This was the second time Nick came face-to-face with Envy in his life.
The last time, he had only been a John, and he had been helpless.
But now, Nick was a Peak Fallen.
He was no longer helpless.
"You must be Envy," Nick said. "I've heard about you."
"Yes, I am Envy, and you are now my servant," Envy said.
Nick remained silent for a while.
"You are quite scary," Nick said.
"If you were actually here, I might be scared."
"But you're not."
Envy's eyes narrowed.
Sure enough, this wasn't Envy's true body.
When Envy had appeared, Nick had felt a small fluctuation of Zephyx from a seemingly random spot.
After paying close attention, he saw the origin.
It was some kind of translucent orb.
He could immediately tell that this orb was the creation of an ability.
This was how Envy sensed him.
It had created small drones that could see the surroundings, essentially expanding its perception.
This drone also created an image of Envy, making it seem like it was actually here.
The projection was quite convincing.
Nick could even feel its power.
Yet, it wasn't real, and he knew it.
"Anyway, I'm going to leave before your real body arrives," Nick said.
Then, Nick shot toward the north at full speed.
Envy didn't say anything.
This Peak Fallen was quite extraordinary, but that was to be expected.
There were not many wild Peak Fallen left, and the few that were still out there were formidable and very experienced.
Nick entered the Great Triangle again.
He wanted to seem like he was genuinely escaping, and traveling to the Great Triangle was the best way to escape.
This was where Aegis was.
Eventually, Nick changed his trajectory and went to the western part of the Grand Continent.
He could also hunt there.
'One of the Trio is relatively close,' Nick thought as he looked at the beam. 'Seems to be near the northeastern part of the War Continent.'
'Envy is south of the Long Continent, which means this has to be either Death, War, or Pestilence.'
'As long as I stay away from this place, it will be fine.'
Then, Nick returned to hunting for Demons.
This time, he got a haul of ten Demons within a day.
That was when his ability deactivated again.
'Again?' Nick thought as he looked towards the southwest.
His ability told him that it was Envy who was looking at him.
There were over 10,000 kilometers between them, but it could still find him there.
'That's quite a terrifying ability.'
Nick also quickly noticed the translucent orb.
BANG!
Nick waved his hand and destroyed the orb.
He was essentially telling Envy that it should fuck off.
The next moment, Nick noticed that the beam leading to the northeast of the War Continent was shaking.
This meant the owner of the beam was moving.
'They want me,' Nick thought. 'There are not many Peak Fallen left, and they desperately need more servants.'
Nick immediately fled towards the closest stronghold and stopped below it.
He could see the beam shaking for a while.
Then, it stopped moving.
Nick's ability hadn't deactivated during this entire process.
'As expected, they do not want to come close to any stronghold without being sure that there is no Shield present.'
When the beam stopped moving, Nick went further north into the northern sea.
He moved around a bit to look at the angle of the beam.
With a bit of math, he could tell where the owner of the beam was.
'Middle of the western part of the Grand Continent,' Nick thought.
'I should change my location.'
Nick went into the ocean east of the Great Triangle and went towards the south.
Finally, he entered the southern parts of the War Continent.
'Envy is still south of the Long Continent. One of the others is where I was previously.'
'One of them is in the Desolate Continent.'
'One is near the east of the Grand Continent.'
Nick started to hunt for Demons in the War Continent.
Whenever he was transporting them back to the underground city, he went over 100 kilometers deep underground, making sure that he wouldn't be perceived by anyone.
This time, it only took twelve hours for Envy to find him again, or more precisely, for Nick to find another orb.
He noticed the orb before it noticed him.
They were very good at staying hidden, but he had gotten used to their fluctuations.
BANG!
Nick destroyed the orb without showing himself.
The orbs were not very stable, and he just needed to use a bit of Zephyx to disperse them.
After destroying the orb, Nick went back to the Long Continent.
Envy wouldn't expect him there, and sure enough, Nick didn't find another orb for the next 20 hours.
Once again, Nick found the orb first.
The orb was waiting below one of the cities.
Nick went to another city and found another orb.
After checking through the surrounding cities, he noticed that all of them had an orb.
'It wants to keep me from my food,' Nick thought.
Naturally, Nick wasn't interested in the cities, but he acted like he was.
He waited for another couple of days, not showing himself.
Then, he approached one of the orbs.
"What do you want?" Nick transmitted.
He wanted to appear like he had noticed all of the orbs near the cities and got "frustrated" since he couldn't feed.
As soon as Nick contacted the orb, he noticed the beam leading to the south shaking.
Envy's true body was on the move.
"You will be my servant," the orb answered.
BANG!
Nick destroyed the orb.
However, his ability didn't reactivate.
More orbs appeared around him.
It seemed like Envy had gathered all of its orbs around Nick.
Nick destroyed all the orbs he saw and fled towards the south.
Naturally, while the Peak Fallen could sense the orbs, it couldn't possibly know where Envy's real body was.
Since the orbs were everywhere, Envy's body could be anywhere.
So, Nick fled in the direction of Envy's true body.
It didn't take long for Nick to enter Envy's actual perception.
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