Chapter 375: Shadow Empire
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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.
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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.
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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
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"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
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"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
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
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.
Chapter 381: Myths
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Anfey liked nights. Some people were energetic during the day but very sleepy in the evening. They could not stop yawning after midnight. Anfey never felt that way. He seemed to be more alert and sharper at night. He also liked to travel at night.
After connecting with Heart of Nature, he acquired super-sensing ability, which allowed him to become the king of the night. What others could not see or hear, he could hear and see very clearly. The utmost in the natural world displayed in front of him without any secrets.
At that moment, Anfey could clearly see about 30 elves sleeping on three tall ancient trees about 600 yards away. The three trees formed an equilateral triangle. From wherever one group was attacked, the other two groups of elves could come to their aid right away.
No elf need to be on watch on two of the trees while just one elf was on watch on the third. It was close to dawn, which was the time people felt sleepiest and most tired. The elf on watch seemed to be affected by the sleep cycle. She leaned against the tree, falling asleep once a while. She leaned her bow behind the tree. She unconsciously kicked it with her heels. As a result, the bow slowly leaned, and finally fell on the grass. The sound of the falling bow did not wake the elf up. Instead, she seemed to fall sound asleep.
The elf seemed to be right in front of Anfey. He could even see the hairs on the elf's face. Over 20 mercenaries talked quietly around a bonfire about 200 yards away from the elves' camp. They looked fresher than the elves. The mercenaries planned to leave in the early morning and attack the elves and Tiger of Tawau mercenaries. They were still discussing the details of their plan. Ozzic and his group were concerned about fighting over 30 elves, since they had no idea how many arrows those elves could shoot from the beginning of the fight to the end. Anfey and Shinbella were not concerned with the threats from elves, but regular mercenaries had to be worried. Ozzic expected that more than one hundred mercenaries would get hurt or killed in the fight. Anfey decided to change the plan, because he did not want to see unnecessary casualties even though they all knew they made a living by risking their lives, and being hurt or killed was inevitable in battle. Anfey decided to leave early, around midnight, and start the fight before dawn. Ozzic and Shinbella would take their two groups of mercenaries to surround the elves. Anfey's job was to get to the camp first to kill all the onlookers.
Anfey did not expect his plan would actually affect many people. The so-called equality was a lie made by bards. They never enjoyed equality. A king had a bunch of government officials and noblemen, while those same officials and noblemen had their own people working for them. When the country was under siege, the king was never the first one in danger. The king would not spend so much money on the military for nothing. Ozzic, for instance, could not run in front when they were in a tough battle. Ozzic could be considered an official, so he had people who would sacrifice themselves for him. It was rare to see leaders like Anfey who would go into the enemy camp on their own for the sake of the whole team's safety. They only knew the size of their enemy, but had no idea how many top powers were there and what kind of difficulty they would encounter. Even Ozzic and Shinbella saw Anfey differently.
Anfey knew himself well. He was confident of travelling in the dark. He felt like he was going to have fun instead of completing a mission.
For a short time, Anfey had easily walked behind the elf who was on watch without any of the anxiety an assassin would normally feel. He looked more like he was visiting a friend. Anfey paused for a second before he bent down to pick up the bow. He looked at the elf and observed that the elf did not notice him.
Anfey carefully drew his bow and aimed at the elf. He let his finger go and the arrow flew hard at the elf's neck. When the elf opened her eyes after feeling the pain, Anfey had turned the bow around on her neck. He grabbed the back of her neck with his left hand while he pulled the bow back with his right hand. The bowstring choked the elf and cut deep into her neck. A trickle of blood oozed out. The elf only struggled a little bit before she slowly fell unconscious on Anfey. Anfey was very strong, and he cut through the elf's blood vessels and trachea in the blink of an eye. She went limp and died.
Anfey slowly lay the elf's body with her stomach on the ground. He carefully looked around and found elves still sleeping while mercenaries were still chatting. Nobody noticed Anfey. The place was lightly guarded, but that made sense. Prey had to be alert at all times, but predators did not have to be as tense as prey. The elves and mercenaries undoubtedly both thought they were the predators.
