Time passed quickly.

A whole month had gone by since Ainen entered the Labyrinth.

[ You have cooked. ]

[ You have created a Legendary-rank Skill — Equalizer Zone, and birthed a Mystic Attrite through it. For this limitless cooking achievement, you are rewarded with Limitless Skill Tower Ticket x1 and Mystic Palace Ticket x1. ]

Ainen opened his eyes.

Fraisea, who always trained with Ainen, also opened her eyes. "Is it time to leave, Master?"

"Yep. It is time."

…

The portal flickered open.

Alarms began ringing.

The entire area was covered and sealed with formations, with ten Emperor-rank powerhouses and fifty King-rank powerhouses stationed around it.

The Styxian Dynasty had paid a high price to take over this Labyrinth City. The price was allowing people of all four Magic Towers of Javaxin City into their Labyrinth City's Labyrinth free of charge.

So they would occupy each other's Labyrinths until Ainen emerged.

"Alert!"

Loud horns began ringing the moment the Labyrinth's entrance flickered.

Ainen emerged and instantly put down his Cafe Bistro, activating the No-Entry Barrier.

All people within a 100-meter radius were forcefully transported out of the barrier — be they King-rank or Emperor-rank.

This shocked everyone.

"What's going on?!"

"Does he have an artifact that can repel Emperor-rank powerhouses?!"

BOOM!

"The barrier isn't breaking…"

"It didn't even budge despite my full-powered point attack."

"Attack more!"

But after five minutes, everyone's expressions turned to disbelief.

"What the fuck?"

"What kind of defensive artifact is this?!"

"It must be a Legendary or a Mythical-rank Tier-7 Artifact."

Everyone could see Ainen and the others inside, but the barrier seemed unbreakable.

"They really barricaded this Labyrinth entrance." Ainen raised his eyebrows as he looked around.

'They don't plan to let you leave,' Lord Black's voice was somber. 'The area has many formations to trap you, and the number of powerhouses is massive.'

"It looks like escaping won't be easy." Ruoin muttered before turning to Ainen. "Are you really going to check out your new powers amidst these many Emperors and Kings?"

"Well, I have one try." Ainen took out a black doll and gave it to her.

Ainen had gotten this doll from the Labyrinth's Champion Mystic Box after defeating the final floor boss.

The doll's effect was simple and straightforward.

If Ainen was fatally wounded and on the verge of death, the doll would absorb all the damage he suffered and completely heal him. But that wasn't all.

The doll would also exchange places with Ainen. So if he put the doll in a safe place, he would appear there completely healed if he was about to die somewhere else.

"And some buffs." Ainen took out food dishes and devoured them.

All buffs on him had their effects increased by 300%, so Ainen straight up entered a broken state.

Ainen had achieved a breakthrough in his cooking, learning to create S-rank food dishes — not S-rank recipes yet, but from A-rank recipes, he could now cook S-rank food. His cuisine had elevated to a new level, giving him a 50/50 chance of getting A-rank recipes; the rest would be B-rank.

And the buffs of his S-rank food dishes were insane.

Tons of omni-resistance, movement speed boost, debuff reduction, healing boost, increased slash damage, increased explosion damage, action speed boost, various passive skills that remained active for the duration of the buffs, and lastly, the stat boosts.

[Chef Ainen]

Level: 500

Liferank: Lord-rank

— Magic Core: Mystogen Prismstar (Mythic)

Class: Mystic Chef (SSS)

Innate Talent:

— I Cook Limitlessly.

— Arsenal of Arcane.

— Dragon of Ocean

Stats: 918

— Vitality: Ⅴ 500 Ⅴ +350% (magic core and blessing) +400% (buffs)

— Strength: Ⅴ 500 Ⅴ +350% +400%

— Stamina: Ⅴ 500 Ⅴ +350% +400%

— Agility: Ⅴ 500 Ⅴ +300% +400%

— Cognition: Ⅴ 500 Ⅴ +300% +400%

— Arcane: Ⅴ 500 Ⅴ +350% +400%

— Mana: Ⅴ 500 Ⅴ +350% +400%

Ainen was close to reaching the absolute total limit his lifeform could handle with all the boosted parameters, but he could already unleash powers far beyond his rank in relation to general and common sense for this world.

The total absolute limit of a Lord-rank lifeform was Ⅴ 5000 Ⅴ, which translated to Ⅵ 1000 Ⅵ of King-rank, so he was already as strong as a peak King-rank in terms of stats.

But his power output from his two SSS-rank elemental domains that boosted their respective elements' potency by 500%?

That already elevated him to the realm of average Emperor-rank powerhouses — because having SSS-rank Elemental Manipulation was one of the requirements needed to break through to Emperor-rank, and Ainen already had two, both mastered to the maximum during the past month.

And most importantly, he had a skill of a rank that no one else in this world possessed —

Legendary-rank Skill — Equalizer Zone.

