While the increased tempo didn't affect the blue undead or the big black wolf, it really messed up with Mary and Corvus.

"No running."

Shanks glanced over his shoulder and warned the wheezing pair.

"Oh... shut up, kind sir....!"

Mary groaned, holding her side and glaring at the rat-faced man.

Before the procession they passed halfway the tower reached three-quarters, they were already by the entrance.

*clank*

"...!"

The door opened at the exact moment Shanks was reaching for it, causing the rat-faced man to flinch and instinctively prepare for an attack.

But as soon as the daylight coming from outside got blocked by the silhouette of the staggering soldiers stumbling inside, even Zombie realized that something wasn't right.

"Sir...! Sir! The sea of mist is gone! The confusing mist faded away!"

The soldier gasped in panic, trembling and scrambling around to salute to Shanks who was giving off the feeling of the grand general.

"The sea of mist too, huh...? Soldier, how about you? How are you feeling right now?"

Shanks clenched his fists and asked in a worried voice.

"I...! I... weak, sir. Very weak. It feels like all of my strength has been sucked out... but, sir! The mist! We need to check if...!"

The soldiers slouched down and yelped before flinching and pleading in a desperate voice, but even so, he managed to stop himself while looking at the people behind the rat-faced man.

"...to check if everything's alright with the avatar...!"

The soldier ended up changing what he was going to say at the last second.

"The higher-ups must be a mess right now, they'll need someone to pull them together! Soldier, go check on the avatar and report back to me as soon as possible - I'll be at the command center."

Shanks declared with unwavering confidence.

"Sir, yes sir!"

The soldier instantly straightened his back and saluted.

With clear and concise order given, the soldier rushed past the rest of the group and charged at the stairs.

"..."

The rat-faced man watched the soldier for a few seconds before he turned back and walked out.

"...!"

Zombie and the others might have stepped outside casually, but the rat-faced man flinched and took a step back the moment he had laid his eyes upon the clear blue sky high above.

The whole city was basking in the bright sunlight even though when they were still on top of the tower, the confused mist was everywhere.

"Haa. You weren't expecting the mist to go away?"

Cranberry sighed heavily and asked him from over Zombie's shoulder.

"I... this is not a good time or place to discuss it. There's no need for us to do anything, Patience will do whatever they want anyway.."

The rat-faced man wasn't taken aback for long - he shook it off and looked around for the rest of their group that stayed behind.

"Skwee! (Mommy! Daddy!)"

Blueberry was the first one to run at them happily.

"The mist...!"

The blue emperor griffin was followed by the confused members of the Dandelions and the copper-eyed Ti, way more shocked and worried than anything else.

"Not now. The whole army is in disarray, anyone who is not blood-related to the Sltoh family has lost all the levels above the 99 limit and all the status points gained through the shared acedia skill, so they are probably going crazy over there. Not to mention that since even the mist disappeared, the mass-produced guns should all become useless at best or horribly dangerous for the user at worst."

Shanks hurriedly explained with disgust, glaring at the top of the tower, now clearly visible for everyone looking.

"No. Wait."

Cranberry raised her hand to stop him and also turned towards the tower - but instead of looking up, she was focusing at the base of the tall building.

"The weakening seal should be gone now, right?"

She asked and raised her baseball bat.

The weapon began glowing with pure white light and the same happened with the red-haired girl's body and eyes.

"!!!!"

*}^&|(((&#%$^%*

Before anyone could do anything, the villainess swung at the tower of sloth and an ungodly sound erupted as the shockwave had thrown everyone far away from the tower.

/immune object

"...skwee... (Ow, ow, ow...)"

"It's okay, Blueberry, daddy got you."

The system message had popped out for both Cranberry and Zombie just as the invisible wall completely blocked the red-haired girl's strike - but the blue undead was far more focused on protecting the blue emperor griffin.

The others had it better, most of the power of the shockwave got reflected upwards and the humans go away with just being blown away - the big griffin didn't have that much luck.

As Blueberry was excited because of seeing her parents return, she put her wigs up - which caused them to be caught by the power and broken apart.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"...ha...?"

Zombie's roar caused Cranberry - who was already raising her baseball bat to strike at the tower again - to flinch and look at him with an angry expression.

"...AH...! Blueberry!"

*thunk*

But the angry expression turned into a terrified one once she saw the state that the emperor griffin was - Cranberry instantly dropped her weapon and rushed to her side.

*peck*

The blue undead used that chance to lightly kiss the crying griffin's beak which caused the damage absorption to activate and healed the named monster back to perfect health.

"Blueberry! Mommy is sorry! I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me...!"

The red-haired girl apologized, panicking and clinging to the griffin's side.

"Yes, you were. What the hell was that?! We have come across the invisible walls of the system MULTIPLE times! Even I figured out that that light-freak will protect themselves with that since they have the power of the system!"

Zombie shook his head with disbelief and glared at the trembling villainess.

"Sorry...! I'm really sorry...! I just...!"

"...?!"

Cranberry bit her lips and made a broken-hearted expression - which caused Zombie to raise his brows in utter shock.

"Skwee...! (I-it's okay, mommy...!) Skwee (Look, daddy healed me!)"

Blueberry screeched and raised her healed wings, but it still took Cranberry a good while before she pulled herself together.