bloed wanted for the club.


    None of them seemed like the studious kind.


    Liu Ying sighed and looked at Bloed as though saying ''The idea of the club is yours, you take care of this problem.''


    Bloed could only smile wryly.


    "Okay, I understand. What are your names and your ages?"


    "I''m Olen, C-Rank. I''m 14 years old."


    "Emily, D-Rank, and 14 years old."


    "Alicia, C-Rank. Fifteen years old."


    "Harold, D-Rank, and fifteen years old."


    "I am Theodore, D-Rank, and fifteen years old."


    "I see." Bloed nodded and looked at the group carefully.


    Five people in total, three boys and two girls. And the boy called Olen was the leader, a C-Rank practitioner at fourteen years old.


    Actually, they were not bad. Their cultivations were pretty good for their ages. Of course, they could notpare to monsters like Bloed, Liu Ying, or Aya, but they were still pretty good, especially the boy called Olen and the girl called Alicia. They were at the level where they could be considered geniuses.


    Bloed was sure that many clubs in the city would not mind recruiting them.


    The problem was that Bloed did not think they were suitable for [Machine Revolutio].


    Judging by their appearance, they did not seem like the academic type, and instead, they were more like the kind that liked to fight.


    And his hunch was right. When Bloed asked the group about their abilities, he realized that three of them were martial artists, and the other two were battle mages.


    In fact, one of the reasons they wanted to join [Machine Revolutio] was to learn from Bloed. After all, Bloed''s age was simr to them, but he was much stronger.


    However, [Machine Revolutio]''s original purpose was to spread technology around Academy City and then to the world, nor to cultivate strong practitioners.


    ''No, wait a moment Perhaps I''m seeing it the wrong wait.''


    Suddenly, Bloed thought about something.


    '' I don''t need to make [Machine Revolutio] purely an academic club. In fact, of the current members of the club, only Toby and I can be considered as researchers. Liu Ying, Aya, Gina, Sara, and even Princess Elwha lean more towardsbat, and Prince Calisto is still a child.''


    Bloed organized his thoughts for a moment and finally make a rough sketch about the direction of the club in his mind.


    '' Yes, what if I use technology to train strong practitioners? I could use that to make others understand the value of technology.''


    Making up his mind, Bloed looked at the three boys and two girls and nodded.


    "Very well, you can join. However, you will be in a probatory term during the first month. After that, I will decide if you are suitable for our club or not. What do you think?"


    The boys and girls looked at each other and nodded. Then, the boy called Olen spoke up.


    "We are fine with that."


    "Good." Bloed smiled. "Bring your things tomorrow morning then, and wee to [Machine Revolutio].


    After the group of five left, Liu Ying looked at Bloed with a strange expression.


    "Bloed, why did you allow them to join? They did not seem like the kind of students suitable to learn your ''science''."


    Bloed smiled softly and exined his idea to Liu Ying.


    When Liu Ying finished hearing it, she put on a thoughtful expression and nodded.


    " I see. In other words, you n to divide the club into two sections. Thebat section and the knowledge section. Do you n to teach the students in thebat section to fight?"


    "Yes. we can use the Martial Art knowledge that my mother left behind and the training hall to train them. I''m sure many of them will be stronger with that."


    Liu Ying thought for a moment and agreed with Bloed.


    As someone who had learned some of the [Human Confederation] techniques and martial arts, Liu Ying knew how powerful they were.


    In fact, Liu Ying''sbat style was ny percent based on the Human Confederation''s martial arts.


    Either [Silent Touch] or martial arts like [Muay Thai] or [Kickboxing] were things that did not exist in this world. There were some simr techniques, but they were not the same.


    And thanks to these techniques, Liu Ying''s closebat power was off the charts. It was not an exaggeration to say that, on the same level, she was virtually undefeatable.


    In fact, if she used her aspect, she was as strong as Bloed without using [Imaginary sh].


    "Then, will I belong to thebat section?" Liu Ying asked curiously.


    But to her surprise, Bloed did not nod.


    Instead, he put on a mysterious smile and chuckled.


    "Even better."


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    Bloed grinned.


    "Congrattions, from today onwards you are the sub-leader of [Machine Revolutio] and the leader of thebat section."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 365: Crazy Party (1)

    Chapter 365: Crazy Party (1)


    Sorry guys, it was Christmas, so you know...


    ...


    In the end, Liu Ying agreed reluctantly to the post as sub-leader of [Machine Revolutio] and leader of thebat section.


    Honestly, she did not want to do such a bothersome thing, but considering that she was Bloed''s girlfriend and that she should support him when he needed her help, she agreed.


    Bloed was confident that she would do it well. Even if Liu Ying seemed like a muscle brain, the truth was that she was very smart. If she wanted, she could easily lead the club just as well as Bloed.


    Unfortunately, she did not like to waste time on that kind of thing and preferred to train herbat skills instead.


    Even so, Bloed thought that it was good if she developed her leadership skills. Something like that could be very useful in the future; and making her the sub-leader of thebat section was the perfect chance to give her experience leading others.


    With Liu Ying convinced, Bloed thought that it was time to determine the positions of the rest of the group.


    In the end, it ended like this:


    Bloed Norman: Leader of [Machine Revolutio] - Leader of the knowledge section.


    Liu Ying: Sub-leader of [Machine Revolutio] - Leader of thebat section.


    Aya: Sub-leader of [Machine Revolutio] - Sub-leader of thebat section.


    Princess Elwha: Honorary Sub-leader of [Machine Revolutio].


    Gina: Secretary of [Machine Revolutio] - Sub-leader of the knowledge section.


    Sara: Leader of the disciplinarymittee.


    Prince Calisto: Leader of the Information Gathering department.


    The reason Regina was not on the list was that she was not a student. Technically, she could not interfere with the affairs of the club.


    Fortunately, Regina did not care about that. ording to her, she was happy being Bloed''s servant and did not want to waste her time on anything else.


    Of course, Bloed did not consider her a servant, but as a Valkyrie created by Cami to serve Bloed, Regina always considered serving Bloed as her greatest priority.


    Bloed was also a bit surprised when Gina requested to be the sub-leader of the knowledge section. But she told him that she was interested in learning about science and technology, so he agreed.


    Although for some reason, he had the feeling that the true reason she became the sub-leader of the knowledge section was to spend more time close to him.


    Well, Gina seemed rather dedicated to learning about science and technology, so Bloed decided not to care about her hidden intentions.


    Just like that, the time for the party finally arrived.


    When the night arrived, the club members gathered in the training hall for the celebratory party.


    Despite calling it a party, the truth was that it was just a small gathering between friends. After all, including Regina and Diodora (who had not appeared again since thest time), [Machine Revolutio] only had ten members, so making an extravagant party was pointless.


    It was just a friends'' gathering with nice food and soft music as the background, during which the club members could get to know each other better.


    The group was satisfied with this small celebration. In fact, the music sounding in the background surprised them. After all, that was not something that could be seen in this world.


    Thanks to that, the group quickly bonded together. Even Toby, the most socially awkward of the group, was chatting with Prince Calisto with a smile on his face before long.


    Sara and Princess Elwha also hit off for some reason, and at some point, they had started to talk about different topics as they ate the food Regina prepared. Bloed was a bit surprised when the two of them became close so quickly.


    As for the others, they were surrounding Bloed and talking ''happily''.


    Regina was seated at his right with a calm expression, asionallymenting about something or feeding Bloed some dish. Meanwhile, Liu Ying was seated on his left, imitating Regina''s actions.


    Gina had tried to sit in Bloed''sp, but she had been fended off by Liu Ying that looked at her with an irritated expression.


    However, the honey-haired girl did not seem to learn the lesson and continued pestering ''her hero'' like a lively fangirl.


    Finally, Aya was seated in front of Bloed silently, asionally looking at Bloed before blushing and lowering her head.


    Bloed thought that the party would end peacefully like this. Unfortunately for him, his wish did note true.


    Because at some point, Liu Ying brought out some bottles she bought in the afternoon.


    "Alcohol?" Bloed asked with a raised eyebrow.


    Liu Ying grinned. "My dad and brothers liked to drink when they partied. I always asked them if I could drink as well, but they said that it was only for adults. Thus, when you mentioned a party, I thought, why not?"


    "Is it so? However, none of us has drunk before, right?"


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying, Gina, and Aya, who shook their heads simultaneously.


    Seeing that, he could not help but sigh.


    Then, he looked at the bottle of alcohol with a hesitating expression.


    In this world, drinking at fifteen was not unusual. In fact, some people started drinking when they were twelve or thirteen years old.


    Bloed had never drunk alcohol, but he did not mind it. In fact, he thought it could be a good experience.


    But for some reason, he had the feeling something bad would happen tonight if he opened the bottles.


    Unfortunately, someone grabbed the bottles before he could react.


    "Wine, huh? It has been thest time since I got drunk." Princess Elwha said with a nostalgic expression and opened the bottle. She then grabbed a cup nearby and filled it with wine.


    After that, she offered it to Sara.


    "Want some?"


    Sara hesitated slightly.


    " I have never drunk, so"


    "Come on, nothing will happen. Plus, it''s just a bit of wine."


    Sara was not sure, but when she saw Elwha''s encouraging expression, she sighed and grabbed the cup.


    At the same time, Liu Ying and Gina opened the other bottle curiously and served a cup for each, (including Regina).


    In the end, the entire group drank a bit of wine except for Regina, who refused calmly. Even Bloed drank a pair of sips influenced by the mood.


    Nothing happened at the start, and the party continued calmly. But less than half an hourter, Bloed noticed that something was wrong.


    At some point, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina''s faces had turned slightly flushed.


    ''Are they drunk already? So fast!?''


    But while he was surprised by the girls'' low alcohol tolerance, Gina giggled softly and jumped into his arms.


    " My hero W-When are you going to give me a kiss?"


    Bloed stiffened. And at the same time, he felt the gazes of Regina and Liu Ying bing sharp.


    Even Aya''s ears and tail stood up warily.


    Helpless, Bloed could only sigh and pat her head.


    " Gina, you are drunk. You should go to rest."


    "I''m not drunk! P-Plus, my hero only pays attention to sister Regina and Sister Liu Ying D-Does my hero not care about me?"


    "This girl!" Liu Ying was incensed. She immediately pulled Gina away and sat on Bloed''sp as though dering her property. "What do you think you are doing with my boyfriend!?"


    "Sister Liu Ying is so mean! Please just share him just a bit!"


    "No! Go and get your own boyfriend!"


    "So mean" Gina pouted with a wronged expression. She looked at Bloed and Liu Ying resentfully before looking towards the nearby cat girl.


    "Aya,e and help me!"


    " Huh?"


    "We should team up and steal my hero from these girls!"


    " Mm. You are right"


    Then, to Bloed''s surprise, the usually shy cat girl stood up and hugged his left arm, rubbing her head against his shoulder.


    " So warm I like it very much"


    "Hehe, good idea" Gina giggled softly and rushed towards Bloed''s right arm, hugging it too.


    Bloed waspletely speechless.


    These drunk girls... They were crazy!


    Right now, he had Liu Ying on hisp, Aya hugging his left arm, and Gina hugging his right arm.


    But despite how enviable it seemed; the truth was that his back was filled with cold sweat.


    Because he could feel Regina looking at him with a sharp and freezing re.


    Bloed was sure he had never seen Regina so jealous before.


    Furthermore, Princess Elwha was looking at him as though he was a womanizing scum. He had the feeling that her opinion of him became several times lower.


    "R-Regina, can you help me?"


    Regina red at Bloed coldly and snorted. Then, she stood up and walked away.


    " Someone is knocking on the door. I''ll see who it is. Master should take care of the vixens yourself."


    "R-Regina?"


    But the silver-haired Valkyrie did not reply and just left with a displeased expression.


    Dumbfounded, Bloed looked once more to the three girls giggling as they hugged him and fought against each other.


    Helpless, he could only look towards Princess Elwha and Sara to ask for help.


    Unfortunately, he was met with Elwha''s look of disgust and Sara''s dazed expression.


    "Shameless." Elwha spat out.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.

 Chapter 366: Crazy Party (2)

    Chapter 366: Crazy Party (2)


    "Gina! Stop hugging my boyfriend! Aya, you too!"


    "Hehe My hero''s arms feel nice"


    " Hey Bloed, you don''t like me?"


    Bloed was speechless. Looking at the three drunk girls hugging him and feeling the heat of their bodies, he did not know how to react.


    He tried to struggle out of their hug, but to his surprise, Liu Ying hugged him tightly and pressed him against the chair. Then, she kissed his lips.


    '' This girl''


    A few secondster, Liu Ying''s separated her lips from Bloed and licked her lips before looking at the honey-haired girl and the ck cat provocatively.


    Immediately, Gina hmphed and hugged Bloed''s neck.


    "I can kiss him too!"


    "Don''t you dare!" Liu Ying reacted immediately, jumping towards Gina and blocking the little girl with a smirk. "He is mine!"


    Unfortunately, she forgot that Gina was not the only danger.


    Using the opportunity when her two opponents were distracted, the usually shy cat girl reced Liu Ying on Bloed''sp and kissed his lips softly before blushing.


    " Mm It feels nice"


    She then smiled embarrassedly and kissed his lips again.


    The other two girls became furious.


    "Thieving cat! Move away!"


    "Aya! I thought we were friends!"


    This time, Gina and Liu Ying cooperated to subjugate Aya.


    Unfortunately, Aya''s petite body and her cat features made her very agile. She evaded the attack of her twopetitors and glued herself to Bloed''s chest and kissed and licked his cheek this time.


    "Aya!"


    "Thieving cat! I wanted to kiss him first!"


    Watching the girls fighting drunkenly, Bloed smiled bitterly.


    But at that moment, he noticed a pair of ice-cold eyes fixed on him.


    " Scum." Princess Elwha said as though looking at trash.


    "Hey! They were the ones that attacked me."


    "Hmph! Do you think I don''t know you are enjoying this? Did you forget we can share what we are feeling?"


    Bloed was tongue-tied.


    That was true.


    But hey, he was a man. It was a normal reaction.


    He looked towards Sara to ask for help, but the dark-haired girl was seated on the ground with a lost expression, holding a cup of wine dazedly.


    '' Could it be She is drunk as well?''


    Fortunately, she was not attacking him like the three girls glued to his body.


    He then looked at the other two men in the hall, Toby and Prince Calisto, but they were slurring and giggling foolishly.


    ''Dammit! Nobody here has resistance to alcohol!?''


    In the end, he could only rely on himself to escape.


    Unfortunately, it was very hard. Liu Ying''s physical strength was greater than his, and Aya was a B-Rank practitioner like him, so he could not escape easily without injuring them.


    In the end, the poor Gina was the most disadvantaged. She could not defeat Liu Ying nor Aya, and thus, she could only watch as the two girls kissed Bloed''s cheeks, neck, and chest repatedly.


    But when Bloed thought that the situation could not turn worse, he heard an unexpected voiceing from the entrance of the hall.


    " Brother?"


    Bloed froze. He instinctively looked towards the entrance only to see his younger twin sister, Eres, looking towards the scene of him and the girls with her eyes opened wide.


    And behind her, he saw Regina looking at him with the coldest eyes he had ever seen on her.


    ''Dammit, why am I so unlucky?''


    Fortunately, it seemed that some god heard his prayers.


    Because at that moment, Eres''s expression turned ice-cold, and her mana erupted powerfully against the three girls.


    "What do you think you are doing to my brother!?"


    Almost immediately, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina jumped off from Bloed and stood up in front of him protectively.


    The girls'' drunk stupor faded slightly. Facing this formidable enemy, they put away their differences and joined hands for the first time in the night.


    Eres''s face turned chilling. Powerful mana was released from her body, reaching the middle stage of A-Rank.


    "Die!"


    Then, she unleashed a powerful punch towards the girls.


    Liu Ying put on a serious expression. She did not hesitate to release her Aspect, allowing the image of a ck knight to take shape behind her back as her physical strength climbed to a much stronger lever.


    Then, she clenched her fist and used [Silent Touch] to release a punch against Eres''s attack!


    *Boom!*


    The powerful shockwave generated by the sh of the two attacks blew the tables and chairs nearby away.


    However, Bloed did not have time to pay attention to that.


    Because to his surprise, he saw Eres''s punch suppressing Liu Ying and forcing her to take several steps back.


    ''Impossible!''


    He knew how overbearing Liu Ying''s physical strength was. He could not believe that his sister could suppress her.


    In fact, even Liu Ying was surprised.


    However, she did not panic.


    Because at some point, the cat girl had appeared behind Eres, using a knife-hand to attack Eres''s nape.


    But then


    "Sister Aya! Retreat!


    Aya did not hesitate. She immediately jumped back, stopping her attack and fading into the shadows nearby.


    In the next instant


    *Bam!*


    The space where Aya was just now exploded.


    If Gina had not warned her in time, she would have been injured!


    Bloed, Regina, and Elwha, who were observing the battle, were surprised.


    "Strong." Elwha put on a grave expression.


    Bloed nodded. His sister was much stronger than he expected.


    He could see that she was not even using her true strength.


    But at the same time, he was feeling helpless.


    He was grateful that his sister helped him to escape from Liu Ying, Gina, and Aya''s drunk battle; however, he could not understand why his sister seemed so enraged and why the three girls were fighting her so fiercely.


    "Hey, Regina, can you stop them?"


    "Why should I? These vixens are plotting to steal my boyfriend. It would be great if they kill each other and eliminate mypetitors."


    Bloed was speechless.


    Girl, you are bing crueler and crueler.


    At that moment, he heard a voiceing from behind him.


    " You are so popr, Mr. Bloed. Four beauties fighting for you."


    Bloed''s eyebrow twitched. He recognized that voice.


    Looking behind him, he saw an expressionless fox girl watching the battle entertainingly as she ate a chicken drumstick.


    " Miss Eve, you are here."


    "Mm." Eve nodded without changing her expression. "I came when I smelled the food, but I was not expecting to see such an entertaining show You are still as popr as always, Bloed. Whom do you like the most? The demon, the cat, the little girl, or the sister?"


    Bloed cursed at the fox girl in his mind.


    Dammit, why did you ask something like that?


    He could feel Regina''s gaze turning colder than the coldest tundra. If he dared to answer, he was sure he would suffer.


    As for the princess of the elves, she once more red at Bloed and murmured a word under her breath.


    " Scum."

 Chapter 367: About Mother (1)

    Chapter 367: About Mother (1)


    The battle between Eres against Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina did not end until ten minutester.


    It could havest much longer, but Bloed somehow managed to make them stop.


    Finally, after the four girls were separated, Bloed sighed and greeted the ck-haired princess.


    "Eres, why are you here?"


    "I came to visit you, brother. I need to tell you something." Eres said calmly. asionally, though, she would re at Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina with a hostile expression.


    And for some reason, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina''s expressions seemed slightly hostile as well.


    Bloed felt a headacheing.


    "Anyway, why did you start to battle in the first ce?"


    "They were attacking you, brother."


    "She attacked first."


    " I don''t like her."


    "It feels like she wants to steal you, my hero."


    Hearing the answers of the four girls, Bloed smiled bitterly.


    "Really Well, at least, this battle sobered the three of you up. Liu Ying, Aya, Gina, this is the first time and thest time that I allow you to drink."


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina stiffened.


    Then, they remembered what they were doing just a few minutes ago. Such as hugging Bloed, kissing Bloed, and sexually harassing Bloed.


    Immediately


    "Uooooooo! I want to die!!!"


    " S-So embarrassing"


    " Hmph I was the only one that did not get to kiss my hero"


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    Eve spoke up at that moment.


    "You don''t need to worry. If you love someone, you need to be bold,"


    A speechless Bloed red at the fix girl and smiled wryly.


    Miss Eve, please don''t give these girls more ideas! And Gina, why do you not look embarrassed!? In fact, why does it looks like you want to try to kiss me again!?


    Sighing again, he decided to stop paying attention to the troublesome girls.


    "Anyway, some of you already saw her before. But let me introduce you to her formally. This is my sister, Eres Skysword. Eres, this is Regina, my girlfriend, the demon is Liu Ying, my other girlfriend, the cat girl is Aya, the lively girl is Gina, the beautiful elf is Elwha, and the cool girl that is dazed while drinking wine is called Sara.


    "Right, the two drunk kids there are called Toby and Calisto."


    "Mm. Nice to meet you. I am called Eres."


    "Nice to meet you, Miss Eres. My name is Reginleif Norman. You can call me Regina."


    Led by Regina, the rest of the club introduced themselves to Eres one after another.


    By the way, Gina insisted that she was also Bloed''s girlfriend during her introduction, only to be red at by Liu Ying.


    After the group introduced themselves, Eres frowned and looked towards Regina and Liu Ying with a sharp expression.


    " Girlfriends, huh."


    Immediately, Liu Ying and Regina narrowed their eyes.


    Meanwhile, Gina approached Bloed carefully and murmured something in his ear.


    "My hero, is your sister a brocon?"


    "... I don''t think so."


    "It feels like she is jealous."


    "You are imagining things."


    "Really?"


    Bloed nodded firmly.


    The sister he remembered was innocent, pure, and a bit attached to him; but she definitively was not a brocon.


    Yes, definitively.


    After the introductions ended, the awkward air created by the girls'' battle eased slightly. However, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina were still feelingplicated.


    The three of them joined hands to fight against Eres, but despite that, they did not manage to win.


    Moreover, they fought seriously. Even though they did not use all their trump cards, they did not hold back either.


    Liu Ying even used her aspect and [Silent Touch]. But even so, her group was not Eres''s match.


    Eres dealt with the three of them calmly. In fact, since the start, it seemed like she was not fighting seriously.


    " I heard the rumors, but she is truly a monster." Liu Ying put on a bitter smile.


    "Rumors?"


    Liu Ying nodded and Gina''s question with aplicated expression.


    "You probably heard about them as well. Think about her surname."


    Gina tilted her head in confusion. But one secondter, her eyes opened wide as though she remembered something.


    Aya and Princess Elwha reacted simrly. The surname ''Skysword'' made the three of them came to a realization.


    "[World Burning Princess Witch]"


    " is she Alterna''s Princess?"


    "No way, the rumors are true!?"


    Gina, Aya, and Princess Elwha took a deep breath and looked towards the ck-haired girl in surprise and shock.


    Eres Skysword, [World Burning Princess Witch]. She was praised by many as the greatest genius in thest century.


    She was even called the greatest genius the world had seen since the war against the Blight.


    Of course, rumors could be exaggerated, but the fact that a sixteen-year-old girl was at the A-Rank already spoke highly of her talents.


    But at that moment, Princess Elwha noticed something else.


    "Wait a moment. If she is that Eres Skysword, doesn''t it mean that she is a princess? Then, is Mr. Bloed a prince as well!?"


    Regina and Liu Ying smiled wryly. But Aya and Gina, who didn''t know about it, were surprised.


    Bloed forced a smile and nodded.


    "Well, a lot of people already know about it, so by this point, it''s not much of a secret. But I hope that you don''t go around telling others about it."


    " Mm. I understand."


    "Don''t worry, my hero, I won''t tell anyone."


    Bloed smiled at the serious expressions of Aya and Gina. Then, he looked at Elwha.


    The elf princess put on aplicated expression and nodded as well.


    " It looks like I''m not the only prince with aplicated situation in this club."


    "Yes, you are not," Bloed replied to Elwha with a grin. "Sorry for keeping it a secret."


    "No, I can understand why you did. You don''t need to apologize."


    Bloed smiled again before looking at his sister.


    "Then Eres, what is it you wanted to tell me?"


    Eres did not reply immediately. Instead, she put on an expression of hesitation before biting her lips.


    " It''s about mother, the queen."


    Bloed frowned. In the next second, his expression darkened.


    " I see. Let''s talk then."


    ...


    If you want to support me, leave me a Christmas gift in my P4TRE0N!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 368: About Mother (2)

    Chapter 368: About Mother (2)


    The girls were very smart. When they heard Eres mention the word ''mother'' and saw how my expression darkened, they immediately understood what they needed to do.


    "Master, I think it''ste. I''ll go to prepare your room for tonight."


    "Y-Yes. It''s alreadyte and I''m tired. I guess it''s time to call it a day."


    Following Regina and Liu Ying''s words, the other girls also excused themselves and left the training room.


    Princess Elwha was even kind enough to grab Toby and Prince Calisto''s napes and take them away. Sara, on the other hand, was carried away by her little sister, Gina.


    Eve was thest to leave, waving her hand expressionlessly as she walked through the walls of the tower like a ghost.


    Finally, only Eres and I were left in the training hall.


    " You have a lot of friends, brother." Eres joked.


    "I do. They are great people."


    "Is it so?" Eres''s expression turnedplicated.


    She saw how Bloedughed and interacted with Regina, Liu Ying, and the others. It was so natural, and the bonds between them seemed so strong.


    In contrast, her rtionship with her brother was a bit awkward.


    Although Eres did not want to admit it, she felt slightly jealous..


    "Are you hungry?" Bloed asked at that moment. "Regina prepared a lot of food for tonight, so if you want, you can eat anything."


    "N-No, I I''m not hungry right now."


    Bloed smiled and did not insist. Instead, he led Eres to a nearby sofa and sat down with Eres beside him.


    After they sat down, a strange atmosphere filled the ce. Neither Bloed nor Eres spoke up for several minutes.


    Right now, Bloed''s emotions were slightly tumultuous after hearing Eres mention the word ''mother''. Eres knew it, so she was not sure about how to start the topic.


    In the end, she just bit her lips and went straight to the grain.


    " Mother is in the city as well."


    Bloed was startled.


    One secondter, he sighed and nodded.


    "I see"


    "She came to find you." Eres continued.


    She started to talk about what happened after Sebastian returned to the Kingdom of Alterna. How the information about him somehow leaked and how she and the queen came to learn about it.


    Afterward, she told him about how the two of them decided toe to Academy City to find him.


    Bloed was not too surprised. He already expected something like this.


    In fact, since the moment when he spoke with Sebastian in Diadel Duchy, he knew that something like this could happen.


    Actually, this was not the worst result. There was even the possibility of the king sending assassins after him after learning that he was alive.


    Fortunately, that did not happen.


    Even so, he was not very happy with the news.


    In all honesty, Bloed did not want to see that woman ever again.


    After several seconds of silence, Bloed took a deep breath and asked with a slightly cold tone.


    " Why are you telling me about this, Eres? Did she ask you to convince me to meet her? Is that the reason why you are here?"


    "N-No! Of course not!" Eres denied it hurriedly when she heard the coldness in Bloed''s tone. "Brother, I didn''te to convince you. In fact, I have not told her about you. I know that you don''t want to see her, so I kept your whereabouts a secret!"


    "Is it so?" Bloed nodded convinced. "Why are you here then?"


    Eres hesitated slightly before talking to Bloed about her situation in the club.


    Bloed listened silently. Soon, though, he put on a strange expression and looked at Eres oddly. He did not know whether tough or to cry.


    " Let me see if I understand the situation. You defeated the leader of the human club and became the new leader. But then, you found me and decided toe to my club."


    "Yes."


    "However, you were told that you can''t leave the club because you are the leader and your status as a princess. But even so, you insisted on leaving without caring about the consequences."


    "Mm. I don''t care about that club anyway. Brother is more important."


    "I see, I see. However, the queen appeared. And now you are afraid of leaving the club to join Machine Revolutio because you think the queen will discover my whereabouts after she investigates why you changed clubs."


    "Yes I know that brother doesn''t want to see her, so I don''t want to inconvenience you. But I truly want to be in the same club as you, brother. Do you have any idea?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.


    "Actually, you have been blinded by your worry, Eres."


    "Huh?"


    "Do you forget? Alterna is the biggest human kingdom in the continent, and arguably, the most powerful. Do you think that such a powerful power doesn''t have the means to find me?"


    "That is" Eres was slightly surprised. "Do you mean that she already knows where you are?"


    Bloed nodded bitterly.


    "She does. She probably learned about it even before you."


    Eres fell silent before nodding. Now that she thought about it, she found that Bloed''s words made sense.


    But


    "Why has she not contacted you then?"


    Bloed shrugged.


    "Who knows? Perhaps she is afraid of meeting me after what happened, or perhaps she wants to investigate me first to find my likes and dislikes. Perhaps she is trying to find a way to make our meeting ''coincidental'' and thus to appeal to my feelings. The reason can be anything. However, I''m sure that she must know where I am."


    Eres sighed softly and nodded.


    Then, she looked at Bloed with aplicated expression


    " Brother, you are not nning to return the kingdom ever, right?"


    Bloed smiled bitterly.


    "There is nothing for me in that ce, Eres. There is no point in returning."


    "B-But, w-what about me? I-If you don''t return, w-we will have to be separated again!"


    Bloed did not reply.


    Even like that, he was not going to change his decision.


    Seeing that, Eres bit her lips before making up her mind and putting on an expression of determination.


    "I will stay here with you then, brother." She wanted to say that.


    But after opening her mouth, she stopped.


    Because she was a Skysword.


    Because she was [Alterna''s Loftiest me].


    Because she had a responsibility.


    Eres did not love her family. In fact, besides Bloed, she did not have good feelings for anyone else in it.


    She hated her father for exiling Bloed, resented her mother for doing nothing to stop it, and felt disgusted by her eldest brother who envied and felt wary about her talent.


    But despite that, she cared about the Kingdom.


    The citizens, thend, the soldiers.


    After many years being the General Princess, and after many years being supported by her loyal subordinates, Eres had grown to feel a sense of responsibility for the kingdom and for them.


    Thus, even though she wanted to stay with her brother forever, she could not bring herself to say these words.


    At least, not right now.

 Chapter 369: I’m Leaving This Club (1)

    Chapter 369: I¡¯m Leaving This Club (1)


    Eres only left after two hours.


    She spent the entire time talking to Bloed. She asked him about all kinds of silly things, going from interesting things he met during the past five years, to his rtionship with Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina.


    Bloed noticed that Eres sounded a bit jealous when she mentioned the girls, but he decided not to think too much about it.


    He just decided to attribute it to his sister being too attached to him after not seeing him for five years.


    ''That is the reason, right?''


    With that slight doubt in his mind, Bloed apanied Eres to the entrance of the tower and bid her farewell.


    Before leaving, Eres told him to wait for the good news, and that she would join his club soon.


    Bloed, of course, nodded happily. Someone as strong as his sister would be very useful for the club.


    After Eres left, Bloed found that the entire group was waiting for him with concerned expressions (except for Sara, Toby, and Prince Calisto who were dead-drunk).


    "Is everything alright, master?" Regina, as his first girlfriend, took the initiative to ask him.


    Bloed smiled normally and nodded, but he did not tell them about his conversation with Eres.


    Actually, he did not mind telling them about it, but he would have to exin his rtionship with his blood family and the reason he was exiled, and to be honest, he was not in the mood for it right now.


    In the end, he just looked at Regina and Liu Ying using his gaze to tell them that he would exin the situationter.


    Understanding the situation, the girls did not insist despite their curiosity.


    " Well, If everything is alright, I guess I''ll go to sleep then. Good night, dear."


    "Goodnight, Liu Ying."


    "Bloed, goodnight."


    "Sleep well, Aya."


    "My hero, can you give me a good night kiss?"


    "Nope, Gina. I''m not going to give you a goodnight kiss."


    "But sister Liu Ying and sister Aya kissed you before Don''t you think it''s unfair?"


    " Please, don''t insist anymore, okay? Learn from Regina. She is not saying anything even when I did not kiss her either."


    "I don''t need it. Master will be only for me for the rest of the night. I can get as many kisses as I want then."


    Regina''s boldment stunned the still innocent girls.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina blushed deeply, lowering her head as they imagined what was going to happenter.


    As for Princess Elwha, her face turned red, and then frosty.


    For some reason, she red at Bloed angrily and turned around, leaving furiously.


    Strangely, Bloed could feel a bit of shame and embarrassment through their mental connection.


    " Could it be that she likes me as well?" Bloed was confused.


    The girls were startled and looked at the back of Elwha suspiciously. But then, Gina shook her head.


    " It doesn''t look like that. It looks as though she hates you instead."


    "Now that I think about it, why is Princess Elwha always angry with you, Bloed?" Liu Ying tilted her head curiously. "It was not like that when we first met."


    Bloed smiled bitterly.


    "How could I know that? I don''t know what in the hell is happening."


    "There is no need to worry about the elf, master. At the very least, she is not aiming for you. I think that is good."


    " Yeah, Regina is right. We don''t need anotherpetitor."


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. Could it be that these girls think that every girl I meet is going to fall in love with me?


    "Anyway, let''s go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day."


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina nodded and left to their respective rooms.


    Regina, on the other hand, looked at Bloed and smiled seductively.


    "Master, should we go as well?"


    Bloed''s lips curled up. He then grabbed Regina''s hand and pulled her towards his room.


    As soon as they entered the room, they mmed the door shut and rushed to undress each other.


    Less than two minutester, the blue-haired boy was lying on the bed as the silver-haired Valkyrie was getting ready to ride him.


    But at that moment, a thought appeared in Bloed''s mind.


    ''Wait, it can''t be, right?''


    For an instant, he thought about the reason for Princess Elwha''s behavior; and then, he reached a terrifying conclusion.


    "W-Wait, Regina, I think that there is somethUgh"


    Unfortunately, the silver-haired Valkyrie sat down before he could finish his words.


    Bloed groanedfortably and closed his eyes. Feeling the enjoyable pleasure brought by the Valkyrie''s body, all the thoughts about Elwha disappeared from his mind.


    Anyway, it was not as though he could do something about it now.


    '' Are men really beasts that think with their lower half?'' Bloed could not help but ask himself at that moment.


    At the same time, he decided to find a way to block the connection between Princess Elwha and him.


    That same night, Eres went directly with the Former leader of [Wings of Liberty].


    "I''m leaving this club." She told him.


    The former leader was startled. But quickly, his expression turned dark.


    "Again with this, Princess? I thought we had talked about it already. Did you forget the queen''s words?"


    "I did not forget them. However, I don''t care." Eres said indifferently. "I don''t want to be here anymore, so I''m leaving. As for the position of club leader, you can do with it whatever you want."


    Then, without waiting for the young man to reply, Eres turned around to leave.


    But at that moment, Eres felt a powerful pressure appear behind her.


    " Princess, do you think this is a game? Do you know what will happen to the club if you leave? In the worst of the cases, it will disband!"


    Right now, the young man had a terrifying expression, and his mana was surging out of his body, creating a blue me-like aura that spread to the surroundings.


    Eres stopped walking and looked back at the young man with an ice-cold look. Then, she replied indifferently.


    "Why should I care? What? Do you n to stop me? Do you dare?"


    The young man stared at her briefly beforeughing sardonically.


    "Princess, it looks like you are misunderstanding something. I''m not afraid of you. The reason I did not oppose your whims before was that I did not want to offend you, but not because I was afraid of you. However, if you insist on leaving the club, then I can only offend you this time."


    After saying that, he unsheathed his sword and walked towards Eres.


    "I heard that Princess Eres Skysword is a never-seen-before genius. For a long while, I have been curious about your strength. I, Nathan Sigel challenge you to a duel, Princess. If you lose, I hope that you will stop mentioning leaving the club. But if you win, I will not stop you anymore."


    Eres looked at the young man for several seconds before chuckling with a look of amusement.


    "It looks like you are another idiot that thinks that my reputation is undeserved, huh."


    Then, she took out her sword from her storage ring and put on a sharp expression.


    "Do you want a due? Very well. I''ll give you a duel".


    Taking one step forward, Eres released her mana as the world around her trembled in answer.


    "Let me show you, the meaning of [World Burning Princess Witch]."


    And with a wave of her sword, her mes consumed everything in her surroundings.


    ....


    If you want to give me a Christmas gift...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 370: I’m Leaving This Club (2)

    Chapter 370: I¡¯m Leaving This Club (2)


    Eres Skysword had always been called a genius.


    The day she was born, the mana in the surroundings created a vortex around her, as though celebrating her existence.


    Even when she was just a baby, her talent was already clear for everybody that saw her.


    And that talent showed since she was a child.


    Unlike her twin brother who was unable to use mana, she was a genius able to use almost any technique after trying it once.


    Martial arts, magic, secret techniques. It was as though she had been blessed with all the talent in the world.


    However, Eres did not like it.


    Her enormous talent meant that the expectations on her were equally high. Even as a child, she was forced to spend almost the entire day training until she was too tired to continue.


    ''You are a princess, that is your duty.''


    ''You can''t waste the talent you were born with.''


    ''You are the hope of the entire Alterna.''


    Every time she asked for a rest, or when she said that she wanted to y, she received these words.


    Many times, she wanted to cry. She wanted to tell her father and mother that she did not want that talent. She just wanted to rest.


    She wanted to tell them that she was not a tool.


    But she never dared.


    Eres was a timid and obedient child, and when she saw the expectations in the eyes of the people around her, she was too afraid of betraying them.


    Perhaps that was the reason she became so close to her twin brother.


    Unlike her, her twin brother was talentless. He was born without the capacity to use mana.


    If she was an unprecedented genius, he was a useless child without the slightest speck of mana in his body.


    Some people even said that she had swallowed his talent in the womb, leaving him with nothing.


    To be honest, Eres resented her brother at the start. Unlike her, he could y as much as he wanted, he was never forced to train, and he never had to study magic.


    But soon, she started to pity him.


    Because she could see the sneers in the faces of the people that talked about him.


    Perhaps due to that, she started to talk to him.


    That was when she realized it. Unlike the others, her twin treated her like a child.


    He never told her to train more, he never scolded her when she waszy, and he never resented her for having the talent that he did not have.


    Even when she did something wrong, her twin brother usually took the me for her because he was her ''big brother''.


    Eventually, Eres became more and more attached to him.


    Every time she had a bit of free time, she asked him to y with her, and her brother, with a smile on his face, would put down the book he was reading and nod.


    But then, that day arrived.


    Without a warning, they took her brother away, separating him from her.


    She cried, she raged, and she screamed, but she could do nothing. She did not even have the strength to search for him.


    That was the first time in her life that Eres wished to be stronger.


    She wished to be strong. Strong enough to defeat her father, strong enough to search for her brother, and strong enough to protect him regardless of the words of others.


    Thus, she trained.


    Harder than ever, longer than ever, without caring about her tired body.


    In the nights, she cried silently below her bedsheet, murmuring the name of her brother and making up her mind to train harder the next day.


    And in her despair, her talent blossomed.


    Her mana grew faster than ever, and her power skyrocket in an almost miraculous way.


    She learned to dual-wield magic and martial arts, something considered close to impossible, with ease.


    She learned [Skysword], the secret technique of the royal family said to be one of the mostplicated techniques in the world, before bing fifteen.


    And she created [Skymes], a miraculous technique praised even by demigods, with just her own effort.


    Before anyone noticed, she had been called a never-seen-before genius.


    [World Burning Princess Witch], [Alterna''s Loftiest me].


    People praised her and envied her talent.


    But none of them knew about the true reason she trained so hard.


    To find him. To protect him.


    And now that she had found him, she was not going to allow anyone to interpose between the two of them.


    "Yes, nobody can separate from my brother."


    With a soft mutter, Eres looked at the young man in front of her.


    Nathan Sigel, ranked sixth among the students in Academy City, and the former leader of [Wings of Liberty].


    But right now, he was looking at the princess with an expression of fear and disbelief.


    His sword had been destroyed, burned to cinders by a transparent me, and his mana had been consumed before it could injure the ck-haired girl in front of him.


    "How is it possible?" He asked with a pale face, his entire body ridden with injuries.


    But Eres did not reply. She just walked slowly towards him, with her sword pointing downwards and transparent mes burning silently around it.


    "Do you give up?" She asked indifferently.


    Nathan bit her lips with an unwilling expression and red at Eres.


    " Princess, do you know what you are doing?"


    "I know." Eres nodded. "I''m leaving this club."


    She then stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head.


    "You are weaker than I expected."


    With these words, the Princess of the Kingdom of Alterna turned around and left the club, leaving behind an injured Nathan and the members of [Wings of Liberty] looking at her withplicated emotions.


    But when she arrived at the entrance of the club, she found a beautiful woman waiting for her.


    " Eres."


    The princess frowned, but she did not stop walking.


    Right now, she did not want to talk to this woman.


    The woman put on aplicated expression. Sighing, she spoke up to her back.


    " I know why you want to leave the club, Eres. But you know that you should not. Remember your position, daughter."


    "My position?" Eres sneered. "Was that the reason why you abandoned brother back then?"


    "Eres I"


    "Brother already knows that you are in the city. If you are nning to meet him, do it quickly. And leave after that, none of us want to have you nearby."


    The queen bit her lips and opened her mouth to say something, but in the end, she stopped herself from speaking.


    There was no point in giving excuses after so many years.


    Only


    " There are some things that, as a queen, I must do."


    Eres looked at her mother and sneered. Then, she left without looking back.


    She did not want to talk to this woman anymore.


    Meanwhile, Nathan looked towards the entrance of the club with a resentful expression.


    Now that the princess had left, [Wings of Liberty] would suffer a heavy blow.


    A third of the members of the club would leave it. Perhaps more.


    And most likely, some clubs would try to use this opportunity to be the new ''Human Club''.


    ''Dammit!'' Nathan cursed in his mind and punched the floor. ''That Princess! Bitch!''


    However, the princess was underestimating him if she thought that she could leave the club without consequences.


    "Are you sure about this information?" He asked the student beside him.


    "Yes, leader. Someone confirmed that he saw Princess Eres leaving the headquarters of [Machine Revolutio]."


    "Is it so?" Nathan''s eyes shed with a scheming a ruthless glow.


    '' [Machine Revolutio], huh? It looks like I need to teach a lesson to the princess.''


    "Find a way to mess with that club. It''s better if you destroy it or if you get it out of the top one hundred clubs. But remember, you can''t leave any clues behind. It can''t be rted to [Wings of Liberty]."


    "I understand, leader. We will start to investigate tomorrow."


    "Do it. I want results in one week. I want to see the princess''s face regretting this."


    "Understood."

 Chapter 371: Her Majesty is Waiting for You (1)

    Chapter 371: Her Majesty is Waiting for You (1)


    The next morning, the club members of [Machine Revolutio] were gathered in the meeting room.


    In front of the confused, surprised, and dubious gazes of the club members, Bloed introduced the ck-haired girl beside him again.


    "As many of you know, she is Eres Skysword. From today onwards, she will be another member of our club."


    Liu Ying, Aya, Gina, and the others were stunned.


    However, they soon found it normal.


    After all, they knew that Eres was Bloed''s sister. Due to that, the fact that Eres became part of the club was not so surprising.


    When Bloed finished introducing her, Eres bowed towards the group and introduced herself.


    "Nice to meet you, my name is Eres. I''m GlenBloed''s sister. Sixteen years old. I broke through A-Rank recently."


    Eres''s introduction surprised a part of the group.


    Sara, Toby, and, Prince Calisto, who were too drunk yesterday to witness Eres, Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina''s fight, opened their eyes wide when they heard Eres''s age and mana rank.


    Moreover, their expressions turned even more astonished when they thought about the meaning of Eres''s surname and the fact that she was Bloed''s sister.


    However, neither Bloed nor Eres paid any attention to them.


    Anyway, they had exined most of the situation yesterday. If Sara, Toby, and Prince Calisto wanted to hear the details, they could ask the others.


    Looking at the group, Bloed pped his hands once to get their attention.


    "Very well, now that Eres introduced herself, it''s time to start the main topic of today''s meeting. And that is, our activities during the War of Clubs."


    The group looked at each other with curious expressions.


    "As you know, there are two ways to make points." Bloed continued. "One of them is through winning challenges, and the other is through missions. Unfortunately, we can''t rely on challenges alone to keep our rank. Thus, we will have to do missions."


    "What missions are we going to do?" Elwha asked, her voice slightly sharp and piercing.


    Bloed had an inkling of the reason why Elwha was displeased (The fun he had with Reginast night), so he decided to feign he did not hear the thorns in her voice and answered her question as usual.


    "That is the reason we are here. Prince Calisto, please."


    "Yes." The little lionkin prince took one step forward and distributed a document containing a list of avable missions to each member of the club.


    "These are the missions that Academy City posted yesterday," Prince Calisto exined. "I asked my men to collect this information and organize the missions in order of difficulty and reward. We can analyze it to determine what mission we should take."


    The group nodded in silence and read the information.


    The first mission in the document was:


    Hunt a Demigod-Level Beast in the Beasts'' Wilderness. Reward: 10000 Club Points.


    With just a nce, the group stiffened.


    "Yeah, not this mission."


    Liu Ying, Aya, and the others immediately nodded.


    In fact, this mission was kind of a joke in Academy City. It had existed for many years, but it had never beenpleted.


    Well, hunting a demigod-level beast was not something that a group of A-Rank and B-Rank students could do easily. It was borderline impossible.


    The second mission was:


    Kill Idhore Adkena and bring proof of his death. Reward: 5000 Club Points.


    The group only nced at this mission briefly and decided to give it up as well.


    ording to the information in the mission, this Idhore Adkena was a powerful demon with half-step demigod mana rank. Moreover, he was famous for his vicious methods and outstanding strength.


    ording to the rumors, he once killed the family of a demigod and managed to escape the demigod''s pursuit after it.


    Bloed was not confident he could kill this man unless he used [Overdrive]. And even then, he had to find him first. His club did not have the means necessary for something like that.


    The group continued scrolling down the missions, but although the following missions were easier, most of them were not something the group couldplete easily.


    Finally, they reached the fifteenth mission.


    Hunt Five A-Rank beast and bring their mana cores. Reward: 200 Club points. Note: The beast must be hunted by the members of the club. Otherwise, the club will not receive points.


    " This mission is suitable, I think." Liu Ying opined.


    Bloed and the others nodded. Certainly, this mission was one that his group couldplete.


    But


    "We need more missions. With just this mission, we will eventually be kicked out of the top 100 clubs."


    "How about the mission about making golems?" Toby suggested at that moment.


    Bloed and the others were startled. One instantter, they hurriedly looked at the document and searched for the mission Toby suggested.


    Create Golems. Reward (For each Golem): 50 Club Points (A-Rank Golem), 30 Club Points (B-Rank Golem), 10 Club Points (C-Rank Golem).


    "This mission"


    "This is one of the missions the previous club used to get points," Toby exined to Bloed. "Academy City had a lot of missions like this. After all, the goal of the War of Clubs is not only to test thebat abilities of the clubs but also their other skills. We can get a considerable number of points with enough golems."


    Bloed fell silent and put on a pensive expression.


    Just like Toby said, he could see several other missions like this one. Such as creating potions, creating magic formations, creating spells, or even cooking dishes.


    Such missions were very suitable for clubs not rted tobat and could help them to get a ce in the top 100.


    After thinking for a moment, Bloed nodded.


    "This mission is good. We will take this. Any other suggestion?"


    Soon, the group selected five missions more.


    Once they had decided on their missions, it was time to register them.


    "I''ll be going to the Mission Hall to register them then."


    "I''ll go with you."


    "Me too~"


    "I''m going."


    "My hero, I want to go!"


    Looking at Regina, Liu Ying, Eres, and Gina, who raised their hands to go with him, Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    In the end, he only chose two of them.


    "Regina and Eres areing with me. The rest will stay here."


    Although reluctant, Liu Ying and Gina nodded.


    But as soon as Bloed, Regina, and Eres exited the tower, they saw a woman waiting for them with an expressionless look.


    "Prince Glenn, Princess Eres, pleasee with me. Her Majesty Soraya is waiting for you."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 372: Her Majesty is Waiting for You (2)

    Chapter 372: Her Majesty is Waiting for You (2)


    I posted it in P4TRE0N, but I''m visiting my grandma, so I can''t write. Next chapter wille two dayster...


    ...


    "Prince Glenn, Princess Eres, pleasee with me. Her Majesty Soraya is waiting for you."


    Hearing the words of the expressionless woman, Bloed frowned.


    He then looked at Eres and smiled wryly.


    "It looks like your actions helped the queen to make up her mind."


    " Sorry, brother."


    "Don''t worry, it''s not your fault," Bloed said and shook his head. Then, he looked at the woman again.


    But this time, his glowing blue eyes werepletely ice-cold.


    "I don''t have any reason to meet her. Much less when she is not even able toe to see me personally."


    The woman frowned. Immediately, her eyes shed with an expression of coldness.


    "It looks like you are misunderstanding something, Prince. I''m not asking for your opinion."


    This time, the woman''s words were apanied by a powerful and fierce aura.


    Bloed frowned immediately.


    " Demigod."


    But he was not intimidated.


    Because before the woman''s aura could touch him, Regina behind him grunted, releasing an even more powerful aura that shed against the woman''s.


    Surprised, the woman could only try her best to endure the sh, but Regina''s pressure forced her to take several steps back!


    "You!" The woman''s eyes narrowed. Her mana instantly surged out of her body, ready to start a battle.


    But before she could move, her expression changed.


    Because at that moment, a golden-haired fox girl appeared suddenly in front of Bloed.


    And the aura of this fox girl was just as strong as Regina''s. No, it was slightly stronger.


    She was Eve! The former saintess of Moonlight Glow!


    "What do you think you are doing?" Eve''s deadpan voice was soft, but it was like thunder to the ears of the woman.


    Facing her aura, plus Regina''s aura, the woman''s face turned pale, and her mana was pressed against her skin, unable to advance further.


    "You Who are you!? Do you n to interfere in the affairs of Alterna!?"


    Eve did not reply, her emotionless gaze fixed on the woman as though she did not care about her words.


    And in fact, she did not care.


    She already considered Bloed one of her own. And if the kingdom of Alterna did not like it, she did not mind fighting them.


    Fortunately, someone else arrived at that moment, easing the atmosphere.


    "Liliana, stop."


    "Y-Your Majesty!"


    The woman hurriedly kneeled on a knee, bowing her head towards the neer with a respectful expression.


    Behind her, a beautiful ck-haired woman came slowly, followed by another woman acting as her guard.


    Surprisingly, this guard was even stronger than the woman kneeling on the ground.


    Another demigod!


    But Bloed was not in the mood to worry about that.


    Because he knew who the ck-haired woman was.


    Soraya Dora, Queen of the Kingdom of Alterna.


    And at the same time, Bloed''s mother.


    Bloed''s emotions wereplicated when he saw her.


    But the queen''s emotions were even moreplicated. There was guilt, joy, sadness, excitement, anxiety, fear, and many other emotions.


    She seemed incredibly joyful after seeing Bloed''s again, but at the same time, she seemed afraid of facing the child that she abandoned.


    "Glenn" She whispered softly.


    Bloed frowned and his expression turned ice-cold. He did not like that name.


    "Your Majesty, what do you need?" He said in apletely emotionless tone.


    Seeing that, the queen smiled wryly.


    "It looks like you are not even willing to call me mother."


    Bloed did not reply, but the coldness in his eyes was enough of an answer.


    The queen could only smile bitterly.


    With a sad expression, she forced herself to smile as she looked at Bloed.


    " I''m sorry about my subordinate''s bluntness. It was not her intention Son, do you think you can give your mother a bit of your time? I would like to talk to you."


    "I''m sorry, Im busy right now. Besides, I''m not your son. Regina, Eres, Eve, let''s go."


    The girls did not hesitate to follow Bloed. Not even Eres bothered to look at the queen.


    However, the queen was not nning to give up easily.


    " Son, please Just one time"


    Feeling the pleading tone in her voice, Bloed stopped.


    He looked behind him, seeing Eres looking at him with aplicated gaze, Regina putting on a displeased look, and Eve with her usual deadpan expression.


    However, he could see something in their gazes.


    Support.


    Bloed sighed and looked at the queen again, this time nodding.


    " I''ll go to your ce two dayster."


    The expression on the queen''s face brightened immediately.


    "Thank you, son! Yes, two dayster. I''ll wait for you!"


    "Good." Bloed nodded indifferently and left with the girls.


    He could feel the queen''s gaze glued to his back, looking at him with soft and gentle eyes.


    However, Bloed did not look at her again.


    He did not want to see her face again if it was possible.


    Actually, the only reason that he agreed to the meeting was to cut his remaining ties to her.


    ....


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 373: A Special Mission (1)

    Chapter 373: A Special Mission (1)


    I''m back!!!


    ...


    "Brother, are you alright?" Eres asked with a worried expression.


    "Don''t worry, I''m alright." Bloed smiled and nodded. "I was just a bit surprised."


    "Is it so?" Eres nodded, but her expression was a bit hesitant.


    She could see that Bloed was not alright.


    Even though he did his best to feign that nothing happened, it was obvious that his emotions were a mess.


    And if she could see it, then Regina and Eve could see it as well.


    "Master" Regina murmured with a concerned look, but Bloed just smiled again and replied that everything was alright.


    However, it was not.


    Right now, Bloed''s chest felt as though it was burning.


    It had been burning since the moment he saw that woman. It was a burning resentment that seemed to consume him from the inside.


    Bloed thought he had left it all behind. That after meeting Cami, Tito, Regina, and the others, he had left the hatred for his family behind.


    But just now, he realized that he was mistaken.


    As soon as he saw the queen. As soon as he saw the face of the woman that once was his mother, the hatred that had been hidden for five years resurged.


    At that moment, Bloed felt an intense urge to take out his saber and cut her down.


    Fortunately, he managed to suppress it.


    Even so, he was not sure if he would have been able to control himself if he would have been alone with her.


    Bloed smiled bitterly in his mind and let out a heavy sigh.


    ''Damn I guess my resentment is deeper than I thought, huh.''


    Shaking his head, he decided to stop thinking about it and looked at the expressionless fox girl.


    "Miss Eve, thank you very much for your help."


    "It''s nothing." Eve nodded. "You are part of Moonlight Glow, and my friend. I''m happy being of help."


    "Is it so?" Bloed could not help but smile. "I guess I''m happy about having a friend like you then."


    Eve just nodded without replying, however, Bloed noticed her fox tail wagging right and left happily.


    Apparently, she was pleased with Bloed''s praise.


    " When you go to see her, tell me. I''ll go with you." The fox girl suddenly said.


    "Huh?"


    "She has two demigods. I can help you to intimidate them."


    Bloed smiled softly and did not refuse her offer.


    Anyway, he already considered Eve a close friend. At most, he would do his best to help her if one day she needed his help.


    When Eve saw that, her lips curved up in a small smile, though it disappeared in the next instant, as though it never existed.


    She then nodded to Bloed and bid him farewell, disappearing as abruptly as she appeared.


    Fifteen minutes after Eve left, Bloed''s group arrived at the Mission Hall.


    To nobody''s surprise, there was a crowd of students waiting for their turns inside it. Just like Bloed, they were here to take missions for their clubs.


    Seeing that, Bloed, Regina, and Eres could only wait for their turn patiently. Meanwhile, they checked to see if they could see any new interesting mission.


    But not even ten minutes after they arrived, a young girl came down from the second floor of the hall and looked at Bloed in surprise.


    "Mr. Bloed, it''s good that you are here."


    Bloed was startled. He looked at the young woman fixedly and furrowed his brows.


    "You are?"


    "Oh, sorry about that. My name is Laura. I was going to the headquarters of your club to give you something, but fortunately, I found you here."


    After saying that, the girl took a letter from her pocket and passed it to Bloed.


    Although confused, Bloed epted it thanked the girl. He then started to read the letter under the curious gazes of Regina and Eres.


    When he finished reading it, his expression turned strange.


    "It''s from the headmistress."


    "The headmistress?"


    Regina and Eres were surprised.


    "Yes. It says that we were chosen to participate in a special mission."


    Half an hourter, Bloed, Regina, and Eres were on the second floor of the Mission Hall waiting for the arrival of the Headmistress.


    To Bloed''s surprise, his club was not the only group invited.


    Several other clubs were on the second floor as well. Moreover, each one of these clubs was very famous.


    [Guardian Order], [Genius Society], [Mage Tower], [Martial Arts Club], [Crystal Beauty], [Eternal Dream], and [Sword Studies]. The leaders of the seven strongest clubs of the city were here.


    They seemed very surprised to see Bloed, Regina, and Eres here, but none of them asked anything. Just like Bloed''s group, they just waited for the arrival of the headmistress.


    Fortunately, the headmistress arrived after a few minutes.


    "It looks like all of you are here. Good. Let''s start then."


    With a serious expression, the headmistress waved her hand and cast a barrier around the second floor.


    When she was sure that the conversation inside could not be heard outside, she finally started to talk.


    "As the letter that you received said, the reason I invited you here is that I have a mission for your clubs. A very important mission."


    The club leaders looked at each other in surprise before looking at the headmistress curiously.


    "What is the mission? Is it something that only we can do?" Mu Quan, the strongest student in the city, asked. After all, it was the first time he heard about the headmistress assigning a mission personally.


    "It''s not." Headmistress Wave shook her head. "But your clubs are the most suitable to ept this mission. The reason your clubs were selected was that I consider them the most trustworthy clubs in Academy City."


    The expressions of Bloed and the others turned serious. Judging by Headmistress Wave''s words, this mission did not seem simple.


    And just as they thought, it was not.


    With a grave expression, Headmistress Wave announced the contents of the mission.


    "I hope you can help me to hunt some criminals hiding in the city."

 Chapter 374: A Special Mission (2)

    Chapter 374: A Special Mission (2)


    "I hope that each one of you can help me to hunt some criminals hiding in the city."


    The club leaders gathered on the second floor of the Mission Hall were surprised after hearing the words of the headmistress.


    "Criminals?" Isabe''s expression turned grim. "What do you mean, Headmistress?"


    Headmistress Wave paused for a moment before moving her gaze through each one of the people on the second floor.


    "The words I''m going to say now are confidential. Regardless of if you ept the mission or not, you can''t talk about it to anyone. Otherwise, you will be punished."


    The club leaders nodded in understanding.


    "Very well. I''ll start to exin the details about the mission then." Headmistress Wave nodded. "We have information that some criminals have infiltrated Academy City and they are nning to do something during the War of Clubs. We are not sure about how many criminals are in the city or what they are nning, but we know that it won''t be good for the city or the students in it.


    "The identities of the criminals are unclear, so we can''t give you too much information about them. However, they are very dangerous, and even demigods could be involved."


    "Demigods!?"


    "What demigod is so crazy as to act against Academy City."


    "Wait a moment, does it mean that we could meet enemy demigods during the mission!?"


    Several of the people on the second floor gasped in shock and became nervous after hearing the headmistress''s words.


    In this world, demigods were at the top of the world. They represented power and status, and it wasmon knowledge that only a demigod could kill another, with almost no exceptions.


    The mere thought of facing a demigod made many of the club leaders here uneasy.


    "Quiet down." Headmistress Wave said with a frown when she saw their reaction. "Don''t worry, you won''t need to face them. Academy City doesn''tck demigods of its own."


    "Then, what is the mission?"


    The elf, Selha Deena, leader of the fifth-ranked club in the city, Crystal Beauty, furrowed her brows and asked.


    Headmistress Wave looked at her and exined it.


    "You only need to send some of your club members to patrol the city and keep an eye on suspicious people. If you think that one of them can be a criminal, then you must report it to the city, and we will take care of it. Of course, you can choose to catch them by yourselves, I don''t mind it. As for the reward"


    Headmistress Wave paused at that moment, looking at each club leader before opening her mouth.


    "Just for keeping an eye on the situation, each club will receive one thousand points weekly; and the points will increase if any of the clubs discover or capture a criminal."


    As soon as the words of the headmistress fell on the ears of the club leaders, their eyes opened wide.


    Some of them gasped in shock, others were stunned, and others looked at the headmistress in surprise.


    But one secondter, each one of them put on a pensive expression.


    "Headmistress, this reward"


    "It''s too big." Mu Quan finished Isabe''s words. "Forgive me for being blunt, but with such an easy mission and such a huge reward, we can''t help but think that there is something fishy here."


    The headmistress looked at Mu Quan and Isabe and nodded.


    "As expected, you noticed it. Certainly, I''m not here to give you free points. The reason the rewards are so high is that this mission has a very harsh requirement."


    Wave then narrowed her caramel-colored eyes and put on an ice-cold look.


    "This mission is strictly confidential. Nobody, not even your club members, are allowed to know about it. You will have to find a way to fool your club members into doing the mission without revealing the contents of it. If I learn that any of you revealed information, I will deduct ten times the number of points that person got from the mission from the club of that person."


    Several of the club leaders immediately changed their expressions when they heard that.


    Just like Headmistress Wave said, this requirement was very harsh. It was obvious that the club members would want to know the reason why they are searching for suspicious people, so the club leaders would have to be very careful to not reveal it.


    As for the punishment for revealing the mission, it was equally harsh.


    Deducting ten times the number of points meant deducting ten thousand points at the very least.


    It was the same as making their clubs lose their position as one of the top 100 clubs.


    Seeing the change in their expressions, Wave spoke up again.


    "Don''t worry, I know that you will need the help of some people from your clubs for this mission. Thus, if you think it''s absolutely necessary to reveal this information to one of your club members, you can consult it with me, and I''ll determine if it''s necessary. But even so, the number of people you can reveal it to won''t exceed five."


    "What if someone discovers about the mission identally?" One of the club leaders asked.


    "I''ll then judge the situation and decide on the appropriate punishment. Now, choose, are you going to ept this mission or not?"


    The club leaders looked at each other and frowned. But before long, one of them spoke up.


    "Our club will take this mission."


    And after the first club epted the mission, the rest of the club leaders spoke up one after another.


    In the end, each one of the fifteen club leaders gathered on the second floor epted the mission.


    Including Bloed.

 Chapter 375: Let me Show You the Power of… (1)

    Chapter 375: Let me Show You the Power of¡­ (1)


    After the meeting finished, Bloed, Regina, and Eres left the Mission Hall.


    On the way back to Machine Revolutio, Bloed kept a pensive expression.


    "Master, what is wrong?" Regina asked curiously.


    Bloed thought for a moment before replying.


    " I just think that this mission is strange."


    "What do you mean?" Regina furrowed her brows. At the same time, Eres walked closer to Bloed to hear his words more clearly.


    "Think about it," Bloed said as he walked through the streets of Academy City. "Academy City has enough teachers and guards to take care of any criminal that infiltrates the city. Why did the headmistress ask for our help then?"


    Regina and Eres were startled after hearing that question.


    "What do you think, Brother?" Eres asked.


    "If I''m not wrong, Headmistress Wave can''t trust the teachers and guardspletely. That is the reason she asked for our help."


    Regina and Eres''s expressions turned grave immediately.


    They could understand the meaning of Bloed''s words. In other words, he was saying that there were traitors in Academy City.


    But Bloed was convinced of his guess.


    He had learned a bit about the current situation of the city from his conversations with the headmistress and Eve, and he knew that currently, the city''s situation was far from good.


    Many people were eyeing the resources and location of the city with greedy eyes, and more than one party could not wait for the day Academy City''s fall.


    Under such circumstances, the existence of traitors was normal.


    And there was another reason that supported Bloed''s guess.


    None of the clubs with strong ties to the races were invited to the meeting.


    Neither Wings of Liberty (Humans), nor Elf Garden, Beast Brotherhood, or Demons Glory.


    Moreover, the clubs invited to participate in the mission didn''t receive much information about the situation.


    Headmistress Wave only said that there were criminals inside the city and that they needed to keep an eye on suspicious people.


    As for the identities of the criminals and the reason why they were in the city, the headmistress did not reveal it.


    Bloed was sure that Headmistress Wave knew about their identity; or at least, she had a good idea about it.


    As for the reason why she said that the identities of the criminals were unclear, Bloed was sure that it was as a precaution.


    Most likely, she was wary of one of the club leaders having ties to the ''criminals'' in the city.


    However, that was not the only problem with the mission.


    "Don''t you think it''s strange that our club was selected for this mission?" Bloed asked Regina and Eres.


    The two girls frowned; and one secondter, Regina nodded.


    "Right, [Machine Revolutio] is a small club. This kind of mission needs arge number of people. It''s not suitable for a club with around ten members like ours."


    "Now that I think about it, Miss Regina is right." Eres furrowed her brows. "I don''t understand, why the headmistress selected our club for this mission then?"


    "It should be a test," Bloed said.


    "A test?" Eres was confused, but Regina nodded in understanding.


    She immediately understood the Headmistress''s goal.


    She wanted to test Bloed''s capabilities to see his approach to this mission.


    " But brother, if the mission is so suspicious, why did you ept it?" Eres could not help but ask.


    "The mission is suspicious, but it doesn''t mean that we should not ept it." Bloed smiled. "This mission is good for us. Just the points that we can get from this mission plus the points we get from creating golems are enough for our club to keep a stable ranking in the top 100. We won''t need to do any other mission. It''s perfect for our current situation."


    "How are you nning toplete the mission then, master?"


    "Let''s wait until we return to the club. I''ll tell you then."


    Before leaving the Mission Hall, Bloed had asked Headmistress Wave if he could reveal the information of the mission to the members of his club.


    Headmistress Wave did not mind it. In a certain sense, most of the members of Bloed''s club was very trustworthy.


    The only exceptions were perhaps Elwha, Prince Calisto, Toby, and Eres, but due to her curiosity towards Bloed, she had investigated them and was certain that they were clean. Even Eres was not likely to reveal it, considering her rtionship with the royal family of Alterna.


    Even so, the headmistress still limited the number of people that could know about the mission to five (Besides Bloed, Regina, and Eres).


    Bloed chose Liu Ying, Aya, Gina, Sara, and Princess Elwha.


    Fifteen minutester, Bloed, Regina, and Eres returned to the club. But when they were about to enter the tower, Bloed abruptly stopped.


    In the next instant, he turned around and looked at their surroundings warily.


    "Master?"


    "Brother?"


    "Someone was observing us," Bloed said with a dark expression. "And he carried ill intent."


    Regina and Eres''s expressions changed.


    "Where is him? Should I try to find him?" Regina asked, but Bloed shook his head after hesitating briefly.


    ording to his senses, whoever was observing them had already left.


    In fact, he left as soon as he felt Bloed''s gaze.


    Bloed did not even manage to see him or determine his location.


    Obviously, this person was very cautious.


    Without knowing where that person was, Regina would be unable to find him.


    " You can try, but I don''t think you will find anything. We will have to keep an eye on our surroundings from today onwards."


    As someone that grew in the Exiled Lands, facing bloodthirsty beasts and powerful monsters daily, Bloed was rather sensitive to killing intent and ill will, even more than Regina, who was much stronger than him.


    Due to that, he was sure that the person that was observing them just a moment ago carrier clear ill will.


    Such a person was definitively an enemy.


    Despite Bloed''s words, Regina flew around the tower and tried to find the owner of the gaze. But just as Bloed expected, she failed to find him.


    Bloed was slightly disappointed, but he did not mind it much.


    He tried to deduce the identity of that person. But unfortunately, there were too many suspects.


    It could be the people of the Church of ughtering after Elwha, or the people of Returning Dusking for Gina. Perhaps it was someone from the Daemon Empire that came to investigate Liu Ying, or even an assassin sent by the king of Alterna to kill Bloed.


    Without enough clues, Bloed could note to an answer. He could only remind himself to be careful.


    After that small episode, Bloed, Regina, and Eres entered the tower. Bloed immediately gathered Liu Ying, Aya, Sara, Gina, and Princess Elwha for a meeting.


    During the meeting, he exined to them about the mission he got from the headmistress.


    After they heard his words, the girls put on pensive expressions.


    "My lord, although this mission is good, it''s not suitable for us." Sara was the first to speak. "We don''t have enough men for it."


    "Sara is right." Liu Ying agreed with Sara. "Actually, I can''t understand why the headmistress selected us for this mission. She should know about our circumstances."


    Elwha, Aya, Gina, and Eres nodded.


    Only Regina was indifferent, standing behind Bloed with a deadpan expression.


    At that moment, Bloed smirked.


    "Actually, this mission is rather simple."


    "???"


    Bloed smiled and looked at the girls.


    "It''s a bit sooner than I expected, but I guess it doesn''t matter."


    With a mysterious expression, he took out a small object from his storage device and showed it to the girls.


    "Girls, let me show you the power of security cameras."

 Chapter 376: Let me Show You the Power of… (2)

    Chapter 376: Let me Show You the Power of¡­ (2)


    The reason Headmistress Wave chose [Machine Revolutio] as one of the clubs for this mission was that she wanted to test Bloed''s capabilities. She wanted to see what approach he would take for the mission she gave him.


    After all, Bloed was someone that had gained the interest of two goddesses. Wave was interested in what method someone like him was going to use toplete the mission.


    But even she never imagined that Bloed would set up awork of security cameras around the entire Academy City.


    Nobody could have imagined it.


    In fact, when the girls learned about the function of the security cameras and heard Bloed''s n, they were stunned.


    And now, after working nonstop for two days and with the help of the new club members, the first part of the securitywork was done.


    A total of two thousand security cameras were used to cover a fifth of Academy City, allowing Bloed to have real-time images about anything that happened in this part of the city.


    Unfortunately, Bloed did not have enough materials to make more cameras. Otherwise, he would have liked to put security cameras around the entire city.


    Well, for now, he would have to be satisfied with this much.


    "Finally, we are done." Liu Ying was slumped in a chair with a tired expression. "Good, I thought we were never going to finish."


    Eres, Gina, Sara, Aya, Princess Elwha, Regina, and Bloed nodded. Just like her, they were also resting after working for two days to install all the security cameras.


    "Fortunately, the new members helped. Otherwise, we would have taken much longer toplete this."


    " Mm."


    Hearing the fatigue in Princess Elwha and Aya''s voice, Bloed forced out a smile.


    Truthfully, setting up the securitywork around the city was very arduous. Mainly because the group needed to be careful when installing each camera.


    Bloed''s cameras were an advanced piece of technology. They did not need to be connected through wires to work. Instead, they used sr energy to work and sent the images they captured through a wirelesswork.


    But even like that, the cameras were not easy to install. On average, the girls could install one camera every five minutes.


    To be honest, if not that the club just got five new members and Bloed put them to work installing the cameras, they would have needed at least one week to finish installing the first part of thework.


    Of course, Bloed did not exin the function of the security cameras to the neers. He just taught them how to install them and put them to work.


    After the group rested for a while, it was time to see the fruits of their hard work.


    "Let''s go. I will show you the function of the cameras."


    Five minutester, the group was in a room inside the underground floor of the tower.


    "There is nothing here, Bloed." Liu Ying said in confusion.


    Bloed had told them that the security cameras could help them to see what was happening in the city. But right now, she could only see an empty room.


    However, Bloed just smiled and spoke one word.


    "Start."


    Instantly, the entire room lit up.


    Then, under the dumbfounded gazes of the girls, two thousand different images were projected on the walls.


    "This is"


    " Amazing"


    "M-My hero, we can''t see what is happening in the city from here."


    Bloed smiled proudly when he saw Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina''s reactions.


    "Great, right? With this, we will be able to do the mission easily. Sara, Eres, Elwha, what do you think?"


    " It''s impressive, my lord." Sara sighed after observing the images for a few seconds.


    Eres and Elwha nodded, just as surprised as Sara.


    Even though they had heard about the function of the security cameras from Bloed, they were not expecting something like this.


    With just a nce, they could understand how incredible this ''securitywork'' was.


    With this, it would be much easier to guard against intruders.


    It was not as though this world did not have something simr. Surveince formations could allow someone to keep watch over a ce as well.


    However, surveince formations could only be used by someone connected to the formation, and using it consumed a great amount of soul power. Most of the time, it could only be used for a brief period.


    This ''securitywork'', on the other hand, did not seem to consume soul power. In fact, its only downside seemed to be the fact that the images were separated and it was very hard to keep an eye on each one of them at the same time.


    Even so, it was impressive.


    Plus


    "Security cameras are a product of technology and they don''t use magic power. Thus, not even a demigod will be able to detect them." Bloed said.


    The girls were speechless.


    " Really, you are impressive as always, Mr. Bloed." Princess Elwha said with aplicated expression.


    Hearing that, Liu Ying smiled wryly.


    "Right? I can''t believe something like this exists."


    Bloed just smiled.


    "What is the n then, my hero? Are we going to use this ''Security Network'' to keep an eye on the city?"


    "Yes." Bloed nodded and looked at Regina. "Can you help me to watch the cameras, Regina? You are the only one that can do it."


    Regina put on aplicated expression and hesisated.


    Actually, she did not want to do it.


    Watching the cameras meant that she would have to be separated from her master. She did not like that idea.


    Even so, she understood that she was the most suitable for this task. Plus, only a Valkyrie like her could watch the two-thousand cameras at the same time.


    " I understand, master."


    Bloed smiled apologetically and grabbed her hand.


    "Sorry. Don''t worry, it will only be temporary."


    "Mm. However, I''ll go with you to see that woman first."


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded.


    He nned to bring Regina with him from the start.


    It had been two days since he met the queen outside the tower.


    And today, he was going to meet her again.

 Chapter 377: Five Years Ago (1)

    Chapter 377: Five Years Ago (1)


    Bloed''s biological mother was the queen of the Kingdom of Alterna. And as the queen of the biggest human kingdom, the ce where she stayed when she was in Academy city was worthy of her status.


    It was an enormous mansion in the north of the city, even bigger than the mansion where Bloed stayed when he just arrived in the city. Moreover, it was filled with luxurious and expensive decorations worthy of the residence of a queen.


    In the end, Bloed and the queen decided to meet for a dinner, so when Bloed arrived, it was already evening.


    Three other people came together with him. Regina, Eve, and Eres. Regina and Eve came as bodyguards, and Eres came to apany him.


    When the group arrived at the mansion, they were received by a maid that led them to the dining room.


    To Bloed''s surprise, the maid was at the peak of A-Rank.


    In fact, Bloed noticed around twenty people since he entered the mansion, and none of them was weaker than the A-Rank.


    ''As expected of the entourage of a queen, huh. None of them is weak.''


    To be honest, Bloed was not confident of escaping from this mansion if he came here alone.


    Fortunately, Regina and Eve came with him, so he did not need to worry about being captured or attacked.


    After all, these two were among the most powerful beings in this world. Even a powerful nation such as the Kingdom of Alterna would have trouble defeating the two of them.


    When Bloed arrived at the dining room, he saw a beautiful woman waiting for him with a nervous and anxious expression.


    She was the queen of the Kingdom of Alterna, Soraya Dora.


    "You are here." Soraya''s eyes lit up as soon as she saw him. She hurriedly walked towards Bloed and tried to touch his check, but Bloed frowned and stepped back.


    Seeing that, the queen''s expression dimmed in disappointment. She hurriedly tried to hide it, but the sadness in her eyes was not easy to hide.


    "Come, I have ordered the chef to prepare a special dinner tonight." She said.


    "Thank you for your invitation, Your Majesty," Bloed replied in a respectful tone, however, his voice sounded noticeably cold and distant.


    The group sat down at the table with the queen across them. The two demigods that Bloed saw two days ago were standing behind the queen respectfully.


    Regina was standing behind Bloed just like them. She kept an indifferent expression, but the cold glint in her eyes showed that she was ready to release an attack at the slightest sign that something was wrong.


    "You must be Miss Regina, right?" The queen said while looking at the silver-haired Valkyrie. "I heard that you have been taking care of my son. Nice to meet you. My name is Soraya Dora. I''m Glenn''s mother."


    "Nice to meet you," Regina replied curtly, not even bothering to look at her.


    In fact, judging by the well-hidden disdain in her voice, it was obvious that she did not recognize the queen''s im of being ''Glenn''s mother''.


    Regina''s attitude bothered the two demigods behind the queen, who frowned in displeasure. However, the queen nced at them to indicate that this was alright. She then smiled awkwardly and looked this time at the golden-haired fox girl seated beside Bloed.


    "Miss Eve, it has been a while since thest time we met. Thank you for taking care of my son."


    "Long time no see you, Your Majesty." Eve''s expression was sleepy. But in the next instant, her eyes turned sharp. "You don''t need to thank me. Bloed is a friend of mine and a member of Moonlight Glow. It''s normal to help him."


    Queen Soraya was startled. As an experienced politician, she could understand the veiled threat behind Eve''s words.


    ''He is one of us. Don''t think about harming him''


    The queen''s expression turnedplicated.


    On a side, she was happy that her son managed to win the recognition of someone as powerful as Eve Moonglow. But on the other hand, she was sad when she felt the hostility in Eve''s words.


    In fact, it was not just Eve.


    When the queen tried to greet Eres, she realized that her daughter did not even bother to return the greeting. She just nced at her before looking away with a clearly impatient expression.


    For a while, an awkward silence filled the dining room, and Soraya was unable to start a conversation.


    She wanted to ask her son, Glenn, about many things. About his life during the previous five years, about how he managed to acquire mana (the queen did not know that Bloed did not have mana yet), about the reason why his hair and eyes had turned blue.


    However, no matter how she tried to start a conversation, the four people in front of her did not bother to follow it.


    Fortunately, the servants brought the food at this moment, helping the queen to diffuse the awkward atmosphere.


    "The dishes here have been prepared with the best ingredients, son. This meat is from a peak A-Rank monster, and these fruits help with the cirction of mana. Why don''t you try it? I''m sure that you will like it."


    But even with the food, the atmosphere did not improve.


    Instead, Bloed frowned and looked at the woman in front of him coldly.


    "Your Majesty, I will be honest with you. I don''t want to be here, and I''m not interested in tasting your food. So, hurry up and tell me what you want to tell me, otherwise, I''m going to leave."


    "S-Son, that"


    "Stop. I''m not your son. I stopped being your son when I was abandoned in the Exiled Lands."


    Queen Soraya''s expression paled. Hearing the rude tone in Bloed''s voice, her eyes opened wide.


    Then, she put on a self-deprecating expression.


    " Yes, I think that it''s normal if you think like that."


    Bloed did not reply. But the cold glint on his eyes showed that he was getting impatient.


    Sighing softly, the queen looked at her son and smiled bitterly.


    "Glenn, do you think that I wanted to abandon you? I didn''t want it But... I did not have another option."


    "My name is Bloed, Your Majesty. Glenn died five years ago."


    "Died, huh..." The queen''s expression was bitter. "I understand. And I understand if you hate me Yes, you have all the right to hate me But, can you please listen to my exnation? Just this time, please."


    " Do speak." Bloed spoke up after a brief moment of hesitation.


    The empress nodded and started her story.


    About what happened five years ago.

 Chapter 378: Five Years Ago (2)

    Chapter 378: Five Years Ago (2)


    Five years ago:


    " The situation is like that, Your Majesty. I think that the best course of action is to send one of the kingdom''s knight orders to suppress the rebellion."


    "Is it so?" A ck-haired man listened to the report of his subordinate with a serious expression.


    They were currently inside a hall, the pce hall, attending to the morning court. The ck-haired man, who was the King of Alterna, used it to listen about the situation of the kingdom every morning.


    In the hall, several officials and nobles were standing respectfully, waiting for the words of the king. And beside him, the Queen of the Alterna was seated with an indifferent face.


    Right now, the atmosphere in the hall was slightly tense.


    One day ago, a rebellion sparked up in the empire.


    Actually, it was nothing big. Just a border city that was dissatisfied with the kingdom''s policies and decided to rebel.


    With the Kingdom of Alterna''s strength, it was very easy to suppress this kind of rebellion.


    The problem was that this was not the first rebellion.


    This was the third case in thest five years.


    The king frowned, thinking carefully about the situation.


    '' Another rebellion? What is the problem?''


    "What is the reason for the rebellion?"


    " Apparently, they think that the taxes they pay to the kingdom are too high." The subordinate reporting the situation answered.


    The king snorted.


    "Too high? We have one of the lower taxes among human kingdoms. What else do they want!?"


    The subordinate said nothing, just lowering his head nervously.


    Seeing that, the king tapped the armrest of his throne twice before speaking.


    "Send the third order of knights. They have one month to suppress the rebellion."


    "Yes, Your Majesty." The subordinate bowed slightly and returned to his original ce.


    "Very well. Let''s end this court here. Everybody, you can go."


    """Understood, Your Majesty."""


    Bowing respectfully, the generals, officials, and nobles in the hall left one after another.


    However, one of the nobles stayed behind.


    The noble hesitated slightly before walking towards the king and the queen.


    He then bowed slightly and spoke up.


    "My king, my queen, can I ask for a bit of your time?"


    "Duke Pherald. Of course. What is it?"


    The duke hesitated again, not sure if he should mention the topic he wanted to talk about.


    But when he saw the king starting to frown, he sighed.


    " It''s about the engagement of my daughter with the second prince, Your Majesty."


    The king immediately squinted. And the queen, who had been silent the entire time, was startled and looked at the duke.


    "The engagement? What is the problem, Duke?" The queen asked.


    " Your Majesty, it''s well-known that the second prince is sickly, and he has never left the pce. Not many people have managed to see him, and even my daughter, who is his fiance, has not seen him even once."


    "Go straight to the point, Duke." The king said with a frown, making the duke hesitate again.


    But in the end, he made up his mind and spoke up his thoughts.


    " I would like to rescind the engagement with the prince."


    The king narrowed his eyes. And beside him, the queen put on a startled expression.


    But after that, their expressions turned ugly.


    Rescinding an engagement between nobles was not something good. It generally meant that something was wrong with one of the parties. It could even be considered a humiliation.


    Moreover, we were talking about the royal family this time. The duke was breaking the engagement an engagement with a prince.


    That was outrageous.


    Even if the engagement had not been made official yet, it was an engagement with a prince!


    But then, the kind furrowed his brows.


    He knew Duke Pherald, and the man was someone careful, wise, and prudent. A man like him would not do something like this without a good reason.


    At that moment, the king thought of something.


    Immediately, his expression turned grave.


    " Duke, I have known you for a long time, and I know that you are not the kind to do something like this. So, tell me the truth. What is really the reason why you want to rescind the engagement?"


    The duke fell silent before heaving a long sigh.


    "Your Majesty, I heard a rumor about the second prince recently."


    "What rumor?"


    " One about Prince Glenn being a cursed child."


    "!!!"


    A heavy silence immediately filled the hall.


    The king remained impassive, not revealing the slightest sign that something was wrong. But, the queen was unable to keep her expression. For an instant, her face stiffened briefly.


    Fortunately, the duke did not notice it. Or at least, he did not show that he noticed it.


    A few secondster, the king sighed.


    "Duke Pherald, I can guarantee that the second prince is not manaless. These rumors are nothing more than lies."


    " Understood, Your Majesty."


    "However It''s true that Prince Glenn is very sickly. Even now, he can''t leave his room easily. To be honest, I''m not sure about how long he can live."


    The duke fell silent and lowered his head.


    " Let''s wait for another year." The king said with a sigh. "If the condition of the prince doesn''t improve after that, then we will rescind the engagement."


    "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will pray for Prince Glenn''s recovery."


    "Mm. You can leave."


    The duke bowed respectfully and nodded. Then, he left.


    Only the king and the queen remained in the hall.


    None of them spoke up for a while, as though they were thinking about the words of the duke.


    But then


    " It looks like someone learned about Glenn." The king suddeny said.


    "I-I don''t know what happened." The queen stuttered nervously. "T-The servants around Glenn should be trustworthy. They are not the kind to reveal something like this."


    The king said nothing, just sighing.


    As a king, he knew better than anyone that there was not an eternal secret in this world.


    No matter how much they tried to hide the condition of his second son, it eventually would be known in some way or another.


    And now, that day had arrived.


    Hence


    "The royal family can''t have a cursed child, Soraya. You should know it."


    The queen''s face immediately turned pale.


    "N-No P-Please, don''t"


    The king remained silent, just looking at his wife with aplicated expression.


    In fact, he should have killed that child when he was born. When he learned that his wife had given birth to a manaless child, he knew that he had to kill him.


    However, he could not do it.


    Not when his wife was looking at him with a pleading expression.


    However, he could not dy it anymore.


    Right now, he could not allow anything that could be used against the royal family.


    Thus, while looking at the eyes of his wife, he hardened his heart.


    "The child must die, Soraya."


    ....


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here!


    Did you see the new cover? It''s much better than the previous one (That was pretty bad). I hope you like it.


    Also, there is a post in my P4TRE0N with some illustrations of the novel. Go and check it, the post is visible to everybody and you don''t need to be a P4TRE0N to check it.


    Remember, my P4TRE0N is: /aidnovels

 Chapter 379: Five Years Ago (3)

    Chapter 379: Five Years Ago (3)


    Hey guys, Aidka''s Here!


    After reading thements in thest chapter and taking into ount today''s chapters, I decided to give my opinion.


    Neither of Bloed''s parents can be considered evil. Just like the king says in this chapter, he is first a king than a father. His choice is justified from their perspective. They sacrificed the life of one person for the stability of the entire kingdom.


    Now, things arepletely different from Bloed''s perspective. No matter how ''justified'' his parents are, the truth was that he was abandoned. He has every right to hate his parents. I mean, he was just a child and he was left in such a ce. I would hate them if they were my parents.


    I will not say much to not spoil the next two chapters, however, I think that Bloed''s choice was ''real''. After all, it''s what most people would have done.


    Enjoy the chapters :p


    ...


    Cursed children, Children of the Blight.


    Since the war against the Blight one hundred years ago, manaless children had been called like that.


    It was a baseless name. There was no proof that children born without mana were rted in any way to the manaless creatures known as the Blight.


    However, to the people who had seen the war against the Blight, who had seen their loved ones die under the ws of the mana-devouring monsters, living beings without mana, like the Blight, were a cause of hatred.


    Thus, children born without mana started to be killed. Even if their parents tried to protect them, they were killed by the people in their surroundings.


    Sometimes, even the parents themselves were killed.


    It was a cruel act that did not deserve forgiveness, but the world was recovering from the war against the Blight and everything rted to the Blight was sensitive, so many people closed an eye to this cruel situation.


    And for hundreds of years, hundreds of manaless children were killed mercilessly.


    Thus, when a manaless child was born in the royal family of the Kingdom of Alterna, the king and the queen knew what they needed to do.


    To kill the child.


    However, the love of the queen towards the child and the love of the king towards the queen allowed the child to survive eleven years.


    Until finally, it was impossible to continue hiding him anymore.


    "The child must die, Soraya." Said the king.


    But the queen could not allow it.


    As a mother, she could not see her child dying in front of her eyes. She needed to do something.


    So, she cried, pleaded, and begged the king to allow her son to live.


    She asked him to send him away, to hide him from the eyes of the public in a remote vige, but the king did not agree.


    He had made up his mind.


    While the child was alive, he could be used as a weapon against the royal family.


    And no matter how well they hid him; he would be atent risk that could explode at any time.


    He was a king before a father, and for the wellbeing of the royal family and his kingdom, he had to kill the child.


    Thus, in her despair, the queen finally suggested something.


    "Send him to the Exiled Lands. Please, just don''t kill him Please"


    And this time, the king did not refuse.


    He knew his wife''s goal. She was betting on the extremely small chance that her son could survive in that godforsaken ce.


    As long as the child was not killed, there was hope that he could survive.


    However, the king knew more about the Exiled Lands than his wife.


    It was a terrifying ce, filled with bloodthirsty monsters, endless deserts, and hostile beasts.


    It was a ce of death, where only the most terrifying criminals could barely survive.


    The king knew that sending the child to that ce was the same as killing him.


    Thus, the king agreed.


    He waited for a while to not make the disappearance of the prince seem suspicious, and two monthster, he asked his most loyal subordinate to send the prince to the Exiled Lands.


    At the same time, he announced to the kingdom that the prince had sumbed to his illness.


    After that, both the king and the queen thought that the child had perished.


    Every night, the queen cried for her child, hoping that he was still alive but knowing that he was already dead.


    Like that, five years passed.


    And then, the queen got a piece of news that not even herself could believe.


    Her child was alive.


    And he had left the Exiled Lands.


    "Do you know excited I was when I found you?" The queen asked as she looked at the young man in front of her with a warm and sad expression. "I didn''t want to abandon you, son. I never wanted. But That was the only option That was the only way to keep you alive"


    "The only option, huh." The young man chuckled self-deprecatingly.


    He looked at the woman in front of him before sighing and looking up with a bitter smile.


    He thought about his life five years ago, when he was in the Exiled Lands, using his teeth and nails to fight against bloodthirsty beast for a chance to survive.


    Each night, his life was a nightmare. Each night, he would cry alone, wondering why he was abandoned.


    He lived as a savage, eating raw flesh and drinking blood just to survive. Just to keep living.


    Until he met her


    His mother.


    His true mother.


    Smiling slightly, the young man grabbed the ne below his clothes.


    A memento from the woman that epted him and raised him despite his circumstances.


    The woman that taught him everything, despite him not being her flesh and blood.


    What he is now, the rtionships and bonds that he had today, everything was possible because his mother epted him when he was nothing more than a savage living in the Exiled Lands.


    Bloed felt the ne carefully and sighed.


    "So that was what happened, huh."


    Bloed knew that the queen was looking at him. He could feel the anxiousness, nervousness, and fear in her eyes.


    At the same time, he could feel the concerning from Regina, Eve, and Eres.


    In truth, he already had an idea about what happened five years ago before hearing about it from the queen.


    Although he only learned the whole history today, it was not much different than his guess.


    Hence


    "It changes nothing."


    Looking at the anxious and expectant eyes of the woman in from of him, Bloed put on an ice-cold expression.


    "If that is everything you wanted to say, I should leave then, Your Majesty."

 Chapter 380: Someone That I Don’t Want to Meet Anymore

    Chapter 380: Someone That I Don¡¯t Want to Meet Anymore


    Bloed was not an idiot. Quite the opposite, he was very smart.


    Even when he was a child, he was very sharp and quick-witted.


    Then, how could he have not noticed the things that his mother said to him today?


    Even if he did not know the entire story, he knew more than enough.


    During his first days in the Exiled Lands, Bloed many times wondered about why he had been abandoned.


    He remembered how his mother cried the night before he was brought to the exilednds, how she apologized to him between tears.


    Thus, he knew that his mother did not want to abandon him.


    But, did it change anything?


    It didn''t.


    In the end, he was abandoned. He was left alone in that ce filled with nightmares and monsters, without anyone to talk with.


    So what if the queen did not want to abandon him?


    Should he feel grateful then? Should he felt grateful that his father and mother did not kill him straight away and instead threw him in a nightmarish ce filled with filth, dust, and blood?


    Hah. The fact that he was not thinking about killing them was already the most he could do.


    This changed nothing.


    That day. The day when he killed his first monster. When he killed that fox with bloodshot eyes trying to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he decided.


    He decided that he was no longer a ''Skysword''.


    His name, his family, and his identity as a prince died in the Exiled Lands, giving birth to the current him.


    He was no longer Glenn Skysword. Right now, he was Bloed Norman, son of Cami Norman.


    When the queen saw the cold eyes of Bloed, her body trembled.


    "S-Son"


    "Stop." Bloed frowned. "I don''t want to repeat it again, Your Majesty. Don''t call me ''son''. I''m not longer your son."


    "B-But"


    "Your Majesty, it looks like you don''t understand something. Let me exin it to you then. I don''t care about the reason I was abandoned."


    "S-Son"


    "Do you think that you cane here and tell me a story, and then I''m going to forgive you just like that?" Bloed sneered; and all of sudden, his voice was filled with killing intent.


    It was a very faint killing intent; but at the same time, it was filled with a sharp smell of blood that made the demigods guarding the queen aghast.


    However, before they could grab their weapons, they felt two powerful auras locked on them.


    Both the silver-haired girl behind Bloed and the golden-haired fox girl beside him were ring at the two guards with chilling gazes.


    The two guards understood their meaning immediately.


    ''If you dare to touch your weapon, you will die.''


    At the same time, the queen turned pale.


    Bloed could see her eyes shaking violently and her body quivering due to the killing intent in his voice.


    But he did not care.


    No, it was better like this.


    So she could understand the anger in his heart.


    "Your Majesty, do you know how it is to live while knowing that the people that you trusted the most abandoned you? You don''t, right?"


    The queen did not answer, but tears had started to run down her cheeks.


    "Let me tell you then." Bloed''s blue eyes were filled with resentment. "It is terrifying.


    "I was just a child, and there were many things that I did not understand. But I knew that the people that I loved had thrown me away for their own convenience.


    "So, what if your decision was justified? What if that was the best for the kingdom? What if you didn''t want it?


    "Why in the hell should I care about that?


    "Do you know how many times I almost died in that ce? Do you know how many times I thought that I would end inside the stomach of a beast?


    "No, perhaps you are right. There is something that I should thank you for.


    "Because as much as I hate you for what you did to me, that allowed me to meet her. To meet my true family.


    "I will tell it to you onest time, Your Majesty. Stop calling me your son, and stop calling me Glenn. That child died five years ago in the Exiled Lands.


    "My name is Bloed Norman, son of Cami Norman, my one and only mother.


    "As for you, you are nothing more than a woman that I don''t want to meet anymore. So please, if you truly want to do something for me, then stop appearing in my life. To be honest, I''m tired of dealing with the people of Alterna."


    Without waiting for the queen to reply, Bloed stood up and walked towards the exit.


    "Regina, Eve, Eres, let''s go, we don''t have anything else to do here."


    Regina and Eve nodded and followed after Bloed.


    Before leaving, though, they nced at a corner of the room briefly before looking away.


    Meanwhile, Eres put on aplicated expression.


    In front of her, her mother was crying bitterly, holding her face in her hands as her tears fell on the table.


    She did not know if it was an illusion, but Eres thought that her mother seemed much older than before.


    With a sigh, Eres shook her head and stood up, leaving the dining hall as well.


    Actually, she wanted to see her family together again.


    She had a small hope that it could happen.


    But just now, that hope shatteredpletely.


    Some things in this world could not be repaired after being broken.


    And this was one of them.


    Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the queen, another person left the dining room at that moment.


    He was a ''shadow'', a guard sent by the king to protect the queen secretly.


    However, he had another mission besides that.


    "It looks like it was a failure, huh" The shadow muttered to himself. "Well, it was an expected result However, the prince sure is interesting."


    The shadow could not help but think about the prince. About the killing intent that he felt in the gaze of the prince.


    It was so thick and so deep, filled with a powerful thirst for blood that even he found astonishing.


    The shadow could not understand how someone as young as the prince could have so much killing intent without turning crazy.


    " He will definitively turn into a dangerous character in the future." The shadow sighed.


    Then, he thought about two of the girls that came with him.


    He could still feel a chill on his spine when he remembered the moment when the silver-haired girl and the Saintess of Moonlight Glow nced at him.


    It was just for an instant, but the shadow was sure that if they wanted, the two girls could have killed him easily.


    ''Dammit, how can two monsters like them to exist?''


    The shadow was not weak. He was in the second level of the demigod rank, ''Sainthood''. And if he used its assassination techniques, he was confident that he could go against someone in the third level of the demigod rank, ''Apotheosis''.


    But even so, he did not think that he could survive if any of the two girls attacked him.


    "Haa It looks like killing the prince will not be an easy task."


    With a sigh, the shadow took out amunication stone from his cloak to inform the emperor what happened today.


    At the same time, he started to think about ways to end the life of the young man that once was a prince.


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 381: An Idiot Seeking Death (1)

    Chapter 381: An Idiot Seeking Death (1)


    Bloed, Regina, Eve, and Eres were silent after they left the queen''s mansion.


    Bloed was lost in his thought, thinking about the meeting just now; and Regina and Eve wanted to give him time to calm down after what happened with the queen.


    As for Eres, she had aplicated expression on her face.


    She seemed to be thinking about something since a while ago.


    Five minutester, Bloed let out a deep breath and looked at the girls.


    "Sorry about that, I think I became a bit too excited back there."


    "It''s alright, master. She deserved it."


    "Mm. To be honest, it felt satisfying seeing the queen like that."


    Bloed smiled wryly after he heard Regina and Eve''s answers.


    "I understand Regina, but could it be that you dislike the queen as well, Eve?"


    "Well, The Kingdom of Alterna preaches human supremacy. Although it''s not as bad as the Sun Country, most beastmen still dislike it."


    Bloed nodded in understanding.


    At that moment, he noticed Eres''s expression.


    "Eres, are you alright?"


    " I am, don''t worry, brother." Eres said with a forced smile before letting out a sigh. "It''s just that Brother, I fear that things will turn a bit dangerous for you after today."


    "Dangerous?" Bloed was startled. But he understood Eres''s meaning in the next second. "Do you mean, the king?"


    "Yes Father is a great king who always puts the kingdom above everything else. But precisely because of that, he will not allow the existence of anything that can threaten the country. Much less now that the situation of the country is a bit unstable."


    Bloed frowned and fell deep in thought.


    He had already heard about the kingdom''s situation from Eres. She told him that the kingdom had seen six small rebellions in thest ten years.


    Moreover, the rebellions were bing worse and worse. Thest one, in particr, was pretty bad.


    Eres had been the one sent to take care of it, so she knew how bad the situation was.


    In the current circumstances, the king was not going to allow the existence of someone like Bloed, a ''prince'' carrying clear enmity towards the royal family that could be used to start an even worse rebellion.


    "In other words, there is a high chance that he will send assassins after me, right?"


    "I fear so, brother." Eres bit her lips and nodded.


    "You don''t need to worry about that, Bloed," Eve spoke up at that moment. Despite her expressionless face, Eve''s eyes were looking at Bloed with a confident gaze. "You are part of Moonlight Glow. We will not stay quiet if the kingdom tries something."


    "Mm. They can try. I don''t mind going to that kingdom and destroying a few cities."


    Hearing Eve and Regina''s words, Bloed could not help but smile wryly.


    But at the same time, he felt warm inwardly.


    With a lover as Regina, and a friend as Eve, why should he fear the retaliation of his former father?


    Well, it was not as though he feared it in the first ce.


    Since the start, he did not care if his father decided to attack him or not.


    It would be alright if the king did nothing, but if he decided to send assassins after Bloed, then he should be prepared to face retaliation.


    As for the assassins, hehe, they will have to be very lucky if they want to return in one piece.


    "Thank you, Regina. And you as well, Eve. I don''t know how to repay you for all the help you have given me."


    "Stop talking about that, Bloed. We are friends... Although if you truly want to repay me, how about attacking the cat girl of the Sharpw family? At this rate, I will have to wait a few years to see progress between you two."


    "Fox, what do you think you are suggesting to my master!?"


    "... Well, Aya is a good girl... I''m sure that she will be a good wife if she marries Bloed."


    "You" Regina red at Eve with an angry expression, however, she did not deny Eve''s words.


    Actually, Regina did not have a problem epting Aya.


    As a Valkyrie created to serve Bloed, Bloed''s opinion was first. If Bloed wanted to add someone else to his ''harem'', she would not stop it.


    At most, she would make sure that his harem would not betray him. And Aya had passed her test long ago.


    She would feel a bit jealous, of course. But hey, she was a girl. She had the right to feel jealous.


    Bloed looked at Eve and Regina with a wry smile. Just then, he felt a sharp reing from Eres.


    When he looked towards her in confusion, Eres looked away.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. He was about to ask his sister if she was feeling jealous.


    But suddenly


    [Bloed, you shoulde back to the club quickly. Something happened!]


    He received a messageing from amunication device he left in the tower in case of emergency.


    Bloed frowned and replied to the message immediately.


    "Liu Ying, what happened?"


    [ Someone is here to close the club.]


    Bloed was stunned.


    However, he immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.


    "Regina, Eve, Eres, we need to return to the tower quickly."


    "Master, what happened?"


    "... It looks like there is an idiot seeking death at the tower."

 Chapter 382: An Idiot Seeking Death (2)

    Chapter 382: An Idiot Seeking Death (2)


    When Bloed and the others returned to the tower, they found a group of people standing at the entrance of the tower in an intimidating manner led by a middle-aged man.


    At the same time, Liu Ying, Aya, Gina, Sara, Prince Calisto, Toby, and the other members of the club were standing in front of them with angry expressions.


    As soon as they saw Bloed appear, both groups looked towards him. Liu Ying and the other with relieved expressions, and the people making trouble with cold smiles.


    "What is happening?" Bloed asked with a frown.


    Liu Ying was going to exin the situation, but the middle-aged man spoke up before her, looking at Bloed coldly.


    "You are Bloed Norman, right? The leader of this club."


    Bloed nodded. "I am."


    "Good. I''m here to notify you that your club will be closed. You should move all your belongings out of the tower before tomorrow, otherwise, you will suffer the consequences."


    Bloed frowned. What in the hell is it?


    He felt Regina bing angry behind him, about to release her power to cut this man into bits, however, Bloed stopped her with his hand and looked at the middle-aged man while narrowing his eyes.


    The middle-aged man was very strong. ording to Bloed''s observation, he should be in the first rank of demigod, Transcendence.


    As for the people behind him, they looked like students and people that hade to watch the show.


    ''Is he a teacher?'' Bloed wondered to himself while thinking about the middle-aged man''s motive.


    In fact, he was very confused right now. The reason why he was the leader of Machine Revolutio was that the headmistress herself made him the leader of this club. Plus, he just saw her a few days ago, and she did not mention anything about closing the club.


    What was this then?


    Taking a deep breath, Bloed decided to ask about the middle-aged man''s purpose first.


    "Can I ask, why are you closing our club?" Bloed asked politely.


    The middle-aged man stared at Bloed deeply before replying.


    "Every club in Academy City is required to have a teacher in charge of it. However, right now, your club doesn''t have one. In other words, you are not following the regtions of Academy City, and as consequence, your club must be disbanded."


    Bloed was startled. But then, his expression turned strange.


    "Wait a moment. Our club has a teacher in char"


    "You don''t need to make excuses, young man." The middle-aged man interrupted Bloed coldly. "I talked with the teacher in charge of your club previously and asked him why he had not appeared in your club in thest two months, and he told me that he was not the teacher of this club anymore. And no other teacher has stated that they want to be the teacher in charge of your club."


    Bloed''s eyebrows twitched. He had an urge to punch this idiot in the face.


    However, now he had an idea of what was happening.


    If he was not mistaken, some enemy club was behind this.


    They probably investigated the situation with the teacher in charge of the club and decided to act this n to attack Machine Revolutio.


    Most likely, both the middle-aged man in front of him and the teacher in charge of the Golem-Making Club received some benefits for this.


    Unfortunately, they messed with the wrong tree this time around.


    Bloed saw that Liu Ying and the others seemed nervous, however, he was quite calm about the situation.


    After all, the reason that Bloed was the leader of this club was rted to the headmistress herself. How could she have forgotten about something so basic?


    Most likely, this middle-aged man did not know about that, otherwise, he would not be here.


    With that thought in his mind, Bloed put on a yful smile and looked at his silver-haired girlfriend.


    "Regina, please."


    "Understood, master."


    With an indifferent expression, Regina took one step forward.


    And in the next instant, energy as vast as the sea and killing intent as chilling as the coldest ice exploded outwards.


    All the people in the surroundings shivered. and even the middle-aged man changed his expression and turned pale!


    Facing Regina''s powerful aura, he was forced to take several steps back!


    The middle-aged man looked a Regina with a shocked, fearful, and ugly look.


    " Demigod."


    Instinctively, the man knew that he was screwed up.


    Even although he was a demigod, the silver-haired girl in front of him filled him with fear and dread, as though he was prey in front of a predator.


    He had the feeling that if the girl wanted, she could kill him easily.


    But that was not the end.


    Finding the entire thing interesting, Eve tilted her head and took one step forward as well.


    Immediately, an aura as strong as Regina No, even stronger, erupted from her petite body.


    Her aura was filled with so much killing intent that the middle-aged man turned pale and his forehead was filled with sweat.


    ''Another!?'' The demigod wanted to cry.


    He had not paid much attention to the girls behind Bloed before this. After all, what demigod would follow behind a sixteen-year-old kid?


    But now, he was regretting not looking at them carefully. Otherwise, he would have not acted so arrogantly.


    Right now, he was cursing the people that asked him for this favor.


    Actually, Bloed had be a bit famous recently, so the middle-aged man knew who he was.


    Normally, he would not offend such a talented student.


    But in the end, Bloed was just a student. So what if Bloed had the potential to be a demigod? He was not one yet, and he most likely would not be one before ten or twenty years more.


    Perhaps, he would not be a demigod in his life at all.


    Thus, when someone asked him to use this excuse to close [Machine Revolutio] in exchange for some benefits, the middle-aged man did not think too much before epting.


    However, facing these two beautiful girls that seemed much stronger than him, and feeling the killing intenting from them, the middle-aged man could only think of one thing.


    ''I''m fucked up.''


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 383: Magnets for Trouble

    Chapter 383: Mas for Trouble


    Bloed was slightly surprised when Eve stepped forward as well, but he did not mind it very much.


    Anyway, he was used to Eve helping him.


    He did not mind it either when Eve and Regina used their killing intent on the man. After all, it was obvious that this ''teacher'' did note with good intentions.


    Actually, even if a club loses its teacher in charge, the rules stated that the club must be given a period of time to find another teacher, and if after that, the club failed to find one, then the club has to be disbanded.


    However, this middle-aged man ordered them to close the club directly. Obviously, he was deliberately causing trouble.


    To be honest, Bloed was not in the best of mood after his conversation with the queen, and meeting this man worsened his mood even more.


    Thus, he did not mind venting a bit of stress with this idiot.


    With a snort, Bloed looked at the silver-haired Valkyrie and smiled coldly.


    "Regina, introduce yourself."


    "Understood." Regina nodded and red at the middle-aged man with an icy stare. "My name is Reginleif Norman, a demigod. Currently, I am an honorary teacher of Academy City, and I''m also the teacher in charge of [Machine Revolutio]."


    The middle-aged man''s expression turned uglier after hearing that.


    ''Damn! These idiots gave me the wrong information!''


    As a demigod, he knew about honorary teachers. Generally, powerful demigods living in Academy City received this title.


    They did not need to give lectures, and they did not receive payment either. But if they wanted, they could start their own sses or take charge of a club.


    However, not many people were qualified to be an honorary teacher. The people qualified were among the strongest demigods in the world.


    The fact that this silver-haired girl was an honorary teacher showed how strong she was.


    But if that was not enough, the golden-haired fox demigod spoke up after Regina.


    "I''m an honorary teacher as well. And I''m nning to be one of the teachers in charge of Machine Revolutio. However, I did not know that you were nning to close the club, mister."


    Eve''s voice waspletely emotionless, but for some reason, the middle-aged man found her scarier than Regina.


    Fortunately, the middle-aged man did not know about Eve''s identity as the former Saintess of Moonlight Glow or about the infamous [Bloodstained Moonlight], otherwise, he probably would have pissed his pants right away.


    When Bloed saw the pale and sweaty face of the demigod, he finally calmed down.


    He then signaled to Regina and Eve to stop intimidating him and spoke up again.


    "As you can see, teacher, our club does have a teacher in charge of it. I wonder, could it be that you made a mistake? Should I talk with the headmistress to ask her about it?"


    "N-No, it won''t be necessary. Yes, yes, it was a mistake. I''m leaving immediately. I-It was a pleasure to meet you, two beautifuldies. Until fate brings us together again."


    With these strangely formal words, the demigod turned around and flew off like a scared bird.


    He flew off so quickly that Bloed did not have time to send one of his dragonflies to follow him


    Well, he did not dare either. After all, he was not sure if a demigod could sense them or not.


    "Pffft!"


    Almost immediately after the man left, Bloed heard someone snickering loudly, unable to contain herughter.


    When Bloed looked in the direction of theughter, he saw Gina looking away, with her facepletely red and her body shaking.


    Around her, the other members of the club had strange expressions. Although none of themughed, it''s obvious that they found the middle-aged demigod''s actions amusing.


    After all, the man came acting all high and mighty and proiming that he was going to close the club, only to run away with his tail between his legs.


    " That was Unusual" Princess Elwha said, gaining a nod from Liu Ying, Aya, Sara, and the others.


    "Sigh, thank god nothing happened. I was a bit scared this time." Prince Calisto said while wiping off the sweat on his forehead. "I thought that he was really going to close our club."


    "Yeah, I was scared as well." Liu Ying nodded. "Right, Bloed, since when Regina became a teacher?"


    "Since a while ago. She could not be a student with her strength, but she wanted to stay as close to me as possible and help me with my ns, so the headmistress suggested making her an honorary teacher and putting her in charge of our club. It was a pretty good idea, so we agreed."


    Liu Ying and the others nodded.


    "Anyway, does any of you knows why this happened?" Sara asked.


    Bloed and the others looked at each other unable to find an answer.


    In fact, there were many possibilities. Many clubs would be very happy if Machine Revolutio disbanded. Any of them could have been responsible for it.


    "Should I use my abilities to investigate?" Gina asked.


    "Your abilities?" Bloed was startled before frowning. "Will it not be dangerous?"


    Gina hesitated briefly and did not reply.


    After all, her abilities over fate did not work very well against enemies much stronger than her, and the middle-aged man was a demigod. If she tried to force her abilities to investigate who asked him to close Machine Revolutio, she could suffer a bacsh.


    She could try to evade the information rted to the demigod, but without using him as a clue, finding the person behind this was the same as looking for a needle in a haystack.


    Understanding that it was dangerous, Bloed sighed and waved his hand.


    "Don''t bother. Anyway, it could have been anyone."


    " Actually, I think I have an idea about who could have been. I offended the leader of my previous club." Eres raised her hand at that moment.


    Bloed was surprised. But before he could ask her, Sara and Gina raised their hands as well.


    "I think we did something like that as well"


    " Yeah, they were very angry with us..."


    "Actually, don''t you think that it could have been the people that are going after me?" Princess Elwha suggested after Gina and Sara.


    "Well, it could have been my fault as well. You know my circumstances, Bloed." Liu Ying also raised her hand timidly.


    Before she could finish speaking, Bloed saw Prince Calisto scratching his cheek timidly.


    "B-Big brother Bloed, w-what if it was the people of [Beast Brotherhood?]"


    Bloed waspletely speechless.


    God, his club members were mas for trouble!


    Inside an office in the headquarters of Wings of Liberty, a young man was sitting at a desk with a dark expression as he held amunication stone.


    " Sorry about that. It was our fault for giving you the wrong information."


    [Hmph! Fortunately, I was lucky and these two monsters let me go after a light warning. Otherwise, I would have brought you to the tomb with me!]


    "Don''t worry, nothing happened so it''s alright. I''ll double the pay I promised."


    [Good. Don''t ask me for favors anymore. I don''t think I suitable to help you.]


    Without waiting for the young man to reply, the person on the other side cut themunication.


    The young man put the stone on the desk and took a deep breath.


    " Two powerful demigods, huh I guess that a club that caught the interest of the princess can''t be normal."


    With a wry smile, the young man let out a sigh before putting on a serious expression.


    "Leonel."


    "Yes, leader." A voice replied from outside the office.


    "Investigate the clubs that have a conflict with [Machine Revolutio]. I want that information as soon as possible."


    "Understood."


    "Right, tell the people that are observing the club toe back. With two demigods guarding the ce, they could be discovered if they are careless."

 Chapter 384: Thunderous Sound (1)

    Chapter 384: Thunderous Sound (1)


    Nothing much happened in the following days.


    Bloed and the others tried to investigate who was the person that sent the demigod, but without enough clues, there was not much that they could do.


    Bloed thought about asking the headmistress about it, but in the end, he decided not to. His rtionship with the headmistress was not so close that he could go to her every time that he had trouble.


    Plus, the headmistress already had enough troubles herself.


    After the demigod left, Bloed was reminded of the gaze he felt when returning from the meeting with the headmistress and the heads of other clubs.


    Thinking about it, that time Bloed felt ill will in that gaze, and it was possible that both cases were rted.


    Perhaps was targeting them with bad intentions? Bloed even had the feeling that it was not rted to the War of Clubs.


    Thinking about that, Bloed became wary. Fortunately, the securitywork was already up, so Bloed could use it to detect if someone was observing their club.


    Unfortunately, he failed to find anyone. Perhaps they were scared by Regina and Eve''s show of strength.


    Besides the situation with the demigod, Bloed also paid attention to the mission that the headmistress gave to them. Unfortunately, they failed to find clues about it either.


    Following Bloed''s suggestion, Regina moved to the security room and spent the entire day observing everything that happened in the area covered by the securitywork, trying to find anyone suspicious.


    The problem was that there were too many suspicious people in the city.


    Bloed was sure that most of them were just normal people with slightly suspicious looks. Bloed could not stop every suspicious-looking person even if he wanted.


    He would be exhausted before the first hour.


    By the way, the fact that Regina was staying in the security room the entire time meant that she could not stay beside Bloed. Due to that, the nightly activities between the two came to a stop.


    Bloed could not deny that he was slightly disappointed, but he noticed that Princess Elwha''s behavior towards him improved slightly after that.


    Noticing that, Bloed was even more certain about his theory of before.


    Most likely, the connection between him and the princess allowed the princess to ''feel'' his nightly activities.


    Unfortunately, Bloed could not confirm his theory.


    It was not as though he could ask the princess. ''Hey, Miss Elwha, could it be that you feel it when Regina and I have sex?''


    Bloed was sure that if he dared to ask that, the princess would kill him immediately.


    Anyway, taking advantage of the rtive peacefulness of thest three days, Bloed decided to take care of some things.


    First, about the new club members.


    Just as nned, Bloed created thebat section of Machine Revolutio and put Liu Ying in charge of it.


    The goal of thebat section was to use technology to improve thebat power of the club members. Right now, though, they could only use the battle simtor on the training floor.


    Even so, the new members were astonished when they saw it. Right now, they seemed obsessed with that facility.


    In the future, Bloed nned to give them the Body-Enhancement Surgery and even create weapons and armors for them (of course, they would not be as good as the weapons he made personally for his friends).


    To aplish that, Bloed nned to introduce a contribution system, through which the students could earn contribution points to exchange them for club benefits.


    Bloed also started the knowledge section together with thebat section.


    Right now, only Bloed, Toby, and Gina were part of this section, however, Bloed was thinking about adding one of the neers to this group as well.


    The one he nned to add was Emily, a fourteen-year-old D-Rank mage. Bloed had noticed that of the five neers, she was not very good inbat and she was not very interested in it either.


    She seemed more like the schrly type.


    Even so, Bloed nned to observe her for a while more before deciding what to do.


    By the way, something that surprised Bloed was Gina''s talent for engineering.


    Bloed had started to teach her because she asked him, but honestly, he did not have much hope for her.


    However, the girl surpassed his expectative vastly.


    To Bloed''s surprise, Gina was not only smart, but she seemed genuinely interested in learning about engineering and was not just using it as an excuse to spend more time with Bloed.


    Moreover, Bloed noticed that Gina learned very fast. It was just a bit slower than him, who had the cheat known as [Enhanced Brain Capacity].


    In just three days, she learned a great part of the basics. In fact, she asked Bloed about where she could read more about engineering, so Bloed designed a smartphone-like device for her, where he downloaded several books rted to engineering from his database.


    Gina seemed very pleased with the gift, and since then, every time that Bloed saw her besides during the lessons or when she was training her psychic power, she was reading on it.


    Seeing that, Bloed became more and more pleased with her. In fact, the girls had noticed that the way he looked at Gina had turned gentler.


    Plus, asionally the girls could see Bloed and Gina discussing happily topics that sounded like an aliennguage to them, making them very jealous.


    After that, Liu Ying, Aya, and Eres asked Bloed to teach them as well, but Liu Ying and Aya gave up after the first day.


    Eres was much better, and in fact, she was pretty talented. Unfortunately, she did not seem very interested in it and quickly gave up as well.


    Just like that, three days passed.


    But when Bloed was starting to get used to this peacefulness, an event that shook the entire Academy City happened.


    *BOOM!!!*


    On the third day since the demigod appeared, a thunderous sound was heard throughout the entire city.


    "What happened!?" Bloed asked hurriedly, stopping his training without hesitation.


    [I don''t know, Master. It was outside of the securitywork.] Regina''s voice sounded in his mind.


    Bloed frowned. But suddenly, his expression changed.


    Exiting the tower, he saw several figures flying in the air in the direction of the explosion.


    Immediately, Bloed knew that something bad had happened.

 Chapter 385: Thunderous Explosion (2)

    Chapter 385: Thunderous Explosion (2)


    Looking up to the sky, Bloed saw several figures flying in the direction of the explosion.


    ''Demigods!''


    Bloed expression turned grave.


    He counted four figures flying towards the explosion. That meant at least four demigods!