Ozzic and Shinbella came down with their respective teams. Shinbella's team was in charge of elves, while Ozzic was in charge of Tiger of Tawau mercenaries. Long and Ling took the lead, one for Shinbela and the other for Ozzic.
Anfey suddenly frowned. An elf sleeping on a branch opened her sleepy eyes and sniffed. She looked like she was smelling something. Anfey figured out the problem. Blood had a rusty smell. Elves were really sensitive to smell. She must have smelled something unusual.
Luckily, elves loved evergreens. Under the cover of the trees, the elf did not see what happened underneath her. Anfey carefully bent down and picked up the body. He turned around to the other side of the tree and put the body on the ground again. He dug some rotten earth and covered the elf's neck, so the blood smell would spread more slowly and other elves wake up from it. Anfey could see every move of the other elf, so he was not nervous. He had not made a sound so far. The elf jumped off the branch. Anfey straightened his back and waited for an opportunity. Although the elf smelled something unusual, she did not necessarily know what the smell was, so she did not wake her peers up, instead deciding to check on it herself.
"Aika!" The elf looked around and called the other elf's name.
Anfey squeezed his voice a little and answered her with a simple yes.
"You, little sleepy, I knew you would fall asleep!" The elf smiled and walked around the tree.
Anfey step forward diagonally as he quickly reached his left hand out to grab the elf's throat. His strong grip not only closed the elf's larynx, it also lifted her up by her neck. Anfey held his breath, watching to see if those sleeping elves would notice anything.
That elf struggled lightly for a moment. Unfortunately, she was lifted in the air and could not get out of Anfey's grasp, not to mention warn her peers. She continued to struggle, grabbing Anfey's hand. She scratched his hand and drew some blood with her final effort before her arms fell limp.
Anfey had turned himself into a statue, not moving at all. He did not let the elf's body fall to the ground for a quite while until he was sure no elf had woken up. Anfey did not even care about the blood trickling from where the elf had scratched.
300 yards away, then 200 yards away, Shinbela and her mercenaries were quietly approaching as Anfey slowly closed his eyes. Just as he could dismiss the natural magic druids released, he could sense any living being with his telepathy and try to build a relationship with it in a very subtle way.
Anfey had killed two elves without anyone noticing, a hard feat for even a few hundred mercenaries. By the time Shinbella was about 60 yards away from Anfey, a few elves had already slowly sat up. They sensed something unusual and nervously looked down to check what was happening.
Anfey suddenly opened his eyes. The three big ancient trees where elves rested suddenly moved like gigantic savage monsters. The branches started to swing like crazy. No matter whether elves had been awake or asleep, they were suddenly swinging out of the trees.
Anfey moved so fast in the air towards the mercenaries about 200 yards away that he barely left any shadow. He thought there was no doubt Shinbella could take care of the elves now.
Anfey's flying action was a signal. Suddenly, their animalistic screams and yells rose from everywhere. Shinbella rushed over with her mercenaries, while Ozzic led his mercenaries into the station of Tiger of Tawau mercenary group. The 20 or so mercenaries around the bonfire were stunned and jumped to their feet one after another. As they were ready to turn around to help their peers, a person rushed out of the forest and ran at them with extremely quickly.
If those mercenaries were not blind, they could tell it was Anfey glaring in the dark with a Fire Sword about eight yards long. Anfey ran so fast that the Fire Sword left a fire tail about ten yards long. The mercenaries looked at each other and screamed as they all pulled out their weapons and ran at Anfey.
The elf archers knew they were in danger. The ancient trees were tall and big. Some elves were tossed out diagonally, while others were tossed dozens of yards into the air. They fell down in different places with a thud on the ground. Besides a few good elf archers, most of them got hurt to a certain degree. Some even passed out. They did not notice how bad the situation was until they were ready to fight back. No one would sleep with bows on their back. That would be too uncomfortable, so they usually piled their weapons together. Now they had no idea where their weapons had been tossed. They were stunned and frozen there.
