Wokan Town at night, within the woods to the west.
A bloody scent permeated the forest. Those who fell into the ambush were shot and lay on the ground. The sole surviving leader among them had been hit by several shots. Unable to counterattack, he was intercepted by the Hunter Captain Grego. The short blade in Grego's hand was now plunged into his mouth.
"Ah ah..."
His eyes bloodshot, his face contorted, the unwilling man tried to counterattack Grego beside him. However, Grego was faster. He pulled his hand back, slicing the blade inside the man's mouth. The man's lower jaw was directly severed. Accompanied by a large amount of blood spurting from his exposed neck, the man made a strange sound and staggered before falling down.
Watching the man fall before him, Grego shook the blood from the blade. He glanced disdainfully at the man still twitching at his feet. Just as he was about to sheath his blade, a slight movement in the bush not far away caught his attention.
"Who's there!"
Without a word, Grego directly threw the short sword, still stained with blood, towards the source of the movement in the bush. The short sword flew into the bush and disappeared, with no screams coming from within.
'Missed? Or am I overreacting, and there's no one there at all?'
Seeing this situation, Grego began to ponder. Just as his attention was diverted, the man who had fallen at his feet slowly began to stand up, raising his terrifying face towards Grego.
His lower jaw was gone, his long tongue hung down from the end of his upper jaw, his cleanly severed esophagus was clearly visible, and blood continued to gush from the blood vessels in his front neck.
This... seemed like a bloody scene only seen in zombie movies. Even with such injuries, the man had not lost his life. Instead, he let out muffled, strange whimpering sounds and reached out to grab Grego's head.
"What..."
In the moment of crisis, Grego finally snapped back to reality. Facing the man's sudden attack, he quickly dodged to the side, but the man's hand still grabbed Grego's face. The iron mask Grego was wearing was knocked off.
"Gurgle gurgle ah!!"
The organ unable to speak made a horrifying, strange sound. The man pressed on, raising another hand to strike at Grego's face, which was no longer protected by a mask. At this moment, a loud bang came.
"Bang!"
Following the sound of the gunshot, a large opening suddenly burst from the man's ruined head. Its contents splattered everywhere, even splashing a lot onto Grego.
After being shot in the head, the man's ruined body finally lost its life, falling directly onto the ground on his back, completely motionless. Not far away, a Hunter member, clearly female, held a rifle pointed towards them. White smoke was still rising from the rifle's muzzle.
"You were really careless, Grego. If you don't hit the vital spot, the cup Thirster isn't easy to kill..."
"Uh... sorry Eilina, I originally wanted to keep him alive to bring back, but my attention was a bit distracted just now, giving him a slight opportunity..."
Letting out a sigh, Grego responded to Eilina beside him, looking disgusted at the things splashed on him. Listening to Grego's words, Eilina tilted her head slightly, then said.
"Distracted?"
"Yeah..." Grego said as he walked towards the bush where the movement had been earlier. After pushing it aside, he found nothing there except the short sword stuck in the dirt.
'Was it an illusion?'
Thinking this, Grego pulled out the stuck short sword. Blood was still on the blade.
Sheathing the short sword, Grego turned and looked at the team members in the woods, then ordered.
"Clean up the scene, prepare to return to Igwinte..."
...
On the outskirts of Wokan Town, at the edge of the small woods to the west, a girl with long white hair sat on a Stone. Her expression was focused, her eyes tightly closed, as if she was deep in thought and meditation.
Suddenly, the woods behind the girl rustled. A large Black Dog, completely black and covered in scars, emerged from the dense bush. In its mouth, it held a briefcase.
The Black Dog came to the Stone and squatted down. Dorothy, who was sitting on the Stone, opened her eyes at this moment, then jumped down from the Stone.
"You've worked hard, good boy..." With a smile, Dorothy stroked the head of the Black Dog before her. The Black Dog then let go of its mouth, placing the briefcase in front of Dorothy.
"Now, rest in peace..."
Looking at the scarred Black Dog before her, Dorothy lightly said while stroking the ring on her hand. Immediately after, the Black Dog completely lost its life and fell directly to the ground.
That's right, this Corpse Puppet dog was controlled by Dorothy. Its source was Edrick's residence in Wokan Town.
During the day, Dorothy found Edrick's house in Wokan Town. Using the key she found on him, she successfully snuck in and found a large number of animal and even human corpses inside.
It could be seen that, as the previous holder of the Corpse Puppet Ring, Edrick had conducted a large number of experiments on the ring. His house not only stored a large number of spare Corpse Puppets of various kinds, but Dorothy also found his research notes within, all about the effects of the Corpse Puppet Ring.
According to the notes, he found this ring at an antique market. He discovered its function by chance and had been using it to conduct various experiments to test its performance.
In Edrick's notes, Dorothy learned that the Corpse Puppet Ring had a maximum limit of two Corpse Puppets that could be controlled simultaneously, with a control radius of about three kilometers. If the Corpse Puppet's sensory organs were largely intact, the controller could share the Corpse Puppet's senses, meaning they could see through the Corpse Puppet's eyes and hear through its ears.
Additionally, the Corpse Puppet Ring had a certain anti-corrosion effect on the controlled Corpse Puppets. As long as the Corpse Puppet Ring was continuously influencing a Corpse Puppet, the Corpse Puppet could be kept from decaying for a long time.
The Black Dog before Dorothy was one of Edrick's "collections". Dorothy used it to seize benefits during the conflict between the mysterious organization and the An Yin Bureau that just occurred...
Yes, since Dorothy personally directed this play, she naturally wouldn't be satisfied with just being a spectator. She had long set her sights on what she wanted.
That is the "reward" that the mysterious organization promised to give Edrick after the matter was completed.
According to the letter, this reward could help Edrick formally step into the so-called "Extraordinary Realm", thereby qualifying him to become one of them.
And now, this reward was before Dorothy.
However... the gains Dorothy obtained from this play were not limited to this.
Picking up the briefcase, Dorothy gazed at the lifeless Black Dog Corpse Puppet before her. Her gaze focused on a wound on the Black Dog's lower back.
Unlike the other wounds on the Black Dog, this wound was new and had just been inflicted. The wound was caused by a short sword, a short sword that flew from outside the bush and into it when the Black Dog escaped from the bush.
"Huh... it seems you've been doing really well in the city these past few years, Brother Grego..."