Chapter 565 Mysterious Figure

The girls were surprised when they hear the illusion suddenly talk, they don't think that the illusion that Rex made can talk since it never opens its mouth even once. Even back when meeting with Liliya, it doesn't say anything.

It made the encounter pretty awkward since the illusion is not talking but Adhara handled it.

But much more than the realization that the illusion can talk, the sentence that came out of its mouth makes the girls frown before looking around warily. Putting their backs against each other, the four of them created a circle.

Since they're Werewolves, they should sense if someone is watching them.

Out of all the aspects that a Werewolf can provide the strongest one is its senses, but the girls didn't sense anything in the surroundings except for silence and the occasional blowing wind that makes a whistling sound.

Despite their doubts, the one that said it is the illusion so they can't really say that it's wrong.

Swish...

The cold wind brushes their skins amplifying the coldness of the night, especially knowing that there might be someone out there watching them. If not for them having warm blood they might just shivering right now.

"I never feel like this but I do wish Kyran was here...", Evelyn mutters from the side.

Hearing this Adhara and Gistella nodded their heads agreeing that if Kyran was here then they won't be wary like this, with his sensitive senses there is practically no one that can sneak up on him.

At least they had never met such a person that can do that.

Without much thought, Adhara pointed her hand forward and activate the rune on her palm.

Cling!

Fearing that it might be the Shapeshifter that is hiding inside this forest, Adhara decided to activate the rune to confirm if there was anything at all around them. Evelyn and Gistella also follow her lead and activate the runes on their palms.

Cling!

Cling!

But even after ringing it a couple of times, they didn't spot anything moving weirdly.

The illusion that is looking around sharply squinted its eyes as it looks in a direction on the right. Without the night hindering its vision, the illusion fixated on its eyes and soon saw a slight movement from that direction.

"What are you doing...?", Adhara asks as she looks back at the illusion.

Without even saying anything the illusion's body started to be cloaked with red force energy, it bends its knees a little before dashing straight in a direction destroying everything in the process.

Swoosh!

Many tree branches hit the illusion's body but instantly break upon contact.

Looking at the shadowy figure in the darkness that noticed the illusion heading towards it, the illusion picks up its pace dashing like a meteor before crashing onto a big boulder that stood in its way.

But moving unnaturally, the figure managed to dodge and went over the boulder.

The illusion swiftly came out of the crater it made before activating the rune on its palm.

Cling!

Since the main suspect of the figure is the Shapeshifter on the loose then it should be stunned or pained from hearing the clinging sound from the rune, the illusion also didn't stop and jumped over the boulder in pursuit.

When it landed on the back of the boulder, the figure is already gone without a trace. It made the illusion frown as it was quite surprising that the figure can escape him easily, that shouldn't be the case.

Not only that but there's also no scent or trace of energy left by the figure.

It makes finding the figure almost impossible since there is absolutely nothing that the illusion can use to track it down, this alone shows that the figure is most likely to be the Shapeshifter as it ticks all the checkboxes of the Shapeshifter's race ability.

But there's one small problem that doesn't connect with the other checkboxes.

Looking down at the rune carved by Flunra on its palm, the illusion can't help but frown in confusion. The figure should be a Shapeshifter but the illusion is not sure anymore, it's definitely a weird encounter.

Well-prepared expert is the other possibility of the figure's identity, but that's very unlikely.

Since the UWO and the SCO have been working together under the alliance agreement, the entire forest is quarantined by Awakened and Black Hands. The only one inside is the Green Team which is tasked to track down the Shapeshifter.

Even if the figure turns out to be a person from either organization, it still doesn't make sense.

Why would it sneak around and even escape when the illusion, Rex is heading its way? Simply shouting that the figure is not an enemy is an effective way to dissuade the illusion from attacking.

After looking around for a moment, the girls landed beside the illusion in puzzlement.

Despite not knowing why the illusion suddenly dashes away like that, it's clear that it's after something judging from the expression the illusion is wearing, "It managed to escape..."

Upon hearing this, the girls frown as they also look at the forest around them.

"If it manages to escape from you then it's definitely the Shapeshifter", Adhara mutters softly.

Evelyn nodded her head before she looks around in search of any details that might point her in the right direction, "We need to hurry then, the Shapeshifter shouldn't be that far from us. Gistella, mark this place too"

Kneeling on one knee, Gistella touches the ground with her right hand.

Closing her eyes for a moment she channels her bluish energy before creating some sort of glowing blue make on the ground, inside the blue mark is white energy that is shaped like a warhorn. It's a method that will help them search for the Shapeshifter.

Utilizing her knowledge of runes as a former Undead, Gistella came up with a brilliant method.

Although it was a bit hard to create, she was finally able to create this rune. She created a rune called Small Energy Outburst Rune which is essentially a small explosion of energy, it's a relatively easy and common rune for beginners.

But instead of exploding, Gistella linked the Small Energy Outburst Rune to the one Flunra created.

If anything steps around a 150 feet area within the radius of the Small Energy Outburst Rune, the rune will explode and activate the rune created by Flunra. A brilliant method to catch the Shapeshifter off guard.

Since their auras are scaring the mutated animals away, it's a simple yet effective method.

After engraving the Small Energy Outburst Rune on the ground Gistella stands back up before the four of them dash into the darkness of the night once again.

~

Slash!

Flunra stabbed a Werewolf beneath his feet using his claws ending its life immediately.

Dismembered corpses and blood covered the entire place around them right now painting a scene of gore that upsets the stomach of an untrained person, the Werewolves from the Martyn Family have all been killed.

Since they were no scent or aura, they made the wrong move of confronting Rex and Flunra.

