Now, let's take a step forward in time so I can tell you about the events following the battle against the Orcs in The Forest of Eternal Night.

***

Following Marcus's attack which threw the forest into disarray the group was stationed around him as he finished his ascension to Tier 4.

He soon finished his ascension and taking note of his nakedness removed a new set of clothing from his Space Ring which he quickly donned.

After he did he stretched his body as he looked his friends over with a cheeky grin and said, "Looks like I was first."

They collectively rolled their eyes in response.

Alexandra then tossed him his halberd and stated, "Get ready, your attack seems to have provoked some of the more powerful residents of the forest."

She then indicated towards the ground which was still trembling, and the surrounding forest where vague roars and screeches of frustration could be heard as creatures marched in their direction.

Seeing that, his demeanor quickly changed as he joined the circular formation and prepared himself for combat.

Soon the group was able to lay eyes on their enemy as said enemy began to emerge from what remained of the surrounding treeline in the distance.

Leading the charge were thousands of Direwolves who were on average 3 meters tall, 6 meters long, had dark blue or gray fur, and possessed two tails and razor-sharp claws.

Just behind them were thousands of Orcs.

And behind them were 7-meter tall Ogres, and 5 to 6-meter tall Trolls.

Altogether the enemies numbered at least ten thousand, with the strongest among them being a Tier 8 Ogre while the weakest was a Tier 3 Direwolf.

Sabrina initiated the attack by unleashing a prepared volley of several hundred Heavenly Flame Arrows which killed countless wolves and set numerous other ones on fire, providing her with a substantial amount of Exp, pushing her closer to Tier 4.

Following that the others excluding Eric charged forwards to engage their foes in close combat.

With that Sabrina and Eric made the decision to stand back to back as they conducted ranged attacks to support their friends.

The battle continued on as such for what felt like hours as they killed countless enemies conducting wave attacks.

Despite that, the numbers of their enemies never seemed to diminish as more of them continued to rush out of the tree line.

On the bright side, they all managed to ascend to Tier 4 and complete the evolution of their Bloodlines, using the resultant benefits to kill their enemies with greater ease.

After her ascension, Sabrina, like her companions, unlocked several new Affinities and evolved her existing ones.

One of her new Affinities was Void, the third level of the Space Element.

Realizing that she immediately came to a decision and conveyed it to her companions, "In fifteen seconds I need you all to momentarily put some distance between you and them. I'm going to unleash an attack I just comprehended. After it does I want you to finish off all of the opponents within the clearing. In the meantime, I will create a Portal to get us out of here."

After that she let go of her staff and crimson lightning began to crackle between her hands, accumulating more and more power as it did.

Having heard her, Elizabeth, Marcus, and Alexandra conveyed their acknowledgment, before acting to finish off the foes in their immediate vicinity.

They then conducted a strategic retreat in her direction with Eric covering them.

When the time was right, she shoved her hands in the direction of the monsters closing in on them.

A bolt of lightning surged forth and seemingly instantly made contact with one of the monsters leading the charge. 

It then branched off in countless directions, jumping from one monster to another, its power increasing as it went, rather than decreasing.

In less than two seconds every monster in the horde that had taken shape around them had been struck by the lightning.

As soon as the lightning made initial contact the world went silent and there was a flash of light and in what seemed like an eternity later, but was really only several seconds, there was an earth-shattering boom.

The horde's forward charge came to an instant standstill before they were thrown a few meters into the air before being launched backward with incomprehensible force.

Around half of them died on contact with the lightning with the rest being severely injured.

More died when they finally hit solid ground after the explosion and the rest were on their last legs.

As the flash of light faded and the sound of the explosion faded away the group of five quickly recovered due to both their increased healing factor and the fact that they weren't hit by the lightning, just the shockwave caused by its impact.

Though both their clothes and hair were a little worse for wear.

As soon as they recovered Sabrina immediately busied herself with constructing a Portal.

She did her best to ignore the insane amount of Origin Qi flooding into her, directly elevating her to Tier 7 before gradually settling as she reached the peak of said Tier.

The others immediately sprung into action moving as quickly as they could to finish off the surviving monsters.

It took Sabrina approximately fifty seconds to lay the foundation, open, and stabilize the Gate.

In that time her companions finished off all the monsters and begin making their way back to her.

They soon began to reach her side one after another as she wiped her brow and observed her surroundings.

The exact number of monsters they had slain couldn't be confirmed but it had to be at least fifty thousand.

Which was insane considering that most of them were in a higher Tier than the group. 

But when you took into account both their higher-level Bloodlines and Affinities it made sense. 

After the slaughter had finished her companions were all Tier 6 and she was Tier 7.

The forest had also grown strangely quiet and the Dungeon Master didn't seem to be in the mood to send any more monsters after them, seemingly content to let them leave through the Portal that Sabrina had created.

