On an isolated island in the far north.
Some of Stylish's experimental subjects were kept here, far away from the Empire.
Esdeath's expression was gloomy.
She looked at the Uesugi Ryu before her, and a cold killing intent flashed through her eyes.
"You betrayed the Empire too?"
What remained here was only a water clone. Uesugi Ryu's real body had long since slipped away.
Esdeath's time-stop technique had originally been created to keep Tatsumi from leaving.
Now that situation no longer existed, who knew whether Esdeath would still use time stop.
Whether she could or not, Uesugi Ryu treated it as if she could.
Esdeath saw through the water clone's nature at a glance. Something like this could not deceive her.
Black Marlin plus Shambhala. There was no need to verify anything else.
Uesugi Ryu had definitely colluded with the rebels.
Uesugi Ryu fell silent for a moment while looking at the murderous Esdeath.
He had always been unable to understand where Esdeath's loyalty to the Empire came from.
After thinking for a moment, Uesugi Ryu spoke.
"That depends on what aspect your loyalty to the Empire lies in."
"If it's loyalty to the little Emperor or Honest, then you can think of it that way."
Esdeath could not understand Uesugi Ryu's reason for betraying them, and she questioned him.
"I've never treated you poorly, have I? Why betray me?"
The one before her was only a water clone. Killing it would accomplish nothing.
Esdeath was also trying to see if there was still some room for things to turn around.
Uesugi Ryu lightly shook his head.
"Not really. Going by your philosophy."
He pondered for a moment, then rarely revealed a brilliant smile.
"I think I'm stronger than you, so whatever I do now is my freedom."
Esdeath instantly froze when she saw this, then she laughed.
"Hahaha, so that's how it is!"
"You're right. The actions of the strong are naturally free."
Esdeath held her forehead, then her tone turned cold.
"However, you seem a little overconfident."
"It doesn't matter what happens in the Imperial Capital. As long as I return, it will be your end."
Esdeath flashed to Uesugi Ryu's side.
She pressed close in front of him, her eyes blazing with a desire to conquer.
"I'll crush that so-called confidence of yours and make you truly submit to me!"
Uesugi Ryu remained calm and immediately replied.
"Me too."
"Esdeath, I'll be waiting for you in the Empire."
Esdeath said nothing more and cut Uesugi Ryu's water clone in half with a single slash.
The water clone looked helpless and complained.
"Why the rush!"
"I left you a present in the center of the island. Don't get lost~"
Splash. A puddle of clear water soaked into the beach.
After hearing those words, Esdeath raised her head and looked toward the center of the island, the highest point.
"Uesugi Ryu, you're really interesting....."
On the other side, inside the forest where they had fought Hegreon earlier.
Uesugi Ryu stored the severed poison stinger and Hegreon's corpse into the system storage together.
The corpse of a Super Danger Beast was extremely valuable, naturally it could not be wasted.
Although he had talked big while speaking with Esdeath.
At present, Uesugi Ryu still did not have absolute confidence in defeating Esdeath.
The isolated island was extremely far from the Empire. Even riding a Special-Class Danger Beast would probably take close to twenty days.
Uesugi Ryu silently calculated in his heart.
"That crappy island doesn't have any powerful Danger Beasts at all. There's still plenty of time."
Activating Shambhala, Uesugi Ryu teleported back to his estate.
At this moment, there were still around eighteen hours before the public execution.
Uesugi Ryu opened his palm.
A soul fragment the size of an egg appeared in his hand.
Perhaps it could no longer be called a soul fragment. It should be renamed a soul crystal.
In terms of soul strength alone, a Super Danger Beast far surpassed a Special-Class Danger Beast.
Uesugi Ryu opened his mouth and viciously bit into it like he was eating an apple.
Crunching sounds rang out as Uesugi Ryu swallowed the souls mouthful by mouthful.
[Soul Devour activated. Mana +44, Soul Strength +0.52]
[Soul Devour activated. Mana +57, Soul Strength +0.68]
[Soul Devour activated........]
"*Burp*~~"
Uesugi Ryu let out a full burp. About two-fifths of the soul crystal still remained in his hand.
Tomorrow would be a major battle unlike any they had seen in a long time.
