War I

[Bleeding Rage Valley]

Luna's Lunar Mind was her greatest Passive Skill. It allowed her to connect to five people's minds as long as she could retain her calm, and its connection was almost non-existent.

It was a passible skill meaning it could be used without expending any mana.

It could only be used when the Moon was up, and it could reach anyone without a problem. It had no drawbacks other than it took a lot of stamina and mental strength for prolonged usage.

Luna's fatigue usually goes up to a hundred percent after an hour of use. And although it could reach anyone, the farther one was, the more it took a toll on Luna.

Even though all of it tolls Luna's health and fatigue, she still uses it without a second thought.

Currently, Luna was connected to Dhampy, Lilith, and Eve. She was moving through the night, and despite her low AGT stats, Luna could still go about moving like there was no problem and even managed to travel together with Lilith.

But such a thing could only happen during the night.

It was the night, and as the Moon Queen, Luna got many buffs if the Moon was out; the [Gliding with the Moon] Passive Skill was one of these buffs.

Luna may be useless during the day, but she was an integral part of the Shadow Troops nonetheless. Luna's worth was immeasurable.

Lilith was on her Tribulation Leopard form; she ran with the rest and was close to Luna. She suddenly stopped to rest as she perched on a branch, her eyes gazed upon the horizon.

They were in the middle of nowhere; there was nothing but trees ahead of them. Or so it would seem.

Lilith saw otherwise as she caught a glimpse of claw markings on the trees ahead.

"Luna, connect me to Dhampy."

Luna did not ask anything, and she formed a channel with Lilith and Dhampy inside.

~ Dhampy, what does it look like on your side? ~ Lilith casually asked while looking around.

Dhampy was moving in the front, ahead of Lilith and Luna. Currently, she too, was perched on a branch as she analyzed the situation.

Looking around, she saw markings surrounding the area; there was a clawed out marking on a tree. After assessing the situation some more, she finally made the decision to answer with decisiveness:

~ There are signs of territory Markings around the area, Boss. They could only be Werewolves or Night Stalkers… the claw marks here signified their territory. ~

~ It appears that Giathe and the others were correct. I need to make a quick assessment of our future moves now. As for you, head North and check what kind of daemons living over there. ~ Lilith gave another order.

~ I understand, Boss; please take care while you move around; we are in Werewolf territory, after all. ~

~ You as well. ~

The connection disappeared, and Lilith was left to think on her own.

'Alpha, go and mark this as the Werewolves' territory.'

[Okay.]

A map appeared in front of Lilith. It was the updated Minimap, the one that had used the HNP's information databank.

What Lilith got was the B+ Rank map that's given to Hunters of this rank.

It was not as comprehensive as she wanted it to be, but it was good enough. She was currently at the edges of a region located right above the Scorching Forest called the Bleeding Rage Valley. It was a place ruled by a daemon from a Dungeon Break called Tyrant Blood Gorilla.

The [Tyrant Blood Gorilla] was a daemon that led a pack of Tyrant Apes, and from what she got on the Hunters' information, the Tyrant Blood Gorilla was not an intelligent creature. But despite this fact, it was still powerful.

It moved according to its instincts and had only managed to rule this place by suppressing everything around it. In short, it was a daemon ruling by force alone.

Being a daemon from within a Dungeon meant that its intelligence was virtually non-existent than Lilith and the daemons in her village.

Many attempts had been made to subjugate said beast, but no one had succeeded thus far. Its extermination Rank had already reached [A Rank].

Though it had yet to take over the entirety of the Bleeding Rage Valley, the Tyrant Blood Gorilla was already considered a King.

If Lilith wanted to take over this Bleeding Rage Valley, her best bet would be to beat the shit out of this gorilla, kill it, and then begin from there.

But to do that, she needs to confirm that the Intelligent Daemons capable of forming actual villages, and then she would need to contact them so that they would not necessarily attack her.

Lilith wanted the intelligent daemons under her.

However, such a thing was currently an impossibility.

'I need to find a way to inform them without antagonizing them.' Lilith was a foreign power appearing from out of nowhere, and she would not blame the other daemons if they view her as an invasive force.

'Welp, it appears that I need to start being political.' Lilith sighed as she didn't like this tedious bit, "Luna, let's go back; we're going to meet Giathe. We need their help if we want to form a peaceful connection with the Werewolves of these lands,"

When she returns to the village, Lilith would speak to the Eldest of the Werewolves, and without a problem, Giathe agreed to help their beloved Priestess, in any form she could, so, after a day of preparations, Lilith decided to pay the local Werewolves a visit as a sign of courtesy.

This event was happening in the East of Stronghold 3.

Usually, such movements would be pick up humans' interest and be monitored intensively.

Lilith already made preparations to make this discreet to avoid such an annoying thing. However, she didn't actually need to do such a thing because something else was going on, taking everyone's attention.

The humans' attention was placed in the opposite direction. Over at the Western Side of Stronghold 3, there was a massive Gate forming.

A massive Gate deemed an S-Rank problem formed, but what's worst was that it was on the verge of having its contents escape into the outside world.

There was the risk of a Monster Outbreak...