Chapter 867

As time passed, dusk soon arrived.

The Royal Capital was still very lively, but there were some changes in the liveliness.

Unbeknownst to everyone, groups of fully armed knights surged onto the streets and began to seal off some areas.

To be more specific, they were sealing off some of the more remote and uninhabited areas.

"The Royal Knights are carrying out a mission here."

"Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to come near."

"Please stay away from this area."

One by one, the Royal Knights expressed their support to the civilians near the sealed areas in a forceful or tactful manner, leaving the civilians bewildered and confused.

"What happened?"

"Why did they suddenly seal off the roads?"

"Did something happen during the Three Clans Conference?"

"Who knows …"

The group of civilians could only discuss among themselves in confusion. In the end, they all obediently left the isolated area that was sealed off.

This led to the scene of the Royal Knights sealing off an area in every corner of the Royal Capital, leaving the civilians puzzled.

These civilians did not know that in fact, there was something even more puzzling to them.

That was, after the Royal Knights sealed off the remote and uninhabited areas, the armed forces began to enter and frantically search inside.

Among these armed forces, there were the Royal Knights of the Kingdom, the Imperial Knights of the Empire, the Clerics of the Beastmen, and the Elf Division of the Elves. They were all top troops from various human forces.

Obviously, this time, there were not only people from the Royal Knights, but also other human forces.

It was obvious that they were working together instead of fighting against each other.

Under such circumstances, very soon, the things that happened in the various remote areas and shadowy alleys of the Royal Capital were easily discovered.

"Found it!"

"There's one here too!"

"Look here!"

"It's here!"

In every corner, the combat troops of human forces finally discovered the darkness that appeared here.

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

One by one, their skin and flesh were torn open as if there was a ferocious beast living in their bodies. They either transformed into the body of a beast or had ferocious beast limbs burrowing out of their flesh and blood. They let out a completely irrational roar and pounced on the Knights, Clerics, and Elven Mages who discovered their existence.

"Go!"

"Surround them!"

"Don't let them leave this place!"

The knights, priests, and elven mages were not frightened by such a terrifying existence. Instead, they seemed to be mentally prepared for it. They calmly faced the monsters head-on and battled with them.

"Bang!"

In the corner of an alley, a few monsters were hit by the flames and were instantly ignited. They struggled in the raging flames and burned to ashes.

"What … what kind of monsters are these?"

Jenom, who had worked together with a few elven Spellcasters to use the fire magic just now, shuddered in fear.

"Are they the monsters that the Queen wants us to cooperate with the Royal Knights to deal with?"

Caroline, who was in charge of leading the group, also held a staff in her hand. She frowned.

Not far from the Elven Mages, the Mages and Elven Mages were fighting the monsters.

Of course, the kingdom and empire's knights weren't to be outdone either.

"Royal Mages!"

Tilly gripped her sharp knight's sword and took a few breaths as she beheaded a monster that pounced on her.

Tilly took a few breaths as she slashed a monster that had broken free from its body.

"Pfft!" Her greatsword cut through the air, cutting a ferocious beast that had struggled free from its human body into two. Large amounts of blood splattered all over the place.

Alidia gripped his greatsword tightly, frowning as he looked at the monster he had slain.

"Is this the 'Beast Lair' that Her Highness mentioned?"

Alidia murmured.

"Beast Lair".

That referred to having a demonic being residing in their body, having their body taken over by the demonic being and fusing with the demonic being, becoming a parasite of the demonic being. It was like a mobile demonic beast nest.

Just a few days ago, Rosie had suddenly found Ancey and mentioned this existence to Ancey and Lia in front of Alidia.

"This is the information I got from that old demon sect called Xiu Di."

With such a sentence as an opening, Rosie explained the whole matter in detail.

Specifically, on the day of the Tri-Clan Conference, a portion of the Old Demons would attack the Royal Capital.

This was an attack plan that had arisen as soon as the Tri-Clan Conference was proposed.

The one who proposed it was none other than the Old Demons Shody belonged to — the [Lair of Beasts].

"According to him, the leader of this old Demons Faction is a Legendary powerhouse called Burke, who is a Level-97 Legendary powerhouse."

"Burke has a unique skill called [Lair of Beasts], the name of the Old Demons Sect that he created."

"This unique skill can use wild beasts, monsters, and even monsters as materials, forcing them into the human body, turning the human body into a mobile beast lair that feeds the beasts in the body."

"The person who becomes a 'beast lair' will lose his mind, or be affected by the violence of the beasts in the body, becoming a bomb that obeys the user of the [Lair of Beasts]."

This was the information that Rosie brought to Ancey and the others.

And this information just happened to explain why the people of the Old Demon Clan had been capturing monsters recently.

