Assassin’s Chronicle - Chapter 251

There were hurried footsteps from outside as about seven people rushed in from the doors on the both sides of the main room. They first saw Suzanna standing there with her swords and then a gigantic brown bear on the floor. The bear struggled to stand up but failed. They also saw an angry looking woman. They thought they knew what had happened and started to rush towards Anfey without even asking what had happened.

Anfey liked to think and plan before making any actions. If he did not have the advantage in a situation, he would hide and attack people by surprise. For example, the two assistant commanders of Glory Mercenary group, Shanteler and Davidson, never knew how they were killed. Even if they had experience with surprise attacks, those attacks had never posed too much threat to them. This time, the situation was totally turned around. Anfey did not want to fight with these believers, but they had started the fight without any negotiation. They even intended to kill Anfey and his group.

Dozens of sticks with thorns thrust towards Anfey and his companions. They made whooshing sounds when they travelled in the air. Judging from the speed and momentum of the sticks, they looked like they could easily pierce holes in human bodies. Two thin men with muscles tossed something black at them. It was like black rain falling from the air. Every raindrop was an unknown seed. Those seeds exploded into millions of thorns in the air and flew towards Anfey and his people. A few fan-sized leaves flew along the ground. It was hard to predict which directions these leaves were going to move to. They could barely see the sharp edges on the leaves.

Behind Anfey and his group, the vines suddenly showed up again one after another. The amount of vines even doubled or tripled. The vines could move more swiftly than some animals’ tentacles. They looked like vapors, testing and approaching Anfey and his companions.

Christian gasped and immediately chanted as fast as he could without giving a second thought. A barely seen magic dome was building with him at the center. The magic dome covered Anfey and others in it. Christian knew his magic could not stop this kind of attack, but it was his last chance. In other words, he did not know what he could do besides put up a magic dome. People tended to do something, just something at the last moment, no matter what that was.

Niya was shocked for a second and immediately realized what happened. She laid on her stomach on the ground. Anfey had told her many times that she had to protect herself without considering anything else whenever they were attacked. To protect herself well and not distract her fellows was the biggest help to the others. The move of laying on the ground was taught by Anfey as well.

Suzanna looked like she was ready to slaughter those people. She was the safest one among the four of them. Even if Christian’s magic dome broke, her combat power still could protect herself, but not Anfey and the other two. At this moment, Suzanna pictured Anfey, Christian and Niya laying on the ground in blood. The sword in her hand radiated a blinding sword radiant. The sword radiant was pointing at the woman, who was yelling something. Suzanna would kill all of them if they dared to hurt anyone in her group.

“Don’t use Nature magic!” the woman yelled, but her voice was submerged in the whooshing and howling sounds.

Suddenly, the world seemed to stop for Anfey. There was some light shining around his chest. The light was so strong that it could shine through his clothes. Anfey looked a little confused and in pain. Not only had the Heart of Nature on his chest worked, the spirit crystal inside him started to shake as well, which made him suffer a huge amount of pain. The volume of the spirit crystal seemed to get smaller. Only two explanations for this were possible. One was it got condensed; the other would be it was absorbed into Anfey’s body.

Anfey could not tell what was going on in his body, but he could not just do nothing either. The pain he suffered took half of his telepathy away and he could barely control his body to make any moves.

With a huge crashing sound, the spears made with thorny sticks clashed on Christian’s magic dome. If it had been magic shield, it might have held on a little longer, but Christian’s magic dome was not as strong as a magic shield. In other words, the attack was strong and fast, in the blink of an eye, and Christian’s magic dome collapsed.

The huge collapsing sound brought Anfey back into this world. He suddenly felt his telepathy greatly magnified. He could see everything behind him whether or not it was alive. If he wanted, he could even know how many thorns were in the air. He felt everything seemed to connect with him in a way that he could not describe in words.

Seeing the attack coming, Anfey held his hand out to push it away by instinct.

This push did not contain any strength. It was a gesture to express his desire or will.

Something happened that startled everyone. The thorny sticks swung in a formation of an arc and turned around, flying in the opposite direction. The thorns in the air followed the thorny sticks and all flew backwards. The sharp-edged leaves swirled around Anfey and the other three and flew back to where they came from with a whooshing sound. Countless vines moved passed Anfey and the other three. They flew against the floor to the other side, like a gigantic flying carpet.

The whole temple had an angry vibe, not from angry people, but from angry plants. If their previous attacks could be called fierce, then their attacks now were crazy.

Suzanna shot forward but suddenly stopped herself. Her jaw dropped as she saw what had happened. She immediately turned around to look at Anfey. She knew only Anfey, with such mysterious powers, could do something like this.

Their opponents were attacked by surprise. A few of them had quick responses and tried to protect themselves with magic. However, things got even weirder. No matter what elements they called or what magic they tried to release, the moment they appeared they would be infected by angry plants and start to turn around to attack the people who released them. They died even faster than their peers who did not react as quickly as they had.

The people who released the thorny sticks now got pierced by the thorny sticks themselves and were nailed to the walls. The wall had been intact when the brown bear hit it, but now the walls had holes in them. The two skinny men who shot out thorns had been shot and looked like hedgehogs. They fell to the ground and screamed in pain. The sharp leaves flew back and cut off a man’s head and another man’s leg. The man who lost one leg lost his balance and fell to the floor before he had time to realize what had happened to him. He was still staring at Anfey.

The elements started to disappear and everything went back to normal. Besides Anfey and his group, everyone else seemed to fall to the ground in blood. Those people who were nailed to the wall now slowly slid to the ground, even though they had lost their lives. The woman did not attack from the very beginning, so she was the only one who did not get hurt. She did not seem to think herself lucky. She looked desperate and helpless. She did not understand why their power had betrayed them.

Anfey took a long breath in. He definitely felt he had reached another level, although the world he was in had ebbed and flowed. He could not even remember how he felt in that status. If he described himself as invincible in that status, it might sound like he was exaggerating, but for a very short period of time, he really believed that he was invincible.

Anfey rubbed his chest and found the Heart of Nature had made some changes. It seemed to move to a heart beat. The Heart of Nature had brought him some amazing feelings before, but it was just an object to Anfey. Now it seemed to have a life.

“Is your code being activated by me?” Anfey was so excited that he thought it out loud, but no one could understand him.

“Do you have the power of Nature? Are you the messenger of God?” That woman suddenly realized something. She struggled to stand up and cried, “But why did you kill them? They are all your followers!” After she finished her talk, she rushed towards Anfey, but the moving vines stopped her.

Anfey was quiet. He thought to himself that it was going to be hard to explain his actions. He did not want to kill those believers. Actually he did not kill them, those plants killed them. In Evil Abyss, he learned the power of telepathy. What he had was a willpower that he could not explain in words. Willpower was way more powerful than telepathy. This accidentally-found power was so powerful that Anfey had no control over it and did not know how to control it either.

“Why? Why? God, are you going to kill all of us?” The woman was still crying.

“Be quiet.” Anfey slowly walked up to her. The vines on the ground seemed to be able to see Anfey and moved to the side like the tide and made a path for him. “If your eyes had no problem, you should have seen it was your people who wanted to kill us.”

“Yes, I admit they offended you, but you cannot take their lives because of that, can you?” That woman asked a rhetorical question in a trembling voice.

“Do they have the right to take our lives? I have a rule for doing things. If you want me to die first, then I will let you die first,” Anfey said calmly.

“You have been attacking us from the very beginning. We only defended ourselves.” Christian slowly walked over. “I suspect these violent people are really the followers of the Goddess of Nature.” Christian knew there were many followers of the Goddess of Nature in Maho Empire. To make less trouble for themselves, they had to convince her they were right. In fact, he did not know whether the woman had any revenge intention after seeing the power of Nature on Anfey. She was not willing to, did not understand and did not want to believe the messenger of God would kill the followers of the Goddess of Nature.

“If we were the ones on the floor, what would you say? Blame yourself?” Anfey said with a satirical tone. “There is no point to talk about this. Anson, can you get the city master to come here and ask him to handle it.”

Nana, reeking of ale, entered the temple with a few dozen guards. He glanced at the bodies strewn on the ground and frowned, shaking his head.

The believers in the temple were not all killed. There were two wounded: one had a puncture wound on his stomach, and another lost his leg. The woman was tending their wounds, her expression cold and distant.

Nana walked over to the woman and asked respectfully, “my lady, are you hurt?”

The woman shook her head, and her attention did not shift away from the wounded man. She did not say any spells, but her hands were glowing green. The gentle glow covered the wounded men’s bodies and disappeared into the wounds.

Anfey stood there quietly. He already knew that the woman was very important, or else Goddess of Nature’s followers would have not attacked. Nana’s attitude towards her only confirmed his suspicion.

Nana turned to Anfey and frowned. “Who are you?” he asked coldly. “Where did you come from?”

