1444 Another Guest

Varian's group teleported to a far distance, to a region that even Robert and Samantha would take a while to reach.

But in doing so, they had all acquired the traces of space distortion on their bodies. Traces that couldn't just be erased as they wished.

In the situation where their safety was thrown out of the window, Varian didn't have the mind to think about the future.

He caught Enigma's weak and soft body in his arms, his arms shivering as he felt her blood drip down his skin.

"Enigma, Enigma, Enigma!"

The calm and cool man who decisively dealt with Samantha in a critical situation was nowhere to be seen. Only a scared, hurt and sad man was visible in his visage.

Tremendous lifepower poured from Varian's fingertips into Enigma and like dried up soil absorbing water, her body took in all the life force.

The severe internal injuries which knocked her unconscious slowly began to heal and Enigma's weak breathing gradually turned steady and strong.

Sonya took the unconscious woman onto her lap and tended to her injuries with precious potions and healing treasures.

Varian hesitated for a moment, a corner of his mind wondering if it's really fine to leave Enigma with an outsider.

He left a space mark on Enigma just in case but let Sonya take care of her. Samantha had been against them since the start.

It'd be too much to suspect Sonya when she too had been under danger the whole time.

As the weakest of the group, she's the most likely to die and should've thrown a fit. But she stayed silent and tried to cause as little trouble as possible.

'Even though Enigma got caught because of Sonya being too weak…'

Varian exhaled deeply, shaking off those thoughts and took a look at his surroundings.

They appeared on top of a vast mountain range, overlooking a great river that cut the mountain range into two.

Thankfully, Sarah had been checking on the surroundings the moment they appeared here.

It wasn't that she was't sad. But someone had to take up the role. In fact, it's all the more important to be vigilant after such an incident.

Noticing her husband gradually calming down, she quickly said. "Now that I think about it, not just Robert or Samantha, the teams all gave off a weird feeling. They were all supressing their strength."

Varian nodded with a stiff expression.

Come to think of it, the world shook when they entered. It must be because a bunch of rank 8s entered Cradle, overwhelming its capacity.

"There's no need to compete. Returning is the safest option." Sonya said, her hands meticulously applying healing liquid over Enigma's shoulders.

"We are not returning." Varian closed his eyes, recalling the scene just before they stepped in.

"The King, Archduke and even Miss Calamity all had to leave for some emergency. The archdukes are supposed to verify the candidates strengths and ensure they're only rank 7s to not burden Cradle. But they joined hands and stayed silent."

Sonya's face paled at his words.

"W-What are they planning? Going against the ancient laws is too much, even they won't be spared."

Varian clenched his fist and unclenched it, noticing his strength gradually recover to its peak.

"We'll have to find out."

"Back to hunting the guardians?" Sarah asked.

"Yep."

The group moved quickly. Instead of settling for weak rank 7 guardians, Varian started to hunt down powerful rank 8 beasts.

Perhaps because of the overflowing vitality of Cradle, perhaps because of some influence of that divine power he didn't really understand, his progress in the paths of sage avenue was fast.

"Kaaa! Kaa! Kaa!"

A golden crow the size of an airport crashed to the ground. Numerous rank 7s beasts under it were reduced to flesh and blood.

The rich scent from the blood of the mighty creature wafted into the air and the golden blood leaked into the river.

From the creature's broken head rose a bloodied man. He's fully drenched in the viscious golden blood and looked like he was painted gold.

Jumping onto the creature's chest, he punched down and with a clicking sound, the beast's body split open, revealing a giant heart that's still pulsing.

The creature wasn't dead yet. Even if he crushed the heart, it wouldn't die so easily.

Paragon Body might be a straightforward path unlike others but it had a lot of resilience.

"Enigma, here."

A red beam of light originated from Varian's hand and connected to the creature's beast.

When the pale Enigma stepped forward, a green beam of light originated from his other hand and connected with her.

Samantha was vicious. Even though Enigma wasn't pushed to death, the injuries were severe. Even with excellent potions, it'd take hours to get back to normal.

Hours might not sound like much but in a world where everyone was an enemy, weakness for that long of a period was a death sentence.

"Husband...this method is too wasteful. I can recover on my own in a while."

"No argument. I'll listen to whatever you have to say after you fully recover." Varian's tone was stern.

After a while, the beast's excellent lifeforce, which if properly used could do a lot was inefficiently used up by Enigma. Due to the hastiness, the efficiency wasn't even 10%.

But watching her recover back to 70%, Varian considered it a huge success.

"Okay, three more rank 8 guardian beasts and we're done."

As they started to march ahead, a foreign aura locked onto them and in a blink, a silhouttee landed from the sky.

"My, my, my."

A young woman in red top and trousers, one very unfitting to a region of battle.

Her red hair swayed in the wind and her four sharp, thin elf-like ears quiverd, as if they were listening to sounds coming from far off regions.

Xeola Truz chuckled with a hint of arrogance.

"Didn't expect me did you?"

The power of a peak rank 8 soared.