In the middle of an empty street, a dreadful silence hung in the air as Kai's figure approached the main characters.
The atmosphere grew increasingly tense, becoming more and more palpable with each passing moment.
Kai exuded a dark and ominous aura, which seemed to ooze out from his very being as he took slow, steady steps towards them.
The sound of his footsteps reverberated through the surroundings— which was the only audible noise in the otherwise eerie stillness.
Kai's presence was unsettling. There was just something off about him.
In response to his approach, the main characters quickly summoned their weapons.
Nero brandished his bastard sword, Amelia and Anastasia readied their bows, Elijah firmly gripped his war hammer, Chase put on his shield gauntlets, and Aster wielded her imposing giant mace.
The dreadful silence shattered as Kai approached the group, coming to a stop just a few steps away from them.
A wide grin stretched across his face as he greeted Nero.
"Nero Dekrauf," Kai's voice rang out, his grin widening even more. "Here we meet again."
Nero cautiously stepped forward, his eyes scanning every inch of Kai's figure.
Nero noticed that Kai's combat attire— the sleeveless top and combat trousers— were now nothing but tattered shreds.
Yet, despite the ragged appearance, Nero couldn't detect a single sign of injury— internal or physical— on Kai based on his breathing rate and posture.
Nero's gaze soon fell upon the Flag which was securely clasped onto Kai's using his belt.
"Yes, how've you been?" Nero greeted, his eyes fixed on the flag. "I heard you beat up my friend so badly that he needed medical attention."
"Well, he put up quite a fight," Kai responded, his grin unwavering. "By the way, can you answer a simple question for me?"
"What is it?" Nero inquired.
"Nothing major, just tell me where the Morningstar is," Kai asked, his gaze turning cold and serious.
A frown creased Nero's face as he replied, "I don't know. He said he had a plan and then disappeared."
"Oh, is that so?" Kai tilted his head slightly, his behavior becoming erratic. "That guy is clever, I'll give him that. He set up traps—stun grenades, tripwires, even landmines—on all the other streets leading out of the Fifth District."
"Now, even though most of the Fifth District is one big forest with no residences, and the worker robots have evacuated any locations connected to the game, people can still get hurt if they accidentally walk into his traps, you know. He's quite reckless, that guy.
"Anyway, since all the other routes are filled with traps and it's nearly impossible to cross without triggering at least a few of them, I decided to investigate each path individually, expecting Lucas himself to be waiting somewhere to fight me, blocking one of the routes."
"But it turns out, besides being smart, he's also ruthless. He's using his friends—wait, are you even his friends? Let's call you all his comrades. Turns out, he's using his comrades as shields to buy himself time. You're all just bait."
As they listened to Kai's words, it became clear to them why Lucas had instructed them to stay on this route.
Nero let out a scornful scoff and retorted, "Wait, are you suggesting that we are your bait? Look around, dude. It's six against one. We're not here to bait you; we're here to defeat you."
Raising his sword slightly, Nero continued in a calm tone, "So why don't you give up the flag peacefully, promise to keep your Young Elites clowns away from us, and maybe I'll consider not breaking every single one of your limbs."
Kai's grin turned into a smirk as he muttered under his breath, "I don't understand why the Cosmic Womb chose you. If the fate of this world rests in your hands, then we're all doomed."
"What was that?" Nero perked up his ears. "I didn't catch that."
After taking a few deep breaths, Kai spoke aloud, "I said I won't give you the flag."
Nero's expression hardened and a look of surprise flickered in his eyes.
"Why?" he asked. "Your team has already lost. There are six of us and only one of you! Doesn't it appear to be an impending defeat for you?"
"No," Kai shook his head. "You are six morons, and I am one warrior. Sounds like a fair fight."
"Ngh!" Nero exhaled deeply, realizing that a battle was now inevitable. In the next instant, he took two steps back and shouted, "Anastasia!"
SWISH—!!
Almost as if awaiting for that signal, an arrow enveloped in a bright azure hue whizzed past Nero, aimed directly at Kai.
