*Huff*

*Huff*

"We should be safe here for a while," Henrik said and fell down on his knees while breathing heavily.

He was the support of the group and had to use his abilities and skills almost non-stop. Not to mention that a formation master heavily depended on their mental and soul power as formations required a lot of concentration to create and operate them so he was completely exhausted.

"Oh thank the gods!" Mino mumbled softly and leaned back against the cave wall. Both his hands were almost numb from swinging those hammers continuously.

"I didn't think we'd make it out of that one," Hazel wiped the greyish blood off of her longsword and stored it away. Her simple clothes were covered in this same greyish blood which made her look pretty tomboyish, especially when Henrik who was right next to her always wore flowery patterns and bright colors.

Nick heaved a sigh of relief and used the quarterstaff to clear away some rocks before sitting down as well.

Hao Xuan, Guo Min, and Fulke were in much worse condition than them. All of them were covered in claw and bite marks from top to bottom.

After an hour-long battle they had finally managed to kill their way out of the Shadow Eaters encirclement and reach this out of the way cave on the side of a mountain. It was still only around two in the morning so the night was still young and there was a chance they could be found again.

Not to mention that the valley below only got sunlight for less than four hours every single day.

"You guys rest, I'll keep an eye out," Hao Xuan told the group before getting up and walking out.

His injuries were already starting to heal and would recover within a few minutes so it was the only logical choice that Hao Xuan himself would go out while the others recovered.

"Ah, sorry for the trouble," Guo Min laughed and patted him on the shoulder on his way out.

Henrik looked at him from the corner of his eyes and suddenly tried to get up, "You....you think you're better than me? HUH?! I can go out too!" he slurred almost as if he was half drunk, pointing at Hao Xuan provocatively.

Hao Xuan stopped mid-stride and turned to look at him before quickly shaking his head helplessly.

"Feed him some sweets. His sugar level is low again. I swear these fucking elves..."

Hazel was in charge of Henrik whenever he got like this so she hurriedly took out some hard candies and force-fed them to Henrik.

This was apparently a genetic disorder that many elves suffered from. Some of them would have much stronger metabolisms so whenever they did any strenuous activity, their glucose level would fall astronomically. It wasn't life-threatening but they would fall into a half-drunken delirious state so it wasn't exactly fine either.

There were of course ways to get around this like cultivating a physique to offset it for example, but Henrik simply refused to do so because he would become big and 'ugly'.

"I'M PRETTIER THAN ALL YOU!" he yelled while Hazel shoved a piece of candy down his throat trying to coax him, "Yes yes, you are a very pretty senior brother, now please eat this."

Henrik not only looked younger than almost everyone in the party but his actions were also pretty childish and they had all gotten used to it by now.

Hao Xuan sat in front of the cave's entrance while discussing his plans with Baracus when his Spirit Band vibrated. It was a call from Ryfon.

Hao Xuan picked it up instantly.

"Yo, what's up?"

"Where are you right now? We need to talk," Ryfon's voice came into Hao Xuan's ears. He sounded quite urgent from the tone.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, some new information has come up. I'm above the valley, give me a signal and I'll pick you guys up. You'll have to finish this little outing later sometime," he said before hanging up.

Hao Xuan was stumped. What happened that made him worry so much? But since he was here there was nothing else to be done. Hao Xuan got up and walked back into the cave.

"Get ready, we're leaving," he knocked on the wall to get everyone's attention. Henrik had only just recovered when he looked up in surprise like all the others, their expressions somber.

"Did they find us already?" Fulke asked with squinted eyes while rubbing his cleaver.

Hao Xuan shook his head, "No, we have to go back apparently. Ryfon is here to pick us up."

"Prince Ryfon is here?"

"But I thought we had 2 more weeks."

"Yeah so did I but guess not...."

Hao Xuan left them to get ready and turned back around. He took out a small red piece of wood and lit it on fire. It burned with an extremely bright red light, almost blinding Hao Xuan who didn't look away fast enough.

"Damnit," Hao Xuan cursed and with closed eyes threw it straight up into the air.

With his strength, the little piece of burning wood flew straight up like a rocket for almost 400 meters before coming back down. And as soon as it started its descent, the entire valley came alive at once.

The trees started shaking, the ground rumbled and dust rose up high enough that it could be seen from the air at this time of the night. It looked like hundreds of thousands of beast had started a stampede and were going straight towards the party's location.

All of them ran out of the cave with grave expressions adorning their usually nonchalant faces. They looked out towards the jungle that seemed to be alive and slowly moving on its own.

"Where is he??" Gou Min mumbled with a deep frown but he didn't have to wait long before getting an answer.

A loud neigh came from the sky above and two white half-unicorns appeared in their sights. One second they were like a smudge and the next they stood right in front of them, the carriage floating behind them.

The door opened and Ryfon gestured for them to get in. They jumped in one by one and the carriage was hundreds of kilometers away within ten seconds.

Hao Xuan peered out of the window and looked at the landscape that was becoming smaller and smaller by the second before looking at Ryfon with a raised eyebrow, "You better have a very good reason for this. I had something to do there."

Ryfon snapped his fingers and a small barrier appeared, separating them from the rest of the party. It was obviously quite rude to the other six people in the small carriage but no one had the authority to say otherwise. Only Henrik kept mumbling something under his breath.

"What?" even Hao Xuan was taken aback by his actions. Why the secrecy?

"There has been a development. The planet where the tournament is held has had a few changes, we need to change the plans a bit," Ryfon said mysteriously.

"What developments?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Here, change into this," instead of answering his question Ryfon handed him a set of clean white clothes.

Hao Xuan looked at the clothes before shaking his head.

"No, what the hell is going? Explain first."

Ryfon stared at him with a troubled expression, not finding the right words.

"The planet has....come alive. Its guardian spirit has been activated and given the natives a new kind of power. And because of that, its worth has just more than quadrupled. Right now we're going to meet my master, a great elder of the Academy."

"What?! Why? Why do I have to meet him?"

"Because he found out about my plan. Also, the academy needs your help as well. This is a good opportunity if you use it correctly, you will see."

Hao Xuan was, of course, unconvinced.

"Why not chose someone from the academy? Someone better suited for whatever the hell you have to do?"

Ryfon shook his head and sighed.

"We need an outsider for this, this isn't something we are... 'allowed' to do..."

The more Ryfon talked, the worse Hao Xuan's expressions got.

'You bastards are looking for a scapegoat?!'

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