168 The Neutral Lands.

A week passed just like that, and the group neared a barren area.

The terrain suddenly changed, and there were no trees or any sort of greenery for that matter anywhere in sight.

"What is this?" Ozul asked. One second they were surrounded by vegetation, and the next second, there was just rocky ground.

Although Cyril and Mark were surprised that he was not aware of it, Mark was quick in his reply, "These are the desolate borders of the Neutral Lands."

'Desolate borders? Is it the outline of the Neutral Lands on the map?' Ozul thought. From the name and the map he had seen, it seemed to be the case.

"It would take at most a few hours with our current speed," Mark added before Ozul nodded his head in understanding.

From what he understood, this barren land acted as the natural border that separated the Neutral Lands from the rest. In the map, Ozul figured that this was the line stretched around to form a circular land.

Mark and Cyril were curious about how Ozul did not know his way around the Neutral Lands even after being a Rank-9 Mage. However, they did not voice out their thoughts since that could come out as rude, and they were unwilling to lose their lives over such a matter.

Ozul let Mark lead the way. He curiously looked around to find something other than the rocky bed, but there was nothing except the occasional wind blowing.

"So, there is absolutely nothing in these... Desolate borders?" Ozul inquired. It looked quite unnatural. You could see one or two cactuses even in a desert, but there was nothing but uneven land.

"People have dispatched many groups to venture out here in search of something that could explain this oddity, but there has yet to be any certain proof of this being unnatural," Cyril replied. Surprisingly, he sounded passionate about explaining this to him.

"But we still think that this land was not like this before. We have even tried to grow vegetation on this land, but this ground seems to be completely dead. It just would not aid the plants to grow at all!..." Cyril seemingly forgot that no one had asked so many details from him.

However, the others did not have anything else to do either, so no one stopped him, and he kept on.

A few hours passed, and the terrain returned to normal. Just like before, there was a clear line between the rocky ground and the vegetation that stretched as far as their line of sight reached.

Stepping on the other side, Ozul realized that they were now in the Neutral Lands, the middlemost domain of the entire Mainland.

The only thing that made him feel something different was the Mana in the air. It felt like a totally different environment.

"Is this it?" Ozul softly asked.

"Yes. We are now in the Neutral Lands," Mark replied without stopping. The group continued to advance.

"Although we are in the Neutral Lands, this area is the most dangerous," Mark added in a serious tone.

"Why?" Ozul asked. 

"All the giant organizations keep watch on the Desolate borders. Unless we reach the Neutral City, expect some rats to come after us," Cyril answered with a scowl on his face. 

However, he noticed Ozul tilting his head when he had mentioned the Neutral City and figured that he might not know about it either.

Without waiting for him to ask, he explained, "If you consider the Neutral Lands as a kingdom, then the Neutral City would be something like its Capital. Once in the city, a person would not have to worry about his life. Most enter the Lands, but never reach the city..."

Ozul raised his brows as he understood the implications.

Inside the city, every organization had set up their headquarters. However, they could not do anything openly that might implicate them.

Just a single mistake, and the other organizations would not lose the opportunity to eliminate one of their competitors.

Many organizations were strong enough to shake the whole continent. But they all had to behave when they were in the Neutral City.

"Since they can't act in the City, this place is the perfect time for them to strike their enemies," Mark explained before he momentarily paused.

"Where... do you wish to go?" Mark asked hesitatingly. He only realized it now that he hadn't asked about his opinion and was going to lead them to their headquarters directly.

Ozul did not directly answer his question and asked, "Where is your headquarters?"

"In the Neutral City," Mark hurriedly replied.

Ozul turned to look at Clara, who immediately understood his question. She replied, "The Church is there in the Neutral City as well."

Getting his answer, Mark did not need any confirmation and nodded his head before taking the lead.

They hadn't run a few meters before Mark and Cyril suddenly paused. They sensed a group of men approaching them from the front. To their side, Ozul's expression remained unchanged. He had sensed them long ago, but they were not strong enough to make him pay any heed.

"I guess you have some wellwishers?" Cyril looked towards Clara. 

Both he and Mark were assassins, and almost no one knew their faces, and it was Ozul's first time in the Lands. So, those individuals could only be coming after her.

Ozul noticed that Clara was not flustered. It seemed like she was rather familiar with similar situations.

A few moments later, the group was surrounded by some men with roguish appearances.

"Khahah! It really is the princess of the Albens Family, Clara Albens!" One of the men laughed as he stepped forward.

Ozul, at one glance, knew that this man was the leader since he was the only Rank-7 Mage in the entire group. Everyone ranged from Rank-4 to Rank-6.

"Haha! Bringing her head back at the base would surely bring every Elder's attention to me!" The man with a sickly appearance again laughed. The veil on Clara's face did not stop his men from figuring her identity because of their enchanted equipment.

But just then, he stopped gloating and suspiciously looked at the three men surrounding Clara. Although he could not sense anything from them, it was obvious that they were using some treasure to hide their strength. 

"You! Who are you!?" the man asked loudly.

He was confident in his strength, but the unknown made him hesitate. Albeit, just a little.

"Nevermind that. I am feeling generous today. Just withdraw quietly, and I will pretend that I did not see you," He was not sure how strong the three were. So he proposed this idea to avoid any serious damage on his side if there turned out to be even one Rank-7 among them.

In any case, he was not losing anything even if they turned out to be weak. Only Clara was valuable in his eyes.

Ozul, Cyril, and Mark did not move even an inch from their positions and only looked at the arrogant man with cold eyes.

"...This is your last chance!" The man shouted once again. He realized that if the men did not move, it meant that they were strong enough to hold their ground against him.

In the excitement of this chance to kill Clara and earn hefty rewards, the thought of these three men being stronger than him did not once cross his mind. His overconfidence in his strength did not help this situation either.

The man was about to order his men to get into formation for a battle when a giant pillar of scorching fire rose from the ground.

The fire engulfed their whole group, but suddenly a layer of water arose from the sides of the fire pillar. The water contained the fire before it spread anywhere else or created a commotion.

"We are assassins. Stop going over the board all the time!" Mark rebuked Cyril, who shrugged in response.

"Come on! I knew you would contain the fire."

"Whatever..."

As the water and fire disappeared, it did not leave any remains of the group. In just a few seconds, everything had turned to ashes.

This was the disparity between a Rank-8 Mage and those below it. There was only a difference of one rank between Rank-7 and that, but there was no comparison in power. If one was an adult using lethal attacks, the other seemed like a kid who could only perform small tricks.

"Let's go." Ozul had to remind the duo to stop their bickering. Both of them coughed embarrassedly before Mark started leading again.

For them, this small event held no importance. They quickly discarded it from their mind. However, this one interruption wasn't the only annoyance they had to face.

They had just taken a few more steps before another such group blocked their path. The strongest in such groups only consisted of Rank-7 since it wasn't easy to cultivate men above that power level.

Cyril even started to doubt that his earlier spell might really have attracted all of these bugs.

After destroying the fourth such group, the duo had just accepted that it would be like this until they reached the City. But just at this moment, Clara realized something.

"...uhh... I should've activated this earlier," She muttered to herself as she looked at the silver bracelet on her wrist.

The men turned around to look at her as she awkwardly scratched the back of her head.

She activated the bracelet as a layer of Mana covered her. Ozul did not feel any different from before, but it worked wonders since there weren't more of those groups blocking their way after that.