Interception
Accompanied by several guards, okum walked to the front of the convoy.
"You are the reception party?"
"Yes, we are here by order of the Third Prince to escort Princess Ina to Jones City."
One of the officers at the front spoke up, while Okum sized them up, feeling that something was off, though he couldn't quite pinpoint where...
"Is it just you people?"
"Yes."
At a glance, there were only about thirty of them. In all fairness, there were over a hundred people in their envoys, with forty guards from the Otto Kingdom alone. Yet the Third Prince had only sent a little over thirty men for the reception?
"I need to confirm your identities first."
"You'll understand when you see this."
The leader tossed out a black token. A guard caught it and handed it to Okum. Okum's eyes grew wide in shock.
Black Armor!
The Ailera Empire's foremost elite cavalry unit, every one of them an elite among elites. With that in mind, their small number made a bit more sense.
"In that case, I'll trouble you all to assist with the escort."
"Of course."
The leading man waved his hand. The Black Armor soldiers moved to protect the sides of the carriages. Glancing at the Otto Kingdom guards, the man spoke again.
"Your mission is finished. Return to your country."
The words made Okum feel a bit strange. Why did he ask the guards to return? Wasn't it normal to have them escort all the way to Jones City?
But, as if possessed, the Otto guards' leader agreed anyway.
"Yes, sir."
The guards mounted their warhorses, offered a knight's salute to Princess Ina, and the Otto Kingdom cavalry turned back.
"Hey, those are the Otto Kingdom's accompanying guards. Isn't it unreasonable to send them back?"
"Fewer people make things easier."
The man touched a ring on his hand, and Okum suddenly understood.
So these people were here to cooperate with him on a mission. No wonder...
But—
"Heh heh, my lord, you're overthinking it. I've already taken care of this myself—no need to trouble you further."
"Is that so, Lord Okum? You do work efficiently."
"Serving the Empire is my duty."
As Okum spoke, he didn't notice the flicker of murderous intent in the other man's eyes.
"Let's go!"
The convoy regrouped and continued towards Jones City. But as they traveled, okum soon realized something was off.
"My lord, are you sure we're on the right road?"
"Of course, I know this route well."
"But..."
As he looked around at the ever-thickening jungle, okum compared his map.
"Something's not right..."
Before he could finish, the man cut him off.
"Not right? Then where are we?"
"According to the map, we should be in the western Corrupted Jungle. We were supposed to avoid it on this trip."
"Oh? So we've left the Otto Kingdom far behind."
"Yes, we've already entered the Ailera Empire."
"Is that so."
At these words, okum felt the surrounding temperature drop. An illusion?
No, something was definitely wrong!
"Wait, you—"
Before he could finish, a silver dagger flashed. Okum's words were cut off by the blood gushing into his throat.
Level 27 junior spirit mage, dead!
As the man acted suddenly, the escort guards were thrown into chaos. Before they could react, daggers slit throats, long swords pierced hearts—the assassins hiding beneath the Black Armor revealed their fangs.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Assassins burst out of the carriages and clashed with the envoy's guards. It was a surprise attack. The envoys were caught off guard and in the ensuing fight the guards were swiftly overwhelmed.
Amidst the flashing blades, all one hundred guards were slaughtered by the Black Armor soldiers within minutes.
Cold eyes swept over the convoy now carpeted in corpses. Terrified shrieks continued to come from inside the carriages.
Silver!
This was the title taken by each Silver Shuttle leader after discarding their name. As the fourteenth generation Silver, the man's strength was unquestionable.
He drew back the lead carriage's curtain, and the Ailera Empire's envoy looked out in terror.
"Y-you—who are you people? How dare you—"
"Kill him!"
A flash of the blade. Six stabs to the chest: the envoy was dead. The rest of the envoys inside the carriage met the same end, until finally—
"Target found!"
He opened the door of a luxurious carriage. The girl lay peacefully on the seat, her ring glittering on her hand...
