“Harrison, Lucas, Sean, Arthur, Nathan and I will go to Depth Level 3.
“The rest will stay behind.”
His words made them react.
“I w-want to come to the Depth Level 3,” Leonora said.
“Let me follow you.” Mars’ voice flowed from the earpiece.
Neo pursed his lips.
‘Looks like the deaths affected them greatly.’
He pressed the earpiece.
“No, I can’t allow that.
“Mars, I’m taking most of the heavy hitters with myself. I need someone strong to protect the Corners after we leave.”
“…”
There was a short silence before Mars responded.
“Okay.”
His voice was off, but Neo did not purse the issue.
“Leonora, I can’t take you either. You are in no condition to fight.”
“I can fight. I defeated multiple monsters after the Shadows’ attack and I dealt with the Corner.”
She spoke in between her ragged breathes and stared at him with bloodshot eyes.
“N-Neo, I will go to the Depth Level 3.
“Either with everyone or alone.”
“What…?
“You think this is a game? You will die if you encounter Arthur’s Shadow in your current condition!”
The group flinched when Neo raised his voice.
It was their first time seeing him like that.
“Christian, Kendrick, Gwen, and Clara are already dead.
“We aren’t sure if we can rescue Jack.
“People are losing their lives, Leonora. Stop acting like a brat.
“This isn’t your Clan.
“We won’t pamper your requests.”
She clenched her teeth.
Heaven’s Gifted…
Genius…
Leonora had been called with many similar titles.
Her natural talent was unrivalled.
It was why she could lazy around all day, skip training, and still stand on par with geniuses like Morrigan and Mars.
What if she had put in effort and trained diligently?
‘I could’ve saved Christian.’
Leonora strengthened her resolve.
She glared at Neo.
“I d-don’t care. I’m going to the next Depth Level.”
“…”
He let out a sigh.
“Fine. But I don’t care if you die.”
When everyone became silent, Lucas spoke,
“Is it okay for seven of us to go and leave only thee here?
“The Shadows might attack them while we are away.”
“That won’t happen. The Shadows will attack our group since everyone who has a Shadow is coming with us.”
“What if they are already at this Depth Level? I’m sure they’ll go after Mars and others before following us to Depth Level 3.”
“They aren’t here.”
“…Are you sure?”
“I am.”
Neo added.
“Send Cassandra here. She will guard one Corner while Mars and Felix will guard other.”
Since Felix was too weak, Neo decided to keep him with Mars for safety purposes.
Cassandra arrived at their location after a few dozen minutes.
Neo explained to her about the current situation of the building.
“There are no monsters at the moment.
“You should be able to deal with ones who are lured by the Corner since this is only Depth Level 2.
“If too many monsters come at once, use the narrow corridors to fight them one by one while Mars come to your location.”
He gave her two slips of paper, one red and the other blue.
“These are one time use communicators. They will work even if we are at different Depth Level.
“Use the red one if you and Mars can’t deal with monsters and need our help.
“The blue one is to time the destruction of the Corners.”
“Understood.”
She looked far from enthused to receive orders from Neo.
“Is there any problem?” he asked.
“No.”
She clicked her tongue and looked away.
‘Our teamwork is a mess,’ Neo thought.
He left with Leonora, Arthur, Sean and Nathan.
They met with Harrison and Lucas at the entrance of the doorway to Depth Level 3.
“Let’s enter.
“Again, keep an eye on your masks. Make sure it isn’t broken or loose.
“We can’t afford a careless mistake like that.”
The mask created a translucent layer around their bodies.
It protected them from the high-concentration of Shadow elemental inside the Window.
They would die without it.
The group stepped into the swirling mass of shadows.
They felt as if they were stepping into quagmire.
Opening their eyes, they found themselves on the other side.
The concentration of shadow elemental increased by several folds.
An invisible presence was pressing down on them.
“Use your Divine Energy carefully.
“The air here is full of shadow elemental.
“There isn’t much non-elemental Divine Energy to absorb if you run out of juice,” Neo said.
He looked at the group complicated gaze before releasing an inaudible sigh.
‘This is going to decide how everything goes.’
Neo opened his mouth after he checked the watch.
