Joey froze for two seconds, then grabbed Katrin and darted into the nearby woods, watching their surroundings warily.
At the same time, the corpses on the ground visibly dissolved into sticky red lumps, as though someone had stripped out their bones and turned their bodies into mollusks.
A scalp-prickling chill spread from his spine through his entire body.
He had seen something like this before, but never on such a scale.
With the thick scent of blood surrounding him, Joey fully unleashed his spirituality. Just as he had suspected, there were no living beings left at the scene besides him and Katrin.
He tightened his grip on the revolver, remaining alert to everything around him.
"Tell me, what is the Imperial Family's secret weapon?"
Judging by the situation, it had most likely fallen into enemy hands. They needed to take appropriate precautions.
Katrin had yet to recover from her shock. Joey called to her several times before she instinctively answered:
"All the dark matter collected so far."
Her words brought an irresistible sense of helplessness over Joey.
If there was one thing Senegal had no shortage of, it was dark matter. It was an amalgamation of all filth. Even the slightest exposure would immediately send a person into mental collapse, turning them into a complete Night Demon.
Joey could not understand why the Royal Family would collect something everyone desperately avoided, let alone bring it here.
Wasn't this just handing the enemy free experience?
If the Color Out of Space discovered that stuff, it would probably be ecstatic.
Of course, there were things he could not say outright. Instead, Joey asked:
"Can you track where it is?"
Knowing how the Knights Templar operated, even their own weapons had individual identification codes. They would never leave something important without a contingency.
That proved to be the case. Katrin quickly took a talisman from inside her clothes. After some fiddling, it emitted a soft blue glow.
Katrin looked up at a collapsed building nearby and said, "It's right there!"
"They haven't gone far?" Joey could not understand why the enemy had not fled. Did they think the Imperial Family's blades had gone dull, or that Demigods did not exist?
No matter how brazen the Necromancer Sect had been before, they had still been rats afraid of the light, hiding in sewers rather than confronting the authorities openly.
It seemed everything had changed since the theft of 0-013.
What had made them dare to take this risk?
The Captain joining them?
No, that didn't hold up. At least when they attacked the Earl's estate, they hadn't known a Demigod would intervene.
Things were growing increasingly bewildering.
Joey frowned, unable to help casting another glance at Katrin.
Duke Winter was said to be the strongest living Knight Commander. Not only was he immensely powerful himself, but the soldiers he trained were also brave and battle-hardened.
Joey wondered what role he intended to play in all this, and whose side he would support.
Before, he would certainly have believed Duke Winter to be a loyal supporter of Emperor Eng's Royal Family. But now...
As things stood, what they were doing looked suspiciously like handing the enemy free experience.
In other words, they had brought a group of elite Transcendents ostensibly to capture a Demigod, but secretly to die, weakening Emperor Eng's forces.
"Wait!" Joey reached out to stop Katrin as she prepared to rush into the collapsed building.
"Huh?" The frantic Katrin startled. She turned to look at Joey, then glanced at the target so close at hand, her eyes full of confusion as she asked:
"What is it?"
"Shh." He gestured for silence, skirted the main entrance, and carefully edged around to the other side.
Through a gap in the rubble, he spotted several figures in black robes inside. Traps had been set around the main entrance.
Crafty bastards. Always ready to stab someone in the back. Joey said nothing, but inwardly cursed them.
Just then, Katrin gently nudged his shoulder and whispered:
"This has gone beyond our expectations. This isn't something you and I can handle."
Come on, I have eyes, don't I? If we could handle them, would we be hiding? Any one of them could come out and kill us! Unable to stop himself from complaining inwardly, Joey asked, "What are you getting at?"
"Get reinforcements," Katrin said gravely. She pointed in a direction. "You go. I'll stay here and watch them."
"No!" Joey waved his hands repeatedly. "With my status, that would be very difficult."
He suggested, "I'll keep watch here. You get reinforcements."
Katrin could not understand why Joey would say such a thing.
