861 Clearing the Area

"As we planned yesterday, I am going first inside the barrier. Even though the poison looks like covering the whole forest, it's by no means many poisons. In fact, there are only a few poisons in the air, and I have found all their spots. I am going to remove those first, so we will not need to worry about this." Alex looked at the group.

"I understand. We will hide and observe the barrier in the meantime." Anna nodded before looking at Alicia. "As expected, it's better to split up to check the surroundings, making sure there is no visitor or something else."

"Yeah. I will go with Ilumi. You go with Nelson in the opposite direction. Leoz and Jeanne shall stand by here and prepare to move in any given time." Alicia agreed and looked at the rest.

They had no problem and nodded their heads.

Alex created a Spatial Gate and entered the barrier first before the group split up.

Inside the blackish green miasma that could only be seen by Alex's Spirit Eyes, the person himself activated his Spirit Eyes. He had noticed a few concentrated spots where the poisons gathered, so he knew they were the sources of this poison.

When he was about to move to the first spot, he noticed a few disciples roaming around the area. And as he expected, their strength was stronger than those in the Blackwade Clan.

"To think they use Martial Monarchs as a mere patrol guard…" Alex narrowed his eyes and shook his head before taking out a Divine Sword and Divine Spear.

The Divine Sword had this blue crystalline color that smeared all over its body, including the handle. However, there were white stripes in the handle to let Alex hold it comfortably. There seemed to be a quality leap from a Rank 8 Sword to this Divine Weapon, and he felt that this sword could snap a Rank 8 Sword in half within a few clashes.

On the other hand, his Divine Spear was coated in gold. There was nothing special on the handle, except a red gem imbued right below the spear's blade. The blade had this black and green that seemed to be complimenting the spear's beauty.

During the training, he tried many weapons in his Gacha Storage and stumbled upon these two. The length and the power were top-notch, and they were easy to use because it reminded him of the two weapons he used to wield.

Five devils came into his sight as Alex took a deep breath, appearing before them.

"Who are you?!" The devils shouted and raised their weapons, but Alex's speed was faster than they expected.

Their eyes couldn't catch up with his movement, resulting in Alex going past them.

The three devils were shocked by Alex's power and immediately went into their formation, thinking Alex was a Martial Saint.

The first one came from the front with his hammer, looking confident with his strength. The second devil ran toward his left with his sword while the last guy leaped a bit further and released his arrow, planning to escape to inform the elder.

'Good combination, but…' Alex slashed forward. The devil in front was completely shocked by Alex's strength because he was spinning from Alex's swing alone, but before he could react, Alex already sent the second slash, sending his head flying.

He then used the spear on his left to do the same, but the opponent seemed to have understood Alex's strength in that instant and shifted his stance. The moment Alex's spear struck his sword, he used it to launch himself backward to avoid direct confrontation with Alex.

Unfortunately, Alex was one step ahead as he swung his spear.

"One Inch Spear."

A reddish light flashed in his vision, but before he knew it, his vision already flew to the air as if his head just flew out of his body. He looked down and noticed it was true, thinking in his last breath. 'Impossible.'

As for the three arrows coming from the other way, Alex stepped the ground a bit harder than usual, exerting immeasurable pressure that contained his Divine Energy.

"Spirit Step, Second Step."

The pressure crushed the arrow along with the devil, pinning both to the ground. Alex appeared beside him and killed him.

"Hmm… That is quite nice. This might be the first time I fight a Martial Monarch with this power, and I can say that Martial Saints might be able to resist me once or twice before I claim their life. The distance between Martial Saint and God Stage is indeed so big, maybe this is why they are called Mortal and Divine." Alex shook his head and smiled, satisfied with his strength.

He then burned their corpses before making his way to the first spot. His Pure Fire had been coating his body this whole time to prevent the poison from coming inside his body, so Alex could move in this place without any concern.

He arrived within a minute, finding the big flower, excreting poison mist. It had four big petals with a huge round mouth in the middle. However, he noticed that the color miasma was blue if he looked at it with naked eyes, and found one white flower that transformed its color into transparent. This was indeed dangerous, he thought.

Without wasting a single second, Alex stored these two flowers in his Inventory and used his Fire a little bit to burn the concentrated poison around this place.

Alex then headed toward the second spot, where he met a small tree that seemed to be releasing the poison from its leaves.

"Can I bring the tree with me?" Alex narrowed his eyes when he felt a restriction from storing this tree.

[You can, Host. Just dig the tree first and separate it from the ground. Remember when you took the tree in the lower world? There was no dirt around there, so you could instantly store it.]

