The dragon's eyes darted all over the place as it stared intensely at its surroundings. The monsters that had previously been staying near the lake had fled as soon as the javelins had exploded and the two large explosions took place.
The slight mana undulations from the explosion were enough for the monsters to realize that the power was far above them, leading to their retreat.
Only the dragon could be seen, and each breath it took caused small waves to appear on the surface of the lake while each movement made even larger waves.
Suddenly the dragon looked up to the sky and opened its mouth before a horrifyingly powerful and loud shout escaped from its mouth.
The water around the dragon moved and large waves appeared while even the nearby trees were forced to move from the shout. Reign and the others gulped as they were able to feel the power of the shout.
If they were to fight the dragon right now, they would have absolutely no chance of defeating it, it would be a one-sided slaughter as even Reign's transformation wasn't enough to even out the odds.
After a couple of minutes, the dragon went back inside the lake and disappeared into its depths, allowing Reign and the others to breathe out a sigh of relief. The pressure the dragon had given them was immense and they did everything they could to hide their presence and mana in order not to be found out by the monster, which luckily worked thanks to them being so far away.
"So, you still want to tame it?" Wolf asked Beast with a chuckle as the latter nodded his head.
"In the future, yes, it will definitely be of great help," Beast said, prompting both Reign and Wolf to smile at him before looking back.
"Time to go back, Beast, if you would kindly." Reign said as he motioned for Beast who summoned 4 flying monsters he had tamed.
Reign and the others all went on the monsters who took off and started flying toward the castle. Each of the monsters was incredibly large and could fit 4 – 5 people on them, but thanks to Greenie and Mozgot being as big as they were, they were both on one monster, with nobody else flying with them.
The journey back took them only about half an hour, a quarter of what they needed to get to the lake on foot as they were walking and had examined the areas as well.
Upon reaching the castle, they landed next to the wall before making their way to the opposite side of where the BloodHill Forest.
It was a relaxing trip for them as they passed through multiple areas and observed them. None of the monsters there could do anything to them and Reign and the others were left with simply observing the new areas that they had never traveled to before.
The players did explore some of them, but the ones further away were mostly left untouched as they had no reason to go there as the ones near Doncaster were more than enough for them. It was much better and safer for them to be there and level up using those places that had already been partially explored than to risk their lives by going to other places that might be way above their pay grade.
Rainforests, grasslands, tundras ... all kinds of biomes could be seen around the castle, something that was unthinkable before the game started.
Unfortunately, none of the monsters present were powerful enough to be used by M'azgara, which meant that the only thing that they could do was travel further in hopes of finding a good area that would be usable by them.
It was about 6 hours later that they entered a new area, the sixth one they had come across so far, and the 4th area away from the castle.
The ruins of a city could be seen in the distance as Reign and the others stared at the sight in front of them. The entire city spanning miles in front of them was ruined, the buildings and houses destroyed, with only some being left over from whatever happened.
Monsters could be seen in the distance, some flying around the many ruined buildings that looked like they would collapse at any time, others jumping from one building to another in order to try and catch the flying ones.
Monsters could be seen on the streets and inside some of the buildings, but there were no humans present at all.
'Is this what Doncaster would have become had we not managed to take control of it?' Reign asked himself as he looked at the city of monsters where no human life could be possible thanks to the sheer numbers and power of the monsters present.
"These guys, although I can't sense them perfectly from far away, I think they are at the very least Tier II." Reign said out loud as Wolf and the others nodded at him before moving together with him.
Even before they entered the city, they were spotted by the monsters who started moving toward them, staring at them as if they were prey that was waiting to be devoured by them. Hungry beasts ran with all their might in hopes of reaching them first and tearing their bodies into pieces, while the more powerful ones stayed back, staring at Reign and the others with vigilance.
As soon as the monsters got close to Reign and the others, their bodies were suddenly cut apart, flesh, bones, and guts flying everywhere around them as lightning flickered around.
"We don't have time to play with you guys, piss off." Reign said as they all released a portion of their auras, making the monsters shake in fear and run away, scattering around the city.
Reign and the others walked inside the city and looked at the buildings, houses, and stores that were present. There was nobody there, but some signs still remained.
"This, is this Chinese?" Reign asked as he looked at a sign that stood above a store.
"Yeah, that's in Chinese, all of these signs are in Chinese," Beast added from the side as Reign placed his hand over his chin.
"Another city that was transported somewhere it wasn't supposed to be, huh?"
"Let's take a look around, maybe there are still some people that are alive."
Reign and the others walked around in hopes of finding somebody, but they doubted that they would be able to do so. The monsters here were Tier II, and no matter how talented one was, if they were faced with such powerful monsters from the very beginning, death was the only thing waiting for them.
The safe zones had been removed a while ago, which meant that the monsters would be able to break through and kill those that were inside, but even without the safe zones being removed, the people inside would have run out of food and water months ago, meaning that they would have to go out to find some, which would definitely make them prey, and for monsters as powerful as the ones present here, it was easy for them to find and kill them.
After walking around for around half an hour, Reign and the others were unable to find a single person alive. They decided to climb to the top of a nearby building and looked around the city, but it was the same as always, the only thing present was monsters, monsters that were running away thanks to the auras coming from Reign and the others.
"IS ANYBODY HERE?!" Reign suddenly shouted, his shout imbued with mana and traveling around the entire area.
"WE HAVE COME TO HELP YOU, PLEASE RESPOND!"
Nothing, even after waiting for a bit, there was nobody here that responded to Reign, and he was unable to sense anyone either. It became more and more clear that their previous thoughts about the city being devoid of any humans were correct.
Nobody was here, only monsters and ruins of what used to be a city where people lived in.
"Let's explore a bit more before going to the next area, there might still be some people alive, although I know the chances are slim." Reign said as the others nodded before they jumped off the building.
They spent about 30 more minutes inside the city, but the only traces of human life they had found were some mangled corpses that were rotting, prompting them to leave the city and continue forward with their journey.
The next area was interestingly also a city, but one whose building style and buildings itself were very different from the previous one. It looked … old, much older compared to the one they visited before.
They looked at it from a distance before going closer to it. As they entered in the city, they immediately became aware of where they were.
The lush trees covering the many empty buildings where no human had lived for decades looked splendid while the eerie Ferris wheel gave them slight chills. The sign showing a sickle and a hammer was seen, while there was a small sign on which the name of the city could be seen.
'При́п'ять'
It's a name most of the world had heard at least once in their lives, although the nuclear power plant and city next to it were much more famous. They were in the city of Pripyat, the city that had once been located next to the city of Chernobyl.