Anfey swung his sword into a crowd of about 20 elves. He was at a disadvantage in numbers, but his fighting ability was way better than all 20 of them together. He was like a lion to 20 rabbits. The quantity of enemies did not mean much to Anfey. In the blink of an eye, Anfey had killed most of those mercenaries. The only about 8 mercenaries left were so shocked by Anfey's fighting ability. He knew they had no chance to fight against him and were ready to turn and run. Unfortunately for them, Anfey was about ten times faster than they were. In addition, Anfey's Fire Sword could reach a large area. Even though they ran in different directions, he could still easily take all their lives with one swing of his Fire Sword.
Ozzic took his mercenaries to recklessly kill Tiger of Tawau mercenaries in the camp. Some Tiger of Tawau mercenaries who surrendered and dared not fight back were pulled to the side. The Tiger of Tawau mercenaries with lower fighting ability were countered by over ten of Ozzic's mercenaries with axes. Ozzic's mercenaries swung their axes at Tiger of Tawau mercenaries, who were no match in a one-on-one fight, not to mention one on ten. Tiger of Tawau mercenaries with higher fighting abilities were shot by crossbow arrows. The power of crossbow arrows made by Jacob could not be neglected. It was very hard for people to react to them in time because of their speed. Beside the speed, their humongous magic power had killed those mercenaries one after another, even though the mercenaries' fighting ability was high.
Shinbella seemed to finish her job even easier. The bare-handed elves posed no threat to Shinbella's team. As a result, elves were roughly pushed to the ground by mercenaries. A few elves who tried to save themselves with magic had angered Shinbella. She slayed them with her gigantic sword.
The battle ended fast. Ozzic caught over 40 captives. The rest of Tiger of Tawau mercenary group had been killed. Shinbella caught 17 elves alive. They only had to clean up the battle field, which was a great opportunity for them to collect trophies and get rich.
Anfey laid his eyes on the elves and slowly moved back and forth. Ozzic tried to learn from Anfey, and he looked at those elves as well, but they thought totally different things. Anfey wanted to find the answer for a myth to why Manstuly tried to kill him, while Ozzic looked at the elves with desire. Ozzic could not believe it they captured over a dozen elves.
"He even sent out dozens of elves to kill me." Anfey had an incredulous smile on his face. "Can anyone explain why are you trying to kill me? I did not think I had any conflicts with elves."
The elves were quiet. They were tied tightly and forced to kneel on the ground. Elves were too proud to surrender to their enemies. They were surrounded by many mercenaries. Other mercenaries were cleaning up the battle field, and about 20 of them were watching the captives of Tiger of Tawau mercenaries. Some mercenaries did not have room to stand, so they even climbed into the trees because it was rare to be able to see elves.
Anfey shook his head. He did not expect to get an answer from the elves. He could not decide what he would do to them. He definitely could kill a few to vent his anger. However, he had already killed over a dozen, and if he killed the rest, he might make a life-long enemy of elves. He thought he should not do that before he could figure out the real intention of Bruzuryano. If Bruzuryano wanted to take Manstuly's side, Anfey could only find a middle ground.
Anfey suddenly felt element surges in the distance before he could say anything. Anfey could not help looking into the distance. He saw two black dots flying from a distance. While others could not even tell whether those two black dots were people or birds, Anfey had already recognized them. One was Blavi, and the other one was Riska. Anfey was shocked to see Riska there.
Blavi and Riska flew close to Anfey very quickly. They first flew up to make sure the group underneath them were their people before they landed. Neither Blavi nor Riska looked too good. They both looked exhausted, especially Riska. When Riska landed, he stumbled and almost fell. He could not wait to speak: "Anfey, we finally find you."
"What happened?" Anfey hurriedly asked after seeing Riska so nervous.
"Alice sent me here. Suzanna…" Riska suddenly stopped and said earnestly, "Anfey, don't get too upset. You have to control it, ok?"
Anfey felt his heading ringing. Not only his face turned pale but also his lips. He usually thought more than others, and especially when Manstuly tried to cheat him in Suzanna's name. He could understand Manstuly's scheme, but Suzanna also might be able to now, which had worried Anfey for the past few days. Seeing Riska's face, he instinctively thought the worst—that Suzanna had been killed.
