A Sorcerer's Journey 314 Surficial Tundra III

One one side were the busy squadrons of Bright Sorcerers operating under the Battle Command, carrying out combat deployment.
An army group of Soul Slaves, under the Bright Sorcerer military command flooded into the entrance of the Burrow World like water being let loose out of a dam.
On the other side were three hundred or more Elite Dark Sorcerers that followed closely by Black Isotta's side, awaiting his further orders.
Crash, crash, crash…
The space surrounding him kept on collapsing into itself, and the air further away from him contorted into abstract shapes. Due to the chaotic spatial core of the Black Isotta, his silhouette remained a blurred figure. One could barely see his black robes and the massive book he carried on his back through the spatial distortion around him.
As such, it was not uncommon for the Demon-Hunter Sorcerers that first encountered Black Isotta to hold their breaths in surprise at the out-of-this-world sight.
Although Black Isotta that stood in front of them was said to be a Level-6 Great Sorcerer, it was most likely that he was already nearing that of a Level-7 Celestial Sorcerer. He was undoubtedly one of the most powerful sorcerers in the Sorcerer World to be part of the handful of Level-7 Celestial Sorcerers that ever existed.
In the years to come, if this Great Sorcerer in front of him were to make that leap…
I'm afraid to say that…
The Sorcerer Continent would be issuing expansionary orders from the Holy Tower of the Eight Rings soon.
"Ke ke, little friends, your mission is to find me all the entrances to the Burrow World and to use my imprint to make markings on it. For every new entrance you find, you shall receive a Sorcerer Essence as a reward. There will be no limits to the number of entrances you find. The one who finds the most entrances will be given a Rank 2 Honor Badge, the second and third runner-up will each get a Rank 3 Honor Badge."
'Rank 2 Honor Badge!'
Many of the eyes of these Dark Demon Hunters lit up as soon as they heard that, and they held their breaths in disbelief.
A clear-cut reward like this Rank 2 Honor Badge that went along a straightforward mission in such a world was indeed a rare sight.
If one expedition were to hand out too many Honor Badges, the proceeds of the Stigmata Sorcerers would be taken up by the Holy Tower, a scenario many Stigmata Sorcerers couldn't bear to see.
As such, every Stigmata Sorcerer that led an expedition into a foreign world would try their best to make impossible demands for one to obtain a Rank-1 Honor Badge. At times, they would even limit the creation of Rank-2 Honor Badges in order to ensure the maximization of their own gains in the respective Demon-Hunting Expedition.
Who would have thought that Black Isotta would really issue the top reward of a Rank-2 Honor Badge for their special mission.
Not to mention that their mission difficulty was extremely low.
'What kind of situation is this? Is it that Black Isotta does not care for his own profits, and just want to hurry up the process?'

