230-240

Chapter 230 Dilan will love it!

Dilan was actually not worried about Felia and the Soldiers. Most of them were quite nice and they quickly found people to connect with.

Quite a few Survivors and Ascenders were interested in switching to the Blue Star camp. Dilan knew that some were not willing to stay under him, to listen to his orders, or to those who were with him.

This was fine with him, and in fact, he would feel relieved if such people chose to leave them.

The loss of Tier-1 Ascenders might be a little bit frustrating because they would have to fill that gap and nourish newer ones again. However, that was not much of a difficulty.

"I will go hunt in the Mountain ring of the Elements Gate," Dilan announced before leaving everyone behind.

The Elite Combat Unit was more than enough to hold Felia and the Soldiers in check if something were to happen.

This gave him more than enough freedom to do whatever he wanted, which was exactly what he did.

"Okay…" Felia could only mumble, feeling a little bit dumbfounded that Dilan had already turned and left.

His speed was extremely high and he leaped over the huge fence as if it was no problem.

However, instead of being interested in Dilan's actual strength and how high his stats were, Felia was more intrigued about other things.

'Are Gates that interesting? Did he become so strong because of them? I don't think so…'

While Felia's gaze followed Dilan until he disappeared behind a large building complex, Kathrine's eyes narrowed as she stared at the little Soldier Captain..

"Calm down, Sis. You don't need to eat her alive. Dilan is not interested in her, at all. You can keep him all for yourself…for now." Yvonne teased, laughing cheekily upon seeing her sister's reaction.

Kathrine blushed when she heard Yvonne's comment. Her head turned to the ground as if it was fascinating and tiptoed on her feet, just to get back to her senses when she heard several men and women around her laughing heartily.

Her sister, Ailee, Sarah, Williams, and Sven joined in the laughter and were quite amused at Kathrine's reaction. She looked cute while trying to act coy and innocent.

It was interesting to see this side of her because her fighting persona was the complete opposite of her actual behavior.

Kathrine fought in a brutal manner, using her Lightning Warrior occupation to the fullest. That was why her shyness was a nice change.

"Wait…Yvonne. Why did you stress on the words, 'for now'?" Sarah suddenly asked. She had noticed the weird way Yvonne had uttered the word immediately. However, before pointing it out, Sarah wanted to see if someone else had noticed it too, and how Kathrine would react to it.

Yet, when Sarah saw that Yvonne began to smile with her eyes gleaming brightly as if she was scheming something grand, her hair stood up on its ends.

'She is…noo, that won't be the case, right? Kathrine already likes Dilan.' She could only think while awaiting Yvonne's answer.

"Who knows. Dilan is quite popular, which is only obvious." Yvonne merely said before shrugging her shoulders and turning her head away.

"We have other things to do. Let's not waste our time here."

That being said, she left the group which she had baffled a little bit. Only Kathrine was oblivious to what was going on as her mind was still overwhelmed with what Yvonne had said.

'Keep him all for myself? Is that even possible?' She thought at first, only to slap each side of her cheeks hard.

"What am I even thinking?!" Kathrine exclaimed all of a sudden, startling the others before she dashed away.

'Do I like him? Noo…I'm just feeling grateful for everything he did. Exactly! That's it…'

Her mind was in disarray and she could not stop running. After she couldn't run anymore, she stopped and ended up in front of a large group of monsters.

They were Bronze Tier-1 monsters, who were at a lower level than Kathrine and with much lower average stats.

For Kathrine, their strength was not noteworthy. That was why she unsheathed her Silver Tier-1 longsword before entering the fray.

"Distract me a little bit, little doggos!" Kathrine shouted out before blasting toward the huge group of Crimson Wolves. The beasts had just emerged out of the Gate that had appeared less than a minute before Kathrine had arrived.

Her body was shrouded in electric currents all of a sudden and her eyes turned purple. Kathrine's stats had been amplified and each of her attacks was accompanied by the power of lightning as she slashed out with precision.

Her movements were smooth and there was no wasted step in her motions. The Crimson wolves died at her hand before they could even react.

With her Agility exceeding 40 units easily after her stats had been amplified, Kathrine ended the lives of the Crimson Wolves in front of her in a matter of minutes.

Kathrine was not a killing machine and neither overly fast at killing her opponents. But what she was good at was controlling the electric currents crackling around her, and turning them into bolts of lightning.

This was more than enough to make it seem as if she was like a flash of lightning herself that would pass through her opponents before they collapsed on the ground, and met their deaths.

"Well, that was some good stress relief," Kathrine mumbled the moment the last Crimson Wolf died at her hands.

Only then did she notice the Gate that was just a few dozen meters away from her.

'Another permanent Gate? I should note that down.'

She approached the Gate and was ready to make a mental note about everything it would say.

[Temporary Gate to (Wild Varan Oceanside). Requirements to enter are not met! -All Stats- 45]

"Oh…just a temporary Gate. Well then, it doesn't actually matter…" She mumbled before her head turned to the Crimson Wolf corpses and back to the Gate.

'Well, why not?'

An idea popped in her mind, and she quickly collected the Crimson Wolves' Essence crystals, and absorbed four for herself before the remaining Essence crystals were thrown inside the temporary Gate in exchange for a Bronze Tier-1 treasure.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ [<Bronze Tier-1> grade treasure can be exchanged with 50 <Bronze Tier-1> Essence crystals of the same type.]

The exchange rate was quite high but they had already researched that a higher exchange rate indicated a higher potential of receiving rare treasures.

This was as per Kathrine's liking, and the moment she received the Bronze Tier-1 treasure, her hands began to tremble, while her heart began to palpate wildly as she exclaimed in joy.

"Oh my gosh. That is amazing. Dilan will love it!!"

Holding a piece of parchment in her hands, Kathrine read through it while beaming. Not wanting to waste any time, she rushed back to the base and searched for Dilan.

'Oh, right. He is still away.' Kathrine quickly realized, and the wide grin disappeared from her face, plummeting her great mood instantly.

She knew that the parchment she held was still exceptional and more than enough to make everyone happy.

However, even then, Kathrine didn't feel like sharing her knowledge with anyone else but Dilan.

At least, he had to find out the good news first.

That was the most important thing in her mind, right now, not the treasure she got her hands on.

Unfortunately, Yvonne saw her sister when she returned, and the parchment in her hands attracted the little sister's attention.

"Kathrineeee, what are you holding there?" Yvonne asked excitedly as her bewitching and cute voice resounded through the hall.

A moment later, she disappeared from her earlier spot to appear right in front of Kathrine.

Black feathered wings had emerged out of her back and her eyes gleamed brightly as she reached out for the parchment in Kathrine's hand.

However, Kathrine moved backward, and electric currents engulfed her body as her Agility skyrocketed.

'I knew it!'

Chapter 231 Permanent increase

'I knew it!'

From the moment Yvonne saw her sister's odd behavior after returning from wherever she had run to, she knew that something was going on.

She had been seen running through their base a few times, and Kathrine looked extremely disappointed when she didn't find who she had been searching for.

It was obvious that she had been searching for Dilan because the parchment was unlikely to be Kathrine's reason to suddenly get sad.

Dilan was the only person who could make Kathrine sad or elated all of a sudden, seemingly without reason.

That was why Yvonne wanted to get her hands on the parchment her sister was tightly clutching in her hand.

"Yvonne, stop!" Kathrine shouted, turning her body to prevent Yvonne from getting hold of the parchment.

However, Yvonne was not someone to back away just because she was asked to, even less if her sister was hiding something from her.

'She wants Dilan to see it first, so it has to be something amazing!'

The corners of Yvonne's lips curled upward at the thought of getting her hands on the treasure Kathrine held. When Kathrine would not let go of the parchment easily, Yvonne increased her Agility and flapped her wings to further accelerate as she reached out with both of her hands.

One of her hands grasped Kathrine's shoulder to prevent her from running, while her other hand reached for the parchment..

'I won't surrender to you!' Kathrine shouted inwardly, her free hand turning flat as she pushed her sister sideways with it. This made Yvonne's hand holding her sister's shoulder lose its grip.

Moments later, the two girls entered a small brawl to decide who would get their hands on the parchment.

The commotion attracted lots of attention, even more so because everyone knew that the sisters were not fighting seriously.

They loved each other and were merely playing around. Or that was what it looked like in the beginning.

The fun brawl quickly got intense and soon they had to start paying attention so as to not accidentally involve others in it.

With their high stats, an incident could happen quickly.

It was quite common for others to get dragged into the fight of powerful Ascenders. This had happened quite often in actual fights against monsters when Ascenders used their abilities to injure their opponents but somehow ended up attacking their own comrades accidentally.

Real life was not like in games, where 'friendly fire' could be turned off, after all.

Over five minutes passed, and both sisters were now breathing heavily.

However, in the end, it was Yvonne, who had managed to wring out the parchment from her sister's hands.

She had higher stats than her sister, and the Wings of the Fallen Angel came in handy in the brawl as well.

