A crack appeared in the space of a beautiful clearing. Lex, Neva, and Ulrich stepped out, followed by the other Paragons and Awakeners who had survived the recent expedition. A few others were already present in the clearing, making camp.

  Moving his gaze through the clearing, Lex's eyes lingered on the large tent situated in the middle. Signaling to Neva and Ulrich to rest, he made his way toward the largest red tent. As he neared it, he felt an elemental barrier surrounding it. Carefully, he cut through the barrier and, going inside, stitched it back. At that moment, he felt a familiar energy scanning the area.

  Making his way inside the tent, Lex was greeted by two familiar faces. Balvin was polishing his sword, and Lumian was drinking tea. Sitting on the empty chair, he waited for someone to begin the conversation. But even after some time had passed, nobody spoke. Finally, unable to bear the silence, Lex spoke up. “One of the Ascenders from your side is missing. What happened?”

  At this question, Balvin also turned his head toward Lumian. After thinking for a moment, Lumian finally replied, “He was ambushed by someone from Death’s side. He suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked. When I scanned the whole tower before everything started, he was definitely not there.” Then he turned his gaze toward Balvin.

  Balvin just shrugged his shoulders, getting the attention of the other two. “A few younglings came my way. One of them slipped away. The rest had just progressed to Rank Two, so I thought the same would be the case for him.” There was a glint in his eyes by now. “If I had known he was associated with those Death bastards, I would have already taken care of him then and there.”

  “Are you sure he was from the Church of Death? It’s not like every Death Soul Caster must belong to them,” Lex questioned.

  Lumian just nodded at this. “He used one of their escape scrolls. Currently, only they can make one that can travel through the Void Realm. It is very easy to identify.”

  Hearing the confirmation, Lex fell into thought. At that moment, Lumian brought out the cylindrical glass container. Inside it, a small orange ball was floating about. Looking at this, both Balvin and Lex showed a hint of fear. The lower-level ones may not understand, but being Rank One, they could feel the slight fluctuation of a god’s power from it.

  “Since our god permitted them to set up the towers, I didn’t pay much attention to what was going on in there, nor how they were doing it. Is this what was powering the tower and its detection ability?” Lex asked in a perplexed, hoarse voice.

  Lumian slightly shook the cylinder and replied, “The Goddess herself is making these things, or is at least involved in their production. Not that it concerns us. At least we have something to keep the other two towers at bay. If they pull something like before, this thing is going to be sent straight to their other towers.”

  He has really gone a little crazy in the past century, Lex thought. And from the weird expression on Balvin's face, he thought the same. The previous Lumian was someone who could be called an advocate of peace, and now he was planning mass genocides with a smile.

  Slightly shaking his head and removing all useless thoughts, Lex took out a small cocoon from the Void Realm beside him. It was formed from a very high compression of ice elementals, and even still, the power of the shard was leaking out. Lumian's eyes lit up for a moment, but the next moment, he used his elemental energy to tightly encase the leaking energy.

  “Keep it tightly concealed. All shards attract each other. Word about Liam’s death will spread very soon. We don’t want others to come after us so soon. Keep it with you; we can’t have all of them gathered on one person only,” Lumian instructed.

  Lex took back the sealed shard. He couldn’t store it inside the spatial relics they had due to its immense power. Therefore, he had to always carry it on his person.

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  “So, what is the plan going ahead?” Balvin asked.

  Getting up, Lumian said, “For the time being, we can’t move as we please. We might be having a lot of people coming after us. For now, we will form small groups and disperse in the mountains. Due to the abnormal fluctuation of the elemental currents inside, they would have trouble tracking us. I will send the notice for the next gathering, like we did this time.”

  Their members carried a piece of paper, which was a relic. Any message could be communicated through the paper directly to the mind. So there was also no risk of leakage of information, as only a registered user could use it. This was also the reason that their recent plan was completed in full secrecy without any leaks. There was still a risk of internal traitors, but that was a risk they had to take.

