’Who is it now?’

Leon tightened the grip on his sword.

If a face that he didn’t want to see appeared from the woods, he would turn and run in the other direction.

He was confident enough to still deal with Raizen and Rook, but if it became a 3-against-one situation, he wasn’t sure if he could handle it.

THUMP~! THUMP~!

Loud running steps echoed from the dark woods. Almost like there was a stampede going around.

"The weight of these steps..."

Raizen’s expression turned severe as he had a hunch about who the person coming might be.

At that moment, from the woods, a heavily armored woman smashed through several trees, as if she didn’t bother running around them.

"LEON!"

Seonwoo Kim screamed.

In that moment, she saw what was going on.

There was blood on Leon’s clothes and face. It looked like he’d been injured quite a bit. And there were signs of large-scale battle.

And then she saw Raizen and Rook.

She connected the dots, and her face flashed with anger as she realized what was going on.

"Seonwoo... Whew, I am so glad to see you!"

Leon said with a relieved smile.

She was perhaps the only person in the entire Dead Redemption that was completely loyal to him and to nobody else.

He wasn’t a fool and knew that it was because she harbored feelings towards him, but he never planned to accept those feelings because he didn’t share the same feelings towards her.

Because she was ugly.

He, of course, wasn’t planning to tell her that, as she was a good asset to have.

"Leon, what’s going on?"

Seonwoo asked.

"These two tried to kill me."

Leon pointed at Raizen and Rook, who were calculating the situation inside their minds as the situation took a turn for the worse.

’Can we turn Seonwoo to our side?’

Raizen wondered with a frown.

"Why... How could you guys do such a thing? Aren’t we friends?!"

Seonwoo screamed angrily.

"Listen, Leon has to die. We all want to be the one to reach the top floor first. If we just keep helping this guy, he’ll become too much to handle."

Rook said.

"Seonwoo, help us."

Raizen said.

"It didn’t have to go like this. If you didn’t want to help Leon anymore, you could’ve just left Dead Redemption. Instead, you tried to go after his life.

"I know that all you guys care about is winning, but do you not care about the times we had together?"

Seonwoo asked with a hurtful expression.

"...Eventually, all of us would’ve had to fight to the death either way. We just made the first move."

Rook said.

"Seonwoo, listen. I know you’re taking Leon’s side because you feel indebted to him for bringing you to this guild, but he’s not the person you think he is.

"He just uses all of us and then throws us aside when he’s done with us. You will suffer the same fate.

"The moment when stronger Tank comes around, Leon will be the first person to recruit them and then proceed to throw you aside like trash."

Raizen said.

"That’s not true, Seonwoo. You’re my dear friend!"

Leon shouted.

It almost came out convincingly, but they all remembered all the people that Leon had kicked out of the guild to replace them with somebody stronger.

Seonwoo looked conflicted.

"They’re trying to poison your mind, Seonwoo. They’re vile people. They wouldn’t have stopped with just my death, they would’ve gone after others too."

Leon said, and then he grabbed Seonwoo’s hand, and her cheeks flushed pink, and she shyly lowered her gaze.

"You’re the only one I can trust, Seonwoo. Don’t let them manipulate you."

He even massaged Seonwoo’s palm with his thumb, which was a pretty intimate gesture, and Seonwoo felt her heart race as she tried to process his words.

’She is the lost cause. She will never go against Leon. He has done a good job manipulating her all this time.

’Since Leon’s first meeting with her, he has noticed her lack of self-confidence, which made her an easy target for manipulation.

’He’s been very friendly with her all this time, just so that one day he can use her like a tool to do his bidding.’

Raizen thought with a serious gaze.

In that moment.

They sensed something more, and then from the depths of the dark woods, more figures emerged.

"The others are also here? Why?"

Rook asked in surprise.

"I thought there was something strange about you guys wanting to go alone with Leon somewhere, so I followed behind from a safe distance.

"Then, I happened to hear Leon’s Cry For Help, and I immediately messaged other members of Dead Redemption.

"I thought you guys encountered some trouble with a monster, but I never thought it was something like this."

Seonwoo said.

"What the hell is going on?"

Kerr asked as he scratched the back of his head as he walked out of the woods with the rest of Dead Redemption.