Niya lifted her brow and was about to say something. Anfey took a step forward and waved his hand at Niya behind his back. “We are from Mambo Territory, my lord,” he said politely. Anfey already knew what Nana’s intentions were when he pretend he did not know who they were. Goddess of Nature’s followers had great influence in this city, powerful enough to make Nana worried about the consequences. He needed to make it clear that he had nothing to do with the people who committed murder in the temple. This way, if he was trying to protect Anfey, Niya, Christian, and Suzanna, he wouldn’t be called biased. If he made it apparent that he was acquainted with them, and was protecting them, it would cause troubles.

“Do you have proof?”

“Yes, my lord,” Anfey said. He found a piece of paper and handed it to Nana.

Nana took the paper and studied it carefully. It was just a random piece of paper, but Nana appeared very serious. He handed the paper back to Anfey after a few minutes.

“Tell me what happened,” Nana said to Christian.

“You see, my lord, we just wanted to check the temple out. We heard it was a beautiful place, you see. That woman talked to us, then this bear attacked us for some reason. Then all these people appeared out of nowhere. We had no choice, my lord. We were being attacked.”

Nana nodded and turned to the woman. “Is that true, my lady?” he asked the woman.

“It is true,” the woman said without looking up.

Nana frowned. He thought the woman would deny her involvement, and her reaction took him by surprise.

“Are you sure, my lady?” Nana asked again.

The woman did not say anything, and kept treating her patients.

“I have to let them go free, then,” Nana said.

“They are free all along,” the woman said.

Nana frowned. He felt like the woman knew all along his relation to the four people standing there. He thought about his actions and did not find any mistakes. He turned to Anfey.

“Can we go now, my lord?” Anfey asked. He knew that the woman’s reaction must have something to do with Great Nature Power and Messenger of Gods.

“Alright,” Nana said, waving his hand. “Let them go.”

The guards made way for the four of them. Niya followed Anfey, and before she left she turned and glared at Nana. She did not understand why Nana was being so cold towards her.

“My lady, do you need any help?” Nana asked.

“No need. This is our business.”

“But all these bodies…”

“It is our business,” the woman said calmly. “Not yours.”

“Alright,” Nana said and shrugged.

Anfey and Christian’s room was still and quiet. Suddenly, the small box on Anfey’s bed shook. Then the lid opened slowly. A small, golden figure climbed out of the box. She had two small, light blue gemstones on her head. That was her eyes, and they were shining eerily. Her head swiveled around as if she could really see what was in the room. Then she jumped from the bed and onto a nearby table. She walked over to the water bowl and knocked on it. The water bowl vibrated and buzzed.

The figure jumped onto the water bowl and tried to open the bowl’s lid with her fingerless hands without success. She stood there for a few seconds, then she jumped onto the lid and placed her lyre by the opening of the bowl. A colorless liquid poured out of her lyre and into the water.

After the liquid was poured into the water, the golden figure jumped back onto the bed and lifted the lid. She settled back into the box and closed the lid behind her. The room returned to stillness, as if nothing had happened.

After a while, Anfey and Christian walked into the room. Niya and Suzanna followed them.

“You two should get some rest,” Anfey said, sitting down on his bed. He took a piece of hair off of the box and blew it away.

“Alright,” Suzanna said, nodding.

“What is that?” Niya asked curiously, staring at the box in Anfey’s hand.

“It’s a gift for Master Saul,” Anfey said.

“Can I look at it?” Niya asked.

“You’ll see it soon.”

Niya rolled her eyes and stamped her foot.

Everyone would become numb to the sight of blood after a while. Getting used to uncomfortable situations was vital for human survival. Even Niya was already used to death and did not let what happened in the temple bother her.

Anfey smiled but did not say anything.

“There’s got to be good things in there,” Niya said, turning to Suzanna. “Don’t you think?”

“Let’s go get some rest, Niya,” Suzanna said, smiling. She was not as curious as Niya was, and dragged Niya out of the room with her.

Niya sighed. The two were very different from each other. When Suzanna was facing enemies, she was murderous and violent, but when she wasn’t, she was calm and quiet. Niya was usually quiet when facing an enemy, but outgoing and lively when she was with people she knew.

“Be careful tonight, Suzanna,” Anfey called.

“Don’t worry,” Suzanna said.

Seeing that Niya and Suzanna had left the room, Anfey opened the box slowly and saw that the golden figure was still standing there, playing with her lyre.

“Let me see,” Christian said.

“Tomorrow,” Anfey said, closing the lid.

“How selfish,” Christian said, shaking his head. He walked over to the water bowl and reached towards it.

Anfey reached over and grabbed the bowl before Christian could. “What are you doing?” Christian asked.

“I’m thirsty,” Anfey said. He raised the bowl to his lips and drank directly from it.

“What are you doing?” Christian asked, his eyes wide. “Personal hygiene, Anfey.”

Anfey didn’t say anything. He suddenly choked on the water and coughed violently. Christian walked over and patted him on the back.

Anfey waved his hand. “I’ll be fine,” he said, setting the bowl on the table. “You thirsty?”

Christian looked the pot and shook his head. “I’m going to ask for another bowl.”

“Oh yes, Christian,” Anfey said. “I saw a bird cage on the second floor just then, with two birds in it. Can you go grab it?”

“Those are the owner’s birds, right? What do you want with them?”

“I like birds,” Anfey said. “Tell the owner I’ll just play with them for a bit. I’ll return them tomorrow.”

Christian frowned. “Fine,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll go ask, but I promise nothing.”

“Don’t worry. They will let me. We are, after all, the city lord’s friend,” Anfey said with a smile.

It was getting dark and Anfey looked a little tired. He actually had never been tired before. After chatting with Christian for a while, he fell into a sound sleep. Christian did meditation for a while before he fell asleep. The chirping birds seemed to be influenced by them. They curled up in the corner of the cage and fell asleep.

After a while, Anfey and Christian both snored a little. A gold music box resting diagonally at the end of the bed suddenly moved. After a while, the top of the box opened. A pair of light blue light spots showed and then a small head peeked out from the opening.

At the same time, Anfey was talking in a dream and then turned over. His right foot accidentally pressed the top of the music box. The golden little puppet was stuck there. He could neither move back in nor come out. His hands waved in the air, trying to grab something. He also made a quiet but ear-piercing sound.

The little puppet seemed to receive an order from someone and suddenly stopped struggling. He lifted up his little head and looked at Christian across from him, and then weirdly turned half of his body to look at Anfey. Anfey was still sound asleep. The little puppet slowly held his hand out. There was a tiny fine needle on top of his finger, pointing at Anfey’s ankle.

Without any wind, the door to the room suddenly opened. A person walked in. As he walked in, a dim light underneath his foot spread throughout the room. The little golden puppet suddenly frozen there, and the needle was less than one centimeter away from Anfey’s ankle.

Another person quietly walked in. He looked at Anfey and noticed him still in sound sleep without knowing anything had happened. He could not help frowning. If they had been a little later, Anfey would surely have gotten hurt.

The person in the front waved his hand. The gold music box was lifted up by a layer of light and flew onto that person’s palm. When he had the music box on his palm, he suddenly turned to the south to look. Obviously, he had sensed who controlled this puppet in his hand and from where.

The next moment, the two people disappeared one after another. The door was closed, and the room became as quiet as before.

Some thick and tall oak trees quietly stood under the moonlight, not far from the House of Mages Hotel. If frequent customers of the House of Mages Hotel saw these oak trees, they would have been shocked, since there were no trees before, not to mention such big and tall oak trees.

“I heard that guy hurt many of our people. Why are we here protecting him?” A low voice came from an oak tree.

“This is the order of the master. If you do not want to protect him and disobey the order, you can try to see what punishment you will receive,” another person answered calmly.

“Shut up. All be quiet.” Suddenly there was an inpatient voice from underground. Those few oak trees became quiet. Only their leaves made some sounds in the wind.

Christian’s eyelids moved a little bit. He observed his surroundings with squinted eyes. He slowly sat up from the bed and saw Anfey in sound sleep. He tried to wake him up. “Anfey!”

Anfey responded to Christian just by moving his mouth and making some sounds.

“Man.” Christian shook his head. If this had happened in the past, he would have barely notice anything unusual. He was experienced now and became very observant. Anfey had looked a little strange in the evening, so Christian had been suspicious and did not really fall asleep. Christian did not see the gold puppet because he only used his ears to listen to his surroundings. If he had known there was a puppet, he would already have killed it.

Christian rolled off the bed and walked up beside Anfey. He pushed Anfey a little. “Anfey, Anfey.” Under the moonlight, he saw the cage on the floor. The two birds were sound asleep in very weird positions, curling up at the corners of the cage. Christian started to look serious and worried. He looked at Anfey and then at the two birds. He squatted down and poked one bird with his finger through the cage. The bird flipped over but still did not wake up.

Christian rushed to his bed and grabbed his wand. He rushed back to Anfey’s side again. He grabbed Anfey’s shoulder and shook him hard. “Anfey, wake up, wake up.”

“You don’t have to wake him up now. Without being baptized by the sunlight, he will not wake up,” a coarse sound arose.

Christian was frozen to the ground for a second. Even an immature kid would turn around to ask who he was or pretend to be calm and ask who he was, but Christian raised his wand without any hesitation. With strong magic surges, a big fire ball shot out at the black shadow. At the same time, Christian yelled, “Suzanna!”

