Meanwhile, in another district, Unit 18 bravely fought, forming a steadfast protective circle around hundreds of panicked civilians. A thin, grey-black mist, initially subtle but steadily growing denser, began to silently rise from the drains and shadowed corners.

By the time someone in the squad noticed the strange fog, it had already enveloped a vast area, obscuring visibility and carrying a chilling, deathly cold that made one's skin crawl.

Every member of Unit 18 had endured the nightmare at the Bandit Graveyard. They now felt an unnervingly familiar fear grip their minds. The horrifying memories of fallen comrades, terrifying mutations, and utter helplessness surged back, as vivid and agonizing as if it had all happened yesterday.

Captain Jacobs and Henry were the quickest to react. Captain Jacobs bellowed orders, his voice hoarse with anxiety and fury. He demanded the entire squad break the encirclement immediately, at all costs, and evacuate the civilians from the deadly mist's range, heading towards the central square where the strongest defensive forces were concentrated.

Unit 18, though their hearts were filled with confusion and fear, obeyed with absolute discipline, fighting to carve a bloody path while escorting the chaotically fleeing civilians.

Not far away, Commander Thomas had just concluded his battle with the sorcerers and their deformed Rank 3 beasts. Defeating them all was not overly difficult for a seasoned Rank 5 powerhouse like himself, but it had cost him considerable time and a significant amount of aether. This was the seventh group of beasts and undead he had killed.

As he finished off the last monster in this area, he sensed a terrifyingly evil aether emanating from within the unusual mist nearby.

Without a moment's hesitation, Thomas immediately rushed towards it, his speed like a whirlwind. But when he was still more than a hundred meters from his target, a colossal fireball, blazing like a miniature sun, unexpectedly descended from the sky, blocking his path.

Before Thomas's eyes, a bizarre figure materialized, an image he would never forget. He rode a gaunt, skeletal white horse with mangy fur, as if it had been dead for a long time. Its eyes were empty and lifeless.

The rider wore a long, flowing cloak that covered his entire form, revealing only pitch-black skeletal arms that looked like dry branches. His head was covered by a deep hood that carefully shielded his face. Only a chilling white human-bone mask was vaguely discernible beneath the black fabric.

" I am conducting a few minor experiments here," his deep, demonic voice sounded, carrying a coldness that could freeze the soul. "If you are intelligent enough to know your place, I might spare your life".

"Beleth! You are Beleth, the infamous Necrofear!" Thomas gritted his teeth, his voice filled with rage and horror. "A Rank 6 monster like you, one who sowed terror throughout Birtoraz, why have you appeared here, in Aerion?".

"Oh, quite knowledgeable, aren't you," Beleth chuckled, his tone as if speaking to a child. "So, someone merely lingering at the threshold of Rank 5 like yourself wishes to try and stop my experiments? Remember, knowing how to weigh matters, knowing your own limits, is the only way to survive in this cruel world". He spoke with the condescending air of an elder instructing a junior, though it was underpinned by unparalleled arrogance and cruelty.

Without another word, Thomas immediately attacked.

"Rock Claw!" From the ground surrounding Beleth's position, hundreds of sharp stone spikes, like the fangs of a savage beast, suddenly shot upwards with terrifying speed.

With the natural reflex of a powerhouse, Beleth controlled his skeletal white horse to leap straight into the air, effortlessly dodging the deadly spikes rushing from below. But Thomas had anticipated this. Before Beleth could stabilize himself in mid-air, those sharp stone spikes automatically changed trajectory, like arrows with eyes, continuing to soar upwards, pursuing their target.

"Bone Keeper!" Beleth hissed softly, and from the void, a colossal human skeleton, over three meters tall, clad in ancient black armor, materialized, using its massive bone shield to block all the incoming stone spikes. Immediately after neutralizing the attack, the Bone Keeper, without any hesitation, charged straight at Thomas, swinging its massive, rock-like skeletal fist directly at his head.

"Earth Wave!" Thomas stomped his right foot hard on the ground. The ground beneath the Bone Keeper instantly fractured. A powerful shockwave, carrying surging earthen energy, slammed into the giant skeleton, shattering it into tiny fragments that dissipated into the air.

