SEAL

The carnage that Leonel unleashed wasn't small in the slightest. The Sea Gods fell by the dozens and showed not the slightest bit of prejudice.

The young Sea Gods that had come thinking that this would be an easy method to flex their strength and enrich themselves were horrified.

They quickly fled to their flying ships, but could only look horrified when Leonel took a step into the air. Dragons followed the flow of his halberd and he destroyed them all, one after another. The devastating war machines that could destroy even planets found itself suppressed.

Leonel didn't even have to overwhelm it with power. He targeted their weaknesses one after another.

When he was killing the youths, his halberd was tyrannical, wide-sweeping and seemingly endless.

When he targeted the ships, it became pinpoint, sliding between flaws in their Force Arts and panels in their metal bodies. Then, they would explode, out.

The humans couldn't even follow Leonel.

From start to finish, Leonel didn't try to stop Talon and Sashae.

For one, he was sure that he couldn't, at least not without revealing more than he wanted to just yet.

Second, Sashae definitely had trump cards remaining.

The fact she decisively ordered a retreat even though she knew it would cost her devastating losses spoke volumes.

Leonel couldn't help but recall the fact they had only sent their younger generation forward. They were clearly planning something deeper.

That said, Leonel was also certain that he had found a counter for them. If not for the rain, he didn't believe that Sashae would have given up so soon.

It was just that for now, he wasn't sure exactly what that weakness was.

Sashae had left so decisively that he didn't get a chance to find out... and something told him that even if he captured a few Sea Gods to experiment on, it would be useless.

This woman had proven herself to be intelligent. If it would be exposed one way or another, why retreat?

Even if she wanted to minimize casualties, retreating like this was the antithesis of that. She should have done so more systematically rather than basically throwing everyone to the wolves.

Though he thought this, Leonel still captured several Sea God youths.

Accounting for how smart someone was happened to be easy, in his opinion.

Accounting for someone's stupidity was another matter entirely.

Even if he had his deductions, he would definitely triple check them.

He only had one chance at this.

"FUCK!"

Talon's furious roar almost shattered their flying ship. If not for runes lighting up to stop the sequence right before it went over its threshold capacity, this really would have happened.

He turned toward Sashae with a furious pair of red eyes. His disguise had already shattered beneath his anger, revealing a lanky body suppressed by chains. He had lost so much of his fat that his

Every time his tattoos glowed, the chains would lash out, lacerating his skin. But he didn't seem to notice.

If not for the fact Sashae had brought out that tablet, he would have never listened to her order to retreat.

His uncles didn't tell him about anything going on, but he knew a Wise Tablet when he saw one. Seeing a non-human wield it was even more shocking.

It was only because of this that he had suppressed his fury. In fact, any other Barbarian Race member in his position would have already lashed out.

Talon had been suppressed for almost a year now. All he thought about was that loss again and again, and yet the moment he got to unleash once more, he actually lost again.

Even a normal person would be infuriated by this, let alone a genius of the Barbarian Race. A true Demi-God.

"Why did you make such a decision?" Talon growled.

Sashae felt a great deal of danger at that moment.

In truth, her pride had taken two blows back to back. First Talon snapped at her and then Leonel shrugged off her trump card as though she were nothing more than a fool.

Facing Talon's gaze, she realized that she was truly nothing but an ant in the eyes of these two young men. It was a blow that hit her hard, but it was a testament to her character that her pale expression quickly returned to normal.

Her heartbeat slowed to an even cadence and met Talon's gaze.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

"There was no other choice. If the rainfall continued, it wouldn't just be the normal warriors that died, it would be us who fell."

Talon frowned. "Me?"

"No. But I would die. Me and some of the most important of our race."

"Why?"

"I cannot tell you that."

"Don't test my patience."

Talon's deep growl reverberated through the ship and it seemed even more dangerous than his earlier, much louder roar.

Sashae trembled, but she forced herself to calm down once more.

"Even if you threaten me, I cannot tell you. I have a seal on me. If I try to speak about such matters, I will die. If you want to know, ask my mother. But I am not certain that she could tell you either. She may be sealed as well, though I have never asked."

Talon's eyes narrowed. He could tell that Sashae wasn't lying.

"Then how do you know in the first place if you assume everyone is sealed?"

"I understand innately. I cannot say more than that."

Talon shifted his gaze to the ring on her finger.

"That tablet. Where did you get it?"

"My mother sent it here and said it would be useful. Unfortunately, it failed nonetheless."

"Is that man really an Envoy?"

"I..."

Sashae took a breath and exhaled.

"I truly do not know. He had no reaction when I spoke, but it didn't feel like he would have reacted to anything at that moment. He's a seasoned warrior, and he's likely trained himself to not listen to anything an opponent says, in case there's some mental trickery at work. At the same time... the Tablet didn't respond the way I thought it would... I truly don't know... Likely, only my mother knows for sure."

Leonel stood over a table. By his side, Aina was dissecting the corpse of a Sea God. This wasn't his expertise. He wouldn't even know where to start. And it was clear that Aina wasn't very familiar with this process, either.

But then she said something that shook Leonel to his core.

Flashes of lightning echoed in his Dreamscape.

"... So that's why..."