Ch. 431..440

Chapter 431

Leaning forward while supporting his arms with his knees, Tralbok stared anxiously into a looking glass.

The looking glass was larger than his palm with gold trim around it. The god had his fingers tightly wrapped around the edges of the mirror. It was how Tralbok was constantly monitoring Pestro and the reason for his anxiety.

Before everything had begun, Tralbok verified that Pestro was indeed on his way to Trodar. But the frustrated look on Pestro’s face led Tralbok to inspect the Crooked Mountains, the place Pestro had been searching for clues on Choron.

What Tralbok found there was more than he wanted to know.

He spotted Rikko walking toward a goblin settlement alongside a human man that shouldn’t have been in the Crooked Mountains.

Finding Jack there had started to create the anxiety that was now in full bloom for Tralbok.

The acting leader of the chaotic gods was torn as to allow the weaker gods to watch the battle alongside him, especially since it might negatively affect their already terrible morale to see Tralbok’s great stress. With that in mind, Tralbok holed himself up and used a smaller looking glass to watch the battle personally.

It all started well until the Draconic Centipede arrived and formed a perimeter around the invading army. That was enough to greatly dishearten Tralbok, so Hadurt’s appearance was equivalent to a punch in the gut. Then, for some reason, Pestro’s fury spiked and the Demon God cursed Rikko. It perplexed Tralbok until Pestro retrieved a black greatsword instead of his halberd.

No one else understood what had really happened, but Tralbok figured out the truth.

Tralbok assumed that Pestro did something to anger Rikko, which was very easy to do with Pestro’s temper and Rikko’s personality. That must have led to Rikko somehow duping Pestro and stealing the demonic halberd without Pestro knowing any better.

And though Pestro had a higher level than Eedaj, it didn’t mean that the fight would be easy. Eedaj was unique and targeted his opponents’ minds. Under the right circumstances, Eedaj just needed a single moment of opportunity to end the battle with Pestro. So Pestro losing his Halberd was a huge disadvantage, forcing the Demon God on an uphill battle.

Then, while Pestro was gradually falling deeper and deeper into his emotions to rage against Eedaj, Tralbok walked with hesitation. Tralbok knew that Eedaj was just trying to create an opportunity to act.

Finally, the final nail in the coffin that drove Tralbok’s anxiousness to new heights was Jack’s sudden arrival on the city wall.

Knowing that something was wrong, Tralbok left his personal quarters and rushed through the caverns of their headquarters. He ran at full speed, not wanting to waste a single second.

Not even a minute later, Tralbok arrived before an ordinary-looking door. His hand hesitated to grab the door handle. But then, Tralbok saw Jack summon a Spectral Dragon. That incident through Tralbok’s mind into a minefield of worries. It was enough stress to convince Tralbok to open the door.

"Oh... Tralbok? What are you on about now?"

Putin gon a confident face, Tralbok stared Moranti in the eyes. "I need you to send me to Trodar."

"What?" Moranti started to laugh. "No, seriously, why are you here?"

Repeating himself, Tralbok stated, "I need you to send me to Trodar, now!"

"Not happening," stated Moranti, understanding that Tralbok was serious for some reason.

"You have no choice!"

"Of course I have a choice, give me one reason why I should do it?" asked Moranti.

"You’re torture will be lessened. Also, we’ll bring you better foo."

"Nah, that doesn’t matter to me," replied Moranti, not caring.

"Then what will it take for me to get to Trodar?" Tralbok questioned, still eyeing the casual Moranti.

A slight smile crept onto Moranti’s face. "How about I go to Trodar?"

"No!" Tralbok instantly answered, "You’re a loose cannon that willingly kills his fellow gods. Why on earth should we--"

"Because, based on the level of your false bravado, someone important to the syndicate might die soon," reasoned Moranti. "Why shouldn’t I just let them die? Isn’t that better for me in the long run?"

"But--"

"Just because I have the ability to send you there doesn’t mean I will!" shouted Moranti, not letting Tralbok get a word in edgewise. "I want these shackles and chains released. That’s the only thing I long for. Unless that’s involved, then I don’t care who dies. I’d rather see the entire faction fall before I help you out more."

"Then I should kill you now!"

"Can you?" Moranti asked, confidently smiling. "You’ve only restricted my movement, not my abilities. The reason I haven’t killed you lot is because I’d be left alone in shackles with no one to free me, waiting for Halmut to take my head."

Then--"

"And don’t even mention the contract until I can see it. Skaryn still has those, only he’s sealed away and unable to enforce them," stated Moranti. "Until he’s freed, you have no way of punishing me for anything I do, even if I killed you."

Tralbok didn’t hide his rage from Moranti, showing his hatred with every fiber of the god’s being.

"Oh! So it’s Pestro you’re worried about." Moranti caught a glimpse of the looking glass in Tralbok’s hand. "How about this? You’ll set me free and I won’t target the chaotic gods until the holy gods are out of the picture. I’ll even save Pestro from his fight with Eedaj."

"I’m not worried about--"

"If you’re not worried about Eedaj, then something else must have you worried. Come on Tralbok, share the news," prodded Moranti. "If Pestro’s up against the neutral gods and you’re worried about him, then I’d be double worried. Those guys are so unpredictable it’s amazing! There’s no telling what they can and can’t do, regardless of their shortage of numbers."

Frowning back at Moranti, Tralbok said nothing. He only looked into the looking glass.

"Tralbok? Traaaaaaal..." Moranti called Tralbok by his former nickname, pestering Tralbok until he responded.

But, out of the blue, Tralbok flinched and his eye twitched. Glued to the looking glass, Tralbok was further startled by another development from the Leisure Guild.

Moranti noticed the change in attitude and checked the looking glass as well.

Bursting into laughter, Moranti’s voice filled the room and the nearby caverns, "They even got your precious champion?! And that hideous fool’s weapon? Amazing! Simply amazing!

"How about we watch closely as your little syndicate gets trashed and Pestro gets himself killed," chuckled Moranti.

Tralbok grunted and rushed away from Moranti, leaving the room fuming mad.

*****

With his back against a tree, Lorwynn lounged in the shade. He was patiently waiting outside of Olympic Chateau’s barrier. Remaining invisible was easy for him as that area had little to no natural predators. Almost all beasts were terrified of the Holy Gods and wouldn’t dare get too close to Olympic Chateau.

"Lorwynn, you there?"

Hearing Sterfen’s voice, Lorwynn smiled and took out his contact crystal. "Yeah, are you all done?"

"You can go on without me," replied Sterfen, catching Lorwynn off guard. "I’m speaking with the head honcho right now so I’ll be able to figure a way out."

"The... You’re meeting with Halmut?!"

"Calm down, kid. I’ll explain my antics later but, for now, you should head back to the guild."

"Sterfen, how can you--"

"Lorwynn, hurry back to the Leisure Guild. Use the teleportation scroll," stated Sterfen.

Startled to see how insistent Sterfen was, Lorwynn sighed, "I... Okay, but don’t blame me if you can’t get out."

"Just go. The guild’s under attack and could use you right now."

Hearing that, Lorwynn didn’t say another word. Instead, he replaced the contact crystal in his hand with a spell scroll. That scroll was quickly unfurled and activated. Lorwynn was carried away in a flash of light, leaving Sterfen alone inside Olympic Chateau.

 

Chapter 432

A lone flash of light appeared in the center of the Leisure Guild. Before it could fade, Lorwynn rocketed into the air to get a better picture of the situation.

Dragov was the first and most obvious sight to find, followed by the army that was attacking him. The former holy champion also spotted a Glacier Wyrm rushing to the aid of a dragon that Lorwynn had never seen before.

When Lorwynn found Hadurt standing in front of Ollan and a guardian, he chuckled. But he abruptly stopped laughing once he noticed the weapon in Hadurt’s hands.

Going back and forth between the powering-up Hadurt and the godly duel at the further extents of the field, Lorwynn didn’t know what to think. That scenario didn’t make sense but he had to give credit to Jack and the Leisure Guild. To not only steal a god’s personal weapon but to give it to Hadurt was something that Lorwynn couldn’t even imagine, let alone pull off.

Lorwynn also noticed Jack and Bowzer as a cry suddenly sounded out from below Lorwynn.

Not wasting any more time, Lorwynn threw himself into the battle within the walls of the Leisure Guild. He brought out his staff and covered the battlefield in green energy. On the side of the invaders, the ground trembled as savage plants burst from the ground.

Thanks to Lorwynn’s spell Entangling Jungle, the invading forces became slowed or immobile for the time being.

However, Lorwynn was focused on a particular battle and hurled a holy light into the fray.

