Ed noticed how much they had underestimated Blood sect's influence. They may have disappeared for over a hundred years, but they still managed to draw millions of people to join them. Thousands of posts covered the entirety of the continent. Ed could only imagine the state of the other three continents right now. Of course, numbers didn't mean anything in front of absolute power. Ed knew that the thousands of posts will have at most Heavenly Establishment people.
Blood sect wouldn't invest Immortal Establishment cultivators in such a large number. It was a question if there were even this much of such cultivators. This was clear due to Ed's attack on Emilia's kingdom. He had asked her if the kingdom didn't have a general or any other capable people. Emilia explained to him that those kinds of people were either killed for not joining Blood sect. Or joined them willingly and were moved to another continent. This was a way for Blood sect to dispel any hope of changing their minds by throwing them in the midst of Blood sect members.
'We're not fighting brutes with no brains after all…' Ed thought to himself as he descended near the first post. He did nothing but stare at his Map, and then leave. But, he didn't forget to leave behind a wooden sigil. He then did the same for the next ten or so posts. Each time he would descend a couple of kilometers away in order to avoid detection. He didn't use Zero Sign or his dimension to save up on energy. He only relied on the stealth effect of his Spectral Shadow Steps.
Ed managed to draw a conclusion about the posts by visiting only ten about them. There were small, medium, and large posts. The small posts had only about 300 members, mediums had 500. The large posts had up to 1000 members. The strongest cultivator that Ed could feel from each of them was Earth Establishment level 8, Heavenly Establishment level 5, and level 10 respectively. Each one of the posts had humans and monsters, as well as Oni or beast men. Ed used Zero Sign only once in order to find out about the races in one of the posts.
'How are they able to do it…' Ed thought to himself after seeing the monsters. They weren't chained or put in cages. Instead, they were roaming around the members of Blood sect as if they were friends. Ed, as a monster tamer, knew that such a thing was almost impossible. The monsters were varied in type so it wasn't possible for such members to tame them. He also thought that the soul contract was not a viable solution. They would lose double the numbers in case someone dies. The only possible conclusion Ed could think about was a beast tamer joined Blood sect. A rather strong one in fact. But he never heard of a beast master capable of taming hundreds of thousands, even millions, of monsters at once.
'I'll think about it when the time comes.' Ed thought to himself as he headed back to Avalon. He met up with Garu in secret and handed him the white disguise set.
"Garu. Since you're a Lycan, you can transform into a human, right?" Ed had thought of this possibility ever since Garu became a werewolf. Garu nodded in agreement and proceeded to transform without waiting for Ed's confirmation. After he was done, Ed looked at him in surprise. Garu looked like a man in his early thirties. His hair remained silver while it was slicked back. His size decreased to almost two meters, but he still looked huge.
"Change into those." Ed pointed at the set of clothes he handed him just now. Garu agreed and wore the clothes that fit him magically, even though Ed was smaller than him. Ed had modified the clothes in order to fit whoever wears them. He was still growing, so the last thing he wanted is to turn up in a disguise were his pants didn't fit him. His decision worked in his favor, as now even Garu benefited from it.
"We're attacking Blood sect posts. I already prepared the teleportation locations, so we will save time. You can do whatever you want in the posts, but make sure to leave one or two alive. And make sure they take a good look at you in your disguise." Ed's plan seemed to be a little foolish, but it had a purpose. It was also the reason why Ed asked Garu to transform into his human form. He wanted Blood sect to worry about the two of them as they would destroy many posts.
Having survivors would lead to them heading to another post, where they will realize someone is hunting them. This way, they wouldn't think about attacking a kingdom, as they themselves are being attacked. This would lead to them being prepared to intercept Ed and Garu. But, Ed only did this to last until his mother's birthday is over. After that, he will lead all of his teammates to completely eradicate any post they could reach.
"Let's go." Ed had Garu put his hand on his shoulder as he teleported him to the first post.
"This is a large post; it has almost one thousand enemies. Let loose!" Ed smiled, but no one knew as his face was hidden under the mask. Before he left he turned around and said, "Oh, remember the spatial rings!"
Garu gave him a thumb up as he was also smiling under the mask. He quickly made his way to the post.
Ed also teleported to one of the large posts. He flew to the entrance, all while not using Zero Sign. He wanted the people to see his power firsthand, so whoever leaves will tell about his power. He wasn't going to let someone strong leave, as they might figure out some of his powers. He was going to let someone weak leave. An ant wouldn't care about the size of the shoe that killed it.
"Who are you?!" One of the members watching over the post screamed as he was looking at Ed, attracting the attention of his comrades.
"You see an enemy, and you foolishly ask questions. You should have attacked as soon as you saw me. Well, if you must know who I am." Ed was speaking in a different cold-blooded voice thanks to his voice disguise ability. His voice sent chills down everyone's backs. "I am your nightmare."
Surprisingly, both Ed and Garu said the same thing as they started their assault. An enormous explosion took place near the entrance of the post.
Hello everyone! I had to fight the urge to make Ed say 'We are Venom' when he was asked XD!
Enjoy the chapter.
