Escape

Meanwhile, inside Vincent's room, Celia was holding a cup of hot milk, blowing on it gently to cool it down faster.

Once the steam dissipated slightly, Celia carefully brought the silver cup to her lips and took a tiny sip like a pecking chick. Confirming the temperature was right, she began to drink in large gulps.

The milk tasted very good—rich and sweet without the slightest sourness. It must have been set out not too long ago to welcome her.

A minutes later, after finishing the milk, she began to review her recent actions.

First, she had tried using her Dominion ability to control Vincent's blood thralls, discovering that although these people had not yet become Beyonders, their strength was significantly greater than that of ordinary people.

So, she decided to control the blood thralls first, then coordinate with Solana's flames and contamination. Between blocking the door and delivering a righteous beatdown, she had finally managed to take Vincent down.

“Ah, it's all thanks to hard work and sweat...” Celia couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

And the reward for her hard work was, naturally, the collection and spiritual items in Vincent's entire room.

At this thought, Celia quickly pulled out a large burlap sack. Moving nimbly, she stuffed everything that looked valuable, especially the spiritual items, into it.

Yes, take it all. She wanted to sacrifice the spiritual items and then sell the rest for some money so she wouldn't have to keep mooching off the fortune-teller shop owner in the future.

Clatter... Clatter...

As items were tossed into the sack one after another, cold sweat began to bead on Celia's forehead. Yet, her heart was incredibly light, and her hands didn't pause for even a second.

Just as she took the last item off the display shelf, it suddenly slid open slowly without any warning, causing Celia to flinch back in surprise.

With a scraping sound, the display shelf fully parted, revealing a hidden door behind it that was just wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.

“Huh? A secret passage?”

Feeling puzzled, Celia poked her head in slightly to look.

Behind the door was a flight of stone steps leading downward, with a few fluorites embedded in the walls emitting a faint, crimson glow.

The passage wasn't long, ending in a small secret chamber shrouded in a hazy, blood-colored mist. In the exact center, she could faintly see a waist-high dark iron altar. In front of the altar stood a large vat filled with blood, packed with countless severed limbs and dark red chunks of flesh.

Tossing the sack full of loot onto a nearby sofa, Celia hesitated for a moment, but unable to suppress her curiosity, she stepped carefully into the secret chamber.

The further she went, the more crimson and blurry the surrounding fluorites became.

The blood-colored mist gradually crept into her line of sight, blurring her vision under its crimson shroud.

The air grew increasingly thick and heavy. She felt as if every breath she took carried a dense, metallic stench of blood...

Walking forward in a daze, she somehow found herself standing right in front of the blood-filled vat!

Looking around, she was shocked to find that the area around the vat and the corners of the room were piled high with countless dead mice!

Some had their eyes open, while others were closed. Most of those with open eyes had bulging, blood-red eyeballs!

Stared at by them, Celia felt almost suffocated. However, the rationality gained from her advancement to Rank One of the Dominion pathway allowed her to shake off the haze and pull herself together.

What was this place?!

What on earth was Vincent doing here? Why were there so many dead mice?!

He couldn't possibly have some kind of mouse fetish, could he?

Wait, mice... Didn't Rena mention mice before?

Recalling Rena's terrified expression when she had mentioned mad mice, Celia's confusion deepened...

Could it be that what she feared wasn't ordinary mice, but something like this?!

But why would she be afraid of them?

Was it because these mice carried some kind of virus? Or did they possess some bizarre abilities? Did this hide some unknown conspiracy?

If that was the case, she would need to discard her previous assumptions and re-examine the entire matter...

However, just as she was lost in thought... suddenly, a loud crash echoed from directly above her, through the stone wall, as if a door had been violently smashed open!

What happened up there?

Her heart leaping, she immediately linked her mind to one of the blood thralls.

Through the blood thrall's perspective, she saw an armored squad of knights rushing toward the underground exchange.

“Huh? Someone's here? How did they break through the Crafter's Sigil to get in?!”

With the situation critical, she quickly mobilized her clone. Grabbing a random black robe left by someone, she had the clone wear it and hide in the shadows of the exchange. Meanwhile, her main body swiftly left the secret chamber and returned to Vincent's room.

Right at that moment, several fully armed knights had already cordoned off the scene and begun checking the area one by one. Standing beside them was a woman clad in a black robe.

Unsure of the woman's strength, Celia only dared to peer from the shadows, not daring to make any rash moves.

