Seeing Sokram, the guard in front of the City Lord recognized him and informed the City Lord immediately.

When Licarus heard Sokram’s and his teammates' report, he could barely believe it.

It was only when Sokram showed the recordings that Licarus believed their words.

The recording was like a scary movie for them.

Sokram went through the village, watching the behavior of the villagers when they couldn’t see or sense him.

That alone confirmed it: All the villagers had been made hosts for the Kasulla.

Sokram was surprised and relieved that the Recording Crystal malfunctioned, erasing the moment Sokram dragged Amira for a private conversation.

Even more so because the moment Mentyr possessed Amira would be hard to explain.

“You said your barrier can last for a month? Are you sure?” Licarus was already reaching for a communication crystal in his drawer.

“Yes, Great Uncle. That thing will not leave its infected behind,” Sokram said with certainty, but then added, “Unless it’s a mutated one. But if it were, we would all be dead by now.”

“Alright, you and your team, once again, went above and beyond. I’ll make sure this is counted in your records. I’ll make sure to inform the King about it, too. Go and rest now, I need to send a few messages.” Licarus stood up from his chair and was about to start sending messages when Sokram spoke.

“Another thing, Great Uncle…” Sokram handed him a ring with the five dead Hares on it, “If you open the hares’ skulls, you will find the dead worms in them. It might help with tracking that thing. Great Uncle Sahvus might know a spell for it. And this is the runic key for the barrier. Just inject it with some energy, and it will deactivate if you are close enough.”

“Alright, once again, thank you, Sokram.” After accepting the ring, Licarus patted him on the shoulder and led him and his team out of the office.

As Sokram and his team stepped out of the palace, leaving the urgency of Licarus's preparations to face the Kasulla behind, a heavy silence fell upon them as they went to return their mounts.

He could see that his team was feeling down, especially the ferals.

‘They heard it, right? The screams of the people from that village. Shit…’

“Guys, there was nothing we could have done. A Kasulla is…” Sokram wanted to give them some advice, some words of wisdom that would serve as solace, but Nora interrupted him by bowing toward him with her fist clenched over her heart.

“I’m sorry. We should have known; you told us to research, and we did an awful job. We should have known the hares were behaving erratically. We should have been more aware of our surroundings. I understand we still have a long way to go before you can fully trust us. But I promise you we’ll get there. Thank you for saving our lives again, Captain.”

Before Sokram could even say anything else, the rest of the team also bowed to him, just as Nora had.

“Come on, guys, raise your heads. We did what we could, and hopefully that thing… That nightmare won’t grow any bigger. Let’s go home, rest, and continue to grow stronger together, deal?”

“Yes, captain!” They shouted in unison.

A few passersby looked at the scene, amazed, but recognizing Sokram, they no longer seemed as surprised.

Meanwhile, Licarus started sending desperate messages to every Exalted and above he could find available, and soon the people in town started seeing their most powerful figures rushing through town to meet the City Lord by the South Gates.

“I’m glad you’re all here, but we can’t leave the town unguarded in case something goes wrong,” Licarus nodded, grateful at how swiftly they presented themselves.

“Kamus, Sahvus, Sienna, Neloph, and I should be enough to deal with that thing. The rest of you, stay behind and guard the city.” Licarus decided.

Alain and Miralyn merely nodded and stepped back.

Kasine cast Kamus a warning glare, “Don’t you dare die before giving me a son!”

Kamus shook his head, flashing her a broad smile, “Who’s going to die, woman? Don’t be silly, as if a little slug could kill this great Alpha wolf here.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her briefly.

Lazar was relieved not to have to deal with a Kasulla, but seeing Kanami and her brother’s state, he couldn’t help but feel bad for them, even if his face wouldn't show it.

“Licarus, please, try to get Kutro… My son’s body back, please.” Koma bowed humbly.

“We’ll do our best, but you know how Kasullas are, right? And you know why they don’t abandon their puppets… I mean, the bodies they take from the people they kill.”

Licarus tried to be understanding, but the truth was that he planned to burn each infected body down to the ashes, not to run any risks.

Koma seemed to understand that, different from his siblings and despite his high cultivation of Tier 10 Flawless, he was a merchant, not a warrior.

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And Kutro aimed to become his successor in their family, maybe even Kanami’s, as he was an exceptional warrior and had already reached Flawless before dying.

Besides, as a father, how could he not want to give his son a proper funeral?

Seeing Licarus's unwillingness, he could only nod in understanding; it was too risky.

The reason a Kasulla didn’t give up on its hosts was that if any of them survived, they could transfer their conscience to the worm in their head and continue to use the body until the worm was strong enough to come out.

But it could also continue to infect other beings.

So if a Kasulla infected someone in a city, that city would soon be condemned; that was the reason it was considered a calamity-level threat.

Because if even the smallest worm snaked its way into someone's bloodstream, only those above Exalted could expel it before it reached their brains.

This was the reason Sokram was so afraid to face it.

A Kasulla was like a gigantic, white, slug-like worm that could divide itself into many smaller parts.

The main body had the aspect of a giant slimy, white, eyeless snake, as the Kasulla used the eyes of its hosts to see.

The monster was so terrifying that even the smallest insect could become a host to it, making the Kasulla extremely hard to exterminate.

This time, thanks to the infected hares that Sokram had captured and brought back, they could now track it and exterminate it fully.

As Licarus prepared to leave, Liaranna also started to equip her weapon and armor.

But Licarus stopped her, “You’re not going!”

“Yes, I am! I’m Alpha, it’s my duty.” Liaranna tried to argue, but Licarus wasn’t bending to the Will of the Blood this time.

