Novel Full Chapter 502: The Battle That Everyone is Watching
Chapter 502: Chapter 502: The Battle That Everyone is Watching
Guided by the soldiers, Luca quickly found an enemy moving swiftly in the darkness of the night.
The moment he saw the opponent, he launched an immediate attack.
A blazing fireball shot toward the enemy’s direction, and Luca, transforming into a swift shadow, followed the fireball as he closed in on the enemy who had been moving so rapidly through the night.
As the fireball soared above the enemy, Luca finally saw his opponent’s face clearly.
The enemy was fully wrapped in black clothing, a standard assassin’s outfit. And from the way the black attire fit, it was obvious that the enemy wasn’t an ordinary human. On his forehead were two barely noticeable horns. This meant the enemy was a Dragonman.
“Stop looking around. You won’t be able to escape from my grasp,” Luca said with a hint of mockery in his voice.
He had noticed that the enemy was constantly searching for an opportunity to flee. Luca wanted the enemy to realize that under the current circumstances, the only way to escape was by defeating him in direct combat, as there were no other means of escape.
And as long as the enemy chose to fight him directly, Luca was confident he would win.
In response to Luca’s taunt, the Dragonman assassin made a swift decision.
Using the cover of the night, he transformed into an eerie shadow and dashed toward Luca with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Luca.
Then, in a flash, the Dragonman assassin drew a short dagger, its blade emitting a strange green glow. It was clear that the dagger had been coated with poison.
The Dragonman assassin intended to kill Luca with a close-quarters attack, hoping the poison on the blade would do the job.
Although the Dragonman assassin’s speed was incredibly fast, he still failed to land a hit on Luca.
The moment the assassin closed in, Luca activated his defensive magic runes.
His body became enveloped in a silver-white shield that shimmered with radiant light.
While the short dagger in the Dragonman assassin’s hand was indeed sharp, its power was not strong enough to break the shield created by the magic runes. As a result, the assassin was unable to destroy the shield.
The dagger collided with the protective shield generated by the magic runes and was immediately shattered.
During this entire exchange, Luca made no other movements.
He was merely observing the movements of the Dragonman assassin carefully.
From the assassin’s actions, Luca could see similarities to a blood dragon, though there were some key differences.
Both the Dragonman assassin and the blood dragon utilized their draconic bloodlines. The draconic bloodline granted them significantly greater strength and agility compared to humans. However, the Dragonman assassin’s draconic bloodline appeared to be less potent. He could only leverage the enhanced strength given by his bloodline in close combat to gain an advantage.
In contrast, the blood dragon’s draconic bloodline was far more powerful. The blood dragon could even transform into a dragon form during battle, which clearly required a substantial amount of draconic bloodline to support such a transformation.
After blocking the Dragonman assassin’s attack, Luca only made a slight counterattack.
He struck with his palm directly to the assassin’s chest, and an expression of intense pain immediately appeared on the assassin’s face.
Although Luca hadn’t used his full strength, the blow still caused significant damage to the Dragonman assassin.
The assassin staggered back several steps before half-crouching on the ground.
“Is this all you’re capable of? Or are you still trying to deceive me, hoping to find a flaw in my defenses and use it to your advantage?” Luca questioned, his tone skeptical.
He didn’t easily believe that the Dragonman assassin had lost all ability to fight. Luca suspected that the assassin was still deceiving him.
This was why he didn’t rush to end the battle.
Aside from that, there were other reasons why Luca couldn’t finish the fight quickly. He was well aware that many people were watching this battle.
While he needed to display his strength in the fight, he couldn’t let others see his true abilities. If his true strength was exposed, it would be difficult for him to keep his identity concealed.
The soldiers watching from the camp merely thought Luca was strong. They believed his strength was on par with that of high-ranking officers. Although such power was already impressive, it was something they had witnessed before.
In addition to the regular soldiers, some others were also watching the fight. These individuals were, of course, high-ranking officers from the Black Forest camp.
Though they had only just learned of the upheaval at the Black Forest camp, they reacted swiftly. Upon hearing that Luca had already dealt with some problems, and under the command of the bloody knight Anwar, all the senior officers refrained from taking any action.
