Risks could only be taken if there were benefits, but the risks were more significant at that moment. The Royal Sealift Group and Anthony, who threatened him, were already a challenge. Though he could afford to lose the money, he could not risk his life at any time."What do you mean by this? Didn't you agree to my terms? Why did you change your mind all of a sudden? The Galloway family will not appreciate your behavior." Even though Uncle Elfred was speaking with a smile, the displeasure on his face was evident.Bruce could not help it, even if he knew the other party was upset. He smiled wryly and said, "Uncle Elfred, the information you gave us was inaccurate. No one told me that Ashton Levin has ties with the Royal Sealift Group, and Anthony from Saffron came forward to protect him. I'm just a mere chief superintendent. I can't go against these two groups.""Anthony? From the Acton Chamber of Commerce? He is supporting Ashton? Has he stepped forward?" Uncle Elfred's eyes narrowe
Weston's heart raced with anxiety. When Alora was famous, he drooled over her news photos. He had many sexual fantasies about her. He wanted sex with that beautiful woman.It was like a dream come true for him.He did not have to take any responsibility, and he did not have to worry about the aftermath. The woman was utterly at his disposal, and he could do anything to her.Ashton looked somber when he saw two men approaching Alora. He said coldly, "I'm reminding you, this can end with just you losing your job and getting investigated, but if you dare to try some funny business, I guarantee that things will end terribly for you."Weston and Melvin were taken aback when they heard what Ashton said. Then, they laughed loudly, covering their stomachs as if they had heard the funniest joke in the world."Did I hear him right? Did he say we would lose our jobs and be investigated?""And he said things would end terribly for us?"Weston smiled, but his expression turned sinister in an
"Mister Hadley, your son almost got your whole family killed, and he almost killed us all too," the chief of the police department said mockingly, with a half-smile.Landon Hadley laughed nervously. His face seemed to have aged 20 years in an instant. The whites in his hair were suddenly more visible.Team Leader Jewells stood up and ordered two people to restrain Bruce."You! What are you doing?" Bruce turned pale with shock."What am I doing? You bent the law for personal gain, abused your power, and tampered with the case file. You have committed 43 crimes since five years ago. Now, the department has decided to sentence you to the death penalty and send you to the Water Prison." Team Leader Jewells smiled coldly."Water? Water prison?" Bruce lost control over his bowel movements again."Get him out! He stinks!" Team Leader Jewell frowned and waved his hands impatiently.After Bruce was dragged out of the room, Landon looked at the leaders with a wry smile. "Guys, can we redu
The night was destined to be turbulent.Ashton received a call from Yanne in the taxi."My father said the police arrested you?""At the hotel. With Alora.""Oh..." Ashton did not know what to say. He guessed that Yanne had misunderstood.However, he had forgotten to do something—Yanne should have been informed so she would not worry."Yanne, listen to me—""Ash, are you okay? Did the police give you a hard time?" Yanne said."I'm fine. I'm on my way home. Yanne, it's my fault today—""Well, I will always trust you, so you don't have to explain anything."Ashton was unsure of what to say next.The more sensible and considerate Yanne was, the worse he felt. It was all too unfair to Yanne."Ash, I know you still love Alora. If, I mean, if Alora chooses to get back with you—""No ifs," Ashton said firmly."Yanne, stop overthinking this. I promise that this will not happen again."Yanne, you should rest. The tour on the Elizabeth in a few days, right? I will go see your perf
The Latham family could not fight the situation. Everyone was bound and made to kneel by the Galloway family's secret guards.Drevik enjoyed the feeling of being worshiped and others begging him for mercy. His condescending speech made him seem like an emperor who could kill anyone on a whim. "All of you will die today thanks to this little bitch. So, if you want someone to blame, you can blame her."The Galloway family is prominent in the Central South. Mister Galloway has never been wronged like this. This is a provocation to the Galloway family. Only blood can wash away the humiliation." Uncle Elfred snorted coldly."You guys are unreasonable!" Alora's eyes were red. "It was obvious that you were plotting against me. If Ashton had not saved me, you would've had your way with me. Now you, the villain, claimed to be the victim and blamed us for your mess. Why even bother coming up with such excuses?"You can't beat Ashton, so you just vent your anger on my family. What kind of man
"Ashton..."Ashton turned to see Alora despairing as he approached the door."If you want to leave, I can bring you with me, but I don't care about the others. They have nothing to do with me," Ashton said calmly.Alora hesitated.Could she leave her family behind?She could be safe from harm's way, but could she live with the fact that her parents and brother were all murdered?"Ashton, are you listening? I told you to leave this place, so just do it! We don't owe you anything! Do you want to get us all killed?" Howard knelt on the ground and roared in despair."Hey, you seem to be mistaken." Uncle Elfred stood there quietly, watching the scene unfold, and he did not speak until now. "None of you can escape today.""You're not leaving this place." Uncle Elfred pointed at Ashton. "You have injured Mister Drevik. The Galloway family won't stop until you pay with your life. Do you think you can cross the Galloway family as you please, and nothing will come of it?"Ashton looked
