Chapter 263. Island

Several blobs of blood appeared before Aiden, turned into crimson armor, and covered his body.

He looked no different from someone wearing a battlesuit.

A crimson hammer formed from blobs of blood. Aiden held the hammer.

His friends also equipped their battlesuits and equipped their weapons.

The other warriors also did the same.

The thousands of Rank 3 warriors were all clad in their battlesuits and had their weapons equipped in their hands.

Everyone was ready to unleash catastrophic affinity attacks the moment they encountered any threats along the way.

"Let’s go," Triga said.

Many formed affinity wings on their backs, flapped their wings, and flew after Triga and the other warriors from the Serma Empire Warriors Association HQ.

Others also materialized affinity constructs beneath their feet to maintain their aerial mobility.

Someone even had a fire wheel below her feet.

Another person kept manifesting ice blocks which floated beneath his feet wherever he stepped.

All sorts of strange affinities were all over the place.

As for Aiden and his friends, many were staring at them.

Aiden was no longer using crimson wings for flight.

He had formed a very large crimson phoenix-looking construct. He wanted his friends to preserve their worldly energy. Aerial maneuvering would consume their energy. Since he was not a traditional cultivator and he used blood essence for cultivation, he didn’t have the disadvantage of losing worldly energy since he didn’t use worldly energy to cultivate in the first place.

The size of the affinity construct was enormous.

Aiden and his friends were seated at the back of it.

Under Aiden’s will, the construct flapped its wings.

"How does he even cultivate?"

"What sort of affinity mastery is this?"

"Although affinity constructs are not living things and are mere manipulations of affinities into different shapes, the level of affinity manipulation required to pull off something like this requires years of experience. Not only that, if one is not careful, one would even think this is some sort of actual bird. This person is truly a genius that has not appeared on Endra before," a legendary Rank 3 warrior with Triga sighed.

Several warriors agreed.

Soon, the group arrived on the top of the ocean.

"We have entered the sea territory," Triga said. "Everyone, be very careful and pay attention to your environment."

At this moment, those who had been paying attention to Aiden and his friends stopped paying attention to them and focused completely on themselves.

Aiden and his friends were not talking to each other. Everyone was very focused. There was a time for everything.

At the moment, everyone was paying attention to the ocean environment.

The ocean was extremely calm. The waters were blue. Fog was all over the place too. This made it difficult for some warriors to see very well.

Aiden’s enhanced sight, smell, and hearing peered across the ocean, stretching across several distances, then into the ocean depths.

He saw several strange sea creatures lurking beneath the ocean depths. Some places were full of Rank 1 sea creatures, some places were full of Rank 2 sea creatures, and others were full of Rank 3 and Rank 4 sea creatures.

However, one thing Aiden noticed was that the further his gaze stretched deeper into the ocean, the more terrifying the Rank 3 and Rank 4 sea creatures increased.

That didn’t mean that Rank 3 and Rank 4 sea creatures were not occasionally lurking near the surface of the ocean.

Aiden frowned.

This was because the direction Triga was currently headed would lead them straight towards several beginner Rank 4 sea creatures.

In other words, they were all being led into the lair of beginner Rank 4 chaotic beasts. Even if they all combined their strength, they would be killed before they even knew how they died.

"Is he aware that these creatures like this exist? Or is he trying to use everyone as bait to draw the attention of the sea creatures away so that he and the Warriors Association people from the Serma Empire can advance from there towards the ruins of the ancient sect?"

Aiden thought.

He decided to probe.

He looked at his friends.

"Something is off, guys. Let’s be careful. I think we are being led into a trap. But I need to confirm something first."

Everyone quietly nodded. Glints of sharp vigilance flashed through their eyes.

"When the Warriors Association branch of the Serma Empire announced the discovery of the ruins of the ancient sect, I felt something was off. We’ve all assumed it’s because they didn’t want to garner public hatred by keeping it to themselves since the news would naturally leak out anyway. But now that you mention it, what if we are some sort of cannon fodder they want to use to distract some sort of creatures ahead and have access to the ruins?" Genjis said.

Glints of realization flashed through the eyes of everyone in the group.

"Aiden, confirm what you want to confirm, then we can see the way forward," Eleanor said.

Aiden nodded.

The crimson phoenix-like construct flapped its wings and steered towards the direction of Triga and the legendary Rank 3 warriors from the Serma Empire.

In a flash, they arrived before Triga and company.

"Mr. Triga, how far along are we?" Aiden said, monitoring the expression of Triga for any signs that could confirm his thoughts.

"Mr. Vhorn," Triga said, "we are just a few kilometers away from the region of the ruins. As long as we are all careful, we will all make it there."

He noticed the slight, insidious glint of coldness that flashed through Triga’s eyes.

Everyone in his group also did. They were very sharp people, after all. Most of the time, they looked ordinary because Aiden was too much of a monster compared to them, but each of them were experienced people who could read human nature well.

The group of 13 exchanged subtle, knowing looks.

"Alright. Thank you," Aiden nodded politely.

The group left the front and returned to their usual position.

"Do you think they have caught on?" one of Triga’s colleagues said.

"Even if he has, there’s nothing he can do. We are the only ones who know the actual location of the ruins. Everyone has no option but to follow our lead," Triga said. "We will just tell them the ruins are ahead when we are almost in the lair of the beginner Rank 4 chaotic beasts. Their greed will blind them, and they will rush ahead. While the creatures are dealing with them, we will slip past the creatures towards the Island of the Han Yi Ancient Sect and explore the ruins for ourselves."

"That’s efficient. The Warriors Association HQ in our empire will soar to higher heights because of this opportunity. We cannot let anyone have access to the ruins. But our plan was really solid. No one will blame us for their deaths, since we used a mask of avoiding public backlash to announce the expedition," another person said.

Aiden listened to them with his enhanced hearing.

He turned to his friends.

"They lied about the ruins. It’s not buried in the ocean. The ruins are on an island. They want to use us to distract the beasts, then slip past the creatures when they are busy killing us to the island."

Everyone widened their eyes.

"These guys are very sharp. To think they’d resort to such efficient methods," Ronan said.

Everyone nodded.

"Since we now know the ruins are on an island, we should use this to our advantage," Arica said.

"We need to find a way to use them and the other warriors from the other regions as bait for the monsters and slip into the ruins," Sanderson added.

"Exactly," Aiden said. "Just thought of something that might make pulling off something like that very efficient."