BOOM.

Leonel exhaled a breath, shaking his head as he tossed around the Dream Net in his palms. It would take an hour for it to come down from its cooldown, and then he would need to find a Tier Nine creature to take down to maximize it.

His mind had already moved on from this situation and he was already thinking about how to deal with what was next. The fact he had just dealt with two Pavilion Heads, thoroughly killing one of them, didn't seem to fill him with any sort of pride at all. It just felt... Natural.

This time, it wasn't a confidence that came from some mysterious force from the future, but rather one that was all his own. These were victories that he had claimed for himself and they weren't tainted by things that hadn't happened yet or might not happen at all for that matter.

He was the perfect image of calm and collected.

'The Owlans...'

Leonel's gaze narrowed. This would be an extremely troublesome matter. He only needed one thing to confirm this for him: the fact they had dared to enter with only three people.

In truth, it wasn't as though you could come in with an unlimited number. After a certain cap, you'd have to pay extra Contribution Points for the right of entry. That was variable depending on how many Contribution Points the Challenge triggerers used and what tier of True Dream Plane was going to be opened.

Obviously, this time, the limit was around a dozen or so, which was why the numbers of Spirituals and Nomads had been so close this time around.

It made sense that Clarence and Leonel had entered on their own, there was no one else who had the guts to come. But the Owlans definitely had more people...

So why three?

There were only really two explanations that Leonel could think of. The first was that they were extremely confident in their victory.

Neither Regnier nor Burul, or any of their people for that matter, seemed surprised by the choice of the Owlans, and they even clearly treated them with a healthy dose of respect on top of that.

The second possibility was that they had a special treasure not much unlike Regnier's shield or Burul's Dream Net.

It might even very well be both.

Leonel had pretty much run into everyone by this point... except them. And he felt that that wasn't a coincidence. If they were as confident as they portrayed themselves to be, they were probably waiting at the base of the final mountain, ready to take his head. In that case, the only reason they wouldn't have just gone up to claim first place for themselves was because of the Life Tablet in his mind.

Leonel looked up into the skies. 'The last challenge, huh?' Material © .

He stretched out his back and looked at the belt-turned-shield that Regnier had hidden for so long. Leonel was curious why he would do so. If it was used as a normal weapon or accessory to combat, what was the need to hide it? It wasn't like it was a great trump card like the Dream Net, right?

These were Leonel's initial thoughts, and even after inspecting it for a while, he still felt that it was the same.

Even so, he wasn't convinced. Regnier couldn't be that much of a fool. After seeing the trump card of the Nomads, there would be no reason for him to hide this thing if this was all there was to it.

But then again... if this wasn't all there was to it, then what was Regnier's excuse for not using it when his life was on the line just now?

'My plan was pretty good, if I do say so myself,' Leonel tooted his own horn a bit, 'so it's possible that he just couldn't react... It's also possible that he planned to use whatever that true trump card was only after securing the Tier Eight rune net. After all, just because he had the rune net in his possession, didn't mean that he'd know how to use it. So he would still have to deal with me at the end of the day the normal way...'

Leonel felt that this was closer to the truth. During their one on one fight, Regnier had been firmly on the losing end and had only survived for so long because Leonel needed bait for Burul. Under such circumstances, stealing a weapon he didn't know how to use wouldn't help Regnier in the slightest. He would need something else to deal with Leonel.

Taking another step back, the fact Regnier used that pulse attack would also lull Leonel into a false sense of security, not much unlike what Leonel had done to Regnier.

Even now, didn't he still mostly assume that there was nothing else special about the shield? What if Regnier suddenly burst out with a counterattack he wasn't expecting?

Of course, that wouldn't work Leonel considering he had already deduced that there had to be something else hidden within it. But the point was still a valid one.

Leonel sighed. He felt like a broken record, but these Force Arts were really too complex. At least with King's formation, if he had enough time he might have been able to find something to take advantage of. But here?

'Then we'll just have to do it the crude way. Pour Force into it and hope something that doesn't kill you happens.'

Leonel strapped the shield to his left arm and then began to pour his Dream Force in slowly.

He came across the first bottleneck and pushed through.

A pulse echoed. It was much weaker than the Tier Eight strike that Regnier had unleashed earlier, but Leonel didn't mind that. He was looking for something else.

He eventually came across a second bottleneck and his frown deepened. At his slow pace, this one was much harder to pass through.

BOOM.

The belt wrapped around Leonel's forearm suddenly shot into his chest, ripping a hole through his heart.