Chapter 174: Fall of the Kingdom (3)
Inside the royal palace, several figures hurried into a secret chamber.
They lit the candles inside.
As the flames flickered to life, they illuminated a mirror standing in the small room.
Smoke drifted from the wicks, blurring the smooth glass. One of the men wiped the mirror, restoring its pristine surface.
A silhouette appeared in the glass.
"Ancestor, the kingdom is facing its greatest crisis," the man before the mirror said, dropping to his knees.
"What crisis?"
"A wizard is attacking the capital. The kingdom is in danger of destruction," the kneeling man replied.
"A wizard?" the voice from the mirror asked, sounding puzzled.
"Wasn't the Kingdom Protection Treaty signed? Are there wizards who would still violate it? Could it be a wandering wizard?" the voice asked.
The kneeling man did not dare to speak. He had no idea if the wizard who had suddenly invaded the capital was a wanderer.
But no matter what kind of wizard it was, even a wandering one was far beyond their ability to handle.
The fundamental gap in strength was simply too vast.
"Someone is breaking the rules. I will resolve this matter. Leave for now," the voice in the mirror said.
"Yes, Ancestor."
The kneeling man stood, turned, and left.
Behind him, thick black mist surged from the mirror, slithering up the man's hair and burrowing into his head. Completely oblivious, he took another two steps forward.
Suddenly, his body stiffened. In the span of just two breaths, the expression on his face shifted from agony to absolute calm.
The man resumed walking, but everything about him—from the rhythm of his steps to his expression—had completely transformed since he first descended.
He stepped out onto the streets, listening to the screams and shouts rising and falling across the city.
His eyes were utterly indifferent.
He pushed open the heavy stone doors and emerged from the castle, taking in the endless cries of slaughter and agony echoing outside.
Expressionless, the man ascended to the castle's highest roof. He turned his gaze toward the city, a strange light flashing in his eyes. It was a wizard tower. It really was a wizard.
"Since it is a wizard, this will be much easier to handle."
"Though I truly wonder whose wizard this is, to actually break the rules," the man murmured to himself.
"An ignorant child." A hint of anger crossed his face.
He raised his head, staring coldly down at the city. Suddenly taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth and exhaled a massive cloud of dense smoke. The black smoke expanded, transforming into thick, rolling clouds of dark mist that spread in every direction.
As the black mist rolled outward, a few nearby goblins caught a whiff of it and instantly collapsed unconscious.
The black mist continued to spread, faintly threatening to rival the white mist released by the wizard tower.
Atop his wizard tower, Lynn sensed an abnormal energy fluctuation. He also noticed that within a restricted area of his white mist, black mist had quietly appeared.
"Do you have any idea what you are doing?" an icy voice echoed from above.
A second later, Lynn saw a blur flash before his eyes, followed immediately by a phantom materializing right in front of him.
It was a blurry human face, hovering roughly twenty meters away.
Its features were stiff and cold, staring rigidly at him.
"Judging by your wizard tower, you do not seem like a wandering wizard. Do you know how grave a mistake you have made? Many years ago, the wizards of the islands signed the Kingdom Protection Treaty. Wizards are strictly forbidden from attacking ordinary people."
"None of your damn business." Lynn looked up, his eyes turning blue. "Mental Shock!"
Hum—
Ripples of transparent energy surged forward, shattering the floating face in the sky.
"You—"
Only that faint voice was left echoing in the air.
Lynn's expression remained perfectly calm. What an idiot, really thinking he was someone important.
They were the ones who had signed that so-called treaty. He hadn't signed a thing, so why should he care?
Before making his move, he had investigated the relevant information through the wizard network's channels. This Kingdom Protection Treaty hadn't been issued by the Wizard Council. The deterrence of any treaty simply depended on who had actually signed it.
The signatories were merely wizards from the Third Island Chain. It was nothing more than a small organizational treaty notarized on the wizard network.
Its binding power only applied to the local wizards of the Third Island Chain who had signed it.
