Chapter 2842: You...

Leonel still wasn't sure of exactly what to do. It was a troublesome position to be in. But ultimately, there was no other way to go about this.

At the very least, this current position was still better than what would have happened had he just stood to the side and did nothing. At that point, the Rapax and Sea Gods would become allies and then he would be screwed.

'Hm... something is still odd here.'

While he was certain that the Rapax had to be being controlled by someone, where were they?

Also, Xenothrall's actions didn't seem like he was getting marching orders from someone else. He reacted much the same way any other Rapax would. If he was being led by someone else, why not take this step?

Could it be that whoever was in the background was aware of the stubbornness of Rapax and decided to take this approach? Or was it that Leonel was wrong from the beginning and this olive branch the Sea Gods were extending was actually a method for the Barbarians to take control of both Races?

Leonel had just spent quite a bit of time in the Oryx Domain, but other than a minor breakdown of history, there was nothing else to see.

Because of that, it only seemed logical that the last of the three participants would be taking the Rapax as their refuge.

There was another reason Leonel felt this way, too.

The Sea Gods were an odd existence, the Human were an odd existence, and the Oryx were an odd existence. All three of these Races seemed to have the fingerprints of the Barbarians all over them, and it was this worry that had made Leonel so cautious to begin with.

The Rapax seemed like the only option for anyone looking to take things over.

The battle in the skies were quickly reaching its climax. Xenothrall was very obviously on his back foot, though it was unlikely that the Rapax present could tell the different. Those two Overlords were simply moving too fast.

Leonel looked down from the skies, and toward the scattered remains of the Overlord he had just killed. He hadn't allowed his soul to dissipate just yet.

'Should I use King's Might?'

That would be as good as admitting to several things he wasn't ready for yet. This made things particularly annoying.

He had already awakened the souls of the previous Sea Gods he had killed, but they didn't have any useful information at all. But an Overlord should be different, no?

Just as Leonel was being pulled every which way, the skies seemed to explode.

When he looked up again, his pupils constricted into pinholes. That was because what was high above him wasn't the battle between the Sea God and Xenothrall. Instead, they had both been blasted away, sent flying in different directions.

In their place, two Rapax stood. One of them had radiant blue patterns etched across their pill-shaped head and the other had green patterns of the same. Though, the latter green patterns seemed to be more elaborate and contained greater depths.

Even so, it seemed that the blue runed Rapax was in the lead, while the green runed Rapax was taking a back seat.

However, this wasn't what shocked Leonel. Instead, it was the fact that though it was subtle and hard to spot, how could Leonel not notice the chains of black wrapped around their bodies?

Leonel was speechless. He had found the third party that easily? Why were they exposing themselves so casually?

The Rapax were a simple-minded Race, but they weren't fools. If they had spent this much money to get the coordinates to this world, it would have required the pooled resources of several of their worlds. Why would they come here so casually?

To be fair to them, someone else might not have noticed those chains at all. The body of a Rapax was an alternating array of organic flesh and metal infused skin. From afar, and likely even up close, the chains just looked like extensions of themselves.

There were no shortage of Rapax that wore accessories like this.

The problem was that Leonel's senses were far too sensitive to not notice, and it left him confused.

Another point of confusion was that the green runed Rapax seemed completely transfixed on the spear in his hand... which didn't make any sense at all.

This black spear was, certainly, excellent by Incomplete World standards. But there was a reason that Leonel hadn't made use of it in a long time.

He was able to casually conjure a spear that was far better with this one on a whim, and there were even several spears in the Spear Domain Ring that were superior. But Leonel had abandoned even that ring.

It didn't make sense for a Rapax of a Complete World to care so much.

Rapax wasn't excellent Crafters, per se. But that was because they only specialized in the creation of one type of Craft: weapons. They also didn't even use conventional methods.

If Leonel walked into a Rapax's workshop right now, it would look more like a blacksmith's shop from 1500 AD Earth.

Even so, their weapons were some of the most sought after, and yet unpurchasable, items in Existence. That was because they treated their weapons so sacredly that they would never sell them for money.

They only gave it to those they deemed worthy.

The eyes of the Rapax told another story as well.

There was confusion, hesitancy, some killing intent, and then it went back to confusion.

After staring at the weapon for a long while, it seemed to have realized something, and then it looked at Leonel.

"You..." he spoke in a forced human tongue that sounded a bit gravelly and uncomfortable for him. "... You are Leonel Morales?"

Leonel froze, and if not for his sheer control over his body, he would have collapsed.

He realized who this Rapax must be now, but he also wanted to slap a palm to his forehead.