The group from Red Matter Association consisted of forty-one experts. Half of them were at One Shackle Realm while two of them were at Two Shackles Realm.
The warriors from Athen's Champion had thirty-seven experts. Half of them had their mana pool sealed so the group was at a disadvantage. Although they also had two Two Shackles Realm warriors, their overall might was less than the other group.
Nevertheless, the warriors of Athena never lose their battle spirit. They were prepared to fight the Red Matter Association to death.
The spirit of a true warrior was burning in their eyes.
Boom!!
The two groups didn't even talk. The battle began as soon as they met. They clashed with everything that they got.
Souta let the twin spirits join the battle before he took a step away from the fight. It was too chaotic as skills were flying in every direction.
"Souta, you're here!"
Souta turned around and saw a familiar face. A tall man with a pair of fox ears was looking at him. It was Manduk, the man who helped him familiarize himself with his battle power when he just reached the fourth evolution stage.
"Yeah..." He nodded at Manduk. "Where's your squad?"
"We separated when the sealing runes appeared. I don't know what happened to them but I think that they are still alive." Manduk replied.
"You're lucky that you managed to escape from those sealing runes."
"Yeah, I wouldn't deny it. Those are too dangerous. It sealed the mana pool of our warriors and we are currently trying to undo the seals."
"Did you find a way?" Souta asked.
"According to Squad Leader Jamil, there are two ways to undo the seals on our warriors."
Squad Leader Jamil was a leader of a squad from Third Grain. He was a warrior at Three Shackles Realm and he had knowledge about runes.
"Do tell me, maybe I can help..."
"He said that the sealing runes came from the fragments of the boulder that Chief Captain smashed. The sealing runes weren't active at that time. It means that the Red Matter Association had a Rune Master in their ranks or they had a device to activate it."
"I see... So it's either we find the Rune Master or the device used in runes."
"Yeah, he also said that the Rune Master must be inside this place since hundreds of runes are activated at the same time. It's no easy feat to activate all those runes from a different place."
Souta quickly understood. The Rune Master and a device to activate the sealing runes were the key.
"What about undoing the runes with Squad Leader Jamil's skills?"
"That's one of the ways too but Squad Leader Jamil said that it would take a lot of time before he could reverse the effect of the sealing runes. Two to three hours."
"Two to three hours... Many of our warriors would die at that time." Souta muttered in a grave tone.
"That's why some of our warriors aren't focused on fighting the Red Matter Association. They were tasked to find the Rune Master or the device."
"I'll try to find the Rune Master or the device too," Souta said.
"Are you sure?" Manduk looked at him.
"Yes, I think I have a lot of chances in finding one of them," Souta said. He was confident that his chances were higher than the other warriors.
He had [Galaxy Eyes] that could see through a lot of concealment. Once a Rune Master or the device went into his vision, he would know it as long as he carefully scanned them.
"Okay, I'll trust you."
"Good. I'll leave the battle to all of you." Souta said before he flew away.
He left the Twin Spirits to fight the people from Red Matter Association. The Twin Spirits were a huge help as an ordinary One Shackle Realm expert wouldn't stand a chance against one of them. It would take a group of One Shackle experts to stop them.
Swoosh!!
Although he had to find the Rune Master of the device, Souta wasn't focused on any of them. Finding either one in this huge nation was extremely hard.
The western region alone was huge.
He had another goal in his mind. The appearance of an executive was nothing to him. He knew that the high-rank warriors would deal with it.
As long as the leader of the Red Matter Association didn't appear, the high-rank warriors wouldn't be at a total disadvantage.
Souta arrived at the place where the Chief Captain have a meeting with the officials of this nation.
"I need to scan this place... Then, I'll find a way to break the barrier and try to locate the whereabouts of the Chief Captain."
This was Souta's goal.
He approached a cabinet. He looked at the books lined up and carefully picked one. He opened the book and scanned the pages with his eyes.
"Republic of Aekr... Dawn Kingdom... Cartel... and Kaetws Federation... Four nations and the Aekr Republic is one of them. Where are the other three?"
Souta closed the book and placed it back in the cabinet. This subterranean wasn't simple as it seems.
There's a hidden fifth evolution stage monster and now there were other three hidden nations.
Just like what he thought, this place was huge but he couldn't see any area where he could find the fifth evolution stage monster.
The territory of a powerful monster.
...
Two figures were colliding hundreds of times in mid-air.
They were Banni and Shiela.
The Grain Leader of the First Grain and an executive of the Red Matter Association.
"No matter what happens, you are still not on my level of power. I don't know where you got your courage to come here alone but I will make sure you regret it."
Banni said as he slashed both of his daggers.
Bang!!
Shiela managed to block his attack but the force behind it threw her to the ground.
Shockwaves spread out as she crashed into the ground causing a huge crater.
Boom!
"Among the twelve executives of the Red Matter Association, you are the weakest one. The result would have been different if it's Jayden or Larry."
Banni slowly landed on the ground. He looked at Shiela with cold eyes and said, "If you don't want to die, tell me how to undo the sealing runes on my warriors?"
"Do you think that I would tell you about it? The sealing runes are one of the most complicated runes. Do you think anyone can understand it? Even I don't know how to undo it!" Shiela said with a laugh. "You've been trapped here in this place. Master set up everything and all of you would die."
"If I'm going to die... Then, you should die first."
Banni looked at her with cold eyes. He lifted the daggers in his hands and a tremendous amount of energy gathered around its blade.
"I never meant to win in the first place... I'm just here to buy some time." Shiela said as she closed her eyes.
She knew that she could never defeat Banni. The difference in their power was huge and it would only take Banni a few minutes to defeat her. Only the top executives could fight the second strongest warrior in the entire Third Set of Pallas Division.
But everything was planned... Her master, Avron, set up the stage for everyone.
Banni narrowed his eyes when he heard her words. Even so, he still swung the dagger in hand as he wanted to kill Shiela.
Swoosh!!
The blade of the dagger was about to land on Shiela's neck but something happened.
A vast amount of energy burst from the ground. It surged upward as it blew up the entire area, creating a vast smoke that could melt metals.
Boom!!
Banni didn't back out. He swung his dagger again but a huge force collided with his attack.
Boom!!
His figure emerged from the smoke. He landed on the side and looked at the wound on his right arm.
"This energy fluctuation...?!"
He recognized the energy from the attack.
"Grain Leader!!"
The other high-rank warriors came to his side. They quickly came here since they sensed a powerful energy fluctuation. And all of them were familiar with it.
"Grain Leader, this aura..." One of them muttered.
"I know, Jayden is here... The top 2 of the Red Matter Association." Banni took a deep breath and said, "I can handle this. You guys can go and help our fellow warriors. I want you to preserve the lives of our warriors as many as you can."
"But that's..."
"I know, I've fought Jayden years ago..." Banni said. "We don't even know the location of Grain Leader Servas and Grain Leader Micah. So I want you guys to command the other warriors and let me deal with the other side's strong experts."
Grain Leader Servas was the leader of Second Grain while Grain Leader Micah was Third Grain. Both of them were powerful warriors that could contend with the executives of the Red Matter, so their strength was needed to take down the strong guys from the other side.
"We understand, Sir! Please be careful!!"
