The finger of one of Zack's men ran through the back of the cultist, leaving a burned mark where he touched. With each movement, a new line appeared, and the man screamed in pain with each one.

In just a few minutes, an intricate red rune had appeared on the man's back.

"Ready." said the man who was creating the rune.

"Nice. Now that the rune is placed on your back, tell me how many members the cult has. " Zack asked the man who was sitting on the ground.

The man looked downwards for a few seconds as if thinking if he should answer or not.

"My patience is limited. Just answer my questions or die by exploding. " Zack said in a determined tone.

"We... we are twenty-three," the man replied instantly after hearing Zack's warning.

"Are you only twenty-three? You were brave enough to create your base so close to Xeles, and you are only that much. I guess you are not brave, but stupid instead. " Zack said as a smile appeared on his face.

"We are not here because we wanted to." "The man said, with a sad expression on his face. "We had another base in the Guburg's Tribe territory, but because of the politics of Queen Raziel against cults like ours, we got assaulted by an army that killed more than ninety percent of our members.

"Well, the ten percent remaining is about to get destroyed too, so it doesn't matter a lot." Zack said while laughing." How strong are the guys inside? Is there anyone that we should be careful about? "

After hearing another question, the man gritted his teeth before answering again.

"Most of our members are new recruits. I, for example, only joined the group a few days before we had to migrate from the Guburg territory. The most dangerous person is our leader. He is capable of using magic fueled by corruption, capable of injuring people even a few stages above him easily, "the man explained.

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"How strong is that leader? Which is his cultivation level? " Zack inquired.

"I'm not sure, but I know that he had neglected his body cultivation. His mind and his dantian should be in the fourth stage. " The man said

"Good, you have been useful. Now, go inside the base, and ask for help to hunt down a corrupted magical beast that has appeared in the swamp." Zack said.

"Is there such a beast?" The man was surprised.

Zack replied with a cold smile on his face. "Of course not. I only want you to get out of there with some of the members so we can take care of them easily before raiding your base. So invent some credible beasts and make them come out. "

"Do you want me to betray my companions?" the man asked as he began to get angry.

"You have already betrayed them by giving us that much information, so I'm sure that if your leader learns about our conversation, it is going to end badly. Even so, if you decide to not follow our orders, we will simply make you explode and pick up another member to do the dirty work for us. " Mark said as he burst into laughter.

Seeing that he didn't have many more options, the man resigned.

"OK, I will do as you say. But when all of this is over, I want you to spare me and remove this spell from my back, "the man said.

"If you do good work, we will do it," Zack replied.

Seeing that there was still some hope for him, a small smile appeared on the man's face before Zack's man untied him to let him go to the base.

As he was leaving, Zack began to shout.

"And remember, do exactly as we have told you unless you want to explode!"

"You are a sadist," said one of Zack's men while laughing.

"I'm not. I only do this to make sure that he does things right. " Zack said as he began to laugh.

"I still don't understand how the bluff of the explosive can work every single time." Another of Zack's men said, "There hasn't been even a single person that has realized that the mark is just a simple burn."

"You must have some empathy. These low-rank cultists get their brains completely messed up by the corruption. It is only natural that they believe anything that we told them if the act is good enough, and in this situation, I'm the best actor. " Zack said, with his head held high.

After that, they waited for more than a quarter of an hour before the man returned with a group of six people. To prevent being detected, Zack's group hides around the place where they previously tied the man, so when the cultist arrived, they were surrounded by Zack's group.

"Where is that beast that you told us about?" one of the cultists asked the man that guided them there.

"It was around here, I swear it. It was a giant alligator with four eyes and seven legs. I'm sure that the resources that we can get from it will greatly boost all of our members' progress. " As he tried to smile, the man said.

As he was saying this, Zack's group got out of their hiding places, and before giving any chance to react to the cultists, they eradicated them in a few movements.