Tata Village

"Why did the corpses disappear? Or were they dragged away?"

"Corpses?"

"What use are corpses? I feel like I've encountered something similar somewhere before."

"Where... where..."

"Fuck!!"

"Why can't I remember?!"

"All the surrounding villages have become like this. The intelligence reports say it happened just two days ago."

"With so many villagers, it would be impossible to transport them all at once. Their lair must be nearby."

Ye Yang then closed his eyes and expanded his Observation Haki to its limit, covering a vast area.

"Not here, not here... not here either..."

"..."

"Found them!"

"Whoosh!" Ye Yang vanished from where he stood.

Scene shift.

Inside a valley.

At this moment, a large group of people clad in black robes were each driving a carriage, every carriage loaded with corpses.

The entire valley reeked of blood and rotting flesh.

One carriage after another drove into the cave.

Inside the cave.

"Lord Pope." A black-robed figure respectfully bowed to the person seated at the head.

The Pope spoke calmly. "How are things going?!"

"Reporting to Lord Pope, everything is proceeding normally."

"This subordinate has a question, though I do not know whether I should ask it."

"Speak."

"Lord Pope, why carry out such a large-scale slaughter this time? By now, the people from the Guild of Light must have learned about what happened in those villages."

"It is only a matter of time before they find us."

"This subordinate fears those people may ruin your plans, Lord Pope."

The Pope smiled faintly. "Everything is under my control. You only need to do your job properly. Understand?"

"Yes, this subordinate spoke out of turn."

The Pope said, "The potion has now reached its critical stage. With the people from these dozens of villages, it will be enough for us to complete it."

"By then, the entire continent will be ruled by us, and humanity will become a life-form of a higher dimension!"

"Hahahaha--!!!"

Outside the cave.

Ye Yang watched cart after cart of corpses enter the cave, but he did not see the bodies of Tata Village's villagers.

"A bunch of damned bastards!"

"Whoosh!"

"Boom--!!!"

The deafening blast did not injure anyone. Hearing the commotion, the black-clad guards immediately poured out of the cave and cast a Magic Barrier around it.

The startled horses pulled their carriages wildly in every direction, throwing the area outside the cave entrance into chaos.

Ye Yang walked forward step by step.

The black-clad captain spotted Ye Yang at once.

"Kill him!"

All the mages who had come out raised their staffs. Various elements gathered around them, their energy forming spears that shot toward Ye Yang.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

A barrage of energy rained down, all striking Ye Yang's position.

Explosions rang out without end as dust and smoke filled the air.

The black-clad captain waved his hand, signaling his men to stop attacking, and stared gravely into the smoke.

"Whoosh!"

A streak of light suddenly appeared within the smoke. Before the captain could see what it was, the flash shattered the barrier and pierced through his head. Without feeling even a trace of pain, he collapsed.

Seeing their captain die right before their eyes, the other subordinates all stared ahead in terror.

As the smoke gradually cleared, they finally saw the person walking toward them.

"A... a monster!"

Ye Yang had not suffered even the slightest injury under their bombardment. In their understanding, no one could possibly achieve such a thing, let alone evade it.

People always feared things they did not understand—things they believed impossible, yet which happened right before their eyes.

Ye Yang looked coldly at them. A golden flash flickered from his fingertip, then exploded in the middle of the crowd.

"Boom!"

In the blink of an eye, cries of agony filled the ground. Every black-robed man who had attacked him lay in pools of blood, missing limbs as they wailed in pain.

The news of an intruder had long since been reported inside.

"This is bad, Lord Pope! A... a... a mage has attacked us!"

The Pope immediately rose from his seat.

"How is that possible?! How could the Guild of Light find this place so quickly?!"

"How many people came?!"

"Reporting... reporting to Lord Pope, there is only one person."

When the Pope heard that only one person had come, the panic on his face finally faded. If the Guild of Light had sent a large force to encircle and suppress them, he truly feared they would not be able to hold the place.

But with only one person, there was no need for concern.

Having regained his composure, the Pope slowly said, "Since he has come, do not let him leave. It is a good chance to test these Guild of Light mage corpses."

"Kres, go bring back his corpse."

"This subordinate obeys, Lord Pope."

Outside the cave, Ye Yang arrived at the entrance, where an intense stench of blood drifted out.

Rather than entering the cave, Ye Yang searched through the carriages outside one by one for the villagers' corpses.

"Not here. Not here. Not this one either."

Just then, a voice rang out.

"What are you looking for, little brother?"

Ye Yang paid him no attention and continued searching carriage after carriage. He had long sensed someone approaching, but that person's strength did not interest him in the slightest. Finding the villagers' bodies was what mattered most.

(Damn Guild of Light, damn brat! How dare he ignore me like this!)

Kres looked at his subordinates lying on the ground and groaning in agony, then cursed under his breath.

"A bunch of trash! You can't even deal with one person!"

"Dark Magic: Corpse Speaker!"

A black magic circle spread beneath the black-robed men.

Thick black mist surged from the magic circle, engulfing both the corpses on the ground and the groaning men.

The cries instantly stopped. The black-robed men who had still been alive all lost their breath.

Before long, the motionless corpses slowly rose to their feet, their eyes hollow as they stared ahead.

"Go. Eat that human for me!"

Having received the command, the zombies followed the scent and rushed toward Ye Yang.

Some zombies without arms or legs crawled across the ground, snarling continuously.

Ye Yang checked the final carriage, but still did not find the corpses of Tata Village's villagers.

"They're still not here. Were they already sent inside?!"

"Ah~!" A wave of snarls reached Ye Yang's ears.

"You're too noisy!"

Ye Yang looked coldly at the humans who had become zombies and brought his hands together.

"Heavenly Cloud Sword."

"Whoosh! Whoosh!..."

Several streaks of sword light flashed by, and every zombie was beheaded, collapsing one after another.

Before Kres could make sense of what had happened, an intensely burning sensation came from his neck.

"Ahhh!!!"

"Where are the corpses from Tata Village?"

Kres had already been frightened out of his wits and did not hear what Ye Yang had said at all.

Ye Yang did not say another word. With a swift stroke, Kres felt the world spin as he saw his own body.

"Why... am I..."