The portal finally cracked open, and a middle-aged woman stepped out of it.
She stumbled forward two steps before regaining her balance, and then she looked at the desert around her and scowled. "Damn it!" she yelled. "Where the hell am I, and where is that bastard—the Great One?"
Behind her came an old man wearing a green shirt, a young man wearing a purple shirt, and a beautiful young woman.
When the beautiful woman got her bearings, she shouted to the first woman, "Gwen, find the Great One for us."
The air around the newcomers grew distorted, unable to cope with their aura. The sand and stones began to roll away from them, and the trees swayed violently.
Two black wolves had been hiding behind the rocks, but the three people frightened them, so they fled.
If Alex had been here, he would have known with a single glance that these people were all at the golden core stage. They were each extremely powerful, and they belonged to three great sects.
Marlon was the master of the Crimson sect. Horace was the leader of the Purple sect. And Elsa was the leader of the Snow Palace sect.
Gwen also belonged to the Snow Palace sect. Alex had unknowingly thrown her into the passageway between the two realms, Marlon, Horace, and Elsa had captured her.
The three of them had been waiting at the portal, but they hadn't expected to find Gwen there.
And at that time, Alex had destroyed the portal, preventing people from crossing between the two realms.
When Marlon, Horace, and Elsa had returned to their respective sects to report the news, many of the warriors had flown into a rage. The three great sects of this realm had then convened a meeting to discuss the situation. They had been extremely angry at the rebellion on Earth, and they had decided to deal the Earth a heavy blow.
What they had intended was the equivalent of an invasion.
They had decided to look for a weak spot in the barrier between realms and open a portal to Earth.
After several months of searching, they had finally found an extremely unstable area. They had gathered more than a dozen warriors from the three sects and had used several powerful artifacts. Finally, they had succeeded in opening a portal and had sent four people through it.
This portal could only transport four people at once, and because Gwen had spent a lot of time on Earth, she had been sent as a guide. Each sect had chosen one of their strongest warriors to accompany her.
Marlon looked around at his surroundings and said, "Elsa, look at this place!"
Only then did Elsa and Horace take notice of the world around them, and they realized that the situation was not as simple as they had hoped.
They were standing inside a powerful spell, and it would not be easy to break it open.
"What's going on?" Horace demanded, frowning. "Have the warriors from Earth set up a spell here, intending to capture us?"
"Impossible," Marlon said, waving his hand in dismissal. "This spell was set up by someone powerful, and the Earth's spiritual energy is too scarce. Even in our realm, there aren't many people who can reach this level of power."
His analysis made sense to the others, who nodded thoughtfully.
"Could the Great One have done it?" Elsa asked, narrowing her eyes.
"His power was destroyed when the portal collapsed," Horace said. "Back then, he wasn't advanced enough to do this, so this can't be his work." He shook his head. "No. It's only been a few months, and he couldn't have set this up in such a short time."
"He's right," Marlon agreed. "Besides, how could the Great One know that we're here? He can't possibly have set this up in advance."
"Then what should we do now?" Elsa asked.
"Let's check the surrounding area first," Marlon said. "But I would suggest that we don't go too far. The area near the mystic portal should be the weakest part of the spell, and we still have a powerful artifact. If we combine our strength, we should be able to break through and get out of here."
"Let's do it," Horace said. "It's too dangerous to go deeper into an unknown spell, and we don't need to take the risk."
Elsa nodded her agreement.
They walked forward, chatting as they examined the spell for any weakness.
Gwen trailed behind them, looking around in fear. Suddenly, she pointed ahead and shouted, "There's someone there!"
"Where?" Else asked.
The warriors looked in the direction Gwen was pointing and saw a man riding on a giant bird. He sped through the air and arrived in front of them in the blink of an eye.
When Gwen recognized the man on the bird, her face paled, and she muttered, "It's him. It's the Great One!"
When they heard her, the three warriors frowned. Speak of the devil, and he was sure to appear.
They hadn't expected the Great One to be here, but now he had simply appeared in front of them.
They started to wonder if Alex really had been responsible for the spell.
After all, some people devoted themselves to studying spells, which meant they were extremely proficient at it. Such a person was often considered to be terrifying, because some of them specialized in setting traps to capture and kill others.
As they considered the possibility that Alex had created the spell, they stared at the man standing on the back of the strange bird.
After the battle with the fire monkey, Alex had heard a vibration coming from this area, so he had asked Bernie to bring him here to see what had happened.
But he hadn't expected to find anyone here. He definitely hadn't expected to see an old acquaintance among them, and he burst out laughing. "Who are you?" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Do you have a death wish?"
Gwen felt like crying. The last time she had seen Alex briefly, he had tossed her into the portal, and she could still remember the painful experience. Although she didn't know that Alex hadn't done it on purpose and felt pretty upset about it.
She wanted to explain that she hadn't come here willingly, but she kept her mouth shut. After all, the three powerful warriors were standing right behind her, and one of them was her master. If she allowed herself to beg for mercy from Alex, the others would kill her where she stood.
She thought quickly and decided she had only one option. "Don't be so arrogant," she called. "These three warriors have come to deal with you once and for all. You should be dealt with especially after the way you threw me into the portal."
Alex was shocked. He had no idea what he had done.