Eternal Thief

Henrik suddenly started to emit dense killing intent as he roared in fury, "Who dare to plot against my ocean demon tribe?!" 

He darted toward one of the explosion locations in madness without even waiting for New Moon.

New Moon also sense something was amiss and when he took a looked at the cracked mirror in Henrik's hand, he was astonished after seeing dense rune symbols on the mirror's frame. 

He quickly understood what has happened and what were those explosions about and mused, 'Someone just blew up this formation's source points. Is this my target?' 

New Moon also blurred out toward the explosion locations. He wanted to find the person before they could escape, just like Henrik. 

They both thought that one person couldn't blow this many formation sources at once, which means this was a coordinated attack and there might be over one person. 

Henrik wanted to chop the culprit into a million pieces, while New Moon wanted to see if this person was his target or related to his target in any way.

Elian and Dustin also snapped out of their stupor and find those two big shots heading toward the different explosion directions. They weren't fools, and they knew something has happened. 

"Uriah, Tray, follow me to investigate one of these explosion directions. We had to help both lords!" 

Elian quickly reacted. He knew if he could get the recognition of Demon Duke New Moon, his tribe might be able to come out of this disaster unharmed!

Dustin's expression also changed when he saw Iron Demon Tribe Chief and other iron demons descending the wall and instantly guess what were they up to!

He quickly barked, "Gianni, Loral, follow me! We must capture this culprit to earn those lords' favor!" 

Gianni and another Dark Gibbon a few meters away nodded solemnly and followed behind Dustin on their war bears. 

Everyone forgot about the war challenge at this moment. 

On the Iron City Wall, on the east edge, 

A figure was standing tall right on the edge of the vast wall. It wore a dark hood on his head as his long coat fluttered in the wind. There was a dark blue owl imprint on his coat's back. 

Strangely, two demons were standing right behind this hooded figure, but they didn't seem to notice him and check out what was happening on the ground. 

This hooded figure was obviously Ace, who was in stealth and no one seemed to notice him as he was standing there from the start! 

Ace knew no one can detect him as long as they were not soul realm cultivators and did not pay much attention to this place. 

Ace has a faint smirk on his face when he looked at all those big wigs rushing toward the locations of explosions just to capture the culprit or find some clues. 

'They think I would be fool enough to leave myself open for them to capture? Heh, let's see how that Henrik caught blood from anger after not finding any trace of the culprit!

'But that Demon Duke New Moon appearance almost caught me off guard. That guy had a very strong martial sense, and if he was using it to full capacity, he could've found me.' 

Ace's expression was grave when he thought about the emergence of a demon duke-level existence out of the blue. However, he could still escape him, since that guy disdained to even look in the direction of small fries.

'But this New Moon being here isn't a coincidence, nor has Livy invited him. I can't hear their conversation, or they'll be able to notice my heavenly sense, but by Henrik's reaction, this New Moon is here for something. So, who could move a demon duke like a lackey?' Ace mused and suddenly a sharp light flash past his eyes.

'A Demon King! It seemed he was sent here to investigate the incident with Nāgas and that demon king still hasn't given up on Heavenly Fate Live Compass Needle. So, he's after me in a sense,'

Ace quickly concluded with little clues he had. He knew characters like demon dukes weren't easily moved, and only demon kings have the authority and prowess to move them. 

'Nonetheless, since the demon eye formation is useless now, they won't be able to fathom the situation quickly anymore. Well, since I'm already about to slap a demon duke's face, it doesn't matter if I add one more to the equation. Besides, this Demon King probably won't give up so easily, and I'm destined to arouse more attention as I reveal my abilities and there won't be just one demon king after me at that time.' 

Ace suddenly felt thrilled when he thought about this point. He wasn't afraid of these demon kings much because he knew when these demon kings deemed him worthy of their actual attention, he'll be far stronger and might be able to escape them!

'Well, I should move far away from here. It still isn't the time to start the stealing-massacre. It seemed Noa really doesn't have the chance to shine this time around, since there's a demon duke out there now. Even I have to be extremely careful!' Ace mused. 

He quickly vanished from his position and go toward the further back of all these soldiers. 

Suddenly, Ace received an unexpected notification. 

===== 

[Side Mission has been issued]

---

[Side Mission (2)]

[Mission: Steal from the rich!]

-Requirement: Pick-Pocket a Qi Soul Cultivator's Storage Ring present in this war challenge!

[Time: Until the winner of this war challenge is decided]

[Reward: Item Upgrade Token]

[Punishment: -1 Million Thief Points]

=====

'You got to be kidding me!' Ace's face fell the moment he saw another side mission and its contents.

'I didn't think you could give me continuous side missions, well played, damn it!' Ace smiled wryly, he didn't know about this new function, Side Mission, much so he didn't expect to get another side mission while another side mission was still active. 

Ace pursed his lips and asked, "System, tell me first what is this item upgrade token, and then I'll think about completing this mission or not. I rather lose a million thief points than have an angry soul realm cultivator on my tail!" 

Ace knew there were only two soul realm cultivators present in this war challenge, Henrik and New Moon. So, he had to go after one of them, but he wanted to find out if this risk was even worth it. 

"[Item Upgrade Token: Upgrade any item or treasure purchased from the system shop by a single grade.]"

Ace's eyes suddenly narrowed as he asked again with uncertainty, "Tell me this. Can I upgrade the last invisible bead I have?" 

He quickly understood what this item upgrade token was, and it was indeed quite tempting since he has many treasures from the system shop he wanted to upgrade and the invisible bead was his biggest trump card. 

Although it was only a one-time use item, it was still very powerful. Still, its only limit was its one-minute time limit! 

"[Yes!]"

Ace's heart raced when he heard the system's voice of confirmation, and his eyes become sharp as a thought surfaced in his mind. 'I have to complete this side mission!' 

With this, his entire plan of causing a stealing massacre changed and all his focus turned to one single person, Henrik! 

Ace chose Henrik to complete this side mission without any hesitation because New Moon was far stronger than Henrik and there was still that demonic beast wolf which was also quite powerful, so he won't go after New Moon no matter what. 

Ace's eyes quickly darted toward the newly emerged stairway right above the city gates. Elian, Uriah, and Tray used this artificial stairway to descend the city wall since the city gate was sealed with an array. 

'Let's get outside while I still have a chance!'

---

Not far away from Iron Demon City, right outside the Iron Forest, 

A voluptuous, tall demoness in a veil was observing everything happening in the vicinity of Iron Demon City from the start. She had a blue cube in her emerald slender hand, and her brown eyes were fixed on this cube. 

She mumbled in her crisp voice, "I have to report about these explosions to mistress. This war challenge has become far more complicated, and I still didn't find any trace of that thief. Could it be he has long escaped, even with all those tracking arrays I set up in this area?" 

She couldn't help but wonder as her beautiful eyebrows knit together, 'But why is that New Moon fellow here, don't the Mist Demon King care about Blade Demon King's dissatisfaction? This is a direct provocation!'

She shivered just thinking about this and quickly looked at a small, colorful parrot resting on her shoulder. She said gravely, "Little Pio, contact Her Highness and report everything I just said. This Sky Stealer's matter has become even bigger!"