Inside the now ruined capital of Dreghel, William was currently standing near one of the countless entrances that led inside the palace.

He had listened to Sylmare's speech and departure towards the front lines. However, he hadn't left yet. He was confident that Sylmare wasn't the mastermind, so he wanted to find the root cause of the issue and then find the proper support to get rid of it.

As long as he found the cause, he could come up with countermeasures. After all, how could you be sure of victory when your enemy is unknown?

He slowly advanced closer to the gate bit by bit, as his [Reconnaissance] picked up two intense energies just outside the gate.

He knew that if he exposed even a bit of his presence, he would be discovered without a doubt. What he was doing was not daring but straight-up suicide since every single demonic slave here was far above his league.

The only reason he wasn't caught so far was due to his experience with situations like this.

He remembered how desperate he had been back then when the demons began their actual invasion.

Being only a second-tier mage who had just become the Hidden Master, things took a wrong turn when the Thelwedean empire was the first land to be conquered by the demons.

Not having enough time to respond and with the collapse of the royal family, as the then leader of Pandora, he had no choice but to disband it. However, many of his subordinates were demonic slaves, which resulted in him being stuck in a hopeless situation, trying to find a way to escape his own base.

Thankfully, his wit and talent in energy manipulation saved him. He was able to completely conceal any magical particles through the creation of a unique spell. It had taken him a great deal of effort to come up with the method, and he spent a lot of time refining it while fighting the demons, making him practically unnoticeable, even with unique visions such as heat vision.

When he escaped, he fought countless waves of demonic apparitions, awakening his aura in the process and becoming what was known as a magic swordsman.

Although he was already middle-aged by then, the sheer grit and determination to live drove him into countless life-and-death situations, refining his will and intelligence into a ruthless and calculating weapon. He joined the allied forces and became a general, also taking the position of the strategist. He always partook in the battles he planned out, ready to kill as many demons as possible.

It was during this period that his strength grew rapidly despite his elderly age, reaching the Aura Breathing stage and becoming a fourth-stage magician.

Despite that being the case, as he began to age further, his body functions became slower, not only halting his advancement but also weakening his mana and aura to the point that he needed potions to sustain himself just so he could create the dimensional device.

After returning to the past, the thought of his family being alive and saving them had become his main priority at the time. It was only after everything was concluded that he realized how blinded he had been by the idea of saving his lost family, despite believing otherwise.

It was only in moments like this that his senses as a hunter and apex predator would shine, being in the most dire of circumstances, just like he had been back then.

As he was still a twelve-year-old kid in this timeline, his face was still immature, but his cold green eyes would say otherwise. Behind those eyes, one could see decades of battle and slaughter, decades of resentment and hope for Roia's survival.

His heart was burning with agitation, but he still maintained his calm appearance, not letting any of his emotions show. Right now, his senses were heightened to their peak, knowing full well that he would enter into territory that his current strength couldn't handle, but he was ready.

[Unique spell: Encapsulate]

Waving his finger, a spell that was hundreds of times more complicated than any spell he had used so far unfolded before him as thousands of miniature magic circles appeared for fractions of a second before disappearing and merging into a larger, more cohesive circle.

In an instant, Williams's figure was covered by a strange black-colored mist that didn't go further than a centimeter above his figure, making him look like a walking shadow. Slowly, the fog condensed from gas into solid, as William's body figure became strange, all of his body proportions not matching his original figure. A peculiar black mask with no facial features covered his face, making him unrecognizable. The mist had turned into something similar to a membrane, being quite stretchy.

Unique spells were different from all other spells in the fact that they didn't belong to any classification, especially one like encapsulate. It was a spell that required an absurd amount of magic knowledge and anatomy. It could be said to be one of William's most essential spells since it had taken him dozens of years to refine to this state.

When he had first used it, he was barely able to escape with his life intact, suffering countless injuries that only covered his presence and magic power. It was only after his hands fell on the highest-grade magic that he even considered transforming his figure.

However, this spell still had a significant amount of restrictions, especially with the version he was currently using. It currently had two severe flaws that would endanger William's life. The first was the fact that, even though most of the main functions of the spell worked just fine, they would only be active for roughly ten minutes at most, and this was only considering the fact that William had a mana pool that was nearly double that of a regular stage one mage. The second was that his positions would be revealed for a split second after he cast the spell.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Knowing this, William quickly disappeared from the spot he was standing on.

Not even half a second later, two figures appeared on the spot, their vibes clearly far above what William could handle.

The figures belonged to that of two corrupt male elves wearing golden armor. They had clearly sensed William's aura when he used his spell, prompting them to come and search the area.

William's heart rate quickened as he observed the two figures. He knew that he had to be cautious, as these were not ordinary elves. The golden armor they wore indicated that they were high-ranking soldiers who were tasked with protecting the elven royalty. He couldn't afford to let his guard down for even a moment.

He silently moved around them, making sure to keep his distance. He couldn't afford to engage them in battle, as he was not strong enough to defeat them. The two guards that had just appeared were guarding one of the entrances into the palace, so using this opportunity, he made his way in after a few seconds of careful deliberation.

