Chapter 38: Trapped in the Predicament 1

Kent was not surprised at all.

Although Kweilin had never mentioned anything about his family, the noble temperament he occasionally revealed, along with the trace of pride hidden in his eyes, was enough for Kent to understand that he came from a powerful aristocratic family.

On the Twin Star Continent, many families had inherited their status for tens of thousands of years. Any family that could survive and flourish through such a long history must possess unimaginable influence and strength.

On Earth, even families with only several hundred years of history could extend their influence into various industries across the world. So it was easy to imagine the depth of power possessed by families that had existed for ten thousand years on the Twin Star Continent.

Therefore, Kent absolutely did not believe that two ninth-level guards would simply travel outside with Kweilin alone.

So when this mercenary-like warrior suddenly appeared, Kent was not surprised in the slightest.

However, Alice and Delis were completely stunned.

The giant crossbows were indeed frightening, but they had their own firing trajectories. Advanced professionals would not easily be killed by such weapons. However, the objects launched by catapults were another matter entirely—no one could predict exactly what would happen.

Kent ignored Kweilin’s two guards and the two leaders from the Church of Light. Instead, he carefully observed the situation around him, constantly feeling that something was wrong.

Since these bandits had been able to kill all the ship’s crew, they must have known exactly who was on board and what kind of people they were dealing with.

Moreover, this ship belonged to the Red Thorn Grass Merchant Guild, one of the ten largest merchant guilds on the continent.

Anyone who dared to slaughter the crew of such a merchant guild without fear of retaliation could not possibly be just the group of people standing before them.

The river channel here was narrow and completely deserted. Since these people had chosen this location to ambush the ship, they must have had a way to finish the battle before nightfall.

After all, the docks where ships stopped each day were fixed locations, and every dock was equipped with magical communication devices.

Thinking about this, Kent began to feel increasingly uneasy.

He watched as the two members of the Church of Light and Kote discussed their situation. Another guard remained beside Kweilin to protect him.

Meanwhile, the small catapults on the riverbank had already been assembled. Nearby, a group of people were carrying black ceramic jars, along with bright-burning torches.

Kent was becoming more and more anxious.

If he were alone, he could rely on his excellent swimming ability to escape to the opposite shore.

But he could not.

Alice and Delis had followed him this far. He could not simply abandon them.

Furthermore, Kent could not guarantee that there were no hidden enemies from the Dark Empire waiting on the other side of the river. These attackers were extremely mysterious, and Kent even suspected that this might be some kind of operation secretly arranged by the Dark Empire.

“By my name, I call upon my Lord... Holy Light Barrier!”

Just as countless thoughts were racing through Kent’s mind, he suddenly heard a solemn and rhythmic chant.

The incantation continued for nearly a minute.

Then, with Silver Priest Holian at the center, a brilliant curtain of light suddenly appeared, completely covering the entire ship.

It was an eighth-level light-element dual-defense magic barrier—the Blessing of Holy Light.

An eighth-level dual-element barrier meant that it could defend against both magical and physical attacks.

If a mage from the Mage Guild were to cast an eighth-level dual-defense spell, the chanting time would not be less than one and a half minutes.

However, the reason Holian only needed one minute was because he was using divine magic.

The Mage Guild did not fully understand the principles behind divine magic, but there was one thing they had confirmed: for spells of the same level, divine magic reduced casting time by one-third while increasing power by thirty percent.

Although divine magic possessed many advantages, the problem was that talents suitable for light and dark elements were extremely rare in this world.

For example, the trial team led by Holian belonged to an entire diocese of the Church of Light, yet the entire team contained only a little over thirty people.

And such trials were only held once every three years by the Church of Light.

In other words, within a single diocese of the Light Empire, there were on average only around ten people each year who possessed light-element talent.

A single diocese of the Light Empire was already comparable in size to an entire duchy of the Alliance Empire.

This was one of the reasons why the Alliance Empire was able to surpass the other two great empires.

Of course, this advantage was also closely related to the different internal policies adopted by the three empires toward their own citizens.

“Boom!”

The moment the barrier expanded, a massive stone crashed into the glowing curtain of light.

The barrier only flickered slightly. The stone, which weighed several hundred kilograms, slowly slid down and fell away harmlessly.

Kent was completely stunned.

The scene before him left him unbelievably excited. He stared at the magical barrier and muttered to himself:

“A fantasy blockbuster...”

