Chapter 451: Begin
"Let's go," Sylas said after a long moment. However, he paused before he turned around. "Can she fight?"
Sylas pointed to Sunniva.
"She can. Though it's a bit complicated. I will need more time to make certain that she remains... loyal. It will probably be best if we avoid that for now if it isn't necessary."
Sylas nodded.
Sunniva was a powerful fighter. If they could get her on their side, it would be like two for the price of one, where the only price he had to pay was saving Nosphaleen.
The problem, of course, was that it seemed that it would be quite difficult to scale this sort of thing.
Whatever suggestion Nosphaleen had placed on Sunniva had to be constantly reinforced and nurtured. There would obviously be diminishing returns the more people there were.
When he got to this point in his thoughts, he handed Sunniva a few pills to heal herself. Then he returned her clothing to her while withholding the special blades.
After analyzing the way Sunniva's Class worked, he found that the blades were a special sort of Rune application.
The hilts of the blades were real, in part. The blades themselves and their edges were fabrications of Aether and the activation of these Runes.
With this, Sunniva had perfect control over whether the blades were active or not, and she could trick opponents into thinking she had suffered blows when she really hadn't, even to the point of fooling Sylas.
Of course, this was only a minor extension of her Class. The main power was blade control. It was even more effective than Sylas' Telekinesis in a lot of ways.
The blades had practically no weight. Durability wasn't an issue because they were all formed of Aether, and she didn't need a skill like <Momentum Shift> to forcefully change their direction either.
On top of that, the Class was clearly a combination path that allowed both this versatile attack form and a boost toward close combat.
Though, unless it was a high-grade Class, it was probably a jack-of-all-trades sort of situation.
When Sunniva was finally fully clothed, Sylas asked something unexpected.
"Tell me the truth hidden at the bottom of your heart. If you learned that your Ravenclaw family was colluding with alien Races, how would you feel?"
Sunniva blinked in surprise and seemed to struggle for a moment. Nosphaleen even felt some of that struggle as though she was about to break free. This shocked her. She didn't
understand why such a simple question would trigger such a thing.
Sylas was the first to react. He analyzed what happened instantly and spoke up again.
"Your master isn't an alien Race. She is a Clypsian, born and bred on Earth. They were a Race of people that existed before humans."
The realization hit Nosphaleen at the same time the struggle in Sunniva vanished.
At the same time, Nosphaleen couldn't help but look toward Sylas like she was looking at a monster.
She didn't quite understand how a person's brain could work so flexibly.
Nosphaleen understood her ability best, so she realized what the issue was.
She had blue skin. To Sunniva, she was among the alien Races that Sylas was referring to.
As such, if in her heart of hearts she would hate her family for doing such a thing, it would be contradictory to her current subservience to Nosphaleen.
Understanding that was one thing.
deducing it from a mere struggle on Sunniva's face, one that didn't even last very long, was another thing.
It only made it worse that Sylas shouldn't be able to feel what she had felt in that moment.
He wouldn't have known that she was about to break free of her suggestion.
Yet he still figured it out before she did despite the fact his Mental stats were well below her own.
Nosphaleen was one of the rare few people that could actually read Sylas' stats. She knew exactly what they were, and that only shocked her more.
'Are humans so powerful?'
Her Race wasn't particularly... inviting to other people. Even the Dogons that stood on par with them in talent were usually disparaged, least of all humans that were basically cavemen when the Clypsians were in power.
Nosphaleen was far more mild-tempered than her counterparts, and she had also never met one of those cavemen personally, so her own bias hadn't settled in, but she had heard enough from her seniors to still feel subconsciously superior.
Even if Sylas was stronger than her, could he really be smarter?
It was only one example, but now she truly wasn't so sure anymore...
Had the cavemen really evolved so far?
"... I would not like it at all," Sunniva finally replied.
"Good. When the time is right, you'll become a part of my team." Sylas turned to leave the cave. "Keep her in check for now."
Having Nosphaleen constantly keep tabs on Sunniva was obviously not sustainable.
Unless the Clypsian had months of time to drill her suggestion into the depths of Sunniva's mind, it would be likely that she would break free any time, and maybe even at the worst of times.
Even if the worst-case scenario didn't happen, Nosphaleen would likely be constantly handicapped trying to trigger her Gene Talent again and again.
It would eventually start to impact her performance, and he would need her.
So, he thought of something else.
While questioning Sunniva, he realized that she didn't really know about the Sylph traitor situation. So he chose to ask her while she was under suggestion.
Now that he knew her answer, turning her over to his side without Nosphaleen's suggestion would be far easier.
Even if only Ragnar was involved, he should be able to make use of Sunniva at least in the short term before she returned to the Ravenclaw family.
That would be enough.
But for now, he would need to show her indisputable proof.
And while he was at it, he would destroy a few checkpoints.
Sylas appeared in an inconspicuous tunnel and suddenly punched out.
CRACK.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
The checkpoint split and then shattered to pieces.