With the holy light healing him, Mooldrat roared and darted toward the regent who dared attempt sneaking past him. But the other bloodied regent stabbed Mooldrat in the back as the beholder tried to escape the encounter.

The second regent, who only managed to blow past the beholder with half an hour missing, rushed toward the women the beholder was guarding. His one good arm held tight to his staff, throwing fireballs with all his might.

Though his life was likely to be taken in the end, the regent was proud to have eliminated the loved ones of the neutral champion.

Yet those fireballs were extinguished before they reached their targets. A rain of lightning reduced the fireballs to cinders.

Everyone in that battle looked up toward the lightning’s point of origin. Mooldrat shook. He was both badly injured and elated. The regents were utterly baffled. They were frozen in place by a combination of confusion and fear.

Lorwynn didn’t introduce himself, rather he shot out more lightning to decimate the two regents.

Then, the eastern sky was flooded by purple energy and the ground gently shook beneath everyone’s feet. It surprised Jack’s party before they could thank Lorwynn or ask how he had arrived.

The former hoy champion instantly recognized that purple light as remnant spatial energy. And the instantaneous flash paired with the trembling of the ground must be an attack, thought Lorwynn. It was a strange phenomenon that lacked explanation and reason, leaving the Lorwynn worried and confused at the same time.

Dropping to the floor, Lorwynn took a moment to ask the party, "Do any of you know what that was?"

No one replied with an explanation before they returned to the fight at hand.

Just as Lorwynn was about to halt his moment of thought, a voice screamed inside his head as well as all people connected to Jack through a pact.

’Someone help Jack!’ It was Bowzer, and his shouts were drastic. ’Jack’s gone crazy!’

Taking that as his cue, Lorwynn looked to the party. "I’ll help Jack and Bowzer. If you need anything, just say so."

Taking off through the air, Lorwynn hurried to where he was needed most, throwing lightning bolts into the herd of trapped syndicate members as Lorwynn flew overhead.

*****

Surrounded by three cranes, Kims was undeterred by their presence. All Kims cared about was slaying the man who ruined his mother’s life and his childhood.

Thyron, on the other hand, was entirely focused on escaping alive. Even if he won the battle with Kims, that didn’t matter if the cranes would just end him afterward. He was determined to find some means to slip away.

Kims charged in again, not caring if Thyron’s Lightning Cage reactivated, which it did. The swordsman was greatly slowed as he lunged forward with his blade.

A wall of rock rose up to block Kims’s attack. Then, as Kims broke through the wall, Thyron hurled a lightning bolt through the broken wall and into Kims. It was a direct hit!

Groaning, Kims still pushed forward to close the gap.

Instead of running further back, Thyron remained where he stood and avoided nearing the cranes. Though Kims was too dutiful to ask for help, there was no way that Thyron would risk the cranes having their own plans. The sorcerer cast Earth Wall again without batting an eye. And as Kims broke through that one, there was a second earth wall after it, as well as a third.

Finally, after the third wall of earth, Kims had managed to reach Thyron. Or so he thought.

Thyron was nowhere to be found and his Lightning Cage had deactivated.

When Kims’s feet landed back on the ground, a hand suddenly erupted from the earth below to firmly grab the swordsman by the ankle.

"Shocking Grasp!"

Electricity poured into Kims at an alarming rate. That attack was much more intense than the lightning bolt from earlier. Kims felt his skin char around his ankle, struggling to take the attack.

"Just die!" Thyron’s laugh spread out from below, proving where he was located as the sorcerer cast Shocking Grasp yet again.

Tensing and spasming, Kims’s muscles were unable to cope with the sheer amount of electricity being pumped into him. All Kims could do was fight his cramping body and sense the damage being done to his internals.

The cranes were hesitant to jump in, about to go in for the attack when they noticed something odd about Kims.

His body started to elongate and stretch out. Kims’s neck got longer along with his torso and limbs. Also, a pair of white, feathery wings ripped out the back of Kims’s shirt. Nimble as a serpent, Kims’s foot slid out of the sorcerer’s hand. At the same time, Kims’s sword was thrust into the earth and toward the origin of Thyron’s voice.

"Wha--" Caught off guard, Thyron cried out but coughed up blood after getting stabbed.

Thyron rushed out of the earth, reactivating Lightning Cage as he fled.

However, Kims was far quicker in his transformation. The one-armed swordsman took a lightning bolt head-on in order to thrust his sword into Thyron’s chest. And before Thyron could cry in pain, Kims had already started to twist the sword within the sorcerer’s ribcage.

Both men fell over after sharing attacks.

The fatigue and internal damage within Kims’s body couldn’t be ignored much longer as the swordsman shook, only able to stand while leaning against his blade for support.

Blood spilled out of Thyron’s shoulder and chest, the two places he had been injured. In particular, the wound in Thyron’s chest was also bleeding internally and filling up the empty space within his body. One arm was unusable and Thyron could feel his life slipping through his consciousness.

Neither man could move anymore, lying in pain and agony.

Thyron glared at Kims for one last time, grunting at the swordsman while the cranes stood over him like vultures waiting for their prey to die.

As Thyron’s life faded away Kims was sadly unable to savor the moment. His body was reverting to normal after he fell unconscious. He won the fight and did as he wished, but he failed to say goodbye to the man he had loathed since birth.

 

Chapter 433

Running through the crowds of the southwest fields, Ollan did everything in his power to create distance between himself and the raging demon after him.

Following Ollan like a hawk was Hadurt, battle-crazed and obstinate to steal away Ollan’s life for EXP. It would push the former champion into lv. 89, where Hadurt would only have to wait for the right moment to ascend. Then, he’d finally achieve the goal of his life and be able to seek revenge.

Both berserkers were determined but there was nowhere for Ollan to hide. The crowd offered nothing because Hadurt carved through the syndicate soldiers like butter with his new halberd.

"Come on, Ollan! Why drag it out?" Hadurt bantered.

Ollan remained unresponsive. He didn’t dare to incite Hadurt even more. All he wanted was to reach Pestro. Ollan was certain that should he get near enough to the Demon God, Pestro would instantly assault Hadurt to retrieve his weapon.

Hadurt knew exactly what Ollan was up to. And though he would prefer to duke it out in a manly fashion with his old friend, Ollan was forcing Hadurt to prove why he was selected as the champion.

On top of the demonic energy dancing around Hadurt, powerful static electricity crackled around his skeletal armor.

In the blink of an eye, Hadurt went from chasing Ollan to blocking Ollan’s path.

Cursing his terrible luck, Ollan turned and dashed back into the army. However, Hadurt appeared there as well, beheading all nearby syndicate members.

"Ollan, I’m sorry it came to this. Really, I am," Hadurt stated, appearing slightly calmed. "At least allow me to remember you as the honorable warrior you claimed to be and not the coward who ran away. You’d be the biggest hypocrite I know... not counting the gods."

Taking that in, Ollan sighed. He hated to admit it, but Ollan understood that Hadurt would never allow him to even get close to Pestro, let alone escape.

The lv. 85 berserker took in a deep breath, thinking of some of the brave warriors he’d defeated in the past, like the manager of Golden Haven. Unable to think of his name, Ollan chuckled, "Alright..."

"Good... Then prepare yourself. I’ll let you make the first move. But try running again and I’ll be forced to ruin you and your reputation," added Hadurt, keeping his halberd ready.

"Just a moment..."

Ollan took another couple of deep breaths before resuming his battle stance. While preparing his strike, Ollan asked, "Do you think Vladdy will be able to take on that hero?"

"I have no clue!" Hadurt laughed. "For all I know, Jack could get killed by some no-name soldier or he could slay a god. He’s the Legend of Trodar, anything could happen..."

"Yeah... I guess... Do we really have to do this?"

Hadurt nodded. "Can’t have it any other way, sadly. I’ll never forget you or your help, Ollan."

"Thanks... I appreciate that."

Knowing fully well who would win this exchange, both berserkers gripped their weapons tightly before the clash.

Then, they attacked.

Ollan charged with his greatsword. His strongest attack mixed with his strongest demonic buff, creating an attack meant to obliterate Ollan’s opponent along with the earth he stood on.

Hadurt leaped with a slash attack, boosted by his own demonic buff. Also, lighting coursed over the blade, adding another boost in attack power. There was also a sharp wind sandwiching the blade in order to increase the speed and cutting ability of the slash.

Both blades connected. One blade shattered. Blood was spilled out.

Sighing, Hadurt released his demonic aura, as well as the lightning and wind energy. He smiled slightly at the sight of his new level and bowed his head to the fallen berserker.

"Sorry... That’s just how the world works when those gods get involved."

Hadurt looted Ollan’s storage but didn’t touch Ollan’s armor. At the very least, Hadurt wanted his old friend to be remembered and honored correctly.

