In the cave, Rodney directed the Thunder Spear to shoot towards Enzo and Norma. Instead of confronting it head-on, Enzo and Norma rolled to the side to avoid the attack.

Rodney sneered, “Is dodging all you know how to do?”

Enzo and Norma didn’t respond. They exchanged a glance and then moved towards Rodney from different directions with synchronized precision.

Rodney’s face showed disdain.

The lightning once again enveloped him, forming a Lightning Shield.

As they approached, the surrounding lightning from the shield struck Enzo and Norma, forcing them to halt.

Norma frowned slightly and said, “This Lightning Shield is too annoying. If you want to defeat him, you must first solve this Lightning Shield .”

Enzo asked, “Is there a way?”

“Fire can help.” Norma answered and the explained. “Fire and lightning are both extremely volatile elements. Their simultaneous presence can cause a powerful explosion that might destroy Rodney’s Lightning Shield. But Rodney isn’t foolish.

He won’t stand still and give us an opportunity.”

With this in mind, Enzo devised a plan.

And Rodney gradually became restless. He didn’t want to continue spending time here with Enzo and Norma. There were other people entering this secret realm, and if they came looking for them too, things wouldn’t be good.

Thinking this, Rodney summoned five Thunder Spears.

They lined up and shot towards Enzo and Norma, blocking any possible escape routes. Norma had to position herself in front of Enzo and forcefully intercept one of the Thunder Spears.

Boom!

Thunder Spear exploded, sending electric currents in all directions. Norma was thrown back and spat out blood.

Enzo quickly helped Norma up, who shook her head and said, “I can still hold on. Rodney probably won’t be able to use Thunder Spear again for a while. This is an opportunity, Enzo, it’s up to you now!”

After saying this, Norma forced herself to conjure a space blade and swung it at Rodney to draw his attention.

Enzo entered the shadows and observed from there.

Rodney, surprised by Enzo’s sudden disappearance, was forced to split his focus between fighting Norma and guarding against Enzo’s ambush, which made him very irritated. He shouted, “Kid, come out! Is hiding and ambushing all you can do?”

Rodney’s shout was ineffective.

Instead, it gave Enzo a perfect chance.

Several vines emerged from the ground and attacked Rodney. Rodney quickly responded, using Lightning Shield to smash the vines, revealing Enzo’s position.

Seeing this, Rodney laughed, “Kid, this trick won’t work on me.”

“Is that so?” Enzo retorted.

Rodney realized something was wrong and a blazing energy was approaching. He immediately turned around and noticed a large fireball behind him, which collided with the Lightning Shield outside his body.

The explosion echoed throughout the cave.

The shockwaves threw everyone back and caused the entire cave to start collapsing.

Norma approached, grabbed Enzo, and said, “Let’s go!”

Supporting each other, they headed toward the cave’s entrance.

Fortunately, they managed to escape before the cave fully collapsed.

However, the ordeal wasn’t over. Despite the heavy injury, Rodney survived and also escaped, though in much worse shape than Enzo and Norma. His skin was burned, and his aura was extremely weak. Seeing Enzo and Norma, he pleaded, “Save me!

I don’t want to die!”

Before he could finish, Rodney collapsed.

Norma glanced at him and said, “He’s dead.”

Enzo nodded slightly and urged, “The explosion made a huge commotion; we need to leave quickly.”

Norma agreed.

The two moved away from the collapsed cave and found a secluded spot to rest. After a day of recovery, they regained much of their strength. Without lingering, Enzo and Norma opened a spatial portal to leave the secret realm.

Back in the realm, however, battles erupted again.

The collapsed cave was discovered, and in the collapsed mountain, someone found a Spatial Stone buried in the soil, and the struggle began.

This, however, no longer concerned Enzo and Norma.

…

Three days later.

In a small wooden house in the southeast of Flamingo Gathering Place.

Enzo channeled a ball of life energy into Norma’s body and asked, “How do you feel?”

“I should be fully restored now.” Norma replied, then asked, “Enzo, where do we go next? Given the current situation, Flamingo Gathering Place is likely unsafe.”

Enzo fell into thought after hearing these words.

