"Look who's finally here."

With an axe and Ace, the sniper he got from Arthur, Jackob looked at the incoming bone dragons with a smirk on his face. His appearance changed drastically, not only was his body full of scars, he became significantly taller and more muscular, what's more, he was missing an arm.

The tall warrior greeted Arthur with a bear hug, not minding the different status between them, after all, Arthur and Lucy were the big bosses.

Anastassia also appeared with Mary and Sonia following right after her. The little sister was more energetic than before, she was cured and was healthier than ever.

"Welcome back."

Unlike Jackob, Anastassia and the others didn't hug Arthur, but they still shook hands. Thanks to the appraisal, Arthur could see that the red-haired Anastassia surprisingly reached the Immortal Realm, she relied purely on Qi and a bit of Nether Energy that's existing on Astria.

Sonia and Mary were still at the Mortal Realm with Mary having a higher Lv, as for Jackob, his current strength startled Arthur a bit.

The weak youth from before transformed into a grown man who reached the Heavenly Realm. This was a strange occurrence as not everyone could cultivate and expect good results, especially when he does not have a good aptitude or decent talent.

However, it seems Jackob paid quite the price for his current strength, he had many scars and was missing a whole arm. Not many enemies could cause a Heavenly Realm to be this injured, at least not on Astria.

As Jackob started rambling about Ace's efficiency and his absurd power, a slender figure appeared from within the tower. The person who joined them was none other than Lissandra, who no longer had the grim look or the dazed yet slightly insane expression, she was pretty calm and composed.

The two stared at each other for some time, making the joyous atmosphere quite awkward, fortunately, the silence was soon broken when Lissandra talked

"I have tried to warn you yet you didn't want to listen… it's too late now."

"Let's talk inside."

Arthur didn't blame her or anything of the sort, he was the one who refused to listen to her as he suspected that she would spit lies to lead him to a dead end and waste his time. Who would have imagined Lissandra would've been able to predict the happening of the catastrophe, he would never have linked these two together. It's his over-cautiousness that resulted in this, but even if he knew it at that time, nothing would change, he would still make the same decision.

He just would have won some time to prepare more thoroughly, nothing more. Arthur teleported himself along with the others to the top of the tower, where the important meetings is usually held.

Another person was added to the party, with silver-hair and a cold face, it was none other than the ex-head maid of the imperial castle of the Demon Race, Taliya.

She decided to stay with Anastassia and the rest as she vowed to follow Arthur if he were to return her niece safe and sound to the Demon Lord.

"Now that we're gathered here, I'm all ears, you can tell me the important stuff."

"Y-you.. You're just going to ignore me and pretend nothing happened?"

Taliya couldn't herself and lashed out at him angrily.

Arthur frowned and retorted

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You did your part of the deal so I should do mine, how could you send me here after you've rescued Alina?! I should have stayed there and followed you, as per our agreement."

"This is a bunch of nonsense, I didn't come back to argue with you over such a ridiculous reason, you're weak and I don't need you, if you were with me then I would have died already, end of discussion, I don't want to hear a single word about this."

With a cold glare from Arthur, who was too preoccupied with the incoming catastrophe and didn't want to bother with Taliya and talk over such a pointless topic. The maid's face flushed with red, she didn't talk back to him but ended up storming out of the room, clearly enraged.

"You should be nicer to her, she tried her best here and helped us a lot."

Jackob took Taliya's side as he tried to calm Arthur down and sort things out, but it wasn't that effective as Arthur shifted his stare him, making him shut his mouth and not dare to talk again. Although Arthur is usually easy-going, he's sometimes overbearing and dreadful, or so thought the startled Jackob.

"It seems your cockiness grew with your strength, I see… I've got special training for you later… I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

While awkwardly scratching the back of his head and a forceful smile, Jackob replied

"B-boss… please d-don't, I-..I,I'm already responsible for a lot of things. I really d-don't have any spare t-time."

Jackob tried to look pitiful but that only added oil to the fire thanks to Anastassia, who snorted and retorted

"Hmpf! Lies… he's showing off to the female disciples all day long and lazing around in some corner, doing nothing but sleeping."

"How could you say that! I, I've only got eyes for you… and I spend all my day cultivating! How else would I have broken through the Heavenly Realm… hehehehe"

"Hmpf!"

With her arms crossed and a pouting face, Anastassia turned her head away from Jackob, who was staring at her with bright eyes.

Arthur noticed the change some time ago and knew that their relationship was special, however, he didn't comment. They were beings with real emotions and they can do whatever they want, in fact, he's secretly rooting for Jackob as Anastassia is certainly isn't an easy target, which explains why Jackob spends all his time to cultivate, trying to become stronger to show off to her.

"Apart from the catastrophe, is there anything I need to know?"

Anastassia nodded her head and said in a serious tone

"Yes, in fact, it's an urgent matter. There is new invaders, they were first sighted on the Eastern continent."

"Invaders? Are they humans? Or do they resemble the ones who abducted the Demon Princess?"

Arthur didn't know how, but there are multiple factions who find their way to the Astria. Some just come here to sightsee or seek adventures but others harbor malice intentions.

"These ones are more dangerous, they have a horrifying look, similar to the monster you were fighting near the Emperor's palace."

'Bucama?'

Arthur immediately remembered the hellish word he visited last time, where humans were treated as pigs, if not worse. Torturing them or even hanging them on pillars to resemble living statues, it was really a terrifying and disgusting scene that he wished for no one to see. Fortunately, the world was destroyed and its king died but he still felt uncomfortable every time he remembers what happened there and what he had seen.

"Any idea how they came? What about their leader, their number or their base?"

Anastassia shook her head and replied

"We weren't able to find accurate information. Their numbers isn't great, about three hundred or so but each and every one of them is extremely powerful, they also have special means to disguise themselves, so not many people can see through their deception."

"Were they only spotted on the Itas continent?"

"Yes, they are keeping a low-profile and only dealing with black market dealers to secure crystals. I've sent a group once but the outcome was… unfavorable."

As she finished her sentence, she glanced at Jackob with a guilty look.

"Hahaha those were pure evil but I managed to kill three of them before I escaped but the team that was with me all perished."

Jackob forced a laugh as if it was nothing but it was clear that it wasn't a simple fight, neither was it easy.