Assassin’s Chronicle - Chapter 371

Chapter 371: Gifts

 

Anfey turned around and saw Jacob standing next to Entos. He was so surprised that he could not help calling, “Master Jacob?”

Jacob nodded at Anfey and then turned to playfully look at Entos. Entos had been cheerful most of the time, but he looked serious now. He took a close look at the magic wand in his hand and did not seem to see Anfey at all.

“Bro Entos, what are you doing?” Anfey slowly moved toward Entos. He cleared his throat and said, “Master Jacob, thank you so much for your help. If it were not of you, it would have taken those gnomes hundreds of years to make senior magic arrows.”

“You are welcome. I had nothing else to do anyway,” Jacob said with a smile.

It would be wonderful if you could be free like this for a long time, Anfey thought to himself. Anfey could not help feeling admiration for Jacob. For the past seven days, Jacob had been walking around in the underground city. He was so bored that he made some gadgets. Some were gadgets for himself, but others were amazing magic crafts of high quality to give to other people.

“Is it daylight outside now?” Entos suddenly asked.

“Yes. The vanguard of Shield of Light legion has left,” Anfey nodded.

“We should leave too.” Entos passed the wand to Anfey.

Anfey was shocked. He thought Jacob had made some changes to the wand and wanted to test his reaction time. Anfey took the wand. An electric arch suddenly appeared as his fingers touched wand. The arch moved fast towards the ends of the wand. At that moment, Anfey felt the changes this wand gave him.

He had experienced the same feeling when Saul put the Dimensional ring on him or when the blood on his finger went into the bowstring. They all gave Anfey similar feelings, a feeling that these objects had some special bond with him.

“This…” Anfey was stunned.

“Jacob wiped my memories from this wand. This wand is now yours,” Entos said casually. “I hope you can take a good care of it. Don’t just treat it as an object. Instead, this wand is your friend now.”

Anfey froze. This gift was so valuable that Anfey did not how to respond. He had said things to give Entos a hard time, but never meant to take the wand from him. He was just joking with him and hoping Entos could figure a short cut for him to learn Instant Transportation since he wanted to learn it so badly and wished to master it as fast as possible.

Seeing Entos holding the wand, Anfey felt bad for him. He did not mean to take it away from him, but Entos seemed to remember what he said. Entos might have misunderstood, or perhaps Entos was a very serious, even though he looked playful.

“Why are you staring, wide-eyed?” Jacob said. “You and Entos are not pretentious people. If Entos is giving it to you, just take it, Anfey. This wand indeed is not that helpful for him anymore.”

Anfey went quiet for a while, and said in a low voice, “Ok.” He did not say thank you. It did not seem right, since words could not express his gratitude.

“Good.” Jacob picked up a sword from a stone table and chuckled. “This is my gift. It could release series of lightning, but it takes a little time to cool down. Only use it when it is needed. I did not prepare any gift for your wedding so I played a joke on you. Saul made fun of me a few times because of that. Now I finally can tell him I got you a gift.”

“Series of lightning.” Anfey was stunned again. He knew well how powerful the Series of Lightning was. When he was on the run, Christian released a Series of Lightning magic scroll and killed all the knights in a Sacred Flame legion unit.

Alice stood behind Anfey, also shocked. She had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from yelling. As a princess, she not only knew how powerful the Series of Lightning was, but also how many magical ingredients it took to make such a magic sword.

“Take it!” Jacob raised his voice and then tried to sound nice again to convince Anfey. “Anfey, don’t feel any pressure, Ok? Saul, Mioritch, and I all received help from previous top powers. Do you really think it was easy to become a top power? No one could easily become a top power without others’ help. I would never have been able to survive till now if I was on my own.”

Anfey took a deep breath. His fingers looked a little shaky, but they became stable again when they touched the shaft of the sword. He slowly took the sword and carefully hung it on his belt. He stood as straight as a spear, with lips tightly pressed. He knew that no matter what he said now would not be enough. He also knew Jacob selflessly helped him and cared about him, just as Saul had done.

They had overcome greed, killings, envy, hatred, desires and other sins in human nature in order to unite together as a whole and selfishly help each other, which magic beasts could not do.

“Right now there are just a few capable and talented young men. Even fewer of them are trustworthy,” Jacob said quietly. “I still can help, but I might not have the ability to help you when the real Death War breaks out.”

“Real Death War? The current one…” Anfey could not help looking surprised.

“Right now is just a preview. Necromancers haven’t made any moves yet,” Jacob said. “The optimism from Fernando has affected many people. They thought killing all the death spirits in the Country of Mercenaries would help them turn their defensive position into an offensive one. Anfey, do you know Annunciata?”

“Yes.” Anfey nodded.

“Necromancers have a long lifespan. Annunciata was a young one among them.” Jacob had a bitter smile on his face. “I am telling you that Annunciata’s teacher, Morgan, is still alive. Morgan’s teacher, Minos, is alive too. Their top powers are no less than ours. How can you be optimistic knowing this?”

Anfey went quiet for a while and said slowly, “We will win in the end!”

“Of course,” Jacob smiled. “but many people will give their lives in battle. Maybe I am one of them.”

“Don’t say that, Master Jacob!” Entos said bitterly. “I know you are good at astrology. Don’t you know a prophecy could come true?”

“As an astrologist, I do not care about superstition,” Jacob said, shaking his head. “I care about how much we could tell and explain from the astrological phenomenon.”

“When you gave your dairy to Hagan, were you thinking…?” Anfey did not finish the whole sentence because he had a bad feeling about it.

Jacob chuckled. “It has nothing to do with it. The Death War had not broken out yet at that time. When I saw Hagan, I just felt like giving my dairy to him, and then I did.”

Anfey went quiet. He could tell Jacob liked to do whatever was on his mind.

“Ok, it’s time for us to leave,” Jacob said quietly. “If I stay too long, I am afraid Marquis Djoser will suspect me.”

Anfey opened his mouth, trying to say something, but then closed it. He had come down to the underground city to find Jacob and ask him a favor. He really did not feel right asking favors now that he had accepted such an expensive gift from Jacob.

“Anything else?” Jacob saw Anfey was trying to say something.

“The thing is . . .” Alice understood Anfey had a hard time asking a favor from Jacob now. She was smart and asked on behalf of Anfey. “Master Anfey hoped you could turn these crystals into a sword shaft and sheath. It would be best if you could seal them together.”

Anfey blushed. Anfey had a decent amount of experience and good vision among young people, but he still dared not look Jacob in the eyes. Anfey felt he was so greedy, but he had no one else to ask. This sword shaft and sheath were so important for Anfey so he had to ask Jacob.

Jacob took the crystal from the gnome. He thought for a while. “Do you only want a sword shaft and sheath? What size do you want?”

“Any size,” Anfey murmured.

“Any size? Ok.” Jacob could not help laughing.

This was the first time Anfey had watched Jacob make magic crafts in person. No wonder Jacob was an archalchemist. It was enjoyable to watch him making magic crafts. He poured out a half bottle of a light green chemical and quickly turned a dozen of crystals into a puddle of liquid. The liquid followed Jacob’s fingers, like the stars floating upwards into the dark sky.

Jacob took out a crystal stick and casually moved it to draft the shape of a sword shaft and sheath. He took out another magic chemical and pointed and moved along the liquid about twenty times before he complete his job.

“Do you like it?” Jacob did not even need to test the connection between the shaft and sheath before he passed it to Anfey. Confidence and capability were connected. As an archalchemist, he would never make stupid mistakes.

“Yes, I do.” Anfey nodded. He did not test it either. He just put them in his Dimensional ring.

“Anfey, what do you need it for?” Entos asked out of curiosity.

“It takes too long for me to make magic weapons, which is really inconvenient. I am thinking of keeping elements in the sheath. That way I could join the battle at any time,” Anfey said.

“It is not the best approach, but you can take advantage of this opportunity to practice your telepathy,” Entos said.

“Telepathy?” Anfey asked.

“Yes.” Entos walked up to Anfey and whispered something to him. Anfey looked like he had come to a sudden realization.

Chapter 372: Sadness

 

The Shield of Light legion separated into two groups to cross the Transverse Mountains and headed to the north. The two groups then separated into several smaller forces and swept across the plain. Fernando wanted to eliminate as many zombies as possible, and this plan was an effective way to achieve that. After two days, the legion had already eliminated more than a thousand zombies. Most of the zombies were alone or in small groups of less than five hundred. It only took a small squadron of knights to eliminate them. There were only a few injured and they were all taken care of quickly.

Blavi, Ozzic, and Orsie arrived in a nearby village to rest. They were staying by the edge of the town so they didn’t have to face a town ravaged by zombies. Their job was to contact the remaining resisting mercenaries and detect nearby necromancer and zombie activity. Necromancers were very sensitive to light magic and could sense it from miles away. The best thing to do was the have the mercenaries take care of gathering information.

Their next destination was a larger town called Hardikan. According to Fernando’s intel, there were still around six hundred mercenaries there. Most of the mercenaries belonged to Green Wilderness mercenary group. Blavi, Orsie, and Ozzic needed to decide how they should approach the town and whether or not they should allow the mercenaries there to join them at Moramatch. This was the first stronghold they would come into contact with, and they were determined to do things right.

A dozen riders rode toward the town and stopped just outside of it. Christian jumped off of the first horse and walked over to Blavi.

“What are you doing here?” Blavi asked, surprised.

Christian shrugged. “I’m bored,” he said. “How everything going?”

“Good,” Blavi said. “If you’re looking for Anfey, he’s over there.”

Christian frowned. “What is he doing?”

“Practicing, I think,” Blavi said with a shrug.

