Three hours.
That was how long it took Reign and Wolf to find the location of the enemy base after they had entered the area.
They used the information that the elders had given them and looked around everywhere to find it. The elders had told them that the base was located right next to a mountain, beside the barrier that divided the mountain range and the area next to it, which was a sort of swampland.
The swamp looked similar everywhere they looked, which was why it was so difficult to find it, even though they knew that the base was right next to a mountain, to be more exact, it was the third mountain that was adjacent to the area after one would enter it.
Still, that location was not small at all and Reign and Wolf had to comb through it.
Giant alligators, snakes, and abominations were the most powerful monsters here, but none of them dared come close to Reign and Wolf thanks to the auras that the two were releasing. Any monster that was 200 meters close to them would quickly turn around and flee after sensing their auras.
The elders had told them that the base was located between two large trees, one had a total of forty-two branches, while the other one had been struck by lightning in the past and was completely charred while only half of it remained.
Unfortunately for Reign and Wolf, those kinds of trees were not so uncommon inside the swamp. It wasn't because lightning strikes were frequent in the area, but because the leader had actually taken a couple of the elders and together they managed to use mana and conjure lightning before doing the same to multiple trees in the area.
He had done so in order to provide a better hiding place for the base as even if someone was to somehow speak and tell an enemy about the location, the appearance of multiple lightning-struck and charred trees would make it much harder to locate the base.
It was only when Wolf's sword started vibrating that the two stopped. Upon taking the sword out and stabbing it down into the ground, Wolf and Reign could see the soul of the leader looking around from the sword, focusing his sight on one particular area that they were yet to explore.
The tree adjacent to the lightning-struck one only had about 30 branches, something that Reign presumed the leader had done in order to hide the base even further as people would focus on the one with 42 branches in order to find the base.
He had done so because all the members of the organization that had not gone out to attack Doncaster were not allowed to leave before they came back. He had even placed a limit of 9 days on the base, locking it from both the inside and outside. Without him present, nobody would be able to get in or out of the base, not even the elder that was still inside.
He had done that in order to protect the base in the event of his passing. If the enemy was able to somehow kill him, even if they found out the real location of the base, they would have no way of entering it.
Of course, he never expected Reign to not only kill him, but to severely damage his soul and cause a lot of his memories to be lost, but to also capture him and place him inside Wolf's sword.
The soul stared at a rock that was next to the lightning-charred tree. Wolf and Reign glanced at each other before walking toward it with Wolf holding his sword in front of him and allowing the soul to intensely stare at the rock.
"This, this is familiar, very familiar." The soul spoke in an enchanted voice as the stone suddenly changed. A small symbol appeared on it, while the same exact one appeared on the soul. With the two symbols appearing, they started shining slightly while Reign stared expectantly.
He had hoped that there would be a kind of connection between the soul and the base, after all, it is the soul that gets bound to it, not the physical body. Ever since he first heard about the base and how the leader was connected to it and could do all sorts of things with it, he was extremely glad he didn't destroy his soul.
Had he destroyed the soul, there was no saying what would happen. Perhaps the base would simply become ownerless, which wouldn't be a good thing as the elder that was inside could take it over and move it again, making it impossible for him and the others to gain access to it.
But with the soul still present, the base was bound to the leader, who barely had any power or memories left, which meant that even if he had to use force, Reign was fairly confident that he could take the base away from him and bind it to himself.
As the soul stared at the rock, it suddenly moved its ethereal arm. The soul made a couple of signs before the rock started vibrating.
"Hey, what did you do?!" Wolf asked in a high tone as the soul looked at him.
"I don't know, I simply had a feeling that doing this would force a reaction from this rock."
Wolf knew that the soul wasn't lying, even though he wasn't bound to it, the sword was his and he could sense the emotions of the soul, making it very hard for the latter to cover up a lie.
Suddenly a door appeared from the swamp. It slowly rose up before fully showing itself to Reign and Wolf who nodded before walking toward it. Right before they were about to touch the handle of the door, they stopped.
"No, don't touch it!" The soul shouted out, forcing the two men to freeze before looking at it.
"Don't."
"Don't touch it, not yet." The soul said before waving both of his hands and covering the two in some sort of invisible energy.
"Phew, had you touched it, we wouldn't be able to find out what lies behind that door." The leader said with a sigh before looking at the two.
"Hey, I still don't like you, and don't be so hasty in the future, this might lead me to my memories, even if I hate this one, I want to find out more." The soul said in an annoyed voice as Reign smirked.
His thoughts were correct, the leader could indeed grant passage to others. Without him, god knows what would have happened to them had they touched the door.
Perhaps the base would simply disappear, or it might have attacked them.
The two nodded at the soul before Reign grabbed the handle and opened the door. They stepped forward and finally entered the base.
It was ... different from what they expected.
The elders had only told them the layout and what they might need to look out for, nothing else.
They didn't speak of the surrounding area, which looked like the night sky that was filled with stars.
They never spoke of the incredible buildings inside of it, created out of silver and pitch-black metal. The architecture was incredible, something that one might only be able to imagine after reading a fantasy novel.
It was different from anything they had seen before, even when traveling to a different planet and seeing the civilization there.
"Stop, who are you?!" Four men asked Reign and Wolf as the two looked absentmindedly around them.
"Answer the question!" A fifth person, dressed in plate armor said as he stepped forward, only for his eyes to open wide as Wolf grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up in the air.
"So, are we eliminating all of them?" Wolf asked Reign who nodded with a serious expression.
From what information he and Wolf had gotten from the elders, they knew that there were no civilians inside the base, only members of the organization. Since they were enemies, they would have no mercy.
'If I let some of the life, they might return in the future and cause problems, better to just get rid of any potential threat right away, not to mention that we are enemies after all.' Reign thought to himself as he steeled his heart.
What he and Wolf were about to do was not fight against an enemy, but slaughter those that were unable to fight against them. They were cleaning up the remnants of their foe, something that neither one had done in the past.
What was about to happen was not going to be a battle, but a massacre, a one-sided slaughter.
Reign had already killed hundreds of not only monsters but humans as well. Back in Riplas, he had slaughtered his foes without showing mercy, but he had never fought in such a way before. Still, he knew that it was a must in order to make sure Doncaster would be safe.