Adrian and the others appeared above the vast ocean a few thousand kilometers away from the western continent. Despite Ascalor being the most proficient in spatial magic, all he could do is to transport them to a location a few nautical miles away from land as even the waters around the western continent have been afflicted by the mana storm.
The entire western continent is covered in an ominous dark blue sky which signifies that a mana storm is currently afflicting it. Even flying monsters were not seen in the skies as if they were afraid of their own aerial territories. Even the waters were quiet as the usual boisterous sea monsters have hidden in the very depths of their territories.
"Your twenty minutes starts now, boy. We will now move to our locations as the other demons have started to raise concerns on the dimensional stability." Ascalor stated as he transformed into his true form and headed north of the western continent.
"Good luck in your timely endeavors." Koronn stated as he also headed to his location which is the east side of the western continent.
"Remember to not let your guard down but also take note of your duty. You are an Arch Demon." Bronx stated as he headed towards the west side of the western continent.
Adrian was given twenty minutes because that was the time when all three of the elders will be in position. They would only start casting spells when they reach their position. Adrian looked at the others as he was controlling gravity to keep those unable to fly afloat.
"What about the other members of the guild?" Adrian asked.
"Some are currently at the western continent protecting the Temple of the Sun God. It seems that monster activity has increased when the summoning of the Distorted God Apophis started. Those that died will only revive tomorrow that includes Vayu and Kabrakan." Solstice stated.
"The plan now is our only shot at stopping the full descent of the Distorted God Apophis. The only way to truly stop it is to kill the vessel of Apophis. Does anyone have an objection?" Adrian stated.
Frey wanted to say something, but she also swallowed her words. She was not strong enough right now to say that she could protect the vessel of Apophis from being taken. She saw the frightened face of the girl but even she agrees that killing her would be the best.
If she were powerful enough, then she would have been able to protect the girl as she was the earliest among them that saw her. If she only killed the girl as soon as she saw her then all this trouble would have been stopped. It seems that she has been truly immersed in this game as she sees NPCs as real people but that is not a bad thing in itself.
She has compassion which a lot of players in Pandemonium lack but sometimes too much could be damaging. Just because she did not agree with Adrian's initial decision, a whole continent full of innocent people are now in danger of being killed. She also read some of the reports that her acquaintances at the Briar Rose guild have reported.
The western continent is in complete and utter chaos. The air itself was unbearable to the normal person to breath which led to small human populations to die off. The other avatars of the gods could only create a barrier around their cities to save the weak from dying from the pressure. This in turn made all the avatars unable to get away from their territories.
The whole western continent could not stop the descent of the Distorted God Apophis because they are busy with protecting the people. The Shadow of Apophis planned this perfectly as it had a lot of time to spend recuperating and it had the help of an outside force. The demons must stabilize the dimension that is falling apart from the descent of the Distorted God Apophis which meant that only outside forces could defend the western continent.
"I guess this mission is now left to us. I just hope that we could actually pull it off." Adrian muttered as even he is not sure that twenty minutes are enough.
"Limit Break: Summoner!" Adrian stated as he summoned all of his soulbounds.
"Descent of the Tree of Life and Death." Levin Cloud stated as a seed came down from the heavens and dropped at the ocean.
The ocean below surged as a huge tree suddenly sprouted which became their home base for the moment. Adrian undid the gravity manipulation and all of them descended. As soon as Adrian descended, he immediately started to give orders.
"Levin Cloud would make use of the large network that the Tree of Life and Death could provide as a way to search for any sign of movements. The demigod Toggua might still be looking for the boat that the Followers of Apophis used which means spotting him would mean that we are close to the vessel as well.
Levin Cloud will stay at the Tree of Life and Death with Creepysoo as his back up. The others would search for the boat and remember that we still have the scale of Apophis which means that any reaction from that would mean that we are close to the vessel." Adrian stated as Peridot, Soleil, and Solstice immediately scattered into the direction that the former specified.
"Be careful as well and I believe that you will do what is right. If you cannot do it, then you can always call for me as I will make the difficult decision for you." Adrian told Frey when it was only the two of them speaking.
"Do not worry as I will do what I must as the fate of an entire continent now lies on the life of one person. She must not bear such thing when life has already been crashing down towards her. Still, I am glad that you offered your hand on such difficult decision." Frey stated as she smiled at Adrian.
She thought that Adrian did not have compassion, but she was actually looking at it differently. From the start of this situation, Adrian has been the one that has the most compassion. She only looked at the situation from her biased perspective.
She heard from the Demigod Toggua that Equinox was the guardian of the boundary of death. She understood from that statement that it was Adrian that has encountered lots of dead souls in the game. He was the one that understands them most because he did say that the vessel's soul will not go to the afterlife if devoured. Frey flew away to her designated location with her mind being ready.
"You know… your flirting skills need some work. You need to level that up." Levin Cloud stated as he was actually at the side with Creepysoo when Frey and Adrian were having the conversation.
"I thought you did great big bro! The way you said that you will make the difficult decision for her was so romantic." Creepysoo stated while giving a thumbs up.
"Any signs of the boat?" Adrian asked as he wanted to divert the subject.
"Not in my area of sensing. Are you sure that they would use the southern port though?" Levin Cloud asked.
"Our shadow unit reported that the Followers of Apophis were gathered at the southern port. They must definitely use it. We now have fifteen minutes remaining. I wish all of us the best of luck." Adrian stated as he commanded all his soulbounds to scatter as well.
A few moments after Adrian left…
"I wanted to ask this earlier, but I did not want to because Frey was here. Do you think that she has grown weaker? She does not feel as intense compared to before." Creepysoo asked as he always felt some fear towards Frey as she could deal great damage to him should they fight.
"I noticed that as well. I thought it was only me, but I did notice that her usual holy aura seems to have decreased. Did she do something to offend her goddess?" Levin Cloud stated as he continued to sense any activity in the large area that the roots of the Tree of Life and Death are spread.
==
The Followers of Apophis were sailing towards the southern port of the western continent as planned but they had to take some detours which time. They needed to take detours because the Demigod Toggua actually followed them, but they managed to lose him when they entered the waters of the western continent.
They were travelling at such a fast pace that they would reach the port in under ten minutes if the mages do not rest. The mages were already exerting all of their mana and even life force so that they could reach the port sooner. They could almost see the land, but they could also see a strange silhouette of a large tree like being in the horizon.
"Gungnir!" The beautiful voice of a female riding a pegasus echoed.