Azaroth let out a sigh as he opened his eyes and stared at that Abyssal Hound that had lowered its head in his presence.
"Firstly, don't make our connection too obvious to the White Wolf. Also, command it to bring some Pure Cleansing Grass. Meanwhile, I will remove the Holy Ardor from your body." Azaroth went forward and placed his hand over the Abyssal Hound's head.
A yellowish aura shone on the Abyssal Hound's body as a stream of Golden energy began flowing from the Abyssal Hound to Azaroth's body.
As he was healing the Abyssal Hound, Azaroth began thinking of what he had found out from its memories.
'That Demon King wanted to create a massive array, covering nearly 2 territories of the Sinyalian Kingdom and 3 large territories Lamhilhan Theocracy.'
Just as Talvin had been sent to this forest to construct an array, other Array Masters were sent to the other 6 or so points and created the other Array points.
Once it was formed, just a thought from the Demon King would have activated it and converted that area's energy into Yin Ardor.
And if this occurred, Azaroth was could more or less understand what would happen next. Demon Race would take over that territory and establish a stronghold, beginning a battle against the human and celestials again.
Moreover, in that Array Formation, all those at the 3 Star Level or lower will just die before they could even run away. All that death energy would be absorbed by that Demon King who controlled this Array Formation.
This was the plan of that Demon King.
However, it appeared that he had miscalculated something. And that was, his forbidden technique flared up his massive demonic aura, which attracted the Celestials. All that followed was more or less what Talvin had told him.
Until now, Talvin hadn't built up that formation which he had promised the Demon King.
The reason he was forced to follow the Demon King's words was that the Demon King had implanted a Heart-Eating Worm in his body. The Demon King could kill him with a thought.
However, when he was at the end of his life, Talvin had changed his body, leaving behind the Heart-Eating Worm in his body. The Heart-Eating Worm died soon enough, and the Demon King should have thought that Talvin was dead.
As for the reason behind his death, the Demon King hadn't sent anyone else to investigate it.
Now that his life was no longer under the Demon King's control, Talvin decided to first heal his injuries and then think of doing anything else.
"An entire territory made of Yin energy? This is interesting…" Azaroth thought with a smile on his face.
"Let's go out, shall we? I can then order Inorus to get you Pure Cleansing Herbs." Abyssal Hound further spoke, and Azaroth agreed to it.
Inorus was naturally the White Wolf's name.
"The hypnotic suggestion you implanted in that White Wolf is quite weak. It merely gives him a sense of familiarity, and as long as your words don't harm him, he will listen to you. However, if he feels that you are a little too chummy with me, it might not be that nice to you." Azaroth spoke grimly.
"What do you plan then?" The Abyssal Hound asked with a confused gaze.
"Tell him that we have come to an agreement and follow my lead." Azaroth appeared to have a plan, and all that was required now was the Abyssal Hound's assistance.
As he kept walking out of the cave, he looked at multiple beasts surrounding that White Wolf.
One of those beasts was that Brown Ape, who growled when it laid its eyes on Azaroth.
Its aura turned Golden, and its fur was almost about to begin transforming to Golden when the White Wolf suddenly spoke, "Stop! No more fighting…"
The reason why the White Wolf stopped the Brown Ape from fighting was simple. It was because it saw the Abyssal Hound was back on its feet. Moreover, other than some other physical injuries, it appeared to be doing quite well.
Since the Abyssal Hound had healed after Azaroth had it were alone, it was simple to conclude that this human was their comrade for now.
The Abyssal Hound stared at the brown ape and immediately ordered it, "Go and bring the blue herbs that had been laid near your house. Bring them all…"
The Brown Ape jumped around and made some actions and spoke some words. In the end, it even pointed its arm at Azaroth.
Azaroth knew what it was saying. It was asking the Abyssal Hound whether those blue herbs were for Azaroth or not.
Abyssal Hound's voice grew colder as it replied while releasing quite a bit of its aura, "That should not concern you. Now go!"
The Brown Ape didn't look satisfied, but it didn't have any choice other than to go. It knew that even with all its strength, it wouldn't be able to beat this dog yet.
In reality, such a scene was relatively rare in the beast world. Mostly because the ones at the top of this food chain were the beasts with a stronger bloodline. However, the situation here was a little tricky…
Although the Abyssal Hounds were mighty demon beasts from Purgatory. However, their bloodline could be considered one level inferior to the Golden Ape Bloodline.
Because the Golden Ape Bloodline was superior, it was even capable of combating against Rank 5 Beasts. However, the lack of Ardor is what would cause it to lose.
This Ape had fought multiple times against the White Wolf, and each fight led to his defeat. For this reason, this Ape was slightly submissive to the White Wolf and the Abyssal Hound.