Before that, Uesugi Ryu needed to raise his strength as much as possible.
Killing Hegreon had granted one real attribute point. Should he add it to speed and continue expanding his advantage, or add it to strength?
After pondering for a moment, Uesugi Ryu made his choice.
"Strength +1"
---
Name: Uesugi Ryu
Race: Human
Title: Dragon Devourer
Soul Strength: 22
Soul Tempering Count: 2
Strength: 21 (Real Attribute)
Speed: 21 (Real Attribute)
Constitution: 19
Intelligence: 19 (Each point of intelligence converts to 10 mana points)
Mana: 1665/1665 (Recovers 64 points per hour)
Health: 302
Talent: Soul Devour (Fully Unsealed)
Skills: C-Rank Skill Blood Frenzy, D-Rank Skills Phantom Clone, Instant Step, E-Rank Skills Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery, Hand of God, Flash Technique
Special Skill: Black Dragon Scales (Mana Consumption Rate: 264 points per minute)
Energy: 861
Items: C-Rank Rare Item Wine-Sack Rice-Bag, Imperial Arms (Shambhala, Black Marlin, Observer), multiple SSS-Rated Quinques, Calming Potions........
---
Uesugi Ryu clenched his fist. Terrifying power was contained within the taut muscles of his forearm.
"Hah. At least now my stats should be roughly on par with Esdeath's."
They had exchanged blows once before in the beginning, and Uesugi Ryu estimated that Esdeath's strength and intelligence were both real attributes.
Especially intelligence. Judging from Esdeath's performance in the original story alone.
Her mana pool, or rather her MP bar, was absurdly high.
Inside the Hunters headquarters conference room.
Every member aside from Uesugi Ryu and Esdeath had arrived.
Stylish rested his chin on his hand, secretly thinking to himself.
"Heh heh, feels like I've gotten involved in something incredible~"
He glanced sideways at Run.
Earlier, Uesugi Ryu had said someone would come looking for him. That person was Run.
To become Uesugi Ryu's representative.
At this point, Run had clearly completely sided with Uesugi Ryu.
Stylish, Run, and Bols sat on one side.
Wave, Seryu, and Kurome sat on the other.
Run lowered his head and looked at the book in his hands, though his mind was nowhere near the pages.
"Three against three huh."
"No! Seryu is easy to persuade. It should be four against two."
Run closed the book and lightly coughed.
The deliberate cough immediately attracted everyone's attention.
The gentle smile Run usually wore was gone. He seriously said,
"Everyone has their own reason for joining the Hunters. I used to be a rural teacher."
"Until one day when all the children were slaughtered by a criminal, and I chose to come to the Imperial Capital and join the Hunters."
Those words were extremely abrupt.
Wave looked at Run in surprise. A strange feeling inexplicably rose in his heart.
Seryu's expression turned furious after hearing this. Filled with hatred for evil, she immediately spoke.
"That damned criminal actually slaughtered children too!"
"Run, I'll definitely help you find this person!"
Seryu had always been this simple-minded. Just as Run was about to thank her for the help.
Kurome put down the cookie in her hand and bluntly asked,
"Why bring this up now? Or has the murderer already appeared?"
Wave broke into a cold sweat. Kurome really was decisive, though this was also the doubt in his heart.
Run nodded. Dense killing intent spread from his body.
"After my investigation, I discovered that person is Champ from Wild Hunt."
"After entering the Imperial Capital, several child disappearance cases suddenly appeared."
Run almost had to forcibly suppress the rage in his heart as he continued.
"I found the corpses of several children near Wild Hunt's base. The wounds on their bodies... were exactly the same as that tragedy from back then!"
After hearing this, the atmosphere in the room became extremely strange.
Even Seryu, pure to the extreme, froze in place for a moment.
Evildoers needed to be punished, but this evildoer was a member of Wild Hunt, another special police force.
The orders of superiors could not be disobeyed, and evildoers needed to be punished.
Seryu's simplistic black-and-white thinking simply could not process such a contradictory situation.
The moment Run finished speaking.
The way Kurome and Wave looked at him changed slightly.
Run helplessly sighed inwardly and thought,
"Captain, are you still not showing up?"