"What happened to Suzanna?" Anfey's voice slightly trembled.
"I was worried you would not be able to control yourself." Riska had a bitter smile. "You…"
"F*cking tell me!" Maybe it took Riska too long to speak, or Anfey cared about Suzanna's safety so much that Anfey totally lost control. He screamed before he threw himself at Riska and grabbed Riska's collar. Riska was only a mage and did not have a strong body. He felt choked by a steel grip and could not breathe. His eyes rolled immediately.
Everybody was stunned. Everybody said Christian was a gentleman, as was Anfey. No matter what happened, Anfey always looked nice. This was the first time any of them had seen Anfey lose his temper.
Blavi was the first to react. He immediately rushed over to grab Anfey's arms. "Anfey, calm down, calm down!"
"F*ck off!" Anfey shook his shoulder. Blavi was hit and landed a few yards away. He flew at the crowd. Luckily, Shinbella held him in time. Anfey looked fierce and crazy. He stared at Riska and said, "Tell me!"
It was absolutely quiet right now. He yelled those two words instead of speaking them. Riska rolled his eyes and struggled to point at Anfey's hands.
"Anfey, you are choking Riska. He can't say anything." Blavi rushed back and gripped Anfey's arms tightly. Everyone there was stunned, but only Blavi could come out to stop Anfey, because he believed they were friends in good times and bad, and he did not think Anfey would not hurt him.
Anfey took a deep breath and slowly let Riska go, but he still looked mad and crazy.
Riska gasped. After Anfey released Riska, he bent over and struggled for air.
"Riska, hurry up and tell Anfey. If you do tell him now, it will only make him more upset," Blavi sighed.
"An…Anfey, Suzanna is missing." Riska finally got to the point.
"Missing?" Anfey was shocked.
"Yes, she was lost after she left Violet City. The little unicorn was with her." Riska was afraid Anfey would go crazy on him again so he said hurriedly, "Alice has sent many people to search for Suzanna. Master Ernest found out about it and went to search for Suzanna as well."
"Then what happened after they searched for Suzannna?" Anfey asked.
"We found a trace of her. Master Ernest said a group of druids and elf archers must have attacked Suzanna, but it seemed that Suzanna escaped from them. They did not get her." Riska took some time to catch his breath. He continued, "Master Ernest asked me to tell you not to worry about Suzanna. She should be fine with her fighting ability as long as she remains alert. She might have gone back to Moramatch."
Anfey did not look so angry and fierce anymore. "Where is Uncle Ernest?"
"Master Ernest went to keep searching for Suzanna," Riska said.
Anfey went quiet for a while. He finally figured what had happened and forced a smile. "Blavi and Riska, I am sorry. I was just…"
Blavi patted Anfey on the shoulder and chuckled nervously, "What are you talking about, Anfey. I know you were worried."
"Anfey, if you had grabbed my neck with a bit more strength, I probably would not be able to hear you say sorry now." Riska was still a little scared as he rubbed his neck. The choking feeling was horrible, Riska thought to himself.
Anfey held his hand out and lightly punched Riska's chest to show he was really sorry about what he had done. He did lose control of himself, and now he slowly was regaining composure. Ernest was right. The first surprise attack was the most dangerous battle for Suzanna. As long as she was alert, Suzanna should have the ability to protect herself. Even if she could not win the fight, she definitely could flee from danger unless her opponent was a top power.
Manstuly should still be in Maho Empire. Yolanthe would not let Philip do anything ridiculous. Other top powers had no reason to go after Suzanna. Suzanna never had any conflicts with them, nor did she have any conflict of interests with them. They would not risk being the enemies of other top powers to go after Suzanna. Thinking these thoughts, Anfey felt a lot better, even though he was still worried.
"Riska, take a quick rest. We have to leave soon," Anfey said quietly.
Riska shook his head. "I do not need it." He saw a row of elves kneeling on the ground. He asked in surprise, "Why are there elves?"
