Chapter 83: A Cheater’s Crisis

“Are you done playing with the Wyverns?”

Zishan slowly raised his head, but his eyes were empty as he stared at her.

Elinox was standing several steps away from him with one hand resting near the edge of Skyforge’s upper hatch. Several Wyverns were still circling outside, though most had already pulled farther away after watching thirty of their kind get slaughtered one after another.

“I’m going to clear the rest of them,” she continued. “Skyforge has already slowed down enough. Once they’re gone, we’ll continue toward the capital at full speed.”

Zishan stared at her for a moment before answering in a strangely empty voice. “Yes…”

Elinox’s eyes narrowed slightly, but she ignored him for now—though the reaction was something she did not expect from him.

Zishan barely noticed her stare, as his mind was somewhere else entirely. ‘Level 400…’

He could still see the number floating in front of him.

Silvy had barely been alive long enough to learn her own name, yet she had already entered the world more than three hundred Levels above him.

He had started at Level 1 and fought through enough battles that he could have died at any point before reaching Level 99. It had taken a lot out of him to get this far.

Then, there was Silvy…

‘Level 400.’

Zishan’s face became blank again. ‘This world is unfair.’

Elinox watched him for another second before deciding not to ask what had happened to make him go silent like that. Because he was usually loud, she was just wondering.

Then, she stepped out of the vessel.

The wind pulled at her long silver-blue hair the moment she reached the upper surface of Skyforge, carrying several loose strands across her face while the remaining Wyverns continued circling farther out.

One of them screamed. Then, another answered from above it.

Elinox looked around the sky.

There were still enough of them to delay Skyforge if they continued throwing themselves against the barrier, and she had already wasted more time than she wanted dealing with an attack that made very little sense.

Her hand moved toward the sword at her waist, but she stopped before clearing the scabbard. She realized something.

“There’s no need for me to pull out my sword for a group of weak beasts like Wyverns,” she muttered as Gravity Mana spread beneath her feet. “Pray while you all still can, beasts.”

The surface of Skyforge groaned softly under the pressure, though the vessel itself remained unaffected as Elinox adjusted the Mana around her body. Her hair lifted from her shoulders as the surrounding air began bending toward her.

Several Wyverns noticed the change. Their wings quickly shifted, but they were all too late.

Elinox turned.

Her boots remained in the same place while her body moved through a full circle, one arm extending outward as Gravity Mana condensed along the path of her movement.

“Divine Orbit Severance.” The Mana around her collapsed inward.

A complete ring appeared.

For a fraction of a second, it remained whole around Skyforge, thin enough that it almost disappeared against the open sky.

Then, the ring divided.

Dozens of crescents broke away from it. Each one carried compressed Gravity Mana so dense that the air distorted along its path.

The first Wyvern never managed to dodge. One crescent passed through its neck, while another crossed the chest of the second one flying behind it.

More crescents spread in every direction, curving around Skyforge as though the attack itself already knew where every living target was located.

A Wyvern tried to climb, but a crescent followed it. Meanwhile, another folded its wings and dropped on the Skyforge. A second crescent descended after it.

The remaining creatures scattered.

It did not matter.

Compressed Gravity Mana tore through scales, wings, necks, and bodies from every direction until the air around Skyforge became silent.

Elinox completed her turn and lowered her arm. Her sword had never left its sheath. Several severed bodies began falling through the clouds.

She watched them descend without changing her expression, like a divine being watching a mere play. Then, a thought came to mind. ‘Why were they even here?’

Wild Wyverns did not usually gather in numbers like this around an Aether Craft unless something had disturbed them, driven them away from their territory, or deliberately directed them toward a target.

Her gaze moved toward the distant clouds. ‘An enemy of Father?’

As a Duke and one of the highest-ranking nobles in the Kingdom of Olmost, second only to the Royal Family, Duke Holmes had made several enemies.

Therefore, it was actually possible.

There were enough nobles, military families, and powerful people throughout Olmost who disliked the Holmes family for one reason or another. Her father’s position alone had created enemies long before Elinox became a High General or even before she was born.

‘Did they really think this farce would put me in peril?’ Her eyes moved across the falling Wyverns.

The answer was obvious.

‘Only the Crown Marshal could force me to reveal one hundred percent of my strength. No one else in the capital can. Not even the King himself.’

Elinox raised one foot and stepped forward.

Light spread beneath her boot.

A pale radiance moved across the Skyforge’s surface before flowing outward into the surrounding air. The blood left behind by the Wyverns began disappearing wherever the light passed, along with the droplets suspended around the barrier.

The metallic scent vanished with them. And within seconds, even the air around Skyforge returned to its earlier clarity.

Her gaze lingered on the clouds for a while. She did not sense any strong presence nearby, so she shook her head and went inside. ‘Perhaps I’m just overthinking…’

Zishan had already reclaimed the sofa.

Silvy was curled against his stomach while he gently rubbed the space between her tiny backward-curving horns. The hatchling’s grayish-silver eyes had begun closing whenever his fingers passed over the same spot, only to open again whenever he stopped.

Ollie sat nearby watching them.

Zishan looked completely distracted, still not over Silvy’s level at birth.

‘I thought it was already absurd enough for High General Holmes to be born at Level 50.’ His fingers continued moving over Silvy’s head. ‘I reached Level ninety-nine in this amount of time and somehow thought I was doing great… Do I even deserve to be called a cheater with a system? They were more like cheaters than I am!’

He looked down at the baby dragon.

Silvy opened one eye. “Papa…”

See Synopsis for the Goals!