He was planning to head to bed, but then they received Seonwoo’s message and had to run all the way here.

They weren’t actually in a mood for some night jogging.

"...It looks like they didn’t encounter a monster. It was just Leon asking for help, as Raizen and Rook here have been trying to kill him."

Hermes said with a chuckle.

It was easy for him to read the situation with his Read, which was strongest among all Dead Redemption members.

"You guys went for the leader? Fucking bold!"

Kerr scoffed.

"The time had come, huh. I didn’t expect it to be this soon."

Rasmus said.

"I never expected it to be you, Raizen."

Aria said with a conflicted look.

She didn’t know what to feel about this, but she was certain of one thing, and that was that Dead Redemption would never be the same again.

"As your leader, I am ordering you to capture Raizen and Rook for me. Trying to kill the leader of a guild is taboo in the tower. The only punishment acceptable is death!"

Leon shouted.

The members of Dead Redemption scratched their cheeks and were in some dilemma about what they should be doing.

Should they really listen to Leon anymore?

To them, it looked like Dead Redemption had reached the end.

"What’re you all waiting for?!"

Leon screamed angrily.

In that moment, Raizen stepped forward and faced the Dead Redemption members with a determined look on his face.

"You all knew that this had to be done sooner or later. Leon has grown too strong. And soon, it would be impossible to stop him.

"We’ve just been fighting him, and he has revealed abilities that none of us knew that he had. He’s been keeping secrets from us because he simply doesn’t trust any of us!

"He can somehow cure poison without an antidote. He can grow missing limbs and even a head back!

"Who knows what else he is hiding. The fact is this: he is even stronger than we thought initially, and that makes him dangerous.

"If you want to help, go ahead, but you’re making sure that you’ll never become the strongest with him around!"

Raizen screamed.

Those words gave Dead Redemption members a lot to think about, and they struggled to come to a conclusion.

"...I’ll be with you, Leon."

In that moment, Rasmus stepped forward and walked over to Leon’s side, who gave him a nod of approval.

’Of course. Rasmus is Leon’s little puppy. I am not surprised about this, but with him making the first move, it might encourage others to take Leon’s side.’

Rook thought with a grave expression.

"Heh, since Rasmus went there, I must take the opposite side. I can’t be on the same side as my rival Ranger!"

Kerr laughed and walked over to Raizen and Rook, which even took them by surprise, both unsure of what to make of Kerr’s sudden decision to ally with them.

"Tch."

Rasmus just clicked his tongue.

"You’re taking their side, Kerr? Fine, but you’re going to regret that."

Leon said coldly.

"Shut the fuck up, you stuck-up bitch. You’re no longer calling the shots around here."

Kerr said with a smirk.

Leon’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

"..."

With a troubled look, Lock stepped forward and slowly walked over to Leon’s side, hanging his head low.

He hadn’t been that long in Dead Redemption, and sadly, the guild was already falling apart, which saddened him.

"Glad to have you with us."

Leon patted him on the shoulder, and Lock just nodded slightly and stood behind them all, as he wasn’t sure about his choice yet.

Only three people hadn’t chosen their allegiance yet—Aria, Xiao Yue, and Hermes.

"Yue, Aria, please..."

Leon looked at them with a tender gaze.

He’d always been nice with them, so he thought that they would show him support, but it didn’t look like it.

"I am not taking any sides. This is stupid."

Xiao Yue said coldly and sat down on the log, crossing her arms over her chest.

"...Me neither. I am sorry."

Aria said and sat next to Yue.

"...It looks like the teams are uneven then. Four people at Leon’s side. Three people over at Raizen’s side. I guess I need to make teams even."

Hermes chuckled and started making his way over to Raizen’s side.

’Nice!’

Raizen cheered inwardly, as having Hermes’ assistance meant a lot, as he was the only person in the tower that could defeat Leon in combat.

Having Hermes on his side gave Raizen a much-needed boost of confidence.

"I am not surprised, Hermes. You always thought you were better than me, haven’t you? A brat with a silver spoon in his mouth!"

Leon screamed angrily.

"No need to start throwing childish insults at me now, Leon, or should I call you by your real name... Ro—"

"SILENCE!"

Leon shouted with furious expression. It looked like Hermes really hit an nerve.

Hermes chuckled mischievously.