The Patriarch of Blood Clan hadn't seen Gabriel. However, he knew that Gabriel was trying to delay them for some reason. Instead of falling into that trap, he left the others to deal with the Undeads while he, along with some other leaders of the three Great Clans, went deeper into the Forbidden Land.

They were sure that Gabriel wasn't far from them. For him to cast this spell, he had to be somewhere around there!

They were right as well. When Gabriel cast that spell, he was indeed there. Unfortunately, he didn't need to stay there once the spell was successful!

The only reason he used this spell was to delay the three great clans so he could leave. He was in no mood to fight currently. Not only did he not have enough strength, but also there were no benefits to it.

In the end, he simply decided to leave the Forbidden Land for the time being.

The Patriarch of the Blood Clan looked for Gabriel all around, at least as far as he could. Unfortunately, this place was so vast that even for him, it was impossible to cover every place!

....

The armies of the three great clans had already finished dealing with the Undead that had suddenly appeared. After dealing with the Undead, they once again got back to the Ancient Battleships before going deeper to catch up with the leaders of the three great clans.

At around the same time, Gabriel had already left the Forbidden Land.

He stood outside the entrance, gazing back at the ancient battlefield. It was much harder to leave the battlefield than it was to move deeper.

While it took him over eleven days to get where he was, it took him only three days to return.

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"If I hadn't exhausted myself in this place, maybe I could've dealt with everything. Unfortunately..."

From this distance, he couldn't even see the Ancient Battleships either. However, he was sure that they were probably still searching for him.

"Alion should've succeeded by now. I should go back."

He walked closer to Dren who used his spatial abilities to take Gabriel back to the lifeless desert. That was as far as he could go as well. From there, the exit gateway interfered in his abilities.

Gabriel and Dren could only walk to the exit together. Fortunately, the distance to cover wasn't long.

After only half a day, Gabriel reached the exit. This time, he believed that his trip to the Nether Realm was really fruitful, especially thanks to the mysterious skeleton.

He still had no idea just what mysteries remained behind those patterns on the skeleton bones but he wanted to research more.

....

"There's some movement." Alion stood up, sending spatial movements in the direction of the Nether Gate. "Someone is coming."

"Is it Gabriel?"

Jia also stood up and turned around, looking back curiously.

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Just as the two were waiting, a figure came out from the Nether Gate. The person was a young man, who appeared as if he hadn't even turned twenty years old yet. However, from the aura and the expressions of the man, he didn't feel like a youngster at all.

The young man was accompanied by a silver eyed Undead who looked slightly different than the one Alion and Jia had accompanied! Somehow, the one who accompanied Alion looked like... It had intelligence. It didn't have blank eyes like the others that they had seen.

He was still devoid of any aura of life, but if that was to be ignored, he looked no different than any ordinary human!

Gabriel came down the stairs, gazing at Alion and Jia. From their expressions, he was convinced that they hadn't failed their mission. There was no disappointment or regret on their faces after all. What was even better was that they were completely unharmed...

"Did you succeed?" Despite knowing the answer, he still asked as he landed on the ground.

Alion brought two blue gems out of his pockets. "It was easy."

"Hmph, of course it was easy for you. You didn't have to hold back the Undead Guards for eleven hours straight." Jia rolled her eyes, mumbling under her breath.

Gabriel ignored her complaints, having a rough idea about what happened.

He took the two blue gems from Alion and observed them for a brief moment.

A strange emotion flickered in his eyes for a brief moment, but it disappeared before anyone could notice it.

Now that they had the souls, it was slightly easier to recreate their bodies, at least for him. All he needed was to find some materials.

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Novius and Cylix had their souls intact! However, Gabriel knew that they weren't going to recognise him. They were completely different people from the two he met in the tower of challenges!

The two in the tower of challenges were only a small bit of their consciousness. They weren't a part of their souls. However, it didn't matter for Gabriel.

The consciousness of the two from the Tower of Challenges was still in his Grimoire. Even though he didn't do it intentionally in the past, it came handy now. All he had to do was merge this consciousness with the main souls and he could bring back the two people that he knew!

Once Novius was back, he could hand over the Empire to Novius and be free from his promise. As for Cylix, he could also gain freedom and enjoy life again!

The two had spent all their time inside the tower of challenges, never seeing the outside world from the moment they were created. Gabriel couldn't help but wonder just how excited they were going to be when they realized that they were not only alive but they were also free.

For now, Gabriel kept the two gems inside his Grimoire Spatial Storage. "In that case, we are done here."

"Are we going back to the Empire?" Alion asked.

Gabriel gazed in the direction of the Empire which he controlled. If anything, that was the only place he could call home in this world. That was also the place where his real Palace was! Moreover, it was where his army was sealed.

Half a month had already passed, leaving only half a month more before his army could be unsealed. No matter what, he had to go back there!

He nodded in response.

Now that he was back, the restrictions of the Abandoned City of Gods didn't apply anymore. He could freely break any restriction, including the restriction on flying. There was no one here who could stop him!

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"We're going home"