Anfey believed in preemption. If others took preemptive action first, they would be at a disadvantage. People in his legion were definitely influenced by his principles to some degree. Christian was okay to fight. He felt there was no point in talking too much.

The big fireball hit the target and exploded. After the explosion, the flames swallowed the black shadow, but soon the black shadow walked out from the flame. There was thick smog on his body. Christian also smelled something burning in the air.

Christian waved the wand in his hand. An electric arc shot out from the tip of the wand and then released the magic dome immediately after that. Christian immediately chanted.

Christian heard Suzanna’s yelling and fighting sounds from the next room. It was obvious that Suzanna did not have the advantage in this fight. Christian’s heart dropped. From the casual look on that black shadow, he knew it would not be easy, but he did not expect Suzanna could not get out of the fight quickly.

“No point,” the black shadow shook his head and said with a playful tone.

Christian snorted and hit his wand hard on the floor. A heat wave spread out. Where the heat wave passed, the floor and chairs had turned into ashes. Even the roof was burned. Glass items had all exploded. The black shadow shook a little bit before he could steady himself. The smog on him got even thicker. He made some sizzling sound like meat cooked on a grill. The sound made Christian’s hair stand up. Christian could even see some unknown liquid dripping from the black shadow.

“Move, Christian. I do not want to hurt you now, but only now,” the black shadow said with a coarse voice. “My job is to take him with me. Don’t even try to stop me.”

Christian looked at Anfey and said calmly, “No!”

“You are very stubborn. I will give you one more chance, and this is your last chance.” That black shadow slowly took two steps forward.

Christian slid one step to the side and blocked Anfey behind him. He used his action to show his determination.

“This is so touching.” The coarse voice showed his intention to kill Christian now. A weird bone spear appeared as the black shadow waved his hand. The spear hit hard on the magic dome. As the bone spear disappeared, the magic dome disappeared as well.

At the same time, with a huge collapsing sound, a big hole was blasted in the wall between the two rooms. Christian could see a gigantic brown bear fighting with Suzanna through the hole. That brown bear had a similar size with the bear in the temple. The only difference was this brown bear was covered with stone scales. Every time Suzanna hit the bear, a large piece of stone scale would get hit away, but it would grow back immediately to block the next hit. Suzanna could not use all her powers because she had to take care of Niya in the corner. The brown bear kept moving forward with his gigantic body and hard stone scales. His momentum was terrifying. Christian was startled by what he saw.

Christian lost himself in thoughts for a short time. A cloud of smog floated against the burnt floor towards Christian as the black shadow causally shook his hand. The shocking look on Christian’s face immediately disappeared. The magic dome radiant appeared and shocked the cloud of smog away. He pointed his wand forward. A wind blade shot out fast at the black shadow’s head. That black shadow was knocked back with a whooshing sound. A fishy liquid splashed from the black shadow’s head.

Christian waved his wand like he was twitching. Wind blades shot at that black shadow. Unfortunately, these attacks could not hurt him. A weird bone shield blocked him in front and absorbed the damage for him.

“Are you a necromancer?” Christian asked.

“You have made me very angry.” That black shadow did not answer Christian’s question. In fact, there was no point for him to answer Christian. That black shadow’s voice sounded very cold.

“You are an unwelcomed robber and do not have a right to complain,” Christian sneered. “Suzanna, don’t worry. I can handle this guy. You only need to take care of that stupid bear.”

“You handle me?” That black shadow grinned. When he came here, he indeed did not want to hurt Christian. He only wanted to take Anfey with him, but Christian did not understand his intention and pissed him off. Now he did not care whether or not he hurt Christian.

“Ok.” Suzanna yelled. Bright sword radiant showed around the sword. She swung hard at the bear’s head. The stone scales were hit into powder and splashed everywhere. She kicked the bear’s chest. Even this bear, over three yards tall, could not take such a powerful kick and fell backwards. The door and the walls next to the door were knocked down by the bear.

Christian had finished his chanting. Unexpectedly, his wand pointed at the bear. At the same time, Suzanna had leaped forward with her sword toward the black shadow through the hole on the wall between the two rooms.

The fallen bear struggled to get back up, but its paws lost the grip. Under the gravity magic, the bear’s weight increased several times to the point that the floor could not hold it. With a huge crashing sound, the bear disappeared.

The dark figure bellowed angrily, a short, dark staff appearing in his hand. He never expected that Christian could turn the situation around with such a simple trick.

Intermediate gravity spells were very common, and were hardly a threat to anyone. However, there were situations where it would be the perfect spell to use. After all, there were no bad spells, only bad mages.

The large bear had already fallen through several floors and fell to the bottom of the building. The effects of a gravity spell would last for a few minutes, and the bear could try with all his might, but he would not be able to join the fight.

Green liquid spouted from the man’s black staff and shot towards Suzanna. With a loud crack, the sword in Suzanna’s hand slashed out and her sword radiance blocked all the green liquid.

Christian and Suzanna quickly switched places. Neither knew how many enemies there were, but both Niya and Anfey were unconscious and needed protection.

Suzanna’s sword radiance shattered the man’s bone shield and left a deep slash on the man. The man groaned and took a few steps back. He waved his hand and released another spell. The whole room was filled with a dark glow, and Suzanna’s movement suddenly became slower.

The man took advantage of this and recovered himself. He began whispering another spell. Suzanna bellowed and the light of her combat power became brighter and rippled around her body. She dashed forward. Swordsmasters needed to get close when fighting with a mage. A mage was usually not as physically fit as a swordsmaster, but a swordsmaster could not withstand magic for long. If a swordsmaster did not charge at his enemy, he might as well run away.

The man used another spell, and a light red glow appeared around Suzanna. However, even with the spell slowing her down, Suzanna was able to duck away from the red glow.

A large bone spear suddenly burst through the window and flew towards Suzanna. Suzanna was in midair, and she was going at a fast speed, making it harder for her to duck. She frowned and decided to focus on the man in front of her. She did not have another choice. She needed to protect her friends, and she couldn’t do that unless she defeated the man in front of her. She did not have confidence to take on two mages.

The large spear struck Suzanna with a loud thud. The combat power around Suzanna quivered, and the spear disappeared upon impact. Combat power was not only a weapon for swordsmen, it was also their shield. An attack like this could not hurt Suzanna, but it was enough to put her off course.

The man waved his staff, and the light red glow moved with his staff. It enveloped Suzanna, and she was suddenly stopped in midair.

A dozen spikes appeared and formed a cylindrical cage with Suzanna inside. The bones shrank and trapped Suzanna.

Suzanna screamed in rage and slashed at the cage. She tried to wriggle out of the cage, but bone cages were one of necromancers’ best weapons. It was practically impossible to escape from one. The bones that formed the cage were not only strong, but also very flexible. Suzanna would never be able to escape it.

For a mage, one of the most important things was the space to use the magic. Swordsmen were not much different. Suzanna’s arms were trapped in the cage and there was not enough space to use her sword. She could not do much damage to the cage with her sword.

The man lowered his staff and turned to Christian. He chuckled lowly. He did not want to hurt Christian at first, but he changed his mind.

Christian could clearly see what was happening on the other side. He did not say anything, and quietly retrieved a magic scroll. Niya sighed and grabbed his arm, knowing exactly what he wanted to do. When the outcome of the fight was still unclear, Niya would panic and hide, but when it became obvious that the fight was lost, Niya found herself suddenly unafraid. She was Saul’s daughter, and she knew she should not shy away from a fight like this.

Another figure appeared in the room. It was the man who had trapped Suzanna. Compared to the other man, the newcomer appeared much more ruthless. Unlike his companion, who hid himself in the shadows, the second man’s white hair, sunken cheeks, and dark eyes were all exposed. Normally, a necromancer would hide his face. This necromancer clearly did not care if anyone found out who he was.

He reached over and grabbed Anfey. “This is the one Annunciata wants?”

“Yes,” the other man said.

Suzanna couldn’t turn around, but she knew what was happening behind her. She screamed angrily and managed to break two of the bones of her cage. This freed her right hand, and she slashed out against the other bones. If she was able to destroy the cage, the sword would hit her as well. Right now, however, she did not care.

“They are still children,” the second necromancer said, raising the staff in his hand. “Too childish.”

“Likewise,” Anfey said, his eyes flickering open.

Before the necromancer could react, he was thrown onto the ground, his staff falling out of his hand.

Anfey grabbed the necromancer’s head and kicked the man’s back. The necromancer’s body was very frail, and that was enough to separate his head from his body. The headless body fell to the ground, the staff rolling away.

“Anfey?” Niya whispered under her breath.

“I knew it,” Christian said, shaking his head. He glanced at the scroll in his hand and returned it to his dimensional ring. He was only steps away from sacrificing himself to kill the necromancers.

The bone cage disappeared, releasing Suzanna. She did not try to attack the necromancer in front of her, and instead turned to look at Anfey. She stared at him, as if she had not seen him in years.

Anfey turned and kicked the necromancer’s body and shook his head. “There’s hardly any blood left in here,” he said. “God knows how they maintained themselves.”

