Vol 4. Chapter 40: Something Strange

Outside the Black Rose Family’s encampment, in a secluded mountain forest not far away,

Under the protection of dozens of men in black, a handsome and striking man dressed in luxurious clothing, yet wearing a grave expression, rapidly made his way through the woods and arrived at a clearing in the center.

The newcomer was none other than the Second Prince of the Crimson Leaf Empire—Anmutu.

Anmutu had only one purpose for coming here: to find his subordinates who had suddenly lost contact.

After the Abyss Demon horde withdrew from Skyvault, almost everyone was basking in the joy of having survived the catastrophe. Anmutu, however, was one of the few who did not immerse himself in that joy. Instead, he felt increasingly uneasy.

The organized and systematic nature of the Abyss Demons’ attack had already shattered humanity’s understanding of them, an understanding that had persisted for hundreds of years.

After this battle, there was no doubt that the threat Abyss Demons posed to humanity had increased dramatically.

However,

This was not what worried Prince Anmutu the most. No matter how powerful an enemy might be, as long as humanity united and cooperated, he firmly believed that the human forces would be capable of resisting the Abyss Demon horde. After all, the human world had many extraordinary powerhouses, including that old man from their imperial family, the Pope of Asumos, the Supreme Elder of Saint Lomari, the leaders of the Holy Tower and the Red Moon Tower, and so on...

As the saying went,

Even the strongest fortress was always destroyed from within.

In the past, no matter how fiercely humans fought among themselves, whenever powerful Abyss Demons attacked, they would still unite and cooperate. More than thirty years ago, when the Sword Demon attacked the Snow Night Empire, hadn't the Crimson Leaf Empire, which had been fighting a localized war against the Snow Night Empire at the time, immediately chosen to negotiate peace with Snow Night? Hadn't they then joined forces to deal with that Demon King-class monster?

What Anmutu feared was that there were traitors among the human forces who were helping the Abyss Demons.

After the Battle of Skyvault, this suspicion had become deeply rooted in Anmutu's mind.

The Abyss Demons were powerful, that was true, but the troops that Xue Tianao had trained shouldn't have been so utterly helpless. According to the recollections of a small number of surviving soldiers, many of the new weapons Xue Tianao had distributed to them suddenly malfunctioned during the battle. As a result, countless defenders of Skyvault inexplicably found themselves completely unarmed and could only be devoured alive by the Abyss Demons.

It wasn't just ordinary weapons that had failed. Many of the terrifying weapons of mass destruction Xue Tianao had prepared, such as the Mana Fission Bombs, had also failed to play any role in the battle. If the Mana Fission Bombs had been launched at the Abyss Demon horde outside the city from the very beginning, the outcome might have been completely different.

But who could have expected that the imperial soldiers at the Mana Fission Bomb launch center would inexplicably fall asleep at that exact moment?

In addition,

There were the strangely interrupted communications, the sealed-off space, the soldiers who went out to request reinforcements and then vanished without a trace...

Every single one of these abnormal events made Anmutu increasingly uneasy.

Although this incident had allowed them to confirm that the higher-ranking individuals among the Abyss Demons definitely possessed intelligence, Anmutu believed that even if they were intelligent, it couldn't possibly be to this extent. Especially when it came to something like completely sealing off information—there was absolutely no way Abyss Demons could have done it so perfectly!

The ones responsible for these things had to be other humans!

"There's a traitor among us!!"

Anmutu roared furiously in his heart.

And who was this traitor?

Anmutu already had a suspect in mind.

It was...

The Black Rose Family...

The reason was simple. The Black Rose Family was one of the few forces inside the Imperial City of Skyvault at the time that had the capability to accomplish such things. And among those forces, the Black Rose Family had suffered the least damage in the battle. Aside from a few dozen ordinary members who had "died," virtually none of their core members had suffered so much as a scratch.

Whether during the Abyss Demon invasion or after the attack ended, these people from the Sadik Empire had never shown any signs of unease! And even when they did, Anmutu could sense a faint, barely concealed trace of amusement within it.

Thus, Anmutu began to suspect the Black Rose Family and sent people to investigate them.

At the same time,

Anmutu also wanted to use this investigation as an opportunity to obtain more information about Xiao Black Rose. After all, as far as the Crimson Leaf Empire was concerned, the Black Rose Family was undoubtedly a major potential threat. Learning more about the strongest person in the opposing faction would certainly bring far more benefits than disadvantages to the Crimson Leaf Empire.

However,

What happened next was completely beyond Anmutu's expectations.

-"Your Highness, we've reached the mountain forest some distance from the Black Rose Family's encampment and activated the Saint-Class reconnaissance magic scroll... We're preparing to begin..."-

After sending him this single message, the people who had obtained the Saint-Class reconnaissance magic scroll from him mysteriously lost contact.

