Otherworld Adventure

Lewis didn't seem to recall that just one of Cecil's barriers had landed him in a dire situation back then.

Of course, his present circ.u.mstances were different now since he had a higher cultivation base, but it seems that he forgot about the large Sea Behemoth that Cecil was currently fighting.

Even though it was only Cecil's clone and not his main body, the fact that the clone could use a slight hint of ether was enough to push down Lewis, Barthelo, and all of the other clan members of the 2 clans.

Lewis had already rushed forward with flames blazing behind him. As he furiously struck down with his flaming fist, Cecil's clone raised the Corruption and slashed out furiously.

The clone had imbued a slight hint of ether onto the blade and a sword storm flew out, colliding head on with Lewis.

The young man widened his eyes in shock and he quickly dodged away by blasting out flames towards his left side. The flames propelled him to the side and he narrowly avoided the clone's sword storm.

Cecil didn't stop there. He imbued mana into his sword this time and lashed out with an Ascending Blade.

It wasn't the full scale Ascending Blade but a minor one, however, the danger that Lewis felt from the golden sword wave was enough to make him dodge hastily out of the attack's trajectory.

The golden sword wave continued on forward and smashed into a block of ice in the distance and immediately blew up.

Cecil, who was currently preoccupied with the Sea Behemoth that had the form of a Megalodon, silently cursed underneath his breath, "Dammit, I imbued too much..."

His attack would have been dangerous if it had struck somewhere close by. The explosion of mana would have undoubtedly harmed his comrades.

Cecil began to tone things down over at his clone's side and decided to just use Sword Energy instead of Sword Intent. He continued slashing out at Lewis and the other enemy humans. Lewis and his comrades were helpless against Cecil's attacks since they were far too dangerous for any of them to cope with.

Not a single one of them would be unharmed if they were struck by any of the golden sword waves. Even staying in the blast radius of the mana explosion that ensued after the golden wave struck the ground was harmful for them.

It wasn't even a direct attack and they were already riddled with wounds. By now, Lewis, Barthelo, and the other clan members knew, this person, he wasn't one to be touched. From the looks of things, he wasn't even taking things seriously.

The clone was sending out attacks at the clan members but it was doing so while gathering the Silvaria Kingdom's people. Lewis saw this and grew furious. He was being taken lightly so he tried to do something about it.

He sent a few of his attacks at Cecil's party members but they were quickly abated once the clone stepped in front of the attack and blocked it.

Cecil saw this through his shared vision with his clone and using his clone he said, "Hmm... now that's not nice..."

"Stop looking down on me!" Lewis retorted angrily.

"Looking down on you? What's there to look down on?"

"YOU!"

Lewis was angered at his words and started sending out multiple attacks recklessly. He didn't care who it was aimed at as long as it was the enemy. Cecil frowned and had his clone imbue a large amount of mana into Corruption.

The World Tree's Thorn immediately erupted with an aura of corruption and slaughter. The red aura wrapped around the blade and Cecil had the clone immediately sweep the blade out in front of him.

This time, the aura from the blade locked down all of the enemies present with an enormous pressure. Just before the blade struck Lewis and his compatriots, a shadow descended from the sky and smashed down onto the area in front of them.

The shadow swept out with a black-red aura and nullified a partial amount of Corruption's sword wave. The shadow sent out a few more waves of aura with their weapon and fully nullified Cecil's attack.

The clone remained expressionless as it gazed at the newcomer who had just unnecessarily stepped in.

"...Who are you supposed to be? Another enemy?" Cecil used the clone and asked.

"I wasn't wrong. I did feel an ominous aura from you..." The newcomer said.

Once the dust settled, the figure's blazing-red hair came into full view. Cecil had noted down this particular individual since he had a cultivation base on par with his, however, it wasn't enough to make Cecil worried.

The only possible enemy that could make him feel even the slightest bit of concern was a Transcendent-level enemy.

"Are you going to help them? I'll say this once, they attacked first and I'm only retaliating. If you don't want any trouble, I suggest you walk away," Cecil warned indifferently.

The young man had a serene expression on his face despite Cecil's warning. He had been surprised by the power that Cecil had exhibited but it wasn't enough to make him fear him.

"We're both humans, why the need for vio—"

"That's something I've heard before. Violence begets violence. If they hadn't attacked first, do you think I'd do anything?"

"True, but let's stop here. You and your friend seem to be in a pickle, wouldn't it be better to just chase them away and deal with the Sea Behemoth without any worries?" The red haired young man said.

"It would be better if I cut the problem at its roots. Then, I can be worry free, don't you think?" Cecil replied, clearly unmoved by the young man's reasoning.

