One person spoke, "Strength is one aspect. However, the key is that this person's character is cunning and his methods are brutal. Countless people have died by his hand."
"He once poisoned hundreds to achieve his goals, including women and children."
"What?" a female Wizard Apprentice exclaimed with surprise, then clenched her teeth and said, "Such a person deserves to die!"
"Indeed, he does deserve to die," someone said, "The key issue is, how do we kill him?"
"Jeff never acts alone. There are always Wizard Apprentices from Kolon protecting him, especially lately. He hasn't left the military camp—it's to guard against our assassination attempts."
The female Wizard Apprentice said, "Then let's find a way to lure him out. I don't believe..."
A low howl interrupted her, and she instinctively looked up toward the direction of the sound.
The howling got louder and closer.
A cannonball wrapped in flames crashed through the roof and landed right in the middle of the hall, then exploded immediately.
It wasn't just one cannonball.
Continuous cannon fire turned the manor into a sea of flames, with the core area bombarded repeatedly.
In the distance, a middle-aged man with a sinister face put down the device he used to gaze into the distance and waved lightly. "Send the Wizard Apprentices to clean up the battlefield."
The soldiers below responded immediately, and several Wizard Apprentices rushed toward the manor, wielding flames and sweeping them back and forth.
The extreme heat could melt gold and iron, and none of the assembled Wizard Apprentices from the Alliance was spared.
A Wizard disguised by a transformation spell attended the banquet as a distinguished guest and dealt a fatal blow to a certain Kolon noble.
「A battlefield somewhere.」
Several Wizard Apprentices hid among the soldiers and, upon approaching their target, launched a sudden attack, killing a senior general from Kolon.
Several Kolon nobles spewed blood, their bodies convulsing as they collapsed to the ground.
In just over a month, scenes like these took place in various locations.
Wizard Apprentices from the Swamp Alliance, using mysterious witchcraft, launched assassinations against key figures in Kolon.
Manipulating Puppets!
The methods of the Wizard Apprentices were strange and hard to guard against. Even with Kolon's preparations, people continued to be assassinated.
The situation on the battlefield also changed accordingly.
Hibell, having completed her mission, held Carl's golden token, flipping it back and forth, her eyes showing admiration and envy.
"Earning the credit for killing a Legendary Knight all by yourself—you're still the first in the entire Swamp Alliance."
"Pure luck," Carl said with a light smile, "I can only say I was lucky, or perhaps my companions were not. Didn't you also assassinate a Legendary?"
"There were six of us. One died, two were severely injured, and the remaining five shared the credit," Hibell handed back the golden token, saying, "To get a token , you'd need to kill five more Legendaries!"
Saying this, she shook her head lightly. Legendary Knights were not so easy to kill. Moreover, every Legendary from Kolon was a high-ranking general, surrounded by numerous guards and with Pyrejackers at their disposal. So far, the only truly successful assassinations of Legendaries, including Bob who died at Carl's hands, numbered only four. It was difficult enough to kill them when they weren't on guard, let alone when they were prepared.
"I heard you took on another mission?"
Carl put away the token. "Why are you pushing yourself so hard?"
"It seems you don't know yet," Hibell sighed, "The Star Gate promised by the Divine Domain has already been delivered, but this Star Gate is not intact."
"Every time it opens, it can only send a small number of people to the Wizard World."
Carl raised an eyebrow. Hmm?
He wasn't surprised that the Star Gate was incomplete. After all, Angel Remiller had already said that the Star Gate given to the Alliance could only transport one way. But he hadn't mentioned there was also a restriction on numbers per activation.
"So..." Hibell began, "Official Wizards have taken up some of the spots, and the remaining Wizard Apprentices all want to be in the first group to go through. For fairness, the Alliance established a ranking based on merit, so you definitely don't have to worry."
Carl touched the token on his chest, a smile on his face. No wonder! Everyone said this token was very important; even Hibell looked envious. It seemed he should have a spot in the first group.
The two further discussed their views on what lay ahead. Compared to Carl's caution, Hibell was quite confident.
In her view, with the addition of the Swamp Alliance, Kolon's generals and nobles continued to die. Those who survived were all trying to guard against assassinations. The allied forces had already recaptured several cities, making a final victory very likely. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novèlfire.net
As for muskets and cannons... although powerful, they could be mastered by any ordinary person, and the allied forces already had musket teams. Once muskets became widespread among the troops of the allied forces, they would not be weaker than Kolon.
After seeing Hibell off, Carl contemplated for a moment before setting aside his distractions and stepping into a secluded, quiet room.
With a light wave of his sleeve, torches in the four corners of the room immediately lit up, illuminating the entire space.
The floor of the room was engraved with a huge image, its core a small Tai Chi, with eight trigrams surrounding it.
This painting—any transmigrator from Earth would find it familiar, yet there were differences in the details. For example, the Tai Chi Diagram. It wasn't the commonly seen large-headed fish Tai Chi Diagram, but a small-headed fish one, and the peripheral eight trigrams were more abstract. It was similar, yet subtly different.
Taking a deep breath, Carl stepped into the center of the image, placing an offering in each of the two cores of the Tai Chi Diagram.
Then he closed his eyes tightly and chanted softly.