Endless Journey: Infinite Realms 334 Red is for Dread

As the explosion covered his body, Alex braced himself for the incoming impact.

But to his surprise and relief, he received no signs of impact at all. Even heat did not touch his body.

Only a bright glare of light filled the whole area, which persisted to exist for 10 more seconds.

"Wait…" At the moment that Alex realized that the explosion from the giant only released light, his eyes widened as a frightening notion appeared on his mind.

"Don't tell me..." Alex's face contorted to that of a frown as he decided to scan his surroundings with his power.

At the moment that he did this, a snarl appeared on Alex's face as his scans showed no signs of the giant at all!
No matter how far Alex scanned his surroundings, he was still unable to find any signs of the giant's presence!

"Motherf***ker!" It was only now that Alex realized that the giant, who had been attacking them with fervor earlier, has now disappeared entirely!

Needless to say, Alex was definitely pissed with that just happened.

"So that's why that giant made itself 'explode' earlier. That was just a ruse so that it can escape." Alex thought to himself angrily as he slowly opened his eyes.

Right now, the light from the giant's explosion was already gone, leaving only Alex, Alina, and the TimeMasters standing around an empty area.

It was at that area where the giant should have been right now.

Alina, who was still squinting from the effects of the light explosion, let out an angry growl as she also noticed what happened.
"Alex… the giant… it's gone already!" Alina said as she gave Alex a worried look. "Was the explosion only a distraction so that it can escape?"

"Yes, that is what I am thinking." Alex replied as he tried to keep his voice even. "Ugh, those f**kers! They even managed to trick me!"
"Yes, they tricked us…."Alina replied listlessly as she let out a sigh.
"…"
Earlier, Alex thought that these rebels just summoned that giant to create chaos and fight against the TimeMasters.
But now, Alex realized that there is a high chance that the goal of the rebels was not to fight the TimeMasters!. After all, if fighting was their goal, then this giant should have continued fighting to the death with these TImeMasters.
But instead, this giant actually used some kind of power to leave the area.
And when the giant escaped, all the people that it kept inside its body were also brought away by it!

"F**k, looking at it on this angle, it makes it obvious that those rebels summoned that giant in order to kidnap someone." Alex muttered as the TimeMasters nearby began to look visibly panicked. "And if my suspicions were right, that person that they wanted to kidnap was…"

"Annie." Alina supplemented Alex's words as her face turned grim. "It all fits here. The time when this giant appeared was after Annie's mother left. Not only that, but it also took Annie inside its body. Combine those two facts with Annie's status, and it makes it obvious that she was the target here."

"F**k! And here I thought these TImeMasters are useful!" Alex growled in anger as he clenched his fists. "The only reason that I allowed Annie, Kiera and that old man to roam around was because I felt these TImeMasters can keep them safe. But as it turns out, they were outplayed too!"

"…" Alina have no reply to that, as she seemed to be agreeing with Alex.
"F**k…"
When Annie, Kiera and her grandpa decided to leave earlier, Alex decided to let them be, since he knew that Annie's status will protect them three.

After all, Annie was the daughter of the Great TimeMaster. It's already a given that all TimeMasters will strike to keep her safe.
That's why Alex thought that even if some kind of rebel group attacked Annie, the TimeMasters nearby will be able to keep them safe.

But that's not what happened right now!

"Alex, you cannot blame yourself. After all, the rebels seemed to have planned all of this already." Alina hesitantly said as she tried to calm Alex down. "If you observed the giant earlier, you will see that all of its movements are actually planned. Even its taunts to the TimeMasters, and the timing of its escape are all perfectly maneuvered… "

"…" Alex did not say anything in reply, as he only let Alina continue talking.

"Alex, Annie's kidnapping was obviously planned." Alina muttered as she observed Alex's face.
"Of course it's planned. That's the only way they can pull this stunt off." Alex said with displeasure on his voice.
"With the way that they executed their plan earlier, there is a high chance that they had been waiting for an opportunity to kidnap Annie for a very long time." Alina said as she sheathed her katana. "I do not know what is the opportunity that they are looking for, but it seems like they have found it this time."
"Tsk, so I was just unlucky that their chance to commence their plan coincided with my presence? This sucks…" Alex said as he placed a palm on his forehead.
By this point, all the TimeMasters seemed to have realized the reality that Annie was already taken away by the giant.

