Apocalypse: becoming the hidden Ruler[English]

“Are you insane?!” Isos and Quinlan slammed to a halt so abruptly that blood rushed to their heads. Just a few more steps and they would’ve entered the effective detection radius of a massive mutated beast cluster.

Without concealment, they would be swarmed instantly. They hadn’t activated any backup stealth measures.

“Ah—sorry,” Axel said weakly, scratching his cheek as if embarrassed. “This thing… the more people it covers, the more Force it drains…”

“If… I don’t have enough Blood Refining Stones to keep the concealment active, I won’t be able to maintain continuous coverage.” Axel let out a regretful sigh and looked at Quinlan and Isos with almost pitiful sincerity.

Their expressions twisted. Was he… seriously asking them for Blood Refining Stones?

“Sigh. If it were just me, one or two stones would’ve been enough to reach the checkpoint.” Axel’s gaze was earnest, almost self-sacrificing. “Maybe… you two should head back. I can handle the mission alone.”

Extortion. Blatant, shameless extortion. High consumption. Exponential drain. Explicitly naming Blood Refining Stones. What the hell else could he be implying?

They’d seen greedy men before. The City of Sin was full of them. But this was the first time they’d seen someone squeeze resources out of them this openly. But if they refused…

He clearly wasn’t moving another step. And going back? Absolutely not.

“You’re risking your life for the City of Sin,” Saka said warmly, stepping forward before either of them could respond. He clapped Axel on the shoulder and produced a small pouch of Blood Refining Stones, pressing it into Axel’s hand. “We can’t just watch you shoulder that alone. The three of us commanders aren’t lacking in resources.”

Isos and Quinlan both felt the urge to strangle him. That bastard Saka…

But then they noticed the look Saka shot them. Subtle. Meaningful.

Isos’ eyes flickered—and then he smiled. “Indeed.” He withdrew his own pouch and handed it over smoothly. “Mr. Yehuda is acting for the legion’s benefit. Contributing a little is only fair.”

Quinlan was slower to catch on, but now he couldn’t be the only one holding back. With a dark face, he slapped a bag of Blood Refining Stones into Axel’s palm.

Axel beamed modestly. “Thank you for your understanding. I won’t disappoint you.” The next second—

The pile of Blood Refining Stones in his hand crumbled into dust. “What the hell?!”

“Are you kidding me?!” The rate of consumption was absurd—almost on par with the drain of Star Guide.

For a moment, both men felt physically ill. Fortunately, Axel’s aura didn’t surge or change. The concealment field stabilized, and their life force signatures remained muted.

At least he wasn’t pocketing it for himself. That calmed them slightly.

Under the shroud of concealment, they continued into the mountain range.

After a while, Quinlan edged closer to Isos and whispered, “Why the hell did we give him the stones? We each have our own concealment methods. Why let that bastard profit?”

Isos remained composed. “Why waste your own trump cards when someone else is volunteering theirs?”

He glanced at Axel’s back. “Maintaining a large-scale Original Instrument like that drains tremendous Force—and more importantly, mental energy. That makes things… easier for us.”

Quinlan’s eyes widened. “So that’s it… Saka saw through it first?”

Isos chuckled. “Otherwise, why would I align with him? Yehuda is too young. He exposed his trump card for a handful of resources. If it were me…”

He lowered his voice further. “At a critical moment, I’d shrink the concealment range abruptly—leave the others exposed to the beasts’ perception. Two birds. One stone.”

Cold sweat broke out along Quinlan’s back. Now that they understood the risk, they were prepared. If Axel pulled something like that, they could instantly activate their own concealment methods.

They thought they were being clever.

“Heh… idiots…” Axel’s lips curved faintly.

Maintaining Group Silence was barely an inconvenience to him as long as he had Originium and Life Crystals. The Blood Refining Stones they’d just handed over? Already fed into his Natal Treasure.

Free resources. No effort required.

Everyone carried their own schemes as they pushed deeper into the mountains. Soon, they reached the central region.

“The mutated beasts are noticeably thinner here,” Quinlan observed.

