I, the All-Class Magus, All My Awakening Skills are LvMax

However, he knew that the easiest way to break a seal couldn't possibly be like this.

If every unsealing required such an expenditure of MP, few could withstand it.

Leopold briefly explained the situation to Archibald.

Archibald also felt an uncomfortable sensation in his body, as if he was being suppressed.

He involuntarily gasped... if that was the case, how were they supposed to face the monsters ahead?

"The cultists captured us probably just for the sacrifice. As of now, we don't know when the ritual is supposed to start or what it specifically entails, but we must find Isabella and Amelia," John said.

John led the two men away from the area; it was too dangerous to stay, and no one knew what might happen next.

"Big brother, our situation is really bad right now, we..."

Leopold was filled with worry.

Truthfully, entering a secret realm wasn't frightening, but what was terrifying was their complete lack of knowledge about this particular realm, especially since it was a dark god's secret realm! This meant there was a real possibility they could die here.

Archibald, on the other hand, seemed more relaxed and laughed heartily, "What's there to fear? We've been through this kind of thing before, are we really going to be scared of a secret realm? Besides, big brother is with us, right?"

John couldn't help but roll his eyes at Archibald's comment.

The previous secret realms were manageable because he had the power of control and a thorough understanding of the realms.

But now, it was different; they knew nothing about this secret realm and had no idea what was going on.

If they were to encounter a semigod-tier opponent, they would be in real trouble.

"Yeah, as long as big brother is here, even if another semigod-tier..."

Leopold started to say but was quickly silenced by John covering his mouth.

"Would you shut up!" John hissed.

If they actually encountered a semigod-tier opponent, they might not make it out alive.

Both looked innocently at John, who spoke in a lowered voice, resigned.

"We seem to be in a courtyard, and there are quite a few people guarding outside. From what I can see, they're probably gold-tier NPCs, not much HP, but the damage of their skills is unknown."

John checked the specifics of the outside situation through his system, his heart sinking.

Just outside the courtyard, there were about a dozen people.

Before, they wouldn't have even considered such numbers a threat, but now, with their attributes reduced by 50%, even John wasn't confident they could take them down without alerting others.

"What do we do then? If we just barge out, we'll definitely alert them," Leopold expressed his concern.

Archibald lowered his voice, "Maybe we should see if there's another way out? There has to be more than just this main entrance."

John, however, shook his head slightly.

He knew that both the front and back doors were guarded.

They would have to wait until nightfall to find a chance to slip out.

Neither objected, as they had become accustomed to following John's lead.

Moving at night had its advantages—it was easier to go unnoticed—but it also complicated matters.

They were strangers in an unfamiliar place, and searching for anything at night would only add to their confusion.

"Let's go back and rest up for now, try to get into the best shape possible. We'll head out tonight," John advised them, then headed back to his room first.

Both were hesitant, but eventually, they returned to their rooms as well, cleverly pretending to still be chained.

After they were back in their rooms, John began to prepare.

It wasn't that he didn't want to bring them along, but the situation was too precarious.

Bringing them might be risky, and it was uncertain what could happen.

It was better to find the two girls on his own first.

He looked around; the room had nothing useful.

He could only dismantle some chairs to create the semblance of a person, then draped his jacket over it.

If someone glanced in from outside, it might just work as a decoy.

As for anyone entering, well, he'd have to leave that to fate.

John closed his eyes and took a deep breath, assessing his strength.

After some rest, he had recovered to nearly level 19, just shy of reaching silver-tier.

Although the difference might not sound significant, it at least allowed him more flexibility in his actions.

He cautiously made his way downstairs and headed toward the back, where he heard two people talking.

Their accents were so thick he couldn't understand what was being said.

The system indicated that only these two were outside at the moment, with most gathered at the front.

If he was careful enough, perhaps he could slip past them unnoticed.

He paused to think, scanning the courtyard for anything that might be useful.

The courtyard was neatly squared off, with guards at every corner.

If he tried to run out from one side, he would undoubtedly be spotted.

Should he wait until dark?

But there might be no time to waste concerning Isabella.

With the nature of this secret realm unknown, he needed to ensure there was no imminent danger to them before he could plan their next move.

The courtyard was impeccably clean, and after some searching, John found a few stones.

He checked the system for the direction of the back door and then threw two stones around the corner.

Almost instantly, the talking outside ceased.

The person on the left peeked around the corner, saw nothing unusual, and returned to their post.

As the guards walked away, John threw a few more stones.

This time, both guards at the back door found it odd and looked in the direction of the noise.

John, sensing the movement of the red dots on his system, vaulted over the wall with the speed of lightning.

The guards, looking in the opposite direction, failed to notice someone had leaped over the wall.

Without any hesitation, John jumped down from the high wall and rolled quickly away.

Fortunately, there was a thickly grown flower bush not far from where he landed, which provided good cover; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to hide so effectively.

However, due to his reduced agility from the attribute suppression, John still made a noticeable sound upon landing.

The guards quickly looked in his direction but found no trace and after exchanging glances, they seemed to think they had heard wrong.

John waited on the spot for a good while until the red dots returned to their original positions.

Then, he started to move forward cautiously.

One of the advantages of the system was its ability to help him scout the surrounding terrain; as he moved forward 1 meter, the map extended another meter.

Soon, he discovered another courtyard.

There, the small blue dots representing his teammates remained stationary.

It was Isabella and Amelia!

John carefully surveyed the structure of this courtyard and noticed it was quite different from the heavily guarded one they were in.

Here, only a few scattered people were looking at their phones, seemingly chatting and joking around.

[Name: Godfall Village Villager]

[Level: LV17]

[HP: 53000]

[Skill: None]

Godfall Village?

John was momentarily taken aback when he saw this name.

This secret realm... is a village?