Shouts of anger and blame echoed all around the area, covering Alex and Annie within it.
"Sigh, this mission not going the way I want it to go." Alex muttered as he ignored the shouts by the TimMasters around him.
Alina only nodded grimly as she agreed with him.

"So… what should we do now?" Alina hesitantly asked Alex as she observed his mood. "Should we give chase… or should we accelerate our plan?"

"With the situation that we are in, the only thing that we can do is to accelerate our plan." Alex replied as he pulled out a strand of hair in his pocket.
Alex's mood seems to be back to normal, although he still failed to hide his smoldering eyes.
"Alex, that strand…"
"Hmph, I should only use this message in an emergency, and unfortunately for us, we are in an emergency right now." Alex muttered as he poured some of his power to the hair strand on his hand.

"Hong~"
The hair strand suddenly glowed, bathing Alex and Alina with the light emanating out from it.
But instead of a golden light like earlier, the hair strand on Alex's hand was now letting out a blood-red glow.

Alina gulped as she saw this glow, as if she could feel the anger and bloodshed emanating from it.

"Hmph, I just hope that dumb fairy did not lose her own strand." Alex said as he stared at the blood-red strand impassively. "If she lost it… I don't know what I can do to her.

"…Yeah, let's hope that will not happen." Alina muttered as Asteria's face flashed inside her mind. "Although knowing that fairy, she could really have lost it."

"…"
****************
TRASH PREFECTURE

"Huff, huff, huff."

Inside a wooden room, repetitive sounds of groaning can be heard, which sounded like a person who was grunting in agony.

"Huff huff huff."
As time went on, these sounds of groaning continued to echo out, along with a damp, musky smell.

By this point, it was already hard to imagine what can induce this kind of sounds and smell.

Fortunately, the door's room was open, allowing any outsider to see what was inside it.

At the middle of the room, a green-skinned woman can be seen laying on her back.

Her whole body was glistening with sweat and her face seemed to be contorted in discomfort.

Her whole chest was heaving up and down, as if she was having difficulty breathing.
Groans and grunts were coming out of her mouth, which paired with her sweaty body, presents a somewhat enticing sight.
"Huff huff huff."

Why was this woman sweaty and grunting repetitively? Well it was because of what she was doing there.

"Huff huff huff."

The green woman's arms were raised above her body, moving in an up-down motion.
To anyone seeing this, they will realize that this green woman was actually doing bench presses right now.
But instead of holding a barbell with her hands, this green woman was using a different weighted object.

Placed above her hands was a book, which seemed to look like a normal book.

But from the way that the woman moved this book, it seemed to be exerting a great pressure on her.
"Huff huff huff."

Yes, this woman was doing bench presses using a book, and she seemed to be having difficutly on moving it.
The woman could only barely raise the book away from her chest, and her face seemed to shout in agony as she lowered the book.
This cycle of agonizing bench press just repeated itself, as the woman did not give up at all.
"Huff huff huff."
Aside from this green woman, there was another woman inside the room.

Just like the green woman, the second woman was also holding a book, although she was using it in the right way.

The second woman was reading her book, although the way that she read it was enough to creep anyone out.

Instead of using only her eyes, there was 10 more pairs of eyes floating around the second woman's head, which were all staring intently at the book that she held.

The empty, soulless gazes from these floating eyes, coupled with the second woman's eerily still pose, can be considered to be a stuff of nightmares.

"Oi Queen Mother, why are you bench pressing with that Tome?" Out of nowhere, the second woman started to talk as her 'eyes' swiveled on the bench pressing woman. "You look like you are wasting yout time there."

The bench pressing woman, who turned out to be Queen Mother, let out another grunt as she gave a reply. "I-huff am-huff building-huff my-huff strength-huff with-huff this-huff- tome-huff."

