"Come out, we know you're here!" Wentor shouted from afar. He and the others were in the air and retreated to the edges of the dome, ensuring their targets couldn't escape before they identified themselves.
William didn't respond, nor did he have any plans to. He couldn't communicate with Atticus or Uri verbally, and they hadn't coordinated any hand signals, but just one look from him told them to stay quiet.
Atticus can't hold on for more than a few hours while he's hiding Uri. I need to do something before we exhaust ourselves...
William wasn't strong enough to fight with a group of Cultivators in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. Even against a single opponent, he would be lucky to win a confrontation. Considering their coordination, William knew they wouldn't let him fight one on one unless they were idiots.
I have over sixteen thousand Potential Points. I can upgrade one of my Talents in the worst case scenario, but let's try the peaceful route first.
William communicated with the System to make sure his idea would work, then he adjusted his speech patterns to sound like a different person. Using a combination of Illusion and Sound Magic, he prepared to project his voice from a random part of the dome.
What tone should I use? Should I be arrogant, passive, or neutral?
-Try a passive tone with some sycophantic language.
Huh?
-Be grateful and flatter them.
Oh, thank you.
"Benevolent Cultivators, your method of restraining me is unnecessary. I am grateful for your hospitality; however, I also request that you allow me to leave."
How was that? Too far?
-Too far.
Shit.
Brackley looked in the direction of William's projected voice with a smirk, "A Sound Mage, how rare."
The blonde youth blinked, and a Fire Domain opened in the direction where the Array shattered first. His reaction time was instantaneous, even faster than William and covered his body instantly.
The Illusion Element concealed his position, but when the fire approached William's body, it suddenly disappeared from view in the other Cultivators' perspectives. It was obvious where the boy was hiding.
Shit. I was complacent. William cursed in his mind as he used Space Magic to teleport himself and his two companions a kilometer away in an instant. He released his own Fire Domain to extinguish Supreme Left's flames from their bodies, but they each still took some damage.
Even though they both had the Fire Domain, William's Fire Element could only compare to the Soul Formation Realm at most. The remainder of the damage tried to consume his body, and almost broke through his Hard Skin Talent.
Surprisingly, Atticus was mostly fine after William extinguished the flames from his body. The snake's immense skill with the Illusion Element allowed him to confuse the Fire Mana into thinking it didn't have a target. It burned the air around Atticus, but only a small portion of the damage was actually inflicted on the snake.
Uri was a Flame Dragon in the Soul Formation Realm, so he only suffered minor injuries. Even so, he gave William and Atticus a brief look as if they were monsters, considering he still took the most damage out of the three.
William didn't have time to comment on this. Another Cultivator seemed to have a weak Affinity for the Space Element and the detection Arrays on the Illusionist's Cloak told him that the Cultivator would reach their position in two more blinks.
He ordered Atticus to use more Illusion Mana to conceal their presence again, then teleported a few more times to escape the Cultivators' pursuit.
Supreme Left only got a brief glimpse of who they were dealing with, but after seeing the two powerful Magical Beasts including a dragon, the Golden Core Cultivation, and a powerful Fire Domain told him that whoever was running must have acquired a valuable treasure and broken through in the Gravitas Ruins.
It would explain why the person was forced out of the Ruins, and why they were trying to hide their identity so thoroughly. Supreme Left analyzed the situation further and guessed that there was only a five percent chance that this person was William.
At this point, however, it didn't matter. The person was a threat to his position as number one in the Azures Continent, and that was unacceptable!
Supreme Left made a split-second decision. He shouted out loud to the Cultivators who were pursuing the Sound Mage, "It's William! This is who you're looking for!"
Brackley and Wentor, who were previously hesitant to give chase suddenly rose from their positions and sped off in the direction of the escaping Cultivator.
Even Tenebris, who was quietly Cultivating in an underground location nearby, heard these words and opened his eyes. He touched an Orb on the table that was covered in Runes, projecting an overhead image of the area within ten kilometers of the Gravitas Ruins portal.
When he saw the other Cultivators chasing after a blurry object in the distance, Tenebris sighed and rose to his feet.
"It seems I should join in on the fun."