As Azrael listened to the conversation between Ming and Ron, especially the part where they spoke about making people bleed like livestock to open some kind of door, and mentioned a lunatic, his expression grew serious as he realized the situation was far more dangerous than he had initially imagined.
Before accepting the mission, Mira had given Azrael detailed information about the Transcendent Organization, explaining that there were only three epic-level warriors within this underground group.
But after overhearing Ming and Ron, Azrael realized there was something he had completely overlooked.
Initially, he had assumed that since all three epic-level warriors of the Transcendent Organization had already been dealt with, the people inside the ruins would mostly be of warrior apprentices or, at best, class level. Yet, he had failed to consider that Mira’s information only covered those who operated outside the ruins.
According to what Mira had told him, the Transcendent Organization had been established about two or three years ago. If their hideout had been inside the Rovila Forest all that time, that meant they had likely discovered the entrance to ruins around the same period, two or three years ago.
What if, ever since the discovery of the ruins, some members of the Transcendent Organization had stayed inside the ruins without ever leaving?
Because the people of the planet Fras had only begun disappearing about a month ago, everyone had assumed that whatever the Transcendent Organization was planning had started only recently. But what if their scheme had been in motion for years?
From Ming and Ron’s conversation, Azrael could easily deduce that there was something hidden within the core area of the ruins, something that required the blood of many people to unlock.
But these were ancient ruins, a perilous place crawling with monsters. Even if the Transcendent Organization wanted to open that mysterious door using the blood of countless victims, they would first need to bring those victims deep into the core area.
Was it easy to bring thousands of weak, ordinary people into the core area of the ruins while bypassing countless monsters scattered throughout?
Of course not. To transport thousands of captives safely to the place where their blood was needed, the organization would have required immense preparation.
After listening to Ming and Ron and combining their words with the fact that the Transcendent Organization had only begun kidnapping people a month ago, Azrael arrived at an immediate conclusion.
The members of the Transcendent Organization had discovered the entrance to the ruins years ago. But when they reached the core area, they had found that they needed the blood of a great number of people to open the door Ming and Ron spoke of.
Not only that, Ming’s words, "Bleeding them like livestock," revealed that the captives needed to be slowly bled for some unknown reason.
Yet, it was not easy to bring so many people into the core area of the ruins from outside. A group of that size would inevitably attract the attention of the monsters.
So, during these two or three years, the Transcendent Organization must have done something inside the ruins to make it possible to transport thousands of people safely into the core area without alerting the monsters.
Once their preparations were complete, they finally began abducting the inhabitants of planet Fras a month ago, bringing them into the ruins and sending them toward the core area to bleed them and open the door Ming and Ron had been discussing.
During those two or three years, it was entirely possible that some members of the Transcendent Organization, those who had remained inside the ruins, had advanced to the epic level without the authorities ever realizing it.
Azrael pieced together all of these hypotheses in mere minutes. At the same time, he signaled to Elyara and Luo Bingqing to follow him.
Guided by the voices he had overheard, Azrael led Elyara and Luo Bingqing toward the collapsed door of the Sand Castle, where Ming and Ron were still speaking and quietly shared his deductions with the two of them.
"Does this mean there is a possibility that someone even more powerful than that level thirty-seven leader of the Transcendent Organization is here?" Elyara whispered, her eyes narrowing as she watched Ming in the distance, who was clearly on the verge of losing his mind while speaking with Ron.
"Actually, the possibility is very high and there might be more than one who is stronger than him," Luo Bingqing said suddenly, drawing their attention.
Seeing their questioning looks, Luo Bingqing elaborated. "Although the environment of this place has been ravaged by all the blood that has spilled in these ruins, it’s still strange that aside from some blood ginseng and our lucky encounter in the skeleton lair, we haven’t found anything else..." He paused briefly before continuing in a more serious tone.
"What if there were once treasures here, but all of them were taken away by members of the Transcendent Organization who have been living inside the ruins? If that’s true, it’s entirely possible that many of them have increased their levels significantly over the years using the resources they collected over the years."
Elyara and Azrael considered Luo Bingqing’s words and found them disturbingly plausible.
"Damn these bastards," Elyara muttered in an annoyed voice. "Just what kind of twisted ritual requires the blood of so many people? And more importantly, what exactly did they do during those two or three years inside the ruins that allowed them to bring so many captives into the core area while avoiding the monsters?"
As they were speaking, Azrael suddenly raised a finger to his lips, signaling them to be silent. He turned his gaze toward the deeper part of the Sand Castle, having heard the faint sound of approaching footsteps.
At that same moment, Ming finally decided to flee and bolted toward the raging sandstorm.
"It seems our guess was correct. There are indeed more epic-level warriors of the Transcendent Organization here..." Azrael muttered under his breath as all three of them watched a messy-haired man with a level of twenty-eight approach Ming.
As the stranger moved closer, Elyara asked in a hushed tone, "What should we do?"
Azrael thought for a moment before taking a deep breath. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novelꜰire.net
"Although the security forces are present, it might not be easy for them to take down the Transcendent Organization now," He said. "To avoid unnecessary complications, we should try to gather some information from this man."
Elyara and Luo Bingqing considered Azrael’s words and nodded in agreement.
Seeing their response, Azrael did not hesitate and to ensure that the epic-level warrior could not raise an alarm, he stepped forward and vanished using the skill of his epic level artifact.