A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"I am very curious, why is Mr. Bijing still staying in the Eastern Continent?"

"The place you're looking for isn't on the Eastern Continent," Jonathan said quietly.

Jonathan said that the place Bray was looking for was, of course, "the Union of the Gods".

Upon hearing this, Bray fell into deep thought.

Bray didn't draw his sword to kill the clown for two reasons: firstly, Jonathan wasn't so easy to kill right now, and secondly, he and Jonathan were cooperating in a certain sense.

He had no intelligence, but the Joker knew all sorts of things he didn't.

"Do you know where it is?" Bray asked instinctively after snapping out of his daze.

“Of course I know, but it will be quite difficult for Mr. Monk to find this place,” Jonathan said with a regretful tone.

"That place is not in the Eastern Continent, not in the Central Continent, not in the Western Continent, and not in the Northern Continent."

“Not on any continent,” Jonathan said.

"Just like where most Silver Seeds live, it's been 'hidden' away." A mischievous smile appeared on the clown's mask.

Unfortunately, Bray didn't find the smile on the mask particularly charming; he just thought it was incredibly irritating.

“If you want to find it, Mr. Ring-Bearer will have to make a trip to the Northern Continent.” Jonathan said, still minding himself as he chopped meat with a cleaver.

"So, stop being so bored in the Eastern Continent and go on an adventure in the Northern Continent!"

He clenched his fist, looking like he was cheering Bray on.

"The Northern Continent..."

"That's right, it's the Northern Continent, the place where the 'Alliance of the Gods' resides, and it's maintained by several Silver-ranked beings."

“Please, Sir, like a hunter, patiently find them and continue the hunt.”

Bray didn't speak, but stared intently at Jonathan's mask.

“I am not a puppet,” Bray said to Jonathan in a flat, monotone voice.

"Of course you're not a puppet."

“You are not, the villain is not, nobody is.” Jonathan held up his finger and shook it.

"I'd like to correct a point of view of yours."

“A petty person never likes to manipulate others; actions without their own will are utterly boring.”

"The unpredictability of the world is what makes it so fascinating," Jonathan cleared his throat and said, feigning seriousness.

“I went to the Northern Continent, found those Silver Races, and what difference would it make if I killed them?” Bray said.

“The entrance will appear before you, Mr. Ringholder,” Jonathan said, looking at Bray meaningfully.

"Oh, by the way, it certainly wasn't a petty matter back then," he said, flicking the brim of his top hat.

"It's just a coincidence, really just a coincidence."

"By the way, since I've said so much, Mr. Zhijie, could you please patronize my business?"

“How about we buy a hand warmer?” Jonathan said with great delight, picking up the largest rock.

"You said this was monster meat, what kind of monster?" Bray suddenly asked, pointing at the meat.

"The flesh of the shapeshifter is a kind of monster that can mimic human appearance. After it dies, it lies sprawled on the ground like a slime," Jonathan explained enthusiastically, assuming that Bray would be interested in this meat that tasted no different from beef.

This is the first time Jonathan has set up a stall without any disguise, and I really hope Bray will buy a lot of things.

"A mimicry beast..."

“Yeah, there are a lot around here,” Jonathan said, rubbing his hands together.

"So, sir, would you like to buy ten catties?"

“I’m not buying.” However, Bray had absolutely no desire to buy anything from Jonathan. After giving the clown a deep look, he turned and left.

"Not planning to buy? What a shame." Jonathan, standing behind Bray, let out a long sigh.

"Well then, I look forward to seeing you again." Jonathan's voice gradually faded away, finally disappearing completely. His voice seemed to drift into the distance, growing fainter and fainter.

But Bray seemed to suddenly remember something and abruptly turned around.

But when he turned around, Jonathan was no longer there, and his stall had also vanished without a trace.

However, Bray knew very well that what he had just seen was not a hallucination.

At the very last moment, he heard a snap of fingers, and Jonathan probably disappeared in that instant.

What's puzzling is that not only did no one care when Jonathan, a grown man, disappeared, but people remained indifferent when everything on the stall vanished right before their eyes.

It was as if there had never been a strange clown selling things in the market, and it seemed that there had never been a single stall they didn't recognize.

“This guy…” Bray murmured. Jonathan was supposed to be unable to use concept missiles, yet he was still so elusive.

But just as Jonathan disappeared and Bray was talking to himself, a piercing scream came from inside the market.

The scream came from a woman, and after the sound rang out, many people instinctively gathered in that direction.

Bray watched the crowd slowly moving in that direction, pondered for a few seconds, and then followed.

With his decent stamina and strength for a Black Iron type, he managed to squeeze to the front.

The scene, surrounded by people, featured a woman weeping with her face covered, and in front of her lay a grotesque corpse.

The corpse was a male fox, but this was determined by the fact that only half of his body remained.

His body looked as if half of it had been corroded away by some liquid; it was a gruesome sight.

No wonder the woman was so frightened that she cried; screaming was considered a relatively mild reaction.

Bray glanced at the corpse, his brow furrowing unconsciously.

Based on adventurers' experience, it looks like it has been eaten by some kind of monster.

Monsters have many ways of eating; not all of them are the type that open their bloody mouths and eat meat.

Some people also suck it out with their mouthparts.

Some have no teeth and will corrode their prey before swallowing it.

Bree, who is fairly sensitive to magic, clearly knew that there were no traces of magic at the scene, only the unique magical elements of the monster.

"Monsters?" At this moment, Bray couldn't help but think of the mimicry beasts.

It's one of those monsters that can easily mimic a human; Jonathan's stall was selling them just a few minutes ago.

Bray tried to observe the situation inside the safe zone with his inner eye, but was interrupted by the movement of the crowd.

People had to step back and make way for a large area due to the arrival of the personnel.

Given the limited manpower in the Claw Fortress's safe zone, it takes a long time for someone to arrive in such life-or-death situations.

The lack of proper management is also one of the reasons; otherwise, the security situation in Claw Fort wouldn't be so bad.

"Make way, make way!" an orc shouted to the crowd, then walked to the vicinity of the corpse.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" he asked the woman who was still sobbing.

"It's him...it's him..." the woman said, covering her face in a broken voice.

"It's him? Who is he? Be clear." The person in charge of the investigation was most annoyed by such ambiguous questions, so he could only continue to press for answers.

He's not a professional, so he doesn't do things to comfort the person involved. To him, let the woman cry if she wants to.

The bloodstains on the ground were clearly more important than the tears.

"Back off!" Bray shouted coldly from within the crowd.

But the orc in charge of the investigation obviously didn't listen to Bray's words immediately, since Bray wasn't anyone and his words carried no weight.

However, this hesitation cost him the chance to avoid danger in time.

When the orc turned his head again, he was shocked to find that the woman who had been covering her face was now grabbing him tightly.

Her head melted, turning into a gel-like fluid similar to slime.

"Tsk." Helpless, Bray could only break off a piece from the broadsword on his back and throw it at the monster that was imitating a human.

He really envied Bai Mian, a guy whose mind was always open 24/7.

"Ding—" The fragment pierced through the monster's hidden core and then firmly nailed to the ground.

The moment the core was shattered, the "woman" collapsed with a thud, her head and the resulting fluid spread out on the ground.

Within those gel-like fluids, the muscle and skeletal structures that an animal should have are clearly visible.

The parts that did not melt were no different from those of a normal animal.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" But the orc still let out a shrill scream.

Even after the mimicry was killed at the last moment, its head still covered the person for a period of time.

The time is very short, perhaps less than a second, but that less than a second can be fatal.

The person who came to investigate the scene had severe corrosion on his scalp. After screaming for a while, he collapsed to the ground.

"..." Bray didn't speak, but silently picked up the pieces from the ground.

It was still a bit too slow. If that person had stepped back in time, this situation wouldn't have happened.

Bray glanced at the man and observed his vital signs.

At the same time, he activated his previously interrupted "Mind's Eye," expanding his perception.

He not only needed to determine whether the person was dead or not, but also to observe the situation at Claw Fortress.

There are such huge mimicry beasts in the market... it's absolutely terrifying.

Then Bray received two messages.

The good news is that this person didn't die; he was just severely corroded.

The bad news is that there is not just one mimic beast in Claw Fortress, but three or four others.

How did those monsters, who can't even speak properly, manage to sneak in?

In Bray's view, these monsters were actually quite easy to identify.

It was easy for Bray to recognize, but many people weren't like him, who had taken many risks over a long period of time, and didn't have the so-called experience and intuition.

Bray pondered for a moment, considering whether he should kill all these monsters as soon as possible.

But as Bray was thinking this, several people pressed down on his shoulders.

Moreover, the force was quite strong, like arresting a criminal.

Bray turned his head in confusion and saw several guys dressed like the orcs at the investigation site.

"Are you the one they're saying is suspicious?" one of the guys said to Bray in a high-pitched voice.

A question mark appeared in Bray's dead fish eyes.

Is he a suspicious person? Him?

"Anyway, you'll come with me first. Of course, it's not just you, it's also you, you, you." Then the man who grabbed Bray called out several more names.

"Huh?" Bray's confusion was not only evident in his eyes, but he couldn't help but exclaim.

"What do you mean 'huh'? Let's go."

"no..."

"No, it isn't."

"I..."

"You speak so haltingly, are you also a mimic beast?"

“???” Sitting in the room with four walls, Bray calmly looked at the wolf girl in front of him.

The walls not only had peeling paint, but also a musty smell.

Water mixed with rust flowed over the wall, leaving indelible marks.

How nostalgic! It's been so long since Bray was captured and thrown into a place like this.

That's right. As a law-abiding citizen, I shouldn't normally be arrested.

However, there are exceptions sometimes, like this.