    Moreover, these were just the ones that he saw. He did not know how many demigods more were going towards the site of the explosion.


    The fact that so many powerful figures were flying towards the same ce made it obvious that something serious happened.


    "We are going as well," Bloed said immediately. Behind him, Liu Ying, Aya, Gina, Eres, and Sara who had gone out after hearing the explosion, nodded.


    "Stay behind, Gina," Sara said to her sister.


    Gina pouted slightly, but she nodded.


    "I know, sister. My hero, I''ll stay here and use my ability to understand what is happening. If I find something, I''ll inform you through themunication device."


    "Okay. Sara, you should stay behind as well. Protect Gina in case of an emergency."


    Sara hesitated slightly with a reluctant expression, but in the end, she nodded.


    Just at that moment, Bloed heard Regina''s voice in his head.


    [Master, I''m going with you.]


    Bloed hesitated briefly before shaking his head.


    "It''s not necessary. Stay here watching the cameras."


    [But master, it could be dangerous!]


    "You are right, but"


    Bloed smiled wryly and looked at the fox-eared girl that just walked out of the tower.


    "Eve should be enough, don''t you think?"


    [Master Ha... Understood.]


    Bloed smiled wryly when he heard the reluctant tone in Regina''s voice, however, he did not change his decision.


    After all, someone needed to stay behind to watch the cameras, and Regina was the most appropriate for that work.


    If something happened and they missed it because Regina was away, it would be a great loss.


    Eve easily agreed when Bloed asked her if she could take them to the ce of the explosion.


    The fox girl then waved her hand, creating several invisible mana burbles that enclosed each member of the group. Then, she kicked the ground and flew towards the ce of the explosion with the rest of the group flying behind her.


    When the group arrived at the ce of the explosion, their expressions changed.


    Right there, they could see two giant craters caused by two powerful explosions.


    The surroundings had been badly damaged, with windows broken and walls destroyed. Several nearby stalls had beenpletely ruined.


    But destruction was not the only thing that Bloed saw. He also saw two dead bodies lying in the two craters. The two bodies were in a pretty bad state. They were so badly burnt that their features were unrecognizable; moreover, the lower part of their bodies had disappearedpletely, probably due to the explosion.


    Besides them, several injured students were moaning in pain in the surroundings of the craters as healing mages and personal of Academy City tried to help them.


    In the middle of this scene, Headmistress Wave was hovering silently in the air, looking towards the two dead people with an ice-cold expression.


    Several other demigods were hovering around her, each one of them with simr expressions to Headmistress Wave. Fortunately, none of them seemed too worried.


    Eve frowned. She then put Bloed and the others on the ground before flying towards Wave and asking her about the situation.


    Wave replied with a dark expression, but unfortunately, Bloed and the others could not hear their conversation.


    Thus, they were forced to ask around about what happened here.


    Once Bloed heard about it, his expression turned stern.


    ording to the people in the surroundings, several students tried to stop two people that they had found suspicious.


    Nobody thought too much about it then. They just assumed that the students were people in charge of the security for the War of Clubs. In this kind of situation, they would briefly check the identities of the people and everything would be alright after that.


    The problem was what happened next.


    When the two suspicious people were stopped by the students, they suddenly unleashed several attacks, catching the students off guard.


    Fortunately, one of the students was an A-Rank practitioner, and his quick reaction managed to save the other students from suffering grave injuries. Moreover, themotion attracted several students nearby who surrounded the two suspicious men to subjugate them.


    However, something unexpected happened then.


    When the two suspects realized that they did not have any chance to escape, they charged towards the students crazily.


    Then, they self-destructed!


    That was the cause of the two explosions. Two A-Ranks self-detonating at the same time!


    The self-destruction of two A-Ranks has enough power to raze an entire street of the city to the ground. It was enough to cause a grave tragedy.


    Fortunately, the worst did not happen this time.


    At the moment when the two A-Rank self-destructed, Headmistress Wave noticed the situation and teleported over; immediately using her abilities to forcibly stop their self-destruction.


    Thanks to that, the damage caused was rtively low, and despite several students suffering injuries, nothing serious happened.


    ''Even so, it doesn''t mean that the situation is good.'' Bloed thought to himself when he finished hearing the story.


    Just a few days ago, Headmistress Wave had released a private task to several clubs, asking them to help her to catch some criminals in the city.


    Bloed was almost certain that the two people that self-destructed here were two of these criminals.


    However, these criminals did not hesitate to self-destruct when they were about to be caught.


    If not for the quick intervention of the headmistress, several students could have died!


    In other words, what was before a rtively difficult mission had now turned into a very dangerous task!


    Bloed frowned and looked at the two dead ''people'' in the center of the craters. ''How troublesome...''


    But at that moment, he noticed Aya looking at the two dead bodies with a frown.


    Aya twitched her nose twice, as though sniffing something. Then, her gaze quickly moved away from the two bodies, towards one of the people in the crowd.


    Bloed''s expression changed immediately.


    "Aya, no!"


    However, the cat girl had already moved.


    With a dagger in each hand, the cat girl moved through the shadows, appearing behind the man and stabbing one dagger towards his waist and another towards his back.


    " Don''t move." Aya said with a deadpan voice, surprising the man.


    But then, the man''s eyes glowed with a light of craziness.


    And in the next instant, his mana burst out in a powerful explosion!

 Chapter 386: Wave and Eve Move

    Chapter 386: Wave and Eve Move


    "Aya!" Bloed cried out, moving immediately towards the cat girl.


    However, someone moved faster than him.


    Headmistress Wave, feeling themotion, bellowed with an angry expression.


    "YOU DARE!!!"


    Mana as vast as the sea itself surged out of her body, rushing towards the man about to self-destruct and freezing his body and manapletely.


    The face of the man changed, and a look of fear appeared in his eyes.


    The man could not believe that the headmistress had stopped his self-destruction so easily!


    Wave sneered and waved her hand. Her caramel-colored eyes glowed angrily as several magic circles appeared around the man, sealing his bodypletely.


    But at that moment, the expression of the headmistress changed.


    Because an extremely powerful aura had appeared all of sudden!


    The aura moved quickly, charging towards the sealed man and his surroundings violently and trying to snuff out his soul.


    But then, the headmistress snorted.


    "The same trick will not work twice!"


    With a grunt, her mana rose angrily, shing against the aura and stopping it in its tracks.


    But then, the headmistress put on a startled expression before moving her gaze through the crowd gathered around themotion.


    "One, two, three so we have another seven rats here, huh."


    Headmistress Wave smiled mockingly.


    Just now, she felt that the man that she caught was not the only target of the aura. The seven people that she found just now were targets as well.


    The meaning of that was obvious.


    They were part of the same group!


    With a sneer, her caramel-colored hair stood up as her mana surged violently around her and rushed towards them!


    But at that moment, the aura of before returned again.


    Moreover, it was much fiercer than before, and it was targeting every people near the ce of the explosion.


    It was going to kill them!


    Wave''s expression changed. In the next instant, her eyes turned red in fury.


    "BASTARD! HOW YOU DARE!"


    Without hesitation, Wave canceled her previous attack and used her mana to create several defensives barriers to protect the people nearby.


    Taking advantage of that opportunity, the seven people gritted their teeth with crazy expressions and activated their mana.


    They were nning to self-destruct!


    Unfortunately, Wave was not the only demigod nearby.


    Before their self-destruction could start, an emotionless voice rang out through the ce.


    "Imand thee:" Eve said. "Self-destruction is forbidden."


    As soon as her words sounded, the mana of the seven men calmedpletely.


    The seven men opened their eyes wide. They tried to self-destruct again, but it was useless.


    Some of the more quick-witted ones immediately bit their mrs in an attempt to bite the poison pills in their teeth and kill themselves. However, Eve''s calm voice sounded again.


    "Imand thee: Suicide is forbidden."


    And their movements stoppedpletely.


    It was as though their bodies and souls refused to go against the beautiful fox girl''s words.


    With an indifferent expression on her face, Eve Moonglow, one of the most powerful demigods in the world, opened her mouth again ready to give out her next order.


    But suddenly, another powerful aura surged out.


    And this time, it was from apletely different direction.


    The aura carried a sharp and bloody sword intent that pierced towards Eve''s neck. It arrived in an instant, without giving anyone any time to react.


    However, Eve was not a normal person.


    Without a change in her expressionless face, she raised her hand, creating a paper-thin barrier that stopped the attackpletely.


    At the same time, her body turned translucid, disappearing from her previous ce and appearing in a ce several kilometers away.


    "Die."


    She spoke, her mana surging downwards towards the location of the person that attacked her.


    But then, a harrumph sounded, apanied by a powerful sword intent filled with a bloody smell and a desire to ughter, shing against Eve''s attack.


    In the meanwhile, Headmistress Wave had located the ce where the first aura came from and rushed towards it.


    Just like that, a battle between four powerful demigods started.


    Seeing that, the seven people that had been discovered just now kicked the ground and ran off, taking the opportunity when the two most powerful demigods were busy to run away.


    However, Headmistress Wave and Eve were the two most powerful demigods nearby, but they were not the only ones.


    When one of the other demigods saw the seven of them running away, he frowned and waved his hand, casting a spell that created several powerful mana chains that caught the seven of them easily.


    Although the demigod was not sure about what was happening yet, he knew that stopping them could not be bad.


    Then, he together with the other demigods flew towards the two battlefields to help Headmistress Wave and Eve.


    Bloed sighed in relief at that moment. The situation had turned dangerous very quickly, but fortunately, it seemed like it was already under control.


    But at that moment, he heard Aya''s voice.


    "Bloed! They are escaping!"


    Bloed was startled. He hurriedly looked towards the seven chained people, only to realize that three of them hadpletely transformed.


    Their clothes burst open, revealing several disgusting tentacles that erupted out of their chests, creating a nauseating scene.


    Their skin turned pale, and their eyes turned bloodshot. In an instant, they had transformed into horrifying inhuman abominations.


    As soon as the tentacles came out, they wrapped around the mana chains binding the abominations. In less than one second, the tentacles absorbed the mana of the chainspletely, shattering them.


    The abominations had broken free!


    And without hesitation, they looked towards their still-caughtpanions with eyes full of killing intent.


    Bloed''s expression changed when he saw that.


    He only needed a nce to recognize the identity of these abominations.


    After all, he had seen one of them before in Diadel Duchy.


    "Devourers?" Bloed murmured with a dumbfounded voice.


    However, now was not the time to be surprised.


    He needed to stop the abominations right now!


    Suppressing the uneasiness in his mind, he took out his saber and rushed towards the three abominations.


    "Stop them! Don''t let them kill the others!"


    If he wanted to find answers, he could not let the abominations kill theirpanions.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 387: Devourers Again

    Chapter 387: Devourers Again


    "Stop them! Don''t let them kill the others!" Bloed shouted. At the same time, he unsheathed his saber and rushed towards one of the abominations.


    Looking at the eyes full of killing intent of the abominations, he knew that they did not n to rescue theirpanions.


    They were going to kill them.


    Just before, he had seen a glimpse of these people''s methods. They had not hesitated to self-destruct andmit suicide when they realized that they did not have a chance to escape.


    Bloed had the feeling that they knew some kind of secret that they could not allow anyone else to know. That was the reason why they did not hesitate to kill themselves when they were in danger of being caught.


    Moreover, the secret was big enough that two powerful demigods risked themselves to appear just to stop Headmistress Wave and Eve from catching them.


    Thus, now that three of them had managed to break free and find an opportunity to escape, he knew that they were not going to allow Academy City to get the secrets that they were holding.


    Even if they had to kill their other fivepanions to achieve that.


    And just as Bloed thought, the three abominations did not try to rescue theirpanions.


    Instead, their disgusting tentacles rushed towards the five caught people, using the sharp tips of their appendices to stab their hearts!


    However, their actions did not go unnoticed.


    Following Bloed''s shout, several people noticed what was happening.


    Many of them panicked, but others, realizing the situation, stepped forward to stop the abominations.


    Including Bloed''s group.


    "Where do you think you are going!?" Liu Ying used her demigod boots to teleport in front of one of the abominations, raising her fists and attacking its tentacles mercilessly.


    Liu Ying remembered the terror of that thing when they met it in Diadel Duchy, so she did not hesitate to go all out.


    Her aspect was revealed, taking the shape of a ck knight that clenched his fist and unleashed a blow together with Liu Ying. At the same time, the demon girl used the technique that Regina taught her to attack the abomination.


    [Silent Touch]!


    All the mana in her fist was transformed into kic energy that hit the tentacles of one of the abominations before they could touch her and absorb her mana!


    And then-


    *Bam!*


    "Arrrghhhhhh!!!"


    Liu Ying''s punch blew apart one of the tentacles. At the same time, it stopped the abomination in its tracks, allowing Bloed to arrive.


    "Well done!" Bloed said. At the same time, his saber shed towards another tentacled, severing itpletely!


    In an instant, two of the abomination''s tentacles had been severed.


    However, Bloed and Liu Ying''s expressions were serious.


    They had fought against one of these things in Diadel Duchy, so they were clear about its capabilities. Cutting two of its tentacles was far from enough to kill it.


    In fact, the only reason why they managed to cut two of its tentacles so easily was that they caught the creature off guard. Now that it realized that its ability to absorb energy was useless, the fight was going to turn much harder.


    The abomination screeched in pain, and the eyes of the man that was once a human looked at Bloed and Liu Ying with an expression of hatred.


    Then, an enormous amount of manaparable to the peak of A-Rank burst out of its body.


    But when Bloed and Liu Ying thought that it was going to attack them, the creature did something unexpected.


    Without hesitation, the creature turned around and ran off!


    When it saw that it could not get rid of itspanions easily, it decided to escape!


    "Don''t let it escape!" Bloed shouted and rushed towards it. But right at that moment, he and Liu Ying heard a familiar grunt of pain nearby.


    Looking in that direction, they saw Aya kneeling on the ground as she used her two daggers to stop a tentacle of one of the creatures.


    However, another tentacle wasing towards her from her right!


    ''Aya!'' Bloed turned pale in fright and changed directions without thinking.


    But Liu Ying was even faster than him. She did not hesitate to use the ability of her boots again and teleported in front of Aya.


    Then, using [Silent Touch], she struck both of the tentacles attacking Aya with her fists.


    The power of Liu Ying''s fists destroyed the two tentacles immediately. At the same time, Bloed rushed towards the creature and used his saber to hack it.


    The abomination screamed in pain. It red at Bloed angrily and used a tentacle to block his saber.


    But soon, it discovered that its tentacle was unable to stop Bloed''s saber.


    It hurriedly jumped back, barely saving its neck as one of its tentacles fell on the ground.


    Then, it red at Bloed with a frigid gaze.


    It could not understand how Bloed''s saber managed to hurt it. Normally, its tentacle should have absorbed the energy in Bloed''s attack.


    It was the same with Liu Ying''s fist. It did not understand why the girl''s attacks managed to hurt it.


    However, it did not have the leisure to think about it now.


    When it saw that it could not kill Bloed, Liu Ying, and Aya quickly, it did not hesitate to run away as well.


    Right then, they heard a shriek of pain belonging to thest abomination.


    When they looked in its direction, they saw Eres, Bloed''s sister, using her sword to cut several of the creature''s tentacles.


    At the same time, Isabe, who had arrived here a while ago, and some members of [Genius Society], were using spells to suppress the creature''s movements and aid Eres.


    The creature thrashed in pain. It tried to attack Eres again using its tentacles, however, the ck-haired girl, known as [Alterna''s Loftiest me], raised her sword indifferently, swinging it down and cutting another of the creature''s tentacles.


    However, the creature did not panic.


    While Eres was cutting one of its tentacles, it used its other tentacles to absorb the mana of Isabe''s spells.


    Then, it unleashed a powerful attack and broke through the encirclement, rushing away as well.


    Eres and Isabe''s expressions turned grave.


    "Chase it!"


    Isabe ordered and chased after the abomination. The members of [Genius Society] followed after her.


    Eres, however, did not follow them. She just frowned before putting her sword back inside her storage device and turning around towards Bloed.


    "Brother, are you alright?"


    Bloed nodded.


    "I am. However"


    He then looked towards the surroundings with aplicated expression.


    The three creatures had escaped. Moreover, they managed to kill two of their fivepanions and released another.


    In other words, of the initial eight people that were caught, only two remained.


    Bloed heaved a sigh and shook his head.


    ''Damn, this is bad''


    But at that moment, he felt someone pulling his shirt.


    Looking down, he saw a familiar cat girl looking towards him with a serious expression.


    " Bloed, I can follow their scents."


    Bloed was startled. But then, he noticed Aya''s state.


    Her face was pale, and her body was weak after the abomination absorbed a lot of her mana. However, her eyes were filled with determination.


    "Are you alright?" Bloed asked.


    " I am... Are we going to chase after them?"


    Bloed frowned and looked at his surroundings.


    Only two of the eight people remained. One of them was under Headmistress Wave''s seals, and the other was surrounded by people of Academy City who were guarding him in case that someone tried something funny.


    In other words, there was nothing much that Bloed could do here. These two people could not be taken away unless a demigod appeared.


    But if a demigod appeared, then Bloed''s strength would be useless.


    In the end, Bloed took a deep breath and put on a determined expression.


    "Let''s follow them."

 Chapter 388: Chase

    Chapter 388: Chase


    Two minutester, a four-meter-tall metallic wolf was rushing through the streets of Academy City with four people on it.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Eres, and Aya.


    Headmistress Wave, Eve, and the other demigods had left Academy City chasing after the two mysterious attackers. Meanwhile, Bloed and the others were chasing after the three abominations and the other person that escaped.


    [Genius Society], the second strongest club of the city, was following after one of the abominations with Isabe Castor, the second strongest student in the city, leading them. Thus, Bloed''s group decided to chase after another abomination.


    Fortunately, Aya realized that one of the abominations was traveling together with the other person that escaped, so Bloed''s group had decided to chase after them.


    However, Bloed was starting to doubt if chasing after them was the right choice.


    Looking behind him, he could see a pale-faced Aya seated on Leto''s back and doing her best to follow the traces of the abomination.


    "Are you alright? Should we stop?" Bloed asked.


    " No. I''m alright."


    Bloed furrowed his brows and looked at Aya fixedly.


    Anyone could see that Aya was not alright. Right now, her face waspletely pale, and her body was shaking slightly.


    These were the effects of mana depletion.


    When she was fighting the abomination, she had made contact with one of the abomination''s tentacles, and it had used that opportunity to drain most of her mana. That was the reason behind Aya''s symptoms.


    Bloed knew how dangerous that was. After all, their energy-devouring trait was what made the abominations so dangerous.


    They were known as Devourers, and in this world, they were called The Blight.


    Creatures that devoured energy and used it to grow, evolve, and be stronger. They were a terrible species that brought the powerful Human Confederation to the brink of extinction and killed billions of human beings.


    If Bloed and Liu Ying would have not noticed that Aya was in danger and rushed towards her immediately, the cat girl could have shared the same fate.


    " Sorry it was my fault" Aya murmured suddenly.


    Bloed and the others were startled. They looked towards Aya and noticed that the ck-haired cat girl was biting her lips and looking down with an ashamed expression.


    " If I don''t fail to stop the monster, Liu Ying and you would have not had to rescue me, and the two of you would have been able to stop the monster from escaping."


    Bloed looked at Aya for a moment before sighing.


    He then looked towards Liu Ying, who was smiling wryly and shaking her head.


    "It''s not your fault, Aya. That monster was stronger than you. Moreover, its ability to absorb mana is very dangerous. I was also caught off guard the first time that I faced that kind of monster, and only survived because Bloed and Regina were nearby."


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded to Liu Ying''s words.


    Actually, this was partially his fault.


    In his hurry to stop the abominations, he forgot to tell Aya and Eres about the creatures'' ability to consume mana. Otherwise, Aya would have not suffered such a loss.


    Even if she would have been unable to defeat it either way, at least, she would have been able to endure its attacks for a longer time.


    The Devourers'' ability to consume energy was the nemesis of exceptional abilities. Both mana and psychic energy could be consumed if the creature touched you.


    That was what made the creature so dangerous.


    Thinking about it, Bloed could not help but look at his sister.


    Just like Aya, Eres had also faced a Devourer for the first time today. However, she managed to suppress itpletely, even cutting several of its tentacles.


    Bloed could not understand how she did it.


    Seeing Bloed''s expression, Eres shrugged indifferently.


    "It was hard at the start. But I then realized that it could not consume the mana of [Skysword] and [Skymes], so I decided to attack it with them and it worked."


    Bloed nodded in understanding.


    Right, techniques like these existed. Techniques designed to face the energy-draining trait of the devourers.


    Just like Liu Ying''s [Silent Touch] or Regina''s [Positive-Negative Energy Conversion].


    Perhaps [Skysword] and [Skymes] were like that as well.


    "Anyway, you don''t need to worry about what happened." Bloed patted Aya''s head with a gentle smile. "If you want, I can ask Regina to teach you a technique to go against the Devourers when we return. That way, you will be able to face these creatures when you meet them again."


    Aya thought for a moment and nodded. However, her expression was still downcast.


    Apparently, she was still ming herself for the creatures that escaped.


    Bloed sighed silently and shook his head. He could do nothing about that. He could only wait until Aya recovers by herself.


    "By the way, brother. You seem to know about those abominations. Can you tell us about them? I don''t want to be caught off guard if we fight them again." Eres suddenly asked at that moment.


    Bloed thought about it briefly before deciding to exin to them what he knew, including information about the Devourers/The Blight.


    When Eres and Aya learned about the identity of the creature that they fought, their expressions turned pale.


    "What!? Who is so crazy to experiment with something so dangerous!? Are they not afraid of creating another disaster like the one one-hundred years ago!?"


    Bloed smiled bitterly at Eres''s words. He wanted to know the answer to that question as well.


    At that moment, Aya''s nose twitched twice.


    "... Bloed, they are nearby."


    At the same time, Bloed heard a voice sounding in his mind.


    [Master, I think you should know about this.]


    [Regina? What is it?]


    [The two people that you are chasing entered the area covered by the securitywork.]


    Bloed was startled. But in the next second, his lips curled up in a yful smile.


    "It looks like they are destined to be caught by us this time."

 Chapter 389: It Looks Like You Want to Die Badly

    Chapter 389: It Looks Like You Want to Die Badly


    One minuteter, and thanks to Regina and Aya''s guiding them, the group finally managed to catch up to the abomination and the man with it.


    The two of them immediately noticed Bloed''s group. Without hesitation, both of them turned around to face Bloed and the others.


    At the same time, Bloed grabbed his saber and put on a serious expression.


    "Girls, be careful. Remember that we need to catch them alive. But if you are in danger, don''t hesitate to kill them."


    "Understood~"


    "Understood, Brother."


    "Nn."


    Liu Ying, Eres, and Aya one after another. Bloed hesitated a little bit when he heard Aya''s voice, considering her current state. But in the end, he decided to let her participate as well.


    That was what she wanted, and in the worst of the cases, he was ready to help her.


    Plus, they needed as much help as they could get right now.


    Catching the abomination alive was not going to be an easy task.


    ''Fortunately, Eve''s strange technique stopped them from self-detonating ormitting suicide. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for us to catch them alive.''


    Taking a deep breath, Bloed looked at the two enemies in front of him carefully.


    In the next second, his psychic power erupted-


    "Go."


    -And he kicked the Leto''s back, rushing towards the enemies.


    The girls jumped after him. At the same time, Leto turned into a vortex of metallic sand that attacked the man beside the abomination.


    "Die!" The man growled. He used his punch to unleash a powerful attack that blew most of Leto''s metallic sand away.


    However, more metallic sand surged from the surroundings, rushing towards the man from all directions as though it was a metallic sandstorm.


    Leto''s metallic sand was not enough to take care of the man, though. In the end, the man was an A-Rank practitioner, and Leto''sbat power was equivalent to a B-Rank practitioner.


    Even so, the strange attacking method of Letos''s metallic sand was enough to keep the man distracted. Furthermore, every time he tried to escape from Leto''s metallic sandstorm, a dagger attacked him from his blind spots, aiming at his vital organs.


    And even if he managed to evade the dagger, bullets of energy would rain on him from above, forcing him once more back into Leto''s encirclement.


    It was Aya and Oculus!


    They were coordinating with Leto to keep the A-Rank enemy in check.


    Aya was not in top shape. Plus, she knew that her attacks would not be useful against the abomination and she would be a burden instead. Thus, she took on the task of distracting the other enemy together with Leto and Oculus while Bloed, Eres, and Liu Ying took care of the abomination.


    However, Bloed, Eres, and Liu Ying were aware that Aya could not stop the man forever. In the end, she was just a peak B-Rank practitioner; plus, she was not in top shape right now. In her current condition, she could not stop a peak A-Rank practitioner for long, even with Leto and Oculus''s help.


    Thus, they needed to take down the abomination in front of them as quickly as possible.


    Aware of that, Bloed, Eres, and Liu Ying went all out from the start.


    With a grunt, Liu Ying released her aspect. The gigantic ck knight took shape behind her, coordinating with her movements to release several attacks as Liu Ying teleported behind the abomination to strike its back.


    However, this abomination had already experienced Liu Ying''s attacks once, so it knew that it could not absorb them. Due to it, it was extremely wary of Liu Ying.


    Without turning around, the abomination used a tentacle to stop Liu Ying''s attack and used another to pierce towards her neck.


    Liu Ying clicked her tongue and jumped back. Unfortunately for her, the abomination was a peak A-Rank creature! Even without the ability to devour mana, it was much stronger and faster than Liu Ying!


    Despite Liu Ying jumping back to evade the attack, it continued going towards her neck at great speed!


    Liu Ying was not fighting alone, though.


    Before the tentacle could reach Liu Ying, Bloed''s appeared near the creature''s body and shed towards it.


    The abomination hurriedly stopped attacking Liu Ying and jumped back as it tried to use a tentacle to block Bloed''s saber. It knew that it could not absorb the energy of Bloed''s saber either, so it was nning to defend normally this time.


    Unfortunately, it did not know about one thing.


    Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration].


    In the next second, the surprised abomination could only watch as Bloed''s saber cut through its tentacle as though it was tofu.


    "AAARRRGGHGHGHHHHHH!!!"


    The pain of having a tentacle severed made the abomination scream in agony. It roared in rage and tried to use another tentacle to attack Bloed, but then, an enormous feeling of danger assaulted it.


    At some point, a ck-haired girl had appeared behind it, holding her hand up as a ball of transparent-looking mes burned silently over it.


    "Burn, [Skymes]." Eres chanted.


    And in answer, the transparent looking mes descended towards the creature.


    The creature trembled in fear. For some reason, the transparent mes made it feel greatly threatened.


    It did not hesitate to jump away. However, Liu Ying appeared in front of it, gathering her entire strength on her right hand and clenching her fist with a vicious expression.


    "Die!"


    Facing Liu Ying''s powerful attack, the creature did not dare to receive it head-on. It hurriedly used two tentacles to meet Liu Ying''s attack.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    The fist and the tentacles shed, creating a powerful shockwave that shook the surroundings.


    Both Liu Ying and the creature stopped in the air for an instant.


    But in the next second


    "Ugh!"


    Liu Ying flew away while vomiting a mouthful of blood.


    However, her lips were curved up in a smile.


    Because when the abomination was stopped, Eres''s mes reached it.


    "AAARRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"


    The abomination roared in pain. Several of its tentacles were caught by the mes, disappearing in an instant!


    Space itself was burnt together with the tentacles, turning everything into dust!


    Moreover, the mes continued advancing, devouring the abomination''s entire body at an unbelievable speed.


    Two-thirds of its tentacles were burnt in an instant!


    An expression of terror appeared on the abomination''s face. In a panic, it used one of its tentacles to cut away all the appendages that had caught mes before jumping away.


    However, a saber and a sword were waiting for it where it was going tond.


    Bloed and Eres, one of them using [Molecr Disintegration] and the other using [Skysword], stared at the creature with ice-cold eyes as their weapons cut towards it.


    The abomination''s eyes shook. Its human face gritted its teeth. Then, it used one of the tentacles to grab a nearby tree and pull itself toward it. Thanks to that, it managed to avoid the lethal attacks of the twin siblings.


    However, Bloed and Eres did not give up.


    Eres, who was the fastest of the two, followed after the creature closely, her pitch-ck eyes looking at it with ice-cold killing intent.


    At the same time, Bloed''s blue eyes lit up as he got ready to unleash his trump card.


    But suddenly, his expression changed.


    An explosion urred on Aya''s battlefield!


    Then, a battered man broke out of Leto''s metallic whirlpool, unleashing an area of effect attack that forced Bloed and Eres to jump back.


    "Run away! I''m going to distract them!" The man shouted at the abomination and rushed towards Bloed and Eres.


    The abomination did not hesitate. It kicked the ground and jumped onto a roof before running away.


    Bloed frowned. He nned to chase after the abomination. However, the man stood in front of him with a crazy and determined look on his face.


    "Stay!" He growled.


    Bloed''s eyes turned cold.


    "It looks like you want to die badly, huh."


    Grasping his saber with both hands, he took one step forward and raised it.


    [Split Mind] was activated, followed by [Overdrive].


    Feeling the capacity of his calction zone increasing crazily for a brief instant, Bloed activated [Molecr Disintegration] and swung his saber down.


    [Imaginary sh]!


    And with a silent scream, the A-Rank enemy was cut down.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 390: Underground (1)

    Chapter 390: Underground (1)


    After Bloed swung his saber down, the ce fell silent.


    Eres put on a surprised expression, Liu Ying wiped a trace of blood from her lips and chuckled, Aya stopped rushing towards the enemy, and the man that received the saber sh looked at Bloed in a daze.


    Then


    *Spurt!*


    Blood spurt out from his legs and right arm.


    Bloed''s saber sh severed three of the man''s limbs.


    "I-Impossible" The man muttered dazedly before copsing on the ground.


    Seeing that, Bloed put his saber back in its sheath and walked towards the man.


    When he saw how much the man was bleeding, Bloed took out a hemostatic spray and applied it to the man. Then, he bandaged his injuries until the bleeding stoppedpletely.


    When he finished, he took out a cor from his storage device and put it on the man''s neck. It was something that he developed recently, designed to interfere with the psychic energy (soul power) of the user and stop him from using any kind of supernatural ability (ESP abilities or mana).


    When Bloed was sure that the man could not escape, he then looked at Liu Ying, Aya, and Eres, who had walked over.


    "Let''s go. We still need to catch one more."


    "Understood~"


    "Mm."


    "Understood."


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Eres nodded immediately. Then, Bloed carried the injured man to Leto''s back while the three girls jumped on Leto''s back after him.


    Once the four of them were on the metallic wolf, Leto kicked the ground and charged towards the direction where the abomination escaped.


    "I''m going to activate Leto''s flight mode. Regina, Aya, tell me where to go."


    [Understood, master. Turn to the right.]


    "I can smell him. To the right."


    "Good. Leto, do it!"


    "Woof!"


    Leto barked and nodded. Then, it kicked the ground and rose in the sky.


    Its legs disappeared, turning into thrusters that helped the wolf to rise up and fly like an airne.


    In its flight mode, Leto''s speed was much faster than before. Thanks to that, it did not take long for the group to catch up with the abomination.


    Less than thirty secondster, the abomination appeared in their sights again!


    The creature looked back when it felt Bloed''s group approaching. For an instant, a sh of panic appeared on its eyes, however, when it looked forward again, the panic was reced with determination.


    The abomination put on a serious expression and circted its mana at full power. For an instant, its speed became thrice as fast.


    It then rushed into an alleyway at a very fast speed.


    "Don''t let it escape!" Bloed ordered to his metallic wolf. The wolf barked in answer and speed up, arriving at the alleyway not even five secondster.


    But then


    "It''s not here?"


    "The hell!?"


    Eres and Liu Ying put on stunned expressions.


    Bloed was stunned as well. The alleyway was a dead end, but the abomination was not there.


    He looked in the surroundings to see if perhaps he had missed the creature, but he could not find it no matter how much he searched.


    " I can feel its smell. It''s nearby." Aya said at that moment.


    "Could it be that it hid?" Bloed asked.


    Aya nodded. "I think so. I''ll try to find it."


    Then, the cat girl jumped down from the metallic wolf and sniffed the ground, trying to find the creature.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Eres jumped down as well, and Leto returned to its normal mode. Just like that, the group started to search for the creature.


    "Regina, do you have any idea where the abomination is?" Bloed asked the Valkyrie that was observing the situation through the cameras in the zone.


    [ Wait a moment, master. There is no camera in that alleyway. But I found a camera nearby where I can see the reflection of the alleyway on a window, however, the image is not clear. I''ll need a few seconds to find what happened.]


    "I understand." Bloed nodded.


    But suddenly, he saw Aya walking towards a corner of the alleyway.


    " The trace ends here. Strange."


    The cat girl then sniffed the air twice before looking at an odd-looking tile nearby.


    "This tile"


    "Aya? What happened?"


    " Nothing. It''s just that"


    With a curious expression, the ck-haired cat girl touched the tile.


    And in the next second, something surprising happened.


    "This is"


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Aya, and Eres looked towards the hole that appeared suddenly and silently on the ground with expressions of surprise.


    At the same time, Bloed heard Regina''s voice in his mind.


    [Master, I found what happened.]


    "He is underground, right?"


    [ He is. It looks like he activated a secret passage and used it to go underground.]


    Bloed nodded with a bitter smile.


    "Yeah. We already found the passage."


    "Brother, what should we do now?" Eres asked at that moment.


    Bloed hesitated. To be honest, he was not sure.


    He was not keen on going underground. After all, he did not know what kind of danger he was going to encounter inside.


    However, he did not want to leave someone rted to the devourers to escape either.


    While Bloed was hesitating, Aya jumped on the hole. She then sniffed the air twice and looked towards the depths of the tunnel.


    " Bloed, the trace continues here."


    " I understand. Come outside. I will tell Regina toe. It will be safer with her."


    Aya hesitated slightly and looked towards the depths of the tunnel as though she wanted to chase after the enemy. But in the end, she nodded and followed Bloed''s orders.


    Putting mana on her legs, she kicked the ground and jumped outside.


    But at that moment, a heavy sense of danger assaulted Bloed.


    All of sudden, he saw a magic circle lit up inside the tunnel.


    "Aya! Careful!"


    Without hesitation, Bloed jumped towards the cat girl!


    [Split Mind] was activated again, followed by [Overdrive]!


    At the same time, he ordered Leto to protect them.


    In the next second, a powerful explosion filled the ce.


    Thest thing that Bloed heard was the worried voice of the Valkyrie in his mind.

 Chapter 391: Underground (2)

    Chapter 391: Underground (2)


    "Cough cough"


    A soft coughing sound reverberated underground.


    Next, the sound of rocks being removed was heard, followed by a worried male voice.


    " Aya, are you alright?" Bloed asked the girl in his arms.


    "I am Thank you." The cat girl nodded softly.


    Bloed sighed in relief before looking at his surroundings and frowning.


    The ce was very dark, but Bloed''s eyes were special. His technologically-advanced blue eyes allowed him to see clearly despite the darkness.


    " So we are in the tunnels, huh." Hemented.


    Aya lowered her head and nodded.


    Looking back, Bloed saw that the entrance was blocked by debris. There were at least five meters of debris stopping them from exiting the tunnels.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    ''I sure have bad luck with tunnels, huh''


    It was Bloed''s second time being trapped in a tunnel. And both times, it was caused due to an explosion.


    Bloed was starting to wonder if he had some kind of bad fate with tunnels.


    ''Fortunately, it looks like we are uninjured.''


    Bloed reacted quickly when the explosion happened. He activated [Door of Nothingness], the defensive technique that he created together with [Imaginary sh], and used it to receive the explosion.


    [Door of Nothingness]''s effectssted only one second, but that was enough to protect Bloed and Aya from the explosion.


    After that, though, the tunnel started to copse. Fortunately, Leto turned into a metallic ball-like barrier that protected Bloed and Aya, stopping the debris from crushing them.


    That was the reason why neither Bloed nor Aya was injured during the explosion.


    But despite that, the situation was not good.


    Bloed and Aya had fallen underground and the entrance had been sealed when the tunnel copsed, so the pair was trapped inside.


    Moreover


    ''I can''tmunicate with Regina or the others.''


    Bloed frowned inwardly.


    He tried just now, but something was interfering with themunications.


    In other words, he did not have any way to tell the Valkyrie or the others about his situation.


    ''This is bad She must be crazy right now''


    He could imagine a very angry Regina rushing towards here right now.


    Knowing her, she must be flying towards the alleyway where they found the entrance to the tunnel at full speed.


    ''At least, it means that we will be rescued quickly, huh.''


    With that thought in his mind, Bloed smiled wryly.


    He could imagine how angry Regina would be after she rescued him. After all, he was the one that insisted that she stayed behind.


    She probably would be mad for a while after this.


    While Bloed was lost in his thoughts, he felt Aya pulling his shirt.


    "... Bloed, what should we do?"


    "Let''s wait here." He told her about his n. "We don''t know what kind of dangers are here underground, so it''s better if we don''t move recklessly. And if we stayed here, we will be rescued by the others silently."


    Aya nodded slightly and looked to the ground.


    For some reason, though, she was biting her lips with a dejected expression.


    " Sorry. It was my fault."


    "Aya?"


    " If I would have not been so reckless, this would have not happened."


    Bloed was startled before smiling wryly. He was about to say that it was not her fault, but at that moment, he felt a fluctuation of manaing from the surface.


    Bloed recognized it immediately. It belonged to Eres. She probably was using it to find them.


    But all of sudden, Bloed''s expression changed.


    "Careful!" Bloed shouted. At the same time, he hugged Aya''s petite body again and kicked the ground, running away as quickly as possible.


    Aya was confused, but in the next instant, her expression changed.


    Because she saw several magic circles lit up on the walls of the tunnels.


    Just like when the tunnel exploded!


    Bloed gritted his teeth. He ordered Leto to turn into a barrier to protect them again. At the same time, he looked at one of the magic circles on the walls with a grave look.


    But then, his expression changed.


    ''That magic circle It''s not an explosion spell! This neither... Dammit, there are many different spells!''


    Just when Bloed realized that, the magic circles activated.


    The next second, the entire tunnel was filled with mes!


    Bloed''s expression turned ugly.


    ''Dammit!''


    "Aya! Hug me tightly! And don''t use mana!"


    Aya nodded and hugged Bloed tightly.


    One secondter, the pair was covered by the mes.


    Fortunately, Bloed''s reaction was quick. Thanks to that, he managed to get Leto to protect them.


    However, his expression changed again soon.


    Because he felt the tunnels trembling slightly.


    ''It can''t be!''


    A bad feeling hit Bloed.


    Without hesitation, he hugged Aya tightly and ran forward as quickly as he could.


    And behind him, the tunnel started to copse once more.


    In another part of the tunnels.


    No, it could not be called a ''tunnel'' anymore. Instead, it was an underground facility.


    Twenty pirs held this underground facility, and the many rooms and halls dedicated to experimenting with living beings showed the horror of this ce.


    Tens of people walked around the facility with hurried and anxious expressions as though they were getting ready to run away from here as soon as possible. At the same time, two men were standing at the entrance of this facility.


    *p!*


    "Idiot!"


    One of them, a ck-clothed man, pped another with an expression of rage.


    Surprisingly, this man was the abomination that Bloed and the others were chasing!


    No, it was not right to call him ''abomination'' anymore. If Bloed would have been here, he would have been surprised to find that the abomination had recovered its human features.


    "Several sections of the tunnels copsed just now. Do you know what that means!? It means that someone followed you into the tunnels and triggered the defense mechanism! Fool!"


    " S-Sorry, I-I did not think that they could find the entrance to the tunnels."


    "Idiot! Why do you think the masters risked themselves to appear and fight the headmistress? To protect the secret of the tunnels! However, you revealed it just now!"


    The man lowered his head with an ashamed expression.


    Seeing that, the ck-clothed sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. Academy City managed to catch four of our members and another idiot revealed the tunnels as well. We had to abandon this ce after that."


    The other sighed in relief when he heard that.


    But then


    *Spurt!*


    A hand pierced his heart.


    The man opened his eyes wide. He looked at the ck-clothed man in front of him with a stunned expression, before smiling self-deprecatingly.


    "So I have to die, huh..."


    "This is your punishment." The ck-clothed man said.


    He then pulled his hand out, tearing the man''s heart out.


    With blood spurting out of his chest, the man smiled softly before copsing on the ground, dead.


    Seeing that, the ck-clothed man wiped the blood on his hand with a piece of cloth before looking at a man nearby.


    "Clean everything." He said. "We need to leave for the lower levels in one hour."


    "But boss, what about the experiments? We can''t move all of them in one hour."


    "Then move as many as you can." The man replied coldly. "As for the others Release them. They will be a nice surprise for the people that wille hereter."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 392: Aya… (1)

    Chapter 392: Aya¡­ (1)


    *Boom!*


    "Dammit!"


    A silver-haired girl looked at the tunnel in front of her with an enraged and worried expression on her face.


    She created a sword of energy on her hand and used it to sh the debris blocking the way in the tunnels. However, no matter how much she brandished her sword, she could not find traces of her master.


    Right now, she had already dug fifteen meters of debris. However, she had failed to find anything.


    And with each second that she failed to find anything, the expression of the silver-haired girl turned colder, angrier, and more worried.


    "Regina, have you not found them yet?"


    "Did you find my brother?"


    Another two girls asked at that moment.


    This first girl had ck hair and ck eyes, together with a beautiful horn on his forehead that identified her as a demon.


    She was so beautiful that most women would feel ashamed topare themselves with her.


    However, her current appearance was a disguise.


    In truth, she was a red-haired and amber-eyed demon belonging to the previous Demon Imperial Family.


    Her name was Liu Ying.


    As for the other girl, she was just as beautiful as Liu Ying.


    ck hair, ck eyes, and a dignified appearance.


    She was called Eres Skysword. Bloed''s sister and the princess of the Kingdom of Alterna.


    And right now, both Liu Ying and Eres had faces filled with worry.


    After all, Bloed and Aya had fallen in the tunnel, and the tunnel had copsed after that.


    Regina frowned. She looked at Liu Ying with a gaze so cold that Liu Ying''s shivered. Fortunately, Regina''s gaze softened quickly and turned into a look of worry, making Liu Ying sigh in relief.


    "I can''t find master. The only thing that I found was copsed tunnels. Moreover, the tunnels branch out several times, so I can''t follow the traces of the copse to find him."


    "Then" Liu Ying''s expression was pale. If not even Regina could find Bloed, then she did not know what to do.


    Regina frowned as well. Hermunication with her master had been cut off when the tunnels copsed, so she could not locate him.


    For an instant, Regina wondered if something bad had happened to him. However, she shook off that thought at the next instant.


    Her master still had [Overdrive]. If he was truly in extreme danger, he would have activated it and used [Molecr Disintegration] to create an exit from the tunnels.


    However, she was still worried.


    Taking a deep breath, Regina closed her eyes and focused on her senses.


    Regina was a Valkyrie. Abat doll created by Bloed''s foster mother, Cami Norman, to protect her son.


    But before bing a Valkyrie, she was a human ESPer.


    A powerful ESPer that died fighting against the Devourers.


    And when she became a Valkyrie, she inherited the ESP ability of her human days.


    S-Grade [Energy Materialization].


    This ESP ability allowed Regina to wield, control, and materialize energy in many shapes. Usually, she used it to create energy weapons.


    However, her ESP ability had many other uses.


    Such as sensing energy.


    Regina could feel the slightest fluctuation of energy in kilometers, regardless of the kind.


    And right now, she was focusing her senses underground.


    She was trying to feel the energy fluctuations belonging to her master. It was not easy, but she knew that she eventually would find him using this method.


    She could only hope that her master used his abilities while underground. The more he used them, the easier it would be for her to find him.


    Meanwhile, Bloed was inside the tunnels, seated against a wall and panting with a pale face.


    " Bloed, are you alright?" Aya asked with a concerned expression.


    Bloed smiled softly and nodded, indicating to her that there was nothing to worry about.


    Inwardly, though, he was cursing his bad luck.


    Just now, he ran almost one kilometer while carrying Aya.


    Normally, running one kilometer would have not been hard for him. However, he was running at full speed, moreover, he was carrying Aya; so it was normal that he was tired.


    As for the reason why he was running? It was due to the copse of the tunnels, obviously.


    When the magic circles on the walls activated, several spells attacked the tunnel, followed by the tunnel''s copse.


    Fortunately, the spells were not very powerful, at most at the B-Rank. And with Leto''s barrier protecting Bloed and Aya, they just suffered a few scratches.


    However, Leto had been greatly damaged due to it. Most of Leto''s metallic sand was destroyed due to the spells, turning the originally four-meter-tall wolf into a one-meter-tall wolf.


    Well, a part of Leto''s metallic sand was outside the tunnels (Bloed protected Liu Ying and Eres with it, so it did not fall in the tunnels together with Bloed). But even with that, the metallic wolf would need to be repaired after this adventure.


    Plus, he still could notmunicate with Regina, so he could not tell her about the changes in the situation.


    ''Dammit, I think that Regina will have trouble finding us, huh.'' Bloed smiled bitterly to himself.


    At that moment, he felt Aya gripping his clothes timidly.


    " Sorry"


    ''Again?''


    Bloed looked at Aya''s downcast expression and sighed.


    "It was not your fault."


    " No, it was." Aya shook her head firmly. " If I would have not been so rash and I don''t enter the tunnels, this would have happened."


    Bloed wrinkled his brows and stared at Aya fixedly. For some reason, he got the feeling that Aya''s mental state was unstable.


    As though to confirm his suspicion, he saw tears umting in the cat girl''s eyes.


    Then, the first tear fell on the ground.


    Followed by another, and another.


    Bloed was stunned. For an instant, he did not know how to react.


    "A-Aya, w-what is wrong? W-Why are you crying?"


    " I''m useless." Aya murmured in an almost inaudible tone. "Regina is strong, Liu Ying is lively and brave, Gina can see the future, and Sara is the best assassin I had seen As for me, I have nothing I am the weakest of the group, and even now I ended messing everything up."


    "Aya, that is not true." Bloed denied it firmly. "You have helped me a lot, and you know it. Even now, the reason why we were able to follow the abomination was that you were guiding us."


    "But it was my fault that it escaped in the first ce!" Aya shouted angrily, angry with herself. "If you would have not had to save me, the abomination would have not escaped! And after that, If I would have not failed to contain the other man, the abomination would have not escaped to the tunnels!


    "Even after that, it was my fault that the tunnel exploded! You are trapped here due to me! You even had to carry me when the tunnels copsed the second time!"


    Hearing Aya''s words, Bloed sighed softly.


    It was Bloed''s first time in this kind of situation. And even though he had two lovers, his experience with women was not enough to tell him what he should do right now.


    After thinking for a few seconds, he decided to start by changing the topic.


    "It was not your fault, Aya. Just now, the reason I carried you was to stop you from activating your mana. If I''m not wrong, what triggers the copse of the tunnels is the activation of mana."


    Bloed then stood up and took out a smallntern from his storage device.


    Using it, he illuminated the walls of the tunnel, showing Aya the magic circles engraved on it.


    "Truly a piece of art." Bloed sighed. "They were set up to activate if a fluctuation of mana different from the ones previously specified showed in the tunnels. The first time, they were activated by your use of body-reinforcement; and the second time, they were activated when Eres used her mana to scan the tunnel and try to find us."


    " In other words, I can''t use mana now?" Aya asked with a soft tone.


    But one secondter, she put her head between her legs. "As I thought, I''m a burden."


    Bloed''s expression stiffened.


    It seemed that his attempt to change the topic did not work.


    Slightly flustered, Bloed coughed and smiled at the cat girl.


    "Don''t worry, I know a bit about magic circles. Look." He then took out a scalpel from his storage device and used it to trace a line in a part of the wall. "Done. With this, the magic circles in this zone should not be activated anymore."


    Aya was slightly surprised, but she then smiled bitterly and lowered her head.


    " You can do anything, huh Perhaps, you would be better without me."


    Taking a deep breath and with tears in her eyes, Aya looked at Bloed and smiled self-deprecatingly.


    " That must be the reason why you have not epted me yet, right?"


    Bloed stiffened.


    "Aya, that is"


    "Bloed, I like you," Aya said suddenly. "You know it, right?"


    Bloed froze. For an instant, he did not know how to reply.


    After all, this was the first time that Aya expressed her feelings directly.

 Chapter 393: Aya… (2)

    Chapter 393: Aya¡­ (2)


    Although Bloed knew about Aya''s feelings since a while ago, it was the first time that she mentioned them directly.


    So, for a moment, Bloed was stunned and he did not know how to reply.


    Aya smiled bitterly and lowered her head when she saw that.


    " Sorry Forget what I said just now, okay?"


    She then turned around and sat on the ground.


    Bloed could not help but put smile bitterly.


    He could see Aya''s disappointment in her eyes, and he could see the tears that she was trying to suppress as well.


    Bloed could imagine how much courage she needed to confess her feelings just now.


    Thus, the least that he could do was to answer seriously.


    Taking a deep breath, Bloed sat beside Aya.


    He then extended his arms and hugged her waist.


    "H-Huh?"


    Before Aya could understand what was happening, Bloed lifted her petite body and put it on hisp.


    Then, he put his chin over her head and sighed.


    "B-Bloed?" Aya asked flustered.


    Despite the darkness of the tunnels, Bloed could see the red hue in her cheeks clearly. Moreover, her cat ears were twitching softly in embarrassment and confusion.


    Bloed chuckled when he saw that and hugged her waist more strongly.


    "Hey Aya, do you remember the first time we met?"


    " I do" Aya nodded softly.


    "Back then, we ended cooperating in the fight to get the right to represent the Grand Savannah in thepetition for the mines. I remember that you did not like me much at the start."


    Aya blushed.


    "I-It wasn''t like that! I-I just M-My brother talked about you all the time, so"


    "Sorry, sorry, let''s not talk about it anymore Right, when did you started to like me?"


    " I''m not sure." Aya murmured in an almost inaudible voice. " I thought that you were cool when you helped me and when you defeated all your opponents and got the right to represent The Great Savannah against the elves and the Sun Kingdom But I think that I started to like you when you carried me after I fainted in the training room."


    Bloed smiled softly and thought back on that day.


    Now that he recalled it, Aya was also depressed back then. She had overworked herself during her training after losing to Greta and failing to be selected as one of the representatives of the Great Savannah.


    " Yeah, you were very silly and cute back then." Bloed suddenly said.


    Aya immediately turned red. She squirmed in Bloed''s arms and looked at the ground in embarrassment.


    Seeing that, Bloed smiled could not help butugh.


    But next, he put on aplicated smile.


    "Hey Aya, there are some things that I must tell you... If you truly like me, you should know about it."


    Bloed then told her about his past.


    His true identity, the fact that he was manaless, and about his goal.


    Actually, he had already revealed bits of these things to Aya previously. But even so, Bloed decided to tell her everything clearly.


    After all, if he nned to start a rtionship with her, she needed to know it.


    When Bloed finished telling his story, Aya fell silent.


    She already had an idea about most of the things that Bloed told her, but after hearing it directly from Bloed, she could not help but be surprised.


    "Do you understand now? Do you still want to be my lover even after knowing that?"


    "I do," Aya replied without hesitation. She turned around and looked straight into Bloed''s eyes, her ck eyes looking much firmer than normal.


    Seeing such an expression on her face, Bloed smiled gently.


    "Is it so? Then, do you want to hear my answer?"


    "... Mm..." Aya nodded, although she was unable to hide the nervousness on her expression.


    But in the next second, her eyes opened wide.


    Because Bloed lips were pressed against hers.


    He had kissed her suddenly.


    Aya froze. Her face turnedpletely red and it seemed as though steam wasing from her head.


    With a very embarrassed expression, the cat girl hid her face on Bloed''s chest and let out a soft groan.


    Bloed wanted tough when he saw such a cute gesture.


    "Is my answer enough?"


    " Mm"


    "Really? I can do it again if you think that it''s not enough."


    "Uuu"


    "Hahahaha, you are so cute, did you know?"


    "Uuu"


    Bloedughed again and hugged the petite body of the cat girl with a soft expression.


    Aya trembled softly. But then, her body rxed and her lips curved up in a shy smile.


    " Bloed."


    "Hm?"


    " I like you."


    "I like you as well."


    "Really?"


    "Really."


    Aya nodded and fell silent.


    However, her tail started to wag softly.


    ''She looks like a puppy''


    That thought appeared in Bloed''s mind after seeing her like that.


    '' I guess that Aya is the third then, huh? I hope that Regina and Liu Ying do not be too angry.''


    Smiling wryly in his mind, Bloed kissed the hair of the ck-haired cat girl.


    As for Aya, she was too embarrassed to look at Bloed and remained with her head on Bloed''s chest for a while.


    Eventually, though, the pair separated again.


    Although Bloed wanted to stay like that for a while more, there was something that he had to do first.


    With an embarrassed Aya following behind him, Bloed started to deactivate all the magic circles nearby.


    Right now, Regina should be searching for him, and Bloed was certain that Regina would find him before long. However, it would be bad if the magic circles activate identally when Regina appears.


    In the worst of the cases, the tunnels could copse again.


    Hence, Bloed decided to deactivate the nearby magic circles.


    However, when Bloed was about to deactivate the seventh magic circle, he stopped abruptly.


    At the same time, Aya''s ears twitched.


    " Bloed, something is here." Aya instantly put on a serious expression, making her embarrassed look of just before to seem a lie.


    Bloed nodded. He then grabbed his saber andmanded what remained of Leto to remain on standby.


    One secondter, a creature appeared slowly from the darkness of the tunnels.


    The creature was very ugly. It seemed like a lizard, however, its head was like a rat, and its body was covered in fur.


    No, when Bloed looked at it closely, it was not fur. Instead, its body was filled with countless small tendrils that squirmed softly.


    Strangely, the creature did not seem to have eyes. But despite that, it seemed to be able to pinpoint Bloed and Aya''s location urately.


    " What is that?" Bloed and Aya were surprised when they saw the creature.


    But then, their expressions changed.


    Because in the next second, the creature rushed towards them!

 Chapter 394: Crawling Beast

    Chapter 394: Crawling Beast


    "Careful!" Bloed cried out and jumped back. Behind him, Aya jumped back as well.


    The creature was very fast. It closed the distance between them in an instant. Then, it raised its w and attacked Bloed!


    However, Bloed reaction was fast as well. Before the w of the creature could reach him, he ordered Leto to create a barrier in front of him.


    *Bam!*


    The w and the barrier shed, creating a loud metallic sound that resounded in the tunnel.


    But then, Bloed''s expression changed.


    Because he saw the barrier bing loose metallic sand in the next second and falling to the ground!


    ''That is!''


    "Devourer"


    Bloed murmured with a grave expression.


    Yes, just now when the w shed with Leto''s metallic sand, it absorbed the energy in the metallic sand, making it unable to continue working.


    A third of Leto was lost in an instant.


    Bloed''s expression immediately turned ugly.


    "Aya, be careful. It can absorb mana. Don''t let it touch you."


    "Understood." Aya nodded with a serious face.


    But while they were talking, the creature rushed towards them again!


    It kicked the ground at great speed and appeared in front of Bloed and Aya in an instant.


    Bloed grunted. With his right hand, he wielded his saber and cut towards the creature''s head.


    But the creature was very agile. It twisted its body to avoid Bloed''s saber. And then, it opened his mouth and bit towards Bloed''s chest.


    But at that moment, a stone flew from behind Bloed!


    It was Aya!


    Aware that her usualbat style was useless against this creature and that it would only allow the creature to steal her mana, she decided to just focus on supporting Bloed.


    The stone hit the creature''s head with pinpoint uracy. It impacted the nose of the creature, making it screech in pain and forcing it to stop its attack.


    Taking advantage of that opportunity, Bloed brandished his saber again, cutting towards the creature''s neck.


    But the creature''s movements surpassed Bloed''s expectations. It kicked the ground and jumped on a wall, allowing it to avoid Bloed saber.


    Then, it crawled on the walls and roof as it rushed towards Bloed.


    ''This thing!'' Bloed cursed in his mind. This creature was showing to be more troublesome than he thought.


    As Bloed and the creature fought, Aya continued throwing stones. The stones were like throwing knives, piercing towards the creature''s body from each direction.


    Unable to avoid all the stones, the creature was injured and screamed in pain. Then, it ''red'' at Aya and opened its mouth with a shriek!


    In the next second, the tongue was shot from the creature''s mouth, extending several meters towards Aya''s at great speed.


    Aya opened her eyes wide. She hurriedly used her daggers to stop the tongue, but then, her expression paled.


    "Ugh!"


    In an instant, the creature''s tongue had stolen all the mana she had put in her weapons.


    Moreover, it was trying to use the connection between the weapons and her to steal her mana.


    Aya groaned and gritted her teeth. Then, spun her daggers and pierced the tongue, fixing it on the ground.


    " Bloed! Now!"


    Understanding Aya''s intention, Bloed kicked the ground and pierced with his saber towards the creature!


    *Spurt!*


    *Screech!!!*


    Bloed''s saber pierced the creature''s head, making it scream in pain.


    But it was still alive! It hurriedly bit its own tongue, cutting it off and jumping back to escape Bloed''s attack!


    Bloed frowned. He was sure that thest attack pierced the creature''s brain.


    However, it did not seem to be mortally wounded. Apparently, just piercing its brain was not enough to kill it.


    Looking towards it, Bloed saw the creature growl in rage and hunger. But then, it stepped backward slowly.


    And finally, it disappeared in the darkness of the tunnels again.


    ''Troublesome.'' Bloed clicked his tongue. He would have preferred if the creature continued attacking them.


    But now, it seemed that it was smarter than it looked.


    With a frown, Bloed shook his head softly and looked back at Aya.


    "Are you alright?"


    " I am." Aya nodded. However, her face was obviously pale.


    It seemed that she had lost a lot of her mana when she shed with the creature''s tongue.


    " What was that thing?" Aya asked with a look of fear on her face. " It was so eerie."


    "It''s rted to the Blight," Bloed said. "It''s most likely the result of an experiment."


    "The Blight?" Aya widened her eyes slightly before nodding in understanding. "I see... It was very strong."


    Bloed nodded.


    The creature''s strength was probably around B-Rank. However, itsbat capacity was beyond that.


    Both Bloed and Aya were as strong as some A-Ranks, but they barely managed to fend it off while working together.


    Moreover, the creature''s ability to devour energy made it much more dangerous. Fortunately, Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration] countered it, or they would have been in serious trouble.


    ''Then, is this ce is rted to the experiments on the devourers...?''


    Bloed asked himself while looking at the depths of the tunnel.


    This creature was the third kind of ''devourer'' that he had seen since he left the Exiled Lands. The first one was the creature that he fought when he left the exilednds andter in Calice City.


    The second one was the man fused with a devourer that he fought in Diadel Duchy. It was the same as the man that he was chasing before the tunnel copsed.


    And this strange creature was the third.


    ''Crazy people They sure have guts to experiment with these monsters.'' Bloed scowled in his mind and looked at Aya.


    "Change of ns. We need to leave." Bloed said.


    Aya nodded without asking about the reason. However, when she tried to take a step forward, she staggered.


    Bloed hurriedly held her before she could fall on the ground.


    "Are you alright?"


    " S-Sorry I''m feeling a bit tired."


    Bloed wrinkled his brows.


    ''It looks like she lost too much mana.''


    Aya had her mana stolen earlier today. And she had not recoveredpletely when the creature of just now stole her mana again.


    Having lost so much mana, her body had turned weak and her mind was fuzzy. When Bloed touched her forehead, he realized that it was burning hot.


    "You can''t continue like this. You need to rest." Bloed said with a frown.


    However, they could not rest right now.


    Bloed did not know if the creature that escaped was the only one in the tunnels. But if it wasn''t, it could return to seek revenge, but this time with reinforcements.


    Bloed was not confident that they could defend themselves if more than three creatures attacked them simultaneously.


    He thought about using [Overdrive] to open a hole towards the surface and escape, but it was hisst resource. He did not want to use it unless he did not have more options.


    Thus, they needed to leave this part of the tunnels and wait until Regina finds them.


    "Let''s go, I''ll carry you."


    Bloed finally said.


    Then, without caring for Aya''s opinion, he carried her on his back.


    Just like that, the pair adventured deeper into the tunnels.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 395: Crawling Beast (2)

    Chapter 395: Crawling Beast (2)


    Sorry for theck of release, guys. I was feeling a bit unwell recently, so I stopped writing. Fortunately, I''m already feeling better.


    I bring seven chapters today because it had been a while since thest post.


    Enjoy...


    ...


    Bloed advanced deeper in the tunnels carrying Aya on his back.


    He made sure to be as silent as possible and deactivated every magic circle that he saw in the way. Despite that, though, his expression was grave.


    Just then, Aya''s ears twitched softly.


    " Bloed. It''s still following us."


    "Is it so?" Bloed sighed with a bitter smile.


    Just a few minutes ago, they were attacked by a creature with abilities rted to the ''Devourers''.


    The creature was very dangerous, but Bloed and Aya were strong enough to barely defeat it. Unfortunately, the creature escaped when it realized that it did not have any chance to win.


    However, Bloed and Aya soon realized that the creature had not given up yet.


    It had been following them since a while ago. They could not see it, but Aya''s sharp earing asionally caught the sounds it caused when it followed them.


    "What are we going to do, Bloed?" Aya asked with a nervous expression.


    "We need to get rid of it," Bloed stated. "Otherwise, we will be in trouble soon."


    Aya nodded.


    The cat girl knew the danger of these creatures. They were strong, fast, and could absorb mana.


    If it attacked them and caught them unprepared, they would be in grave danger.


    But that was not the worst that could happen.


    If another creature arrived and attacked them together with the first creature, they would turn disastrous.


    And right now, Bloed was sure that this creature was not the only one in the tunnels.


    The reason?


    *Ssss*


    The asional sound that Aya could hear.


    It was a strange low-frequency sound that came from the creature''s throat.


    The sound was almost inaudible for normal people, but Aya had exceptional hearing. Thus, she could barely hear it.


    And if Bloed was not mistaken, that sound was some kind of call.


    Most likely, this creature was using it to call itspanions.


    Aya had not heard any creature answering yet. But if they continued like this, there was a high chance that another creature would arrive before long.


    And by then, Bloed and Aya''s situation would turn much more dangerous.


    "We can''t continue like this." Bloed put on a serious expression. "We need to get rid of it quickly."


    "Do you have a n?" Aya asked.


    Bloed nodded. "I do. But I don''t know if it will work. Let me tell you about it." He said and murmured the n in Aya''s ears.


    After hearing the details of the n, Aya was surprised. But she nodded in the end.


    "I understand."


    "Let''s do it then."


    With a smile, Bloed put Aya down. The pair then sat on the ground and put their backs against the wall.


    " Will it work?" Aya was a bit doubtful, but Bloed smiled wryly and shrugged. "I don''t know, but we can only try. I have some other ideas, but this is the best one."


    "Mm I''ll follow your n then."


    Then, with an embarrassed expression, Aya''s put her head on Bloed''s shoulder.


    " This is embarrassing." She murmured with a red face.


    "Just sleep. Anyway, even if the n doesn''t work, you need a bit of rest."


    Aya nodded and closed her eyes.


    Maybe it was because she was very tired; but less than two minutester, Aya''s breathing turned even signaling that she was asleep.


    Bloed smiled softly and closed his eyes as well. Not even ten secondster, he seemed like he had fallen asleep as well.


    His hand, however, was holding his saber firmly.


    Nothing happened during the next five minutes, and it seemed like the monster did not fall by the trap.


    But once the first five minutes passed, the monster started to approach carefully.


    Its movements were very stealthy and wary, as though it was not sure about the situation, and its senses werepletely focused on the two two-legged creatures that it was hunting.


    Through its senses, it could feel their breathing, their heart rate, and even the state of their muscles.


    It seemed like both of them were asleep.


    However, it was still not sure if the two creatures were truly resting or if it was a trap.


    For several minutes, the creature observed the two preys. It waited patiently until it was sure that its two preys were really asleep.


    And when it waspletely sure, it moved.


    It approached them softly, crawling on the roof so silently that it did not cause the slightest noise.


    Fifteen meters, ten meters, five meters.


    When it was five meters away and it realized that the two two-legged creatures did not react, its killing intent burst out.


    Kicking the roof, it opened its jaws and charged towards them!


    But just in that instant, Bloed''s blue eyes opened abruptly.


    He had not been asleep! Instead, he had manipted his body perfectly to create that illusion!


    Curling his lips up, Bloed looked at the creature with a mocking look.


    "You are mine."


    He did not give the creature time to react. With a smooth movement, he raised his hand, and his saber cut upwards.


    At this distance, and with the creature charging towards him, it could not avoid the saber!


    Then


    *sh!*


    Blood flowed out of the creature''s chest.


    *Screech!*


    The creature let out a roar of pain. Bloed''s sudden saber sh gave it a lethal injury.


    But to Bloed''s surprise, the creature was not killed by it.


    In thest second, it managed to twist its body out of the way, thus, Bloed''s saber missed its neck and instead cut its chest.


    Then, the creature did not hesitate to jump backward at a quick speed.


    It was about to escape again!


    However, a sharp sound sounded at that moment.


    Aya, who woke up just after Bloed, shot two daggers from behind Bloed that pierced the creature''s legs!


    *Screech!*


    The creature screamed in pain. Aya''s daggers had hit its legs and made it lose a great part of its mobility.


    And without missing that opportunity, Bloed moved again.


    Holding his saber tightly, he kicked the ground, passing the creature and shing with his saber.


    One secondter


    *Spurt!*


    The creature''s upper body slid down, falling to the ground.


    Bloed had cut it into two.

 Chapter 396: A Familiar Face Underground

    Chapter 396: A Familiar Face Underground


    Looking at the creature''s body, Bloed let out a deep breath and sheathed his saber.


    "Good work, Aya."


    " No, you did most of the work."


    "But it could have escaped without your help."


    Aya blushed slightly and did not deny Bloed''s words.


    After all, Bloed''s words were true. Against this creature, most of his long-range means of attack were useless.


    The creature could absorb energy, so he could not use his guns, and [King''s Aura], which used psychic energy as the base, was useless as well.


    His only option was to use [Imaginary sh], but he had already split his mind twice today, so he could only use [Imaginary sh] or [Door of Nothingness] once more before his calction zone recovered.


    To be honest, he was already feeling a bit tired.


    "Fortunately, the n worked." Bloed let out a tired sigh.


    Aya nodded.


    Bloed and Aya''s n was very simple. They just needed to fall asleep and bait the creature into attacking them.


    Of course, they were not sure if the creature would fall into the trap. Hence, they acted as realistically as it was possible.


    In truth, Aya was truly asleep. She only woke up after Bloed moved and the creature screamed in pain.


    Looking at the creature''s dead body, Bloed heaved another sigh.


    "Let''s go. We need to leave this ce. The smell of blood could attract other creatures."


    Aya nodded.


    But right then, the pair''s expressions changed.


    Just now, the pair detected the sound of footstepsing from the front.


    Moreover, the footsteps were uneven, as though they belonged to more than one creature.


    "Aya, how many?"


    " I''m not sure. It sounds like four. However, their footsteps"


    Aya wrinkled her brows before looking in the direction of the sound with a dubious expression.


    " They seem the footsteps of people."


    Bloed was startled.


    But in the next second, he saw a small ball of light floating in the air.


    And behind it, Bloed saw a familiar girl followed by three people that Bloed did not know, included an injured girl.


    Just like Bloed, the girl was surprised when she saw Bloed and Aya.


    Then, she smiled with a slightly mischievous and tired expression.


    "We meet again, Bloed."


    She was Isabe Castor. The second strongest student in Academy City.


    Fifteen minutester, the two groups left the ce where Bloed killed the creature and sat down while recounting their experiences to each other.


    ording to Isabe, they followed one of the creatures until the tunnels just like Bloed''s group. And just like Bloed and Aya, the tunnel copsed just after they entered it, trapping Isabe and three of her club members inside.


    Fortunately, Isabe was very knowledgeable about magic circles, so she quickly realized the reason behind the copse of the tunnels and used her own means to deactivate the magic circles, avoiding a tragedy.


    Even so, their troubles just started. After Isabe found out the reason behind the tunnel copse, she and her club members started to search for another exit. That was when they met the creatures inhabiting the tunnels.


    Unlike Bloed and Aya, who just met one creature, Isabe''s group met two. Moreover, they did not know about the creatures'' ability to absorb mana, so they were caught off-guard.


    One of Isabe''s club members was gravely injured after a creature absorbed her entire mana pool and bit her shoulder, and the other two received several minor injuries.


    Fortunately, Isabe''s quick wits helped her to realize the trait of the creatures and formte a way to kill them. Otherwise, the four of them would have been buried in the underground tunnels.


    "I know a bit about healing magic, so I managed to stabilize her condition. However, she needs urgent treatment or she is going to die." Isabe said while looking at the injured girl.


    Bloed nodded. He could see that the girl was pale due to blood loss, moreover, she was moaning in pain and sweating profusely.


    When Bloed used a hand to touch her forehead, he discovered that she was burning hot in fever.


    "At this rate, she will not survive if she does not receive attention soon."


    Isabe but her lips. She knew that Bloed''s words were true, but she did not have a way to help her.


    Just like she told Bloed, she only knew a bit about healing magic. She could only close her wound to stop the bleeding.


    However, she did not have any way to stop the infection or help with her blood loss. Plus, the girl waspletely bereft of mana after the creature absorbed all of it, so her body was very weak, making the situation even worse.


    Bloed thought for a moment before nodding.


    "Let me help her."


    He then took two syringes out of his storage device and injected them into the girl''s arms.


    "Hey! What are you doing!?" One of Isabe''s club members asked with an agitated expression, but Isabe stopped him with a gaze before looking at Bloed curiously.


    "These are... Some kind of potion? Will it help her?"


    Bloed nodded. "It should. What I injected into her is used to treat injured on the battlefield. It can diminish her pain, reinforce her antibodies, and replenish her blood loss. You should start seeing the effects in a few minutes."


    "Antibodies? What is that?" Isabe asked with a confused expression.


    Bloed was already used to it, so he just put on a wry smile and did not reply, making Isabe pout.


    Fortunately, she soon realized that Bloed''s words were true.


    Not even two minutester, the breathing of the girl turned smoother, her temperature decreased, and her cheeks turned slightly rosier.


    The improvement was so fast that Isabe and her other two club members were astonished.


    " Really, you are full of surprises, huh."


    Bloed shrugged without answering.


    However, Isabe''s eyes were filled with more curiosity when she saw that.


    So much that she could not suppress it.


    After all, Bloed was already very strong for his age. Moreover, he was also an expert in golem-making.


    She also knew that he was very knowledgeable about magic circles. After all, he managed to detect the function of the magic circles on the walls and knew how to deactivated them.


    And now, he took out two strange potions that healed her club member in an instant.


    Isabe had the feeling that Bloed was surrounded by mystery, and being a mage, she could not help but want to reveal every one of the things that he was hiding.


    " Hey, Bloed, Will you considering to my club again? I can make you the sub-leader if you want, how about it?"


    The words of Isabe surprised not only Bloed but also the two club members behind her.


    But before Bloed or they could say anything, Aya grabbed Bloed''s hand and looked at Isabe warily.


    " No."


    Isabe was stunned, but then, she put on an amused smile and giggled.


    "Don''t worry, miss cat. I''m not nning to steal your man."


    Aya said nothing, but the suspicious and wary re that she was directing towards Isabe showed her opinion.


    Obviously, she did not believe Isabe''s words.


    Isabe could only smile wryly.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. Shaking his head, he pulled Aya back before refusing Isabe politely.


    "I''m sorry, but I''m not nning to leave my club."


    "Really? It''s a shame." Isabe sighed softly and shrugged. "Well, it was worth a try. What should we do now? Should we continue searching for another exit?"


    Bloed hesitated for a moment and thought about telling them about Regina''s possible rescue, but just at that moment, Aya''s cat ears twitched again.


    Startled, she looked towards the depths of the tunnels and pulled Bloed''s hand nervously.


    " Bloed, something is approaching us."


    "A creature?" Bloed asked.


    Aya furrowed her brows and shook her head hesitantly.


    " It''s more than one of them."

 Chapter 397: The Terrifying Crawling Beast (1)

    Chapter 397: The Terrifying Crawling Beast (1)


    " There are three, no, four creatures approaching." Aya said with a frown.


    Bloed and Isabe''s expressions turned serious. At the same time, the two club members behind Isabe turned pale.


    "Are you sure about it, cat girl?" Isabe asked.


    "My name is Aya. And I''m sure."


    Isabe fell deep in thought.


    She then looked around before pointing at a part of the tunnels.


    "Follow me."


    Bloed and Aya were confused, but they nodded.


    After they arrived, Isabe looked at the walls for an instant before nodding.


    "Here it is. Perfect, just in case."


    "Just in case?" Bloed asked curiously, but Isabe only smiled mysteriously.


    At that moment, Aya spoke up.


    "They are close. Less than fifty meters away!"


    "Good, I''ll take care of them. Joseph, Harry, step back and protect ra." Isabe said. She then looked at Bloed and Aya. "You two took care of one of these things before, right? Help me if the situation turns dangerous."


    Bloed and Aya hesitated briefly before nodding.


    Isabe was the second strongest student in the city, plus, she had taken care of two creatures before and seemed really confident in defeating the creatures approaching, so the pair decided to let it to her.


    In the worst of the cases, they would intervene just like Isabe told them.


    Just at that moment, the first creature appeared before them.


    Like the first creature that Bloed saw, it approached them slowly, walking out of the darkness of the tunnels and ''looking'' at them with a hungry expression (The creatures did not have eyes though).


    But just after the first creature appeared, two more creatures appeared, one crawling on the roof and another crawling on the right wall.


    The three creatures looked towards the group and growled softly, then, they started to approach cautiously, waiting for the best moment to attack.


    Bloed''s expression turned serious. At the same time, he felt Aya''s holding her daggers tightly behind him.


    Just at that moment, the first creature moved!


    It charged at quick speed towards the group, shortening the distance between them in an instant.


    But then, Isabe''s eyes glinted coldly.


    "Wind!"


    With a word, a magic circle appeared behind her, then, all the wind in the cave was sucked by the magic circle, before beingunched towards the creature as a wind wall.


    *Bam!*


    The creature impacted against the wall and was thrown away with a painful wail.


    But the second and the third creature moved at that moment. Their ugly bodies moved quickly, attacking Isabe from two different directions.


    In the meanwhile, the third creature stood up again and opened its mouth, shooting its tongue towards Isabe!


    However, the purple-haired girl remained calm. Facing the attacks of the three beasts, her blue eyes glinted coldly as three small balls of wind formed behind her. Then, she snapped her fingers.


    In the next instant


    *Bam!*


    The three wind walls shot ''something'' towards the creatures.


    The first and second creature screamed in pain. A hole appeared in both of their heads, spurting blood in great amounts.


    As for the third creature, it had its tongue waspletely destroyed.


    Bloed and Aya opened their eyes widely.


    They could not believe that Isabe was taking care of the three creatures so easily!


    Mainly Bloed, who could see clearly what was happening.


    Isabe was using magic, but her attacks were purely physical. Every time she attacked, shepressed great amounts of air before releasing them in a particr direction.


    That way, she created a kind of ''Air cannon''. The air that hit the creatures did not have mana, so the creatures were unable to absorb it.


    It was the same with the wind wall. It was justpressed air acting like a wall that stopped the creatures.


    It was an amazing use of magic that countered the creatures'' mana absorbing traitpletely!


    Isabe''s expression was very calm. Facing the three mana-absorbing creatures, who should be her nemesis, she was handling them easily as though they were just little children.


    It waspletely different from the struggle that Bloed and Aya went through to kill just one of them!


    With a thought, magic circles after magic circles formed behind her, each one creating a small ball ofpressed air that aimed at the creatures in front of her.


    Then, with a snap of her fingers, the air inside the balls was released, creating several ''air bullets'' that hit the creatures.


    *Screech!*


    The creatures screamed in pain and blood flowed out of their bodies. Several holes had appeared on their skin, each one of them being where one of the ''air bullets'' hit.


    But even so, the creatures did not die and stood up again.


    "How resilient, huh," Isabe said with a frown. "However, you are nothing more than that."


    With another thought, more magic circles appeared behind her, ready to release more ''air bullets''.


    But just then, a shadow shot out from behind the injured creatures!


    The shadow was so fast that it arrived in front of Isabe in an instant!


    Bloed''s expression changed.


    "Careful!" He shouted. He then kicked the ground and rushed in front of Isabe with his saber extended forward.


    Isabe reacted just as quickly. She shrank her eyes and waved her hand, turning the ''air bullets'' that she was about to shoot into a wind wall like the first one that she created.


    The wind wall and the saber arrived at the same time, but the creature that suddenly appeared did not stop. Instead, it raised its w and shed against the wind wall!


    *Bam!*


    A powerful shockwave resounded in the tunnel created by the sh between the wind wall and the creature. But to Bloed, Isabe, and Aya''s surprise, the creature was not blown away.


    Instead, it resisted the impact of the wind wall and continued forward as though nothing happened.


    Then, it twisted its body eerily, avoiding Bloed''s saber as it used its other w to attack his neck!


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide.


    He hurriedly took one step backward, barely evading the creature''s w, but then, it swung its tail towards Bloed''s head as though it was a whip!


    "Careful!" Isabe shouted. She then created another wind wall to stop the creature''s attack.


    At the same time, Bloed swung his saber again and Isabe released several ''air bullets'' towards the creature to kill it.


    However, the creature was faster and agiler than they expected. It received one of the air bullets without receiving much damage. Then, it twisted its body and used the rebound of the wind ball to avoid Bloed''s saber and the rest of the attacks.


    Only then did Bloed and the others get a good look at the creature.


    "That is" Bloed frowned.


    The creature was just like the others, just smaller. Moreover, the fur-like tendrils on his body were much more abundant, and its teeth seemed sharper.


    It seemed like a more streamlined version of the first creature.


    However, Bloed, Isabe, and Aya did not underestimate it because it was smaller.


    With the previous sh, they realized that this creature was faster and stronger, moreover, its body was tougher as well. It had managed to receive one of Isabe''s bullets without receiving any damage.


    "Is it a stronger version of the others?" Isabe asked.


    Bloed nodded with a grave expression.


    No matter how he looked at it, this creature did not seem easy to defeat.


    Moreover-


    " Bloed, look behind it." Aya spoke up at that moment.


    Surprised, Bloed looked behind the creature only to feel a chill on his spine.


    The three creatures that Isabe had almost killed were standing up again, and their wounds were closing at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    "Fuck. They can do that as well!?"

 Chapter 398: The Terrifying Crawling Beast (2)

    Chapter 398: The Terrifying Crawling Beast (2)


    "Miss Isabe, any idea?" Bloed asked with a nervous smile.


    Isabe frowned and thought for a moment. But before she could reply, the three creatures of before attacked again.


    As for the smaller creature, it retreated and crawled on the roof while observing the group carefully.


    Obviously, it was waiting for an opportunity to attack.


    Bloed and the others felt a chill on their spines. The smaller creature''s behavior showed that it was very cunning.


    It was letting the other three to be the vanguard, and as soon as Bloed of Isabe lowered their guards, it nned to kill them.


    "Kill the others first!" Isabe gritted her teeth. She then created one wind wall to stop the creatures.


    Then, she created several magic circles behind her just like before.


    In the second when the creatures crashed against the wind wall, she released the air bullets, filling the creatures with holes.


    However, it was not enough to kill them.


    "Let onee!" Bloed said. Isabe raised an eyebrow but she did as Bloed said and let a small opening in her rain of air bullets.


    One of the creatures noticed that opening and rushed through it, reaching Bloed in an instant.


    Extending its w, it attacked Bloed''s neck.


    The creature nned to crush Bloed''s neck and kill him immediately.


    As for the saber that wasing towards it? The creature was confident that it could resist it and absorb all the energy inside Bloed.


    However, Bloed snorted.


    Just when the creature''s ws were about to reach his neck, he twisted his body softly. Then, he shouted.


    "Aya!"


    Understanding his intention, the cat girl threw her two daggers towards the creature, piercing its chest!


    *Screech!*


    The creature screamed in pain. However, Aya''s attack was not enough to kill it.


    Even so, her attack managed to stop the creature''s movements for an instant.


    And Bloed''s eyes immediately lit up.


    His body erupted with strength and he brandished his saber in a fierce downward sh that cut through the creature soundlessly.


    Then


    *Ssh!*


    The creature''s two halves fell on the ground, filling the tunnel with blood.


    For an instant, the battle stopped.


    The sudden death of one of the creatures surprised both Isabe and the creatures. None of them expected it.


    After all, the creatures'' ability to absorb mana and their powerful bodies made them extremely hard to kill.


    However, that was useless against Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration].


    Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration] could disintegrate anything at the level of atoms. Once it was in effect, the disintegrative reaction that it caused could not be stopped and the energy in his saber could not be absorbed.


    It was literally the bane of the Devourers.


    "You" Isabe looked at Bloed with a surprised expression.


    However, she did not manage to ask him anything.


    Because at the next instant, a shrill scream resounded through the tunnels.


    *Screech!*


    The smallest creature, who had been overseeing the situation while the other three creatures attacked, let out a cry of rage.


    At the same time, the other two creatures screeched as well.


    They looked at Bloed and at the body of itspanion and screeched angrily.


    Then, the three remaining creatures attacked simultaneously.


    "Dammit!" Bloed hurriedly jumped back, not forgetting to pull Aya''s daggers out of the body of the dead creature and throwing them back to Aya.


    At the same time, Isabe''s hurriedly created several wind walls one after another.


    "I will focus on our defense! You kill them!" Isabe shouted.


    Bloed understood her meaning immediately. Now that she saw that Bloed''s attacks were more effective than hers, she decided to focus on defending them.


    However, the creatures were craftier than she expected.


    As though they knew that Bloed''s saber was dangerous, they moved while being careful of approaching it.


    And the smallest creature was the most dangerous of them.


    It rushed towards Bloed at great speed, twisting its body to evade Bloed''s saber and attacking Bloed''s head with its frontal ws.


    Its movements were so fast that Bloed''s barely had time to react!


    "Careful!" Isabe shouted. She rapidly created several wind walls, but the creature broke through them easily, only slowing down for a brief instant before continuing towards Bloed.


    "Kuh!"


    Grunting, Bloed evaded the attack of the creature and tried to sh it with his saber, however, it easily evaded the attack and attacked back with its tail, only to be stopped by another of Isabe''s wind walls.


    But just then, the other two creatures rushed forward and attacked Bloed from the roof and a wall.


    Bloed grunted and evaded one of them while attacking the other with its saber, only to see a tailing towards him from its blind spot.


    Paling, he stopped his attack and jumped back to evade the tail, but it created an opportunity for one of the creatures.


    Fortunately, Aya attacked at that moment, throwing a rock that hit the creature''s head and slowed it slightly, enough for Bloed to escape.


    Even so, he was quickly attacked again, not giving him time to rest.


    Isabe snorted. She released fifteen air bullets simultaneously, ridding one of the creatures with holes until it was almost dead. However, the smallest creature moved at that moment, jumping between the air bullets and arriving in front of Bloed.


    Seeing that, Bloed used his saber to try to cut it, however, the creature avoided his saber easily and used a w to attack Bloed''s neck.


    Isabe hurriedly created a wind wall to stop its w, and Aya threw a rock to hinder its movements. But right then, the creature stopped its movements abruptly.


    And it jumped towards Isabe!


    Its goal was her since the start!


    Isabe''s face changed. She created several wind walls in front of her, but the creature broke through them easily.


    It did not stop even for an instant, reaching in front of Isabe before Bloed or Aya could stop it.


    But the purple-haired girl remained calm. Just when the w was about to reach her, her body shed.


    Then, she disappeared and appeared one meter away.


    It was a space-type spell, [Blink].


    Using it, she managed to avoid the creature''s attack!


    At the same time, a magic circle appeared behind her!


    Then, an even more powerful ''air bullet'' was shot towards the creature!


    It was a spell that Isabe had been preparing secretly for a while. She nned to use it to deal a heavy blow to the creature.


    *Bam!*


    A powerful impact blew the creature away.


    However, neither Bloed nor Isabe celebrated.


    Because they saw a paper-thin barrier appear in front of the creature just before it was hit.


    And just as they expected, the creature stood up uninjured not even one secondter.


    It then growled at Bloed and Isabe fiercely.


    "Dammit, what is this thing?" Isabe said with an ugly expression.


    Bloed and Aya''s expressions were simr.


    Both of them were panting heavily. After fighting for so long, they were starting to be tired.


    Isabe frowned when she noticed it.


    She then looked at the creatures before letting out a sigh.


    "I guess I need to use that, huh."


    Before Bloed could understand what was happening, Isabe extended a hand a touched the wall.


    Immediately, mana flowed out of her hand, entering the wall and activating one of the magic circles.


    Bloed, Aya, and her two club members paled when they saw that.


    "You are crazy!" Bloed shouted


    Isabe just smiled and nodded.


    "I know."


    Then, a rumbled resounded through the tunnels.


    And for the third time today, Bloed saw the tunnel copse.

 Chapter 399: Underground Structure

    Chapter 399: Underground Structure


    Fortunately, Isabe was not as crazy as to copse arge part of the tunnel. Instead, she just copsed a small part, separating the creatures from them.


    Bloed then understood what Isabe meant by ''just in case'' when she chose this part of the tunnel tobat the creatures.


    Isabe had likely noticed that the magic circle in the wall she touched could copse the tunnel, so she nned to use it if the enemies were too strong for them.


    Even so


    "We need to leave this ce," Isabe said with a grave expression. "We don''t know if the creatures can dig through the debris or if they know another way towards here, so we need to leave before they catch up to us."


    Bloed, Aya, and the others nodded.


    Immediately, the group started to run as they searched for an exit.


    "Dammit, what in the hell are these things?" One of the members of Isabe''s club asked.


    "I don''t know," Isabe said. "But whatever they are, they are very dangerous."


    Bloed and Aya looked at each other and remained silent.


    They could not reveal the identity of the creatures to others easily. After all, everything rted to the Blight was highly sensitive, and it would be bad if many people learned about it and panic spread.


    At that moment, Isabe looked at Bloed.


    "Bloed, the technique that you used to cut the creature. Can you teach it to me?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head. "I can''t. It''s not a technique that you can use. In fact, nobody but I should be able to use this technique in this world."


    "Is it so?" Isabe nodded and did not ask anymore. "Such a shame. Perhaps I could use it to find a way to injure that creature."


    Bloed smiled bitterly.


    That was the most terrifying part about devourers. Practically every kind of attack except physical ones werepletely useless against them.


    Moreover, just like the creatures just now, their abilities were not limited to absorbing energy. They usually had strong bodies and the ability to use the energy they absorbed, making them extremely dangerous.


    The best example was the smaller creature that they fought just now. In all honesty, it was not very strong. It was just at thete stage of A-Rank.


    If Bloed and Aya went all out, they should be able to kill it after a bit of trouble. As for Isabe, normally she could kill tens of creatures as strong as it easily.


    However, the situation waspletely the opposite when it came to that creature. Bloed and Aya would have been killed if they fought it by themselves (Unless Bloed used [Overdrive] or hisst use of [Imaginary sh]). Isabe, on the other hand, could not use most of her spells against it, so she could not defeat it either.


    The only two spells that she could use against the creature were two spells that she created just a few hours ago when she realized that they could absorb mana. Even so, they were much weaker than Isabe''s normal spells. In fact, she could not show even a tenth of her true strength.


    Of course, that in itself was impressive. Any other mage of her level would have beenpletely helpless against that creature.


    That showed why this world fared so poorly when the Devourers appeared one hundred years ago.


    "... If only we have a method to restrain it, Bloed could kill it," Aya murmured.


    Isabe and Bloed smiled wryly. That was easier said than done.


    " I can try something." Isabe said after thinking for a moment. "However, I don''t know how effective it will be. All the restraining-type spells that I know use mana directly. It''s useless against these creatures."


    "It''s the same with me. The only thing that I can use to hurt them is my saber, the rest is useless. Aya is even worse, she can only throw things to be of a bit of help."


    Bloed, Aya, and Isabe smiled bitterly.


    As for the other two members of Isabe''s club, they could not even smile.


    After all, they had beenpletely useless in the previous battle.


    Just at that moment, the group arrived at a part of the tunnel where it branched into two paths.


    "Two paths, huh." Isabe furrowed her brows.


    Bloed thought for a moment and closed his eyes, focusing on the tunnels in front of him. One secondter, he opened his eyes and looked at one of the tunnels.


    "I think we should choose this one,"


    "Huh? Why?"


    "The flow of wind is stronger in this direction. Perhaps it leads to an exit."


    Isabe was startled. She looked at Bloed in surprise and chuckled.


    "You are pretty knowledgeable, huh. Very well, we are taking this path."


    Unfortunately, even after five minutes of walking, they did not find an exit. Instead, they found several other points where the tunnel branched out.


    Just like before, they chose the tunnel where the flow of wind was stronger, but even so, they failed to find an exit.


    But when the group was starting to lose hope, Bloed, Aya, and Isabe stopped abruptly.


    Then, they looked in front of them.


    "Light," Bloed said.


    Aya and Isabe nodded, and the eyes of Isabe''s club members brightened.


    But after the group advance for a few meters, Bloed frowned.


    It was because the flow of wind was not as strong as it should be if they were near the exit.


    Isabe seemed to have noticed it as well because she furrowed her brows and started to circte her mana.


    "Be careful. Something is wrong."


    "I''ll take the lead," Bloed said.


    He then walked forward slowly, making sure to walk as slowly as possible.


    And then, he saw the end of the tunnel.


    But when Bloed looked beyond it, his eyes opened wide.


    Because after exiting the tunnel, he saw an enormous underground structure supported by several enormous pirs.


    The structure was immense. So big that Bloed wondered how it was built underground.


    But what surprised him the most was the ss tubes filled with a strange liquid that he saw inside the structure.


    "This is... Aboratory?"

 Chapter 400: Unleashed Trump Card (1)

    Chapter 400: Unleashed Trump Card (1)


    "Amazing..." Isabe could not close her mouth after she saw the underground structure.


    Enormous pirs holding the ceiling, tens of rooms and facilities, including offices andboratories; and living conditions worthy of the highest-grade hotel in the city.


    "God How can something like this exist below the city without anyone being aware of it?" Isabe was astounded.


    She was not the only one. Bloed, Aya, and the members of Isabe''s club were just as shocked.


    This underground structure was so big that it rivaled the biggest buildings in the city.


    They could not help but wonder how it was built without alerting the people of the city.


    "As expected, magic can''t be underestimated," Bloed said to himself.


    Even although he believed that the technology that he inherited from his mother was vastly superior to this world''s magic, he could not deny that magic had a few strong points as well.


    The ability to create this kind of underground structure without alerting anyone was an example.


    "Why was this structure build, Bloed?" Aya asked at that moment.


    "This should be aboratory," Bloed said and pointed to several empty ss tubes filled with a strange liquid. He then looked at the several traces of recent human activity, including blood, in the structure. "Moreover, it looks like it was abandoned recently. Perhaps just before we arrived."


    "Laboratory? What were they experimenting on?" One of the club members asked.


    "Is it not obvious?" A sneer appeared on Isabe''s face. "The things that attacked us in the tunnels were made here."


    Bloed nodded in agreement and put on a grave expression.


    After arriving here, he saw a total of twelve empty ss tubes. However, they had encountered only seven creatures in the tunnels including the ones that Isabe killed.


    In other words, there were another five unknown creatures in the tunnels that they had not met yet.


    Suddenly, Bloed felt Aya pulling his shirt.


    " Bloed, something is wrong."


    Bloed was startled. He looked at Aya only to see that she was moving her gaze around with an extremely wary expression.


    It was as though something extremely frightening was observing her from somece inside theboratory. The cat girl seemed like she was facing a dangerous predator.


    Seeing that, Bloed turned serious immediately.


    "Guys, something is wrong. We should leave."


    "Huh? Why? Did something happen?"


    "Y-Yes, this looks like a good ce to rest."


    Isabe and her club members were confused.


    However, Bloed shook his head.


    "Think about it. The people that built thisboratory most likely abandoned it when they learned that we entered the tunnels. And if I''m not wrong, they released the creatures when they realized they could not take them away. Then, what do you think is the ce with the highest likelihood of meeting one of these creatures."


    Isabe was startled. But immediately, her expression turned grave.


    " Do you think that there is a creature here?"


    "Aya felt something, and I trust her."


    "... I understand. Guys, we are leaving."


    But just when Isabe spoke up, something suddenly moved in the darkness.


    Aya''s fur stood up instantly. Her body tensed up, and her eyes shrank.


    " Bloed. It''s here."


    "Dammit. Isabe!"


    "I know. Guys, stay back and protect Eluna."


    In an instant, Bleod, Aya, and Isabe formed a circle with their backs against each other and Isabe''s three club members in the center.


    Then, the three of them focused their gazes in theboratory, trying to find whatever it was that moved just before.


    Nothing happened for several seconds, making Bloed think that perhaps it was his imagination. But then, he felt the ground trembling slightly.


    ''It can''t be''


    Bloed''s face turned pale. He hurriedly looked down at the ground. At the same time, he activated the different kinds of vision that his eyes could use.


    Immediately, his thermal vision showed something moving below the ground, advancing towards them quickly.


    "Jump away!" He shouted.


    Aya and Isabe reacted immediately. They kicked the ground and jumped away.


    However, Isabe''s club members were carrying the unconscious girl, so they were slower.


    And before they could jump away


    *Swish!*


    Several tentacle-like things broke out of the ground, piercing towards them at great speed.


    "Dammit! [Barrier]!" Isabe shouted, creating a barrier to protect the three club members, however, it was easily prated by the tentacles.


    Moreover, the tentacles absorbed the mana she used in the spell!


    "This one can absorb mana too!?" Isabe''s face turned ugly. Nevertheless, her reaction was fast.


    Several magic circles appeared behind her, shooting air bullet after air bullet towards the tentacles.


    However, the air bullets were unable to destroy the tentacles. They only stopped them briefly.


    Making use of that opportunity, Bloed rushed forward and brandished his saber.


    *sh!*


    *Screeeech!!!*


    A terrifying wail resounded from the depths of theboratory as blood spurted out of the tentacles. Then, what remained of the tentacles retreated back in the ground in fear.


    But before Bloed and the others could sigh in relief, several more tentacles appeared all of sudden.


    From the walls, from the ground, and from the ceiling. Tens of tentacles appeared one after another, creating a terrifying and disgusting scene that frightened the group.


    Bloed and the others turned pale.


    "Oh my god"


    "B-Bloed"


    Isabe and Aya''s faces were ashen white. As for the two conscious club members, they could not help but shiver.


    Bloed was not much better, and his expression turned worse when he saw what seemed like several of the creatures that they fought in the tunnels wrapped by several of the tentacles as they pierced the creatures'' bodies and sucked the flesh and blood inside.


    "H-Hey, do you have any idea?" Isabe asked frightened.


    Bloed''s expression was grave. However, he nodded.


    "I guess it came to this, huh."


    With a thought, he took out what remained of Leto from his storage device. He put it there when he realized that Leto would not be useful against the Devourers, but now, he needed it again.


    "Aya, protect me after this." Bloed suddenly said.


    The cat girl was surprised, but when she saw Bloed''s serious expression, she nodded firmly.


    "Don''t worry. I''ll protect you with my life."


    "I''m relieved then."


    Just at that moment, the countless tentacles attacked them!


    But at the same time, Bloed closed his eyes.


    His psychic energy was almost used up, and only a third of his calction zone could be used, but it was enough.


    In the next instant, Bloed opened his eyes as his blue biomechanical pupils glowed with intimidating electric arcs.


    Then, one word let out his mouth.


    "[Overdrive]."


    And his psychic energy flooded out.

 Chapter 401: Unleashed Trump Card (2)

    Chapter 401: Unleashed Trump Card (2)


    "[Overdrive]."


    Bloed''s calm words resounded in the underground structure.


    Immediately, a storm of psychic power erupted from his body, making every person and creature in the underground structure shiver.


    The tentacles stopped abruptly. They then retreated in a panic as though they felt something terrifying.


    However, it was toote.


    Together with [Overdrive]''s activation, what remained of Leto''s metallic sand rushed towards Bloed, quickly turning into a beautiful silvery-blue armor that took shape around Bloed''s body, leaving only his head uncovered.


    Blue-arcs of electricity wandered through the armor, creating a domineering image as his glowing blue eyes filled with a vast aura stared at the tentacles in front of him.


    "[Eitr]," Bloed murmured to himself. ''The Hero''s Armor.''


    Just after that, part of Leto''s metallic sand gathered in Bloed''s right hand, engulfing his saber and turning it into a two-meters long knightnce. Strangely, though, thence did not have an edge. Instead, it had a trigger and a streamlined design that glowed with an ominous blue-light and seemed to be able to destroy everything around it.


    [Gungnir], the God-Killing Spear.


    Since the moment when Bloed opened his eyes and activated [Overdrive], only one second had happened.


    But the current Bloed waspletely different than one second ago.


    Taking a deep breath, he relished in the sensation of freedom and power caused by the activation of [Overdrive]. Right now, he felt more alive than ever.


    He felt powerful. As though he could kill anything.


    However, he soon noticed that his transformation was iplete.


    ''[Svalinn] was not formed. As expected, Leto doesn''t have enough sand to create [Svalinn].''


    However, he did not think too much about it.


    Even without [Svalinn], he needed to take care of this tentacle monster.


    He could only hope that he had enough time.


    Taking one step forward, Bloed activated the thrusters on the back of his armor, making his body hover several centimeters over the ground.


    He looked at the panicking tentacles in front of him and lips curled up in an amused smile.


    "Let''s y."


    Then, he pressed Gungnir''s Trigger.


    Isabe could swear that this was the first time in her life that she felt like this.


    Just a moment ago, she was despairing after seeing tens of tentacles attacking them. At that moment, she had resigned herself to die in this ce.


    But now, that thought had disappearedpletely from her mind.


    Looking at the back of the blue-haired young man hovering in front of her, Isabe felt a shiver in her spine.


    She could not believe that the calm and smart young man from before had turned into this overwhelmingly powerful monster.


    Just with a nce, she could feel the terrifying power he was wielding.


    It was [End], it was [Destruction], it was [Death].


    It was something that she could not describepletely with her current knowledge.


    And it was so overwhelming that she felt extremely small before it.


    Just at that moment, she heard the young man murmur something.


    "Let''s y." He said.


    Immediately, [Destruction] spread in theboratory.


    The tentacles that brought her so much despair just a moment ago trembled in fear. Then, they turned into nothing more than dust in an instant.


    There was no blood, there was no gore, and there was no corpse.


    Every time that the young man aimed his strangence at the tentacles, they disappearedpletely, only leaving behind fine traces of dust.


    But Isabe found it even more terrifying than if he would have destroyed the tentacles brutally.


    This silent death, this quiet destruction It was so terrifying that her body could not help but tremble.


    "What is it" Without her noticing it, these words escaped from her throat.


    However, nobody answered her.


    No, nobody could answer.


    Because every person witnessing this was too shocked to let out a word.


    But while Isabe was shocked watching Bloed''s turn the tentacles into dust, Bloed was frowning.


    Only five seconds had passed since he activated [Overdrive], however, he was struggling to keep it activated.


    A terrifying headache was attacking him, and his head felt as though it wanted to explode. The pain was so intense that Bloed''s sight had turned blurry.


    Bloed knew that these were the consequences of overusing [Overdrive].


    He had overburdened two-thirds of his calction zone earlier today to use [Invisible sh] and [Door of Nothingness], hence, currently hi calction zone could not endure the burden of using [Overdrive] for long.


    However, he did not stop using it.


    Because he had not destroyed every one of the tentacles nor had he destroyed the monster behind the tentacles.


    He knew that he would be powerless after using [Overdrive], so he had to kill it right now.


    Thus, ignoring the blood dripping from his nose, he continued using [Overdrive] and [Molecr Disintegration].


    Six seconds, seven seconds, eight seconds.


    ''Damn Where is it?'' Bloed was anxious. He could not keep [Overdrive] for much longer.


    He could feel that the monster was no very strong. At most as strong as a half-step demigod. However, it was very good at hiding, and even now, it had not revealed its main body.


    Pangs of pain attacked Bloed''s head one after another, and his sight had turned hazy. He was quickly approaching his limit


    ''Damn! Should I just disintegrate the ceiling and create a hole towards the surface?'' Bloed asked himself.


    But just then, Bloed looked up.


    Then, a smile appeared on his lips.


    "Finally, huh."


    With a sigh, he deactivated [Overdrive].


    The armor andnce turned into metallic sand once more, and his body which was hovering a few centimeters over the ground copsed on the ground powerlessly.


    Bloed could see Aya''s rushing towards him in a panic and Isabe looking at him with a shocked, fearful, and worried expression. He also saw even more tentacles bursting out of the walls, as though they were waiting until he was weakened toe and get rid of him.


    However, even when Aya, Isabe, and the other two club members turned pale, he remained calm.


    Because he could feel it.


    *Bam!*


    Before the tentacles could reach them, a blinding ray of blue light broke through the ceiling, creating a gigantic hole that connected theboratory to the surface.


    Then, a silver-haired girl fell through the hole andnded on the ground with her back towards Bloed.


    Facing the countless tentacles, the girl created an energy de on her hand, and with an expression as cold as the coldest ice, she spoke up.


    "Anything that tries to kill my master deserves to die."


    As soon as the silver-haired girl finished her words, she swung her de.


    And her terrifying power was unleashed underground.


    Thest thing that Bloed saw before falling unconscious was a gigantic energy de crushing everything before it.


    ...


    Support me and read ahead on P4TRE0N:


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 402: Approaching Storm (1)

    Chapter 402: Approaching Storm (1)


    Six chapters published. Perhaps three or four moreing tonight or tomorrow...


    ...


    When Wave arrived at the ce of the incident and saw the giant hole in the middle of the street, she felt a headacheing.


    There were already tens of people gathered in the street, looking at the three-meter-long and three-meter-wide hole that appeared in the middle of the street with curious expressions. Even some demigods were among the crowd, looking at the hole with grave expressions.


    The hole was very deep. So deep that she could not see the bottom of it with the naked eye. However, her senses told her that there was something at the bottom.


    "What in the hell happened here?" Wave could not help but murmur to herself.


    "A girl in love..."


    Wave was surprised when she heard a familiar expressionless voiceing from behind her.


    "Eve? It looks like you arrived first."


    "Mm. Did you catch the one you were chasing?"


    ".. I didn''t. He was very slippery and did not show his face from the start to the end. How about you?"


    "Me neither He disappeared mysteriously."


    Wave sighed in disappointment. However, she was already expecting something like that.


    "Such a shame. Anyway, Do you know what happened here? What do you mean by a girl in love''?"


    "... A girl in love did it," Eve said with a strange expression.


    Wave was confused. But before she could Eve for the details, a person approached her. He was one of her subordinates.


    The man gave her a quick summary of the situation, including the tunnels, the people that were trapped inside, and the reason the hole appeared.


    When Wave heard about Regina sting open a twenty-meter-deep hole to rescue Bloed, her expression stiffened.


    "Is she crazy?"


    "Maybe? I''m not sure."


    Wave put on a bitter smile.


    "Let''s go down. I want to see what is underground."


    "Mm."


    The situation had long ended when they reached the bottom of the hole. Bloed, Aya, Isabe, and her two club members had left the ce long ago, and the only thing that remained of theboratory was a destructed ce.


    "Why is it like this?" Wave asked with a frown.


    "It was Regina as well. Apparently, she destroyed the ce to kill the monster that Bloed was fighting."


    "Really? Did she cause all this destruction just for a monster? How strong was the monster?"


    "I''m not sure. I asked her and she told me that it was weaker than a demigod."


    Wave was speechless.


    ''That girl Did she need to cause all this destruction just to kill such a weak monster? Does she know the meaning of self-control?''


    Just then, Wave noticed something in of debris.


    Frowning, the headmistress waved her hand. Immediately, the debris rose in the air and floated towards her.


    "What is it?" Eve asked curiously. Looking at the piece of debris, she saw what seemed like a part of a magic circle engraved on it.


    " If I''m not mistaken, it''s an explosion magic circle Mm, It also has a surveince function." Wave''s expression was grave. She then looked at her surroundings and waved her hand again, making more pieces of debris float towards her.


    And surprisingly, every piece had a part of the same magic circle engraved on them.


    " How ruthless" Wave looked at the parts of the magic circle and put on a grim expression. "The power of this magic circle is enough to injure even a demigod. Moreover, it will produce a chain reaction, copsing the entire undergroundboratory and burying the people inside alive. Even a demigod could be killed by this trap."


    Eve was stunned. " Do you mean, they were nning to destroy everything?"


    Wave nodded.


    "These kids are lucky. Most likely, the bastards that built this didn''t activate the magic circle because they thought they were too weak for it. They probably were waiting for someone stronger toe and then use the explosion to injure or kill them. Unfortunately for them, Miss Regina destroyed most of the magic circle before they could do anything."


    Eve''s expression turned solemn after hearing that.


    She had already heard from Isabe about the magic circles engraved in the tunnels'' walls, however, she did not expect that there would be an even stronger magic circle in theboratory.


    " They nned to bury the entire evidence."


    "It looks like that."


    Eve and Wave looked at each other and saw the seriousness in each other''s eyes.


    Just the fact that this ce had been built below Academy City without anyone noticing was rming enough, but the ruthless means of the party responsible for this disturbed them even more.


    Just at that moment, they heard a sounding from one of the tunnels connected to theboratory.


    When Eve and Wave looked in that direction, they saw a silver-haired girl walking out of one of the tunnels while dragging the body of a strange creature.


    "Miss Regina? You are still here?"


    " I thought you were taking care of Bloed."


    Wave and Eve were surprised.


    Regina looked at them coldly and nodded.


    "I was. But after I was sure master was stable, I came back. I had to kill the insect that dared to see my master like prey."


    Eve and Wave felt their lips twitch when they heard that.


    This girl They could not believe that such a powerful demigod was so loyal (?) to a young man.


    " That creature must have suffered a lot."


    Wave agreedpletely with Eve''s guess.


    Perhaps due to that, Wave looked at the creature again, this time more carefully.


    But immediately, she froze.


    At the same time, it seemed that Eve noticed the same thing.


    "The Blight"


    "Impossible!"


    Eve and Wave turned pale.


    "It looks like you recognize it." Regina raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, this monster is one of the creatures that you call the Blight Well, notpletely. It was fused with some other creatures through an unknown method, so it lost many of its abilities."


    Eve and Wave''s expressions turned ugly.


    Both of them had fought during the war against the Blight, this they knew the danger of these creatures.


    To be honest, even though they heard Bloed mentioning that he met the Blight before, they did not take it too seriously. But seeing it with their own eyes, the two demigods realized how serious the situation was.


    " Miss Regina, who else knows about the identity of these creatures?" Wave asked solemnly.


    "Master knows, and he could have told to the cat girl. As for the others, I don''t know."


    Wave sighed in relief.


    "Fortunately, not many people knew yet. I should able to control the situation."


    She then looked at Regina and at the creature she was dragging. "Miss Regina, can you give me that monster? I fear I''ll need it."


    Regina raised an eyebrow. But then, she chuckled coldly.


    "And why should I?"


    " Miss Regina, you should know the importance of this creature and what it means. Look at the big picture."


    "The big picture, huh." Regina nodded calmly. But one secondter, her killing intent erupted out, rushing towards Wave and Eve.


    "You"


    "... Regina, what is the meaning of this?"


    "Meaning?" Regina looked at Wave and Eve and sneered. "Miss Wave, my master was injured due to the mission you gave him. And Miss Eve, You were supposed to protect him. However, due to your big picture, master almost dies at the hands of a monster!"


    Wave and Eve were startled. But then, they fell silent.


    Sighing, Eve took the initiative to apologize.


    "... Sorry, it was my fault."


    Despite her expressionless look, it was obvious that she was ashamed.


    After all, the reason Regina stayed in the tower was that Eve was going to protect Bloed. However, Eve ended leaving to chase after a demigod, and Bloed almost dies after that.


    She could understand why Regina was angry.


    Regina snorted and walked away.


    "... Master will be interested in this specimen, so I can''t give it to you. However, I killed a few other creatures like this in the cave. They were weaker than this one, but they should be enough for you, Miss Wave.


    "And Miss Eve, I need to have a long chat with youter."


    After saying that, Regina jumped up towards the hole and flew away.


    Once Regina was gone, Wave and Eve looked at each other with wry smiles.


    "That girl She sure loves that young man."


    "Mm It''s a bit scary."


    "However... Bloed is not simple either. Did you feel it too?"


    Eve nodded. Just like Wave, Eve had felt it.


    That terrifying power that suddenly appeared only to disappear just as suddenly.


    That was...


    "The same as his strange saber technique," Eve murmured to herself.


    Wave agreed with her.


    Although she was not sure about the exact situation, it was obvious that Bloed was hiding a very terrifying power inside him.


    A power so strong that even Wave herself felt threatened.


    Unfortunately, it was not as though she could simply ask Bloed about it.


    "This Bloed... And the Blight... Sigh, howplicated." Wave sighed with a tired expression.


    "What are you nning to do?"


    "For now, I need to warn the others about the Blight."


    Wave looked at the destroyedboratory and put on a solemn expression.


    " I''m going to start a World Cmity Emergency Meeting."

 Chapter 403: Approaching Storm

    Chapter 403: Approaching Storm


    Before the war against the Blight, the diverse kingdoms in the world were scattered and divided, with battles and wars urring every day.


    New alliances appeared every day, and countries disappeared every year. It was a period of unrest and chaos. Wars between countries, races, and religions were verymon.


    Back then, people were born to be warriors and die on the battlefield.


    But everything changed when the Blight appeared.


    In a very short time, the Blight spread like a gue, devouring everything in its way and destroying country after country.


    Quickly, it took over a third of the continent. It was so powerful that no god or kingdom could go against it alone.


    Due to it, the gods and kings of the different countries and religions were forced to create an alliance. Thus, they forgot everything about their wars and differences and joined hands tobat the disaster known as the Blight.


    It was hard and millions of people died, but in the end, the alliance won, securing one hundred years of pace after that.


    At a very step prince.


    However, the Blight taught a very painful lesson to the rulers of the world.


    It taught them that they needed to be ready to face a crisis like that.


    Thus, they decided to prepare in case that the Blight resurged or if a cmity of the same magnitude appeared.


    Hence, the Cmity Emergency Meeting was created.


    The rulers of the different kingdoms and races decided to create a ce where they could gather in case that an emergency urred.


    Unfortunately, many rulers lived thousands of kilometers away from other rulers. It was impossible to organize meetings when just traveling to the ce of the meeting needed entire days or weeks.


    The solution? Magic.


    They created a magic array that allowed them tomunicate through kilometers of distance. Using projections, it was as though they were talking in person.


    After it was created, the distance between countries became unimportant. It was possible to hold a conversation with people living thousands of kilometers away.


    Many rulers even became friends thanks to it.


    Unfortunately, time helps to forget everything.


    Ten years passed, and then twenty, and thirty.


    The Blight did not resurge, and no cmity worthy enough to hold the Cmity Emergency Meeting appeared.


    Thus, the meeting was left aside, bing a forgotten tradition.


    In thest fifty years, it had not been held even once.


    Some of the younger kings did not even know about its existence.


    Fortunately, when the Headmistress of Academy City, Wave Golden, convoked a meeting, most of the rulers around the continent participated.


    Right now, Wave was exposing the situation to the rulers while Eve supplemented her words asionally.


    However, the atmosphere of the meeting was not very good.


    [ Are you telling us that you found traces of the Blight in Academy City, Headmistress Wave?] A projection belonging to an unknown ruler asked with surprise in his voice. [Are you sure?]


    "I am." Wave nodded. "I have a specimen with me. If you want, I can show it to you."


    [Wait a moment.] Another projection, this time belonging to an old man, spoke up. [Before that, can you tell us how big the area of the infection is?]


    Wave was startled before shaking her head. "Fortunately, this specimen did not seem to have the ability to spread the Blight. For some reason, it could consume mana, but it did not seem to be able to reproduce."


    Amotion appeared in the meeting. Several projections started to talk one with another, and others sighed in relief.


    [What, so it can''t spread the Blight.] The old man of before shook his head. [If so, I don''t understand why you called us, Miss Wave. I don''t think that a monster with the ability to devour mana is enough to organize this meeting.]


    Wave frowned.


    "King Josuah, it''s not a monster, it''s the Blight. Moreover, I suspect that someone is experimenting with it. We need to investigate it before it''s toote and something incorrigible happens."


    [You are the one that doesn''t understand, Miss Wave. The Blight is dangerous because it can spread through any living being. If it can''t, then there is no need to be rmed.]


    Wave wrinkled her brows. But before she could say anything, the old man sighed and spoke up in a dissatisfied tone.


    [I thought that something important had happened, so I attended this meeting. However, it looks like I was just losing my time. Sorry, Miss Wave, I''m too busy to lose my time in something like this, goodbye.]


    "Wait a moment, King Josuah! We should"


    *Bss!*


    Without waiting for Wave to finish, the old man ceased the transmission.


    He was not the only one. Most of the others grumbled softly or shook their heads before leaving as well.


    In the end, only the projection belonging to the Church of Fate and the projection of a kind-looking old man remained.


    [Miss Wave, our Church of Fate will pay attention to your words. You have our entire support.]


    "... Many thanks."


    Afterward, the representative of the Church of Fate turned off his projection.


    Almost immediately, Wave''s expression turned ugly.


    "Dammit What in the hell are they thinking about? Did they forget what happened one hundred years ago!?"


    The projection of the kind-looking old man, who was the only one that had not left, chuckled softly.


    [Calm down, little Wave. There is no need to get agitated.]


    "What do you mean, Grandpa? It''s the Blight we are talking about! The Blight!"


    [I know. However, no matter how much I want to give you the reason, the truth is that it really was not enough to convene a meeting.]


    Wave was startled. She looked at Eve, who was just as startled as her and furrowed her words.


    "What do you mean, Grandpa?"


    [Simple, little Wave. There are indeed people experimenting with the Blight, but the problem is that the number of people is bigger than you think. I''m sure that at least half of the people in the meeting were conducting simr experiments.]


    Wave and Eve were dumbfounded.


    [Surprised?] The old man chuckled. [Think about it. The Blight was so powerful that it''s normal is some people were greedy about its power. Many of them could not help but crave to make that power theirs.]


    "Impossible! It''s the Blight! Are they not afraid of something happening!?"


    [They are, but they probably think that it''s alright as long as they are careful. Plus, the Blight was already defeated once, so I''m sure many of them are confident that even if it resurges, we can defeat it again.]


    Wave and Eve were astonished.


    Both of them were not expecting something like this. In fact, even Eve, the Saintess of Moonlight Glow, did not know that something like this was happening.


    That is normal, though. After all, the beastmen could be considered the only race that was not researching the Blight.


    It was not that they did not want, but that they did not have the ability one hundred years ago, and now that they have the ability, there was no ce where to get a specimen.


    The kind-looking old man chuckled softly when he saw the surprise in Wave and Eve''s eyes. Then, he shook his head and sighed.


    [It''s better if you do not investigate too much about this, little Wave, or you can end offending a lot of people. Actually, I think it''s better if you just return home.]


    "Grandpa, you know what I think about that. I want to stay in the city."


    [Sigh Child, do you think that I can''t see what is happening? I know your situation clearly. That city It''s better if you abandon it.]


    Wave fell silent.


    She could understand the old man''s words, and indeed, the situation of Academy City was pretty bad. To be honest, she did not know how long the city wouldst.


    However, this city was her dream, and she was going to fight for it until the end.


    Understanding her thoughts, the old man sighed again and did not insist.


    " Grandpa, can''t you help me? With your strength, if you intervene, then perhaps"


    Before Wave could finish talking, the old man shook his head.


    [Sorry, child. I can''t.]


