286: Chapter 280 You remind me of an annoying guy

Zhang Mu gathered nearly all of his magic power, letting it surge frantically toward his palm.

The bright fireball resting in his right hand was like a bottomless pit, accepting any amount of magic power without exception.

As the magic power within Zhang Mu's body gradually depleted, the color of the fireball changed drastically.

It shifted from its initial bright yellow to a ghostly blue, then to a pale white, until it became transparent.

Its current size was minuscule, roughly that of a ping-pong ball, but seeing the space around it distorted by the scorching temperature, it was unlikely anyone would want to be hit by it.

He pulled out a potion, gulped it down, and felt the warmth spread throughout his body. Zhang Mu let out a breath and simultaneously sent a voice transmission to all the City Lords—'Retreat! Take the seven Soldiers on the ground with you!'

The City Lords, who had been fearlessly besieging the Middle-aged Man, subconsciously froze for a moment upon hearing the familiar voice in their ears.

Fortunately, they were all High-tier Professionals with sharp combat instincts, and they quickly regained their senses, retreating violently.

They dropped to the ground with agile movements, wrapping the seven Soldiers holding rifles in magic power to carry them away.

On the other side, the Middle-aged Man anticipated that a Sky Knight would attack him from his left blind spot. He sent a stone spike in that direction, but it hit nothing.

He looked around in confusion, only to find that the crowd surrounding him was retreating as quickly as a receding tide.

Heh, have you finally learned fear?

With a contemptuous smile, he prepared to fly forward and hunt them down.

"Little ones, let me teach you what death is..."

Mid-sentence, he suddenly sensed a trace of killing intent emerging from behind him.

It was very faint, like a strand of hair brushing against his ear, a mere itch.

Turning around, his eyes scanned left and right, but he couldn't find the source.

Of course, the Middle-aged Man didn't think it was his imagination. He became even more alert, spreading out his Mental Energy to sense his surroundings.

After a while with no results, he grew a bit anxious.

Andre's order was to keep all the City Lords outside the Magic Tower, dead or alive. However, the City Lords had already run so far they were out of sight.

A few more minutes passed, and he didn't intend to stay in a stalemate. He raised his staff high, preparing to release an area-of-effect spell to clear the area.

But just as his hand went up, a glimmer of light suddenly lit up beside him.

What is this? A sneak attack?

He didn't dare underestimate the trump card that the person hiding in the shadows had been brewing for so long. To be safe, he chose not to counterattack, instead pouring all his magic power into his reflection shield to reinforce it.

Little did he know, this move was exactly what Zhang Mu wanted.

Zhang Mu raised his hand and pushed the small, transparent fireball forward, quietly pressing it against the Middle-aged Man's waist, and then—BOOM!

The City Lords, who had already fled far away, heard an explosion that sounded like it would destroy the world. They all turned back in shock.

In the center of the city, a mushroom cloud rose into the sky. A physical shockwave spread in all directions, toppling high-rise buildings and shattering houses wherever it went.

"What is that?" Danielson hung in mid-air with his mouth wide open, his entire face illuminated by the distant firelight.

"Solar Storm? I heard City Lord Aiji's signature magic is Solar Storm!" The companion beside him stared blankly as well, responding instinctively.

"Solar Storm is only Master-level magic. Have you ever seen such a terrifying Master-level magic?"

"Uh, I don't think now is the time to worry about that." The companion choked for a moment, then hurriedly asked, "What do we do? Should we go back?"

"Of course!

Even if City Lord Aiji is still alive, releasing a spell like that must have left him exhausted."

As he spoke, he shouted to the surroundings: "Quick, return and support him!"

In fact, without needing Danielson's reminder, the City Lords had already begun flying toward the Magic Tower.

None of them were fools. Getting hit by that cloud would cost a person their life or at least a layer of skin. If they didn't kick him while he was down now, were they supposed to wait for the Saint-tier to recover?

Their thoughts were highly unified, and their execution was decisive. In an instant, they had returned to the scene.

As expected, although the Middle-aged Man was still floating in the air, the magic shield wrapping his body had disappeared.

Furthermore, his previously neat earthy-yellow robe had been ravaged, turning into charred, tattered strips hanging off him.

Seeing this, without needing a word, everyone immediately surrounded him again.

However, a Saint-tier was a Saint-tier after all, and a brand-new reflection shield rose in an instant.

The City Lords knew that today only one side would leave the Royal Capital alive. They fearlessly spread out their formation—Knights engaged in close-quarters suppression, while Mages unleashed firepower from the periphery.

Watching the fierce battle before him, Zhang Mu breathed a sigh of relief. "At least these bastards didn't drop the ball."

Others might not know how badly the Saint-tier was injured, but he was clear as day about it.

The Middle-aged Man's reflection shield had been forcibly shattered by the mutated fireball. Caught off guard, the shockwave had slammed directly into his physical body, causing internal organ injuries and destroying his robe, but that was only surface-level distress.

A Saint-tier didn't just have more abundant magic power; their very being had undergone a qualitative change and evolution. Besides having a strong physique nearly equivalent to a Great Knight, their self-healing ability had also drastically increased.

