Chương 300: Chapter 295

One of the main problems that Jacob has had to face has been the fact that the Champions are, without the shadow of a doubt, much, MUCH weaker than the Dark Champions. Despite all the enhancements that he received himself, without The Devil's Engine firing at full power, hell, possibly beyond full power, he would have had no way of facing Nimirea.

The only reason he won against her was that he carefully planned the entire fight and that the entire first year got involved, ready to throw their power to Jacob through the massive traps that he had set up before the tournament. But the reality is that, unlike the coddled, ego-driven Champions, the Dark Champions have come out of nothing, or perhaps even worse than the situation Jacob himself had to face while reaching Ytrial. All of them have been forged in a crucible of pain, torture, and who-knows-what.

Yet, despite the fact that Jacob recognized all the problems of the Champions, he was not inclined to force all his companions to go through the same degree of pain and torture as the Dark Champions in order to win. Much more importantly, he was not even sure that they, without putting all their Rainbow Skills together, could have faced even a couple of Dark Champions without using a bunch of tricks.

So, he did technically hide the Champions away since, if they had faced squarely one-on-one, they would have all lost. Even Vyrrak would have lost against Korrath had Korrath not been a complete tool and let Vyrrak hit him with his strongest attack. So, did Jacob, in a way, cheat to win against the Dark Champions? A good lawyer could have certainly made the case.

Did Jacob actually trick all the Dark Champions into co-signing an Oath that essentially made them responsible for the safety and the training of their nemeses? Sort of. Was it really that shameless or was it just some charitable work that Jacob had somewhat forced the Dark Champions to undertake? Hardly anybody could tell, right?

"You're truly a son of a crafty whore," Delefagus swears out loud.

"Wait, they played us?" Korrath asks. But Nimirea, looking at the equally confused faces of the Champions, shakes her head.

"They didn't know how much stronger we were," she says.

"It's all him. Once again, it's all him."

"You're really making this sound way worse than it is. It looks like I had this whole masterminded, premeditated plan. I wasn't the one who offered to collaborate," Jacob says, raising his hands again, his form standing still against the red sand.

"Delefagus offered to join hands. I just accepted."

"You…" Delefagus's eyes go wide.

"You made me wait… because you were faking it! This was all your plan from the start!" Then his expression cracks open another notch. He grabs his own forehead.

"Wait. Wait. That training clause you wrote in — the one I mocked you for — that wasn't for us. You weren't trying to make us stronger to help you fight." He stabs a finger at Jacob.

"You wrote a training clause so it would force us to train you. The Champions. Your people. You son of a bitch. You're shameless. You're unbelievably shameless." Jacob just smiles with the corner of his mouth.

"I won't help that bastard—" Korrath suddenly falls on the ground, writhing in pain after saying that.

"It's the Oath," Nimirea sighs.

"You now don't have a choice, it seems. You all swore to help and that means you cannot back out of this. You must come here, perform to the best of your abilities, and collaborate. Jacob lied when he said your two groups would be acting independently. This was his plan from the get-go."

"Lad…" Boomgar is in awe of what he's just heard.

"Is this true?"

"You didn't trust our strength?" Asterion frowns.

"We're not weak."

"Heh," Jacob scratches the back of his head.

"We might have tried something similar if Sir Maximilian assigned someone to babysit us—which wouldn't have happened. So, since we were all stuck together and we needed to speed up our training… plus, we get to see them act in battle and get an even better idea than the one I got through the Grimoire."

"Betraying your allies at the first occasion possible— literally, the first—and you expect us to now comply?" Delefagus feels his eyes going bloodshot.

"Is this how you treat your allies?!" If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"You fucking conspired to monsterify students to assassinate me," Jacob frowns. Delefagus is about to shout back when he puts a hand on his chin, rolls his eyes, and resumes his bookish attitude.

"True, actually."

"So, you tried to kill me a few times—and let's not forget you guys were gearing up to assassinate me in Ashenmere. So, sorry for tricking you?"

"You also killed one of ours," Augusta, the high-pitched bald young woman with face-tattoos says.

"Yeah, while he was trying to sneak up on me and kill me?" Jacob shrugs.

"And if you're that good, are you really afraid that a little bit of helping will make all of us infinitely stronger than you? Is your ego really that fragile?"

"We're not scared of nothing!" Korrath, the black-scaled Dragonkin, shouts.

"He's goading you, Korrath," Nimirea sighs. The black-scaled Dragonkin looks at Nimirea and then back at Jacob with a furious expression.

"Were you spawned by a Hydra?" Delefagus suddenly asks.

"Your mother, Priscilla Valemont, I researched her and her bloodline. The Valemonts are not known to be strategic masterminds. Whom did you sell your soul to in order to get this good at… tricks."

"My dad could be really manipulative at times," Jacob smiles.

