Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Apart from the Blessing Bestowment, the fiends were also given the Akass Formation to use in case of emergencies.

The Akass Formation was one of Eren's trump cards that he had used against Carvel and his powerful demon pet—a wyvern named Akass. He had named the formation after the wyvern when he slayed it with the Formation's help.

After creating one of his pseudo-avatars with the Profession of the Runemaster, Eren asked the pseudo-avatar to craft many sets of artifact rings required to deploy the Akass Formation.

This Formation showcased Eren's personal touch to the traditional Battle Formations used in the world of Anfang. Nobody even in Labh Salem would believe that such a formation was conceptualized and created by a single entity.

Eren didn't dare to put this peculiar Array Formation creation on the Mesh, fearing someone from his opponents would be able to crack it after getting their hands on it. However, he gave the formation to many groups of his fiends he personally interacted with, bolstering their offense and defense at the same time.

The Akass Formation could be used by a group of fiends against a common enemy who was individually stronger than all of them. This Formation allowed the fiends to combine their powers and strike as one entity, enabling them to defeat even an enemy who was supposed to be on a higher level than them.

This Akass Formation could be said to be the culmination of all the knowledge related to Battle Formations Eren had gained during his time in Anfang. One could say that the time he spent during hard labor as Leo Longblade under the guidance of Baelin Stoneforge wasn't in vain.

Since Eren's individual might have surpassed the potential battle output generated by the Akass formation a long time ago, he decided not to hoard it anymore. Even if his enemies managed to crack the formation in the future, he didn't care. As long as it served its purpose of strengthening his fiends in the upcoming times, it was worth it.

After confirming the effects of the Blessing Bestowment and the mass-produced Akass Formation were up to the mark, Eren sent a batch of fiends with Naya and finally sent her off to an important mission. Harja Mel and Darven were with her.

After a few more days after Naya's departure, Eren managed to successfully create another pseudo-avatar from the latest batch of prisoners. This Practitioner was supposed to replace Lemaar and carry on with the task left incomplete by the former.

However, Eren didn't send the seventh pseudo-avatar on the mission immediately. Instead of taking the earlier approach that had failed once, Eren decided to wait for an opportunity.

He sent this particular pseudo-avatar to approach Jolly Jalen.

After all, Jolly was supposed to galvanize the core force of the Darkmoon Fellowship to get his hands on a very peculiar item. Jolly could certainly use some trustworthy helping hands in this mission, and Eren's newly created 7th pseudo-avatar was ready to fulfill that job.

***

Eren didn't rest there. Sensing the turbulent times approaching with the onset of the Hvergelmir Springs, Eren started to bolster the tools he had. He began by upgrading the beaked mask.

This beaked mask was obtained by Eren inside the Sansara World 1.0. It was the legacy of the Sage Loxley, famous as Lufthansa in Anfang.

Ideal for assassinations and spying tasks, this mask could hide its user from opponents' vision and Mana Sense. It also enhanced a Ranker's assassination abilities with its finely tuned body stat perks.

Eren had used this beaked mask many times during his time in Anfang. He had even used it a few times in Labh Salem whenever he wanted to get the job done quickly and discreetly.

This mask artifact had been turned into a Hex Artifact by Eren for quite a while. However, its capabilities had become somewhat restricted after Eren became a late-stage Grandmaster.

Thanks to the various mana-rich resources available in Labh Salem, as well as Eren's campaign to gain all kinds of information and knowledge related to various fields and professions, Eren finally managed to upgrade the beaked mask to suit his current needs.

With the current perks unblocked by him with the Assassin Profession, this beaked mask would allow him to launch a sneak attack on even some of the relatively less extraordinary S-

Ranked entities.

If he was lucky, he would be able to kill these targets as well. When it came to A-Ranked entities and lower, Eren would be able to one-shot kill them using the help of the mask under the right settings.

The mask could be used by Eren directly or given to Jolly Jalen, who represented the Assassin Profession among his seven pseudo-avatars.

If he wanted to produce a second copy of the mask, he would either need to break into the S-Rank himself or approach Sage Lufthansa, who was not in Labh Salem anymore as far as Eren could tell.

Eren didn't waste time finding the whereabouts of Lufthansa. The Sage didn't owe him anything to help him. Sage Minerva was a special case since she knew anyone who inherited her legacy would be able to help her in the field. Thus, Eren approached the Sage and formed a co-op relationship with her.

However, there was no scope for cooperation between the two assassins. An assassin would consider another of his kind as an ally as long as they both stayed out of each other's ways.

Apart from the beaked mask, Eren also upgraded his go-to weapons: a pair of Diceros katars, a pair of Anduril shamshirs, and a pair of Rigor Mortis swords. Although he could have crafted new Hex artifacts with his current knowledge and resources, Eren decided to spend some more and upgrade his existing weapons.

One could say that the butcher had developed a certain kinship with these weapons and didn't want to leave them behind as he progressed forward.

As for the defensive artifact?

Eren had Reen.

AN: Battle Formations were explained in chapter 955 and Akass Formation was described in chapter 1464. The beaked mask was obtained by Eren in chapter 1100.