While Layla was running through The Skull City with the woman she had just met, Vicente had gotten quite far away from the 4th stage enemies.
He had already consumed one of his recovery potions. He was now hiding in an area far from where he had faced the two Sovereigns.
His aura was wholly retracted into his body while he could feel his mana gradually approaching its optimal state.
He observed his surroundings through the cracks in a window on the second floor of the residence where he was staying while remaining invisible.
'It looks like I've lost the enemy.' He thought, after standing there for 10 minutes without seeing any worrying signs.
Thinking this, he made a look of pain as he looked at one of his arms, feeling a slight numbness in the hand he had used to hit the 4th stage ghost.
But it wasn't a physical pain. It was a spiritual pain related to the vibrations of the ghost's mana.
'Fools are those who think that there's no danger in passing through a ghost's body...' Vicente thought to himself, not worrying about his condition, as this sensation was fading with each passing minute. But he was aware that ghosts had hazardous characteristics.
Then he put the window aside and sat down in a lotus position in the middle of the small room he was in.
'I have to go after Layla. Even if she's fast, it will only take one of these two to reach her to finish her.' He worried, already trying to concentrate on finishing his basic recovery as quickly as possible.
He had seriously injured the 4th stage ghost. This being would be injured for the next few days and would definitely not be able to fight at a high level. But even injured, such a creature could still endanger the life of someone of Layla's level.
As long as Layla had enough mana to use her ability, she should be fine. But the moment she ran out of mana, she would be in a terrible situation if she came face to face with the ghost or, worse, the lich.
Vicente would cultivate in that place for 10 minutes with the description until he felt he could go back and fight the lich if necessary.
He subtly moved while checking his surroundings, found a safer route, and didn't hesitate to move toward the city center.
As he walked for a few minutes, passing several streets and places destroyed by old battles, he suddenly felt something change in the depths of his being.
Vicente stopped where he was and looked at his surroundings differently. 'What is this?'
Looking at the field lines nearby, he noticed some signs of powerful items near him, and for a moment, he remembered that he was there to take advantage of the opportunities of The Skull City.
'There is an interesting resource for me here!' The expression on his face changed as he changed his plans.
Following his instincts, he headed towards the strongest sensation in the area, quickly entering a partially destroyed building and descending the stairs to the basement.
As he did so, he saw a complex structure of underground tunnels that existed in the city, practically leading to an underground city.
Vicente looked into one of the tunnels he passed and saw several zombies, liches, and ghosts circulating as if they were working in the area.
'What the hell?' He saw skeletal beings and corpses carrying things, planting and construction tools, and some carrying boxes and carts.
When he looked at the end of the tunnel, which looked like a sizeable underground street with several properties connected to it, he saw a strange gray glow and magical fluctuation coming from that place.
'I'll see about that later.' He thought as he walked back into the underground area of the estate he had just entered, feeling that what had attracted his attention was in that place and not in the underground part of The Skull City.
Then he reached the top floor of that house, where he came across a small brown vial containing a powerful magical pill.
The vial was in one of the corners of the walls of this dark and smelly place, which had no natural light.
Vicente sensed the trap that lay near the thing. 'It seems that the beings in this city use the resources as baits...' He realized, imagining there must be creatures where he was, even if he couldn't sense them.
Anyone who entered The Skull City would come for the opportunities and resources. On the other hand, the local monsters could grow stronger with 'new meat,' something that might give them hope of one day getting rid of this place.
So, one side would try to bring down the other to achieve their goals, even though both parties might have known that this was exactly what Professor Dirty Scout wanted when he created this place!
But that didn't bother Vicente. 'Then let them come to me.' He smiled as he walked towards it, feeling it was valuable enough for him to attract the attention of his enemies.
When he arrived in front of the vial and reached out a hand to pick it up, he felt a trap activate, and a grate similar to the one that had fallen on Layla earlier fell on him to trap him there.
Vicente picked up the vial and looked at the device that had fallen on him, forming a 3 square meter cell.
Immediately, a group of zombies and liches appeared in the area and headed toward him, making grotesque noises as they looked at their target.
Vicente didn't bother with these enemies. He just put a hand on one of the metal bars of the cell and laughed.
"You want to arrest me like this?" As he said this and pressed his fingers on the bar, it suddenly disintegrated in an instant.
Vicente's orange pentagram appeared around his body, causing the mana in this underground area to stir significantly.
Metallic weapons formed in the air and slashed at the negative creatures in front of Vicente, shredding them in milliseconds as he looked at the pill he had just taken from the previous vial.
As he looked at the pill, he felt the strong negative energy and darkness there, which made the ghosts in that underground place, the only ones still standing after Vicente's first move, feel its power and take steps back.
That was a 4th-grade pill, useful for practitioners of the Dark Path who had reached the 4th stage. When used, it could nourish the soul of the person who consumed it, increase its purity, heal soul wounds, and even increase the negative affinity of that being.
However, if consumed by a practitioner of the Light Path, it was poison, something that would corrupt that person's soul and body and lead them to a terrible fate!
Such a person could go from exploding to insanely attacking everything and everyone around them.
Knowing this, the 3rd stage ghosts around Vicente moved away from him, afraid of what would happen to him if he took the pill.
