"Ruinov, Don't be so stubborn. You know that she is out of our league, so we need to retreat," A serene voice tinged with panic sounded.

"Retreat? Run away just because our opponent is stronger than us?"

"Pyr, You want our organization to look bad," A deep voice, followed by a peal of laughter, echoed through the surroundings before an abrupt silence.

Saahira and Andrei stood together, bloodied and bruised, amidst the desolate expanse of the ice-covered jungle. A few meters away, a female figure draped in robes of regal purple and muted gray hovered in mid-air, her legs casually crossed as she gazed down upon them, defying gravity with apparent ease.

"No, we both know what she is capable of, and fighting against her will only end in our death, and after knowing all that and still engaging with her is idiotic," Saahira said, as her staff pulsed with life, manifesting white flames of renewal that engulfed both her and Andrei, closing their wounds.

"You are right, but death is better than running away," Andrei said, with his wings a blur, and so did his figure as he zoomed toward the female in the distance.

The clematises figure of Andrei, a blend of rhinoceros beetle, ants, and other deadly insects, cloaked in a dense shroud of poisonous mist that burned the very air, was halted inches away from the female who didn't move an inch.

Andrei's form came to a halt before he was pushed back, hit with an invisible impact, and sent zooming down into the frozen ground like a meteor.

Andrei stood back from the rubble and looked up his fresh heald figure showing minor injuries, and in the next instant, he firstly held his duel axes and bent his knees before launching his figure back at the lady who sat cross-legged, her icy gaze meeting his with unwavering intensity.

"You are strong, stronger than 99% of individuals participating in the event, but your struggle against me is pointless," The female spoke, her calm voice as sweet as a melody.

She raised her delicate hand up, manifesting small orbs of brilliant red energy that shot lasers at the figure of Andrei, who was pushing against an invisible barrier, his figure releasing waves upon waves of poisonous mist yet not getting even closer to the seated beauty.

"It is commendable that you are willing to go through so much pain to not give up on your comrade, but the only way you two are going to die is by telling me where I can find Ruler,"

"And it's not like you are throwing Ruler before the wolves to be slaughtered because surely you don't believe that any player could hope to threaten that monster,""If you really want to save your image, then give me his location and tell Ruler I am coming to meet him, but you are welcome to test my patience and experience the pain of a lifetime because I sure have little interest in performing well in the event,"

"I just want to meet the mysterious man who appeared out of thin air and now stands at the pinnacle of what the Ancient world has to offer to players," Evangeline said, a smile gracing her icy-cold face.

'We will have a single shot at doing this, and even if our plan works, it will not guarantee our victory, but besides trying our best, we have no other option,' Saahira said through the system voice chat.

'I told you that I do not want to be defeated again after the defeat against Killian, and I held those feelings not because I felt ashamed to lose but because I felt I lost without putting up much of a fight,'

'Killian told me as he beat the living daylight out of me how I was just a brute who was showered with resources and given a strong legacy,'

'I also believed it to be true, and it was the reason I was sad and wanted to prove to myself and others who believed the same wrong,'

'My brother saw through my worries and you know what he said to me?' Andrei questioned, his deep voice breaking at the end as if the mere recollection caused him to drift off in thought.

'So What,'

'What a great response,' Andrei said, following it with a hearty laugh out loud.

'He said that only people who don't lose are those who pick their opponents certain of their victory, and those people will never grow past a level,'

'He also told me that in certain situations, it is better to retreat than die a foolish death,'

'So while we will follow your plan, however, if she can maintain the barrier even after I destroy it or I fail to destroy it, in both cases, you will need to leave at the opportunity I will create,' Andrei said, his eyes never leaving the female figure seated in the sky.

-------------------

(The Fortress Area)

'He sure took his time to arrive,' Alex thought, his pitch-dark eyes looking into the distance.

Alex shifted their eyes to the battlefield that had changed drastically in the last twenty minutes, with one of the mage towers being down in flames, a small section of the wall having been torn open, and two-tenths of the pulse canons disabled.

Chazaqian, one of the two lieutenants, and both of Alex's servants were busy dealing with the enemy captain and keeping him out of the fortress boundary, but as the strength difference was high, the captain was slipping out attacks every now and then.

The army, arranged in a crescent moon formation, stood at a safe distance from the fortress wall, looming less than sixty meters away. Shields held high, with archers unleashing a relentless barrage of elemental projectiles at the fortress wall, targeting the long-range defenders.

The battle was going to last twenty to thirty more minutes, but with the arrival of the Ice Trolls, the tables had turned in the favour of Alex, as certain defeat was turning into victory.

"Hey, bald Pig, do you think you will win so easily?" Alex said, throwing a dagger at the captain to gain his attention.

The captain had a dense yet robust build and a bald, egg-like head and sported a fiery beard. He brandished a two-handed axe, and whether provoked by attack or insult, he reacted swiftly, moving like a blur, with his axe, engulfed in flames, swung with a deep roar.

Alex avoided the attack by teleporting away and looked at him with a smirk, and in an instant, both his servants appeared by his side, knowing that the seemingly wild plan had worked and it was time to put the last piece of the puzzle in place.

"Hey, Bald Pig, Did you believe If I could set traps to kill a quarter of your soldiers, then I wouldn't be prepared to defend my fortress from fools who had their brains fried from the sun heat,"

"In five minutes, the entire Ice Troll Clan will be here, led by the Ice Troll king, a high-stage Sixth Rank beast, and you, with the last of your army, will get slaughtered,"

"How do you like my final gift," Alex said, as he started laughing with his events and soldiers joining him, making the shock on the captain's face grow with panic settling in among his soldiers as all attacks were stopped for a moment.

"Why, why would those beats work with you?" The captain said, but his words trailed off as he gazed into the distance and felt the collective aura of strong creatures traveling in their direction.

The captain's face drained of blood momentarily, identifying that he had walked into another trap, so swiftly, he began strategizing to salvage the situation.

Knowing that being caught between the trolls and the fortress bombardment would surely result in heavy losses for his army regiment, which was unacceptable.

"Stenicus and Evidio, you two keep these bastards at bay and give us cover, and groups from 6th to 10th started the march toward the north at full pace and follow my lead," The commander yelled the order, and instantly, the two lieutenants under him who were dealing with the second mage tower retreated and began acting on the new orders.

Alex yelled the orders to open fire and informed his servants not to let him go, and as planned, the two victims stopped caring for their or their soldier's lives and threw themselves at his events to prevent them from standing in their captain's way.

Unbeknownst to the enemy, everything was happening as Alex planned, and while there were still a few things like killing the troll or the captain, whoever survived the clash, those were minor things he could easily take care of.