Abium coldly watched Darby and others walking away through the broken door hole and shook his head.
He didn't put much thought into their inner feelings. Although some would start hating him in their heart, no one would even dare to think of betraying him from now on. Even if they did betray him, Abium could track them down and kill them brutally.
As they disappeared from his line of sight, Abium quickly opened the wooden door and silently shifted his gaze towards that seven-meter city wall behind his house.
"It's time." He said in a low voice and took a long rope from his spatial ring.
After a minute, Abium slowly landed on the other side of that seven-meter tall city wall and moved towards the Sycamore Woods.
...
At the same time, at Bucher's street.
The brown-haired necromancer Leonard walked out of his single-storied house and soon frowned as he sensed blood scents coming from the entrance gate.
'Something is wrong.' He muttered inwardly and moved towards the gate.
As he walked closer to the iron gate, his expression turned gloomy. At that moment, he saw a severed head placed in the middle of the path, along with a sealed letter!
'Steve?!'
Steve was Leonard's trusted servant. A few hours ago, Leonard asked Steve to guard the entrance and went inside his house to create a zero-tier necromancy spell scroll. But he didn't expect someone to kill him brutally and even place his head at his house entrance!
Concealing his anger, he shifted his gaze towards the sealed letter and soon squinted sharper.
At that moment, he saw a red seal with a skeletal devil skull on top of it and became startled.
'Order of the dead member?'
He cautiously walked towards the sealed letter and began to cast a few 'Curse Dispel' spells using spell scrolls. After confirming that there were no traps, he picked it up with both hands and opened it hurriedly to read.
Although the content inside that latter was short, it was more than enough for Leonard to stiffen up.
"Do you want to know why I killed your servant? Come to Sycamore Woods and find out the truth.
Baxter"
Soon, anger appeared on his face.
"Damn it. When did I offend Baxter?" He cursed at himself and began to walk out of the butcher's lane.
At Rakke Street,
A black-haired man named Neil, around 30 years old, looked solemnly at the unsealed letter in his hand and trembled uncontrollably.
"What is he up to now?" He wore an anxious look and quickly walked out of Rakke Street.
Similar scenes happened in the other five streets, and soon seven people with mysterious identities in the slums began to walk out of the Royal City.
...
Meanwhile, Abium also arrived at the Sycamore woods and soon found a suitable place for the upcoming battle.
The Sycamore Woods was located only a few kilometers away from the Royal capital and isolated. Even if a large-scale battle happened inside this woodland, no one would even care.
He soon found a small open space surrounded by eucalyptus-like trees and started laying some traps.
After that, he silently walked towards the nearby fallen dry trunk and sat on it. Then, he took a few materials from his space ring and changed his appearance into Baxter using spell scrolls.
Half an hour later, six black hooded figures arrived in front of the Sycamore woods and looked at each other with puzzlement.
"Is this some trap, Sir David?" A blue-eyed man asked while removing his black hood and showing his angry face to everyone. His shiny brown hair was dancing in the air and looked more beautiful in the moonlight.
"I don't think so, Mr. Leonard." A cold voice came out from another hooded figure. Soon, that guy removed his hood and showed his face to everyone. He had long black hair, a rough face, thick eyebrows, deep-set black eyes, and he appeared around 50 years old.
"How are you so sure?" Another young man, around 30 years old, walked out of the woods and asked coldly. He had short black hair, red eyes, and a pale face. Bandages were wrapped all over his body, and his right hand was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing his miserable state, Leonard, David, and the other four official tier necromancers became shocked.
"What happened to your right hand, Neil?" David looked at him up and down and asked while emitting a hint of killing intent.
Upon seeing David's reaction, Neil scratched his head awkwardly and replied while shaking his head.
"I don't want to talk about that embarrassing incident." He paused for a moment and soon turned his face serious.
"I want to know why Baxter summoned us here. Something feels off about him."
"Nothing feels off to me," David said.
