Chapter 96

When Liam made a breakthrough, it was as if a powerful aura exploded around him.

"Excellent!" said Alois admiringly, watching his disciple's successful breakthroughs.

The rest of the team was happy for him too. Thanks to Liam's success, they now have a second Platinum-ranked fighter!

Liam was also thrilled with his breakthrough.

He was clearly aware of his strength and realized how much stronger he had become compared to how he was before the breakthrough.

"I have achieved success!" — with these words, he turned to his master Alois. After hearing and seeing his joy, Alois also shared this feeling with him.

After collecting the trophies from the corpses, the group rested for a while and continued on their way.

The local sun had already begun to sink towards the horizon, heralding the approach of night.

Everyone except Alois had already experienced several battles and felt tired.

Izzy remained alert the entire time, carefully scanning the surroundings.

After the usual time interval, without encountering another wave, the group breathed a sigh of relief. Having found a suitable place to set up camp, they began to settle down for the night.

However, they did not let down their guard. They did not rule out the possibility that Limbo could take advantage of their carelessness and deceive them. Although there wasn't another wave, that didn't mean they wouldn't appear again.

After setting up camp and setting up several traps in case of an attack by beasts and doppelgangers, the group gathered around the campfire.

In honor of his disciple's breakthrough, Alois prepared several dishes that he was happy to share with everyone. No one refused, and everyone happily started dinner.

Everyone except his disciple Liam was surprised by Alois' cooking skills. The dish was so delicious that they almost didn't leave anything.

It had been a hard day, and the next day promised even more difficult challenges.

After dinner, they split up into pairs again to take advantage of the moments of peace and rest. This time, they were distributed as follows: the first were Eulalia and Arabel, then Alois and Idan, and the last were Liam and Nemo.

They tried to have at least one platinum-ranked fighter in each pair.

No one was against such a distribution. Liam was put on the last pair, as he needed a good rest after the breakthrough.

The rest of the group, except for Eulalia and Arabel, went to rest in their tents.

It was their turn to be on duty again. Besides them, there was another guard on patrol, who monitored the surrounding environment all day.

Unlike them, Izzy didn't need to rest. She received energy from Nemo and never got tired. The group decided to make the most of this advantage in their hike.

While Eulalia and Arabel silently threw branches on the fire, they talked to each other through a mental link.

This time, Eulalia did not interfere in the relationship between Arabel and Idan. She mostly asked questions about their world, marveling at how different it was from hers.

In between Arabel's answers, Eulalia talked about her past and the world of Junonia she knew, comparing it to Arabel's world.

Eulalia was filled with a desire to visit the couple's world one day and see it with her own eyes. She understood that the idea of something based only on rumors can be very different from reality, which can only be felt by seeing everything with her own eyes.

"Little sister, you can rest peacefully without paying attention to the beasts," Arabel suddenly heard a message from Sierra transmitted through the Soul Force.

Arabel was pleasantly surprised by this news. Although she assumed that Sierra would be watching them, she wasn't sure about that. Under the terms of the deal, she was only supposed to back up their group on their way back to the city.

"Don't worry about me, the consciousness of this world and the Forbidden Zone are unaware of my presence. I can only help you in the middle layer. I will not follow you to the central layer, because I cannot hide my existence there," Sierra added through a Soul Force, after which she fell silent, ending there.

Yesterday, when she handed over her blood essence to them, she was curious to know what they were going to do with it. Therefore, after the broadcast, she did not take her Soul Force away from Arabel to watch her.

However, as soon as Arabel received the essence and returned to the tent, Sierra lost sight of her. It came as a surprise to her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see inside the tent, as if some strange force prevented her from following Arabel.

After a while, Arabel came out of the tent, and Sierra noticed that she could observe what was happening inside again. This caused her surprise and even some fear.

She had a suspicion that another powerful being was behind the couple, which shielded Arabel from her gaze. Sierra didn't know what kind of creature it was, but she couldn't understand why, if there was such a powerful being behind them, they made a deal with her to protect them.

"Perhaps this being can't directly interfere as well as the consciousness of this world?" Sierra wondered.

Immediately after that, she appeared in front of Arabel and took the promised potion.

Sierra still couldn't figure out what had happened to her blood essence.

It was so strange that she couldn't spy on Arabel and find out how she got the potion. Moreover, Arabel came out of the tent very quickly and brought her a potion.

"Perhaps they asked for her blood essence at the request of that creature?" wondered Sierra. "Or maybe it was something personal?"

She could only speculate.

After receiving the potion from Arabel, Sierra hesitated a bit and decided to trust her instincts. She found a secluded spot, took a potion, and waited.

At first, she didn't feel any effect. But the longer she waited, the more clearly, she realized how the force that was constantly absorbing her life energy began to weaken.

By morning, she could tell that the force that was taking her life had become almost elusive. She didn't disappear completely, but thanks to the potion, her remaining lifespan increased several times. Sierra felt that her powers had been restored, and she could safely use them for a while longer.

Previously, after each use of her power, she could feel the absorption force getting stronger, rapidly reducing her vitality.

Now that she had more time, she felt a surge of hope. Although she had not yet found a way to fully heal, she did not lose faith that she could do it. And the increased lifespan gave her more time to find a solution.

All day long, she followed the group at a distance, watching the couple.

They aroused her interest more and more.