As Riya managed to gain the favor of the entire âworldâ soon, the heavenly tribulation had no choice but to retreat in defeat.
"Hoh? That ended much faster than I expected..."
With a surprised look on his face, Ashtel looked at the dissipating clouds in the sky as he deactivated his world authority and removed the barrier surrounding the underground lab.
After confirming that things were back to normal, Ashtel dived down and landed on the ground right beside Liam and Raji.
"Thatâs odd... I thought he would have woken up by now..."
Despite the fact that the frantic mana absorption was now over, Liam was still lying unconscious and didnât seem to show any signs of waking up.
"It could be that the soul would need time to fully adjust to the new body after a transplant..."
"By the way, who was that you were talking to? I couldnât sense anything properly because of your barrier, but I think I did sense an increase in miasma..."
Hearing Rajiâs question, Ashtel felt a bit surprised.
"You managed to notice him even from inside my barrier? It seems your mastery over your world authority has increased a lot recently; you might reach level 2 soon..."
Ashtel praised Raji for her growth and then spoke in a calm voice,
"The one who appeared to confront me was none other than the Demon King... although it was just a vessel of his but donât underestimate him... heâs almost as strong as me..."
"So even a vessel of his should be able to easily kill early SS-rankers... if you ever encounter it, just run without looking back..."
Raji gulped her saliva at those words and asked nervously.
"W-why would the demon king come here!?"
Ashtel waved his hand at that question as he didnât bother explaining in too much detail.
"Itâs nothing special; that fellow likely just wanted to mess with us for no apparent reason..."
"After living for several centuries, these old folk tend to get severe dementia and they do random bulsh*t all the time; donât think too much of it..."
"More importantly, the kids seem to be done with their work; they have all worked hard enough. Now we should transfer them all to a much safer place..."
Raji found it concerning how unseriously Ashtel was taking the threat of the demon king, but she also knew that right now the safety of Riya and the others was more important.
Investigating the motives of the demon king could be done later.
Carrying Liam with their telekinesis, the two SS-rankers made their way back to the underground lab only to find everything destroyed and obliterated!
"These brats... they really do know how to make a mess out of a place..."
"Well, they all did their best so I will spare the scolding..."
With a sigh, Ashtel walked over to the central area of the explosion where Ellie was lying peacefully on the ground.
"So they did succeed after all..."
A smile of relief appeared on Ashtelâs face as he used his telepathy to carry all of the sleepyheads while Raji opened a portal straight to the capital city.
"Letâs go; we need to arrange a proper place for these kiddos to rest..."
With that said, the two SS-rankers retreated with the entire team Astra.
...
Far away from the Astrum Continent,
Elven Empire, Southernmost Edge.
Two figures appeared on a hill facing towards the south from where the forbidden edge of the demon continent was located, just a thousand or so kilometers across the ocean.
"You noticed it too, Syvis?"
Hearing Ryul, the elf kingâs question, Syvis, the elf queen, nodded her head as she stared towards the demon continent with a frown on her beautiful face.
"There was a new movement... he sent his vessel to the human empire it seems..."
"Itâs concerning how easily heâs able to send his vessels all across the world without us noticing it for a long time..."
At Syvisâs words, Ryul gave a wry laugh as he replied calmly,
"That is nothing new... that fellowâs been able to do that for a long time... itâs just that he hadnât sent a new vessel outside in several hundred years..."
"But today... he sent one out... and coincidently, thereâs something mysterious going on in the human empire at the same time..."
Syvis also nodded her head at those words.
"Yes... thereâs this powerful heavenly tribulation happening... and also, I can sense the movement of the âlawâ of âprotection and cureâ..."
"I wonder if little Riya has done something extraordinary once again... sheâs an extraordinary healer; I wonât be surprised if she manages to surpass me and Aria much sooner than I expected..."
Ryul also nodded his head at those words.
"Itâs indeed possible... last time she was here, she summoned the power of the âworldâ itself as her protector; I wonât be surprised if she does something even more exaggerated once again..."
"Now that I think about it, the younger generation of the human race this time is filled up with geniuses... âSupreme Swordâ Rio... that fellow has become quite famous all over the world too."
Syvis took a long sigh as she noticed that the heavenly tribulation had faded away and spoke,
"Heavenly tribulation... whenever this thing happens... I always end up feeling that something is not right with this world..."
"The most horrifying thing is that it canât be avoided... you can only face it head-on... even if you leave the planet and go into space, it can still happen in space too!"
Ryul crossed his hands as he agreed to Syvisâs words.
"Yes, those dark clouds are nothing but pure mana and a manifestation of the âlawsâ of the âworldâ; it can happen anywhere; thereâs no point in running from it..."
"Talking about the strange changes in the world... due to the increasing instability in the dungeons, a short meeting has been organized... you might get to meet little Riya during that time if they decided to tag along with Ashtel..."
Hearing those words, Syvisâs eyes shined with excitement.
"Where is it going to be held this time?"
Ryul thought for a moment before replying to that question,
"Hmm... itâs a short meeting so it wonât be in elven empire; humans are not going to arrange it too... dwarfs are not strong enough..."
"I guess, it would the âBeast Archipelagoâ that would hold the meeting this time..."