In a town some kilometers away from the Phoenix Faction.
Alice and Reynolds stepped into the town, looking at the place that looked almost deserted. It was already approaching sunset, and there was no one in sight. It was almost as if all the people from the town went into hiding.
Alice took a glance at Reynolds, "Do you think this will be dangerous?"
"Of course, but don't tell me you don't have anything in case you meet with a Sovereign?" Reynolds didn't seem bothered.
If by any chance their opponent was a Sovereign, he had something from the Faction he could use to scare the person away. Even if the person is bad, they wouldn't want a powerful Faction like his own to go after them, so they would most likely leave him alone. All he has to do is say he wouldn't pursue the matter.
"I do, I just don't like leaving my survival to chances." Alice replied.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Reynolds reassured, he grinned and said, "Don't forget we have the legendary Lucas Dawson on our side too."
Alice thought about it and nodded, very few people would want those sort of enemies on their tails. As long as Alice and Reynolds didn't have any plans of taking what belongs to a Sovereign, the Sovereign would not bother with them once they find out about the people backing the duo.
Klaus and Aries didn't follow them into the town so as not to alarm the suspected Peak Venerable. If the person was at the Peak of the Venerable Plane, there was no way the person would come out when two Peak Venerables are present, unless there wasn't one person but multiple people at the Peak.
Alice and Reynolds were sent there since they were the ones with lower cultivation stages but high attack power, Reynolds especially. So long there is only one Peak Venerable, Reynolds would be able to deal with the person with the help of his Elemental Warrior.
"What's about the possibility of more Peak Venerables?" Reynolds asked.
"We'll stall so Klaus and Aries will come help." Alice replied.
"I'm saying what if there's more than ten Peak Venerables, how are we going to deal with them?" Reynolds rephrased his question.
"Well, none of us is Grey. We'll escape, what else can we do?" Alice shrugged, she didn't even need to think about it. Escaping with their lives was more important. As long as the intel was wrong, they would escape and talk about it later.
They had a few items that should help with escaping from situations like these.
Reynolds nodded to her words. This was also what he wanted to confirm. Grey could fight against more opponents on his own. The others could do it, but if they were heavily outnumbered, it was best to escape first.
"Why aren't people outside?"
They could sense the presence of people, but they were all inside their houses. Most of them were still in the Overlord Plane, only a few people had high cultivation Planes, being in the Sage Plane. This was the perfect place for an Elemental Venerable to hide since they could hide without being caught.
Reynolds and Alice quickly scouted the place and found the abnormality. It was quite easy to notice since there was a foul stench of decay coming from the place.
The duo's expressions changed when they got to the place.
"Necromancers?" Alice looked at Reynolds.
They've dealt with Necromancers on a few occasions due to Grey being marked and they were familiar with this stench. This was something they perceived when they raided a hideout together.
Reynolds nodded and his demeanor changed, he knew this was not something to be taken lightly. If there were Necromancers here, it would completely change a few things. First off, the Necromancers wouldn't be afraid to kill them since they already had a bone to pick with everyone else in the Aurora Continent.
The duo hid their aura as they tried to sneak into the building that had the stench of decay.
They were successful in getting into the place, but they soon realized something was horribly wrong. A figure was waiting for them, the figure had some parts of its face hanging out. It was like the figure was purposely disfigured for things like this.
The duo were stunned by it and just as they were about to turn, they heard a voice.
"Another set of specimens, I didn't think that fellow would send so many good specimens over. Having a friend in high places is very convenient."
The voice was eerie, making the hairs on both Reynolds and Alice's body stand on edge.
The duo exchanged glances and nodded, wanting to escape. But they saw more figures appearing. Some of them were young while there were a few old ones, all of them were Elemental Venerables, Late stage Elemental Venerables.
Over ten figures came out, surrounding the duo.
"Don't rush out, come in for tea. I've been expecting my supply for some days now." The voice spoke from inside the building.
Reynolds and Alice looked at the figures blocking their path and they noticed they all had one thing, they were all dead.
"Puppets." Alice said through gritted teeth, "I hate Necromancers."
"Kikiki, don't worry, you won't feel anything soon enough. Come have tea, at least before you join my legion."
The voice didn't seem to mind Alice's words.
"You're the one who's not going to feel anything soon enough." Alice said and she walked straight into the building.
Reynolds looked at the puppets and felt his heart weigh heavily on him.
'If only Grey were here, he would've deactivated this guy with nothing more than a thought.' Reynolds sighed as he followed Alice into the place.
The building was simple, not too large and properly lit.
"Welcome, please, take a seat."
The voice came from inside the house. A young girl walked out, with a tray in her hand. There were two cups on it, and just as the voice said, there was tea inside.
Alice looked at the little girl and she spat on the ground. The young girl who should be around eight was also a puppet.
"How can you even kill someone like this?" Alice asked, on the verge of exploding with anger.
"That's my daughter. I'm trying to bring her back to life. But there isn't much I can do now. This is why I need a good amount of supplies for my research. I'm getting really close, I've had a major breakthrough during the previous experiments." The voice came from inside once again.
"The dead should stay dead." Alice said calmly.
Hearing the words of the voice, she felt calmed down. She took a look at the little girl but she didn't feel that what the voice was doing was right.
"The dead should stay dead…" The voice repeated Alice's words and there was a short silence in the place, footsteps were heard as a figure walked out of one of the rooms.
A well-dressed middle-aged man walked out from one of the rooms. His well chiseled face was a complete contrast of his voice.
"My daughter was my life. Do you think I should let her stay dead when there's a chance of bringing her back?" The man's voice wasn't as high pitched as he was making it sound when he was hidden away.
"You know too well that no matter what you do, she can't come back to life. You're not a God, how can you bring the dead back to life?" Alice looked straight into the eyes of the man and said, "Stop playing around, you've killed so many people just because you're chasing a stupid possibility."
"I like you, kid. But you'll never understand the pain of a father watching his daughter die while being unable to do anything." The man was calm, he wasn't bothered with Alice's words.
No one could understand what he was going through, and there was no point in trying to make them understand it.
"Huh? You don't seem to be from the Phoenix Faction. Did that guy send you over or did you come on your own?" The man was confused when he sensed their auras, a thoughtful look appeared on his face as he said, "To think of it, he didn't inform me as well."
"You have an accomplice in the Phoenix Faction?" Reynolds asked.
"Of course, why do you think I can comfortably camp in their territory without having to worry? I'm not doing too much to attract the higher ups, so I'm good." The man said.
"I see. I'll report back to the Phoenix Faction with your corpse. They should know how to deal with their internal moles." Alice understood what was happening and didn't seem too surprised. Things like these happen everywhere, she was aware of it.
"Little girl, I like your confidence, but do you think you can defeat me?" The man chuckled.
