Lein nodded quickly, a spark of hope kindling in his chest. If soone this powerful was personally intervening, they might have a real chance to bring Dragnar back.
Suddenly, a voice both heavy and soft brushed against his ears:
"Young man," Yefta spoke slowly, his voice deep and faintly echoing. "Do you have any object,any artifact,bearing a strong connection to the one trapped within?"
Lein pondered briefly. Then rembered.
"Would a Contract Scroll work?" he asked, producing an ancient scroll with a golden seal,the very one binding him as master to Dragnar’s servitude.
Yefta raised a thin brow. "Even better," he said. "Hand it to ."
Lein passed it over with both hands.
Yefta accepted it without a word, then closed his eyes. Instantly, a gentle pressure began saturating the air.
But it didn’t last.
Lein and his companions imdiately felt energy swirling. Elder Yefta’s robes rippled unnaturally, as if stirred by an otherworldly wind. His white hair whipped wildly in all directions, and soon his very body began to change.
His once-pale brown skin shifted gradually to light violet, then deepened darker,like ink bleeding through water. Beneath its surface, Lein could see torrents of dark-purple energy surging violently through Yefta’s veins,like lightning-filled rivers breaking their banks.
"Lord sofus...?" Lein turned swiftly, tension rising.
sofus shot him a calm glance. "Be at ease, Lord Lein. Elder Yefta is tracing dinsional resonance. Once locked, he’ll force it open."
Lein gave a slight nod, though his unease lingered.
Without prompting, he, Laras, and Efan retreated several steps, erecting layered protective barriers around themselves,pure instinct, driven solely by the gathering energy that no longer felt remotely human.
sofus didn’t stop them. Even the elite troops behind him held their breath.
Elder Yefta now stood at the eye of an energy vortex.
Power stread into him from all directions. Dark violet light flared from his pores. Dinsional aura frayed like torn fabric. The air vibrated. Space warped.
He... was no longer rely human.
"...Found it."
The low, cold pronouncent ca from Yefta’s lips.
He opened his eyes,glowing solid athyst,and raised his right hand.
With a casual motion like tearing paper, he sliced through the empty air before him.
GRRRRRKKKKHHH...
The sound of dinsions screaming.
CRACK...
Lightning lashed from all directions as Elder Yefta’s hand swept downward,slow, unstoppable, like fate itself rewriting its path. The mont his palm crossed the final arc, the air hissed... and suddenly,
A rift tore open.
Amidst the groan of rending dinsions, an enormous oval-shaped fissure materialized, its edges glowing like a divine eye glaring at the world.
Yefta, still at the epicenter of chaos, snapped back to human form. His divine aura vanished as swiftly as it had been summoned. In an instant, his body disappeared without a trace,swallowed by the very dinsion he’d forced open.
Without hesitation, sofus stepped forward and bellowed:
"Team One, Five, and all Explorer Units,deploy!"
His command thundered, t by synchronized movents from the elite troops behind him. Battle cruisers hovering in formation ignited their engines. Blue plasma flared from thrusters, propelling them toward the unstable dinsional tear.
One by one, the ships slipped past sofus, Lein, and the others,their black silhouettes like spears piercing the sky’s wound.
Lein watched with awe and curiosity.
"Lord sofus," he ventured, "may we accompany them?"
sofus glanced sideways, tilting his chin with cool confidence.
"For what purpose, Lord Lein? Elder Yefta will resolve this in seconds." His tone was calm,too calm,face radiating pride as if he’d torn the sky himself.
Nearby, Efan tilted his head, puzzled. "Then... why send the teams in?"
sofus smirked faintly.
"They have another task," he said casually, then darkened. "The Dawnlight Cosmos Association has caused enough trouble over the last hundred thousand years... this ti, we leave no rcy."
"Understood," Efan replied, now solemn.
Laras remained silent but sharp-eyed. sofus’s words alone spoke volus of the deep-seated vendetta between these powers.
But before tension could ease,
Sothing surged from the rift.
A figure streaked out like a burning teor.
",Incoming!" sofus braced, golden aura erupting around him. His hand rose, poised to strike.
