"Oi... You will gain nothing by doing this, trust me..."Calio sat on the ground, completely bound from his hands to his feet. On his right, Ricky sat, polishing his blades with a rag, while on his left, Seth stood, staring down at him with a sinister smirk."Just stay put, would you? If you don't want to talk, that means you are useless. However, we don't do torture, so we can't force this information out of you. We also can't let you go, so you'll have to sit still until we can get some real info." Seth explained, although when he got to. the part about torture, his eyes lit up a bit.Seeing this, Calio broke out into a cold sweat...Suddenly, frost began to materialize in the space surrounding them. A second later, Finn appeared right in front of them from thin air."How did it go? Cade asked.A dark expression sullied Dan's face, "There is a settlement of people not too far from here, just after the jungle of broken buildings. However, they all don't seem to.be normal humans." Fin

'Now, onto business...'"Susan, what has been happening? How long have I been gone, and where are the rest?" Rhys said all at once.He planned to understand the current state of things before thinking of his next steps."Dan, Hunter, Ricky , and Seth are all on Central Island. They are scouting it out. However, they haven't been back once for an entire day."Staring at the dark expanse before her, her eyes seemed to turn glossy,"They've probably encountered some problems.""Problems?" Rhys said with a slight frown.'Problems aren't good at all...' Rhys thought to himself."I don't know how I know, I just know it," Susqn said indifferently."In that case, we shouldn't pursue that line of thinking until further information arrives," Rhys said, dismissing the idea that Cade and the rest were in trouble. After all, he had complete faith in their strength.As long as the opponent didn't dwarf them with more than twenty levels and wasn't higher than the legendary rank, he knew they would b

Starting at Rhys with sparkling eyes, Bryan was the very image of a rat who smelt cheese."Hmph! If you want to know, you'll have to pay up." Rhys said with a smirk.Blinking, Bryan replied seriously, "Boss, I doubt I possess anything that would be of use to you. If you want, I'll offer you my undying loyalty!""Ha! Don't think you can trick me. I know you have more than a handful of hidden aces." Rhys said with a predatory grin. If Bryan wanted anything from him, he would have to cough something up. He wasn't a charity agency after all."Tch! Fine..." With a pout, Steve's eyes glazed over as he began ruminating through the contents of his inventory.Rhys knew that everyone on his team was special in one way or another. And Bryan was no exception...Even though he seemed eccentric at times, Rhys knew that behind the facade existed an intelligent, cunning, and inquisitive person.His progress in magic research was just as impressive as Rhys 's."Aha! This is something I have been worki

With a wave of his blade, he activated one of them..."Mana Blade..."Nothing special happened. Rhys stared at his blade with a frown as he watched the threads of mana weave themselves together into the surface of his blade, creating a sharp uncanny edge.'Hmm...'Deactivating the skill, Rhys activated {Lightning Edge} as well. The skill appeared, and just like before, nothing special happened. Swinging his blade forward, Rhys slashed the empty space before him.Then slashed again...And again...And again...He continued for a long time before he finally stopped. Dismissing the weapon, he sat back onto the ground and recalled the time he had been so engrossed in back into his laps.Flipping onto the page he had stopped on, he turned the page once again and began reading the contents of the fresh page.'After all my years of study, I was only able to create merely a scaffold of true skill. Hopefully, those who gaze upon these texts, someday in the far future will be able to succeed wh

"Long time no see, boys!"The shadows enveloping the ice bridge were quickly chased away by the rising sun, and light, albeit dim, was returning to the world.The figures of a few individuals were revealed not too far into the distance. Walking slowly, the shadowy figures of four people of varying features were revealed.Staring at the approaching group with a frown, Rhys only wondered what was up with them. The way they walked was strange, and the pace at which they walked was even stranger. He also noticed something that caused his frown to deepen,'Where is Hunter?'"They are back?" All the others stood to their feet and gathered to stare at the figures approaching.As soon as the light reached them, every one of them let out different exclamations. Some were horrified, some were stunned, others were confused.Rhys on the other hand had a dark look on his face,'What the hell could have done them in like this?'The four figures were Vincent, Ricky , Dan, and Calio. Cade was nowhere