Prime Originator

Outside of the dark elven city, a field of crops stretched for roughly five miles before the other end of the cave was reached. And along the cave walls were multiple huge tunnel entrances, each completely blocked off by sturdy metal gates.

Leon followed the group and headed straight for the gate in the middle tunnel.

'That must be Howling Wind Gate,' Leon silently thought.

After sweeping the area with his divine sense and comparing the other two gates in the adjacent tunnels, Leon found out Howling Wind Gate was noticeably bigger than the other two gates.

In fact, it was the dark elven city's biggest gate.

However, Howling Wind Gate wasn't just threefold bigger than every other gate; it was also heavily fortified. It had a backup gate in case the first gate was ever breached.

In addition to the double-layered gates, there were several buildings near it, such as a barrack, an armory, and an intelligence building.

Nothing urgent seemed to be happening at Howling Wind Gate, but Leon could sense the heavy mood of the guards as he arrived with the group.

"We greet the City Lord!" the guards quickly lined up and saluted as Lord Rhuvek arrived.

After Lord Rhuvek nodded, he quickly asked with a stern and solemn look, "What's the situation? Where are the mutants?"

"According to the readings from our detectors, the mutants were first spotted in C Sector," one of the dark elven guards reported.

"However, the readings also showed the mutants heading towards D Sector. The detectors lost track of the mutants after that. Given this information, I believe it is safe to assume the mutants have already entered D Sector, my Lord."

"D Sector…" Lord Rhuvek frowned for a moment before asking, "Did we receive any news from the neighboring cities?"

"None, my Lord," the dark elven guards shook their heads.

Lord Rhuvek's frowned deepened.

After a short moment, Lord Rhuvek instructed, "Relay information of the mutants to our neighboring cities. The rest of you, go and gear up; grab whatever you need from the armory. This trip will be a dangerous one."

"Yes, my Lord!" the platoon of Transcendent-level dark elves answered with heavy and solemn expressions.

Shortly after the platoon headed for the armory, Lord Rhuvek said to Sorrell, "Take care of the city while I am gone."

"Please be careful, my Lord," Fairy Sorrell said with strong concerns.

"What's special about D Sector? Why does it seem like everyone is preparing to die?" Rainshine asked curiously while studying everyone's expressions.

Lord Rhuvek shifted his gaze to Rainshine before explaining, "Because of the threat posed by mutants, every city has set up a special detection system that picks up the unique frequencies of mutants. That way, we can swiftly dispatch troops to eliminate them."

"However, due to the cost and precious materials required to make the detection equipment, our city only had enough resources to cover the first three sectors. D Sector is the only region our detection system doesn't cover."

"How are these sectors labeled? Is it based on regions or distance?" Leon asked curiously.

Lord Rhuvek paused for a moment before ordering one of the fairies to bring him a map from the intelligence building.

Shortly after the fairy came back with the rolled-up map, which was clearly too big for her size, and handed over, Lord Rhuvek unrolled it for Leon to see.

However, Leon was surprised to see that the made wasn't two-dimensional.

The moment Lord Rhuvek unrolled the leather map, a three-dimensional hologram of the map was shown. The orange light marked all the explored and known regions around the city while the dark regions were unmapped.

D Sector was located within one of such dark regions.

"The Sectors are divided by their distance and depth from the city; A Sector is the closest to the city, while D Sector is the furthest sector we have labeled. Everything in these dark areas is uncharted territories," Lord Rhuvek explained.

Although D Sector was marked inside of the dark areas, it was partially mapped at the edges next to C Sector.

As Leon focused on the partially mapped region of D Sector, Lord Rhuvek continued, "Although we've made some progress in mapping D Sector over the years, it isn't much. D Sector is a den of Paragons. The dangers of D Sector far exceed the first three sectors."

"A den of Paragons, huh? Despite knowing this, you still plan to head there, Lord Rhuvek? You might survive, but it is very unlikely for the rest of your men," Leon stated.

"Be that as it may, we have no choice but to follow through and hope the other cities also send some Paragons to assist in exterminating the mutants," Lord Rhuvek said.

"This is the iron law of our clan; once a mutant is spotted, it must be swiftly killed. Failing to comply with the law is punishable by death."

"That's rather strict," Rainshine commented with surprise.

"That's just how it is," Lord Rhuvek said with a sigh before adding, "If we let the mutants grow, another city may fall one of these days."

"That being said, these mutants have been appearing more frequently in these past few months. This is already the third time this week. They used to be sighted only once every few years…"

"Now that I think about it, the last time mutant activity increased like this was over five hundred years ago. This seems to coincide with the Cataclysm you mentioned, Lord Leon," Lord Rhuvek suddenly thought with some suspicion.

Leon glanced at Lord Rhuvek and nodded, "It's probably what you are thinking; it shouldn't be a coincidence."

He had, more or less, confirmed that the mutants were creatures influenced by the Wrath Law. And they are most likely of human origins.

After noticing the platoon of Transcendent-level dark elves returning from the armory, Leon urged, "Since your men are back, let us head over to D Sector together, Lord Rhuvek."

"You're willing to partake in our mission, Lord Leon?" Lord Rhuvek's eyes brightened as he looked pleasantly surprised.

"Of course," Leon nonchalantly replied before asking, "If you die on this trip, who will negotiate with me?"