Syberius had trouble containing a smile. Running into Keynes Kid of all people in a place like this was more than he could dream of. Syberius no longer considered going after the sub-boss. With Keynes Kid in his possession, he’d be unstoppable and nothing was going to stand in his way to take control of the Solar Council.

He slowly flew higher until he levelled with the boy. Kid took off the hood and stared at him unconcerned. Of course, Zimmermann had made sure to feed the ego of this brat. Soon, Keynes Kid would learn to respect his betters.

“You have two choices, boy,” Syberius said. “You can go with me of your own volition or I’ll make you suffer so badly, you’ll be begging for mercy.”

Kid cocked his head, giving Syberius an amused look. Syberius felt his rage start to simmer. Zimmermann had truly spoiled that boy, giving him an unrealistic idea of the world they lived in.

“I don’t have time to play with--”

Syberius wasn’t going to listen to insults. He used his second hidden wild card and [Blink]ed behind Kid, his hand like an executioner’s axe dropped on Kid’s neck.

“Wha--” the boy yelped but Syberius didn’t give him any chance to counter-attack and squeezed, rendering the boy unconscious. Then tossed him up and caught him by an ankle. It was time to return home with spoils.

He was going to ensure that his son, Marakus, would suffer the consequences of his betrayal. Syberius couldn’t stop smiling. He won!

***

Keynes reeled from the amount of mana and stamina [Mind Illusion] consumed to trap Syberius Sael in his own mind. It wouldn’t last long unfortunately. Even though Syberius Sael was a human essence ascender and his spiritual stage was at the very bottom, he still was Level 8 and that counted for something.

And that [Blink] skill. It surprised Keynes; if not for [Mind Illusion], Keynes would have lost right there. He hadn’t even considered such a skill to be in circulation. Of course, it was only natural that with time other ascenders would gain access to more powerful items and skills.

I really need to hurry up with my advancement or I may be less lucky the next time someone comes after me.

Keynes considered killing the other man but there were a great number of people stirring awake and noticing him. He didn’t think that killing a member of the Solar Council would be a good idea. There was always a possibility that it’d set things in motion for which Keynes and the rest weren’t ready.

Giving the kneeling man one last look, Keynes took off and flew north.

***

Syberius was flying out of the dominion when something started nagging at his mind…

Then, suddenly, he was kneeling at the ground amid scattered bodies of ascenders and monsters. Disoriented and confused, he looked around. The surviving pockets of ascenders were leaving the plateau… What?.

Where was Kid? Where was that wretched boy?!

Syberius stood up, then picking the closest group of ascenders, he started making his way over to them. He noticed the monsters from the rocky pillars were climbing down hastily. Soon, this place would turn into a killing field. But before Syberius could leave it, he had to know what had happened. How was it possible that one moment he had Keynes Kid in his hands and the next he was kneeling on the ground?

As he reached the first retreating group, he called them to stop. They only did so after someone mentioned his name.

“Have any of you seen my encounter with the other flying ascender?” he asked bluntly. With the constantly spawning monsters, Syberius didn’t have time to waste. These bunch would die anyway.

They shook their heads, making Syberius grit his teeth in frustration.

“We only got our senses back very recently. We haven’t seen anything.”

It made sense. Not everyone recovered yet. On the other hand, there were other groups already entering the forest bordering the plateau. Some of the first to recover from the champion’s painful debuff, perhaps.

Ignoring the group he’d asked the question, Syberius jumped into the air and flew toward the farthest group. He noticed the familiar face. Wasn’t she the heir of the Nishimura family? Syberius couldn’t place her name though.

His landing made them stop at the verge of the forestline.

“What has happened to the other flying ascender?”

They glanced at each other but something in Syberius’s eyes made them speak up with little hesitation.

“After you caught him, you simply drifted to the ground. Locked in a kneeling position.”

Syberius snorted at that but he quickly took control of his emotions, damping his anger.