*****

"Die!"

Finally, Vlad arrived to assist in the killing of the two flame bodies. He charged with his shield in front of him, ready to bash first and kill second.

Jack activated Sudden Death to avoid the incoming attacks from the army. Following that, Jack recognized the guardian barreling towards him. Without any hesitation, Jack took the initiative and threw himself at the guardian.

The army cleared a path for Vlad, allowing the guardian to take Jack head-on without interruption. They completely trusted Vlad and were confident that he would quickly dispose of their enemies.

Before Jack connected with Vlad’s shield, the form of his large flame body suddenly changed.

Both of Jack’s wings disappeared and were replaced by arms. But then each of Jack’s hands shifted into a single long claw, matching the distant centipede’s arms but coated in black and white fire.

The shield of the berserker and the claw of the hero clashed, sending Vlad back a step and Jack back a meter or two.

’Someone help Jack! Jack’s gone crazy!’ Out of reflex and concern, Bowzer announced their need for help. Though he trusted Jack’s abilities, Bowzer didn’t feel confident about the sudden match up after witnessing that same guardian clash with Hadurt.

Along with the syndicate members nearby, Bowzer was surprised to see Jack like this, acting without reason. But something else overtook that surprise. Not only was Jack’s power suddenly stronger along with his flame body, but Jack managed to shrug off the shield bash attack decently well for someone under lv. 60.

That’s when Bowzer noticed something that caught him off guard.

Somehow, Bowzer’s level had reached the end of lv. 68. It didn’t make sense to the fox, but he couldn’t deny that it was a fact. Both Bowzer and Jack had reached lv. 53 amidst the huge battle with help from Dragov, but a sudden boost of fifteen levels was uncalled for.

Then, Bowzer remembered the purple energy in the eastern sky and the trembling of the ground.

Focusing on evasion, Bowzer took a moment to connect that phenomenon with a memory from his time inside the storehouse. Remembering how Tralon eviscerated the jakal army, Bowzer determined the only logical conclusion.

While Bowzer was trying to piece together what was going on, Jack was living in the fight. To Jack, all that existed was himself and his opponent.

Jack didn’t let up on the guardian, throwing yet another claw attack against the shield. His claw thrust forward with fire and blood-red energy.

The guardian tanked the hit, being pushed back oslightly.

But Jack continued, using Sudden Death to reposition himself and flank the guardian. However, the guardian’s shield still managed to block the next thrust.

Not wanting to waste time, Jack remained rational while enraged. The hero channeled his fury the best he could and decided on the next tactic to try. He opened his menu and instinctually selected a skill while upgrading it greatly before closing it and acting again.

Now flanking the guardian on the side nearest to his sword, Jack thrust forward with both claws.

Unable to properly block both attacks, Vlad readied himself to block one and parry the second.

Just as the guardian began to spin around, Vlad coughed up blood. Vlad blinked, not believing his eyes.

Both of Jack’s claws were already jutting through Vlad’s body, one in Vlad’s side and another in the upper chest to the side of the heart. Vlad’s body was already catching fire thanks to Jack’s black and white flame body. But the worst feeling came from Vlad’s internal organs, which were also burning away.

Vlad groaned, failing to cough up the drying blood in his veins as he looked back up at Jack’s face.

Kicking Vlad’s impaled body from his claws, Jack turned and groaned in pain. While Vlad perished in flames, Jack’s body was aching. His overuse of Greater Replenish was taking its toll after Jack cast it in conjunction with Time Stop.

Though Jack kept his intimidating appearance in front of the baffled army, the hero knew that his body would give out any moment now.

 

Chapter 434

Jack’s flame body continued to look down on the remaining syndicate members, all the more intimidating after defeating a lv. 83 guardian. And considering how no one understood what Jack did to win, they were even further frightened.

Despite his appearance, Jack was on his last legs. Using Time Stop was still the most costly of his spells. Using Greater Replenish only bought Jack a few moments before his body started to shut down.

’Bowzer we need to run,’ Jake stated telepathically. ’Take me back inside the guild...’

The fox was glad that Jack wasn’t as crazy as his flame body had let on. Bowzer dashed toward Jack, getting a lead on the baffled syndicate members.

Jack mounted Bowzer with a groan as they dashed off at top speed. But the army wasn’t just going to let them leave so easily.

The remaining lv. 60’s and lv. 70’s chased after them. Some started to gain on the fox, which was to be expected with their level difference. It was only a matter of time till they were caught and killed now that Jack was a handicap.

The hero was about to call for more help but he spotted someone flying through the air, heading towards Jack and Bowzer.

That someone dowsed Jack and Bowzer in holy light and hurling lightning into the crowd following the duo. He dropped to the ground, blocking the duos pursuers personally.

Feeling some of his body’s pains and aches lessening, Jack sighed. Though his body was still shutting down, Jack knew that he could at least maintain consciousness while his body began to rest.

’Bowzer... drop the flame body... I can’t hold it any longer...’

Both Jack and Bowzer dropped their flame bodies as they continued their dash for the city wall.

Finally not under the stress of combat, Bowzer showed a slight smile. But Bowzer’s body remained burning hot, even after losing the flame body.

"Ahh! Bowzer--"

"Jack!"

Bowzer came to a grinding halt. The fox bounced the weak Jack from his back as softly as he could. While Jack groaned from his aching body and the burns he had received, Bowzer felt his body trying to again release his flame body.

’Jack, I can’t...’

The barely conscious hero noticed Bowzer struggling to contain his flame body. It was a strange sight, something that felt oddly familiar to Jack.

Remembering the only other time Bowzer couldn’t control his flame body, Jack looked back at his and Bowzer’s levels.

’Lv. 69... Bowzer, are you evolving?!’

’That... can explain it...’ replied the fox, still wanting to fight it and carry Jack to safety.

’Phoro! Come get me, now!’ Jack shouted telepathically.

’Alright, but I’m coming full-speed!’

With an escape on the way, Jack turned to Bowzer and forced a smile. ’Bowzer, just let it go... Phoro will be picking me up any second now, so no need to fight it... Just get far away from the battlefield...’

’Okay...’

The fox nodded and noticed the incoming Phoro over the top of the city wall. With nothing holding him back, Bowzer took off further north while keeping close to the city wall. His flame body erupted again while his flames were more intense yet inconsistent.

Phoro arrived and helped Jack onto his back.

’Take me to the west wall... near Bowzer...’

Following Jack’s order, Phoro carried Jack to the wall. They landed not too far from the west gate and could see all the battlefields now.

Jack kept his eyes half-closed. The hero didn’t have any energy to waste and was forced to watch while he was left incapable of helping. Jack was delighted to see that Lorwynn had arrived, but he was more interested in the godly duel and what Rikko had planned.

*****

Pestro was still raging, only getting stronger and faster as he allowed his emotions to run wild.

Eedaj, on the other hand, was focusing on evasion while continually maintaining the illusory darkness around Pestro.

Both gods started to feel the tax of battle, keeping a close eye on their mana stores. They each had a few more powerful moves to offer but they also understood that those moves would be best used under the right circumstances when they’re guaranteed to hit.

The Demon God’s demonic attacks shredded the ground that he walked on. Holding nothing back, Pestro seriously wanted to kill Eedaj rather than just stall the Mind God.

Black lighting started to dance around Pestro’s swords, combining dark and lightning type energies. Static electricity covered the area as Pestro’s speed increased again. The Demon God chased after the Mind God, finally gaining on him.

It only took a few swings and a few moments for the Demon God to finally catch up to Eedaj. Pestro saw Eedaj looking back to him as Pestro’s greatswords arched toward Eedaj.

Those large swords threatened Eedaj as they neared his side, ready to slash through the elven god’s flesh.

"Ahh..."

A god grunted spit out a morsel of blood as he stopped in his tracks.

Pestro snarled as he looked down at his chest to find an unwelcome guest stabbing a dagger into Pestro’s chest and a dagger into Pestro’s knee.

"RIIIIKKOOOOO!!"

"See, Pestro funny!" The Goblin God twisted his blade in Pestro’s chest cavity, taking full advantage of his sneak attack.

"YOU!" Pestro ignored the pain and the blood dribbling down his chest, jabbing one sword into the ground and grabbing Rikko by the throat. "You’ll die!"

Despite the tight grip latched around his neck, Rikko smiled and chuckled with strained breathing, "Rikko no die... Pestro die..."

As Pestro took that in, the Demon God noticed the figure of Eedaj a few meters away begin to fade into the illusory darkness. Then, all of a sudden, Pestro felt a hand firmly grab the top of his head.

Knowing exactly what had happened, Pestro’s focus shifted immediately to Eedaj floating over him from behind. "Eedaj--"

"Cerebral Collapse!"

