Single Wish: Rise Of The Omniscient Paragon

A cataclysmic explosion that reminded Corey of Azimuth's attack that pierced through the Chained Firmament shook the entire Chained Firmament.

It was similar to an earthquake, and Corey's gaze narrowed as he looked in the direction of the explosion.

'Another attack from a Tier 7?'

His eyes widened slightly when he saw the shockwave from the attack and a massive dust storm approach them.

"Hehehehe."

Damien chuckled with a mad smile, and Corey glanced at him before he suddenly vanished.

He reappeared beside Pamela with Damien's neck in his grasp. No words were exchanged between the two of them, and they acted instantly.

Pamela clapped, and a spherical barrier of runes appeared around the entire group. Corey enveloped interior and exterior of the runic barrier with a mixture of his Will and Hexagon Nova Shield.

A second after Corey coated the runic barrier with his defense, the shockwave slammed into them.

"Ugh."

Corey grunted with a deep frown as he felt the shockwave that had traces of Immortal Mana slam into his Will.

It was painful as hell, and if his Will was anything asides from Undying Will, his mind and spirit would have suffered irreparable damage.

But with an Undying Will, he saw it as training.

'The pain means improvement.'

Three seconds after he had this thought, his Hexagon Nova Shields shattered into pieces, and when he felt that his Will was about to crumble also, he withdrew it.

Although his Will would definitely restore itself, he would be in constant pain, and he'll also be weakened.

Corey could not have any of that when Pamela's defense was still present.

Crack

Crack!

Crack!!

Cracks appeared on Pamela's runic barrier as the shockwave of Immortal Mana slammed into it, and for a moment, Kiefer, Selene,Willow, and Damien thought that the barrier was going to be destroyed.

But a few seconds later, it stopped.

The surroundings was still covered with dust that prevented them from seeing so far ahead, but they could see one another.

"What the? What was that?"

Kiefer asked with a stunned expression, and Pamela replied with a deep frown that was laced with worry.

"The shockwaves of the attack of an Immortal."

Selene's eyes became filled with worry, and she looked in the direction of the attack.

Her eyes reflected the sight of a colossal smoke that was moving higher than some of the colossal trees in the distance.

"Should we have come? Even the Universal System warned us that only Tier 6s were recommended to come to this place. We can't do anything against Immortals."

Everybody became silent, and then the silence was broken by Damien's laugh.

"All of you will die, and your world would be ours. Our people will finally be-"

Crack!

The snapping of neck resounded in the environment which was then followed by Damien's lifeless body falling to the ground.

Everybody looked at the body, and then Pamela shook her slightly before looking at Corey.

"You know you didn't have to kill him, right? We could have used him."

Corey sent Damien's corpse to his Tri-Pupil Eyes, and then he looked at the immense smoke in the distance. The dust around them was completely gone, and they could finally see their surroundings.

"We don't need him. There are other members of the Freedom Fighters we can surely use. Besides, he hated us to the bone and he was really annoying."

Corey turned toward Selene, and then he handed out a grey crystal to her, and then to Kiefer, and then to Willow.

"I already guessed that this place was going to be extremely dangerous. Especially for you guys, and since I'm not heartless, I did not bring you guys here without a backup plan to protect your lives."

Kiefer, Selene, and Willow shifted their gazes from the grey crystal to Corey.

Corey pointed at the crystal. "If there ever comes a time where you find yourselves in a danger that can threaten your lives, that crystal will automatically protect you by making you intangible. And a second after that happens, you'll be teleported back to the surface of New Earth. But you should be careful, it would not be able to protect you from every enemy."

"Also, if you ever feel like you want to leave, crush the crystal, and you'll appear on the surface of the planet. Even if you want to leave now, you can leave."

Corey looked at Selene who had an extremely complicated expression. She looked back at him, and she hesitated for a moment before asking the question that was on her mind.

"Why didn't you give us the crystal a long time ago? What if something happened to us? And can we truly leave now and there won't be a problem?"

Corey shook his head slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you if that's what you're thinking about."

Selene looked down with a pondering expression.

"Also, I didn't give you the crystals because I wasn't sure about the danger of this place. If the highest Tier in this place was just Tier 6, then it wouldn't have been a problem for me to protect you. But Tier 7s are way out of my league."

Selene looked at him. "But what if something happened to us before this time? What if-"

"Nothing happened. You're safe. You're not injured. And you've never been in any danger. So just take the crystal and move on."

Selene shut her mouth, and Corey looked at Ecles who had been staring at him without blinking the entire time.

It was like she was looking at a complex math equation she could not hope to understand, so her face was just... blank.

"Princess."

He called out, and Ecles blinked, her awareness slowly returning to her.

"We need to take you back to your family. Where's your family? And how do we take you to them?"

Ecles frowned slightly, and then she looked at Pamela.

"Do you guys plan on hurting my family?"

Pamela smiled. "No. As long as they don't hurt us, we won't hurt you."

Ecles pondered for a few seconds, and then she looked at Corey before pointing at the ground.

Corey raised a brow. "What?"

"We live underground now."

Corey, Pamela, Selene, Kiefer, and Willow had baffled expressions when they heard Ecles' words.

"Under? You live underground?"

Corey asked with a confused expression, and Ecles nodded.

"Yeah. My family, and many of the Silver Elves live underground. We used to live above ground in the past, but after the destruction of our planet, we had to move underground."

"...But the Freedom Fighters live above ground."

Ecles looked down while fiddling with her fingers, and at first, it didn't register to even Corey and Pamela, but then they noticed the oddity.

Pamela looked at her. "Wait. If it's only the Freedom Fighters that live above ground. Why are you here? And how did they kidnap you?"

Ecles fiddled with her fingers and curled her bare toes with a nervous expression. "I saw a beautiful butterfly and I chased after it outside."

Everybody's lips twitched, and they all had the urge to slap their foreheads in disbelief.

"It's alright, Ecles. You're a child. It's understandable. Just tell us to get to your family before it's too late."

Ecles pointed at one of the colossal trees that was nearby, and everybody looked.

"We use that tree to go down."

Everybody raised their brows, and Corey shifted his gaze from the tree to the princess.

"We use the trees to go underground? They're are the passage underground?"

Ecles shook her head. "Not the trees. Only a few trees. Not all trees can take us underground, but there are some trees we created, and these trees are systems that lead us down to my... home."

Corey looked at the tree, and he frowned for a moment before shaking his head slightly and looking at Ecles.

He considered activating his Eyes of Omniscience to see what was so different about the tree, but he chose not to do so because his eyes were still not healed.

"What's different about that tree compared to the others." He asked.

"Huh. Let's go to the tree and you'll see for yourself... When I was running away from the Freedom Fighters, I wanted to escape through the tree, but the poison got to me first." Ecles looked at Corey. "I never got to thank you for saving my life actually. My mother said it's bad manners not thanking somebody after they help you."

Corey gave a light smile, and then he gestured at the tree.

"Let's go."

Ecles nodded, and Pamela took her by the hand and walked to the front with Ecles. Corey followed, and so did the others.

A few minutes later, they stood before the tree, and Corey and the others touched it to see if they would sense anything, but they did not.

Even Pamela and Corey did not sense anything. However, Corey noticed something odd about the tree. Something he would not have taken note of if not Ecles telling him about the tree.