The Achievement Junkie

In the waiting area, while everyone was on edge at Skaryn's dramatic show of strength, there was an unannounced figure that appeared in a flash of purple energy. He seemed to be an ordinary man but was immediately approached by Oli.

'Hurry!' Oli telepathically shouted in excitement.

Without another word, a purple, spatial rift was opened and Oli jumped through. The plain-looking man then assumed Oli's position atop the platform and smiled at the show on the illusory screens above.

As Skaryn revealed himself for all to see, a wide variety of emotions was shared among those watching. The challengers from outside of Kartonia were astounded to see the masked man be so powerful, beyond anything they were anticipating. A majority would argue that his presence was enough to eclipse either of the twins present for the challenge.

Those from Kartonia were rocked to their absolute core. Each of the legendary gods had either began to doubt their success against Jack and the leisure gods or they had already accepted defeat in their hearts. Now, none of them were able to question their defeat.

Alcahain, still in the waiting area, was silently proud to see his long-time boss back in action to destroy Halmut's contracts. Sillo felt relief that he had chosen correctly in rebelling while Jack fended off Halmut moments ago and nostalgia to see how protective Skaryn had always been of his people. Both Moranti and Tralbok showed extreme reactions but on opposite ends of the scale. While Moranti shouted and roared in glee, Tralbok immediately destroyed his own card to surrender the competition while Kylon wasn't attacking him.

Kylon was too busy staring at her man. Finally, after witnessing what had truly happened to Kustram and realizing the truth of her relationship with the Dark God, Kylon's mind felt clearer than ever before. The helmet guarded her mind against further tampering and cut off any attacks currently altering her mental state. Now, she could effectively put the pieces together to firmly remember who Skaryn was to her.

"Skaryn…" The Storm Goddess trembled and smiled as tears fell from her eyes.

Those formerly known as the holy gods were shaking their heads with a smile. Skaryn's appearance didn't mean the end for them, just the end of their allegiance to Halmut and his dying off faction of deities. Grixor laughed and Torian smiled, both accepting imminent defeat with pride and dignity.

What no one had noticed was that Jack was nowhere to be found.

While all eyes were now on Skaryn's massive demonstration of power, the hero had vanished from the spotlight. It was the perfect chance for him to rush toward the final room.

Still invisible, Jack rushed to the tenth and final floor of the treasure room and blinked. The room that he was looking for had already been breached. But Jack stayed calm as he entered and inspected the empty space. He sighed in relief to find the next piece of the grand puzzle still untouched.

Walking to the back wall, Jack found a smooth cut made in the roxite. There was a purple outline around the perfectly sized hole, matching the tint and exact dimensions of Jack's card.

Jack slid his card into the hole and nothing happened. But as Jack pulled the card out, the wall trembled. Suddenly, the small back wall began to part and expose a pitch-black space behind it. Without a second thought, Jack glanced behind him to find no one and hurriedly stepped past the opening door. The hero felt lucky to see the door begin closing the moment Jack was on the other side.

Once the door closed, the entire space lit up around Jack, causing Jack to whistle in surprise.

He had entered a vast chamber in the shape of a funnel. Jack stood on the widest end of the room and the space narrowed to a point on the other side. However, there seemed to be more than two hundred constructs standing between Jack and the small purple barrier on the other end.

Jack wanted to take another moment to let his system examine the many different constructs, both bestial and humanoid, but energy entered the eyes of each construct as they came to life. In seconds, Jack was targeted by all of them. He only had enough time for his system to give him estimates.

[Total amount of constructs: 250]

[Range of levels: lv. 95 to lv. 99]

Immediately, Jack transformed to combine Bowzer's, Phoro's, Karronteel's, and Jinbe's bloodlines. With powerful wings, barb-covered arms, hellish flames, and the sharpest claws, Jack met the constructs head-on.

However, Jack had only destroyed three constructs when he glanced back at the entrance. He then teleported to the far corner of the room as a wave of sword energy crashed into the crowd of constructs.

"I thought you two were smart enough…" Jack sighed, shaking his head.

Laughter filled the air as two twin figures became visible. Woltin chuckled, "I guess you'd beat in a competition of illusions…"

"Would you mind not getting involved?" asked Jack, still battle-ready. "I'd prefer to fight friends fairly during our first skirmish."

"Friends? If we're friends, then you should just give up and let us handle this," Wollice replied.

Jack shook his head and spat a few spectral flares to slow the charging constructs. "Fine… then I'll just have to fight by your rules…"

While both Jack and the Sicabor twins launched stalling attacks at the hundreds of constructs, a small emblem appeared in Jack's hand. Though the twins were clueless as to what it was, Jack smiled while glancing at the Leisure Guild's emblem. The hero then flooded the emblem with some energy until it shattered in a small burst of spatial energy.

Neither Woltin nor Wollice understood what was going on but their eyes widened as they were thrown for a loop. Woltin half-laughed and half-shouted, "That's against the rules! You can't--"

"You can't someone anyone else while inside the challenge," Jack corrected, "but there's no rule against summoning yourself…"