"They set up Suzanna and now want to set me up. It looks like they tried to catch all of us at once," Anfey sneered.
Chapter 382: Cleanup
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"I thought the elves were supposed to be peace loving," Blavi said, shaking his head. Even though he respected the elves, he was angered by their actions. They did not want to fight with the elves. They even had elves with them. However, it was the elves that started the fight. Blavi knew that the four elves that came to join them should not be trusted, either.
The mercenaries had finished the job, and a few walked over to Ye. They whispered something to him, and Ye nodded, turning to Anfey. "The cleanup is almost done," Ye said. "I suggest that we head back immediately."
Anfey nodded in agreement.
"What should we do with the prisoners?" Ye asked, glancing at the huddled elves. "They will slow us down."
Anfey frowned and said with a sigh, "Kill all of them." If the elves only targeted him, he could take it as proof that Manstuly was working against him. However, they also targeted Suzanna, which proved that the elves were working against him even without Manstuly's direction. If he let those elves go, the elves would think that he was too weak. He needed to teach the elves a lesson.
Anfey's words were clearly not received well. A lot of mercenaries were very disappointed by his decision; even Ozzic was shaking his head. The elves, however, did not cry out or protest despite their shock. Normally, the worst punishment for an elf would be slavery.
Ye nodded and waved at his men.
"Wait, my lord!" a mercenary standing behind Shinbella suddenly said.
"What is it?" Anfey asked.
"If you are going to kill them anyway, my lord, why don't you give them to us?" the mercenary asked with a smirk.
The mercenaries around him burst out laughing. The mercenary had said something a lot of the others were thinking. Even Ozzic grinned.
"What did you just say?" Anfey asked quietly. Ozzic frowned. He was very sensitive to changes in people's moods. Anfey sounded very calm, but Ozzic felt that he was planning something.
"Give those elves to us, my lord," the mercenary said. "We'll take care of them for you."
The mercenaries laughed again. Some of the elves looked at the mercenaries with disdain, but they did not make a noise. One of the nearby mercenaries reached over and grabbed one of the elves with a smirk on his face. The elf he grabbed narrowed her eyes in disgust. She yanked her arm out of his grip and slapped his hand away. The mercenary, angered by her resistance, took a step back and drew his sword.
"Shinbella," Anfey called. "Is he your man?"
Shinbella nodded. She did not approve of the mercenary's actions either, but she wasn't certain when she should intervene. Anfey glanced at the mercenary. Shinbella nodded. She dashed towards the mercenary and knocked his sword out of his hand. Then she kicked him in the chest, sending him flying through the air.
The laughter and jeering stopped as the mercenary landed on the ground with a grunt.
"We are mercenaries," Anfey said, looking at the silent mercenaries. "Not robbers, not rapists. Anyone who suggests otherwise can leave now." He paused and looked at the mercenary who first spoke.
He knew he had to punish the elves to make an example, but he did not want to put them through unnecessary suffering. He was in the right in punishing them, but he wouldn't be in the right if he let the mercenaries do whatever they wanted with the elves.
If he let the mercenaries do whatever they wanted, his leadership could be questioned in the future. Saul and Bruzuryano had placed their hopes in him, and he couldn't let them down. His friends and wife were depending on him as well, so he couldn't let them down either.
Anfey glanced at Ye, who nodded and drew his sword.
Unlike the elves, the captured mercenaries begged for mercy before they were executed. The elves, although they were clearly terrified, steeled themselves in the face of death. They did not make a single noise as they died.
The mercenary that first suggested turning the elves over to the mercenaries stood there. He glanced at the dead elves, as if ashamed by his earlier suggestion. He knew Anfey would not let him back into the mercenary group.
The mercenary lying on the ground did not move as the prisoners died. No one wanted to approach and help him because no one wanted Anfey and Shinbella to get angry again.
After the bodies were cleaned up, Ozzic took his men and began heading back. Anfey and Shinbella began heading back as well after they exchanged a few brief words. Ye, however, remained still as if he had some unfinished business.
Soon, the only people left on the field were Ye and the two exiled mercenaries. The mercenary that was still conscious walked over to Ye carefully.
