As Mize and her brother continued their walk, Jayce realized that more than two revolutions had passed and yet he didn’t feel tired at all. Mize had kept him awake inside her bracelet for over 54 hours. A human couldn’t stay awake for that long without feeling like the walking dead, and yet he was handling it without any problems.

On reflection, Jayce hadn’t eaten, slept properly or even pooped since he’d been summoned by Mize. The only thing he’d ingested was a large amount of his master’s blood. Despite not having a physical body at the moment, Jayce still wanted to blush when he recalled that scene.

‘Am I even still human? No, this must be because of Mize’s bracelet. It’s not like I don’t get hungry or tired when I’m outside.’

Either way, Jayce realized he hadn’t lived like a proper human for a while now. He might not get many chances to in the future as well. That thought brought him no small amount of anxiety as their trip through the crumbling world fragment continued.

While he was worrying, Mize and Lors escaped another earthquake. The tremors had become more frequent as time passed, and the air in the tunnels was only growing hotter. Soon after they found a tunnel that wasn’t at risk of crumbling, Mize saw something new.

“An open room?” She observed skeptically.

Twenty meters ahead of them, the tunnel appeared to widen into a large cave. Mize couldn’t see the cave’s ceiling through the opening, but as she drew closer, she saw that it was a circular area with a radius of thirty meters. Looking at the walls, several other passages also ended there. Mize and Lors put up their guard. In a maze where things were supposed to repeat endlessly, anything new was incredibly suspicious.

“I have a strange feeling that there’s treasure up ahead, Lors.”

“Huh?”

“Your younger sister’s senses are very sharp. There’s definitely valuable treasure ahead.”

“Wait—!”

Ignoring Lors, Mize darted forward. After following her side-by-side for hours, Lors kept up with her without thinking. Exhausted from a lack of sleep and constant bickering, he felt furious that she was trying to escape and pull ahead of him. Lors’ boots nearly shattered the stone beneath him as he prepared to put on a burst of speed. At that exact instant, Mize ground to a stop.

Lors looked back at Mize and smiled. Mize mirrored his expression.

To her annoyance, Lors had also been pretending. After stomping the ground, he didn’t lunge forward.

“After you~.” He said graciously.

Mize replied with an exasperated sigh. “Enough with the tricks. Let’s go in together.”

“You’re so shameless! Don’t act like that when you’re the one who started this!”

Despite his furious words, Lors obediently walked with Mize to the end of the tunnel. Weapons appeared in their hands. A long spear for Mize and a short spear and shield for Lors.

“Ugh. You and Liza, I can’t believe they let two prospective clan leaders pick up a shield. You know that armor is a joke for black salamanders, don’t you?”

“That only applies to those of us who’ve opened enough gates. Is your body currently tougher than my shield? Besides, a shield is a weapon, not armor. Can you say something like that to elder Intis’s face?”

“…Fair enough. At least your selection is better than Quint’s.”

“That’s true.”

The instant they crossed the threshold, a spear thrust down at Mize from above while the blade of a greatsword sliced towards Lors from the side. Their golden eyes narrowed as their sleep deprived minds instantly went into overdrive. The pair had been expecting something like this since they hadn’t run into their other siblings yet. However, this attack was much more coordinated and precise than what Mize and Lors had imagined.

Exhaling, Mize raised her spear and flicked it, knocking the opposing spear towards Lors. At the same time, Lors used his shield to lightly parry the greatsword, guiding its thrust in Mize’s direction. Mize’s pupils transformed into terrifying snake-like slits as she leapt towards the center of the room to dodge. Lors, on the other hand, raised his short spear so that its shaft collided perpendicularly with the falling spear’s shaft.

“Ha.” Quint’s smug voice barked.

Zoe, the eldest sibling who had fallen with her long spear, landed on the ground and pressed down on Lors as their weapons crossed. Just as Lors was about to pull away, the stone beneath him rumbled and came alive, trying to swallow his legs. Lors swore and leapt to the only place where he wouldn’t be caught, right in front of Zoe’s spear. He raised his shield, but she kicked him back towards the flowing stones.