“Was there anyone aiding him?” It looked like someone used a Talent on Syberius. There were a great deal of mind-affecting Talents out there.

“He was alone.”

Syberious’s eyes locked on the Nishimura heir. She was standing at the back of the group, silent like a mouse. He considered striking her down. It’d cripple the Nishimura and in extension the Oriental League but he couldn’t be sure of how strong she was and with all the accumulated damage and no natural healing, Syberius decided it wasn’t worth it.

“Which way did he fly away?”

“North,” they eagerly replied. The opposite direction--hmm--then again, if Kid’s minders went north, they most likely were trying to avoid the spawning ground on their way to the sub-boss.

“If you lie, I’d find each of you and flay your skin.”

***

Keynes found his team roughly two hours later and only because Taker stood in the clearing near a wide river. As Keynes landed, his body threatened to shut down. He pushed himself so much that Alice had to enter his core and do something about his stamina. She’d confirmed that it was a temporary patchwork and it would have unpleasant consequences but at least it let him fly without falling unconscious.

“Sir,” Taker said and rushed to offer Keynes help. “I’m glad you’re alright, I mean, are you?.”

“I am. Let’s get back to the rest. I have to talk to Esopp and Serrata. It’s urgent.” Keynes straightened up, battling a nauseating urge to collapse in a heap where he stood. “I hope the camp isn’t far away.”

Taker glanced away for a brief moment then said, his words slow and careful.

“The camp is only thirty minutes from here. But,” Taker paused for a second. “Sir, Mr Earl hasn’t returned yet.”

“Returned? Returned from where?”

Taker explained what happened after Keynes had left.

An old man was trying to play a hero. First the Deadly Encounter, now this? Jackass.

Keynes sighed then asked Taker to find him a spot to recover. In response to a confused look from Taker, Keynes explained that he didn’t trust Serrata to face her in his condition without having Esopp to back him up. For all the talk about the alliance, Keynes knew to be wary of Serrata. Their companies might have the agreements but the woman seemed to have strong personal goals and Keynes couldn’t exclude a possibility of betrayal. Especially here. Taker understood and found a comfortable spot between the roots of a large tree. Its canopy hid them from the airborne enemies, while the erected, thick roots provided good cover on the ground.

***

Several hours later, Keynes and Taker were on their way to the camp. He’d sent Alice ahead of them to scout in the case of foul play from Artefact Exchange.

She returned with good news. No trap waited ahead. When they entered the cave, they ran into a heated conversation. Keynes’s arrival ended it but the unease remained in the air.

“What’s going on?”

Serrata gave Keynes a calculating look, one he didn’t very much like. Staying on high alert Keynes locked his eyes with her until she spoke up.

“Your people wish to go back and look for Esopp Earl but we’re too close to the centre of the dominion to give up now.”

That indeed was an issue. Keynes didn’t know what to do about the disappearance of Esopp. The other man was still alive because his name was in the ranking though. One of the hard rules of the System and the dominion event was that it only listed ascenders who were alive. If the top 1 was killed, his name would vanish from the ranking and the top 2 would become the new top 1.

This assured them that Esopp was alive. But that wasn’t good enough of course. He could be critically ill or wounded and they wouldn’t know until his name disappeared from the ranking.

Keynes took his elites and the healer for a discussion. Their argument was very similar to what Keynes had already told Taker; they didn’t like the imbalance of power without Esopp, which kind of hurt Keynes a little. Wasn’t he strong enough to deal with the woman? Apparently he was not.

Nonetheless, he didn’t argue about this with others and was open to listen to their ideas, which unfortunately centred around finding Esopp before moving forward the sub-boss.

“I don’t disagree with you but I ran into Syberius Sael and I don’t think we can afford going back without the risk of him snatching the sub-boss from us.” It was a stretch there. For all they knew, Syberius Sael had already attempted to attack the sub-boss and had failed, but Keynes stuck with the argument, supplementing it with a few more. “There is also a possibility of Sael waiting for me and I don’t like our chances if we split up. On top of that, Esopp is Level 7 and has strong spells. I don’t think he needs our help.”

