"Find them, and then what?"
Ethan looked at Charlie and the crystal ball in his hands with a strange expression.
At this moment, he had a very odd feeling.
It was as if the strand of Shadow of the Void he had captured had only been captured because someone wanted him to capture it.
Not because he was especially capable.
Instead, he felt like he had been toyed with by whatever existed in the Second Temple.
"Kill the person who possesses the Shadow of the Void."
The moment Charlie said those words,
Harriet and Kaleb both turned to look at Ethan. Their eyes were filled with uncertainty.
They had just seen Ethan open countless spatial gates.
And he had also said before that he had seen a strand of black smoke enter Charlie's crystal ball.
Now that Charlie's prediction had succeeded, if their guess was correct, then that black smoke was probably the Shadow of the Void.
And the Shadow of the Void should now be...
"It's not with me."
Ethan spread his hands and said, "After a spatial gate opens, anything that enters it simply disappears. So that Shadow of the Void thing isn't with me."
"I don't believe you. Unless you let me see your backpack!"
Kaleb was the first to challenge Ethan's words.
What Kaleb did not expect was that Ethan nodded immediately, "Sure! But I have a question. If you find out that someone possesses the Shadow of the Void, are you really planning to kill them? Even if that person is your companion?"
Kaleb had not expected Ethan to actually agree. There was confusion in his eyes, but he still answered, "Of course. If that happens, it just means they're unlucky!"
"Alright then!"
Ethan took the backpack off his back and tossed it to Kaleb, "If you want to look, then go ahead."
"You really don't have it?"
Kaleb had originally thought that, with how overbearing Ethan was, there was no way he would agree.
Then the two sides would argue for a while and eventually come up with a compromise.
For example, giving the Shadow of the Void to someone unimportant.
Like one of the three maids following behind Ethan. None of them looked like they had any combat ability.
People like that were obviously cannon fodder.
At that point, they could simply give the Shadow of the Void to any one of them, then kill the person possessing it, and the puzzle would be solved.
At worst, they could take a loss and give Ethan one more item from the treasure chest.
But who could have imagined that Ethan would really hand over the backpack?
Could it be that he truly hadn't obtained the Shadow of the Void?
"Hm?"
After opening Ethan's backpack, cold sweat suddenly appeared on Kaleb's back.
Because inside the backpack...
There was not only the Shadow of the Void, but also the broken section of Harriet's sword, several damaged arrows, poisonous spikes, and even the eye from the Medusa statue and a Petrification Magic Stone.
Which meant that Ethan had just lied straight to his face.
He had clearly captured the Shadow of the Void, yet he claimed he hadn't.
And then he handed the backpack containing the Shadow of the Void to him.
'Could it be that he...'
"Uh..."
Kaleb suddenly felt a chill in his chest.
He lowered his head and saw a sword tip protruding from his chest after piercing through him from behind.
There was a fresh drop of blood at the tip of the sword, as though it could fall at any moment.
'That... Looks like blood from my heart.'
'How is that possible?'
Ethan was clearly standing in front of him.
How could he have launched an attack from behind?
Then, Kaleb noticed that half of the sword in Ethan's hand was inserted into a black hole.
And that half matched the section sticking out from his back.
Only then did he finally understand.
Ethan had planned this from the very beginning.
He had intended to throw the Shadow of the Void in his possession to Kaleb.
Then, as long as Kaleb was killed, the puzzle would be solved.
And he had foolishly accepted the backpack containing the Shadow of the Void.
"Pfft!"
Kaleb could no longer hold it in and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The blood came not only from the internal injury caused by the sword strike.
He had also been overwhelmed by anger and nearly died from it.
But when he wanted to say something more... it was already too late.
"KALEB!"
"BROTHER KALEB!"
Harriet and Charlie were both shocked and cried out.
They had not even recovered from the fact that Ethan had agreed to hand over his backpack when they saw Kaleb collapse straight to the ground.
In the end, Harriet reacted a moment faster.
She instantly pulled out another greatsword and stood in front of Kaleb.
Pointing the sword directly at Ethan, she shouted, "What are you doing? Kaleb may have spoken rudely to you, but that doesn't mean you should kill someone over it!"
"If you want the treasure chest, I can give all of it to you!"
"But what is this supposed to mean? You kill someone without saying a word. Did you ever treat us as your companions?"
"Heh! Heh!"
Ethan let out a cold laugh.
"When Kaleb said he wanted to inspect my backpack, did you stop him?"
"And those words were his own..."
"If someone carrying the Shadow of the Void gets killed, then they can only blame their bad luck."
"Regardless of whether that person is a companion or not!"
"So..."
"I merely fulfilled his wish."
"Did I do anything wrong?"