The rest of the group, the guild members, experienced the same fate as their group leader. Kailen killed them all surgically, swiftly. Kailen stored all their corpses in his secret realm.

"Now, time to begin the mission."

Kailen scanned the Southern Mountain range again. He noted several bandit groups.

"I can’t deal with all of them. They are all rank 1 novice-stage transcendents, but there’s too many of them. The worst part is they are all in groups. Even from my position, there’s a possibility of being discovered. Even if I meld with the void and appear at a different part of the Southern Mountain range after striking and killing some of them, suspicion of someone trying to get rid of the bandit groups will be too risky for me. All the more reason to proceed with the adjusted plan. Time to look for a bloodthirsty fire chaotic beast."

Bloodthirsty fire chaotic beasts, as the name implied, were chaotic beasts extremely drawn to the scent of blood. Also, they had the Principle of Fire. Kailen had read about several chaotic beasts; he naturally knew how a bloodthirsty fire chaotic beast looked.

Kailen didn’t find any for a while. However, he was patient. He kept searching the mountain range. All this while, several bandits were disrupting trade routes and causing trouble. Naturally, Kailen didn’t care. He was not a hero. He was here for a mission, that’s all.

After four days, Kailen finally spotted a bloodthirsty fire chaotic beast.

The beast looked ethereal. Flames were circling its body in streams. It looked very magical. It was like a panther. The beast was very large—about ten feet tall. Each step it took caused its surroundings to burn. It was not the only one in the vicinity. There were several other bloodthirsty fire chaotic beasts in the area.

"They are all rank 1 novice-stage chaotic beasts. Transcendents at the same level will be naturally weaker than them. This makes things much easier."

Several space tears appeared. The dead body of one of the four guild members appeared. There were several mutilated parts dripping with blood. The mutilated parts dripping with blood were spread tactically, leading towards a particular direction.

The same thing happened with the dead bodies of the other three guild members. The bloodthirsty fire chaotic beasts sensed the scent of blood. Voracious glints and mad intents flashed through their eyes.

****

In one of the regions of the Southern Mountain range, a group of bandits were gleeful. They had just obtained several gold coins from a robbery. The money was quite astronomical.

"Boss, this time, we can manage to hire a rank 2 novice-stage light transcendent to heal your injuries. After that, we can show the Northern Mountain range fuckers who’s boss," someone spoke.

The boss of this gang, a vampire with handsome features, replied, "Hehe. Finally. I heard those fuckers have some leads to what we wanted, too."

"Boss, you mean..."

"Yes," the boss nodded.

Suddenly, a bestial roar reverberated in the environment. The temperature rose to extreme degrees.

"Shit, it must be a chaotic beast with the Principle of Fire!"

"Boss, look, there’s blood at the entrance... there’s a leg dripping with blood at the entrance!" one of the gang members bellowed, with a shaky hand and voice.

The boss widened his eyes. Realization dawned on him. "Don’t tell me..."

He appeared at the entrance. What he saw left him utterly helpless and terrified. A ginormous, panther-looking beast bathed in fire appeared at the edge of the cave. It had a very voracious look in its eyes. Its mouth was salivating.

"Did someone use this dead body dripping with blood to lure this beast here? What kind of madman will attempt something like this... we need to esc—"

Before he could even finish speaking, the creature breathed fire into the cave. The fire enveloped everyone in the cave. Screams reverberated everywhere. Very soon, only the charred, roasted corpses of the bandits remained. The creature licked its lips and began to feast.

***

Kailen simply nodded as he observed what happened to the first bandit group.

"That went well."

The same sight that happened to the first gang kept repeating itself across the Southern Mountain range. Bloodthirsty fire chaotic beasts would appear suddenly at various places where gangs had gathered, roast them, and eat them up.

Kailen had used the blood of the dead guild members to lure the bloodthirsty fire chaotic beasts to the gangs. This had been the adjusted plan he came up with concerning the mission after he noticed the plan of the four guild members concerning him.

Very soon, all the bandits in the Southern Mountain range had been dealt with. As for the bloodthirsty fire chaotic beasts, they were having the feast of their lives.

Kailen was currently standing at the edge of the Southern Mountain range. He had a very satisfied expression on his face.

"Thanks to those four guys, this mission turned out easier than expected," he muttered to himself and melded with the void and disappeared.

***

In the Dawnseer Guild, several guild members were chatting among themselves.

"Seriously, to think the Count of Castelan would end up dead in the end."

"I suppose even with Darkhaven completing the mission, the Count could not use the information Darkhaven obtained to his advantage."

"Right, in the end, the mysterious person who targeted his daughter got to him first."

"Yeah, I heard a new count will be arriving in the district the day after tomorrow. It’s a real pity, though—the Count’s issue."

"Mmm. They said even the law enforcement people couldn’t find any leads."

"I don’t believe in that bullshit. Whoever was behind the death of the Count of Castelan probably bribed them."

"Shhh... watch your mouth. You don’t talk about the law enforcement fuckers like that."

"Hehe, what are you afraid of? Is that not obvious?"

"We can’t know, right? Quick, let’s select our mission and get to work."

"Yeah."

"Girl, are you seeing what I’m seeing?"

"What?"

"The mission board... a high-difficulty mission... Kailen Darkhaven... he completed another one again..."