While Agnes revealed a lot of stuff, one thing caught his attention. "Wait, you have been here for a month?" he frowned.
"Over a month," she said, then realisation dawned on her. "Oh, you mean a similar time dilation was also placed in this part."
She rubbed her forehead at the realisation. While he had spent so much time in the Elysian that his internal clock took the time dilation as the norm.
"Or it could be like another of the trials," he mumbled. Even if they were, he really couldn't make much difference between a real place, or a place imitated after the real records of the past events. They were so real and vivid...
The purification only took a couple more minutes, and by that time, both of their palms had become sweaty. Agnes let out a relieved squeal and stood up.
"So what's your plan?" he asked.
"I need a valid reason to distance myself from the group," Agnes said. "And what better way there could be other than being under the assault of packs of forsaken?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"The main group of forsakens are about twenty miles ahead of us," she explained. "There are about three hundred of them, excluding the goblins against her eighty-odd ranker. Somehow, they are in a far better position than us. We have already fallen into a schism with them at the very beginning... it is time for another one."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to go assault their main camp, and bring upon a huge pack after you instead of finishing them off," Agnes said, smiling coldly. "The prince is planning on advancing faster, so the timing would be just perfect."
He hadn't consolidated his Way so much that he could sense the residual of the Way in someone else.
"Looking down on me again?" he smiled. "I might surprise you again, captain."
They discussed the details of their plan for a few minutes, before Agnes withdrew the veil. She was now in far better shape than when he met her half an hour ago... the healing had done its work, though some of it was probably because she finally found a way to free herself from the princess's fiery adoration.
"I need to go," she said, "or I don't know what that girl would do, not finding me."
Dark wings unfurled behind her before she lunged up into the air. Only after she left did he remember that he had forgotten to ask about the essence vein. He had not forgotten about the Boon of Spirit, which was still due.
Sighing, he too took off and flew in the direction of the camp of the forsakens. Agnes had mentioned the foreign presence in the air was boosting the forsakens, but he had already hunted a dozen of them, and they barely took any effort.
It is either the suppression was suppressing their power too much, he thought, or I have become stronger than I realise...
The camp of the forsaken didn't have any of the extravagant wards like theirs; as a matter of fact, there were really no defensive barriers in effect. Only the goblins were acting as guards. The total number of the forsakens was lower than what Agnes had indicated... but that only made it easier for him.
He didn't begin his operation immediately. He had agreed to pull the assault tomorrow after the forsakens were tired from advancing. But he had already begun preparing for it. He repaired the script formations he used on the first layer. After that, he hunted down a few goblin guards and compensated for the bombs, which would be enough to get the attention of the heavy hitters among the forsakens.
Finally, the next day, when the forsakens had just finished their journey, he triggered the formation, along with firing all the hundreds of goblin bombs within their camp...
Of course, neither of the two actions was enough to finish them off. He wasn't through in his assault as he wasn't looking to finish them off. The forsaken would break free in no time. that was when the real operation would begin.