Chapter 42 41. My Dear Brother

He rushed toward the deformed monster and attacked as he slashed the crooked hands first. Then, he aimed for the legs that formed in strange directions, making them walk awkwardly. The monster fell to the ground, having lost his support.

It growled angrily and glared in Shane's direction before launching at his face. Even though it didn't have hands, it could still use its mouth to deal with the human!

Shane scoffed as if he could tell what the monster was thinking and took a deep breath, "Get ready to run. I probably won't be awake for a while. You better wait for me to wake up. If I wake up and find you in trouble, I'll kill you first."

"Why?" Noah asked. "Are you going to sleep?"

Shane didn't answer that question. He could feel his body's limitations being challenged with every second that passed. He should have put down his sword, but the monster wasn't dead yet. So he jumped and slashed the monster into two pieces at an easy pace.

Everything happened within a few seconds, and since Shane had overused the weapon just now, the body fell to the ground. He glanced at the monster sleepily and closed his eyes, wondering how long he would be unconscious amid such a critical task.

He could only hope his host would not do something ridiculous again. Otherwise, he would be doomed for sure.

As he was about to sleep away, his mind drifted off to Dirt sitting outside and his master. They would surely have been disappointed by how he handled things after entering this place. He didn't want to disappoint his master….

He fell unconscious as the control of the body went to Noah again.

The latter stood there, confused out of his mind. He stared blankly at the dead monster in front of him. The thing that had made him feel afraid died so easily with the help of his system. He genuinely felt grateful for his powerful system at this point.

With this thought, he rushed toward the exit.

***

The master Shane was thinking about was in a call with Dirt outside the portal. It was the robot that had initiated the call to inform the bald man of the current situation.

"So you're saying," the bald man's low voice echoed in the background, "While everyone has passed seventy-five percent of their missions, Shane is still stuck on his first task?"

"Yup."

"That's too bad," the bald man sighed, "I had expected more from him."

"You can't blame him. It's still an unmatchable feat for him to reach twenty percent in such a short time!" Dirt's voice was especially righteous, "It's my fault that put him in such a situation."

"Well, I—" the bald man's voice stopped all of a sudden before he whispered in an extremely low tone, "Will talk to you later."

And then, Ed directly hung up the call without listening to what Dirt was saying. The latter stared at the screen in front of him for a while. He blinked several times as veins popped up on his forehead.

"If he weren't my master, I'd have grabbed his ears and dragged him back to the institute!" He turned toward the portal and sighed, "Let me just do my work. I'll continue to secure the portal more for assurance."

Meanwhile, Ed was nearly caught from the place he was hiding: a giant tree in a garden. He was sitting on a branch on his tiptoes as he sat there like a statue without moving.

Not even a leaf twirled in his presence as he even lowered his breathing noise, but his target suddenly showed up in the garden, walking outside her elegant palace filled with fruits, plants, trees, and even a lake.

That's right. He was spying on someone, and not just anyone, it was the Oracle Queen, the person who was the only robot alive under the direct control of the System God to control this continent—Luna.

Her pink hair waved behind her back as she stood there beneath the same tree where Ed was hiding. She tilted her head as her face was shown clearly to the bald man.

The girl was the same loli who had met Shane and his group before she guided them to the institute. She would never indulge herself in the newbies' matters, but this time, she had made an exception and taken Shane inside the institute with his friends.

When Ed found out about this matter, he almost couldn't believe it. That was why he was so concerned about her intentions. And what was behind those intentions, he shouldn't have to research it.

It would, of course, be that incompetent System God who was controlling these robots behind the scenes. When Ed thought about how Shane's power was unique, he frowned.

Could it be that System God knew about this and deliberately used Luna to find out more about Shane's situation? The more Ed thought about it, the more he felt something

Just then, Luna tilted her head and stared dead at Ed's eyes with an emotionless face, "You didn't have to come, Ed Hudson."

Ed was stunned for a while then he chuckled. This wasn't the loli talking, but the System God. He jumped down as he leaned against the tree and smiled, "It's been a long time."

"It has indeed been a long time," said Luna as she turned toward him with her hands behind her back, "What brings you here? Don't tell me you want something from the garden. We aren't kids anymore."

Ed sneered, "Then you should remember this fact in the same manner. Why don't you act like an actual controller of this realm rather than some hidden villain like small kids? What do you want with Shane?"

"Oh? You're jumping on the topic in an instant?" Luna smiled, "That's more like the Ed I know."

"Shut the f*ck up." Ed glared at the loli, "Tell me, what do you want?"

"You're still the same, caring about irrelevant things. That's why you couldn't take my place back then," said the loli in her sweet voice, "Ed, if time were to rewind, would you regret letting me live?"

Ed stood there and said nothing. No one knew what he was thinking as he stared at the loli without blinking and silently opened his inventory. He raised his chin, "Let's have a dual."

"Are you sure you can win?" Luna smiled and took out her weapon. Its hilt was pink and decorated with laces. Even the size of the sword was pitifully small, making it seem like it was child labor to urge her to fight against a big, bald man like Ed.

But the bald man knew what kind of thing Luna was—a robot as advanced as Dirt. He couldn't take the loli casually. He narrowed his eyes and said, "It's not you and even if it were you, I'd win. After all, I used to always be at the top, my dear brother."