Is That A Wisp?

'Ah, right. They should have stored the items in storage rings. A caravan makes no sense since a merchant can opt to travel alone while carrying everything in one storage ring.' Krune realized something as he noticed how every object falling out from the broken carriages was worthless.

'My assumptions are correct. The caravan is made to transport people and not goods. They still need people for the logistics portion in Hworn City. How did I even miss out on this simple fact?' Krune wondered as he thought to himself.

Spatial storage rings weren't expensive. Their prices varied based on the size of the space inside them, but any merchant that traded goods and earned profits usually possessed a large storage ring. Hence, from the start, once the goods were transported into the carriages, they were placed within storage rings. In contrast, useless items were placed inside the carriages to fill up space.

He had just thought of this, only for him to be shocked. Perceiving through his Mental Energy Scan was something he hadn't ever expected to see at all. Among the bird-type demon beasts, one of them fished out a storage ring and created a spatial gate.

In less than an instant, all the bird-type demon beasts flew into it, vanishing from the scene. As Krune had ample experience with various storage spaces, Krune knew that the spatial gate wasn't meant to transport people from one place to another. But instead, it was a gateway to a world within the ring.

It had to be noted that to achieve something of that level, the level of such a storage ring should be pretty high. Among the storage rings he had brought with him to the God Realm, only the basic ones had remained. All the high-quality rings he had were destroyed by the laws of the God Realm. 

They were of superior quality in the Godly Path Realm. In the God Realm though, the laws making up their storage spaces were of inferior quality, so it was no surprise that they collapsed. 

The bird-type demon beasts were active underneath their carriage.

That was because of two reasons. One, they had the lowest cultivation of all the mercenaries, so the range of their Divine Sense was pretty small. Two, they were exhausted, so their Divine Sense couldn't detect their activities, even out in the open. It was the reason why they didn't move under any other carriage for the time being.

Since Divine Sense was blocked by the formation on top of the carriage, they weren't concerned that someone would snoop in on their activities. As for Krune, his Mental Energy Scan witnessed everything without their notice. 

Doors opened underneath every carriage as bird-type demon beasts flew out, flying into the spatial gate one after another. A small fraction of them entered the carriages, only to drop corpses of demon beasts in human form. 

They looked like the caravan members based on their clothes, but Krune knew that they weren't the caravan members. They seemed to be regular cultivators that had been killed and dressed up as the caravan members.

Whenever a boulder crashed into a carriage, their crushed bodies flew out along with the damaged items, making it seem as if the caravan members staying within the carriage had died. In reality, they had already flown into the spatial gate.

After some time, there were no more caravan members within any carriage. Everything was empty. Even the ones that had been on top of the carriages—defending the carriages—acted as if they had run out of Godly Energy and fainted. As the caravan moved through the air with numerous jerks, thanks to the boulders crashing into them one after another, the fainted caravan members used this chance to intentionally slip from the roof and fall into the chasm below.

In actuality, the moment they fell a certain height, they returned to their demon beast forms, flapping their wings as they flew into the spatial gate. Since they were located farther away, the other mercenary teams were unable to witness this. Then again, there was obviously one extra person who noticed it, Yulian! However, he already made things clear to Krune. Unless Krune was about to die, he wouldn't move a finger.

The attention of the other mercenaries was on the boulders above. Also, considering the environment of the Falling Boulder Precipice, the mercenaries were assured that there was no threat from the bottom. It was why they didn't focus on the happenings below the caravan and solely focused on the falling boulders. 

It was a calculated scheme by the caravan members. The only remaining members were those on top of the Zenith Pluggers. They couldn't leave them defenseless, so they stayed behind to protect them from harm.

'What the hell is Trivar planning?' Krune frowned as he pondered over it, watching the demon beast with the spatial ring fly towards the first carriage where Trivar was supposedly staying. 

The first flight route spanned 20 kilometers, after which they landed on the path once again and continued forth. But, it seemed the path had numerous instances where they had to take off into the air.

So, whenever that happened, some of the caravan members turned into their demon beast forms and retreated into the spatial gate while their respective carriage was shattered. By the time they had crossed the third location where the caravan had to take flight, all the carriages were now empty.

There were still a lot of carriages that were lucky and had survived, albeit with some damage. With that, the length of the caravan was still quite long. Krune didn't like their sneakiness, frowning as the strength he put behind his attacks gradually lessened over time.

