SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Leon and Seraphine moved swiftly through the landscape, collecting the remaining supplies and people gathered in their territory. The dimensional portal opened and closed repeatedly as Leon systematically gathered everything of value.

"The palace items, too," Seraphine said, her voice carrying a note of finality. "I want them stored in the dimensional realm. For the memory."

Leon nodded, understanding without need for explanation. The palace had been her home, her seat of power. Even if they were leaving this domain behind, some things deserved preservation.

Within hours, everything was transferred. The dimensional space now held not just refugees and supplies, but pieces of Seraphine's past—furniture, decorations, mementos of a life she was choosing to leave behind.

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Finally, they stood before the Forbidden Mist.

The grey-white wall stretched endlessly in both directions, towering hundreds of meters into the sky. Fog churned and roiled like a living thing, occasionally revealing glimpses of shapes within—or perhaps just tricks of light and shadow.

"Wait," Leon said, his hand stopping Seraphine before she could retrieve the directional treasure.

His enhanced senses swept the area methodically. Every rock, every depression in the ground, every shadow that seemed too dark. Someone tried to sabotage us before with that modified ball. We still don't know who.

His mystical eyes alert, scanning for traces of mana, hidden enchantments, anything that seemed out of place.

Nothing. The area was clean.

Good. But stay alert.

Just as Seraphine was about to pull out the directional ball, movement caught both their attention.

A figure was running toward them from a distance, stumbling occasionally but maintaining desperate forward momentum.

Leon and Seraphine exchanged glances, the same question reflected in both their eyes.

Why is she here?

Loriel, the Saintess of Life, collapsed to her knees in front of them. Sweat drenched her green hair and clothes, her face flushed red from exertion. She gasped for breath, trying to speak but only managing incoherent sounds.

"F-found... finally... you..."

Then she dropped flat to the ground and began crying tears of joy, her body shaking with exhausted sobs.

"It was so hard!" she wailed between gasps. "I went the wrong way first... thought you'd already left... but I kept going because I have nowhere else..."

Leon raised an eyebrow. Dramatic as ever.

"Why are you here?" Seraphine's voice was cold, cutting through Loriel's emotional display.

Loriel pushed herself up slightly, still breathing hard. "I want... to join you."

Seraphine's eyes narrowed. Something about this felt wrong. Without saying a word, she retrieved one of the twin directional balls from her spatial pouch and held it up for Loriel to see.

Loriel blinked, confusion replacing her exhaustion. "What... what is that?"

"You tell me," Seraphine said flatly.

"I don't know?" Loriel's confusion seemed genuine. Then her expression brightened with misunderstanding. "Oh! Is that a joining gift? You don't have to give me anything! I'm just happy to help!"

Seraphine stowed the ball away. Not the saboteur then.

"Who said you're joining us?" Seraphine's voice turned even colder. "We haven't confirmed anything yet."

Loriel's face crumpled. She looked like she was about to cry again. "But... but I came all this way! I ran for hours! I can help!"

"My Leon can do anything you can do, but better," Seraphine said bluntly. "So why would we need you?"

Leon found Seraphine's harshness a bit much but said nothing. She's not wrong, though.

Loriel opened her mouth to refute, then closed it. She couldn't argue with that statement. Desperately, she grasped for any advantage. "I can help with directions! I'm from the higher domain!"

"Aurelia gave us a map," Seraphine reminded her.

Loriel's face turned slightly green, but she didn't back down. This is it. My only chance.

"That map is for traveling from the middle domain to the higher domain," Loriel said quickly. "Not from the lower domain to the middle domain. It won't help you here."

Leon pulled the map from his inventory and checked the title. Sure enough: "Middle Domain to Higher Domain Navigation Chart."

She's telling the truth.

Loriel held her breath, praying they wouldn't realize that no map was actually needed—you just had to travel in one direction through the mist. The only real challenge was the monsters. But if she admitted that, they'd have no reason to bring her along.

"Fine," Leon said. "You can come."

Relief flooded Loriel's face.

Seraphine didn't object. She is useful. And her status in the higher domains could open doors. Plus, having an insider from that world makes sense.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Loriel scrambled to her feet, bowing repeatedly.

They entered the Forbidden Mist together.

The grey fog swallowed them immediately, reducing visibility to barely twenty meters. Sounds became muffled and distorted. The temperature dropped noticeably.

