How is this unknown group connected to Wingless Crow?
Souta on their way to the Wingless Crow base asked the leader various questions. He learned that the Wingless Crow wanted to take over the Mine Valley but they were too weak. So they just hid in the dark manipulating the event before they take a move.
Their plan was perfect. Various powers would fight for the three cities and once they exhausted their strength the Wingless Crow would appear to dominate the Mine Valley. Unfortunately, Souta discovered them before they completed their plan.
They even bribed some City Lords to join their forces. The three City Lords that attacked Bland City and the City Lord of White Line City were all bribed by them.
"Are you working for some people?" Souta asked.
"No," The leader answered decisively.
"Then, why do you want to occupy the Mine Valley?" He asked another question.
"Huh, it seems that you people didn't understand what's really happening." The leader laughed at Souta's ignorance. "This is a war for resources."
"Resources?" Souta narrowed his eyes.
'The mana density has increased so various resources will bloom faster than before.' Saya suddenly said. She explained further. 'In Imperium, mythical will appear once every ten years, legendary once every five years. In high-world's state, legendary will appear once every twenty years. Some of them didn't even know the true value of legendary. As for mythical, there's no case that a mythical bloom in sub-world.'
'You mean...' Souta's brows furrowed deeper. He suddenly recalled the various small events in the game. He knew that a mythical rank fruit would appear soon but he didn't think about the lower ranks.
'Yeah, various resources will appear soon. This must be the reason why they are fighting for various lands.' Saya said.
"Hehe, if we occupied the Mine Valley, the resources that will appear here will become ours. That's why the entirety of Hall Plains is in chaos." The leader laughed.
Then, the Wingless Crow was just the first. Other organizations would eye the Mine Valley sooner or later. They wouldn't ignore this land. What if a legendary rank fruit appeared here? It would be their loss if they didn't conquer the Mine Valley.
Souta and the leader arrived in front of a huge gaping hole. In this dark underground space, the Wingless Crow stayed here for several months planning to take over the Mine Valley.
Souta and the rest jumped down. What they found was a huge blood circle on the floor. It was giving off an eerie vibe.
"What the hell is this?!" Eztein looked at it strangely. It looks like a magic circle but he knew that it wasn't magic circle since wasn't made by weaving energy.
"Blood sacrifice..." Souta muttered gloomily.
"Blood sacrifice?!" Alice's eyes shrank when she heard his words.
"What's that?" Eztein asked. Elder Guan and the others also stared at Alice waiting for her to explain.
"W-What?! How do you know about Blood Sacrifice?" The leader stared at them in disbelief.
Alice cast a deep glance at the leader's face before she turned to Eztein and the others. "Blood Sacrifice. From its name, we can already guess what it is. It is a ritual that needed the lives of creatures in exchange for powers. The powers that they received came from a god."
Unlike the blessings of the god, the blood sacrifice would only enhance the sacrificer's ability to a certain extent base on the level of creatures that were sacrificed.
"Who is your god?" Souta asked.
"No, I can't say it. I will die." The leader's expression turned pale.
Souta took a deep breath to calm his senses. There were different types of blood sacrifice and their uses vary from each god. What they know was just the fundamentals of the ritual.
'There's Grid before and now... A blood sacrifice appeared here...'
Souta stroke his chin. He couldn't interrogate the leader. It seems that some sort of restriction was placed on him to prevent him from divulging any important information.
He stared at the leader and asked, "Are you the sacrificer?"
"N-No, I'm not." The leader was scared right now. This monster knew a lot of things.
"Then, who?" Souta asked fiercely. He exuded a strong bloodlust that frightened the leader.
"T-The... Ugh... No...!" The leader suddenly puked. Black smoke came out of his mouth and a bunch of stigmas appeared on his body.
Shooosh!
Alice, Eztein, and the others who were close to the leader were alerted. They quickly circulated their energy around their bodies and took a distance away from him.
