Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 203 It“s Slomo Time!

8 MINUTES BEFORE THE EXPLOSION.

From the very moment that Alex entered the Conference Lecture Hall until now, he could already feel danger all around him.

When he felt this danger earlier, Alex thought that maybe it came from all the Symbolists, Celestials, and Devourers surrounding him.

But that thinking of his changed when he entered the Anya’s private room.

At the instant that Alex entered Anya’s private room, he felt the danger around him spiking at intense levels.

It was so intense that Alex realized that whatever this incoming danger is, it could actually harm a defenseless Alex.

With him already used to this kinds of dangers before, Alex was able to keep his composure, but he also started to get wary of anything that might happen inside this room later.

When the Apprentice and the Queen Hoarder started their transaction, the danger that Alex felt around him started to increase again.

At that point, Alex realized that something dangerous and fatal will be happening in this room, any second from now.

"...." As Alex waited with tense body, his eyes narrowed as he realized something simple.

Since Alex could directly sense the danger right now, then it just means that the dangerous object was inside this room!

That could be the only way that Alex felt it with his danger sense!

At the moment that he thought of this, Alex discreetly used his Esper ability to sense everything inside the room.

To his disappointment and befuddlement, he found nothing suspicious at all.

"Since I cannot see it, then it just means that it is hidden by some kind of mechanism. Tsk." Alex thought to himself with irritation as he gritted his teeth. "If Alina was just here, then it is possible for her to see this hidden danger..."

Now that he realized that his situation was actually worse, Alex decided to cheat a little.

When Nero was starting to explain the Trinity Theory, Alex discreetly activated one of Pride’s Abyss Spells.

"Mental Enhancement."

As he activated his spell, Alex felt his perception of the world go much faster than normal, and his already impressive deductive skills was also improved by this spell.

With Alex’s sped-up perception, anything that should happen instantaneously can be observed by Alex as if it was just a happening at normal speeds.

An incoming bullet will look slower to Alex, while a punch would look hella like a turtle to him.

Add his improved deductive skills, and Alex was sure that he can cook up something to protect himself once the hidden danger activates itself!

Alex was extremely fortunate that he did this trick, as seconds after he used Mental Enhancement, he saw the floor of the private room crumbling into pieces as fearsome flames erupted from underneath it.

"Boooooooommmmmm!!!!!!!!"

With Alex’s perception sped up by ’Mental Enhancement’, Alex was able to observe these flames slowly reaching up to cover the entirety of the room.

Alex could see that everything that gets in contact with these flames immediately disintegrate, as if they were unable to withstand the flames at all.

When Alex saw this, he realized that in no time at all, this whole room will be quickly destroyed by these flames, which with just one look, looked extremely hot to him.

Fortunately for Alex, he immediately jumped in the air when the flames appeared earlier, which somehow allowed his lower body to have some distance away from the flames.

"Tsk." But even if his lower body was initially safe for now, Alex knew that he only had an extremely short amount of time left before the flames try to destroy his legs too.

As this thought went through his mind, Alex suddenly remembered something very important as of now.

And that was that he was not the only person inside the room.

"..." As Alex had this realization, he used his perception and senses to observe the condition of the other three people with him.

"..." To Alex’s dismay, he saw that all three of them seems to be already doomed from the incinerating flames.

Eris, the butler that was antagonistic to Alex, had her feet gone now, as both of them were destroyed by the flames already.

As for Anya and Nero, both of them had some kind of defensive shield that covered their bodies at the moment that the flames appeared.

But Alex knew that with the temperature of these flames, Anya and Nero’s defensive shields won’t last that long.

"Crack." That prediction of Alex went right, as 0.1 seconds later, he saw Anya’s shield getting destroyed by the flames.

Anya’s left foot then disappeared, obviously consumed by the flames too.

As for Nero, his shield still held up, but from what Alex can see, it will only take another 0.1 second before his shield disappears too.

"Tsk. Should I save them or not?" Alex thought to himself glumly as another 0.1 second passed by. At this point, Eris already lost her feet up until the half of her shin, while Anya lost both of her feet already, and Nero’s shield started to collapse.

"Ha! If I save them now, I’m sure I will get something good from them!" Alex thought to himself as he started to feel more determined. "But with this kind of explosion, I have no choice but to use my other abilities... Well, as long as I make this quick, these three will not see what I did.

Another 0.1 second passed by.

Everything under Eris’ knees were already gone, while everything under Anya’s shins disappeared too. As for Nero, his feet were starting to disintegrate already.

Alex also saw all three of them glowing brightly, as if they were about to activate their abilities.

"...Operation Run Alex Run starts now!" Alex thought to himself as he summoned three tentacles from his back.

He then sent one tentacle each to Anya, Eris, and Nero, with each tentacle slapping the back of their heads to render them unconscious.

With their defensive shields destroyed by the flames, all three of them were knocked out cold by Alex’ tentacles.

Another 0.1 second passed by.

Everything under the half of Eris’ thighs were gone, while everything under Anya’s knees disappeared. As for Nero, everything under his knees were gone too.

