A different world game? A different world game!

As the captain of this squad.

He was not tall, but he was exceptionally lean and wiry.

He wore a metal mask that partially covered his mouth and nose.

The exposed eyes gleamed with a cold, eerie green light in the dim light—a visible characteristic of some kind of demonic bloodline.

He crouched down, his fingertips brushing across a layer of almost invisible ash on the ground.

“Found them. Fresh 'ash footprints,' and… a faint echo of blasphemous prayers. They left recently, heading… northeast fork in the road. Prepare for battle, remain vigilant.”

The captain's order was like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing all the idle chatter and complaints.

The professionalism of a witcher is ingrained in their bones.

A glint of excited red light flashed in Claw's eyes, and its body rapidly expanded and deformed amidst a series of slight cracking sounds from its bones and a thick black mist.

In the blink of an eye, a ferocious wolf, nearly two meters tall at the shoulder, with fur as glossy as black satin and bared fangs, took his place, emitting a threatening growl from its throat.

Almost the instant the demon wolf took shape, the drowsy figure became eerily blurry and flat, as if melting away, silently "flowing" into the thick shadow beneath the demon wolf, perfectly merging with it.

This is his Shadow Demon talent ability – [Shadow Possession].

The nightingale leaped lightly into the air, its body rapidly contracting and deforming in mid-air.

With a faint thumping sound of its skin, it transformed into a dark purple abyss bat with a wingspan of nearly one meter, its sharp claws firmly gripping the thick fur on the wolf's neck, hanging it upside down.

"Pan Shi, come with me!"

With a low shout, Yingzong's figure rushed into the dark fork in the road to the northeast like a ghost.

Rock growled, "Roger!"

Heavy footsteps thumped down, followed closely by.

The Demon Wolf—Claws—let out a short howl, its four paws stomping the ground, transforming into a black lightning bolt.

Carrying shadows—drowsiness and bats—the nightingale, it swept across the dilapidated passage with astonishing speed.

They instantly surpassed the walking captain and the rock, heading straight for the source indicated by the remaining fel energy.

When Shadowwalker and Rockwalker bypassed the last collapsed pillar and arrived at a relatively open, collapsed area that had once been the Skaven's plaza, the battle was nearing its end.

The pungent smell of blood permeated the polluted air.

Seven or eight cultists, dressed in tattered black robes and with their faces smeared with filthy symbols, lay in pools of blood.

Most of their bodies were mutilated, clearly indicating that they had been violently torn apart and cut by the wolves' claws.

The three remaining followers, who appeared to be the leaders, were tightly bound to the ground by invisible shadow ropes, unable to move.

They struggled frantically, foaming at the mouth and emitting incomprehensible roars:

"*&%￥#...The abyss will eventually devour...blood and flesh as sacrifice...the great...uhhhh!"

One of the leaders was slapped in the mouth by a wolf's claw, silencing his subsequent blasphemous words, leaving only a whimper.

Enough already, these damn cultists are always so brainless.

The nightingale transformed back into human form, landed lightly, and kicked away with disgust the still convulsing corpse of a cultist at her feet.

The muzzle of the "Messenger of Tranquility" pistol in his hand was still emitting wisps of smoke.

"A bunch of lunatics, their strength is pitifully weak, and the evil energy in their bodies is like a shoddy product they made themselves, not even qualifying as the lowest level of demonic blessing."

"What are you even trying to summon with that? A rat spirit?"

Her tone was full of disdain.

This is also why he hates the Witcher's current quests.

Although it is actually a good thing in essence.

After all, with the end of the chaos of the evil gods, the four gods have all left the world, and those damned evil gods can no longer have any impact on the world.

Although many remaining threats have been eliminated by the Witcher squad over the years.

The remaining kittens and puppies are insignificant.

In particular, the overall strength of the world is on the rise now.

Those mercenary adventurers who received the blessing all made an oath.

Cult members cannot make oaths.

This means that the only harm caused by cult members is creating chaos.

It's just that it's difficult to track down.

So in her view, it was just like doing errands.

The wolf transformed back into human form, shaking off its blood-stained paws, its face showing a mixture of lingering bloodlust and utter boredom.

"This is utterly boring. After tracking things for days, all for just a few minutes of warm-up?"

He walked up to the bound head and kicked the other person's contorted face with his toe.

