<strong>The Labyrinth’s Copse</strong>


    Void shattered, and a red figure appeared beside Joanna. Endless mesy docile on his body, flickering with scarlet light. This was evidently a peak rank 5 Magus.


    He solemnly grabbed at Joanna, pure golden mes turning into sharp ws that caused Joanna’s defences to break inch by inch.


    “zing me Monarch!” rke howled with fury, arriving in front of her. The sharp, ming ws ruthlessly grabbed him, causing the steel armour to break. Even the skin underneath had been roasted a charred ck, revealing bright silver, metallic bones.


    Within the nore Labyrinth, there was only one person who could move freely. And that was its owner, the zing me Monarch!


    rke spat out fresh blood as he and Joanna were sent flying.


    “Brother! BROTHER!” Joanna kept screaming, eyes instantly turning blood red. “HOW DARE YOU HARM MY BROTHER. I WANT YOU DEAD!”


    Thin, translucent threads emerged from her hands, and even the void itself was cut through as they headed in the direction of the red figure in the air.


    Fierce golden mes struck the translucent threads. Under the burning of the mes, the threads gradually melted. Not far away, Joanna turned pale.


    “Joanna, get behind me.” At this point, rke stood up once again, as if he did not have a life-threatening injury on his chest, “zing me Monarch, I’ve waited for this day for a long time.”


    *Bzzt!* rke’s hands were on his giant ck sword, emanating the terrifying undtions from high-grade magic equipment. The sharp rays of light were bright and dazzling, and even the void was constantly crumbling in front of it.


    “Sorrow of Gaia!” rke yelled in his anger, the phantom of a vastnd appearing behind him. An aura of rot converged on his body, forming terrifying sword glints.


    “Death and decay are not something a living soul can control.” The scarlet being in the air spoke slowly, a red sword with mes on it simrly appearing in its hands. “In the name of Fire, your only destination shall be the stillness of an eternal death.”


    The whole world seemed to tremble and cheer asrge amounts of fire elemental particles wound automatically around the surface of the ming sword.


    These two longswords that had surpassed the limitations of space connected in the next instant, the dark green force that represented death and wilting up against the scarlet fire. Their collision formed a storm that annihted everything. Red sword light shed in the roiling storm, and rke’s whole body fell backwards.


    To be precise, ‘half his body’ fell back. Everything under rke’s lower abdomen hadpletely disappeared, as if he had been chopped in half at the waist. It revealed a mechanical backbone and translucent fluids.


    The scarlet figure of the zing me Monarch was revealed once more as the energy storm dissipated. He stared at rke’s wounds and suddenlyughed.


    “It’s not even a mechanical modification, just the puppet of a soul servant. The true rke should have died long ago.” He turned around, staring at Joanna who had tears in her eyes.


    “A pretty good soul division technique. It’s no wonder the two of you weren’t separated when you came in, you are one and the same. rke’s your courage, longing and hatred; after removing these qualities, your main body is only left with weakness.”


    “No, my brother isn’t dead.” Joanna cried out like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, tears spilling out of her eyes.


    “Don’t... cry... sister...” The half-bodied rke on the ground consoled her with a smile, but the voice grew increasingly rigid, and the sound intermittent. It eventually turned robotic.


    “Ah, wait. I seem to remember only a little girl surviving during that massacre then. Was it you?” A strange smile appeared on the zing me Monarch’s face, “You actually ced all your hopes on someone else. Even if you’ve reached rank 5, you’re still trash.”


    Words that were as sharp as a de caused Joanna’s face to turn deathly pale. “No, I’m not...” She hugged her head, on the brink of aplete breakdown.


    The zing me Monarch looked proud, and just as he was about to deal her another blow and upset her further, his expression suddenly changed.


    Joanna was still hugging her head, but streams of ck gas were dispelled from her body. A dangerous aura formed around her, one that even had him considering retreat.


    ‘What’s going on? Wait, she’s the descendant of that deceased n. Could it be...’ The zing me Monarch’s eyes shrank, andrge amounts of ming shackles appeared and shot towards Joanna. He was one step toote.


    Joanna looked up and began to scream. An endless terrifying undtion immediately enveloped the whole region...


    *Thud!* The terrifying rank 5 fire elemental, the alligator-human hybrid me Sovereign King toppled down, the mes on its body extinguishing bit by bit.


