Dashing through the corrosive zone, Shiro could see that it was now completely barren. Even the dirt on the ground had been turned to mush and each step would cause her to sink down. If she didn’t make herself flat with mana, she would have been waist deep in this corrosive mud.

  Strangely enough, there was a path of sorts, leading towards the twin peaks.

  The path was pathed with a strange marbled material and since she didn’t see this earlier, she could assume that someone must have been here before her but the fact that there was some sign of the material being corroded, it must have been placed before the aura shrunk down.

  ’Who would even put something like this here?’ Shiro thought to herself however, she wasn’t about to leave this alone.

  Snapping her fingers, small portals appeared as she immediately sent the marbled material back to Asharia. She wanted to see if Helion could make some armour with his so that it would be highly resistant to the corrosive element. Plus, if her nanobots couldn’t stand up to this aura then it’s safe to assume that the final product might become something quite crazy.

  Glancing around her, Shiro could see that most of the Queens are still preoccupied with their own fight so she could enter without any problems.

  Continuing towards the twin peaks, Shiro made sure to stay out of sight.

  Upon reaching the base of the mountain, she noticed that there was actually a gate leading underground rather than a path towards the mountain peak. Activating analysis, her vision seemed to be blocked off from peering underground but she could see that there was a hollowed path in the centre of both mountains.

  Noticing countless runes etched into the walls, Shiro furrowed her brows before approaching the gate. Pushing it open, she immediately noticed a few crests carved into the walls.

  Quite a few of them are unfamiliar to her but she recognised a few of them.

  ’Zeus and Poseidon are involved huh?’ Shiro thought with a frown. Understanding that Nyx was watching, there wasn’t much that she needed to do since Nyx will sort it out for her.

  Looking around the room, there were several paths leading down but what attracted her attention the most was a set of tier 8 magic circles that flickered between realms.

  Looking up, she could see a small path leading up to a tower positioned between the two peaks.

  The walls of the tower were packed with runes as she could sense that mana was being gathered towards the peak.

  Suddenly, the crests started to shine. Noticing the density of divine magic increasing by the second, Shiro frowned and looked towards the large hall that connected all of the paths together.

  Immediately feeling divine energy lock around her body, Shiro clicked her tongue and slammed her hand down.

  Erupting out with her own divine energy, she broke apart the restriction as she could see an armoured sword’s man looking towards her.

  "Are you the trespasser?" He asked as Shiro shrugged.

  "Trespasser? Are you saying that this is your home? If so, I must apologise." Shiro replied as he nodded his head.

  "This is indeed not my home. But I am in fact the guardian of this place. Until the relic appears, none is allowed to enter this place. There has already been one person that had trespassed but he left before I could kill him. I suggest you do the same." He warned as Shiro thought about it for a moment before smiling at him.

  "Sure. I don’t mind leaving. I do have a question though." Shiro said as the guardian narrowed his eyes before sheathing his sword.

  "Speak.

  "What is your task? Do you stop people from obtaining the relic or are you responsible for keeping it safe?" Shiro asked.

  If his goal was to keep it safe, she might have to deal with him with her avatar while the weapon fires since there was a good chance that he could stop the attack due to the fact that he is clearly above tier 6! With the divine energy that she could sense from him, he could very well be a tier 7 demi god.

  "I stop people from obtaining the relic before the promised time and stop them from setting traps. Please leave the premises or else I will have to deal with you accordingly." He warned as Shiro raised her hand.

  "Sure but one last question." Shiro smiled.

  "Speak."

  "If someone was to try to destroy the relic, what would you do?" Shiro asked.

  "Impossible. But if they do attempt to destroy it before the promised time, I will prevent the destruction of the relic."

  "What about after the promised time?"

  "I am only to protect the relic before the promised time. My duty is over once the time has come. Now leave before I attack." He warned as Shiro nodded her head.

  Leaving the room, she activated her divine energy and created a few nodes.

