Chapter 472: Adler Imperial Family

Light shone through the fog everywhere Caelus looked. Blue crystals grew from the valley walls while glowing plants covered the rocks beneath them.

Even the streams crossing the ground gave off a faint silver glow. Fog drifted over their surface and curled around the feet of everyone entering the Embryo Zone.

There wasn’t a single place without it. Near the entrance Caelus could still see the groups gathering ahead, but farther in the mist swallowed entire stretches of the valley.

People stood beside stone markers where several paths split apart. Some were comparing maps while others watched the groups disappearing into the fog.

Caelus noticed a golden eagle on a young man’s cloak. Before they entered, Bertram had explained that this was the Adler imperial family’s insignia.

A group in white armor wore silver crowns belonging to another imperial family. Farther along stood horned devils wearing the same red-star symbol Caelus had seen outside.

Bertram had also told them about the Dawn Legion and the Nine Towers before staying behind. Caelus recognized their symbols on a woman carrying a spear and a group of robed people nearby.

The woman stood with her spear resting against her shoulder. When a heavily armored Primordial approached her, he lowered his voice despite speaking freely to everyone else.

Near the Nine Towers group an old man sat on a floating stone. Rings of pale fire revolved around him and kept the thicker fog away from his face.

Caelus couldn’t judge every person’s strength, but several made him feel the same pressure he had sensed from stronger Primordials in the city. There were far more powerhouses here than he had expected.

Some of them were studying him too.

Their eyes passed over his clothes and then moved to Sylvia and the others. Without familiar crests or uniforms, the four attracted more attention than Caelus would have liked.

"Do you recognize him?"

"No. I haven’t seen any of them with the major factions."

A young man wearing a dark blue coat stepped into Caelus’s path. His gaze moved over the four as though he expected to recognize at least one of them.

"Which faction are you from?"

"We are from the Chaos Faction."

The young man’s brow creased at his words.

"Never heard of it."

"Well, now you have."

A few people nearby laughed. The young man’s expression tightened as Caelus waited for him to move.

"If you’re here for embryos, you’d better get moving. Once the real fighting starts there’ll be bloodshed, and nobody’s going to save every nobody who wanders in."

Caelus chuckled. The man had spent more time examining their clothes than judging whether he could actually threaten them.

"We’ll manage. You should worry about your own group."

"You guys should know your place and stay clear of our way."

Sylvia’s smile disappeared hearing this. She stepped closer to the young man while Caelus caught her hand.

"Who exactly are you calling a no..."

"Come on," Caelus said as he drew her beside him. "He hasn’t done anything except talk."

Sylvia looked at him and then back at the stranger. After a moment she tightened her fingers around Caelus’s hand.

"Then let’s go the other way, hubby. I don’t want to keep listening to him."

Caelus readily followed her toward another path. Freya went with them while Himmel passed the young man without giving him another glance.

They had almost reached the thicker fog when a voice called out behind them.

"Before anyone goes farther, keep your groups together."

The young man with the golden eagle insignia had climbed onto a low stone. Caelus recognized the crest Bertram had described outside and stopped to listen.

"The fog has become more dangerous since the latest wave. Don’t assume the routes you used last time are still safe."

Several groups stopped checking their maps. One of the white-armored men called a companion back from the edge of the mist.

The imperial family’s representative stepped down and approached Caelus.

"I saw you heading in. If this is your first visit, don’t let anyone push you into rushing."

"I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the warning."

"I’m Nico Adler."

"Caelus Kross."

Nico offered his hand and Caelus shook it. Unlike the other man, Nico didn’t examine his clothes while waiting to hear which faction supported him.

"Are you going in with your family?"

"Yes. With this many people around, I’d rather not spend the day searching for someone who wandered off."

He glanced toward Sylvia and Freya as they joined Caelus.

"One more thing. Be careful around the Celestials if you come across them."

"The Celestials?"

"They’re extremely powerful beings. Don’t let a promising embryo make you careless around one."

Caelus nodded.

"Understood. We’ll be careful."

Nico returned to his companions while Caelus led the others past the stone markers. The voices behind them soon became muffled as the fog closed around the group.

Caelus extended his senses and found that the mist made it difficult to judge what lay ahead. A glowing rock seemed only a few steps away until they approached and discovered a stream between them.

"Keep close," he told the others. "I don’t trust what I’m seeing here."

Something scraped against stone to their left.

A long gray body shot out of the fog with its jaws spread wide. Caelus saw hooked teeth and four thin legs before it sprang at his neck.

[Skill Activated: Origin Lock.]

The creature stopped in midair. Its jaws snapped inches from his face while white vapor poured from openings along its back.

Caelus seized its neck and slammed it into the ground.

BANG!

The stone cracked beneath its skull. At the same time another creature lunged from behind a glowing crystal toward Sylvia.

[Skill Activated: Sanguine Genesis.]

A red spear formed beside her and drove through the creature’s open mouth. Its body struck the ground as blood pinned it against the rock. This blood was not ordinary blood, but the blood of a primordial.

The vapor pouring from both creatures stopped. Then the fog around their bodies began thinning until Caelus could see the stream clearly.

"So that’s where it’s coming from."

Himmel watched the clearing spread several steps beyond the dead creatures.

"Kill the creatures and the fog they produce clears with them."

Freya pointed across the stream.

"Big Brother Origin, look over there!"

A brown sphere hovered above a hollow in the rock. Within its faint glow Caelus could see something slowly turning.