Volume 1, Chapter 36

In the lawless zone between Fort Garros and Deepwinter Forest,

Where the hell has that bastard Depier run off to?!

Bastard!

Hurry up and get back here, damn it!

After dodging a heavy hammer attack from a silver-armored warrior, Sakre, the leader of the Blazing Shadow Mercenary Group, cursed furiously in his heart. At that very moment, a deep red magic circle suddenly materialized behind this sixth tier initial stage powerhouse!

Instantly,

An enormous fireball came crashing down, causing Sakre’s eyes to narrow sharply. His scar-covered, furious old face twisted even more grotesquely from the sneak attack!

However,

Being a veteran of countless battles, Sakre quickly adjusted his stance, evaded the fireball’s explosion, and hurled his spear directly at the source!

In that instant,

Dark light erupted! The spear, enveloped in dark-attribute battle aura, tore through the starry sky and pierced the shoulder of the distant spellcaster! Instantly neutralizing the combat ability of that fifth tier mage.

With the long-range threat eliminated,

Sakre clearly regained his composure in the fight,

But even so, his expression remained extremely grim. Because at this moment, the Blazing Shadow Mercenary Group he led had already been decimated during this mission to assist in smuggling slaves. Those still capable of fighting were now only himself and a few other elite members.

Almost all the other members had been killed by these church knights before him.

Gazing at the dozens of knights clad in exquisite silver armor and crimson cloaks, Sakre’s eyes brimmed with venomous hatred. He wished he could chop every one of them into pieces! Only then could he vent the hatred burning in his heart!

A perfectly good transport mission,

It was almost complete! He was about to hand over the slaves to the Divine Punishment Holy Church! About to receive 8 million Star Source Coins! And yet, at this critical juncture, he had to run into these damned Ashurmos Church knights?!

Damn it all!

‘Weren’t those bastards on bad terms with the Snownight Empire?! What are they doing near the fortress?! Damn it!’

Sakre cursed furiously in his heart,

While occasionally casting puzzled glances toward the nearby Deepwinter Forest.

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Tens of minutes ago, he had sent a team to chase down that escaped girl! She was just a third-rank ordinary person, for goodness’ sake?! Why hadn’t they caught her and returned yet?!

“Depier! What the hell are you doing?!”

Sakre grew increasingly anxious.

If those guys didn’t return to support soon, he might really be captured by these greenhorn church knights!

However,

At that very moment, as he glanced toward the Deepwinter Forest, a mocking voice suddenly rang in his ears,

“Oh ho, still have time to look elsewhere?”

??!!

What?!

“Who?!”

Instantly, Sakre’s eyes narrowed sharply. An intense sense of crisis surged in his heart. He hurriedly turned his head in disbelief toward the brown-haired female knight who had appeared behind him at some unknown time. And just as his venomous gaze fell upon her,

A sharp sword burning with purple flames suddenly pierced Sakre’s chest from behind,

Directly shattering his heart!

“Da… damn it…”

Amidst his feeble curses, Sakre, who had lived by the sword for decades, ultimately died during this slave transport mission.

His death also marked the complete annihilation of the Blazing Shadow Mercenary Group.

—

“Finally dealt with,”

After dispersing the purple flames on her sword, Garona let out a long sigh of relief.

Surrounding and killing a sixth-rank powerhouse wasn’t easy for them either.

Then,

Garona slowly turned and surveyed the other battlefields. With Sakre dead, the remaining Blazing Shadow Mercenary Group members who had been putting up a desperate resistance all raised their hands in the Baguette Military Salute ¹ 法棍军礼 (fǎ gùn jūn lǐ). 法棍 (fǎ gùn) literally means baguette… I guess they’re just French .

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Without a doubt, the battle was now over.

With a slight smile, Garona looked toward a burly man wielding a giant axe not far away and shouted,

“Kakaro!”

“Huh? What is it, Sister Garona?”

The burly man called Kakaro hurriedly leaped up and jumped to Garona’s side.

Garona pointed toward the dozens of young boys and girls imprisoned in the carriages nearby.

“Clean up the battlefield. And, help treat those poor little ones.”

“Alright, understood. I’ll go call the priest team right away.”

