At first Raine thought Leonore had left in a hurry simply because she was busy, but when he saw Henry’s expression, he realized he might have guessed wrong.

Seeing Henry’s somewhat serious look, Raine couldn’t help asking, "His Highness Leonore, did she go to deal with some thorny trouble?"

"The Kingdom’s counterattack this time has run into some problems." Henry thought for a moment, then chose not to hide it from Raine and spoke directly.

"Is it the Black Fist Army again?" Raine was a little surprised.

He hadn’t expected the other side’s strength to be so great, actually able to contend with the Soladin Kingdom.

"It’s not just the Black Fist Army. The Nightmare Blade you fought before is also an extension of that Power."

"That one?" Raine looked at Henry in some confusion.

"Right, I almost forgot, Raine, you might not know the inside story. It’s the one whose divine office encompasses Death." Henry’s expression turned to understanding as he gave a brief explanation.

"A god?" Hearing this, Raine’s brows knit slightly, and he was inwardly startled.

Of course he knew this was a world where Divine Beings existed; the faiths on the Valzeg Continent could even be described as a hundred schools of thought contending.

Setting aside those proper gods who had Divine Halls, even remote indigenous tribes had pseudo‑gods of a sort—nature spirits with some mysterious powers.

But the problem was, Raine had never considered that he would come into direct conflict with the forces under some god’s command this soon.

Another thing was that, up until now, Raine had always thought that both the secretive Talin Association and the Silver Battle Group’s "Nightmare Blade" were independent powers. But from what Henry was saying now, that didn’t seem to be the case.

They all turned out to be sworn to the same god.

Raine had originally thought he would have a few years of peace, time to quietly collect monster bloodlines and gradually raise his own strength, until one day he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods.

When that day came, then he could have a head‑on clash with beings of that level and feel no fear at all.

But the way things develop often runs contrary to one’s wishes—plans never keep up with changes.

Even if he actively tried to avoid trouble, sometimes trouble would still come knocking on his door. The clashes with the Talin Association, the clashes with the Nightmare Blade—looking at it now, they were all inevitabilities wrapped in coincidence.

It was like buying electrical appliances in his previous life: breaking down was inevitable; only when they broke was a matter of chance.

And the expansion of the Talin Association and the Black Fist Army, driven by the will of that Divine Being above, was inevitable. Conflict was inevitable; only the timing and the specific form it took had an element of chance.

"Of course not. It’s an incarnation, only holding a small portion of the divine authority." Henry immediately shook his head in denial.

An incarnation?

On hearing it was a divine incarnation, Raine’s face showed sudden realization, and at the same time he relaxed a little inside.

’That’s still manageable!’

’At least it’s not completely unwinnable.’

If it were the true body, Raine had no idea how long he could last in his current state; even counting the Counterattacker’s immunity to instant death, it would just be the difference between dying in one second or dying in two.

But if it was an incarnation, that was a lot better—going from certain death with no chance of survival to nine deaths with one slim life.

Raine had once read related tomes in the Adventurer’s Association.

If a true body descended, it could naturally unleash the full Power of a Divine Being, but that was said to have happened only in the distant God Era. Back then the battles nearly shattered the heavens and the earth, and the chronicle of the Valzeg Continent began from that time.

Most of the time, Divine Beings condensed incarnations with Divine Power and descended to the lower world to handle important affairs, such as establishing religions, or confronting the incarnations of rival Divine Beings.

Relatively speaking, the strength of incarnations varied according to how much Divine Power was spent when they were condensed, but most were at the legendary level, with a small number possibly reaching demi‑god.

Of course, incarnations weren’t the only way for a Divine Being to descend. There were also other methods such as projections, possession, envoys, and so on.

It was just that an incarnation counted as the most orthodox method of descending.

"Let’s not talk about that anymore. By the way, Raine, do you think my aunt is beautiful?" Suddenly, Henry shifted the topic and asked.

"Of course. In fact, ’beautiful’ alone isn’t enough to describe her." Raine nodded, not denying it.

On this point, he was sure that nearly every man present shared the same view; there was no need to hide it—otherwise he would only look like he was trying too hard.

"Then I..." Henry was just about to say the word "introduce" when he suddenly stopped.

Wait a second!

If he introduced his aunt to Raine, wouldn’t that make Raine his uncle?

Damn! That won’t do!

Henry’s eyes widened a little. He immediately shook his head, rejecting that notion in his heart.

He’d better wait till they got back and introduce Marchioness Monica to Raine instead.

But then again, it wasn’t like he couldn’t play matchmaker a little. After all, his aunt’s standards were so high. He’d heard that when she was studying at Violet Castle, quite a few Extraordinary Mages pursued her, yet she didn’t fancy a single one.

