Chapter 75

Theo jumped in, and Noquia—on the verge of having the situation reported to Father—clicked her tongue with an irritated look. Her eyes darted around, searching desperately for an escape. Seeing her openly plotting a breakout while they stood right in front of her, Holanghee let out a disbelieving sigh. But she wasn’t fast enough. Father arrived on the scene before Noquia could find any escape route.

A sharp voice cut through the tense, stretched-thin atmosphere like a taut wire snapping.

“Hey! What’s going on here?!”

It was a voice all of them knew far too well. For some, it was the most annoying voice imaginable. For others, it was the safest and strongest ally they could hope for. Holanghee, Theo, and Blaine instinctively relaxed a bit, turning toward Father. But Father, who had been moving toward them, halted suddenly and shouted while reaching out her hand.

“Block her!”

The three, staring at Father, understood immediately. Something was happening behind them. Noquia was already pulling some stunt. Their faces paled as they turned—just in time to see a blue column of light erupt behind them.

Noquia took advantage of their loosened guard and seized the totem.

A blue beam shot upward. They didn’t need anyone to explain what that meant—Noquia was a member of Jezenia’s forces, their enemy.

A beat too late, Theo, Holanghee, and Blaine stared at Noquia and the totem in stunned disbelief. Noquia shrugged and raised both hands holding her daggers, as if to say “Oops.” Then Father shot forward like a bullet, charging straight at her.

A gust of wind followed Father’s rush, blocking their view. As they shielded their faces with their arms and squinted, Father and Noquia clashed.

Weapons collided with sparks and a loud crack. Father thrust her rapier, but Noquia deflected it with her dagger. Father’s eyes widened in fury as she swung her khopesh. Noquia knocked the rapier aside and flipped over Father’s head, aiming to strike her back.

But a thunderous sound rang right by her ear. Noquia glanced over her shoulder and saw the blade of an urumi whipping toward her. She abandoned Father and kicked Holanghee’s urumi away to deflect the attack.

Grinding her teeth, Holanghee swung again. She expected Noquia to counter once more. Instead, Noquia dodged to the side entirely, and before Holanghee could react, a gravity field dropped right where Noquia had been standing.

Noquia, having cleanly evaded both Holanghee’s and Blaine’s attacks, whistled as if she saw that coming. But before she could celebrate, a sharp pain stabbed through her shoulder, forcing a scream out of her.

A chain arrow was lodged in her shoulder—there was only one person who would fire that. Noquia looked up and found Theo holding his bow. When their eyes met, Theo frowned, gripped the chain wrapped around his hand, and yanked as hard as he could. Unprepared, Noquia fell flat on the ground.

The moment she hit the dirt, Father lunged in again. The rapier and khopesh came crashing down together with no room to escape. Her eyes trembled for a second—but then she grabbed the chain she had torn from Theo and used it to block both weapons.

“?”

No one expected that. Father stared at the chain, then at Noquia, then looked back at Theo. Theo stood frozen, just as confused.

“Theo! Drop the chain!”

Father shouted, snapping Theo out of his daze. He released the chain immediately. As the chain in Theo’s hand vanished, the one in Noquia’s grip disappeared too. There was nothing left to block Father’s blades—yet Noquia already had enough time to ready herself.

As soon as the chain vanished, she lashed forward with her dagger. Father staggered back as she dodged, her stance thrown off. In that moment, she pushed off the ground and retreated out of Father’s attack range.

Meanwhile, somewhere across Ord’s camp, another blue beam shot into the sky. With that, three totems had been captured. But one of them was hidden by decoy protection—so effectively, only two were under enemy control.

Everyone’s eyes drifted toward the distant beam—and in that split-second distraction, countless fireballs rose into the air and surged toward Noquia. Sensing the danger, she snapped back to focus and stared forward. Fireballs filled every part of her vision, leaving no blind spots, no gaps. She swallowed hard.

Her first thought was Blaine. Only he could produce magic on this scale. He held his Via Lactea staff high, an orb floating over his shoulder as well.

A chill crept down Noquia’s spine. She rolled aside, barely escaping as the ground beneath her collapsed into another gravity field. The incoming fireballs suddenly sped up.

They were being sucked into the gravity field. Without a target, they smashed into the ground—each impact exploding with devastating force.