    The two bundles of soul mes gradually dimmed in its eye sockets. Soul light was constantly dispelled from the body, bringing with it dense fire elemental particles that were like fireflies. They quickly disappeared into the air.


    *Chirp!* A high-pitched cry sounded and arge ck phoenix descended from the skies. The mes withdrew to reveal Leylin who was within.


    “The rank 5 me Sovereign King really was quite troublesome. I almost had to use my Arcane Art...”


    Leylin stood at the edges of thevake. After the death of the Sovereign King, the ck walls of thebyrinth at the other side of theke pushed and pulled each other like toy building blocks, revealing a pitch-ck pathway.


    “It’s hard to tell how many stages there are in thebyrinth, unless...” Leylin stroked the ring on his hand.


    A maze set up by a rank 6 Magus was something a rank 5 like him could only solve directly. It required another rank 6 to act to break it, or other special circumstances.


    “AAAAAAHHHH...” An ear-piercing screech was transmitted to Leylin’s ears, the hatred and terrifying energy it held causing Leylin’s expression to change slightly. “It came from there... Did anything happen?”


    *Boom!* One of the walls slowly crumbled following the explosion, andrge amounts of ck dust fell down.


    “Thebyrinth is already showing signs of copsing. This power seems to be a unique type that’s rumoured to have existed in ancient times.” Leylin’s eyes glinted coldly.


    While he was focused on the energy undtions, space suddenly copsed around him. A scarlet figure appeared before him like before.


    mes seethed in the opponent’s hands, seemingly breaking their limitations to possess a terrifying heat. They caused the other energy particles to constantly draw back.There were only mes within this domain.


    “The Origin Law of fire. So you’re the one who’s been spying on me,” Leylin snickered, his right hand unhesitatingly activating the silver ring.


    Streams of fog dissipated, instantly forming a world of fog.


    “Roar!* The phantom of a four-armed cyclops with hard skin emerged from the ring.


    “The Fog Space of the ancient Misty Fog Giant.” The world of fog enveloped Leylin and the person who hadunched a sneak attack. The opponent’sw of fire was already tangled up by the fog, using up its energy.


    With the blood from Bevis as the basis, and via in-depth processing by the A.I. Chip, Leylin had sessfully created a bloodline imprint of the Misty Fog Giant and sealed it within the ring.


    Since it was a spell that could be activated using a bloodline, Leylin’s bloodline imprint had reached a might of rank 6.


    ‘Is this... thew of fog?’ Leylin could sense a deep-seated force in this world of fog. This was thew that controlled it. Due to its connection with the bloodline imprint, he gained some rudimentary control as well.


    Large amounts of grey fog were like the most docile stream of water to him, allowing him to do as he liked.


    “Crush him!” With Leylin’smand, great amounts of grey fog immediately turned into hardened rock, bringing with them the World Will as they rained down on the red figure.


    “This isn’t your own ability, it’s an ancient rank 6 spell!” The tremendous force caused the scarlet figure to cry out involuntarily.


    He was covered by the fog immediately after. Red light constantly prated through the fog, yet it grew increasingly dark.


    “This is the real ancient Fog Space! If Bevis had used a spell like this, I might have long since been defeated or even killed...” Leylin sighed.


    While Bevis did have the blood of the Misty Fog Giant, he had no A.I. Chip and it wasn’t as if he could endlessly consume his bloodline for spells. Leylin was different. After being purified by the A.I. Chip, the blood of the Misty Fog Giant now disyed its might like in ancient times.


    “Damn it, there’s another one.” Another voice sounded from within the fog, and it soon turned deathly silent. The world of fog dissipated, returning to the scene of thevake from before.


    “Another one?” Light shed, and Leylin’s figure emerged. “Looks like it isn’t the first time he’s been at such a disadvantage, and...”


    Leylin stared at where the scarlet figure had been. There was now nothing there.


    “A rank 5 clone? Looks like the zing me Monarch has no helpers nearby, and has no choice but to do this himself...


    “Good timing. I’ll make use of this.” Leylin waved his arms, and the fog that had notpletely dispersed spread out,pletely corroding the walls of thebyrinth.


    *Crack! Crack!* Thebyrinth walls that had already gone through immense damage could not hold on any longer and began to break apart inch by inch.


    Much of the wall turned into powder, and this was still spreading further.