Vlad nodded silently to Jormungandr’s words, a solemn expression forming on his face. While his cultivation and the Xaos Kingdom’s military power had grown significantly in strength, the threat of angels and demons was still very present and could not be underestimated. If devils from Hell were added to the mix, things would become even more complicated.
However, Vlad did not jump to conclusions. His sharp gaze swept across the group before him. "We must prepare for every possibility. Don’t let your guard down, and ask for help if something feels off. Let’s explore the town thoroughly so we can get a better sense of what happened. Only then will we decide our next move."
"Understood!" everyone shouted in unison at the command of the Xaos King, swiftly moving into action.
Vlad, Jormungandr, Freya, Ouroboros, and the Royal Guards descended into the streets, moving through the empty, desolate town in search of clues. The silence was suffocating as they split up, inspecting buildings and every corner of the lifeless town, trying to piece together what had transpired.
After several hours of meticulous exploration, the group reconvened on the rooftop, each holding fragments of a puzzle that seemed impossible to solve. They had explored the homes where the townspeople once lived. The townspeople were not wealthy nor did they enjoy many commodities, but food and water were plentiful, and the houses were well-kept, indicating that the town had been spared the worst ravages of the apocalypse.
"What protected them?" Freya wondered aloud. "A powerful warrior, maybe? Or perhaps the alien and powerful Monster never ventured into this area."
Jormungandr shook his head. "It doesn’t really matter right now. What is important is that thousands of people are dead, but there are no signs of a struggle. It doesn’t make sense."
Freya immediately nodded at the words of the small yellow cat. Indeed, that was the most disturbing part. The town was filled with corpses, yet there wasn’t a single sign of resistance. No overturned furniture, no weapons drawn in defense. It was as though the entire population had quietly accepted their fate.
Vlad frowned, trying to comprehend the situation. For so many to die without any visible wounds or evidence of resistance was beyond anything they had encountered. It suggested a level of coercion that was deeply troubling.
"This looks like a mass suicide," Vlad muttered, his gaze dark and contemplative. "Almost as if they had asked for it."
After a pause, he made his decision. "Let’s expand the search. We need to examine the surroundings for any tracks. Someone must have left this place alive, and even if they’re not the culprits, they may hold the answers we need."
The group nodded in agreement, splitting off again. Vlad dashed toward the eastern edge of the town, moving at an impressive speed. The A.I. Chip within him scanned the area thoroughly, allowing him to cover large areas quickly. The barren land offered no clear signs of what had occurred, but Vlad didn’t relent.
Just as he was about to move farther out, a voice crackled through his communicator gem. "I’ve found something," Jormungandr’s voice echoed.
Without hesitation, Vlad and the others dashed toward Jormungandr’s location in the west. It didn’t take long for them to find him standing before a pack of monsters resembling bears, their massive frames lying motionless on the ground.
Vlad’s eyes narrowed as he surveyed the scene. The largest of the group, a High Champion-level Monster, was covered in wounds, while the rest of the pack displayed the same eerie condition as the humans in the town—no visible injuries, yet lifeless.
"I’ve analyzed them," Jormungandr said. "All of them died due to neurological collapse, even the High Champion monster with the wounds."
The revelation made the group frown. Whoever or whatever had killed the townspeople had also done the same to these powerful creatures.
"But why harm the High Champion and no other Monsters?" Ouroboros asked, perplexed by the inconsistency.
Vlad’s expression hardened. "Perhaps it was necessary to weaken the Monster first. With weaker life forms, they could extract the soul easily. But for a High Champion-level being, they would need to diminish its strength before extracting the soul."
The group nodded as the explanation made sense since the stronger you were, the more power your soul had. Whoever was responsible had the terrifying ability to forcibly extract souls from weaker beings, and with stronger creatures, they resorted to brute force to complete the job.
"The monster died after the people in the town," Vlad said, his sharp eyes turning westward. "So the responsibility must be moving in this direction. Let’s go."
Without wasting time, Vlad gave the order, and the group quickly set off, tracking the culprits through the wilderness beyond the town. They followed faint energy signatures and physical tracks left behind. Jormungandr, ever vigilant from above, guided them toward disturbances in the flow of energy using his A.I. Chip’s scanning abilities.
They moved swiftly, scanning for signs—broken branches, displaced stones, or the lingering essence of death in the air. The trail led them farther west into a dense forest where the trees loomed over them like silent sentinels.
There, they found more bodies—wild animals and monsters, all showing the same signs of neurological collapse. The forest floor was littered with corpses, making it clear that the responsible would steal the soul of anything in their path.
Vlad moved with purpose; his senses heightened, the A.I. Chip constantly scanning the environment. After several hours, the trail began to veer south, causing the group to adopt solemn expressions. It seemed the soul snatcher was heading toward Constantine Country, the domain of the Xaos Kingdom.
There was no way they could allow the fate of the women and children of the Amur Country to fall on those of the Xaos Kingdom, so they immediately sped up their march, their gaze sharp and cold as they were ready to kill anything and anyone that dare to pose a threat to their home and their people.