"Yeah, yeah, don't speak anymore. You look like you were about to die." The second woman said as she placed back her attention on her book. "So that Tome was really that heavy? No wonder that Tome has Strength named in it."

"Don't-huff bother-huff me-huff now-huff Frances-huff." Queen Mother said as her sweat increased. "I-huff need-huff to-huff finish-huff 1000-huff sets-huff today-huff!"

"Well good luck with that." The second woman, who turns out to be Professor Frances, replied as she stopped watching Queen Mother. "I wish you can still move later. After all, we still have to observe those rebels."

"Argh…. Those-huff people-huff again-huff? Argh…" Queen Mother groaned out as despair appeared on her face. "Can-huff you-huff be-huff the-huff one-huu to-huff talk-huff to-huff them-huff? I'm-huff tired-huff…"

"Poor you, maybe I can let you wiggle out of thi-"

"Hey! Did you see my hair strand!" The Professor's reply was cut off when suddenly, Asteria came bounding in with her irritating voice. "I can't see my hair strand since earlier! Did you see it?"

"Your hair strand? The one that you used to talk to Alex?" Professor Frances asked the fairy as exasperation appeared on the former's face. "You lost that one?"

"H-hey! Don't blame me! I just forgot where I placed it!" Asteria replied defensively as she crossed her arms.

"Don't blame you? B**ch, that's our only line of communication with Alex!" The professor snarled as all of her 'eyes' glared at the dumb fairy with malevolence. "So what if you forgot where you placed it? You still lost it!"

"Okay! It's my fault now! Can we start looking for it then?" Asteria replied as she pulled her blond hair angrily. "If we don't look for it, it might get swept away!"

"Sigh…. You're really a dumb fairy." The professor said as she stood up from her seat.

"S-stop mocking me okay? Let's just look for it!"

"Fine fine." The professor said as she let out a sigh. She then looked at Queen Mother, who was still doing her bench presses. "I'll be the one who will help you out. As for Queen Mother… let her do her thing."

"Great! Now then, let's go wandering!" Asteria cheerfully said as she sat down on the professor's head. "Onwards my steed!"

"Dumb b**ch" The professor muttered to herself as she shook her head.

She resisted the urge to slap Asteria away as she decided to focus on looking for the missing hair strand.
"Skroom!"
The professor's body trembled for a second as she cranked up all of her senses to the max.
Now, the professor's super enhances senses will allow her to sense even the most minute of the biological particles nearby.

With this, the professor was confident that she can easily find the missing strand.

But before the professor can even use her max sense, she was forced to stop moving as her vision was overwhelmed by a blood red glow.
"What the hell?"
This glow came out of Asteria's body, who froze for a second.
"Oh…"
After she stared at her glowing body for a second, Asteria suddenly let out a whoop of laughter as she jumped off the professor's head.

"Oh! So the strand was inside my pocket along. Hehehe… I forgot to look there earlier…" Asteria sheepishly said as she pulled out a hair strand from her pocket, which was now letting out a blood-red glow.

"…"

The professor resisted the urge to admonish Asteria's airheadedness as her attention was more focused on the glowing strand.

"Oi you fairy.. since that strand was glowing right now, does it mean that Alex has a message for us?" The professor asked as she felt entranced by the red glow. "If he really has a message, then what does he want us to do?"
"Oh? The message? Well, it's just a simple one." Asteria replied as she played with the hair strand. "This strand can glow in different colors, with each color having their own meaning. Blue is for 'stop the plan'. Green is for 'Pick up the pace'. As for red…"

"Go on."

"As for red, it means: 'Everything is f**ked up already, so finish creating the army in the shortest amount of time'…" Asteria said as Professor Frances let out a weary sigh. "So if I were you, you should get going to the rebels already! You never know, Alex and Alina might be needing our help right now!"

"Wow. Just wow." That was all the professor could say as she started running towards the houses of the rebels. "I should have expected something like this to happen…"

Chapter end

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