Stark couldn"t help but laugh when he saw the Dragon Knight. He raised his arm and shouted, “Prepare to engage, Harell! Our friend from the Blood Dance Legion is eager to taste the strength of the five great Dragon Knights of Floating Ice City!”
In the sky, the Dragon Knight replied with a respectful smile, “Yes, my lord. For the glory of the kingdom!”
The fire dragon let out an earthshaking roar and raised its head. I could see jets of fiery breaths exiting his mouth. It was clearly a high-level dragon that could unleash its breath, and it didn"t take a genius to imagine how much damage it could cause to a ground army. It wasn"t a gamble the Blood Dance Legion could take.
……
Xue Wei narrowed her eyes into chilly slits. “Harell the Fire Dragon Knight, one of the five great Dragon Knights of Floating Ice City? Hmph, I wasn"t expecting to see your true face!”
Harell raised his dragonspear and smiled. “Oh, this is just the start of your "pleasant surprises". Teno, Pias, Bruce and Tia will also be arriving very soon. Speaking of which, that is the girl who killed the archbishop, right? Hmph! She must die even if she"s the legendary Wind Singer herself!”
Xue Wei smiled. “Is that so? Then please show me your power, Dragon Knight, a.s.suming that you haven"t lost it all after you lost your instinct and became a pet of the n.o.bles! You"d better not disappoint me!”
She successfully taunted Harell into a rage. “Pet? Pui! We"ve only left the Dragon Domain and returned to our homes to protect the land of humans! How does that make us pets of the n.o.bles?”
Xue Wei drew an arrow from behind a back. It was an arrow that looked as illusory as a phantom. Still sitting on top of her battle wolf, she aimed it at Harell the Fire Dragon Knight and started focusing her dark powers onto the arrow. Anyone could see that it was a powerful skill from the special visual effects alone!
Furious, Harell urged his dragon to charge Xue Wei while raising his own spear. “Die in your futile struggle, undead!”
“Break!”
Harell fired a deadly beam from his dragonspear at the same moment Xue Wei let go of the nock of the arrow. The beam struck her battle wolf squarely in the head, eliciting a painful howl from the creature and causing it to leap backward in pain. That one attack was all it took for the Dragon Knight to deal a severe blow to her mount.
At the same time, Xue Wei"s arrow sank into the fire dragon"s mandible and successfully tore a hole in it despite the toughness of its dragon scales. When red scorching blood dripped from the wound and fell to the ground, the gra.s.s it landed on immediately burst into flames. As it turned out, the fire dragon literally had fire circulating inside its body, as even its blood was hot enough to burn. What a terrifying creature!
Both sides did some damage to each other, but Xue Wei was clearly the loser of this exchange. The skeletal battle wolf was just a low-level mount, and it would be a long time before it regained its strength after taking a direct hit from the dragonspear. Although the fire dragon also took a full-powered shot from Xue Wei, the wound it suffered was minor at best. At best, it lost a bit of combat strength and nothing else.
Xue Wei urged the battle wolf to turn around the moment she realized that the fight wasn"t going her way. “Quickly!”
“Roar!”
Her mount growled in acknowledgement and slipped into the forest in no time.
“Planning to escape? Do you really think it"s going to be that easy?”
Harell urged his own mount to chase after Xue Wei. As he hovered above the forest and gathered another powerful beam at the tip of his dragonspear to strike down Xue Wei, something unexpected happened.
Rustle rustle...
Countless shadows suddenly shuffled beneath the leaves. They were all wearing form-fitting leather armor, and they all had long hair that reached the shoulders just like Xue Wei. In fact, their gorgeous purple eyes marked them all as succubi. It was a trap! An entire squad of succubi archers had been lying in wait inside the forest all this time, and their bows were already fully drawn and ready to be let loose!
Standing behind the archers, Xue Wei pulled out her sword and shouted, “s.h.i.+ning Archers, loose!”
Swhoosh swhoosh swhoos.h.!.+
It looked as though a swarm of locusts was loosed at the Fire Dragon Knight and his dragon. Succubi were natural-born archers, so almost all of their arrows. .h.i.t their target perfectly. Although they failed to penetrate its armor, the powerful impact still elicited a painful howl from the dragon!
“Roar roar…”
Not only that, the powerful volley actually caused the dragon to lose its balance and crash into the forest. It was able to flap its wings and get back to its feet almost immediately, however. It was a dragon after all.
“Pui…”
Harell spat out the gra.s.s in his mouth before asking angrily, “Are you taunting me, Xue Wei?”
Xue Wei pointed her sword at him with a smile. “Try and kill me if you can. My s.h.i.+ning Archers may not be strong enough to shoot through a dragon"s armor, but you"re not a dragon, are you?”
“Hmph!”
Harell let out a cold snort but didn"t deny it. It was because he knew that what she said was true. Dragon Knights heavily relied on their dragons to fight, and without one they were at most a high-level foot soldier that even I could engage directly. Of course, this Fire Dragon Knight"s level was far higher than mine, so I was no match for him even if he was without his dragon.
……
The Fire Dragon Knight"s unexpected fall enraged Stark, the commander of the Black Cavalry greatly. He immediately raised his sword and shouted, “Knights, prepare to charge!”
The tension immediately shot up several degrees as both sides started a.s.suming positions and formations under their commanders" orders. It looked like a big battle was about to break out at any moment!
