Chapter 173: Bizarre behaviour

The octopus-like creatures were completely slaughtered.

Following the direction they had emerged from, the two of them arrived at a room at the end of the corridor.

The door was slightly ajar. From inside came embarrassing sounds, along with a man’s faint, pained groans.

"What kind of noise is that...? Don’t tell me the Mountain Ape Baron has some kind of illness?"

A trace of surprise flashed in Phield’s eyes. Without hesitation, he pushed the half-open door with his sword.

"Holy shit! What the hell is this?! Is this really something I get to watch for free?!"

Inside, the Mountain Ape Baron was engaged in some bizarre "ritual" with another creature.

The creature stood about one and a half meters tall, composed of writhing flesh and octopus-like tentacles—its design was pure Cthulhu nightmare fuel.

Those smaller octopus creatures were continuously growing out from within the Cthulhu-like monster’s body.

"Disgusting... Don’t tell me all these little octopus things are the Mountain Ape Baron’s children? No wonder he looks so drained... what a warrior... ugh—"

Judging by his expression, he was actually enjoying it. Phield gagged twice.

"What’s happening to the Empire... filth is everywhere."

Rosalia’s expression darkened. Her figure flickered, and she swung her greatsword straight at the red creature. With a thunderous burst of air, the blade carrying terrifying power slammed down.

"Shhk—!"

The red creature exploded on the spot, and the smaller octopus creatures inside were crushed into dust by the violent corrupted energy.

"ROAR—!"

That single strike seemed to stir up a hornet’s nest. Roars of monsters echoed throughout the castle.

One after another, red creatures appeared out of nowhere, crawling out from every corner of the castle, writhing as they surrounded the two of them.

"Hehehe~ you’re too late."

"We’ll torment you to death."

"You’ll feel the pain we went through."

Strange, mocking voices came from within the creatures. Though they had no visible mouths, they were clearly speaking.

"They can talk... and those are girls’ voices."

Phield took a step back in shock, a dreadful suspicion forming in his mind. "Don’t tell me... these monsters are the missing girls?"

The creatures stopped talking and lunged at them.

Phield’s pupils contracted slightly. He could see fine bone spikes and writhing tentacles covering their bodies. If he got pinned down, nothing good would happen—he might end up like the Mountain Ape Baron, drained dry by them.

"Even guys need to protect themselves when they go out."

Phield muttered, but instead of hiding behind Rosalia, he chose to fight alongside her. Taking a deep breath, magic surged as he thrust his sword forward.

The red creature wasn’t intimidated. Its flesh bulged as a massive hand slammed toward him.

"Boom!"

The giant hand collided with the blade—but the Silver Iris Longsword passed through it effortlessly. With a precise angle, Phield drove the sword straight into the creature’s body.

Brilliant holy light erupted, illuminating the entire room. The red creature let out a shrill scream before being burned to ashes by the holy radiance.

"A holy artifact?"

The creature’s earlier arrogance vanished instantly, replaced by panic.

"Holy power is highly effective against these things."

Phield looked at the Silver Iris Longsword in surprise and murmured, "Looks like I should capture a Holy Light Divine Chosen for myself."

The creatures surged forward en masse.

Rosalia raised her greatsword, a mocking smile curling on her lips. "Don’t touch my lord. He belongs to me!"

"Die!"

Countless sword shadows flashed through the air, striking down layer upon layer. The red creatures were obliterated in an instant, with no resistance whatsoever.

Streams of life energy flowed into Rosalia. She licked her lips. "Not bad... tastes good."

"Corrupted... corrupted creatures?!"

The remaining red creatures cried out in alarm and turned to flee.

They looked terrifying, but their life level hadn’t even reached Tier One—they were no match for the two of them.

"Don’t even think about running."

Phield chased them down, killing one and knocking another over with the hilt of his sword.

"Talk. What exactly are you?"

He stepped on one of the creatures.

"Blood sacrifice to the true god! Lady Hannah has completed her recovery—you will witness the greatness of darkness!"

"Shadow World Sect..."

Phield’s heart skipped a beat.

He had suspected something was off when the kidnappings of girls started spreading—but he hadn’t expected the Shadow World Sect to be behind it.

"You think you’re so impressive? Why don’t you just summon God while you’re at it?"

Pressing his blade against the creature, it reacted like red-hot iron plunged into water—boiling and sizzling as the creature screamed.

"Who is Hannah? The leader of the Shadow World Sect?"

"It doesn’t matter if I tell you. Lady Hannah is the sect leader’s right hand, possessing the power of a Tier Two Divine Chosen. Prepare to die!"

"Then just answer properly—what’s with the attitude?"

Phield killed it with a single strike, then muttered, "I get it now. After the suppression campaign, the Shadow World Sect’s Divine Chosen must have been badly injured, so they went into hiding to recover."

"Speaking of which... shouldn’t Divine Chosen recover quickly?"

He looked at Rosalia.

"You can’t generalize Divine Chosen physiques. I once, in extreme anger—well, anyway, as your life level increases, the energy required to recover becomes massive. And you need the support of a domain. Without proper recovery methods, it takes a long time."

Rosalia shrugged. "Even I wouldn’t recover that quickly through natural means."

Phield immediately understood.

"The stronger the Divine Chosen, the greater their recovery—but the usable energy around them is limited."

Like fuel—no matter how powerful the engine is, once you run out, you’re done.

That’s why nobles’ Divine Chosen recover faster—they have territories and cities constantly supplying energy.

The Shadow World Sect, on the other hand, could only parasitize others’ lands or slowly recover in remote wilderness.

"In that case, if Hannah isn’t a top figure in the Shadow World Sect... we’ll just crush her."

Phield’s spirits lifted.

"My head... feels dizzy..."

The Mountain Ape Baron slowly regained consciousness, clutching his waist, looking like he’d been completely drained.

"What... what happened?" Seeing the room filled with mutilated remains, he nearly fainted again.

"And you still have the nerve to ask me?"

Phield snorted coldly, grabbing him by the collar. "You’ve betrayed the Empire, slaughtered your own people, and worst of all, attempted to harm me."

He piled accusation after accusation onto him. The Mountain Ape Baron was completely dumbfounded.

"W-what? I swear, I don’t know anything!"

"Really? Your territory is so ’de-urbanized.’ Don’t tell me you’re just honoring some legendary environmentalist."

"I... it’s not like that..."

The Baron shrank back. "I just sold the pure maidens of my territory in exchange for gold. I don’t know anything else!"

"Oh? Then explain it to me."