Souta's party secretly left the Earthen Core City. Their target was the Witch Clan's main territory. They didn't need to join the war between Monster Dungeon and Union Peace and Night Watch. The war got intensified in the past two weeks and even those shackled realm experts had appeared.
The Monster Dungeon was a powerful force of monsters in the central continent. The ruler of this place was a powerful fifth evolution monster that had strong dominance over lower monsters.
Souta needed to avoid meeting the fifth evolution monster in his current condition. He was just a third stage and the fifth stage could already exert dominance like those monster lords albeit not that strong. If the fifth stage monster in Monster Dungeon learned that he was the cause of this war there's a possibility that Souta will be killed. There's another possibility that the fifth stage monster will take him as an underling.
Becoming an underling of a fifth stage monster was worse. He would be forced to stay here in this sub-world to serve that monster and he didn't want that to happen. The dominance of the higher evolution would restrict his evolution and in this case, the fifth stage could also launch an attack that could increase the monster's instinct to the limit.
It would turn into a monster tide and Souta would become a mindless monster that only knew how to kill people.
This was the reason why he didn't want to meet monsters above his evolution level. If Raeshka wasn't easy to talk to, he would have been gone forever.
The group decided to rest as the sky was dark. They set up a camp and surrounded the fire that they make.
"Have you visited the Witch Clan before?" Gragas asked Eztein.
"No, I simply heard about its location. I don't think that people like me could visit it. The righthand of the Ten Rulers will personally visit the Witch Clan if they have some business." Eztein shook his head and explain.
'Righthand of the Ten Rulers? Those people are Extinction Realm...' Souta said inwardly.
Amanda simply listened to their conversation. She was quite anxious as she finally had a lead to her clan. According to this man called Eztein, her clan was still alive contrary to what she knew. So to confirm it, they decided to visit the Witch Clan personally.
The Earthen Core City was several kilometers away from them. If they didn't have Eilish as their backer, they wouldn't dare to return to that city. The city was situated near the southwest part of the continent while the Monster Dungeon was in the eastern part of the continent. The war zone was far but its size was increasing as it already engulfed more than ten big cities.
They had to avoid that place. They had to cross several hundred kilometers to arrive at the Witch Clan's main territory which was situated in the northern part of the continent. In the north, there was a huge body of water called Mist River and the Witch Clan's main territory could be found here according to Eztein.
Souta stood up and said, "Just stay there for a while. I have something to do." He went to the corner, several meters away from the camp. Then, he took out the transmission talisman.
He easily connected to Alice's transmission talisman.
"Alice." He said to the talisman. He easily heard a reply in just a second.
"Yep, I'm here Souta." Alice's voice sounded.
"I want you to prepare the Guardian Fortress and everyone. There will be a time that I will need all of your strength." Souta said to her.
"You need our strength?! What happened?" Alice's voice turned serious and Souta could feel it.
"You know why I'm here, right? I'm here to gather information about the Witch Clan. It seems that Amanda isn't the only witch in this world. We've gathered intel about her clan. They are alive and a hidden faction in this land. It seems that investigating this clan brought me some huge trouble and based on their power level I can't solve it alone. So I need you to prepare everyone." Souta explained to her.
"I see. What about Yuko and Doranjan? They didn't have a transmission talisman and the Monster Kingdom is quite far in Numan Country."
"Don't worry about them, I've already ordered them to return immediately to Guardian Fortress. It seems that they will bring some monsters with them."
"Monsters?!"
"Yeah, it seems Yuko and Doranjan gained followers in the Monster Kingdom. They said that they will bring those monsters with them and I agree with them."
"But the Guardian Fortress..."
"Don't worry, I've called Jamine and Lydia. I've asked them to send another Guardian Fortress to our location. Also, I've already told them the route that we took so you just need to meet the people that she sent halfway. You know how to activate the teleportation magic circle, right?"
"I know, leave everything to me. Just focus on your situation there. I will prepare everyone so that when you need our strength we would be able to arrive quickly." Alice said with a smile.
"Good. Then, contact me if everything is ready." Souta said. If he had a spare transmission talisman, then he would give it to Torkez or Franklin to avoid the situation where they unknowingly confront each other just like before.
He cut the connection and narrowed his eyes. Franklin will bring a few elites with him and Torkez will do the same thing. They just couldn't leave the organizations that they build. Also, Doranjan and Yuko will bring a group of monsters with them.
His organization was expanding. After he returned to Imperium, he planned to build a base. Then, he was going to connect his base in the southern continent of this world and also the Astros Country that he established in the Planet Astley. About Yenxa's tribe, he will cultivate them after he settled in Imperium.
After all, he planned to create an army using the parasitic essence eater. An army that will follow his every command was what he needed. Also, if he had powerful subordinates he could simply command his subordinates to take his equipment in the game. It would take a lot of time if he personally took those items one by one.
He shook his head and proceed to call his friend in Imperium. His talisman got connected in just a second.
"Hello, Souta!!" Lynn's voice sounded. From her tone, she was brimming with excitement contrary to her usual expression which was shy.
"Yeah, what is it, Lynn? It seems that something good happened today." Souta asked while wondering what's the cause of this.
"I have succeeded in liquefying my mana! I finally reached A-rank!" She was happy to share this news with him.
Souta laughed with imagining her expression on the other side. He wanted to see her current expression.
"Congratulations, Lynn! I'm sorry, I'm not there to personally congratulate you."
"No, no, no, I-It's fine. I'm happy that I could share my achievement with you." Lynn said through the talisman.
"How about Bryan and the rest?" Souta asked.
"Mila had reached A-rank three weeks ago. Bryan had already reached the peak level of A-rank. He said that he was close to reaching S-rank. Yujin and Brando who are in the military academy in Hebrei Kingdom said that they are both A-rank as well." Lynn said to him.
"It seems that all of you are doing fine. My combat prowess is already at the peak level of S-rank and Alice just reached the peak of A-rank a few weeks ago." Souta explained to her his situation.
"You are improving too fast, Souta. I don't think that I will be able to catch up with you. Bryan is already fast for me yet you said that you're a peak S-rank." Lynn said with a sigh.
"You don't have to catch up to me. Just do your best to increase your strength so that you can protect yourself in dangerous situations. Remember that I'm not with you so you can only rely on yourself." Souta said with a smile.
"I-I understand..."
"Hahaha, okay. What do you want to talk about? I still have a lot of time so I will give it to you."
"Y-You don't have to... I'm not..."
"Shh! Don't say that. I'm busy in the last few weeks so I haven't contacted you. Consider it as my compensation."
Souta and Lynn chatted until morning. They talked about nonsense things but it was quite enjoyable for Souta. He battled several S-rank in the past few weeks and the situation in the continent was very tense so it was refreshing to talk to Lynn. It calmed down his nerves and stiff muscles.
He stood up and placed back the talisman in his pocket.
'So none of them had reached S-rank. Alice could reach S-rank at any moment and she will be able to surpass them. Their power level is lagging. It seems that I need to give them information about some of the dungeons that could give them a boost.' He said inwardly.
His group in sub-world was already stronger than his group in Imperium if he didn't include Yanagi Shina.. Yanagi was already a shackled realm but if Souta worked with Yuko and Doranjan it wouldn't be a problem to stop her.