378 Oddity?

'She is the one behind this...?'

The voice that came out of the earpiece was that of a woman, and although it seemed to be an unusually young one, it most definitely belonged to the crazy cult master.

Either way, she seemed to be the only one who I could link this voice to from the ones that could use this enchanted earpiece to talk with the rest of us.

\u003cThat's commendable for someone like you… I'm almost done on my side\u003e

This time, it was the Supreme Sword who did indeed seem to be almost done with his task, as I already noticed him pushing the last 'mini-boss' whose body was riddled with injuries to a corner.

This set of items was naturally prepared for the sake of communication with the main actors of this battle, the commanders of each 'team' that are responsible for each erupted base. In case information needed to be exchanged or if one of them critically needed help from the others, this would naturally come in handy.

Of course, I couldn't be considered a 'main actor' in the other faction heads' eyes, but I was still given one of the items since I was supposed to be the one who knew the most about our current situation.

As no other voice came out for the next few seconds, I activated my earpiece to voice out what I had in mind, but someone spoke just then…

\u003cSo this didn't only happen with me…?\u003e

It was a voice that I didn't recognize this time, which was natural since I didn't personally meet with every 'team leader'. The ones I was familiar with where only the top faction heads.

I thought that no one would answer to the cult master's 'prank call' since everyone should be busy with their own battle, but...

\u003cPardon me, I know this might have appeared to be me acting rude, Cult Master, but that wasn't my intention. It's just that I was wondering if the main figures in the demons' ranks in your side have also weakened out of the blue?\u003e

\u003cHmmm? You as well?\u003e

\u003cI also seem to have experienced something simi…\u003e

\u003cMe as well, I…\u003e

'This…'

As I was just about to seek an answer for the question I had at hand, it seemed like the other incident that alarmed me, the tri-horned demon having been sent flying just now, was opened for discussion…

The number of the transmissions that were sent in confirmation to the question was well over half of the people who should have received the special earpiece, at this point, one could easily confirm that it wasn't just a simple oddity that happened at random.

\u003cIt seems that we were all indeed met with this incomprehensible situation… I have been simply stalling to confirm that this wasn't a trap of some sort, but judging from the Cult Master's experience, it seems that there is nothing of that sort… this changes everything\u003e

The one who asked the question at the beginning reconfirmed his experience in some detail as his voice carried a hint of excitement.

As for the one who the question was directed to...

\u003cI see… so did all the whole demon horde in your side weaken as well?\u003e

She just threw another question in return.

\u003cUhm… no, there is nothing of that sort on my side…\u003e

The guy only answered as the earpiece's transmission channel was once again silent, the topic seemed to have been shifted once again. This time…

\u003cDid you do something else other than killing the commander on your side? Was there anything else that's worth noting that followed that other than the overall weakening of demons there?\u003e

Since the Cult Master was the only one facing this situation, it was already obvious that this was a singularity that might have been invoked by her act of killing the commander, but the exact cause was yet to be defined.

Just taking the base's Overseer down didn't count as destroying a base before, so there had to be something else that made something like this possible.

\u003cAh yes, there was such a thing, my last attack which spread through that demon's body seemed to have destroyed some sort of a black ornament that was hung around his wrist… a tiny cloud of black mist emerged from it before dissipating very quickly…\u003e

The Cult Master didn't seem to mind the fact that an unqualified outsider like me was speaking as she answered after a few more seconds of silence…

'It's there…'

Half a minute didn't even pass by this point as our talk so far was transmitted in instants. The tri-horned demon was finally trying to rise from the rubble while the combatants on both sides seemed to be confused about what was happening.

But I did manage to see it.

A pearl necklace of black color that seemed out of place yet didn't really stand out until now. Though the shape seemed different, there was no mistaking it, this was…

'A deformed corruption core…'

Being currently close in location to the tri-horned demon, my Perception was definitely catching the same feeling that a corruption core gave off that necklace. The reason behind me not noticing it at the very first confrontation seemed to be due to some sort of an enchant to keep it 'unnoticeable', which has become useless now.

'So that's what it means for them to take the battle outside…?'

Going by the experience I have had so far, the destruction of a base's corruption core shouldn't cause the demons of this base to be weakened.

It was true that I never actually tested that throughout my base hunts, as I always took care of the demons first, but through proper observation and mental perception, I could 99% confirm that only the 'Corruption Administrator' was the only person that had an actual link with the corruption core, which explained why only a demon in that position could control the core to perform certain orders.

However, that no longer seemed to be the case…

'So that's it…'