The necromancer in the shadows froze. He did not know how Anfey was able to regain consciousness. Was he faking it all along?

Anfey walked towards the necromancer, playing with his dagger. “How should I call you? Should I call you Lord Necromancer? Or City Lord Nana?”

“City Lord Nana?” Niya asked, shocked.

“Perhaps not the real Nana, but one close enough,” Anfey said. “You know what kind of person is the easiest to fake? One ordinary enough you would not give him a second look. Even though there might be a lot of flaws, a lot of people still won’t notice.”

“You knew all along?” Suzanna asked.

“You are too hasty,” Anfey said. “Don’t be so impulsive next time, got it?”

Suzanna flushed and nodded.

“Christian knew he should get the bear away, you should take note. Don’t just focus on what’s right in front of you,” Anfey said. “Speaking of the bear, Lord Guardian, please, reveal yourself. There is no need for you to hide anymore.”

Suzanna glanced at the floorboard and blinked. If she was trapped when fighting on solid ground, she was truly trapped. She was, however, standing on floorboards. She didn’t need to struggle with the cage.

The ceiling was forced open by a strong middle-aged man. He jumped down and looked at Anfey. “How did you know it was me?”

“There were a few druids downstairs just now,” Anfey said. “It’s not hard to guess.” He turned to the necromancer and said, “City Lord Nana, you made too many mistakes. The first time you met us, did you just happen to carry the gift with you? The guards you left with us did not appear at all, neither did the mages and the inn owner, despite the ruckus. The four of us are the only ones left in this inn. You are the only one, to my knowledge, that can make them leave so quietly.”

The black shadow facing Anfey and the middle-aged man looked at each other, and both went quiet.

“I am just curious why a guardian of Goddess of Nature would be friends with a necromancer? Where are your peers? Did you kill them or kick them out?” Anfey asked calmly.

“You do not need to know any of them,” the middle-aged man said coldly. His eyes had a layer of light golden shine and his body started to swell up. There were strong surges of Nature power.

“I actually never liked to talk bulls*^t. I do not know why I am talking so much with you,” Anfey said.

“Why?” the man responded with an attitude showing he could care less. His body got bigger and bigger. His face changed as well. The most obvious change was on his nose. His nose did not only get longer, but also grew some bear whiskers. This should be the first step for a druid to transform into a bearman.

“It would bring trouble for me if I kill you,” Anfey said, scratching his head. “I killed quite a few people in the temple. If I kill a guardian of the Goddess of Nature, it would be very hard for me to explain everything. Even if I got the chance to tell them the truth, it would be hard for them to believe me anyway. In addition, I do not know where your peers are? If you killed them, they would blame me for that.”

“If this is the case, you had better behave and let me kill you,” the man said with a grin. His head had almost transformed into a bear head while his body was in the process of transformation. Anfey was surprised that this half-human, half-beast could speak fluent human language, which gave him a weird feeling.

“This is not a good idea,” Anfey shook his head with a smile. “I am pretty smart and chose to talk bulls*^t with you. At first, you were surprised how I saw through your set up. Now you are wondering why I am talking bulls*^t to you. In order for you to understand it, you gave me enough time. Of course, I appreciate your generosity.”

“I do not want to hear your bulls*^t anymore,” the middle-aged man said coldly. There was only one step left before he completed his transformation. His upper body had transformed into a bear. His eyes had changed from golden color into bloody red and looked very sharp.

“Late, too late.” Anfey said calmly. He casually put his arm on Suzanna’s shoulder. “With a spy like you, necromancers definitely knew of the existence of Bruzuryano and Slanbrea. You changed the plan on purpose to try to distract them, but don’t you think they have noticed that?”

The brown bear slowly opened his arms, but froze there as he heard what Anfey said. He looked panicked instead of sharp now.

Suzanna was attentively looking at the transformed druid. She looked at Anfey’s hand on her shoulder and said, “What if they have not noticed that?” They had worked together for so long, Suzanna already knew what Anfey wanted when he put his arm on her shoulder. Anfey hoped she could help him with the story to give him a chance to talk more.

“They are very experienced and knowledgeable people. I do not think they are that stupid,” Anfey said.

Bruzuryano and Slanbrea had not shown up yet. The black shadow and the brown bear started to think about leaving after hearing what Anfey said. They were not only surprised that Anfey could wake up, but also shocked to know their peers were killed. They were responsible for carrying out the plan, so they knew their peers’ fighting ability. They did not think lambs, as if Anfey could suddenly turn into a wolf while their wolf peers turned into lambs. In the blink of an eye, they had seen Anfey cut through their peers’ necks with a knife and tear their peers’ heads off. This was such a shock for them that they still could not believe it. They seemed to forget about the precious time they had and could not help listening to Anfey telling them the so-called secrets.

If they did not leave now, they might not be able to leave anytime soon. The black shadow and the brown bear could not help moving a step back. At the same time, a priest in a white gown with golden trim and a chubby middle-aged man appeared behind them. Holy light poured out from them in all directions. The brown bear seemed fine, but the black shadow screamed in pain as black smog arose from his back. His body seemed to be grilled.

“To prove I am indeed not stupid, I am here,” the chubby, middle-aged man said calmly. He looked perplexed. He did not even look at his opponents. In other words, he did not care to look at them. He focused on Anfey.

“I am earlier than you. It seems that I am smarter than you.” Bruzuryano had shown up earlier at the window. He was joking but his eyes did not smile at all. He stared at the brown bear with anger flaming in his eyes.

He had made the plan with Slanbrea. If something had gone wrong, Slanbrea and he had to be responsible for it. To ensure safety, Bruzuryano even sent six of the most powerful druids from the temple. He thought even those druids could not ensure the safety of Anfey, which would buy them some time. They did not know there was a traitor among them. Judging from the messy scene, he could tell they had a bad fight. If something had happened, they could not forgive themselves.

Slanbrea did not look like he was in good mood. The black shadow could not stand the holy light. He lay on the floor, screaming. Slanbrea did not stop shining the light on him. He even made the light brighter on purpose. The corners of his mouth curled up. He and Bruzuryano were in the same boat. If Bruzuryano felt he lost his face, Slanbrea felt the same way. He had hatred towards the black shadow and the brown bear.

This had nothing to do with forgiveness. Everyone had two values. The value of their own lives and the value of their experience, ability, friends, family, and fame. Which one was more precious varied. It was very personal. Some people would save their lives by sacrificing the other values. Some people would rather save the second value by giving up their lives. Slanbrea definitely belonged to the later group. He almost ruined everything he had. He did not look as angry as Bruzuryano. He had better control of himself.

Anfey frowned and wanted to say something, but swallowed his thought.

“Miss,” the black shadow knew he did not have long to live. He suddenly lifted his head and yelled, “I never wanted to hurt you. These are the conditions I had to agree to in order to work with them.”

“What?” Niya was shocked. She looked around to make sure the black shadow was talking to her. She hesitated a little before she said, “Are you a necromancer?”

“I have no other option,” the black shadow yelled with a trembling voice.

“But why are you willing to be a necromancer?” Niya asked.

“I look even uglier than necromancers. No one would want to look at me, not even my wife. She did not want to be with me. Why can’t I be a necromancer?” The black shadow seemed to look very pained, like someone had rubbed salt on his wound. His moaning sounded even sadder.

“That is not right.” Niya shook her head. It was asking Niya too much to convince people. At most, she was able to tell whether something was right or wrong.

“Hahaha.. what is wrong with that? I only wanted them to look uglier than me!” The black shadow’s eyes looked greener. He turned to look at Anfey. At that moment, Nana stepped out of the black shadow, but his image looked like it was melting. Black fluid kept dripping off. It looked scary.

“You have become a such deviant.” Anfey shook his head and felt scared. There was nothing more scary than a person mentally unstable. He could understand how Nana thought. Most necromancers pursued unreasonable eternal lives, and that was the reason they became necromancers. Nana did not join them for that reason. He thought he was too ugly and too lonely. He wanted to turn others in the world into necromancers to make himself feel better. Nana lost that balance in him and became a deviant.

“What deviant?” Nana yelled. His body suddenly exploded. A string of black gas mixed with his deep hatred shot toward Anfey’s face.

Anfey blocked Suzanna and reached his right hand out. Nana’s spirit was filled with hatred but was not very powerful. If he were in Evil Abyss, he was only a low-level Ahriman. Anfey did not even care about his attack. As Anfey reached his hand out, he suddenly realized something and changed his mind. He shot out some milk white light radiant. When Nana’s hatred clashed with the white light radiant, it just disappeared.

Slanbrea did not look so worried any more. The corners of his mouth curled into a smile.

“Canon, it is your turn now. Tell me, why did you betray us? Where are those druids?
Bruzuryano asked coldly.

“Hahaha.” The brown bear laughed hard. White bubbles splashed everywhere under the rapid airflow. It looked disgusting. “Master, this is my last revenge. Do you think I will tell you?” The brown bear waved his claws and hit his head hard without any hesitation. With a huge bang, his gigantic body only had half a bear head left. The other half flew off. The gigantic bear body smashed on the floor like a landslide. Without gravitation magic, the gigantic bear body crashed through the floor.

