Chapter 430 - Naive Mindset

"Those fools!" Lewis growled angrily.

He was incensed at the mistake his clan members made and he gathered his mana. His rage peaked when he saw one of his clan members fall and he immediately sent out an attack.

"BASTARDS! YOU DARE!?"

Unfortunately for him, his clan member had already perished. That wouldn't change but the attack that he had sent out was in anger and it would definitely be enough to at least kill a few people off.

Ren immediately ordered for the vanguards to quickly step in and block the attack, but unfortunately, the shields wouldn't be able to hold against the rage-filled attack.

Cecil had his clone remain on the side for now. He wouldn't step in until Ren and the others were in mortal danger.

When the Flame Strike hit, the Silvaria warriors were immediately blasted away with various degrees of injuries.

Ren was about to turn towards his master's clone, but the enemy didn't give him a chance.

"Attack! I want them all dead!"

The Baphamet clan quickly rushed forwards while Barthelo remained silent and didn't order his clan members to move. It was only after Lewis looked over at him did he motion for his clan members to attack.

"W-why are you attacking us?! We're both humans! We should be working together and dealing with the mon—"

The Silvaria kingdom's naive citizen who had asked that question was immediately interrupted by one of the Baphamet clan members who were already engaged in a melee with one of their vanguards.

"What is this person saying?"

"Huh?"

"Just because we're both humans? Hah, weaklings like you have no right to be referred to as 'humans'. To us, you are no different than ants that we could easily trample!"

"What are you saying?!"

The Baphamet clan member chuckled and said, "You have something that we need. Since you, the weak, have it then it's only natural that we, the strong, take it!"

"Y-You crazy bastards! You're committing murder!"

"Hahahaha, look at this ant! Murder? We're only cleaning up trash that shouldn't even be here! What faction are you from anyway?"

"These bastards are just from some backwater country that thought they were lucky enough to be here! Fools! This'll be your graves for being so conceited!" Another clan member added in derision.

The Baphamet clan members attacked and mocked the Silvaria Kingdom's people. They especially targeted the non-combatants who had tried to reason with them with their naive perspective of the world.

They really couldn't understand how this weak group of people was able to even advance to the second stage of the tower's trials.

Only Ren and a few others who were from the Silvaria Kingdom's Combat Academy were able to barely hold their own against the attacks from the enemy. Things only turned for the worst once the Belze clan members caught up and began working together with the Baphamet clan members.

Once the Baphamet and Belze clan joined hands with the obvious intentions of wiping out their group, the Silvaria kingdom's people who were still trying to cling to the stupid ideals of Earth finally understood their current situation. This world wasn't like Earth.

It wasn't just monsters that could threaten their lives, but also humans. In fact, humans were the most troublesome opponents while monsters were at the very least, still manageable for them.

"I-it's hopeless..."

"O-our leader is still dealing with the monster behind us... we, we're hopeless!"

"I-I don't want to die...I don't want to die!!"

Hearing their words of despair, Cecil really wanted to just throw these baggage's at the enemy and have them act as meat shields for the people who were truly fighting and protecting their sorry asses.

Instead of trying to take a stand and struggle to the very last minute, they instead just broke down in despair. These kinds of people were what his family was trying to protect? If they were this cowardly, Cecil felt like they didn't deserve any of it.

He had been constantly monitoring his family's efforts and the attitudes and responses of his kingdom's citizens. They have been safe under his family's reign and protection and yet, there were some people who wanted to overstep their privileges and boundaries.

Even after being protected for so long, there were actually some who wanted more from his family. This became even more prominent after the beastkins were introduced into the kingdom and the alliance they had with the New World Republic and United Federation was announced.

The families that Cecil's father, Kaiser, had appointed to help him manage the kingdom weren't there to just expand their power and wealth. They had to stay on their toes because they knew about Kaiser and his family's power.

The ones who tried to overstep their boundaries were the ones that didn't know a thing about the Silvaria Family and the monster that was hidden within the family.

They thought that the convenience and protection the kingdom had given to them was something that they were meant to have but they didn't know that it was a privilege. Cecil had grown quite tired of this and that's why he had the main family step away from all kingdom affairs.

Now that he saw the general attitude of these groups' young generation, he thought that it was better to just let them die here and have those groups' future cut off. Right now, Cecil bet that the kingdom was in deep turmoil because of the disappearances of these youths.

