"Soul powers! He has soul powers!
He really is the butcher of Osan Woods. We were chasing the wrong man all along."
Drops of sweat trickled down Oliver's face as he looked at Eren's torso with a look of disbelief and fear. He would stop his gaze at the butcher's neck and refuse to meet eyes with him because his consciousness wasn't allowing him to do so.
Oliver knew more about Arthur's plans than the rest of the rankers combined. The more Oliver looked at Eren and Ivor the more he realized that it was just what Eren had said. And that they all had really been fooled. By Eren, Ivor, Layla, and who knows who else.
Oliver could guess that Arthur might severely hurt himself from excessive anger and frustration if he came to know the truth as he did. After all, he had lost almost all his resources in first making the artificial demon beast and then hunting down the Osan Woods' Butcher. He was then told to cough up even more money just to get the benefits he was promised from the beginning.
Oliver wasn't sure at first. But Eren's revelation made him realize something else. The otherworldly powers he was using were the very powers Arthur was talking about and wanted to have for himself. Having these powers did not only serve as Aces in one's possessions but also spurred individual growth, allowing rankers to traverse their ranking journeys with relative ease.
Eren's possession of these powers confirmed one thing for Oliver. Eren played a key role in matters relating to Purgatory.
Layla had offered Arthur many rare resources as compensation for Arthur's involvement in the artificial demon beast creation project. But she was holding back on giving him access to these powers.
Arthur could only grit his teeth and use what resources he was given as charity. He was making staggering progress on his ranking journey. But he felt that it wasn't enough until he got hold of the Sin Series Abilities.
Only now did Oliver realize why Arthur thought the way he did. He was desperate to have what Eren had and it was driving him crazy.
How could Garvin and Cybil miss by such a huge margin after using the Seer array? What was Layla doing outside with the very man who was supposed to have the artificial demon beast she had ordered Arthur to bring? What happened to that beast?
What was Layla trying to accomplish outside of her home? Was there someone else behind Layla who was the mastermind behind the whole thing?
Oliver had too many questions in his head as he processed the information in real-time while under the effects of the Sedating Gaze. And doing something like that after being exposed to Eren's soul sense was messing up his head.
Oliver had come prepared to take on anyone Layla throws his way during this mission. But he wasn't expecting such a revelation. And he wasn't expecting someone to exert their soul powers on him and his team members. Unlike Goro, Oliver didn't have any soul-strengthening potions in his storage he could use. Nobody on their team did.
Eren was also breathing deeply when he was done using the soul-induced illusions on his spectators. Ivor wasn't subjected to these illusions but he was shocked by the effect the butcher had had on the rankers.
This much intimidation was enough for Eren to get the results he wanted. They started shapeshifting after being injured by the Wrath creatures. By changing into Wrath creatures, they attacked their own mates.
"Graaaaaaaaa!"
"Skraaaaaaa!"
Mayhem ensued afterward. Something that Oliver and Biru couldn't control with their authority alone. Eren didn't even allow the current battle formation to do its job as it was broken from within.
Ivor summoned his golden armor right off the bat when he saw the opportunity. He approached a group of rankers who were separated from the large group due to the wrath creatures' attacks.
Ivor had learned quite a lot from his battle with Eren a few hours before. His pain tolerance had also increased, giving him more leeway to use his pride armor. Plus, he didn't want to fall behind Eren who had decided to target the prominent players in Oliver's team.
Ivor created a pseudo barrier made of green lightning water and isolated himself and the 12 rankers he was fighting with. He had planned to lower the barrier only after he had killed the 12 rankers he was assigned to.
The remaining rankers decided to target Eren. But the latter had his own army ready to serve him wholeheartedly at a moment's notice.
Woodland Summon
Goliath
Army of the Dead
Contract Undead
Oliver and his forces were given another jolt of surprise when Eren's hair turned white and he started summoning various creatures. The woodland creatures cried for battle and the undead screeched. The Goliaths stomped their feet and hammered their chests to express their intentions.
Eren's force was more than three times bigger than the remaining rankers on Oliver's team. The earth summons were more dominant in numbers than the rest. Whatever Eren's summons lacked in quality, they made up for it in quantity.
Eren had summoned his contract Undead Meera Medinah to target Oliver. He knew that the guy had a lot of defensive artifacts on him. It wouldn't be easy to get rid of Oliver. Otherwise, Layla would have been done with him a long time ago.
However, Meera was a former special force member working for the kingdom. She had what it took to compete with him. She could at least hold him off until Eren was done with his share of kills.
Eren and Ivor had segregated the rankers from Oliver's team so that they couldn't assume the earlier battle formation. Without the battle formation, each ranker would be dealt with individually one at a time until none were left.
Layla also helped the duo by introducing various debuffs to rankers while they were under the prism barrier. This allowed Eren and Ivor to get breathing room for themselves while they were dealing with multiple opponents at once.