Shortly after, several more knights came down the stone steps, carrying the charred corpses of Vincent and some silver-haired merchants on their shoulders. Reaching the center of the exchange's hallway, they gently laid the bodies down.

Once the other knights had secured all the personnel of the underground exchange, they gathered around and began examining the charred corpses.

“Charred by fire... Who would set a fire this deep underground?” one of the knights asked in confusion.

“No, if it were just an ordinary fire, it wouldn't have burned like this.” Beside him, Captain Edric squatted down, using his scabbard to gently nudge the curled arm of one of the charred corpses.

The arm was completely carbonized, its surface covered in cracked, pitch-black patterns. Staring at these patterns, he felt a faint wave of dizziness wash over his mind.

After recovering for a moment, he continued, “This carbonization penetrated slowly from the outside in, almost like a living organism eroding the flesh. Moreover, it emits a bizarre aura that affects one's mind. Normal fire cannot do this.”

“Then...” another younger knight said, looking puzzled. “Could it be some trace left by alchemy? I've heard that there are people selling banned incendiary potions in the black market.”

“Combustion from potions would leave behind a lingering scent of sulfur, saltpeter, or tar,” Edric said, shaking his head, his eyes never leaving the charred corpses. “But there is only a sickening stench here.”

“Perhaps it's some kind of Beyonder power?” Suddenly, Edric seemed to think of something. He turned his head slightly and looked at the black-robed woman beside him.

As a captain of the guard, Edric originally didn't believe that extraordinary powers actually existed in this world—until this black-robed woman, who possessed bizarre abilities, found him.

The woman claimed to be an envoy from the Northern Territory. She seemed to have come to discuss important matters with the Pope, and had decided to deal with the recent frequent cases of mental instability in Leytin City along the way.

Yet, just ten minutes ago, for some reason, she had suddenly insisted on visiting the black market, and had managed to locate this underground exchange almost instantly.

“This is the erosion and contamination characteristic of the Demon sequence, but mediated through the fire magic of our Northern Territory. In other words, the perpetrator should be a dual-pathway Beyonder,” the black-robed woman said coldly.

“Dual-pathway?” Edric frowned in confusion.

The black-robed woman explained further:

“Normally, when someone steps onto the Beyonder path, they can only walk a single pathway. But there are exceptions. Those who are exceptionally gifted or bear a unique destiny may be able to accommodate the power of two pathways simultaneously. However, such people are usually mentally unstable.”

“The further one advances along a single pathway, the more severe the negative side effects become, manifesting either physically or mentally. If one accommodates two pathways at once, the resulting dual torment of mind and body is not something an ordinary Beyonder can withstand.”

As she spoke, the black-robed woman leaned down slightly. Her fingertips gently touched Vincent's forehead, and fine blue ice crystals began to condense on her pads, spreading onto the man's brow.

As her probe deepened, a cool sensation spread, followed by a jumble of fragmented information flowing through her fingertips and into her mind.

“This is a vampire from our Northern Territory...” The woman's cold voice finally showed a hint of emotion.

With that, she glanced at the other corpses nearby.

“Those charred, silver-haired corpses must be his blood thralls. Judging by the traces at the scene, they seemed to be rebelling against their blood master...”

“However, normally, blood thralls are subject to the unilateral control of these Blood cultists.”

“Some may be completely dominated, falling into a state of total mental death, while others who retain a small amount of consciousness will always be affected by bloodlust. Only Blood cultists have the ability to alleviate this craving.”

“But no matter the case, under the control of a Blood cultist, these blood thralls should never have been able to resist in any way...”

The woman's voice gradually quieted down as she fell into deep thought.

“Blood thralls killing their own blood master... Could this be the ability of that Beyonder?” Edric asked suddenly.

This ability was truly bizarre. Who was to say their own knight squad wouldn't suffer a similar fate one day?

At this thought, a chill rose from the depths of Edric's heart.

Edric's words snapped the woman out of her contemplation. She shook her head and said solemnly:

“If it were an ability of the Demon sequence, they would drive people to madness or cause them to undergo some aberration. But logically, a Blood cultist's control over their blood thralls is absolute. They shouldn't have their minds influenced by a Beyonder of the Demon pathway...”

“What's even stranger is that the blood thralls' targets were so unified. It doesn't look like they simply lost control and slaughtered each other...”

“Could it be an internal conflict among the vampires? Another cultist controlling these blood thralls to hunt down their own kind?” Edric guessed.

The woman immediately dismissed the idea. “Unlikely. Although there are frequent private struggles among the vampires, they would never engage in open slaughter. They are actually quite united internally—a level of solidarity that is rare even in human society. Moreover, they have always valued decorum and wouldn't use such degrading methods...”