No matter how many times Anmutu attempted to contact them, there was no response.

After hesitating for a moment, Anmutu brought his loyal guards here to search for traces of those four subordinates.

However,

When Anmutu followed the signal from the tracking magic and arrived at a clearing within the forest, the Second Prince's eyes abruptly contracted and his expression changed dramatically.

An intense, overwhelming wave of nausea suddenly surged up from his stomach, forcing Anmutu to hurriedly cover his mouth to prevent a "rainbow" from spraying out.

Unfortunately,

He still failed to stop the violently surging rainbow...

"Bleeegh~"

?!!

"Wh... What happened here?!"

At this moment,

The entire clearing was covered in a layer of crimson liquid.

And that crimson layer was actually made from blood, flesh, and internal organs!

Four human figures had already been torn into pieces, making it nearly impossible to discern their original appearances. Severed limbs that had been sucked dry by some mysterious power were scattered everywhere. The thick, nauseating stench of blood and a horrifying aura of death permeated every corner of the clearing.

The moment Anmutu and the others stepped inside, that bloody aura struck them head-on, as though they had suddenly fallen under the gaze of a monster from the abyss, causing their entire bodies to tremble uncontrollably.

Several of the men in black who couldn't endure the sight immediately dropped to one knee.

Even those with stronger nerves couldn't help feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

...

After a moment of silence, once he had managed to compose himself, one of the black-robed men shakily approached Anmutu.

"Your Highness Anmutu... This... Roger Malo and the others... Did they encounter some kind of wild beast?"

"That's... unlikely..."

Anmutu gritted his teeth and replied with complicated emotions.

"They were professional intelligence gatherers. When gathering intelligence in the wilderness, they certainly would have prepared measures to drive away magical beasts beforehand. Besides, everyone knows that there aren't any powerful magical beasts around here. Even if one had attacked them, there's no way Roger Malo and the others would have died so miserably..."

Staring fixedly at the half of a mangled head lying on the ground, Anmutu couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.

Clearly,

His four subordinates had been instantly killed by some overwhelmingly powerful existence...

Instantly killed with absolutely crushing power...

"Were they... discovered by someone from the Black Rose Family?"

Anmutu couldn't help thinking this as he thoughtfully gazed toward the Black Rose Family's distant encampment.

While the prince was deep in thought, another black-robed man cautiously approached him. Looking uneasily toward the Black Rose Family's encampment, he asked Anmutu for instructions.

"Then, Your Highness, Roger Malo and the others must have failed... What about us? Should we continue investigating?"

"..."

Hearing his subordinate's suggestion, Anmutu frowned slightly.

Without giving it much thought, the prince uneasily shook his head.

"No. We're going back immediately. There's nothing we can uncover in our current state. Trying to investigate any further would simply be courting death... If my judgment is correct, their reconnaissance was discovered by the Black Rose Family..."

With that,

Ignoring the reckless attempts of some of his other subordinates to persuade him otherwise, Anmutu turned around and left the clearing without looking back.

Yet as he hurried away, Anmutu couldn't help glancing from the corner of his eye at the blood-soaked clearing behind him...

Still,

If the Black Rose Family really had eliminated them, their methods were far too brutal...

The corpses of these four people...

To tell the truth,

They didn't look like they had encountered a powerful human at all.

Instead, it looked as though some bloodthirsty monster had torn them apart alive...

--

Meanwhile,

Inside the wooden house, after being swept by Yumo's incomparably indifferent and icy gaze, Yuan'er, who had originally come inside to act spoiled with her mother, abruptly shuddered.

The smile on her little face instantly vanished, replaced by fear and unease.

Unlike Yumo's usual gentle, loving gaze that always made Yuan'er feel incredibly comfortable,

The way Yumo was looking at her now felt extremely unfamiliar to Yuan'er.

It even caused a faint trace of fear to emerge within her heart.

The warm atmosphere inside the little house took a sudden turn for the worse...

"Mo... Mother?"

The uneasy Yuan'er stopped moving forward.

Instead, she cautiously shuffled behind Liyu, nervously tugged on Liyu's little hand, and looked pleadingly toward her elder sister.

"Big Sister Liyu... Mother... Is she angry?"

That was the only possibility the little girl could think of.

On the other side, faced with her younger sister's question, Liyu said nothing.

She merely shook her head slowly, immediately rejecting Yuan'er's guess in her heart.

She knew very well,

No matter how angry Yumo became, she would never look at them with such indifferent eyes.

This situation...

It seemed to be the same as before...

And moreover,

Mother...

The frequency with which she entered this state... seemed to be increasing?

At this thought, Liyu couldn't help biting her lip tightly, an indescribably grave expression appearing on her face...