It took Siegfried’s party more than seven full hours to reach the ancient ruins of the Illuminati.

Considering that they had been running at speeds comparable to a car, they had to have traversed several hundred kilometers before arriving at their destination.

“Huff... Huff...”

“Bleuuurgh!”

“N-No more... I can’t take another step!”

“U-Ughh... I don’t feel so good...”

They collapsed from exhaustion or lay sprawled out on the ground, trying to catch their breath, and every one of them eventually ended up vomiting. They had been running so fast that just keeping up with the pace was a struggle.

On the other hand, Siegfried was perfectly fine.

“This must be the place.”

Without wasting another second, he surveyed the ancient ruins. This much was nothing for him, who had surpassed the realm of Grandmasters and was on the cusp of reaching the next realm.

[Ancient Illuminati Ruins of the Torio Mountain Ranges]

Siegfried dismissed the notification that popped up in front of his eyes and proceeded to carefully inspect his surroundings.

The Ancient Illuminati Ruins were a complete wasteland. It had been left untouched since time immemorial, so most of the structures had long since collapsed.

All sorts of vines crept over the fallen walls, and the vegetation had grown so thick that it was impossible to distinguish between the ruin and the terrain. No matter how hard Siegfried looked, he couldn’t find Oscar and the others. Aside from signs of battles scattered throughout the ruins, there was nothing else there.

‘Footprints. Blood. Shattered stones...’

Siegfried continued looking for signs of anyone, perhaps a survivor, and—

“...Ah.”

—He found the bodies of the Proatine Empire’s knights, along with the members of the Proatine Force.

Almost thirty corpses lay scattered on the ground.

Siegfried covered his face. This was a heartbreaking sight for him, who cherished his people deeply.

“Kyuuu... Are you okay, owner punk?” Hamchi asked in a sympathetic tone.

The giant hamster fully knew just how much Siegfried cared for his people, so he understood the state of his mind too.

“No, I’m not okay,” Siegfried replied, not forcing himself to pretend he was fine. Then, he said, “Let’s take care of them first, Hamchi. Can you ask your spirits to look for any survivors?”

“Kyuuu... Leave it to Hamchi.”

Siegfried began gathering the corpses strewn all over the place into one area.

Woooong...!

Then, he used the freezing aura from Absolute Zero to freeze them solid. If left as they were, they would soon decompose and maggots would start gnawing away at them.

Absolute Zero could defeat almost any heat, so he poured out his will into his Primordial Force and carefully froze their bodies.

He made this decision in order to preserve their remains until he could bring them back to the Proatine Empire and give them a fitting burial.

‘These are wounds from a sword.’

While collecting the bodies, Siegfried made sure to inspect their cause of death.

‘Nothing seems out of the ordinary...’

He thoroughly checked their wounds and even examined the weapons they had used in battle.

Still, there was nothing that particularly stood out. All it pointed out was that they had simply been overpowered by someone using a sword, as evidenced by how the wounds were inflicted by a very normal sword.

‘Let’s try to simulate what happened here.’

Siegfried began reconstructing the battle that had taken place by using the wounds he found on the bodies and the chips on the weapons.

For someone at his level, it was possible to observe such clues and roughly deduce how the fight had unfolded.

‘He cut here like this, turned, stabbed, and pulled the sword out. Then immediately sliced the neck afterward...’

He watched as the battle unfolded before his eyes.

‘Hold on... Something about this is...’

The swordsmanship that killed his men felt familiar. It was so familiar that he had to ponder it for a while, trying to remember where he had seen it before.

Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, he couldn’t clearly match it to anything or identify the sword style used.

‘It’s just a very fundamental sword technique, but... there's something about it that feels too familiar for some reason...’ he pondered.

“Kyuuu! Owner punk!” Hamchi suddenly came running. Then, he exclaimed, “This one says it found someone alive! Kyuuu!”

Siegfried immediately got up and replied, “Let’s go right away.”

Without wasting another second, the duo ran after the spirit.

***

“S-Siegfried...”