The reason was actually very simple. They needed these monsters.

They wanted to hand these monsters over to Burke and have him use the ability of the [Lair of Beasts] to create bombs called [Beast Lair], and send these bombs into the Royal Capital to detonate them.

"Their plan is simple: they would first use the [Beast Lair] to throw the Royal Capital into chaos, then use the chaos to send people skilled in stealth, assassination, and intelligence to infiltrate the Royal Capital and remove the Royal Capital's barrier."

Then, with the [Lair of Beasts] in the lead, the Old Demons Sect could launch a full-scale attack on the Royal Capital, causing a massacre in the Royal Capital and disrupting the Tri-Clan Conference.

"They even have several backup plans, such as moving the [Beast Lair] that carries the poisonous monsters near the water source and poisoning the water in the Royal Capital. They could even have the [Beast Lair] bring real explosive magical items to the vicinity of the Hall of Glory, blowing up the Hall of Glory and all the participants in the Tri-Clan Conference."

Rosie's words shocked and angered Ancey, Leah, and the others.

Thus, after some discussion, Ancey and Leah decided on the spot to join forces with the other human factions to fight against the [Lair of Beasts] and the other Old Demons Sect members.

Perhaps the people in the Royal Capital didn't even know that the Royal Capital seemed no different from usual at first glance. It was still bustling and prosperous, but in fact, many human factions, including the kingdom, had already made arrangements.

Yule had the clergymen of the Temple of Glory stand guard near the water source, constantly paying attention to the situation near the water source, and every once in a while, they would use purification magic on the water source to purify the toxins that might have been mixed in.

The magic nation, Raraby, had also participated in the arrangement. It had set up magic spells for detection around the Hall of Glory, constantly monitoring the surroundings of the Hall of Glory to prevent any "beast nest" from appearing here.

On the other hand, the kingdoms, empires, orc clergy, elves, and various other factions had sent out their own forces to wipe out the [Beast Lair] after it appeared.

With Rosie's information, Ancey naturally wouldn't just sit and wait for death. A few days ago, she had already altered the type of barrier in the Royal Capital, reducing the defensive capabilities of the barrier by a little, but adding the effect of an alarm against abnormal mana.

Thus, when the [Beast Lair] appeared inside the Royal Capital and started to activate, the Royal Capital's barrier immediately detected abnormal mana, alerting the magical items that Ancey brought along and connected to the barrier.

With that in mind, Alidia and the others quietly left the Hall of Glory and led the main force to seal off the area where the [Beast Lair] appeared, wiping out the [Beast Lair] that appeared here.

Pfft!

After slashing another [Beast Lair] that pounced at him, Alidia turned to the knights around him.

"Send out the order. Don't leave a single one out, and don't let any of them run out onto the streets."

Alidia ordered expressionlessly.

"Yes!"

The knights immediately received the order.

Just like that, while the conspiracy of the Old Demons was brewing, the major human forces, led by the kingdom, started to wipe out the [Beast Lair] in the outlying areas of the Royal Capital.

And all of this, the civilians in the Royal Capital didn't know.

…

In an unknown cave on the outskirts of the Royal Capital.

"Huh?"

A man who had been sitting there with his eyes closed and had not moved for a long time suddenly opened his eyes.

"What's going on?" The man said in a deep voice, "Why did the [Beast Lair] I sent out disappear so quickly?"

This man was the leader of the [Beast Lair], Burke.

"They've already been wiped out?"

"So fast?"

Burke's brows furrowed deeper and deeper as he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

It was inevitable that the [Beast Lair] would be wiped out.

Even if they were to charge into the streets of the Royal City and wreak havoc, committing countless killings and fulfilling their role perfectly, they would be annihilated sooner or later by the time the nearby knights realized what was going on and rushed over.

In other words, Burke had already prepared for the [Beast Lair] to be wiped out one by one.

However, logically speaking, the [Beast Lair] that was sent into the Royal Capital should have just started to take effect, and it shouldn't have had time to do anything. How could it suddenly be wiped out so quickly?

"… Come!"

Burke was silent for a while before calling out to his men.

"Leader!"

"Leader!"

Instantly, many men in black with cloaks appeared one by one and knelt in front of Burke.

Burke immediately ordered.

"Inform the other leaders of the Old Demons. Tell them that there might be a change in the plan, and they should take action now."

"You guys too. Send people into the Royal Capital and make sure that the enchantment of the Royal Capital is broken."

"Also, send out the higher-level [Beast Lair]."

Burke gave a series of orders in a row.

"Yes!"

The men in black took the orders and all left the cave to carry out the orders.

"… I have a bad feeling about this."

Burke murmured to himself.

Inside his body, a series of beast roars came out, and gradually, madness appeared in his eyes.