''I will use this purple stone to contact Elseria.''
Alex declared before injecting mana into the purple stone. The moment Alex's mana entered the purple stone, it glowed in dark purple light, and suddenly a small window appeared above the stone; it looked like a holographic image.
Everyone present paid attention to the scene coming from the other of the holographic image; inside what seemed to be a room in shamble stood an extremely beautiful woman dressed in all black. Naturally, this beautiful woman was Elseria.
''Oh? How rare for you to contact me using this purple stone Alex. It seems that you're back. How were your days inside Exodus.'' Elseria asked without turning back; her gaze was still locked in the room beyond her current location.
''I'm fine, but something happened,'' Alex said, observing Elseria's reaction, and as expected, she frowned upon hearing his words.
''Huh? What happened? Wait, I feel the other presences but not Luna, don't tell me that she got kidnapped the moment you arrived?"
Somehow Elseria was able to sense Maria and others' presence even from where she was; Leon and the others were shocked secretly how strong this woman must be to be able to do that?
''You are Luna got kidnapped but not when we arrived; it was before we even leave Exodus; for some unknown reason, Cecilia managed to send her into Mysthia after using a scroll and temporarily advancing into the Demigod realm.'' Alex briefly explained what happened; Elseria was shocked, so shocked that she turned around, forgetting to conceal the wound on her left hand, no wonder she didn't turn around since the beginning.
''What did you just say? It's impossible; I wonder how that old geezer got his hands on something so powerful, probably that goddess or whatever fooling them gave him that.'' Elseria was still an empress even with her disguise of the Adventurer guild's master; she quickly deducts what happened thanks to little information acquired by one of her spies.
''Ah!" Finally, she came to her sense and chuckled after seeing that Alex and the others saw her injury.
''What happened? Why are injured? And where are Armstrong and Freya?'' Alex fired questions at Elseria, who stayed silent but eventually decided to tell the group what happened.
''Few days ago one of our men caught sight of group sneaking in one of the principalities to cause a scene, following this group our men ended up getting killed, Armstrong not too far went to investigate it was then he found that the first group was under the Chaos organization Numbers' order. He decided to follow this group, it was a rare chance but who would have thought that he would get discovered, among the five Numbers out, there was one extremely powerful, he almost killed Armstrong, he lost an arm against the man, this number goes by the codename Zero.''
Leon and the others stayed silent, but they were secretly alarmed; only Alex, Lilith, and Sakuya exchanged looks, seeing the shock through each other eyes; that frail-looking man was this powerful? Alex felt a chill run down his spine when he remembered the smile Zero sent him as he was leaving. Being targeted by those siblings sure put a lot of pressure on his shoulders, but nevertheless, he would never be their stepping stone; it would only be the other way around.
Elseria observed each one expression; upon seeing the three expressions, she concluded that they knew this man, she continued.
''Armstrong managed to inform us, and Freya was first to join him before I do. Together we chased the five Numbers into a dungeon, we killed four, and Zero almost lost his life; he lost his two arms but still managed to land a blow on Freya and me; Freya was more injured than me, but it was not severe.''
''Master!" Maria mumbled, her cold face softening; she was concerned about her master's health but knowing that Elseria wouldn't lie about how Freya was, she felt relief; she could only hope that the situation didn't change for the worst later.
''Armstrong is recuperating while I'm standing guard here; Zero fled into the depth of the dungeon, and don't worry, we will kill him after the others recuperate. He has nowhere to go; I have set a formation around the dungeon; nobody could leave if I don't give the approval.''
Alex and the others sighed in relief upon hearing Elseria's confident words. Alex, Artemia, and Lilith knew that Zero was still alive because Elseria was still keeping her real identity secret; if she were to unleash her full strength, reverting to her identity as the empress of the elves, not many could face her even when her strength was limited to peak demigod level. Zero might be exceptionally talented, but so was the monster known as Typhania; she was a real monster versed in spirit arts but possessed a powerful Gift.
''Alex, I can see that you became demigod; on behalf of the others, I congratulate you, but you must know that you must not act recklessly, just obediently wait until we return we will see how that fucker will explain why he kidnapped our student and before you say anything like how long it will take for us to come back? Will Luna still be Luna by then? I can promise you that we will return in five days a week, at last, so please don't act recklessly. Can you promise me that?"
Everyone present held their breath waiting for Alex to respond; however, they all wished to rescue Luna, they knew their current strength was limited, the other party had an empire backing him with many preparations, charging recklessly would be tantamount to suicide, only by being accompanied of strong people such as Elseria or Freya will they carry a lot of weight. The Pope would not dare to offend any of them once they are back.
Finally, Alex, who said nothing after Elseria asked him to make a promise, opened his eyes; they were frighteningly calm without any fluctuation, as he declared.
''I promise.''