"My lord!" he called. He had been part of Jagged Rose mercenary group since he was a teenager. It was a very sad thing to see his friends turn away from him as if they were strangers. To him, Shinbella's action was betrayal. He did not know what to do.
"What is it?" Ye asked.
"You are familiar with Lord Anfey, my lord," the mercenary said. "Can you talk to Lord Anfey for me? Please, I will forever be in your debt."
Ye sighed. "If you want women, there are hundreds of women in White Mountain City," he said, shaking his head.
"I know, I know," the mercenary said. "Please, help me."
"I will try," Ye said. "I promise nothing."
"Thank you, my lord!"
Ye waved his hand. "You're lucky," he said, glancing at the unconscious mercenary. "At least you're not him."
The mercenary nodded. "I never thought Lady Shinbella would…"
Ye narrowed his eyes and glanced at the unconscious mercenary. "Is he moving?"
"Really?" The mercenary frowned and turned to look at the man. Before he could do anything, however, a sharp pain in his chest distracted him. He froze, then fell to the ground as Ye pulled his sword out.
"You are blaming Shinbella for this," Ye said as he walked over to the unconscious man. "You will only be trouble in the future. I have to take care of you two now." He slashed the unconscious man's neck and shook his sword. Ye knew that if enemies had found these two mercenaries, they would have spilled everything they knew. That would put everyone in danger.
The dying mercenary watched as Ye left, then he spat on the ground and grew still.
Chapter 383: Changed Rules
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
According to the information Blavi had, Archknight Fernando had ordered his entire army to attack Reddenburg after Anfey had left Shield of Light legion with Ozzic and a few others. It would take Anfey a few days to go back and forth, so he figured Fernando would have taken Reddenburg during that time. Anfey asked Ozzic to take his unit to the front and travel directly to Reddenburg.
It was not a peaceful trip. Many death spirits came at them like one swarm of flies after another. Fortunately, these death spirits could not pose any threat to a group of more than a thousand mercenaries and were killed. After fighting this kind of battle against zombies, mercenaries seemed to get used to his kind of weak attack.
After three days, Anfey led his mercenaries to Reddenburg. As Anfey expected, Reddenburg had become a command post for Shield of Light legion. About a hundred flags with different embroidered designs flew around Reddenburg. These flags had practical usage. Every flag represented a group. The one with a war horse on his hind legs in the center of a shield represented the frontiers of the Shield of Light legion. The one with a knight's spear in the center of a shield represented the cavalry. The one with a roaring lion in the center of the shield represented Fernando's personal bodyguards, which meant the central command was in the Reddenburg. Not only each battalion, but also each squadron and regiment had its own flag. It helped the commanders to give clear instructions to their people.
By now, Anfey could be considered a big shot. After finding out Anfey was back, Fernando and Christian both came out of the headquarters to welcome and greet him. As they walked back to the headquarters, Archknight Fernando walked in front, with Anfey and Christian walking behind. An unwelcomed voice rose: "Master Anfey? I heard you lost your wife? Please accept my condolences. Hahaha…"
Anfey was shocked and turned around to where the voice came from. Marquis Djoser and a few Knights of Light were approaching. Marquis Djoser had a gloating smile on his face. The Knights of Light looked a little awkward. Although many knew that Suzanna was missing, few had detailed information about it. They just thought Suzanna must have been attacked by death spirits.
This was not good news for most Knights of Light. They did have conflicts with Anfey for sure, but necromancers were their biggest enemy right now. Whether they could win the battle with necromancers would decide their fate. Anfey was on the same side in this battle and had made some major contributions. He even worked with Slanbrea and killed Necromancer Annunciata. It just showed they had no class if they were happy about Suzanna's unfortunate fate.
The Knights of Light felt a little awkward, but Christian already looked mad. Even Fernando looked a little annoyed. Compared with Anfey, Djoser was of little use except for his Marquis title and some influence in the upper classes. Anfey was a capable and got things done, so seemed to be more helpful to Fernando.
"Of course. Suzanna is nothing special to you. You have some elf maids with you. It is no big deal…" Djoser was interrupted by a slapping sound.
