With your strength, prove my ultimate art!

"Just as I thought—you came in person."

Ian stood alone atop the mountain, looking down at the mountainfolk chieftain before him. "Kede Jiamu, the first hero among the mountainfolk to advance to the Third Energy Level—you came here to witness the miracle of me, the Dragon God's envoy, awakening the Steel Dragon Nest? Or have you betrayed the mountainfolk's faith, intending to stop me from leading them back to glory?"

"I have never believed in any Dragon God's envoy. If the mountainfolk wish to return to glory, they can only scrape the rotten flesh and poisoned blood from their wounds—not rely on the empty words of a White Folk man like you."

Facing the young man before him, the brown-haired, brown-bearded chieftain answered in a deep voice. Though he did not know why Ian, a member of the younger generation who had only just advanced to the Second Energy Level, was the only one here, he inexplicably sensed danger from him, enough to make his hunter's instincts sound alarm after alarm.

It was like... the first time he had gone hunting before becoming an Ascender, only to find the tracks of a Razorclaw Tiger by the roadside... a warning of danger leaping up from the depths of his soul.

But how could that be? The other party was clearly only at the Second Energy Level. How could he possibly possess the ability to make him feel fear and tension?

Thus, Kede swept his gaze across the jagged rocks around them, his tone grave. "I know your record. You never fight a battle you cannot win—where are the others lying in ambush? Tell them to come out!"

"A fine response, but the truth is not what you think. I only do practical things and strive to inspire the mountainfolk, while you