Everything occurred within a split second.
Two swords soared through the air like two bolts of lightning.
“YAH!”
Reneedol grunted and leapt into the sky to intercept the swords.
Her hands abruptly turned into two blurred images that each unleashed a pale blue sword phantom.
Clang! Clang!
The two swords were blocked.
Reneedol instantly activated her Fate power.
In a split second, the giant featureless humanoid face swiftly and silently manifested behind her.
Right at that moment, the two swords drew two beautiful arcs as they avoided her and continued to fly towards Shroud.
“You——”
Reneedol was both angry and fearful.
If Red Wraith was attacking her, she wouldn’t be so flustered.
She could simply use her strongest Fate ability and eliminate him.
But Red Wraith’s target was Shroud.
Red Wraith had no intentions of blocking her attack, instead, he focused completely on controlling his swords to kill Shroud.
And now, the choice lies in Reneedol’s hand.
——she had to make a decision right now.
Red Wraith had given up on stopping her, so she could use her terrifying Fate ability to kill Red Wraith.
Or.
She could turn around to save Shroud.
She had to make one of these two choices.
Reneedol turned to Red Wraith, only to see both of his hands had each formed a hand seal, the white mask on his face displayed no emotions, so she couldn’t even tell what he was thinking.
——and the two swords were very fast.
All it would take was another split second for Shroud to be killed!
The others hurriedly ran up to try and help Reneedol.
But another sword had abruptly appeared, circling and weaving between them while also attacking them, forcing them to be on the defensive.
On the other hand, Reneedol could sense through her inner sight that Rhode was still hunting over a hundred miles away from them.
Rhode would not be able to make it back in time.
—-there are no other choices, I can only rely on myself.
Reneedol bit her lip.
Shroud would become the strongest person in the future, he’s my hope, and I will definitely not allow anyone else to kill him.
As for Red Wraith, he’s only the 7th strongest swordsman.
How could his life be compared to Shroud’s?
Reneedol made her choice.
The featureless humanoid face behind her disappeared.
Her figure flashed backwards, having used [Ground Shrink] to chase after the two swords, unleashing another two sword phantoms.
Clang! Clang!
Two resounding heavy noises rang out, slightly forcing both swords back.
At the very next second——
The two swords abruptly turned into countless afterimages, unleashing hundreds of strikes like a rain of blades towards Shroud’s vicinity.
Reneedol’s hands also moved rapidly, also unleashing hundreds of sword phantoms to block these attacks.
But that was only the beginning.
The two swords continued to dance; their speed eventually reached a certain limit as they had formed a shroud of swords without any openings.
Reneedol’s hands had also formed a shroud of swords.
The same technique, one to kill, one to save.
Clang!
The two shrouds of swords clashed.
The two swords once again descended, their attacks continuously quickened, leaving less and less gaps.
They had gotten so fast that they seemed almost invisible!
Reneedol had to focus almost all of her attention to ensure that not a single one of these attacks would reach Shroud.
“Red Wraith, I’m definitely going to kill you!”
While she was defending, Reneedol angrily shouted.
She had lost her chance to use the Fate Ability.
As soon as she stopped her hand, the other party would definitely kill Shroud while disregarding his own survival.
She could only use her swordsmanship to stop him!
Unfortunately, the scales of the battle gradually tilted.
——although Reneedol had grasped all of Red Wraith’s swordsmanship, there was too little time for her to get used to them. She also didn’t possess a preference for swordsmanship, so how could she exert them all to the extreme like Red Wraith himself?
And saving someone was much harder than killing someone.
She lacked Red Wraith’s wealth of experience, so when she hurriedly tried to save Shroud from Red Wraith’s sword, she had naturally chosen the non-optimal solution.
At a certain point, one sword phantom finally managed to slip by Reneedol, flying straight towards Shroud.
Oh no!
Reneedol’s heart sank and hurriedly used her inner sight to observe it.
Shroud’s injuries were still very heavy, so he couldn’t do anything but lay helplessly on the ground.
The sword phantom was flying closer towards him.
——–I won’t save him in time!
Shroud is going to die; he’s going to die by Red Wraith’s sword!
Reneedol’s pupils dilate.
She had no more time to think or hesitate, so she pressed her hand into the void of space.