Eedaj tightened his grip around Pestro’s head, sending a pulse of psychic energy into the Demon’s God’s skull.

"AAAhhhhhaaaaAAAaaahhh..."

Pestro had no chance to stop the merciless Mind God who would never turn down such a window of opportunity. He felt his arms grow limp, followed by his legs. He lost access to his divine physique. Without any footing, Pestro fell backward.

Rikko laughed again, now freed from the Demon God’s loose grip. "Rikko say Pestro face consequences! Now Pestro pay with life!"

"No, Rikko." Eedaj stopped the chuckling goblin from stabbing Pestro in the throat. "Let’s help Jack kill him. He could use the EXP."

"Oh, Rikko like that too," replied Rikko, storing away both of his daggers.

"You... How... dare..."

Pestro struggled terribly to speak a single word, forming broken and incomplete phrases.

"That’s enough from you, Pestro. You dared face us, but we’re not like the holy gods. We don’t fight with brute force. Instead, we’d rather appear weak in order to gain the advantage in the end," stated Eedaj, relieved to have ended the battle without any major injuries.

Eedaj let the darkness fade, giving them all a better view of the other battlefields and giving the other battlefields witness the outcome.

"Cease your fighting, or die!"

Everyone heard Eedaj’s telepathic shout, jarring the syndicate members and comforting the guild members.

Eedaj continued, "The fight is over. Surrender your weapons peacefully and you may still live. Attempt anything, and you’ll be killed by a god. Would you dare?!"

The sound of weapons clanging on the ground started to fill the area. At the same time, the giant beasts halted their rampages in order to watch Eedaj and Rikko.

"The Leisure Guild has won this fight and protected the city!" shouted Eedaj, filling the guild members with well-earned pride. "The syndicate and the chaotic gods have lost!"

"Have we, now?"

 

Chapter 435

"Have we now?"

A new voice quietly sounded out from behind Eedaj and Rikko, near the fallen Pestro. The far-off crowds couldn’t hear the voice, but the three gods could.

Eedaj ceased his speaking and jolted around. Rikko did the same while retrieving both of his daggers. The expressions on both of their faces could only be described as utter disbelief.

Hovering over Pestro was a man in an extravagant black and gold cloak. In one hand was an intricate black and gold staff that winded all the way up the shaft until it merged into a glistening diamond the size of a fist, already glowing with a massive amount of energy. In his other hand was a silver and purple scythe, simply designed but covered in feint purple scales, much like those of Karronteel. The very tip of that scythe, however, was stabbed into the man’s foot, dripping blood onto Pestro.

"Tralbok, how--" Eedaj shouted and prepared an attack, but he could do nothing against the already cast spell of Tralbok.

"Reverse!"

Tralbok shouted as he stored the scythe and cast one of his personal spells, engulfing Pestro and the two neutral gods inside an ethereal barrier.

The barrier wasn’t strong, but it wasn’t meant to contain anything. It had a different effect.

Eedaj stopped casting his spell and turned back to face the other battlefields. Rikko stored his daggers away and did the same. Then, both of them started to smile. Words left their mouths but in reverse. Eedaj restated his little speech to the crowd but backward and Rikko laughed at Pestro strangely.

The two gods then looked back to Pestro and replayed how Rikko almost finished off Pestro but was stopped by Eedaj. Those clouds of darkness started to reappear as both Rikko and Eedaj resumed their former positions of trapping Pestro.

Pestro rose back up to his feet, feeling sensation in his body yet again as those psychic pulses left his body and Eedaj eventually lifted his hand from the Demon God’s skull.

Finally, that barrier burst, leaving the three gods in their former circumstances.

Pestro stood with two daggers jutting out of him and with Rikko’s neck in his grasp while the false Eedaj began to fade and the true Eedaj was hurrying to place his hand on Pestro’s head.

But now, Tralbok was involved.

"Rikko!" Eedaj shouted as his target changed from Pestro to Tralbok. "You deal with Pestro! I’ll handle Tralbok!"

"Uh-huh..." Rikko responded as Pestro tightened his grip.

The goblin nimbly removed his two daggers from Pestro, using one to block the swing of Pestro’s sword. Rikko used the other dagger to stab into the arm holding Rikko by the neck.

Pestro snarled and groaned while Rikko twisted the knife inside the Demon God’s forearm, forcing Pestro to loosen his grip.

Once Rikko had a moment of clearance, he hopped back a few steps while twirling his daggers. "Come Pestro! Want to kill Rikko?"

Roaring, Pestro chased Rikko out of the darkness and into a clear opening. There he would remove a lot of Rikko’s tricky tactics and gain the advantage so long as he could catch the speedy goblin.

Both Tralbok and Eedaj stared at each other. They remained silent until Rikko and Pestro had fled from the scene.

"So, Eedaj, would you mind telling me how you stole Pestro’s halberd? Or do I need to spell it out myself?" asked Tralbok.

Eedaj sighed. "I don’t know how it happened. All I can assume is that Rikko stole it before Pestro arrived in Trodar. Now, did you really just use Moranti’s scythe to travel here?"

"Sadly, that was my only option. Any other way would result in Pestro being left a cripple, and we can’t have that," Tralbok stated.

"Then tell me, how does your body feel after going through with that?" Eedaj mockingly chuckled.

Tralbok coldly smiled. "For Moranti and his ethereal abilities, I can see why it would be useful. As for anyone else, I wouldn’t recommend attempting it. It’s quite painful, after all. Just look at my foot and you can tell right away."

"Why not just take Pestro away and use your Time Reversal then?" asked Eedaj. "Wouldn’t he feel better after you both escaped?"

"Very funny... but we fully intend on taking advantage of this battle once and for all. We can’t afford to have another rival in our current circumstances. So it’s now or never."

Hearing that, Eedaj took in a deep breath. He mentally prepared for a far more taxing battle to come.

When the other battlefields saw the sudden change of the god’s attitudes and the appearance of another god, they were confused until a single person resumed their attacks. It started a chain reaction as all the syndicate members picked up their weapons and started their attacks again.

However, Lorwynn showed no mercy to those who dare approach him.

And, rushing back into the fray was Hadurt and his demonic halberd.

Those alone were enough to strike fear into the army. With both now on the side of the Leisure Guild, the syndicate members felt an awkward mix of emotions. They were terrified to fight much longer against the powerful beasts and the former champions, but they were proud to see their gods gaining the advantage on their own battlefield. It left them perplexed on what their best course of action should be.

Hadurt and Lorwynn punished all syndicate members who dared to falter in their attacks. When Lorwynn finished with the batch that had chased Jack and Bowzer, he hurried over to assist the wyrm and dragon with their fight. Wanting a strong opponent, Hadurt found Jeara and raced toward her as he slew dozens of syndicate members.

Within the guild walls, Argyle and the others had just come to assist the rear. They found most of the syndicate members being killed or trapped inside a living jungle. Cleaning things up there didn’t take long with their reinforcements.

Since fewer and fewer syndicate members were climbing over the wall, Argyle and Kaldor led the high-level guild members to the city wall. That’s where they spotted the strange shift of the battlefield.

The arrival of Lorwynn was a huge boost of confidence and proved to be a fatal addition as he helped Hadurt dwindle the army forces. Also, they were startled to see a purple dragon fighting beside Dradich. And then there was Bowzer, who was far away from the battle and howling loudly for some reason. Jack was nowhere to be found, but he assumed that Jack was okay at the moment, given the fact that Bowzer wasn’t screaming telepathically at anyone anymore.

Of all events taking place, the most surprising was the battlefield further north.

There was a huge cloud of darkness there, yet two people were fighting outside of that darkness. Those from the entrance recognized the hulking man as the god that Eedaj led outside of the city. However, they were utterly clueless as to why that powerful god was chasing after a goblin. And seeing that goblin outrun the god was all the more perplexing.

’Jack, where are you?’ asked Argyle.

’On the wall... near the west gate...’

Hearing Jack’s voice gave Argyle some relief but Argyle could understand from Jack’s voice that the hero wouldn’t be rejoining the battle anytime soon. He was glad to know that Jack managed to control himself and escape the fight before he was overpowered and killed.

’Want me to--

’Yeah... come over here, Argyle...’ Jack answered before Argyle could finish his question. ’Spread everyone out... Don’t let anyone avoid death...’

Argyle passed on Jack’s orders, shouting, "Spread out on the wall, don’t let any intruder escape death!"

With that over with, Argyle rushed toward Jack, leaving Kaldor in command. Argyle was eager to ask Jack all about the mysterious events of the outside battlefield.

 

Chapter 436

High up in Olympic Chateau, four gods gathered around the mirrored table to watch the events of Trodar.

