After all the ashes passed through the tree, the tree itself shook. It twisted its body, and the part where they could exit was sealed off by the wrinkles made by the spinning of the tree.

Elliot turned around to see his friends have the exact same facial expression he had. Confused and worried.

"What in the actual hell just happened?" Elliot asked out loud. "The zombies were fwooped and they were sucked into that tree."

"That magic was incredible," Lance said. "It's range was vast. The person who casted that spell must be someone that's here with us or maybe they're watching from far away."

Guan Yin pointed her spear above them. "I think I know how it sees everything."

She was pointing at a large swan that was flying above them. It was the size of a wagon and it was flapping its wings while maintaining its height in the air.

"That swan must be a ward," Lance said. "It's spying on us."

"I think I can reach it," Connor said, flying to the direction of the swan. Kusa followed him, also flying towards the ward. They were rushing close to it when a translucent forcefield stopped them.

"What?" Connor scrunched his face and placed his hands on the dome. "It's locking us in."

"I think this is the edge of the realm," Kusa said. "Man-made realms are not as limitless as we think they are. They require large amount of magic to even create a room. That person is remarkable enough to create an entire island for themselves."

"But why did they let us in and not the zombies?" Connor thought out loud.

The swan screeched, making the two snap their heads to its direction. It flapped its wings a couple of times before flying away like nothing had just happened.

"What the hell was that about?" Connor's face contorted in confusion. Kusa just shrugged it off and suggested they go back to the ground to report what they saw.

"That swan was at beyond the realm," Kusa said. "It's about two thousand meters up."

"Amazing," Lance whispered. "How could someone create such thing? I think we need the help of whoever created this realm. They have this much magic. Maybe they can help us defeat the evil emperors."

"I don't think you can," Guan Yin said. "If you're going to pull out that person from this place, and they don't have enough magic to maintain this place for long, it will collapse."

Kaminari nodded, "A realm will require even more magic if the caster leaves. It's like you're sending money to a person on the other side of the country and the medium of transaction adds their fees."

"But they closed off connection to other realms, but not Terra," Lance thought. "They must be still attached to Terra. Maybe if we did them a favor, they'll help us."

Before they could continue, Seungju sat up and raised his hand. "I'm awake!"

They all looked to his direction, making the man's face lit up with a red color. "Oh, sorry."

"No," Lance said. "Perfect timing. We have to report to Emperor Kang about this. We can also ask the other Explorers if they foud clues while they were exploring this place."

"I'll take you to him then," Seungju said. He stood and led the group to the bunkers where the emperor was hiding.

The city looked desolate as they passed through it. The once bustling streets were now filled with silence. Houses, stores, and other establishments were emptied with most doors still open.

Seungju placed his finger on his temple, "Emperor, the zombies are gone. We are on our way to the bunkers right this moment."

The emperor said something that the others couldn't hear. "Thank you. Please hurry now. We have a lot to discuss."

"Yes, sir," Seungju said and dropped the call. He turned around to the people behind him, smiling as he did. "He's waiting. Let's go."

While they were walking to the bunker, Elliot remembered his conversation with Kaminari right before the zombies attacked. He walked up to the woman and asked her about it.

"Who was the son of Emperor Kang, again?" Elliot asked. "I don't think I remembered it right."

"Kang Ilwoo," Kaminari replied. "Also, why did you have that book?"

"What exactly happened to him?" Elliot asked another question without replying to the Lightning Master's question. "How exactly did he go missing?"

"Answer my question first," Kaminari sounded like a raging river. He was tenacious not to avoid the question thrown at him. "I trust you Elliot, but Ilwoo is a very important person to me. How did you get his book?"

Elliot sighed, fully knowing he can't evade this. "I met Ilwoo at the West. And we don't know each other long enough for him to say that he's a prince in his kingdom."

Kaminari placed his hand on his chest. "Did you really meet him?"

"Yes. He sells Eastern food there," Elliot said. "He said that he couldn't go home because of the border lockdown. He didn't say that he's actually wanted in here."

Kaminari didn't reply after that. Instead, he leaped to a roof and ran to the bunker without saying anything.

"What happened to him?" Lance asked. "He looked troubled."

"I think I made him like that," Elliot sighed. "He was just askint questions, and I was only answering them. I didn't know he would get upset. Thought he'd get excited."

"Not all of us can cope the same was as everyone else," Lance said. "Give him time. Maybe he just needs a bit of space."

"Okay," Elliot replied with a heavy sigh.

Their walk to the bunker was silent after that. No one said another word until they arrived at a large tree.

It was located at the border of a forest. The tree stood out from all the others. It was twice the size of the average tree behind it while its width looked like six times more than the others.

"Damn," Ed whistled. "If this tree was a woman, she'd be thick."

This statement earned him a smack at the back of his head from Connor, "You and your lewd mind. Oh, lord. Bless this boy."

Seungju walked up to the tree and waved his right hand. This made the people behind him to look at each other, thinking that the man was crazy.

"There are guards stationed around the tree," Seungju said. "To enter the bunker, you have to sign so they'd let you in."

The middle of the tree parted, showing a large hall inside. It was all hollow inside and the tree was actually made of metal. It was covered with bark from the flora affinity Explorers so it would mask like a normal giant tree.

Seungju led them inside the hollow tree. They stood in the middle and looked around, seeing that no one else was with them.

"Why is the hall empty?" Allen asked. "Where are the citizens?"

Kusa pointed down and smirked. "Watch."

The entire floor shook, making all of them brandish their weapons. This made Seungju chuckle. "Relax. This is not an attack."

It felt like the floor sank and they were going along with it. Ed and Connor held each other in fear as they felt themselves sink.

A few seconds later, the floor stopped going down and an underground city was in front of them.

"Welcome to Seoule," Seungju said. "The Underground City of Kkeun."