A stern voice surprised everyone, including Craze and the others who were taking their leave as they came to a halt, waiting for the hidden rule to take effect since they had no idea what it was about.
*Click*
A clicking sound from the top of the fortress caught their attention as various mechanical parts gathered together, forming what seemed like a turret to them.
Around the area of the fortress, a blue circle was expanding with the fortress as its center point, in just a few seconds, it already overtook Craze and the others with the blue circle suddenly turning red in colour.
"Get out!"
Sensing danger, Craze ordered for everyone to back out immediately while magical energy gathered around his palm, taking on the form of a shield which he casted by stretching his arm towards the impending beam of energy which destroyed his shield in a matter of seconds and blasted him out of the expanding circle.
Swallowing the blood which was about to escape from his mouth while swallowing a expensive recovery elixir because of the severe internal injuries, he pulled out immediately while casting a wind enchantment movement speed increase on himself.
Making use of the time he stalled, the others got out while he managed to escape just in time with the magic he casted at the last moment.
"Argh!"
Craze vomited a mouthful of blood, but still called for a full retreat so that he can find somewhere to recuperate from his injuries first before making future plans.
Grace took all this into her sight, but didn't make a single move from the beginning to the end, without a doubt, this was the benefit given to those who have already occupied a fortress, also, for the last fortress to still be undetected, everyone most likely had the same guess in mind.
The fourth fortress which no one knows of was most likely occupied by the Moonlight Cult which has already spread their achievements to everyone, while making use of the tower to cause Craze some injuries which would affect him for a small period of time.
They could have targeted others, but by taking out a mage like Craze first, their plans would only proceed more smoothly as opposed to taking out any cultivators of the demon tier genius.
"Senior Grace, I believe that we should search for any cultivation resources around the safe area of the territory first before expanding outwards to gather more resources."
One of the members from the Paladin Haven suggested as Grace nodded her head in approval.
*In the meeting of the fortress occupied by the Nirvana Sect*
"Have all of you heard of the Moonlight Cult?"
Alexander got straight into the topic after everyone had settled down including Ray.
"Ray, aren't you going to spend more time with Chloe first?"
Alexander still asked when he noticed that Ray was here. As someone who's separated from the woman he loves right now, Alexander understood that it was painful to be separated from the person you love for official matters.
Ray's strength was important to them, but as a senior, the least he could do was prevent his junior from having any regrets in life.
"It's fine, as much as I want to spend more time with her, she doesn't want to disappoint her master either because she neglected her cultivation to spend more time with me."
Ray shook his head and explained without the intention of leaving.
"Do you resent her master for separating the two of you who were in love since a young age?"
Lancelot asked out of curiosity as someone who has been driven towards cultivation for the purpose of revenge for his family, the mixed feelings that he and Ray were experiencing might be different, but he wanted to understand how Ray felt towards the person who separated him from Chloe.
Lancelot would not give up his path on revenge just because of what Ray was going to tell him, but he wanted to know whether the path of revenge he had embarked on was the right choice even though it was too late for him to turn back.
"I don't, without her, Chole and me might not even have a future if the city we lived in was destroyed by demon beasts or some cultivator. In fact, before anything else, I would like to ask her the reason before coming to a conclusion."
Ray pondered for a moment and expressed his true thoughts, not to change Lancelot's mind or intention of taking revenge, but because he wanted Lancelot to at least figure out the truth first before regretting his future actions if that day were to come.
"I see, Alexander, please continue with the details of the meeting, sorry for the sudden interruption which was unrelated to this meeting."
Lancelot apologised even though no one blamed her, but Alexander understood his feelings and thus carried on with the meeting.
"There are two reasons I gathered everyone here today."
Alexander stated as he took out what seemed like a high technology device which Arith had customised for him for both the competition and future.
In fact, Arith had customised a secret weapon suited to each and every of their specialties. It would only be a matter of time before the others used it, but now wasn't the time.
The weapon was a bracelet around Alexander's wrist, but he changed it into a tablet screen with a few simple clicks on his bracelet no one could understand as the bracelet detached from his arm and formed a floating tablet screen.
Shown on it was the map which Garen had gathered overnight with his eagle formed by projectiles in the cover of the night.
Alexander then proceeded to explain the possible routes and expansion plans which everyone debated over before everyone agreed on the same plan.
"But this is where the problem comes in."
Alexander stopped speaking and said towards everyone as he asked, "Have all of you heard about the Moonlight Cult?"
Everyone present nodded their head except for Ray which had no idea about the current situation.
Luke who was seated beside Ray explained the situation to Ray briefly which helped him gain a basic understanding of the current situation and dire straits they were in.
"I have to put this up front, but the leader of the Moonlight Cult is definitely much stronger than me. Against him, I'm nothing more but an ant to be crushed, that's the problem we're facing right now."
"Why don't we just develop our territory away from the direction of the Moonlight Cult and other evil cultivation forces? They wouldn't be able to forcibly invade us either with the tower built on our fortress."
Max suggested, only to realise that this is the true problem.
One of their directions was already sealed by the Moonlight Cult whereas the other three cardinal directions might be sealed off as well considering the dominance of the evil cultivation forces right now with the Moonlight Cult to back all of them up.
The Moonlight Cult was an unexpected king with strength only slightly weaker than the Dragon Tier cultivation, as for their leader, he was probably someone who could compete with the true demons of the Dragon Tier cultivation forces.
"Alexander, there's a possible way of expansion through an underground ruin I found, the problem is that there are many demon beasts lurking in there and all of them are at least Demon Lords. Not only that, I could sense the presence of a few Demon Kings as well, but at the same time, there were countless cultivation resources to be gathered as well."
Garen shared as he showed the location of the ruins on the map which was south of their fortress.
"It seems like the only plausible plan."
Alexander concluded the meeting as everyone spent the next three days preparing themselves.
But considering the fierce intensity of the competition, these three days were already enough for storms to brew and disasters to occur.
Because three days later, there were only a few Wolf Tier cultivation forces which were subsidiary forces of the Tiger Tier cultivation forces that still existed.
As for the Sheep Tier cultivation forces, they were completely neglected since they would be eliminated by the process itself.
Well...all except for one young man whose hair was long to his waist and in a complete mess, dressed in a robe completely stained and facial features completely covered by filth just wandering around devouring any cultivation resources he could find.
Confusing everyone including the leaders of the Moonlight Cult and the few other Tiger Tier cultivation forces which have yet to brandish their fangs until the perfect moment for them to strike arose.
"Hungry...food...fruits...ores...delicious…"
"I found him!"