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.

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

They 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

Ricky and the other two cautiously

them inside, Ricky? Can you tell

Mordechai eagerly asked the other man.

can sense their auras inside

answered Ricky affirmatively.

drove the space into the

inside, following Claire's aura, until they arrived deep into

found what they

halo surrounded Claire, Peter, and the other four, while the halo itself was

knew that it came from the Sacred Illusory Kingdom's

weapon could release powerful and

illusory space's strength depended on the user's realm and strength.

Ring, he saw that Claire and her companions stood

this one looked positively ancient that it seemed

Ring stood countless devils from the Short Devil tribe and other tribes.

and others in a siege, but none of them dared to enter the Illusory Ring, nor did they try to attack the people inside. The short devil inside the Illusory Ring must be a high-ranking official

you release him and hand over our casting heritage, we will let you live,"

are these devils?"

warriors. With our current strength, only one devil can pose a

They only have one strong member?" Mordechai repeated with a delighted grin. "That's not much, so we can probably take them. However, I'm afraid that

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

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

It was brilliant of Claire and Peter. They managed to take the Short Devil tribe's casting heritage,"

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

blocking me here. However, wouldn't that be a waste? We are already here. We can't just save them. This

every devil here whose strength does not far surpass mine," explained

waiting for? Let's kill all of them." answered Mordechai playfully, laughing in amusement. They seemed to be two peas in a pod. After all,