Grey had already begun moving the instant he got a call from Lia.

He tried to call her back, but the instant the call went through, the signal was said to be switched off. It was definitely something Grey couldn’t overlook, and thinking about the omen of death Lia carried, he was certain something had happened to her.

Being his personal wallet and someone with endless potential, he couldn’t let Lia die!

Hence, he set off. He had no direction, so he asked for Eterna’s help—and she did help him—but it was all for naught, as according to Eterna, her network was jammed the moment Lia entered some café near the Inner District.

This made them realize that it was a coordinated attack that also eliminated Eterna from taking action.

With no choice left, for the first time ever, he utilized hisMind Interface Link Artand hacked into the database of Nova City for information.

It took him almost an hour to crack the encrypted, security-packed server, but he managed to get in and finally gain information on Lia—and that information thankfully came from a cab service. It even had the exact location she was dropped off at.

Sector Six, Abandoned Warehousing.

He didn’t hesitate anymore. After preparing some defensive mechanisms, he traveled to Sector Six and entered the corruption field Lia was in, unnoticed by anyone. With his drones in full effect, he had eyes everywhere, and he stealthily entered the warehouse where Lia was kept with his stealth drone and eavesdropped on their conversation.

Then, he placed some distractions by detonating two drones and aRadiant Petal Stormarray.

He took this chance to free Lia and leave before both of them escaped the trap he had set up.

However—

Buzz!

Just as Grey was about to run away, a crimson beam of energy shot toward him at bottleneck speed.

Grey’s eyes contracted. Immediately, his spatial ring flashed, and a talisman flew into the air.

Boom!

The attack hit the talisman with intricate patterns, and immediately, the disappeared beam manifested once again and shot straight back to the place it came from.

"Abyssal Wall!"

Instantly, a black wall of energy formed in front of the caster, and the barrier directly blocked the beam before cracking and disappearing, leaving smoke across the warehouse.

[Your comprehension defies the heaven! By hearing the Abyssal Language, you’ve comprehended "Abyssal Language."]

Seeing this, Grey’s expression became grim.

’He escaped my drone’s detection,’ Grey thought in dread.

The smoke vanished and revealed Zeryth standing at the entrance of the warehouse with an enraged expression.

"I don’t know who you are," Zeryth spoke slowly, giving each word some weight. "But if you dare to disrupt the High Order’s plan and stand in our way, I will gut you down inch by inch."

As he said that, he inched closer to Grey.

Seeing this, Grey’s expression became solemn, while Lia had a look of terror. "G-Grey... it’s that being... I can sense that he’s very powerful. You won’t be able to defeat him... let’s run... please!"

However, to her dismay, Grey softly placed her in the corner of the warehouse and spoke gently. "I’m afraid it’s too late for that."

"We won’t be able to run now. That guy—he’s a Level 9, First Ranker," Grey said with a helpless smile.

"But..." Grey’s eyes flashed. "Don’t worry. I’m confident I can drag out this battle until someone else comes."

[Your comprehension defies the heaven! By trying to observe the other party’s level, you’ve gained comprehension into the relationship between the information layer and the physical layer and gained the skill ’Appraisal.’]

[Power: First Rank, Level 9.]

"You..." Lia’s eyes welled up with tears. "Y-You’ll die!"

"No," Grey spoke with a smile. "I won’t die."

As he said that, an oppressive aura spread out. A powerful black-purple energy erupted from his body, and immediately, Grey’s body underwent a transformation.

Nexus Overlock!

Nexus energy surged into his body and brain like lightning. Instantly, purple-black lines with white dots appeared on Grey’s hands, and intricate deep-purple lines spread out from his eyes into his sclera.

Lia was stunned seeing this. Coincidentally, she also felt an oppressive aura coming from Grey—the kind she had only felt from a mid-stage First Ranker.

By the time Grey was done transforming, Zeryth had also inched closer, but there was now a frown on his face.

"You... what is that energy?" Zeryth asked with caution. The way Grey looked now was something he had never seen before—and most importantly, the instant the energy erupted from the human, his Abyssal energy trembled slightly and retreated back into his energy field!

"I have no obligation to say anything to an Abyssal being coming from the Abyss," Grey spoke softly.

Hearing this, Zeryth’s expression changed drastically.

"You—how do you know about the Abyss?" Zeryth’s voice was solemn.

Nobody in this world knew about the Abyss aside from the upper echelons of Blue Star and those who belonged to the High Order. Then how could a mere First Rank brat know about it?

"The Abyss?" Lia silently mumbled under her breath.

Turns out, Grey knew something about the demonic being.

"You don’t need to know," Grey said with a cold smile. "But now that I’m looking at an Abyssal being, those corrupted beings don’t resemble you guys at all. I thought you both would have some resemblance, being ugly, but turns out you’re even uglier than the corrupted beings."

"You! You’re the one who’s ugly!" Zeryth’s expression darkened. "How dare you insult my appearance!"

As he said that, he rushed toward Grey with bottleneck speed.

Grey, seeing this, looked at the demon with a calm expression. He didn’t move—he just let Zeryth charge at him.

At the same time, a crazed smirk formed on Grey’s face.

He had a plan in mind, and if done properly, he would survive another day!

His previous plan of rescuing Lia unnoticed had flopped, and there was only one way to survive this—and... that was to die!

Zeryth closed in with great momentum, and with immense force, he punched directly into Grey’s stomach.

Boom!

A hole formed in Grey’s stomach as blood profusely poured out of his mouth before he collapsed to the ground.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com