Death... and me

Rean then proceeded to explain how he used the communication badges to find his location. He also showed him his own army badge, now broken, used in a last effort to find his location underground. "Then we arrived above in that residential area, where my Demon Bird friend here found your traces. Once inside, it wasn't too hard to find the passage since you left more traces there, too."

Zandolf narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't expecting anyone to appear, so I didn't pay attention to that. Still, what bothers me more than anything else is that you said the Devils are all converging in this location. That doesn't make any sense. Even though I didn't quite hide myself once inside these Ruins, I definitely did be careful on the way here. Not to mention that only another Divinity Realm expert could possibly notice my presence."

Rean pondered a bit before asking. "It was senior Gardo who told us about you. Maybe it was because of him?"

Zandolf shook his head. "Back then, the devils were still in control of this territory. Because of that, I wanted to form a team to explore the Essence Race Ruins, and I would only be confident if I had at least another two or three Divinit Realm experts with me. That's why I approached Gardo and the others. But in the end, none of them wanted to risk entering the devis' territory, so I gave up. Besides, I still had no idea about this place at that time, so there is no way Gardo would know it either."

"That sounds weird indeed..." Rean and the others agreed with Zandolf there.

Zandolf then looked at Kentucky and Essefy. "Goku's badge is broken, but your badges are still working fine, right? I just want to confirm you are truly related to the Realm of Gods' Armies. Can you take them out for me to check?"

Kentucky and Essefy nodded and quickly showed Zandolf the badges. They then used the number they got from Zandolf, and sure enough, Zandolf's communication badge received the call now that they were this close to each other.

Zandolf nodded, satisfied. "Very well. If you want to talk about the Essence Race, then I'm totally open about it. After all, I was pretty much the only one who cared about it anyway, so it is nice to see someone else interested. However, it will have to wait. You guys should leave this place and return to the army. If the Devils are converging here, it is possible that Divinity Realm ones will appear, too. I can't even guarantee that I'm safe, let alone that I can protect you all. We are quite deep into the devils' territory."

Rean, obviously, didn't want to go. "Senior, can't we help with whatever you want to do? I truly want to be able to find a living Essence Race member."

Zandolf narrowed his eyes as he looked back at the gate with the two cubic symbols. He was quite lost at what to do. He could try to attack it from a distance and see if he could break the defenses. However, there were many problems involved in it.

First, he doesn't know if he can destroy something that can possibly kill him instead. Even if he can, there is no guarantee he wouldn't activate some self-destruction feature system, ultimately destroying what he was looking for. Or perhaps the simple fact he destroyed the entrance would cause the entire place to simply crumble down for being too old, reaching the same result.

Last but not least, depending on how much commotion he generates here, he might catch the attention of the Devils outside. "Hum? The devils outside...?" Zandolf then turned to Rean and the others. "You said you found this place by following the traces I left behind. Are they still there?"

Kentucky quickly answered. "Nope! This time, we made sure that not a single spec was out of place before entering this place."

Rean and Essefy nodded. If even Kentucky, with his eyes, couldn't find a flaw, then there should be nothing back to lead the devils here.

Zandolf sighed in relief. "That's good." I still don't know how the devils got here, but they shouldn't find this place easily. I myself took several weeks to reach that residence above, and I worked very hard on the clues I found in other ruins to get to this place."

Zandolf then made things clear. "If you want to stay and help, I don't mind since I do need some new ideas. However, I will not protect you if things get too dangerous for me. As you can see, I almost died here already. If I can't even keep myself alive, let alone help you keep yours."

Kentucky didn't need to hear it twice. "Great! In that case, you guys go ahead. I'll wait for you here and make sure the devils don't follow you." At the same time, he thought to himself. 'Are you kidding?! A fucking Middle Stage Divinity Realm guy almost died in this shit! There is no way I'll step a single foot ahead!'

Rean glanced at Kentucky, totally understanding what he was thinking. However, he didn't mind since it was indeed necessary to have someone watching their backs. "I'm following you, senior. I don't need anything you find inside. All I want are clues of where I can find a Living Essence Race member."

Zandolf nodded. "I was the one who spent countless efforts to find this place, so I obviously wouldn't give you anything. At least not anything I thought to be valuable. However, if it is just clues to find Essence Race Members alive, then I don't care. If anything, I'll help you look for such clues since I have a lot to ask them, too."

Rean and Zandolf then looked at Essefy. "What about you?"

Essefy pondered a bit. He looked at the gate in the distance, seeming to be conflicted with something. In the end, he simply nodded. "I'll go with you too. I'm already here anyway..."

Zandolf was satisfied with the answer. "Good. Then, first, let me tell you about that gate."