As soon as the explosion took place, hundreds of members felt a cold wave of killing intent surrounding them. Ed released the largest range of his En and imbued it with bloodlust. Even the strong members couldn't help but shudder while they felt it. They hesitated to move due to fear, which proved to be a fatal mistake. Ed conjured more than one hundred lances of Fire and Water. He didn't stop there as he used Wind magic to turn them into spiraling lances. In a heartbeat, the lances attacked their targets which had frozen due to fear.
Monsters and cultivators fell victim to this attack. The lances didn't simply hit their target. Instead, they exploded upon impact causing them to affect more people. Ed didn't let up with his assault, as he created two lances each time one exploded. The post was not a fortified city. It was instead a glorified camping site with tents and fires spread all over the place. Ed's initial assault managed to kill a quarter of the people who were confused by the sudden change in their life.
The posts were all hidden, making it unlikely to be found. Even if they were found, they would usually kill the person that spotted them. Ed's sudden appearance disturbed the peace they had created for themselves.
"Who are you?!" Some of the strong cultivators turned up after regaining their composure. They couldn't make heads or tails from the current situation, so they asked Ed.
"Nightmare," Ed said while withdrawing Muramasa. The instant those cultivators' eyes caught sight of the weapon, was the instant they lost their lives. Ed swung his sword in a speed that couldn't be seen by their untrained eyes. Dozens of head rolled on the ground due to a flying fiery slash. By now, even the Heavenly Establishment cultivators and monsters turned up. They couldn't ignore the ruckus, nor Ed's aura which frightened them.
"You! Do you know who you're attacking! You won't get away with thi-" Before one of the men could finish his words, a sword burst out of his chest. "Aaaargh!" A scream was the only thing that escaped his mouth before he succumbed to death. Ed had teleported behind him and finished him off.
"I'm quite busy, so I would appreciate it if you helped me kill you quickly," Ed spoke to them as multiple version of him started appearing. Ed was using his speed clones combined with his Shadow Steps. People could only look in horror as they kept hearing a sword slash followed by a flying head. Suddenly, over a dozen silver knives appeared and started flying around the post. The strongest member of the post had a cultivation level of Heavenly Establishment level 10. He had a Flare Lion, who had the same cultivation, stay with him at all times.
Both of them turned up at the scene late as they were stationed in the opposite direction. Their pride in being the strongest in the post was shattered by the massacre that Ed was causing. The whole ground was dyed by the red blood of their comrades. Both of them felt a sense of danger rise from the pits of their stomach. Before they could even speak or prove their strength, silver knives appeared. Ed's knives wouldn't lose to any normal weapon. Thus, they hacked the two 'strongest' adding them to the countless bodies lying in the ground.
Less than half an hour later, the previously busy post turned dead silent. Only five members had remained from the original thousand or so. They only remained as they ran away for their lives. More accurately, Ed allowed them to run away. He was always monitoring them with his Map. He wanted to know if they had a way to reach another post of Blood sect. He confirmed his theory, as they headed towards one of the southern posts. The southern post wasn't one that will be hunted tonight so he teleported in front of them.
"I am watching," Ed spoke to them as he appeared like a ghost. Fear took over the bodies of those members. They tried to flee but couldn't. They looked at the black figure in front of them, which they could barely see due to the darkness. They were inside a forest. Being only King Establishment cultivators they didn't have the ability to see as well as the Heavenly ones. Yet, they caught the hand movements of Ed clearly. The hand moved sideways and claimed the lives of three members. The two left alive didn't know what happened, nor did they want to know.
"I will 'always' be watching," Ed spoke to them and disappeared. Ed left them with one last burst of killing intent. It was so dense and so chilling that they soiled themselves. Their hair started going grey. They waited for him to take their lives for many minutes, but he never appeared. They could only walk towards the next post with hesitation. No kingdom would take them in if they knew they're from Blood sect. And only death awaits them in other posts.
"Let's see. There was him, him, her, and him as well…" Ed kept going around gathering the spatial rings of the ones he marked. He marked those he deemed strong enough to have some useful items in their rings. They had one thing in common, a hole in their head. Ed spent a couple of minutes gathering the rings, and then he teleported to Garu's location.
"Oh hey! You're finished as well!" Ed saw a white figure waiting for him near his sigil. Ed looked over to the post and noticed that it was split into many circles. He flew in the sky to take a better look and noticed fire rings and ice rings. It was like an elemental onion with some slashes within it. 'It looks like he let loose like I told him.' Ed smiled while thinking.
"Master, take this." Garu handed Ed a spatial ring. Ed was surprised that he got only one of them but soon noticed that he had put spatial rings within a spatial ring. Ed stored them in his Inventory directly, so he never thought about this before.
"Thanks. We destroyed the large posts, so the rest will be much easier." Ed told Garu while he took his sigil back. He teleported both of them to the next location.
That night, Blood sect felt what a true nightmare is like. The surviving members had a tale to tell to the other posts, 'The Black/White Demon Nightmare is coming'.
Hello everyone! Your dose of badass Ed! Enjoy the chapter.
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