  Since this was creating using her tier 8 attunement, it should be able to avoid the guardian’s detection.

  Unfortunately, Shiro immediately sensed danger behind her as she ducked down and barely avoided his sword.

  "You had been warned. Now pay for your hubris." The guardian glared at her as he reached towards the back of her neck.

  "Tch, it’s not kind to grab a lady’s neck like that." Shiro replied as she kicked back with her heel.

  Tilting his head, the guardian dodged her kick as a gun barrel materialised next to her foot.

  *BANG!!!

  Firing without hesitation, Shiro created some distance between the two of them.

  Clicking her tongue, she could see that the bullets did nothing to the guardian since she couldn’t spare too much energy for this avatar.

  Without saying anything, the guardian flexed his fingers as tier 7 magic circles started to form around him.

  Understanding that she couldn’t defeat him, Shiro didn’t hesitate to slam her hand down and make some preparations instead.

  A tier 8 magic circle expanded out as Shiro started to layer this entire room with nanobots.

  Narrowing his eyes, the guardian crouched down before slashing towards her.

  An invisible blade of energy exploded out as Shiro could sense danger increasing in front of her.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to move out in time as the blade cut deeply into her torso.

  *COUGH!!!

  Coughing up a mouthful of blood in her real body, Shiro swayed on the spot as Nan Tian quickly rushed over to her.

  "What happened!?" He asked in shock as Shiro immediately healed herself.

  In that single strike, her avatar was killed in one attack and the strike actually injured her real body.

  "I was scouting out where the relic will appear and there was a guardian there. He’s stronger than tier 6 and it seems like he can target my main body even through an avatar. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like the damage is serious." Shiro replied as she had been forced to expend a charge of Grace.

  While she did say the ’damage’ wasn’t serious, that was a lie and it would have killed her in one go had it not been for her self heal skills.

  Hearing this, Nan Tian furrowed his brows in worry.

  "Don’t look so worried, I can still keep the weapon intact." Shiro chuckled.

  "I’m not worried about the weapon. I’m more worried about you." Nan Tian sighed deeply.

  "Pft, I’m sure you know that killing me is quite hard." Shiro laughed as she stood up.

  "Yes but it doesn’t cause me to worry less."

  "Mn sorry about that then. I do have more information though; this tier 7 guardian won’t stop the weapon after the relic appears. But before that, he’ll be protecting the relic." Shiro replied as Nan Tian furrowed his brows.

  "Isilia!" Shiro called out with a smile.

  "Mn? What is it?" Isilia glanced over curiously as Shiro walked towards her.

  "There’s a guest back in Asharia that I’m sure you’ll be excited to meet. It’s a bit dangerous right now so I’ll need you to stay in space for now but I can let you call him through video call." Shiro smiled.

  "Call who?" Isilia tilted her head.

  "You’ll see." Shiro winked as she started a call to Lyrica.

  "Lyrica, are you able to turn on your camera for a moment? I want your mother to meet our guest." Shiro chuckled as Lyrica nodded her head with a smile.

  "Mum! I bet you’ll be surprised." Lyrica called out as Shiro handed the phone to Isilia.

  "What would I be surprised about?" Isilia chuckled.

  "Trust me mum. 1 million gold to say that you’ll be surprised." Lyrica laughed.

  "I don’t think I’ve thought you to gamble now have I? But fine I’ll humour you. 1 gold to say that I won’t be surprised." Isilia rolled her eyes.

  "In that case then say hi to dad." Lyrica grinned, turning the camera around, revealing Edvimar who was sitting in bed.

  Upon seeing Edvimar, Isilia widened her eyes in shock before looking over at Shiro.

  "You got 5 minutes." Shiro smiled, opening a portal.

  Giving Shiro a quick hug, Isilia rushed through.

  Chuckling at her reaction, Shiro ended the call to give them some privacy before looking through the camera’s she had left on earth.

  Now that she couldn’t make another avatar, she’ll have to observe everything through cameras.