Chapter 627 - Continent-Wide Hunting Campaign (Patreon)

In the next moment, however, Leyvi hesitated.

What if his theory was wrong? No matter how confident he felt about it, in reality he had zero proof.

What if he led them toward the wrong conclusion and ended up hindering the discovery of the real truth? If things went wrong, the fault would fall squarely on him.

After all, the consequences of being mistaken in this situation were not simple destruction. They were complete annihilation.

Suddenly, an enormous pressure settled over him, as if the fate of every living person on the continent had been placed directly on his shoulders. One wrong word, one mistaken direction, and everything could spiral toward irreversible disaster. The weight of that possibility was almost suffocating. He did not dare to shoulder such a responsibility alone.

Is this what the Protectors always feel when they make important decisions for the people and the continent? he wondered.

In the end, Leyvi decided not to speak. He chose to trust the Protectors’ ability to reach the correct conclusion on their own.

His role here was only to offer help whenever they needed his unique abilities.

And so the discussion continued without any interruption from him.

To Leyvi’s surprise, the conclusion they eventually reached was not far from the theory he had formed.

The Protectors came to a consensus. They believed the woman apparition had discovered a method to force herself into an extremely deep state of hibernation. In that state, her remaining life force would be consumed at an almost negligible rate, allowing her to extend her existence across vast stretches of time.

She would remain dormant until either a predetermined period had passed or, more likely, until the human population on the continent reached a certain threshold. At that moment she would awaken and begin carrying out her long-planned revenge.

The Red Eye Craze was clearly one of the tools she was using. That much was no longer in doubt.

What remained uncertain was the exact method she intended to use to wipe out humanity. The Protectors narrowed it down to three main possibilities.

The first was overwhelming numbers. She would continue spreading the Red Eye Craze, infecting as many demonic beasts as possible, and then simply drown human settlements under a tide of maddened creatures. Whether she could directly command those infected beasts was still unknown. If she could, the threat would become far more coordinated and far harder to stop.

The second possibility was personal restoration. She might be using the infected beasts as living reservoirs, slowly absorbing their bloodline power to rebuild her own strength. Once she returned to her peak, she would step forward herself and finish the extermination.

The third was a combination of both. She would first let the crazed demonic beasts slaughter the majority of the human population, then appear in person to erase whatever survivors remained.

After weighing the options, the Protectors reached a firm consensus. They could not afford to gamble on only one of these paths being correct. They had to prepare for all of them at once.

Half of the Protectors would therefore lead a continent-wide hunting campaign. Their goal was simple and aggressive: locate and eliminate as many crazed demonic beasts as possible before the situation grew worse.

This marked a clear shift in strategy. Until now, they had mostly remained on the defensive, reacting to outbreaks as they appeared. From this point forward, they would take the initiative, striking first to reduce the number of immediate threats across the continent and, at the same time, starve the woman apparition of the bloodline energy she might be harvesting to recover her full power.

While one team bought time through the hunting operations, the other half of the Protectors would devote all their efforts to discovering the location where the woman apparition was restoring her power.

If they could find her while she was still weak and eliminate her then, the extinction crisis could be resolved relatively cleanly.

If they arrived too late, however, they would need to prepare every powerful method available to defeat and destroy her at full strength.

The greatest problem remained the unknown timing. No one could say how long it would take before the woman apparition became strong enough to begin her revenge. That uncertainty would keep everyone on edge.

Leyvi felt a quiet sense of relief. In the end, the theory the Protectors had settled on largely aligned with his own. That meant the course of action they chose was also mostly the same as what he had already been thinking.

The most important task right now was to locate the woman apparition. If she truly existed in a state similar to Alita, then destroying whatever anchored her existence should be enough to eliminate her once and for all.

He also wondered whether his decision to inform the Protectors at the very beginning, and the help he had provided since then, had actually made a meaningful difference. Had it bought the continent valuable time to prepare? He hoped so.

