More people, who had finished preparing their own families and households, also joined the search. The fact that there was a warning flare was a source of comfort, even for those who were afraid to do so at first.

The limitations of the Vibration Scan skill were that not all earth users had it. Even if they did, its scope wasn’t big, less than a meter for most. Althea was just really...one with nature, so her scope was large, even when her level was low.

In most people’s cases, combing through a few square meters of land would probably take an hour, and most of their mana would be consumed.

However, they had thousands of elementalists, hundreds of whom were earth users. Even with the various limitations, their sheer number and willpower—especially when they heard who the victims were—was deeply intense.

So, for once, someone really managed to scan successfully!

"FOUND ONE!"

...

Garan and a few others arrived to see the new fire user in his cell. High-level ones were automatically placed in small, isolated cells to make sure they couldn’t get assistance on anything. The System Prison, now at the peak of its level, also had stricter metaphorical chains active in these rooms.

It was small and uncomfortable, just enough for someone to lie down.

The prison was a level 2 one that could control aether in the air, so the man could not even make a bit of fire to warm up the air around him.

Strength would be sucked out, and even he, past level 30, had lost most of his strength. Yet, he was smiling in satisfaction with what he thought to be a successful mission.

When the war started, he probably believed he’d be rescued by his teammates, so he was so fearless, especially now that the war was only a few hours away.

"HAHA! How many of your precious elders and children perished?"

Even if the Ministers were alive, even the ones that could’ve been caught by this bomb, a few children would’ve been killed!

He calculated the position well, and he was lucky that he chose the right path that they took! Rather, he caught wind and set up immediately.

Those children were a lot, and there were even babies. Even if they didn’t get hit directly, many would still be bleeding by now!

The morale would be low! And they would get careless from anger, and this was the key to making a lot of mistakes!

In a war, a single mistake meant a hundred mistakes down the line, which was only good for Valov.

The Lord loved his psychological battles!

The target was whoever they thought was heading to the bunkers, which was the children and the Ministers, where they believed one of the Lords.

They had managed to get dozens of bombs. They placed a portion in the parks they knew many would pass through during the wars. There were also some along the common paths ministers take, as well as some places where people would cluster more during a war.

"So how many died!?" he asked, eyes red with vindictiveness. "Tell me, are your children bleeding to death?!"

The atmosphere turned colder, and he could feel ice forming around him. "None," the baritone voice said. "No one died."

"If you’re gonna lie, make it believable."

Garan and the rest remained cool, but the man told himself that they were acting.

Mao stepped forward, looking at him as if he were an ant. "We developed a way to determine when the bomb will activate."

"Impossible!"

"Didn’t you see a flare before you were thrown here?"

"..."

He had indeed seen it. In their investigation, they already knew Alterra had flares and what their rough appearances were. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

They also knew there were different colours and meanings, though they didn’t know what the differences were yet.

"I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it! They should die! Those brats should die, and you should too!"

At this, the man was soon surrounded by ice, leaving only his head. "Cold!" he screamed.

Then, some sharp spikes appeared inside, stabbing him. "AH!"

They were not even that long, just an inch or two, but so many, and in random places, were extremely painful!

The ice was stained red from the inside, looking very gruesome.

"AHH!" he screeched like a pig being slaughtered. " LET ME GO!!"

The prison limited the powers of those inside the cells. If one were standing outside, then they should be alright, though their powers were still a bit more muted than outside the prison.

However, even so, Garan’s frost at this level was enough to make trash like this suffer while the war was ongoing. They had to go to prepare for war, and he’d deal with these bastards after.

Before Garan left, another person arrived. This was Gian, eyes red from anger. He had just come from the hospital to see his sister, who was still in the operating room. There was nothing he could do there, so he might as well ’help out’ here while waiting for the war to start.

"Let me be the one to torture this bastard, Captain."

...

Time ran quickly, and two more bombs were found. One was on another easement, on a T-shaped intersection. It connected perpendicularly to a main road. Another was near the Research Center, right at a bush next to the entrance.

People cursed, but they were relieved that the threats had been reduced.

However, they worried that there were more, but at least they had already scoured enough key places, so there were fewer chances of a bomb exploding there.

If there were new bombs added at a later date, then they would at least see the culprit.

They had also placed the bombs inside token guards, which could also block aether signals for other tools.

The next few hours, the territory continued with its preparations, though many were scared another bomb would go off.

People entered their positions with their weapons, equipment, and consumables prepared. They were guarded well, so spies wouldn’t be able to do anything either.

Every part of the battlement soon had people on it. They were about one to two meters apart, to give each other ample space to move while being close enough to team up as needed.

While people retained their position, the long-awaited announcement finally resounded across the territory.

[The war between Alterra Town (Lv2) and Valov Town (Lv2) has begun. War will end in 27:59:59]