"They promised they wouldn't attack us!"

"Words are wind, those damn people even made a contract with us, and they ended up letting the Night Lizard People attack us!"

"That's your own stupidity."

Virus's icy voice came through the communication channel, interrupting these people.

Fang Hong also shook his head, this was something he had expected, the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team's reputation had always been like this, but the Grand Guild had such privileges—his post on the community about the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team and the Descendants of Flor's breach of promise, though it attracted many people's support and onlookers, there were even more people blindly defending the BBK Union.

Because in their eyes, the reputation of the Grand Guild was obviously far superior to that of their small Mercenary Corps.

"Let's talk about the important matters," Fang Hong also interrupted these people: "We don't have the time to listen to your complaints right now."

The others looked at each other in some embarrassment, and then began to recount what had happened.

It turned out that after they had broken the bridge, the rewards left by Toragotos on the platform also fell into the Abyss, and the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team took the opportunity to incite everyone, saying that Silver Weslan wanted to monopolize all the benefits—others had no doubts, as at that time, Fang Hong and the other members of Silver Weslan did indeed block them at the eleventh layer and were the first to enter the twelfth layer.

Thus, these people formed a temporary alliance, with the goal of targeting Silver Weslan, and quickly built a temporary bridge with spells, then crossed that bridge into the twelfth layer.

"We didn't expect all this to be the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team's conspiracy!"

The Invokers said through gritted teeth.

"They told us that you were the leading team."

"But they had actually colluded with the Night Lizard People long before. We helped them build the bridge, then followed their orders to split up and search for your traces, but no one knew that the Night Lizard People would follow and attack every member of our guild indiscriminately..."

"Because we completely didn't expect an enemy to appear behind us, we suffered heavy losses right from the start."

Fang Hong was silent for a moment.

This seemed to be the script he had anticipated, but it was missing something.

He couldn't help but ask, "What's the deal with those Night Lizard People?"

"We don't know either," the Invokers shook their heads repeatedly: "At first they were attacking us, but somehow they went crazy, started killing each other, and then those Undead appeared, as you also saw."

"Those crazy Night Lizard People died off quickly, and the few sane ones had no choice but to fight alongside us," the people said with a hint of relief: "It's all thanks to their help, otherwise, we wouldn't have lasted until you arrived."

"The Night Lizard People went crazy?"

Fang Hong found it utterly baffling, and after thinking for a while, he asked again: "Were only you attacked? What about the Rain Listeners?"

"Don't even mention it, the people from Rain Listening are also the same scumbags," the Invokers sighed: "They betrayed us, the people from Rain Listening had previously told us that the Blood Oath Alliance intended to harm them. You know, aside from the Blood Oath Alliance, the Rain Listeners are the largest Invoker force in Fenris, and once the Rain Listeners are swallowed by the Blood Oath Alliance, we small guilds would also find it difficult to stand our ground here."

"That's why we banded together and came here to take part in the Dragon's Trial. But nobody expected that in the end, Rain Listening would actually join forces with the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team. They deceived everyone from the beginning, they actually had a map in their hands that seemed to help the people from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team get to a place they had in mind."

"A place the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team had in mind?" Fang Hong was stunned for a moment: "Could it be that obelisk below the thirteenth layer."

"Of course not," the people shook their heads in denial: "The entrance to the thirteenth layer is hard to find, but those who come to take part in the trial are somewhat prepared, how could Jiefulite Red Cloak Team compromise with Rain Listening just for such a piece of news."

"When they discussed this matter, they didn't exclude anyone. I overheard their conversation; it seemed like the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team was looking for an altar or something of the sort, and Rain Listening just happened to know such a place."

"An altar—"

There was a buzz in Fang Hong's mind.

It was as if something suddenly became clear.

But he composed himself and pressed on: "Who has that map?"

He indeed had heard something about a map before, but this map was not the same as that map, and its existence seemed to have already been denied.

So what was the deal with this map?

"Who else, it's that woman leading Rain Listening," the Invoker answered the question with some indignation: "The map is bound to her and only she can use it, so the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team has already agreed to cooperate with Rain Listening."

An image of Alice flashed through Fang Hong's mind for an instant.

He pressed, "So what does that map look like?"

"I'm not quite sure," the person replied, "I only glanced at it from a distance, it seemed to be something like a slate."

Slates?

Fang Hong unconsciously looked towards Hilveld to his side, his expression somewhat peculiar.

Understanding his gaze, Hilveld walked over and took out her slate, asking the people, "Is it the same as this one?"

The people paused upon seeing Hilveld, apparently not expecting such a stunning beauty in the Silver Weslan, but as soon as they saw the slate in Hilveld's hands, they quickly realized, their expression turning to one of disbelief:

"Ah, that's it!"

"How come it's still in your hands?"

Fang Hong did not answer them; he only looked at the former, asking, "Miss Hilveld, what exactly is the deal with this slate?"

"Haven't I already told you, Captain?" Hilveld replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "This slate was discovered by the Andrett Ratmen beneath the ruins."

But the map on that slate was clearly drawn by the Ratmen.

Fang Hong was filled with confusion.

"Actually, the reasoning is quite simple, Captain," Hilveld leaned in closer and whispered deliberately, "Regardless of where the slate came from, as long as it's a product from within the ruins, that in itself explains a lot, doesn't it?"

Fang Hong was taken aback, then suddenly realized.

Right?

The slate in Hilveld's hand came from the Andrett Ratmen, but the one in the Rain Listener's possession surely did not, and even the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team allied with the Night Lizard People had not managed to acquire such a slate. Where then did Alice get hers?

And why, with such a slate at her disposal, would she wait until now to bring out the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team's cooperation? They could've reached an agreement much earlier, avoiding so many problems.

Indeed, the matter was filled with perplexing elements.

What's more, he suddenly recalled the words of the Chairman of Silver Weslan—why did Alice take the initiative to lead the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team to the Obelisk?

The alliance between the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team and the Night Lizard People was surely for reviving Salrutaka. Why did Toragotos need Alice to push them from behind the scenes?

He had a sinking feeling.

The scheme of the legendary Giant Dragon seemed to be slowly surfacing.

But it was clear that he was not the only one to realize this; the others had caught on too. Ambassador Liao's voice came through the channel a bit hurriedly, "Xiaya, you must find the members of the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team immediately and stop them from heading to that altar."

Fang Hong of course understood this point, but now a question arose in his mind—did the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team still have the autonomy to act?

Why was their communication channel dead silent?

And those Night Lizard People slaughtering each other.

What was the reason for that?

Meanwhile, Hilveld was inquiring about the whereabouts of the Invoker members of the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team, who were all shaking their heads in response. Fang Hong wasn't surprised by this; they were being pursued by the Night Lizard People, how could they possibly know where the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team had gone.

However, he knew that someone might not know where the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team had gone.

But it definitely knew where the Night Lizard People would go.

Given the current situation, the other party must have already understood what decision they would make.

...

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