The Deep Malice of Outpost County

Watching the cavalry about to charge, Allen looked at Yorkshire, whose face was drenched in sweat and whose body trembled slightly. He gently patted his shoulder before shouting at the subjects outside the General Affairs Hall, "What are you all standing around for? They're trying to assassinate me, the Second Young Master, and you're still putting on an act? If I lose so much as a hair, watch out when you get back to the Royal City—my father will skin you alive."

The knights preparing to charge were startled and turned their horses around again, warily facing the bewildered commoners.

Yorkshire's face lit up with delight, his expression full of expectation.

Not far away, the Old Butler, who had been standing with his head lowered in silence, looked at Allen in confusion.

Allen folded his arms, looking as though he had everything under control from a thousand miles away, and calmly watched the knights.

The knights warily watched the commoners outside the General Affairs Hall.

The commoners looked at their lord as if he were an idiot.

Allen was dumbfounded. Pointing at his own head, he tentatively shouted again, "Me! It's me! Allen, son of Baron Grand Duke?"

The commoners showed no reaction whatsoever, merely looking at one another.

Sakre sighed and viciously told the knights behind him, "If any of you dares run your mouth and reveal that I competed with this idiot at the Old Castle, I'll cut out his tongue."

The lackey knights nodded repeatedly.

"My father didn't send anyone to protect me in secret?" Allen looked at Yorkshire in confusion.

Yorkshire spread his hands innocently.

How would I know? That's your father, not mine. I've spent so many years in the Royal City, and I've never even met the Grand Duke.

Allen shifted his gaze to Dina.

"What do you mean, Second Young Master?"

Dina blinked her large eyes in confusion.

Allen turned back toward the Old Butler.

Old Laixi helplessly covered his face.

After his men helped him up, Andrew, who was already more dead than alive, softly spoke the last three words of his life: "Kill him!"

The knights spurred their horses into a mad gallop, charging at Allen with murderous intent.

Just as dozens of tall warhorses were about to trample Allen and the others into pulp, a figure appeared atop a nearby low house and threw out a huge barbed net. It descended from above, scooping up and covering several knights at the front.

The warhorses pitched forward and crashed to the ground, struggling ceaselessly as the barbs viciously dug into the knights' flesh.

A strange noise rang out. From a nearby low house came a series of teeth-grinding screeches. Moments later, countless rapidly spinning circular blades shot out from the windows, cleaving several charging knights in half at the waist.

Dina's expression changed drastically. She grabbed Allen and Yorkshire by the backs of their necks, one in each hand, and leaped backward.

The warhorses beneath the knights reared up, letting out low whinnies.

Countless sprays of blood and severed limbs rained down from the air.

Misfortune never came alone. One Haftless Broken Blade after another shot over from the distance. Wrapped in Battle Aura, the broken blades pierced through the knights' hearts as easily as stabbing into butter.

The knights clutching their hearts made muffled popping sounds in their chests—the sound of Battle Aura exploding inside their bodies.

Several tiny bolts streaked over from the direction of the General Affairs Hall like meteors, instantly and accurately striking several unlucky men in the throat.

The unlucky men fell onto their backs. After kicking their legs twice, they breathed their last, their corpses instantly turning an eerie purple.

If the hidden attacks had already been enough to give the knights a headache, then the faint sounds of chanting completely dragged them into the abyss of hell.

The violent Fire Element in the air created a suffocating, scorching heat. Six towering walls of flame appeared out of nowhere, surrounding dozens of knights.

"The bolts are poisoned! Raise the round shields!"

"The enemy is in the direction of the General Affairs Hall!"

"Where? There are attackers!"

"A mage! Everyone be careful, it's a mage!"

The knights and horses tumbled about in utter chaos, colliding with one another like headless flies.

The commoners watching outside the General Affairs Hall felt no discomfort at the bloody scene nearby. Instead, they eagerly discussed it.

"Was that the Matt family of blacksmiths who fired those Birdwing blades just now?"

"What do you know? The Birdwing Crossbow is huge. How big is their house? Put a wooden bed in there, and there's no room left to stand."

"What poison did they put on those bolts?"

"Blue Fire Lizard Essence Blood from the Fierce Beast Forest, maybe?"

"Damn, how much does that cost? They might as well have given me the money. I'd have gone up there and killed those blind knights myself. What a waste."

"Oh, right, did you guys see that just now? Our lord is incredibly strong. He swung that Wolf-tooth Club once and sent the leader flying. He's dead as dead can be now."

"He eats well. Our lord's a noble—he can stuff himself with rye cakes all day long. How could he not grow strong?"

"Since when did our county have a Fire Element Mage?"

"Who knows?"

Sakre looked at the smug Allen in the distance and suddenly felt that, as a noble, being able to survive in Outpost County until now was an extraordinary ability in itself.

The knights were terrified. They had long since lost any desire to continue hunting down Allen and the others. After jumping off their horses, they pulled out head-sized round shields from behind their backs and held them in front of themselves, their faces tense and uneasy.

As Xiulunte's Guard Knights, they had experienced countless battles, but this was the first time they had seen anything so bizarre: poisoned bolts, a Birdwing Crossbow, barbed nets for intercepting cavalry, short blades infused with high-level Battle Aura, and walls of flame several meters high.

They had seen all these methods of attack before, but never had they erupted all at once, without warning, as though they had been rehearsed. Worse still, they had not found a single attacker hiding in the dark.

Under normal circumstances, if both sides had gone into battle fully armed and prepared, they would never have suffered such disastrous losses or fallen into such chaos.

Of nearly a hundred Guard Knights, their leader had been beaten to death with a single swing of that young noble's club. Several squad leaders had either been caught in the barbed net, their faces turned into bloody pulp, or had a haftless short blade embedded in their hearts, leaving a gaping, blood-spurting hole in their chests. It was too horrible to look at.

The most pitiful were the several poisoned companions. Their mouths hung wide open as both hands clutched their throats. They were dead beyond doubt, their purple faces terrifying to behold.

More than a dozen others had been cut in half at the waist. The rest were not much better off, their hair scorched black as they looked around nervously, trying to peer through the flames in search of figures that had never appeared.

Inside the General Affairs Hall, Sakre suddenly felt deeply unsettled standing on this patch of ground. If those people hidden in the shadows were placed in the royal capital of the Duke Lotel Kingdom, they could probably stir up massive unrest and make its rulers extremely uneasy.

What shocked him even more was that the commoners in the distance watched as though they were enjoying a spectacle. One look at their expressions made it clear that they were already used to this.

The knights trapped within the Wall of Flame wanted to cry but had no tears.

We're innocent! We only seized a few civilian homes. Did you really have to go this far?

Before we came, we only wanted to chop off a few unruly commoners' arms to report back. We're just Lord Xiulunte's dogs! If you have the guts, go find the real culprit!

You've got mages, assassins, and killers, and we won't say anything about that. But against a bunch of second-rate knights like us, was this really necessary? You even used siege equipment and a Birdwing Crossbow...

The knights breathed heavily. They suddenly longed for the fresh air they had never cared about before. Looking at the blazing Wall of Flame, they wore expressions of despair.

Inside the General Affairs Hall, Asuo looked at several inconspicuous figures among the crowd outside and felt the deep malice of Outpost County.

Behind him, Hels held a magic staff, his expression grave.