Invisible power focused on her hand before spreading into the void of space.
“Someone come help me!” she shouted.
Boom!
The dirt and dust on the ground abruptly exploded as a large figure appeared out of nowhere to shield Shroud.
When the sword phantoms struck that figure, they disappeared without making even a noise.
The dust scattered.
A giant tree had suddenly manifested in front of them all.
A wrinkled face appeared on the side of the tree, observing Reneedol:
「 I am the Overlord of Growth, arriving at the summon of the covenant bearer of the Overlord of Radiance 」
All the Overlords desired to gain more power from the Overlord of Radiance.
Reneedol only felt lost for a second before quickly regaining her senses.
It’s ok to lose the abilities of a swordsman.
Right now, I’ve gained Shroud’s powers, capable of summoning Law Behemoths and unleashing more devastating attacks.
This is the only way to face Red Wraith!
Reneedol loudly called out: “Please protect this wounded person, leave everything else to me”
「 Very well 」the tree replied.
It reached out its many branches to surround Shroud and shield him within its body.
Reneedol sighed in relief.
Shroud is now safe.
It’s time for Red Wraith to die!
Reneedol looked back up at the sky with bloodshot eyes.
But there was nothing there.
Red Wraith, who had been unleashing a rain of swords just a second earlier like he had to kill Shroud no matter what, had disappeared.
“…It’s [Ground Shrink]”
Reneedol muttered, then attempted to release her inner sight to search for the other party.
But she had no inner sight.
She was surprised for a moment before realizing what happened.
I’ve absorbed Shroud’s powers.
So now, I can’t use Red Wraith’s powers any longer.
“Hmph, you think you’ve gotten away?”
Reneedol clasped her hands together, muttering: “Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, all Overlords with good relations to Radiance, I hope to receive your aid. Please search for the individual who fought against me earlier”
Around her, clusters of colorful light manifested one after another.
These clusters of light intermingled and weaved between one another, almost as if they were communicating, then all disappeared.
A voice spoke up from the void of space:
「 Covenant bearer of the Overlord of Radiance, the one you are searching for is already dead 」
Reneedol was stunned.
Dead?
We were fighting just now, how did——
The voice continued: 「 His corpse lies 700 miles to the South, behind a large rock 」
“I’ll take a look!”
Reneedol immediately replied.
Her body shot into the sky, quickly flying South.
Not too long later.
She landed next to a big rock.
Sure enough, there was a corpse on the ground together with a shattered mask.
Reneedol looked at the corpse, carefully studying it for a long while.
Although this person wasn’t wearing his mask, this physique definitely belongs to Red Wraith!
But his face…
I know this person.
This was one of Wizard Rodri’s subordinates.
During the period of time when the Laws didn’t respond to the call of living beings, I asked Rodri to send people to kill Shroud and the rest.
This man was among those sent out!
Reneedol stood still for a while.
[Mystery of All Beings Equal]?
She silently thought.
Red Wraith still isn’t dead, he had merely used this Mystery to disguise as this person.
If that’s the case, I would have no idea what Red Wraith truly looked like.
The more Reneedol thought about it, the more suspicious she became.
Strange…
The Overlords said that this was Red Wraith.
But since I’ve once seen through all of his abilities, I know that this was only a Mystery that allows someone to turn into someone else.
Could it be that not even the Overlords can discern the truths and lies with Red Wraith’s Mystery?
In other words, even the 7th strongest swordsman in the world could deceive the Overlords?
That can’t be right.
The 7th strongest… would definitely not have such a powerful ability!
If the Overlords aren’t wrong, then this person is Red Wraith without a doubt!
He disguised himself as Wizard Rodri’s subordinate for the sake of a scheme, and my appearance interrupted his plans.
Is that why Red Wraith had already attacked me twice?
Then, who killed Red Wraith?
Reneedol suddenly thought of something and looked at the other side of the rock.
Only to see several lines of text carved into the rock.
[Red Wraith’s killer was the strongest swordsman in the world, Mara Heavenly King]
Faint sword qi was still slowly diffusing from the rock, almost as if it was reminding her to make sure to take a look.
Reneedol looked at the corpse, then at the text on the rock.
“This is… what exactly…”
Reneedol muttered, feeling like her head was about to explode.
