A powerful backer. If they have someone like that who could scare off most others from offending them, then that would be the ideal result.
This idea came to mind when Max was conflicted about what to do to scare off threats, especially the ones who have the capability to send out Awakeneds one after another.
One of their weaknesses was that they move alone, and they have a lot of secrets, which limits their ability to have strong allies as if those allies aren’t the women from the Women Conquered Section, then they could not really be called allies.
On the other hand, if they were in the Women Conquered Section, then that would only mean that their allies are not strong enough yet with Max being able to conquer them.
It was a problem that left them quite helpless, not knowing how to solve it. Having many skills was an incredible feat; however, not being able to use them would altogether be another story.
Even if Max chose to use the strongest of his skill, he could only go up to some point before others would realize that if they could not beat a Rank 1, why shouldn’t they send a Rank 2? If their Rank 2 couldn’t defeat this Rank 1, then what is stopping them from sending a group of Rank 2?
Pretending to be a Rank 1 Awakened while having a lot of skills would only be limiting himself, and it was not a good scenario for them.
Creating an image of himself as a powerful Rank 1 would not make any difference in other people’s eyes. After all, a Rank 1 could only do so much.
How can he somehow keep his skill a secret and at the same time, have the freedom to use it, however, and whenever he wants?
When he thought about it like that, the answer just flowed into him. If he made Shadow Thief a formidable individual that seeks revenge for the smallest grievances, then it should be enough to sway away most people from having evil intentions.
Max can then just coincidentally come in contact with this mighty figure and have good relations with him.
The end result would be just him protecting himself using another identity. This identity would not need to hold anything back as no one would be able to discover who was the person behind it.
Rather than being a simple Rank 1 that could magically win battles over and over again, which would only arouse suspicion, why couldn’t they just be protected by a mysterious figure?
Even if that mysterious figure were only himself, other people would not know about it, and so they would have to think properly before having any plans on them.
With this, Max can enjoy numerous benefits of being under the shade of a larger tree. And if someone was still determined to scheme against them, then he could only use his Shadow Thief identity to defend himself under the guise of protection.
For this to be possible only depends on whether Max succeeds or not on their execution.
…
Smiling Death stayed on his position as he watched the bats charge rapidly towards their targets. From where he was standing, he could already see their severely exhausted faces as they struggled to move their overexerted bodies in the rocky terrain.
According to their plan, he only needed to wait for them to be distracted enough to make his move.
The surroundings were an open area, giving him a lack of options on where to hide. Once he stepped out of the forest, he would be easily spotted as soon as he dashes out.
Fortunately, the number of bats were enough to block their vision on some of the areas. There was also one bat allocated to solely guiding him on which place was covered, enough for him to move on to without being spotted.
Smiling Death was eager for action. He couldn’t wait to see some beautiful faces and expressions. Thinking about it already made him over-excited. Right now, Smiling Death only put his mind on what to do with them, there was a lot, and he was conflicted about how he would play with them.
Everyone they had targeted will inevitably die. Those victims can only hope to die in a better situation than the others as Smiling Death would not let them off with a peaceful death.
This was his only source of entertainment, after all.
For today’s success, they had coordinated with some individuals, planned for the specific time and place, and paid a huge price to make everything possible.
This was them betting on achieving success and getting a huge harvest. White Eye would benefit the most from this quest; he would finally get to consume an Awakened’s blood, which will give him a massive boost in strength.
Opposite of how White Eye could achieve breakthroughs by only consuming blood, Smiling Death doesn’t have much room to grow.
If Smiling Death wanted to advance in ranks, he would have to fight over resources and focus all his time on searching for ways to expand and increase the volume of energy in his body.
It will be an arduous task for Smiling Death to find the hope of reaching the next rank, and one could only guess how long it would take. His skill was simply not made to have the highest potential.
Smiling Death’s skill doesn’t have much room to grow, and it doesn’t have any offensive capability. Long been aware of it, Smiling Death could only find joy in playing with the lives of regular people.
This time can be said to be his closest chance to participate in hunting Awakeneds as even if he wanted to, he doesn’t have the ability to.
When the bat beside him finally flew out to a specific direction, Smiling Death knew it was his time to move.
Before he was able to step out of the forest to follow the guidance of the bat, Two vines suddenly shot out from the dirt below, catching him unaware, before firmly twirling around both of his legs.
“Wha-!”
With eyes wide open, Smiling Death almost froze, not knowing how to react before getting himself back.
Smiling Death didn’t have an idea of what these vines were, suddenly retraining him; however, in the end, these were only vines.
Knowing he couldn’t afford to waste any time, Smiling Death tried to pull his legs out, but the vines were gripping it unflinchingly, it wasn’t budging at all.
When Smiling Death decided to pull it off with his hands, he quickly found out how wrong that decision was.
Seemingly waiting for it, two more vines shot out from the ground, grabbing onto his wrist. The vines which looked to be alive circled up his arms, not giving Smiling Death a chance to escape.
Just when Smiling Death thought it was over, another vine shot out, heading straight towards his face. Reflexively, Smiling Death closed his eyes for an instant, and that proved to be the last thing he saw.
