Death... and me

Everyone felt troubled after hearing that. "Underground... That would be difficult."

Rean nodded. "When there isn't a communication tower nearby, the badges can still communicate with each other as long as they are close enough. At this distance, the signal between badges should definitely be stronger than the signal shared by the communication tower. I was planning to contact senior Zandolf once we got here in the central area. However, even the signal between badges isn't working, showing that he is quite deep underground, or he isn't in these ruins anymore."

Essefy and Kentucky didn't believe Zandolf left. It would be too much of a coincidence. "What do we do-"

"Shy, quiet!" Rean then stopped them from talking. Right after, he looked in a certain direction. There, he saw three devils flying, although they weren't coming straight for them.

In this place where the Divine Sense only showed a gray mist, one could only rely on their natural spatial perception or their eyes. Rean's group was standing on air at the moment, so their vision could reach much further away than the natural Spatial Perception.

Following that, Rean, Kentucky, and Essefy moved aside, letting the devils pass by. With Rean's Light Bending Skill, they would only be found if they got too close for the Natural Spatial Perception of others to see them.

After the Devils left, Essefy asked the two. "So, what do we do now? These two should be just the start. More and more devils will arrive as time passes. If we weren't sure the devils were coming for these ruins before, now we definitely are."

Rean narrowed his eyes, trying to think about a solution to quickly look for Zandolf. After all, they might get close to some devils without noticing, just like it happened on the way here. 'It would be so good if Luan was here now...'

Rean then retrieved his communication badge with his fake name in the army and began to mess with it. Kentucky and Essefy looked at that, not knowing what he was trying to do. However, Kentucky knew that Rean was pretty much the guy who created these badges in the Realm of Gods, so he probably had some idea.

A few minutes later, several of the tiny runes of the badge were exposed, while Rean used many of his own Circuitry Formation runes to create a few connections. Finally, a jumbled communication badge that shined with Divine Energy and Electricity appeared.

"What is that for?" Essefy finally couldn't hold back and asked.

Rean smiled, although he didn't seem that confident. "What I did here was to simply add more power to this badge. That way, its signal should be able to go much deeper into the ground. However, it will also pretty much turn the badge obsolete after I'm done with it. Fortunately, I have another communication badge I acquired back in the humanoid territories, so I can use that one instead."

"Can you find Zandolf's location with it?" Kentucky asked as well.

"That depends," Rean answered. "If he is too far or too deep for the amplified signal to reach him, then we can only give up and leave this place. But if it works, at least we can give it another try. Let's hope it is the latter."

Finally, Rean activated the communication badge, and several sparks began to come out of it.

Essefy shook his head. "It's going to break..."

Rean didn't pay attention to him as he used his real communication badge to check the results.

*Pak!*

Finally, a small burst of Divine Energy came from the communication badge as it split into countless pieces. It was truly gone for good that badge. However, Rean sighed in relief. "Found him. Zandolf is twenty-three kilometers in the left direction and 11 kilometers underground from that point."

Kentucky, with the best vision of the group, quickly looked in the direction Rean mentioned. "Are you sure? All I can see there are some very small buildings, most likely used by some insignificant beings back when the Essence Race was alive. Kind of a residential area of sorts."

Rean nodded. "I'm sure it is there. Can you see any fighting going on? When we came, we were afraid that we might find senior Zandolf fighting someone, so we need to check first."

Kentucky paid attention and shook his head. "No, it is very calm there. I can see a devil passing by, though. Just like you said, the devils are arriving little by little. But other than that, there is nothing. Besides, if senior Zandolf, a Middle Stage Divinity Realm cultivator, was fighting, even you would be able to see it from such a short distance."

Rean nodded. As long as they were careful to avoid the devils, there shouldn't be much of a problem unless they once again bumped into some hiding devils. "Let's go!"

Twenty-three kilometers was nothing for them. Even moving slowly, it only took a minute to arrive. Still, it was just like Kentucky mentioned. The ruins seemed to be from long-gone common residents. Most were left with just a few stones, while some still stood in some ways. "We can only check one by one..."

Kentucky shook his head. "There is no need. I found which one senior Zandolf probably entered already."

"You did?" Essefy and Rean looked at Kentucky.

Kentucky then explained. "I can see traces on the ground, although they are very subtle. You should thank your gods that you have a Divine Demon Bird like me with such great sight. Hahaha!"

Rean didn't seem in the mood for that. "Stop the bullshit and bring us there."

"Gotcha!" Kentucky immediately dove down, flying straight for one of the small residences still standing. As soon as he arrived in front of it, he transformed once again, changing into his humanoid form.

Rean and Essefy nodded. They could now see what Kentucky meant by traces. They could see a few foot marks in front of the small residence entrance. "Let's enter."