Kapitel 297: The Boss is Back: Senbonken Reunited!
Everyone's attention was drawn to the speaker. He was a brown-skinned swordsman with silvery white hair and blue pupils. He was quite handsome and had a casual smirk that made it seem as if he owned the entire space he occupied. He wore a fingerless glove on his left hand and was clothed in light blue Daoist robes. An ice-blue scabbard with a katana rested by his waist while simple slippers adorned his feet.
The battlefield was filled with all sorts of characters, so Will's presence did not capture much attention. While he was charismatic and handsome, Reinhardt himself was not far off and had a more masculine charm about him.
But Will's companions could not help but be dumbfounded. He had gone through quite a bit of a change. His hair was just plain white, but now it had a silver lustre that made him seem completely different. He had also visibly aged and became much more attractive. His skin tone was still the same, but now there was not a single flaw. His disposition had changed, becoming steadier while his voice was now slightly deeper.
If before he was a boy, now, he seemed like a true man.
"The boss is back!" shouted Woodsy in excitement. Alice and the rest exhibited different reactions, as they were quite thrilled to see Will.
"Will!"
"Bro!"
"Welcome back, Lord Solitary!"
Alice, Duke and Achilles shouted in joy, relief visible in their eyes. Alice felt that a large weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she relaxed. Will had become her pillar of strength, and seeing him come back different, she knew he was stronger. Thus when they saw him, they briskly walked over and greeted him.
Letty was the first to approach Will. Her expression quickly shifted from joy to respect as she bowed, "Master, welcome back!"
Will smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, bringing her posture back to an upright stance, "I made things hard for you; sorry I'm late."
Letty smiled sweetly and said, "There is no need to apologize; I know Master was out there getting stronger for all of our sakes."
"Well, I was trying, but Letty, I need you to do me a favour."
"Yes, Master?"
"Please don't bow like that; you make me feel weird."
"I missed you too, Master."
"That's not the reply I was hoping for."
Letty and Will's light-hearted exchange warmed up the other Senbonken members. The others, however, were stunned silly. The arrogant and prideful Queen Abyss had turned into an ordinary humble servant. Just who was this man?
Alice's actions made things worse as she hugged Will, shedding a few tears of joy. She had been piling up a lot of stress. Will felt pity for her and gently rubbed the top of her head like a dotting big brother. Now that Will was back safe and sound, she was feeling a lot better.
'Guess I underestimated what he meant to me.' Alice pondered as she wiped away her tears with a smile.
Meanwhile, the envy that had once been focused on Duke once again manifested on Will, but this time many times more concentrated. The fact that Letty humbled herself before him while Alice endeared herself to him had caused many of the prideful men to feel unpleasant. There was no doubt from observing that Will was indeed the one in charge.
Will was now more mature in appearance, and he was taller. He had a broad chest and a masculine aspect to him that he lacked before. He was also much more charming; nevertheless, to Alice, he would always be the same dependable Will that she could talk about anything with.
Realizing how awkward things were, Alice reluctantly let go of Will and allowed Duke and Woodsy to approach!
"Boss!"
"Dude!"
Woodsy went for a bear hug and squeezed as hard as she could while Duke gave a fist bump. Woodsy bombarded Will with a barrage of questions in a manner Will could not help but find adorable.
"Where were you? Did you get stronger? Wait, don't tell me; I want to be surprised! But you can give me a clue! Wait, why are you older? Or did you only change in appearance? Why were you late? Why did you only appear now? Did you miss us?"
She behaved like a child in a candy store, curious about the entire process.
'Man, I missed how unpretentious she is.'
Will felt fuzzy inside at seeing how he was missed. He had forgotten the warmth that having a family could bring.
'I don't get why anyone would refuse to start a family; they would be missing out.'
Many a time, Will had felt alone, as if he held the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. But knowing that he had some people he could rely on that also needed him gave him the strength to push on.
'Family isn't blood. It's the actions we take to protect and care for the ones we love…man I'm starting to sound cheesy.' Will mused as he looked at his comrades.
Will and Achilles had a short conversation. Will had last seen him just before he had gone to The Unending Battlefield. Now he was a completely different being.
His loose medium-length blond hair reached his shoulders while his masculine jaw and tanned skin made him seem like a beach surfer in his prime. His ocean-blue eyes and handsome features were eye-catching, while his body exuded a clear desire for battle and success. He had leather armour and a one-handed sword strapped to his waist while a small shield rested on his back, along with a quiver of arrows.
Letty and Co had known for a while that Will had been observing. A few moments earlier, when the cultivators were scrambling for drops, they had all received a message from Will. It was a message delivered through the system interface. It was short and simple.
"I'm here. Keep calm and act normal."
Will's words had caused his friends to almost go crazy. They looked around but couldn't spot anything or anyone that resembled Will. Thus they could do nothing except just watch the show. Will wanted to calmly scan the entire environment around the group without being noticed. First, he had to find Alexa, and he spotted her with ease.
Alexa had used a device to hide her presence and become invisible. Thanks to her light-footed nature, she was practically undetectable to these level 99 weaklings. She was, after all, a ghost that was approaching level 125, the qualitative evolution of one's vessels. She could easily wipe out everyone present within a few minutes. Only Woodsy, in her prime, could match her, but the former was capped and thus weak.
Will wanted to lock onto her position and the position of the other 'flies' that were hovering around. To Will's surprise, there were quite a few powerful observers. Will's Aqua Sense and mental strength made more of these cloaking methods useless against him. His sensitivity to Intent and energy made him aware of many long-range tools being used to monitor the battlefield.
With the formless concept and a few invisibility tricks, such as allowing light to pass his aquatic Hydromancer body, Will was able to easily able to hide his presence. Only Intent users on the level of the Truthseeking Tournament had a chance of discovering Will. Almost everyone present was from a Lower World; thus, the odds of finding someone skilled in Higher Senses or concepts were asking for a lot. It was not an exaggeration that Will could move unnoticed throughout the nearby regions if he wished.
Will had originally to keep watching even after seeing Reinhardt's little show; after all, Woodsy was still there. She could handle everyone present easily. But Will quickly changed his mind after hearing Reinhardt's arrogant words.
'They need to know that these guys have a real leader.'
The main reason Tsimikas had landed in this situation was because they did not have powerful backing. If Will left again, a similar situation would crop up. Woodsy was capped and could not exhibit even 15% of her power. Her skill in Intent and sorcery had improved, but it still did not allow her to reach a level of strength that could curb those with malicious Intent. Tsimikas needed a backer that could act as a true deterrent.
'And Alexa's watching, so it's best to keep Woodsy's set of skills a secret.'
Will also did not want Alexa to notice too much. Woodsy and Merlin had already revealed a mastery of Intent and abilities beyond what Alexa knew, and Will did not want to expose more of their skills. Unlike him, they were still tied to the empire. Thus it was best to hide their true skills unless necessary.
Last but not least, Reinhardt had crossed a line.
'Trying to force my subordinate to become his woman in my presence, he must be tired of living.'
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
theonionjunktion
theonionjunktion First up a heartfelt thanks to our generous patrons: Claro Reyes, Jake Edwards, Mahkshum Akhmedov, Bald Taoist and Skyler Hicks. Almost at chapter 300. it's been a long journey here. I hope by the end of the year I would have reached chapter 700. I just added 5 chapters to the patron folder on the drive. Bald Daoist was unavailable due to some personal matters but he is back to help me edit and has already noticed quite few errors already, so I had to edit the advanced chaps heavily from 302->
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