Chapter 217 Approaching the portal 1 (1/2)

Mars rolled the magic core from spotted earth wolf around on the palm of his hand. It was smooth and felt cold to the touch, just like the many other magic beast cores he had absorbed before.

”Oh well...”

Mars clenched his hand around the core and activated his energy drain skill before he then opened his had again and saw how the magic beast core crumbled into dust. Having drained the core he then tilted his hand to the side and let the dust fly off in the wind, with this core absorbed he was about 1/4th full on energy units.

”This will have to do for now I guess....”

Mars looked west, towards where he knew the portal was. As a living god of energy he was able to feel it by now, even though they were still a couple of months away from the portal, he was starting to get a little tense about it.

Iis it really the right thing to bring the girls..?'

”Mars... Mars?”

As Mars was lost in thought Elsa called out to him, when she didn't get a response she pouted slightly before she walked up behind him and hugged him from behind while putting her hands over his eyes.

”Guess who?~”

Mars woke up from his daze and gave a smile as he removed her hands from his eyes and asked.

”What are you doing Elsa?”

Elsa leaned her head on his shoulder before she asked.

”What were you thinking about?”

”Well... It's just that I am beginning to be able to feel the portal and then I was thinking about the safety of you girls.”

”I see... You think it's best for us not to approach the portal?”

Mars gave a slight shrug before he answered.

”I think your safety is more important than the mission, although staying with me for another month should not be a problem.”

”Okay... I'll tell the others. By the way I wanted to ask you if you wanted another serving?”

”Sure.”

The night passed uneventfully and so the next morning the group continued west, after about a week of traveling they reached the edge of the earthen tribes territory. The earthen tribe being the brains behind the portal had claimed (and swiftly conquered) all land around the portal and proclaimed it as their new home. Now Mars didn't have the best impression of the earthen tribe at the moment, not after what happened to Alex and Emma anyways so he didn't look forward to entering their territory. Even now he was thinking about how to make a nuke so he could wipe them all out, the girls picked up on Mars' bad mood and did their best to comfort him as they got closer and closer to the edge of their territory. Doing that time they began running into refugees that were moving in the opposite direction form the group, Mars noted how miserable they looked as he hardened his resolve about closing the portal for good, after all the longer the unstable portal was open the bigger the change for something to go horribly wrong.

'They have no idea what forces they are playing with...'

Soon the small roads also became filled with vehicles that where entering and exiting the earthen tribes territory Mars and the girls were forced not to walk on the road altogether. Instead they walked beside the road, this slowed down their walking speed significantly, but it was better than risking being run over by a vehicle. After traveling for another week the group reached the edge of the earthen tribes territory, the changes were not obvious at first but as the days passed Mars noticed how they didn't meet any magic beasts or beasts in general. The sides of the road where also filled with semi industrial farms where giant framing vehicles that  worked the fields and then one day Mars' mood hit rock bottom when they reached where the new modern roads where being built.

'This is beyond fucked up.... Since they have such vehicles and technology they could easily do this without slave workers.'

The roads were being built by slaves, it looked like they were all natives from Alfan that had been enslaved from the other cities like the thing the group experienced when they had entered the earthen tribe controlled city a few months back. Mars and the group moved further away from the road to pass by the construction but then they were stopped by one of the guards that overlooked the slaves.

”Stop right there.”

He pointed his gun at Mars and the others which pissed Mars off so he yell back.

”What's your problem!?”

The guard, not happy about being yelled at, also raised his voice.

”All natives are to be brought to a processing facility, so obediently surrender yourselves!”

Mars gave a sigh and activated [half-awaken] along with [Instant movement]. When he reappeared the 10 or so guards fell to the ground, Mars then ripped open a portal and turned to the girls.

”Sorry but it's time for you guys to go home.”

The girls gave nods and walked through the portal, then he turned to Yel that still stood in place.