...

Bang!

Immortal slammed his hand at the wooden table in front of him, destroying the poor table in the process.

"What are you saying that everyone from the Central Order is now inside the inner part of the ruins?! How is that possible?!" shouted Immortal at his direct subordinate which made the latter tremble in fear.

He just got a report that everyone from their enemy camp simultaneously disappeared from the whole battlefield before reappearing right inside the Ancient Ruins.

His subordinate was still trembling due to the immense killing intent that was being released by Immortal. But he needed to endure it and answer his Guild Leader if didn't want to die miserably. "W-we are still u-unsure how they d-do that, S-Sir… A-and we a-are d-doing our b-best to in-investigate w-what happened."

"We even planted a lot of spies with different ranks in them. So, How the hell did you miss such critical information?!!!" shouted Immortal once again while releasing an even more powerful killing intent which made the temperature inside the room drop drastically.

His subordinate was about to collapse due to the pressure. Fortunately, one of Immortal's Apostles entered the room and saved the poor subordinate from such fate.

"Relax, boss. From what I've heard, everyone from the opposing side had also been fooled. Even the commanding officers were clueless of that move until everything happened," said the Apostle while helping the poor subordinate to get up from the ground.

After sending the subordinate guy outside the room, the Apostle looked at Immortal before continuing. "It looks like the strategist of the opposing side is quite cunning. To think that he is hiding such a move to everyone."

"Tch! It is an old-fashioned strategy but it is still the best to deal with the spies and avoid the leakage of any information," he added while shaking his head.

Immortal squinted his eyes and looked at his Apostle and asked. "You better have something good to report, Drige. Or else, you can forget playing the game for a couple of days – maybe, a week at most."

Hearing that, Drige suddenly grinned quite widely before saying. "Well, it is unfortunate that I haven't got any information about that mysterious strategist. But from what I heard, everyone from the opposing side gets their instructions directly from Legolas and all they have to do was to execute it."

He then paused for a moment to purse his lips and shrug his shoulders before continuing. "And if they happen to fail to execute such a simple instruction 'accidentally', then it is basically branding themselves as a spy."

Not hearing the thing that he was expecting, Immortal released more of his Killing Intent while staring at Drige with his squinting eyes.

Seeing that, Drige chuckled a little before saying. "If even our opponents are clueless of the purpose of their own moves, then it is even more impossible for us to know it either."

"Based on the information that I got, Legolas distributed quite a lot of Instantaneous Scrolls. And those scrolls are ordinary once which is why none of our spies suspected such a thing."

"But who would have thought that it was actually a specialized teleportation scroll with a fixed destination," he added while taking a seat on a chair not far from him.

Then he quickly continued right after sitting. "And it is also impossible to predict the timing of such a move. Because Legolas instructed every commanding officer personally. And with the same reason that I just said earlier, it is impossible to 'accidentally' fail such a basic order of retreat."

After that, he raised both of his hands while saying. "Which is why we are currently in this kind of situation."

Immortal further narrowed his eyes as he started formulating a plan inside his head. And after a few moments of thinking, he immediately instructed. "Tell everyone to get ready for a siege. We are going to reclaim the control over the Ancient Ruins."

"And also ask for some sieging machinery from the headquarters. There is a strong defensive formation surrounding the inner part of the Ancient Ruins. So, if we want to break through it, then we need to bring our big toys to destroy it."

He then opened a teleportation portal and planned to step in it. But before he entered it, he took another look at Drige before saying. "Just position the sieging machinery outside the perimeter of the Ancient Ruins and wait for me before you make your moves. I can't afford to be caught in another trap."

And when he got Drige's confirmation, Immortal entered the teleportation portal while wearing a solemn look on his face.

*********

Meanwhile, Shin was currently having a call with Legolas while he was waiting inside the innermost part of the Ancient Ruins.

"I already did a part of my job. Now, it is your time to show your sincerity," said Shin while squinting his eyes.

"Don't worry, we are already setting up our defenses around the ruins," replied Legolas as he nodded his head. And at the same time, he was also looking at Shin with meaningful eyes.

Up until now, he still couldn't believe what was happening. Fighting Immortal on equal ground in terms of strategic battle was one thing, but defeating him was on a whole other level.

No.

Based on what he just witnessed, this guy was even toying with Immortal as he seemed to be able to read all of the latter's moves ahead of time. All of the moves that he did were meant to counter each movement of their enemies.

As for the 'losses' that they suffered?

Legolas couldn't believe it at first, but from what he had seen, those guys were indeed spies on their ranks.

He then looked at Shin full of suspicion while thinking to himself. 'This guy was able to see who are the traitors on our side just by reading their movements during the war. This guy is hiding a lot of secrets, there is really a lot more to it than meets the eye. I guess I need to report this directly to the Guild Leader later.'

On the other hand, Shin was oblivious of what Legolas was thinking. But based on the look that the latter was currently giving, he was sure that it was not something good for him.

Regardless, he still needed this guy's help to finish his current quest. So, he needed to endure for a little bit more for him for the sake of that quest and its rewards.

"Are you sure that Immortal is coming personally there? If that is the case, then do you need me and my subordinates to go in there as your reinforcements?" asked Legolas when he felt that the atmosphere was getting awkward.

'Nice try. But I have no intention of owing you a favor,' thought Shin to himself before giving his reply. "You don't have to do that. After all, he can't do anything to me as long as I am inside this place. Just do what I instructed you, and it is going to be more than enough to be your help."

'Tch! I hate dealing with someone as sharp as this guy,' thought Legolas before nodding his head.

After that, Shin ended the call before turning his head to the said and looked at Chaotic Luck. The latter couldn't help but become tense when he saw that; every time he was looking at Shin, he was always being reminded of the time when he was almost cut by Shin's sword.

Shin ignored that look on his face before asking. "How strong is the strongest that you can summon?"

Hearing that, Chaotic Luck finally snapped out of his current state before replying stutteringly. "I ge-guess an O-Overlord M-Monster with a high level."

"Just one?" asked Shin to clarify.

Seeing the knitted eyebrows that Shin currently had, Chaotic Luck shook his head repeatedly while answering in almost an instant. "No, no. Five, I can summon 5 of them alongside my lesser summons."

Shin repeatedly nodded his head after hearing that before instructing him. "Then you better get ready now and find a good place where you can safely summon them. We are against a Top-Rank Godlike Player, so we can't afford to make some careless mistakes."

After that, he tapped Chaotic Luck's shoulder before walking towards the center of the hall.

When Chaotic Luck saw that, he immediately nodded his head and before running towards the column which was the farthest from the entrance of the hall. And after hiding behind it, he immediately started chanting out a series of foreign words to summon his Strange Undead Monsters.

Seeing his actions, he shook his head a little and smiled bitterly as he found this guy quite interesting; especially when he remembered his last exchange with him. Not only this guy possessed an immense amount of luck, but that 'luck' was also being 'used' in battle.

He was about to resume walking when he suddenly felt a powerful presence approaching the hall from the corridor.

Halting his steps, Shin slowly turned his body around to face the corridor with his squinting eyes and muttering a solemn tone. "Looks like our guest arrived earlier than expected."

...