The man was calmly walking along the hall, even as Van and the group came into view. He only stopped in his tracks when he was about 10 meters away from them.

  "So, this is why that old man wanted to go out," the brown-skinned man breathed. The man wasn’t particularly tall, but considering the greying hair on the side of his head, he was probably already an old man; but his somewhat youthful face made it seem like he was just in his 30s, "Invaders, how typical. How many of you are there?"

  "……"

  The man did not seem to be concerned that he was outnumbered as he just stood calmly in front of the group, no hint of fear in his eyes, "And considering you people are here…… does that mean you have killed Mr. Hearst? No? None of you want to talk?"

  Van and the others all looked at each other as the brown-skinned man continued to talk to them. If they were outside, then they would have probably already engaged this man. But one major part of their plan was not to fight inside the hidden base. Although looking at the walls, it would look like it would withstand certain amounts of pressure…… but since the man in front of them was a Platinum-rank Explorer, there was no telling what would happen.

  "What is he, Ms. Angela?" Van quietly asked. It would seem that ever since he absorbed Dionysus’s soul, Angela or even Hans was no longer able to get into his mind. It was good and all, but with his mind being immune to any outside influence or control, it also took away his ability to hear Angela’s thoughts, as it counted her talking to his mind as ’outside influence’.

  "Bong Padilla, an Evolution-type from the Philippines," Angela quickly replied.

  "Oh, you know who I am?" Bong quickly held a face of curiosity as he heard his name being mentioned, "Then you should also know that there is no chance of you winning this."

  "There is actually a very high chance of us defeating you."

  "Is that why you ran away from me?"

  "Why don’t we fight outside to find out?" Angela stretched her neck as she stepped forward.

  "Oh, so your friends could peacefully do whatever it is they are meant to be doing here?" Bong let out a chuckle as he too, stepped forward, "Do you think I am stupid? You Americans really are something else. I don’t even know why the Circle even needs someone like me, but hey, as long as I get pai——"

  Before he could finish what he was saying, Van suddenly rushed through him, causing his body to split into two from the waist down.

  "We don’t have much time, let’s——"

  Van was about to gesture to the group to follow him, but before he could do so, he felt a pause in his breath as a pair of hands suddenly crawled their way around his neck.

  "That was rude."

  Van then could hear Bong whispering as he placed his mouth near his ear. Van quickly tried to shake away Bong, but no matter how much he tried to vibrate his body, he could still feel Bong’s unusually long tongue lightly slithering their way across his chest.

  "What the……" Van then could not help but blink a couple of times as he saw Bong’s dismembered legs walking towards him. Van once again tried to use his speed to shake him off, but the only thing it managed to do was emerge a pair of wings from Bong’s back.

  "Unhand the King, you monster!" Artemis quickly raised her bow, but Angela immediately touched her hand, urging her to stop. The only reason Van is not using his full speed was that they did not know how fragile Hermes’s body was. If he slammed Bong into a wall, and it caused the floating island to shake, they did not know how it would affect the corpse; even more so Artemis’s arrow, which would surely pierce its way through several walls of the hidden base.

  "This…… is truly unexpected," Bong then muttered as his grip tightened, threatening to choke Van, "To think America was hiding a Holder like this. If I am right, this little boy is faster than Larry. Charlotte Gates, and now this boy…… just what exactly are they feeding you poor Americans these da——"

  "You guys go ahead," Van did not let Bong finish what he was going to say as he looked towards Angela and the others, "This won’t take long."

  "What are you——"

  Once again, Van did not let anyone finish their words as he suddenly disappeared, bringing Bong as well as his dismembered leg away as he ran back to the outside of the hidden base. And as they were running, Van could feel the Evolution-type holder laughing behind his back.

  "Whatever it is you’re planning, boy, it won’t work," Bong Padilla laughed menacingly as Van could feel the grip on his neck tightening even stronger, "Even Charlotte is not able to break my body!"

  The gigantic bat-like wings attached to Bong’s back quickly spread as soon as they got outside, causing Van to slightly stumble due to the air resistance. However, even though he was clearly in pain, his eyes were still calm as he continued to run at an amazing speed.

  This…… this is crazy—— was Bong’s only thought as he could feel his wings heating up, causing him to retract it. Van could not help but let go of Bong’s dismembered lower body as it started kicking him, but even this, he endured as he went back to pick it up, slamming it through the ground as he continued to run.

  "……What the fuck?" Bong then could not help but slightly ease his grip as they reached the end of the floating island, "What the fuck happened here!?" His eyes could not help but wander. He had been in the hidden base for quite some time, and he was sure that it didn’t have the capability to float. What made him even more surprised was that the young man that he was grappling with ran straight through the air, allowing him to get a better view of what was really going on.

  He could not help but take in a deep breath as he saw the floating island he was just on. He had been inside the hidden base for a few hours, and he did not even notice anything amiss…… but that wasn’t important. For someone to have the kind of power to lift something this massive in the air was ridiculous. He only knew one capable of this, and he was in Egypt, but even Salim wouldn’t be able to hold this kind of weight for the duration that this island has already been floating for.

  Now, with him being dragged into the air by this…… incredibly fast speedster, he was having second thoughts. Just what kind of enemy did the Circle of America make? No…… it doesn’t matter, because he wasn’t going to be involved anymore.

  With that thought, Bong eased down the grip on Van’s neck as he once again protruded the wings on his back. But before he could fly away, Van grabbed his left arm and bit the right so that he wouldn’t be able to get away.

  "W…… where are you taking me, you brat!?"

  With how fast Van was going, Bong soon found out. Within the nearing distance, he could see a city completely surrounded by a tall wall. And as soon as they got to the top of the said city, Van quickly threw themselves down, landing on the ground before once again quickly running through the streets.

  "Eek!"

  The only thing that the people could see was a trail of golden blur, like a flash of light passing by them as Van continued to run. He did not even stop as he reached the New Wall’s castle, using Bong’s leg to smash down the gate, not letting anything stop his advance until he reached the White Portal hidden deep within the castle dungeon and entering it without any hesitation.

  And as soon as he was inside, he then quickly let go of Bong, causing him to be thrown far away and roll dozens of meters through the ground, not stopping until he hit what was left of the Old Wall inside the Pit.

  Van then took this time to collect his breath, coughing several times as he crouched on the floor wheezing. If it took any longer, then he probably would have been choked to death by the enemy. Van would lie if he said he wasn’t the least curious as to what kind of monster Bong was turning into, for his skin to almost be impenetrable, almost causing him to lose his teeth as he bit on it.

  "Amazing," and unsurprisingly, Bong had already recovered and was already once again walking calmly towards him, with his body once again complete, "But did you really think that just because you brought me to your territory, you would win?"

  "We’re going to find out," Van said as he stood up.

  "Oh?"

  "You said even Charlotte will not be able to penetrate your skin," Van said as he tried to massage his throat, "So let’s find out."

  "……What are you trying to——"

  Before Bong could finish his words, he could not help but stop as he saw someone entering the Portal behind Van.

  "Oi, brat. You scared the shit out of the people outside. They thought we were under attack—— Oh?"

  "I thought you’d be bored here," Van then quickly turned around, patting Charlotte before casually nodding his head,

  "Stretch your muscles a bit……

  grandma."