Ming Region, Vorr Zone.
Souta rose from his seat and surveyed the surroundings, detecting hundreds of creatures nearby. These were the dream beasts inhabiting the area.
He found himself on one of the floating islands within this region. However, this island no longer floated; it had crashed during his confrontation with the previous Sovereign of the Ming Region.
Realizing he needed to locate Alice and the others, Souta understood they could not have landed in other parts of the Nightmare Realm; the trial only took place here.
While the Ming Region boasted abundant resources, they were currently of little use to him. Although it would be beneficial to bring these resources outside, he lacked the capability to do so yet. Such a feat required a high level of Dream Power.
Nevertheless, Alice and the others would benefit greatly from the available resources. As for Souta, the only path to increasing his strength lay in confronting higher-ranking Sovereigns.
Souta glanced at his sword and asked, "Saya, are you there?"
'I'm always here,' Saya replied.
"Well, last time, I couldn't bring anything with me, so..." Souta shrugged his shoulders.
'That's because you didn't have Dream Power at that time. It's different now,' Saya said.
"Hmm..." Souta suddenly turned his head as he sensed something.
...
Dozens of figures were inside the crashed floating island. They were inhabitants of the Dream Realm called hullscan, a demi.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Hullscan weren't that different from humans. Their appearance was almost the same except for their tall figures and grey-colored eyes. An adult hullscan could reach a height of two and a half meters.
Their group was led by two people: an old man and a man who looked to be in his early thirties. The old man was one of the great magicians of hullscan named Aorhen, while the younger man was an elite swordsman named Vabhron.
They were leading this expedition team.
According to the information, a commotion had occurred in the Ming Region. Various dream beasts left this region, and they started occupying other regions. Their goal in this expedition was to verify what happened to the Ming Region.
The group was resting inside one of the large pieces of land that had crashed on the ground.
"We only encountered a few monsters," Vabhron said as he glanced at Aorhen.
"Most of them went to the other regions. The state of the Ming Region isn't normal. Almost all the floating islands have fallen." Aorhen pointed at the ceiling and added, "Also, this large piece of land that we are in should be packed with thousands of monsters, and from what we've encountered so far, I can estimate that the monsters here didn't even reach a thousand."
"Yeah, it's like a big fight happened in the region," Vabhron said with a worried look.
Out of nine zones, the hullscan only occupied one zone, and this zone was the smallest of all. The other zones were occupied by vicious monsters. Fortunately, those monsters weren't unified, so the hullscan managed to survive by working together. They owned four regions, and their Sovereigns were among the lowest ranking. They didn't have anyone above rank 40.
"I think it's better if we go back now. We've explored almost half of the region and haven't found anything except for traces of battle. It's safe to say that we've completed our mission," Aorhen said.
"We can't yet. We should at least confirm if the Sovereign of the Ming Region is still alive or not," Vabrhon replied.
Ohm!
Suddenly, Aorhen and Vabrhon felt a chill down their spines. Both of them turned their heads simultaneously, only to see a lone figure with gleaming red eyes.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"W-What is that?!" Aorhen shuddered at the sight of the unknown figure.
"I-Impossible!! The Dream Power around that creature is resonating with the land!" Vabrhon covered his mouth in shock.
Dream Power resonating with the land, no, it should be the core. It only means one thing. The figure before them was the Sovereign of the Ming Region.
The title of Sovereign was a big deal in this place. It meant that they could suppress anything on this land that wasn't a Sovereign.
"Ahhh!"
"Ugh!"
The other people around them pulled out their weapons as they stared at the unknown figure. They couldn't think straight as the suppression was clouding their minds.
Souta stared at the group of hullscan.
'Oh, I see... My fight before against the previous sovereign must have caused a huge commotion. The other regions are probably investigating what happened,' he said inwardly.
Still, the hullscan were situated in the Hull Zone, so they must have experienced a lot just to arrive here.
'Are you going to kill them?' Saya asked.
'Nope, they haven't done anything to me, so I'll let them go,' Souta shook his head.
Souta focused his attention on the group. They were shaking as they observed him with terror in their eyes.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Go back to your place. You're lucky you haven't done anything yet, or else you wouldn't be able to leave this place," Souta communicated using monster language.
"Y-Yes..." The group of hullscan bowed before hurryingly leaving. If the monster in front of them changed his mind, they would die.
Souta stared at their backs as he pondered about the Hull Zone. The Hull Zone only contained four regions, all of which were of low ranking. It was adjacent to the Vorr Zone where the Ming Region was situated. Although it was nearby, the distance between here and the Hull Zone was still considerable.
'If the hullscan sent people to investigate what happened in the Ming Region, then there's no need to doubt that the other regions would send people too,' Saya remarked.
"Hmm... Alice and the others would gather here. As for me, I will go to the other regions to see if there's something that could help me," Souta replied.
That's right, Alice and the rest would gather in the Ming Region. Then, they would use the resources in this region to boost their strength. All of them were sovereigns too, as they completed the trial and gained Dream Power. Actually, they could take the resources in their regions, but they decided to gather together in case someone attacked them.
All of this was useless to Souta. The only thing that could help him was the resources in those higher-ranking regions. That's why he was going to take them. He was going to challenge those sovereigns.
"Let's go!" Souta smiled as he bent his knees before launching himself.
Boom!
His figure crashed into the ceiling, tearing through the large piece of land.
...
The land of Vanko was in chaos. Sovereigns who had stood at the top for decades had fallen, their thrones taken by unknown individuals. The sudden upheaval caught them off guard, as they hadn't yet confirmed what had occurred in the Ming Region.
Chaos enveloped the land as numerous dream beasts started to ravage other regions. Those top-ranking sovereigns didn't bother themselves with the commotion, as the chaos was contained within the territories of lower-ranking sovereigns.
Six regions had suffered a few days prior. Various individuals were sent to investigate, but they found only traces of battle and nothing else. This incident reminded them of a shocking event that had occurred a month ago in the Ming Region. The sovereigns of those six regions were missing, and their fate was unknown.
In the Dean Region, within the Hull Zone, four individuals sat around a small table in a room inside a grand palace. Among them was a woman, accompanied by three men. These four were the sovereigns of the four regions in the Hull Zone: Yvun, Elio, Mira, and Ohrno.
They were the pillars of the entire hullscan demi race in the land of Vanko.
"It's terrible," Ohrno said, a bald old man with a thick beard and mustache.
"Yeah, six sovereigns have fallen few days ago," Mira nodded. She was a woman with long blue hair tied back.
Elio remained silent, his gaze shifting to Yvun. He was the youngest among them, with short black hair, sharp eyebrows, and pale skin.
Yvun looked at the three of them and said, "We need to prepare ourselves. I have a feeling that this is just the beginning. The entire lower ranking will likely be reshuffled."
While others were unaware that six sovereigns had fallen just days ago, the four of them knew. As sovereigns, they resonated with the core of Vanko, allowing them to sense disturbances when a sovereign fell from the throne. They had sent their people to investigate the new sovereigns and their intentions. However, the event in the Ming Region a month ago remained shrouded in mystery, with no clear understanding of what had transpired in the battle there.
Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door.
"My Lord, the expedition team in the Ming Region has returned," a voice called from outside.
"Call them in," Yvun commanded, turning his attention to his comrades.
Soon, Aorhen and Vabhron entered the room, bowing respectfully to the four sovereigns of the hullscan race.
"Can you narrate to us what you've experienced, leaving out no detail?" Yvun requested.
Aorhen and Vabhron exchanged glances before beginning to recount their experiences to the assembled sovereigns.
