Chapter 473: Manipulating The Team
Godfrey was expressionless.
Ema approached Ken, then placed her hand on his shoulder. Then she leaned forward. "You are confused. Let me educate you. You see, you and the rest of every single true human on Earth have been reduced to nothing but chess pieces on a board. This confusion you feel now, it’s the confusion of an inferior before the matters of the superior."
Ken tightened his grip around his katana. Ema noticed his action but did nothing. "Have you not heard of me?"
Ema turned to Godfrey, then back at Ken. She took a step back, as if assessing him with cold, crimson eyes that had this condescending glow.
"I am Cain. Yes, the one you sheep fear. I am the one who altered the course of history, who began the hate between humanoid and beast summoners. I alone split humanity. They try to erase me, yet their actions drive me deeper and deeper into society, and now it whispers my name. I am in every street, every district, every nation."
Her smile slowly grew wider while she maintained eye contact with Ken. As his expression changed, her smile grew wider.
"Shocked?"
The sound of Ken’s katana leaving the sheath resounded in the room, but before it could touch Ema’s neck, Godfrey stopped it.
His hand was covered in a golden gauntlet wrapped around the blade.
Ema sighed.
"Oh, I forgot to present the last part of my résumé. I’m also a master of lies."
"Don’t listen to him."
"Cain is alive?" Ken faced Godfrey.
"He is," Godfrey replied. "But he’s not here. He’s just using this body." While saying that, he lowered the katana.
Ema went back to the wall and folded her arms. "Harvest time is near, Little Frey. I truly wish you could win, but I know how this story plays out." The crimson light died out.
Ema blinked, then touched her neck. Her eyes widened. "What in the world? How did I get injured on my neck?!"
Ken took a step back, then more steps, his eyes widened to the core.
Godfrey, on the other hand, went straight to the window. Just now, Cain had managed to confuse him. Cain had long gotten what he wanted by revealing himself, which was confirming that he and his friends knew Gabriel was working for him.
Cain also wanted to make him believe Gabriel was also a clone in order to hide the fact that he had four bodies. Aside from that, he had spent the other time sowing confusion, so thoroughly that he confused not just Ken but also Godfrey.
All Cain did right after having a conversation with him was sow an existential crisis in Ken, which would force him into distrusting those around him, forcing him into a state where he would be all alone.
Right now, Ken might not even trust him. Ema had a wound with no answer to it, and she might be suspecting Ken.
The team was about to blow up. Ken might not be able to keep it all together and lash out at Ema. Ema might also think something was wrong with Ken and attack.
Whoever survived would aim at him.
What then did Cain truly want? Didn’t he just say he wanted him to clear this dungeon?
Godfrey folded his fingers into a fist. Cain was a master of lies and deceit.
His true plan was to restrain Godfrey’s number of allies, and in this case, Ken was a potential ally with a massive talent pool.
That’s why he came. He noticed Ken, in a way, sort of idolised Godfrey. He wanted that gone.
Godfrey held back the urge to curse as he swiftly spun around. Right at that moment, Ema’s sharp, beautiful, upturned eyes locked on Ken.
"Did you cut me because I wanted this woman dead?"
In that moment, a diagram popped up, and Yoru, the massive bear, erupted from behind Ken. The floorboards shattered under its weight, forcing Ken, the bear, Ema, and Yuna to the ground floor.
They all plummeted and crashed with a loud sound. Yet Ken’s katana was already out of its sheath, and he swung it backward, aiming at Yoru’s neck.
Meanwhile, Ema lunged at him. Her hands had transformed into a bear’s paws with deadly claws. Fangs equally grew out of her mouth.
There was also a white phantom duplicate of Yoru coming from another direction, one claw raised to slam Ken down.
It was obvious Ema was a wild young woman who would lunge at a Demigod summoner the moment she noticed the individual threatened her life. She had the experience to back it all up, but against a demigod, the gap was quite large.
She was banking on Ken’s inexperience, but Godfrey already knew Ken’s reaction speed and lethality were his forte.
But before blood could spill, Godfrey’s eyes gleamed as he activated Will Freeze, pausing everyone right before they made contact with each other.
He squatted on the first floor, looking down through the massive hole that took nearly half of the floor.
Using his telekinetic skill, he forced them apart, then released his first skill. Will Freeze was a Demigod’s skill, and it took a good amount of mana, an amount he wasn’t willing to spend.
"Ema. Ken, calm down." His calm voice rang out. The sound of the townsfolk’s clamour from afar echoed.
"Hinata is already at the stake, and you’re fighting. Ema, I’ll explain what happened after this dungeon. Ken, just do as you were ordered. She is not your target."
Both of them looked at him.
***
Outside, Hinata was dragged onto the snow covered field and held to a wooden pole while another man tied her hands as others gathered sticks around her feet.
They were almost done when the people from the town began to emerge with torches in their hands.
Hinata glanced at them, then looked around. At first she saw nothing else in the darkness, but then she spotted a woman in the distance.
She was clothed in white, and her face was also painted white. There was a mask with a face strapped to the right side of her face.
Her eyes were lined with crimson. Everyone began to retreat when they spotted her standing in the distance.
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