Dimensional Descent

"The gap isn't that big. What's most important is terrain, dungeons and challenges, we have a strong grasp of all of those."

"We have a strong grasp of terrain and challenges, as well as villages, but dungeons are more difficult. They're often hidden and don't have any obvious markers, we can only make educated guesses. In terms of range, we have the upper hand. But in terms of details and dungeons specifically, we're definitely on the losing end."

The situation wasn't as bad as they thought. Although they didn't know how Leonel had gotten so much range, there was still a large buffer between them and him. In addition, they had their own preparations.

"But look here, Nazag's territory is gone. That means he's moved it. But why?"

"He's planning on using the fusion method. He used the territory map of Nazag's village first, memorized it, then took it with him. Remember, Leonel Morales is the youngest of us all, he lost 20 years, and he is also the Littlest Nova. He's been behind from the very beginning, he knows this more than anyone.

"So his goal is to focus on just a single territory. This is good for us, we'll always know where he is, it'll be much easier to monitor him. I suggest we assign a team to him. With the shorter range, the maps will be much more detailed and we'll be able to pay attention to everything he does and respond accordingly."

"Agreed, but we need some other measures as well. Fifth Nova is expanding quickly and he's our most immediate enemy, we can't divert too much attention to a fire so far away and end up burned on this side."

"That much is easy. We failed to use the Constellation Bow Alliance, however I think we'll have to stop holding back. Our advantages aren't as large as we would like, especially with these variables. Less release a few more trump cards."

"Already?"

"The best faction to use given the situation is the Lio family, but a constellation family isn't so easy to make use of even if their leader is a bit dense. This is the best choice."

The four looked toward one another and nodded. This was a trump card they only wanted to use during the end game. Using it now would expose their tracks ahead of time and make it less effective in the future, but sometimes part of a powerful trump card was knowing when to use it, and waiting until the last moment wasn't always the ideal moment.

**

As the Libra were scheming, Leonel had already been taking his own steps.

They were very much correct about the fact that he had taken advantage of succeeding in the upgrade challenge to map out another 400 kilometers.

The price was steep, but he valued information over all. What he needed most was the location of his next target, and he had found it.

But first, he used the almost a thousand kill exchanges he had gained from the Constellation Bow Alliance, and that over 10 000 he had gained from another successful Silver-Grade challenge, to call forward more subordinates. The first group Leonel called forward was the Umbra family.

In fact, he had called them forward even before beginning the challenge because he had been waiting precisely for nightfall.

Leonel nodded toward Radlis and nodded. "You have the night. By the end of it, I want to know everything about this super continent. Ignore all challenges, mark down the location any dungeons, and [ want a systematic report of every Heir and territory in this region."

"Yes!" Radlis nodded.

In a flash, he and hundreds of Umbra family members melded into the night.

It was as though they had never been there at all, fusing into the shadows like phantoms. In the depths of the night, they were truly at home.

Back when the Umbra family attacked Earth, they were able to vanish from sight even in the middle of the day. However, Leonel had still waited for night to set them loose.

There were multiple reasons for this, but the main reason was efficiency.

The strength of the Umbra family was several times more powerful in the night, and they could, as such, finish their tasks much faster. It wasn't worth it to trade for them earlier than now as they weren't able to display their true strength for fear of exposing their family's ties to the Three Finger Cult.

As such, much like he had done with everything else, Leonel only revealed his cards at the absolute perfect time.

After this, Leonel waved a hand and dozens appeared before him. To the absolute astonishment of those watching from the outside, every single one of them was a member of the Cloud Race. However, they were all in chains.

Leonel had long since bound their wills to him, with a thought, he could kill them. So long as they refused to follow his orders, their death was inevitable.

Of course, Leonel had done all of this long ago. He wouldn't waste precious time here torturing and convincing.

Leonel waved a hand and removed their chains. He flipped a palm, revealing a communication device. His gaze flickered through it as he read with great speed. This information was none other than what Emna and James had already sent back to him after their half days' effort. Within it, there were a few territories already marked.

Of course, Leonel couldn't rely on the information given by just two people, especially since their original job was only to clear as many challenges and dungeons as possible, information was secondary. This was why he had sent out the Umbra family as well.

That said, this advanced information, as crude as it was, was good enough to send out a few teams of Cloud Race members.

"You few will go here... As for you, here..."

Leonel quickly assigned them.

Without many words, the Cloud Race dispersed. After activating their race's movement technique, they were like wisps of silvery-grey in the night, fast and imperceptible.