Dimensional Descent

Leonel's gaze narrowed as he landed on the branch Keiza had been on. He looked from left to right, but the two brothers had also vanished.

'A probe? This woman likes to play too many games.'

Leonel shot forward, ignoring everything else. He didn't even bother to try and find where their real bodies were, he didn't care. All he cared about was making it to the next checkpoint.

…

"Why did you make us do that? Fuck! Now he probably think's we're afraid of him." Droet almost threw a fit, but this was as much as he dared to do around Keiza without going overboard.

The truth was that the strength of the two brothers, even individually, was no weaker than that of Keiza. The trouble lay in the fact that she simply wasn't the kind of enemy you wanted to make. Even if you could overpower her, the way you might lose could be very different from what you could expect. In fact, years could have passed, you could have long since forgotten how it was you had offended her in the first place, and it was exactly then she would choose to strike… when you least expected.

The two brothers had seen her do this all too often and they had no intention of becoming her next victim. With her abilities… She was too good at torturing people.

"Fighting here wouldn't be a very good idea. We should be using this grace period to travel up the mountain as fast as we can. Plus, I have a feeling that his methods aren't ones we can easily replicate. His skill as a Force Crafter is very high and I can see a strong Spatial Affinity on him, things none of us have. It's very likely that he relied on these gifts to deal with those bushes."

"That doesn't mean we couldn't have robbed him."

"If we were going to rob him, why do it now? Why not wait until he's accumulated more wealth? Plus, robbing him at all might not be a good idea. I get a very dangerous feeling from him, and his little girlfriend isn't a pushover either. Her mental coercion isn't weaker than mine despite not having a technique to funnel its usage."

The two brothers looked toward one another. There was nothing 'little' about her. But, they had no intention of correcting Keiza for fear of their lives and their family jewels.

"If there are so many roadblocks, we might as well just pick a different direction. Why are you so insistent?"

'Because he's a Morales, of course.'

Despite saying this in her mind, for whatever reason, Keiza didn't say this aloud to the two boys. There wasn't really a point in keeping it a secret either considering, by the end of this True Selection, there wouldn't be a single soul who was unaware, but… She still wanted to keep it to herself at least for the moment.

'Mother is such a smart woman but she was actually so infatuated with a playboy. Even father's death didn't fill her with as much emotion as the information that that man son was coming. Of course… that's probably because father's death was because of her.'

Keiza giggled to herself, not seeming like a woman with such a complex family life at all. It was clear that she didn't respect her father in the slightest. His life and his death wasn't enough to move the needle for her one way or the other.

'Unfortunately, I can't observe that man personally. But, you, as his son, actually has such an obedient little beauty by your side. Maybe, you've picked up something from being borne of that man. I really want to see what it is about your bloodline that makes women swoon.'

A cold light danced within Keiza's gaze. She hadn't even realized it, but her smile had disappeared.

…

Leonel had no idea that his father's past escapades had already given him two major problems to deal with. First Ossenna, now this Keiza. Trouble was that at least Ossenna was limited in what she could do. Helping Orinik spread rumors about him was about all that she could accomplish. But, Keiza was definitely a far more direct and immediate threat… especially given her charm.

Without her, the twins would have already given up this pursuit. But, due to her, they had chosen to linger in the shadows…

The worst part was that if Keiza could find the Libra brothers from a completely different village, she could most definitely find Leonel.

Leonel, however, wasn't thinking about any of this. As expected, the route forward was extraordinarily easy. He poured everything he had into his speed, running across the treetops and across the ground depending on the situation.

Whenever he spotted a Spatial Bristle Bush, he would immediately take advantage. His efficiency was even greater than it had been in the past, but because he was moving forward rather than checking locations with wide enough clearings to accommodate one, his harvest was much less. By the end of the three hours mark, he had recouped about half of the Void Points he had spent. If he was allowed to keep going, he would definitely be able to make it all back and more, but Leonel had a feeling that things wouldn't be so simple…

And he was proven correct almost immediately.

Without fail, the instant Leonel realized the three hour mark was up, a pillar of blinding light fell from the skies.

Leonel's gaze flickered, his body trying to think of a method to go around it. But, he realized that all he had time to do was come to a grinding halt.

Leonel just barely managed to stop, his nose halting a half foot before the barrier. Quite quickly, though, much like previously, it began to shrink. Soon, all that was left was a swirling portal barely taller than Leonel.

'A Sub-Dimensional Zone?'

Nothing here was a coincidence. This entire space was locked. Clearly, Leonel was being told that his only option was to step into it.

Without a choice, Leonel leapt in with Aina on his back. It seemed he would have to quickly clear this Zone.

Even as his vision blurred, Leonel had already flipped his palm to reveal the silver disk shaped dictionary. It was still the best Zone Analysis treasure he had and he trusted his father wouldn't let him down.

However, almost instantly, Leonel panicked and put the dictionary away.

'Dammit, old man! You couldn't make the dictionary resistant to Anarchic Force?! And isn't this a Zone, why is there still Anarchic Force here at all?!'

Leonel's frown set in deeply. How was he supposed to analyze the missions of this Sub-Dimensional Zone properly without a Zone Analysis treasure?