Level-six Ethereal-Rek'Sai

"Your Highness, please wait! I request a breather!"

"Agreed. I also need to undertake the training known as rest."

Inside Hollow Zero, in the southern part of the Old Capital's Minerva District, three figures had made their way deep into the Hollow's outer reaches. Any farther, and they would enter its core.

Griseo looked at Hoshimi Miyabi and Ithaqua. Both Void Hunter-level fighters were pale and seemingly drained of strength. Reluctantly, she nodded and agreed to stop for a breather.

As for how things had ended up this way, it all started at the strategy meeting.

After obtaining Griseo's approval and agreement to cooperate, Meflor had originally planned to concentrate their forces on eliminating Nineveh and Gepetto, temporarily checking Hollow Zero's expansion. They would use that window to transfer troops back to New Eridu and turn their attention to TOPS Group.

If the Municipal Government wanted to improve New Eridu's situation, it needed sufficiently powerful trump cards in hand.

But when they heard that Griseo had forcibly broken through the [Black Wall], the Municipal Government's senior officials found themselves facing an enormous headache.

The Black Wall had been built to contain high-level Ethereals. Now it had a breach.

Although New Eridu had not discovered any new high-level Ethereals escaping over the past two years, who could guarantee there were none?

What if there were?

As a result, the planned operation to eliminate Nineveh or Gepetto had become fraught with danger and uncertainty.

On top of that, Griseo had proposed "going alone to seal the Black Wall," something Meflor absolutely could not agree to.

As far as he was concerned, the area inside the [Black Wall], deep within Hollow Zero, was Griseo's home. If she simply left and never came back, he would have nowhere to turn.

So Meflor changed the