    "But"


    [Indeed, if I intervene, your situation will improve. However, I''m the ruler of the beasts, and I promised not to interfere with the affairs of the other races as long as they left the Beasts'' Wilderness alone. I can''t help you.]


    " I see"


    [However, let me give you a piece of advice. If you truly want to protect your city, then you need to take the next step. But it will be useless if you be a god. Your only option is to follow the harder path.]


    "To be an ''Irregr''"


    [Yes, you need to be an ''Irregr''. However, it''s not easy. Even now, I only know of three people that have taken that step, including me.]


    Wave nodded silent.


    [Think about my words, little Wave. I have to leave now. Remember, if you can''t save the city, then just return with us. You are a dragon. Your ce is with your family.]


    "Thank you, grandpa."


    [Take care, child.]


    With a gentle smile, the old man turned off his projection, leaving only Wave and Eve behind.


    "What are you going to do, Wave?" Eve asked.


    Wave fell silent for a moment before putting on an expression of determination.


    "Perhaps grandpa is right and many people are experimenting with the Blight secretly. However, at the very least, I won''t allow it in my city!"


    With an ice-cold gleam in her eyes, Wave snorted.


    "I will hunt until thest one of them."

 Chapter 404: A Shy Cat

    Chapter 404: A Shy Cat


    The first thing that Bloed saw when he opened his eyes was a head of ck hair on his bed.


    The owner of the head, a cat-eared girl, was seated beside the bed with her head lying on it. She was deeply asleep and seemed to have been like that for a while.


    Bloed could not help but let out a small smile when he saw her like that.


    Just then, a voice called out at him.


    "You finally woke up, master."


    Surprised, Bloed looked towards the door only to see a familiar silver-haired girl looking at him with an expressionless look.


    "Regina Are we in the club? How long has it been since I fainted?"


    "It has been almost one day, master; and yes, we are in the club. I brought you here after you fainted. Miss Aya insisted on looking after you, so she stayed here the entire night."


    "Really?" Bloed looked at the sleeping cat girl in surprise.


    Hearing that she apanied him the entire night, Bloed''s lips curved up slightly. He then extended his hand to stroke her head.


    Aya''s cat ears twitched softly and her lips curled up. However, she did not wake up.


    Most likely, she was too tired after yesterday''s events.


    "It looks like I have to give her my thanks after she wakes up," Bloed said.


    "Before that, master. There is something that you need to tell me."


    Bloed was startled. But suddenly, he realized that Regina''s eyes seemed a bit unusual.


    Instead of the gentleness and love she usually had, he could see traces of anger?


    Bloed immediately flinched. Cold sweat filled his back, and his face turned nervous.


    "Regina A-Are you angry?"


    "Should I?"


    " I think you should Sorry for leaving you behind and putting myself in danger. I''ll be more careful next time."


    Regina looked at Bloed silently before sighing and nodding.


    "I understand. I forgive you then. However, you should be more careful. I don''t know what I would have done if something happened to you."


    Bloed smiled and nodded. At the same time, he rejoiced inwardly that Regina was as indulgent with him as always.


    As expected, it was very easy to get her forgiveness.


    However, it was only when it came to Bloed.


    As for other people, it was not so easy to calm her anger.


    Especially when it was something rted to Bloed''s safety.


    Thus, while Regina forgave Bloed quickly


    "However, I can''t forgive Miss Eve so easily," Regina stated. "She promised to look after you, but she ended leaving you alone. She is partly at fault for what happened. If she would have been with you, nothing of this would have happened."


    Bloed smiled wryly and did not deny it.


    Actually, he did not me Eve. In fact, he understood her.


    Unlike Regina, Eve''s priority was not himself. He could not me her if she left for something that she considered more important.


    Plus, when Eve left, she left Bloed in a rtively safe ce. In all honesty, she could not have expected that something like that happened.


    Of course, Bloed knew that Regina did not care about that. After all, Regina and Eve''s priorities werepletely different.


    He could only wait until Regina''s anger calmed down and convince her to forgive Eve.


    Just then, Bloed felt the cat girl stirring up.


    Most likely, she had woken up after hearing Bloed and Regina speaking.


    The ck-haired cat girl raised her face sleepily and rubbed her eyes. Suddenly, though, she noticed that Bloed was awake.


    Immediately, her eyes opened wide.


    "Bloed!"


    With an expression of happiness, the cat girl jumped towards him and hugged him. She was so excited that she did not even notice that Regina was behind her.


    Fortunately, although Regina frowned, she said nothing. Instead, she shook her head and left the room silently, as though he wanted to give them a bit of space.


    Bloed was rather grateful for that.


    ''As expected, Regina is the best,''


    " Bloed, are you alright?" Aya asked with a worried expression. " I was worried when you fainted."


    Bloed smiled softly and kissed her forehead.


    "I am. Did Regina not tell you?"


    "She did, but I was worried... You fainted for such a long time."


    "Sorry for worrying you."


    "No" Aya shook her head. "You did it to protect us, and You were very cool. It was amazing..."


    Seeing the hint of bashfulness and embarrassment in Aya''s face, Bloed found her so cute that he could not help but lean his head forward.


    Very softly, he kissed Aya''s lips; and the cat girl, although surprised and embarrassed, returned the kiss with a shy expression.


    The pair kissed again after that, and again, and again. Eventually, Bloed was holding Aya''s body as the cat girl hugged her neck with her facepletely red.


    Right then, Bloed realized how dangerous the current situation was. They were kissing on a bed, and judging by how things were going, Bloed was not sure if he could hold himself back.


    Unfortunately, Aya seemed not to notice the danger, and if she noticed, she did not mind it.


    In fact, she was rubbing her petite body against Bloed and kissing his lips again with a cute face.


    But just then


    "Cough Am I interrupting something?"


    A familiar voice made Bloed and Aya freeze up.


    Looking towards the entrance of the room, the pair saw a demon girl looking at them with a smile that was not a smile.


    Moreover, she was not alone. Several other familiar people were standing behind her, including an elf Princess, a human princess, the Valkyrie that left just before, and two very beautiful sisters.


    "It looks like you are feeling alright already, my boyfriend." Liu Ying smiled brightly. "That is great. Then, I should ask you about something that I don''t understand. Tell me, why are you kissing with another girl?"

 Chapter 405: Unfair

    Chapter 405: Unfair


    Fortunately, neither Regina nor Liu Ying were that angry after Bloed told them that he had decided to make Aya his girlfriend.


    In fact, the two of them had already epted Aya since long ago. When Aya put her life in danger to protect the unconscious Bloed during the incident with the Heart of the Forest, Regina and Liu Ying epted her as Bloed''s girlfriend as well.


    Actually, instead of Regina and Liu Ying, it was another person who seemed dissatisfied.


    "It''s unfair!" Gina shouted with an angry face, her silver eyes looking at Aya as though she was her enemy. "I can''t allow it! I met my hero much before this cat! I have to be the third!"


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry. This girl was as lively as always.


    Aya, however, looked at Gina with a victorious expression.


    "I win."


    Immediately, the honey-haired girl turned livid.


    "You thieving cat! My hero! I''m going to be your girlfriend as well! Come, give me aMmph!"


    Before Gina could finish talking, her big sister covered her mouth as she looked at Bloed with a helpless expression.


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    "Sorry about this, my lord. I will talk with my sisterter."


    "Don''t worry about it, Sara. Everybody here knows how Gina is."


    "Sister, why are you stopping me!?" Gina hurriedly escaped from her sister''s grasp and looked at her with a dissatisfied expression. "Ugh, it''s already bad enough that you don''t help me to attack my hero, but now you are stopping me as well God, how am I supposed to seed with this burden!? Sigh... As expected, I''ll have to attack my hero at night Mm, after sealing the deal, he will surely take responsibility."


    Bloed was speechless.


    Even though Gina''s whispered thest part of her sentence, every person here was rtively powerful. They could hear her clearly.


    "Little Gina, whose boyfriend are you nning to attack?"


    "Huh? Sister Liu Ying? Did you hear that?"


    "What do you think?"


    Gina flinched and looked away with an innocent look.


    "Sigh this girl" Liu Ying did not know whether tough or to cry and the other girls put on strange expressions.


    Even Sara was ashamed after hearing her little sister''s words. Right now, she wanted to hide inside a hole of the shame she was feeling.


    "Big brother sure is popr, huh" Eres said at that moment and looked at Bloed with a strange gaze, making Bloed smile wryly.


    Fortunately, her gaze was not as piercing as the gaze of the Princess Elwha. The elven princess had been looking at Bloed as though he was a piece of trash.


    ''Women'' Bloed sighed inwardly.


    The group continued chatting happily after that. Eventually, though, they started to talk about more serious topics.


    Bloed was interested in what happened after he fainted. However, everything was just as he expected. The headmistress asked them to keep silent about the Blight and promised to give thempensation and a reward for discovering the tunnel.


    What came as a surprise was that Regina brought back one of the creatures they saw in the tunnel.


    Bloed was very interested in studying it even after knowing that it was rted to the Devourers.


    No, he was more interested after knowing that it was rted to the Devourers.


    Bloed was so excited that he wanted to start studying it right away. However, he was immediately stopped by Regina.


    "Master, you should rest. At least for today, I won''t allow you to do anything else."


    "Why? I''m alright."


    "You are not. The side-effects of using [Overdrive] are very heavy. You should know about it."


    Bloed smiled wryly and did not deny it.


    Actually, he knew about his condition better than Regina


    Right now, Bloed could not feel the slightest trace of psychic power in his body. His calction zone waspletely dry and he had a rather bothersome headache.


    It was the side-effect of using [Overdrive].


    Thest time he used it, he was unable to use his abilities for three days after that.


    He was just at C-Grade back then, so the side-effects were much stronger than now that he was a B-Grade ESPer; but even so, he would need to rest for a few days before he recoveredpletely.


    "Understood, understood, I''ll rest, okay?"


    "Good. Don''t worry master, I''ll make sure to take care of you to the best of my ability."


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded. Right then, he saw Liu Ying raising her hand timidly.


    "H-Hey, Regina Can I help as well? I-I''m also Bloed''s girlfriend, so"


    "Me too," Aya also spoke up.


    Regina looked at the two of them for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and sighing.


    "Well, I think there is nothing wrong with that. I can use two extra hands."


    "Thank you, Regina."


    "Mm. Thank you."


    "Hey, hey! Can I stay as well? I also want to help Bloed."


    "You can''t, Gina. You need to wait until you are Bloed''s girlfriend first."


    "You guys... It''s unfair!"


    .


    Meanwhile, in somece in Academy City, a mysterious voice let out a sigh.


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    " So we lost the firstboratory, huh. What a shame."


    "It''s alright." Another voice replied. "All the important information was taken away, so our losses were not too heavy. However, it will put our n at risk. Should we continue with it? I think it should be a good idea to postpone it."


    " No, let''s continue." Said the first voice after hesitating for a brief instant. "The sooner we proceed, the faster we will see results. Only with chaos and war will we be able to achieve our goal."


    "I understand. For Returning Dusk."


    "For Returning Dusk."

 Chapter 406: Wave’s Request (1)

    Chapter 406: Wave¡¯s Request (1)


    One dayter, Bloed and Regina were inside aboratory studying the tissue of the creature that Regina brought back.


    "It''s amazing" Bloed could not help but sigh in admiration. "I can''t believe that the people of this world managed to create something like this."


    Just like Bloed thought, this creature was not truly a Devourer. Instead, it also had genes of other creatures, creating a species of chimera that possessed the Devourers'' ability to devour energy but without their highly contaminating method of reproduction.


    The fact that the people of this world managed to create something like this astounded Bloed. It once else reminded him to not underestimate magic.


    However, this creature was not perfect. Quite the opposite, it had a lot of ws.


    ording to Bloed''s observations, the creature''s gic makeup would copse after five to ten days, killing the creaturepletely. Right now, this creature''s lifespan was no longer than a few days.


    Moreover, it had some other defects, like the fact that it could not defecate what it ate.


    However, the greatest problem was that Bloed noticed that its contaminant and devouring nature was not truly eliminated. Instead, it was sealed and hidden.


    It was very hard to notice it, and most likely, the people of this world failed to discern it. However, Bloed was certain that after enough time and several generations of reproduction, this creature would turn into aplete Devourer able to multiplicate at an unbelievable rate and eat everything in its way.


    But even with these defects, the creature was still amazing.


    There were even some things that left Bloed fascinated.


    For example, the source behind the creature fast speed and powerful strength.


    Every cell of the creature had the ability to store energy, and that energy could be used to strengthen the creature''s body, making it faster and stronger.


    Such a method waspletely different than using mana to enhance the body. However, it was just as effective.


    But the main reason that Bloed was fascinated by it was that it provided him with a lot of ideas.


    Since a while ago, Bloed had been trying to create a new way to strengthen his body. His idea was to create a virus that modified his cells and allowed them to store energy; something very simr to what this creature could do.


    Unfortunately, Bloed had not been sessful thus far. In fact, he had already created five prototypes, but even the best one was far too dangerous to use in himself.


    Bloed''s body was starting to be unable to keep up with his current strength. Right now, Bloed was at thete stage of B-Grade, and although his body was stronger than mages of the same level, it was slightlycking if his opponent was a martial artist.


    At this rate, his body would soon be a weakness.


    Due to it, Bloed was eager to finish the ''Body-Enhancing Virus''.


    "Well, there is no point in rushing it."


    "Master?"


    "It''s nothing. I was just thinking about something."


    Regina nodded. She then looked at the creature and spoke up.


    "It looks like the creature was useful to you, master."


    "Yes. It was a great idea to bring it here. Thank you."


    "It''s nothing. I''m d that I was helpful. Do you think you can get something from it?"


    "I''m sure I can. In fact, you probably will hear the good news soon." Bloed said happily, making Regina smile.


    The pair continued studying the creature, with Bloed analyzing its tissue and Regina''s acting as his assistant. Before long, Bloed had gotten enough data to create a new prototype of the Body-Enhancing Virus.


    He was nning to close himself in hisboratory until he finished the next prototype. With a bit of luck, he would have it done after two days.


    But just then, an unexpected visitor arrived at the club.


    "Headmistress Wave? What is she doing here?"


    "Is it about thepensation that she promised?"


    Bloed and Regina asked curiously.


    "She told me that it''s one of the reasons, but the main reason is another." Liu Ying replied. "That is everything that I know."


    Bloed fell deep in thought for a moment before nodding.


    "Okay, tell the headmistress to wait in my office. I''ll go there soon."


    "Okay."


    After asking Liu Ying to guide the headmistress to his office, Bloed took a bath and changed his clothes. He then went to his office, where Headmistress Wave was already waiting for him.


    "It''s good to see that you are alright, boy." The headmistress greeted him calmly. "I heard that you were unconscious for one day, so I was a bit worried."


    "It was nothing serious. I was just a bit tired after overusing my abilities."


    "Your abilities, huh." The headmistress looked at Bloed with interest.


    For an instant, she could not help but think about the terrifying aura she felt that day.


    She wanted to ask Bloed about it, but after thinking for a moment, she decided not to. After all, everybody has secrets.


    Even if she was curious, she could ask him after they became closer.


    "Why are you, headmistress?" Bloed asked curiously.


    " Part of the reason is topensate you and reward you for what happened two days ago." The headmistress said. "However, that is not the main reason."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow.


    "Really? What is it, then? I''m curious now."


    The headmistress did not reply immediately. Instead, she hesitated for a moment as though she was considering something.


    But after a while, she took a deep breath and spoke up.


    "Actually, I need your help with something."


    Looking straight into Bloed''s eyes, the headmistress told him the reason why she was here.


    "Mr. Bloed, can you tell me more about the things that you call ''Security Cameras''?"

 Chapter 407: Wave’s Request (2)

    Chapter 407: Wave¡¯s Request (2)


    "Mr. Bloed, can you tell me about the thing that you call ''Security Camera''?" Headmistress Wave asked with a serious expression.


    Bloed was stunned. He could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise.


    "Why are you interested in it?"


    Wave hesitated for a moment before smiling wryly.


    "You know what happened two days ago in the city, right? The truth is that right now, the city''s situation is very delicate. Many people are waiting for an opportunity to damage the city, and I need an effective method to find them."


    "So you thought about using cameras, huh."


    "Yes. ording to what you told me, Security Cameras allow you to keep an eye on a ce and store images about what happens there. If I can install cameras around the entire city, then won''t it be easier to find the people that I want to find?"


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    He was rather surprised that Headmistress Wave had the same idea as him.


    However, he soon found it normal.


    After all, Headmistress Wave was very smart. If he could think about something, she most likely could think about it as well.


    As for why the headmistress knew about cameras? Well, Bloed had told her a bit about it in one of their conversations.


    Since the day the two orded to share information about magic and technology, the two had talked about a lot of topics. Bloed remembered mentioning cameras once.


    Of course, he did not tell her about his n to install cameras around the entire city and only mentioned briefly their function. He did not expect the Headmistress to remember it so clearly.


    The problem was


    " Why should I do it, Headmistress? You should know how valuable my technology is. Why should I help you?"


    The headmistress did not reply immediately. Instead, she used her caramel-colored eyes to look at Bloed fixedly.


    Finally, she tapped the desk twice and told him her proposal.


    "I can support your goal."


    Bloed flinched.


    But one secondter, he narrowed his eyes.


    " My goal? I don''t remember telling you about it, Headmistress."


    "You didn''t need to. I deduced it after observing you for a while."


    Bloed was stunned and put on a confused expression.


    "I don''t understand. What do you mean?"


    Wave rolled her eyes.


    "Boy, do you think I have lived so long for nothing? I can see it in your eyes clearly. When you talk about your mother or technology, you sound so passionate and your eyes shine brightly, as though you are proud of something.


    "If I''m not wrong, you want to make your mother''s legacy known to the world, right?"


    Bloed did not reply and just stayed silent.


    "I don''t know the specifics, boy." The headmistress continued. "But I think that my guess is pretty close. Actually, I''m also interested in this goal. From the things that you have told me, I can''t help but anticipate how the world would change if your technology is spread everywhere."


    Bloed looked at the headmistress and sighed.


    He did not expect the headmistress to notice his goal, but after thinking for a while, he did not think that it was necessarily a bad thing.


    Since the start, his goal was to spread the Human Confederation''s technology to the world, and he knew that he could not do it by himself.


    If he wanted to do it, he needed the support of someone influential.


    The problem was that Bloed''s considered the Human Confederation''s technology as his mother''s legacy. He did not want to stain it with blood and make it the cause of war and suffering.


    That limited his options greatly. Most organizations or countries that learned about that technology would unavoidably try to use it to get more power, money, and influence.


    That was normal, but that was not what Bloed wanted.


    Until now, Bloed only knew of two organizations that could be different.


    One of them was the Church of Fate, and the other was Academy City.


    Unfortunately, the Church of Fate''s goal was to protect the world. It did not seem like the kind of organization that could support Bloed''s dreams.


    Academy City, on the other hand, was another story.


    Of course, Bloed was not so nave as to think that his technology would never be used in war. The Human Confederation''s history was the best example. For generations, many of the greatest discoveries and technological advancements were the result of trying to create better and most effective weapons.


    But at the very least, Academy City was a neutral ce where the four races lived in rtive peace. If he spread technology here, then there was a high chance it would spread to the four races simultaneously.


    That way, if none of the four races had an edge in technology, none of them could use it to overwhelm the others.


    It was a result that Bloed considered eptable.


    Taking that into ount, Headmistress Wave and her city were the best options if he wanted to spread technology around the world.


    In fact, he was nning to talk to Headmistress Wave about it eventually; but not so soon.


    After thinking for a moment, Bloed looked at Headmistress Wave for several seconds before letting out a deep breath.


    "What is your proposal, Headmistress?"


    "I can give you the resources you need to spread the legacy of your mother around the world. Moreover, I can support your goalpletely. However, it must be used for the benefit of Academy City first. That is my only condition."


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 408: Wave’s Request (3)

    Chapter 408: Wave¡¯s Request (3)


    "I can give you the resources you need to spread the legacy of your mother around the world. Moreover, I can support your goalpletely. However, it must be used for the benefit of Academy City first. That is my only condition."


    Hearing Headmistress Wave''s words, Bloed fell silent.


    To be honest, her proposal was not bad.


    He had been observing Headmistress Wave for a while. And to be honest, he had a good impression of her.


    Headmistress Wave was an idealist. She talked many times about her dreams of creating a ce where people could study and be stronger regardless of race or identity


    That was the reason she created Academy City. To aplish that dream.


    Someone like that did not seem like an ambitious person.


    However, it did not mean that Bloed would agree to her proposal just like that.


    "I have several conditions." He said.


    "Do speak, boy."


    "First. I must supervise everything. I need to make sure that what I''m giving you is not used in the wrong way."


    "What else."


    "I won''t give out the technology. It will be under myplete control, so don''t ask for the method to create certain things."


    "I see. Is that everything?"


    "No. There is onest thing. You can''t trade this technology with any country or organization. It can be used only in Academy City."


    " You know that no matter how much you try, someone will eventually leak it outside, right? Even if I promise you not to trade the technology, I can''t control every person in the city. With how valuable your technology is, someone eventually will find an opportunity to sell it."


    "I understand that. Everything is alright as long as you don''t trade it. The rest doesn''t matter." Anyway, it was not as though they could copy his technology just after seeing it.


    You needed the technical knowledge first if you wanted to learn how to recreate it.


    Headmistress Wave fell silent for a moment and thought deeply.


    Only after several seconds, she looked at Bloed and nodded.


    "I can promise you that. But there is a condition."


    Bloed wrinkled his brows.


    "Then, I''m sorry, but"


    "Wait, let me finish first." Headmistress Wave interrupted Bloed''s words. "You don''t have the qualifications right now to get such rights. Once the people in the city realize the usefulness of technology and learn that you are in charge of it, they will try to take that responsibility from you."


    "But I''m the only one with knowledge about technology."


    "That is even worse. If people with bad intentions learn that the technologyes from you, you will experience attempts to kidnapping daily."


    Bloed was speechless. However, he soon realized that Headmistress Wave''s words, though exaggerated, were notpletely fake.


    "What do you propose then, Headmistress?"


    "Herees my condition. You must make your club one of the top ten clubs."


    "Top ten?" Bloed was stunned.


    "Yes, boy. I''m the greatest authority in Academy City, but right now, the city is in a delicate period. If I give you too much authority in the city without enough reasons, then I will most likely meet resistance, and in the current situation, that is not something that I can allow. Not when many people are waiting for an opportunity to extend their ws inside my city."


    "In other words, you need an excuse."


    "Yes Well, we can get around it using other methods. Mm, we can give the authority to Miss Regina. After all, she is a powerful powerhouse, so not many people will oppose her for a while. However, this city values achievements a lot, so it''s still preferable if your club enters the top ten."


    Bloed smiled bitterly.


    Although he understood Headmistress Wave''s opinion, how could bing one of the top ten clubs be easy?


    Each one of the top ten clubs was led by a powerful student, with hundreds of club members. Moreover, the weakest members of these clubs were generally B-Rank practitioners. Although he hated to admit it, his Machine Revolutio was far fromparable to them.


    But just then, the headmistress spoke up again and put on a sly smile.


    "Actually, I have another way."


    "Huh? What is it?"


    "Simple. Be my student."


    Bloed was stunned.


    "Think about it, boy. If you be my student, then you can supervise everything rted to technology under the excuse that you are doing it under my orders. That way, even if someone is unhappy, nobody will dare to mention it when you are under my protection" The headmistress chuckled softly and looked at Bloed with a mischievous smile. "Actually, it''s not even a lie. You have been learning magic from me for a while, so you can be considered my student."


    Bloed was dumbfounded. This proposal.


    But when he saw Headmistress Wave''s smile, he realized something.


    ... Perhaps, this was Headmistress Wave''s intention since the start.


    "That is An interesting proposal." Bloed said with a wry smile.


    "Right? I think I''m a genius for proposing it. Moreover, that is not the only advantage of bing my student." Wave''s expression turned slyer as she looked at Bloed. "If you are my student, then nobody will question the origin of your technology."


    Bloed''s expression stiffenedpletely.


    He hurriedly returned his expression to normal and tried to feign ignorance, however, the changes in his expression had already fallen in Headmistress Wave''s eyes.


    "What do you mean?" He asked.


    "Do you think I''m a fool, boy? No matter how much of a genius your mother was, she couldn''t have created everything that you have told me about by herself. However, it''s the first time that I heard about all these things. Where did theye from then?"


    "What do you want to say?" Bloed''s eyes quickly turned cold.


    "Don''t look me like that, boy. I don''t have bad intentions." Headmistress Wave chuckled calmly. "However, if you spread your knowledge carelessly, eventually someone will suspect its origin. I have been even in ces beyond this continent, however, I have never heard about many of the things that you have told me. In other words, the origin of your knowledge must be very extraordinary."


    Bloed fell silent.


    That was certainly a problem.


    His mother''s knowledge came from another world. A more advanced civilization than this world. The problem was that the origin of the Blight was simr.


    A danger that came from outside this world. Due to it, the people of this world had a preconceived notion that another world = dangerous.


    In fact, from a certain perspective, his mother was the culprit behind the disaster of the Blight. In the end, the Blight, or Devourers, came to this world in the hull of Cami''s spaceship.


    Due to that reason, Bloed did not want to exin his mother''s origin. In fact, not even Liu Ying knew the truth about Cami''s origin. She only knew that she came from a very far away ce.


    As though understanding Bloed''s thoughts, Headmistress Wave smiled yfully.


    "You don''t need to worry, boy. I don''t n to pry into your secrets. If you don''t want to tell me, then I''m not going to ask. But If you use me as a shield when you spread your technology, then many people will attribute its origin to me. It will reduce a lot of your troubles."


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded.


    "I guess that is true."


    "Then, will you agree to my proposal?"


    Bloed did not reply immediately. Instead, he tapped his desk twice and furrowed his brows in thought.


    Eventually, though, he sighed.


    " I want to think about it a bit more, but I think I''ll agree."


    "Wise choice."


    "But We will start with the Security Cameras first. If our cooperation is sessful, we will talk about the rest."


    "Mm You are right, that is a good idea. Okay, sent me a list of the things that you need then. I will have it ready before the end of the War of Clubs."


    "I understand. I''ll send it to you in a while."


    "Also, it would be great if you can get into the top thirty during this War of Clubs. As the headmistress, my students should be the most outstanding. A sixteen-years young man that led his club to the top thirty in the first month of being in the city would be talented enough to be chosen as my student."


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded in understanding.


    ''It looks like I''ll have to try harder during this War of Clubs, huh.''

 Chapter 409: [Call of the Wild]

    Chapter 409: [Call of the Wild]


    When Headmistress Wave left, Bloed fell deep in thought.


    In his mind, he repeated the words and expressions of the Headmistress once and again, trying to find a trace of lies or falsehood on them, however, he could not find anything.


    Letting out a deep breath, he spoke up to the Valkyrie connected to him.


    "Regina, you heard the entire conversation, right? What do you think?"


    A voice immediately replied in his mind.


    [To be honest, master, I don''t like her.]


    "Really?"


    [Yes. I don''t think she has what is necessary to be your master But, at the very least, she seems a trustworthy person.]


    Bloed nodded. Coming from Regina, that was already a pretty high evaluation.


    After all, Regina was someone that put Bloed''s safety above everything else. If she thought that there was a chance of Headmistress Wave hurting Bloed, she would have told Bloed about it immediately.


    [Even so, master. Don''t you think you are being too rash? I think it''s better if we observe her for a while longer.]


    "Perhaps, but this is a good opportunity, and I think it''s a necessary risk if I want to aplish my dream. Plus, I n to observe her during our cooperation. If I notice something wrong, I n to stop immediately."


    [I understand Regardless of it, no matter what happens, I''m going to protect you, master.]


    "Thank you, Regina."


    With a small smile on his face, Bloed thanked his lover as he thought about his ns in his mind.


    Bloed didn''t tell anyone about his conversation with Headmistress Wave. Only Regina and he knew about it.


    However, he started to think about ways of increasing the ranking of his club.


    The headmistress''s requirement was that Machine Revolution reached the top thirty. However, it was much harder than it sounded. Very hard, actually.


    Originally, Machine Revolutio''s ranking was 86. Afterward, due to the club battle against Gathered Feathers, the club ranking increased to rank 72.


    Moreover, before leaving, Headmistress Wave told Bloed that, as a reward for discovering the tunnels, Machine Revolutio would receive one thousand points, increasing its ranking to 54.


    It was already a pretty high ranking for a small club as Machine Revolutio. Unfortunately, that ranking would most likely fall soon as the other clubs gathered more points.


    But Headmistress Wave''s requirement was to bring Machine Revolutio to the top thirty. Bloed felt a headache just thinking about how to achieve it.


    He soon was forced to stop thinking about that, though.


    Because in the afternoon of that day, Bloed received an unexpected piece of news.


    "We were challenged again?" Bloed asked stunned.


    Toby nodded with an awkward expression. "Yes, I received the news just now."


    Bloed thought for a moment before heaving a sight.


    Well, it had been more than one week since thest challenge, so he should have expected something like this.


    "Gather the others in the main hall in half an hour. We will talk about the challenge there."


    Half an hourter, all the club members including the neers were gathered in the hall.


    To start, Bloed asked Toby about the challenge.


    "It was from a club called [Call of the Wild]. Ranked eighty-six. It''s a medium-sized club with around forty members, however, it has several A-Ranks."


    "A club in the top one hundred?" Bloed, Liu Ying, Aya, and the others were surprised.


    But suddenly, Bloed noticed something unusual.


    For some reason, Sara and Gina had strange expressions. In fact, Sara was biting her lips and Gina gritted her teeth in rage.


    "These bastards" She murmured in an almost inaudible voice.


    "Sara? Gina? Is anything wrong?"


    "My lord? N-No, nothing is wrong."


    "N-Nothing, my hero. I was just thinking about something."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow in confusion at the obviously suspicious behavior, but when he saw that the sisters did not n to tell him anything, he did not insist.


    Anyway, he trusted them. And if they truly knew something that they needed to tell him, he was sure that they would do it.


    Instead, he looked at Prince Calisto.


    "Do you know anything about that club?"


    As one of the Princes of The Great Savannah, Prince Calisto had ess to a lot of information. Due to that, Bloed put him in charge of information gathering.


    And the little lionkin prince did not disappoint him. He thought for a moment before speaking in a slightly childish and nervous tone.


    "I-I know about them. They have a total of forty-six members. Eight A-Ranks, fifty B-Ranks, and the rest are C-Ranks. Moreover, three of the A-Rank members are at thete stages of A-Rank."


    Bloed fell silent and his expression turned serious.


    You must understand that threete-stage A-Ranks were much more powerful than all the members of this clubbined (Excluding Eres).


    Moreover, this club still had another five A-Ranks. In other words, it was much more powerful than Machine Revolutio.


    Just the number of members meant that [Call of the Wild] was much stronger than [Gathered Feathers], the previous club that challenged Machine Revolutio.


    Seeing Bloed''s serious expression, Prince Calisto put on aplicated expression.


    "Actually, I heard that this club was much stronger before, but something happened recently and some members left... I''m not sure about the specifics, though."


    Bloed nodded. "I understand. Right, Toby, what kind of challenge was chosen?"


    "Tower Defense."


    Bloed immediately let out a sigh of relief.


    " So our luck is not that bad yet, huh."


    Tower Defense was simr to Tower Conquest, the previous challenge. But instead ofpeting to see which club conquered the enemy tower first, this time, the challenger would have to attack the tower while the challenged defended it.


    If the challenger was unable to conquer the tower in the determined time, then the victory would go to the challenged.


    In all honesty, this kind of challenge was very advantageous for the defensive side.


    Moreover, it was even more advantageous for Machine Revolutio. After all, the tower that was the headquarters of the club had some pretty good defensive measures.


    "What is the n, brother?" Eres asked with a frown.


    But to her surprise, she found that Bloed seemed pretty calm.


    " Let me see. Toby, when is the challenge?"


    "T-Two dayster."


    "Great. I''ll bepletely recovered by that day. Listen, I will tell you about the n. For this battle, we will rely on the defenses of the tower."


    "You mean, the things that you talked aboutst time?" Liu Ying asked with a strange tone.


    She remembered when Bloed exined to them the tower''s defensive measures. Back then, she was so dumbfounded that she did not know what to say.


    Just imagining the faces of the enemy club when they face these surprises made Liu Ying unable to contain her smile.

 Chapter 410: Doubled A-Ranks

    Chapter 410: Doubled A-Ranks


    After the meeting finished, Sara walked off with a dark expression.


    She did her best to not show it to Bloed, but she was very angry right now.


    Behind her, Gina followed with a just-as-angry expression. She hmphed coldly and looked at her sister with a dissatisfied look.


    "Sister, are we going to leave it like this?"


    " What do you mean?"


    "Is it not obvious? They are targeting us! It''s clear that they are doing this for what happenedst time!"


    Sara fell silent. She did not reply to her sister''s words and instead fell deep in thought.


    However, she did not think for long. Soon, she put on a determined expression and her gaze turned ice cold.


    "Let''s go. We will pay them a visit."


    "Great, sister! Hmph! We should teach a lesson to these idiots."


    Sara smiled wryly and shook her head. Then, she left the tower together with her sister.


    Their destination was a club five kilometers away. It was the club where they had stayed before Bloed arrived at Academy City.


    Its name was [Call of the Wild].


    The same club that challenged [Machine Revolutio].


    When they arrived at the club, the student in charge of guarding the entrance looked at them with a stunned look before putting on a frightened expression.


    Without waiting for Sara and Gina''s words, the student ran inside the club in a hurry.


    Less than five minutester, the student returned followed by several other people.


    Sara and Gina were familiar with them. They were the A-Ranks of [Call of the Wild].


    As soon as they saw Sara and Gina, the expressions of the club members turned slightlyplicated.


    " Sara, Gina, long time no see you."


    Oscar, a young human man and the leader of the club, greeted the two sisters with an awkward smile.


    Sara said nothing. Instead, Gina red at him angrily and spoke up.


    "Mr. Oscar, what is the meaning of it!? Why did you challenge our club!?"


    "This" Oscar smiled bitterly with an embarrassed expression. But before he could speak, a girl behind him stepped forward with a sneer.


    "Hey, to think it''s Sara and Gina. What are the two traitors doing here?"


    Gina was startled, but soon, her expression turned sullen.


    At the same time, Sara frowned coldly.


    "Miss Susan, please be careful with your words."


    "What? Does it hurt to hear the truth?"


    Sara''s eyes turned sharp. In an instant, her A-Rank mana fused with her killing intent and surged out, making the girl called Susan take a step back involuntarily!


    Then, Sara opened her mouth while her gaze emitted a frightening chill.


    "Since the start, we made it clear that we would only stay in your club temporarily until the person that we were waiting for arrived at the city. We never belonged to your club in the first ce. What gives you the right to call us traitors?"


    Sara''s aura was so intimidating that Susan''s eyes shook in fear. But immediately afterward, an expression of humiliation filled her face.


    She was a middle-stage A-Rank mage and her mana was stronger than the initial-stage A-Rank Sara. Hence, the fact that she stepped back when she felt Sara''s killing intent made her embarrassed and angry.


    Fortunately, the leader of the club extended his hand and stopped her before she could do anything crazy.


    " Susan, it''s enough."


    "But Leader!"


    "I told you it''s enough."


    Susan bit her lips. However, she obeyed and stepped back with a reluctant expression.


    Oscar then looked at Sara and Gina and heaved a long sigh.


    " Sorry about this, Sara. Actually, our decision to challenge Machine Revolutio is not rted to the two of you."


    "Really?" Sara sneered. "Then what is the meaning of this? Why did you choose to challenge our club?"


    "It''s simple. Because your club is the weakest and has a lot of points. If we win, we will be closer to keeping our club in the top 100."


    Sara frowned. To be honest, she found Oscar''s words reasonable.


    She was about to continue talking. But all of sudden, she felt her little sister pulling her shirt.


    Surprised, she looked beside her, only to see her sister looking ahead with a dazed expression.


    Sara''s eyes immediately shrunk.


    ''A vision!?''


    Sara immediately increased her vignce and looked at her surroundings warily.


    Her sister''s control over her visions of the future had be stronger after she acquired the cultivation method that Bloed gave her. However, she still received sudden visions asionally.


    And most of the time, these visions were caused by a nearby catalyst.


    In other words, there was a chance that something nearby triggered her sister''s powers.


    And it could be dangerous.


    Fortunately, Sara did not notice any danger. Even so, she remained wary, making Oscar and the others surprised and confused.


    One minuteter, Gina''s expression returned to normal.


    Immediately, she furrowed her brows and looked at the members of [Call of the Wild] with narrowed eyes.


    Then, she pulled her sister''s hand again.


    "Sister, let''s go."


    Sara was taken aback. But she quickly understood and nodded at Oscar and the others before leaving with her sister, making the students of [Call of the Wild] perplexed.


    Once they left the surroundings of [Call of the Wild], Sara was finally unable to resist her curiosity.


    "Gina, did you have a vision? what did you see?"


    " I did. It was about the challenge. Sister, I fear that it will not be so easy as we expected."


    "What do you mean?"


    "There is someone else supporting [Call of the Wild]. If my vision is not wrong, then we should expect the number of A-Ranks to double."


    A shocked expression immediately appeared on Sara''s face.


    "Are you sure!?"


    "I am I need to tell our hero about it as soon as possible. We need to make a change of ns."


    " I understand. Let''s hurry back."

 Chapter 411: Before the Challenge

    Chapter 411: Before the Challenge


    " Are you sure about this, Gina?"


    "I am, my hero. I don''t think my vision was mistaken."


    Bloed immediately frowned.


    "If so. Itplicates things a bit."


    Eight A-Ranks were already a lot. The only reason Bloed even dared to face them was that he was confident in the Machine Revolutio Tower''s defenses.


    But if the number of A-Ranks doubled to sixteen, then the story waspletely different.


    Machine Revolution had only fifteen members in total, and of these, only eleven could participate in the challenge. In other words, just the number of enemy A-Ranks surpassed the number of Machine Revolutio''s members.


    Moreover, the enemy also had a lot of B-Rank and C-Rank practitioners. The numeric advantage they had was overwhelming!


    Even with the defenses of the Machine Revolutio Tower, Bloed found that number of enemies troublesome.


    '' Well, it''s not as though there is no solution, however, it will make things much harder. Right, I have not asked Eres how strong she is exactly. Perhaps she can take care of two or three A-Ranks by herself.''


    Bloed fell deep in thought, trying to find the best way to deal with this situation.


    Less than five minutester, he already had a preliminary n in his mind.


    ''It will do.''


    "Regina, gather the group. Tell them that there is a change of ns."


    "Understood, Master."


    "Good. Sara, Gina, thank you for the information."


    "It''s my duty, my lord."


    "You can give me a kiss if you are so grateful."


    Bloed smiled wryly at Gina''s usual attempt to flirt before heaving a soft sigh.


    "Even so, such an increase in members in the club that challenged us ie weird. I think that it''s most likely a plot targeting us. I wonder who is behind it."


    "Leave it to me, my hero. I will discover who him!"


    "Huh?" Bloed was startled.


    Seeing that, Gina giggled.


    "Hehe, now that I caught a glimpse of them through my vision, I can use it to follow their trail. It will take a bit of time, but I''m confident I can find them."


    Bloed was stunned. But soon, he smiled happily ndly and stroke the honey-haired girl''s head.


    "Thank you, little Gina."


    The little girl blushed slightly and looked down in embarrassment.


    She was so cute that Bloed was unable to endure the urge to curl his lips up.


    Five minutester, the main club members arrived at Bloed''s office, including Liu Ying, Aya, Eres, and Princess Elwha.


    When they heard about Gina''s vision and the change of ns, the club members were stunned.


    Strangely, Eres had a hesitant expression the entire time, as though she was hesitating about something, but in the end, she did not speak up.


    Bloed felt a bit strange for that, but when he asked her, his sister just shook her head and said that it was nothing.


    Bloed could only nod and continue discussing the rest of the n with his other club members.


    When they finished discussing the details of the n, it was already almost night.


    ...


    The next day, Headmistress Wave came to the tower early in the morning.


    "Is it the ''camera''?" She asked while looking at the small device that Bloed showed to her.


    No matter how she looked at it, this small device seemed nothing like the amazing item able to observe and record everything happening in a ce that Bloed described.


    Smiling wryly, Bloed quickly exined and showed her how it worked.


    When the headmistress saw the screen showing the images that the camera caught, her eyes widened slightly.


    "I had already heard you speak about this, but seeing it myself is amazing."


    " To be honest, I don''t find it too impressive."


    Headmistress Wave rolled her eyes and looked at Bloed as though heckedmon sense, making him speechless.


    But it was true that he did not find cameras too impressive. After all, the technology used on them was not too advanced.


    Of course, Bloed''s cameras used the highest technology of the Human Confederation, but even so, it was nothingpared to other pieces of technology, making it not very impressive on Bloed''s eyes.


    However, it waspletely different for the headmistress.


    She did not find it amazing the fact that the camera could catch images. After all, you could achieve simr results through magic.


    What she found impressive about the cameras was that they could be used even for a person without mana. Anyone could use them.


    Moreover, Bloed could mass-produce them, and the price of each one was considerably cheappared to their magical counterpart.


    It was literally revolutionary!


    As soon as the headmistress finished checking the functionality of the cameras, she looked at Bloed with a serious gaze.


    "Give me a date. If I give you enough resources, how long will you take to create a ''securitywork'', as you call it, through the entire city."


    "If you give me enough resources, one month."


    "One month?" The headmistress was surprised. "So fast?"


    Bloed nodded, but inwardly, he was shaking his head.


    How could it be considered fast? In the Human Confederation, the same job could beplete in less than one week if the resources were enough.


    Unfortunately, Bloed''s tools were limited. Although he was able to mass-produce the cameras, it was not as fast as he would have liked.


    Well, it was already impressive considering the technological level of this world.


    "One month, huh." Headmistress Wave fell silent before looking at Bloed and nodding. "Very well, I''ll give you all the resources you need. I hope you can finish the work as soon as possible."


    "Don''t worry, I''ll do it."


    "How reliable of you. Right, tomorrow is your second battle of clubs. Are you ready for it?"


    "Of course I am. Don''t worry."


    "Really? Just a reminder, but I heard that something weird is going on at the club that challenged you. You should be careful."


    "Something weird?" Bloed looked at the headmistress in suspicion.


    It was obvious that she already knew about what happened with [Call of the Wild], but judging from her amused expression, she was not nning to reveal anything else.


    The headmistress chuckled and shrugged yfully.


    "Unfortunately, I can''t reveal too much or it will be unfair to the other club. However, it doesn''t matter, right? I''m sure that my student will not be defeated so easily."


    Bloed was speechless. He could not understand where Headmistress Wave''s confidence in him came from.


    Well, it was not as though he was nning to lose.


    ''Sixteen A-Ranks, huh It will be a bit troublesome''


    Even so, Bloed eyes glowed with confidence.

 Chapter 412: Tower Defense (1)

    Chapter 412: Tower Defense (1)


    The next morning arrived, and it was time for Machine Revolutio''s second challenge.


    The challengers, a club called [Call of the Wild], arrived in front of the tower half an hour before the challenge started.


    At the same time, many other students arrived at the surroundings of the tower. Most of them were here to watch the battle between two clubs in the top one hundred, but some of them came with other intentions.


    Familiar faces were observing the situation, including the strongest student in the city, Mu Quan, and the second strongest student, Isabe Castor. There were also some other famous students such as George, the leader of the Martial Arts Club, and Nathan Sigel, the leader of Wings of Liberty.


    Oscar, the leader of Call of the Wild, looked at the Machine Revolutio Tower and sighed in admiration.


    "It''s truly majestic."


    His club members did not reply, but it seemed that they agreed with him.


    Strangely, his club members seemed to be divided into two groups, and both groups were keeping a distance from each other. It was obvious that both groups did not have a good rtionship.


    Unfortunately, there was nothing that Oscar could do about it.


    One of the groups were the original members of [Call of the Wild], and the others were the reinforcements that he received from someone unexpected.


    These reinforcements, however, barely listened to his orders. They did not have any sense of belonging towards the club, so their rtionship with the original members was not very good.


    The truth was that some of them were as strong or stronger than him. Due to it, they did not care about his status as the leader of [Call of the Wild] very much.


    The only reason they bothered to listen to him was to follow the orders of that person.


    ''Well, it''s not like I can be picky in the current situation.''


    The situation of his club was very bad. Three months ago, the club split into two and a part of it left for another club. Due to it, [Call of the Wild] lost around a third of its strength.


    With the club''s strength reduced, it was uncertain if it could keep its spot as one of the top one hundred clubs.


    Oscar had seen a bit of hope when Sara appeared. Her abilities were so amazing that just for herself she was a game-changing card. But when she left, his hopes turned into smoke.


    He thought that it was just a matter of time before his club lost its spot in the top one hundred.


    However, a few days ago, someone came and offered him a deal.


    That person promised to help his club to keep its ce in the top one hundred for half a year; and in exchange, he only needed to defeat [Machine Revolutio] in a challenge.


    ''I don''t know why he is doing this, but in my situation, I can''t afford to be picky.''


    Taking a deep breath, Oscar looked at the men that person sent and put on a serious expression.


    "Guys, I hope you follow my orders obediently when the battle starts. I''m sorry but I can''t afford failure."


    "Don''t worry, Mr. Oscar, we know what to do."


    "Yes, yes, it''s just a tiny club with a handful of members. It will be very easy."


    "Yeah. I want to finish it quickly and return to my bed. My girlfriend made me sleeptest night so I''m a bit sleepy."


    "Idiot! Were you sucked dry?"


    "Hahahaha!"


    Hearing the rxed answers of the new members of the club, Oscar frowned. He did not like that they were taking it so lightly.


    To be honest, though, he also thought that this mission was going to be easy.


    At most, he would have a bit of trouble taking down Sara and the leader of the club, but with sixteen A-Ranks and almost one hundred B-Ranks and C-Ranks, there was no chance of them losing.


    ''Sigh I hope everything goes alright.''


    Just at that moment, the demigod in charge of today''s challenge appeared.


    A middle-aged man flew in front of the tower and looked at the students of [Call of the Wild] calmly. He then looked in the direction of Machine Revolutio indifferently, took a deep breath, and spoke up.


    "Let''s start the challenge between [Call of the Wild] and [Machine Revolutio]! The conditions of victory are if either [Call of the Wild] manages to destroy the core before two hours, or if [Machine Revolutio] keeps the core.


    "Remember, it''s forbidden to cripple the enemies purposefully. If such a behavior is noticed, you will be severely punished.


    "Now, start!"


    As soon as the words left the demigod''s mouth, Oscar''s eyes turned sharp.


    "Go!"


    He then rushed towards the entrance of the tower without hesitating.


    His club members followed after him. One after another, they charged towards the tower with ice-cold expressions, bypassing the two enormous lion statues in front of the tower and rushing towards the entrance.


    Strangely, the tower remained quiet even after the demigod gave the signal to start the game. Normally, the defending club would have deployed some means to stop them at this point in time.


    Oscar found it a bit strange, but when he reached the entrance of the tower and nothing happened, he lowered his guard.


    " It looks like there is nothing. Could it be that they are too scared to move?" Susan, one of his club members, spoke up with a sneering and doubtful look.


    Oscar did not reply. But right at that moment, he felt a chill on his spine.


    Instinctively, he looked behind him.


    However, he saw nothing strange; only the two lion statues that stood guarding the tower.


    ''Wait a moment, statues!?"


    Oscar''s eyes shrunk. Immediately, a bad feeling filled his mind.


    But before he could say something, the eyes of the statues lit up.


    Then, under Oscar''s shocked eyes, the lion statues looked at the students coldly and raised their ws.


    In the next instant, the entrance of the Machine Revolutio Tower was filled with screams of pain.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 413: Tower Defense (2)

    Chapter 413: Tower Defense (2)


    Hey Guys, Aidka''s Here!


    It has been more than one month since thest post, and to be honest, I''m very ashamed for being on hiatus for so long.


    The truth is, I have not been motivated to write for a long time. Things happened in real life that dampened my motivation, and after that, the fact that I had not posted in a while dampened my motivation even more.


    However, life continues, and I really don''t want to end these two series like that. I love writing, and Fourth Prince and Science/Magic are my two children that I put a lot of effort into. I want to give them a worthy ending.


    Moreover, many of you have supported me for a long while. My patreons, some who have supported me for one whole year, deserve more than two iplete series... I feel ashamed for the hiatus, but I feel even more ashamed if I don''t finish the two series after you supported me for so long.


    To be honest, the chapters I''m posting today have been done since more than one week ago, but only today I found the courage to post them, and I hope to use these chapters to start posting regrly again.


    My goal is to post at least one chapter of each series daily for the rest of the month. After that, I will see how is life and decide on a better schedule.


    With love, Aidka.


    ...


    [Dammit! What is it!?]


    [Agh!]


    [Stop! Don''t panic! They are just golems!]


    [Damn! What is this thing!?]


    Looking at the students panicking through the screen, Bloed smiled in satisfaction.


    The result was better than he expected.


    Right now, the club members of Machine Revolutio and him were on the top floor of the tower. They were observing the battle in the entrance through a floating screen.


    They could see how student after student copsed after the attacks of the lions. The scene was so astonishing that some of their club members could not believe it.


    In truth, although the strength of the lion robots was around A-Rank, they did not have muchbat power. Instead, they had strong defenses and heavy bodies capable of powerful attacks.


    Normally, the club members of [Call of the Wild] would have been able to take care of them without many casualties, however, Bloed activated the lions when the entrance was the most crowded and when there was no A-Rank nearby, so the two lions were more effective than he expected.


    In just twenty seconds, fifteen students had been taken out ofmission. None of them was stronger than B-Rank, but the fact that fifteen students were defeated so quickly was already astounding.


    By the way, none of the students was gravely injured. Academy City used the same system that was used during the entrance ceremony in the War of Clubs. Thus, every student had a barrier around them to protect them from attacks.


    Once that barrier was broken, a mental shock would be transmitted to their minds, making them faint. At the same time, a second barrier would surge up to protect the fainted students.


    The second barrier was not very strong, but it was enough to protect the students from stray attacks. Plus, after a student fainted, it was forbidden to attack them. Doing so would disqualify the attacker, and in the worst case, it could lead even to being expulsed from Academy City.


    It was an expensive arrangement worthy of the greatest learning ce in the continent.


    While Bloed was looking at the fainted students through the screen, he heard Liu Ying exim behind him.


    "Woah, it was more effective than I thought. That is the sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. Hehe, it looks like they are having trouble."


    "I can''t believe that these golems have the strength of an A-Rank. Hey Mr. Bloed, can''t you just make a few tens of golems like that? We won''t need to fight if you do that."


    Bloed looked at Princess Elwha and smiled wryly.


    "You know how expensive making such a robot is? Plus, the energy they consume to move their heavy bodies is staggering. With my current resources, I can make just a couple of them at most."


    "Is it so? It''s shame. Even so, your golems are amazing." Princess Elwha did not bother to hide her amazement.


    You must know that A-Rank was the elite of the continent. Below demigods, they were the strongest.


    The fact that Bloed could create two A-Rank golems to act as guards showed how amazing he was. Any kingdom would give him the highest treatment just for this skill.


    Bloed epted the princess''s praise with a smile. However, he did not take it seriously.


    In fact, these two golems were nothing special. Compared to Tito and Leto, they were much less sophisticated.


    Their only redeemable features were their powerful defenses and heavy bodies. Even their means of attack were limited to physical attacks.


    It was not as though Bloed could not add better means attacks, but to be honest, nothing that he added would make a difference against a demigod; and for normal A-Rank practitioners, these golems would be more than enough.


    Plus, Bloed still had other defenses inside the tower.


    While Bloed and his club members were observing the situation through the screen, the students of [Call of the Wild] finally defeated the two lion robots.


    However, their losses were very high. A total of neen students were disqualified before they could even enter the tower.


    Through the screen, Bloed could see the enraged and discouraged expressions in the faces of [Call of the Wild]''s club members. Obviously, this attack had lowered their morale a lot.


    However, although these two robots did a great job, they were not enough to eliminate any of the A-Rank students.


    "Well, I was already expecting that," Bloed murmured to himself. He then looked at the screen and saw the leader of [Call of the Wild] encouraging his club members and leading them inside the tower.


    "I guess it''s time for the second round, huh. Liu Ying, Aya, Princess Elwha, it''s your turn."


    "Already? Good, I was getting bored."


    "I understand."


    "I guess it''s finally my turn, huh."


    Hearing the answers of the three girls, Bloed looked at the students of [Call of the Wild] through the screen, and his lips curled up.


    "I wonder if they will like our next surprise."


    Oscar kept a cautious expression after entering the tower. He did not lower his guard even after he did not notice anything dangerous.


    He already had enough surprises after the attack of the two golems in the entrance. Just these two beasts managed to defeat neen of her club members.


    ''I should have expected it, though. After all, this is a club about golems.''


    Now that he learned his lesson, Oscar made sure to look at his surroundings carefully in case that another golem appeared. To his surprise, though, he could not find any other.


    In fact, he could not find anything.


    There were no golems, no students, and no people.


    The first floor of the tower waspletely empty.


    However, instead of feeling relieved, Oscar could not help but feel anxious.


    Because he knew that the enemy was surely nning something.


    ''Dammit, where are they!?''


    With a dark expression on his face, Oscar ordered his men to search the first floor carefully in case of traps, but even so, he found nothing.


    Instead, he lost almost fifteen minutes.


    In the end, Oscar knew that he could not continue waiting.


    Thus, he looked towards the stairs leading to the next floor.


    "Let''s go up."


    "Are you sure, leader?" Susan asked anxiously.


    Oscar nodded. "We can''t wait anymore. If it''s a trick of the enemy to buy time, then they seeded. However I can''t shake off the feeling that it''s a trap. Just in case, four A-Ranks will stay in the rear."


    Susan nodded.


    With the arrangements done, the club members climbed the stairs slowly. First, they sent a B-Rank club member to check that there were no traps, and when he did not discover any traps, the rest of the club members started to advance.


    Unfortunately, there was indeed a trap.


    When the first twenty people had gone up the stairs, a strange beeping rang through the first and second floor.


    Oscar tensed up. He hurriedly looked around him trying to find the slightest sign of danger.


    And just likest time, the change urred behind in.


    *Bam!*


    With a strong sound, a metallic wall appeared suddenly behind the group, sealing the entrance to the second floor and effectively dividing the entire group into two!


    A third of the students managed to enter the second floor while the rest was left on the first floor.


    Among them, four A-Rank students were left behind as well.


    "Dammit!" Oscar''s expression fell. He did not hesitate and gathered his mana in his fist to punch the door, but he only left a small dent on it.


    The same happened when he hit the walls. Even when one of his club members used magic, they did not manage to destroy it.


    Of course, Oscar was confident he could blow the door away if he continued trying, but he did not know how much time that was going to take.


    Now, he needed to decide if he was going to continue, or if he was going to wait until he could regroup with the people on the first floor.


    However, one minuteter, he did not need to make a decision anymore.


    Because suddenly, he heard a loud bang followed by screams of pain and sounds of battleing from the first floor.


    Moreover, judging by the screams, it seemed that his club members were at a disadvantage.


    "Leader, what do we do?" Susan asked with a concerned look.


    Oscar hesitated slightly before putting on a determined expression.


    "We continue."


    "But, leader"


    "Don''t worry, Susan. No matter how many tricks they have, mere tricks are not enough to win against an overwhelming force."


    Susan bit her lips and nodded. However, she did not seem convinced by Oscar''s words.


    However, Oscar did not me her.


    Because even he was not convinced by his own words.

 Chapter 414: Tower Defense (3)

    Chapter 414: Tower Defense (3)


    *Bam!*


    Using her right fist, Liu Ying''s struck the back of the student in front of her. At the same time, she jumped aside, barely avoiding the swording towards her neck.


    Just then, though, the student in front of her suddenly stumbled. For an instant, his expression became dazed, as though he was distracted.


    Making use of that opportunity, Aya emerged from the shadows. She wielded her twin daggers lie two ws, attacking the neck of the student.


    Immediately.


    *Bam!*


    The barrier protecting the student broke, triggering a mental shock that knocked him unconscious.


    Then, he copsed on the ground.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Princess Elwha panted heavily as they watched that. When they were sure that he was not going to stand up anymore, they finally put on relieved expressions.


    "Finally"


    "Mm. We did it."


    "Yeah, but this one was pretty strong, huh."


    Liu Ying nodded with a bitter smile. In fact, they barely managed to defeat him.


    The proof of that was the blood leaking from Liu Ying''s lips.


    After the stairs to the second floor were blocked, Bloed triggered the traps in the first floor.


    A strong electric shock, followed by a deafening sound, and a curtain of fog that blocked the student''s sight were activated in quick session. Once the traps were triggered, the students on the first floor were left in a stunned state. Although none of them was knocked unconscious, several of them lost their battle ability.


    It was then when Liu Ying, Aya, and Princess Elwha appeared. They wore visors that allowed them to see through the fog and were followed by several B-Rank robots as they attacked the students on the first floor.


    The n was to make use of the effects of the traps to take down the students on the first floor as quickly as possible.


    They first attacked the most dangerous enemies. In just a few seconds, they managed to defeat three of the four A-Ranks on the first floor.


    The problem was thest one.


    To the girls'' surprise, this young man managed to avoid their attacks and even fight back when his sight and hearing were affected.


    Of course, he was noticeably weaker than usual. But even so, he was an entire rank stronger than the girls!


    Although the girls were as strong as normal A-Ranks, ate-stage A-Rank was not an opponent that they could defeat easily!


    Left with no other choice, the girls decided to take care of the other students first and leave him forst. Unfortunately, someone had to stay behind to hold him back and stop him from interfering with the other battles.


    In the end, that work was left to Liu Ying.


    The demon girl unleashed her entire strength, even using her aspect and [Silent Touch] to go against the A-Rank student, but she was quickly suppressed. Even when the A-Rank student''s sight was mostly blocked, and his hearing was impaired, he somehow managed to lock on Liu Ying and attacked her furiously.


    It was then that Liu Ying remembered that she was in Academy City, the ce where the geniuses of the entire continent gather.


    And obviously, this guy was one of these geniuses.


    Liu Ying focusedpletely on defending, and she was even forced to use the [Blink] ability in her boots to escape danger several times, but in the end, she managed tost until Aya, Princess Elwha, and the robots took care of the rest of the students.


    After that, the three girls joined hands to fight the A-Rank student. Finally, and after five minutes of a tough battle, they managed to defeat him.


    "What should we do now?" Princess Elwha asked aloud. "Are we going to chase after the ones on the second floor?"


    Just then, a voice replied through the earpiece in their ears.


    [Return to the top floor and rest. Perhaps you will have to fight againter.]


    "Understood, Bloed." The three girls nodded. "By the way, what is the situation with the other group?" Liu Ying asked.


    [You don''t need to worry about them. Sara is taking care of it.]


    Meanwhile, the remaining students of [Call of the Wild] were advancing through the second floor of the tower.


    This time, though, they quickly met trouble.


    A few minutes after they entered the second floor, they realized that their surroundings were covered by a thick fog.


    The fog was so thick that they could barely see two or three meters ahead. They could barely see the path in front of them.


    The worst part of it was that they could not get rid of it. One of the members of the party tried to use wind magic to blow the fog away, but it returned not even ten secondster. In the end, and after several failed attempts, he decided to stop trying to conserve his mana.


    Oscar, however, knew that the worst part had note yet.


    He was clear that this fog was perfect for ambushes. If they were attacked in this situation, several members of his group could be defeated.


    Fortunately, most of the people in this group were A-Rank students. It was not easy to defeat them even if they were attacked suddenly.


    Moreover, they had their guards up right now, so it was not easy to take them by surprise.


    By this point in time, each one of the members of the group had gotten rid of their rxed attitude. They had realized that the club that they were facing this time was more dangerous than they expected.


    However, no matter how much they waited, the enemy did not attack.


    Oscar frowned. To be honest, he would have preferred if the enemy attacked them.


    This silence and the thick fog was making him tense and paranoic. Every second that passed made him more nervous.


    Just then, he heard a soft thud.


    It was a very soft sound, so soft that he barely heard it; but for some reason, he felt the hair of his neck standing up immediately.


    One of the members of the group spoke up at that moment.


    "L-Leader, something is wrong."


    "What happened?"


    "C-Cam is gone."


    Oscar was stunned. Immediately, his face changed.


    "Dammit, it''s her! Everybody, put their backs against each other and watch your surroundings!"


    The club members followed Oscar''s orders without hesitation.


    Their nerves became taut, waiting for the iing danger restlessly.


    But after waiting for five minutes, nothing happened.


    "L-Leader?" One of the club members asked nervously.


    Oscar wrinkled his brows.


    "Everybody, check the person beside you. Tell me if someone is missing."


    "Leader, I can''t find Andre."


    "Sea is not here either. Dammit, what happened?"


    "Lucia is gone as well!"


    Oscar''s face turned ugly. Three more people had disappeared silently without any of them noticing anything!


    Moreover, one of them was an A-Rank!


    "Sara! Come out! I know it''s you!" Oscar shouted, but nobody replied to him.


    Just when he thought that she was not going to reply, a change happened.


    All of sudden, a scream of pain came from one of the A-Ranks!


    Oscar moved immediately. He charged in the direction of the scream and released a wave of mana, trying to hit the person behind the attack!


    A startled voice came from the empty space. All of sudden, a figure materialized from nothing, using a dagger to slice apart Oscar''s attack.


    The figure looked at Oscar calmly. Then, with an indifferent expression on her face, she retreated in the fog, disappearing from Oscar''s senses.


    At the same time, Oscar heard a soft thud behind him.


    The student that Sara attacked just now had copsed on the ground, unconscious.

 Chapter 415: Tower Defense (4)

    Chapter 415: Tower Defense (4)


    Outside the Machine Revolutio Tower.


    Isabe Castor, the second strongest student in Academy City and at the same time the leader of [Genius Society] was observing the battle inside the tower with a calm look.


    The War of Clubs was a tradition of many years, so Academy City had already perfected itpletely, even finding means to transmit the battles in real-time.


    This time, a small flying golem controlled by the demigod in charge of the battle had entered the tower together with the men of [Call of the Wild]. This small golem was integrated with a magic formation that transmitted what it saw to a screen outside the tower. This way, the students outside could see what was happening inside.


    This system was notpletely perfect. This time, for example, the fog made it hard for the situation inside to be seen clearly.


    Even so, Isabe''s sharp senses and her ability to perceive mana allowed her to grasp what was happening inside.


    Thanks to that, she knew the current situation of the challenge.


    " How unexpected."


    "Leader? What happened?" A male student standing behind Isabe asked confusedly.


    If Bloed would have been here, he would have recognized him as one of the club members that was with Isabe in the underground tunnels.


    "It''s nothing. I''m just surprised by the development of the challenge." Isabe replied.


    The young man was startled.


    "Could it be that Mr. Bloed is losing? That is impossible, right?"


    "Of course not." Isabe smiled wryly. "You should have seen the power he showed inside the tunnels. Although it looks like such power carries heavy restrains, there is no way that Bloed can lose if he uses it. No, I''m surprised because it looks like he is winning, and very easily."


    The young man was startled, however, Isabe did not reply to him and just continued observing the screen.


    She did not lie when she said that she was surprised. In fact, she could almost not believe what was happening.


    No matter how she watched the situation, it was obvious that Bloed''s club was at a great disadvantage. If not that she had seen Bloed release his true power in the underground tunnels, she would have not doubted that Bloed would lose.


    But the truth was theplete opposite. Bloed''s club was winning with an overwhelming advantage.


    Even now, none of his club members had been disqualified. However, most of the enemy was already disqualified.


    Only a few of the strongest ones remained, but after seeing the development of the battle until now, Isabe had the feeling that they would be defeated as well.


    "It just that" Isabe put on a pensive expression and wrinkled her brows.


    Because of her growing interest in Bloed after the events of the underground tunnels, Isabe had investigated the club that challenged them, [Call of the Wild], before the battle.


    However, the information that she found waspletely different from what she saw during the actual battle.


    ''The number of A-Ranks doubled Moreover, some of the new A-Ranks are not weak What in the hell happened?''


    Isabe''s expression turned serious. If her spection was right, then someone was using [Call of the Wild] to attack [Machine Revolutio].


    However, who was it?


    Not many people in the city had the power to make eight A-Rank students, including a peak A-Rank student, join an almost unknown club.


    And among these people


    Isabe moved her gaze and looked at Mu Quan, George, and Nathan Sigel.


    They were the leaders of the Guardian Order, the Martial Arts Club, and Wings of Liberty respectively.


    Just like her, they came to observe today''s challenge. Of the leaders of the strongest clubs, only the three of them plus she came.


    But, who of them wanted to attack Machine Revolutio?


    And What was the reason?


    .


    While Isabe was lost in her thoughts, the situation on the second floor continued developing.


    Oscar had a dark expression, He looked at the fog around them and frowned.


    '' Dammit. How troublesome.''


    He did not know exactly how Sara''s ability worked, but he knew that it was a kind of stealth.


    Just Sara''s ability by itself was dangerous. But in this foggy environment where their sight was greatly hindered, she was much more terrifying.


    If she just focused on ambushing them and thinning their strength slowly, then she alone would take care of the rest of them eventually.


    Of course, Oscar did not think that the situation woulde to that. At the very least, he was confident that he could defend against Sara''s sneak attacks.


    But he was a peak A-Rank practitioner, and the others were not as strong as him.


    Just when he was lost in his thoughts, he saw a part of the fog move from the corner of his eyes.


    "Careful!" He shouted hurriedly, but Sara''s next target, a B-Rank student, did not manage to react.


    In a swift movement, Sara''s appeared briefly, her dagger stabbing the heart of the surprised young man, before her figure disappeared again, fading into the fog.


    One secondter, the barrier protecting the B-Rank student broke, knocking him unconscious and eliminating him from this battle.


    Since they arrived on the second floor, he was the sixth student that Sara eliminated.


    Of the initial twenty students, only fourteen remained. Ten of them were A-Ranks, and the others were three B-Ranks and one C-Rank.


    "We can''t continue like this." One of the A-Ranks said. "At this rate, all of us will be eliminated."


    Oscar nodded. He looked at the young man that spoke, a peak A-Ranks and one of the A-Ranks that joined his club to defeat Machine Revolutio.


    "Do you have any idea?"


    "I do. However, I''ll need your protection while I prepare it."


    The young man then approached Oscar and whispered his n to him.


    When Oscar finished listening to it, he thought for a moment and nodded.


    "It can work. Do it then."


    The young man did not hesitate. Immediately, he closed his eyes and started to cast a spell.


    As soon as the young man started to cast the spell, the fluctuations of mana alerted Sara. She immediately knew that she should not allow him to finish.


    Thus, without hesitation, she charged out of the fog and attacked him!


    However, now that Oscar knew who was going to be Sara''s target, it was much easier to defend against her.


    Even if he could not find her until thest moment, that brief instant was enough for a peak A-Rank as him to stop her attacks.


    And immediately afterward, the other members of the group attacked following Oscar''s lead.


    Sara frowned. Although she was not injured in thest exchange, the result was not good.


    She could feel that the spell of the young man was almost ready. In another two seconds, he would finish it. She needed to interrupt it before that.


    Snorting, she kicked the ground and increased her speed even more.


    In an instant, she disappeared from Oscar''s senses. Then, while Oscar was trying to find her, he suddenly felt her presence appearing again.


    But to his surprise, she was behind him!


    She had circled behind the group and attacked from behind, prating their protective circle and aiming her dagger to the spellcaster''s nape!


    Oscar''s expression changed. He knew that he could not stop that attack.


    "Not yet!" He shouted. His mana surged out violently, creating a shockwave that rushed towards Sara.


    Thanks to that, he slowed her movements and slight bit. And using that opportunity, one of his club members attacked her!


    However, Sara was agiler than they expected. Calmly, she twisted her body, evading the attack easily and continuing her attack.


    But when her dagger was about to pierce the young man''s neck, the young man spoke up.


    "[Great Protection]!"


    The spell waspleted.


    Immediately, a protectiveyer of mana appeared on each member of the group.


    Then


    *ng!*


    Sara''s dagger shed against the barrier and was stopped.


    The eyes of the ck-haired girl opened wide.


    At the same time, Oscar''s lips curved up.


    "You are mine."


    And with a ruthless movement, his sword descended towards Sara.

 Chapter 416: Tower Defense (5)

    Chapter 416: Tower Defense (5)


    "Sister!" Gina looked at the screen showing the situation on the second floor and cried out.


    Seeing Oscar''s sword cutting her sister''s boy, Gina turned pale. Even if she knew that her sister could not die in the challenge, she could not help but be frightened at the thought of something happening to her.


    Just then, Bloed patted her head.


    "Calm down, she is alright."


    Just after Bloed finished speaking, the camera showed Sara reappearing several meters away,pletely uninjured.


    Despite that, Bloed could see that the barrier protecting her was a bit dimmer than before. Obviously, she did not manage to avoid thest attackpletely.


    Bloed''s face turned serious, and his eyes turned sharp.


    ''As expected, it would not be so easy''


    Sara was strong, and her stealth ability made her the perfect assassin.


    In fact, even a peak A-Rank could be killed by her if he was caught off-guard.


    However, her ability was not without weakness.


    And the most obvious of them was her attack power.


    In the end, Sara''s mana was just at the initial stage of A-Rank. If a peak A-Rank focused only on defense, she would have a hard time if she wanted to defeat him.


    Furthermore, she was now facing a peak A-Rank mage that gave his all to cast a defensive spell. Such a spell was not something that she could break in one blow.


    Unfortunately, she could only attack once or twice every time. Otherwise, she would face thebined attacks of ten A-Ranks at the same time.


    There was no way that she could avoid that.


    At this moment, Sara''s greatest advantage waspletely gone.


    Bloed thought for a moment before looking beside him.


    "Eres, sorry but I''ll need your help."


    "Okay, brother." The ck-haired princess smiled gently. "Tell me what I need to do."


    Bloed nodded. He then looked at Liu Ying, Aya, and Princess Elwha who had already returned to the top floor.


    "Let me exin the n."


    Bloed finished exining the n after five minutes.


    The girls did not hesitate to follow his orders. Immediately, each one of them departed to their positions, waiting for the moment to start their decisive attack.


    Meanwhile, Bloed stayed behind and looked at the screen intensely.


    Suddenly, Regina spoke up.


    "Master, is it necessary to go through all this trouble? There were better ways to take care of this situation."


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    Just like Regina said, there were better ways to go through today''s challenge. If Bloed wanted, he could stop [Call of the Wild]pletely without the girls having to fight.


    Hell, just the tower''s energy barrier could stop the attacks of a demigod for a while. If Bloed activated it, there was no way that the members of [Call of the Wild] could break it before two hours.


    And that was not the only method that he could use. Bloed had not told the other members about it, but the tower had more defensive mechanism than the ones he had used today.


    But there was a reason that Bloed did not use those methods to win the challenge.


    "Not every time we will have such advantageous conditions," Bloed said with a sigh. "This is a good opportunity to train them. Look, just the fact that we found Sara''s weakness today is a big win."


    After saying that, Bloed stood up from his chair and grabbed his saber.


    "Well, I think I should move as well."


    "Mm? Will you participate in the battle as well, master?" Regina asked with a confused look.


    Bloed smiled yfully and nodded.


    "Of course. As the leader of Machine Revolutio, I should participate in the battle as well, don''t you think?"


    In the meanwhile, the confrontation between Sara and the members of [Call of the Wild] continued.


    However, just as Bloed expected, the situation had reversedpletely after the Peak A-Rank young man cast the defensive spell. Since then, Sara''s attacks had turned useless. In fact, she was almost caught more than once.


    Fortunately, Sara was fast. But even so, it was obvious that her previous tactics had turnedpletely ineffective.


    ''What should I do?''


    Just then, Sara heard Bloed''s voice through her earpiece,municating her the new n.


    After listening to it, Sara''s raised an eyebrow before nodding in understanding.


    "I understand."


    While Sara was talking to Bloed, the students of [Call of the Wild] continued advancing.


    Instead of trying to catch Sara, Oscar had opted to continue climbing the tower. After all, the goal of today''s game was to destroy the core that was being protected by the members of Machine Revolution.


    In truth, Oscar was feeling a bit anxious. It had been almost half an hour since the challenge started, however, they had lost half of their members and had only climbed to the second floor of the tower.


    When he thought of that, Oscar''s initial confidence could not help but take a blow.


    Currently, he was not as confident of his victory as when the game started.


    At that moment, one of the students spoke up.


    "Leader. The stairs."


    Oscar was startled. Looking forwards, he could vaguely see the shape of the stairs through the thick fog.


    Immediately, his expression turned serious. Remembering what happened thest time that they climbed the stairs, he looked at the remaining club members and spoke up.


    "Get ready and keep close to each other. Be careful to not get separated."


    The other students nodded. Just like that, the group started climbing the stairs to the third floor.


    To their surprise, though, nothing happened.


    Oscar furrowed his brows. He was not relieved by it. Quite the opposite, he became more anxious.


    He felt that it was the calm before the storm.


    The proof of that was that the fog had not disappeared yet. In fact, Oscar had the feeling that it had turned denser.


    And his guess was not off the mark.


    Because just then


    *Swift!*


    Their surroundings lit up.


    Oscar''s expression turned stern. He hurriedly tensed up his muscles, ready to react at the slightest sign of something going wrong.


    However, his eyes opened wide when he saw what happened next.


    All of sudden, an enormous amount of energy appeared in their surroundings.


    Then, the energy turned into a film that separated them into two groups!


    "A barrier!"


    Oscar''s expression changed. He and the others did not hesitate and attacked it.


    However, besides trembling slightly, the barrier remained firm.


    Right at that moment, Oscar heard a set of footsteps.


    Startled, he looked ahead, only to see a ck-haired girl walking towards them expressionlessly.


    "Sorry, but brother asked me to stop you here. So, I can''t allow you to continue."


    Calmly, Eres took out her sword and released her mana.


    In the next instant, an enormous pressure assaulted Oscar.

 Chapter 417: Tower Defenses (6)

    Chapter 417: Tower Defenses (6)


    Sorry, I did not think I would break my promise so soon.


    I''m having a bit of trouble writing Fourth Prince''s chapters. Like a writer block, and that dyed the chapters of both series.


    Anyway, three chapters today, and I''ll try to release more tomorrow...


    ...


    "Dammit, what is happening!?"


    "Where did this barriere from!?"


    "How is it possible!? I did not feel the slightest mana fluctuation!"


    After the barrier appeared, the students belonging to [Call of the Wild] panicked. They hurriedly tried to break the barrier, only to discover that it was stronger than they expected.


    Moreover, the barrier had separated them into two groups. Five A-Ranks, including their leader, Oscar, and the peak A-Rank mage responsible for protecting them from Sara, were on a side of the barrier, while the other five A-Rank plus three B-Ranks and one C-Rank were on the other side.


    When they realized that, the expressions of the students turned serious. The smartest ones immediately activated their strongest defensive skills.


    They remembered what happened the previous time that they were separated. They knew that they were about to face a terrifying attack.


    And their worries were not unfounded.


    Because in the next instant


    *Swish!*


    The sound of the air being cut was heard, followed by one of the students copsing on the ground.


    "Dammit! It''s her again!"


    The students panicked. Realizing that Sara was back, they hurriedly created a circle with their backs against each other to defend against their attacks,


    Unfortunately for them, Sara was not alone this time.


    All of sudden, the expressions of the three B-Ranks students plus the C-Rank student became dazed.


    It was just for an instant, but at that moment, the shadows around them surged up.


    At the same time, a fist broke through the fog, advancing towards the dazed students.


    Less than one secondter


    *Bang!*


    *Swift!*


    Liu Ying''s fist and Aya''s daggers took care of the four dazed students.


    The expressions of the others changed. One of them was about to shout in rage, but then, his eyes lost focus, and his expression became dazed as well.


    Making use of that opportunity, Sara''s attacked once more.


    In an instant, she had appeared in front of the dazed student, using her dagger to cut towards his neck.


    The A-Rank student opened his eyes wide and looked at Sara with an expression of fear before copsing on the ground, unconscious.


    In just an instant, only three students from the original nine students remained.


    " Nn? It was easier than I thought." Aya could not help but tilt her head in surprise.


    She was ready for a fierce battle, however, looking at the current situation, it seemed like she overestimated their enemies.


    "It''s thanks to Princess Elwha. Her mental attacks are truly fearsome."


    "Mm. It''s easier to ambush them when they are dazed."


    Liu Ying and Sara spoke up admiringly.


    "It was nothing. The three of you were impressive as well." Princess Elwha smiled before looking at the three remaining students. "What should we do about them?"


    "Of course, we are going to give them a beating. We need to hurry up to help Eres." Liu Ying grinned with a savage expression.


    Hearing that, the faces of the three remaining students turned ugly.


    "Bastards!" One of them growled in rage. He hurriedly gathered his mana to cast a spell, but before he could, Princess Elwha smiled.


    "Stop."


    With a thought, her soul power turned into a needle and pierced the student''s mind. Immediately, the face of the student distorted in pain, and the spell that he was trying to cast dissipated.


    At the same time, Aya moved, her daggers cutting towards the student in a crisscrossed sh.


    "Dammit!" One of the other two students hurriedly tried to protect his friend, but all of sudden, he felt a chill in his spine.


    At some point, Sara had appeared behind him, using her dagger to pierce towards his neck.


    As for thest student, he had been stopped by Liu Ying''s fists.


    Five secondster, three soft thuds were heard.


    The three remaining A-Ranks students had been knocked unconscious.


    At the same time, Oscar was looking towards the ck-haired girl in front of him with an expression of fear.


    ''How is it possible!?''


    He could feel the girl''s mana rank. She was just at the middle stage of A-Rank, much weaker than him.


    He did not think that they would have trouble defeating her.


    But when the battle started, he realized how wrong he was.


    Two peak A-Rank practitioners, twote-stage A-Rank practitioners, and one middle-stage A-Rank practitioner.


    The girl alone faced the five of them, and she did not fall into a disadvantage.


    No, although Oscar did not want to admit it, the girl was winning.


    Despite fighting one against five, she was ying with them as though they were children.


    ''When such a monster appeared in the city!?''


    Oscar''s face was pale with fear. Looking at the girl''s calm and indifferent ck eyes, he could not help but shiver in terror.


    He could only watch as the girl brandished her sword, cutting through the group''s spells as though they were nothing, and moving elegantly as she aimed to their necks, hearts, and foreheads.


    During the entire time, her expression did not change even once. It was as though she was not worried in the slightest about losing.


    And in fact, she was not worried.


    Oscar did not know it, but the truth was that Eres was holding back.


    ''What should I do? Brother only asked me to stall them for a while Hmm Should I just defeat them? I don''t think that brother will be angry if I do, right?''


    Eres thought for a moment before nodding to herself.


    ''Yeah, I think I should just do that.''


    With a smile, she looked at the five students and narrowed her eyes.


    She then grabbed her sword with both hands and took one step forward.


    It was just one step, but it was as though she had moved several meters. In an instant, she appeared in from of Susan, the weakest of the group.


    Then


    *sh!*


    Her sword pierced her chest, breaking the barrier and knocking her unconscious.


    "Susan!" Oscar shouted in panic and hurriedly attacked Eres, but to his surprise, Eres disappeared suddenly, appearing behind another student.


    Her sword was swung down, cutting his back and knocking him unconscious as well, then she disappeared and appeared again, this time using her sword to pierce the belly of a third student.


    "Bastard!" Oscar and the peak A-Rank mage became angry and afraid. Facing Eres''s overwhelming strength, they felt as though they could not breathe.


    However, both of them were peak A-Ranks. They were not going to go down without struggling.


    Thus, the pair bellowed and gathered as much mana as they could, ready to release their strongest attack.


    Unfortunately, Eres was faster.


    She calmly advanced towards the peak A-Rank mage, her sword cutting through his defenses as though they were tofu, finally piercing his heart.


    Then, before the peak A-Rank mage copsed on the ground, Eres looked at Oscar.


    And under the young man''s frightened eyes, the girl disappeared, appearing behind him in an instant.


    Thest thing that Oscar saw before falling unconscious was the ck-haired girl''s cold and indifferent eyes.

 Chapter 418: Tower Defense (7)

    Chapter 418: Tower Defense (7)


    "Winner, Machine Revolutio!"


    The voice of the demigod arbitrating the battle resounded through the surroundings of Academy City.


    Many of the people watching the battle were surprised. When the challenge started, they did not expect this result.


    Sixteen A-Ranks and almost one hundred B-Ranks and C-Ranks, facing a club with less than twenty students and only two A-Ranks.


    The obvious result was [Call of the Wild] overwhelming victory. But the final result was theplete opposite.


    [Machine Revolutio] defeated [Call of the Wild]! And in an overwhelming way!


    "Amazing" The young man behind Isabe said with an astonished expression. "To think they would win so easily."


    Isabe nodded. But her expression was one of the utmost seriousness.


    Right now, she was looking at the ck-haired girl that defeated five members of [Call of the Wild] by herself.


    ''Strong.'' Isabe thought to herself. ''When such a monster appeared in the city?''


    Although she did not want to admit it, she could see that Eres was very strong. Perhaps as strong as herself!


    Moreover, Eres seemed younger than her. Judging from her appearance, Eres was just fifteen or sixteen years old.


    To Isabe, who had been an unrivaled genius since she was a child, the fact that a genius even stronger than her appeared was a huge blow to her self-esteem.


    Soon, though, she calmed down and her eyes glowed with fighting intent.


    " I want to fight her."


    "Huh? Leader? Did you say anything?"


    " No, it''s nothing. Let''s go, there is nothing else to see here."


    "Oh Understood."


    Isabe then stood up and left the ce calmly.


    Before leaving, though, she looked in the direction of the Machine Revolutio Tower onest time.


    ''Right, I owe Bloed a favor after what happened in the underground tunnel Mm Should I help him to investigate who is behind [Call of the Wild]?''


    Nobody noticed it, but her lips had curled up slightly.


    At the same time, the leader of Wings of Liberty, Nathal Sigel, bit her lips with an unwilling expression.


    Watching Eres take care of five A-Ranks by herself carefreely, his heart burned with hatred.


    "Dammit How is it possible"


    He was confident that Machine Revolutio would be defeated this time. But to his surprise, the n that he crafted carefully fell apart easily.


    However, he soon calmed down.


    " It doesn''t matter. I just have to think on another n."


    A ruthless and hatred-filled glint shed through his eyes.


    In the roof of a house close to the Machine Revolutio Tower.


    A figure was observing the battle from start to end, watching it silently.


    The figure was covered by a cloak, her featurespletely indistinguishable save by a feminine shape. Only her mouth could be seen slightly.


    When the battle finished, the corner of the figure''s lips rose slightly.


    "Interesting" The figure murmured in a soft tone.


    Then, she turned around, disappearingpletely.


    From the start to the end, nobody noticed her.


    Not even the demigod arbitrating the battle.


    Meanwhile, Bloed was standing on the third floor of the tower with a speechless look.


    Looking at the five unconscious A-Ranks, and Eres standing in front of them calmly, Bloed''s lips twitched.


    "Brother? Is anything wrong?" Eres asked curiously.


    Bloed took a deep breath and shook his head.


    "No, it''s nothing."


    He could not tell her that he hade prepared to make a grand entrance and use his ultimate moves to defeat the enemy leader.


    However, his n waspletely destroyed by Eres!


    His twin sister had eliminated all the enemies before he could even appear!


    ''This girl How is she so strong?''


    Bloed already knew that Eres was strong. As her twin brother and perhaps the person closest to her, he knew better than anyone about her monstrous talent.


    However, even he did not imagine that his sister was this strong.


    Defeating five A-Ranks so easily, and by herself, was already beyond the level of a genius.


    ''A monster''


    She was definitively the strongest peer that he had seen.


    In fact, this was the first time that Bloed was not confident about defeating a peer even if he used [Overdrive].


    ''This talent Compared to mine, the difference is enormous''


    Somehow, he could understand why people thought that she had stolen all his talent when they were in the womb.


    Bloed smiled bitterly and shook his head.


    "Anyway, well done, Eres. To be honest, you surprised me this time."


    Eres said nothing. However, her lips curled up slightly.


    Obviously, she was satisfied with Bloed''spliment.


    Just then, the rest of the club members arrived at Bloed''s location.


    "Is it done?" Liu Ying asked with an excited smile.


    "It is." Bloed nodded. "This time, it was our victory."


    Liu Ying grinned. At the same time, the other club members smiled at each other.


    This was Machine Revolutio''s second challenge.


    And just likest time, they had won overwhelmingly.

 Chapter 419: New Members? (1)

    Chapter 419: New Members? (1)


    "Cheers! For our victory!"


    """Cheers!"""


    Bloed and the others raised their cups of wine and juice and cheered excitedly.


    Even the new members joined to the cheers. They were just as excited as Bloed and the others.


    After the overwhelming victory against [Call of the Wild], the club was filled with an atmosphere of excitement. Right now, every member of the club had a wide smile.


    Even Toby was smiling softly. Seeing the club that his senior created resurging, he felt something hot in his chest.


    Just a few days ago, the club was about to be dissolved, and all the members of the club had left.


    But now, the same club had be one of the top fifty clubs of the city.


    Yes, after the victory against Call of the Wild, Machine Revolutio''s ranking had gone up from fifty-four ce to forty-seven ce.


    It was a full six ces.


    It was still away from the top thirty that Headmistress Wave asked for, but taking into ount that Machine Revolutio only had two A-Rank members, the club''s current ranking was already shocking.


    ''However, it means that more people will target us.'' Bloed smiled bitterly to himself.


    Bloed did not think that other clubs would be intimidated after they defeated two clubs. It was obvious that the two victories were not due to Machine Revolutio''sbat strength, but due to strategy.


    Anyone could see that Machine Revolutio''s victory this time was because Tower Defense was a type of challenge advantageous for Machine Revolutio. However, there were many other types of challenges besides Tower Defense.


    What if the challenge is a ten against ten battle instead? Or a battle royale?


    Although Bloed did not want to admit it, that kind of challenge would put his club in a tough spot.


    Due to that, he was sure that many clubs would not mind betting on their luck to challenge Machine Revolutio. Mainly because the reward was very high.


    Right now, Machine Revolutio''s ranking was much higher than its true strength, so it was normal that it attracted greedy gazes.


    However, Bloed decided not to think about that now.


    Instead, he focused on the small party.


    "Senior Eres, you are so strong! Where did you learn to fight like that?"


    "Right! I thought that the club leader was very amazing, but you are even more amazing! So strong!"


    Alice and Emily, two of the new club members, were looking at Eres with glittering eyes.


    They were not the only ones. After they learned that Eres defeated five A-Ranks by herself easily, the rest of the club could not help but look at Eres in shock and admiration.


    " I was lucky." Eres replied modestly, but Bloed shook his head and looked at her with a gentle expression.


    "No, it was not luck. You are amazing. I waspletely shocked when I saw you defeat five enemies by yourself. As expected of my sister."


    This time, Eres could not help but be embarrassed and her cheeks became slightly red.


    She could ept thepliments of others calmly, but it was different when it came from her brother.


    Just then, Bloed felt someone pinching his waist.


    Looking beside him, he saw Liu Ying pouting sulkily. At the same time, Aya, who was seated on hisp, was looking at him expectantly.


    Bloed smiled wryly and patted their heads.


    "Yes, yes, the two of you were impressive as well."


    "Hmph! Don''t treat me like a child."


    " Mm."


    Right at that moment, he heard Regina speaking.


    "Unfortunately, I could not participate in the challenge. Otherwise, I would have defeated all of them by myself."


    Bloed looked at Regina and was speechless.


    This girl, why was she like this now?


    She was a powerhouseparable to demigods! Why was she trying topete with Eres?


    Could it be that she was jealous of his sister?


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry when he thought of that.


    Shaking his head, he looked at Sara and Princess Elwha.


    "Sara, Princess, the two of you did a good job as well. Thank you."


    "I''m d that I was of help, my lord."


    "Mm. Thank you."


    At that moment, Bloed noticed a pair of silver eyes staring at him.


    The owner of the pair of eyes, a cute honey-haired girl, was looking at him as though she was expecting apliment.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry, but in the end, he patted her head andplimented her as well.


    "You were great as well. Well done."


    Anyway, it was thanks to Gina that they managed to learn about the unusual changes in Call of the Wild.


    Although Bloed was confident that they would have won even if they did not know about that information beforehand, it was true that knowing it made everything easier.


    Just like that, the celebratory party continued for a while. But one hourter, Bloed was forced to leave it.


    Because the AI of the tower informed him that they had visitors.


    Moreover, it was not only one person, but almost fifty.


    Bloed furrowed his brows in confusion. But when he heard the reason why they were here, he could not help but put on a surprised expression.


    " I must admit it, I did not think that so many people wanted to join our club."


    .


    In somece in Academy City, a shadowy figure was looking at a middle-aged man with a wary expression.


    " Why are you telling me this?" The shadow asked. "What reason do you have to help me?"


    "Reason? Mm You can think of this as a little revenge against that young man. Plus, giving you this information will be beneficial for us as well. The more chaotic the situation is that day, the greater our chances of sess."


    The shadow fell silent and looked at the middle-aged man with a wary expression.


    " I don''t like your kind, [Returning Dusk]."


    "I know. However, you will cooperate with us despite that."


    "Why do you think so?"


    The middle-aged man looked at the shadow and chuckled.


    "Because that what I want is what your master wants as well."


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N if you want...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 420: New Members? (2)

    Chapter 420: New Members? (2)


    The results of the challenge between Machine Revolutio and Call of the Wild quickly spread through the city. Many people were surprised when they learned that Machine Revolutio overwhelmed Call of the Wildpletely, until the point where Call of the Wild was unable to retaliate.


    Thanks to that, Machine Revolutio started to be considered as a club with great potential.


    After winning two challenges in a row and securing a ce as the forty-seventh club of the city, many students and teachers started to see Machine Revolutio as a promising club.


    Just a few hours after the challenge finished, more than fifty people came to the club to join it, and the next day, the number increased by another hundred.


    Unfortunately, Bloed could not simply ept all these people.


    ording to the rules of Academy City, a club could have only a maximum of one hundred and fifty members. This was to avoid having a club monopolizing all the talent in the city and to give the opportunity to other clubs to develop.


    Even so, most of the clubs did not fill this quote. Normally, sessful clubs had around one hundred members or so.


    Thus, Bloed had to decide who among these people to ept.


    After thinking for a while, Bloed decided to make an interview.


    But after interviewing the first five members, Bloed wrinkled his brows with a serious expression.


    "Something is wrong."


    "Master? What happened?" Regina asked curiously.


    "Two of these people did not have good intentions," Bloed said with an ugly face. "They hid their intentions very well, but it can''t escape from my eyes."


    Bloed''s eyes were very special. Thanks to them, he could even analyze the slightest changes in someone''s expression to know if he was lying.


    This method was not perfect, and people who were good at lying could fool it. But even so, normally it was very effective.


    And just now, Bloed had managed to detect two people with ill intentions among the five people that he interviewed.


    He was sure that these people did not want to join Machine Revolutio because ''they admired the club'' as they said.


    "What should we do then, master?"


    Bloed thought for a moment before sighing.


    "It''s true that I want to make Machine Revolutio bigger, however, I don''t want to invite spies or people with second intentions in the process. I prefer to have a few and trustworthy members than many members that I can''t control."


    "Are you going to reject the people that want to join our club then?"


    "No." Bloed shook his head. "However, I will have to select them carefully Mm, I have an idea. Regina, tell Gina and Prince Calisto toe to see me."


    "Understood."


    Five minutester, Gina and the lionkin prince appeared before Bloed.


    "I need your help to evaluate the people that we will ept in our club," Bloed exined to them. "Gina, you will use your ability on them to see if you can find their true intentions, and Prince Calisto, you will help me to investigate their backgroundster. Can you do it?"


    "Huh? O-Of course, my hero."


    "Don''t worry, big brother Bloed. I know what to do."


    Bloed nodded satisfied. He then invited the next person to be interviewed to enter the office.


    The next person was a girl around twenty years old or so. She was a B-Rank mage with five years living in Academy City. ording to her, she had joined another club before, however, she left for personal circumstances and decided to join Machine Revolutio when she heard about it yesterday.


    Bloed asked her a few questions before nodding softly and smiling.


    "Thank you for your answers, Debora. We will consider your application and contact youter."


    "R-Really? I-I hope you can ept me. I really want to join this club."


    "Don''t worry. Wait for our news."


    "Understood."


    After the girl left, Bloed looked at Gina.


    "Then, what is your opinion?"


    "Not good," Gina replied without hesitation. "She was contacted by someone a few hours ago who paid her to join our club. She is not trustworthy."


    "As expected," Bloed sighed and nodded. He had already seen some signs that the girl was lying, and Gina''s words confirmed his suspicions.


    "Prince Calisto, erase her name."


    The lionkin prince nodded and crossed out her name from the list.


    This was the method that Bleod proposed. If they found someone suspicious, they would cross him out immediately. If he was not suspicious, then Prince Calisto would investigate himter to determine if they should add him to the club or not.


    For the next two days, Bloed, Regina, Gina, and Prince Calisto were busy interviewing the candidates to join the club. More than two hundred people were interviewed.


    To Bloed surprise, around fifty of them were spies or people sent by other clubs to infiltrate Machine Revolutio.


    "This number is a bit too high" Bloed said with a frown.


    Prince Calisto nodded.


    "You are right, Big Brother Bloed. It''s normal to send people to infiltrate other clubs, but this number is too exaggerated. Something is definitively wrong."


    "Etto... I think I know the reason."


    "Little Gina? What is it?"


    "My hero, just now, while I was using my ability to follow the traces of the people that wanted to infiltrate the club, I discovered that most of them came from three ces."


    "Three ces?" Bloed was startled.


    "Yes. one of them is the Kingdom of Alterna, seven students are rted to it. The Guardian Order is another, with nine students rted to it trying to infiltrate the club. Finally, there are thirteen students rted to a young man called Nathan Sigel."


    "The kingdom of Alterna I understand. As for the Guardian Order, it should be something that Mu Quan ordered. But Nathan Sigel? If I''m not mistaken, he is the leader of [Wings of Liberty], right? What does he want with us?" Bloed was confused.


    He could understand why the Kingdom of Alterna sent people to infiltrate the club, after all, he and Eres were in it. He could also understand Mu Quan''s motives. Most likely, he wanted to confirm if Liu Ying was the exiled demon princess or not.


    However, he did not know about Nathan Sigel''s motives.


    But just then, little Gina put on a strange expression.


    "My hero I just discovered another interesting thing."


    "Huh?"


    "That Nathan Sigel He was the one behind [Call of the Wild] as well. Also, he is the one that tried to close our club before."


    Bloed waspletely stunned.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 421: New Members? (3)

    Chapter 421: New Members? (3)


    The news about Nathan Sigel surprised Bloed. He was surprised to learn that he was the person behind the recent attacks against Machine Revolutio.


    However, after thinking for a moment, he remembered something that his sister told him a few days ago.


    "Eres, if I''m not mistaken, you told me that you offended the leader of your previous club when you left it, right? And if I''m not mistaken, your previous club was [Wings of Liberty], was it not?" Bloed asked his sister after telling her about the things that Gina discovered.


    Immediately, Eres''s expression turned dark. All of sudden, her killing intent surged out, filling the entire ce with an ice-cold chill.


    "I''m going to kill him."


    "Stop, stop stop! Where are you going? Hey, Eres, stop!"


    "Let me go, brother. I''m going to kill that idiot."


    Bloed was speechless. Why was this girl thinking about killing him immediately?


    "Calm down, okay? You can''t simply kill him, even if you are a princess. We should think about other ways to retaliate. I''m sure that we will think about something eventually."


    Eres grunted in understanding. However, a look at her expression made it obvious that she still wanted to kill Nathan.


    Well, Bloed was feeling simr to her. He also wanted to teach him a lesson.


    After all, that guy had tried to close his club. And afterward, he tried to use [Call of the Wild] to lower his club''s rank, even recurring to dirty methods to achieve that.


    Moreover, he also sent people to infiltrate the club. God knows what he nned to do after that.


    However, no matter how much Bloed disliked the guy, it was not as though he could just kill him. The consequences were too serious.


    Well, if he sent Regina, he probably could kill him without leaving any trace behind. But although Nathan had tried to use insidious means to get back to Eres and Machine Revolutio, he had not gone too far yet, at the point where Bloed wanted to kill him.


    At most, Bleod wanted to teach him a painful lesson.


    However, that would have to wait untilter.


    Because right now, Bloed was busy with someone more important.


    The new members of the club.


    During the interview, half of the candidates were directly eliminated. Half of them because they wanted to join the club with ill intentions, and the other half because Bloed found themcking.


    Prince Calisto then investigated the remaining one hundred candidates, trying to find the most appropriate ones among them.


    Quickly, he eliminated another big part of the candidates.


    Of the remaining one hundred, sixty of them had some kind of trouble. Some of them had left their previous club due to a dispute, others had been used of stealing a club''s funds, and others had been in three or four clubs before Machine Revolutio, leaving every time shortly after they joined.


    Perhaps some of them were actually good people, but Bloed did not want to take the risk, so he told Prince Calisto to eliminate them directly.


    Of the remaining forty, seven of them were A-Rank. Bloed eliminated them as well.


    Machine Revolutio only had two A-Ranks right now, and he, the leader, was just at the B-Rank.


    If he added new A-Ranks to the club, then there was a possibility of these A-Ranks growing ambitious and trying to take control of the club.


    Bloed did not think that they could seed, but he wanted to avoid something as troublesome as that.


    Of the candidates remaining, Bloed eliminated another third. Some of them because they were too old, others because they did not seem very talented, and others because they did not seem trustworthy.


    In the end, only twenty members were left. Ten of them were at the C-Rank and ten at the B-Rank.


    Bloed decided to add them as probatory members like the five neers that joined the club before. After observing them for a while, he would decide if they would be permanent members or not.


    With twenty new members in the club, the tower immediately became lively.


    "I''m a bit unused to seeing so many people in the tower." Liu Ying could not help but say when she saw the new members.


    Aya, Princess Elwha, Sara, and Gina nodded. Gina, especially, pouted with a sullen expression.


    "I liked it better when it was only my hero and us. Now it seems as though our love nest has been invaded."


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes at Gina''s shameless mention of ''their love nest''. But she had to admit that she agreed with her.


    Previously, the tower seemed more like a ce where friends gathered. Although it was a bit empty, it was warm.


    Now, though, she felt as though a group of strangers was invading her house.


    Bloed understood the girls'' feelings, but there was nothing that he could do about it.


    Since the start, his goal was to expand Machine Revolutio. There was a limit to what he could do with just a handful of members.


    However, the new members quickly brought a series of trouble to the club.


    Mainly because the method that Bloed was using to manage the club was inefficient after the number of club members increased to almost forty.


    Moreover, this problem would be bigger as the number of members continued increasing.


    The ideal result was to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Bloed did not have any experience managing a big number of people, so he was not sure about what to do.


    It was the same for Liu Ying, Aya, Sara, Gina, and the others.


    However, someone offered herself to resolved this problem for him.


    "Don''t worry, brother. Leave them to me. I''ll train them as loyal followers."


    Bloed looked at Eres speechless.


    For some reason, he had the feeling that Eres was thinking about something crazy.

 Chapter 422: Peak B-Rank

    Chapter 422: Peak B-Rank


    Another chapteringter? Not sure...


    ...


    The new members made the tower much livelier than before. After the new members got used to living in the tower, you could see them walking around the facilities of the club lively.


    As Bloed expected, the training floor was the one that surprised the neers the most. Some of them, after seeing what they could do on it, rubbed their eyes in disbelief wondering if they were having a dream.


    Of course, that was not the only thing they found surprising. From the food to the baths and the electrical appliances, everything was amazing.


    For the new members, who had lived their entire lives in a world where technology did not exist, the things that they saw in the Machine Revolutio Tower were eye-opening.


    Just as she told Bloed, Eres took the job of ''teaching'' the new members. However, Bloed was astounded when he saw her method of teaching.


    First, she suppressed her strength to the B-Rank. Then, she went and beat each one of the new recruits, with or without reason. Afterward, she told them the rules of the tower and what they could do and could not do.


    Strangely, her method was really effective. None of the new members dared to defy her after that.


    From then onwards, every time that one of the new members saw Eres, they would greet her respectfully and with a bit of fear in their eyes.


    Once everything rted to the new members was taken care of, Bloed finally could focus on other things.


    One of these was his training.


    Opening his eyes, he heaved a sigh and put on aplicated expression.


    "Finally, I reached this point."


    "Master? What happened?" Regina, who had been guarding Bloed during her training, asked with a curious light.


    But then, she narrowed her eyes and realized what Bloed was talking about.


    "Could it be Did you reach the peak of B-Grade already?"


    Bloed nodded with a bitter smile. "I did. However, I don''t know if I should feel happy or not."


    " Are you thinking about your breakthrough?"


    Bloed said nothing, but his helpless expression said everything.


    As an ESPer, Bloed possessed an astonishing talent. He was born with two ESP abilities, one of them being an SSS-Grade ability.


    But ironically, his talent became an impediment. The two ESP abilities upied too much of his calction zone, making it impossible for him to use his strongest ability, [Molecr Disintegration], appropriately.


    If he wanted to use it, he needed to be an S-Grade ESPer first. However, bing an S-Grade ESPer with only a C-Grade Ability like [Enhanced Brain Capacity], was very hard.


    Bloed still had a bit of hope that it would not be so hard before reaching the peak of B-Grade. But now that he was in the bottleneck to A-Rank, he realized how difficult his breakthrough to the next level would be.


    Just now, even although he stimted his psychic energy as much as he could, the bottleneck to the A-Grade did not budge even a bit.


    It was like a steel door blocking him. No matter how hard he hit it, he could not open it.


    "Master Don''t worry, I''m sure you will find a solution soon." Regina hurriedly consoled him.


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded. "I hope so. Well, it''s not as though I don''t have any ideas."


    The problem was that he could not guarantee if his ideas would work or not.


    ''At the very least, I have a direction towards which I can work.'' Bloed consoled himself with this thought.


    Despite the troublesome bottleneck, reaching the peak of B-Rank was a good thing.


    Now that he was a peak B-Grade ESPer, there were some things that he could do.


    Firstly, he was going to upgrade his mechanical puppets again.


    Leto and Oculus would go through aplete upgrade, increasing their power of attack from the peak of B-Rank to the middle-stage of A-Rank. As for Tito, his mechanical puppy and armor, he nned to increase its defensive properties and bring itsbat power to the B-Rank.


    Next were his eyes. After a few months in Academy City, he had almost perfected his eyes'' predictive ability. Right now, it was good enough to be used inbat.


    Bloed nned to upgrade them as well. Mainly to increase the range of things that his eyes could perceive. After all, now that his psychic energy had grown, the amount of information that he could process had gone up as well.


    Finally, there was the project in which Bloed had been working for a while.


    The Body Enhancing Virus.


    After getting the body of the devourer that Regina killed, Bloed studied it to see how it used the energy that it consumed to strengthen itself.


    Thanks to that, Bloed finally had a breakthrough in his research of the Body Enhancing Virus.


    After that, his research advanced quickly. In just a few days, Bloed already had a final prototype of the virus.


    He still had to test it, and most likely, there were still some small issues with it. But even like that, it should be effective.


    ''The Body Enhancement Virus should increase my strength a little bit. However, after that, I don''t know when my strength will increase again.''


    In the end, his bottleneck to the A-Grade was still a very big problem.


    Bloed could not know how long it would take him to resolve it. It could take him from months to years.


    If he was unlucky, perhaps even tens of years!


    ''Well, with a bit of luck, I''ll find a way to breakthrough soon.'' Bloed could only console himself that way.


    For now, he should start to work on the upgrades.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 423: Upgraded Pets

    Chapter 423: Upgraded Pets


    Bloed spent the rest of the day in hisboratory.


    It did not take him long to upgrade his pets. After all, he had already been preparing for it for a long time.


    When he was done, his three mechanical pets had gone through a big power-up.


    Leto remained almost the same. However, Bloed increased the amount of electricity that it could release. Moreover, Bloed remodeled its metallic sand, making it three times heavier than before.


    Now, just the weight of the wolf alone was enough to kill a D-Rank practitioner!


    After the upgrades, Leto''sbat strength increased greatly. Now, it wasparable to an average A-Rank practitioner.


    Next was Tito. For it, Bloed focused on enhancing its supportive abilities. Now, Bloed was thirty percent faster when wearing Tito''s armor.


    Don''t underestimate this thirty percent. Before, Bloed could reach seven hundred km/h (434 Mis/h) when he moved at his fastest speed. But now, his speed surpassed the 900 km/h (560 Mis/H)!


    This speed was barely the standard of an A-Rank practitioner! Moreover, it would likely increase after he used the Body Enhancing Virus.


    At that speed, it was possible to avoid bullets. He was so fast that he needed less than half a second to run one hundred meters.


    Of course, that was just Bloed''s highest speed. During a battle, Bloed generally moved at a third of that speed.


    After all, if he ran used his highest speed, he would be tired in less than one minute.


    Thest mechanical pet that Bloed upgraded was Oculus.


    For this pet, Bloed added several changes. Firstly, he increased the power of the sma ray that it could shot. Right now, it was strong enough to be threatening to a Peak A-Rank practitioner.


    Of course, a Peak A-Rank practitioner could avoid it easily, but if Leto managed to slow down his movements long enough for Oculus to shoot its sma ray, then that Peak A-Rank practitioner would suffer a lot.


    Bloed also increased the power of Oculus''s suppression fire. He made it strong enough to be deadly to B-Rank practitioners, and even A-Rank practitioners could not take it easily.


    However, besides strengthening its previous abilities, Bloed also added apletely new ability to Oculus.


    In fact, this was the main change that Bloed made to the floating eye this time.


    Bloed called it, [Suppressive Gravity Field].


    Using the knowledge about magic runes that Bloed learned from Headmistress Wave recently, Bloed gave Oculus the ability to project a suppressive field where gravity was increased two-fold.


    Bloed designed this function to use it together with [King''s Aura] and [Imaginary sh]. This way, Imaginary sh would be much harder to avoid. It made Bloed''s trump card even deadlier than before.


    Unfortunately, increasing gravity, even on a small scale, was not easy. Right now, Oculus could only use [Suppressive Gravity Field] for ten seconds before using up all its energy.


    But well, the purpose of this technique was to use it as a trump card. Thus, although the limited time was regrettable, Bloed did not mind it too much.


    Once he was done with the upgrades, Bloed finally left theboratory.


    When Bloed left theboratory, it was already night. Regina was waiting for him outside, and as soon as she saw him, she gave him some documents that she was holding in her hands.


    "This is?"


    "The thing that you asked me to investigate, master."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow before nodding. "I see. The information about [Wings of Liberty], huh."


    Regina nodded.


    A few days ago, Gina told Bloed that the leader of Wings of Liberty was the person behind several attempts to damage Machine Revolutio.


    The reason behind it was that the leader of Wings of Liberty, Nathan Sigel, wanted revenge after Bloed''s sister, Eres Skysword, left Wings of Liberty to join Machine Revolutio.


    Eres exined to Bloed that her act of leaving Wings of Liberty brought a lot of trouble to that club. After all, she was the Princess of the biggest human kingdom; thus, when she left Wings of Liberty, it could make many people question the legitimacy of Wings of Liberty as Academy City''s main human club.


    After learning about all of that, Bloed asked Regina and Prince Calisto to investigate Wings of Liberty.


    It was not his style to endure quietly when someone attacked him. Now that he knew who was behind the attacks against Machine Revolutio, he nned to retaliate.


    Bloed read the documents that Regina brought and raised an eyebrow.


    "This is Woah, fifteen people left Wings of Liberty in thest ten days. And eight of them were people of the Kingdom of Alterna I think I can understand why the leader of Wings of Liberty is so angry."


    Fifteen people were more than a tenth of the club. Obviously, Eres''s actions had a great impact.


    Bloed smiled wryly. But then, he furrowed his brows.


    One secondter, his eyes lit up.


    "I think I already know what to do. Mmm Yes, this is a good idea."


    "Master?"


    " However, it''s not easy to implement this n. Right now, my connections in Academy City are not enough to do it. If I try to implement this n by myself, the result will not be as good as I want."


    Bloed frowned deeply. But a few secondster, his eyes lit up again.


    "Right, I just need to ask someone for help Yes, and I have the perfect candidate. Regina, let''s go!"


    "Master? I still don''t know what you are nning to do."


    Bloed put on a mysterious expression and grinned.


    "Well, he is afraid of the members of his club leaving, right? Then, we will make them leave."


    Regina was confused.


    But just then, Bloed sent an image of his n to her mind.


    Immediately, Regina''s golden eyes lit up.


    Then, she looked at Bloed with a strange expression.


    "Master, you are so evil... But I like it."

 Chapter 424: Spreading Rumors

    Chapter 424: Spreading Rumors


    Genius Society was the second strongest club of Academy City.


    Just as its name indicated, Genius Society was a club where only geniuses were epted.


    However, practically every student in Academy City could be considered a genius, so the standard of admission was a bit harsher than that.


    Only the strongest geniuses. The geniuses among geniuses could be epted.


    In that club, the weakest member was as strong as ate-stage B-Rank practitioner. It was a ce filled with A-Rank and B-rank students.


    In fact, just in terms of the strength of its members, Genius Society was stronger than the first-ranked club, [Guardian Order]. However, Guardian Order was led by Mu Quan, the strongest student in the city. Plus, although the students of Genius Society did not like to admit it, their teamwork could not bepared to the teamwork of the Guardian Order.


    Even so, Genius Society was still a strong club. It was a ce where many students dreamed to enter but could not.


    And today, Bloed was inside the headquarters of that club.


    Moreover, he was received respectfully.


    Even Isabe Castor, the leader of the club herself, came to receive him personally. Such a scene left the entire club stunned.


    After all, they were aware of how proud Isabe was. This girl did not put anyone in her eyes. Even the leaders of the other clubs, including Mu Quan, were not treated this cordially by her.


    Although Isabe seemed kind and amicable on the surface, the truth was that she was extremely proud. The fact that her talent was one that the city had not seen in many years made her feel subconsciously superior to others.


    But now, that same proud girl was greeting an almost unknown young man so enthusiastically. Many of her club members were stunned seeing that scene.


    Some of them even wondered if spring had finallye to Isabe''s life.


    Of course, it was nothing like that. The only reason that Isabe was behaving like that was that she had seen Bloed''s true power inside the tunnels.


    Although she hated to admit it, Isabe knew that she was not a match for Bloed if he used the power that he used in the tunnels. In fact, she believed that no student in Academy City could defeat him.


    Isabe was proud due to her talent. But precisely due to that, after witnessing someone younger than her but much stronger than her, she could not continue being proud.


    Inside her office, Isabe looked at Bloed, seated across her, and put on a yful smile.


    "Mr. Bloed, to think that you visited the house of ady sote at night. Can I ask you what your intentions are?"


    Bloed rolled his eyes.


    "Stop joking around, okay? I came for serious business."


    "Is it so?" Isabe narrowed her eyes.


    In an instant, her mischievous expression disappearedpletely, reced by a dead serious look.


    "It looks like the reason you came here is very important, huh. Do speak then."


    " I need a favor."


    "A favor?" Isabe raised an eyebrow. "What is it? I''ll see if I can help you."


    Bloed thought for a moment before speaking up.


    "I need your help to spread some rumors in the city."


    Isabe was stunned.


    "Rumors? I have never done something like that. What kind of rumor do you want to spread?"


    "One about Wings of Liberty."


    Isabe''s expression stiffened immediately.


    But almost immediately, she recovered and looked at Bloed with a wry smile.


    "So you already know, huh."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow. "You knew about it as well?"


    "I learned about it recently," Isabe said with a wry smile. "Actually, after your battle against [Call of the Wild], I noticed that something was wrong with their number of members. Thus, I investigate it and discovered that the extra members had been sent by Nathan, the leader of Wings of Liberty I was nning to tell you about it, but it looks like you discovered his plot without my help."


    Actually, Isabe was surprised when she learned about the reason behind their conflict.


    She did not expect that Bloed managed to snatch a club member from Nathan''s club, moreover, that club member was a princess. And that Princess was a very powerful girl!


    ''Now that I think about it, this guy is always surrounded by girls Could he be an expert womanizer?''


    Unaware of Isabe''s strange thoughts, Bloed nodded.


    "I see. Yes, I already discovered that Wings of Liberty is behind it. That is the reason that I''m here."


    Isabe frowned. She fell silent for a moment and looked at Bloed fixedly.


    " This favor is very big. If something goes wrong, I''ll offend one of the strongest clubs of the citypletely."


    Bloed fell silent.


    He knew it, of course. In fact, beforeing here, he did not know if Isabe would help him.


    However, he did not have many acquittances in the city, and the ones that could help him with something like this were even less. Perhaps the headmistress and Eve could do it, but there was no way that he would bother two powerful demigods for something like this.


    Due to that, Isabe was the best option.


    They were on good terms, plus, Isabe owed him a favor after he saved one of her club members in the tunnels and protected them from the monster that they faced in the end.


    Taking that into ount, there was a high chance of Isabe helping him.


    And just as he expected, Isabe smiled wryly after considering it for a while.


    "Okay, I''ll help you this time."


    "Thank you."


    " I think that I have an idea about what you want to do. However, let me make something clear right now. I will spread the rumors secretly. My Genius Society will never admit anything rted to it."


    "It''s enough. Thank you."


    "Good." Isabe chuckled. "Then, tell me what kind of rumor you want to spread."


    Bloed smiled slightly and started to talk.


    Soon, he could see Isabe''s eyes widening in surprise.


    Finally, she sighed with aplicated expression.


    "Mr. Bloed, could it be that you want to destroy Wings of Libertypletely? However, I don''t know if your n will be effective."


    "It will. Don''t worry." Bloed smiled mysteriously.


    In this world, information traveled slowly. Although it was different for people with status and power, people of the lower sses seldomly knew about the happenings beyond their ce of birth.


    Due to it, many people in this world underestimated the power of rumors and information.


    In the Human Confederation''s history, there were many cases of rumors and lies causing terrible tragedies.


    This time, he only wanted to take a club down.


    How hard could something like that be?


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 425: Third Challenge (1)

    Chapter 425: Third Challenge (1)


    Once more, trying to save the novels...


    ...


    The next day, rumors about Wings of Liberty started to spread through the city.


    At the start, nobody it much attention. It was not umon to hear strange rumors about the top clubs in the city, and this one seemed like just one more of these rumors.


    Plus, the rumor about the Princess of the Kingdom of Alterna defeating the leader of Wings of Liberty before saying that he was not qualified to lead the club seemed pretty unbelievable.


    But to the surprise of the students in the city, three members of Wings of Liberty left the club that same day.


    They did not say the reason why they left, but after someone investigated the details, he realized that they had witnessed the moment when the Princess defeated the leader of Wings of Liberty and said these words.


    That information immediately made the city boil.


    In an instant, the rumor spread to the entire city. Moreover, it quickly became more and more exaggerated.


    In the end, it became in ''The Princess defeated the leader of Wings of Liberty after he tried to take advantage of her'' and ''The leader of Wings of Liberty is a wicked person, so the Princess decided to beat him''.


    Obviously, something like that was not true. But by this point, many people believed it.


    After all, few people knew the true reason why Eres left Wings of Liberty, so they quickly filled it with scandalous details.


    That was what tended to happen with rumors.


    Bloed already expected it, and that was the reason why he decided to go with this n, But even so, he was surprised by how effective his n was.


    In just one day, seven more students left Wings of Liberty.


    When the leader of the club, Nathan Sigel, learned about it, his expression turned livid.


    He hurriedly tried to suppress the rumor, but it was toote. In just one day, different kinds of rumors about him and the club had spread through the city, each one more exaggerated than thest.


    Nathan had never dealt with something like this before, so he was clueless about how to react. He could only watch as more members of Wings of Liberty left one after another.


