Flashback,
A few days after Aditya left for The Tunnel World,
Two mysterious figures hiding their faces under black hoods stepped out of the teleportation circle.
The teleportation circle was placed at the center of a small island located in the middle of a large lake.
The small island, which was about the size of a football field, had no trees or animals living on it. There was inch-long beautiful green grass, and wildflowers were growing between the blades of grass.
At the very center stood the teleportation array that had brought Atlas and Vega here.
"Welco to the land of the Grey Empire." The man bowed respectfully to the two figures.
"Cut the crap!" Atlas snapped. As an inner mber of the Organization, and after being humiliated by Aditya and forced to run away like a scared dog, both he and Vega were in an extrely bad mood.
The man standing before them shivered violently. His heart began pounding in fear. He had no idea what he had done wrong to make them this enraged already.
"Do you have what we need?" Vega asked in a low yet cold tone.
The man hurriedly nodded his head.
It seed that neither Atlas nor Vega cared about the man’s identity or status. To them, he was nothing more than a lowly outer mber who could be disposed of at any given second. His role could easily be replaced by hundreds of others waiting in line for an opportunity.
"This is everything the spies have managed to gather about the Istarin Empire." The man handed them a storage ring.
Vega took the ring and retrieved a thick stash of papers from inside. He handed half of them to Atlas and began reading the remaining half himself.
Around ten minutes later, under the moonlight, they finished reading everything. As cultivators, their reading speed was extrely fast despite not being regular consurs of books.
Once they were done, both of them looked at each other.
"The plan is set. But we will need your help to get inside the city. Trying to enter from outside will attract too much attention."
"Once we are inside, we will handle the rest."
The man repeatedly nodded his head while wiping sweat from his forehead.
As for what this organization truly wanted, he had no idea.
’Aditya, you are about to receive a slap of humiliation.’ To him, this was a joyous occasion. Any kind of loss suffered by the Istarin Empire was worth celebrating in his eyes.
"Atlas, I forgot to ntion this earlier, but you have been promoted to the rank of Core mber."
Atlas stopped walking and turned around, staring at Vega’s back as the distance between them slowly widened.
"Is it true?" Atlas asked in an excited tone.
Vega nodded.
"But our leader also added that if you fail in your next upcoming mission, which will take place in the Tunnel World, then you will be demoted to the rank of Outer mber and heavily punished for your failure."
Hearing this, Atlas’s excitent imdiately cooled down.
"Wait, you will not be with ?" Atlas asked. He and Vega had worked as a pair for decades.
Vega shook his head. "After this, you will take the Dragonians to the Tunnel World. I have another mission to complete."
_
Scene Change
Before the Pri Minister could begin speaking, Alfred entered the office accompanied by Watson.
Seeing them, Aditya’s expression softened slightly, and he cald down a little.
Seeing this, Spencer sighed in relief. Working with a serious Aditya was extrely uncomfortable. Spencer constantly felt suffocated and nervous, unsure of what his friend might do while in such a serious state.
"I hope we are not disturbing anything," Alfred said.
Aditya shook his head and gestured for them to sit on the two empty chairs beside Spencer.
Yesterday, Aditya had asked Watson to bring Alfred into the eting. He wanted Alfred to understand a thing or two about how things worked around here.
Alfred had centuries of experience. He possessed rich knowledge and insight that no one else in the Empire had. Having soone like him was extrely valuable.
This was sothing that money could not buy. Aditya felt fortunate to have soone like Alfred by his side.
"Uncle, are you having any trouble settling down?" Aditya asked.
"No. I really like this place. It is very rich in mana, almost comparable to the mana density of the Main Continent. As a dragon myself, I feel that my cultivation speed has greatly increased."
"I can understand why this place is called the Paradise of Dragons."
Alfred was an Earth Dragon. More accurately, he was half dragon and half human. Through the use of artifacts and rare treasures, he had transford into a full dragon. Even so, there was still a noticeable difference between him and a true Dragonian.
"Right now, I need to sort out so ss within my Empire and also take a few months to complete several plans that I have been working on." This included becoming a five-star rune master and upgrading the defenses of every single city in his Empire.
Alfred nodded his head. He did not mind waiting. This was more than enough ti for him to co up with a solid plan to act against Ren.
"What about Mateo and Bree? Are they willing to stay here for such a long ti?" Aditya asked.
Alfred waved his hand dismissively.
"Your Highness, you are thinking too much." Obviously, they would follow whatever decision Alfred made. Now that they had finally found their Crown Prince, all they needed to do was stay low for a while until the right mont arrived.
Huff!
Suddenly, the temperature of the room rose by several degrees. A suffocating pressure descended upon everyone present. Aditya was not doing this intentionally, but his killing intent was leaking out due to his anger.
"Spencer, what happened after I left?" Aditya asked. More specifically, he wanted to know everything from beginning to end.
Spencer took a deep breath and began explaining. "It happened around four days ago."
"The event took place in Savannahclaw City." It was the first city on the Beast Continent that Aditya had brought under the rule of the Istarin Empire. Although other cities soon followed, Aditya always gave this city a little extra attention compared to the others. This was because Savannahclaw was the only city they had in that region of the continent, and it required an enormous amount of resources and care to be developed into a proper tropolis.
"According to many eyewitnesses, including our soldiers and ordinary citizens, two mysterious individuals wearing black cloaks and hiding their faces were seen walking toward the city’s fortress."
"At that ti, there were a total of five Dragonians stationed in Savannahclaw. All five of them were sitting atop the city wall and chatting."
Originally, Savannahclaw had only three Fifth Order Dragonians stationed there. Even that number was considered extrely high. However, two Peak Dragonians had recently completed their mission and returned to the city for a short break. That was when all five decided to gather together.
"At the sa ti, there were seventeen other Dragonians from various Orders silently spread throughout the fortress to ensure the city remained protected at all tis."
"Those two intruders killed every soldier they encountered. By the ti they reached the northern fortress, forty-three soldiers of various ranks and genders were left dead on the streets."
"They acted so skillfully that none of the killed soldiers had enough ti to alert anyone."
Hearing this, Aditya took a deep breath.
"When they reached the top of the fortress, those two reportedly killed twenty-nine more soldiers."
"The five Fifth Order Dragonians reportedly fought those two and even managed to suppress them for a brief mont. That was when those two began calling out the nas of their family mbers one after another."
The rest did not need to be said. Aditya already knew what had happened next.
They were forced to surrender with their families’ lives at stake.
"By the ti reinforcents arrived, it was already too late. Only a few injured Dragonians survived, thanks to the healing pills that Julia had created in the past."
A heavy silence fell over the office.
To Watson and Spencer, the attack still felt like a terrible nightmare.
To Aditya, it was a harsh reminder of the glaring weaknesses within his Empire.
’To think that those two managed to kidnap five Dragonians from a single city without triggering any alarm. This is extrely disappointing.’
On one hand, he desired revenge. On the other hand, he felt deep disappointnt toward his forces for not being prepared for such a situation. It was impossible to keep every soldier on constant alert at all tis.
’When the ti is right, I will co up with new solutions to prevent sothing like this from ever happening again.’
"It is clear that those two entered the city through a teleportation array," Aditya finally broke the silence.
He turned his gaze toward Spencer.
"Unfortunately, we tried to investigate which nearby teleportation array they might have used. However, we have not been able to find anything. In the darkness of the night, they were almost invisible in their black cloaks."
"Not to ntion, most people do not go outside after sunset."
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