“Which sect do you belong to?” The invisible individual responded with a question of their own.

“I’m from the Water Dragon Sect.” Red said.

There was a prolonged silence after that.

The boy sighed. “I’m not from any large organization, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“And your necromancer skills? Where did you learn them?” The voice asked.

‘So they were indeed watching me.’

Red hesitated. He didn’t know what faction this person belonged to, but having learned about the boy’s special skills couldn’t mean anything good to him. Yet, now that it was revealed, what was Red supposed to say?

“Someone taught me it.” The boy said. “However, I’m not a necromancer and I have no plans to become one.”

He didn’t know if this invisible individual would buy his explanation, but it was indeed the truth.

Another long silence followed it, during which Red tried to examine this invisible individual’s fluctuation. The boy could usually tell many things about a person using his crimson sense, but this wasn’t the case for this person. It was like there was something blocking his powers, and Red could not discern their gender, age, general emotions, or power level. Not even their voice seemed to give any of that away, as their words seemed to be transmitted directly into the boy’s ears and changed in tone every second.

The only thing he knew for certain was their general position.

Another prolonged silence happened before the voice spoke again.

“I need you to repay the favor for my help.”

Red frowned. “I was not aware I was going to owe you anything.”

“Yet without my help, you definitely would not have found your companions in time.” the voice said. “It stands to reason you would owe me a favor in return.”

The boy didn’t bother arguing against their reasoning. “What do you need help with?”

“I need you to use your special power.”

Red hesitated. “… Which one?”

“You have more than one?”

The boy sighed. There was only one power they could possibly be referring to.

“You need my help to detect something?” Red asked.

“Not something, but someone.” The voice said.

“… You mean the person who is controlling the horde?” The boy started to connect the dots.

There was a pause. “… ‘Controlling’ is a generous term. This individual is using a treasure to spur the horde and native monsters into a frenzy, but they can only give them simple orders. The number of monster they directly control is limited to a handful at a time, but through these combined methods they can create a coordinated and dangerous force of monsters.”

Red frowned, recalling how the wolves had all targeted the boy in a bid for revenge. “You’re saying that if we kill this person, the horde will fall apart?”

“More or less. The monsters won’t simply disappear, but their threat will significantly decrease.”

The boy pondered their words. “If you can’t find this person yourself, what makes you think I can do it?”

“I am not privy to the limits of your power, but I’m certain that if you can spot me, then you can spot this individual, too.”

Red was still skeptical. “I am not so certain about that. I felt nothing strange on the battlefield earlier, even after travelling through the whole fort.”

He was already searching the battlefield earlier on for this possible controller of the horde. Yet, even after scouring through the entire battlefield, he found no strange fluctuations to speak of.

“What is the range of your power?” The voice asked.

“… Two hundred meters or so.” Red was hesitant to divulge such information, but considering this individual already knew about his necromantic inclinations, then things couldn’t get much more compromising.

“Then it is reasonable you wouldn’t spot them. They should be able to control those Lesser Ring Realm monsters from a few kilometers away.”

“If that’s the case, what makes you think I will be able to spot them at all?”

“That’s because there’s a certain range to these powers, too.” The voice explained. “The farther they are from the monster and the stronger the monster is, the harder it is to control them. For Lesser Ring Realm monsters, then a few kilometers is still doable, but for a Greater Ring Realm monster? Then I am certain they will be no farther than a hundred meters from them.”

Red’s frown deepened. “You mean they are controlling the alpha wolf, too?”

“Indeed. They most certainly have already grafted a slavery rune into the wolf’s mind to control them. It is partially why they are able to control the horde so well.”

The boy was suddenly enlightened to another possibility. “Our elder Hector… Was he attacked by this individual?”

There was a silence. “… Most likely, but I was not there to confirm this happening.”

The situation kept getting worse.

The voice continued. “I wouldn’t worry if I were you, though. If half the stories I was told about your elder are true, then not even a Greater Ring Realm cultivator would have an easy time killing him.”

This was scant comfort, but Red was willing to believe them. The elder was over a hundred years of age, with countless connections to important surviving members of their destroyed sect. How could the old man not have a few live-saving measures in case things like this happened?

