The deeper they went into the rift, the higher and heavier the weight of the suppression got. Warden could feel it pricking against his skin, prying into his energy and continuing to suppress it.


    As far as he was concerned, the suppression in the camps was below 1% barely anything to affect a ranker. However, here it clocked closer to 10%, more than enough to feel regr rankers tried.


    Even with his tough form, Warden was having such an effect. The suppression would be tougher for a mage ss ranker, considering it would be equally hard if not more to form spells in this environment.


    On top of that, they finally came across another obstacle in their path. Monsters.


    Warden''s eyes could find over a hundred of them as he stared at the vast deste expanse before him. The only time he had seen so many monsters at the same ce was inside a dungeon.


    What was worse was that the suppression did not affect these creatures as much as it did to rankers. Well, it affected regr rankers, as for Warden…


    After checking out his surroundings, he sat down and channelled the baleful particles present in the air. A far deeper cold prickling sensation jabbed through his channels the more he channelled the baleful energy.


    He didn''t know if it was thatmon of an urrence, or because of his special physique. But it improved his Void Vanquishing Physique whenever he channelled these baleful particles through his body. Of course, the improvement was subtle, and Warden hadn''t even seen 1% of improvement, but he could feel it in his gut.


    Perhaps I can train my Physique with this, he thought. Sadly, channelling the baleful particles did not make the suppression avoidable. Well, he was intrinsically aware, that the suppression was the unique circumstance for him to improve his physique.


    Warden turned to the captain, who had been frowning at the hundreds of beasts from time to time. Considering it was only a scouting mission, she would want to avoid any confrontation with the creatures. Which reminded Warden, he actually did not know what they were scouting for.


    Another resource-rich spot to excavate ores? Or perhaps Beast Surge? Probably the former.


    "There are over thousands of them," Kevin said as soon as his figure manifested from the shadows. He had been sent away half an hour ago for scouting ahead. His Rogue ss made it easier for him to skulk around unnoticed. "Mostly Tainted and Cursed, and then there were the asional Fiend ranks—I have counted at least eight of them and I didn''t venture deep."


    Caleb whistled. Even if they were to face just the cursed creatures, they wouldn''tst against the onught of a thousand of them, much less the Fiends whose power stood between Silver and Gold rank.


    your m,vle mpyr source


    The tainted creatures did not follow the same system of ranking as rankers. First was the Tainted rank, which equals to Copper rank strength, perhaps a little weaker than abat-oriented copper rank ss. However, not much of the weakness was left in the Cursed rank.


    Even though cursed creatures weren''t profoundly talented in manipting their energy, they had inborn abilities such as Superior regeneration, magic resistance, stealth, poison etc.


    Then there were the Fiends, whose physical power didn''t lose out to a Gold ranker… Their weakness in spirit and mind was still there, but not as much as it would render them useless in energy maniptions. Well, it mostly rted to the species of the creature, but there were ounts of fiends possessing enough intelligence that they were capable ofmunicating with humans.


    "So, what is your call, captain?" Kevin asked. The demonic creatures weren''t going anywhere, it was they who''d have to make their decision.


    As far as Warden could see it, there were a couple of ways they could go from here, depending they were on a tight schedule. First was someone ying bait and taking the aggression of the beast, while the other crossed to the next fold. Obviously, it would put a great burden on the person baiting as he would have to survive the onught of hundreds of creatures.


    While the other way was to use stealth...


    Agnes shot the demonic creatures below another nce and sucked in a deep breath. Warden didn''t know if she did it naturally or if it took practice, but the ambient energy of the surrounding sucked into her form. Of course, that included the baleful particles as well.


    Her expression remained peaceful, with no subtle change if she felt pain, pointed out that he didn''t need to be worried about her falling ill. Well, considering she had been on the front lines for years, she probably knew what she was doing.


    However, what surprised Warden was how she was breathing the ambient energy as if it were only natural. He could also do that, though only in that ethereal flow state. The others did not seem to notice the peculiarity of their strange and revered captain.


    Is it an intrinsic ability of the darkness element, which engulfs everything in its path? June might have an answer to that.


    "We wait for the nightfall," the captain announced. "Then we advance to traverse to the next fold of the rift. Everyone rest up. It''s unlikely we''ll be able to avoid a fight."


    The sun was already on the dying horizon. In about an hour or two, a thick nket of darkness covered the deste expanse of the front lines. However, they still waited for a couple more hours for the demonic creatures to settle down.


    The captain stood up, battle-ready. "It''s time," she said and began discussing their n.


    She didn''t say much if Warden had to put in one sentence, it would go something like this: Avoid the creatures and advance toward the warped way.


    Then they moved into lying monsters. A tangible nket of Darkness flew out of the captain''s body and covered them all. Her darkness became one with the darkness of thend, hiding all their forms.


    They began moving in a slow, steady creep.