"A ship," the boisterous Dwarf gestured eagerly to them, "We had quite a few people here ready to set up camp, but then a boat floated down the river, so big, and that damned Crow, I still remember how it perched on the dragon head staring at me, that flat-feathered beast was definitely watching us, by the saints, I could bet—"

At the description by the Dwarf, everyone nodded in agreement, clearly convinced.

"Wait," a Knight from the Silver Weslan interrupted, taking a step forward, "You said you were camping here and then you saw a boat... What about after the boat, I mean afterwards?"

He couldn't help but glance at the others, each face carrying a hint of forboding, and the Papalarians and Xiangzi exchanged looks, clearly remembering the things they had seen on the eighth level not long before.

Not to mention the nasty encounter they had just fought their way out of in the Bottomless Depths.

"Then did you come into contact with them?" Xiangzi also asked in a deep voice.

"Contact?" The Human Priest shook his head, "Don't joke, if we had come into contact with those things, we would have died long ago."

"The boat stopped over there, and those black-robed figures landed on the shore," the Elf Ranger looked at Fang Hong, apparently not too interested in his type, and instead voluntarily spoke to Xiangzi, "We were lucky, not one of us went on board, those who boarded first were all killed by that woman..."

"Woman?" Fang Hong and Sophie both caught on to that word sharply.

They looked at each other and suddenly remembered what the Rat People Chieftain had said before his death in the village of the Andrett Ratmen.

They now had accounts of Crows and the heralds of death.

But this was the first time a woman had come up.

Fang Hong thought even deeper, he quietly slipped his hand into his bag, grasping the small brooch inside.

"Yes, a woman," the Elf Ranger confirmed, "She was leading the way, ahead of those black-robed figures, we couldn't make out her face, but I'm sure it was a woman, there was something strange about the way she spoke to her followers..."

"What kind of strange?" Tainaric suddenly came out from the back — Fang Hong was a bit mystified how this fellow had appeared, not to mention the Elf Ranger, who was so startled she almost cried out.

The Knight from Silver Weslan quickly reassured her, "Don't be afraid, this is our companion."

With an 'oh', the Ranger looked at Tainaric with a hint of curiosity, probably mistaking the Lizardman Prince for a Chosen — she also found it odd that anyone would choose such a strange race.

She then continued, "I can't quite articulate the strangeness, she and those with her were too far from us, those who charged forward were all killed in an instant, we didn't dare get close, so we couldn't hear clearly, but that voice, it was just very strange, different from ours."

Fang Hong noted this silently.

And Parker couldn't help but ask, "Since you didn't board, how did you end up like this? Where are the others?"

"They're all dead," the Priest answered softly, pointing not far away: "Those black-robed people didn't care about us at all, they left in that direction, but after they left, countless Undead came out from the ground."

"We were surrounded by these Undead, everyone died, only we were lucky, maybe some others escaped too, but we had no time to pay attention to anyone else." The Dwarf sighed and consoled himself, "Below the eighth level is just too dangerous, but it's also good, we're satisfied to have made it this far..."

The others clearly agreed with his sentiment, nodding in unison.

But Fang Hong obviously didn't have time to consider their relief, he was asking himself that question—what exactly was that boat? Where did those black-robed figures come from? Was that woman truly Miss Hilveld?

If not, why was her brooch there?

But he couldn't come up with an answer, so he asked the others to show him the spot where the black-robed figures had landed ashore. They hesitated, probably agreeing out of respect for the reputation of Silver Weslan, and led them there.

The place was actually not far, near the bank of the underground river where they descended. Led by the others, Fang Hong arrived at the riverbank and immediately noticed something wrong with the soil.

In fact, he wasn't the only one to realize this, for Tainaric had already crouched down, prying up a bit of dirt with his claw, rubbing it between his fingers before handing it to him. Fang Hong took it and immediately realized it wasn't dirt at all, but a thin layer of ashes.

He immediately knew what it was, his stomach turned, and he fought back the nausea as he touched it with his ring, feeling the restless power within, before disgustingly throwing the dust back onto the ground.

Tainaric looked at him with his amber gaze.

But Fang Hong turned first to the Elf Ranger and the Dwarf, asking, "By the way, how did those people who rushed up die?"

The group hadn't grasped the reason for his question and simply shook their heads unconsciously, "Didn't see clearly, probably some kind of Spell, in any case, it was too terrible, those creatures must be Max Level Elite Monsters, right? Could that woman be the world leader?"

Fang Hong did not respond.

His mind was a storm of shock, and he even had a sneaky suspicion that he might be closing in on the answer.

Because these people hadn't been resurrected, nor was there any Starlight...

Their manner of death was, in fact, no different from that of the Andrett Ratmen of the eighth level, the residents of the relic Dolifen, or Atira's brother.

...

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