The entrance to the valley was remote and narrow. If the searching Wolf Race warriors hadn’t smelled the scent of blood, they might never have found this place.

The canopy of trees blotted out the sky, allowing sunlight to filter through only in small slivers. Even though it was broad daylight, the valley remained dim and shrouded in a thin mist.

Upon entering, the thick stench of blood assaulted them. The stiff, gruesome corpses of the dead were piled up in the valley, looming in and out of the fog. The green stones underfoot were stained with blood, and the quietly flowing stream was dyed almost entirely red. There were no signs of a struggle here; it was as if these Sethite wizards had been slaughtered like powerless humans.

But they were not human. The Sethite wizards’ dark magic was even more outstanding than that of the other witches. Cynthia casually inspected a few bodies and saw some familiar faces.

Among them were many of the Sethite elders who had attacked the God Race.

This was a massacre… and a very strange one at that.

Cynthia bent down to carefully examine the wounds on a corpse, then glanced at the stone walls on either side, a thoughtful expression on her face. “All killed by sharp weapons, yet despite being stabbed so many times, the Sethite wizards didn’t resist at all.”

Any resistance would have left traces of magic, but there were no marks on the stone walls, the green stones underfoot, or the scattered wood nearby.

“They probably couldn’t resist,” Olivia said coolly, glancing at the body at Cynthia’s feet. “They were being controlled.”

Only being controlled could explain why there were no signs of a fight or magic in the valley, and why they didn’t resist even as they were stabbed to death one blow at a time.

Cynthia had the same suspicion. She took out a handkerchief and wiped her hands. “The Sethite elders’ Power of Darkness is not weak. Very few people could control all of them at once.”

The aura of darkness was omnipresent. No matter how powerful Cynthia and Olivia were, they couldn’t stop others from sensing the Power of Darkness. Only someone who also wielded the Power of Darkness could do that.

On the Sitatul Continent, only the Vampires, the Sethite wizards, and the other witches used the Power of Darkness. Judging from the corpses, it couldn’t have been the Vampires. As for whether it was an internal conflict within the Sethite clan or revenge from the witches… Cynthia leaned toward the latter.

“I’ve only ever seen this kind of venting-style killing from the Anderson witches,” Cynthia said in a low voice, tossing the handkerchief aside and looking down at the body. “But no one among the witches has this kind of power.”

After being attacked by the Sethite wizards, the Anderson and Garcia witches had vanished. Not only could Chelsea not contact them, but the letters Cynthia had sent to Betty had also disappeared without a trace, never receiving a reply.

What were those two families up to? A flicker of doubt crossed Cynthia’s face. After learning about the other races of the temples from the Magic Dragon, her attention had been mostly focused on the Vampires, and she hadn’t paid much attention to the witches. But now, it seemed something she didn’t know about might have happened to them.

Cynthia ran through the series of events that occurred after the witches were attacked, then fell into deep thought.

The Blood Demon was currently just a soul and couldn’t leave the temple for too long. After helping the witches exact their revenge, she brought them back to the Capri Plains.

The Magic Dragons within the Capri Plains had all been driven away by the Blood Demon. With the Sethite wizards and the Magic Dragons gone, and with the Blood Demon as their “backer,” this territory was finally back in the hands of the witches.

Perhaps it was because they had returned to their familiar home and successfully taken revenge on the Sethite wizards, but the witches slowly began to emerge from their gloom. As for Kana, who had been seriously injured, not only did she make a full recovery after leaving the temple, but her power had also increased significantly.

After surviving the tragic battle of Shastaya and learning of everything the Anderson Family had done, Kana had actually felt a sense of despair. She had only forced herself to carry on for the sake of her surviving clan members. The Temple of Darkness that Camille had mentioned was her last lifeline.

And the temple had not disappointed her. After taking her revenge, she had become convinced that the Blood Demon was the “God of Darkness.” Although she didn’t know when this idea had appeared in her mind, she believed it without reason and with unwavering certainty.

The condition for driving away the Magic Dragons was to help the Blood Demon break the barrier within the Temple of Darkness. However, the Blood Demon had yet to state her price for helping them get revenge, which caused the excitement of some witches to cool, and they began to feel uneasy.

The Blood Demon was powerful and mysterious, and they still hadn’t figured out her true identity, which made this “cooperation” fragile.

Some witches had become vigilant, but when they went to discuss it with Kana, they were always brushed aside. Kana was a firm believer in the Blood Demon’s identity as the God of Darkness and was certain she would not harm them.

…so steadfast it was as if she were possessed.

A small argument broke out within the witch ranks. Although they had deliberately found a remote spot, it couldn’t hide them from the Blood Demon. She floated around them, listening to their argument, leisurely humming a little tune.

“What did you do to this witch?” Wolf Fang, who rarely left the temple, appeared nearby at some point. She looked at Kana, who was arguing with her clan members, and asked with confusion.

This witch was constantly defending the Blood Demon, even to the point of arguing with her own people. It was too strange.

