Chapter 2301 - 99: Crow's Prophecy II-2

Fang Hong was stunned as he listened, it sounded like a story with an unpredictable ending. The supposedly mediocre officials turned out to be heroic figures with sharp vision, outstanding abilities, and swiftly caught the tail of the traitor.

He himself had dealt with Dark Followers, and was well aware of how hard it was to recognize these people when they disguised as ordinary people. The betrayal by Achilles beside the Grand Princess of Istania still left him somewhat surprised.

Are all the Alliance officials this astute and capable? Yet, it seems somewhat inconsistent with his understanding.

Shaya paused for a long time, "Believe it or not, I'm considered mid-to-high level in the Guild, yet I never heard of these facts. I still don't believe Tabopolis would be involved with the Dragon Worship Sect. But as more people got captured, others couldn't stay uninvolved—we received orders at Idris to return, unaware of what was happening. As soon as we arrived in the Northern Territory, most were taken control of."

"Only Little Kong, Lift, and I escaped. You probably saw Lift in Idris as well, he's Little Kong's captain. We never believed the Guild would be involved with the Dragonfire Guild so deeply into the Dragon Worship Sect issue. Therefore, we kept actively investigating the truth of the whole incident. But just when our investigation made some progress, we once again touched something that shouldn't be touched. In that place, Shadow People emerged like flames underground, and everyone got hurt. I died once, Little Kong took others and escaped."

"But things didn't end there. Not long after, when we tried to gather people again, the spies from Crow's Claw Sanctuary—bounty hunters discovered us. In the ensuing encirclement, both Little Kong and Lift were caught, leaving me the only one to escape alone. Later, I kept planning near Grey Owl Town and met current companions. Crow's Claw Sanctuary captured many people and imprisoned them along with Little Kong in a dungeon of a certain estate."

She paused: "To find out the location of that dungeon, we rescued a group of people from the Judgement Ground yesterday. Among them were prisoners detained there. After we obtained concrete information from them, we launched an attack on that place, rescuing them before the people of Crow's Claw Sanctuary could react."

Fang Hong suddenly realized.

As they guessed, these people raided the Judgement Ground to obtain firsthand information about the estate. That's why they launched today's attack and succeeded in one fell swoop. The entire operation could even be described as clean and seamless.

What's strange is, however, that Crow's Claw Sanctuary rose so quickly, there should be a group of smart and able people leading it. But their current performance is much slower than expected. Even earlier today, Grey Owl Town wasn't heavily guarded.

Or is this organization becoming unwieldy due to overly rapid expansion?

He pondered this but ultimately did not voice this doubt.

After all, they could only deduce the causes and effects after everything happened, somewhat like an armchair strategist. When hijacking the Judgement Ground, who could have guessed the other party would be so bold? In Crow's Claw Sanctuary's view, perhaps the opponents were but a group of stray dogs. Who would have thought this stray dog could still bite after the first bite?

It's precisely this contrarian thinking that caught the other party off guard.

Fang Hong glanced at the Rangers walking ahead, asked, "Who are they?" He understood that these people weren't from the Oak Knights, but wondered how they came to oppose Crow's Claw Sanctuary with Shaya. If Shaya did so because of Tabopolis's situation, what's the reason for these people?

Shaya also looked at her companions, "They are refugees."

"Refugees?"

"Such examples as Tabopolis aren't uncommon in the Northern Territories. It's just that we are the only Guild within the two major Alliances to be targeted. To suppress dissidents, Crow's Claw Sanctuary split many guilds and organizations in the Northern Territories, forcing these small guilds to either join the Sanctuary, Rainbow Alliance, or Descendants of Flor—based on whether you are Native or Invoker."

"With the Super Competitive League's support, most small guilds have no room for resistance. The Rainbow Alliance and Descendants of Flor are even happy to see this happen, you must have heard of this incident, it caused a stir in the Southern Region afterward but didn't cause much uproar in the Northern Territories, largely due to Crow's Claw Sanctuary's control."

"However, like the division in Tabopolis, there are always dissatisfied people. They either proactively withdrew from the Guild or passively became Free Adventurers. But that's not all, Crow's Claw Sanctuary is somewhat lenient to Invokers, but not so much to Natives. Because of the Shadow People's presence, they often catch potential 'Stalkers,' just as you saw in the Judgement Ground the day before."

"From Gula to Elpaxin, they capture people from rural areas, sometimes needing no reason. The peace you see in Grey Owl Town is merely an illusion. As long as there's resistance, entire villages can be taken, some forced to become Believers, others imprisoned. As for where they're imprisoned, no one knows. In this area, villages and towns closer to Gula Port are relatively better, but the farther away, the more desolate the scene."