‘What’s with his clothes?’ The woman, who had just caught herself addressed by the Ryuk, hidden inside the bark, looked with her exhausted and fatigued eyes towards him.
The moment she noticed him wearing a black suit, it brought back some ugly memories for her. If she had been perfectly fine, she would have definitely executed this man right there for wearing that black suit.
But knowing she was not in a state where she would be able to deal with this matter, she put it aside.
‘How did he know about my identity?’ The body of the Empress of the Jade Dominion, currently reformed, was slowly regaining its strength, but it was not strong enough to allow her to move easily or to be considered healthy compared to a normal human.
However, being trapped in the early phase of her regeneration, she was 100% sure that no one would be able to detect her.
Due to her special physique, where her soul was immortal and could regenerate over time, she had reached a state where her soul’s spiritual strength had surpassed the threshold that not even the strongest being in the human zone could identify her, let alone this inferior young man.
With that confidence, it was already surprising to her that someone of that rank, holding the Devereaux bloodline with legendary-ranked strength but with a very weak soul, could recognize her.
The issue was not that the individual was weaker than her prime body, but rather that his soul was very weak.
Even though the artifact, which appeared as a black mask on his face, possessed properties that could heal his soul, it still wasn’t enough to provide him with a sustainable soul enhancement.
His Kundalini was weak, and the artifact mask he was wearing was supplying a very small amount of essence to his soul.
So how, with all these factors and that soul strength, was he able to see through her soul’s identity?
“Are you not going to reveal yourself?” Ryuk observed that no one was coming out of the tree bark, which, in truth, was the center formation and was most likely holding the property of stealth and camouflage to blend into the area.
Amusingly, it was more notable for Ryuk to understand that the Empress was aware of all the formations she had created in this place, given how she had used the formation’s weak point, which was undetectable by everyone, including Ryuk, who had not been able to see it if it weren’t for the system showing him her status window.
It was clear that she had secretly crossed the whole forest using some kind of shortcut only known to her and was hiding using the mechanism of the formation from them, which she thought of using as an opportunity.
Naturally, people like her, holding prestigious positions, especially royalty from such a powerful continent, have a pride that is impossible to break or approach. This made him seize the opportunity to have a direct conversation with her.
‘Whom is he calling? Did he finally lose it?’ Yao Lian mumbled, as being in the middle of her breathing, she was taken to this side, prompting her not to fully recover her internal energy.
While looking at the forest, she found no one, making her give a side-eye to Ryuk as she observed those nearby, clearly feeling that this was definitely a situation where she could enter the Inner Pavilion without being noticed.
However, she also noticed the sound coming from the other side again; entering it alone would be dangerous for her, prompting her to remain patient and stand still.
‘!?’
Her eyes slightly widened as she saw the air in front of her trembling suddenly as a woman with a slight hunched back and a malnourished body inside a cloak, which still showed her appearance similar to a beggar, revealed herself from that place, causing Yao Lian to be slightly taken aback since she didn’t feel the presence of anyone there.
But looking towards the woman approaching them, only one thought reverberated inside Yao Lian’s mind as she was bewildered.
‘She seems….weak.’
Indeed, Yao Lian couldn’t help but notice how that woman seemed to be very weak, enough to be considered weaker than a simple average human.
Though she had seen that woman in the first trial, she thought this woman would die in this forest or be killed by some monsters, but she was still alive.
“Let’s move,” Ryuk turned towards the entrance as the woman kept approaching. He accompanied Yao Lian and Esme as they slowly moved into the portal entering the inner pavilion while, for the last time, he glanced in the direction of Lucas and Iliantra, who seemed uninterested in entering the inner pavilion as if they were thinking about something.
—
“What did you feel?” Iliantra, standing with closed eyes, slowly opened them, glancing beside her towards Lucas, who was seated on a rock, looking towards the portal as they observed others except for both of them leaving the place.
“Someone very strong is on the other side,” Lucas added in a nonchalant tone as he stood stretching his hand as if preparing to leave this place, though their initial intentions were to enter the main palace and get the address of Ryuk Devereaux. However, it appeared Lucas had lost interest.
“Tell me the real reason,” Iliantra said, not in the mood to just believe that Lucas was withdrawing simply because someone strong was on the other side. It was clearly impossible.
“I just got a message from that idiot Abernathy. He found him,” Lucas replied, who had just received a message from Gabriel Abernathy, to whom the task of searching for Ryuk Devereaux was given. And just now, he contacted him using the flute artifact that found the whereabouts of Ryuk.
“…..,” Hearing Lucas’s words, Iliantra turned her gaze towards the portal, looking for a moment before closing her eyes as she contemplated something, before adding after thinking about something, “….Is corrosion really strong?”
“Yes,” Lucas answered with a nonchalant gaze, having already been told why he was searching for Ryuk Devereaux by Iliantra.
Before both of them instantly vanished from there, their bodies shot in the direction outside the Jade Dominion, through the path they had arrived here.
Lucas was searching for Ryuk Devereaux, who held the solution for the mental corrosion, while Iliantra was also searching for Ryuk Devereaux to find out why he had proposed marriage to her, as informed to her by her grandfather.
—
‘Two flagbearers!?’, Regina, who had just entered the middle pavilion, observed that due to her speed, much faster than those two light streaks hurling towards the sky, she was able to hide her presence from them while also detecting their identity.
Given that her sword intent was very sharp, she was strong enough to keep herself undetected when moving at a rapid pace.
‘Liege must have entered the Inner Pavilion,’ Regina thought.
Of course, hurling rapidly, she moved swiftly towards the inner pavilion’s portal, clearly sensing that there was a vast amount of internal energy filling that place, a clear evident sign of some kind of battle going on.
Due to her strength, she was able to pinpoint the strength of one behind all this, making her realize that this was not simply a matter of a small fight.
But now, this was a continent-level civil war.
Additionally, Regina could feel the matriarch of the Phoenix Order was not present right now, making everything more vulnerable.
Her greater concern was with the fact that her league was with Esme, making things more difficult given that if a strong enemy attacked him, it would be a disadvantageous battle since he needed to protect Esme while fighting.
So, she needed to arrive as soon as possible.