'My speed should be faster than average Emperor-ranks.'

Ainen took a deep breath and stopped before the barrier's edge.

The powerhouses outside had gathered closer around the barrier, floating and watching Ainen.

"Is he going to come out?"

"The order is to capture him because he shouldn't die easily after killing our Dynasty's Prince. Get ready. He seems like he's coming out."

"Maybe he's surrendering."

Ainen stepped out of the barrier and activated his Equalizer Zone within a 500-meter radius.

Instantly, all Emperor-rank powerhouses lost sight and sense directed at Ainen.

Moreover, all their clothes and everything around them began freezing from the foundation!

"What the fuck is going on?!"

All Emperor-rank and King-rank powerhouses rapidly channeled their Mana through their bodies to prevent themselves from freezing.

"I found him!"

"He's fast!"

"Urgh, what kind of coldness is this?! It's slowing down my Mana and even freezing it!" a King-rank powerhouse cried out in alarm before he was entirely frozen and then dispersed into sparks, merging into the strange darkness that permeated these 500 meters of Equalizer Zone.

"Fuck, I can't trace him!"

"He's there!"

"He's there, but he's faster in this area!"

"I hit him!"

However, the projectile arrow that was about to strike Ainen instantly dispersed into darkness right before hitting him.

'That was close…' Ainen frowned. 'As expected, the Emperor-rank's attack speed might outspeed the equalizer effect of this skill.'

But what others just witnessed shocked them.

"He fucking nullified your attack, Balto!"

"How is he a Lord-rank powerhouse?!"

The King-rank powerhouses had to retreat because they couldn't survive inside the Equalizer Zone, and some Emperor-ranks also left — but five Emperors remained, whom Ainen continued to pressure while being careful. If all of them attacked at once, he might not be able to render those attacks into null force fast enough.

The Vice Tower Master of Mistbound Tower and three other Emperor-rank powerhouses had just arrived after getting the news that Ainen had emerged.

But what they witnessed shocked them.

"W-What is going on?"

"What kind of skill is he using? The formation parts just ceased to exist within that skill's area."

"Can you trace him? He's there, but he's merged into this thin, strange darkness. Visually, we can't see anything because it's like… nothing exists there. Not even air or space."

"Is he seriously overpowering the Emperor-rank powerhouses there?! They may all be below level 1500, but this is madness…"

All four of them looked at each other in disbelief and dread.

A Lord-rank powerhouse was toying with Emperor-rank, pressuring them and surviving against them within 500 meters! This was absolutely ridiculous.

If someone had told them this before, they would've slapped the person for telling a bad joke — but here they were, witnessing such a phenomenon firsthand.

'Hey, does he even need our help? He can escape if he wants to.'

'…'

'Well, it's good for him and us both if he can escape on his own.'

'Yeah.'

Ainen returned after having a practice match against Emperor-ranks, feeling absolutely thrilled and exhilarated as he used Equalizer Zone to its fullest while measuring himself against them.

"Wooh!"

Ainen breathed out and took out a big jug of water before drinking it.

"Alright, it's time to leave. Get inside." Ainen grinned. "I didn't even have to use my full speed to outspeed them."

"Great." Ruoin smiled.

"Let's go, Master!" Saffa cheered.

"Hehe, Master is amazing." Clovelle grinned.

"Where are we going, Master? To meet our father?" Fraisea asked.

"Yep." Ainen smiled.

Ruoin and the others went inside the Cafe Bistro before Ainen put it inside his inventory.

"ATTACK! FAST!"

However, Ainen expanded his domain fully and instantly vanished.

They saw the thin sphere of darkness vanishing beyond the horizon so fast that all Emperor-rank powerhouses were left speechless.

"Is that his true speed?"

"What the fuck?"

"So he escaped… I'm not dreaming, right?"

Ainen was flying at the speed of Mach 33!

He was crossing 11,000 kilometers per second, flying past countless places.

He flew past the Southern Mountains' Nightrift Clan and saw the ongoing war.

Two very strong Emperor-ranks, whose presence made Ainen feel death itself, also sensed him — but they didn't bother chasing.

'Those two… they can fucking kill me, right? I felt it.' Ainen felt goosebumps because he was completely locked on by two beings for a single second.

'Of course. You're better than average Emperors, but just like you have Blessings and other powers, some other Emperors are fairly strong — especially the leaders of various forces.'

'I'll make a long U-turn past the battlefield and officially enter the Nightrift Clan.'

Soon, Ainen arrived at the edge of the Southern Mountain and took out Ruoin, Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea while keeping Ron, Syl, and Yelvina in the cafe.

"I'll let them know I'm here." Ruoin took out a comm crystal and contacted the wife of the clan's Emperor.

Just then, they were surrounded by ten King-rank Beastfolks and one Emperor-rank who appeared in a massive wolf form, towering over them.

"Who are you?"