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"Aaaa…ck!"

Kazak\'s yell and charge were interrupted by Eren\'s ax swings as he operated on him. He died the same way Rollo did- his head getting severed from his body.

Eren didn\'t even allow the berserker to enter the berserk mode. After suffering those sound-element arrows, he had stepped up his offensive. One could say that he was venting his frustration.

Eren wiped the blood that had been sprayed on his face with his palms. He watched in unflinching gaze as the headless berserker\'s body ran for a few steps before falling to the ground. The battlemage spat another mouthful of blood and blew his nose to get rid of the coagulated blood. Only then did he decide to look for other enemies.

"Those ex-demonic rankers are still around, you know. I tried attacking them but they know me too well and have already taken precautions against me."

Ariadne stood beside Eren and spoke in a serious voice. She made him follow her gaze and looked at the distance where several spells were getting released all at once against the barrier.

The battlemage narrowed his eyes and saw that the team led by Roko was almost done breaking free from the isolation barrier using the array disk provided by Rollo. Incidentally, the one who had come up with the plan didn\'t survive to see his plan almost come to fruition.

"They won\'t be heading anywhere. That\'s for sure."

Eren said in a grim voice before taking out an array disk of his own. This was the custom artifact Eren commissioned Malcolm to make for him.

The battlemage would learn a lot from his enemies. He would take note of things he found peculiar about their battle styles. He would then try to incorporate them on his own if he thought he could use them more effectively.

Of course, Malcolm would have a hard time dealing with Eren. The Hexer\'s requests would be a headache for him to fulfill. However, he was getting paid handsomely by Eren, so he couldn\'t complain.

Eren was very inspired by Lagartha\'s AoE spell usage. She had selected the array disk that was compatible with her wood-element spell to enhance its effect and reduce its casting time.

Eren wanted Malcolm to come up with a similar artifact that could be used in conjunction with his most potent AoE– Igni Lotus. That\'s because it had a long casting time.

Eren dashed away from his position and charged at the ex-demonic rankers. Ariadne followed right behind him. She didn\'t know what Eren was up to. But she didn\'t want to give him any reason to attack her.

\'This should be enough.\'

Eren thought to himself and dropped the array disk he was holding on the ground and stepped on it. He charged the array disk with his mana while executing his fire-element spell. With his infinite mana core at work, he could be as reckless as he wanted to be in feeding the array disk his mana.

Ariadne detected a change in mana in the surroundings and knew Eren was up to something big.

\'Looks like I don\'t have to fight anymore.\'

She thought to herself as the Igni Lotus bloomed, taking everyone under its domain.

The team led by Roko had a joyful look on their faces as they watched the isolation barrier getting frailer by the second under the constant and amplified attacks sent its way by Rollo\'s array disk.

The isolation barrier finally gave in. A sizable hole was created in the barrier that was starting to fix itself once again. But the recovery rate of the barrier was not enough to repair the damage done to it anytime soon. The barrier\'s recovery would probably take a minute. But by then, the demonic rankers would have gone their way.

"Hahaha. Finally! We are free from this hell. My men, quick. Let\'s get the fuck away from…"

Roko stopped his victory-like speech midway as he saw the breached isolation barrier get masked by another barrier made of fire-element mana. It was evident that the barrier had not been built using the array laid out beforehand. Barrier\'s effects and its execution, however, were too quick to qualify as a mere spell.

"How the fuck…"

Roko and the rankers that were with him turned back to see Eren staring at them. This was the last clear scene they saw before the clouds of orange and red flames encompassed their vision.

***

The Spiders were no more. The only person who survived was an illusionist who stopped referring to herself as a Spider when it was detrimental to her.

Eren looted the bodies of the rankers he had killed. He had to say that robbing fresh corpses was one of the quickest ways to make money in Gilaahan. It beats the lucrativeness of mission rewards by a long shot.

Eren quickly cleaned after himself and got fresh. Following that, he destroyed the corpses and removed the isolation barrier.

The battlemage allowed the illusionist to keep the rewards from her solo kills.

"What are you planning to do with me?"

Ariadne asked, not afraid to look Eren in the eyes. She knew that if he wanted to kill her, he would have already done that. She was expecting a different answer from him.

Eren scratched his lightly grown white stubble and looked at Ariadne intently before responding.

"You know, I would have done the same thing with you as I had done with someone else before– make you sign a slave contract. But… you…"

Eren took a long pause and pursed his lips before speaking up.

"But you don\'t look like the person who would keep to herself after signing the contract. You\'d somehow find some loopholes in them and make them work against me."

Ariadne opened her mouth to object to Eren\'s words. But he continued to speak without allowing the illusionist to interrupt him.

"Don\'t get me wrong, Ariadne.

There was this term that you had used. Yes! I remember.

From one survival specialist to another– I can understand why you would want to do that. You like your freedom. You cherish your safety. And you want to keep on improving your ranking status under any circumstances. That\'s because you know the value of individual power in this world.

But circumstances force you to serve someone or some organization. So you have to play by the rules until you find a way to rig the game.

If I sign a binding contract with you, that\'s another restriction placed on you. Something that you would eventually dislike. Not because I treated you unjustly. But because that\'s how you see the restrictions placed on you."

Ariadne didn\'t know what to do or say to Eren at this point. Her instincts were telling her to object to Eren\'s statements just for objection\'s sake. That way, he wouldn\'t think of committing extreme measures like silencing her the same way he did to the rest of the Spiders.

However, there was a certain calm Ariadne felt after someone else saw her for who she really was. She had been adopting a lot of personalities throughout her life to gel well with the people she was with. But deep down, she knew she couldn\'t commit herself to a cause like the rest of the rankers or demonic rankers.

Ariadne felt relieved when somebody understood her after only meeting her for the second time. Thus, she didn\'t say anything to deny Eren\'s claim even at the cost of putting her life at risk.

Eren chuckled when he saw what Ariadne was thinking about. He shook his head before speaking up in a casual tone.

"Relax. I am not thinking of getting rid of you. And signing a binding contract with you is off the table as well. So how about this? An alliance for mutual benefits. An alliance between two survival specialists."

Aria raised her eyebrows before asking promptly.

"What kind of alliance are we talking about?"

Eren looked at the sky and had a pensive look on his face. He took his time to reply this time.

"To be frank, the guild system is great for steady growth. But it still offers mediocre growth potential for most rankers. I don\'t have the talent for playing by the rules either.

I don\'t want to become a demonic ranker either. Speedy growth is not worth it if one attracts unwanted heat."

Ariadne stared at Eren with a puzzled expression before asking up.

"Then what do you want to do exactly?"

Eren stopped looking at the darkening sky and looked in Ariadne\'s direction. Her seductive figure seemed more attractive under the moonlight cast over her by Gilaahan\'s two moons.

The battlemage kept the axes in his storage and walked towards Ariadne. He stopped only when he was less than an arm\'s distance away from her. He looked her in the eyes before speaking up.

"I am thinking of forming a mercenary team in the future when I break into the Awakened rank, Ariadne. My personal project can give me the growth I want as a ranker. It will not come under any organization\'s umbrella. And it will operate on its own terms.

Are you interested in becoming its first member?"