DANGEROUS

This was trouble.

Leonel quickly got information about the demons. There were four of them, all of whom were in the Eighth Dimension. It was really enough to make Leonel wonder why they did this at all. Just one of them was probably enough to kill the Sergeant, so why go through all of this trouble?

Soon he understood, though.

The demons probably had their own resources, they didn't need to steal the humans. In addition, their race probably had a generally low reliance on such things to begin with. They were fighters and they relied on their own strength. Leonel was willing to bet that their number of Crafters was low, especially considering the standard of weapons he had seen from the group of demons he and Aina had killed.

In that case, their priority wasn't to kill or occupy this mine, it was to destroy it, or at the very least make it very difficult to unearth again. If they could kill some humans as well, then that would only be to their benefit.

But Leonel felt that they were a bit stupid. This wasn't the best method to destroy the mine at all. Seeing the sinister look on their faces, it looked as though they had chosen one of the worst options just because they felt it would be more fun to watch the humans squirm this way.

Leonel fell into his own thoughts. If this was their intention, then making it out would be even more difficult. In that case, his best option would be setting up a teleportation formation and getting himself out of here.

He made the decision quickly and used Anastasia's help to get him to a region of the second layer with the least amount of people. Then he used one of the many entrances that had yet to be found to slip back into the third layer, where he rushed into the tunnel system, ignoring the catacomb.

Researcher Popsy had already long since gone back up to the second layer. In her opinion, the person was long gone from the third layer and was now trapped somewhere in the second along with the rest of them.

She was smart enough that she might guess that Leonel had returned to the third layer, but by then, he should hopefully be gone.

Teleporting out of a mine like this wasn't exactly easy. One could see the dense ores like Force barriers of sorts, and it only made it worse that Urbe Ore was so robust and sturdy.

This was the same reason why Little Blackstar couldn't have been the one to go and get the embryonic Urbe Ore Core. Phasing through these ores wasn't like phasing through normal walls, it required pushing through a large amount of densely packed Force. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

In battle, Little Blackstar could phase through one attack, or a few, but phasing through these Urbe Ores was like trying to do so with a continuous barrage of powerful and dense attacks. It was too much.

Much the same, teleporting out of here when the Urbe Ore stabilized the space so much was incredibly difficult.

But Leonel had a way. This was just Fifth Dimensional Urbe Ore, and he had an overpowered little Metal Spirit by his side that could recreate any Ore he had ever touched before from thin air.

Of course, Leonel knew it was foolish to try and abuse this power. But this was a teleportation formation only built for the sake of one person and he only had to make it across a few kilometers. He didn't need much.

Little Tolly grasped what Leonel wanted quickly and began to push out the ores. Leonel stopped the little guy quickly and began to work.

Crafting was still the most relaxing, melting Ores down, fusing them, molding them into his vision, it was beautiful.

Soon, a simple circle large enough for just a single person took shape and Leonel embedded it right into the Urbe Ore infused ground.

His ears twitched as he heard the sound of footsteps swiftly approaching. He could only shake his head, this Researcher was quite the woman indeed. Unfortunately, she was a step too late yet again.

He stepped into the formation and it flashed just as Researcher Popsy rushed in, her hair bobbing in its messy bun and her eyes blazing.

When she saw the lingering Force, she quickly reached out, a vial magically appearing in her hand as she scooped at... air?

Oddly enough, the "air" glowed a silvery light once it was bottled and she patted her chest in relief.

...

"That happened?" Leonel asked with a frown. That vial was yet another thing he didn't understand, the second in not too much time at that. First it was the talismans that that young man had used, now this vial. "Replay the image for me in all the detail you think I can handle."

Anastasia nodded and did as she was told.

Leonel fell into silence as his gaze slowly became brighter and brighter.

'Fascinating...'

The vial did exactly what it seemed to do. It could take a sample of Force and analyze its properties. This was probably exceptionally useful for gathering information about one's surroundings, especially in a mine like this one. Or, in this case...

Finding the exact location of where one had teleported to.

Of course, the vial wouldn't do that for you, and it would be up to Popsy's intelligence. It was just unfortunate for her that Leonel's destination was in the middle of nowhere.

Leonel looked up and saw the encampment about ten or so kilometers from him. The Demons could definitely see him from this far away with ease. In fact, they could see him even if he was a thousand kilometers away, so he would have to get moving.

His Emulation Spatial Force shimmered and tried to pull him into a mirage. If they looked toward this direction, they'd most likely see a trick of the light.

It was too hard to use his Emulation Spatial Force to become invisible because it required constantly reflecting exactly what was behind him. But it was easier when he was so far away from the people he wanted to avoid.

'That woman is a bit dangerous... The fact she used that vial means that she already deduced that I'm not with the demons, or else it would have been a waste of her time. I wonder if they'll survive...'

Leonel knew that things were heating up. So many demons were appearing. That meant that the barrier between worlds was becoming thinner and less dangerous. Soon, the flood would come.

The question was... how could he best take advantage?