Ang rode his Magic Broom around the outskirts of Sugdi City, confirming that there were no longer any signs of human activity within. The entire city seemed to have become a hunting ground for hellhounds. These monsters not only relentlessly pursued humans, but even spared none of the ordinary magical beasts in the wilderness.
Ang watched quietly from afar. He saw the hellhounds carrying materials stripped from prey, weapons, and even daily necessities in their mouths into the Hell Gate. The items came in all varieties, from rusted iron swords to exquisite jewelry. This only deepened Ang's doubts: these hellhounds were not merely hunting—they were gathering resources, apparently expanding according to a plan.
"Who exactly are they serving?" Ang frowned as he thought. He considered that the Black Magic Society might be behind all this. Yet even so, the question still troubled him: hellhounds and Black Mages clearly did not belong to the same faction, so why would the Black Magic Society take such an enormous risk to summon creatures like these?
"If they were demons, it would be easier to understand—Black Mages often used sacrifices to obtain demonic power. But these hellhounds..." Ang muttered as he looked at the packs of monsters in the distance. "They haven't provided any obvious return. What exactly is the Black Magic Society after?"
Despite the tangled thoughts in his mind, Ang could not find a reasonable answer. He sighed and decided to set those questions aside for now, return to Bahoya City first, and report the intelligence before making further plans.
Just as Ang was preparing to leave, his attention was drawn to one hellhound. Unlike the others, it was not carrying items in its mouth. Instead, it simply opened its enormous jaws and swallowed everything it found.
"What is this?" Ang stopped