Anfey heaved a sigh. He was not too happy with what had happened. It was too far from what he had expected.

“Can you find those druids?” Bruzuryano asked. His eyes were filled with grief and regret. He must have known the guardian and liked him, or else he would not be so sad.

“I can try,” Slanbrea promised. He turned to Anfey and said, “So we meet again.”

“I’m very honored to see both of you again, my lords…”

“Save us from the formality,” Slanbrea said and shook his head. “How did you know we’re here?”

“I got lucky, I suppose,” Anfey said. He tried to appear as natural as possible, but in reality he was very nervous. He couldn’t even look at Bruzuryano, since he was scared that he would ask for the Heart of Nature. He didn’t want to return the Heart of Nature because it had helped him so much, but it wasn’t his, and he had no right to keep it if its real owner asked for it. He was hoping that Bruzuryano would simply forget about it, but the chance was slim.

“Whatever,” Bruzuryano snapped and interrupted Slanbrea. “You must find those druids first.”

Slanbrea shook his head. “Why are you asking me?”

“Who else would I ask?”

“Did you already forgot about the Heart of Nature?”

Anfey winced. He wished he could step in and stop Slanbrea from talking about the Heart of Nature, but he could not. Anfey sighed and turned to Bruzuryano. “My lord,” he said, bowing. “I haven’t seen you in days, and…”

“Oh, stop it,” Bruzuryano said hurriedly. “Just give me the Heart.”

Anfey sighed and fished out the chain around his neck. He wished that Saul and Ernest were with him; that way he could at least try to negotiate with Bruzuryano. Now, however, he had nothing else to offer to the man. He had no choice but to hand over the Heart. He didn’t need to make Bruzuryano his enemy.

Anfey handed the necklace with Heart of Nature to Bruzuryano and felt sad, as if he had just seen the girl he liked with another boy.

Bruzuryano took the Heart and held it in his hands. He felt a sudden, storm-like surge of power within him, but that power disappeared within seconds. He opened his hands, and found the Heart of Nature gone.

“Where is it?” Bruzuryano bellowed angrily.

“I-I just handed it to you, sir,” Anfey explained hurriedly. He did not know what had just happened and what Bruzuryano would do, and was scared.

Bruzuryano narrowed his eyes. He was very angry, and Anfey, who was standing in front of him, became the perfect target for his anger. His religion was already growing weak, and every follower mattered. Even if the missing druids were already dead, if he could find them sooner, they had a higher chance of surviving. A magic surge exploded from Bruzuryano and swept across the room, causing the furniture in the room to shake and move. The lamp that had survived the battle intact was shaking violently, the windows swung open and hit the wall of the building. Suzanna took a step back and had to summon her combat power. Even though she was only one level below Bruzuryano, she was significantly weaker than he was. He was hardly using his power, and she had to use her combat power to protective herself.

Anfey frowned. The respect and humility on his face disappeared, and his body became straight and rigid. His face was a stiff mask of coldness. When he was at a dead end, when all words lose their meaning and all actions seem useless, Anfey would show his true self. He did not care about what awaited him. Even if it was his doom, he would not waver.

Slanbrea frowned. He knew that Anfey had great potential, but when he straightened himself, Slanbrea felt as if he had grown several inches. He may not be powerful, but Anfey had the bearing of a powerful man.

Perhaps because he did not see Anfey as an enemy, Bruzuryano did not react to this change. “Tell me,” he bellowed. “Where is the Heart?”

Anfey thought that Bruzuryano felt the synchronization between him and the Heart of Nature, and regretted giving the artifice to him. He thought that this would be Bruzuryano’s way of taking it back and framing him for stealing it. Anfey forgot about the fact that he often would overthink situations. This was one of his problems, since overthinking a situation makes it easier to prepare for the worst. He did not know that although Bruzuryano appeared to be a simple man, he was still a good friend of Saul’s. He would never try to frame Saul’s students for anything. Anfey, however, did not know the relationship between those men, and made a decision based on his own judgement.

Anfey did not say anything, and only stared at Bruzuryano.

“Don’t scare him, goodness, Bruzuryano, what has gotten into you?” Slanbrea asked, walking over. “Can’t you feel it? The Heart of Nature is still here.”

Bruzuryano and Anfey both frowned. Bruzuryano was surprised because he did feel surges from the Heart, and Anfey was surprised by the warmth he felt on his chest. He had already used all of his power to hold still in the face of Bruzuryano’s rage. If their standoff continued, he would pass out even if Bruzuryano didn’t do anything. The warmth from his chest was familiar and filled his body with power.

Anfey pulled his shirt back, and was shocked to find a green, glowing leaf on his left chest. Soft light was coursing through its veins. The Heart of Nature was only a leaf when Anfey handed it to Bruzuryano, but now it seemed to be a living thing.

“This is impossible,” Bruzuryano said. The Heart of Nature was a treasure left to mankind by the Goddess of Nature, and had been passing between elves and druids for millennia. Except for the first elven queen, no one could make the Heart of Nature come to life. Anfey was neither a druid nor an elf, and this defied the basic law the Goddess of Nature laid down.

Anfey frowned and appeared perplexed. “I don’t know, sir,” he said timidly. “Can you take it? It feels strange.”

Bruzuryano looked at Anfey and the glowing leaf and sighed. “Take it,” he said. “Maybe it is all written in the stars.”

“Can you take it?” Anfey asked.

“It’s part of you now,” Bruzuryano said with a sigh. “Just keep it.” He turned and shook his head. “I will go down in history as a sinner.”

“Or not,” Slanbrea said. “Maybe you will be remembered as someone who catalyzed it.” He knew why Bruzuryano was certain he was a sinner. The Heart of Nature was a holy artifice among the elves and the druids. Bruzuryano lost the artifice, and thought himself a sinner. Slanbrea knew very well what extent Bruzuryano would go to to retrieve the Heart, but he was good friends with Saul, and would not harm Saul’s students. It was also believed that whoever that could fuse with the Heart of Nature was chosen by the Goddess, and it would be inappropriate. If the pope gave the Scepter of Angel to his successor and the successor was an evil man, Slanbrea could not do anything unless the successor began using death magic.

Bruzuryano sighed and shook his head.

Anfey, on the other hand, was relieved. He had to feign powerlessness, but in truth he was very happy.

“Quickly,” Slanbrea said. “Use the Heart and try to find the missing druids.” For someone belonging to the top level, it was hard to disturb the peacefulness of the mind. Once it was disturbed, however, it was hard to calm down again. Bruzuryano had too much on his mind, and his mind was no longer peaceful. Slanbrea needed him to calm down and gather himself.

“How do I use it?” Anfey asked. He was still trying to get more information.

“Use your heart,” Bruzuryano said quietly. Slanbrea’s words gave him a new idea. The missing druids were important, but an Arch Druid fused with the Heart of Nature was even more important. He wanted to find the missing druids still, but he was already thinking about a new plan.

“You really couldn’t find it?” Bruzuryano looked disappointed.

“I cannot find it. Maybe I am not good enough.” Anfey shook his head. He looked at Bruzuryano in sympathy. There was a whole system of teaching how to practice Samadhi and reach the unity of man and heaven in his family’s martial art. What Bruzuryano taught him was way too simple. It was just a sample of his family’s martial art system. No wonder Bruzuryano wanted to give the Heart of Nature away. He had never communicated with the Heart of Nature before; otherwise Bruzuryano instead of Anfey would be the one communicating with the Heart of Nature.

Bruzuryano turned to look at Slanbrea. Slanbrea sighed. “We had better let the temple know about it. With their help, it should be better.” After the talk, Slanbrea turned sideways and saw a headless dry body. He was shocked for a second before he hurried over.

Bruzuryano calmed himself down a little and released a Nature magic. A vine appeared in Bruzuryano’s hand. The vine crawled against the floor to the window. It passed through the window and crawled onto the floor again. It looked like a snake scrawling away.

“Did you kill him?” Slanbrea asked as he turned around, pointing to the headless body on the floor. He sounded very surprised.

“Yes, I did,” Anfey said.

“How did you kill him?” Slanbrea asked.

“He was too careless.” Anfey shrugged.

“Is he that nut?” Bruzuryano noticed the white bone staff as well.

“You are right.” Slanbrea smiled with his head shaking. He chanted in a low pitch. Holy flame showed up again. It hovered over the top of the white bone staff. Under the Holy Flame, the white bone staff shook a little bit and turned into powder.

Bruzuryano gave a bitter smile as well. The nut he was talking about was far less powerful than Slanbrea and him, but he was much better than Anfey and his group. With common sense, Anfey and his group should have not killed the guy without any damage. He thought to himself that if Anfey could turn around the basic principles of the Goddess of Nature, Anfey could definitely brush aside common sense as well.

“Masters, I do not know if I should tell you this,” Anfey said quietly.

Slanbrea and Bruzuryano looked at each other. “Anfey, it’s fine. Go ahead.”

