System's POV

"Mors, where's Zion?" Sherry asked her Blade Panther, who was blocking her path.

The Blade Panther shook its head and replied to its Master with a low growl.

"I can't see him right now?" Sherry asked.

The Blade Panther nodded and whimpered.

"Take me to him—that's an order," Sherry said in a stubborn tone. "You should listen to me as your Master."

The Blade Panther pondered for a bit, but in the end, it firmly shook its head.

Sherry was its Master, so it was supposed to protect her. That was why it didn't dare to let the young lady approach the crazy teenage boy, who was currently interrogating the captured Lizardman Captain.

Mors had witnessed how Thirteen forced Sharroc into talking. After seeing it once, it hastily left the scene to prevent its Master from seeing something that would stay with her for life.

Sherry, who didn't expect that her own Avatar would refuse her order, tried to peek past Mors, but the Blade Panther blocked her sight, preventing her from seeing anything.

"Are you really not going to move away?" Sherry asked. "I'll unsummon you if you don't move."

Mors was unfazed by its Master's threat. Even if Sherry were to mean those words, it would stay in place till the very last second.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Sherry finally sighed and relented.

Avatars were very loyal to their Master and would obey them without fail.

Since Mors were refusing to obey her orders, it only meant that it was only doing it for her own good.

'Just what is happening over there?' Sherry mused. 'Isn't it just a simple interrogation? Why is Mors acting like this? Is he preventing me from seeing something I shouldn't see?'

Of course, the young lady had not an inkling that Zion's interrogation wasn't anything ordinary.

Even the most stubborn of people would start talking after experiencing his interrogation methods just once.

***

"The name of our Great Chieftain is Lord Drazzat. He is one of the five Lords of the Lizardmen who governs the Rivers and Lakes of the Fractured Heaven," Sharroc said in a fearful tone.

"How strong is he?" Thirteen asked.

"Rank 6 Sovereign," Sharroc replied.

At the start, the Lizardman Captain refused to answer Thirteen's question.

However, after inhaling Giga Chad's Giga Destroyer (Original Version), he started to talk, no longer caring that he was betraying his comrades in the slightest.

He simply wished for his suffering to end.

Thirteen proceeded to ask more questions, allowing him to slowly understand more about the current state of the war between the Lizardmen and the Ratmen.

Soon, he heard Wanderers being involved, and a frown emerged on his face. Both sides had captured Wanderers who were Spirited Away in this location in the past, and were using them as cannon fodders for their war.

He also learned that there was a small group of Wanderers who were trying to free their fellow humans from both sides.

They were the Wanderers who managed to flee from the Lizardmen's and Ratmen's attempt to capture them after they arrived in Solterra for the first time.

'Do they perhaps have the same mission as I do?' Thirteen thought.

After asking Sharroc more questions, Thirteen pondered whether he should kill him or not.

If Sharroc was an ordinary Lizardmen, the teenage boy wouldn't bat an eye and would've had him devoured by the black flag, making him part of his army.

However, after finding out about his identity, Thirteen believed that Sharroc would be more useful to him alive than dead.

The Lizardman Captain was the sixth son of Lord Drazzat, one of the five Lords of the Lizardmen.

Because of his identity, the other party was more valuable to him alive than dead.

An hour later…

Thirteen returned to the cave with Sherry and her Blade Panther, Mors.

The Blade Panther was carrying the captured Lizardman who was currently unconscious.

Sean had already informed the rest about the battle that transpired, bragging about their flawless strategy under Zion's command.

Naturally, Leon didn't like how the teams that left earlier didn't suffer any casualties.

Even so, he kept a smile on his face as he listened to Sean's bragging about the battle that he had fought alongside the Commander of the Alliance.

"You should have been there," Sean said to Leon. "It was exhilarating."

"Yeah. Maybe next time," Leon replied in a non-committal manner. "But what do we do now?"

Leon glanced at Zion, who was currently talking to his members.

When he heard that Sherry gained a Rank 3 Alpha Blade Panther, the young man felt so envious. After all, he only had a Rank 2 Wolf as his Avatar.

Of course, it was not only him who felt this way.

Almost everyone, including the Wanderers who belonged to Zion's Faction, felt the same.

A few minutes later, Thirteen gathered everyone and told them about their current situation.

"I have bad news, and more bad news," Thirteen said. "What do you all want to hear first?"

Everyone looked at him with grim expressions on their faces.

Since there was no other option aside from bad news, it meant that their current situation was not looking good.

Seeing that all of them had resigned themselves to hear the bad news, Thirteen no longer hesitated and told them about the information he gained from interrogating Sharroc.

"We are currently sandwiched between an on-going war between the Lizardmen, and the Ratmen," Thirteen said. "To make matters worse, both sides are actively capturing Wanderers to serve as cannon fodders in their armies.

"If we continue to head west, we will just be going deeper into their territories, and the chances of them finding us is extremely high. It is no exaggeration to say that if we continue to push forward, our lives will be in danger."

Silence descended upon the cave as everyone digested Zion's words.

The silence lasted for nearly three minutes before one of the Wanderers in his team spoke out.

"Then, what should we do?"

Thirteen didn't answer right away.

Instead, he scanned everyone's faces before telling everyone about his crazy plan.

"We need to pick a side," Thirteen stated. "That's the only way for us to survive."

If he really wanted to, he could have just knocked everyone unconscious and have Rocky carry them inside his Mobile Fortress, only waking them up once they've reached their destination.

But he didn't plan to do that.

After interrogating Sharroc, he realized that just running away wouldn't solve the problem.

They needed to pick a side, not only to survive but also to gain an opportunity to free the other Wanderers who found themselves in the middle of a war that would decide their fate.

But in order to pull that off, he needed to make Sharroc his ally first.

Although it was a longshot, and the chances of success were small, he still believed that this was the most optimal choice they currently had right now.

Of course, there was a chance that Sharroc would betray them. Fortunately, he also had a way to ensure that it wouldn't happen.

If negotiations with the Lizardmen were to fail… well, he would just have to become the Third Party in this war, with the goal of freeing the other Wanderers from their enslavement.

With the forces under his control and the tricks under his sleeve, he believed that he could do guerrilla tactics that would push the Lizardmen and the Ratmen to the brink of their sanity.

"This is crazy, but it seems that we have no other choice but to become crazy to survive," Heidi whispered in Sean's ear. "What do you think, Sean? Should we go along with Zion's plan?"

"Do we have a choice?" Sean replied. "Otherwise, do you want to return to that valley where it's safe and wait until someone clears the mission first?"

Heidi smiled bitterly because her friend was right.

Their only choice was to go forward or to go backward.

Since going back to the valley wasn't an option for the Cygni Faction, they had no choice but to join Zion's bandwagon, which seemed to be headed to damnation and beyond.

—————

A/N: Only one chapter today. Currently suffering from high blood pressure, so I decided to just write one chapter and rest for the time being.

Regular chapters will resume tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your understanding.