''That monk,Sanzang,have already done what he had to do,Arihan.We sent him back.''Said a buzzed voice.''Alright.Ramla,what about Barrier's situation?''Asked Arihan,with a bit of worreid voice.''It shouldn't be a problem.He planted 7 marks to their places.Only,this war will slightly increase the time.''Said the other voice,Ramla.''Age Of Exploration,huh.That guy picked a nice name this time.''Said Arihan,slightly laughing.Ramla also accompanied him.

''Last step is 3 Sucessors.''

...

''Boss,what do you think?''Said a short,pale skinned man with dark eyes.His name was Tarraon,right hand of Chris,and the most trusted person around him.In front of him was Chris,who was wiping his bloody hands.In front of him lay a person,chest completely gone while both of his arms were shattered,legs parted from his lower body.He was the 7th rank person who attacked Grim with pig man yesterday.

''This boy sure knows how to make me angry''Said Chris,while smashing the already messed up corpse of the man.''Is there any clue who is he?''Tarraon slightly looked down,then said''Not even a thing,we only know he came here in this month,and his name is Grim.He must have a big family at his back or coming from an alternate dimension.''Chris started to get angrier.

Not only did he suffer face loss,he also didn't know who this boy was.Now this boy killed one of his man,and beat all the others to a pulp.''Send Hans and Uni,but make it after he is out of city.''He said,but this time Tarraon suddenly cut his word.''Boss,i think we are making a mistake''

If it was another person,he would have shouted at them already,but Tarraon was like a little brother to him,so he didn't feel angry,only Said''What makes you think so?''Tarraon spoke steadily''Even though we don't know his identity,we know his power.He is definetly 7th rank,who broke through just a bit ago.Even still,he is very skilled at fighting,so even if we were to send 2 of them,they wouldn't be able to kill him.''

''They may injure him but he still wouldn't die.He could just escape and get back when he felt confident.Also,if we were to just send stronger men eachtime to kill him,what we have done would be just aiding at his growth.We would create a strong enemy to ourselves.''

''I understand.Then you can take care of him right?''Said Chris.''That's true,but this would only spread rumors about you and our gang boss.What i think is,you should make a move yourself.You can directly crush him and show our capabilites while no one could make a noise.Even if mayor will be displeased,you can just take him out and replace with his younger son,that idiot would be easier to control.''

If it was any other person heard him,they would ridicule his ideas.Taking control over a city was not about strenght nor intelligenceoOne had to be from the same family.If family died or left the rule,then population would choose the next mayor for the city.The mana crystal used for elections were a bit special because one had to infuse their own aura,which was always different from everyone.Every person could use mana,but only ranked warriors could use them to fight.

There would be several crystals,representing the candidates for elections.People would infuse their mana to the balls,then a independent Mage from Realmgate would announce the results.Of course,you could take over a city with power,or kill the present person to control it.Price would be your head though.

But this was a very different matter when it came to Chris.''Will this increase my line of succession?''Tarraon smiled and approved.''Yes.No matter how powerful your elder sister is,contributions she could do is not comparable to a famous city under your control.Boss,this would be hitting 2 birds with a stone.''

When Chris thought about becoming head of SteelBranch,he was filled with excitement.Becoming head of the one of the 2 great families of Boruhan,capital of Western Deserts,was a big goal for him.As his elder sister was much more powerful than him,she was the first when it came to line of succession.But if he were to get a control of the city,then this would be another matter.

''If we can do it benefits would be immense.Only problem is Guild side.''Tarraon said.Guild was a bit troublesome.As they were independent from all royalty or families from continent,they were generally protecting themselves and wouldn't get into conflicts.But this situation was a bit strange,so they might intervene with it.Guild was a 'Establishment' working for greater good of the continent,and with their intelligence from the Western Deserts,they knew appearance of demons.

Guild had greater power and intelligence than most of the organizations,while it's head was a real freak when it came to battle.So it was possible Guild intervene with the reason of harming the power and balance of the continent to destroy their gang.They have caused way too many problems which affected most of the people at the city,so Guild also had a grudge as well.