Grimm couldn't help but keep on guessing. Even so, his actions weren't hampered by his thoughts. Alongside other Elite Dark Demon Hunters, he pulled out his own sorcerer's transport device.
"Caw caw, young master, our time has come. Ah, the Rank 2 Honor Badge, caw caw caw…"
When the nearby Dark Demon Hunters saw Grimm pull out a Starfall Reconnaissance spherical flying device with a three-meter diameter from the Dimensional Gap, their eyes almost popped out from their sockets.
'This…'
This kind of transport device costs hundreds of times more than your regular Mechanical Bee!
In general, even a real Spy Sorcerer would not even earn enough to purchase a private Starfall Reconnaissance Craft, especially for Demon-Hunting battle mission uses.
But for Grimm…
No wonder this guy's name was personally called out by Black Isotta!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Many Dark Demon Hunters moved swiftly and it was only a matter of a few breaths after Black Isotta had announced the start of their special mission that all had left from their original spot. They all had formed into hundreds of streaks flying mach speed in different directions.
These, were all the elites of the Dark Demon Hunters.
"Sigh…"
Within the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft, Grimm sighed silently.
The speed at which they were flying was extremely fast. Grimm and Myna was like in a bubble as they flew about, scanning the tundra surface for any openings into the Burrow World.
However, at this moment, Grimm kept on sighing.
"Caw? My dearest Master Grimm, what's bothering you?"
Initially Myna was diligently scanning the ground for any entrances with Grimm, but hearing Grimm's sighs made him more curious about what was on his master's mind.
"There is already no hope in gaining the Honor Badge for this mission."
Shaking his head, Grimm replied, "The reason why this machine we're in is so expensive is due to its ability to cruise in the Void Realm and its top speed. However, if we were to aim for its top speed, that would take over ten months without stopping and deploying full thrust from its engines. However, that would be impossible in our mission which requires us to make frequent stops to mark the discovered entrances in our journey."
No wonder Grimm was so pessimistic.
On one hand, where the mission was concerned, to rush along with the mission within the boundaries of this small world, the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft was obviously not as suited for maintaining a constant high-speed than the Mechanical Bee.
And as for the group of Dark Demon Hunters from before, there was a significant portion of them who rode in transport devices similar to the Mechanical Bee, that could maintain a constant high speed.
On the other hand, to Grimm's surprise, some Dark Demon Hunters could personally move at speeds that were comparable if not faster than the other Demon-Hunter Sorcerers that rode on their devices!
The majority of this kind of Demon-Hunter Sorcerers are guys who were well-experienced in Light Elemental Energy sorcery. There was also a small part of them that utilized the Wind Elemental Energy sorcery to its fullest extent to achieve such speeds.
In his short observation, Grimm had come to the conclusion that his transport device's starting speed fell somewhere around the average level among other Demon-Hunter Sorcerers only.
The extreme speed Grimm had in mind, was just in comparison to his own flying speed only.
If compared to many other elite Demon-Hunter Sorcerers, Grimm was nothing to write home about.
What's worse was that their traveling speed was one of the key factors that dictated how many entrance points they found.
Half an hourglass later.
"Hm? Come, let's head down to check if that's an entrance point to the Burrow World."
Detecting something, Grimm gradually brought the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft to a rest. Opening up the cabin door, the craft slowly descended into this hole that had a diameter of roughly a dozen meters.
On the surficial tundra, not all holes were entrances that connected to the Burrow World.
Some of these holes were naturally formed after a geological movement. Not all of them were burrows that were dug out by the Snowthread "creators" that formed the Burrow World with their extensive tunneling.
As the Snowthreads' activity levels drop over the years, their burrows would gradually get blocked up by the snow and ice from the surficial tundra above.
The Starfall Reconnaissance Craft descended steadily into the interiors of this chasm. A bone-chilling laughter was heard as phantoms of the Bloodlust Doll appeared around the craft.
Startled by the sudden appearance of Grimm's transport device, a large group of Snowthreads scurried into the deeper reaches of their burrows. Seeing this, Grimm's heart lit up in glee.
"No doubt about it, this is indeed an entrance point to the Burrow World. One Sorcerer Essence it is!"
However…
"Ku ku ku, is this Grimm? I'm afraid this entrance point was already discovered by me."
From the depths of the burrow, appeared a Level-3 Great Sorcerer with a purple hurricane surrounding his body. His eyes burned straight into Grimm as he said in a mocking tone. In front of him as an Isotta imprint that slowly emitted a traces of pure black energy, as if weaving a large net to seal off the entrance of the burrow.
"Caw?! It seems we have arrived late for the party…"
Myna said in disappointment as it realized what had happened. Standing on Grimm's shoulder, he was initially taken aback by the unexpected appearance of the Demon-Hunter Sorcerer.
Under the Mask of Truth, Grimm's expression turned bitter. Taking back the Isotta imprint, he proceeded with the sorcerer's formalities and blurted out sharply, "Excuse me."
Hurriedly, he left the scene. Now he was once again in the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft flying high above the ground. Grimm couldn't stop himself from moaning, "Just a little earlier. He arrived just a little earlier before us."
However, from what Grimm had saw. The black magic array weaved by the Isotta imprint from just now had an energy level that could only deter creatures below Level 1.
Instead, what caught Grimm's attention was the Spatial Concealment Energy.
Was the purpose of the Isotta imprint net to allow Black Isotta to appear on the spot at any given time?
Even if these few hundred Elite Dark Demon Hunters were to find just a fraction of all entrance points to the Burrow World, that would already amount to thousands, if not tens of thousands of these caverns. How could Black Isotta possibly seal off all of them?
It seemed that it was Myna who was even more frustrated than Grimm. He yelled out in frustration, "Young master! The way I see it, we should just allow the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft to continue its cruise for a few more months, achieving higher speeds to shake off other sorcerers before we continue searching for entrance points in peace."
'Hmm?'
Grimm's eyes lit up as he stared at Myna. 'This idea isn't half bad at all!'
Grimm replied amusingly, "It seems you have recently developed the ability to use your intellect huh. Hehe, take this, it's your reward."
Grimm tossed a Sorcerer Essence over to Myna. Myna caught it with joy using his beak and tucked it into the Dimensional Gap. He then said with a mischievous smile, "Caw caw, Lord Myna is actually just a genius in disguise—no mere mortal can ever realize the intellect of the Great Steel Emblem Myna."
If Myna were to refer to himself as Lord Myna in front of Grimm back then, it would undoubtedly earn himself a slap before being stuffed into the Dimensional Gap.
But for now, due to the pain of being alone for hundreds of years, Myna had long become Grimm's trustworthy companion. The relationship between the two had transcended that of before, so such trivial matters were nothing worth fussing over.
In a flash, the Starfall Reconnaissance Craft had started accelerating at an exponential rate. They weren't stopping for any holes in the ground now. For now, they were flying towards a faraway direction, towards the horizon of the surficial tundra.

Chapter end