"It's enough..."
Souta came out of his room after he finished training the [Divine Light Circulation] to the Second Stage.
"It's time to visit the Murder Society. What do you think, Saya?" Souta asked as he stretched his arms.
'You can go but if you want to try to save the Princess you should make it fast.' Saya answered in her usual playful tone.
"Hmm..." Souta rubbed his chin. "The unknown group kidnapped Dream and destroyed the Great Chan Hall. Maybe, the unknown group will also kidnap the Princess but I'm not sure if they will try. I just hope that they will try to kidnap her so that I could capture them alive."
'Ufufu... You're an evil man... You're hoping that someone will kidnap the Princess.' Saya chuckled.
"Well, It's the Murder Society first. If I didn't find anything, I will head over to the Heiro Kingdom." Souta decided.
The Heiro Kingdom was the strongest powerhouse in the Spring Land, after all. They wouldn't fall easily just like the Great Chan Hall and other factions. They ruled dozens of cities and no other overlord organization could remove their control over those cities.
'I doubt that Murder Society knows something.' Saya said.
"At the very least, we have to try." Souta shrugged his shoulders.
On the grand scale, the Murder Society was just a small organization in a backward region. Hall Plains was small compared to the entirety of God's Continent. Even if it vanished, only a few people would notice it since the land wasn't even one percent of the whole.
Souta went to Sister Heili and Instructor Vick and informed them about him leaving the city. After that, he immediately departed and flew at high speed. His body tore through the air, creating a ripple that spread out in the area.
The headquarters of the Murder Society wasn't located in the Spring Land. It was located further, closer to the central region. The land was called Darkstone Ranges. A region filled with hundreds of tall mountains that reach the sky. A land that circled the entirety of the central region. So if anyone wanted to go to the central region they had to go through the Darkstone Ranges.
Only a few people lived in this area as various terrifying monsters inhabited this place. It wasn't easy to traverse this horrible land.
But Souta didn't have a problem with it. He flew through it while releasing his overwhelming aura and [Serpent Dominance] that frightened nearby monsters. From the point of view of other people, his aura was undoubtedly someone at the highest of fourth stage. Unless there's a fifth stage, no one could stop Souta.
Just by flying through several dozens of mountains, Souta realized that some of the monsters were following him. He looked back and saw a two-hundred-meter-long giant boa. The giant boa was releasing an aura of an intermediate fourth stage. Aside from the giant boa, there were various serpent-type monsters that were following him. Souta realized the other effect of his [Serpent Dominance]. It just didn't have an intimidation effect, it also had that strange effect on serpent-type monsters where they would feel some sort of intimacy with him.
"Since you're here, let me use you."
Souta flew down and descended on top of the giant boa's head. He tapped the head with his palm.
"Go that way." He spoke using the monster language and his thoughts were passed to the giant boa.
The giant boa was called Venomous King Boa. It wasn't a rare monster but it was relatively strong due to its powerful venom and tough scales. It could be found in some large swamps with a temperature above seventy degrees celsius. It has strong resistance to flames but low resistance to cold.
Souta asked the giant boa about various things about the Darkstone Ranges. According to him, the Darkstone Ranges were divided into seventeen territories. Each territory was ruled by powerful fourth stage monsters.
The territory he was in right now was ruled by Venomous King Boa. In this land, he was a king and there was another fourth stage monster that was living here. His mate, an initial fourth stage monster.
"So there are more than seventeen fourth stages..."
One territory didn't only have one fourth stage. It had other fourth stages too but their power was less than the ruler. They were pretty much initial or intermediate level. This must be the reason why the Darkstone Ranges was one of the most dangerous places in the entire Hall Plains.
Soon, Souta arrived near the headquarters of the Murder Society. The entrance was just a small cave and it looked like some monsters were living there. But Souta could sense that there was a passage in this cave that led to the underground base.
It looks so ordinary that no one would expect that this was the entrance of the Murder Society's base.
Thud!
Souta jumped down and landed on the ground causing the dust to shoot up in the air. He waved his hand and thanked the giant boa for the ride.
He suddenly vanished from his position and a moment later, two armed people walked out of the cave. From their energy fluctuations, they were at high Solidifying Realm.
The two people brandished their weapons as a powerful energy washed their faces. They felt a chill on their bones as they saw an enormous boa dozens of meters away from them.
"W-Why is h-he here...?!"
"D-Don't move! Just relax and lower your weapons!"
The two people slowly lowered their weapons to show the giant boa that they didn't harbor any hostility. They knew this boa. They knew that it was the king of this territory. To avoid a direct clash against this monster, they had to show humility. Their base was here, after all.
With their attention on the Venomous King Boa, Souta entered the cave without them noticing anything.
'Let's see...' Souta scanned the whole base with his eyes and immediately found the person with the strongest aura.
...
The leader of the Murder Society was in his room looking down at the table. He was a tall man with an average build. He wasn't muscular nor thin. He had sharp eyebrows and short black hair. His body was wrapped in a black tight skin suit and loose dark shirt filled with various small weapons.
He was called Death King. He was the one who made the Murder Society rose to the top of the Hall Plains. They were the strongest underground organization in this land.
Right now, he was looking at the table with scattered papers on top of it. The papers were the reports of the occurrence across the Hall Plains. His expression was grim as he couldn't truly understand what was going on.
"Just what is happening in our land...?"
Every region of Hall Plains was in chaos. It was getting worse every second as a fight would break out between organizations every other day.
He had information that he gathered throughout the land but he still didn't know the name of the culprits. Someone must be instigating all these fights. Even if it was a battle for resources, it would not be this worse.
Some events made him suspicious. It's true that Death King wanted some organizations to fight each other so that he could gain some footing in the future but this was worse than he imagined. Plus, some of his people have gone missing yet the plan still went smoothly.
How? Why?
"There's a faction that I don't know and that faction must be manipulating all these things behind the scene. They even know my movements. Is there a spy in my organization?"
Death King narrowed his eyes. It shouldn't be the case since the people within his organization were under a hypnosis spell and binding rune that prevented them from betraying the group. But what if the unknown faction was powerful enough to break through the spell and rune?
Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation. It was too silent and the atmosphere was eerie. Death King slowly turned around and saw a humanoid creature behind him. The creature had a horn on its forehead and a pair of crimson color eyes. It has long red hair and dark green skin with red fur around its wrist.
"You must be the leader of the Murder Society?" The humanoid creature said before it sat down on a vacant chair.
"Indeed, people called me Death King." Death King as he examined the creature.
"The name is Souta. I will not lie to you. I'm the City Lord of Ekatoe City, and Seventh Head of the Nine Heads also known as Dragon Council." Souta introduced himself to let the Death King slightly lowered his guard. "If you think I'm lying, you can investigate it later and you will find the truth."
Death King stared at Souta for a while. He didn't know if Souta was lying or not. He heard about Dragon Council from Mine Valley but he hasn't thought much about it. There's one thing that he was sure of. This creature was a monster with unbelievable strength. His instinct was screaming just by facing this guy.
"Why are you here?" He asked.
"There's something that I want to know." Souta smiled.