Of course, by launching a war against the Moduo Kingdom, the wizards of the Moduo Kingdom naturally had the right to sanction and wage war against Lynn.
But so what? If they wanted a fight, he would give them a fight!
Turning to look at the castle in the center of the city, a light glinted in Lynn's eyes. He raised his right index finger and pointed at the stronghold.
High in the sky, a complex green summoning circle sketched itself into existence.
The next moment, a meteor wreathed in green fire plummeted from the heavens.
"Netherflame Summoning!"
Trailing a long tail of green fire, the meteor smashed into the top floor of the castle, obliterating the walls.
Thick smoke billowed from the massive crater blown into the roof, and the ground trembled slightly.
Beaker was a goblin. It was said that when he was born, his great-grandfather had just returned home and gave him this cultured name.
Word had it that his great-grandfather was an esteemed Goblin Engineer who worked under the great master.
All Goblin Engineers resided in a place known as the Goblin Laboratory.
Beaker had heard that a "beaker" was the name of a very precious instrument used in the laboratory!
His great-grandfather had purposely given him this noble name.
Beaker had always felt a deep sense of pride in his name.
Ninety other goblins had been born on the exact same day as him, but none of them had a name as good as his.
They were called things like Stone, Mud, Nail, or Fist—names that did not sound good at all.
Ever since his birth, Beaker had trained under Lord Hongyan.
Because he was naturally stronger than ordinary goblins, and his brain was a little bit sharper, he had been selected to become a goblin lurker.
From the moment his training began, he knew one thing: their training was entirely so that one day they could wage war for the master. They were born to be weapons in the master's hands; wherever the master pointed, they would attack.
During training, he would sometimes secretly ask Lord Hongyan when he could finally become the master's spear.
Lord Hongyan told him that when the time came, it would come.
Now the opportunity was here. Blending into the ocean of goblins, he slipped forward like an insignificant black shadow hugging the walls.
Mist blanketed everything around him, but it had no effect on him whatsoever—because this mist had been summoned by the master!
This was the great master's mighty divine power.
Up ahead, Beaker noticed that a group of humans had formed a legion to hold back the goblin horde.
To Beaker, these human soldiers looked rather frail. Their bodies were not nearly as strong as he had imagined.
A light swing of his dagger would be enough to slit their throats.
However, these humans were extremely tenacious. Although they looked frail compared to him, they were still much stronger than ordinary goblins.
But the humans did not have the advantage in numbers. The goblins crashed into them like a green sea—attacking from the front, left, and right. Wave after wave surged forward, washing over the humans like a tide.
Faced with an enemy far fewer in number, the goblins erupted with unprecedented cohesion.
Through his observation, however, Beaker found that these human soldiers were simply too weak.
They failed to rouse his desire to hunt at all. Even for prey, he wanted to choose a target of value.
The human spears thrust forward from between their round shields, piercing out and then retracting.
The frontline goblins fell, but more goblins surged forward, rushing headlong over their bodies.
Red blood and chunks of green flesh turned the area into a colorful Hell.
But Beaker did not find this cruel at all. To die for the master was their honor.
From the moment he began his training, he was prepared for death.
Like an ocean wave, the endless stream of goblins surged toward the humans. They climbed frantically, stepping on the corpses of their fallen kin to form ladders. The goblins at the very top threw themselves down like madmen, howling meaningless cries.
Swinging its scimitar, one goblin had its belly pierced by a human spear from below, but the blade in its hand still struck viciously against the soldier's helmet. The scimitar was knocked high into the air, and the soldier's helmet shuddered from the blow, ringing loudly.
The human soldier looked up. In his blue eyes, an endless swarm of goblins blotted out the sky like locusts, leaping from above with their curved blades falling as thick as rain.
His helmet was hacked away piece by piece, until a scimitar gleaming with cold metal sank heavily into his neck.
A head flew into the sky.
Once the tightly held defensive line was cracked open, the remaining goblins poured through like a flood finding a release valve, tearing the army's defense to shreds.
Beaker withdrew his gaze. They were dead, and it was time for him to continue searching for his own prey.