281 Flaw
"Do you understand what I am saying?" James asked.
"I do, brother," Louis responded.
"Not a single mistake or anything that could bring harm to our reputation," James repeated himself.
At that moment, Louis was preparing to leave for the border of Desmar to manage the situation of the Monster Tide.
Each elite family was dispatching representatives to maintain their image, and James had chosen Louis for that task.
Although Louis was prone to anger and challenging to control, James couldn't deny that he was superior to the other S Rank Hunters.
However, recent events had driven Louis's credibility to rock bottom, but James refrained from blaming him now that the Zephyr were proving a bigger problem than previously anticipated.
Initially, everyone who knew about the heist blamed Louis for his incompetence, but subsequent events caused them to reconsider their judgment.
"Good, I expect a lot from you," James said. Louis then left the room to head towards the training facility in the Rothschild Manor to retrieve his weapons and armor.
Moving down to the basement, passing through several security measures that verified his identity, Louis laid his hand on his armor.
But unexpectedly, he started feeling angry and irritated with his situation.
"Now they all think it wasn't my fault, huh," Louis muttered, a strange irritation overcoming him.
However, this was not a natural emotion but something forcibly induced in him.
At the World Academy Data System Room,
Asher observed the card as the mark appeared, suggesting that it had already started working.
He had managed to collect Louis's blood when his sword had grazed his cheek, causing a minor cut.
And the moment Asher teleported away, he secured the sword and stored the blood in a small vial specifically designed for preservation.
'He will be a good puppet,' Asher thought as he removed the card from the cube-like structure.
<Protocol Bypassed Inputting Mana Frequency and Data Id>
<Partial Integration started>
Argas was bewildered but more concerned about triggering a security alarm, so he didn't interrupt the process and remained still until Asher was done.
"This should be enough," Asher muttered as another artifact was registered by him.
It was a Rank SS Artifact, 'Escape of Nightdream,' a necklace-type artifact that allowed up to 10 people to teleport to any location, provided the coordinates were etched on it, and it could be used only twice a week.
There were other teleportation artifacts, but all of them had issues as they couldn't be used inside a dungeon.
From the moment Asher acquired these two artifacts, his goal was clear. First, to make Farnus leave the World Academy, which would have been impossible unless a threat large enough to move the strongest hunter was introduced.
Second, he planned to record the mana frequency of this Rank SS Necklace artifact and get Tom to add it to the chip that would be used to interfere within the Data System Room.
Argas, standing still, didn't know what he had done and what the consequences of this action would be.
In front of him, he thought that Asher was illegally going to use an artifact to make his life easier at the World Academy, but he was completely wrong.
He had given Asher a way to leave the World Academy and return anytime, as the Rank SS Escape of Nightdream was already in the database of the World Academy.
There was a reason why no teleporting artifacts worked on the Flying Island. The gravitational and spatial laws around them interfered with the artifacts if they weren't S Rank or above.
Only Teleportation Gates powered with enough energy were used to move in and out of the Flying Islands.
They were the only method that guaranteed safe travel between two points. Any artifact below S Rank had the tendency to disrupt the teleportation process.
But that was not the case with the artifact Asher had. It also allowed Asher to leave the World Academy, and even if he was inside a Dungeon, he could return to the World Academy.
However, there was one slight problem. Bringing in Artifacts from outside was not possible, as Tom had told Asher to wait for months until the data would be integrated with the Security System outside the World Academy.
As students were asked to leave without any artifacts or to declare them when leaving, bringing an extra artifact was impossible.
The only feasible way was for Asher to go back outside and use the Artifact to teleport inside the World Academy. But that would make no sense as his presence would confuse the people who managed security, as he was supposed to be outside the World Academy.
The system that the World Academy used was so cut off from the outside world that Tom had no way of instantly controlling the whole security system, even if he wanted to.
Unlike the World Association and Whiteheart family, where Asher had given Tom a lot of his own knowledge that he remembered perfectly from his previous life.
This allowed Tom to easily gain access to things that would have been impossible in such a short amount of time.
But Asher could wait for the artifact, as the main thing he wanted was already in his hands, and that was a card with a glowing red gem.
The next person to experience the effects of this artifact was already decided. The person who was unknowingly bringing that to Asher was Gavin Neville, oblivious to the fact that he was helping Asher destroy his own family.
Beyond the Borders of Belvoria,
BOOM
An explosion occurred as Osbert Tarvian swung his sword and immediately backed off.
Blood dripped from Osbert's left arm as a wound appeared, but it gradually healed itself.
The regenerative abilities of SSS Rank Hunters were absurd. Unless an attack inflicted a wound that couldn't be healed - in a case where the monster's mana overtook their own - they were completely fine, slowly healing.
"Don't rush in too much, Osbert," Farnus reminded him as he floated in the air.
His armor started shining, Farnus's eyes began glowing, and his SSS Rank armor ensured that Farnus remained unharmed throughout the fight. However, the cost of this security came from the considerable amount of mana Farnus was using to maintain this armor.
The monster spread its claw into the ground, raising the whole land beneath it as Farnus's spear rained lightning on it.
In an instant, the entire surrounding land was getting destroyed, but no clear results could be seen so far.
Osbert's aura began to increase as his sword started glowing, and the area beneath his sword began to melt due to the sheer amount of heat. But even though Osbert was ready to attack, he didn't charge in first. He knew he had to use Farnus to his advantage.
However, the condition of the other SSS Rank Hunters in Belvoria wasn't much better as they were fighting an equally strange monster.
"Where the hell is it now?" Xarax exclaimed as he made a significant crack in the ground with his sword.
All these SSS Rank Hunters were fighting a monster that kept disappearing into the shadows, making it incredibly difficult to harm.
A monster that used the Black Element was the worst kind for them, as its ability was still unknown to them,
"Don't let it get too close," the Watson Family's SSS Rank Hunter warned as he slashed the black claw behind him.
Suddenly, the environment around them changed as lava appeared beneath them, but it was all an illusion. The Vice Chairman of the World Association used his hammer to smash the ground, breaking the spell.
"This bastard is annoying," he said, as the Monster refused to engage them properly.
They had to constantly use their aura to protect themselves, as the corrosive property in the Black Element made it impossible for them to withstand the black energy with their own bodies.
"Keep wasting time; it's impossible for us to kill it without Silvus or Farnus," Xarax declared, knowing they were ill-
matched against this monster.
None of them had any restriction technique or an artifact that could counter the Black Element, making them unable to handle the strange monster that kept darting in and out of the shadows.
The massive monster made the entire area around them submerge into a black energy, creating its own domain, and Xarax was aware of the dangers of fighting the monster in this environment.
But Silvus was still confronting the monster in front of them, and it would be some time before he would finish.
"Schere Slash," Xarax announced as a pale bluish aura began to overtake the black energy.
'Only a week,' Xarax thought.
That was the amount of time in which he could hold back this monster using his full powers.
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