Last Ruler Of The Empty Throne-Chapter 63: Second group I

Among the new things Jon learned from the Moon skill in his "Mind World" was what he was demonstrating at that moment. He could use the whitish-blue fog to amplify the basic feelings of people around him, like the pain the evolvers were experiencing now.

So, each time the policemen beat the disobedient evolvers, he amplified the feeling of pain they felt. It was a situation where, if they normally felt a sting of pain, he increased its intensity.

"Argh!"

"Uwahh..."

"Please, stop!"

Ignoring the pleas of the defiant evolvers, Jon maintained the punishment for about four minutes. When the beating finally stopped, he released them from stasis.

As they collapsed to catch their breaths, Jon turned to the second group as if nothing had just happened and shouted, "Move!"

Snapping out of their dazes, the second group sheepishly moved toward the entrance, vowing never to be in a situation where they would be beaten like that. And looking at Jon, who ordered it, made them cower.

Leaving the camp, they passed the familiar route and arrived at the forest they had battled in the previous day. The large snake they had left was still in the same position. Ignoring the surprised soon-to-be evolvers, they moved forward to the area of the last battle. The ground was still littered with corpses of monsters, pooled in blood and gore that destroyed what little beauty the forest had left.

And this was among the things they planned for the rest of the survivors to do in their work.

The survivors passed by with widened eyes. The number of dead monsters was numerous to them, with some even forming little hills all around. And strangely, there was no bad stench coming from them.

Typically, corpses would smell after a certain amount of time, but these carcasses still looked fresh, as if they had just died. This was due to the mana within the monsters’ bodies, a phenomenon they had also experienced back at the university, where corpses didn’t smell even after long exposure.

Jon stopped for a while to assess the condition of the corpses, then they moved forward. They passed the area of the last wave they fought, and after walking for about twenty minutes, found something: a demarcation dividing the forest.

The demarcation took the form of a long river running across the forest, which continued beyond the water. And across the river, they could already see monsters on the other side, staring at them.

The group naturally stopped in front of the river. Jon looked at the monsters for a while before looking at the river with his "Moon Gaze". Realizing the water wasn’t deep, he thought, Why hadn’t the monsters crossed then?

Then it struck him immediately. He remembered the snake he had fought the previous day. It was the strongest and only first-realm monster in that part of the forest, and after its death, the rest had a war for its position.

The snake was the owner of that territory, and this was the end of the territory and the start of another. It was a territory marker. His eyes widened with the realization.

"So, it’s like that. It even makes things easier," he thought out loud. If all the forest they crossed was divided this way, it could serve as protection for the evolvers. He wouldn’t always be around to help them level up, and this natural boundary might protect them by preventing monsters from other territories from attacking from behind.

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked, looking puzzled. The river was shallow, but she couldn’t understand why the monsters hadn’t crossed.

"That snake we killed yesterday was the ruler of the territory we cleared, and this is another territory," Jon explained.

"So, does that mean we’ll encounter another first-realm monster like that snake?" Cynthia chimed in.

"Yes, maybe even more."

Behind Jon, the evolvers who had come with him the previous day tensed slightly as they heard his words.

They knew they weren’t yet strong enough to fight first-realm monsters, except perhaps a few of them. Still, it was an enemy they couldn’t afford to let their guard down against. And seeing their tense expressions, the new volunteers gripped their weapons nervously.

"The plan doesn’t change. We will start here," Jon declared, pointing at the monsters. Looking behind him, he added,

"Watch closely. This is what you’re going to face soon." With that, he ordered, "Attack!"

The evolvers among them responded and moved forward. Having gained confidence from the previous day’s wave, they showed no fear and engaged.

And because the monsters were scattered and there were just a few of them, it was cleared within minutes.

"Now you’ve seen, let’s move." With all the monsters cleared, Jon led the group across the river. The soon-to-be evolvers watched them fight, and, honestly, there wasn’t much for them to learn from watching them. Everyone had different skills, so their methods of fighting would differ.

