'I hope you won't kill and devour him anytime soon. At least until the Lazarus Project ends.'
Layla said to Eren in private through voice communication in a worried tone. One of the reasons she was uncomfortable letting Ivor parade his powers in front of Eren was because she assumed Eren would aim for the kill straight away. She had spent enough time with him to predict his behavior. Or so she thought.
The three-person team was waiting in ambush for Oliver's forces. Eren had healed Ivor using Instant Reset. The Ability allowed him to heal his allies as well with the efficiency of a healer. At this point, Ivor and Layla had both stopped being surprised by the butcher's class-defying talents.
The trio cleaned the battlefield hastily using one of Layla's potions. They couldn't fix the damage done to the surroundings because of the duel between Eren and Ivor. But the butcher did the next best thing by covering the battlefield with his wood-element spell Woodland Wonderland.
Eren had turned invisible after drinking the potion given by Layla. Even his presence couldn't be felt using normal means. The potion was so effective that he wouldn't have been able to feel Layla and Ivor's positions either if it wasn't for the voice communication channels active among them.
This was the same potion that Layla created in her cauldron a few hours ago. It had almost no shell life but it did a fantastic job turning normal rankers into assassin-like entities.
He chuckled when Layla's suggestion sounded a little bit like a threat. He looked around to see if there was a sign of Oliver's forces approaching Ground Zero. Upon assessing that he still had some time, he casually stated his position.
'It's true that I have an interest in acquiring Ivor's accomplishments for myself. However, I think the same way about every ranker I meet who has some talent.
My desire to devour a ranker and the actual deed are two separate things. Believe it or not, I don't generally act on my impulses. I wouldn't be working on the Lazarus Project if I was like that.
As for Ivor's attainments… I think his attainments have too much of his individuality seeped into them. Even if I got them, I wouldn't be able to develop them to their intended peak because I am not Ivor. I guess that's true for every target I have devoured so far. But Ivor's case stands out the most among them.'
Eren sighed before continuing.
'It's better to have a goose that keeps on laying golden eggs than to kill it and taste its meat once. I still have other uses for Ivor. So I don't think you'll have to worry about me devouring him. That is until he gives me any reason to.'
Layla felt a tinge of cold in Eren's voice as she listened to him. She knew what he was talking about. She wanted to say something else to change the topic, but the butcher did it for her.
It's not like I can't achieve my goals on my own. Talent or no talent, I know I have what it takes to take my lightning attainments to even greater heights than him.'
Eren said confidently. He felt this confidence because it was the element of lightning he was talking about. From his two lives, the butcher was most familiar with this element.
Even now, he was on the right track regarding honing his lightning element as much as his current rank allowed him. Lightning seemed to lag behind the tremendous progress he had made in his other elements.
He would be lying if he said that he wasn't envious of Ivor's lightning attainments or didn't think of looting them. But he also knew that he would get something much better eventually. Something he could truly call his own and not stolen goods.
'Somehow… I don't doubt that.'
Layla murmured after hearing Eren's words. She knew Eren was the most hardworking ranker she had a chance to meet in this era.
Eren was just about to say something to Layla when he received another voice communication. This time from Ivor.
'Eren, what are you planning to do about the Lazarus Project? Are you planning to let that old hag out?'
Ivor didn't fail to notice the extraordinary nature of Eren's wrath mana at the end. He felt like his pride mana was ineffective against someone with a Sin series Ability because it was Eren who was his opponent.
Ivor also felt that Eren had hidden more than he wanted to show him. From his academy days, he had observed Eren. Whenever he was sure of victory, he often used his opponents as live dummies. Ivor felt like he had played that part for Eren when he recalled the duel.
Ivor had also kept his pride aside in asking for help from Eren after he saw the difference between them in the duel. It was like he managed to separate the feelings of pride and shame apart because the chasm of power between them was so wide apart.
He had stopped competing with Eren in his head after Eren defeated him so thoroughly. Instead, he was looking for something deep within himself. Something he could work on to achieve even more than he already did.
Ivor was also having doubts about serving Eliza after seeing Eren's progress. The Sage and the butcher were not necessarily against each other. But they also didn't seem to be on the same page.
Ivor knew about the Lazarus Project and Eren's involvement in it. As far as he could tell, Eren had not accepted the project's responsibilities willingly. Ivor and Layla were both unsure if Eren would show up here to kill Arthur's guards until the last minute.
Killing Oliver and his people was akin to issuing a challenge to a duke and Edinburgh's entire royalty by proxy. And unlike them, he had a lot to lose if the mission failed.
The more he learned about Eren, the more Ivor thought that maybe he shouldn't place his bets on Eliza in the Lazarus Project. Thus, he tried to interact with Eren more to get a glimpse of what he was thinking about.
