dmims Page 90
Page 90
"However, there's one thing you were too careless about, little Fim. You shouldn't have revealed your real name to either the city gate guards or that girl named Natasha who seems to have some mental issues... You must remember that!"
"Luckily, they are all ordinary people who have never fought you before, otherwise, we would all be in great danger if we were recognized!"
"Fim, I understand."
Fim nodded, looked up at the towering mountains, bent down, and took out the cloak that Swell had prepared for her to frame the Wolf Mercenary Group.
A dark gray wolf cloak enveloped her petite figure.
The demonic sword Apophis was now in his hand.
"Then, let's proceed to the final step of the mission—"
Apophis's inner power was flowing abundantly, constantly switching between profound magic and divine energy, and an unprecedented sharpness enveloped the sword.
“Sever that dragon contract, the relationship between humans and dragons, the beautiful marriage of the Ice and Fire Dragon King... completely, without leaving a trace.”
……
The outskirts of the royal capital.
As the night gradually darkened, a bonfire was lit in the hidden jungle.
Pairs of bloodthirsty, cold eyes lurked among the trees, gazing at the distant mountains standing outside the capital.
"Boss, we've found out!"
A mercenary silently slipped back into the jungle and, in a low, excited voice, addressed the leader, Wolf, who sat at the head of the campfire: "Those Royal Paladin sentries seem to have all retreated back to the capital... as if preparing for some important crisis!!!"
"Now, the entire outskirts of the capital are at our mercy!"
"Heh." Before the campfire, the wolf opened one eye, revealing a cruel smile:
"I knew those useless paladins had run out of tricks—the repeated setbacks have turned the entire kingdom into a sick wolf. All it takes is a little panic to establish our infamy!"
"No need to wait anymore!!!"
Standing up, the wolf looked at the group of mercenaries wearing cloaks of the Wolf Mercenary Group, a pleased smile playing on his lips:
"Now, it's time to close that deal for our big client and make the Dragon Hidden Mountains... a place where we'll make a name for ourselves!"
"Let's make a big scene! We want all the commoners outside the capital to know that we're about to accomplish a bloody feat in the Dragon Hidden Mountains!!!"
"Let's go up the mountain!" the wolf growled.
Countless sharp knives and blades were raised high, as if to pierce the sky, their sounds echoing across the wilderness.
"Up the mountain! Up the mountain!! Up the mountain!!!"
……
The Royal Knights.
As dawn broke, squads of elite knights stood ready within the knightly order, the atmosphere heavy and solemn.
They were the most elite force of the Knights, warriors who had fought countless battles in the bloodbath of the night of rebellion. Any one of these elite knights possessed strength no less than that of a hero candidate, but at this moment, they still had to repeatedly caress the sharp sword in their hands to suppress the turmoil in their hearts.
After all, they all knew that when daylight came, the enemy they would face might no longer be vicious mercenaries or despicable demons—but a giant dragon!
One after another, incredibly powerful dragons!
“Those despicable nobles… at this time, they have already hidden themselves away like rats.”
On the training ground, the Knights Commander Erwin was half helpless and half angry, with a deep worry flashing in his eyes.
Although the worst-case scenario is unlikely to occur unless an accident happens, if it does... it would be the greatest disaster! A calamity of dragons that threatens countless civilians in the capital!
"The request for assistance to the Radiant Duke has also gone unanswered. It seems that the Duke of Thanaus has been busy preparing something all this time... Alas, it seems that he has been doing his best to protect the common people in his own territory and is already overwhelmed."
With a long sigh, Erwin knew he had no room to back down.
Either we can live in peace until the Dragon Clan Contract is completed today... or we will die in the battle to protect the capital.
All the paladins had gathered together, which reassured Erwin somewhat, but he also had a strange, ominous feeling, as if he had overlooked something...
Suddenly, the telepathic magic communication array lit up.
Irwin's heart tightened; this timing for the contact was not part of his plan!
"What happened?"
"Immediately connect the call," Irwin asked in a deep voice over the communication network.
"Commander, there's something you might need to know..." came the response from a paladin responsible for monitoring the walls of the capital. He was stationed on the western city wall, and his voice trembled slightly: "The Wolf Mercenary Group has appeared—"
"The Wolf Mercenary Group?" Erwin frowned. He knew of the cunning adversary that the knights had been trying to eliminate, but now was not the time to concern himself with such petty squabbles.
"How many of them are there? Are they a decoy or a raiding party?" Erwin asked to confirm.
He knew all too well that those cunning mercenaries came and went without a trace, and all their actions were likely just a smokescreen to create a diversion.
however.
"Neither." The paladin's voice trembled slightly, as if even he couldn't believe it:
"—It's all of them!!!"
"From the elusive leader, Wolf, to all the mercenaries who had fought us, whose faces were on wanted lists, and whose crimes were heinous, they all revealed themselves at the same time!!!"
"What?!" Erwin's pupils widened in disbelief.