“If this was to find the spy and kill Nana, you would not have to do so much. If this is to remove more bad guys from the world quicker, we should let them run away,” Anfey said.

Slanbrea was shocked for a while and sighed, “I was too angry and did not think it through. Thanks for reminding me about that. You really can think through the details. Amazing.”

“Did you say his name was Nana?” Bruzuryano asked as he pointed at the body which had been chopped into pieces.

“Yes, he is the city master of Punk City.” Anfey said with a nod. “I think we should go and walk around the garrison residence. Maybe we could get some useful information.”

“Yes. Let’s go.” Slanbrea suddenly got excited. It looked like he was not too happy with what had happened.

“Master, right now there is no city master for Punk City,” Anfey said. “I am worried that someone would make rumors in the dark. The city could possibly have a lot of troubles later on. Bruzuryano was an arch-druid with high reputation and fame. There are many temples of the Goddess of Nature and her followers. If Bruzuryano can be in charge of the government of the city for the time being, those people could not make any trouble.”

“I am getting old. I have to be reminded of this by a kid.” Bruzuryano smiled. “Ok, you guys go with Slanbrea. I will take care of this mess.”

It was already late at night, but there were still patrols on the streets. They randomly picked a patrol team. Without saying much, Slanbrea’s priest gown with holy spirit had proved his identity. Patrol officers carefully and obediently escorted Anfey and his group to the garrison residence.

The few guards on watch on both sides of the gate walked up to them. They first carefully checked Slanbrea’s priest gown in holy light. After they were convinced it was a real one, they respectful said, “Master, how can I help you?”

“Bulls*^t,” Anfey said coldly as he waved the pass Black Eleven had left him.

In fact, those soldiers had no idea what that pass meant, but they felt Anfey and his group were important people. One guard could not stop pleasing them with smiles and said, “Master, wait for a second. Let me report to the city master that you are here.”

“No need. We can just walk in,” Anfey said.

“But…” one of the soldiers said.

“Move!” Anfey said impatiently.

Those soldiers on watch looked at each other and gave each other a bitter smile. They dared not mess with Anfey’s group or the city master. They felt they were in such a dilemma. A smart soldier seemed to realize the key point of this issue. He ran over to the gate and pushed the gate open. If they gave trouble to Anfey’s group as it stood in front of them right now, they had no idea what troubles they would get themselves into. If their city master would punish them later, they could just switch their jobs. It was not like they would be killed.

Once someone made an example of what to do, in other words, when there was already a scapegoat, other soldiers just followed him and could later step aside and suggest that they had nothing to do with this.

The garrison residence looked simple and clean. It showed that Nana was not a person of luxury. At least half of his residence was empty. A housekeeper, maids, cooks, servants and other bodyguards lived in half of the residence. Anfey did not know how to tell whether any of them were necromancers. That would be the job of Slanbrea. Under the light of Holy Flames, only the necromancers who had the same level of powers as Slanbrea’s could pass Slanbrea’s eyes. There was a reason the Light magic was called the natural enemy of necromancers’ magic.

Once they had woken everyone up, the servants had to be tested by the Holy Flames before they could go anywhere else. Anfey had seen a few of the soldiers during the day. They hesitantly came over to ask Anfey what had happened. Anfey did not give them any explanation. He only signaled them to follow him.

Necromancers could lie to deceive others to work for them, but once they were found out, they started to ditch their friends and families. This was the weak point of the necromancers. Almost no one wanted to see the whole world being ruled by the dark power. Dislike of necromancers was beyond nationality and race. Everyone worked together to fight them, which was the reason that necromancers had never won any war. This was why Anfey did not worry about having those bodyguards follow him. They had been working for Nana, but once they knew the truth that Nana was a necromancer, they would not be on Nana’s side. They would tell Anfey anything suspicious about Nana.

They went from the first floor to the second floor. Slanbrea did not find any useful information. Anfey took out a spear from a weapon holder. He hit things with the spear everywhere, especially in Nana’s study and bedroom. He did not find anything either.

“Master, what on earth has happened? Where is our city master?” a bodyguard could not help asking. Other guards pricked up their ears to eavesdrop on the conversation. They wanted to know about it as well.

“Nana is a necromancer,” Anfey said calmly.

“What?” the bodyguards yelled in surprise.

“This is the priest, Slanbrea. This is Palace Archmage Saul’s daughter. I am a student of Master Saul. With us as the witness, don’t you believe that your city master is a necromancer?” Anfey said.

“Is Master Nana really a necromancer?” a bodyguard said in disbelief. He raised his voice a little bit and a maid heard him. No one knew what she remembered at that moment, but she passed out on the floor.

“Would I joke something like this?” Anfey asked.

The bodyguards took a close look at Slanbrea and the serious look on Anfey’s face. They went quiet without asking more questions.

“Wait, I heard Nana has a wife. Why are we not seeing her?” Anfey suddenly remembered the hatred Nana had towards his wife.

“Madam went back to her hometown for a visit. Hmm…she has not come back for about half a year. She took her son with her,” a bodyguard answered.

“Does Nana have a good relationship with his wife?” Anfey asked.

“Not too good. Master, I mean the necromancer hated his wife and his son,” the bodyguard responded.

“I do not think his wife went back to her hometown,” another guard said.

“Huh?” Anfey raised his eyebrows. He turned around and laid his eyes on the bodyguard.

“The brother of the necromancer’s wife came here two months ago. I eavesdropped on their conversation. He told the necromancer that he wanted to see his sister, so I don’t think the wife went back to her hometown,” the bodyguard explained.

“What happened afterwards?” Anfey asked further.

“Later…later I never saw his wife’s brother again. He might have left,” the bodyguard responded.

“Why would he leave if he never saw his sister?” another bodyguard asked.

“I do not know. I just never saw him again,” the bodyguard said.

Anfey had planned to give up the matter. After hearing this, though, he felt something was unusual. He turned to look at Slanbrea. If there was anything hidden here by dark magic, only Slanbrea could find it.

“Light is constant and eternal…” Slanbrea said, holding out his hand slowly. Compared to a common believer, he appeared much more logical and less zealous. There were two distinct groups once people become as powerful as someone like Slanbrea. One type was filled with wisdom and treated everyone with justice and logic. The other type took their beliefs as everything they had, and they would do anything for it. The first type gained their power through tireless work and wisdom, the second through determination. It was hard to say which type was more powerful, but it was easy to tell which type had an easier time gaining respect. Slanbrea was from the former group, which could be seen judging by how respected he was.

A ball of light raised up from Slanbrea’s hand and floated towards the second floor. The light hovered near the ceiling for a few seconds before exploding into thousands of tiny sparks. The room burst into light, columns of light shone through the walls and windows. The entire courtyard was lit up. Everyone in the room had to cover their eyes and cower under the light.

Anfey opened his eyes and glanced at Slanbrea after the light disappeared. He was confused. Usually, before a priest use large scale magic like this, he would warn everyone around him. Slanbrea did not warn anyone, which seemed out of character.

Everyone standing in the lobby slowly recovered from the shock. Some were stumbling around, but most were already adjusting. The woman who passed out earlier was awake, but she was curled into a fetal position and wailing, clutching her stomach.

“This is exactly what I was afraid of,” Slanbrea said with a sigh.

What was he afraid of? Anfey frowned and looked at Slanbrea. Except for the woman who appeared to be in excruciating pain, nothing was too bad about the situation.

“Darkness shall not prevail against the light, and guiltless souls shall find peace within the walls of heaven…” Slanbrea whispered under his breath. He raised his arms and waved. A curved blade of light shot up and hit the wailing woman. Light magic did not have many attacking spells, but this was one of them. The woman was spliced into two pieces by the light blade, and thrown backwards. A dark, bloody thing crawled out of the woman’s body, wailing like a child. Slanbrea raised his hand, and the thing turned to dust under strong light.

No one knew why Slanbrea had killed the woman, but now everyone knew what must have happened. Who would have thought that the person that lived with them was carrying a demon in her body?

The woman was still alive, however, though her eyes were dim. Her lips were closing and opening, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t make a sound. Slanbrea walked over and held the woman’s body in his arms. “Be at peace, child,” he said. “Leave your sufferings behind. May god be with you.”

The woman looked at Slanbrea, and the corners of her lips twitched. Then she closed her eyes and stopped breathing.

Slanbrea placed the woman’s body on the ground carefully and stood up. Everyone around him took a collective step back, as if they were afraid something else would crawl out of the woman’s body.

Anfey sighed and turned away. Suddenly, he noticed something and frowned.

Anfey had very good short term memory, good enough to notice that something was off about the statue across the room.

When he first arrived, the statue was standing between two staircases. It had been holding its lance in its right hand, shield in left hand, and standing upright. Now, the statue was moved back a few feet, and was bent over as if it was getting ready to pounce on its prey. Anfey frowned. He grabbed his lance and threw it towards the statue. The spear struck the statue in the head and cracked the helmet. A dark figure jumped out of the statue and bolted towards the skylight.

Slanbrea was already looking at him when Anfey threw the spear. The shadow was fast, but not as fast as the light. Light flashed, and the shadow was on the ground, writhing and wailing.

