When morning came, the flying carriage left Lont and headed towards the Southern Regions of the Hellan Kingdom.
William, Jekyll, Ian, and Dave traveled for three days before arriving on the outskirts of the hidden valley where the Wren, Aethon, was currently located.
They didn't know how many members of Deus were stationed inside the valley, so they decided to be more sneaky in their approach.
"Let's rest for now," William proposed as he looked at the sun in the sky. It was currently around noon, and it was still a few hours away from sunset. "We will infiltrate the hidden valley in the evening. Dave, you will be here on standby when we start our operation."
"Yes, Sir," Dave replied.
The group ate lunch using the rations they had gotten from Lont before resting inside the carriage. The Gryphon, Lionheart, was given the role of lookout, while everyone slept.
-----
"Has there been any progress in finding a path that leads to the floating island?" Conner asked.
"No, My Lord," one of the black-robed men answered. "This Domain is quite big. Based on our initial estimate, it is at least a quarter of the size of the Hellan Kingdom. It would take a few weeks with the current manpower we have to fully map it."
Conner nodded his head in understanding.
After opening the Domain, he had sent some of his trusted subordinates to bring over a hundred members of Deus to map the surroundings. The main reason they were finding it hard to maneuver the terrain was due to the restriction on any form of flight.
Because of this, they had no choice but to do things the hard way and travel the domain by land.
'Should I bring more men here?' Conner thought. Right now, they had a shortage of manpower because the members of Deus were scattered throughout the different kingdoms in the Southern Continent to seize control of its people.
Unfortunately, forces from the Kraetorian Empire and an Elven force had arrived, which forced these agents to flee for their lives. Sadly, not all of them were lucky and over half of them were captured.
The Elves didn't kill the members of The Organization, but they made sure to lock up any of them that had come back, to try and infiltrate the capital of the Zelan Dynasty, for interrogation. The Kraetorian Empire, on the other hand, was brutal in their approach.
They didn't bat an eye in killing the members of The Organization who couldn't give them the information they wanted. Of the thousand members that had taken control of the Kingdom of Freesia, less than half remained.
They were the lucky ones that were assigned to ambush Princess Sidonie on her journey back to her kingdom. After the members of The Organization escaped Freesia, they gathered their remaining forces and made a beeline towards the Anaesha Dynasty.
The members that were stationed in the Anaesha Dynasty were able to secure it for themselves, because the survivors offered very little resistance.
Right now, at least five thousand members of The Organization were currently stationed in the Aenasha Dynasty and twenty thousand stationed in the different parts of the Hellan Kingdom.
The Kraetorian Army, led by Jason, numbered Fifty-thousand. The Elven army, on the other hand, only numbered twenty thousand. However, they couldn't be underestimated. All of these Elves were superior to Humans in terms of rank, and their fighting prowess couldn't be looked down upon.
Unlike Humans, Elves had a slower reproduction rate. This was why very few had left the Silvermoon Continent to travel in Human lands. They were always in danger of being caught by slave traders and sold as slaves.
Elves had always been sought out for their beauty, and one could even say that there was not a single Elf whose beauty was below average.
After pondering his options, Conner decided to temporarily return to the capital of Gladiolus to see the current situation. He tasked his subordinates with continuing to explore the Domain and write down the locations of the various precious resources that could be gathered within this unexplored frontier.
-----
The Hidden Valley was home to many ferocious beasts. This was why it was chosen as the hiding place of the Domain that was called the Undying Lands by the first King of the Hellan Kingdom.
However, the mighty roars of the beasts couldn't be heard anywhere. It was as if they had all gone into hiding.
In the darkness, two figures traversed the valley with nimble feet. Jekyll took the vanguard, while William ran behind him. The Half-Elf was carrying Ian in his arms, because the brown-haired boy wasn't able to keep up with Jekyll's pace.
At first, Ian proposed that he just merge with William, but the latter opposed it. The two of them could only perform Familia Oversoul for three hours. William didn't want to waste that precious time traveling the Hidden Valley.
Although he was confident in his fighting ability, he could only fight for a limited period of time due to the destruction of his Spiritual World. Three hours might be a long time, but William was used to fighting inside the Goblin Crypt, which lasted for half a day or more.
The only saving grace was that he could call upon his King's Legion to fight for him when he was only dealing with small fries.
*Chirp*
*Chirp*
"I miss you too, Aethon." William grinned as he rubbed the head of the chatty Wren with his finger. "Tell me, have there been any changes?"
*Chirp*
"Oh? Their leader left?"
*Chirp*
"Interesting…"
William rubbed his chin as he thought of a plan to infiltrate the Hidden Domain. According to Aethon, the leader of The Organization left alongside a dozen of his subordinates. He didn't know where they were going because William had tasked him to monitor the entrance of the Domain at all times.
"There are only two guards at the entrance." Jekyll sneered. "It seems that they lack the manpower to secure this location. We came at a good time."
William nodded in agreement.
"Since we don't know what is in store for us when we enter the gate, I say we just knock out these two and interrogate them first," William proposed. "It wouldn't hurt to know more about our enemy before we barge inside their den."
"You're learning, Little Will."
"I have good teachers."
"It's a shame that you didn't choose me back then. I would have taught you a lot." Jekyll teased.
William wasn't able to stop himself from shuddering after hearing Jekyll's words. He didn't regret choosing his Maestro, Feyright, to become his teacher while he was still struggling to return to a normal life.
The Half-Elf had a feeling that if he had chosen Jekyll back then, he might be living a life quite a bit different from the lifestyle that he had right now.
"Let's just knock the guards unconscious first." William stepped forward and disappeared from where he stood.
Jekyll gave a soundless chuckle, as he too disappeared, leaving Ian behind with Aethon.
A few seconds later, the two pitiful guards were subdued and underwent Jekyll's hellish interrogation.
For the first time, William was able to witness how devilish the dentist's method was in getting the answers he needed. It was at that moment when he made a vow to himself to not get on Jekyll's bad side. The consequences were something he couldn't afford to experience.
After getting the information they needed, Jekyll made sure to dispose of the two guards without leaving any evidence behind. Only after the deed was done did William fetch Ian from their hiding place.
It was now time to enter the Hidden Domain. Their agreed upon battle plan was really simple…
No one from Deus was allowed to leave the Undying Lands alive.