"Hey, do you have any more powerful accomplices? Tell me, and I'll give you a quick death."

All he received in response were more frantic sobs and murky, hate-filled eyes.

His brow furrowed slightly beneath the Shadow Mask as he quickly scanned the scene and the prisoners.

Nightingale's judgment was correct. The energy within these cultists was mixed and weak, and full of self-destructive tendencies. They were indeed the product of their madness, resulting from their own exploration or the theft of fragmented knowledge left by evil gods, and were utterly worthless.

Without further hesitation, he made a gesture to the rock.

Rock understood and expressionlessly raised his large-caliber "Demon Hunter-II".

boom! boom! boom!
Three crisp gunshots rang out in the empty underground plaza, precisely ending the lives of three crazed leaders.

The specially designed purification projectile burst forth with a small burst of holy light the moment it pierced the skull, burning away any remaining evil thoughts.

"Mission complete. Collect residue samples and prepare for evacuation."

Shadow's voice remained cold and steady, devoid of any emotion.

This level of cleaning is nothing new to them.

While collecting the filthy altar fragments and cultist blood samples in a special container, Claw couldn't help but complain.

"What a waste of time..."

Before he finished speaking, the five people froze almost simultaneously.

In their retinal-embedded data system interface, the "channel" icon representing the Night Watch's internal communications flashed violently, and a striking mission command popped into their field of vision:

[Emergency Order - Night Watch Command]

Squad ID: NM-07 (Shadow Squad)
Immediately terminate all current non-urgent tasks; all current non-urgent tasks will be automatically handed over to other personnel.

The entire team immediately returned to the South City Headquarters of the Tower Ring and reported to the Seventh Coordination Division of the Tribunal—the Witcher Affairs Section.

The mission briefing will be given in person upon arrival.

Priority: High.

The teleportation permission has been temporarily granted to the squad leader.

—End of instruction—

The instruction came abruptly and clearly.

After a brief silence, Sleepy yawned widely and said lazily, "See? I told you, easy days..." The good days are over, or at least he thought that the present was actually a good day.

My teammates are all jinxes, always complaining, and now look what's happened.

"The City Around the Tower!"

Nightingale's eyes lit up instantly, breaking her drowsiness, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement and anticipation.

"Headquarters summoned us directly! High priority! Could it be... could it be that they're going to transfer us to the Tauriel Continent?!"

This is a very reasonable speculation.

The main reason is that, apart from going to the continent of Taliel, they can't think of anywhere else to transfer them to in the short term.

The money must have been taken advantage of by their characteristics.

They are witchers, whose specialty is hunting down those damned cultists and demons.

There are very few demons in the world now, and the only place they might appear is the continent of Taril.

After all, the area had been invaded by the abyss and was in utter chaos.

Claws also stopped complaining, licked its lips, and a wild glint rekindled in its eyes: "Finally... this is getting interesting?"

Even the usually composed Rock raised an eyebrow, his thick fingers stroking the gun barrel, revealing a hint of interest.

Only Yingzong remained calm, his eyes beneath the mask as still as a deep pool. He calmly confirmed the instructions and teleportation permissions, and said in a deep voice.

"Command confirmed. Collection complete. Clean up traces immediately. Prepare for teleportation. Destination: Ring Tower City, South City Headquarters Teleportation Plaza."

As he activated his permissions, a stable spatial portal silently unfolded in front of the five people, emitting a soft blue halo.

This is the Night's Watch's latest technology.

It began to be deployed about a month ago, and the equipment was provided to members of the Night's Watch who had reached level 10.

Moreover, it cannot be used universally.

The reason for its deployment is naturally due to the current subordinate god of Kana, who is also the strongest fighting force in the Night Watch's world.

The god of spatial teleportation—Popot.

She is known as the goddess who controls the portals.

In addition, he was originally a research scholar, and he dispersed his power and then connected it to the panel.

That's how this teleportation ability came about.

Such convenient teleportation abilities are relatively rare even among non-legendary powerhouses.

It was also their first time using it.

It was somewhat novel.

An unknown new mission awaits this small, insignificant demon hunter squad.

Nightingale's speculation, like a pebble thrown into a lake, created different ripples in everyone's heart.

…………

The light from the teleportation dissipated.

The familiar air, carrying a hint of alchemical dust and a faint hum of energy, filled my nostrils.