"Mister Lockwood, you came at the right time. Otherwise, I would have killed him." Ashton smiled."Knowing the Galloway family, retaliation was inevitable. So, I have sent out scouts after them. After detecting their presence here, I immediately led my men here. Fortunately, we were not too late." Zion felt relieved for his foresight.What he did undoubtedly made Ashton owe the Lockwood family another favor.For him, the more favors, the better. Being able to bind Ashton to the Lockwood family was the best thing that could happen to them. Ashton was like a dangerous weapon that their enemies feared most.Even for Zion's troops, there were significant benefits. If he had the opportunity to meet Darek again, he could use Ashton to his advantage."If it's okay, I'll leave now. Sorry to trouble you to deal with the aftermath." Ashton glanced at the Latham family members, who had not recovered from their despair, and then at Alora. He turned around and left after.After Ashton left, Z
Yanne stared at the turquoise pendant in her hand as she sat in front of the dressing table in the warm room.Ashton had given her the pendant. He said that it was the symbol for the Lockwood family's daughter-in-law.However, she felt unsure about that promise. She was not sure whether Ashton had gotten over Alora. If he had not, then it did not matter what she did. She would not win that losing battle.At the thought that something too precious to her could leave her life at any moment, Yanne felt a lump in her throat that refused to go away no matter how much she swallowed.Everyone was selfish in relationships. No matter how generous a person was, they could not give away the person they loved to others. Saying things they did not mean would only make one feel worse.Just then, the door of her room opened.Only two people could enter her room without knocking; one was her mother, and the other was Ashton. Not even her father, Anthony, was given the privilege to do so.Yanne
Once the news spread, the world was in an uproar.The ban on nuclear weapons had been lifted?That meant the nuclear weapon's password had been entered, and the weapon could be launched from the ground with a single command.Furthermore, it differed from the time in the Syferian ice plains. Taking into account the international community's influence, Sunoria used a low-tonnage nuclear bomb with minimal lethality, but Aarrowsmith was different. Once they decided to use nuclear weapons, they would disregard all public opinion until they had utterly destroyed their opponents. In that case, the bombed area would be a wasteland where nothing could live for at least a century.Nobody wanted nuclear weapons to detonate on their own territory.Therefore, wherever Ashton was, the country in charge of that territory would be in a panic.Sceponyol and the allied countries quickly convened a military meeting and contacted Aarrowsmith, demanding a halt to the nuclear bombings.However, when
A single person had destroyed an entire fleet."Your actions will start a war!" Leblanc roared furiously."You're an insignificant clown; your words don't matter. Furthermore, so what if I start a war?"Ashton regarded Nimo with interest. Nimo and the others were dressed in combat suits and ready for a final desperate fight."Hand over the core technology of the combat suit and the formula for the Water of Youth, and I will let you live today," Ashton said.He admitted to being greedy for Aarrowsmith's technological advancements—not for their combat effectiveness, but for the scientific application behind those means.If members of Obsidian Gates were equipped with that type of combat suit and the Water of Youth, combined with the martial arts practitioner's own methods, their combat effectiveness would skyrocket. Everyone would become a super warrior fearless of death.However, his words made Nimo laugh wildly."Do you think it's up to you? A filthy Linnish man wants the sixth
Nimo laughed. "We're safe! Everyone, the retreat mission has been completed successfully." Nimo finally felt relaxed.Three other figures then appeared on the ship.Their combat suit was removed, revealing the figures of a woman and two men.The Annihilator Team had only four survivors.The captain of the ship approached the deck."I am Leblanc, the ship's commander, and I have been ordered to come pick you up. Why are there only four of you? What about the others?" Leblanc inquired in a suspicious tone."All of them are dead. That Linnish warrior killed them.""What?"Leblanc was shocked.He knew what power the Annihilator Team wielded, and he was sent to perform that task precisely because of that. He responded as soon as possible and cooperated unconditionally because he knew that any task assigned to the Annihilator Team had to be something he could not ignore.He also understood the Annihilator Team's composition—the frontline combat team, the communications team, the in
