NOVEL NEXT Chapter 160: Suprise
Richard wanted time to move faster so he could finally see his Incomplete Heavenly Water become complete.
He thought about what he could do and eventually realized the only option was to sleep — preferably for a full 24 hours straight.
The city was completely secure; it wouldn't matter even if he slept through everything.
He quickly returned to his room, jumped into bed, and pulled a thick blanket over himself before drifting into warm, comfortable sleep.
The coffee he had earlier didn't affect him at all. He could fall asleep as long as he forced himself to — after all, he hadn't slept during the day.
Once he fell asleep, he was unaware of everything happening outside.
However, he woke up the next morning — not because he wanted to, but because of a sudden loud shout.
"Brat! How long are you going to hide like a turtle!?"
The shout startled Richard so much that he sat up straight in bed.
He didn't even know who was yelling, but the voice was clearly filled with frustration.
The barbarians were supposed to arrive last night and attack the Defense Formation relentlessly.
But now, even by morning, it seemed they had realized they couldn't break through the formation at all.
"Brat! Come out and fight!"
"You're a coward, and you dare call yourself a genius!"
"A coward like you could never become a Grand Sovereign!"
Even though his plan was to keep sleeping, Richard found it impossible with so many voices shouting.
For their voices to reach his castle — located deep in the center of the city — they must have been yelling using a great amount of Aether.
It seemed like this was part of their strategy.
Curious, Richard sent his spiritual wave outside the city, toward the border with the Ancient Ice Region, to see how many enemies were attacking.
Although he couldn't see directly with his wave, he could sense beings with massive bodies.
They weren't riding horses but enormous beasts — tigers, lions, even wild elephants.
Richard was a bit shocked by their numbers; there seemed to be more than three thousand of them.
And among them, no less than twenty exuded a terrifyingly fierce aura — the kind that made Richard genuinely uneasy.
'We're still short on manpower. It seems no one dares leave the city either,' Richard thought.
"What…?"
As he continued observing, his eyes widened in disbelief — something completely unexpected appeared.
He instantly activated his Spectra Eye, the crimson eye that merged with his left one, and stepped onto the balcony.
The amount of Nature Spirit it consumed didn't matter to him right now.
Besides, he wasn't using it to see through walls — only to sharpen his long-distance vision.
Compared to penetrating solid structures, this required far less energy.
What shocked him was the sight of thirty Shadow Beasts, all of them lions and tigers, emerging on the battlefield.
They were so massive that even without his Spectra Eye, Richard could clearly see them from his balcony.
And from the moment they appeared, they went berserk — tearing into the barbarians, slaughtering the weak while the strong barely managed to flee.
But the beasts weren't what surprised Richard the most.
What truly stunned him was the figure of a black-haired woman in a black dress, floating above the city gate, cold and indifferent, holding a long crimson scythe in her hand.
"Why is she here too? Don't tell me she's after my reward…" Richard muttered to himself.
Of course, that woman was Rebecca.
Whoosh!
She swung her scythe, unleashing a ferocious slash that decapitated countless barbarians in one strike.
"She's Rebecca Moonshadow!" shouted some of the barbarians.
"Damn it, why is she here!? She's wiped out several of our tribes already!"
"Her power is terrifying!"
"Of course! She's never lost to anyone in the same Realm!"
"We should retreat — numbers are useless against someone like her! She's as strong as a Lord… maybe even stronger, even though she's still in the Grimoire Realm!"
"…"
"Rebecca! How dare you!"
A thunderous roar echoed from afar.
Richard looked up and saw a giant man, over three hundred meters tall, suddenly appear in the sky, wielding a golden axe that shone like the sun.
The man swung the massive weapon toward Rebecca.
Even from afar, the slash easily reached her position — it could have destroyed the entire Defense Formation and split Snowy Sky City in two.
"I'm still in the Grimoire Realm, so I qualify for this war. But I don't mind if you want to join too," Rebecca replied coldly.
Clang!
Her crimson scythe met the golden axe head-on.
The result shocked everyone.
The giant's axe was repelled, while Rebecca remained perfectly still in her position.
The shockwave rebounded toward the barbarian army, throwing many of them off their mounts.
Even the giant himself staggered backward, eyes wide in disbelief.
Rebecca's reputation was clearly well-deserved — she was strong enough to overpower even a Lord-level opponent.
Whoosh!
Rebecca then flew toward him.
A pair of crimson wings appeared on her back, boosting her speed to an extreme.
In an instant, she was in front of the giant, swinging her scythe once more — now coated with lightning and darkness.
Everything happened so fast that Richard barely had time to blink before the man's head was severed.
Moments later, lightning and darkness exploded, obliterating the giant's body completely.
The remaining barbarians fled in terror, lucky that Rebecca didn't bother chasing them.
The people in the city didn't fully understand what had happened, except for those standing on the walls who had witnessed it all clearly.
They were frozen in awe, stunned by what they'd just seen.
Those who had doubted her reputation finally saw the truth for themselves.
After ending the battle in mere moments, Rebecca landed atop the city gate, where Arthur was personally stationed.
"Tell your lord to hand over my reward immediately," she said coldly. "I believe I've earned every single one he promised."
Richard couldn't hear her words.
However, the woman's gaze turned directly toward him after she spoke.
It seemed she could clearly see him even from that great distance.
After all, with her level of power, her eyes could naturally reach far wider and farther than normal.