Noah stood atop a portion of uneven ground a bit more than 2m in height. Surely such a difference in ground smoothness was great, but what lay before he and the other three made that rock's height pale in comparison.

"What the fuck even happened here," Noah muttered even if he knew. His eyes gazed at an immense pit nothing less than a few kilometers in radius, and surely about 50m in depth!

The surroundings of the abnormal pit clearly looked to have undergone the worst shaking of their existence as whole portions of the ground rose and fell in wave-like patterns, each of those folds spanning more than 5 meters in width and numbering hundreds.

Cudgel had created a series of inconsistent hills that caused the trees in the area to vanish after the force uprooted them from their positions. Before getting to that point, the four had witnessed whole chunks of the terrain featuring cracks and fissures so large they were akin to chasms with unknown depths.

Crossing them had not been difficult, but such views had given them a preview of what their eyes gazed at, unable to believe that they had escaped such destruction.

Noah at some point during their journey to the site had hoped the effects of Cudgel's landing would be easily hidden, but now that he had eyes on it, that idea had gone out the window.

It would take decades before such damage could be repaired, and that scenario might never happen. The forest would simply adapt and begin to regrow from the depths of the immense pit.

Noah made eye contact with the others, the disbelief in his eyes just as much as the ones his guild-mates experienced. How could something do so much damage that its effects stretched for miles, yet they had escaped it!

The surrounding areas of Cudgels pit featured no standing trees, meaning they were basically in the open. However, the wave-like pattern of the terrain would deter any ambushes, since some of the folds of earth were as high as 5m, with some being twice as tall.

'This is true destruction,' Noah marveled inwardly storing that scenery in his mind. He had never got to witness the Cudgels effect the first time because he had been in a near-death situation, but looking at things now, he struggled to believe he possessed something that could unearth such destruction.

Cudgel had turned the surrounding kilometers and miles into wastelands.

"How did we even escape the cause of this? Are you that quick in your steps?" Williams's voice rang out behind Noah as his eyes never left the pit before them even while he spoke with Aiden.

"I honestly am wondering the same," Noah replied honestly.

A few seconds of silence passed while Liam and Illiana gathered around them.

"What are we going to tell Elder Von when he arrives," Illiana voiced at some point. But no one seemed surprised at the fact that she spoke. They were all still trying to completely process the grandness of the scene before them.

"What can we even tell him," Noah mused. "He'll assess the situation with his own eyes when he arrives," Noah stated and they nodded.

"However the main question is; were the bandits wiped out?" Liam pointed out, crouching near the edge of the relatively smooth ground right before the pit to gaze at its insides.

It would comfortably fit a small city, heck he could already see how such a plan would be made to optimize that space. The surroundings could feature many defensive formations and walls for different purposes.

'The city would be nigh impenetrable if things are done right,' Liam took a detour in his thoughts.

"You can go down and check," Noah replied sarcastically, but no one responded, heck it seemed they didn't even hear the sarcasm in his tone.

"Only the tier four has chances of living," Illiana stated, getting nods from the others.

Another few moments of silence passed before any other words were spoken, and they came from Williams.

"There's no way to tell, but from the looks of things they were probably all wiped out." He stated the apparently obvious, but Noah disagreed with him. Tier 4's weren't that easy to kill, at least he didn't think even that could have ended the man.

Sure the expert could be injured, but death seemed too far-fetched. Even he with a series of utilities would be capable of surviving it. How much more an expert that had stepped on the path of demigods.

"I don't know," Noah voiced his thoughts. "He probably escaped or is somewhere beneath all this rubble."

An air of pensiveness fell on the group at that point. "We should stay a safe distance from the pit. I believe this spot is good enough," Noah explained, unfolding his consciousness.

"Well we pretty much have no choice. I believe Elder Von should arrive anytime soon, and we can get away from this hell hole. I feel unsafe," Liam explained with an ugly expression. He seemed the only person that had a deep desire to leave that place.

The group created camp at that point, and surprisingly they surrounded Noah as he sat on the rock overlooking the grand scene. They had already began to see him as an important individual. He was the strongest after all.

Their journey there had spoken volumes on that topic, since they gave him the role of the leader, even if he didn't exactly find it favorable.

Their journey had been a long sprint of about an hour, they had rose immediately the sun rose and set out. Noah had displayed his superiority in terms of sheer movement speed, but it only further raised their respect for him.

Noah represented the image of monsters, at least the ones that were spoken of by their various masters. A sense of pride rose in their hearts realizing that their guild featured individuals as monstrous as he was.

A guild with that many extraordinary experts had to be one of the bests.

Besides, they had never really seen any of those monstrous experts in battle, so he was the closest thing they could hold on to.

They group only had to wait about an hour or two before a spot in the sky flickered with a crackling mass of incredibly dense energy, one that managed to bathe the area in its intense deep blue light.

A door-shaped portal opened at that point, and the calm figure of Elder Von exited the blue light. And even if he stood high in the sky, the group could almost tell that he had a perplexed expression on him.historical

Noah felt Elder Von's consciousness land on him and the others and his voice reached their ears even from that distance.

"By the gods, what happened here?" His vice boomed in the area empowered by his incredible power.

"Its a long story!" The four replied in unison causing surprised expressions to appear on their faces, followed by smiles. A rare sight from Illiana.