Not one of them can even hope to contend with Flunra that is weakened in his human form, and because of that Rex didn't even need to lift a single finger as he left Flunra to kill all of them leaving the Head Family alive.

Knowing that these corpses are valuable, Rex stores all of them in the inventory.

Under the Head Family's eyes the entire corpses that were the source of the pools of blood around him disappeared, he was quite surprised by this as he was pinned on a tree with the Amuerus Katana stabbing his chest.

A couple of painful grunts left his mouth as he watches his entire family being butchered.

Rex who is sitting on a rock on the side stands up when Flunra finally finishes the last Werewolf, he then approaches the Head Family that is already on the tip of death before stepping on the katana.

Krrkk...

It went in deeper into the Head Family's chest making fleshy and boney noises.

"Don't kill him... the Head Family has a link with other Alphas, the Alphas under the family, and some even have a direct link with King Baralt. Killing him would just give out our position", Flunra said from the side.

? Hearing this Rex stopped, he intends to beat information out of the Head Family.

But before he can do anything Flunra already interrupted him again, "Don't bother extracting information from him, one of the Betas just spill everything to me earlier. If we keep heading north, we will find the Black Embodiment Tree. We just need to follow its roots and we'll reach the Feral Phantomclaw Pack's territory"

Upon knowing this, Rex fixated his eyes on the Head Family again.

"Well if we have everything already, I'll just need to put this one to sleep..."

Bam!

A moment later, Rex and Flunra continued their journey to the Feral Phantomclaw Pack territory.

Traveling through the grassland might not be a good idea since they are sprinting in the open, but with the Head Family of the Martyn Family unconscious, they should be fine. It's not going to take long to cross the grassland after all.

Even though the Martyn Family's territory stretched for miles, that is nothing for both of them.

But when both of them are nearing the middle of the territory where a huge medieval black castle lies surrounded by tall walls, Rex finds that there are many mutated animals guarding the castle.

From a glance, it's clear that these mutated animals are either a mutation of a dog or a wolf.

Some of the mutated dogs are shaped like oversized dogs with their body full of muscles, their bodies are emitting faint black smoke as they idle around near the walls and even play with each other. Their numbers are at least nearing a hundred.

Rex scans these mutated dogs and finds that they are called Black Shadow Hounds.

Not only that they are powerful mutated animals ranging from the fifth rank to the sixth rank, but they also have an affinity to the shadow element which makes them even stronger. In fact, the combination of black smoke they are emitting drowns their legs in black smoke.

Shifting his gaze elsewhere, Rex finds that there is a couple of mutated wolves.

Having a similar size to Delta these mutated wolves are called Blood Lycaon, they are massive in size and covered in armor black furs. But the furs on their backs and the back of their hind legs are white.

Two red horns protrude out from its head and have a long tail similar to a dragon's tail.

Every step it took cracks the ground beneath it and a faint red energy leaks out of the crack similar to the sparks around the Blood Lycaon's body that is fueled with this faint red devilish energy.

"Peak Seventh Rank, stronger than Delta...", Rex mutters to himself in awe.

Out of the crowd of mutated animals, there are only three Blood Lycaon.

Rex is really tempted to subdue them and make them his pet but he has other more important matters. Shaking his head, he was about to ignore the mutated animals but was stopped by Flunra.

"What is it?", Rex asks in confusion.

Flunra kept his eyes on the black castle before he replied, "Don't go straight or we'll be spotted"

"Spotted? These mutated animals are not a threat to us, why would I be afraid of them spotting us?", Rex asks back with a frown, he doesn't need to be careful against these mutated animals with the current strength he has.

Glancing at Rex in the eyes, there's a hint of confusion in Flunra's eyes.

But soon his eyes sparked in realization, "I thought you knew, but the Head Family is not the highest ranking of a Werewolf Family. Family Elder is the highest ranking, and the Family Elder of the Martyn Family is still inside"

"Oh... why don't you tell me sooner? Let's go around them then", Rex replied.

The next day, Sector 2.

Edward walks out of his room while yawning, "Man, I'm not ready to wake up today"

With his tired expression, he went into the kitchen before chugging a glass of water instantly, he got back late last night trying to find information regarding the black market for the elemental stones that Rex asked for.

Now he only needs to meet with the supplier.

For some reason, the supplier wanted to meet this early.

This is why Edward woke up this early despite sleeping late, he can't miss the meeting that he would need to attend in a couple of hours. Walking back to the guest room, his eyes stopped when he saw Mrs. Greene standing by the stairs.

"Good morning, why are you waking up this early ma'am?", Edward greeted with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Greene smiled back before she ignored Edward's question and said, "Can I ask you a question? I'm not feeling well until I talked with someone about this..."

"Sure...?", Edward nodded his head in confusion before sitting on the sofa.

After sitting on the sofa Edward gazes at Mrs. Greene that is unable to look him in the eyes, it's like she's reluctant but needs to say the thing in her mind, 'Something is off about this... what is she trying to say to me?'

It took a solid minute for Mrs. Greene to finally look Edward right in the eyes.

But instead of saying she stood up before she sat beside Edward, "Please don't lie to me, just promise me that you're going to answer my question truthfully. Please..."

"I- I promise...?", Edward replied still in confusion.

Out of nowhere, Mrs. Greene grabs Edward's hand with both of her hands, "Promise me..."

"Yes, Mrs. Greene. I promised that I'm going to be as truthful as I can be to you", Edward finally said finding that she was really serious, there was no point in lying to Mrs. Greene anyway. At least that is what he thought right now, but he regretted it soon enough.

Taking a deep breath, Mrs. Greene looks at Edward seriously before she finally asked.

"Is Rex, No... My son, is he really a Werewolf?"