"Who do you think you are to stand in my lord’s way ?!" Aeric roared indignantly at the new figure who now blocked their path.

Though it was strange that presumably an old fellow with a walking cane had managed his way down into the deepest reaches of the underground dungeon....

It matters not when taking into account their environment and their current situational advantage.

Down here, access to mana was being cancelled in real time...

And Aeric had only been able to use some of his mana, and also some very powerful artifacts requiring mana... because of the hourglass-shaped artifact he had retrieved from his lord’s vault before he escaped from the swarming soldiers.

This artifact only functions in proximity to those closest to it, meaning, at the moment, only his lord, the grand vizier, who was currently in possession of the artifact, would be able to use his mana to a certain extent; that is, until the sands run out, which wouldn’t be long now.

So, Aeric needs to silence this weak-looking intruder before time runs out and escape with his master using the spatial gem, which was also currently in his master’s possession.

It doesn’t matter if this intruder was actually a friend or foe; they had seen them trying to break out, so they had to die...

Moreover, no ordinary person would be down here in the first place, so he would use the advantage of his own immense physical strength as a grandmaster to quickly put the frail old man with a cane out of his misery.

His lord, who’s at the supreme paragon realm, doesn’t need to concern himself with such a weak foe.

"Blame your bad luck for appearing before us, old man!" Aeric remarked decisively before charging straight at the old man.

All his armament (Gear) was of the highest grade in the kingdom; his one blow would be enough to cleave the head straight off another grandmaster like himself.

What are the chances that anyone stronger than a grandmaster would be patrolling the underground prison? Very unlikely. Aeric thought as his heavy punch launched straight at the veiled figure’s skull.

"WAIT!! AERIC STOP!!" Victor yelled in panic, just coming out of his shocked state after the veiled figure had appeared.

Unlike his right-hand man. Victor noticed something that he didn’t. This figure was clearly the same one that had so easily stumped him when he had found himself inside the royal treasury, the one Helion had addressed as ancestor.

Victor had taken a long time to contemplate what had happened, and he had come to a frightening conclusion.

Like the underground dungeon powered by a mana-canceling artifact, he had noted even in his shameful state while being pulled through the passage of the royal treasury, that it also blocked the use of mana.

So, how was this person able to freely use such levels of mana that he had never seen or heard of before?

Unless the artifact, which was only capable of canceling the mana of anyone within the paragon realm and below, was faced with an entity that had jumped that bracket.

The Paragon Realm was the generally recognized peak of strength in the kingdom of Ursula. Not many people even know of the existence of something beyond.

Only those at the peak of power know of the broader realms, even if they could never reach them like the privileged few.

Victor had heard rumors about beings that had scaled the paragon realm.

A feat he hoped to achieve one day before the end of his life, but he never imagined these royal families would have such beings disguising themselves as enforcers. His late father had never mentioned that.

He thought he knew quite a lot about the starfalls and their secrets, but he was wrong, and his loyal guard was bout to pay the price for it.

"HE’S NOT SOMEONE TO MESS WITH, YOU FOOL!!"

"COME BACK HERE!" Victor yelled as he pulled out the gem from his robe, ready to activate it and sweep both himself and his right-hand man out of the perilous situation to safety. But he was a tad too late.

"What ?!" Aeric blurted in confusion as he noted the strange fact that he seemed to have stopped moving forward completely with his fist only an inch away from the veiled figure’s face.

No... it wasn’t that he had stopped, it was that all the dormant mana being restricted in him was now completely under someone else’s control.

Before Aeric had a chance to process that thought further, he had spontaneously combusted into a splash of body parts and a rain of blood.

"Fuck!! Stubborn fool!!" Victor cursed as he instantly poured his mana into the artifact gem in his hand right when the Ancestor turned to look in his direction....

With a mere look, he felt a pressure ravage through him, threatening to implode him from the inside, and Victor surged all of his strength and every iota of mana he could channel forcefully into the gem as it ignited in a blue light....

Victor Malverin disappeared completely from view.

"How bothersome....." The Ancestor muttered, sighing. He stood there for a couple more seconds before turning as he dissolved into light.

*****

Back at the cabin. Zorat was outside, reclining on a fancy chair he had reappropriated into his spatial repertoire on his way back from his adventures the previous night.

It was already sunup and getting to midday....

Florielle had just left after taking care of all the necessary chores at the cabin, saying she needed to take care of some other matters.

But Zorat could already tell something was not quite right with her.

She was still her usual bubbly self, but he felt there was some hurt behind her every smile and action for some reason.

She wasn’t even trying to awkwardly seduce Zorat anymore; in fact, it seems she was even actively avoiding looking him directly in the eyes.

This might explain why she ran off even when she already had all her chores done and would usually be playing around with her new bestie.

But, since it didn’t seem like she wanted to talk about what was bothering her, and Zorat really did not care that much, he said nothing and simply enjoyed his day, though he had a lot to do, a little rest was important too.

However, his thoughts soon returned to Florielle and how she would react when she saw what he had prepared for her.

With both girls being in the cabin all night, they have no idea what had transpired last night...

And right on cue, as Zorat had that thought.....

He saw a very frazzled and agitated Florielle running straight at him with her dainty arms holding the hem of her maidservant dress.

She looked like she had a ton of shocking news to share.

Hehehehe.