Cold Dew Manor had two entrances, one in front and one in back. According to Mordefis's reconnaissance, each was guarded by a squad of city guards. However, the manor's long perimeter and iron railings could only keep out ordinary people. Though there were several patrols, they were all made up of city guards and had no defensive capability against opponents at the Element Realm level.
Brando's side, by contrast, was immensely powerful. After the battle in Evergreen Corridor, Mordefis and Andriga had advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching the mid-levels of the first Elemental Tier. Charles, Medisa, and Hypamira, who had been summoned earlier, had progressed even further and faintly possessed the strength to challenge the Side of Truth.
With such strength, Brando did not even need to attack these "ordinary people." Passing directly through the garden in the center of the courtyard was, to the soldiers, merely a blur before their eyes. When they turned around, there was no trace of him, and they could only assume they had hallucinated.
The avenue in the center of the courtyard led to the main entrance. A fountain had been built in the square, and two patrols were stationed there. Their strength was clearly a level above that of the city guards outside. From their uniforms, Brando recognized them as Rushta's Imperial Guard.
Yet in the gardens on either side of the fountain stood a pair of hedge mazes. Aside from a few concealed sentries, there were no watchers at all. Those concealed sentries could not even monitor the entire artificial maze. Such an obvious gap in the defenses was simply ignored.
Seeing this, Brando could not help believing a third of the unknown witch's words. The Silver Queen was clearly setting out a trap and practically begging him to enter, as