So, what Jon wanted to show was what others could do—that they too could overcome that fear and attack, and it seemed to have worked quite well. Though they were nervous, they crossed with surprising determination, driven by the looks on the faces of the previous group when they returned.

Jon nodded approvingly and continued ahead, continuing his thoughts. Now, I should look for the ruler of this territory.

WHOOM!

He extended his senses across the forest and, unsurprisingly, detected the territory’s ruler moving in their direction.

This time, it was an octopus, standing about three meters tall and one meter wide. Its body glowed reddish, with its legs shining the brightest. The creature seemed to be trying to approach stealthily, unaware that Jon was already observing its every move, and it almost made him laugh at it, What part of you makes you stealthy?

"It’s coming," Jon informed Jenny and Cynthia. They could extend their senses as well, but they couldn’t reach as far as Jon. Though they saw nothing after checking, they didn’t question him and prepared for the encounter.

"Stop."

The group halted at his command, even stepping back and looking around anxiously. After waiting a while and not seeing anything, suddenly a light reddish fog began seeping in from all directions.

"What is this?"

"It’s coming close."

"S-Swing!"

Seeing the fog coming close, the volunteers started swinging their makeshift weapons at it, but it passed their weapons and ignored their attacks. And...

"Hey, why did you hit me?"

"Do you want to fight?"

"Hey, you stepped on me!"

The effect was immediate. The survivors who had been moving backward and swinging at the fog began to grow aggressive over things they would normally ignore, considering they were in a dangerous situation.

The red fog’s effect was clear. It was intended to stir their emotions. And since the octopus was already in the first realm, even some of the evolvers were feeling the fog’s subtle influence.

A reckless charge at the creature or a sudden conflict with an ally would be disastrous with this fog around.

But Jon, Jenny, and Cynthia remained unaffected thanks to traits that kept them calm, and before any violence could break out among the survivors, Jon spread his hands, releasing his bluish fog and freezing them in place.

"What a terrifying power," Cynthia noted, shivering slightly at the fog’s effect. Recognizing the danger of emotional manipulation, they began to ponder the formidable skills their future enemies might possess.

Gikikikki.

When the fog thickened, the octopus emerged laughing. It had already assumed they’d fallen victim to its trap.

But its laughter ceased when it noticed something odd—none of them were fighting.

In most of its battles, the octopus would spread its fog, let its victims kill each other, and then eliminate the last survivor. And since the last survivor would be the strongest and most injured, it easily took the throne in this part of the forest.

This time, however, the survivors were eerily still.

"You’ve met your match," Jon taunted.

Without hesitation, Jenny raised her hands, igniting flames that engulfed everything in their path. Unharmed by her fire, she lunged forward, wielding her sword and delivering precise strikes to the octopus.

"Kieeeeee!"

The octopus immediately shrieked in pain. It was too stunned to react to the sudden movements, and it didn’t know how to fight due to its cowardly way of leveling up.

With a final, powerful stab to its head, it fell lifeless, and the red fog dissipated, leaving the area clear once more.

Jon scanned the forest, his senses probing its farthest reaches to see if a wave of monsters, like the one in the previous forest, would appear. But after waiting a while, no such battle arose.

Instead, the monsters that had been hiding emerged and began moving around. Though a few of them fought, it wasn’t the all-out war they had witnessed before.

Is there something about this forest we don’t know yet? Jon wondered, glancing around. I’ll have to investigate later. With that thought, he released the frozen survivors.

"Move." Without waiting for a response, Jon strode forward. The survivors, now free from stasis, spotted the fallen octopus nearby.

Initially startled, they relaxed upon seeing its lifeless, punctured head. They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Some couldn’t help but wonder how that monster got there and how it even died.

They had no memory of reacting violently moments before. The subtlety of the octopus’s ability was unsettling. What if a group, without Jon’s leadership, had faced such a creature? They might have died without even realizing how they died.

Jon simply shook his head, refraining from revealing how narrowly they had escaped disaster, because just ahead, a few meters forward, some of the monsters awaited.

It was time for the second group to become evolvers.