Meanwhile.
On the northern side of the Withered Wood Wasteland, inside a crude shelter embedded into the mountain.
The hall was rough, its stone walls uneven. A few magic glowstones embedded in the walls emitted a ghastly pale light.
On opposite sides of a long stone table sat two factions.
On one side were the hunters from the City of a Thousand Towers.
At their head, Edwin Mores leaned back against his chair.
His deep purple mage robes were spotlessly clean, his hair and beard entirely white, and his face lean.
The sharp glint that occasionally flashed in his cloudy old eyes made it hard for anyone to meet his gaze.
Behind him stood two men clad in dark leather armor.
They were lean in stature and had concealed their aura to the extreme, yet they were genuine Mid-tier Legendary assassins.
The one on the left was Cass, and the one on the right was Victor.
Cross-armed, the two casually scanned the opposite side, as if looking at a flock of lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
A young man sat beside Edwin. It was Arthur Julian—a Low-tier High Rank mage, yet positioned right at the center of attention.
On the other side were the shelter's half-demons.
At their head sat Morgan Adrian upon a stone chair.
In his early forties, he possessed a resolute face, with a pair of blood-red eyes beneath his short silver-white hair.
He was a Mid-tier Legendary mage.
Behind him stood two half-demon assassins.
Cedric, a Low-tier Legendary, was covered in scars with wolfish eyes.
Lia, a Low-tier Legendary female, had her ash-white hair tied in a ponytail, her fingers absently tapping against the hilt of a dagger.
On a stone bench slightly farther away sat a knight—Hewlett, a Low-tier Legendary, clad in full armor and silent as a stone.
The two sides faced off in silence; no one spoke.
The air felt as heavy as lead.
On the stone table, a magic disc spun slowly.
It was a tracking compass linked to the perception barrier.
The red dots representing half-demons that had once densely covered the disc were now gone, leaving only a scattered few flickering weakly near the edges.
The final report came through the communication stone, declaring that all half-demons had been hunted down, after which it fell completely silent.
Edwin opened his eyes and looked across at Morgan.
“The hunt has drawn its curtain.”
“Every half-demon warrior you attempted to have flee and hide has been captured by us.”
“When your companions were captured and sent to Serpent-Spine Ridge, you should have long foreseen this outcome.”
Morgan did not say a word.
Not far to his side, two half-demon youths were forced onto their knees, their shoulders pinned firmly by Cass and Victor.
Emaciated and dressed in tattered clothes, the half-demon youths had blood-red eyes filled with deep guilt.
They did not dare to raise their heads to look at Morgan. Their lips trembled, but they could not utter a single word.
Following Morgan's gaze, Edwin looked at the two boys and sighed softly.
“They are very brave.”
“Upon learning they were captured, they tried to commit suicide countless times to prevent us from using them to locate this shelter.”
“What moving sentimentality.”
“In the City of a Thousand Towers, I haven't seen this kind of... self-sacrifice, where someone is willing to die for others, in a very long time.”
Cedric's fists clenched tightly, his knuckles popping.
His blood-red eyes glared fixatedly at Cass across the table, his killing intent almost coalescing into substance.
Cass merely raised his eyelids to cast a glance at him, his lips curling into a mocking sneer.
Then he lazily looked away, as if looking at a piece of decoration unworthy of attention.
The tension instantly spiked into a standoff.
Lia's hand was already resting on the hilt of her dagger, while subtle metallic scraping sounds echoed from beneath Hewlett's armor.
Morgan raised a hand, suppressing his companions' impulse.
He looked at Edwin, his voice cold.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Edwin did not answer immediately.
He looked around the hall, which was crude to the point of being shabby.
His gaze swept past the uneven stone walls, the rough wooden table, and the shriveled grain sacks piled in the corner.
Then, he lamented.
“Lord Morgan, do you know what I am thinking?”
Without waiting for Morgan's response, he continued on his own.