By the time the Ape returned, it was nighttime. In its hands, there were a bunch of herbs glowing with a faint blue light.
Azaroth frowned slightly 'Their energy has grown weaker because this Abyssal Hound had kept using the medicinal energy in them to heal himself. Fortunately, this Ape has brought many herbs here, and I can use them to finally remove all impurities from this body.'
Taking hold of those herbs, Azaroth turned to look at the Abyssal Hound, "I will go and absorb these and then discuss my proposal from before."
The Abyssal Hound didn't know what he was talking about but nodded with a neutral look in its eyes.
The White Wolf stared at them with some interest as he wondered just what Azaroth meant.
Azaroth went to a quiet place in this forest and ate all those blue herbs.
Bluish energy began to spread all over his body. Azaroth also felt a tingling feeling, as if he was being pricked by thousands of needles.
However, he also felt something moving within the deepest parts of his body. That was the filth of his body that was being forcefully removed because of this Bluish Energy.
Azaroth felt his Heavenly Demon Meditation Technique start automatically… it was absorbing the energy from the surrounding.
At this point, the Ardor continued to strengthen his body even though Azaroth wasn't manually guiding the technique.
'Interesting… Removing the filth from my body allowed me to break through to the second stage of the Heavenly Demon Meditation Technique.'
This was primarily helpful to Azaroth because now, the Heavenly Demon Transformation would be much more potent and stable than before.
By the time Azaroth had opened his eyes, it was midnight time. He walked out of his location to discuss something with the Abyssal Hound and the White Wolf.
~~
The next day, the entire camp had been gathered by Brynn Gaynor.
Many people wondered why he had called them all together, but they remained quiet and just stood in the camp center.
Once all the central individuals had gathered, Brynn Gaynor cleared his throat and spoke, "I have crucial information for us all… The beast raid we will experience in the next couple of days would have two 5 Star Beast."
This information was enough to stun all the individuals who had been gathered at this meeting.
"What?! Didn't you mention that there would only be a single 5 Rank Beast? How could you suddenly say that there are two 5 Star Beasts?" It was the Alchemy Division's head who unhappily asked Brynn Gaynor.
Someone from the Palm Valley School asked with a cold voice, "Were you lying to us when you told us that there was going to be only one 5 Star Beast?"
Before these words could make the other people think wildly, Brynn Gaynor glared at the man and spoke authoritatively, "You shouldn't speak randomly. I had no reason to lie when I went to the Palm Valley School for help. The reason I know that there will be two 5 Star Beasts is that someone from our camp had personally gone to the inner area and confirmed it."
"Who was it?" Myles asked, having a faint suspicion of who it was.
"It was Edwin Rhodes. He mentioned that there was something off regarding this beast raid. And yesterday, he told me that he would be sneaking in the Inner Part of the forest to investigate this matter." Brynn Gaynor replied almost instantly.
"Why did he think that there was something off regarding this beast raid?" It was Sophie who asked this question. Her words were spoken quite gently, and for a moment, all the individuals remained stunned as they heard her.
Brynn Gaynor replied with an expressionless tone soon enough, "He found it strange that he found little to no herbs in the outer area of the Alpine Gerbil Woods. Moreover, not just herbs, but there were no beasts in the area."
Those words made Sophie nod in understanding, "Thank you, town lord. Please continue. What did Edwin see in the Inner Part of the Forest?"
"Edwin Rhodes mentioned that the inner area is surrounded by not just the herbs but by beasts as well. He had to use a special treasure to hide his presence and sneak inside. As he kept walking forwards, he sensed that the energy released from the herbs was getting stronger, so he followed it."
"After some distance, he reached the location where he saw two beasts, peacefully sleeping. One of them was a dark hound with a significant injury to its body that was healing rapidly. Meanwhile, the other was a White Wolf with three eyes with no injury to it. Edwin Rhodes mentioned that he sensed a fearful aura from both of them, and their energy was undoubtedly at the 5 Star Rank."
"Once he knew of this information, he decided to return as soon as possible. However, as he was walking, he didn't realize it, but a beast smelled him and caught him. Knowing that the treasure was useless, Sir Edwin fought the beast and killed it before quickly escaping. However, in that fight, Sir Edwin has received major injuries and is recovering right now." With this, Brynn Gaynor finished the story that had been told to him by Azaroth.
A 4 Star Warrior from Palm Valley School spoke with a distressed tone, "How can we fight against two 5 Star Rank Beasts?! I could think of some way to take on a single 5 Star Beast but two… That would be too much for us!"
"That's right! We need the assistance of a 5 Star Warrior as well, or we won't be able to survive at all!" Another guy added, making more people lose hope.