A more reasonable deduction was that there was another Beyonder here who possessed a similar dominion-type ability.

However, she ultimately kept this thought to herself. In her understanding, aside from the Blood pathway, no other pathway should be able to produce such an ability...

Slowly withdrawing her hand, the woman stood up. She swept her gaze over the surroundings once more before looking at Edric with a serious expression.

“This incident in Leytin City is clearly not simple. It likely involves multiple hidden factions. Therefore, our people will take full charge of this matter from now on. You have no objections, I presume?”

“Everything shall be done according to your arrangements, Lady Envoy,” Edric replied, not daring to say more, merely bowing his head in agreement.

However, when Edric looked up again, a look of astonishment suddenly flashed across his face. At that moment, from the side of the black-robed woman, a hand coated in black fire suddenly lunged out!

“Watch out, Lady Envoy!” Edric hastily cried out in warning.

Solana had only intended a feint, but to her surprise, the black-robed woman didn't even try to dodge. The moment the flames touched her, her body cracked and instantly shattered into shards of ice.

Looking up again, Solana found that the black-robed woman had already appeared above her, sitting on a massive, floating icicle, staring down at her coldly!

Seeing this, Solana hesitated no longer. She immediately spun around and bolted, racing up the stone steps all the way to the exit of the exchange.

Whoosh!

Bursting through the doors, frigid air suddenly assaulted her from all directions, swirling countless ice crystals from out of nowhere and scattering them throughout the tavern.

Soon, the scattered ice crystals began to grow and bloom rapidly like wildly spreading crystal flowers. Bewitching yet lethal, they continuously radiated a bone-chilling cold!

Running forward, Solana gradually felt her body temperature slipping away bit by bit.

Just then, a thick wall of ice suddenly condensed in front of her, completely sealing off the tavern's exit.

At the same time, sharp icicles shot out from the sides, thrusting rapidly toward Solana!

With a wave of Solana's hand, flames erupted in response to her thoughts, instantly wrapping tightly around her body.

Before the icicles could strike, they began to crack and melt under the intense heat of the fire.

Waving her hand forward once more, the fire surged violently. The flames swept down the hallway, melting the ice crystals on the ground along with the ice wall blocking her path!

Seizing this opportunity, Solana burst out of the tavern, veered sharply to the right, and sprinted toward the docks.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The freezing wind blew relentlessly. With every step she took, Solana's body temperature dropped further.

Fire and frost clashed repeatedly around her, but under that powerful frost energy, the flames surrounding her were gradually suppressed, their light growing dimmer.

As her body grew colder, Solana's vision began to blur.

Through the double vision, she suddenly saw ice crystals rapidly solidify in front of her and to her left and right, forming three identical black-robed women. Their dark robes fluttered eerily in the wind, like life-reaping specters.

At this moment, the wind grew even more piercing. The surrounding buildings and vegetation were coated in a layer of frost, as if an extreme cold was closing in on Solana step by step!

Sensing danger, Solana relied on the remaining sensation in her body to pull out her lantern. She flipped it open and threw it upward with all her might.

A blinding, eerie green light suddenly exploded in the air!

Caught off guard, the black-robed woman in front instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes. Seizing this chance, Solana rallied her remaining strength, surged forward, and dashed past her!

Whoosh! A wave of heat swept past the black-robed woman.

Realizing her target was escaping, the black-robed woman immediately spun around. Relying on her perception of elements, she swiftly fired a volley of icicles toward the source of heat ahead.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The sound of icicles thudding into the ground echoed repeatedly, but the expected squelch of flesh being pierced never came.

Clatter! The lantern fell to the ground, its eerie green light gradually fading away...

The black-robed woman opened her eyes again, only to find shattered ice on the ground and a rushing river before her. Solana was already long gone...

Gazing at the rushing river, a faint trace of wariness flashed in the woman's eyes. Yet, even she didn't realize that beneath this wariness lay a strange, inexplicable touch of nostalgia.

Soon, however, she suppressed these emotions, restoring her cold, expressionless mask.

Just then, Captain Edric and the knights arrived, running out of breath.

Seeing the shattered ice crystals scattered everywhere, Edric couldn't help but frown.

“Lady Envoy, what happened?”

After staring at the river in silence for a moment, the black-robed woman spoke slowly:

“The Witch of Flame has returned...”

But she should have died three years ago...

Sigh, who knows which faction she will belong to this time...