It felt so good to be close to the witch!

This year, only two days into winter, eight Warcraft-related incidents have already occurred... and the earliest one even happened before winter officially began...

The demonic tide that erupted in Star Lake had such a profound impact!

“By the way, regarding your second question, the movements of these magical beasts…” Vincent said, taking out a map from his spatial ring and unfolding it.

The map is small, about the size of a normal A3 sheet of paper. It clearly depicts the territorial divisions of the entire Rafah province. Eight places are marked with a "red cross" and have serial numbers next to them.

"Please see, the places marked with red crosses on this map are the locations where monster incidents occurred, and the numbers on one side indicate the chronological order of the events."

Roy looked at the map carefully.

The province of Rafa is very large, with nearly a hundred territories of varying sizes. Blackstone Territory and Iron Mountain Territory are located in the lower part of the map, close to the southern border.

Overall, the places where monster incidents occurred were all relatively far from Blackrock Territory. Apart from Greenfield Territory, most of them were located on the northern border of Rafa Province.

This distribution left Roy somewhat puzzled.

Logically speaking, shouldn't the closer one is to the Star Lake, the point where the demonic tide erupts, the higher the probability of a demonic beast being born? Why is it that demonic beasts appeared first in the far-away northern territory? As for Blackrock Territory itself, apart from a ferocious animal that appeared some time ago, no demonic beasts have been born.

I don't understand.

Hard to understand.

Or perhaps, there is some crucial intelligence that you are unaware of?

Roy suppressed his thoughts and nodded to the crimson knight, Vincent, in front of him: "Thank you for the information."

"Then, I'll take my leave first."

After saying those words, Roy turned and walked away into the distance.

Watching the dark silver-armored knight's figure gradually disappear into the distance, Vincent reached out his hand, wanting to say something, but in the end, he sighed and said nothing.

If possible, he would like to invite the other party to join the Crimson Knights. Although the Duke has many talented people under his command, the number of Gold Knights is still small. This winter is particularly difficult, with beast plagues breaking out everywhere. Manpower is stretched thin, and the addition of fresh forces is urgently needed.

But when he thought of the family crest on the other party's armor, which was deliberately concealed by the aura of battle qi, and knew that the other party already had a family to which he was loyal, he could not bring himself to say the words of invitation.

That would be an insult to the honor of the opposing knight.

"Ugh……"

With a sigh, Vicente turned and left.

He was going back to the solid rock wall to report back.

……

In the Red Flower Forest, under the shade of a red flower tree, Roy, Lilia, and Tonière, the two witches, stood in the shadows and quietly watched Vincent leave until he was no longer in sight. Only then did the three of them turn their gaze away.

The reason she didn't leave was because when Roy met up with the two witches, Toni said, "I sensed a kind of 'mechanical invasion' fluctuation from the black giant tiger monster."

That's why the three of them are now invisible.

Stepping out of the shadows, Roy looked at the black ash scattered on the ground where the giant, now pitch-black tiger's corpse lay, and somewhat embarrassedly asked Tonine, "Miss Tonine, in this situation, can you still find any clues?"

The situation was urgent; Vincent was about to die at the hands of the Black Tiger. So, Roy put on the Moonlit Armor and rushed forward immediately. Little did he know that the Black Tiger was related to "mechanical colonization."

Toni nodded, her voice mechanical and flat, "Okay."

“This fluctuation, which resembles ‘mechanical colonization,’ is very peculiar. Although it is very weak, I can still barely sense its migration path.”

"But this volatility is gradually weakening, and we need to act quickly."

"Lead the way." Hearing this, Roy breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said.

Toni raised her hand, and the white bandages wrapped around her fingers loosened slightly, revealing a silver-white mechanical hand.

She extended her index and middle fingers, the tips shimmering with silver magic, as if sensing something. A few seconds later, she took a step and strode quickly toward the north.

Roy and Lilia exchanged a glance, nodded slightly, and followed Tonnie's footsteps.

……

After traveling for about an hour, Roy estimated that the three of them had crossed at least five territories, at which point Tonnie, who was leading the way, slowed down.

After advancing to the Gold rank, Roy's memory became even better. He had only looked at the map of Vincent's Rafa province for a short time, and he remembered most of the contents. When he returned to Blackrock Territory, he was even able to copy it.

Based on the estimated distance, the three of them are currently located in a baronial territory called "Bronzeheart" several tens of kilometers north of Greenfield Territory.

Roy knew very little about Copperheart, only that it was rich in copper mines, and nothing else.

Before the three of them lay a vast, dense forest, with trees averaging thirty to forty meters tall. The lush foliage completely blocked out the sunlight, turning the area beneath the trees into another world altogether.

The rotting leaves, mixed with countless other things, formed a sticky black mud. The slippery feeling when stepped on made Roy frown.

A faint, unpleasant stench filled the air. Deep in the dark forest, it was as if an invisible, gaping maw was waiting for its prey to walk into its trap.

Roy looked at Tonnie, who said, "It should be in this dense forest."

"Be careful, everyone, set up the shields," Roy said in a deep voice.

This is not the time to conserve your fighting spirit or magic power.

Led by Toni, the three, who had erected protective shields, continued deeper into the dense forest.

"Gah—Gah—Gah—"

In the dense forest with extremely poor visibility, the faint cawing of crows could be heard in the distance. As they ventured deeper, the stench of decay intensified, and piles of bones began to appear on the ground.

The cold, white bones were becoming more and more numerous and denser, as if some time ago, a large number of creatures living in this dense forest had been brutally slaughtered. Their flesh and blood had mingled with the silt underground, and their bones had been carelessly thrown about, a truly shocking sight.