That was one down, and its failure would likely put the Ravenclaws on high alert.
'Let's begin.'
Chapter 452: Cleared [Bonus]
Blood fell from Sylas' fingers as a corpse fell from his hands, its neck snapped and its jaw hanging down to one side as though it had been torn off.
This was already the third checkpoint they had taken down, including the first that Bass had led him to.
It wasn't that the Ravenclaws were so slow to react, but rather that Sylas was too fast.
He had a Speed that far outstripped most Mounts these days, and he was already at a level where he could rival and even outpace vehicles at this point, while also having an agility they couldn't match.
The first time he was in his Evergreen Territory, just after conquering Paradise, it would have taken him at least an hour to make it to and from all these checkpoints. But now, it took him not even a dozen minutes.
As for the actual conquering process, even though she was a bit handicapped in an attempt to keep Sunniva in line, the addition of Nosphaleen might as well have been a cheat code.
Sylas had grown used to fighting alone, but he had to admit that having something to support him from the back made things far easier.
This time, he had cleared the checkpoint in not even five minutes.
It was simply too fast for the Ravenclaws to react.
'This should be shaving it pretty close. There is likely a group rushing here. Let's retreat and assess the new situation.'
Sylas realized something else as he targeted these two checkpoints: Sunniva was quite powerful amongst the Ravenclaws.
This didn't raise Sylas' eyebrows. If he was correct, Ragnar had sent her so far away, and to a relatively obscure checkpoint, likely because he knew that she wouldn't like his choices.
This way, not only could Ragnar use her as a vanguard and a deterrence to enemies, he could keep her nose out of his business.
Deductions like this were important for Sylas to understand the kind of opponent he was up against. Ragnar might look like a meathead bouncer, but that didn't mean he actually was
one.
Ultimately, even if he felt he was losing the heir selection of his family, the Ravenclaws wouldn't give a chance to a fool.
However, whether his intelligence was actually something to worry about was another matter entirely.
...
Ragnar stood in silence, a sinister air circling around him. He wore an almost too tight pair of dress pants, a half-unbuttoned dress shirt revealing his chest hair and dangling gold chain.
At first glance, it didn't look like he was wearing any advanced equipment at all. As usual, he looked like the cross between a bouncer and a pimp...
And he seemed to carry the sinister gaze of one now.
He had already gotten the notification of failure the moment Sylas destroyed the first checkpoint. It had left him shaken.
Usually, if a Leg failed, it would be because the cargo was damaged. Never did he expect the opponent to directly target the checkpoint instead.
Because it was a Multi Quest, however, failure didn't mean the end. It was just that the path to victory changed, so the Leg requirement shifted accordingly.
But then a second checkpoint was destroyed. Then a third.
And now...
[Leg 005]
[The Ravenclaws are on the verge of being expelled from the race for the Evergreen Territory; drastic measures must be taken. Find this enemy in the dark.]
This change worried Ragnar for several reasons. But the main issue was that the Leg wasn't asking him to kill the enemy, just to find them.
The Legs of Multi Quests varied, but usually, they fell within a certain range of difficulty depending on the overall Quest Grade.
The fact that his only task for this Leg was to identify the enemy meant only one thing...
The enemy was mind-numbingly powerful.
However, by the same token, it was a chance.
If the enemy was so powerful, then due to this coincidence, the Ravenclaws had likely opened up a path to much greater rewards.
Until now, Ragnar had been essentially giving up on better rewards for the sake of securing victory. Colluding with the Sylphs like he was was bound to have such results.
The situation now was different.
At that moment, someone knocked on his door.
"Enter."
A messenger came in with a lowered head and gave him a report.
'I guess things aren't meant to be so easy.'
Ragnar had tried to cheat a bit.
He sent individuals to both of the remaining checkpoints with no other task than to record and send information back.
He gave them both temporary visual Nexuses for this reason.
He was even willing for them to die so long as they sent the.
information back to him.
But the enemy never showed up.
It was all calculated perfectly. It was a swift surprise attack, and then they retreated without losing a hair. Now, they were still in the shadows while he knew next to nothing about this
person.
It was a shame. Otherwise, this might have been the easiest Leg he had ever received.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
That said...
Ragnar looked at a message that he received from Rolland and his lip curled.
The City Lord was asking him about information. He wanted to know about any Grimblades powerful enough to kill Sylphs, and he was even threatening him, saying that he was holding back information.
The more Ragnar interacted with these alien Races, the more he realized that they weren't so
almighty.
This message alone was enough for him to be about 80% certain.
Back when he was manning the portal, a black-scaled man had suddenly appeared before him
and stolen his kill. He hadn't even been able to read that person's stats.
But then... a video of the black-scaled man defeating a General of a System City went viral.
And his name...
Wasn't it Sylas Grimblade?
Someone powerful enough to kill Sylphs with ease? Couldn't it only be him?
'So you're the enemy in the dark, huh?'
[Leg 005 Cleared]
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