CHAPTER 90: NORTHBOUND FOR THE SOUTH

Ethan closed the system panel and turned to the side. Neryss and Jack were clearly having trouble defeating the eight opponents.

He quickly moved in, swinging his sword sideways and slashing through their bodies with force.

They staggered back, badly wounded, clutching their open wounds.

"Cough!"

Ethan stood between Neryss and Jack, staring sharply at the eight players, though they couldn’t see his expression clearly through the black mask covering his face.

"Are you going to kill us and take our Star Essence?" one man asked.

Ethan stayed silent, then crouched down in front of them, stabbing his sword into the ground.

His eyes focused on the warrior lying weak and helpless on the ground.

"I’ve always killed and taken their Star Essence," Ethan said, "But I’ll make an exception for you."

"What?"

"Give me your Star Essence, and tell me where the top ten guilds are," Ethan offered.

"Do that, and I’ll let all of you live."

The man turned to his teammates, silently asking for their opinion.

About six of them nodded in agreement, while the rest stayed silent and refused.

"We’re just a small guild. We don’t mean much to the Redemption Sword."

"Just tell him. Any guild that survives until the event ends still gets the participation reward."

The warrior listened to his friends’ advice. He sighed and nodded, agreeing to Ethan’s terms.

He handed over their Star Essence, and Ethan accepted and stored it away.

They then explained the rumors spreading among other guild teams, especially about the top ten.

"They split up. Some went west, others east. But none of them attacked through the middle area," the man said.

Ethan went silent, narrowing his eyes as he thought about it.

Why would they move west and east? That’ll make their route longer and harder.

"Do you know why they went there?" Ethan asked.

"I don’t know. A rank-A guild member like me isn’t allowed to know things like that," the man replied.

Ethan nodded. He opened his inventory panel and took out eight Tier-2 HP Potions, then handed them to the group.

"As agreed. You can go. Just don’t target me again," Ethan said.

The warrior drank his potion, and so did the others. Slowly, their bodies recovered, though small wounds remained, easily healed with a priest’s purify spell.

"Be careful, Ethan. Gilgamesh, Alan, and Kevin are after Sword Liberation. They won’t stop until it’s destroyed," the man warned. Ethan nodded silently.

The Star Essence panel appeared before him, showing how much he had collected so far.

[Event of a Thousand Stars]

[Team Name: Sword Liberation]

[Rank: 3]

[Star Essence: 173,269]

If I remember right, Scavenger’s total Star Essence was 178,900. That was three days ago—there’s a good chance it’s gone up since then.

I’d better keep going and collect more Star Essence from every guild I find. That’s the only way to raise my total fast enough.

Ethan looked at the guild team of eight walking away to the south. He nodded once, then closed the event panel.

According to their information, the top ten guilds were moving together from north to south.

But instead of taking the central path, they were traveling west and east.

Ethan froze, realizing what that meant. The central route was full of weak monsters with little Star Essence, while the western and eastern routes had stronger monsters with much higher Star Essence.

Are they planning to head south and destroy that city?

He suspected that might be their plan—because Ethan was part of Sword Liberation, and Sword Liberation wasn’t part of the Northern Guild Alliance.

Redemption Sword and the others probably assumed Sword Liberation was hiding in Arkan City.

If that was true, then Ethan couldn’t just stand by. If Arkan City fell, LionArk would die, Luna would be killed, and everything Ethan had built would be ruined.

Damn it!

Ethan paused for a moment, tilting his head up toward the sky. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"This is the darkest hour."

The conclusion was clear. The decision was made. Ethan would return south as fast as possible to help Arkan City survive.

He started running through the forest, leaping across tree branches. He couldn’t let Arkan City fall into the danger he feared.

No matter what happened, Ethan would head south and stand guard there.

But his steps halted when his attention caught a five-member guild team walking ahead, unaware of his presence.

"Nate’s so lucky. She gets to stay in the city as part of the guard force," said a female priest.

"Shh! Didn’t Sir Gilgamesh forbid us from talking about that?"

"This is a forest. Who’s going to hear me besides us? Monsters don’t care about Star Essence anyway, right?"

Ethan overheard their whispering. Curious, he jumped ahead and activated his ultimate skill, startling them completely.

"H-He—"

SLASH!

Before the man could finish, his neck was sliced open, and his body was torn apart by the circular shockwave from Ethan’s attack.

Three of the five were killed instantly, leaving two survivors—Ethan’s deliberate choice.

He threw his sword; it shot forward and pinned the female priest against a tree, the blade impaling her through the chest.

The male archer panicked, dropped to the ground, and tried to crawl away.

Ethan caught him and dragged him into the bushes, making sure no one could see them.

When the priest’s HP reached zero, Ethan pulled his sword free and covered the archer’s mouth with his hand.

"I heard you talking about Gilgamesh’s orders. What are they?" Ethan asked coldly.

The man stayed silent, refusing to talk. Ethan smirked, then began to torture him—cutting off his legs and arms, pouring HP Potion into his mouth to keep him alive but in unbearable pain.

When the man tried to scream, Ethan silenced him and kept torturing him until exhaustion forced him to speak.

"Gilgamesh told every guild to assign someone to stay in the city—to guard their Star Essence," the man confessed.

"What?" Ethan demanded.

"Our friend Nate, she’s in Uruk, guarding our guild’s Star Essence. Killing us won’t get you any of it."

Ethan froze, then burst out laughing. He couldn’t believe how foolish he had been, trapped in the top guilds’ clever strategy.

They were fighting Ethan in the south, trying to wear him down while he gained nothing—then they’d finish him off once he was weak.

A cunning move... just as I expected.

Ethan swung his sword sideways, decapitating the man in a single motion. His body vanished into glowing particles.

"I don’t care about the other players," Ethan muttered, "But Leni, Luna, and Hissy must survive."

"If they’re focused on attacking the south, then I’ll take their treasures in the north."