Prime Originator

Lord Rhuvek smiled wryly after hearing Leon's response.

Even if he died during his mission in D Sector, someone else would rise to take his place as the new lord of the city. Lord Leon would just need to negotiate with the new lord and did not have to worry about being chased out of the city.

In fact, Lord Leon could even take advantage of the new city lord being new and weaker to gain more benefits out of the negotiation. After all, no one would dare to antagonize a Peak Paragon.

Nevertheless, Lord Rhuvek was grateful that Lord Leon chose to assist their clan's mission.

"Thank you, Lord Leon. Thanks to your willingness to assist us, many lives will be saved on this trip. You have our eternal gratitude," Lord Rhuvek said sincerely.

However, Leon waved his hand at him dismissively and said, "Save your words for when we actually make it back from D Sector."

Lord Rhuvek wanted to say a few more words, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded seriously. Then, he turned to see the platoon of Transcendent-level dark elves accompanying him on the mission.

"Everyone is ready, my Lord," a Peak Rank 2 Transcendent-level Dark Elf informed.

"Good." Lord Rhuvek nodded before signaling the gate operators, "Open the gates!"

"Open the gates!" the dark elves passed on the order to each other.

The dark elves stationed around the huge silver gate started pulling levers cranking the gears shortly after.

Rumble…!

The huge silver gates slowly opened with a creaking sound, causing slight vibrations in the ground.

Before long, the tunnel on the other side of Howling Wind Gate was fully revealed. A surge of sharp wind quickly whistled past the group from the end of the tunnel.

The path ahead was lightly illuminated by the glowing moss on the ground, walls, and ceilings, filled with other flora.

Contrary to Leon's expectations, the vegetation in the Lower Abyss Domain wasn't limited to just the vast caves with dark elven settlements like the city under Lord Rhuvek's rule.

As the group traveled through A Sector, Leon found lush vegetation everywhere. Supposedly, it wasn't just A Sector, but many parts of Lower Abyss Domain were also like this.

It was desolate and gloomy but thriving with life.

"On your guard. Now that we are outside the safety of the city, expect to be attacked by insects at any moment," Lord Rhuvek reminded his men.

"Yes, my Lord!" the platoon of Transcendent-level dark elves answered.

Nevertheless, the journey through the A Sector was relatively smooth. Although they encounter black ants and giant centipedes along the way, none were above Rank 1 Transcendent.

Furthermore, their numbers were few. They were just scouts.

After slaying the insects, the group quickly moved on and reached the descending slopes leading to B Sector.

Along the way, Leon swept the subterranean region with his divine sense and located all the runic devices hidden within the rock walls, pillars, and ceilings.

From what he understood, they were most like the detectors previously mentioned by Lord Rhuvek.

Although Leon wanted to grab one for research purposes, he refrained from doing so. Even the enchanted leather map was quite interesting to him.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't be too late to add them to the list of demands during his following trade negotiations with Lord Rhuvek.

Within B Sector, the group started encountering Rank 2 Transcendent-level insects. However, the trip remained smooth with Lord Rhuvek around.

Meanwhile, Leon discovered, much to his amazement, that the wood energy level in the Lower Abyss Domain was getting denser the deeper he ventured.

It wasn't limited to regions close to the Celestial Wood Spark. Even the spirit energy density in the region was increasing.

He wondered if it had anything to do with the Saint Voidflame, the World Tree in the Gaia's Core.

Perhaps Lower Abyss Domain was thriving because it was getting closer to Gaia's Core. Even so, there was still the mantle layer called Magma Domain that separated the two.

Furthermore, the distance wasn't small.

'There's quite a few tier-3 and tier-4 spirit herbs around here in B Sector. I wonder what C Sector will have,' Leon mused while studying the vegetation in B Sector.

"I might have already said this before, but once again, thank you for joining us on our mission, Lord Leon," Lord Rhuvek suddenly said before adding, "It's very reassuring to have a Peak Paragon with us."

Even as they were about to reach C Sector, a place that could have some Paragon-level insects roaming about, the mood within the platoon of Transcendent-level dark elves was relatively light.

It wasn't heavy like the time when they just learned they were heading to D Sector.

The presence of three Paragons gave them peace of mind.

"You're being too polite, Lord Rhuvek," Leon smiled slightly.

Sometime later, the group reached C Sector before the dark elves started experiencing difficulties. Even when they purposely took detours to avoid the giant insect hives within C Sector, they still attracted a few stronger insects scouting the area.

Although Lord Rhuvek joined the battle to quickly finish off the Rank 2 Transcendent-level Black Ants they attracted, they still caught the attention of a Paragon-level Black Ant.

"Dammit, it's a Paragon-level Black Ant. This is going to be tricky. If we don't finish it quickly, it might summon a whole army from its ant nest," Lord Rhuvek frowned deeply.

He knew just how tough the defense of a Paragon-level Black Ant was.

"Rainshine."

Swish!

Rainshine immediately dashed into battle the moment Leon uttered her name. She closed the distance between her and the Paragon-level Black Ant in an instance.

At the same time, the Paragon-level Black Ant saw her coming and snapped at her with its mandibles.

However, Rainshine cleverly evaded the powerful bite as she soared into the air before plunging straight down on the Paragon-level Black Ant's head.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Following her landing, Rainshine pounded the Paragon-level Black Ant's head into the ground with repeated smacks until…

Ka-cha!

The Paragon-level Black Ant's head cracked open. Its fate was sealed as Rainshine clawed its brains out in the next moment.

"…"

Lord Rhuvek's lips twitched.