Lyrun was emotionless, feeling terrible for getting caught and used as a hostage. It was a disgrace to his abilities and his reputation.

Naparn felt similarly, only to a much more extreme degree. His natural pride as a magma dragon and with his position as the second strongest holy god was too much for Naparn to take the situation lightly. The only reason Naparn remained silent was because Halmut had ordered it.

Having reverted to his human form, Halmut sported a salt and pepper hair with no facial hair. His eyes remained Draconic, able to see through almost anything with a glance. Those eyes went back and forth between the table and Sterfen, one of the few people Halmut couldn’t easily see through.

"You know, Sterfen, I still believe you should’ve accepted my offer long ago," stated Halmut. "If so, then none of this would’ve happened. Together, you and your wife could’ve helped up claim victory in the war, keeping the neutral gods from needing to involve themselves and you never would’ve lost your child."

"Maybe..." Sterfen shrugged, answering but keeping his gaze on the viewing table. "Only that doesn’t matter anymore. The war already ended in a draw and we’ve already been reunited with our child, no thanks to a certain someone supposedly losing it after the godly war..."

"Anyway," Halmut continued, not minding how Sterfen almost killed Naparn with his glare alone, "Are you sure you don’t want to side with us? Should the neutral gods join us, then the chaotic gods wouldn’t stand a chance."

"What are you after again, Halmut?"

"EXP, of course."

"That’s why we refuse," answered Sterfen. "There’s no telling what you would do to us should you not get enough EXP from finishing off the chaotic gods. Besides, if you’re after EXP then wouldn’t it be better if you just turned against your own gods and stole their lives while you had the chance?"

Chuckling, Halmut replied, "Maybe, but there would be no point in me heading a pantheon for so long. I would’ve wasted so much energy."

"Not if that’s why you raised the pantheon in the first place..."

"Enough of that. Tell me, what do you think of this fight between Pestro and Eedaj? Do you believe Eedaj can manage?" Halmut questioned, changing the subject.

Sterfen smiled again. "I don’t think we’ll have too much to worry about. I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with the ending."

"Does that mean you believe Eedaj will be victorious?"

"Something like that..." stated Sterfen. "Eedaj wouldn’t provoke a fight without a reason, especially against an opponent of a higher level."

"What level are you now, Sterfen?" asked Halmut.

"Wouldn’t you like to know?" Sterfen laughed, glancing at Halmut’s friendly yet false smile. It was creepy how good Halmut was at acting amiable.

"It’s just banter. Don’t you want time to pass quickly so you can finally relieve your wife of her contract?"

"If you would just let me leave now then that wouldn’t be an issue," stated Sterfen.

Halmut replied, "Well, I’d rather enjoy the show with you and hear your commentary. You’re far more knowledgeable than you let on, Sterfen, that much is obvious."

"Really? I wonder what gave it away. Was it my title as the God of Secrecy or my outstanding charisma?" Sterfen joked.

"The latter, most definitely," Halmut chuckled. "There’s nothing you’d like to speak with me about? I’m sure you know some information worth trading..."

Sighing, Sterfen, "Sorry, Halmut, but I’m pretty sure I know more than even you, given that my relationship with father isn’t on the rocks. Unless you come up with something that I’m dying to learn, then I’d rather keep my eyes peeled on the fight."

"Oh... Then... What if I told you about our reserve forces. Would that catch your eye?"

"A little, but not enough to sell out."

"Hmm... Then I’ll keep thinking, just in case I come up with something worth your while," added Halmut, looking back to the table.

Finally, once Pestro’s rage was at an all-time high, the spectating gods noticed Rikko’s sneak attack.

"Oh... That’s why you were so confident," stated Halmut. "You had reason, I see."

Sterfen only smiled, watching as Eedaj successfully fooled Pestro and reduced the Demon God to a divine husk of EXP waiting to be harvested.

"That ability really is something... Would your side be willing to trade me Pestro’s breathing corpse?" Halmut questioned.

"That... That would be an interesting conversation indeed..." Sterfen sighed in relief as Eedaj stopped Rikko from finishing off the god. "I’d have to speak with my son first, but I wouldn’t be against it, so long as you’re willing to pay fairly."

Halmut opened his mouth to reply but he then closed it again. His eyes finally focused on the scene of the battlefield, having his interest truly piqued for the first time thus far.

Sterfen noticed this and looked back as well, nearly dropping his jaw to the floor in the meantime.

"Tralbok?! What is... That scythe!" Sterfen shouted in anger.

"Tralbok came and not Moranti? Do you know why that is..." Halmut didn’t look at Sterfen but the question was clearly aimed at Sterfen.

"Hand me the contracts now, and then I’ll tell you," Sterfen instantly replied, eager to leave and rejoin the others in Trodar.

"Oh, how interesting..." Halmut then changed the perspective of the table, zooming in on his former champion and Lyrun’s dormer disciple. "So he made it back in time. And he hasn’t a single scar even though he took my Holy Castigation head-on. But he’s also not wielding Lyrun’s staff... So that’s how he pulled it off."

"Halmut, I’ll tell you what you want to know," stated Sterfen, no longer in the mood for trivial conversations. "Hand me the contracts and I’ll explain everything while you lead me out."

"But the show is only just beginning, Sterfen. It’s rare to see the famous Time Reversal spell. Really, it’s a waste of talent for the God of Time to remain under Skaryn. Who other than I could use his potential to the fullest."

"Halmut!" Sterfen pounded the mirror table, cracking the corner and almost cutting out the image.

Sighing, Halmut dropped his playful smile and eyed Sterfen. "You chose to come here and force my cooperation. The least you could do is stay and be a proper guest. If you so much as cause another scratch on the table, I’ll have your arm."

Removing his fist from the table, Sterfen shouted, "Hand over the contracts and I’ll tell you everything."

"Hmm..." Halmut calmly grabbed his chin, acting like he was deep in thought. "I think I can figure out most of the truth on my own Sterfen, so there will be no need for any further discussion. Let’s just enjoy the fight. Oh look, Pestro chased Rikko away! I suppose that means Eedaj plans to take him on alone... With these new matchups, who do you think will win, Sterfen? Will Rikko somehow come on top of Pestro without any more tricks to rely on, or will he be ground into a paste under the Demon God’s rage? And what about Eedaj? Will the lv. 93 Mind God with powerful illusions be able to overcome the lv. 96 God of Time who can revert any outcome?"

Sterfen didn’t play along with Halmut. He said nothing else. Since Halmut wasn’t interested in information anymore, then Sterfen wouldn’t share any information at all, including his opinions.

Technically, Sterfen could use his hostages to simply flee but he wouldn’t do that. After getting a once-in-a-divine-lifetime opportunity to enter Olympic Chateau and take gods as hostages for his wife’s contract, Sterfen would never let such an opportunity slip away.

All he could do was trust in his brothers and son to overcome what appeared to be the worst possible fate.

 

Chapter 437

A moment passed as Eedaj and Tralbok eyed each other. One was preparing to defend and evade while the other was preparing to attack.

Tralbok made the first move, using wind to disperse the darkness around them. He coldly smirked as more wind whirled around his body. The God of Time had become as light as a feather.

Eedaj gathered fire to hurl fireball after fireball at Tralbok, making sure to include some false ones and some invisible ones, though it didn’t make much of a difference for Tralbok. Then, the Mind God recast darkness and created multiple copies of himself. Those copies dashed through the darkness, weaving in and out of each other to best hide Eedaj’s true self.

"Interesting..." Tralbok chuckled.

With a wave of the hand, Tralbok created a tornado with himself in the center. That tornado grew until it consumed all of the various Eedaj clones, tearing each of them apart.

Just when it seemed that Eedaj had evaded the attack, Tralbok waved his hand again. This caused the tornado to twist and turn. It acted more like a snake than it did a twister, but such was a simple task for a lv. 96 god.

As the tornado twisted, it snatched Eedaj while it dispersed the last of the darkness.

"Come on, Eedaj. Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got? Or did you waste all of your mana against Pestro?" mocked Tralbok. "If you don’t hurry and figure something out, then you’ll have lost your life while destroying your reputation."

Eedaj remained silent. His body was circling inside the threatening winds and taking damage with every second he was inside. But he remained calm. So calm in fact, looking closer made it seem like Eedaj was meditating.

With his eyes closed, Eedaj was completely focused on his personal spell, God’s Perspective. Not only did it allow Eedaj to view nearly any part of the world at a given moment, it also allowed Eedaj to view the world from someone else’s perspective. In this case, Eedaj was carefully examining Tralbok’s perspective and his current thoughts about the battle.

It was a rare occurrence.

