Is this really a Game?!



After the end of the battle, everybody present had been exhausted. They had battled against more than 30 Tier IV monsters, and even though they hadn't been as strong as the average high-grade and peak Tier IV monsters, they were still a force to be reckoned with.

Reign had fought a hard battle against the suit, and even though he had healed his injuries with the light manipulation ability, he was exhausted mentally and physically. Even walking was tiresome for him, and the others fared no better.

Since they had defeated the monsters, and the fog had scattered, there was nothing they needed to fear now, so they could easily rest in the giant ship.

Upon killing Nearsch, the fog started scattering, and thanks to that, the power of the monsters lessened, so Wolf and the others had an easier time defeating them in the end. 

Of course, that was not all. With the fog scattering, the monsters wouldn't only be weakened, but they would all die. The fog had killed them after all, it took control of their bodies after death, so upon leaving, the monsters would revert to being corpses, and soon, the mountain range shall start healing itself from what the fog had done to it.

The gray, lifeless depths of the mountain range shall be revived after some time, and new monsters might start appearing here.

At least, that was what Reign and the others hoped would happen. The depths were important to them, it was one area where they could easily hunt Tier IV monsters and level up. Even though they had now gained a lot more territory and had more areas that they could teleport to, the depths were familiar to most of them, so it was easier for them to hunt there.

"Master, can I take the ship?"

Reign had been resting with Wolf and the others, they were eating some food in order to replenish the energy they had spent and were sitting down before Jared's voice suddenly echoed in Reign's head.

'Take … the ship?'

"Yes, the storage area has more than enough space for us to hold the ship, I would like to continue analyzing it and run some tests, am I allowed to do that?"

'Well, I don't see why not, yeah, you … you can take the ship."

"Thank you, master!" Jared's enthusiastic voice said as Reign shook his head before suddenly widening his eyes.

Wolf and the others all got alerted and stood up before taking out their weapons. They felt as if they had moved, and their surroundings had seemingly changed. They quickly got out of the ship through the hole that had been made thanks to Reign and Nearsch's fight and stared around them.

"Jared." Reign calmly said as the AI appeared in front of him and the others.

"Yes, master?"

"When I said you can take the ship, I didn't mean right now, with me and the others still inside of it."

"Ah, I see, apologies master, I was a bit too excited and didn't think straight," Jared said as he scratched the back of his head while Wolf and the others sighed. They thought that they would need to fight against an enemy for a moment, but it turned out to be a fake alarm.

"Anyway, we have rested for enough, we need to go back, with the Third Phrase having officially started now, god knows what is going on in our territories," Wolf said with some slight worry as Reign and the others nodded at him.

They had sent back over 200 Tier IV combatants, so they doubted that anything bad had happened, but as the leaders, they needed to make sure everyone was safe.

The Branch of Yggdrasil can keep monsters out and shield their two territories, but their allies had none of that available. Reign was certain that a large number of the Tier IV combatants they had sent out went to help out the three allied territories they had, so they should also be fine.

The underground city was a bit weird. Thanks to Cyrus, they still had their technology, but they weren't as strong as others. They had been hunting and leveling up since they allied themselves with Reign and the others, but they still had ways to go.

The Third Phase shouldn't really affect them that much, but Reign still told his men to go there and see if they need help. They were the ones in most danger if monsters decided to charge at the city and fight them with full force, so they needed to make sure they were safe.

Reign and the others quickly came out of the storage area before making their way out of the depths. It took them about 5 hours to get to the depths before, but now, Beast immediately summoned his flying monsters and they all got on them.

Without needing to evade any monsters, and without having to cross mountains and hills, their speed had, of course, increased tremendously. With the fog being weaker and weaker, they easily made their way out of the depths after about 1.5 hours of flying. After all, none of them was using their top speed previously, while the beasts they were riding on were all going as fast as they could. 

Upon arriving, Reign and the others glanced at the wall which had been damaged. The monsters had come out of the fog and had climbed the mountains climbed the giant wall and made it outside.

Luckily, the bases they had here were far away from the wall, so the fog and the monsters shouldn't have made it all the way there, and even if they had made it there, the people could easily escape through the portal, so the chances of anyone dying here were low.

The demons, however, were a different story.

Even though Reign and the others had dealt them a big blow and killed their strongest combatants, there were still plenty of bases and demons present in the mountain range. If the monsters had arrived at their bases, then those bases were as good as gone.

Reign and the others quickly activated the portal that was near the wall. The monsters hadn't done anything to the portal, luckily, and it was still present. They went through the portal and arrived back in Doncaster.

Upon arriving, they were happy to see that nothing had truly changed. Those nearby all flocked to Reign and the others and they quickly explained to them what had happened. The Tier IVs quickly arrived and went to help out the other territories.

Doncaster had been attacked, but the monsters were far too weak to do anything to it, and they were easily defeated.

Neil and the others had placed men to wait for Reign and the others since they were certain that they would be able to win against whatever was at the center of the depths, and they knew that they would want to know what had happened while they were gone.

The underground city had indeed been attacked, but luckily, the Tier IVs had arrived on time and helped them out, keeping the casualties low. Wilkashere was struck the hardest, but thanks to the dome, as well as the help of over 100 Tier IV combatants, they defeated the powerful monsters that attacked them without suffering a single casualty.

The other two allied territories were attacked, and since they had no dome protecting them, the battle there was a hard one. The number of Tier IV monsters wasn't nearly as high as the ones that attacked Wilkashere, but the lack of a protective dome made the battle more difficult. 

The ones that couldn't fight had all used the portal and arrived in Doncaster in order to be safe, and the rest of the Tier IVs had all gone to the two territories and had battled for over 5 hours. Many buildings and houses had been destroyed, and there were some casualties, but it was mostly those below Tier IV that had perished, and even then, their numbers were low.

It still pained Reign and the others a bit as they could have kept the casualties even lower had they been present, but unfortunately, the timing was simply too bad. If they had abandoned their plan of going to the center of the depths, there was no way that Nearsch hadn't improved his strength even further. 

Reign could only imagine the trouble he would have if he had to fight a Tier V Nearsch with the suit. The ray he could use with the help of his crystal would have done some big damage, and it would have been much harder for the copy to get rid of Nearsch's soul and the true fog at that point.

What they had done was truly the best course of action as now, there was nothing that could affect them in the mountain range. 

The only issue was the desert. Reign and the others still had no idea what the monsters from the desert were going to do, so they had to go and inspect the desert tonight, otherwise they would have no peace of mind.