The underground lava cave had suddenly been stripped of its lid.
A powerful sense of unease rose within Sanders. He swiftly entered the deep pit and began investigating the surrounding area.
Rhein circled Windwhisper Valley once before finally descending into the pit.
At that moment, Sanders stood in a corner, his brows tightly furrowed.
"I circled Windwhisper Valley and found no trace of humans." As Rhein spoke, he walked toward an extinguished campfire within the pit.
He touched the ashes in the firepit, light glimmering at his fingertips.
"The last embers should have died out a day ago." Rhein frowned. "In other words, there were still people here a day ago?"
Rhein muttered to himself for quite a while. When he realized Sanders had not responded at all, he walked over in puzzlement.
He found Sanders touching a patch of ground covered in dust.
This was part of the rock layer, and the ground was entirely exposed rock. Yet strangely, in one spot that should have been bluish-gray, there was instead a spread of blackness like asphalt. Upon closer inspection, the scent of blood wafted from it.
Rhein recognized it at a glance. It was a pool of blood.
Judging by the area it covered, quite a large amount had flowed out.
"Whose blood is this?" Seeing Sanders' brows drawn together, Rhein understood. "Angel's?"
"Yes." Sanders nodded. "Something must have happened here after I left. Angel may have encountered danger."
"Is he dead?"
Sanders hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know. I can't sense the location of my essence blood. It seems to have been shielded by some powerful energy field. However, I can tell that my essence blood is currently intact."
Yet the fact that his essence blood was intact bore no obvious logical connection