Instead of trying to escape, they put up a huge banner that read:
"Respected Sir, we know of a terrible Dusk Faction conspiracy that could destroy humanity. We beg for mercy!"
...
"Miss Howell, is there really such a terrible conspiracy?"
Stuart and Wolf, holding up the huge banner, couldn't help but ask. Just looking at these words made their hearts race with excitement.
"Shut up! Watch out for surveillance!"
Howell cursed under her breath.
This was naturally BS.
Though she was a member of the powerful Dusk Faction,
When it came down to it, she was just a Non-tier with 9 Spirituality. Even if the Dusk Faction had such plans, she couldn't possibly be in the loop.
This was just a desperate Hail Mary thought up to save their asses.
They needed to tempt the puppet master while making him sweat, understanding that killing them would be more trouble than it was worth.
After thinking it over, only this approach seemed doable.
Speaking so seriously, she believed that whether the puppet master was from the human camp or another traitor faction, he definitely couldn't resist taking the bait!
Howell was confident she could draw out the person behind this!
...
"Dusk Faction."
Carlos pondered silently. The Dusk Faction was one of the heavy-hitting factions among human traitor camps.
Many massacres in his memories were pulled off by this damned Dusk Faction.
As for the terrible conspiracy that could destroy humanity, Carlos wasn't sweating it.
Not that the Dusk Faction didn't have any, but that they had way too many.
Actively blowing up Psionic Energy pools, cooking up incurable poisons, etc.—all were on their to-do list.
Other factions in the human traitor camp similarly had a whole laundry list of plans to wipe out humanity.
So it wasn't shocking.
As for whether they could actually destroy humanity, well, in Carlos's past life timeline, humanity had kept trucking along just fine.
"They probably want me, the 'puppet master,' to show myself willingly—looking for life in the face of death."
Carlos figured out Howell and the others' game plan with minimal brainpower.
"In that case, then..."
"All Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards activate synergy!
Waste all human traitors in the camp!
Don't leave a single one breathing!"
He wouldn't show himself—currently having a sure win, there was no need to roll the dice.
Instead, he'd use this chance to smoke all these guys.
...
After getting Carlos's command, the twelve Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards' synergy fired up instantly.
The purple thornblade patterns on their bones lit up with an eerie purple glow as their terrifying vibe began climbing level by level.
"Oh shit! Something's wrong!"
Howell and the others felt chilled to the bone. In their perception, the skeleton monsters that were already scary as hell had become even more terrifying!
At some point,
Four Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards had surrounded them, rapidly closing in as the air grew thick with crushing pressure.
"Berserker Mode!"
"Boar Transformation!"
"Bone Spear!"
"Shadow Strike!"
The four were scared shitless, desperately channeling Psionic Energy, trying to escape with their lives.
The four Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards, with Strength boosted to 21 points and Constitution to 19 points, struck with lightning precision.
Their greatswords carried insane power, cutting through people at breakneck speed!
"Crack!"
Howell, Wolf, Chapman, and Stuart had zero power to resist, split in half mid-air.
Blood splattered onto the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards, making their purple thornblade patterns even more sinister.
Relying on more hardcore vitality than the others, Howell didn't kick the bucket immediately after being cut in half.
Her expression was totally shattered as she kept screaming:
"Im... impossible! How could the Withered Lands' rules allow monsters like you to exist!!!
The Dusk Faction will... will never let you go!"
Then... she went completely quiet.
With the loss of spiritual positioning, her storage space began collapsing, its contents returning to the world and scattering across the ground.
"Creak!"
"Creak!"
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards didn't stick around, heading toward the few remaining spots in the camp with signs of life.
Soon, screams rang out over the camp again...
...
...
[Spiritual Essence +8]
[Spiritual Essence +7]
[Destroyed micro human traitor camp, Spiritual Essence +3000!]
Outside the camp, Carlos finally got word that all human traitors had been eliminated.
"It's a wrap."
Carlos put away his telescope and walked toward the blood-soaked camp.
...
Inside the human traitor camp,
Carlos was checking out the loot obtained from these human traitors one by one.
"All broke-ass losers!"
This was actually normal. In human society, traitors were things to be beaten and killed—absolutely hostile targets.
They were even more hated by humans than Dark Mist monsters.
Under these circumstances, traitors naturally had a hell of a time getting good spirit equipment—no shop dared sell spirit equipment to human traitors.
Of course, there were always some idiots blinded by greed who'd do such stupid crap.
But very few, and once busted, they'd get strung up immediately with no room for negotiation.
Carlos collected the barely usable ordinary equipment, white quality spirit equipment, and blue quality spirit equipment with mild disgust.
Then he zeroed in on the items that had fallen when Howell's storage space collapsed.
"What's this?"
Carlos immediately spotted the weird unknown creature larva, placing it in his palm for careful examination.
"Why does this look so familiar?"
Digging through his memories, he thought uncertainly:
"A 'Brain Beast'?"
Brain Beast—despite being called a beast, it was actually a weird spiritual plant that legend said only spawned at the interFactionion of dreams and reality.
After repeated comparisons, Carlos confirmed this was indeed a rare Brain Beast.
Carefully stroking the Brain Beast's shell,
"Wonder how the Dusk Faction got their hands on this."
Carlos naturally noticed the protruding black tubes inside the Brain Beast, feeling pretty lucky.
"Good thing the invasion isn't deep—there's still a way to yank them out."
He took out a sealing box and carefully placed the Brain Beast inside—this was the jackpot of this trip.
"Brain Beast is a natural psychic wave amplifier. The Dusk Faction couldn't be planning to build a Brain Tower, could they?"
Carlos's heart sank as he guessed the answer.
The Brain Tower that could temporarily control Dark Mist monsters—in later times, the Dusk Faction used successfully researched Brain Towers to trigger monster waves multiple times, causing massive damage to humanity.
Fortunately, they got wiped out by humans, and Brain Tower intel was naturally exposed.
"Trying to stop the Dusk Faction from successfully researching Brain Towers at this point is damn near impossible."
Based on speculation, the Dusk Faction was already in the final experimental stage. They would definitely experiment in multiple Dark Mist regions.
Carlos couldn't possibly haul ass to every Dark Mist region for preemptive elimination.
"I can only give human leadership a heads-up to prepare.
When the Dusk Faction bigshots show themselves, take them out completely!
Only then will everything end!"