That was why she won the fight and now held the parchment in her hands.

"Potion of Enhancement 'Swiftness'? That is what you've been hiding from me?" Yvonne asked in confusion.

She was slightly disappointed to read the title of the parchment because she had expected to see something grand.

But her opinion quickly changed and Yvonne's expression turned serious the more she read through the parchment's content.

[[Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness >] Bronze Tier-1 Recipe

Description: The Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness > is a potion created out of the compressed Essence of high-quality Essence crystals. It permanently increases the Agility stat by 3 Units after consumption and can be used three times by a single individual. If the Potion is consumed by a being at or above Tier-2, it will have a drastically decreased effect!

Upon being comprehended, the knowledge written on the parchment will disappear, and only the Alchemist, who comprehended the potion's concoction process will remember it.

Ingredients:

1000 Ordinary Essence Crystals (Tierless)

100 Bronze Essence Crystals (Tier-1)

25 Silver Essence crystals (Tier-1)

1 Gold Essence crystal (Tier-1)

Wingbone of Tier-1 Monster

8 grams Silveria Sand

50ml Mana-infused water.

Concoction process:

First step….]]

When she had read through the entire content written in the parchment, Yvonne swallowed her saliva as she glared at her sister.

Right now, she was truly angry at Kathrine, but for a different reason than the spectators witnessing their tussle presumed.

"You little…Now that you've fallen in love, you forgot that I exist, is that it? You didn't even want to show this wonderful treasure to me?!?" Yvonne nearly screamed, while waving the parchment in front of her panting sister.

The Potion of Enhancement 'Swiftness' was a true treasure. That was the best way to label it- a treasure!

It was completely different from the Mana replenishment potion, Sarah had been concocting for quite some time, or the Stamina potion, which was a new potion, whose recipe they had found not too long ago.

The Potion of Enhancement 'Swiftness' increased the Agility stat permanently upon being taken!!

The concoction process was somewhat arduous and the ingredients cost a fortune. However, for Ascenders, who were having a hard time increasing their stats due to the high number of the same monsters habituating in Shiron and the near surrounding, it was a lifesaver.

Other than that, many Ascenders gained little to no status points from weaker and lower-leveled monsters.

And then there were cases like Dilan, who had specific conditions that decreased the amount of status points one receives from every absorbed Essence crystal.

If Dilan would get his hands on three Potions of Enhancement <Swiftness >, his Agility would increase by 9 Units.

This specific increment would require hundreds of different monsters to be killed by him. And those monsters would have to be stronger than him and of high quality at that.

Thus, the Potion was certainly a treasure, and it was actually not difficult to get their hands on each of the required ingredients, if one were to ignore the Gold Tier-1 Essence crystal and the Silveria Sand.

"Where did you get that recipe from? According to our research, the ingredients required by a recipe can be found in the Gates where they have been exchanged." Yvonne suddenly asked in a sharp voice.

She chose to ignore her anger for the moment because her heart was beating wildly.

If they could manage to mass-produce the Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness >, it would be possible to easily level up new Survivors.

With an Agility of 11 Units, instead of 1 at Level 0, it would be extremely easy to become full-fledged Tier-1 Ascenders by themselves.

There was no ordinary monster that could reach an Agility of 11 Units while being tierless. Even Bronze Tierless level 10 monsters would only rarely reach such high Agility.

Only Silver tierless monsters had an Agility above 11 Units.

The longer she thought about it, the more excited she felt.

"We need to get our hands on the Silveria Sand, otherwise, we won't even be able to start concocting the potion!" Yvonne said, shaking her sister, who suddenly paled.

"That…I got it from…and temporary Gate. I don't even know if it's still there…" Kathrine replied in a stutter, her expression worsening with each spoken word.

"Are you serious? Then…let's go!!" Yvonne shrieked and embraced her sister tightly before she flapped her mighty wings, and took off.

"Where was it?"

Chapter 232 Crimson Claw

While Kathrine and Yvonne left for the temporary Gate as quickly as possible, Dilan was inside the Gate of the Mountain Ring of the Elements.

It was a Gate that required him to be Level 10 and Tier-1. Fortunately, he had spent considerable time hunting quite some monsters in the past few days.

Thus, his level had finally advanced to 10. He was allowed to enter the Mountain Ring of the Elements and began to research it.

"The report written by Oliver and the others says that there are not too many monsters. Looks like that is true." Dilan was searching for new raw materials that could be used to create stronger weapons, with the focus particularly being on the required ingredients to create a wand.

He wanted to help Old Jeff by providing him with everything he needed. Being a Blacksmith was already a laborious task. Old Jeff shouldn't have to search for his own ingredients.

That was why Dilan spent his time observing the Mountain Ring of the Elements.

There were several types of trees in the forest around the Mountain Ring, and the mountain ring itself was a treasure trove as well.

A handful of caves entered Dilan's sight after he walked through the forest for less than 20 minutes. The forest could be considered the outskirts of the mountain ring, and Dilan felt like continuing to comb through it.

He wanted to find a huge cave where he could find deposits of various types of ores, crystals, and other special materials and conduct thorough research..

However, before he could even think about spending his freetime with research, a huge Bear entered his sight.

The Bear was more than five meters tall, it had crimson-red claws that were more than thirty centimeters long, and its eyes gleamed brightly.

'A strong one.' Dilan assessed in an instant.

Sadly, before he could make a move against the monster, it had detected him as well. It growled out and slashed its claws in his direction.

All of a sudden, it almost looked like the Crimson claw Bear's claws detached from its paws. Like saber beams, they shot through the air.

They were headed straight toward Dilan, who could only narrow his eyes at the sight of the crimson beams that had been blasted toward him.

Within a single second, several trees were cleanly sliced through as they fell over with a thunderous noise, creating a loud commotion. However, the commotion was the last thing Dilan could care about for now because his heart was beating wildly at the sight of the ten crimson beams.

Their trajectory was constantly changing and their speed was terrifying, to put it simply.

Three blueish shields manifested around Dilan in an instant, and he moved them with ease.

Having used 30 Mana to utilize [Aegis' Shield] three times in a row was a waste, even for Dilan. However, he felt that activating [Gale] wouldn't rescue him this time.

He might be able to travel 10 meters in an instant, but nothing could come in his way. That made things quite difficult, even more so if the forest around him was densely-packed, and the scene in front of him was filled with the deadly crimson beams.

They blasted toward him, but Dilan had activated [Aegis' Shield] with the highest possible mana consumption.

Even ordinary Tier-1 monsters would require 10 seconds to destroy the fully empowered [Aegis' Shield]. This was more than enough time for the crimson blades to be destroyed.

To his dismay, the first Aegis' shield showed signs of cracking the moment the third crimson blade impacted on it.

Dilan frowned and soon the first Aegis' shield crumbled when the fourth crimson blade hit it.

Following that, the second Aegis' shield blade replaced the first one, just to be destroyed after the fourth crimson blade hit it as well.

The last Aegis' shield had only a few cracks but that was everything.

"What the hell…" Dilan blurted out after the last crimson beam was finally blocked. However, even before Dilan could react, he noticed that the Crimson claw Bear had disappeared from his sight.

Only after a second had passed did he detect the monster's presence. It had camouflaged itself into the forest, before attacking him from the side.

Instead of daring to attack directly, it noticed quite early that Dilan was not to be taken lightly.

The Crimson Claw Bear didn't want to face Dilan directly. Instead of doing something suicidal, the monster distracted him before using the environment to its advantage.

Emerging next to Dilan, the Crimson Claw Bear initiated an attack without a trace of hesitation.

Its crimson claws shone faintly in the scarce sunlight that peeked through the thicket of the trees as the claws swiped down at Dilan.

The third Aegis' shield was still in front of him.

However, it was already damaged. Thus, the Crimson Claws cut through the Aegis' Shield before Dilan could move it to deflect its attack.

'Well, whatever.' Dilan thought as his heart started to beat wildly, while adrenaline coursed through his entire body.

Excitement spread through him once again and he felt much lighter than before. The trouble that had tormented his mind before simply disappeared and the Blazing Serpentine Blade in his hand was suddenly engulfed in fiery flames.

Dilan began to smile as he activated [Thunder Step] to increase his Agility by 30%.

At this point, his Agility almost reached 95 Units after he received his first Agility boost.

And this was already more than he needed to fight the Crimson Claw Bear.

He didn't want to obliterate his opponent so easily, which was why he avoided activating [Second Acceleration] right away.

Or, at least, Dilan told himself that it would be fine even if he didn't activate [Second Acceleration]. He wanted to see whether he was strong enough to defeat the Crimson Claw Bear or not.

Its strength was definitely on par with the Gold Tier-1 Minotaur leader's prowess, but Dilan felt that the bear was better at using its brain.

Thus, Dilan wanted to face the Crimson Claw Bear head-on so as to gauge its strength, and not use numerous other means to overpower his opponent.