Souta widened his eyes. He quickly pulled out the sword on his waist and activated his Second Mode and [Element Drive].
[Fifth Form: Rage of the Thunder God]!
[Sixth Form: Piercing Thunder Strike]!
BAM!!
He swiftly used his killer technique to kill the leader before he exploded. Even the name of the sacrificer was forbidden. It was outside of his expectation.
The leader's eyes were wide open and there was a huge gaping hole in his chest. He died just like that.
Slowly, his body fell to the ground with a thud sound.
"This...!" Souta felt something. He shifted his gaze to the sky. A large amount of energy burst out as he shot through the sky in an instant.
Alice and the rest were shocked by the sudden change. They couldn't help but follow him.
When Souta arrived at the sky, he felt his vision darken for a moment.
"Shit!!"
Souta cursed. His eyes were filled with rage. The bloodlust he was exuding was denser than before. He felt like he had to kill someone and drink their blood to satiate his rage.
That power.
That ability.
It's a charm.
He didn't expect that someone could charm him for a moment despite the resistance he gained from eating various mana fruits.
He was confident in the resistance gained from various fruits. Even if Two Shackles Realm got charmed, he would be unaffected by it.
Even if it only affects him for an instant, it already speaks for the ability of his opponent. Strong.
This was worse than what he expected.
The person that used charm wasn't here. He just realized it. If that's the case, how? He shifted his gaze at the blood sacrifice on the underground.
'Using blood sacrifice as a medium. At first, it only affected ordinary people but since people continued to die, it grew stronger and managed to release the true ability of the sacrificer.' Saya explained.
"I understand. I think I needed some preparation to deal with these guys." Souta said.
"Hoo~" He relaxed his muscles. Just now, his heart was filled with rage. This emotional instability was really a problem.
Souta turned around and found that Third Head and the rest of the people in this place were in a daze. They had blank looks on their faces. It seems that the opponent not only charmed him but also everyone.
The first person that woke up was Third Head. It took her almost ten seconds. Ten seconds was enough for an opponent of this level to execute hundreds of moves. She wouldn't be able to defend against the attacks in her charmed state.
If not for Souta being here, he guessed that everyone would be massacred today.
Soon, everyone regained their senses. They didn't even realize that an unknown person charmed them.
It was terrifying.
'I'm glad that I ate those fruits or else...' Souta said inwardly.
Third Head flew at his side and said, "I didn't expect that you are a monster."
Souta raised his eyebrows. "No one ask me before. You yourself decided that I'm a demi. I never even said that I'm a demi from the start."
"But that's because I can feel mana from you. How did you do it?" Third Head looked at him with interest in her eyes.
"That's a secret." Souta smiled.
"Where you come from?" Third Head changed her question.
"Hmm... Do you know a place called Ladro?"
"No," Third Head shook her head.
"That's where I came from."
The two then talked about how they were going to divide the White Line City. A few hundred citizens have survived and every official died. No one was controlling this city anymore.
Then, this place was them for the taking.
They wouldn't leak this news and slowly occupy this place. It was to prevent other cities from coveting the White Line. White Line had several mining spots that could give them rare metals so it was important.
Since he didn't have any use for the Wingless Crow. He killed all of them and took their souls along with the people that perished here.
After that, Alice gave him a report about the casualties in this battle. It was quite huge since the Wingless Crow killed dozens of A-rank and S-rank. Third Head also suffered a few casualties but not as huge as Astros.
Souta and the rest stayed here for a night.
The next day, Souta took his forces with him and left the White Line in Third Head's care. He left ten S-rank and thirty A-rank with her just in case. The other Heads of the Dragon Council were going to send their forces to protect the city.
This Chain Quest seems harder than he imagined. He would return to Champion's Den and report the unknown organization here so that the higher-ups would send a few squads to help him.
Aside from that, he had a mission that he wanted to take. It's time for him to take that one and upgrade his arsenal.