After discussing the remaining details, the Protectors moved on to task delegation.

Seven of them would lead the continent-wide hunting operations. The other five would focus entirely on investigation, concentrating their efforts on locating the woman apparition’s true body or the medium that sustained her.

Lapin would also join the hunting team. His abilities were crucial for continent-wide surveillance and coordination. To the Protectors, the timing of his arrival as an ally felt almost unbelievable. In the middle of an approaching catastrophe, they had suddenly gained a King Level ally whose unique powers were perfectly suited for the large-scale operations they now needed. It was like receiving an unexpected blessing right when disaster loomed.

The investigating team would consist of Protector Jade, Protector Sherlock, Alchemy Emperor Edward, Formation Queen Fiona, and Protector Newton.

As the only person who could read and understand the ancient language, Leyvi naturally had to join them as well. His task would be to go through every ancient text stored in the vault in search of clues to the woman apparition’s whereabouts.

Leyvi did not refuse. He had seen this coming from the beginning. There was no other realistic path to new information than through those ancient records. Whatever clues he managed to uncover would be extremely important to the entire investigation.

The first location they intended to search for was the place shown in the woman’s memory: an ancient laboratory where something had been extracted from her. It was likely the very site where her eternal hatred for humanity had been born.

If they could locate that place, they might uncover far more relevant information.

Jade sighed repeatedly during the latter half of the meeting. All of these operations, especially the large-scale hunting campaigns, would cost an enormous amount of money. Even if they survived the coming ordeal, Cloud Continent would be forced to operate under a very tight budget for many years afterward.

Still, that price was small if it meant preventing humanity from being wiped out of the continent.

By the time the meeting finally ended, it was already late at night.

Through the Bloodline Connection, Leyvi immediately sensed the location of his children. He spread his spiritual sense across the distance and checked on them. They were currently asleep on a large bed in the hotel where the family was staying. Anda lay on the same bed with them.

His children were still ordinary mortals without cultivation, so it was only natural that they needed proper sleep every night. Seeing them safe and resting after the long day brought him a small, quiet sense of calm.

Leyvi did not intend to disturb the children’s sleep, but he needed to discuss several matters with Anda. He quickly returned to the hotel and called for her. Once they were alone, he told her everything that had been discussed and decided during the meeting.

“Tomorrow morning we will hold another meeting. This time it will be to inform all the Envoys of what we have found and to put the plans into motion,” Leyvi said.

“What do you want me to do?” Anda asked. She could already tell that he had a specific request in mind.

“I want you to return to Bara City with the children and help Layla. The hunting operations will cover the entire continent, so our Bara Territory will naturally be involved as well. While Layla handles the overall administration, I want you to take the lead on the hunting operations in our region,” Leyvi requested.

“Me? Are you sure?” Anda blinked in mild surprise.

She had not expected him to place her in a leadership role. She had assumed he might avoid giving her such authority because of how extreme her decision-making could become.

Leyvi smiled. “Extreme problems require extreme solutions. Besides, who else can I trust to take care of our home if not you? I don’t want random outsiders in charge of leading our territory. I’ve already spoken with Sister Jade and arranged for our region to fall under your command. She will still send people, but they will all answer to you. If anyone tries to take advantage of the unrest to fish in troubled waters, I’ll leave it to your judgment to deal with them.”

Anda squinted at him. “Are you sure you’re not just trying to send me home because things might get dangerous wherever you’re going?”

“Do you really think I would do that?” Leyvi asked. “How many dangerous places have we already faced together? When have I ever told you to stay home for the sake of safety? This time it’s simply because we each have different roles to play.”

Anda’s expression softened into a smile. He was right. Her husband had never once said anything like that to her.

“Alright. I won’t doubt you. But if your life is ever in danger, contact me immediately so I can rush over and save you. Don’t be stubborn,” she reminded him firmly.

If anyone allowed her husband to die, she would not hesitate to sink the entire continent into the ocean.