Chapter 1366 (1/2)

Ace squatted down on the hill and idly rubbed the red-brown clay between his fingers. Below them, a group of several thousand people was hurrying deeper into the hilly land that was as much swamp as solid ground. The fleeing group’s speed was rapidly slowing as they encountered adverse terrain. This only seemed to spur them more quickly forward.

Despite the fact that Rose Callaway could sense a hint of danger from the people below, none bothered to check the surrounding hills for enemies. They were too intent on their escape to bother.

Rose braced herself. And as she expected, after watching the flow of bodies below for some time, Ace slowly turned and smiled up at her. His eyes were red-rimmed from lack of sleep and his continued obsession. And because of his strange nightly ritual of merging himself into the memories they had obtained. “Do you know what it takes to create a villain?”

Aren’t you going to tell me no matter what I answer? Rose wanted to say out loud, but she knew that would just aggravate Ace. He was… strangely fragile right now. The way Ace was now… everything had to be arranged in a certain way. So instead, she just shook her head.

Ace’s smile deepened. “First, you need a hero.”

Randidly Ghosthound, Rose supplied mentally. She was well aware of the dangerous fixation Ace had developed with his former friend. There just didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it. Hopefully, after this plan was finished, Ace would…

Inwardly, Rose sighed. I guess I just hope he won’t be dead...

Rolling his shoulders, Ace straightened. Then he raised his arms above his head and interlaced his fingers, pushing his palms toward the sky. “Next… a unique and unusual effect.”

The Impending Rock.

“Then… and this is perhaps where most people focus their attention to their detriment, you need a powerful force of otherness. Something that doesn’t quite fit with the inherent logic of the human world. Sometimes it is even a coincidence, where two normal elements are juxtaposed in an unexpected way. In this case, something that doesn’t even fit in the logic of an Earth that has been empowered by the System.”

In this case, the Lifeblood essence gathered with the image of Straud and then refined by the Winged Serpent’s unleashed image. But even so… the power of images that Randidly spread across the Earth is also very powerful… Is the Lifeblood Essence really that special?

Almost as though he noticed the doubts through Rose’s expression, Ace chuckled. “This is what I’m talking about. People get too wrapped up in the details of the element of otherness. Let me assure you that this amount will be enough.

“And finally…” Ace’s eyes turned back to the group of people hurrying below. “You need an opening. A time where a hero diverts from what should have been done due to a misunderstanding or being too distracted by other matters. Although even I admit that these Corrupted Invaders are a cause worth addressing… but I think Randidly Ghosthound will find that allowing this man to run free is a mistake.”

“Is he truly that strong? The Blighted Paragon?” Rose frowned. “From what we heard, even the mapmaker of the Order Ducis could overwhelm him and his forces…”

“The Order Ducis…” Ace’s eyes seemed to gleam. “Not a single one of them can be underestimated. Just because Vye works on maps doesn’t mean her image isn’t sharp. And that situation with her hand… well, I suspect Randidly will resolve that soon.

“But no, Howard Boltmer isn’t overwhelmingly powerful. Yet his Skills are quite unique. I assume you’ve largely been suppressing your Skill Detection… but why don’t you take out your clipboard and take a look at what’s going on below?”

Again, Rose basically had no choice but to humor him. So she got out her clipboard and a pen. Her fingers instantly began scrawling different Skills across the paper. Danger Sense, Physical Fitness, Running, Endless Effort, Quick Recovery, Leap, Sense Temperature…

Very quickly, a dozen basic Skills appeared before Rose. She continued to mark them down, annoyed at the knowledge that nothing caught her attention meant that she was missing something. Chewing on her lip, Rose focused her mind and began to parse apart the ambient ripples of Skills coming from the group below her with more care. And very quickly, she discovered something that made her gasp.

“They… their Skill Levels are so weak…!” Rose blinked several times. “I barely sense any that are above one hundred… and yet they managed to conquer so many other bubble cities…?”

“I don’t know the details, but Howard Boltmer’s Skills appear to be related to the manipulation and creation on a cellular level. Essentially, he modified the DNA of some of his subordinates to allow them to transform into partial monsters with much higher Stats. So why he is quite weak right now… he is essentially working with trash.”

“Now that it’s living, you want him to modify the Impending Rock.” Rose breathed.

Ace wagged a finger at her. “Shouldn’t it be called the impending flesh now? But yes, to put it inelegantly, that is the case. Besides… there is another factor at play here that will aid in the grand creation of a villain. Mirroring.”

Ace’s smile widened. “Doesn’t Randidly now have an image that looks like an egg? Well, we have an egg too. And when they both hatch… which do you think will be more powerful?”

*****

After the meeting about the Epic Danger Zone, most of the members of the Order Ducis and the representatives from the different Task Forces left Randidly’s mist-shrouded island. Now that they had finalized the roster of the 100 person vanguard that would be the first group to test the waters of the Epic Danger Zone, there were a lot of preparations to be done. Forces and supplies were being moved to the area around Lake Apollo even at this moment. Civilians nearby were notified and being evacuated, just in case something unexpected happened.

But Helen, along with Naffur and Tatiana, stayed after the meeting and looked at Randidly’s sitting form with uneasy eyes.