Having observed to this point, Qianye already had an idea of the battle.

The Evernight side was led by a duke, and the group contained around ten experts in total, the strength of three small squadrons. The Attawa had mobilized hundreds of warriors, overseen by a giant. It was unknown why the two sides had broken into a conflict, but the result was a bloody battle.

On paper, the Attawa warriors held the absolute advantage. Their ordinary soldiers were already at the count rank, and their rank-one soldiers—Su Shi for instance—were around or close to the marquis realm.

Fighting power on paper was just that; actual fighting power was a different case.

From these results, it was obvious that the gear difference between the two parties was sufficient to decide the outcome of the battle—despite the heavy injuries on several Evernight experts and the death of a glorious marquis.

The wooden spears used by the Attawa could hardly break through the Evernight experts’ heavy shields. They could barely pierce body armor, leaving only light injuries after doing so. On the other hand, the Evernight experts’ bullets drew blood with every shot. Their axes and swords could also cut through the Attawa’s mediocre bodies.

Even the giant couldn’t get through the repeated volleys of origin guns.

The battle had begun half a day before. The Attawa had probably retreated due to heavy losses, while the Evernight squad continued with their exploration.

Qianye gave chase with his aura concealed. Evernight experts were old friends to him by now; the Attawas might not be able to defeat them, but Qianye had all too many ways.

The new world was fairly strange. The scenery in the vicinity never changed despite chasing after the enemy for half a day. There were still giant trees everywhere, along with the usual shrubbery and dangerous little animals. If it wasn’t for Qianye’s stunning memory, he might’ve started to think he had been running in circles.

A normal person would probably go mad after staying in such an environment for so long. They would start to lose judgment of direction and distance after a while.

That was not the case for Qianye, though. He was a master in tracking, so he was naturally able to overcome such problems. Later on, he simply closed his eyes and used his perception to determine the direction and distance.

In this manner, Qianye finally saw some different traces.

There was a shallow mark on one of the giant trees. The mark was barely recognizable, but it looked like a scratch mark with a wisp of Evernight darkness origin power lingering around it. Qianye knew that this was a mark left behind from an arachne limb. The energy had grown so faint that it looked like it would disappear very soon. The living origin power environment would slowly destroy any foreign origin power.

Seeing these traces confirmed that Qianye had not been chasing in the wrong direction. He immediately sped up and vanished into the distance.

In the distant sea of trees, a demonkin expert was gazing at the unchanging scenery. Anger suddenly welled up inside him, then he drew his sword and hacked at some of the nearby leaves.

All of a sudden, the swinging blade was stopped by a different sword. The old demonkin who was at the head of this group had intercepted this expert.

“Don’t leave unnecessary traces,” the old man said gently.

The demonkin expert stared deeply into the old man’s eyes. “I-I… was just…”

“No need to explain. Remember, we have more than those natives as enemies. These strange trees, shrubs, beasts, and bugs, even this entire world might be our enemy.”

The demonkin expert was surprised. “The inner world is our enemy?”

The old duke nodded. “Correct.”

“But it’s not like they can move… don’t tell me those lifeless stones are the same?”

“Under the will of the new world, any object can have consciousness and intelligence, even a soul.”

The demonkin expert was somewhat skeptical, but for some reason, he felt that everything around him seemed to have eyes and were observing him.

Only then did he discover why he had become so irritable. It was due to that faint sense of uneasiness and fear of the unknown.

“Let’s go, don’t expose us because of your loss of control.” The old duke put away his sword and returned to the front of the group.

An arachne glorious marquis arrived near the previous demonkin expert. “Lord Peter, what exactly are we looking for?”

Peter shook his head. “I don’t know, either. The entire operation is managed by Lord Leeker alone.”

The arachne marquis said, “I heard what Lord Leeker said just now. This accursed place is really odd, but we came prepared so it shouldn’t be a problem. Danger? Those natives? Our forces can easily destroy them all, don’t you think?”

Peter relaxed ever so slightly. “Indeed. Those fellows were quite shocking when they first appeared, but they only know how to charge. They were more or less rushing to their deaths. Rory was a pity.”

The arachne marquis said, “His luck was particularly bad.”