In a sense, a Saint-tier was no longer the same species as a human.

For a minor trouble like displaced and damaged internal organs, the Middle-aged Man only needed to sit still for ten minutes to fully recover.

Therefore, they couldn't give him a moment's respite. They had to maintain the attack, forcing him to exhaust his magic power until his accumulated injuries worsened and led to his death.

This was their only chance of victory.

But clearly, it was easier said than done.

In the immediate aftermath of being blasted, the Saint-tier could barely mobilize his magic power, but in the minute it took for the City Lords to fly back, his body had already healed seventy to eighty percent.

Not only could he summon the reflection shield again, but he could also release magic fluently.

Zhang Mu, to avoid being accidentally injured by the City Lords' magic, stayed invisible and shrank back outside the circle, pondering a solution.

Another fireball would have limited use.

To avoid hitting the City Lords, they would have to retreat a certain distance when he released it, but if they went too far, they wouldn't be able to immediately attack the injured Middle-aged Man.

By the time they flew back, he would be mostly recovered again.

Staring at the "charred man" in the center through the gaps in the crowd, Zhang Mu suddenly had an idea.

Breaking the defense from the outside was basically hopeless, but what about from the inside?

When he was hit by the fireball earlier, his skin was only charred but not broken, yet his internal organs were clearly heavily damaged, as he had spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

"I'll give you a shot in the mouth."

Zhang Mu pulled out his walkie-talkie and gave orders to the Soldiers who had reorganized their gun formation on the ground—wait for him to open his mouth, then shoot him in it.

Above the ruins, the seven Soldiers received the order and immediately set up their rifles, pressing the round buttons on the sides of the gun bodies.

The seven sniper rifles, serving as magic nodes, deployed a miniature array centered on their dark muzzles.

The seven arrays shot out beams of light to connect with each other, outlining a giant hexagram upon a patch of rubble.

The captain, Damu, knelt on one knee, his right eye pressed against the sniper scope, while he spoke into the headset at the corner of his mouth: "Everyone, aim!"

"Number One is aimed!"

"Number Two is aimed!"

"Number Three is..."

After the six teammates finished reporting, Damu took a deep breath to adjust his heart rate, waiting for the moment the man high in the sky opened his mouth.

Because he had activated the Shadow Technique, only Zhang Mu could see the movements of the seven men below.

Once the hexagram lit up, he knew the seven were prepared. He immediately revealed himself and went forward to join the battle.

"Everyone, put in more effort to drain his magic power!"

Zhang Mu shouted, raising his hand to condense an ice spike, when his peripheral vision suddenly caught a familiar figure standing in front of the gate of the Magic Tower.

...

Avril had become increasingly lethargic recently, often sleeping for an entire day.

Even if Mora shouted with all her might during that time, she wouldn't be woken up.

But today, she had unusually woken up early. She first put on a form-fitting white princess dress, then layered an ice-blue robe over it.

Mora stood behind her, tilting her head curiously: "Princess, why are you wearing two layers of clothes?"

Avril sat in front of the vanity mirror, examining herself in the glass, her mind recalling her junior's stunned gaze when she had worn this long dress.

"Doesn't the dress look good?"

"It looks good, but... what's the point of wearing it inside?"

"If... heh..." With a light laugh, she stood up and went to the window, looking up at the luminous figure floating in the sky.

"A god..."

Mora followed her, her head peeking out from Avril's right side: "That's a very big god."

"It is very big."

Without a reference point, there was no clear concept of the god's specific size, but that figure obscuring a corner of the sky was certainly not small.

Raising her hand to grab randomly in front of her, Mora looked at the blood-red color that showed no sign of fluctuating and said, "Is this the Blood Sacrifice Array?"

"It has already been activated."

"Princess, what should we do?"

"I'm going to the Magic Tower."

"Then let's go."

Avril snapped back to reality and smiled, "I am going."

Stunned, Mora's expression suddenly changed drastically: "No, I absolutely will not—"

Mental Energy jolted her brain, and her body slumped to the ground.

Using magic power to wrap her and float her onto the bed, Avril pushed open the door, intending to head to the Magic Tower.

However, after the door opened, she saw someone unexpected.

"Royal Brother? Why are you here?"

The Second Prince had his hands clasped behind his back, with an old man standing beside him.

He smiled: "You underestimate your brother too much."

"It has nothing to do with that. You should have escaped."

"Where could I escape to?" The Second Prince turned his head, looking up at the god. "It has woven the Ice and Snow clan into the curtain for the arrival of the new era. Our clan's extinction is the pair of hands that will draw that curtain back."

"So the King surrendered, thirsting for a hope of survival." Avril changed the way she addressed her father, using a mocking tone.

In both their minds, the truth revealed by Servant surfaced simultaneously.

"How ironic." Avril smiled rarely, like a blooming flower.

Sighing, the Second Prince brought the topic back on track: "I know what you're going to do, and I'm not here to stop you."

She raised her eyes, which were completely covered by Ice and Snow: "Unlike you, Royal Brother, I thought you were here to persuade me to go to the Lake North Territory."

