They walked through a pa.s.sageway that seemed to be too long to be still within the boundary of the warehouse they were in - from the outside, Lars was sure that by now they should have hit a wall of the building and be out on the road. However, the fact of the matter was that, without incline or decline, they were still walking after a good 1.5 kilometres, indicating a folded s.p.a.ce or sub-dimension built in to the warehouse.

'Or is it just a trick of perception...? Kizorik, what do you think...?' Lars kept his spirit sense actively searching around him and attempted to catch traces of his companions.

'...No idea. But I'll keep my senses perked up too, don't worry, so far there's been nothing dangerous happening. Just... I still have a bad feeling about things ok, kiddo?'

Lars nodded mentally in response as he cast his senses around him while they walked quickly. And as he did so, he did sense an anti-detection barrier beneath his feet, obviously to prevent any spying prying eyes.

Nonetheless, the level of the barrier was nowhere as effective as the one surrounding the warehouse that had completely blocked off even his Legend-level spirit senses, likely due to cost reasons. After all, such a powerful barrier surrounding the hideout likely cost an exorbitant amount of resources to arrange for and maintain.

On top of that, unless the users within the outer barrier were far greater than he in their capabilities, it was likely that they would not be able to sense him on the outside from within the barrier. If they deployed these kinds of barriers within the compound as well, this would mean that if there WERE intruders, even those monitoring within would be unable to detect them! Thus it was not practical to apply too great an anti-detection barrier inside a building, and more effective to use a scrying arrangement within.

Lars took great pains to be discreet as he carefully reached out with hidden and invisible tendrils of mana extending from the soles of his feet and into the ground. Very quickly, he encountered a spherical field of light-grey mana, barely noticeable against the similarly grey granite floor unless one were specifically looking for it.

As the vines of his spirit sense snaked through the mana tendrils and touched the barrier, he slowly poured his own mana into the barrier and stretched it while laying lines to keep the barrier surface intact. To describe it, it was something like slowly stretching apart the surface of a balloon until it ripped at the stretching point, only that he would then "patch" the rip with another stretchy self-made material.

It took him a mere 3 seconds to get through and keep the channel open and he was sure that even the Laughing Man himself should not be able to detect his intrusion as he had masked and dampened the mana ripples - not unless the Underworld master could hire another Legendary mage to monitor the barrier personally, something exceedingly unlikely.

As such, he was 99.9% sure that his scrying had not been noticed!

The result of that was that Lars easily pierced through the anti-detection field laid under his feet and scanned through the subterranean depths, detecting a large number of life-signs below the ground - surely in an underground section of the compound.

Of these, he picked up a few fluctuations of mana and life that caught his attention - three belonging to his companions who seemed to be in a sleeping state while their auras were still healthy and strong. The other mana fluctuation that caused him to be curious seemed strangely familiar, almost like someone he had met before. This signature as well as the majority of the others showed signs of abuse and heavy injury as well as flagging signs of life. By his estimate, the person would likely not last through the night.

He determined to himself to check out these prisoners as soon as he "settled" the business with the Laughing Man.

He also picked up the mana fluctuations of 3 World-cla.s.s combatants who were not trying to suppress their mana signatures at all. Clearly they were not afraid of being detected, or else they would have withdrawn their strength. Nonetheless, Lars would have been able to pick them up all the same.

And he almost missed it, but just before he withdrew his attention, he detected another top-priority point of note - there was another well-hidden, deeply masked aura, one that he had pa.s.sed by. This aura was present right beside his companions and, if not mistaken, was one he had met before as well...

He felt a sense of caution as he surrept.i.tiously approached the individual; if the person was strong enough to almost fully mask their presence, it was likely that they were quite close to his Legendary-realm powers!

Lars kept his distance and tried to sense the by-product fluctuations, as he was afraid that if he actually reached out to touch the person's field of mana, he would reveal his own presence and betray his own capabilities!

He patiently tried to pick up the very familiar traces of aura but ended up with no leads. However, he did know that this person was likely also close to himself in power-level and would potentially be a source of danger!

If it were just the Laughing Man alone, Lars was fully-confident that he could win with ease. But with another high-powered combatant added to the fray... He was not so sure and could only prepare himself to strike first if push came to shove.

Lars remained calm and focused. He readied his full powers hidden under his demonic seal as a precautionary measure, after all, it looked like they would be likely to meet face to face, and Duke Silvan would probably recognise him and wonder how he had come to be here and become discipled to "Mikael" as well...!

'Things might turn out hairier than I'd expected...'

While Lars looked relaxed on the outside despite being tense on the inside and prepared for battle at any moment, the criminal leader of the city appeared to be completely at ease while he led the way - likely because he felt no threat at all from the "kid" following behind him. He would never expect an opponent a full four major realms below him in power to pose any threat at all, genius or not! There was just too great a chasm of abilities separating the two... If not for the fact that the "teenager" strolling behind him was also more than his equal!