The spirit led the duo to the outskirts of the Ancient Illuminati Ruin, where they found Shakiro collapsed on the ground.

“Master Shakiro!”

“Ugh...” Shakiro groaned weakly.

“Hang in there, Master!”

Siegfried hurriedly ran up to Shakiro and administered first aid. Shakiro’s injuries were so severe that he was losing blood by the bucket, making it a miracle that he was still alive.

While administering first aid, Siegfried couldn’t help but be shocked, ‘Master Shakiro was beaten this badly? Who was his opponent?’

Shakiro had gained enlightenment from his battle with Betelgeuse and ascended to the realm of Grandmasters. For someone like him to be wounded to this extent was honestly shocking to Siegfried.

Why? Because Shakiro was now second only to Siegfried in terms of combat prowess.

In fact, even when he had still been just a Master, Shakiro had been considered strong enough to contend even with Grandmasters. He had proven in his battle against Betelgeuse that he was capable of holding his ground even against a Grandmaster.

And now that he had reached the realm of Grandmaster, it was not an exaggeration to say that he was stronger than Betelgeuse.

“Who was it? Who did this to you, Master?” Siegfried asked.

“It was... Oscar.”

“...What did you say?” Siegfried flinched in shock. Then, he stammered and asked, “O-Oscar did this to you, Master?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Hmm...”

Siegfried found it difficult to believe Shakiro's words.

Putting aside Oscar’s upright character and loyalty to the Proatine Empire, she wasn't even a Master just yet. How could she possibly injure Shakiro, someone who was only second to Siegfried now?

Siegfried turned and asked, “Is it true, Carell?”

“I was searching another area when I was attacked. While retreating, I regrouped with Dame Oscar and fought side by side before I escaped after suffering grievous wounds. What happened to her after that is...” Carell replied with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

Siegfried looked back at Shakiro after listening to Carell’s response.

“How did Oscar do this to you, Master?”

“I am not sure either,” Shakiro shook his head and replied. Then, he continued, “I was inspecting the ruins when she suddenly attacked me. I was caught completely off guard, as she was far stronger than I remembered her to be.”

“...”

“It was like she had been hiding her true strength all along.”

“I understand, Master. For now, please do not think about anything and just rest,” Siegfried said.

He handed Shakiro the Infinite Flask, applied potions to his wounds, and administered first aid.

‘There’s no way Oscar would betray me. And no matter how strong she might be, she isn’t capable of wounding Master Shakiro like this,’ he thought.

He refused to believe that Oscar was capable of doing such a thing, even after hearing what had happened directly from Shakiro.

Just then, a thought crossed his mind. ‘Wait a second... Those wounds on the corpses earlier. I’m sure they were...’

Those wounds were something that could only be inflicted by a very honest form of swordsmanship. A sword style that followed the very basic fundamentals of the sword so strictly that it was hard to classify it as any particular style.

It was the most orthodox of sword styles.

Among everyone Siegfried had met thus far, only one person was capable of using such a sword style.

‘Those wounds were definitely Oscar’s swordsmanship.’

As much as he did not want to admit it, the wounds on his fallen allies would make perfect sense if Oscar were truly the attacker.

‘But why would she do that? And how did she suddenly get so strong?’ Siegfried wondered.

Hamchi suddenly tugged at his pants and exclaimed, “Kyuuu! There’s no point standing around like this! Hamchi will try to find Oscar!”

“Huh? Can you find her?”

“Hamchi has an excellent nose! Kyuuu!”

“Ah, right, you did have that.”

Siegfried suddenly remembered that among Hamchi’s abilities, his sense of smell was arguably the best in the world. The giant hamster could sniff out most things once he caught a trail of their scent, and it was something he could indeed be proud of.

“Kyuuu! Hamchi has caught Oscar’s scent!”

“Already? Where is she?”

“This way! Follow Hamchi! Kyuuu!”

“Good. Lead the way,” Siegfried said with a nod. Then, he turned to his comrades and said, “You guys stay here. I’ll go and see what’s going on.”

With that, Siegfried and Hamchi set out to search for Oscar.