"Is that the backup plan Potter left... He doesn't understand the specific situation." The Second Prince shook his head and added, "Even if one ascends to the Saint-tier in the underground palace, what of it? Without inheriting the bloodline of our ancestors,"

"We will always be lambs in the god's pen."

Avril blinked: "Then you're here to..."

Pointing to the old man beside him, the Second Prince said: "A Saint-tier is also an ant before a god, but they still have many uses when facing mortals.

There is a Saint-tier by Andre's side. You are not his match. If he accompanies you, there will be more certainty."

After a moment of thought, Avril did not refuse the kindness. She stepped past the two and headed toward the Magic Tower.

The old man gave a knight's salute to the Second Prince, then turned to catch up with her: "Princess, I can fly you there."

"Let's walk. It just so happens there are some parts of the Royal Capital I haven't memorized yet."

"Many streets and buildings have been reduced to ruins by the shockwaves of the battle."

"Ruins are fine. I'll just tell my junior that the center of the Royal Capital was originally ruins. Anyway, he's never been here, so he won't know if I'm lying."

Their conversation grew faint until it vanished.

The Second Prince stood in front of the door for a while, finally glanced at the god one last time, and hurried toward the outskirts of the city.

Right now, the Royal Capital was in a state of chaos.

The two Archdukes and Jarvis were busy tearing down the church, while the City Lords from all over and the Saint-tier left by Andre's mother were in a fierce battle near the Magic Tower.

The King and two Saint-tiers belonging to the Royal Family were nowhere to be found. The Second Prince had a guess—they must be inside the Magic Tower tinkering with something.

He couldn't intervene in any of the three battlefields.

But waiting around was not his style.

The only thing he could currently influence was the large number of legions stationed outside the city.

Aside from the Griffin Legion, the others were also the kingdom's elites.

There were many ordinary people within them, but there was no lack of Professionals, and even a few scattered High-tier Professionals.

They could hardly sway the overall situation, but they were still a force to be reckoned with.

If the two sides inside the city fought to the point of exhaustion, the legions might be the final weight on the scale to victory.

What the Second Prince had to do now was to obtain command over all the legions.

Because he had not yet reached the High-tier, he could only walk out of the city. Even running at his fastest speed, it took him half an hour to reach the woods where the Griffin Legion was stationed.

This side was easy to handle.

The Second Prince directly showed the token given to him by the Archduke: "Griffin Legion, hear my command! Head to the location ten kilometers from the Magic Tower at full speed and stand by!"

"As you command!"

The Legion Commander verified the token with his eyes, then pulled the reins, and five thousand griffins flapped their wings and soared into the sky.

He didn't waste any time and hurried to the nearest legion camp without stopping.

Pulling out a badge carved with a snowflake from his chest, the Second Prince strode toward the camp gate.

...

At the Magic Tower in the center of the Royal Capital.

Zhang Mu was about to take a closer look at the person in front of the tower gate, but he was interrupted by a stone spike from the Middle-aged Man.

Instinctively turning sideways, the stone spike grazed the tip of his nose as it flew past.

Having avoided it by a hair's breadth, a look of irritation surged in Zhang Mu's eyes as he turned toward the Middle-aged Man.

The man returned his gaze, waving his staff to knock away a Great Knight who was slashing at him, and said with a thoughtful expression, "Was it you who just ambushed me?"

"Unhappy about it?"

"Heh." The Middle-aged Man sneered, "Rats hiding in the gutter are indeed very disgusting, but only as long as they aren't exposed to the sunlight."

"Damn it, why do all mages like to put on airs?" Zhang Mu grumbled, waving his staff and flinging out three Ice Cones.

Being insulted, he strangely didn't get angry. While shattering the Ice Cones, he frowned: "That tone sounds a bit familiar... You remind me of a disagreeable fellow."

What the hell?

Zhang Mu stopped releasing magic and looked at him in confusion.

I have the panel translation, so I have no communication barrier with the people of the Saul Continent. It's just that because I'm from Blue Star, a completely different civilization, my linguistic habits are different.

People who have spoken to me can indeed notice it, but he doesn't know me, does he?

Zhang Mu asked curiously: "What kind of disagreeable fellow?"

The Middle-aged Man stroked his chin in deep thought, completely ignoring the magic being bombarded at him and the knights slashing at him.

The two of them started chatting on the battlefield, which made the City Lords happy rather than angry.

"City Lord Aiji, great job!"

They thought this was Zhang Mu's strategy, using words to distract the enemy's attention.

While praising him, they encouraged themselves in their hearts not to let City Lord Aiji's efforts go to waste, and began to attack desperately, swinging their greatswords so fast they left afterimages.

The Middle-aged Man, who was lost in thought, seemed to recall something and said realization, "In Andre's study, I saw an image from a shadow recording crystal."

It seemed to be a... little fellow named Zhang Mu.

You lack manners just like him; it's quite loathsome."

"Dumbass!" Having figured out the reason, Zhang Mu didn't bother to continue wasting time and directly threw out several Ice Cones.