"Maybe that's it?"

"Your Bronze Rank father?" Delefagus narrows his eyes.

"You've done a lot of research on me," Jacob says, looking impressed. Delefagus is stunned at the simple fact that Jacob would even be surprised that they research him, their nemesis, so well.

"I'm glad I'm not in your position anymore," Nimirea tells Delefagus.

"Well, what if I tell you guys that I have something very interesting to sweeten this deal for all of you? You help us in good faith, helping us progress and become stronger in this Dungeon and, in turn, I help you with one very cool Rainbow Skill."

"Your Grimoire is useless to them," Nimirea sighs.

"We have already a perfect progression path that was mapped for us by the Prophet and Asmodeus. They already know every flaw of their ways, and your instructions won't change a thing."

"Well, who said that I was talking about my Rainbow Skill?" Jacob smiles slyly. In order to retain his dramatic flair, Jacob told everybody that he needs more monsters in order to demonstrate what he means. So, Nimirea goes hunting and comes back with ten Minor Nightmares of Apocalypse quick on her heels. All of them at Intermediate True Diamond Rank.

"Sabrina!" Jacob suddenly shouts.

"Use your Rainbow Skill!" Sabrina Margrave looks peeved at being called up like this, but seeing the death-machines that are running toward them, she sighs and activates it." Gate of Hell." A sudden fiendish head appears high in the sky and it slowly opens, emitting a hellish aura that envelopes a forty-foot range from Sabrina. The first Minor Nightmare that enters her range falls over, with its skin starting to blister as its arms and legs shrink.

The moment it gets up again, its aura has lost in strength and polish, clearly diminished.

"A wide-area, absolute debuff Skill?!" Nimirea says, raising an eyebrow as she turns mid air, now facing the monsters and back-sliding on her feet.

"Is that all?!"

"Sabrina," Jacob facepalms." The other one."

"What?" Nimirea turns for a moment, seeing Sabrina narrow her eyes at him but then obeying.

"Gate of Heaven." Suddenly, an angelic face appears right in front of the demonic one and a bright light shines all over Sabrina in a forty-foot radius. Two Rainbow Skills like that?! Nimirea has three herself, but they don't synergize nearly as well as what Sabrina Margrave has. She essentially has a perfect combination!

And the moment one of the monsters comes close and she's finally forced to fight—she had held back before—she takes out a pink sword from her Interspatial Ring, drawing curious looks from the others, and uses a Skill to coat it with an edge of water.

"Holy—" Nimirea suddenly understands what the Skill does, using Eye of the Prophet to analyze the effect it has on her.

"Guys, activate Skills right now!" Every single Dark Champion follows suit and they all start activating Skills, charging against the diminished monsters. The moment they do, all their eyes go wide. The battle ends in the blink of an eye, with not one Champion having to even think about entering the fray.

"This Rainbow Skill," Nimirea feels herself trembling.

"Is this part of how you became stronger?" Jacob looks back at her and then at Sabrina, who becomes red in her face and looks away from him.

"Never seen it before."

"You have a damn Skill that makes it easier to level other Skills and you never used it before?!" Nimirea looks like she's about to tear her own hair out. She doesn't know that Jacob found out about Sabrina's Skills only after the tournament, specifically after his Grimoire evolved. Before, he could only see a Skill if it was active.

"I want that Skill," Delefagus says, looking hungry as he stares down Sabrina Margrave. Kai, Jacob's brother, puts himself in his line of sight, placing a hand over his massive sword's hilt.

"Back off."

"I don't need your help, Valemont," Sabrina spits on the ground, walking past Kai, who barely even reacts to her insult. But now that the cards are out for everybody to see, not one Dark Champion looks unsatisfied with what Jacob essentially forced them into. He's truly a one in a million years talent in manipulating people. If I hadn't seen his soul, I would have suspected he was actually the Headmaster in disguise.

In fact, now that something as juicy as being able to level up your Skills better is on the table, what fool would refuse to help? All the Dark Champions are thinking about at the moment is that they're going to use this opportunity to grow even stronger and then one day butcher the Champions and steal their Rainbow Skills.

"We'll collaborate," Delefagus says.

"Yeah, agree," Asterismos says, looking excitedly at his white sword. The Elf woman beside him nods. Every other Dark Champion is looking smug.

"I'll help you poor bastards," Korrath grins.

"Hell, I'll train you as long as I get to train myself under the effect of that Skill. I've never even heard of something like that. A fucking dynasty-making Skill like that in the hands of poor bastards like you… my goodness. How is that even possible?" Nimirea is saying nothing, just limiting herself to observe the general agreement in sentiment by the Dark Champions about what Korrath just said. Then, she realizes something. He can't… he couldn't have planned so far, could he?

Nimirea looks at a Jacob that is smiling toward her, making her narrow her eyes.