Leonhardt noticed the dazed expression on Max's face and was more than a little concerned. Going at those speeds, and then seeing your son's eyes glaze over? Certainly a thing to worry about.

"Max?! Are you okay?"

Leonhardt was about to stop, though he noticed the life coming back in Max, breathing a sigh of relief. Multiple. He may have been hyperventilating just a little.

"Gods you scared the crap out of me! What happened?!" Leonhardt was pretty curious as to why he needed to almost have a heart attack.

"I uh… realized something about time. Everything stopped for a second, then I… remembered everything."

"Elabora—" Leonhardt was cut off when he noticed a settlement. "Sorry, Max. I lied, stay quiet."

Althea quickly caught up and came to the same conclusion as Leonhardt. This was a problem—and a big one.

'An expedition? So close, we're lucky they didn't find us.' Leonhardt was counting his lucky stars, it would be a problem if they did find them.

The beast forest wasn't just a forest, it was a small continent, called Behemarok. Taking its roots back to behemoths and rocks, and one behemoth rock, it was a simple name. However, the problem lay in it being its own continent.

Behemarok was separated from Valoria, and Arcathus, the portions of the continents each respective faction claimed.

This group was no ordinary group, it was an expedition party, for some natural treasure, or animal that may have lived in the area. Luckily, these groups could hail from a joint party between the factions, and be mixed.

What drove them the wrong way was… that they seemed to be in a state of emergency? Their campfire was down, and any movement was minimal, if not silent.

These parties were incredibly strong, potentially strong enough to take down an apocalypse-grade beast… so what could make them this vigilant? Leonhardt and Althea had to know, it could be a threat to them.

"Hello, You all, we've been sent as emergency reinforcements. Detail us about the problem, we need info." Althea said this in a commanding voice, it reminded her of her days on one of these expeditions.

'Let's hope they called for some reinforcements, if not, I can bullshit my way into getting more info either way.'

Althea thought this, though her caution was unneeded.

"Thank god, we've been waiting, if you may, what are your classes, and names? And who is the child, a disciple?" A rugged man from the camp introduced himself, presumably the commanding officer in the expedition. His eyes drooped from sleep loss, and while he carried himself well, he was obviously not in a good state.

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Leonhardt started first.

"Theodore, of the Glacius clan. My class is at the upper bounds of Titan, I believe."

He said so in an uncharacteristically cold voice, though it was nostalgic to Althea, as it was how he used to talk before.

"Leona, of the Inferni clan. Middle of the Archon class." Althea said this with a certain demeanor, that made the captain feel like one of the crew again.

"Holy shit! Did an angel send you two? Headquarters could never! We're saved!" The captain was understandably happy, and while he was quiet, he still looked like life had been restored in him.

Althea and Leonhardt on the other hand, were annoyed they had to use a sound-blocking spell for Max.

They walked over to a tent a bit larger than the rest, where some lights and a table seemed to peek through. Max looked around, even feeling the fabric the tent was made of.

"Let me tell you what the problem is. It's worse than you think. They said it's a calamity-grade monster right?"

'Calamity-grade? No wonder they're so on edge.' Althea and Leonhardt thought in unison.

"Not just that. It's a damn abyssal weapon." The captain nearly spat the last part out; maybe he had lost some of his crew.

Abyssal weapons. While they were creatures by some definitions, they were more akin to weapons. These living "creatures" arose from the abyss, specifically void rifts. The void was a parallel dimension, which could be summed up as an inverted realm.

While not an evil realm, it could be summed up as such. All things mana would be consumed by the void. Yet the opposite wasn't true; this was how they survived in our realm.

They were comprised of abyssal mana and the voidal manas. Their very existence would extinguish the mana around them, let alone any life. They would go out of their way to create corrupted armies, of creatures warped beyond recognition.

They weren't meant to be treated as living, they were only weapons of war.

Leonhardt slammed his hands on the table, partially out of anger, another part disbelief.

"An abyssal weapon," Leonhardt muttered to himself, his voice shaking, "How. I don't even… Does your crew know how an abyssal weapon even gets to this plane? It has to crawl out from a void rift. Those can't exactly occur in high mana, right? SO HOW?"

The captain was taken aback by the severity of Leonhardt's response. Once he pondered on it, though, he realized. Those rifts could only form here, from gross negligence and overuse of mana.

"No, no, we haven't done anything of the sort, we haven't even seen the rift. It happened earlier, the thing has been here for a while, believe me, sir Theodore."

Leonhardt held his head in his hands, as Althea looked on, trying to hide her concern for Leonhardt.

Abyssal weapons were always stronger than their strength grade; a contributing factor to them being called weapons.

However, that wasn't the reason why Leonhardt was stressed. This wasn't his first fight against a terribly strong abyssal weapon, though it would be the first he could win against one.

'Oh gods… I'm sorry. I'm sorry… Elias, I hope you're at peace…'

No. He hadn't fought one. He had survived one.

Althea looked on, trying to hide her concern, while Max had been shielded from the image, also by her.

"Are you two still up to the task, or should we wait for any more reinforcements?" The captain spoke, his voice laced with a modicum of fear.

Max looked at Leonhardt, his resolute figure being shrouded in an emotion Max was wholly unfamiliar with, at least in Leonhardt.

Leonhardt heard this and immediately snapped back to reality, a cold rage burning in his eyes.

"I'll do it."