They kept following the trail of the necromancer and his subordinates for more than an hour. In that period, nothing else stood out to them, and neither did it seem like the footprints deviate from their straight path. Those people knew in which direction they were headed, and it just so happened to coincide with the direction towards the center of the dead forest.

“Is your snake alright?” Domeron asked.

Red frowned in confusion. “It is. Why do you ask?”

Domeron shrugged. “I was led to believe monster and animals wanted to avoid this area at all costs. Your snake doesn’t look too bothered, though.”

As the swordsman said that, Red examined the serpent wrapped around his shoulders. Like Domeron said, the snake didn’t seem the least bit bothered by all the death and heavy air around it, and it laid as still as it ever was in his shoulders.

Red shook his head. “Maybe changes in environment don’t bother it as much. When we were fighting the ghouls, though, its first reaction was to run away.”

Domeron nodded. “It has a sense of self-preservation, at the very least.”

No sooner had the swordsman said that, when Red felt the snake stir around his shoulders. The creature looked ahead of them before letting out a long-winded hiss.

The duo immediately froze. They exchanged cautious glances, and both looked in the direction the snake was facing.

“I don’t see anything. Do you?” Domeron asked with a frown.

Red didn’t respond, and instead extended his crimson sense ahead of him. He didn’t sense anything, and neither did he spot anything odd ahead of them. This, of course, left only one option.

“It must be feeling the scent of something.” Red said. “Something that bothers it.”

If there was one thing the snake was definitely superior to the average human at, it was its sense of smell. Even with their Five Senses Vein open, Red and Domeron couldn’t compare to a monster when it came to that matter.

Domeron frowned. “We are close then.”

Red nodded, and without hesitation, he unsheathed his sword.

The two of them decided to continue their approach, still following after the tracks. This time, however, they stuck to the shadows and tried to stay hidden from plain sight, a rather hard task with only dead trees to serve as cover. The snake continued to be nervous, and Red had at one point to hold it still so its hissing noises wouldn’t alert anyone nearby.

All this subterfuge, however, proved to be pointless as the surrounding scenario started to change. The tracks suddenly disappeared, and the ashen ground was replaced by an image very familiar to Red.

Bones. So many bones that the dirt ground beneath them could barely be seen. Animal bones of all shapes and sizes littered the ground on top of each other in various states of decomposition.

The sensation and air of death surrounding them became even stronger as they stared at this scene, and even Red, who was already expecting to see something like this, was taken aback once he laid eyes on the sea of bones.

How many animals skeletons were there? Thousands? Tens of thousands? He couldn’t remember there being that many back then, but he wasn’t paying particular attention to it with a maddened zombie chasing after him. Beyond that, Red also didn’t remember this oppressive atmosphere he felt now.

Domeron seemed to be in a daze as he stared at the scene ahead of him. “I heard about this before, but looking at it now... What exactly happened here?”

Red shook his head. “It wasn’t this bad before. I feel like the very air around this place has changed.”

“Spiritual Energy conforms to its environment.” Aurelia said. “Enough death or lack of life will change an area beyond recognition in both a physical and spiritual way.”

Red had heard about this before, but it was the first time he felt this phenomenon. It wasn’t just the extremely grim visage that affected him. Instead, it was almost as if the very air around them was oppressing them, denying their existence as living beings in this area.

There was a sense of wrongness in his mind, and a stifling force that seemed to target him in places where Red couldn’t see, but he could most certainly feel. Judging by Domeron’s expression, he wasn’t faring much better.

“This is much worse than I thought.” The swordsman frowned. “How did no one inform us about this? I thought there were people constantly reporting on the state of this place.”

Red shook his head. “It’s possible none of them dove too deeply into the region to investigate… or maybe this is a more recent development.”

Domeron grunted. “As things stand, it now makes sense why we have seen so much undead activity around the region in the last decade. This is a perfect place for raising undead. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if those ghouls were reared in here.”

Red frowned as he started to connect the dots in his mind. This place had everything for a necromancer to cultivate in peace - full of death energy and isolated from the world. Of course, at any other time, this was something the Curse Breakers would have dealt with immediately, which was why the possibility of this becoming some kind of undead cultivation ground didn’t cross their minds for too long. Knowing what they knew now about the crusaders, though, things started to make more sense.

Domeron shook his head. “We can’t spend too long in this place, or else we risk becoming infected by undead corruption.”

Aurelia scoffed. “You can stay here for as long as you like, Red. The corruption in this place is negligible to you. He is the one that has to worry.”

Red didn’t say anything, but even if what Aurelia said was right, he didn’t plan to linger in this place.

“Can you still see their tracks?” Domeron asked.

Red shook his head. “Even if there was no more soft ground to leave footprints, there should still be a trail of broken bones wherever they stepped. I don’t see anything, though.”

In fact, some of the bones looked to be in rather good condition even after years exposed to the elements. Red wasn’t too sure how an air suffused with death energy affected decomposition, so he took note of this oddness.

“I have heard necromancers can also control bones...” Domeron said, his implications clear enough.

Red frowned. “I don’t sense anything out of the ordinary here, but it could be a good way to cover their tracks.”

Domeron hesitated and looked around. “This bone sea stretches for a long while. I would think it a good idea to circumvent it, but… I feel like what we are looking for is at the center of this.”

Red nodded. “Then let’s move as fast as we can. I know the way.”