He was saving up his strength, trying to replenish his Godly Energy faster. Vardin and Diana landed beside him sometime later, telling him, "We're exhausted."

"I can still last for some time. Recover your energies immediately." Krune said in response, tossing them some Rank Two God Stones.

"B-But, we can't use something this expensive." Vardin stuttered as he held the Rank Two God Stones. It was wealth he hadn't ever held even once. 

Krune transmitted his message to their mind, telling both of them, "Are those stones worth more than your lives? Shut up and recover your Godly Energy. Something's off with this caravan."

The couple was shocked as they stared at his back, linking some detail in their head as their expressions collapsed. They silently heeded his words and began to replenish their Godly Energy. Even though they had only met Krune a few days ago, they could feel that he was someone they could trust.

Since the Silver-Winged Mouses were constantly on the run or were hunted in the demon beast habitats, they learned to grasp a person's character. That was how they guaranteed their survival. A person's choice of words, their actions, their expressions at various instances, and so on, all attributed to their character and trustworthiness.

After all, trust was a relative concept. It varied from person to person. A person trusting of someone would be willing to betray another. With that, they had to grasp what a person's character was towards them. Only then would they be able to trust them. 

The Silver-Winged Mouse couple perceived a rather strange fact about Krune: as long as they didn't scheme against him, he wouldn't even raise his voice against them. On top of that, the only instances he would raise his voice were whether they were making fun of each other or whether their lives were at risk.

That's why they didn't retort Krune's words and obediently used the Rank Two God Stones he threw at them. Once they had recovered their Godly Energy, they returned to defend the carriages they were assigned to. After all, that was their job. It was also to make it seem like they hadn't noticed anything amiss. But all along, they were constantly on guard and returned beside Krune to recover the moment their Godly Energy dropped by half.

The number of carriages had reduced to 30 by the time they had approached the end of the Falling Boulders Precipice. Krune and the couple were fully exhausted now, having been battling all along. But in actuality, they were brimming with enough strength to retaliate when necessary. 

The Silver-Winged Mouses were experts at hiding themselves, so they acted as if they were like air. Krune was also an expert at controlling himself, so he put on an act that he was exhausted. Krune gazed at his right, noticing Xula stare at him from her position far away. The moment they made eye contact, she nodded at him before soon shifting her gaze. 

There were large sections in their caravan where the Zenith Pluggers trailed one after another. That was because their respective carriages had been destroyed, while the caravan members on their back detached the carriage and attached it to the intact ones. Thankfully, none of them were harmed and were still brimming with the energy to run. 

The only place that seemed exhausted in them was their wings, having flown for so long. They weren't a species designed for long-distance flight. Unsurprisingly, their wings were trembling from time to time, looking like they needed to rest. 

A faint fluctuation of Godly Energy washed past them the moment they crossed the Falling Boulders Precipice. All the Zenith Pluggers started to slow down as the caravan neared a hill, stopping at its foot. Large spikes protruded out of the ground nearby, acting as a cover for them to stop temporarily.

Trivar's voice resounded throughout the caravan once again, "We'll stop here for the day and set off tomorrow."

Krune let out a sigh in relief, motioning the Silver-Winged Mouse couple to follow him as he jumped from the roof, landing on the ground. He made a beeline towards the first carriage, intending to interrogate Trivar, only for Yuric to interrupt him.

"Move, Yuric. I have to ask Trivar something," Krune said. 

"If you wish to ask why he picked this route, I suggest you forget about it," Yuric said with an irritated expression, "A mercenary should only focus on his task and leave the rest to his employer. In our case, our task is to protect the caravan from harm, nothing more, nothing less."

"People died!" Krune shouted in anger, acting as if he hadn't noticed everything that had transpired along the route. "This was why I said we needed at least one mercenary per carriage! Now, look at what happened! From the initial 120 carriages, we're down to just 30!"

"That's just how it is." Xula, the tall woman from before, walked in, looking pissed herself. 

"Still." She looked at Yuric before saying, "Move aside, Yuric. I need to see Trivar. I don't usually question my employer, but I don't wish to stain my track record due to the foolishness of my employer."

"Xula!" Yuric shouted, emitting a wave of Godly Energy to pressure her.

"What? Are you telling me you formed a connection with them after being employed for so long?" Xula sneered, unaffected by the pressure. "I see how it is. You fell for that crazy wench."