"Yes, if I didn't help then you would surely die after one hour," Souta said to old man Jared with a serious expression.

"Thanks for your help. But what happened to the city?" Old man Jared looked at Souta with a grateful expression.

"Hmm... That's a good question. I want you to prepare yourself." Souta said as he walked towards the window and opened it. He added, "A group of dark vine eaters attacked the whole Fersch dukedom. The other people experience what you experienced just now. They were unconscious and the monsters were free to attack the defenseless people of this dukedom."

He explained everything to old man Jared, including what he found in the duke's mansion.

Old man Jared opened his eyes widely while listening to his explanation. He still couldn't believe what's happening in the dukedom.

"That..." Old man Jared muttered with a dazed expression. Souta told him that the duke was gone and someone was controlling him. The city became a sacrificial den for the monsters of the tamer.

*Ding!*

[Congratulations on completing the Investigation quest!]

[You've received 20,000 exp, 8 free attribute points, and 5 skill points!]

This was Souta's purpose in coming here. He wanted to finish his report and get the rewards before fighting the mastermind.

Souta looked at old man Jared and said, "I already completed my quest to investigate the duke and I've given you my report. After this, I'll wait for my rewards as you promised."

"Okay." Old man Jared looked down at his feet and was feeling hopeless.

Souta looked down at the old man and said, "What will you do? You're homeland is getting destroyed by some unknown person. Everything in this city will be gone after this incident."

Old man Jared slowly lifted up his head and asked, "Is there a way to avoid this?"

Souta grinned inwardly when he heard old man Jared's words. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "No, there's no way to stop this."

Old man Jared felt something when he heard Souta's words. He felt hope contradictory to Souta's words. Souta said that there's no way to stop this but he felt the opposite.

He grabbed Souta's foot and said, "C-Can you do it? P-Please, h-help us..." He said those words with the hope that Souta will help him.

Souta looked down at old man Jared and said with a cold look, "What will you give me in return?"

"I..." Old man Jared was lost in thoughts.

"Everything... Give me everything that you have." Souta said with a cold expression.

'You're like a demon.' Saya commented.

...

Ohm!

In an instant, the dense best feram in the atmosphere was sucked by the creature inside the duke's mansion.

He turned his head and looked at the red fur bear beside him. He saw that the red fur bear was also looking at him.

"Do you understand me?" The guild master asked.

Yuko just tilted her head in confusion. She didn't know what this guy was planning to do.

"Ah, There's no use... I should probably go there alone." The guild master sighed as he massaged his temples. He looked at the ball of shadows that Souta left.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, the ball of shadows was replaced by Souta's figure.

"You are here!" The guild master exclaimed when he saw Souta appeared.

"Yeah, yeah. We should move now." Souta said as he turned his head to look at the duke's mansion.

He also felt it too. The best feram in the atmosphere was sucked by the creature in the basement of the duke's mansion. The monster must be starting the evolution. It would take a whole five minutes to complete the evolution so Souta and the guild master had to disrupt it right now before the monster finished its evolution.

"Yeah, this is getting worse." The guild master said with a frown on his face.

"Yuko, follow me," Souta said as he dashed towards the duke's mansion. Yuko followed behind him without hesitation.

The guild master looked at Souta's back. He actually wanted to ask what Souta did but he knew that he had no time to ask a question as the monster was undergoing evolution right now.

...

Souta and the rest arrived in the duke's mansion. The guards around here were lying down on the ground. They were closed to the monster so they probably lose their consciousness when the best feram burst out.

Souta looked at the guild master and asked, "Are you a close combat type or long-range type fighter?"

"Me? I'd prefer fighting in melee." The guild master replied to him.

"Okay, then can you create a hole on the ground towards the monster there," Souta said as he pointed at the ground.

"I understand. That's the fastest way to go there." The guild master nodded and looked down. He took a deep breath and his muscle budge out.

Swoosh!

He jumped in the air and focused his attention on the ground.

[Air Walk]!

The guild master used the combat arts [Air Walk]. He stepped in the air and used this to throw his body towards the ground.

Boom!

The guild master tore through the hard rocks. His fist easily made a hole on the ground as his body continued to move forward, destroying everything in his way.

Looking at this, Souta grinned and he jumped down on the hole that the guild master made.

Yuko followed her master without hesitation.

Thud!

Thud!

Souta and Yuko arrived in the basement with a loud sound. He found the guild master in front of him while looking at the thing in the center of the room.

That thing was a huge white cocoon with roots scattered around the room. The roots were thumping with dense energy inside it. It was overflowing with a powerful aura.

Souta recalled this white cocoon. When he evolved before, a white cocoon covered his body too and it also took five minutes to complete his evolution.

The only difference was that this evolution was pumping a large amount of best feram inside the white cocoon.

He thought that this was the same for all monsters and he was right. The only difference was the energy output. This monster was undergoing its fourth evolution so the power it possessed was tremendous.

The monster that was evolving right now was the Dark Vine Stinger and it was going to evolve to Terror Vine Devourer. The Terror Vine Devourer was a very powerful and ominous monster that devoured humans and demis internal organs.

Souta knitted his bows tightly before he said, "Guild master, I'll leave it to you. Just focus on stopping the evolution. I'll handle the rest."

The guild master nodded before he charged towards the white cocoon. But a huge figure appeared blocking his way.

This figure was none other than the dark vine eater.

Souta quickly moved his body after he casted his buff spells and combat arts.

Swoosh!

In just a second, he appeared beside the dark vine eater. He opened his palm and grabbed the vines on the back of the monster.

Souta threw it towards the mid-air and Yuko chased towards the dark vine eater.

Yuko smashed the dark vine eater on the ground causing a spider web crack to formed on the ground.

Boom!

She landed on top of the dark vine eater. Yuko held it down before she opened her mouth and a ball of fire formed.

It spun quickly and gathered more energy before she launched it towards the dark vine eater at point-blank range.

[Burning Shout]!

Yuko used her trait skill to kill one dark vine eater that Souta threw at her.

...

"Stop them!!"

Souta and the guild master heard the desperate voice of a man. They ignored it as more than ten dark vine eaters appeared in front of the guild master blocking his way towards the white cocoon.

"Haha, I will not let any of you interfere with my plan."

'Do you think that this number will be enough to stop me?' Souta thought as he wrapped his fingers around the handle of the vajra sword. He quickly pulled it out and used [Crimson Moon] skill.

Swoosh!!

A red clean line appeared on the body of the dark vine eaters. After a few seconds, their upper body fell and the blood splattered on the ground, creating a small pool of blood.

"What?!!"

Souta stopped on his track as he knew that no one would block the guild master's way anymore. He turned around and looked in the direction where the voice coming from.

He saw a man wearing a full plate silver armor. The man has a long sword hanging on his waist. The symbol on the right chest of the armor indicated that he was a knight of the duke's family.

Souta smirked and said, "I see. So that's why you managed to kill the duke and control his body using the power of Dark Vine Stinger."