Anfey was sitting on the ground, staring intently at the fiery longsword in his hand. The sword had melted the snow around him, exposing the dark earth and dried tufts of grass. The sword caused the water to evaporate, and the earth became increasingly dry.

Shinbella watched Anfey quietly from about ten feet away. She didn’t mind the heat but she knew that using combat power could potentially affect Anfey’s concentration. She hated it when people interrupted her practice, so she did not want to interrupt someone else.

Anfey’s grip around the sword tightened. Everything around him seemed to have faded because he was so focused on the elements. He felt the pulsing of the fire elements that made up the sword and concentrated on that. His mind closed in on that pulsing, his heightened senses able to sense the flow of the elements perfectly.

Nearby, a small snake poked its head out of the ground, fooled by the warmth of its surroundings. It slithered out of its hiding place, then quickly ducked back into its hole when its body came in contact with the unmelted snow. Shinbella narrowed her eyes when she saw the red glow in Anfey’s hand.

Seeing that the fire sword had changed into a red blade, Anfey finally leaned back and relaxed. The blade’s elements had completely solidified, and it was glowing a dull red light. The sword looked more like a sword that just came out of a dwarf’s forge instead of an element sword. Anfey waved the sword a bit then returned it to the sheath. As soon as the sword was returned to the sheath, the elemental surges disappeared and the heat in the air dissipated. Anfey stood up and stumbled due to sudden dizziness.

Shinbella hurried over and grabbed his arm, helping him stand up straight. “You alright?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Anfey said, nodding. This was a warning to him. He knew that he had pushed himself too far and he should rest. If not, he should at least try another way to practice. If he kept on pushing himself, he might achieve the exact opposite of what he wanted.

“This is the most dangerous thing to practice,” Shinbella said. “One misstep could lead you to lose everything. You need to be more careful.”

“I understand,” Anfey said. He stretched and relaxed his body, which was stiff from sitting on the ground for too long. “Thanks for the warning.” He could tell that not only was he physically exhausted, he was also mentally exhausted. He could sense that his inner power had been disrupted. However, he was also optimistic. This was the most he had achieved in magic so far, and he knew he could not relax just yet.

“If Lady Suzanna were here, she would have the same opinion,” Shinbella said.

Anfey shrugged and smiled. “You should’ve seen her,” he said. “She’s even worse than I am when it comes to knowing her limits.”

Shinbella sighed and shook her head. She was older than Suzanna, but she was not as powerful. She could tell that Suzanna must have spent a lot of time pushing herself to the limit and practicing her craft.

Anfey and Shinbella turned to walk towards the village. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the horses, then smiled when he saw who was standing nearby. “Is that Christian over there?”

Shinbella looked at the village and smiled. “Looks like it,” she said. She was a senior swordsmaster and her eyesight was superb. Whatever Anfey could see, she could see as well.

Christian smiled when he saw Anfey and Shinbella approach. Then he frowned and asked, “You don’t look so well. What happened?”

“Just tired,” Anfey said. “Don’t worry about me. Why are you here?”

“It’s a little boring back in Moramatch,” Christian said. “I wanted to check on you guys.”

“You’re the overseer,” Anfey said with a smile. “You of all people shouldn’t be bored.”

Christian shrugged. “Most of the troops are away, anyway. Plus, it’s not like I have any actual power over the army.”

“You still do,” Anfey said jokingly. “What, do you want to be a general?” Overseers don’t usually have power over an army, but the composition of the Shield of Light legion was very complicated. There was no telling what would happen and what the soldiers would do if Christian really questioned Fernando’s authority.

“I’m good,” Christian said. “I don’t need an army. There’s another thing. The Church has ordered Fernando to look for a man. A fugitive.”

“Who is it?” Anfey asked, surprised.

“Warner.”

“What?” Warner jumped up and asked. His eyes widened and his arms flailed. “Why? A fugitive? What did I do? This must be Salmado’s doing!”

“You killed Cardinal Bergkamp and stole the Book of Life. That is enough to execute you ten times over.”

Warner gasped and stumbled back. He sat down on the ground, angry. He knew that it was Salmado and his men who had caused the death of Bergkamp, but what was his word against a cardinal’s?

“Is it from the pope?” Anfey asked.

“No,” Christian said. “It’s from the Holy Court.” He paused then said, “I also heard the pope is sick.”

“How did Fernando react?”

“He is hesitant,” Christian said. “He knew that this order was wrong. Warner was Bergkamp’s servant. He couldn’t have killed so many people. Fernando knows this.”

Anfey nodded. “Maybe this order is from Bergkamp’s people. They would use it to imply Warner’s innocence. There are too many things we don’t know yet. Warner, you have to be careful.”

Warner nodded. He sat on the ground quietly, then suddenly covered his face with his hands and wept. He was a dedicated priest and this order from the Church of Light made him feel like he was betrayed by the very thing he had dedicated his life to.

Chapter 373: Embraced by Death

 

Alice leaned across a bench. She looked calm and relaxed, like she did not put too much effort into skimming the report in her hands. She read quickly, skimming all the reports and making decisions on priority issues. In fact, she had less work than before. Anfey had restored order in Moramatch. They did not have to spend a lot of time and effort on malicious competition at least. Everything seemed to be in order.

“Master.” Kumaraghosha’s voice rose from outside.

“What is it?” Alice asked. Anfey had taken Alice’s advice to take Shinbella with him, and had left Kumaraghosha in Moramatch to protect her. Alice was concerned about having contact with Kumaraghosha. Kumaraghosha seemed to feel it as well. He showed more respect to Alice. Sometimes, respect meant keeping a distance. She did not know if Kumaraghosha did that on purpose, but she was not interested in figuring it out.

“General Hilgy has something urgent to tell you,” Kumaraghosha said.

“General Hilgy?” Alice was shocked for a second and stood up immediately. “Please ask him in. Hurry up!”

General Hilgy walked into the yard, and Alice went out to welcome him. Hilgy commanded over 30,000 border guards in Blackania City. Alice dared not show any disrespect. She was surprised to see Hilgy with many armed guards and two wagons quickly fill the yard.

“General Hilgy, what are you…?” Alice asked.

“Master,” Hilgy looked up with a bitter smile and tapped on the wagon.

The curtain of the wagon was lifted as a girl as beautiful as Alice, but displaying a different persona, stuck her head out of the wagon. Alice could not help gasping. “Miss Niya. What are you doing here?”

“Alice!” Niya smiled and jumped off the wagon. She looked around and asked quietly, “Where is Suzanna?”

More than a dozen people jumped from the wagon before Alice realized what had happened. Riska, Zubin, Sante, Hagan and other members from Alibaba mercenary group all had come to Moramatch. Alice was stunned and did not know what to say. She knew Moramatch was a dangerous place, so Anfey would never had agreed for them to come here.

“Alice, why are you not talking? Where is Suzanna?” Niya asked again.

“Don’t you know Ms. Suzanna went to Sacred City?” Alice said.

“Didn’t she come back yet?” Niya’s face suddenly changed.

“She would not be back so soon.” Alice had a warm smile on her face. She had to keep them here and contact Anfey as fast as possible. She had no right to manage them, but she had to take care of them, because she would have to take responsibility if anything happened to them. “You guys must be tired. Come on in. Rest a little.”

Niya did not have time to respond to Alice’s hospitality. Instead, she grabbed Alice’s arm. “Alice, what is happening? Are you sure Suzanna is not back yet?”

“I just told you Suzanna went to Sacred City. She would not come back so soon.” Alice noticed something unusual.

“How could it be? She should be here already. She left a half day earlier than us.” Niya looked worried.

“Did you see Ms. Suzanna?” Alice asked in surprise.

“Yes, Suzanna came back to Violet City the day before yesterday, but left that night,” Riska said. “Alice, you cannot joke about it. Is Suzanna really not back yet?”

“How could I joke about this?” Alice shook her head with a bitter smile. “I thought Ms. Suzanna has been in Sacred City.”

“Damn, Damn!” Niya was so worried that she stomped on the ground. Suzanna was the most disciplined in Alibaba mercenary group. Of course, this had to do with her training. Unlike others, Suzanna would not change her itinerary unless something unexpected had happened.

Like Niya, Riska and others did not look well. Suzanna was lost, so was the little unicorn. One was Anfey’s wife while the other one was Anfey’s baby. If anything happened to them, they could only imagine how upset and sad Anfey would feel.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Alice tried to comfort them. “Suzanna is a senior swordswoman. Even if something happened, she has the ability to protect herself. Try to think, did Ms. Suzanna say anything to you guys?” Capable people usually take on more responsibility. This made sense. Alice did not only have to control her emotions but also comfort everyone else. However, no one was taking care of Alice.

“Suzanna did not say anything. She said she would come back to Moramatch as fast as possible and then she left,” Niya said.

Shally worriedly looked at them and then started crying. Even though she was an experienced swordsgirl, she was also Suzanna’s sister and a spoiled princess. People with different backgrounds and experiences acted differently.

“You guys do not have to worry about it.” Besides Alice, General Hilgy was the most calm one. He said in a low voice, “I am going back to the station right now to prepare a search party.” He was calm, but did not look too good. He knew the price some spy organizations had to pay to protect Suzanna’s mother. Could they let Suzanna walk away without paying anything? Personally, he liked Suzanna. He thought she was a quiet and polite girl. He could not have anything happen to her.

“Thank you, general,” Alice said.

“Master, you do not have to thank me. This is my job.” Hilgy waved his hand and walked out with his guards. He had no time to pay attention to courtesies.

“Kumaraghosha!” Alice called.

“Yes.” Kumaraghosha straighten up.

