Looking at Rin, Erix, and Lilith, the Elv girl and the rest of the group felt a clear, particr wave hitting them.


    It was a wave of intimidation.


    They felt intimidated by their eyes, their postures, their aura infused with their unwavering will, and most importantly, the overwhelming sse of power they instilled a them.


    "If you are noting, we will," Rin made a motion to draw out her katana as a bright dark silver gleam shot out horizontally towards them, targetting the tire group.


    de She 3.0!


    It appeared at a speed impossible for them to dodge; ev the three Royal-order powerhouses couldn''t react amidst the tsion and this absurdly sudd attack.


    However, the long arc sh paused half a meter away from the Elf girl and the rest of the group.


    This action shocked the tire group because Rin was Noble-order, and her attack''s range included ev the three Royal-order powerhouses!


    If her attack affected them, they would be allowed to attack and kill her!


    The Noble-order powerhouses thought she was foolish, but…


    The Elf girl and the other two Royal-order powerhouses gulped.


    "This is yourst chance," Rin said as her eyes flickered dark red.


    In the next momt, the battle began.


    Half of the Noble-order powerhouses rushed towards Rin and the other half towards Erix.


    "You are not allowed to surrder," Lilith spoke as she looked at the Royal-order trio with a smile.


    "…Why?" the Elf girl asked somberly, her fists clched.


    The man beside her grunted, his face turning ash. "We will give our loot. L-Let us go."


    Lilith just chuckled while her nce wt to the middle-aged mage woman.


    The middle-aged bust mage woman had her teeth clched, her heart racing, and her face red. She looked at the Noble-order powerhouses fighting Erix and Rin, but  of them could evnd a single hit on them.


    Her staff was glowing, and she was constantly using skills to buff the Noble-order powerhouses. ''H-How could they have Super Exotic Elemts?!''


    "You can continue to buff your teammates,"


    Lilith''s smile turned mischievous as she said, "Let''s see…If you three introduce yourselves with your full name before my two cute childr defeat all of your savages, th I will let all of you go peacefully without killing anyone."


    "Aleona Zia!" the elf woman shouted.


    "Barkh Wolt," the man immediately shouted afterward.


    "M-m-m-m-m-m…"


    ''WTF!'' Zia''s and Wolt''s jaw mmed on the floor as they looked at the mage.


    "Maleua Neresha Nol M-m-m-m-mystelina Norahs M-m-m-m-Moragana!''


    Wh the woman finally finished shouting thest word and oped her eyes, she only felt searing gazes on her.


    …


    The following evts flowed without trouble.


    Zia and her party must stay on the big branch and live in their houses. But, in the more than half-empty space of the branch, Erix and others built their abodes at the d.


    And th….one day passed.


    Inside Trailbane guild''s ctral house, the party members sat on the chairs before Zia, Wolt, and Morgana, who also sat on chairs facing them.


    "Leader, can''t we just try to escape somehow?"


    "Somehow?" Wolt shouted. "You idiot! Lady Lilith is more powerful than us! Way more! And you all are also useless against Mr. Erix and Miss Rin!"


    "No need to call them formally here," Zia said as she waved her hand and looked at the Noble order members. "Sigh, if only you all could contest against Rin and Erix, you could easily escape."


    "But leader, they use strange powers…"


    "Yeah, it seems they are called Super Exotic Elemts. What the fuck is ev that?"


    "Yeah, it''s cheating. How could they wield such powerful elemts on top of having those crazy fighting styles?"


    "I am convinced they…"


    "Convinced what?" Morgana asked with raised eyebrows.


    "Nothing."


    Zia sighed and said, "It''s our fault. We failed to recognize the differce in power."


    "Anyway, our skills are helpless against their control of time and space mixed with other shit. Leader Wolt, I doubt you can ev win against Erix or Rin…cough."


    "What did you say?!" Wolt red at the beastfolk tiger young man who spoke.


    "I am not saying wrong," Tegw red back, "If you don''t believe me, try to fight those two! We are tired of being their punching bag!"


    "That''s right!"


    "We can''t do anymore, please. They almost kill us every several minutes!"


    "We get heals from Lady Lilith. But th they put us at death''s door again! And this cycle just continues!"


    "Yeah, I can still feel pain ev after getting healed."


    "Bunch of weaklings…"


    *Silce.*


    The one who spoke was a girl looking in her early twties with long gray hair. She had wolf ears and a tail, and her expression was deadpan.


    "Lyra?" Zia looked at the wolf-girl in surprise.


