Neva brought her right hand forward, and slowly, the ice elemental particles started to gather over it. At some time, a replica of the map given to her by her teacher was formed. Looking at the frozen girl, she expressionlessly asked, “Can you read this?” while waving the map in her face. However, there was no reply—only a light growl.

  Then Neva formed an ice shard in her hand and, pointing it at the girl's forehead, again asked, “Do you know how to read this?” This time, although there was some fear on the girl's face, she still did not respond.

  Finally, aiming the sharp shard at the girl's forehead, Neva started to slowly push it forward. Seeing the expressionless face and the action of her captor, the girl was scared out of her wits. Just when the shard touched her skin, she shouted, “I know! I know! I really know how to read the map!”

  Neva's hand stopped midair, and the shard in her hand dissolved into elemental energy.

  “Here's the deal,” she said. “You will help me find this place, and I will let you go—alive.”

  The girl again went silent for some time. Not hearing an answer, Neva again made a shard.

  “Okay! I agree. I completely agree to the deal!” the girl frantically said. She didn't know what this bitch in front of her would do if she didn't agree.

  “Swear it on your Goddess,” Neva demanded.

  What!? The girl's brain froze for a moment after hearing these words.

  “I said swear it in the name of your Goddess, or else there's no deal,” Neva asserted with a firm expression.

  The orange-haired girl could only swallow dryly and say, “I swear on the name of the Fire that Burns all that is Unholy, Goddess of Fire Fiamma, that I know how to read that map. And I promise that I will help you find what you want.” At that moment, she felt a certain binding force connecting her and the crazy girl.

  Hearing these words and feeling the binding force, Neva raised her left hand and snapped her fingers. The ice freezing the girl was released, and she was able to operate her energy normally.

  “What should I call you?” Neva carefully observed the girl.

  “You don't know who I am?” the orange-haired girl asked, pointing a finger at her own face in an incredulous voice.

  “Have we met before?” Neva asked in a deadpan expression.

  “No,” the girl lightly answered.

  “Then how should I know you?” Neva commented while tilting her head. She had a habit of doing it whenever she didn't understand something or was not able to make sense of it.

  The orange-haired girl gritted her teeth and said, “Cineris. My name is Cineris.”

  Neva nodded her head. “Okay, Cineris. Let's get out of here. Due to the commotion, the elemental winds will be coming soon.” As soon as she said that, the flow of the energy started to change.

  They both came back to the Material World above the lava lake. Waving a hand, Neva dispersed all the residues of the previous battle. Then, throwing the ice elemental map at Cineris, she commanded, “Lead the way.” Cineris could only bow her head and lead the way due to the binding force of the vow.

  Some time after they had both left, the space above the lake opened, and two orange-haired youths stepped out. Although any obvious signs of battle had already been removed, the slight fluctuations of the energy remained.

  “Where is Cineris? Wasn't she going to come here?” one youth asked in a puzzled voice.

  “Must have gone somewhere after completing the task,” the other answered.

  “What if she had lost?” the first asked again.

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  “In your dreams. Unless a Rank One Ascender appears, there is no risk for her. And if one did appear, we would have already known. Let's not waste time thinking about it and search for others.” Saying this, the second one again disappeared into the Void Realm, closely followed by the first.

  Again, after some time, a silhouette covered in complete black mist appeared above the lake. Then, looking in the direction the two young Ascenders had gone, it disappeared again.

  Meanwhile, in another part of the Denlog mountain range, made up of lush green forests, a Paragon saw a bald old man sitting on a stone and polishing a sword. He immediately activated the relics given to him and disappeared.

  Balvin slightly gazed at where the young Paragon had been. He could have stopped him, but wanted to see what exactly was going on. Following that, he kept polishing his sword.

  The trio was rushing towards the location indicated by the tracking relic.

  “Is it really safe to just go to that place?” Chivis asked, following behind Mikart and Lester.

  “Most likely. If it were a Rank One Demigod, he would have tried to stop the transmission, and we would know. Since nothing happened, the target must be a Rank Two Sovereign or Rank Three Archon. We can handle them easily,” Mikart carefully analyzed.

