At this moment, ten ships of Zodiac Night Federation, nine with black crescent moon symbols and one with purple crescent moon symbols, appeared right outside the mist barrier of the Dead Faction Territory.
"Did he really enter that darn place?" Reginald's expression was dark as he questioned Keegan, standing behind him.
A projection of a map red dot blinding was active on his wrist as Keegan sweated profusely and replied, "Y-yes, the ship is no longer hidden, and it continues moving right ahead of us. Look, he even stopped moving! It seemed he's been captured, or he surrounded!"
"It seemed he didn't want his life anymore." Reginald spat with frustration.
Although they belonged to the Zodiac Night Federation, they still didn't dare to barge right into the dead faction territory without their consent first. After all, even if they were from the neutral faction, they still had to show respect to the dead faction, or before they knew it, they would be pulled into the endless war of the life and dead factions.
"In this past year, we were being led by the nose, and now it's clear he wanted us to chase him here. I also think that he's misleading us by using our ship, so we need to be careful." Elspeth's expression is also not good, as she has lost all of her confidence in their chase.
No matter how they tried, they couldn't catch up, and their target stopped even for a moment. She even spread their men just in case Captain Free Sword tried to run in another direction, but nothing like that happened.
It had become quite clear that they were being led in this place, and now she was no longer certain about what their target was thinking anymore. That's why she ordered others to stop here, or Reginald would've already barged in because he was completely infuriated from continuous chasing.
They have to be careful unless they want to earn themselves a free enemy, the Dark Beings!
"Patrol ship no.4 is a unit of dark beings, right? Have them explain the situation to their race; tell them we only want the killer of our people, not any trouble." Elspeth issued a command.
"I'm on it!" Keegan quickly left to issue the command.
Right at this moment, both Reginald and Elspeth, who were standing at the front of the ground, sensed something wrong as they looked toward the mist.
Suddenly, hundreds of massive black battleships filled with dark beings crept out of the mist, and right above those ships was a giant bone eagle enveloped in cold blue flames. Standing on top of that eagle was a giant, majestic black silhouette. The only visible feature of this silhouette was a crimson flame flickering in the center of its cloaked head.
Reginald's expression instantly changed, "T-that's the Wrath King! One of the five Vise Faction Leaders of the Dead Faction! What in the hell is he doing out here? Don't tell me they've already discovered who is on that?"
Elspeth's heart sank as she knew the Dead Faction also wanted to capture Captain Free Sword as much as they wanted. If he fell into their hands, they would never give him away.
The Wrath King's presence here could only mean that they had discovered, or why would one of the five vice faction leaders of the dark beings be here personally with such a huge battle force?
At this moment, Wrath King's booming voice rang in everyone's ears, "I want an explanation from the Zodiac Night Federation! Are you really declaring war on Dead Faction by killing one of my ministers?"
His voice was a mixture of man and woman and extremely gloomy as if he was speaking from the depths of the abyss.
Reginald and Elspeth's expression changed as they looked at each other with befuddlement in their eyes as they clearly didn't have any idea what the hell Wrath King was talking about.
Still, it was good news since this meant he still didn't know about Captain Free Sword and had some kind of misunderstanding.
When Elspeth thought of this, a sharp glint flashed past her eyes, and she replied, "Esteem Wrath King, I'm the intelligence department head of the Zodiac Night Federation, Zodiac Night Guardian, Purple Rank, Elspeth. We've been chasing a criminal who has killed our men and stolen their ship. I think there is a misunderstanding here! We are not here with hostility but to capture that person who has invaded your territory."
The crimson flame flickered violently when Wrath King heard it and spoke, "Do you have any proof?"
Wrath King was in charge of dead faction security, and when he heard someone brazenly invade their territory, he sent one of his ministers to take care of it. He was a unique rank tier-9, so it shouldn't be a problem.
However, soon, he received news that his minister's corpse had been found, which enraged him. The scouts also brought news that the intruder was none other than the Zodiac Night Federation, and he'd been killing anyone he found.
Enraged, he quickly gathered his men and tried to capture the brazen bastard, but to his surprise, that person had vanished with his ship, and no matter how they searched, they couldn't find him.
Then abruptly, he heard that more of Zodiac Night Federation's ships had stopped outside their territory, so he quickly hurried over.
But since they didn't directly attack, he decided to find the reason for their blunt provocation. Although he was enraged because his loyal subordinate and many men were killed, he didn't directly attack and gave them the chance to explain.
After all, the Zodiac Night Federation controls the passage between epic and unique plains. They can't just start a war with them on a whim.
Now, hearing Elspeth's explanation, he was startled to think that this might be true and someone was sabotaging the Zodiac Night Federation. He instantly thought that it was the scheme of the life faction or someone simply wanted to seek death.
But he wasn't going just to believe whatever Elspeth said since it was a known fact that the flying ships of the Zodiac Night Federation could only be controlled by the guardians.
Elspeth clearly said that it was a criminal, not a traitor, so he demanded proof before coming to any conclusion.
"This?" Elspeth clearly hesitates since showing them proof means revealing the horn ogres to the dark beings.
Although this might stop them from falling out with the dead faction, they will also lose the chance to capture Captain Free Sword forever. She was again stumped by Captain Free Sword's shrewdness.
"What should we do? If we don't show him, he'll attack, and we are clearly outnumbered." Reginald said as he knew they were in trouble, and his hate for Captain Free Sword reached a new level.
Elspeth calmed her nerves and replied, "Before anything, I want to ask Vise Leader, did you manage to capture the criminal?"
Wrath King harrumphed coldly, "It won't be long before we sniff out that degenerate. Why are you hesitating for? If you have proof, then show me and leave. Since that degenerate dares to kill my men and invade our territory, he's no longer your concern. Once I find him, I'll send back your ship.
"But first, you need to give proper proof of your innocence, or don't even think about leaving!"