Using all the memories and experiences he had received and digested from the occupational passive ability [True Weapon Specialist], Dilan was ready to fight at once.

He blasted toward the Crimson Claw Bear without a trace of hesitation visible in his eyes as he lashed out with the Blazing Serpentine Blade.

Controlling the Blazing Serpentine Blade precisely, he enlarged its upper part that pierced into the Crimson Claw Bear's arms.

Meanwhile, the firm lower part of the longsword was used to block the Bear's razor-sharp arms.

He had to prevent being scratched by the Crimson Claw Bear, which was exactly what Dilan was currently doing.

'The Bear's attacks are far stronger than the Minotaur leader's despite its lower body's strength. These claws…the claws are special!!'

Dilan had already realized this the moment the Crimson Claw Bear had attacked him with the crimson beams.

They were much sharper and lethal than any other attack he had ever faced.

And Dilan had faced quite some attacks by now.

'Show me your Claws a little more, you little treasure!!'

Chapter 233 Peak Tier-1

Dilan twisted his body, and successfully evaded the Bear's slash.

The Crimson Claws easily cut through the tree behind Dilan, and he could only frown while waving his arm to the right.

He was still holding the Blazing Serpentine Blade. Using his opponent's attack as a means to counterattack was the easiest way for Dilan to inflict injuries on his opponent.

The Blazing Serpentine Blade was special, and Dilan was adept at using this specialty.

"Your Health exceeds 100 as well…not bad little bear!" Dilan shouted the moment he figured that the Crimson Claw Bear's health was extremely high.

He had no idea what level the monster in front of him was. However, what Dilan could tell was that its Health exceeded the norms of a Tier-1 existence.

This was exciting and it motivated Dilan even more. He moved faster while wildly wielding the Blazing Serpentine Blade.

Yet, instead of whizzing wildly through the surroundings, the Blazing Serpentine Blade was just like an extension of his arm.

The wild manner in which Dilan wielded his weapon was merely a means to distract his opponents and to infuse his attack with additional momentum.

It was near-impossible for the razor-sharp blades of his weapon to pierce into the Crimson Claw Bear. This made things much more difficult, and it told Dilan that he would have to get a new weapon soon.

'Old Jeff will kill me…but whatever, I guess…' Dilan thought for a moment before he leaned forward, nearly touching the wet ground, and rushed ahead while simultaneously evading another attack of the Crimson Claw Bear..

He appeared right in front of the beast, jumped upward, and inflicted more than 20 cuts in a single strike.

The monster's fur began to burn around the areas he had inflicted injuries, but the fire was quickly extinguished.

Roaring out, the Crimson Claw Bear opened its wide maw before it would close on Dilan and munch on his bones.

He was right in front of the Crimson Claw Bear's face, and perfect prey for the beast. However, with Dilan's higher Agility, it was possible for him to twist his leg a bit to push his body away from the bear.

To achieve this, he pushed his left foot against the bear's nose.

This was definitely not something the Crimson Claw Bear liked because it went on a rampage the moment its nose was touched.

Its Crimson Claws slashed into Dilan's back as he catapulted himself backward.

In an instant, blood began to gush out of the injuries and he swayed a bit before crashing to the ground. However, he used his hands to himself up a moment later.

'Even my Health of 115 enhanced by the Stone Skin trait is not able to block its claws in the slightest.' Dilan realized with a deep frown on his face.

He would be lying if he were to say that he was not bothered about this fact.

Ordinary and even Bronze Tier-1 monsters were not able to hurt him anymore. This made things much easier for him because he could recklessly fight against those monsters, and farm their Essence crystals in bulk.

Even Silver Tier-1 monsters couldn't actually hurt him much anymore. Only Gold Tier-1 monsters were capable of inflicting some damage to him, but not all of them!

Dilan was pretty sure that once his Origin ability would be upgraded a few more times, he would be near-invincible amongst Tier-1 existences.

However, upgrading [Regeneration] was easier said than done. This fight, against the Crimson Claw Bear, was likely to be an opportunity to upgrade the Origin ability, or at least, to increase the chances of survival after being lethally injured.

It was nothing to be happy about because he would have to be severely injured to survive the said attack, but Dilan still smiled.

His entire expression revealed his crazed excitement.

Facing the Crimson Claw Bear felt eerily similar to the time when he had faced the War Krendel for the first time.

Twisting his body to evade the next batch of attacks, Dilan kept inflicting shallow injuries on the Crimson Claw Bear. It was seemingly unaffected by his tactic and the bleeding always stopped under a few seconds.

Under normal circumstances, any Ascender would be afraid of fighting against a monster, whose strength was definitely higher than their own.

Only with his Agility boost was Dilan faster than the Crimson Claw Bear.

If he were to gauge the average stats of his opponent, they were definitely close to 75; the Peak of the Peak of Tier-1 existences.

The only advantage Dilan had was the fact that he had numerous abilities to boost his Agility and other stats. The Crimson Claw Bear didn't seem to have an ability other than the crimson beam slashes.

This was probably the only reason for Dilan to be still alive. Yet, Dilan was not actually sure how long he would stay alive if he were to face the onslaught of the attacks for long.

While attacking and inflicting hundreds of tiny injuries, it was impossible for Dilan to evade every attack.

Blocking each attack was also not feasible because the Blazing Serpentine Blade was not supposed to endure the onslaught of a monster, whose Strength was definitely at, or possibly even above 75, while its attacks were even more frightening than that of the Minotaur leader's, whose strength had exceeded 100 when Dilan fought it!

If that was not frightening enough already, Dilan noticed that the Crimson Claw Bear was eerily calm despite being provoked by the numerous cuts it had sustained.

'It is trying to figure out my next move. Why the hell am I facing such a monster in the Mountain Ring of the Elements. Is that the Overlord of the entire dimension, or what?!' Dilan was still excited to fight and his blood was boiling.

But even then, he couldn't help but feel that Oliver and the rest were too lucky not to encounter such a terrifying existence.

What Dilan didn't know was that the Crimson Claw Bear was entirely unfazed by the other existences, under normal circumstances.

Even humans were of no use to it anymore, at least, not if they were at the low level and quality Oliver and his group had been when they had entered the permanent Gate.

On the other hand, Dilan might be at a lower level, but even then, the Crimson Claw Bear had been able to sense him the moment he had entered the Gate to the Mountain Ring of the Elements.

Only some monsters could detect the scent and the presence of existences, whose Essence crystal was useful for something.

The Crimson Claw Bear belonged to these kinds of monsters. It was able to detect the presence of a treasure, and the danger radiating from others as well.

And in Dilan's case, the Crimson Claw Bear could tell that Dilan was both frighteningly powerful and a treasure one could only find once in a lifetime!

Afraid of never being able to find a treasure like Dilan ever again, the Crimson Claw Bear ignored the danger it sensed from him, and attacked him.

Thus, when its greed overwhelmed its fear, the Crimson Claw Bear felt exhilarated with every single injury it inflicted upon its opponent, while the minor cuts caused by Dilan were simply ignored.

It was due to the anomaly in its behavior that it was able to accurately predict Dilan's movement just once.

But this 'one time' was already more than enough. It allowed the Crimson Claw Bear's claw to pierce into the abdomen of the young man in front of it.

A satisfied expression appeared on the Bear's face, as its claws dug deep into the flesh of the young man. Dilan coughed blood, and his sight blurred the moment the razor-sharp Crimson claws dug into his abdomen.

It hurt like hell, but Dilan endured it easily.

'My acting is really bad. Why am I even trying to please this bastard? Well whatever, no major organ was injured as intended.

But I really have to admit… these claws are really sharp! Perfect to inflict lethal injuries on myself!' He thought as a faint smile emerged on his face as he lifted his head to look straight into the eyes of the satisfied Crimson Claw Bear.

"Man, I wanted you to lethally injure me, not to treat me like a juicy piece of meat," Dilan mumbled, his sky blue eyes turning ice-cold before he grinned,

"Playtime is over. It's my turn now!"

Chapter 234 My turn

"Playtime is over. It's my turn!" The moment Dilan said this, he twisted his body, and pushed his feet away from the Crimson Claw Bear using its thick leg as the launching pad.

Its Crimson Claws were so sharp that instead of tearing out his flesh, it sunk at the moment he freed his body from its claws.

"Not bad, you piece of shit." Dilan sneered when he took a short glance at the wound on his body. Freeing himself of the clutches of the Crimson Claws was actually quite dangerous.

However, Dilan had long since gauged the danger, which was why he didn't really have an issue when he began to bleed severely.

He had already used [Regeneration] with 10 Mana units, so now his mana reserve was running low.

But Dilan didn't need much mana to kill the Crimson Claw Bear, either way.

After all, [Bracing Pain] amplified his overall statistics by 50% the moment he landed on the ground, five meters apart from the Crimson Claw Bear.

-[Bracing Pain]

Pain will be turned into power! Overall amplification of the host's prowess the more pain the host feels!

Limited amplification up to 50%.

