In an underground stronghold somewhere in Helinks,
the mysterious man in the black mask—who had just left the Black Wolf Clan’s mansion—was striding down the corridors of this underground complex.
"Hail, Lord Dark General!""Hail, Lord Dark General......"
The entire stronghold was under extremely tight security, with sentries posted every few steps. Yet the returning man faced no obstacles or questioning; he passed through unimpeded. Everyone he encountered along the way bowed respectfully to him.
Before long, the masked man—addressed as "Lord Dark General"—reached a door. He pushed it open and stepped inside directly......
Inside was an oval-shaped roundtable meeting room. Several figures were already gathered there, in the middle of a meeting.
"Dark General, you’re back."
A man seated at the top of the roundtable spoke in a calm, flat tone.
"I have fulfilled my mission, Deputy Commander!"
the Dark General replied.
"Hmm," the Deputy Commander nodded, then gestured. "Take a seat."
"Yes, sir!"
The Dark General then walked to an empty chair on the Deputy Commander’s right and sat down there at once.
Once the Dark General was seated, the Deputy Commander glanced around the meeting room.
"Now that everyone is here, let’s report on the current situation."
He looked to his left.
"Lord Earth General, you go first."
"Yes, sir!"
The figure on his left responded promptly.
"We have successfully 'replaced' all key regular staff at the Grand Arena. All preparations inside the venue are also complete—we can take action at any time once the moment arrives."
"Hmm."
The Deputy Commander nodded, then shifted his gaze to the next person.
"How is the intelligence-gathering work going in Helinks?"
"Reporting to you, Deputy Commander! After days of collecting intelligence from city gate guards, our insiders at the Adventurers' Guild, and multiple underground organizations in the city—along with information provided by the Lord of Information’s （the Pillar of Intelligence）intelligence agency—we have now tallied the number of powerful warriors who have arrived for the tournament."
"This includes one Grade A warrior, twelve Grade B warriors, and far too many Grade C warriors to count accurately."
The Deputy Commander frowned upon hearing this.
"Who is that Grade A warrior?"
"Reporting to you, Deputy Commander, it is the Grade A Adventurer—'Shattered Star' Snoke."
"......Are there any other Grade A warriors besides him?"
"No, Deputy Commander. Given the fame of Grade A warriors, it is very difficult for them to remain hidden—and they usually disdain to hide anyway. So this should indeed be the only one."
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"......"
The Deputy Commander fell into deep thought.
"......The Lion King will be dealt with by that man, so we can set him aside for now. That leaves the Fox King, the Bear King, and now 'Shattered Star'—three people. Between myself, Lord Dark General, and Lord Earth General, we also have three people. This won’t be enough......"
"But the Commander in the West still needs people by his side; we can’t summon all our forces here......"
"You—"
The Deputy Commander looked at one figure.
"Leave the city immediately, take a giant eagle to the West, and tell the Commander to send us either Lord Ice General or Lord Flame General."
"Yes, sir!"
That person accepted the order, stood up at once, and left the meeting room.
"......Carry on. Have all our men infiltrated successfully?"
"Reporting to you, Deputy Commander! The members of our mercenary corps have entered the city in multiple batches at intervals. They are now hidden at all key locations and ready to act at any time."
"Good. In that case, we just need to wait for that moment now. Pass on the order—no one is allowed to make any mistakes these two days! The day the Quarterfinal Round begins will be the day we launch our operation!"
"Yes!!!"
......
On the second day of the Round of 32 to Round of 16 matches,
inside the White Cat Clan’s VIP box.
"Miko, are you sure you don’t need another day of rest?"
Hulim looked concerned as she watched Miko—who had come back to watch the matches after only one day of bed rest.
"Don’t worry, I’m totally fine now~!"
"Look—watch this!"
Miko jumped off the sofa, flicked her tail, and spun around twice on the spot.
"I’ve fully recovered! So no need to worry about me!"
"Is that so......"
Hulim still couldn’t let go of her worry.
"Hulim, there’s no need to worry about her so much."
At this moment, Bars spoke up from the side to explain.
"The physician checked her this morning—she really has no issues."
"If that’s the case, then it seems your body is quite sturdy, Miko."
"Hmph~!"
Miko unconsciously tilted her chin up.
"Right~! My body is much stronger than it looks!"
"Alright, stop being complacent. Have you already forgotten the pain as soon as the wound healed?"
Bars didn’t hold back in teasing her.
"What do you mean by that!? "
Miko glared at him angrily, then turned her head away, plopped down on the sofa, and pouted in a huff.
Bars shrugged and didn’t bother paying her any more attention.
Once the room fell quiet again, Bars—who had been watching the match—suddenly said:
"It seems there’s something wrong with Volk’s health."
"......"
Hulim didn’t respond; she just listened quietly.
"I heard he seems to have contracted some hidden ailment somewhere, which made his recovery extremely difficult after getting injured yesterday. Although he’s not in danger of losing his life in the end, he’s been left with severe sequelae—ones that are said to stay with him for life."
"......He’s probably finished as a warrior."
"......I see. That’s really unfortunate."
"Yeah, it is. Quite unfortunate."
"......"
"???"
Miko looked back and forth between the two, who seemed to be speaking in code. A flood of question marks popped up in her mind.
Even though they were just describing an ordinary matter, why did it feel like there was something odd about their tone?
Hmm, her head felt itchy—as if she was finally starting to think a little harder......
"Hmm? Isn’t that the dark horse from earlier?"
Bars’ words immediately caught Miko’s attention. She turned her gaze to the arena, completely forgetting about their strange conversation just a moment ago.
......
On the arena floor,
two contestants stood facing each other.
One was a mage holding an ornate wand, while the other was rather unusual—a young-looking woman with black hair.
Her name was Violet. She wore a black windbreaker and had a sword hanging at her waist. While she wasn’t as absurdly young as Hulim-
who was only twelve, her actual age was only seventeen.
Before the Repechage Round, Violet had flown under the radar. Her name had also been in the lower-middle ranks on the previous Top 100 List.
But now, her strength ranking was definitely among the top in the data of all organizations.
The reason why?
Clang......
Violet slowly drew the sword at her waist.
Under the bright sunlight, the faint blue glow of the sword and the runes inscribed on it were still clearly visible.
This was a magic sword.
It was also the weapon she had only revealed when she fought against Volk earlier.
And it was precisely because of this weapon that her projected ranking had soared—almost on par with Boguna’s.
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