"Wain, what shall we do? It's up to you." Elegan muttered as he waved his hand.

Wain looked at the gray earth, at the monsters that were gradually getting bigger, and said, "I, Frigus, and Zero will go to Misty Ruins. You and Sarras will go after Lui Bu and Edena at that time. They should explore the monsters, the fog, and the ground, maybe they'll figure something out."

"Good, I hear you. You don't have to worry about their safety, I will definitely protect them." Elegan nodded before disappearing.

"Good. I'd rather go get the alchemists than stay here with that girl!" Sarras exclaimed with a disgruntled look as he pointed at Zero, then swung his mantle and left.

"So... What do we do...? Break into their territory and fight them?" Frigus asked as he looked at Wain.

"Of course!" Zero exclaimed with an excited look, "If we kill them all, there won't be a problem, right?"

"No..." Wain shook his head, "Zero, you need to calm down. After all, these monsters are still inhabitants of this Void, I wouldn't want to harm them without a valid reason. Here's what we'll do - we'll head into the depths of Misty Ruins, if someone attacks us, we'll attack back, but only kill them as a last resort. Do you get it?"

Wain's look was calm, but his voice was deadly serious, which made Zero shudder as shivers ran down her body.

"Sure. I was counting on it from the start." Frigus nodded in a confident manner, "To fight but not to kill. It'll be great training, won't it?"

Zero just nodded as her aura grew weaker.

"Good. Let's go. From the looks of it, their energy is going somewhere, we have to find that place." Wain said before stepping over the border of two territories.

They prepared for battle as they thought the monsters would attack them immediately, but the monsters kept walking among the ruins.

"Well, maybe this will be easier than I thought." Wain uttered as he headed onward with Frigus and Zero.

They walked forward for a while until they reached the unusual ruins that, unlike the others, were intact. They were three arches with different runes on them.

"Hmm? Maybe the energy is coming this way?" Zero muttered with a thoughtful look.

Tremble.

Suddenly, right below them, a wave of white energy passed over the ground that split into several streams. Some of them, as though threads, headed toward the arches while the rest passed on. At the same time, the runes on the arches glowed brightly as portals appeared through which large amounts of mist emerged.

"What the hell...?" Wain muttered with a confused look.

The mist headed toward the other ruins that also glowed, then next to them, gray crystals emerged from the ground. They contained a large amount of energy that constantly fueled the ruins.

"Damn... This place is as though alive... Do I understand right that the monsters absorb the mist, then the energy is directed to these arches, which creates even more mist and conditions for other ruins to grow?" Zero muttered in an awkward manner while in disbelief.

"Yeah. I guess so. Sarras was right, it's a pretty creepy place. Why did it show up in our Void? Can territories be hostile?" Frigus said in a quiet voice with a thoughtful look.

"All right. Let's check these arches and move on." Wain said, walking over to the arches and touching the runes.

Whoooooosh.

At the same time, the monsters around them turned in their direction as intense pressure came down on Wain.

"Fuck... I guess that was a mistake." Wain muttered.

Crackle.

Dozens of monsters pounced on Wain as if he were their worst enemy. Even though Frigus and Zero were close to Wain, the monsters paid no attention to them, they just ran forward.

The first two monsters had already reached Wain, but just as they wanted to attack, Wain's palms slammed into their chests as the impact threw the monsters back several meters, forcing them to roll over the ground.

"Let's go!" Frigus exclaimed, drew his sword from its sheath, and turned into a blue flash.

He appeared behind the monsters and swung his sword with an ice-cold look. The blade struck the monsters' legs as they fell to the ground with pained screams, then Frigus plunged the sword into the land, and a wave of cold came from it that froze the monsters to the earth.

"Great. They're pretty strong, but stopping them won't be a problem." Frigus muttered before running toward the next monsters.

'Wow... Frigus is a monster, but he's so strong...' Zero inwardly muttered with a dazed look, 'He's no match for Wain, however not sure if I could handle him easily... Okay, it's my turn!

Whooooosh.

Blades of Darkness appeared in Zero's hands as she ran forward with a confident smile on her face.historical

"I'm here!" Zero exclaimed as she thrust her blades into the monster's shoulders.

"ARGH!!!" The monster cried out in pain as it brought its claws down on Zero.

Zero smiled, turned into a stream of darkness, and was behind the monster's back. She touched the monster with the tip of her finger as chains erupted from the darkness that hovered around her, completely immobilizing the monster.

"Huh, great!" Zero exclaimed with an excited look as she clenched her hand into a fist, "It was easier than I thought."

Crackle.

Suddenly three monsters appeared next to Zero. They opened their creepy jaws wide, intending to eat her, but Zero didn't even look at them as a barrier of darkness appeared above her that prevented the monsters from approaching her.

"Well, well, you're pretty cocky, aren't you?" Zero smirked in a dangerous manner, "I'm so tempted to chop you into little pieces, but you're damn lucky that it's Wain's Void."

Snap.

Zero snapped her finger as the barrier turned into chains that covered the monsters' mouths as though muzzled and nailed them to the ground.

"Good luck!" Zero smiled while waving her hand before heading on.