The Blood Demon, who had been snickering to herself about something, instantly turned serious upon hearing Wolf Fang’s voice. “None of your business.”

She floated to the other side and turned her back on Wolf Fang.

Wolf Fang stared at her for a moment, keenly sensing that something was wrong. She circled the witch, then suddenly floated next to Kana. A hand formed of gray mist grabbed her wrist and quickly probed her. Wolf Fang’s tone was one of surprise. “You didn’t retrieve the divine consciousness you merged into her body?”

The God of Darkness had sealed their bodies and half of their souls. Without a body, their divine consciousness would slowly dissipate. Although the process was slow, once the divine consciousness was gone, it was gone for good, so every last wisp was extremely important.

Previously, in order to leave the temple sooner, the Blood Demon had merged a portion of her divine consciousness into this witch’s body. Wolf Fang had assumed she would take it back, but now it seemed the Blood Demon had no such intention.

The Blood Demon rushed over and shoved Wolf Fang away, saying angrily, “This has nothing to do with you.” She grumbled as she tried to drive Wolf Fang back to the temple, refusing to mention the matter of the divine consciousness at all.

This was the method she had painstakingly devised to break the seal. She wasn’t about to tell Wolf Fang.

Betty was unaware of the argument among the elders. After returning from taking revenge on the Sethite wizards, she had stayed alone in her hastily built wooden hut, scrying for Eunice’s whereabouts over and over again.

Whenever she had a spare moment during their escape, she would try to scry, but she had never succeeded. That included now; no matter how many times she tried, the result was always failure.

Scrying could only fail for two reasons. One was that Eunice was deliberately hiding her tracks, and the other was… that she was already dead, with not even a body to be found.

Betty refused to believe it was the latter.

“Those Sethite wizards fled to that valley, right?” Camille lay on the floor, propping her chin on her hands and staring at the black jar in front of Betty. She chattered on, “After we killed them, a really powerful burst of Light Magic suddenly erupted from the direction of the Tallas Mountains. What was the God Race doing over there?”

At the mention of the God Race, the silent Betty pursed her lips. She placed her scrying materials on the ground and, as if feeling a chill, pulled her cloak tighter around herself and spoke softly, “The letters Cynthia and Chelsea sent me said that Eunice colluded with the Sethite wizards, leading the Anderson witches to secretly destroy the God Race’s teleportation arrays and assist the Sethite wizards in their surprise attack.”

“I asked that Sethite elder. She admitted that a witch named Eunice had been in contact with her.”

Camille glanced up at Betty’s expression and said cautiously, “I didn’t do those bad things. It was Sister Eunice and Elder Molly.”

“I couldn’t stop them. I really like the God Race…”

Camille defended herself pitifully, looking as if she was about to cry for fear of being misunderstood by Betty, but her defense was cut short by Betty’s loud voice.

“Eunice would never do that.” Betty looked up and stared at Camille. Her eyes were bloodshot from lack of rest, and her voice couldn’t help but rise as her emotions surged. “Eunice was with me every day during that time. It’s impossible for her to have contacted the Sethite wizards.”

She reached out and grabbed Camille’s collar, her fingertips trembling, her expression looking as if she was about to collapse. “How did you know the Elf Race would be attacked back then? You were the one in contact with the Sethite wizards, weren’t you?”

“…It’s all because of you that the Sethite wizards suddenly attacked us, and that Eunice is missing.”

“I didn’t.” Camille looked terrified. Her small face was flushed red, and tears welled up in her eyes as she explained pitifully, “It was all Elder Molly’s idea. I couldn’t stop them, Sister Betty.”

Camille’s tears made Betty’s grip subconsciously loosen. Breathing a little easier, Camille breathed a slight sigh of relief. She carefully freed her collar from Betty’s hand, then tentatively persuaded her, “Sister Betty, you’re tired. You should get some sleep.”

Betty raised a hand to cover her face and took a deep breath, saying nothing.

While wiping her tears, Camille quietly raised her right hand and gently placed it on Betty’s waist. She then silently chanted a spell. A black light flashed from her fingertips. Betty’s body stiffened, then she slumped to the side. Camille caught her and carefully laid her on the wooden bed.

“You need to rest.” Camille reached out and touched the dark circles under Betty’s eyes, her voice full of pity. “Why are you always thinking about that awful Eunice?”

Camille was a little angry about being scolded by Betty, but her anger wasn’t directed at Betty. She sat on the floor, staring at Betty’s sleeping face for a long while before getting up and leaving the room.

As per the Blood Demon’s request, all the witches’ dwellings were built near the Temple of Darkness. Camille kicked at a stone as she walked, looking left and right, and soon found the Blood Demon surrounded by other witches.

Camille ran over, shoved aside the witch who was talking to the Blood Demon, then looked up with a naive and innocent expression. “Lord Dark God, can you give me a spell for creating monsters?”

The Blood Demon circled her. “Creating monsters?”

Camille nodded, grinning. “The kind that uses living people.”