“Tell Stein to take his fourth unit and leave right away. Can you go with them? No matter what it takes, we have to find Ms. Suzanna,” Alice said.

“Yes, Master,” Kumaraghosha said.

As Alice was giving orders, Suzanna was leaning against a tree, trying to take a breath to recover from losing so much energy. Her hair was messy and dirty, even mixed with some grass and leaves. Suzanna liked to be clean and tidy. She never forgot to clean herself even when she was on the run, which was the reason she had a life-threatening fight with Anfey. However, she really had no time to pay attention to her looks. She could not even sleep.

There were more than a dozen cracks in her upper armor, but the cracks were not long. The armor on her left leg was torn in half, showing her white skin and a red wound. The color contrast made it look scary. The little unicorn quietly lay next to her and licked Suzanna’s wounds.

Magic beasts would fight to protect their own territory. It was inevitable for magic beasts to get hurt. The wounded magic beasts usually would lick their wounds. This was their instinct. From the scientific point of view, there were enzymes in the saliva. These enzymes had a lot of benefits, such as to disinfect and speed up healing. Suzanna did not know any of this, but she found her wound had healed very fast and left no scar. The former effect allowed her to rejoin the battle while the latter allow her to continue to be beautiful. When it was only Suzanna and Anfey together, Anfey usually touched her skin and often complimented her on her skin. She did not want to change the way she looked.

When Suzanna had just entered Transverse Mountain, a few druids stopped her. They were nice at the beginning, trying to invite Suzanna to their house. She knew Bruzuryano, so she did not want to be mean to them. In addition, Suzanna had a good impression of the druids. However, she was worried about Anfey and did not want to go anywhere else. She firmly turned down their invitation. The druids had shown their true colors at the end.

Four of the druids turned into wild wolves, while the other two turned into Wind Wolves to assist the other four druids. A few senior elf shooters hid themselves. This combination left no chance for Suzanna to win this battle. If she fought, she would not be able to counter the attack from every angle. She thought about fleeing, but the arrows the senior elves shot out shattered her escape plan.

Suzanna did not understand why druids would attack her. Weren’t they allies? As a senior swordswoman, she was not afraid of danger, or even death. What bothered her was that she could not pass this warning to Anfey and lost the opportunity to spend the rest of her life with Anfey.

As Suzanna thought there was no chance for her to survive, the angry little unicorn rushed into the battle. A young magic beast did not know how to protect himself or judge how strong the enemies were. However, the little unicorn dare to fight them. He threw himself at the Wild Wolves, protecting Suzanna from their Wind Blades, sharp claws, flying arrows, or anything that could hurt her. He used his weak body to keep death away from Suzanna.

The little unicorn was not strong, but unicorns were the legendary rides of God of Nature and enjoyed high status among the followers of God of nature. Anyone who hurt holy beasts would get cursed by the God of Nature. It was taboo for the followers to hurt unicorns.

Suzanna was experienced in fights, so she grabbed the opportunity to escape. She grabbed the little unicorn and ran out, but prospects were not bright. Druids had strong tracking ability in the forests. They closely chased after her and even cut down the route to Moramatch. She was forced to run north. As a result, she was getting further away from Moramatch.

Chapter 374: Secrets and Surprises

 

Anfey took a step forward and grabbed Shinbella, but it was too late. The two of them had already startled the zombies on the outskirts of the village. Those zombies warned the zombies in the village, and a large group soon emerged from the village.

Anfey and Shinbella both sighed. They didn’t know each other very well and could not cooperate as smoothly.

“Should we signal the others?” Ozzic asked.

Anfey squinted and observed the zombies. Then he shook his head and said, “No need. These are the most basic zombies. We can take care of them.”

Anfey drew his sword and waved his hand. The mercenaries around him all grinned and drew their own weapons. They were very eager to kill some zombies and reclaim their land.

Anfey stopped trying to repress the elements’ flow and the sword suddenly grew longer in size and the edge became fuzzy with fire elements. The air around the sword shimmered due to the intense temperature.

Anfey lunged towards the zombies, holding the sword out in front of him. He spun the sword in his hand, turning it into a wheel of flame. The sword sheared through the zombies in its path like a hot knife through butter.

The sword did not slow Anfey down at all. He found that he had already dashed through at least two dozen zombies, leaving charred bodies in his wake. He skidded to a stop and turn to see where the mercenaries were. After he made sure the mercenaries were having no trouble with the zombies, he turned to look for his next target. A zombie jumped at him but he slashed at it with his sword and it disappeared.

Entos taught Anfey that all magical artifacts have expiration dates. The important thing wasn’t conserving energy. Instead, it was using a limited amount of magic to achieve the maximum effect and prevent mistakes. Anfey had to practice teleportation with every chance he got. Like Jacob said, during an actual War against the Dead, even people like Saul and Jacob could not be certain about their survival. Someone like Anfey would stand no chance in the war. He had to practice in case one day his life was on the line.

Anfey swept the sword around himself and cut through the zombies that were swarming towards him. The sword’s reach was limited and Anfey knew that he must use proper stances to achieve maximum effect.

This was the first time Anfey depended on magic during a fight. In the past, he did not know how to form a powerful weapon and relied on other things to make up for his weapon’s lack of power.

The zombies all swarmed towards Anfey because they knew that once they killed him, they could easily kill the rest of the mercenaries. However, simple zombies stood no chance against a sword made of fire elements. The mercenaries soon found themselves without foes, as all the zombies turned their attention to Anfey.

Anfey killed the last zombie and returned to the sword to its sheath. He rolled his wrists as he look around, searching for stray zombies that might have escaped. The mercenaries looked around and Shinbella found a small zombie running away from the village. She dashed towards it and slew it.

“Is that the last one?” Anfey asked as Shinbella walked back, shaking blood off of her sword.

“As far as I can tell,” Shinbella said, nodding. “That was impressive.”

“Thanks,” Anfey said.

“Who are they?” Ozzic suddenly asked, frowning and pointing towards the village. About half a dozen people in brown garb were walking over.

“Are those mercenaries?” Anfey asked.

“No,” Shinbella said, narrowing her eyes. “Druids.”

“Druids? Aren’t they all in Blackwater?”

“That’s the direction Shield of Light legion went, isn’t it?” Orsie asked quietly.

Anfey turned to Long and lifted a brow. Long looked at those men and sighed. “They must be working for Manstuly,” he said.

“The Wolf King?” Anfey asked, shocked.

Long nodded. “We can’t be seen by them,” he said.

“It’s a long story and not a tale for now,” Ling told Anfey as she grabbed Long’s arm and drew him toward the back. “We will speak of it later.”

Anfey nodded and turned to observe the druids. He knew that there were druids in Country of Mercenaries, but he thought that they were all trapped in Blackwater City by the necromancers. Did Tiger of Tawau mercenary group finally begin their counterattack? Or was it because they had urgent messages that needed to be delivered?

The druids saw them and quickened their pace. The leader walked up and asked, “Which one of you is Lord Anfey?”

“I am,” Anfey said, surprised that the druids were asking for him. “You are…?”

“We are Lord Manstuly’s men,” the leader of the druids said with a small bow. “We have urgent news.”

“Where did you come from?” Anfey asked.

“Blackwater City.”

“I thought that city’s surrounded,” Anfey said. “How did you get out? Was there a counterattack we didn’t hear about?”

“No, there wasn’t,” the druid said, shaking his head. “I wish there was. We are not strong enough for that. We snuck out of the city.”

“You snuck out? What news is urgent enough to risk your lives like this?”

“We were scouts,” the druid said. “But we discovered something major during one of our runs. The necromancers cut off our way back into the city, and the only thing we could do was to head south.

“On the way, we were surrounded by necromancers in Transverse Mountains. Lost half of my men there. If it wasn’t for Lady Suzanna, we won’t be standing here! She saved our lives and instructed us to head towards Moramatch to look for you, my lord.”

“What is the secret?” Anfey asked, curious. “It must be important if the necromancers would spend so much manpower hunting you down.”

The druid looked around hesitantly. “We must speak of this alone,” he said.

“I trust everyone here.”

“This is too important,” the druid said. “It’s better if we speak alone.”

Anfey nodded. He ordered the mercenaries to stay put. The druid ordered his men to stay with the mercenaries as well.

“It is a very complicated thing,” the druid said once they were out of earshot. “The necromancers are trying to protect it. If it wasn’t for Lady Suzanna, there is no way we could deliver this news. This could be vital to ending the war.”

“Why didn’t Suzanna come back with you?”

“We discovered the necromancers’ secret. She wanted to investigate,” the druid said. “They were…” Before he could say anything more, his eyes widened and his arms flailed.

“You alright?” Anfey asked, grabbing the druid. The man stared at Anfey with wide eyes, then he became limp and fell to the ground, dead.

The other druids saw this and all dashed towards them. The mercenaries followed. The druid’s death was so sudden it seemed like Anfey was the one that killed him.

“What happened?” Anfey asked the druids.

“He was injured during a battle,” one of the druids said, shaking her head. “He said he would heal himself, but it seems like he never did. Did he give you the secret?”

“No,” Anfey said. “It got to him just before he could finish. Do you know what it is?”

“No,” the druid said with a sigh. “He was the only one who knew.”

“He said Suzanna was investigating what he discovered,” Anfey said. “He must have told her. Where is she now?”

“That we know,” the druid said. “Come with us, my lord. We will take you to her.”

Chapter 375: Shadow Empire

 

Ozzic offered to help. “Master, can you ask Orsie to talk to them? We all can go search for Ms. Suzanna with you.” Anfey never showed too much emotion, but everyone knew how important Suzanna was to Anfey. Now Suzanna was lost, Anfey definitely would search for her and find her.

