Lord of the Magical Beasts

Soon after, with the coordinated shouts of the few Dark Spellcasters, a circle of strange fog appeared around the zombies and skeletons. If the guards accidentally came into contact with the fog, their skin would begin to rot rapidly, and not even their bones were spared. As a few of the guards fell to the attack, the terrifying undead army tightened the circle around Steve and the group.

Deathly Poisonous Fog?

Seeing the black fog around the zombies and skeletons, Steve’s Sword Saint guard swallowed hard. The Deathly Poisonous Fog was a high level magic spell of the dark element. It was clear that the Dark Spellcasters around them were all Great Spellcasters. Coupled with the handful of high level Dark Knights, the situation was far from good.

“Young master, I’ll carry you out, quick!” After a moment’s deliberation, the cloaked Sword Saint knew that they had to escape. He squatted down in front of Steve, clenching his teeth.

My guards can’t break through this enemy?

Steve looked at the zombies and skeletons swarming toward them, then at Maryse who was standing behind him, her face pale from shock. Steve hesitated. He was worried that he would be trapped here by the rotting corpses and skeletons, but he didn’t want to abandon the beautiful Maryse.

“Sir, what are we going to do, what are we going to do?”

Maryse pretended to be distraught, and she spoke frantically as she leaned against Steve. Her supple skin and alluring fragrance, coupled with the deep-rooted enticement of her Temptation of Darkness, quickly mesmerized the man. Steve only came to his senses after his Sword Saint came to his side, blocking a sneak attack by a Dark Knight.

“Barty, carry Miss Maryse and open a path. I’ll lead the guards and cover your back, quick!”

Even though he was fearful and sweating due to his nerves, Steve realized he couldn’t bear to abandon the beautiful Maryse. Ever since he first saw Maryse, he had fallen irretrievably in love with this beauty in black.

Time was of the essence. As Steve’s insistence, the Sword Saint let out a sigh and picked up Maryse, then charged forward with large strides. The zombies and skeletons blocking the way were all reduced to pieces wherever his three-inch-thick red Battle Energy passed. Even the bloodthirsty Dark Knights had to take a few steps back in retreat.

When he was using his full strength, the beginner level Sword Saint had no equal on that battlefield. But he failed to notice the cold gleam in Maryse’s eyes or the thin black needle slowly making its way toward the large artery in his neck. He was completely oblivious to the impending danger.

If Barty had looked over his shoulder, he would have noticed that Maryse was moving her mouth behind his back, silently reciting an incantation. He might have even seen the strange Magical Energy gathering behind him.

Unfortunately, it mattered little what might have been!

With Barty leading the charge, Steve and his group successfully broke through the outermost ring of the enemy. But just as Steve thought that he was going to put the danger behind him, he saw the Sword Saint Barty shudder. The warrior fell to the ground in disbelief after letting out a pathetic wail.

Barty is dead?

Despite being a Sword Saint, he met with misfortune the moment he was about to charge out of the encircling enemy forces?

Steve and the rest were pale in shock. In their surprise, no one noticed the look of betrayal Barty gave Maryse before he died, and no one noticed the small needle wound on his neck. Even more so, no one noticed the faint, icy smile on Maryse’s face.

Even a Sword Saint could not survive that poison!

The poison was extracted from the body of a Silver-ringed Snake, and reinforced with a Dark Infiltration Magic that was specially formulated to pierce through protective Battle Energy. The warrior guard Barty had fallen for Maryse’s sinister plot in his carelessness.

On an average day, Barty’s strength as a Sword Saint would have allowed him to forcefully repel the poison using his Battle Energy. But while he was using all his strength to deal with the undead army, how could he have thought that the woman he was protecting would suddenly strike him down?

In his carelessness, Barty’s protective Battle Energy had been dispelled by Maryse’s Dark Infiltration Magic. Following that, the fatal snake poison entered his body. By the time he noticed something was wrong, it was already too late!

After quickly withdrawing the thin poisonous needle, Maryse put on an act and shrieked, hiding right behind Steve. But just as she clenched her teeth and was preparing to use the same strategy, she suddenly saw two figures riding tall horses towards them.

One was wearing Kevlar Heavy Armor and wielding a Darkmetal Longspear, and the other had flowing white robes and wielded a dark green staff. They were the Knight of the Divine Palace Clause and Spellcaster Michelle, who were passing through the area.

Envoys of the Church?

Looking at the approaching Knight of the Divine Palace and the white-robed Spellcaster, then looking at the dumbfounded Steve, Maryse clenched her teeth in frustration. In order to preserve her strength, in order to avoid alarming these envoys of the Church, she could only issue the order to retreat.