With standards that high, Raine probably wouldn’t be able to win her over either.

And he could still let Raine owe him a big favor.

What a fine thing!

As his thoughts turned, Henry felt he had already thought this matter through.

"What’s wrong?" Raine saw Henry suddenly spacing out and asked.

"Nothing. I get it now. Next time I’ll create more chances for you, but whether it works or not, that depends on your own ability." Henry elbowed Raine with a wicked grin as he spoke.

Huh?

What the hell?

Raine’s eyes widened slightly as he stared at Henry in surprise, not even knowing what to say.

....

Right at this time.

A flock of Griffins flew over from the sky, carrying Chris, Fabian and the others as the second wave of support, and they arrived in Dorne City as well.

However, they had barely landed when Laisa rushed up and began vividly describing what had just happened. The few of them couldn’t help showing regretful expressions as they listened, because they had missed a grand spectacle.

"A White Dragon, an Extraordinary Mage..."

"Tsk tsk, that’s a big scene!" Chris sighed.

"Yeah, I haven’t even seen a White Dragon yet." Fabian at the side couldn’t help showing longing on his face as well.

"Actually, the most spectacular part has to be the scene of Raine against the Black Fist Commander Gelkuk!" Laisa excitedly pointed at the central garden, where the ground looked like it had been ploughed over, as well as the Black Fist Army corpses that were still being carried away.

"Hold on, wait, isn’t the Black Fist Commander Gelkuk a Transcendent? Raine killed a Transcendent?" Chris’s eyes went wide as he spoke.

"Yup! Awesome, right!"

"Miss Laisa, you saw it just now too? Could you tell us the details of that battle?" Grande also showed a longing expression.

Although they knew the gap between them and Raine was growing wider and wider, and as his companions, they regretted missing that big battle, if they could at least hear someone describe it, they could still feel that blood‑boiling sense of being there.

"Um... I still have something to do. For the details, you can ask Miss Meredith." For some reason, Laisa, who had been introducing everything in high spirits, suddenly blushed, her pretty face turning red as she grew a bit embarrassed.

Then, after dropping that line, she cast Gale Step and turned around to leave in an instant.

This left Chris and the other two staring at each other in confusion, and seeing this, Elise and Sulfur Vine at the side couldn’t help covering their mouths and laughing softly.

"What’s going on here?" Chris couldn’t help looking toward Elise and asking. Laisa’s change left him completely baffled.

"Because Laisa didn’t see it either! The scene of Raine fighting the Black Fist Commander Gelkuk, in fact none of us saw it. We only heard about it from the Royal Guards just now." Elise blinked and said with squinting eyes and a smile.

"I see...." The three of them immediately understood, and as they watched Laisa’s departing back, they instantly figured it out.

At this moment, Sulfur Vine suddenly took out a Communication Crystal Stone and glanced at it, then his expression straightened slightly as he said, "Captain Schneider ran into a small squad of fleeing Black Fist soldiers over there. He hopes we can go over and help."

"Of course, what are we waiting for!"

"Yeah, let’s go!"

"Wait, I’ll just say something to Raine and come right away." Fabian suddenly seemed to think of something and immediately turned around.

He quickly walked up to Raine and said, "Raine, before we came, Miss Liya from the Adventurer’s Association in Mill Town told us that the materials you wanted to collect are all ready. She told us to let you know as soon as possible."

All collected?

Raine raised an eyebrow, quite pleased in his heart.

"Got it, thanks."

"Of course. We’ll go lend a hand then."

"Sure!"

Raine nodded with a smile.

He lowered his head and glanced at the silver Warhammer, Counterattacker, in his hand, only to see that it was already covered with dense fine cracks, and the width of these cracks was even greater than the last time he fought the Frost Giant Commander.

Even though this was an Epic Weapon, it already looked like it was about to reach the end of its life.

And this time, when the White Dragon Shuangzhuo came knocking on his door, he had barely said a word. One of the reasons was that Counterattacker might not be able to withstand another battle at the Extraordinary Level.

Repairing Counterattacker, for him right now, could be called his top priority.

Especially its third special effect, "immune to one instance of lethal Magic or a sure‑kill attack...". When facing some irresistible forces like incarnations of Divine Beings, it could have miraculous results.

"Lord Viscount, I’d like to return to Mill Town immediately."

Although Dorne City also had an Adventurer’s Association, and its scale far surpassed that of Mill Town, and it wouldn’t be hard at all to tell the staff there and handle everything in Dorne City.

But Raine was a sentimental person. Thinking of how attentive Liya had always been in serving him, he figured he should see this through to the end; at the very least, let Liya handle this matter to completion.

Besides, there were Griffin mounts right next to him, so it would be extremely convenient for him to go back.

...