After rendering them unconscious, Alex activated his Gravitational Manipulation to his surroudings and on the ground below him.

With the Gravitational Waves around him, Alex was able to prevent the flames and their heat from reaching him and the unconscious trio.

He then pushed some of the gravity waves below him, creating a hole which was large enough to fit all 4 of them through it.

Another 0.1 second passed by.

This time, the flames had no effects on the trio, as they were now protected by Alex’s gravity waves.

As the flames continued on raging around him, Alex quickly entered the hole, with Eris, Anya, and Nero dragged by his tentacles.

Actually, Alex can just place the unconscious trio inside Alina’s Storage, but he cannot do that, as these three might do something inside there, or worse they will get more suspicious of Alex!

So, Alex was left with no choice but to physically drag the trio away into safety.

"Woosh~" With Alex’s speed, he was able to quickly create tunnels as he crossed them.

This in turn allowed Alex and the unconscious trio to get farther and farther away from the lecture hall.

***********

As Alex blitzed through the tunnels, his mind was currently busy on different things.

"That attack that almost killed the trio earlier... There’s no doubt about it. It came from a Traveler Team." Alex muttered to himself as he adjusted the position of the trio behind him. "Only a Traveler can have that kind of power. Is it flame control? Or was it an AOE-type attack? Tsk, whatever it was, I must do my best to get the hell away from here!"

With that onset of that attack, Alex realized that it was not safe form him to stay in this city anymore.

After all, he just had a run-in with a Traveler Team attempting to kill him!

There is no way that Alex will just be happy with that!

Why would he want to fight a Traveler Team when he’s just all alone in this city? If Alina and Queen Mother were here, then Alex could have possibly attempted to fight back, but right now, they were not with him, so he had no choice for now but to have a tactical retreat.

"Woosh~" After 30 seconds of intense digging, Alex decided to end his tunnel digging.

He dug upwards, allowing him and the unconscious trio with him to get back to the surface level.

As Alex popped out of the ground, he looked around him warily as he tried to check for any possible incoming enemy.

Alex’s tense shoulders relaxed as he saw that as of now, there was still nobody nearby him that seemed suspiciously powerful to him.

Right now, his danger sense only gave him a dull sensation of danger, which in Alex’s opinion, was just the simple indication that something will still happen.

"!!!" A few seconds after Alex popped out of the ground, he suddenly tensed as he felt two extremely powerful sources of danger.

One came from inside the City of Marshes, while the second one came at the skies, around 1 kilometer above him.

"Ah! Why am I still waiting here? I need to set off now!" Alex thought to himself as he decided at that point, that he will be officially ending his reconnaissance mission here in the City of Marshes.

Staying will just put him at risk, so the only thing that Alex can do is to actually leave.

As for Anya, Eris, and Nero, Alex will of course bring them with him.

They obviously had more better things to offer Alex, and Ale will undoubtedly do his best to milk out these benefits from them.

"Boom!" Alex then wasted no time at all as he flew away from the City of Marshes, with him using his gravitational manipulation to boost his flight.

He also used Envy’s Misdirection Spell, which will prevent anyone from tracking him right now.

In no time at all, Alex’s figure in the sky turned into a speck of dot, and after a few more seconds, he had already disappeared within the horizon.

Once again, Alex was extremely fortunate, as seconds after he flew away, a group of three people appeared at the place where Alex’s tunnel ended.

All three of them looked tense, as if they were about to start an extremely important fight.

************

These three people were Ray, Vera, and Noelle.

Noelle, who was a red-eyes, brown haired, 10-year old scrawny girl, started to shout in frustration as she stared at the end of Alex’s tunnel.

"Ray, their presence disappeared at the end of this tunnel." Noelle said as she started to stomp her feet. "After this point, I could not sense their presence anymore! It was as if they were already gone!"

"Tsk, this is obviously a work of a Traveler’s Team!" Ray declared as his eyes widened in realization. "Hmph, there’s no doubt about it! That guy accompanying Anya and her butler earlier? I’m 100% sure that he’s part of another Traveler Team! After all, he managed to survive my Sun-Birther, and he even managed to hide his presence from Noelle perfectly! If he’s not part of a Traveler Team, then I don’t already know what he is!"

"So, should we still chase them now?" The one who asked this question was Vira, who was somewhat quiet earlier.

"No, we won’t chase them anymore." Ray replied as he shook his head. "Now that they’ve hidden their presence away from Noelle, it will be pretty impossible for us to chase our targets."

"Then what will we do?" Vera asked with irriation as she looked visibly frustrated. "We all did this work for nothing! Will we just go back to our residence and act like normal?"

"Hey, I did not say that this day will just end normally." Ray said as he suddnely looked up to the sky. "Didn’t you feel it Vera? I can sense a set of powerful presences descending towards this location. If my suspicions were right, then these approaching presences could be another Traveler Team! Now that they’re delivering themselves into our doorsteps, of course we have to greet them cordially! As for Anya and Nero, just let them go for now. We can deal with them later."

"...If you say so." That was all that Vera and Noelle could say as they simultaneously sighed at Ray.

"What’t the problem?"

"Nothing."

"..."