Racing across the ice bridge with the wind streaming through his hair, Cain was lost in thoughts.


    A look of deep thought was strewn across his face. Running beside him was Susan who had a slightly less tense expression.


    "What do you think it could have been?" Cain said suddenly.


    Turning to him, a dark look shone in Susan''s eyes, "That''s obvious..." She said while tilting her body so she could face the Central Ind that had tall shadowy buildings looming in the distance.


    "That ce..." She said whilst pointing at the rapidly approaching ind, "Is connected to another ne."


    Cain''s eyes widened for a moment, then he quickly went back to normal. Although it had surprised him, he wasn''t shocked if that was the case. After all, he had just gone on a long voyage through space and time and had been on another for about a month.


    It wasn''t really hard for him to believe something that sounded so preposterous and insane, considering the current state of the world...


    "Which one?" Cain said in a low tone.


    "The Aether..." Susan said lightly.


    Looking at her with a slightly awkward expression, Cain asked, "Err... How do you know that?"


    Although he wasn''t doubting her, he still wanted to know where she got the information from. Suppressing a giggle, Susan shook her head,


    "Not telling..."


    Cain''s face turned blue for a moment before he simply shook his head and nced forward.


    "How strong do you think they are?" Susan suddenly asked seriously.


    "If that to guess, I''d say very strong, but not unbeatable. Plus, we only have information about two of them. If they were able to take Vince, Manny and Dan at once, then they must be strong." An excited me burned in the depths of his eyes, but it was gone in just a second and reced with a cold one.


    "However... Regardless of how strong they might be, I''m stronger, so you don''t need to worry about anything. Besides, if it seems that we are about to be overwhelmed, I have backup." Cain said with a nonchnt grin.


    "Backup?" Susan said with a bewildered expression. Suddenly, her eyes shone with understanding. Nodding her head, she fell silent and left Cain to his thoughts.


    Despite how he seemed on the outside, Cain was a bit worried. The fact that they were defeated despite outnumbering their opponents told Cain all she needed to know.


    ''This is going to be a headache...''


    Stifling an internal groan, Cain began his preparations...


    Opening his status screen, he nced through his stats, as well as his skills. His HP and MP pools were filled to the brim. With the passive effect of {Mana Heart} and {Sorcerer''s Mind}, his MP regenerated very rapidly.


    His HP regenerated quickly with the help of {*Blood Regeneration}. The only thing he had to watch out for, was his stamina. Not that he had lost all the battle skills he had acquired, he was going to have to make use of the other things in his arsenal.


    He had a lot of other techniques he could fall back on, which was why he had even decided on the first ce. One of which was the {Abyssal Crimson sh} he had used to defeat the {me Devil}, Forza.


    He also had the skills attached to his weapons, {Charge}, {Pure Energy Strike} and {Evil Devouring}. While {Evil Devouring} was a pure passive skill, the other two were active skills, and they would be able to make up for hisck ofbat skills in the meantime.


    Then there was the Dark Dragon Orbiting technique he had created during his battle with Evangeline.


    ''I''m pretty confident I''ll beat my former self in a fight right now.'' With a smile, Cain closed his status screen and immediately focused on running.


    ***


    A few minutester, they all stepped on the central Ind one by one. The first one to get off the cial bridge was Li, who had an euphoric expression on his face as he started at the ground.


    "Finally! I thought I was going to go insane..." Li said with a sigh.


    "It wasn''t that bad, was it?" Stan said with a chuckle.


    "It was! Days of starting at nothing but dark waters is enough to make someone go nuts!" Li said with a grunt.


    "Hmph! Just say you were scared." Sue said with a grin that exposed her milk white teeth.


    "Quiet." Susan said in a hushed voice. Narrowing her eyes slightly, She muttered a spell under her breath.


    A white halo appeared on her eyes for a brief second before fading away...


    "I can sense numerous life signals on the ind. But most of them are weak. The few strong ones are all gathered at the center of the buildings with the weaker ones surrounding them."


    "In that case, those are our targets..." Cain said as he walked forward.


    "Jenny, Sue and Li... Circle around and wait for my signal. Once you see it, you''ll know what to do." Cain whispered.


    "W-what?! More waiting?!" Li said with a pale face.


    ring at him, Jenny just nodded then raised a brow,


    "And what will the signal be?"


    Grinning, Cain waved his hand nonchntly, "You''ll know when you see it."