But immediately after, from the spot where the Bone Keeper had just vanished, a deafening "Boom!" resounded. The aftershock of the attack was so strong that the ground trembled violently. Another monster appeared, nearly three meters tall, its flesh as if petrified, cracked in large patches, revealing dark black blood veins within.

From these fissures, small, sickly green flames erupted, carrying the unpleasant smell of sulfur - a Fleshbuster, a Rank 4 Undead monster, renowned for its terrifying physical strength and its ability to self-destruct upon being killed.

The Fleshbuster let out a deafening roar and then charged thunderously towards Thomas. It looked enormous, heavy, yet its movement speed was astonishingly fast. Each of its steps made the ground tremble, the surrounding structures seeming on the verge of collapse. Wherever it moved, a long trail of fire was left behind, smoldering ominously.

"Trap Hole!" Thomas calmly extended both hands forward, palms facing down. The Fleshbuster charged at breakneck speed, then suddenly vanished as if swallowed by the earth.

It had fallen straight into a deadly trap hole Thomas had just created. The hole was more than five meters wide and a staggering fifteen meters deep. At the bottom of the pit, countless sharp stone spikes, like shark teeth, had been prepared, piercing through the monster's tough, rock-like flesh, pinning it firmly to the bottom.

Thomas gave the Fleshbuster no chance to struggle or counter-attack. His outstretched arms slowly pressed together. Along with this movement, the trap hole also began to narrow gradually, then closed tightly, crushing the monster within. The ground became flat again, without a trace, as if no hole had ever appeared, no monster had ever been buried there.

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Beleth stood opposite, more than fifty meters from Thomas. His skeletal white horse had vanished at some point. The deadly grey-black mist around him had now spread out, enveloping an area with a radius of over three hundred meters, completely obscuring the sunlight, turning this place into a land of darkness and despair.

Thomas sensed an immense danger approaching. Without hesitation, he immediately used one of his most powerful defensive spells - "Earthrise!".

A colossal magic circle, with a radius of up to thirty meters, appeared directly beneath Thomas's feet. All the earth and rock within that circle immediately broke apart, then levitated around him, forming countless large and small boulders, spinning according to his will.

This was a signature offensive and defensive technique of Sage Thomas. All the earth and rock within this magic circle were under his absolute control.

He could use them to attack, bombarding enemies like giant stone projectiles, or form sturdy stone walls to withstand enemy attacks.

Furthermore, with the ability to freely control earth and rock, just a few small stones supporting his feet allowed him to move and fly freely within this magic circle, gaining an absolute terrain advantage.

Beleth still strolled closer, without any apprehension before Sage Thomas's power. He wore a sinister smile, his voice full of sarcasm and cold as a wind from hell. "I gave you a chance to survive, didn't I, old man? But it seems you don't appreciate it".

Unit 18, after a period of fighting to break through, had finally escorted over a hundred civilians, mostly women, children, and the elderly, to the central Estath Square.

Currently, more than six thousand refugees from all districts of East Aerion had gathered there. A temporary defensive line was hastily established, manned by over seventy remaining soldiers from various units, including about thirty mid-level Rankers, from Rank 3 to Rank 4. With such a defensive force, this place could be considered one of the safer areas in East Aerion at this time.

As everyone was momentarily sighing in relief, trying to calm down after the terrifying moments, another unexpected anomaly appeared. From the bodies of the members of Unit 18, those who had just fought bravely to protect the civilians, a thin, grey-black mist suddenly emanated, carrying a chilling, deathly aura that made one's skin crawl.

The eyes of everyone in the square turned towards them, worried, fearful. The members of Unit 18 themselves didn't understand what was happening. Confusion was evident on every face.

Henry felt an unease, an extremely uncomfortable sensation rising in his chest. This was a feeling he had only experienced once in his life, a time when he and the entire Unit 18 had nearly perished entirely - that was the horrifying battle at the Bandit Graveyard, where a similar deadly mist had turned soldiers into bloodthirsty Undead monsters.

Suddenly, Melly, the young female mage, let out a piercing scream, a cry of agonizing, writhing pain that tore through the tense atmosphere. She collapsed to the ground, her body convulsing, her eyes rolled back white. Torsan, the young soldier, was no better.

He screamed in agony, his body twisting unnaturally, his movements stiff, jerky like a puppet with broken strings. Two other lower-ranking members, Doug and Mark, were also exhibiting similar bizarre symptoms, their skin beginning to peel and sag, revealing patches of white bone beneath.

