"I'm not completely sure how they started their advent either, but they managed to do so, once we start investigating the right targets, I'm sure you will be convinced…"

Though prior beliefs could cloud one's judgment of the situation, considering the Great Elder's temperament that he exhibited so far, he would at least choose to confirm the possibility before denying it.

'Besides, he seems to trust my words very much…'

While I didn't know the cause of this trust just like I didn't get to know the reason behind his acknowledgement of the Future Teller's advice, I could tell it was genuine to a certain extent.

In fact, it seemed that the Great Elder's questions weren't spoken out of disbelief, but of shock instead, as if he automatically acknowledged what I said as the truth. It was just that it wasn't as apparent for the first second.

'I should make time to investigate both this and what I experienced earlier after the emergency is dealt with…'

"If that's the case, then it's hard to say if the situation is salvageable. How is it that the people of the other domain managed to deal with a similar situation…?"

It was finally the turn of the Great Elder to exhibit an expression of deep contemplation that seemed to be on the verge of turning into one of despair.

'His knowledge of demons shouldn't be shallow…'

"The situation there wasn't as advanced as this one, to begin with. However, there is no need to lose hope so early, while the timing could have been better, it isn't too late just yet."

It was obvious from the Great Elder's expression that he knew of the demons' true horrors, but he also seemed to have some sort of a misunderstanding.

"While it's true that the demons have found their own loopholes to access the domain, it's limited to a great extent. After all, that's the only reason they are using the Shadow Alliance to act instead of revealing themselves."

According to my experience so far, the demons' access to the domains was still rather limited, they were only able to use methods such as communicating with people of the domain or initiating demon seeds through hidden schemes. What the Great Elder feared about the possibility of the demons' army sweeping through the domain with ease was still preventable.

Most importantly, while the time was indeed too late to prevent the spread of corruption, that wasn't the case when it came to the opening of the demon bases. Otherwise, the demons would have already stomped away all resistance like the Dragon Clan.

"It's true that demons are the ones who instigated this all, but it was all done through sneaky limited means, the true actors are still the Shadow Alliance."

Even in the worst-case scenario at which the demon bases were all opened, my experience in the Nature Domain showed that demons were extremely weakened and couldn't exhibit their true powers without using tricks. Thanks to that, it could even be said that we had the upper hand in the strictest sense.

"Haaa… that would be for the best. Indeed, since you already experienced the demon's advent and managed to tell the tale, the situation shouldn't be as bad as I expected it to be, but we should already act upon whatever preventive measures that you have in mind!"

The Great Elder's expression finally eased as he seemed to have digested the information I gave and reached a proper conclusion.

"Just as I stated earlier, the increasing numbers of those who have been 'infected' by the demons' Elemental Crystals do present a challenge, so if you plan to act according to my plan you will have to go all out using your strongest forces."

Even though the reason I stopped at the Dragon Clan's Stronghold was the strange Quest that I received as well as my need for information, it didn't mean that I should just walk away and leave to deal with the situation on my own, having the Dragon Clan's help was naturally necessary.

However, in order for their assistance to have meaning just using the lowest combat power they had that consisted of those who were on the same level as the 'Guides' wouldn't cut it with how 'infested' Corruption was in the domain.

"You don't need to worry about that, we had already learned our lesson…"

The Clan Leader who had been silent for a while spoke out once more with a firm expression, to which the Great Elder nodded and returned static as he once was.

"Understood, the way of handling the situation is actually quite simple, avoid the Shadow Alliance and send forces to completely secure all Dark Hollows that you have knowledge of while searching for those that you don't know of on the side. If you managed to have a complete grasp of them all, the demons' advent into the Fire Domain would be stopped before it even started!"

Although one could say that I was considered to be quite late due to the advanced stage that the Corruption's spread has reached, I was sure that I could only be considered early now that I had already obtained the co-operation and 'trust' of the top clan within the domain!

'The time I missed could be said to have been compensated this way.'

At this point, it was already obvious that the actions of the Future Teller had provided quite the help in skipping the stage of climbing up the ladder that I had to go through in the Nature Domain!

'Though it doesn't seem to be the only reason…'

No matter what, I was sure that the Great Elder's 'trust' wasn't only caused by the Future Teller's prophecy.

"Very well…"

However, just as the discussion was finally coming to an end in a way that made me somewhat happy to have appropriately dealt with this domain's sticky situation…

"Clan Leader!"

A distressed yelled could be heard coming out of the door!