Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

Three hundred kilometers away.

On the northern edge of the Deadwood Wasteland, beside a patch of low bushes, the air suddenly distorted.

A black crack tore open in the void, as if it had been torn apart from the inside by an invisible hand.

Edwin tumbled out of the crack, staggered a couple of steps, his boots sinking into the soft mud, the hem of his robes dragging on the ground, covered in dust.

He was still holding Arthur in his arms. The wound on his severed hand had been torn open again during the teleportation, and blood dripped from his fingertips, leaving dark red spots on the soil.

Edwin steadied himself, put Arthur on the ground, and caught his breath.

His face was pale, veins bulged on his forehead, and his temples throbbed.

"Madman...madman..."

His voice was squeezed out of his throat, low and hoarse, like a millstone scraping against an iron plate.

"How dare he... how dare he!"

He turned around abruptly and looked towards the desolate wasteland.

Three hundred kilometers away, at the edge of the horizon, a dark red light was slowly fading away.

That was the wrath of Zatogua.

Even from 300 kilometers away, he could feel that suffocating pressure.

Edwin's fingers gripped the staff tightly, his knuckles cracking.

Arthur at his feet shifted slightly, his severed hand facing upwards, blood still seeping from the wound.

His face was as white as paper, his lips were chapped, and his eyes were bloodshot.

His gaze swept around, but he didn't see Lin Gui, the flying boat, or those damned guys.

Only Edwin, and himself.

Arthur's pupils contracted slightly, and then his expression changed.

The fear faded, replaced by an uncontrollable, deep-seated anger.

"you……"

His voice was hoarse, squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Why didn't you do it sooner!"

He sat up abruptly, the pain from his severed hand causing his body to tremble violently, but he gritted his teeth and stared intently at Edwin.

"Can you see that?! My hand! My hand is broken!"

He raised his bloodied left hand, blood still seeping from the severed fingers. Three fingers were gone, and there was a deep cut on his wrist that exposed the bone.

"If you had acted sooner, I wouldn't be in this state!"

His voice grew louder and sharper, carrying the hysterical, spoiled child's anger.

"You just stand there and watch! Watch me get trampled under his feet! Watch him cut off my fingers!"

He took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently.

"I'm going back to tell the teacher! I'll make him kick you out of Qianta!"

"I'll send you to guard the frontier! I'll make sure you never return to Thousand Towers for the rest of your life!!"

His voice echoed through the wilderness, sharp and piercing, like fingernails scraping against an iron plate.

Edwin stood there, head down, looking at Arthur.

He didn't speak.

A suppressed emotion, almost bursting forth, surged within his cloudy old eyes.

Then he moved.

He crouched down, reached out, and grabbed Arthur by the neck.

Tighten your fingers.

Arthur's voice abruptly stopped.

His eyes were wide open, his mouth was agape, and he was making a hoarse sound from his throat.

He reached out, trying to pry Edwin's fingers open, but the severed hand was useless.

Edwin brought his face closer to him, his cloudy old eyes showing no anger or murderous intent, only a cold, almost cruel calm.

"Shut up."

His voice was very soft, as soft as a falling leaf.

"Damn lower class."

"The lucky boy who awakened the power of space."

"If the Great Sage hadn't been so foolish as to take a liking to you and make you his only disciple to date, would you have become someone who surpasses even the Demon Child?"

His fingers tightened even more.

Arthur's face turned from white to red, then from red to purple, and his eyes began to roll upwards.

"I respect the choice of the great sage."

Edwin's voice remained very soft.

"But that's no reason for you to ride roughshod over me."

He loosened his grip, allowing Arthur to catch his breath.

Arthur coughed violently, his face covered in tears and snot.

"You insisted on coming to this hunt, wanting to prove yourself."

Edwin's voice was as cold as ice.

"And this hunt has come to this point because of you."

His gaze was like a knife fixed on Arthur's face.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been driven to this point by that damn madman."

"All the extraordinary elites of the magical families have been wiped out."

"The legendary mage who guarded the barren wasteland, as well as the elite of the magic guild, all died at the feet of the Overlord."

"The two legendary mid-level elites sent by the Assassin's Court should also be dead."

His voice grew lower and deeper, like a muffled sound coming from the depths of the earth.

"Everyone is dead."

"Qianta will not let me go."

He stared into Arthur's eyes, and for the first time, confusion and fear appeared in his cloudy old eyes.

"Or I could kill you right now."

His fingers tightened a little more.

"Then he defected."

Arthur's pupils contracted sharply.

He felt a cold, irresistible force on his neck.

He sensed the murderous intent in Edwin's eyes; it wasn't just a bluff, he truly intended to kill.

