The legendary warrior

Ryland only agreed to lead Ricky to the Short Devil tribe's strongholds because the other man promised he would set him and his companions free right after. However, Ricky's favor was another story. He figured that he shouldn't think about it, at least, for the time being.

"Thank you, man! I'll remember this,"

Ricky responded gratefully as soon as Ryland agreed.

Ryland then led the three of them to one of the Short Devil tribe's strongholds, and they arrived at their destination after about half a day's travel. Unfortunately, Ricky couldn't detect Claire's aura in this stronghold, which meant that she and her companions must be in a different stronghold.

"It looks like they aren't here,"

Ricky muttered with blatant disappointment. He had hoped to find them here, but they came to the wrong place.

And since they went to a dud, all they could do was wait for news from Ryland's companions, hoping that one of them would have better news.

Thankfully, Ricky finally received good news from one of his Shadowy Replications after an hour. It reported that they had detected Claire's aura in another stronghold.

"Thank you for bringing us here, Ryland. Now, just as I promised, the five of you are free from now on," Ricky declared with a smile. "But you must make a Martial Arts Oath before you leave, as the others must not find out we are here. You five need to promise to keep this a secret."

"I understand,"

Ryland agreed, nodding.

Under their agreement, Ricky let them go once Ryland made the Martial Arts Oath.

With that taken care of, Ricky took Mordechai and Ella to the Massacring Zone, and they headed to where the Shadowy Replication found Claire. Once they arrived, he deactivated the Shadowy Replication that was waiting for him there.

Ricky's space and the Shadowy Replication's space were linked to each other.

In that way, the Shadowy Replication's space served as Ricky's safety net. It could take him away from dangerous situations, and it could also serve as his hiding spot.

'Perhaps, in the future, I should hide some Shadowy Replications in concealed places. When my Shadowy Replications reach maturity and could produce Flesh Replications, I can use them to hide and even escape in times of trouble, ' Ricky thought with much foresight.

a black castle located in a deep valley. Black figures appeared one after another around the castle.

belonged to other devil tribes that served as protectors of the Short Devil tribe. Since the creatures from the Short Devil tribe specialized in casting weapons, they couldn't fight well, and they had to rely

and the other two cautiously hid in

them inside, Ricky? Can you tell where

asked the other man.

can sense their auras

answered Ricky

he drove the space into the

until they arrived deep

found what they were

golden halo surrounded Claire, Peter, and the other four, while the halo itself was enveloped in a

He only knew that it came from the Sacred Illusory Kingdom's sacred weapon—the Illusory

weapon could

depended on

Ricky gazed into the Illusory Ring, he saw that Claire and her companions stood inside, joined by an old

fact, this one looked positively ancient that

the Illusory Ring stood countless devils from the Short Devil tribe and

to attack the people inside. The short devil inside the Illusory Ring must be a high-ranking official of the Short Devil

old chief go! If you release him and hand over our casting heritage, we will let you live," said

how strong are these devils?"

of them are average warriors. With our current strength, only one devil can pose a threat to us," Ricky informed him.

a delighted grin. "That's not much,

The devil race's strongholds are located far away from each other, so we'll have plenty of time to get away from here. Plus, we have enough in our ranks. Every upper spiritual emperor of the devil race has a creature from the continent ready to confront him." Ella added her two

of it, Claire and her companions picked a good hostage. The Short Devil tribe in this stronghold seems to care a great deal for their old chief. That or they just care about the casting inheritance. Either way, we have a trump

of Claire and Peter. They managed to take the Short Devil tribe's casting heritage," Ricky agreed

to bring them in?" asked Mordechai, thinking that they would use the

waste? We are already here. We can't just save them. This stronghold

to kill every devil

kill all of them." answered Mordechai playfully, laughing in amusement. They seemed to be two peas in a pod. After all, he