The Thieves (Part One)

Greater Fireball required Merlin to cast three ordinary Fireballs before he could release it.

Therefore, Merlin rapidly cast three ordinary Fireballs in his room. Once the grey horizontal bar in his Sea of Consciousness turned red, he shrouded the Bell Pendant with his mental power and simultaneously forcefully drove the red horizontal bar.

"Greater Fireball!"

Instantly, a wave of scorching heat seemed to surge upward swiftly. Fortunately, Merlin had already aimed the Bell Pendant at that huge ball of fire, and then, under the stimulation of Merlin's mental power, the Bell Pendant rapidly produced a powerful suction force.

This suction force directly pulled the newly formed giant fireball into the pendant.

A wave of joy bloomed in Merlin's heart. He hurriedly probed his mental power into the Bell Pendant and discovered that that huge fireball had indeed been imprisoned by the Bell Pendant within one of its small compartments. It was extremely stable; he only needed to gently stimulate it with his mental power to release this huge fireball.

Success! The Bell Pendant can withstand Greater Fireball!

Merlin finally breathed a sigh of relief. There were a total of eighteen small compartments inside the Bell Pendant, meaning it could store eighteen Greater Fireballs. This was equivalent to Merlin being able to continuously release eighteen Greater Fireballs anytime and anywhere, and their might was unimaginable.

Very well. With this Bell Pendant, my combat capability will be greatly enhanced!

Thus, Merlin continuously consumed his magic power in the room, casting ordinary Fireballs until he met the conditions for releasing Greater Fireball, after which he stored the Greater Fireball inside the Bell Pendant.

Although this was extremely troublesome and also consumed a great deal of magic power, fortunately Merlin now had an entire night, which was enough for him to fill the remaining eighteen small compartments inside the Bell Pendant.

At an abandoned pasture, thick snow covered the turf. A few men wearing white robes and cloaked in silver armor were sitting in front of a campfire, seemingly discussing something.

The bonfire burned fiercely, emitting waves of heat that melted the surrounding snowflakes into puddles.

These three men had lean figures and unexpectedly all wore golden masks on their faces, obscuring their appearances. One slightly shorter man reached out and threw a piece of firewood into the campfire, saying with a cold laugh, "Heh heh, the time to strike has finally arrived. But dealing with a mere Wilson, a Level-Two Flame Swordsman, requires the three of us to act?"

"Qu Luo, of course dealing with a mere Wilson doesn't require the three of us to act. However, this matter concerns a major event of the Church, so we must absolutely not lower our guard."

"Lei Luo, Angus, when we strike later, I will go deal with Wilson. I want to see just how long a mere minor noble from Blackwater City can last under my hands!"

"Alright, the two of you stop bickering. The Church won't attach much importance to a single Wilson, or even Blackwater City, but Blackwater City, Lute City to the east, and Gran City to the west form mutual horns, creating a very advantageous defensive circle. Therefore, we must secure these three cities at the minimal cost to deal with any incursions the Black Moon Kingdom might launch while we are in temporary chaos."

The final man appeared to be the leader of the three and commanded great prestige. The moment he spoke, the other two listened quietly.

"Angus, Lord Bishop has already instructed this time that the three of us should take you as the lead. Tell us, how specifically should we do this?"

Angus raised his head to gaze at the pitch-black void, saying in a low voice, "As for matters inside Blackwater City, Lord Jason is in charge and nothing will go wrong. However, matters outside Blackwater City must be handled by us, and absolutely nothing can go wrong! The other small towns have limited strength and are not worth worrying about. Only this Wilson's territory even stations a batch of Heavy Armored Knights. If they were to break into Blackwater City, I'm afraid it would cause a certain amount of trouble for Lord Jason in controlling Blackwater City."

"Therefore, Lord Bishop has ordered us to keep Wilson permanently in his territory at all costs! The gods will bless us, and the God of Light is always with us!"

Angus's voice was ice-cold, and his entire body radiated killing intent.

"The God of Light is with us!"

The other two men wearing golden masks also stood up abruptly with solemn expressions.

Just as dawn was breaking, Merlin's door was knocked upon.

"Master Merlin, Lord Baron asks you to come out quickly. It's time to set off back to Blackwater City."

A grey-robed maid called out softly.

"I know."

At this moment inside his room, Merlin's complexion was slightly pale and he looked extremely exhausted, yet his gaze flickered with an excited radiance.

That was because throughout the entire night, Merlin had almost constantly been casting Fireballs, then quietly waiting for his magic power to recover, and subsequently casting Fireballs again.

Thus, Merlin hadn't closed his eyes for the entire night, but he had finally managed to fill all the small compartments inside the Bell Pendant before dawn. With the Bell Pendant, Merlin didn't even need any magic power; he only required the guidance of his mental power to continuously release eighteen Greater Fireballs.

Merlin stood up, threaded the Bell Pendant with a thin piece of hemp rope, and then hung it across his chest. This way it wouldn't easily draw the attention of others while still allowing him to conveniently release the spell inside the Bell Pendant.

"We're setting off this early?"

Merlin left his room and arrived downstairs, discovering that outside the castle, many knights stood densely packed. Most conspicuous among them were about two hundred Heavy Armored Knights. They were painstakingly and personally trained by Old Wilson at the cost of massive effort, and their combat effectiveness was astonishing.

At this moment, Old Wilson was also clad in black armor, standing on the stone steps outside the castle. Seeing Merlin descend the stairs, he furrowed his brow slightly and said, "What? You didn't rest well last night?"

Merlin shook his head and said with a smile, "It's nothing, just that I've just arrived at the castle and am not quite used to it yet. Is Father planning to take all the knights in the territory?"

"There's no need to take all of them. We only take the Heavy Armored Knights; all the other knights will stay behind in the territory to protect it and fend off incursions from those thieves!"

Old Wilson shook his head slightly. He had no intention of taking all the defensive forces of the territory away.

"Hm? What is that sound?"

Old Wilson was just about to set off when suddenly, his gaze turned toward the distance. Bursts of noisy and chaotic hoofbeats rang out, and the billows of dust kicked up in the distance could also be clearly seen.

"Not good! It's thieves! All knights, prepare for battle!"

Old Wilson rapidly judged the situation. His expression changed drastically, and he immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.

Instantly, the numerous knights outside the castle grew vigilant. They successively drew the greatswords from their bodies, formed a defensive array, and stared fixedly ahead.