Chapter 1618 - 1618: And You Called Me Confrontational

Ethan landed in front of Seraphine and Solren with a smile.

"You got here pretty fast."

"You summoned us, Lord Ethan. Naturally, we didn't dare delay," Solren said ingratiatingly.

"The truth is, Beasts have been coming down from the mountains a lot lately. Many races on the Eldoria Continent have suffered heavy losses, so we rushed through as soon as the Void Realm passage opened," Seraphine explained.

"..."

Solren stared at her, speechless.

Did you really have to be that honest?

Ethan smiled. He was genuinely glad both races had come.

Aside from the Fallen Star Guard, the Fallen Star Corps, and the few thousand people specially cultivated by the former compounds, New Atlas had a massive gap in its fighting strength.

Of its population of more than ten million, the vast majority were still at Stage B. There were very few at Stage A, and quite a few were only Stage C.

That was why Miles had assigned Stage B fighters to guard the gates. It wasn't a trick to make New Atlas appear weak. They simply had more Stage B fighters than anything else.

The Aurelians and Azure Nereids numbered more than eight hundred thousand combined, most of them at Stage A or Stage S. They filled that gap perfectly.

"Ethan, what happened to Fallen Star City?" Nerissa asked, gesturing toward the ruins in confusion.

"Oh, we moved somewhere else."

"That explains it..."

"Come on. I'll take you to our new home."

"It's pretty far, so try to keep up."

With that, Ethan flew toward New Atlas.

The Aurelians and Azure Nereids hurried after him.

Once they were in the air, Abyron finally voiced the question that had been bothering him.

"They're foreign races. Can we really trust them?"

"Don't worry. I'm a good judge of character," Ethan said confidently.

"All right, I trust you. But getting this many people back safely won't be easy," Abyron said, still worried.

"That's why I brought you. I definitely couldn't manage it alone." Ethan shrugged.

"I'm only Tier 47. That may not be enough to keep everyone away. Why didn't you bring Theron too?"

"He's not as easygoing as you. I can't order him around yet."

"..."

"So you brought me because I'm easier to boss around?"

"You should've at least brought that Outland Beast. I have a feeling we'll need someone at peak Tier 47 to deter any trouble."

"The Beast Sovereign was never an option. The moment his presence was exposed, countless powerful Void Realm beings would come after him. Who wouldn't want a peak Tier 47 crystal core? Especially the higher-Tier Stage SSS fighters."

"Uh... fair point."

"What about your Riftwalk ability?"

"It can only carry five hundred people at a time. How long do you think it would take me to transport several hundred thousand?" Ethan asked helplessly.

"Stop trying to get out of walking. We'll travel like this. I've got navigation and will avoid areas with large concentrations of Void Realm beings as much as possible. Besides, this group isn't weak. Most Void Realm races will steer clear once they see us."

"What's navigation?"

"You wouldn't understand. I'll explain it later."

"Oh. All right."

The group sped north.

Fallen Star City was nearly twelve hundred miles from New Atlas. Fortunately, everyone was strong enough to move quickly. As long as nothing went wrong, they could make the trip in four or five hours.

Ethan kept checking his phone and adjusting their route.

The Satellite Operations Control Center was constantly calculating the safest path for him, helping them avoid other Void Realm beings.

Still, there was no way for hundreds of thousands of people to travel without making a commotion. Even after avoiding most of the foreign races from the Void Realm, they inevitably encountered a few.

Fortunately, Abyron's Tier 47 presence proved highly effective.

Most Void Realm races only sent groups numbering in the tens of thousands. An army of over a hundred thousand was already enormous. They still had to leave people behind to protect their homes, after all. They couldn't bring everyone.

The Aurelians and Azure Nereids, on the other hand, had mobilized nearly their entire populations. With several hundred thousand fighters and a Tier 47 at their head, most Void Realm beings didn't dare approach.

But there were always exceptions.

After more than two hours of travel, a huge group of Void Realm beings suddenly blocked their path.

There were seventy or eighty thousand of them, but their numbers weren't the real problem.

They had a Tier 47 fighter of their own.

Then again, without someone that strong, they never would've dared to stand in Ethan's way.

Their group also included a Tier 44, a Tier 43, and quite a few Stage SS fighters.

Overall, their lineup was clearly stronger than Ethan's.

The opposing fighters studied the approaching group. Surprise appeared on their faces when they spotted Ethan and Abyron.

"Humans?"

"You know about humans?" Ethan asked in surprise.

By now, he had learned a great deal about the past. When the world of Primora was shattered, many humans had ended up stranded in other worlds. That was why so many races knew of humanity's existence.

But there were also worlds that knew nothing about humans. The Voltari they had encountered earlier hadn't recognized them, which most likely meant no humans had ever reached their world.

Now Ethan had found another world that had.

The only question was what had happened to those humans.

He got his answer soon enough.

"Excellent. Humans still exist." The Tier 47 leader looked at them. "I assume you know the secret those humans refused to reveal, even to the death."

"Great. Sounds like this group wiped them out too." Ethan shook his head.

Weakness was the ultimate sin. And humanity's ability to wield skills of multiple elements was bound to inspire greed.

According to Abyron, the humans of Primora hadn't been weak. In fact, they had been far stronger than most of these races.

But after the catastrophe, nearly all of humanity's greatest fighters had died. Those scattered across other worlds were, for the most part, nothing special.

Even so, the Eldoria Continent's strongest races had paid a terrible price to wipe out the humans stranded there.

That alone showed how powerful Primora's humanity had once been.

Yet even Primora had ultimately been shattered.

Ethan couldn't imagine what kind of disaster could have destroyed such a powerful world.

He looked at the opposing leader and said evenly, "If you're asking how humans can wield skills of different elements, I can only tell you that it's an innate human talent. You can forget about getting it for yourselves."

"And if I insist?"

"Then go find your mother and ask her to give birth to you as a human. Why are you bothering me?" Ethan rolled his eyes.

"You're courting death!"

The man roared and unleashed a blade of light at Ethan.

Abyron stepped in front of him and conjured a fist of energy, smashing the attack apart. Then he turned to Ethan with a helpless look.

"Why do you always have to be so confrontational? Couldn't you have spoken to him politely? Maybe he would've let us pass if you hadn't insulted him."

"You're giving him too much credit. If I'm right, humans from Primora landed in their world, and his people exterminated them. Do you honestly think he was going to let us leave?" Ethan asked calmly.

Abyron's face darkened.

He turned toward the other man.

"Did your people truly exterminate the humans in your world?"

"We did. What of it?"

"You're dead!"

Enraged, Abyron conjured a spear and thrust it straight at him.

Ethan shrugged.

"And you called me confrontational. I only insulted him. You went straight for the kill."