The Author's POV

"Where are we going?"

"I'm not sure; I'm just following the coordinates that Ren sent me."

Ryan muttered something under his breath as he stared at his watch and double-checked to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

Behind him were all of the forces that belonged to the human domain, and they were all following him stealthily while wearing simple smiles on their faces.

It was obvious that they were pleased with how the war had turned out for them, having suffered relatively few casualties.

"Did Ren send you the coordinates to the portal?"

"Yup."

Ryan responded, casting Ava a fleeting glance before returning his attention to the watch on his wrist.

His footsteps picked up their pace as he realized that he was only a few kilometers away from the spot indicated on the watch.

As he moved ahead, his eyes took on a certain glint as they looked ahead. It wasn't just him; everyone had the same look in their eyes as they followed him from behind.

Everyone couldn't wait to go back to Immorra.

The fact that they were getting ready to go to war prevented any of them from being able to carefully admire the city, but in the brief time that they were able to stay there, they were awestruck by the splendor of the city.

Even though the amount of mana over there was much lower than in Ashton City, the city was a lot cleaner and better put together when compared to Ashton City.

"We've arrived."

Ryan's body came to a startling halt all of a sudden, and as soon as he raised his head to look around, his mind blanked.

"What's going on?"

He wasn't the only one that reacted like that, as everyone looked in the distance in what seemed to be shock.

Rumble! Rumble!

Orcs in the tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, stood in front of a portal that was about the size of a small house.

Their presence was dreadful, and the pressure that was exerted was unlike anything that any of them had ever experienced before.

At the head of the orcs stood a white orc with a large scar running down his face. Upon detecting their approach, he turned his head and approached them.

"Silug."

Ryan called out in a leisurely manner.

"Little human."

Ryan's expression could not help but freeze for a moment when Silug greeted him. Thankfully, he recovered quickly. This was not the first time he had referred to him in this manner.

That being said, he wasn't pleased with the nickname that he had given him.

He wasn't little anymore.

'You're lucky that I have a lot of patience…'

Threatening him inside of his mind, Ryan opened his mouth to ask.

"What are you guys doing over here?"

"My lord has called for us."

"My lord? …You mean Ren?"

"Yes."

Silug nodded his head in agreement, and Ryan's expression changed.

He came to a sudden realization.

'So that's why he didn't call for us.'

"I see; he must've called you to handle the orc problem."

"Yes."

Silug nodded once again, and Ryan massaged the bottom of his chin. He appeared to be considering something as he cast his gaze over the distant portal.

"Since that's done, what are you waiting here for?"

"The Lord has told us to wait for certain guests."

"Gue―"

Swoosh!

Before he could even finish his sentence, the surrounding trees began to rustle, and figures emerged from behind them. Their steps were light, and their silver hair perfectly reflected the moonlight that illuminated the night sky.

It was the elves.

Creak. Creak.

If that wasn't enough, soon afterward, mechanical sounds began to ring throughout the vast plot of land, and figures wearing bulky armor and artifacts began to appear from above the skies and gently land on the ground below them.

In a matter of seconds, the land became filled with more and more dwarves, and within a short minute of Ryan's words, the land was completely filled with those from the tree races.

Ryan's mouth hung open at that moment.

"You… Don't tell me he plans on bringing everyone over to Immorra?"

"How did you know?"

Ryan closed his mouth, and his head throbbed.

Just what was Ren planning?

***

"Hmm… They're a lot quicker than I anticipated."

Thump!

As I pulled my hand away from a certain demon's head, its body collapsed in front of my very eyes.

When I turned around, I was greeted by the sight of Suriol standing outside the room, where he had been waiting for me.

"Have you found anything out?"

"Yes."

I gave a satisfied nod while gently stroking the top of my chin and pondering over the new information that I had received through the demon's memories.

'It looks like the demons have noticed that something is amiss with Immorra and were asked to investigate the matter. For now, he was the only demon that made a move, but from the memories, the demon seems to think that there will soon be more demons coming over to the planet.'

That wasn't good news.

If Jezebeth were to come to learn of what I was doing in Immorra, everything would go up in flames.

'…I think I don't have to worry too much, though.'

The most recent information I had indicated that the demons were currently engaged in a war with the three primary forces representing the other races.

Because Jezebeth was most likely fighting against the Protectors, he most likely did not have time to check on how things were progressing on my side.

In fact... by the time the conflict was resolved over there, he would probably just shift his attention directly to Earth.

When I realized that there was nothing significant to be concerned about, the tension in my brows finally began to ease.

"Yeah, there's nothing to worry about."

I reassured myself.

Wooom!"

Right at that moment, the barrier of the city began to wobble, and a number of terrifying presences began to make their way into the city.

"Uh?… Ah, nevermind."

At first, I was taken aback, but as I sensed more carefully, I realized that the presence belonged to some people that I was already familiar with, and as a result, I was able to relax.

I looked at Suriol.

"Let's go greet our guests."

***

"This is…"

There was a momentary change in Maylin's expression.

The moment her eyes landed on the city that lay in front of her, she found herself overcome with emotion.

The city was a mix of different architectural designs. From orcen architecture to human architecture, dwarven architecture, and elven architecture, it had all of them, and they seamlessly blended together to create the city that was before them.

It was nothing short of beautiful, and even Gervis seemed to be impressed by the city in front of their eyes.

"I heard from Randur and Jomnuk that they were working on a large project, but I didn't think it was something of this caliber... I'm honestly baffled."

"Mhm."

Maylin nodded her head in agreement.

She, too, was extremely impressed by what she was seeing.

Since Ren had asked for her assistance quite some time ago, and she had dispatched a number of elves to assist with the project, she had previously believed that she knew a little bit about this place; however, she had never imagined that the city would be of this scale and that it would be so...

So well organized.

"What do you guys think?"

Their ears picked up a familiar voice, and then a figure appeared in front of them. He regarded them with interest while wearing a sloppy grin.

"Hurr… Hurr… Come her"

Ren was forced to retreat in fear as Gervis immediately pounced on him in an attempt to hug him, and he covered the front half of his body as he did so.

There was visible fear in his eyes as he looked at Gervis. More specifically, his head, which was level with a certain part of his body.

"Ah, no!"

He extended one of his hands forward.

"Do not even bother trying! You're about half as tall as I am. Are you trying to prevent me from starting a family?"

"Eh."

Gervis froze on the spot, and his beard trembled. Understanding the meaning of Ren's words, he pointed his thick fingers at Ren while his face went through a series of different expressions.

"Y… you, is this how you greet your ally!?"

He was practically yelling, which drew the attention of everyone who was following closely behind them.

"Watch yourself."

It was only after Maylin's reminder that he came to, and he raised his fist to cough.

"Cough… I accidentally turned on my speaker. If you'll excuse me."

Everyone behind him quickly turned their heads away from him as he cast an inconspicuous glare in their direction.

He nodded his head in satisfaction when he saw them cower under his gaze.

"My bad… my bad…"

Be it Ren or Maylin; the two were at a loss for words. The first one to recover was Ren, who took a step back and moved his hands away from his groin.

"Alright, enough with the jokes."

The smile returned to his face, and he nudged them with his head.

"Come, let's go. I'll bring you guys over to the city. I'm sure we have a lot to discuss at the moment."

He turned around and headed toward the city.

Maylin and Gervis exchanged glances for a split second while staring at the back of his head. After that, they nodded their heads and began to follow him from behind.

"Yes."