Lord Protector Novel

Zeke, too, jumped over Janus and continued the pursuit.

Five minutes later, he found himself at a fork in the road.

The tunnel had split into three, but no matter how hard Zeke tried to sense it, he could not pinpoint the direction the culprit had gone.

Damn it! I can't sense his presence at all!

Feeling somewhat desperate, Zeke picked one of the tunnels at random and continued his search.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be the wrong choice as it only led him to a dead end.

Zeke could not hide the disappointment on his face as he trudged back to Janus' body.

There was no denying that Janus was dead as a doornail, which only made Zeke even more frustrated.

Argh! How am I supposed to locate Summerbank without Janus' help? And if I can't find Summerbank, how can I save Lacey?

As soon as Zeke brought Janus back aboveground, Alfred and Ares quickly gathered around him.

“Great Marshal, what happened earlier?”

“We ran into a Tunneling expert. Even I was no match for him, and he managed to escape with Connor. But Janus, as you can see, is done for,” Zeke grumbled.

“Damn it!” Ares said through gritted teeth. “I wonder who he could be. How dare he wreck your plan!”

“I did sense a trace of negative energy on him, though, so I'm pretty sure he's from Netherworld.”

Alfred pondered over Zeke's words and nodded solemnly. “Indeed. Netherworld is full of oddities, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had warriors skilled in Tunneling.”

“And now that Janus is dead, we can only rely on ourselves to locate Summerbank,” Zeke mumbled.

“Alfred, heed my orders.”

Alfred promptly got on one knee and replied, “Yes, Great Marshal.”

“I want you to lead Azure Dragon to search for Summerbank around Mount Final.”

“Understood!”

With that, Alfred began his march toward Mount Final with Azure Dragon in tow.

As for the Spirit Stone mine, everyone knew it would be safe with an Ultimate Class like Zeke guarding it, so no one was the least bit worried.

Ares tossed a tentative look at Zeke and asked, “Great Marshal, now that you've absorbed the energies of ten King Class warriors, have you also attained a new rank? Is it possible to go beyond the Ultimate Class?”

“No. The Ultimate Class is unfathomable,” Zeke replied while shaking his head. “Even for myself, I think I'm only at the middle. There's still a long way to go before I can surpass it.”

A flicker of disappointment instantly crossed Ares' face. “Wow, even after absorbing that much energy from the warriors, you're still only at the middle level. When will ordinary martial artists like us ever get to your level? By the way, Great Marshal, can you teach me Planetary Pull?”

“You want to learn? Sure,” Zeke answered with a chuckle. “The first step is to destroy your life force without killing yourself.”

Ares' face fell at his reply.