Vol.3 Ch.142: Showdown with Ren

Showdown with Ren: This is the hundred and forty-second chapter of Volume 3 of Tower of God. Baam saves Lilial, Merr, and Keoyeop before escaping from The Serpent Master. Merr abandons Lilial, while Keoyeop tries to save her. Ren confronts Baam for a second time.

Synopsis
Lo Po Bia Ren burst out from his room saying that he will blame the destruction of the door as well as the death of Twenty-Fifth Baam on the strange monster. Ren proceeds to go look for Baam, with the intentions of killing him.

After Baam has burst into the room it draws the attention of the Serpent Master, which allows for Lo Po Bia Lilial Zahard, Lo Po Bia Merr, and Lo Po Bia Keoyeop to escape. Baam tells Androssi Zahard that they should leave as well, so she should ready the Bong Bong, but Androssi is paralyzed at the sight of the Serpent Master. This forces Baam to dive on Androssi to get her out of the way, with Dravy appearing out of thin air to give support. Androssi gets herself together and uses the Bong Bong to escape together with Baam, Dravy, and Hemus Lime. Baam asks Androssi about what happened, which she replies with that it reminded her of someone she knew called the Snake Charmer, but at a closer look the snakes look different. Androssi continues to tell Baam about the Snake Charmer, how it would make his children stronger by feeding them his "Snake Strands" and after selecting the most promising one it would would kill the rest of the children. The chosen child would then be sold off, and as Androssi is telling this story she is visibly. Androssi changes the topic by thanking Dravy for her help. After some talking they come to the conclusion that the serpent master is there for something personal, which leads Baam to tell them about how he kidnapped Lo Po Bia Laura.

Lilial together with her teammates arrive at a room and locks the door behind them, but Merr is upset about almost being sacrificed to save Lilial's life. in contrast, Lilial is unapologetic towards Merr, telling Merr that she is more important than her and has every right to sacrifice Merr's life to save her own. Lilial continues to condemn the Branch Family leaders for not sending more useful people, saying that everything is Baam's fault. Merr has an observer outside in the hallway that detects the serpent master coming towards them, which leads to Merr together with Keoyeop trying to abandon Lilial to the serpent master. However, despite Lilial's shortcomings Keoyeop is not able to go along with Merr's plan and goes back to save Lilial. As the serpent master attacks Lilial, Keoyeop arrives and yells Lilial's name which causes the serpent master to stop attacking, calling Lilial his daughter.

Baam finishing telling the others about how he kidnapped a woman named Laura at the command of Lo Po Bia Traumerei, which seem to be the same woman that the serpent master is looking for. However, the conversation is cut short by Ren who burst into the room and exalts joy at both Baam and Androssi being there, since he wants to kill them both. In response, Baam creates a massive Shinsu Orb and tells Ren that he will destroy him before the snake notices. At the sight of the arrogance from Baam's eyes while confronted by a Zahard Family ranker causes Ren to become quite excited at the thought of destroying him.