Chapter 1235: Following

The mood was not good at all as everyone moved out of the hole. Kyle didn't know if Team Wooly Sheep were having some internal discussions or not. It could be that they were already planning on how to proceed with the team when they got back, but it could also be that they just didn't talk at all.

Team Wooly Sheep had stopped being a guaranteed asset to the alliance. The chances of betrayal were now there, but due to the alliance agreement, the Leader couldn't give any orders that would break the agreement. As the Leader, she had to follow the alliance agreement and do everything in her power to support it. Otherwise, she would lose a gigantic chunk of Karmic Luck.

Sadly, the same thing wasn't true for her members.

"May I lead the alliance back?" Spring of Joy asked.

"You may," Kyle answered.

"Go ahead," the Leader added.

Spring of Joy was an aspiring Guide. If she led the teams into an ambush, she would find it hard to further her career as a Guide. She had to be trustworthy and reliable. An unreliable Guide was just as bad as an unreliable Leader.

The alliance moved across the Planet, passing by a couple of other teams. For now, none of the other teams tried to attack them, but things most likely wouldn't stay like this.

Just when the alliance was about to reach a Separating Line, Kyle told them to stop. A moment later, Kyle gave the Leader access to his Sense Expansion Formation Array and told her about his plan.

A team was following them, but they were not attacking. They were following them from a distance. Kyle knew as much based on his Elemental Energy Sensing Formation Array.

The Leader connected with the Formation Array and found the team that was following them.

Five Adept Immortals, affiliates of the Wargod's Peak.

Surprisingly, they were not in the Excursion Lobby. Teams didn't need to have representatives in the Excursion Lobby. There was no rule about that.

"We have sensed you," the Leader transmitted via the Formation Array. "If you keep following us, we will count this as an act of aggression."

The other team didn't answer. They just stopped moving.

Since the other team was no longer moving, the alliance continued.

They passed by the Separating Line and entered the next Planet, which was claimed by a Minor Immortal Team.

Luckily, the Minor Immortal Team allowed them to move through their Planet unhindered.

The next Planet was also claimed, but there were no issues.

Another claimed Planet.

Another claimed Planet.

'Sure enough, having a Guide is insanely useful,' Kyle thought as he glanced at Spring of Joy. 'Fighting on a claimed Planet is very risky. The owner makes the rules, and if someone attacks someone else on their turf, they will most likely view the act of aggression as a challenge to their rule. The rules must be followed.'

'Spring of Joy is leading us through one claimed Planet after the other. Following us also won't be easy.'

When they entered yet another claimed Planet, Spring of Joy told them to stop.

"I used to work with this team regularly many years ago," she transmitted.

Kyle looked at the power of the team owning this Planet and saw that they counted as a team comprised of Minor Immortals.

'She must have been a Beginner Immortal for a long time, but I guess it makes sense. She's building rapport with all kinds of teams and gathers information by going on Excursions with them.'

"They're willing to give us an opportunity for 50 Grade Nine Energy Stones," Spring of Joy transmitted. "We may pause here and confront any potential team that might follow us. They will not help in the battle, but they will allow us to battle the other team. If there is nobody following us, we only need to pay ten Grade Nine Energy Stones for the opportunity. Do we agree?"

"We agree," Kyle transmitted.

"We agree," the Leader echoed.

In the next moment, the Avatars in the Excursion Lobby of the two Leaders took out five Grade Nine Energy Stones and handed them to the Minor Immortal Team.

All of this didn't even take five seconds.

For the first time in a while, the alliance didn't move. Instead, they were waiting right near the Separating Line between their last and this Planet. In essence, they were waiting just behind an open front door.

Seconds passed. No other team arrived.

More seconds passed.

"We can wait for one more minute, just to be safe," Spring of Joy transmitted.

Kyle hadn't sensed any team trailing them, but that didn't mean that there were no followers. He knew a bit about Formation Arrays, but many people knew more. There was a chance that another team had someone who knew more about Formation Arrays than he did. If that were the case, the other team could probably also sense the alliance from further away.

That was exactly why this was such an amazing opportunity. The Planet they had come from had also been claimed, and the owner told all of the passing teams where they should go. If the visitor didn't follow the path or took too long, they might provoke an attack from the owner.

So, even if the potential following team found them, they couldn't keep watching from a distance. They needed to get to the next Planet so that they didn't anger the owner of the current Planet.

The alliance waited for a couple more seconds, and then...

A familiar team started crossing the Separating Line. It was the same team from earlier.

'Ah, I see,' Kyle thought. 'They wanted to be seen the first time. This made us think that they don't have a good Formation Array Master. Most likely, they kept track of us from a distance while trying to gather allies via some form of communication. After all, they're not in the Excursion Lobby. An allied team will wait near one of the Planets we will most likely travel to, and in the end, both of them will gang up on us. They don't want to engage in battle alone since we have nine Avatars, while they only have five.'

"Team Ankylosaurus and Team Wooly Sheep are considering the Natural Mandate," Kyle transmitted to the approaching team. They had warned them before. Now, the other team either had to fight or hand over some Karmic Luck.

The other team stopped and looked at the alliance without saying anything.

At the same time, Kyle could sense very minor fluctuations in Karmic Luck around the two Adept Immortals in Team Wooly Sheep. They were very subtle, but they also were not completely negative.

'They are talking,' Kyle thought. 'I think I know what's going on. These two guys are not happy with the team. They also know that we are loaded with valuables. As soon as a fight happens, they will jump ship and join the enemies.'

'However, right now, they're telling the other team to drop the matter for the moment. The other team does not have any members in the Excursion Lobby, which means that they most likely don't know about our battle with the Rock Turner Team. They think we are easy to kill since they can only see our Realm.'

'But these two guys know about the battle. They're telling the other team that a battle would be far too dangerous, even if it's seven versus seven Avatars.'

That was when Kyle noticed more fluctuations of Karmic Luck.

A decision had been made.

"The Natural Mandate is not yours to invoke," the Leader of the other team transmitted as Energy gathered around him.

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