Roy flicked his finger, and a wisp of battle qi flew from his fingertip and landed on a white bone.

The moment the fighting spirit came into contact with the white bones, the seemingly intact bones shattered into dust in an instant.

It's as if the substance that sustained its existence has long since vanished, leaving behind only its final, fragile form.

"It really is a jet-black giant tiger..."

Roy said in a deep voice.

The substance burned by black flames will exhibit such a change in properties.

After a simple experiment, the three continued deeper into the dense forest, and about twenty minutes later, they stopped in front of a cave.

Along the way, the three of them did not encounter a single living creature.

The cave entrance, its edges covered with vines, seemed to emit a faint, mournful gust of wind.

Roy glanced at Lilia, who understood and raised her hand. Fluid black mist flowed down from the edge of her palm, merging into the ground and forming a complex, slowly rotating summoning circle.

Soon, Lilia summoned a giant shadow wolf.

This shadow wolf is not "Fenrir", but a shadow wolf that Lilia has temporarily contracted.

After all, the kind of "suicide squad" work that needs to be done can't be done by familiar contracted creatures.

At Lilia's command, the giant shadow wolf blended into the shadows and headed into the cave. Lilia, standing outside the cave entrance, squinted and observed the situation inside the cave through the giant shadow wolf's gaze.

Less than a minute later, Lilia opened her eyes, her gaze filled with intense astonishment, as if she had witnessed something that shocked her greatly.

"What did you find?" Roy asked quickly in a low voice.

“I don’t know how to put it.” Lilia frowned, looking somewhat troubled. “Lord Roy, I think you should go in and see for yourself to get a more direct view.”

"You can go in without worry; there are no living beings inside."

"Let's go." Roy didn't hesitate and stepped into it. As they passed through the deep passage, the stench in the air unexpectedly faded and eventually disappeared, as if there was another ventilation shaft deep in the cave that had expelled some of the smell.

Using the light from the flames of their burning battle aura, Roy and his companions finally reached the deepest part of the cave. What they saw shocked Roy, and even Toni, whose gaze was usually indifferent, showed a violent change in expression.

Deep inside the cave, which is made of earth and stone, is a space with walls covered in silvery-white metal. Broken metal instruments are scattered on the ground, and at the edge, there is a huge metal cage that is five meters long, tall, and wide.

The metal pillars of the cage twisted and deformed violently, as if some monster had ripped them apart from the inside with brutal force.

Of course, that's not the point.

The key point is that in the center of the silver metallic space, there is a tree-shaped crack that appears to be semi-illusory and fixed in mid-air.

One stream of magic after another flowed out from this portal, making the magic concentration in this silvery-white space extremely high.

The reason why this magic did not leak out of the cave is that above the silver-white metal space, the mountain was carved through using a special method, forming a small passage leading to the mountain peak, and the magic flowed to the outside world through this upward passage.

"This is... a small magic vein?!"

Roy's voice was full of astonishment.

Toni walked to a pile of scattered junk, took out two nameplates, and said to Roy, "This is a temporary base for a spy squad of the Colley Empire. These are their identification nameplates."

Roy took the nameplate; the lettering on it was so corroded that it was unrecognizable, and the nameplate itself was pitted and uneven.

"It seems this is where the jet-black giant tiger was born."

Looking around but finding nothing new, Roy frowned and stared at the semi-illusory rift in mid-air.

Judging from the current situation...

Before the black giant tiger mutated into a magical beast, it was likely captured by two spies from the Kolei Empire and imprisoned in this metal cage.

The fact that Toni could sense the "mechanical invasion" fluctuations from the Black Giant Tiger indicates that the Black Giant Tiger had undergone an experiment involving the implantation of a "mechanical invasion core" by two spies.

Later, for some unknown reason, the black tiger suddenly mutated into a monster. It tore open the cage, destroyed the laboratory, and even burned two spies of the Kolei Empire to ashes in its rage. Afterward, the black tiger left the cave and slaughtered all the creatures in the entire dense forest.

What happened next is unknown. All that is known is that in the very end, it ambushed the Golden Crimson Knight Vincent together with the magical snow bear.

It's not difficult to deduce the general direction of the events, but the key questions are: why did the black giant tiger suddenly transform into a magical beast? And why did this small magical energy point appear here?

The transformation of the black tiger must have been sudden and rapid; otherwise, the two spies from the Kolei Empire wouldn't have been unable to escape.

Normally, the transformation of a ferocious animal into a magical beast is not instantaneous; it requires a process. This process would certainly be observed and prevented by the two spies of the Kolei Empire.

Judging from the remaining remains, the black giant tiger seemed to have evolved from a ferocious animal into a monster in an instant, without any warning, so much so that two spies from the Kolei Empire, who were caught off guard, perished here.

The mutation of the jet-black giant tiger is so bizarre that there must be a cause.

The most bizarre thing about this silver-white metallic space is the semi-illusory rift that constantly dissipates magical power.

Roy walked slowly forward, preparing to take a closer look at the semi-illusory rift.

The ever-flowing magic power caused the protective aura shield around his body to ripple.

Just as Roy was only a meter away from the semi-illusory rift, his expression changed, and shock appeared in his eyes.

He raised his hand, preparing to touch the translucent slit. Seeing this, Lilia couldn't help but exclaim, "Lord Roy, be careful!"

“It’s nothing.” Lilia’s voice made Roy pause, his raised hand faltering. He turned his head and shook his head at Lilia.

After turning back, Roy looked at the gray character panel that only he could see.