In a split second, using his lightning fast reflexes, Kai instinctively summoned his greatsword and swung it towards the incoming arrow.
TAAK—!!
It felt as though he had tried to deflect a missile as Kai used the flat edge of his sword to shield against the arrow.
Swiftly, Kai raised his sword above his head and noticed that Nero had seized this opportunity to rush at him.
Without hesitation, Kai brought down his sword with all his strength, aiming to strike Nero.
CLANG—!!
Nero used his own sword to block the incoming blow, but his knees buckled slightly under the force of the attack.
'What? Why is he so strong?' That single thought raced through Nero's mind as he was caught off-guard.
Based on what he knew, Kai shouldn't possess THIS level of strength.
However, such thoughts only lingered for a fleeting moment, as in the next second, Nero gathered strength in his knees and pushed Kai back.
"Argh!" Kai gritted his teeth as he was forced backward. Nero quickly stepped in and swung his sword at his neck.
But without missing a beat, Kai channeled mana into his right knee and, using his own sword, deflected Nero's sword away before jumping up and delivering a brutal knee strike to the base of Nero's chin.
Thwack—!!
"Argha!" A groan escaped Nero's lips as Kai's knee connected with his chin, nearly causing him to stumble backward.
However, Nero swiftly regained his footing by rolling back and quickly rising to his feet, putting some distance between him and Kai.
Seizing this opportunity, Elijah and Aster lunged forward, swinging their massive battle hammer and mace at the Wiseman.
Thrruck—!! Thrwaaack—!!
Kai swiftly leaped back, narrowly avoiding being crushed under the weight of Elijah's hammer and the impact of Aster's mace.
As both of their weapons struck the ground where Kai had been standing moments before, two deep craters were gouged out on the street.
"Is this the extent of your strength?!" Kai roared and started spinning on his foot, his colossal sword poised overhead as he gained momentum from his spin.
"Stay back!" Nero shouted, but his warning came too late. Aster and Elijah had already closed in on Kai, wielding their massive mace and hammer.
But before they could reach him, Kai slammed his sword down onto the ground using the momentum he had gained and applying his own strength to it.
THWACK—!!
A tremendous shockwave erupted and flung Aster and Elijah backward like rag dolls.
Seizing the opportunity, Kai rushed to finish them.
"Not so fast!" Chase interjected, jumping in to block Kai's path.
"Stay back, you fool!" Kai yelled and unleashed another downward slash aimed at Chase using his giant sword.
THANN—!!
Chase swiftly used his shield gauntlets to tank the incoming blow, but it was a grave mistake.
Even though Chase was using mana to strengthen his body, it was still nowhere near enough to withstand Kai's blow.
Under the weight of Kai's attack, Chase's knees folded and he was mercilessly forced into a kneeling position.
"Arghaa?!" Chase groaned in pain and confusion. But before he could react, Kai pivoted and delivered a forceful high thrust kick.
Thwack—!!
The sole of his foot connected with Chase's chin while he was in the kneeling position, causing him to fall back flat on the ground.
THWACK—!!
"Khuuak!" But Kai didn't stop his assault there. He raised his leg and stomped his foot down on Chase's sternum, causing him to cough a mouthful of blood.
Swish, Swish—!!
Tann, Tann—!!
Two arrows enveloped with a crushing amount of mana quickly shot at him, but Kai just raised his giant sword to deflect the arrows again.
Nero, once again, used this chance to rush at Kai. This time, the blade of his bastard sword was engulfed in an azure coating of mana.
But the mana covering his sword wasn't wavering like it was a liquid– which it usually looks like. The mana covering Nero's sword looked much more dense and stable like semi-solid.
"Oh right, by this point, you had already mastered the true Sword Qi, huh?" Kai nodded in acknowledgment, raising his sword.
"But what difference would it make?" He sneered, a dark, ominous aura began to swirl around his blade.
Nero, who had his sword pulled back until now, unleashed a powerful horizontal right slash towards his enemy as soon as Kai entered his attack range.
In retaliation, Kai also retracted his sword and swiftly released a forceful left slash to meet Nero's attack head-on.
BOOM—!!
