Charlotte gripped his magical alchemy staff but hesitated to make a move, contemplating whether he should shoot at Lord Leo now. A thought entered his mind: "Machupi's labyrinth is complete."
He smiled slightly, activated his Blood Glory power, but deliberately suppressed it to the second rank, and followed Lord Leo out of the fortress. However, it wasn't long before Lord Leo pulled far ahead of him.
As he pretended to run desperately, he noticed some black dots in the sky, confirming that these were Lord Leo's blood bats, explaining his fast pace.
Every time it seemed like Charlotte would lose track of him, Lord Leo would deliberately stop and wait for him. After running for more than two hours, they heard the sound of intense gunfire in the distance.
Charlotte was worried. Unlike Wells, who could slice through bullets with his sword, his Blood Glory, even at full power, could withstand bullets but not for long.
This was a common problem for low-ranking knights: they could deflect a few bullets when fighting one-on-one, but on a battlefield where bullets flew from all directions, their limited energy wouldn't last.
Charlotte thought to himself, "It would be great if I could master the Bloodflame Shapeshifting technique, turning into a flame to minimize physical damage. If I could also learn Lightfoot or Spider Web technique, I might be able to dodge bullets."
Lord Leo jumped onto a cliff, observed the scene below, and told the "panting" Charlotte, who had just caught up, "The South Seraph restorationists have failed."
Charlotte glanced down and saw two groups locked in fierce combat. Being a novice in warfare, he couldn't tell who was winning, so he asked, "How do you know?"
Lord Leo replied calmly, "Ferdinand's Six Guards are not on the battlefield."
Being from Behemoth Principality, Charlotte quickly realized the significance. Ferdinand's Six Guards were renowned mid-level superhumans who, together, could even challenge high-level ones. Their absence meant they must be protecting the Grand Duke elsewhere.
He suggested, "Since the mission has failed, we have no reason to stay. Let's leave."
Lord Leo shook his head, leaped up, and called out, "Follow me!"
Charlotte looked up and saw the black dots in the sky, realizing Lord Leo must have discovered something. Reluctantly, he followed.
Both were fast, and despite Charlotte intentionally slowing down a bit, he was still much faster than an ordinary person. As they rounded a mountain pass, they heard shouts and cries. Lord Leo signaled Charlotte, who immediately dropped to the ground beside a rock, pulled out his anti-space sniper rifle from his alchemy staff, and loaded the bullets into the space magazine.
This rifle's space magazine was large, but when hidden, it would convert into anti-space, spitting out the ammunition. Ordinary people could only carry up to twenty Breaking Magic Armor-Piercing Bullets.
Charlotte set up the rifle and pretended to search for a target.
Lord Leo nodded slightly, thinking, "Qian Nan is an excellent soldier, but for this war, he will have to be sacrificed. This is for Byron's future. Every Byron citizen must be ready to make sacrifices."
In the mountain pass, more than ten people were fighting, with six or seven bodies lying on the ground.
The smaller group was desperately protecting a fifty-something old man with slightly disheveled silver hair and a neat little beard. Despite the chaos, he wore exceptionally luxurious clothing, had no weapons, and was tearfully squatting beside a woman's corpse, refusing to leave despite his subordinates' urgent pleas.
Charlotte recognized the old man as Grand Duke Ferdinand of Behemoth Principality, the target of the South Seraph restorationists' assassination, and the woman on the ground was his wife, the Duchess. Their love story was once a beautiful and tragic tale, and their deep affection was well-known even in the Empire.
Charlotte muttered, "Even in this situation, he won't leave his wife. Grand Duke Ferdinand is truly in love."
Lord Leo chuckled and said, "The South Seraph restorationists are still a bit inexperienced. Qian Nan, you can give them a hand. Aim at Ferdinand and send him on his way."
Charlotte took several deep breaths, familiarized himself with the rifle in his hand—he had barely touched it since getting it—and ensured everything was set up for firing.
Once he was confident that pulling the trigger would fire, Charlotte suddenly twisted his body and pointed the anti-space sniper rifle at Lord Leo. Knowing he only had one chance, he fired three shots in quick succession.
The Breaking Magic Armor-Piercing Bullets tore through the air with a shrill wail, disappearing into the distance.
Charlotte stared at Lord Leo, who had suddenly leaped high into the air for some unknown reason, leaving him stunned.
Lord Leo's sudden leap caused the three shots, which should have hit him, to miss.
Charlotte gritted his teeth, ready to draw his Blood Rose sword to fight, when he saw a sliver of "night" enveloping Lord Leo.
The one who struck was his esteemed senior, Menierman Su Rose, the Empire's First Rose. Dressed in military attire, her sword seemed to merge with the night, blooming furiously.
Lord Leo, a high-level superhuman, sensed the impending strike and leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding Charlotte's "sneak attack" while engaging Menierman in mid-air.
He never imagined that Charlotte was aiming at him and mistakenly thought this "loyal Imperial soldier" was helping to block Menierman.
Lord Leo didn't have time to transform his sword into a lance and had to clash with Menierman directly.
After just one exchange, Lord Leo let out a long, agonized howl as he took a deep wound to the chest, spilling blood energy. He hastily used his blood bat technique, transforming into hundreds of tiny bats that clustered together and flew back the way he had come. Before leaving, he didn't forget to use "Blood Clan True Word" to cast a charm spell: "Qian Nan! Hold off this madwoman for me."
Charlotte wasn't affected at all. Having faced an evil god twice, resisting a charm spell was child's play. He was about to fire again at the fleeing bats when he heard Menierman's voice calmly echoing in his ear: "You reacted quickly just now. If we had coordinated a bit better, that Byron vampire wouldn't have gotten away."
Charlotte felt a bit embarrassed. Indeed, if he had acted a little earlier or later, they could have seriously injured Lord Leo.
Menierman, standing at a different angle from Lord Leo, didn't misunderstand Charlotte's intention like Leo did. While Leo thought Charlotte was helping him, Menierman knew otherwise.
Menierman sheathed her sword and said, "Let's go check on Grand Duke Ferdinand."