Anino obeyed immediately. After landing, Reto informed them that he would enter the palace with Esmeralda as his witness. Alkan decided to wait for them at a tavern. "Let’s go," he said to Anino and Pilak. Since the two looked far too unusual, he told them to use illusions before heading to a tavern he had spotted earlier while flying. As they entered, a woman greeted them cheerfully. "Mister! What can I get you?" Alkan was slightly surprised to see so many people inside. Almost all of them were large, burly men carrying long, heavy swords strapped to their backs. He turned back to the smiling woman. "A table. Somewhere quiet where no one will bother me," he said, returning her smile. Her grin widened, and she led the three of them to the second floor. As he walked, Alkan discreetly spread his awareness throughout the tavern. He sensed no malicious intent from the rough-looking men. "Pilak, who are these people?" he asked in his mind. Pilak answered telep

Reto sighed heavily. "Over the centuries, each king has only grown greedier for power. Now that someone is heading to the South, the king won’t miss the opportunity to claim that land." Alkan shook his head. Typical of kings throughout history. ... The sun’s rays were now level with the treetops when the group finally stopped flying. They hovered above the border between the West and the South. Ahead, Alkan could clearly see the vast desert stretching before them. "The desert is cold at night. It would be better to spend the night in the forest," he said before ordering Anino to lower everyone to the ground. They first searched for a safe place before Alkan restored the consciousness of the five Bistik members. "Ha! What is this place?" "Where are we?" "Who the hell put me to sleep?" "

Alkan shrugged. In truth, he had no intention of bringing anyone along except for Reto, but when he went to the tavern and saw the group of adventurers, he decided to include them. "I just wanted more companions for fun," he said before taking a bite of the roast. Asul grimaced and hesitated before biting into the roast. The rest of his group remained silent because, according to their rules, all decisions were up to the leader, and the members had to follow. Pilak laid out some bedding on the sand, but Asul quickly objected and turned to him. "Sir, please rest. We will stand guard around the area." Alkan smirked and waved his hand. "No need. No scorpions will come here." 'Because they’ve all been wiped out, except for the egg in my spatial ring,' he thought. But the Bistik were stubborn, so he had no choice but to let them stand guard over nothing. That nigh

Alkan took a deep breath and looked at the dragon below. "In that case, hold the dragon off," he said before flying toward the volcano’s entrance. At that moment, the only power Alkan could rely on was half of Anino’s total strength. Pilak had already lost his abilities, so he couldn’t use her silver flames. He leaped into the mouth of the volcano and fell into darkness for several minutes. Since the shadows had absorbed the magma’s heat, the inside of the volcano was cold. He felt the chilling cold seep into his bones. He furrowed his brows and endured the shivering of his body. He had no idea how long he had been falling in the darkness, but eventually, he reached the bottom of the volcano. He sighed in relief and conjured black flames. Unlike Pilak’s silver flames, they did not radiate warmth, but the faint heat they provided was enough to keep him from freezing inside the volcano. He scanned his surroundings and noticed

The woman stopped in front of him and stared. “What do you mean, what? Utir is in the hall! Hurry up, or Resa will get to him first!” Alkan could no longer speak as the woman pulled him away. In the grand hall, he saw the elaborate design and various types of creatures—vampires, werewolves, manananggal, witches, shadows, and other terrifying beings from folklore. He nearly froze in place, if not for the sawikin woman beside him, who kept mentioning the name Utir. Alkan took a deep breath and looked around. He now understood why the creatures under the black palace had gathered. The sacrifice was happening at midnight, though he still didn’t know its purpose. He turned to the woman beside him and cleared his throat. "Ah, what is the gathering for?" he asked. The woman looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "There will be a sacrifice at midnight." She playfully tapped his forehead. "Did you oversleep and forget about the gather