Chapter 280: Deja Vu.

The Bishop arrived back in the Church and looked for Lammert in a hurry.

Since their task was to learn about their destination, he had decided to leave immediately after learning that they were going for the exploration of the ruins. He didn't even bother to discuss it with others beforehand.

The reason he left in so much of a hurry was that he didn't want to be one of those who were tasked to follow behind that Rank-9 Mage. What if they were found out? Their whole group would be annihilated instantly!

So, he chose the easy way out and became the first one to leave. Unknown to him, he had truly made the right choice as all of his companions were killed without mercy after he left.

He directly made his way to the hall room where the Archbishop would usually meditate. And carefully knocked on the door.

Tak! tak!

"Enter," the voice came from behind the door, but the Bishop was surprised to notice that it sounded different than Archbishop Lammert's.

He slowly opened the door and noticed how there was more than just a single person inside the room. Other than Archbishop Lammert, there was another old woman present there.

He hadn't seen this woman before, but he could guess her identity because of the talks around the Church these days.

'Ancestor!'

The Bishop was put under even more pressure as he struggled to take even a few steps forward.

Lammert noticed this, but he couldn't do anything about it either. He himself was afraid of Darcia, how could he help his subordinates? Moreover, he was getting impatient, "Speak. What is it?"

"A-archbishop. We found out their destination," the Bishop stuttered out a reply unconsciously when he heard the cold voice of Lammert directed at him.

Immediately, both Lammert and Darcia's eyes brightened. What made the Bishop sweat even harder was the fact that it was Darcia who asked the next question.

"Where are they going? Continue your report," Darcia asked, her slightly reddened eyes held an excited gleam.

Absorbing Ozul's Scent released from his arm after a long time had started to show the changes inside her body, and she wouldn't admit how heaven-defying this severed arm proved to be. Her decades of closed door cultivation didn't help her as much as just a few days with this arm had.

If only she could get her hands on that boy, no one would be able to stop her then!

"... We heard them talk about how they were moving towards that unexplored part of the continent. They are also going to... explore some ruins once there," the Bishop tried to compose himself as he answered to the best of his abilities.

The wild aura around Darcia was making all the hair stand on his body.

"Oh?" Darcia didn't know what had interested Ozul so much to go there, but a ferocious smile took over her face since it had made the situation even more favorable to her.

Although they were preparing that in case that the Old man decided to interfere, it was still in their best interest that they didn't confront him.

Just then, Darcia stopped as she realized something, "How did you learn all of this?"

She felt a little off that a group of only Middle Stage Rank-8 Mages were able to learn all of this in such a short amount of time from a Rank-9 Mage.

"Uh... we heard them talking and I immediately came to report..." the Bishop was confused a little and he answered with an unsure face.

From his reply, even Lammert realized the problem. He was a Rank-9 Mage as well, so he knew what was the problem in the Bishop's statement. He initially thought that the Bishop was lying and was about to question him again, but he stopped in his tracks when he noticed the smirk on Darcia's face.

"You can leave," Darcia told the Bishop who nodded like a chicken before hurrying out the room.

After the Bishop had left, Darcia turned towards Lammert and said, "Hurry up with that."

Darcia understood that Ozul had most certainly revealed his destination on purpose. There was no way that a group of Rank-8 Mages could come so close to a Rank-9 Mage without being noticed by the latter.

If this Bishop had made his way back to the Church alive after listening in to their conversation, it was no doubt that Ozul had deliberately let him leave.

Although anyone else would have avoided this since it clearly looked like a trap, Darcia had nothing to fear about. She was a Rank-10 Mage, what could a few tricks of a new Rank-9 Mage do to her?

In her eyes, it was almost laughable that a brat like her could even think of setting up traps for her.

"Kehehe, does he think I won't be able to find him there?" Darcia cackled as she thought about another fact that most of the people alive didn't know about.

'Just pray that you don't encounter it there, boy. I still have many uses for you after all,' Darcia thought inside her mind as she smirked again.

Things had really been going her way for a while now, so she was in a good mood.

"Don't delay it any further. This will be our only chance," she reminded Lammert again before moving out from the hall.

After Darcia had left the hall, Lammert couldn't help but snicker as well, 'Tch! He truly thinks no one can hurt him.'

Following that, he also left to personally make sure that everything was alright.

.. .

Uncaring of whatever the Church was plotting behind his back, Ozul led the group deeper into the unexplored lands.

All this while, they hadn't come across a single town nor another human being for that matter. Though the sight of random Rank-4 Beasts fighting with other Beasts was getting common.

The group noticed how the land was mostly uneven. The ground was either composed of rocks or thick trees. They would rarely come across a piece of land that was habitable.

After traveling for hours, they hadn't come across anything special except for the unusual amount of Beasts.

There were Beasts almost everywhere. It was either pure vegetation or herds of Beasts fighting for their own survival. But it was all not out of their expectations since there were no human settlements here after all.

Although the group was not tired, a few of the Rogue Crew were on edge as it had almost been drilled into their instincts to be on guard at the slightest hint of danger.

Meanwhile, this whole area spelled danger. All of them had heard the stories about hundreds of Mages coming here to explore but never returning back alive.

At this moment, all of them would sneak glances at Ozul occasionally. Even though they were supposed to be his guards, they were expecting him to take care if anything monstrous appeared that not even a group of Rank-8 Mages like them could handle.

They were not loyal enough to give up their lives on their own accord. Wouldn't they have died sooner or later anyway? Why would they join the organization instead?

Ozul knew how loyal they were, and he honestly didn't care. As long as they would heed his every command, they were good enough. But it was just that, 'good enough'.

As they moved along the forest, Ozul couldn't help but think how they hadn't encountered anything that would make these unexplored lands so dangerous.

'Hm? It feels like I have had this feeling before as well,' Ozul suddenly stopped to realize how familiar his own thoughts felt to him. It was like a deja vu.

The duo paused as well when they noticed him suddenly stopping in the middle of the air. They quickly readied themselves and looked around them for any signs of danger as well.

Usually, Ozul stopping abruptly would mean that he had sensed some danger that they were able to yet.

Meanwhile, Ozul suddenly widened his eyes as he realized where he had these familiar thoughts before.

It was when he had first entered the Old Whispering Woods!

After initially going through the forest, he was confused as to why it was considered so dangerous. And only when he explored the deeper parts did he realize that it was because of the Rank-9 Beasts littered around there.

Relating the two situations together, Ozul had a feeling that it might be a similar situation here as well.

But only Rank-9 Beasts couldn't make the Mages stay out of this territory for thousands of years, and there was only a single thing more menacing than Rank-9 Beasts,

"... A Rank-10 Magical Beast..." Ozul muttered unconsciously.

Even to Rank-8 Mages, a Rank-10 Beast was only a legend. At Rank-9, the Magical Beasts had already far surpassed the Mages at the same rank.

If there did exist a Beast like this, there was no doubt that even if many Rank-10 Mages worked together to stop a Rank-10 Magical Beast, they might not be able to!

There was probably not an artifact strong enough to help the Mages against the Beast either.

'Hm... This is troublesome,' Ozul couldn't help but start worrying now.

A Rank-10 Magical Beast was certainly not something that he could handle as he was right now. If it suddenly popped out of nowhere, there was no guarantee if he could even run away from it.

The more he thought about it, the more the presence of a Rank-10 Magical Beast in these lands made sense to him.

'This changes things...'