"Hmm, true, but unfortunately for you, one of the groups is my sect's prey. I can't have you take them away from us."

"...Hmph, do what you want, but the next time I see them, I'll bury them. Ren, go!"

As Cecil's clone lets go of his sword Corruption, the sword immediately flies away from the clone and towards Cecil's main body in the distance.

The red-haired young man had his eyes on Corruption the entire time and followed it towards Cecil's main body. Cecil felt the stare from kilometers away and he lightly turned his body and glared back at the young man from afar.

"!"

'No way...they're the same then this...this is just a clone?' Vicimo inwardly thought.

A deep sense of shock washed over him. The attack that he had just defended against earlier was already so powerful that he had to send a few of his attacks just to nullify it, but now, he was given the revelation that the attack had only come from a clone.

"Y-You...what's your name," Vicimo called out to Cecil's clone who was now walking away.

The clone stopped and replied, "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

"...My name's Vicimo Evi... and you?"

"Do I have any obligation to answer you?"

The clone didn't wait for Vicimo's response and quickly turned away. Cecil didn't spare him any more attention and quickly ushered his kingdom's people away from the Baphamet and Belze clan members.

"...I didn't ask for your help!" Lewis growled.

"And I didn't give it because I wanted to," Vicimo plainly replied. "Count this as my sect repaying your family back the debt that we owe. Also, you Belze people, you better scram out of my sight. You're putrid blood is making me nauseous."

Barthelo frowned at Vicimo's words, but he didn't say anything in reply. He instead began retreating with his clan members. Lewis harrumphed and followed after Barthelo in retreat.

Today, they had lost a few of their clan members due to Cecil's retaliation, but thoughts of revenge against him still didn't leave Lewis's mind.

'If I can't fight him head on...I'll just have to screw him over quietly and once we get out of this place...You'll have to pay for your crimes!'

Lewis vowed deep in his heart, but it was unfortunate for him to not know that unless his clan's Transcendent-level ancestor were to take action, no one would be able to make Cecil 'pay' for anything.

Vicimo didn't pay the 2 retreating clans any mind, he instead backed away and observed the fight between Cecil and the Sea Behemoth.

"This kid...he's younger than me, but he's more powerful... who is this guy that even our faction doesn't have any info on?" Vicimo mumbled as he stared in shock at the large blade of golden mana currently within Cecil's grasp.

In the distance, Cecil was currently holding onto a full-powered Ascending Blade. He dodged all of the spells and skills that the Megalodon-shaped monster had sent at him before he cleaved down on its head.

"...Not even a scratch...what the hell..." Cecil said with a frown.

He stopped his attack after feeling that his clone was nearly 3 kilometers away from him. He blocked one of the Sea Behemoth's attacks and quickly pulled away.

Cecil noticed that the monster ignored all of the other humans in the area and solely focused its attacks on him. Even when Cecil had deliberately lead it towards a group of humans that had been targeting his group from earlier, the monster only moved past it and continued chasing him.

"...I can probably drive this thing away, but I can't kill it..."

Cecil could kill it if he exerted himself, but then he'd be left vulnerable to other dangers and by those other dangers, it didn't mean the other high-tier monsters but the humans that were eyeing him and his group.

Cecil closed his eyes and continued to run, he connected with his clone and told Ren and Celestina, "Ren, sister-in-law..."

"Yes?"

"W-what's wrong?"

"The only way we can escape is through the transfer gate, I want you to bring the group and hurry over to the transfer gate that Karen and Cecilia have occupied. Activate the gate and get everybody through."

"A-and you?" Celestina asked worriedly.

"I'll keep this Megalodon-shaped monster at bay. Help Karen and Cecilia out if their crystals still aren't enough. I'll leave my clone with you to help defend the area, but with the connection cut, I won't be able to communicate with you."

"We still have the MIDs don't we?" Ren quickly said.

To his question, Cecil replied, "It won't work. Not in this blizzard at least..."

There was a momentary silence before Cecil spoke up again, "Don't worry about me. Just get through the gate with everyone else. I'll follow once you've gone through the gate. I'll give you half a day."

"Okay!"

"Remember, although I'm giving you half a day, my clone can only maintain itself for 2 hours after its connection with me is cut."

After saying that, Cecil threw his Corruption over into the distance and the World Tree's Thorn flew all the way into his clone's hands.

Cecil then began moving away from the direction his party members were moving in and led the Sea Behemoth away.

"...If only Angie were here...I bet she could tame this large bastard..."

Cecil prepared himself and took out a few of his swords.

"Let's go..."