On one side there was the God of Time, a man who could reverse any outcome so long as he was careful and strategized correctly. And against him was the Mind God, a man who could view the world through his opponent’s eyes and anticipate attacks before his opponents could decide what they did next. Even with the difference in level the battle was extremely unique and quite a show for Halmut and the other gods.

*****

’Jack...’ Argyle hurried to Jack’s side, finding the hero lying across the wall with his eyes close. ’Jack, what happened here?’

’Are Bowzer and Phoro ok?" Jack asked.

Argyle looked to the Hell-flame Fox and Minokawa not far from the gate, then nodded. ’For now, they’re fine. We’re close by so I’ll help them if they need it.’

’Okay... Then let me explain...’ Jack sighed, glad that he had upgraded his health regeneration skill to lv. 7. It was the only reason he was still conscious. Opening his eyes, Jack looked back to the battlefield. ’We leveled up too quickly... Bowzer forcibly started evolving... The same is happening to Phoro... As for the dragon, that beast was in the summoning amulet I won at the auction...’

’That...’ Doing a double-take to see the dragon in a new light, Argyle looked back to Jack and verbally shouted, "That was in my amulet?!"

It pained Jack to chuckle but he did so anyway. "Yeah, I’m excited about him... Argyle... You saw the purple light, right?"

The mood changed, instantly losing the lightheartedness.

"Yeah, I saw it. That was Tralon, wasn’t it?"

"Yup... It was his last spell..."

Dumbstruck, Argyle looked to Jack with his mouth agape. Such a statement was too unexpected.

Jack continued, "I don’t know why he did that... but it had to be something terribly important... for him to trade his life..."

"We’ll investigate when we can," replied Argyle. "For now... sadly, all we can do is wait for the gods to stop fighting. Without that, no one will be safe, even after we slaughter the army."

Lifting his head slightly, Jack reexamined the battlefield.

Lorwynn had made short work of the men facing Dradich and Karronteel, sending Jack even more EXP. Dradich and Lorwynn hurried to aid Dragov while Karronteel backed off to get a breather. Like Jack and Bowzer, Karronteel was under-leveled and struggled against the lv. 60’s and lv. 70’s. However, Karronteel was now lv. 61 after pushing himself to the limit.

Hadurt was toying with Jeara, who refused to face Hadurt head-on. Soon, Hadurt would get tired of her running, but not yet.

With a Draconic Centipede now at lv. 83, a Glacier Wyrm now at lv. 74, and Lorwynn now at lv. 88, the remaining syndicate members were up against the wall. They would slowly die and be killed without mercy.

Jack noticed Rikko and Pestro next, chuckling in the back of his head. But then he spotted Eedaj, a sight that brought all of Jack’s happy thoughts to an end.

"No... Why is Tralbok here!?" Jack shouted, catching Argyle’s attention.

"Tralbok... Tralbok?! Tralbok, as in the God of Time?!" Argyle joined Jack in shouting. "That’s Tralbok?"

"It has to be... But how did he get here?" His mind wandering anew, Jack’s stress level spiked yet again. "Now what? Guuro left after the reception... Dragas is too far... And Uncle Jin never bothered coming... Now what?!"

Argyle wanted Jack to calm down but he couldn’t think of any way to do so. He felt just as troubled, anxious to know how Eedaj could make that work. Trying to not overthink the situation, Argyle asked, "Who’s the blue goblin?"

"Oh yeah... That’s Uncle Rikko, the God of Trickery... He’s the one who stole Pestro’s halberd..."

"What?!"

"Take a look at Hadurt..."

Looking to a different part of the battlefield, Argyle found Hadurt chasing after a knight, slowly losing his patience. In his hands was a black halberd erupting with demonic energy.

"That... You stole a god’s weapon?"

"But what will we do about Tralbok?" Jack returned to the most important topic at hand. "With him here... It can ruin everything..."

Trying to speed things up, Jack telepathically shouted to Hadurt, ’Hurry up already! With Tralbok here, who knows what could happen if you don’t kill them now!’

’Fine...’ Hadurt sighed as he picked up his pace, closing the gap between him and Jeara.

She put up a defense, but the demonic halberd shattered her sky defenses.

After claiming her life and swiping her storage, Hadurt rushed back to the army. However, Hadurt looked behind him as a shout bellowed across the open field.

"HADURT, YOU FOOL!!!"

Pestro had been fed up with the speedy goblin who didn’t bother fighting back. The moment he noticed Hadurt separate from the army with the halberd in hand, Pestro made it his mission to end the former champion he had blessed prior.

"DIE!! AND RETURN MY WEAPON!!"

The ground under Pestro’s feet scattered as the Demon God pushed off toward Hadurt. Not caring what stood in his way, Pestro focused on Hadurt and only Hadurt.

Instantly adjusting, Rikko changed course for Hadurt as well. The blue goblin shouted, "Hey! Give Rikko back halberd. Rikko stab fat Pestro with it. Rikko want see Pestro pop!"

"Rikko!"

Unable to ignore such blatant slandering, Pestro tried to elbow Rikko as the goblin ran past him.

Chuckling and unfazed, Rikko evaded the elbow and used that moment to pass Pestro. Beating the Demon God to Hadurt, Rikko stated, "Come, we run!" Rikko then grabbed Hadurt by the arm and dragged him along, kiting Pestro further and further north until they entered the woods and disappeared.

 

Chapter 438

When Lorwynn saw Hadurt dragged away by a goblin, Lorwynn didn’t know whether he should laugh or hurry over and help. It’s not like he was confident to face Pestro. It was that Lorwynn was confident that they might hold out with the goblin’s help, as he was clearly a god if he could compete with Pestro.

Instead, however, Lorwynn heard Jack’s voice in his head, saying, ’Finish the army off! If we don’t do it now, we may not get another chance.’

’Alright...’ Lorwynn shrugged and flew high up into the air. He overlooked the remainder of the army, gauging its size and getting a rough estimate of bodies. With that in mind, Lorwynn activated a nature spell, gathering green energy all around him before it rained down on the battlefield.

That energy fell over the center of the army, spreading out to cover the last couple of hundred syndicate members trying to run away. Nothing happened at first but powerful green roots burst from the earth to trap the army.

Then, before Dragov and Dradich could rampage through the jungle of vines, half a dozen pillars of lightning fell from the black clouds overhead. Lorwynn stole the lives of dozens of syndicate members in a single moment, just before the two massive beasts plowed through the vines to kill the remaining stragglers.

Sweating and breathing heavily, Lorwynn put another potion to his lips. Lorwynn sighed and looked back at the two remaining gods.

"Hmm... Seeing him first hand, I think he’s more capable then Hadurt," Tralbok stated, smiling back at Lorwynn. "If only he could use dark magic, then he would’ve made a perfect champion for us."

"Says the man who lost his own champion." laughing, Eedaj finally opened his eyes and spoke, "Now, shall we get on with this?"

"Well... since you’re only evading my attacks and you already read my mind, I’m guessing you know what I’ll do next..."

Not replying to Tralbok’s open-ended statement, Eedaj immediately shouted with telepathy, ’Jack, get away now!’

’Huh?’

Eedaj took off toward Jack, gaining a lead on Tralbok. He repeated, ’Jack, get away now! Tralbok wants to kill you!’

’What?!’

Jack jolted up, forcing his body to sit up and lean on his arms with the little strength he had regained so far. He turned to Phoro but saw the minokawa roaring and in the middle of his evolution.

With that option gone, Jack turned to Argyle. "Take me to Lorwynn... Now!"

"What do--"

"Now!" forcing himself to fall into Argyle’s lap, Jack shouted, "Hurry, or Tralbok will kill us both!"

"Alright!" Argyle shouted, catching on immediately.

Jack then shouted to Lorwynn, ’Come get me! Tralbok wants to kill me!’

’That... I’m on my way!’

Lorwynn’s body was also starting to ache. Even with his level, it was taxing on his body to fight so many enemies over and over again as he couldn’t rely on natural brute strength like Hadurt or the beasts. The former holy champion took to the sky and rushed toward Jack and Argyle.

Argyle’s speed had improved thanks to Dradich’s rampaging. Now at lv. 75, Argyle was more confident than ever, until he remembered that it was a god chasing them.

Eedaj was busy trying to force Tralbok into combat while staying between the God of Time and Jack. Fireball after fireball was thrown at Tralbok. More illusory Eedaj’s appeared, but only two extras this time. But they also threw attacks at Tralbok.

"So... you’re finally getting serious, Eedaj. You’re a bit too late, though..." Tralbok clicked his tongue and shook his head. Then, with a simple snap of his fingers, Tralbok rushed past all of the fireballs and the three Eedajs.

