Chapter 204: Ruins
When the three experts heard that where Jay has found God's Tree, their expression turned deadly serious.
Frost Desert. A place which was quite close to the south region of the Federation where the ruling family was one of the 5 Great Families, the Charon Family.
Just as everyone knew, the Charon Family was just as strong as the Voodoo Family in the west, but with the only difference that their powers didn't come from strong experts, but manpower.
While the other four Great Families had several ace experts which were the essential pillars of than families, until then the Charon Family had thousands of mid-rank experts, while only 1 extremely strong expert.
Because of their number, they could easily obtain a place among the Great Families. However, this wasn't the only reason why they were one of the strongest ones.
The real reason behind their power was that their main territory was surrounded by Frost Desert, one of the deadliest places after the Forbidden Lands.
When Dimensional Zones first appeared on the earth's surface humanity didn't know what to expect at all. And because at that time humans with Soul Stones were close to nill, Dimensional Zone outbreaks occurred one after another, pushing humanity into a total calamity.
At that time, several hundreds of outbreaks happened at the same time in a desert close to the south part of the Federation.
And to make things even worse, each creature from those outbreaks was associated with the element of ice, frost, and water, turning the whole desert into a frozen bleakness.
Today, that bleakness is what they call as the Frost Desert. The place changed so drastically, that whoever walked there could freeze to death in minutes if they were not prepared enough.
There, some of the grain of sands underwent strange changes, giving them the powerful ability, which let them turn anyone into frozen ice sculpture after a single contact. And because each part of the desert looked the same, it was unknown which part of the desert did have that scary power and which didn't.
However, the worst part wasn't that, but something even more frightening. Because more than hundreds of Dimensional Zones broke out at the same time, Frost Desert obtained a terrifying region where even space itself was unstable, called as the Flake Zone.
There, space breaks occur, resulting in anyone there dying in a single second. And what was even scarier, that each space break happened randomly there without the slightest sign. It could even happen a single inch away from your body, resulting in you being cut up into hundreds of pieces instantly.
And because of this, the Flake Zone in the Frost Desert was feared by more people than the Forbidden Lands.
"Are you sure the tree is there?", asked Eliana calmly.
"Yes, it is. 100%", answered Jay with a nod and said, "And that is why I said it would be extremely dangerous for you even with your current strength to go there. You would only die without knowing what killed you. Or at least without me."
What should that mean?", asked Zane with a frown, not understanding what Jay said.
It was a bit too arrogant statement to say that one of the strongest people on earth's surface would die if Jay does not help him.
However, Jay knew this and that is why he grinned and waved the scroll in his hand.
"Because without this scroll and me, you won't be able to reach the God's Tree in safety."
As Jay said this, everyone's gaze fell on the scroll in Jay's hand. Especially the three experts. Their gazes were like wolves, ready to tear the scroll off from Jay's hold.
Seeing their gazes, Jay smiled and said, "Don't even think about getting your hands on this scroll. I will lead you there, but as an exchange, I need a hundred High-class energy crystals from God ranked creatures."
"!"
When Greg and his friends heard this, their expression turned stupefied, while the three experts looked at Jay like a total clown.
"You truly think we will accept such an exchange just to be lead to a stupid tree? You need to wake up from your dreams old man.", said Zane with terrifying calmness.
Jay hearing this shrugged and said, "Well, that is my bottom line. If you don't want to accept my deal, then I will go there alone."
As he said that, Jay was about to turn around and leave when suddenly Eliana's voice sounded from behind.
"Let's make that 50 High-class energy crystals from God rank creatures and several Soul Creatures on the God rank given by the Soul Association."
Jay hearing Eliana stopped and looked behind.
"Let's make that 75 energy crystals and you can keep those Soul Creatures. I don't need kids' toys."
"Kids' toy..."
When Greg heard what Jay said didn't know whether if he should cry or laugh, but he couldn't blame Jay at all. With the strength and rank, he had currently, Soul Creatures would not be of any help for him.
He would instead choose 100 Low-class energy crystals from Creator rank creatures than to obtain one more Soul Creature which wasn't of any help to him.
When Eliana heard this, she started to think for a while and said, "Okay, it's a deal then. However, we only give it to you after we truly saw the tree with our own eyes."
"That is perfectly fine with me. Until I get my crystals, I don't have a problem at all.", said Jay with a smile.
Eliana nodded and looked at Cloud, "Zane and I will go with him, until then can you go with Greg to the ruins?"
"Sure.", said Cloud with a nod, and looked at Greg.
"Let's go. We don't really have time to waste."
Greg hearing this looked at Eliana and Zane and after a small while he asked, "If they don't come, I hope you let my friends come with us. They will be a great asset I am for sure."
Cloud hearing this glanced at Eliana, but seeing that she was already walking away with Zane and Jay he sighed and said, "Sure."
***
Above the skies, Cloud, Greg, and his friends were flying on top of a fluffy cloud, when suddenly below them, an amazing sight appeared.
It was a huge, flat surface filled with thousands of broken buildings, while around them a small circular wall, which end couldn't be seen even in the far horizon, was covering the ruins from all directions. However, even those walls were destroyed, giving the place an even more ruin-like feeling.
While Greg and the others examined the average-looking sight below them, suddenly Cloud's eyes widened and without hesitation, he controlled the cloud to the side.
And just as he did...
*Swish!*
A silver flash appeared out of nowhere, and with a speed that was hard to follow flew through the air, passing by Cloud's and the other's side only by a hair's margin.
"Stop right there! You have entered a prohibited area, so please turn back now or face the consequences!"
Suddenly from the far distance, four people flew toward them while the man in the middle held a bow in his hand pointing it at them with an ice-cold expression.
While Greg looked at the man who had the presence of an Ascender rank fighter with a calm gaze, suddenly from the side, a familiar voice sounded.
"Greg? Eh? You guys are all here? Why are you here?"
Glancing to the man's side, Greg noticed that a girl he knew from the past looked toward them with a surprised face.
She was naturally Laura, Jonathan's sister from the Clanwing family.
"Hey there! It has been a long time since we met. How are you doing?", asked Greg with a calm smile as he looked at Laura before him.
Laura seeing that Greg and his friends were smiling at her, she touched the man on the shoulder and said, "They are my friends so please show some manners, Bex."
The man called Bex hearing what Laura said looked a bit surprised and after lowering his bow, he smiled wryly and bowed slightly.
"I apologize, I was told to keep out any strangers from this place. I would have never thought that you would be Lady Laura's friends. I deeply apologize."
When Greg and the others heard this, they looked quite surprised by the abrupt change of behavior of the man and suddenly didn't know how to react at all.
While they were looking at Bex in silence, Laura on the side smiled satisfyingly and glanced at the five before her on the cloud.
"I guess you all came because of the temple right?"
Greg looking at Laura, knew it would be completely useless to lie to her, so he nodded gently and answered, "Yes. I think I have a way to enter that place, so I want to try my luck. I hope you can let us in."
When Laura heard this grinned even more and said, "Haha, just what my stupid brother told me."
As she said that, she turned around and while glancing back, she said, "If it's only the five of you, I don't see a problem at all. So please, follow me."