His eyes were starting to have problems adjusting to the situation and even his neck was beginning to move too slowly for his liking. He couldn''t even register that the reason this Level 10 was forced toe was because the punch hended on Elise earlier had left her incapacitated.

    He had been right. She couldn''t use her ice Aether without paying a price, and that price was her protective measures. She hadn''t expected to be suddenly hit like that, and so she had paid for it.

    Now, Joel stood before Ss, but he was a bit confused.

    Nothing about Ss made any sense. How could someone both be so powerful and so inept?

    When he tried to see through Ss'' stats, he was brick-walled so hard that had he not cut off his senses, he would have been sent reeling back.

    Such powerful Mental and yet he couldn''t deal with a little ice?

    Despite his confusion and the caution that birthed from it, Joel knew that he didn''t have the time to dawdle.

    He reached out with a palm. It was shrouded by a shadowy energy, pressing down with such power that the space seemed to be sealed. The palm expanded to the point it seemed that it could grab Ss'' entire body.

    Joel was ready for some sort of resistance, but what he didn''t expect was that he wouldn''t get any.

    Hisrge shadowy palm grabbed Ss and picked him up as though he weighed as light as a feather.

    The Level 10 couldn''t help but stand there in shock. Beasts tried to attack him, but tendrils of darkness darted out from his back, piercing them through like spider legs.

    Unable to understand what was happening, Joel returned to the back of the encirclement.

    "I will watch over him," he called out.

    The other two nodded while Bogdan and Petrard rescued Elise from the swarm of beasts.

    With the addition of a Level 10 and Level 11, the beast tide began to be swiftly wiped out. They didn''t seem to stand a single chance against this hoard.

    There seemed to be a clear dividing line between Level 9 and Level 10, one that was likely categorized by sses.

    Joelnded after arge leap through the air, looking at Ss who was still trapped in his shadow hand. By this point, Ss was almost entirely blue, his eyes tightly shut, his body shivering in itsst-ditch effort to remain warm.

    "Who are you?" Joel questioned.

    The walls were bearing down around Ss. He was trapped in the hands of a man far more powerful than himself, the threat of the beasts was being too swiftly dealt with for him to take advantage of anymore, and it was simply impossible to imagine that he''d find any way to escape.

    Joel''s frown deepened, realizing that he likely wasn''t going to get an answer out of Ss while he was in this state.

    Right at that moment, the snail suddenly appeared out of the portal, but Joel only gave it a nce. It was a powerful creature, to be sure. But Mordicai and Linzi were more than prepared to deal with it.

    Joel began to search Ss'' body. The disk was highly important and it had vanished. Maybe there was a chance that it was in Ss'' hand.

    They had yet to be able to confirm such a thing with the other three, but they were sure that Bloom and Mark weren''t able to leave with it.

    Seeing that Ss'' Aether skin was in the way, Joel directly shattered it without much effort at all. But he was once again stunned that it was actually so simple. How could Ss'' Aether be so weak?

    He was so surprised that he ended up hurting Ss more than he expected.

    Ss coughed up a mouthful of blood, several of his ribs shattering beneath the impact.

    In the end, Joel just shook his head. It didn''t matter if Ss was a little roughed up so long as he didn''t die.

    "No spatial device?" Joel frowned and looked at the ne around Ss'' neck. He grabbed the Madness Key and tried to pull it off but it didn''t budge. "Huh?"

    BANG!

    Ss'' eyes suddenly snapped open.

    In a sudden change, his skin was flooded with ck, reflective scales.

    The ice shards that had bloomed across his body shattered.

    [Name: Ss Grimde]

    [Physical: 139]

    [Strength: 157]

    [Constitution: 153]

    [Dexterity: 121]

    [Speed: 123]

    [Mental: 173]

    [Intelligence: 257]

    [Wisdom: 72]

    [Charisma: 191]

    [Will: 264]

    [Luck: 39]

    Then, his BOSS yer Title bloomed, adding a +10% boost to everything.

    Shards of Joel''s shadow palm fell along with the sparkling motes of ice like a dance of light and dark.

    Ss fell to the ground, a tail pping down heavily behind him.

    At that moment, the three kunai surged out from Ss'' Madness Key. The only thing he had managed to do before he was captured was store them away, and at that moment, they erupted with 195 Physical as they exploded toward Joel in a line.

    Danger signs red up in Joel''s mind and he hurriedly exploded into a retreat. Just when the kunai were about to skewer him through, he vanished in a puff of ck smoke.

    However, what he didn''t notice was that the instant he tried to teleport, Ss'' telekinesis squeezed down like a vicious viper.

    Ss had never seen the Basilisk'' Luck stat before, but feeling the sudden boost to having it felt like everything within 40 meters was clearly reflected in his mind. Nothing Joel could do could slip away from his attention.

    He could have sent a kunai after Joel instantly, but he didn''t choose to do so.

    Instead, he cut off the Skillpletely.

    Joel stood shocked as three kunai ran through his chest in quick session, each one leaving arger andrger hole than thest before it seemed he would be shattered into a rain of blood.

    Power pooled out of Ss'' body and it felt like he could take on the world. There were even hints of his rationality that seemed that it might be stripped away, but his Will was simply too high.

    Taking Joel''s body, he rushed off into the distance, moving at the fastest speed he could muster.