Lord Canning could tell that the wolf was sent to find out the situation inside the camp.
The nightmare wolf was a result of a Tier 7 fusion spell that added a little darkness magic to a beast transformation spell, specifically a large British-Columbia kind of wolf. The original ability of the wolf without the fusion was to turn invisible but when darkness magic was fused in it, it created a 'Void' ability.
Being invisible didn't mean attacks would not injure the creature. As a matter of fact, nothing about the creature would change aside from the fact that it couldn't be seen with the naked eye. This meant that very strong mages were able to sense it, those with a strong sense of smell could smell it and those that reached out could touch it.
On the other hand, the 'void' spell was a completely different realm. The spell turned transformed something invisible into something that is none existent for a short period of time. While in the void, the creature could neither attack nor be attacked except by using either light or darkness magic. However, it was considered a waste of energy attacking it blindly without sensing where the creature was.
The other advantage the void ability had was that it allowed the creature to pass through anything. In order to reappear, however, there couldn't be another object intersecting with its body at the time. The nightmare wolf, Balduino, passed through Lord Canning and Menzine without them realizing it and entered the gate without opening it.
While in the void, Balduino could only see complete whiteness with black thin outlines around objects. When he entered the campsite, he saw the outline of human bodies all over the place and an outline of a girl standing in the middle of the camp. The girl jumped back several steps when he got near her and this surprised him.
Could she sense him while he was in the void? He wondered.
Time ran out and the void spell was undone, revealing the 2 meters tall wolf to the slightly surprised Annabeth. The wolf stood there staring at her as though it had not planned on what to do after encountering someone inside the campsite.
"What?" She asked, her arms put sideways in a 'come at me bro' style.
***
Outside the campsite, neither party had made any move yet or said anything. Lord Canning figured they were waiting for their scout to return before attempting anything. He concluded that with Annabeth around the nightmare wolf might get occupied a little so he decided to play a prank on the bandit's that weren't strong enough.
He moved his hand slightly and disappeared from sight. The Tier 7 mages who had been standing with arrogant faces started taking steps backward in fear, not knowing where the enemy would appear from. One of them even teleported onto the roof of the wagon, leaving his friends behind.
Noma rolled her eyes with a sigh; these men were really something.
It was only her and her boss that had not moved since Lord Canning disappeared. Being this close to the powerful enemies, even the large man was able to sense their magical energy. He, therefore, knew that the man who had just disappeared was still standing in the same place as before.
"Calm down you idiots, he is still by the gate!" The large man roared.
They relaxed themselves a little as they nervously laughed at each other. But that was only until the bandit that had teleported earlier fell down with his head missing.
Everyone went into full alert, the large man and Noma being no exception. They had both felt a slight chill on top of their heads but ignored it, not knowing it was a magical attack.
Noma figured the opponent was an extremely powerful ice mage and she immediately started conjuring her Tier 8 field spell, 'Desert Sun.'
A huge ball of fire appeared 20 meters above her that started heating up the surroundings. The 'Desert Sun' field spell increased all fire-based spells and reduced the power of water and ice spells. The spell heated up the surroundings so much that the air became dry and the plants around withered.
Due to the reduction in water vapor, Lord Canning's spell broke.
To create the effect that made him appear invisible, he had developed a complicated mirroring effect using water and light. By creating very thin water surfaces and combining some light energy into them, he could choose who saw him and who didn't.
The human eye can only see objects because light bounces off them. By controlling the light which bounced off him and reflecting what was behind him onto the thin water surface in front of him, he was able to recreate invisibility spells. This was a Tier 4 spell he created using small amounts of water and light magic. When higher amounts of water and light magic were used, he could make a whole mansion disappear from view.
"Hahaha," Lord Canning laughed, "She really managed to break my spell Menzine, although it looks like a fluke."
"Indeed sir," Menzine chuckled a little and said.
"I think she is a swordswoman, want to have a go at her?" Lord Canning asked.
His keen eye had not missed how much Menzine's face had brightened up when he saw someone holding a sword in each hand step out of the wagon. There was something about swordsmen and women where they always wanted to fight each other to see who was stronger. Lord Canning understood his desire and presented him with the offer.
"I am grateful, master," Menzine replied, one knee touching the ground and his head bowed.
"Come on, I told you not to be doing that. Get up already," Lord Canning rebuked him.
"I apologize, my lord," Menzine replied with a wide grin as he stood up.
Not even getting rebuked had managed to take away his joy of getting to fight a possibly strong swords-user. He always kept his emotions in check but this time couldn't suppress his joy.
"Menzine, wipe that grin off your face, okay? You're drooling," Lord Canning said as he burst out into laughter once again.
Menzine couldn't help laughing along as well.
Seeing their enemy having fun at their expense, the bandits were infuriated. They wanted to act but seeing their buddy get killed unknowingly made them hesitate. They kept glancing over to their strongest allies to see if they were going to make any moves.
Finally, the boss and Noma started to move forward and they followed closely behind. They looked pathetic but they didn't mind, they wanted revenge but didn't want to die doing so.
During the walk, the large man was coming up with a series of questions to ask and had not anticipated being asked first.
"Are you Lord Sazar, the owner of this place?" Lord Canning asked.
"Hmm... I am indeed. Who are you?" Sazar, the large man asked.
"Well let's just say you have a bill that's been long overdue, and I'm here to collect," Lord Canning said, his lips forming his usual annoying smile.
"Oh? And who sent you and what are you collecting then?" curiously asked Sazar, somehow he had taken Canning's words literally.
"The devil. And I'm here for your soul," Lord Canning said, a malicious smile formed on his face as he cracked his fingers.