Blaine, noticing Noquia avoid gravity magic again, curled his lips slightly and canceled the spell. The fiery sky blinked dark. Confused, Noquia looked around sharply—and Blaine began casting something else.

Gravity spells weren’t working. She dodged them by instinct alone. Then the answer was simple: immobilize her.

As he chanted, the ground violently trembled. Theo, Father, and Holanghee stared at him—what was he planning? Then earthen spikes burst upward like jagged thorns.

Noquia, startled, darted away. But the ground continued to erupt, relentlessly chasing after her. She had no time to think—just move. Then a thunderous crack rang behind her. She whipped her head around in panic.

Holanghee was right there, urumi slicing for her back.

Noquia’s eyes flicked around. Father. Theo. Holanghee. Blaine. They had her completely surrounded. She stared at Blaine, disbelief plastered across her face.

“…Ha.”

A short, breathy laugh slipped out. She had assumed they were attacking recklessly—but no. That little brat had driven her into a corner. Like a helpless rabbit beaten down and funneled straight into a tiger’s den.

As she stood trapped, another blue beam erupted from somewhere in the camp. Noquia looked up, took a deep breath, and tightened her grip on her daggers. Her expression turned serious.

The moment she readied her stance, Father charged. The tip of her rapier formed a sharp triangle of death as it lunged toward her. But Noquia didn’t panic. Her dagger deflected the rapier and she slid behind Father, driving her blade into her side.

There was no time for her to even scream—another thunderous crack. She turned, kicking Holanghee’s urumi aside, and dove toward her. But Holanghee didn’t hesitate either—her hinge-knuckles, coated in venom, slashed at Noquia.

The attack grazed Noquia’s throat, green smoke curling from the wound. Noquia clutched her neck and retreated—then calmly detoxified herself.

Father scowled. She immediately recalled the incident at the entrance—where their support team had collapsed to poison.

“Hey, don’t tell me… that poison was your work too?”

Blaine and Holanghee looked sharply at Noquia. They wanted to deny it—but Noquia only twirled her dagger and grinned. That was all the answer they needed.

Father and Holanghee attacked simultaneously—rapier on one side, urumi on the other. Noquia handled both calmly, deflecting and countering, even landing clean hits before flipping back to gain distance.

The two staggered, quickly chugging potions as they stared at her. Something felt off. She was handling them too easily. Father exhaled heated breaths, barely suppressing her frustration.

“Aren’t daggers supposed to be at a disadvantage against long swords?!”

Holanghee nodded vigorously. They had heard that—Noquia herself had sold that idea.

Noquia’s eyes widened dramatically. She covered her mouth in mock shock.

“You seriously believed that? Please. I’ve got seniority points to spare.”

No matter how strong she had become as a Tier 5, Noquia’s true power came from long-honed PvP skill. Not fighting monsters—fighting players.

Father and Holanghee had swallowed her trick whole. They stared dumbfounded—and behind them, another blue beam pierced the sky. That made four captured totems. One remained protected.

Five blue beams total—but the protected totem prevented the boss crystal from appearing. Holanghee and Father checked Noquia’s expression, hoping to see some panic—but she seemed almost bored. Clearly, she anticipated all of this.

Then, from Jezenia’s camp, silver beams shot upward. Five of them. Everyone raised their heads and stared.

Joy brightened their faces. Jezenia’s totems were fully captured. The boss crystal there would now reveal itself.

“?”

But no notification appeared announcing the boss crystal’s emergence in Jezenia’s camp. Father, Holanghee, Theo, and Blaine exchanged puzzled looks.

“No way…”

Father murmured. They all turned again to the silver beams rising from Jezenia’s side.

The totems were protected.

The situation between Ord and Jezenia had become perfectly symmetrical—neither side could summon their boss yet.

Whoever breaks the protection first will decide the winner.

That exact thought passed through everyone’s mind—when a sharp cracking noise echoed above them.

They all raised their heads. Their gazes scanned the sky—and then froze.

One of the nearby blue beams—one of Ord’s totems—was fracturing. A loud shatter followed, like glass bursting apart, and shards of light scattered in all directions.

The broken blue beam turned gray, its fragments raining down like glittering dust. Theo stared blankly up at it and muttered:

“They found out… the information.”

Ord’s secret had been exposed to Jezenia—removing the protection on the totem.