---Two Days later, Earth Dragon Manor---
It was afternoon when the modified communication rune in is pocket vibrated, glowing in a dim green light. This was a special gadget Hoen had created for the operation on the Voracious cloud continent. Since they couldn't know whether comm orbs would work, the dwarf had created something much simpler and more robust.
In exchange for a reduction of functions, the rough little stones with carved runes could work across incredible distances unimpeded by local energy fields or magic fluctuation. On the other hand, their only function is to send a single kind of signal and react once it receives a certain number of the same signal.
"It's time," Bement informed the others sitting around the table. The rune glowing green meant that every team had now activated their, everyone had reached their destination, and was ready to strike. He looked at the people at the table.
For the strategic attack on the various sects that were part of the schemes in Y-City and Little Gamma, the cards had been shuffled anew, and the field teams had formed more, smaller parties. Sitting at the table together with Bement were the members of Ortega's original party.
Morgana, the terrifying wind witch who had received the Storm of Death. Caldar, an archer who received the Set of Aela looted from Natina Durnham. Isabella, the desert warrior who received the Unhealing Scimitar, and Anga, a priest who was equipped with one of Neeco's new legendary robes for this mission.
All of them had at least one legendary item; Caldar even had three, and they all ranged in the early 100s. While powerhouses like Mine, Evee, or Monique were sent on more or less solo missions, backed by a small team of Oathguards, other members of the field teams like them formed balanced parties to take on their targets.
In their case, the target was an organization that called itself the Earth Dragon Manor. They were barely what the people of the XiGuang Province called a mid-tier sect. They claimed a whole mountain and a couple of floating peaks beside it as their base.
According to their intel, the Earth Dragon Manor was not strong to begin with, but they were one of the members of the Southern Sect Alliance that had suffered the least during their attack on little Gamma. They had been in the back and one of the first to flee when the situation turned unfavorable.
The organization itself had 3 people in the Soul Severing Realm. Although the cultivation realms were hard to translate to player levels, they could only estimate them to be equal to a level somewhere around the lower third of the lv.100s.
With the team of 20 Oathguard following them and the golems, they assumed to be more than enough to complete the mission. After all, they didn't have to slay all the members on their own. That was what their secret weapon was for.
After exchanging glances and signaling the Oathguards sitting on the surrounding tables, the full party stood up and left the dining area of their inn at the same time. Since the signal was given, they had to move quickly.
The whole point of this arrangement was that all parties would strike down their target on the same day. In a single day, dozens of sects would vanish from the southwestern XiGuang Province. An announcement of their arrival on the Voracious Cloud Continent, and a warning to anyone who underestimated Urth.
They made their way through the bustling crowd that filled the streets. This place was an incredibly overpopulated town at the foot of Earth Dragon Peak. Looking at this scene, it was hard to imagine that the continent was hard-pressed by Pathwork Portals opening all over the place.
However, after having strayed here for a couple of days, they had actually experienced several times that portals opened in the city and monsters invaded this place. Surprisingly, the local army always arrived quickly to slay the fiends.
It was not the cultivators that moved, weirdly enough. Even when witnessing a portal directly, the cultivators they had seen only rarely stepped in, mostly when they themselves were attacked. Since they were staying here, Bement had used his time to inquire about the reason.
Apparently, the secular government of the province and the cultivation world had a deal that separated their worlds. Apparently, the surrounding sects used this pact as an excuse, claiming that these portals were a problem of the mortal world and not their business. So cultivators simply watched civilians get slaughtered, rarely stepping in to help.
Even when the local administration set up a bounty system for these alien monsters, it was unable to make these people move in any significant manner. While Bement, as a former official of the adventurer guild, felt put off, he could kind of understand where they were coming from; the rest of his current party only felt pure disgust for these cultivators.
Considering they came from a world that had no magic or power system to begin with and had suffered terrible losses to the Portals, Bement could also understand their perspective. The thought that someone could just watch their brethren get eaten, without making a move, despite having the power to do so, had them seething with rage. After all, they probably had lost people, almost died, or knew people who experienced losing someone because nobody wanted or was able to help...
With fittingly grim faces, the people of Urth set on their way to Earth Dragon Peak. They had been waiting for the day to smite these creatures they denied to call humans. Outside the city, they all got on their mountains. None of them used Alpekas anymore.
With best regards from Evan, they were all equipped with lv.80+ Subterranean Terror Birds as their mounts. Although these birds were flightless, they reached running speeds of up to 90km/h, even in rugged terrain. In addition to that, they possessed a natural armor that made them extremely tanky, while also sporting some good attack qualities.
Good mounts were rare, especially ones that would also attack and fight alongside their rider. Although these were not the best mounts in Minas Mar, they were superior to anything that could be regularly bought on Urth, without gambling on pet eggs. Since none of the people present had a better pet, they were all equipped with some of the first exemplars bred by Evan.
Choosing a path off the road, to circumvent the main path leading to the mountain, the swarm merely took 15 minutes to carry the party to the entrance of Earth Dragon Peak. It was the highest mountain in this region, belonging to the foothills of a mountain range the natives called the Myriad Desolate Peaks.
The striking feature of the place was that there were several floating islands surrounding the mountains. One could see the ostentatious palaces built on top of the two biggest ones, even from a long distance away.
Although it was a similar situation to Delta, they only used the rocks to live on and as a subdivision of their sect. Two of the three powerhouses of this place were living on these islands, while the third, the sect leader, lived on the main peak.
They dismounted out of sight of the guards that were stationed at every path leading up the mountain and unsummoned their mounts. From here on, this became a stealth mission. At least it would begin as such.
"Here, Isabel, take it. You know what to do." Bement brought out a fist-sized burl that gave off a green, mossy glow and handed it to the thief of the party. The owner of the Unhealing Scimitar nodded as she received the seed of the Guardian Tree.
"Don't forget, if you need a diversion, just send a signal," Morgana reminded her.
"Alright. Wish me luck," the thief said, putting on a cap of invisibility from The Scene and activating her
Now, they had to wait.