Alex looked at Qianyu and nodded. The people in the conference room then looked at each other and described the details of the mission.

"The Scarlet Tide stole an object that was to be extracted by the Family Alliance. We have obtained intelligence about the hideout of the Scarlet Tide close to the Highland Shelter.

The Family Alliance, Army Alliance and a few other individuals will launch an attack to eradicate the Scarlet Tide from this shelter."

Alex looked at the information. According to this intelligence the scarlet tide has a base in the south west. The previous time Alex had headed south, but had not encountered any person from Scarlet Tide. However, the young masters had and they had even said it was a tablet with a paw mark on it.

He did not say much, simply accepted the mission. He had hatred for the Scarlet Tide anyway.

Alex was provided details. The expedition would leave in two days and he was asked to make preparations. Alex prepared meat, he also carried the explosive cores of the golems. He already had several single use cards, he acquired through scrupulous and unscrupulous means. Since he had two days, Alex spent time exploring around the shelter.

He went around looking at the various stalls to see if anything was on sale that could interest him. However, he was disappointed. These street vendors were extremely poor and only sold some meat and... card fragments!

Alex was excited. Since he could absorb any card fragments he didn't even need to hunt, couldn't he just purchase fragments directly?

Thinking in such a manner, Alex walked to one stall and asked. "How much for this card fragment?"

"Just one?" The vendor stared at Alex.

Alex nodded. "Yeah, just this one."

Soon Alex purchased the card fragment and took it in his hand. However, he was immediately disappointed. "Why isn't the vortex card digesting this fragment?" He wondered.

He purchased a few more fragments from different stalls at random, but he had the same issue.

"Could it be, that I can only absorb fragments of creatures that I kill?" Alex had a thought and then realized that that must be true. He sighed because his potential way to just become a juggernaut by purchasing fragments did not work.

Two days later, Alex arrived at the appointed spot. There were twenty people from the family alliance, twenty people from the army alliance and ten other people. Among them Alex spotted Nia and Qianyu as the only people he was familiar with. Nia seemed to be the only person other than himself who was a card initiate.

The group departed under the leaders.h.i.+p of Qianyu who represented the army alliance. The group quickly set off for the location. No one in the group was weak and the group had a fairly large number, so monsters did not dare to attack along the way.

Their speed was very high and after three days of constant travelling they neared the enemy territory. At this point, the group turned discrete, in an attempt to launch a sneak attack and take down all the Scarlet Tide members. The area was actually a rocky creva.s.se filled area with many caves. The Scarlet Tide were hidden within these caves.

The group split up surrounded the area and on careful observation, the activity of the Scarlet Tide could be seen. Hundreds of individuals were gathered here, running around, busy with work.

Upon a sign, the group immediately set out to attack the base. The fifty individuals, including Alex, all pounced on the unsuspecting Scarlet tide and began attacking.

Alex took out his stick and began fighting with the opponents as did the others. The invasion group was very strong and all the scarlet tide members outside the caves were forced into a defensive.

As Alex fought against the scarlet tide member, who took out blood cards and activated it, Alex calmly rushed in and struck using the stick. A powerful vibratory force intruded the cultist and he crumpled to death. Similar fates befell two others who Alex quickly got rid off.

After ten minutes, all the Scarlet Tide cultists outside the caves had been killed. Qianyu then spoke up.

"Split up and enter the caves, find any cultists and kill them!"

There were ten caves in all, and so the group of fifty split into groups of five and entered. Within the cave, Alex's encountered several cultists whom they slaughtered without much effort. The group were starting to think that they had really over prepared for this eradication mission.

Following through into the cave, the group found that the cave continued to expand larger and larger until it merged into a gigantic underground hall.

At the center of the hall was a temple where the clay tablet with the paw mark was placed at an angular altar. Alex noticed that there were nine other caves leading into this hall, and as if to confirm his suspicions, the other groups arrived from the other caves.

When all the fifty entered the huge temple hall, a voice spoke up from within the temple. "Welcome, everyone. Thank you for accepting my invitation."

"Accepting your invitation?" A member of the Family alliance asked in confusion.

"Of course, how exactly did you suddenly receive this tip?" A man suddenly appeared. He seemed young, but he had red hair and red eyes. However, when Alex saw him, he was shocked.

"Luke?" Alex realized with horror. This young person seemed to be Luke! But he had died right in front of his eyes. Although he was shocked by the situation, he did not speak out the name out loud. "How is he alive?" Alex thought in his heart with bewilderment.

The red haired Luke didn't seem to recognize Alex. He laughed as he spoke out. "I invited you to witness the first grand opening of the scarlet tide. Today, you will lay your lives as sacrifices to see the power of this ancient artifact!"

Suddenly, behind the fifty attackers, hundreds of cultists appeared from the caves. These people had already realized the situation. This was an ambush prepared for them, to activate the artifact.