    But while Nathan was worried about his club, Bloed was rxing through the streets of the city.


    Beside him, a petite ck-haired girl with cat ears and tail was holding his hand with a red face.


    Yes, this girl was Aya.


    Right now, Bloed and her were on a date.


    As for how it happened? Well, Eve arrived at the tower earlier that day. Somehow, the fox demigod said something that riled Regina up at the point where Regina chased her outside the city in rage.


    While Bloed was speechless wondering what in the hell happened, Aya approached him and asked him if he could apany her to buy some things in the city.


    At that point, Bloed felt a strange sense of dj vu.


    ''Hey, is it not the same method that Liu Ying used to have a date with me?''


    Only then Bloed realized that Eve''s purpose was this since the start.


    Thinking about it, Eve had promised something to Aya the day of the entrance ceremony, right? Most likely, it was rted to this.


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    But in the end, he did not refuse Aya.


    After all, Aya was now one of his lovers as well. Plus, he had never had a proper date with the cat girl, so it was a good opportunity to do it.


    Just like that, the pair started to enjoy their date through the city.


    Unfortunately, Aya knew next to nothing about dates, so after taking Bloed out of the tower, she did not have the slightest idea about what to do.


    Seeing that, Bloed could only smile wryly and take the lead.


    Relying on his pitiful knowledge about dates, Bloed brought Aya to different ces around the city, starting from clothing stores to a romantic restaurant.


    It must be said that Bloed''s strategy was very sessful. Although Aya was mostly silent the entire time, a look at her red cheeks and her slightly lifted lips showed how happy she was.


    "It looks like you are enjoying the date, huh," Bloed smirked.


    Aya lowered her head shyly, her cat ears twitching in embarrassment.


    Bloed smiled at her cute look and leaned slightly towards her ear.


    "Right, I forgot to tell you, but you look very cute in that dress."


    *Puff!*


    Aya''s cheeks turnedpletely red.


    The poor cat girl felt as though her skin was burning and she was about to faint. She had never been so embarrassed in her life.


    At the same time, she felt a strangely fluffy feeling in her heart.


    Embarrassed, Aya gripped Bloed''s hand as her tail wagged softly.


    Bloed could not help but smile when he saw that.


    Just then, though, he saw someone familiar in front of him.


    That person also seemed to recognize Bloed, because he stopped abruptly and looked at him with a slightly surprised expression.


    However, he quickly calmed down and bowed slightly.


    "Mr. Bloed, long time no see you."


    "It has been a long time indeed." Bloed nodded as well. "I did not think that I would meet you here, Mr. Yaru."


    "Me neither." Yaru nodded.


    Bloed was not very familiar with this person. In fact, he had only seen him once before.


    Around one month ago, the members of a club called [Flying Leaves] tried to take over the Golem-Making Club. Back then, Bloed stopped them, and when the members of the club were about to fight, this young man appeared and stopped them.


    Bloed remembered that he was called Yaru, and he was the sub-leader of [Flying Leaves].


    Just then, Bloed noticed a young woman standing beside Yaru.


    The young woman was very beautiful, her beautyparable to Liu Ying and the girls. However, her gaze was sharp, like a drawn de ready to attack.


    The woman had been staring at Bloed fixedly since the moment that Yaru mentioned his name. When she saw him looking at her, she smiled and opened her mouth.


    "So you are the leader of Machine Revolutio, huh."


    Bloed frowned. "I am. And you are?"


    "You can call me Anna." The girl chuckled. "Nice to meet you, I''m the leader of Flying Leaves."


    Bloed was startled. But immediately, he noticed something that he had ignored until now.


    This girl, she was strong.


    Incredibly strong.


    Bloed immediately turned wary. Judging from this girl''s aura, he was not her match unless he used his trump cards.


    However, the girl ignored his wariness and smiled warmly.


    "I''m d to finally meet you, Mr. Bloed. After all, I think that our rtionship can be called fate."


    "Fate?"


    "Yes, fate." The girl said. "First, you have a conflict with Harold and Yaru. And now that I was ordered to attack you, we met here... Mm, To be honest, I don''t want to do this. After all, I kind of admire what you have achieved since you arrived in the city. Unfortunately, orders are orders, and I must follow them."


    Bloed''s eyes shrunk. For an instant, he felt a very dangerous auraing from this girl.


    However, the woman, Anna, retracted her aura immediately. Instead, she chuckled yfully and looked at her sub-leader.


    "Let''s go, Yaru. We should continue with our date."


    Before leaving, though, she looked at Bloed onest time.


    "See you soon, Mr. Bloed. I hope that you don''t disappoint me."


    Bloed wrinkled his brows. He did not understand the meaning of this girl''s words.


    But when he returned to the tower, he understood everything.


    Someone had challenged Machine Revolutio again.


    It was precisely Anna''s club, Flying Leaves; and the format of the challenge was [Best of Ten].

 Chapter 426: Third Challenge (2)

    Chapter 426: Third Challenge (2)


    The atmosphere inside the Machine Revolutio Tower was very tense.


    Bloed and the others were gathered in the meeting room of the tower. The reason? The challenge that the club just received.


    Flying Leaves. Best of Ten.


    These words made the expressions of the main members of the club gloomy.


    "Bloed, what are we going to do?" Gina hurriedly asked.


    Bloed did not reply immediately. Instead, he looked at Prince Calisto to ask him what information he knew about Flying Leaves.


    Prince Calisto understood his cue and started to speak.


    "Flying Leaves, one of the most promising clubs that had appeared in the city recently. It''s led by a peak A-Rank student called Anna Rose. She is one of the top geniuses of the city who just defeated the student in the top twenty-six, bing the new 26th strongest student of the city.


    "Besides her, the club originally had another three A-Ranks, one of them being their sub-leader, Yaru, who just became an A-Rank recently. However, this club has shown a great performance in this War of Clubs, defeating another two clubs sessfully. After that, another four A-Rank joined the club."


    "In other words, this club has eight A-Ranks, huh," Sara said with a grave expression.


    Prince Calisto nodded and put on a bitter smile. "Yeah. It looks like the situation is hopeless for us this time."


    The others did not reply, but it was obvious that they agreed with him.


    The problem was not the number of A-Ranks, but the format of the challenge.


    Best of Ten.


    Ten individual battles and the club with the biggest number of victories would win the challenge.


    Every member could participate only once, and if at the end of the ten battles, both clubs were tied, then the two clubs would send a representative for a final battle.


    The problem was that this kind of challenge was very disadvantageous for Bloed''s club.


    "It looks like we finally ran out of luck, huh." Liu Ying said with a bitter smile. "Our club doesn''t have enough people to face them."


    Yes, that was the problem.


    In Machine Revolutio, the only people that could fight an A-Rank practitioner were Bloed, Eres, Sara, Princess Elwha, Liu Ying, and Aya; And thest three of them could barely fight against an initial-stage A-Rank practitioner.


    Only six people!


    The other team, on the other hand, has eight A-Ranks, and the other two participants were likely to be peak B-Ranks.


    It meant that of the ten battles, Bloed''s club had already lost four of them automatically.


    Bleod could only smile bitterly when he thought of that. Until now, the luck of his club had been great, but now, the situation was had turnedpletely around.


    This kind of challenge was literally one of the most disadvantageous for his club.


    However, although he was a bit depressed, Bloed was not nning to lose.


    That the situation was pretty bad, so he could only make his best to increase the chances of victory as much as possible.


    Just when he was about to speak, he saw Princess Elwha opening her mouth.


    "Mr. Bloed, I don''t know if it will be useful, but I just made a breakthrough."


    "Huh?"


    Bloed was startled. But immediately, he noticed the change in Princess Elwha''s aura.


    Her aura was definitively stronger than before. A lot stronger!


    "Did you breakthrough to A-Rank?"


    Princess Elwha nodded with a smile.


    "Actually, I could have breakthrough long ago, but I dyed my breakthrough due to a technique that I practice. Now that I finally broke through, my strength increased a great deal."


    Bloed was surprised. But immediately, he became excited.


    "That is great. With this, our chances of victory will increase slightly."


    After that, Bloed looked at Liu Ying and Sara.


    "Liu Ying, Sara, I also have good news for the two of you."


    "Huh? Good news?"


    "What is it, my lord?"


    "It''s time to strengthen your bodies," Bloed stated.


    Liu Ying and Sara were confused.


    Quickly, though, the two girls seemed to think about something and their expressions became excited.


    "Dear, are you serious!? But don''t you said before that you could not strengthen my body?"


    "That was back then. I had been researching about the Body Enhancing Virus recently, remember? In the process, I improved the Body Enhancing Surgery and I managed to resolve the problem with thepatibility of your body."


    Bloed then looked at Sara.


    "It''s the same with you, Sara. Actually, I had been thinking about doing this since a while ago, but I have been a bit busy, so I forgot about it. I think that it''s a great opportunity, though."


    "Brother, what are you talking about?" Eres finally asked at that moment. Just like her, Aya, Princess Elwha, and Prince Calisto were looking at Bloed with confused expressions.


    Bloed did not reply. Instead, he looked at Eres and put on a pensive expression.


    Now that he thought about it, Eres was human too.


    He should be able to apply the Body Enhancing Surgery on her as well.


    It was impossible for Aya and Elwha, after all, the body structure of Elves and Beastmen was very different than humans, and Bloed needed to research it a bit to make the surgerypatible with them. However, it was definitively possible for Eres.


    Immediately, his eyes lit up.


    "Eres, you shoulde with me as well. This should increase your strength a lot."


    Eres was confused, but in the end, she nodded.


    She trusted that Bloed was not going to harm her. Plus, she was curious about what Bloed was going to do.


    Just like that, Bloed started the preparations for the challenge against Flying Leaves.


    There were three days left to the challenge. And by then, Bloed needed to do his best to strengthen his club members as much as possible.

 Chapter 427: Challenged to a Duel

    Chapter 427: Challenged to a Duel


    Second day trying to save the series...


    ...


    *Bam!*


    Nathan Sigel mmed his hand on his desk.


    He looked at the report that he just received with an ugly expression. Four more students had left the club just now, increasing the number of students that left to twenty-five!


    Moreover, the morale of the club was at an all-time low. He had heard that more than one club member was hesitating about leaving the club, so he could expect more members to leave in the next few days.


    And the cause of it was the rumors that started to spread in Academy City from two days ago.


    "Dammit! Who was the bastard who did this!?"


    Nathan wanted nothing more than skin him alive.


    Taking a deep breath, Nathan calmed down and put on a bitter smile.


    He could not believe that the situation had worsened to this extent.


    The problem was that he could not deny the rumors. It was a fact that he had been defeated by Princess Eres, and many people saw it. Moreover, the princess left the club after that.


    Although it was a lie that the princess said that he was unworthy of being the leader of the club, most people did not know it. Hence, when they heard that he was defeated, they could not help but think in that direction.


    The rumor had mixed lies and truths perfectly, making it very difficult to deny.


    At this rate, his club would stop being one of the strongest clubs in the city shortly.


    In fact, Nathan had already noticed some clubs eyeing Wings of Liberty greedily. They were just waiting for an opportunity to challenge him.


    The problem was that if Wings of Liberty was challenged and defeated, then Nathan would be unable to save the club no matter what he does.


    For the first time, Nathan realized that his club was at the edge of the cliff.


    With the slightest mistake, the work that he had done for many years would go down the drain.


    Nathan did his best to keep his calm. He knew that right now, he could not despair.


    The situation could still be salvaged. He just needed a n.


    Soon, his eyes narrowed and he got an idea.


    "I guess it''s the only option, huh." He spoke to himself.


    Quickly, though, he frowned.


    "No, it won''t work. The princess and I parted on bad terms. She will not agree to help me."


    Nathan furrowed his brows deeply. The gears in his mind spun quickly as he thought about how to convince her.


    And eventually, a n had appeared in his mind.


    Taking a deep breath, Nathan called to his sub-leader.


    "Leader, what is it?"


    "Take care of the club. I''ll be leaving for a while."


    The sub-leader was stunned.


    "Leader, I don''t think it''s a good idea. If you leave now"


    "I know, but I must leave for a while if I want to resolve the current situation."


    "Is it so? I understand. Where are you going, leader?"


    "To Machine Revolutio."


    Nathan ignored the stunned look on the sub-leader''s face and grabbed his sword. Then, he walked in the direction of the Machine Revolutio tower.


    He ignored the looks of surprise in the faces of the members of the club when he appeared. Instead, he asked to see the leader of the club and Princess Eres.


    Just a few minutester, a beautiful silver-haired woman came and led him to an office.


    Inside, he saw the blue-haired young man leader of the club seated at a desk and Princess Eres standing beside him.


    "Nice to meet you, Mr. Nathan. My name is Bloed Norman, leader of Machine Revolutio." The blue-haired young man introduced himself.


    Nathan nodded to him and introduced himself too.


    "Nathan Sigel, leader of Wings of Liberty."


    "I know. What do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Mr. Nathan? I don''t think our rtionship is good enough for you to visit me."


    "You are right." Nathan nodded and looked at Princess Eres. "To be honest, I didn''t want toe here. However, I have a reason to. Princess Elwha, I hope you can refute the rumors that are spreading through the city recently."


    "Oh? Why should I?" Eres looked at him indifferently. "I don''t have any reason to help you. Much less after everything you tried to do to our club."


    Nathan was stunned.


    ''They know!?''


    But immediately, a sh of realization appeared on his face.


    "... It was you."


    Princess Eres remained indifferent, however, Nathan saw the blue-haired young man smile.


    "What are you talking about, Mr. Nathan? I hope that you have proof of your usations."


    Nathan shut up. Hearing Bloed''s yful tone, he was filled with rage.


    But he calmed down immediately.


    Although he was still angry, right now, he was asking for help in the enemy camp. He could not afford to show his anger now.


    At the same time, his expression turned serious.


    He realized that he had underestimated the leader of this club. He thought that the reason that the Princess joined him was that she was infatuated with him, but it seemed that this young man was much more than just a handsome face.


    However, it was good that he realized it early.


    It meant he would not underestimate himter.


    "I know that you will not help me easily, Princess. Thus, I came ready."


    After saying that, Nathan''s eyes emitted a sharp glow. His aura surged out, and he looked at Bloed like a hunter looking at his prey.


    "I challenge you to a duel, Mr. Bloed. If I win, you will tell the Princess to stop these rumors. And if you win, I will be your follower as long as we are in Academy City. I swear it upon my honor."

 Chapter 428: Academy City’s Fastest Sword (1)

    Chapter 428: Academy City¡¯s Fastest Sword (1)


    "I challenge you to a duel, Mr. Bloed." Nathan''s voice resounded in the office.


    Both Bloed and Eres were stunned. For an instant, they could not believe Nathan''s words.


    But then, Eres sneered.


    "What? Are you going to be this shameless? You are an entire rank stronger than Bloed. Do you think that a duel like this is fair?"


    Nathan frowned. But quickly, his frown was reced by a calm smile.


    "Of course, I know it''s unfair. Thus, I won''t be using my entire strength during the challenge. I will limit my mana to the peak of B-Rank just like Mr. Bloed. If I fail to keep my promise, I will lose automatically. I think that it''s fair enough, right?"


    This time, both Bloed and Eres were really surprised.


    "Are you serious?" Bloed could not help but ask.


    But Nathan just nodded calmly.


    "I am. Mr. Bloed, I want to challenge to a duel. If I win, you will tell the Princess to stop these rumors. And if you win, I will be your follower as long as we are in Academy City. The conditions of the duel were the ones that I just said. I think that you don''t have any reason to refuse right."


    Nathan was right.


    But just for that reason, Bloed was warier of Nathan''s proposal.


    It was too advantageous for him, and Nathan was risking too much.


    But as though understanding his worries, Eres''s lips curved up.


    "Nathan, you look very confident. Are you not afraid of being defeated?"


    Nathan nodded. But then, he smiled helplessly. "My situation is already this bad, Princess. If I do nothing, then the club that I painstakingly built for many years will be destroyed. Plus" He then looked at Bloed and grinned. "I don''t think that I will lose."


    When Bloed heard that, he finally understood.


    Yes, that was the reason that Nathan dared to propose something like this.


    Nathan was the sixth strongest student in the city. He was confident that few people could defeat him at the same level.


    Hell, he was confident that if he went all out, perhaps he could win against the students ranked third and fourth, and if he was lucky, perhaps he could defeat the student ranked second.


    True, he lost when he fought Eres. But how many geniuses as strong as Eres existed in the world? Nathan was sure that not even Mu Quan, the strongest student in the city, was strongest than her.


    Eres was an exception. In all honesty, after being defeated so thoroughly, Nathan stopped seeing Eres as a normal human. To him, she was some kind of human-shaped monster.


    And Bloed?


    Nathan had seen several of Bloed''s battles. And although he admitted that the leader of Machine Revolutio was outstanding for his age, he did not think that he would lose if they fought at the same level.


    When Bloed felt the confidence in Nathan''s heart, he could not help but smile wryly.


    ''Do I look that weak?''


    Well, he did not dislike this development. Quite the opposite, he found it pretty great.


    "Then, are you going to ept my challenge, Mr. Bloed?" Nathan asked again.


    Bloed stopped hesitating. Looking to his sister and seeing that she left the decision in his hand, he took a deep breath.


    Then, he stared straight into Nathan''s eyes.


    "I agree."


    Bloed did not announce the duel with Nathan publicly. Only the core members of the club learned about it.


    Thus, half an hourter, Bloed and Nathan, plus Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and the others, were in the training hall of Machine Revolutio, ready to start the battle.


    Nathan was meditating silently, adjusting his condition for the battle. Bloed, on the other hand, was on the other side of the hall, taking a deep breath and checking the condition of his mechanical pets.


    " Are you confident, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked at that moment.


    Bloed looked at his girlfriend and nodded.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t lose."


    "Don''t underestimate him, brother," Eres spoke up suddenly. "That Nathan is very strong. He is one of the strongest A-Ranks that I have seen in my life."


    Bloed nodded with a serious expression. In fact, he already knew it.


    Nathan was the sixth strongest student in the city. In this ce, where countless geniuses of the entire continent gathered, being the sixth strongest represented an overwhelming talent.


    Even so


    "I don''t think that master will lose."


    "Mm. Bloed will not lose."


    "Yes, my hero. Defeat him!"


    Bloed nodded to Regina, Aya, and Gina''s words. Just like they said, he did not think that he was going to lose either.


    He was confident that at the same level, nobody was stronger than him.


    Eres saw that and smiled. But then, she put on a serious expression again and spoke again with a grave tone.


    "Even so, don''t underestimate him. Especially his speed."


    Bloed was startled and fell deep in thoughts.


    Just then, Nathan opened his eyes.


    "I''m ready." He said.


    Bloed took a deep breath and nodded. "Let''s start then."


    The girls looked at each other and moved away. Soon, only Bloed and Nathan were left on the stage as the others observed the situation from outside.


    "Mr. Bloed, regardless of the result of the battle, I''ll keep my promise. I hope that you do the same."


    "Don''t worry." Bloed nodded. "I''m a man of my word."


    I hope so." Nathan nodded. He then took a sword out of his storage device and held it calmly as he looked at Bloed.


    Bloed did not fall behind. He held his saber firmly, and at the same time, Tito turned into armor, Leto appeared around him, and Oculus hovered in the air,pletely invisible.


    Both of them were ready to start the battle.


    Nathan narrowed his eyes with a sharp expression. Mana surged out of his core, flowing through each muscle of his body.


    Right then, Regina opened her mouth.


    "Start!"


    Instantly, Nathan moved.


    Taking one step forward, his body flickered and disappeared.


    Then, Bloed opened his eyes wide.


    Because just then, he could see Nathan''s sword about to pierce his forehead.

 Chapter 429: Academy City’s Fastest Sword (2)

    Chapter 429: Academy City¡¯s Fastest Sword (2)


    Hello guys, long time no see you...


    Life has been hard, and I have been busy. Even so, I''m trying again to rescue Fourth Prince and Science/Magic. I think it''s thest time I''ll try. If I can''t this time, I will stop writing them.


    Wish me luck...


    ...


    ''Fast!'' Bloed''s eyes opened wide.


    His mind turned nk. Seeing Nathan''s sword approaching his forehead, his back was filled with cold sweat.


    It was such a fast sword that he only noticed it when it was about to cut him.


    But


    ''Not fast enough!''


    With a roar, his psychic energy surged out, and his bright blue eyes lit up violently.


    In that instant, it was as though the world around Bloed slowed down. The sword, which was approaching him at a blinding speed, seemed to slow down to a crawl.


    No, it was not that the sword slowed down, but that his thoughts became so fast that the world around him seemed slow.


    Then, his body moved following the orders of his mind.


    Twisting his body, he moved his forehead out of the path of the sword. Then, he raised his saber and shed towards Nathan''s waist.


    Bloed''s could see Nathan''s eyes opening slightly wide. Most likely, he was surprised that Bloed''s managed to react to his attack.


    But even so, his expression remainedpletely calm. Touching the ground with his feet, he gathered mana on his legs, detonating it.


    Immediately, his body changed directions, evading Bloed''s saber before thrusting his sword towards Bloed again.


    Surprisingly, he was even faster than during thest attack!


    Moreover, Bloed found out that he seemed unable to evade this sword!


    Even though he could see it clearly thanks to his eyes, Nathan was so fast that Bloed''s body could not react in time.


    ''Fuck!'' Bloed cursed in his mind. Once more, he was dragged down by his weak body.


    Just through this exchange, Bleod was sure that if theypeted just in closebat, he would lose in less than five exchanges.


    Fortunately, Bloed''sbat style was much more than just closebat.


    Before Nathan''s sword could reach him, Leto''s turned into a storm of metallic sand that wrapped around Bloed. Then, the metallic sand turned into a barrier that stopped Nathan''s attack.


    Nathan frowned, but he still remained calm. Twisting his wrist, he pulled back his sword to prepare for another thrust.


    But immediately, his expression changed.


    ''Damn!''


    He could feel the metallic sand wrapping around his sword, slowly swallowing it as it advanced towards his arm.


    Moreover, arcs of electricity surged from the metallic sand, running through his sword and invading his body.


    "Ugh!" Nathan grunted in pain. However, his reaction was immediate. With a shout, he filled his sword with mana and detonated it, blowing the metallic sand away and eliminating the traces of electricity.


    Then, he jumped away and looked at Bloed and the metallic sand with a wary expression.


    Only then did the people in the surroundings managed to react.


    "So fast" Liu Ying said with an astonished expression.


    She was not the only one. All the other people in this hall besides Eres and Regina were looking at Nathan in surprise and astonishment.


    "As expected of Academy City''s Fastest Sword." Prince Calisto spoke up at that moment.


    "What do you mean?" Liu Ying asked. At the same time, Aya, Gina, Sara, Princess Elwha, and the others, looked at him.


    "It''s Nathan''s nickname." Prince Calisto replied. "The Fastest Sword. He is publicly recognized as the fastest student in the city. In terms of speed alone, he is second to none."


    The girls'' expression turned serious.


    They saw it just now. In just an instant, he had managed to attack Bloed twice, almost ending the duel right then.


    At the same time, Bloed''s expression was just as serious.


    Although he did not know about Nathan''s nickname, after experiencing his speed twice, he realized why he was so confident about his victory.


    In the same rank, Nathan''s speed was unequaled.


    ''Is it his legs?'' Bloed frowned and looked to Nathan''s legs. Through his eyes, he could see the flow of mana in his legs.


    In fact, the secret of Nathan''s speed was simple. He just gathered mana in his legs, detonating it every time that he stepped in the ground and granting him his monstrous speed.


    But although it was simple, it was not easy.


    Just the control required to detonate the mana without hurting his legs, plus the ability to control those burst of mana to control his movements freely were something that required a genius mind and tens of years of practice to realize.


    It was a skill worthy of being the trademark of the sixth strongest student in the city.


    Just like Bloed was observing Nathan, Nathan was also observing him.


    "... Your golem is amazing, Mr. bloed. Moreover, the way that you control it is just as amazing. As expected, Academy City is a ce full of geniuses."


    "Thank you."


    "Don''t thank me." Nathan shook his head. "Certainly, your golem is amazing. It''s at the top when ites to defense. But


    It''s useless against me


    In an instant, Nathan''s figure flickered.


    Bloeds expression turned grave. Without hesitation, he ordered Leto to create a barrier at his right.


    *ng!*


    The sword hit the metallic sand, but before Leto could trap Nathan, Nathan smiled.


    Then, his figure flickered again.


    Immediately


    *ng!* *ng!* *ng!* *ng!* *ng!* *ng!*


    In an instant, his sword his against Leto''s barrier repeatedly.


    Bloed''s expression changed. Through his eyes, he could see Nathan''s speed increasing with each ng.


    Moreover, he detected something else.


    Every time that his sword collided with Leto, it released a burst of mana that blew part of Leto''s metallic sand away.


    The sand quickly returned to Leto, but Nathan was attacking so quickly that the sand did not manage to return before his next attack.


    By the seventh attack, a third of Leto''s metallic sand had been dispersed.


    Just then, Nathan''s lips curved up.


    "Now."


    He whispered.


    A great amount of mana flowed into his sword. Immediately, his sword lit up, then, it collided with Leto''s barrier.


    Bloed''s expression changed. Without hesitation, he jumped back.


    Then


    *BOOM!!!*


    A terrifying explosion resounded in the training hall, blowing a great part of Leto''s away.


    The metallic wolf tried to recover quickly, but Nathan was faster.


    As soon as the hole in Leto''s defenses appeared, he rushed through it, arriving in front of Bloed in an instant.


    Then, his sword lit up again as it descended towards Bloed.


    "Darling!"


    "Bloed!"


    "My hero!"


    Bloed heard Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina''s voices of concerns, but he ignored it. At this moment, only Nathan''s sword was in his eyes.


    He looked at the sword descending towards him calmly. In his slowly moving vision, the sword was advancing towards him, slowly but unavoidably, aiming to the center of his eyebrows.


    He could see Nathan''s confident smile, as though he was sure that victory was his, and he could see the people observing the duel, looking at him in worry and concern.


    In the middle of all of that, Bloed''s mind waspletely calm.


    Just when the sword was about to touch him, he let out a word.


    "Now."


    Immediately, Oculus lit up.


    The magic runes inscribed on it activated, and the energy that Bloed supplied to it turned into mana.


    Then, a magic spell was released in Nathan''s direction.


    [Suppressive Gravity Field].


    As soon as the spell was activated, Nathan''s eyes opened wide.


    His body turned heavier, and the sword that he was swinging slowed down.


    It was just slightly slower, but it was enough for Bloed.


    Calmly, he swung his saber for the second time today, aiming towards Nathan''s sword.


    Then, the sword was cut into two.

 Chapter 430: Academy City’s Fastest Sword (3)

    Chapter 430: Academy City¡¯s Fastest Sword (3)


    Nathan''s eyes opened wide. He watched with an astonished expression as Bloed''s saber cut his swordpletely.


    His expression was filled with surprise and astonishment. He could not understand why his body felt heavy or how Bloed''s saber could cut through his sword so easily.


    Before he could understand it, though, he saw Bloed taking one step forward.


    With that step, the distance between him and Bloed was closed. At that distance, Bloed''s saber was swung again.


    Nathan''s face paled.


    He reacted quickly. Without hesitating, he kicked the ground to jump back.


    But only then he did realize how bad his situation was.


    His body, much heavier than before under the two-fold gravity of [Suppressive Gravity Field], felt like it was a rock. The movements that normally he could realize easily became slower and awkward,pletely different than normal.


    Moreover, all of sudden, he saw Bloed''s eyes lit up, and an even stronger pressure overwhelmed him.


    [King''s Pressure]!


    Under the effects of [Suppressive Gravity Field] and [King''s Pressure], Nathan''s movements paused for just an instant.


    It was just an instant, but it was fatal in this situation.


    *sh!*


    Before he could move away, Bloed''s saber had cut him.


    "Ugh!"


    Blood flowed out of Nathan''s waist.


    Fortunately, he managed to twist his body away at thest second, barely avoiding a grave injury. However, he had still been injured.


    Furthermore, Nathan''s predicament had not ended.


    Metallic sand surged around him, rushing towards his location violently.


    In an instant, the metallic sand had blocked all his routes of escape as it rushed towards him.


    "Bastard!" Nathan cursed out loud. Instinctively, he knew that if he was trapped by the metallic sand it would be his end.


    Thus, he burst out his mana, releasing as much as he could in a violent attack and creating an opening in Leto''s encirclement.


    But when he rushed through that opening, he was greeted by two sma bullets!


    Both bullets were just in front of him, as though they had predicted his location. At this distance, Nathan could not avoid them.


    He could only raise his broken sword to block them.


    *Bam!* *Bam!*


    The sound of the two bullets impacting the sword resounded in the hall. The strength of the two bullets blew Nathan away, and the high-temperature of the sma charred the already damaged sword.


    But Nathan was definitively an outstanding student. Just in the instant that the bullets hit him, he used the strength of the sma explosion to jump away, distancing himself from Bloed.


    Unfortunately for him, even that had been predicted by Bloed.


    When his feet touched the ground, he realized that something was wrong.


    Below his feet, metallic sand wriggled eerily as it wrapped around his right leg and tied it down.


    ''Damn!''


    Nathan only managed to curse in his mind. Then


    *Zag!*


    A violent electric current shook his body.


    His face turned pale. Blood flowed out of his lips, and his clothes became tattered.


    Even so, he did not despair. Quite the opposite, his expression turned fierce like a cornered wolf.


    "Bastard!" Bellowing, he filled his body with mana and released it in the form of a shockwave!


    The shockwave blew Leto''s metallic sand away. At the same time, it gave Nathan a respite.


    But it was just an instant.


    Because just then, he saw Bloed''s eyes looking at him coldly.


    Then, Oculus in the sky lit up.


    In the next second


    *BOOOMMMMM!!!*


    A torrent of sma descended on Nathan''s head as Nathan''s face turned ashen white.


    Then


    *BOOM!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the training hall, creating a cloud of dust that obstructed Bloed and the girls'' sight.


    "Is it done?" Gina could not help but ask when she saw that.


    Just then, though, something shed in the cloud of smoke.


    Then


    "I won''t lose!"


    With a cry, a figure broke through the cloud of dust, rushing towards Bloed like crazy!


    The figure waspletely battered, with burns of different degrees all around his body and his hair charred down. But even so, his eyes were filled with fighting intent.


    Gripping his broken sword, he looked at Bloed before flickering and disappearing.


    When he reappeared, he was just in front of Bloed with his sword swinging towards his neck.


    ''Fast!'' Bloed''s eyes widened. Nathan''s speed had be even faster than before.


    Hos sword cut through the air, arriving in front of Bloed before he could even think of moving his body away.


    Fortunately


    *ng!*


    Leto''s metallic barrier managed to stop the attack.


    "Dammit!" Nathan growled. In an instant, powerful mana erupted from his body, allowing him to release an even stronger sword attack!


    The attack was so powerful and fast that it cut through Leto''s barrier easily!


    "!!!"


    Bloed''s face changed. He hurriedly ducked away to avoid the attack, but as soon as he avoided it, another attack wasing for him.


    Bloed hurriedly created another barrier and jumped away. At the same time, he ordered Oculus to shot a barrage of sma bullets!


    Leto and Oculus attacks managed to block Nathan for an instant, but it was just an instant. With fierce eyes, he looked in Bloed direction and his figure disappeared again.


    Then, he appeared once more beside Bloed, his sword descending like a grim reaper ready to take his life.


    "Bloed!" Liu Ying and the others cried in concern. Fortunately, Bloed managed to dodge the attack, but seeing Nathan continuing with another sh, the girls'' faces turned pale.


    "Regina, stop it! He is using mana beyond the B-Rank!" Liu Ying hurriedly said. "He went against his word."


    Regina narrowed her eyes, but she did not move.


    In fact, she even stopped Eres who was nning to interfere.


    Then, she looked in the direction of the battle and spoke up calmly.


    "Trust master. He won''t lose so easily."


    The girls were startled, but they could only calm down after hearing that.


    Anyway, they knew that Regina would never put Bloed''s life at risk.


    However, they continued looking at the battlefield in concern.


    Even now, Nathan continued attacking Bloed restlessly. His attacks were so fast that Bloed barely avoided them in the nick of time, and more than once, he had been very close to being caught.


    But it was just then that the girls noticed something.


    Even in this situation, Bloed''s face waspletely calm.


    It was as though he did not care about the fact that Nathan went against his words, or as though he thought nothing of the broken sword aiming to his neck once and again.


    He just looked at Nathan silently, his saber resting in his hand.


    Finally, he said two works.


    "It''s finished."


    Then, his saber was swung again.

 Chapter 431: Academy City’s Fastest Sword (4)

    Chapter 431: Academy City¡¯s Fastest Sword (4)


    "It''s finished." Bloed''s calm voice reached Nathan''s ears as he swung his saber.


    Bloed''s saber was much slower than Nathan''s sword. When he swung his saber, Nathan''s sword was about to reach his neck.


    But suddenly, Nathan''s expression changed.


    Because strangely, he realized that Bloed''s saber reached his neck before his sword!


    Nathan hurriedly pulled back his sword and avoided Bloed''s saber. Then, he attacked again.


    But just like before, Bloed''s swung his saber calmly.


    Compared to Nathan''s sword, Bloed''s saber was much slower. Strangely, though, Nathan realized that Bloed''s saber was about to touch his neck again.


    If he continued with his attack, he would lose his head before he could defeat Bloed.


    ''What?''


    Nathan was stupefied. Instinctively, he moved away and attacked again. This time, he attacked from apletely different direction.


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    But this time, he realized that Bloed''s saber was about to pierce his eyebrows.


    It was as though Bloed''s saber had been waiting for him to appear. As though Bloed could read his movements.


    And in fact, it was what was happening.


    Right now, Bloed''s blue eyes werepletely fixed on Nathan, deciphering every one of his movements and using his database to determine his next course of action.


    No matter how Nathan attacked, or which direction his attack came from, Bloed''s saber was always waiting for him.


    ''What is happening?'' Nathan was stupefied. He hurriedly jumped away, distancing himself from Bloed and looking at him with a confused and stupefied expression.


    Even now, he could not understand what was happening.


    However, Bloed was already getting tired from this battle.


    "It''s already time to end this." Bloed simply said.


    He then turned part of Leto in a gun and aimed it at Nathan.


    Nathan''s face changed. After experiencing the power the Bloed''s bullets before, he did not dare to take them head-on.


    But after he avoided them, he realized that more bullets wereing towards the ce where he avoided.


    "!!!"


    Nathan''s eyes opened wide. Flustered, he twisted his body to avoid the bullets, but then, Leto''s metallic sand surged up, appearing suddenly and grabbing his leg.


    ''Damn it!'' Nathan cursed in his mind and used mana to blew away the metallic sand before it could release the electric current, however, as soon as he blew away the sand, more bullets came towards him followed by metallic san.


    "Damn! What is it!?" n cursed angrily and kicked the ground, shing away from his location and charging towards Bloed again while aiming his broken sword at Bloed''s heart.


    Bloed, however, just looked at him calmly.


    "It''s useless."


    Just like before, he moved his saber.


    And his saber arrived in front of Nathan''s neck before Nathan''s sword could reach him.


    When he saw that, Nathan''s face paled.


    Finally, he had realized that something was wrong.


    He jumped away, only to be greeted by several bullets and metallic sand ready to catch him.


    ''What is happening?'' Nathan avoided the attacks and asked himself. His expression was filled with dread and confusion.


    Because he realized that avoiding the attacks was useless. Every time that he did, sma bullets, metallic sand, or Bloed''s saber was waiting for him in the ce where he avoided.


    For the first time since the battle started, Nathan felt feat.


    Right now, he felt like a fly trapped into a spiderweb. It was as though every one of his movements was being predicted by his opponent.


    ''How is it possible?''


    Nathan tried to deny his guess with an expression of fear, but the sabering towards him forced him to ept the reality.


    Since a while ago, it seemed like each one of his moves was in Bloed''s hands.


    He felt like a puppet being manipted. Unable to escape from the strings moving it.


    No matter how much he struggled, no matter how much he fought back, everything was under his enemy''s control.


    Nathan''s eyes shook. He looked in Bloed''s direction, his ck eyes meeting Bloed''s calm blue ones.


    Instantly, he felt as though every one of his thoughts was being read.


    "Did you finally understand?" Bloed asked calmly while walking towards him.


    Nathan did not reply. He put on an expression of dread and shouted, attacking Bloed fiercely, but Bloed just twisted his body slightly and countered with his saber, creating a cut in his chest.


    "Since the moment the battle started, I have been reading every one of your movements. It was a bit hard at the start because your movement technique is something that I had never seen before, but once I understood the underlying principles behind it, it was easy to predict it as well."


    Nathan screamed, swinging his broken sword in an attempt to injure Bloed, but he was stopped by metallic sand as bullets rained on him from above.


    "It was a bit harder when you released your entire strength. Unfortunately, you were already injured and had used a lot of mana to escape from Oculus''s sma ray. Thus, you became unable to show your true power. Right now, you should be thirty percent slower than normal, right?"


    Nathan did not reply. He roared in rage and used his sword to sh at Bloed, but Bloed parried his attack easily and kicked his belly, sending him flying away.


    "Perhaps it would have been different if you would have been in top condition, but right now, your attacks are not threatening to me." Bloed''s words werepletely calm as he walked towards Nathan calmly.


    Nathan''s mistake was to underestimate Bloed. When he decided to suppress his mana to the peak of B-Rank, his defeat was unavoidable.


    If he would have fought with his true strength from the start, Bloed would have surely lost. However, there was no way that Bloed could lose against someone at his level.


    In fact, Bloed had not even used his trump cards like [Imaginary sh] or [Door of Nothingness]. From the start to the end, Bloed only used his most simple attacks.


    Nathan did not know it, but he ended helping Bloed test the performance of his improved machines.


    Looking at the young man lying on the ground in front of him, Bloed extended his saber and pressed it against his neck.


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    "Mr. Nathan, it''s your loss."


    Nathan looked at Bloed nkly. For several seconds, he did not speak up.


    But then, tears started to flow out of his eyes.


    Covering his eyes with his arms, Nathan started to cry silently.


    Just like that, the duel between Bloed and Nathan came to an end.

 Chapter 432: A New Subordinate

    Chapter 432: A New Subordinate


    Bloed looked at Nathan crying and fell silent. For an instant, he could not help but feel bad for him.


    However, he soon shook off that thought of his mind.


    In the end, Nathan and he were enemies. He was the winner, and Nathan the loser.


    If the situation would have been reversed, then he knew that Nathan would not feel bad for him.


    Just then, the club members that were observing the battle rushed towards them.


    "Big Brother Bloed, it was amazing!"


    "Yes, my hero! You were so cool!"


    Bloed patted the heads of Prince Calisto and Gina and looked at the rest of the group.


    "Thank you. Nathan was a difficult enemy, though."


    "Well done, Master," Regina said with a smile. She then looked at the young man lying on the ground with a curious expression.


    "What should I do with him?"


    "Take him to a recovery chamber. He was badly injured."


    Regina nodded and waved her hand, using her energy to lift Nathan and take him away.


    "Big brother, what are you going to do with him?" Eres asked.


    Bloed thought for a moment and shrugged. "Let''s wait until he wakes up. Perhaps he won''t want to ept his loss, thus I have to wait and see how he reacts."


    "Hmph! I don''t like him! That guy is not trustworthy." Liu Ying snorted. She still remembered that he had gone back in his words and used peak A-Rank mana to fight Bloed.


    Fortunately, he had already been injured by Oculus''s sma ray by then, so Bloed managed to defeat him despite it. But even so, Liu Ying did not like him.


    Bloed smiled wryly and patted Liu Ying''s head to calm her down. Anyway, he needed to wait until he woke up to know what he is going to do with him.


    If Nathan epted his loss and kept his words, then Bloed would happily ept him as his subordinate. A subordinate like him could be very useful.


    But if he didn''t ept his loss, then Bloed simply would continue his n to destroy Wings of Libertypletely.


    In fact, judging from Nathan''s personality, he thought that the second option was the most likely.


    But to his surprise, Nathan calmly epted his loss when Bloed saw him again.


    "A word is a word," Nathan said with a sigh. "Don''t worry, I know how to ept it when I lose and when I win."


    Bloed was slightly surprised.


    " You are taking it more easily than I thought."


    Nathan smiled bitterly. "What can I do? Wings of Liberty is already doomed, and you have a demigod protecting you, I can''t even think of revenge. Myst opportunity to turn the tables around was defeating you here, but I waspletely defeated. Tell me, what else can I do?"


    "You are right." Bloed nodded. "Then, are you going to be my follower from today onwards?"


    "I guess so." Nathan''s expression wasplicated. Several emotions shed through his eyes before he sighed. "Give me a week. I will disband Wings of Liberty first and thene to follow you."


    "Are you going to disband it? Why?"


    Nathan was surprised.


    "What do you mean? I promised to be your subordinate and I n to keep my word."


    "Yes, but you don''t need to disband your club to keep your word."


    Nathan was stunned.


    "Do you mean that Wings of Liberty can keep existing?"


    "Yes. I don''t see any need to disband it."


    "But, if I want to be your follower"


    "Nobody else will know that you are my follower, right?" Bloed smiled yfully. "Let''s do it this way. I will stop the rumors about Wings of Liberty. As for you, you will be my follower but continue being the leader of Wings of Liberty. Your current life will not change, but if I need help, you won''t hesitate to move then."


    Nathan was startled. But then, he smiled wryly.


    "You sure are greedy. You want to have an entire organization as subordinate instead of just a single individual."


    Bloed shrugged.


    "Then, what do you say about my proposal?"


    Nathan smiled bitterly and put on a helpless expression.


    " I agree. Pleased to work with you, boss."


    "Please to work with you, Nathan."


    Once Nathan was gone, Regina appeared behind Bloed with a frown on her face.


    "Master, are you sure that you can trust him?"


    "Of course not." Bloed smiled. "But that guy is very prideful. He won''t go against his word easily, at least for a while. Moreover, having more allies is always better than having more enemies, and with Wings of Liberty''s influence, I''m sure that there are many things that I will find easier to do."


    Regina furrowed her brows slightly.


    "What if he betrays you, master?"


    "Then we just need to make him pay. Just as simple as that."


    "... You are right." Regina nodded. "If he dares, I will make him learn what is true pain."


    Bloed smiled wryly in his mind.


    Yeah, knowing Regina''s overprotectiveness, he could imagine Nathan''s fate if he dared to betray him.


    Bloed shook his head and stopped thinking about that.


    Now that he took care of Nathan and Wings of Liberty''s situation, he needed to worry about his next problem.


    Tomorrow was the battle of clubs against [Flying Leaves].


    And it would be Machine Revolutio''s hardest battle since the War of Clubs started.

 Chapter 433: VS Flying Leaves (1)

    Chapter 433: VS Flying Leaves (1)


    [Best of Ten].


    It was a style ofpetition where two parties would select ten representatives to fight against each other in ten individual battles.


    Every member could participate once; and in the end, the club with the highest number of victories would be the winner. But, in the case where both teams have the same number of victories, then both clubs would choose one of their ten members to fight onest battle to decide the winner.


    Of the different challenges in the War of Clubs, it was one of the most exciting, and because it tested thebat effectiveness of ten different members of the club, instead of individual strength, it was very popr among the clubs.


    But for Bloed''s club, [Machine Revolutio], this challenge was a nightmare.


    For a very simple reason.


    [Machine Revolutio] did not have enough high-level members.


    Counting his sister, Machine Revolutio only had three A-Rank members; Eres, Sara, and Princess Elwha who just became an A-Rank. And even if Bloed included Liu Ying, Aya, and himself in the team, them Machine Revolutio would only have at most six members capable of facing an A-Rank.


    The enemy team, on the other hand, had a total of eight A-Ranks and several peak B-Ranks. In other words, theirbat power was much greater than Machine Revolutio.


    However, Bloed was not nning to give up despite that. He was nning toplete the goal the Headmistress assign to him of making Machine Revolutio one of the top thirty clubs during this War of Clubs.


    And to do that, he needed to win today.


    Aware of that, Bloed decided to do everything he could to tilt the odds in his favor.


    and due to that


    " Liu Ying, do you know where Bloed is?" Princess Elwha asked with a frown.


    Liu Ying smiled wryly and shook her head. "He only said that he needed to do something and wouldeter. I don''t know where he went."


    Princess Elwha fell silent. She then let out a long sigh.


    "That idiot. The challenge is about to start but he is still not here. What are we going to do if he does not arrive in time?"


    Yes, despite the fact that the challenge was about to start, neither Bloed nor Regina had arrived yet.


    All the main members of the club had arrived but them, thus it was normal that Liu Ying, Elwha, and the others were slightly nervous.


    Seeing that, a petite honey-haired girl spoke up with a smile.


    "Don''t worry about that, miss Elwha, my hero will arrive in time."


    "Little Gina? Do you know where Bloed is?"


    Gina just smiled mysteriously and did not speak. She just said that it was a secret, and no matter how much Princess Elwha and the other asked, she did not reveal anything.


    Just then, a group of people approached them.


    The group was led by a very beautiful ck-haired girl. The girl was smiling softly, but strangely, you could feel a sharp aura pouring out of her.


    The aura was so sharp that Liu Ying and the others could not help but release their mana as soon as they felt it.


    " The leader of Flying Leaves, Anna." Aya, who had been with Bloed when they met the girl a few days ago, recognized her immediately.


    "You are Aya, right?" Anna replied smilingly before looking at the rest of the group. "And you must be the members of Machine Revolutio. Nice to meet you. I thought about greeting you before the start of the challenge, but I don''t see Mr. Bloed. Is he not here?"


    " He will arrive soon." Liu Ying spoke with a sharp tone. She did not bother to hide her hostility. After all, this group was their opponent for this challenge.


    Anna did not mind it, though. Instead, she just smiled.


    "Is it so? It''s a shame. I wanted to talk to him a bit before the challenge. I thought about apologizing to him."


    " Apologize? Heh. It looks like you are sure of your victory, huh. Don''t you think you are being too arrogant?"


    "Of course not." Anna looked at Liu Ying with a smile. "Even though I admire Machine Revolutio and Mr. Bloed, unfortunately, you don''t have any chance of victory."


    Liu Ying''s eyes narrowed. At the same time, the girls behind her put on sharp expressions.


    Looking at the expressions of Aya, Princess Elwha, Gina, Sara, and Eres, Anna smiled slightly and turned around.


    "Well, the battle is about to start. I hope you don''t disappoint me too much. We prepared a lot for today after all."


    The girls did not reply and just watched her leave.


    " I don''t like her." Aya spoke up as soon as she was gone.


    "Too arrogant." Eres nodded. "Does she truly think she can defeat my brother so easily?"


    "Well, to be honest, they had the advantage right now." Liu Ying smiled wryly.


    Just then, a person appeared in the sky above the arena. It was a middle-aged man emitting powerful mana fluctuations from his entire body.


    A demigod, and the arbiter of today''s challenge.


    Liu Ying, Aya, and the girls tensed up as soon as they saw him.


    "Are both clubs ready?" The man asked as soon as he arrived, looking at both clubs calmly.


    Liu Ying and the girls panicked slightly. Bloed had not arrived yet!


    But just then, a voice came from behind them.


    "We are."


    Surprised, the girls turned around only to see Bloed and Regina walking towards them smilingly.


    "Finally, you are here." Liu Ying and the others sighed in relief. But before they could ask him why he waste, the demigod nodded and started to exin the rules of the challenge.


    Once he was done exining the rules, he spoke up.


    "If nobody has any question, both clubs can send their first contestant."


    The group turned nervous. Immediately, they turned towards Bloed to ask him who was going first.


    But at that moment, a rxed voice sounded.


    "I will go."


    Surprised, the group looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a brown-skinned girl leaning against a wall rxedly.


    "Are you sure?" Bloed asked with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the surprise and confusion of the girls, and the girl shrugged confidently.


    "The first battle is important, right? Then, I will go. Don''t worry, none of them can defeat me."


    Bloed hesitated briefly before nodding.


    "I leave it to you then."


    The girl smiled. She then stretched out her arms before walking towards the stage calmly.


    " My lord, is that girl?" Sara spoke up with an expression of surprise. "But I thought she said she would not participate in the War of Clubs. How did you convince her?"


    "Well, I just offered her something that she wanted." Bloed smiled mysteriously and looked at the back of the gray-haired and brown-skinned girl.


    Her name was Diodora, a half-member of Machine Revolutio.


    At the same time, she was a Peak A-Rank Practitioner.

 Chapter 434: VS Flying Leaves (2)

    Chapter 434: VS Flying Leaves (2)


    One hour before the challenge.


    Bloed knew how difficult the challenge against Flying Leaves would be. To be honest, he was not confident about his chances of victory.


    Thus, he decided to visit someone before the start of the challenge and try to convince her to help him.


    That was the reason why Bloed was seated across a gray-haired and brown-skinneddy right now.


    Her name was Diodora, and she was one of the members of Machine Revolutio.


    Or at least, she was a half-member.


    Well, the truth was that she had not gone to the club even once since the first time that Bloed saw her.


    "So you came to ask for my help, huh." The girl, of around twenty years of age, said with an amused expression. "And why do you think that I''m going to help you? I exined to you my circumstances before, right? Did you forget about it?"


    Bloed smiled bitterly. Of course, he had not forgotten.


    Diodora was a member of Machine Revolutio only in name. In truth, she belonged to seven different clubs, but she did not belong to any of them at the same time.


    The only reason why she ''belonged'' to these clubs was to use them to acquire the resources and knowledge that she was interested in, and in exchange, she helped them asionally.


    However, she did not participate in stuff such as the War of Clubs, after all, she was already threading in the edge of the rules when she belonged to seven different clubs simultaneously. And if she participated in the War of Clubs representing a specific club, she would be unable to continue doing that.


    After all, what if she decided to help all seven clubs during the War of Clubs? Nobody would allow that.


    But despite being aware of that, Bloed still decided toe here.


    He was confident he could convince her.


    Perhaps aware of that, Diodora narrowed her eyes and stared at Bloed with a scrutinizing expression.


    " Tell me your offer. Let me see why you are so confident."


    Bloed took a deep breath and spoke up.


    "ess up to the second floor of the Great Library. You will be able to enter and read any of the books there for one week."


    Diodora''s amused expression cracked up briefly, showing shock. However, it disappeared instantly, reced by a sharp look.


    " I see. That is indeed a very attractive offer."


    The reason why Diodora was in seven clubs at the same time was due to the knowledge and resources she could obtain from them; knowledge being her priority.


    Duo to that, ess to the Great Library, where most of the knowledge of Academy City was stored and where few people could enter, was certainly something that she wanted.


    Bloed remembered that she asked him about it when she was in Machine Revolutiost time. Thus, Bloed knew that using it was the only chance to convince her to help him.


    And as he expected, Diodora seemed tempted by his offer.


    The gray-haired girl fell silent and put on a pensive expression. She then closed her eyes before opening them and looking at Bloed with a ring look.


    "I''m sorry, but I can''t believe your words. I have tried for a long time, but I have only managed to get ess to the first floor. Why should I believe that you managed to do in one month what I could not do in years?"


    Bloed said nothing. Instead, he took something out of his storage device.


    It was a token. Something that the headmistress gave to him beforeing here.


    To be honest, even Bloed was surprised when Headmistress Wave epted his request, but she said that it was one of the perks of being her disciple.


    Most likely, she knew how difficult Bloed next battle would be, so perhaps this was her way to help him indirectly.


    Thanks to that, though, he could persuade the brow-skinned girl in front of him.


    Diodora fell silent when she saw the token. She knew what it meant.


    Thus, she sighed and smiled bitterly.


    " Even though I don''t want to do this, this is an offer that I can''t reject."


    "Then, will you help us?"


    "I will." Diodora sighed and nodded. "I will have to apologize to the other clubster, though Sigh, I can already imagine the fuss."


    Just like that, Diodora''s participation in the challenge was secured.


    And now, the gray-skinned girl was standing in the arena with a calm smile.


    In front of her, a twenty-something young man belonging to Flying Leaves was looking at her with a keen a cautious look.


    The reason was simple. He had not seen Diodora''s information in the information about Machine Revolutio.


    Moreover, despite being just a few meters away from her, he could not feel her mana rank at all. No matter how much he looked at her, she looked like a normal person.


    But that was impossible, a normal person could not enter this city.


    In other words, it was theplete opposite.


    '' She is strong.''


    The fact that she could hide her cultivation from someone like him was enough to speak of her abilities.


    Contrary to the wary expression of the young man, though, Diodora seemed extremely calm, as though she did not find the young man dangerous at all.


    While they were observing each other, the demigod in charge of the battle looked at them and spoke up.


    "Are you ready?"


    Both of them nodded.


    "Then start!"


    As soon as the words of the demigod sounded, the young man moved.


    In an instant, a spear appeared in his hand. Then, he rushed towards Diodora at an extreme speed!


    He was so fast that most of the audience did not manage to see him move. In just an instant, he was in front of Diodora, his spear just centimeters away from her chest.


    But in that instant, his eyes widened.


    His face turned pale, and his eyes shook. Then, his face flushed violently as he spat out a mouthful of blood.


    At some point in time, Diodora had disappeared and appeared behind him, her hand touching his back.


    Moreover, the demigod had appeared between them, using his hand to grab Diodora''s wrist and stop her from hurting the young man further.


    Looking at the smiling Diodora with an expression of surprise, the demigod''s eyes narrowed in wariness.


    This girl...


    Meanwhile, Diodora just continued smiling, as though nothing was wrong.


    The demigod grunted coldly before removing his hand.


    Then, he announced the result of the first battle.


    "The first round goes to Machine Revolutio."


    With that, cheers erupted from the audience.


    The Score was 1-0 in favor of Machine Revolutio.

 Chapter 435: VS Flying Leaves (3)

    Chapter 435: VS Flying Leaves (3)


    "Impossible! Harry was!" Harold, one of the members of Flying Leaves, stood up in surprise as soon as the demigod announced the end of the battle.


    He was not the only one. Each one of the members of Flying Leaves had stood up, looking towards the stage with surprised expressions.


    "Yaru, what do you think?" Anna asked the young man seated beside her.


    The young man narrowed his eyes and stared at Diodora fixedly.


    " She is very strong."


    Anna nodded with a grave expression.


    She could see it as well. In fact, she could see it better than Yaru.


    ''Where did shee from? I did not know that Machine revolution had such a powerhouse.''


    Harold was a peak A-Rank. He was one of the strongest members of Flying Leaves, however, he was defeated so easily that he seemed like a child facing an adult.


    Moreover, the way the gray-haired girl defeated him.


    ''I could not see how she moved.''


    Anna''s expression was serious.


    Actually, she was not so surprised by the fact that Harold was defeated. After all, she could defeat him as well.


    However, even she could not do it so easily.


    The way how Diodora defeated the peak A-Rank young man made it seem as though she was a whole level above him.


    In fact, Bloed and the members of Machine Revolutio were just as surprised.


    Even Eres, who normally did not put anyone in her eyes, was looking at Diodora with a stern expression.


    "Brother, she is very strong."


    "Stronger than you?" Bloed asked.


    " I don''t know."


    Bloed nodded and looked at the stage silently.


    Just then, Diodora left the stage as the copsed Harold was taken out by a pair of healing mages.


    Diodora walked towards Bloed with a calm smile, as though she had simply gone out for a walk.


    "Done. I did my part. Are you satisfied?"


    "Satisfied, of course." Bloed sighed in admiration. "I knew you were strong, but even so, I''m surprised."


    Diodora shrugged calmly.


    "Well, now that I have done my part, I''m leaving."


    "Already? Are you not going to see the rest of the fights?"


    "Unfortunately, I can''t. I will be busyter."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but he did not ask anything else.


    "Is it so? Thank you, then."


    "No need for thanks. I was just doing my part of the deal."


    After saying that, Diodora waved her hand and left the arena calmly.


    " What a strange woman." Liu Ying murmured, making Bloed nod.


    He still remembered what Gina said the first time they met her. That she could not see anything about Diodora.


    As though she did not exist.


    However, now was not the time to worry about that.


    Just at that moment, the demigod in charge of the challenge spoke up again.


    "The two clubs, please send the next contestant."


    Immediately, the girls looked at Bloed at the same time.


    "Bloed, who is going next?" Princess Elwha asked with an eager expression. "Should I go?"


    Bloed thought for a moment and shook his head.


    "No, it''s better if you don''t fight in this round."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Think about it. Flying Leaves lost thest round, so what do you think is their priority?"


    " Winning this time?"


    "Yes." Bloed nodded. "Losing twice since the start can affect their morale greatly, so most likely, they will send one of their strongest members. What do you think we should do then?"


    Princess Elwha fell silent for a moment before understanding Bloed''s intention.


    "Do you mean?"


    Bloed nodded. He then looked at the honey-haired girl beside him, surprising her.


    "Huh? Me?"


    One minuteter, on the stage.


    The demigod was looking towards the petite honey-haired girl with a strange expression.


    "Are you sure you want to participate?"


    Gina nodded.


    "Why? Can''t I?"


    Looking at Gina''s innocent smile, the demigod was speechless. It was not about if she could or could not.


    He could see that this girl was just at the D-Rank. Moreover, it was obvious she had zerobat experience.


    On the other hand, her opponent was a furiouste-stage A-Rank girl.


    "Are you joking with me?" Thete-stage A-Rank girl gritted her teeth in anger, but Gina just tilted her head innocently.


    Sighing, the demigod tilted her head and nodded.


    "Very well, if both of you are ready, sta!"


    But before he could finish speaking, he saw Gina raising her hand.


    "Yes?"


    "Well, about that, I give up."


    The demigod did not know whether tough or to cry.


    "I knew this wasing."


    He then looked at the girl of Flying Leaves with an expression of pity and spoke up.


    "Well, the winner of this round is Flying Leaves."


    " I understand."


    With a dark face, the girl turned around and left the stage angrily.


    Meanwhile, Gina giggled and left the stage with a bright smile.


    Like this, the winner of the second match was Flying Leaves.


    The score was 1-1.

 Chapter 436: VS Flying Leaves (4)

    Chapter 436: VS Flying Leaves (4)


    "Is it truly alright?" Liu Ying asked with an awkward expression after Gina returned.


    "Why not?" Bloed shrugged. "I''m just using our resources appropriately."


    Liu Ying twitched her lips. She could imagine how the girl of Flying Leaves that ''faced'' Gina was feeling now.


    After all, she went to the stage with the determination to fight bravely and get a victory for her club, but in exchange, she was involved in a joke.


    However, Liu Ying had to admit that Bloed''s n was effective.


    In the end, Machine Revolution was disadvantaged in the number of people that could fight. With this n, they did not have to worry about that peak A-Rank girl for the rest of thepetition; meanwhile, their side''s only loss was Gina.


    Gina was just a D-Rank practitioner. Exchanging a D-Rank for an A-Rank was worth it.


    Unfortunately, this kind of n hardly would work again.


    From now onwards, Flying Leaves would be wary of Bloed''s intentions and would be careful about the members they send to the stage.


    ''Well, at least we don''t have to worry about that peak A-Rank practitioner anymore.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    Counting the peak A-Rank practitioner that fought Diodora before, then only one peak A-Rank practitioner remained in Flying Leaves'' team.


    Just then, the demigod spoke up again.


    "Both clubs, please send your next contestant to the stage.


    As soon as the words sounded, the entire group looked at Bloed as they waited for him to chose who to send next.


    Bloed looked at each one of them briefly, and finally, his eyes fell on Aya.


    "Aya, are you ready?"


    The ck-haired cat girl was surprised, but she did not hesitate to reply.


    " I am. I won''t disappoint you."


    "I know." Bloed nodded. "Be careful."


    The cat girl nodded expressionlessly before going towards the stage.


    "Will she be alright?" Princess Elwha asked with a slight expression of worry.


    Bloed did not reply. He just stared at Aya as she walked towards the stage.


    '' Flying Leaves most likely will not send anyone too strong after what happenedst round Perhaps Aya has a chance.''


    At that moment, the person representing Flying Leaves arrived at the stage as well.


    He was a young man around twenty years old, with blonde hair and a calm expression.


    As for his cultivation, it was at the initial stage of A-Rank.


    The young man was not holding any weapon, but the aura around him showed that he was an experiencedbatant. He was not going to be an easy opponent.


    The girls were slightly nervous when they saw him, but Bloed sighed in relief instead.


    "Initial A-Rank, huh Aya should stand a chance then"


    Meanwhile, Aya and the young man of Flying Leaves were observing each other.


    "Peak B-Rank?" The young man frowned. "Is your club nning to give up this battle as well?"


    Aya did not reply. Instead, she grabbed her daggers calmly as she waited for the signal to start the battle.


    The young man''s frown deepened, but before he could continue speaking, the demigod''s voice sounded.


    "Are both of you ready? Then, start."


    As soon as the demigod finished speaking, Aya moved.


    In an instant, her lithe and petite body dashed forward, arriving in front of the young man quickly.


    She held both daggers in a backward grip. Then, she raised them and stabbed towards different parts of the young man''s body, a dagger going to his neck and the other to his kidney.


    However, the young man''s eyes followed Aya''s movements easily with a calm expression. Even when Aya''s daggers were centimeters away from him, his expression did not change.


    Then, when she was about to cut him, his lips opened slightly.


    "[Burn]."


    With a word, mana flowed out of his body. It immediately turned into a ring of fire that spread from his body outwards!


    Aya''s expression changed. At this distance, she could not avoid the mes. Thus, she filled her daggers with mana to cut the ring of fire into two.


    But to her surprise, as soon as her daggers touched the mes, the ring of fire seemed to be alive, converging into a ball of fire that exploded violently at point-nk range!


    Aya''s eyes opened wide. She did not hesitate to jump backward, using the heat and shock of the explosion to distance herself from the young man as she created a barrier around her to protect herself from the fire.


    But that was a bad move. The young man was a mage, and it wasmon knowledge that mages were generally stronger at farther distances.


    "Fire Spell, [All-Consuming Sea of Fire]."


    The voice of the young man reached Aya''s ears, followed by fierce mes that surged all around the stage, turning it into a dominion of fire.


    Moreover, the mes seemed to know that Aya was the enemy. Under the control of the young man, they were like bloodthirsty snakes, chasing her and forcing her to move continuously.


    Aya''s face turned grave. She furrowed her brows as she evaded the mes attacking her once and again. Moreover, she was forced to create a barrier of mana around her body to protect herself from the fire around her.


    The cat girl immediately realized the gravity of the situation. At this rate, she would lose very soon!


    In fact, she knew that if she did not find a way to reverse the situation, then in less than five minutes she would lose after consuming her entire mana pool.


    But that was not the worst part.


    Even now, while she was evading the attacks of the young man, she could see him getting ready to cast a new spell.


    But


    ''I can''t lose''


    She was not going to lose here. Not when she promised him that she was not going to disappoint him.


    Thus, in that instant, her eyes turned sharp.


    Then, her hands grabbed the cloak she was wearing.


    Cloak of Tiabennes.


    It was the artifact she received as a reward from the king of the Great Savannah after the incident with the Church of ughter.


    This cloak had only one ability.


    The ability to hide its owner''s presence.


    However, that alone would not be enough. Even if she used the cloak, the mes would reveal her whereabouts immediately after that.


    Therefore, she needed to use something else.


    And fortunately, she had it.


    With an expressionless look, Aya''s lips opened slightly.


    "Appear." She spoke up. "[Night Symphony]."


    Instantly, darkness filled the battleground, consuming the mes and erasing every noise in the surroundings.


    "That is" The demigod opened his eyes wide in surprise as soon as he saw that. "Domain."

 Chapter 437: VS Flying Leaves (5)

    Chapter 437: VS Flying Leaves (5)


    I was busy the past few days, so I bring two chapters today. I should post tomorrow as well. Wish me luck...


    ...


    Domain, also known as ''Territory''.


    This technique consisted of spreading mana to the surroundings, creating a space around oneself where one''s abilities were strengthened while the enemy was weakened.


    The concept behind this ability was very simple, however, it was very hard to execute. After all, the amount of mana and control needed to put it into practice was exorbitant.


    Due to it, this kind of technique was usually used only by demigods, and even if a non-demigod used it, it was usually iplete.


    Today, however, Aya had shown her own ''Domain''.


    [Night Symphony].


    Aplete and almost perfect domain. Through this technique, Aya could create a space of darkness and stillness around her. Inside this space, the enemy would lose both sight and hearing, and even their control over mana would be greatly affected. Aya, on the other hand, had her senses enhanced and could use the darkness to move inside her domain freely.


    The power of this domain was overwhelming. Much higher than the half-assed domains that Bloed had seen until now. In fact, it was not wrong to say that this domain was at the level of a demigod.


    It was so strong that none of the people outside the stage could see what was happening inside the domain. Only Bloed (through his eyes), Regina, and the demigod in charge of the battle could see what was happening inside.


    That was the reason the demigod was surprised. He could not believe that a technique of this level could be seen in a girl barely fifteen years old.


    However, the person most surprised was the young man facing Aya.


    All of sudden, his sight and hearing were gone and he was consumed by overwhelming darkness.


    Having lost his two most important senses, the young man could not help but panic.


    He tried to use his mana to detect Aya, but it was then that the Cloak of Tiabennes came into use. It hid Aya''s aura almostpletely, making it impossible for the young man to detect her.


    And then


    *Swish!*


    A dagger pierced the young man''s back.


    The expression of the young man changed. He could feel the barrier he had cast beforehand being pierced easily as the dagger advanced towards the location of his heart.


    In a hurry, the young man waved his hand, casting a spell on the direction of the attack.


    [Heatwave]!


    The spell created a bubble filled with hot air that exploded in the direction where the attack wasing, repelling Aya''s attack.


    However, the young man did not have any way to know if his attack was sessful or not.


    But in the next second


    *Swish!*


    Another dagger cut towards him from apletely different direction.


    Followed by another, and another, and another, and another.


    Dagger after dagger attacked the young man continuously, stabbing towards his heart, neck, abdomen, and head.


    The numerous dagger attacks made the young man flustered. He barely managed to defend against them by casting barrier after barrier spells, one after another. However, it was obvious that he would lose if the situation continued like that!


    In fact, if not that the young man''s mana was a rank above Aya, and that he could be considered a genius among A-Ranks, he would have been defeated long ago!


    Unbeknownst to him, Aya''s situation was not much better. Right now, although she was attacking the young man non-stop and fiercely, her forehead was filled with sweat, and her breath had turned raged.


    [Night Symphony] was a technique that she had created recently. She only finished creating it two days ago after a burst of inspiration.


    But it consumed a lot of mana.


    Even Aya did not expect that the domain she created would be so powerful and would consume so much mana. It was not a technique a B-Rank was supposed to possess!


    And because of that, the mana inside her body was too little to sustain this technique for a long time.


    She could only keep it for thirty seconds. After that, she would run out of mana!


    Aware of that, Aya intensified attack speed.


    Her daggers moved silently inside the domain of darkness, cutting towards her enemy as two fangs ready to tear him apart.


    One after another, her daggers cut the barriers of the young man, destroying them quickly as she tried to cut him down.


    But suddenly, her expression changed.


    The fur of her tail stood up, and her heart started to beat faster. Her instincts as a beastkin were warning her of danger.


    Looking at the young man, she saw an expression of calm on his face despite her fierce attacks.


    Then, he opened his mouth.


    "[Explosion]." He spoke.


    In the next instant


    *BOOM!!!*


    A powerful explosion urred with him as the center.


    Aya opened her eyes wide in terror. She hurriedly jumped back, using the darkness to move as far from the young man as possible.


    However, the explosion was faster than her. In an instant, it consumed everything, swallowing the darkness entirely.


    "Aya!" The cat girl heard a worried voice calling to her, however, she did not have the leisure to pay it any attention.


    Feeling the heat of the mes, she hurriedly use as much of her mana as she could to create a barrier around her and protect herself.


    When the explosion finally finished, the twobatants appeared in the arena.


    The young man was standing in his previous location, panting heavily with a pale face, butpletely uninjured. Meanwhile, Aya was kneeling a few meters away with several burns on her skin as she held her daggers firmly with a stubborn expression on her face.


    Her ck eyes gleamed sharply, staring at the young man like a predator ready to attack her prey.


    Then, she slowly stood up.


    " You must be joking." The young man muttered with an ashen expression. He had used most of his mana in the previous attack!


    Right now, he could barely stand.


    Watching the cat girl standing up and walking towards him, the young man could not help but feel a trace of fear.


    But then


    *Cough!*


    The ck-haired cat girl spat out a mouthful of blood, and her body copsed.


    Before she could touch the ground, though, she was caught by a pair of warms arms.


    Thest thing the cat girl saw before falling unconscious was a pair of worried blue eyes.

 Chapter 438: VS Flying Leaves (6)

    Chapter 438: VS Flying Leaves (6)


    " Young man, you should not be here." The demigod frowned when he saw Bloed on the stage.


    Bloed smiled apologetically and nodded. However, he continued holding Aya and using his eyes to verify that nothing was wrong.


    Seeing that, the demigod could only sigh.


    "The winner of this round is Flying Leaves."


    With that announcement, cheers erupted from the stands.


    Bloed could see the students of Flying Leaves smiling in relief and pride, at the same time, he could see theplicated expressions of his friends.


    However, he did not care about that right now. Instead, he continued observing Aya.


    Only when he was sure that nothing was wrong with her, he sighed in relief.


    Just then, he felt the cat girl opening her eyes. She was barely conscious, using her willpower to not fall asleep.


    " Sorry... I failed." She whispered in a voice that Bloed barely heard, sobs mixed with her words. Then, her consciousness faded outpletely, and she fell unconscious.


    Bloed sighed with aplicated expression.


    "Silly girl." He said and kissed her forehead. "You did great."


    He could not have asked more of her. In fact, Aya was stronger than he expected.


    It was only that her enemy was even stronger. Aya could not be med for that.


    Just then, the healing mages arrived to take Aya away. Bloed was a bit reluctant about leaving Aya in their hands, but in the end, he agreed.


    After that, he returned to the ce where the rest of his club was.


    "How is Aya?" Liu Ying asked worriedly, and Bloed smiled to calm her down.


    "Don''t worry, she is alright. She just exhausted her mana and had some surface burns. She will be fine after resting for a few days."


    "Is it so? That is good." Liu Ying and the other girls sighed in relief, looking in the direction that Aya left with aplicated expression.


    To be honest, Aya''s performance had been amazing. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was way superior to her opponent.


    Unfortunately, the young man that she had faced was a bad match for her. Plus, she had still not familiarized with her domain. Otherwise, perhaps she could have used it to stop the explosion.


    In the end, though, the result was a defeat for Machine Revolutio.


    Right now, the score was 2-1, with Flying Leaves ahead.


    "What now, Bloed?" Princess Elwha asked, and the other girls looked at Bloed to ask him who was going next.


    Before he could reply, though, someone stepped forward.


    "Let me go, My Lord."


    "Sara?"


    "I want to go, My Lord. I promise to bring you victory."


    " Just don''t get injured, okay?"


    " Understood." Sara said, but judging from her expression, anyone could see that she would not mind being injured if it meant winning the battle.


    While they were speaking, the demigod in charge asked the two clubs to send their nextbatant. Sara then nodded to Bloed before walking towards the stage expressionlessly.


    When she reached the stage, her opponent reached it as well.


    It was another young man. He was around twenty-five years old, with brown hair and a white robe covering his body.


    Anyone could see that he was a mage, just like thest contestant, however, Sara was not paying attention to that.


    Instead, she paid attention to the intensity of his mana.


    Late A-Rank.


    The short-haired girl frowned.


    '' He is stronger than me.''


    She was just at the early stage of A-Rank, two stages weaker than the enemy.


    Even so, Sara was confident.


    She could win. No, she was going to win.


    Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and calmed down her mind.


    Right then, the young man in front of her spoke up.


    "I heard about you. Sarah Sviel, right?"


    Sara furrowed her brows without replying.


    "My name is Alvin." The young man continued. "I have seen you fight before, and to be honest, I was impressed. Unfortunately, you don''t have any hope of victory today."


    Seeing the confident expression of the young man, Sara''s eyes narrowed.


    " You look very confident."


    "I am." The young man said. "There is no reason to fear an attack that can''t touch me."


    Sara snorted, her eyes burning with fighting intent.


    At that moment, the demigod spoke.


    "Are you ready?"


    Sara and the young man called Alvin nodded. The demigod then grunted.


    "Very well, start!"


    Instantly, Sara moved.


    She took a step forward. With a thought, her body faded out of sight, and her presence disappearedpletely.


    The unexpected scene surprised all the people observing the battle, including the demigod.


    " It''s amazing no matter how many times I see it." Bloed could not help but mutter, and the girls around him nodded.


    Sara''s ability was called [Hiding Presence], an A-Grade ESP ability that allowed her to move undetected by her enemies.


    Different from other abilities that hid the user, though, Hiding Presence worked differently. Instead of hiding Sara, it twisted the perception of the enemies, making them unable to detect her.


    Due to that, even if Sara was jumping in front of her enemy, it would be as though she was not there.


    Bloed could not help but admit that this was the perfect ability for stealth and assassination.


    And right now, she was using that same ability against the young man called Alvin


    Sara moved calmly. Her short, ck hair fluttering with the wind as she walked towards him.


    Her eyes werepletely tranquil, and her emotional fluctuations were close to zero. She was like a killing machine whose only goal was to bring victory to her lord.


    In just a few seconds, she had walked in front of the young mage. Then, she raised her dagger.


    And putting mana into it, she swung it down.


    *nk!*


    Only to be stopped by a multicolored barrier that suddenly appeared around the young man.


    "I told you, didn''t I?" Alvin''s voice reached the surprised Sarah. "There is no reason to fear an attack that can''t touch me."


    ...


    Follow me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 439: VS Flying Leaves (7)

    Chapter 439: VS Flying Leaves (7)


    "I told you, didn''t I?" Alvin spoke up with a grin. "There is no reason to fear an attack that can''t touch me."


    Sara frowned. She immediately jumped back and her figure faded in the air, once more hiding herself to perform another attack.


    But before she could disappearpletely, Alvin waved his hand, casting a spell.


    "[Force Spear]!"


    Together with his words, several multicolored spears appeared in the air, flying towards Sara''s direction.


    Sara hurriedly evaded them as her figure faded out again, but Alvin was unfazed.


    If he could not perceive Sara''s location, he just needed to attack everywhere.


    Grinning, he raised his hand, and several magic circles appeared all around him.


    [Force Arrow].


    It was a low-grade spell that any mage should be able to cast. However, the number of magic circles he cast was immense.


    Then, he swung his hand down.


    In the next second, the multicolored arrows rained on the stage.


    Sara''s expression changed. She tried to evade as many arrows as she could, but it was impossible to avoid them all.


    In the end, she was forced to block a few of the arrows.


    But that unavoidably ended revealing her location.


    "Found you." Alvin''s eyes glinted. Then, a magic circle appeared above Sara.


    The next instant, a giant multicolored barrier appeared above Sara and descended at great speed to crush her!


    Sara''s expression changed.


    She kicked the ground strongly to jump away from the spell, but the barrier was descending too fast!


    In the end, she could only grit her teeth and fill her daggers with mana. Then, she used them to defend against the attack.


    *Bam!*


    A cloud of dust was raised on the stage when the multicolored wall fell.


    Sara hurriedly jumped out of the cloud of dust, avoiding several force arrowsing towards her. But her situation was not good.


    "Sister!" Gina shouted worried, and Bloed furrowed his brows.


    Although Sara did not have any external injury, she was bleeding from her mouth and nose. Obviously, defending against the previous attack had taken a load on her.


    Her situation did not look good.


    However, Sara''s expression remained indifferent despite that. Before her enemy could start a new round of attacks, her figure faded out again.


    "Again the same trick?" Alvin asked with a sigh. "Miss Sara, my club has studied your previous battles, and we discovered that although your ability to disappear is very impressive, it has several weaknesses.


    "Firstly, your attack power is nothing impressive. It''s just average. Of course, it''s more than enough when you catch someone by surprise, but if your enemy is prepared for you, then it bes a disadvantage. I just need to cast a barrier and it will be enough to stop you."


    Alvin''s barrier flickered briefly while he was talking. At some point, Sara had appeared behind him, attacking his nape.


    But just likest time, the barrier stopped her attack easily, forcing her to jump back and disappear again.


    "It''s useless." Alvin smiled and he waved his hand, creating several new magic circles.


    It was the same magic asst time.


    [Force Arrow].


    Once more, the arrows rained on the stage, forcing Sara to reveal herself.


    Capitalizing on that opportunity, Alvin created several barriers that flew towards Sara, mming her away and making her spat out another mouthful of blood!


    With a grave expression, Sara did her best to defend against the barriers while she disappeared again to attempt another attack.


    But just like Alvin said, it was useless.


    "You are unlucky, Miss Sara. I''m a mage specialized in barriers, moreover, my cultivation is two small ranks higher than you. You can say that I''m your nemesis. Since the moment when it was decided that I would be your opponent, you were destined to lose."


    Sara ignored Alvin''s words. She just continued attacking him stubbornly, only to be stopped again and again and then receive Alvin''s counterattack.


    Once and again, and again, and again. Every time, Sara failed to break through Alvin''s defenses, and in exchange, she received more and more injuries.


    Fortunately, Alvin''s magic did not seem very suited to attack, and Sara was doing a great job at avoiding and defending against most of it, so her injuries were minor. But despite that, these minor injuries were umting, burdening her body greatly.


    At this rate, she would lose soon.


    After five minutes of battle, Alvin finally shook his head.


    "It looks like it''s all you can do. I think I should finish this battle already."


    With a sigh, he once waved his hand.


    Once more, magic circles appeared around him, the prelude to releasing magic arrows.


    But this time, the magic circles were twice as numerous as before.


    Moreover, judging by the amount of mana he was gathering, he was getting ready to release a powerful spell after that.


    Just like he said, he was nning to end the battle with this attack.


    "Sister" Outside the stage, Gina muttered worriedly. Right now, she could only pray that her sister gets out of the battle unscathed.


    At the same time, Bloed frowned. He looked at the stage intently, waiting for the resolution of this battle.


    "Let''s end this," Alvin said, and his spell was released.


    Immediately, hundreds of arrows rained towards the stage.


    Every individual arrow did not have much power, but the number of arrows was so great that even an A-Rank like Sara would have trouble defending against every one of them!


    In the next second, the arrows hit the ground.


    But then, Alvin''s expression changed.


    ''Where is her!?''


    Sara had not been revealed!


    Before he could understand what was happening, a huge sense of danger enveloped him.


    All of sudden, Sara appeared above him, swinging a dagger down!


    At thest second, she had put strength in her legs and jumped as high as she could, thus avoiding the arrows. And now, she was using the impulse of her fall to attack Alvin.


    Moreover, she had put as much mana as she could in her dagger!


    It was the strongest attack that Sara could unleash!


    As soon as the dagger touched the multicolored barrier, the barrier cracked!


    Alvin''s face turned pale. Before his eyes, he saw Sara''s dagger piercing through the barrier and descending towards him.


    The dagger was so fast and sharp that Alvin felt as though he was about to die!


    In just a move, Sara had reversed the situationpletely.


    But then


    "ARGH!"


    With a cry of panic, mana burst out of Alvin''s body, creating a powerful shockwave with him as the center.


    The powerful shockwave hit Sara''s head-on, mming her away!


    Fortunately, the shockwave was not enough to hurt her, but it stopped her attack.


    Sara''s expression changed.


    She knew she could not lose this opportunity. If she didn''t defeat him now, she would lose!


    Thus, she gathered her remaining mana on her legs and got ready to dash towards Alvin again as soon as her legs touched the ground.


    But then, Sara''s expression turned pale.


    She had fallen outside the stage.


    ...


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 Chapter 440: Eres Takes the Stage (1)

    Chapter 440: Eres Takes the Stage (1)


    "Victory goes to Flying Leaves." The voice of the demigod resounded on the arena.


    """OOOOHHHHH!!!"""


    Cheers resounded from the stands as the spectators roared in excitement after such an exciting battle.


    However, the expressions of the two contestants were not good.


    On a hand, the young man called Alvin was pale. He was looking at Sara with an expression of terror as a line of blood slid down from his forehead.


    Involuntarily, he staggered backward before copsing on his butt.


    An instant slower. If he would have been an instant slower, then Sara''s dagger would have prated his head.


    Of course, the demigod would have stopped Sara before she could kill him, but despite that, Alvin felt as though he just had a close shave with death.


    Facing Sara''s ice-cold killing intent, and feeling the pain of the injury on his forehead, Alvin could not help but shiver in terror.


    He never had felt so close to death before.


    Sara, on the other hand, was pale as well, but for apletely different reason.


    Looking towards the stage, she bit her lips and clenched her daggers firmly.


    ''I lost''


    She was so close So close to winning But she still lost.


    She failed to keep her promise with her lord.


    Just then, she heard a pair of hurried footstepsing towards her.


    "Sister! Are you alright!?" Gina asked with a worried voice. The honey-haired girl grabbed her sister''s hand and looked around her body, searching for any sign of injury.


    Sara forced out a smile and shook her head.


    "Don''t worry, I''m alright. These are just some minor injuries."


    "I''m d I was so worried." Gina sighed in relief, making Sara smile.


    But then, she saw Bloed and the othersing as well.


    As soon as she saw Bloed, Sara bit her lips again.


    She lowered her head with a look of shame and forced herself to speak.


    "My lord I''m sorry"


    "What are you talking about? I''m happy you are alright."


    "But! The battle! I lost!"


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.


    "It''s not your fault. You just had a bad match-up."


    That was the truth.


    In all honesty, this enemy could be considered the worst match for someone like Sara.


    He countered herpletely, neutralizing all her advantages.


    Actually, the fact that she was so close to winning despite that was already amazing.


    However, Sara did not seem to think like that.


    Despite hearing Bloed''s words, Sara''s expression was discouraged, and she did not dare to look at Bloed''s face.


    At that moment, the healing mages arrived to check Sara up.


    Fortunately, Sara did not suffer any grave injury. She only had a few internal injuries that could be healed with a bit of healing magic.


    For better or worse, her opponent was not very good at offensive magic.


    Even the way he defeated Sara was by throwing her out of the stage, instead of subjugating her as in the previous battles.


    The healing mages asked Sara if she wanted to rest, but Sara refused, saying that she wanted to see the rest of the battles.


    Most likely, she wanted to see by herself the final result.


    Bloed smiled wryly. He had the feeling that if his club lost, Sara would me herself for a long time.


    ''Aya too will me herself It just means that we can''t lose But the situation now''


    Bloed smiled bitterly to himself.


    Right now, the score was 1-3 against them.


    In other words, they could not afford to lose another battle.


    Their situation was looking pretty grim.


    Just then, Eres spoke up.


    "Let me go next, brother."


    Bloed looked at her in surprise, only to see his sister''s ck eyes looking back at him full of confidence.


    "Don''t worry, brother. None of them can defeat me."


    Bloed thought for a moment before nodding.


    "You can go then. Be careful, Eres."


    "Mm. I will bring you victory."


    The ck-haired princess then stood up. She grabbed her sword calmly and walked towards the stage with a firm gaze.


    Once she was on the stage, she saw her enemy.


    It was a wolfkin girl around twenty-five years old. She had silver hair and tail, and a powerful aura around her. On her hands, she was holding a two meters long halberd, and her eyes glowed with battle intent.


    As for her cultivation, it was at the peak A-Rank!


    It was two small levels above Eres!


    Liu Ying, Princess Elwha, Gina, and the others became slightly nervous when they learned about the mana rank of Eres''s opponent, but in contrast to them, Eres''s expression remainedpletely calm.


    The wolfkin girl frowned when she saw Eres. She gauged Eres''s mana rank before smiling confidently.


    "Middle A-Rank? Pretty good for your age. However, you should give up. You are not my match."


    Eres did not pay attention to her words. It was as though she could not be bothered to listen to her.


    Instead, she calmly pulled out her sword and took a deep breath.


    Then, she looked at the demigod arbitrating the challenge.


    Understanding her intentions, the demigod nodded and spoke up.


    "If both contestants are ready, then start!"


    Immediately, the silver-haired wolfkin girl moved.


    In an instant, she closed the distance between Eres and her and her halberd cut through the air, advancing towards Eres at an outrageous speed!


    But even then, Eres remained calm.


    Her ck eyes werepletely still, and her body seemed strangely rxed. Even when the halberd was about to cut her skin, her expression did not change in the slightest.


    Then, when it seemed that the halberd would cut her into two, Eres raised her hand.


    Then


    *Bam!*


    The de of the halberd was caught.


    The wolfkin girl''s eyes opened wide. Seeing such an unbelievable scene, her body frozepletely.


    But then, she felt a terrible chill on her spine.


    When she looked in front of her, she saw a small smile on the ck-haired girl''s face.


    Then, mana surged out of Eres''s body.


    And the World Burning mes were ignited.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 441: Eres Takes the Stage (2)

    Chapter 441: Eres Takes the Stage (2)


    "W-What?" The silver-haired wolfkin girl was startled. She was assaulted by a terrible sense of danger, and her bestial instincts screamed to her to run away.


    The silver-haired wolfkin girl did not hesitate. Trusting in her instincts, she jumped away, even leaving her halberd behind.


    And then


    *Swoosh!*


    Transparent mes surged out from Eres''s body.


    The wolfkin girl''s shivered. A chill ran through her spine, and the fur of her tail stood up in fright.


    Even though she could not feel any heat from the strange transparent mes, somehow, she knew that they were incredibly dangerous.


    And she was right. In the next instant, she saw the mes surging towards the ce where she was a moment ago.


    Then Everything was consumed.


    The ground was gouged out, as though a beast would have taken a bite of it, and her halberd disappearedpletely, not even dust remaining.


    When the mes disappeared, only Eres was left behind, her expression just as calm and cid as at the start.


    "W-What is that?" The wolfkin girl trembled in terror. Looking at the indifferent-looking ck-haired girl in front of her, she could not help but shiver.


    However, Eres was not interested in answering her question.


    Expressionlessly, she unsheathed her sword, transparent mes shrouding it. Then, she took one step forward.


    It was as though the space between them would have disappeared.


    With just one step, Eres appeared in front of the wolfkin girl, her ck eyes as cold as the coldest ice staring at her indifferently.


    The next second, her sword descended towards the wolfkin girl.


    ''No!'' The wolfkin girl shivered. In a panic, she ordered her body to retreat, but to her surprise, she could not!


    Her body seemed to have been frozen in fear. Her legs were stuck on the ground, refusing to move even when the sword wrapped in transparent mes was about to sh her.


    The wolfkin girl could only watch as death approached her rapidly.


    But when she thought she was going to die, someone appeared in front of her.


    "Stop." He said.


    Then-


    *BOOM!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the stage, and the shockwave threw the wolfkin girl away.


    Fortunately, she only received the shockwaves of the attack. The demigod in charge of the battle had interfered and blocked Eres''s sword using his hand.


    "It''s enough." He said angrily.


    Eres frowned. She looked at the demigod in displeasure, but in the end, she nodded.


    She then put her sword back in her sheath and turned around to leave the stage.


    The demigod looked at her with a frown. But inwardly, he was filled with shock.


    ''I barely managed to stop her attack''


    Even when he used his entire strength, he barely managed to stop the attack of a middle-stage A-Rank girl.


    ''What a monster''


    The demigod sighed to himself and shook his head before announcing the result of this fight.


    "The winner is Machine Revolutio."


    Nobody cheered this time. Every person observing the battle was looking at Eres in shock.


    The worst one was the wolfkin girl. Her gaze towards Eres was filled with fright.


    "Are you alright?" Anna, the leader of Flying Leaves, approached her and asked in concern.


    The wolfkin girl swallowed a mouthful of saliva and nodded.


    "Sorry, leader I"


    "Stop, you don''t need to apologize. Losing to her is nothing to be ashamed of."


    " That girl Who is her?"


    Anna did not reply immediately. Instead, she looked towards the back of the ck-haired girl before speaking up.


    "I had heard rumors about her before, but I never thought she would be this strong World Burning Princess Witch, huh What a worthy name..."


    When Eres returned to Machine Revolutio''s seats, she was received with expressions of shock and surprise.


    " Sister-inw, I never thought you were this strong" Gina was the first one to speak.


    Eres frowned at the words ''sister-inw, but fortunately for Gina, Bloed''s words distracted her.


    "Hey Eres, don''t you want to be the leader of the club instead of me. To be honest, your hurt my confidence just now."


    Eres was startled. She hurriedly looked at Bloed with a flustered expression.


    "B-Brother, I No, I"


    "Calm down, little Eres." Bloed smiled wryly and patted her head. "Well, I guess that I could not expect less of my genius little sister. You made this big brother proud."


    Eres blushed slightly and looked at the ground. Her expression was so cute that anyone that knew her would have been surprised seeing the famous ice-cold princess blushing like this.


    Unfortunately, the people on Machine Revolutio were already used to seeing her like this, so none of them was surprised.


    After congratting Eres, Bloed looked in the direction of Flying Leaves and frowned.


    '' The score is 2-3 Even though Eres won her battle, we are still losing.''


    Bloed then looked at the girls beside him and thought about who to send. Right now, only two people beside him had not participated.


    Liu Ying and Princess Elwha.


    Bloed hesitated slightly as he looked at the two of them. In the end, his gaze fell on his demon girlfriend.


    "Liu Ying, you are next."


    "Is it finally my turn?" Liu Ying smiled excitedly. "Great, I was already getting impatient."


    "Be careful." Bloed reminded, and Liu Ying grinned with a confident expression.


    "Don''t worry, darling. Nothing will happen to me After all, as your girlfriend, how can I lose?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded. Then, he watched Liu Ying walk towards the stage confidently.


    At the same time, he also looked in the direction of Flying Leaves.


    '' I hope they don''t send someone too strong Otherwise''


    In Flying Leaves, a young man stood up and looked at the beautiful girl at the center of the group.


    "Leader, let me go next."


    "Huh? Are you sure, Yaru?" Anna raised an eyebrow, but when she saw the determination on the young man''s face, she nodded. "Very well, but remember to save your strength. It''s alright even if you lose. This challenge is not that important."


    Yaru fell silent for a moment before nodding.


    " Understood."


    Then, he walked towards the stage, to face his opponent.


    A few secondster, he was standing across Liu Ying, ready to start the sixth fight of this challenge.


    And as soon as the demigod announced the start of the battle, both rushed towards each other.


    Just like that, the fight between Liu Ying and Yaru started.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 442: Liu Ying’s Battle

    Chapter 442: Liu Ying¡¯s Battle


    Two chapters tomorrow... Maybe...


    ....


    The battle between Liu Ying and Yaru quickly intensified. In a question of seconds, both of them were trading blows intensely; Liu Ying sporting an excited smile and Yaru with an indifferent look.


    Both of them were close-rangebatants. Neither Liu Ying nor Yaru used sharp weapons, and instead, they liked to fight with their bodies.


    Of course, it was not as though they didn''t have weapons. Liu Ying, on a hand, had the gloves that Bloed made for her, while Yaru had a metallic knuckle on each hand, and used them to hit the enemies.


    Both of them traded blows fiercely, Liu Ying and Yaru exchanging between attacking and defending once and again.


    However, it did not take long for one of them to gain the advantage.


    Less than one minuteter, the battle started to tilt in Yaru''s favor.


    " It''s bad" Prince Calisto spoke up with a frown. "Big brother Bloed, I think that sister Liu Ying is in trouble this time."


    "Do you know anything about that Yaru?" Bloed asked.


    Prince Calisto nodded.


    "He is an uing genius in the city. He arrived two years ago and quickly became famous due to his high mastery of martial arts.


    "Some of them even call him ''Little Martial King'', and say that he will be the one to seed George as the strongest Martial Artis of the city."


    Bloed was slightly surprised.


    George was the leader of the fourth strongest club of the city, the Martial Art Clubs, and he was also a powerhouse only below Mu Quan and Isabe.


    The fact that Yaru was beingpared to him was shocking.


    Bloed could understand why, though. Through the battle between Liu Ying and Yaru, he could see that Yaru''sbat techniques were at an extremely high level.


    Even though he and Liu Ying had been trading blows for a long while, until now, Liu Ying had been unable to deal even a hit to him. Every time, Yaru avoided her blows with the minimum necessary movement and then counterattacked with the most effective attack.


    Moreover, his cultivation was higher than Liu Ying, so his advantage was only growing with every second.


    However, instead of bing nervous, Bloed smiled.


    At the same time, Regina spoke up.


    "You don''t need to worry about her, master. The demon will not lose so easily. After all, I taught her personally, and when ites to closebat, that girl has a very unfair advantage against anyone else."


    Liu Ying''s expression was grave. She knew that she was losing the battle, and for a wide margin.


    Every time she traded blows with her opponent, he would avoid her attacks and attacked her back, forcing her to evade or receive his attacks more than once.


    Right now, she already had umted several small injuries and was bleeding from the corner of her lips.


    ''Strong'' Liu Ying thought to herself. ''He is very strong.''


    It was not just his cultivation. Hisbat techniques were also higher than hers.


    Liu Ying had only met two people with this level ofbat techniques. One of them was Bloed, and the other was Regina.


    When Liu Ying fought them, she got the feeling that they could read every one of her movements much before she even thought about them.


    The feeling that she got from Yaru was simr. It was as though every one of her movements was clear before his eyes.


    But


    ''He is not as good as Regina or Bloed.''


    Liu Ying smirked.


    Having experienced it personally, she knew that Regina and Bloed''s martial arts were much better.


    Wiping off the blood on her lips, Liu Ying looked at her opponent and curved her lips up.


    "You are very strong." She said.


    "Thank you," Yaru replied. "You are strong as well. Perhaps some yearster, you will surpass me."


    "A few yearster?" Liu Ying smiled yfully. She then circted her mana through her entire body.


    At the same time, she activated the power in her blood.


    The power that she had inherited from her parents.


    Almost immediately, a figure appeared behind Liu Ying.


    It was a ck knight wielding ance. It stood straight, looking towards Yaru with an ice-cold stare.


    Almost immediately, Yaru furrowed his brows.


    "Aspect?" He put a wary expression.


    Aspects were the innate talent of demons, so he was not surprised when Liu Ying showed one.


    However


    ''Somehow she feels different''


    Nothing had changed about Liu Ying, but once her aspect appeared, she seemed to transform into apletely different person.


    She felt... powerful, and dangerous.


    But before he could understand what changed, he saw Liu Ying take a step forward.


    Then, her figure disappeared.


    ''Fast!'' Yaru''s expression changed.


    He hurriedly jumped aside to evade the attack, and one secondter, a punch hit the ce where he was just now.


    *Bam!*


    Liu Ying''s fist hit the ground, creating a loud explosive sound. The power of the punch was so strong that it created a hole in the ground!


    Yaru was surprised, but he then saw Liu Ying disappear again, her figure once more appearing in front of him.


    *Bam!*


    Once more, he avoided the attack, but when he saw the hole that it created on the ground, his back was filled with cold sweat.


    ''How can she be so strong!?''


    It was normal for a demon to be stronger after releasing his aspect, but the improvement should not be this exaggerated.


    The Liu Ying before using her aspect and the Liu Ying after it seemed like twopletely different people!


    What Yaru did not know was that Liu Ying''s aspect was [Chaos Titan], the aspect that allowed her family to rule over the daemons for generations!


    It was now disguised as a ck knight, but its essence was still the same.


    It was one of the strongest aspects in the entire world, grating peerless physical strength to its users!


    Liu Ying''s attacks continued. She repeatedly rushed towards Yaru, using her fists and elbows to attack him nonstop.


    However, Yaru showed his ability as the one known as ''Little Martial King''. Even under Liu Ying''s powerful barrage of attacks, he did his best to remain calm, avoiding every one of them.


    Moreover, he avoided them in such a way that Liu Ying could not trigger [Silent Touch]. During the entire battle, Liu Ying had not been able tond even a blow.


    Even so, he was not having it easy.


    ''I had to finish this fast.''


    Yaru could feel the immense power behind every one of Liu Ying''s blows. If he slipped even once and let hernd a blow, he would definitively lose!


    Narrowing his eyes, he avoided another of her attacks. Then, he gathered mana in his fist and counterattacked!


    Caught unprepared, Liu Ying was forced to twist her body to evade the attack. However, her stance was destroyed.


    There was no way that Yaru could miss that opportunity.


    Stomping the ground, he tensed all his muscles before unleashing an attack!


    [Overlord Fist]!


    *Bam!*


    The blow hit Liu Ying''s abdomen, making her gasp in pain.


    The attack was followed by another punch to her hips, and another to her right arm. Finally, he filled his fist with mana and attacked her chest.


    "Gah!"


    Vomiting a mouthful of blood, Liu Ying''s body slowly copsed on the ground.


    But when Yaru thought he had won, he saw a smile on the demon''s face.


    Then, before he could react to the sudden sense of danger, he felt Liu Ying grabbing his arm.


    "Now you can''t escape." With blood sliding down her lips, Liu Ying grinned.


    Then, she activated the technique she learned from Regina.


    [Silent Touch].


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 443: The Seventh Battle (1)

    Chapter 443: The Seventh Battle (1)


    [Silent Touch] was the technique that Regina taught Liu Ying to fight against the Blight (Devourers).


    This technique was created by a powerful Valkyrie to face the Devourers. It turned Psychic Energy (or mana) and physical strength into pure kic energy and transferred it to her opponent without touching him.


    The theory behind this technique was not veryplicated, so Liu Ying reached initial mastery of it quickly. But at the same time, [Silent Touch] was a very deep technique.


    At the highest mastery, it could ignore most kinds of defenses, be used from long distances, and even use Kic Energy as a defensive barrier.


    Unfortunately, Liu Ying was far from reaching this level.


    But even so, after months of polishing and training [Silent Touch], she had achieved great progress on it.


    Moreover, Liu Ying''s aspect, [Chaos Titan], granted her a supernatural level of strength, which strengthened [Silent Touch] greatly. This aspect was practically tailor-made for a technique like [Silent Touch].


    Thanks to that, she managed to create a barrier of kic energy around her body just before Yaru''s attacks hit her.


    Thus, despite receiving Yaru''s [Overlord Fist] three times, Liu Ying had not been so badly injured as Yaru''s thought.


    In fact, besides some slight internal injuries, Liu Ying was virtually unscathed.


    Yaru did not know it. He did not have knowledge about [Silent Touch]; and unlike a mana barrier, which was visible, a barrier of kic energy was invisible to the naked eye.


    It caused him to miscalcte the damage he caused to Liu Ying, and at the same time, it gave Liu Ying the opportunity to catch him by surprise.


    Grabbing his arm, Liu Ying grinned at Yaru and clenched her right hand into a fist.


    Then, she punched Yaru''s chest.


    [Silent Touch]!


    Mana surged out of her body, turning into powerful kic energy that was concentrated into her knuckles.


    Then, that kic energy hit Yaru''s body.


    "Gah!" Yaru groaned in pain. He desperately tried to concentrate as much of his mana as he could on his chest to defend against the attack, but how could his hurried defenses stop Liu Ying''s full-strength fist.


    In the next instant


    *Bam!*


    Yaru''s body was sent flying away.


    Liu Ying stood up pantingly and grinned. Despite the blood sliding down her lips, her expression was confident and cheerful.


    "I won." She dered.


    """OOOOOHHHH!!!"""


    Cheers of surprise erupted from the stands, and even the demigod was looking at Liu Ying in admiration.


    He checked the state of Yaru, confirming that he was not in danger, before dering the result of the battle.


    "The winner of this battle is Liu Ying of Machine Revolutio!"


    """OOOOOHHHH!!!"""


    Once more, cheers erupted from the audience. But Liu Ying did not pay attention to them. Instead, she looked in Bloed''s direction with a grin.


    Bloed shook his head before smiling with a proud expression.


    "Well done." He said to her when she returned to the group.


    "Don''t you think I deserve a reward?"


    " Yeah, I think so." Smiling wryly, Bloed took a step forward and kissed her lips softly, making the demon girl blush.


    "It''s enough for now."


    Bloed smiled wryly again.


    "Sister Liu Ying, how are your injuries?" Little Gina asked at that moment, although judging by her expression, instead of being worried about Liu Ying, she seemed eager to stop Bloed and her from flirting.


    Liu Ying rolled her eyes before answering.


    "Nothing to worry about. These little injuries will heal with a bit of rest."


    Bloed observed her body with his blue eyes and agreed. Even so, he told her to ask the healing mages to cast a few healing spells on her just in case.


    Just like that, the sixth battle of the challenge ended with a score of 3-3.


    "I think it''s my turn now, huh?" Princess Elwha spoke up then.


    Bloed nodded. "Are you confident?"


    "Don''t worry, I''m stronger than you think."


    Seeing the confidence in Princess Elwha''s expression, Bloed smiled.


    "Go then."


    "Mm. It won''t take long."


    Just like that, the white-haired and silver-eyed elven princess walked towards the stage.


    Meanwhile, the people of Flying Leaves were looking at each other with serious expressions.


    "Are you alright, Yaru?" Anna, the leader of Flying Leaves, asked the young man that had been defeated by Liu Ying.


    "I am." He replied with a shadow in his expression. "Sorry, I underestimated my enemy and ended losing."


    "It doesn''t matter. Fortunately, you did not suffer any major injury."


    Yaru did not reply and just looked at the ground with an unsatisfied face.


    To be honest, he thought that his defeat had been unfair. He had not shown his entire strength during the battle, and if Liu Ying would have not caught him by surprise with herst attack, he would have won.


    "Don''t worry, you will have another opportunity to fight her." Aware of his thoughts, Anna consoled him. Then, she looked at one of her club''s members with a solemn expression. "Gregory, it''s your turn. Be careful."


    "Don''t worry, boss. I won''t lose."


    With a grave look, the young man called Gregory walked towards the stage.


    He frowned when he saw that his opponent was an elf, but when he noticed that her cultivation was at the initial stage of A-Rank, his expression turned serious.


    He was at the middle stage of A-Rank, so his mana was stronger, but after seeing several battles where members of Machine Revolutio defeated stronger enemies, he did not dare to underestimate the elf girl.


    Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the greatsword on his back and took a stance.


    At the same time, Princess Elwha took out a rapier she asked Bloed to make and put on an ice-cold expression.


    Seeing that bothbatants were ready, the demigod in charge of the challenge nodded.


    "Very well, if both of you are ready, then start!"


    ...


    I owe yesterday chapters. I''ll try to post them in the week...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 444: The Seventh Battle (2)

    Chapter 444: The Seventh Battle (2)


    I had a surgery recently (to remove my wisdom tooth), so I had not been posting due to it. I left the announcement in P4TRE0N, but I forgot to post it here...


    ...


    "Hah!" With a roar, Gregory kicked the ground and charged towards Princess Elwha.


    Tightening the muscles of his entire body, he swung his sword down, using the momentum of his charge to give his sword even greater power.


    Just the wind created by this sword sh pressured Princess Elwha!


    But the white-haired elven princess remained calm. She observed the trajectory of the sword calmly with her silver eyes before stepping aside with a graceful movement.


    At the same time, she stabbed with her rapier towards Gregory''s waist.


    "Take this!"


    Gregory''s reaction was faster than she expected, though. Despite using such a huge and heavy sword, his movements were fast and precise. He pulled his sword back as soon as he realized that Princess Elwha had avoided his attack and then use it to defend against the rapier.


    Both of them jumped back after that.


    The first exchange between the two ended like that, and bothbatants got an idea of the other''s abilities.


    Gregory''s sword was fast, fierce, and powerful. Justnding an attack would be enough to finish Princess Elwha.


    The movements of the elven princess, on the other hand, were agile and graceful, showing the features that defined the elves.


    Neither Gregory nor Princess Elwha dared to underestimate their enemy. Both of them knew that a slight mistake could cost them this battle.


    Looking fixedly at Princess Elwha, Gregory once more charged forward.


    Brandishing his greatsword, he closed the distance between Princess Elwha and him in an instant!


    However, Princess Elwha''s reflexes were just as fast as him. She jumped aside elegantly, her white hair dancing with the wind as her rapier drew an arc towards Gregory''s neck.


    Gregory''s reflexes did not fall behind the princess''s. He moved his head aside, avoiding the rapier, as one of his hands let go of his sword andunched a punch in the Princess''s direction.


    The princess was slightly startled by the unexpected attack, but she managed to twist her body aside to avoid it. However, Gregory''s sword was already advancing towards her again.


    Feeling the danger, she jumped back quickly, but as though predicting her movements, Gregory jumped forward, his sword descending towards the princess ruthlessly.


    He nned to pressure her constantly to make her make a mistake!


    The princess''s eyes glinted with an ice-cold light. She understood Gregory''s strategy immediately, and she knew that she could not fall into his rhythm.


    Thus, she stopped retreating!


    To Gregory''s surprise, the Princess rushed towards his greatsword!


    It was something ipressible considering the difference in strength between the two of them!


    ''Is she crazy, or does she have a n?'' Gregory wondered to himself, but he did not stop his attack.


    Even if the princess was nning something, he only needed to crush it with absolute strength!


    But when their two weapons were about to sh, the princess opened her mouth.


    "Stop."


    Immediately, Gregory froze.


    For an instant, he felt his body and mana stopping against his will. Even the sword that he was swinging forward stopped moving.


    ''My body!?''


    He hurriedly urged his mana to move, regaining control of his body quickly. However, the instant he was frozen was fatal.


    Taking advantage of that moment, Princess Elwha evaded his sword and thrust her rapier towards his chest!


    "Guh!"


    Gregory grunted. Feeling the coldness of the metal against his skin, he released his mana outwards!


    Immediately, a strong current of wind surged with Gregory as the center, pushing Princess Elwha away as Gregory jumped back.


    Helpless, the princess could only stop her attack.


    Gregory looked at his chest and frowned. Despite his quick reactions, the princess''s rapier had managed to injure him.


    Fortunately, the injury was nothing grave. But if he would have been a bit slower, he would have been defeated.


    ''That was close'' He thought to himself.


    "Was that your trump card?" Gregory asked. "A great technique. If our cultivation would have been the same, I would have lost."


    Princess Elwha did not reply, just looking at Gregory with a frown.


    Seeing that, the young man smiled.


    "I guess it''s my turn then."


    Taking a step forward, he gathered mana into his sword.


    Then, he swung it forward.


    "[Hurricane Sword]!"


    With his shout, a powerful sword wind rushed towards Princess Elwha, cutting a line on the stage.


    The destructive power of the sword wind made Princess Elwha pale. She hurriedly jumped aside to evade it, only to see several strands of sword wind flying in the direction she moved.


    "!!!"


    She hurriedly twisted her body to avoid them, but despite that, some of the attacks managed to cut her body.


    "Ugh!"


    The princess groaned in pain. The cuts had not been very deep, but it meant that she had fallen into a disadvantage.


    Gregory grinned when he saw that. He immediately kicked the ground and rushed towards her again.


    "Die!"


    With a roar, wind gathered around his sword, cutting everything in its path!


    The princess did not dare to receive such an attack, but even after avoiding it, the strong wind of the sword made her stagger.


    Gregory took advantage of that to continue attacking, trusting his greatsword towards the princess, chest.


    This time, though, the princess could not avoid the attack.


    In a panic, she used her rapier to block the sword, but


    *ng!*


    With a loud metallic sound, her rapier was cut into two, and she was sent flying away.


    "Gah!" The princess vomited a mouthful of blood.


    Gregory smiled and put the sword on his shoulder, then, he walked towards the princess calmly.


    "Give up, elf. You are not my match."


    Princess Elwha did not reply. Instead, she looked at him calmly.


    Then, to Gregory''s surprise, she smiled


    "Have you not noticed it yet?"


    Gregory was startled. He immediately frowned and looked around him, but he did not find anything wrong.


    ''Is she bluffing?''


    But suddenly, his vision darkened.


    ''What!?''


    Gregory panicked. He hurriedly circted his mana to break the technique affecting his vision, but then, he realized that something was wrong.


    Because something cold was pressed against his neck.


    Gulping down, he opened his eyes, only to see Princess Elwha in front of him,pletely uninjured and with her rapier on his neck.


    At the same time, the words of the demigod supervising the challenge reached his ears.


    "The winner is Machine Revolutio!"


    Immediately, Gregory''s face turned pale.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 445: Flying Leaves (1)

    Chapter 445: Flying Leaves (1)


    Gregory''s face paled. He looked at his surroundings in confusion, trying to understand what was happening.


    However, he only saw the elven girl he fought smiling at him provokingly before turning around to leave.


    "W-Wait!" He cried out hurriedly and tried to stop her, but a hand grabbed his wrist and stopped him.


    "Stop it, boy. It''s your defeat."


    Seeing the demigod looking at him with a pitying expression, Gregory''s face turned ashen.


    ''Did I lose...? But how...?''


    He was sure he was winning. What in the hell happened?


    How was he defeated?


    Gregory bit his lips unwilling, but in the end, he nodded.


    He could only ept that somehow, he had been defeated by his opponent.


    When he returned to his seat, he saw his club leader, Anna, looking at him with a grave expression.


    "What happened during the battle?"


    "I don''t know." Gregory smiled bitterly. I thought I was winning, but all of sudden, I had lost."


    Anna frowned thoughtfully.


    " Tell me everything that you think that happened."


    Gregory was confused, but he told Anna about his battle with the elf.


    When he finished, he saw Anna smiling bitterly.


    "Do you want to know what we saw?"


    "Huh?"


    "When the battle started, you just stayed frozen in ce as the elf girl walked calmly towards you and put her rapier on your neck."


    Gregory''s eyes widened in surprise.


    "That is"


    " Amazing. I never expected she would have such a mastery over illusions." Sighing, Anna shook her head and stood up. "You were tricked totally, and you didn''t realize it until the end.


    "Sigh, it looks like I will have to end this myself."


    Taking a deep breath, the beautiful girl stood up calmly.


    She was ready to fight next.


    Meanwhile, Bloed was looking at Princess Elwha with an impressed look.


    "Princess, I never thought you were that strong."


    "I told you, right? The reason I took so long to break through A-Rank was that I practice a special technique. But now that I broke to A-Rank, almost nobody in the same rank can defeat me."


    "Is it so?" Bloed nodded to himself while looking at his sister from the corner of his eyes. He wondered who would win if Eres and Princess Elwha fought.


    ''Probably Eres Somehow, I can''t imagine her losing''


    Shaking his head with a wry smile, Bloed stood up and grabbed his saber.


    "I guess it my turn next, huh."


    "Are you going now, my hero?" Little Gina tilted her head. "They will surely send someone strong for this battle. Is it not better if you wait for the next battle? That way, the chances of winning will be higher."


    "It''s not necessary. I''m confident I won''t lose."


    "As expected of my hero!"


    Bloed smiled wryly. He then looked at Regina who was looking at him with a concerned gaze.


    "Be careful, Master,"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be alright."


    "Don''t be overconfident, Darling." Liu Ying spoke up. "If you lose this battle, then we will have lost the game."


    Bloed knew it. Right now, the score was 4-3 in their favor.


    Bloed was thest strong fighter on Machine Revolutio''s side. If he loses, then Flying Leaves would tie the score, but because nobody else from Machine Revolutio can fight, then the next two points would go to Flying Leaves as well, finishing the game with a score of 4-6.


    However, if he wins, then the score will end with a 5-5, and the challenge would be decided in onest match.


    Because of that, Bloed knew he could not lose.


    "... I won''t lose," Bloed said to himself confidently. "Trust me."


    "I trust you," Liu Ying said with a small smile. "You will win it."


    Eres, Aya, Sara, and the others nodded.


    Bloed smiled back before walking towards the stage.


    When he arrived, he saw his enemy waiting for him already.


    "As expected, it''s you." Bloed smiled wryly.


    "Well, the most important battle must be fought by the two leaders, right?" Anna''s lips curved up slightly. "I hope you don''t disappoint me, Mr. Bloed."


    "Don''t worry, I won''t," Bloed said.


    Just then, though, he remembered something.


    "By the way, Miss Anna, what did you mean when you told me that you were ordered to attack me? Who ordered it?"


    "Oh? Are you curious?"


    Bloed did not reply. Instead, he stared at the girl in front of him calmly.


    "How serious." Anna giggled with an amused expression. "Unfortunately, I can''t tell you now. However, don''t worry, you will know very soon."


    Bloed squinted.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Hehe, I already said too much. Let''s stop our chat here, Mr. Bloed. After all, now is time for our battle."


    After saying that, Anna grabbed a dagger and took a fighting stance.


    "Mr. Demigod, you can start the battle whenever you want."


    The demigod looked at the two of them for a few seconds and nodded.


    "Are you ready?"


    "Ready," Anna said while licking her lips.


    "Ready," Bloed said as he took his saber and his two pets out, turning Tito into his armor.


    "Then, start!"


    As soon as the voice of the demigod fell, Anna moved.


    Her body suddenly disappeared, appearing at Bloed''s right and swinging her dagger down.


    But


    *ng!*


    Leto''s metallic sand blocked the dagger.


    Anna''s lips curved up in a yful smile.


    "What a cute pet."


    Then, her body disappeared again.


    Just like that, the battle that would decide today''s challenge started.


    ...

 Chapter 446: Flying Leaves (2)

    Chapter 446: Flying Leaves (2)


    Anna was extremely fast. She could appear in any ce on the stage in just an instant.


    Her battle style was based on that speed. She moved extremely quickly while using the dagger in her hand to attack her enemy.


    She could be considered an assassin-like fighter, just like Sara and Aya. But unlike them, who relied upon stealth to attack, Anna relied purely on her astounding speed and agile movements.


    Every second, she appeared in a different ce, using her dagger to try to stab and sh Bloed''s body.


    Unfortunately for her, her battle style wasn''t very advantageous against Bloed.


    Bloed was already used to facing people with extreme speed. In fact, just a few days ago, he fought and won against the leader of Wings of Liberty, Nathan, who is considered the fastest student in the city.


    Compared to him, Anna was noticeably slower. Bloed could follow her movements easily thanks to his modified eyes.


    No matter how fast she moved, she was never able to escape Bloed''s senses. And no matter how tricky her attacks were, Leto was able to stop them using its metallic sand.


    More than once, she was close to being caught by Leto''s metallic sand, and a few times, she was forced to avoid Bloed''s saber or bullets.


    Anna soon frowned. Although she still had the initiative of the battle, the fact that none of her attacks hadnded was bothering her.


    ''Should I move faster?''


    With that thought in her mind, Anna disappeared again.


    This time, though, her speed was almost twice as fast as her previous attacks!


    She could not keep this speed for long, but using it for just a second was enough.


    Until now, she had met only a handful of people that could keep with her movements when she moved at this speed!


    But when she arrived behind Bloed and got ready to stab his back, she saw a pair of bright blue eyes looking at her calmly.


    '' Retreat!''


    Anna''s instincts warned her of the imminent danger, and she did not hesitate to obey them.


    In the next second, a saber sh cut the ce where she was a moment ago!


    Anna felt cold sweat on her back. That was close.


    But before she could sigh in relief, her body suddenly became heavy!


    It was Oculus'' [Suppressive Gravity Field]!


    Bloed had calcted Anna''s route based on her previous movements and ordered Oculus to use [Suppressive Gravity Field] on the ce where he predicted she would be!


    The effects of [Suppressive Gravity Field] were instantaneous, and its two-fold gravity was very effective against opponents that specialized in speed. Anna''s movements were slowed down to almost half of her usual speed!


    She hurriedly tried to jump away to escape from the area where the gravity was affected, but then, Bloed took a step forward and activated another ability.


    [King''s Aura]!


    Psychic power was turned into mental pressure that assaulted Anna, making her movements even slower than before!


    Anna was an A-Rank, so King''s Aura was not very effective against her. But even so, it was able to slow down her movements for half a second.


    Plus the effects of [Suppressive Gravity Field], Anna became a sitting duck!


    And there was no way that Bloed was going to miss that opportunity.


    Leto turned into a wave of metallic sand, surging towards Anna from all directions. At the same time, Bloed kicked the ground, rushing towards Anna while swinging his saber downwards.


    However, Bloed made a mistake.


    He underestimated Anna.


