Unsurprisingly, Warmcross, the neighboring settlement of Smithy Town, suffered the same tragic fate.

After he and his subordinates had disposed of the dead bodies scattered all over Smithy Town, Solas Frostrune went to Warmcross.

“Ugh…”

However, he currently looked dishevelled with his armor dented and filled with either holes or purple scratches. This was all due to his brief yet intense fight with Amare Na Xivia, who refused to cooperate or leave Smithy Town.

Their verbal dispute had quickly escalated, consequently leading to a fight, one which ended in his victory. He managed to subdue the young and stubborn vampire without inflicting any mortal wounds, which was easier said than done considering how powerful her magic was.

“Are you happy now?”

The blond-haired Holy Knight lifted his head and stared at the girl sitting atop his steed, her arms bound behind her back with a chain made of shining white light.

The girl’s face was pale but other than that, she was relatively unscathed. Solas had gone easy on her and had no intention of killing her.

As a high-ranking member of the Holy Church, his knowledge regarding the five Original Vampire, notably Marjory, was better than most. For instance, he knew that the dreadful Masked Queen was intrinsically linked to all of her so-called children, and upon their death, she would instantly know the killer and respond accordingly.

Unlike her peers, Marjory was the leader of a nation, which, albeit small in terms of landmass, had deep and solidified diplomatic relationships with the Northern Empire and the Militant Syndicate, thus making it a power to be reckoned with.

Furthermore, her individual strength was frightening, to say the least. She towered above demi-gods and only the Pope could face her without dying instantly.

For that reason and many others, Solas- like Arthur- was wise enough to merely subdue and bind Amare rather than inflict any physical harm.

“You’ll regret this, Solas Frostrune.”

“Stop with the sulking. You attacked me first and directly interfered with my mission. You literally forced my hand.”

“What are you going to do with me?” She asked back with a menacing glare and a cold tone.

The Holy Knight waved his hand at her as he had enough of her incessant questions and constant grumbling and threats. He had been delayed enough and wanted to clean up Warmcross before chasing after the perpetrators, which were most likely heading South.

“Speed it up! We’re short on time!”

The Holy Knights responded in unison and consumed Mana Elixirs to replenish their reservoirs and quicken the process of erasing the corpses using their praying ritual.

When they were just about to be done, Solas saw two silhouettes appear from the lush forest.

With a hand resting on his sheath and his guard up, he looked at the newcomers and was momentarily surprised.

The first was a thin young man with ruffled hair and a haggard appearance, looking particularly harmless. However, the second was a muscular and tall elderly with a gentle expression and domineering stature.

‘Lexander Biax?’

As one of the vaunted heroes of the Fishland War, Lexander’s name and appearance were known far and wide. He was a strong swordsman, an idol for many aspiring talents.

While Solas knew the approaching old man, the latter didn’t know him and was clearly suspicious.

“What’s going on here?”

Lexander scanned the desolate town before setting his eyes on the bound Amare. Even with the numerous Holy Knights present, he was neither worried nor afraid.

Addy, on the other hand, was frowning and seemingly in a bad mood.

“Sir Lexander?”

“Oh? You know of me?”

Solas signaled his subordinates to not do anything rash before walking to the renowned Knight and politely bowing.

“It is my honor to meet you. I’m Solas Frostrune, a Holy Knight.”

“Ahh! Maxwell’s grandson? You certainly do not look like him. Anyway…”

While smiling, Lexander looked around again before pointing at the young girl and asking with an authoritative tone,

“Since when does the Holy Church prey on young girls? You’re even using magic on her.”

“S-sir, that’s Amare Na Xivia. I had to-”

“I didn’t ask about her name. She could be God for all I care, it’s unseemly to tie up girls like that.”

As he was put on the spot, Solas sighed and mumbled a short incantation, which made the magical chains binding Amare disappear.

When she was freed, Amare jumped off the horse and walked to Lexander’s side, snorting as she passed by the disheartened Solas.

“Very good. Now then, would you tell me about this awful situation happening here?”

“My apologies, Sir Lexander, but this is a confidential matter. All I can say is that it’s the doing of a secret organization. I strongly advise you to leave this region lest you get embroiled in their scheme.”

Hearing the Holy Knight’s somewhat vague answer, Lexander’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t inquire any further, instead opting to switch the topic,

“By any chance, have you come across a parasite?”

As he heard the word ‘parasite’, Solas’ face stiffened and his body twitched. Startled, he shook his head.

