Chapter 177. Deceit

The moment Seol Jihu contrived a plan and ascertained his goal, the vigor he was giving off subsided. The terrifying, chilling pressure and the numbing killing intent disappeared as though they had been washed clean.

Mary Rhine spat out the breath she’d been holding in and realized something.

‘Could it be?’

Although she wasn’t sure of the specifics, she was worried that whatever Awakening Skill the youth used had run out of time.

However, Seol Jihu jumped down from the fortress wall without a response. Still in a daze, Mary Rhine continued to watch the youth’s forward march as he single-handedly stormed through the wave of monsters.

Mary Rhine wasn’t the only one watching Seol Jihu.

‘Hm?’

The Executor of Superbia, who was in the middle of loading his next attack, glanced sideways. It was because he had suddenly seen blood spurting out like a fountain in the distance.

Although he was far away from where the incident took place, as someone who had reached the apex of the path of Archers, the Star of Pride could see the scene as though he was right there.

‘What? Who the hell is he?’

The Archer made a confused face. Seeing as how the mysterious youth was single-handedly charging through Parasites’ clean-up party, he seemed to have some skill. But what he was doing just didn’t make any sense.

Unless he had gone mad from the terror of the war, there was no reason he would do something like that. There had to be a reason.

Without stopping his hand movements, the Star of Pride turned his gaze to where the youth was heading. As far as he could tell, the youth seemed to be a High Ranker at the very least.

Soon, his face contorted.

‘That crazy guy. Is he out of his mind?’

If it looked like the youth had an intriguing plan, the Star of Pride was more than willing to support him. But when he saw where the youth was headed, his desire to help disappeared completely.

This was because Seol Jihu was heading to the fiercest battlefield in the entire valley. Even a True High Ranker would easily be killed in this place.

Right. It was where the Sacred Empress and Undying Diligence were having a bloody battle.

The moment the Sacred Empress appeared, the two of them had left the fortress wall and started using the entire valley as a stage for their fierce battle. But the fight was hardly a one-on-one battle as Undying Diligence also had dozens of Nosferatus supporting him.

At a glance, it looked like the Sacred Empress was driving Undying Diligence to a corner, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The young woman tried to approach Undying Diligence while steadily fending off the Nosferatus that were attacking her without regard for their lives. However, Undying Diligence focused on avoiding her and absorbed any Nosferatu that was struck down.

It was a simple story. Undying Diligence had suffered a heavy injury due to the Sacred Empress’ sudden spear throw. In his normal state, he could have simply dodged the attack, but because a certain old Magician struck him with a fistful of Moon Light dust, his numbed senses had failed to detect the attack in time.

He managed to perform emergency treatment by retracting the portion of his energy that was being used to entrap an evil spirit he planned to absorb later, but he judged that continuing to fight in his weakened state was a bad idea.

As such, he called the Nosferatus as he moved away from the fortress. They could be used to make the Sacred Empress waste her strength, and while they bought time for Undying Diligence to heal, their corpses could also be used for his recovery. All in all, it was killing two birds with one stone.

And now, this plan had come to fruition. Compared to when the fight first broke out, Undying Diligence’s wounds had healed significantly.

Although the Sacred Empress was still full of energy, Undying Diligence didn’t miss the drops of sweat that began to form on her forehead.

‘Just a bit more.’

He planned to maintain the current situation and attack without hesitation once he judged that he had recovered enough. He had no doubt that today would be the day the Sacred Empress died.

It was at this moment that Undying Diligence spotted a man running in their direction.

‘He’s…’

His face was familiar. It was the man with anti-evil energy, whom he suspected to be the Star that the Queen was searching for. Although the thought quickly went away when he saw his lousy skills, a tiny suspicion still remained in his heart.

‘He didn’t die?’

Although Undying Diligence slapped him like swatting a fly, he had done so with the intention of killing him. And so, he was a little surprised that the human was alive, and seeing him vigorously break through the army of corpses, he wanted to praise him somewhat.

But that was the only compliment he had for the youth.

Seeing as how he was screaming with his eyes shot open, he seemed to be more than a little furious. Undying Diligence couldn’t help but smirk. It was like seeing a puppy chasing after him with its tail standing tall.

On the other hand, a strong look of disdain surfaced on his face.

It was obvious at first glance. From the way the youth’s eyes were rolled back, Undying Diligence could tell he was storming forward in fury due to the death of a comrade.

It was a common sight. Whether it be a beastman or a human being, he often experienced these emotional insects become agitated and courageous just before dying. They would always utter nonsense like being unable to forgive him or of their fight only starting now.

Undying Diligence detested such creatures the most.

With such an overwhelming difference in power, a simple Awakening should be nowhere enough to make up the difference. There was no need to even mention the ones that went on rampages. After all, insects who attacked without regard for their lives were the easiest to kill.

The trickier opponents were those like the Sacred Empress. No provocations got through them, and they maintained their composure throughout the entirety of the battle, making only the necessary moves—

It was then. Undying Diligence turned his head in a hurry.

A jade-colored spear grazed the tip of his nose. While he had taken his eyes off for one second, the Sacred Empress had finally pierced through the meat shields and dealt a piercing blow. Cold sweat formed on Undying Diligence’s back as he realized his plan had almost been nullified.

‘This damned bitch.’

Undying Diligence gritted his teeth and quickly jumped back. The youth was no longer on his mind as he focused solely on the Sacred Empress.

Of course, he didn’t forget to send six Nosferatus after Seol Jihu. Two should be more than enough, but Undying Diligence wanted to be sure.

After receiving their leader’s command, the group of Nosferatus broke away from the ongoing battle and rushed toward the new enemy. Just as they reached their claws and fangs out to the ignorant fool who didn’t know to fear death—

Whish!

They passed through the enemy. No, perhaps it was more accurate to say they phased through him.

They didn’t feel anything on their claws. If they had to describe it, they could only say that it felt like a strong headwind blew past them. No blood spurted out, and the enemy’s figure scattered away like mist.

The six Nosferatus became dazed. When they turned around, they saw the enemy running far off in the distance.

After utilizing Ethereal Shift