A strong alarm bell rang in my heart at this moment.
Why? Why now of all times? Why did the Wolf Mercenary Group take such a radical action?
Is this a coincidence? — No! Absolutely not!
"What are they planning to do?!"
"I don't know..." The paladin reported his findings in detail, his voice urgent and filled with doubt, "They kept going straight towards the Dragon's Lair Mountains on the western outskirts of the city gate!!!"
“Dragon Mountain Range…why…” Erwin’s brows furrowed into a line.
Years of intuition told him that the Wolf Mercenary Group was absolutely serious this time, and their blatant actions were simply to give them no time to react... What was it? What was in the Dragon Hidden Mountains? Was it worth taking such a huge risk?
The Wolf Mercenary Group is different from ordinary mercenary groups; they are not only driven by greed for money, but also by spreading fear! They are truly wicked!
What kind of sensational target would it take to provoke these wolves to come out in packs?!
...and so on...a sensation...
In an instant, Erwin's eyes widened.
He abruptly turned his head to look at the west side of the capital, and an absurd guess surfaced in his mind... If it were true, then he might have really made an irreparable, grave mistake!
However, there is no time to confirm the truth with Prince Ota right now.
More importantly, if the Wolf Mercenary Group really knew the location of that contract, which even he didn't know—what does that mean?
A deep terror flashed in Erwin's eyes, and a chill ran through his limbs. Remembering the figure Prince Ota always spoke of, his voice instantly filled with regret and anger—
"It's that mole?!"
"He's struck again!!!"
Without a second thought, Erwin crushed an emergency communication stone, which burst forth with intense red light!
An unprecedented alarm sounded over the Knights, and the next moment, the Knights' Grand Master Erwin's roar echoed through the dawn sky.
"—Go quickly and fetch Prince Ota!!!"
……
"Boss, our whereabouts have likely been discovered by the knights near the west city wall—"
Longzang Mountain Range, on the mountain ridge, along the mountain road leading to the summit.
Listening to the mercenary's report, Wolf sneered: "It's too late. The west gate connects to another mountain road. It will take them at least half an hour to get here and surround us. That's plenty of time for us to complete the job. Now, our only concern is whether we can encounter the person we want to kill."
The summit of the Dragon Hidden Mountains might take an ordinary person half a day to reach, but for these terrifying mercenaries who had lived by the sword, they were already close to the mountainside in just a few words.
A chilling cold gradually permeated the mountain air, and the gray-black cloaks fluttered ceaselessly in the surging air currents, like a pack of vicious wolves baring their fangs.
Suddenly, the wolf stopped in his tracks. With perfect muscle control, he instantly drew two short knives without any unnecessary movements, pointing them at the place blocking the only way through the mountainside.
The air was filled with an intense, unyielding heat.
"Looks like we didn't go the wrong way—"
Looking at the girl's face before him, which matched the intelligence report perfectly, the wolf's lips gradually curled into an excited smile.
"Hero, Shana."
A red-haired, red-eyed girl stood guard here, wielding the Holy Blade of Fire.
A fiery aura rippled through her red hair as the girl's eyepatch glowed, and a deep, penetrating eye peered down, uttering a chilling sound:
“It seems I didn’t choose the wrong path—Fim was right, there really are evil forces that will appear at dawn.”
"You've come here to break the contract, haven't you?"
Even a wolf needs a moment to adjust its mindset when facing a hero at the pinnacle of humanity. With a slight smile, the wolf answered without hesitation:
"Yes."
At this point, whether it was a sting operation or not is no longer important. Behind the wolf, mercenaries exuded a crazy and bloodthirsty aura.
"However, you are our true target—Hero."
……
"We're almost at the summit. We should be able to keep watch around here..."
Near the mountaintop, where a blizzard was gradually rising and the surroundings were obscured, a figure draped in a strange cloak stopped in his tracks.
The seemingly plain cloak shrouded the figure in darkness, making it impossible to discern the appearance or height of the person inside, and even the voices emitted became distorted... making it impossible to tell whether the person was male or female.
Inside the cloak, Dane Brando gripped the strange blood crystal at his chest.
A surge of rich blood energy coursed through Dane's body, making him marvel once again at the extraordinary power emanating from the "Abyss," which was beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Even if those formidable mercenaries swarmed him, they would probably find it difficult to match this power, which was second only to that of a hero.
"It's a pity it's consumable... otherwise, I could have turned the tables on that guy Thanaus."
"Well, never mind, making a name for myself and becoming a 'hero' is the most important thing right now." His eyes gleamed with intense ambition.
Unlike those good-for-nothings who only cause trouble, he had already arrived halfway up the mountain last night. Once the blizzard subsided slightly, he set up his ambush there... No matter which mountain path the Wolf Mercenary Group came from, he wouldn't miss them.
"However, those wolves are only closest to coming from the road on the outskirts of the mountain, right? Should we go check that out first?"