Lord: Sequence Master

At the Ashen King City's west gate, Rosen selected and purchased a wilderness motorbike after some careful consideration.

Powered by Blazing Shadow ore and running on steam, this vehicle could reach a top speed of 800 kilometers per hour. At such a speed, it was close to matching that of commercial airplanes.

Yet, this was just an ordinary steam-powered bike, not one of those supernatural vehicles imbued with sequence-level qualities.

As Rosen rode his wilderness bike away from the west gate, he would occasionally glance back at Ashen King City. From within, the city appeared more advanced and vibrant than even the most modern cities on his old planet, Blue Star. However, when viewed from the outside, it resembled a decaying behemoth, a long-dead colossus slumbering on the land. The entire city of Blazing Shadow was protected by rusted, towering walls.

While the Ashen Mist could contaminate all forms of life, it rarely had adverse effects on non-living objects. Many structures, now covered in ash for thousands of years, would have decayed long ago. But under the cover of the Ashen Mist, they instead remained preserved, appearing almost as new as the day they were built.

The walls of Blazing Shadow City were stained with rust and grime, remnants of the battles against ash creatures that had died there. Every few decades or centuries, the Ashen Mist would surge in a massive wave, unleashing an explosion of ash creatures, which would flood the land and attack all human settlements.

When that happened, humanity always suffered heavy losses.

Some believed this was a resurgence of the will of dead gods, while others thought it was the aftermath of a divine war triggered by foreign deities. Many theories existed, but none had ever been confirmed by the World Government.

The farther Rosen traveled from the city, the lower the terrain became, and the rougher the road. He slowed down his wilderness bike to avoid any accidents.

Even though his enhanced reflexes and physique could prevent injury if he fell, the bike itself wasn't as sturdy. If it broke down, he'd be forced to continue on foot.

After five hours of travel, Rosen finally arrived at Void Wasteland Valley, hundreds of miles away from the city in a straight line.

This was no ordinary place—it had once been the capital of the Gray Rats.

Here, the Human Demigods and the Gray Rat Ancestors had fought their final battle, one that wiped out the rat race. The once-flat land had been gouged out, leaving behind an unfathomably deep crater. The battle had even warped the space, forming a vast spiritual realm, a rare type that remained open and stable, blending the physical and spiritual worlds.

Although the supernatural resources of the spiritual realm had long been exhausted, the area had since become Blazing Shadow's garbage dump. All household waste and hazardous supernatural materials were transported to the valley and dumped into the realm.

Of course, sometimes the garbage didn't make it into the realm. For centuries, people had been carelessly throwing trash around, to the point that the original crater had filled with debris.

Now, ash creatures thrived here, with all kinds of creatures, up to Sequence 7, roaming the valley.

As for any Sequence 6 threats, they had been hunted down by generations of high-ranking sequences in Blazing Shadow, ensuring the country's safety, since it was surrounded by the sea and didn't lack formidable deep-sea supernatural creatures.

Even though the highest-ranked creatures left were only Sequence 7, they still posed a lethal threat to Rosen, who was only Sequence 9.

Rosen stowed away his wilderness bike and began carefully shadow-stepping through the landscape using Shadow Meld.

In the dim, ash-filled terrain, Shadow Meld was like second nature to him, allowing him to avoid all the ash creatures with ease. He wasn't here to waste time hunting them; his mission was his priority.

Using a map for guidance, Rosen searched for landmarks in the area.

The ash here made the environment incredibly dim, as if he were wandering in a light sandstorm. However, though the ash particles were clearly visible, they couldn't actually be touched. Even if he took a deep breath, no ash would enter his lungs.

Some believed that the ashes of this world were merely projections of true ash. Visible but untouchable in the real world, true ash was thought to exist in the deeper layers of the spiritual realms. Direct contact with true ash would turn anyone into a new ash creature.

With visibility so low, Rosen's Hunter's Magic Eye could only penetrate about several dozen meters into the mist. The further he ventured from human settlements, the thicker the ash became.

Unable to find any distinct markers, Rosen pulled out ten sheets of spiritual drawings, activating the ones that contained rats. He then activated Hunter's Magic Eye, marking the rats with shared-vision sigils.

The ten rats scattered in different directions, searching for anything recognizable, while Rosen entered his Mysterious Study Room to wait.

Before long, one of the rats reported back with good news. After traveling several hundred meters, it had discovered a lighthouse-like structure. Buildings like this were not uncommon in the Ashen Kingdom, and each bore a number that could be used to help travelers orient themselves in the ash-covered wasteland.

Rosen quickly compared the location on his map, confirmed his position, and resumed his shadow-stepping journey toward his target.

Along the way, he continued to avoid ash creatures, aware that a team of supernaturals had set their sights on him. He needed to retrieve his core material for the potion before they made their move.

Two hours later, Rosen reached a toxic swamp, where radioactive waste had been dumped. In theory, all this waste should have been discarded inside the Void Wasteland Valley's spiritual realm. However, seeing it outside the realm meant that someone had either dumped it irresponsibly or a Scavenger Hunter tasked with delivering the waste had died on the way.

The swamp was teeming with slimes, the most common creature in the valley.

These slimes were all supernatural creatures, not ash beasts.

Slimes were one of the rare few species that, despite lacking intelligence, were completely unaffected by ash contamination. Many scientists had taken them to labs for study, hoping to uncover why.

Since slimes could eat and digest almost anything, Blazing Shadow had intentionally released many of them into the valley to help manage the waste. Now, their population had swelled to over a million. The Nightmare Slime that Rosen had acquired might have originated from this very valley.

Rosen summoned his Nightmare Slime, intending to blend it in with the others.

Obediently, the Nightmare Slime was thrown into the toxic swamp. Its body morphed like clay, forming webbed feet like a duck's as it paddled around in search of a Sequence 8 mutated slime. It wasn't long before it found something.

There was a specific area where every time the Nightmare Slime approached, it was repelled by a group of gray slimes.

Rosen immediately deduced that his target was in that direction and ordered the Nightmare Slime to lure the enemies away.

The Nightmare Slime, following its command, rushed toward the gray slimes that had tried to push it back.

End of Chapter