Chapter 139: Divine Phantom Confrontation

"I’m quite curious... How did you discover me?"

After a brief standoff, Aurelius was the one to break the awkward silence.

He glanced at the man and, for the first time, had the chance to properly observe him.

His appearance was ordinary, with black hair and dark eyes. He was the kind of person who would easily disappear into a crowd, and no one would pay attention to him.

Yet when the divine figure behind him was added, everything changed.

The man now looked holy and majestic, like the representative of God in the mortal world.

Faced with Aurelius’ question and his curiosity, the Thief shook his head, an arrogant grin engraved on his face.

"Have you never met a Thief before? Do you think your mere concealment can truly hide from my senses?"

He chuckled.

"How can you possibly defeat a Thief in terms of concealment abilities? Your mere tricks are nothing before my eyes!"

The man’s tone was plain and arrogant, as though this were a simple matter for him.

From the interface hovering above his head, Aurelius knew that it was a fact that the man in front of him was a Level 27 Thief.

Judging by his sudden appearance earlier, which tricked dozens of Rank 2 monsters, he was indeed quite knowledgeable about this area.

Yet... Aurelius did not believe his words.

Even the Fiery-Eyed Ape, which had been able to see through the Thief’s disguise, had been unable to detect Aurelius.

How could this man possibly detect him?

In Aurelius’ opinion, his exposure was most likely related to the Divine Phantom behind him.

Although he suspected this, he didn’t go out of his way to point it out. He continued observing the opponent, as though trying to see through him.

The Thief mistook his silence for fear.

The arrogance on his face grew even more prominent. He sneered.

"You should have witnessed the previous scene..."

"Since you’re a human too, I’ll give you a chance."

"As long as you leave your treasures behind, I will let you go. Otherwise..."

He didn’t finish his words, but the Thief faintly glanced toward the divine phantom.

As if in response, the incomprehensible figure moved, lowering its head to fix its gaze on Aurelius.

The Divinity permeating the surroundings became even more intense, as though the world itself had turned into a divine realm.

Alarm bells rang inside Aurelius’ heart.

His intuition screamed at him to do as he was told and leave before it was too late!

In front of a God, a mere mortal—even an Awakener—had absolutely no chance of survival! He should give in!

Yet Aurelius’ rationality told him otherwise. The various clues were pieced together, giving him a rough understanding of the situation.

Ultimately, his rational side prevailed.

Faced with the Thief’s grin, Aurelius no longer hesitated.

He didn’t taunt him back. Instead, he directly sprang into action.

Without giving the Thief any time to react, he activated his strongest skill—Ocean’s Wrath.

With the skill engraved into his Demigod’s Physique, its activation was instantaneous.

Spirit flowed and gathered behind him.

The next instant, a phantom materialized behind him as well.

Although it looked far more ordinary than the sacred figure standing behind the Thief, the trident in its hand allowed it to contend with the Divine Phantom.

"Die!"

A low shout echoed before the azure silhouette shot forward.

It crossed the distance of dozens of feet in an instant.

Before anyone could react, it had appeared directly in front of the Thief, thrusting the trident toward his head.

The temperature dropped to a freezing point.

For a moment, the Thief felt as though he were facing the Millennium-Frost Lizard again.

No! The attack was even more powerful.

Its strength, combined with its suddenness, left the man unable to react.

The trident’s tip approached him at a terrifying speed, seemingly ready to nail him to the ground and harvest his life.

Fortunately for the man, his inability to defend himself didn’t mean that someone—or something—else couldn’t.

The divine phantom!

Sensing the threat to the Thief’s life, the golden silhouette hurriedly moved to defend him.

It waved its hand in the air in front of it.

Golden brilliance erupted.

It wove together like threads before the man, condensing into a knight’s shield embroidered with complicated runes.

The phantom seemed to want to raise another layer of defense, but it had no chance.

The moment after the shield was created, it and the trident’s tip finally collided.

Boom!

A powerful shockwave spread through the forest.

Wind blades formed at the place of impact and fired in every direction. Every tree that met them was cut in half.

The mere noise nearly caused Aurelius’ eardrums to burst.

His connection with the phantom grew unstable.

Sure enough, when he raised his head, he discovered that the azure silhouette was shaking violently, its entire body rippling like disturbed water.

The backlash caused Aurelius’ face to grow pale.

Clearly, despite taking the initiative and launching a sneak attack with an Epic Relic, Aurelius and his Divine Phantom had found themselves on the losing side of the confrontation.

The golden shield that had been condensed suffered no damage, without showing the slightest crack. On the other hand, the azure silhouette looked ready to shatter.

Similarly, the area around the Thief remained intact, while Aurelius’ surroundings became devastated.

’Fortunately, I upgraded Ocean’s Wrath before coming to the forest. Not only did the number of times I can summon it increase from one to three per day, but its power has also increased.’

’Otherwise, the Divine Phantom would have shattered,’ Aurelius muttered inwardly.

Despite facing what seemed to be a dangerous situation, he didn’t show any panic or fear.

He had already discovered something. It was the reason he was confident enough to take action.

Although his Divine Phantom and his opponent’s resembled each other, there was one key difference.

His came from Ocean’s Wrath. The Thief’s, on the other hand, stemmed from the treasure he had used!

As long as its power ran out, the enemy’s Divine Phantom would disappear!

His, on the other hand, could recover for as long as a trace of Spirit remained.