Ryu cracked his neck slightly, his Great Swordstaffs just barely resting on the ground. He didn't seem very affected by the number of people slowly surrounding them. In fact, he could feel a faint boiling in his veins, an excitement that was bubbling forth.
It seemed that his libido wasn't the only thing affected by his strengthening Bloodlines.
Of course, this nonchalance was in part due to the fact that Ryu wasn't aware of the number of members a usual Team should have. He never really asked about those things. If it wasn't for the fact that Ryu's gaze could see the different emblems of different teams, he wouldn't have even known that they were being targeted by many in the first place.
However, to Ryu, it was all the same. In fact, the more difficult it was, the better.
Ryu only had one goal in life right now, and that was to grow stronger. He had already been putting himself in the most difficult situations to get out of for years now, and he didn't plan on stopping.
If he thought about it, compared to the usual risks Ryu took, this was nothing. Even if he died here, he wouldn't truly die. At worst, his soul would take a massive hit, and that was only if he didn't get the chance to kill himself with his own daggers first.
Of course, Ryu had no intention of taking his own life. If he did so, he would lose his daggers to whoever was nearest his corpse. He had yet to unearth the secrets of this Unique Grade treasure, so how could he stand to lose it now?
At that moment, while Ryu was itching to battle, a young man stepped forward and into the air. He hovered above the city, his gaze expressionless as he looked downward.
"Hand over the Sealing Orbs and we can consider this matter settled."
Hearing such words, the members of Violet Olive were stunned.
The Sealing Orbs?
Their gazes couldn't help but drift to Ryu. Those orbs, they knew about them. After all, they had originally been theirs until that bastard betrayed them and took them away.
Since then, the orbs had been in the hands of Deep Valley.. Until, that is, Ryu snatched them for himself. Obviously, then, the Sealing Orbs were on Ryu.
But the weird part was… What were they being asked for? Weren't they here to disrupt their mission? What was going on?
Let alone them, even the members of Deep Valley seem to have been caught off guard, especially Grinder. He had been certain that they were here for revenge. If not, why would he speak all that nonsense about how much easier it would have been to end all of this had they taken a different approach?
Of course, his ideas were ridiculous and wouldn't have worked, but that didn't change the core of the matter. So why was everything he had been gearing up for being spun on its head?
Ryu raised a brow when he heard these words, but that was about all. He didn't really care why they were here to battle. Even if the Violet Olive Team turned on him, he still wouldn't particularly care. This would only make things more interesting.
To Ryu, this Team was only a means to an end. If it came down to it, he really wouldn't mind killing them all and entering that so-called Event alone. As the official Vice Leader of the Team, appointed by Giveon, he would immediately be promoted to Leader the moment the latter died. At that point, using the Violet Olive Team name to enter the Event would be as easy as breathing.
Giveon's eyes narrowed.
This man… Why didn't he recognize him? To make matters worse, he seemed to be the leader here. Could he be the Team Leader of Deep Valley? Why was he such a mysterious existence, then? Something about this situation was putting him ill at ease.
"Ryu?" Giveon asked tentatively.
Ryu only shook his head. He had no intention of giving up those Sealing Orbs. They had helped him vastly improve his understanding and control over his meridians. And, even if they weren't so useful to him…
The things that were his, Ryu Tatsuya's, couldn't be so easily taken by another. They would most definitely have to taste his blade first.
The other members of Violet Olive grew jittery seeing Ryu's reaction, a slight hushed panic setting in. They backed away from their battles with the mountain barbarians, slowly detaching to the point the true residents of this place found themselves in a no man's land between two enemies. At this point, even the 'evil' Mountain Barbarians had no idea what they should be doing.
The young man expressionlessly looked on from above. Ryu only gave him a cursory glance before he swept his eyes over everyone else.
[Third Perspective]'s range had massively increased. Even seeing a several tens of kilometers radius in perfect detail wasn't impossible in the slightest. It practically made Leonel's Spiritual Sense useless.
Not only was everything far more blurry with his Spiritual Sense, but it also took up far more of his stamina. As for [Third Perspective], it weighed no more heavily on Ryu than if he was just using his eyes regularly
On top of that… Nothing could hide from [Third Perspective]. And that was exactly why Ryu's Pupils constricted.
'3rd Path Extinction Realm. Two of them.'
One hovered in the sky above Ryu, and the other nonchalantly stood among the crowd as though he was just another warrior amongst the crowd.
'Not only that, but Heaven Grade Immortal Rings as a foundation…'
Ryu knew that in his present state, defeating such existences, even if he activated his Monarch Small Realm, would be nearly impossible. Let alone dealing with all the others simultaneously.
Somehow, though, despite coming to this conclusion, Ryu's aura seemed to continuously grow.
His pupils constricted, red lines beginning to form in his irises. The throbbing of his eyes grew more and more feverish.
'It seems I finally get to use it.'
Ryu's chest expanded, his muscles bulging.
'Heaven and Earth Gate.. Gate of Earth, Open.'