"ria, Lily, break away from the crowd. We won''t follow them. Let''s find a ce to hide first."


    As the yers rushed through the pce, John controlled the golems to create a diversion, but he and the two women slipped away unnoticed.


    "This is the royal pce, guarded by thousands of soldiers. They won''t be able to escape. Staying with them would make us bigger targets and put us in more danger. We''ll hide here for now. Once they move away, I''ll get us out."


    The situation had escted far beyond John''s expectations. Waking Dolores now seemed impossible. He needed to find a way out first and then sneak back in to wake her once things settled down.


    "But isn''t the Antis royal family afraid of angering the yers? There must be at least a thousand yers here. If they unite, that''s a considerable force."


    "Unlikely. Without a leader to unite them, they''re just a bunch of scattered sand. Not every yer has experienced this. Most won''t want to get involved in this mess."


    "That''s true..." Lily sighed, pressing her ear against the door to listen. After confirming there was no noise outside, she carefully pushed the door open and peeked out.


    "It looks...clear."


    "We need to move quickly."


    Using his knowledge of the pceyout, John led them through the pce, avoiding guards and heading towards the exit. It took nearly two hours, but they finally made it out. John spread his wings and took to the sky with the two women, escaping from the pce.


    As for the golems and the remaining yers, their fate was clear. Only a few managed to escape and posted about the incident on the forums, catching the attention of many yers.


    The fact that NPC forces had schemed against yers and even pursued them left many feeling uneasy. Some suggested that all yers should unite and demand an exnation from the royal family.


    Predictably, the suggestion went unanswered, sinking without a trace.


    Thousands of yers thinking they could oppose an entire kingdom was sheer folly; anyone with a bit of sense knew it was tantamount to suicide. With the chaos in Antis, progressing the main quest anytime soon seemed unlikely, making it pointless for John and hispanions to stay.


    After a brief rest, John gathered ria and Lily and reunited with Exiled Immortal. They used a teleportation scroll to return to Talcavano.


    Since John had exposed Caliban''s true nature, and with Seraphina''s help, took control of the golems, killed Caliban, and leveled the city lord''s mansion, Talcavano had returned to its original state without any restrictivews. However, the expected chaos andwlessness hadn''t ensued. Both yers and NPCs continued with their lives as usual, which surprised John.


    He had thought Talcavano would need a considerable amount of time to settle down, but Caliban''s absence seemed to make no difference. When John and his group found Uncle Mac in the Adventurers Guild, he was surprisingly sober, having only had one or two drinks. He sat there, mostly in a daze, until he saw them, and his eyes lit up.


    "Finally, I thought you had abandoned me!" Mac eximed.


    "How could we, Uncle Mac? We''repanions. We promised to take you to Everglow City, and we won''t go back on our word," John replied with a smile, then turned to Exiled Immortal. Thetter, looking embarrassed, hesitated before finally speaking up at John''s urging.


    "Uncle Mac, I''m really sorry for what happened before. It was my fault that caused a rift among us. I hope you won''t mind."


    "Ah, there''s no avoiding some conflicts amongpanions. Even the best of friends will have their differences. The fact that you came back for me is enough. Let''s leave the past behind," Mac said nonchntly, waving his hand before hopping off his seat and taking a deep breath. "So, where are we headed next?"


    "Spartonia. We have some unfinished business there, and Qing and Helena are waiting for us."


    ...


    Due to Uncle Mac''s return, their journey to Spartonia took a bit longer. What would have taken John a day ended up taking three. Upon arriving in Spartonia, ria and Lily did not enter the city. Instead, they used teleportation scrolls to return to Deep Forest.


    On one hand, ria and Lily could hardly exert anybat power in Spartonia, and on the other, ria wanted to return to check on the dragon egg they had sent to the Elven sanctuary, which was finally due to hatch.


    Upon entering Spartonia, John was surprised to learn that in less than a month, Qing had be a household name.


    Everywhere he went, he heard yers and NPCs discussing Qing.


    After inquiring further, John discovered that Qing had continued his winning streak even after advancing to a mid-tier diator, rarely facing any worthy opponents.


    Neither NPCs nor yers couldst more than five minutes against him.


    In less than ten days, Qing achieved an impressive record of eighty wins with no losses, setting a new record for the fastest advancement to high-tier diator in Spartonia''s history.


    As a result, Qing received an invitation from the king of Spartonia, who offered him the position of general as an incentive to join.


    Initially, Qing nned to decline, knowing he wouldn''t stay in Spartonia for long and didn''t want to be tied down by the title.


    However, upon learning about the uing third major event, the national war, Qing epted the king''s offer and became a general in the Spartonia army,manding nearly ten thousand troops.


    After searching the city for a while, John and hispanions finally found Qing.


    He and Helena had moved into the Spartonia royal pce.


    Helena was introduced as Qing''s sister, and her impressivebat skills earned her the respect she deserved.


    Today was Qing''s first match as a high-tier diator, and John and the others headed to the arena.


    After some effort, they found Helena.


    From her, they learned that there was less than a week until her agreed meeting with the Hunting Divine Emissary.


    The deadline was fast approaching.


    Fortunately, John''s timely return brought some relief to Helena.


    In the arena, Qing''s first opponent was quite formidable.


    ording to those nearby, this person was one of the most seasoned diators in the arena, having participated in hundreds of battles with more wins than losses and possessing a wealth ofbat experience.


    Enthusiastically, they even exined the opponent''s signature moves to John and hispanions.


    However, when the referee announced the start of the battle, it ended faster than the introductions had taken.


    The audience quickly realized just how powerful Qing was.


    When facing mid-tier diators, he hadn''t even shown his full strength.


    Otherwise, how could a high-tier diator be defeated so easily?


    Helena exined that Qing''s severe injuries had just healed, so he had been holding back to avoid aggravating them.


    After the match, they finally met Qing. Compared to when theyst parted, Qing had grown significantly stronger.


    Immersed in constant battles, his strength had increased rapidly.


    Of course, John wasn''t far behind.


    Since awakening the All-Devourer talent, John spent every spare moment gnawing on various strange monster jerky, and his attribute panel had increased by at least seventy points.


    It was important to note that only a week had passed. Given enough time, John''s attributes could grow to astonishing levels.


    After all, in six days, they would face two Divine Emissaries.


    Before then, they needed to do everything possible to strengthen themselves.


    John was reluctant to hand over the Godyer Bow unless absolutely necessary, as doing so could lead to disaster in the future.