''It may be worth it,but risks are too great.Tarraon,what will we do?''Said Chris.He always depended Tarraon when it came to complex matters,because he was not that smart.Tarraon smiled and said''Leave it to me boss.''

...

An arrow flew across the skies,covered in yellow light like it was coming from an angel,and fell down at high speeds.It directly pierced a demon,then the ground and exploded like a volcano.With a boom,a white shockwave of holy power spread and extinguished all demons,clearing the last of them clean.

''Nice work,Alice.''Said a plump but big man.''You too.''Said the elven girl,then walked towards her friends side.''You don't look tired''She said towards a cloaked man,who had a deep red mask covering his face.Man turned around,and looked at her,like it was not funny.

''At least I'm better than him,right?''She said.This time,Osborn had to agree with her,there wasn't a person as bad as him when it came to making jokes.After thinking a little,they turned back towards the gathering place.''This is 23th day and there is still no big guy at our side.''Said Alice,sighing a little.

''Do you want to get smashed?''Asked Osborn,the Murder Lord.''Of course not!All i want is some good fun,that is all.''She said with a bit of pain.It was way too boring here,just killing little parties of maddened beasts and low demons.It has been 10 days since they came here,and she was already feeling upset.

''There is no fun,have you read the report from Pale Coast?''Osborn asked.''You know i'm not good at strategy or things like that.''They have already arrived at the gathering grounds.There were several places like this at the borders of Dark lands already.Paladin Kong already established an army of holy power,while taking in high ranked warriors to the borders.Other than Western Deserts,all places near them were filled with temporary posts and little villages made by the warriors.

They greeted some people then got in their tent.It was fairly big so there was no problem with placing desk or tables.After sitting at a chair,Osborn took out a bulk of paper from one of the drawers and threw at Alice.She caught it in the air and sit on her bed,starting to read it.After a minute,her blood froze.

'An high demon party appeared near the south-east post of Pale Coast.Near to 310 adventurer,7 of them 3rd rank,have been directly massacred.party of demons destroyed several villages completely eradicating people living in them.Only after a Diamond ranked adventurer party appeared,they have been stopped.Estimated casualties are near 2600.In 4 days,all posts are going to be reinforced by 2 person teams of 2nd rank.All personel have to be at alert all times.'

''Hey how is this possible!High ranked demons shouldn't be this powerful!''Alice said angrily,with a bit of panic.A party of Diamond rank?Is this a joke?There is only a handful of Diamond rank adventurers,and most of them are elites among 2nd ranks.They can't be compared to ordinary 2nd ranks.

''And we don't know the number of High ranks''Said Osborn,ignoring her question.This will be a tough war,as it seemed.He already knew power of a high demon,from Aeneas's description.But this time,they are organized.Not like the single demon Aeneas encountered,who was sealed for a long time.There are bound to be big losses.

''All we can do is wait.Academies are refusing to send their last year students as reinforcement this time,fearing there won't be any foundation for the next generation ahead of them.''Osborn said.He also agreed with presidents of academies.No matter what,they shouldn't be risked without any information at hand.Especially when storm was brewing,no one knew what would happen.

''What about Arachne Queen or Mountain Giants?''Asked Alice.They would be great help in this war,as things looked very different.''I don't know it too.If not for Aeneas,i wouldn't know the matter of academies.''He also said with helplesness.Even though he was named Murder Lord,he didn't love unneccessary killing.He once killed a whole hundred man party in a dungeon because of an disagreement,so people named him like that.

That party was originally an underground organization's.Most of it's members were serial killers or rapers.Even though he was holding in,after the argument about them talking about how will they do 'Things'to his friends,he just cut the head of their leader,then the fight broke out.The most horrifying thing was,he used their own blood and exploded them from inside,making a mess of innards and meat at the dungeon.

As he was thinking,Alice tapped his shoulder,saying''Don't think too much about it,it's already in past.''Osborn smiled slightly under his mask''Yes,but it was still worth it.''Not because he gained a big treasure or a strong weapon,Because he gained a heart.