He was already severely injured, which was why his stats received the full amplification of 50%. Through the amplification, his Health stats increased, and further accelerated the healing process, while the Origin ability [Regeneration] did the rest.

However, even if his Health crossed 160 Units, Dilan couldn't care less about this right now. He had to pay more attention to other things, such as killing the Crimson Claw Bear.

'I wanted to gain some experience by fighting stronger opponents, but this fight was so annoying.' Dilan let out a frustrated sigh, believing that the fight was already over.

At first glance, one might think that Dilan was at a disadvantage. After all, he had been injured lethally, and he was bleeding like a pig.

However, the injury was not something Dilan was bothered about. The fight had been quite annoying because he had to fight with lower average stats than his opponent. This disadvantage was quite frustrating.

'Overpowering my opponents makes it more fun.' He thought once again, even if he had to agree that it was a good experience.

The experience he had gained was something he was willing to repeat over and over again. That was how helpful it was.

Just for now, he couldn't repeat, or continue it because he couldn't really be in a near-death state with Felia and her people around.

"It's not like I did a good job preventing myself from getting lethally injured. Next time, I should think twice before intentionally getting injured." Dilan mumbled before he re-activated [Thunder Step].

Following that, he activated [Second Acceleration] and he used some mana to activate [Mana Slash].

With a single step, Dilan emerged next to the Crimson Claw Bear. The Blazing Serpentine Blade lashed out as the blazing flames engulfing the blade cracked, while a bluish-white slash of concentrated mana was released.

Dilan's Agility was as high as his Health stat at this moment, crossing the threshold any ordinary Tier-1 existence could ever reach as he released the Mana Slash.

The Mana slash whizzed through the air with a terrifying pace, cutting off the Crimson Claw Bear's claws in an instant.

Even after impairing the beast, the Mana Slash didn't even stop. It continued to cut through the bushes and trees behind as it advanced ahead.

Dilan didn't know when exactly his attack stopped before he was focused on the Crimson Claw Bear. The monster howled in pain and wanted to take revenge on Dilan, to end his life for good.

However, Dilan was too fast. He had already bent his body, and picked up one of the neatly cut-off claws before he disappeared from his spot.

Strong gusts of wind emerged around the Crimson Claw Bear, created by Dilan's rapid movements.

Just a fraction of a second later, he appeared behind the Crimson Claw Bear and used the Bear's Crimson claw that he was holding tightly to pierce into its back.

His attack was precise and hit the designated target easily.

The Crimson Claw Bear's heart had been pierced by Dilan, ending the monster's life.

Killed by its own weapon, the bear collapsed to the ground, unwilling but unable to escape its inevitable fate.

"Yep, overwhelming my opponents is much better, for my health, at least." Dilan could tell that it was less exciting to fight certain monsters with overwhelmingly high stats.

But it was still somewhat fine. He had other things to pay attention to, rather than fighting in a satisfying manner.

At least that was what Dilan trying to tell himself. But he just waved off his hand because he knew that he wouldn't listen to this, either way.

'Let's see what level you are!' He could only think while activating [Regeneration] over and over again.

The moment he replenished some of his mana it was used to heal himself but the process was a bit slow as some blood trickled out when he bent a little.

However, Dilan ignored that as he pierced through the Crimson Claw Bear's skull to take out its Essence crystal.

It was of a beautiful vibrant golden color, with tiny strands of a platinum color highlighting the Essence crystal's beauty.

"A little bit Platinum? Is that the quality ranking that follows Gold? The fourth blood enhancement, or whatever?" Dilan mumbled, looking at the Essence crystal for a few seconds before it crumbled in his hand.

[<Gold > Essence of a Tier-1 Level 18 Tiamur CrimsonClaw Bear has been absorbed→ +0.5 Strength, +0.7 Health, +0.3 Mana]

Dilan felt much better after absorbing the Tiamur CrimsonClaw Bear's Essence. It didn't mention anything about the platinum-colored traces the Essence crystal had, but that was not important.

"That's a lot of status points from a single monster, even if it's seven levels higher than I am and the Essence crystal being of the Gold quality," Dilan mumbled while he made his way back home.

If he were to encounter another monster like the Tiamur CrimsonClaw Bear, he might as well die.

Thus, once the corpse and claws of the bear had been collected and stored in his storage ring, Dilan left the Mountain Ring of the Elements.

Quite a few places of this dimension had made him curious to explore them further, but Dilan knew when to back off.

Thus, he curbed his greed and reached Shiron after some time. Post which, Dilan stretched his body and kept absorbing mana from the surrounding area before using it once again.

'I should wait a bit before returning. The others shouldn't see that I've been lethally injured.' Dilan thought, a faint grin appeared on his lips as he looked at a notification.

[The host survived another lethal injury. 9 out of 12 lethal injuries survived to upgrade Origin ability 'Regeneration' from Tier-0 ★★★★ to Tier-0 ★★★★★]

Dilan had never received such a notification before, but it was certainly motivating. He needed to receive only three more lethal injuries to upgrade his Origin ability.

Afterward, he would finally see what he needed to upgrade his Origin ability to Tier-1, which was quite exciting.

After all, there would be a qualitative boost in an ability when it advanced to a new Tier!

Just when Dilan had begun daydreaming, he heard the sound of large wings flapping as someone landed right in front of him.

It was Yvonne, who smiled brightly at the sight of him.

"Dilan?! What are you doing here? Oh wait, you said you were going to go to the Mountain Ring of the Elements, I remember. Perfect timing, come with me!"

Chapter 235 Weak Stamina

Dilan didn't know what was going on, and before he could enquire further, Yvonne had already picked him up.

'She doesn't like touching men, so what is so important for her to be able to ignore her trauma and pick me?' Dilan wondered.

Sensing that Yvonne had something important she needed him for, Dilan remained silent. It didn't take long before she landed on the ground once again.

Yvonne let go of him and stepped next to Kathrine, whom he saw throw him a hesitant look.

"What is going on?" He finally asked, while his head turned to the side to take a look at the Gate. The Gate was located right next to the sisters, and they looked at him with anticipation.

[Temporary Gate to (Wild Varan Oceanside). Requirements to enter are not met! -All Stats- 45]

Dilan was slightly confused about why Yvonne had brought him to a Temporary Gate, and he stared at her sister while awaiting their answer.

However, instead of saying something, Kathrine quietly handed him the parchment with the recipe of the Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness >.

"Kathrine got this from this temporary Gate." Yvonne suddenly said, while Dilan quickly read through its content.

"That is amazing. If we can manage to mass-produce this potion, everyone's survival ability will skyrocket. For new Ascenders, this would be even more important.

You said that you got it from that Gate?" Dilan's expression lit up the more he thought about the potential of the Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness >.

The ingredients that were required to concoct the potion were extremely expensive and close to 100 Ascenders would reach Tier-1 with the resources required for one potion..

However, these Ascenders would merely be able to advance to Tier-1 with a Common occupation.

On the contrary, if they were to use the Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness >, the Ascenders could gain lots of experience by themselves, and potentially unlock occupations of higher quality without facing many dangers.

But that was not everything. Items could be considered of more use for low-leveled Ascenders, rather than wasting precious resources to produce the Potion of Enhancement for them. Their status points could increase rapidly, after all.

However, the same didn't apply to people like Dilan, and the other high-leveled Tier-1 Ascenders.

Their stats increased at a snail's pace, especially for Dilan. Thus, the Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness > would be best for them.

"Yeah, I got it from this Gate, but both of us don't meet the requirements. Not all of our stats meet the requirement of 45 Units, well none in my case…" Kathrine mumbled, avoiding Dilan's gaze before she added,

"But your stats should meet the requirement by now, am I right?"

Kathrine had seen Dilan's Log of the Ancient before. That was why she knew that most of his stats should have long since exceeded 45 Units.

What Kathrine didn't know was that he was restricted due to the Cursed Blessing [Will of the Primordial]. His stats were quite high, but not all of them!

"Unfortunately, my Stamina is below 45 Units, and it looks like Gates doesn't accept the status amplification of titles, otherwise, I would meet the requirement," Dilan answered.

His Stamina was at 43.3 Units, and his title, [Beyond the Stars] increased his stats by 10%. This would be enough to meet the requirement.

But given that the Gate didn't accept the stat boost from titles, Dilan didn't meet the requirement.

"Your Stamina is too low? But…that means we might never be able to create the Potion of Enhancement <Swiftness >…" Kathrine mumbled, not believing that Dilan's stamina was so 'weak'.

"No worries, I got it. You guys just need the Silveria Sand, right?" Dilan asked before he accessed his Log of the Ancient.

The two Sisters merely nodded their heads before Dilan approached the Temporary Gate, and disappeared into it.

"Didn't he just say that his Stamina is too low?" Yvonne asked in confusion, looking at Kathrine as if she knew the answer.

However, Kathrine's face mirrored her sister's confused expressions as she was not sure what was going on.

What the sisters didn't know was that Dilan had just used 1.7 of his remaining 4.0 accumulated status points that he had left to allocate so that he could enter the temporary Gate.

Some may consider it a waste of precious status points, but if it was possible to create a total of three Potions of Enhancement <Swiftness > for him in exchange, he would have made a huge profit.

'Is it possible that temporary Gates provide better treasures in exchange for Essence crystals?' Dilan wondered.

He emerged on the other side of the portal and was immediately subjected to the burning sun that almost scorched his skin.

"So fucking hot." Dilan cursed while taking a look around. He could sense the presence of more than a dozen powerful monsters.

Not a single one had lower average stats than 45. This was quite interesting, and when he saw the beach to his left and a small forest not too far away on his right, Dilan grew increasingly restless to figure out how strong the monsters in this Gate were.

However, he was not sure how much time he had left before the Gate would disappear. With that in mind, he looked at the sand to his left.

It reflected a silverish glint as the sun shone on it. Thus, Dilan immediately presumed that this was the Silveria Sand the sisters wanted him to get.

He didn't waste his time thinking further and walked towards the beach post where he released the tiny bit of mana he had replenished before enveloping the sand around him with it.

The sand he had enveloped with his mana was stored inside his storage ring in a jiffy. Dilan repeated the process several times, not minding the monsters around him.

There were a few crabs that had come out of the water, a weird-looking turtle could be seen walking over the beach, and monsters out of the forest had emerged when they noticed him.

Most of them were eying Dilan because he was still bleeding. In fact, before Yvonne had carried him over to the temporary Gate, he had stopped bleeding for a short time.

Unfortunately, after Yvonne had hastily picked him up, and carried him over, the wound inflicted by the Tiamur CrimsonClaw Bear had accidentally torn open once again.

It was not that much of a problem but the exhaustion had slowly begun to creep in, he needed rest, and he could tell that the monsters around him were thirsting for his blood. This was everything but the optimal situation.

Thus, Dilan accelerated the process of collecting the Silveria Sand. He spent his time replenishing mana and getting his hand on more Silveria Sand.

The more mana he used the more Silveria Sand he got his hand on with each repeated collection process.

It was not until the first groups of monsters dared to approach him that Dilan stopped collecting Silveria sand.

He knew that it was worth a lot, but he could also tell that he could not risk receiving another injury.

And it was not as if he had a lot of mana reserves, let alone a way to refill his mana rapidly now that he didn't have much life force to use.

It was already a wonder that he was still able to stand. After all, he felt as if he was having internal bleeding that needed medical attention.

Of course, he had no idea whether that was true or not. And it didn't actually matter because he was already healing, otherwise, there wouldn't have been a notification that he had already survived the lethal attack.

This made things much easier for Dilan as he chose to leave the beach and to return to cold, yet cozy Shiron.

Re-emerging from the temporary Gate, he stepped outside and saw the astonished faces of Yvonne and Kathrine. They had been waiting for Dilan but had not expected him to return so soon.

Thus, they looked at him in confusion, which Dilan noticed immediately.

"I stored more than 100kg of Silveria sand in my storage ring. I couldn't go too far away from the temporary portal because there were a bunch of powerful monsters everywhere.

And…well, I'm actually not in the best condition to fight right now." Dilan smiled sheepishly.

His last sentences caused the girls to subconsciously look at Dilan's abdomen and they noticed that his shirt was soaked in his blood.

Only now did they realize that Dilan had been injured the whole time. His wound had begun to bleed once again, yet, Dilan had given no indication of his pain.

He looked as if he was perfectly fine.

"Oh my gosh, what the hell happened to you?!" Kathrine exclaimed in shock while taking several steps forward to closely inspect his wound.

'That looks nasty.' Yvonne thought on the other side. She was also shocked, but she didn't say anything.

Her gaze was drawn to Dilan, and she subconsciously stared at him, not sure whether Dilan was a tough man, or a stupid fellow.

"I had a small fight before I met the two of you. Either way, a hundred kilos of Silver Sand are probably more than we will ever need. So how about we go back to the base?…."

Chapter 236 Have mercy

The Sisters were excited when Dilan took some of the Silveria Sand out from his storage ring.

They looked at it as if it was a huge treasure, despite it being a common type of sand found in the Temporary Gate.

However, not long after Dilan had emerged out of the Gate, it began to dissolve. The excessive mana currents were released and it was not possible to enter or emerge from the Gate anymore.

Only the final batch of monsters that emerged from the temporary Gate was an indicator that the Gate would cease to exist soon.

There had been quite a few powerful monsters that had emerged from the temporary Gate before it closed, but Dilan, Kathrine, and Yvonne swiftly finished them off without facing any issues.

Dilan inflicted cuts on all monsters while killing two right off the bat to allow Yvonne to control them using her Origin ability [Angel of Death].

After Yvonne gained control over the two corpses, she joined the fight actively as well, while using the corpses as shields.

On the other hand, Kathrine was in the middle of the fight, her body shrouded in electricity currents. The monsters they fought were high-leveled Bronze and Silver Tier-1 monsters.

They were far stronger than the first batch of monsters, who had emerged from the temporary Gate before.

However, even they were defeated quite quickly..

Dilan was still bleeding as if he was a pig that had just been cut open.

But he didn't think that this was a problem. Thus, they left the street on the outskirts of Shiron to return to the base.

They didn't rush things and spoke about several things on their way back.

This included topics such as the infrastructure of the base, how to defend it if evil human Ascenders or tides of monsters were to attack the base, properly managing and guiding the group of survivors, and so on.

There was quite a lot to pay attention to, but Dilan had no idea what to do and how to handle those things.

He was glad to have the others by his side because it would be impossible to lead a group otherwise.

In fact, without the others, Dilan would have never considered leading a group. He would just focus on himself, use weapons for exchanging Essence crystals and survive all by himself.

It was not impossible to survive alone, and Dilan presumed that many things would be much easier for him if he would be on his own.

But the reality was different, which was why he had to learn a lot about managing a group, how to ensure his people stayed motivated, and the best tactics to protect them without restricting their freedom too much.

It was not easy, but that was not ought to be the case, to begin with.

When they were almost back at the base, Dilan was the first to notice that something was wrong. He couldn't see the base yet, but a young woman rushed toward them.

He recalled her as one of the scouts, whose ability was related to enhanced eyesight.

"Isn't that Nicole? Why does it look like she is about to cry?" Yvonne asked a few seconds after they had seen the young woman.

As if on cue, the two sisters dashed toward the young woman at once.

Nicole was not someone who would easily be flustered, or emotionally affected.

That was what both Kathrine and Yvonne had gotten to know during the last few days, when they had met some women, who wanted to fight for themselves, instead of relying on the men.

Dilan might have assured them that he would prevent anyone from raping the women, but there were often times when he was not around.

Thus, many women wanted to be strong enough to protect themselves, whether it was from monsters or other vicious humans.

Only when they were strong enough that nobody would dare to look them in the eye would some of them feel reassured.

And, Nicole, was one of these women. She was already a Tier-1 Ascender who rushed to them with a desperate expression.

This was definitely not a good sign, even Dilan could tell that.

'I wasn't even away for that long, how can anyone create a mess in such a short time?' Dilan wondered, following behind the Sisters.

However, his speed was much slower than that of the sisters', because he did not want his wound to tear up further.

"Yvonne, Yvonne!!! Marie needs your help, please come back to the base as quickly as possible, please!!!" Nicole screamed out the moment Yvonne landed right in front of her.

Nicole's eyes were teary and she began to sob the moment Yvonne reached her.

"What happened?" Yvonne asked in a calm voice, reminding herself to not panic when the worried girl began to sob and cry.

"Marie needs your help. Some of the soldiers, who came…they…they demanded her to sleep with them tonight. They even started touching her inappropriately, the moment their captain left them to take a look at Shiron's condition…" Nicole blurted as fat drops of tears trickled down her cheek.

"What the hell? How dare these bastards do something like that?" Kathrine cursed when she heard Nicole.

"But why are you guys not intervening? We have more than enough Tier-1 Ascenders to take care of such bastards?" Yvonne asked, ignoring her elder sister's comment.

"They…They told us that the Blue Star camp would attack us if we dare to do something and that nobody will be allowed to come with them. That was also why some people of our group blocked everyone who wanted to intervene…" Nicole explained pitifully.

A few Tier-1 Ascenders had been eager to join the Blue Star camp from the beginning. That was also why they blocked those who wanted to help Marie when the Soldiers said that nobody would be allowed to come with them if they were to intervene.

"These spineless bastards!!" Kathrine cursed again, not caring to hold back her anger.

At that moment, Dilan appeared next to the sisters. His expression was grim because he had heard everything that had been said.

Dilan clenched his fists and was ready to ignore his injury and turn into a purple flash to reach the base when Nicole saw him.

Her tears ceased and she took several steps forward. All of a sudden, she grasped his hand and looked at him with hope and desperation.

