Chapter 270: Ring of Illusion and Reality
A long time passed before the people of Gemstone Town gradually regained consciousness.
The town grew noisy again.
When they thought back to what had happened, their final memory was Owl about to fight Hardaway, the Empire’s First Legion Commander.
Then, for no clear reason, they had all collapsed.
"That kind of thing..."
Denison sat on the grass, still not quite recovered. He kept drawing on his cigar, one breath after another.
Too much had happened in too short a time.
When he woke, Hardaway was already gone. But before losing consciousness, Denison clearly remembered something.
Hardaway seemed to have fallen with the rest of them.
"That is far too absurdly strong."
Every time Denison thought of Owl’s Conqueror Haki, that strength which made resistance feel hopeless, his heart still tightened.
Even a Legion Commander had lost consciousness in a single meeting.
It had thoroughly rewritten his understanding of what the word strong meant.
In the past, a Legion Commander had been the Empire’s strongest combat force in Denison’s eyes.
A height he could not reach.
Yet before Owl, even a Legion Commander did not have the right to remain standing.
That was simply ridiculous.
Denison quietly stared at the great chasm left in the earth before him.
No need to think.
It was Owl’s work.
He took a deep pull from his cigar and exhaled white smoke.
World’s Strongest Sword Master.
Denison finally understood the weight of that title.
Compared with Owl, every swordsman he had seen before was not worth mentioning.
They were not existences that could be placed on the same level.
After this day, Owl, who had vanished for sixteen years, appeared once more in the Empire.
The name of the former World’s Strongest Sword Master resounded through the world again.
Several days later, news birds carried this report to every corner of the world, stirring heated discussion and attention among the people of the Empire.
It also made the young generation learn of Owl’s existence.
They did not need to know exactly how strong Owl was.
The title World’s Strongest Sword Master already explained everything.
Once again, that title swept across the Empire like a hurricane.
Imperial capital.
Army headquarters.
"After disappearing for sixteen years, he causes an incident like this the moment he comes back. I only hope he does not stir up some huge disaster next."
Army Marshal Garran, now white haired, felt the old headache return.
He truly did not know what to do with Caelum.
There was simply nothing he could do.
Sixteen years ago, that man had destroyed the entire Executioner Unit by himself, causing the Empire’s top combat strength to suffer a grievous loss. Even now, they had not fully recovered.
At this point, provoking him was obviously impossible.
After Caelum went out to sea, so many years had passed that Garran had thought he had died overseas.
Unexpectedly, he had returned.
That was somewhat disappointing.
Garran set down the newspaper and sighed.
"How good it would have been if that kid had died overseas. Hardaway was lucky to come back alive after acting on his own this time. Otherwise, we would have to replace another Legion Commander."
Overseas.
A secret base of the resistance army.
A wooden door was kicked open.
Selene rushed in from outside like a gust of wind, a newspaper in her hand.
Cedran could not help feeling curious.
"What happened?"
Selene slapped the News Gazette onto the table.
On the front page, the words World’s Strongest Sword Master stood out clearly.
She grinned.
"Your old friend is back."
Cedran shot to his feet at once. He picked up the paper and read it carefully, excitement rising across his face.
"Hahahaha, I knew that kid would not die."
Sixteen years ago, Caelum had gone to sea from Whale Harbor.
He had never hidden his whereabouts. With a little investigation, many people could find out where he had gone.
But Caelum had vanished for sixteen years.
Cedran had truly worried about him.
After all, there were many super class Danger Beasts in the ocean, and each of them was absurdly powerful.
The sea was far more dangerous than land.
Now that he saw this news, the weight hanging in his chest finally dropped.
More excited than him, however, was Cerys.
When she saw the report, joy almost carried her away.
For more than ten years, she had chased with all her strength for one purpose.
To prove her strength and qualification to Caelum.
After Caelum vanished, there had been a period when she nearly lost the drive to move forward.
Fortunately, the world still favored her.
"The contest between us has not ended yet."
Elsewhere, Javier, Caelum’s primary target, knew nothing of the coming danger.
When Caelum left Gemstone Town, he had casually killed every watcher Javier had sent out.
Because of that, when Javier saw the news in the royal capital, he still felt the matter had nothing to do with him.
He had not noticed Caelum’s identity as a player at all.
Javier set down the newspaper.
He had no interest in Caelum, this so called World’s Strongest Sword Master.
No matter what, he was invincible.
He turned a ring on his finger, carrying the attitude of someone who did not place any expert in the world in his eyes.
Unlike Ronaldo, who had been a frog at the bottom of a well, Javier truly had the confidence to act this way.
Azure Diamond gave him the strongest physique and defense in the world.
The ring on his hand was not a Divine Relic, but it was still an extremely powerful Imperial Relic.
Its name was Ring of Illusion and Reality.
As the name suggested, the ring’s effect was to instantly turn the holder intangible, making the holder immune to any attack in this world.
Its side effect was that it rapidly consumed the holder’s stamina.
For Javier, however, that was no problem at all.
He possessed nearly endless stamina.
Used together, Azure Diamond and Ring of Illusion and Reality pushed Javier’s strength even further.
His defense had already been terrifying.
Now, even touching him had become difficult.
"Your Highness, all the people we arranged around Gemstone Town have lost contact."
Javier frowned.
"What happened?"
"We do not know yet."
"Send people to investigate."
"Yes."
Soon, Caelum found the watcher’s superior.
From there, he obtained intelligence about the higher levels of Javier’s force and followed the trail, killing his way forward at an extremely fast pace toward the royal capital.
The moment he learned what these people’s mission was, Caelum knew this had to be the work of the hostile system player.
These people had been aimed at game system players.
As his subordinates continued losing contact, Javier finally realized the situation might be a little more troublesome than he had thought.
After a belated investigation, he learned who had been attacking his people.
"Owl?"
At once, Javier understood.
This World’s Strongest Sword Master was very likely a player.
The trap he had set in Gemstone Town had instead become a thread for the other side to follow back to him.
Otherwise, there was no reason for the man to keep chasing his people.
"Where is he now?"
"He is expected to reach the royal capital soon."
At the same time, a certain military branch had been flattened by Caelum.
Above the ruins, a crisp crack of bone sounded.
Caelum snapped the neck of an Imperial high ranking officer.
From the man’s thoughts, he learned the true identity of the person behind everything.
"Imperial royal family. Javier?"