“I said, you’re not going.” Licarus’s aura crashed down like a tidal wave. Liaranna stumbled back, her defiance crumbling.

Liaranna’s ears flattened, her fists clenched until her claws bit into her palms.

The weight of Licarus’s aura pressed down on her like a millstone.

She couldn’t believe it; her position as the Alpha had just been challenged in front of everyone.

She knew Licarus was strong enough to be the Alpha if he wished to.

Yet he had never challenged her authority before.

That only showed he, too, was afraid.

“I’ll offer my neck for you to bite off once I return, but until I come back, you’re in charge of the city.” Licarus’s tone now sounded apologetic.

He knew he had overstepped, yet he couldn’t risk her.

Licarus finished equipping his gear, while Liaranna stared at him, enraged by his defiance and terrified for her husband.

Still, Licarus ignored her until he was ready to leave.

He approached her, pulling her into a kiss and a silent, brief farewell. There was nothing that needed to be said.

When their gazes met, they understood each other’s hearts with a single glance.

Then, with his glaive in hand, he turned around and called the others, “Are you ready?”

“Just waiting for you, Blackfur old pup,” Kamus said jokingly.

“You’re older than me, Whitefur mutt,” Licarus smirked.

“Let’s go then, friends.” Sahvus waved his hand, and they all started floating and took off with a “Vooom!”

“I HATE FLYING!!” Licarus shouted while Liaranna watched them departing with her fist clenched.

Kasine, seeing that scene, joked, “Heh, he made you his bitch just now. Who would have guessed you Blackfurs were hiding your true alpha, hm?”

“You old…” But even before she could finish, Kasine was right on her face.

Liarana tried to step back but was held by the waist, as Kasine said in a very menacing tone, “Respect your elders, dear. Be a good girl and go back inside.”

When the other powerhouse saw Liaranna’s ears flatten and her tail between her legs, no one dared to mock her, or thought she was exaggerating; they all knew that without Kamus around, Kasine always became a big bully, and none of them wanted to become her target.

Sokram had just finished bathing and was preparing to go to the Arch Mage’s tower when Margiory called him over, “Baby, your lab has been set up. The test subjects have also been captured.”

“In one day?” Sokram was truly surprised and somewhat taken aback by how fast that had been.

But the answer came in the form of an introduction, “Yes, the person who handled that for me is my right hand. Let me introduce her to you…” Margiory glanced at the kitchen and shouted, “Stop hiding, he is not of age yet.”

When Sokram saw the beautiful woman who came from the kitchen, his heart skipped a beat.

With long azure hair, azure eyes, and a height just under 1.7 meters, she had a figure built to be admired, with wide hips, an ample bosom, and silky, rosy skin.

Dressed in indigo mage robes, she carried a stack of papers.

“This is Riella, the head manager of the Androny Caravan,” Margiory introduced her.

And in his mind, Sokram added, ‘…and my lovely third concubine.’

“Please don’t eat me,” Riella said, half joking, half serious.

“Haha, I promise you I’ll try my best not to. But who knows…”

Sokram grinned mischievously, “If I fail, you might like it better that way.”

He offered his hand for her to shake.

Instead of shaking his hand, Riella covered her mouth, pushing back the urge to let her voice out because, like Lucy, Lucille, and Sayuri, Riella was also a Nymph.

Only from a different Nymphic race, she was a Siren, a direct descendant of the Primordial Mermaids.

“Don’t mind her. Whenever she meets a dragon, a high-human, or an elf, her bloodline instincts flare up, and her voice becomes quite… enchanting, haha.” Margiory joked, seeing the girl struggling not to use her Siren’s Chant on Sokram.

Sokram only nodded and, turning to Riella, he grinned teasingly, “It’s fine, I’m not weak-minded. You can trust me; I won’t get into a frenzy and try to devour you.”

“Sorry.” A single word, but Sokram felt his blood rush, his body tensing against an invisible tide that surged from her voice, a powerful urge to reach for her and push her down.

Yet he knew that would only happen once, after restabilizing his condition, which only took a few seconds; he once again extended his hand for a handshake.

“See? It’s nice to meet you, Riella. I’m Sokram.” Sokram flashed her a confident grin, but had she been a wolf, she would have been able to smell the sweat running down his back.

Resisting her Siren’s Chant had been nothing short of a struggle.

“Amazing, no wonder Lady Margiory can’t stop singing praises about you,” Riella smiled brightly, finally shaking his hand.

Feeling her soft hand on his calloused one made Sokram struggle again for an entirely different reason: The memory of her laughter, her touch, the way she once whispered his name. Flashes of their moments in his past timeline surged in his mind like a storm, one after the other. Her soft touch left his fingers twitching for all he had lost.

“Nah, you’re the amazing one putting together an alchemy lab in one day.” Sokram was very impressed, despite his only asking for basic lab equipment, it was still something else to manage to put all together in a single day.

“That was truly your luck… or Fate? One of our clients sold his old lab after upgrading to a Magitech-integrated one, and his lab had every item on your list. We also have some Magitech lab equipment if you want to have a look.” Riella’s tone shifted to her business-like, practiced one as she explained.

Sokram could only smirk, seeing her merchant side coming out so… automatically.

“I would love to, but I need to see the lab first. How about we go for a stroll?” Sokram offered, not wanting to part with her so soon, but also anxious to start working on his next project.

“Then I’m going too, you little womanizer!” Margiory chimed in, but just then, Hilda, Alain, and Miralyn rushed into the living room.

Hilda locked her arms around Sokram in a tight hug, struggling to contain her tears.