*Boom!*

The explosion engulfed the dragon in an instant. Theo, who had experienced the bomb earlier, knew what would happen. So, he instantly flew away while letting the dragon take the full brunt of the explosion.

The battlefield was stunned once again as they never expected that the explosion that shook the entire battlefield earlier could be reproduced.

Still, this showed the level of the World Class Monsters and Theo. To think there would be someone to stop two World Class Monsters by himself, the people on the battlefield respected Theo on a whole new level.

They didn’t know what happened inside the base, but the fact that Theo took this position meant he already knew this would happen, but he still promised to fight them even if it meant risking his life.

Most of them came to the battlefield because they wanted to upgrade their skills. But after seeing Theo fighting so hard, many of them felt ashamed.

Theo had been fighting for the base wholeheartedly while they were taking advantage of his kindness this whole time.

Nonetheless, their thought was irrelevant to the current Theo.

After that explosion, Theo thought the dragon would be severely injured since it took the explosive fruit with its own body.

‘Hehe, everything is going according to the plan. Though, I guess this is the reaction to the higher being’s interference by calling this guy. They might be able to change the dragon’s decision, but the dragon would be a fool.’

Unfortunately, it seemed he had underestimated the dragon.

Three seconds after the explosion, the dragon released an earth-shattering roar while flapping his wings, blowing all the smoke away.

*Roar!*

Theo narrowed his eyes, staring at the dragon. He would never expect that the dragon could survive with that little injury after being blasted by the explosive fruit.

Because the dragon’s skin was thick and hard, the explosion could only hit the outer part of the skin. Meanwhile, the inner part was still intact.

Although it meant the dragon’s defense became weaker, it didn’t change the fact that the dragon escaped almost unscathed.

The dragon glared at the tree and shouted, “Are you planning to kill me?”

The World Tree had fed up with the dragon’s attitude as well. He had been helping the dragon this whole time, yet, the other party kept harming him and even blaming him.

The World Tree replied, “You can’t even do anything to that human, Theodore Griffith. So, what’s the use of having you here?”

“What did you say? Who said I couldn’t do any harm to Theodore Griffith?”

“That’s a fact. You haven’t hit him once after coming here. I thought we could defeat Theodore Griffith together, but it seemed I pinned too much hope on you.”

“You…” The dragon glared at the World Tree before turning to the side as if planning to beat Theo to show him his strength.

However, the moment he looked around, Theo had completely disappeared.

“Huh?” The dragon was dumbfounded and immediately stretched its Awareness to find Theo.

The World Tree also felt something was missing. He felt Theo’s presence earlier, but the previous argument broke his concentration for a split second. Theo took advantage of that split second to conceal his presence and disappear.

No one knew where Theo was. Even when they used their Awareness to find him, they still couldn’t find anything.

They didn’t realize Theo had been using his illusion to manipulate their senses.

Theo was actually standing in front of them. They couldn’t see him because Theo used his illusion to make himself look transparent and erase his presence through illusions.

Theo had been good at manipulating one’s senses, so he had just to make them feel nothing when he tried to sense him.

It looked like he could use this ability to attack them, but if he made the slightest movement, these two World Class Monsters would notice him.

“Where is he?” The dragon asked, confused.

𝒩𝐎𝑣𝗅xt.𝓒𝐎𝕞

“Shouldn’t he be somewhere near you?” The World Tree was confused as well, thinking the dragon was hiding him.

The dragon couldn’t answer him because he sensed nothing around his body. Theo might have escaped from this battlefield.

“Don’t tell me… Because he knows he can’t defeat both of us, he’s running away?” The World Tree narrowed his eyes. Since he knew how shrewd Theo was, something like this wasn’t impossible.

“Huh? Have I overestimated him?” The dragon was sure that Theo would keep them here and somehow repel them. But it turned out he had been trying to find an opportunity to escape.

Though, as someone who had witnessed Theo’s battle, or more specifically, learned about his past record, the World Tree remembered something.

“Wait a minute. In the previous battle, Theodore Griffith was fighting another Saint with only his clone. Don’t tell me, he’s been using his clone this whole time?” The World Tree gasped and started panicking.

Although the clone didn’t look like a big deal since there were two World Class Monsters, it would be a different case if Theo returned with his real body here. Theo’s clone would recover to its peak state, and both Theo and his clone could take on each of them.

With their current state, it would be impossible for them to defeat Theo.

“Don’t tell me, this is his plan? Is he planning to use his clone to exhaust us? But the one fighting the whole time should be the real Theodore Griffith. No, I don’t know what kind of Order he has, but it should be a powerful Order that could trick one’s perception.

“In other words, he might be using the illusion so that I perceive him as a real human…” The World Tree gasped, realizing he had been had.

The World Tree shouted, “I’m going to leave here right away.”

“What? You’re a coward. To think you would retreat just like this when you have a big advantage.”

“You don’t know anything, dragon bastard.” The World Tree snorted. “I can’t afford to die here like you.”

The dragon had no idea why the World Tree was scared like this. He hadn’t heard about Theo’s past record after all.

And this was when Theo showed his brilliance.