Tower of Heaven

There were eleven people primarily involved in the suffering of Ruru and the creation of the Death Relic. Because the Death Relic believed that their existence tainted its Legend, it wanted them dead by the hands of a cultivator who would become its master. When that happened, it could ascend to a new level of strength.

Atlas knew their faces, and though he did not know their names or positions, they weren't hard to find at all.

The person who led the entire operation was the city's mayor, a man named Enen. The other ten were his closest officials. Even without doing extensive research, when Atlas returned back to the city, he was easily able to find these people's identities by describing them to the citizens.

Temporarily, he left Ruru behind. That wasn't to say the young dragon was still in the underground facility. Atlas made sure to confirm which of the eleven officials Ruru specifically had grudges against and put them aside as the first targets.

With that, he found the secret pathway the officials used to enter and leave the facility when they needed to avoid the eyes of the public. Ruru was able to escape through it and was currently waiting patiently in a nearby forest for the moment when he could get his revenge.

Atlas left him with some of the healing pills he had, but he believed the dragon would be fine. Without restrictions on his qi, the world would heal him before he ever had to use a supplement. Experience tales with empire

'His wings, however…'

Atlas shook his head. That wasn't a matter to think about now.

Finding out who the officials were was easy, but finding the best opportunity to kill them was not. Obviously, they were very squeamish people, as they ran from the city at the first signs of total chaos in the artifact's memory. If he started wantonly getting rid of them, they were bound to scatter.

'Those who enter the facility will be easiest killed inside the facility itself, however, that is only five of them.'

Those five were the ones Ruru wanted to slaughter. It would have been easier to just have him stay inside the tomb facility while pretending to be weakened until he could strike, but Ruru didn't want to be anywhere near that place and Atlas couldn't blame him for it.

'I can find them when they are entering and take them to him, so it isn't much of a problem.'

In fact, he could even gather them together in one big bundle.

He had a plan in mind. It was incredibly simple, even, since the people of this city didn't have much cultivation.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

'It's always these kinds of people. With the power of money, they hire powerful formation masters, blacksmiths, and alchemists to do these kinds of things.'

Of course, it was also the fault of those secondary profession masters who accepted their money, but they were cultivators, so at least they tried to justify their greed through power.

In this case, they had to be weak. If they weren't weak, the Death Relic would have taken pride in making them flee with its presence alone.

Atlas didn't have to do anything specific to draw the first two victims. They entered the tomb in order to feed Ruru as they did every day. They entered the underground area through the secret entrance and found their way to the main chamber, only to be surprised by the lack of a large dragon who was usually decorating the center of the room like an ornament.

"This…?"

"It escaped?!"

Their reactions were to be expected, but they weren't allowed to investigate the mysterious circumstance. A shadow descended from above them and imprisoned their necks in pitch-black chains. Their eyes bulged out of their skulls and their faces went from red to purple as consciousness faded from them.

When they woke up, they'd find themselves chained in the center of the room just as Ruru was before. Only, nobody would be coming to save them.

The next day dawned, and their missing status was discovered. Several conspiracies spread through the upper echelons of the city who realized they were not attending to their duties, but it was mostly at the level of calling them lazy or debaucherous.

Only nine other people had real concern in their eyes.

They had always known a day like this would come.

'Did the dragon eat them?'

They were hesitant to go investigate, but the last thing they could allow was for the dragon to escape the tomb and run wild.

"Should we run?"

"Now? We've done too much! Do you know how much I've lost to our research?"

"Then, if we aren't leaving, we have to do something about it."

"Haa, Gerald, Frederick, the two of you go. You won't refuse, right?"

"Dammit, we won't refuse, but this is only because of the agreement. Next time, we won't be considered."

"Right. That is the agreement we made, so we will follow it."

Without much of a choice, two of them were sent to investigate. As they had contact with the dragon more than most, they were chosen.

Along with them, they took an artifact crafted to summon the Holy Relic if it was within a certain range. As long as they had the Holy Relic, they could defeat the dragon. This was a tried and true fact.

Just like their predecessors, they entered the main chamber through the hidden passage, and rather than a dragon, they found their own missing compatriots in the center of the room.

"You two…what happened? Where's the dragon?!"

The two newcomers rushed to their allies to free them. Their eyes were bulging widely in fear and the cloth in their mouths moved back and forth as they desperately tried to speak.

"Hold on, dammit! I'll remove the cloth, so just wait!"

Seeing that they wanted to speak so badly, Gerald and Frederick stopped trying to remove their chains and removed the bundles of cloth first.

They heard three words.

"Watch out! He–"

At that moment, the same chains that bound the two men sprung up and wrapped around the necks of the newcomers, pulling them to the ground.

As they struggled fruitlessly against the attack, a man in a white mask appeared in front of them.

They didn't know it, but under his mask, he was smiling widely.

"Hello, there. If you would be so kind, I would like to ask you for a favor."

In a cordial tone that didn't match his actions in the slightest, he spoke to the officials he'd kidnapped.

And, the very next day, a letter appeared at the City Lord's Manor. It was signed by Gerald and addressed to the rest of them. It read:

"The dragon was almost dead in there when we found it. Those two idiots Hama and Jared went off on their own to chase women in the city of Grama a hundred kilometers north. We're going to find them now, since we can't have them playing around at a time like this. Make sure to send someone to feed the dragon."

It was a curious letter, but nobody could deny that it was Gerald's handwriting and signature. It sounded more like Gerald and Frederick were going to join Jared and Hama in their debauchery rather than stop them, but there was nothing the rest could do.

"Dammit. Did they want to get out of feeding that damn beast so bad?"

"Well, it makes sense, but we can't let it die now. It's almost completely tamed."

"Right, so who's taking the 'food' to it?"

The remaining seven officials, including the City Lord, were at a stalemate about "who" would be the one to feed the dragon, however, the answer would be decided soon enough.

After all, of those remaining, there was only one person who'd actually interacted with the dragon more than a few times. The vote was practically decided before they even cast it.

The fifth ingredient in the revenge cocktail Atlas was making for Ruru was coming towards him on his own.

As for the rest of the Ascenders who entered the illusionary plane…

Well, most of them were still in the tomb, fighting over a Sacred Relic that didn't even exist there in the first place.