Quickly, Chen handed his surprised companions two potions of each kind, which the youths put away after admiring them for a few moments. Soon, the group could see in the distance a small mountain range made of what looked like dark granite, though a bit shinier.

Sensing that the Myst anomaly was less than 200 meters away, Erik couldn't help but frown, since he couldn't feel anything with his Mystic Consciousness. Curious, Erik quickly communicated with his trusty contracted spirit through their pact.

[Can you feel anything?]

[No, right now I can only feel more or less what you feel. That bastard's aura limits me a lot.] Ebonique replied in a somewhat rough tone. Erik nodded in understanding and closed his eyes to concentrate on the Myst, wanting to find out if it was a formation.

Although he couldn't detect anything resembling a formation, Erik did pick up a couple of strange things. First, the anomaly was coming from the mountain, and second, the Myst grew harder to control the deeper into the mountain he tried to go. Although he could sense it faintly and move it slightly, it wasn't transmitting any kind of information.

"The fight must be happening inside the mountain, but I can't feel anything with my Mystic Consciousness—there must be some kind of concealment."

After a few seconds studying the surroundings, Erik reported, still with his eyes closed. Elara quickly commented in a serious tone.

"There must be some sort of entrance, and if there really is a battle, it shouldn't be hard to find."

Upon hearing Elara, everyone present extended their Ethereal Projections, and Zoe moved away from Erik, taking Elara and Frank's Myst vehicle with her. After a few minutes flying over the area, Zoe announced in a serious tone.

"I detected a gust of wind hidden among rocks! It must be the entrance."

"Let's check." Erik replied quickly and moved closer to Zoe, managing to feel the small 'geysers' of air between some rocks at the foot of the mountain as well.

Upon reaching the rocks, Zoe quickly moved them aside, revealing a narrow entrance through which the brave knight ventured with her Ethereal Projection fully extended. After making the Myst vehicles vanish and burying the boxes, Erik followed Zoe while Ebonique hid in his hair and the wolves in his shadow.

After advancing a few meters through a narrow tunnel, Zoe entered a wide inner passage that was completely dark, though thanks to her Ethereal Projection, she could tell the place wasn't natural. It was perfectly rectangular, with incredibly smooth walls.

As for Erik, when he entered the inner tunnel, he quickly sensed in the distance the presence of Ethan along with more people, which led him to announce in a serious tone.

"Now I can sense them—there are 23 presences, among them Ethan Williams and the direct disciple Taylor."

"Christine?!" Zoe and Elara spoke in unison, clear disgust in their tone.

"The very same, but this isn't the time for personal grudges; it's possible it's a group from the Arcane Order who are fighting."

Erik turned to look at the pair of beautiful young women and spoke firmly. Though he didn't like the idea of running into that "charming snake" either, circumstances demanded it. Not very happy about helping that vixen Christine, Zoe and Elara let out a heavy sigh, and soon their expressions turned resolute and determined.

"You're right, Erik. Rest assured we'll do everything we can." Zoe declared firmly as she gripped the hilt of her katana. Elara clenched her staff and mobilized her mana as she announced in a tone similar to Zoe's.

"Even if we have differences, we're all from the Arcane Order. We'll go all out."

"I knew I could count on you."

Erik commented, satisfied, as he looked at the pair of beautiful young women. Immediately after, Erik touched the smooth wall and sent a pinch of mana, which caused it to glow softly, revealing a complex pattern of runes from the Zazen Discipline.

"A treasure?"

Seeing the runes, Chen couldn't help but comment in visible surprise. Erik replied in a serious tone, raising his hand before his eyes to withstand a strong rush of air.

"It's the second time I've seen runes of the Zazen Discipline here, but let's leave it for later—let's move!"

On his command, the group advanced at full speed with Erik and Zoe at the head, finding that not only was the tunnel perfectly straight, it also had different crossroads. Following the strong air currents, the group moved through the maze of tunnels until they finally began to hear explosions. Curiously, the tunnels didn't tremble in the slightest.

After advancing a couple more minutes, the group finally saw a light at the end of a long tunnel, from which a powerful burst of compressed air emerged. Erik pointed ahead with his machete and conjured a magic circle to create a barrier to "cut" the air, and the group soon reached the light.

On the other side was a huge, perfectly square "room," completely illuminated by what seemed an almost infinite number of Zazen Discipline runes glowing on the walls. The colossal hall was covered by a fine fog, which even the explosions couldn't completely dispel.

Amid the fog, Erik and his group saw a fierce battle of six youths against a group of hunters, which had left several corpses scattered around. Among the fighters was the sensual disciple Taylor, hurling ice spells everywhere, while Ethan seemed to be everywhere at once, sending spells in all directions.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

But without a doubt, the one who stood out most was a young man with dark-blue hair who fought with a bastard sword with two magic circles near its hilt. Wherever the young man passed, the hunters lost their heads as if by magic, managing to kill a Revealed-Peak–level hunter and two weaker ones in the few seconds they took to study the situation.

"Let's provide long-range support."

Understanding the situation, Erik ordered as he pointed ahead with one of his machetes and created a huge magic circle. The mages quickly nodded and prepared to attack. Elara created two magic circles, Frank surrounded himself with runes, while Chen and Haoran began forming signs with both hands.

Almost instantly, Erik's magic circle created an enormous number of Myst arrows that shot at high speed toward the hunters, followed by arrows of fire and air and what looked like two dragons, one of fire and one silver. The rain of spells caught many hunters off guard, killing them instantly, while the rest turned to see where the unexpected support was coming from.

Seeing the group led by the starry-haired youth, Ethan and Christine couldn't help but open their eyes in visible surprise, while the blue-haired youth smiled with confidence and then spoke out loud.

