"Adler, why are you here? To commit regicide and assassinate the princess?" the old woman, whose fiery red hair and eyebrows matched her temper, demanded of the suddenly appearing old mage, Adler.
"It's been many years, and your temper hasn't changed one bit. No wonder no man dares to marry you," Adler chuckled as if they were having a casual chat. He then bowed respectfully to Grand Princess Feimo. "Adler greets Grand Princess. I am here on the orders of my master to protect Your Highness from any disturbances."
Grand Princess Feimo scoffed, as if hearing the most absurd lie in the world. When did enemies sit in the same trench and drink together? "My ruthless brother would send you to protect me? He probably wishes me dead even in his sleep."
"Your Highness, you misunderstand my master. I was truly sent by him to protect both princesses. Blades are blind, and if either of you were harmed, my master would regret it for a lifetime."
"Protect?" Grand Princess Feimo's gaze was as cold as the weather outside. "I believe you mean to confine me and Feilin. That way, no one can stop him from becoming emperor. Isn't that how he treated our other siblings? Now, only Feilin and I remain as his final enemies. Would he let us go?"
A hint of mockery touched her lips. "To deal with Feilin and me in such a manner, and yet he doesn't even show his face, sending only you? Is he underestimating me too much?"
Adler smiled wryly and shook his head, feeling a deep sense of helplessness at Grand Princess Feimo's ingrained misunderstanding. Of course, he couldn't fathom the intricacies of the situation.
"It seems I cannot gain Grand Princess's trust. However, my orders are to protect both princesses. Until I can ensure both princesses' safety, I must remain here and cannot leave."
"Can I take that as a threat? A threat to a reigning Grand Princess? Is that it, A-D-L-E-R?" Feimo enunciated Adler's name with each syllable, gritted through her teeth, her eyes shooting out a chilling glare like a terrifying killing intent from a frozen hell.
The old woman in red in front of her, upon hearing the Grand Princess's tone, flipped her hands. A bright, almost colorless flame erupted from her body. The surrounding space rippled with an invisible wave the instant the colorless flame appeared, as if the very space was becoming unstable under its scorching heat. Behind her, a pair of eyes, as impassive as a god's, slowly began to open.
Adler's face turned ashen. He retreated several steps, waving his hands frantically. "Kellychia, you old hag! Have you gone mad to summon the Flame Lord before the Grand Princess?"
"Scram! Take one more step and I'll burn you to ashes, inch by inch." Kellychia, the Grand Princess's personal guard and the fiery old woman, showed no respect to Adler, a peak mage. If not for the concern of potentially harming the Grand Princess with her actions, Kellychia would have already unleashed her flames the moment Adler appeared.
"Slowly, slowly, Your Highness. I have a personal letter from my master, for the Grand Princess to read if I cannot gain her trust." Adler produced a plain-looking letter, placed it respectfully on the table, and retreated to his previous position. "My master said that after reading the letter, the Grand Princess will understand why I must stay."
Grand Princess Feimo paused for a moment, then picked up the letter. As Kellychia prepared to launch an attack at the Grand Princess's command, the Grand Princess's eyes shifted slightly after reading it. She then waved to Kellychia, "Put it away. He is not here to declare war."
"Your Highness, you..." Although Kellychia couldn't see the contents of the letter, it was somewhat unbelievable that a mere letter could confirm Adler was not here to fight.
"Put it away. It seems my brother is not yet ready to deal with me." Feimo flicked her hand, and the letter in her grasp spontaneously combusted, quickly turning to ash.
Kellychia watched Adler, who was smiling and signaling his harmless intentions from a distance, and resentfully withdrew her magic. The eyes behind her, which had not fully opened, also disappeared.
Grand Princess Feimo looked at Adler as well. "Since my brother sent you to protect me, you should be outside, not enjoying yourself here."
Adler chuckled sheepishly. "Grand Princess, my master only ordered me to protect both princesses, not to kill. As long as those outside do not threaten the safety of the two princesses, I will not intervene. Besides, these people were hired by my master, and it would be somewhat inappropriate for me to act."
"Utterly shameless!" Kellychia was almost blown away by Adler's audacious words. To speak of hiring assassins so righteously! Even if others were unaware, they knew that the mere pawns outside couldn't possibly breach the ancient castle. Adler, ostensibly here to protect, was in reality just an observer, or perhaps a supervisor.
Grand Princess Feimo ignored Adler, who was shamelessly without limits, and continued to stare blankly into the distance, lost in thought. No one knew what this politically astute Grand Princess was contemplating.
Kellychia also fell silent, mimicking the Grand Princess, but her eyes were fixed on Adler, the unexpected intruder. Even though the Grand Princess had said she could trust him, Kellychia remained uneasy. If Adler made the slightest move, Kellychia would glare at him fiercely, making Adler tremble with fear and regret taking on this task. Everyone knew Kellychia was an unreasonable old woman who couldn't be beaten by anyone.
The study fell into a heavy silence, with the three of them not speaking. Adler, an outsider, felt extremely uncomfortable, especially under Kellychia's murderous, guarding gaze.
Suddenly hearing the shouts of battle from outside, Adler had a flash of inspiration. He strode to the window, flung open the curtains, and smiled at the still-dazed Grand Princess Feimo. "Grand Princess, these children's skirmishes are rather uninteresting, but there are two duels of skilled individuals worth watching. Especially the battle between mercenary Li Xi, whom Princess Feilin favors and is now hailed as the most likely future S-rank mercenary, and that dragon, Adrian. You absolutely must see it. Such a battle is rarely witnessed in decades."
Grand Princess Feimo glanced at Adler. Though she said nothing, it was unclear which of Adler's words had moved her. She hesitated for a moment before walking to the window. At that moment, she saw Li Xi flying from the castle roof towards the outside of the city.
