The Deceitful One

Henry roared as he swung his broad sword horizontally at one of his opponents. Although the latter was just barely able to block it, just the sheer force of the attack had sent him flying a dozen feet away.

He then looked at the other opponent who was looking at him with terror and retreating step by step. Henry ran towards him at a speed that simply seemed impossible for a man of his size.

Before his opponent could even figure out what had happened, Henry had already swung his broad sword down at him with both hands.

CLANG!!

The Blood Path Transcendent managed to somehow block the downward slash with his dual daggers. However, his hands and legs were beginning to tremble incessantly from Henry's power.

At such a crucial moment, Bryan emerged from his shadow, completely undetected by both him and Henry!

Only Bryan's torso and hands had surfaced from the shadow while his lower body still remained hidden. With quick speed, he then slashed the Blood Path's Transcendents area behind both his knees and then quickly went back inside his shadow.

His actions didn't even take a split second!

Henry, whose sword was still pressed against his opponent's blade, felt the latter faltering under his power all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, his opponent, was greatly alarmed, as the cartilage behind both his knees was cut open. He finally couldn't hold it in any longer as his legs gave in.

Under the sheer force of Henry's strength, his opponent was brought down to his knees, and in but a few more seconds, his sword finally cleaved his opponent into two.

Henry looked at his opponent and the pool of blood that had formed under him and felt perplexed. He then noticed the wounds on his knees which clearly hadn't been inflicted by him and was taken aback.

"Aggghhh!!" Right then, Henry heard a painful howl and turned his head toward the source of the sound. And when he did, his eyes widened.

He saw Bryan crouching atop his other opponent's shoulders. Two black daggers were lodged inside his opponent's head as he fell listlessly to the ground.

Bryan then took out both the daggers, and with a flick of his wrists, removed all the blood stains on them. He then looked up at Henry and smirked.

"So it was you…" Henry mumbled. He didn't even realize when Bryan had injured the opponent he was fighting earlier. For a few moments, he was left confused as to how he had cleaved his opponent in two in such a simple manner.

And now, before he knew it, his other opponent had died as well. Henry then looked around and saw the dead bodies that belonged to the Holy Blood Sect's members.

He then looked at his own team members who were in the process of killing the final two Blood Path Transcendents. He couldn't help but wonder in awe, 'Wasn't that way too quick?'

They were outnumbered from the beginning of the battle, and Henry knew that it would take them a lot of time to finish this battle. Coming out of it completely unscathed was wishful thinking on his part. But now, the tables had turned!

Henry thought about how Bryan had appeared and helped him out of nowhere, and immediately after, killed another opponent. He looked at Bryan who was walking towards him and thought, 'Don't tell me! Is this all because of him?'

Bryan walked in front of Henry and tapped him on the shoulder, "Quit daydreaming. We still have to kill those last two Rank 1s and then fight their leader."

Henry snapped out of his senses as he nodded his head solemnly, "You're right. Let's go!"

Out of the ten Holy Blood Sect members, only three were now left. Alfredo and two Rank 1s. The rest had already been killed and it hadn't even been five minutes into the battle. A major reason for this was Bryan's assistance from the shadows!

And Alfredo had acutely noticed this, how could he not? If it wasn't for Bryan, there would have been much more casualties among the Strike Team members.

His eyes couldn't help but narrow as he saw Bryan and Henry joining their team members and finishing off the last two Rank 1 Blood Path Transcendents.

He wasn't the least bit bothered that all the people from his side had died. In fact, if anything, he wanted even more people to die here, regardless of which side they belonged to.

'This kid…' Alfredo looked at Bryan who just now had helped Andrew deliver the killing blow to the last Rank 1 Transcendent of the Holy Blood Sect present.

He couldn't help but admire Bryan's prowess, 'No wonder Master was so impressed by him.'

Alfredo saw the Strike Team members slowly surrounding him as they smiled victoriously. He couldn't help but scoff, "You think it's over? How naive!"

He clapped his hands twice and the next moment, about twenty more figures came out of the coal mine's entrance and surrounded the Strike Team members instantly.

Bryan and the rest broke out in cold sweats as they saw this sudden turn of events. Although the new people that had arrived were only Apprentices, just their sheer number made them nervous. After all, wouldn't a thousand ants be able to take down an elephant?

Alfredo looked at all the dead bodies that belonged to his underlings and thought inwardly, 'The blood nearly isn't enough for Master's ritual.'

He then looked at the Strike Team members as well as the twenty Apprentices that were nurtured in the past few months and smirked coldly, 'However, with all this blood containing spiritual force, it would be more than enough.'

Alfredo snapped his fingers and ordered, "Go on, what are you waiting for? Kill them!"

Although the Apprentices were scared out of their wits, they still didn't dare to disobey Alfredo. After all, most of them had their loved ones imprisoned by him. Or they were forced to work through some other unscrupulous methods.

Hence, it was do-or-die for them. They were left with no other choice. All of them let out loud cries as they ran toward the Strike Team members. The cry was less of a battle cry and more of an outlet for them to drown their fear and nervousness in.

And just like that, another brutal melee began.

…

In the depths of the abandoned coal mine was a humongous underground cavern that housed an ancient ruin. It was supported by a dozen large and thick pillars, the intricate carvings on them displayed stories of a long-forgotten era.

The cavern was shrouded mostly in darkness and the only source of light was the glow of lichens on the walls and the ceiling. Just one glance at this place and one could feel the vicissitudes of time and see its undeniable beauty.

The vines adorned the walls on all sides. And a few of them even crawled up the many pillars. One couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of this cavern even though there were cracks here and there along with some broken walls.

In the depths of this cavern, a large door stood about thirty feet tall. The surface of the door was carved with mysterious runes written in Ancient Hymmnos.

Surprisingly enough, the runes were very similar to the ones on the hardcover of the Book of Medici!

The door was slightly ajar, a clear indication that someone had entered through it. Past this large door, was a small room. And in the center of this small room was a cylindrical pedestal, atop which hovered a thin black gauntlet!

If one observed this pedestal carefully, one would notice that the entire pedestal was covered by an invisible force field and a very strong one at that.

In front of this pedestal, a middle-aged man was sitting cross-legged in a lotus position. He had black hair and his facial expression was tranquil. He seemed to be meditating at the moment as energy particles swirled around him fiercely and entered his body.

The number of energy particles that had gathered around the man was a clear indication of his high rank! And the volatility and fierceness in the flow of these energy particles indicated that he was on the cusp of an advancement.

The middle-aged man soon exhaled a deep breath of air as the energy particles around him gradually subsided.

He opened his eyes, which were the darkest shade of red and looked at the black gauntlet hovering on the pedestal in front of him. The excitement in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

"Rank 4 Artifact of the Theft Path!" Sean mumbled. He then turned his head and gazed at the fierce battle taking place outside the cave entrance.

He couldn't help but smirk, "The key is here as well. And the amount of blood already gathered outside should be enough for my advancement to Rank 4."

Sean slowly got up to his feet and began to walk toward the entrance,

"Time to end it all."