Still, all these revelations brought another question to Red’s mind.

“How do you know so much about this individual?” He asked.

“It is not my first time fighting one of them.” the voice said. “Every horde always has a few of these opportunistic beast tamers hoping to create chaos and benefit from it. This tamer in particular, though, seems to be equipped with far better techniques than my sect led me to expect.”

“You are from one of the sects?”

“Yes.” The voice didn’t deny it.

“… Which one?”

“The Crystal Sky Sect.”

‘Only the oldest and most powerful sect in the world.”

Red was suddenly even more worried about his future.

“You need not fret, though.” the voice said. ”I can give you my word that I won’t tell anyone about your peculiar powers.”

The boy frowned. “How can I trust you about that?”

“My parents are demonic cultivators.” the voice said. “Now we both know something compromising about each other.”

Red was stunned. “… Why are you telling me this?”

The boy had a hard time believing this individual would tell such a secretive information about themselves.

“Because for this mission to succeed, I need your help, and to make sure you help me, I need you to trust me and my intentions fully.” the voice said. “Above all else, though, I am not unsympathetic nor unfamiliar to the situation you find yourself in. That is to say, I do not believe you are a bad person from observing your actions, despite your questionable powers.”

Red was still a bit skeptic about their words. How could they trust the boy like this even after all they saw? Yet, he was convinced that they truly needed his help to go this far.

So, for now, Red knew he had no choice but to help them.

‘I can make preparations for later in case these are all lies and they intend to eliminate me after the fact.’

“You want me to get close to the alpha wolf and try to spot this individual, then?” Red asked.

“Yes.” The voice confirmed his plan.

“How do you suppose I should do that without dying?”

The boy just didn’t see a way this would work. A Lesser Ring Realm monster was more than enough to kill Red in a single blow if he was careless, not to mention a Greater Ring Realm one. It was possible he could die simply because of the aftershocks of its blows.

“I will be guarding you from afar. As long as you can spot that individual, I will save you from the ensuing battle.” the voice said. “However, I can’t reveal myself too soon, though, so you will need to make your way closer to the wolf by yourself.”

Red frowned. “I doubt it will be as simple as you put it. Doesn’t he have the rest of the horde guarding him? How should I make my way past them?”

The voice didn’t respond immediately. Then, a few seconds later, Red suddenly saw something materialize in the air in front of him.

It was a slip of paper. A talisman.

The boy grabbed it and inspected its runes. He recognized the type of talisman this was.

“It is a Spiritual Bestowment Talisman.” the voice explained. “A Wind Bestowment Talisman, to be more precise. If you plaster it against your skin, you will be covered by rich Wind Spiritual Energy and not only will your movements become much faster, but you will also be able to weave safely through the horde to get close to the alpha. It will last no more than fifteen seconds, though, so you should use it wisely.”

Red didn’t actually need the explanation. He was familiar with its effects from the time he fought the lizard demon inside the trial. This was as valuable of a talisman as one could possibly get at his level.

“What if I fail to spot this individual?” Red asked another important question. “Will you still save me?”

There was a pause. “… If it comes down to it, then yes, I will save you even if you do fail. However, it is imperative that you succeed, or else even your companion’s lives might be in danger against that beast tamer.”

Red didn’t know whether they were telling the truth, but he had his own plans to save himself or to force their hand if it came down to it.

“I have no more question.” Red nodded. “I will do as you say.”

“Good.” the voice said. “I will be relying on you. Do not disappoint me.”

The boy felt the invisible individual’s fluctuation fade away. Soon enough, he stood alone amidst pieces of the destroyed fort.

He sighed to himself, wondering how he was supposed to explain this to his companions. Or better yet, if he should explain this to them at all.

Red made his way back to his camp, passing through a few soldiers sifting through the destruction or still gathering corpses. They gave him weird looks, surprised at having a child wander alone in the middle of such a grisly battlefield, but they said nothing.

Just as Red was about to arrive back at his tent, he saw someone waiting in his path for him. It was Narcha.

The woman seemed to spot him at the same time as he did her.

She approached him and stared at him with a suspicious gaze.

“So,” she spoke. “What kind of secret and reckless plans have you cooked up now?”