Stuart Grand Manor

The luxurious carriage the Newcomer rode in had an interior space of over twenty square meters.

Six people can sit inside without feeling crowded at all; it's spacious and comfortable, with ample room to move around in the middle aisle.

So much so that this strange Egg Body had plenty of 'room to maneuver' after it fell into the carriage.

Even the slightest hesitation... could lead to a pollution disaster.

The vulture perched on the roof, caught off guard by the sudden incident, was unable to prevent the Egg Body from entering the carriage and immediately relayed the information to its owner.

Kenny, the second sergeant of the Behemoth Knight Order, is currently assisting in the battle nearby.

Upon hearing the urgent intelligence from the vulture, he immediately transformed into a blur, wielding his scimitar, and rushed back to the carriage.

This Egg Body is no small thing... it is a [Evil Spirit Heart] that has already developed a certain level of consciousness and possesses a strong power of corruption.

It was in the fog that someone secretly targeted a group of 'weak' people in the carriage and found a gap to throw such a heart in.

Once the contamination spreads and infects all the 'weak', it will disintegrate this human army from within.

This shows that these evil things also possess a certain level of intelligence.

"If these freshmen get contaminated, the upcoming training camp will be in serious trouble!"

Kenny, who arrived first, flung open the carriage door, preparing to swiftly destroy the Evil Spirit Heart inside...

The situation inside the carriage surprised him.

The so-called Evil Spirit Heart has been smashed to pieces with a single blow, and the polluted residue has been frozen into various small ice cubes.

All of this comes from the collaboration between "Wenli the Blacksmith" and "Demps the Magician".

Winry held the hammer the whole time because she was nervous.

The moment the Egg Body landed on the carriage, without much thought, he smashed it down with a hammer!

A 'hatching sound' could be heard coming from inside the Egg Body.

As if the protective layer could not withstand this enormous force, it collapsed as a whole, and the Egg Body was smashed to pieces... It even knocked a dent into the thick metal floor of the carriage.

The broken and scattered Egg Body are also contaminants.

However, just as these broken remains were about to release their polluting odors...

Demps had already turned to a certain page in the special metal Magic Book in his hand.

The icy aura escaped from between the pages of the book, instantly freezing the remains and averting the danger.

"This group of Newcomer... is of good quality."

Second Sergeant Kenny was not concerned with the frozen, polluted icy air.

Instead, he was very concerned about the hammer dent left on the floor of the carriage.

The carriages used for leaving the city were made of a special alloy material with 50% copper content for their locks.

Furthermore, the inner layer is reinforced with a magic array, which is sufficient to withstand attacks and collisions from powerful foreign objects, ensuring the safety of the passengers.

Not to mention Knight-Errant, even some Formal Knight would have to put in a lot of effort to damage the carriage.

When the Wenli the Blacksmith shattered the "Evil Spirit Heart" with a single hammer blow, she actually left a dent in the carriage floor... Her strength was comparable to that of a qualified Crusader Knight.

"You will remain on the carriage. Vice Commander Hydra has already set off. With her 'earth sense' ability, she will soon be able to find the mastermind behind these evil things."

"Yes, Sergeant Kenny!"

As expected.

In less than ten minutes, the mist that had been spreading through the forest began to dissipate.

The skeletal evil that had surged forth like a tide slowly retreated back into the forest, returning to where it belonged.

Deep in the forest, a giant python slithered out.

The Vice Commander Hydra, riding on the giant python, held a skull in his hand that shone with a silvery Metallic Sheen and was decorated with some regular dots.

Captain Abel started explaining things to everyone again:

"It should be a relatively high-level form of [evil/filth]."

Due to the high concentration of aura at the burial site, coupled with the unique nature of the bones themselves, the deceased may have been a highly capable person in life... Nourished by the high concentration of evil energy, such a high-level evil was born.

It would be quite difficult for us to deal with it.

Judging from our experience, this entire forest area should be under its control.

Han Dong nodded. "As expected, even within the 'lower tier,' there are differences in strength."

Abel commented on the events that had just occurred:

"Speaking of which, it was all thanks to Demps's timely intervention just now."

Once the pollution spreads and affects any one of us, any subsequent actions will be hindered.

Wenli, try to adjust your mindset and relax a bit.

"I'm sorry! I was too nervous!" Wenli clearly realized that she had been too reckless, crushing the Egg Body with a single blow and scattering the fragments everywhere.

Unexpectedly, Han Dong said something nice about Wen Li:

"You did a great job... If we had waited just one more second, a multitude of evil eyes would have opened on the surface of the Egg Body, causing ' Visual Pollution ' to all of us."

Moreover, I could see that there was a protective layer inside the Egg Body, so it shouldn't be easy to kill.

Unexpectedly, you smashed it to pieces with a single blow to the head.

"Ah! Is that so? Thank you, Vice Captain!"

Wen Li was very happy. After giving Han Dong a cute smile, she sat back down in her seat.

Abel suddenly spoke up, "Nicholas, can you see through the structure of this contaminated Egg Body?"

"Hmm... The evil Egg Body just now had three layers inside."

The outer protective layer, the middle dirt layer, and the inner Core Layer.

The instant it hit the ground, its internal core activated, and a large amount of pollutants seeped outwards, attempting to manifest themselves on the outer layer through 'eyes'.

"Sharp!"

As the grandson of Commander Kaimon, Abel naturally received special treatment in his daily life.

When the Behemoth Knight Order conduct small-scale operations outside the city, the captain always requires the team to bring his exceptionally talented eldest grandson along.

He had secretly followed the Knight Order out of the city many times, and was considered one of the most knowledgeable among the Newcomer.

But Abel had never heard of anyone who could see through the Life Structure outside the city at a glance.

The Crow Student's secret was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

The convoy continued on its way.

The latter part of the journey was relatively smooth.

"Camp" - Stuart Grand Manor has been reached.

Although it's called a manor, it looks more like a small town.

Various strangely shaped scarecrows stand amidst the overgrown farmland.

The streets paved with rubble connect farmland and towns.

The miniature town contained within the large estate has everything from abandoned houses, taverns, Blacksmith Shop, monasteries, and more.

Despite the dilapidated state of these buildings, one can still glimpse the former prosperity of this tiny town.

This illustrates that before the Dark Age, many people lived a self-sufficient and comfortable life under the protection of the Grand Lord Stuart.

Continue along the stone path, past a cemetery, and you'll reach a hill.

A dark castle, belonging solely to the Great Lord Stuart, stands atop the hill.