    If Bloed would have used Imaginary sh instead of rushing with his saber, he could have defeated Anna right there; but because he thought it was unnecessary, he gave her an instant to react.


    And that instant was enough for her.


    When it seemed that she would be unable to evade Bloed''s attacks, Anna stomped the ground.


    Her body wasunched upwards, and at the same time, several small knives appeared all around her body.


    Then, under Bloed''s astonished gaze, the knives flew towards him simultaneously!


    Bloed''s expression turned grave. He did not dare to receive the knives head-on. He had the feeling that Tito would be unable to block them!


    Thus, he was forced to evade them and ask Leto to form a barrier of metallic sand in front of him.


    However, that gave Anna enough time to escape from the effects of King''s Aura and jump away from the Suppressive Gravity Field''s area of effect.


    With just a movement, she had escaped from that dangerous situation.


    Clicking his tongue, Bloed jumped away to distance himself from her.


    " Flying knives, huh That was not in the information Prince Calisto got about her" Bloed muttered to himself.


    "Well, few people have seen me using them." Anna grinned. "They are like my trump cards, you see. The reason why I named the club Flying leaves."


    Bloed smiled wryly and shook his head.


    He could have ended the battle right there. If he would have been more decisive, Anna would have been defeated.


    However, he was not discouraged. He was still confident that he could win.


    Feeling his confidence, Anna curved her lips up.


    "Hey, Mr. Bloed. Now that I taught you my trump card, I''ll start to fight seriously, okay?"


    As soon as her words finished, Anna disappeared again.


    But this time, instead of appearing near Bloed, only a flying knife came flying towards him!


    Bloed calmly used Leto to stop it, but to his surprise, the strength behind the knife was enough to pierce a hole through the metallic sand!


    Obviously, this knife was much stronger than the flying knives she threw hurriedly while trying to escape from Bloed''s previous attack.


    Fortunately, the knife lost most of his strength after breaking through the sand, falling on the ground powerlessly; but even so, Bloed could not help but turn his expression serious after experiencing its power.


    Anna did not give Bloed time to think. An instant after throwing the first knife, several more knives came flying towards him.


    Every one of the knives was packed with enough power to break through the defenses of an average A-Rank easily. It was an attack approaching the peak of A-Rank!


    Knife after knife flew towards Bloed one after another, forcing him to block them with Leto or avoid them.


    However, Bloed knew that the situation could not continue like this. Right now, Anna was attacking freely without fear of being attacked. At this rate, she would overwhelm him sooner orter.


    Fortunately, Bloed possessed his own means of long-distance attack.


    With a thought, the floating eye on the sky was activated.


    Then, it aimed to the ground and fired!


    *BamBamBamBamBam!*


    Energy bullets were shot one after another at great speed.


    Moreover, the bullets were shot all around the arena, only avoiding Bloed''s location. This way, Anna would find it hard to avoid thempletely!


    Of course, Bloed knew that the energy bullets were not strong enough to defeat Anna, but at the very least, it helped him to limit her movements.


    Then, he charged once more.


    [King''s Aura]!


    His technique was activated a second time, freezing Anna''s movements briefly.


    However, Anna had already experienced this technique before, so this time she managed to free herself from it even faster thanst time.


    But when she freed herself from the technique, Bloed''s saber was already about to pierce her chest!


    Anna reacted quickly, throwing a Flying Knife towards Bloed''s neck, but Bloed easily avoided it without stopping his attack. Simrly, Anna twisted her body aside to avoid the saber as she grabbed a dagger with each hand and attacked Bloed!


    In the next instant, a fierce exchange of attacks urred between Bloed and Anna!


    Both of them moved quickly to avoid the attack of the other while trying tond their own attacks!


    But when it seemed that both of them were evenly matched, Anna''s expression changed.


    Because Bloed''s knee had hit her abdomen.


    "Gah!" She vomited a mouthful of blood and was blown away. Meanwhile, Bloed calmly retracted the knee that he had used tond a hit on her abdomen.


    "Give up," Bloed spoke. "Myst hit should have caused you severe internal injuries. You are no longer my match."


    Anna wiped off the blood on her lips and smiled wryly.


    " It looks like you are proficient with other martial arts besides using the saber. I was not expecting that."


    "I seldom use them. Few people are able to force me that far."


    "Is it so?" Anna heaved a small sigh. "Such a shame, I would have liked to fight you for a bit longer. There is a lot that I have not shown you yet."


    Bloed frowned. For some reason, he got a bad feeling.


    Then, he saw Anna''s lips curve upwards.


    "Unfortunately, it''s already time."


    As soon as her words finished, an explosion shook the entire city.


    ...


    Support me on P4TREON: /aidnoves

 Chapter 447: Start of the Chaos (1)

    Chapter 447: Start of the Chaos (1)


    I was nning to post two chapters today, but I did not manage to finish them. I''ll try to post two chapters tomorrow...


    ...


    On the roof of a certain building, a figure in a ck coat was looking towards the explosions happening all over Academy City.


    "So it finally started, huh." The figure murmured, her voice revealing her identity as a woman.


    Nobody could see below the coat, but strangely, countless things seemed to be squirming below it, like monsters waiting to be released.


    The woman, however, did not seem bothered by that. She looked at the city calmly before finally taking out a one-handed sword.


    " Now, let me see where you rats are hiding." She spoke calmly, but strangely, the air around her distorted.


    Killing intent.


    A killing intent so heavy and intense that it seemed to twist the air around her.


    Wrapped in killing intent, the woman took a step forward as her hood moved slightly back due to the wind, revealing a strand of gray hair.


    After another step forward, her figure vanished.


    And a few secondster, screams of agony resounded through the city.


    "Has it started?" Another figure in ck tilted his head curiously. "Finally, huh."


    " Boss, is it alright?" Behind the figure in ck, someone asked with a hesitant expression. "I don''t like the fact that we are cooperating with the madmen of Returning Dusk."


    "I don''t like it either, but it doesn''t matter as long as we can aplish our goal."


    "But At this rate, Academy City will suffer too much damage. Many innocents will die."


    "You don''t understand." The figure in ck shook his head. "Academy City is destined to be destroyed, sooner orter. Now that the times are changing, there is no more ce for this city in this world. As for the people that die in the process? They are necessary sacrifices for the changing times."


    "Sacrifices, huh."


    "Stop thinking about things that don''t concern you. Get ready to move. We can''t fail this time."


    At the rooftop of the Great Library, Wave Golden, Headmistress of Academy City, was looking towards the explosions with an ugly expression.


    "These bastards!"


    "Calm down, Wave." Eve, who was hovering beside her, spoke up calmly. "We were already expecting this. Even if you are angry, you must remain calm. Only that way we can kill the people behind this."


    "... I know. Lend me a hand, Eve. I don''t want any of them to survive today."


    "Leave it to me."


    "Hahahahaha, this is it. I missed the screams, the blood, the pain!"


    With a crazy expression, an average-looking man extended his hand as people were ughtered around him.


    Students were attacked, teachers were killed, and houses were burned down.


    The culprits? People in white killing people indiscriminately.


    "Yes, yes, it''s how it should be. Come on, my brothers and sisters, teach these infidels the grace of our god!


    "Kill, ****, burn. Bring this world back to how it should be, where the strong rule the weak, and lives are forged in blood and fire.


    "It''s our purpose. Our goal as the hands of our god on the earth."


    "As for me, I''ll find that what my god wants and bring it to him."


    Smiling, he looked in a certain direction.


    Then, his body rose in the air before flying towards there.


    "... Regina Norman This time, I will make sure to get a taste of your blood."


    As soon as the explosions happened, Bloed''s expression changed.


    "Explosions!? What"


    "Finally, it has started!" Anna smiled sweetly with a bloodthirsty expression. "I guess I can finally stop containing myself, huh."


    Bloed''s face turned ugly.


    "You Are you rted to this?"


    "What do you think?" Anna grinned. "However, you should not worry about me now."


    As soon as her words finished, Bloed''s expression changed.


    All of sudden, he felt a powerful pressure and killing intent locked on him.


    It was a killing intent so strong that his entire body turned cold. He felt as though he was seeing death eye to eye.


    Moreover, it was so close that he could do nothing but watch how death approached him.


    -In the shape of the hand of the demigod arbitrating the battle.


    Watching the hand of the demigod reaching towards his neck, Bloed''s eyes opened wide in disbelief.


    But to the demigod''s surprise, Bloed''s expression showed only disbelief, nothing more.


    There was no trace of the fear and despair that someone facing death should feel.


    And soon, he understood the reason.


    Before his hand could reach Bloed''s neck, a silver-haired figure appeared in front of him.


    "How do you dare!?" Enraged, Regina swung a de of energy towards the demigod!


    ''Fast!'' The demigod was astonished. He had attacked by surprise and was much closer to Bloed than Regina, but despite that, the silver-haired Valkyrie managed to protect Bloed before his hand could reach him.


    "Die!" Regina bellowed, and his de of energy cut towards the demigod''s neck.


    But the demigod was also a powerful powerhouse. Despite his surprise, he was not intimidated.


    With a thought, his body was filled with mana as mes surged around his arm and blocked Regina''s saber.


    However


    *sh!*


    "!!!"


    Regina''s de cut him!


    The demigod''s eyes opened wide in fear. Without hesitating, he jumped back, moving away from Regina as quickly as he could.


    But despite that, a great injury had appeared from his hand to his elbow!


    If he would have not jumped back, he would have lost his arm!


    The cut had been burned by Regina''s energy, making it impossible for the demigod to heal it quickly. In fact, there was a chance that his arm would never recover.


    Even so, Regina was not satisfied yet.


    "Where do you think you are going!?"


    With a voice so chilly that seemed to freeze the surroundings, the Valkyrie moved again.


    Her de of energy cut through the air so quickly that the demigod found it hard to react to it. He barely managed to cast a barrier that blocked the strike.


    But before he could sigh in relief, the barrier broke, and Regina''s second strike wasing!


    This attack was even stronger and faster than the first! It was so powerful that the demigod''s eyes could only widen in terror!


    But when he thought that his body would be cut into two, someone descended from the sky.


    "Here you are!"


    With a crazy expression, an average-looking man descended towards Regina, conjuring a gigantic monster from his shadow that attacked the Valkyrie.


    "You again!" Regina''s voice distorted in anger. "How do you dare to plot against my master again!?"


    "Your master? I don''t know who he is. I''m only here to get something."


    Regina frowned, and down on the stage, Bloed''s expression changed.


    "It can''t be," Bloed muttered.


    "It looks like you finally realized, Mr. Bloed," Anna smirked seductively.


    Instantly, tens of people jumped from the stands towards Bloed''s group.


    Some of them had been spectating the previous battles, others were students of Anna''s club, and others were people just passing by.


    But now, all of them were rushing towards Bloed''s friend.


    No, they were rushing towards Princess Elwha.


    Grinning sinisterly, Anna took a step forward to block Bloed.


    "We only want something, Mr. Bloed. We are here for the Heart of the Forest."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 448: Start of the Chaos (2)

    Chapter 448: Start of the Chaos (2)


    Two chappies...


    ...


    "We only want something, Mr. Bloed. We are here for the Heart of the Forest."


    Bloed''s expression changed immediately.


    "Church of ughter!"


    "That is us..." Anna grinned sinesterly.


    Instantly, Bloed felt a chill on his spine, forcing him to jump aside.


    One secondter, a dagger cut the ce where he was previously.


    "We should continue our battle, Mr. Bloed. But be careful; otherwise, I could kill you identally."


    "Bitch." Bloed red at her with a somber expression. At the same time, he could not help but be anxious.


    Right now, several enemies were attacking Liu Ying, Eres, and the others. Moreover, he could feel that the enemies were all A-Rank and B-Rank practitioners.


    He needed to help them as soon as possible.


    However, he could feel Ana''s killing intent locked on him.


    If he tried to move, she would attack him.


    Bloed closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to get rid of this girl as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he would be unable to help the others.


    However, he could see that it was not going to be easy.


    Anna''s mana had be much stronger than when he was fighting her a moment ago. It felt almost twice stronger.


    Bloed was not confident in defeating her.


    " How did you know Princess Elwha was with us?" He asked Anna.


    Bloed had given to Princess Elwha a device that allowed her to alter her features slightly, and her name in the registers of Academy City was different. Bloed had taken these precautions to avoid her being discovered.


    But even so, the Church of ughter had discovered her location.


    Anna replied Bloed''s question with a grin.


    "You seriously underestimate us, Mr. Bloed. The Church of ughter has existed for many years. Did you truly think that such small tricks could be hidden from us? We have many ways to find the princess, no matter how she hides.


    "Unfortunately, we could not attack her easily due to the demigod guarding you. That demigod is a bit too powerful, you see. Plus, the demigods of Academy City would move if we try something funny.


    "Today is different, though. Right now, Academy City is too busy to send reinforcements, and your demigod is busy fighting our saint. This is the best opportunity to take the Heart of the Forest."


    Bloed''s eyes narrowed.


    The fact that Anna was so confident that Academy City would not send reinforcements meant that the situation in the city was worse than he thought. Most likely, it was rted to the explosions of before.


    In other words, he needed to take care of Anna by himself.


    ''Should I use Imaginary Sword? However, I need to seed in an attempt. Otherwise, it could be dangerous.''


    Imaginary Sword and Shield of Nothingness were Bloed''s trump cards. These attacks were enough to injure an unguarded demigod.


    However, he could use them only thrice before losing most of hisbat strength. And in the current situation, losing hisbat strength was very dangerous.


    If he was attacked by someone in that state, then he could die.


    Taking a deep breath, Bloed closed his eyes to weigh the current situation.


    When he opened them again, his bright blue eyes shone with a sharp glint, and his aura changedpletely.


    Feeling the change, Anna''s smile became wider.


    "That looks dangerous."


    Then, she attacked.


    Her figure disappeared from her previous location, appearing above Bloed.


    Several flying knives were released from her hands, flying towards Bloed''s body and blocking his escape routes.


    However, Bloed did not bother to avoid them. Leto became into a shield of metallic sand, protecting Bloed from the attacks. At the same time, Oculus released a barrage of energy bullets towards Anna''s location.


    However, Anna''s flying knives were much more powerful than before. If not that Leto used all its metallic sand to block them, they could have prated the shield.


    '' At this rate, I can only use Leto''s defensively.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    Bloed''s normal strategy was to use Leto''s metallic sand to restraint and attack the enemies, but if he tried that against Anna, he feared that the metallic sand remaining would be unable to stop her knives.


    To make things worse, Anna''s speed was incredibly fast, even faster than Nathan, who he fought a few days ago.


    Moreover, unlike Nathan who fought in closebat, Anna used long-rangedbat, making it harder to deal with her.


    Fortunately, Bloed was notpletely helpless against her. With the help of his eyes, he managed to follow Anna''s movements and use his energy guns to attack the girl.


    Anna did not dare to receive Bloed''s energy bullets head-on. After all, the power of the ster bullets was enough to cause her serious injuries.


    Moreover, the barrage of bulletsing from Oculus made it harder for her to move freely.


    "Dammit it! Troublesome thing!"


    With a fed-up expression, Anna threw several flying knives towards Oculus, effectively creating a hole on it. But in the next second, Oculus turned into metallic sand that reformed in another ce without any damage.


    Meanwhile, Bloed''s guns continued shooting bullets towards Anna''s location.


    The battle continued like that for a while, with both of them using long-range attacks to attack the other, but just when it seemed that the stalemate would continue for a while, Anna''s movements abruptly changed.


    All of sudden, she elerated in Bloed''s direction!


    And her speed was even faster than before!


    Bloed tried his best to remain calm. With a thought, Leto surged in front of him, but then, Anna threw a dagger towards it.


    And when the dagger reached the metallic sand, it exploded!


    *Boom!*


    The explosion created a cloud of dust that covered Bloed''s vision. Making use of it, Anna appeared behind him.


    With a sadistic smile on her face, the beautiful girl held a dagger in a backhanded grab and used it to cut towards Bloed''s throat.


    But when she was about to slice his throat, she saw Bloed''s blue eyes shining brightly inside the dust.


    "You are mine." Bloed smiled.


    Then, the sharp edge of his saber cut towards her abdomen.

 Chapter 449: Blood on the Ground

    Chapter 449: Blood on the Ground


    "It has started." A green-eyed woman wearing a white nun habit sighed while looking at Academy City. "As expected, this day endeding."


    " Saintess, we need to leave." The man standing behind the woman spoke up. However, the Saintess feigned not to hear his words.


    "Hey, Kallevang. Don''t you think people are stupid? The Blight has reappeared, and Returning Dusk has started to move; but despite that, the kingdoms of the different races only think in war."


    " People are like that, Saintess. There is nothing we can do."


    "Really?" The woman smiled bitterly. "Academy City is a beautiful ce. It''s a shame to see it destroyed... Is there nothing we can do?"


    The man frowned.


    Looking at the back of the woman he served, Kallevang heaved a long sigh.


    " Saintess, we can''t do anything about it. Even if you want to help Academy City, the council ordered us not to interfere."


    "Hmph, these old fools!" The Saintess snorted. "Did they forget why the Church of Fate was created in the first ce?"


    " Saintess, please don''t make things difficult for me."


    Charise Amra, the Saintess of the Church of Fate, turned around to look at Kallevang and stared at him for several seconds. But suddenly, she smiled devilishly.


    "Hey Kallevang, the council told us to not help Academy City, right?"


    "They did."


    "Mm, but did they say anything about helping our protge?"


    The two-meters tall demigod was stunned.


    "That boy? Saintess, you are not thinking of"


    "They said nothing about not helping him, right?"


    Kallevang put on aplicated expression before sighing.


    "Yes, they did not forbid it."


    "Great. Then, Kallevang, as the Saintess of the Church of Fate, I order you to help me to protect him." Charise Amra stated with a gentle smile.


    The two-meters tall demigod smiled wryly before nodding.


    "Understood, Saintess. The Order of the Guiding Light is ready to follow your orders."


    "Great." The saintess''s lips curved up slightly. "The council told us to not interfere with Academy City''s matter, but I don''t think there is a problem if we kill a few members of Returning Dusk while helping the boy, right?"


    Kallevang shook his head helplessly.


    Inwardly, though, he smiled.


    After all, he wanted to kill the people that threatened the world''s peace as much as his saintess wanted.


    While Saintess Charise was getting ready to help Bloed and the others, Liu Ying, Princess Elwha, Eres, Sara, and Aya were in a fierce battle while protecting Prince Calisto and Gina.


    Tens of A-Rank and B-Rank zealots of the Church of ughter were attacking them without regard for their lives. They threw themselves towards the girls as though they did not care about their own safety.


    The battle was very fierce, and the number of enemies put the girls at a disadvantage. In fact, it was thanks to two reasons that the girls had managed tost until now.


    The first was Prince Calisto''s guards. They hade to the Challenge to protect the life of the prince, and when the Church of ughter attacked, they did not hesitate to team up with the girls to resist them.


    As for the second reason, it was


    "[World Burning mes]."


    *Whoosh!*


    Eres Skysword''s presence.


    Under her powerful [World Burning mes], nothing could resist. In less than two minutes, she had used it to kill more than thirty enemies!


    She had stopped more than half of the enemies alone.


    Of course, she could not fight all the madmen of the Church of ughter by herself. But Princess Elwha''s Mental Interference Magic and Sara and Aya''s assassinations had taken a great part of the pressure off her.


    With their help, Eres could be considered the greatest contributor in this battle.


    "We need to kill her!"


    "Don''t be afraid! Her mana can''tst forever!"


    "For the glory of our god!"


    Powerhouses from the Church of ughter attacked Eres one after another, some of them even breaking through her transparent mes to reach her. But then, they would have to face Liu Ying''s powerful closebat techniques and Eres''s exquisite swordsmanship.


    Like that, the girls managed to fight the enemies to a stalemate.


    However, the situation was far from good.


    Eres could feel an especially powerful aura locked on her from a while ago.


    ording to her senses, this aura belonged to a demigod!


    Fortunately, it seemed that this demigod was wary of Eres''s mes, so he had not attacked yet. But Eres was sure that as soon as she showed the slightest sign of weakness, he would move.


    Just then, the girls heard a shocked voiceing behind them.


    " It can''t be!"


    "Gina? Did you see anything?" Liu Ying asked concerned.


    The honey-haired girl shuddered and her eyes were filled with shock.


    " The Heart of the Forest is not their only target! My hero is one as well!"


    The expressions of the girls changed immediately.


    Just then, an extremely powerful aura appeared behind Bloed!


    ""Bloed!"" Liu Ying and Eres eximed at the same time.


    But when they attempted to help him, the demigod that had been observing from a while ago attacked!


    In an instant, he unsheathed his sword and appeared in front of Eres, trying to cut her into two!


    The most terrifying part of Bloed''s battle style was not his deadly saber, nor the versatility of his pets.


    No, the most terrifying part of Bloed''s battle style was his eyes.


    Mechanical eyes that were created to observe, analyze, and learn the patterns and techniques of the enemy. They could see detect even the slightest change in the battlefield, allowing Bloed to always make the best judgment.


    Thanks to them, Bloed was able to learn his enemy''s movements and slowly decipher them, until his enemy was like an open book to him.


    And unfortunately for Anna, she had been fighting Bloed for almost five minutes already, including the original battle.


    To Bloed, that was more than enough time to learn almost everything about her battle style.


    Anna thought that her attack was unexpected; but in truth, Bloed had long predicted she could try to attack using that method.


    As soon as he saw the cloud of dust, he knew the most likely ce where Anna was going to teleport.


    Thus, when Anna''s swung his dagger, he also swung his saber.


    At the same time, Oculus''s eyes lit up.


    [Suppressive Gravity Field]!


    For the second time today, Bloed had used this technique.


    Moreover, he also activated another two techniques.


    [King''s Aura]!


    [Imaginary sh]!


    Anna opened her eyes wide. She felt her mind freeze for a brief instant, and her body suddenly turned heavy.


    Before she could realize the danger she was facing, an invisible de filled with disintegrating energy cut through her.


    Then


    *sh!*


    Her body was cut into two.


    "Die..." He murmured softly.


    But when he was about to turn around to help Liu Ying and the others, he saw the dead Anna''s lips curved up slightly, as though she had aplished her goal.


    Suddenly, he felt a terrifying chill on his spine.


    Bloed''s instincts activated immediately and he kicked the ground to jump away.


    However


    "!!!"


    He could not move his body.


    It waspletely frozen.


    At the same time, his extraordinary perception allowed him to detect a figure appearing behind him, brandishing a dagger towards his back.


    ''Crap!'' Bloed turned pale.


    And blood fell on the ground.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TREON if you like my story...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 450: Pillar of Flames

    Chapter 450: Pir of mes


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. He watched the pool of blood below him in surprise and fear.


    However, he did not feel any pain.


    " Regina," Bloed murmured in a daze, and when he turned around, he saw the back of a silver-haired girl.


    The Valkyrie had taken the dagger for him.


    "Regina!" Bloed shouted. But the silver-haired girl did not reply.


    Instead, she grabbed the wrist of the assassin that attacked Bloed and red at him with eyes filled with killing intent.


    "Die!" She spoke.


    In the next second, a one-hundred-meter-long de of light cut the world into two.


    " Impo sible" The demigod murmured, and blood flowed out of his mouth.


    The de of light cut everything in its path. It was so fast that the demigod was unable to avoid it.


    One secondter, his bisected body fell to the ground.


    But in the next instant, Regina''s vomited a mouthful of blood and kneeled on the ground.


    "Regina!" Bloed panicked,


    She had been gravely injured by the dagger!


    Right then, a gigantic shadow filled with killing intent fell from the sky.


    "Regina!" Bloed shouted again in worry and got ready to activate Door of Nothingness, but Regina moved faster.


    With a thought, a field of energy appeared around Bloed and her, blocking the giant shadow.


    When the shadow disappeared, she red at the average-looking man in the sky with ice-cold eyes.


    "Do you want to die?"


    " What a terrifying woman." The Saint of the Church of ughter forced out a smile.


    He was filled with wounds all around his body, including a terrifying cut on his abdomen.


    Behind him, the demigod that had been fighting Regina with him was panting heavily, and blood was flowing from his severed right arm.


    That was the result of the two of them teaming up to fight.


    If they would have been fighting her alone, they would have perished before the first minute.


    As for Regina, the only wound she suffered was the stab of the dagger.


    Moreover, the only reason she received it was to protect Bloed. Otherwise, she would have been uninjured even after killing a demigod and heavily injuring another two.


    Unfortunately, Regina''s situation was not good.


    Although she was not showing it, the wound she just received was very grave.


    Regina was not a human, but a Valkyrie. A kind ofbat cyborg developed by the Human Confederation.


    But as a cyborg, she was part human.


    Her blood and most of her internal organs were the same as a normal human. Although some organs such as the heart were reced when she was turned into a Valkyrie, she could still be injured if her mechanical heart was pierced.


    Of course, the wound caused by the dagger was not enough to stop her. She was confident that, even injured, she could kill the other two demigods before long.


    However


    "At least three, huh." She muttered with a frown.


    She could feel at least another three demigods hidden while observing her.


    No, they were not observing her, but her master.


    They also wanted to kill him.


    Luckily, she had managed to detect them on time, allowing her to attack them with her energy weapons and force them to retreat.


    But she failed to stop one of them, and he was the one that attacked Bloed.


    Regina furrowed her brows. These demigods were not very powerful, and even the three of them together were inferior to her. In fact, even if the two demigods in the sky were added to the equation, she still believed she could win.


    But


    '' It will be hard to protect master.''


    Regina looked at Bloed behind her with a concerned expression.


    She hesitated briefly about what to do. But eventually, she made her choice.


    "Master, get Leto ready to escape."


    Bloed was startled. But he understood her intentions quickly.


    However, he soon shook his head.


    " Impossible. They are here to kill me. They will not let Leto take flight."


    Bloed had also felt the other three demigods. He could feel they were here to kill him.


    Leto''s flight speed was very fast, but it needed a bit of time to reach its maximum speed. Plus, even at maximum speed, it was not faster than powerful demigods.


    Of course, most demigods could not keep that speed for a long while. But it was enough to intercept Bloed''s flight.


    Regina, however, was already aware of that.


    "Don''t worry, I will stop them."


    "You" Bloed''s eyes opened wide, and in the next instant, his eyes were filled with anger. "What are you nning?"


    " My mission is to protect you, master. Regardless of my safety."


    Bloed''s expression changed. "You"


    Then, he smiled bitterly.


    "Do you truly think that I can leave knowing that you could die?"


    Regina did not reply.


    She was strong, perhaps stronger than the five enemy demigods if she went all out.


    But it was a different story if she had to protect Bloed while fighting them.


    Protecting him while Leto took flight meant restricting her movements and forcing her to receive attacks that otherwise she could avoid.


    Bloed understood that, and Regina as well.


    Right now, she was ready to give her life for him.


    Bloed closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


    " Ten seconds. I used Imaginary sh once, so I can use [Overdrive] only for that long."


    "Master?"


    "How many of them can you kill in that time?"


    " It''s too risky. You will be unconscious after that, master. The best option to ensure your safety i"


    "Regina, I''ll ask you again. How many of them can you kill in that time?"


    Regina hesitated and frowned.


    " Two. No, I''ll kill three of them."


    "Good. That is the n then." Bloed grinned and took a deep breath. He could feel that the hidden demigods were bing impatient.


    They were going to attack soon.


    The next ten seconds were going to determine his life and death.


    But just then


    *BOOMMM!!!*


    An enormous explosion came from the ce where the girls were fighting!


    Bloed and Regina were surprised. They hurriedly looked in the direction of the explosion and were shocked to see a pir of transparent mes rising to the sky!


    Then, a beautiful ck-haired girl with eyes as dark as the night itself left the pir of mes while holding a severed head on her right hand and a sword on her left.


    "King''s Shadows!" She snarled. "How do you dare to attack my brother!"


    mes appeared on her right hand, burning the head belonging to the demigod she just killed to ashes. Then, she walked towards Bloed, standing in front of him protectively.


    "Who dares to kill my brother with me here!" She shouted.


    Her name was Eres Skysword.


    Also known as World Burning Princess Witch.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels. I appreciate it...

 Chapter 451: Turning Point (1)

    Chapter 451: Turning Point (1)


    Hello, it''s Aidka!


    Firstly, I want to apologize for the long hiatus. A lot of stuff happened in my life, some of which were pretty bad, that I don''t want to talk about. Due to it, I lost my motivation to write.


    In fact, I was nning to drop the novels, but when I remembered that Fourth Prince was about to end, and when I saw so many patreons that still supported me even when I had almost two months without writing, I decided to persevere.


    This past month was a kind of trial to see if I could get used to writing again. Fortunately, it seems like I managed to regain my motivation, so let''s hope we can continue this long journey.


    About my ns for the future. Firstly, the schedule will be ording to the goals of ******* (right now it''s eight chapters per week). I won''t increase it unless the goals of ******* are achieved.


    Secondly, Fourth Prince is about to end. There are only two big arcs left before the novel ends and I should finish writing them after two or three months. Science/Magic, on the other hand, still has a long way to go.


    Thirdly, I had been writing a new series for a while now. I continued writing it even when I was on hiatus (maybe because I did not feel pressured to post it, I could rx while writing it). Right now, I had written about 300 pages, which is almost 100 chapters! A lot!


    I n to start posting it this week, I had not decided on the schedule yet. If I''m free tomorrow, maybe I''ll post the synopsis and a few chapters on *******.


    The name of the new series is [Hey, Why Are my Skills so Weird!?]. It''s a modern fantasy with skills, dungeons, and a bit of R-Rated content. I enjoy writing it a lot, although I had not finished mapping the entire novel in my head yet.


    Lastly, thank you for supporting me all this while. Truly, I would have stop writing if I don''t see how many people encouraged me on *******. It helped me a lot.


    With love, Aidka~


    ...


    "Who dares to kill my brother with me here!"


    Eres''s voice was filled with power, and the aura exuding from her body was so overwhelming that the air around her was trembling.


    Bloed was surprised to see it. Right now, Eres''s aura was no inferior to a demigod!


    It was even stronger than some of the demigods Bloed had met until now.


    " Eres," Bloed murmured, causing Eres to look at him briefly with a concerned look.


    But one instantter, she red in front of her again.


    In the direction of the three hidden demigods.


    "King''s Shadows! How do you dare to try to kill my brother!" She snarled angrily.


    However, the demigods did not reply, as though they did not hear Eres''s words.


    Eres became even angrier seeing that.


    "Do you think you can''t pretend you are not them by keeping silent!? I can recognize your nefarious mana from kilometers of distance! Tell me, was it my father who sent you!?"


    The hidden demigods still did not reply.


    " I see, so it was him, huh." Eres gritted her teeth in anger.


    Bloed frowned, and an expression of realization appeared on his face.


    King''s Shadows was the secret organization serving the Kingdom of Alterna''s Royal Family. They only followed orders from the king, and sometimes, from the queen or the princes.


    This time, though, it seemed that they were here following the king''s orders.


    '' So he still wants to kill me, huh.'' Bloed smiled wryly to himself. For some reason, though, he did not find it surprising.


    After all, that man was the one that ordered his exile, despite Bloed being his own flesh and blood.


    " That bastard." Eres gripped her sword so hard that it was trembling. "He dares to try to kill Glenn Was exiling him not enough!?" Eres asked with extreme anger in her voice.


    But when she saw that the three hidden demigods did not n to reply, her mana became violent!


    "Answer me!" She shouted, and her sword was swung.


    [Skysword]!


    Everything two hundred meters in front of Eres was cut into two, including space itself!


    The power of the publicly acknowledged as the strongest sword technique in the world was revealed by the ck-haired princess!


    In front of such a sword, the hidden demigods were forced to reveal themselves to avoid it!


    However, their expressions soon changed. Because they realized that Eres had appeared in front of them with her sword d in transparent mes!


    "Die!" She said as her sword descended towards one of the demigods!


    The demigod hurriedly used a dagger to stop Eres''s attack, only to realize that the mes on Eres''s sword became bigger, devouring his dagger instantly and surging towards him!


    [Skymes]!


    The expression of the demigod changed. He hurriedly created a barrier of mana to stop the mes but it was consumed instantly.


    "No!" The demigod screamed, his expression distorted in fear. And in the next second, he was consumed by the mes.


    However, Eres did not stop there. As soon as she killed one of them, she kicked the air and rushed towards the remaining two.


    The two remaining assassins looked at each other with terror in their eyes. And in the next instant, they made the same choice.


    Instead of confronting Eres, they rushed towards Bloed!


    They did not dare to harm Eres, the beloved daughter of their master. And at the same time, they did not dare to leave without aplishing their mission. Thus, they could only kill Bloed as quickly as possible.


    As long as they killed Bloed, they could run away from the terrifying witch of mes.


    "You dare!" Eres''s expression turned extremely cold. Killing intent filled her ck eyes, and her anger reached a new height.


    However, the two assassins ignored it and charged towards Bloed in a pincer attack.


    Unfortunately for them, killing Bloed was not easy.


    Before their daggers could reach him, Regina summoned two energy des, stopping the two of them in their tracks!


    She had been protecting Bloed while Eres attacked the demigods, in case that one of them attempted to attack him. Thus, as soon as the two assassins showed the intention to attack Bloed, she moved.


    Her golden eyes glowed faintly as her psychic energy surged outwards, turning into countless swords.


    Then, the swords flew towards the two demigods!


    The demigods hurriedly avoided the swords and jumped backward. However, Regina chased after them, wielding the two energy des on her hands skillfully, as energy swords rained on them.


    Fortunately for the two demigods, Regina was wary of the two demigods of the Church of ughter who had not moved yet; thus, she reserved a bit of her strength.


    But even so, the Valkyrie was slowly cornering them.


    With each sh of her energy des, Regina cornered them more and more. Even when she was fighting two against one, and even though she was injured, she was showing clear superiority.


    The power of the Valkyrie was so overwhelming that the two demigods found themselves hard-pressed to cope with her attacks.


    Right then, Eres also arrived and attacked the two demigods from behind.


    "If you won''t talk, then die!"


    The expressions of the two demigods changed.


    They barely managed to avoid Eres''s attack; but facing a powerful enemy in front of them and a powerful enemy behind them, they soon started to panic.


    "Dammit! Saint of ughter! How long do you n to watch! Remember our promise!"


    "I know, I know." The Saint of the Church of ughter, who had been observing the battle with an expression of interest, smiled gently. "I help you to kill the boy and you help me to get the heart. I remember our promise."


    Three powerful monsters appeared from his shadows. The first was a wolf, the second a tiger, and the third a dragon.


    At the same time, the demigod beside him raised his sword, filling it with mana.


    But when Bloed thought that they were going to attack them and was about to activate [Overdrive], the Saint of the Church of ughter giggled.


    "But you see, I don''t need your help anymore. Why should I care if you live or die?"


    Then, his three monsters attacked.


    But instead of attacking Bloed, they attacked the ce where Liu Ying and the girls were.


    To get Princess Elwha''s Heart of the Forest.


    ....


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 Chapter 452: Turning Point (2)

    Chapter 452: Turning Point (2)


    A few minutes earlier.


    Liu Ying and the others continued fighting the men of the Church of ughter. Even though Eres killed the demigod that had been watching them, the situation of the girls did not improve much.


    After all, the number of members of the Church of ughter was overwhelming, and Eres had left them to help Bloed who was being attacked by several demigods.


    "Liu Ying, Aya is in danger!" The honey-haired girl, Gina, shouted suddenly, making Liu Ying throw a punch towards Aya.


    Aya immediately crouched, allowing Liu Ying''s attack to pass over her and hit a man that had appeared suddenly behind her!


    The man seemed to be a stealth user. None of the girls had managed to sense him. It was only thanks to Gina''s foresight and warning that Aya escaped uninjured.


    Aya nodded gratefully to Liu Ying and Gina before she faded inside the shadows, appearing behind two enemies and stabbing her daggers on their backs, before disappearing again and targeting another pair of enemies.


    But when she was about to kill them, a figure wielding a hammer appeared in front of her, blocking her daggers with a bloodthirsty smile.


    "Die, girl!"


    Aya''s expression turned grave. She could see that the enemy was a peak A-Rank practitioner!


    The cat girl hurriedly jumped back, but the A-Rank enemy chased after her, swinging his hammer towards her stomach.


    The hammer was so fast that Aya seemed unable to avoid it!


    But suddenly, the movements of the enemy stiffened.


    It was Princess Elwha''s illusion!


    She had managed to interfere with the A-Rank''s mind, freezing his movements for an instant!


    And although it was just an instant, it allowed Raven to retreat to a safe ce.


    Moreover


    *Pu!*


    A figure appeared behind the stiffened enemy, using a dagger to slit his neck and awakening him from the illusion.


    Sara had attacked!


    The A-Rank''s eyes opened wide in disbelief and confusion. He tried to use his hands to stop the bleeding, but it was useless.


    He could only watch as he bled to death, copsing on the ground.


    Until the end, he did not manage to see the figure of the girl that killed him.


    Sara''s stealth was that powerful. Unless it was someone much stronger than her, she was almost impossible to detect.


    The cooperation of the girls was impable. They relied on their different abilities to face the group of enemies without falling into a disadvantage.


    Of course, part of the reason they had endured until now was that Prince Calisto''s men were sharing part of the pressure with them.


    However, though none of them having been injured yet, the expressions of the girls were anxious.


    The enemies were unending, and they seemed ready to sacrifice their lives to attain their goal.


    Princess Elwha''s Heart of the Forest.


    The situation was so critical that the elf princess was biting her lips, wondering if it was better if she gave them the heart in exchange for letting them escape.


    However, Elwha could not make that decision so easily. After all, the Heart of the Forest was too important for her people.


    Just then, the expression of Gina became ashen.


    "It can''t be!"


    She murmured in fear and looked in the direction of Bloed''s battle.


    In the air, she could see two demigods of the Church of ughter observing the situation.


    Right then, she noticed the strongest of the two demigods ncing in her direction.


    Then, he smiled.


    Gina turned pale.


    "We need to run away!" She shouted. "Sister, sister Liu Ying, we need to run!"


    "Gina, what happened!?" Sara asked hurriedly as the rest of the girls paid attention to Gina''s words.


    However, Gina''s expression became even paler.


    " No, it''s toote."


    "Gina?"


    " The demigod will attack us"


    The expressions of the girls changed.


    They hurriedly looked towards the two demigods hovering in the air and saw they looking towards them.


    Then, one of them released a group of terrifying shadow monsters in their direction as the other shed with their sword.


    The girls paled. They shivered when they felt the enormous destructive power behind the two attacks, and their bodies froze in fear.


    They could only watch powerlessly as the shadow monsters and the sword sh came towards them.


    But then, Princess Elwha roared.


    "Stop!!!"


    One of her earrings lit up, and powerful mana was released from it. At the same time, all her mana and soul power erupted!


    "Activate!!!" She cried.


    In the next instant, a translucid barrier appeared around the group!


    *Boom!!!*


    The attacks collided with the barrier, making it tremble violently as cracks appeared on it.


    The earring was a life-saving treasure she had received from her father. It was able to release a barrier powerful enough to stop a demigod-level attack for a few seconds.


    However, the Saint of the Church of ughter was not a normal demigod. His attack quickly overwhelmed the barrier.


    Moreover, another demigod was attacking the barrier together with him, making the barrier quickly crack up.


    It would not be able to endure more than one second!


    Elwha''s face turned red, and she spat out a mouthful of blood. But her face turned firm. She took a deep breath, and squeezing herst bits of mana and soul power, she shouted again.


    "I said stop!"


    Her voice was infused with all her mana and soul power. It reached the ears of all the people on the battlefield, freezing their movements for an instant!


    Even Regina and the Saint of the Church of ughter saw their movements briefly obstructed.


    " Huh? How interesting." The Saint of the Church of ughter crackled. "But what is the difference between dying now or one secondter?"


    Grinning, he ordered his three shadow monsters to attack again.


    The barrier trembled even more, and cracks appeared all over it. It was about to be destroyed.


    But this time, Princess Elwha had copsed unconscious, her facepletely white as blood flowed out of her nostrils and her body trembled in pain.


    The girls despaired. They could see the barrier cracking. At the same time, they could see Bloed rushing towards them, his face filled with fear and despair as he desperately tried to reach them.


    Unfortunately, he was too far away.


    But then


    " It looks like we are not toote."


    A sweet voice suddenly resounded on the battlefield.


    To the girls'' surprise, a beautiful girl wearing a nun habit appeared in front of them, followed by a stalwart man wielding a greatsword.


    The man brandished the greatsword, cutting the three shadow monsters easily, and destroying the sword sh. He then attacked the two demigods in the sky, forcing them to retreat.


    At the same time, the beautiful girl wearing the nun habit sped her hands, making a prayer and strengthening the barrier protecting the girls.


    " It looks like we are not toote." It should be enough. She smiled.


    "Dogs of Fate!" The face of the Saint of the Church of ughter turned ugly.


    However, the nun girl only smiled provocatively at his words.


    "Hehe, the heretics of ughter sure are daring. How do you dare to attack our church''s protegee? Do you want to die?"


    Her name was Charise Amra, Saintess of the Church of Fate.


    And behind her, The Order of the Guiding Light appeared, brandishing their swords mercilessly and reaping the lives of the heretics.


    ...


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 Chapter 453: Turning Point (3)

    Chapter 453: Turning Point (3)


    The arrival of the Church of Fate and the Order of the Guiding Light turned the situation around.


    In an instant, tens of members of the Church of ughter were killed. Under the swords and holy spells of the Church of Fate''s most elite knight order, the men of the Church of ughter were unable to resist.


    Moreover, Saintess Charise was supporting the knights with her holy spells, and the demigod, Kallevang Am, was leading the knights. Thus, the men of the Church of ughter could not oppose them.


    "It looks like we are not toote." Charise smiled.


    The face of the Saint of the Church of ughter turned ugly. He looked at Kallevang, who had stopped his beasts, and then at Charise with a dark expression.


    "Is the Church of Fate going to interfere with us?" He snarled.


    "What do you think?" Charise smiled sweetly. "You dared to attack our protegee. Do you think we are going to stay quiet seeing that?"


    The face of the Saint turned ugly.


    At the same time, Bloed arrived beside Charise and looked at her with aplicated and grateful expression.


    " Thank you."


    "It''s nothing. I promised you that our church would protect you, right?"


    Bloed smiled wryly and nodded.


    To be honest, he had never trusted the Church of Fate that much. But he had to admit that he felt extremely grateful to them now.


    If they would have not arrived in time, then his lover and many of his friends would have perished at the hands of the Church of ughter.


    Remembering that, Bloed red at the Saint of the Church of ughter with eyes full of killing intent.


    "Dammit" He cursed and gripped his saber tightly. For an instant, he considered using [Overdrive] to attack them. But his rationality held him back.


    Even if he used Overdrive, he was not sure he could kill any of them. Plus, he would fall unconscious after that.


    Instead, he took a deep breath and looked at the girls.


    "Are you alright?"


    Liu Ying nodded before looking at the unconscious elf princess.


    "We are alright. But Princess Elwha seems gravely injured."


    Bloed nodded and walked towards her. After using his eyes to scan her, he realized that she had overloaded his soul power and mana to defend against the first attack of the Saint of the Church of ughter.


    Fortunately, her situation was not grave. She just needed a bit of rest.


    Meanwhile, the battle continued.


    Now that reinforcements of the Church of Fate arrived, Regina and Eres became more daring.


    Without having to worry about protecting Bloed, Regina''s attacks became fiercer and fiercer.


    "Damn it!" One of the demigods facing Regina put on an anxious look. He filled a knife with mana and threw it towards the Valkyrie, but Regina just leaned aside and avoided it. She then took one step forward, appearing in front of the demigod instantly.


    The demigod panicked and tried to retreat. But Regina was faster. She wielded her two energy sabers skillfully, sealing all his routes of escape.


    Seeing the perilous situation of their ally, the other two demigods tried to help him, but one of them was stopped by Eres and the other had to face Regina''s flying energy weapons.


    In the end, the demigod was forced to resist Regina by himself, extending his knife in an attempt to block her des.


    But


    *Swish!*


    The two energy des cut cleanly through his body, dividing it into four parts.


    Not even his weapon was able to protect him and it was cut together with him.


    The sight of a demigod being killed so easily filled the other two demigods with fright.


    He was the fourth demigod that died in this battle, and the second that fell under Regina''s hands.


    Seeing that, the other two demigods stopped hesitating and turned around to run.


    They knew that if they remained, they would be killed by Regina and Eres. Even if escaping meant failing their mission, it was better than dying here.


    However, neither Regina nor Eres nned to let them escape.


    "Do you think you can just leave after trying to kill my master?" Regina growled.


    Extending her energy wings, she flew towards one of the flying demigods, catching up to him in an instant.


    The face of the demigod became ashen white. But then, an expression of madness appeared on his face, and his eyes turned bloodshot.


    "Die with me then!"


    With a roar, he roused his entire mana pool, letting it go out of control.


    He was nning self-destroy!


    But Regina''s eyes glinted coldly. One of her energy des shone brightly before emitting a ray of energy that extended until the horizon, piercing the abdomen of the demigod instantly!


    The demigod''s eyes opened wide in fear as he looked at his abdomen, where his mana core was located.


    It had been pierced by Regina''s attack.


    "I already saw that trick before," Regina said indifferently. "It will not work on me again."


    The lips of the demigod trembled as he looked at Regina with an expression of fear.


    " Monster."


    Regina frowned, then, she swung one of her energy des, and the demigod''s head fell.


    "Monster, huh" Regina murmured to herself before looking towards the remaining demigod.


    But to her surprise, she saw Eres standing in front of him, piercing his heart with her sword.


    In the next second, transparent mes arose from her sword, consuming the demigod in seconds.


    " She is strong."


    Regina could not believe that she was just at the A-Rank. Her power was too exaggerated for that.


    Almost like


    " My master."


    Regina furrowed her brows when that thought appeared on her head. After all, Her master and Eres were siblings.


    Was that a coincidence?


    When she was lost in her thoughts, the battle against the men of the Church of ughter ended.


    Regina looked in that direction and saw that one of the demigods of the Church of ughter was kneeling on the ground, and Kallevang''s greatsword was piercing his chest.


    However, she did not see the other demigod, the Saint of ughter.


    "He escaped," Bloed exined when he saw her expression.


    "Should I chase after him?" Regina asked.


    But before Bloed could reply, a terrifying explosion shook Academy City.


    Then, under Bloed''s astonished eyes, a giant magic circle appeared in the sky, covering the entire city.


    ...


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here...


    I started to publish my new story, you can find it in Webnovel as [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]. Please read it and leave your opinion, I would appreciate it a lot...


    Also, support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 454: Five Nodes

    Chapter 454: Five Nodes


    "This is" Bloed''s eyes opened wide. He had seen this magic array before.


    "It''s the same one that we saw in Diadel Duchy." Saintess Charisepleted his words.


    Bloed''s expression turned grave. If this magic array was the same as the one in Diadel Duchy, then the current situation was very serious.


    Back in Diadel Ducky, Duke Diadel used this magic array to gather sacrifices to strengthen a spawn of the Blight and use it to breakthrough to the Demigod rank.


    In the end, he failed, but his actions caused the deaths of thousands of people.


    The fact that the same magic array was being used in Academy City meant that whoever was behind it was nning to sacrifice a great number of innocent citizens.


    If the n was sessful, then tens of thousands of people would die.


    "Regina, help me to get an image of the magic array," Bloed asked his Valkyrie.


    Regina nodded. The silver-haired Valkyrie then flew to the sky hundreds of meters above the city.


    After she finished analyzing the magic array, she descended and extended her hand, using her ESPer ability to create a model of it.


    Bloed observed the model for a few seconds before frowning.


    " This one is even moreplex than the one in Diadel. It has a total of five nodes. But I don''t understand something"


    "What is the problem?" Liu Ying asked.


    "I can''t find the central node It makes no sense. Where are the sacrifices going?"


    Liu Ying, Regina, and the others looked at each other in confusion.


    None of them knew much about magic circles and magic arrays, so they did not know what the problem was. But Bloed knew that something was wrong.


    In Diadel Duchy, the magic array was collecting sacrifices to grow the spawn of the Blight in the Duke''s body, so the central node of the magic array was in the city hall.


    However, Bloed could not find the central node of this magic array.


    None of the five nodes he found was the central node. It was as though the magic array was broken.


    '' Something is wrong Am I ignoring something?''


    Bloed thought for a few seconds, but he did not manage to reach an answer.


    In the end, he sighed and shook his head.


    ''It doesn''t matter. It doesn''t change what we need to do.''


    "What is the n, Bloed?" Saintess Charise asked.


    "The same n that in Diadel Duchy. We need to destroy the five nodes to destroy the magic array."


    "... However, we will have to split up if we want to destroy them quickly," Charise said.


    Bloed fell silent.


    Charise was right. The best option was to split up to take care of the nodes at the same time. However, splitting up in the current situation was very risky.


    They did not know when they would be attacked again. In the worst case, they could be killed one by one.


    Even so, they could not leave the sacrificial magic array alone.


    "We will divide ourselves into three groups." Bloed finally decided. "The first group will be the Charise, Sir Kallevang, and the knights of the Church of Fate. You will take care of the node in the east.


    "Eres, Liu Ying, and Aya will form the second group together with Prince Calisto''s men. You will take care of the node in the west. Eres, you should have enough firepower to destroy it. But if you can''t, wait for reinforcements.


    "Regina and I will take care of the node in the south. As for thest two nodes" Bloed thought for a moment before looking at Charise. "Saintess, do you have a way to contact the headmistress and Miss Eve?"


    Charise was briefly startled before nodding. "I do."


    "Then tell them about the situation. We will leave thest two nodes to them."


    "Understood."


    "What about us, my hero?" Gina asked suddenly.


    Bloed looked at her and Sara and put on a serious look.


    "I have another mission for the two of you. Sara, please escort Gina and Princess Elwha to the club. As for you, Gina, I hope you can use your abilities to find the central node. Tell me as soon as you find it, okay?"


    "Understood, my lord."


    "I won''t disappoint you, my hero."


    Sara and Gina nodded.


    "Then let''s start. We don''t have much time."


    The group then split up following Bloed''s arrangement. Saintess Charise, Kallevang, and the knights of the Order of the Guiding Light went to the east; Eres, Liu Ying, Aya, and the men of Prince Calisto went to the west; and Bloed and Regina went to the south.


    Meanwhile, Sara carried the unconscious Princess Elwha on her back as she escorted Gina to the Machine Revolutio tower.


    But as soon as Bloed started to advance towards the node in the south, he realized that the situation in the city was much worse than he expected.


    Countless dead bodies were lying on the ground, battles were urring all over the city, and buildings were being destroyed one after another.


    Moreover, that was not the worst part.


    In the middle of the chaos, Bloed saw several familiar creatures.


    Monsters with disgusting appearances and a thirst for mana.


    Devourers. The Blight.


    Monstrous creatures and deformed humans infected by the Blight roamed the chaotic city, killing indiscriminately and drinking blood in a frenzy.


    "These crazy bastards!" Bloed clenched his teeth.


    He could not believe that someone was so foolish and cruel as to release these monstrosities in the city.


    The Devourers were creatures that devoureds and destroyed civilizations. But here, they were being used ignorantly as weapons.


    "Foolish. Do they fail to understand that if the Devourers escape their control, this world will be destroyed?" Regina asked with a somber expression.


    Bloed gritted his teeth and growled.


    "Let''s go. We need to destroy the node before it''s toote. Also, try to kill as many of these creatures as you can, Regina."


    "As you wish, master."


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 455: Five Nodes (2)

    Chapter 455: Five Nodes (2)


    Sorry I''mte... I was feeling a bit sick thest few days...


    ...


    In the northern district of Academy City.


    A beautiful woman with caramel-colored hair and eyes and slightly pointy ears was floating in the sky together with a golden-haired fox girl.


    They were Wave Golden and Eve Moonglow, Headmistress of Academy City, and Saintess of Moonlight Glow respectively.


    In front of them, several monsters of different shapes were growling hungrily and staring at the two women with eyes full of greed.


    Sometimes, the monsters attacked them, but the girls would kill them easily. In fact, there were hundreds of corpses on the ground, belonging to the monsters they had killed.


    However, the expressions of the two women were serious. Even though they werepletely uninjured, their expressions were grave as though they were facing a great enemy.


    And the reason for that was the man hovering across them.


    He was wearing a hooded robe that hid his featurespletely, but the mana exuding from him belonged to a peak demigod. He was someone at the same level as Wave and Eve.


    Moreover, he was not alone. Six other demigods were nking him, surrounding the two women.


    " What a nasty situation." Wave clicked her tongue. "Any ideas Eve?"


    "None." The fox girl shook her head expressionlessly.


    "Damn it then. I guess we just have to kill them then, huh." Wave shrugged her shoulders.


    Suddenly, though, an expression of surprise appeared on her face.


    " Hey, Eve, did you receive the message as well?"


    "I did."


    "How surprising. To think that the boy managed to find the location of the nodes so quickly. As expected of my student." Wave chuckled. "Finally, a piece of good news. That boy really is full of surprises."


    "Mm. But there is a problem."


    "The remaining node, huh." Wave furrowed her brows.


    In fact, Wave had located the nodes much sooner than Bloed. She discovered them before the magic array waspletely activated.


    But when they reached the location of the first node, they were attacked by a group of monstrous-looking creatures that stopped them.


    Moreover, they were not normal creatures.


    When Wave and Eva shed with them, they discovered that their mana was being stolen.


    These were creatures contaminated by the Blight.


    The creatures were not very powerful, barely as strong as a demigod. But theirrge number and their ability to devour mana made them a troublesome opponent.


    Of course, that was far from enough to stop Wave and Eve; and if they were given enough time, they could exterminate the creaturespletely. But while they were upied with the creatures, a truly powerful enemy arrived.


    The hooded figure, followed by six other demigods.


    The hooded figure was very strong. Even two demigods as powerful as Wave and Eve did not dare to underestimate him. Plus, he had the help of six demigods, making the battle even more difficult.


    More than once, the two women were close to being killed.


    ''How troublesome'' Wave thought and clicked her tongue.


    If Eve and she wanted to destroy the node, they first needed to get rid of the seven enemies. However, it was not going to be easy.


    Plus Wave looked at the right hand of the hooded figure.


    ''Eight, huh.''


    Wave knew what the number tattooed on his hand meant.


    It meant that he was the eighth seat of the terrorist organization, Returning Dusk.


    Wave knew enough about Returning Dusk to understand that every single-digit member of Returning Dusk was a monster in one or another way. Some of them had managed to escape even after being besieged by tens of demigods.


    Wave frowned briefly, but then, she put on a determinate expression.


    "We will somehow destroy this node. As for the remaining node, they will have to take care of it."


    "Mm." Eve nodded. That was the only way.


    ''It would have been easier if the demigods in the city decided to help,'' Wave thought. But besides a handful of demigods that rescued a few students, most of the demigods in the city stayed quiet when the attack started, observing the situation without intervening.


    In fact, some of them even joined the enemy.


    Wave smiled bitterly.


    For the first time, she realized how fragile the city she built was.


    Bloed and Regina hurried to the location of the node while killing the Devourers they met in the way.


    To go faster, Bloed activated Leto''s flight mode and used it to rush towards the location of the node. Thanks to that, they managed to arrive at the ce in less than two minutes.


    "The node is being protected by a barrier," Bloed observed as soon as Letonded. "Regina, can you destroy it?"


    Regina nodded and materialize an energy de on her hand. But when she was about to cut the barrier into two, a voice came from inside it.


    "You should stop."


    The voice belonged to a middle-aged man with a kind face and a gentle expression. He was wearing a mage robe and holding a long staff in his right hand.


    Regina frowned as soon as she saw the man.


    "A Demigod."


    The man smiled.


    "You are one as well, right? Strangely, I can''t feel any fluctuation of manaing from you."


    Regina did not reply. Just then, Bloed raised an eyebrow.


    Suddenly, he unsheathed his saber and shed towards his right!


    In the next instant, a figure appeared in the ce where he shed, charging towards him while baring its fangs!


    An ambush!


    The figure seemed like an eyeless lizard. It was half a meter tall and three meters long. Its mouth was filled with countless teeth, and its body was so agile that Bloed barely managed to see it.


    But


    Before the creature could reach him, Bloed''s saber cut it into two.


    " A devourer," Bloed muttered while looking at the body of the creature.


    The demigod inside the barrier whistled in surprise.


    "You are pretty good, boy. That creature could barely be considered a demigod. To think that you managed to kill it in a blow."


    Bloed nodded. Certainly, the speed of that creature surpassed a normal A-Rank by far.


    Unfortunately, it did not know that surprise attacks were useless against Bloed nor it knew how lethal Bloed''s saber was. Besides, Bloed''s [Molecr Disintegration] countered the ability of the devourers to absorb energy, so it waspletely defenseless against Bloed''s saber.


    Plus, even if Bloed failed to kill it, the creature would have died regardless. After all, Regina would not allow it to hurt her master.


    Due to that, Bloed did not feel proud about killing the creature.


    "Regina, destroy the barrier. We don''t have time to lose." Bloed instructed Regina again. Even when he was aware that there was a demigod inside the barrier, he was confident that Regina could destroy it.


    But then, he heard the demigod chuckling.


    "Did you think it was the only one?" He said. "No, that was just the beginning."


    Following the man''s words, many more creatures like the first one appeared around them.


    Eyeless lizards growling in hunger crawled from the walls and the ground, surrounding the pair. There were at least thirty of them!


    It was enough to kill any normal demigod!


    But


    "Get lost."


    With an indifferent expression, Regina swung her hand.


    In an instant, tens of energy weapons materialized around her, flying towards the eyeless lizards.


    And before they could react, the energy weapons pierced them, killing them instantly!


    The demigod inside the barrier froze seeing that scene. But then, he saw Regina raise the energy de that she was holding in her hand and aim it at the barrier.


    "W-Wait, wait!" The demigod hurriedly shouted.


    But Regina ignored him.


    "Break." She swung her de.


    And the barrier was cut into two.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 456: Five Nodes (3)

    Chapter 456: Five Nodes (3)


    Sorry for theck of releases. I was a bit unwell for thest few days. I n to post double chapters over the weekend to make up for the chapters lost.


    Apologetic, Aidka~


    ...


    Bloed watched with a wry smile as Regina killed the creatures casually and destroyed the barrier as though it was made of paper.


    ''As expected, it would have been better if Reginaes alone.''


    Actually, the best way to divide the groups was Regina going alone to one node and Bloed going with Eres, Liu Ying, and Aya.


    Regina was so powerful that Bloed going with her didn''t make a difference. Bloed could even be considered a burden. If she would have been alone, she would have needed much less time to arrive at the location of the node.


    On the other hand, he would have been of great help if he went with Eres''s group.


    ''If the same number of devourers is protecting the other nodes, then the girls could be in danger. As expected, I should have gone with them.''


    Unfortunately, Bloed could not distribute the groups like that.


    Regina would have refused if he tried to.


    ''I almost died once today, so there is no way that Regina will leave my side.'' Bloed thought to himself and chuckled. ''I guess there is nothing I can do about it.''


    In the end, Regina was programmed by Cami to protect Bloed. Regina''s priority was Bloed''s safety, not the well-being of Academy City.


    Regina''s sh cut the barrier into two. It scattered immediately under the terrified gaze of the demigod, leaving the node unprotected.


    "W-Who are you?" The demigod asked with a pale face. "Impossible. That power"


    Regina ignored him and swung her energy de, but when it cut through the demigod''s body, the demigod was unscathed.


    "An illusion?" Regina was slightly surprised.


    The expression of the demigod became solemn.


    "You are very strong. Normally, I would have escaped immediately. But unfortunately, I can''t escape this time. I can''t let you destroy the node."


    Then, he raised his staff and a magic circle appeared below him.


    "[Ice Prison]!" He chanted.


    In the next instant, a terrifying chill assaulted Bloed!


    Everything around the demigod frozepletely. Then, the moisture in the air gathered around Bloed and Regina before freezing and solidifying in an ice barrier.


    But Regina just swung her energy de indifferently, shattering the barrier instantly.


    The demigod was not done, though. As soon as the barrier was destroyed, hundreds of ice arrows greeted Bloed and Regina. The arrows did not give the pair time to react and rained on them.


    Once more, though, the arrows shattered before they could reach the pair.


    However, to Regina''s surprise, she could not locate the demigod.


    Regina frowned and looked around trying to find his location. Unfortunately, she failed to find him.


    In the meanwhile, a thick fog had filled the surroundings, blocking Bloed and Regina''s sight and hindering their senses.


    Moreover, Bloed''s enhanced eyes allowed him to see millions of microscopic ice needless inside the fog. The ice needless seemed harmless, but thanks to his eyes, Bloed realized how dangerous they were.


    They were as sharp as metal des.


    If Regina and he were trapped in the fog, they would have to deal with countless minuscule ice needless trying to kill them.


    And ording to Bloed''s observation, the fog was expanding towards them and would shroud them in a few seconds.


    But at that moment, Regina snorted.


    "Idiot."


    She then extended her hand and a small ball of energy appeared on it.


    The ball of energy lit up with a brilliant glow. Quickly, its glow became bigger and bigger, until finally


    *BOOOOMMMM!!!*


    It exploded, devouring the fogpletely.


    When the effects of the explosion faded away, Bloed saw the demigod kneeling on the ground with grave injuries on his body as he vomited blood crazily.


    "You should have run away as soon as you realized that I was stronger than you," Regina said indifferently, making the demigod smile bitterly.


    Then, she walked towards him and swung her energy de again.


    One secondter, the head of a demigod rolled on the ground.


    Bloed said nothing and instead continue walking towards the location of the node.


    Unlike the nodes in Diadel Duchy, this nodded seemed like a magic circle hovering in the air. It emitted a soft blue hue as it absorbed the souls of the people that died in Academy City.


    "Can you destroy it?" Bloed asked Regina when he saw the node. The silver-haired Valkyrie nodded and created a de of energy on her hand before shing it.


    Just like that, the node was destroyed.


    Bloed felt that the magic array around the city shook slightly, making him sigh in relief.


    "It looks like this method is working."


    "We were the first to destroy a node, right?"


    Bloed nodded before walking away.


    "Let''s go. We should go to help Eres, Liu Ying, and the others. They could have trouble defeating the creatures protecting the node."


    Regina nodded. The pair then climbed on Leto''s back to go towards the next node.


    But just then, someone rushed towards them.


    It was one of the men of the Church of Fate.


    "Sir Bloed, I have a message from the saintess!"


    "A message? What is it?" Bloed asked surprised.


    "Headmistress Evelyn and Miss Eve are fighting a powerful enemy, so they can destroy only one of the nodes. They will leave the node in the northeast to us."


    Bloed was startled before furrowing his brows.


    "Master, should we go towards the node in the northeast instead?" Regina asked.


    Bloed hesitated briefly before shaking his head.


    "We need to help the girls first. They could be in danger, and they are more important to me than Academy City."


    Bloed was regretting allowing them to go alone. He did not expect the nodes to be so well-guarded.


    But just when he was to leave towards the node where the girls went, a message from Gina resounded in his mind.


    [My hero, you don''t need to worry about them.]


    "Huh?"


    [Trust them, my hero. Liu Ying, Eres, and Aya will be alright. You should go to the remaining node.]


    Bloed hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he sighed.


    " Okay, I''ll trust them."


    [You won''t be disappointed, my hero.] Gina giggled. [They are stronger than you think.]


    Bloed chuckled.


    "I''m sure they are."


    Then, he left towards the remaining node.

 Chapter 457: Five Nodes (4)

    Chapter 457: Five Nodes (4)


    Meanwhile, Eres, Liu Ying, and Raven, followed by Prince Calisto''s men, hurried toward the node in the west.


    Just like Bloed and Regina, they saw a lot of chaos and dead bodies on the way to the node. The sight made the group frown, and their expressions turned grave.


    Moreover, when they noticed the strange monsters wandering the city and killing indiscriminately, their faces turned dark.


    " The Blight." Liu Ying said through gritted teeth.


    As three of the closest people to Bloed, the three girls knew about the true identity of these monsters. In fact, the three girls had fought them before.


    But even they were surprised by the sheer number of monsters in the city.


    "It looks like the situation is worse than we thought." Eres frowned.


    "Should we kill them?" Aya asked, but Liu Ying and Eres shook their heads.


    "The node is our priority." Liu Ying spoke. "We should take care of it first."


    Eres and Aya nodded.


    The group continued advancing in the direction of the node, asionally killing the monsters that appeared in their way. Eventually, they arrived at the location of the node.


    But when they arrived, the scene on there surprised them.


    " So many monsters." Aya gasped.


    At least twenty monsters could be seen growling and roaring in hunger. Moreover, every monster seemed much stronger than the monsters Liu Ying and the others had seen before arriving here.


    But the monsters were not the only ones there. A group of people was facing them.


    Aya recognized one of them instantly.


    "Miss Isabe!"


    "Huh? Aya?" The girl who was hovering in the air while unleashing spells towards the monsters was startled after hearing Aya''s voice.


    She was a beautiful girl with purple hair and blue eyes. Intense waves of mana were surrounding her, and several magic circles appeared and disappeared around her every second.


    Her name was Isabe Castor, leader of [Genius Society] and publicly known as the second strongest student in the city.


    She was apanied by a group of students who were fighting the monsters together with her. Every one of these students was very strong, with the weakest being at the initial stage of A-Rank. Moreover, some of them were close to Isabe''s level.


    Liu Ying and the girls managed to recognize some of them, including a young man with a sturdy built and fierce expression. He was George, the leader of the Martial Arts Club, and the fourth-strongest student in the city.


    "Aya, what are you doing here?" Isabe asked in surprise. However, she did not stop attacking the monsters with her spells.


    "Bloed sent us here to destroy the node," Aya said and Isabe nodded in relief.


    "Great. We were needing a hand. Your twopanions are Miss Liu Ying and Miss Eres, right? I hope you can help us."


    "We will." Liu Ying agreed. "What is the situation?"


    "We were nearby when the magic circle activated and noticed this barrier. I knew that this was important, so I brought the strongest members of [Genius Society] with me to destroy it. However, I did not expect that so many monsters were protecting it. Fortunately, George appeared with the members of the Martial Arts Club, or we would have been forced to run away."


    Liu Ying and the others nodded.


    They could see that the situation was bad. Even now, the members of the two clubs were being pushed back. Fortunately, Isabe and George were very strong, so the group barely managed to hold on. But at this rate, they would be annihted before long."


    "We will help!" Liu Ying said as she, Aya, Eres, and Prince Calisto''s men charged towards the monsters. Isabe did not refuse their help and instead warned them in a serious voice.


    "Don''t let them touch you and don''t attack them with mana. They can absorb it."


    "We know." Liu Ying, Eres, and Aya nodded.


    As soon as the three girls entered the battlefield, the precarious situation of Genius Society and the Martial Arts Club improved slightly. Liu Ying used [Silent Touch] and killed a monster attacking a student, and Eres, who had experienced the ability of the monsters to absorb mana, did not hesitate to use [Skysword], killing two monsters in less than five seconds.


    Of the three, Aya was the only one that did not have any means to fight the monsters directly, but she hid in the shadows as she threw flying daggers at the monsters fighting the students, helping them every time they were in danger.


    "What reliable allies. Hahaha, it looks like we will be able to kill these monsters after all." Georgeughed heartily as he attacked one of the monsters.


    Unfortunately, even with the addition of the three girls and Prince Calisto''s men, the situation was still unfavorable.


    When the monsters realized that Liu Ying and Eres had the means to injure them, they focused on them, making it impossible for the two of them to y a bigger role on the battlefield.


    Of the remaining students, only Isabe and George had the means to kill the monsters, but even they were in a bad situation. After all, the two of them were used to fight using mana, and against monsters that devoured mana, they were at a clear disadvantage.


    " Dammit," Isabe growled. "We can''t go like this."


    Even now, the situation was quickly worsening. In thest five minutes, three students had been killed!


    Isabe had tried to save them, but her magic was not that effective against the monsters. Her only option was to use overwhelmingly powerful magic with more mana than the monsters could devour, but that kind of magic put a toll on her.


    Moreover, these monsters were very powerful. Every one of them was at the level of a peak A-Rank practitioner, and some were slightly stronger.


    "We can''t go like this." Liu Ying agreed as well, realizing the gravity of the situation just like Isabe.


    "Do any of you have a n?" George asked while he kicked a monster away.


    Liu Ying thought for a moment before looking at Isabe.


    "Miss Isabe, are you able to destroy the barrier protecting the node?"


    Isabe thought for a moment before nodding.


    " I can. But I need a bit of preparation. Twenty seconds should be enough."


    "We will get you the time you need then. Our priority is to destroy the node. After that, we will retreat. If we continue fighting these monsters, we will die."


    Isabe was startled, but she nodded.


    " Everyone, that is the n. We need to protect Miss Isabe." Liu Ying told the others.


    "Understood."


    "Leave it to me."


    "Nn."


    "We will protect our leader!"


    "We will show these monsters how strong we are!"


    Eres, George, Aya, and some of the students fighting the monsters replied excitedly.


    Isabe nodded and started to cast the spell. In the next second, an enormous amount of mana surged out of her body!


    The mana quickly turned into a magic circle in front of her, but that was just the start. With every passing second, the magic circle became brighter and moreplex, and the mana in it became denser and denser.


    The monsters seemed to realize the danger of the magic that Isabe was about to release. As soon as she started to cast the spell, every monster looked in her direction before screeching in rage!


    "Careful!" George shouted as he stopped the attack of a monster that charged towards them.


    He immediately felt the mana inside him being drained away, but he just grunted and pushed the monster away, before blocking another monster.


    The rest of the group also suffered attacks from the monsters. They surrounded Isabe as they protected her from the crazy charge of the bloodthirsty creatures.


    "Dammit!" Liu Ying grunted and released her aspect. Her overwhelming physical strength together with [Silent Touch] allowed her to resist the monsters better than most people, but even she was having trouble defending against them.


    She heard several students groaning in pain and saw some of them being torn apart by the monsters, but she did not have the leisure to help them.


    These were the longest twenty seconds in Liu Ying''s life. She felt as though these twenty seconds were eternal.


    But eventually, she heard Isabe''s voice.


    "I''m done!"


    In the next second, a giant magic circle appeared above the barrier.


    "[Light Anhihtion]!" She shouted.


    And a pir of light descended from the sky.


    ...


    Support me on /aidnovels

 Chapter 458: Five Nodes (5)

    Chapter 458: Five Nodes (5)


    *Boom!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the entire city after the pir of light hit the barrier, followed by a blinding light that forced the group to close their eyes.


    The next instant, the group was hit by a powerful shockwave.


    "Ugh" Liu Ying groaned and covered her eyes. She tried to see if the barrier had been destroyed, but the light created by the explosion was so blinding that she could see nothing.


    Quickly, though, the light receded.


    But then, her eyes and the eyes of the group opened wide.


    " No way," Isabe murmured in disbelief.


    The barrier was still standing.


    " That spell was at the level of a demigod. It should have been enough to destroy the barrier." Isabe''s face was pale. "Why is it still standing?"


    Quickly, though, the group realized the reason.


    A middle-aged woman was standing above the barrier. She was holding a shield in her right hand, which she used to stop Isabe''s spell.


    "Demigod!" George muttered with gritted teeth.


    These words made the expressions of many of the students turn pale.


    "No way!"


    "There is a demigod protecting the barrier!?"


    "How are we going to defeat her?"


    Liu Ying and the others turned pale as well.


    Among them, Isabe and George were known to havebat powerpared to a demigod. But in front of a real demigod, they were greatly disadvantaged.


    After all, one of the main features of a demigod was their ability to fly, putting them in an absolutely advantageous situation against anyone below demigod.


    No matter how strong an A-Rank was, he was nothing if his attacks could not reach his enemy. Meanwhile, demigods could attack A-Ranks indiscriminately from the sky.


    That was the reason why the chasm between demigod and A-Rank was so big.


    Thus, the moment that a demigod appeared, the group was filled with despair.


    But just then, Liu Ying saw the space behind the demigod distort.


    "That is!"


    In the next instant, a ck-haired girl suddenly appeared behind the demigod, brandishing her sword towards the demigod''s back.


    "Eres!" Liu Ying''s eyes opened wide.


    The ck-haired princess was attacking the demigod!


    The demigod was caught by surprise. When she realized that Eres was behind her, Eres''s sword was already about to cut her into two.


    But the demigod didn''t panic. Before the sword could touch her, her body flickered.


    Then, the demigod disappeared and appeared several meters away.


    "That was close" She sighed in relief.


    Eres frowned. She looked at the demigod and realized that her back was bleeding, however, the wound was not grave.


    "Amazing" The demigod woman said with genuine admiration. "To think that I would be injured by a student. Moreover, your attack pierced my barrier as though it was paper. Who are you?"


    Eres did not reply. Instead, she put on a serious expression and stared at the demigod fixedly.


    Even though she had killed demigods before, she did not dare to underestimate them. Every demigod was a genius among geniuses. None of them was easy to deal with.


    Moreover, now that she had lost the factor surprise, she was not that confident that she could defeat the woman in front of her.


    The demigod furrowed her brows and stared at Eres fixedly. Then, her eyes opened slightly wide.


    " Now that I think about it, I heard that the Princess of the Kingdom of Alterna was in Academy City. Is it you?"


    Eres remained silent, but it was enough for the demigod to confirm her guess.


    "I see." She nodded. "I had heard rumors about your talent, Princess. But it looks like you are much stronger than the rumors."


    Eres still didn''t reply. Instead, she spoke to Liu Ying through voice transmission.


    [Miss Liu Ying, I will distract her. You must find a way to destroy the barrier.]


    Liu Ying was worried, but she understood that Eres''s suggestion was the only option now. [Take care. If you are in danger, ask for help.]


    [I know.] Eres replied. Then, her figure disappeared.


    In the next instant, she was in front of the demigod, swinging her sword fiercely!


    However, the demigod just smiled and received her attack with her shield.


    Just like that, a fierce battle between Eres and the demigod woman started.


    In the meanwhile, the rest of the group again started to fight the monsters.


    They had been surprised when Eres started to fight the demigod, but in their current situation, they did not have the leisure to pay attention to her. In fact, their current situation was much worse than before.


    After all, some students had died while Isabe prepared her spell, and Eres had left to fight the demigod.


    "Miss Isabe, can you use that spell again?" Liu Ying hurriedly asked.


    But Isabe shook her head with a pale face.


    " I''m sorry. It consumes too much mana. I can''t use it again."


    "Damn it." Liu Ying cursed. "What about you, Mr. George? Do you have any way to destroy that barrier?"


    "Unfortunately, I don''t." George smiled bitterly. "My specialty is martial arts. None of my attacks has the destructive power of Miss Isabe''s spells."


    Liu Ying bit her lips and put on a grave expression.


    '' Could it be that we are going to fail?''


    But immediately, she gritted her teeth and put on a determined expression.


    "Fuck it! No way I''m going to disappoint Bloed!"


    She then shouted to the group.


    "I have a way to destroy the barrier, but I need a bit of time!"


    Isabe, Aya, George, and the others were startled. But soon, Isabe frowned.


    " How confident are you?"


    "Fifty percent!" Liu Ying gritted her teeth. "But I have a feeling it will work."


    Isabe furrowed her brows. She could feel that Liu Ying''s mana was just at the B-Rank. To be honest, she did not believe that Liu Ying could destroy the barrier.


    But then, she heard Aya''s voice.


    "I trust sister Liu Ying. Miss Isabe, trust her."


    Isabe was startled.


    "Are you sure?"


    Aya nodded.


    "Mm Please, trust her."


    Isabe fell silent and put on a hesitant expression.


    Right now, the situation was very grave. Several students had died, and they were being overwhelmed by monsters.


    The most prudent choice was to retreat before they were wiped out. Trusting that a B-Rank girl could destroy a barrier at the demigod level was foolish.


    But then, she remembered a certain blue-haired young man.


    He was at the B-Rank just like Liu Ying, however, his power was overwhelmingly strong.


    It was so strong that she could not start to imagine how to face it.


    When she remembered him, Isabe''s eyes became determined.


    "Very well! We will trust you! We will open a way for you to reach the barrier! But you have only thirty seconds to destroy it!"


    Liu Ying smiled savagely.


    "That is more than enough."


    Then, crimson mana overflowed out of her body.


    And a giant ck knight appeared on her back.

 Chapter 459: Five Nodes (6)

    Chapter 459: Five Nodes (6)


    A sword sliced the air, advancing towards Eres''s abdomen at great speed.


    But Eres reacted calmly. Before the sword could touch her, she took a step aside and avoided it. She then kicked the air and charged towards the woman in front of her with her sword d in transparent mes.


    However, the woman just smiled. She held an enormous shield in front of her, using it to receive Eres''s sword, before counterattacking with a sword swing.


    Eres wanted to continue with another sword attack, but her instincts warned her that the woman''s attack was very dangerous. She got the feeling that she would be unable to stop it.


    Thus, she hurriedly jumped back, widening the distance between her and the demigod woman she was fighting.


    Just an instantter, the ce where she had been standing just now was cut by the sword.


    "You have good battle instincts." The demigod woman smiled. "If you would have tried to stop that attack, you would have died."


    Eres frowned.


    "Who are you?" She asked. "Why are you protecting the node? Do you know how many people are dying due to it?"


    "About that" The woman smiled and showed Eres her shoulder, where the number 21 was tattooed. "You see, I''m just helping one of my friends."


    Eres''s expression turned solemn.


    As soon as she saw that tattoo, she realized the identity of the woman.


    A member of Returning Dusk!


    Returning Dusk was a famous and very dangerous terrorist organization, and nobody knew how many people belonged to it.


    However, it was a well-known fact that the most important members of Returning Dusk could be identified by the numbers tattooed on their bodies.


    " Returning Dusk, huh. I should have known that you are one of these bastards." Eres''s face turned cold.


    The woman raised an eyebrow.


    "It looks like you don''t have a good impression of us. Well, I can understand. After all, we are not the most likable group." She then chuckled and looked at Eres curiously. "By the way, are you sure that you are an A-Rank practitioner? Are you not a bit too strong for someone at the A-Rank?"


    Eres did not reply. Instead, she d her sword in transparent mes again.


    "That won''t work." The woman shook her head leisurely. "These mes of yours are very strong, Princess. However, they are easy to counter if your enemy is much stronger than you. I just need to put a good amount of mana in my shield and it won''t be damaged by your mes."


    "I''m not so sure of it." Eres narrowed her eyes and suddenly kicked the air.


    In the next second, she appeared at the right of the woman!


    A sword d in transparent mes cut towards the woman. It was so fast that any normal person would have been unable to react to it.


    But the woman was not normal. She was a powerful demigod belonging to one of the most infamous organizations in the world!


    Before the sword could reach her, she moved her shield calmly, stopping it!


    *ng!*


    The sound of the sword hitting the shield resounded on the battlefield. Then, the woman smiled and brandished her sword towards Eres.


    But Eres had already disappeared. She then reappeared behind the woman with her sword poised to strike!


    "Good!" The womanughed. To Eres''s surprise, she let go of her sword before using her hand to stop Eres''s sword and extinguish the transparent mes on it!


    "!!!" Eres was astonished. It was the first time she saw someone stopping her mes like that!


    "I told you! Your mes are easy to counter!" The demigod woman smirked and unleashed a kick towards Eres!


    And this time, Eres was unable to evade it.


    "Ugh!"


    Grunting in pain, Eres was flung away, crashing against a nearby wall.


    "Ouch. That seemed painful." The woman chuckled. "You are interesting, Princess. It''s my first time seeing an A-Rank fighting a demigod in the air. What method are you using to remain in the air as an A-Rank practitioner? Also, what is your movement technique? Even I find it hard to follow it."


    Eres coughed a mouthful of blood and wiped off the blood on her lips. She then stood up staggering and red at the woman angrily.


    Tanking a deep breath, she extended her sword forward and wrapped it in transparent mes again.


    "It looks like you don''t know how to give up." The woman shook her head with a sigh. "You can''t defeat me, Princess. Even though you are very strong for an A-Rank, you are weaker than me."


    "Shut up!" Eres growled and charged towards her again.


    But the woman evaded her attack easily before counterattacking with a sword attack of her own.


    "Could it be that you are trying to earn time so your friends on the ground can destroy the barrier? You overestimate them. Only Isabe Castor has the ability to destroy that barrier, but she doesn''t have enough mana for it now."


    " No." Eres suddenly spoke. "You are mistaken."


    "Huh?"


    "You underestimate them."


    The woman was startled, but all of sudden, her expression changed.


    Because at that moment, a powerful aura appeared on that ground!


    "That is!?" The woman was surprised, she hurriedly looked towards the ground, only to see a ck-haired demon girl standing in front of the barrier with her fist clenched.


    Behind her, a giant ck knight clenched its fist too as an overwhelming amount of mana gathered on it.


    "Impossible!" The woman paled and tried to rush towards the barrier, but to her surprise, several magic circles suddenly appeared around her.


    Then, the magic circles turned into dozens of beasts made of transparent mes.


    "Where do you think you are going?" Eres''s voice sounded at that moment. "It looks like you forgot that your opponent is me."


    "Brat!" The woman snarled angrily, but Eres ignored her.


    Instead, she raised her sword. This time, though, she did not d it in transparent mes.


    Instead, her sword was surrounded by a transparent film of energy.


    It was a sign of the greatest technique of the royal family of the Kingdom of Alterna.


    [Skysword]!


    "You said that stopping my mes was easy, right?" Eres''s ice-cold voice reached the woman''s ears. "Then, why don''t you try to stop them now? I want to see if my mes are extinguished first or if your mana is depleted first."


    In the next instant, Eres swung her sword down as her me beasts charged towards the woman.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 460: Five Nodes (7)

    Chapter 460: Five Nodes (7)


    Just one chapter today. I''m a bit busy...


    ...


    Liu Ying had a very happy childhood.


    Loving parents, caring siblings, and kind grandparents. She was surrounded by love from the day she was born.


    As the Princess of the Demon Empire, she nevercked anything. Moreover, she showed great talent since she was a child, so she was never exposed to any negative emotions.


    But everything ended when her family was betrayed and brutally killed.


    Her parents, her siblings, and her grandparents died before her eyes, and the servants and soldiers that always protected her sacrificed their lives so she could survive.


    In the end, the loyalist reached an agreement with the rebels to let her live in exchange for their loyalty to the new imperial family, and after that, she was sent to the Exiled Lands.


    It was then that Liu Ying understood how weak she was.


    She wished to have trained harder when she was a child. She regretted not polishing her talents when she could. Shemented the fact that she could do nothing but watch as her family was killed.


    And when she was at the lowest point in her life, she met Bloed.


    To Liu Ying, Bloed was like the sun. He was the light that showed her the path. He was her everything.


    Although she did not show it as much as Regina, Liu Ying''s love for Bloed was not less than hers.


    However, unlike Regina, she was not sure if she should stay beside him.


    Liu Ying had once lost everything she loved. Due to it, she was afraid of losing it again.


    That was the reason why Liu Ying was so obsessed with training. In Machine Revolutio, nobody trained as hard as her.


    Bloed thought that Liu Ying trained so hard to avenge her family, but in truth, that was only half of the reason.


    The other half was that she wanted to be strong enough to protect the person she loved.


    Fortunately, she was blessed with talent. She inherited her family''s aspect, The Chaos Titan; plus a great affinity for mana.


    Furthermore, she learned Silent Touch from Regina, bringing her potential to a whole another level.


    Even so, Liu Ying knew that it was not enough.


    Bloed was the most talented person she knew. His knowledge and strange techniques made him able to defeat people much stronger than himself. Plus, Regina was always beside him to protect him; and she was so powerful that it was unbelievable.


    Due to that, Liu Ying''s abilities seemed overshadowed.


    Liu Ying knew that if she wanted to protect and help Bloed, she needed to be stronger. Strong enough to stand by his side.


    And with that belief, she trained.


    She trained every day and every night. She trained tirelessly, trying to be even a bit stronger.


    And her efforts were not unrewarded.


    Her proficiency in Silent Touch grew slowly, and her control over her aspect became better and better.


    And one day, her efforts were finally showed fruit.


    Remembering that day, Liu Ying closed her eyes and took a deep breath to circte her mana.


    Her aspect appeared behind her as the mana inside her body started to stir. Then, her mana rushed towards her right hand as she clenched her hand into a fist.


    The Chaos Titan behind her, disguised as a ck knight, clenched its fist as well. It gathered a crazy amount of mana on its fist, making the air around it distort.


    Finally, after almost her entire mana was on her fist, she opened her eyes.


    "Bloed asked me to destroy this node, and I won''t disappoint him!"


    Then, without any hesitation, she attacked the barrier.


    "Silent Touch: [One-Point Destruction]!"


    In the next instant


    *BOOOMMMM!!!*


    An enormous explosion shook the ce.


    One-Point Destruction was a technique that released an enormous amount of kic energy at a single point. And when Liu Ying put her entire mana poon on it, it was able to injure even a demigod.


    The barrier shook violently. Cracks appeared all over it, and it flickered at the edge of being destroyed.


    But when Isabe and the others thought that Liu Ying was going to seed, the barrier started to stabilize again.


    "It can''t be!"


    "Sister Liu Ying!"


    "Dammit!"


    Isabe, Aya, and George put on nervous expressions, but Liu Ying did not pay any attention to them.


    Seeing that she was about to fail, her eyes became bloodshot.


    She trained so hard. She sacrificed so many things. How could she fail now!?


    "Break!!!" She shouted and put even more strength on her fist.


    At the same time, the aspect behind her started to tremble.


    Intense fluctuations of mana erupted out of it as it granted Liu Ying even more strength.


    "OHHHHH!!!!"


    Soon, the barrier started to tremble more fiercely. New cracks appeared all over it, and it seemed that it was going to break at any moment now.


    But Liu Ying could feel that it was not enough yet.


    ''Not enough...!''


    Gritting her teeth, she summoned even more strength.


    Even Liu Ying herself did not know where this strength wasing from. She only knew that she needed more power.


    Unbeknownst to her, her aspect was bing bigger and more real with every passing second. At some point, it stopped looking like an illusion and looked like a real titan!


    Yes, a titan. The changes in her aspect made the disguise of the ck knight disappear.


    But Liu Ying did not know about that. She only knew that she needed more strength.


    Thus, her aspect gave it to her.


    Eventually


    *Crack!*


    A sound like ss breaking reached her ears.


    Liu Ying''s eyes lit up.


    "Break!"


    With onest shout, the barrier shattered.


    "Amazing"


    "Sister Liu Ying seeded...?"


    Isabe, Aya, and the others looked at her with astonished expressions. They could not believe that a young girl at the B-Rank managed to shatter a barrier made to stop demigods.


    But then, they realized that now was not the time to admire Liu Ying''s strength.


    "Quickly, destroy the node now!" Liu Ying shouted while panting heavily with a pale face.


    Right now, she could not move even a muscle.


    The group finally reacting. George then charged towards the node.


    But the creatures'' attacks intensified at that moment. Several of them charged towards George as though they wanted to stop him.


    "Dammit!" George cursed. He knew that he needed to destroy the node soon. Right now, Eres was stopping the demigod woman from interfering, but he did not know how long Eres could stop her.


    Just then, he saw a shadow moving past him.


    "Huh!?"


    To his surprise, It was the ck-haired cat girl! She appeared beside the node with a dagger in her hand.


    "Aya!" Liu Ying eximed excitedly, but she realized that the creatures had noticed Aya as well and charged towards her.


    "Careful!" She shouted nervously.


    But Aya was calm. She ignored the attacks of the creatures and focused her senses on the dagger in her hand.


    Just an attack, that was everything she needed to destroy the node.


    Thus, she swung her dagger.


    In the next second, the magic circle around Academy City trembled violently.


    Another node had been destroyed.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 461: Five Nodes (8)

    Chapter 461: Five Nodes (8)


    Sorry for the irregr releases. I have been a bit busy this week. I''m keeping in mind the chapters I have not published, don''t worry...


    Enjoy...


    ...


    "So the girls seeded as well, huh. It looks like I underestimated them." Saintess Charise muttered when she felt the magic array around the city shake for the second time. "I guess we should hurry as well then. Kallevang, end this."


    "As you wish, Saintess." Kallevang bowed slightly and walked forward.


    In front of him, the knights of the Church of Fate were fighting against creatures contaminated by the Blight. The battle had been in a stalemate for a while, although the creatures had a slight advantage.


    But everything changed as soon as Kallevang acted.


    With the first swing of his greatsword, five creatures were killed, and with the second swing, four creatures more were cut into two.


    With his third swing, the remaining creatures died.


    Then, he swung his sword a fourth time, destroying the barrier instantly.


    "Come out," Kallevang spoke out. "Stop hiding. I know that you are here."


    " As expected of the leader of the Order of the Guiding Light. Your reputation precedes you."


    Kallevang frowned and looked at the figure that suddenly appeared. It was a man with a ck mask covering the lower half of his face. He had a pair of ck eyes as dark as the night sky, and his body was covered by a ck robe.


    With just a nce, Kallevang knew that this man was a demigod like him.


    However


    "Is it only you?" He asked in a disappointed tone.


    The man''s eyebrows twitched.


    " It looks like you are very confident, huh. However, you underestimate me if you think you can defeat me so easily."


    "You are mistaken, I''m not underestimating you." Kallevang shook his head indifferently and put his greatsword on his shoulder. "It''s just that you are too weak."


    In the next instant, Kallevang disappeared.


    The masked demigod was startled, but his reaction was fast. As soon as he saw Kallevang disappear, he jumped away.


    But


    "Impo sible"


    To his surprise, he found Kallevang''s sword piercing his abdomen.


    "I told you, you are too weak." Kallevang nced at him indifferently and pulled his sword out, letting the demigod bleed out to death.


    He then walked towards the node that the demigod was protecting and pierced it with his sword.


    *Rumble!* The magic array around the city trembled again, this time more violently than the first two times.


    "It looks like we are done here." Charise approached Kallevang with a calm smile on her face. "Let''s go, then. Perhaps our protegee needs our help."


    Kallevang nodded.


    "As you wish, Saintess."


    At the same time, Headmistress Wave and the former saintess of Moonlight Glow, Eve Moonglow, were still fighting against the Number 8 of Returning Dusk and his men.


    The battle had turned very fierce, and several buildings had been destroyed since it started. But before long, Wave and Eve managed to get an advantage.


    Even against a peak demigod plus six other demigods, the dragon girl and the fox girl were strong enough to seriously injure several of them.


    Unfortunately, their main enemy, the hooded man with the number 8 in his hand, was still uninjured.


    In fact, Wave and Eve felt that he was not fighting them seriously, as though his purpose was to stall them.


    Just then, Wave and Eve felt the magic array shake violently.


    "This is the third time. It looks like these guys are more efficient than we thought." Wave grinned.


    "Mm. Only this node and another remain."


    "Yeah, but this node will be a bit difficult." Wave smiled wryly before staring at the hooded man with a serious expression. "Where in the hell did hee from? He is too strong to be an unknown man."


    "Returning Dusk is very mysterious." Eve shook her head. "Nobody knows the identity of their core members."


    " What a terrifying organization. This guy is just the number 8. What about the number or the number 2? What kind of monsters are they?"


    Eve did not reply.


    In fact, she was just as astonished as Wave.


    An organization this powerful had kept a low profile for so many years. Why did they appear now?


    What is their aim? Why are they doing this?


    Eve did not know, but she did not think about it too much.


    Right now, her priority was defeating this man and destroying the node.


    She could think about the rest after that.


    "So the node was destroyed, huh." The demigod woman who was fighting Eres looked towards Liu Ying, Aya, and the others with a surprised expression. "Amazing. Who is that girl?" She asked while staring at Liu Ying.


    Eres did not reply. She just stared at the woman fixedly as she got ready to attack again.


    This woman was very strong. Eres was sure that herst attack was enough to kill a normal demigod several times over, but this woman only received a few burns from it.


    Aside from that, she waspletely unscathed.


    Noticing Eres''s stare, the woman stared at her back and chuckled.


    "I did not expect the node to be destroyed, but this result is not bad either. I guess it''s time for me to leave."


    "Do you think I will let you go?" Eres''s voice was extremely cold, but the woman just smiled.


    "You will. Unless you n to let the monsters eat your friends."


    Eres was startled, but when she looked down, she realized that Liu Ying and the others were having trouble resisting the creatures.


    "So, will you stop me, or will you help them?" The woman chuckled as she turned around and walked away carefreely. "Remember, my name is Solia Whitehaven. I look towards our next meeting, Princess Eres Skysword."


    Then, she disappeared.


    Eres bit her lips and suppressed the impulse to chase after her before rushing towards Liu Ying and the others.


    "Miss Eres! Are you alright? What about the demigod?" Isabe asked as soon as she saw Eres approaching.


    "I am alright, but the demigod escaped," Eres exined. "We need to get rid of these creatures quickly and meet up with Bloed. Perhaps he needs our help."


    "Understood."

 Chapter 462: Five Nodes (9)

    Chapter 462: Five Nodes (9)


    When Bloed and Regina arrived at the location of the fourth node, a battle had already begun there.


    On a side, there were several clubs of Academy City led by the third-ranked club, Mage Tower, and the eighth-ranked club, Wings of Liberty; while the other side was made a group of monstrous-looking creatures thirsting for Blood.


    The battle was very fierce, and casualties had appeared on both sides, but to Bloed''s surprise, the students had the advantage.


    It was due to the outstanding performances of Dino Campbell and Nathan Sigel, the leaders of Mage Tower and Wings of Liberty respectively. Both of them were showing abilities worthy of two of the strongest students of the city.


    Dino Campbell was the most impressive. He had created a giant magic circle around the battlefield and used it to defend against the attacks of the creatures and restrain them, allowing the other students to face them more easily.


    Nathan, on the other hand, was moving at great speed around the monsters, using his sword to injure several of them gravely, and every time that he found a suitable opportunity, he dealt a killing blow.


    Thanks to that, the battlefield was slowly leaning in the students'' direction.


    Dino and Nathan recognized Bloed as soon as he arrived. After all, Bloed was a rather famous neer in Academy City. Plus, Nathan had dueled and lost against Bloed a couple of days ago, bing Bloed''s subordinate after that.


    "Mr. Bloed. You came." Nathan greeted Bloed with a nod. "Are you here to help?"


    The fact that Nathan had be Bloed''s subordinate was not made public, so Nathan did not behave respectfully towards Bloed and instead greeted him normally to avoid it being revealed. Bloed did not mind it and just nodded, exining the situation.


    "The Headmistress sent me here to destroy this node. We already destroyed three of them, and this one is the next."


    "So they are really nodes, huh." Dino nodded in understanding. "Mr. Bloed, how are you going to destroy it? I tested the barrier, and even I will need to use a lot of strength to break it."


    "Don''t worry about it," Bloed said and looked at Regina. "Take care of it."


    The Valkyrie nodded indifferently and summoned an energy de in each hand. She then swung them towards the creatures still alive, killing them in seconds.


    When she was done, she aimed the des towards the barrier.


    *sh!*


    With just one attack, the barrier was cut into two.


    " So strong."


    "Amazing."


    Nathan and Dino looked at Regina in fear in admiration.


    As two of the most powerful students, they understood how amazing killing so many creatures and destroying the barrier in an instant was.


    This kind of feat was not something that a normal demigod could do. After all, these creatures were not simple beasts, but Blighted creatures able to devour energy, and the weakest of them was as strong as a peak A-Rank practitioner.


    The fact that Regina could kill them so easily showed that she was very strong even among demigods.


    Once the barrier was destroyed, the node appeared before the group''s eyes.


    However, just like the other nodes, there was someone protecting this node as well.


    "That was amazing, big sister." A childish voice came from inside the barrier. "You are so strong. What is your name?"


    Bloed and the others were surprised by the voice. When they followed it, they saw a little girl staring at Regina with curiosity and amazement in her eyes.


    The girl did not seem very old, at around eleven or twelve years of age, and she was holding a doll in her arms with an innocent expression.


    No matter how Bloed looked at her, she did not seem like a powerful person.


    But Bloed did not dare to underestimate her.


    Because through his eyes, he could see an immense amount of energy hidden in her body.


    "A demigod," He muttered to Regina. "And she is more powerful than thest one you fought."


    "Mm? Could it be that you killed one of the others?" The girl asked suddenly after hearing Bloed''s words. "Was it twenty-one, twenty-seven, or thirty-three? I''m sure it was not eight. Eight is very strong."


    Bloed and Regina became serious when they heard these words.


    ''This girl...''


    She was too rxed. Even when she learned that Bloed and Regina had killed one of herpanions already, she did not seem to care about it.


    In other words, she is either an idiot, or


    ''Someone very strong.'' Bloed came to that conclusion.


    "Regina, don''t underestimate her."


    The silver-haired Valkyrie nodded.


    "I know."


    In the next instant, she materialized dozens of energy weapons around her and took one step forward.


    "Wow, so cool!" The little girl''s eyes sparkled. "Big sister, can you teach me that trick?"


    Regina ignored her words. After taking another step forward, she suddenly elerated and charged towards the little girl!


    However, the little girl''s reflexes were superb despite her silly appearance. Before Regina could reach her, she had already moved several meters away.


    Unfortunately for her, Regina was faster than her. She remained calm as the girl moved away and kicked the ground, closing the distance between them quickly.


    At the same time, she shot the weapons hovering around her towards the little girl!


    "Scary!" The little girl shouted and avoided the energy weapons skillfully, but Regina used that opportunity to reach her and attack with her energy des.


    But then, the little girl grabbed the doll in her arms and threw it towards Regina.


    Regina leaned aside and avoided the doll calmly. But when she was about to continue attacking the little girl, her expression changed.


    Without any hesitation, she jumped away, barely avoiding the attack that came from behind her.


    And to Regina''s surprise, what attacked her was the doll that the little girl threw just a moment ago.


    "That is" Regina furrowed her brows.


    "A beautiful doll, right?" The little girl grinned happily. "I like to y with beautiful dolls, big sister. But I prefer making them. By the way, big sister, you are very beautiful. Do you want to be one of my dolls?"


    Regina felt a chill on her spine.


    Without hesitation, she jumped away again.


    The next instant, the ce where she was just a moment ago was cut by several invisible des.


    "Wah, you avoided it! Amazing!" The little girl shouted excitedly. "As I thought, you are not only beautiful but also very strong. Mm It looks like I will need more dolls to fight against you."


    Regina was confused, but then, her eyes opened wide in astonishment.


    Because suddenly, the dead people and creatures in the surroundings stood up one after another.


    "Impossible!"


    But that was not the end.


    In the next second, Nathan raised his sword.


    "Huh? W-W-Wait W-What am I doing!?"


    And charged towards Regina.

 Chapter 463: Dollmaker

    Chapter 463: Dollmaker


    Bloed looked with a stunned expression as Nathan attacked Regina.


    He was not the only one. Dino and the other students were just as stunned as him.


    But their surprise soon turned into shock and fear when they realized that their bodies were moving against their will.


    "W-What is this?


    "M-My body!"


    "S-Stop!"


    Just then, Bloed felt a string of physic energy invading his body.


    ''This.!''


    Aghast, he realized that the energy was trying to control him.


    ''Get out!''


    With a thought, his entire pool of physic energy erupted fiercely. It then rushed towards the string of energy trying to control him and devoured it.


    Bloed immediately felt the control of his body returning to him and heaved a sigh of relief. However, his actions caught the attention of the little girl fighting Regina.


    "Oh? Someone resisted my control?"


    The little girl looked at Bloed curiously, and immediately, her eyes lit up in excitement.


    "What beautiful blue eyes. Hey hey, boy, do you want to be my doll? I promise to treat you well, okay~."


    Bloed felt a chill on his spine. It was as though something creepy was ogling to him.


    And to his horror, the girl sent tens of strings of physic energy towards him at that moment.


    His expression turned solemn.


    He was able to defend against the first string of physic energy thanks to being an ESPer and his experience wielding physic energy. But he was not confident that he could keep the control of his body if that many strings invaded him.


    His brain moved at great speed, and he quickly got an idea.


    In the next instant, he brandished his saber.


    With pinpoint uracy, he cut every string of physic energy flying towards him!


    All the strings were immediately destroyed!


    The little girl was stunned. She stared at Bloed in surprise, as though she could not believe that he managed to stop her attack.


    But before she could attempt to control him again, the silver-haired Valkyrie acted.


    "Bitch! What do you think you are doing!?" Regina swore in rage. Large amounts of physic energy surged out of her, turning into a giant sword that attacked the little girl.


    However, the girl just grinned and pulled the students that she controlled to stand in front of her.


    She was using Nathan, Dino, and the others like human shields! If Regina wanted to kill her, she had to kill them first!


    But to her surprise


    *sh!*


    Regina did not hesitate.


    "Huh?"


    The girl was stunned. She could only watch as the sword cut her into two.


    She then stared at Regina with a dumbfounded expression.


    " You didn''t hesitate to cut them."


    Regina snorted.


    "These petty tricks will not work on me."


    The girl was startled and immediately realized that something was wrong.


    When she looked again at the students again, she realized that they werepletely ashen but otherwise uninjured.


    The girl''s expression froze.


    "How? I''m sure you cut them."


    Regina did not exin. She just smiled at the girl as though mocking her.


    Her ESP ability, [Energy Materialization], gave her perfect control over almost any form of energy; including ways to make her energy harmless to the people that touched it.


    If she wanted, her energy could turn into a harmless show of lights, or into a mass-destruction weapon.


    Of course, the fact that she managed to change her energy to two different states in such an instant showed Regina''s astonishing control over her ESP ability.


    The little girl knew nothing about Regina''s abilities, and that was the reason she was caught by surprise when Regina did not hesitate to cut the students to kill her.


    With an astonished face, the girl looked at Regina before pouting.


    "Ugh. I liked this doll a lot. But now it''s destroyed."


    Regina furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes.


    She was sure that she had cut the little girl into two. In fact, the lower part of the little girl''s body was burned to ashes by the energy sword''s high temperature.


    But although the girl was cut into two, her upper body was floating in the air eerily while smiling.


    She was not bleeding, and she did not show any sign of pain. As though she was


    ''A doll." Regina''s eyes narrowed.


    What she cut into two was not her true body. Her true body was not here in the first ce.


    "Who are you?" Regina finally asked.


    The little girl brought a finger to her chin and giggled.


    "You can call me [Dollmaker]." She said and sighed. "Such a shame. I wanted to y with you a lot more, but you damaged this too much Such a baddie."


    Regina frowned and realized that a great amount of mana was leaking out of the little girl.


    "I see." She nodded in understanding.


    Even though her previous attack did kill the little girl, it destroyed that body, making it unusable.


    ''But where is her true body?''


    Regina expanded her senses to try to find the little girl''s true body and examined the body cut into two to see if she could find a string of mana that guided her to the location of the original body, but she came empty-handed.


    Apparently, this [Dollmaker] was quite good at hiding his traces.


    Large amounts of mana were leaking out of the little girl''s body, making her movements stiffer and stiffer with every passing second. Even so, she kept an innocent smile on her face.


    Just before losing all her mana, the little girl suddenly looked in Bloed''s direction.


    " I love your eyes, guy that I can''t control. Tell me, do you want to go out with me? I promise that I will turn you into a very beautiful doll."


    Bloed showed a disgusted expression, not bothering to reply.


    "Even your disgusted expression is cute." The little girl giggled. "Goodbye. We will me-"


    *sh!*


    "You talk too much." Regina cut the little girl''s head before she finished speaking.


    She then approached her and frowned.


    " A human girl. That creepy guy somehow kept her alive until now."


    Bloed immediately understood Regina''s implication.


    [Dollmaker] was using living humans as dolls.


    " Poor girl." He sighed and approached the head of the little girl, closing her eyes with aplicated expression. " I really want to kill that guy."


    "Sorry, master. I failed to find the true body."


    "It''s not your fault. Whoever he is must be experienced in this." Bloed sighed. "Let''s destroy the node quickly."


    Regina nodded and walked towards the node.


    One secondter, the fourth node was destroyed.


    ...


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 Chapter 464: The Fifth Node (1)

    Chapter 464: The Fifth Node (1)


    With the fourth node destroyed, only the fifth node and the still undiscovered sixth node remained. Once they were destroyed, the magic circle would be destroyed.


    "Should we go to the fifth node?" Regina asked Bloed.


    Bloed did not reply and instead fell silent.


    The fifth node was where Headmistress Wave and Eve were fighting. And they were two of the strongest people Bloed knew.


    He was not sure if Regina could defeat any of them.


    The fact that the fifth node had not been destroyed even with the two of them joining hands showed how dangerous the situation there was.


    Bloed was pretty sure that going there was going to be dangerous. But if he didn''t go, and Headmistress Wave and Eve needed his help, then the situation could be even worse.


    While Bloed was hesitating about if to go or not to go, Gina''s voice sounded in his mind.


    [My hero, you should go.] She said as though she knew what Bloed was thinking.


    Bloed was startled, but he immediately realized something.


    "Did you see anything?" He asked.


    [Mm.] Gina replied. [I could not see much, though. Only that the location of the sixth node is rted to the fifth node. Also, Liu Ying, Miss Eres, Saintess Charise, and the others are going towards the fifth as well. But My abilities are not enough to see through the enemy there, but I feel that he is very, very powerful.]


    "I see. Then I guess I must go, huh." Bloed smiled wryly. There was no way he could stay behind when he knew that his girlfriend, his little sister, and his friends were going to such a dangerous ce.


    "Did you learn anything else about the sixth node?" he asked Gina.


    To Bloed''s surprise, Gina did not reply immediately. She fell silent for several seconds before speaking out.


    [ I saw a nightmare. Something huge and evil, then darkness and screams, and then, nothing.]


    Bloed was startled. What in the hell does that mean?


    He was about to ask Gina, but just then, Sara''s voice also sounded in his mind.


    [ My lord, Gina almost fainted after that vision. She vomited blood and became very pale She needs to rest.]


    [Sister, I''m alright! I-]


    [No, you are not. My lord, please ask her to rest.]


    A stunned expression appeared on Bloed''s face. Only then he realized that Gina''s voice had sounded a bit tired.


    He had not noticed it before because he was worried about the situation with the fifth and sixth node, but now that Sara mentioned it, he realized that Gina''s voice sounded strangely weak, without her usual liveliness.


    Most likely, she forced herself to see that nightmare even though she knew that it was beyond her abilities only to be of help to him.


    Realizing that, Bloed''s expression turnedplicated.


    " Sorry, and thank you, Gina. Sara, please make sure that she rests. I will check on her as soon as I can."


    [Thank you, my lord. Please, be careful.]


    [ Be careful, my hero. I wish you luck.]


    Sara''s worried voice and Gina''s weak voice replied in his mind and themunication was cut off.


    Bloed then looked at Regina.


    "Let''s go to the fifth node."


    "Understood, master."


    Just then, Nathan, Dino, and the other students approached them.


    "Bloed and Mrs. Regina, do you know anything about the situation? And what was that thing?" Dino asked while looking at the destroyed node.


    Strangely, he seemed a bit respectful and afraid of Regina. Bloed was not sure if it was due to witnessing Regina''s strength or because Regina did not hesitate to use her de on them when they were controlled by the Dollmaker.


    Bloed hesitated briefly before exining the situation to them.


    " We will go to destroy the next node," Bloed said after he finished exining. "You should stay here and kill the monsters nearby before they kill more students."


    Nathan and Dino nodded. Bloed then turned Leto into flight mode and jumped on it together with Regina, departing towards the fifth node.


    The battle in the fifth node was very fierce, causing the destruction of several buildings nearby. And if Wave and Eve would have not been careful so their attacks did not damage the city more than necessary, then the destruction would have been much worse.


    But despite the huge destruction this battle had caused, it was still at a stalemate.


    Wave and Eve released spell after spell, moving around the fifth node and unleashing attacks to destroy it or kill the demigods protecting it, but the demigods'' defense was wless. Furthermore, every time it seemed like Wave and Eve were about to deal them a huge blow, the hooded man with the number eight tattoed on his hand acted, frustrating their attempts.


    "How troublesome" Wave flew away after a failed attack and stared at the hooded man with a solemn expression.


    "He is stalling for time." Eve expressionlessly said.


    Wave nodded. "I know. But we can do nothing about it. That man is not weaker than any of us, and he has six demigods helping him. If he wants to defend this ce, the two of us alone will find it hard to destroy the node. Besides" Wave''s lips curled up in a smile at that moment. "He is not the only one stalling for time."


    As soon as her words finished, the magic array around the city shook violently once more.


    Wave chuckled and stared at the hooded man with a provocative expression.


    "The fourth node has been destroyed, and our reinforcements are in their way here. I hope you have a n to deal with them, Mr. Eight."


    The hooded man clicked his tongue.


    "How unexpected. They were destroyed much sooner than I thought. I should not have trusted the Church of ughter and the idiots of the Kingdom of Alterna."


    Wave narrowed her eyes.


    "So they also participated in the attack on my city, huh."


    The hooded man chuckled.


    "They are really useless, though. Well, I was not expecting the interference of the crazy ones that follow Axalia, and the Princess of Skysword was stronger than I expected as well. Even Dollmaker failed to defend her node It looks like I can only trust myself to get this work done."


    "It looks like you are very confident in yourself."


    "Of course." The hooded man smiled slightly. "After all, I''m pretty strong."


    The next second, a powerful aura spread through the entire city.


    The ground shook, and the wind became still. Mana so powerful that anyone below demigod felt oppressed by it filled Academy City.


    Then, a giant magic circle appeared below the hooded man''s feet, spreading to several kilometers around him.


    He, Returning Dusk''s number eight, was ready to show the world his power.

 Chapter 465: The Fifth Node (2)

    Chapter 465: The Fifth Node (2)


    Everything changed in an instant.


    As soon as Number Eight released his mana, the entire city trembled and was filled with stillness.


    It was as though an invisible hand gripped the necks of every person in Academy City, forcing them to remain silent. The pressure of Number Eight''s mana was enough to make many people faint.


    In fact, several weakhearted people around the city died from heart attacks when they felt his overwhelming aura.


    It was a power bordering the limits of mortals.


    "Come, Headmistress Wave, Saintess Eve. Show me what you are capable of."


    Number Eight smiled savagely under his hood. He then condensed the magic circle under his feet on his hand, and a glowing ck sphere appeared on it.


    "Come!"


    With a calm voice, he shot it towards Wave and Eve!


    "Crazy!" Wave turned pale and hurriedly cast a barrier in front of them. In the next instant


    *BOOMMM!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the entire city.


    The ground trembled and the clouds were scattered away. The power of the explosion was so huge that despite the barrier, many buildings in the city werepletely destroyed.


    Wave''s face turned red in anger.


    "Bastard! Do you n to destroy the city!?"


    "So what if I do?" Number Eight shrugged indifferently. "Just a bunch of ants dying. It''s their fault for being in the wrong ce at the wrong moment. They should feel fortunate that they could be fertilizer for my magic circle."


    "You Are you serious!?" Wave was in disbelief.


    Demigods were very powerful existences whose power was only below the gods. To them, destroying a city was not impossible.


    Of course, most demigods did not have that kind of power. But Wave, Eve, and Number Eight were demigod at apotheosis, the highest rank of demigod. They were literally living cmities.


    Moreover, just like Wave, Number Eight was a mage. And the specialty of mages was generally destructive power!


    Normally, demigods like him controlled their power to avoid causing too much coteral damage when they fought, but the spell that Number Eight just released had enough power to level Academy City to the ground. If Wave does not block it with a barrier, the entire city would have turned into ashes!


    "He is mad," Eve muttered with a frown.


    "I''m not, Miss Eve." Number Eight chuckled. "I''m just saying the truth."


    "Bastards like you deserve to die."


    Eve''s voice was extremely cold. Even her usual deadpan expression could not hide the rage she was feeling.


    But the hooded man did not seem to care about it. He just looked at her indifferently and created another magic circle.


    "The world is dominated by the strong, Miss Eve. If they die due to my attack, it''s their fault for being weak."


    Just when he finished speaking, another glowing ck sphere appeared in his hand before flying towards Wave and Eve.


    Wave was once more forced to use a barrier to stop it.


    Normally, she would have avoided this kind of attack, but now she was forced to stop them unless she wanted to see the city destroyed.


    Number Eight had effectively tied Wave up.


    Wave''s expression was ugly after blocking that attack. The dragon headmistress was so incensed that she wanted to kill Number Eight with her gaze.


    But Number Eight received her gaze impassively. He calmly gathered the mana around him, creating another magic circle.


    This time, the spell he cast waspletely different from the previous one.


    [Meteor Rain]!


    Burning mes appeared in the sky and fell towards the city.


    "This crazy guy! Eve, I''ll take care of defending the city! You try to stop him!"


    "On it."


    The fox girl disappeared from her location, reappearing behind Number Eight.


    But Number Eight was calm. He cast a barrier behind him to stop Eve''s attack as his six subordinates rushed towards her.


    "Tsk." Eve clicked her tongue and became intangible, avoiding the attacks of the six demigods easily. She then turned into a blur, moving at an imperceptible speed and appearing in front of one of them.


    Eve''s speed was so fast that the demigod did not manage to react!


    But when Eve was about to pierce his heart and tear it out, a translucid barrier appeared around the demigod, stopping her attack.


    It was Number Eight!


    He was casting mass destruction spells to tie Wave up while supporting his subordinates to fight Eve.


    Moreover, now that he had taken the initiative to attack, Wave and Eve seemed to have fallen into a disadvantage.


    The golden-haired fox girl frowned. Her golden eyes narrowed into slits as she turned her body translucid again and disappeared.


    When she reappeared again, she had turned into six copies of herself, each one attacking one of the demigods at an insane speed!


    None of the demigods managed to react. In front of Eve''s speed, they seemed like children.


    However, Number Eight was different. He was a demigod at the same level as her. As soon as the six Eve appeared, he cast six barriers to protect each one of his subordinates.


    However, that was Eve''s goal from the start!


    "I got you." She stated as another ''her'' appeared in front of Number Eight.


    Number Eight was surprised. He hurriedly created a barrier in front of him to stop her, but to his surprise, Eve''s hand prated the barrier as though it did not exist and pierced his heart.


    But then, Eve frowned.


    "Something is wrong."


    In the next second, the figure of Number Eight faded away, reappearing several meters away.


    "That was close. As expected of Bloodstained Moonlight, the Saintess of Moonlight Glow."


    "An Illusion?" Eve asked aloud and number Eight chuckled.


    "You did not think it would be that easy, right?"


    As soon as his words finished, a magic circle appeared below Eve.


    The magic circle lit up, and several ck chains surged out of it, extending towards Eve''s body.


    ''A trap.'' Eve realized instantly. Since the start, Number Eight had been baiting her.


    ''But'' Without changing her expression, Eve''s body turned translucid, disappearing and appearing several meters away.


    To her surprise, though, she realized that she did not manage to get rid of the chains!


    The chains were following her!


    "This is?" Eve was slightly surprised. She extended her hand towards the chains and released a wave of mana that destroyed them, but to Eve''s surprise, the chains reformed in the next instant, still advancing towards her!


    Furthermore, the six demigods had gotten rid of her clones thanks to Number Eight''s help and were attacking her again.


    In just an instant, her situation had turned for the worse.


    But when she frowned and was about to release a powerful attack, an elegant and overbearing aura appeared in the distance.


    Then


    *Swish!*


    A de of light was swung down, destroying the chains in an instant.


    Moreover, this time the chains were unable to appear again.


    Eve was surprised. She hurriedly looked in the direction of the attack, only to see a silver-haired girl floating in the air with an energy de in her hand.


    "Miss Regina" Eve''s lips curved up slightly. A powerful reinforcement had arrived.


    And she was not alone. In the ground, she could see Bloed, Liu Ying, Aya, Eres, and several other figures fighting against the Blighted Monsters.


    Moreover, Saintess Charise arrived at that moment as well. She looked at Wave and Eve and smiled before talking to the stout-looking man beside her.


    "Kallevang, help them."


    "As you wish, Saintess."


    Reinforcements had arrived.


    ...