Meanwhile, Mize received another aerial assault after evading Quint’s sword. The sphynx flapped its eagle wings and divebombed her. After evading two surprise attacks, Mize couldn’t regain her footing in time to handle the third. Lion’s paws smashed into her chest, pushing her to the ground. A gorgeous face with curly black hair and a beauty mark looked down at Mize. Sharp, inhuman teeth glinted as the sphynx grinned viciously. Mize hadn’t taken any real damage because of her barrier, but she was pinned down and couldn’t escape.

Quint charged forward, raising his sword to chop at her prone figure. Blue light flashed as a figure emerged from Mize’s bracelet. Before the figure could be seen clearly, rainbow-colored light filled Quint and the sphynx’s vision. This light seemed to pierce straight through the viewer’s eyes and rattle their brain, making them feel an intense dizziness. It wasn’t enough to stop Quint’s sword, but it allowed Mize to squirm and avoid the blow.

The sphynx was hit by the light a lot harder than her master. She shut her eyes and recoiled slightly, lowering the pressure on Mize. This was a mistake Mize punished immediately as she kicked upwards, her foot sinking into the sphynx’s furry underbelly. There was a muffled squelch and the sphynx cried in pain as she nearly went airborne from the force of Mize’s kick. Mize tore herself away from the S-Ranker and rolled to avoid another heavy strike from Quint. Grunting in frustration, Quint advanced in a stable stance. His boot lashed out just as Mize was trying to get up, sending her back to the ground. However, he quickly regretted this choice as Mize used the impact of his kick to send herself further away. She nimbly got up and smirked at Quint.

Once Mize got her bearings, Jayce and the centipede were immediately released. Under Mize’s silent order, Jayce didn’t waste time and immediately created a pile of flesh from the dead monsters in his storage. While the centipede was growing rapidly, Jayce pulled out Seeker and fired to cover Mize as she pushed her two opponents back. Mize, Jayce and the feathered dragon kept them from approaching the centipede, giving it time to divide its body and turn into a difficult threat. As he fought, Jayce realized that Mize’s team was very good at controlling a set area. With Mize acting as the vanguard and the dragon’s feathers shining behind her, it was difficult for Quint and the sphynx to advance. Jayce’s attacks supported them from a distance and soon, the centipede would form the team’s core where it could simultaneously protect him and the feathered dragon.

This formation seemed to appear naturally but in reality, it was the result of Mize’s planning and hard work. Jayce was a little surprised because they hadn’t fought like this when Mize was prioritizing their levels.

The centipede had grown a lot since they’d entered the dungeon, and it could make clones much faster than it used to. Soon, three giant fronds were waving in the center of their team. The leaves of these fronds grew heads of their own and stretched out threateningly. Mize had mostly been trading blows with Quint while Jayce and the feathered dragon worked to keep the sphynx out of the siblings’ fight. When their formation was completed, Mize didn’t press her advantage. She leapt back towards her team and ordered them to stop attacking. Quint wasn’t breathing heavily, despite their fierce skirmish. However, he didn’t look happy when he saw Mize fighting defensively.

“Is it really the time to be fighting like this?” Lors’ voice cut through the chaos, drawing everyone’s attention.

Jayce looked over to see Lors standing with his team of three slaves. Zoe, on the other hand, only had one. It was a flat transparent worm with dozens of long hairs spread across its body. When these hairs touched stone, it was broken down like putty and collected into a cloak that covered the majority of the creature. When Jayce looked at the stone that had been dug out around their battlefield and the walls of this room, he felt they had been shaped in a similar way.

The other three siblings were silent. Naturally, their slaves didn’t make any noise either. For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was the incessant ethereal clanging that they had all learned to tune out.

“We don’t know what’s going on with the dungeon.” Lors continued. “I think we should at least—”

“No, we need to finish our competition here.” Quint cut in. “Right now.”

“You’re so hasty even when your surprise attack failed?” Mize taunted

To her surprise, Quint didn’t blow up at her needling. He wore a solemn look and waved his hand. Two more slaves came out of his storage bracelet and took up battle positions. They were both injured to varying degrees, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Bloodragers. Zoe also looked serious, but she didn’t bring out any reinforcements. It looked like her other slaves had already been killed.