  Lester nodded his head at this. “Let's hope so.”

  The space where the Paragon had been was torn open, and the trio stepped out. Looking ahead, they saw a familiar figure. Just when they were going to escape, they heard a familiar voice: “Since you have come, why not have a little chat?”

  The trio froze in their tracks and, turning their heads, their faces were full of forced smiles.

  “Fancy seeing you here, Senior Balvin,” Mikart chirped.

  “Yes, if you hadn't called, we would have missed you,” Chivis added.

  “Yeah, we were just really strolling around here and happened to run into you. This really seems like an auspicious day to have a little chat,” Lester also joined in.

  Balvin just smiled, looking at the three trying to maintain their crooked smiles. He signaled with his hands, and the trio went ahead and sat on the smaller rocks in front of him.

  “Tell me, how many are here along with you?” Balvin casually asked.

  “What do you mean?” Mikart made a perplexed expression.

  Balvin just flashed him a mischievous smile. “You see, either you speak willingly, or I make you speak unwillingly. The choice is yours.”

  Mikart could only curse his luck. Although the words on the surface may seem good, this bald old man was just threatening him.

  Not hearing any reply, Balvin slightly lifted his sword. Seeing this, Chivis's face went pale, and she blurted out, “Fourteen!” Suddenly, all gazes were focused on her, and her face went even paler.

  Since the cat was out of the bag, Mikart decided to go with the flow. “There are fourteen Ascenders, with three of them being Rank One Demigods,” but he was beaten to it by Lester.

  Balvin nodded his head at this. Then, moving his gaze towards Mikart, he asked in a slightly menacing voice, “What were you saying?”

  Mikart lightly gulped and answered in a shallow manner, “I was saying that there were sixty-six Paragons. It took some time for me to recall.”

  Balvin nodded his head in satisfaction. “Okay, you three can go.”

  “Really!?” The trio asked simultaneously.

  “Do you want special training again?” Balvin asked curiously.

  Chivis was the first to get up and run into the Void Realm without looking back. Last time, it had taken her half a day just to bring her backbone back into place, and for all that time, she was feeling excruciating pain. She was really not as accustomed to pain as the other two of her companions.

  The next to rush out was Mikart. He was just a breath behind Chivis and easily caught up to her. But he felt something was missing. Looking back, Lester had not come along with them. They both waited for some time, but seeing no sign of him, they made solemn faces and decided to go back.

  Coming out of the Void Realm, Balvin had already departed, and Lester was sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed in deep contemplation.

  Chivis pointed at him. “Is he…?”

  “Yeah,” Mikart answered, a vein on his temple bulging. “He's trying to create his second Ascension Spell. I think last time he got beaten less, so this bad habit persists.” Then, raising his hand and rolling up his sleeves, he approached Lester. “I should try to correct it now.”

  And after some time, the whole forest was devastated. All the trees were uprooted, and fire was burning all around. There were even some stains of blood scattered here and there.

  After going some distance, Balvin encountered a group of Paragons. Seeing him, they immediately activated their escape spells and relics. Quickly moving into the Void Realm, Balvin used several strings of space to create a long cord and attached it to the fluctuations formed by the escape of the Paragons. The string carried him and followed behind the Paragons.

  Normally, this should not have been possible. Any such relics or spells given to Paragons should have preventive measures or should mask the energy fluctuations to prevent a trail from being followed by Ascenders. But these were openly displaying the energy fluctuations, seemingly calling for the Ascenders to follow behind.

  Balvin suspected it to be a trap, but from what he had heard from the trio, the people sent this time were not such fools. So, he decided to follow and see what was going on.

  Soon, he found himself in a dark cave, and all around him lay the corpses of the Paragons who had tried to escape. A large cyan spell was working under the dead bodies, and all of them were encased in ice. The horrified expressions on their faces after realizing what was going on were also preserved.

  What exactly is going on? Balvin thought. This was definitely not a simple hunt.