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 Chapter 466: Dragon

    Chapter 466: Dragon


    The situation turnedpletely around as soon as Bloed and the others arrived.


    Number Eight was already pushing it when he faced two powerhouses at the level of Wave and Eve at the same time. Regina was just as strong as Wave and Eve, and Kallevang An was not much weaker than them.


    Thus, with the four of them joining hands, Number Eight and his six men were quickly suppressed.


    "How troublesome." Number Eight frowned. He tried to attack Regina and Eve with a spell, but Wave created a barrier to block it.


    Then, Kallevang An released a sword wave that flew towards him.


    "Tsk!" Number Eight forcibly blocked it, but Kallevang pressed on, appearing in front of him and swinging his sword towards his neck!


    The sword cut Number Eight into two, but it was an illusion. Number Eight reappeared again several meters away.


    Kallevang was not discouraged, though. Instead, he kicked the air and rushed towards Number Eight again.


    In the meanwhile, Regina and Eve attacked Number Eight subordinates.


    Although Number Eight''s subordinates were demigods as well, they were much weaker than Regina and Eve. Both girls were among the strongest powerhouses in the world, so the six demigods were not their match.


    Even though their cooperation was almost wless, the six demigods quickly lost ground and were cornered by the two girls!


    Eventually


    "Ugh!" One of them opened his eyes wide in fear.


    Behind him, Eve had appeared suddenly, her golden hair swaying with the hair, and her fair hand pierced his heart.


    When she pulled her hand out, the demigod died.


    Strangely, there was no wound in the demigod''s chest, but despite it, his eyes lost all signs of life.


    "Roja!" Another one of the demigods cried out in rage, but in that instant, a sh appeared before his eyes!


    *Swish!*


    Before he could react, Regina''s energy de cut his body into two.


    Two dead.


    The other four demigods were stunned. In just an instant, two of theirpanions had died.


    And at this rate, they would follow in their steps soon.


    " Boss." One of them looked towards Number Eight with a worried look.


    Number Eight frowned. Each one of these subordinates was a demigod. Even if they were the weakest of demigods, they were still valuable pawns.


    It was a waste to lose all of them here.


    He swung his hand towards Kallevang, releasing a sharp de of mana that forced Kallevang to move away. Then, he looked towards his subordinates.


    "Leave. I will take care of the rest."


    "Do you think they can leave easily?" Eve sneered coldly. Her figure blurred as a transparent aura d her body. She then extended her hand and clenched her fist, releasing a barrier that covered the surroundings.


    She had cut off their escape route!


    "None of you will escape today." She said.


    Number Eight stared at her calmly and shook his head.


    "That is not for you to decide."


    In the next instant, his aura rose drastically.


    "Something is wrong!" Wave suddenly shouted. She tried to cast a spell against Number Eight, but it was toote.


    In the next instant, his body expanded. It grew in size drastically as his shape changed to something non-human.


    His clothes were torn apartpletely, revealing a body covered on grey scales. Then, wings grew on his back, and a tail appeared behind him. His hands and feet turned into ws, and his head became lizard-like.


    In seconds, he had turned into a giant and intimidating creature. A behemoth more than ten meters tall!


    " Dragon," Wave muttered in incredulity.


    The strongest race in the world. Beings of immense power able to master magic as easily as breathing.


    They were the overlords of the skies. All the monsters in the world pledged their allegiance to them, and every mortal feared and respected their figures.


    Number Eight was a dragon.


    "Impossible. How can he be a dragon?" Wave''s eyes shook. She looked at the dragon with disbelief and confusion in her gaze.


    All this time, she had been holding hatred towards the people that targeted her city. She wished nothing more than to kill every one of them, only to learn that the mastermind behind everything was one of her kind. Someone of her same race.


    "Do you recognize him?" Eve asked, sympathizing with the feelings of her friend.


    Wave hesitated for a brief moment before shaking her head.


    "I don''t."


    [It looks like the younglings do not remember me anymore.] The dragon''s chuckled in a booming voice. [It doesn''t matter, though. I left behind my race when I joined Returning Dusk.]


    "You! Where is your honor as a dragon!?" Wave was enraged, but the dragon did not care. Now that he revealed his true body, it meant that he was serious.


    He took a deep breath and aimed towards the barrier before releasing a beam of fire from his mouth that created a hole in it.


    [Dragonbreath]!


    [Leave.] He said to his subordinates. [I''ll take care of the rest.]


    His subordinates nodded and flew away without any hesitation.


    "Where do you think you are going!?" Eve snorted and attacked them. At the same time, Wave, Kallevang, and Regina tried to stop them as well.


    But then, Number Eight swung his tail.


    Just that tail strike was so strong that the wind rumbled fiercely. It forced the four of them to defend against that attack.


    At the same time, several magic circles appeared around him, releasing several spells towards the group!


    The continuous attacks forced the group to stop paying attention to the flying demigods and focus on the dragon.


    "Strong." Kallevang furrowed his brows.


    Dragons were publicly acknowledged as the strongest race in the world. They could easily be demigods after reaching adulthood, and their mastery of magic, enormous mana pool, and powerful body gave them a great advantage against people of the same level.


    Generally, a dragon wasparable to several practitioners of the same level.


    "But" Kallevang sneered.


    In an instant, his sword filled with mana shed towards the dragon belly.


    At the same time, Eve appeared on his back and pierced his scales with her hand, Regina created a giant energy de that cut towards his neck, and Wave created several magic circles that sealed his movements.


    *ROAAARRRRR!!!*


    The dragon roared in pain. Even though he tried to defend against the attacks, he could not face four powerful demigods by himself.


    Plus, his huge body made it hard for him to avoid their attacks.


    There was a reason why many dragons liked to fight in their human forms instead of their dragon forms.


    The dragon form was too big and cumbersome. It was too easy to hit.


    Thus, even though dragons in their true form could harness more mana and had powerful scales to protect them from attacks, they seldomly used this form to fight against opponents of the same level unless they did not know how to polymorph, or they were cornered.


    Such as now.


    Facing four demigods at the same level as him, the dragon quickly became helpless.


    "Give up." Wave stated coldly. "You can''t defeat us."


    [ You truly believe that?] The dragon smiled despite his bad situation. [Little girl, you underestimate me too much.]


    Wave sneered. "You overestimate yourself. Just give up."


    The dragon chuckled.


    [Give up? No, this is a perfect opportunity to test it. I will show you the meaning of true power.]


    Wave frowned, but all of sudden, she felt a terrible chill on her spine.


    "Stop him!" Regina shouted suddenly and rushed towards the dragon. The others, realizing that something was wrong, attacked him as well.


    But it was toote.


    [Behold! True Power!]


    With a crazy voice, the dragonughed.


    Then, a tentacle-like thing broke out of his chest.


    It bloomed as though it was a flower while spreading root-like things all over the dragon''s body.


    When the flower bloomedpletely, the dragon roared in excitement.


    *ROOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!!!*


    With it as the signal, all the mana in Academy City rushed towards the dragon. It then turned into a vortex that swirled towards the flower on the dragon''s chest, where it waspletely devoured.


    "It can''t be" Kallevang turned pale.


    He recognized what was happening.


    And he was not the only one.


    "This crazy man... He fused himself with one of these things...!"


    "The Blight again."


    "Devourer."


    Wave, Eve, and Regina put on solemn expressions.


    The Blight had appeared again.


    And this time, it was not as weak as before.

 Chapter 467: Devourer Domain

    Chapter 467: Devourer Domain


    Dragons were considered the rulers of the sky. They were the overlords ruling over the monsters, and many considered them sacred beasts.


    Their enormous bodies filled with scales boasted of entric beauty. They were filled with noble elegance and mighty strength that made them revered across the world.


    There was a reason why many noble families used dragons as their symbols. It was because, despite their intimidating presence, Dragons had a fierce and wild charm that enchanted all the people that saw them.


    But the dragon in front of Regina, Wave, Eve, and Kallevang waspletely different.


    After he fused with the devourer, his figure could only be described as gross, disgusting, and terrifying. His beautiful gray scales had be turbid as if they had been dirtied, and his flesh squirmed below his scales as though it was filled with worms.


    He had turned into a monster.


    But the dragon did not seem to care about that.


    [Amazing!] Heughed crazily. [What amazing strength. Hahahaha, I feel that my strength is overflowing. Invincibility is so close!


    [But this is not enough. Not enough! I need more strength!]


    "Strength?" Wave gritted her teeth with an expression of rage. "Was that the reason why you forgot the pride of dragons? You have be a monster! Is it worth it!?"


    [It is.] The dragon chuckled. [Only strength is important in this world, girl. Only if I be stronger, I can defeat him! Only if I be an Irregr I can have my revenge! I will show him how it feels to be crushed by the person he once humiliated!]


    "You are crazy. Your obsession with strength has blinded you." Wave snarled, making Kallevang sigh.


    "I hope that before dying, he can realize his wrongs." Kallevang then gripped his sword and stared at the dragon with a gaze full of killing intent.


    But the dragon only sneered.


    [It looks like none of you have not understood the situation yet. The one dying today won''t be me. It will you!]


    As soon as he finished speaking, he released a powerful surge of mana.


    [Domain!] He shouted, and in that instant, a powerful pressure descended over Academy City.


    The gravity increased crazily. In seconds, it had turned five times stronger than normal!


    This sudden change in gravity was enough to seriously injure a normal person. In fact, most of the people in Academy City had trouble moving, and only a few people with a certain level of mana could rely on it to barely move under the increased gravity.


    But that was just the start. One secondter, all the people in Academy City felt their mana being drained away!


    It was being absorbed by the dragon!


    "Bastard!" Wave''s expression turned ugly. She hurriedly tried to expand her own domain to cancel the dragon''s domain, but in the next instant, she felt her mana escaping her control!


    She was not the one. Eve, Kallevang, and Regina could feel the energy in their bodies being drained away. They even had trouble keeping flying.


    "Focus on controlling your mana and try not to use it outside your body! That way the Devourer will not be able to absorb it easily!" Regina shouted to the other three.


    But before they could follow Regina''s instructions, the dragon moved!


    [It''s time that you understand what true strength is!]


    With a roar, he used his w and tail to attack the group!


    Regina and Eve managed to avoid the attack, but Kallevang and Wave were not that lucky. They hurriedly tried to defend against the attack, but Kallevang''s mana and Wave''s barrier were absorbed as soon as they came into contact with the dragon and they were left defenseless.


    *Boom!!!*


    The two of them were then smashed against the ground.


    [Hahahaha! This is true power!]


    The dragonughed and opened his mouth in their direction to release a dragon breath, but Eve attacked at that moment.


    She appeared on the dragon''s head and thrust her hand towards his forehead.


    But as soon as she touched her forehead, she felt her mana draining away as well.


    [It''s useless!] The dragon looked at her mockingly and swatted her away.


    However, Eve''s figure turned translucid and she avoided the attack of the dragon.


    She tried to attack once more when her body materialized again, but the dragon released the breath he was preparing in her direction.


    [Die!]


    "!!!"


    Eve''s eyes opened wide. She hurriedly tried to cast a barrier in front of her, only to see it crumble after having its mana drained away.


    But when she thought that she would be unable to stop the attack, an energy barrier appeared in front of her, miraculously stopping the dragon''s breath.


    Then, the silver-haired Valkyrie appeared in front of the dragon, brandishing a giant energy de towards his neck.


    [It''s useless!] The dragon smirked and raised his w to attack Regina, not even bothering to defend against the energy de.


    But in the next instant, his eyes widened in astonishment.


    Regina''s energy de injured him!


    [Impossible!]


    The dragon hurriedly twisted his body away to avoid the de, but it was toote. Arge wound appeared on his neck and blood flowed out of it in great amounts.


    But to Regina''s disappointment, she failed to kill him.


    "A shame." She sighed when she saw the dragon distance himself from her.


    She nned to catch the dragon by surprise and kill it using [Positive-Negative Energy Conversion] to counter the devourer''s energy absorption, but the dragon''s reacted faster than she expected and managed to move away in thest instant.


    [Impossible! Why can''t I absorb your mana!?] The dragon roared in surprise and fury. [No, it''s not mana. What kind of energy are you using!?]


    Regina ignored him and checked the condition of the other three demigods.


    Kallevang and Wave had returned to the battle. They were injured, but it seemed like they could continue fighting. Eve, on the other hand, had not been injured. But she was frowning with a grave expression.


    "It''s not good. Our attacks are useless against him." She said.


    "Mm. Moreover, the longer we fight him, the weaker we be and he bes stronger." Kallevang nodded solemnly.


    Wave fell silent before looking at Regina.


    "Miss Regina, can you teach us how to injure him? Your attacks seem effective on him."


    "I''m sorry. The method I used to injure him is based on an innate ability and is not something that I can teach you. I can only advise you to try to use physical attacks as much as possible. Attacks using mana will only strengthen him."


    Wave, Eve, and Kallevang frowned.


    That advice was as good as useless. Mana was the foundation of their abilities. Without it, they were nothing.


    "I see. You will be the main attacker then as only your abilities can injure him. The three of us will support you." Wave could only suggest that.


    Regina nodded.


    The dragon had already calmed down by then. To Regina''s surprise, the injury on his neck had stopped bleeding; moreover, he seemed slightly stronger than when she attacked him just now.


    She frowned, only to realize that every second, a great amount of mana was being absorbed by the dragon.


    "This is"


    Regina''s expression changed. She immediately understood that the dragon was not only absorbing mana from them but from all the people in Academy City!


    He was using every one of them to be stronger!


    She was about to tell the others about it, but suddenly, she noticed something happening below.


    Bloed had been fighting the Blighted creatures together with Liu Ying, Aya, Eres, and the others, but they had also been affected by the dragon''s domain, putting them in a dangerous situation.


    They were barely holding on.


    And just then, a creature attacked Bloed from behind!


    "Master!" Regina eximed in a panic and tried to rush towards him. But at that moment, a giant magic circle appeared in the sky.


    [I don''t know how you managed to injure me, but it doesn''t matter. I just need to get rid of you.]


    Then, a ck ray of light descended towards her.


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 468: Crazy Choice (1)

    Chapter 468: Crazy Choice (1)


    While Regina, Wave, Eve, and Kallevang were fighting against Number Eight and his subordinates, Bloed, Liu Ying, Aya, Eres, Saintess Charise, plus Isabe, George, and the men of the Church of Fate and Prince Calisto, were fighting against the Blighted Creatures on the ground.


    The battle was very fierce, but it quickly tilted towards Bloed''s group. In the end, every one of them was an elite with strengthparable to the peak of A-Rank at the very least. Even if the creatures had simr strength, they were just mindless beasts.


    Thanks to Saintess Charise''s support, and Bloed, Liu Ying, and Eres''s ability to counter the devourers'' energy devouring, the group killed the creatures one by one, thinning their numbers without any casualty on their side.


    It seemed like they would get rid of the beast quickly and then go to destroy the fifth node. But at that moment, the situation changedpletely.


    [Domain.] The voice of the dragon resounded.


    And in an instant, a powerful pressure fell over the entire group.


    No, over the entire city.


    Bloed felt his entire body bing several times heavier as gravity in Academy City increased crazily. If not for Tito (his pet armor) and the Body Enhancement Surgery he underwent, he would have been unable to move under this extreme gravity.


    The others were a bit better, though. They could use their mana to strengthen their bodies and endure the increased gravity, something that Bloed could not do.


    But in the next instant, the second effect of the dragon''s domain appeared.


    [Energy Devouring].


    As soon as it appeared, all the people nearby felt their mana leaving their bodies.


    The mana that was supposed to strengthen their bodies was drained away, leaving them to the mercy of the strengthened gravity. In an instant, several members of the group copsed to the ground.


    ''It''s bad!'' Bloed managed to think, but before he could do anything, the creatures moved.


    *Screech!*


    They jumped towards the copsed people, crushing their heads, tearing their limbs apart, and drinking their blood.


    It was a massacre!


    The creatures, whose bodies were inherently stronger than people and could resist better the gravity, were also immune to the dragon''s energy devouring; so they turned the situation around in an instant!


    "[Strength Blessing]!" Saintess Charise hurriedly cast a divine spell on the group, but as soon as her mana left her body, it was swallowed by the dragon''s domain, rendering her spell useless.


    "It''s bad!" Isabe''s expression became grave. She grabbed her chest with an expression of pain and focused her mana on strengthening her body.


    As a mage whose body was weaker than fighters, the current situation incapacity herpletely.


    In fact, eighty percent of the group becamepletely useless under the dragon''s domain, and the rest saw themselves greatly weakened.


    Even Bloed could barely fight, but he could not use any of his mechanical pets due to the domain draining their energy.


    His body felt heavy, and his bones groaned in pain. It was as though the entire world was pressing him down!


    It was the worst situation possible.


    Just then, a creature jumped towards him.


    *sh!*


    Eres reacted quickly, going to his help and driving the beast away.


    Somehow, she had managed to conserve most of herbat power in the current situation. But she alone could not face as many beasts.


    She had realized the gravity of the situation as well.


    "Brother, we need to leave. If we stay here, all of us will die."


    Bloed fell silent. He knew that she was right. However, even if they tried to leave right now, where were they supposed to go?


    The entire city had been affected by the dragon''s domain.


    He could see that Aya could barely stand up, and although Liu Ying was still fighting, her situation was not very good either.


    Even Saintess Charise''s expression was grave. Her face was pale, and her legs were trembling due to the extreme gravity.


    To their horror, in just a few seconds after the dragon spread his domain, a third of the group perished!


    '' What to do?'' Bloed racked his mind for a solution, but at that moment, the creatures rushed towards them again with eyes full of hunger.


    Bloed and the others resisted with all their might, but more of them were killed by the creatures. Every second, someone would scream in despair as his body was torn apart by hungry monsters.


    "Fuck!" Bloed cursed and continued defending against the creatures, using his saber to attack them. asionally, he would injure one of them, but it only served to stimte their bloodthirst.


    Just then, a creature appeared behind Bloed without him noticing.


    "Master!" Regina, who had been fighting the dragon, cried out, alerting Bloed of the situation and making him jump away instinctively, barely avoiding the w of the beast.


    Even so, it tore a piece of flesh off his arm.


    "Ugh!" He screamed in pain and brandished his saber in the beast''s direction, severing one of its legs and making it scream in pain. But then more beasts charged towards him.


    "Dammit!" Bloed cursed loudly. Fortunately, Liu Ying, Eres, and George came to his rescue at this time, helping him to repel the beasts.


    But right then


    *Swoosh!*


    A ck pir of light descended from the sky, swallowing the Valkyrie who was fighting the dragon.


    "Regina!" Bloed''s face turned pale.


    Seeing Regina''s being swallowed by the dragon''s attack, his mind turned nk.


    He knew that the reason Regina did not manage to avoid that pir of light was that she had been distracted by his perilous situation. And he could do nothing to help her.


    He could feel his body screaming in pain, unable to continue enduring the extreme gravity on it; and he could hear the screams of pain and despair of the people being torn apart by the creatures.


    Time slowed down at that moment. Bloed knew that he needed to do something. Otherwise, all of them would die here today.


    Immediately, a determined look appeared on his face.


    Then, he took a metallic tube out of his pocket.


    " I hope this works." He said to himself.


    In the next second, he injected it into his neck.


    ...


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    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 469: Crazy Choice (2)

    Chapter 469: Crazy Choice (2)


    For a long time, Bloed had known what his greatest weakness was.


    His body.


    He possessed powerful means of attacks, excellent weapons and tools, the greatest fighting techniques taught to him in the spaceship, and a pair of eyes that allowed him to see any detail during a battle.


    His body, however, was noticeably inferior.


    In the Human Confederation, Bloed''s body, which had undergone a Body Enhancement Surgery, was first-rate. It was the strongest body someone could have at his age.


    But in this world, where mana could strengthen the body almost limitlessly, his body was subparpared to his strength.


    Thus, Bloed started to research ways to strengthen his body.


    The result? A project that Bloed named [Body-Strengthening Virus].


    It was a very crazy idea. Bloed nned to create a virus that modified his cells, creating microscopical magic cores in the cells'' nucleus and then using his mind to manipte the mana inside these magic cores.


    The idea was incredibly crazy. It was beyond simple body modification and implied to modify his DNA directly.


    But Bloed did not give up despite it, and soon enough, he got results.


    The first prototype was a failure that killed every test subject, and the second prototype was not much better.


    But Bloed continued trying.


    Eventually, Bloed managed to create a virus that seemed stable enough.


    However, Bloed knew how crazy his idea was.


    He knew that if something went wrong, then he would end dying a very tragic death.


    Thus, he did not hurry to use the virus on himself and instead continued realizing tests to make sure that there was no problem with the virus.


    But for some reason, he decided to carry a sample of the virus with him.


    Bloed was not sure why he did it. Perhaps, he thought of it as a trump card that he could use in a dangerous situation despite the risk that using the virus implied.


    And now, this was that dangerous situation.


    There were so many monsters that using Imaginary sh was useless, and he could not use Tito and Leto to activate [Eitr] and [Gungnir] and use [Molecr Disintegration] due to the dragon''s domain draining the energy of his pets.


    Thus, Bloed''s only chance to turn the situation around was the sample of the virus.


    "I hope this works."


    Otherwise, all of them could die today.


    Without any hesitation, he injected the virus into his neck.


    Nothing happened at the start, but a few secondster, his face turnedpletely pale.


    Then


    "Ugh!"


    A groan of pain escaped from his lips.


    That was the start of one of the most painful memories in Bloed''s life.


    All of sudden, blood started to flow out of his nose, ears, and eyes; his sight became blurry, and his body started to tremble in pain.


    Two seconds after the pain started, he copsed on the ground as his head was attacked by a soul-splitting headache.


    His pores leaked out blood crazily, and his skin seemed to squirm as though it was alive.


    It was as though his entire body was rebelling against him. Every part of his body, from his fingers to his liver, heart, and lungs, was twitching and twisting in pain.


    As though they wanted to break out of his body.


    "Bloed, what is happening!?"


    "Brother!"


    "Bloed!"


    Liu Ying, Eres, and Aya called his name in panic, but he barely heard them. All he could think of was the pain.


    With his remaining trace of consciousness, Bloed cursed himself for being reckless. Why in the hell did he think he could use this dangerous thing as a trump card!?


    It would be a miracle if he doesn''t kill himself.


    But when he felt that he was going to faint due to the nightmarish pain, a soft and gentle energy entered his body, soothing his pain slightly.


    That energy quickly grew, going from a slight tickle to a torrent that seemed to run through his body, relieving the pain. Then, suddenly, Bloed felt an incredible pleasure that sent shivers down his spine.


    It was mana.


    "Amazing" That was everything he could think of.


    The entire process of the virus transforming his body did notst more than three minutes. Bloed had designed it that way to avoid the new cells shing with the old cells.


    But in these three minutes, Bloed went from hell to heaven.


    And when he opened his eyes again, his body felt better than ever.


    Even though the gravity was several times stronger than normal, Bloed did not find it hard to stand up. The endless energy in his muscles, blood, and cells supplied him with the strength to ovee the gravity.


    At the same time, his senses felt much sharper than before.


    " Bloed, are you alright? W-What is all that blood about?" Liu Ying hurriedly asked him with a worried look.


    Only then did Bloed realize that his body was covered in blood. In fact, a pool of blood had formed in the ce where he copsed.


    "I''m alright." Bloed tried to smile softly, but his smile seemed pretty scary with all the blood in his body.


    He then looked around him, only to realize that the situation had turned even worse in the brief time he was unconscious.


    In the sky, Regina had been injured by the dragon and was desperately resisting his attacks together with the other demigods. Fortunately, her injuries did not seem grave, and Bloed noticed that she still was reserving a part of her strength.


    On the other hand, the situation on the ground was much worse.


    Several more people had died while Bloed was unconscious, and now less than fifteen people remained. They had formed a circle with the people that could not fight in the center, and the rest of them were defending against the creatures.


    Fortunately, Bloed had been protected by Eres, Saintess Charise, George, and Aya while he was unconscious. Thanks to that, Bloed had not been killed by one of the monsters.


    '' I should not be this reckless again.'' Bloed chastised himself in his mind. His ''genius'' idea this time had not only put him at risk, but it had also risked the entire group.


    If things would have gone wrong, his loved ones could have died while protecting him.


    ''Fortunately'' Bloed clenched his fist while feeling the power inside it.


    His bet had seeded.


    Taking a deep breath, he grabbed his saber and walked towards the creatures.


    "B-Bloed, w-where are you going? Y-You are still injured." Liu Ying hurriedly tried to hold him back, but Bloed just smiled at her.


    "Don''t worry. I''m alright."


    He then continued advancing.


    Just then, one of the creatures attacked the group! It screeched angrily as it charged towards one of the knights of the Church of Fate!


    The knight hurriedly raised his shield to block the creature, but when he was about to push it away, a figure rushed past him.


    Then, a pair of bright blue eyes lit up.


    Everything about the creature appeared in Bloed''s mind. Its speed, its weight, its abilities, and its movements.


    With just a nce, Bloed could predict what the creature was going to do next.


    Normally, this would have been useless as the creature''s explosive speed would have allowed it to react to Bloed''s attack even if he predicted where the creature was going to move next.


    But this time


    *sh!*


    Bloed''s saber was much faster than before.


    And before the creature could react, it had been cut into two.


    ....


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    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 470: Absolute Ignition (1)

    Chapter 470: Absolute Ignition (1)


    The group defending against the creatures looked at Bloed with a dumbfounded look.


    Just a moment ago, Bloed was bleeding heavily and they thought that he was seriously injured, but all of sudden, he stood up and killed one of the powerful creatures in one hit!


    Moreover, he was being affected by the dragon''s domain. In other words, this was not his entire power!


    "Brother?"


    "How is it possible?"


    "As expected of the man that caught the attention of our goddess."


    Eres, Liu Ying, and Charise did not hide their shock. Now that Bloed became this strong it was great news for them!


    Bloed also let out a smile after testing his new strength.


    The Body-Strengthening Virus had brought a qualitative change to hisbat power. With just a rough nce, he could see that his physical strength had doubled after using the virus. And that was just the start.


    As more time passes, the amount of mana inside his body will be greater and greater, increasing his physical abilities even more.


    Moreover, stronger physical abilities mean that the efficiency of his eyes and fighting style will be much better. Bloed estimated that hisbat power had be a few times stronger after this power-up.


    It should be enough to face the strongest students in Academy City even without using his trump cards.


    " Unfortunately, I can only use mana to strengthen my body right now." Bloed sighed with a regretful expression.


    The fact that Bloed could not manipte mana had not disappeared. He was just ying a little trick to circumvent it. However, he could still not cast spells like this world''s mages.


    ''Well, it''s enough for now. Anyway, I can''t use mana externally or it will be devoured by the domain.'' Bloed shrugged.


    Seeing the sudden death of one of their own, the creatures that were attacking the group retreated warily. They observed the group from a distance while waiting for an opportunity to strike.


    "Do you have a n, Bloed?" Saintess Charise asked at that moment.


    Bloed fell deep into thought. Even though the situation had be a bit better now that he became stronger, they were still at a disadvantage.


    Just bing slightly stronger was not enough. If they continued like this, his increase in strength would only allow them tost a bit longer.


    These creatures were cunning. They did not attack rashly but observed their prey like hunters and waited for the best moment to attack.


    Right now, the only ones in the group that could kill the creatures were his sister and him. As for the others, they could only act as support due to the effects of the dragon''s domain.


    If the creatures decided to wear them down, then Eres and he would only be able to watch as the group was killed one by one.


    Bloed''s mind moved thinking of a n, and finally, his gaze fell on the fifth node.


    "I have one."


    "Mm? What is it?" Charise asked curiously.


    "We will ignore the creatures and destroy the fifth node directly."


    Bloed''s n was simple. The group would keep their current formation and advance towards the node slowly.


    If the monsters attacked them, they would defend against their attacks, and if one of the monsters showed an opening, Bloed or Eres would kill them.


    It was a simple n, and although Charise and some others were not sure about how effective it was going to be, after thinking for a while, they agreed to follow it.


    Thus, the group advanced towards the node slowly.


    And as Bloed''s expected, the creatures could not stay still.


    The mission of the creatures was to protect the node. Now that the group was advancing towards the node, they were forced to attack them.


    It seemed the same as before, but this time, the group had the initiative.


    As the group approached the node, the creatures started to be more anxious. Their attacks became rasher and rasher until finally, one of them made a mistake.


    In an attempt to kill one member of the group, one of the creatures received Liu Ying''s fist on its head.


    *Bam!*


    The creature became dizzy and its movements stiffened for an instant. This, of course, was not enough to kill it. Quite the opposite, the creature needed less than a quarter of a second to recoverpletely.


    But two people had been waiting for this opportunity.


    In the instant that the creature stiffened, Bloed''s saber and Eres''s sword d in transparent mes moved at the same time.


    *Swish!*


    *Woosh!*


    The saber was swung, and the sword pierced the creature''s body. In the next second, the creature had been beheaded, and its body had been burned into ashes.


    It could do nothing to defend against the attacks of Bloed and Eres!


    "Hahahaha, great!"


    "Die fucking monster!"


    "Let''s kill all of them!"


    The death of this creature immediately increased the morale of the group. Seeing that the n was working, they continued advancing towards the node.


    In less than two minutes, the group managed to reach twenty meters away from the node and kill another five creatures.


    But at this point, the group was forced to stop.


    "Dammit! How can they be this smart?" Isabe cursed, and Liu Ying, Aya, Eres, and the others nodded.


    Only nine creatures remained alive, but instead of attacking the group, they stood in front of the barrier and red at them warily.


    They were forcing the group to take the initiative to attack.


    But if the group took the initiative to attack the creatures, then it would mean breaking their defensive formation. It would allow the creatures to target the weakest members of the group and kill them first.


    That way, they could easily decimate their group.


    "Any idea, Bloed?" Saintess Charise asked with a frown.


    Bloed frowned. They could not remain in this stalemate, or the dragon''s domain would slowly exhaust them to death.


    His only idea was to use Imaginary sh to kill some of the creatures in a surprise attack and afterward kill the rest. But when he was about to suggest that, Eres spoke up.


    "Brother, if I manage to kill five of these creatures, can the rest of you kill the others and destroy the node?"


    Bloed was startled and looked at Eres in surprise. But then, he understood.


    Eres was just at the middle stage of A-Rank, but he had seen her unleash power vastly superior to that, reaching the level of a rtively powerful demigod.


    However, Bloed had noticed that her sister could not show that level of strength all the time. In fact, most of the time, her strength barely reached the demigod level.


    If he was not mistaken, then Eres needed to pay a certain price to unleash that power, or perhaps, that power had some kind of limit.


    Bloed stared straight into Eres''s eyes, but when he saw her determined expression, he decided to believe her.


    "I can No, we can." He said while looking at Saintess Charise, Liu Ying, Aya, and the others.


    "I understand! Let''s do it then."


    With these words, Eres took one step outside the formation.


    And in the next instant, transparent mes bloomed out of her body.

 Chapter 471: Absolute Ignition (2)

    Chapter 471: Absolute Ignition (2)


    Just as Bloed thought, Eres''s sudden surge in strength was not without a price.


    Her surge in strength was due to an innate ability that she was born with. Few people know about it, and in fact, she only discovered it a few months after Bloed was exiled, so he did not know about it either.


    Eres called that ability, [Absolute Ignition]; and as its name indicated, it allowed her to burn anything.


    Of course, it was not as simple as that. [Absolute Ignition] could burn anything in theory, but actually, she could hardly use this ability.


    If she tried to burn something like, a piece of paper, then she would need to use up a great amount of mana. So much that it was dumbfounding.


    Thus, after Eres discovered this ability, she thought for a while that it was useless.


    But even so, she decided to study it in her pursuit of greater strength.


    And her persistence allowed her to find two ways to use this ability.


    The first one was fusing it with the greatest sword technique of her family, [Skysword]. Through it, Eres created a powerful transparent me able to burn space itself. She called these mes [World Burning mes].


    And the second way was by burning her own mana.


    By burning her own mana, Eres could erupt with an extremely powerful strength for a short period of time. It made her as strong as a demigod and even allowed her to do things that only demigods could do, such as flying.


    She called this technique the same that her innate ability, [Absolute Ignition].


    But the downside of this ability was that besides consuming an enormous amount of mana, it also puts a huge burden on her body.


    Even in her best condition, Eres could only use this ability for around fifteen minutes. If she surpassed this time, she would have to spend several days in bed after that.


    However, today she had already used [Absolute Ignition] for around ten minutes when she fought the demigods of King''s Shadows and the demigod woman of Returning Dusk.


    ''I guess I must end this fast then.'' Eres thought to herself as she took one step forward.


    A determined expression appeared on Eres''s face. She stared at the nine creatures in front of her as she held her sword calmly.


    Then, she narrowed her eyes


    [Absolute Ignition]!


    And transparent mes bloomed out of her body.


    *Boom!*


    Eres disappeared. She moved so fast that nobody managed to follow her movements!


    The creatures screeched nervously. The auraing out of Eres''s body made them felt threatened, and instinctively, they moved closer to each other to defend against the ck-haired princess.


    But it was useless.


    *Swish!*


    Like the wind, Eres moved unimpeded behind one of the creatures. Then, she swung her sword coated in transparent mes, cutting its back.


    The creature was unable to react. When it felt the pain in its back, it was already toote.


    In the next instant, the transparent mes extended over its entire body, burning it to ashes in less than one second.


    Not even its ability to consume energy could save it.


    ''One down.'' Eres''s eyes shed with a cold light.


    But it was just the start.


    While the creatures were still confused by the sudden death of one of their own, Eres charged towards another creature.


    Her sword d in mes sliced the air, moving towards the creature''s head at great speed.


    However, this creature''s reaction was faster than the first.


    *Screech!*


    With a cry, it jumped up and stuck to a wall like a gecko, avoiding Eres''s sword, before jumping back towards Eres to counterattack.


    Its speed was extremely fast. It faintly exceeded the speed of an A-Rank, reaching the realm of demigods.


    At the same time, another two creatures jumped towards Eres as well, trying to tear her body into pieces!


    But when the creatures'' ws were about to reach her, Eres''s lips curved into a smirk.


    "Idiots."


    Then, a wall of transparent mes rose between the creatures and her.


    *Screech!*


    The creatures screamed in fear and hurriedly retreated in a panic!


    They had seen the effect of the mes, and they knew how deadly they were. If the mes touched them, they were as good as dead.


    But one of the creatures was a bit too slow to react and one of its ws touched the wall of mes.


    *Screech!*


    The creature cried in terror. It hurriedly used its other w to cut off the w that was burning, but to its bad luck, its other w touched the mes in the process!


    And this time, it could not cut it off.


    In the end, it could only shriek in pain and terror and its entire body was slowly consumed by the transparent mes.


    ''Two down.'' Eres''s gaze was ice-cold. Without any hesitation, she kicked the ground and elerated towards a third creature.


    But this time, the creatures were much warier than before.


    The creature that she was aiming for retreated swiftly, avoiding her attacks. At the same time, other creatures attacked her from all directions.


    She tried to use the wall of mes again, but the creatures were prepared for it this time. As soon as they felt the mes, they moved away without any hesitation.


    Eres''s face turned solemn. These creatures were much more cunning than she expected!


    She could not continue using her mes like this. Her World Burning mes used a lot of mana, plus, she was using Absolute Ignition as well. Right now, her mana was being consumed at a great speed.


    She needed to kill the five creatures before her mana was exhausted.


    Eres narrowed her eyes. She stared at the creatures carefully before fixing her gaze on one of them.


    ''This one is next.''


    During the battle, she noticed that this creature''s reaction was slightly slower than the others. If she used the right strategy, she was confident she could kill it.


    Thus, she did not hesitate and charged towards it!


    The creature felt her intention. It jumped into the wall of a nearby building and walked on it as a gecko, distancing itself from Eres.


    But it underestimated the ck-haired princess.


    When she saw the creature jump, she jumped as well.


    Then, she used the air as a foothold, kicking it and shooting her body towards the creature!


    "You are mine!"


    Before the creature could react, Eres was already in front of it with her sword ready to cut it into two!


    But just then


    *Screech!*


    Another creature appeared below the one that Eres was attacking and jumped towards her.


    At the same time, the first creature avoided her sword with swift movementspletely different to its movements before and attacked Eres!


    ''A trap!'' Eres''s face changed.


    The first creature had been acting as bait from the start!


    Eres could not believe the level of intelligence of the creatures. They had managed to fool her and led her into a trap without her noticing!


    But now was not the time to think about that. At this rate, she would be seriously injured or maybe even killed!


    ''A wall of mes! No, it won''t appear in time Then, I can only ta0ke the blow!''


    cing her sword in front of her, Eres got ready to receive the attacks of the creatures.


    But at that moment


    *Swish!*


    A figure suddenly appeared behind one of the two creatures, looking at it coldly with his bright blue eyes and using his saber to cut it into two.


    It was Bloed!


    He had used his optical camouge and took advantage of when the creatures were focused on Eres to sneak on one of them!


    Eres was surprised to see Bloed, but in the next instant, her lips curved up in a smile.


    Now that one of the creatures had been killed, the other one was not a problem.


    Twisting her body, she avoided the attack of the remaining creature, before shing it with her sword.


    In the next second, the creature turned into ashes.


    ''Four down.'' Eres grinned and turned towards Bloed.


    "Thank you, Brother."


    Bloed smiled and was about to tell her that they still needed to kill the remaining creatures, but all of sudden, a powerful surge of energy appeared above them.


    Bloed turned pale. He hurriedly looked up, only to see the dragon looking at them with his mouth wide open.


    [Die, little bastards!]


    One instantter, the dragon shot his breath towards them.

 Chapter 472: The Sixth Node

    Chapter 472: The Sixth Node


    Bloed had seen many terrifying scenes in his life. But few times, he really felt he could die.


    And this was one of these times.


    Watching a peak demigod dragon firing a breath towards him made him feel helpless. He realized that no matter what he tried, he would be unable to stop that attack.


    However, he was not afraid.


    Because he knew that there was someone that would protect him.


    At the moment when the dragon fired the breath, a silver-haired figure appeared in front of Bloed.


    She did not hesitate to stand in the way of the attack. Even if she knew how powerful the breath was, she did not care.


    Because she had to protect her master.


    "Stop!"


    Roaring, the Valkyrie created a barrier of energy in front of them.


    In the next second


    *BOOMMM!!!*


    A powerful explosion shook the surroundings.


    Just the shockwaves of the explosion were enough to blow several people and monsters away and destroy several buildings! The power behind the dragon''s breath was that strong!


    And to Regina''s surprise, it was stronger than she expected!


    Cracks started to appear on Regina''s barrier. They expanded rapidly showing that the barrier could notst for long.


    But then, Regina bellowed.


    "[Krigsrustning]!"


    An enormous amount of energy erupted out of her body. Immediately, a beautiful set of armor appeared on her, giving her the appearance of a goddess of war.


    At the same time, two crystal-like flowers appeared over her shoulders. The flowers hovered silently, emitting threatening arcs of lightning that seemed to twist space itself.


    It was [Krigsrustning], Regina''s Valkyrie armament!


    Finally, she was using it!


    After summoning Krigsrustning, Regina''s energy became several times stronger. She was at least one level stronger than before.


    But even that did not seem enough to stop the breath.


    However, Regina did not panic. She extended her hand, summoning one of the flowers over her shoulder.


    As soon as the flower touched her hand, it turned into a beautiful crystal shield. Regina then held it in front of her and stopped supplying energy to the barrier.


    In the next second, the barrier was destroyed, and at the same time, the breath continued towards Regina.


    But this time, it waspletely stopped by her shield.


    "Take care of the node, master. I won''t let that monster touch you." The Valkyrie stated.


    "Thank you, Regina." Bloed nodded, then he and Eres attacked the creatures again.


    Meanwhile, Regina stared at the dragon with a frigid expression.


    [ What are you?] The dragon asked confused. [You are definitively not human, and the power you use is not mana. What kind of being are you then?]


    Regina did not reply. Instead, she grabbed the remaining crystal flower with her right hand.


    As soon as it touched her hand, the flower turned into a beautiful crystal sword.


    Wearing her armor, and with a shield and a sword in each of her hands, Regina walked towards the dragon coldly.


    "I don''t know who you are, and I don''t care about your objective. However, you dared to try to kill my master, and for that, you must pay."


    [Pay?] The dragonughed. [Are you going to kill me?]


    Regina narrowed her eyes.


    "I am."


    Then, she swung her sword.


    And under the dragon''s stupefied eyes, everything in front of her was cut into two.


    Bloed nced at Regina''s battlefield and frowned.


    Unexpectedly, even after Regina activated [Krigsrustning] and injured the dragon with a powerful sword attack, the dragon did not lose its advantage.


    It cursed at Regina and screamed in pain, but after several seconds, its wounds started to regenerate.


    Moreover, it continued absorbing the energy in the city, bing stronger and stronger with every passing second.


    '' I should focus on the node first. Now that Regina activated [Krigsrustning], she should be able to keep the dragon busy for a while.''


    Even if the dragon was powerful, the fact that it attacked Bloed and Eres to stop them from destroying the node showed that the node was very important to it.


    Thus, they should focus on destroying it. Who knows, perhaps it will give them a clue about how to defeat the dragon.


    "We only need to kill five creatures more, brother!" Eres told him at that moment.


    Bloed nodded. "Let''s end this fast."


    Now that four creatures had been killed, the remaining five creatures did not seem much of a trouble.


    Bloed and Eres attacked again, focusing on one of the creatures and quickly injuring it. The other creatures tried to help it, but just at that moment, a spell came and stopped them.


    It was Isabe! She had forced herself to use a spell despite the dragon''s domain!


    The spell only stopped the creatures for an instant, but it was enough for Bloed and Eres to finish the creature they were attacking.


    "One more down!" Eres said after seeing the creature turn into ashes.


    At that moment, the remaining four creatures started to retread. They probably realized that staying would mean death at the hands of Bloed and Eres.


    Taking advantage of that, Bloed and Eres pressed on their attack. In the next two minutes, they managed to kill another two creatures.


    Unfortunately, the remaining two creatures managed to escape.


    " What a shame." Bloed sighed. It would have been great to kill all the creatures right here.


    These creatures were very powerful. If they were let loose, they could kill tens or hundreds of Academy City''s citizens.


    But he could not afford to chase after them now.


    Looking at the barrier protecting the node, Bloed took a deep breath.


    "Can you destroy it?" Eres asked.


    Bloed nodded. He then focused on his saber, through which he could use his SSS-Grade ESP ability, [Molecr Disintegration], and attacked the barrier.


    A cut immediately appeared in the barrier. It tried to repair itself, but Bloed shed it again.


    And again, and again, and again.


    Finally, the barrier was unable to bear the damage, and it dissipated.


    [Little bastards! Don''t you dare!] The dragon roared, but Bloed ignored it. He knew that Regina would not allow it to attack him.


    He only focused on the node at the center of the barrier.


    And raising his saber, he swung it down.


    *Rumble!!!*


    The node was destroyed immediately, and at the same time, the magic circle around the city trembled violently. For an instant, it seemed like it would disappear.


    However, there was still a node remaining.


    When the magic circle was about to disappear, thest node showed itself. It supplied mana to the circle, allowing it to continue standing.


    At that moment, Bloed opened his eyes wide.


    Because he saw the location of the node.


    " How can it be in his chest!?"


    Yes, thest node was in the dragon''s chest.

 Chapter 473: The Final Slash

    Chapter 473: The Final sh


    " How can it be in his chest!?" Bloed was surprised. He was no expecting something like this.


    He never imagined that the dragon would be this crazy. It was suicidal!


    The dragon was using his own mana to keep the entire magic array running. That was an enormous amount of mana that a single individual should not be able to supply.


    And if the dragon was unable to continue supplying mana to the array, then the rebound of the magic array could kill him.


    No sane person would do something like that.


    But when Bloed thought for a moment, he understood why the dragon dared to take the risk.


    ''His domain.''


    Using his domain, the dragon could absorb mana from every individual in the city. It allowed him to replenish his mana quickly and continue supplying it to the array.


    But even so, what he was doing was way too risky.


    ''What in the hell is that magic circle for? Why is he going so far?''


    It must have a very important purpose if the dragon dared to go so far to keep it running.


    Bloed could not help but think about the magic array in Diadel Duchy. Back then, the magic array was very simr to this one, and it was being used to nurture a powerful Devourer.


    ''Could this magic array have the same purpose?''


    But if it was so, then how strong was the Devourer that the dragon wanted to nurture that he was trying to use the city with the most powerhouses in the world as a sacrifice?


    Bloed could not help but shiver when his thoughts reached this point.


    If his deduction was right, then this dragon was not just crazy. He was insane!


    "Brother, what do we do now?" Eres asked at that moment. Just like Bloed, she had noticed where the sixth node was.


    Bloed thought for a moment before looking back at Liu Ying, Aya, Charise, and the others.


    "You should leave first. You won''t be of help in your current situation."


    The group put onplicated expressions, but they nodded.


    Right now, they could barely stand, much less fight.


    "What about you?" Liu Ying asked.


    "Eres and I will stay and try to find an opportunity to help Regina and the others to defeat the dragon."


    Charise raised an eyebrow.


    "Are you nning to interfere in a battle of that level?" She said while pointing at the sky, where terrifying explosions were happening every second. "Are you crazy?"


    "I know what I''m doing. Trust me."


    Charise was dumbfounded. "I don''t know if to praise your bravery or to curse your stupidity."


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    Liu Ying and Aya looked at Bloed withplicated expressions, but when they saw that he was determined to stay, they did not try to convince him otherwise.


    " Be careful, Bloed."


    "Don''t die."


    That was everything the two girls said.


    Bloed looked at Liu Ying and Aya and smiled.


    "Don''t worry, I will be alright."


    Liu Ying, Aya, Saintess Charise, and the others nodded and left, leaving only Bloed and Eres behind.


    "Brother, do you have a n?" Eres asked.


    Bloed nodded. "I have one. But I don''t know if it will work. Eres, are you confident in injuring the dragon if you have the opportunity?"


    Eres furrowed her brows. " If I use my strongest attack, I could injure it. But I will be unable to fight after that."


    "That is enough." Bloed smiled. Then, he spoke to the Valkyrie fighting in the sky using their mental connection. "Regina, I have a n."


    [Do speak, master.]


    "Master has a n," Regina spoke in the mind of the other demigods after she finished listening to Bloed''s n.


    "The boy?" Wave was surprised. "What kind of n is it?"


    Regina quickly exined the n. When she finished speaking, the other demigods were dumbfounded.


    "Will it really work?" Kallevang could not help but ask. "We could lose if it fails."


    Regina did not hesitate to nod. "I trust master. It will."


    Kallevang, Wave, and Eve fell silent.


    They hesitated whether to follow the n or not. In fact, Wave and Kallevang didn''t want to take the risk.


    But Eve spoke up at that moment.


    "I agree."


    Wave raised an eyebrow in surprise. She then put on aplicated expression and sighed.


    "We can''t continue like this anyway. It''s worth a try."


    Seeing that the other two agreed, Kallevang could only nod with a helpless look.


    "Let''s follow the n then."


    Although the four demigods agreed to the n, on the surface, they did not show any sign of it. In fact, during their conversation, they continued fighting the dragon as before.


    Even so, the dragon''s instincts warned him that something was wrong.


    [It looks like you are nning something.] It said with a snort. [However, do you really think you have a chance to defeat me?]


    Nobody replied. They just continued attacking.


    Leading the attack was Regina. She continued using her energy sword to attack the dragon restlessly.


    The dragon was the wariest of her. During the battle, she was the only one who had injured him the most. She had injured him more than once.


    Unfortunately, the dragon''s powerful regeneration allowed it to heal his injuries after a few minutes. Otherwise, the wounds caused by Regina alone would have been enough to make him unable to continue fighting.


    Due to it, the dragon focused most of his attacks on Regina. However, most attacks could not break the defenses of Regina''s shield, and every time he was about to injure her, the other demigods interfered, restraining him and allowing Regina to retreat.


    The problem was that the dragon continued absorbing the mana of the city every second, bing stronger and stronger as the battle dragged on while the demigods became more and more tired and their mana reserves diminished as they fought.


    The dragon was aware of it, so he was not in a hurry to end the battle. If he could keep the current status quo, he would win before long.


    Suddenly, though, Regina appeared above him.


    The Valkyrie gathered energy in the sword in her hand. She then kicked the air and flew towards the dragon at great speed!


    The dragon roared. He created a shield of mana in front of Regina to stop her attack.


    [Useless!] He roared.


    Regina remained calm, though. She stopped her attack abruptly before releasing her sword and shield.


    As soon as the sword and shield left her hands, they turned into flowers again, but it was not the end.


    In the next second, the flowers turned into two enormous energy wings behind her back.


    [What is that?] the dragon was surprised, but before he could understand what was happening, the wings lit up.


    The next second


    "Die."


    Several energy rays were shot towards him.


    [!!!]


    The dragon''s eyes opened wide. It could felt an enormous amount of energy in that attack. He did not dare to take it with his body.


    He did not hesitate to create another shield, this one even stronger than the previous one.


    But at that moment, Eve suddenly appeared over his head.


    [You!]


    Eve ignored him. With an expressionless gaze, she extended his hand and touched the dragon''s head.


    In the next second, her hand turned translucid, going through his head and reaching deeper.


    She touched his soul.


    The dragon''s face changed at that moment.


    [A soul attack!]


    Eve''s eyes shed coldly. She had risked having her entire mana drained away just tond this attack.


    It was toote when the dragon realized Eve''s intentions. In that instant, his movements stiffened briefly, stopping him from supplying energy to the barrier.


    Then


    *BOOMM!!!*


    Regina''s attack hit the barrier, breaking it almost instantly.


    [Arrgh!!!]


    The dragon screamed in pain. Regina''s attack hit it head-on, creating a huge wound on his back.


    If he did not manage to resist Eve''s technique at thest second before moving his head away, that attack would have hit his head and perhaps killed it!


    But when the dragon thought that he had managed to escape the danger, he felt a chill on his spine.


    Looking up, he saw Regina''s wings turning into a greatsword. The greatsword then lit up brightly as Regina gathered an enormous amount of energy in it!


    The dragon''s eyes opened wide in fear. He did not hesitate to cast another barrier in front of him as he tried to retreat, but all of sudden, he felt his movements being restricted.


    At some point in time, several magic circles had appeared around him, releasing countless chains made of mana that restrained him.


    It was Wave! The headmistress had used almost all her remaining mana to cast this spell to restrain him.


    [Do you think this is enough to kill me?] The dragon roared. He then opened his mouth and filled it with mana, releasing a breath towards Regina to interrupt her attack.


    But then, Kallevang appeared in front of him.


    "Don''t forget about me!"


    With a cold gaze, the knight of the church of fate swung his greatsword down.


    *Boom!*


    The greatsword and the breath collided, creating a powerful explosion that rocked the entire city.


    Kallevang was thrown away by the power of the explosion, but he bought Regina enough time toplete her attack.


    "Die." She uttered coldly.


    In the next second, her greatsword descended, cutting the world into two.


    But


    [Don''t underestimate me!]


    The dragon bellowed. In that instant, all the mana in his body erupted, turning into a giant breath that shed against Regina''s greatsword.


    For an instant, the greatsword and the breath were in a stalemate. They collided midway between Regina and the dragon, creating a blinding explosion.


    But an instantter, the breath started to push Regina''s greatsword away.


    Surprisingly, even when the four demigods joined hands and used their trump cards, the dragon managed to resist them.


    But right then, the dragon''s eyes opened wide.


    An enormous feeling of threat gripped his heart. For an instant, he felt as though he was going to die.


    ''The ground!''


    He looked down, only to see a ck-haired girl swinging a sword towards him.


    [Skysword]!


    The strongest sword technique in the world. A sword able to cut through anything.


    ''I will die.''


    The dragon realized it at that moment. If that attack hit him, he could die.


    With hisst strength, he managed to move his neck away. But even so, Eres''s sword hit his neck.


    *Spurt!*


    Blood gushed out of the dragon''s neck. Half of his neck had been severed by Eres''s sword.


    Nevertheless, he managed to survive.


    Even this grave injury would healpletely in a few minutes.


    ''I won.'' He celebrated in his mind.


    But then, he froze.


    Because at that moment, a sh had hit his chest, cutting both the node and the devourer fused with him.


    [ Impossible.] The dragon looked at the source of the sh in disbelief.


    There, a blue-haired boy was holding a saber and looking at him coldly.


    [Imaginary sh].


    That was the technique that had cut the dragon.


    Looking at the boy, the dragon smiled self-deprecatingly.


    [Just a B-Rank boy.]


    Then, the magic array in the city shattered.


    And blood erupted from the dragon''s body.

 Chapter 474: This is not the End

    Chapter 474: This is not the End


    Bloed knew that defeating the dragon was not easy. A half-hearted n would most likely fail against a powerful demigod that could fight four peak demigods by himself.


    Thus, since the start, he nned to risk everything in this n.


    It was the same for Wave, Eve, Kallevang, and Regina. From the moment they agreed to Bloed''s n, they were ready to risk it all.


    They knew that this could be their only opportunity, to defeat him; thus, Regina, Wave, and Eve did not hesitate to show their trump cards, and Kallevang did not mind being injured to give Regina a chance to kill the dragon.


    It would have been great if they defeated the dragon after that, but even when they failed, they were not disappointed.


    Because they knew that the key part of the n was about to start.


    And at that moment, Eres swung her sword.


    When Eres attacked, the dragon was caughtpletely by surprise. He never expected that an ant that he never considered could release an attack able to threaten him.


    But as expected of a powerful demigod, even when he was caught by surprise and even though he was using most of his strength to defend against Regina''s attack, he managed to barely avoid being killed by Eres.


    However, what the dragon did not know was that Eres was not the only ''ant'' able to injure him.


    Just after Eres attacked, Bloed attacked as well.


    Bloed had given his all in this attack. Normally, he could use Imaginary sh three times, but this time, he decided to put his entire strength in this one sh.


    Besides of when he used [Overdrive], this was Bloed''s strongest attack to date.


    But unlike Eres, Bloed did not aim to kill the dragon. Due to it, the dragon did not feel any killing intenting from him.


    Moreover, the dragon had used thest bit of his strength to avoid Eres''s attack. Even if he noticed Bloed''s attack, He could do nothing to stop it.


    Every move until now had been for this one sh. Wave, Eve, Kallevang, and Regina never aimed to kill the dragon, but to make him unable to avoid Bloed''s attack.


    And they seeded.


    Bloed''s Imaginary sh cut the dragon''s chest, destroying thest node and killing the devoured fused with him.


    After that attack hit him, the fate of the dragon had been decided.


    The magic array shattered, making the dragon suffer a powerful bacsh. Moreover, with the devourer in his chest dead, he could not keep the domain working and his powerful regeneration was gone.


    In one second, the situation had been reversed.


    *Spurt!*


    Cuts appeared all over his body, gushing out great amounts of blood. It was a result of the bacsh caused by the magic array.


    At the same time, his mana quickly started to leak out of his body, until the point that he could not continue flying.


    The dragon turned pale. He immediately polymorphed into a human to try to control his injuries as hended on a building.


    But as soon as hended, Wave, Eve, Kallevang, and Regina appeared around him.


    "It''s the end." Wave''s face was cold.


    The dragon did not reply. He just looked at the four demigods, calmly assessing his situation.


    He soon noticed that although Wave, Eve, and Kallevang had exhausted most of their mana, Regina was still in good condition.


    With his current injuries, if he tried to fight her now, he would lose.


    "How unexpected" The dragon said with a sigh.


    He still could not believe that the direct cause of his defeat was not any of the four demigods around him, but a B-Rank boy that he did not put in his eyes.


    "Life is full of surprises, huh." He looked in Bloed''s direction, seeing him also looking at him with a calm gaze.


    "What an interesting kid." The dragon chuckled.


    Regina frowned when she saw that. For some reason, she felt that something was wrong.


    "What are you nning?"


    "Me? Nothing." The dragon shook his head. "It looks like I was too hasty. Unfortunately, I failed to destroy Academy City."


    Regina raised an eyebrow, and Wave''s eyes became extremely cold.


    "Bastard... Why did you want to destroy the city? What is Returning Dusk nning?"


    "You don''t need to know what we are nning, Headmistress. You only need to know that Academy City is no longer necessary, and we are not the only ones that think so, but you already know it, right?"


    Wave''s eyes shook and her expression became stiff.


    Just as the dragon said, she had noticed it already.


    Academy City had be a stumbling block in the way of many ambitious people. If they wanted to fulfill their ambitions, Academy City must disappear.


    For an instant, her eyes became filled with sorrow, but immediately, her expression became determined again.


    "Academy City will not fall so easily. I will make sure to protect it. People like you will never seed."


    "Nave little girl." The dragon chuckled. "Well, it doesn''t matter. Fortunately, even though Academy City was not destroyed, I managed to get enough nutrients."


    Wave was startled, but then, she remembered something.


    The magic array around the city.


    Eve, Kallevang, and Regina thought about it as well.


    What was the purpose of the magic array? Why did the dragon was protecting it so desperately?


    But just at that moment, the expressions of the four demigods changed.


    All of sudden, they felt a spatial fluctuationing from the dragon!


    The dragon smiled. He looked at them calmly and grinned.


    "This is not the end."


    "Stop!" Regina shouted and attacked the dragon, but it was toote.


    The dragon had already disappeared!


    "So he was buying time, huh." Kallevang''s expression became solemn. "He escaped."


    "Not yet." Wave gritted her teeth. "I won''t let him escape." Then, she closed her eyes and focused on the spatial fluctuations created when the dragon teleported away.


    Finally, after almost five minutes, she managed to decipher them.


    "I deciphered it."


    "Where is he?" Eve asked.


    Wave put on aplicated expression and looked down.


    "Underground."

 Chapter 475: Unexpected Twist

    Chapter 475: Unexpected Twist


    After the teleportation seeded, Number Eight appeared in the underground tunnels of Academy City, inside one of Returning Dusk''s research facilities.


    These tunnels had been built by Returning Dusk through the years, creating a red of tunnels that spread throughout the entire city. They were the perfect ce to hide, run, and perform forbidden experiments.


    In fact, there were tunnels like these in many other cities throughout the continent. They were the result of Returning Dusk''s hundreds of years of work.


    "It''s unexpected that I had to retreat like this, though." Number Eight muttered to himself.


    Today''s attack was the result of many years of nning. He had carefully perfected this n to bring down Academy City and nurture a powerful Blighted, taking every possible variable he could think of into ount.


    Even with powerhouses like Eve, Kallevang, and Regina in the city, Number Eight was still confident. He was sure that everything would go as nned.


    But


    ''These bastards of the Church of ughter and King''s Shadows are useless. They were unable to control a couple of demigods even with their numbers. Also, the Church of Fate was supposed to not intervene Why did Kallevang interfere then?''


    Even after so many years of nning, Academy City managed to remain standing.


    Moreover, after the failure of today''s attack, many other parties will reconsider Academy City''s strength and hesitate about attacking it.


    In other words, Returning Dusk would need a couple of years more at the very least to bring Academy City''s down.


    ''Sigh, this is troublesome.''


    The fall of Academy City was crucial for Returning Dusk''s ns. As long as Academy City was standing, the continent won''t be engulfed in war.


    Academy City was a symbol. A ce that showed that the different races could coexist and pursue the same objective. It was synonymous with peace.


    It was a ce that should not exist.


    ''We will have to change our ns after this.''


    Number Eight put on a pensive expression as he walked through the research facility. Eventually, he reached a room that had been strongly sealed by a powerful magic array to stop anyone from entering it.


    "Well, at least this part of the n seeded." Number Eight chuckled as he put his hand in the magic array.


    Then, the magic array was deactivated, allowing Number Eight to enter the room.


    Inside this room was the result of his many years of research. A Blighted creature that was stronger than any other creature out there.


    The creature had a humanoid shape with gray skin and countless tentacles on its body. Its hair had beenpletely reced by tentacles, and eight powerful tentacles came out of its back.


    It was the perfect specimen that he nurtured with great care with the only purpose of helping him to take the next step. A Blighted creature at the peak of demigod.


    And today, he fed it with the mana and souls of thousands of lives of Academy City, making its strength even greater.


    Number Eight could feel it. If he fused with this creature, he could finally be stronger again.


    He could be an Irregr!


    This world''s fourth Irregr.


    But just then


    *Spurt!*


    A de pierced his heart from behind.


    "Ugh" Number Eight groaned in pain and his eyes opened wide in surprise. He then looked behind in rage. "Who!?"


    Be when he saw the short gray hair and the dark skin of the girl behind him, his expression became astonished.


    "You You are alive!"


    "Surprised?" The girl smiled. "Yeah, I''m alive and well."


    "Impossible! I saw you die with my own eyes!"


    "The eyes can sometimes make mistakes." The girl sneered.


    She then pulled out her sword and kicked Number Eight''s back, mming him against a wall.


    "I have dreamed of this day for many years." The girl murmured slowly as she walked towards Number Eight. "The day when I finally kill you."


    Despite her calm appearance, though, her eyes burned with so much hatred that it seemed to make the air around her sticky.


    "So you are here for revenge, huh." Number Eight chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I see. So I''m going to die today."


    He was injured very badly, and the girl''s attack had drained all his remaining mana. Moreover, now that he paid attention to his surroundings, he realized that he couldn''t feel the slightest sign of life inside the facility.


    Everybody had been killed by the girl in front of him.


    He would have not failed to notice it normally, but he was so badly injured by Bloed, Regina, and the others, that he overlooked the strangeness of this ce because he felt that he was ''safe''.


    "Anyst words?" The girl asked indifferently.


    Number Eight stared at her calmly before chuckling.


    "None."


    The girl nodded and raised her sword.


    Then


    *Swish!*


    Number Eight''s fell on the ground with his eyes wide open.


    The girl did not show any sign of happiness after beheading him. Even though she killed her most hated enemy, she did not seem d or at peace.


    She just walked inside the room, where the Blighted creature was looking at her in a daze.


    Getting ess to this room was the only reason she did not kill Number Eight as soon as he appeared in the facility.


    "Brother" She looked at the creature with an expression of sadness.


    "Anne, is that you?" The creature suddenly spoke up. It looked towards the girl dazedly and its lips curved into a smile. "So you really came to save me."


    "I did, brother. I did." The girl smiled with tears in her eyes.


    "I missed you, sister. Being here is so painful. Every day I feel like I''m in hell, and the voices The voices don''t stop. They whisper evils in my mind, all the time."


    "Sorry, brother, I waste." The girl bit her lips and tears rolled down her cheeks. She let go of her sword and walked towards the creature, not hesitating to hug it despite how horrifying it looked. "Sorry, I''m sorry."


    "It''s alright, sister." The creature hugged her back. "I forgive you. Now You just need to be oNe WiTh Me."


    And, its tentacles pierced the girl''s body.


    The girl froze. She looked at the creature in a daze, only to see it smirking disgustingly.


    "So you are not my brother anymore, huh." She smiled sadly.


    "WhAT Do yOU ThINk!?"


    "FOoliSH giRL. YouR BRothER DIEd LonG AGo!"


    "DON''t yOu MiSs hIM? THEn bECome ONe wITH US!"


    The girlughed. Sheughed destely and tears rolled down her cheek. "So she was right, after all. My brother really died."


    "I told you, your brother did not exist anymore." A voice suddenly resounded in the room.


    The girl nodded with a bitter smile. "Yeah, you told me."


    Strangely, the two voices sounded exactly the same. It was as though she was talking to herself, or as if two people were inhabiting the same body.


    Then, the coat that she was wearing fell on the ground.


    In the next instant, countless tentacles surged out of her body. The tentacles then pierced towards the creature, injuring it gravely.


    "WHaT Is ThIS!?"


    The creature shouted in rage and fear. It tried to struggle but its body waspletely immobile. Moreover, it could feel the energy inside its body being devoured by the girl''s tentacles.


    "NO!"


    "IMpoSIbLE!"


    "WhO!? wHO BeTRAyED Us!?"


    It looked at the girl and its eyes became red in rage.


    "TRaiTOr!"


    "tRAItoR!"


    "TRaiTOR!"


    "Yes, I''m a traitor." The girl sighed. "But what is wrong with desiring freedom?"


    With these words, she finished devouring the creature.


    Once she was done, the tentacles returned to her body as though they never existed, and she was once more a normal human.


    This time, though, her eyes were colder and calmer than before entering the room.


    "So it looks like you finally decided to ept me as a part of you, huh. Yeah, without your brother, there is no point in keeping your humanity.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll live like you. After all, we are one, Anne."


    Just then, a voice came from behind her.


    "Huh? Number Eight is dead as well?"


    When the girl turned around, she saw a tall woman and a little girl looking at her curiously.


    "Wait a moment, is she little Anne?" The little girl tilted her head curiously. "So you are alive, huh?"


    "Dollmaker"


    "So you remember me." The little girl smiled innocently. "That is great. Then, you won''t mind bing my doll, right?"


    Before the gray-haired girl could react, the little girl charged towards her!


    But the gray-haired girl was faster. In an instant, she arrived in front of the little girl and grabbed her head.


    Then-


    *Puff!*


    She tore her head off her body.


    "Just another disgusting doll." The girl muttered before crushing the head in her hands.


    When she was done, she looked at the tall woman that had remained quiet until now.


    "Are you going to attack me as well, Solia?"


    "Why should I?" The tall woman shrugged her shoulders. "Did you forget that I was the one that helped you to escape?"


    "I did not forget. That is the reason I won''t kill you today."


    With these words, the gray-haired and dark-skinned girl walked past her.


    "You have be really strong, little Anne." The tall woman smiled nostalgically.


    But the girl ignored her and walked away.


    Before leaving, though, she opened her mouth onest time.


    "Don''t call me Anne anymore. I left that name behind. Now, my name is Diodora, and I will put an end to Returning Dusk."

 Chapter 476: The Curtain Closes

    Chapter 476: The Curtain Closes


    Several minutester, six figures appeared in the underground facility.


    They were Regina, Wave, Eve, Kallevang, plus Bloed and Eres.


    The six of them arrived here following the traces of Number Eight''s teleportation.


    But when they arrived, they were surprised to not see the enemies that they were expecting.


    Instead, the ce waspletely empty, without any sign of life.


    " I can''t feel anyone nearby. This ce is empty." Kallevang frowned.


    The rest of the group frowned as well, but at that moment, Eve''s nose twitched.


    " I smell blood." The foxkin demigod said.


    The group was startled and put on solemn expressions. Then, they followed Eve''s lead and got ready to fight at any time.


    But when they arrived at the source of the smell, they were shocked.


    There, the powerful enemy that they desperately fought against,y dead.


    " He died?" Wave was surprised. "Impossible. His injuries were not that serious."


    "Did anyone else killed him?" Eve tilted her head.


    "But whom?" Wave asked doubtfully.


    Regina frowned and looked at her master. She saw that Bloed was using his blue eyes to observe the situation with a focused expression.


    Eventually, he spoke in a grave tone.


    "It was just a person."


    The rest of the group looked at him in surprise.


    "Are you sure?" Wave asked.


    Bloed nodded.


    "You know that my eyes are special. And they told me that just one person killed him. Moreover, the dragon was unable to resist."


    The expressions of the group turned serious.


    They knew how powerful the dragon was. Even if he was injured, he was still a powerful powerhouse.


    But now, someone killed that dragon without giving him the chance to resist?


    How powerful was that person then?


    At the very least, he was as strong as them.


    Was that person a friend or a foe?


    And if he was a foe, where was him? Why did he kill the dragon?


    Wave''s expression could not help but be grave when she thought about these questions.


    This was her city, but now, she discovered that she knew it less than she thought.


    First were the underground tunnels, then the fact that several powerful demigods infiltrated the city without her noticing, and now, she discovered that another powerful demigod was in the city, and she had no idea about his whereabouts or identity.


    Wave could not help but feel vexed.


    At that moment, she saw Bloed walking towards a room nearby.


    The dragon headmistress was startled, but she soon realized that there was a powerful sealing array around the room.


    The array was deactivated, but just its existence showed that this room was not simple.


    The dragon headmistress furrowed her brows and followed Bloed. Then, her eyes narrowed.


    " So that was the purpose of the magic array, huh." She said while looking at the dead creature in the room.


    A Blight, and judging from the slight auraing from it, a very powerful one.


    At least as strong as them.


    Now Wave finally understood the purpose of the magic array around the city.


    To feed this creature.


    However, the Blight was dead.


    Wave did not need to be smart to understand who killed it. It should have been the same person who killed Number Eight.


    But why? Judging from his actions, this person did not seem to be a foe. Then, why did he not show himself to them?


    But just then, she heard Bloed''s grave voice.


    "Something is wrong."


    "Huh?"


    " Someone drained most of the mana inside that creature before killing it."


    Wave and the others were startled. But quickly, they realized the meaning of Bloed''s words.


    "Do you mean?"


    "Yes. Whoever this person is, he waited until we weakened the dragon, then killed him and swallowed all his hard work. We were used by him."


    Wave''s expression became heavy.


    " Sigh, a trouble after another."


    "Do you have any idea about who that person is, Bloed?" Eve asked, but Bloed shook his head.


    Wave sighed in disappointment. Even though the dragon was dead, she could not feel relieved.


    Quite the opposite, she felt as though a bigger danger was out there.


    " It looks like we can''t lower our guards just yet."


    "What is your n now, Headmistress?" Kallevang asked.


    " For now, I''ll try to see if there is any other undiscovered underground structure. I don''t like having these things in my home."


    She would have a bit of trouble finding them due to the magic arrays protecting them, but Wave was confident that she could discover all of them if she searched hard enough.


    "I see. It looks like you don''t need my help anymore then. It''s time I leave." Kallevang nodded before bowing slightly to the headmistress.


    " Sorry for involving you in this, and thank you for helping me."


    "It''s our duty to erase the threats to the world, Headmistress. You don''t need to thank me."


    "Even so, I''m thankful. Also, tell Saintess Charise that I will go to thank her personally."


    "I understand." With a nod, Kallevang left.


    Just then, Bloed spoke up as well.


    "Headmistress, we will leave as well."


    Headmitress Wave looked at Bloed and smiled gently.


    "I owe you one, Bloed. You are supposed to be my student, but instead of me helping you, you ended helping me to solve my problems."


    "No, headmistress. You have helped me more than enough."


    With these words, Bloed, Regina, and Eres left.


    Wave looked in Bloed''s direction with aplicated expression.


    But what she didn''t know was that as soon as Bloed''s group returned to the surface, Bloed''s expression became white and he started to cough blood.


    "Master!"


    "Brother!"


    Regina and Eres became pale. They hurriedly rushed towards him, only to see him twitching of pain as blood flowed out of his nose.


    "Master, what happened!?" Regina and Eres were anxious. Seeing it, Bloed wiped off the blood in his nose and forced out a smile.


    " I''m alright, don''t worry. Just bring me to the tower quickly, please."


    Regina and Eres nodded and hurriedly took Bloed to the tower.


    " It looks like I''m in trouble this time."


    Bloed smiled bitterly to himself.

 Chapter 477: A Dragon’s Story

    Chapter 477: A Dragon¡¯s Story


    After the dragon was repelled, themotion in Academy City quickly settled down.


    In just a few hours, the monsters wandering the city werepletely killed, and the people trying to take advantage of the situation to cause more chaos were apprehended. Before nightfall, Academy City had returned to its usual peacefulness.


    Only the injured people lying in the hospitals, the houses and buildings destroyed during the chaos, and the dead bodies being picked up to be buried or incinerated were proof of the tragedy that happened here during the day.


    Wave was observing the entire situation from the Great Library. When she saw how many ces had been damaged during the chaos, she could not help but sigh.


    " Is Academy City really destined to be destroyed?" She could not help but murmur to herself.


    Suddenly, she felt someone appearing behind her. Without turning around, she knew that it was her good friend, Eve Moonglow.


    "Still thinking about what happened today?" The foxkin demigod asked.


    Wave smiled bitterly. "How can I not? This city is my everything. It''s the culmination of my dreams. However, it looks like the entire world wants to see it destroyed."


    "I don''t. And Moonlight Glow neither."


    "Yeah, perhaps you are the only ones that don''t mind the existence of this city." Wave replied self-deprecatingly.


    Academy City was her dream. She had struggled for many years to build it and sacrificed a lot to make it the ideal city.


    A ce where neither race nor status mattered. A ce where anyone could aplish their dreams as long as they had enough talent and determination.


    Finally, after many years, she managed to turn this city into what it was today.


    However, to her surprise, she realized that her beloved city was surrounded by wolves.


    It had be a thorn that many people wanted to get rid of. The city that she loved so much had be something that must be destroyed.


    Moreover, even the people that this city helped before refused to help it back. How many demigods lived in Academy City and benefited from it? But, how many of them helped today?


    Even though many of them managed to be demigods thanks to Academy City, they only watched as the city sank into chaos.


    Wave could not help but be heartbroken when she thought of that.


    At that moment, she felt a hand on her shoulder.


    Looking behind her, she saw Eve staring at her with her usual expressionless look.


    "Academy City has not been destroyed yet. And I''m sure that many people want to see Academy City prosper. It''s just that they are hesitating now."


    Wave smiled wryly and nodded. "Perhaps."


    "Don''t get discouraged, Wave. The situation is not that bad yet. We managed to repel Number Eight without losing a single demigod. I''m sure that right now, many people are revaluating Academy City''s strength. At least for a while, the city should be peaceful."


    Wave smiled wryly. "I hope so."


    At that moment, Wave felt a slight mana fluctuation. She hurriedly took out a mana stone from her storage artifact and put mana into it.


    Immediately, a figure of a middle-aged man was projected from the stone.


    " Grandfather," Wave muttered.


    [My child, I saw your message.] The figure sighed. [I''m sorry for what happened. However, if you are really determined to protect that city, you must be prepared to face something like this again.]


    "I know grandfather. This is not enough to discourage me."


    [Sigh I wonder why you are so stubborn.] The figure chuckled. [Well, I was like that when I was younger as well.]


    Wave smiled wryly.


    "Grandfather, do you know anything about the dragon that attacked the city?"


    The figure did not reply immediately. Instead, he put on a reminiscing expression.


    Finally, after several seconds, he heaved a long sigh.


    [Many years ago, a dragon was born. He was amazingly talented, just like you. And he was very hardworking. Many people called him the next transcendent of our race.


    [But unlike you and I, he was very belligerent. He believed that as the strongest race in the world, we should make the other races our ves. He wanted to make dragons the rulers of the world.


    [I don''t think that is bad. Many dragons think like that as well, and I don''t care. However, the truth is that if we try to conquer the world, we will lose, and many of our kind will die.


    [There are already very few of our race in the world. A war could bring us to extinction.


    [However, he did not understand that.


    [Drunk on his pride, he incited many of our kind to wage war against the humans, elves, demons, and beastkin. They burned viges down, piged cities, and destroyed armies.


    [Eventually, the other races became angry and sent subjugation squads against us, killing many of our kind in the process.


    [When I learned of that, I became enraged. I injured that young dragon gravely before exiling him out of the wilderness.


    [I did not hear of him from then. To be honest, I thought that he was dead. However, it looks like I was mistaken. You said that he died, right?]


    Wave nodded.


    The figure sighed heavily.


    [I see. What a pity. He was really talented.]


    Wave was about to ask something else, but at that moment, Eve started to cough fiercely.


    Wave was startled. Turning around, she realized that her friend was coughing blood.


    "Eve!?"


    " I''m alright." The fox girl replied expressionlessly. "These are just the injuries I suffered against the dragon."


    [It''s not just that.] Wave''s grandfather stared at Eve with a heavy expression. [Little fox, you don''t have much lifespan left, right?]


    Eve fell silent.


    [I''m right. I remember that you were already alive during the war against the Blight. That was one hundred years ago, and the lifespan of a peak demigod of your race is around 150 years. You should have no more than twenty years of life left.]


    " I won''t die so easily."


    [Perhaps.] The dragon nodded. [If you manage to surpass the limits, then, you will have a chance.]


    Eve fell silent as her eyes were filled with silent determination.


    " I will."


    At the same time, a young demon was also using amunication stone.


    [Are you sure?]


    "I am, father. I don''t know how she managed to hide her aspect, but today, she revealed her true aspect for an instant. It was unmistakably a Chaos Titan."


    [I see. Then she really is the little princess.]


    The young demon nodded.


    "What should I do, father?"


    The figure on the other side fell silent for a moment before replying.


    [Get close to her, Mu Quan. If she is really the little princess, then this could be the opportunity that we needed.]


    Mu Quan, the strongest student in the city, nodded with a determined expression.


    "Understood, father."


    ...


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    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 478: A World Sinking into Chaos

    Chapter 478: A World Sinking into Chaos


    A young woman walked slowly through a dark passage with an expressionless look.


    Her footsteps werepletely silent, and her countenance was serious. Strangely, though, one could feel a slight trace of nervousnessing out of her.


    " I hate this ce." She muttered to herself after reaching a door.


    Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and kneeled on a knee without daring to raise her face.


    "Twenty-one greets the leader." She said.


    Nobody replied to her for a while, but the young woman did not show any sign of impatience. She remained kneeling, trying her best to kill her presence as much as possible.


    Even though she was a powerful demigod, she knew that to 0the person in this room, she was nothing more than an ant. He could crush her in just an instant.


    Finally, a voice came from the other side of the room.


    "Rise." The voice told her. "What do you have to tell me, Twenty-one?"


    Twenty-one, whose name was Solia Whitehaven, stood up with a grateful expression. Still, she continued with her head lowered.


    "Number Eight failed, leader. Academy City remains standing, and he lost specimen 011."


    "Oh?" A voice tinged with surprise replied to her. "How unexpected. I was sure that he would seed. Tell me, what happened?"


    Solia nodded and recounted everything that happened in Academy City.


    When she finished speaking, the voice heaved a sigh.


    "I see. Eight insisted on taking this mission, so I trusted him with it. However, it looks like he was more of a disappointment than I thought What about specimen 011, though? Even if he failed to destroy Academy City, he should have gotten enough sacrifices to nurture it."


    Solia did her best to suppress her nervousness and replied.


    " 012 killed him."


    "Mm?" The voice was surprised. "I thought she died."


    "It looks like she managed to fool us and escaped, leader. She killed Number Eight and took the energy of specimen 011 for herself."


    "So she escaped, huh."


    For an instant, Solia felt a powerful gaze on her. The gaze was so overwhelming that she felt as though everything about her was discovered. She had the feeling that the owner of the gaze knew exactly what happened.


    But when she thought that she was done for, the gaze disappeared.


    Solia sighed in relief inwardly while her back was filled with cold sweat.


    "Specimen 012 is a variable that we didn''t expect, but if she absorbed the energy of specimen 011, it means that she has a high degree of fusion with the Blight while keeping her consciousness intact. Just that is good news to us." The voice stated.


    " About that, I''m not sure if she was really the original 012."


    "Do you mean that the Blight could have reced her consciousness?"


    "I''m not sure. That is just my personal opinion."


    "Mm Interesting I guess I have to investigate this case closely. Thank you for the information, Twenty-one. You are dismissed."


    "Understood."


    Sighing in relief in her mind, Solia did not hesitate to leave the room.


    What she did not know was that after she left, the owner of the voice chuckled softly.


    "Does she really think I can''t see through her little tricks?"


    [Everybody has their own goals, Zero. Betrayal is normal for people like us.] A lively and shrill voice replied to him.


    "Three. You are here."


    [Hi, my friend. It''s a pleasure to talk to you again.]


    "What do you want?" Zero asked indifferently.


    [I just wanted to ask you what you are going to do next. Your men failed to destroy Academy City. It will dy our ns greatly.]


    Zero was still indifferent. "It was an unexpected failure, but nothing serious. Even if Academy City doesn''t fall now, it will fall eventually."


    [Hehe, however, as long as it continues standing, the continent won''t sink in chaos.] The shrill voice chuckled.


    "You overestimate that city, Three. In the end, Academy City is just a symbol. Even if it remains standing, it can''t do nothing to stop the chaos once it starts."


    [Oh? And how are you nning to start it?]


    "The world just needs a fuse for chaos to ensue, three. And you have it."


    [So you know about it, huh.] The owner of the shrill voice seemed to smile. [However, that fuse is very valuable to me. If I use it, I will needpensation.]


    "Don''t worry, you will be satisfied."


    [Great. Then, I will leave. I need to start my preparations.]


    With a softugh, the voice disappeared, leaving Zero alone in the room.


    He narrowed his eyes deep in thought before fixing his gaze in the giant transparent tube in front of him.


    There, a ck heart was floating creepily, asionally beating as though it was alive.


    "Soon." He muttered. "Soon."


    And the heart seemed to beat in answer.


    The gears of fate were moving slowly.


    And nobody could stop it.


    ...


    We end another arc with this chapter...


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 Chapter 479: The Virus’s Side Effects

    Chapter 479: The Virus¡¯s Side Effects


    In theboratory of the Machine Revolutio Tower.


    Bloed was lying inside a capsule with his eyes closed as though he was sleeping. asionally, his body shivered slightly in pain, but he calmed down after a few seconds.


    The capsule was emitting light intermittently as it scanned Bloed''s body carefully. The process repeated several times, until finally, the capsule lit up with green light.


    Bloed immediately opened his eyes and heaved a sigh. The capsule opened immediately, allowing Bloed to exit it.


    As soon as he exited the capsule, Regina approached him with a tablet in her hands.


    "How are the results?" He asked.


    "Just as we feared, master," Regina replied with a worried expression. "Although your idea was sessful and your cells mutated to be able to hold mana, they became much stronger than normal. Right now, the metabolism of your body is a mess, and some of your internal organs are on the verge of failure."


    "Which organs?"


    " Mainly the lungs and the heart."


    "As I expected, huh." Bloed let out a sigh with a heavy expression.


    It had been two days since Returning Dusk attacked academy city, and the situation in the city had returned to normal.


    Although many students died during the attack and the city received heavy criticism due to it, the fact that it managed to repel and kill several enemy demigods without losing any of their own gave the city the respite necessary to ovee the wave of critics.


    ording to Bloed''s prediction, Academy City would lose a big part of its students and inhabitants after this, but the city would continue working normally despite that.


    It was a good result considering the scale of Returning Dusk''s attack.


    But although Academy City''s situation was not that bad, the same could not be said about Bloed.


    When Bloed returned to the Machine Revolutio''s tower, he was bleeding from his nose, ears, and eyes; and his body was spasming violently due to the pain.


    It was due to the virus he injected into his body to make it able to wield mana.


    Although Bloed was sessful and the virus achieved the purpose for which it was created, it came with heavy side-effects that Bloed didn''t expect.


    Just as Regina said, his metabolism had be unstable, and several of Bloed''s internal organs became unable to endure the burden of his new body, starting with his lungs and heart.


    " Master, if you continue like this, you could die," Regina said with a grave and concerned expression.


    Bloed nodded with a bitter expression. He knew that Regina was right. Even now, his entire body was filled with pain.


    He walked to a nearby table and grabbed a vial on it. After hesitating briefly, he drank it down.


    A few secondster, he felt the mana in his body calming down and the pain fading quickly.


    "Don''t worry. I''m thinking of a solution. And I won''t die anytime soon as long as I drink this regrly." He said as he shook the empty vial in his hand.


    This vial was something that he created when he discovered the problem caused by the virus. Its purpose was to suppress the mana in Bloed''s body and nourish his internal organs to heal the damage caused by the mana.


    As long as Bloed drank it regrly, he did not need to worry about the side effects too much. However, this was not asting solution. If he used mana actively, his mana would be active and injure his internal organs again, plus, he estimated that this medicine would stop being useful after a few years.


    Before then, Bloed needed to find a solution to his current predicament.


    ''Should I try another Body Enhancement Surgery?''


    Body Enhancement Surgeries were the method the Human Confederation used to strengthen the bodies of ESPers and soldiers, and Bloed had gone through it once when he was in the spaceship.


    However, a person must not go through more than one Body Enhancement Surgeries in ten years. Otherwise, there was a risk of gic copse.


    When Bloed remembered that, he shook his head. It was not a good solution.


    ''I guess I need to think of something soon, huh.'' He thought to himself as he put on his clothes.


    "Let''s go, Regina. We will visit little Gina. I need to ask her something."


    "But master"


    "Don''t worry, I''m alright. It''s not as though I''m going to die suddenly."


    Regina put on a hesitating expression before nodding and following Bloed.


    When they arrived at Gina''s room, Sara received them.


    "How is Gina?"


    " She is alright," Sara replied to Bloed with a slightlyplicated expression. "My lord, Gina said that she has something to tell you."


    Bloed was startled before smiling wryly. "So she already knows why I''m here."


    "I told her to not force herself, but she did not listen to me," Sara said with a sigh.


    When Bloed entered the room, he saw Gina lying on her bed with a feeble expression.


    "My hero, you are here."


    "Gina, are you alright? How have you been feeling?"


    "I''m alright, just a bit tired after using my powers too much. Right, my hero, I saw something about the person that killed Number Eight."


    Bloed could not help but feel slightly guilty.


    "You should not use your powers in this condition."


    " Sorry, I wanted to be of help." She smiled sheepishly, making Bloed unable to be angry with her.


    Bloed thought that he was a hypocrite. Even though he told Gina that she should not use her powers in her current condition, he came here precisely to ask her to use them.


    In the end, he just decided to ask about her vision.


    "What did you see?"


    "Darkness, darkness, darkness, and someone searching for a ray of light."


    Bloed, Regina, and Sara were stunned.


    "What does that mean?" Bloed asked.


    " I don''t know, but I have the feeling that you will understand it eventually."


    Bloed fell deep in thought.


    He had witnessed the uracy of Gina''s visions more than once. He knew that if she had a feeling, it was most likely true.


    In other words, as she said, he would understand the meaning of her vision eventually.


    " I guess it''s something at least." He smiled bitterly to himself.


    "My hero, I worked very hard this time. Don''t you think that I need a reward?"


    Bloed was stunned, but he soon understood Gina''s intentions and smiled wryly.


    "So this was the reason you used your powers in your condition, huh?"


    "Huh? Did you say something?"


    Bloed felt helpless when he saw Gina feigning ignorance like that.


    "Okay, what do you want?"


    "Hmm How about a kiss?"


    "Gina." Sara''s voice sounded.


    "Okay, okay, sister, I''m joking, don''t re at me like that. Just a hug is fine Although a kiss would have been nice."


    Sara rolled her eyes and looked at her lord with a helpless expression.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry, however, it was true that Gina worked very hard this time.


    Thus, he walked towards Gina and hugged her gently.


    " So nice" Gina heaved a soft sigh, but then, she felt something soft in the corner of her lips.


    The honey-haired girl was stunned, but before she could react, Bloed had already moved away.


    "W-Wait, my hero! T-That was!"


    "Rest well, little Gina, I wille to visit again."


    "My hero, w-wait!"


    "Adios." Bloed bid farewell with a chuckle, leaving the speechless Regina and Sara behind.


    Once Bloed was gone, though, Regina''s expression turned serious as she looked at Sara solemnly.


    "We need to talk."


    "Huh? What is it about?"


    "I will tell youter. See you tonight on the training floor."


    Sara was stunned. Regina almost never talked with anyone other than Bloed, but now, she told her that they needed to talk?


    She was confused.


    But before she could ask Regina for an exnation, the Valkyrie was already gone, leaving behind a confused Sara and a flustered Gina.


    ...


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 Chapter 480: A Demon Girl Smiling Brilliantly

    Chapter 480: A Demon Girl Smiling Brilliantly


    Hey guys, Aidka''s Here!


    If you read my other novel, Fourth Prince, then you know that Science/Magic is going to resume again after a long hiatus now that Fourth Prince came to an end.


    The n is to post one daily chapter of Science/Magic and one of My Skills Are Weird (My newest novel. Check it if you have not) for the rest of the month. The side stories of Fourth Prince will be released once or twice every week.


    Consider supporting me on P4TRE0N...!!!


    ...


    After Bloed left Sara and Gina''s room, he went to the tower''s training floor.


    Despite the side-effects of the virus, it was a fact that it strengthened his body greatly. However, Bloed still needed to get used to this new strength.


    Even if he could not use his mana actively during the training, just testing the limits of his physical strength would be of great help for the next time he needs to fight. At the very least, he will know what his limits were.


    At first, he nned to spar with Regina to adjust to his new strength, but the Valkyrie apologized and told him that she needed to do something else. Bloed was a bit startled, but he could only nod and go to the training floor alone.


    But when he arrived at the training floor, he discovered that someone else was already there.


    It was a white-haired girl with silver eyes, pointed ears, and stunning features.


    The Princess of the Boerner Elves, Elwha Aerin.


    Bloed was surprised to see her here, but when he was about to call out at her, he realized that the elf princess seemed dazed.


    Moreover, through the link of their souls, Bloed could feel that she was feeling guilty, apologetic, and ashamed.


    Bloed''s movements froze.


    He quickly realized why she was like this. Most likely, she was feeling guilty about the attack on them a few days ago.


    Among the attackers, there were people of the Church of ughter, and Elwha knew that the reason the Church of ughter was there was to get the thing she was protecting.


    The Heart of the Forest.


    Bloed let out a soft sigh.


    His rtionship with Elwha was not that close. Despite feeling the emotions of each other due to the link between their souls, Elwha had always tried to keep a distance from Bloed, and Bloed respected it.


    Plus, recently, they had learned to control what the other could feel, so unless they were very close and the other was dazed like now, it was as though the link was inexistent.


    But now that Bloed could feel her emotions so clearly, he could not leave her alone.


    After hesitating briefly, Bloed finally decided to approach her.


    When Bloed was about to call out at her, the elf princess finally noticed him.


    " Mr. Bloed?" She asked surprised and hurriedly adjusted her emotions. "What are you doing here?"


    "I came to train. However, I did not expect to meet you her."


    "I just finished training. Well, I will be going. Take care." The princess said quickly and walked past Bloed to leave the ce.


    Seeing that Elwha was really nning to leave, Bloed heaved a sigh. Then, he spoke to her.


    "It''s wrong to me yourself for that."


    The Elf princess froze.


    Her silver eyes shook slightly and her lips formed a bitter smile.


    " You felt it?"


    Bloed nodded.


    Elwha bit her lips and looked at the ground.


    She did not speak for a long time, as though she was thinking about how to reply. Bloed did not hurry her either and just waited patiently.


    Finally, the elf princess opened her mouth.


    " It''s just that If I would have not been here, perhaps many people would have not died."


    "That is not"


    "It is true," Elwha affirmed. "The Church of ughter only appeared to get the Heart of the Forest. Many people died due to them. In fact, you and the others could have died as well. That was due to me."


    "Princess"


    "If If I would have not been here. If I don''t protect the Heart of the Forest stubbornly, then, perhaps many of the people that died could have survived. It is my"


    "Stop." Bloed''s cold voice interrupted her.


    The elf princess was stunned. She looked at Bloed, only to be surprised when she saw an angry expression on his face.


    "Princess, ming yourself for the wrongdoings of others is wrong."


    "But I"


    "Stop. I don''t n to continue listening to that bullshit. The people of the Church of ughter are psychopaths, murderers, and madmen. You think that they killed those people due to you, right? Hahaha, I saw them massacre countless innocent citizens in Diadel Duchy and you were not there."


    Bloed stared at her without any trace of hesitation in his eyes.


    "Listen carefully. It was not your fault."


    Princess Elwha fell silent.


    She then took a deep breath and looked at Bloed.


    " Perhaps you are right, but it''s a fact that my actions put you and the others at risk. Moreover, now that the Church of ughter knows that I''m here, they will attack again before long. I I should leave before one of you dies because of me."


    "What about it?"


    "Huh?"


    "I knew about the risks when we rescued you and decided to help you. So, what about it? Do you think I''m going to abandon you now?"


    The Princess looked down and bit her lips.


    " It''s dangerous."


    "I agree. But we are not without options. I think we should tell the Headmistress about it. I was not sure if she was trustworthy before, but now, I''m sure we can trust her."


    " Will it work?"


    "I''m not sure. But it''s better than seeing you leave. I don''t like that idea even a little bit."


    The Princess did not reply. She just raised her head and used her silver eyes to look straight to Bloed''s blue eyes.


    In that instant, Bloed felt a surge of emotions rushing towards his mind.


    Relief, thankfulness, happiness, and liking.


    Plus, a strong urge to express that liking in some way.


    Before he could react to the sudden rush of emotions, he felt a pair of soft lips against his lips for a brief instant.


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. He looked at the elf girl in front of him in surprise, only to see a slight blush on her cheeks and a touch of embarrassment and awkwardness in her silver eyes.


    " Don''t tell anyone about this, okay?" She murmured softly.


    But just at that moment, they heard someone cough.


    "Ahem."


    Surprised, they turned around and saw a red-haired demon girl looking at them with a brilliant smile on her face.


    "Okay, who is going to exin to me what is going on?" Liu Ying asked.


    Bloed and Elwha frozepletely.

 Chapter 481: Regina’s Training (1)

    Chapter 481: Regina¡¯s Training (1)


    A pair of hourster, Regina, Aya, Eres, and Sara arrived at the training floor.


    They were surprised to see Liu Ying and Princess Elwha on the training floor already. The two of them were seated across each other, one with a brilliant smile on her face, and the other with a guilty expression.


    As for Bloed, he had left awkwardly when Liu Ying told him that she needed to talk to Elwha alone.


    "What happened?" Regina asked curiously, making Elwha looked at Liu Ying with a begging look.


    Her silver eyes seemed to say ''please don''t tell her about the kiss or I''ll die. I beg you.''


    Liu Ying snorted, but in the end, she decided not to tell Regina the truth.


    She could imagine the reaction of the Valkyrie if she learns that a thieving elf was trying to seduce her master.


    Just thinking of that scene made Liu Ying shiver.


    ''Yeah, I will tell herter. When Bloed is nearby to control her.''


    "We were just talking about something I lend to her. Anyway, why are you here?" She asked while looking at the girls with Regina.


    Regina frowned. Somehow, she felt that Liu Ying and Elwha were hiding something from her.


    But in the end, she did not insist and simply answered Liu Ying''s question.


    "I asked them toe. It''s good that you two are here as well. I need to tell you something."


    Liu Ying and Elwha were startled, as were Aya, Eres, and Sara.


    Regina had gone to their rooms and told them toe to the training floor to talk about something, but she did not exin what this ''something'' was.


    "So, what do you need to tell us?" Eres asked.


    Regina thought for a moment before staring at the five girls with an ice-cold gaze.


    "Firstly, I will give you a warning. Master trusts you. He believes that you are his friends and you will never betray him. Thus, I''m willing to put my trust in you as well.


    "However, if any of you dares to betray his trust, I swear that I will make sure to turn your lives into an eternal hell."


    The girls stiffened.


    A tense atmosphere filled the ce. The five girls felt as though the air had be heavier all of sudden.


    As practitioners, they could feel the killing intent behind Regina''s words. She was not joking when she said these words.


    "Why are you telling us this, Regina?" Liu Ying asked with a frown.


    "It''s to make you understand the consequences of betraying master," Regina stated. "And to make sure that you are trustworthy. I want to know if I can trust you."


    The girls looked at each other with confused expressions.


    However, they could see that Regina was being serious. If they did not reply, Regina was not going to continue.


    Finally, Liu Ying heaved a sigh.


    "I thought you already trusted me, Regina. Don''t worry, I will never betray the man I love."


    Regina smiled slightly. "I believe you." She then looked at the rest of the group. "What about you?"


    "I love him too. I won''t betray him." Aya was the first to reply.


    Regina looked at the cat girl for a few seconds before nodding. She then moved her gaze to Sara.


    "I swore that my life was his the day he saved my sister. I don''t n to go back on my word."


    "Good." Regina nodded. "What about you, Princess Elwha?"


    The elf princess was startled. She was unsure about how to reply, plus, the fact that she just kissed Bloed made her mind a mess.


    But when she saw Regina''s cold eyes, she instinctively nodded.


    "Trust me. He is very important to me as well. A-As a friend."


    Regina got the feeling that Princess Elwha''s answer carried another meaning, but she did not dwell on it and instead moved her gaze to thest girl.


    Bloed''s sister and the Princess of the Kingdom of Alterna.


    Eres Skysword.


    Regina frowned.


    "To be honest, I don''t like anyone of master''s previous family. I would prefer if he doesn''t have to see any of you ever again.


    "However, I understand that master still sees you as his family. So I will ask you too. Can I trust that you will never betray him?"


    "I won''t."


    "Even if you must go against your family due to it?"


    "Yes. No matter what, I will never betray him."


    Regina stared straight into Eres''s eyes. She wanted to catch the slightest glimpse of lies in her words.


    However, Eres''s eyes werepletely firm.


    "Don''t worry, Miss Regina. I love my brother as much as you. In fact, I will make sure that nothing as what happened a few days ago happens again."


    "Oh? And how do you n to do that?"


    "I have my ways," Eres replied calmly.


    Regina stared at her fixedly before finally nodding.


    "I believe you."


    Immediately, the tense atmosphere disappeared from the floor.


    Liu Ying let out a sigh that she did not know she was holding and smiled wryly.


    "Why are you asking us this, Regina?"


    "Because I realized that perhaps I alone am not enough to protect the master."


    Liu Ying, Aya, Sara, Princess Elwha, and Eres were stunned.


    "What do you mean?" Liu Ying asked.


    "You remember what happened in the previous battle? More than once, I was close to being unable to protect master.


    "That made me realize that my strength alone could not be enough to protect him. I need people that can protect him in my stead when I can''t, and these people are going to be you."


    Regina''s words startled the five girls.


    Regina was going to train them? She was a peak demigod!


    Even a casual pointer of her could be of great help for them


    Liu Ying was the most excited. She knew how effective Regina''s training was.


    Thest time Regina trained her, Liu Ying became much stronger and even learned Silent Touch.


    Now that Regina was saying that she nned to train the five of them, Liu Ying was sure that her strength would increase again.


    A sense of anticipation appeared in her heart. Liu Ying could see the path towards greater strength opening to her.


    ...


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 Chapter 482: Regina’s Training (2)

    Chapter 482: Regina¡¯s Training (2)


    Today''s chapter...


    ...


    Regina had been thinking about training the girls since thest battle. She had realized that her master needed strong people that could support him.


    In the end, she decided to start with the people closest to him. Liu Ying, Aya, Sara, Eres, and Princess Elwha.


    As for Gina, although she was close to Bloed, she was not very suitable forbat, so Regina did not include her in the training.


    Although Regina said that she was going to train them, in truth, she just nned to teach them some techniques and spar with them asionally.


    However, she needed to think about what technique she was going to teach them.


    For Liu Ying, Regina decided not to teach her anything new, and instead, show her some tricks using [Silent Touch].


    Silent Touch was a powerful martial art created by a powerful Valkyrie. Its potential was very high, and when used to the highest level, it was a technique able to unleash powerful attacks while keeping an imprable defense.


    Unfortunately, Liu Ying''s mana was just at the B-Rank, and her understanding of Silent Touch was not deep enough. Due to that, she was unable to show the true power of this technique.


    But after this training, Regina expected that Liu Ying''sbat strength increased by one or two small levels.


    After Liu Ying, Regina looked at Sara.


    She thought for a moment before putting on a serious expression.


    "Sara, there are several techniques that I can teach you, however, I don''t think any of them can unleash your true potential. But there is a technique that I think is very suitable for you. However, you must decide if you want to learn it."


    Sara furrowed her brows.


    "Is anything wrong with that technique?"


    "Something like that. This technique was created by an assassin organization. It allows the user to unleash an extremely powerful attack way beyond their capabilities. In exchange, though, the user''s energy will bepletely expended, and if you use the technique to its full power, even your life will be forfeit."


    Sara''s expression changed.


    Regina''s meaning was clear. If she decided to learn this technique, then there was a risk of her eventually dying due to it.


    Sara hesitated. For an instant, she did not know whether to agree or to refuse.


    But then, she remembered how useless she was during thest incident.


    She swore to be Bloed''s shadow, his most loyal knight, however, when the demigods attacked, she was unable to help him.


    " Will I be stronger if I learn this technique?"


    "Stronger?" Regina chuckled. "No, you won''t."


    Sara was startled, but then, she saw Regina''s lips curling slightly upwards.


    "However, you will be much more lethal. Even demigods will fear your dagger."


    A stunned expression appeared on Sara''s face.


    Was Regina serious? Did she mean that she would be able to kill demigods?


    Sara thought that it was impossible unless she became a demigod herself.


    But when Regina saw her distrustful expression, she smirked.


    "This technique is called [Instant of Glory]. It gathers all the energy and strength of the user for one extremely powerful attack. This is the perfect technique for assassination.


    "And you, Sara, are the perfect assassin. Your ability to hide your presence allows you to approach almost any target without being detected. If youbine that ability with this technique, then almost no enemy will be able to resist your attack. Even Blighted Creatures will perish under your de unless they are much stronger than you."


    "Instant of Glory" Sara murmured to herself.


    Listening to Regina''s exnation, Sara could not help but get the impression that this technique was made for her.


    It would make her a deadly one-hit-kill assassin.


    In exchange, she could only attack once before having to rest.


    "Make your choice, girl," Regina asked at her coldly.


    Sara hesitated for an instant, but in the end, her expression turned determined.


    "I will learn it."


    "Great." Regina smiled. "Then get ready to learn it."


    After telling Sara the basics of the technique, Regina looked at the next girl.


    This time, it was Eres''s turn.


    However, Regina frowned when she thought about what technique to teach her.


    She hated to admit it, but Eres was a genius. A true prodigy. She had never seen anyone with so much talent.


    Moreover, the abilities and techniques she used were not any weaker than anything she could teach her.


    In the end, instead of teaching her anything, she asked Eres something.


    " When we fought the dragon, how did you escape the effects of its domain?"


    Eres frowned before replying.


    "I created ayer of transparent mes around my body, burning everything around me, including the effects of the domain."


    Regina looked at her with aplicated expression before sighing.


    "I can''t teach you much. Even though I know a few techniques that seem suitable for you, they are not better than the techniques you use now. Instead of teaching you anything new, it''s better if you polish your current abilities."


    Eres nodded calmly. "I understand. Thank you anyway."


    "Don''t worry. Even if I can''t teach you anything, I can be a good sparring partner."


    Eres was startled, but when she saw that Regina was serious, she nodded.


    Regina then moved her gaze to the next girl.


    Princess Elwha.


    Regina''s put on a thoughtful expression. Of the five girls, Princess Elwha was the most unique one.


    ording to Regina''s observations, Princess Elwha specialized in using psychic power, what in this world was known as Soul Energy.


    She was good at interfering with the enemy''s mind and affecting the soul directly. It was an ability with great potential.


    Thus, Regina decided to strengthen it.


    What she taught her was a technique called [Soul Severing de].


    This technique was created by a Valkyrie to fight the Devourers. But unlike most Valkyries, this one did not own a powerful ESP ability. Quite the opposite, her ESP ability was very weak.


    Thus, this Valkyrie decided to strengthen her psychic power instead and use it to attack her enemies.


    Eventually, she developed it at the level where even the Devourers were helpless against it. She created a brand-new style of battle by herself.


    Her psychic energy was like des, cutting the souls of her enemies. It was a fearsome technique that almost nobody could defend against.


    Not anybody could learn this technique, though. Only people with a very special talent to wield psychic energy could.


    But Regina had the feeling that Elwha would be able to use it.


    And as she expected, the elven princess learned it easily. In fact, she learned it faster than Regina expected.


    "I feel as though this technique was made for me," Elwha told her, making Regina put on another thoughtful expression.


    When the Valkyrie was done with Princess Elwha, it was Aya''s turn.


    But when she reached the cat girl, Regina stopped.


    She stared at the ck-haired cat girl for several seconds, furrowing her brows deep in thought.


    Honestly, she did not know what to teach her. Unlike the other girls, Aya''s talents were not that clear.


    She had a stronger body than normal, but it could not bepared to Liu Ying. Her stealth skills were first-rate, but they were below Sara, and when it came to the soul, she was aplete novice.


    Regina was clueless about what kind of technique to teach her.


    But just when she was deep in thought, a figure appeared on the training floor.


    Golden hair, golden eyes, and an expressionless look plus a pair of fox ears and a fluffy tail on her back.


    The ex-saintess of Moonlight Glow, Eve Moonglow.


    "Don''t worry about Aya, I will teach her." The fox girl said expressionlessly.


    Regina raised an eyebrow, but after thinking about it for a moment, she nodded.


    Eve was a beastkin just like Aya. She should know what to teach Aya better than Regina.


    "I understand, I will leave her in your hands."


    "Thank you." Eve nodded and looked at Aya. "Come with me, Aya. We will start immediately."


    The cat girl was startled, but she hurriedly nodded and walked towards Eve.


    In the next second, Eve and Aya disappeared from the tower.


    Regina stared at the ce where they disappeared for an instant before turning towards the other girls.


    "Let''s continue the training."


    But at that moment, she realized that Eres was leaving.


    "Are you leaving? Even if I can''t teach you anything, sparring with me should be of help to you." The Valkyrie asked.


    "Not today. I told you that I would make sure that nothing like what happened to my brother a few days ago would happen again, right? I need to make sure of that."


    With these words, Eres left.


    ...


    Remember to support me on my P4TRE0N /aidnovels). Also, check my other novels, Fourth Prince''s Debauchery (Just ended in P4TRE0N) and Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?

 Chapter 483: A Mother’s Regret

    Chapter 483: A Mother¡¯s Regret


    The night of Academy City was silent. It waspletely different from a few days ago when the city remained lively even after sunset.


    Many people had died during the attack of Returning Dusk, so right now, the city was filled with gloom. Nobody was in the mood to enjoy the city''s nightlife.


    But Eres did not pay attention to it. She had experienced war several times before, so now, she was indifferent to the pain that remained after it.


    It was her fate as a royal. Even if she was not the heir to the throne, her exceptional abilities forced her to kill most of her feelings long ago.


    Right now, she only retained feelings for a few people.


    And her strongest feelings belonged to her brother.


    When she was beside him, Eres felt alive.


    She wanted to spend every second by his side, she wanted to see his face when she woke up and when she fell asleep, she wanted to feel his warmth every day.


    She wanted to have him for herself. She wanted to get rid of the flies hanging out around him. She wanted to be the only one in his eyes.


    However, Eres knew that it was impossible. If she tried to get rid of these flies, her brother would get angry and sad.


    And she hated to see him like that.


    Her brother deserved to be happy. She was going to make sure that he was happy.


    Thus, she did not hesitate toe here.


    The manor where her mother, the queen Soraya Dora, was staying.


    As soon as the queen learned that her daughter was visiting her, she hurriedly came to greet her.


    "My daughter, how have you been?"


    "I''m alright, mother. However, you don''t seem in good health."


    The queen smiled bitterly.


    Just like Eres said, the queen''splexion did not look good.


    She was pale, with very noticeable eye bags, and her expression seemed gaunt.


    She resembled someone that had not slept in several days.


    " You know the reason why I''m like this, my daughter."


    Eres sighed softly and fell silent.


    "Has Glenn asked for me?" The queen asked with a hopeful expression.


    Eres was pained to see her mother like this, however, she did not want to lie to her.


    Thus, she shook her head.


    "He has not."


    Soraya''s expression became bitter.


    "Yeah I thought so."


    "Mother"


    "I guess I deserve it. If I would have insisted harder back then, then perhaps your father would have not exiled Glenn. I I can understand why he hates me."


    "He doesn''t hate you, mother."


    "R-Really?"


    "You don''t exist to him. He doesn''t consider you his mother. The woman he calls mother is someone else."


    Soraya''s face became pale. She gripped her fist tightly, and her eyes were filled with tears.


    "B-But, I He is my son I just I just want to be a worthy mother to him once."


    "However, he doesn''t want it."


    "E-Eres"


    "He doesn''t want to see you. He doesn''t want to see anything that reminds him of his time as a prince."


    "I-I"


    "To him, you should disappear."


    Soraya bit her lips and tears rolled down her cheek.


    She covered her eyes and sobbed. The fact that her son hated her pained her greatly.


    If she could turn back time, she would have not allowed her husband to exile her son.


    But unfortunately, the past was not easy to change.


    " Why are you telling me this, Eres?" She asked her daughter with a downcasted look.


    Eres stared at her mother fixedly before speaking.


    " A few days ago, a group of demigods of King''s Shadows tried to kill brother."


    Soraya stiffened.


    "King''s Shadows!? Do you mean!?"


    "Yes, father sent them."


    Soraya''s face became ashen. She hurriedly stood up from her chair and rushed towards Eres.


    "How is him!? How is my son!?"


    " He is alright. However, it''s a fact that father tried to kill him."


    "It can''t be"


    "But it''s true, mother. I saw it with my own eyes."


    Soraya''s eyes widened.


    She owed her son too much. She and her husband owed him a home. However, her husband did not hesitate to send assassins to get rid of him.


    Did her husband not feel guilt towards her son?


    That thought pained Soraya''s heart. Perhaps, that was the reason why Glenn did not want to see them.


    " What should I do, Eres?"


    "Stop father." Eres''s voice was firm. "If you really want to be a mother for him, then instead of staying here crying due to the fact that he doesn''t want to see you, you should fulfill your duty as a mother and protect him."


    Soraya fell silent.


    Eres was right, if she wanted to get her son forgiveness, she needed to do something.


    Her husband was the ruler of the Kingdom of Alterna, but she had her means to stop him. If she tried hard enough, she could do it.


    Soon, Soraya''s eyes were filled with determination.


    "I understand. I''ll do it."


    "Good. I''ll wish you luck, mother."


    With these words, Eres stood up and left.


    Once her daughter was gone, Soraya''s eyes became ice-cold. In an instant, her gaunt expression disappeared and was reced by a dignified look worthy of a queen.


    "Men. Prepare everything. We will go back to the kingdom. It looks like my husband needs to be taught a lesson."


    ...


    Support me on my P4TRE0N /aidnovels). Also, check my new novel, [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]

 Chapter 484: Eve and Aya

    Chapter 484: Eve and Aya


    Eve wrapped Aya in ayer of mana and took her away to a ce away from Academy City. She did not tell the cat girl where they were going, and the cat girl did not ask either.


    Both Aya and Eve were silent people, so during the entire trip, none of them spoke up a word.


    Finally, Eve brought Aya to a forest a few kilometers away from the city beforending.


    After casting a barrier around the ce to stop anyone from approaching, the expressionless fox girl looked at Aya.


    "Aya of the Sharpw family. Do you know why I brought you here?"


    "To train me?" Aya tilted her head curiously.


    Eve nodded.


    " However, I''m not sure how much I should teach you." The fox girl stated, making the cat girl frown.


    Eve looked at Aya silently. Finally, after several seconds, she told the cat girl the cold truth.


    "Aya, you are not a genius."


    Aya''s body shook.


    "Your talent is above average, but your limit should be pseudo-demigod." Eve continued expressionlessly. "If you are lucky, perhaps you will be a demigod before dying, but that is the end."


    Aya bit her lips and fell silent.


    She knew that the fox girl was right. Even though Aya was talented, her talent was still in the category of a normal person.


    However, she was surrounded by monsters. Bloed, Regina, Eres, Liu Ying, Princess Elwha, and even Gina and Sara, were geniuses in their own right. Compared to them, Aya was reallyckluster.


    It was not that she did not work hard enough. Even though her hard work was notparable to a training madwoman like Liu Ying, she was one of the most hardworking members of Machine Revolutio.


    Despite that, she could only watch as her friends advanced further and further away from her.


    Right now, their strengths were still simr. But Aya feared the day when she was unable to walk alongside them.


    By then, she would be unable to dere her love confidently to the boy she liked.


    "Let me ask you something." Eve''s expressionless voice sounded at that moment. "Are you determined to go through anything to be stronger?"


    Aya was startled. She looked at the fox girl and saw Eve''s golden eyes staring fixedly at her, as though they wanted to test how determined she was.


    The cat girl fell silent. However, her silence did notst long.


    After a few seconds, her ck eyes shone with determination.


    "I am."


    "Great." An almost unnoticeable curve appeared on Eve''s lips. "From today onwards, you are my student."


    Aya immediately kneeled on the ground respectfully.


    "Aya greets her master."


    "Mm. Rise. I will exin to you the training we are going to do."


    "Yes, master."


    Eve looked at Aya with a satisfied expression.


    Actually, it was not on a whim that she epted Aya as her student. Eve had been thinking about it for a long time.


    Just as Wave''s grandfather said, Eve''s lifespan wasing to an end. She would die soon.


    She did not want to see her legacy die with her, nor she wanted to leave the Beasmen Countries unprotected. Thus, she needed a sessor.


    To be honest, Aya was not her best choice. As Eve said, Aya was not that talented, and even with a powerful demigod as Eve teaching her, it would be doubtful if Aya could be half as strong as her.


    But there was a reason why Eve still chose her.


    Bloed and Regina.


    Bloed was one of the most talented young men she had seen. Eve did not have any doubt that one day he would be as strong as her, or even stronger.


    As for Regina, she was already her equal. In fact, Eve was not sure if she could defeat Regina if they fought seriously.


    And Aya had a very close rtionship with the two of them.


    Teaching Aya meant helping her to remain by Bloed''s side. That way, if Eve was unable to break through the limits and extend her lifespan, then at the very least, there will be two peak demigods more, Bloed and Regina, with a close rtionship to the Beastmen Countries.


    Yes, the reason Eve chose Aya as her student was not that she valued her talents, but that she valued her close rtionship with Bloed.


    In the end, Eve was once the Saintess of Moonlight Glow. Her biggest priority was the safety of the Beastmen Countries.


    '' She will be sad if she learns about it.''


    Eve felt guilty for using Aya this way, but in the end, this was what Aya wanted as well. Aya wanted to be stronger to remain by Bloed''s side.


    Plus, although Eve was using Aya, she was nning to teach her seriously.


    "Get ready." She said expressionlessly and extended her hand, creating a magic circle that glowed with dim light. "It will be painful. If you want to be stronger, you must endure."


    "I will."


    The next second, Eve extended her hand and touched Aya''s forehead.


    The cat girl did not feel anything at the start, but a few secondster, her expression turned pale.


    Then, an unimaginable pain attacked her brain.


    "Aaagggg!"


    "Endure." Eve''s deadpan voice sounded in her ear. "You must not faint."


    Aya''s mind became clear. She then gritted her teeth and muffled her groans of pain.


    She must endure. She could not fall behind the man she loved.


    She was going to be someone strong enough to stand beside him.


    But as soon as she strengthened her determination, Aya felt the pain bing stronger.


    She wanted to scream in pain, she wanted to escape. She wanted to faint to escape from this torture.


    But she did not give up.


    Until the end, she did not groan in pain. Even when she felt as though her soul was being melted away, she remained silent.


    When Eve finished, the cat girl was soaked in sweat, and she fainted directly.


    "Well done," Eve said softly.


    Aya did not know, but what Eve had just done was to modify her soul.


    She had fine-tuned it to make it more suitable for her techniques.


    It was part of Eve''s path. The results of her many years of research to break through the world''s limits.


    And now, Aya had received it.


    ...


    Remember to support me on my P4TRE0N /aidnovels) and read my new novel, [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]....

 Chapter 485: Big News

    Chapter 485: Big News


    The next few days, Bloed was surprised to find Regina training the girls like crazy.


    They started training from early in the morning untilte in the night, only stopping to eat, sleep, and for asional short breaks.


    Bloed was dumbfounded, but when he asked Regina what they were doing this for, she just replied to him that they needed to be stronger.


    Thus, for the first time in a long time, neither Regina nor any other girl was glued to Bloed the entire day.


    Only Gina asionally visited him, but the honey-haired girl still needed rest, so she could not spend much time with him.


    Bloed used this unexpected time alone to study the problem in his body. He expected to find a solution for it as soon as possible.


    Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.


    The problem with his body was pretty serious. He needed to find a way to strengthen his organs so they can endure the burden of the abundant mana in his body.


    The main problem was his heart. As long as he could make his heart a few times stronger, then his problem would be mostly resolved.


    ''The question is how to strengthen it.''


    Bloed had thought of several methods, but none of them resolved the problempletely.


    The mana in his body would continue increasing with time. Even if he strengthened his heart now, before long, the same problem would ur again.