"Target unharmed. Mission complete. Begin cleaning the scene."
On order, the assassins acted quickly. A woman's corpse, dressed identically to Ina, with matching jewelry, was removed from another carriage.
They threw the body into Ina's carriage and tossed in torches—anything that could prove they had been there was consumed by fire.
"Withdraw!"
With Ina in their custody, they vanished into the jungle as dusk fell.
Once the sky darkened further, another unit of Black Armor soldiers galloped onto the scene.
When they saw the burned convoy, an officer leapt down before his horse had even fully stopped, rushing straight to the last carriage, where the charred corpse of "Princess Ina" lay inside.
"Bastards! Who the hell did this!"
Wu De's fury reached its peak.
He hadn't needed to be here at all, but after losing contact with the envoy's escort, he and his men had tracked the route and found stripped, dead soldiers. Realizing the severity, he immediately led a search, and upon following the smoke had discovered this scene.
"Sir, what are our orders now?"
Looking at the corpse of Princess Ina, everyone's faces were grim.
Earlier, they'd planned to control Serea and have her assassinate the Third Prince, but were foiled by a Church "Celia" who never left her side. So they'd hired killers, but before they knew it, Serea was "dead" and Celia was "dead" too.
Now, after being inexplicably subjected to accusations from both the Otto Kingdom and the Church, they'd been under great pressure.
Their new plan was to control Ina to assassinate the Third Prince—and now Ina was dead too...
Both princesses of the Otto Kingdom had died within the borders of the Ailera Empire. The first time they could shift blame to Thieves, but this time...
Weren't they just looking for a pretext to silence the "peace faction?"
Why did it have to be so hard!
"Damn it, was there ever a crap job that didn't land on me?"
Wu De swore angrily, but what could he do?
"Leave thirty men to hold the scene. The rest, with me."
Mounting up, Wu De rushed out. His adjutant asked:
"Sir, what now?"
"What? Catch the Thieves of course! Or do you want this mess pinned on me?"
The soldiers dashed off while everything that had happened was witnessed by a scout.
Once Wu De left, the scout quickly slipped away to his own unit.
Several kilometers from the scene, a cavalry squad waited. Their leader's name was "Wenlof," an officer in the Otto Kingdom's Royal Guard—all with faces covered for secrecy.
Why were royal knights hiding their identities?
No choice; they'd been sent by royal order to a special mission: intercept the convoy, rescue Princess Ina, and smuggle her abroad—things that could never come to light. But now...
"Captain, I've scouted the fire's location—it's precisely where the missing envoy convoy was."
"And Princess Ina?"
"She... is dead."
"!!!"
Wenlof was stunned, then furious.
"Those Ailera Empire animals!"
Seeing Wenlof lose control, the scout quickly advised him.
"Captain, calm down. Princess Ina's death means our mission has completely failed. We need to leave at once. If the Empire discovers us, they'll use us to make trouble."
The reasoning was sound; their mission had failed before it had even started. All they could do now—
"Withdraw!"
With heavy hearts, wenlof led his men back to the Otto Kingdom to report. As they hurled curses at both the Ailera Empire and the Otto nobles who had arranged for Ina's removal, they also had to consider how to publicly denounce Ailera, using the princess's death to rile the populace and further discredit the Empire.
It was a stark, ironic reality—but such is war!
...
Swish, swish, swish!
Shielded by night, the Silver Shuttle assassins raced through the woods, splitting into two groups: one to escort the wounded to the nearest Trading Post, the other to bring Princess Ina to meet that person...
"This is the place."
Silver, carrying Ina, stopped, ten assassins around him glaring warily at a massive tree.
"You have not disappointed me."
"Greetings, my lord!"
The assassins knelt together and Lilith stepped forward.
"Hand her to me."
Lilith took Ina, then turned to Silver and the others.
"Have you decided what to do next?"
