INCREASING

"The core of the formation is back in the direction you came from, deep underground. There were twelve large kernels that stabilize the formation, and probably a dozen times that in smaller scale nexuses. Every single one of them is heavily guarded."

Leonel shook his head. What paranoid pricks. But it made sense. Even in a time of peace, they wouldn't allow anyone to casually approach such important areas, let alone now that they were about to enter a full-scale war with the demons.

The other problem was that these nodes and nexuses would be obvious points. They'll know that with him being trapped inside their territory like this, the only thing he could do was try to break the formation. That meant that very soon, all of these places with already robust security would likely become even more difficult to deal with.

The other path was finding a flaw in the formation, but...

This wasn't the Dimensional Verse anymore. Leonel was no longer head and shoulders above every other Crafter he came across, and if he wanted to find a flaw, especially one that he could fit through or take advantage of, it would take hours of study, and that was in the best-case scenario. More likely than that, it would take days.

In fact, for the people of the Godlens, they probably wouldn't even consider this. Even a seasoned Crafter wouldn't dare to hand out such short timelines. It could only be said that Leonel was either far too arrogant or very confident in himself.

As for creating a flaw like he had done with the surface, that was even more impossible. That formation had been much smaller, not to mention one with far fewer checks and balances. And yet, it had still taken almost everything he had to cause some small changes to a minor part of it.

Once again, this wasn't the Dimensional Verse. He couldn't just casually change things because he felt like it anymore.

There was a possibility of holing up and creating a large-scale teleportation formation he could use to leave the protective formation in an instant, but that thought was also a joke.

He could already sense how solid space was here. How could such an important formation not have contingencies against Spatial Force masters?

"What about going underground?" Leonel asked.

Maybe if he found a home to commandeer, he could build an underground path out of the city right from under their noses.

"The ground is far too solid. In addition, part of the formation is designed to defend against underground operations as well. There's a net solidifying the ground, and it's even more powerful than the formation exposed to the air.

"You can only see a hemisphere now, but it's more like if a bowl had a lid placed on it and then was flipped. Imagine the city being trapped within it."

Leonel shook his head. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Unfortunately, Anastasia was a World Spirit, not a Crafter. She might surpass Leonel in sensory abilities, but his Crafting skill was far beyond hers. He couldn't make use of her to find the flaw he needed.

"Well, now this is a predicament, isn't it?" Leonel chuckled. "Do you two regret being mad at me now? How about some apologies from everyone?"

In response, Leonel got two snorts, causing him to laugh.

Who knew how the Godlens would react if they knew he was laughing rather than panicking. But as far as Leonel was concerned, he hadn't run out of cards to play just yet.

For one, Simona was still in his hands.

Of course, because of the variable of Anselma, he couldn't hope to use this alone to escape. He doubted that Vivak would let him get away with it even without her pressure either.

In truth, even Leonel felt that Simona's life was useless in this situation, but it was still a nice reminder that he hadn't completely run into a dead end just yet.

In this huge city, he still had a chance. For now...

"Anastasia, start feeding me the bits and pieces of the formation. I'm going to find that flaw."

...

The compound's situation was odd.

In the middle, there was a flaming ball of fire that was slowly being suppressed. The walls and hallways were still in decent shape, having been forged of materials that were too excellent to completely collapse under this level of attack. In addition, everyone in the furnace room had also survived, although some of them were in far sorrier states than others.

The Blood Clone, however, was completely gone. In addition, Liana knew with how much fragile equipment was connected to the air ducts that spread out from this room... there was no chance all of her research had survived.

Her expression was completely ashen, drained of all color.

She wanted to roar with rage, to stamp her feet and throw a tantrum. She knew that Leonel's last words had been true. Had Anselma not pressured him so hard, there might have been some room for negotiation. But because she hadn't had any propriety, Leonel chose to deal with this situation in the only way he could.

Vivak's expression wasn't good either. It wasn't just a matter of the research, but that young man had his daughter. If he continued to let this woman do as she pleased, would Leonel suddenly kill his only heir too?

His jaw set.

Anselma and the elder she had brought could feel the shift in the atmosphere immediately.

The Imperatress herself had already been suppressing her displeasure. From the moment she came, Vivak had disrespected her, and now they seemed to be trying to blame her for this as well.

"What are you-"

Butler Halvar quickly cut Anselma off before the situation got worse.

"This is the territory of the Godlens; we'll take a step back. If you need our help, please feel free to approach us."

It was only after hearing this that Vivak's brows relaxed slightly.

...

"Never do that to me again, Halvar!" Anselma growled, her red hair whipping in the air.

"Miss, please," Halvar dabbed at his forehead. "We've already pushed things too far; if we push any more, it will be that child that benefits."

"He did this on purpose. He wants to drive a wedge between us!"

Halvar frowned. He didn't understand why Anselma was so fearful of this boy. It was more likely a coincidence than anything else; how could a child have such deep schemes? It was fine if he was a bit clever, but manipulating the thoughts and emotions of Ninth Dimensional existences was a bridge too far. However, he had learned long ago not to refute his Miss.

"Then we should do our best to not have his plans work any better. If you snap now, then it will only strain relations further. It's better if we take a step back. The Miss is the best counter to the boy now, but if we offend the Godlens now, they might not even let us help."

Hearing these words, Anselma slowly calmed down, taking a deep breath.

She knew that her butler was right. She had been on edge these days and she wasn't thinking clearly.

...

Leonel clicked his tongue when Anastasia's relayed these images to him.

"How annoying..."

The difficulty of his escape just seemed to keep increasing.