Chapter 52: Back To The Earth

Leon lay there unconscious. Others looked at each other before walking toward Leon and that woman. But no one disturbed her.

She crouched down beside Leon and carefully lifted his head, then placed it on her lap.

She grabbed one of the monster cores, the biggest one. The others settled on the ground.

"This one should do it." She placed it in Leon’s mouth and then waved her hand. A gentle breeze created a small whirlpool that moved forward, entering Leon’s mouth.

The whirlpool carried the core inside. The moment the core reached Leon’s mouth, the panel came to life.

[You have devoured the monster core of a beast that was at the Martial Grandmaster Realm.]

[You have absorbed a huge amount of Qi.]

[Qi: 81,920,000/81,920,000.

You have absorbed enough Qi for a breakthrough.]

[You have reached the 7th stage of the martial apprentice realm.]

[Qi: 29,070,000/163,840,000]

All Leon’s injuries and wounds vanished instantly, like they weren’t even there in the first place.

Seeing this scene, everyone felt like their eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets.

’His injuries... Those bloody wounds... They all vanished? Just like that!’ Noah’s head buzzed.

More than 150 monster cores remained. The woman fed Leon all those cores one by one unhurriedly. Nobody dared to disturb her. They all had seen what she was capable of. Even Emily looked a bit docile at the moment. Not clumsy but a bit innocent.

Finally, the last core went inside Leon’s stomach.

[You have absorbed Qi.]

[Qi: 163,840,000/163,840,000

You have absorbed enough Qi for a breakthrough.]

[You have reached the 8th stage of the martial apprentice realm.]

[Qi: 3,090,560/327,680,000]

She caressed Leon’s hair before finally standing up. She turned and looked at all.

"Are you my master’s friends, or foes?" She asked after looking at all of them with scrutinizing eyes for a long time.

"We are buddies. B-best ones." Sol spoke instinctively. The woman looked at him, her green eyes narrowing. But after some time, they relaxed.

"Take back my master to the detached heaven immediately. They are aware of his return. If he stays here for longer, his life will be in danger. He is not strong yet."

"Detached heaven?" Emily repeated in confusion. Everyone else also looked puzzled.

"The place you call Earth. Return there immediately and don’t come back here."

"W-well, it’s not like we came here intentionally. And we don’t know how to get back either."

The one with the tank ability said. Hearing they could go back, all their faces lit up with expectations.

"Harold won’t dare to tamper with the gates again." The woman said that and then brought out a crystal. She crashed it into the ground.

Smoke erupted from it, evolving into a gate. Lightning crackled in the blue surface of the gate.

Everyone looked thrilled. "Finally." Sol exhaled.

’I wish Alex and Willow hadn’t chosen the wrong path.’ Meridith thought, her face still a bit gloomy.

"Thank you very much. We can never repay what you have done for us." Emily stepped forward and said.

"I didn’t do anything for you. I just want my master to be safe. Or else, why would I even bother talking with humans? And let me warn you all about one thing. If you dare to harm my master intentionally or unintentionally, directly or indirectly, then no matter even if you are all in the detached heaven, I will come find you. And then I will make you wish you all were never born." She said with a cold face. Her demeanor was fully in contrast to her looks.

"S-sure." Sol stammered. "Leon is in safe hands."

The woman turned to leave but then stopped. She walked toward Emily. "When my master is awake, give him this." She brought out another crystal and handed it to her. "Tell him that when he awakens his soul domain in the future, he can come find me here with this crystal." With that, she turned and started walking.

Suddenly, her body distorted and transformed into the serpent form. The moment it happened, all fell hard on their backs except Emily.

"W-what was that?" Noah asked, his voice trembling.

"She was a monster this whole time?" The female hunter with the spear stammered.

Emily said nothing, her face looking extremely gloomy. "A primal." She whispered.

It took some time for everyone to regain their composure.

"We need to leave before this gate disappears."

Everyone nodded and got up.

"I will carry him." Sol said and walked to Leon’s body.

"Let me help." Noah approached them and helped Sol.

Once everyone was ready, they started to enter the gate one after another.

First, the two hunters who were trapped in the tower.

Then Noah and Meridith. They looked at each other before entering.

Sol carried Leon and entered next. Emily looked back at the battered battlefield. "We somehow survived." She looked back and walked into the gate without stopping.

The moment Emily walked out on the opposite side, she found that only Sol was standing with Leon on his shoulder.

"Where did the others go?" She asked.

"Can’t say. I walked out and found none of them waiting."

Emily looked around and narrowed her eyes. "Wait. This place! This is the same place where we were pulled into that strange gate and transported to that hidden realm."

"Yeah. That means that the gate transported us back to our own locations."

He looked at Leon on his shoulder. "I was carrying him. Maybe that’s why he was mistakenly transported here."

"It’s good that he was. Because I have a lot of things to ask him." A faint smile spread across her lips.

That smile looked strangely dangerous to his brother. ’She smiled? She isn’t planning to torture him for information, right? I hope she isn’t. Or that’s gonna be the end of us.’ Sol thought inwardly.

Meanwhile, somewhere else at the same time...

Noah and Meridith walked out of the gate. The moment they did, someone hugged Noah from the back. It seemed a group of people had been waiting here.

"Noah, you are here." Someone sobbed, his voice emotional but rough.

Noah looked at him. "Brother, it’s not time for this. We need to recruit someone in our guild. Now."