Mission and Trap

 Thankfully, Ryker was not questioned by his other lovers, he already told them what happened using the communication token.

 The only thing they asked is how Catherine looked like, which he showed to them. They nodded in approval, making him wonder when did he life turned from trying to uncover the secret of his parents to be some kind of novel protagonist that tried to form the largest harem ever.

-x-

 When he come to the Adventure Guild the next day, he saw Catherine at the counter. Greeting his advisor, he asked her for other things, namely if there is any hard mission for him.

 Just as she was about to answer, the two sense her communication token letting out a light buzzing. Grapsing it, Catherine poured her Soul Sense into it, messaging the other side.

 After 5 minutes since she use the token, Catherine looked at him before saying the words he wanted to hear.

 "There is another case of Spirit Beast in the area. Do you accept it?" she asked, like there is any other answer for it.

 "Of course, where is it?"

-x-

 Considering the location of the beast, it took him some time before he was able to reach it. Even with flying, the distance took him 10 hours for him cover it.

 Yet, when he reach the place, he could not see any sign of life, the place looking it had been cleared before. As he was wondering if the information is correct, he sense several presence with his Soul Sense.

 Feeling something is wrong, he discretely used his Soul Sense to detect them, before feeling the presence of a formation. Realizing the possible danger he was in, he took action.

 Ryker dive towards them, appearing in front of them to quickly for them to realize the danger they are in. And he is not in the mood to play nice. With a swipe of his hand, all but one of the people exploded into blood mist, not even bones remained from his attack.

 The last merely look blankly, unable to comprehend the fact his companions was killed in mere seconds. When he regain his mental faculty, he screamed and try to grab his communication token. Keyword: try.

 Ryker tear the limb with his barehand and put his hand on his forehead, using it as a connected to his Soul. While he can use his Soul without doing something like that, this will make it much faster.

 As he tear through the soul of the man, he absorbed the memory of his would be attackers. When he did so, his eyes widened as he began to realize the frame danger he is in.

 He quickly used his Law of Space to tear a way out but failed, the formation having been completed during his memory searching. At the same time, powerful Soul Sense scoured through the area.

 Ryker scowled as he used his mastery of Law of Darkness to cover himself, not using his qi in fear of them being able to detect him. If the strength of his attacker only at the level of the one he had finished, he would not be that troubled.

 However, if they are able to create a false mission and gather enough resources to create a formation in what is basically in the middle of nowhere, there is no doubt they have information on him and knew what he is capable of.

 So, he hid himself as he used Shadow Traversing to leap from shadow to shadow. As he tried to find any weak spot, a powerful aura appeared on top of him, making him stop moving.

 "It seem he is not here as well. How did he manage to hide himself from us?" the powerful figure exclaimed. While he could not move or use his Soul Sense, a little head movement would be subtle enough.

 When he did so, he spotted someone that make his heart drop. On top of his is a 9th Stage Noble expert, a Duke and the head of Lugh Family. He had asked for pictures of the allies of Lariz's competition but never would he have thought to spot the man here.

 "He should be using some kind of treasures to hide his presence, my Lord!" the other man said respectfully.

 "Argh, troublesome. We cannot send any of our men there as it would be suicide. He is strong enough to slaughter Half-Noble experts and we don't want to lose any of those guys. And we cannot send Genesis Sea either or they will be snack for him.

 Keep searching. As long as I am in the area, I will be able to detect him," the man proclaimed before summoning his Noble Tower and arrange it to look like a throne.

 While he busy adjusting his world view of what Noble Tower can be used as, one of the Duke's man get close to him, prompting him to dive deeper into the shadow.

 As the man looked around, he let out a sigh of relief before heading away, the Duke also leaving the area. After making sure the danger is truly gone, Ryker began to thought of his plan. 

 He could not hope to make his escape, as the formation prevented him from passing through the barrier or using Spatial Technique to get away. Aside from that, the formation is also vast, so it would take time for him to find a weakness, if there is any.

 He could attack the formation's nodes, but it would be dangerous as there would be powerful experts guarding it. So, at the moment, he is trapped, and the worse part is that the tournament he supposed to participate in would start in 10 days. 

 While it may look long, if they manage to maintain the formation for that long, things would look back for Lariz.

 As he thought about it, he pushed the thought aside. He should not think of such thing at the moment, only focusing on doing his best to get away from the trap.

 Ryker pondered over his option before deciding to look at all possibility. 

 "First, I should seek the edge of the formation and see if it is possible to escape there. If not, I'll go with the second plan, attacking the formation's nodes and hope it would destabilized it enough for me to escape.

 If the two is not possible, I need to use this then," he took out his Remnant Power. It is overkill to use it but he is desperate and they should blame themselves for pushing him to this point. If not, they would have stay alive longer.