Anfey had looked worried a moment ago, but now he looked unusually calm. The changes on his expression make others worried and scared.

“There is a saying that no one knows a man better than his own father. Similarly, Suzanna is my wife. No one knows her better than I do,” Anfey said calmly.

“Master, you…” Ozzic and others did not understand what was on Anfey’s mind. They looked at each other, hoping to get an answer from their companions. The druids did not understand either.

Anfey slowly clenched his fists and then released them, trying to relieve his stress. He was right that no one understood Suzanna better than he. Suzanna was not good at decision making. It was not in her nature. That Darius obviously did not like having his subordinates develop independent thinking skills. He only wanted people to blindly follow him, so he never trained Suzanna for independent thinking. In other words, Suzanna could not be a heroine for the world because heroes and heroines needed to be charming, smart, ambitious, visionary, and with strong willpower. Alice was a good woman, so was that Scarlet, whom Anfey had never met. Suzanna and Scarlet had two totally different personalities. Suzanna did not have the ambition to care about the concerns of all humans. She was happy if she could take care of her own family.

Suzanna probably would help people if she saw them in need. However, no matter what kind of secrets she found out, Suzanna would not leave her family and friends unattended. Unlike Suzanna, Anfey was more willing to take risks for the benefit of his legion or country. Anfey knew Suzanna definitely would not do anything else except going back to Moramatch as fast as she could and tell him what happened on the way, and then wait for Anfey to make a decision.

“Can anyone tell me where Suzanna is now?” Anfey sounded worried. He was so worried that he forgot to hide his emotions and showed his true colors. By now he had calmed down. Anfey had reason to think the so-called secret was just a setup. Suzanna had acted too weirdly, and that druid died too suddenly, which showed there was something wrong with the scenario.

Even though the secret could change the situation of the whole Death War, Suzanna would not do something on her own without telling Anfey first. If Suzanna was challenged to make a choice between two sides in life threatening situations—with one side being Anfey and Shally and the other being millions of innocent people—Suzanna definitely would choose to save Anfey and Shally without any hesitation. Self-sacrifice was a quality of heroes, which had nothing to do with Suzanna.

The druids might have been worried Anfey would suspect the head druid, so they killed him. This way they cut off all possible traces of any suspects. However, unexposed secrets easily intrigued others.

“There is an unnamed valley around Blackwater River. Master, we know the place,” a druid answered.

“Time is tight. We should leave now.” Anfey’s urgency made sense in this situation. The druids seemed happy with the way Anfey responded.

“Orsie, can you take care of Moramatch?” Ozzic sounded urgent as well.

“Sure,” Orssie said.

“Master, that is the necromancers’ territory. If we have too many people going there, they could easily notice us,” a druid said hesitantly.

“F*ck, what do you mean?” Ozzic could not help cursing.

Anfey stopped Ozzic. “Ozzic, they are right. Ye, go and select a few people to go with me,” Anfey said.

“Master…” Ye looked hesitant about Anfey’s order.

“Just go,” Anfey ordered again with a much firmer tone.

“Ok.” Ye gave a slight sigh. It seemed too risky to take only a few people to the deep region controlled by death spirits, but Ye had no other options.

“Don’t you need some rest?” Anfey laid his eyes on the druids.

“No, thank you, Master. This is urgent. We’d better leave soon,” a druid said.

“You guys could leave now. I just have some words for my legion. I will catch up with you,” Anfey said.

The druids looked at each other. A druid said, “Ok, master, we will be waiting for you.”

Watching the druids walking off, Ozzic said with hatred, “Master, can we go with you. I don’t think those guys are good people.”

“You are right,” Anfey said.

“Huh?” Ozzic was so shocked that his jaw dropped. He was just speaking out of anger. He did not expect Anfey to agree with him.

“Where are Long and Ling?” Anfey scanned the group.

“They hid in the village.” Ozzic turned around and yelled their names. Long hurried out of the village when he heard Ozzic’s call. He took a look at the few small figures in the distance, then sighed, “Master, are you calling me?”

“What kind of person is Manstuly?” Anfey asked.

“Huh? Master, why are you asking about him?” Long asked.

“We have limited time. Don’t waste time. Answer my question,” Anfey said.

“How to put it? He is cruel, and that is why everyone calls him “Reaper”. He did not reap crops, but people’s lives.” Long could tell Anfey was worried, so he tried to put it as short and simple as possible.

“I am asking about how he does things,” Anfey asked.

“He is cunning. Bruzuryano the Guardian is a lot more honest than him. He took advantage of Bruzuryano a few times,” Long said.

“What? You guys have conflicts among druids?” Ozzic asked in surprise.

“Why not?” Long had a bitter smile. “Three big empires among humans have been fighting all year long. Druids would not fight like that, but we do have conflicts. I remember one time Bruzuryano was so enraged that he brought his people to Manstuly. If Mauso, the Observer, had gone to mediate, druids would have been divided into different groups.”

“What made Bruzuryano so mad?” Anfey asked quietly. Anfey did not know Bruzuryano well, but he knew Brunzuryano was an honest and nice old man. There had to be a reason for him to take his people to attack another group of druids.

“I am not sure what happened.” Long thought about the situation for a while and shook his head. “I think it was because Manstuly sent people to attack Bruzuryano’s central temple by surprise, but Bruzuryano found out. Their surprise attack failed, and a few of the attackers were caught alive by Bruzuryano.”

Anfey went quiet. If Manstuly’s subordinates planned the setup, Manstuly himself had to be involved as well. Anfey just did not quite understand why Manstuly would want to kill him, since he did not have any big conflict with him. This had nothing to do with what kind of a person Manstuly was. He must have some motive, otherwise he would not make moves against Anfey. No one would do it for no reason, unless he was crazy.

“Ok, I will follow them with Ye and few others. Long, can two of you follow behind us. Do not let them notice you. Ozzic, Shinbella, can you follow after Long? Any questions?” Anfey had no time to give more thought to the plan. “Orsie, can you send people back to Moramatch to tell Alice that Suzanna is in danger. Tell her that I wanted her to know. Ask her to find Suzanna at any cost. Let’s get Suzanna back safe and sound!” He could feel the bad intentions from the druids. If they had wanted to use the same method to cheat Suzanna, Suzanna would be in danger right now. What made Anfey nervous was not their setup, but Suzanna’s safety. Since he had noticed their bad intentions, he believed he had more chance to win this battle.

“Got it,” Ozzic and others answered in unison.

At the same time, Black Eleven, who had been checking on zombies suddenly jumped. Anfey did not know what had happened. After killing death spirits, Black Eleven would always look them over to try to find some useful information. This was his only job. After repeated disappointment, he finally found something that would shock everyone.

“Ye, can you take them to try to catch up with those druids?” Anfey asked quickly and turned to look at Black Eleven. This was the difference between Anfey and Suzanna. If Suzanna knew Anfey was in danger, she would come to help him no matter what. However, Anfey had to take everything in. He could not ignore it if something surprised Black Eleven so much. “Black Eleven, what did you find?”

“He is our guy.” Black Eleven looked up at Anfey. He pulled his sword out and tried to pick a metal tile out of a zombie. Suddenly, a palm-sized metal tile flew few yards away and fell to the ground.

“What is this?” Anfey saw that metal tile too.

“It is our secret pass. He should not have brought it with him.” Black Eleven hesitantly walked over and saw the back of the metal tile facing up. It was carved with a few words.

“Shadow Empire?” A mercenary with good eyes saw the few words and yelled.

Black Eleven frowned. He speculated that this spy had this pass on him and carved few words on the back of it because he knew there was no way he could flee and hoped to pass some information to his organization. The words “Shadow Empire” gave off a gloomy feeling, but Black Eleven had no idea what it really meant.

Chapter 376: Reasonable

 

The area was infested with zombies and controlled by necromancers. Whether following the druids or the original plan by Fernando, caution was still the most important thing. Anfey was very careful as he followed the druids, who were even more cautious than he was.

The mercenaries lagged behind because they had a big group and it was harder for them to sneak around the zombies the way the druids and Anfey could. Unless they encountered a large group of zombies, the mercenaries would try to kill every zombie they encountered. However, they couldn’t disturb the druids, either. By the time they finish killing the zombies, the druids would be too far away.

Thankfully, they had Long and Ling, who were very skilled with tracking. Without the two, the mercenaries would have startled the druids or encountered large groups of zombies.

Ye tend to be a quiet man. Now, however, he was chatting and laughing with the druids. Usually, it was Anfey’s job to distract his opponents, but he was too occupied by his thoughts. He wanted to know what Manstuly wanted and what Shadow Empire meant. Moreover, he was very worried about Suzanna. He had to keep himself calm to see what the druids wanted.

———–

Somewhere deep in the Transverse Mountains, Suzanna jumped out of a tree with the unicorn and started heading north. Compared to only a few days ago, she was clearly thinner. She was starving and exhausted, but her eyes were determined. Her frowns indicated not suffering but thoughts.

What would Anfey do if he was in her shoes? She knew better than anyone how he acted. He was very aggressive, and she knew that he wouldn’t run from trouble the way she had been doing. He would try to find opportunities to make the most of his situation. Even if he didn’t have any opportunity, he would make one for himself. Suzanna knew she must look for a way out of this situation.

She knew better than anyone what kind of enemies she was up against. Whenever she thought she had escaped and could rest, the unicorn would warn her again.

Running wasn’t the solution. Suzanna knew her own capabilities and herself, and knew that she could find a way to protect herself if she tried hard enough. In reality, she was a very brilliant woman. Back in Gruce Principality, she was a maid to the public. However, her real identify was her father Darius’s guard. She was very loyal to him and never questioned any of his orders. In a place like that, she had nowhere to use her brilliance. After her escape, she met Anfey. She recognized his power and was willing to let him lead her. Back then, she could depend on Anfey and her friends for help.

