Max froze in shock because the face of the elven woman standing before him was soone he knew far too well.
It was his mother.
The mont his eyes settled on her features, a storm of emotions surged through his mind. The elegant face, the long flowing hair, the calm and noble bearing that surrounded her presence all matched the mories buried deep within his heart.
There was no doubt about it. That face belonged to the woman who had given birth to him. Though she looked a lot younger than what he rembered, there was no doubt that the woman before him was his mother.
Max could not be mistaken.
"Mother?" Max muttered softly. His voice ca out hoarse as the word escaped his lips.
The elven woman looked at him with mild confusion when she heard him speak.
"A human at the third level of the Rebirth Realm?" she said while tilting her head slightly as she studied him. "Either you are so supre genius or you have discovered a loophole in the Combat Tower to reach this far."
Her expression carried curiosity rather than recognition.
The mont Max saw that unfamiliar gaze in her eyes, he understood the situation.
His heart was still shaking with emotion, yet he forced himself to calm down. The powerful feelings that had erupted within him were slowly suppressed as his mind began to analyze the situation carefully.
"Since mother is still in her elf form, this must be a ti long before my birth or even Freya's birth," Max thought as he steadied his breathing. "At that ti she had not yet abandoned her elven bloodline."
The realization slowly beca clear in his mind.
"That ans she must have encountered a Combat Tower in the past and ascended through its floors just like everyone else. During that ti she left behind a fragnt of her soul within the tower. The person standing before now is only that fragnt."
Once he understood this, the chaos inside his heart gradually settled.
Max looked at her once again, and this ti a warm smile appeared on his face.
"Before we fight, let us introduce ourselves," Max said gently. "My na is Max."
The elven woman watched him with a faint smile forming on her lips.
"How curious you are, human," she said with a light laugh.
"Well, my na is Caelira. This is rely a fragnt of my soul, but my true identity is the princess of the Elven Race and the inheritor of the royal bloodline."
She spoke those words with clear pride in her voice as though the title itself carried great significance.
Max listened to her introduction while maintaining his calm expression.
Inside his mind, however, another thought quietly surfaced.
'She is just like Lenavira,' Max thought with a faint smile in his heart. 'Proud of her royal bloodline and proud of her race.'
However Max knew that the pride shining in her eyes carried a tragic irony that she herself could not yet see.
The race and the royal bloodline she spoke about with such confidence would one day beco the very reason her peaceful family would be torn apart. The mory of those events surfaced in Max's mind like a shadow that refused to fade. The quiet happiness that once existed within their family had been shattered because of the politics and pride of the elven race.
Just thinking about it caused a cold anger to rise within him.
Max suppressed the surge of rage that threatened to appear on his face. The bitterness he felt toward the elves was sothing that had been carved deeply into his heart through painful mories.
Still, he did not allow those emotions to show.
"Elven race? I have heard of the elven race, but honestly I have never seen one before," Max said while maintaining a warm smile on his face.
"Haha, of course you have not seen them," his mother replied with a light laugh. Her tone carried a hint of amusent as she looked at him. "Our elven territory controls many star realms and we usually remain within those realms. We only move between the star realms under our command. It is very rare for us to travel beyond our territory to explore other star realms unless there is an important reason."
She spoke casually as though explaining sothing ordinary.
"Because of this, our race is rarely seen across the Divine Realm," she added.
Then she suddenly paused as if realizing sothing.
"Why am I even telling you all of this?" she said while shaking her head slightly.
Her expression returned to seriousness as she looked directly at Max.
"Let us fight, human kid."
Max nodded calmly as he tightened his grip on his sword.
Just as the battle was about to begin, a thought surfaced in his mind and he asked one more question.
"Have you been defeated before?"
His mother shook her head confidently. Pride appeared in her expression as she answered.
"No. I have remained undefeated until now. Many humans have reached close to this floor, but none of them managed to defeat . I am quite strong."
"Hehe," Max let out a light grin as he listened to her words. "I am also quite strong. Let us see which one of us is stronger between the two of us."
No sooner had Max finished speaking than the atmosphere within the arena shifted.
In the next instant, a flash of golden light erupted around his mother's figure. The radiance burst outward like a sudden flare of sunlight and her body vanished from the place where she had been standing. The movent was so swift that it was almost impossible to follow with the naked eye.
One mont she had been standing calmly in front of him.
The very next mont she had already appeared beside him.
Her figure materialized at his right side and the long bow in her hand moved like a blur as she swung it toward his head. The strike carried trendous speed and precision, the arc of the weapon cutting through the air with deadly intent.
Her movent could only be described as unbelievably fast.
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