CHAPTER 449: THE PATH FORWARD

I couldn’t help but chuckle at Knight’s joke. Stepping over the broken body at my feet, I muttered, "Well, I guess thanks to your help, we now have one less Grandmaster to deal with."

Knight answered with just a quiet hum, almost dismissive, as if killing someone of that level didn’t matter much to him.

I bent down and slipped the storage ring from Rocks’ cold finger, checking it with a flicker of Essence. My hopes fell flat. Nothing useful, no rare resources, no information, not even a clue worth keeping.

I tossed the useless ring to the side and straightened, letting my thoughts drift toward the next step.

The first idea that came to me was bold: go directly for the Lamp Zone. If I moved fast, I could end the Grandmasters staying there, along with the Masters guarding that place. It would be quick and decisive.

All my summons had already reached level 299. Even Emperor Lucien himself had only made it to level 293. With my support, my summons could take on those four Grandmasters and kill them. Together, we were capable of standing against any Grandmaster.

Still, the Lamp Zone wasn’t simple. According to what I’d read in the library, it was both an abomination zone and a mysterious zone.

Legends claimed even the Emperor from the Max family, the strongest ruler this world had seen, had never dared step inside. If that was true, then rushing in blindly might ruin my plans to stay hidden.

The second idea was different. I could turn into an assassin, hunting the Grandmasters across the world one by one.

If I struck quickly, silently, I could kill many before anyone realized what was happening. But this plan had problems. Timing mattered. The trick was to end them before word spread to the others, but hiding every strike from the eyes of enemies at this level was far from simple.

And to make matters worse, two Feran Grandmasters were still here in Peanu, and even Dante had no idea where they were hiding. That uncertainty alone made the idea dangerous.

The third idea was chaos. Stir trouble across the world, force the Grandmasters to come out one by one, and then crush them. Not all at once, just enough to taunt the others, to bait them into sending reinforcements. Chaos as a weapon was messy, but it could work.

While I weighed these paths, there was still one more matter I couldn’t ignore: the quest. The system had been clear.

Find the world core.

So far, the only lead I had was that Emperor Max, the same man who never stepped into the Lamp Zone, knew about it. That was a thread I had to pull sooner or later.

I let out a quiet exhale and whispered, "Lyrate."

A wave of crimson mist swirled around me, and her figure stepped out of it, sharp and poised. Her eyes fell immediately on the corpse of Rocks, then flicked back to me.

"You could have called me for that," she said softly.

I nodded. "There’s one left for you. She’s taking a bath. Kill her but keep it silent and ask her if there are any other grandmasters on this continent."

Her lips curved into a smile. Without another word, her body broke apart into mist again, dispersing into the air before rushing out of the room.

Knight’s voice came from behind me. ’She’s too obsessed with killing.’

I smirked faintly but didn’t disagree.

’So, have you decided how we are going to proceed from here?’ Knight asked, his tone calm but expectant.

I stayed silent for a few seconds, thinking it through, before finally nodding.

"Yes. This is going to be fun," I said, my voice steady. "But we’ll need to act fast."

’I am fast,’ he replied immediately, almost as if the words were waiting on his tongue.

"Yes, yes, of course." I gave a small nod, not arguing with his confidence.

While Lyrate was still busy enjoying her brutal game with Kim, I turned my attention away from her and stepped closer to the large map of Peanu spread across the wall. My eyes lingered on the details.

The world was divided into eight continents. Five of them were relatively small, scattered across the oceans, and together they held only about thirty percent of the land. The remaining three continents were massive, swallowing up the other seventy percent like giants among dwarves.

My gaze narrowed on the key locations. The capital, Maxim, stood proudly at the heart of Sala, one of the largest continents.

The Lamp Zone, however, was hidden far away on Yami, one of the smaller continents. As for me, I was standing here on Hare, another of the small continents, far from my goal.

If I chose the shortest path toward the Lamp Zone, I would be forced to cross two continents. Hare itself, and then a much larger one that lay between me and Yami. It wasn’t an easy journey, nor was it a short one.

I tapped my finger against the spot where Hare was drawn. The decision formed clearly in my mind.

Before setting foot in Yami, I would erase every Grandmaster in Hare and in the neighboring small continent. Only then would I move toward the Lamp Zone before beginning the next steps of my plan.

Another five minutes slipped by before Lyrate finally reappeared in the room.

"There is one more Grandmaster on this continent, and I will take him on."

"Sure," I replied with a shrug, not surprised in the least.

Knight gave me a sideways look.

"Now, did you ask Kim where exactly we can find this so-called Grandmaster so you can fight him?" I asked.

Lyrate’s eyes flickered in agreement, and she nodded once. "He is in the city of Brave. From there, he controls an underground slave kingdom."

"I see," I muttered. "All right then. I’ll summon you back once I reach there."

With a simple wave of my hand, I sent both of them back into the core. Silence fell again, leaving me alone with the map still fresh in my thoughts.

I closed my eyes for a moment, recalling the map of Hare that I had studied earlier. My mind traced over the rivers, mountains, and roads until it stopped at the mark of Brave. The city wasn’t far, at least not for me.

The moment I had my bearings, I didn’t waste another second. I rushed out of the palace, breaking through the open air, my body cutting through the sky like an arrow loosed from a bow. Wind roared past me as the ground blurred beneath my speed.

My focus was locked on one thought: the city of Brave first, then the Lamp Zone.

Before this day ended, I intended to reach my true destination - the mysterious Lamp Zone.