"This way," Loriel said, pointing with false confidence. She was just pretending, choosing directions at random, but she had to maintain the act. They can't know it's just straight ahead.

They moved through the mist at a steady pace. Leon took point, his senses extended to their maximum range to detect threats before they arrived. Seraphine stayed in the middle, ready to support either direction. Loriel brought up the rear, ostensibly watching for flanking attacks but mostly just trying to keep up.

The first fog monster appeared after ten minutes—the same type they'd encountered before. Leon dispatched it with casual efficiency, a single clean strike reducing it to dissipating mist.

But Loriel was thoroughly shocked.

He's gotten stronger, she realized, watching Leon move with fluid grace. His mana control is better, his reactions faster. How long has it been? Weeks? And he's improved this much?

But what shocked her even more was Seraphine.

The purple-haired woman moved with lethal precision, her lightning crackling with new properties Loriel had never seen before. When a fog monster lunged from the side, Seraphine's counterattack was devastating—a bolt of lightning that contained both electrical energy and radiant light, the combination tearing through the creature with terrifying efficiency.

She's... really strong, Loriel thought, her previous dismissive assessment crumbling. Not at my level yet, but far stronger than before. Did she have a breakthrough? No, it's more than that. She feels different somehow.

Loriel's eyes narrowed, studying Seraphine more carefully. Did she use some treasure to appear weaker before? Or has she been hiding her true strength this whole time?

What shocked her most was that use of light element she would do ever so often, it was just a divine revelation to her, shocking, something she hadn't even imagined from her.

They pushed deeper into the mist, covering ground quickly. The monsters appeared with increasing frequency but never posed a serious threat. Leon handled most of them, occasionally letting Seraphine take a few when she wanted the practice.

After several hours, they crossed the distance they'd previously traveled and entered unexplored territory.

The fog here was thicker, darker, more oppressive. And the monsters that emerged were different.

Larger. More solid. With eyes that glowed with malevolent intelligence instead of just predatory hunger.

One appeared directly in front of them—easily three times the size of the previous fog monsters, its form more defined, almost corporeal. Claws of condensed mist extended from massive paws, and its roar sent vibrations through the air that made Loriel straighten up.

Leon didn't even slow down.

His hand moved in a blur. Seven lightning bolts—his combined Thunderstrike Volley skill—hammered into the creature simultaneously. The shockwave from the attack sent ripples through the surrounding mist, and the monster exploded into fragments that dissipated before hitting the ground.

One hit, Loriel thought, her mouth hanging open slightly. He killed it in one hit.

More of the larger monsters appeared, drawn by the sound of combat. Five, then ten, surrounded them from multiple directions.

Seraphine grinned. "Finally, something interesting."

Her body erupted with lightning and light, the dual elements intertwining around her in a display that made Loriel's eyes widen. That's not normal lightning. What is that?

The battle was over in less than a minute. Leon and Seraphine moved in perfect sync, their attacks coordinated without need for verbal communication. Monsters fell like wheat before a scythe, their enhanced durability meaningless against the overwhelming power being thrown at them.

Loriel just stood in the middle, watching, completely unnecessary to the fight.

I thought I was being generous by joining them, she realized with growing unease. But maybe... maybe they're the ones being generous by letting me tag along.

The mist swirled around them as they pressed forward, leaving a trail of dissipating monster corpses in their wake. Somewhere ahead, beyond the grey fog and the dangers within, lay the Middle Domain.

And Leon and Seraphine were tearing through every obstacle like it was nothing.

Loriel's heart sank as she realized that he boundary was just up ahead.

Only 500 meters left.

The monsters were no challenge whatsoever to Leon and Seraphine. They cut through everything like it didn't exist. She'd been completely useless this entire time, just following behind like dead weight.

If we reach the middle domain this quickly, they'll realize I did nothing that I'm not needed.

Panic gripped her chest. Instead of continuing forward, Loriel deliberately guided them in the wrong direction, angling their path to loop around while maintaining her confident act.

"This way," she said with false authority, pointing left. "The safe route requires we avoid the densest mist zones."

An hour passed. They'd traveled in a wide, unnecessary arc. Finally, Loriel made them stop.

She cleared her throat dramatically, standing tall despite her exhaustion, trying to look like she'd worked incredibly hard.

"Just a couple more steps," she announced proudly, gesturing forward like she'd accomplished something monumental, "and we'll enter the middle domain."

Leon and Seraphine exchanged brief glances but said nothing, moving forward as directed.