Death... and me

As Roan worked on the wall of the building, Duran couldn't help but ask Rean, "Is his method working?"

Rean nodded and replied, "It is, but it'll take a while. All we can do is wait. He's trying to open a breach in that dark energy without alerting the other side. If that works, we'll be able to enter without the enemy noticing."

Duran nodded as he looked around. "Still, to think this place wouldn't have a single demon beast defending it. If not because we should have never found the real entrance, I would think this was a trap."

Rean agreed with him, saying, "Yes. However, we might have passed some detection formations without triggering them. Don't forget, Red's concealment skills could also pass through my own detection formations. I wouldn't be surprised if his abilities also work here. When you include my Light bending skill, we form a really strong pair when it comes to not being caught.."

Rean was right. The red-eyed being did work on detection formations to stop others from approaching without it noticing. Unfortunately for it, they didn't work on Rean and Red working together. Also, it was his fault since it had all his attention on the Soul Submission Orbs outside. It knew that it was about time for Rean's group to appear once more to try to destroy another one. Well, they wouldn't appear.

As they waited, Rean noticed that Kentucky's attention was fixated elsewhere. "What is it?"

"Eh? Oh! It's just that I can feel the presence of Heaven-level ores here," Kentucky explained.

Rean nodded in response. Only food would take the bird's attention away in a situation like this. "We already have quite a few Heaven-level materials after all those trades. We can get more of them once we finish thi-" It was then that Rean froze for a moment. "Wait! Heaven-level materials? Where?"

Kentucky then pointed somewhere else, far away from the position they were at the moment. "It's inside those underground ruins, 21 kilometers or so to the west."

Rean's eyes lit up before he looked at Red, telling him, "Red, you stay here with them to keep them hidden. Roan will use the Light bending skill to help you while he also works on the wall." Rean then turned to Kentucky and said, "You, come with me. We'll fly there."

"Why? Is there something in that place? We shouldn't care about resources at the moment, you know?" Frin asked straight away.

Rean nodded in response as he answered, "Heaven-level materials. It wouldn't make sense that they're still around. The demon beasts of the past who knew about this place would have taken them away a long time ago. If they didn't, it was because they couldn't. If I'm not wrong, these Heaven-level materials, including the ores Kentucky can feel, are part of the formation we're looking for."

Duran narrowed his eyes as he could not help but say, "So what? We're after the core. If we destroy it, we don't need to deal with the rest."

Rean looked at Duran as if he was an idiot as he explained, "Hmph! No wonder you know nothing about formations. If the majority of high-level materials are there, that means a really important piece of the formation is also in the same place. If I'm not wrong, that's the place responsible for managing the energy that goes to the core. If I cut that off..."

Duran finally understood as he continued with Rean's train of thought, saying, "You will be able to stop the red-eyed being from using it for some time. However, would you be able to stop it?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "It's worth a shot. After all, I think it'll be a lot harder to interfere with the core itself since the enemy definitely has it close to him. Anyways, we'll be back if it's actually impossible to do that. At the very least, someone at my level will be a lot more useful that way."

Rean didn't even wait for an answer as he jumped on Kentucky's back and took flight. Roan didn't like that he had to take care of the Light bending skill, but he understood that it was necessary. His hair turned white and black, exchanging elements with Rean, which he used to activate the skill. Using Rean's Light Element was a lot better and faster than relying on his White Star.

Red then looked at Gulan, who didn't have a good expression, as he asked, "What's up?"

Gulan, who was still somewhat affected after knowing the fate of his grandfather, couldn't help but say, "I feel rather useless here. I don't have your or Rean's concealment abilities, nor do I have Senior Duran and Frin's strength. I wonder if I should have stayed out instead of coming here."

Red snorted in response. "But you came, didn't you? Don't play dumb. You just wanted to see the face of the guy who did that to your grandfather, the phoenix.  I won't stop you, you know? To be honest, it doesn't change much whether you're here or not. Don't worry too much. Just do whatever you want. No one here will stop you, but we won't save your ass either."

On Rean's side, it didn't take too long to reach the place Kentucky mentioned. It's just that the area didn't seem to have anything out of the ordinary...if one considered any of this situation ordinary, of course. "Kentucky, where is it?"

Kentucky then pointed at the ground as he said, "It's right below us. I can feel a lot of Heaven-level ores and other metals there. They seem delicious."

Rean ignored Kentucky's last comment and used Earth Element to start excavating the ground. As mentioned several times in the past, everyone could use any element. It's just that they were a lot worse with elements that were not part of their affinity.

Fortunately, the ground itself wasn't filled with the Underworld Energy, so it wasn't hard to excavate. Kentucky also did the same, making the work move faster, actually.

Suddenly, the ground crumbled, which took Rean and Kentucky by surprise as they fell down. 

*Crumble...*

Rean and Kentucky then got themselves out of the debris when they noticed that they fell right in front of...someone. Or, to be more specific, a certain red-eyed being. The other party also looked at Rean and Kentucky with a weird expression, not expecting to see them in this place at all.

That awkward moment lasted a few seconds until finally, Rean put a hand in front of his mouth as he spoke with an apologetic expression. "Ahem...we're just passing by. Don't mind us since we were just about to leave."

The red-eyed being's mouth could only twitch in response.