Lein, Laras, and Efan mirrored him,auras flaring, combat instincts ignited.
Yet the figure didn’t attack.
It halted. Directly before them. Then,
"Ugh... thank the heavens... I made it."
A hoarse, exhausted voice.
The figure collapsed to its knees. Ragged breaths. Clothes torn, body sared with burns and dried blood. Silver scales along its humanoid-naga form had dulled. But despite its battered state,its eyes blazed with life.
Lein stiffened. So did Laras and Efan.
"...Dragnar?" Lein’s voice was soft, hopeful.
The figure lifted its head. Seeing Lein,and the others,its eyes widened. Then... a bloody smile spread.
"Master...!" Dragnar cried out, stumbling forward before crumpling at Lein’s feet.
"Thank you... if you hadn’t opened that rift... I’d be dead in there..." he rasped, voice thick with sincerity and overwhelming relief.
But before his forehead could touch the ground, Lein raised a hand, stopping him.
"Stop." His tone was flat yet gentle. "It wasn’t who opened the way."
Lein turned, gesturing toward sofus behind him.
"Thank them. Not ."
Dragnar,still half-dragon, breath labored,slowly pivoted.
At first, his gaze held sothing... contempt. Subtle, yet palpable. As if his beastly instincts refused to bow to anyone... even sofus.
But sensing the power radiating from the golden-robed man,the silent pressure that could paralyze a soul in an instant,and rembering this was the one who tore open his path from that blood-soaked hell, Dragnar swallowed his pride.
Slowly, he dipped his head in a bow.
"My thanks, Lord... you saved my life," he uttered, voice low and gravelly.
sofus waved a casual hand. "It’s nothing. Our responsibility," he replied, calm. "If anyone owes an apology, it’s ."
Lein, silent until now, studied Dragnar intently.
"What happened inside?" he finally asked. "The dinsion should’ve collapsed. I destroyed all its cores,why were you still trapped?"
Dragnar drew a heavy breath, eting Lein’s gaze with eyes that seed older, darker.
"The man I fought... was imnsely strong," he said slowly. "At first, the dinsion did start collapsing. But he used sothing,an artifact,to hold the ruin at bay. As if he wanted to remain, even as reality began to fracture."
His fists clenched, voice hardening.
"Only when... another being breached it from outside did the dinsion fully implode. I escaped thanks to that outside disruption,not by my own power."
Lein’s jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed at the ground.
"Just who... are these people?" he murmured, bitterness lacing his words.
The Dawnlight Association.
Not re rcenaries. They were preparing for war, scheming in shadows. Why? What were they after?
He turned to sofus. His face stayed neutral, but the look in his eyes was clear,you know more than you’re saying.
sofus only chuckled softly, raising both hands innocently. "Ah, apologies, Lord Lein. Even I don’t know their precise motives."
But his expression shifted, voice dropping lower, sharper.
"But rest assured... if a hunter guild dares sow chaos across the cosmos for a hundred thousand years... they pursue nothing ordinary."
Lein remained still, body coiled with tension.
sofus held his gaze, stepping closer until his voice beca a blade-soft whisper:
"I shouldn’t tell you this. But due to our failure,our inability to protect you,I offer one warning."
He halted directly before Lein.
"They are hunting God Candidates. And most likely... they deem you one."
The words sliced the air like steel.
Laras and Efan stiffened instantly. Lein just stared,face blank, but his heart felt pierced.
God Candidate?
He knew nothing of it. Never felt like a "candidate" for anything so grand. Yet... his mind flashed to his SSS-tier talent, awakened at the journey’s start,the ability even the system couldn’t fully asure.
Could that be why...?
Before he could speak, Laras stepped forward.
"What is... a God Candidate, Lord sofus?" she asked, tone respectful but edged with urgency. "Why would they pursue soone like us?"
sofus turned to her, shaking his head slowly.
"I cannot answer that, Miss," he said, voice heavy.
"All I will say is this,never seek to understand it until your power breaches the Emperor-tier. Because once you know... there is no turning back."
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