"After all, Baxter has a habit of making things hard for everyone. I'm damn sure that he is scheming something big."
"Tsk, that maniac always seeks pleasure in others' fear and gives more headaches. But he must have some plan in his mind. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted our time like this." Leonard paused for a moment and continued with a laugh.
"Well, let's go and see what he is up to."
Neil's face turned sour as he heard Leonard's words. But soon, he let out a deep sigh and nodded with a weak smile. After that, Neil and others stepped into the woods and moved deeper.
After a few minutes of walking, they soon arrived at the open space and saw a gray-haired old man with emerald green eyes sitting on the wooden trunk. Despite the darkness, they managed to see his face clearly due to the presence of moonlight and got relaxed. At that moment, Abium wore a gray robe and an emerald green pendant on his neck and also placed a short sword on his waist.
"Baxter! Why did you summon us? Also, tell me the reason why you killed my servant?" Leonard asked with a piercing glare.
Without minding Leonard's glare, Baxter stood up casually and started walking toward the group.
Before the other party could notice something odd, Abium made a mischievous smile and asked.
"Leonard, have you ever heard of the artifact called Feather of Death?"
As Leonard heard his words, his eyes widened.
'Is he talking about 'Death Pontiff's staff'?' Leonard couldn't help but get startled inside.
'But why is he saying this?'
He had read about that artifact in Death Scripture. In truth, the 'Feather of Death' artifact had long disappeared after the last planar war and never showed its appearance again.
'But how did he know about that artifact? Did he find some clues about that nature artifact? But why is he telling that clue to us instead of informing his master?' Multiple thoughts crossed his mind.
Before long, he came to a realization and widened his eyes.
'Is he planning to get that artifact for himself while using us? It is possible. He must have realized that without our assistance, he wouldn't be able to get near it. Hmm, he must be planning on bribing us to help him.' While thinking, Leonard moved closer toward Baxter.
Meanwhile, others also thought of the same thing and hastened their footsteps toward Baxter's direction.
"Where did you hear about that Nature artifact?" David also got tempted by the 'Feather of Death' artifact and asked with greedy eyes. At that moment, he even thought of how to steal that artifact after finding it and fell into dreamland.
But unlike him, Neil secretly took out a strange bead called 'Truth Eye' and crushed it. It was an expensive one-time-use artifact that he brought it long ago at an auction. As long as one activated this bead, he could distinguish if the other party was telling the truth or not for a short period.
'90 meters.' Abium's eyes were cold as he calculated the distance and walked calmly. At the same time, he tapped his finger on his golden bracelet to hide away the nervousness and began to speak once again.
"I heard it from someone I know. 'He' said that nature artifact is located in one of the Holy See's affiliated kingdoms."
'It's true!' Neil couldn't help but get more excited. Without delay, he moved his spirit power toward others and informed them telepathically.
'Baxter is telling the truth!'
David became startled by the news and asked in an excited tone.
"Which affiliated kingdom? Who is this someone? Also, how did he find out about that artifact?"
'Damn it; he is asking too many questions. There is still a distance of 20 meters between us.' Baxter muttered to himself and answered calmly after a short pause.
"I don't know. But we should go there once this mission ends and find everything ourselves." Abium finished his words and noticed all seven had arrived closer to him. But he didn't attack. Instead, he calmly scanned them and noticed that Necromancer Neil was still guarded against him.
'Tsk, this guy seems to have perceived something amiss. Well, nothing is going to change now.'
"Feather of Death, huh? That's good news for our organization," David said solemnly and suddenly noticed he couldn't think clearly. He was about to say something but forgot about it.
Meanwhile, Abium's lips suddenly curled upward, forming a mocking smile.
Before David could regain his sense, Abium cast [Blink] spell and reappeared in front of David while holding a short sword in his hand.
After that, he raised his sword quickly and slashed at David's throat. Before others could understand what was happening, David's head rolled on the ground, splashing scarlet blood everywhere!