There were only two of them. Even though she could easily finish them off, she was unwilling to act rashly. The Church would definitely not let things rest if she killed Clause and Michelle now. If she attracted the attention of a large group of Spellcasters and Knights of the Divine Palace, and in so doing influenced her teacher’s plans, then the gains would not outweigh the losses.

But even though she was unable to seize the opportunity to get rid of Steve, killing his Sword Saint guard was enough. It would cause a commotion all around Wissen Town.

Maryse believed that after understanding the abilities of the Association of Dark Magic, Yang Ling would not ignore such a powerful potential ally. As long as she was successful in dispelling Yang Ling’s caution and misunderstanding, then her plan would have already succeeded by half.

After receiving the order, the Dark Knights and Dark Spellcasters quickly vanished into the forest. The zombies and skeletons who had lost their leaders were all purified quickly by Michelle’s Holy Purification as she charged forward.

There were counters to everything. Dealing with the puppet-like rotting corpses and skeletons had been a headache for Steve and his guards, but to a powerful Spellcaster of the Church like Michelle, low level dark life forms could not survive a hit. They posed no threat no matter how many of them there were.

After being saved by Clause and Michelle, Steve was still distraught as he stared straight at the motionless Barty. He could never have expected the Sword Saint to meet with such a misfortune. He did not even know how Barty had been attacked.

Steve grimly thought of the Rossi soldiers. I’ll exterminate all of you!

The patrol team had suffered heavy casualties. Even the Sword Saint guard had met with misfortune. Steve clenched his fists, realizing that a group of elite reinforcements had arrived to aid the Rossi soldiers. Only the Rossi had such a strong conflict of interest with him, and only the Rossi could have such terrifying Dark Knights and Spellcasters.

After quickly sending Maryse back to Shangri-La, Steve sent an urgent message to request for an increase in the number and speed of his reinforcements. The Rossi reinforcements had already arrived, and if his own reinforcements didn’t arrive for another two weeks, they would only be able to collect his corpse.

A stone could create a thousand layers of waves!

Quickly, news of the attack spread all over Wissen Town. Some were happy and celebrating, but others locked themselves at home, afraid that they would meet with misfortune if they ventured out.

After leaving the battlefield, Michelle and Clause had serious expressions. They quickly sent out word of Dark Spellcasters appearing in Wissen Town, and they requested backup from the Church. At the same time, in another villa in Shangri-La, Maryse was discussing the next step of the plan with a few Dark Knights and Spellcasters.

After receiving the news, the Rossi forces hiding in Terras Forest became excited, cheering without end. Even Renaya, who did not typically show emotion, was no exception. He knew that Yang Ling had finally begun to take action.

In his mind, only Yang Ling and Steve had a true conflict of interest in Wissen Town. And only Yang Ling had the ability to plan such a shocking attack.

“Lord, now that Yang Ling has already taken action, we should give him an even bigger reason to go all out, mobilizing his troops to completely destroy the Banto forces. Now, it is time to go visit him!” The tactician hiding in the darkness whispered his suggestion softly to the excited Renaya.

Hearing the tactician say this, Renaya had a thought and replied, “That’s right, it’s about time we show our hand to Yang Ling. Time waits for no one; we move tomorrow morning!”

…

The Rossi forces were celebrating, and within Wissen Castle, everyone was also very excited. The servants were discussing this great piece of news wherever they went. From the old to the young, everyone was cursing the violent ruler Steve, hoping for him to die a gory death.

“Goode, how do you view this situation?” Yang Ling gently rubbed his temples as he leaned on the large chair.

Yang Ling had received the news not long after Steve had met with the sneak attack. Originally, he had thought that it was the Rossi soldiers, but after receiving detailed news of Steve’s injuries and the Sword Saint’s death, he realized that this incident was not as simple as it seemed.

If the Rossi had such powerful abilities, they would have attacked long ago. Why would they have waited until now?

After a moment’s deliberation, Goode said slowly, “Sir, according to the report from Parrot, there have been several men in black of unknown origin in Maryse’s villa over these past few days. They came and went day after day, and their abilities were deep beyond comprehension! When Steve fell for the surprise attack, someone noticed that the spellcasters had sneakily retreated from the battlefield. According to preliminary estimates, they are definitely related to the assassination of Steve’s men!”

Maryse?

Yang Ling doubtfully took a sip of his refreshing jasmine tea. Over these days of observation, he was sure that Maryse was not an assassin sent by Steve. If the information was true and Steve’s attempted assassination was her doing, then she couldn’t have been sent by the Anca family. Otherwise, she would only think of ways to help Steve deal with Yang Ling. There was no need, nor was there a possibility that she would strike his enemy!

A fog-like woman. Just who is she, and what kind of unspeakable motive does she have?

Unable to figure it out, Yang Ling instructed Goode to monitor Maryse’s actions tightly and do everything he could to find out about her background in the shortest amount of time.