Rena noticed how Gyoro and Ururun’s expressions drastically changed as they made a quick rush in a certain direction.

Rena knew that the only person that could trigger such a response from Gyroro and Ururun would be his master.

Sure enough, Dyne appeared from the top of the trees.

“Big Sis!” Dyne called out as he then took an amazing leap from the trees above.

Rena rushed and gave Dyne a tight hug.

Arya observed the reaction and finally jumped down and landed next to Dyne.

“So this is my greatest rival. Master Dyne has not shown any proactive interest in other girls apart from me. But it seems his ties with this Rena are strong.” Arya secretly observed Rena.

“Little brother! Thank goodness you are safe!”

“Uncle Lucas, Aunt Trina. And of course…” Gyoro and Ururun rushed towards Dyne, and their two heads coiled around like a snake.

“You guys have grown bigger!” Dyne laughed.

“Master Dyne!”

“Little Brother! You’ve grown stronger! I sense a powerful dark element from you!”

“Yeah. A lot has happened. We have a lot to catch up on. But there is also a lot that I must do! So let’s go back to the hideout!” Dyne then urged everyone to move back to the hideout.

“You guys dared to hunt them!” Dyne praised.

“We couldn’t sit around and do nothing. The more we kill, the fewer deaths there are on Merkley.” Lucas explained.

“Alright. Let me tell you guys what happened when I left...”

Dyne began his tale as they continued to trek back to the hideout. He told of the numerous Kong Apes he saw, the dark fortress, and how these Kong Apes were a plot from a former Sanctuary kingdom!

And then Dyne began to share things that made Rena and her family grimace in shock.

Dyne began to recount how he met Jaden and saved them.

He detailed the horrifying truth that the Kong Apes are ten times more than the village estimated their numbers! Dyne recounted how Martsirt sent their forces and how they were all killed. All to summon a demon.

The Afarit.

The group finally reached the hideout. The place was now carefully hidden, and the path had more of the strange herbs used to distort the scent of the Kong Apes. The path towards the secret base had more secrets now as the group managed to change the terrain to hide it.

Dyne was impressed, and the group finally reached the inside of the cave. It had some crafted furniture that the group made.

Dyne brought out more furniture that he had acquired, and the group settled.

There Dyne continued to tell the story of how their team fought another person that might have a similar situation to the fiance of Rena.

Chrone, the Bishop, who turned into a huge ogre that could surpass an average level four martial formation expert, became their challenge.

Dyne quickly summarized the battle and told of their plot to rescue the king of Martsirt. Soon, Dyne introduced Arya and even allowed her to recount what she went through.

Arya gave her a firsthand account of what had happened and brought Trina and Rena to tears as they heard of her suffering.

“I would have died if not for Master Dyne. The swordsman that my enemy hired could have killed me. But not only has he given me vengeance, but he has also given me purpose and a new life. I am Master Dyne’s Shadow, and he is my Light! I will live for him!”

To Rena, Trina, and Lucas, a martial cultivator of Arya’s level, was an impossible dream! She was a peak Martial Novice cultivator, and she has already completed a Job change! She was technically a Martial Formation expert! And this formidable cultivator followed Dyne!

“Amazing. You found an amazing friend!” Lucas marveled.

“Not to mention those other experts! Those at the second Martial Formation stage!” Trina added.

Beyond Arya were four more cultivators with powerful strength. And to think Master Dyne’s tactics managed to defeat a level four Martial Formation expert! And this expert was now their ally!

“Actually... Those allies do not even constitute one percent of Lord Dyne’s current power.” Arya gave an estimate.

“Master Dyne has more?” Rena asked.

“Let me continue.” Dyne smiled.

Dyne continued his tale and talked about the horrifying discoveries they made. He talked about the sad life of Ussylys and how they used that to recruit the Revenant Emera, who was his lost sister.

“A ghost?!” Lucas was amazed.

“A Revenant. It's a much more powerful form of wraith and has her own consciousness. She’s quite strong too.” Dyne laughed.

The group wondered. Dyne had just said that he managed to defeat a level four martial cultivator. What exactly did Dyne mean when he called this Revenant 'strong'?

"So you can command numerous wights and wraiths because you are a Valkyrion? You are even more amazing than I imagined, little brother!” Rena was amazed.

“Yeah. Emera trained quite a few. She gave me a bit since she got worried about me. I have around three here. Jedo, can you bring them out?”

A purple light flashed, and three ghostly apparitions appeared.

The ghosts suddenly flew.

“Jedo! Are they escaping?!” Dyne panicked.

“No. They are just restless. I can still control them. Their natural instinct is to move around a bit. They also smelled the dead Kong Apes and may be thinking of eating them.” Jedo spoke.

Trina and Lucas trembled as they heard the sound of Jedo.

“Hey! You can talk now!”

“The physical body of the SkullGreymon allowed me to craft a way for me to talk physically. That way, you won’t look crazy when talking to me..”

