"If that's what you really want then we will follow you." Elder Hanmi replied.
He stared at Souta's back. He couldn't believe that a monster who could barely fight him without help back then had already grown into someone that could dominate a small piece of land in Imperium.
Souta was already capable of killing someone that broke the first great shackle, while he stayed at the level of One Shackle all this time. Although he was close to breaking through to Two Shackles, it wasn't comparable to Souta's absurd growth speed. Even Alice, Franklin, and the others also had unbelievable growth speeds. Some of them had already surpassed him.
'Perhaps, My Lady's decision is right.' Elder Hanmi said inwardly.
He couldn't help but think about his friend that passed away, Elder Guan. Elder Guan supported Souta from the start.
"Good. We'll go there immediately." Souta said.
What if there was a bigger force here? He couldn't carelessly fight since his action right now would be considered as the action of Athen's Champion. He was sure that various factions all over the continent already knew that the Athen's Champion extends their hands to the land that didn't belong to them.
One wrong move like overextension once again would be treated as a military march by the nearest Large Countries. Even the other Holy Lands would point their fingers at Olympus. The only reason why they were letting the Athen's Champion stay in Hall Plains was because they prevented the awakening of No God Emperor. If No God Emperor really broke out of his seal, then the other Holy Lands and Large Countries wouldn't tolerate such an action from Olympus.
They were letting the Athen's Champion be in the Hall Plains on the account of stopping a wild god go out of control.
Well, Souta also knew that if Hall Plains was a land that was full of resources then a war would really break out. The balance would collapse just like that.
It was easy to cause a war than to stop the war from happening.
A war on a larger scale that involves god was something that Souta avoided now. He could fight higher-level experts with his hidden aces but that's only a temporary one.
Souta flipped his hand and looked at the system. He had the [Emperor's Blessing Card] that was added to his hidden aces. He wouldn't use this unless the situation was the worse possible outcome with no way out even after using all of his skills and equipment.
Also, he had the [Blood Card] that he could use if someone from an entirely different level showed up. If he didn't defeat No God Emperor using his Archetype at that time, he would be forced to use it. His power as Blood would easily dismantle Yenxa to nothing.
It wasn't a good time to use it since he could use it to survive a direct attack from a God or Monster Lord. So using it against a vessel of a God that didn't even have the power of a Freedom Realm was a waste. Luckily, everything worked out without using the card.
And then... There's a new title.
[Vanquisher of the Lord].
It was a title that was given to him after he prevented the awakening of the Lord of Hall Plains, No God Emperor. It gives him a 20% boost to his stats when fighting inside the territory of his enemies. It was a pretty good title to him since he preferred to bring the battle to his enemies' territory.
Witch Clan Leader Rowan, Inheritor of the Creep Lord, or Ancestor of the Great Asteley Empire. Souta fought most of his previous enemies in their territories so this title would be a great help to him.
He looked at his titles.
[Dominator of the City], [Ruler of the Sub-World], [Labyrinth Cleaner], [Thirteenth Zodiac], and [Vanquisher of the Lord]. In total, he already gained five titles ever since he arrived in this world.
Swoosh!!
Souta snapped out of his thoughts as they arrived in front of the Earthen Woods. The seemingly endless trees in front of him were all part of this land. This region was a gigantic forest that span almost seventy thousand kilometers.
Hall Plains was just a small piece of land in the entirety of God's Continent, yet a single region of Hall Plains was already this huge.
Souta thought that two Mine Valley could be fitted inside this vast region.
It was expected from the largest continent in Imperium.
Despite having a huge land, Souta couldn't feel any threat coming from it. He still didn't lower his guard though. It was better to be cautious.
Souta, Elder Hanmi, and the rest descended from the sky.
"I thought that they closed their borders," Souta said while looking around.
"That's what the report says but it seems different now..." Elder Hanmi answered.
"I couldn't sense any lifeforms in our surroundings." Souta found it strange that he couldn't detect blood within the range of his ability.
It felt like this was an abandoned place. Even tiny insects or ants were gone and that only made this place more strange.
Souta looked left and right before he said, "Follow me, we'll go straight until we find someone that we could talk to."
The group advanced while silently observing their surroundings. The area was foggy and the sunlight could hardly reach the ground. The trees were numerous and each one of them mostly had a height of twenty to thirty meters. They were keeping the whole area moist.
After traveling for several kilometers, Souta finally detected signs of life.
It was a small village with a population of two hundred people. Their power level was low as their strongest expert was only at B-rank. If not for the increase in mana density, this expert wouldn't probably be able to reach B-rank.
"Just what are they doing...? Did the higher-ups of the unified tribe abandon the Earthen Woods?"
Souta muttered while observing the village. He raised his hand and pointed at the village.
The witches nodded as they rushed toward the village while hiding their presence. They were going to sneak in and investigate if there was something with it.
Their power levels were higher than the villager so they wouldn't have a problem sneaking in unless there was a sensory type among the villager.
A few minutes had passed and the witches had returned.
They reported that there was nothing wrong with the village. They also heard that the villagers were talking about the war and how their lives could be taken once the enemies invaded them.
"War...?" Souta rubbed his chin.
"Maybe, they are talking about the war against the forces of Mine Valley." Elder Hanmi said.
"That's possible since they suffered a defeat. They pulled back all of their forces and concentrated it on their base camp, leaving the other villages alone." Souta nodded.
After the war against Mine Valley, the unified tribe lost several of their Shackled Realm powerhouses. It was a major casualty on their side and their military powers had tremendously decreased because of it.
"Okay, we'll go and find other villages. Preferably, a stronger one."
Souta said to his men.
The group advanced once again. They left the village without anyone knowing about it. The villagers didn't know about a group of people that could easily destroy their village had left.
After traveling for a few minutes, Souta and the rest stopped moving. They sensed a group of people running at high speed.
Swoosh!!
"Get back and we'll kill you painlessly!!" An eight-foot man with four arms said with a laugh. Behind him were three others of his own kind. They were following a girl with a pair of goat horns on her head.
"No, I will never let myself be captured by people like you!!" The girl said as she tried to increase her speed by moving her feet faster.
Souta and the others watched the scene from the sideline.
"It seems that something is happening in Earthen Woods..." He muttered to himself. He slowly raised his hand and said, "Go and save that girl. Also, don't kill the people that are chasing her. It's better to ask all of them."
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The witches disappeared from their position. They quickly arrived in front of the girl and the four men.
"Who are you?!!" The leader of the Four-Arm men shouted angrily.
The witches didn't say anything. Instead, they stepped forward and swiftly launched an attack on the Four-Arm men.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The power gap was too huge so the witches easily took down their target.
Seeing this scene, the girl fell on her butt with wide eyes. She didn't even know why these people decided to save her. No, these people didn't attack her because they knew that she wouldn't resist, unlike the Four-Arm men.
"W-Who are you...?" She asked in a trembling tone.
"Don't worry, we're not gonna harm you as long as you cooperate with us. So can you kindly tell us what is happening here?"
The girl flinched when she heard the voice. She turned around and saw a man sitting on a branch of a tree. The moment she saw the man, her eyes widened in fear and her instinct screamed at her, telling her to run away.
Souta simply smiled as he noticed the fear deep within the eyes of the girl.
