"I-I couldn't... protect Cluster... I lost my shield..."
Brando said in a shaky tone while covering his eyes with his hand.
"I lose my faith... How can a protect someone if he loses his shield?"
He was down and he didn't have the same determination that he had before. His opponent just played with him while he was taking the fight seriously. The will that he had was gone after suffering a humiliating defeat.
He was ashamed to show his face in front of his leader.
"You should rest and recover your strength. As your leader, I will take Cluster back with us." Souta said solemnly. He then turned around and started to walk away.
...
Outside the room, he saw Alice, Lynn, and Yujin waiting for him.
"Lynn, are you fine?" Souta asked when he saw Lynn.
She fainted when he arrived so she shouldn't walk here in this place. She should just lie down and take proper rest.
He didn't want to push herself that much. She awakened a powerful ability and that was enough for him. She could just leave everything to him.
"Yes, I'm already fine." Lynn nodded as she lowered her head not daring to look into his eyes.
Souta was about to say something when Alice interrupted him.
"She decided to follow you. You can't change her decision." Alice said while looking at him.
"And you'll follow me too," Souta said to her.
"Yeah, we've decided that we can't leave you alone to take back Cluster." Alice nodded at his words.
"Do you think that I can't rescue Cluster from those people?" Souta asked.
"Nope, we trust our leader's strength but we decided to help you. If you have our strength, it would lessen your burden."
This time, it was Yujin who said those things.
"I will help you to the utmost of my ability," Lynn added.
".....you people are really" Souta sighed and he massaged the bridge of his nose. He raised his head and looked at them before he said, "Fine, I understand. I'll command the three of you to lend me your strength."
Lynn, Alice, and Yujin smiled when they heard his words.
"We'll obey the leader's order!!"
...
The group first took the mana fruits that were buried in the legion building. The fruits were emitting mana so Lynn could easily sense its position. They quickly finished taking all the mana fruits in just a few minutes.
There's no problem that arose. It was easy and they even brought back some of the potions.
Souta didn't have a plan to wake Yuko. He wanted her to rest and recover her energy. He will only summon her after he found the hideout of the people that took Cluster away.
So when Yujin asked if he was going to bring Yuko, he replied by saying that he will just summon her.
"Another nuke...?" Lynn asked carefully as she recalled the scene when Souta summoned Yuko in the sky to destroy the building of their opponent in the legion war.
Souta smiled at her and said, "Well, yeah."
Alice and Yujin looked at them with a confused expression. They didn't understand what Souta and Lynn were talking about.
"Nothing." Souta shrugged his shoulder and glanced at Lynn saying, "Don't tell anybody about it. It's our secret."
Lynn averted her eyes when Souta said those words to her.
"Okay... Let's get back to a serious topic." Souta said as he clapped his hand. He turned to Lynn and asked, "Northwest, right?"
Lynn quickly understood what he wanted to confirm. She nodded her head to say that he was correct. Northwest was the direction where those people that kidnapped Cluster went.
"The three of you will ask some merchants if they have some spare carriage. Money is not a problem so you better find a carriage as soon as possible." Souta said as he looked at them one by one. "I'll go to the northwest part of the city and wait for you there. I'll be tracking the trail of those people."
Lynn, Yujin, and Alice nodded at him. They understood his orders and know that they could catch up to those people if they were fast but that was close to impossible. Even Souta knew that catching up to those people was impossible. That's why his goal was to find the hideout of those people by following their trail.
"Go. Go. Go." Souta said as he dismissed them. The three quickly left the area to complete his order.
He only removed his gaze after the three disappeared. Then, he narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the enormous ball of red energy in the sky above the city.
Teacher Bargan was sealed in this energy. Even though Leo and the Underground King fought fiercely, the sealing technique was still there. It took some damage from their attacks, still... no mortal could break that sealing spell.
Bargan fought several seven-circle officers that have the power of blessing on his own. It was hard to believe but that really happened. Nothing could be said to the man who was called "The Strongest NPC before Gods" by players.
It was hard to fight someone at the same level that has a blessing. But Bargan did it. He didn't fight one person that has the blessing but multiple people that have the blessing.
The Ladro Institute suffered heavy damage from this battle. A lot of teachers and students perished. It also means that the protection that the institute provided to its top students will decrease.
Souta arrived at the northwest part of the city. Everything outside the city was burnt by Teacher Bargan's attack. The corpses of the monsters from monster tide were gone. Ashes and churned land were all left.
Bargan's attack surpassed those demigods that failed the ascension to godhood. As long as they were not at god-level, Bargan would win.
The temperature of this area was high. He could still feel the heat from Bargan's attack. The lingering mana was so hot that it could melt ordinary people.
Souta looked around and easily found a trail in this area. It was easy to find footprints from the ashes on the ground.
'No one left the city after Bargan burned everything around the city. The forces of the Deadly Sins used teleportation spells so these footprints weren't from them. It's easy to guess since Lynn said that those people retreated here.' Saya's voice sounded in his mind.
A grin formed on Souta's face as he looked at the footprints on the ground.
"Judging from the footprints, we can see that there's one person only and that person was running so fast but the footprints that were left behind were disorder." He muttered as he tapped the trail with his finger.
'So that person was injured...' Saya said.
"Surely. If that person had a time to intentionally change the trail to make us think that he was injured then why didn't that person just erase the trail so that no one could follow him? That person didn't care about anything and simply left this city as a monster lord appeared. Everyone knew what will happen if a monster lord attacked a city." Souta mumbled in a low voice as he stood up.
'Total destruction. That person thought that erasing the trail wasn't needed.' Saya said. 'Hmm...? It seems that she wanted to come along too.'
Souta sensed a presence behind him. At first, he thought that it was Yujin, Alice, or Lynn but after hearing Saya's voice he knew that none of the three have arrived. The person behind him must be Lumilia.
He slowly turned around and found that he was right. Lumilia was the person standing behind him.
"What are-" He didn't finish his question as he guessed the reason why she's here so he changed his question. "Do you settle everything with your father?"
Lumilia was a little bit surprised at his question. She expected him to ask why she's here but he directly asked if she finished talking with her father.
"I've finished talking to my father. Even though he's like that. He is still my father after all."
"Good. Then, we'll wait for them here. I know where those people went." Souta spoke in a low voice while glancing at the footprints.
"Yes!"
She flashed a bright smile and nodded her head.
...
Up above the clouds... A man with messy black hair was suspended in the mid-air. He was sixty-five thousand feet above the ground.
He raised his hand and combed his hair backward using his fingers. Then, a smile formed on his face as he released his energy and the chaotic atmosphere calmed down.
He was the leader of one of the most vicious organizations in the world, the Zodiacs.
"That monster lord fled away to recover his strength. That wasn't his full strength but to think that he was this strong." Leo muttered as he glanced at the bruises on his arm.
It's no wonder that people from the ancient era couldn't kill that monster. That monster lord was several times stronger than a normal monster lord in the current era.
He turned his gaze below him. The Hebrei Kingdom was really large. Even at this height, he could see the difference between the territory of a large country and a small country.