It was at this moment a beautiful female warrior with a white cape suddenly appeared at the distance on a white horse. After she got off her mount, she gripped her sword and walked over with a face devoid of expression.
Shocked by the woman"s arrival, Stark rolled down his own mount and dropped to one knee immediately. “Your Majesty, you didn"t need to come yourself!”
That"s right, the newcomer was none other than Princess Karinshan herself. Right now, she was wors.h.i.+pped like a G.o.d in Floating Ice City because she was the reason the kingdom was still standing to this day!
“What are you doing here, Stark?” Karinshan asked with a small frown.
Stark replied, “Your Majesty, that girl over there slipped into the Holy Temple and killed Archbishop Alves. Not only that, she even took away the Devil Suppressing Gemstone from the Soul Suppressing Scepter. That is why my troops and I are trying to hunt her down and take back the gemstone. However, we weren"t expecting Xue Wei of the Blood Dance Legion to interrupt our pursuit!”
Karinshan pressed her lips together before glancing at Xinran and me. A bit of hesitation crept into her features before she asked, “That girl killed Archbishop Alves?”
“That"s correct, Your Majesty!” Stark implored pa.s.sionately. “From what I gathered, that girl is no normal human being. She is very likely an evil spirit who had escaped from the cracks of h.e.l.l. Not only that, the templars of the Holy Temple claimed that she could be a sovereign of the Devil Domain. We need to eliminate her as soon as possible!”
But Karinshan rejected his request calmly, “Blood Dance Legion has never interfered with our business, and vice versa. I see no need for us to wage war against one another!”
She then walked past Stark and grabbed the hilt of her sword. Exuding natural pressure, she asked, “Which one of you is Xue Wei?”
Shadow Dancer Xue Wei urged her mount out into the open before dropping to the ground. Gripping her own bow, she replied, “I am. Are you… the legendary princess of Floating Ice City, Karinshan?”
Karinshan nodded before asking her a question, “What is the goal of the Blood Dance Legion?”
Although Xue Wei was caught off-guard by the question, she quickly responded, “Our goal is to rebuild the Violet Empire, protect the dignity of the undead and push against the invasion of the Night Creatures!”
“Is that so?” Karinshan smiled. “It sounds like we share the same goal then. In that case, shall we work together to defend the southeastern lands of Heavenblessed Continent and shatter the destructive power of the Night Creatures?”
“You are wise, Your Majesty!” Xue Wei smiled. “As for Xinran"s matter, I hope that you will make a righteous decision, Your Majesty!”
Karinshan nodded. “I"ve more or less investigated the ins and outs of the incident. Archbishop Alves has killed countless civilians in the past decade or so to absorb the power of faith in their souls. I don"t fault Xinran for killing him!”
“I see. Thank you, Your Majesty!”
“You"re welcome. By the way, please send my greetings to Princess Sophia when you return. Also, I would like to meet her personally on a future date so that we may discuss how to push back the Night Creatures together!”
“Understood. I promise to bring your message to the princess!”
“Thank you.”
……
When Karinshan turned away, a hint of killing intent flashed behind her eyes. Whatever the outcome of the negotiation, it didn"t change the fact that Xinran had killed her archbishop and undermined the royal authority of Floating Ice City. She was only compromising because of the greater good; she knew that only one of the two factions would be left standing if they were to wage war against each other now!
“Your Majesty, we cannot let this go like this!” Stark pleaded angrily.
Karinshan"s response was a harsh rebuke. “Are you going to refuse my order, Stark? Withdraw your troops and return to your fortress now, or you will be punished by the laws of the empire!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Forcing himself to swallow his anger and indignity, Stark turned his back on us and ordered, “Black Cavalry Legion, retreat!”
……
The army of Floating Ice City retreated like tidewater, but Karinshan herself didn"t leave immediately. Instead, she walked up to me and Xinran before smiling at me. “I apologize for what happened to you; this is all just a misunderstanding. Floating Ice City needs a hero like you, and I hope you won"t blame Stark for what he did. He acted like this because Archbishop Alves had taught him several martial techniques a long time ago.”
She then stared at me for a while before continuing, “I still believe that the people who had the courage to enter my grave and wake me from slumber are good and trustworthy!”
I nodded and thanked her. “Thank you for overlooking my moment of rashness, princess!”
“Hehe!” Karinshan nodded with a smile. “It"s okay. Floating Ice City is still your home!”
Then, she walked up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. She declared, “I, Karinshan, officially pardon you from your crimes!”
Ding~!
System Announcement: The bounty on the player “Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand” has been officially canceled!
……
Haha, this is amazing! It was just a false alarm after all! Princess Karinshan is such a bro!
After that, Princess Karinshan went back on her horse and galloped away, the elite cavalry of Floating Ice City following closely behind her.
……
Staring at Princess Karinshan"s shrinking back, Xue Wei commented indifferently, “What a character. Her bravery and intelligence rival that of Princess Sophia. It looks like it"s only a matter of time before Floating Ice City rises to power!”
After that, she turned toward Xinran and asked concernedly, “Lady Wind Singer, are you okay?”
Xinran shook her head and said weakly, “I"m fine!”
I immediately walked up to them both and supported Xinran. “Xue Wei, let"s head back to the camp and find a doctor for her right away!”
“Got it. Follow me!”