"I will remember this slight. But we still are in danger. For now, I want our group to stay close to each other. There is no telling what he would do if he found one of us without any strong experts protecting us," the son of Alquim Duke said, making the rest of his entourage nod in agreement.
-x-
Meanwhile, the one who left the message didn't bother stalking the young man. After all, it was a mere slight, one noteworthy of being caught by his attention. He has a bigger fish to fry, one that demands him to exterminate a single-family group.
Who else other than the Tol, the reason why they were even allowed to still exist after the crime they committed? If not for the fact he asked for the right to dish out the punishments, the Tol would be destroyed in a matter of hours. After all, they were much weaker than the Uru Family or any other family that wished to betray the barony.
The strength of the Tol Family is something within his level. The strongest person in the family is a 6th Stage Genesis Core expert, with two other Genesis Core experts being weaker. One of the reasons why the announcer downplayed his true strength was so they wouldn't run immediately when they spotted him.
Unfortunately, finding them in the secret realm is hard. After all, despite being a part of a secret realm, the place was still huge. It would likely take him a long time to search for the Tol, so he decided to take the time to look for treasures.
-x-
It had been 3 days and he still hadn't spotted the Tol Family group. He wondered where they were. Even the other groups didn't spot them. It's likely they had been dropped on the other side, so he decided to look for some treasure while hunting them.
"Give that herb and this granddaddy would le-" he punched the 1st Stage Genesis Core experts to pieces, the man couldn't even finish his sentence before dying.
Ryker had no intention of letting the man finish his sentence, after all, he had heard the same thing for the 6th time if he had let the guy finish. As for the man's subordinates, they already kneeling, begging for their lives as they handed the treasures they found, along with some of their possession.
He accepted the offering, taking the dead man's storage ring while at it. He left the group, wondering if there was any more treasure in the area.
His question was answered quickly, a bright light beaming from an area. "If there is no treasure there, I will eat my shoes," he said to himself, before running towards the place.
Having similar thoughts, the one that could see the light also headed there, intending to nab whatever treasures were in the area.
-x-
By the time Ryker arrived, a lot of the other groups had come as well. He spotted his group, heading there not wanting to stand out as a single person. The members of the group recognized him immediately, welcoming his presence.
He looked at the place, seeing a destroyed mountain surrounded by a powerful barrier. He could see at the peak of the mountain there was a light coming out, the origin of the beam is from the peak of the mountain.
Not long afterward, more groups arrived. In 2 hours, nearly all the groups had gathered at the foot of the mountain. With so many people, there are bound to be some friends between two different groups or more. So, people do what people do when there are other people; gossip.
"I heard there is a strong expert. He wore a black cloak and a mask. His mask is shrouded in darkness, so it is hard to see the mask design," one person said.
"Yes, I heard that too. Apparently, he is so strong he could kill Genesis Core expert easily,"
"Yes, he about grabbed some herbs but the other guy tried to claim it so he killed the other person easily,"
"I hope I don't meet the guy,"
"Don't worry, unless you tried to take the treasure he had in his sight then you going to be okay,"
As they talked about the mysterious figure, Ryker hoped that his composure was not broken. The mysterious figure is, after all, none other than him. He didn't want people to target him, so he decided to disguise himself.
He had used the Law of Darkness to make his figure and identity even more hidden. The fact they didn't associate him with the new figure showed his disguise had been perfect.
He ignored the whispering, something that unfortunately didn't happen, as his group even started to talk about the figure.
"The figure must be strong,"
"Yes, he was able to kill someone at the 4th Stage Genesis Core, so he was likely at the same cultivation realm or much higher,"
"Yeah, I also heard that....."
Ryker toned down the conversation around him, instead focusing on the treasure on top of the mountain. He wondered what the treasure could be when he spotted a group of someone.
"No way," he exclaimed to himself. The Tol Family, one he couldn't even find even after he had scoured the area, had appeared near him. He wondered the best course of action when someone called out.
"Look, the barrier started to come down," hearing it, everyone looked at the barrier, now seeing some sign of it getting weaker, the dimming light being the most glaring sign of the barrier being weaker.
As the other watched the barrier slowly coming down with bated breath, Ryker headed towards the Tol Family. Getting close enough, he put his qi on one of the weaker experts. The man barely noticed something wrong, too focused on the barrier to pay any attention.
He then returned to the group, paying attention to the barrier once more. After an hour, the barrier began to fully come down. At the moment it fell, some of the more impatient cultivators ran towards the mountain.
Some of the members of their team were about to do the same when the Genesis Core experts stopped them, "Something is not right," the elder from the Gurdon Family said. Not a moment after he said it a powerful burst of energy pushed them away.
As for those that ran towards the mountain, a horrid fate awaited them as they were hit by the energy the most, the very burst killing them all. Seeing the fate of the impatient cultivators, the others let out a sigh of relief.