Eedaj would’ve tried something else but only if he was able to move. In fact, no one other than Tralbok was able to move as time had been frozen for a second.

Once Eedaj noticed that Tralbok had slipped past him, it was already too late. Eedaj turned around, still throwing fire with everything he had. Then, a massive orb of darkness expanded and engulfed nearly the entire battlefield.

’Jack, get out now!’ Eedaj stated telepathically. ’Tralbok is currently trapped in illusory darkness, but he’ll get out any moment."

’Thanks, Eedaj!’

Argyle had no clue about the darkness as it was only affecting Tralbok. The only thing Argyle wanted at the moment was to hand Jack off and run.

Tralbok didn’t look it, but the strain of battle was starting to take its toll on him. He was either evading Eedaj’s spells using time magic or repelling them with wind magic, and his earlier use of Moranti’s scythe only made things worse from the get-go. And now that he was trapped in a world of shadows over a kilometer long it would only drag the fight out longer.

With time on his side, Tralbok created another strange barrier. Then, all of a sudden the darkness shrunk back into its initial small form and returned to Eedaj’s hand. Rather than waste time, Tralbok wasted a great deal of mana to cast his second personal spell, Spell Reversal.

That’s when he spotted Jack yet again. And now, Jack and the man carrying him were in his range.

Without a second thought, wind energy was thrown from Tralbok’s hand, aiming to separate Jack’s head from his body.

When his spell was countered, Eedaj immediately recast it to try and hide Jack. Also, Eedaj dual cast a giant fireball to target Tralbok. He didn’t let up at all, clinging to all hope that Jack would escape alive.

As the darkness went back up, followed by that giant fireball, Tralbok only managed to partially evade the attack. He felt his leg burning as he tried to fly out of reach of the fireball. However, Tralbok managed to cast his spell all the same, launching a vicious wind blade with incredible speed.

Tralbok didn’t have the privilege to see his attack claim Jack’s life, but he was smiling and satisfied as he removed the burn from his leg using time magic.

Eedaj didn’t let up though. More and more fireballs were flying at Tralbok, all of which were at least five meters in width.

Taking Eedaj more seriously, Tralbok recast Time Stop and hurried to where he last saw Jack.

The God of Time happily searched the area, wanting to see the hero’s decapitated head for himself. But he never found it.

"Where is he?! I know I hit him!" Tralbok shouted, not hiding any of his frustration.

Not answering verbally, Eedaj and his copies cast more fireballs. They were relentless.

"Is that all you can do? That’s just..."

Tralbok was angry and mocked Eedaj, but he then felt something sneaking from behind him. The God of Time hurried away at top speed. He couldn’t see anything there, but he felt a blade slash across his side.

Startled and smiling coldly, Tralbok glared at one of Eedaj’s figures. "So... even you rely on knives? Is every neutral god a thief?"

Smiling with a matching cold stare, Eedaj replied, "Maybe... Maybe not... we just like to keep things mixed up and mysterious. Why would I ever take it easy on you?"

While Tralbok faced off with Eedaj in the massive orb of shadows. Two people appeared elsewhere in a flash of light.

Finding himself in Jack’s office, Argyle was baffled. He looked down to see Jack letting out one last sigh before he blacked out, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Jack..." Argyle did his best to try and wake Jack, but the best he could do was wipe the blood from Jack’s lips.

After Jack forced himself to cast Greater Replenish and Lesser Teleportation simultaneously, there was no way that Argyle could wake Jack up, not after at least a weak of rest.

 

Chapter 439

Eedaj saw Jack teleport away, but he was certain that Jack was in critical condition based on his prior physical state. There was no telling where Jack went but Eedaj was glad that he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Tralbok grew annoyed by the darkness and flew straight up. He escaped the shadowy world to gain a better view of the distant guild grounds.

Anger burned in Tralbok’s eyes. As the God of Time, he was quite prideful and Tralbok refused to believe that a mortal could avoid death by Tralbok’s own hands. Adding Eedaj’s pestering only fueled his anger more. That’s when he spotted Lorwynn just outside of the shadowy world and smiled.

Confused, Lorwynn tried to reevaluate what had just happened and why Jack had asked for help to escape if he could just teleport away.

’Lorwynn, run!’

Harkening to Eedaj’s warning, Lorwynn took off without a second thought. With Tralbok on the loose, Lorwynn didn’t dare to try and get targeted unnecessarily. But it was too late for that.

Lorwynn saw Tralbok trailing him and could only sigh. Not leaving anything to chance, Lorwynn covered himself in lightning energy and rocketed away at full speed.

Three mages were zipping through the skies, one after the other. Lorwynn had the lead with his lightning magic, but Tralbok was gaining on him with more powerful wind magic. And, at the rear, was Eedaj who was forcing himself to fly faster by wasting even more mana. It wasn’t ideal, but it was all the Mind God could do to keep up.

"How about you join us!" Tralbok laughed, smiling at Lorwynn. "Come on! We can always use a man of your talents."

"No thanks! If even that simple-minded berserker left you behind, then you won’t have anything to offer me," Lorwynn stated while sweating and flying away.

The two bantered for a bit as Tralbok was getting closer and closer to the former champion.

Then, Lorwynn abruptly changed course straight up.

Tralbok followed, not hesitating at all. Eedaj moved to do the same, but Lorwynn telepathically warned the Mind God, ’Watch out for my attack.’

After changing his course, the lightning energy around Lorwynn become more violent in nature. That violent nature called down another four pillars of lightning, aiming at the man just behind Lorwynn.

"Not bad..." Tralbok chuckled as the lighting was about to fall upon him

With another snap of his fingers, Tralbok elegantly appeared at the side of the lightning pillars. He would’ve closed the distance to Lorwynn but stopped after noticing Lorwynn being guarded on all sides by the lightning.

The second passed, as did the lightning.

Both Lorwynn and Tralbok were motionless for a fraction of a moment, no closer together than they were before.

"You’re as crafty as Eedaj, I’ll give you that. But can you evade my attack?"

In the same place where the lightning fell, Tralbok unleashed another tornado. He chuckled as Lorwynn was dragged into the buffeting winds. However, he soon frowned.

In order to force his way back out of the tornado, Lorwynn had retrieved a new staff, one that looked eerily similar to Lyrun’s staff.

That particular staff was a legendary mock-up of Lyrun’s staff and a weaker version. Its barrier wasn’t strong enough to take a god’s full attack head-on but the barrier lasted long enough for Lorwynn to struggle out of the tornado. By then, the barrier and mock staff broke in exchange for Lorwynn’s freedom.

"Oh... You’re pretty entertaining... Try this one!"

Tralbok attacked again, but this time with time magic. With Time Stop, the God of Time threw himself into Lorwynn. Just to mock the former champion, Tralbok appeared before Lorwynn as the spell wore off.

With Tralbok suddenly appearing in front of him, Lorwynn failed to avoid the god’s grasp anymore.

"No!" Trailing behind with lesser flight magic, Eedaj finally arrived as Lorwynn’s neck was gripped by Tralbok’s hand. The Mind God was about to hurl more fireballs but hesitated to throw them after forming them.

"What? Are you afraid to fight me after I gained a meat shield?" Tralbok chuckled. "So, what should I do now?"

"Tralbok..." Eedaj bit his lip, struggling with what to say next.

"You already know that I won’t give him up for anyone other than your precious champion. At the same time, I know that’s never going to happen. With that being said, what else is there to consider?"

While Tralbok was stating his reasons for killing the former holy champion, Lorwynn was still not giving up.

Another pillar of lightning fell from the sky, one as large as all four of the previous pillars combined. And Tralbok and Lorwynn were in the direct center of the blast.

Lorwynn didn’t hesitate to target himself at the chance of striking a god, an admirable quality.

Tralbok was taken aback. But he didn’t flinch either. Tralbok stored his staff and snapped his fingers again. Then, he dragged Lorwynn aside and avoided the lighting like it was child’s play.

Once the lightning passed, Eedaj watched as Tralbok placed his second hand over Lorwynn’s chest, already knowing what came next.

Understanding the situation, Lorwynn groaned in pain with little to no mana left. With some leftover blood in his mouth, the former holy champion spitted in Tralbok’s face, finally getting the God of Time to frown.

"You... What’s the meaning of this?" Tralbok asked calmly yet coldly, gripping Lorwynn’s neck tighter.

"If I can’t wound your body... Then at least I can wound your pride..." Lorwynn stated with a smile. "Now I can say my attacks affected you in some way."

"Well... Since you’re proud of your final moments, I won’t ask for any final words."

A pulse of wind energy torn into Lorwynn’s chest, shedding his lungs and heart in a single, messy blow. Bits of flesh sprayed out of Lorwynn’s back as he spitted and coughed up even more blood onto Tralbok as his final attack on the god’s pride.