He really couldn't understand the tower's reasoning in forcefully bringing these 'promising' youths into these trials. Cultivation-wise, they were nothing. Talent-wise, even Cecil himself wasn't sure if they'd become anybody in this world with their stuck up attitudes.

From the day he had joined the group, he had taken notice of these people who did nothing but wait in the back for food and protection. Even when Ren had handed out the fur clothing to cope with the blizzard on the second stage, they were the first people to step forward and take them.

'Yeah, let's just leave them to die... Ren and everyone else had grown tired of it so—'

Cecil was thinking this but he then heard Ren call out to him.

"MASTER! HELP!"

The clone which Cecil had split his consciousness with quickly turned towards his disciple and Cecil saw Lewis about to strike Celestina down. She had been a nuisance to them from the start since her cultivation was at the Mana Core stage and she was doing quite well in their current icy environment.

Lewis and Barthelo tried to take her down together but with Ren and Robin's help, they were able to hold on for a few minutes. Celestina was only put in such a dire state after she had tried to protect one of the people who didn't fight. It didn��t just land her into a bad situation, but also Ren and Robin.

Cecil shook his head when he saw the 3 try to help out the useless people in their group.

"...Maybe I should force my disciple to cultivate harder. He's just far too weak and yet he has the audacity to worry about another person's life..." Cecil shook his head and turned towards Celestina, who was thrown to the ground. "As for sister-in-law... Forget it. She's from a family of priests and priestesses... I guess that's just second nature to her."

Cecil sighed and made his clone take action. He gathered a slight amount of ether on his palms and quickly detonated it.

The shockwave caused by his ether exploding quickly forced back the Baphamet and Belze clan members.

"Urrggghhh!!"

"Gah!"

"Get back, get back!"

The clan members of the 2 clans were shocked at the sudden shockwave which blew them all backwards. Even Lewis, who had the highest cultivation present, wasn't spared from being blown away.

"Alright, that's enough."

Cecil finally stepped in and when he did...

"Y-You! You're supposed to be protecting us!"

"W-why'd you let them kill Jilly?! Y-you, you can bring her back! You can heal her!"

Cecil's clone eyed these people in disdain. The clone had disappeared towards the back of the group and it didn't take any action. They had forgotten about it because they were in total despair of being nearly killed but Ren and the others hadn't forgotten.

When they saw that the clone wasn't taking any actions, they had already known that this was Cecil's way of testing them. Unlike the ones who had just spoken up now, Celestina, Ren, Robin, Marylyn, and the rest knew that this powerful figure didn't need to step in and help them.

He simply had no reason to. Cecil didn't need them to pass through this trial safely. He was only helping them because of his sense of responsibility towards his disciple and sister-in-law. As for the rest, they were just baggage and deadweight.

Robin and the others already recognized this fact and didn't even try to request for his help after seeing that Ren and Celestina not doing it. They knew their place, but unfortunately, some in the group didn't.

To these people, Cecil didn't spare them any attention. Even though he wasn't going to give them attention, that didn't mean he was going to let them die in front of him. His wives wouldn't like that if they found out about it.

"Who are—h-how are you here?! Shouldn't you be preoccupied by the Sea Behemoth?!" Lewis exclaimed in shock after seeing the cloaked figure.

He turned towards Barthelo and the man quickly responded, "That cloaked person is still dealing with the Sea Behemoth..."

"How's that possible! Th-then who's this guy?!"

"Hahaha..." Cecil chuckled when he heard Lewis's exclamation. "I'm the same guy... tsk, you shouldn't have targeted us. I wouldn't have cared if you tried to kill these other rabble, but unfortunately, you just tried to strike down my sister-in-law..."

"..."

The clone raised its hand and from afar, a sword quickly flew into its palm. The World Tree's Thorn, Corruption, was now in the clone's hand and the clone quickly began emitting a dense aura of corruption and slaughter.

The clone didn't have a spirit or mind so it could use Corruption without any backlashes. It was the most optimal use of Cecil's clone since even when he was in control of the clone by splitting his consciousness, that part of his conscious wasn't affected by Corruption's mind corruption.

"Now, let's get started. If you run and surrender, I won't kill you."

"Who would surrender to the likes of you?!" Lewis roared and gathered his mana.

Flames began raging all around his body and he immediately dashed angrily towards Cecil, leaving behind a trail of flames behind him.