...

A few moments later, Izroth, Niflheim, and Sacred Blade made their way deeper into the Rosentarus forest.

"We're getting close. There are no monsters around this area, so we can afford to relax a bit." Sacred Blade commented.

"How did you discover the entrance to this crusade?" Izroth asked curiously.

Meng Jiang's guild, Sacred Beasts, owned an incredibly detailed Realm Chart of Rosentarus. They had no doubt explored the kingdom from top to bottom since they used it as their main base of operations.

If there was a crusade somewhere in Rosentarus, if there was anyone who could have uncovered its whereabouts, it should have been Sacred Beasts.

So, how did someone like Sacred Blade, who spent most of his time behind the Amaharpe borders, manage to find it?

"Honestly? It was just sheer dumb luck on my part. I happened to be in the right place at the right time—that's all. And, once I realized what I've found, I knew that it was not something that I could face alone. Though I suppose it would be more accurate to say facing it alone would be a waste." Sacred Blade explained.

"You made the right call. From what I understand, crusades match the strength of their entrants before increasing the overall difficulty to always be a step above. But, the higher the difficulty, the better the rewards." Niflheim stated.

"Precisely. It's why I wanted the two of you to tag along. Ah, we're here. I should have mentioned this beforehand, but the entrance isn't exactly orthodox." Sacred Blade said.

The three had finally arrived at their destination!

...

Meanwhile, somewhere in RML...

After running nonstop for nearly two minutes, Reilei found a safe place to rest.

She examined her new surroundings for any danger, and after confirming that there were no threats nearby, Reilei carefully set Ayanellia down to walk on her own.

Reilei released a long sigh of relief. It seemed that their attack was able to suppress the kitsune and prevent it from chasing after them.

Now that Reilei put a reasonable distance between herself and the Failed Kitsune, she prepared to log out and wait until it was safe to return to Eastgate.

"It might take a few hours, but... It's better than placing Xiao Liang and Ayanellia in danger." Reilei internalized.

Phoenix made Reilei aware of the fact that when a summon dies, they would not permanently stay that way. They merely became temporarily unavailable for the summoner. As for the amount of time, it usually depended on the summon. The more powerful a summon, the longer they would be unavailable.

But, Reilei discovered something odd about Xiao Liang and Ayanellia after Phoenix asked her a question she never really considered.

"Why are your summons always out? Doesn't it consume a lot of mana to constantly have two of them out all the time?"—when Phoenix asked this question, it was something Reilei had no answer to at the time due to her inexperience.

It was not until later on that Phoenix helped her get to the bottom of it. The conclusion? It was a result of the bonding type that existed between Reilei and her two summons called Soul Link.

Because of Soul Link, Xiao Liang and Ayanellia did not consume Reilei's mana despite constantly being by her side.

But, while Soul Link provided the summoner and summon with numerous benefits, it also came at a cost different from the typical contract formed between a summoner and their summon.

If a summon with Soul Link perishes, it was not just as simple as resummoning them; instead, they would remain unavailable indefinitely! At least, until a summoner could get their hands on a Spirit Awakening Crystal.

While Spirit Awakening Crystals were rare, they were not impossible to acquire as long as you had the funds to do so.

The issue came from Xiao Liang and Ayanellia's growth potential.

The greater a summon's growth potential, the higher rarity Spirit Awakening Crystal they would require to be resummoned.

Both Xiao Liang and Ayanellia possessed Supreme growth potential—the most sought after and highest possible growth potential a summon could have.

The number of players with a Supreme growth potential summon in RML could be counted on one's fingers alone. Or, perhaps even using one hand!

Considering their rarity, it was not a surprise their summoners required a legendary quality Spirit Awakening Crystal if they wanted to resummon them.

This was the precise reason Izroth told Empyrean to prioritize Selene's safety above all else.

At the moment, there was no feasibly known way to acquire legendary quality Spirit Awakening Crystals!

Nevertheless, even if this was not the case, Reilei still had no intention of allowing Xiao Liang and Ayanellia to go through that experience. In the end, she simply did not like the idea of them losing their lives—even if they could be brought back.

"I'll see you again soon, Ayanellia," Reilei said as she gently placed her hand on top of Ayanellia's head.

"..."

"And, you, too, Xiao Liang," Reilei commented.

Reilei's transformation had not yet ended; however, Xiao Liang was still capable of hearing her speak with no problem.

After saying her farewells, Reilei opened her system interface to log out.

〈System Alert: Warning! You are currently in combat! If you log out now, you will suffer a huge penalty! Would you still like to proceed?〉

"?!"

Reilei was taken aback by the system alert. Still in combat? How was that possible?

Unless it was something like a dungeon, raid, or an area with special conditions, as long as players did not battle a hostile enemy for thirty seconds, they should be counted as out of combat. This time was increased when it came to player versus player combat, but, of course, Reilei had not confronted any players for quite some time.

It had been two minutes since Reilei escaped from her last battle; therefore, the system should have already registered her as being out of combat!

"Why is it showing that a penalty will go into effect if I log out? Is this what's called a bug?" Reilei internalized as she furrowed her brows.

The penalty incurred from logging out in the middle of combat was not small by any means.

But, what Reilei did not know was that-

RAAAAAWR!

No matter how far she ran away on foot, she would never be out of combat!

"?! It already caught up to us?" Reilei knew that their attacks were not enough to take it out; however, she at least thought it would buy them more time than it did.

Not too long after the cry of a wild beast erupted, a white streak rushed out from the nearby trees and stopped several meters away from Reilei.

"This appearance—is it really the same monster?" Reilei was shocked when she looked at the creature that appeared before her.

It bore a striking resemblance to the kitsune she had just fled from, except its pale blue eyes were now pitch black. In addition, the kitsune's fur had turned pure white.

For a split moment, Reilei almost believed that it was a different monster. However, after seeing the system information, she confirmed that it was indeed the same kitsune she briefly fought against.

To make matters worse, it looked absolutely furious!

Suddenly, without warning, the tip of the kitsune's second and fifth tails lit up different colors. The end of its second tail turned blue, while the top of its fifth tail became yellow.

The next moment, a powerful and concentrated stream of water erupted from the kitsune's second tail. Simultaneously, a bolt of lightning flashed and combined with the stream of water, creating a terrifying swirling vortex. And, this vortex was headed straight for Reilei and Ayanellia!

Reilei responded quickly as she extended her silver tail and carefully wrapped it around Ayanellia.

"Hold on tight," Reilei warned. 

"..."

Right after securing Ayanellia, Reilei kicked off the ground to the side, causing her to accelerate at incredible speeds out the path of the incoming vortex of destruction.

Swoosh!

Reilei managed to evade the attack with Ayanellia successfully; however, the vortex continued to travel forward in the direction of the woods!

...BZZZZZT!!!

When the vortex came into contact with a tree, stone, bush—anything in its path, it blew right through it as its momentum remained unchanged.

In the blink of an eye, the vortex left Reilei's field of vision, leaving behind a long trail of destruction in its wake!