"Strengthen myself? How?" Ryder asked, wondering how he could make him stronger. He was already plenty strong but getting stronger was tough.
At Least he couldn't achieve it without the help of missions.
"Are you going to help me? Give me strength doubling pills?" Ryder asked, realizing that it was the best way. If he had the strength doubling pill, he could get as strong as he wanted. He could swallow hundreds of those and become hundreds of times stronger.
As long as Janus helped him, it was perfect.
"No. Those pills are useless to you. You took enough of them. If you take even one more, your body will start dying from inside out." Janus replied. "But if you want to take it, I can give it to you. It would be fun to see you blow up like a balloon."
Even though Ryder knew that Janus was using sarcasm to exaggerate the danger, but the image of him blowing up did appear in his head.
He couldn't help but sweat as he thought about that.
"Then how can I get stronger?" Ryder asked.
As for the answer, he received the answer in the old method. In the form of a mission that was given by Janus.
[A mission has been issued to the host]
[Mission: Kill the kings one by one]
[Mission Duration: 2 days]
[Reward: You will receive their strength]
[Failure consequences: You will die]
"This... Isn't this the same as the one with Luke? It means if I kill the Kings, you will help me absorb their strength?" Ryder asked, but Janus didn't reply. He was already sure that Ryder understood.
"I get it! So that's the answer! The Kings are coming with their leader. And their leader would certainly be stronger than them. So I need to kill the kings first and get stronger slowly. The Kings are my food to make me strong enough to face their leader! I get it!"
"I have a question," Ryder said after he formed an idea about what he needed to do.
"What question?" Janus asked.
"The Kings will be accompanying their leader. How can I take them out without attracting their leader's attention? Won't their leader see me?" Ryder inquired.
"That's for you to decide," Janus answered.
"Come on, help me a bit!" Ryder insisted.
"Alright," Janus replied lazily. "Since you're making things difficult for me and letting me take more risks, make it up to me. Let me be entertained."
[Another Mission has been issued to the host]
[Mission: Separate the Kings from their leader]
[Reward: Mystery Reward]
[To help the host, a special facility is activated in the Deity Phone, which shows the location of all the Kings and their leaders]
"Go have fun. And try to stay alive," Janus said one last thing before he disappeared.
He already gave Ryder what he needed to. The information and the tracking. As for the rest, he had faith in his brother and believed that he could handle the rest.
"The Deity Phone? Oh right. That thing."
Opening his inventory, he opened the phone that he had received as a reward. It was something given to him by Janus which allowed him to talk to mythical creatures.
Other than that, it had no features. But at the moment, Ryder could see that a new app was on the phone.
The app was named something pretty generic. It was called "Enemy Tracker."
As for the app icon, it was across that seemed to imply that he needed to kill the enemies.
He opened the app.
As soon as the app opened, it revealed a map which was showing thirteen red dots. All of the red dots were at the same place, so he had to zoom in to see them separately.
The strange part was that all the dots were showing in the middle of the ocean.
"I guess they're on a plane. They're coming in my direction. Since they know my address, I need to make sure Alice and Shu stay away from that place."
Ryder's car raced through the roads of the city as he called Alice.
"Where are you?"
"I'm at home. Why?"
"Alright. Leave home right now. Go to your friend's house for a few days. I will be a bit busy for a few days. As for Shu, he would be busy too. And I don't think you're safe at that place alone."
"I'm not safe here? Why?" Alice didn't understand what Ryder was trying to say. "The security here is one of the best in the city. Why won't I be safe? What are you saying?"
"Just listen to me. Don't stay there. Pack your bags and wait at the entrance. I'm getting there soon. I'll drop you at your friend's house. Also, for the next few days, don't go to college as well. And don't let anyone know where you're staying," Ryder insisted.
"Sigh, alright. I'll pack my bags. But I really hope you'll tell me what's happening when you get here," Alice said before she realized that the call was disconnected.
She walked back to her wardrobe and started getting her clothes ready and packed in a bag to leave.
As he finished talking to Alice, Ryder called Shu.
The phone rang for over a minute before it was picked up.
"Where are you?" He once again started with the same question.
"I'm at a meeting. Why?"Shu asked, surprised. "Did something happen?"
"No, I just wanted to tell you something. Actually, some big enemies are coming. So I want you to stay away from your estate for a few days. Alice and I will stay away too. As for the note explanation, I'll give you later," Ryder told Shu.
"Huh? Enemies? They're coming to the estate? How about I prepare a nice welcome for them?" Shu asked, smiling.
He already had a few ideas about how to deal with the enemies.
"There's no need. Just stay away from the Estate and let me handle the rest. As long as we aren't in the estate, everything will be solved," Ryder said, strongly advising Shu not to do anything stupid.
"Sigh, alright. I'll do as you said. In any case, I'm out of the city, and I won't be able to return before two days," Shu replied, nodding. Since Ryder was insisting so strongly, he didn't argue either.
"Still, do you need any help? Just tell me what you need, and I will arrange," he asked.
"I have everything I might need. So don't worry," Ryder refused before he continued. "Best of luck with the meeting. I'll call you later."
"Alright."
...
Ryder reached the Estate where he found Alice to be already waiting with her packed bags.
"Are you going anywhere?"
Seeing both Alice and Ryder leave, the butler couldn't help but assume if they were leaving the Estate forever.
"We're just going on a short vacation. Don't worry. We will be back. If anyone asks about us, just tell them we went out, and we will return in two days," Ryder told the butler, without letting it become clear that he was lying.
He left with Alice. She told him the directions to her friend's house since he didn't know about it.
On the way, Alice asked him about what was happening and why they were leaving. Ryder refused to answer directly and kept his answers vague.
He talked about tens of reasons, and none of them were actually true. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell her the truth that God-like humans with magical powers were coming to kill him. So he could only make a few excuses that made him sound less crazy.
Seeing him try so hard to keep it a secret z Alice gave up. In the end, she only asked one thing.
"I don't want to know anything else. Just tell me one thing, honestly. And don't lie to me about this. Is there a danger to you in all this?" She asked Ryder.
"Danger? None at all," Ryder replied calmly.
Even though Alice told him to be absolutely honest, he still lied since telling the truth was just going to worry her.
In truth, this had more risk for him than anything else he ever went through since he was going to face a god-son.
It was the first time he would be facing a being with Divine Energy in his normal form. He had fought the God of Time previously, but that was not actually his current self but his old self. That was different from him now.
He neither had the knowledge of his true powers nor could he use them at the moment.
He didn't even know a lot about gods. All he had was the hope to get stronger to face Aluren.
...
Time passed fast as a sports car raced through the city and its mostly empty roads only to stop near its destination.
Pushing the door open, Alice stepped out.
She turned back and said, "Best of luck with what you're about to do. I hope you're successful."
