Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Couldn't the other party be less obvious that they were going through a power up? Simon thought so in his head but did not utter it loud. The reason for that was because for some reason, the blood inside his body was agitated as he saw Godwin's transformation.

What was going on?

Why did the other party induce a bloodline reaction within him?

Simon observed the other party's transformation, that kind of appearance was too similar to a certain race.

"Could it be that he has the bloodline of an angel?"

In the world of Althaea, there lived many mystical races, out of which humans, demi-humans, beastmen, dragons, sea folks and demon nobles were only some of the few.

There are many unusual races, races that are yet to be discovered and races born from the intermarriage of two species. The race of angels was similarly one of the few mystical species present in the world of Althaea.

From what Simon knew about the race of angels as a Demon Earl, was only a little. Most of his knowledge came from the discussion and the information that was shared from the previous Hexennacht.

He had never encountered an angel before, which is why Simon couldn't be sure if the other party in front of him was an angel or not.

No wait… Simon suddenly recalled the scenes from the [Historia] on the third trial. The woman who fought against the Atrocity, Yelan was an angel and a very high ranking one at that.

Simon glanced at the similarities between the two and felt that it was probable. Although Godwin still looked very much human, that kind of aura wasn't something that any adventurers could give off.

Simon cleared his mind and increased the output of the curse energy spreading through the world. It did not matter whether his opponent was an angel or not, all that mattered right now was him taking the other party down.

Now that both of them had brought out their trump cards, the battle from this point on would decide everything.

Which side will win and which side will lose? Simon and Godwin both stared at each other, the tension in the air was palpable. Just as they were both about to make their move, an unknown variable that nobody had accounted for, appeared.

[Warning- The Fourth Finger has intruded the Sixth Trial, Open Space- Snowlands. It is an anomaly that shouldn't have existed in the trials in the first place. Stop it before it defeats the Abomination and goes through the teleportation gate].

[Addional Warning- Failure on stopping it will plunge the world into a cataclysm, affecting billions of lifeforms]

A notification in a glaring red colour suddenly appeared in front of the two challengers causing them to lock their brows in a frown.

"Fourth Finger?" Godwin showed a rare baffled expression as he continued to read the notification.

This fourth finger was another unexpected variable that he did not account for much like the demon. The notification had also appeared at the worst possible time. What's more, given the information in it, Godwin couldn't just ignore it even if he wanted to.

After all, on failure of stopping this new variable, it will plunge the world into a cataclysm that will affect billions of lives… the Fourth Finger had to be stopped.

Where was the other party hiding all this time? How did they manage to deceive the trial up until now? Godwin wondered.

Flying across him, Simon too was having his own thoughts as he contemplated something in his head while reading the notification.

Neither side attacked the other as if there was a taciturn agreement between them beforehand.

The adventurers in the distance who did not understand the situation could only look at the two in confusion wondering why they had ceased acting against each other all of a sudden. The atmosphere of animosity was still there, but none of them made the first move.

"Are they measuring each other up? Is the demon that strong?"…

"They must be having a mental battle right now. I heard that some of the High Rankers from the mainland fight, they could easily tell the party's movements and actions just based on the slight movements, aura and the posture of their opponent's bodies. Even though we don't see, the two must be locked in an intense battle"…

"I see than should we help the leader? This is the perfect opportunity to bring the demon down"…

"Do not bother, that level of battle is clearly beyond us. We will only get in the way of the leader. Besides the golems are also suspicious, they have ceased attacking us for some reason. They must be planning something, we need to stay on guard".

While the adventurers were misunderstanding things, the situation on the battlefield started changing. The Abomination that was tightly sealed by the pillars started roaring out loud. A spatial tear that was quickly becoming larger, could be seen not far away from it.

The spatial tear had a sinister aura to it, causing anyone gazing at it to feel unsettled. A few seconds later, a figure in a grey robe walked out of it.

The moment they appeared, the entire sky of the sixth trial became dull as if losing colour. What's more the mana in the surroundings also started behaving weirdly as they came in contact with the figure's aura.

Needless to say, this unknown presence naturally attracted the attention of everyone present. All eyes fixed towards the figure in the grey robe. Just as everyone was wondering who this person was, the figure in question made their move.

Their arm transformed into a huge weird sledgehammer as they rushed towards the struggling Abomination in an attempt to finish off the creature.

However, before it could, multiple swords shining with all sorts of skills and a golden blade light came attacking it, forcing it to defend and jump back.

Simon glanced towards Godwin. That attack earlier was by no means a sign of their cooperation. Each of them simply wanted to stop the variable from messing up their trial. The fact still remained that they were still enemies.

After being forced to jump away from the Abomination, the figure muttered some grating incoherent words and shifted its attention to its assailant. The robe on the figure also fell off at this moment, revealing an appearance that surprised all the adventurers.

"What?!! Isn't that Franco? So he was alive?"…

"Wait, why does he look so different? And why did he interfere in the leader's battle?".

The adventurer spoke while looking at the new entrant whose figure resembled a lot like their comrade.

"Something is wrong, Franco was never this strong" Raven remarked feeling that the situation was turning out of control every second.

"Franco?? No, you are not him. Who are you?"

Being so close to the other party, how could Godwin not see the obvious difference between the two? Although there were some similarities, the friend he knew was only a level 600 adventurer, he was never this strong.

The aura that the figure in front of him gave was no less powerful than his own. Other than the difference in level, there was also the obvious difference in appearance.

Although not handsome, Franco could be said to have his own features and strong points. However, the figure had a disfigured face, that only held slight similarities with Franco.

The figure did not speak and continued to mumble rubbish. Perhaps it couldn't speak or maybe it was using a different language. Whatever it was, its gaze was definitely not friendly.

Godwin and the others were confused by the sudden appearance of the unknown Fourth Finger, but not Simon. When he learned the name from the notification, he already had his guess and after seeing the figure in person, he was completely certain.

The Fourth Finger the notification warned them about was one of the fingers from the Hand of Ozymandias, the very same hand that Yelan cut off in the [Historia].

Additionally, he had already encountered and defeated one of the fingers of Ozymandias in the fourth trial, the Fifth Finger that was currently floating around him.

No wonder the finger behaved so unusually ever since coming to the Sixth Trial. It appeared that it was resonating with its own kind.

The Fourth Finger had also detected the presence of the Fifth Finger around Simon and that is why it was muttering gibberish. However, Simon wasn't worried that the Fifth Finger would suddenly rebel and go out of his control after all, the remnant will of Ozymandias no longer dwelled in the finger.

Right now, the Fifth Finger was only a mindless tool that was controlled by Simon.

After muttering some gibberish and stomping its legs in frustration, the fourth finger gave up communicating with the fifth finger. Then it glared menacingly at Simon, Godwin and everyone present in the trial and released its powerful curse energy.

The curse energy that was released by the Fourth finger, was more domineering and oppressive than the curse energy of the finger of Ozymandias on Simon. The two energies combined together and expanded like a pathological plague, affecting everything and everything in this world.

The clouds in the sky turned grey, the snow started melting and even the ground underneath lost its earthy colour. It was as if a new world had opened in this enormous snow covered land.

The powerful curse energy even pressured the divine aura on Godwin's side eating away at it at every second. This caused Godwin to grimace, the fact that the fourth finger was able to overwhelm his divine magic meant that the other party had a highly refined control over their energy, it was clearly even above his own.