    He needed a heart that could keep with that increase of mana. A heart that could grow as his mana grew.


    None of the ideas he thought of could resolve that problem.


    ''It can''t be that easy, huh.''


    Bloed sighed to himself, however, he was not discouraged.


    From the start, an important part of science was to make hypothesis, research them, and determine if they were suitable before discarding them.


    Most of the advances in science and technology were apanied by hundreds and thousands of tests and failures. Only like that science could advance.


    Likewise, Bloed was confident that his attempts and failures now would eventually lead to sess.


    Bloed continued trying new ideas in hisboratory, and like that, several days passed.


    One day, an unexpected visitor appeared in the middle of his experiments.


    "Big brother Bloed, I bring big news!"


    "Prince Calisto? What are you doing here?"


    "Look at this, Big brother Bloed!" The lionkin prince pointed to a notice he was holding in his hand.


    Bloed looked at it and realized it was information about the War of Clubs. It said that due to the attack in the city, the War of Clubs would be suspended.


    Bloed raised an eyebrow, but he was not surprised. He was already expecting it.


    "What do you want to show me?" He asked the young lionkin prince.


    "Look below!" The prince excitedly pointed to the lower part of the notice.


    Bloed followed his finger and saw that it was information about the final cement of the clubs.


    But then, he opened his eyes wide.


    "Twenty-Nine?"


    "Yes, twenty-nine! Machine Revolutio is in the twenty-ninth ce!"


    Bloed was stunned. What was this?


    He did not have any idea why this happened.


    Machine Revolutio should not have enough points to reach this ce. At most, he should be somewhere between the fortieth ce and the fiftieth ce.


    "Do you know what is it about?" He asked the lionkin prince.


    "Someone asked the Headmistress about it. Apparently, it''s due to the club''s contributions during the attack. Some people did not like it, but when the headmistress said that we had contributed to the defeat of several demigods, nobody dared to oppose it."


    "I see." Bloed fell deep in thought.


    Honestly, it was not bad for them. If Machine Revolutio had a higher rank, it would help to make the club more famous.


    "Also, that is not the only news." Prince Calisto said at that moment.


    Bloed looked at him curiously and urged him to speak with his eyes.


    "Big brother Bloed, the Headmistress also announced that she epted you as his student! Amazing! I did not know that you were the student of the headmistress!"


    Bloed was stunned, but soon, he smiled wryly.


    He had forgotten about that.


    The headmistress had told him that she would announce that he was her student publicly if he made Machine Revolutio one of the top thirty clubs, and now, the Headmistress rewarded Machine Revolutio with the twenty-ninth ce before making the fact that he was her student public.


    The maniption could not be more obvious.


    However, Bloed understood her intentions.


    Being Headmistress Wave''s student gave him anotheryer of protection. This way, many people would not dare to touch him.


    Also, she could use this rtionship to criticize some forces for the attacks against him.


    Such as the Kingdom of Alterna.


    When he realized Headmistress Wave''s intentions, Bloed felt warm inside him.


    ''I guess I need to thank herter.''


    Just when Bloed was thinking about that, the tower''s AI announced that someone was visiting.


    Bloed was startled and hurriedly checked who it was, only to see a familiar face.


    Isabe Castor, the second strongest student in the city.


    Surprised, Bloed hurriedly finished what he was doing and went to greet the visitor.


    "Miss Isabe. I was not expecting your visit."


    "Hello, Mr. Bloed. Or should I call you fellow student now?" Isabe giggled. "How sly. You didn''t tell me that you were nning to steal my teacher from me."


    Bloed rolled his eyes.


    "Can''t we share her?"


    "That doesn''t seem like a bad idea," Isabe smirked before patting his shoulder. "Teacher asked me to bring you to her. She needs to speak with you. Come, follow me."


    Bloed was startled before nodding and following after her.


    "I understand. Let''s go."


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N /aidnovels) to read up to 20 chapters ahead. Also, check my newest story, [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]

 Chapter 486: A Proposal

    Chapter 486: A Proposal


    A few minutester, Bloed and Isabe arrived at the Great Library.


    As always, Headmistress Wave was waiting for Bloed on thest floor of the library. Once Isabe brought him here, she bid him farewell and left.


    When Bloed entered thest floor of the great library, he saw Headmistress Wave reading several books with a frown and modifying a magic circle.


    "Teacher," Bloed called out to her, making Wave realize that he had arrived.


    "You are here, Bloed. Take a seat. I will finish soon."


    Bloed nodded and sat down in a nearby chair as Headmistress Wave finished what she was doing.


    Curious, Bloed observed the books and the magic circle she was working on, only to frown.


    "This magic circle"


    The magic circle was extremelyplicated.


    That would have not been much of a problem if it was a magic circle for a powerful magic spell, however, it was the magic circle of the mostmon ''Fireball''.


    Bloed was confused. Even he could see that this magic circle had too many unnecessary parts. There is no way Headmistress Wave doesn''t notice it.


    Moreover, there were some parts of the magic circle that Bloed could not understand. That surprised him, after all, his knowledge of magic circles was rtively high.


    He had been learning about this topic from the headmistress for a while, so he knew more than most about magic circles.


    After observing the magic circle for a few minutes, Bloed finally could not help but ask.


    " What are you trying to do, teacher?"


    "Uh? This? Oh, I''m trying to modify this spell."


    "I can see it, but why? I can only see you making this spell moreplicated than necessary."


    Wave smiled wryly before nodding.


    "Yeah, I have not done much progress yet. I want to find a way to make my spells effective against the Blight, but I have still not found a way to deal with their ability to devour mana."


    Bloed was startled, but he immediately understood.


    It seemed that the headmistress had been bothered by the fact that she had been almost useless against the dragon. She could not tolerate the fact that her spells were mostly ineffective during the battle.


    Bloed smiled wryly. Unfortunately, he could not help her that much.


    Headmistress Wave''s knowledge about magic circles was much greater than his. If she could not resolve the issue with the devourers'' ability to devour mana, neither could he.


    However, he knew that someone that could help her.


    "You should talk to Regina." He said to the Headmistress.


    "Regina?"


    "Yeah. Regina knows a lot of tricks to deal with the Blight. Perhaps she can help you."


    After all, Regina had information about the methods that many Valkyries used to face the devourers.


    Wave fell deep in thought before nodding.


    "I guess I should talk to herter then. Anyway, let me show you something." She said and waved her hand. Immediately, a parchment on a table flew towards her.


    She then showed it to Bloed.


    "Take a look."


    Bloed looked at it curiously only to realize that it was a letter towards the Kingdom of Alterna.


    On it, Headmistress Evelyn med them for the attack that her student suffered a few days ago and demandedpensation.


    Bloed was surprised.


    "What is this?"


    "Didn''t I tell you I''m going to be your teacher? Then as your teacher, I should do this for you. If I, as your teacher, don''t stand up for you, who is going to?"


    Bloed was moved, however, he did not know what to think about it.


    It was obvious to anyone that Academy City was not in a good situation. He did not know if it was going to be of any use.


    "Don''t worry." Wave smiled as though she knew what he was thinking about. "The Church of Fate and Moonlight Glow are going to ask the kingdom for an exnation as well. Even a big nation as the Kingdom of Alterna can''t ignore it when three forces of our influence act at the same time.


    "At the very least, you will receive a satisfactorypensation."


    Bloed shrugged and nodded.


    To be honest, he did not care that much about it.


    After all, he did notck anything. Although he felt a bit ted knowing that his ''father'' was going to be put in a hard spot.


    However He narrowed his eyes and stared at the headmistress.


    He had the feeling that the headmistress was going to ask him for something.


    Otherwise, there was no need to call him here just for this. The headmistress was just using this topic as an excuse and to make her request easier to ept.


    The headmistress smiled bitterly when she noticed Bloed''s expression.


    "You got me. I want to ask you for a small favor."


    "A small favor, is it? What favor?"


    The headmistress put on a hesitating expression before speaking cautiously.


    " Your technique to make golems. What you call ''robot''s manufacture''."


    Bloed was stunned, but in the next second, he squinted.


    The headmistress''s request was a bit too much.


    "As expected, you can''t ept it, huh." Headmistress Wave smiled wryly.


    Bloed thought for a moment before looking at her.


    "First exin the situation."


    Wave hesitated, but eventually nodded.


    " As you know, Academy City is going through a rough time. Right now, I need to do everything I can to strengthen it. That was when I thought of your ''robots''. You said that they can function independently and while keeping abat power of B-Rank or above, right? I would like to make three thousand of them."


    A stunned expression appeared on Bloed''s face.


    Three thousand!?


    That was a much bigger number than he expected.


    But in the next instant, he furrowed his brows.


    Something was wrong. In the current situation, Headmistress Evelyn should not need so many robots.


    Unless


    "You got news that made you think that the robots are necessary, huh."


    "As expected of you." Wave sighed. "It''s as you said. This morning, a receive a piece of news from a friend. He told me that several human countries are readying their armies."


    Bloed''s expression changed.


    "Are they going to attack the city?"


    "Not yet. But perhaps in one year or two, they will attack."


    Bloed''s gaze became serious.


    He did not think that Academy City''s situation was this bad.


    It was much worse than he thought. The city was already at the edge of the cliff.


    "Then, are you going to help me?" Wave asked Bloed sincerely.


    Bloed did not reply immediately and instead, he fell deep in thought for a few seconds.


    Finally, he looked at Headmistress Wave with a serious gaze.


    "I have another proposal for you."


    The headmistress was startled before sitting straight.


    "I''m listening."


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N /aidnovels). Also, check my other story, [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]

 Chapter 487: Technological Fortress City Plan

    Chapter 487: Technological Fortress City n


    Academy City was very important for Bloed''s ns. It was the ideal ce to aplish his dream.


    He wanted to spread the Human Confederation''s technology through the entire world, and apletely neutral ce focused on educating the new generation such as Academy City was perfect for it.


    Moreover, he had managed to get the support of Headmistress Wave, the most important person in the city. It meant that nobody would stop or oppress him to steal his technology.


    If Bloed wanted to aplish his dream in any other ce of the world, it would be much harder. Even the Beastmen Countries, who had a very good rtionship with him, would give him a lot of trouble once they learn of the potential of the Human Confederation''s technology.


    This technology was enough to turn any country or race into the strongest power in this world. It''s obvious that many people would be tempted to get it.


    Therefore, he needed a power that could support him and give him unconditional protection.


    And Academy City was the perfect candidate.


    However, now that Bloed learned that Academy City was in a very dangerous situation, everything was different.


    If Academy City could not protect itself, it would not be able to protect him either.


    But Bloed did not want to give up so easily.


    Thus, he decided to make a proposal to Headmistress Wave.


    Instead of telling Wave his proposal immediately, Bloed grabbed a pen and paper and started to draw and write on it.


    He worked on it for almost one hour, making Wave be curious, but when she was bing unable to contain his curiosity, Bloed finished.


    "It''s done." He said and passed what he wrote to the Headmistress.


    "[Technological Fortress City n]. What is it?" The headmistress started to read the paper curiously.


    At the start, her expression was just curious, but slowly, her eyes started to narrow, until finally, her gaze was filled with shock.


    "T-This This is possible!?"


    "If you supply me with everything I need, it should be."


    "But No, it should be possible But if we do this, we will have to invest a lot of money Mm, money should not be a problem. I have earned a lot since I founded Academy City What about the workforce? A work of this level will need a lot of people."


    "I will manufacture a batch of robots that will take care of it. You remember how the headquarters of my club was built, right?"


    "Yeah, that is a good method. Even so, a work of this level will not go unnoticed. If anyone learns about it"


    "We will disguise it with other projects. I have a few that we can implement in the city, like a subway, aplete security system, and the implementation of an aqueduct." Bloed then exined these concepts to the Headmistress.


    The longer the headmistress listened to him, the brighter her eyes became. By the end of Bloed''s words, she seemed like she wanted to hug him and kiss his cheeks.


    " How long do you think we need to implement this n?"


    "If I have yourplete support and enough resources, one year. Perhaps even less."


    Wave nodded and started to walk back and forth around the ce with a pensive expression.


    Bloed did not interrupt her. He knew how crazy his idea was. Anyone who did not know about technology would consider it the ravings of a lunatic.


    However, Bloed and Wave had been sharing knowledge for a while now. Wave had been teaching Bloed about runes and magic, and Bloed had been teaching her about technology.


    Thus, Headmistress Wave knew that Bloed''s n was feasible.


    Moreover


    ''At this rate, I will be unable to stop Academy City from perishing. This is a big gamble, but if I seed, nobody will be able to threaten Academy City again.''


    Slowly, Wave''s eyes became firm.


    Finally, she looked at Bloed with a determined expression.


    "Let''s do it."


    Bloed grinned.


    "I''m sure a lot of people will be surprised when they see the new Academy City."


    Headmistress Wave grinned as well.


    After that, the dragon headmistress and the blue-haired boy discussed the details of the n for a few hours. As their discussion advanced, their n became more and more perfect, and it seemed more and more feasible.


    When they finished their n, Headmistress Wave could not hide her excitement anymore.


    But all of sudden, she frowned.


    "There is a problem. You will need a lot of resources for this n, and these resources are not easy to get."


    Bloed was startled. "You should have the means to get them, right?"


    "I do. But what do you think the other powers will think if I start to buy iron, copper, silver, gold, and other metals and minerals in great amounts? They will be suspicious and start to investigate. And once they start to investigate, they will eventually find something."


    Bloed''s furrowed his brows deep in thought.


    But then, Headmistress Wave suddenly started to walk back and forth again. She seemed to be considering the feasibility of an idea. Finally, she looked at Bloed with a solemn expression.


    "I need four months. No, three months. I will get everything we need in three months."


    "Three months, huh. Okay, I have a good amount of materials, so I can use these three months to build the first one hundred robots to start the project. Yes, there is another thing that I need to resolve during that time. Teacher, I will need your help with that."


    "Hmm? What is it?"


    "Do you know why the Church of ughter appeared during the attack of Returning Dusk?"


    Headmistress Wave was startled before putting on a serious expression.


    "Do you know the reason? Wait a moment, is it about your friend that was being chased by the Church of ughter?"


    Bloed nodded with aplicated expression.


    The headmistress narrowed her eyes. " You are hiding something from me. The church of ughter will not go to such lengths just for an elf princess."


    "Well, she is guarding a very precious object."


    "Oh? What is it?"


    Bloed stared at Headmistress Wave with a serious expression.


    "A Heart of the Forest."


    The eyes of Headmistress Wave opened wide.


    ...


    Remember to support me on my P4TRE0N /aidnovels) to read up to 20 chapters ahead. Also, check my newest novel, [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]

 Chapter 488: A Question of Trust (1)

    Chapter 488: A Question of Trust (1)


    " This is troublesome. A Heart of the Forest is not a simple object. Now I understand why the Church of ughter acted so crazily." Headmistress Wave said with a heavy expression.


    Bloed had already told her about Elwha''s situation when he asked for a fake ID for her. However, back then, he did not mention the Heart of the Forest.


    Hearts of the Forest were very precious objects. Bloed did not trust Headmistress Wave that much then, so he thought it was better to hide it.


    Of course, the dragon headmistress was very smart. With her intelligence, she already suspected that the reason the Church of ughter allied with Returning Dusk to attack Academy City was due to the elf princess that Bloed was protecting.


    But she still did not know the reason why they wanted her.


    Now that she heard the reason from Bloed, her expression could not help but be serious.


    "How many people know about it?"


    " Saintess Charise, Miss Eve, Regina, my close friends, and now you, teacher. Right, the Church of ughter knows as well."


    Wave frowned.


    "Too many people. If news about it leaks out, we will be in a lot of trouble."


    Hearts of the Forest were very valuable. They could extend the lifespan of a god.


    Most gods could not resist this temptation. For beings like them, able to overlook the world from the top, lifespan was one of the few things that could make them go crazy.


    After all, nobody wanted to die.


    Just like Returning Dusk did not care about using Devourers just to learn and be close to ''Eternal Life'', gods will not care about the means they use to live longer.


    Only powerful gods such as the Goddess of Fate or the Moonlight Goddess could ignore this temptation, but ording to Saintess Charise, it was because Hearts of the Forest were not that useful for them anymore.


    If news about the Heart of the Forest in Princess Elwha''s hands leaks out, then it will not be just the Church of ughter trying to kill them.


    Headmistress Wave fell deep into thought. This was a problematic situation.


    Her instinctive reaction was to get rid of this ominous object as soon as possible, but after thinking about it for a moment, she got an idea.


    This could be an opportunity.


    "Your elf girlfriend should want to bring that Heart of the Forest to the elves, right?"


    Bloed nodded awkwardly. "Yeah. That is her wish. But she is not my girlfriend."


    "Yeah, yeah, she is not. Anyway, I can help her. But Bloed, you know how valuable a Heart of the Forest is, right?"


    "I do. Saintess Charise exined it to me."


    "Then, don''t you think it''s a waste not to use this opportunity?"


    Bloed was startled.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Think about it. What if we use it to propose an exchange with the elves?" Headmistress Wave asked.


    "Huh?"


    "We need a lot of resources, and although I had my means to get them, it will be much easier if we have the cooperation of the elves. If they help us, the three months I need to get the resources will be reduced to two months, or even one. And that is just the start of the benefits."


    "That is" Bloed was startled before falling silent.


    That was not a bad idea.


    But, would the elves agree?


    Bloed knew the value of the resources needed for the Technological Fortress City n. It was not a small amount. Even a country will be pained to use so much money.


    Bloed expressed his concerns to Headmistress Wave and the dragon


    headmistress smiled.


    "Of course, they will not ept it so easily if we just help them to recover the heart. But if we told them that we are going to sell it to them, the situation ispletely different."


    Bloed was stunned.


    He finally understood Headmistress Wave''s n.


    Instead of helping Princess Elwha to give the heart to the elves, she wanted to sell it to the elves for a big prince.


    However-


    "The Heart is Elwha''s She won''t ept it."


    "There are many ways. It depends on you." Wave said with a serious expression.


    Bloed fell silent and hesitated.


    He understood the Headmistress''s implication. She was proposing to take it from her.


    However, that was betraying her. Bloed loathed doing something that.


    But then, Bloed suddenly remembered the words that Saintess Charise told him after he saved the elf princess in Academy City.


    [ Mr. Bloed, if you are nning to develop yourself in Academy City, then in the future, your rtionship with Elwha will be very important......You must make her trust you enough that she willingly uses the Heart of the Forest for your sake.]


    ''Is this what she meant back then?'' Bloed smiled bitterly.


    Could it be that the Goddess of Fate had already predicted this since back then?


    If so, it was terrifying.


    To be honest, he had never paid much attention to these words. He had even forgotten about them.


    But now, he could not help but wonder if his rtionship with Elwha was strong enough to ask for something like this from her?


    Headmistress Wave seemed to understand his hesitation and she let out a sigh.


    "You can think about it. I will help you regardless of your answer, but if we can use the Heart of the Forest to our advantage, it will increase our chances of sess by thirty percent at the very least."


    "I understand. I will talk to her." Bloed nodded with aplicated expression.


    "Tell me as soon as you get an answer. I will talk to the King of the Boerner Forest then."


    ...


    Please check my newest novel, [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]

 Chapter 489: A Question of Trust (2)

    Chapter 489: A Question of Trust (2)


    Sorry for theck of releases. I was a bit busy. Releases should be back to normal after today...


    ...


    When Bloed returned to the Machine Revolutio Tower, he told Regina and Liu Ying about his chat with the headmistress.


    When he reached the part of the Heart of the Forest, the two girls fell silent.


    The first one to give her opinion was Liu Ying.


    "I don''t like this idea. Princess Elwha is our friend. We can''t do something like this to her."


    "But it''s a fact that the headmistress''s words are true," Regina added before looking at Bloed. "Master, what do you want to do?"


    Bloed closed his eyes and fell deep into thought.


    He thought the same as Liu Ying. He did not want to betray Elwha''s trust.


    He knew better than anyone how it felt when the people that you trusted betrayed you. He did not want to make anyone else feel the same because of his ambitions.


    Plus, there was another thought in his mind.


    The words that Saintess Charise told him when he rescued Princess Elwha.


    [You must make her trust you enough that she willingly uses the Heart of the Forest for your sake.]


    The question was, did Princess Elwha trusted him that much?


    His rtionship with Princess Elwha was not bad, and in fact, it had improved greatly recently, at the point where she took the initiative to kiss him.


    But the Heart of the Forest concerned the future of her race. He knew how important that was for Elwha.


    In the end, Bloed heaved a sigh.


    "I will talk to her."


    "Master?"


    "Bloed?"


    "I will let her make the choice."


    Regina sighed and Liu Ying let out a small smile.


    Bloed''s words meant that he did not n to betray Elwha.


    "I knew you would not do something like that." Liu Ying''s smile became bright as she kissed Bloed softly on his lips. "Go and talk to her. Who knows? Perhaps she will agree."


    Bloed smiled and kissed Liu Ying''s back before going to Princess Elwha''s room.


    After he knocked on her door, he heard her bell-like voiceing from inside.


    "Who is it?"


    "It''s me."


    Princess Elwha did not reply immediately, but Bloed soon heard a strange noise in the room.


    A few secondster, the elf princess opened the door.


    Her face was slightly flustered, and her silver eyes were looking at him nervously. Unlike normal, she was only wearing a casual t-shirt that resalted her beautiful white hair.


    Bloed was momentarily dazed by her beautiful appearance, making Elwha, who noticed it, be red.


    "H-Hey, why are you here?"


    Bloed snapped out of his daze and thought for a moment before putting on aplicated expression.


    "Can I go in? I need to talk to you about something."


    The white-haired elf was startled. She quickly noticed that Bloed''s expression was serious.


    But she hesitated about allowing Bloed to go inside. After all, this was her room, and Bloed was a man.


    Just a few days ago she impulsively kissed Bloed, making her nervous around him. She barely could look at him in the eyes.


    If she was alone with him in the room, she could die of nervousness!


    But when she saw the seriousness in Bloed''s bright-blue eyes, she ended nodding.


    "Okay."


    Elwha''s room was very simple. Just a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a bath. However, she had decorated the room with several potted flowers that gave it a very fresh feeling.


    Besides it, Bloed also saw a few books scattered around the desk. Mainly books about magic.


    "What did you want to tell me?" Princess Elwha asked nervously. After all, she felt awkward being alone in a room with the man she had strange feelings for.


    Bloed did not notice her nervousness and just fell silent.


    In the end, he heaved a sigh.


    He had made his choice.


    If he wanted trust from Elwha, then he needed to show her the same level of trust.


    No longer hesitating, he told the elf everything.


    He told her about his past, about his mother, about his dream, and about his ns.


    He did not even hide his recent conversation with the headmistress, revealing to her everything that they talked about.


    It was a huge bet. If for some reason, Elwha decided to betray him, then just leaking this information was enough to cause him endless trouble.


    In the end, it was a question of trust.


    And this time, Bloed decided to trust her.


    When Bloed finished speaking, Princess Elwha waspletely silent.


    Her face contained a mix of several emotions. Surprise, doubt, relief, and fear.


    But most than anything else, it contained happiness.


    Through her mental connection with Bloed, the elf princess could feel that everything he told her was from the bottom of his heart. He needed to use the Heart to further his ns, but he did not want to betray her.


    And if she did not agree, he nned to help her either way.


    Elwha could not understand why he was doing so much for her.


    In the end, she was unable to control her emotions.


    Standing from her seat, the elf princess approached Bloed and kissed his lips softly, stunning him.


    This time, though, her kiss contained much more emotions thanst time.


    Bloed could feel her overwhelming affection and absolute trust through their connection.


    " I think I like you." She said with a blush after kissing him.


    Bloed nodded dazedly. "Well, I noticed it."


    "What ame answer. It doesn''t seem the answer of someone with two girlfriends."


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    "Thank you for trusting me, Bloed." Princess Elwha looked at him sweetly and caressed his cheek. "I really, really, really, feel happy now."


    Bloed looked straight into her eyes and nodded. The truth was that he was also happy now.


    No man will feel bad knowing that a beautiful girl such as Elwha liked him.


    He felt a littleplicated due to Liu Ying and Regina, but there was also Aya and Little Gina, so he was not as resistant to ept the love of others as before.


    However, he needed to listen to her answer now.


    Feeling his thoughts through their connection, Princess Elwha curled her lips up slightly as her silver eyes looked at his face with a gentle expression.


    "You rescued me and protected me all this while. I don''t think that father will mind paying a little bit for that. But please, don''t be too hard on him."


    "So you agree?" Bloed was stunned. He did not think that Princess Elwha would ept so easily.


    Seeing his expression, the elf princess could not help but kiss his lips again.


    "But you have to promise me something."

 Chapter 490: Thieving Elf

    Chapter 490: Thieving Elf


    "I agree, but you have to promise me something." Princess Elwha said.


    Bloed nodded. "What is it?"


    "Promise me that you will always be the ally of the elves."


    Bloed was startled. But when he looked at the elf princess''s eyes, he saw a gaze full of seriousness.


    At the end of the day, Elwha was the princess of the Boerner Elves. Even if she liked and perhaps loved Bloed, she was taught to always think about what the best for the elves was.


    One of the reasons she agreed to Bloed''s proposal was that she loved him. But it was not her only reason. After spending a pair of months in Machine Revolutio, she could see the potential of this group. Regina was an extremely powerful Demigod; and Bloed, Liu Ying, and Eres had the potential to reach that level eventually. Forging a good rtionship with them would be great for the elves.


    If one day, Bloed and the others became Apotheosis Demigods, then this small favor of today would be extremely valuable.


    Bloed understood Elwha''s goal after hearing her condition. He then heaved a sigh before nodding.


    "Okay, I promise you. As long as the elves don''t make me their enemy, I will always be their ally." He promised her.


    Princess Elwha''s expression brightened. And in the next second, the elf princess threw herself to him, pushing him on the bed.


    Bloed was stupified. Before he could understand what was happening, the princess kissed his lips fiercely.


    She then separated her lips from him and looked at him with a passionate expression.


    Instinctively, Bloed caressed her hair as the princess''s flushed face was centimeters away from his.


    Then, the two of them kissed again.


    Bloed felt his rationality disappearing. Soon, the two of them were rolling on the bed, kissing and caressing each other crazily.


    Feeling the soft skin of the princess and the sweet fragrance of her hair, Bloed became spellbound. He could not help but kiss her neck impulsively, making the elf princess gasp and moan softly.


    Then, the princess looked at him with moist eyes, and Bloed realized once more how beautiful she was.


    But when they were about to take the next step, and after both of them had removed part of their clothes, a soft knock came from the door.


    Then, an ice-cold voice made Bloed and Elwha''s bodies freezepletely.


    "Master, did you finish talking to Miss Elwha?"


    The pair froze. Like a pair of startled rabbits, they jumped from the bed and put their clothes back, then, the pair looked at each other with helpless expressions.


    With a bit of hesitation and fear on her face, the elf princess went to open the door looking like a prisoner about to be executed.


    When she opened the door, she saw Regina''s cold face and Liu Ying''s smiling eyes looking at her with scary expressions.


    Elwha''s body involuntarily quivered.


    " M-Miss R-Regina, L-Liu Ying, w-what are you doing here?"


    "What do you think?" Liu Ying''s smile became wider, and Regina''s chilling gaze moved from the elf princess to Bloed.


    "Master, do you have anything to say?"


    Bloed smiled bitterly and raised his hands as though giving up.


    Regina narrowed her eyes, making even Liu Ying''s be slightly stiff. In the end, the Valkyrie just sighed.


    "I had a bad feeling, so I extended my senses throughout the tower only to see a certain thieving elf putting her hands on my master. Sigh, and I thought that I should not worry about her. As expected, I should not underestimate my master''s charms."


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    Seeing that, Regina sighed again and Liu Ying shook her head before entering the room with Regina and closing the door behind them. Then, the demon princess looked at Bloed and Princess Elwha coldly.


    "Sit down. We need to talk."


    Despite Bloed''s guilt and Princess Elwha''s fear of being killed by Regina, the discussion ended without any trouble.


    In the end, Regina was a Valkyrie programmed to put Bloed above everything else. Even if she felt ufortable about Bloed getting a new girlfriend, she did not mind it as long as it was what Bloed wanted.


    As for Liu Ying, she was only angry on the surface. Polygamy was not umon in this world after all; plus, she had been in the same situation as Princess Elwha before. Thinking about how Regina epted her, she could not bring herself to be too harsh on Elwha.


    Plus, she already expected something like this to happen. Though in her mind, the ones attacking Bloed were Aya or Gina, nor Elwha.


    However, there was a small problem.


    "You are a Princess, Elwha. I don''t think that your people will be happy about you getting in a rtionship with a human."


    Princess Elwha was startled before putting on aplicated expression.


    She had not thought that far yet.


    "You don''t need to worry about it." Bloed smiled softly at her. "We will find a way to resolve it when the timees."


    Princess Elwha smiled at him and nodded.


    At that moment, Regina looked at Bloed with a serious expression.


    "Master, can you leave for a moment? There is something that I need to tell Elwha that you can''t hear."


    Bloed hesitated before nodding. "I understand, please don''t be too harsh on her."


    "I won''t."


    Princess Elwha was a bit nervous and wanted to say something, but when she felt Regina''s cold gaze, she swallowed her words back and straightened her back like a child about to be punished.


    As soon as Bloed left the room, Regina''s presence changedpletely.


    In an instant, it was as though a frigid wind filled the room, making Princess Elwha turn pale. Even Liu Ying, who was not feeling Regina''s aura directly, shivered in fear.


    Then, Regina''s golden eyes stared at the elf princess steely.


    "I don''t mind epting other women besides my master, as long as they truly love him. However, if I learn that you are only trying to use him, or if one day you dare betray him.


    I swear I''ll personally tear your heart out of your chest.


    ...


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 Chapter 491: Negotiations

    Chapter 491: Negotiations


    After Bloed received the approval of Princess Elwha for his n, he immediatelymunicated it to the headmistress.


    The headmistress was happy to hear that. She immediately told Bloed toe to the Great Library to put their n into march.


    Several people already knew that Bloed was the Headmistress''s student, plus he had visited the ce several times before, so nobody stopped him when he went to the top floor.


    As soon as he arrived, the headmistress asked him to take a seat as she activated amunication array she had prepared beforehand.


    The face of an elf appeared at the other side of the array. He was surprised when he saw the headmistress, but he quickly recovered hisposure.


    [Greetings from the Boerner Forest, Headmistress Wave.]


    "I need to talk to your king." The dragon headmistress said calmly. "It''s urgent."


    The elf was startled before nodding with a serious expression.


    [Understood. I will tell him.]


    A few secondster, a new face appeared in the array.


    It was a middle-aged elf with a dignified appearance. Even though Bloed could only see him through the array, he felt the majesty and regality of the Boerner Elven King clearly.


    He could also see some similitudes between the king and Elwha. Subtle similitudes that reminded him that this elf was the father of the girl he was being intimate with a few minutes ago.


    Even though Bloed knew that the king could not see him, he could not help but straighten his body involuntarily.


    [Headmistress Wave. How unexpected. What do I owe the honor of this call?] The elf''s dignified and calm voice sounded.


    However, the dragon headmistress''s next words destroyed his calmnesspletely.


    "The Heart of the Forest is in my hands."


    The elf king''s eyes opened wide.


    He quickly realized his mistake and corrected his expression, but it was toote. He had already lost the initiative in this conversation.


    [I''m listening.] He said with a sigh.


    The lips of Wave curved up slightly. She then told him the story that she had orded with Bloed.


    As the purpose of this n was to ''extort'' resources from the Boerner Forest, the story needed to be changed slightly. Everything was the same until the part when Princess Elwha arrived at Academy City, but here, Headmistress Wave''s story was slightly different than reality.


    Instead of Bloed rescuing Elwha, in Headmistress Wave''s story, it was her who rescued Princess Elwha after she had been captured by the men of the Church of ughter. Also, she had found the Heart of the Forest in a storage device that she found on one of the Church of ughter''s men.


    "Don''t worry, your daughter is fine." Headmistress Wave said, making the elf kind sigh in relief. "However, the Heart of the Forest is part of our spoils of war. We don''t have any obligation to return it to you."


    The elf king fell silent. He closed his eyes for several seconds as he thought about the headmistress''s words, but in the end, he heaved a sigh.


    [ I understand. State your conditions.]


    Hearts of the Forest were of vital importance to elves. As long as the headmistress''s conditions don''t go overboard, his only choice was to agree.


    The headmistress smiled like a mischievous devil who seeded in a prank. She then grabbed a document from a nearby table and started to read it.


    These were the resources needed for the Technological Fortress City n.


    The king frowned, and his frown became deeper and deeper as the headmistress continued reading the document.


    When she finished, his expression was alreadypletely dark.


    [ Greedy dragon. You are going too far.] He could not help but snort angrily.


    "Really? I think that my conditions are pretty nice. I can ask for more, you know."


    [Dream on. I will never agree to that.]


    "Then, what do you propose?"


    [We will only give you a fifth of what you asked for. And there are some resources that we can''t give you.]


    "Foolish king." The dragon snorted. "It looks like you don''t know your position. Should I talk to another elven king or perhaps a god?"


    [... Wait. Let me give you another proposal.]


    After that, a fierce war-like negotiation started between the two ''old foxes'' as both of them tried to get as many benefits as possible.


    Unfortunately for the king, the headmistress had the advantage in this negotiation, so the king could only endure as she proposed several conditions that were close to robbery.


    If the king knew that his daughter had agreed to extort her father like this, his expression would have been hrious.


    Finally, after almost three hours of negotiations, the two of them finally reached an agreement.


    "It looks like we can hope for a happy cooperation." The headmistress said without trying to hide her satisfaction.


    Unlike her, the face of the elf king was dark. He took a deep breath to calm his emotions before speaking up.


    [Before that, I want to see my daughter.]


    Headmistress Wave nodded in understanding. She then looked at Bloed with her caramel-colored eyes.


    Understanding her intention, Bloedmunicated with Regina through their neural connection and asked her to bring the elf princess to the Great Library.


    Less than five minutester, Princess Elwha was brought before the magic array.


    "Dad!" Elwha shouted excitedly. As soon as she saw her father, her body trembled, and her eyes were filled with tears. "I thought I would not see you again."


    [My daughter.] Bloed saw the elf king''s body quivering softly. [I''m d. I''m really d. I was afraid something had happened to you.]


    "Dad"


    [Are you alright? Tell me everything that happened. Don''t worry, I will kill anyone that dares to hurt you.]


    "Dad" Elwha''s was unable to continue suppressing her tears.


    After that, she told her father everything that she had gone through since the moment the elf delegation was intercepted by the Church of ughter.


    Of course, she omitted some things (such as her rtionship with Bloed), plus, she also lied about the part where she was rescued by Bloed and instead told him the same story as headmistress, but she told him everything else.


    When she finished speaking, the elf king looked at the headmistress with grateful eyes.


    [It looks like you have been taking good care of my daughter. Thank you. We will abide by the agreement as soon as the Heart of the Forest reaches us.]


    "Understood." Headmistress Wave let out a sigh that she did not know she was holding and looked at Bloed with a happy expression.


    With this, their n had a greater chance to be sessful.


    But when she was excited about how everything was going smoothly, someone rushed into the top floor with an urgent expression.


    "Headmistress, bad news!"


    Headmistress Wave frowned. For some reason, she got a bad premonition on her heart.


    And her bad premonition came true in the next second.


    "S-Someone spread the news that there is a Heart of the Forest in Academy City. And the people of the Church of the Sun God are asking about it."


    The expression of all the people in the room became grave.


    ...


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 Chapter 492: News Leaked

    Chapter 492: News Leaked


    Hearts of the Forest were very valuable objects.


    Elves used them to nurture great trees to expand their forest, and gods could use them to extend their lifespan.


    Even for normal people, it was a treasure. If a normal person consumed a Heart of the Forest, they could strengthen their soul and perhaps get a new ability.


    In fact, justing into contact with the Heart of the Forest strengthened Bloed''s C-Grade ESP Ability, [Enhanced Brain Capacity]. Imaginary sh and Door of Nothingness were created thanks to that.


    However, the value of Hearts of the Forest to normal humans was much lesspared to gods. Lifespan was something that everybody desired, and powerful beings like gods desired it even more.


    Thus, the value of the Heart of the Forest was immensurable. Anyone would be tempted to get it.


    Perhaps part of the reason that Princess Elwha trusted Bloed''s group that much was that they never showed greed for the Heart of the Forest.


    But even if Bloed''s group did not show much greed for it, it was not the same for others.


    Due to that, when the news that there was a Heart of the Forest in Academy City was made public, multiple organizations across the continent started to move.


    Just a few hours after Headmistress Wave received the news, five different churches had contacted her asking if it was true.


    Of course, the dragon headmistress was not foolish to admit it. She calmly denied the rumors as nonsense.


    But as soon as themunications ended, her expression became grave.


    "This is bad" She muttered.


    [How did the news leak out?] Asked the elf king, who was stillmunicating with the headmistress through the magic array. [Could it have been someone from your side?]


    "I fear not. The people that know about it arepletely trustworthy." The headmistress said while looking at Bloed. "Plus, it''s strange that the news spread so quickly."


    The elf king fell silent.


    In fact, both the elf king and the headmistress had a guess about who had leaked the news.


    The Church of ughter.


    The question was, why?


    Bloed was wondering the same. Spreading the news about the Heart of the Forest would only addpetitors for the Church of ughter. Their chance of getting it would be lower.


    ''What is it then?'' Bloed racked his brain for an answer, but nothing seemed likely.


    [What should we do, Headmistress? Should I send a delegation to Academy City for the Heart?]


    "That is not good. The gods know that the elves need Hearts of the Forest the most. If the elves send anyone to the city now, the gods will immediately confirm their suspicions."


    [Should we then transport it secretly? A demigod can move it to the forest in a few days.]


    "No good either. I''m sure that several gods are paying attention to the city at this moment. If a demigod leaves the city now, he will be intercepted shortly after that."


    The elf king fell silent. He knew that the Headmistress was right.


    However, he did not have any other idea.


    The Headmistress was also silent. She then shook her head slightly and looked at the elf king.


    "I will think about a solution, Your Majesty. Rest assured, I will make everything in my power to make the heart reach your hands."


    [ I understand. Please tell me if the situation changes.]


    "I will."


    After that, the headmistress cut off themunication with the elf king.


    As soon as themunication array was turned off, the Headmistress turned to Bloed and Regina with a grave expression.


    "We must get the Heart of the Forest away from the city as soon as possible. If the Heart of the Forest remains here, this ce will turn into a battlefield."


    Bloed nodded with a stern expression. He knew that the headmistress was right.


    " But, how are we going to take it out of the city."


    "Just take it out normally." The Headmistress simply said. "You are just a B-Rank boy. No god will think that the Heart of the Forest is with you. Plus, Regina does not have mana. As soon as she disguises herself and doesn''t use her power, hardly any god will know how strong she really is."


    Bloed thought that the Headmistress''s n was solid.


    The problem was


    "It''s too risky." Regina opposed immediately.


    Yes, it was too risky.


    If any god learned that they had the Heart, then they would be in great danger.


    Headmistress Wave bit her lips and nodded. However, she did not have a better n.


    They could not trust anyone else with the Heart of the Forest. In fact, she did not dare. Even if she gave it to someone loyal to her, she could not guarantee that the gods will not notice it. At least Bloed''s case, Regina was there to protect him.


    At that moment, Elwha spoke up with a determined expression.


    " This is my people''s problem, Bloed. I will bring it to the forest myself."


    Bloed was startled before smiling wryly.


    "Do you really think I will let my lover do something so risky?"


    Elwha blushed, but her gaze was still determined. She did not n to change her mind.


    Bloed knew it as well, so he smiled bitterly. He then thought for a moment and weighed his options. Finally, he heaved a long sigh.


    "I understand. I''ll go with you."


    "Master!" Regina immediately shouted, but Bloed continued calmly.


    "The Heart of the Forest is an important part of our n, Regina. Don''t worry, you will go with us. And I promise you that if the situation bes very dangerous, I will leave the Heart of the Forest behind, and you will take the two of us to safety." He said while looking at Elwha, making it clear that she needed to agree to this condition or he would not agree to her request.


    The elf princess hesitated briefly before nodding.


    Seeing that, Regina could only sigh.


    "I understand. My duty is to protect you, master. I will not let any danger befall you."


    With that, the group''s trip to the Boerner Forest was decided.

 Chapter 493: King, Queen, and Former King

    Chapter 493: King, Queen, and Former King


    Soraya returned to the Kingdom of Alterna after several days of travel. During that time, she had thought about the things that her daughter had told her, and about what she saw after arriving at Academy City.


    She could not help but think about her son. She had finally seen him again after many years, but now, he no longer called her mother.


    To him, she was nothing more than a stranger.


    That fact pained her greatly.


    Her little child. The boy that was sent to that terrible ce so many years ago, had grown and be a man.


    But when she thought about how much he must have suffered to be what he was today, she could not help but feel filled with guilt.


    Self-hatred permeated her. So what if her son no longer thought of her as his mother? She deserved it for what she did.


    Therefore, she decided to right her wrongs.


    Even if that was not enough to recover the love of her son, she would do it. That was what she must do. She owed it to her son. To Glenn.


    Hence, once she made her preparations, she went to the pce with a firm and determined expression.


    When she arrived at the pce, it was still time for the morning court. But she did not care. She ignored the flustered servants that tried to stop her and entered the pce hall imposingly.


    The king, nobles, ministers, and servants inside the hall looked at her in surprise when she entered. The king then opened his mouth awkwardly.


    "My queen, you are back. I''m happy to see you again."


    Soraya did not reply to him. Instead, she looked at the nobles coldly.


    "My husband and I needed to talk. Leave, now."


    "T-That is" The nobles put on awkward expressions before looking at the kind. The king frowned, but in the end, he nodded.


    "Leave us alone."


    The nobles, ministers, and servants nodded and left the hall one after another.


    A pair of minutester, only the king and the queen remained in the hall.


    The king frowned and looked at his wife with a confused expression.


    "Soraya, did anything happen? You look altered."


    "Liam Skysword. Answer this question of mine." The queen''s voice was as sharp as a knife. "Did you order King''s Shadows to kill Glenn?"


    The king fell silent. He did not reply immediately, and instead, he heaved a sigh.


    "Who told you that?"


    "Just answer my question." The voice of the queen became sharper.


    The king sighed again before nodding his head.


    "... I did."


    "You I can''t believe it."


    "That is the best for the kingdom."


    "The best for the kingdom, huh." Soraya sneered. "Back then, you took my child from me with that excuse. Are you going to do it again!?"


    The king did not reply.


    "I expected more from you." She said coldly with an expression of hatred on her face. Such an expression made the king feel a sharp pain in his chest.


    This was the first time the queen had looked at him with such a gaze. Even though their rtionship had deteriorated through the years, he had never seen hatred in his wife''s eyes.


    For an instant, he thought about apologizing. About excusing himself. But he swallowed his words.


    He was a king before he was a husband.


    Nothing was more important than the prosperity of Alterna.


    When the queen saw that, thest trace of hope disappeared from her eyes.


    Instead, her expression became as cold as ice itself.


    "I see. It looks like you are not going to stop."


    The king did not reply. He could not stop.


    Even if Academy City, Moonlight Glow, and the Church of Fate were protecting that boy, he needed to die.


    No, the fact that they were protecting him made his death something even more necessary.


    His son, Glenn Skysword, was like a spark that could burn this kingdom to the ground.


    Understanding his thoughts, the queen sneered.


    "However, I won''t allow you to touch him again."


    " You can''t stop me, Soraya." The king sighed with a despondent tone, and the queen nodded.


    "I can''t. But someone else can."


    The king was startled. Just at that moment, a man entered the hall.


    He was an old man in his sixties. Part of his hair had turned white, and his face was filled with wrinkles. But despite that, his body emanated youthfulness and energy.


    Moreover, the mana wavesing out of his body were so intense that even the king, a demigod at the Saint Level, felt suppressed.


    He was the previous king of Alterna. The father of the current king, and one of the strongest demigods in the world.


    Ethan Skysword.


    "Dad" The king wrinkled his brows. "Did Soraya ask you toe?"


    The old man sighed and looked at his son with aplicated expression.


    "Liam, from today onwards, stop any operation rted to the boy."


    " You are no longer the king. I don''t need to follow your orders."


    "But if you don''t, I will confine you in the sacred grounds of the n and retake the throne. I''m sure that a few old friends will be happy to see that happening."


    The king froze. He then smiled bitterly.


    He believed that his father did not dare to do that, but he did not dare to test it.


    He knew his father. Unlike him, his father was a sentimental man.


    That was the reason he left the throne early. He did not believe he was suitable to be a king.


    Moreover, his father felt that he had disappointed Soraya when Glenn was exiled. Soraya had begged him to not exile Glenn, but the former king did not agree back then.


    Now, he could not bring himself to not agree again.


    The king heaved a sigh. " You know that the boy is a danger to the kingdom, father. He does not have any good feelings for Alterna, and several foreign organizations are behind him. If he wants to seek revenge, or if he decides he wants to be the king, it will be a catastrophe for the kingdom. In the worst of the cases, Alterna could perish."


    "Perhaps. But I have made my choice." The voice of the former king was firm.


    The king smiled bitterly. For an instant, he felt a sense of desteness filling him.


    His wife, his daughter, and now even his father were against him.


    Was that the price to be a good king?


    "I understand." He finally muttered resigned. "I will stop any action against the boy."


    "Good." The former king nodded and looked at his son apologetically. Then, he left the hall.


    Behind him, Soraya stared at her husband deeply before turning around and leaving with an ice-cold expression.


    The king extended his hand and opened his mouth to say something. But in the end, he did not call out to her.


    Instead, he sat down on his throne and smiled self-deprecatingly.


    "Being a king is not easy."


    ...


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 Chapter 494: Charise’s Farewell (1)

    Chapter 494: Charise¡¯s Farewell (1)


    After learning that the news about the Heart of the Forest had been leaked and deciding to go to the Boerner Forest, Bloed, Regina, and Princess Elwha returned to the Machine Revolutio Tower.


    Over there, Bloed gathered the rest of the group and told him about the situation.


    "I''m going with you."


    "Me too."


    "My hero. My sister and I will go too."


    Liu Ying, Aya, and Gina said immediately, and Sara looked at Bloed fixedly.


    But Bloed shook his head.


    "No."


    "But"


    "Not this time, Liu Ying." He interrupted his demon girlfriend with a serious expression. "This time''s trip will be very dangerous. Plus, I need someone trustworthy to stay behind." He said while looking at the other girls.


    For this trip to the Boerner Forest, Bloed only nned to take Princess Elwha and Regina with him. It would be better if the others stayed behind.


    If something went wrong, Regina could keep two people safe, but more than that would be dangerous.


    The girls put on unconvinced expressions, and Liu Ying frowned. Obviously, they did not like this idea.


    But Bloed was firm in his decision.


    In the end, Bloed managed to convince them after he exined his thoughts to them.


    But at that moment, an unexpected girl spoke.


    "I''m going with you."


    Bloed furrowed his brows.


    "Eres, I guess I said that"


    "I''m going with you, brother. I''m strong enough to protect myself, so you don''t need to worry about me. And I don''t n to be separated from you after we just met again."


    Bloed narrowed his eyes. He stared at Eres fixedly, but the ck-haired girl returned his gaze with a firm expression.


    Even so, Bloed nned to refuse. But at that moment, Eres spoke again.


    "If you don''t agree, I will follow behind you regardless of your opinion."


    Bloed was speechless.


    Why was his sister so stubborn?


    The pair of siblings stared at each other for several seconds, both of them unwilling topromise. But in the end, Bloed was the first one to take a step back.


    "Sigh, why are you so stubborn? Okay, okay, You cane with us."


    "Mm. Thank you, brother." Eres smiled softly.


    Bloed smiled as well, but at that moment, he noticed that the other girls were looking at him with dissatisfaction.


    In the end, it took him a while to convince the rest of the girls to stay behind.


    After he finished talking with the girls, Bloed decided to go to hisboratory next. The n was to depart to the Boerner Forest in one week, so he needed to make as many preparations as possible before that.


    Bloed had already thought of a few things that could be of help for this trip.


    But in the way, he met someone familiar.


    Prince Calisto.


    The young lionkin prince was talking to someone in a corridor of the tower. Moreover, the person he was talking to was someone familiar.


    Bloed remembered he was called An Whiterock. A wolfkin student who was also a member of one of the strongest clubs of Academy City, [Beast Brotherhood].


    At the start, Bloed did not pay much attention. But soon, he noticed that Prince Calisto was making a difficult face.


    At that moment, An seemed to notice Bloed. He furrowed his brows slightly before looking at Prince Calisto again.


    "Think about my words, Prince."


    Then, the wolfkin turned around and left.


    Bloed raised an eyebrow when he saw that and then walked towards the lionkin prince.


    "Did anything happen?" He asked.


    Calisto smiled wryly and shook his head.


    "It''s nothing. Just that he was nning to return to the Beastmen Countries and asked me when I was nning to return."


    Bloed frowned. That question


    "What did you reply?" He asked without changing his expression.


    "About that I told him that I''m fine here. I don''t n to return for the time being."


    "Is it so?"


    "Yes, big brother Bloed. I like this ce, plus, I have learned a lot of things from you. I don''t want to return to the Great Savannah that soon."


    Bloed nodded to himself and continued talking to the prince.


    But in his mind, he was thinking about what the lionkin prince just told him.


    An was nning to return to his country, and he was asking him when he was going to return.


    Although nothing seemed wrong with that on the surface, the truth was very thought-provoking.


    Normally, you could study in Academy City until your turned thirty.


    Few people left before that. After all, Academy City was one of the best ces in the continent to nurture geniuses.


    But An was just twenty-one.


    Why did he want to leave the city then?


    '' Could it be rumors about Academy City''s situation are already circting?''


    If it was so, then the situation was very bad.


    Perhaps, Academy City had less time than they thought.


    At that moment, the system of the tower told him that someone was looking for him at the entrance of the tower.


    Bloed was startled. He connected himself to the system of the tower, only to see a familiar girl in the entrance.


    Bloed''s expression turned serious. He immediately went to the entrance of the tower to receive his guest.


    As soon as the girl saw Bloed, she smiled softly.


    "Long time no see you, Mr. Bloed."


    Green eyes, soft features, and a benevolent smile on her face. She was wearing a nun habit that covered her entire body, and not even her hair could be seen.


    She was the Saintess of the Church of Fate, Charise Amra.

 Chapter 495: Charise’s Farewell (2)

    Chapter 495: Charise¡¯s Farewell (2)


    "You don''t seem happy to see me, Mr. Bloed." Charise giggled amusedly when she saw Bloed''s difficult expression.


    Bloed could only sigh with a bitter smile.


    Of course, he was not happy. Every time he met Charise previously, it was rted to a troublesome situation.


    It was a fact that Charise had helped Bloed a lot, and she had supported him since they met in Diadel Duchy, but Bloed could not help but associate Charise to the word troublesome.


    "Don''t look at me like that. I''m your friend, right?"


    " I guess you are. Then, Miss Charise, why are you here?"


    "Can''t Ie to visit you?"


    "You are not the kind to visit others without a reason, right?" Bloed rolled his eyes. "Just tell me what you want to tell me."


    "Well, I came to bid you farewell," Charise said with a smile.


    A surprised expression appeared on Bloed''s face. He then looked at Charise and narrowed his eyes.


    "What happened?"


    "Nothing much. It''s just that some old men at the headquarters are dissatisfied after I interfered with the situation in Academy City, so they asked me to go back."


    Bloed was stunned. Then, he looked at Charise guiltily.


    "Sorry, it''s because of me."


    "It''s good that you are aware." Charise giggled. She then smiled mischievously. "You owe me a lot of favors, you know. When do you n to pay them?"


    "If one day you need my help, I won''t hesitate to help you," Bloed said without hesitation.


    Charise smiled yfully.


    "I know."


    The saintess then looked at Bloed for several seconds before sighing.


    "You know Bloed, you are like my little brother. A troublesome little brother that always needs the help of his big sister when he is in trouble. I think I will miss you."


    Bloed was speechless.


    But at the same time, he felt warm in his heart.


    The truth was that Charise also upied a special ce in his heart. Perhaps he did not think of her as a sister, but he considered her a good friend.


    Seeing his reaction, Charise giggled again, but then, she put on aplicated expression and sighed.


    "I would have liked to continue traveling with you, but unfortunately, I have to leave. Bloed, your future will be filled with ups and downs. The world is about to fall into chaos, and for some reason, it seems like fate is pushing you to the center of the storm."


    Bloed fell deep in thought, trying to understand the meaning behind Charise''s words.


    But the saintess did not exin them. She just stood up from her seat and walked towards Bloed. Then, she patted his head gently like a big sister spoiling her little brother.


    "Be careful, okay. Your next trip will be filled with darkness, but it can be an opportunity for you. Also, trust the old man wielding the sword. He will help you in your path."


    Bloed was stunned.


    " Is it a prophecy?"


    "Perhaps." Charise smiled and ruffled his hair roughly. "See youter, little brother. I pray that fate is always with you."


    After saying these words, Saintess Charise turned around to leave.


    Before leaving, though, she heard Bloed''s speak.


    "Be careful And good luck."


    Charise chuckled. Then, she left the tower.


    Outside, Kallevang An was waiting for her.


    "Did you bid farewell to the boy, Saintess?"


    "I did." Charise''s expression immediately became stern, a stark difference to the benevolent expression she had in front of Bloed. "Let''s go back, Kallevang. It looks like some insects have forgotten the will of the goddess. It''s time to exterminate them."


    "As you will, Princess." Kallevang bowed respectfully.


    At the same time, his eyes became ice-cold.


    It seemed that Mount Fate was going to be dyed in blood.


    Charise''s departure was unnoticed by most in Academy City, but it unexpectedly made Bloed feel sad.


    At the same time, her words before leaving made him realize that perhaps this trip to the Boerner Forest was not going to go as smoothly as he expected.


    Just the fact that Charise told him that it was going to be filled with danger meant that his life could be at risk.


    However, Charise also told him that it could be an opportunity.


    Bloed was not sure what kind of opportunity it was going to be, but he had a hunch.


    ''A-Grade.''


    He had reached the peak of B-Grade for a while now, but he still did not know how to breakthrough to the next grade.


    He had several ideas, but none of them seemed useful in the short run.


    Perhaps, this trip to the Boerner Forest was going to give him the clue to take that next step.


    If so, it was another reason to go.


    ''I guess I need to hurry up my preparations, huh.''


    With that thought, Bloed walked to hisboratory. He nned to stay there until the day of the departure.


    At that moment, a thought appeared in Bloed''s mind.


    ''By the way, what did Charise mean about the old man wielding the sword?''


    Meanwhile, in a certain human country.


    A shabby old man entered a tavern and asked for a jar of beer as he sat down at a table.


    The old man was wearing worn-down clothes. He seemed like he had not shaved in years, and he was holding a sword on hisp. His age was around eighty years old, and his eyes expressed tiredness and fatigue. He seemed like a tired traveler that had seen everything the world could offer.


    At that moment, the old man heard a conversation at a nearby table.


    "Did you hear? There is a rumor that a Heart of the Forest appeared in Academy City."


    "Really? Is that true?"


    "It looks like it''s true. I heard that several Churches alreadymunicated with the city to ask for it."


    "Damn. It must be worth a fortune."


    "You bet. You can live in luxury for the rest of your life if you sell it."


    "Hahaha, a shame it''s not in our hands."


    "Right, a shame."


    The two drunkards chuckled in disappointment before continuing their conversation. However, the old man did not pay attention to the rest of their words.


    "A Heart of the Forest huh." He muttered to himself before looking at his sword. "Little girl, it looks like our next destination has been decided."


    Any person looking at the man now would have thought that he was senile.


    However, as soon as the man finished talking, the sword hummed in answer.

 Chapter 496: Oh, Demon Princess (1)

    Chapter 496: Oh, Demon Princess (1)


    "Mou. I can''t believe that my hero is going to leave us behind." A honey-haired girl pouted displeased while walking through the streets of Academy City.


    Her name was Gina. She was a fifteen-year-old girl with silver eyes and a petite body. At a nce, she seemed like an innocent girl unable to harm a fly, but in truth, she was a mischievous girl who liked to see the world in mes.


    Beside her, another girl shook her head with a wry smile. She was Liu Ying, a beautiful girl with ck hair and a horn on her forehead indicating her identity as a demon. Unlike Gina, she gave a carefree and positive vibe and her well-toned body showed that she was not weak.


    Liu Ying''s true identity was that of a princess. A demon princess. However, for certain reasons, she needed to keep her identity hidden. Due to that, she hid her distinctive red hair and amber eyes and disguised herself as a ck-haired and ck-eyed demon beauty.


    Right now, the two of them were walking towards a certain shop in Academy City. It was a shop that sold a unique kind of delicious snack that both girls loved.


    As for the reason why the honey-haired girl was pouting, it was due to the news that a certain blue-haired boy told them a few hours ago.


    He was leaving Academy City and he was not going to bring them along.


    " I already miss my hero, and he has not left yet."


    "You are exaggerating, little Gina." Liu Ying shook her head with an amused expression.


    "I''m not. Sigh, Academy City without my hero is not going to be the same. Just seeing his beautiful blue eyes makes my day much brighter."


    Liu Ying coughed and barely managed to contain herughter.


    She could imagine the expression of her lover if he heard the words of the little girl beside her.


    ''I guess that Regina and little Gina are simr in a certain sense. Thinking about it, even their names are simr.''


    Even though Liu Ying loved Bloed, it was not at the point where she could not endure a few days without him. She was going to miss him, though.


    Mm, she should ask for a date before he leaves. Perhaps after the date, they would kiss And then


    Liu Ying''s face becamepletely red. She hurriedly shook her head to shake off these thoughts of her mind and took a deep breath to calm down.


    But at that moment, she realized that a pair of silver eyes were staring at her suspiciously.


    "Sister Liu Ying, you were thinking about something naughty, right?"


    " Of course not."


    "You stiffened, you know?"


    Liu Ying''s cheeks became redder. She hurriedly coughed to hide her embarrassment, but when Gina saw her like that, her mischievous side was spurred.


    " By the way, Sister Liu Ying, what kind of stuff do you and my hero do when you are alone?"


    "Gina!?"


    "Do you kiss?"


    "T-That is W-Well, we do Sometimes"


    "Really!? Then How does it feel!?"


    "H-Hey!"


    "What else do you do? Have you sat you on hisp? That must be nice"


    Liu Ying waspletely red of embarrassment, but her face carried a bashful expression.


    She remembered the few times that Bloed had carried her on hisp. It certainly felt nice.


    Mm, perhaps she should ask for it during their date.


    Anyway, he would leave for a while. She could be a bit selfish.


    At that moment, she felt Gina''s pulling her hand.


    Startled, she looked at Gina only to notice that the little girl had an embarrassed expression.


    "H-Hey, Sister Liu Ying, have you and my hero d-done t-that?"


    "That?" Liu Ying tilted her head.


    "Y-You know, making children."


    Liu Ying felt her mind nking.


    Her entire body stiffened and her eyes opened wide in astonishment.


    "W-What!? We don''t! And why are you asking about that!?"


    "W-Well, I-I''m a bit curious I-I''m going to be my hero''s lover as well, so"


    "Y-You"


    " But you have not done that, huh. What a shame, I thought I could ask you how it felt." Gina put on a disappointed expression. "Should I ask Sister Regina? But Sister Regina is scary"


    Liu Ying did not know whether tough or to cry.


    Although She knew that Bloed and Regina slept together regrly and they did naughty things a couple of times every week Should she ask Regina about it?


    I-It was not as though she was nning to do that with Bloed yet. S-She wanted to, but not now.


    Right then, she felt that Gina stopped walking.


    Liu Ying was startled. She looked at Gina only to see that she had aplicated expression.


    " Sister Liu Ying, you know that my hero will be in danger in this trip, right?"


    Liu Ying''s expression changed. The demon girl narrowed her eyes and stared at the honey-haired girl solemnly.


    "Did you see anything?" She asked with a serious expression.


    Liu Ying knew about the honey-haired girl''s gift. She, Gina, could asionally get glimpses of the future through visions.


    If she saw something bad about Bloed, then


    Fortunately, the honey-haired girl shook her head. Even so, her answer was not very positive.


    "I can''t see anything. Every time I try to see my hero''s future, the future bes hazy. Then, my head starts to hurt, and I''m forced to stop my visions."


    A grave expression appeared on Liu Ying''s face. She understood the meaning of Gina''s words.


    If Gina could see nothing, it meant that something very powerful was interfering with her visions.


    In the best of cases, it was just a demigod. But in the worst of the cases


    ''Gods.''


    That term appeared in Liu Ying''s mind.


    She knew that this trip to the Boerner Forest was rted to something that many gods coveted.


    What if they attacked Bloed?


    For an instant, she could not help but feel worried. Just imagining the thought of something happening to him made her breath quicken.


    She did not know if she could continue living in a world without him.


    '' Should I insist to him to bring me along?'' Liu Ying asked herself.


    Just when she was considering that option seriously, she felt someone approaching them.


    Liu Ying immediately snapped out of her thoughts. She looked in the direction of the person approaching them, only to see someone familiar.


    A male demon in his twenties with an intimidating aura and profound eyes.


    Liu Ying recognized him immediately. He was the publicly recognized strongest student in the city.


    Mu Quan.


    "What do you want?" She asked him with a vignt expression, not weing him in the slightest.


    But the young man did not mind it. He just looked straight into her eyes with a calm expression.


    "Miss Liu Ying. Can I talk with you privately?"


    "I don''t want to"


    "It''s important."


    Liu Ying frowned. Little Gina was about to step out and scold the man who dared to hit on her hero''s girlfriend, but to her surprise, Liu Ying stopped her.


    She then hesitated slightly before nodding.


    "Okay."


    The two of them then walked slightly away as Liu Ying looked apologetically at a displeased Gina.


    As soon as they were far enough that Gina could not listen to their conversation, Liu Ying red at Mu Quan brusquely.


    "Tell me what do you want. I don''t have much time."


    Mu Quan did not speak. Instead, he waved his hand. Instantly, a circle of fire appeared around them, blocking the surrounding eyes.


    Then, Mu Quan kneeled on the ground respectfully, shocking Liu Ying greatly.


    "Mu Quan pays his respect to Her Highness Princess Liu Ying."


    At that moment, Liu Ying''s mind nked in shock.

 Chapter 497: Oh, Demon Princess (2)

    Chapter 497: Oh, Demon Princess (2)


    "Mu Quan pays his respect to Her Highness Princess Liu Ying."


    Liu Ying''s mind nked in shock.


    Liu Ying''s identity as a princess was her greatest secret. If her true identity was made public, her life and Bloed''s life could be in danger.


    Back when her family was exterminated, her life had been spared with the condition that she was sent to the Exiled Lands. But now that she had escaped that ce, her family''s enemies would not hesitate toe to kill her if they learned she was here.


    Thus, after Liu Ying recovered from her shock, her first thought was to kill Mu Quan.


    But after hesitating briefly, she sighed to himself.


    Mu Quan was definitively stronger than her. Even if she gave her all, she did not believe she could kill him.


    And even if she killed him, there was a high chance that Mu Quan had already spread this information to other people.


    After considering that, Liu Ying calmed herself and looked at Mu Quan with a frown. Perhaps, she could still rescue this situation.


    "I think I told you that you had the wrong person before, right? Even though my name is Liu Ying, I''m not any kind of princess."


    "There is no need to lie anymore, Your Highness. During the disturbance several days ago, Your Highness identally revealed the true form of your aspect. There is no way I can fail to recognize the royal family''s Chaos Titan."


    Liu Ying''s expression fell. It seemed like the situation was worse than she thought.


    She was aware that Mu Quan had been suspecting her true identity for a while now. But before this, her different hair and eyes plus her disguised aspect made him hesitate.


    But now that he saw the Chaos Titan, the true form of her aspect, she knew that it was useless to continue lying.


    As Mu Quan said. There is no way he can misrecognize the aspect of the royal family.


    Understanding that, Liu Ying heaved a sigh and put on an ice-cold expression.


    " What do you want? Are you nning to reveal my true identity?"


    "Of course not." Mu Quan denied it immediately. "Your Highness perhaps is not aware of it, but the Mu family has been a loyal servant to the crown during many generations. Now that we have found the righteous heir to the crown, there is no way we can do something treacherous to her."


    Liu Ying''s expression rxed a little bit, but she retained her wariness.


    "Then, what do you want?"


    "We hope you can return to the kingdom and regain your rightful ce, Your Highness."


    Liu Ying was stunned. "Return?"


    Seeing her reaction, Mu Quan stared straight into her eyes and continued.


    "The current Demon King used dirty and uwful means to obtain the throne. He betrayed the sun of the Demon Kingdom and massacred the royal family. We, the Mu family, can''t ept something like that.


    "We are not the only ones. Many nobles of the Demon Kingdom are waiting for the return of Your Highness. The people of the kingdom know about the injustices of the false king, and they wait anxiously that your highness returns everything to its rightful ce."


    Liu Ying fell silent.


    For an instant, manyplicated expressions appeared on her face. However, her expression soon became gloomy.


    "... Even if I return, there is no way I can defeat that traitor."


    "You are mistaken, Your Highness. As I told you, our family and many other families are waiting anxiously for Your Highness''s return. As soon as you return to the kingdom, they will rise in arms and help you to find justice for the deceased king."


    "Justice, huh." Liu Ying''s expression became bitter.


    At that moment, she remembered the night when everything changed. That night, her father, her mother, and her siblings looked at her in pain, determination, and despair, as they sent her away.


    They risked their lives just to give her a chance to survive despite being aware that they would not survive.


    They never asked her to avenge their deaths. They never told her to be stronger and kill the traitors. They only told her to survive.


    But Liu Ying knew that even if they did not say it, deep inside them, they hoped she could avenge them one day.


    Now, an opportunity to avenge them had arrived.


    Of course, it was possible that Mu Quan was lying. Perhaps it was a trap to capture her.


    But when she thought about it, she realized that it was unnecessary. If Mu Quan wanted to harm her, he only needed to reveal her location to the new royal family. Then, it was unknown how long she could live.


    Deeply, Liu Ying was aware that Mu Quan''s words were most likely true. He probably had other intentions as well, but it did not matter if she could avenge her family.


    Then, why why was she not excited? Why was she hesitating now?


    At this moment, the friends she had made since she left the Exiled Lands appeared in her mind. Regina, Aya, Princess Elwha, Gina, Sara, Prince Calisto...


    And Bloed.


    The man she had fallen in love with.


    Liu Ying bit her lips and closed her eyes. Revenge, huh.


    She then took a deep breath and looked at Mu Quan shakily.


    " I need to think about it."


    Mu Quan nodded. He did not press her and just bowed respectfully.


    "I understand, Your Highness. If youe to a decision, you can find me in the Headquarters of the Guardian Order." He then waved his hand, extinguishing the mes surrounding them.


    Liu Ying hummed in answer and turned around to leave. Grabbing Little Gina''s hand, who was looking at her with a concerned expression, she walked away.


    When she was gone, a figure appeared suddenly behind Mu Quan.


    "Is this really alright, father?" Mu Quan asked.


    The figure nodded.


    "She carries the blood of the Liu Family, the bloodline of Chaos Titans. She will eventually agree.


    "And then, our Mu Family will finally rise."

 Chapter 498: A Demon’s Love and Passion

    Chapter 498: A Demon¡¯s Love and Passion


    "S-Sister Liu Ying, y-you are walking too fast! Are you alright?" Gina asked Liu Ying with a concerned face.


    Liu Ying seemed not to hear Gina''s words. She remained silent with a dested expression. She seemed like she was about to cry.


    She had been like that since she talked to Mu Quan. Gina knew that whatever that man told Liu Ying, it was not something good.


    But unfortunately, she did not know what it was.


    The honey-haired girl could only bite her lips as she looked at the pale face of her friend.


    " Sister Liu Ying What happened?"


    Liu Ying still did not reply. She did not even look at Gina. Right now, she could only think about the words of Mu Quan.


    It was the first time she felt so close to revenge. She knew that if she epted his offer, she had a high chance of avenging her family.


    She could hear the voices of her family asking her to avenge them. She could see his gazes when they remained behind to give her the opportunity to escape. She could see their mutted bodies as they were cut by the swords of their enemies.


    That nightmarish night appeared in her mind clearly. Every second, every drop of blood, every scream of pain could be remembered distinctly, as though it would have happened yesterday.


    Revenge. She had been dreaming about it for years.


    But then, why


    Why could she not say yes?


    Why when she thought about leaving Academy City and Bloed behind, did her heart hurt so much?


    " What should I do?" Liu Ying stopped walking and talked to herself. "Father, mother, what should I do?"


    Involuntarily, tears escaped from her eyes. The pain that she had suppressed for years erupted, filling her heart with agony.


    " What should I do?" She could only ask herself that once and again.


    But suddenly, she felt someone hugging her from behind.


    Liu Ying was startled. She looked behind her only to see Gina hugging her tightly and looking straight into her eyes.


    " Gina."


    "No matter what happens, we will always be here for you," Gina spoke without an ounce of lies.


    Immediately, Liu Ying''s remainingposure copsed.


    Hugging Gina back, Liu Ying started to cry. She cried bitterly, her tears rolling down her cheeks. For several minutes, she cried and cried.


    She did not care for the people around them looking at her strangely.


    She only wanted to vent out the sadness and confusion inside her.


    Five minutester, Liu Ying finally calmed down.


    Her eyes were still red, but she had stopped crying. She and Gina then sat on a bench nearby as Gina got a jug of water from a nearby store.


    " Are you alright now, Sister Liu Ying?" Gina asked concerned.


    Liu Ying nodded and smiled wryly. "Sorry for worrying you."


    "It''s alright. But what happened? Did that man tell something rude to you? Let''s ask Sister Regina to beats him!"


    Liu Ying smiled bitterly and patter Gina''s head.


    "Thank you, but it won''t be necessary."


    Gina nodded. However, her silver eyes were still looking at Liu Ying worriedly.


    " Sister Liu Ying, if you want, you can talk to me."


    Liu Ying put on a hesitant expression.


    The truth was that she wanted to confide in someone about her situation. She wanted to ask for advice.


    And although she did not know if Gina could help her, she decided to trust her.


    " Gina, if you need to leave your loved ones to get what you want, what would you do?"


    Gina was startled. She then frowned with a thoughtful look.


    Eventually, she heaved a sigh and stared at Liu Ying with a gaze full of certainty.


    "Sister Liu Ying, I don''t know your situation, so I can only tell you what I think. No matter what happens, I will never leave my big sister or my hero. If I need to sacrifice my happiness or their happiness for something, then it''s not worth it."


    Liu Ying fell silent.


    Gina was not sure if her reply had been useful, but she had spoken from the bottom of her heart. Fortunately, Liu Ying nodded a few secondster and took a deep breath, putting on a determined expression.


    "Thank you, little Gina. I know what to do."


    Without waiting for Gina to reply, Liu Ying stood up and ran in the direction of the Machine Revolutio Tower, leaving a smiling-wryly Gina behind.


    " Good luck, Sister Liu Ying."


    For some reason, Gina knew what choice Liu Ying was going to do.


    Liu Ying ran to the Machine Revolutio Tower as quickly as she could.


    Right now, she wanted to see him. She needed to see him. She yearned to listen to his calm voice and feel his warmth.


    When she arrived at the tower, she walked straight to hisb. In the way, several members of the club looked at her strangely when they saw her state, but she did not pay them attention.


    Just before reaching Bloed''sb, she met Regina. The Valkyrie frowned and was about to say something when she saw Liu Ying''s red eyes and determined gaze.


    "What happened?" Regina asked.


    Liu Ying did not reply. Instead, she asked her for a favor.


    " Sister Regina, can you leave me alone with Bloed for today? Please."


    Regina furrowed her brows, but when she saw Liu Ying''s pleading gaze, her eyes softened.


    "It waster than I expected."


    With these words, the Valkyrie walked away.


    Liu Ying smiled softly and bowed to her.


    "Thank you."


    Then, strengthening her determination, she took a deep breath and opened the door of Bloed''sb.


    "Huh? Liu Ying? Wait, why are your eyes red? Were you cry"


    "Bloed."


    Before Bloed could finish his words, Liu Ying jumped towards him and she pressed her lips against his.


    Bloed was stunned and wondered if his girlfriend had drunk something strange. But when he saw the fragile expression on her face, he sighed.


    He knew that something had happened.


    Bloed did not ask her about it. He just hugged her waist tightly and responded to her kiss. That was what she wanted.


    When their lips finally separated, Liu Ying looked at him with a shy expression.


    " Bloed, I love you."


    Bloed became dazed.


    At this moment, Liu Ying seemed so beautiful that he could not look away.


    Soon, their lips met again.


    But this time, it did not end in a single kiss.


    Feeling the intense love of each other, the pair took off their clothes piece by piece and hugged each other as they moved to a nearby sofa.


    Before long, the two of them werepletely naked.


    Soon, the sound of moans filled theb.


    By this point, Bloed had forgottenpletely about his experiments.

 Chapter 499: Advancing to A-Rank Asleep

    Chapter 499: Advancing to A-Rank Asleep


    A few hourster, Bloed was lying on the sofa with Liu Ying on him. He was stroking her hair as she told him about her encounter with Mu Quan.


    After listening to the entire story, Bloed looked at Liu Ying with an amused smile.


    "Silly girl."


    "Ouch! Why did you hit my head!?"


    "To see if your brain is still there, silly." Bloed chuckled and kissed her lips, making her blush.


    "I''m not an idiot." Liu Ying pouted and bit Bloed''s chest, making him hiss in pain and re at Liu Ying.


    When Liu Ying saw his fierce expression, she giggled and licked the bite, before kissing his lips softly.


    " It looks like you think that agreeing to Mu Quan''s proposal is a bad idea. Why is it?"


    "It''s so obvious. Only a foolish girl like you would not notice it. Firstly, how do you know you can trust him. He could be leading you to a trap."


    Liu Ying hesitated and nodded. "I know it, but he doesn''t need to go so far if he wants to harm me, right? Just telling the current demon king about my whereabouts is enough. Plus, I know a bit about the Mu Family. They have indeed been loyal to my family for generations."


    "That is only if he wants to kill you. But what if he has another goal. What if his goal is to make you give birth to a child and then use him to fight for the throne. That way, the Mu family can be the rightful heirs to the throne."


    Liu Ying was stunned. She had not thought about it.


    Bloed sighed when he saw her reaction.


    "That is just one possible reason. There are a lot of reasons why they could be doing this. As for the fact that they have been loyal to your family? Loyalty is something that can change easily, especially if there is something as big as the throne at risk."


    Liu Ying thought about Bloed''s words and nodded.


    But even considering that, it was not enough to state that agreeing to Mu Quan''s suggestion was foolish. After all, it was normal to take some risk if she wanted to aplish something so difficult like avenging her family.


    After voicing her doubts, Bloed rolled his eyes.


    "That is why I told you it''s foolish. Why should you agree to his suggestion when there is a much better option avable?"


    "Huh?"


    "Didn''t I promise to you that I would help you to avenge your family? Liu Ying, with our talent, it''s just a matter of time before we be peak demigods. By then, my [Molecr Disintegration] and your [Silent Touch] would make us unrivaled in the entire world.


    "There is also Regina, who is already extremely strong, and my sister, whose talent is even greater than ours. Will avenging your family be difficult after the four of us be peak demigods? Who will be able to stop us then?"


    "That is"


    "Could it be that you are not confident in our talent? Or is your hatred so strong that you can''t wait a few years to avenge your family?"


    Liu Ying''s expression became dazed. But soon, her eyes became bright, and her expression became firm.


    " It looks like I''m really a foolish girl."


    Bloed stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.


    "It''s good that you understand now. I must thank Mu Quan, though. Thanks to him, I finally managed to eat you whole."


    Liu Ying becamepletely red. Feeling Bloed''s strong arms around her waist and seeing his bright blue eyes staring straight at her, she became shy.


    Now that her passion had cooled down a bit, she was very embarrassed about her actions. She could not believe she took the initiative to have intercourse with Bloed.


    She closed her eyes and hid her face on Bloed''s chest to escape from her embarrassment, making himugh and kiss her head lovingly.


    At that moment, Liu Ying thought that if every day was like this, it would be very nice.


    Hugging Bloed like this made her feel very safe and peaceful.


    Perhaps due to it, Liu Ying soon became sleepy. She had gone through several emotional up and downs today, plus, after that, she ''fought'' with Bloed for several hours, so she was exhausted.


    Feeling the warmth of her lover, Liu Ying fell prey to sleepiness.


    When Bloed realized that Liu Ying had fallen asleep, he smiled softly.


    He stood up carefully and made sure to not wake Liu Ying up, before finding a nket and using it to cover her.


    It was not umon for him to sleep inside theb when he was busy with his experiments, so Regina had prepared a few nkets for him.


    Just after he covered Liu Ying with the nket, he felt a presence behind him.


    In the next second, a pair of slender arms hugged him from behind.


    " Master." Regina breathed on his ear.


    Bloed put on a bitter smile. He did not need to turn around to notice that Regina was frowning right now.


    "Are you jealous?" He asked in an amused tone.


    "A little." Regina did not deny it. "I can''t monopolize master anymore. I admit that I''m feeling a bit upset."


    "Just a bit?"


    " Okay, very upset. But I already epted Liu Ying. I will get used to it after a few days."


    "That is good." Bloed sighed in relief. He would hate it if Regina and Liu Ying don''t get along. "By the way, you were listening to us the entire time, right?"


    "T-That is"


    "I''m not ming you, okay? I just want to ask you what you think about Liu Ying''s situation."


    Regina furrowed her brows. "Does master mean Mu Quan''s intentions?"


    "Yes. I''m worried about it."


    "Unfortunately, I don''t know. But regardless of if he is an enemy or an ally, it''s not good for us."


    "Oh? Why is that?"


    "Right now, the situation of Academy City is very bad. The demons learning about Liu Ying at this point in time will make the mess bigger."


    "My thoughts are the same." Bloed sighed with aplicated expression. "It looks like leaving Liu Ying in the city is not an option. We can''t give the demons an excuse to wage war against Academy City."


    "Master, do you mean?"


    "Yes, we are taking Liu Ying with us."


    Just at that moment, the pair felt a disturbance in the mana nearby.


    Surprised, the pair looked in Liu Ying''s direction, only to see a vortex of mana forming around her.


    The pair of master and servant looked at each other with stunned expressions.


    "This girl"


    Liu Ying had advanced to A-Rank while sleeping.

 Chapter 500: Leaving Academy City (1)

    Chapter 500: Leaving Academy City (1)


    Five hundred, hurray~!


    Wish me luck so I can finish it...


    Also, Fourth Prince''s chaptersing next week.


    ...


    The next morning, Bloed, Liu Ying, Regina, and the rest of the group were in the training room of the tower.


    They were testing Liu Ying''s abilities after her surprising breakthrough the previous day.


    Liu Ying used the tools in the training room to test her mana, her strength, her explosive speed, and her endurance.


    As result, the group saw that Liu Ying''s abilities received an all-around upgrade.


    Her control over mana had be smoother, her physical capabilities had gone up one level, and her aspect could release greater strength than before.


    Even her mastery over [Silent Touch] had increased by a bit.


    Now that she had advanced to A-Rank, Liu Ying''sbat ability was twice as strong as before the breakthrough.


    Moreover, her strength would continue increasing during the next few days as Liu Ying familiarized herself with the changes in her body.


    "Impressive." Eres could not help but mutter. "Right now, Liu Ying should be strong enough to cause me a bit of trouble."


    Bloed nodded. That was big praiseing from Eres.


    You must understand that Eres was the greatest genius that Bloed had ever seen. Even though she was a middle-stage A-Rank practitioner, if she went all out, her strength could rival demigods.


    If someone like her says that Liu Ying will cause her trouble if they fight, it meant a lot.


    "But Liu Ying sure is lucky. I can''t believe that she broke through while sleeping." Little Gina spoke with a tone of envy. She and the other girls had heard from Bloed about how Liu Ying broke through, making them speechless.


    Of course, Bloed did not tell them that her breakthrough was after having sex with him, otherwise, he could imagine little Gina (And perhaps Princess Elwha) attacking him at night with the excuse of wanting to breakthrough.


    When Liu Ying finished testing her improvement after the breakthrough, she walked towards Bloed and the others.


    "How is it?" Bloed asked.


    "Great. I feel a lot stronger than before." Liu Ying grinned with an excited expression. "Perhaps, I can defeat you if we fight now, Bloed."


    Bloed rolled his eyes. "Don''t get cocky."


    "Should we try? Don''t worry, I''ll go easy on you."


    "Yeah yeah,ter perhaps. Before that, you should give Liu Liu and your gloves to me."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "I need to recalibrate them. Now that you are at A-Rank, you can supply them more energy, so after some adjustments, they will be stronger."


    Liu Liu was Liu Ying''s metallic pet, a ho ferret. It was like Bloed''s Tito, an armor made by him to enhance the abilities of the user.


    As for her gloves, they were called [Framover] and were made by Bloed as well. They were customized to use [Silent Touch] and allowed Liu Ying to release stronger attacks with the same mana.


    Bloed maintained and upgraded them regrly as his mechanical abilities and the strength of Liu Ying increased. Now that Liu Ying had be an A-Rank practitioner, it was a good time to upgrade them again.


    Just at that moment, the system of the tower told Bloed that someone was looking for him.


    Startled, Bloed used his mind to look through the security of the tower and saw a beautiful woman at the entrance.


    "Headmistress Wave?" Bloed was surprised.


    He quickly allowed her inside. The headmistress then followed a nearby robot''s instructions and was led towards the training floor.


    "Teacher, did anything happen?" Bloed asked when he saw the dragon headmistress''s solemn expression.


    "I brought some news. Let''s talk."


    Five minutester, the group was gathered in Bloed''s office. Bloed made sure that nobody could eavesdrop on their conversation before looking at the dragon headmistress.


    "Okay, can you now tell us what happened?" He asked with a frown.


    "Last night, men of three different churches arrived at the city."


    The group was stunned. They looked at each other with grave expressions.


    There was only a reason why they arrived at Academy City at this point in time.


    The Heart of the Forest.


    "So fast?" Princess Elwha was confused. "The news about the Heart of the Forest appeared just two days ago."


    "That is how much they care about it." The expression of Headmistress Wave wasplicated. "Even if they are not sure that the news is true, it''s enough to make them send men to the city. And they are just the first batch. I got information that another five churches sent men to the city as well. They should arrive tonight or tomorrow.


    "In fact, today I discovered a lot of people trying to spy on my movements. I had to sneak out of the library toe here."


    Bloed''s expression was solemn.


    It seemed that they needed to bring their departure towards the Boerner Forest forward.


    Taking a deep breath, Bloed looked at Regina, Liu Ying, Princess Elwha, and Eres.


    "Get ready, we will depart this afternoon."


    The girls were stunned.


    "So soon. Is it not too hurried, my hero?" Little Gina asked in concern.


    Bloed smiled wryly. "It is. However, the Heart of the Forest can''t remain in the city any longer. Otherwise, if the location of the Heart is revealed, the city will turn into a pandemonium."


    "Sorry about it, Bloed. I know that this trip is dangerous." Headmistress Wave sighed. "Don''t worry, I will find a way to distract the churches as much as I can. That way, your trip to the Boerner Forest will be a bit easier."


    "Thank you, headmistress." Bloed nodded.


    Just like Headmistress Wave said, this trip to the Boerner Forest was going to be very dangerous. In the worst-case scenery, they could face gods.


    But the Heart of the Forest was a crucial part of Bleod''s n. They could not afford to lose it. Bloed must make this trip.


    In fact, there was an easier way to transport the Heart to the Boerner Forest.


    If Regina transported the Heart by herself and used her maximum speed to travel towards the forest, she would need just a few days to go and return.


    Moreover, because she doesn''t use mana, the gods would have a hard time detecting her.


    But there was a problem with this n.


    It meant that Regina could not protect Bloed while she was transporting the Heart.


    For Regina, that was uneptable. Nothing was more important to her than Bloed''s safety.


    ''In the end, I have to do this trip myself, huh.'' Bloed sighed inside his mind. ''I hope everything goes smoothly.''


    However, Bloed knew that it was impossible.


    Saintess Charise had already prophesized that this trip would be fraught with dangers.


    Bloed could only hope that they were strong enough to take care of any danger they had to face.

 Chapter 501: Leaving Academy City (2)

    Chapter 501: Leaving Academy City (2)


    That afternoon, five people left Academy City.


    They were five humans, four girls, and one boy. The five of them hadmon features and ck hair and ck eyes. They seemed like normal students of Academy City.


    These five people were Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Princess Elwha, and Eres in disguise.


    They had dyed their hair ck and used nano masks created by Bloed to change their features. Right now, they were as unassuming as possible.


    After all, a groupposed of a human princess, an elf princess, a demon princess, an exiled prince, and a beautiful Valkyrie was extremely eye-catching. If they dared to use their original identities to travel towards the Boerner Forest, they would be discovered before they could leave Academy City.


    This disguise helped them to resolve this problem. Plus, Bloed''s high-tech nano masks were almost undetectable. Unless it was an extremely powerful being, it was almost impossible to see through their disguise.


    The group left the city as quietly as possible. Only a limited number of people knew that they had left the city, and their departure did not attract any attention.


    After the group left the surroundings of Academy City, Bloed took his metallic wolf, Leto, out of his storage device. The group then boarded Leto as the wolf took flight.


    Thanks to the increase of Bloed''s strength and his growing mastery over technology, Leto''s flight ability had been greatly boosted. Right now, it could fly at high speed for as long as three hours every day. It allowed the group to decrease the amount of time needed to reach the forest greatly.


    ording to Bloed''s calctions, if they followed the route nned when they were in Academy City, they would arrive at the Boerner Forest in around half a month.


    Of course, there was a faster way to travel. If Regina did not mind using her abilities to carry them and flew at high speed, they could arrive at the Boerner Forest in six or seven days.


    But it would consume a lot of Regina''s strength to do that, and if they were intercepted in the middle of the way, the Valkyrie would not be in top condition.


    In the end, the group opted for using this slower but safer way of travel.


    Around four hours after the group left Academy City, the group arrived at a city called Uerna.


    It was a big city located one thousand kilometers away from Academy City. ording to the n, it was the first stop of the group.


    When Leto was a couple of kilometers away from the city, it descended to the ground. The group jumped off it before Bloed put it back inside his storage device.


    "Let''s go. We will spend the night here."


    The girls nodded.


    The group did not have any trouble entering the city. They decided to search for a hotel to spend the night in and continue with the travel the next day.


    "How many rooms?" The receptionist asked with a smile.


    "Three rooms, please," Bloed replied. They had already talked about it before, Regina and him would sleep in a room, Liu Ying and Princess Elwha in another room, and Eres would sleep alone.


    Actually, the group did not need to sleep inside a hotel. Among Bloed''s belongings, there was a ''portable house'' equipped with everything from rooms to a kitchen. Bloed used it when he left the Exiled Lands.


    However, they decided to sleep inside the most important cities in the way. This way, they could recollect information about the development of the situation.


    Just at that moment, a group of seven people entered the hotel.


    Bloed''s group instinctively looked towards them. Immediately, Bloed''s expression changed.


    ''People of the Church of the Sun God.''


    Bloed recognized them instantly.


    Moreover, Bloed knew one of them.


    The man in the front was one of the demigods of the Church of the Sun God that showed during the battle for the mines in the Great Savannah.


    Bloed quickly turned his expression back to normal before the group of church members could notice anything.


    But all of sudden, the demigod of the Church of the Sun God looked towards them.


    More specifically, he stared at Regina and narrowed his eyes.


    One of the members of his group noticed it and furrowed his brows.


    "Cardinal, is anything wrong?"


    " Nothing. I just thought that she was familiar, but I was mistaken."


    "Is it so?" The man looked towards Regina before looking away in disinterest.


    Bloed and the others took advantage of this opportunity to leave for their rooms. In the way, Bloed talked to Regina through their mental connection.


    [Did he recognize you?]


    [He didn''t. But perhaps he found my aura familiar. It should not be a problem.]


    [That is good.] Bloed sighed in relief. [The situation is worse than we thought. This is the seventh religious group that we met today.]


    On the way to the city and after entering the city, Bloed''s group had seen seven religious groups going towards Academy City, and every one of them belonged to a different church.


    The situation right now was like a powder keg. It could explode with the slightest spark. Bloed could imagine that if the location of the Heart of the Forest was revealed, these churches would fight to the death for it.


    Moreover, they would not hesitate to kill them.


    In other words, these seven churches were potential enemies.


    And it was just the start. More churches were going to send people to search for the Heart of the Forest soon. The situation would be worse as the days passed.


    ''We will be in a lot of trouble if we are discovered.''

 Chapter 502: The Church of the Sun God’s Crazy Plan (1)

    Chapter 502: The Church of the Sun God¡¯s Crazy n (1)


    After checking their rooms, the group gathered in Bloed''s room to discuss the situation.


    Their main topic was the high number of churches sending men to Academy City.


    ''It''s higher than expected.'' Bloed thought to himself.


    He had underestimated the attraction that the Heart of the Forest had to deities.


    Even when he knew that deities coveted the Heart of the Forest, he also knew that some deities did not care about it that much, such as the Goddess of Fate or the Moonlight Goddess.


    However, what Bloed did not expect was that these goddesses were not the rule, but the exception.


    Almost every god desired to get that item. Only a few gods such as the Goddess of Fate did not care about it.


    "us, will Academy City be alright? What if the gods be angry when they fail to find the Heart of the Forest." Liu Ying asked worriedly.


    Bloed hesitated. The truth was that he was also concerned about it.


    After hesitating for a moment, he decided tomunicate his concerns to the Headmistress.


    Before leaving Academy City, Bloed had left amunicator to Headmistress Wave and another to Little Gina. That way, he could know what happened in the city and at the same time, he could talk to them if the situation changed.


    A few minutester, Headmistress Wave''s projection appeared from a small device on Bloed''s hand.


    [My cute student, could it be that you already miss me? You have only been gone for a few hours.]


    "Now is not the time for jokes, teacher." Bloed smiled wryly. "I need to ask you something." Bloed then told Headmistress Wave about his concerns.


    But to his surprise, the Headmistress was calm.


    [I see. Don''t worry, the gods don''t dare to go too far on my territory.]


    "Huh?"


    [Do you know who my grandfather is?]


    Bloed was stunned. However, Eres and Elwha opened their eyes wide in excitement.


    "Are you talking about the Dragon Overlord!? The rumor is right!?" Elwha was unable to hide her agitation.


    Bloed froze.


    " Do you mean that the Strongest Dragon is your grandfather?" He asked in disbelief.


    Wave grinned.


    [It''s an open secret. Yes, my grandfather is one of the world''s three Irregrs, the Dragon Overlord.]


    Bloed was stupefied.


    The Dragon Overlord was a legendary character. He was the strongest dragon, and one of the world''s only three Irregrs.


    He was not a god, but he was as strong as one. In fact, he had fought several gods in his life, and he had never lost.


    Such an existence was equivalent to the Human Confederation''s Beyond SSS-Grade ESPers.


    ording to Bloed''s knowledge, existences at that level had the potential to destroy the world!


    "Wait a moment." Bloed suddenly frowned. "If your grandfather is the Dragon Overlord, then why is Academy City in danger. Are the four races not afraid of attacking the city of the granddaughter of the Dragon Overlord?"


    [Why should they be afraid?] Wave smiled bitterly, her caramel-colored eyes bing downcast. [It doesn''t matter as long as they don''t kill me. Grandfather can''t leave the Beasts'' Wilderness easily due to an agreement he made with the gods. Even if Academy City is destroyed, he won''t intervene.


    [Even so, the churches don''t dare to act rashly. They are afraid of earning the enmity of my grandfather. Due to that, the churches won''t act recklessly. At least for a while, they won''t take forceful measures.


    [Plus, if I realize that I''m unable to control the situation, I will just reveal that the Heart of the Forest is no longer in Academy City. By then, the churches won''t dare to touch the city without a good reason.]


    "That is good." Bloed sighed in relief. "It looks like I don''t need to worry about Academy City."


    [You need to worry about yourself instead. If the news about your location and that you are transporting the Heart of the Forest leak out, you will be in a dangerous situation.]


    "I know. Don''t worry, I will be careful."


    After that, Bloed asked the Headmistress a couple of things more before ending themunication.


    "It looks like the situation in Academy City is under control." Bloed smiled at the girls. "Now we only need to worry about our trip."


    "About that, Bloed." Elwha suddenly frowned. "I think things are not so simple."


    "What do you mean?"


    " I''m not sure, but I think that I felt a strange fluctuation in one of the men of the Church of the Sun."


    Bloed and the others were startled.


    "What kind of fluctuation?" Eres asked.


    "I''m not sure. However, you know that I''m the Priestess of one of the Great Trees. I felt that this fluctuation is simr to my connection to the Great Tree."


    Bloed''s eyes narrowed. At the same time, the expressions of Liu Ying and Eres changed.


    "It can''t be." Liu Ying''s face was pale. "They can''t be that crazy, right?"


    Bloed did not reply. Instead, he looked at Regina.


    "Regina, do you think you can eavesdrop on the group of the Church of the Sun God."


    "Of course, master."


    "Be careful to not be discovered."


    "Understood."


    After bowing slightly, Regina left the room.


    She then used her physic energy to scan the entire hotel. Because she did not want to be discovered, she was very careful, spreading her psychic energy inch by inch slowly.


    After thirty seconds, she found a ce where the concentration of energy was much higher than normal, and her eyes shed.


    "Found it."


    Having found the location, Regina took out an artifact able to bend the light around her to make her invisible and activated it. She then manipted the energy around her, hiding any trace that could give her away.


    When she reached the rooms where the men of the Church of the Sun God were staying, Regina used her senses to find the location of the demigod that they saw in the hall of the hotel.


    She did not take long to find him. She then tried to use her enhanced senses to listen to the sounds in the room he was staying in.


    But to her surprise, no sound wasing from that room.


    "Could he be asleep? No, my enhanced senses should be able to catch the sound of his breathing. Then Is he using a technique to soundproof the room?"


    Regina knew that this world had some techniques like that. However, that was not enough to stop her.


    "I just need to bypass that technique," Regina said before closing her eyes and extending her psychic energy towards the room as stealthily as possible.


    Eventually, her psychic energy found an obstruction.


    A mana barrier.


    But instead of stopping, Regina blended her psychic power with the mana barrier.


    In less than five seconds, her psychic energy had taken the property of the mana barrier and mixed in it. Astonishingly, the mana barrier did not show the slightest change during the process!


    It was due to Regina''s ESP ability, [S-Grade Energy Materialization].


    Energy Materialization was a weaker variant of the ESP ability, Energy Maniption. Compared to Energy Maniption, Energy Materialization was way less flexible. There was a limit to the way Regina could use it.


    But even so, it was a variant of Energy Maniption. If Regina tried, it was not impossible to manipte energy in moreplex ways.


    Something like changing the property of her psychic energy to fuse it with a mana barrier was a piece of cake.


    When her psychic energy fused with the mana barrier, it allowed Regina to listen to the conversation inside the room.


    In the next instant, the voice of the demigod they met in the hall reached her ears.

 Chapter 503: The Church of the Sun God’s Crazy Plan (2)

    Chapter 503: The Church of the Sun God¡¯s Crazy n (2)


    The first thing Regina heard after she fused her psychic energy with the mana barrier was the voice of the demigod they met in the hall.


    "Is it really alright?" He asked.


    "Do you doubt the words of our Lord?" Another voice replied. It belonged to one of the men that came with the demigod. "As his servants, it''s our duty to make his wille true."


    "I know, but we are going against the treaty of the gods. The other gods won''t stay silent."


    "It doesn''t matter as long as our lord gets what he wants. Our Lord will take care of the problems with the other gods. The most important thing is to get the Heart of the Forest."


    The demigod sighed. "Very well. When are you going to perform the ritual?"


    "As soon as we learn the location of the Heart of the Forest. At that moment, I will receive the will of our Lord in my body."


    "Understood."


    After that, the two men in the room conversed about some other topics before they stopped talking.


    When Regina confirmed that she was not going to learn anything else, she retrieved her psychic energy and returned to Bloed''s room.


    She then told Bloed and the others about what she heard.


    The expressions of the group immediately became grave.


    "As expected, it''s God''s Descend."


    "To think that the Sun God would go this far."


    Eres and Liu Ying furrowed their brows.


    Bloed was also frowning. If the Sun God was preparing to descend into the body of one of his believers, it was bad news.


    It meant that they could have to face a god.


    At that moment, Bloed realized that Elwha was pale.


    The elf princess seemed like she had seen a ghost. She was shivering, and her face had been drained of color.


    "Elwha! Are you alright!?" Bloed hurriedly grabbed her hand.


    The elf princess forced out a smile and nodded, but through their mental connection, Bloed felt that she was terrified.


    She seemed like she had remembered a terrible nightmare.


    '' Right, she has a trauma rted to gods descending.''


    Bloed remembered what Elwha told him about the day when the elven delegation was intercepted by the Church of ughter.


    Back then, they were betrayed by one of their demigods, and after that, ughter itself descended into the body of one of his believers, sealing the fate of the elves in the delegation.


    If the Goddess of Fate would have not rescued her, Elwha would have died that day.


    Bloed sighed. He then hugged her softly until the elf princess calmed down.


    A few minutester, the elf princess left Bloed''s hug with an almost unnoticeable blush on her face.


    " Sorry about that. I just remembered something painful."


    The rest of the group looked at her in sympathy. The terror of being threatened by a god was not something that any of them had experienced.


    "Anyway, does any of you know anything about God''s Descend?" Bloed asked. Now that there was the possibility of the Sun God descending, they needed to prepare in case they needed to face him.


    Unfortunately, nobody in the group was knowledgeable about gods.


    Elwha was an elf, and the elves did not have gods. Eres was the Princess of the Kingdom of Alterna, but the Kingdom forbid religions from spreading on its grounds. Liu Ying, on the other hand, was exiled when she was a child, so she did not know much about the gods either.


    However, they knew that God''s Descend was not easy to perform. When a god descended into the body of a believer, it always resulted in the believer dying soon after that. Even a demigod was destined to die if a god descended into him.


    There were only a few exceptions to this rule, one of them being Charise. She had a rare talent called [Soul Vessel] that allowed her to receive the will of her goddess for a short time without fatal consequences.


    Bloed thought for a moment and decided that they needed more information. He contacted little Gina and then asked her to contact Eve.


    A few minutester, the projection of the Ex-Saintess of Moonlight Glow appeared from the device on Bloed''s hand.


    [Do you need my help?] Eve asked with her usual expressionless look.


    Bloed nodded. "Yes. What do you know about God''s Descend?"


    [ Why are you asking about that?]


    Bloed then told her about the possibility of the Sun God descending.


    Eve''s expression immediately became sharp.


    [ The Sun God is nning to descend? Is he crazy?]


    "Is there something we can do in that situation?" Bloed asked.


    Eve furrowed her brows deep into thought. She then looked at Bloed with a serious look.


    [Run.]


    Bloed''s expression changed.


    "Is it hopeless?"


    [ If the Sun God descends in the body of a normal believer, you still have a chance to fight him. But if he descends in the body of a demigod, then your only option is to run.]


    " How strong will he be?"


    [The Sun God is a very powerful god, so even if he can''t use his entire strength after he descends, he will be much stronger than any demigod. Only other gods or an Irregr can face him.]


    "Is there no way to stop him?"


    [Unless you can break his link to his believer, your only option is to run.]


    "Wait, break the link to the believer?"


    [ That is the only method I can think of. However, I don''t know if something like that is possible.]


    "I see." Bloed nodded with a pensive expression.


    Seeing that, Eve furrowed her brows.


    [You better not try it. It won''t work. Bloed, how much you know about gods?]


    " I don''t know much, actually. I only know that they are stronger than demigods, but I''m not clear about the rest."


    [Mm. I see. I will tell you what I know then. Perhaps it can help you.]


    Bloed was startled before smiling.


    "Thank you. I owe you one."


    [ Just treat Aya well.] With these words, Eve started to tell him what she knew about gods.

 Chapter 504: About Gods and Irregulars

    Chapter 504: About Gods and Irregrs


    Hey guys, Aidka''s here!


    As you know, I have resumed both [Science/Magic] and [Hey, Why Are My Skills so Weird!?]. My n is to continue writing from here onwards without stopping.


    The schedule will be five weekly chapters of both series during this month while I get used to writing again. From next month, the schedule will be ording to the earnings on ******* just like before.


    About Fourth Prince, the novel already ended on my *******, but I think I have not finished posting it on the free channels. I should start updating it tomorrow or the day after, and I will also post on ******* some extra chapters I have done.


    Thank you for your continuous support, and I hope you can continue supporting me from here onwards. If you like and don''t mind paying a few bucks, support me on my P@tre*n /aidnovels). You can read up to twenty extra chapters of every series there, and at the same time, you support me and motivate me to continue writing. It really helps.


    With love, Aidka...~


    ...


    In this world, mana was everywhere.


    It was a very gentle kind of energy that could be found from the air to the ground. Animal, nts, and even rocks had mana.


    It blessed the world with vitality and allowed living beings to be stronger.


    But there was a limit to how strong a living being could be through mana.


    It was slightly different from species to species, but the highest limit was the same for the sentient races.


    The third level of Demigod, Apotheosis.


    When you reached the limit of this level, advancing further through absorbing mana became impossible.


    No matter how much mana you absorbed, your mana pool did not increase. That was the maximum amount of mana that the body could absorb.


    But many demigods were not satisfied with it.


    They thought that there was a way to continue bing stronger. And eventually, someone found it.


    Bing a god.


    If living beings at the limit of Apotheosis managed to use a ''concept'' to gain the recognition of the world, they could fuse with that concept, shed their mortal body, and transform into a god.


    That was like the first gods appeared.


    As a god, the concept of lifespan does not exist. In theory, gods share the lifespan of the world.


    But soon, the gods found a problem.


    Fusing with a concept meant bing the concept itself and being able to influence it. The God of Fire was the world''s fire, the god of light was the world''s light, and the god of the night was the world''s night.


    But just like they influenced the concept, the concept influenced them too.


    The gods called this phenomenon ''erosion''.


    This erosion slowly erased the god''s consciousness. It assimted the consciousness with the concept until the sense of self disappeared, a process that was not different from death.


    There was only a way to fight this process, strengthening the soul.


    A stronger soul could resist the erosion for longer.


    There were several ways the gods could strengthen their souls.


    One of them was bing stronger. As the gods be stronger, the strength of their souls increases as well.


    Another way was gathering faith. Faith could nurture the soul, slowly strengthening it. It could also increase the strength of the gods, strengthening the soul a second time.


    Thest method was to use external means to strengthen the soul, such as the Heart of the Forest.


    But these methods could only dy the inevitable. No matter how strong the soul of a god was, sooner orter, it would sumb to the erosion.


    No god had managed to escape that fate yet.


    But the gods'' problems did not end there.


    Despite their titles as gods, they were greatly restricted when they used their abilities. They could not use their abilities as freely as demigods.


    It was because every god was chosen by the world, therefore, they needed to follow the world''s will. Technically, they were the guardians of the world.


    And the world will not allow its guardians to harm it.


    Due to it, if the actions of a god brought any kind of harm to the world, that god would face a bacsh from the world.


    Even harming an insect was enough to cause a bacsh.


    Of course, the bacsh of harming an insect was negligible, the same as the bacsh of killing one or two people. It barely affected the gods.


    But even the weakest bacsh elerated the erosion. And if the bacsh was strong enough, the god could be directly assimted by their concept.


    It was due to this reason that many gods considered godhood as a ''prison'' and wanted to escape from it.


    After all, there was another way to surpass the demigod level besides bing a god.


    Bing an Irregr.


    The first Irregrs appeared muchter than the first gods. They relied on themselves to surpass the limits, creating a path when there was no longer a path and reaching a levelparable to gods.


    But unlike gods, Irregrs did not have any limitations.


    They could wield their powers freely, and they did not need to worry about erosion.


    On the other hand, bing an Irregr was much harder than bing a god. Even now, there were only three known Irregrs in the entire world.


    Moreover, even if you forged your own path and became an Irregr, it did not guarantee an increase in your lifespan. Some Irregrs didn''t live longer than regr demigods.


    Likewise, there was a chance that your path would increase your lifespan greatly.


    Just like the Great Elven Queen, one of the world''s three Irregrs. She had lived for over five hundred years now and still kept a youthful appearance.


    Eve told Bloed all this information, helping Bloed to understand more about the kind of existence that gods and Irregrs were.


    "What about the treaty of the gods?" Bloed asked.


    [It''s an agreement that the gods made to not interfere with the world unless it''s necessary. It''s to avoid conflicts between gods. After all, if two gods fight, the destruction caused by their battle will elerate their erosion greatly.


    [This agreement also binds the three Irregrs, although they sometimes don''t care about it.]


    Bloed nodded in understanding.


    ''In other words, the gods are not free to act personally unless they don''t mind dying sooner.''


    Afterward, Eve told Bloed some other bits of information about the gods, including information about faith and the method to be a god.


    She hoped that this information could help Bloed if he met the Sun God, although she did not know how useful it could be.


    But in fact, this information helped Bloed a lot.


    Thanks to it, he managed to get an idea of what to do if they ended up facing against the Sun God.


    [I will tell my goddess about the Sun God''s ns. She could help. After all, descending personally goes against the Treaty of the Gods.] Eve said when she finished her exnation. [However, I''m not sure how useful it will be.]


    "Thank you. Again, I owe you one."


    [Just don''t let Aya down.] Eve stared at me expressionlessly. [Be careful, Bloed. Gods are very powerful. Facing a god is not a good idea.]


    "Don''t worry. With a bit of luck, everything will go smoothly, and we won''t be discovered while transporting the Heart of the Forest."


    [I hope so.]


    Meanwhile, in Academy City.


    A student entered inside an office where a middle-aged man was seated reading a book.


    "Teacher, I brought news about what you asked me to do."


    The student said respectfully.


    "What happened?" The middle-aged man asked without moving his gaze away from the book.


    "The person observing Machine Revolutio confirmed that Bloed Norman is not in the tower. He can''t feel the energy fluctuations of some of the other members of the club either."


    "Oh?" The middle-aged man finally looked at the student. "Do you know where they went?"


    "No. Our men searched the entire city, but they failed to find any traces of them."


    "Does it mean that they are not in the city?"


    "Most likely. But we didn''t receive news of them leaving the city, so they probably disguised themselves before leaving."


    "Interesting." The middle-aged man nodded. "You can leave."


    "Understood."


    After the student left, the middle-aged man curved the corners of his lip up.


    "So they left, huh. What a shame, I could have used this opportunity to eliminate Academy City.


    "Well, I guess I will have to be satisfied with making the gods fight."


    He then looked in the direction of the Boerner Forest and his face broke into a yful but bloodthirsty smile.


    "It''s not so easy to escape from me, boy." He chuckled


    He seemed like a cat toying with a mouse.

 Chapter 505: Experimenting with Faith

    Chapter 505: Experimenting with Faith


    The next morning, the group left the city and continued on their way.


    They used Leto to fly part of the way, and when Leto''s energy was exhausted, they moved on foot.


    Following the n they made in Academy City, they moved while avoiding meeting with other people. The fewer people they met during the way, the lesser the chance of their purpose being discovered.


    The trip was rather boring, especially when they were flying on Leto. At first, the girls found the sight from Leto''s back fresh and entertaining, but eventually, they became tired of it.


    Thus, the group tried to find things to do to pass the time. Liu Ying decided to use her free time to get used to her abilities after the breakthrough, Princess Elwha was training the technique that Regina taught her, [Soul Severing de], and Eres asionally sparred with them or with Regina.


    Regina and Bloed, on the other hand, were experimenting with possible countermeasures just in case the Sun God descended.


    However, their experiment was not going that well.


    Right now, Bloed had his eyes closed as he tried to self-hypnotize into believing in the Goddess of Fate.


    He was in a state of meditation, repeating to himself the words ''I believe in the Goddess of Fate'', and ''I''m grateful for her help, her grace, and her mercy''.


    His goal was to try to produce faith towards the goddess.


    However, it was not easy.


    After almost one hour like that, Bloed opened his eyes and sighed.


    "How was it?" He asked Regina.


    The Valkyrie shook her head. "Nothing. I did not register any change in your psychic energy."


    "I thought so." Bloed smiled wryly and sighed in resignation.


    His purpose with this experiment was to develop faith towards a god, however, it was much harder than he expected.


    Due to Cami''s teachings inside the spaceship and his knowledge about science, Bloed had a hard time believing in ''gods''.


    Even though he knew that gods were real in this world, he found it hard to hold a feeling of ''worship'' towards these gods.


    His critical and scientific mind told him that these gods were just stronger living beings and that there was no need to worship them.


    Due to it, no matter how much he tried, he could not ''produce faith'' towards them.


    Not even the Goddess of Fate, who had helped and shown favor towards him several times, could make him generate a feeling of worship. He was grateful, but he could not see her as a higher being.


    "This is just the first step of the experiment, but we are already stuck. How frustrating" Bloed sighed.


    "Should we find someone else?" Regina asked while looking in Liu Ying, Elwha, and Eres''s direction.


    Bloed thought for a moment and looked at Liu Ying.


    "Liu Ying, can youe here for a second?"


    "Huh? What is it?"


    "Do you believe in any god?"


    The demon girl furrowed her brows before shaking her head.


    "No god helped my family when it was destroyed. Why should I believe in them?"


    Bloed was helpless. He then looked at Elwha and Eres, but in the end, he did not bother to ask them.


    Elves did not believe in gods, and Eres was the princess of a kingdom that disliked gods. He was sure that neither of them believed in any god either.


    "I guess we can only continue trying, huh."


    The goal of this experiment was to determine the nature of faith.


    During his chat with Eve, she had told them that faith was a two-way connection between god and believers. The faith of the believers empowered the god, and the god''s power cleansed the believers'' souls, making them healthier and increasing their attunement to the god''s concept.


    The stronger the faith, the stronger the connection to the god, and in some cases, this connection could allow the believers to borrow the powers of the god, albeit partially.


    That was the origin of divine arts.


    However, why did faith have that ability? What was faith in the first ce?


    Bloed had the theory that faith was a kind of energy rted to the soul, like psychic energy.


    He was not certain, though. That was why he thought about this experiment.


    His goal was to generate a bit of this ''faith energy'' and then find a way to interfere with it through Regina''s ESP ability, [Energy Materialization]. This way, perhaps they could find a way to stop a god''s descent.


    But Bloed never thought that he would face a wall just after starting the experiment.


    "It''s so hard..." Bloed groaned and started the process of self-hypnosis again.


    Perhaps it was because the Goddess of Fate was helping him(?), but after three days, Bloed finally managed to generate a bit of ''faith''.


    The faith he generated was almost negligible (about 100 Joules of energy). Even a potato could produce many times that energy, but to Bloed, these 100 Joules of Faith Energy almost made him cry.


    He could finally continue with the next step of the experiment.


    Just like that, the group''s leisure trip continued.


    But about five days after they left Academy City, they met something odd.


    While they were flying on Leto, the group saw smokeing from a small vige in the distance.


    Bloed and the others looked at each other in doubt. Driven by curiosity, Bloed sent one of his pets, Oculus, to check on the situation in the vige.


    But when the images of the vige were transmitted to Bloed''s sight, his expression could not help but change.


    Dead bodies, destroyed houses, torn limbs, and blood; a lot of blood.


    That was everything that remained from the vige.


    The scene was so horrifying that a normal person would have vomited after seeing that.


    The entire vige had been exterminated.


    ...


    Guys, if you like the story, support me on P4TRE0N! It helps me and motivates me a lot...


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 Chapter 506: The Magic Beasts’ Strange Behavior

    Chapter 506: The Magic Beasts¡¯ Strange Behavior


    One chapter of Fourth Prince was posted just now...


    ...


    "They died yesterday, and they were killed by magic beasts," Regina said after she observed the remains of the victims. "Most likely, a group of magic beasts attacked the vige and killed everybody in it. Perhaps a wolf pack?"


    "It wasn''t a wolf pack." Princess Elwha shook her head. "Look at this, this is the footprint of a horse, or perhaps a bull. And this one belongs to a lizard. Also, you can see feathers right there. They probably belonged to a flying magic beast."


    "In other words, they were attacked by a group of different magic beasts?" Eres asked, and Elwha nodded. "I think so."


    Bloed fell deep into thought. He ordered Oculus to fly around the vige to see if he could find traces of the monsters, but the eye in the sky found nothing noteworthy.


    That was normal, though. The attack had happened yesterday. The beasts had enough time to leave.


    But


    "Why did these beasts attack this vige?" Liu Ying asked the question that was in Bloed''s mind.


    The group looked at each other with pensive expressions. Eventually, Bloed voiced his guess.


    "Something or someone wasmanding them." He said with a heavy expression.


    Elwha nodded. "Magic beasts generally don''t cooperate with other species unless a powerful beast ismanding them. Perhaps a demigod-level magic beast?"


    "There is another possibility," Bloed''s face was solemn. "Returning Dusk."


    Regina and Liu Ying''s faces hardened.


    They remembered what happened in Calice City, just after they left the Exiled Lands.


    Back then, Calice City was attacked by a horde of beasts.


    And these beasts were being controlled by Returning Dusk.


    That was their first confrontation with Returning Dusk.


    When Bloed told Elwha and Eres about his guess, the expressions of the two girls turned serious.


    "Do you think that they are behind it?" Eres asked.


    "It''s possible." Bloed nodded. "However, I''m not certain."


    "What are we going to do then?" Elwha asked, and the rest of the group looked at Bloed.


    Bloed furrowed his brows and thought about the situation. Eventually, he heaved a sigh.


    "For now, nothing."


    "Huh?"


    "Our goal is to transport the Heart of the Forest. We don''t have the leisure to get involved in anything else."


    The girls nodded, agreeing with Bloed''s opinion.


    Thus, the group decided to ignore the destroyed vige and continue in their way.


    But soon, they became unable to ignore it.


    Just a few hours after finding the first destroyed vige, they found another. Then, they found another, and another, and another.


    When the night arrived, they had found over ten destroyed viges, making the group''s expressions ugly.


    But it was just the start. The situation worsened in the following days. As they advanced, they met more and more destroyed viges. Once, they even saw a group of magic beasts devouring the corpses of a caravan that they had just eradicated.


    Not just that, the number of magic beasts in the surroundings increased greatly, forcing the group to be more careful with their movements to avoid meeting them.


    Even though most of the magic beasts weren''t that powerful, Bloed wanted to avoid fighting them if it was possible. He was afraid of the fluctuations of the battle attracting more magic beasts, or perhaps the men of one of the churches.


    If thetter happened, the men of the churches could discover that the group was carrying the Heart of the Forest.


    But as the situation worsened, it became harder and harder to avoid the magic beasts.


    Several times, they were close to being discovered.


    "I have a bad feeling about this." Liu Ying''s brows were furrowed. "I feel like these beasts are blocking our way."


    Bloed said nothing, but he was thinking the same as Liu Ying.


    ... For some reason, he had been feeling uneasy since they learned about the beasts.


    It was a strange feeling, as though something evil and wicked was targeting him. He felt like he was dancing in the palm of someone''s hand.


    Eventually, Bloed decided that they could not continue like this.


    "Regina, where is the closest city?"


    " Armero City is fifty kilometers away. It''s bordering the Sun Kingdom."


    "Good. Let''s go there. Perhaps someone there can tell us something about what is happening."


    Regina, Liu Ying, and the others nodded. They then changed their course towards Armero City.


    But when they arrived, they noticed that the situation was more serious than they expected.


    The city was very well guarded, filled with soldiers on the walls and the entrance.


    The soldiers were looking towards the nearby forest with tense and wary expressions. Some of them showed signs of fear.


    There were traces of battle all over the walls and the city gates, as well as bodies of dead magic beasts and humans that had not been carried away yet.


    " The city was attacked as well," Eres murmured.