“Let’s go, the sooner we finish this mission, the earlier we can head back. I don’t want to stay too long in this damned forest.”

“True.”

Peter and the arachne marquis hastened their steps, promptly catching up with the squad. Just as they were walking past a giant tree, Peter came to a sudden stop and looked up. His entire body was trembling.

“What’s wrong with you?” The arachne marquis asked. It was unbelievable for a glorious marquis to be showing such signs of fear.

“T-There’s a leaf there.”

The arachne glanced toward where the man was pointing and saw a giant leaf that was several dozen meters wide. This leaf was large, thick, and deep green in color, covered in fine hairs that could be seen only under the sunlight. There were such trees everywhere in this forest, and there were hundreds if not thousands of leaves in sight. What was different about it?

Peter kept staring at that leaf as he grabbed the hilt of his sword.

“Nevermind, it’s nothing.” Realizing his loss of composure, the demonkin collected himself and walked on. After taking a few steps, he glanced back at that leaf with lightning speed.

The giant leaf hung there quietly, just as it always had. There was no movement since there was no wind in the woods; the same went for all the other leaves.

It was as though the entire world had frozen in place. Apart from the advancing group, the scenery around them seemed to have been sampled from a certain point in time.

Peter stared at the leaf until the arachne marquis rushed him to continue the journey.

“That’s just a leaf, what’s wrong with it?” the arachne marquis asked out of curiosity.

Peter hesitated for a while. “I have a feeling that it’s looking at me.”

“Looking at you?”

“Yes, it moved a bit as we passed by. Almost like… it turned to look at us.”

“These accursed leaves can move?” The arachne marquis was really curious now. Yet there was nothing besides them that was moving.

“Perhaps I was seeing things,” Peter said self-deprecatingly.

The arachne marquis’ expression slowly grew uglier. As a famous sniper and assassin of the demonkin race, Peter’s perception and eyesight were extraordinary. How could he have been seeing things?

Since Peter had said so with a meaningful glance, he nodded. “Perhaps you were too tired these days. It’ll be fine after taking a rest.”

“Let’s go, the group has gone ahead pretty far.”

As the duo left in a hurry, the leaf slowly twisted around to watch them disappear.

…

At this moment, under the completed tower back in their base. The Masefield Clan Lord Progia was gazing silently at the vast land stretching out before him.

A demonkin duke was reporting some information from behind. “All components have been installed, and only the final testing and sealing remain. We have rounded up a total of seventy-six subordinates. The thirty counts require special equipment to move around freely in this environment. After several days of acclimatization, their protective armor has adapted well to the environment.

The duke paused for a while. “We’ve collected a total of one hundred and ten boxes of components. This is enough to construct two extra towers. The positioning accuracy will be much greater with three towers.”

“One of the exploration squads have returned, but they didn’t find anything noteworthy. They did recover some materials that we can use. They will improve the construction efficiency of the next tower by thirty percent.”

The Masefield clan lord’s gaze was deep. “How many groups are still out there?”

“Two more are out there. One of them was just dispatched, so it’s not yet time for them to report back in. Lord Leeker’s party should’ve returned yesterday, but there’s still no news. I’ll send another squad to back them up if they don’t return by tonight.”

Progia said, “No need, they won’t be coming back.”

The duke was startled. “This…”

“Assemble a combat squad. I’ll lead it myself, and we set out tonight. We’ll see what secret this new world is hiding.”

“The Demon King wishes for you to wait for the Eternal Flame before taking the next step.”

“There’s still no news of him yet, and no one knows where he is. I’ve already found some clues, so it’s time to move out. There’s no need to wait for him.”

The duke was hesitant. “But, this tower will be unguarded if you’re gone.”

“I’ll return within two days.”

The duke heaved a sigh of relief. Not daring to dissuade the great dark monarch, he left hurriedly and made preparations for battle.

Progia’s face was expressionless. He merely gazed into the distance, and no one could tell just what he was thinking. There was, however, a faint glint in the depths of his eyes.

…

Back in Lava Castle, the Demon King had reached the last page of the book he was reading. He closed the pages with a smile, saying, “Every good book must come to an end eventually. Habsburg, I think our deal has been concluded.”