"Well…" Sara moved her eyes around, and John suddenly spoke up:
"I heard them mentioning northwest, almost four hundred kilometres away."
"This…" it was indeed too far from here, "let's go then. We'll travel light and fast; we won't fight except if it's absolutely necessary."
Crossing such a distance would take at least a week in normal times. But almost one third of this time was wasted in fighting one's way through the forest or resting between travel times.
This time, William and his team managed to pass without facing much trouble. The entire region was already boiling for a long time, and most of the dark forces and monsters were getting slaughtered by the normal masters from the fort.
They didn't meet any trouble worthy of mentioning. Any enemy they met was either trying to run away with his life or was desperate to take anyone down with him before dying. So, the fights they got were scarce and lacked any danger at all.
They marched literally in an ocean of normal forces, with endless teams running everywhere, calling on each other, killing and chasing dark masters and monsters.
During their travel that took close to five days, William started examining their spirits using his crystal method. He also started to think about the best training manuals and fighting techniques for every one of his team, suiting their different elements and spirits.
William wanted to start the path of evolving his team, and then his guild. He saw this as a grand chance to rise. The entire dark forces in the region were routed and the place would become safe and quiet for a long time in the future.
Not to mention his fame and name would rise to new heights after this war would end. He'd try to use this chance to recruit more forces, and hopefully he'd find more gems, the ones he always aspired to get.
As he walked with his team and thinking about the future, the situation back at the base, the same base William and his team were marching towards, was hectic!
The dark master forces in the region already were losing the war. And bad news kept coming like a flood. The elder of the Black Mamba clan didn't have any hope anymore. And all he was doing right now was trying to regroup all the remaining forces in the base, trying his best to subdue them and let them follow him away.
The big shots in the base already got divided into two big groups. One of them tried to escape, go out through different ways, but all failed. The outer world was already filled with tons of spirit masters, not to mention the scary Scarlet Bears.
After many failed, the rest decided to wait in here and hope. Even if hope seemed so weak in their eyes, almost nonexistent, they got nothing else but it.
And then the old elder from the Black Mamba clan showed up, inviting everyone to join him. He claimed to have a way out, getting them far away from here.
When everyone suspected his claims, doubting they'd even be saved if they followed him out of here, the old man showed the big shots something.
It was the same weapon he thought before to use, the one which could summon portals and invited deadly forces to his aid.
Seeing this weapon made all of these big names get convinced. It was a hopeless way to use such a weapon right now. After all, it had many limitations, and many knew about this.
But if they got such weapon, that meant they'd have a chance in joining any great dark forces out from here. And if they faced trouble in the new place they were heading towards, using this weapon was enough to save their lives.
The old man hated the idea of leaving here without using such a weapon. But he knew if he did that, he'd gain nothing. This war was heading towards uprooting all the dark force strongholds in the entire zone. And that meant if they used this weapon to clear a path out, they wouldn't find anywhere safe to hide at.
The old man tried to not think about this, tried not to think about any of this disaster that befell the entire zone. He failed miserably in exerting revenge over his sworn enemies, ending up losing everything, and had to run away like a coward rat to save his life.
So, he returned to focus on inviting and recruiting more dark masters. The big shots agreed to join him, and now all it remained was to convince the normal dark masters to join as well.
Dark masters never knew what loyalty meant except in rare situations. They were only looking for their benefits. And right now, in the middle of all these disasters, the offer from that old man was really tempting.
The entrance to the base already got sealed from the brutal fights between Alfonso's men and the big shots of dark masters which tried to come out from the base. There was no way out, except for the way of the old man.
The surface was already under the control of Alfonso and his people for a long time now. Even if most of the scary Scarlet Bears went away to hit other bases and kill more dark masters, Alfonso gathered tons of forces up there, trying to open any entrance to the underground base.
The forces sent from Panther and others were indeed enough to let him keep part to guard this base. For a reason, Alfonso felt this place was quite special with all the enemies he killed and the sudden closure of all the entrances to the underground base.
When news came to his ears from various frontlines, where his forces managed to secure lots of bases and invaded them, he knew this place was really special.
But the main thing that made him believe so was that yellow river.