    Bloed nodded. Fortunately, it seemed like the city''s defenses were enough to repel the beasts, but even so, the situation was still serious.


    Judging from the expressions of the guards, the beasts had not given up yet.


    "Bloed, how are we going to enter the city?" Liu Ying asked at that moment. "The guards are not letting people inside."


    Bloed followed Liu Ying''s gaze and looked in the direction of the city gates.


    Just like Liu Ying said, the guards were not letting people inside in. There were around one hundred people waiting outside the walls to enter the city, most of them refugees, but the guards refused to let them in.


    asionally, some important-looking people or rich-looking merchants were allowed to pass, but nobody else was given permission to enter.


    "What should we do, Bloed?" Elwha asked.


    "I guess we need to find another way to enter." Bloed sighed. "Regina, can you do it?"


    "Understood, master."


    A few minutester, the five of them flew over the walls and entered the city without being discovered.


    The atmosphere inside the city was tense and downcast. It was filled with an air of grief and fear.


    asionally, Bloed and the others saw people crying, most likely because one of their loved ones was killed by a beast.


    The city guards were patrolling the city with grave expressions. Just like the guards in the walls, they were tense and nervous.


    Bloed looked around and spoke to the girls.


    " Let''s find a ce to stay the night and to collect information."


    ....


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 Chapter 507: I Found You

    Chapter 507: I Found You


    Half an hourter, the group found a nice-looking inn to stay the night. The price of the inn was rather expensive due to the situation, but it was nothing to them.


    Afterward, they followed the instructions of the innkeeper and arrived at a tavern where they could buy information.


    Bloed asked the girls to wait for him outside and entered the tavern alone. Following the innkeeper''s instructions, he approached the counter and asked for a cup of beer.


    "Anything else?" The bartender asked after giving him the beer.


    Bloed did not even look at the low-quality beer. He just took out a gold coin from his pocket and put it on the counter.


    "I need to know something."


    The bartender stared at him for several seconds before keeping the coin.


    "Do ask."


    "About the magic beasts attacking the city, what can you tell me?"


    "Mm How much do you know?"


    "I only know that they have attacked several nearby settlements," Bloed said.


    The bartender nodded and grabbed a rag to wipe a cup.


    "That is the gist of it, but the situation is a bit more serious than that."


    "Exin."


    "ording to my sources, the magic beasts have attacked every settlement in one thousand miles from here. Several countries have been affected by the attacks, and thousands of people have been killed including a demigod."


    Bloed was stunned.


    "Is it that serious?"


    "I was surprised as well. It''s no longer at the level of a normal beast wave. It''s as though the magic beasts would have be crazy.


    "Fortunately, not many demigod-level magic beasts have participated in the attack. Otherwise, perhaps even some big cities would have fallen."


    "I see Do you know what the reason behind the beast wave is?"


    "I don''t." The bartender shook his head. "I heard that it could be due to a powerful magic beast ordering the smaller magic beast, but it''s not certain.


    "You should not worry too much, though. A friend told me that the demigods in the nearby kingdoms n to take action soon. With a bit of luck, this situation will be settled in a couple of days or weeks. Anything else you want to know?"


    Bloed thought for a moment and nodded.


    "I saw a lot of men from different churches in the city. Why is that?"


    "Oh, that. Well, there is a rumor that a Heart of the Forest appeared in Academy City. Do you know what a Heart of the Forest is? It''s a treasure that can increase a god''s lifespan or something like that. Anyway, a lot of religious orders are going to Academy City to find the Heart."


    Bloed listened to the bartender to see if he could learn any new information, but he already knew everything the bartender told him.


    He asked a couple of questions further, but he did not get any new information.


    Bloed was not disappointed though. He was already expecting this.


    "Thank you very much. Your information was very useful."


    "I''m at your service. Will you not drink the beer? I don''t want to brag, but it''s pretty good."


    "No, thank you. I don''t drink."


    "So you are of that kind, huh. Well, I don''t care. A piece of advice before you leave, boy. Be careful about the men of the churches. It''s better if you avoid interacting with them. Some of these people are zealots that don''t care what means they use to follow the will of their god."


    Bloed was startled before nodding. "Thank you."


    He then left without touching the beer.


    Once outside, the girls immediately asked him what information he got.


    He told them everything he learned, making the girls frown.


    " It''s very suspicious." Eres opined. "Bloed, something definitively is wrong."


    Bloed agreed with her. It was too coincidental that a beast wave of this scale happened when they were transporting the Heart of the Forest.


    The problem was that Bloed could not understand the purpose of this beast wave.


    If the goal of this beast wave was to find them, it seemed like a very sloppy n unless the beasts could recognize them.


    ''I''m missing something. There is something that I''m not seeing. But what was it?''


    Bloed did not know, but he could feel his uneasiness growing day by day.


    It was as though his instincts were warning him of the imminent danger, and the worst part was that Bloed did not know what to do to avoid it.


    He felt as though a rope was slowly tightening around his neck.


    Just at that moment, amotion came from the walls.


    "The monsters areing!" A soldier shouted from the north wall.


    Almost immediately, the city fell into chaos. The passersby quickly rushed back to their homes, leaving aside whatever they were doing and locking their doors as the soldiers in the city rushed towards the walls.


    The beggars found ces to hide, and the merchants closed their stores. In seconds, the city had be empty.


    A few minutester, the sound of battle and explosions came from the city walls. Bloed could see the light of spells being shot from the walls towards the monsters outside.


    But for some reason, the feeling of uneasiness in his chest suddenly became stronger.


    "Something is wrong" He furrowed his brows.


    All of sudden, a cry of fear came from the walls.


    "D-Demigod!" A panicking soldier shouted.


    In the next second, a loud roar resounded through the entire city.


    Then, a beam of light hit the city gates, creating an explosion that blew the gates away!


    "The city has been breached!"


    "Cover the entrance! Don''t let the beasts enter!"


    "Mages! Aim to the demigod beast!"


    The city''s soldiers tried to control the situation, however, they were not prepared to face a demigod.


    Another roar sounded, and the second beam of light reduced dozens of soldiers to ashes.


    Just like that, the city defenses were breached.


    Then, a horde of beasts entered through the city gates and rushed towards the nearby houses, killing everything in their path.


    Cries of fear, pain, and despair reached Bloed''s ears. In seconds, the north of the city had been turned into hell on earth.


    Through his blue eyes, Bloed saw the figure of the demigod-level beast responsible for destroying the gates entering the city.


    It was a two-meter-tall wolf-like creature with silver fur and blue eyes. It walked inside the city calmly, like a conqueror unting its might.


    Feeling Bloed''s gaze, the beast looked towards him.


    Then, it stiffened.


    In the next instant, its mouth curved into a grin.


    [I found you.] A voice sounded in Bloed''s mind.


    Bloed felt a shiver of terror running through his spine.


    ...


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 Chapter 508: Bad News After Bad News

    Chapter 508: Bad News After Bad News


    [I found you.] The wolf grinned, and its voice sounded in Bloed''s mind.


    The next second, the monsters that had invaded the city stopped in their steps and turned their necks towards Bloed''s at the same time.


    Countless eyes fell in Bloed''s group as the monsters stared at them intently.


    "W-W-What?" Liu Ying stuttered in panic. "W-What is happening?"


    Bloed felt a shiver of terror running through his spine.


    " We need to escape," Bloed muttered with a solemn expression.


    "Bloed?"


    "We need to escape! Now! Regina, take us out of the city!"


    Regina nodded immediately and wrapped the group in a bubble of energy.


    She then flew up and brought them outside the city.


    By this point, the rest of the group had realized that something was wrong. Although they did not hear the voice of the wolf, the strange behavior of the monsters was clear.


    But that was just the start.


    As soon as Regina took flight, the wolf''s eyes narrowed.


    Then, it let out a loud roar.


    *ROAAAARRRR!!!*


    Immediately, the monsters attacking the city rushed towards Bloed and the others.


    Thousands of monsters rushed towards them like a flood of fangs and ws.


    [Leave the Heart of the Forest behind!] The wolf bellowed.


    The expressions of Bloed and the others changed.


    "Regina, we need to get as far from this city as possible! Hurry!"


    "Understood."


    "Bloed! How does it know that we have the Heart!?" Princess Elwha asked in a panic, but Bloed did not know the answer.


    He still could not understand what had just happened.


    He was sure that the wolf knew who he was, but how?


    He had never met it. Moreover, he was using a disguise now, and his disguise was close to wless.


    "Master, look at the energying from the wolf," Regina spoke up at that moment.


    Bloed was startled. Frowning, he focused his gaze on the wolf''s energy.


    Soon, his bright blue eyes noticed a particr kind of energying from it.


    " Faith." Bloed spat out that word.


    Regina nodded.


    "And it feels simr to the demigods of the Church of ughter I fought before."


    Bloed''s expression became ugly.


    The situation had taken a turn for the worst.


    "Wait a moment. Do you mean that ughter is possessing that wolf?"


    "God''s descent?"


    Liu Ying asked in disbelief and Eres frowned.


    Princess Elwha thought for a moment and shook her head. "I don''t think it''s god''s descent but something like an oracle. Most likely, the god sent a wisp of his consciousness with information about us to the wolf. That is how it recognized us."


    "Not just that wolf." Bloed''s face was stern. "I hope I''m wrong, but I think that all the monsters that are attacking the human settlements are being influenced by ughter."


    The eyes of Liu Ying, Eres, and Princess Elwha opened wide.


    "Do you mean?"


    "Yes. ughter must have influenced them to attack the nearby human settlements just to find us."


    Liu Ying, Eres, and Elwha looked at each other in disbelief.


    They could not believe that a god had gone as far as to cause thousands of deaths just to find them.


    "He is crazy" Liu Ying muttered.


    Bloed agreedpletely.


    At that moment, Regina frowned.


    "How troublesome." She muttered while looking behind her.


    Thanks to her very fast speed, she had left most of the monsters behind. However, the wolf was still chasing after them.


    "Should we kill it?" Eres suggested.


    Bloed thought for a moment and nodded.


    "Regina. Do it."


    "Understood."


    The Valkyrie did not hesitate. She stopped flying and put the group on the ground. She then turned around to face the wolf.


    [Are you not running anymore?] The wolf asked with a growl. [Where is the Heart of the Forest. If you give it to me, I promise to give you a quick death.]


    "Just you?" Regina''s voice was cold. "You are not worthy."


    In the next instant, an enormous amount of energy was released from her body.


    The energy was so overwhelming that it made the air tremble.


    The wolf''s eyes opened wide in astonishment. Then, the astonishment turned into fear.


    It did not feel any powerful manaing from Bloed''s group before, so it thought that they were not that strong. But now, it finally realized that its enemies were much stronger than it thought.


    Just Regina''s energy was several times stronger than its mana.


    Without any hesitation, the wolf turned around and fled.


    Regina''s eyes became colder.


    "Do you really think that you can escape?"


    With a thought, a greatsword appeared above her head. Regina grabbed it with her right hand before shing in the wolf''s direction.


    In the next instant, the sword became several times longer, cutting everything in its path.


    Before the wolf could react, a sh of energy cut the forest into two, then, its body was divided into two halves.


    Just like that, a demigod was killed.


    "Done, master."


    Bloed nodded at Regina before looking at the rest of the group.


    "I will change the appearance of our masks. Also, we need to leave this ce immediately. The wolf shouted about the Heart of the Forest in the middle of the city. I fear that news about it will spread soon."


    Liu Ying and the others nodded, but right at that moment, themunicator in Bloed''s wrist shed.


    Startled, Bloed looked down, only to see that it was a call from Headmistress Wave.


    Bloed and the girls looked at each other with solemn expressions.


    "I have a bad feeling about this." Liu Ying said.


    Bloed took a deep breath and answered the call.


    "Teacher, what is wrong?"


    [Bloed, tell me that you are not near Armero City.]


    "What happened?"


    [ I just got a piece of news. The Heart of the Forest appeared in Armero.]


    "... Fuck." Bloed cursed.


    [So it''s true, huh.] Headmistress Wave''s expression became grave. [Bloed, you must leave that ce immediately. Get as far from there as possible before the churches find you.]


    Bloed nodded.


    But just then, Regina spoke to him.


    "It''s toote, master."


    Before Bloed could understand Regina''s meaning, his expression changed.


    From the distance, he felt several powerful auras approaching.


    And among them, there were at least four demigods.


    ....


    Support me on P4TRE0N to read up to 20 chapters ahead...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 509: Regina’s Decision

    Chapter 509: Regina¡¯s Decision


    The expressions of Bloed and the others became solemn. They could feel several powerful auras approaching, including the auras of four demigods.


    They would reach them in just a few seconds.


    "Teacher, I''ll call youter." He told to Headmistress Wave.


    [Wait a moment, what happened?]


    "I''ll exin it to youter," Bloed said and cut off themunication.


    He then looked at Regina.


    "Can you take care of them?"


    "I can." Regina nodded calmly. "But you should hide, master. I''m not one hundred percent confident about protecting you in the process."


    "Okay."


    Bloed then brought Leto and the girls to the ground and activated a tool that granted them optical camouge.


    This way, the demigods would have trouble finding them unless they searched carefully.


    Just after that, the first demigod appeared. A man with a sword on his waist.


    He frowned when he saw Regina floating in the air and stopped in front of her.


    The other three demigods arrived a few secondster. Surrounding Regina from all directions.


    Judging from their clothes, they belonged to four different churches.


    "Who are you?" The first demigods asked, but Regina ignored him. She just looked at the people surrounding her with an expressionless look.


    "I asked who are you." The demigod asked again with a stern tone. "Is the Heart of the Forest in your hands?"


    "What if it is?" Regina finally spoke.


    "Then you should leave it behind. That is not something that someone like you can have."


    "Is it so?" Regina''s lips curved up slightly. "Does the rest of you think the same?" She asked the other three demigods.


    They did not reply, but the solemn expressions on their faces were enough of an answer.


    Regina nodded as her face returned to her previous expressionless look. At the same time, an energy de appeared on her right hand.


    The expressions of the demigods tightened.


    " It looks like you n to fight us. How foolish."


    "Cut the crap. Your existence is interfering with my master''s n. That is enough reason to kill you."


    "Arrogant!" The first demigod shouted, then, he drew his sword.


    In the instant he drew his sword, it shot forward, shing towards Regina at a speed imperceptible to the real eye.


    It was a well-known sword art known as Quickdraw, but in the hands of this demigod, this sword art was brought to a whole new level.


    It was over ten times faster than the speed of sound!


    But


    *ng!*


    With an indifferent expression, Regina blocked it with her energy de.


    The eyes of the demigod opened wide, but at that moment, Regina spun her body.


    A second energy de appeared on her left hand. It cut towards the demigod at an extreme speed, forcing him to retreat to avoid it.


    But suddenly, he realized that the sword had be muchrger. It was going to cut him into two!


    ''This!''


    The demigod changed his expression and hurriedly used his sword to block the attack, however, the strength behind the attack flung him several meters away.


    Regina was about to chase after him, but at that moment, a magic circle appeared above her head.


    Her body immediately became heavier, and the air around her seemed to be solid, halting her movements.


    Looking to her right, she saw a female demigod staring at her with a solemn expression.


    Regina snorted. She then released a storm of energy that shattered the magic circle.


    Under the surprised eyes of the mage, she next used her energy des to break the restrictions around her before charging toward the mage.


    But at that moment, another demigod appeared in her path, using a shield to block her attack.


    At the same time, the fourth demigod appeared behind her, aiming ance at her nape.


    Regina narrowed her eyes, but she did not stop.


    "Out of my way!" She shouted, using her energy des to sh against the shield.


    *Bam!*


    The power behind her attack was so strong that the shield-holding demigod was sent flying several meters away.


    At the same time, a barrier of energy appeared behind her, blocking the spear.


    Regina then continued towards the mage fearlessly.


    The mage''s eyes shrank, but she did not panic. With a gesture, several barriers appeared right in front of her, blocking Regina''s way.


    But to her surprise, the barriers were cut by the energy des like they were paper.


    Even so, it gave her enough time to cast a new spell. Before Regina''s des could reach her, her figure disappeared, appearing one hundred meters away.


    Teleportation.


    Regina frowned. She wanted to chase after her, but the first demigod had already recovered and wasing towards her again together with the shield-holding demigod and the demigod using ance.


    "Surrender! You are not our match!" The first demigod stated coldly.


    Regina''s mouth curved up with a yful smile.


    "Really?"


    And energy erupted out of her body.


    Countless energy weapons appeared around her, making the eyes of the four demigods be wide.


    Then, the weapons flew towards them.


    The demigods hurriedly defended, but using that opportunity, Regina made her next move.


    The energying from her turned into a huge that spread one kilometer around her.


    Then, the energy tightened, suppressing the four demigods simultaneously.


    The demigods became pale. They struggled and tried to escape from the, but it was impossible without at least a couple of seconds.


    Even when the mage tried to teleport, the interfered with her spell, making it useless.


    Regina grinned. Like an angel of punishment, she held her energy des and walked toward them.


    "Anyst words?" She asked.


    "Who are you?" The demigod holding the shield asked.


    "You don''t need to know. Now die." Regina replied and swung her des with an indifferent expression.


    But suddenly, Bloed''s voice sounded in her mind.


    [Regina, don''t kill them.]


    Regina frowned, but she epted her master''s order and adjusted the power behind her attack, injuring them greatly but without killing them.


    The three demigods fell to the ground unconscious.


    Just then, Regina looked towards the horizon.


    " More demigods." She muttered.


    Bloed''s heavy voice sounded in her mind. [How many?]


    "Three. But there are more behind them."


    Bloed fell silent.


    His worst fear had be reality. Now that their location was revealed, the demigods of the churches were flocking toward them.


    At this rate, it would be impossible to escape.


    But at that moment, Regina spoke.


    "Master, my mission is to protect you, and to support you in whatever you want to do."


    [Huh? Regina, do you have a n?]


    The Valkyrie did not reply. Instead, she extended her hand towards Leto, making it float towards her with Bloed and the others on it.


    "Leto, turn into a sphere."


    "Regina, wait!"


    Bloed''s expression changed, but Regina had made up her mind.


    After ordering Leto to turn into a sphere with Bloed and the others inside, she put her energy on it before shooting it towards the horizon.


    "Go first, master. I will distract them."


    [Regina!]


    "Don''t worry, I don''t n to die. Be careful master. And if you are in danger, tell me. I will fly towards you immediately."


    Bloed did not reply immediately.


    Only a couple of secondster, a sigh sounder in her mind.


    [Be careful, okay?]


    "I know."


    [Also, try not to kill anyone. As long as you don''t kill anyone, there will be space to negotiate.]


    "Understood, master."


    Regina nodded. She then looked towards the demigods that had appeared in her sight.


    Without any hesitation, she flew away in a different direction than Bloed and the others, and the demigods chased after her.


    ...


    Remember to support me on P4TRE0N if you like the story :)


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 510: The Great Elven Queen

    Chapter 510: The Great Elven Queen


    At the same time when the news about the location of the Heart of the Forest spread.


    In a certain forest, a woman was seated on the crown of a giant tree.


    The woman was not a human, but a beautiful elf; and the tree was not a normal tree, but a Great Tree.


    In fact, this was the oldest great tree in the world. The original great tree, and the origin of the following great trees.


    The elf was seated on the crown of the tree with her eyes closed, and she seemed asleep. Her face had a peaceful and gentle expression, like an otherworldly fairy.


    Strangely, her breathing seemed to resonate with the rhythm of the tree as it swayed with the wind.


    It was as though the woman was the tree, and the tree was her.


    Just at that moment, a male elf approached the tree.


    The elf kneeled before the tree and lowered his head respectfully before speaking.


    "Greetings to you, Your Grace."


    [ Do speak.] An ethereal voice came with the wind.


    Strangely, the voice seemed toe from the tree instead of the woman. In fact, the woman was still asleep.


    "We received a piece of news just now. A Heart of the Forest has appeared."


    [A heart of the forest? Are you sure?]


    "Yes. ording to our sources, the heart was originally in the hands of the elves from the Boerner Forest. However, they lost it in certain circumstances before they managed to locate it again. Now, they are trying to transport it to the Boerner Forest, however, the news about the Heart was leaked out."


    The elf then exined to the woman all the information he got.


    The tree seemed to sigh after that.


    [ I see. It looks like the situation is a bitplicated. Sigh, why did the kids of the Boerner Forest did not tell me about the heart? It would have not been so troublesome then.]


    " They most likely wanted the Heart of the Forest for themselves."


    The woman sighed again. [I thought so.]


    To elves, Hearts of the Forest were very precious treasures. They could greatly improve their war potential, increase their territory, and strengthen their economy.


    It was a strategic resource.


    But just like humans, elves were notpletely united.


    They were divided into forests. Each forest was a kind of elven country, with a different ruler and slightly different customs.


    This woman had a high status among the elves, but she was not part of the Boerner Forest. It was normal that the elves of the Boerner Forest didn''t tell her about the Heart.


    However, that decision ended upplicating everything.


    If she would have known about the Heart from the start, ughter wouldn''t have dared to snatch it.


    [Well, it''s not toote yet.]


    In the next instant, the woman opened her eyes.


    The wind blew, and the trees swayed; even the sunlight seemed brighter than before.


    It was as though the world itself was happy to see the woman awake.


    "Tell me the location of the Heart." The woman''s clear voice reached the elf''s ears, making him dazed.


    But he quickly snapped out of his daze with a fluster and told the woman the location of the Heart.


    "The people holding it were seen in Armero City."


    "Perfect." The woman nodded. She then took a step forward, and her body disappeared.


    In an instant, she left the forest, appearing dozens of kilometers away.


    By this point, her gentle and ethereal aura had disappearedpletely, being reced by a cold and sharp feeling.


    She seemed like a goddess of war marching towards the battlefield, ready to kill even gods if they dared to stop her.


    Because she was someone that even gods feared.


    One of the world''s three Irregrs.


    "The Great Elven Queen." A man''s voice suddenly sounded.


    "Come out!" The queen stopped abruptly and bellowed, making the world tremble.


    A secondter, a man appeared in front of her.


    Strangely, the appearance of the man was fuzzy, as though something was stopping the Great Elven Queen from seeing it.


    The eyes of the elven queen shrank violently.


    "Zero." She spat out that name with a wary expression.


    "Long time no see you, Your Grace." He said indifferently.


    "What are you doing here?" She asked as mana surrounded her. Every particle of mana in a dozen of kilometers gathered around her, creating a violent vortex of mana able to destroy everything in kilometers around her.


    But even after witnessing such a fearsome disy of power, Zero remained indifferent.


    "I''m here to stop you, of course." He replied.


    The eyes of the Elven Queen narrowed.


    " I see. So this is your doing, huh."


    "You can think so."


    "What are you nning, Zero?"


    "You don''t need to know that. You only need to know that I won''t allow you to interfere unless you are ready to fight me. However, just a Heart of the Forest should not be enough to make me your enemy, right?"


    The expression of the elven queen became solemn.


    She stared at Zero fixedly, and the vortex of mana became bigger and bigger. She seemed like she was about to attack him.


    But one secondter, the mana around her quietened down and returned to normal.


    She then turned around and teleported back to the Great Tree.


    "Leave. I don''t want to see you in the territory of the elves." Her voice reached Zero''s ears.


    He nodded calmly and turned around.


    "Very well."


    One secondter, his figure disappeared.


    The Great Elven Queen returned to the Original Great Tree and sat on the crown of the tree again. She then closed her eyes and went back to sleep.


    However, her mind was filled with waves and storms.


    She was the Great Elven Queen, one of the world''s three Irregrs, and someone that dared to face even gods fearlessly.


    But even then, she was not confident about surviving if she fought Zero.


    ...


    Remember to support me on /aidnovels

 Chapter 511: Prelude to Danger

    Chapter 511: Prelude to Danger


    "Bloed, is Regina going to be alright?" Liu Ying asked worriedly.


    Bloed nodded. "Don''t worry, Regina is not so easy to defeat. Plus, I told her that if she is in danger, she must surrender and we will give up the Heart."


    Liu Ying became slightly relieved after hearing that, but she did not know that despite his words, Bloed was very worried inwardly.


    Even though everything he said to Liu Ying was true, he knew that it did not mean that Regina wasn''t in danger. She was facing several demigods. Nobody could be sure about what could happen.


    He had ordered Regina to avoid killing as much as possible. That way, there will be room for negotiation even if she is cornered. But it only reduced the danger slightly.


    ''I just hope that nothing bad happens.''


    Bloed knew that to Regina, his safety and his needs were above everything. If one day, she needed to sacrifice her life to save him, she would do it without any hesitation.


    That was why Regina decided to serve as bait to attract the attention of the demigods, and even then, she made sure to keep a distance of no longer than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Bloed. That way, she only needed a couple of minutes to arrive at Bloed''s location if he was in danger.


    But likewise, Regina was Bloed''s most important person. He had feelings for Liu Ying, Aya, and even Elwha, but the one he loved the most was Regina.


    If something happened to her, he would be crazy.


    ''What am I thinking? Nothing will happen''


    Bloed closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. He then started to analyze the situation.


    Regina''s n was very effective. With her attracting the attention of the demigods that came for the Heart of the Forest, the danger that Bloed and the girls faced was much lower.


    However, this n had a small w.


    ''The Church of ughter.''


    The Church of ughter most likely knew that Regina was apanied by Bloed, Liu Ying, Elwha, and Eres. If they revealed that information, then the other demigods would notice the possibility of Regina acting as bait.


    Thus, after they separated from Regina, Bloedmunicated with Headmistress Wave and asked her to tell him if more news about the situation were released. At the same time, he and the girls continued advancing towards the Boerner Forest.


    But even after one hour, the Church of ughter revealed nothing.


    That made Bloed sigh in relief.


    At the same time, it gave him a lot of information.


    ''For some reason, the Church of ughter decided to reveal the truth about the Heart of the Forest. Most likely, they want to achieve something through it.


    ''But they still want to get the Heart if they can, so they did not reveal everything. It means that their goal is not directly rted to the Heart. Instead, it''s something different.


    ''But, what is it?''


    Bloed thought for a while, but he did not manage to reach an answer.


    He had too little information to reach a conclusion.


    Just at that moment, Eres''s face became solemn.


    "Bloed. We need to hide. Now!"


    Bloed did not hesitate. He ordered Leto to stop advancing and activated the optical camouge.


    Twenty secondster, they felt a powerful presence approaching their location.


    A magic beast at the demigod level.


    It was a tiger-like creature walking slowly through the forest as though it was searching for something.


    It was obvious that their target was Bloed''s group.


    Bloed and the girls became nervous, but fortunately, the beast did not manage to find their hiding ce. Even its sense of smell failed in front of Bloed''s advanced technology.


    But this encounter made the group tense.


    After the tiger left, Bloed deactivated the camouge and furrowed his brows.


    "We need to be careful to avoid any magic beast or ughter can find us."


    The girls looked at each other before Eres and Elwha offered to use their abilities.


    "I''ll try to use my senses to detect the magic beast nearby."


    "I canmunicate with the nearby nts so they can warn me in advance if any beast is approaching."


    Bloed agreed. He also summoned Oculus to watch their surroundings and find any beast that could discover them.


    Even so, they needed to be careful.


    Fortunately, it seemed like ughter could not influence small insects. Otherwise, they would have been discovered long ago.


    Bloed guessed that ughter could only manipte creatures with a certain amount of mana. Creatures that did not satisfy that requirement could not be used.


    But despite that, the number of creatures at ughter''s disposal was overwhelming.


    If any of them discovered Bloed''s group, it was very likely that they would be attacked by creatures from all directions.


    The group continued advancing. During the way, they met several more magic beasts, including another two beasts at the demigod level. Every time, they were very careful to not be discovered.


    It seemed likedy luck finally was on their side as they managed to remain undiscovered. Even Regina was in a good condition. She had fought another two groups of demigods, but both times she finished the battle uninjured.


    Right now, she was being chased by a group made of three demigods, but she had managed to ditch them.


    Bloed sighed in relief. He hoped that the situation could continue like this for the rest of the trip.


    However, the situation was just about to turn for the worst.


    Bloed did not notice, but from a while ago, a small insect had been observing their movements silently.


    At the same time, a group of people arrived at the ce where Regina faced the first group of demigods.


    The person leading the group observed the traces of the battle and narrowed his eyes.


    "It looks like the person holding the Heart of the Forest is stronger than we expected."


    "Does it matter?" A robed figure behind him snorted. "No matter how strong he is, he must kneel once our lord descents."


    "You are right." The leader nodded and proceeded to follow Regina''s tracks.


    In his white robe, there was the image of a resplendent golden sun.


    ....


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 512: He Again

    Chapter 512: He Again


    This is the fifth chapter ofst week. Another chaptering tonight...


    ...


    "We should rest here," Bloed said while looking at the setting sun. "We will continue moving tomorrow."


    Liu Ying, Eres, and Elwha nodded. The group then got ready to camp using the portable home that Bloed carried in his storage device and activated the optical camouge to avoid being found by the magic beasts.


    Because the situation was not suitable to cook, they opted to eat preserved food that they had prepared for the trip. It was not as good as recently-cooked food, but it was good enough.


    When it was time to sleep, the group decided to take turns to keep watch, just in case something happened.


    Eres took the first shift, followed by Liu Ying, Elwha, and finally Bloed.


    However, Bloed could not fall asleep.


    " Are you worried about Regina?" A voice came from beside him.


    Bloed turned around only to see Liu Ying snuggling on him.


    "A bit." He said while hugging his demon girlfriend. "She told me that she is alright, but even so, I can''t help but be worried."


    "Nothing will happen to her. Regina is strong after all. I can''t imagine someone defeating her." Liu Ying said with a smirk.


    Bloed smiled and nodded, but inwardly, he was still worried.


    He knew that although Regina was strong, this world was not short of people stronger than her. Any of the gods could put her in a difficult situation.


    Plus, he had an uneasy feeling in his chest, as though something bad was about to happen.


    This feeling did not disappear when they were discovered by the beast but continued bing stronger. Bloed was certain that the greatest danger had not arrived yet.


    He even considered throwing away the Heart and leaving this ce, but the heart was too important for his ns. He did not want to do that unless there were no more options.


    At that moment, Liu Ying put a hand on his cheek and turned his face towards her.


    "Don''t worry, if something happens, we will be here to help you."


    "Thank you," Bloed said and kissed his girlfriend briefly. "Now sleep. Your shift is next."


    Liu Ying nodded and snuggled closer to Bloed before falling asleep.


    Listening to the soft breathing of the beautiful demon girl, Bloed also fell asleep.


    A whileter, he felt someone shaking him.


    Bloed opened his eyes only to see Princess Elwha looking at him.


    "Is it my turn?" Bloed asked.


    The elf princess nodded.


    Bloed yawned and stood up while being careful to not wake up the demon girl hugging him.


    "Hey, Bloed." Princess Elwha suddenly called his name.


    Bloed was startled and looked towards her, only to see a heavy expression on her face.


    " Bloed, If If the situation turns dangerous, just give up the heart. You don''t need to worry about me. I don''t want to see you guys injured due to it."


    Bloed smiled wryly.


    "Are you worried about that? Don''t worry, I know what to do."


    Elwha looked at him and sighed with a relieved expression on her face.


    The truth was that she was afraid. She was afraid of Bloed and the others dying to protect the Heart.


    She had already gone through that once, she did not want to go through it again.


    Bloed was the man she loved, and Regina, Liu Ying, and Eres were her friends. If they died because of the heart, Elwha would not be able to forgive herself.


    Understanding her thoughts, Bloed grabbed her hand.


    Next, he caressed her beautiful white hair and looked straight into her silver eyes before kissing her lips.


    "Don''t worry, nothing will happen to us. We will bring the Heart to the Boerner Forest sessfully."


    Elwha forced out a smile and nodded.


    Bloed then talked to her for a while until she fell asleep.


    When he was sure that she was asleep, Bloed shook his head with a wry smile.


    "Liu Yingforted me, and Iforted Elwha. We sure are troublesome lovers."


    He then focused on keeping watch until dawn.


    Even though he was keeping watch, it was mostly Oculus who was doing the work. He just sat down in a meditative position and closed his eyes to train his psychic energy and asionally analyzed the images that Oculus sent to him.


    But less than one hour after he started his shift, he heard someone approaching him.


    Opening his eyes, he saw that it was his sister, Eres.


    She was looking towards a part of the forest with a frown on her face.


    Bloed immediately got a bad feeling.


    "Sister, what is wrong?"


    " I don''t know. It''s just that I got a bad presentment while I was asleep."


    Bloed furrowed his brows. He immediately checked with Oculus to see if any beast had approached, however, he noticed nothing wrong.


    However, instead of feeling relieved, he felt strangely uneasy.


    '' Now that I think about it, no beast has approached this ce in a while. That is strange.''


    The beasts should be searching for them, but he had not seen any since he started his shift.


    He did not think much of that before, but now, he realized that it was weird.


    At that moment, Eres''s gaze sharpened.


    The ck-haired girl suddenly kicked the ground, rushing towards the forest at full speed.


    Before Bloed could understand what was happening, she attacked a tree.


    *Bam!!!*


    The tree broke instantly, but before it fell to the ground, Bloed saw something jumping from it to another tree.


    A small mantis-like insect no longer than a palm.


    Bloed''s pupils shrunk.


    Because when he observed the insect with his blue eyes, he noticed that its mana fluctuations were equivalent to a B-Rank practitioner.


    " A magic beast." Bloed spat out.


    Liu Ying and Elwha left the portable house after hearing themotion. They were about to ask what was happening, but all of sudden, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching.


    The group immediately looked in the direction of the footsteps, only to see a familiar average-looking man walking towards them.


    "Long time no see you. It looks like you discovered my little pet."


    The man talked to them with a smile on his face. He seemed like apletely normal person, but his shadow was anything but normal.


    It was squirming creepily, as though there were countless creatures living in it that were waiting to be released.


    Bloed''s eyes became cold.


    "You again."


    "Yes, it''s me." The man chuckled.


    He was the Saint of the Church of ughter.


    ....


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 513: Two Battlefields

    Chapter 513: Two Battlefields


    The Saint of the Church of ughter stood in front of Bloed and the girls, he looked at them with a gentle smile that did not carry the slightest killing intent.


    However, the shadows squirming violently below him exuded so much malice that a normal person would have be crazy straight away.


    "Saint of the Church of ughter," Bloed growled. "As expected, your church was behind this."


    "You have something that is ours. We only want it back."


    "The Heart is not yours! It belongs to my people!" Elwha growled angrily.


    "Really? I was sure it was ours, though. Well, it doesn''t matter. Even if the Heart is not ours, it''s going to be ours soon enough."


    "In your dreams!"


    "Calm down, Elwha." Bloed held the elf princess''s arm to help her to calm down. At the same time, he used Oculus to observe the surroundings.


    He already expected it, but the Saint of ughter did note alone.


    After he showed himself, dozens of magic beasts appeared in Oculus''s range, surrounding Bloed''s group.


    The weakest of these beasts was at the B-Rank, with several A-Rank magic beasts and two that had reached the demigod realm.


    It was a terrifying lineup.


    "You really overestimate us. To bring so many monsters just for us."


    "No, no, no, I don''t dare to underestimate you." The Saint of ughter spoke with exaggerated gestures. "I already suffered a loss twice after underestimating you. I won''t make the same mistake again."


    "Is it so?" Bloed narrowed his eyes. At the same time, hemunicated with Regina.


    The situation seemed hopeless, but if they could endure until Regina arrived, then the situation would be turned around.


    But at that moment, Regina''s solemn voice sounded in his mind.


    [Master, I have a small problem here.]


    ''Hmm?''


    [The Church of the Sun God appeared, and the Sun God performed god''s descent. He is in front of me.]


    Bloed''s expression changed.


    "It looks like you already got the news." The Saint of ughter''s smile became bigger. "I told you, I won''t make the same mistake again. That woman was the main reason I failed the previous two times, so this time, I waited until the Sun God appeared just to make sure that she can''te to help you."


    " You really think highly of us," Bloed spoke calmly, but his mind was moving at full speed trying to think of a n.


    He knew that this was one of the biggest crises he had faced.


    But the Saint of ughter did not n to give him time to think.


    "Give me the Heart, boy. If you do, I promise to give you a painless death." He said in an ice-cold tone


    Bloed did not reply and instead looked at Liu Ying, Eres, and Elwha.


    Using his gaze, he asked for their opinion.


    The three girls nodded.


    Their meaning was clear.


    They were going to fight.


    Bloed took a deep breath to calm down, then, he stared at the Saint of ughter indifferently.


    "If you want the Heart, thene and get it."


    The lips of the Saint of ughter curved up into a grin.


    "dly."


    In the next instant, the shadows below him surged up.


    At the same time, countless monsters charged toward Bloed''s group.


    Regina''s expression was ugly.


    She was floating in the sky with countless energy weapons surrounding her. A pair of energy wings had appeared on her back, and her body was covered in a translucid suit of armor.


    It was her Valkyrie armament, [Krigsrustning].


    Right now, she was in her strongest state.


    But despite that, she was not sure she could win against the man in front of her.


    [Give me the Heart, or die.] The man said, and his voice seemed to resound in her mind.


    Regina could not see his features, only mes. His entire body was covered in blinding mes that burned everything around him.


    He was the Sun God.


    And now, he was the obstacle stopping her from protecting her master.


    "I already told you, I don''t have the Heart."


    [I don''t believe you.] The ming man spoke indifferently. [And even if you don''t have it, you should know where it is.]


    Regina furrowed her brows. The Sun God was right.


    However, there was no way she was going to tell him the location of the Heart. That was where her master was.


    Regina knew that if this man learned that her master was holding the Heart, he would not hesitate to kill him to get it.


    [It looks like you won''t tell me where it is.] The Sun God understood her thoughts and nodded expressionlessly. [Very well, I will have to take your soul out and find the answer myself.]


    With these words, the mes became hotter and brighter.


    It was as though a second sun appeared in the sky. But unlike the warm light of the original sun, this second sun was filled with violent and raging mes.


    [Die.]


    The Sun God spoke, and mes rained on Regina.


    The mes were like a flood that wanted to burn everything. They converged on Regina, incinerating dozens of kilometers of forest in the process.


    But strangely, the Sun God frowned.


    [She was not injured?]


    From the mes, a figure walked out nonchntly.


    She held an energy sword in her hand that she used to cut the mes into two. Then, she pointed it to the Sun God.


    "Move." She spoke coldly.


    [Arrogant mortal.]


    "Move, or I''m going to kill you."


    The Sun God fell silent. But then, he chuckled.


    However, his chuckle was filled with a burning rage that made the atmosphere tremble.


    [It has been a long time since a mortal dared to threaten me.]


    Extending his hand, he summoned a greatsword made of mes.


    Then, he pointed the greatsword at Regina.


    [Fine, show me how you n to kill me.]


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 514: Pure Destruction (1)

    Chapter 514: Pure Destruction (1)


    Tigers, bears, birds, horses, deers, lizards.


    Countless magical beasts of all kinds rushed towards Bloed, Liu Ying, Eres, and Elwha. The magical beasts looked like a flood of monsters seeking to devour Bloed''s group.


    And behind these beasts, the Saint of the Church of ughter was advancing calmly with a rxed smile on his face. He had the confidence of someone who had everything under control.


    "Finish it quickly." He said to the two beasts behind him, a wolf and a monkey.


    Both of them were demigod-level magical beasts, and one of the reasons why the saint was so confident.


    The two beasts nodded and charged towards the battlefield.


    "Brother, I will take care of the wolf. You don''t need to worry about it."


    "... Leave the monkey to me. I can stall it, but not for long. Two minutes at most, and I will be defenseless during that time."


    Bloed nodded at Eres and Elwha. "Two minutes is enough. Don''t worry, I have a n. Liu Ying, you help me to control the other beasts."


    Eres, Elwha, and Liu Ying nodded.


    Eres was the first to charge. Transparent mes surged around her body, burning her mana and increasing her power greatly.


    [Absolute Ignition]!


    Eres did not hesitate to use her greatest trump card from the start. She knew that if she tried to conserve her strength, the most likely result would be a failure and her death or the death of her friends.


    In an instant, she appeared in front of the wolf demigod as her sword d in transparent mes shed down.


    The mes on Eres''s sword made the wolf feel terrified. It instinctively knew that it could not allow the mes to touch him, otherwise, he would die.


    Thus, it leaped aside, evading Eres''s attack as it released several wind des toward the ck-haired princess.


    Meanwhile, Princess Elwha closed her eyes and extended her senses towards the battlefield, quickly locating the soul fluctuations of the demigod monkey.


    "Sleep!" She stated.


    Following her voice, her soul power extended toward the monkey and engulfed its soul.


    It was a technique that she recently learned, called [Dream Immersion]. Through this technique, she could immerse her opponents into a dream and confine them there.


    The requirements on soul power to cast this technique were very heavy, and normally, only demigods could learn it, but Elwha''s soul power was stronger than normal due to the Heart of the Forest, plus, Regina''s training on the [Soul Severing de] also strengthened her soul power, allowing her to barely meet the requirements of this technique.


    Even so, using this technique on a demigod as an A-Rank practitioner was foolish.


    As soon as the demigod monkey felt the intrusion of Elwha''s soul power, its soul started to struggle fiercely, making Elwha''s face turn pale as blood slid out of her nose.


    The sh against the soul of the monkey caused heavy injuries to her soul. The pain of her soul being injured almost made her scream.


    But she bit her lips and endure the pain without letting out a sound. She promised Bloed two minutes, and she was not nning to give up before that.


    Just like that, the two demigod magical beasts were stopped. Even so, the situation was not good for Bloed''s group.


    There were still dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of magical beasts rushing towards them.


    Bloed''s eyes gleamed coldly. He ordered Leto to turn into a circle of metallic sand around them and entangle the magical beasts that came near. At the same time, part of the metallic sand turned into two magical guns that fell into Bloed''s hands as he unleashed fire on the magical beasts.


    Liu Ying, on the other hand, stood in front of Bloed and released her aspect. Whenever a magical beast approached, she attacked with her fists, killing several magical beasts with each blow.


    Finally, there was Oculus in the sky, providing support fire whenever it was necessary.


    The situation stabilized quickly, with Eres and Elwha stalling the demigods and Bloed and Liu Ying facing the horde of magical beasts. Although the situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous for Bloed''s group, surprisingly, it seemed like they could endure for several minutes.


    The Saint of the Church of ughter frowned.


    Even though he knew that Bloed and the others could not keep this struggle for long, his experiences facing them made him uneasy. Plus, he did not know if Regina had a way to escape from the Sun God. If she managed to escape the Sun God and arrived at this battlefield, he would be in trouble.


    "If you want a job done right, do it yourself." The saint clicked his tongue and took one step forward.


    Immediately, the darkness squirming in his shadow surged forward.


    Terrifying monstrosities appeared from the shadow. Beings with twisted limbs and several heads filled with sharp teeth roared as they were released into the world.


    The terrifying monsters dashed towards Bloed and the others, making bloodthirsty smiles as they growled in glee after finding food.


    "Dammit." Bloed cursed. As expected, it was not going to be easy.


    He had the hope that the saint would underestimate them, giving him time to put his n into action, but it seemed that he was not nning to underestimate them again.


    ''It doesn''t matter. As long as we endured for a bit more, I will be ready.''


    "Fuck, what is this!?" Liu Ying shouted with a pale face as one of the shadow monsters tried to entangle her. Bloed hurriedly provided support with one of his guns, forcing the monster to retreat.


    Simultaneously, two shadow monsters bolted towards the defenseless Elwha.


    "I won''t allow it."


    With a thought, he ordered Oculus to create a curtain of energy bullets around Elwha, effectively stopping the shadow monsters.


    However, it ended up revealing Oculus''s location, and several flying monsters attacked it.


    Bloed gritted his teeth and ordered it to continue protecting Elwha.


    Even if Oculus ended up being destroyed, Elwha''s life was more important.


    Just then, Eres''s voice resounded through the battlefield.


    "[World Burning Meteors]!"


    Following her words, a magic circle appeared. It was a demigod-grade spell!


    ***BOOM!!!***


    Dozens of balls of transparent mes rained on the battlefield, killing several magical beasts instantly and making the shadow monsters retreat in terror.


    Just this spell alone killed as many monsters as Bloed and Liu Yingbined.


    But such a powerful spell consumed a staggering amount of mana, leaving Eres panting.


    The Saint of the Church of ughter appeared at that moment.


    With an ice-cold expression, he extended his hand d in shadows towards Eres.


    Eres''s pupils constricted in fear. An immense feeling of danger assaulted her.


    Instinctively, she gathered as many transparent mes as she could in front of her to stop the attack.


    But that created an opening for the wolf demigod.


    *Bam!*


    A wind bullet impacted Eres''s abdomen, hurling her in Bloed''s direction and making her vomit a mouthful of blood.


    Almost simultaneously, Elwha groaned.


    "Ugh."


    She held her head feebly and copsed on the ground, barely conscious.


    "It''s the end." The Saint of ughter stated indifferently.


    Bloed looked at him calmly. Then, his lips curved up.


    "Exactly two minutes. Leto, barrier, now!"


    The metallic wolf obeyed its owner instantly and turned into a dome around Bloed''s group.


    At the same time, Bloed activated his strongest defensive ability, creating ayer of disintegrating energy around his group.


    [Door of Nothingness]!


    At that moment, an intense feeling of danger assaulted the Saint of ughter.


    Following his instincts, he looked up, only to see a metallic object descending from the sky.


    "What is!?"


    Before he could finish his words, the metallic object hit the ground.


    Then


    *BOOOMMMM!!!*


    A terrifying explosion shook the forest as a ball of fire quickly expanded in all directions.


    In seconds, it devoured kilometers of forest, consuming everything in its path and leaving only ashes and a mushroom cloud behind.


    For the first time since he left the spaceship, Bloed used the most destructive weapon in his arsenal.


    He released a bomb from the satellite orbiting the.


    ...


    :)

 Chapter 515: Pure Destruction (2)

    Chapter 515: Pure Destruction (2)


    When he was in the spaceship, Bloed built many things. Some of them were expensive toys like a hoverboard, and others were highly intelligent robots such as Tito and Leto.


    The experience of building these artifacts helped Bloed to consolidate his mechanical and engineering knowledge, and it allowed him to build one of his greatest creations to date.


    A satellite orbiting the.


    This satellite was equipped with several functions such as observation and amplification, and It was one of the reasons why Bloed and Regina couldmunicate telepathically regardless of the distance.


    But besides it, Bloed had not used the satellite that much. Most of the time, it was either unnecessary or useless in the situations he faced. Thest time Bloed connected to it was when he was escaping from the exilednds and used the satellite to determine the location of the horde of beasts chasing them.


    However, it did not mean that the satellite was useless.


    Quite the opposite, the satellite was one of Bloed''s greatest and most destructive trump cards.


    Besides the observation and amplification systems, Bloed had also installed a weapon system on it.


    The satellite was equipped with a total of eight nuclear bombs, each one with a yield of two thousand tons of TNT.


    Any of these was strong enough to wipe out a small town from the map.


    These bombs were Bloed''sst trump card. He did not dare to use them lightly for fear of injuring innocent people or getting caught in the range of the explosion. If Bloed dared to use one of these bombs in a city, thousands of people could die.


    However, right now, they were in a forest far away from the closest city.


    Thus, when Bloed determined that it was impossible to escape from the siege of the monsters, he ordered the satellite to shoot one of the bombs.


    It took the satellite twenty seconds to calcte the impact trajectory, and a bit over one and half minutes for the bomb to reach the ground.


    Then


    *BOOM!!!*


    A blinding light exploded in the forest.


    The detonation of the bomb created a ball of fire that expanded quickly. In seconds, it swallowed hundreds of meters of the forest. Dozens of beasts were carbonized instantly.


    But that was just the start. In the next second, the shockwave of the explosion appeared, sweeping away everything in its path.


    Countless trees were torn off from the ground before breaking into hundreds of pieces. They mixed with the stones shot by the explosion and turned into deadly projectiles. The beasts that survived the first explosion were immediately turned into sieves before their bodies were torn apart by the strength of the shockwave.


    Then, the heat of the explosion followed the shockwave, carbonizing several kilometers of forest in seconds. By this point, most of the beasts that attacked Bloed''s group were killed.


    Finally, the sudden heat created hot air that rose at great speed, creating a vacuum that gave birth to a powerful whirlwind, destroying anything that had been destroyed.


    This was the power of one of humankind''s most destructive creations. Even though this bomb was several times weaker than the first nuclear bombs humans created, its power was enough to cause destruction on a great scale.


    Only after two minutes did the aftermath of the explosion started to fade away.


    At that moment, the ground three hundred meters away from the epicenter of the explosion moved.


    One secondter, Bloed, Eres, Liu Ying, and Princess Elwha dug themselves out with the help of Leto.


    The four of them were they were mostly uninjured thanks to Bloed''s calctions. Even so, the shockwaves left them dizzy and nauseous, and there was a bothersome beeping in their ears due to the loud explosion.


    "We need to leave this ce now," Bloed told them without giving them the chance to admire the destruction caused by his weapon. "Hurry up."


    The girls nodded. Bloed then carried Elwha on his back and Eres and Liu Ying followed him.


    On the way, the group saw the carbonized bodies of several monsters, making the girls cover their mouths in nausea. Seeing the destruction caused by Bloed''s weapon made them astonished.


    Around one minuteter, the group had moved around two kilometers away from the epicenter of the explosion. Even so, they could see only destruction around them.


    Even though the destruction here was less thorough than in the epicenter of the explosion, every sign of life had still been erased.


    Just then, Bloed stopped abruptly.


    "Bloed, what happened?"


    Bloed did not reply to Liu Ying''s question and instead, he stared at the sky.


    " As expected, it was not enough to kill him."


    In the sky, he could see the Saint of the Church of ughter followed by the two demigod beasts.


    The three of them were in a sorry state. The monkey demigod had lost a leg, and the wolf sported several serious burns all around its body. The Saint of the Church of ughter was in better condition than them, but even so, he was bleeding from his mouth, and his mana was visibly depleted.


    " I will kill you." The Saint of the Church of ughter growled at Bloed with eyes full of killing intent.


    "Fuck! How is he not dead?" Liu Ying cursed.


    Bloed smiled bitterly.


    In fact, he expected this result. After all, he knew that Regina would not die even if one of these bombs detonated directly in front of her.


    In the Human Confederation, ESPers above the S-Grade were true monsters. Most weapons could not damage them, and even weapons of mass destruction could not kill them easily.


    As the equivalent of S-Grade ESPers of this world, Demigods could not be weaker.


    "It looks like in the end, we still need to fight." Bloed''s expression became determined. He put Elwha on the ground and grabbed his saber, getting ready to start the battle.


    At the same time, Liu Ying and Eres roused their mana.


    The Saint of the Church of ughter watched them coldly. In the next second, countless nightmarish monsters rose from his shadow.


    "I will kill you, brats!"

 Chapter 516: Valkyrie vs Sun

    Chapter 516: Valkyrie vs Sun


    Dozens of kilometers away, another fierce battle was happening.


    Kilometers of forest had been scorched, and traces of destruction could be seen everywhere. It was the result of the battle of two supreme powerhouses.


    One of them was a silver-haired girl with two energy wings behind her. She was wielding an energy sword in her hand, and countless weapons made of energy hovered behind her.


    Right now, Regina was in her strongest state. She was using every speck of energy to defeat the man in front of her.


    A figure surrounded by mes. His eyes were like torches, and his breath like fire. His entire body was made of mes and he held a fire greatsword in his right hand.


    The Sun God.


    But even after squeezing every drop of energy out of her body, Regina could not gain an advantage against her enemy.


    Quite the opposite, she could barely resist him.


    [I admire your courage. Not many mortals can stand in front of me without fear.] The ming man stated amusedly.


    Regina did not reply. She just narrowed her eyes as she contemted how to get rid of the Sun God to go to help her master.


    [I''ll give you another opportunity. Tell me where the Heart is.]


    "I don''t know."


    [You are lying.] The god stated, and his gaze turned cold. [Do you really believe you can stop me?]


    "I do."


    [Foolish mortal.] The Sun Godughed, but his eyes only showed anger. [Just a doll with an iplete soul. It seems that the part of your soul that youck makes you ignorant.]


    Regina''s eyebrow twitched.


    It was not surprising that the Sun God noticed her uniqueness. She did not think she could hide it from him in the first ce.


    But she hated it when he called her a doll.


    [Last chance, doll. Tell me where the Heart is.]


    "Screw you."


    [ If you wanted to anger me, you have seeded.]


    In the next instant, a domain of mes expanded with the Sun God as the center.


    mes nketed kilometers of forest, creating a fiery inferno that could kill anyone below demigod in less than one second.


    Regina felt the heat increasing and her expression became tense. The temperature climbed to one thousand degrees in just a few seconds, and it continued increasing.


    Just resisting this extreme temperature consumed a lot of her energy.


    [It looks like I need to show you the power of a god before you submit.]


    With a dignified expression, the Sun God dashed towards Regina!


    ''So fast!'' Regina eximed in her mind. She could hardly follow his speed with her eyes!


    The Sun God appeared in front of Regina in an instant. His sword of mes burned brightly as it descended toward the silver-haired girl.


    Regina''s expression hardened. She barely managed to raise her energy sword to receive the sword of mes.


    *BOOM!!!*


    The sh between the weapons created a whirlpool of fire that consumed Regina. One instantter, she was thrown down by the force of the impact.


    Nevertheless, Regina was uninjured. In thest second, she had focused a huge amount of energy on her energy sword, allowing her to defend herself against the attack.


    But she still had a grave look on her face. Instinctively, she ordered the weapons behind her to attack.


    In the next second, the med man jumped out of the whirlpool of mes. He brandished his sword, creating a wave of fire that swept away every one of Regina''s energy weapons. Next, he extended his hand Regina''s direction and shoot a fire beam toward her.


    Regina''s wings encircled her body, blocking the beam of fire. At the same time, several energy balls appeared around her wings, shooting back dozens of energy beams.


    The Sun God easily avoided them. His ming body flew through the sky unimpeded and closed on Regina while countless projectiles of fire were shot from his body.


    The Valkyrie pped her energy wings, creating a surge of energy that shed against the fire projectiles. She then flew backward as she tried to distance herself from the god.


    Unfortunately, her speed was far inferior to the Sun God''s. In just a couple of seconds, the Sun God caught up to her and swung his fire greatsword with the intention to cut her into two.


    Regina''s reflexes allowed her to avoid the attack. Her body spun aside as she swung her energy sword towards the Sun God''s neck.


    But the Sun God just extended his hand, grabbing her energy sword.


    Regina''s eyes opened wide.


    In the next instant


    *BOOM!!!*


    The Sun God''s fist hit her chest, throwing her against the ground.


    *Bam!*


    The crash created a crater dozens of kilometers long.


    "Cough"


    Regina stood up coughing. Fortunately, she had managed to protect herself with energy in thest instant, so her injuries were not grave.


    But her situation was not good.


    The wings behind her back were slightly dimmer than before, a sign that she was her reserves of energy were falling short.


    It was the first time since she was created that Regina''s energy could not keep up with the battle.


    [Are you ready to tell me the location of the Heart now?] The Sun God asked indifferently.


    Regina just sneered and held her energy sword firmly.


    But just at that moment, Regina noticed something.


    Startled, she looked at the sky before looking in Bloed''s direction.


    ''It can''t be!''


    [Master, don''t use that thing! It''s too dangerous!] Regina shouted to Bloed through their mental link, but Bloed was too busy trying to calcte the effects of the nuclear explosion to listen to her.


    "Damn it!" The Valkyries shouted and flew in Bloed''s direction without caring about the Sun God.


    [Do you think you can escape?] The Sun God sneered and condensed his fire domain around her, turning it into a fire cage to stop Regina from escaping.


    But the Valkyrie was not going to let it stop her.


    With a roar, she swung her energy sword.


    "Break!"


    And the fire cage was cut.


    Without herself being aware of it, her iplete soul started to tremble.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 517: The World’s Gods (1)

    Chapter 517: The World¡¯s Gods (1)


    Regina was not human. She was a Valkyrie, a war doll created by Cami from the remains of her daughter.


    Usually, Valkyries were more like robots than humans. They were unable to have feelings, and their actions werepletely based on a series of algorithms.


    But Cami, perhaps in an attempt to bring her daughter back to life, or perhaps because she did not want Bloed to feel lonely, tried something that nobody else tried before.


    She fused what remained of her daughter''s mind with the Valkyrie''s algorithms.


    As result, the most human-like Valkyrie in history appeared.


    Regina was able to learn emotions. After she was born, she learned sadness, joy, anger, and love.


    But in spite of that, it was a stretch to say that Regina was ''human''.


    Just as Eve said when she saw Regina for the first time, Regina''s soul was iplete. It wascking something to be considered an ''individual''. Due to it, Regina''s strength was stuck at the level she had when she was created.


    In fact, Regina''s iplete soul was not really a problem. Neither Regina nor Bloed knew it, but the nature of souls dictates that souls be stronger as the body bes stronger. Regina''s body was strong enough, so it was just a matter of time, perhaps a few years, before her soul becameplete.


    But there was another way for her soul to grow.


    Strong emotions could serve as a catalyst to bring her soul close topletion.


    And today, Regina''s soul growth elerated all of sudden.


    "Break!"


    With a roar, Regina swung her energy sword.


    Endless psionic energy erupted out of her mind, strengthening her sword beyond the limits.


    The energy sword broke through the cage of mes, allowing Regina to escape the Sun God''s domain.


    [Impossible!] The Sun God was in disbelief.


    He was a god, and in terms of strength, he was in the upper tier among gods. His domain was not something that demigods could escape from.


    Only gods and Irregrs could escape from it, but Regina was neither.


    Unless


    [She is bing an Irregr?]


    The Sun God was not wrong. Regina''s soul growth allowed her to break through her limits, giving her the opportunity to be an Irregr.


    Even though she was not an Irregr yet, as long as she broke through her limits, she would gain the qualification to be considered an Irregr.


    The Sun God furrowed his brows, then, he sighed.


    In the next instant, his body disappeared.


    When he reappeared, he was in front of Regina.


    Regina was surprised. Instinctively, she swung her energy sword towards him, but the Sun God grabbed it with his hand easily.


    [It''s time to stop ying around.] He said indifferently.


    The next instant, Regina felt a strong impact in her stomach.


    The impact sent her against the ground. But that was just the start. Next, the Sun God waved his hand, creating several fire swords that descended toward Regina.


    Regina gritted her teeth and materialized an energy shield to defend against the fire swords, but when the fire swords hit her shield, they exploded.


    *BOOM!!!*


    The powerful explosions created balls of mes that could be seen from kilometers of distance.


    One secondter, Regina jumped out of the explosions, only to see the Sun God extending his hand in her direction.


    The next second, a beam of fire was shot toward her.


    ''Dangerous!''


    Facing that beam of fire, Regina could only use her energy sword to receive it, but even so, she was flung away.


    The heat of the fire beam incinerated her clothes. Burns appeared all over her skin, and part of her beautiful silver hair was charred.


    When the fire beam finally disappeared, Regina was on the ground, coughing with a pitiful appearance.


    [Where is the Heart?]


    Regina just red at him with cold eyes filled with hatred.


    The Sun God frowned.


    Extending his hand forward, he clenched it. Immediately, a ball of mes appeared around Regina before imploding with her as the center.


    The explosion shot Regina hundreds of meters away.


    [Tell me, where is the Heart?]


    "You will never get it."


    [Stubborn mortal.] Enraged, the Sun God created several chains of fire that caught Regina''s limbs.


    The chains then lifted her in front of him as his ming eyes stared at Regina coldly.


    [Tell me where the Heart is, doll; or I will burn your soul and make you wish that you were never created.]


    Regina sneered and closed her eyes.


    At the same time, she called upon as much psionic energy as she could and gathered it in her heart.


    Even in this despairing situation, she had not given up. She needed to help her master, and nobody, not even a god, was going to stop her.


    Seeing that, the Sun God became irritated.


    But at that moment, a sudden change urred.


    All of Sudden, the fire chains on Regina''s body froze.


    Then, a wall of ice appeared in front of her, separating her from the Sun God.


    The Sun God''s expression changed. Without hesitating, he flew backward, only to see how dozens of mana arrows impaled the ce where he was just a moment ago.


    At the same time, several figures appeared in the surroundings. A total of six figures.


    Every one of them emitted aurasparable to the Sun God.


    The Sun God''s expression became ugly.


    [Night, Ice, Hunt, Duel, Death, ughter. Six at the same time, huh. Are you nning to oppose me?]


    A wolf-like figure surrounded by snowkes smirked.


    [What? Only you have the right to get the Heart of the Forest?]


    [You are as arrogant as always, Sun.] Another figure, a woman with a gloomy atmosphere, chuckled.


    [Well, he has always thought that he is the strongest even though he is not.] The third figure spoke, a young man with a yful smirk.


    The other three figures chuckled softly before looking at Regina.


    [She is the one with the Heart?] Said other of the figures, a bulky man with lion ears.


    [It looks like we came in time. Sun has not gotten the location of the Heart yet.]


    [It looks like the Heart is not destined to be his this time.]


    The two figures beside him, a young man d in darkness and a demon with a spear behind him, replied.


    The Sun God''s expression darkened, however, he did not attack them rashly.


    After all, the six of them were not inferior to him.


    In this world, there were a total of eleven gods.


    And now, seven of them were gathered in this ce.


    ...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 518: The World’s Gods (2)

    Chapter 518: The World¡¯s Gods (2)


    Note: Psychic energy changed to psionic energy. I think it''s more urate.


    In this world, there were a total of eleven gods.


    The Goddess of Fate, Axalia.


    The Moonlight Goddess, Evanesse.


    The Sun God, Charles.


    The Death Goddess, Tahlia.


    The Dragon God, Fireborn.


    The Night God, Eren.


    The Ice God, Deto.


    The God of ughter, Rhyat.


    The God of the Hunt, Ether.


    The Water Goddess, Mi.


    And the God of Duels, Ye Yin.


    Of them, the first five were considered the strongest, and their powers were simr, and the other six were slightly weaker.


    Due to the treaty of the gods, battles between gods were umon, so it was hard to determine which one was stronger, and which one was weaker. However, even the weakest god was much stronger than any demigod.


    Any demigod would despair when facing a god, but now, there were seven gods in this ce.


    And all of them were looking at Regina.


    Even if they were not in their true bodies, and instead were using the bodies of their believers to descend to this ce, the strength of any of them was still way higher than Regina''s.


    The death goddess, a demon woman with a gloomy atmosphere, was the first to notice Regina''s unusualness.


    [An iplete soul. Wait, she is not human A doll?]


    [Really?] The Night God stared at Regina curiously. [Interesting. It''s my first time seeing such an exquisite construct. Tell me, doll, who is your creator?]


    Regina did not reply. She just stared at the seven gods with an ice-cold expression.


    [It looks like the doll doesn''t want to tell you.] The yful young man, ughter, chuckled.


    The Night God didn''t reply, however, the eyes staring at Regina became colder.


    [Is the Heart with her?] asked the Death Goddess to the Sun God.


    [It is not.]


    [Oh, but she must know where it is. Otherwise, you would not be chasing her.]


    The Sun God did not reply, but the mana around him became stronger.


    [Do you really want to be my enemies?]


    [I don''t mind it, actually.] ughter''s lips curved up savagely. [I have wanted to kill you for a while now. Today is a good day to find how the flesh of a god tastes.]


    Night and Hunt seemed interested after listening to ughter''s words.


    [I like that idea. Let''s kill Sun first.]


    [Count me in.]


    The Sun God narrowed his eyes.


    [A stray dog and ap cat. Do you think you are qualified to kill me?]


    The expressions of the Night God and the God of the Hunt darkened, and their gazes became hostile.


    Meanwhile, the other gods just watched with amused expressions.


    It was well-known that the rtionship between the Sun God and the Night God and the God of the Hunt was not good. It was because the Night God and the God of the Hunt were beastmen, and the rtionship between beastmen and the human supremacist Sun Kingdom was the worst.


    [Okay, stop it.] The god of duels, a demon with a spear behind him, stared at the other gods with a frown. [Sun God, the situation has changed now that we are here. If you want to get the Heart, you mustpete for it with us.]


    [Yeah. But first, how about getting the location of the Heart from the doll?] The Ice God suggested while using his eyes to look at Regina.


    The other gods followed his gaze. Then, the Goddess of Death extended her hand in Regina''s direction.


    In the next second, an intangible will appeared and grabbed her, bringing her before the gods.


    Regina did not resist. She knew that resisting now would achieve nothing. She needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to escape.


    [Tell me, doll. Where is the Heart?] The Death Goddess asked in a gloomy tone.


    Regina kept silent. She just closed her eyes and continued gathering her psionic energy in her heart.


    [It looks like you don''t want to talk. Then, I must ask your soul directly.]


    In the next instant, the goddess''s will turned into a needle that pierced Regina''s soul.


    The goddess nned to read Regina''s memories directly, even if it meant injuring or destroying Regina''s ouls.


    Just then, Regina opened her eyes.


    Following that, her psionic energy erupted, turning into a me that burned the will of the death goddess.


    The me then followed the will of the goddess and attacked her soul.


    [This is-!?]


    The goddess opened her eyes wide. She instinctively tried to defend her soul, but her defenses were broken easily, making her groan in pain.


    It was the price of underestimating Regina.


    Perhaps in terms of strength, the goddess was far superior to Regina. But when it came to souls, she was inferior.


    Regina''s abilities belonged to the ESPer system, and ESP abilities came from the soul. Unlike the powerhouses of this world, whose abilities came from mana, the abilities of Regina came from soul power, or psionic energy.


    It meant that Regina''s soul power was several times stronger than demigods of her level, and consequently, her soul was much stronger as well.


    Regina was aware of that. Thus, when she felt the goddess''s intent to read her soul, she knew that her opportunity hade.


    While the gods were surprised by Regina''s sudden move, she released the psionic energy she had been gathering until now.


    The psionic turned into two des that fell into her hands. Then, she swung the two des in a fan shape.


    However, her goal was not to attack the gods.


    Instead, her energy des passed above their heads, slicing off the invisible thread connecting them to somewhere far away.


    The effect of her attack was immediate.


    In the next second, the expressions of the seven gods became dull. Then, their bodies plummeted to the ground.


    Regina looked at that scene while panting heavily. Her energy des slowly dissipated as she heaved a sigh of relief.


    "It looks like master''s theory was right."


    Bloed''s experiments demonstrated that faith was a kind of energy. And the gods used that energy to connect to their believers through a ''thread of faith'' and perform miracles such as god''s descent.


    Then, what would happen if they cut the thread of faith?


    The connection between the god and the individual would be cut off. In theory, doing this could terminate a god''s descent.


    Plus, due to the burden caused by the god''s descent, the host of the god would perish shortly after the god leaves the body, so the god would be unable to return to the body.


    This was the trump card that Bloed prepared if they had to fight a god. However, they were not sure that it would work.


    Luckily, its effect was much better than Bloed and Regina expected.


    But Regina did not show any sign of pride even after defeating the seven gods. Instead, she looked anxiously in Bloed''s direction.


    Just at that moment, the bomb exploded.


    Regina''s face became pale.


    "Master, please be safe."


    She then extended her wings and flew towards Bloed''s location.


    ....


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 519: World Burning Witch

    Chapter 519: World Burning Witch


    The Saint of the Church of ughter never felt so humiliated in his entire life.


    Even when he was a child, begging and pickpocketing in the streets as the adults showed expressions of disgust when he was nearby, he did not feel as humiliated as now.


    Back then, he was aware that he was worthless, and that hisck of strength was the reason others could step on his dignity.


    But as he became stronger, he made sure that nobody could walk over him again.


    In this world, strength was the rule, and the weak could only be at the mercy of the strong.


    And because he was aware of that, he was so angry now.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Eres, and Elwha were weak. None of them was a demigod yet. To a demigod like him, they were nothing more than ants.


    But these ants annihted his army of monsters and injured him gravely.


    The Saint of ughter could not ept it.


    "I will kill you, brats!"


    He growled, and countless nightmarish monsters surged out of his shadows.


    At the same time, the monkey and wolf demigods took a step forward as their auras exerted pressure on Bloed''s group.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, and Eres felt as though a heavy weight was pressing them down. Even the unconscious Elwha let out a groan of pain.


    " I will take care of the Saint. Brother, Liu Ying, I leave the other two to you." Eres said heavily.


    Bloed and Liu Ying nodded.


    The next instant, the wolf, the monkey, and the shadow monsters rushed toward them.


    "[Absolute Ignition]!" Eres shouted and rushed towards the shadow beasts as transparent mes burned around her, consuming the shadow beasts nearby. When the shadow beasts were destroyed, she kicked the ground and jumped towards the Saint of ughter while swinging her sword.


    While using Absolute Ignition, Eres wasparable to a demigod. The Saint of ughter did not dare to underestimate her and released hundreds of shadow monsters that covered the sky and descended toward Eres.


    The sh between the shadow monsters and the transparent mes was shocking. The transparent mes were like a candle in the night, trying to light up the darkness, and the shadow monsters were like a tsunami of darkness, trying to extinguish the mes.


    Soon, it became apparent that the Saint of ughter had the advantage. Even though he was injured, he was noticeably stronger than Eres.


    But Bloed did not have the leeway to pay attention to their battle. Right now, he had his hand fulls trying to deal with the two demigod beasts.


    Unlike Eres, Bloed and Liu Ying could not show strength at the level of a demigod. Unless Bloed activated [Overdrive], he could only unleash the strength of an A-Rank. But activating Overdrive was Bloed''sst resource.


    Thus, he and Liu Yin were hard-pressed against the wolf and the monkey.


    Fortunately, the wolf and the monkey received heavy injuries during the explosion of the nuclear bomb, otherwise, Bloed and Liu Ying would have been defeated almost instantly.


    "Ha!" Liu Ying shouted. Her aspect appeared behind her, boosting her physical strength to a whole new level. At the same time, she converted her mana into kic energy to use [Silent Touch].


    Clenching her fist, she threw an uppercut toward the monkey.


    The vibrations caused by [Silent Touch] attacked the body of the monkey, but it blocked the uppercut with its tail and released a wave of mana, dispersing the vibrations. It had suffered due to Silent Touch when it first shed with Liu Ying, so it was now wary of that technique.


    After parrying Liu Ying''s attack, the monkey''s body shed, appearing beside Liu Ying and attacking her with its ws.


    Liu Ying crossed her arms, using ayer of kic energy to defend against the attack. Even so, a small cut appeared on her wrist.


    She tried to counterattack, but the monkey''s speed was very fast. It moved in the air quickly, shing around Liu Ying as it attacked her with its ws once and again.


    Just a few seconds after the battle started, Liu Ying had already been reduced to a punching bag.


    Fortunately, Liu Ying''s recent training with Regina had been fruitful, so her mastery over Silent Touch had increased greatly, allowing her to use it defensively. Thanks to that, and to the fact that the strength of the monkey had been reduced due to the injuries he received due to the explosion, she was hanging on despite the unceasing attacks.


    Bloed''s situation was a bit better, but not for much.


    Unlike Liu Ying, he was using his mechanical eyes to observe, analyze, and predict the wolf''s movements. Every time the wolf attacked, Bloed stepped slightly to the left or right, avoiding the attack with the smallest movements.


    That made the wolf feel irritable. It was faster and stronger than Bloed, but none of its attacks could connect. It felt it was fighting against the air.


    Anger appeared in its eyes. In the next instant, wind currents surrounded its body and its speed increased greatly.


    The wolf was so fast that it appeared in front of Bloed in an instant.


    But at that moment, Bloed''s eyes shed.


    With a seemingly slow movement, his saber moved in front of the wolf. The wolf ignored it and continued attacking Bloed. It nned to kill him even if it had to receive Bloed''s attack.


    Anyway, Bloed''s attack couldn''t break through its defenses.


    But in the next second, the wolf''s expression changed.


    Without hesitating, it jumped away as Bloed''s saber sliced off a strand of its hair.


    With a solemn expression, the wolf looked down at its neck.


    There, a small cut had appeared.


    If it would have reacted slower, Bloed''s saber would have beheaded it.


    Bloed sighed in his mind. He had not attacked until now, waiting for the opportunity to deal a fatal blow to the wolf.


    Unfortunately, the reaction of the wolf was faster than he expected. Even though it was caught by surprise, it managed to escape.


    ''What a pity.''


    Now that the wolf knew that his saber could hurt it, it would be wary of it.


    Just as Bloed expected, a trace of wariness appeared in the eyes of the wolf.


    It looked at Bloed''s saber fearfully, then, it looked at Bloed angrily.


    But quickly, his expression changed to one of schadenfreude.


    It distanced itself from Bloed. At the same time, dozens of wind arrows appeared around it and aimed them at Bloed.


    ''Fuck!''


    In the next instant, the wind arrows flew towards Bloed.


    Bloed quickly evaded them, but before he could sigh in relief, more wind arrows appeared around him, attacking him from all directions.


    Bloed''s expression became ugly.


    He understood the wolf''s intentions. It nned to use these wind arrows to slowly wear him down until killing him.


    Bloed cursed in his mind. This was bad.


    If the wolf used this tactic, then Bloed would be unable to retaliate. After all, long-range attacks were his weakness.


    Even though he could use his energy guns to make up for it, they were useless against a demigod.


    ''Do I need to use Overdrive?''


    When Bloed was thinking that, the situation on Eres''s side changed.


    From the Saint of ughter''s shadow, more monsters appeared. The number of monsters was so overwhelming that Eres''s transparent mes seemed unable to consume them. Slowly, her mes were being engulfed instead.


    As the number of shadow monsters increased, the size of her transparent mes slowly decreased, until eventually, she could barely keep them around her.


    At that moment, the Saint of ughter''s expression became cruel.


    "Die."


    With an ice-cold tone, he clenched his hand, and the shadow monsterspletely swallowed Eres.


    But just when Bloed''s expression changed and he was about to use Overdrive, Eres''s transparent mes disappearedpletely.


    Then, she smiled.


    Under the Saint of ughter''s dumbfounded gaze, her entire body turned into transparent mes. Her flesh and bones disappeared, reced by mes able to burn the world itself.


    "Not yet." She spoke.


    And transparent mes incinerated the shadow monsters around her.


    ....


    Support me on P4TRE0N!!!


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 520: Transparent Flames

    Chapter 520: Transparent mes


    What is the meaning of genius?


    Geniuses are those able to do things that are impossible for normal people. Stuff that is very simple for a genius can be very difficult for a normal person.


    But even among geniuses, there are some that are superior.


    They are monsters in a league of their own. Trying topare those monsters to normal people is a joke. Common sense doesn''t apply to them.


    And Eres is this kind of monster.


    Since she was a child, she was superior to anyone around her. Her talent was one of a kind, and she was smart enough to learn anything in one go. It was as though the world itself had blessed her.


    Her cultivation speed was iparable to normal people, and herbat strength was unrivaled at the same level. She even dared to face demigods as an A-Rank practitioner.


    But because she was this kind of genius, she had never been pushed to the limit.


    Until today.


    Facing the Saint of the Church of ughter, Eres felt that she was close to death for the first time in her life.


    The pressure exerted by the Saint of ughter was suffocating. The slightest mistake could lead to her death, and even without making a mistake, her death was just a matter of time.


    Under this pressure, something inside Eres seemed to awaken.


    Her talent, which was unmatched in the entire world, started to blossom.


    She seemed to understand her transparent mes more and more. With every shadow monster she killed, herprehension deepened more and more.


    And finally, a change happened.


    In that instant, Eres and the mes became one.


    The transparent mes were absorbed by her body, then, they fused with her flesh and blood, turning her body into a being made of mes that seemed inextinguishable.


    Her clothes were burned to cinders and her eyes became two torches that lit up the darkness created by the shadow monsters. Her sword was engulfed in mes, and it seemed about to break at any time due to the extremely powerful mes.


    Holding her sword with an indifferent expression, she swung it towards the shadow monsters.


    Then, transparent mes filled the sky.


    The mes consumed everything in their path. Dozens of shadow monsters were incinerated instantly as the mes spread without a stop.


    The expression of the Saint of ughter changed. He immediately released countless shadow monsters and used them as a barrier against the mes.


    At this moment, the positions of Eres and the Saint of ughter reversed. Now, it was Eres''s mes that had the advantage.


    But as a demigod, the Saint of ughter was not that easy to defeat.


    "My shadows, consume everything!"


    Hundreds of specter-like shadows emerged from his back. The shadows charged towards the mes fiercely while emitting horrifying screams that seemed to shake the soul.


    Dozens of specter-like shadows were burned to ashes instantly, but more shadows reced them, charging towards the transparent mes fearlessly, only to be burned down one secondter.


    This method managed to stop the spread of the mes. Eventually, the mes and the shadows hit a bnce.


    Noticing it, both of them retreated, revealing the Saint of ughter and Eres in her me form.


    "What kind of monster are you?" The Saint of ughter asked heavily. "You should not be this strong."


    Eres did not reply. In fact, she was just as surprised as the Saint of ughter.


    Right now, she felt that she was stronger than ever. It was as though she had unlimited power.


    She looked at her hands that had turned into transparent mes and furrowed her brows.


    At that moment, a piercing pain hit her head, before disappearing one secondter.


    Eres frowned. She immediately realized that this power had a limit.


    If she overused it, the price would not be low.


    But now, she could not afford to worry about it.


    With a thought, she created a ball of mes in her hand. Then, she threw it toward Bloed and Liu Ying.


    The mes did not injure them. Instead, they turned into ayer of mes that adhered to their skin.


    Bloed and Liu Ying looked at it in surprise.


    However, the effects of theyer of mes soon became apparent.


    When the monkey demigod''s ws hit Liu Ying again, the mes spread to its body, burning violently.


    "Aack!" The monkey screamed. It immediately released a wave of mana towards the mes, extinguishing them.


    However, the mes had injured it.


    Seeing that, the expression of the monkey changed.


    Liu Ying''s eyes lit up. She looked at the monkey with a yful smile.


    "Nice."


    Putting her fist together, Liu Ying narrowed her eyes and charged toward the monkey.


    The monkey moved at great speed and avoided Liu Ying''s charge, but when it was about to counterattack, it saw Eres'' mes and hesitated.


    Taking advantage of that, Liu Ying swung her fist sideways, forcing the monkey to retreat.


    She followed up with a straight punch, grazing the monkey''s cheek and burning it with the transparent mes, then, while the monkey extinguished the mes, she swung her knee towards its abdomen.


    The monkey was forced to receive the attack with its arms, and Silent Touch''s vibrations plus Eres''s mes broke through his defenses. For the first time since the battle started, Liu Ying seemed to be at an advantage.


    But at that moment, the monkey''s eyes shed coldly.


    Suddenly, it raised its w and swung it towards Liu Ying''s neck. The attack was so fast that Liu Ying did not manage to react. She could only watch as the w was about to slice through her throat.


    But at that moment, an energy bullet hit the monkey''s w, deviating it.


    Bloed, who had been paying attention to Liu Ying and Eres''s battles, interfered as soon as he noticed Liu Ying''s predicament.


    But due to it, he was toote to avoid one of the wolf''s attacks.


    *Bam!*


    "Ugh."


    Grunting, he endured the arrow of wind that hit his shoulder and jumped aside. Fortunately, Tito''s armor and Eres''s mes mitigated part of the attack, otherwise, his left arm would have been blown off.


    Even so, the attack injured Bloed. The movements of his left arm became slower, making his movements slightly awkward.


    Noticing it, the wolf increased the intensity of its attacks.


    It watched Bloed coldly as dozens of wind arrows rained towards him.


    "Bloed!" Liu Ying panicked and looked in Bloed''s direction, but that was a bad idea.


    In the brief instant that Liu Ying was distracted, the monkey charged toward her.


    It ignored the mes protecting Liu Ying and stabbed Liu Ying''s throat with its ws.


    But just when it was about to kill Liu Ying, it felt a piercing pain in its head that froze its movements.


    "Now, Liu Ying!" Princess Elwha shouted. She had regained consciousness a while ago but feigned that she was still unconscious to wait for an opportunity.


    And this was the perfect opportunity.


    Even though she could stop the movements of the demigod monkey only for one second, it was enough.


    Liu Ying was not going to miss this chance.


    "[Silent Touch: One-Point Destruction]!"


    With a growl, the demon girl used her right fist to hit the money''s chest.


    But then


    *Swoosh!*


    A curtain of wind appeared in front of the monkey, blocking Liu Ying''s blow.


    Liu Ying opened her eyes wide. From the corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of the wolf sneering at her.


    The next second, the monkey broke Elwha''s technique.


    "Ugh" Elwha groaned painfully as blood slid out of her nose and eyes. She tried to use the same technique again, but the pain in her head made it impossible to focus.


    As soon as the monkey broke Elwha''s technique, it roared in anger. Its mana erupted violently as it disappeared from Liu Ying''s sight, only to appear to her right and hit her waist.


    "Agh!"


    The attack sent Liu Ying flying several meters away. Part of her waist was gouged out, and her vision became dizzy.


    At the same time, Bloed failed to avoid another wind arrow and was hit on the chest.


    Seeing that, Eres tried to help them, but the Saint of ughter attacked her with dozens of shadow beasts, making it impossible for Eres to help Bloed and Liu Ying.


    "It''s the end." The Saint of ughter stated indifferently.


    "Yes, it''s the end." And an ice-cold voice replied from the sky.


    Before the Saint of ughter could react, an energy de cut through the sky.


    And his right arm was sliced off.

 Chapter 521: The Strongest (1)

    Chapter 521: The Strongest (1)


    Sorry for theck of updates. I wrote on my P4TRE0N that I caught a cold, but I''m already fine again. Two chapters now plus maybe another chapter in a few hours...


    ...


    Regina''s energy de descended from the sky. It cut through the sea of shadow beasts, arriving in front of the Saint of ughter and slicing his arm.


    If the Saint of ughter would have not moved aside instinctively, the energy de would have not sliced just his right arm, but his entire body.


    "You" The Saint of ughter''s eyes opened wide. He extended his remaining arm towards Regina, releasing a snake made of specter-like shadow monsters to swallow her.


    But Regina just swung her energy de, turning the foul creature into ashes. Then, she swung her de again, this time attacking the monkey and wolf on the ground.


    The fur of the two monsters stood up in horror. The only thought in their minds was to escape.


    Unfortunately


    *Spurt!*


    Regina''s de was faster.


    Before the two monsters could run far, her energy de cut the monkey into two and severed one of the wolf''s ears.


    Just like that, a demigod was killed and the other two were injured.


    The Saint of ughter and the Wolf shivered. Looking at Regina, they felt as though they were looking at death face-to-face.


    ''How did she escape from the pursuit of the Sun God!?'' The Saint of ughter screamed in his mind. Seeing Regina looking at him, he immediately prepared to escape.


    But at that moment, a message arrived in his mind.


    "Wait!" He shouted anxiously. "I have a message from my god!"


    Regina frowned. She hesitated about killing him or not and looked at Bloed.


    Bloed stood up while wincing in pain and thought for a moment before speaking.


    "What is it?"


    "My god says that he is merciful and just. If you give him the Heart right now, he can let bygones be bygones."


    "Is it a joke?" Bloed''s expression became dark, and Regina''s eyes turned ice-cold. Liu Ying, Eres, and Elwha did not hide their hostility either.


    The Church of ughter had been causing trouble for them for a long time, and ughter was the one that started everything. Now, he was saying that he was going to forgive them if they gave him the Heart of the Forest?


    The self-righteousness in these words made Bloed feel disgusted.


    Even without considering Elwha, Bloed would never give the Heart to him.


    "Regina, kill him," Bloed said decisively. The Valkyrie nodded and raised her energy de again.


    "You should think about it." The Saint of ughter''s expression was calm. "You should know that the other gods will not allow the Heart of the Forest to remain in your hands. It''s better if you give it to us and use it to erase the enmity between us."


    "Dream on."


    "... I understand." The Saint of ughter sighed and nodded. "Well, that is good. Anyway, we never nned to spare you in the first ce."


    Bloed was startled. At the same time, a terrible foreboding hit him.


    All of sudden, a terrible aura appeared on the horizon.


    It was as though a cmity had awakened. The enormous pressure and the bloody feelinging from this aura made Bloed and the others feel suffocated.


    But that was just the start. After the first aura appeared, it was followed by a second aura. This one was as hot as the sun, and it seemed able to burn anything.


    The third aura appeared an instant after that. This time, it was like an eternal cial that wanted to freeze everything.


    Next, a gloomy and cold aura filled with death and decay appeared. Anything alive withered before this aura.


    The following aura was apanied by the darkest darkness. The instant it appeared, the day seemed to turn into night.


    The sixth aura was like a sharp spear. It appeared able to pierce anything in its path.


    Finally, the seventh aura appeared. The seventh aura was not as pressuring as the others, but it gave the feeling that it could turn into a lethal attack at any time.


    "Gods" Elwha muttered with an ashen look.


    The expressions of Bloed''s group turned pale.


    Right now, they felt as though countless knives were piercing their skin.


    Seven gods, ughter, Sun, Ice, Death, Night, Duel, and Hunt had appeared. Moreover, unlike when they faced Regina, this time they appeared with their true bodies.


    And they were angry.


    Very angry.


    The situation had far exceeded Bloed''s wildest predictions.


    [Did you think you could escape from us, doll?] The voice of the God of Death resounded throughout the sky. [You dared to spheme a god. Even if you escape to the end of the world, you will die!]


    [Mm? It looks like she is not alone?] The God of the Hunt observed Bloed and the others with interest before looking at the traces of battle and at the Saint of ughter. [I see. So the Heart of the Forest must be here, huh. And that young man seems to be one of your people, ughter.]


    The Night God sneered. [Cunning bastard. So you already knew the location of the Heart from the start and sent your men after it. However, it looks like your n failed.]


    The other gods chuckled in schadenfreude. With just a nce, they understood the situation.


    ughter had sent his Saint here to get the Heart while he fooled the other gods into thinking that he did not know the location of the Heart like them.


    The reason why he did note to get the Heart personally was because he was afraid that the other gods discovered him andplicated the situation. Unfortunately, he underestimated Bloed''s group.


    He did not think that three demigods and an army of monsters could not defeat a group of four non-demigod kids.


    [I kind of admire these kids. They sure seem like talented children. Unfortunately, they are out of luck.] The Ice God chuckled. [Now, give us the Heart. If you do, I promise I will allow you to leave this ce alive. However, the doll must stay. She must pay for her offense.]


    Bloed''s expression changed.


    ''There is no way I will leave Regina here!''


    His mind moved at great speed thinking of a solution. However, the pressure of the seven gods was like an insurmountable mountain.


    Seconds felt like hours as he thought of a solution. During these seconds, he saw Liu Ying''s anxious expression, Elwha''s despairing look, Eres''s unresigned eyes, and Regina''s brief nod.


    ''There must be a solution. There must be...!''


    [Then, what is your answer, boy?] The Ice God asked again.


    Bloed sighed and put on a determined expression.


    "I-"


    But then


    "I think that the one that needs to give an answer is not him."


    An old voice came from behind Bloed.


    Without anyone noticing, an old man wearing worn-down clothes was standing there. He was holding a sword on his waist, and his muddy eyes were looking at the ground.


    However, the seven gods became surprised as soon as they saw him.


    [You!?] The Ice God''s expression changed. But it was toote.


    In the next second, the sword of the old man was unsheathed.


    And the seven gods were cut into two.

 Chapter 522: The Strongest (2)

    Chapter 522: The Strongest (2)


    In this world, gods represented the highest level of strength. They were at the top of the pyramid, with long lifespans and overwhelming power.


    However, there were other beingsparable to them.


    Irregrs.


    Unlike gods, they left the established framework and took an uncharted path, surpassing the limit of mortals as mortals.


    They did not be gods, but their power was at the same level.


    Only three Irregrs were known to be alive in the current world, and any of them could fight a god easily.


    But among the three of them, one of them was on a whole another level.


    The greatest warrior, the strongest human, the peak beyond the peak.


    Sword Absolute, Bart.


    And now, that man had appeared in front of Bloed.


    With a muddy but strangely piercing gaze, he stared at the seven gods and swung his sword.


    Then, the seven gods were cut into two.


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide in astonishment.


    Even with his enhanced eyes, he failed to see when the sword was swung. In fact, nobody here, including the seven gods, saw the old man''s sword.


    It was so fast that it was impossible to avoid.


    [Bart!]


    [How dare you!]


    The gods bellowed in rage. They retreated as their severed bodies joined together, their gazes fixed on the old man.


    [Is it a deration of war?] The Death Goddess asked threateningly.


    The old man''s muddy gaze moved towards her.


    "That is my question. Is this a deration of war? You have vited the treaty."


    The gods fell silent.


    The Gods Treaty.


    It was a pact made between the gods and Irregrs to keep the order of the world.


    One of the points of that treaty was that gods were forbidden to use their power against mortals.


    Of course, that treaty was not that strict. It was not umon for the gods to vite the treaty. As long as nobody learned of their actions, nobody would care.


    But this time, it was different.


    Sevens gods had appeared here, and they had taken action against Bloed''s group to get the Heart of the Forest.


    Obviously, the gods knew that they had vited the treaty, but they tacitly ignored it.


    However, now that the Sword Absolute appeared, they were in an awkward position.


    [... It was not our intention to vite the treaty.] The Sun God was the first to show his stance. [Don''t worry, we don''t n to start a war.]


    [Yes, we know the limits.] The Night God nodded.


    "I understand." The old man nodded. "Leave then. I won''t pursue the matter anymore."


    The gods frowned.


    [We can leave, however, they must give us the Heart.] The Ice God pointed to Bloed''s group.


    Bloed and the girls became nervous. However, Bloed was aware of their situation. Now that things hade to this, he was ready to give them the Heart.


    But to his surprise, the old man shook his head.


    "No. The Heart stays with him."


    The expressions of the Gods changed.


    [Old man, what is the meaning of this!?] The Sun God growled. [Do you really want to oppose us!?]


    "It looks like you don''t understand yet. The seven of you are going to leave right now, and the Heart will stay. Of course, you can refuse, however, you will have to convince my sword.


    The Sun God''s expression became ugly.


    The other gods frowned. They looked at each other, considering if they should join hands to fight the old man.


    The old man noticed it, but he did not care.


    In fact, judging by the soft droning of his sword, he seemed quite eager to fight them.


    It was as though he was confident of not losing even if he fought the seven of them.


    The situation remained in a stalemate. The seven gods stood in the air, and the old man stood in front of Bloed''s group.


    None of the spoke, however, their auras were increasing every second. It seemed like a fight was going to break out at any time.


    But when it seemed that a battle was unavoidable, the seven gods retracted their auras.


    [Old sword, you should know how important that Heart is to us.] The Death Goddess spoke. [We can''t give it up even if you appear.]


    "I know."


    [However, we don''t want to fight you either, so we will make apromise. How about this, we will leave, however, we will send our people for the Heart, and you are not allowed to interfere.]


    The old man furrowed his brows. He hesitated for a moment before agreeing.


    "Okay, however, I have another condition. No demigod can participate. In exchange, the silver-haireddy won''t interfere either. Do you agree to it, boy?" The old man looked at Bloed.


    Bloed was startled, but he quickly nodded after ncing at Regina.


    "Yes, we don''t mind."


    The old man nodded and looked at the gods.


    "Do you agree?"


    The gods looked at each other before nodding.


    [We agree.] The Ice God said.


    In the next instant, the Ice God''s figure disappeared.


    Next, the other gods disappeared one after another. Finally, only the God of ughter remained.


    He looked at Bloed''s group with a gaze of interest before chuckling and disappearing as well, leaving only Bloed''s group and the old man behind.


    When the seven gods left, Bloed and the girls sighed in relief.


    Liu Ying copsed sprawled on the ground immediately, and Eres and Elwha sat down with tired expressions.


    "Fuck, I thought we were history this time." Liu Ying cursed in a low voice.


    Bloed and the others smiled bitterly. They had close shaves with death before, but this was the closest one by far.


    To think that seven gods used their true bodies to appear. They had underestimated the value of the Heart of the Forest.


    ''If the Sword Absolute doesn''t appear, we would have died.''


    Bloed sighed and looked at the old man.


    "Thank you, you saved us there."


    The old man did not reply and just stared at him.


    When Bloed started to feel ufortable, the old man chuckled.


    "You are an interesting boy. Now I understand why the Lady of Fate and the Lady of Moonlight were interested in you."


    Bloed was stunned.


    The old man smiled.


    "Nice to meet you. I am the Sword Absolute, and I was sent here by the Goddess of Fate."


    ...


    Support me on P4TRE0N and read up to 20 chapters /aidnovels

 Chapter 523: The Strongest (3)

    Chapter 523: The Strongest (3)


    Hey, guys, Aidka''s here!


    I have not posted in a few days because I have been busy with a lot of things, some of them rted to the novels.


    Firstly, I updated the TOCs on some pages, I also used a couple of days to modify slightly the draft for the next arc of [My Skills Are Weird] and corrected some mistakes in previous chapters.


    I also changed the patronage slightly. I had not updated it in a long while, so it was already time to adjust it.


    Following the new patronage, the schedule will change every month ording to the number of patrons. I n to post an announcement after the first week of each month to inform my readers of the new schedule.


    For this month, the schedule of [My Skills Are Weird] will be six chapters per week, and [Science/Magic] will continue with five chapters per week.


    I''m posting three chapters of each novel with this post and a couple of chapters more in 24 hours. Don''t worry, I won''t forget the chapters ofst week.


    Also, I finished working on the new cover for [My Skill is Weird]. You can see the cover on the page of the novel. The characters on the cover are Jane, Saphire, Scarlet (cat), and the fairy has not appeared yet (I think it''s a bit of a spoiler).


    Lastly, thank you for your support and I hope you continue supporting me.


    Love, Aidka~...


    ...


    Bloed was surprised by the old man''s words.


    "Did the Goddess of Fate send you?"


    "Well, not exactly. I came when I heard the rumors about the Heart of the Forest, but on the way, the Goddess of Fate appeared and asked me to help you."


    Bloed was stunned.


    He then remembered the words that Saintess Charise told him before leaving.


    ''Trust the old man wielding the sword.''


    He never thought that the old man was the Sword Absolute himself!


    Bloed smiled wryly to himself.


    ''I guess I owe Charise and the Goddess of Fate another favor.''


    Just then, Liu Ying stood up abruptly and stared at the old man in astonishment.


    "Wait a moment, you are the Sword Absolute!?"


    "Huh? You just noticed?" Bloed asked.


    "I mean, he is THE Sword Absolute! The strongest man in the world!"


    "Well, I am." The old man smiled softly. Strangely, his smile made him look like an affable grampa.


    If Bloed did not see his stand-off against the seven gods, he would have not rted this old man to the strongest powerhouse in the world.


    Liu Ying''s face turned red with excitement. She seemed like a fangirl seeing her idol.


    Eres and Elwha''s reaction was a bit more subdued, but they were unable to hide their admiration when they learned the identity of the old man.


    That was how famous the Sword Absolute was. He was the idol of every young boy or girl aiming to be an expert.


    "Mr. Sword Absolute, thank you for your help just now." Bloed bowed his head slightly. The rest of the group bowed their heads as well.


    "Don''t worry about it, I told you that I came because the Goddess of Fate asked me to. Also, don''t call me Sword Absolute. Just call me Old Bart."


    "Even so, I want to thank you." Bloed insisted. "If there is something you need from us, please tell us."


    The old man stared at Bloed for several seconds before smiling.


    "Then, if I told you that I need the Heart of the Forest, will you give it to me?"


    Bloed was startled, but to the surprise of the old man, he nodded without hesitation.


    "Elwha, can you give the Heart to him?"


    Elwha did not hesitate either. She trusted Bloedpletely, plus, the recent events made her hesitate about if bringing the Heart to the Boerner Forest was a good idea or not.


    The old man chuckled when he received the Heart.


    "Are you not afraid of me taking the Heart?"


    "I''m not." Bloed shook his head.


    It was not that Bloed trusted the old man, but that he trusted Charise.


    She told him that he could trust the old man, so he was sure that he could trust him.


    The old man chuckled again. He grabbed the Heart in one hand and his sword in the other hand. Then, he brought the Heart close to the sword.


    To the surprise of Bloed and the others, both the Heart and the sword started to glow and release strands of mana.


    The mana of the two objects started to mix and the glow intensified. The group did not know what was happening, but it seemed like something amazing.


    But when the glow reached its highest intensity, it abruptly disappeared.


    Then, the sword trembled as though rejecting the Heart.


    The old man sighed and shook his head.


    "What a shame. I thought I could seed this time."


    He then returned the Heart to Bloed.


    Regina opened her mouth at that moment.


    "That sword has a soul."


    Bloed and the others were surprised, and the old man looked at Regina with interest.


    "How impressive of you to notice it. Yes, this sword has a soul, although it is iplete, just like yours. I have been trying toplete it for many years, but I have not seeded. when I heard that a Heart of the Forest appeared nearby, I thought that perhaps it could be of help, but unfortunately, my sword rejected it."


    The group nodded in understanding while showing looks of admiration. Weapons with souls were only seen in legends. At the very least, Bloed did not know about another weapon with a soul.


    After that, Bloed introduced the members of the group to the old man. The old man looked at each member with interest, especially when he looked at Eres. He looked at her as though he was looking at an unpolished gem.


    "What an interesting group. The princess prodigy of Alterna, the exiled prince, The former princess of the demons, an elven princess, and a doll with a soul."


    Bloed and the others stiffened.


    They had not told the old man about their identities.


    "Don''t look at me like that. I recognized the princess of Alterna when I saw her and she called you brother, so you must be either the crown prince or the exiled prince. The disguise of the demon girl is pretty good, but it can''t deceive my senses, and I just need a nce to know that Regina is not human but a construct."


    The group put on awkward expressions.


    ''As expected of the strongest man in the world.'' They thought at the same time.


    "Well, what are you nning to do next?" The old man asked when they were done with the introductions.


    "Huh?"


    "I managed to scare off the seven gods, but as they said, they will send their men to get the Heart. Even though they won''t send anyone above A-Rank, it won''t be an easy situation for you."


    Bloed frowned, however, he soon rxed.


    He was afraid of the gods and he was weaker than demigods, but against anyone below demigod, he was confident.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Elwha, and Eres, were virtually unrivaled against anyone below demigod. Especially Eres, she was someone able to kill demigods as an A-Rank practitioner. To her, no opponent below demigod was worthy of her attention.


    But as though he could read Bloed''s thoughts, the old man chuckled.


    "Don''t underestimate the churches. I know that the four of you are very strongpared to regr A-Rank practitioners, but do you think that the gods did not notice it?


    "Even so, they did not hesitate to agree to my terms. It means that they are confident about getting the Heart from you."


    Bloed was startled before nodding.


    "I know. We will be careful."


    "That is good. Now, you must be tired so go to rest first. Don''t worry, the men of the churches won''t arrive today at the very least."


    Bloed looked at the girls and nodded.


    He was really tired, and the girls were not better than him.


    Before worrying about facing the men of the churches, he wanted to sleep.

 Chapter 524: The Strongest (4)

    Chapter 524: The Strongest (4)


    When Bloed woke up, it was four hourster.


    The sun had started to set, and the smell of radiation and burnt wood lingered in the air. Bloed''s body felt heavy, and he wanted to continue sleeping, but his body refused to fall asleep again.


    Looking around, he noticed that Regina and Eres were not inside. He stood up and removed Liu Ying''s leg from his body before leaving the portable home.


    When he came outside, he heard the sounds of someone fighting. His first thought was that the men of the churches had caught up, but he saw Regina saw sat down cross-legged in front of the door, so he understood that it was not that.


    "Your sister is training with the old man." Regina''s exined when she saw Bloed''s curious expression. "She could not sleep, and the old man asked her if she wanted to spar with him."


    Bloed raised an eyebrow in surprise and felt happy for Eres. Eres used a sword, so receiving guidance from the Sword Absolute was an opportunity to be stronger.


    "How about you? You can''t sleep either?" He asked Regina.


    "You know that sleep is not essential to me, master. Plus, I wanted to confirm something."


    "Mm?"


    "Master, my psionic energy increased."


    Bloed was stunned, but immediately, his expression became serious.


    "Are you sure?"


    "I am. I thought it was an illusion at first, but after a detailed check-up, I confirmed that my psionic energy indeed grew a little bit. Plus, I feel the barrier to the SSS-Grade loosening."


    Bloed put on an expression of disbelief.


    Regina was not a human, but a Valkyrie. She could not even be considered a living being, but a machine. In theory, her psionic energy should be unable to increase naturally unless her body is upgraded through external means.


    But now, she had confirmed that her psionic energy did increase.


    "How is it possible? Do you know how it happened?"


    "I''m not sure." Regina shook her head. "It should have happened today during the battle against the Sun God, but I feel that my psionic energy is still increasing, albeit slowly."


    Bloed furrowed his brows and put on a pensive expression. To be honest, he did not have any idea about what happening.


    He decided to check Regina in theboratory in the portable home, but the equipment inside did not find anything amiss besides the slight increase in her psionic energy.


    "At the very least, it doesn''t seem like something bad. But I should check your body carefully again when we are back in Academy City. The equipment there is better, and perhaps I can find something." Bloed sighed.


    Regina nodded in understanding.


    "Actually, I don''t feel it''s something bad. Quite the opposite, if I can grow stronger, I will be able to protect master better."


    "You are already doing a great job." Bloed chuckled and hugged Regina''s waist. Then, he kissed her lips softly.


    The kiss soon became more intense and the two of them looked at each other with gentle expressions. Regina then put her head on Bloed''s chest and closed her eyes.


    "I love you, master." She muttered softly.


    Bloed stroked her silver hair gently and basked in her warm embrace.


    The two of them stayed a while like that before separating with another kiss.


    "I''m going to prepare something to eat."


    "Mm, go."


    Regina then went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Left alone, Bloed left the portable house again. He then decided to watch the spar between Eres and the old man.


    To Bloed''s surprise, the battle between the two of them was very intense. Although none of them was using mana, the power of their strikes was enough to generate shockwaves when their swords shed.


    Eres was attacking the entire time, trying to use her swordsmanship to strike the old man, however, the old man deflected every one of her attacks with seemingly-slow movements.


    At first nce, it seemed that Eres had the advantage, but observing closely, Bloed could see that although Eres was always attacking, her movements seemed under the control of the old man. It was as though he could predict every one of her movements.


    "Amazing..." Bloed could not help but mutter to himself.


    The old man''s swordsmanship could be considered perfect. It was so wless that improving it anymore seemed impossible. Bloed felt that he could not reach this level of swordsmanship even if he tried to imitate the old man''s movements with the help of his eyes.


    After another five minutes, the old man finally attacked, and Eres''s sword was sent flying, ending the spar.


    "Do you understand?" The old man asked.


    Eres closed her eyes deep in thought. She recalled every detail of the old man''s swordsmanship once and again before nodding.


    "I do."


    The old man smiled in satisfaction.


    "As expected, I was not mistaken. Your talent is really monstrous, way better than mine. I heard that a prodigy had appeared in the royal family of Alterna, but this is beyond my expectations."


    "Thank you for your praise."


    "It''s not praise, it''s the truth." The old man stated calmly. "However, you should not becent. You need more than just talent to break the limits of mortals and be an Irregr. I had met dozens of people with better talent than mine in my life, but in the end, none of them managed to create their own path."


    "I will keep your words in mind." Eres nodded respectfully.


    At that moment, the old man looked toward Bloed.


    "You are also pretty good yourself, boy. To think that the manaless prince of the Kingdom of Alterna reached this level."


    "You know about me?" Bloed asked surprised.


    "I know a bit. Your story is a bit famous. When it was revealed that the second prince of Alterna was a cursed child, it caused amotion among the human kingdoms. That must be the reason why you were exiled."


    "I suppose so. The royal family''s name could not be stained by the existence of a cursed child."


    "Idiots. You are just as amazing as your sister. I can see that you can''t use mana, but despite that, you found another way to be stronger. If I''m not mistaken, you are using your soul energy to fuel your abilities, right?"


    Bloed was amazed by the old man''s observation ability.


    "That is right."


    "Amazing. To think that something like that was possible. Also, for some reason, I feel a faint threat from you, as though something inside you can injure me."


    Once more, Bloed was surprised.


    He knew that the old man was referring to his second ESP ability, [SSS-Grade Molecr Disintegration]. The old man managed to get a clue about Bloed''s strongest ability just from observing him.


    The old man continued observing Bloed and nodded a pair of times. Then, he showed a smile of interest.


    "How about this, do you want to spear with me? Even though you don''t use a sword, sparring with me should help you to improve yourbat abilities."


    Bloed was stunned, but in the next instant, he nodded.


    "It''s an honor."


    "Good. Come here, then. Show me what you got."

 Chapter 525: Sparring Against the Strongest

    Chapter 525: Sparring Against the Strongest


    "The rules are simple, we can''t use mana, or in your case, soul power. We will only use our swordsmanship and sabersmanship topete."


    "I understand."


    "Then are you ready?" The old man asked Bloed with a smile.


    Bloed took a deep breath and held his saber in front of him before nodding.


    "I am."


    "Then, here Ie."


    In the next instant, the old man charged forward.


    Bloed''s eyes opened wide. The old man''s speed was so fast that it did not seem like he was not using mana.


    Bloed barely managed to react and raised his saber to block the old man''s sword.


    *ng!*


    The sh between the weapons created sparks in the air. The power behind the old man''s sword was so great that Bloed was forced to take several steps backward.


    The old man followed up with a sword thrust. Bloed twisted his body aside and parried the sword with his saber, but the old man twisted his wrist slightly, making the sword entangle Bloed''s saber and continue towards his chest.


    Bloed''s mind moved at great speed. His brain calcted quickly the next movement as he used the handle of his saber to push the sword away.


    Then, he stomped on the ground, filling his entire body with strength as he shed toward the old man''s waist.


    But to his surprise, the old man''s figure disappeared from his sight.


    "!!!" Bloed''s eyes opened wide, but the sensors on his hair picked up that the old man was behind him and his sword was about to pierce his back.


    Without hesitating, he threw himself forward, avoiding the strike. Then, he kicked back towards the old man''s hip.


    The old man raised an eyebrow, not expecting Bloed to avoid that blow. He received Bloed''s kick with the t part of his sword, but Bloed was expecting that and used the counterforce to throw a spinning kick towards the old man''s head.


    The old man raised his sword calmly, blocking Bloed''s attack. He then smiled and rushed towards Bloed, arriving in front of him in an instant.


    ''So fast!''


    Bloed was astonished. Even with his special eyes, he barely could keep up with the old man''s movements.


    In fact, he had lost the old man''s movements for an instant just now. Without the sensors on his hair that allowed him to feel everything a few meters around him, he would have been defeated already.


    The old man struck down with his sword fiercely. Unlike when he was fighting Eres, this time, his swordsmanship was fast, powerful, and urate. It forced Bloed to defend constantly, not giving him the chance to counterattack.


    Bloed''s blue eyes were glowing brightly, doing their best to follow the old man''s movements and predict his attacks, however, it was useless.


    The old man''s swordsmanship was so exquisite that it was unpredictable. Bloed''s predictions proved to be wrong several times, making his situation worse and almost costing him the spar a couple of times.


    In the end, he was forced to stop relying on the ability of his eyes to predict movements and just focus on reacting to the attacks to the best of his ability.


    However, that put Bloed''s in a passive position. The old man''s constant attacks suppressed him until he could do nothing but defend himself.


    Bloed got the feeling that the old man was like a mountain pressing on him. No matter how much he struggled, the weight of the mountain made him feel powerless.


    Plus, judging from the old man''s slight smile, it was obvious that he was not going all out. He was just exerting the necessary pressure to bring the most out of Bloed''s abilities.


    ''His speed and strength are less than mine, but even so, he is suppressing mepletely just by virtue of his swordsmanship! As expected of the Sword Absolute!''


    Bloed could only admit that the old man was on a whole another level when it came to martial arts.


    At that moment, the old man struck with his sword again. Bloed instinctively used his saber to block the attack, but when the sword and the saber shed, he noticed that the sword did not have any strength behind it.


    ''Crap!''


    He cursed in his mind as his stance was destroyed. With a quick reaction, he stomped his right leg on the ground to stop his onward momentum, but even so, he ended up showing a small opening.


    The old man''s eyes glinted as he caught that opening. He held his sword with his right hand and performed three quick thrusts.


    Bloed quickly used his saber to block the sword thrusts, however, the old man''s first thrust destroyed his stance, the second thrust pushed his saber away, and the third thrust stopped before piercing his chest.


    "It''s my win." The old man stated calmly.


    Bloed took a deep breath and bowed.


    "Thank you for your guidance."


    The old man nodded. "Your martial arts are quite good. They are very stable. Also, your senses are very sharp, and your eyes are exceptional." He said while staring at Bloed''s bright blue eyes. "You were trying to predict my movements, right?"


    Bloed was startled before nodding.


    "I failed, though."


    "Well, it would have been shameful for me if my movements can be predicted that easily, however, your idea was good. You should not have trouble predicting the movements of anyone else."


    The old man then sighed and looked at Bloed with aplicated expression.


    "Really, you are very good. However, I feel that your movements are very mechanized. I did not feel that I was fighting a human, but a golem. To be honest, I like your sister''s martial arts more."


    Bloed forced out a smile.


    Well, his martial arts were based on calctions. He understood the old man''s point, but Bloed knew that this was the method that suited him the most.


    "Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Bart. It was very useful."


    "Don''t worry, don''t worry, it''s not every day that this old man meets such talented youngsters. I''m hungry after all the exercise, though, and I smell something nice."


    Bloed smiled wryly. Just now, Regina had told him that dinner was ready through their soul connection.


    It seemed that the old man had noticed that dinner was ready, so he was smiling with an expression of anticipation.


    Bloed did not know whether tough or to cry.


    ...


    Remember to support me on my P4TRE0N if you like the novel. It helps me a lot...


    P4TRE0N: /aidnovels

 Chapter 526: The Strongest Takes a Disciple

    Chapter 526: The Strongest Takes a Disciple


    As always, Regina''s cooking was mouthwatering. Using modern technologies and her machine-like uracy, she was able to cook dishes more delicious than any dish in this world.


    Bloed, Liu Ying, Elwha, and Eres were already somehow used to Regina''s cooking, but when the old man tasted Regina''s cooking for the first time, his eyes became bright like amp.


    "W-What is it... So delicious!!!"


    He then turned into a tornado that swept up the table of dishes.


    Bloed watched that with a speechless look. For an instant, he wondered if this man was really the strongest powerhouse in the world.


    If Bloed did not see him intimidate seven gods by himself, he would have thought that he was just a strange but slightly entric old man.


    ''I guess that appearances can be misleading, huh.''


    At that moment, Bloed saw the old man''s sword, which had been put on the table, buzz softly.


    The old man smiled and patted the de of the sword.


    "It''s very delicious, a shame that you can''t eat it."


    The sword buzzed again, and the old man put on a bitter smile.


    "Okay okay, I promise you that one day, I will let you taste all the world''s delicacies."


    The sword buzzed again in eptance before staying quiet.


    Bloed and the others looked at that scene dumbfounded.


    "T-That... Were you talking to the sword?" Liu Ying asked hesitantly.


    The old man nodded.


    "Yeah. She is a bit childlike and curious, so when she saw how I was enjoying the food, she could not help but ask me if it was delicious."


    "... So the sword can talk," Elwha stated incredulously.


    The old man nodded, not noticing the strange gazes of Bloed and the others.


    "I guess something like that is possible if a sword has a soul, huh." Bloed showed an expression of understanding, however, he was not sure if the sword was really talking or the old man was senile.


    After all, seeing someone talk to a sword as though it was alive was shocking to anyone.


    At that moment, Eres spoke to the sword.


    "Miss sword, do you want to get a body?"


    Bloed and the others were startled, but to their surprise, the sword buzzed.


    "Is it so? So your dream is one day to be human, huh." Eres nodded. "I wish you luck. By the way, what is your name?"


    The sword buzzed again.


    "Filo is it. A nice name."


    This time, even the old man was stunned.


    "Wait, you can understand her!?" The old man stood up from his seat in surprise.


    Eres tilted her head in confusion.


    "Is that strange?"


    "Never has anyone besides me understood her words before. Not even the gods! I even thought that I was crazy!"


    Eres tilted her head again. She could understand the sword''s words easily.


    The old man looked at Eres like she was a strange object. Then, his eyes became hot.


    "Girl, do you want to be my disciple?"


    The group froze.


    "Wait, do you want to make Eres your disciple?" Liu Ying was shocked. "Sister-inw, what are you waiting for? Agree!"


    Bloed and Elwha looked at Eres in excitement. Bing the disciple of the Sword Absolute was something that anyone would kill for.


    But unlike them, Eres did not seem excited.


    She frowned slightly and looked at the old man.


    "What do I need to do if I be your disciple?"


    "Nothing much. You just need to follow me around the world while I teach you my swordsmanship. With your talent, bing a peak demigod is just a matter of time. Perhaps, you will be the world''s fourth Irregr."


    "I''m sorry, I refuse."


    "Huh?"


    "I don''t want to leave my brother. If I need to leave my brother to be your apprentice, I prefer to decline."


    The old man was stunned.


    He was the Sword Absolute, the strongest man in the world. Countless people had begged him to make them his disciples, however, he had refused them firmly.


    But he never thought that when he finally decided to take a disciple, he would be rejected as well.


    "W-Wait a moment, think again. I''m the strongest. I-If you be my disciple, nobody will dare to bully you!"


    "I don''t care."


    "H-Hey, please. I promise you that I will teach you everything about y swordsmanship without hiding anything. I will even lend Filo to you!"


    "Not interested."


    "Come on, do it for this old man, please? I''m already old and weak. I need someone to pass my skills on."


    "No."


    The old man seemed like he was crying. He continued to beg Eres to be his apprentice once and again, however, Eres was adamant about her decision.


    Finally, after almost five minutes, the old man sighed.


    "Okay, I promise you that I won''t force you to leave your brother. Is that enough?"


    Eres showed an expression of hesitation as though she was thinking if she should ept, but finally, she reluctantly agreed.


    The old man sighed in relief.


    "Great! Then, from today onwards you are my disciple! Call me master!"


    "... Master."


    "Good disciple! Your master is very satisfied with you!"


    Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, and Elwha looked at that scene with strange expressions.


    In thest five minutes, their expressions had gone from surprised, astonished, dumbfounded, speechless, and finally suppressing theirughter. This was the strangest apprenticeship they had seen in their life.


    Moreover, one of the two parties was the Sword Absolute, the indisputable strongest powerhouse in the world, but now, he was practically begging Eres to ept him as her master.


    It was a very surreal scene.


    "By the way, master. Now that I have be your apprentice, doesn''t it mean that you must help me if I''m in trouble?"


    The old man was startled and subconsciously nodded.


    "Then, I need your help now. The gods and the churches want to rob our Heart of the Forest. Please, make justice for us."


    The old man fell silent before putting on a bitter smile.


    "... I''m starting to regret epting you as my disciple."


    "Toote for that."


    "You... Sigh..." The old man heaved a sigh and shook his head. "It''s not as easy as you think, I''m the strongest, but it doesn''t mean that I am invincible.


    "The Heart of the Forest is very important to the gods, they won''t give up on it easily. The reason why they agreed to my demands was that I left them with a way to get the Heart, but if I try to stop thempletely, they won''t hesitate to fight me.


    "Don''t underestimate the gods. They are indeed afraid of me, but if pushes to shove, they won''t care. I''m confident I can defeat any of them in battle, and even if I fight two or three of them at the same time, I''m still confident in my victory; but if I fight the seven of them, then I will definitively lose. At most, I will bring a few of them with me to the grave."


    The old man''s expression was solemn. He stared at Eres, then at Bloed, Liu Ying, Elwha, and Regina.


    "Don''t ask me for help regarding this matter, I have done everything I can do. However, I promise you something. If you manage to bring the Heart to the Boerner Forest, I will make sure that the gods ept their loss, even if I have to fight them."


    Bloed and the girls looked at each other with serious expressions and nodded.


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