A golden arrow cut through the air and struck the reptilian head of a level 31 humanoid monster with light yellow skin. The creature’s body was half-frozen in ice, blood seeping from countless wounds as jagged ice spikes jutted deep into its flesh. The monster let out a roar filled with unwillingness as the arrow embedded itself squarely in the center of its forehead and within seconds, Elyara’s heat attribute activated, frying the creature’s brain and ending its life. (You have killed level 31 Sand Kobold. Strength +4, Agility +2, Cosmic Energy +4) (You have leveled up and reached level 22) Elyara glanced at the glowing notifications and a slight smile appeared on her face when she saw that she had leveled up. "Just three more levels and I will be at the peak of the class rank..." She murmured under her breath and when she turned to look at Luo Bingqing, she saw that he too had leveled up and reached level 21. "We’re almost there. Let’s move a bit more carefully from here on," Azrael said as he descended from the sky. It had been a few hours since Azrael killed the two peak epic-level monsters. On their journey toward the core area, Azrael and the others had encountered many monsters. Some were ordinary epic-level creatures, while others, like the Two-Headed Blood Ogre and the Hollow Earth Worm were at the peak of the epic rank. Because they were in a hurry to reach the core area, they avoided nearly all of the monsters, fighting only those that stood directly in their way and could not be bypassed. The kobold that Elyara and Luo Bingqing had just killed was an epic-level monster that had accidentally separated from a larger hunting party of its kind. When Azrael and the others first spotted the group, they hadn’t dared to attack as among the kobolds were nearly seven epic-level warriors, including one at level 50 and two at level 40. With their current strength, taking on such a group would have been extremely difficult. What made the situation even more dangerous was that the kobold hunting party was not the only powerful group in the area. As they moved closer to the core, they realized that most of the monsters here lived in packs to protect themselves. Even if Azrael and the others wanted to attack recklessly, doing so would inevitably attract the attention of an entire group, turning any battle into a potential death trap. The reason they killed this lone kobold was simply because it had strayed from its group and spotted them. If they hadn’t eliminated it immediately, it would have certainly called its pack to attack. "Its companions aren’t coming here, right?" Elyara asked as Azrael landed beside them. "No," Azrael shook his head. "All of them have already gone quite far away." He paused, then added, "Also, I can now see the outline of a structure from the sky. That might be the core area of the ruins." Luo Bingqing and Elyara’s eyes narrowed at his words. "Have you noticed anyone there?" Luo Bingqing asked, recalling the flare they had seen hours earlier. "That area is shrouded in a dense dust cloud, as if a sandstorm is raging there. I can’t see if anyone is out there," Azrael replied. Both Luo Bingqing and Elyara nodded and after putting away the kobold’s corpse, the three of them once again set off toward the core area. "By the way, how much time is left before the effect of your prop ends?" Elyara suddenly asked. Azrael calculated the time since he had activated the Rule Stone and answered calmly, "Less than one hour." Hearing this, both Elyara and Luo Bingqing felt a flicker of disappointment as they were still a bit short of reaching the peak of the class rank. Azrael opened his status window thoughtfully, wondering if he should purchase another small fragment of the Rule Stone once the effect of the first one ended. Task points were extremely valuable to him, as there were many rare items in the shop of his status window that were unavailable even in the academy. For example, there was a Bloodline section in the shop where one could buy bloodlines. But even the cheapest bloodline cost more than one hundred thousand task points. Not only that, the shop also contained rare treasures similar to the Moon’s Essence he had obtained during the Eonrift Trial. Even in the academy, such treasures were nearly impossible to acquire due to their rarity. Yet, the shop had many such items, though their prices were anything but cheap, each requiring a vast amount of task points. In short, if Azrael wanted to purchase something truly extraordinary from the shop, he would need to save as many task points as possible. ’Well, I will think about buying another Rule Stone fragment after I see the situation in the core area,’ He told himself, pushing the thought aside for now. As they drew closer to the dust-shrouded region, Azrael and the others noticed a change: the number of monster groups they encountered was steadily decreasing. By the time they were just ten kilometers away from the dust cloud, there were no more groups of monsters in sight. "There seem to be a few people there," Elyara, whose eyesight was far sharper than the others’ suddenly said. All three of them halted and took cover behind a blood-red sand dune. "Can you see how many people there are and who they are?" Azrael asked. "I can see about ten people near the outer edge of the dust cloud," Elyara replied after a minute of careful observation. "There might be more inside. As for their identity, I am almost certain they are from the Transcendent Organization because of their shabby appearance." Just as Azrael was about to respond, his expression changed. At the same time, Luo Bingqing, who had been keeping watch on their surroundings through his ice birds narrowed his eyes. "I can see members of the security forces approaching this location as well," He said grimly.