Piercing through the trees' canopy with his Euryale Sight, Viers saw a red dragon engaging a flying spider in showy aerial combat.

He didn't expect for Ydris to lose so it got a worry spike out of him. The elder elf talked big of how he would win. What a failure. He expected Boram and the group to run away like hell after sensing the dark elf's spider-shaped Arte went in their direction. Turned out his other disciple had quite the trump card.

So, the little dragon became big again… Can Croix do that at will? Does this mean the prince who has just become a Pathseeker already owns Level 4 combat strength?

Since Viers had ridden the grown-up Falmerion before during the escape at Archion Volcano, he got an estimate of the dragon's power.

Viers let out a depreciating smile. He couldn't fight Level 4 as Level 1. It felt unfair.

Well, no matter. To each his own. I just gotta take care of myself and do what I gotta do. Ydris, reduced to a soul as he is, wasn't completely useless it seems. Looking at the skybattle, the dark elf's power is pretty low. He must have been pretty injured and dragons are tough. Croix and Falmerion might not win but they might not lose. I'm counting on you to fend him off, princey.

Viers set his gaze on the prize, the fleeing Eucenn. Although, he believed the original Eucenn had died. Since Viers didn't know the guy's name he would label him as Eucenn. Just temporarily, nothing a little soul search wouldn’t fix.

Viers ran across the magical forest with the nimbleness of a cat.

While he made his exit from Liapris, he didn't encounter the fake elf. Why? If he acted it would greatly trouble Croix and the others, since they had to protect the civilians and elven children. Wasn't this acting against his dark elf master's wish?

Well, also doesn't matter. Time to bring him down.

Eucenn had the body language of a pursued thief. He was being constantly wary of pursuers as he ran as fast as he could. However, Viers' 500% boost on his already exceptional speed Artes meant he was faster than him. Viers progressively closed the distance between them, and since Viers' stealth techniques were very good, Eucenn failed to detect him.

Eucenn was also concerned about the dark elf's fight in the sky. Probably because he wasn't doing as he was told and running away instead. It took a while, but after sufficiently widening the distance between him and battle, Eucenn stopped to conjure a mount from the earth around him. Based on the unfinished shape, it might be a horse.

It was then Viers struck. One of Eucenn's life-saving items automatically emitted a sphere barrier to take the Futon's lightning and broke to pieces.

The ambush was a success but Eucenn was still alive and battle-able. The hand that Viers cut before was still handless but other than that, the guy wearing the handsome elf's skin was uninjured. The loss of his life-saving item was an intensely unpleasant surprise. His expression which looked like he had seen an avenging angel was hilarious.

Yes, angel. Viers had a pretty good idea about who these two were. They both cultivated unordinary poison.

Turn a rock and cultists show up. Viers already lost count of how many ordinary people were secretly cultists. If something was wrong with the world, chances were they were at fault.

A city destroyed? Because of the cultists. Demon King revival plot? Cultists handiwork. A Level 4 prodigy prince went missing? A request from a cultist. Elf killing epidemic? Cultists.

There was a devil cult that specialized in poison so… yeah. Viers put the two and two together. As a cultist, Eucenn might not fear demons, unless the demon was super powerful, but he definitely feared getting smote by angels.

"You!" Eucenn stopped making his construct and tried to retaliate, but changed to evasion because Viers' second lightning attack was upon him.

Yellow electric arc spread. It was branching with a hundred tendrils. Eucenn couldn't evade them all, a few touched his body and he was paralyzed with electro-shock. It went through his Unreality Field.

Eucenn realized the youth after him, the fricking vassal of the noble boy, was truly a beast of a Pathseeker. He couldn't win so escape was his only option. Even then, he couldn't afford to hold back.

Viers felt a flash of pain in his head, delaying his action for a second. In that span of time, Eucenn had transformed into a half-scorpion humanoid. He'd undone his elf disguise, showing an entirely new face. A face that Viers knew.

It's him!

The scorpion tail he now had struck Viers on the chest. His defenses held and the venom didn't enter his boy but he was pushed back. The scorpionman hurriedly evoked his Arte. He was submerging into the ground as if the ground was water.

"Ruler’s Globe!"

Viers revealed a magic item that he plundered from the 40th Prince of Latias. The enemy was caught within its area of effect, which was a skill disruption kind.

The enemy's use of Victa would be greatly hampered while the user could do his as usual. A top-tier magic item. It even had a 30% effectiveness even against Level 4, unless they used their Imaginary Domain. Against a Level 3, the Ruler’s Globe could go as high as above 90% Victa disruption.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

It was only effective against humans since Victa was a magic resource unique to humans but when it worked, the effect was devastating.

Rendered powerless, Viers' opponent still hasn't given up. He was about to try something, but how could Viers allow that?

"Go!"

Two of Viers' badges on his chest shone, the cloud and the fire badges. Faiya and Futon summarily emerged from their small living space inside with a flourish of light. Viers had ordered them using the soul link they all had and moved to pincer the half-transformed scorpion man. Futon to the left and Faiya to the right while Viers attacked from the center.

"Wait! I can be-"

Faiya's blazing flame, combined with a Futon's swirling wind was the answer he got. His Victa was stalled so his Arte couldn't come out right but he wasn't defenseless. His Unreality Field was the first line of defense and his magical items were the second and last line.

The life-saving items he had were breaking up one after another in a matter of seconds.

Viers wasn't standing by like a bigshot villain while his underlings did the grunt work. He never felt executing someone in totality was dirty work or beneath him. He played DOOM for God's sake.

He pulled back his right fist after double-layering it with strengthening Artes, and punched.

The fist punched through his enemy's chest until it came out from his back.

Glorious killing.

The human previously known as Eucenn looked down at his chest in horror as blood streamed from his mouth. Viers then pulled his hand without lingering. The human fell down to his knees and looked up to Viers.

"Who… are you?"

Viers punched him again. In the head this time. It burst like a fruit. Blood and brain matter splattered on the ground. Splotches of blood fell on his face and even in the eye but Viers' expression was that of stone. His right fist was covered in the warm red liquid of life. In that same second, Viers yanked out his soul and put it into his soul jail.

Glorious killing x 2!

And so ended the life of Fajrin the Green Scorpion, Ninth of Aletro Nine Stars.

The man had evaded Viers' killing blade in the Book World many times, therefore this time he didn't give him any chances to get away. He knew Fajrin was the type to run at the faintest scent of danger.

Viers felt good to tie up one loose end.

If Viers was the type for the unnecessary villain theatric, he would change his face into Tanael and say something cheesy or dramatic before offing Fajrin. But by doing so, he would have compromised his identity to the Teorph cult's higher-up who was spying on Fajrin without the knowledge of the man himself using the parasite inside him. This would bring Viers untold troubles in the future.

Because Viers was doing none of that, he averted a major future trouble.

"Faiya, sanitize. Good job you two."

Viers pulled Futon into the badge while Faiya used his high-tier flame to burn the body, after he took Fajrin's storage items, of course. Normally he would store the body for later utilization but the cultist's body had too much poison. He would rather not risk it for a mere Level 3.

Yes, a mere Level 3. Fajrin was absolutely decimated by Viers. It wasn't hard at all.

Back then Fajrin, with dual affinity of earth and mind, was already no match for Viers' alias, Tanael. As they progressed, Viers kept piling up advantages over advantages, leaving Fajrin in the dust in terms of power growth.

In hindsight, Fajrin's choice was the correct one. Against someone he couldn't beat in a fight, he ran. Viers would have done the same in his shoes.

But sometimes, there was no running away.

Before Fajrin's body became char because of Faiya, Viers used a new technique.

Blood Ixi Arte - Proof of Death.

Red mist emerged from the corpse and was etched onto Viers' left backhand. A faint red mark resembling a wing appeared. The wing seemed to be a part of a whole.

Viers smiled at the successful Arte activation. This was the first time he used this Arte since he made it from scratch. Tests, no matter how many, were different from actual operation.

The Arte had its root from the principle of Blood Church's top Arte, Blood Seraph. Its core principle was to craft power using blood.

Viers' mark contained power that was waiting to be unleashed and it was far from his maximum capacity. He turned the blood of the fallen and turned it into a magical sigil of sorts. Since he was not consuming Fajrin's poisoned blood, Viers had no fear of getting infected.

It didn't take long until Fajrin was ashes. With his business done, Viers rescinded the Ruler's Globe and put it back into his Thousand Treasures Casket.

Now then, I wonder how Croix is holding up. You better not die on me. I've invested in you, young prince.

Viers found a vantage point on the trees. In the distance, the dragon and the flying spider had moved their fight closer to the ground. Viers felt he was missing out on the spectacle so he would later soul search Boram, the non-intrusive way of course.

The prince was holding on bravely and stalwartly. Viers whistled in amazed approval. Croix was not winning but he was not losing either, a magnificent stand. Mostly because Lejek the dark elf's condition was strange. It was like he was in a crippled condition. Was he injured during the fight against Ydris or even before?

Be that as it may, even in that wretched condition, Viers guessed that Lejek still possessed enough power to destroy Boram. It told a lot of Croix and Falmerion being capable of holding him back.

Then suddenly, something struck the flying spider with great speed. Viers was unable to see where it came from. It exploded with a magnificent blast like a missile strike of light. The explosion created gusts and light so bright that it blinded Viers from a distance. Croix and his dragon had it worse since they were so close but they managed to stay in the air. Lejek roared in pain and flew away in retreat. He suffered massive injuries. Viers' returning super-sight caught a glimpse that on the spider that had lost half of its body, was an arrow.

…Holy shit. That attack is from a Level 5, no mistaking it. Whose?

***

On top of the Latias Cathedral, separated by eight mountains and six valleys from Liapris, an elf with golden hair was floating. After observing for some time, she dematerialized her bow and slowly descended to the ground. She was surrounded by faeries. She spoke to the priest who was standing nearby.

"Please send an envoy with gifts to the brave dragon rider. Thanks to him, we are able to uproot a foul scheme and deal a heavy blow to a Level 5 heretic."

"Certainly, Cardinal," the priest bowed before taking his leave.

The fairies tugged her clothes and hair, making noises. One was lightly pulling her elven ear.

"Oh, and Brother Hugh?" Cardinal Siora Watermoon called with a voice that was like a summer breeze.

"Yes?"

"Make sure the gift is fit for a prince and his companions," the emerald-eyed elf smiled from the heart.

The fairies let go of their antics and showed satisfied faces.