Jin leaped into the air as he snuck toward five Marquis-ranked demons who were a little farther away from the other Marquis-ranked demons who had made the decision to advance a little in order to scope the war.

Some of them had even actively joined the war, trying to balance the situation as Ren's members were wreaking havoc at the very front. Their very presence was tilting the balance of the war as they massacred hundreds of demons at a time.

'I should also play a role.'

With his rank being <S-> rank, Jin now had the ability to fly as he skipped through the air in a secretive manner.

Nearing the demons, he activated his first skill.

[Absolute stealth [B]] : The user can completely conceal their breathing, heartbeat, and noise, as well as their physical form upon activating this skill.

Over the years, Jin had acquired many different skills. Most of them came from his guild. At times as a reward for all of his accomplishments, and at other times as a gift from his parents and grandfather.

He used to be very hesitant about taking skills in the past as he wanted to prove to the others that he didn't need the guild in order to be the best, but as he grew up, and he thought back on his previous thoughts, he could only shake his head and lament about how stupid and naive his thoughts were.

'If you are born with an advantage, use it.'

He was born with a golden spoon ever since he was little.

Perhaps because of others' jealousy and how they claimed that the only reason he was strong was because of his grandfather and all of the potions he was fed as a child, Jin began to believe their words, giving rise to his edgy teen phase where he would think of everyone as his enemy.

He had long grown past that phase.

He now knew better than anyone that the only opinion that mattered was his. It was his life, not theirs. What right did they have to say anything about his life?

Just the thought of how he had been manipulated in the past brought rise to a hidden anger within him.

'Fortunately, I realized it early.'

All he needed was one wake up call to learn of this, and from there, Jin decided to use the one advantage he had over the others and acquire the best skills he could through his guild.

Not only that, but he also learned the best arts that the guild had to offer.

Of course, he only learned those that would benefit him, and he didn't just learn all of the arts for the sake of learning them.

'If only I could've practiced everything earlier.'

Just thinking back at all the time he had wasted with his worthless pride gave rise to a high sense of disappointment in himself.

'What a waste.'

"Fuuu..."

His body emerged from behind a Marquis ranked demon.

There were a total of five Marquis ranked demons scattered around him, and none of them took notice of his presence.

Appearing from behind the demon, Jin's eyes changed as five different red shooting targets appeared in his vision.

[Axiom Lock [S]] : The user gains the ability to see through the opponent's axis, pivots, and center of gravity, granting them a significant advantage in combat.

As he fiddled with the two daggers in his hands, a circular domain started to spread out from his body, until it began to encircle the area around him as well as the Marquis ranked demon.

[Domain of silence [A]] : Constructs a domain around the user that prevents all noise from escaping.

The domain was invisible.

Only Jin had the ability to see it expand from out of his body, and encircling the area around him and the demon.

The next set of actions all happened in a flash.

With his eyes darting all over the targets, Jin's hands flashed, and the dagger in his hand pierced right through every single spot marked in his vision.

The demon screamed out loud, but no noise came out of his mouth. If that wasn't enough, by the time Jin was done attacking the Marquis ranked demon, the demon found himself unable to move as the ligaments of both his arms and legs had been torn.

A long line spread across his neck, and his wings had been cut.

The last thing the demon felt was a hand piercing through his head. After that, everything went dark.

'That's one.'

Jin silently murmured to himself as his eyes narrowed.

Killing this demon was the easiest part. The hardest part was what followed after.

After all, although he had the skills that granted him the ability to kill someone silently, it did not camouflage his kill. Within the next two seconds, one of the demons near him would definitely notice that something was wrong and warn the others.

Thus...

Jin's figure suddenly appeared in front of another demon after briefly disappearing. This time, he decided not to use his A-ranked skill, domain of silence, and instead just attacked with his right hand, which was holding a sharp dagger in it.

On the other hand, his other hand, which was empty, was extended toward the left side. His hand gradually took on a shadowy appearance as a dark haze began to envelop it.

Thin threads started to shoot from the tip of his hand, aiming toward two nearby Marquis ranked demons.

All of this happened within the short two second span that he had given himself.

By the time the demons realized that something was wrong, the threads had already reached them and had locked onto their respective necks like sharp daggers.

Jin was hugging a demon from behind while pressing a dagger against his neck. On the other hand, his left hand which was extended toward the two other Marquis ranked demons had thin black threads that encircled their necks.

Three out of four of the remaining demons were locked under his control within that short period of time, and by the time the fourth demon turned around to see what was going on, he was met with the sight of Jin's cold eyes.

Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!

A fountain of black blood began to spray in the air as the demon stared at Jin with a look of absolute dread.

"W..what?"

What was happening before the demon's eyes seemed impossible. It was completely beyond his common sense.

...he had just turned around to look at the battle at the front, only to be shocked to see that his comrades had all been incapacitated.

All of this happened so fast that he had been unable to react at all.

