Chapter 190: A Step Ahead

Chapter 190: Chapter 190: A Step Ahead

"Don’t kill them."

Damon pointed at the attackers.

"Keep them alive."

Shiro understood.

His eyes glowed.

The temperature around the battlefield dropped.

"Ice Prison."

Several attackers suddenly stopped.

Ice spread across their bodies.

Their legs froze first.

Then their arms.

Then their torsos.

Within moments, several masked men stood trapped inside thick layers of ice.

They were still alive.

They could still breathe.

But they couldn’t move.

Damon’s eyes brightened.

That was new.

Shiro had found a way to turn his control into something more useful than simply killing.

"Perfect."

Shiro’s tail moved slightly.

The fight continued.

The attackers became more desperate.

Their original plan had already failed.

They had expected to stall Damon and his group.

Instead, they were losing people one after another.

"Fall back!"

One of the masked men shouted.

Another immediately answered.

"No! We have to hold them here!"

"They’re too strong!"

"Keep fighting!"

The leader’s voice grew harsher.

"Do you want everything we’ve done to be wasted?"

That caught Damon’s attention.

Everything they’d done?

Interesting.

He memorized the voice.

The man noticed Damon looking at him and immediately raised his hand.

"Kill the Calloway!"

Several attackers turned toward Damon.

Caelia’s expression changed.

Damon simply smiled.

"Is that a change of plan?"

The attackers charged towards him now.

Damon lifted one hand.

Ice spears formed beside him.

Then lightning wrapped around them.

Wind gathered behind them.

The spears shot forward, and the attackers scattered.

One barely dodged.

Another was forced behind an ice barrier.

A third was knocked off balance by the wind.

Damon didn’t chase them.

He didn’t need to.

Freya was already there.

Silver lightning flashed.

The man fell unconscious.

Caelia trapped another with her Ice.

While Shiro froze two more.

The difference in strength had become too large.

Their preparation had been good.

Their plan had been clever.

But preparation could only take them so far.

One by one, the masked attackers were captured.

The remaining ones realized the situation.

Their leader clenched his fists.

"Move!"

Nobody moved.

He looked around.

Most of his group was already frozen or unconscious.

The others were being pushed back.

He gritted his teeth.

"They’re going ahead!"

Damon heard him.

So that was their real fear.

Not death.

Failure.

Damon’s interest grew.

He looked toward the direction of the Floating Ruin.

Sylphie’s report came again.

They was still someone ahead.

Damon nodded.

Then he looked at Caelia.

"Take this from here."

Caelia understood immediately.

"You’ll go ahead?"

"Yes."

He glanced at the captured enemies.

"Keep them alive, the elemental users from Haven’s Edge city would probably pick them up. We’d need the answers."

Caelia nodded in agreement.

"Go."

Snow stood beside her.

Freya also moved toward Damon.

But Damon shook his head.

"Stay with her."

Freya looked at him.

Damon smiled.

"I’ll be fine."

Freya hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Sylphie was already waiting ahead.

Damon moved.

Caelia watched him disappear into the distance.

Then she turned toward the remaining attackers.

"Alright."

She raised her weapon.

"You heard him."

Her eyes sharpened.

"Let’s finish this."

The fight continued behind him.

Damon didn’t look back.

He trusted them.

And now he had something more important to investigate.

Who were these people?

Why did they care so much about the Zone Hearts?

And what were they trying to do?

The answers were getting closer.

Damon moved quickly through Tempest Hollow.

Sylphie guided him from above.

She kept adjusting his path as she searched for the strange presence she had sensed earlier.

The Floating Ruin grew larger in the distance.

Damon had passed through this area before.

Yet he had never thought to check what was beneath it.

That bothered him a little.

He had been too focused on the ruin and the strong concentration of Aether.

Now he understood why the area had felt strange.

"Where is it?"

Below.

Sylphie sent the image through their bond.

Damon immediately changed direction.

He dropped lower.

The Floating Ruin hung above him.

Beneath it was a wide stretch of broken stone that looked completely ordinary.

But Sylphie had sensed something there.

Damon landed.

Then he saw it.

Someone was standing in front of a formation.

A strange masked figure.

The same kind of clothing.

The same hidden face.

But this person was different.

They weren’t preparing an attack.

They were working on the formation.

Damon watched from a distance.

The formation pulsed.

A strange vibration spread through the ground.

Then Damon understood.

They weren’t searching for the Zone Heart.

They were trying to open it.

"So they’ve found it?."

Sylphie moved closer.

This should be where the Zone Heart is.

Damon looked around.

The surrounding Aether was much denser here.

Stable.

Clean.

It was the kind of Aether that could naturally produce high quality resources.

The elemental ores.

The Aether crystals.

The treasures they had found in the chamber.

It suddenly made sense.

The Zone Heart wasn’t simply stabilizing the zone.

It was feeding it.

And something was trying to access it directly.

The masked figure raised both hands.

The formation began to shake.

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

"They’re about to open it."

Sylphie immediately moved beside him.

Damon reached out.

"Let’s interrupt them."

Sylphie transformed.

Wind gathered around Damon.

Her emerald feathers became a beautiful bow in his hands.

Damon pulled the string.

A wind arrow formed.

Then lightning wrapped around it.

The masked figure sensed him.

It turned, but it was too late.

Damon released the arrow.

Whoosh!

The arrow tore through the air and struck the formation.

The entire structure shook.

The connection between the figure and the formation broke instantly.

The masked figure stumbled backward.

Damon landed in front of it.

The figure slowly raised its head.

Only its eyes were visible beneath the mask.

And those eyes were filled with disgust.

Damon smiled.

"Looks like I interrupted something important."

The figure said nothing.

Damon looked at the damaged formation.

Then back at the masked figure.

"Now I’m really curious."

His grip tightened around Sylphie’s bow.

"You people know about the Zone Heart."

He took another step forward.

"And you know how to open it."

The masked figure’s eyes narrowed.

Damon smiled.

"Good."

He had finally found someone who might have answers.

And this time, he wasn’t going to let them escape