In truth, Keynes could order them to blindly follow him but he’d vowed to find a way to forge loyalty and wanted this group to go with him willingly.

After another ten minutes of discussion, they eventually agreed with Keynes’s rationale but were very explicit about their feelings toward leaving Esopp out there.

Serrata was mildly surprised to find the group agreed to follow without Esopp. Keynes asked Alice to exclusively watch Serrata for any signs of betrayal. It only added weight to Esopp’s words about loyalty as the current arrangement was becoming tedious and irritating when one needed to watch his back even among allies.

They left the cave the same day but didn’t push hard due to stamina and mana issues. With no innate health regeneration, the two healers had their hands full. Even a tiny scratch could spell disaster.

The riverways had a scarce number of monsters, albeit they were stronger than usual Level 3. Still, the monsters didn’t prove to be a problem for the group. The ease made them paranoid and for a good reason. By the evening they came across a large lake with an island a kilometre from the coast.

The island was the sub-boss’s lair.

“This must be a joke,” Serrata said frustrated. “How are we supposed to get there?”

“I don’t think the dominion cares about fairness.”

“You wouldn’t be so flippant if you didn’t have [Flight],” she snapped, her mood sour.

Others didn’t look much better and everyone was on edge with how peaceful this whole area was. Now, with the blocked access to the sub-boss, the prospect of winning started to dwindle rapidly.

At least, no one brought up an idea to fly everyone to the island. It would be a chore. But what were their options at the moment? Alice confirmed that the lake had monsters in it. So swimming was out of the question. They were not equipped to fight in the water.

“Alright everyone, listen up, it’s getting late and we have an exhausting day behind us. We’ll camp somewhere here and figure out what to do in the morning.”

They chose a ravine that offered a good hidden position. Keynes remained on the beach, using his [Night Sight] to observe the calm waters. His spiritual sense was powerful but not good enough to sense any monster there.

He mentioned it to Alice and she checked again.

Oh … it appears that monsters have vanished.

What? Are you sure? Can you push deeper into the lake?

She nodded and vanished from his sight for sometime.

The lake, or at least this part of the lake, has no monsters in it at the moment, she eventually said.

Keynes wondered if it could be a trap. The dominion had an ability to hide spiritual energy and given that it was the sub-boss’s lair, it was a natural assumption that they were being lured into entering the lake.

Unless they were not and that was the way this whole thing worked.

Keynes turned off [Night Sight] and found himself surrounded by a pitch black scenery. Not a single star or the moon were in the sky. Now, that made sense. They could move during the night but their sight was extremely limited.

Master, intruders!

What?

How?!

A bright flash blinded Keynes, he sensed several spiritual signatured converging on his location with precision that told him that they saw him. He briefly considered flying away when he heard shouts coming from the ravine. His expedition was discovered…

“Don’t move or I’ll pierce your heart,” a voice said from the darkness. “My Talent allows me to strike true, even when I’m blinded. Keep your hands away from your dimensional pouch.”

Keynes felt several, strong ascenders slowly surround him on the beach. Being sure of himself, and not wishing to risk his companions, he followed the ambushers’ orders.

Suddenly, eight lanterns came to light, lighting up the beach.

Seven ascenders stood three metres from Keynes, their weapons drawn and aimed at him. Their faces were hidden by balaclavas but other than that they wore rift gear.

That was some dangerous bunch.

What’s happening in the camp? He asked Alice.

They are being disarmed but no one is harmed.

That was a relief.

“Put your dimensional bag and all items on the ground,” someone from beyond the light commanded.

“Or else?” Keynes asked, keeping his voice hard and unyielding. It wasn’t easy with his companions’ lives at stake but he quickly realised that the only reason he hadn’t been directly disarmed was his strength being unknown to the ambushers.

They were uncertain how strong he was and he was going to capitalise on it.