After returning from the secret realm, Enzo and Norma had not shown themselves in Flamingo Gathering Place but had instead hidden in this unnoticed cabin to recover. The events of the past few days were unexpected.

The secret realm space was taken over by the Flamingo Merchants, but at a severe cost.

Additionally, the Moon Tide had arrived once more.

This time, the Moon Tide covered a quarter of the Flamingo Gathering Place, resulting in the deaths of at least a hundred members and revealing monsters similar to those that had emerged from the secret realm portal. Enzo sensed that there might be deeper secrets within that secret realm space.

But he wasn’t interested in investigating them right now.

Besides this news, there was an even more shocking development.

The most powerful tribal monarchy of the Dark Night Forest, the Solar Dynasty, launched an attack on the Ice Moon Royal Family, destroying two of their strongholds. The Ice Moon Royal Family retaliated by killing a large number of Solar Dynasty members.

This conflict between the two royal families ignited a full-scale war in the Dark Night Forest.

Other factions also began to clash.

That signaled the onset of chaos.

Flamingo Gathering Place was similarly affected, especially with the frequent occurrences of Moon Tide. Many people were preparing to leave, including Enzo and Norma. However, Enzo had no clear idea of where to go next.

He said, “Other places are likely also descending into chaos.”

Norma thought for a moment and then said, “If we continue deeper from Flamingo Gathering Place, we can reach the Crimson Lake. It’s a chaotic area to begin with. The war between the Solar Dynasty and Ice Moon Royal Family will have minimal impact on the Crimson Lake.

We could go there and look for clues related to the beast skin Rodney left behind.”

At this, Enzo took out the beast skin.

Along with it came the Flame Cobra’s cub, which Enzo had named Blackflame. The beast skin had been stealthily taken by Blackflame from Rodney, and Enzo himself didn’t know how Blackflame managed to do it.

The skin bore a partially complete lightning totem.

Norma glanced at the beast skin and remarked, “Rodney was lucky to find something like this.”

“It is indeed valuable, though it’s missing a part.”

Enzo said that with some regret.

The beast skin appeared to have a simple pattern, but with mental perception, one could sense a progression from a faint current to a mighty lightning capable of splitting mountains. This was a unique inheritance.

If the bearer had talent, they could form lightning-related totems based on what they perceived.

The abilities that Rodney possesses came from this very source.

And this was the most astonishing part.

Just with the incomplete beast skin, Rodney was able to wield such powerful forces. If the patterns on the beast skin were complete, what kind of abilities would he command once he fully masters it?

After a brief discussion, Enzo and Norma decided to head to the Crimson Lake.

The two didn’t have much to pack, so they chose to set off directly, abandoning Norma’s tavern without a second thought.

For Norma, the tavern wasn’t important.

Amid the large crowd fleeing, Enzo and Norma were inconspicuous and smoothly avoided scrutiny from major forces, heading into the wilderness. They encountered only a few people heading toward Crimson Lake, about seven or eight, as the crowd thinned out.

Those who chose to venture into such a chaotic area as Crimson Lake were not ordinary.

Even when they met on the road, these people made no effort to greet but kept their distance.

Two days later, Enzo and Norma arrived at Crimson Lake.

“Is this Crimson Lake?”

Enzo asked, standing on a small hill and looking at the vast, blood-red lake below, which seemed like a red crystal embedded in the ground—brilliant yet eerie.

Norma nodded slightly and explained, “This is Crimson Lake. As for why the water is red, some say it’s due to blood, but this theory has been debunked. Most people believe it’s because of a special treasure in the lake.”

Enzo remained noncommittal.

They descended the small hill and entered Crimson Lake on foot

Enzo immediately felt the unique atmosphere. Everyone’s gaze was wary, conversations were brief, and the houses were scattered rather than clustered. Some people even chose to stay in the trees.

Norma explained, “This is just the outskirts of Crimson Lake. These people have some power but not enough to protect themselves.”

With that, they continued deeper into the area.

After a long day’s trek, Enzo finally arrived at a larger Gathering Place. As soon as they entered, he heard a somewhat familiar voice.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep