A carriage moved steadily through the dense forests of no man’s land, its wooden wheels rolling across uneven ground while the bright afternoon sun shone high in the sky, casting long streaks of light through the gaps in the trees, and above them, several flying beasts hovered in slow circles as they searched for prey.
Clatter*Clatter*!
William’s body shook lightly as the carriage passed over a rough patch of the ground, and he leaned against the inner wall of the caged compartment while maintaining a relaxed posture.
The entire cage was reinforced with thick wood and layered metal plates; several arrays were active.
William carefully sensed the walls around him and noticed the presence of multiple concealing and suppressing arrays etched deeply into the structure of the carriage.
He had deactivated shapeshifting now and had returned to his original form.
In his hands rested heavy mana-restraining chains that he studied carefully.
These chains were clearly designed to suppress mana and demonic energy in a restrained individual.
He could see the etching of the church’s symbol on these chains; after all, they were the only faction that made and sold these chains in the market.
Apart from them, ever dwarves made these types of chains, but they were not channelled into the market and were only supplied to different factions.
Will couldn’t help but smile as he realised that the cults had managed to get their hands on stuff made by the holy light church.
The one thing these chains could not bind was spiritual energy, and with the help of that energy, William had already disrupted and broken the mana-restricting chains earlier without making a sound.
William kept the chains on the floor as he looked at the beastkin lying at his side.
[Host, let’s be honest, what are the odds that she is Kara’s sister? I only remember this face from when this mad bitch broke my SATD-V.]
William turned his gaze slightly toward the unconscious beastkin girl lying beside him.
"I think she is her sister. Now that I look at her closely enough, her race and attire are identical to Kara’s, and even their jaw structure and nose look extremely similar, too."
"She looks like a refined version of her sister, with a bit more grace."
As William spoke, his eyes carefully examined the girl’s leonine features, which closely resembled Kara’s, as well as the traits common to the beastfolk emperor’s bloodline.
Among all the unconscious figures packed inside the carriage, she was the only one dressed in high-quality clothing, with embroidery and materials that clearly indicated noble status.
Her features were also noticeably more feminine than Kara’s, and even in an unconscious state, she carried a presence that set her apart from the others.
"Although I have no idea why she would be here at this point," William continued,
"I am fairly certain that the cults would never touch someone influential enough to start an all-out war against them."
[No idea, host, but I am pretty sure the beastfolk emperor is currently roaring and smashing trees in anger.]
William let out a quiet breath and replied, "Well, I just hope my plans do not get derailed because of her appearance."
After being thrown into the carriage earlier, William had pretended to be unconscious like the others, but once he realised that the carriage driver did not bother checking the captives, he had calmly straightened his posture and assessed the situation.
It seemed that the driver was far too confident in his restraining measures and did not believe that anyone inside could resist them.
Earlier, under the cover of darkness at the inn, William had planted shadow-born entities in multiple places, including within Budeen’s shadow, inside hidden corners of the inn, and even within the shadow of the carriage driver himself.
Now, by sharing senses with those shadow-borns, William could observe the outside surroundings clearly, including the route the carriage was taking and the number of escorts nearby.
Although sharing senses normally consumed a large amount of mana, William’s grandmaster-level mastery allowed him to sustain shadow-borns without additional mana expenditure, making long-term surveillance possible.
He had planted these shadow-borns not only to spy but also to track everyone connected to the cult network, and the chocolates he had deliberately left behind were already on their way toward the Clayman cult’s headquarters.
The Clayman cult was known to serve Demon Lord Clayman, a figure infamous for his obsession with twisted experiments and forbidden research.
It was also the cult responsible for developing the brain-seeding technique, which later spread to other demonic cults across the continent.
Now that the carriage had moved far away from the inn and crossed into unclaimed territory, William judged that the time had come to act.
His plan was straightforward in nature: enslave where possible, kill where necessary, slaughter without hesitation, and adapt based on the situation as it unfolded.
Initially, William had wanted to locate Lia using the system’s tracking feature, but the cost of pinpointing her location would cost him almost all his Sp.
But after assessing the circumstances, he realised this was an excellent opportunity to infiltrate the cult’s core network and extract valuable information while thinning their ranks also.
He had prepared another plan earlier, but after getting information about Lia and the experiments going on, the present situation demanded priority, so that plan had been temporarily set aside.
"Master, I am here," Maris’s voice sounded quietly in William’s mind.
"Maintain a steady distance," William replied calmly. "I am about to engage."
The communication between them was established through the Mark of Servant, which consumed mana unlike the Mark of Destiny or the Mark of Soulmate.
Although this ability was not explicitly mentioned in the mark’s description, the system had informed William that a mental communication channel could be established using a small amount of SP, which William had activated without hesitation.
Now, they could communicate reliably through mana-based transmission, which was far more stable than ordinary mental transmission used by beings above the divinity stage or above.
William glanced at the unconscious captives who were huddled together inside the carriage and released a quiet sigh.
He had not yet decided what to do with them.
His monthly free purchase opportunity had just refreshed, and he planned to buy a binder and place it on Kara’s sister once her identity was confirmed.
After all, he had seen this girl utilise spiritual energy before, and gaining access to the 100 times returns from her training would be highly beneficial.
There were still unanswered questions, such as why she was not attending the academy with Kara, but William did not allow himself to dwell on those matters for now.
"Old man Sunny, are you there?" William asked internally.
Calling Sunchaser "Sunny" had become a habit during his escape from the fiery bull demon and also his journey to the southern routes, which he had carried out on Sunchaser’s back the whole time.
The nickname was far less straining on the tongue than the word ’sunchaser.’
"Yes, my lord. I am ready," Sunchaser responded.
"Good. Let’s begin," William replied.
The black-robed man escorting the carriage was an SSS-rank individual, and although William could kill him with relative ease, William had a different objective altogether.
He wanted to enslave him.
William rose smoothly to his feet and kicked the carriage door, causing the reinforced door to burst from its hinges and fly several meters away.
The carriage came to an abrupt halt, and the black-robed man was instantly alerted, jumping up from his seat to investigate the disturbance.
Before the man could fully turn around, a powerful punch landed squarely on his face, sending him flying backwards with bone-cracking force.