As Theo predicted, the enemy seemed to be taking matters to another level.

As soon as the news about Mark and Maya being the obstacle to challenge Theo spread, the unknown woman, whose name was later revealed to be Rachel Vikson, officially stated that she wanted to challenge ‘Joker’ to hold this number one position.

She deemed Theo was not worthy of the position. At the same time, she also stated that she would defeat Mark and Maya first, who were affiliated with both the Star Group and the Starry Group.

If she managed to defeat both of them, it would mean no one could hold the Star Group and the Starry Group’s reputation anymore other than Theo.

To make matters worse, the enemy was a Supreme Rank Expert. If the Starry Group wanted to deal with her, they would need to think twice before sending a Mythical Rank Expert. After all, the enemies might take advantage of this opening to show the world that the Star Group and the Starry Group used underhanded tactics to eliminate their opponent.

If their reputation was damaged, their companies would be hit as well. After all, they produced all sorts of equipment. They were so proud that their equipment could boost their combat ability with the quality of those pieces of equipment.

At the same time, Bernard was facing another issue.

“Kh… Bastard.” Bernard gritted his teeth while looking at the news. “The real enemy is the one behind this woman. The Mythical Rank Experts protecting her is from Great Britain. They’re definitely from the Death Reaper.”

Bernard clutched his head, feeling a headache just thinking about the solution. “To make this matter even worse, I’ve lost the bet.”

He obviously remembered the agreement with Theo. There was no way he wanted to send Maya to Theo that easily. However, it was clear that the moment the Death Reaper personally moved, the situation would become extremely dangerous.

Hiding in Theo’s place would be a good option. However, he still didn’t think that it would be this hard to part with his own daughter, especially when the current situation was still under control.

“Ugh. She is only working for him, not becoming his.” Bernard sighed. “What I need to think about is…”

Before he finished his thought, someone knocked on his door and rushed in before he even said anything.

“This is bad, boss.” A guy panted. His body was trembling as he was clearly shaken by something. After taking a deep breath, he finally stated, “Spencer died.”

“!!!” Bernard widened his eyes in shock. “What did you say?”

“Spencer died… yesterday. We’re still investigating what has happened, but all the people involved have mysteriously passed away.”

The moment he heard it, his expression darkened.

“A Mythical Rank Expert died mysteriously…” Bernard sucked a cold breath. “What is this…”

That was right. With strength becoming the most important thing to decide an organization’s strength, losing one Mythical Rank Expert was a huge loss.

The enemies could easily target the Mythical Rank Expert one by one, lowering the organization’s strength. When they were low enough, they would use the help of other organizations to take them down.

This was a standard strategy to take down a colossal organization like the Star Group and had been popularized by Leonardo in the past. In fact, this strategy was what made Leonardo famous.

There were four enemies that he knew currently. Three of them were the Mythical Rank Experts from the Death Reaper, with one of them being the Fist Saint’s first disciple, Hatem Rahal. With a rank 91st expert in the world, killing one or two Mythical Rank Experts would be extremely easy.

If he started chipping down their strength, the Star Group’s foundation would be shaken greatly.

“Alright. You go out first.” Bernard waved his hand, trying to be as calm as possible. As expected, the first thing he did was to call Theo since Theo was more formidable in tactics. He should have a way to solve this matter.

“Yeah? How can I help you?” Theo asked after picking up the call.

“One of our Mythical Rank Experts has died.”

“Oh… My condolences.”

“En. That’s important, but I have a more important matter right now. What do you think I should do to hold them back? The enemy is the Fist Saint’s disciple, ranked 91st in the world, along with the Fist Saint’s assistant. And from the Death Reaper, she’s sending that woman as well as one more Mythical Rank Expert. I’m afraid they’re targeting my people, especially the Mythical Rank Experts, to weaken us before destroying us with the help of others.”

Unfortunately for him, Theo only had one answer. “I have nothing to help you. You should ask the president for help, not me.”

“What?” Bernard widened his eyes, but before he could say anything, Theo hung up as if he was trying to distance himself from him. He tried to call Theo again, but Theo had no intention of answering him more than necessary.

In the end, he called Maya.

“What’s up?”

Bernard told her the situation briefly, which caused Maya to tremble.

“They’re moving this fast?”

“Yes. I’m afraid so. If we don’t do anything, we’ll be severely weakened.”

“Okay. What’s about… Joker? Have you called him?”

“Yeah. But he didn’t give me any answer other than to rely on the president.”

“Mhm…” Maya paused for a moment and said, “Is he trying to remind you about the bet? Like if I don’t start working for him, he won’t help you?”

“I don’t know right now. They’re simply too fast that I haven’t come up with something that can deal with this situation.”

“Ehm… For now, I’ll be going to Joker’s house to talk about it. You should call the president just like he said. That’s probably the best we can do right now. Oh, right. We need to maintain our stock price.”

“Yeah. I’d do that right now. And I will try to find your grandfather. Make sure that the Mythical Rank Experts from your company don’t go around for the time being. At least they need to group up before going out… Five people in a group, minimum.”

“I know. I’ll also start investigating stuff.” Maya agreed and hung up the call as the two continued working to solve the situation.