From Player To Npc

They had the choice of sneaking in a while under the effect of INVISIBILITY, as they had some scrolls prepared. Still, Shingi was confident that the watches had tools or some ability to watch invisible creatures.

Only he, Hineko, and Litle Phoenix had a high chance to make it through undetectable. Hineko's Skill was relatively high after training with Soryn, that even Shingi could have a problem finding him sometimes. Little Phoenix could cast SHADOW FORM and carefully go through, and so could Shingi with his LIGHT FORM, since his STEALTH was still at Base Rank.

But they couldn't leave the rest of the party behind.

What they needed was a distraction and a pretty big one for this situation.

Shingi told the rest of the party that they should move to the other side of the camp from where he would be and see an opening to use it. He only told An to stay behind.

After his students were far away from them not to see him, he brought out Sinhunter.

In the past weeks, he raised the INT of Sinhunter pretty high to use mana through the blade with no resistance. Sinhunter could also boost a bit of the mana and its effects, but only the impact at the blade. So Shingi couldn't use it as a Staff to cast all his Spells through it.

He still couldn't see a Status window of Sinhunter, but he was sure that Sinhunter had learned the MANA MANIPULATION Skill to an extend.

He had also improved it to be at the limit of the Base Grade and wasn't too far from passing to Master Grade, but he had to face stronger Monsters to do so.

Shingi didn't allow it to consume part of their souls, but he used some parts of monsters he killed to make special oils to use on his blade. It had more negligible effect than consuming their soul, but it was the safest way.

Sinhunter personality and way of talking changed a bit, from being one that only cared for food and power to a more regular character.

"'So you are ready to test a new move?'" [Shingi]

"'When was I not ready? So are you sure your calculations are correct? It will turn nasty if they aren't.'"[Sinhunter]

They have developed their bond so Shingi could share his plan in a split second, even if it were a complicated one.

Still, there were limits to what Sinhunter could understand by getting a single explanation, but Shingi had been discussing with him different tactics he had in mind every night at their camp.

Sinhunter currently had a bond with both him and Ameanum, even if the bond with his other self wasn't as much developed, but it still existed. In different with the Spirit Hammer, which could have only one person bonded with a Growth Type weapon could with multiple people, but it was harder to do so as you had to be approved by its consciousness.

Of course, if you were someone like Beliss, you could make the bond by other means for other people as she did for Shingi.

This bond was something he wanted to use, as he found a safe place to hide and sat down while An was next to him.

He enabled his SPECTATOR MODE, which he hadn't done for a long time.

His Spirit Player Self was still back in Carda and appeared in an alley.

He stretched his body as he had forgotten how it felt to be in a full-grown body after all that time.

He then closed his eyes and started focusing on his bond with Sinhunter. It took him almost half an hour to begin barely feeling and start making a connection.

He could feel that there was some resistance, and he knew that the reason was the field surrounding the Neutral Territory. It was close to impossible to pass it, at least back in the days Ameanum was still alive.

Shingi noticed the field was weaker than before, probably cause the Tower's power was getting stronger and more uncontrollable.

He kept focusing on finishing the connection.

"'Finally. It's been a long time since I last saw you, Big Master. Although I guess I don't see you currently either.'" [Sinhunter]

"'Let's focus on getting me there first, I say.'" [Shingi]

Ameanum raised his right arm and had his hand in a way like he was holding a sword horizontally. Then he started doing a horizontal swing like he had Sinhunter at his hand. He kept doing the same swing with a few seconds between each of them as he kept focusing on the connection with his sword.

After a while, a thin black line started forming in front of him, where his blade would pass if he held it.

The line was getting wider until it was as big as his swing.

At that point, it started opening as a thin portal appeared, and Sinhunter got out from it and towards Ameanum like someone threw it at him.

Ameanum caught the blade and jumped through the portal, as it wouldn't stay open for long.

He appeared in front of Shingi after going through the portal.

He saw An, confused about what happened, as Shingi explained nothing of what he would do. But she didn't attack this person who appeared out of nowhere.