“The third Corner is here.”
The indicator on the watch continuously.
“We will split into two groups.
“One group will deal with Shadows while the other group — Nathan and I — secures the Corner.”
Everyone stared at him with varied expression.
Apprehension, doubt, worry.
“Just you two?
“The monsters at Depth Level 3 are stronger than the previous Depth Level. Are you sure you want to face the monster guarding the Corner with only Nathan?
“What if Shadows attack you?” Lucas spoke.
“We can deal with the monsters ourselves.
“The Shadows won’t attack us. Despite being strong, they are still monsters in the end.
“Their instinct is to attack the original to take over their bodies.”
Neo’s words made Lucas stare at him for a few seconds.
Lucas answered after a while.
“…It’s your call. I’ll follow the orders of the mission leader.”
Everyone except Arthur agreed.
“We don’t need to split off.
“It’s better to deal with the Shadows first, then the Corners.”
“That’s where you are wrong, Arthur. The Shadows will revive even if we eliminate them.
“We have to destroy the Corners if we want to close the Window and leave.
“Defeating Shadows is not our goal. It’s a distraction that needs to be dealt with.”
Arthur did not look convinced.
Neo added,
“Don’t worry, we’ll ask for help if we can’t secure the Corner ourselves.”
“Fine…”
Neo left with Nathan after explaining them the order they should fight the Shadows.
He created a Domain of Darkness when they were far from the group.
“Are we really going to secure the Corner alone?”
“No, I lied to them.”
A relieved expression appeared on Nathan’s face until he heard Neo’s next words.
“Keep a Shadow summon near Arthur’s group and use the others to search for Lucas’ Shadow.
“Lucas is smart enough to know what I’m planning, so he will make sure the Shadow summon near them isn’t killed.”
“Is this to…”
“Yeah, we’ll go after Lucas’ Shadow as soon as Arthur’s Shadow attacks their group.”
“Two of us alone against Lucas’ Shadow?!”
He stared at Neo in disbelief.
“There is no other choice. Lucas’ Shadow can use portals. It can help the other Shadows escape or ambush us easily.”
Unless Lucas’ Shadow was defeated they could never win.
Neo continued.
“Had I brought anyone else with us, the Shadows would’ve kept an eye on us and went after us too.
‘This is why it’s only us two.”
“Look like I get your plan. But it’s impossible for us to defeat Lucas’ Shadow!
“He is the second strongest from the Zeus Clan after Morrigan!
“Hell, he could’ve contended for the first rank if he was allowed by his Clan!”
“We can defeat his Shadow. Didn’t I do what he couldn’t? I defeated Morrigan and I’m the Ruler.”
“You cheated back then!”
“I had a plan at that time and I do one now.”
Nathan suddenly became quiet.
Despite everything, he was more afraid of Neo than Arthur.
Arthur was strong — very strong — but only that.
He had nothing other than his strength.
Neo, however, was shrewd and smart on top of being a capable fighter.
He displayed multiple times why he shouldn’t be faced as an enemy.
His plan back during the ranking tournament to defeat Morrigan and rescue Felix.
His team receiving a slot after they failed to clear the participation requirement for the S-rank mission.
His crystal clear instructions after they entered the Window.
‘Maybe we can defeat Lucas’ Shadow?’
Nathan pursed his lips.
“Do you really have a plan to defeat Lucas’ Shadow?”
“Yeah.”
It was not exactly a plan, but saying the truth would make it hard to get Nathan’s cooperation.
After receiving Nathan’s approval, Neo cancelled the Coffin of Darkness.
They moved around while fighting and avoiding Shadow monsters before Nathan received a feedback.
He clutched his forehead and closed his eyes.
“My Shadow summon following the team just died.”
“Is it the Shadows?”
“I think, yes. The summon said Arthur and everyone suddenly took out their weapons.”
“Looks like the battle started on their side. What about Lucas’ Shadow?”
“About that…”
Nathan squeezed his eyes shut.
“I’ve been searching all high vantage points that have a clear view at Arthur and others.
“Only three places are left. One of them should’ve Lucas’ Shadow—”
He stopped speaking and took an audible breath.
“Found it.”