"If we are exposed, we'll all kill ourselves. If my lord is concerned, we can immediately—"
"No need for such extremes. You are heroes of the royal house. Though we cannot honor you publicly, Otto will never forget you."
With that, lilith mounted her warhorse.
"There's a newly built Trading Post outside Sedis City. It's a good place to go."
"Of course, we await your next summons."
At those words, silver led his people into the depths of the jungle and vanished.
"Serea would probably need such talent. Rather than let them fade into obscurity in Otto, better to have them follow Serea and restore Silver Shuttle's past glories."
Muttering to herself, lilith stroked her silver token, then looked at the jungle.
"Giddyup!"
She spurred her mount and soon disappeared into the forest.
...
Elsewhere in the jungle, Serea gazed at a newly completed stone-brick spire, excitement filling her heart.
"It's finished!"
"According to your instructions, several mana crystals were installed to collect mana. But Queen Serea, what is the purpose of such an energy supply device?"
Lodran asked, and Serea answered with a mysterious smile.
"I have my own plans."
She stretched out her hand toward the spire.
"Unlock construction—Necromancy Tower!"
System: Unlocking, please wait...
By fusing 100 Death Crystals and 100 Soul Crystals, 100 Nether Crystals were created. Once construction was unlocked, the spire began to transform.
White bones and wraiths coiled skyward, the spire now resembling an outstretched witherbone claw. Within its bony grip, three giant mana crystals rotated slowly.
Construction: Necromancy Tower (Gold)
Level: 30
Durability: C
Endurance: B
Mana: S
Introduction: The sole building of the Nether route; can absorb death power within a certain area to produce Death Crystals, or absorb soul power to produce Soul Crystals. Two modes available. Nether Crystals can be consumed to raise mana in the area, and it enables special evolution—Reaper Guardsman.
Soul Crystals weren't urgently needed, but Death Crystals...
"Open build management."
The data appeared; the Necromancy Tower was operational and its daily Death Crystal output was—
72!
The number made Serea jump.
Wow—using her subordinate Undead, she'd only ever produced 80-something Death Crystals per day, and now the tower nearly doubled that.
System: The death mana concentration is too high in the jungle; thus, massive Death Crystals are generated.
"Looks like an eruption of death energy isn't all bad. But what does 'increase mana in the area' mean?"
System: Would you like to activate the skill 'Mana Release'?
"Yes."
Nether Crystals were fed in, the tower's mana crystals spun faster, and the moment of mana release, Serea immediately sensed the power.
"This is..."
Her strength was rising, very slowly, but noticeably so.
"So it's basically using Nether Crystals as experience gems—the yield is decent."
But it also meant that drawing experience gems was even less worthwhile...
With another look at the special unit, Reaper Guardsman—she'd already witnessed its power before. Although the nether power's erosive effect on the living was weaker, they no longer suffered a fatal weakness to holy light; it patched the Undead's shortcomings.
Evolve Reaper Guardsman (Tier 4): Consumes a Nether Crystal to infuse one underworld Undead with nether power, temporarily transforming it into a Reaper Guardsman for half an hour.
Not a permanent unit, but drastically raised the unit cap for Skeleton Warriors.
And with the tower's extra Death Crystal output, Serea's "population" was back, but she did not rush to convert underworld Undead or Skeletons; she waited.
As for the Dragonbone Catacomb, Serea doubted a Tier-3 building would require no resources at all, so she would save her "population" quota for the catacomb.
Having reviewed the Necromancy Tower, she turned back to the camp's four massive stone statues.
Level 28 warbeast—Gargoyles!
The level wasn't as high as her own exclusive warbeast, Clark, nor did they have great intelligence, but their strength was in mass production. True, production was limited by Blood Spring supplies, but four was enough for large-scale operations.
And tomorrow was the day of the jungle meeting. She needed to be ready.
Just then, Vina ran over in a hurry.
"My Queen, miss Lilith has returned!"
"!!!"
(To be continued...)
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