Every soldier froze.Several pairs of eyes immediately turned toward one another. Confusion, suspicion, and disbelief spread across their faces.Rhys was the first to break the silence.“Anyone can explain it to me right now?”“This is just a baseless accusation!” one of the soldiers shouted.Rhys stared at him.“And now you’re going with this baseless accusation route after doing that to me?”The soldier’s face stiffened.Meanwhile, David took the glove and examined it carefully. He turned it over several times before narrowing his eyes.“The damage isn’t from the outside.”He pointed at the shredded fingertips.“They were torn apart from within. It’s as though someone’s hand transformed into a claw and burst through the glove.”His voice grew quieter.“This doesn’t make any sense.”David looked around at everyone present.“I’ve never seen anything like this before. Is there even a creature capable of changing from human to something else?”Nobody answered.The answer should have bee

The group continued pushing forward through the forest.At the front, Yin Zhen was carrying most of the burden. He poured his strength into clearing a path, meeting every Abyssal head-on and forcing openings wherever he could find them.Compared to him, Gealion had a much easier assignment.Rhys had given him one simple task.Cause chaos.The giant beast charged through the battlefield like a living battering ram. He grabbed Abyssals and hurled them into their allies, creating confusion wherever he went. Sometimes he would throw several enemies aside before leaping over the crowd and landing beside the group again.As long as he kept the enemy formation unstable and stayed close enough to protect everyone, he was doing exactly what Rhys needed.Sasha fought differently.Rather than stopping to finish every enemy she encountered, she focused on spreading her curse.Her claws sliced across one Abyssal after another.The moment her attacks connected, the corruption began spreading throug

After taking in the situation around them, everyone reached the same conclusion.There was only one way out.The ground was no longer an option.If they couldn’t break through on land, then they would have to escape through the sky.The Abyssals were closing in from every direction, leaving them with almost no time to come up with another plan.“Sasha! Risa! Yin Zhen!”Rhys called out as he pointed toward Meave and David.At the same moment, a familiar black dragon appeared behind him.Nidhogg.The instant the dragon emerged, everyone understood what Rhys was planning.Sasha immediately grabbed Meave while Yin Zhen caught David before the officer could lose his footing.Risa happened to be closest to Rhys, so she wrapped an arm around him and carried him onto Nidhogg’s back.“Fly!” Rhys shouted.“Hurry!”Nidhogg reacted at once.His massive wings spread wide, and a second later he launched himself into the air.Before recalling them, Rhys gave Gealion one final opportunity to clear a

The camp looked nothing like Rhys had imagined.Even from a distance, he could tell it was under siege. Thousands of Abyssals surrounded the military camp from every direction. The wooden walls stood far taller and thicker than those of the previous outpost, and deep trenches ringed the perimeter like scars carved into the earth.The defenders were on an entirely different level as well.Whenever an Abyssal managed to climb close to the walls, it barely lasted a few seconds before a knight cut it down and threw the corpse back outside. The soldiers moved with discipline and confidence born from countless battles.Some of the officers stood out even more.Rhys could immediately tell they possessed Mana. They were Beast Tamers, yet they fought like knights rather than summoners. Their personal strength far exceeded his and Meave’s.Of course, there was a reason for that.Many of them had stopped walking the traditional Beast Tamer path long ago. Some had lost their familiars in battle.

Rhys spent the next several minutes explaining everything that had happened.He started from the patrol mission and moved through each event one by one, describing the mysterious deaths, the controlled soldiers, the strange symbiote-like creatures, the Common-class mutants, and finally the enormous Elite-class abyssal they had encountered.The more he spoke, the darker Carmichael’s expression became.At first, the old general simply listened in silence. Then his brows slowly drew together. By the time Rhys reached the part about the mutants disguising themselves among humans, the relaxed atmosphere inside the tent had completely disappeared.When Rhys finally finished, silence filled the room.Carmichael leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.“So, this new abyssal is trying to use our brain to empower themselves?”Rhys nodded.“That is just my speculation, but I’m sure that there is a new type of abyssal that is actually going into a human’s body. They kill their host and occup