The Aristocracy

"Stop him!" Ekzykes, seeing through the Godskin Noble's intent, was so furious his eyes nearly split. He roared toward the section of the camp wall that had been breached.

The nearby Storm Knights immediately charged forward with no regard for life or death. Each of them swung their weapons, unleashing a storm of invisible wind blades that screamed through the air toward the Godskin Noble ahead. For a moment, the air was filled with shrill howls; the aftershocks of those wind blades alone were enough to grind every tree, stone, and clod of earth in their path into dust.

Among the three great orthodox sword arts with the longest inheritances in the Lands Between, the Storm sword arts that originated in Stormveil lacked the unpredictability of Carian sword arts and were not as disciplined and rigorous as Leyndell sword arts. But in terms of explosive power, they far surpassed the other two sword arts that stood beside them in fame. In a duel between knights of equal strength, a seasoned Storm Knight even had a chance to abruptly slay an opponent of the same level within ten moves.

However, the enemy the knights faced at this moment was no equal knight, but a Godskin Noble who ranked among the foremost even among heroes, and who had once even slain gods. Among that mysterious and powerful order of apostles, only a scant dozen of the oldest and most terrifying could receive the queen's ennoblement and become the supreme existence known as "nobles."

"Your courage is commendable, but your strength..." Samuel the Godskin Noble let out a disdainful chuckle from beneath his hood. "Pathetic!"

As his words drifted down, his wrist suddenly exerted force, and the edge of the Godskin Stitcher traced a perfect arc before him. The instant the arc's end met its beginning, a black-and-white fireball abruptly appeared from thin air within it, then exploded into a fiercely burning vortex, swallowing the dozen-odd incoming wind blades and every knight nearby!

Only an instant passed from the expansion of the black flame vortex to its collapse. The Storm Knights blocking the way still kept their charging postures, yet their bodies had already been burned into charred pillars, then scattered into drifting ash in the gale stirred up by Samuel as he swept past.

For a moment, nothing stood between Samuel and the royal tent!

At the critical moment, a dragon's roar that shook heaven and earth erupted from the western side of the camp. Wyvern Elder Atok, who was locked in fierce combat with three Godskin Apostles, chose to fully dragonize despite the risk of injury. In his complete wyvern form, his defense and strength would increase greatly, but his agility would also diminish accordingly with the huge increase in his size. In battle against enemies on the level of Godskin Apostles, its safety was far inferior to the more nimble half-dragon form.

Seeing this, the three apostles circling the dragon immediately pressed close, seizing the tiny defensive opening as Atok shifted forms. Without hesitation, they viciously thrust out the Godskin Peelers wreathed in black flame, leaving three sword wounds on Atok's two shoulders and the tip of his right wing!

Atok gave a pained growl, a flash of violence passing through his crimson dragon eyes. Even as he was wounded, he launched a fierce counterattack. His powerful dragon tail swept around with tremendous explosive force, carrying a shriek of torn air as it whipped the three apostles in midair into clouds of blood! As he broke free of the encirclement, the Wyvern Elder immediately rose into the air, his wings beating as he sped to the side of the royal tent, just in time to block Samuel, who was rushing straight at it.

As long as he held the enemy off for two minutes, or even one, the Wyvern Warriors and Storm Knights could wipe out every Godskin Apostle who had broken into the camp. Once Merrell and Ekzykes freed their hands, not only would the royal tent be completely safe, even these bastards' escape would become a question.

Just then, Samuel, who had been rushing forward at extreme speed, suddenly leapt sideways at a bizarre angle, then rolled on the spot, his broad body turning into a rapidly spinning ball that crashed straight toward him. Just as Atok prepared to meet him head-on, Samuel's curled-up body suddenly unfurled, and a faint, formless wave of air burst from the pale skin garment he wore, unleashing a deafening sonic boom!

With that single move, the shockwave produced in an instant actually blasted Atok in wyvern form dozens of steps back. Aside from the royal tent protected by the divine power barrier, everything within a hundred meters exploded outward in a radial pattern. Even the barrier intertwined with lightning and fire was left swaying on the verge of collapse under the impact!

"This is—Noble Presence?!" Inside the royal tent, Lucia, who was gripping the Dragonscale Blade tightly, had his ears shaken until they bled, and his whole body flipped backward onto the ground.

Before he could rise, a section of blade wreathed in black flame had already pierced through the outer wall of the royal tent, then sliced an extremely fast cross-shaped slash. The entire royal tent was instantly split apart like a persimmon cleaved by a kitchen knife! The moment the figure in pale skin clothing leapt into view, the Godskin Stitcher had already turned into a blur of ghostly light, going straight for Lucia's throat!

Between life and death, the battle instincts etched into his bones forced him to roll sharply to the side. While dodging that sword by the narrowest margin, he swung his blade up to block, just in time to stop the second slash he had almost failed to see clearly. The instant blade met sword, agony shot through Lucia's arm that held the blade, and an irresistible, terrifying force lifted his entire body from the ground, smashing him through the table behind him and hurling him heavily to the floor!