“What an amazing Soul Weapon! It’s sentient! It can talk!” Trina was amazed.

“Oh, I get it. You did this so people would notice you. So needy.” Dyne shook his head.

“…” Jedo couldn’t help but curse.

As Jedo explained, the three ghosts went out and began to search for food. Jedo had to release dark energy to make the ghosts avoid Rena and her family.

Finally, Dyne brought out some of the Kong Ape corpses. The ghosts began to rush at them and released strange absorbing magic that began to drain the life and death energy of the corpses.

“They were hungry? You should have told me!”

“They are ghosts. They are just following their instincts. They will always seek life and death! If we feed them more wild beasts, they will turn wild from the wild souls they eat, and even I can’t control them.” Jedo argued.

“You can’t control them? What a bigshot Ra-Seru you are! Look at me! I can talk, but I can’t control some dead ghosts and have to rely on a cute girl to keep them in line! Are you saying Emera is better than you in that regard? You can’t even control some ghosts?”

“Mother fragment!” Jedo finally erupted and cursed the vulgar words he kept hearing Strafe says.

“They are technically my employees. So I need to do the whole HR thing and ensure they are happy.”

“Happy?”

“Yes! Happy! Happy employees are the fundamental elements to any successful organization!”

“... Lord Tieg, what is he talking about?” Jedo secretly sent a message.

“Yeah... It’s something that his world practices. Just roll with it.”

“...”

“Do they need anything else? Are they bored? You need to create some cubicle for each of them where they can rest and enjoy private moments.” Dyne continued to question.

“...? They are... undead. They don’t get tired, and they don’t need privacy!” Jedo argued.

“They don’t think they need privacy because the ‘system’ told them to. It doesn’t give us the right to overwork them! Try to make your soul space more habitable too.”

“Habitable? For undead souls?”

“We don’t want them to get bored, you know. So make some obstacle courses or something.”

Even Trina and Lucas were so confused at the discussion.

Arya was chuckling at the side, and Rena noticed it.

“That woman… She’s not just little brother’s servant, is she?” Rena pondered as she watched the happy expression of Arya.

When Dyne left, her parents had been urging her to not just look at Dyne as a little brother but try to get Dyne to be her husband. But now, she had already found that Dyne had another woman by his side who liked him!

“Oh right. I don’t think I have properly introduced Jedo here to everyone. He already met you guys.”

“Emera told me about him. So you’re the senior apprentice of Lord Dyne, correct?” Arya asked.

Jedo felt another painful attack on his ego.

“I’ve seen Master Dyne use you a lot. Thank you for helping me too!” Arya bowed.

Dyne then glanced at the corpses of Kong Apes he brought out.

“How many of these Kong Apes have attacked you? Looking at how you killed them, it seems you have been fighting them almost daily!”

“There have been several squads that have been passing through this region. We always attacked them and tried to make ambushes away from this hideout. But these past days, we had to be careful as the number of Kong Apes increased.” Lucas explained.

“These squads aren’t the usual group. It looks like the Kong Apes are more organized than we thought. This confirms my suspicion. The Afarit seems to be on the move and plans to send his Kong Ape forces to attack and kill everyone on Merkley!”

“We must warn them!”

“Relax. Remember the king of Martsirt? He now declared to be the king of a new Kingdom, Tristram. And from his name, Ciroel, he is now called King Leoric the Skeleton King.”

“Why would he call himself the Skeleton King? That will make his subjects have a bad impression of him!"

“Well… Bad… Yes. But they will fear him. He calls himself the Skeleton King because he commands a skeleton army. And these skeletons are not some lowly weak summons. They average to about level one to two Martial Formation experts. They are the ones I assigned to stop the Kong Ape army.”

“Level two Martial Formation experts?! And you have an army of them?!” The three shouted again. With such an army, what is there to fear?

“Again, it’s technically King Leoric’s army. And besides, they can’t really move a lot since it consumes their lifespan. I need to figure out how to feed them more food to prolong their lifespan. And even though they can defeat the Kong Ape army, the Afarit would most likely seek aid if he can. Worst case scenario, another army may pop up, far stronger than the Kong Ape.” Dyne guessed.

“Then we have to save Merkley!” Lucas exclaimed.

“Yes. I plan to take control of Merkley. We must defeat Trithefert, the Serpentari controlling Martsirt, and the possible reinforcement army that might aid the Afarit. As such, our little outpost will be a line of logistical support. This is why I came back to you guys. I need to be near the battle but simultaneously out of sight. I will create a portal to my homeworld. Arya and Rena will go with me. Uncle, Auntie. You two stay here and hold on to this device.” Dyne handed the group the compass.

“That will be a beacon my allies will use to find you. Auntie, Uncle. I want you guys to guard this area and welcome my allies when they arrive. I will be crafting a portal to go to Legaia.” Dyne brought out several large rocks.

“With these wizard ores and Jedo’s newfound strength, I should be able to go back to Legaia!” Dyne smiled.