  Getting up, Lex and Balvin went out of the tent. As Lex was about to part with Balvin, he heard, “Are you okay?”

  Lex just gave Balvin a questioning look.

  Balvin continued, “The way you moved while circulating your energy, it's obvious that you are badly injured. I don’t think that even with the shard, that boy could bring you to such a sorry state.”

  Lex internally cursed this baldy's keen observation. Finally, with no suitable way out, he said, “Just got taken by surprise by a new Ascension Spell. Nothing for you to worry about. It will heal in some time.”

  “I hope so,” Balvin just gave him a dubious look and went on his way. Lex just cursed inside. The pain he had ignored until now was flaring again. But looking at his student approaching, he could only control his facial expression and smile.

  Looking at her teacher, Neva just tilted her head. Her excitement from achieving ascension was gone, and she was back to her cold self. Seeing her teacher making some funny faces, she didn’t know what to do. So, she did the best thing she could think of and just went away. Lex, who was left behind, could only stand there dumbfounded. He watched her walk away, wondering how many more times he’d be able to stand where he was and pretend everything was fine.

  After getting his wits about him, he decided to go and rest first. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

  Meanwhile, the trio, after getting bashed and then again saved by Balvin, had recovered somewhat and had come to the destroyed city to investigate. Smoke still clung to the ruins of the city when Mikart knelt among the rubble.

  “Did you find something?” Mikart asked Chivis, who had just spoken to the people who had escaped the disaster.

  Chivis just threw up her empty hands. “The Perception Dissonance Spell had already taken action, and nobody remembers anything properly. Some even said that the city lord went mad and started a massacre.”

  Lester, who was sitting beside them, just let out a big sigh. “All the Awakeners and Paragons were killed, so we don’t have anyone to tell us properly what happened.”

  Looking at the destroyed landscape, Mikart commented, “At least we know that someone had undergone ascension here. Just not whether he or she is still alive.”

  “There are crazy people still following that suicidal method,” Lester scoffed.

  “At least it is better than someone who tries to learn an Ascension Spell when fighting a literal Demi-God,” Chivis chided from the side.

  “Do you want a fight, woman who got bent in half?” Lester flared.

  “Bring it on; I was getting frustrated for some time. Beating you will feel liberating,” Chivis got up with elementals circulating around her hands.

  Mikart could only bring his hands to his forehead and lightly rub his throbbing head. He was babysitting adults instead of doing something worthwhile. What was the use of being an Ascender if all he had to do was clean up behind others?

  Just as the two were about to start their brawl, the space cracked, and an elderly man walked out. Recognizing the familiar face of Agor, they both put away all their accumulated momentum, and all three slightly bowed in greeting. Agor just nodded in acknowledgment.

  “So, tell me about what happened when you were coming here,” he asked.

  Chivis and Mikart just gulped lightly at this question. But Lester, with his fearless streak, replied, “We encountered Senior Balvin. Although we fought hard, he was still a notch above us. We even tried to…” Chivis and Mikart tried to stop Lester, who was spouting some heroics, and listening to which, a vein had started to bulge at Agor’s temple.

  Suddenly, having his mouth covered, Lester tried to protest. Still, a glare from his companions was just enough for him to stop struggling.

  Looking at the trio’s antics, Agor just sighed. He asked, “Did someone else also come with you?”

  Mikart raised his head and, looking at Agor, replied, “Someone was sent with us as a backup. We don’t know who he was. His face was covered with a dark mist. We just helped him get past Balvin. And Balvin also didn’t seem to mind much. Was there something wrong with him?”

  Agor just shook his head. “No, I was just curious about him. Also, soon you will be sent to the Denlog mountain range. Make sure to keep your wits about you. If a stronger enemy appears, just run.”

  The trio just nodded at his words. Agor had then suddenly disappeared from his place. Remembering his grandson's words, a smile appeared on his face. Balvin must have beaten them a lot for him to speak so much.