Breaking Into The Palace

Seeing the battle, Noah wasted no time as he dragged the slightly injured Alyssa and withdrew quietly.

The two suppressed their Essence circulation and release to the minimum, taking advantage of the chaos to quickly and quietly approach the palace. They managed to get to the gate rather easily as the battling beasts were utterly relentless.

Pushing softly at the gates, Noah was speechless. The damned thing was pretty heavy, he and Alyssa would need their full strength to open it and it was impossible for that to be subtle.

Gritting his teeth, Noah's hands grew out silver scales while his Essence flowed to release his Gravity Force soul skill. "Break it open, the beast won't be able to get here on time."

Alyssa nodded and gathered strength. Her sword blossomed with dark colored Essence flowing over it.

Both their Battlesouls roared into existence as they attacked, letting a reverberating explosion rang out.

They were surprised to find out that, despite their strength, the gates only opened up slightly. It was barely enough to allow a person to fit through.

The Exalt Stage Beast seemed to sense the commotion behind it and roared in anger at the sight of people rushing into its Master's palace. It wished to return but unfortunately it had charged deep into the Ape's army and was thus hindered. Yet that couldn't possibly stop it for long.

Seeing this, Noah rushed in the slight gap, readily executed Limit Break. He used his arms to halt the closing gates and snarled, feeling the bone breaking pain ravaging him on the inside. "Get in."

Alyssa immediately dashed into the entrance, forcibly squeezing herself through. Once she was inside, Noah executed his Flicker and disappeared into the palace, letting the gate close with a loud bang.

Seeing this, the beast roared with more anger as the humans had disappeared. Knowing it could not possibly enter that place to kill them, it vented its anger upon the idiotic Apes before it. Unfortunately, the two sides were fighting under the cruel soul damaging sun. With more beasts on the Ape's side, the battle was more or less a draw with neither side having an advantage. At least for now.

But the instigator of this, Noah, was currently panting heavily as he reigned in the pain gnawing at him from the inside. He circulated his Blood essence according to one of the skills of the Azure Dragon Art. The skill was called Dragon Sleep. It was a magical skill that allowed warriors to increase the healing factors of their cells, but it couldn't be used while fighting as one's fighting prowess would be lowered.

Noah had realized that using external skills of the Azure Dragon Art by the Intermediate Stage was really wishful thinking. He had to wait till the Adept, or maybe Exalt Stage to use the full power of the Martial art. For now he could only use internal skills like the Dragon Sleep.

He glanced around the hall they were at and noticed that there were no beasts or enemies around. The hall was quite lackluster, with multiple rows of chairs on the sides. Obviously, this was the waiting room for guests of the palace when its owner was still alive. Beyond the seats was a door shimmering with gold lights.

His sore muscles groaned as he extended his hands to feel the structure of the door, he was surprised to find out that he recognized the metal. It had been one of the items you could exchange for at the Mercenary Association.

Jade Essence Metal. A wondrous but rare metal, its application into armor allowed a warrior to increase his healing and essence flow. This sort of thing was very rare, yet Noah just witnessed a Battlesoul master wasting it to create a damned door.

'Truly the poor will never understand the rich. Even if I was that rich, why in hell would I ever use all that metal for a freaking door?'

The two could hear bangs on the gates of the palace, obviously the Exalt Stage beast was done massacring the Apes and sought to come into the palace. But their expressions eased as, even though the gate was not weak enough to stop it, the beast couldn't open it enough for its huge body to get in.

Seeing this, they rested a bit before heading in.

Alyssa was stunned as she looked at the hall glittering with shining light. "This is all Jade Essence Metal?"

"Tsk, tsk. Truly rich." Even Noah's silent front broke as he stared at the hall. 'After finding the method to send us back, I'll make sure to clean the floor and walls of this palace clean.'

"Can you find anything?" Alyssa quickly got over the Hall's majesty and asked.

Noah shook his head, his Silver Dragon Eyes had been scanning the hall multiple times over and he couldn't find much. "Everything here seems normal. But the throne in the distance is covered with a sort of veil, my soul skill is useless against it."

The two showed a weird look. The throne in the distance was even more majestic than the hall, with its frame being made of Abyss Metal, one of the most magical metals used for armor with the ability to absorb Essence, thereby protecting its wearer. This was a metal that even Exalt and Master Stage Battlesoul masters would immediately go crazy for! Yet this Overlord Battlemaster used it for a freaking chair!

Even if the owner of the palace was an Overlord Battlemaster, he shouldn't be crazy enough to use material like this for a simple chair.

Looking at the throne and the wonderfully crafted World ring, Noah's and Alyssa's face revealed anxiety. This setup was obviously a trap, yet they couldn't help themselves as exiting this dimension was their priority.

They stepped out, but soon retreated as they felt a familiar sting within them.

"The Soul damage is back." Noah glanced around to find the source of the attack but failed. "It doesn't matter, we will get to the throne before the attack does any substantial amount of damage."

"Hmm."

With that, the two dashed out. The stash of scorpion carapace had been exhausted and they didn't bring in new ones because they didn't think they'd have to deal with this inside the palace.

But it was as Noah said, they had gotten to the throne without much damage and the area around it was devoid of soul damage.

Feeling this, he sighed in relief as he wasn't entirely sure of what would happen.

He then smiled as he glanced at the throne, there should be a clue about how to return within the ring.

So without hesitation, he and Alyssa stepped forward.

But suddenly a malicious cackle filled the hall. "Hehe, truly the best bodies out there."

Noah and Alyssa gasped as they felt their very soul leave their bodies and appeared in a deserted space.

Before them, an old man who was about 20 meters in height glanced down at them with a smile revealing mockery, disdain and maliciousness. His mouth opened to release a booming voice that rang out in their surroundings. "I should thank you for the bodies which you have brought to me. I shall truly cherish them." The eyes of the old man glinted with killing intent. "You may die now, knowing that your bodies were given the honor to be my chance at rebirth!"

It was then the two figured out who was before them.

Evan Hills! The Overlord Stage Battlesoul master!