1350 After Them!
Ryu's speed caused Empana's own gaze to change somewhat, but he realized that Ryu hadn't accelerated, he was still flying at the same speed. Rather, this seemed to be a good idea, if they disappeared into a tunnel now, it would be easier to lose Norrian. After all, it would be hard to tell which tunnel they had entered from.
What Empana didn't know was that it was trivial for a Ruin Master to find out such a thing. Even the worse, most incompetent Ruin Masters could track a location living beings had passed through recently. However, Empana wasn't a Ruin Master, so how could he know this? If it was possible to avoid detection like this, then Ryu wouldn't be so worried about others following his actions and finding out he could do something they couldn't.
The group rushed into the tunnel and vanished.
Dozens of minutes later, the Exo Demon Race rushed out after them.
Norrian's expression became ugly. There were so many tunnels around them, but they all looked the exact same. He had no way of telling which one they had entered.
"...There was some lingering ice qi in the air back in the tunnel, maybe there are some traces left here somewhere-"
"Young Master, you don't have to worry about this. This is the easiest thing for me to track, they've entered this one here!" The Ruin Master by Norrian's side spoke quickly.
Norrian's eyes lit up, he clearly trusted this man implicitly. Without hesitation, he rushed forward.
...
Ryu's gaze was still sharp even another three hours later. He realized before anyone else and he shot out from the cave's entrance like a canon before suddenly coming to a halt. An imperceptible smile curled the side of his lip.
The tunnel he had stepped into just now wasn't a positive tunnel, it was instead a negative tunnel. Negative didn't mean that it went backwards, but rather meant that the length of time spent traveling within it was less than what one would have gotten if they followed the catacomb's straight road.
In a positive tunnel, one might get an extra 10 minutes of time. However, in a negative tunnel, if you traveled for an hour, you would only improve forward what you could have covered in 50 minutes along the straight path.
However, Ryu had done this with a very clear purpose in mind, and the purpose was below.
Empana and Ianjor rushed out not long after Ryu. The former's expression became serious instantly while the latter's looked toward Ryu's side profile as though he was trying to see something. But Ryu's expression was just the same as always, unreadable, cold and distant.
The appearance of the group immediately caught the attention of those below. To the astonishment of Empana, down below, there was the third and final major group of the Fifth Plane. Each and every last of them radiated a frigid air and were as pale as snow from head to toe. Their skin was oddly wrinkled despite the exuberant youthful aura they gave off and their eyes were nothing more than bottomless abysses of darkness with no whites, irises or even pupils to speak of.
This was the White Devil Race, not to be confused with the White Devils of Sacrum's Mortal Planes. It might even be said that the legend or name of the White Devils of Sacrum had come from this Race right before Ryu. However, while the White Devil Race of Sacrum referred to the Zu Clan, these were true demons, vicious and demonic under every sense of the words.
The tension in the air skyrocketed, but what made it worse was that not even a few minutes after, Norrian dashed out as well.
Suddenly, the atmosphere seemed to explode.
The leader of the White Devils was a young woman. The wrinkles on her face were fainter than those around her, but they also seemed more defined. If one looked closely, these weren't wrinkles at all, but almost like tattoos formed entirely by the peaks and valleys of her skin. It gave her an odd sort of beauty that one couldn't put their finger on, but in order to taste such a beauty a man would have to have a great deal of testicular fortitude.
That was because this young was Ralora, a vicious woman well known for her cannibalism. Of course, cannibalism in this context didn't refer to eating other White Devils, but rather other humanoid demons. She had eaten more Lizard Demons and Exo Demons than she cared to count. Seeing them appear before her now, her tongue couldn't help but flicker in and out of her mouth, moving so fast that it left a ghostly trail.
Empana's frown deepened as he looked toward Ryu.
By now, he was certain that Ryu knew what he was doing, or else a situation where they had run into not just one group, but two, would never happen. However, he wasn't sure if Ryu had done this on purpose or not.
After a moment, he vibrated his head. How could that be possible?
What he didn't know was that the moment they had exited the tunnel the first time, he had already sensed which tunnel the White Devils had entered. Reverse engineering which tunnel to enter next so that they would be slowed enough to meet them again was simple arithmetic to Ryu.
Ryu suddenly felt that this feeling was quite novel.
Back in Sacrum, he had accumulated a lack of respect for Sky Gods because he had always toyed with them in the palm of his hands. But this was always built off the back of his family's strength. Doing it with his own now felt... different.
He would enjoy playing these Sky Gods to death.
Ryu suddenly put his Matrix away just a few moments after and zoomed like a ball from a canon, urging Little Silk forward. He zipped into a tunnel.
Without hesitation, Norrian dashed forward after him.
At the same time, Ralora's expression changed. Then, she made a split moment decision.
"After them!"
