CHAPTER 207: 207

By the morning of the third day that Michelle was away from Riptide City, she was in an enormous valley with barely any life in sight.

She had a slight frown on her face. It all just looked strange.

Though the mountains all around the valley were either covered by snow from being too high or filled with forests and life, the valley was basically a desert.

Luckily, she had her Everfrost Mantle on, or she would have gone crazy from the heat.

But it was still uncomfortable when she breathed in. Her nose turned red from it.

"Damn..." she muttered, narrowing her eyes a bit as she stepped into the desert valley. She was sure that somewhere there, the black god’s sect resided.

Her guess was it was located either right next to the barrier of Heavenly Law, which meant around the middle of the valley, or in one of the corners.

Since the corners were closer to the mountains, they were colder, so she decided to check there.

Even with using her Shadow Spirit Steps, it took Michelle until noon to go around the valley’s perimeter.

She could afford to be a bit careless about it, because she knew a bit about what Mavreth was like. With his power and arrogance, he wouldn’t bother hiding the sect’s hideout. Just the fact that it was near the barrier of the Heavenly Law could hide it well enough.

To Michelle’s disappointment, the sect wasn’t located on the perimeter, so she had to step into the desert. It was noon, and she felt like her nose was burning.

Not feeling like walking anymore, Michelle summoned Tenether, and he transformed into a big black cat, so she could get on his back. Just like that, Michelle had him ride into the middle of the desert.

With Tenether’s speed, it didn’t take long before a structure started forming before Michelle’s eyes.

She had Tenether stop right in front of it, and she got off his back.

"No security?" she raised a brow, walking around the tall wall, her hand trailing along the hot stones.

After a while, she abruptly stopped. She didn’t feel like having a nasty wound on her forehead again from crashing into a barrier of Heavenly Law. She couldn’t see it, but she already felt something in the air.

Stretching her hand out, it landed on an invisible wall.

Instantly, she retracted her hand. A slight touch wasn’t a problem, but if she left her hand there too long, the barrier would hurt her.

And the smell of her blood would attract unwanted attention.

"Tene, we’re going back!" she said as she hopped onto the huge cat’s back.

Tenether let out a meow and leapt towards the mountains.

Glancing up at the sky, Michelle concluded they would make it back to the tavern by midnight.

Mid-leap, Tenether’s soul energy moved within his body, forming a shape of a bird around him.

The next moment, with Michelle on his back, he transformed into a huge black bird, one that resembled a falcon.

The next moment, Tenether carried Michelle high up into the sky, and used his max speed to carry her back to Riptide City.

Naturally, Michelle was surprised by the sudden increase in speed. She didn’t really know about the full extent of Tenether’s abilities, so she didn’t know he could fly so fast.

Or maybe it was because he transformed into a falcon-like bird, as falcons were one of the fastest predatory birds as far as Michelle knew.

"Tene, you really are amazing!" she patted the bird’s black feathers, feeling the wind on her skin.

The small particles within the air made small cuts on her face from how fast she passed by them. But with her heightened healing abilities, the scratches disappeared before they could even start bleeding.

A high-pitched whistle came in response from Tenether as his wings flapped against the air.

As the sun started to set behind Michelle’s back, Tenether stopped above Riptide City.

Knowing what he was planning, Michelle lowered her body a bit and bound herself to him using her soul leash, the Binding Chains.

The next moment, Tenether flew headfirst straight down into the city, as if he was aiming at prey.

Just a moment before hitting the ground, he flapped his wings to stop and softly landed on the ground, in the plaza in the middle of the city.

"Good boy!" Michelle said with a careless smile as she jumped off his back, ignoring the stares directed at her. It was expected for such a big bird, especially with such an entrance, to cause commotion.

So with a sweep of her hand, Michelle sent Tenether back into her Spirit Domain.

Ignoring the people staring at her like she was some kind of monster, she strode towards the tavern. Of course, the gazes followed her.

