After discovering the enemy's main force, Loka knew that it was time to retreat—just as Roland the Great Chieftain and Lightning had said, such an opponent was definitely not something she could handle alone, and the important thing was to send the news back to Neverwinter City.

She had already proven herself in the previous battle. If the devils took root here, she would have many more opportunities to fight these monsters in the future.

Although she made a judgment in her head, she did not choose to leave immediately, but planned to find a high point to observe the movements of the devils up close. It was easy for people to think she was running away if she simply said, "I saw many devils." If she could bring back more information, even the Great Chieftain would owe her a favor.

In this way, no matter whether the words the other party said when they met were concern or sarcasm, they would be self-defeating—what she wanted was not an apology, but recognition. Even in a life-and-death battle, she could play an eye-catching role. To put it mildly, this was her personal glory. To put it profoundly, this would greatly improve the weight of the Wildfire Clan in the Great Chieftain's heart.

So she did it.

Of course, she would not say these thoughts directly, but simply describe them as good.

Loka quickly found an abandoned stone tower not far from the ruins of Taqila. Although the tower was almost half destroyed and covered with moss and vines, it was also the best observation point in the vicinity.

For the convenience of evacuation, she did not wear clothes, but carried her luggage on her back and climbed to the top of the tower wrapped in a cloak.

The big hole broken at the top was just enough for her to fit in, and with the curtain-like vines, even the Terror Beasts that flew over her head several times failed to discover her踪迹.

Then she finally saw the true face of the behemoth.

It wasn't even a living thing!

"They're not... alive?" Hearing this, Wendy couldn't help but break the silence and asked.

"That's all I can think," Loka whispered, "Those guys don't look like they have any biological characteristics at all, but they look like..."

"Looks like what?"

"The iron bridge you built on the Redwater River."

The others looked at each other, somewhat unable to understand for a moment. "A bridge?"

"I also... felt incredible at the time, but the fact is that," she coughed weakly twice, "It has a straight torso like a bridge deck, and four long legs are distributed on both sides of the body like bridge piers, but... whether it is the torso or the limbs, the surface is not covered with any flesh and blood. Through those hollow skeletons and iron sheets, I can clearly see the scene behind the monster."

Wendy couldn't help but gasp.

An autonomously acting steel bridge? Is this something the devils made?

Loka rested for a moment before continuing, "Each skeleton monster is at least sixty feet tall, and many devils are fixed on its top surface, looking like layers of insect eggs from a distance. And its abdomen is hung with a huge sac, like an organ peeled from something, not only can you feel it pulsing, but also see the dark red mist surging inside through the epidermis." She clenched her fist and gently placed it on her chest, "By the Three Gods, those monsters look extremely evil."

Ashes frowned, "...And then?"

"Then they were lying around the ruins, and hundreds of tubes hung down from the sac and inserted into the ground, turning the surrounding land into black-brown lumps. And the weeds and trees on the surface quickly withered, as if their lives had been drained. Most of the devils also sank into the ground, leaving only hundreds of Mad Demons and more than a dozen Terror Beasts to continue to patrol and reconnaissance around the ruins."

"Did you see a devil with countless eyeballs and tentacles?" Wendy asked as she recorded the wolf girl's findings, "They often stay in high places, looking like a wriggling mass of flesh."

"A multi-eyed demon?" Loka shook her head, "Lightning mentioned its danger to me, but I didn't find it in the devil army."

"Then your injury is..."

"I was too careless," she said with some frustration, "I hid on the top of the tower for three days, and the Terror Beasts flew over this area many times, but there was no sign that they wanted to thoroughly investigate this place. I thought that the horns blown by the Mad Demons earlier did not attract the attention of the main force, and it was not until the retreat that I found that several teams of devils had already lurked nearby."

"Wait... they still do this kind of thing?" Dusk said in surprise, "I used to hear you say that devils are strong but simple-minded beasts?"

"The devils at the bottom are indeed like this, but it's different when someone commands them," Tilly pondered, "There is likely to be a high-level devil in this group of enemies."

"There is no perfect solution when facing unknown enemies," Ashes patted her on the shoulder, "It is very rare for you to escape danger with your will and return to Neverwinter City alive."

This was the first time Wendy had heard such formal praise from an Extraordinary.

"Maybe, fortunately... that guy didn't come to me in person," Loka squeezed out a smile weakly, "When my whereabouts were exposed, I immediately turned into a wolf and accelerated my escape under the cover of night, which also caused their javelin attacks to lose their accuracy. I don't know how many pursuers there are, I only know that there are always Terror Beasts hovering overhead."

"You—killed all the pursuers?" Tilly asked suspiciously.

Wendy also felt a hint of suspicion in her heart. If she couldn't get rid of the enemy's pursuit, the wolf girl would inevitably be endlessly pursued and intercepted, and the serious injuries she suffered proved this point. In addition, she could only passively be beaten, so it seemed that she was already in a desperate situation at the time.

"No... they gave up the chase," Loka replied, "I don't understand why... if they chased for another day, I would definitely not be able to hold on, but they chose to retreat."

"Red mist!" Tilly reacted quickly, "The devils' red mist must have run out—do you remember the place where they retreated?"

She rubbed her forehead and thought for a while, "It's probably five or six miles away from the grassland."

"Map? Get a map quickly."

Seeing Tilly drawing distances back and forth on the drawing, Wendy also understood what the other party meant. Those skeleton monsters were likely a kind of magic machine that transported red mist, like the siege beasts shown by the church, and Loka's description also indirectly proved this point. Both the army sinking into the ground and the land polluted by the red mist were exactly the same as the scene of the devil camp behind the snowy mountains.

If the Terror Beasts departing from the ruins could only approach the edge of the wilderness, does that mean that Neverwinter City is still in a relatively safe situation for the time being?

After learning about the general situation, Loka seemed exhausted, and the bandages wrapped around her wounds oozed blood again.

After comforting her to rest well and focus on recuperating before Nana Wawa came back, Wendy led everyone out of the bedroom and gently closed the door.