Shane watched as Hope grabbed the cloak and wore it upon her body, hiding in the shadows. Then she silently followed the other man behind as Max made his way inside the palace. The guards welcomed him with open arms as they all laughed at the young man's misfortune.
The chatter of the soldiers echoed in the background as the two of them continued to walk. Max glanced behind as if he were trying to see something, but a nervous expression appeared on his face when he saw nothing.
Hope scoffed. "This guy's so nervous. How can he ever take over the ruthless, cold guy sitting on the throne?"
"Wasn't this what you wanted from the start?" Shane retorted. "You wanted him to become timid and submissive to your feet. So bam, he's exactly like that. You have got no face to complain."
Hope pursed her lips and said, "Easy for you to say. Come out and plan the destruction of this world. Can you?"
Shane took a deep breath. Now that he thought about it, he felt strange thinking about how he would destroy everything here. Was it necessary to destroy everything here? Could he not find another way?
Could he not eject from this place and return to find another job?
Shane didn't really want to destroy this world, but even he didn't know why he was hell-bent on following the rules. He was never the person who could be one of those top rankers loving to become a hero. He was never one. Even while alive, he always made trouble for the teachers and his elders.
It was good that his scores would always save him from being ruthlessly punished.
So now that he had a chance to repeat his habit, he just couldn't. But why?
A frown crossed his forehead. Before he could continue to think about this situation, he heard Hope's voice.
"We're in the arena. Stop being lazy inside."
Shane stopped thinking and focused on the screen.
Max stood at the center of the arena with his chin raised in pride. He completely ignored the glances of others and turned to the closest soldier.
"Where's the System God? I want to see him!"
When everyone was thinking about this situation, a thunderous voice echoed from the palace adjacent to the fighting arena: "Who dares to fight me?"
When that voice reached the audience, everyone trembled because of the ultimate pressure pressing down on them. The weaker guards fell to the ground, on their knees, staring at their System God in utter fear.
The man who walked out of the palace from the second gate looked majestic with a red and silver robe across his body. He had a brilliantly decorated crown on his head, bedecked with multiple jewels. His blond hair made him look even more handsome.
That's right. Handsome. Even though the System God was old, he still looked young, as if he had just entered his twenties. He glanced coldly at the other man standing on the ground, completely unfazed by the thunderous sound.
The corners of his lips curled up. "Finally, a worthy opponent has arrived."
In actuality, Max wasn't really as unfazed as he looked. His legs trembled because of that pressure, but he still stood on his ground, staring at the man with an arrogant expression on his face.
At present, he was still a little ways away from being a hundred-level system. He had reached the level of eighty. So this was what it felt like at a hundred.
Should he have stopped to grow further?
These thoughts drifted through his mind, but soon he felt a tap on his shoulder that made him jolt to his feet. He instantly looked around, only to see no one.
But he knew that there was probably that hooded woman standing behind him.
He felt a burst of confidence hit his heart. He raised his head up high and looked over at the man standing in front of him.
"Are you ready to be defeated?"
Hope knew what Max was thinking about. Why did she plan to make him fight the System God when the opponent was way too powerful as compared to Max?
There was indeed a reason behind it. If they had waited for Max to grow more in his power, a decade would have passed, and they couldn't afford to wait more.
She knew that this System God was planning something, and this was what could have hampered their mission. So it was necessary to do everything Max could do to defeat the man.
In any case, she was already hiding within the cloak. She could help him.
At this time, it could be said that the true opponent of the System God should be Hope because she was the only one who didn't get affected.
Huh, now that she thought about it, she never asked Shane anything about his level up until now.
So she watched as the System God and others started laughing and mocking Max and asked Shane, "What's your level? It should have increased after getting the memories of that Demon Lord, right?"
Shane tilted his head. That's right. How come he never thought about looking at his level recently?
He quickly opened the menu and looked at his stats, only to be shocked.
Level: ???
Why the heck was there a question mark?!
He voiced out his doubts without hesitation, asking Hope about the question mark.
After listening to it, even Hope was shocked to the point that she couldn't say a word. A frown crossed her forehead.
"It shouldn't be like this… how come it happened too soon? No, I should be happy," Hope mumbled as she frowned deeper. "What if something goes wrong again? Ah, I don't want to repeat the same thing! Damn it! Shane, how could you be overpowered all of a sudden?"
Shane ignored her confusing mumbling and decided to think about it later. "Well, didn't you remember how I got the old demon lord's memories? I ended up doing a lot of mental practice and increasing my cultivation. Now, I should be at the nascent soul level."
Hope's eyes widened as she exclaimed. "That's right! Cultivation! How could I be so stupid?!"
Shane tilted his head, not being able to understand a single word.
By this time, the System God had already arrived at the center of the arena. He stood in front of Max with a golden aura surrounding his body.
It could be said that there weren't many people with a hundred-level. If anyone reached ninety, they stopped assisting others in increasing their stats. No one was thus eligible to even reach closer to the System God in terms of power.
That was why everyone laughed at how Max could be so daring to even stand on the same ground as the System God.
The rule that no one can reach the hundredth level was actually created by the System God himself. He didn't want anyone to beat him in the fight and take over his throne. Despite being a good leader, he was really ruthless against his opponents.
When he stood in front of Max, it almost looked like a tiger and a deer were fighting against one another.
The System God stared at Max for a moment and said, "Attack me."
Max gulped as a layer of cold sweat formed on his forehead. As he stood there, his entire body became drenched in cold sweat. Because of the aura pressure pressing against his body, his hands shook visibly.
He didn't look like someone who could manage to defeat the System God.
Seeing his condition, others laughed even louder.
"Look at him!" exclaimed one of the soldiers stationed at the back gate, laughing so hard that his stomach hurt. "He pretends to be powerful, but his hands are trembling. He'll fight and win? Keep dreaming!"
"Our system god is the best of both worlds!" exclaimed another soldier, mockingly staring at Max. "You'll never surpass him!"
After this, the System God raised his hand as if he were trying to silence the people there. The soldiers also understood that gesture and calmed down, staring at the System God with an expression of reverence in their eyes.
Max gritted his teeth as he thought to himself, 'How could these people even think about praising such a b*stard?!'
All these years, Hope had brainwashed him into believing that the current System God was too cruel and not a good leader. So now, all Max could think about was how ungrateful this world was! Instead of supporting him for a good cause, they were instead laughing at his face!
A burst of anger grew in his heart as he raised his sword and rushed about toward the System God.
He charged it silently with the dark energy he had learned after such a long time and used a blast attack.
Max knew that this wouldn't be enough to get rid of this guy, but he had a plan. Plus, when he discussed everything with Hope back then, she told me everything that the System God would do, including all the details of the attack.
He quickly felt a barrier blocking his attack. The corners of his lips curled up.
This was going exactly the way Hope had told him!
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