Unhappy with the mess on his clothes, Tralbok scoffed and tossed Lorwynn’s lifeless body aside.

The corpse fell undeterred from high above the battlefield.

Both Dragov and Dradich had almost finished the slaughter when they noticed the falling corpse. Dradich made sure to catch Lorwynn’s body while Dragov finished the army in rage. The wyrm then hurried back toward the city wall, intent on searching if there were some means of resurrecting Lorwynn.

Motionless and speechless, Eedaj stared up at Tralbok. He couldn’t do anything but attempt to contain Tralbok’s speed, and Tralbok’s use of time magic only added to the obscene difficulty.

Tralbok, on the other hand, wasn’t focusing on Eedaj. The God of Time was looking around for his next victim. He understood that Eedaj could struggle in a fight, but Tralbok would rather watch Eedaj struggle even more while he picked off the most significant forces of the neutral gods.

"Hmm... Who’s next?" Tralbok asked aloud, mocking Eedaj’s ability to stop him. "Doesn’t your hero have his own party? Oh, he has wives too..."

Eedaj remained quiet but it didn’t stop Tralbok from spotting someone that made even Tralbok’s eyes go wide. "That... Yes, that’s who I’ll kill next..."

Still reading Tralbok’s mind, Eedaj turned around and took off for the west gate of the city. But Tralbok did so as well, gaining the lead this time. Not wanting to see this happen again, Eedaj shouted, "Bowzer! Run!"

But... the fox remained where he stood, howling in pain. While in the middle of evolving, how could Bowzer reply, let alone control himself?

"A much more compliant target..." Tralbok chuckled, gathering more wind around his hand yet again.

Throwing everything he had, Eedaj did his best to keep Tralbok occupied but utterly failed. He couldn’t even touch the God of Time now that Tralbok was getting serious. Like moments before, Eedaj could only watch and shout as Tralbok threw another attack.

As the vicious wind blade sliced through the air, Bowzer howled. The Hell-flame Fox did his best to move aside but could only increase his flames as his evolution continued.

Those white flames burst with explosive force, turning half black and half white. Then, suddenly, pitch-black flames erupted, engulfing Bowzer’s entire flame body as the wind blade also entered the hellfire.

Chapter 440

Standing on the city wall, Kaldor, Hurmot, and Vixus watched the fight between Tralbok and Eedaj in awe. Witnessing a battle between gods was beyond a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so they relished in the view while Dragov and Dradich finished off the last of the army.

When they spotted Tralbok running away, at first they thought it a good sign. That was until they saw Argyle carrying Jack toward Lorwynn.

Realizing that Tralbok was after Jack, they felt their hearts clench.

Their interference would be equal to a fly pestering a man. They wouldn’t reach Jack sooner than the nimble god and would die with a flick of Tralbok’s finger. With no way to help, watched Eedaj doing everything possible to keep Tralbok at bay.

It had become clear that Eedaj was unable to control this new godly addition to the battle. If anything, it only made the men on the wall feel worse.

Tralbok was blinded momentarily but he suddenly removed the entire orb of darkness, creating a window of opportunity to throw an attack at Jack.

But when the orb of darkness reappeared, those on the wall were left with their jaws agape.

Beating loudly, their hearts struggled to wait for the reveal of Jack’s fate.

Then, that new god rose above the orb of darkness, seemingly unscathed. It pulled the men’s heartstrings tighter.

The other mid-level and barely-high-level members of the guild watched as well, not wanting to believe their eyes. After everything that the Leisure Guild and Jack showed off, those new guild members rushed to the Leisure Guild hoping to gain a higher position as the first batch of high-level recruits. There weren’t too many of them, but their presence was greatly appreciated in the battle and overall. Yet now, they watched as a god hunted down their cause for joining the guild.

It didn’t take long for that god to change targets, rushing toward a man they had never met before. That man had proven to be astoundingly powerful earlier but those new recruits and the current leaders of the Leisure Guild didn’t believe that Lorwynn could survive the god’s pursuit.

However, Lorwynn put up a great fight. He dashed through the air, making Tralbok fight for the opportunity to kill him. When Lorwynn was eventually captured, everyone was shocked to see Lorwynn target himself with such a powerful lightning spell, all to hurt the god.

They didn’t hear his final words, but everyone watching gained a great deal of respect for the mortal man who attempted to harm a god, even in the face of death.

As Lorwynn fell and was caught, they noticed the wyrm rushing back at full speed with the corpse on his back.

Vixus shouted to the many new guild members, "Anyone with resurrection spells, step forward! You’ll receive special favor within the guild for your services."

Only three people stepped forward. There was a woman and a man that were almost lv. 60 and there was a hooded man with a single arm and a hidden level. But that hooded man didn’t turn to Vixus like the others. Instead, he kept his eyes glued to the battlefield, occasionally glancing at the west gate where two beasts were currently evolving.

The man and women were given their assignment, rushing toward Hurmot with everything they had.

At the same time, The crowd on the city wall saw that merciless god redirect himself at a new target. As the god was quite far away, it wasn’t hard for the crowd to realize where he was heading.

They saw the defenseless fox howling as that god rushed toward it. Some felt tempted to rush and interfere, but utterly doubted their abilities to do so.

Just then, everyone heard a loud crack. Searching for the source of the sound, the crowd spotted fresh cracks in the city wall where that hooded figure once stood. They were speechless as they saw that hooded figure rocket through the air at a speed that rivaled the god!

When that merciless god evaded all of Eedaj’s attacks while preparing his own strike, that hooded figure also prepared an attack as he never stopped his mad dash for the fox. However, both the hooded figure’s attack and Tralbok’s attack were thrown at the fox.

The wind blade of Tralbok’s was deadly and meant to instantly kill the helpless fox. But the other attack landed first.

It was a small black sphere. To the crowd, it looked insignificant and easily overlooked. Yet they were again struck dumb when the black sphere landed at the fox’s feet. Aggressively, the sphere exploded and engulfed the fox’s huge flame body in pitch-black flames. Easily outgrowing the fox, the fire eventually came into contact with the wind blade, which was also consumed by the hungry black flames.

At the sight of those black flames, Tralbok halted his charge. He stood in the air maybe fifty meters away from the roaring ball of flame. His face was no longer arrogant or mischievous.

Tralbok watched as that hooded man landed an arm’s reach from the black flames, completely unaffected by them or the unimaginable heat they gave off. Even the nearby stone walls were heating up from just being in the vicinity, yet that hooded man carefully walked along the flames until he stood between Tralbok and the fox inside the black fire.

"What--"

"Don’t..." The hooded man shouted with a clenched jaw, furiously interrupting anything that Tralbok attempted to say. His own emotions were so high that the hooded man struggled to say a single sentence. "Don’t... Touch... My... SON!"

Unable to hold himself back, the hood burst into flames as the man grew in size.

Everyone watching felt their hearts pounding, almost bursting from shock, Tralbok included.

That mysterious figure grew and grew, eventually surpassing the size of Bowzer and the flames that covered him. The figure’s form was shifting, changing from that of a man to a quadruped, only he had three legs and not four. Taking a form similar to Bowzer’s flame body, that figure roared, shaking the hearts of everyone in the entire city.

Thanks to the size of the flame body, nearly the whole city could see it. The sight dragged the citizens to the deepest depths of fear and disbelief. As if out of the citizen’s darkest nightmares and childhood fears, a hundred-meter tall Hell-flame Fox with pitch-black flames towered over the west gate to the city.

"Kori..." Tralbok finally spoke up again, feeling the Fox God’s deadly, heated gaze. "Why are you--"

"Don’t touch my son!" Kori shouted again. "I won’t lose him again!"

Taking that in, Tralbok realized that he had committed a grave error that was impossible to calculate prior. He opened his mouth again to attempt to reason with the Fox God, but Kori’s shout interrupted him again.

"Eedaj! Leave or you’ll burn to death..."

Controlling his anger, the hulking flame body started to shrink down. The flames didn’t die down but they shrunk to the original size of the man. But despite the change in size, his intimidating presence wasn’t weakened in the slightest.

"Kori, I had no idea that he was your son," admitted Tralbok. "Had I known, then--"

"Tralbok, our factions were enemies before this ever happened... I doubt you’d show him mercy when given an easy chance to kill him," Kori stated, holding tight to reason as a means to control his rage.

Tralbok bowed his head to Kori. "Then, allow me to leave now. I see no reason why--"

"You’ve already proven to be my son’s enemy... More than enough reason to show you no mercy..."

"Kori, please, right now the holy gods have gained a new enemy as well. Why don’t you take your son and return to--"

"Defend yourself and die!"