Anfey had appeared in front of Marquis Djoser and hit him. Anfey did not punch too hard because he did not want to kill him right now, but not too light either because he would not be able to vent his anger otherwise.
Marquis Djoser put his hand on his cheek, stunned. He did not think Anfey would ever dare to hit him in the public. Everybody knew he was a marquis in the empire.
"How dare…" Djoser yelled.
However, Marquis Djoser's yell was interrupted again. This time his sound reverberated back. Anfey swung his arm and punched Djoser on the other cheek. Anfey kept swinging and hitting Marquis Djoser without holding anything back. He put enough strength into the punches to make sure Marquis Djoser swayed from left to right but did not fall to the ground.
"Master Anfey," Fernando called to Anfey worriedly. He felt Marquis Djoser was very nasty to Anfey, but he had to stop Anfey, since Marquis Djoser helped him before.
Anfey gave Djoser one last shot as Djoser spun in a half circle and fell to the ground. He looked at Anfey with dull eyes. His mouth was open but did not make any sound. He was not scared by Anfey, but Anfey had given him a concussion. The weak old man lost consciousness and could not even feel the pain or react in any way.
The Knights of Light behind Djoser hurried over and blocked Anfey from Djoser. Anfey kept his poker face and walked away.
"Master Anfey, you are…" Fernando had a bitter smile on his face. In addition to constraints from Christian, Fernando's authority was limited. Even if Anfey had killed Djoser, he had no way to punish Anfey. To provide stability in the organization, he had to have Anfey on his side. The only option he had was to talk to Anfey and convince him. If he took a hard line with Anfey, he would only put himself in a defensive position. Two Knights of Light held Marquis Djoser up. His face had swollen and blood dripped down from the corners of his mouth down to the chest. His eyes were still dull. Fernando was worried that Anfey had hit Djoser so hard it would cause brain damage.
Anfey causally shook his hands like nothing had happened. He did not respond to Fernando's pleas. Christian said quietly, "Anfey, let it go. We have time. We will get him sometime."
Christian's response actually shocked many people. He was such a gentle and polite young man. He never talked to anyone so aggressively. People actually changed as their circumstances changed. Suzanna and Anfey had done so much so they could live safely. Christian thought Suzanna and Anfey were his closest friends. Marquis Djoser's gloating had made me feel terrible for Anfey. If he did not have such a sensitive position, he already would have beaten Djoser up himself.
Fernando cringed. Christian made it sound like punching Djoser today was not enough, and they would get him later. Fernando could say anything to Christian at that moment. He said, "Master Christian, we have waited for Master Anfey for so long. Let's not waist time talking about it now."
"What happened?" Anfey asked, shocked.
"According to our plan, we should have continued forward after we took Reddenburg. As you can see, Shield of Light legion did not move at all." Fernando heaved a sigh. "Let's talk inside."
"Ok." Anfey nodded and followed Fernando in.
No one, including Anfey, realized Anfey's fight with Marquis Djoser had changed the way he handled things. Besides dealing with some weak and small groups, Anfey had been very cautious and never wanted to pick a fight with anyone. He had always fought back after others picked fights with him. After realizing Zeda was the grandson of Master Swordsman Philip, Anfey regretted killing him. He still thought he should not have killed Zeda even though he himself was in serious danger.
At that moment, after realizing Manstuly was behind the druids and the unpredictable potential of elves, he would still kill druids and elves. Knowing Djoser was a marquis of the empire and the consequences of making a large group of nobles unhappy with him, he still hit Djoser.
Fernando, Anfey and his group quickly walked into a tall and grand residential house. As everybody took a seat, Fernando rubbed his hands and looked at Christian. "Master Christian, should you tell him or should I?"
"You can tell. You know the situation better than me," Christian said.
"Ok." Fernando hesitated for a second and said, "First of all, I have to admit I made a huge mistake."
"Master Fernando, you have blamed yourself already several times. You really do not have to do that," Christian said with a smile.
"No, I have to make it clear." Fernando shook his head. "Because of my mistake, the whole plan fell through. I have to take responsibility."
