“Shadow Suppression Body Technique!” Nox’s body bent out of shape as the thunderbird tried to crush him between its teeth.When it opened its mouth, his body sprang out like compressed rubber, trying to restore to its normal state.Nox’s body regrew to its normal state.“Kyaa! A monster!” Catherine cried out because she was just quite stunned by what she saw.Nox was at a similar distance from both Catherine and Denver.So, he released two strings in both directions. He attacked both of them, but he only went after Catherine.His attack toward Denver was just a feint.“I’ll kill your lover right before your eyes and make you experience the pain my lord has experienced!” Nox used the string to travel right to the back of Catherine in a curved path.“H-How did he?” Catherine’s heart was in her mouth because her gravitas pressure did not work on him.“You think you can pull a shadow with your shitty ability?” Nox thrust his knife-hand at her. “Shadow Steal!”His hand, however, did not to

Sheryl was looking at the leaderboard.“I’m on the fifth spot now,” Sheryl’s gaze was on those who were occupying the ranks from sixth to the tenth.Serena was in the sixth, and Catherine was in the seventh spot, so she ignored them both.She noted down the names of those occupying the eighth, ninth, and the tenth spots.“You go after the one in the tenth spot,” Sheryl told Sakura.“Jaffer Bones…” Sakura recognized him by his name. “He worked under multiple rankers like Borg, Durk, and even under Tyron for a while. He’s not going to be easy to beat. Who will take care of these seeds if I’m gone?”Sheryl created a clone. “My clone will be here. She will send a distress signal if an enemy attacks the seeds.”“Is it really necessary to go after these people now?” Sakura frowned. “Our boss is in the first rank, isn’t he? If you and Catherine give your feathers to him, it will solidify his first place.”“What if he loses his feather?” Sheryl asked.“T-That’s not possible,” Sakura quickly s

After Sheryl left, Nicole exhaled audibly and sat down.She did not have many memories of Denver, but one memory particularly stuck with her.There was a time when Denver killed a mafia don who shook three southern countries for over two decades.Denver did that to free the countries from the don’s grip, but that wasn’t part of his mission.What he did ended up bringing both positive and negative results.The council decided to imprison him for an entire year.However, Casil overthrew their decision and gave a different punishment to Denver. It was to cut ten thousand trees without using aura.Natalia put Denver in chains and gave him an old, rusty ax, which made it all the more difficult for him to cut the trees.Denver was taken to the Prisoner Archipelago, a cluster of islands known for its humongous trees. This was where most of the criminals from secret organizations were sent for a short time or even for a lifetime.Nicole just happened to receive a mission that required her to

Back to the present.Nicole was remembering what she had done in recent years. “I managed to wring myself out of the shit. I’m in a much better headspace right now than I was before, but…”Nicole was decently satisfied with her life as the owner of Boomers Bar.However, there was one thing she felt that he was lacking.She did not have any friends.Nobody worthy invited her to join any group, and those who did were only trying to use her strength more than anything else.But after Sheryl invited her, Nicole’s heart was beating differently.If it was any other person who invited her, she wouldn’t hav

Jumping atop floating leaves, Sheryl was rushing toward the north, in the direction Sakura had gone to deal with Jaffer.“So far so good,” Sheryl thought as her clone wasn’t attacked by anybody.She looked down and spotted someone she didn’t think she’d see again.She saw Jewel King Kelton being with Sedrick.Sheryl’s brain buzzed for a second.“Did Philip hide Kelton all this while?” she wondered because Sedrick worked for Philip.After seeing Kelton, she couldn’t just ignore him, so she flew down and landed in their path.Sedrick appeared annoyed, but Kelton quickly said, “You are Green Fang, aren’t you? Please save me from this guy!”“Shut your mouth,” Sedrick punched Kelton in the mouth, making him bleed and temporarily stop talking.“Did Philip tell you to kidnap?” Sheryl asked.“What do you think?” Sedrick asked.“You are the one who trained Philip, so I think you probably manipulated him into kidnapping Kelton,” Sheryl responded, “but… then why would the council be supporting L