Captain Jacobs, with his extensive battlefield experience, immediately recognized that something was wrong. He roared orders, demanding the mages present, those possessing purification magic, to quickly come and assist his afflicted members. At the same time, he quickly gathered the members exuding the deadly mist in one place, creating a safe distance from the civilians and other soldiers, preparing for the worst-case scenario.

Less than a minute later, Melly knelt on the ground, threw her head back, and let out a final scream, a scream devoid of any humanity. A sinister green ghostly figure, wailing in anguish, escaped from her mouth. It was a Painful Wraith, an Undead entity specializing in inflicting extreme pain on its victims.

Torsan lay sprawled on the ground, foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled back white, blue and red veins bulging all over his body. Then he slowly lurched to his feet, his joints cracking with horrifying sounds, his body contorting at unimaginable angles. He seemed to have completely lost consciousness, the Undead aura emanating from him also significantly stronger than before, signaling a more dangerous transformation.

Doug and Mark also did not escape their tragic fate. The flesh on their bodies peeled off, melted into slimy puddles, and left only bare white skeletons. The most terrifying thing was that those skeletons continued to move, their empty eye sockets glowing with the blood-red light of bloodlust.

Before the surrounding people could recover from their shock and horror at what had just happened, the four Undead monsters, freshly "born" from their own comrades, simultaneously charged, fiercely attacking the soldiers trying to surround them.

The civilians in the square screamed piercingly, many fainting on the spot before the horrifying, brutal images that had just unfolded before their eyes.

The lower-ranking soldiers, those who had never experienced such terrifying scenes, were completely shocked; they were bewildered, scared, not knowing what to do.

Only the mid-level Rankers, the seasoned warriors, were calm enough to quickly intervene, coordinating with each other to eliminate all four dangerous Undead monsters.

The incident happened too quickly, in the blink of an eye, but the psychological shock it left on everyone present was immense.

Henry and Sophia were also stunned, standing as if rooted to the spot. A cold dread clawed at Henry's throat, his limbs turning to ice. Beside him, Sophia gasped, her hand flying to her mouth in disbelief and horror.

They stood frozen, witnessing a nightmare reborn. The four who had just fallen were not just comrades, but friends, brothers who had faced life and death together.

Among them, two had fought alongside them for many years, sharing the joys, sorrows, and dangers of military life. Just a few minutes ago, they were fighting together, laughing together, the joy of reuniting with old friends after so many days apart still warm and sincere.

Yet now, all four were nothing but mangled, cold, deformed corpses.

Captain Jacobs and the remaining members of Unit 18, those fortunate enough not to have mutated, were surely experiencing similar emotions, a heart-wrenching pain, an extreme helplessness.

Besides the infinite sorrow for his unfortunate comrades, countless unanswered questions and terrifying suspicions swirled in Henry's mind. Clearly, only those who had participated in the battle at the Bandit Graveyard, those who had been exposed to that deadly mist, showed these symptoms of mutation.

So the problem definitely originated from there. Henry was certain that after that mission, they had all been treated by the army's mages and thoroughly examined with the most powerful purification spells.

But why were those spells ineffective? Why did the army's subsequent checks and scans for unusual signs also fail to detect anything suspicious? Ultimately, how had they been transformed? How insidious and subtle was that process?

Unconsciously, Henry tightly grasped Sophia's hand, then looked closely at both of them. A strangely unbelievable thing. Both he and she, who had also been amidst that deadly mist, were completely free of the grey-black mist, showing no signs of mutation whatsoever.

But within Unit 18, all other members who had participated in the Bandit battle, without exception, had either already shown or were showing abnormal symptoms.

Captain Jacobs had also realized this. After the tragic deaths of the four Rank 1 members, he quickly checked his own condition, then ordered the remaining Rank 2 members to examine themselves; if there was any unusual feeling, however small, they had to report it immediately.

The mages present in the square were still trying their best, continuously casting the most powerful purification spells on the remaining members of Unit 18, but the deadly grey-black mist continued to pour out of them, like an unresolvable curse.

Everyone present in Estath Square had an extremely bad feeling about this situation. An invisible fear, a despair was slowly enveloping them.

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