The Gamer's POV-Chapter 279: Battle of the Lords: A Long Way from Home

Cedric zoomed out of the eye of the raven above which had been listening in on the conversation of the lords, then cursed under his breath.

Without wasting a second, he reached out and yelled into his whisper-script:

"Everyone! Last resort!"

Last resort was the word to yell when they reached a point where they would have to face the lords. The plan was to split and disperse into different groups so that a certain group led by a certain vanguard would take on a particular lord.

Upon hearing that order now, everyone stiffened in collective shock because that signaled that the other lords were joining the battle.

Cedric turned his eyes back towards the direction of the cliff in the very far distance. And barely a second later, his form vanished as the weapon of the leader of the lords tore through the whirlwind of feathers, crashing into the ground and sending up a shockwave alongside the dirt flying in every direction.

Cedric appeared not too far away from where he had been and his wide eyes were fixed on the weapon that had almost cleaved him in two. He blinked, and when his lids opened, he saw the lord straightening by the side of the weapon and taking it out of the ground.

’When did he...?’ The armored form of Cedric’s regalia immediately began to materialize around his body and his grip on his nodachi tightened as he watched the man slowly turning his head to face him.

Cedric immediately went into battle mode, his mind racing through every strategy and contingency he had prepared for this fight.

The Lord fully straightened and exhaled, his eyes traveling slowly from the top of Cedric’s head down to his boots. An amused, slightly annoyed smile then touched his lips.

"You really are a strange and evasive little thing, aren’t you?" He turned fully now, raising a dark brow in curiosity. "Tell me. Is your name even Cedric? That arm I was shown. That wasn’t actually yours, was it?"

Cedric tilted his head and his eyes remained fixed on the weapon in the man’s hand. "Are we moving on to introductions? If so, then you must know it is quite rude to demand the name of another without first offering your own."

Lee Lim slipped his free hand into his coat pocket, and his posture relaxed into a deceptive slackness. "Well, I suppose you have a point there." He gritted his teeth. "But don’t you think it’s a bit more rude to try and sneak up on me while we are still in the middle of a conversation?"

At that moment, thick ribbons of oily darkness rushed out from beneath his coat. They spread and curved upward, hardening instantly into a protective dome. Not a second later, Aika, who had been silently descending with her katana raised, brought the blade down with a bone-shaking force. It smashed against the shield with a deafening, metallic clang.

Suddenly, a long, serrated pike shot out from the shadow-shield directly toward Aika’s throat. She knew she could not deflect it in time, so she vanished in a whirlwind of feathers, reappearing several meters away. She immediately clutched her neck, which was now bleeding profusely from the attack that had grazed her jugular. Her breath hitched as she began choking on her own blood.

Fortunately, daffodils flew through the air, spinning around her like a miniature cyclone. They then dissolved into a brilliant emerald light that flowed directly into the wound, sealing the flesh in an instant.

At the same time, the segment of darkness that had formed the pike detached from the rest of the shield and fell onto the sand. It began to bubble and expand, pulsing like a black heart, until a three-meter-tall monster made of pure shadow stood towering behind Lee Lim.

Lee Lim exhaled, looking exasperated, with his eyes closed. Then he opened them again, smiled, and continued in the same prideful calm. "It is quite unfortunate, really. This situation."

As he spoke, he turned his head, gesturing to the battlefield, then back to Cedric. "I know you may see me as some kind of monster, but believe me when I say I do not like this any more than you do. Your kind simply wants to return home, and I know you may not understand this... but I too have a home I need to return to. And to do that..."

"Let me guess," Cedric cut him off. "You need to wipe us out."

"No." Lee Lim tipped his head towards Cedric, and his eyes darkened. "I just need to kill the two of you."

"Why is that?" Sweat broke out on Cedric’s face.

"Why?" Lee Lim arched a brow, his composure beginning to fray at the edges. "Shouldn’t you already know that? I mean, you guys are the ones in the way of his plans."

Cedric frowned. "He?"

"He grows angrier every day you stay alive." Lee Lim gritted his teeth, his jaw tight enough to snap. "Do you have any idea what that does to me? Battling his anger every day has put me on the brink of madness. And as if that’s not enough, my..."

He halted, and his breath hitched. Then he exhaled slowly to calm himself, before his voice dropped to a desperate whisper. "I can’t. I can’t let you survive this day."

Cedric gripped the hilt of his nodachi tighter. Then he shifted his stance and spoke in clear, calm Korean. "I’m afraid I can’t let you kill me, Mr. Lim." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The man’s eyes widened in genuine shock. "How do you..."

He never got to finish the question because at that moment, a massive fist slammed into his side with the force of a wrecking ball. The blow sent him flying several meters across the beach, his body skipping over the white sand before he finally managed to catch his weight and land on one knee.

When he looked up, he saw a massive demoness currently attacking the creature of darkness that had formed earlier.

A frown creased Lee Lim’s brow because he had tried to block that attack in the nick of time, but the demoness had somehow managed to smash right through the shield of darkness he raised as if it were made of thin glass.

’What the... what grade is she?’ he thought as his eyes darted to his side. A screen immediately appeared with her information, and his eyes widened.

...Now, it was important to note that the reason Celeste had begun fighting earlier than the other vanguards was so that she could gather enough rage to level up. Right now, her stats were sitting at the absolute level cap of the grade above her own. She was effectively a level forty juggernaut in this moment, and that surge of raw power was exactly why she had been able to deliver an attack that actually moved a monster like Lee Lim.