Night had fallen over the courtyard where Richard resided.
Richard met with Mu’en once again, but this time was different; it was Mu’en who took the initiative to pass on information requesting the meeting.
"What’s wrong?" Richard glanced at Mu’en, who stood in the courtyard with a clearly uneasy expression, and asked, "What’s the situation?"
"Huh—" Mu’en took a deep breath, looked at Richard, and spoke out, "Lord Richard, I have been diligently digging into the Wizard Organization’s information as per your request, and investigating that Arson Organization and the affairs of the Black Spirit Empire. But I discovered..."
"Encountering difficulties?" Richard’s eyebrows raised.
"No." Mu’en shook his head, his expression quite peculiar, "It’s not difficulties. If it were only difficulties, I would not have been in such a rush to find you. Actually, it’s quite the opposite—it’s been far too easy. Many developments have effortlessly exceeded my expectations, especially regarding the investigation of that Arson Organization. My people easily made contact with them and obtained a massive amount of information.
I was initially happy, but upon reflection, I began feeling a bit frightened. After all, they were extremely vigilant before, and despite using many capable subordinates, they were discovered and killed by them. Now, just one month later, how could things have changed so drastically? This makes me feel as if it’s like..."
"A trap?!" Richard completed Mu’en’s sentence, then with a sense of insight looked toward the courtyard gate, his eyebrows shooting up as he spoke, "Well then, it seems your intuition was correct, they have followed you straight to our doorstep—the preparations on their part are quite thorough."
"Ah! What!" Mu’en was startled, following Richard’s gaze, he sharply turned to look at the courtyard door.
Just at the next moment, with a "bang," the gate was violently broken open, and three figures swept into the courtyard like phantoms.
The gray-haired leader entered, followed by two other individuals with brown hair—all evidently Wizards in terms of their Cultivation—three Wizards!
The leader stepped forward, scanning Richard and Mu’en without saying a word, but simply waved his hand at the two brown-haired Wizards.
The brown-haired Wizards, very understandingly bypassed Richard and Mu’en, entered the room to start a quick search and returned to the courtyard shortly after, nodding towards the gray-haired wizard, "Group Leader Jos, no one else is present."
"Understood," the gray-haired wizard known as Jos nodded, his gaze seriously shifting between Richard and Mu’en, eventually fixing his eyes on Richard.
"Heh!" the wizard named Jos snorted coldly, "I thought we were up against someone unafraid of death, investigating us, but it turns out it was you two. Tsk tsk, I am quite curious, who gave you the courage! By the way, one of my colleagues, Art, didn’t he fall at your hands?
To be honest, I found Art rather annoying, but it was wrong of you to kill him. After all, this will upset the Muse Housekeeper, and when the Muse Housekeeper is unhappy, it irks Captain Franklin, who then assigns the task to me.
Now it seems, I’ve done rather well in this task, luring you in with some deliberately thrown-out false information, and step by step, found my way here. So, what’s it going to be, are you going to fully disclose everything about yourselves willingly, or wait until I’ve tormented you with my Spirit Magic before you spill it?"
Mu’en’s face turned pale, his fists clenched tightly after hearing Jos’s words.
However, Richard remained calm, looking at the gray-haired wizard known as Jos, he said, "You’re so certain that just the three of you can take down the two of us?" He asked this in order to probe the bottom line of their opponent.
The reply was somewhat reassuring, "What, the three of us aren’t enough? Three is plenty! Actually, if it’s just the two of you, one of me is already enough! I possess many Spirit Magic spells you can’t even imagine—even if you are a very powerful wizard, you’re still no match for me!"
"Are you sure?" Richard’s eyes twinkled.
"Absolutely certain!" Jos, brimming with confidence, began to laugh, "Haha, let me tell you now, in fact, from the moment I entered, I have been casting Spirit Magic on you; you are now hopelessly trapped within my Spiritual Illusion. I can launch a mental attack on you anytime, while you are utterly unable to defend. With just a single thought, I can make you suffer unimaginable pain."
"You don’t believe?" Jos couldn’t help but let out a derisive laugh, "Well then, let me show you." With that, Jos waved his hand.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
Several seconds passed, and the courtyard was quiet, nothing happened.
A breeze blew by, making for a rather awkward atmosphere.
Jos couldn’t help but widen his eyes, looking at Richard, and then back at his own hands, he exclaimed in puzzlement, "This can’t be possible, something must be wrong!"
With those words, Jos waved his hand again.
Several more seconds quickly went by, and still the courtyard remained silent, with nothing happening.
The atmosphere, already awkward, reached such a level that even Jos’s two companions—brown-haired wizards—couldn’t help but avert their eyes.
Jos looked at Richard, his expression shifting by the moment, and after a pause, he revealed an extremely guarded look, addressing Richard, "My...my spell must have taken effect, but you’re completely unharmed. Could it be that you... you can fully defend against my spirit magic attacks?"
Richard thought to himself: Of course.
Putting aside everything else, just the relentless training with the Crystal Skull alone had made his spiritual strength incredibly formidable, easily withstanding numerous spirit attacks. And having obtained the "Judgement Feather" from the Clown, he had the additional ability to resist spirit attacks and break illusions. The combined effects were far greater than the sum of their parts. For him now, the least of his worries was spirit attacks.
However, though this was what he thought, he did not express it aloud. Richard looked at Jos and spoke indifferently, "Alright, you’ve already taken your turn twice, now it’s my turn to make a move."
Upon hearing this, Jos’s expression changed drastically, and he cried out, "Be careful!"
No sooner had he spoken, Jos and his companion went on full alert.
Richard, without any courtesy, simply waved his hand and threw the newly developed 315 alloy bullet at the brown-haired wizard on his left.
The brown-haired wizard, seeing the alloy bullet incoming and unaware of its power, quickly cast a spell, causing the earth beneath to rise and solidify into a sturdy stone shield.
The first metallic bullet struck and exploded with a massive impact, triggering a chain reaction with the subsequent metallic bullets. The terrifying force was released in an instant.
A series of deafening booms rang out, even the flames didn’t appear; the brown-haired wizard had no time to react. The stone shield shattered in an instant, and the full force of the metallic bullet-induced air explosion wreaked havoc on his body, blowing half of it into smithereens.
With a single sound, the brown-haired wizard’s mangled body fell to the ground, motionless, clearly dead.
The other brown-haired wizard and the grey-haired wizard, Jos, were utterly horrified, their expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
Inevitably, they had thought they were in a crushing situation, yet now they were the ones overwhelmed. How could they not be shocked?