[BONUS]

"You . . . You're the reason why Leonel and Isolde died."

Angelica didn't comment at first. She merely tilted her head and beamed.

"That's right."

At first, Evie was confused, but when she heard that it was Angelica who killed Leonel and Isolde, she pulled to her feet, cold sweat running to the line on her back.

Evie also checked Angelica and her group's information that was sent to her by Ren. Seeing their stats, she bit back a gasp of her own. No wonder Leonel and Isolde got killed.

'Were they going to be alright?' Evie thought as she skimmed her eyes through their enemies.

Two against ten players and Ren and she were both magic users. The other party had a tank and DPS to deflect damage from them. As for the two of them, they didn't even have a DPS that would take the vanguard.

If only they had Ragnar and the others, or even just Ragnar, then they might have a chance to win this.

Evie gazed over at Ren.

She was sure that Ren thought the same thing as her, thus his serious expression. Knowing Ren, he must already be thinking of a way on how to defeat this group.

Going to another server was out of the option. They had to finish Dracula's quest first.

"Are you here to retrieve Lucy from us?" Angelica asked with a gentle voice and smiling face.

Ren's brow rose. "From you?"

Angelica nodded and leaned a little before beaming.

"That's right." She then straightened her back and clasped her palms.

"It's a quest that we received from Lord Bolmont. If we can protect Lucy from the Vampire Lord until he is finished with the magic teleportation device, then it's our win."

Evie got worried. "Ren . . ."

"Yeah . . ." Ren knew.

If Bolmont managed to finish that Teleportation circle, then he would take Lucy away from here. That also meant that they would fail the Vampire Lord's quest.

"Our group doesn't see any logic fighting against you here. We won't get anything but loss in HP and MP," Angelica said to the couple, who had gone silent.

"Egh?" Cang Lu protested. "B-but, lady Angelica . . ."

Cang Lu's protest was lodged in his throat upon the sight of Angelica's threatening smile. "Is there something you want to say, Mr. Lu?"

Cang Lu looked to the side and stammered, "N-No. Don't mind me and carry on."

Angelica giggled.

"Then why did you kill Leonel and Isolde?" asked Ren.

Angelica raised a palm over her mouth as if she was surprised. "Ah, that. It was foggy, and we thought that they were zombies."

When she said that, Ren didn't detect any malice or lie in her voice or face.

However, he couldn't bring himself to trust her. After all, her ATP was beyond normal. Her set of skills and spells . . . There was something about them that felt off.

Ren couldn't recall any players like Joker and Angelica from his past life. He had to wonder where they came from and whether this was the effect of his actions.

Ren didn't know anymore.

The real world . . . was changing before his eyes. Nothing now was the same as his past life, except for COVENANT that was ever constant.

Angelica chuckled as if she had read Ren's thoughts. She leaned a little closer and whispered. "Are you curious about me?"

". . ." Ren didn't speak at first, but when he did, he immediately changed the topic. "So why attack us if you don't want to fight players?"

". . ." Angelica blinked and was silent for a moment.

She then giggled, resonating in everyone's ears.

"Teeheehee. Let's not fool ourselves, Ren. We know why you're here. Me saying that there's no point in fighting players is my way of giving you a chance to turn back."

Her smile then fell off her face, and her crimson eyes intensified. "But, of course, if you want to push through, we could always oblige."

Ren and Evie briefly glanced over at the players of Sleeping Dragon when their weapons rattled as they took up arms.

Sweat trickled on Ren's cheek, and he briefly looked over at Evie. After exchanging silent messages through their eyes, Evie nodded in understanding.

Ren smiled and took a deep breath. "So be it then."

Evie released [Phantasmal Distortion], trapping the opposing players inside an illusion.

Ren was quick to react and released a series of elemental spells, aiming for the weaker players that he knew he could one shot. Simultaneously, he threw [Dynamites] and [Duds] to the others, trying to reduce their enemies' numbers in the shortest possible time before Angelica could have a chance to cast her spells.

Seers were troublesome because they both had devastating supporting and attacking abilities, but their spells have long cooldowns.

Hixel and Aragon were quick to escape Evie's range, while Angelica only laughed. Ren wasn't surprised when he saw an invisible barrier surrounding her.

Her skill [Protection from the Stars] guarded her against all attacks and nulled all psychic and status effects.

"Universe Blessing," Angelica uttered while [Teleporting] to a safe distance when Evie threw a [Dynamite] her way.

There was a rift in the area, which opened into a large crevasse. Behind that rift was a vast dark space with multiple stars floating and shining. It cast a blinding light over the players of Sleeping Dragon, and some of them were able to move again and regained their HP while their eyes recovered their original luster.

Evie clicked her tongue. Angelica's [Universe Blessing] was a troublesome supporting spell. It nulled and cleanse everything from status effect to entrapment spells. What's more, it was an AoE spell that recovered some HP as well.

While her [Multi-cast] and [Mobile Casting] were a pain. Her [Protection from the Stars] was also troublesome, for it was difficult to aim at her.

The only way for them to win this was to exhaust her spells and attack her while they were in cooldown.

Ren's [Probe] was to their advantage since they had access to their enemies' stats and information, allowing them to plan around that information while the other party didn't know anything about them.

Multiple enemies ganged up on Evie, trying to kill her off first. The players attacking her were led by Hixel, while Aragon and Cang Lu were preventing Ren from helping her.

At the back, Angelica was supporting and giving orders to the other members, making it harder to reduce their numbers.