"Thanks for the support—let's finish these bastards!"

"Erik." Zoe quickly called to Erik, her hand on her katana and Hiyori at her side. Erik turned to look at Zoe and nodded.

"Go, we'll cover you."

"Thanks."

Zoe leaped to mount her contracted fox spirit and shot toward the battlefield. When she was about to reach the center point of the fight, Zoe and Hiyori vanished from sight, then reappeared on the other side. At that moment, three hunters fell to the ground headless, and a thin line formed in the air as the air itself whipped about.

"Keep up the support, but avoid combined spells—we're going for precision."

Erik ordered calmly and sent another wave of arrows, and the others quickly followed him. Soon, the last hunter fell under the sword of the blue-haired man, who gave it a casual shake, then set it at his waist and turned to look at Erik.

"Disciple Erik, it's a pleasure."

Walking toward Erik, the man came over with a calm, refreshing smile that clashed starkly with the battlefield full of corpses and blood. Recognizing the young man as the champion of the selection tournament, Erik stepped forward and extended his hand for a cordial greeting.

"The pleasure is mine as well, Disciple Arismendi."

"No need for such formality—you can call me Tomás." The blue-haired man took Erik's hand and spoke with a smile. Erik nodded and answered with a similar smile.

"Then don't hesitate to call me Erik as well."

"Haha, good to see you're not like those scholars—I imagined you a bit different." Tomás replied with a cheerful laugh as he let go of Erik's hand, who answered in a calm voice while looking around the enormous hall.

"I've heard that before, but more importantly, what is this place?"

"I don't know. Ethan found out about this place, and we came to take a look since it seemed like an important base and looked unguarded." Tomás answered calmly, then looked at the others and greeted them.

"Hi, everyone."

As everyone greeted back, Ethan approached while the fog faded from the surroundings and commented with a smile.

"Direct disciple Erik, direct disciple Belmonte—I didn't expect you would find us first."

"You were looking for us?" Elara asked curiously. Ethan nodded and replied with a smile.

"Yes, I've been going through different hunter bases, but I didn't find news of anyone—though luckily I managed to run into Tomás and the others."

"Disciple Erik. A pleasure to see you again in such good shape." At that moment, Christine approached, walking sensually like a snake, then greeted with a smile, completely ignoring Elara and Zoe, who arrived shortly after.

"The pleasure is mine as well, disciple Taylor." Erik responded in a calm, casual tone. Christine replied with a lilting little laugh.

"You can call me Christine."

"Understood, Disciple Christine." Erik nodded without giving it much importance, at which point Zoe looked at Ethan and asked seriously.

"Disciple Williams, what is this place? It seems quite special."

"The truth is, as Tomás mentioned, we don't know much. I simply followed a group of hunters here, and after confirming the Illuminated-level wasn't present, we came to take a look."

"Illuminated-level?"

Erik widened his eyes a bit and asked, visibly incredulous—a look shared by the others, especially Elara, Zoe, and Frank, since the existence of someone so strong contradicted one of their assumptions about the ruin.

"Yes, there's an Illuminated-level in this place—I saw him with my own eyes when I managed to slip into an entrance temple." Christine replied in a solemn tone, which led Erik to ask hastily.

"Did the Illuminated-level use sacred geometry?"

"That's right." Christine nodded, at which point she noticed Chen's expression visibly pale. Confused, Tomás asked while looking at Chen.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's possible there are two Illuminated-levels." Chen answered in a heavy voice and quickly explained what he had previously told Erik—his hypothesis that there were two leaders.

"This is troublesome…" Tomás replied in a serious tone, while Ethan brought a hand to his chin, musing.

"But it's strange—I've been through a couple of hunter bases and hadn't seen anything like what you mention." Ethan turned to look at Chen and asked in a serious tone.

"How many people made up the group you saw? What did they look like?"

"There were twelve people, all dressed in black. Four were demonic cultivators, six were knights, and two were mages, and one of them was missing an arm." Chen quickly explained in a serious tone. Ethan looked at Chen with a hint of surprise and commented seriously.

"The group I followed had one missing an arm."

Hearing Ethan, everyone turned to look at him, then looked to the back of the square hall, where a dark passageway could be seen. At that moment, Erik looked at Chen and asked in a serious tone.

"What exactly did they say, Chen?"

"In short, although both groups had to head to the same place, the hunters had to guard something and wait for reinforcements before making a move, while the demonic cultivators had to obtain something no matter the cost."

"They certainly seem contradictory… What was the resolution?" Erik spoke in a thoughtful tone. Chen recalled for a moment and answered.

"They agreed to reach the place first—if it was possible to capture, they'd do it together; if not, they'd report back to ask for further instructions."

"When did that happen?" Erik asked, and Chen answered quickly.

"About four days ago."

Hearing Chen, Ethan widened his eyes with a hint of surprise and spoke.

"I saw them two days ago."

Upon hearing Ethan, they all understood the implications—it was likely that group had come to the place where they were; there was something they wanted here, and it didn't seem easy to obtain. For his part, Erik quickly communicated with Ebonique while closing his eyes to focus on the Myst.

[Do you sense anyone strong here?]

[No, but if you give me some time, I can give you a more reliable answer.] Ebonique replied as she felt the collector's aura, which, although not as thick as outside, would still require caution to materialize a portion of her true body. Erik asked in a serious tone.

[How much time?]

[30 minutes.] Ebonique answered as she closed her eyes. Erik nodded and turned to look at Tomás.

"How were you able to confirm that the Illuminated-level wasn't here?"

***

You can support me on patreon.com/lordanl and get up to 15 advanced chapters.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.