Now, she couldn’t depend on anyone except her sword and her mind.

The unicorn whinnied and wiggled in Suzanna’s arms. Suzanna summoned some combat power and increased her speed. She patted the unicorn and the unicorn fell quiet. Usually, the unicorn was very mischievous. It almost never follow anyone’s orders, not even Anfey’s. Now, though, it was being very obedient and protective of Suzanna. It would never stray too far from her and would listen to her every word.

———-

Manstuly paced around in his room, frowning. There were a dozen other druids in the room, and all of them were clearly terrified. Even breathing made too much noise. A senior druid was standing in the middle of the room, shaking.

“This is the newest letter from Hotchbini,” Manstuly said, waving a piece of paper in his hand. “They succeeded. Hotchbini used Suzanna’s name to approach Anfey. So far, he believes them. They are away from Shield of Light legion now.”

The druids glanced at each other but none of them dared to say anything.

“Tony, I’ve always trusted you, but tell me. What did you do?” Manstuly walked over to the druid in the middle of the room and asked quietly. “Invite Suzanna over here? Did you even think about what you were doing?”

“I…”

Before the druid could finish, Manstuly punched the man in the face. The druid’s body stumbled and fell to the ground. He spat out a mouthful of blood and coughed, but he soon scrambled up again.

“Take Hotchbini for an example,” Manstuly said coolly. “She is an elf and, not that long ago, she knew nothing of intrigues. Now, she uses her situation to her advantage. She saw what men did to each other in Country of Mercenaries. She observed and she learned and she bettered herself. If she could use the tie between people as a weapon to gain trust, why couldn’t you? I encouraged you to go out there, to explore because I thought that it could help you learn. I see now that I am wrong. Imbeciles will always be imbeciles. I overestimated you. All of you.”

Manstuly’s tone was calm, but the druids in the room were all sweating and shaking with fear. They knew that when Manstuly was calm, he was the angriest.

Manstuly sighed and turned to another druid. “Bardeson,” he said. “What would you have done if I had given you this mission?”

The druid named Bardeson straightened himself and said hurriedly, “I would find Suzanna and tell her that Moramatch had fallen. I would say that Anfey was gravely injured to draw her towards it. Suzanna is an easier target than Anfey.”

“Anything else?”

“I would try to cause chaos in Violet City to distract the people Anfey and Suzanna left there,” Bardeson said. “Then I would take her sister Shally and force Suzanna to comply.”

“Not the best plan,” Manstuly said, shaking his head. “Shield of Light legion has already arrived at Moramatch. If the necromancers could destroy that legion, they are well equipped to take down the entire Maho Empire. As for Violet City…Baery is currently stationed there. That tactic would not have worked.”

Bardeson paled and opened his mouth but could not say anything.

“However,” Manstuly continued. “You are using your head, which is good. That plan, however flawed it may be, is still better than inviting Suzanna here, don’t you think, Tony?”

Tony lowered his head and did not say anything.

“Hotchbini must be laughing right now,” Manstuly said. He patted Tony on the shoulder and said, “I’ve trusted you and groomed you for all these years. How did you repay me? You embarrassed me. Made a fool of me. How could you, Tony?”

Tony shook his head desperately.

“I’ll give you a chance to explain yourself,” Manstuly said.

“This is not my fault, my lord!” Tony said hurriedly. “It’s Mauso’s fault! He didn’t only lie to me, my lord. He also deceived you! He promised that he would lend a hand but he stood there and he watched as Suzanna got away. I went to look for him later, but he was nowhere to be found. My lord, you have to believe me!”

The other druids all gasped at Tony’s words. They all knew that Manstuly and Mauso had reached an agreement and that Mauso had betrayed Manstuly’s trust. They also knew that they shouldn’t talk about it in front of Manstuly.

Everyone knew that Manstuly was cruel and sly, but he was also very proud. He remained in power due to the support of the elves, and he had always believed that he could trick someone, but not the other way around.

Now, everyone knew Mauso had tricked Manstuly. Manstuly wasn’t angry at his men. He was angry at Mauso.

“So you’re saying that it’s my fault that this happened?”

“No, my lord, I…”

Before Tony could finish, Manstuly rammed his hand through the man’s chest. Tony gasped in pain and struggled for a few seconds before falling limp. Manstuly wiped the blood on his shirt and glanced at the other druids, who were all shaking uncontrollably.

Chapter 377: Fierce

 

“Master, after you cross that river there will be a small village where we have people station. Today we can just get some rest here.” A druid pointed at a winding and quiet Blackwater River. “Tomorrow morning, we can cross the Blackwater River and walk another 40 miles. Then we will be at the necromancers’ secret base.”

“I notice that the further north we go, the fewer death spirits there are. Is the necromancers’ secret base ahead of us? Why didn’t they send more death spirits over to protect their base?” a mercenary in Ye’s team asked in surprise. Only Ye knew the real intention of the druids, otherwise the mercenary would not have asked so bluntly.

“Well…it could be necromancers are afraid of being noticed by top powers,” a druid said.

“Where is Suzanna?” Anfey asked quietly. Is this where they try to set him up? Anfey thought to himself. Using his full telepathy, he tried to see as far as he could. Soon, pictures of the areas around river and even that small village started to show clearly in Anfey’s head. Once Anfey started the Heart of Nature, wherever there were plants, or where the distance between himself and plants was not far, Anfey could see everything around it.

“She is in the village,” the druid answered.

There were only about seven people on the outskirts of the village. Four of them were around bonfires, while the other three slept in simple tents. Anfey could not imagine they would try to kill him with just seven people. Anfey did not think they would act just on instinct. After a close search, he still could only see seven people. Suzanna definitely was not in the village.

“Let’s go. We need to get to sleep early so we can leave early tomorrow,” Anfey said casually.

“Sure,” the druid said.

There were four people next to the fire only a few miles across the river. They found people walking towards them and stood up one after another. The three people sleeping were woken up. Even though the druids with Anfey had sent out signals, they still kept alert. When there were only about 20 meters apart, they still coldly watched Anfey and his group. A druid walked over and whispered to their companion. That guy looked Anfey over for a while before he smiled. “Are you Master Anfey? How are you doing?”

As the guy was checking Anfey out, Anfey was watching him as well. He did not pay attention to the guy in the front, but others behind him. There was a beautiful and tall elf carrying her green bow diagonally on her back next to the guy. She also wore a short scepter on her belt. Obviously, she was a paladin just as Anfey. Two human swordsmen stood next to the elf. All the druids crawled out from the tent. It looked like this was not their first time working together. They stood in formation. If something happened, they could immediately form a defensive line.

“Are you…” Anfey pretended he did not know him. He actually knew not only his name, but also detailed information about him, including his age, childhood, personality, family background and other information.

“My name is Luther.” Luther held his hand out to indicate a seat for Anfey. He smiled. “You guys must be tired from travelling so much. Come, sit next to the fire and rest a bit. We can sit and talk.”

“Where is Suzanna?” Anfey pretended he did not know the answer again. He also looked worried.

“Unfortunately, she went to watch the necromancers around the river. You do not have to worry. You can see her tomorrow,” Luther said.

Anfey had a bitter smile and shook his head. “Ok, everybody, take a seat and rest.”

Everybody took a seat around the fire. Luther casually tossed a few logs on the fire. He hoped the fire would make them feel warmer. Anfey scanned the rising smoke. The person who planned this setup was cunning. He knew what he was doing, but the people carrying out this plan seemed too naïve. If the so-called necromancers’ secret base was only about 40 miles away, who would dare to light up a bonfire? Didn’t they worry about being found by the rising smoke? This village definitely had been attacked by death spirits before: the leftover smell made them uncomfortable. If he took such an important job, he should not have stayed outside the village. He should have stayed in the darkest room in the village and quietly hid there in case he was found by any chance.

Luther looked at the druids and asked in surprise, “Where is Captain Babylon?”

“Master Babylon was attacked by Spirit Separation, and…” the expression on the druids turned mournful.

“It is so unfortunate.” Luther heaved a long sigh. “But if I remember correctly, it seems that you are missing one person.”

“We had a fight with death spirits,” one of the druids answered.

Luther paused and tried to comfort them, “Don’t be sad for losing your companion. In fact, you should feel lucky that Master Anfey was with you guys, otherwise none of you probably would have come back safe.” Luther turned to look at Anfey with gratitude.

The druids looked at each other but did not know how to respond to Luther. When they were travelling on the road, one of their peers “accidentally” woke up a group of zombies. It would make sense that Anfey should have led them join the battle to kill the zombies, since he was the group leader. However, Anfey ran away from the zombies faster than any of them. Ye also led his mercenaries after Anfey and offered them the opportunity to be heroes. After that, they did not dare make any mistakes “by accident”. They tried to avoid any conflict with zombies. When they heard Luther giving Anfey compliments for keeping them safe, it made them feel uncomfortable.

Luther waited for a while, but no one agreed with him. He had a weird look on his face. If Anfey was powerful, those druids should have given him a lot of compliments and described the fighting scene to give him some clues about Anfey’s fight ability. If Anfey’s fighting ability was not so great, they should have given some compliments out of courtesy. Now they all lost their tongues. What had happened?

“The fight must have been fierce, is it?” Luther had to remind them.

“Yes, master,” a druid said with his head down. He understood Luther’s hint, but could not turn the topic to Anfey. He simply could not tell Luther that Anfey had fled from the fight.