“Mhm. Oh, right!”

Just as the burly man was about to leave, he stopped and looked at his leader in confusion.

“What is it, Boss? Anything else to instruct?”

Hearing this,

Garona slowly furrowed her brows, pensively gazing at the snowy plains nearby and the Deepwinter Forest in the distance. Relying on her keen senses, or perhaps a woman’s intuition, while fighting these merciless mercenaries, she had a strange feeling,

As if something nearby was watching her?

It made Garona feel extremely uncomfortable. That inexplicable chill had kept her spine tingling all this time.

“Kakaro, do you… feel any strange gaze around us?”

Hearing this, the burly Kakaro showed a puzzled expression, awkwardly glancing around at their surroundings.

Then he helplessly shook his head.

“No, don’t feel anything. Everything seems normal?”

“Huh? Really? What about the scout teams on patrol nearby? Any news? Have they seen any magical beasts, or even… Abyssal Demons?”

“Shouldn’t have. If they’d seen traces of Abyssal Demons, they would’ve sent someone rushing to report long ago.”

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“Mhm, true.”

Could it be… my imagination?

Because I’ve been too tired lately?

Closing her eyes and shaking her head, Garona couldn’t help but think this to herself.

And just then,

“Huh?!”

A surprised exclamation from Kakaro immediately interrupted Garona’s thoughts, making her look up curiously.

“What’s wrong?”

“Th… there’s a girl, seems like an ordinary person?? Running out of the Deepwinter Forest?!”

Pointing toward the distant Deepwinter Forest, Kakaro said with some disbelief.

“Huh?”

Hearing this, Garona was also stunned, equally surprised as she followed Kakaro’s pointing finger and looked into the distance!

The next moment,

Garona couldn’t help but show an incredulous expression. Reflected in her eyes was a pink-haired girl in tattered, filthy clothing, exactly as Kakaro described, running out of the Deepwinter Forest and heading toward their location.

“Re… really?? Good heavens! What’s with that child?! How could she come out of the Deepwinter Forest alone? No, wait?! What’s a little girl doing running to such a dangerous place?!”

“Her clothes… seem similar to those slaves in the carriages?”

“Slave? An escaped slave?”

“Probably. Didn’t Sakre himself say earlier that their team sent people into the forest to capture someone? It’s… probably her, right?”

“Escaped? Then why is she alone? Where are the people chasing her?”

“Not sure. We’ll ask her when she gets here.”

“Alright.”

Looking at the frail figure stumbling and running toward them with all her might in the distance, Garona’s compassion swelled. After a brief exchange, she hurriedly rushed forward with Kakaro and several other Ashurmos Church knights, wanting to help the poor girl.

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However,

Just as Garona and the others were about to reach the girl, Garona noticed something unusual.

It was the girl’s expression.

It wasn’t the expression of someone seeing rescuers!

Instead, it was filled with endless terror, her entire body radiating anxiety. She kept anxiously glancing behind her, as if fleeing from something terrifying?

‘No, something’s off!’

A sense of foreboding suddenly surged into Garona’s mind.

And at that moment,

As if to confirm Garona’s premonition, a terrifying oppressive force suddenly erupted from within the forest! Like a violent gust of wind pressure, it instantly slammed into Garona and the group of Ashurmos Church knights!

Feeling the energy fluctuations within the wind pressure—filled with deathly stillness, dense killing intent, and a nauseating smell of blood—the group who had just been chatting and laughing moments ago immediately showed stunned expressions.

Cold sweat slowly trickled down their foreheads.

The next moment,

The earth shook and mountains trembled.

“ROOOOOOOOAR!!!”

Accompanied by a deafening, horrifying roar, under Garona and the others’ terrified gazes, several massive bipedal monsters, their bodies burning with raging hellfire, charged out of Deepwinter Forest with overwhelming momentum! Roaring with murderous intent, they charged ferociously toward them!

?!!!

The moment they saw these monsters, everyone held their breath. An unprecedented sense of trembling surged into their hearts.

“Ab… Ab… Abyssal Demons?!”

Oh no,

This is bad!

“Hurry!! Fall back quickly!!”