...
Returning to the scene where Adrian invited Li Xi to battle, everyone present looked at Li Xi. Li Xi took out a magic scroll, tore it open, and with a flash of light, his body seemed to break free from the main world's gravity, allowing him to fly.
This was the magic scroll of flight, allowing ordinary people to experience the joy of flying. This revealed another drawback of Li Xi's ninjutsu system: without dragon transformation, he couldn't fly. No matter how advanced his ninjutsu cultivation, he simply couldn't fly. Unlike native powerhouses, once they reached level four, they could all begin to fly. Fortunately, this world's wondrous magic allowed Li Xi to achieve the same flying ability, preventing him from losing face in front of everyone.
Under everyone's gaze, Li Xi flew without hesitation beyond the wall and stood face to face with the golden giant.
"Hmm? Such heavy dragon aura?"
Upon seeing the golden giant Adrian up close, Li Xi felt an unprecedented dragon aura. The dragon aura emanating from the giant before him was stronger than any dragon he had encountered before, even stronger than the blue, black, and red dragons combined. Even the ancient bone dragon in the undead plane, weakened to level seven, paled slightly in comparison to the purity of this giant.
"Dragon's resentment? He's killed dragons?" Adrian's eyes narrowed as he also sensed the dragon's resentment缠绕ing Li Xi. This situation typically occurred with those who had persecuted dragons.
Adrian's original mission was merely to contain Li Xi. However, upon sensing the dragon's resentment on Li Xi, his demeanor changed from a challenge to one filled with killing intent.
"Mercenary Li Xi, do you dare to ascend to the heavens and fight me?"
On a battlefield of thousands, if Li Xi refused, his reputation would be tarnished by tomorrow, or even within hours. Nowadays, many people enjoyed watching seemingly unattainable heroes turn into cowardly turtles.
"What is there to fear?"
"You have courage. Let's go."
Golden dragon wings suddenly appeared behind Adrian. With a single flap, he vanished from the ground, and in the next moment, he was in the high heavens.
Li Xi felt somewhat embarrassed. He couldn't reveal his dragon-blooded identity, so he still relied on the magic scroll of flight. Compared to Adrian's rocket-like speed, Li Xi felt like he had returned to a hundred years ago, slowly climbing on an ox cart.
On the ground, the two great experts had flown away. The three mercenary groups looked at the enemies within arm's reach. Compared to the previous attack force of just over three hundred people, this time the numbers had multiplied severalfold. Their numbers appeared greater than those of the three mercenary groups. Most importantly, the overall strength of these individuals was a notch above the three mercenary groups. Considering the numbers and strength, they could completely crush the three mercenary groups.
Indeed, these people had come fully prepared.
"Form up, defend!"
Bruce roared. The days spent without wasting time had paid off for the three mercenary groups as they began to deploy according to their pre-arranged formations.
In contrast to the orderly ranks and tight formations of the three mercenary groups, the attackers appeared somewhat disorganized. They were all individual or small-team mercenaries before, and this time they were pieced together temporarily. No one could entrust their backs to another, let alone practice formations that armies would train in.
But the attackers had more numbers. With the barbarian Kai Qi, whose strength was restored, as the vanguard, a large number of warriors charged towards the positions of the three mercenary groups. Instantly, the two forces clashed.
From above, it could be seen that even with the presence of formidable warriors like the barbarian Kai Qi among the attackers, their advance had barely begun before they were entangled on the positions of the three mercenary groups, unable to move forward. Even if the barbarian Kai Qi managed to break through, his followers couldn't keep up with his pace, and Kai Qi himself would eventually be forced back.
The hundreds of arrows from the three mercenary groups, forming a covering rain of arrows, strictly followed the commands of the aerial commanders, systematically clearing out the enemy's fragile professions, piece by piece.
The attackers' archers, however, were far more selfish and lagging. They still fought individually, randomly aiming from various positions on the battlefield like opportunistic scavengers. Seeing an opportunity for a kill, they would fire an arrow without hesitation, regardless of whether the mission was completed. As long as there was a kill, there was considerable commission. Whether others lived or died was irrelevant; earning money was the priority.
This selfish mindset was not held by just one or two individuals but was the mainstream thought among the attackers. Each person looked out for themselves and didn't consider the overall situation, naturally falling into a disadvantage against the well-prepared three mercenary groups.
In fact, the tactics of the three mercenary groups were very simple: warriors defended, cavalry flanked for surprise attacks, mages and archers provided fire support from the rear, and the assassins of the Dark Shadow Mercenary Group infiltrated the attackers' ranks to cause chaos. This was the most basic of professional equipment, so basic that even the simplest Crescent Formation in warfare was more complex than this. Yet, this simple deployment method miraculously held off the attacks of their stronger enemies.
Even though the strength and numbers of the three mercenary groups were inferior to the attackers, they were still able to withstand the attackers' onslaught, making the wall that was so close seem like a distant, unattainable dream. The barbarian Kai Qi roared in frustration.
The mages, who were the fewest in number on both sides, were stationed at the rear of the crowds. With tacit understanding, they did not attack other professions but continuously clashed their varied magic in the air, creating increasingly spectacular magical flames.
This action by the mages was a universally tacit understanding. If the mages on both sides targeted ordinary professions, it would inevitably lead to heavy casualties and pose a serious survival crisis for the mages themselves. Mages were considered precious treasures by everyone. The death of one mage was more heartbreaking than the death of ten ordinary professionals. Therefore, both sides' mages adopted the most common combat method in ordinary battles: seeing whose mastery of magical techniques was more proficient, competing in skill rather than who fell or who stood as victory.