"Ah?!" Alex never realized it and looked at the ground with his Spirit Eyes. He used his Divine Energy to raise the three from the ground, wiped the dirt stuck on the roots, and stored it inside his Inventory.

"That tree and the previous flower are Rank 8 poisonous plants. I have noticed there are around ten plants in this area, and I believe with all those combined, it can really affect a God Rank Expert. Especially from the arrangement.

"I didn't understand it yesterday. But I have found that none of them has the same element. Instead, it's more like a different element that can amplify each other. No wonder it's so dangerous." Alex thought for a moment and smiled. "It's really dangerous to fight a powerful poison master because of this. Luckily, I have evolved my Pure Fire according to the previous Fire God. I am really grateful to him."

Alex then started running again until he received all those poisonous plants. During this, he met a total of two hundred Martial Monarchs. It was not really a big fight because Alex didn't even use five percent of his power. Well, mostly because he didn't dare to use his full power unless he wanted the enemies to find out.

Before regrouping with his group, Alex decided to stay and came closer to the inner barrier to check what kind of city inside this barrier, albeit it seemed to be shrouded by Illusion Array.

He might be able to see the shape and energy, but he couldn't discern what kind of structure and their original color, leaving him disappointed.

Still, he found something ridiculous inside the city. It was a small place hosting around ten thousand people, but he found out that their average strength was very high. At the same time, they were a bit camouflaged by this Divine Energy that permeated the entire space, so Alex shouldn't pry it even further because it would alarm their God Rank Experts.

He took a deep breath and thought for a moment, finding a need to adjust his plan.

After another five minutes, he went back to his original location and used his Spatial Gate to cross the barrier.

It took him more than an hour to get all those, but he finally returned to the outside, finding the entire group already gathered again.

"There is nothing in our surroundings that will disrupt our plan," Alicia reported. Anna nodded in agreement since they had investigated the whole forest one last time.

"We also haven't moved from our spot." Jeanne raised her hand, telling him that they hadn't used their strength yet.

"I have taken care of the poison. Although it's still covered with the miasma, it will be diluted to the air the moment the barrier dissolves. I will also keep an eye on you to make sure you are not poisoned." Alex nodded with a serious expression.

"Then our job has finished, right?" Alicia asked. "It's time to fight those people."

"Indeed. There are around ten thousand devils inside. The number is small, but they are experts because I have seen their cultivations… The average is Martial Emperor to Martial Monarch. I bet this tribe doesn't have many devils to begin with because most of them are dead because of the poison they made themselves." Alex shrugged.

"True enough. We will need to be careful about this. If possible, you can inform the places that release a concentrated poison, so Nelson can get rid of it. His Shadow should be able to contain the poison in a single bowl, so he could proceed to give it to you during the fight and destroy it with your Pure Fire." Anna glanced at Nelson.

"I understand. I can make a few shadow spheres to handle that."

Alex thought for a moment and released Sherry from his body.

"Do you need my help, Master?" Sherry asked.

"You should go with Nelson instead. Your Pure Fire is the same as mine, so you can burn the poison yourself."

"You don't want me to burn this whole forest to remove the poison like the original plan?" She asked with a confused expression. Alex sometimes changed his plan in the middle of the plan itself, but she didn't find anything that could make him change his plan.

"We can deal with the poison later. Even if they are trying to release it inside, it won't affect us for some time. We can start working at that time."

"I understand." Sherry nodded before turning into a small white fox, hopping on Nelson's shoulder. "I am in your care."

"It is my honor, Lady Sherry." Nelson nodded.

"Since when did you become this polite? I remember it was still the same when I was a Martial Saint."

"You might not know about it, but normally a God Rank Expert needed to be addressed by Sir or Lady. Well, this is just my line of work. I don't want to change the habit so as to avoid being rude unintentionally." Nelson explained.

"Is that how it works?"

"Yes."

"Then, alright. It's not like I have a problem with how you call me… But you are still acting the same, right? It's a bit uncomfortable if you start acting formally."

"Of course." Nelson nodded with a smile. "Shall we go?"

"Yes. I am in your hands."

Alex then looked at Ilumi. "Alicia and I will sneak attack their Rank 9 God before blowing the matter up. You are going to stay away from the spotlight until the Rank 10 God appears and strikes him."

"I understand, Master." Ilumi nodded.

Alex rechecked his plan to avoid any hole before creating another Spatial Gate. "Let's go then."

The group then walked inside.