Chapter 291: Mission accomplished.

Zyra watched carefully as Elfy tiptoed across the wooden root-bridge with surprising confidence. Reaching the far side, Elfy plucked the glowing Dew Fruit, shoved it into her bag, and scampered back safely.

Zyra cheered, clapping her on the shoulder. "Nice job!"

She then quietly spoke to the system. Beauty, transfer the Warden and all the other plant beast trees into the Beast Dominion, including the Dew fruit trees. Oh, and anything else here that is of value.

[Understood, Host. Transferring...] Beauty chimed. In a flash of soft light, the Warden vanished. Then, the rest of the trees followed in a mist of white light.

[You are welcome. Now, nobody can tell that you took away all the trees. I have taken in the dragon snakes too. If you don’t want to bond with them, we will send them back.]

Zyra nodded, because that was very helpful. Neal and his friends did not need to know about her secrets. The glow of her tattoo darkened, signaling that she had taken away the treasure of this dungeon. The lines were already marking a path to the next one. She couldn’t help wondering what the end game was? What would be in the last dungeon, if there was one? Would there be an end to it?

She exhaled slowly, shaking the questions out of her mind for the moment. With the main mission a complete success, it was time to leave. Zyra turned to gather her crew, but her eyes scanned the group once, twice_ and narrowed. Someone was missing.

She whipped her head toward Neil. "Where’s your female companion?"

Neil blinked, looking around and gesturing to his left. "Uh, she was literally just standing right here_"

Zyra dragged a hand through her hair and swore under her breath. "Damn it! I knew I shouldn’t have let idiots tag along!" She spat out the golden rule Hunter pounded into her head every single day: "Rule number one: Never separate from the team!"

Bianca shook her head, leaning against her sword. "She was blabbering earlier about finding some buried mountain of energy stones. She probably went treasure hunting."

Neil rubbed the back of his neck nervously and began shouting, "Milly! Milly, where are you?!"

"Keep your voice down, man!" Bullet hissed, smacking Neil’s arm.

Zyra sighed. Beauty, locate Milly.

A quick pulse swept through the area. [Host, she is three rooms down, near the back archway.]

"This way," Zyra ordered.

They rushed down a dusty corridor and burst into what looked like an elder’s office. Inside was an open vault crammed with sparkling gold, jewels, old paper money and rare jade artifacts. But the sight inside wasn’t pretty. One of the giant stone bookshelves had collapsed straight onto Milly, pinning her to the ground. She was bleeding heavily from her head and torso.

Etania rushed over, placing her glowing hands over Milly’s chest. Her eyes flared up as she assessed the damage. She looked up at Zyra, her face pale. "This is bad. Healing this properly is going to take a long time."

Zyra shook her head firmly. "We can’t stay down in this dungeon, and I definitely can’t bring strangers back home." She secretly gave Etania the signal not to advocate her services. Zyra wanted to see how Neil would handle this.

Neil paced back and forth anxiously. "Take her to my place! We can go right now!"

Zyra raised an eyebrow. "Where’s your place? The Capital?"

"Southern Wild Lands," Neil replied instantly.

"Give me the coordinates," Etania said.

Neil rattled off the coordinates, and Etania raised her hands, tearing open a swirling portal right in the middle of the room. She grabbed Milly, and the group stepped through the rift.

They materialized in the middle of a giant, sunlit courtyard.

"Raise your hands!" Men with guns approached.

Neil waved them away. "They are with me."

Etania immediately dropped to her knees and resumed channeling her healing light into the unconscious girl.

Zyra looked around, her eyes widening. System, scan the surroundings.

[Scanning... Host, this area is a fully fortified territory. High-grade security fencing, modern defensive towers, heavily armed guards patrolling the perimeter, and tens of thousands of ordinary civilians living normal lives.]

Zyra turned to Neil, her eyes narrowed like sharp blades. "What is this place?"

Neil shrugged casually. "A sanctuary."

"Explain. Now," Zyra demanded.

Neil softened his tone, looking out over the busy courtyard. "There are too many good people who get exiled or hunted down by the Sanctum or the first class nobles. I just built a place where they could live without fear."

Zyra stared at him. It seemed his savior complex ran ten times deeper than she originally thought. Crossing her arms, she glared at him. "Alright, spit it out. Tell me whatever has been bugging you since we met."

Neil raised his brows in amusement. "What do you mean?"

"You’ve been acting suspicious," Zyra said coldly. "You know exactly who I am, don’t you?"

Neil chuckled softly and gave a slow nod. "Yeah, I do." He extended a hand toward her with a warm, genuine smile. "Let me properly introduce myself. I’m Neil Armstrong."

Zyra kept her arms crossed tight, not bothering to take his hand. "Name doesn’t ring a bell."

Before Neil could explain further, Etania called out, "Neil! She’s stabilized for now, but we need to move her to a hospital or whatever to rest!"

Neil turned to wave down a few guards who had been watching from the perimeter. "Hey guys, get a gurney over here!"

By the time Neil turned back around to speak to Zyra again, the spot where she and her team had been standing was completely empty. Her group had already vanished into thin air.

Neil stared at the empty space, a quiet smile playing on his lips as he nodded to himself. "See you around, Zyra the Scorpion."

Back at the valley, Zyra and her crew were immediately welcomed by warm hugs of relief and iced glasses of fruit juice.

Zyra wiped her brow and walked up to Crispus. "Is my husband back yet?"

Crispus shook his head. "Not yet."

Zyra glanced up at the sky. The sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the clouds in shades of deep orange and purple. Evening was approaching fast. She pulled out her link band and sent Hunter a quick message: I’m home safe.

"Oh, by the way," Crispus added, his expression turning serious. "Young Master Achilles left a few hours ago with a team. He didn’t say where he was going."

Zyra’s brows creased instantly. A sinking feeling settled in her gut. "What’s going on? How long have they been gone?"

Crispus checked his pocket watch. "About four hours now."

Zyra nodded silently, her mind racing with unease as she turned and walked toward the main house. If Achilles had left so abruptly, it was for a bad reason.