Several steps away, Samuel tapped the tip of his foot lightly, and his massive body rose into the air with an agility that completely defied reason. His outstretched arm thrust the Godskin Stitcher forward, and the sword's edge, sharp as a thread, seemed to slide into a seam in space. In the blink of an eye, it was already closing in on Lucia's heart!

Suddenly, he saw that cornered boy inexplicably grab an incense burner scattered on the ground and hurl it at him with all his strength.

Though he knew perfectly well he would not be injured, Samuel naturally had no desire to be hit in the face by something so toy-like. So he casually swung his sword to block it, splitting it apart half a meter from his face!

Bang! A cloud of pale purple smoke exploded the instant the incense burner burst apart.

The moment the herbal fragrance drifted into his nasal cavity, Samuel felt his mind go blank. A surge of sleepiness that shot straight to the crown of his head overwhelmed every rational thought—and so, under everyone's eyes, this unfathomably powerful Godskin Noble toppled headfirst to the ground like a fly struck by an electric swatter. His limbs twitched unconsciously a few times, and then he began to snore thunderously.

At that moment, Lucia did not know if it was his imagination, but the previously clamorous battlefield seemed to fall suddenly silent. The despairing and furious expressions on Ekzykes and the others' faces froze into capital-letter bafflement, while the Godskin Apostles looked at one another, the strange human faces on the hoods that concealed their features now looking like ridiculous clowns.

At the center of the battlefield where countless gazes crossed, pale-faced Lucia scrambled to his feet and casually took Samuel's Godskin Stitcher with him, panting rapidly as he cursed, "Bastard, do you even understand what ancient-dragon-dose calming incense is worth?"

As everyone knew—fur burns, big bodies fear doors, fleshy monsters get cut by swords, thick shells get hammered, humans fear blunt strikes, dragons fear bleed, and Godskin bears fear sleep. Judging by Lucia's experience in this life, the whole "big bodies fear doors" thing probably did not exist anymore. Fortunately, the fact that Godskins were weak to sleep had not vanished because of his transmigration, or a certain someone would already have gloriously become the first demigod to fall in the Golden Age.

A gust of wind rushed toward him. Atok, having reacted, immediately flew to Lucia's side and spread his dragonized wings to shield him. The Storm Knights surged in from every direction, forming an ironclad wall around them with great shields and long spears.

"Your Highness, are you hurt?" Atok lowered his dragon head, his voice deep and muffled. At the same time, the knights had already taken out enchanted chains as thick as arms and were binding Samuel up layer by layer like a rice dumpling.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me first—put a few more dragon-breath seals on this guy!"

Atok nodded slightly and breathed an extremely precise mouthful of dragonflame at Samuel. The originally dark enchanted chains immediately turned a faint golden-red. After the seal was complete, if Samuel wanted to break through the chains, he would first have to bear the price of having his flesh burned away by dragonflame.

On the other side, Elder Merrell and Ekzykes no longer had any worries holding them back and both cut loose. The Godskin Apostles began fighting as they retreated, and after leaving behind four or five corpses, they turned into black flame and vanished. The other Godskin Noble fighting Guerel on the hill also used every trick he had, briefly forcing her back before immediately fleeing the battlefield.

From beginning to end, the night raid had lasted only a few short minutes, yet the ancient dragon envoy group looked as though it had suffered through a localized battle. The sturdy camp wall had become tattered and broken, and the large area centered on the royal tent had been blasted into bare ground by Samuel's Noble Presence. Incomplete corpses, burning tents, and shocking bloodstains were everywhere; some bodies even still burned with lingering black flames.

Lucia stared blankly at everything before him. After a long while, he let out a long breath and named two people. "Alvins, Annasia, step forward."

The two named people were both startled. They were not high-ranking officers, only two mid-ranking knight captains in the envoy group, each in charge of one squad of Storm Knights, so they had never imagined the prince would remember their names at all. However, out of a soldier's instinct to obey orders, once they recovered, they still immediately stepped forward and answered.

Lucia looked at the two young officers in their early twenties before him and said in a deep voice, "I regret to note that Knight Captain Kevin, who shared responsibility with you two for commanding the Storm Knights, was killed in the attack just now. Now I need you to recount the camp's personnel and casualties, reorganize the remaining Storm Knights into two squads, and dispatch one detachment to escort the wounded and the bodies of our fallen comrades back to Sky City as soon as possible—understood?"

"Understood!" the two replied without hesitation.

"Then," Lucia said, turning his gaze toward the rest of them, "Elder Merrell, Ekzykes, Guerel, please bring this Godskin Noble with me to the central army tent for interrogation. Elder Atok, please tend to your injuries first, then come join us afterward."

After the four agreed, he turned on his own and walked straight toward the central army tent.

Looking at that figure's back ahead of her, a strange look appeared in Guerel's pale blue eyes. In their previous interactions, Lucia's impression on her had never been very good. In particular, his acceptance of the Golden Dynasty's "invitation" had seemed to her like pure cowardice. Yet now, this guy had just narrowly survived an assassination attempt, so why was he acting so calm instead?

He really was impossible to see through...