Chapter 4637: Somewhere Else

The woman rose from the corner where she had been sitting and casually walked toward them. "Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t praising you. The idea of selflessness is nothing but bullshit. A cultivator must be selfish. Otherwise, you’ll only fall further and further behind."

She stopped in front of the group, looking as though she had no intention of wasting any more time on the matter. "Anyway, are you finished here? I’m going to open the portal now."

Rean wasn’t particularly pleased with her attitude, but something else bothered him far more. At such a short distance, he should have been able to sense the woman’s life force. Yet, he couldn’t detect anything at all. Celis found the situation equally strange. Despite his ability to perceive energy, he couldn’t sense anything circulating inside her body, either.

Roan, however, immediately understood what was happening. "You aren’t actually here."

The woman’s eyebrow rose slightly, revealing her surprise. "Oh! You’re smarter than you look."

She extended one hand toward them. When the twins’ group tried to touch it, their hands passed straight through, as though they were reaching into empty air. The woman was some kind of hologram or projection, rather than a physical presence. That explained why they couldn’t sense her cultivation with their Godly Senses or detect any life force or energy inside her body. There was simply no physical body there to sense in the first place.

*Blub, blub, blub, blub...*

Suddenly, the four pink faeries that had remained dormant inside the twins’ group until now emerged. They immediately began circling the woman, moving around her excitedly as though they had finally been reunited with someone they knew very well.

"Master!"

"We did good!"

"They were nice!"

"Very bright!"

"Are we going?!"

"We must!"

The woman smiled and spread her hands. The four faeries quickly settled on top of them, their excitement seemingly contagious. "You little ones did very well. How was it? Did they break any of the rules?"

"They did not."

"We were never awakened."

"They are alive."

"We didn’t kill them."

"All is good."

The woman nodded with satisfaction. "Very well. You can return now."

*Pling!*

Without warning, the four pink faeries burst into countless specks of pink light. The tiny particles scattered through the air and rapidly faded until nothing remained.

The twins’ group watched the spectacle in silence. It was difficult to tell what had actually happened. Had the faeries died? Had they simply returned to wherever they had come from? Or had their existence always been something different from what the group had assumed?

Unfortunately, none of them had enough information to reach a conclusion.

Then...

*ZuuuuuuUUUUUOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!*

A tremendous rumble shook the area as the space inside the enormous ring began to contort. A massive amount of Godly Energy converged from the surroundings, flowing toward the structure and gathering within its countless layers of arrays. The inscriptions carved into the ring began to glow, one after another, as the energy passed through them.

At the very center, a brilliant golden-and-silver light appeared. It rapidly expanded, spreading across the open space until it formed a massive portal. Within seconds, the ring had transformed from an apparently inactive structure into a fully operational gateway.

"Alright, in you go," the woman said casually, as though she had merely opened a door.

Naturally, the twins’ group wasn’t about to obey without asking a few questions first.

"What can we expect to find on the other side?" Rean asked.

The woman gave him a look. "What else? The Ruckus Region, obviously. Don’t pretend you don’t know that already. The fact that my little guys were inside you proves you’ve met someone from our side before, and that person imposed certain rules on you. Well, there’s always a rule against spreading forbidden knowledge anyway."

She paused, looking at them with renewed curiosity. "By the way, who did you meet before?"

"Duze," Roan answered directly.

"Duze?" The woman was taken aback for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Hahaha! That kid? He sure likes to play with fire."

She shook her head, still amused by the revelation. "Oh well, since my little guys were left intact, everything should be fine."

She waved toward the gateway. "Now, in you go."

Before Rean or anyone else could ask another question, she raised a finger and added a final warning.

"You have thirty seconds to pass through. If you don’t make it in time, the portal will close, and it won’t open again until another expert arrives. You’ll have to wait until then. That could be tomorrow, or it could be a thousand years from now. Of course, you could always return to your Region, bring someone back with you, and try again. That would work, too. It’s entirely up to you."

Everyone exchanged glances.

Flying all the way back to Besgol and then returning to this portal would take them roughly another decade. It wouldn’t necessarily be a wasted journey, since they could continue hunting Godly Creatures along the way. Nevertheless, they knew the conditions on the other side were bound to be better than those in the Grasslands. After all, that was precisely why they had undertaken this journey in the first place.

Besides, there was another consideration. Would this mysterious woman really allow them to leave without placing those pink faeries, or whatever they were, inside their bodies again? Somehow, they doubted it.

Roan narrowed his eyes. There were no clues, but his instinct was telling him something wasn’t right. Too bad there wasn’t much time to think about it, so he decided to take the risk. After all, one thing was certain: that woman absolutely had the power to easily kill them. He could tell that much.

"Let’s go." Roan finally flew to the portal.

He took the lead, and the others immediately followed. They flew toward the portal together, crossing its threshold before the thirty seconds elapsed.

The instant they passed through, the gateway on this side closed. The golden-and-silver light vanished, leaving the enormous ring looking as inactive as it had before.

The woman watched the spot where the group had disappeared, a faint smile lingering on her face.

Once she was certain they were gone, her body disappeared.

Back where she truly lived, she kept her eyes closed and then connected to her Ring Communicator. A moment later, the image of a man appeared in her mind.

"You’ve got quite the nerve, treating me like some kind of tourist guide, don’t you, Victor?"

If the twins’ group could have witnessed the conversation, they would have recognized the man immediately. It was the very same Victor who had granted them the power of the Echo, thwarted the Werdlem Empire’s plans, and closed the breach in space.

Victor scratched the back of his head, wearing an expression that was almost apologetic. "I can’t thank you enough, Samantha. But then again, you know I always repay my favors, don’t you?"

Samantha’s smile widened.

"Oh, I know that very well. Otherwise, do you think this goddess would have gone out of her way for a bunch of Great Void kids? Vinx Great Void, was it? If I hadn’t investigated the matter myself, I wouldn’t even have known it existed. Why would you care about a bunch of kids from a Great Void with such a trash Echo? I could make that entire Great Void disappear in an instant."

"Now, you’re exaggerating," Victor commented, seemingly unbothered by her boast. "We both know the price that would have to be paid to get rid of an entire Great Void."

Samantha merely smiled, leaving it unclear whether she agreed with him or simply didn’t care.

"In any case, I have my plans for that bunch," Victor continued. "They might just pull it off."

Samantha’s expression changed as she processed his words. "Wait. You can’t possibly be..."

Victor nodded.

Then, he burst into laughter. "Well, most likely it’ll turn out to be another failure! Hahaha! I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you!"

Samantha stared at him for a moment before deciding not to pursue the subject any further.

"You should just forget about that. Anyway, I’m done here. They’ve been sent off, and don’t worry. My little guys won’t reveal anything about what just happened to the authorities in the Grasslands. I don’t want those idiots nagging in my ear, either."

"Good!" Victor nodded, preparing to end the call. "Let me know if you need anything. I can pull a few strings, depending on what you’re asking for."

"Very well," Samantha replied, accepting his offer without hesitation.

With that, the call ended.

As for the twins’ group, they had indeed been sent away through the Sprouting Portal.

It was just that their destination wasn’t anywhere near the Ruckus Region.

In fact, they weren’t even in the Grasslands anymore!

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