Chapter 584 Slipped
Though it seemed close, Ryu could tell that the mountain was still about a hundred kilometers from them. Of course, such a distance was a small thing to cultivators at their level. But, what was curious was that Ryu couldn't see anyone else. There was definitely something odd about the current situation.
From Ryu's vantage point, it was possible to see a large portion of the base of the mountain.
Of course, 100 kilometers when compared to the size of this monstrosity was nothing, so it was actually difficult to see the full scope of everything. In fact, what must have been a mountain with a round base looked like nothing more than a straight line to Ryu right now.
But, it was also exactly because of this that Ryu could see thousands of kilometers both to his left and right, a large measure of which was filled with nothing but snow. There wasn't a single person in sight.
One might think that Ryu was overthinking this. With his speed and strength, wasn't it only obvious that he would get here long before anyone else?
The trouble was, though, that Ryu had run into Yaana. What did this mean? It meant that there were people who were randomly teleported far closer to the mountain than he was. Just because he was the fastest, didn't mean that he would get here the fastest. If Yaana could be teleported so close, there was nothing stopping from someone else being teleported even closer.
Though this wasn't exactly fair, what in the martial world ever was?
Ryu felt that there was probably some formation hiding things. But, what was baffling was that it was his intuition that told him this and not his Heavenly Pupils. For a formation to hide from him, it would have to be at an extremely high level AND it would have to have been designed specifically with the goal of being undetectable. After all, even the Ancestral Grade Formation of that Martial God city hadn't been able to hide from him.
'This probably means that there's an illusion or dreamlike world up ahead. But, for it to be so high level… How could something like this appear in this world? It simply didn't make any sense.'
Whenever a Legacy World had a particular cap, it also meant that the difficulty was adjusted to fit that cap. Ryu was definitely of if not the strongest Immortal Ring expert to ever exist. There shouldn't be anything in this world that was difficult for him unless this Ice Devil expert was a truly sadistic bastard.
That said… It would probably be foolish for Ryu to believe that anyone worth of the title Ice Devil would be a good person to begin with… Maybe he should have stepped into this knowing very well that it might be a death trap.
"Yaana," Ryu suddenly spoke, "what did that Madame ask of you?"
"She didn't exactly tell us anything. But, Auntie Duna said to use the formation plates we had to meet up with her as soon as we could. I assume she gave the orders she wanted to there. Guido said something about being tasked with killing everyone…"
"Killing everyone, huh…? That's quite the bold move. Is it related to the Martial Gods? Or is it someone making a play against the Martial Gods…? Who would be bold enough to do that?"
Ryu spoke as if this person was crazy, somehow forgetting that he wasn't just going against the Martial Gods, he wanted to overturn them completely. At the very least, that goal was just as bad as anything this mysterious individual wanted to accomplish considering it was already the worst case scenario.
Yaana didn't respond. It seemed like Ryu was talking to himself or trying to figure something out.
Ryu knew that the Martial Gods must have had some sort of enemy now. However, whatever enemy it was that made them run from their home wouldn't have to sneak around like this. At the very least, they wouldn't be in the shadows while the Martial Gods were living openly and grandly.
Due to this, logic stated that this was a different enemy than the one the Martial Gods ran from.
But, with the Armament Guild struggling against them and even those powerful Necromancy families falling in line with them, not to mention the Faeries who were trying to make marriage alliances with them, who still had the guts to go against the Martial Gods?
Now that Ryu thought about it, much of the Necromancy Guild was ruled by those three Necromancy Clans. The Avangard Clan, the Delliard Clan and the Mophesta Clan. Yet, Ryu had seen members of all three take part in the Silver Branch's trials.
But now, somehow it was someone of the Necromancy Guild, which was practically in their back pocket, taking action now? It was intriguing…
If everyone died but these people, what then would they do? How would they face the Martial Gods? Did they have a way to leave this place undetected? Did they not care about being detected? Were they already ready to fight against the Martial Gods? Or was it something else that Ryu was missing entirely.
Ryu's lip curled. Wasn't' this a very good thing for him? Wouldn't he now have a scapegoat to blame everything on after he plundered everything in this world?
He would have to be careful, though. For all he knew, these people wanted to also use him as a scapegoat.
The thing was… He wasn't so easy to use.
"Hold on tight Yaana. Even if for some reason you've lost the feel of my hand, just keep squeezing as hard as you can."
"Okay." Yaana nodded obediently.
"Let's go."
Ryu flashed, stepping across the barrier.
The instant he did, he felt Yaana trying to run in the complete opposite direction of him. She was sprinting as hard as she could as though he was a menace she needed to dash from.
Ryu could tell immediately what was happening. Yaana thought that she was running to keep up with him. But the truth was that this odd world was forcing her to run away from him instead.
Ryu's vision was layered with two different realities that made his head spin. For a moment, he couldn't remember which hand he had been holding onto Yaana's with and his grip slipped.