'H...how...'

The demon thought to himself as he moved back a little. His eyes were filled with absolute horror and dread.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Three muffled sounds echoed beneath as Jin dropped the bodies of the demons onto the ground.

In his hand were three perfectly shaped cores, which disappeared with a flick of his finger.

Just like that, Jin had gotten rid of four Marquis ranked demons.

What was happening right now was no coincidence.

This was the product of Jin's hard work.

He understood just how big the gap between him and Ren was. His goal used to be to chase after him, but he realized that that was stupid.

Fundamentally, Ren was not him.

Ren was a swordsman, and Jin was more of an assassin. The weapons they used were different, and so was the way they fought.

It was upon this realization that everything became clear to Jin.

'I'll just focus on improving what I'm good at instead of trying to catch up to Ren.'

He might not be the best swordsman around, but he sure as hell was going to be the strongest assassin there was.

...and the fact that he could kill four Marquis ranked demons when his strength was the same as theirs was a testament to just how strong he had gotten over the years.

***

"He's pretty good."

Emma murmured as she looked toward the sky where Jin was.

Currently, he was face to face with a Marquis ranked demon. She witnessed, alongside Melissa, him dispatch four Marquis ranked demons in a matter of a minute.

His strength had honestly left her stunned.

'...I wonder just how much effort he must've put in over the years to become this strong.'

Without a doubt, Jin's talent wasn't the only thing that had led to him becoming this strong. She knew better than anyone that effort and dedication were the necessary requirements for one to become strong.

A bitter smile spread across her face as she thought about the effort she put in.

"Haha, I wonder if my efforts are still not enough?"

The reason why she wanted to become strong was so that she wouldn't be a burden for Kevin...but it didn't seem like he appreciated her efforts as he seemed to have put some distance from her over the last few years.

She didn't realize why at first, and the thought saddened her, but upon further reflection, she realized that it was most likely because he still found her a burden and that he was most probably putting on a distance with her so that she wouldn't get hurt.

Well...at least that was what she forced herself to think.

After all, there was no way Kevin would abandon her...right?

"Oy, wake up."

"Ouch!"

A slap at the back of her head was what snapped her out of her thoughts.

She hastily turned her head and glared in Melissa's direction.

"What was that for?"

"Huh?"

Melissa looked at her with a look that said, 'Are you seriously asking me something so obvious?', while she pointed at the battlefield.

"Falling into a daze when there's a war going on? Did you get hurt before coming here?"

"Ah..."

Emma put on an embarrassed look.

She lowered her head and whispered.

"You're right."

"No shit I'm right."

Ruthless as ever, Melissa didn't hold her punches as she continued to rant.

"I get that you're having some relationship troubles, but there is a time for everything, and now is not the time to think about this type of stuff."

"How did you-"

"It doesn't matter how I know. The device I set up around us isn't going to last forever. The core is already running out of energy, so you better get ready to fight soon."

Melissa took out several flasks from her dimensional space. All of which had different colored substances hidden inside.

She opened one and handed it to Emma.

"Here drink this, it will help you fight better."

"What's this?"

Emma asked out of curiosity.

Melissa shoved it at her and answered.

"Just drink it. I'm not going to poison you."

"...Alright then."

Emma drank the potion under Melissa's gaze.

"Huh?"

She felt a sudden burst of strength.

Her eyes opened wide in shock as she gazed at Melissa.

"Thi.."

"Don't ask questions. You wouldn't understand even if I told you what I did."

She tossed several different colored cards in Emma's direction. After which, she crouched down on the ground and tapped onto a small device set up on the ground.

"Get ready, in the next few seconds we will be assaulted from all sides. Make sure you don't die."

"Wai-"

Melissa tapped onto the device before Emma could finish her sentence and all of a sudden, she felt thousands of different eyes pause on her body.

Chills ran down her body.

"Fuck, Melissa!"

***

As the shaking in the room became more intense and my heart began to twitch, I let out a scream.

"Uaaakk!"

At the same time, the room began to shake even more fiercely. This was especially true for the pillars, which were shaking so violently that it appeared as though they could topple over at any moment.

Bang!

'Not yet!'

I pounded the ground with my fist and clenched my teeth tightly.

I shut my eyes and concentrated on the mana that was entering my body. I continued to control its movements within my body in order to make sure that everything was operating as it should. A single mistake and I was fucked.

'!!!'

When I shut my eyes to examine the state of my body, I was delighted to reach the conclusion that I was only a few seconds away from breaking through.

Immediately after I realized this, my eyes snapped open and I hastily chewed on another herb.

"Huaaak!"

As if scalding lava was traveling through my veins, my body jerked up and I let out a heartwrenching scream. The scream was so loud that it drowned out the sound of the explosions coming from the war, and it wasn't long before I suddenly heard a cracking sound inside of the room.

Cr..ack!

Everything changed after that.