Pillar of Yita

Sophie gathered everyone, and after a discussion, the people of Silver Weslan stated that they still supported her arrangements—they also had developed a basic trust in Fang Hong, and naturally, the younger generation of elites of Silver Weslan understood what an outstanding Combat Artisan meant to the team.

Then, the two parties deliberated together and concluded that they still had to follow the trail left by the men in black, knowing it could be dangerous, but it was the only clue they had.

Before departing, Fang Hong looked down at the brooch in his hand, which directed to Hilveld—although left by the Rat People Chieftain, upon reflection, he realized that the Westwood Sibika family was not limited to her alone, and besides, the descriptions given by those people earlier felt somewhat familiar.

Dark forces and dreadful minions always lurking, wasn’t that the sensation of a Dark Giant Dragon?

Was it Nikopolas?

Or was there another Dark Giant Dragon in this world?

And as for the Lady Noble herself, upon further thought, Fang Hong realized he actually did not know much about her—how could she have left the team alone, abandoned her Miss Maid, and gone underground by herself?

If Hilveld had expressed the desire to undergo the trials with them, he might not have disagreed.

He sent a message to Atira and the others, carefully phrasing it to ask her to inquire Miss Maid about where her mistress had actually gone. However, the astute Elf Miss still sensed something was off, and had Tianlan ask him if Hilveld was in trouble.

Fang Hong naturally could not answer that question, hesitated for a moment, and could only ask them to ask Xiesta about the backstory and sequelae. But she soon returned an answer, informing him that Miss Maid also did not know where her mistress had gone.

Thus, the issue once again fell into a deadlock.

Fang Hong could only assure Atira and the others that he would bring back Hilveld, then he turned off the communication, though how reliable this promise was, even he himself could not be sure.

He sighed, then joined the others on the path ahead.

The traces left by the people in black were very distinct—undead wandering sporadically on the shattered earth, extending into the darkness, a glaring signpost to the people of Silver Weslan.

They only needed to follow these undead to find the direction the others had gone, which might be troublesome for ordinary people, but for the younger generation of elites of Silver Weslan—it was insignificant.

The eleventh level of the Trial Grounds gradually began to reveal itself to them.

The charred land was everywhere, eroded by dark forces, resembling a dead realm, yet occasionally they saw isolated Mushroom Forests, which had long been emptied, showing only the last visages of withering and dying.

They followed these sporadic undead for about an hour, then suddenly, a mound appeared ahead. They climbed it, and everyone instinctively held their breath—below seemed to be a battlefield, partially burned corpses lacking Starlight, horrifically twisted lying on the ground, surrounded by various pieces of equipment quietly resting in the black dust.

Parker, on Fang Hong’s instruction, fired an Illumination Bomb, its light slowly falling, and such a scene extended to the end of the light’s remaining glow.

Everyone was a bit at a loss for words.

”Wait a minute, don’t tell me these are all Chosen...”

Dianmo Ran Qingzhu came up from behind, taking in the scene and inadvertently gasping, ”My God, I’ve never seen such a spectacular scene even in the Dead Silence Zone, so many people dead! Who exactly are these men in black?”

”You’ve seen the Dead Silence Zone?” Fang Hong looked at him somewhat surprised.

Dianmo Ran Qingzhu nodded.

The others silently descended the mound, with someone picking up equipment and then handing it to Fang Hong for inspection, but everything indicated it was tainted by unknown forces, unusable. Fang Hong looked at it and was unable to deal with this state of the Magic Guided Conductor, only able to throw it back.

Sophie witnessing this also felt something was amiss, ”Have you considered, those in black don’t match up with the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team.”

Fang Hong nodded, those people also mentioned that the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team had reached this level earlier, which alone was enough to show that those in black were not from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team.

But he had indeed seen members of the Blood Oath Alliance using the power of the Dark Giant Dragon.

What exactly was the connection here?

Sophie muttered to herself, ”But that dagger definitely belonged to someone from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team, Dan Loni’s manner of death and the current scene are almost identical.”

”There’s still a difference,” Fang Hong shook his head, ”she at least left a whole body, whereas these people are nearly turned to dust, the only commonality is the disappearance of Starlight.”

”But this is not the Dead Silence Zone.” Sophie replied, glancing at the Elementalist girl next to her.

”The Dead Silence Zone also doesn’t affect Natives.”

Fang Hong felt that he had grasped something, while the people from Silver Weslan also cried out.

He looked in that direction and faintly saw a white light rising among the corpses, clearly a sign of someone being resurrected through Starlight. He dropped the skeleton in his hand and walked towards that direction, surprised, asking, ”What just happened?”

”There was a dying guy, ” a Knight from Silver Weslan replied, ”We didn’t manage to save him, and he just died.”