"Raiden," I called out to the summoned Hero of this world as soon as I saw him after arriving at the vicinity of the camp they built in this part of his territory
The Barbarians crowding around it easily scattered upon seeing someone coming from the sky. They're only Augmented and Saint Realms, someone who could fly was easily a King Realm. They couldn't afford to anger someone like that.
Looking at the eastern side, the enemies were also camped albeit they're a bit chaotic. It was because of the Corrupted that was about to collapse from having their lifeforce burned to sustain the Level 2 Dark Energy in their bodies.
"You're here. And a new woman, I see."
Because I had Yuko and the others focus on completing their Mortal Pathway, I only brought Irja here. We're not going to clash against them yet, perhaps in a day or two. For now, we're here to scout and find out why, despite having the absolute advantage against Raiden, they chose to be in this kind of standoff.
I get being intimidated by his Temporal Acceleration but that's not all there is to it, right?
As if he's expecting my arrival, Raiden only nodded upon seeing me. The last time we met was when he challenged me to a duel when he passed by during our one-month vacation. Perhaps if we get a rematch, I'm confident to win against him. He's still not a Rank 2 Transcendent after all.
On his right, Old Man Reol was also there. The air from the Old Man, although I'm already stronger than him, is now carrying the air of an Emperor. Also, he looked way younger than before. His breakthrough to the Emperor Realm extended his lifespan. It's only a matter of time for him to reach the threshold and become another Transcendent of this world.
The Old Man still looked friendly and even more so than before because of Erin.
Since they're both looking at the woman I brought with me, I introduced Irja to them. However, upon hearing that she's from the Dark World the two immediately raised their guard.
It's an expected reaction so I took the time to tell them the status of the Dark World, about how it isn't that united.
During all that, although Irja didn't mind that kind of reaction from the others, I still held her hand to assure her that no matter what, I will make sure that she will be accepted by everyone.
Following that, I got to talk to Raiden about his current plans.
Because almost half of the Desolate Plains was already considered conquered, the Heavenly Lightning Tribe's territories were in actuality, surrounded on all sides. With the Whiteshade Division located at the western front and him located at the eastern, they were exposed on the north and south.
Fortunately for him, the north was being defended by his allied Northern Barbarians.
However, if no help came to their side, they would soon fall.
The same could be said for the south that was only being defended by some of his King Realm subordinates and the Barbarians under them.
As for his plans, he confessed that with the current situation of being on guard in this front, he couldn't enforce any of it.
But with my arrival, he somehow rekindled his hopes.
Apparently, there were at least three large tribes who willingly became Corrupted for him. As to what method he used for them to do that, it involved him taking in the Chieftains' daughters and continuing their Barbarian lineage as well as safeguarding the families of their tribe members.
Although he's indifferent about that, he accepted that kind of condition. In time, he might stay here to take all those women as his wives and uphold what he promised to those sacrificial Corrupteds.
Right now, those three tribes were mixed up in the north, south and east. It only needed his signal for all three to turn against their fellow corrupted and incite chaos in their ranks.
Even though Transcendents were the keystone for victory, Transcendents alone would not be able to clean this world of the Corrupted and foreign invaders. There's still the need to rely on the Mortal Ranks to launch the crusade to expel and rid this world of them.
Transcendents like us weren't a deity after all. It's only natural for us to focus on other Transcendents. With how large this world is, it would take a long time to hunt down every Corrupted and Mortal Rank Dark Beastmasters if the world only relied on us.
The exception was that siege, they're already there so… it's natural to take part in it than let them scatter to the wild again.
That's why this kind of plan Raiden placed was somewhat admirable.
However, once we've dealt with all the Transcendents from the Dark World, we will only stay for a few days and help with thinning the Mortal Rank enemies. Everything will then depend on Raiden's and the Whiteshade Division's army.
"Well then let's wrap this world up. How's your Physique Cultivation?"
"I have yet to break through after reaching Transcendence."
So he's at the same level as Zerina and the others. Perhaps the other Heroes were also somewhat stuck at this point by now. All those who managed to reach Transcendence.
The others Heroes are still probably stuck at Mortal Rank since the average stats of the Heroes are still below my estimated base stats of Yuko.
Perhaps they're about to reach it now. After my continuous breakthrough, they would've gained around 10 or more UPL. In one or two days I would probably be able to see a huge increase in the bonus I'm getting from the Supported Individuals' average stats.
"Then use this… You too, Old Man. Also, this."
I handed a few pieces of baseball-sized stones to both Raiden and Old Man Reol and to top it off, I added the Old Man to my 'Allies' list giving him 10% of the allocation. Reinys and the others also got it but given how that princess changed the way she looked at me, I believe she's also finding a chance to talk to me alone…
Ah. Let's deal with that later when things eased up.
"Go and breakthrough, I will take your post for a while."
With Raiden alternating his gaze between the stones and me, he's finding it difficult to find the words of gratitude. Well, that's his personality so it's fine.
"Alright. Be careful of that guy." Raiden pointed at the other side where some guy who's undeniably not a Barbarian. He's nonchalantly sitting on an improvised palanquin, carried by beasts and Corrupted alike.
Somehow that reminds me of most period dramas concerning royalties as well as that epic war movie concerning those 300 almost naked soldiers and their three days stand against thousands of enemies.
"I see. So that's the descendant, huh? Yuko told me that you're the only one who managed to trade blows against him. Can you tell me something about him?"
For that guy to still be this relaxed even if their numbers are cut down and their way home closed, is he an idiot or just too confident about his abilities?
As I cast my gaze on that guy, I thoroughly observe his appearance. He doesn't look that strong. With his thin body build and somewhat frail appearance, one will surely think he's a sickly man. One notable thing about him is how he seems to keep on moving his finger as if he's touching something in front of him.
A System, huh? Right. He's a descendant of Onimbus whose Transcendent Pathway involves assimilating System-type properties.
I wonder what kind of system will be generated if it's just merging its properties. Is it the most famous Status Skill often seen in light novels?
As if the guy was notified about someone observing him, his eyes and head moved leading for our gazes to meet. Upon seeing me, he put on a slight smile on his face. Afterward, he stood up and raised his hand before seven Rank 1 Transcendents lined up in front of him.
None of those Transcendents appeared to be those we sighted when we were on our way to the Whiteshade Division.
Moreover, they all seemed to have vacant eyes.
Are they mind-controlled?
"He's strangely like you. He likes to stay behind and watch over the ongoing battles and mostly send those seven. They're nine previously by the way." Not forgetting to flaunt his kills, Raiden continued.
"I see. His Transcendent Pathway is possible to be assimilating System Type. As to what kind of System he's integrating with his Spirit Pathway… I have a hunch but it's most likely off for a good part." I nodded, ignoring his remark about the two Transcendents he killed.
To truly gauge their strength, I pulled out the device from Alwyn to view one's estimated UPL. It couldn't give the exact measurements and the results were always rounded to the nearest hundred or tens if still below Transcendent Rank.
In any case, it's good enough for a low-leveled 'Scouter'.
As long as his result isn't rounded up to 700, we can deal with him.
I first checked the seven Transcendents and their results were all the same, 200.
Whether they're above 150 or below 250, I could only gauge that once they flew out in combat and flaunted their strength. Moreover, the guy probably has a buff skill that could raise their UPL, so I should expect their strength to be around later stages of a Rank 1 Transcendent.
As for the descendant himself… As soon as I pointed the Scouter to him, I noticed that he's also doing the same…
That ruled out the Status Skill, huh? Or there's a range limitation.
In any case, what showed up when I scanned him was 400 UPL. Early Rank 2 Transcendent…
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