The five members of the Shadow Squad stood at the edge of a secondary teleportation plaza in the City of the Ring Tower.

"Huh... I'm finally back."

Nightingale took a deep breath. Although the air was filled with the complex smells unique to the city, it was like heaven compared to the disgusting mixture of rotten soil, rat-men stench, and lingering blasphemous prayers from the underground ruins of Lebia.

She touched her dark purple hair, feeling that it was still covered in dust from the underground passage.

"Ugh, it's filthy. Captain, could we go to Nightfeather Bakery before reporting? I'm dying to see Grandma Evelyn's Stardew Berry Pies and those warm Moonlight Honey Breads, with that crispy crust..."

"Eat, eat, and eat!"

Claw moved his shoulders, his muscles and bones still slightly swollen after transforming from his wolf form back into human form.

"We should go to 'Black Iron Armory' first and see if they have any new claw whetstones! The last one is almost worn smooth."

He missed the greasy, metallic smell emanating from the corner of that weapons shop. "But let's hurry up and go. Check out the mission first, then we can prepare."

Rock calmly inspected his "Demon Hunter-II" firearm and spoke into the interface.

"My tool kit needs to be replenished with a few special gadgets. 'Gears and wrenches' should still be open."

He kept thinking about that hardware store filled with precision parts and strange tools.

Sleepy let out a big yawn, and his eyelids started to droop.

"I just want to find a hammock at 'Shadow Travel Agency'... bask in the artificial warm light for a while... and take a nap..."

He longed for the soft hammocks in that shop that specialized in comfortable, magical bedding, where the temperature could be automatically adjusted.

Shadow's eerie green eyes swept over the familiar street outlines and the towering main building of the Ring Tower in the distance. His expression behind the metal mask was unclear, but his voice carried a hint of barely perceptible relaxation.

“No rush. The order is to report for duty, not immediately. However…” He glanced at the claws.

Claw was indeed pacing impatiently, occasionally pulling out his somewhat worn alchemical pocket watch to look at it.

"There's no rush! But the sooner we report, the better! Who knows what sudden ideas those old men in the court might have? What if we waste time and the new mission falls through?"

He rubbed his fingers impatiently, clearly filled with curiosity and anxiety about being suddenly recalled.

Just then, an alchemical sphere the size of a fist, shimmering with a soft blue light, silently glided in front of them.

The runes at the core of the sphere flickered and emitted a melodious, mechanical female voice: "Deep-seated filth detected. Executing standard purification procedures. Do not move."

Before anyone could react, a soft white mist of light erupted from the bottom of the sphere, instantly enveloping the five people.

The light mist carried a faint, refreshing scent, quickly neutralizing and stripping away the underground filth, blood, and the faint, blasphemous smell that remained on their clothes, skin, and even their hair.

A few seconds later, the light dissipated, and the five people felt as if they had just taken a refreshing hot bath, their spirits lifted.

"Cleanup complete. Welcome back to the City of the Ring, warriors."

The alchemical sphere emitted a notification sound, nimbly spun around, and flew towards its next target.

"Thanks, little one."

For once, Rock thanked the flying sphere and straightened his now-clean collar.

Without that unpleasant odor, the five people felt much more at ease.

They left the teleportation plaza and merged into the bustling, orderly flow of people in the City of the Tower.

Although Claw kept urging in a low voice to "hurry up, hurry up," the others tacitly slowed down.

After all, we were already in the city of the ring tower, and the headquarters of the court was not far ahead. This rare and brief time to return to normal life on foot was worth cherishing.

As they walked along the familiar streets, looking at the shops of different styles on both sides, the hurried pedestrians, and the occasional transport vehicles flying low overhead, a long-lost sense of relaxation, a feeling of "home," slowly seeped into their nerves, which had just emerged from the darkness.

The nightingale greedily sniffed the aromas wafting through the air from different restaurants, trying to discern if any of them contained the unique sweet scent of "Night Feather Bakery".

Claw's gaze was always involuntarily drawn to weapon shops and armor stores.

I walked with my eyes almost closed, enjoying the warm, non-glaring light from the artificial canopy.

Rock, meanwhile, kept an eye on the shop windows of the roadside tool store.

Shadow walked silently, his eerie green eyes scanning the surroundings, seemingly assessing the subtle changes the city had undergone during his absence, or perhaps savoring this rare moment of peace. (End of Chapter)