Bandits captured
The two protagonists' eyes met at that moment, as if they had recognized each other's identity.
Maxime, who hadn't moved a step since the beginning, finally took his first step.
He began to cross the battlefield with a steady, patient step, as if he were walking in a park.
Several bandits saw an opportunity and tried to attack Maxime.
But seeing their leader make a move, all the elders of the saber-toothed tiger group gathered around him and used their bodies to protect him.
The other mercenaries also moved towards Maxime under the orders of their superior.
Thanks to the mercenaries' fighting strength, none of the bandits could get within 10 meters of Maxime.
This created a more than surprising situation.
If Baron Barthon were present, his eyes would pop out of their sockets at such a sight.
Even viscounts would be surprised, let alone a baron.
Maxime continued to walk as the blood continued to flow around him.
The man in the black mask also walked calmly towards Maxime.
Finally, the two men stopped less than 5 meters apart.
Maxime thought slightly about something, then smiled while keeping his eyes cool.
"You're a gambler, aren't you?"
This possibility had been mentioned in class by Riva.
...
2 months earlier.
"It is possible using a certain method to go into the world of other players and synchronize with their space-time."
Hearing this, the whole class was shocked.
"Shit, Maxime do you hear that?" asked Samuel looking shocked.
But Maxime didn't answer and even looked sleepy, but he listened attentively to every word the teacher said.
"This method is used by extremely wealthy families for their children who are endowed with a low affinity for space-time, and who therefore had a low connection time," Riva explained.
"But the original method of reaching a world and place controlled by a powerful person in the real world was far too expensive so most of the time, wealthy families used a weakened version of it."
This weakened version allowed two things: joining a world with a time-space that allowed you to stay connected for at least two weeks, and secondly a world that was still at the beginning of its history."
"I just want to tell you one thing, no one who is not at the top, to other powerful players in their world." concluded Riva in a solemn tone.
...
Returning to the present.
A silence fell between the two as the fighting continued around them.
"What do you think of an alliance to conquer this world together?" finally replied the man in the black mask.
His voice sounded rather young, which surprised Maxime.
"You destroyed the families of some of my mercenaries, it's impossible," Maxime explained coldly.
"What are the lives of a few mercenaries compared to the immortality we can achieve by allying ourselves!"
"If your men count for so little in your eyes, that's your problem. On my side, every one of my mercenaries is important to me."
The man in the black mask appeared angry at Maxime's response.
"It's extremely rare to be able to meet other players in the world of Eternity, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
But Maxime knew from Riva's advice that the man in front of him was only greedy for the power of his mercenaries.
So, without saying a word, he suddenly charged the masked man in front with his sword.
But the latter easily repelled him with his own sword.
"What do you think you're doing? I'm already 20 years old and in the last two years, despite my ordinary talent, I've already lived more than 6 months in Eternity!"
But Maxime just smiled, after all this man didn't know that he himself had already lived more than 2 months in Eternity, and that he was about to live at least 4 months in total less than a month after his birthday in the real world.
"You should never have come to my territory," Maxime asserted coercively.
"NOX Limit." he whispered, after which all the saber-toothed tigers, including Ernest still on the ground and protected by a few mercenaries, underwent drastic changes.
But it was the bandits, including Organ and Laura, who were most affected.
Their whole outlook on life had been drastically altered.
Andrew and Rodrigo, who had previously fought them on more or less equal terms, began to dominate them.
The two bandit commanders could no longer fight back under the storm of attacks they were under.
The ordinary bandits, who were already at a disadvantage, lost all hope in the face of these monstrously powerful enemies.
Soon, some of the bandits began to surrender their weapons.
At the same time, Maxime's eyes became translucent white, while his aura was visible to the naked eye.
It was the qi that his body was closing up that was escaping in gaseous form.
The masked man lost all hope immediately upon seeing the changed situation and wanted to flee.
But no sooner did the idea of escape emerge in his mind, than a sword pierced his heart.
Seeing the white-eyed young man in front of him, a deep sense of fear took hold of his mind at the same time as immense regret.
"I should have been more discreet..." he thought.
Maxime withdrew his sword and dropped the body of the player in front of him.
Ding!
[150 gold coins obtained].
Maxime smiled at the notification, and immediately wanted to use the gold to strengthen his swordsman class and open a new class.
But he put all thoughts of this out of his mind, since he still had a group of mercenaries to feed, and there was no hurry.
He looked at the man on the ground, then removed his mask.
He tried to remember every feature of the bandit leader's youthful face in case he saw him again in the real world.
He'd have to be careful in the real world too, since once his identity was revealed, he could be pursued by the gambler's wealthy family.
Maxime turned and saw that the fighting behind him had ended, with all the bandits still alive having dropped their weapons and gone to their knees.
This included Organ and Laura.
Organ wore a complicated expression as he looked at Rodrigo, whose face was now disfigured but recovering visibly.
Laura kept an impassive face, Andrew himself unable to understand what was going on in the woman's brain.
Because, to his surprise, despite the power of Maxime's talent, Laura still managed to defend with difficulty.
It was only when she saw her boss die that she immediately gave up.
...
Real world.
A young man suddenly awoke in a strange, dark place, various mysterious patterns glittering on a stone floor.
Not far away, a well-dressed man was sitting on a sofa.
The man stood up startled.
"Why are you awake already, Jerry?"
"Uncle, the man who owned this world was far too powerful! We shouldn't have tried to modify the ancestral method!" the youngster who had just woken up replied in a panic.
"No, the modification was good. Other children in the family had already tried it, and they all succeeded!"
Uncle thought of something and hardened his tone.
"On the other hand, modifying the method means you're up against some very powerful geniuses. So the elders of the family advised to be absolutely discreet when first connecting and not to be noticed."
"Jerry, what have you done!?" he continued annoyed.
"I didn't think a genie could still be so powerful after so little time in Eternity!" replied Jerry in a panic.
"Shit, all you had to do was stay still just during your first connection and once you survived you'd have been linked forever to the genie world!"
Uncle stepped forward and slapped Jerry across the face, using much of his strength.
Some of Jerry's teeth flew out, while he himself lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Hatred seized Jerry as he thought back to the face of the blond-haired, white-eyed young man who had killed him.
"What did the genius who killed you look like, nephew?" the uncle asked softly, now having discharged his anger.
His bright future squandered, Jerry's eyes shone with hatred as he told his uncle about Maxime's appearance as well as the power of his mercenaries.
"Indeed it's strange, but with so many details we'll easily find him during the university contest, I just hope he's in our kingdom otherwise it'll be a bit more complicated to avenge you." explained the uncle after some thought.
...
Back to Maxime's world of Eternity.
Maxime had manually deactivated his talent, so that he could always activate it later.
Unfortunately, his control over his talent was relatively weak, so even if he'd used it for less than a minute, if he had to reactivate it he wouldn't have 29 minutes of activation left, but rather around 3 minutes.
But at least he still had his trump card.
In front of him knelt Laura and Organ, followed by all the bandits.
Maxime's mercenaries formed a circle around them, making sure none of them could think of escaping.
"Now it's our turn.