John logged back into the ga.
As the white light faded, John reappeared in the place where he had previously been hiding.
The incident in the Northern Exclusion Zone had caused far too much commotion.
The City Lord’s Mansion, the Witch Council, and the other high-ranking forces within Axis City had all set their sights on him.
Especially after witnessing the confrontation above the black lake between Shyron and the two witches, John had fully realized one thing.
He was no longer an ordinary player.
He had beco a key bargaining chip in the power struggle among the upper echelons of Axis City.
It was not that he was simply afraid of being unable to defeat soone.
The real problem was that he still knew nothing about the true attitudes of these NPCs.
Under such circumstances, acting recklessly could easily narrow his options without him even realizing it, causing him to miss opportunities that should have belonged to him.
Therefore, he decided to go to the City Lord’s Mansion first and turn in the Northern Exclusion Zone quest.
He had already eliminated the source of the corruption earlier and obtained the quest item. Now it was ti to see what kind of attitude Shyron intended to show.
As before, John put on the Mist Mask.
His appearance beca concealed and altered, changing into the look of another person.
When he arrived at the City Lord’s Mansion, the two guards at the entrance rely glanced at him before stepping aside.
There was no questioning, no obstruction, not even a single word.
This smoothness instead made him even more vigilant.
John walked all the way into the inner courtyard of the City Lord’s Mansion.
He discovered that the entire estate was strangely quiet.
There were no maids, no guards, and no civil officials.
Not a single figure could be seen.
The vast City Lord’s Mansion seed to have been cleared out in advance.
John stopped in the center of the inner courtyard and slowly swept his gaze across his surroundings.
Just as he was about to speak—
A figure appeared above him without the slightest warning.
Boom!
The air was torn apart in an instant, and a sonic boom exploded beside his ears.
The person wore a form-fitting silver-gray combat suit, with a mask of the sa material covering his face. The longsword in his hand slashed downward from above, its sword light as fast as a bolt of cold lightning descending from the sky.
John’s pupils contracted sharply, and his body almost instinctively shifted sideways and backward.
The edge of the sword brushed past his chest.
He could even feel the coldness from the blade penetrating through the fabric of his battle attire.
The sword landed on the ground.
There was no explosion, nor any exaggerated shockwave of sword aura.
Yet the ground silently split open, leaving behind a fine line more than ten ters long. The cut was as smooth as sliced glass.
John’s heart sank.
This was an expert.
And not just any expert.
This was the first true top-tier lee powerhouse he had encountered since entering the ga.
The attacker gave him no ti to think.
The sword edge twisted against the ground, and the figure vanished once again.
His speed was so terrifying that even John’s naked eye could barely keep up.
John directly activated his spatial authority, his figure flickering repeatedly throughout the courtyard.
But what surprised him was that the other party could actually keep up.
Every ti John used spatial flicker, the man’s figure would follow to his landing point like a maggot attached to bone.
It was not prediction.
Nor was it pure speed.
Prediction could only gamble on a direction. No matter how fast soone was, there should still be a trajectory of movent.
But the other party’s response was more like a kind of battle instinct honed to the absolute limit.
Every ti John stepped out from spatial displacent, before he could even stand firm, that sword had already followed him like a shadow and arrived before his face.
The sword light was ghostly, its angles treacherous.
It did not pursue grand, sweeping destructive power.
Instead, it specifically cut toward the gaps in John’s breathing, the direction of his shifting center of gravity, his joints, and the blind spots in his vision.
Every strike ca at the most uncomfortable position possible.
For the first ti, John felt as if his tempo was being suppressed.
Although his attributes were extrely high, and his Agility was absurdly high in particular.
Especially after experiencing the Trial of the First Seat, all of his stats had already surpassed the understanding of current players.
But the other party’s combat technique was simply too seasoned.
This did not feel like PvP between players at all.
It was more like a monster that had experienced centuries of battle using the simplest movents to dismantle every possible reaction John could make.
Every change in technique was perfectly tid.
There was not the slightest flaw.
After several exchanges, John’s expression gradually turned cold.
He still did not know the other party’s identity.
But this was the inner courtyard of the City Lord’s Mansion, not the wilderness.
Soone capable of attacking him in this manner inside the City Lord’s Mansion had either been ordered by Shyron himself, or the City Lord’s Mansion had already been infiltrated to its core.
Whichever it was, it was troubleso.
In the next instant, the attacker’s sword suddenly flicked upward.
The arc of this strike was extrely strange.
John had just prepared to dodge when he realized that the target of this sword was not his throat, nor any of his vital points.
It was his mask.
Clang!
The Mist Mask was precisely knocked away by the sword edge.
The mask spun through the air and fell onto the stone tiles several ters away.
John’s true face was completely exposed.
His gaze darkened completely.
The fact that his mask had been knocked away ant that his disguise had been forcibly broken.
He no longer focused solely on dodging.
Facing the longsword that slashed toward him once more, John stood still and did not move.
The instant the sword light descended, he raised his arm and actually chose to block the sword edge directly with his forearm.
Puchi!
The blade cut half a centiter into his arm, and a number instantly appeared above John’s head.
[-1310!]
Sharp pain surged through him, but John’s arm did not retreat even half an inch.
His five fingers suddenly clamped down on the sword blade.
His other hand clenched into a fist, muscles tightening, before he smashed it fiercely against the spine of the sword.
Boom!
A dull impact exploded.
The sword wielder, along with the longsword in his hand, was forcefully smashed downward. His feet sank nearly ten centiters into the ground.
With his feet as the center, spiderweb-like cracks spread in every direction across the courtyard tiles.
John did not continue pursuing.
He stood where he was, blood dripping from his arm.
But his expression remained calm, and a pale golden light flashed in his eyes.
True Sight, activate!
The next second, a line of information appeared before his eyes.
[Axis City Lord Shyron]
[Level: Lv.299]
...
It was actually that old monster known as the strongest being beneath God-Rank.
John stared expressionlessly at the information.
He released the sword blade and said coldly, "Is this how the City Lord’s Mansion handles quest turn-ins?"
Shyron did not answer imdiately.
He lowered his head and glanced at the longsword in his hand.
The blade was still trembling slightly, the remaining force of that punch not yet fully dissipated.
Then he looked at the wound on John’s arm, which was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A trace of undisguised surprise flashed through his eyes.
A mont later, Shyron raised his hand and removed his mask, revealing a middle-aged face with sharp, rugged features.
"Not bad."
"It seems you not only ca out of the Trial of the First Seat alive, but your strength has also improved considerably."
John walked over, bent down, picked up the Mist Mask from the ground, and put it back on his face.
Only after fixing the mask in place did he raise his eyes again, his tone still cold.
"So you were testing ?"
Shyron turned his wrist, and the longsword returned to its sheath.
"Three reasons."
He raised three fingers.
"First, I had to confirm whether you had been eroded by the northern corruption.
"Once that kind of thing contaminates soone, it will reveal abnormal reactions during battle. Fortunately, you did not disappoint ."
"Second, I had to confirm whether you had been possessed by sothing inside the Trial of the First Seat."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Third, I had to confirm whether you are worth my continued investnt."
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