Everyone was watching Luca’s every move.
Thus, the battle between Luca and the Dragonman assassin became the focal point for everyone in the Black Forest camp.
While they watched, Bloody Knight Anwar continued to chat casually with the others.
Anwar placed great importance on Luca. He believed that Luca was highly talented and, with a little help, could see a rapid increase in his strength.
“This new recruit named Cole is very talented. He already possesses tremendous power. If we can provide him with the right support and give him systematic training, his strength will improve even faster. He could be leading on his own in no time. This would be excellent news for Lord Crimson King. What do you think of my idea?”
Since Luca had never revealed his real name to anyone, the people in the Black Forest camp only knew him as Cole. Moreover, the name Cole was quite common. No one suspected that it was a false name.
Once Anwar spoke, the others fell silent.
Although everyone had witnessed Luca’s talent and power during the battle, they weren’t quick to voice their opinions. After all, Luca wasn’t one of their subordinates.
Though they were all under Crimson King’s command, each of them wanted to earn greater merit in the upcoming battles. If Luca received too much attention, their own subordinates might be overlooked, making it harder for them to gain recognition.
The silence from the others disappointed Bloody Knight Anwar greatly. His tone grew cold.
“Why aren’t you speaking? Do you think my judgment is wrong? If that’s the case, then you should at least share your thoughts.”
He began to force the others to speak up.
Still, no one directly voiced their opinion.
This made Anwar feel that his authority was being challenged.
As the highest-ranking commander of the Black Forest camp, he would never allow such a thing to happen.
So, he turned his gaze to the person with the second-greatest power in the camp, the Dragon Slayer Bales.
“Bales, what do you think?”
He directly called on Bales to answer.
Dragon Slayer Bales’ eyes briefly flickered, a hint of unease in his gaze.
He certainly recognized Luca’s strength, but he had only just recently finished discussing everything that had happened in the abandoned manor with Lucas. He didn’t have much trust in Luca himself. Furthermore, the version of Luca described by Lucas was a bit too shocking.
After hesitating for a moment, he slowly spoke.
“Cole’s strength is undeniably impressive. However, I don’t think we should place complete trust in him. There are some suspicious aspects about him.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a disdainful laugh came from behind him.
Clearly, the other high-ranking officers thought he was simply jealous of Luca.
Bloody Knight Anwar’s expression wasn’t particularly pleased either.
He stared coldly at Bales, as though considering what he should say next.
Just as the atmosphere became tense, Lucas suddenly spoke up.
“I also think there are some suspicious aspects about Cole.”
As soon as he said this, all eyes turned to him.
The majority of the people present recognized him and knew he was the one who had recruited Cole into their ranks.
Bloody Knight Anwar spoke in a somewhat gentler tone.
“Why do you think that? What kind of suspicious aspects are you talking about?”
Lucas then recounted everything that had happened in the abandoned manor.
Once he finished speaking, the expressions on everyone’s faces became noticeably strange.
After a brief silence, Bloody Knight Anwar spoke again.
“This doesn’t prove anything. Moreover, the situation Lord Crimson King is facing is extremely dire. Having someone as powerful as Cole join Lord Crimson King’s forces is a good thing.
As long as he’s willing to fight alongside us, that’s all that matters. We don’t need to focus too much on the other details. For us, the ultimate goal is to secure victory in this war.”
With that, his words effectively brought the debate to an end.
Bloody Knight Anwar didn’t care about the suspicions surrounding Luca. He had already learned that the situation Crimson King faced had become far worse than before.
Recently, Ravenor and the Fire King, who had not previously committed much effort, suddenly provided a substantial amount of help to the Dragon King.
Crimson King was unable to face the combined onslaught of the other three kings. His main forces had suffered heavy losses in a battle that took place not long ago.
The reason the others didn’t know about this yet was because Crimson King had sealed off the information.
Crimson King was well aware that if this news were to get out, many people would lose all faith in him. At that point, failure would be all but inevitable.
Therefore, Crimson King only shared this information with a few of his most trusted subordinates.
Bloody Knight Anwar was one of those trusted subordinates.