As William moved, his body seemed to blur and distort, almost as if he was phasing through the air. He moved with the grace and precision of a trained assassin, his senses attuned to every sound and movement in his surroundings. With his unique spell, he was now able to move undetected, invisible to the eyes and senses of those around him.

Since his speed had not reduced due to the spell, he rushed forward as fast as he could. As he moved further inside the palace, he noticed that there were even more demonic slaves in the vicinity. They were all heavily armed and looked like they were ready for battle at a moment's notice. William knew that he had to be extra careful if he wanted to find out more.

His spell wouldn't last long, so he had to make sure he utilized it properly. Finding the place where the demonic aura was the densest, he headed towards it. Since Sylmare had left the palace, the place with the most vigorous amount of demonic energy was the source of all of this.

Every step he took brought him closer to the energy, as he found himself entering a large circular room, a young man standing at the center of it, an elven woman wearing a crown standing next to him, her gaze dull.

William immediately recognized the woman as the current empress of the Elven Kingdom and caretaker of the world tree, Ioelena. Realizing that the woman had become a demonic slave, his emotions surged, but he held them down, knowing full well that he couldn't act recklessly.

Thankfully, after inspecting her body for a bit, he realized that she didn't truly become a demonic slave, but instead, she was forced to.

This was different from becoming a slave of your own volition. If she had become one on her own, it would be practically impossible for her to return to normal, but if she was forced, just removing the demonic seed from her body would be enough, as long as the seed didn't bloom, that is.

Thinking of this, his gaze couldn't help but fall on the young man. For some reason, the young man felt familiar, but he was sure he had never seen him, even in the previous timeline.

The young man was currently channeling his dark mana into multiple demonic seeds, slowly turning them purple. Demonic seeds were directly produced by demons, so the supply was quite large, especially when it came to creating slaves.

William wasn't sure what the young man was doing, but he had a bad premonition about it. His gut feeling was nurtured through his life and death battles, so William trusted it greatly. Thinking of this, William couldn't help himself, so he moved around the room, trying to see the appearance of the young man.

After walking for ten seconds, he stopped, finally taking in the young man's appearance.

Right now, the appearance of the young man was extremely close to that of demons, as two black horns came out of his forehead, black patterns covered more than half of his face, and his canine teeth extruded from his mouth. His eyes were closed, concentrated on channeling energy into the demonic seeds.

This appearance meant that the young man wasn't an ordinary demonic slave but rather a half-demon. Under the layer of [Encapsulate], William's face was pale as he realized that the situation was way out of his league.

Half-demons didn't necessarily appear only when a native race and a demon gave birth to a child; it could also happen when a demonic slave was given enough of a demon's blood to stimulate a change in the bloodline. William wasn't sure which one of the two cases the young man was, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

A half-demon wasn't something he could deal with even if he was a third-stage mage, even with his current knowledge of magic. They were monsters of nature, possessing both magic and physical resistance that rivaled that of the draconian while at the same time possessing powerful corruption and curse magic.

All William could do right now was recognize the identity of the half-demon and flee to get help. Not wanting to waste any more time, he instantly began deducing his identity but found no match with any of the future half-demons.

Frowning, he began analyzing the young man's facial features. After a few seconds, however, a strange expression appeared on William's face.

'Isn't this the son of Baron Max Byrd? How did he become a half-demon?'

William's mind raced as he finally recognized the young man, but that only confused him even further. He sat there in silence for roughly forty seconds as he made countless conclusions, his mind finally finding something he had never noticed before.

'I always thought that Baron Byrd was moving on the orders of Marquis Cameron Mckee and Grand Duchess Judy, but in reality, their moves don't align with his actions at all, as if a third player decided to add himself in a chess board.'

William finally understood something, as a few holes in his information were instantly filled.

'No wonder Crown Prince Oliver didn't rebel against his father this time, since in the previous timeline he was best friends with Dean Byrd, but looking at Dean's current appearance, they weren't just friends. By saving my family, I have revealed one of the big secrets of my past life.’

William couldn't help but smile bitterly at his own thoughts, but a bigger question couldn't help but appear on his mind.

'If Dean was nowhere to be seen after the Demons began their invasion, then what happened to him? Why didn't I hear any news of such a half-demon?'

He felt like he just stumbled upon a more giant conspiracy, making shivers run down his spine.

Not wasting even a second, William instantly used his maximum speed to exit the room, leaving not even a hint of his existence behind.

He exited the palace at a speed at least twice as fast as the one he came, not caring about the fact that he might be noticed. He had to gain as much ground out of this place as possible and reach the camp.

Inside the circular room, Dean slowly opened his eyes, grinning from ear to ear, his sharp teeth creating a horrifying sight.

"A rat not only sneaked in, but also managed to escape without me, or anyone in the palace noticing, how surprising. I wonder what will happen now, well, it doesn't matter, my job is almost done, so I might as well have some fun."

He muttered, his gaze lazy, ultimately revealing his thoughts without any care.