Chapter 327: Unfounded Urgency. (1/2)

Some spent the night in constant worries while others were fortunate enough not to encounter any other participant, so they slept with little worries.

The most unfortunate were the ones who didn't make it until the sunrise.

Staying true to his words, Old Gu shrunk the barrier by quite a lot. It had started reducing in size when the first rays of the sun had shone on the Neutral Lands.

Only a few hours later did it stop, but by that time, it had reduced almost 1/6th from its original size.

Like the rest of them, Ozul's group was pushed a little closer to the center of the Neutral Lands which previously housed most of the powerhouses on the Continent of Egon.

Still, Ozul preferred staying on the outer boundaries of the Neutral City. Just a random encounter with three unknown men had Raven and Blaze beaten almost to death. The Neutral City itself must be in a worse condition.

Though he did not doubt the duo's abilities, he would also have to keep an active sight at whatever was happening. Hence, he preferred staying away from the chaos as long as it was comfortably possible.

As he stopped right at the edge of the dome, he realized that there were no big trees around. Sleeping on trees had almost become a habit because of how many times he had spent his nights on the branches.

”Uh, are we stopping here?” Zier asked while scratching his head.

He saw Ozul suddenly jumping atop a small hill and sitting there without surveying the area around them. It looked more as if he was only stopping for a small break.

Much to his dismay, Zier found himself in an awkward position right after. Ozul and Raven completely ignored him, while Blaze glanced at him for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders.

”Seems like we are...” he muttered before moving on to find a spot for him to rest as well.

He would patrol the area later; first, he needs to check if there's anything wrong with his body. No matter how trustworthy these people appeared to be, he couldn't be careful.

Even now, he couldn't believe that it only took a single night to heal a wound on his body.

'If grandfather were to know about this, he would have kidnapped this man.. haha..'

Zier couldn't help but be amused at the thought.

But when the images of what had happened yesterday night flashed in his mind, his smile paused. He shuddered at the possibility that even his grandfather might have not been able to defeat this man.

”Impossible... grandfather had said that he was one of the best among the Rank-9 Mages!” he consoled before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

One of the fastest ways people Fighter or Mages looked for any hidden injuries was to simply let Mana circulate inside their bodies. If there was an itch, any obstruction, or even a bit of pain, then they would look for a physician immediately.

”huh? I'm all right... ” He muttered out loud unintentionally.

”What? Did you think he would harm you?” The voice came from the side.

”Uh- what no... I didn't doubt him...” Alerted, the first reaction of Zier was to stiffen his arms as he blurted out randomly. In that small moment, he even glanced in Ozul's direction to see if he wasn't listening just now.

Blaze first glanced at his hands and then stared right into Zier's eyes,  ”You know I'm really itching to find out what you are hiding in there.”

Out of nowhere, there were battle-lusty expressions on his face.

Looking at that savage grin made Zier take a step back. Together with the crown-like beads of crystals quite literally embedded on Blaze's forehead, he almost felt like a mad king about to sentence him to death.

Suddenly, he took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before relaxing his posture.

He remembered that despite the situation, his opponent wasn't in a battle-ready position.

”Haha! I'm not the one to prank around much, but ah that was fun. That look on your face!”

Blaze snickered before his attitude took a completely different turn. There was a pinch of arrogance behind his stare as he put his hand on Zier's shoulder.

When Zier felt the weight behind Blaze's hand, he couldn't help but flinch. Yet, his whole body seemed to have been frozen. As if he was suddenly wrapped in an invisible ice coffin.