The battle continued.Ashton only used a sliver of true thunder's power before annihilating several members hiding in the dark in one fell swoop. Those members were waiting to report the news.The Annihilator Team was not made up entirely of combatants.The sixth-gen combat suit was still in development and had not yet been officially added to the assembly plan, so only frontline combatants wore it.For example, communications, intelligence collection, transmission, and backend members wore standard fifth-gen combat suits.In the face of that devastating thunder, there was no powerful self-healing and recovery ability, nor the ability of the Water of Youth to reshape the body. The other members were destroyed almost in the blink of an eye."Damn, what kind of weapon is that?"The captain roared frantically during the attack."Captain, this is the latest information—he found an artifact that gathers thunder and lightning at the Church of Darkness' headquarters in Edlington. That
"What? Is our warship here?""It has arrived offshore. Our country is our strongest supporter. No one can take action against Aarrowsmith's soldiers!" The man's confidence had skyrocketed.He had been a member of the Annihilator Team for over a decade and had been promoted to captain along the way. He had never encountered such a situation on a mission. A warship from Aarrowsmith's strongest navy had appeared to escort him in defeating their enemy. That undoubtedly helped him gain confidence."Fight as you retreat; buy me time."The captain took the Brain's terminal and refilled a black magnetic rod.At that moment, an indescribable scream ripped through the sky. As soon as it ended, a 50-meter building containing several people collapsed.Ashton was wearing the Obsidian Jade Scales and resisted dozens of gunshots. He grabbed a sniper from the Annihilator Team, swooped down, and smashed the opponent into the ground, grinding them into powder and ripping the combat suit apart. The
"Since the first battle in the Syferian ice plains, no one has ever caused me such a severe injury."Ashton threw a punch with enough force to cause massive explosions, swiping it at 30 times the speed of sound.The man in black armor raised his large shield almost subconsciously.When Ashton's fist made contact with the shield, a silent ripple of space appeared, and ultrasonic waves that normal creatures could not hear spread frantically in all directions like a silent bell signaling the end of the world."Hmm?"Ashton realized that when the two forces came into contact, the shield vibrated at trillions of times per second while the special metal inside formed a ring-shaped magnetic field. That magnetic field disrupted the surrounding energy flow to resolve the power emitted by his punch.It functioned similarly to the previous black magnetic rod, except one was used for attacks and the other for defense."Go!" The man's arms were numb. He held a shield and dragged the woman at
It got close to Ashton in a matter of seconds, and the black magnetic rod exploded at a speed that was almost certainly 20 times the speed of sound. No other weapon in the world could do what it did.Therefore, even Ashton was careless. His carelessness stemmed from his belief that, even if his mana could not stop the destructive power of that magnetic rod, he could at least slow it down for a moment. That moment was sufficient for him to react and take appropriate countermeasures.He did not expect the magnetic rod to ignore his mana and injure him instead.Modern weapons that could ignore mana defenses were certainly interesting."Unexpectedly, we were forced to use Plan B, utilizing the valuable Breaker Black Pillar. That damn Linnish warrior! That cost a billion dollars!" The thin man holding the transmitter removed the black sunglasses from his face and cursed viciously."Don't complain; that's Ashton. He's known as the strongest man in Lindorm. Even if we lose tens of billio
"What have you been up to, Ashton? There's no way it was just about breaking Mister Darek's curse, right? When Mister Johnson saw you, he was terrified and booked us on the first flight out," Kendra said, her voice tinged with disbelief.Ashton simply smiled, unfazed. "Oh, nothing much. I just took a quick stroll around the country and picked up a few favors along the way.""When's the flight Harry booked for us?""Tomorrow morning, six sharp," Kendra said, still incredulous."He can't wait to see the back of us," Ashton said with a laugh, but he got it—it was part of the job.Sceponyol could only begin to pick up the pieces and shuffle the deck after Ashton left. With him around, everything stopped, with unexpected events lurking around every corner."Well then, let's make the most of tonight and head out bright and early tomorrow, back home.""I'm with you. It's not every day we get to go abroad. I'm too wired to sleep anyway. Might as well check out what kind of fun this coun
"That's Mister Ashton Levin!"Harry's confirmation hit Luce like a ton of bricks.He might not have met Ashton before, but he knew the name carried a lot of power. The entire upper echelon of Sceponyol and their allied countries had been on edge, dealing with that Lindorm warrior's actions. Rumor had it he had come from the east, smashing through dozens of mercenary strongholds, clearing out the Bit Sea Strait, surviving a thermobaric onslaught, and marching straight into Brighton, putting the whole city on high alert.Blood Monarch Alexander had entered the fray, but even he could not withstand the onslaught and was cut down by Ashton. That bold move sent shockwaves through Sceponyol's superbeings community, leaving them humiliated and thirsting for revenge. In a show of force, the Five Great Guardians mobilized with one goal—to take down the perpetrator and restore their tarnished reputation on the world stage. After a grueling battle that lasted over an hour, the guardians lay de