"Jilly would be dead by the time you legitimize your interference with the enemy. She needs your support now. Go. Or be prepared to lose her forever."

Bobby clenched his fist when he heard Lagartha's grim predictions. He knew that she might be exaggerating things. The Jilly he knew wasn't someone who could be dealt with so easily. He had fought with her and witnessed her battle prowess firsthand after all.

However, he could tell that Jilly wasn't at her most effective fighting with Eren. It was as if she was not in her usual rhythm or something was preventing her from exerting her full prowess.

She was always wild and uncaring in the way she fought. However, her battle style didn't have many loopholes. And the same loopholes were being used by Eren to inflict wounds on her pretty body.

Bobby concluded that Eren's way of fighting was a contributing factor for Jilly to fight with him using her limited moves. The guy could summon a variety of creatures to do his bidding. He had short-range, mid-range, and long-range spells in his arsenal. And his weapon handling was on par with or even better than Jilly's.

Bobby didn't want to take any chances. Lagartha's words also influenced him to act. Lagartha watched Bobby disappear from his position with a crooked smile on her face.

'Eren... here he comes!'

***

Eren was very impressed with "Jilly's" performance so far. They fought like their lives depended on it, which produced the intended effect of Bobby. When he received Lagartha's heads-up, he knew it was time for him and Jilly to take their next course of action.

Things happened in quick succession after that.

Bobby appeared on the battlefield much to Kiara's dismay. She then watched him approach Eren with a determined look on her face. At first, she thought the wretched man was about to harm Eren. As a result, she also left her place and began approaching the battlefield.

However, she and her team of Awakened rankers froze in their tracks when they heard Bobby's scream.

"Wait!"

Bobby yelled at Kiara to make her believe that he didn't appear on the battlefield with ill intentions. He ignored the attacks Eren's summoned creatures launched at him and barged into the perimeter. He walked straight toward Jilly intending to rescue her from Eren's attacks.

Eren and Jilly created distance from each other when they found out someone had interfered in their duel. Jilly retreated towards Bobby while Eren backed out to the opposite side. He looked at Bobby and narrowed his eyes, waiting to see what Jilly did next.

"I told you to stay behind the flank. Why are you..."

Bobby was about to admonish Jilly's actions. However, he stopped his speech when he saw Jilly coming towards him with moist eyes. His heart was touched as he extended his arms wide to embrace her. He also kept his eyes on Eren in case he decides to use the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Jilly.

The sneak attack was indeed launched. But it wasn't launched by Eren. Plus, the target wasn't Jilly.

When Bobby hugged Jilly, he let his guard down for a brief moment. And that moment was used by "Jilly" to perfection.

Jilly's ranking status shot up to the Awakened rank all of a sudden. A Bichua appeared in her hand before it was lodged deep inside Bobby's liver. The mid-battle romantic meeting turned lethal for the Awakened ranker when the Bichua tore through his liver before getting his intestines out.

"Aaaaaaaaargh!"

Bobby's eyes turned bloodshot as he experienced an unbearable amount of pain from his hanging guts. When he tried to suffocate Jilly in his embrace for launching such a sneak attack on him, she turned into a cloud of smoke before disappearing into thin air.

This was not all. Lagartha who had followed Bobby in his charge appeared behind him before using her wood-element spells on him. The man soon found himself tied to his place by green vines that had sprouted from the ground.

"You!"

Bobby looked at Lagertha with bloodshot eyes. He wasn't sure what prompted Jilly and Lagartha to betray him and the House of Spiders all of a sudden. But at this point, he wasn't interested in knowing the reason. He was more interested in getting revenge for being stabbed in the back. Or being stabbed in the liver to be precise.

Kiara and her team were in absolute shock at the sudden turn of events. She wasn't sure if House of Spiders members turning against each other could be called interference.

Bobby shifted his attention to Eren once again when he felt that someone had appeared beside him. This ranker was wearing the same fur-type armor as Jilly. However, she appeared to be a completely different person.

A stunning beauty had appeared in place of Jilly. She had dark violet hair that reached below her waist. Her green eyes, cute nose, and luscious red lips had charms of their own. Her feminine cursive was even more alluring than what Jilly had. And the status of an Awakened ranker just added the final touch to her attention-grabbing presence.

"How did I do?"

The beauty asked Eren with a mischievous smile on her face. Her eyes looked at him with a thirst for praise and his attention. Something he was happy to do right away.

"I won't lie, Ariadne. You performed better than my wildest imagination. You really have upped your game with your illusion spells. But that's not the only thing. The efforts you put into improving your weapon handling as well as copying another ranker's moves can't be ignored as well."

Eren patted Ariadne's partially exposed shoulders and praised the things she had to do to pull off such an intricate illusion so carefully. He then looked at Lagertha and nodded, giving her a signal to finish him.

"You! You are that demonic ranker! You bitch. What did you do to Jilly? I'll fucking kill you if you.... Aaaaaargh!"

Bobby was an emotional wreck at this point. First, he was shocked by Jilly's betrayal. Then he was caught off guard by Lagartha's betrayal. And just when he was about to retaliate against Eren and everyone in the vicinity, Ariadne revealed that she had used her illusion spell to take Jilly's place. That could only mean one thing. That she had taken care of Jilly before the match began.

However, Bobby forgot that he was unable to retaliate against Ariadne. Lagartha used her wood-element spells to attack Bobby. She used her vines as makeshift spears to attack the already-opened wound. The green vines turned red as they entered Bobby's body and wreaked havoc inside. They started jutting out from various parts of Bobby's body, making him turn into a human vase for these vines.

Eren appeared in front of Bobby when he was damaged to this extent. The guy was crying and cursing the trio to his heart's content. He had somehow protected his heart using his mana. It was only to delay the inevitable at this point.

Igni Wave!

Swoosh. Zoom. Chop.

Eren used his ax to attack Bobby's neck. It traveled halfway through before stopping. The battlemage spun around and used his second ax to attack from the other side of his neck. The two weapons' blades met in the middle as Bobby's head was chopped off sloppily.historical

Eren managed to overcome Bobby's enhanced body stats using his Hex spells mixed with unwavering intent. It allowed him to take care of an Awakened ranker who was akin to meat on a chopping block.

Meanwhile, Lagartha and Ariadne got outside Eren's perimeter and started attacking the Meta-ranked Spiders. They did this to officially break the pact between the two guilds and involve Awakened rankers in the fight.

All of this happened within a matter of a few moments. Even the Meta rankers from both sides were surprised by the recent turn of events caused by Eren's small team. The Stardust guild members watched as the Spiders started attacking their own.

"Aaaaaaah! Help me!"

"Wait... I am from the same guild as... aaaaah!"

"Wait for the fuck up! You will not get away if you..."

The Awakened Spiders realized that they had been betrayed by Lagartha. But they couldn't process the betrayal fast enough to make sense of it. And the demonic ranker that was supposed to fight for them at another location had changed sides as well. Furthermore, their de facto leader Bobby was dead. And their Meta-ranked foot soldiers were getting slain by Lagartha and Ariadne.

Seeing what was happening in front of their eyes was so unbelievable that it threw their perspective upside down and had them unsure about what to do. It was only when they heard the screams of Meta-ranked Spiders did they realize that things had gotten out of hand.

Furthermore, Kiara and her team had reached the battlefield with vengeance on their minds. And they had found just the right excuse to do so.