Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

Castle of Might

"What is happening here?" D'andre asked as he appeared inside the throne room, where the seekers were bowing their heads fearfully to Venerable Mario, who gazed upon them with a merciless glint in his eyes.

His appearance caused a rapid change in the atmosphere in the room.

After hearing his voice, the seekers rejoiced inwardly, for they now believed they stood a chance of surviving Venerable Mario's wrath.

Meanwhile, Venerable Mario's intense gaze softened as he turned to look at his loquacious friend, a somewhat puzzled expression on his face.

D'andre stared at the seekers for a few seconds before turning his attention to Venerable Mario.

"Are you working your superiority complex again by making these men bow like this?" he asked, his tone light and teasing.

Venerable Mario's head twitched in annoyance. He had warned D'andre repeatedly to stop accusing him of having a superiority complex, yet his friend never seemed to listen.

"What are you all bowing for? Leave the throne room—I have something important to discuss with my buddy," he declared.

D'andre waved at the seekers, signaling them to depart as he strolled toward an empty seat.

But the seekers were too frightened to move from their positions, terrified that Venerable Mario might suddenly lose his temper and slaughter them.

Fortunately, Venerable Mario's mood had improved thanks to D'andre's presence, so he told them to leave, promising he would deal with them later.

The seekers stood up and cast grateful looks in D'andre's direction, he was seen as the angel of light sent to rescue them from impending doom, and naturally, they were thankful.

One after the other, they zapped out of the room with lightning speed before Venerable Mario could change his mind.

"What is it you want to tell me?" Venerable Mario asked a few seconds after they left, his eyes fixed coldly on D'andre.

"I hope this isn't your usual chatter about some cool chicks you've recently been with, or else we might have some serious issues," he added.

D'andre chuckled and replied, "Come on, man, I could never do something like that."

But Venerable Mario raised an eyebrow at him.

"That was in the past, I'm a changed man," D'andre quickly corrected, prompting the lord of the Castle of Might to let out a cold snort.

"Have you heard any news about those goonies recently?" D'andre asked in a serious tone.

"The Cult of Ember Justice? Yeah, those bastards have been extremely active lately—at least three new territories have been taken down... Oh, and Winterseed, the territory of your friend, was among them as well," Venerable Mario replied.

His response prompted D'andre to nod gravely before asking, "What are your plans? Have you been able to pinpoint their hideout yet or determine the whereabouts of any of their prominent members?"

Naturally, Venerable Mario was not the type to divulge top-secret plans of his territory to others.

But D'andre was no ordinary person, and although he was habitually talkative, he knew when to keep quiet about secrets.

Moreover, judging by D'andre's arrival and the serious questions he had asked so far, he seemed genuinely interested in the matter. Who knows? Perhaps the great merchant might have some merchandise to help expedite the mission and bring those disgusting goonies down, maybe even offering it for free.

With those internal confirmations, Venerable Mario proceeded to spill their recent plans.

"Before the incident, Winterseed was flagged as a potential target of the cult, so I sent some of my best spy knights to keep watch over them in case the cult attacked.

However, their mission was strictly to observe, locate the cultists, and track them to their hideout—and fortunately, they managed to follow them to a secret location hidden deep in the dark forest.

Sadly, they have no means to enter the hideout, as it is protected by numerous layers of illusion and security magics that are tough to crack…"

Venerable Mario spoke for about three minutes, detailing how the spy knights had failed to break through the security magics and enter the hideout. He even mentioned that Rowan was extremely lucky, as the cult had only abducted three of his people without destroying his village as they had in other territories.

While he spoke, D'andre grew confused—why hadn't the spy knights attacked the cultists when they arrived?

"Your spy knights are as strong as those goonies—if not stronger. Why didn't they simply attack and prevent the kidnapping instead of just watching and tracking? They could have easily captured one and tortured them for answers," D'andre blurted out.

Unable to hold his thoughts any longer, he asked.

D'andre knew that his buddy's character wasn't exactly heroic in terms of his actions, but he never imagined he'd actually make such a mistake.

"You really think those bastards would just spill their secrets under pressure? You're underestimating them too much," Venerable Mario retorted.

"What do you mean?" D'andre pressed.

"The Cult of Ember Justice has proven itself to be the strongest of all dark magic organizations.

Their identities and secrets have remained intact for decades, and they wield spells and magical powers beyond human comprehension.

Do you really believe that such a cult wouldn't implement serious mental security measures to prevent any leakage of information if one of their members were captured?"

D'andre mulled over this and found himself in reluctant agreement.

"My words aren't just theories, just last month, one of my archmage friends managed to capture three of the cult's low-ranking goonies. They tried to extract useful information from them—but guess what happened?"

"They died?" D'andre guessed.

"Exactly. And not only that, according to him, they were killed the moment he took his eyes off them. Apparently, someone appeared and slaughtered them," Venerable Mario continued.

D'andre was greatly surprised by this revelation.

He also became deeply worried about the fate of Rowan and Riela. At this point, he wasn't certain of their safety.

"Tell me the location of the hideout," he requested in a serious tone.