950 The Way Back Home

"L-Lord of the world…so someone did clear the trial!"

"The sky was shining strangely with three colors, maybe that was an indication!"

"S-So, now that someone passed the trial, we're free to leave this damn world?"

One by one, murmurs spread in the high command of the kingdom. Only the Matriarch and a few others kept their stares on the young man. And the more they stared at him, the paler their faces got.

Even though they didn't dare to probe him with their senses, they could get a rough idea of a person with just a stare. But this man…it felt like throwing stones into the sea and trying to measure its depth.

"Hortian Matriarch pays respect to Lord," the Matriarch knelt on a knee and lowered her proud head.

Startled by her actions, the others quickly followed.

"Hm," Varian rubbed his chin in amusement. He already knew the ones responsible for pushing them into the Twilight Zone.

"You're mistaking one thing. I'm indeed what you term as an 'invader', but I wasn't in one of the teams that went into the Inner Zone."

"W-What does that mean?" A middle-aged Hortian swallowed his dry saliva and asked.

"Wasn't there another team of invaders?" Varian's playful gaze landed on the Matriarch, "the one without any Sovereign."

"No way!" Matriarch's eyes widened and she took a step back instinctively, "H-How can…n-no one ever returned…what the hell?"

Varian shrugged, "Yeah, it's hell. I've constantly been pushed to death there and even died once. For all that I've been through, I should kill you and all your supporters without mercy."

"M-Mercy…" The Matriarch's core followers knelt and banged their heads against the floor.

The Matriarch, on the other hand, looked at him with a stubborn gaze, "Y-You…I mean, Lord still hasn't killed us. So, I assume there's a reason."

"Indeed. It's also thanks to falling in that place I've become your 'Lord'." Varian stressed the word 'Lord'.

Even though it was quite counterintuitive, if they didn't fall into the Twilight Zone, Varian was certain he'd have died from the death strand.

Before they were chased, Varian was trying to suck vitality from plants and extend his time. But it's a method with diminishing returns. Eventually, they'd have been forced to hunt down more powerful plants.

Even then, it's just a temporary measure.

At some point or another, they'd have gone inside the Inner Zone like the other teams in the search of a treasure. And if that did happen, it'd have spelled the end for them.

The inner zones were so difficult that the teams had to combine their powers to pass through them.

Varian's team was pushed to death by the much weaker Undead in the Twilight Zone. In comparison, the whole Undead army would be killed by the creatures of the Inner Zone in half day.

There's just no comparison between the difficulties of the two places. If Varian's team entered the Inner Zone, they'd have died trying to escape from the beasts.

And in case they're lucky and didn't die from the beasts, they'd be dead if they encountered other teams.

While they were exploring the zone, the teams traveled around a lot. So, there's a good chance of a confrontation happening.

And not everyone was an idiot like the Ruby Duchy's Sovereign to give Varian enough time to use the repulsion power to build up a strong attack.

"You killed us, but you also saved us from certain deaths. Of course, you never intended us any good so your unintentional good won't outweigh your intentional harm," Varian tapped the pillar of the castle behind him and said.

The Matriarch sighed deeply and bowed her head, "I have no excuses. I take full responsibility for what I did. It's all done by my instructions. I beg you not to involve anyone els—"

"You bastard! Stop being so cocky towards the Matriarch!" A fiery aura rose as the Army Commander, one of the three Sovereigns, channeled his aura and shot toward Varian like a speeding rocket.

"Well," Varian swatted casually.

BOOM!

The Sovereign crashed and due to the deep force behind the slap, drilled into the ground and disappeared into a self-made tunnel.

"Gulp," Everyone on the spot felt their throats go dry.

"I'm not in the mood to punish now," Varian shook his head at the Matriarch, "But you'll have to pay for what you did."

The Matriarch bit her lip to the point it bled and nodded, "Thank You."

"Hm," Varian titled his head towards a particular room in the palace and disappeared. Only his voice lingered, "Announce my arrival and declare that from today, there will be no more invaders."

The Matriarch and others looked at each other before hurrying to the tunnel in the palace garden.

A senior peak level 9 psychic extended his senses and tried to search for the Sovereign.

100 miles, 200 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles…

"T-This…" Wiping the sweat off his forehead, the senior psychic stepped back and beat his chest, "Crazy, the world has gone crazy."

Everyone who extended their senses also closed their eyes and sighed.

This show of overwhelming strength was enough to erase the last bits of rebellious thoughts in their minds.

Now, they didn't even dare to disrespect the 'Lord' much less disobey his words.

Ignoring the Matriarch, the ministers and officials hurried over to their offices and began working on the announcement.

Varian, on the other hand, appeared in an underground chamber under the palace. In front of him was a sealed door with two fire symbols. It's the treasury of the Hortian Kingdom!

"Open,"

Without any locks, the doors opened, revealing the shining treasures, beautiful jewels, exquisite weapons, carefully crafted items, ancient herbs, miraculous elixirs, and more.

Varian ignored them all and walked straight to a dusty crystal ball in the corner. He clicked it and froze.

A space gate opened outside Hortus!

Sensing the information about the space gate, Varian checked the galactic map Prince Shak provided.

"The destination has changed," Varian smacked his lips.

When the space gate stopped working, it was pointing to earth's position six thousand years ago. Now, the solar system was no longer there.

Thankfully, Prince Shak's map had a time view function and helped him locate the new coordinates of the solar system from the old coordinates in the space gate.

Changing the coordinates would take some time. And the gate itself required some maintenance, which would also take a significant amount of time.

"A few more days until we can return…" Varian muttered and was about to disappear when he noticed one more detail in the space gate.

The Space Gate itself was damaged and conditioned to time dilation. Meaning that even though they only traveled a few days in the space tunnel, a few weeks must've passed on earth.

A thought flashed in Varian's mind and his expression turned ugly.

"No, no, no!" Varian clenched his fists and closed his eyes, hoping that he was overthinking it.

But the World Will informed him clearly. Hortus' time flow was also different from earth's.

Even though they spent a few weeks here, on Earth, it might already be several months.