110 Hinder [1]

"Senior Brother."

Cai Ning muttered worriedly as she flew at a high speed. When she heard that something happened to her Senior Brother, worries filled her heart. It was to the point that she didn't even apologize to the poor souls who suddenly got pulled into their battle.

She felt that her Senior Brother's mark became closer, thus she went there even faster.

She arrived in a medium-sized city. Its prosperity can be seen just by looking at the cultivators inside that place. After entering from the gate, she ran hurriedly.

'Here?'

Cai Ning went to one of the alleys as it indicated her Senior Brother's location. What she didn't know is that this city suddenly got filled with white fog in a blink of an eye. When she was passing by some areas, she saw the unusual white fog but didn't care much about it.

'This medium city is very prosperous, so there should be a Heaven Immortal guarding it.' she thought.

"Senior Brother!"

In her sight, her senior brother's reliable back can be seen. He didn't have any bloodstains on his clothes, indicating that he hadn't gone into a serious battle.

"Senior brother, are you alright?"

"Yes.."

He spoke with a raspy voice.

"It sounds like you aren't! Here, it's a-"

Just as she's about to go and give him a medicinal pill, he finally faced her.

"S-senior brother?"

Flesh and maggots. Half of his flesh looks normal, but the other half is very horrendous. Black maggots chewed upon his red flesh as he continued to speak in a bewildered tone.

"What's wrong?"

"W-what is t-that?"

Cai Ning drew her silver longsword as she readied for a fight.

"This? Ah. Immortality."

As he spoke, one of his eyeballs seem to almost fall off. He revealed his arms which were hidden in his sleeves. Just like his face, half of them look like bare flesh being eaten by those maggots.

"You'll understand later."

"Senior brother?!"

He flashed like a sonic boom, nearing her in an instant. In one bite, some of the flesh on her face fell.

"Argh!"

Furthermore, the white fog acted like a shark that smelled blood. It entered the open flesh in which she was bitten.

'What?'

Her consciousness faded as she died in confusion.

***

It didn't take long for them to recover. They didn't spend much energy whilst fighting them due to the fact that they've all cultivated Nature/Heaven's Force techniques, making them stronger than an average Deity.

'How did I acquire that [Corruption Resistance] trait again? Right, it was from that time when I got killed by a Seat.'

Recalling his previous memories, Lugh finally grasped the thin line that he was looking for. If it's a coincidence that he got the [Corruption Resistance], it's fine. But if he got that from that Seat..

'The zergs are involved with this corruption thingy.'

He also felt something strange about that woman riding a lightning dragon. She wasn't corrupted, but he felt danger from her.

"Let's go."

Lugh and the others headed back to the tenth ascension point and found out that it was active. They went back to the ship after seeing that.

Lugh felt relieved after seeing everyone else return with no casualties.

"How is it, Senior?"

"Nothing much. We ended our investigation without a hitch."

"What?"

"Hah. I wish it ended up well for us.."

"What happened?"

Maen explained their encounters to Light. A distortion event and a battle in an investigation? Even Light had a hard time accepting that as well.

"A fight? How did you do, Senior?"

The twins overheard what we've just talked about and asked curiously as well.

"Nothing much. The fight ended without a hitch."

"Really? Then, did you encounter those strange things?"

"Yes. Did you, too?"

"We did!"

Turns out, the twin's group is even more unlucky than theirs. They've encountered 3 distortion events in a row!

A city filled with howling ghosts, a forest that kept appearing and disappearing, and a bloody city purely created by blood-red flesh.

'Holy.. Those felt like they came out of a horror book!'

"We'll depart after 4 hours. Until then, review the routes that will be sent on your Armors."

Vera declared after planning for the escape routes. In it, only 17 out of the 30 ascension points are active. Out of those 17, 5 are in the safe zones, 8 are near the cities, and the rest are near the distortion events.

So as to say, the safest points only amount to 5.

Soon, 4 hours passed. Lugh tried to be in his optimal state while readying for this decisive escape. He also readied the remaining sealing cards that he might use later. Since they're leaving, it doesn't matter whether more distorted people will pop up.

Now that they're back in a single group, the Captain is naturally the Operation Head, Vera.

"From our findings, our destination would be the 3rd Ascension point that the 1st group discovered. Along the way, our destinations might change."

Vera explained the mission specifics to others. Since Lugh's team was mixed on her team, she couldn't be casual about it, causing her subordinates to have a "This is new" expression.

For their route, they'll plan to enter one of the ascension points and descend to the mortal planes. After that, they'll go at their full speed without exposing their other strengths. Once they arrive at the transit point, they'll just need to form a group array to return to the main dimension.

Moreover, it's calculated that they'll return near the Alliance's side this time, so their chances of escaping are even higher.

"I hope that-wait. I'll stop this time."

Light was about to say something, but he stopped himself. He recalled Lugh's and the twin's words before chuckling.

"Senior Ligh stopped this time.."

With that, they went out of the ship. After Kaede placed the ship back in her 'Army Box', they went to their destination. Along the way, they didn't encounter any events, making Lugh feel that they're lucky this time.

It was only until a lightning dragon greeted their sight that they all stopped for a while.

"This is the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground's territory! Identify yourselves!"

"We're just passing by. We bring no harm."

Jikel stepped out of the group since he saw that its a familiar person.

"A Heaven Immortal?"

The female cultivator on the lightning dragon didn't respond as she looked at Vera's direction. In that instant, her vigilance was set to the highest.

"Who are you? State your affliation!"

"We're a group of Luo Family cultivators. Someone stole from us, so we're chasing him. If you do not have any questions, please give way."

Vera spoke according to the information that Lugh received. She also burst out with powerful momentum as she spoke.

'Shit. This girl, its been twice already..'

Meanwhile, the danger that Lugh perceived is slowly becoming stronger and stronger...