Meanwhile, at another place at the same time, Ulrich and his group had come out of the forest and were traversing a steep mountainous terrain. The Paragons had better hand and eye coordination, which helped them immensely in this place. The Awakeners were having a hard time, and now and then one would slip. At that moment, Ulrich would use the ice elementals around them to construct a grapple hook and pull them up. He tried to limit the use of elementals or elemental energy to prevent any tracks leading to them. For this reason, he was also restraining his Soul Sense while exploring.

  Due to its special environment, different parts of the Denlog mountains had different conditions. On the first night, Ulrich's group had camped at the edge of the forest, and in the morning, they started to climb the mountains. From the way it was going, they would reach their destination by tonight. And they would just need to hole up inside until further instructions arrived.

  As they were reaching the top of the mountains, a small energy fluctuation spread out and alarmed Ulrich. He rapidly ran up and reached the top. A man with orange-colored hair was holding a small silver bracelet that was blinking a bright green. The energy fluctuations had been sent out by that bracelet. Ulrich raised his hand, and the elementals formed an ice lance, which was thrown toward the man.

  Horrified by this sight, the man took out a small piece of paper and burned it. His eyes showed a slight expectation from the burned paper. A small black circle appeared under his feet. But even as the ice lance pierced him, there was no reaction from the circle. However, it was already too late, and he died with his insides frozen. After his death, the circle also disappeared.

  Even then, Ulrich did not let his guard down. He had felt strong space fluctuations from the circle and suspected that it was a secret weapon. But even as his entourage reached the top, nothing seemed amiss. He slowly approached the dead Paragon. The bracelet was now blinking a pitch-black color and still sending out signals. He brought his hand closer and crushed it.

  Then, moving his gaze toward the rest, he said, "Move ahead without me. No need to cover your tracks. As soon as you reach the safe house, activate the Transmission and go to another place. I will find some other way to find you."

  Hearing these words, some Paragons tried to argue to stay with him. Yet, radiating the pressure of an Ascender, Ulrich silenced them all. Looking at them, he plainly replied, "Our location has been leaked. There will be others coming after us. I can hold them back for some time and then find a way to escape. If you all remain here, it will only increase the work for me. Make sure that all Awakeners reach the safe place with you. I will definitely meet with you later."

  Convincing his group, he sent them on their way. After they had traveled a certain distance, he entered the Void Realm and started to radiate his pressure. This would attract the incoming enemies toward him and give the others a chance to escape their notice.

  Chivis, Lester, and Mikart, who had just reached the edge of the forest, sensed the presence of Ulrich. Looking ahead, tall, rugged, and steep mountains covered their vision. "We won't have to search if the person of interest itself is calling out to us," Mikart said while looking at the blinking black light on his bracelet.

  "Let's be careful," Chivis warned. "Even if the opponent just seems like a Rank Three Archon below us, he must have some special abilities that stopped the Paragon from escaping. Let's go all out from the start, not giving him a chance." Mikart and Lester nodded their heads at her words.

  Ulrich felt the presence of three Ascenders approaching him from the Void Realm. With a single thought from him, the ice elementals converged and formed a protective covering around him. The presence of the three was also getting closer. And the first thing which came was not the three Ascenders themselves, but their Ascension Spells.

  Ulrich suddenly felt that his blood was boiling and trying to escape his body. And this feeling was growing stronger and stronger. Operating his Nexus Rings at full power, he released vast amounts of elemental energy from them into his blood. The elemental energy formed a covering over all his veins and arteries and subdued the rampaging blood. Just as one thing was dealt with, another attack came.

  The wind elementals all around him began to converge on his position. As they touched the covering around his body, the covering began to break. Ulrich rapidly used all ice elementals around him to form an armor around himself. Still, the armor was being systematically broken by the wind elementals. Now he was caught dealing with an internal as well as an external attack. Just as the wind elementals were about to run out, he had to use his own elemental energy to keep the armor standing.

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  Just when he thought it could not get any worse, an orange-haired person appeared beside him. A large river of fire materialized behind the man and, taking the shape of a large spear, struck at him.