Luther secretively gave that druid a dirty look and tossed a few more logs in the fire. He went into thought. He was thinking how to turn the topic toward Anfey without having Anfey suspect him.

That elf was interested in Anfey from the beginning and had been watching Anfey, while Anfey aggressively looked back at her. He kept his eyes on her face and chest. The elf, like any proud female, felt offended, so she turned to look away from Anfey. She sort of looked down on Anfey. In fact she misunderstood Anfey. Anfey only looked at her neck because he was thinking of all kinds of ways to break her neck. He did not have any other intention.

Not only barbarians could go crazy. Sometime people could go crazy as well. At that moment, Anfey was a proof. If they had conflict for their own interests, Anfey would not use extreme ways to deal with them, at least not during the Death War threatening them. They should keep their alliance to maintain their fighting ability. Anfey felt they not only had conflicts, they wanted to kill each other.

Suzanna was not wrong. Anfey was indeed very aggressive, especially when others cross him. Anfey would turn into a cruel person who could use any indecent ways to kill his opponents. His only objective was to wipe out all his opponents in order to leave no possibility that the opponents would rise up. He had checked this person in his mind. Beside this one, he also checked on Manstuly.

Anfey had forgiven them twice. The first time, Anfey ignored Philip on purpose after giving consideration to all aspects, based on the fighting ability he had back then. The second time, he listened to someone’s hint and allowed Marquis Djoser to act crazily in front of him, but this time, he would not let Manstuly get his way. Anfey was still not as good as Manstuly, but he did not have to challenge him in the same way. Anfey had been an assassin for the past ten years. He had killed a boxing champion who had not listened to the underground boxing trainer and a sharpshooter who could shoot a target a few miles way. The boxer’s fighting ability had been as good as his, while the shooter’s accuracy was far better than Anfey’s. Anfey still completed his missions because he knew how to attack his opponents’ weakness with his strength.

“Please allow me to make introductions,” Luther said with a bright smile on his face. “She is from elf tribe…”

“Luther, how long have you been here? Did any death spirits attack you?” Anfey interrupted Luther. Anfey was not a machine. Sometimes he could feel annoyed as others since he had been dealing with anger the past few days. These people in front were all dead people to Anfey. He was not interested in knowing a dead person’s name.

“Hrr…” Luther was shocked for a second and shook his head. “No, it has been very quiet here.”

That elf could not help snorting at Anfey to show she was unhappy with Anfey’s rudeness.

“Oh, right, did you see anything here? Does it have anything to do with Shadow Empire?”

“Shadow Empire?” Luther asked in surprise. This name sounded so gloomy. It was easy to guess it must have something to do with necromancers.

“Don’t you know about it?” Anfey looked shocked as well.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it.” Luther shook his head. “Master Anfey, what does Shadow Empire represent?”

Anfey looked around. Luther got what Anfey meant and signaled the people to leave. However, the elf still sat there without any intention to leave. Luther looked back at Anfey, “Master Anfey, can you tell me now?” Luther looked a little nervous. Necromancers were the enemy of the whole Pan Continent, and his enemy as well. No matter what happened here, he would have to fight necromancers sooner or later, so he was really interested in Shadow Empire.

Chapter 378: Pain

 

“Luther, are you married?” Anfey suddenly asked.

Luther smiled and nodded. “I am,” he said. “We’re about to welcome our first child.”

“Congratulations,” Anfey said. “How do you like it? Being married?”

“It’s great,” Luther said.

“Interesting,” Anfey said. “I didn’t know that you could be happy with a life of lies.”

“What do you mean?” Luther asked, surprised. The elf looked at Anfey with a frown, as if confused. Ye glanced at the mercenaries around him and nodded.

The mercenaries were all very loyal to Ye and knew him well. They trust Ye and would follow his orders, even if they were confused by his orders. If Ye was wrong, the mercenaries wouldn’t be held accountable.

Anfey narrowed his eyes and kicked a burning log towards Luther and the elf. Of course, his magic was not strong enough to actually hurt Luther and the elf. Luther summoned his combat power to defend himself, and the elf summoned a shield made of vines. She drew her dagger and held it up in front of her face.

Ye’s mercenaries nocked their bows and sent half a dozen arrows towards the elf. The arrows hit the elf and disappeared in rippling green lights. Anfey narrowed his eyes. Clearly, the elf was wearing magic armor that could defend her from most of his attacks.

Ye hesitated, then sent a short arrow flying towards the elf’s throat. He made the right move but was too late. A longbow appeared in the elf’s hands. She ducked the arrow and jumped away from the men. She was an elf, and out of everyone, she was the fastest. She needed distance for her attacks to be effective. Staying near Luther would only slow her down.

Anfey dashed towards her, determined to keep her close. He knew very well that if the elf got away, her attack would be powerful enough to threaten even Ye, the most powerful out of all of them. He jumped towards her and reached out, grabbing her hair. The elf cursed as she was stopped by his grip, but quickly reacted to this change. Her dagger appeared again and she swung the dagger towards Anfey.

This elf was not very good at close combat. Like most elves, she focused mostly on attacking from a distance. Anfey clenched his fist and slammed into the elf.

Even though she was wearing magic armor, she was still injured by Anfey’s attack. The armor could protect her from arrows and magic, but it could not protect the wearer from a close-up attack like a punch. The elf landed on the ground, clutching her stomach.

“What is the meaning of this?” Luther demanded loudly. He drew his sword but did not move to help the elf. He did not want to risk his life to help someone that was easily replaceable.

“You should know,” Anfey said as he strode back to Luther, leaving the elf. “Don’t you want to know where your real wife is, Saidy?”

Saidy froze in shock. He knew very well that he had not married the real Shansa princess, but he did not know that it was a widely known fact. He was embarrassed that the princess was lost, but he couldn’t do anything about it because he knew that his future would be ruined if the news got out. He was the third son, a position that does not typically come with power. His marriage to the Shansa princess was meant to be a political alliance that gave him power to fight for the future leadership of Tiger of Tawau mercenary group. He did not expect the princess to forsake her duty and betray her country.

“My lord!” The druids and swordsmen whom Saidy brought with him came running towards them.

Anfey turned to the druids and swordsmen and summoned his fire blade. Seeing the large sword, the men all stopped, confused by the weapon. Anfey gripped the large sword and dashed towards the men.

He lunged with his sword and stabbed one of the druids. The druid stumbled and fell to the ground silently, his wounds blackened by the heat of the fire blade.

Ye waved his hand and charged towards the swordsmen with his mercenaries. Saidy was an intermediate swordsmaster like Ye, but he was alone, and Ye had more people with him. While the results might vary if Ye and Saidy fought one on one, Saidy did not stand a chance against a dozen mercenaries. However, Ye did not know what Anfey wanted to do with Saidy and did not want to kill the men just yet. That was why he had ordered his men to not kill Saidy earlier.

Anfey took a step back and returned his wand to his ring. He was still not practiced with the wand.

A druid transformed into a grey wolf and lunged at one of Ye’s mercenaries. Even though they did not want to fight, they did not want to die without putting up a fight, either. Anfey jumped towards the wolf and swung his sword, stabbing the wolf in the neck with it. The wolf fell to the ground with a groan and lay still. A few drops of dark blood spattered on the mercenary’s arm.

The druids hesitated. They had killed a lot of things before, but they’d rarely seen a weapon as strange as the one they had just witnessed.

“I see,” Saidy said slowly. “I see. You did it, didn’t you?” He asked, enraged.

Ye slashed at Saidy with his sword, but Saidy turned quickly and ducked. Ye’s sword only grazed his arm. He knew that someone was behind the disappearance of the Shansa princess, and the same force had led to their conflict with Glory mercenary group. Tiger of Tawau mercenary group spent a long time searching but could not find anything on the person behind everything. If Anfey knew what happened to the Shansa princess, he must know something about the person who made her disappear.

“You’re right,” Anfey said with a shrug. “I did it.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” Anfey asked. He dismissed his sword and walked over to where Saidy was standing. Ye and his mercenaries hurried over and surrounded Saidy. Saidy must knew that he stood no chance against this many people, but his stance did not waver. “Weren’t you the one that tried to kill me and my people?”

“That wasn’t us,” Saidy said loudly.

Anfey shook his head. “There’s no need to lie anymore, Saidy,” he said. “Just tell me the truth. I’ll make your passing easier that way.”

Saidy clenched his teeth but did not say anything. Anfey glanced at Ye, who nodded and approached Saidy quietly. He struck Saidy with the hilt of his sword. Saidy fell to the ground, unconscious. His sword fell to the ground. Ye did not know what he should do with Saidy and did not want to kill him, because Saidy may know valuable information. However, as long as Saidy was unconscious, he would not be a threat.

Chapter 379: Lessons

 

When the hell-like heat waves were gone and everything went back to normal, the druids and swordsmen had all turned into charcoal. Anfey slowly put the Fire sword back into the sheath. He suddenly frowned, grabbed the sword, spun, and tossed the sword out backhanded. He yelled at the same time, “Move.”

The sword flew towards Ye with a whooshing sound. Ye’s reaction was fast. He lowered his body as he moved to the side. The sword pass against his side. He could feel the wind hitting his body and face, which gave him a kind of needle-like pinching pain.

The elf had stood up while Ye blocked Anfey’s view of the elf with his body. She quietly pulled the bowstring, but Anfey’s last punch hurt her organ pretty bad, so she was a little slower than usual. Before she fully pulled the bow, Anfey’s sword had shot at her throat with great accuracy.