“I wanted to eliminate you immediately, but I guess that was wishful thinking. I can’t let you run away, though, so I’ll explain myself. I swear on our family’s name that what my slave is about to tell you is true.”

He turned to the sphynx and barked, “Explain our situation.”

“Yes, Master. As I’m sure you children know, my race is skilled at creating riddles and guarding fates. However, we can also decipher riddles and see fates. This power isn’t as incredible as it might sound, but it allowed me to solve this maze before anyone else. More importantly, when I entered this world fragment, I caught a glimpse of your fates.”

The sphynx clawed the ground subconsciously while she paused. Jayce took this as a sign of anxiety.

“I can’t see exactly what is going to happen, but soon, everyone’s fates are going to become extremely chaotic. If you don’t settle your competition now, it will be extremely difficult to do so in the future.”

Quint spread his hands. “There you have it. I ordered her to tell the truth and I trust her judgement, to a degree anyway. We’ll have our deathmatch right here. Heh, I hope you don’t mind that its two versus one versus one. Zoe has already decided to support the best candidate.”

“That’s misleading.” Zoe interjected in a cold tone. “I’m supporting myself. We agreed to a ceasefire and during that time, I swore to attack you last. Of course, that’s assuming you survive that long. Lors, Mize, if you team up against him, I’m not obligated to help.”

“That would be very convenient for you, wouldn’t it?” Lors chuckled.

“Still, it isn’t a bad idea.” Mize added.

Quint grit his teeth for a moment before regaining his calm. He glanced at Mize and Lors and laughed derisively.

“And? Can the two of you actually work together? You’re more wary of each other than anyone else.”

Lors frowned but Mize chuckled. “If I’m scared of being backstabbed, then I just need to stand back.”

Orders that no one else could hear reached Mize’s slaves one after the other. Jayce’s orders in particular were broad enough to keep him flexible but detailed enough so that he knew Mize’s true plan. When he realized what Mize was trying to do, Jayce felt a chill down his spine.

‘She really is cold-blooded…’ As he thought this, Jayce felt a faint sense of shame. He was criticizing Mize and her clan’s practices, but he was also hoping her plan would succeed. After all, if he wanted to live, he had to hope that everyone other than Mize died.

Under her siblings’ wary gazes, Mize leapt back to her team. The mass of green centipedes took up her role as vanguard while she stood under their protection. Mize lowered her stance and balanced on her pivot foot while she raised her other leg. Her long spear vanished and was instantly replaced with a javelin made from a single lump of jet-black metal. Mize’s leg slammed down as she threw the javelin with all her weight behind it.

Once that javelin had entered her hands, Mize’s siblings didn’t waste any more time staring. They hastily brought their monsters behind them to avoid giving her a free kill. Lors was confident because of his shield, but the other two knew that it wouldn’t be easy for them to parry Mize’s javelin. Ultimately, the speeding black projectile was tapped by Quint’s sword before it struck one of his slaves. The slave was knocked over and its barrier took some damage, but it was otherwise fine. Fearing a follow up, Quint charged towards Mize. Zoe did the same, and she had started moving the instant she knew Mize wasn’t aiming at her.

Over a dozen centipedes, some hanging from the three towering fronds, others crawling freely on the ground, moved to block Mize’s enemies. Quint tried to chop the fronds down, but the sub-heads swarmed his sword as a group and blocked it. Some of them were badly injured or killed, but that only made the others more powerful. To his credit, Quint’s sword strikes were much faster and more precise than Jayce would have imagined for a greatsword user. He didn’t encounter any real danger while fending off the ferns and Jayce’s suppressive fire, but he was stalled.

Zoe was similarly held back by another writhing frond and the feathered dragon. As for their slaves, the instant they met the unattached centipedes in battle, they were mercilessly backstabbed by Lors and his team. Mize’s javelins were also causing havoc for all parties. By the time one of Quint’s already injured slaves died, the situation had become truly chaotic.