    Looking at him with a weird expression, Jenny simply nodded, "Let''s go."


    Nodding to Jenny, Cain, Susan and Steve quickly continued forward.


    "Sow what''s the n?" Steve said under his breath as they sped forward.


    Before he answered, Caon quickly activated a skill he didn''t know woulde in handy someday.


    ''Dark Cloak.''


    A dark shadow that obstructed all senses glued itself to their bodies, causing their presence to decrease. That way, it would be difficult for someone with sharp senses to discover them.


    Turning to Stege who had an incredulous expression, he simply shrugged,


    "There is no n..."


    Steve stared at him and blinked a few times before speaking,


    "Huh?"


    Enjoying Steve''s dumbfounded expression, Cain exined,


    "They have Hunter in their hands. Before we do anything, negotiations must take ce. For all we know, he isn''t dead yet."


    ncing at Susan with an understanding expression, Steve slowly nodded,


    "So we just watch and wait?"


    ncing forward, Cain nodded as well, "We watch and wait..."


    Approaching the forest of concrete and metal, Cain, Susan and Steve quickly traversed through the narrow streets with silent steps and caution.


    However, there was no need for them to be too cautious, as there were no signs of life around them.


    ''It''s quiet...'' An ominous feeling enveloped his heart, causing him to pick his pace up, the others quickly following suit.


    "There..." Pointing at a shattered window of a room in a rtively tall building, Cain poured strength into his feet and let the mana in his body follow the natural patterns. Activating {Burst Step}, Cain''s body became as light as a feather. Grabbing onto the ledge of the window, his lean body rolled into the room. Landing silently in a squat, Cain turned around and nced at the room.


    Formerly an office, the walls of the room were stained in dried blood. Cain could see a half-rotten severed armying at a corner of the room. Staring at it with a grim look, he pointed a finger at the arm. A wisp of fire flew out of his finger and immediately consumed the arm, turning it to ash in a split second.


    The things that ensued after the first fall of the devils were nothing short of an horrendous evil gue that had left most of the humans destitute. If not for the system, Cain suspected he would most likely be in the same position as the owner of the arm.


    Shaking his head to Chase the dark thoughts away, Cain turned to the window. Steve and Susan silently floated to the window. Since there was little to no illumination, coupled with the effects of {Dark Cloak}, no one would be able to notice them unless they activated a special technique that could increase their sensory ability.


    They immediately moved to his sides to observe what was going on through the other broken window in the room.


    The building they were currently hiding on was situated right behind a row of buildings. Some of the buildings stood tall, but others were copsed either because of the destructive advent of the devils, or the geo-transformation that had taken ce earlier.


    The arrangement of the central part of the school was rather unique. The arrangement of the buildings made the entire ce look simr to a circr maze. The buildings were built in semi-circles. This is because the other side of the central region was linked to the wide bridge that connected the school to the city.


    The building they were in was at the edge of the semi-circle...


    Starting at the wide chasm that had reced it caused Cain to frown,


    ''What is that?''


    The chasm that had reced the bridge was unnaturally dsrk. If it was observed during the night, it would go unnoticed. However, it was currently early in the morning, so it was quite obvious.


    That part of thend had several fissures, and out of the ground, several trails of darkness spewed forth. It filled Cain with a deep sense of wrongness and profanity.


    ''Something is definitely wrong with that thing!''


    Feeling a tug on his sleeve, Cain turned to look at Susan who had a serious lookn8n her eyes,


    "That... That is the link to the aether."


    Staring at the fissure, a grim look settled on his face. It was like the entrance to hell itself. Reading his eyes from it, his eyes settled on the central tform that was created by the surrounding buildings.


    Standing at the center of the central tform, a group of ten strange-looking individuals stood.


    ''Saying they were strange-looking would be insulting...'' Cain thought. The simrity they bore to Hunter in his transformed state was too much. Some had tails, others had ears, and a few even had horns on their heads.


    Out of the ten individuals, six of them stood at the lower end of the tform. They stared at the group of over 100 individuals with varying expressions.


    Turning his attention to the over 100 people, Cain frowned when he saw that they also possessed certain animal features.


    ''Could this get any weirder?!'' Cain''s frown deepened even more.


    His gaze suddenly shifted to the dead center of the tform. There, on his knees and bound by strange looking rune-decorated bronze chain, Hunter stared into the ck abyssal chasm with ssy eyes.


    ''It just got weirder...''