Chapter 405: Surprise

"Right… Fenrir?" Theo smirked and slammed him to the ground.

Xavier widened his eyes and muttered inwardly, 'Did he just use my own strength to slam me down? And did he just use my slight hesitation as a chance?'

Xavier couldn't believe what he experienced right now. However, he didn't have the time to think because Theo thrust his spear at him.

"Xavier!" The last guy, who seemed to be a magician, called his name out loud while pointing his staff at Theo. Then, several wind spheres appeared above him.

Xavier also tried to wave his sword to Theo's feet, preventing him from attacking him.

Unfortunately, this became another blunder. Because of how ridiculous this battle had become, Xavier forgot the fact that Theo had his clone.

And that clone never entered his vision this whole time.

Even Agata forgot about it for a second and tried to help him before finding Theo's figure behind the magician.

Agata dropped her jaw in shock while screaming inwardly, 'He is this good already?'

Because she had seen what Theo could do with his Blink, she could already foresee what was going to happen.

And she turned out to be right.

Clone Theo grabbed the magician from behind and used his Blink, appearing right between Theo and Xavier.

"What?!" Xavier widened his eyes, but he couldn't stop his attack. And the clone's feet restrained the magician's feet, resulting in them getting cut together.

"Argh!" The magician screamed in pain as he couldn't struggle anymore.

However, Theo was a mere clone, so it wasn't that troublesome.

The original Theo, on the other hand, had leaped a few inches above the ground to avoid that strike while thrusting his spear.

The spear pierced the clone, the magician, and Xavier in succession. But because Theo had something to check, he avoided Xavier's vital spots, giving him time to live.

After that, Theo went around the clone and faced Xavier directly with his spear piercing his arm.

"Argh!" Xavier gritted his teeth as his teeth started turning red because the blood flowed out of his mouth. "You bastard. I'm going to kill you!"

Theo facepalmed and shook his head helplessly. "To think the Waterie Group sent an assassin to kill me."

"Waterie Group?" Agata tilted her head in confusion while Xavier grinned. "That's right. You dare to provoke us… This grudge won't end even with my life. Soon, there will be a few Supreme Rank Experts coming after you. At that time, you won't be able to do anything."

Theo chuckled when he heard that response.

"What is funny?!" Xavier gritted his teeth.

"You look dumb, so I told you a lie to see your reaction." Theo laughed out loud. "I'm just trying to see whether you are sent by which enemies. Since you didn't even flinch when I said Waterie Group, that means the enemy isn't a group or organization. Instead, it's a family. And I don't think I need to guess which family aims for my life… The Lange Family… it seems they haven't given up."

"You… You are playing with me this entire time! I'm going to kill—" Xavier gritted his teeth, never thinking that Theo kept playing with him even at the end of his life.

Unfortunately for him, Theo covered his right foot with his Cannon Blast and obliterated his head with a stomp. "Stop. Dead people can't kill me."

But there was one more thing that Theo could never calculate because he never met him in person… He never met Endo Lange in person to know his personality.

Theo didn't know that Endo Lange was very intolerant of failures. Hence, despite giving the task to his own son and believing that his butler would personally do it after that, Endo Lange still sent a separate team to do one more job for him.

*Rumble!*

"Hmm?" Theo frowned and looked down, staring at the ground. "What is this? Did the ground tremble just now?"

Agata quickly dropped to her knees and touched the ground.

Soon, another shock vibrated the ground as she nodded. "Yes. The ground did shake. What is happening? Earthquake?"

"No." Theo shook his head with a serious expression. "I don't believe this is an earthquake… Have you ever experienced an intermittent earthquake?"

"Nope." Agata furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Then, what do you think…"

"Maybe there is a mine nearby?" Theo tilted his head in confusion. "Or people using powerful magic and somehow hitting the ground?"

"Ehm… I am not sure. Is it even possible to make it tremble like this?"

"I don't know. I will fly to check the situation. Tell me if the tremor stops." Theo said while using his Telekinesis.

"Okay." Agata focused on the ground while staring at Theo, who suddenly dropped his jaw. "Theo?!"

Theo just got the shock of his life because the thing he saw shouldn't come this early. The group needed to cross the mountain and run for another day to reach that area.

"This is impossible," Theo muttered and looked at a giant monster that walked slowly. The monster was two hundred feet high and five hundred feet wide. It looked like a turtle except for the spikes above its shell that indicated another thing.

The creature had red skin and slightly pointed eyes. The monster's size was comparable to the ghost turtle his master killed to save his and Alea's lives.

He never saw that monster moving, so this was the first time he saw a monster this big moving. He was shocked that each step made the ground tremble and released a powerful shock wave that blew the trees in its surroundings.

Still, Theo recognized this monster because this was the monster they were supposed to defeat in this expedition… The Ground Dragon.

Little did he know, after suffering multiple failures, Endo Lange decided to take the matter into his own hand. He sent another team to drag the Ground Dragon to come to another area.

It didn't come immediately because it needed time to travel due to the change of route. And luckily, Theo had been occupied by the anomaly of the Chimera Wolves and the assassins.

"The level 400 Ground Dragon is here…" Theo stated in surprise.

"Ground Dragon? But isn't that monster supposed to be in another area?" Agata shouted.

"That's what I think too…" Theo looked down and thought. "No. This one must come from another group… That group brought the dragon all the way here, unaware that the Eilric Family and the military helped us. And there was even that mysterious group. So, this must be another person's plan…

"It's not like this one came from a different influence because whoever brought the ground dragon must know about the expedition scheme." Theo contemplated for a moment. "Wait a minute. Sihan? Sihan must plan for the assassination while the Lange Family came after me with this plan, not trusting him."

"Is that the case?" Agata frowned.

"Then, do you have another idea?" Theo asked.

"No." Agata shook her head. "By the way, what do you want to do now? Should we request the Eilric Family and the military to take care of this dragon since our group has lost half of its number?"

Theo hesitated for a second before a smile appeared on his face. "Nope. We are going to defeat this dragon. The mission states that there will be a bonus at the end of the mission. Since that is the case, I am going to deliver a simple blow to the Lange Family. I'm going to get all the bonuses by contributing the most and get their money for myself… Since they are this bold, I'm going to make them pay. We will try to fight this dragon first to test the difference between our power. Support me."

"Roger."