And when she entered the tavern, it was as if they understood everything. In the end, the tavern had long been known for housing the strangest and most dangerous individuals.

But the discovery didn’t ease the residents’ worries.

Upon entering the tavern, Michelle instantly had to crouch down to evade a punch to her face. "Anastasia? Why so angry?" she asked with a teasing smile, feeling the amount of soul energy raging above her head from the punch.

If she didn’t dodge, her skull would have had a dent in it.

"Where did you go?" Anastasia retracted her hand and walked into the tavern. The only reason why she threw the punch at Michelle was because she knew she would dodge it. She wasn’t crazy enough to actually try to kill Michelle for disappearing for three days.

"To confirm a deal with the information guild and find out where exactly the black god’s sect has its hideout," Michelle answered truthfully.

Already sitting at a table, Kieran and Ivona clearly heard what Michelle said. And the rest of the people in the tavern heard it too. But they tried not to pay it any attention. Except one man. A person Michelle had already interacted with.

So when Michelle and Anastasia sat down with Kieran and Ivona, he approached. "What are you planning at the black god’s sect?" he asked.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, he pulled a chair from an empty table and sat at it. The table where Michelle and the rest were sitting only had four chairs, so they were all occupied.

"Why so curious, uncle?" Michelle tilted her head to the side, glancing at the scar stretching from the man’s face down to his neck. The man in front of her was the owner of the Scarred Weaponry.

"I know a thing or two that could be helpful to you," the scarred man didn’t really reply to her question.

"And what do you want in exchange for the information?" Michelle’s smile widened.

"Let me come along when you go."

The answer made Michelle raise a brow. She couldn’t really think of a reason why someone working under Alexander Terce would want to go into a place under the control of Mavreth.

Was there something going on between the black god and the Dark Lord? Or did the scarred man have a personal grudge against Mavreth?

But, thinking about the bigger picture, Michelle wasn’t all that curious about it. If needed, she could find out more about it in the future, since her interaction with both Mavreth and the Dark Lord duo was inevitable.

"Fine! You can come along when I go!" she nodded.

Hearing that, the scarred man gave a superficial thanks and disappeared into the crowd of the tavern. Michelle and her friends had things to discuss, so he wouldn’t disturb them any further.

Once the scarred man disappeared from their sight, Ivona sighed. "I don’t know what to ask first," she complained.

But Kieran and Anastasia were both clear about what to ask first.

"Who is that man?!" Anastasia pushed her face closer to Michelle.

At the same time, Kieran stood up and stared down at Michelle. "Why did you disappear without telling us?!"

After that, questions rained at Michelle, not just from Kieran and Anastasia, but also from Ivona. It didn’t take her long to decide what to ask first, and after that she turned into a question-spitting machine.

Under that onslaught, Michelle, who usually disliked explaining herself, was helpless and had to patiently explain everything. About how she met the scarred man for the first time, and the next times. How she decided to just leave overnight because she found it bothersome to explain things about the information guild.

Then about the information guild itself, about her findings about the black god’s sect’s location.

She even had to delve further into her past life, since the three kept asking about it.

After hours of questioning, midnight fell and the three were satisfied. They found out everything they wanted.

Finally came the time to decide whether they would go or not go with Michelle to the black god’s sect.

In the end, the one who spoke first was Kieran. "With what we know about the Mavreth guy, we can be sure he won’t harm you for now... Everything else is uncertain. So we should go with you!" he decided.

Ivona and Anastasia shared the same thoughts. Even if Mavreth had no intentions of killing Michelle, there was no telling whether he wouldn’t do something else. With his powers, basically anything was possible.

So even though the three of them weren’t powerful and there was no way they could be a match against the black god, they still decided to go. If things came to the worst, they could at least act as a momentary distraction.

Michelle didn’t like their way of thinking, that they wanted to act like scapegoats, but she let them come along.