Unsealing Emptiness

She would keep a check on the resources that the Three-Eyed Strangers had in their vaults, and it was obvious that they were going to run out sooner or later because of the vast scope of their expenditure.

These peak Rank-8 corpses might be useless for them, but they weren’t for the organization.

“We are done,” Raven spoke to Ozul who was waiting for them to finish.

They didn’t have anything to pack anyway, so Ozul began to lead them towards those sky high snow peaks.

“Keep your guard up, something feels off,” Ozul warned as they slowed down a little. He felt off because of the numerous Mana signatures he felt coming from those mountains.

As far as his senses could reach, there were no doubt tens of peak Rank-8 Magical Beasts present there. What proved to be even more peculiar was how the number of Beasts he felt in the mountain range increased the closer they got to it.

.....

From up high in the air, Ozul could see how the mountain range extended on both sides, even curving at the far ends.

‘It is as if they are encircling something,’ Ozul thought. This odd terrain made him sure that there really was something strange beyond those snow peaks.

As they slowly approached the snow peaks, the feeling that there was something peculiar on the other side only got stronger.

The group of Rank-8 Mages behind him were all on edge. After a few minutes, even they were able to sense a few of those Beasts’ Mana signatures. They were ready to start shooting their Spells at any sign of danger.

Though strangely, none of the Magical Beasts had any intentions of attacking them.

“Huh? How can so many peak Rank-8 Beasts remain at the same location in peace?” Blaze muttered to himself. The others had the same question as Raven had a thoughtful face.

Under Ozul’s lead, they didn’t land on the snow peaks and instead continued to fly straight to the other side. Clouds blurred their vision, so they had to lower their altitude a little.

Questions started to pile up among the group as they continued to observe the sight in front of them.

A few moments later, Ozul suddenly stopped in the middle of the air as realization dawned upon Raven at the same time.

“There is only a single reason why Beasts of the same rank would not tear eachother apart for territory and food...” Raven muttered, but her words were finished by Ozul instead, “... if an even stronger Beast is near.”

In fact, it became clear now why all of these peak Rank-8 Beasts and even a few weaker were all staying on the mountains without starting an all out carnage.

“There are at least 3 Rank-9 Beasts, stay close to me,” Ozul looked at the wide view in front of him and informed the group behind him.

Raven and Blaze slowly both approached to his sides and only then were they able to gaze at the view which made them pause in shock.

Before them was a vast grassland surrounded by the mountain peaks from all sides!

The snow peaks didn’t just end with a small curve that they had seen from the distance. Just as Ozul had expected, it was indeed encircling that wide plain.

And Ozul even pointed out the locations he felt the three Rank-9 Beasts in. All three of them stood hundreds of meters away from each other, but all this distance was nothing in the eyes of a Rank-9 Beast.

“What... what even is this...” Blaze muttered as he stared at the most abnormal view in his entire life.

The fact that there were three Rank-9 Beasts far in the distance had already made all the members of the Rogue Crew suck in a cold breath.

Even for Rank-8 Mages, it was rare to ever encounter Beasts at the same rank much less Beasts at Rank-9.

Only now did they start to realize that their job wasn’t as simple as it seemed at the start.

Looking at the three figures floating before them, all of them had the same question inside their hearts; had they made the right decision to accept that middle aged lady’s offer to join the organization that day?

They had come here believing that Rank-8 Mages were valued wherever they went and they would most likely only have to work a little more than others. How would they know that they would be following Ozul and in the face of real dangers around him, they were only a bunch of cannon fodder.

“All of them are behaving because of the presence of those Rank-9 Beasts,” Ozul uttered but his eyes were not in the direction of those Rank-9 Beasts now.

Instead, he was looking at a single mountain-like structure right in the middle of the vast grassland.

At this time, the duo also moved their eyes towards that structure. It looked like an old temple carved out of a mountain as there were many thick tree vines entangled with the trees around it.

“Are those the ruins mentioned on the map?” Raven asked curiously. She had seen the parchment multiple times and was aware that this was the location where the ruins were supposed to be. And that was the only thing that felt remotely similar to ruins in sight.

Ozul didn’t answer her question. He was just as clueless as them, but there was something that had caught his eyes.

He felt a familiar feeling coming from the mountain and the old ruin like thing in front of them.

Just then, his eyes suddenly darted in the direction of the three Rank-9 Beasts and noticed how none of them made an effort to approach their group.

He was sure that they would have surely felt their presence up in the air. Rank-9 Beasts had a very clear conscience and were even fluent in human speech if they had encountered humans before. Point being, they were intelligent enough and should have attacked them already.

‘Thinking about that, why didn’t they fight among themselves?’ Ozul noticed how the three Rank-9 Beasts were all staying at their location as well.

While thinking of all that, he was slowly descending towards the temple-like mountain when the realization dawned upon him. After all, they had just said, ‘There is only a single reason why Beasts of the same rank would not tear eachother apart for territory and food is if an even stronger Beast is near...’

“A...Rank-10 Beast?!...” Raven muttered in shock.

Hiss...

With it being quiet all around, her words caused everyone except for Ozul to suck in cold breath again.

Ozul turned around and noticed everyone had their mouths hung loosely as they looked at him with anxious faces full of questions.

In face of all their worries, he took a deep breath before saying, “Stay calm and listen to me carefully.”

Only when he noticed the duo coming to their senses did he continue again, “Forget about the existence of a Rank-10 Beast. Even with that out of the picture, we are in the middle of a monster den surrounded by more than a hundred Rank-8 Beasts and at least three Rank-9 Beasts.”

“Don’t lose control over your emotions. Even the slightest mistake can rile up all of these Beasts and I might not be able to protect you then,” Ozul said with an apathetic tone, making all of them realize that they would be left on their own if they really did mess up here.

From how calm he was being, some of them even wondered if there really was a Rank-10 Beast somewhere around here or not.

Ozul pointed towards the farthest spot from the Rank-9 Beasts on the mountain range and said, “Take your positions there. Be ready to rush back to the headquarters at moment’s notice.”

He particularly fixated his eyes on Blaze and Raven while saying this.

‘I didn’t expect such a development...’ Ozul thought as he even had to win a staring contest against Raven to convince her.

“Where will you be?” Raven still had to ask. She had plenty of more questions about the situation but she decided to hold on to them for now.

She knew something was up from how it had already been the third time that he had reminded them to run for their lives in the face of any danger. He had yet to tell them about the incident with those spies as well.

“I will be exploring those ruins alone,” Ozul motioned towards the temple-like mountain.

Although Raven wanted to ask much more, she only nodded her head and went off in the direction of the spot where Ozul had ordered them to stay in.

No one could understand it better than Raven that once Ozul made his decision, there was no way that anyone could change his mind without a solid argument. But she couldn’t think of any argument considering that she had no idea what a Rank-10 Beast was even capable of.

Blaze also wanted to say something but when he noticed how even Raven was helpless, he knew that he stood no chance either. He nodded his head at Ozul before following after Raven.

“All of you are to stay with them,” Ozul ordered the Rogue Crew who had no other choice but to follow his orders because of their oaths.

Many of them had thoughts about running away, but they would die now if they did because of their oaths to always obey his orders.

Only after all of them had gone far away did Ozul look back towards the ruins below him, “This is interesting...”