After 5 minutes of quick walking, Lars began to grow impatient as the pa.s.sageway showed no signs of ending. The walls were identical; appearing to be made of wood but turning out to be reinforced by steel and concrete overlaid with countless magic arrays within and without. As the walls looked exactly the same with no distinguis.h.i.+ng features to discern how much distance they had pa.s.sed, Lars could only estimate that they had walked a good 4.5 km by now.

Just before he could open his mouth to speak, the Laughing Man stopped abruptly and turned to a blank wall that looked like any other section.

Watching curiously, Lars then saw the slim cloaked figure do something absurd. He had a look of ridicule on his face and was about to laugh when he saw the man apparently extract his lunch - a banana!

But his sneer was frozen on his face as his expression turned into one of shock - the man swiftly aimed the already-peeled banana at the wall and inserted it into the solid surface. However, the fruit didn't splatter, instead it shone with bright yellow light as it entered the wall and triggered an ornate circle of runes on the wall!

The runes then began to rotate, the inner and outer rings rotating in opposite directions with the sound of stones grinding against each other. Finally, there was a solid, "Thunk!" sound and then the wall began to part in the middle to reveal a doorway.

The cloaked mastermind of the Underworld stepped in, then glanced over his shoulder, clearly expecting Lars to follow him into the opening, then he continued to walk further in.

Shrugging inwardly, Lars decided to follow quickly before the man disappeared from sight. As he stepped through, he felt a slight chill as the air around him seemed to s.h.i.+mmer and vibrate the slightest bit - a sign of a close-range Dimensional Door. Looked like the "door" was actually a teleportation portal!

And when he emerged, Lars immediately noticed that they were now more than 1.5 kilometres below their earlier position, nearby the mana signatures of his companions.

He glanced about and saw that he had his back facing a door-shaped portal with the words, "EXIT" written above it in red text. The Laughing Man stood waiting for him at the other end, near a set of st.u.r.dy-looking reinforced double doors as they stood in a large "arrival hall" with pa.s.sably comfortable decor. The hall itself was about 15 feet high and square in shape, perhaps 50 feet long and wide. Several wooden armchairs and a half-dozen wooden benches were arrayed against the wall, probably for guests arriving to wait to be escorted in.

Something else he noticed was that, until now, the only guards he had seen or detected were those at the entrance beside the waters and the couple of high-powered auras he detected here underground. Perhaps this Underworld was a rather lean organisation at the top? And they didn't trust their followers to enter these inner portions of the hideout.

His host, upon seeing him arrive safely and regain his bearings, beckoned for him to follow further as he pushed open the reinforced doors and walked on further. Lars quickened his pace and soon they reached the section of the building where he had sensed his companions aura. On the other side at a door opposite, he sensed the other familiar aura.

'Hmm... Now that I'm nearer... It feels like... Yes! It bears a familiar signature, just like... Hmmm... What is it...? Kizorik, you know what I'm talking about right...?'

'Kiddo... You know, normally I'd call you p.i.s.s-crazy and ignore you, but you've got a point... It almost smells like... I know! It's the smell that animal skin you bought at the auction! That skin had the same kind of smell, probably from the person carrying it on his body for so long that his scent rubbed off on it! Hey, since he's here and in trouble, you could be the knight in s.h.i.+ning armour and rescue that guy! Maybe you could find out where he found the skin and get more of that!'

'...You're a.s.suming it's a "he" and that the person is in distress, right...? But yes, that was my thought as well... Let's see what this b.a.s.t.a.r.d Laughing Man wants. And if he's not reasonable enough to let Charley, Seline and Sharon go... I'll bust his a** and get them free myself!'

Their ten minute long walk looked to have come to an end as the cloaked and masked man stopped before a simple looking door. He pulled out the same banana and inserted into the key hole and the door glowed a dull yellow colour before a "click" sound was heard.

The Laughing Man then turned the k.n.o.b and entered with Lars right behind him.

Lars' expression remained the same as he stepped into the room, but his heart had turned icy cold as he circulated his full-force mana patiently within him.

'...Time to get to the bottom of this...! And if they think I'll just smile and lay down quietly while they threaten my friends and tread on my dignity... If they think that just because a tiger is smiling, it won't devour them...'

'They're wrong...! Very, very wrong!!! I'll make them pay three-fold for whatever they've done!!!'

"Very well, we're here. You'll see that your companions are safe..."

Lars looked around and checked; true enough, his companions were safe. They were unconscious; immersed and suspended in mucous green fluid inside tubular gla.s.s vats, looking to be sleeping peacefully, their bodies unharmed.

Lars nodded coldly and then asked, "Yes... That much at least has been proven. Now... Let's cut to the chase - what do you want." He spoke tersely, not a question but a statement, showing his discontentment and irritation.

"Yes... As for that, let me introduce you to a person who's been VERY interested to meet you." The Laughing Man turned and pointed him towards the person sitting in the shadows, the person whose aura he had nearly missed early, whose mana signature he was sure he'd sensed before.

The Laughing Man showed deference to the man as he bowed slightly while introducing him.

"This is..."