Normally, anyone would choose to save themselves rather than stay somewhere dangerous.
After weighing the pros and cons, Katrin lowered her head and quietly said, "All right."
Thinking it over carefully, Joey was indeed right. With his status, he had no way to approach high-ranking Transcendents, nor would anyone take him seriously.
Katrin was on edge now. If that dark matter went out of control, it would affect not just this place, but the entire Imperial City. That was also why they had needed to set up a formation.
It was intended both to deal with the Necromancer Sect's leaders and to limit the area affected if the dark matter went out of control.
They soon parted ways, and Katrin quickly disappeared from Joey's sight.
Watching her retreating figure, Joey abruptly let the emotions he had been concealing erupt. His expression darkened.
The weapon Quenching was hidden in his right sleeve. A crimson drop of Katrin's blood stained its blade.
A cut so tiny it was almost imperceptible had been enough to activate Quenching's poison.
Joey glanced at the Disciples inside the ruins, sneered, and turned away without hesitation.
Whatever the Disciples were plotting, he did not care.
He soon caught up with Katrin. By then, the poison had left her face dark and bruised-looking as she leaned against a rock.
Dizziness clouded her mind, and everything before her eyes was overlaid with countless phantom images.
The poison had only just taken effect, so Katrin could barely retain some awareness. With her eyes open, she tried to make out the figure slowly approaching her, anxious yet helpless.
She was utterly weak now, with no strength to resist.
Only when she recognized the figure did her taut nerves ease a little.
"Why did you come here?" she asked weakly, those few words seeming to drain all her strength.
Standing before her, Joey looked down at her expressionlessly, just as he had several months ago in Carson Mine. The difference was that this time, he did not reach out to help her.
After several seconds of silence, Katrin shook her head with a bitter smile. "You poisoned me, didn't you?"
Joey let out a deep breath, struggling to settle his turbulent emotions, then spoke with an exaggerated, self-mocking expression:
"I shouldn't have saved you back then. Because of you, I lost the only family I had."
Months later, faced with the same situation, Joey turned and left without hesitation after saying those words.
He did not attack Katrin. Perhaps he simply regretted his original decision.
If he had not saved her, none of what followed would have happened.
Katrin Winter leaned back against the rock, staring blankly at the sky.
Her teacher's admonitions surfaced in her mind:
"Katrin, what do you want to do when you grow up?"
Her answer had been:
"Become someone strong like you, Teacher, and save the subjects who've been misled by Evil Gods."
Later, she had indeed fulfilled her promise, joining the Survey Corps and becoming a Sheriff who hunted Disciples.
Thanks to her status, everything had always gone her way. She soon made a name for herself as the righteous law officer of Duke Winter's household.
Fame and praise gradually made her lose her way. Her innate arrogance made her obstinate, and she often pursued criminals without even considering her own safety.
Because she knew no one dared touch someone bearing the name Winter.
For that reason, she felt no fear even when facing enemies of a higher sequence.
It had been the same when Wayne captured her. Without hesitation, she had told him everything, including her identity.
The result had been no different from usual. She had suffered no harm, merely going hungry for two days.
But she had never considered that not everyone had a powerful force protecting them.
They had faced the same ordeal. She had emerged unscathed, while Joey had lost everything.
Her teacher's words echoed in her ears:
"Katrin, you must understand that your strength comes from your surname, not from you. Have you ever considered what would happen if, one day, Winter no longer existed?"
"Only the weak rely on outside forces. For those brave enough to climb, there is no mountain they cannot surmount."
"I, Michelet Winter, am not strong because of the Winter name. I am strong because I am Michelet, the Sun that never falls."
In truth, Katrin had reflected on many things after that incident. That was why she had devoted herself wholeheartedly to training.
She no longer relied on the Winter name, instead striving to become strong herself.
The Giant Pathway strengthened the body. If she wished, although she could not purge Quenching's poison, suppressing it briefly would not be difficult.