***

About an hour later...

“Oscar!” Siegfried exclaimed after spotting Oscar collapsed on the ground.

Fortunately, her life did not seem to be in danger. Still, she had lost a lot of blood and had completely depleted her stamina. She barely lifted her head and called out in a weak, hoarse voice. “Y-Your Imperial Majesty...”

“Oscar! What happened?!” Siegfried exclaimed.

Contrary to what he had been told, she did not look like someone capable of slaughtering dozens of knights, let alone defeating Shakiro.

Siegfried even flashed his Rune of Insight to check, but she was still Level 299, a knight yet to surpass the wall and step into the realm of Masters.

“I... was attacked, sire...” Oscar forced herself to speak.

“Who was it? Who did this to you?” Siegfried asked.

“It was... Carell. He has betrayed us, sire.”

“...What?!”

“Carell attacked me. He... killed many of our men and even went after me.”

“But that can’t be...!”

Oscar lifted the Sword of Truth: Fragarach with her trembling hands and held it to her neck. Then, she said, “I would never lie to Your Imperial Majesty. Carell betrayed us, sire.”

“Huh? That makes no sense at all. Carell is with the others right now, and he’s badly injured too,” Siegfried replied, sounding baffled.

“Y-Your Majesty! You must go to them at once! They are in danger!” Oscar exclaimed urgently.

“W-Why?”

“You must believe me, sire. I, Oscar, have never once deceived you.”

“I-I know, but... Master Shakiro said you were the one who attacked him.”

“...What? What does that even mean...?” Oscar muttered. Her eyes widened, clearly baffled by what she heard.

Siegfried grimaced and grumbled inwardly, ‘What in the hell is going on here?’

He couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation, but he helped her to her feet.

Now that she had proven her innocence using the Sword of Truth: Fragarach, he had no choice but to trust her—at least, for now.

“Let’s go to where the others are,” he said.

“Yes, sire.”

“Excuse me.”

Siegfried carried Oscar on his back and flew toward where his companions were.

Since Oscar was insisting that Carell was the perpetrator behind all this, Siegfried had to move quickly and get to the bottom of things.

“Carell! You crazy bastard!”

“Have you lost your damn mind?!”

“A-Aaagh!”

By the time they arrived, their comrades were already locked in a fierce fight against Carell.

“Aaack!”

Shockingly, they were struggling against Carell, and even Cheon Woo-Jin, who was a Grandmaster, was helplessly knocked to the ground by a single attack.

‘What the hell is going on?!’ Siegfried cried out inwardly at the chaos before him.

At that moment, something caught his eye, forcing him to hand Oscar to Hamchi and propel himself forward.

‘Danger!’

Shakiro was facing a life-or-death crisis.

After suffering such grievous wounds, Shakiro was still unable to move freely.

Yet now standing before him was Carell, who was preparing to deal a fatal blow to him.

Baaam!

Siegfried reached just in time and deflected the attack with his Annihilation’s Grasp, causing Carell to be pushed back several meters by the force.

“What do you think you’re doing, you crazy bastard?!” Siegfried roared, unleashing Splitting Heaven and Earth straight at Carell.

Rumble!

The Splitting Heaven and Earth spread out like a fan, forming vortexes behind it, as it crashed down on Carell.

It was then.

Wooong!

A powerful burst of energy erupted around Carell, completely nullifying the vortexes.

Shwaaaaa!

Several vortexes far larger than the ones that disappeared formed in their place and came crashing toward Siegfried.

‘Y-You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Siegfried shrieked.

He transformed the Annihilation’s Grasp into an umbrella and spun it in an attempt to deflect the vortexes.

Whiiiir!

The vortexes were sucked in by the Annihilation’s Grasp before being unleashed into the sky. They intertwined together as they shot up, making them look like a dragon ascending into the heavens.

It was a complete nullification.

“Oh? Was that Splitting Heaven and Earth just now? I know that technique very well,” Carell said with a smirk. Then, he flashed a grin and asked, “Are you a disciple of Deus?”