Death… And Me

Chapter 3788: Only One Place

”There isn’t much that you can expect to be honest,” Erxando explained. ”The only reason higher-level Umbras ended up further into the Umbral Field was basically so we wouldn’t get in the way of the weaker Umbras’ Developments. We need them to improve and increase the quality of their Emotional Energy until it gets good enough so Level Three Umbras like me can benefit.”

”So... no secret locations nor anything like that?” Rean asked.

”Not that I’m aware of... Ah!” Then, Erxando remembered something. ”There is this one place that I can’t really enter. It is located at the center of the Umbral Field, and it is also from there that the Black Light starts. Is that it?”

How could the twins’ group not understand what the Black Light was? That was obviously the Banishing Light. It’s just that here, the light wasn’t white, but black instead. The twins had witnessed it once not long ago, which happened every one thousand hours.

”A place you can’t enter... why?” Roan was the one to ask now. Erxando was a Level Three, so he was definitely strong.

Erxando shook his head in response. ”You probably are thinking about the dangers involved or such. That is not the case. It’s just that once an Umbra gets close to that place, we start losing our consciousness. That place has some kind of power that affects the very cores of our minds. But that’s about it. There is no such thing as traps, monsters that come and attack you, or any shit like that. If you are talking about suspicious places, that is the only one I can think of.”

”Other than that, everything is pretty much the same,” Erxando continued. ”As I said, Level Three Umbras usually don’t like to stay close to each other. But that doesn’t mean we will stay in one place and never leave. We often move around, but moving around also means bumping into other Level Three Umbras.”

”So, staying in a single place isn’t a good thing. After all, Level Three Umbras almost never fight, but that isn’t an absolute guarantee. If you stuck to a single location, other Level Three Umbras would eventually take notice, and perhaps that will lead to some alliance of Level Three Umbras ambushing you. Chances of that happening are very, very low, but no Level Three Umbra would try their luck.”

Roan understood. ”That said, you don’t have homes of your own that you can go back. I’ve seen the Level One Umbras using those floating Black Spheres as homes. Does that mean you don’t have a single place where you can just lie down and relax without worrying about other Umbras appearing at some point?”

Erxando’s mind couldn’t help but go back thousands of years. He, too, once lived inside one of those Black Spheres with other Level One Umbras. But since he became Level Two, such a thing wasn’t possible anymore, let alone after getting to Level Three. ”I would love to have the opportunity to do such a thing, but alas...”

Erxando shook his head. He was deviating from the topic. ”Anyway, you won’t find such things here. There isn’t a safe haven anywhere. The moment you get inside a Level Three Umbra’s range, you will feel each other’s presence, period. Well... you could, theoretically, join forces with several other Level Three Umbras to claim a single place as your territory, but such things almost never work out.”

”Betrayal?” Kentucky asked.

Which Erxando confirmed. ”Pretty much. Staying together also means getting to know each other better. Eventually, someone will show some kind of weakness, and the others will ambush that Umbra. It goes without saying that the Emotional Energy of a Level Three Umbra is many times better than that of the strong Level Two Umbras. Celestial Laws serve as a deterrent to others, but if there are too many opponents, they might get the idea that they can get to you without using their own Celestial Laws.”

Xian felt sad hearing all that. ”Why can’t the Umbras here trust each other? It is also rare back near the border, but there are a few groups like me and my Big Sister.”

”Hmph!” Erxando snorted. ”That is all a lie. Sooner or later, someone will fall for their greed. It was like this to me and all others I know.”

Xian refused to believe that. ”You are wrong!”

”Is that so?” Erxando wasn’t in the mood to discuss that, though. ”Then so be it. I’m not here to convince you of anything.”

Rean, on the other hand, wondered if the Umbras’ distrust of each other was something built over time due to the flaws and damage they accumulated. ’There is no such thing as high-level Umbra without damaged souls and minds, after all. The worse it gets, the crazier they become for power. Even Xian had quite a few flaws in his soul before he got them healed thanks to my Purification Skill, and he is quite a young Umbra...’

Rean stopped thinking about that. ’Forget it. I can’t do anything anyway.’

Roan wasn’t interested in any of that. ”Whatever. Since there aren’t any specific facilities, states, or locations to be wary of, we don’t really have any particular area to be concerned about or that we should try to avoid.”

Finally, Erxando asked something himself. ”Alright, you want my help, and I’m obligated to help you since I would certainly die if I didn’t. So, where exactly do you want to go? Is it to the central area where the Black Light originates from? That’s the only place of importance I can think about.”

”We aren’t sure yet,” Roan said. Then, he made a cutting motion with his hand, attempting to create a Spatial Gate. Naturally, the ancient runes prevented him from succeeding. Nonetheless, that was enough for him to feel in which direction they should go. He pointed out, asking. ”Is the place you mentioned in that direction?”

Erxando confirmed. ”That is the direction indeed.”

”Then it is likely that we are talking about the same thing,” Roan said, preparing to depart. ”Xian, cover us with your energy. We are leaving.”

”Okay!”