Yet she did nothing.
At that moment, Katrin was lost, her mind filled with Joey's haunting gaze of hatred.
Her creed was to save suffering subjects. Yet because of her, something terrible seemed to have happened.
"Perhaps I was wrong from the very beginning?"
Katrin began to sink into profound self-doubt.
"If I didn't have the Winter name, perhaps I would have died long ago."
"No, I can't die yet..."
Suddenly, a light flared in her dim eyes. She began suppressing the poison in her body.
Joey reduced his presence to an almost imperceptible level and carefully returned to the ruins where he had discovered the enemy.
This time, he saw the man clearly. It was none other than Wayne, the enemy he had searched for so long.
Under cover of night, his figure blended perfectly into the terrain. He waited for the ideal moment to strike, refusing to retreat merely because his enemy's sequence was higher.
Watching Wayne and the others work, he quietly followed behind them.
Before long, he noticed their strange actions.
They were actually setting up a formation, building on the Knights Templar's original work, and seemed very familiar with it.
How would Disciples know the Knights Templar's formation techniques?
Joey hid in the shadows, not daring to make a move, though his mind was filled with questions.
One was the Church's official Knights Templar. The other was the Deathless Disciples of an Evil God Sect.
A terrifying thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
There was a traitor among the Knights Templar.
That was also why the ambushers had been wiped out so easily.
Joey could think of no other explanation.
According to Katrin, the force sent this time included several Holy Knights. Even if there were powerful individuals among the Disciples, they could not have wiped out every knight without making a sound.
Sequence 6 was the first threshold for Transcendents. Reaching that level meant entering the mid-sequences, making one a powerful figure wherever one went.
Eight Holy Knights meant eight Sequence 6 experts, along with a squad of low-sequence Transcendents. Such an elite force had been slaughtered.
And there were no signs of any fierce fighting at the scene.
The only possible conclusion was a traitor.
Whizz!
A piercing sound tore through the air. Joey looked toward its source-the place where the Demigods were fighting.
Huh? Has the battle already been decided? Joey wondered.
The sound also startled Wayne. He seemed anxious as he urged his subordinates, "How much longer?"
Among those working, a thin, short man bowed and answered, "I'm afraid we still need five minutes."
"There's no time. I have to go over first."
With that, he rushed off alone.
Joey hesitated. Should he destroy the formation first, or give chase?
After pondering for a few seconds, a sly glint appeared in Joey's eyes. Many people remained at the scene, but only eight were responsible for setting up the formation, and one was very close to him.
Without hesitation, Joey activated his ability and drained every bit of that man's luck for the day.
Just as he was preparing to sabotage a few more, the sounds of battle reached him again from afar, fiercer this time.
There's no time.
He abandoned his plan to sabotage more of them, concealed himself, skirted around the group, and hurried after Wayne.
At the center of the battlefield, meanwhile.
The five-meter-tall Werewolf was panting heavily.
The fur on several parts of his body had been scorched away, exposing bleeding skin.
Opposite him, Wade stood as he always had. There was not even a wrinkle in his clothes.
From beginning to end, he had not moved a single step. No matter how Golas attacked, it all seemed inconsequential to him.
"Golas, give up. Even if you've become a Demigod now, you cannot change anything."
Vade Wisker's voice came from every direction, seemingly from behind, then from either side. It was everywhere.
A black hole had replaced his head. There were no features, only a pitch-black abyss that spun incessantly.
"Teacher, you're still as strong as ever!"
Golas's Werewolf body gradually shrank-five meters, four meters-until it finally returned to human size.
"But did you think I would come to face you unprepared?"
"Golas, don't forget that I founded the Knights Templar. I taught you everything you know. The moment you set foot here, the outcome was already decided."
Golas opened his mouth in a grin, a row of sharp teeth gleaming with a chilling light in the night.
The Werewolf spread his claws, making a gesture as though embracing the sun.
"God said, Let There Be Light in this world~"