"Please…Please help Marie!!!" She pleaded in a choked voice while fresh tears trickled down her cheeks once again.

Dilan just nodded his head, his sky blue ice turning into a block of ice as he activated [Thunder Step].

He didn't have much mana left but it was more than enough to activate [Thunder Step].

Ignoring his injury, his Agility reached close to 130 Units as he let go of Nicole's hand before he blasted through Shiron, reaching the base just seconds later.

Warm blood oozed out of the wound on his abdomen, but Dilan bit his tongue and suppressed the pain.

"Don't touch meee!!! Helpp!! Someone, help mee, please!!"

His eyes flicked to the direction from where he could hear the desperate woman's cries.

Several dozen Survivors had formed a group around a bunch of soldiers, and a young, and beautiful woman. She was struggling to escape the tight grasp of the Soldiers, who were tearing her clothes apart.

They didn't care about the gazes they received as their lustful eyes looked at the perfect body of the young woman.

They wanted to take her like beasts without her consent and release their bottled-up desires at once.

'Looks like my warning was not clear enough!'

Chapter 237 'Decorating' his best piece

'Looks like my warning was not clear enough!' Dilan thought as rage surged up from the pits of his stomach.

In a single sprint, he charged through the group of Survivors in a whirlwind.

They were tossed into the air and he blasted some of them several meters away. When they crashed into the nearby walls and ground the sound of breaking bones intermingled with cries of pain reached everybody's ears.

However, that was something Dilan couldn't be bothered about.

'The moment you chose to become an accomplice in the Soldier's crimes, you don't belong to my group anymore. I don't accept trash in my group!'

Dilan didn't care even the slightest about their reasoning. He knew that the Survivors and the few Tier-1 Ascenders had surrounded the soldiers to allow them to do whatever they wanted.

And that was just for the chance to be possibly allowed to join the Blue Star camp.

Was that really worth joining the crime of raping an innocent woman?! It was not only unreasonable but the behavior of true vile and corrupt beings.

"To think that I misjudged the behavior of so many Survivors," Dilan mumbled in disappointment as he halted in his tracks in the middle of the circle.

The moment his voice reached the ears of the Survivors, they flinched.

They had been aware of the fact that Dilan would severely punish them for their partake in a heinous crime. However, they still decided to risk it because the opportunity to move to the Blue Star camp was just too exciting to them..

"He is here, yes!! Finally, we can be at ease. I thought that I would have to fight them to rescue Marie." A young woman suddenly exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

She and many others had been held back from helping Marie, from rescuing her from the evil clutches of the barbaric soldiers, who had reduced the majority of her clothes to shreds.

Marie was only wearing her bra and underwear right now. She was still desperately struggling to free herself and thrashing her body left and right while releasing all her fear, and disbelief at once.

"Little girl, who told you to be so beautiful? It's not our fault that you are beautiful enough to make us lose our reasoning!" One of the middle-aged Soldiers leered while his fat thumb caressed Marie's cheek and neck.

The tip of his fingers moved over Marie's body, before ending up right above her bra. Licking his lips in lust, he was about to lean down and force a kiss on her lips.

The other Soldiers felt emboldened by this. One of the young Soldier's hands reached out between Marie's legs, while another one had already grasped Marie's butt.

However, just when the middle-aged Soldier was about to force himself onto Marie, he froze on the spot.

Oddly enough, the other soldiers also froze in their tracks.

'Why does it hurt so much?' They wondered, the heads of the Soldiers moving down to their lower bodies in unison.

Earlier, their erection had pushed against their pants to fulfill their carnal desires.

But just now, their pants had turned red, and blood oozed out of their dicks.

The Soldiers' eyes widened, as the sight of red blades entered their view.

"Looks like, you cannot use this useless d*ck of yours anymore. I'm soooo sorry for that!" A sarcastic voice reached them from behind all of a sudden.

Turning around in shock, they could see Dilan, bowing apologetically in an exaggerated manner. He ridiculed them while holding the Blazing Serpentine Blade.

With a simple motion, he waved his hand, moving the Serpentine Blade back.

At that moment, the Soldiers felt another sting in their lower bodies and more blood trickled out of their pants.

They couldn't feel their dicks anymore and screamed out in pain the moment realization struck them.

"You bastard, do you even know who we are?!"

"Aarghhh it hurts, it hurts soo much."

"Mamaaaaa, help me. I don't want to be a Eunuch!!!"

Every single soldier who was near Marie screamed out, and none was able to pay attention to her anymore.

Her body was covered in blood that had splattered on her. However, she didn't even realize it as she was shivering in fright.

All of a sudden, Dilan disappeared from his spot. He gently grasped Marie in a smooth motion, moved backward afterward, and reappeared at the exact same position he had been standing before.

Accessing the storage ring, he pulled a blanket out of it, which he put around Marie.

"Sorry, for being too late…" Dilan mumbled an apology to her.

At first, he didn't want to say anything as he could not find the right words, but that felt wrong. It was not as if he could always protect his people, but Dilan felt that today's event was his fault.

The trauma Marie received from the incident was also his fault. Dilan was aware that Felia and the Soldiers would come in their group to take a look at their condition.

At the same time, he felt it was his fault that the Survivors of his own group believed that it was fine to allow anyone to **** a helpless person.

They might gain something but it was only obvious that being an accomplice in **** was wrong on all accounts.

However, the Survivors had taken this way too lightly. It was just **** and the soldiers having fun in their opinion, after all.

These survivors also believed that all the parties would be fine afterward.

But that thinking was what made Dilan even angrier, and more apologetic toward Marie.

"Can you stand on your feet?" He asked her gently, before turning his head back to the Soldiers the moment she nodded her head.

He let her go and took his first step towards the Soldiers, who had begun to tremble in fright.

They hadn't even perceived when Dilan had taken Marie from their midst. Only the gust of wind Dilan's movements had created were perceived, and his intentionally slow movement with his arm when he had pulled back the Blazing Serpentine Blade that moved like a whip.

"Soo, now who the hell do you guys think you are?" Dilan asked the Soldiers, taking another step forward.

His presence was suffocating, and his voice sliced through the air like a razor-sharp blade. The Soldiers didn't even dare to look in Dilan's direction.

The unbearable pain of their lower body was forgotten for a moment as a life-threatening sensation swept over them. Their legs began to shiver, and their heart began to beat wildly.

"W-w-We are S-Sol-Soldiers from the Bl-Blue Star camp. Don't think…ttt-tthat they will leave you alive if you d-d-do something to us!!!" the middle-aged Soldier stuttered, his heart beating fast enough to make him believe that it was about to explode.

His shivering legs clearly indicated the middle-aged Soldier's fear. However, Dilan paid no heed to the Soldier's words.

He stared coldly at the middle-aged Soldier and once again lashed out with the Blazing Serpentine Blade. It enlarged and shot out once again, aiming straight for the blood-soaked area of the Soldier's pants.

However, this time, instead of merely cutting into the middle-aged Soldier's genitals, Dilan engulfed the tip of the Blazing Serpentine Blade with flames for maximum impact.

A painful scream filled the air, reaching every corner of their base.

While the expression of many men changed, they subconsciously moved their hands to cover their groins as dread filled their hearts.

They imagined how painful it would be if Dilan were to subject them to the same treatment as the middle-aged Soldier and take away their ability to reproduce.

Right now, Dilan didn't notice anything around him. He ignored the gazes that lingered on him, the fright many felt, and the gratitude of the woman, who clearly knew why Dilan was doing all of this.

He created another example of what would happen if someone dared to try raping one of his people!

Without the slightest bit of mercy, Dilan forcibly pulled back the Blazing Serpentine Blade once again.

His eyes showed that he was ready to do much more to the middle-aged man than just injuring his best organ.

Dilan raised his sword-arm and curled his fingers around its hilt so as to end the first Soldier's life at once.

Yet, just when he was about to swing his arm down, a shrill cry reached his ears.

"Stop!!"

Chapter 238 I warned you

"Stop!!" The pleading voice of a young woman resounded from behind Dilan.

"Why should I?" He simply asked, halting in his tracks as he turned around.

The moment he heard the woman's voice, he knew it was Felia. The Captain of the Soldiers had finally appeared.

While she had been further away when the mess had begun, it didn't take long for her to notice the commotion as well.

'Since when have my Soldiers become wild animals?!' Was the only thought in her mind when she heard about the horrifying act of some of her soldiers.

It was frustrating, and she hoped that the entire situation could be salvaged, somehow. Felia wanted to have cordial relations with Dilan's group after all.

They were not only strong but their progress with various lifestyle occupations was fascinating. Their knowledge was also much broader than the Blue Star camp's. It would be great if they could co-operate and do something that would benefit both sides.

A win-win solution was always the best.

However, Felia quickly realized that it was not easy to solve the mess her soldiers had caused anymore. Her expression grew even worse when she noticed that Dilan was stiffly facing the soldiers..