“Of course,” Axel replied casually. “One side of the horde is pressuring Northern Spiritual Town. The other side is intercepting any Krythos reinforcements. Naturally, this middle section is weaker.”

The others nodded.

“Mr. Yehuda,” Saka said after studying him for a moment, “you look exhausted.”

Axel’s face was pale, his breathing slightly uneven. “I’m fine. I can hold on.”

Along the way, they had fed him two more rounds of Blood Refining Stones. As Isos had predicted, sustaining such a large concealment field seemed taxing—both in Force and in mental strain.

Saka frowned. “Don’t overextend yourself. Your condition affects the entire mission. This isn’t just about you.”

“Let’s find a blind spot and rest,” Isos suggested. Quinlan agreed immediately.

After a brief hesitation, Axel nodded. “Alright.”

The three commanders exchanged a subtle glance. They scouted the terrain carefully. Eventually, they found it—

A small clearing nestled between jagged peaks. Due to the terrain, sunlight barely touched it, and vegetation was scarce. More importantly, there were no mutated beasts nearby, and they couldn’t sense any high-level presences either.

A perfect place.

“To recover fully… I’ll need at least half an hour,” Axel said, sitting cross-legged as he deactivated Group Silence.

“Half an hour?” Quinlan frowned.

“That’s too long.” Isos stepped forward, retrieving several nail-like devices. “These are composite Original Instruments with shielding properties. Once embedded around the perimeter, they’ll prevent external detection for twenty minutes.”

Axel looked up. “Twenty?”

“That’s the limit,” Isos replied calmly.

Axel nodded after a pause. “Fine.”

Saka added gently, “We’ll stand guard in the meantime.”

The three of them moved quickly. Saka and Isos embedded the shielding Original Instruments along the perimeter of the clearing, activating the concealment field. Each of them then took position at one of the two narrow entrances.

Quinlan climbed a low ridge overlooking the clearing, giving himself the best possible firing angle.

With everything in place, Axel sat cross-legged at the center of the clearing, closed his eyes, and entered Meditation.

Five minutes passed. Axel didn’t move.

From his vantage point above, Quinlan carefully scanned the surroundings. No mutated beasts. No disturbances. Satisfied, he shifted his full attention to the motionless figure below.

Then he activated one of his Original Instruments. His aura dissolved into the environment, blending seamlessly with the quiet mountainside. Even his breathing seemed to disappear.

Quinlan raised his hand. Index finger extended. Thumb cocked.

A gun. He aimed at Axel’s head.

His awakened ability—Force Sniper—compressed and fired condensed Force projectiles. Unlike ordinary techniques, the energy didn’t dissipate once released. The farther it traveled, the more it absorbed ambient Force, growing denser, sharper, deadlier.

Distance meant power. “Die, Yehuda.”

The hatred in his voice was thick. After several seconds of gathering strength, his finger twitched. A blue-white bullet of condensed Force erupted from his fingertip.

Boom!

The projectile struck Axel’s position instantly. A violent explosion tore through the clearing. The ground convulsed, earth and stone blasting outward as thunder roared across the valley. And yet—

None of it escaped the clearing. The shielding Instruments swallowed the shockwave, devoured the sound.

Quinlan lowered his hand slowly, lips curling. “He’s dead already?” he muttered with disdain. “Heh. Yehuda… nothing special.”

“Indeed. Nothing special. I expected something impressive. Turns out you’re just boring.”

Quinlan froze.

Axel stood at the base of the hill, completely unharmed. His clothes weren’t even singed.

“What—” Quinlan’s pupils shrank. “Your mental energy wasn’t depleted at all?”

“Of course not.” Axel shrugged lazily. “Otherwise how would I have the strength to deal with an idiot like you?”

He lifted his phone. On the screen, a recording played—clear footage of Quinlan’s ambush from start to finish. With that evidence, killing him would be clean.

Quinlan inhaled sharply. Then he smiled.

“Too bad. With the shielding Instruments active, that video isn’t transmitting anywhere. As long as you die here… everything’s fine.”

He looked at Axel like a corpse already cooling. Because—

Isos was standing behind him.