It was a monster in the shape of a bat, but much larger. The light had clearly caused irreversible damage to its body, and its body was turning into dust. The more it struggled, the more its body withered away.

“What is that?” Anfey asked.

“A demon,” a guard said, his voice shaking. “We’ve been living with demons!”

Slanbrea walked over to the statue and walked around it. “Move this over there,” he turned to two guards and said, pointing at the statue. He was one of the most powerful men, but his magic wasn’t omnipotent and he couldn’t do heavy lifting.

The two guards walked over unwillingly and picked up the statue, moving it to where Slanbrea had indicated.

Anfey frowned. He walked over and grabbed a guard’s longsword and joined Slanbrea at his side. He tapped the stone under the statue and said with a smile, “It’s hollow.”

“I know,” Slanbrea said. “Why did you think there was a guard here?”

“This isn’t a trap, is it?” Anfey frowned and turned to Suzanna. “Will you?”

Suzanna nodded. She walked over and drew her sword, slamming it into the ground. The stone shattered upon impact, and a dark hole in the ground appeared.

Suzanna drew a deep breath and the light from her combat power became brighter. She looked into the hole and was about to jump into it when she was stopped by Slanbrea. “Allow me,” he said.

“But sir, you are a priest!”

“I’m so much more experienced than you with these things,” Slanbrea said with a smile. “I’ve been dealing with them my whole life.”

“Please be careful,” Anfey said.

Slanbrea smiled and used a levitation spell. He floated down the hole, followed by Suzanna and Anfey. Christian had to protect Niya and did not follow them.

“I didn’t realize you know how to use a levitation spell, my lord,” Anfey said. He glanced at the cellar. There was no lamp in the dark cellar, but as long as Slanbrea was there, lamps were not necessary. Slanbrea himself, surrounded by holy flame, was more than enough to light up the entire cellar.

“Do farmers know how to grow flowers?” Slanbrea asked.

“I suppose.”

“It’s the same thing,” Slanbrea said. He suddenly frowned and whispered, “There’s dark magic at work down here. I can feel it.”

Anfey gathered up fire elements and summoned his fire sword and shield. Suzanna positioned her sword and appeared very nervous.

The cellar was not wide, but had a long corridor. After a few minutes following the dark hallway, the three saw a dead end. There was an alchemist lab to their left with hundreds of bottles lining the shelves inside. To the right was a study with two bookshelves full of books. In the corner of the study was a cage with dark shadows inside.

Slanbrea walked into the study and the three saw clearly there were two zombies in the cage, one bigger than the other. The zombies wailed and tried to crawl away from the light. When they realized they could not run away from the light, they curled up in the corner.

The large zombie’s body was riddled with wounds, puss dripped down from its rotten flesh. The smaller zombie was curled up next to the larger one, its body shaking.

Slanbrea frowned and glanced at Anfey and Suzanna. It wasn’t hard to guess what had happened. Nana’s wife and child went missing, and there in his basement were two zombies. The two zombies seemed to still have human emotions. What kind of man would turn his own wife and child into zombies just because he was lonely?

Slanbrea was not pretentious at all. He released magic without any hesitation. The Holy Light, like a strict judge without any sympathy, held two bodies under it; one big, one small. The bodies were rotten, but they had stiffened swiftly under the light and turned into dust. The darkness and gloominess in the basement had gone, thanks to the Holy Light.

Because Anfey had been an assassin in his previous world and had bad experiences in the Evil Abyss, he did not like glory lights. He disliked mastering Light magic by accident even more. He thought this must have something to do with Slanbrea. If Slanbrea did not want to explain to Anfey, Anfey did not plan on asking him.

In choosing whether to be aggressive or passive, Anfey had always liked the former. When he spent time with Slanbrea, he had been in a passive position, whatever perspective he was looking at it from. If he asked Slanbrea before Slanbrea wanted to explain to him, Anfey had to spend some time figuring which part he said was true and which part was not. He also had to figure out Slanbrea’s purpose for speaking as he did. Instead of spending too much time guessing and analyzing, Anfey would rather pretend nothing had happened. Even if Anfey needed to get those answers, he would not ask Slanbrea.

Anfey had trust issues. He was born with them. It was hard for him to trust anyone. He was very subjective about it. If there were anyone Anfey trusted, they had to be Saul and Ernest. Anfey would never forget what happened on the isolated island and the trip with Saul and Ernest. Anfey would rather ask Saul for help to get those answers. In addition, it was not urgent for him to get the answers now.

It was a big deal for Bruzuryano to lend his Heart of Nature to Anfey for the time being, but he still did not gain Anfey’s trust. When Bruzuryano lost control of himself, Anfey used his actions to show his opposition and fight against him. If he had not been a student of Saul, if he had not taken his group with him to escape, or if he had not exposed the conspiracy of necromancers, Anfey did not think Bruzuryano would lend his Heart of Nature to him, otherwise Bruzuryano would be crazy. The help from Saul and Ernest was selfless. They did not have any evil intentions towards Anfey. The help from Saul and Ernest was quite different than from Bruzuryano.

Anfey slowly walked to the bookshelf. There were many books on it. The top two rows of books were tidy, while the bottom rows were a little messy. The books on the bottom rows were old and worn. With the blink of an eye, Anfey already knew the books on the top of the shelf were not important. They were only there when they were needed. The books on the bottom were the ones Nana read a lot.

Light magic and Death magic were indeed opposite from each other. The remaining flame, the pages on the books had started to get visibly yellow and torn. There were even a few pages which became so brittle that they broke into pieces. Anfey bent down and tried to read an open book. His desire for knowledge had always been strong. If he were in college, even the most strict professor would love to have a student like Anfey.

“Anfey, don’t touch any of that filthy stuff,” Slanbrea suddenly yelled at Anfey.

“Okay,” Anfey obeyed. He looked around and laid his eyes on a cabinet next to the bookshelf. Anfey searched his memory. He remembered there was a hat made of white bone. It looked like a medieval time crown. Now that crown had turned into dust. Anfey looked down and reached his hand out and pulled slightly on the cabinet door.

With a huge sound, the stuff in the cabinet fell everywhere. They were all weird gadgets. They were able to survive the Light Flame only because the magic kekkai around the cabinet was ruined. Everything inside the cabinet was a mess, so when Anfey pulled the cabinet door open, it all poured out on the floor.

“Anfey, why are you acting like a little kid?” Slanbrea heaved a sigh as he walked over. He looked like a teacher, angry at a student who always made trouble in the class. He stomped hard on few gadgets. There were crushing sounds beneath Slanbrea’s feet.

“I was just curious.” Anfey smiled.

“Anfey, do not touch any of this filthy stuff. Do you understand?” Slanbrea said.

“Hey?” Slanbrea suddenly looked surprised. He kicked something. A little gadget rolled on the floor. It was a small medallion shaped as a round shield infantries would use. A woman with black wings was carved on it. With blood red as the background, it looked very special.

“Is that the badge of a Fallen Angel? It seemed that Nana had a pretty high position,” Slanbrea snorted. A bright light showed up at the tip of his fingers.

“Master, wait a second,” Anfey said quickly.

“What?” Slanbrea was shocked for a second before he turned to look at Anfey.

“This… this Fallen Angel badge is important to necromancers, isn’t it?” Anfey asked.

“Very important,” Slanbrea said.

“Master, necromancers are getting more powerful nowadays, aren’t they?” Anfey said.

“Go ahead.” Slanbrea slightly frowned.

“They are more powerful than before, which means they should have more secrets. These secrets need to be protected by more people. Nana, as a city master of Punk City, has provided a perfect disguise for himself. I think this place should be their base. A Fallen Angel badge should not be the only important stuff here. Those books must have many secrets that we do not know yet.”

Slanbrea was quietly in thought for a while and nodded.

“Because of the spy, I think necromancers had already known that Bruzuryano has been secretly protecting us. After this loss, they might want to give up this mission. If we take their stuff and leave them some trace to let them know we took their stuff, to protect their secrets, they might pluck up enough courage to continue their mission with some change in their plan, even though they are scared by Bruzuryano and you.” Anfey smiled. “Necromancers used to be in the dark, but now they have come out half in the public eye. They are seen everywhere. I think their leader should be able to have the courage to fight us.”

“What you said made some sense, but is it 100% going to happen as you think?” Slanbrea asked.

“If it made some sense, I think we should try it. We have their important stuff so we can destroy them at any time,” Anfey said in a low voice. “I do not think you are happy with things like this, are you?”

“Aren’t you scared?” Slanbrea smiled.

“I have already offended them. They will come to kill me if they want to. It does not matter if I am scared of them or not. If that is the case, I’d better …” Anfey said.

“You’d better teach them a lesson while Bruzuryano and I are still here.” Slanbrea smiled.

“Don’t you agree?” Anfey said.

“If you, a kid, are not afraid of it, I do not have any reason to be afraid,” Slanbrea said.

“I really want to see them desperate and scared if they could even make those faces.” Anfey laughed as he tried to pick stuff up with his hands.

“Don’t touch them!” Slanbrea suddenly yelled at Anfey.

