Chapter 108: Outnumbered!

"Interesting. Which faction are you from? Those assassin bastards? Or is it someone from the Golden Lord?"

"Only those two dare to do something like this without fear of my lord’s wrath."

Looking at Ethan, who had suddenly appeared, the middle-aged knight, still seated with a shotgun in hand, looked up calmly.

Seeing the masked intruder in front of him, he remained calm, as if Ethan was just a nobody.

A situation which piqued his interest.

"Oh? And I thought you were just a cosplayer. It seems there’s at least someone smart among Helios’s dimwits."

"But you said I’m from Silent Veil or the Golden Sanctuary."

"Why didn’t you say the Iron Gang? After all, aren’t they part of the four major factions with the Crimson Flame Dominion?"

Preparing his mana, Ethan asked with curiosity. Although he wanted to know the answer, if the knight in front of him dared to make any funny moves, he would send an ice spear through his neck on the spot.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Just like when they initially made eye contact, the knight was still as calm as ever.

In fact, hearing Ethan’s words, he calmly took out a cigar and lighter, smoking without a care in front of this intruder.

"I see... Now that makes sense."

"You’re probably not from Emerald City. So what city did you come from? If you were, you would know why you could never be one of those Iron Gang bastards."

"And that bit about cosplayers? It seems you dealt with that idiot Iron Thumb."

"Tell me, is he dead?"

Calmly talking about the death of his comrade, Ethan could see it: deep within the knight’s eyes, there was a strong emotion of lifelessness.

He seemed to be a man without a care in the world. For such a person working diligently for Helios, there was definitely more to it.

’Sigh~ but then again, who doesn’t have a story? In this world, tales of death and despair are more common than anything.’

’In that case, his situation is really no more special than others.’

Thinking of this, Ethan shook his head.

"Alright, to answer where I’m from, I am indeed from Emerald City. And as for the other question, he is indeed dead."

Taking a pause, Ethan, recalling the swordmanship moves he understood from Kenjiro’s feedback, began to act.

In the calm eyes of the knight, a mana jian began to appear in his hand.

"That’s enough talking. As I said earlier, I’m in a rush. So Mr. Knight, if you’re going to stand up..."

"I suggest you do that now," said Ethan.

To which the knight, after focusing on the sword for a bit, spat out the cigar in his mouth to the side.

"I see. In that case, then let’s fight."

Kacha!

Cocking his shotgun at Ethan, he didn’t hesitate.

Bang!

..........

[Viktor POV]

On the other side of the building, while Ethan was dealing with the knight, Viktor was somewhat unlucky.

As soon as he reached his target, the fifth finger who was on the roof, detected Viktor’s presence and joined the battle.

Right now, it was two against one, and Viktor was struggling to hold on.

"Damn it, show your body if you’re truly a man!"

Bang! Bang!

Using his bone spear coated in mana, Viktor destroyed two puppets that lashed out at him with knives.

At the same time, using his mana sense, he dodged a shadow figure who appeared behind him, aiming for his heart with a dagger.

"So much for you being the five fingers who rule over a faction. You lot are just cowards who teamed up against an old man."

Cursing out loud, Viktor was nearing his limits. Even though they were pseudo E-class according to Ethan, they were still E-class Awakeners.

Adding to the fact that he didn’t have a ten-thousand-times increase to possess a large mana pool like Ethan, Viktor, continuously using his mana sense, body strengthening, as well as coating his weapon in mana, was continuously nearing his limits.

If things went on like this, don’t talk about losing the bet; his life would not be guaranteed.

"Old man who’s hiding behind the mask, you’re one to talk, invading our base and attacking us out of nowhere."

"You’re lucky Lord Helios isn’t here; otherwise, a person like you would have been burnt to ashes long ago." Coming out of the darkness, a figure spoke.

He wore a pitch-black hoodie from head to toe and a white mask on his face.

Beside him, another man wore a dark green suit, red bow tie, and white frills on his collar.

Attached to his fingers were threads that connected to the puppets which continuously attacked Viktor.

These two were the fourth and fifth fingers of Helios: the Puppet Master, Marionette, and the Shadow’s Son, Eclipse.

Possessing the abilities of thread manipulation and shadow jump, even among the five fingers, they were quite difficult to deal with.

"However, old man, if you take off your mask and surrender, then perhaps we can beg Lord Helios to take you in."

"If not, then prepare to die." Stretching out his hand, Eclipse made an offer.

After all, they had been fighting for a while now, yet this old man hadn’t even budged once.

Against two of them, this kind of strength was unheard of for E-ranks like them.

Perhaps if they had gone one by one, they would have lost their lives.

As such, for a talented individual like this, they felt it was only right that they recruit him, especially since friction between each of the factions had been on the rise.

Adding an extra powerhouse was completely in their favor.

Unfortunately, Viktor had no intention of switching sides.

Readying his spear, his mana sense surged.

"Are you done talking nonsense? In that case, both of you die for me!"

"If you don’t, then this old man is going to need to ask someone out!" Not giving them a chance to react, Viktor thrust his spear.

Bang!