That elf flipped backwards with lightning speed as the sword pierced her throat. The sword passed through her neck and went deep into the ground. The elf had been kneeling on the ground when she pulled her bow. She never had the chance to even straighten her legs. Now her neck was nailed on the ground, with her body in a weird arch shape. Not only the wound on her throat was painful, but also the way she arched. The elf made moaned weakly in pain. She moved her body to try to stretch herself away from the arch position, but her life was approaching the end fast.

“Master, I was not careful.” Ye felt bad for the mistake he had made.

Anfey did not respond to Ye. He slowly walked to Saidy, who was still unconscious. He quietly watched Saidy. If it had been Blavi or others, Anfey definitely would have said something. However, Ye was different. He was careful by nature, so Anfey did not have to say anything to him. Ye would remember this lesson on his own.

“Master, we actually made a small fortune today.” Ye changed the topic. He said with a smile, “The magic armor on that elf should have some history in it. It is definitely not regular armor. I think we can save it for Ms. Suzanna. She will like it.” He gave a look to a few large mercenaries before Anfey nodded. The mercenaries strode over. They pulled the elf’s body up, as her body was not completely rigid yet, without feeling bad for her. They rudely took their trophy from this battle.

Cruelty had to be viewed from both sides. When mercenaries hunted magic beasts in the forest, they were even more cruel. They would peel off the magic beasts’ fur and dig out the magic crystals in their bodies. They left only a pile of bloody and swollen flesh. If they did not peel their fur and take the magic crystal, many people in the Country of Mercenaries would starve to death. To take their own trophies after battles was a tradition on Pan Continent. Not only mercenaries, but also soldiers and generals on the battlefield would do the same thing. They would not be gentle to the defeated parties. Even a general who had everything when he was alive could turn into someone’s trophy when he lost the battle. He would be tossed naked together with other soldiers into a pit to rot.

Even the famous Princess Victoria was treated the same way after she was killed during negotiations. It was said that she had nothing on her but a piece of cloth when her coffin was carried back to her empire. This made the people in Shansa Empire angry. They believed Maho Empire offended their most respected princess. However, civilians on Pan Continent were the most realistic people. Their anger came and went very quickly. For some time, under the threat of Roaring Dead Legion mercenary group’s victories, they started to fight against Maho Empire because they were asked to pay for the losses in battle. Everyone was pay an equal share. The nobility would never pay for anything. When the civilians did not have enough food to feed themselves, they would spare no time to hate or to remember anyone.

“Wake him up,” Anfey said quietly.

A mercenary stepped forward. He pulled his sword out and patted Saidy’s face with the sword. Seeing Saidy had no reaction, he took out his water sack and poured it out on Saidy’s face and body.

With a breeze, Saidy felt cold and slowly opened his eyes, moaning. He saw Anfey right at his face. He rolled over and wanted to run away, but Anfey held his chest down with his foot. Saidy had used his combat power, but combat power could not counter everything. Saidy grunted as he fell backwards. He tried to jump back but got kicked back again. This was repeated a few times before Saidy finally lost his courage to fight back. He lay there as he looked at Anfey with some terror.

If he could go back to Blackwater City right now, he could give Anfey a fair evaluation of his fighting ability. He saw Anfey kicking at his chest, so he held his hands out to block it, but then Anfey kicked him in the stomach. The next time he saw Anfey kicking at his stomach, his chest actually got kicked. The next time when he tried to block both his chest and stomach, Anfey kicked him in the face. His nose and mouth were bleeding. Anfey’s kick was powerful and fast. In addition, he did not kick from regular angles, so it was hard for Saidy to see where the kicks were coming from and made it difficult for Saidy to block them, even though his fighting ability was not great anyway. Anfey was standing while Saidy was laying down on the ground. This position put him at a disadvantage. Saidy was an intermediate swordsman, so he had never really been hit this bad. Saidy felt the huge difference between him and Anfey in fighting abilities.

Seeing that Saidy had stopped fighting back, Anfey asked, “Tell me how many druids are there. You should have sent a lot of Tiger of Tawau mercenaries there, right?”

Saidy kept quiet. As the child of Mourtta and Hotchbini, he knew he could fail but could not sell his peers out.

“To be frank with you, your mother made a huge mistake by allowing you to come after me,” Anfey sneered. “Do you think I would not be able to get the information I need if you keep your mouth shut?”

Saidy bit his lips and thought to himself, Fools wanted to come here! The situation in Blackwater City was bad, but still better than living in the wild. He had to pull though. After living in depression, he saw his brothers accomplish something during this time, which woke him up. He could not give himself up by failing, so he asked to take his team to come after Anfey. His mother did not agree with him at the beginning, but he was so determined that he argued, begged, and even swore. His mother finally agreed and gave him this opportunity. He never thought he would end up like this.

“Ye, do you have experience interrogating criminals?” Anfey turned around to look at Ye. In fact, Anfey had a systematic way to do interrogation, but he could not do everything himself as a leader. In addition, Ye had just made a mistake, so Anfey wanted to give him a chance to make up for it.

“Yes, master!” Ye was appreciating the magic armor when Anfey called him out. Ye immediately handed the armor to a mercenary and walked over to Saidy. He took a close look at Saidy and suddenly laughed. “This guy has such smooth skin. He looked like he never experienced any hardship. I can promise you he will open his mouth soon.”

Anfey nodded with a smile. Saidy gasped and yelled, “What are you going to do to me? Anfey, do you really want to be Tiger of Tawau mercenary group’s enemy? I am telling you if I do not get back in time, my father would know what happened here. He will find you sooner or later!”

“Ye, you are right. He never experienced any hardship.” Anfey chuckled. “I cannot believe you still think someone could save you at this moment. I am telling you that I will find Mourtta and Hotchbini myself, even if he is not looking for me. None of you will live long. You will just die earlier than them.”

Saidy laughed wildly. “Do you really think you can beat Tiger of Tawau mercenary group?”

“Yes, I can, but you will not be able to see that day.” Anfey raised his chin.

Ye laughed so hard that he squatted and slapped Saidy. “Kid, I am doing you a favor right now. You’d better tell me everything I am asking. If you do not tell me now, you will tell me later. Why are you trying to torture yourself? In fact, people should make decisions quickly when they are alive. They should not be caught alive by their enemies. I hope you can remember this lesson in hell.”

Saidy angrily spitted on the ground. “You will be the hell!”

“Master, I am going to do the interrogation now.” Ye had a sympathetic look on his face.

“You got it.” Anfey waved his hand and walked out. He heard Saidy’s loud screaming from behind as he walked only a few steps away. Saidy was hurt, but did not lose all his fighting ability. That was why he screamed with such force. He even sat up and randomly punched at Ye. Maybe it was because he was in such pain that Saidy was attacking Ye out of instinct and forgot to use his combat power.

Unfortunately, Saidy’s struggles stopped there. Ye pulled his sword out backhanded. After Ye swung the sword twice in an x-motion, Saidy’s two hands were cut off. Mercenaries in Ye’s group rushed over. They were not afraid of Saidy’s struggles, but afraid of him loosing too much blood and dying too soon. They tied Saidy’s arms tightly.

Waves of screaming got louder and louder. Anfey did not care even to look back at it. There was a black line appearing on the horizon. Ozzic and Orsie had lead thousands of mercenaries over. Their shiny swords reflected the light from the other swords. They looked like they were ready for battle. However, they realized the battle was already over as they got close to Anfey.

“Master, that guy looks familiar.” Ozzic looked around in curiosity. “Wow! Elf? What a pity!”

“Why?” Anfey smiled. He knew Ozzic always acted like he was Anfey’s favorite, so Anfey tried to give him opportunities to show off. At that moment, he was joking with Ozzic.

“She is an elf!” Ozzic walked to Anfey with a smile.

“Do you want an elf? Why didn’t you tell me if you wanted an elf. If you do not tell me, how do I know you want an elf?” Anfey was repeating a classic line from a movie, just without “Monkey King” at the beginning of the line.

“Ah…” Ozzic did not get it, but looked even more shocked.

“Do not worry. You will have a chance to get one in the future,” Anfey said quietly.

“Master, are we going to fight with Elf Empire?” Ozzic asked.

“You got it half right,” Anfey said.

Ozzic scratched his head and had a bitter smile on his face. He really did not get what Anfey said. Fighting was fighting and peace was peace. Why did he only get it half right.

“Master, I do think I know him.” Shinbella stepped out from the crowd. The mercenaries did not have anything else to do so they crowded around the “Interrogation Room”. Most mercenaries were contradictory themselves. They were warm and cold blooded at the same time. They looked cold-blooded when they thought it was fun to watch Ye interrogating Saidy. However they could face danger with strong will and fight for their lives. If their peers died in front of them, they would not shed tears. They did not care to cry. They would rather go after the person who killed their peers.

“You are right that you know him,” Anfey said casually. “He is the third child of Hotchbini. His name is Saidy.”

“F*ck! Is Tiger of Tawau mercenary group setting us up?” Ozzic yelled with anger.

If this had happened previously, Ozzic would not dare think of fighting back against Tiger of Tawau mercenary group, not even behind their backs. Now the League of Mercenaries had about two thousand mercenaries, no less than what Tiger of Tawau mercenary group had. In addition, the League of Mercenaries had two senior swordswomen, Suzanna and Shinbella, the number 1 master swordsman, Ernest, and Anfey. Ozzic no longer thought Tiger of Tawau mercenary group was such a strong enemy.

Ozzic could become more arrogant when he got better. Anfey recruited Ozzic because Ozzic was very loyal, or at least completely honest with Anfey. There were no perfect people in this world. Anfey never asked too much of others. On the other hand, if Ozzic was perfect, that is, powerful, capable, charismatic and had good vision, Anfey would not have recruited him. Anfey probably would have killed him when he had the chance.

