Vincent's eyes widened as soon as he heard the Celestial's answer. Similar to what Nerissa was thinking, he also thought that beheading those three practitioners was due to Joran's vengeful spirit, or perhaps it was a complex he built after killing a lot of people.
It's possible that he won't be satisfied until he could behead his enemies…
But contrary to his expectations, it actually has a deeper meaning!
It was to create a Sentient Magic Artifact!
It was similar to the fourth stage or the final stage of his system which was the Item Awakening Ability. Vincent stopped in his footsteps…
"I want to hear more about it but it's not a good place and time to discuss this… Enemies might start to arrive. We have to be ready." Vincent said as he pulled out the Formation Cores he brought with him and started setting them up.
He's probably the one who was the most interested in this topic but he has to restrain himself.
"This…"
Nerissa wanted to ask more questions but after hearing Vincent's reason, she can only give up. He was right, there has to be a suitable place and time to discuss that. It's enough to know that the Creed of Eiqehin has such thoughts about their Diamond Tier Manipulators.
"It's truly an evil organization… They're worst than the Demonic Cult…"
Can they really create a Sentient Magic Artifact using the heads, or perhaps brains, of the Diamond Tier Manipulators?
Wait—Many other Manipulators had gone missing over the past few years… At first, they were only Gold Tier and Crystal Tier with a few Platinum Tier Manipulators… It was believed that they died because of some powerful Magic Beasts lurking in the mountains of their territory… What if they were actually abducted and taken captive to be used as subjects for this experimentation?
Maybe because lower-tier Manipulators weren't enough for the experiment, they're now seeking the top cultivators of their country!
Nerissa couldn't help but shiver at this thought… She recalls that the incident of missing cultivators started over six years ago and they keep increasing.
There was no way that the Creed of Eiqehin only thought of doing this today… It must've started long ago!
After reaching this thought, her hate towards this organization grew even stronger. Her killing intent started leaking out but as soon as she noticed what she was doing, she immediately stopped and calmed herself.
She looked at the rifle in her hands as she vowed that she would kill as many members of the Creed as she can.
***
Vincent wasn't aware of Nerissa's thoughts. Nevertheless, he was able to guess a few things after sensing the killing intent that she momentarily leaked.
He can only sigh as he continued setting up the Formation Art.
Two of them were even the Field Sealing Formation that he had obtained from his Master Ignacy…
With these two, he was confident that no one would be able to escape from them.
"It's done… Let's wait for them to arrive…" Vincent said as he looked at everyone.
They are all looking forward to this operation. They may have different reasons but they're certainly itching for battle.
An hour had quickly passed and as everyone was starting to loosen their guards, they heard Millie's soft voice…
"I can sense five people with strong vitality coming from the southeastern hill…"
Vincent then focused on the direction she mentioned and nodded.
"Indeed… They're moving very fast… Restrain your aura."
After saying this, he couldn't help but look in Millie's direction. She truly has an incredible scouting ability… Since they do not have a high-level Magician that has scouting ability, Millie's skill was really helpful this time.
It's not that her senses exceeded Vincent's or those of the Celestials' but it was because she can specifically tell the difference in the energy fluctuations she was sensing…
After all, even if Vincent can sense their mana or energy fluctuations, he wouldn't naturally think that they were from human cultivators in this forest… In the first place, there are plenty of Savage Beasts and Magic Beasts around the area.
There are also many precious herbs, treasure plants, and valuable stones that are emitting this kind of fluctuation…
In short, Vincent lacks a skill that allows him to properly identify the source of energy he was sensing.
It didn't take long before they heard some rustling of leaves as a group of people arrived not too far from the dungeon's entrance… It was a cave created by rocks and roots from the nearby large trees.
Vincent felt a bit disappointed that Phoebe, the Apostle of Eiqehin, did not arrive. According to the Celestials, Phoebe uses a huge scythe as a main weapon so seeing that everyone has swords tied to their waist, it seems that they to kill them as quickly as possible and wait again for another batch…
***
"It's safe here… Let's wait for Joran to arrive…" A hoarse voice coming from the leader of the group was heard as they arrived near the Dungeon's portal.
This group of five was from the Creed of Eiqehin and was waiting for Joran's arrival.
The leader held his communication crystal and confirmed that there wasn't any news he missed. Apparently, the last message they heard from Joran is that he was being chased by the three Diamond Tier Manipulators and had to enter that 23rd Dungeon to make his stand…
Any group that was free or able to survive in their mission can consider helping him... After all, Joran can be considered one of the elders of the Creed since he has contracted not only one but six Celestial Beings…
Everyone wanted to gain favor from him.
As the leader was thinking, he heard his subordinate speak.
"Leader, there aren't any signs of battle… It's quite suspicious…" A young man with long hair spoke as he surveyed the area…
"Isn't that normal?"
"Well, didn't Sir Joran mention that he was being chased? Why isn't there any traces of their combat or movement techniques on the nearby trees and ground?"
As soon as the leader heard this, he immediately realized the problem… If what he said is true, then it really seems that someone erased the traces of battle or movement techniques used.
They can even see the footprints they left behind… How come no traces were left by the two groups who came here earlier?
The leader's eyes widened as he suddenly heard a series of explosions in their surroundings…
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