“He should be masquerading as my late friend, Leonis Sanguis. Do you know him? He has dark red hair and definitely looks like an aristocrat. Ah! He also travels with a maid… a black-haired woman with an average height and a particularly cold pair of eyes.”

Solas stayed quiet for a bit before thoughtfully answering,

“I did encounter a man who claimed to be named James. His features match your description. Is he actually a parasite parading as your friend, Sir Lexander?”

“Indeed he is, that fledgling viper!”

Solas, looking more serious than ever before, continued, “Since it concerns a parasite, we would be more than happy to help you, Sir Lexander.”

“What about your ‘mission’?”

“As you can see, we were too late to save these villagers. I’m afraid it would be difficult to catch them, so I thought it better to focus on the parasite, who poses no less danger than they.”

In fact, Solas wasn’t particularly interested in the parasite, at least not at first. However, he started to connect the dots and suspected that Lexander’s target might very well be the perpetrator behind this re-occuring ‘mass suicides’. Evidently, it was too early to draw such a conclusion, nevertheless, Solas found the appearance of a parasite here was too coincidental.

He even felt idiotic when remembering that lone traveler he stumbled upon on the main road. He should have been more suspicious, as it was too strange for a single man to be so near the crime scene.

Parasites were wont to leave a mountain of bodies in their wake, and they had ample means to kill their targets without inflicting heavy external injuries, thus making the corpses good ‘nourishment’.

The more Solas thought about it, the more convinced he became about his unvoiced theory. Additionally, Amare’s unexpected arrival and the fact that she was looking for something or someone, made Solas certain that her aim too, was the parasite.

Just as Lexander was to agree to the Holy Knight’s proposition, there was a loud explosion nearby, one that shook the whole place.

Lexander was the first to take action, kicking the ground and speeding toward the rising dust cloud like a bullet. Addy transformed into a fog and took the air while Amare dashed behind them.

“Follow me!”

Solas signed the rest as they got on their horses and galloped towards the scene of the explosion.

Ten minutes earlier

While Evelyn was reading a Herbology book in interest and Mort was playfully teasing Furball, Arthur pre-occupied himself with the Blood Crystals.

Vanessa had told him that they were of no use to parasites, but Arthur begged to differ. He knew that, with enough experimentation and research, he would be able to make use of these priceless and minuscule crystals.

Almost all of them turned jet-black after absorbing a bit of his blood, but that didn’t make any tangible or noticeable difference.

When he presented an original one and an altered one to Mort and Furball, neither of the two could differentiate.

The undead said they tasted the same whereas Furball started nibbling small bits lest Arthur snatched them back.

Lost in thought, Arthur fiddled with one of the black crystals and after musing with himself, he tentatively injected a bit of Mana into it.

Surprisingly, he got a reaction; A speck of white light appeared within the black crystal, and the more Arthur injected Mana, the bigger the speck became.

Eventually, the whole crystal became half-translucent and shining with a beautiful white luster.

However, out of the blue, the white light started pulsating like a heartbeat, giving the parasite a foreboding sensation. He put it on the ground and examined it only to notice that the random pebbles on the ground were shaking and then disintegrating into dust.

Only then did Arthur come to a sudden realization, one which made him curse under his breath and leap to the back.

His sudden action alerted the focused maid; She saw a thick yellow-ish barrier in the form of a wall appear in front of her.

It was then that a blinding flash of light appeared, followed by a deep rumbling and an explosion that destroyed the whole cave and blew all five of them.

Arthur’s timely barrier managed to negate a substantial amount of the shock wave and explosion, but he was still blasted hundreds of meters away.

By the time he regained his senses, he was back in the forest, and in front of him was a massive cloud of dust.

“Not good.”

Fortunately, Evelyn and the rest weren’t fatally injured. They all got to their feet, looking at Arthur with confusion and shock.

“An explosion like that would have divulged our whereabouts. We’ve got to run.”

Without any hesitation, they all turned tail and sped off. Mort, especially, was sprinting with a remarkable speed, so much so that was way ahead of his companions.

The four, excluding the inexhaustible undead, expended all their energies and stopped only when they were so tired they couldn’t run anymore.

Evelyn was gasping for breath with both hands on her knees, Furball was breathing rapidly and letting out annoyed screeches. As for Arthur, he was relatively less tired but still mentally astonished by the magnitude of the explosion.

‘That was only one Blood Crystal.’

He shuddered when he thought about what would happen if he poured Mana into all of them at once.