He could not help but pinch himself. When he felt the pain, he finally confirmed that he was not dreaming, and then he started laughing foolishly.

Kent realized that he had already become fascinated by this world.

“My dear companion, come out and fight alongside me!”

Seeing that Kweilin’s side had already been protected, Kote’s body suddenly erupted with a brilliant golden aura of battle energy. Behind him appeared a pair of wings formed entirely from condensed fighting energy.

The wings lightly flapped, and Kote instantly leapt into the air. Then, he began loudly chanting the spell to summon his magical companion.

“Hahaha! Hahaha! I, Ulysses, have arrived! Oh, my dear Kote, what happened to you? Oh, oh, oh... you people actually disturbed the beautiful dream of the great Ulysses!”

As Kote finished chanting, a winged serpent suddenly appeared in the sky.

It was an eighth-level wind-element magical beast—the Wind Serpent.

Not only was it incredibly fast, but it was also extremely cunning.

A mature Wind Serpent possessed six pairs of wings. The one before them had already grown all six pairs, although the final pair was only about half the size of the others.

The serpent was nearly fifteen meters long. It possessed sharp fangs, and the surging wind-element magical energy surrounding its body proved that this creature was far from ordinary.

Its pale cyan scales, blood-red eyes, and powerful elongated body created a strange combination of strength and beauty. It was full of power, yet it also carried an undeniable elegance.

“Oh my god... this...”

Kent knew that high-level magical beasts could speak, but he had always ignored Niuniu, so he had never truly paid attention to this matter.

But now, the moment Ulysses appeared, it immediately began speaking one sentence after another.

Kent was so shocked that his jaw nearly dropped.

Meanwhile, Kweilin had been secretly observing Kent the entire time.

That was also part of his mission.

When he saw Kent’s shocked reaction, the corner of Kweilin’s mouth lifted slightly into a faint smile.

“Looks like this guy really has never seen much of the world. He couldn’t possibly be someone with another person’s soul.”

Kent had no idea that replacing someone else’s soul was a unique ability of necromancers.

That was why the Mage Guild could not completely confirm the truth, and it was also the reason why Kweilin had accepted this mission.

In fact, Kent was extremely lucky.

If this had happened two months earlier, any high-level mage could have easily discovered that Kent’s soul did not match his body.

In this world, where humans themselves had become the subject of countless studies, ten thousand years was more than enough time for people to uncover many secrets—including the nature of the soul.

However, Kote only turned slightly pale when his magical companion appeared.

There was nothing he could do about it.

He had signed an equal contract with Ulysses, meaning he could not control the creature completely.

Kote did not immediately charge into battle.

Instead, he and Ulysses hovered in the air, staring toward the enemies on the opposite riverbank.

Then Kote removed the white silk glove from his hand and threw it far into the distance.

“Knight Kote stands here. Who dares to challenge us?”

Seeing Kote’s reaction, Kent almost fell over.

He shouted inwardly:

“Brother, these people came here to rob and kill you! Why are you still talking about knightly honor?”

“A Golden Knight of the Alliance Empire... quite impressive, isn’t it?”

A mocking voice came from far away.

Following that voice, two swordsmen appeared on the opposite shore, both surrounded by golden battle energy.

Immediately afterward, three more mages emerged behind them.

The aura of each of them was no weaker than Kote’s.

However, what was strange was that all of these people had covered their faces.

Clearly, they were afraid of revealing their identities.

After all, true experts above the eighth level were extremely rare. If someone saw their faces, there would always be clues left behind that could eventually reveal who they were.

“What about adding me, Luan?”

The Holy Paladin Luan stepped forward.

A brilliant white light radiated from his body. He was clad in full plate armor, and the armor itself shimmered with an intense aura of light-element magic.

However, what truly made people uneasy was the weapon in Luan’s hand.

It was a lance nearly seven meters long.

This was a Dragon Lance, a weapon that belonged exclusively to Dragon Knights.

There were many different kinds of dragons in this world. The common ones included Earth Dragons, as well as two-headed Wyverns and other dragon species. However, for a magical companion to qualify as a mount for a Dragon Knight and allow the use of a Dragon Lance, its level had to reach at least the ninth rank.

And the most terrifying thing was the aura coming from the Dragon Lance itself.

A strange and unsettling presence radiated from the weapon, one that made even the soul instinctively feel uneasy.