Jared didn’t answer, his expression tense. If the soldiers inside got wind of their presence, their small team wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Jared, if we try to skirt around this place, we’ll have to go way out of our way. We could even run into more checkpoints,” Eason warned.
The mountain range was right before their eyes. If they were to take a detour now, it would only be a waste of time.
“We don’t have a choice,” Jared replied. “This isn’t a city, it’s a full-blown military camp. There must be tens of thousands of soldiers In there.”
“Okay, we’re definitely taking that detour!”
Both Eason and the Madman broke into a sprint, rushing ahead of him.
To avoid the city, they had no choice but to take a long detour that added a few hundred kilometers to their path. Eventually, another city came into view. It was noticeably smaller, but black-armored soldiers stood guard atop its gates.
Jared and his companions had just gotten within fifty kilometers of it when a large group of soldiers suddenly burst out from within, charging straight in their direction.
“Quick, conceal your aura! Who messed up?” Jared was stunned.
Their concealment had been perfect, those soldiers shouldn’t have sensed them.
“It’s me…” Bastian said sheepishly. He’d tried suppressing his aura for a long time, but his skill wasn’t up to par, and he’d slipped.
Jared sighed, then quickly waved his hand, casting a shield over the group and moving them to a new location.
The soldiers surrounded where they had just been, but found nothing.
“Search! They can’t have gone far!” the captain shouted, ordering a full-scale search.
Seizing the opportunity, Jared and the others made a break for the city. As they were sneaking closer, another group of soldiers suddenly emerged, and the two groups came face to face.
Swoosh!
Jared reacted instantly. His Dragonslayer Sword was out in a flash, unleashing waves of sword energy that shredded the soldiers before they could even cry out. Then, internal flames pulsed from his palm, incinerating the bodies into ash.
Too many corpses at the gates would raise immediate suspicion. He had to erase all traces of them.
“Let’s go,” Jared ordered.
They soared over the city, unseen. There were no guards patrolling the skies.
Once past the city, the mountain range finally appeared.
A vast chain of peaks stretched out before them, grander than even Demonia Mountain in the Ethereal Realm.
“Let’s move. Beyond these mountains, there are fewer cities. Once we cross them, we’ll be in other beast races’ domain, and we won’t need to keep hiding,” Jared said with a deep breath.
Building cities atop mountain ranges took immense resources, so even in Winged Tiger City, such cities were few and far between.
They pressed on, flying along the edge of the mountains for nearly five hundred kilometers without seeing another city.
“Jared, can we take a break for a bit? I’m having trouble keeping up,” Bastian panted. Still young, he’d burned through his energy quickly and needed a break.
“All right, everyone rest. Don’t wander off; I’m going to check ahead,” Jared said.
He set up an illusion array, allowing the others to hide within. To anyone passing by, they’d be invisible.
