Chapter 4391: Decisions

Harksha looked outside through the airplane’s window. Even she hadn’t expected things to become this dangerous. The rewards would undoubtedly be incredible if they succeeded, but those rewards only mattered if everyone managed to leave the ruins alive.

"Perhaps we should stop here and find a way out instead..." she muttered.

Rean simply smiled. "Getting out shouldn’t be that difficult anymore. We have the guardian core, plus another fifteen acting surprisingly friendly now that we look like one of them. If their energy signature is what opened the gap in the barrier before, we should be able to leave whenever we want."

Harksha fell silent.

If escaping was no longer a problem, then perhaps they could afford to investigate a little farther. The thought lingered in her mind, although she still wasn’t convinced.

Before she could say anything else, Roan looked at Rean. "Take us to the barrier first."

Senkiyu looked between the two in confusion. "So... are we giving up on searching for the ancient runes?"

"Who said that?" Roan replied. "I only told the idiot to fly us to the barrier. He believes leaving won’t be a problem, but believing isn’t the same as knowing. I want to verify it first. If we confirm we can leave whenever we want, then we continue exploring. If not, we follow Harksha’s suggestion and focus entirely on finding an exit."

"I see..." Senkiyu nodded, and the others quickly agreed. Securing an escape route before risking anything else was the most sensible approach.

"Then hold on!" Rean immediately took control of the airplane. The Celestial Thrusters roared to life, pushing the aircraft forward until it shot through the ruins at high speed, disappearing from the area moments later.

---

Meanwhile, back in the Besgol Region, a lone cultivator stepped into the Sacred Relic’s sphere of influence.

As everyone knew, the Sacred Relic continuously monitored anyone entering or leaving the region. The moment the man crossed its boundary, the relic immediately performed its usual inspection.

No alarm was triggered.

After completing its scan, the relic concluded that he was simply another cultivator returning from an assignment outside the region. Similar entries happened tens of thousands of times every single day.

Yet that was exactly what made the situation strange.

The cultivator didn’t actually possess an identity registered in Besgol, and somehow the Sacred Relic still recognized him as someone who belonged there.

The man looked toward the distant city before lowering his gaze to the object resting in his hand.

It was a small item with a faint golden-and-white glow. Countless microscopic runes covered both its surface and interior, continuously shifting as if responding to something only they could sense. Judging by their movements, they were interacting with something inside the Besgol Region itself.

"Hm... perhaps I’m moving a little too quickly," he murmured.

At first glance, he looked like nothing more than an Initial Stage Aura God. After pondering for a few more seconds, however, he simply shook his head. "Whatever. Once I’m done here, speeding things up won’t be difficult."

And so, he took flight to the Besgol Region. Yes, flight! He was able to fly out of his own power, even though he looked like an Aura God. Not only that, it looked like he had more than enough energy to fly for several days on end. Not even Tobao could do that. In fact, Tobao wouldn’t be able to keep flying for more than ten minutes.

---

Meanwhile, back inside the ruins, Rean guided the airplane toward the invisible barrier surrounding the area. It remained impossible to see with the naked eye, but thanks to the airplane’s detection systems, locating it wasn’t difficult.

He didn’t stop.

Instead, he reduced the airplane’s speed while slightly increasing the Godly Pressure released by the disguise array, allowing a little more of the guardian cores’ aura to spread outside the aircraft.

As the airplane approached the barrier, the previously invisible wall suddenly rippled.

A white glow appeared directly ahead, and moments later an opening formed, easily large enough for the airplane to pass through.

Rean guided the airplane halfway across before bringing it to a stop. The front half now floated outside the barrier, while the rear remained inside.

"Well," Rean said with a satisfied nod, "looks like leaving really isn’t a problem."

Harksha blinked. "Then why did you stop?"

"Because we don’t know what happens to the guardian cores once we’re completely outside," Rean explained. "Remember? The guardian attacked us from inside the barrier, but it never crossed the barrier itself. If flying outside completely cuts their connection to the ruins, these cores might become useless. If that happens, we’d have to repeat the whole process just to get back in."

Harksha nodded after giving it some thought. "That... actually makes sense." She looked toward the endless ruins again. "So now the question is whether we continue exploring."

Roan remained leaning against the cabin wall with his arms crossed, looking as calm as ever. "You’re still the leader of this expedition," he reminded her. "As I said before, we now know we have an escape route. Whether we’ll still have time to use it if things go wrong is another matter entirely. Those guardians aren’t opponents anyone can take lightly."

Senkiyu and the other Aura Gods also remained quiet.

None of them tried to influence Harksha’s decision. If she chose to retreat, no one would object after everything they had already experienced.

Harksha lowered her gaze toward her missing shoulder. "It’s been a very long time since I came that close to death..."

Rean grinned. "I don’t know... I’d say you’re still pretty close to him."

Kentucky and Celis immediately nodded through their soul connection.

That’s true.

Very true.

Naturally, Harksha had no idea what the joke meant. "...What?"

Roan didn’t even bother rebuking that. "Ignore the idiot. What are you trying to say?"

Harksha let out a long sigh before looking back toward the ruins stretching beyond the barrier. "Maybe things have been too easy for me lately. Then again, this expedition has been far more dangerous than anything I expected. That was a hell of a wake-up. I’m honestly not sure whether pushing forward is the right decision."

She paused briefly before continuing. "Even if we turn back now, simply reporting these ruins to the Godly Subjugation Guild should already earn us a considerable reward."

Roan shrugged. "Then stop going in circles. Do you want to continue or not?"

Harksha became quiet once more. After several seconds, she finally raised her head, her hesitation gone. "We continue."

She took a slow breath before finishing. "It’s dangerous. Much more dangerous than I ever imagined. But if we leave now... I have a feeling we’ll be abandoning the opportunity of a lifetime."

Almost the instant she finished speaking, the airplane turned around. The Celestial Thrusters flared once more as Rean accelerated back toward the depths of the ruins. "Now that’s more like it!"

He had wanted to continue exploring from the very beginning.

The airplane shot back into the ancient ruins once again, this time carrying everyone’s hopes of finding the ancient runes connected to the Sacred Relic. That’s where the real rewards lie.

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