In the White Wood Forest, Fang You, who was sitting on the ground, suddenly slumped and fell, but An Jianyou caught him with quick hands. She had already recalled all of numbers one through six, surrounding him in a tight circle. She was like a startled rabbit, her eyes wide open, staring intently at their surroundings.
At this very moment,
Fang You, through a method of descent, had projected his consciousness across hundreds of kilometers, entering the body of a spectral spirit. Soon, this borrowed body morphed into his likeness.
He took a step forward, cloaked in golden light, and looked at the figure whose body still bore traces of maggots.
"We meet again."
...
"How could this be... we meet again!"
Even though he was shrouded in golden light, the Maggot Man Sacrifice recognized this figure instantly.
The human who had thwarted his plans!
Damn him! Hateful! He must die!
He turned and, like a gust of wind, rushed into the crowd of investigators who were pursuing him from not far away.
He didn't attack, merely used their figures as cover to hide.
This guy intended to use hostages to threaten him?
"But you're underestimating me too much."
"Lightning can be as thick as a thunder python, or as fine as silver threads."
He flicked his finger, and threads of lightning shot out like silken strands, instantly forming a net.
A heavenly net!
It pierced through the ranks of the investigators. While it ensnared the Maggot Man, threads of lightning also passed through, shattering the white plaster that had imprisoned the investigators.
The next second,
The net tightened, and the lightning erupted. Under his precise control, the rampaging thunderous energy surged upwards, forming a pillar of azure lightning.
Fang You’s palm was brewing with lightning, preparing for another strike.
But within the lightning pillar, the figure revealed its true form composed of countless white maggots. In the azure lightning, each small white worm turned black, crumbled to ash, and disintegrated.
He was dead.
Dead again.
However,
"Master, there's still no kill record."
Fang You grew somewhat agitated. His peripheral vision caught sight of churning gray mist, which expanded and contracted as if breathing, revealing a colossal entity.
It was a three-star eerie flesh giant.
The lightning he had been brewing in his palm was sent striking into the distance with a push.
BOOM—!
The sea of lightning engulfed the flesh giant that had just stepped out, along with other eerie creatures around it.
He paid them no mind, only saying, "Little Huan, keep a close watch on the other eerie dimensional gates."
"Mmm-hmm, watching, watching."
"I haven't found that Maggot Man, but the eerie dimensional gate in Water Marsh State recently experienced a large-scale gray mist surge. Comparing it to the situation in Silver City, Little Huan has a 99.6% certainty that the enemy is there."
Fang You directed his gaze into the distance.
Soon, he withdrew from the descent state, stopping at the cusp of descent, capturing the anchor of belief.
The next moment,
To the investigators gazing up at the sky, the golden figure, like a deity, gradually faded and vanished with a single step.
Around the Silver City defense line, the atmosphere gradually began to stir.
A storm of exclamations.
...
In Water Marsh State, on the outskirts of a third-tier city.
Gray mist billowed out, giving rise to monsters one after another.
Pei Hongjing stood on a high platform, the wind rustling his robes. His expression was focused. He suddenly patted the card pouch on his waist, and with a cry of "Cards, come forth!", gray cards floated up and began to spin around him. With a gentle point of his finger, these cards shot out, exploding in a brilliant burst of fire, pulverizing the clustered eerie creatures and sending their gory remains flying.
Cheers erupted from the surroundings.
After this battle, the name Pei Hongjing, Chairman Pei, had spread throughout Water Marsh State.
Pei Hongjing, with the faint smile of a handsome middle-aged man, suddenly became solemn. He stared intently at his surroundings, his gaze sweeping over every inch.
Because the intensity of the eerie surge was not high, they were still at the forefront of the defense line, annihilating any eerie creatures as soon as they emerged.
It was highly efficient.
The number of eerie creatures in the area remained low, but he hadn't seen any human-like figures.
"What's wrong?" asked the Provincial Bureau Chief beside him.
Pei Hongjing pondered for a moment. "The gray mist had a very violent surge just now, but no particularly large eerie creatures appeared. I'm wondering if there's something abnormal inside."
The Provincial Bureau Chief paused for a moment, then saw Pei Hongjing throw out his flying cards. More than ten cards spun out and detonated in the central area of the gray mist.
He had just exploded casually, but it seemed he had indeed blasted something out?
...
The dust-covered Maggot Man Sacrifice was a bit dazed.
The small explosions had caused him little damage, but the psychological trauma was immense.
What was wrong with this world?
He had made ample preparations, setting up five diversionary eerie dimensional gates to create a diversion.
He had been extremely cautious, manipulating some three-star eerie creatures outside the main gate to conceal and guard the flesh altars.
He had endured humiliation and strategically retreated.
He had even prepared many contingencies, abandoning large portions of his body to escape to other regions, and then other regions again.
But why...
Why was he blasted into a mess the moment he emerged?
The Maggot Man Sacrifice looked up at the sky, feeling utterly bewildered.
In his bewildered gaze, a figure cloaked in golden radiance gradually appeared.
He had arrived.
As expected, he had pursued.
How could he pursue across a thousand kilometers? The Maggot Man Sacrifice's understanding was insufficient to comprehend it, nor did he have the time to. He had given up, resigned to fate.
He would not run! But...
"Hiss... this Sacrifice... will definitely... return here again!"
He remembered.
The next moment, lightning descended, engulfing his figure.
...
"Ding!"
