"Jihahahaha! Girl! You really are strong! But if you want to beat this old man, you're a hundred years too early!" Golden Lion laughed madly as he launched one massive Slash Wave after another with his kicks, covering Beth, while manipulating the soil and rock under her feet, making jagged bulges rise to disrupt her balance.
"This old man is the Golden Lion!!"
Beth said nothing, her eyes filled only with the focus of bringing Golden Lion down.
She slipped past the incoming Slash Waves with flawless precision. Beth knew very clearly that without drawing on more Yoki, defeating an opponent of this level in a short time would be extremely difficult. His stamina and Haki reserves were unfathomable; a war of attrition was by no means entirely in her favor.
Beth was already considering whether to fully release fifty percent of her Yoki. But she also worried that if even then she still couldn't take Golden Lion down, Alicia would be forced to step in, leaving Ronan without a protector. That was exactly why Beth kept hesitating to go into full Yoki Release.
The battle atop the floating island had already reached a white-hot stage.
However, Ronan was too far away, and with his line of sight blocked he couldn't see the clash between Beth and Golden Lion on the island at all.
Ronan looked toward Alicia beside him. She had her eyes closed, clearly keeping constant track of Beth's condition.
"Alicia, how's Beth doing?"
Although Ronan had faith in Beth's strength, Golden Lion was still a great pirate who had once rampaged across the New World.
What was more, this Golden Lion hadn't truly entered old age yet; his strength probably hadn't fallen much from his peak.
Hearing Ronan's question, Alicia opened her eyes, her face calm. "Your Highness, Beth has already activated a twenty percent Yoki Release. There's no problem over there yet—their auras still haven't changed much."
Before Ronan could think further, the panel in his mind lit up again with a new quest. This time, however, it shone with a different kind of light, completely unlike how it looked when quests were usually triggered.
Ding.
"Quest: In the face of the pressure brought by Golden Lion, defeat him. (Compulsory quest. Time limit: one day. Reward: 400 Quest Points, 1 Lucky Roulette spin. Failure: deduct 1000 Quest Points. Remaining time: one day.)"
"A Compulsory quest!"
Ronan had never expected a Compulsory quest to appear here of all places—and worth 400 points at that. It still didn't reach the Quest Point threshold for an S-rank quest; those started at 500 points. A-rank quests ranged from 100 to 499 points, and a 400-point quest already sat at the high end of A-rank.
Compulsory quests gave Ronan no chance to refuse. Looking at the 170 remaining Quest Points on his panel, he knew that to avoid having 1000 points deducted and being erased outright by the system, Golden Lion had to stay here today.
By now Ronan also had a rough grasp of Beth's strength. He hadn't expected that with just a twenty percent Yoki Release she could trade blows evenly with Golden Lion. Completely defeating him might be impossible for her alone, but if he added Alicia—whose strength was in no way beneath Beth's—then completing this Compulsory quest was absolutely within reach.
Ronan's gaze shifted to Alicia standing beside him. Her eyes were still locked on the battle raging atop the island.
"Alicia," Ronan called.
Alicia turned toward him at once, a question in her eyes.
"Go help Beth," Ronan ordered, short and to the point. "Defeat Golden Lion and end this fight as quickly as possible."
A flicker of hesitation flashed through Alicia's gaze. She glanced at Golden Lion in the sky, then back at Ronan. Her usually cold voice held a hint of doubt. "Your Highness, your safety…"
Her greatest duty was to protect Ronan. That was why Beth had gone in alone at the beginning—the sisters had divided their responsibilities from the very start.
Now Ronan was asking her to leave his side and head to Beth's battlefield. If an enemy took advantage of that opening…
Ronan understood her concern. He raised his hand to point at the massive shadow overhead, then swept his eyes over the sea, whose waves were surging higher and higher from the falling island. Calmly, he said, "Right now, he is the greatest threat. Only by completely defeating him can we truly be safe. Otherwise, with his ability, this ship has nowhere to run. I believe in you and Beth."
"Besides, you know my strength too. Ordinary enemies can't threaten me at all. And I'm just an eight-year-old kid—no one's going to pay me any attention."
There was unshakable certainty in Ronan's tone. For the sake of his Quest Points, Golden Lion had to fall here today.
Hearing this, Alicia no longer hesitated.
She bowed slightly. "Understood!"
In the next instant, she also drove both legs hard against the deck.
Boom!
An even more explosive gust of compressed air than when Beth had leapt to the island blasted out at the bow, making the entire Silver Gull shudder violently. Alicia's figure shot like a straight arrow toward the floating island! The moment she launched herself, a surge of aura identical to Beth's erupted from her!
"Yoki Release, twenty percent!"
Her eyes turned golden as well, overflowing with battlelust and killing intent!
Up on the island, Golden Lion—locked in a fierce struggle with Beth—suddenly had a drastic change in expression.
He snapped his head toward the black silhouette streaking in, alarm bells ringing in his mind.
"There's another one?!"
Before he could even begin to ponder why both twin sisters possessed such bizarre and overwhelming power, Alicia had already landed in the open space between him and Beth!
Thud!
"Onee-sama?!"
Seeing Alicia appear on the battlefield, Beth immediately thought of Ronan being left alone. Worry flashed across her face. "What about Your Highness…?"
"Your Highness told me to come. We need to finish him off as fast as possible—we can't leave him alone in an environment this dangerous!"
Hearing Alicia say that, Beth could only force down the worry in her heart and ready herself to cooperate with Alicia to bring Golden Lion down quickly.
Listening to their exchange, Golden Lion's expression turned distinctly ugly.
"Seems this old man's being looked down on." For the decades he had roamed the seas, his name and power had been enough to strike fear even in the New World—yet now, two little girls were treating him so lightly.
"I wouldn't say we're looking down on you," Alicia answered, face blank, "but you are indeed the strongest enemy we've met since coming to this world."
Before Golden Lion could react, she pushed off with her feet again—the figure before him vanished.
So fast!
Golden Lion's pupils shrank. Almost purely on instinct, he whipped Kogarashi across to his side!
CLANG!!!
The piercing crash sounded as if it could tear eardrums apart!
Right after that, Beth moved too.
Two Greatsword warriors, each in a twenty percent Yoki Release, one on the left and one on the right, launched a storm-like barrage of attacks on Golden Lion in unison!
(End of Chapter)
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