The four of them waited until Lily returned, which took about a minute.
When Kyle saw that several golems were missing, he had mixed feelings.
The fact that some of them were destroyed but others weren't meant that there had been a battle and that they had most likely been victorious, to some degree.
If they had lost, all golems would be destroyed.
If all golems were still alive, it would mean there hadn't been a battle.
Sadly, every destroyed golem represented between 40 and 50 Ether Stones of damage.
Naturally, as Lily became stronger, her golems also became more expensive.
While Lily was still on her way back, a heavily armored man appeared in front of Kyle.
Obviously, he didn't just appear, but with the man's incredible speed, running and teleporting didn't make a difference to Kyle.
"Are you the leader?" the man asked Kyle with a deep voice.
"Yes, sir," Kyle answered as he jumped down from the small mountain of rubble.
"Your squad member killed an Initial Grand Sorcerer on her own and significantly contributed to the death of an Early Grandmaster. I require identification to assign the appropriate rewards," the man spoke.
"Of course, sir," Kyle said as he took out a small emblem he had received from the Captain.
The armored man held his hand over the emblem, and a beam of light scanned over it.
"Team Sandstorm, correct?" the man asked.
"Yes, sir," Kyle said.
"Well done," the man said with a neutral voice. "You may redeem your rewards after your shift."
With shift, the man was referring to the three months everyone had to stay.
"Of course. Thank you, sir," Kyle said.
The man nodded before seemingly vanishing again.
"I lost almost five Ether Gems," Lily said with annoyance. "I hope you're paying for that."
"No worries," Kyle said. "You will get reimbursed for all of your damages before we distribute the reward."
Lily just snorted, but Kyle was used to that.
"Repair your golems and then, we continue," Kyle said.
Lily repaired the ten golems that had protected Kyle, and everyone continued.
Sadly, despite dealing with two people in the Third Realm, they were not much safer.
These small teams from the Winterfire Kingdom worked independently, and they often didn't know where the other teams were.
Because of that, it was possible that there were more teams around these parts.
Nevertheless, they had to continue.
Since the trick with the cargo was still new, they decided to use it again.
After all, every enemy who had seen the trick had died.
Once more, the golems were packed into huge metal boxes.
They carefully traveled from one mountain to the other, not taking the risk of jumping from peak to peak.
Some minutes later, they were only 50 kilometers away from the Ether Essence.
Now, they were entering the really risky territories.
From this point on, Kyle would move alone for a while, using his instincts to scout.
After scouting for a while, Kyle returned to grab the team and one of the boxes.
Progress was slow.
Some more minutes passed, and they reached a distance of 40 kilometers.
At that point, Kyle's instincts warned him of something dangerous, but he wasn't very surprised.
According to the map, they were approaching the territory of a formidable Monster.
The map had said that the Monster residing here was a Late Monster with a Metal Affinity.
A Slicing Mantis.
The Monster was only around two meters tall, which was quite small for a Monster.
However, its power was no joke.
The Slicing Mantis didn't move a lot, but when it moved, it moved at incredible speeds.
When it found some prey, it exploded forward, leaving a silver streak behind.
This silver streak was made of the dense Metal Ether the Slicing Mantis released from its blades.
Its defense was horrid, and its mind was simple.
Yet, its speed and offense were unreasonably high.
"Get rid of the metal boxes and follow me," Kyle said after getting back to the team.
Metal Ether was quite enticing for Slicing Mantises, and the metal boxes could draw its attention.
90% of Lily's golems were made of earth. Only their cores and parts of their weapons were made with metal.
After getting rid of the boxes, the team continued, traveling into the Slicing Mantis' territory.
The reason was simple.
Protection.
They were over an entire Realm weaker than the Slicing Mantis, which meant they would not be interesting to it.
A wolf wouldn't consider an ant food.
This was also the reason why the Slicing Mantis was still alive.
Naturally, the Skysand Kingdom had the power to kill this Monster, but they didn't want to.
People in the Third Realm would risk their lives by entering the Slicing Mantis' Realm, while people in the Second Realm could safely enter.
The Winterfire Kingdom didn't send any people of the Second Realm so far into the frontlines, while the Skysand Kingdom sent a lot of people in the Second Realm to this place. The Slicing Mantis was a net positive.
Nevertheless, Kyle wanted to be safe and told Lily's golems to travel closer to the Slicing Mantis than their team.
If it had an appetite, it would probably just eat the golems, leaving the team alive.
As the team climbed one of the higher mountains, they saw it.
The tall and silver Slicing Mantis just stood on the peak of a random mountain, unmoving.
It was almost like a statue.
As soon as Kyle climbed the peak, he felt his instincts screaming at him.
This could only mean that the Slicing Mantis had noticed them.
For a couple of seconds, the team just waited.
The Slicing Mantis didn't move.
"Continue," Kyle said.
Everyone slowly descended the mountain, taking care not to make any sudden movements.
The entire time, Kyle's instincts kept screaming at him.
After climbing another mountain, Kyle looked at the Slicing Mantis again.
It still hadn't moved.
'This thing is so spooky,' Kyle thought.
"You are Kyle Freeman?"
Kyle stopped moving as he suddenly heard an emotionless, cold, and strict voice in his mind.
"Eh, yeah?" Kyle said.
The others looked at Kyle in confusion.
The next moment, for some reason, Kyle's attention was pulled to a certain direction.
That was when he saw something, and Kyle's eyes widened in shock.
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