"Notification: Eliminated the avatar of 'Throne-class Maggot Man Sacrifice', gained 15 Mysterious Points, obtained 'Skill Cultivation Card', and several 'Eerie Crystals', and received a random small treasure chest (white)."
"Notification: Eliminated the Maggot Man Sacrifice avatar, obtained the eerie artifact 'Maggot Body (blue)'."
Fang You glanced at it and shook his head slightly.
A rather useless eerie artifact.
It could form a maggot-man avatar, similar in effect to the Maggot Man Sacrifice. Its abilities were not bad, but the side effects were somewhat terrifying.
If used for an extended period, the user's main body would grow maggots, which would increase over time until they completely consumed the entire body.
The thought alone sent a shiver down his spine.
Compared to this eerie artifact, he was more curious about what "Throne-class" meant.
He glanced downwards. The golden light faded, and his consciousness returned to his own body.
...
Within the Eastern Azure Nation, the six battlefields were gradually drawing to a close.
In the north, on one of the battlefields.
Eloise stood on a high platform, gazing into the distance. The horizon was gradually revealing a sliver of fish-belly white, the darkness had passed, and dawn was approaching.
Under the dawn, figures busily worked, and many were looking up at her heroic posture.
She placed her hands on her hips, struck a pose for a while, and then jumped down from the platform with a thud. She brushed off any non-existent dust from her clothes and walked towards the head of the Investigation Bureau.
As a representative of the eerie hunters, she was next going to negotiate the bounty with the Investigation Bureau.
Hunters who had joined the Hunter Association could receive additional points on top of their basic mission rewards, which could be exchanged for some non-sellable items.
Even those who hadn't joined the association were all smiling gleefully today, having received a generous bounty with little danger.
The one with the highest bounty was naturally 'Crimson Witch' Eloise.
The mission reward from the Investigation Bureau was divided into two parts: base position reward and overall mission contribution reward. As for the contribution reward... Eloise, having achieved the highest kill count on the field and single-handedly taking down the only two exceptionally large eerie creatures, her individual reward alone was equivalent to that of half the other eerie hunters combined.
Looking at such a vast sum of money being deposited, and seeing Eloise, who had achieved financial freedom at such a young age... they dared not be jealous, but they couldn't help but envy her!
At this moment, Eloise waved her hand magnanimously, "I've booked out the Pei's Grand Hotel! All expenses are on me today. Let's all have fun to celebrate our victory!"
The envious eerie hunters' eyes gradually lit up.
Hey, it wasn't that they were greedy for a free meal. How could they refuse when the powerful Crimson Witch invited them?
Let's go, let's all go!
The group happily surged towards Pei's Grand Hotel.
...
At this time, the great battle had ended, but the subsequent battlefield cleanup, hunter bounty payments, information collation, intelligence organization, and so on.
There was still much work for the Investigation Bureau.
Huang Hongtian had returned to the Provincial Investigation Bureau of Cloud Ridge State, temporarily resting.
He had handed over all of the above work to others. For him, there were more important matters that required his contemplation and decision-making.
"The simultaneous opening of six hell gates this time was indeed not an accident."
"The mastermind behind it was that figure, the one composed of countless white worms. He possessed intelligence, could control eerie creatures, and moreover... he could transform into a human guise! He even seemed to have learned our Eastern Azure language!"
The thought of a worm-man transforming into human form and infiltrating human society sent a chill down his spine.
Worm-man!
A disaster event of six in one!
Opposite the hell gates!
Were there other strange creatures that had infiltrated human society?
"If it weren't for the appearance of that powerhouse who wielded lightning this time, who knows how great a disaster would have occurred."
"He wielded lightning, stood in the clouds, possessed world-destroying power, and with a single palm strike, could create a massive palm print tens of meters long."
"He emerged from golden light, raced a thousand kilometers in the blink of an eye, and unleashed lightning. His abilities were all incredible."
Director Huang took up his pen and wrote down everything he had seen and heard today.
As part of the archives.
In conclusion, he wrote four words— the Hearthfire Mentor.
"Hearthfire is definitely not as simple as we imagine."
Rakshasa, sitting opposite him, nodded. That was stating the obvious.
"So, what do you plan to do? Managing civilian awakened individuals is also a responsibility of your Investigation Bureau," he said.
Director Huang shook his head. "We can't treat them as civilian awakened individuals, nor can we consider them a powerful civilian organization."
"Perhaps, Hearthfire was never a civilian organization to begin with."
"They refer to the hell gates as 'eerie dimensional gates', they can precisely locate eerie creatures, and they are unimaginably powerful."
"It's highly possible that their knowledge of eerie creatures and all sorts of hidden secrets surpasses ours."
Could this be possible?
Thinking of everything he had witnessed today, Rakshasa felt that perhaps it wasn't impossible.
He looked at Director Huang, waiting for him to continue.
Huang Hongtian paused. "We need to have a formal dialogue with Hearthfire, with that mysterious Hearthfire Mentor."
"Now?" Rakshasa asked.
"Not now," Director Huang shook his head. "That mentor and Black Blade vanished after the battle ended again. There's no rush for a while longer."
"Currently, Hearthfire spares no effort in dealing with eerie creatures, but their objectives, existence, members, and so on, are almost unknown to us. We only understand the surface, which makes us too passive."
"Before engaging in dialogue, we need to conduct more in-depth investigations to gain some initiative."
Director Huang's mind flashed with the images of those three figures.
He fell into thought.
...
PS: Requesting monthly votes~!