“Be careful!”
“How dare you!”
Without any warning, the City Lord’s trusted aide drew his longsword and lunged forward, initiating the assault. In total, six men, including the captain of the guard, attacked. They showed no regard for the City Lord and his son behind them as they launched a formidable assault aimed at the apprentice in front of them, intending a lethal assassination.
Their action took everyone by surprise, leaving them unprepared.
Seeing this, the City Lord and his son were shocked and distraught, hurriedly picking up weapons to intervene.
The next second, they witnessed a scene that was both awe-inspiring and frightening.
One after another, rapid wood moths emerged from the apprentice’s robe like bullets, shooting at the assassins behind them in rapid succession.
The assassins, hell-bent on killing their target, fought with a disregard for their own lives, unconcerned about their wounds.
The rapid wood moth was as hard as refined steel; to underestimate it was to pay a dire price.
One by one, the assassins fell, all within less than two seconds.
“Kill!”
Even as they lay on the ground, the assassins still had fierce expressions, struggling continuously, intent on killing Ivan. However, they had been incapacitated by the rapid wood moths, making it nearly impossible for them to even stand up.
As the rapid wood moths bored out of their bodies, bringing with them chunks of flesh, it did nothing to change the assassins’ determination to kill their target.
“Well done.”
Ivan had been on guard. When the assassination attempt erupted, he deftly stepped a few paces to the side. Upon turning around, he found that the rapid wood silkworm had already resolved the crisis, sparing him the need to take action himself.
Had he not wished to take them alive, none of those who ambushed him would have stood a chance of survival.
“Lord Ivan, are you all right?” City Lord Simmons was both shocked and furious. At this moment, he could only suppress his emotions and looked anxiously at Ivan, hoping Ivan would not blame Swamp Forest City for the incident.
The trusted aides he had carefully selected were all of middle to high knight level, and in the blink of an eye, they were all taken down by the sorcerer apprentice before them. With such power, taking his own life would be as easy as turning his hand, and how could he not worry?
Ivan did not respond to Simmons; he walked briskly towards the other side of the street.
Shortly after, he stopped around a corner but discovered nothing suspicious.
“Escaped? Or was there nobody watching in the first place?”
He had sensed some odd motions but was a step too late.
Ivan’s fingers ground together as wisps of energy gathered. A spell was cast in the next second, and the energy took the shape of a butterfly. With a single flap of its wings, the butterfly’s body crumbled, and the Tracking Technique failed.
Indeed, it was useless.
The failure of the tracking spell convinced him of one thing: There must be other apprentices behind this, with considerable power.
“My lord, should we conduct a citywide manhunt?” Simmons and his son, who had followed from a distance, approached him as he returned.
“No need. We’re dealing with a cunning enemy.”
“Lord Ivan, I must implore you to believe that the previous attack was definitely not orchestrated by us. I had no knowledge that they were also afflicted with the condition; otherwise, I would never dare to have them by my side. A slight mishap could have cost me and my son our lives. We owe you gratitude for eliminating the hidden danger that lurked beside us.”
Having his own trusted aides turn into frenzied attackers filled Simmons with retrospective terror. If they had launched their assault against him with the same abruptness, he confessed he wouldn’t have been able to dodge in time. Such a disaster could have ended with him being critically injured or worse.
Ivan returned to the scene of the assassination: “This matter requires investigation. As for those mercenaries, you deal with them. I will inspect these assassins first.”
The trusted aides still showed their ferocity; indeed, in their eyes were patterns made of lines, more intricate and complete than those on the head of a wild beast. Ivan inspected each one of them.
He had a vague sense of familiarity.
Which aspect of runes could it be?
As he pondered meticulously, City Lord Simmons commanded the guards to switch from defense to offense.
“Break their limbs,” the betrayal of his trusted aide infuriated Simmons, who viciously issued a new order, only by making those gone mad incapable of acting could future risks be avoided.
The guards were a notch above the mercenaries in strength—and besides, the mercenaries had become frenzied wild beasts, their fighting capability ironically reduced compared to when they were lucid.
Soon, the guards subdued the mercenaries at some cost.
Ivan paid no mind to these events, and while the mercenaries were still raving, he examined the patterns emerging in their eyes, which lacked the completeness of those in the eyes of the attackers.
“So that’s it, patterns akin to meditation runes, no wonder they felt so familiar,” he muttered to himself, not surprised by this revelation; patterns that could control people surely pertained to matters of the Spirit.
What troubled him was the ability of the opposing side to control so many people, prompting deep contemplation.
He thought of the Cloud Fog servants on Lahr Island; perhaps there was a special runes sorcery array behind all this, or perhaps there was a powerful magicalized item. In summary, within Swamp Forest City, there must be a central control mechanism capable of manipulating these individuals.
If such a thing could be found, the mission would surely make a significant breakthrough.
With this in mind, he prepared to explain the situation to Gina.
The Secret Method Seal did not respond, indicating Gina was out of communication range, so he had to leave a message instead.
The commotion caused by the mercenaries and trusted aides concluded quickly, with all of them having their limbs broken and being sent to a jail cell. Once the two groups returned to normal, they confessed to what had happened.
“All I remember is feeling furious, with a surge of malevolence inside me, only wanting to destroy and kill. Not acting on it was unbearable, but when I did, my strength seemed to increase significantly.”
“So I acted on my inner feelings. I don’t remember what I destroyed, or who I killed.”
“Lord City, please spare my life. It wasn’t intentional; I was—someone—someone bewitched me.”
The mercenaries, upon regaining clarity and discovering their new predicament with broken limbs in a jail cell, were struck by a thunderbolt—shocking news for everyone involved.
Ivan inquired extensively, leaving no stone unturned, analyzing that these people could not possibly have been controlled without reason; there must have been a common medium involved, related to the control nexus. Experience tales with empire
Following this clue should reveal the hidden aspects behind the incident.
“My lord, I have confessed everything. I beg you to forgive my sins. I am the only breadwinner in my family, and they are waiting for me to return. Please, have mercy.”
“Yes, yes, if I don’t return, my whole family will perish. Please grant us a way to live.”
The mercenaries knew all too well they needed to get out quickly; the conditions of the jail would soon worsen their injuries, potentially to an incurable degree. By then, it would be too late for everything.
“You need to provide for your families, but don’t those you’ve killed need to do the same?” Simmons said coldly from the side.
Hearing this, the mercenaries sank in despair, the scenario they least wished for was unfolding.
Before the guards arrived, not only had they destroyed property within the city, they had also killed seven civilians and injured over a dozen. Of course, such deeds could not be easily overlooked.
Ivan proceeded to another cell, where the trusted aides who had attacked him were detained.
Due to the rapid wood silkworm’s attack, the trusted aides were more severely injured than the mercenaries.
“Speak, who exactly commanded you to attack Lord Ivan?”
At these words, some trusted aides looked at their City Lord in confusion and outrage, their expressions a mix of pain and hesitation.
Their gaze had already conveyed the answer to everyone’s questions.