"That serious?" Anfey asked in surprise.
"Yes, very serious. I planned to divide the army into two units, one to help Shuklan City and the other to help Madrid Town. I think you know about this plan as well, but we cannot go anywhere now." Fernando looked helpless. "You must have seen a lot of death spirits when you came back from the northwest?"
"Yes, I did," Anfey said.
"If you do not mind my asking: Why did you suddenly leave the legion?" Fernando looked concerned.
"Some friends were trapped by death spirits. It was urgent, so I did not have time to talk to you about it before I took my mercenaries over there," Anfey said.
"I see." Fernando nodded. He knew Anfey was just giving an excuse. He was really interested in the reason why Anfey suddenly left the legion, but it was not a good time to discover Anfey's secrets. He returned to the topic at hand. "My plan was built on a premise that we have to save trapped mercenaries and wipe out all the death spirits around every territory we take over. The previous Death Wars taught us that all death spirits acted in a whole unit. If we were attacked by any death spirits, the nearby death spirits would come and help them. At the moment, they are not under the command of necromancers, but I still think the nearby death spirits would come help other death spirits. If I pick a fight with them, I think we could easily wipe out all the nearby death spirits."
"Death spirits are currently in chaos without the leadership of necromancers. When we passed through the Transverse Mountains, we had many fights with them. Every zombie group had a leader. Did you notice they would not help each other?" Anfey said.
"I did notice that. I thought they were just wandering zombies left behind. The main force of death spirits should have continued their traditions of willing sacrifice and unity and had uncontrollable desire for human flesh and blood. However, the reality is the frontier unit under my command had a fight with death spirits and killed some zombies after they arrived Reddenburg. This fight was to attract more hatred and gather more zombies here. Do you know what happened the next morning?" Fernando asked with a bitter smile.
"What happened?" Anfey asked.
"The zombies trapped in Reddenburg fled. No zombie remained. I never thought they would flee. Are there even death spirits anymore?" Fernando said slowly.
"You should know that zombies now have the ability to evolve. The most evolved zombies not only can communicate with other zombies, but also communicate with us. They are just like humans. They have desire, reasoning, fears, and even know how to beg," Anfey said.
Fernando went quiet for a while and nodded. "I know, but I kept thinking the way I previously thought about them. This is why I need take responsibility for making that mistake."
"How many zombies fled?" Anfey asked.
"About 8,000. Not many zombies were trapped in Reddenburg from the beginning. Now they are all gone. This is not the most important thing. I thought the fight with zombies around Reddenburg would attract nearby zombies, but they did not react to it at all," Fernando said quietly.
Fernando picked up a cup of water and poured some water on the table. He drew something in the water. After a while, the water gathered together again. "Right now, we have similar situations. The zombies we killed were very limited. There were many death spirits behind us, to the northwest and northeast. If we leave here, they would take over this area again. To ensure the safety of Reddenburg, we need divide our army and try to wipe out all the death spirits."
"That would take a long time," Anfey said.
"We have time, but the trapped mercenaries would not be able to hold out until we get there," Fernando said slowly.
"Are you saying…" Anfey said.
"In general, we will divide the army into two units. The main force will be responsible for wiping out the death spirits behind us. The elite force would go and help the cities in danger. This is a tentative plan. I have not thought through how to do it. We can discuss the details together. I just have had a bad feeling recently. Those necromancers acted too weirdly. It's possible they have some conspiracy we do not know about," Fernando said.
"Why would you think that?" Anfey asked.
"Take Reddenburg, for instance. If necromancers had directed nearby death spirits to come, Reddenburg could have been conquered a long time ago. They did not ask death spirits to come. Instead, they all suddenly disappeared. I think there only could be two possibilities. One is they are so happy with the situation as it is now that they do not even care about taking over Reddenburg. This does not fit the necromancers' style though. The second possibility would be they do not have any extra effort to spare. Then the question would be, What are they doing now?"
"Shadow Empire?" Anfey suddenly remembered what Black Eleven found.
"What did you say?" Fernando asked in surprise.