Once they were all gathered together Elizabeth asked, "Where does it lead?" In reference to the Portal.

"A forest in the Brimstone Empire." Sabrina responded before continuing on, "I figured it was best we didn't return to the Yverian Empire, and we instead use this opportunity to make our way towards Emily and Akane."

"I agree," Elizabeth stated, and everyone else conveyed their agreeance as well.

"Good. Then let's go." Sabrina spoke and led the way in stepping through the Portal which resembled a swirling screen of dark blue light.

They all felt slightly disoriented for several seconds after they stepped through the Gate.

As their senses returned to them they heard someone call out, "Yo!" before saying, "It's been a while."

They immediately went on guard and looked in the direction the voice came from.

And they were utterly shocked by what they saw.

***

About two hours prior to the entrance of Sabrina’s group into the Forest of Eternal Night.

A small city known as Locke situated in the vicinity of the forest Sabrina would designate as the exit point for her in approximately ten hours. 

The forest was known as The Verdant Forest and was located at the foot of the mountain ridge serving as the northern border for The Forest of Eternal Night.

It was home to numerous monsters and Demonic Beasts but it had only been designated a danger Ranking of S.

Locke was one of the many cities created with the purpose of monitoring the vicinity of the mountain range in case any monsters crossed over from The Forest of Eternal Night.

As such its inhabitants mainly consisted of garrisoned soldiers and adventures.

The remaining citizens belonged to professions that catered to adventures such as tailors, blacksmiths, Inn Keepers, ect.

At this point in time Bruno and his group were having breakfast in the main room of the suite they had booked and been staying in for several days now.

Having decided to take some downtown following their exhausting journey from the Southern Continent and prior to their meeting with Sabrina's group.

As they weren't entirely sure what the others would want to do.

Though they decided to book a suite big enough for nine people for several days beyond this one just in case.

"They will be arriving in the depths of The Emerald Forest in approximately ten hours. So... Do whatever you want for the next two to three hours, but be ready to leave by a quarter past noon." Bruno reminded the other three between mouthfuls of food.

He had put on what appeared to be several pounds of muscle since their initial arrival in this world, and his jaw had become somewhat sharper. His skin had also developed a healthy tan and he had grown an inch or two taller.

The others had undergone similar changes, and all of their auras had undergone a pretty obvious change.

This was due to both the pressure they subconsciously released as peak Tier 8 and low-end Tier 9 existences, as well as the changes that had taken place in their mentalities.

Bruno had become more self-assured and was less prone to avoiding conflict. Now much quicker to snap back when bantering with his companions.

Natalia had grown even more mature.

Justin was more outgoing, having developed several friendships with people they met back in the South Continent and during their journey across the Tranquil Sea.

While Elena had become more focused, and less quick to anger.

All three of them were also much quicker to defer to Bruno, and less likely to publicly undermine him, though there would always be wisecracking made at his expense when in the presence of their inner circle.

"Heard" The three of them responded to his previous assertion as they continued eating.

Eventually, they finished eating and went to take care of their individual needs, with Bruno calling someone to collect the dishes.

After that was taken care of he returned to his room and took a shower and brushed his teeth.

After he got dressed he took out his Guild Card and took a look at it.

[Name: Bruno Silva

 Age: N/A

 Race/Species: Celestial Fae - Berserker (Sukah)

 Rank: 9

Level: 17

 Profession(s): World Grade Summoner, World Grade Clairvoyant, Legendary Grade Strategist, Legendary Grade Pugilist, Ancient Grade Scholar, Ancient Grade Magician, Ancient Grade Historian, 8th Circle Divine Inscriptionist, 8th Circle Magical Engineer

 Vitality: ???

 Divinity Reserves: ~6 Trillion/6 Trillion

 Strength: 7 Billion

 Defense: ~6,7 Billion

 Agility: ~9.3 Billion

 Speed: ~10.5 Billion

 Stamina: ~26 Billion

 Intelligence: ~12 Billion

 Health: ???

 Life Span: ???

 Divine Armament: Tome of Knowledge

Inherent Abilities: Bloodwork (Active), Hypersensitivity (Passive), Ultra-Regeneration (Passive), Codex of Time (Passive), Expansive Mind (Passive), Stasis (Active), Eye of Aletheia (Passive), Eye of Dominion (Active), Divine Charm (Passive), Contract (Active), Summon (Active), Undying (Passive), Divine Strength (Active), Divine Messenger (Passive)

Affinities: Planetary Core, Summoning, Blood, Solar, Atomic, Causality, Destruction, and Power]

After perusing his stats, and confirming his current level Bruno turned on some music and pulled out a book, and read its contents until 11:45.

Once it was time he put the book away and put on his combat gear before leaving his room and meeting up with the others.

After they met up in the main room they departed the Inn and exited the city through the southeast gate.