If two men rode a horse, one must ride behind. This was the cruel reality everyone had to face. Alice could have a peaceful life because she did not have her own group. As smart as she was, she had been showing her weakness and her dependency on purpose. If Alice had the same fighting ability as Suzanna and accepted Kumaraghosha’s loyalty, there could have been a bloody fight between Alice and Anfey. Anfey could not stand it when people betrayed him. Both Anfey and Alice were decisive. The difference was that Anfey was decisive in protecting his interests while Alice was decisive in subjecting herself to Anfey.

“Master, why did Tiger of Tawau mercenary group want to set us up?” Shinbella asked, even more curious than Ozzic.

Anfey shook his head. “I have not figured it out yet. But it is not important anymore. They are going to die anyway.”

“Master,” Shinbella hesitated a little bit before she continued. “I think we should not have conflict with Tiger of Tawau mercenary group on our own. There are other mercenary groups out there, Glory mercenary group and Storm mercenary group. We should avoid any unnecessary losses at this time.”

“Shinbella, what do you mean? Are you scared?” Ozzic asked in anger.

Shinbella could not help smiling bitterly. She did not like Ozzic or his subordinates. Three people could make a crowd. Not only did Ozzic like to brag, so did his subordinates. Hearing them talk too much, Shinbella thought Ozzic was Anfey’s favorite among all six units. It was not good for Shinbella to have some conflict with Ozzic.

“Ozzic, you did not understand what Shinbella meant.” Anfey waved his hand. “Shinbella meant we should not get into conflicts on our own.”

“Yes,” Shinbella said immediately. “Master Christian is the supervisor of Shield of Light legion. With his help, no matter how powerful Tiger of Tawau mercenary group is, they could not be a match with the legion.”

“In addition to Shield of Light legion, we could have Glory and Storm mercenary groups on our side in the fight against Mourtta.” Anfey gave a Shinbella a long look. Shinbella rarely talked, so Anfey had no chance to know her personality. As time went by, Shinbella gradually came out of her shell.

Ozzic laughed. “I knew Commander Shinbella would not be a coward.”

“We need to have courage, but not too much, otherwise it would be arrogance.” Anfey hinted to Ozzic. He did not know if Ozzic got it or not, but he had no control over it.

With Anfey’s support, Shinbella got quieter instead. She stepped back and was afraid she would offend Ozzic if she said anything more. Shibella and Ozzic had different intentions. Ozzic believed in Anfey’s ability and chose to work for Anfey while Shinbella, with Anfey’s help, had killed her ex, who showed no affection towards her and hurt her very badly. Shinbella thought Anfey was her life-saver. She did not think she was his subordinate. Compared to Ozzic, she had much more loyalty towards Anfey.

“Master, I am done.” Ye slowly walked over.

“Really?” Anfey asked.

“The set up was about 40 miles to the northwest. There are over 30 elf shooters and over 100 mercenaries hidden there, waiting for us,” Ye said.

“Are you sure the information is correct?” Anfey asked.

“It should be right.” Ye smiled. “After Saidy agreed to speak up, I asked him a few questions, then asked him other questions for a while. I even asked him when he first had sex before I came back to that question. Saidy answered it quickly, and same as before.”

“Master, Ye is professional in this area,” Ozzic said. He seemed to be asking for a compliment from Ye. Of course, if Ye did it for the legion, his supervisor, Ozzic, seemed to contribute to the legion as well. “If there are only 30 elf shooters and 100 mercenaries, we could easily beat them.”

“Ask everyone to sleep early. We have to leave tomorrow morning,” Anfey said, nodding.

“Ok.” Ozzic looked excited as he rubbed his hands.

Chapter 380: Prices to Pay

 

Five elves were traveling through the dense forest of Transverse Mountains. All five elves were beautiful women who looked eerily similar to each other. The only thing that differed between the elves were the bows they bore.

The five female elves were traveling at a high speed. Despite their pace, none of them appeared tired, and their breathing was still evenly paced.

They were sent by the elf elders on a mission, and their ultimate goal was to reconstruct the glory of the elven empire. The empire fell because of the elves’ peaceful nature. Unlike humans, they did not like war. Because of this, the elves were not as powerful as humans. Now, however, the elves had learned from humans and had become more warlike.

The five elves were all elites. The leader was famous for her ability to hit the target from any distance. Even though they still could not find what they were looking for, they were very calm and did not appear irritated.

The leader sudden stopped and raised her hand. The other four elves stopped as well. They felt the signal the druids sent.

In order to fight against a swordsmaster, the elves knew that they must split up to achieve maximum effect.

The elves slowed and began searching for a proper hiding spot. Soon, all five of them disappeared from view.

The elf to the left was hiding in the crown of a large tree. She narrowed her eyes as she felt a slight vibration in the tree under her. She jumped out of the tree and dashed forward.

The trunk of the tree she was standing on exploded, bits of wood flying. A figure in blue appeared and dashed towards the elf. In the figure’s hand was a gleaming longsword. The elf was shocked by the speed of her opponent. She tried to block the attack but her opponent was too strong. The sword broke her bow and plunged into her chest.

Suzanna spun around as the elf fell silently to the ground. She searched the forest and located another nearby elf. Just as she was about to dash towards the elf, she felt a sudden gust of wind. She turned around and slashed, pushing aside an incoming arrow with her sword. The arrow flew past her and buried itself into a nearby tree.

Suzanna’s eyes widened in shock. She didn’t know any of the elves, but she knew that whoever just fired that shot was very powerful. A normal archer would never be able to fire an arrow that could buried itself that deeply into a tree, especially not after the arrow was slowed by her sword. She realized that she had underestimated her opponents. Every time she tried to break out of her opponents’ formation, she would be forced back by arrows. The druids were not who she was concerned about. If she had just been facing druids, she could get away any time she wanted. The swordsmen posed no threat to her, either. She could easily defeat swordsmen and druids. It was the archer that worried her.

She couldn’t see the elf and knew that elves are hard to find. She had just engaged an enemy, and the archer had already fired. Clearly, this archer was very fast.

Finding a good hiding place was very hard. Suzanna spent a few minutes searching for an ideal hiding place and found a small cave in the side of the mountain. She ducked into the cave and listened carefully for any movement outside. She hoped that the cave would be enough to hide her from the druids.

She had only two choices right now. She had to either attack her weakest opponent or she would have to attack her strongest opponent. The archer would suffice, which was why she had targeted the archer.

What she did not know was that the druids were panicking due to the death of their leader. If they had not panicked and fallen for her simple trick, she would not have survived this.

Suzanna heard the sound of leaves rustling outside and knew that it was the archer she was waiting for. She quietly left the small cave and spotted the archer among the leaves. She jumped up and dashed towards the archer. She knew that she had to take out that archer in order to do anything else.

The unicorn stumbled after Suzanna, whinnying.

The archer saw Suzanna. She narrowed her eyes and nocked her bow, sending arrow after arrow towards Suzanna. She fired three arrows in mere seconds.

Suzanna had just left the cave when the first arrow came flying towards her. She raised her sword and deflected all three incoming arrows.

The archer did not expect to kill Suzanna with three arrows, anyway. Her speed of releasing arrows increased. The bow string vibrated violently every time she let an arrow loose. The other elves joined her as well, sending arrows after Suzanna at incredible speed.

Suzanna did not back away in the face of a storm of arrows. She summoned more combat power and pushed forward. She held the sword out in front of her and increased her speed.

The archer frowned. A green arrow appeared in her hand. She nocked the bow slowly, the bow pointing at not Suzanna but at the crown of the tree she was standing in. The arrow disappeared into the tree crown.

Suzanna dashed forward, pushing through the storm of arrows. Suddenly, a green arrow fell towards Suzanna from above. The arrow pierced through her combat power and headed towards her.

Suzanna was wearing light blue armor and the arrow bounced off of it. Blue light rippled around the place where the arrow hit Suzanna’s armor.

The elf frowned. “It couldn’t be…” she whispered.

Suzanna was wearing Baery’s gift, Azure Armor. She knew that it was a very powerful suit of armor and she only wore it when she was certain she needed the extra protection.

Suzanna pressed on, ignoring the strange green arrow. She needed to get close to the archer. The archer sighed, and another green arrow appeared in her hand. She did not want to back down in front of a human. Her hands were very steady as she released a second green arrow.

The green arrow flew towards Suzanna and transformed into a green net. Suzanna’s combat power flared up and tore through the net. Normally, the net would be more than enough to trap her. However, Suzanna knew that she had nothing to lose.

The archer frowned. Like Suzanna, she had underestimated her opponent as well. However, she did not waver in front of Suzanna.

Suzanna jumped up towards the archer. Both Suzanna and the archer knew that only one of them could walk away from this fight. Suzanna bellowed as she pointed her sword at the archer and attacked.

The archer nocked a strange, gold arrow. The arrow clashed with Suzanna’s combat power and disappeared into its light. A second later, Suzanna’s sword pierced the archer’s body.

The archer screamed in pain as she and Suzanna fell towards the forest floor. They crashed to the ground. The archer coughed in pain as Suzanna pulled her sword free. A few moments later, the archer drew her last breath and was still.

The other elves, seeing their leader being murdered in cold blood, knew that they were no match for Suzanna. They glanced at each other and quickly disappeared into the forest, fleeing the scene.

Suzanna dashed towards the fleeing elves. She caught up to one of them and stabbed the elf through the chest. Then she left the wounded elf and killed another one. However, one of the elves had already disappeared.

Suzanna sighed and took a few steps back. She knew that the elf wouldn’t be coming back. Her combat power was nearly depleted and she needed to rest. She had to recover before the druids found her, or else she will not walk away from this fight.