    "Leader, I am fine with being their punching bag," Lyra said. "Because I am focusing on improving myself. They are far ahead, but just like how they are using me to hone their skills, I am also learning."


    "You really like to be tortured, huh?"


    Lyra shot a nce at Tegw and coldly said, "I am here to get powerful, not to whine like a miserable bitch."


    After saying that, she left the room. "I am going to meditate, but I''ll still be out and sparring with them whever they want to."


    "She understands the situation," Morgana smiled. "She knows we can''t escape if they don''t want us to go, so she is using this predicamt as her another opportunity."


    "You all should learn from her," Morgana humphed at the Noble-order members.


    "…"


    "…"


    Ssing the silce, Morgana''s face turned red, "do you think wended in this trouble because I failed to speak my name fast!?"


    "No! Ev if I didn''t stutter due to all sorts of mtal exhaustion, they would''ve still defeated all of you in time."


    "If you can prove me wrong, I''ll do a naked dance, humph!"


    …


    It was five hours into the new day in this perpetual dark region.


    Erix and Rin were already meditating outside right aftering out of their today''s Limitless ne session because they were close to connecting the dots for the first technique of the Battlecraft Art Rune, Four Release of Destruction.


    But most interestingly, Rin and Erix were mediating collectively. They connected their Spiritual Sses into a single consciousness frame.


    Inside this frame, Rin''s and Erix''s consciousness interacted with each other, sharing their knowledge and results ofprehsion regarding the First Release of Destruction: Celestial Spiral Wave.


    It was extraordinarilyplex due to the thousands of paths they had to connect and traverse their Mana to execute it, but they first had toprehd and find those paths!


    But they were almost about to finish constructing the First Release of Destruction with their joint effort inprehding it.


    After half an hour, both of them oped their eyes at the same time.


    Surprisingly, both of them saw two of their sparring partners sitting in meditation t meters away on the branch. They particrly recognized both of them since theysted the longest during all the fights.


    The ctral area of the branch was reserved for meditation since doing that on this tree had beficial effects, much like Sere Spots.


    Lyra was not in deep meditation as she was just reviewing her moves and tweaking her skill formations. She wore a furred  skirt with long leggings and a tight -brown top.


    Beside her was Velmord, a human man looking in his forties. He wore a light-material ck robe, but hisbat style relied on his dagger and sneaky skills due to having a shadow elemt and speed concept.


    "Come on, let''s have ourst sparring battle," Erixughed and stood up.


    The others also stood up, with Lyra feeling confused, "Whyst? Are you going to the Umbral region of Spada Valley after this?"


    "Not yet," Rin shook her head while her hand materialized her pitch-ck de Eater, which immediately turned into a long, dark red katana.


    "Next, we''ll spar with your siors," Erix wryly smiled. "It''s not much fun with you all anymore."


    "Let''s change ce, shall we? We ar''t supposed to destroy this tree," Erix snapped his finger as three Nihilir Wisps manifested, going to Rin, Lyra, and Velmord each.


    The momt the wisp touched them, all four of them vanished and appeared five kilometers away on a wide hill.


    *BOOM*


    Velmord vanished from his spot after throwing a bunch of ck papers a everyone, hiding in the shadows before each of them released a de spike toward Rin and Erix.


    Lyra''s body also crackled with lightning and light while red particles oozed out of her body.


    *Zoom!*


    In a blink, her hand equipped with a big w equipmt swiped towards Erix''s head.


    However, Lyra only saw Erix''s lips curling towards forming a smile that she couldn''t fully see before a metal b with a dark blue freezing surface collided against her attack.


    Moving behind her with a blink, Erix''s arm wrapped a her stomach before he spun and mmed her down on the hill, creating a crater. But Lyra immediately sprung and hurled her attacks.


    Both of them tried their best as usual, while Erix and Rin lgthed their battle at the cost of injuries but gain of improvemt.


    …


    Inside the Fall Land city''s northwest gathering area, Rat-King looked at thirty-one people gathered together from a tower two kilometers away.


    "How are they, lord Rat?" a man standing servile beside the Rat King asked.


    "I don''t care how they are. I am just looking at their number and see if they are at least moderately strong," Rat-King snappily said before he turned to his subordinate.


    "Wh are they ready to go?"


    "Tomorrow, my king."


    "Fine. Feed them and dangle more rewards, but just fire up them to kill those Noble-Order people with Dark Que Lilith."


    "Make her angry! She wouldn''t be able to do anything to Noble-order ants anyway."


    "Understood. I''ll rile them up ough."