His mood had hit rock bottom, and it was quite obvious that he didn't intend to show any mercy, whether the perpetrators belonged to his group or not.

'Great, he didn't ignore me…' Felia thought when Dilan had turned toward her after she had shouted out.

But even if Dilan stopped, his eyes gave away the intention to kill, and it didn't look like he would listen to her, no matter what she said.

"These soldiers belong to my unit and the Blue Star Camp. Killing them right now will only worsen our relationship. Even if Mayor Clerens were to understand why you killed them, the other leaders wouldn't accept that you killed their Soldiers.

I will take them back to the camp and punish them according to our rules. We will leave immediately as well. I doubt that we are still welcome here."

Felia wanted to act before Dilan could do something. That was why hastily came up with an alternate plan, before quickly motioning her soldiers to come to her.

However, Dilan snapped and swung his sword the moment the soldiers moved.

The Soldier, who had touched Marie's butt lost both of his hands the moment the Blazing Serpentine Blade lunged out, cutting through his wrists with ease.

A painful scream filled the silent surrounding, and Dilan looked straight in Felia's eyes.

"Who told you that they can leave? You can leave with the others, but they stay here." He replied coldly, not accepting no for an answer.

However, Felia couldn't allow this. She knew that all hell would break loose the moment the Blue Star camp's leaders would find out that the leader of another group killed their soldiers for something as 'insignificant' as an attempt to ****.

Felia would love to beat her own Soldiers to a pulp for trying to **** someone. She was even willing to cut off their best things or make them useless if that wouldn't have already happened.

But even if Felia wished to do all of this, she was still responsible for her people, and couldn't allow them to die.

Giving someone a death sentence because of an attempt to **** was also a little bit over the top in her opinion.

But this just showed her how serious Dilan was with his rules. Felia had heard a bit about Dilan, and most described him as kind, generous, and good to everyone, who obeyed the few rules he had set up.

Yet, on the other hand, he was an ice-cold demon and the epitome of a merciless murderer to everyone, who wanted to hurt him, his people, and those who betrayed his trust and ignored his rules.

Dilan was merciless when necessary and nice on every other occasion. That was how Dilan seemed to be to everyone, whom Felia had asked what they felt about Dilan.

However, only now did Felia realize what exactly they meant when they spoke about Dilan being a devil.

"We will compensate you if that's necessary to allow us to leave. Ýou took their manhood already, we will punish them a little bit more and they won't ever dare to do something like this ever again, I promise that!!" Felia tried once again.

Yet, the moment Dilan started to laugh coldly, she knew that she had failed.

"You promise that? What makes you think that I trust you? You are nothing but a stranger to me. I warned you and your people about my rules. I even said that I won't show any mercy to those who break my rules.

But even then your people ignored my warnings. What do you think will happen now?" Dilan's expression changed to that of immense wrath. If glares could kill, Felia would be long dead. She felt herself go rigid as a statue and incapable of moving her body.

Her entire being was a mess and she had no idea what was going on.

Nonetheless, she still wanted to say something one last time, and try to convince Dilan that there had to be another way. Felia had just found Dilan and his group. They were much more advanced than them, in terms of overall progress, while the Blue Star camp had more people, and many unique existences, whose prowess exceeded the threshold of ordinary Ascenders.

She didn't want Dilan to make a mistake, to offend the Blue Star camp even before they could start negotiating in various ways.

Dilan's group and the Blue Star camp could become great business partners, and Felia wanted that to happen.

But Dilan was not someone one could convince just like that.

He was stubborn and his beliefs were firm. Furthermore, he didn't fear anyone.

'If the Blue Star camp wants to fight us, I am glad to oblige to their wish, but I won't surrender to them, just because someone wants me to abandon my beliefs. That will never happen again!!' Dilan could only think.

Memories of the past resurfaced in Dilan's mind, the thought of rapists being able to walk free because he was too weak to do anything, to say anything about what had happened in the past, and the guilt weighing him down…everything resurfaced once again.

His eyes turned into fiery flames of wrath, and he spat the next words angrily.

"I think you forgot something. This is my land and my rules. I will punish everyone who dares to break my rules, whether they're my own people or members of other groups, in ways I deem fit!"

At this very moment, Dilan stared deep into Felia's eyes, his piercing gaze penetrating her soul. Her legs gave in without her being able to do anything against them.

Merely a moment later, his eyes flicked to the Soldiers, who were frozen in place. Dilan took a stride toward them, appearing right in front of the middle-aged Soldier.

His hand shot out to the side, and the soldier to the middle-aged man's right lost his leg. A moment later Dilan flicked his hand once again and this time another Soldier lost a limb.

Screams of endless pain filled the surroundings, and puddles of blood formed on the ground. Meanwhile, Dilan stood in the middle of the puddles of blood, his eyes showing not a trace of hesitation as he kept slashing out with the Blazing Serpentine Blade.

Chapter 239 5 Seconds

Blood, flesh, body parts, intestines, and five corpses littered the ground as he turned around.

He didn't care about the fearful gazes that lingered on him. His whole attention was on Felia, whose eyes were teary and overflowing with fear.

'A monster…he is a monster!!!' Felia had no idea how she could have made such a big mistake in recognizing him.

She had believed that Dilan was a good person, that he was very understanding and open-minded, and that it was his charisma, his generosity, and great leadership skills that had allowed him to become a successful leader of more than 2000 humans.

It was not easy to lead a group, and based on the short time in which she had known him, Felia had grown certain that Mayor Clerens and Dilan would understand each other well.

However, upon seeing the brutal punishment Dilan had awarded to the five soldiers, who had attempted to **** one of the women belonging to his group, Felia's heart sunk. She felt like crying at the cruelty she had just witnessed and her opinion about Dilan had changed completely.

'What kind and generous?! He is nothing but a devil, a monster!!' She wanted to scream out. However, not a single word escaped her lips in fear of becoming the next victim of Dilan's cruelty.

The moment Dilan looked at her once again, Felia flinched and stopped moving again. She had problems breathing under the intense stare of Dilan, and the terrifying bloodthirsty pressure he released.

But even if she wanted to, it was impossible for Felia to avert her gaze from Dilan.

It was as if there was something about him that drew her attention to him.

If it had been just her interest and curiosity in him before, now Felia could clearly tell that she was afraid of Dilan…no, not afraid but terrified!.

"Felia, let me show you something else," He said in a cold voice that sent shivers down her spine. It was the first thing he said after killing the five Soldiers, who had deserved death according to his rules.

Dilan didn't even try to justify his actions, and simply stared at the bodies impassively.

It was almost as if he had just accepted that he would go to war with the Blue Star camp.

He turned around, looked at all the Survivors and Ascenders in his surroundings, and observed their reactions intently.

Everyone, who felt guilty, and those who knew that they had messed up, flinched the moment Dilan looked into their eyes.

On the other hand, the Ascenders, the women, and the other Survivors, who had tried their best to help Marie, and save her from the grasp of the filthy Survivors, didn't flinch.

Many looked at him in fear, some in reverence, and others with a prideful expression, but none of them flinched.

They knew that nothing would happen to them!

"Now tell me. What am I going to do with you guys?" He asked in an emotionless voice as he looked at the Survivors of his own group, those who had betrayed him and the rest of the group for their selfish desires!

They wanted to join the Blue Star camp, and were even willing to help the Soldiers to **** one of their fellow Survivors, just to grab a chance of joining the Blue Star camp, nothing else!

If the attempted **** of Marie was already enough to enrage Dilan, the betrayal of his own people turned him into their personal Grim Reaper.

He had let off some steam when he killed the Soldiers cruelly, but he was not even close to calming down. Within seconds, he had singled out every Survivor, and Ascender, who had supported the Soldiers.

Some of them were expected in making the Soldiers stay at their base comfortable, but Dilan was truly baffled at the sight of some Tier-1 Ascenders who had chosen to accept the Soldiers' **** attempt.

'How disappointing…' He could only think, and Dilan was not the only one to think so.

Meanwhile, Yvonne and Kathrine had witnessed the massacre and were standing not even five meters away from Dilan.

They were yet to say a single word, but each of the Soldiers' accomplices had been blacklisted in the minds of the two Sisters, and many other onlookers.

If Dilan wouldn't do anything to them, the other Survivors and Ascenders would do the dirty work for him.

There may be some male Ascenders, who wanted to spend their night with a woman, but all of them had been disciplined that it had to be with mutual consent.

And all of them had accepted this. Not a single human with the slightest sense of justice in Dilan's group accepted the accomplices of rapists, even more so because it was quite obvious that Dilan loathed rapists more than anything.

Nobody knew why this was the case but even murderers were accepted more willingly than rapists.

That was why everyone wanted to know what exactly Dilan would do to the people, who had betrayed his trust.

The tension in the entire hall was palpable and many Survivors had difficulties breathing. Dilan had been quiet for quite some time and only when he flicked his wrist and retracted the Blazing Serpentine Blade did a few of the traitors dare to take a breath.