His body began to tremble violently, his crotch was soaked, and yellow liquid dripped down his thighs onto the soil.

"I...I was wrong..."

His voice was forced out of his throat, hoarse and choked with sobs.

"Lord Edwin... I was wrong..."

"Don't kill me...please...don't kill me..."

Tears welled up in his eyes, mixed with snot and blood, smearing his face.

His body was trembling, like a mouse whose tail had been stepped on.

Edwin stared at him for a long time.

The murderous intent in those cloudy old eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deep, unspeakable disappointment.

He let go.

Arthur's body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

Edwin stood up, looked down at the young man curled up in the mud.

The chosen one by the Great Sage, who awakened Akara's possibly only two spatial powers, and who was cherished by all the magical families in the City of a Thousand Towers.

At this moment, it's like a trampled worm, trembling, crying, and begging for mercy in the mud.

Edwin's lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

He raised his head and looked into the distance.

Three hundred kilometers away, the dark red light had dissipated, but Satoguya's roar continued.

The earth trembled, not from an earthquake, but from the tremors caused by the movement of that epic demon.

Even from 300 kilometers away, he could feel that chilling sense of oppression.

Edwin frowned.

He looked down at Arthur.

"Let's get out of here first."

His voice regained its shrewd composure, but carried an inexplicable weariness.

"I'll settle the score with you later."

He raised his hand and drew his staff from his waist.

The staff was entirely black, with a dark purple magic crystal embedded at the top, inside which black mist slowly swirled.

The staff was covered with densely packed runes, which gleamed with a cold light in the sunlight.

Edwin gripped his staff tightly, channeling his magic into it.

Black mist surged from the staff, like lithe snakes, coiling around him and Arthur's bodies.

The fog grew thicker and thicker, completely obscuring the silhouettes of the two people.

Then, the fog began to dissipate.

After the fog dissipated, the spot was completely deserted.

Edwin sat on his staff, with Arthur lying behind him. His severed hand had been simply bandaged, and the bleeding had stopped, but his face was still as pale as paper.

The staff lifted three feet off the ground, slowly ascended into the air, then accelerated and flew north.

The speed was neither too fast nor too slow, maintaining a steady pace.

Edwin stared straight ahead, his brow furrowed.

He had already locked onto the northern direction before activating the spatial teleportation scroll.

This was the route he had planned when he evacuated from the barren wasteland.

The northern part is the nearest cluster of city-states. As long as you cross the northern border of the Deadwood Wasteland, you can enter the sphere of influence of the central city-state.

There are magic towers, legendary guardians, and supply depots of the Transport Guild.

Once he got there, he was safe.

As for those members of the magical families who died, those extraordinary elites who were wiped out...

Safety first.

The thought of the overwhelming accusations that are about to come is unbearable.

Edwin took a deep breath, suppressing his surging emotions.

His gaze swept across the wasteland below.

The trees are sparse and dead, the rocks are exposed, and the ground is cracked.

Occasionally, a few high-ranking demons can be seen walking among the rubble, but they are unaware of Edwin above them, preoccupied with their own hunting, fighting, and mating.

Everything was peaceful.

But Edwin knew that this calm wouldn't last long.

The awakening of Satogua will trigger a demonic uprising throughout the entire Barren Wasteland.

The low-level demons would swarm out of their nests like a disturbed swarm of ants, running around and attacking any moving creature in a frenzy.

He and Arthur were still within the riot's area.

It needs to be faster.

Edwin increased the output of magic, making the staff even faster.

The wind swept past his ears, making his robes flutter loudly.

Behind him, Arthur's voice sounded weakly.

"That...that guy...he should be dead, right..."

His voice was soft, carrying an uncertain, cautious probing tone.

Edwin remained silent for a moment.

"He's dead."

His voice was very faint.

"No one can survive under the feet of an epic high-ranking demon."

"Even the legendary tower-guarding mage couldn't withstand it, how could a high-level mage like him possibly resist?"

Arthur hesitated for a moment, then spoke again.

"Since he was destined to die... why... why did he...?"

He didn't finish speaking, but Edwin knew what he wanted to ask.

Since Lin Gui knew he was going to die, why did he still detonate those scrolls? Why did he still wake up Satoguya?

Edwin remained silent.

His hand gripped the staff tightly, his knuckles turning white.

This is also what he can't understand.

The entire hunt, ever since he received that message, has slipped out of his control.

He thought the hunt was foolproof.

Eight core magic families, four legendary mages, two legendary assassins, more than thirty extraordinary elites, plus himself.

This force is enough to flatten a medium-sized city-state.

The results of it?

