Earlier, as instructed, Flunra had already affirmed the fixed supplies that would be shipped to the Humans. He talked with Giana and got the fixed items and their quantity: some materials, the elemental affinities, equipment, and also manpower.
Seeing the list of items, Flunra couldn't help but frown.
He remembered that Rex only promised the elemental affinities and some materials.
But the list got longer, the Humans are demanding a lot of things.
Knowing what the change in expression meant—Giana explained, that President Sebrof likely offered this ridiculous list in order to make room for negotiations. Additionally, the lower-level cities were in desperate need of help, which is why a rather long list.
In short, the Human race is being beaten down by the Second Breath's aftermath.
"Can you bring the list to Rex?" Giana asked whisperingly.
Upon hearing this, Flunra looked at her sharply with a raised eyebrow.
"The Emperor... I mean" She quickly corrected.
Despite being a part of the Silverstar Pack—she was not close enough to call the Emperor by his name. She needs to be formal, and her earlier lack of formality irked Flunra but he let it go this time, "I'll bring this to the Emperor—but don't expect too much. Ten thousand sixth-rank, or above individuals, especially, is too much"
Surprisingly, when Flunra brought this list to Rex, he accepted the list.
It was very unlike him to be like this.
"Call it atoning for my sins, tell Gelmar to prepare what they wanted," Rex said firmly.
Flunra wanted to advise him to at least counter-negotiate—so that the Humans would not be too reliant, on them—but he refrained from doing so. 'I doubt President Sebrof, would make a mistake like that. This should be fine'
Ten thousand sixth-rank individuals might be a lot, but it was nothing for Rex's forces.
Under him were five powerful kingdoms, and that number was manageable.
Just like that, the matter with the Humans was concluded.
Back to the present, Rex was currently leading the assault team Flunra had prepared.
Since the assault team needs to be comprised of seventh-rank realm individuals or above—it was not a big group, only about forty people in total. Most are Awakened with Dray and Liliya and a small portion of them are Supernaturals including Flunra, Dindora, and Gistella.
Rex was surprised to find Gistella coming with the team, happy even.
But unsurprisingly, she has been giving him the silent treatment.
As the team made their way to the mist border, Dindora was circling the area around.
She is adept in a forest, and she was tasked to guide the team to the safest path.
Going against the mutated animals in the Humming Damned Forest is not ideal since they are going to be traversing an unknown place. All of the unknowns are associated with danger, so the team has to reserve their energy for when the time comes.
Along the way to the border, Rex consulted his sudden quest with Flunra.
Out of the four requirements to complete the sudden quest, for helping the Countess, he had an idea to complete one of them thanks to Amanir. From Flunra, he gained two more ideas as Flunra knew about the Lotus of Lunar Heart as well as gathering the 10,000 strands of divine energy.
One required them to be lucky, while the other to offend Kaiser further.
Rex made the right decision to ask for Flunra, his knowledge is still extremely useful.
Eventually, with the help of Dindora's lead—the assault team managed to reach the border.
All stood at the exact same place Rex lost Kassandra earlier.
Looking ahead, the assault team was greeted by the mist, closer to a very thick fog that was surrounding the Humming Damned, ever since the Second Breath happened. Kyran reported that this border of fog completely surrounded the forest, there was no gap.
Moreover, despite the sway and dance of the fog, it didn't spill into the forest.
It was as if there was an invisible wall separating it from the forest.
But Rex knew that was not the case as Kassandra could get inside the fog with relative ease.
A clash between Flunra's moonlight energy-infused howl with an unknown energy.
Slowly, the soundwaves tore a hole in the fog border.
Flunra kept on going until eventually, there was a flicker of light that flashed from the hole.
It formed a swirling vortex of energy before a blowback happened.
Boom!
Under everyone's surprised gazes, Flunra was hit directly by a beam of pale energy.
The beam struck him squarely in the chest—hurling him backward, with such powerful force, that he shattered a towering tree and bent another behind it—sending splinters of wood into the air from the sheer impact.
He groaned in pain with his chest still sizzling from the scorching effect of the beam.
Rex leaped off of Delta's back and landed near Flunra, checking on him.
"So, what does that mean?" He asked, extending his hand to help Flunra get up.
Accepting the help, Flunra stood up before he nodded, "It's a dominion with an ego, I'm sure"
"If my energy-infused attack simply passes through the fog or enters the place I'm testing, it means that the place is not a dominion. Contrary, if there's a blowback like this one, then it's a dominion" Flunra explained, knowing that Rex wanted to know. "It did not have a sentience because the blowback stopped at one attack"
"I'm attacking, with the intent to destroy the place, if there was a sentience—the ruler, would have done more than this to me than a simple attack. Just like a living being, the ruler valued its existence too" He added finally.
Determining what kind of dominion this fog border is, the assault team could now enter.
Now that they know the place has an ego, they need to learn its rules and mechanisms.
Just like earlier, Rex was at the very front, leading the team.
However, instead of leading the assault team into the fog—he decided to raise his hand as a signal to the others before he instructed Delta to advance forward. A dominion based on the explanation from Flunra sounds dangerous, it's best for me to enter and check what's on the other side first before the rest come in.
Fearing for its dangers, Rex decided to enter the mist first as he was the strongest.
If something happened, he could deal with it the best.
Moreover, he also doesn't want unnecessary death, so going in first is the best option.
Inhaling a deep breath, Rex and Delta entered the fog.
Looking from the other's point of view—they could see Rex and Delta's silhouettes becoming fainter and fainter as they strode inside before completely disappearing. On the other hand—Flunra glanced at his burning chest.
Getting hit by the blowback earlier knocked the wind out of him.
In addition to that—Flunra felt like his bones rattled at that blow making him feel like, as if he was being hit by a physical object rather than an energy beam. He rubs his chest—hissing in pain before his eyes catch something.
He gazed at both of his hands and found that his fingertips were turning white.
Just like being coated by dried-up chalk.
Seeing this, he couldn't help but frown, "Hmm... this feels familiar. Is this white force?"
Piecing together the situations, he ended up to that conclusion.
Meanwhile, Rex and Delta emerged to the other side and were greeted by a wasteland.
Nothing seemed to be waiting for them on the other side.
<The user has entered the Painless Death Wasteland, Chrono Hollow>
Rex felt a bad omen coming from the name, and when he saw another notification appeared, a clear warning, he could only curse inwardly as his bad omen was justified, "Fuck me..."
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