"I am here to help. I am an ally of the rest of your party. Shingi helped me to get at you, but that tires him, so you will have to carry him where the rest are. I will deal with the people in your way." [Ameanum]

An nodded and picked up Shingi and went towards where the rest of her part was at.

The reason he told them to leave before he summoned his Player self that way was to keep them from asking how this was possible. An couldn't tell them what happened, so he was safe for now.

Not that he didn't trust them, but still some secrets he wasn't willing to let just anyone know.

After waiting enough time that Annoue should have reached them, he made his way towards the front of the camps.

The posted guards noticed him right away, and bows and staves pointed at him.

A figure that seemed to be of high rank around came quickly to check out the situation.

Ameanum recognized the individual; it was Dark, the one who killed him.

Ameanum had his cloak and hood on, trying to hide his face to the best of his abilities, which was enough for most guards Players in front of him.

Using his EAGLE EYES, he could see that none were higher than him, except for Dark.

"Who are you? Only people with permission are allowed here. If you don't have, then go away, or we will make you." [Dark]

Ameanum used all his will not to go berserk and charge towards Dark.

He liked his new life, but that didn't mean that he had forgiven him for his actions. He would make him pay one day, but today wasn't that day.

"Are you deaf or just stupid? Didn't you hear what I just said?" [Dark]

Since Ameanum didn't show any document of him having permission to be here, Dark was confident that he was just a random one.

"You shouldn't call people stupid before you know who they are." [Ameanum]

Dark's eyes got widened for a second as he recognized the voice. But his eyes got normal, as the person in front of him couldn't be that guy. That person had died long ago.

"Just kill him."[Dark]

As everyone was ready to open fire and Dark was ready to go away, Shingi disappeared.

Screams were heard from the left as five Players already fell victims to his blade. They were all mages, so their physical defense and health weren't that high for his attacks.

He moved like a Speed Demon, slashing everything around him and awakening terrible memories to Dark.

He only had met one person to move like that and using a sword like that.

He froze in place while seeing his men got massacred like chickens in a slaughterhouse.

One of his men made it to snap him out, but not a lot of his men were alive, but more were coming as the alarm rang.

Dark got his blades out and charged towards Ameanum.

"Oh, you want to play with me. Bold move." [Shingi]

Dark had higher level than Ameanum, but he was a master of facing stronger enemies than him, both as his Player self and his NPC self.

Even if he did not have as much developed bond with Sinhunter as it had with this NPC self, since he was the main one as he was the first to make one with him, he could use it at almost full power.

He noticed that the weapons of Dark and the rest of his Equipment got improved from last time but not to a considerable degree.

He could deal with it, as he didn't have to beat him, to keep him and the rest distracted while his party headed in the tower.

More Players started gathering, but there were still more that he needed to distract. It was time to use a scroll he took from Shingi before An took him.

It was one item he had asked Master Jax to send him.

It was a Divine Summon Scroll.

This was something that Players couldn't get access to generally as its power was at the top of Master Grade, almost reaching Grandmaster Grade power.

The scroll was very hard to be made and was meant to get used only in particular circumstances. Even Master Jax had only two at his disposal and could give only one at Shingi.

He couldn't use it inside the Tower, as the Gods and their servants weren't allowed access in there.

He unrolled the scroll and started reading it as Players were trying to hit him. He had enabled his breaking limit state, making himself even faster and impossible for others to hit him.

As he read the last word of the scroll, a beam of light from the sky hit the ground in front of him.

As the light beam disappeared, a figure appeared with her three pairs of wings stretched and a longsword at hand.

She had a familiar face.

She was the exact image of Lucy's illusion self, which was supposed to be her angel self, but Shingi was sure that Lucy couldn't become an angel again after all that time.

She didn't have the burn marks, and her skin looked to be smooth as silk.

She knew why and who summoned her, and she seemed happy to oblige. It was a pure massacre, even if her summoning lasted for a minute.

It was enough as Shingi and the rest of his party slipped through the camp, and finally, they were into the tower.

When Shingi woke up, Sinhunter appeared and dropped next to him as he could teleport it near him as far as they weren't too long from each other.

They moved up some stairs of the tower so that they wouldn't be at the entrance but stopped before going through the first floor gate.

They had to be extra careful from now on.