Death… And Me

Chapter 4554: Cunning

Hours later, deep underground in the Rosvelt Sect, only a few High-Elders remained after all this time. Falasliu was one of them, still helping search the enormous underground facility again and again. They had already checked countless places, always keeping some of them in strategic positions in case they missed something, but there was still no sign of the intruder.

Since there were many vaults throughout the underground facility, it was obvious that all of them had teleport arrays inside. The theory the High-Elders had developed was that the intruder had come here specifically to use one of them. That would explain why they hadn’t been able to find him after searching for so long. If he had already teleported away, there was naturally no reason for him to still be hiding somewhere in the underground facility.

There was also the throne, but that was something they couldn’t do anything about. None of them could approach it because of the invisible barrier surrounding the area. Besides, if they couldn’t get close, would the intruder really be able to? They highly doubted it. Little did they know that was exactly what had happened right under their noses.

By now, Rean had already pulled his hand back and was waiting quietly behind the throne, with Luxa sitting on his shoulder. From time to time, he peeked out from behind it, carefully observing the High-Elders as if waiting for something to happen. Azerion remained nearby, completely still as usual.

Suddenly, Falasliu took out one of the Purple Stones used for communication and placed it against his forehead to receive the message being transmitted through it.

”Fuck!”

The message he received was that Kentucky had appeared outside the city, flying away from Dlaval to the west. The guards stationed at the city borders had tried to stop him, but Kentucky was simply too fast for them. By the time the Law Gods arrived to intercept him, Kentucky was already gone.

Well... that wasn’t Kentucky.

It was Roan, who had used Rean’s Body Transformation Technique to take on the appearance of Kentucky’s humanoid form. As for how he had disappeared so quickly after leaving the city, that was simple enough. He had immediately activated the Light Bending Skill. With neither Godly Sense nor Celestial Sense functioning properly in Woster, concealing himself had become considerably easier.

Falasliu and the other elders looked at each other. Kentucky was exactly the outsider they had expected to find here. Now they had received news that he fled the city. But had he even come into the underground facility in the first place? If he had, did he use one of the vaults’ teleport arrays at some point?

Even worse, if Kentucky really had entered this place and was now fleeing, didn’t that mean he had already acquired whatever he had come here for?

Falasliu clicked his tongue and finally gave up on the search, deciding to leave the underground facility. He was still skeptical, but he had to go out as well. He was simply going to leave a few guards who knew about this place for safety’s sake.

The other High-Elders who were with him were already making their way toward the exit as well. They had spent enough time searching, and the sudden appearance of Kentucky gave them a reasonable explanation for why they couldn’t find the intruder.

But then...

*Zum!*

A strange sound suddenly came from one of the many vaults underground. The High-Elders immediately stopped and shot toward the source, reaching the inside of the vault within seconds. What they saw made all of them wear horrible expressions.

The teleport array on the ground was one of the better-preserved ones in the facility, and its runes were currently shining as Godly Energy circulated through them. However, the light was already fading, with the runes slowly returning to normal. It was obvious that the array had just been activated.

”It’s the teleport array!”

”How?!”

”Someone has obviously been here!”

”But we looked everywhere! How didn’t we notice it?!”

”They are outsiders! Who’s to say they don’t have some way to hide from our energy detection?”

”Calm down, everyone,” Falasliu said, stopping the others from continuing to panic. ”It is obvious that we allowed the intruder to escape. Above all, he just happened to escape when we all gathered at the exit and before I assigned guards. That’s not a coincidence. The news we received about Kentucky fleeing the city was obviously bait meant to lower our guard by making us believe there was no one left inside.”

The other High-Elders quickly agreed with Falasliu’s reasoning.

”I see...” Someone else said. ”The moment we received that news was the only moment we didn’t have someone standing watch at the various locations of the Woster Guarding Grounds. The intruder had been waiting for his chance to activate the array all this time, but he needed enough time to do so. We gave him exactly that opportunity when everyone gathered together to discuss the message we had received.”

Falasliu nodded. That explanation made perfect sense to him as well. ”Exactly. Does anyone have any idea where this array is connected to?”

”Me!” One of the High-Elders immediately lifted his hand. ”We were never able to use these arrays ourselves, but the sect was able to determine the locations where many of them were connected. If I’m not wrong, this one is connected to the northern vaults, specifically the ones in Sector T17. Other than that, the commanding center of the sect is also connected to it. However, the center is heavily guarded, so this guy obviously didn’t teleport there. If he did, he would be finished by now.”

He was one hundred percent correct.

That particular array was indeed connected to several vaults in the northern area outside Dlaval City. And, at that very moment, inside one of those vaults, which were actually former prison cells, Flugel, Sison, Thery, and Haniala could be found. They were the ones who had activated the array.

”Alright, let’s go!” Thery said, and the group immediately flew out of the vault. Rean’s airplane was outside with its Light Bending Array active. Roan had lent the airplane to them for this specific task.

Surprisingly, that vault was one of the few that hadn’t been discovered until now. Because of that, the teleport array inside was still in pristine condition. The entire vault had also remained completely vacuum-sealed, leaving the ancient array protected from the passage of time.

How had Thery’s group found that vault?

They hadn’t.

The one who told them about its location was actually Azerion. Because of his connection with the sealed space, Azerion knew the location of every single teleport array in Woster. That was also how he knew about the array that could potentially teleport the twins’ group out of Woster.

With that information, Falasliu and the other High-Elders immediately took out their Purple Stone communicators and passed the information to various allies and sect members stationed around those areas. They then rushed out of the Woster Guarding Grounds themselves.

They now had two clues.

One was Kentucky fleeing toward the west. The other was the teleport array that had supposedly just transported the intruder toward the north. The High-Elders decided to investigate both possibilities at once rather than risk overlooking either one.

Well, there was only one problem...

No one had actually used that teleport array at all!

Thery’s group had indeed activated it from the other side with Azerion’s help and the Tablet Key in their possession. However, no one had been transferred from either side. That had never been part of the plan.

The purpose was simply to make the Rosvelt Sect believe that someone had truly escaped the Woster Guarding Grounds through that array. As long as the High-Elders believed the intruder had fled north, they would naturally spend their time investigating that direction instead of remaining underground and eventually discovering Rean.

Rean finally stepped out from behind the throne, looking up toward the opening that led back to the surface. ”Well, that worked better than expected.”

Azerion walked over to his side and nodded as he watched them leave. ”That brother of yours sure has some cunning ideas. A farce within a farce. I didn’t think of that.”

Rean shrugged. ”That’s basically the only kind of thing he is good at... other than fighting, that is.”

Then, Rean turned toward Azerion with a faint smile. ”So... shall we?”