It was at that point that Jayce quietly switched to Spirit Nail and started firing at Zoe. After spending over a week in the Fragmented Ruins constantly fighting for his life, Jayce’s aim had improved tremendously. He wasn’t nearly at the level of a trained soldier, but when he combined his meagre skills with Keen Eyes, he was hitting more often than not. Two nails penetrated Zoe before she realized what was happening. From there, the feathered dragon and nearby centipedes’ attacks became fiercer. They succeeded in boxing her in for a short time, letting Jayce land another two shots.

“Damn.” Zoe cursed. Though noticeably slowed, her short frame held incredible power. She knocked her assailants away and leapt back, trying to get away from the melee.

She did escape, but then a black streak cut across the battlefield. There was an explosive bang as it tore through the surrounding air, causing all of Mize’s siblings to raise their heads. Mize had launched several javelins so far and everyone was well aware of her throwing speed. However, the speed of the weapon she’d just thrown went far beyond their understanding. Lors was the only one who noticed that, before Mize had thrown it, there were two glowing blue marks on the weapon’s shaft. These were acceleration tags that Jayce had created with his newest Marksman ability. Mize didn’t even need to coordinate with him when she threw the javelin because she could mentally order him to detonate them.

The projectile was aimed at Zoe’s snow-white neck. Because of the nails slowing her down and the unexpected speed of the javelin, the light in Zoe’s eyes dimmed as she saw death approaching. Just before it struck, the light in front of Zoe twisted as a female hand appeared out of nowhere. The hand rapped against the speeding javelin with shocking precision, and the metal weapon splintered apart like broken wood. At the same time, another hand reached out and tapped Zoe’s body. The spirit nails weighing her down were rapidly ejected.

“Participant Zoe Goldscale has been eliminated.” An ice-cold voice blew through the battlefield. “Cease any further attacks and allow me to retrieve her.”

The twisting light fell away, and a woman stepped into view. If not for their differing facial features, Jayce would have assumed she was Erilin’s sister. They wore the same female servant’s attire and had similarly cold expressions. If Jayce couldn’t tell that she was Zoe’s guardian, he would have lived his 19 years of life in vain.

“Shit.” Mize swore uncharacteristically, but Jayce understood what she was feeling.

Mize’s plan was to quickly catch Zoe off guard and kill her before her guardian could act. That was also why she tried to let things get as chaotic as possible before making her move. If Zoe died, then her guardian would be free to bring another person out of this dungeon. It wasn’t practical to force Zoe to submit here, so Mize wanted to kill her and then make her case to the guardian that she—who defeated Zoe—should be brought home.

Once she left, Mize didn’t need to care about what happened to Lors and Quint.

Mize was disappointed, but Zoe was in absolute despair. Terrified, she tried to escape into a nearby tunnel. Zoe’s guardian shook her head in disappointment as she watched the young girl’s futile effort. Suddenly, she and the other guardians stiffened as they sensed an unfamiliar lifeforce in the tunnel that Zoe was approaching.

Zoe saw the figure first, and in her distraught state, her first response was to lash out with her spear. Sensing hostility, the figure reacted in kind. This chain reaction ended at Zoe’s guardian, who seemed to teleport as she appeared at Zoe’s side. The two of them attacked the intruder together.

Orange light flashed, followed by the sound of something hot cleaving the air. Jayce could have sworn that there was a noticeable delay between the light that he saw and the sound it made. Either way, everything happened too fast. A blade of magma appeared and vanished before anyone could see it clearly. The only thing they saw was the result. Both Zoe and her guardian fell to the ground in two pieces, their blood rushing out to flood the stone floor.

The culprit stepped out of the tunnel and gazed at everyone. It had four bright orange eyes without pupils and four muscular arms. Its ‘skin’ was an ever-shifting mass of molten rock. At 2.5 meters tall, it was certainly imposing, but its height didn’t account for the soul-crushing pressure that everyone felt when they looked up at it.

“Those two girls were quite rude.” It muttered in a muffled voice while bubbles popped around where its mouth should be. Its tone was nonchalant, as if it were discussing the weather.

No one said anything, but they were all thinking the same thing.

A god had appeared.