“What?” Anfey was scared and jumped. He immediately took his hand back like he was shocked. He looked confusedly at Slanbrea.

“I just told you never to touch any of this filthy stuff.” The seriousness and sadness flashed in his eyes.

“I got it. Thank you for reminding me.” Anfey nodded and looked like he realized he made a mistake. “Then…who is going to take care of this stuff?”

Slanbrea frowned. In fact, he hated these things. He had been keeping himself from destroying the stuff necromancers had collected with magic.

“I will take care of them.” Suzanna walked over.

“Ok.” Slanbrea nodded. “You hold on. After I hand these things over to Bruzuryano, I will remove any filthy things off them.”

Anfey stepped back to make a path for Suzanna. Anfey wanted to take Nana’s things to shake up the necromancers’ emotions. Necromancers would have to decide between continuing to carry out their plan and giving it up. Anfey added a bargaining chip to the former idea. This was Anfey’s big plan that he had thought up in the moment, but he needed to do something more and could not let anybody know.

Anfey was good at finding the key to a mystery: in other words, he was good at finding a breakthrough for the problems. He would make plans based on the breakthroughs. Suzanna could touch those things, but he could not. Why was that? What was Slanbrea nervous about?

Slanbrea found about a dozen of magic books in different sizes, some ripped out pages, and necromancers’ magic tools. He even noticed a small case. There were few regular grey magic crystals in the case. Slanbrea put everything in a leather bag. He even carefully sealed it with magic before he asked Suzanna to pick it up.

The rest of the stuff was not important. Slanbrea released light magic while Anfey shot out small fireballs like the Fire God in the legend. Unfortunately, there was not much flammable stuff in the basement. Anfey shot out many fireballs at the bookshelf and the cabinet. Now they created a firewall, which swallowed the magic books.

A small room across from the study suffered under Anfey’s fireballs. Anfey was not interested in the chemicals of necromancers. He always thought about the chemicals in the movie Resident Evil. He did not have the courage the girl had in the movie. Even when he shot many fireballs at that room, he was standing far away from it. He did not stop shooting the fireballs until Slanbrea told him the chemicals had lost their effectiveness after being exposed to the light of Holy Flame.

When they passed the exit of the cave, the guards of the garrison residence all walked up to them. One of them saw the package in Suzanna’s hand and timidly asked, “Master, inside…”

“There are some death spirits inside, but it should be fine since we have cleaned up. You don’t have to worry about staying here,” Slanbrea said calmly.

Anfey looked away from Slanbrea and wondered whether it was really fine for them to stay here. When necromancers came next time, the people staying here would probably have trouble, because necromancers would get information from them. If Anfey knew that, Slanbrea as an archpriest should understand that as well. From a different angle, what Slanbrea had done was nothing seriously bad. People showed different emotions towards different people in different situations. A civilian would not show his anger towards his king, neither would glory and rescue easily fall on a civilian. Even if Slanbrea asked them to leave, they probably would not escape from necromancers anyway because no one could protect them.

Dawn was approaching, but except for Niya, no one had the intention of sleeping. Anfey, Suzanna, and Christian gathered in the hallway and were talking in hushed whispers. Slanbrea was downstairs in the courtyard, facing the east and muttering prayers quietly. A lot of people may not have understood that studying was like sailing a boat. Not progressing was regressing. People who actually live by this saying were much rarer. The most powerful men in the world were all very talented, but talent was not the only reason they became powerful. Hard work was another thing all these people had in common.

Everything came at a price, and even if a man was born into money and power, he would never become a powerful man without hard work. In this way, the world was just.

General Jerrofick from Ellisen Empire was once famous for his strength and was the youngest man to become a master swordsman. However, he stopped focusing on his skills and instead began focusing on political intrigues. So when he was challenged by Ernest, he knew that he was no match for him, and had resort to cheating to win the match. Without hard work, even powerful men could fall from grace.

Anfey tapped Suzanna on the shoulder.

“What is it?”

“Can you fetch that Fallen Angel Emblem for me?” Anfey asked, looking at Slanbrea.

“The Fallen Angel Emblem?” Christian asked, frowning. “What are you going to do with that?”

“Shh,” Anfey said.

“Rude!” Christian snapped back.

“What are you going to do do with it?” Suzanna asked.

“I just want to look at it,” Anfey said.

“Fine,” Suzanna said with a sigh. She went into the room to look for her bag.

“You really have a Fallen Angel Emblem?” Christian asked.

Anfey nodded. “Do you know it?”

“Who doesn’t?” Christian asked with a smile.

Suzanna returned but without the bag. She held out her hands and said, “There’s a seal on the bag.”

“You’re a senior swordsmaster. Can’t you destroy the seal?”

“Of course I can,” Suzanna said and glared at Anfey. “Use your brain, for goodness sake.”

Anfey frowned, then nodded. Suzanna could destroy the seal, but she couldn’t fix it. Destroying the seal would also draw Slanbrea’s attention.

Anfey sighed. “Next time, I suppose. Christian, tell me more about the Emblem.”

“Well, do you know where necromancers came from?” Christian cleared his throat and asked.

“Not from this mansion, that’s for sure,” Anfey said.

Suzanna poked him and said, “Shhh.”

“According to legend, there was an angel that fell in love with a mortal princess during the ancient War of the Gods.”

“Cliche,” Anfey interrupted. “That’s nothing special. I fell in love with a princess too…” He glanced at Suzanna.

“Oh, shut up,” Suzanna said, blushing.

“Do you want to hear about this or not?” Christian asked. “I’m tired. If you are not going to listen, I’m just going to go to sleep.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Anfey said. “I’ll listen.” He felt that Slanbrea was listening to their conversation, and wanted to pretend he was just asking the question out of curiosity.

“All legends are cliches,” Christian said. “But this story should have at least some truth to it. The mortal princess’s kingdom became involved in a battle. When the angel arrived at the battlefield, she was already dead, her body mingled with the other bodies and was gone. The angel was heartbroken and refused to believe the she was dead. In the end, he abandoned his creed and believed that it was God of Light who started the war and all his suffering was caused by the god.

“In order to see his lover again, he used the Great Resurrection on the battlefield. Perhaps it was because he was filled with bitterness, or perhaps it was because the power of the Light betrayed him after he betrayed it, or maybe it was simply because there were too many bodies, all the dead were revived. These revived bodies, however, were empty vessels without souls.”

“Really? Zombies are created by light magic?” Anfey asked, shocked.

“Stop interrupting me,” Christian scowled. “The angel couldn’t find his lover, but he did not give up. He spent days with his creations, trying to find his lover. After a while, those beings he revived became intelligent as well. He did find his lover in the end, but she was already a witch.

“After learning what the angel had done, God of Light was furious. He condemned his actions and turned all the revived beings into dust. The angel and his lover, however, did not disappear. They became a gemstone. One side was an image of a male fallen angel, the other side was a female. The stone was found by an ordinary man many centuries later. He turned the gemstone into an emblem, and accidentally tapped into the angel’s memory while doing so. That is the birth of death magic.”

“This is the history of that emblem we found?”

“Not exactly,” Christian said, shaking his head. “Necromancers all wore emblems like that to honor their founder. The more powerful ones would keep the emblem with the male angel on it. The others tended to keep the female emblem.”

“So you’re saying Nana was a good necromancer?”

Christian nodded. “I know, I am confused, too. Nana doesn’t seem like a powerful one. He couldn’t use magic or combat power, so I don’t know how he became a necromancer. Maybe death magic is fundamentally different?”

“I think that’s an answer only necromancers can give,” Anfey said, shrugging.

“You’re right,” Christian said with a sigh.

“I’ve never heard about this before,” Suzanna said.

“I remembered reading it when I was young,” Christian said. “From a forbidden book. God knows how long it took me to find those books.”

“I wish I had known you earlier,” Anfey said with a smile.

“What do you mean?”

“I loved forbidden books too, when I was young.”

“Really?” Christian asked. “Tell me about it.”

“Heart of Maidens, heard of it?” Anfey asked. Of course, he was talking about a book from his old world that did not exist here.

“Heart of Maidens?” Christian repeated, frowning. “What is it about?”

“It’s about creating lives,” Anfey said.

“Creation myth?” Christian asked, his eyes lighting up.

“Close enough,” Anfey said with a smile. He didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was about something much more bawdy than what he brought up.

“Tell us more,” Suzanna urged.

“A long time ago, I saw Suzanna,” Anfey said with a grin.

Christian sighed and rolled his eyes. Suzanna scowled but it soon turned into a smile.

Anfey grinned and saw that Slanbrea was making his way upstairs.

“Did you really read it?”

“Of course I did,” Anfey said, sighing. “You see the stars up there? What do you think those are?”

“Stars?” Christian repeated, frowning. “There are hundreds of theories, but no one has proposed a theory that convinced everyone yet.”

“I think they are souls of our ancestors,” Suzanna said. “Didn’t the hero Brunswick turn into a star?”

“You are, unfortunately, wrong,” Slanbrea walked over and said gently. “Stars are the tears of God of Light. Of course, the story Christian just told you was not entirely correct, either.”