“I am thinking that those half-demon warriors who followed you to the Withered Wood Wasteland... shouldn't have had to suffer like this.”
His voice was very quiet, as if merely stating a fact.
Yet every word stabbed precisely into the ears of every half-demon present.
“Those warriors we captured were High-tier Transcendents who would be respected figures in any city-state.”
“Yet when we captured them, they were skin and bones, their battle force depleted, struggling even to stand up.”
He paused.
“Because of starvation.”
“You built a shelter inside a Forbidden Zone, but you lacked sufficient grain.”
“Your warriors suffered the torment of hunger while having to face the dangers of the demons in this Forbidden Zone.”
His eyes locked directly onto Morgan.
“It didn't have to be like this, Lord Morgan.”
“They didn't have to endure these hardships.”
Hewlett stood up abruptly, his armor clattering with a heavy thud.
His voice sounded as if ground out from his throat.
“Didn't have to endure these hardships? Should they instead accept being dismembered by you bastards and used as materials for magic experiments?”
“Lord Edwin, your slick talk can only fool children.”
He glared intensely at Edwin, his brown eyes filled with ridicule.
Edwin showed no anger, nor did he even glance at Hewlett.
His eyes remained fixed on Morgan the entire time.
“Materials for magic experiments?”
He repeated, his lips turning up slightly in a smile as faint as a layer of frost.
“As a Legendary mage, Lord Morgan, you should know very well who Sir Great Sage truly wants...”
“And you also know who the main culprit behind this hunt—the cause of this half-demon tragedy—really is.”
“Am I right, Lord Morgan?”
“I have read your paper on the connection between half-demons and demon energy.”
“You truly were a former prodigy of magic.”
“I just wonder what those half-demons who trusted you and followed you here would think if they knew that you were the one who brought about this hunt targeting them.”
Cedric cut in with a cold voice.
“Don't listen to his nonsense, Morgan!”
His voice grated like a blade scraping across stone.
“Don't forget why we came to the Withered Wood Wasteland.”
“Half-demons will no longer allow themselves to be slaughtered at will!”
Edwin still did not look at him.
His gaze remained pinned to Morgan like a nail.
“Slaughtered at will?” He shook his head gently. “Perhaps you aren't aware, but the resolution to expel the half-demons has already been repealed.”
The hall fell silent for a moment.
“At the Alliance Council, the Great Sage personally took the lead in voting against it.”
“He saved you. No, he saved all the half-demons who still remain in the city-states.”
“As for you all...”
Edwin looked around the crude hall, his tone carrying a trace of pity.
“You escaped on your own, voluntarily fleeing into this godforsaken Forbidden Zone to starve, to be hunted by demons, and to be hunted by us.”
His voice was soft, but every word felt like a dull knife grinding back and forth against Morgan's heart.
“You could have stayed by the Great Sage's side and continued your research, using your results to exchange for the security and peace of the entire half-demon race.”
“Just like when you first sought out Lord Sage.”
“Yet you chose to flee, taking the people who trusted you to escape to this wretched place.”
“And then?”
“They died because of you.”
Edwin's voice suddenly turned cold.
“Lord Morgan, you are the greatest sinner among the half-demons.”
“Because of you, far too many half-demon commoners died tragic deaths.”
“And the warriors who followed you suffer the agony of starvation in this Forbidden Zone.”
He stared directly into Morgan's eyes, and within those cloudy old eyes, there was now only an unquestionable judgment.
“You caused all of this.”
“And now, you still have a chance to return everything to where it started.”
“You only need to help Sir Sage complete the demon energy experiments and finish your interrupted research, and all this suffering will end.”
“Once it is finished, there will be no more unnecessary slaughter.”
“Nor will Lord Sage turn his gaze back toward the half-demons.”
“And with this achievement, you can allow the half-demons to become true members of the City of a Thousand Towers.”
“So... Morgan...”
“Recall that assassin hiding in Sathoggua's territory.”
“I guarantee you in the name of Lord Sage that everything will return to how it was.”
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