  Ulrich tried to escape through strings of space but discovered that the wind elementals had, at some point, distanced all the strings away from around him. Now he had to take the attack head-on. He instantaneously activated Wolf of Frost, but its strength was weaker than it used to be. The large wolf pounced at the incoming spear, which was equally large. The two collided, and the wolf was pierced through, but not without reducing the strength of the spear.

  Ulrich coughed out reddish-cyan blood due to the backlash of his Ascension Spell being destroyed. But having no time to dwell on it, he raised his hand toward the incoming spear and formed several layers of compressed ice shields. They were also highly enforced by his elemental energy. Colliding with the shields, the spear shattered them one by one, and at the end, Ulrich had to face the attack head-on.

  Seeing the falling body of their enemy, Lester asked, "Did we succeed?" Mikart and Chivis, who had appeared beside him, had pale faces. During the current attack, both of their Ascension Spells had also been destroyed. "Looks like it," Mikart said with heaving breaths.

  Chivis was closely observing the falling body of Ulrich when she felt a faint heartbeat from him. She raised her hand and once again activated her Ascension Spell. Now was the best moment to seal the Ascender, not giving him any chance.

  Ulrich once again felt his blood boiling. His senses, which were slowly fading, came back with a rapid certainty. His half-burned body started to gather the elemental energy from his Nexus Rings to heal itself. But the boiling of the blood was also increasing, slowly countering his healing. It seemed that his blood would be brought under control before his body was even healed. Lester and Mikart simply observed from the side. For their part, they really didn't want to kill someone and anger the current hornet's nest that was the Church of Frost.

  When everything seemed to be going according to plan, Chivis felt Ulrich's rapidly accelerating heartbeat. Suddenly, a dagger appeared from behind Ulrich, aimed straight at his neck. Feeling the approach of death, Ulrich tried to move his body, but it didn't seem that he would make it. Something was slowing his body from responding. At that moment, the boiling blood also supported his movements, and he moved his head aside, narrowly escaping with just a scratch.

  Mikart and Lester, initially puzzled by Ulrich's sudden movements, landed their eyes on the new person. He was covered in complete black and wore a red mask. And this person was definitely not among the Ascenders who had entered with them. Chivis suddenly removed her Ascension Spell from Ulrich. Gaining full control of his body back, Ulrich stopped healing himself, encased his hand with his elemental energy, and punched out.

  The new perpetrator caught a string of space beside him and disappeared from his position, appearing in front of Chivis with his dagger pointed straight at her forehead. Although initially flustered by the sudden attack on herself, her body moved with practiced precision and dodged to the side. A fist made of fire smashed into the assailant, and he was thrown back.

  But on a second look, he had again disappeared from his initial place and was attacking Chivis. Once again, Chivis dodged to the side and was about to use her Ascension Spell when she felt a tingling sensation on her neck. At that moment, a large cyan wolf materialized from below her and swallowed her completely. And the next instant, a large black scythe appeared and cleaved the wolf in two, right at the place where Chivis had initially been. Ulrich once again coughed out a mouthful of blood, his face turning whiter.

  Escaping from inside the wolf, Chivis's face was pained. Her left arm was missing, and dark black blood was continuously pouring out. At that moment, she would have died if not for the wolf.

  Looking at her, Mikart and Lester also understood the seriousness of the situation. By now, another person had appeared beside the red-masked man. The only difference was that he wore a green mask.

  “Run,” Mikart muttered. Hearing this, everyone tore through space and entered the Material World. Any Ascender who has been alive has heard of these people. They were the strongest force of the Church of Death.

  They had shifted some distance during the fight and were currently standing at the edge of a cliff. At that moment, Chivis felt movement from behind her. Looking back, she turned and raised her intact hand, blocking an incoming kick. However, in doing so, she was thrown off the cliff.

  When she tried to use her elemental energy to create a foothold, she discovered that it was dispersed as soon as it came out. She began to fall into the dark valley. Lester tried to run after her, but Mikart pushed him back. He could guess what was happening, but could only watch helplessly as his friend fell to her death.

  At that moment, Ulrich, who was already half-dead, ran toward the edge and jumped after Chivis.