All the members of the magic family who had scattered and evacuated were dead.

He has yet to meet any of the legendary assassins from Avalon.

He didn't even know how those members of the magical families died.

We don't know who did it, or what methods they used.

Everything happened in the darkness, as if an invisible hand was erasing his pieces one by one from the chessboard.

Edwin felt a chill run down his spine.

Arthur remained silent for a long time before speaking.

"Could...could it be...the remaining scroll of my space?"

"He knew about that ability to teleport across space."

His voice was soft, with an uncertain, tentative tone.

Edwin shook his head.

"impossible."

His voice was resolute.

"The incantation on that scroll comes from an ancient time that cannot be verified."

"And those who know about the power of space are only you, me, and the Sage."

"It's impossible for a fourth person to recognize it."

He paused, a hint of unease flashing in his cloudy old eyes.

"That's true..."

He turned his head, his sharp gaze fixed on Arthur.

"I've always been curious about how he managed to capture you."

"And what about Cass and Victor's missions? How did they fail?"

Arthur's body stiffened abruptly.

He lowered his head, not daring to look Edwin in the eye.

"I...I don't know either..."

His voice was trembling.

"Whether Cass and Victor... completed their mission... I don't know..."

"I was lured away by a blonde woman..."

His words began to falter, and his voice grew softer and softer.

"And then...and then that black-haired man...he...he caught me..."

Edwin stared at him, his cloudy old eyes swirling with impatience and suppressed anger.

Explain yourself.

His voice wasn't loud, but every word struck Arthur's chest like a hammer blow.

Arthur's body jerked violently.

He knew he couldn't fool them anymore.

He lowered his head and recounted the whole story in detail.

From being lured away by Elvia to the standoff in the open field.

From having his eyes inexplicably pierced, to tearing open a spatial scroll to escape, to being knocked unconscious by a brick hundreds of kilometers away.

No detail was concealed.

Edwin listened and remained silent.

His face looked terrible, and his lips twitched.

"A high-ranking knight... defeated you?"

His voice had an unbelievable, absurd tone.

"You possess three and a half divine artifacts, and hundreds of extraordinary scrolls..."

"A single extraordinary spell could kill the opponent."

"And yet you couldn't beat them?"

Arthur lowered his head, not daring to speak.

Edwin took a deep breath, then another.

Then he spoke, in a very low voice.

"High-level... why is it high-level again..."

He paused for a moment.

"And then you used a scroll wheel, hundreds of kilometers away, and got knocked down by that black-haired guy with a brick?"

Arthur nodded, not daring to look up.

His body was still trembling slightly, and the pain from his severed hand made his face contort.

Then his expression became even uglier, and his lips trembled.

"That guy... was trying to extract information from me..."

His voice was choked with sobs.

"They...they actually locked a horny demon...up with me!"

His body began to tremble violently, and his eyes turned red.

"I...I...I was almost...raped by a demon!!"

His voice rose, sharp and piercing, carrying a sense of collapsing, hysterical fear.

"That guy... he's a monster!"

Edwin felt a chill run down his spine; the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

He stared at Arthur's contorted, tear-streaked face and remained silent for a moment.

Then he spoke.

"Did you explain the matter of the spatial scroll to the other party?"

His voice was low, carrying an barely suppressed tension.

Arthur shook his head, his voice still trembling.

"No...they didn't even ask..."

"I only asked about the use of those demigod artifacts and some information about the Great Sage."

Edwin felt slightly relieved, but his unease did not dissipate.

He recalled the process Arthur provided, every detail, every point in time.

Then, he suddenly remembered something.

The staff stopped.

Edwin turned his head, his sharp gaze fixed on Arthur.

"How did he find you?"

Arthur was taken aback, not understanding the meaning of Edwin's question.

"You were teleported over a hundred kilometers away, how did he find you in the vast wilderness in less than two hours after you teleported there?"

His voice grew faster and more urgent.

"Has your body tissue... been accessed by the other party?"

"I remember when you left, I asked you to check if you were marked by a soul."

Arthur quickly shook his head.

"No! I checked! There are absolutely no other extra soul threads entangled with me!"

"As for body tissues..."

He paused for a moment, then lowered his voice.

"When I fought that knight... I was injured... some blood was left on the ground..."

"Why would you ask that, Lord Edwin?"

Edwin did not answer.

The last words Lin Gui left behind echoed in his mind.

"Lord Edwin, please protect Arthur."

"Don't let him get carried away by the devil."

His pupils contracted sharply.

A very bad feeling suddenly welled up in my heart.

"wrong……"

His voice was forced out of his throat.

"That guy... might not be dead!"