Red could still remember the exact spot he hid the insectoid core in back then, even in this dead forest.

“We should, but…” Domeron stared at the youth’s shoulder.

Red sighed. He knew what the man was about to say.

The snake, of course, was finally displaying a great deal of distress at the sea of bones in front of it, squirming around in the youth’s shoulders and hissing without stop. Red frowned, but he was quick to make a decision.

He took the snake from around the shoulders and put it on a tree branch, just around the edge of the sea of bones. Then, with some carefulness, he removed the cloth tying its mouth shut before stepping back in a hurry. At first, the snake was confused and tried to return to him, but it stopped as soon as it saw Red move towards the bones again.

It stared at the youth while wrapped around the tree branch, as if waiting for him to return. When that didn’t happen, the six-eyed snake hissed and moved, its coloration completely changing to blend in with the dead tree it was on. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for Red to lose track of it.

“It returned once.” Domeron said, patting his shoulder. “It will probably return to you again once we leave this place.”

This was Red’s hopes too, but this wasn’t something he could concern himself with right now. The snake might have potential, but it was too young, and as of right now, it was more of a hindrance than anything else. He didn’t know when he would find it again either, which was why he cut the cloth tying its mouth so it could feed if the need arose.

He could only hope that when they met again, the snake wouldn’t greet him with a bite.

“Let’s move.” Red said.

Domeron nodded and took the first step into the sea of bones. There was the crunch of broken bones beneath his feet, which made the man hesitate. Still, a few seconds later, he continued, trying to make as little noise as possible while he moved.

Red followed behind him, confirming his earlier suspicions as the bones shattered beneath their feet. They weren’t strong enough to sustain the weight of a human, which either meant that the necromancer and his group flew over them, or they were placed here after they were through.

They kept moving forward under Red’s lead, stepping over and crunching every other bone in their way. Pure stealth was almost impossible in this situation, and the duo could only do their best to make as little noise as possible.

This area close to the river was rather hilly, and without the foliage of trees in their way, they couldn’t see for much farther than a few hundred meters. The youth knew the way towards his previous hidden stash, though, so he tried to climb a nearby hill to see it from afar.

Finally, as they crested over a hill, they saw it. A patch of open land, where Red hid his insectoid core once. In the middle of it, though, a rather grim scene was taking place.

A ghoul, completely naked, was feasting on the body of what looked to be a mercenary. His entrails and inner organs were spilling out from his midsection as the undead creature continued to dig pieces of flesh out and shove it into its mouth with extreme eagerness. There was, of course, no sign of life or movement in the body of the mercenary that was being feasted upon.

In some ways, Red didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that they didn’t find any bone dagger in this place. He noticed some stitching marks along both of its legs, and he felt a sense of recognition wash over him as he examined the creature’s appearance closer.

He turned around and whispered to Domeron. “This is one of the ghouls we fought before.”

Domeron frowned. “So it’s the same necromancer?”

“Quite possible.” Red nodded. “I have no idea why it left this one behind.”

“We don’t need to understand it.” Domeron shook his head. “We just need to strike before it’s too late.”

Red frowned. “You want to kill it?”

The swordsman nodded. “You said the necromancer can potentially control these creatures from many kilometers away. Even if we avoid it now, when we meet their master later, it could come and reinforce them.”

“Won’t that alarm them to our presence?”

“There’s no guarantee we will be able to take on a Lesser Ring Realm Cultivator by surprise. Trust me, I have tried before. I would rather take my chances and whittle down a substantial part of their forces before any actual confrontation happens.”

Red was inclined to defer to the swordsman’s experience in these matters. The better option would be to just avoid combat at all, but he knew they didn’t have that luxury.

“How do you wanna do this?” he asked.

“You go from the front and distract it. I’ll kill it from the back.” Domeron said.

“Just like that?” Red frowned.

“There’s nothing complicated about this. Just trust in my skills and we won’t have any issues.”

"Then what about the Imperial's tracking method?"

If they got fifty meters apart, then Aurelia's disguising method would no longer work.

"We don't really have a choice." Domeron shook his head. "As long as we finish this as quickly as possible, even if they detect us they won't be able to act in time."

Red nodded with some hesitation. It was obvious that they wouldn't be able to keep within fifty meters of each other at all times in combat, but as Domeron said, they really didn't have a choice in the matter if they wanted to be effective.

They started to get into position. It would be a slow task to circle around the ghoul while making as little noise as possible against the bone ground, but the youth was confident in his own abilities to accomplish at least that much.

Soon enough, he found himself on the other side of the ghoul, which was still distracted by its meal. Red looked across from him, seeing Domeron’s figure waiting on a hill some five hundred meters away. The man raised his hand above his head before swinging it down.

‘The signal.’

Without hesitation, Red shot down towards the ghoul while activating his Storm Blessing’s acupoints. His speed got a tremendous boost, and in a matter of a few seconds, the youth was within one hundred meters of the ghoul.

The creature didn’t seem to notice him even at this point, which left Red bewildered, but he didn’t stop charging. When he was within fifty meters of the ghoul, though, he noticed the bones ahead of him start to glow.

Red’s heart stopped.

“It’s a formation!” Aurelia’s warning came to his ear.

The youth’s charge froze, arresting his momentum in a split second as he slid to a stop. The bone sea around him started to stir, and Red retreated without hesitation.

All of a sudden, the skeletons of dozens of animals were reanimated around the ghoul, and they all started to charge at Red.