''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.


    <That''smendable for someone like you… I''m almost done on my side>


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


    This set of items was naturally prepared for the sake ofmunication with the main actors of this battle, themanders 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 naturallye 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…


    <So this didn''t only happen with me…?>


    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...


    <Hmmm? You as well?>


    <I also seem to have experienced something simi…>


    <Me as well, I…>


    ''This…''


    As I was just about to seek an answer for the question I had at hand, it seemed like the other incident that rmed 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.


    <It seems that we were all indeed met with this iprehensible 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>


    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...


    <I see… so did all the whole demon horde in your side weaken as well?>


    She just threw another question in return.


    <Uhm… no, there is nothing of that sort on my side…>


    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…


    <Did you do something else other than killing themander on your side? Was there anything else that''s worth noting that followed that other than the overall weakening of demons there?>


    Since the Cult Master was the only one facing this situation, it was already obvious that this was a singrity that might have been invoked by her act of killing themander, 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.


    <Ah yes, there was such a thing, myst attack which spread through that demon''s body seemed to have destroyed some sort of a ck ornament that was hung around his wrist… a tiny cloud of ck mist emerged from it before dissipating very quickly…>


    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 thebatants on both sides seemed to be confused about what was happening.


    But I did manage to see it.


    A pearl ne of ck color that seemed out of ce 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 ne. 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 be 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 exined 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…''