However, a mere second later, their face turned ashen-white as if all the blood had drained from it. It was the moment Dilan opened his mouth that their last trace of hope crumbled into countless shards.

"I give you guys five seconds to leave my sight. If I can see or sense the slightest trace of you guys near me ever again, I will kill you."

Oddly enough, his voice didn't sound angry anymore. It was almost as if he had calmed down. However, the content of his words was more than shocking.

Many Survivors expected that Dilan would exile the traitors, but they didn't think that Dilan was ready to kill some of his own.

This meant that they would have to leave Shiron and that they would have to pay attention to never enter Dilan's view ever again.

After all, they would be killed the moment Dilan would find them, meaning they would have to survive all on their own, while trying not to be found by Dilan.

"But w-we-wee didn't want to do it. We were forced. Otherwise, the Soldiers would have taken my sister!" One of the youngest Survivors blatantly lied.

He didn't even have a sister. Dilan's gaze flicked to the young man, but he didn't bother to say anything to him. Instead, he opened his mouth and stated,

"Two seconds left."

Many Survivors, especially those who knew that Dilan was not joking right now had already begun to run. Most of them were Ascenders, the majority of them Tier-1 Ascenders, who had fought next to Dilan several times by now.

They were running for their lives, leaving everything they had gained behind. But just as they were running, Yvonne moved. With a simple flick of her wrist, a ball of darkness emerged in her hands, shooting out at once, piercing their belts and the stripes of their armors.

All of their equipment fell to the ground. The Tier-1 Ascenders wanted to twist their body to pick up their equipment. At least, a weapon was necessary to survive outside their safe base. However, it was impossible for them to pick up a weapon as bolts of lightning emerged out of Kathrine's arm.

They impacted on the Ascenders, and forced them to abandon their earlier thought before they rushed outside the base with regretful eyes.

'I shouldn't have messed with the fortune I had already attained…'

On the other hand, there were quite a few Survivors, who were stubbornly standing in front of Dilan.

Some of them were not able to move owing to the pressure Dilan released, while others were simply idiots, including one of the youngest Survivors, who had blatantly lied to him.

"No, I want to stay, I have changed my opinion… I will do everything I can to redeem myse–…" However, even before the young man could finish his sentence, he flinched, and blood trickled out of his mouth.

The Blazing Serpentine Blade cut deep into the young man's abdomen, while Dilan's cold eyes stared deep into the dying youth's eyes.

"Time is over."

Afterward, his eyes flicked to Felia for a second. She was frozen in place and looked more like a paperwhite statue than a living being.

"I don't give a shit what you think about me, whether you believe I'm doing the right thing or not. Fact is, that your Soldiers broke my rules and that they were punished according to the punishment I set up.

My own people will be punished as well."

With that being said, Dilan's head turned back to the other Survivors. There were still some, who had yet to leave his sight.

Without hesitation, he whipped his weapon and killed them, not only because they were accomplices of someone attempting to **** but also because they had betrayed him, his entire group, and their entire existence as human being.

Chapter 240 It was my fault to trust you

"You can pick up the Survivors, I've just exiled if you feel like collecting more trash. But I want you to leave. It was my fault to trust your people." Dilan's voice reached Felia, who could only cower upon being spoken to.

She didn't even dare to turn her head in Dilan's direction in fear of becoming his next victim.

Dilan noticed her hesitation, but that didn't matter to him. He had killed her soldiers, and the few Survivors, who believed that they could stay in his group after betraying them.

They may have suddenly changed their opinion, but Dilan was not generous enough to give them a second chance.

Giving them five seconds to run for their lives was already more than he actually wanted to give them.

After all, it was a risk to allow the Tier-1 Ascenders to leave.

Nonetheless, Dilan had given the others enough time to leave. Those who stayed behind were killed, and their corpses disposed of by Williams and Sven.

By now, almost everyone had heard of the deeds of Felia's soldiers.

Even the remaining Soldiers, who hadn't done anything, had arrived.

They were having a great time in Dilan's group while speaking to his people and getting to know their strengths..

It was truly interesting and they believed that getting to know everyone was worth a try. After all, there had been the possibility to bait them and bring them over to the Blue Star camp.

However, at the sight of their comrade's corpses, unbending rage filled the soldiers. They grasped their rifles without hesitation and aimed at Dilan.

"You piece of shit. How dare you kill our Soldiers? Do you even know who you offended with this action?!" One of them snarled, his voice full of hatred and anger.

He hadn't witnessed what Dilan had done to the soldiers, and how easy it had been for Dilan to turn his comrades into a pile of mangled bodies.

And even if he knew, it didn't matter. Seeing the wound Dilan had around his abdomen, he and many other soldiers believed that it would be no problem for them to kill Dilan as long as they aimed at his already severely bleeding wound.

'We are at an advantage against him, so he should shut his filthy mouth, and act obediently!!' The young man thought confidently.

But Dilan's cold eyes met the young man's gaze before his hand holding the Blazing Serpentine Blade moved.

A fraction of a second before the Blazing Serpentine Blade whizzed through the surrounding in its enlarged form, a thunderous sound originated from Dilan as he activated [Thunder Step] once again.

[Bracing Pain] was currently still fully unleashed, amplifying all of his stats by 50%. After his Agility was further increased with the activation of [Thunder Step], the subtle movements of his arm were invisible to the eye of the low-leveled Ascenders.

Most of them were unleveled, and only a few were at Level 4 or 5. Their Agility was twice the average human before the Primordial Ascension.

This was insignificant in front of Dilan's Agility which currently exceeded 130 times the average human before the Primordial Ascension.

A single motion of his arm was enough to allow the Blazing Serpentine Blade to reach a terrifying speed.

Burning brightly, the blade sliced through the air, turning into a red, searing hot flash that lashed out at the group of remaining Soldiers.

Everyone expected blood, intestines, body parts, and brain mass to splatter through the surroundings, and Felia stared at him feeling horror-stricken. She had wanted to intervene and do something, but her legs didn't allow her to move even a single inch.

Thus, she closed her eyes as tears trickled down her cheek.

But instead of pained screams, she could only hear astonished exclamations and the sound of metal falling to the ground.

Instinctively, Felia opened her eyes once again. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth the moment she saw that everyone was fine.

Not a single droplet of blood had touched the ground. Yet, the expressions on the soldiers' faces were ghastly. They looked at Dilan like he was a demon, who had just ascended out of the pits of hell.

All of their weapons were cut in half, the barrels and a major chunk of their equipment had fallen to the ground, while the rest was tightly held on by the Soldiers.

"That's the last chance. Either leave, or it won't be the rifles that will be cut apart when I strike again."

Dilan really didn't want to kill the others. He may be deemed as irrational and as a monster by many people right now, especially because he had killed the unarmed Survivors, who had once belonged to his group.

However, that was not to his concern, and giving the Soldiers, including Felia, one last chance to leave was already more than many would do.

By now, Felia had gotten up from the ground. The tears that had trickled down the corners of her eyes had not yet dried up, but she could tell that Dilan's patience was waning.

"Let's go back to the Blue Star camp…now…" She said in a weak voice, all the authority and confidence she had accumulated during the last month dissipating into thin air.

However, even if her confidence had been crushed, and her fear of Dilan was increasing by the minute, she knew that she had to command the others to leave, otherwise, they might accidentally do something stupid.

In the worst case, they might even accept a 'heroic' death in a suicidal attempt to injure or even kill Dilan.

'I cannot let them face the same fate as those bastards…The moment I throw them at this monster, they will be ripped apart in shreds…'

The soldiers understood that they had no chance of winning against Dilan. They would die, in the worst case, in exchange for gaining nothing.

They had realized that their fellow soldiers, who had been killed, had been the culprits. That was what they heard from the gossip around them after Dilan cut their weapons.

"So they are protecting their comrades even though they deserve to die after trying to **** one of our group?"

"How unreasonable can someone be? Are they really trying to twist the truth, just to make it seem as if these rapists were good people?!"

There were numerous comments like these from the Soldiers, and they quickly realized that the truth might have been different than they first presumed. Some of the soldiers didn't want to accept that their comrades had turned into rapists, but the disgusted expressions of the onlookers revealed everything.

In the end, there was nothing for the soldiers to do, but leave. There were hundreds of Ascenders around them, all of who were ready to attack them the moment they would try doing something stupid.

This was something everyone could sense. When they would announce that they were accomplices of the rapists, their life would end.

It was a frightening thought, and without wasting another second, the soldiers followed Felia's command. They left Dilan's base, with conflicted thoughts.

Who was right, and who was wrong in this situation?

Was killing the soldiers really the right choice after attempted ****?

Would they kill their own people for becoming accomplices of a rapist, and for betraying their group?

The jury was still out on this, but Dilan believed that he had done the right thing, even if others may not necessarily agree with him.

'Everyone will think twice, thrice, and if possible, even more often before they dare to do something like that. Even if they fear me, that is fine as long as I can prevent a repeat of today's incident!