A peculiar booming noise erupted, and the Deep Blue Castle Wizard saw flashes of light on the surface of a strange weapon before numerous metallic bullets flew out, targeting the Second-level Wizard Goring in the air.
Second-level Wizard Goring quickly released a Magic Shield in an attempt to resist.
"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!"
The booming sounds became incredibly rapid, and the bullets fired became dense. The Magic Shields released by Second-level Wizard Goring shattered one after another like bubbles. In the end, Second-level Wizard Goring couldn’t release Magic Shields fast enough and was struck by numerous metallic bullets. With a scream, he burst apart.
Broken flesh and blood rained down like rain, some of it landing on the face of the Deep Blue Castle Wizard, sticky and wet.
The Deep Blue Castle Wizard stood there, dazed, looking at the person wielding the strange weapon down the street and then turning his head to look at Teddy and the others, pitying him like he was a fool, at a loss for words.
"I have a question I’d like to ask you," Teddy said seriously to the Deep Blue Castle Wizard. "You just said that Master Goring would definitely kill us. So where is he now? Is that him on your face? In his current form, how does he plan to kill us?"
"I..." The Deep Blue Castle Wizard felt an immense frustration upon hearing this. His facial muscles twitched, and he glared at Teddy, struggling to catch his breath and dying on the spot due to severe injuries.
"Hey, he died just like that? Really, such small tolerance?" Teddy checked the breath of the Deep Blue Castle Wizard, frowning deeply. "That’s very rude, I haven’t even gotten an answer to my question."
The other three rolled their eyes at Teddy simultaneously.
Footsteps sounded, and Richard walked over.
All four straightened their expressions and greeted Richard with a slightly respectful demeanor.
"Good day, Wizard Richard."
"Good day, Wizard Richard."
"Good day, Wizard Richard."
Even Teddy, a familiar face, greeted him, "Hello, Richard."
The reason was partly due to awe of Richard’s power, and partly because there were benefits in following him.
Speaking of which, the Magic Tools they had just demonstrated had all been obtained by digging with Richard. Although digging was indeed tiring and somewhat embarrassing, what did that matter?
Consider the man who had just died—a First-level High Order Wizard—with only a slightly precious Magic Tool as his trump card. They, on the other hand, had several. Where else could one find such fortune?
Richard saw the four greeting him and responded briefly with some routine politeness, then turned to look in other directions across the city.
He saw that, with the result of the wizards’ battle, the morale of the guards had been severely impacted, and seized by Wu Long leading the First Glory Cavalry Group, they successfully crushed their opponents. Thus, the battle moved towards its end, devoid of suspense.
Richard glanced a few times and waved at Wu Long, who immediately walked over.
At this moment, Wu Long, whose armor was covered with slashes and bloodstains, emitting a strong bloody scent, still bowed respectfully and inquired near Richard, "Master Wizard Richard, the battle is essentially over. What are your instructions for next?"
"Keep to the old routine," Richard replied. "First thoroughly eliminate the enemy, stabilize the city’s public order, then take the remaining forces out of the city for digging. Oh, and this time, we’re not digging on the mountain but beside a forest to the east of the city."
"Yes," Wu Long nodded in response.
Mandun City, outside the city, Screaming Forest.
This was a dense forest where, even in winter as most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, still seemed incredibly dark and eerie due to the trees being closely packed together.
Furthermore, the terrifying legends of the Screaming Forest meant that almost no one came here; even hunters usually chose to detour rather than hunt in the forest.
But at this moment, the Screaming Forest was bustling with activity.
Hundreds of soldiers, under the leadership of four wizards, had been working day and night. They had turned over most of the ground outside the forest and were now accelerating the pace to not miss the remaining parts.
The gentle winter sun shone down, making the ground next to the Screaming Forest look like a busy construction site. Almost everyone was busy with tools, and even the wizards were frequently casting spells.
The only person who seemed to be slacking was Teddy.
At that moment, Teddy was sitting in a corner next to Richard, talking to him.
"Have you received the message from Master Eva?" Teddy asked.
"Mm," Richard nodded, confirming.
"Master Eva seems to be preparing to discuss the final battle?"
"Yes, discussing the final battle," Richard pursed his lips, somewhat emotional, "It feels too soon, I thought this war would last a little longer, but now we’re preparing for the final battle."
"Isn’t that the truth," Teddy agreed, shrugging, "But there’s no helping it, Deep Blue Castle has been disappointing. Under the joint assault, they had no capacity to resist, hardly saw any formidable wizards. I think most must be staying in their garrisons at Deep Blue Castle, preparing for a desperate last stand. You’ll be joining the discussions, right?"
"Yes," Richard said softly, his expression neutral but his heart filled with complicated thoughts.
Honestly, he didn’t want to be involved in any discussions about the final battle, more accurately, he didn’t want to participate in this final battle at all.
He could guess that this final battle wouldn’t be simple, with the support of the Mysterious Organization, it could be another reiteration of the Deep Blue Castle conference.
He didn’t want to get entangled in another meaningless fight, he just wanted to excavate the ruins of Yadisi Village, unravel the ultimate secret of the Black Spirit King, and leave once and for all.
But fate wasn’t on his side. They had dug nearly ten sites already, approaching Deep Blue Castle yet still hadn’t found the real ruins of Yadisi Village.
Speaking of which, besides the site they were currently excavating, there were only two suspicious sites of Yadisi Village left. The probability that the current site was the real ruins was over eighty percent mathematically, and even by itself, it was over thirty-three percent.
If they still couldn’t unearth it this time, there were only two possibilities.
One possibility was that he had inadvertently offended the Luck Goddess and his luck turned negative.
Another possibility was that there was a flaw in his guess about the secret of the Black Spirit King.
Neither possibility was something he wanted to face, as either would force him to truly participate in the final battle of this war.
After contemplating for a long time, Richard snapped back to reality, turned his head, and noticed Teddy still sitting beside him.
He raised an eyebrow and said, "Hm? You’re still here, not working? Slacking off?"
"No way!" Teddy protested, "I saw you deep in thought, unaware of your surroundings, and stayed to protect you in case someone tried to harm you. Aren’t you touched? Maybe give me another magic tool?"
Richard rolled his eyes and said with annoyance, "I think you’re just slacking off."
"How can you slander a good person like that?" Teddy exclaimed, "I’ll have you know, I’m definitely not lazy; I’ll prove it to you right now."
With that, Teddy stood up and headed to the excavation site. He quickly approached two soldiers who were standing idle and pretended to kick them, "Hey, why aren’t you two working? Looking for trouble?"
Richard glanced at Teddy, shook his head, and couldn’t be bothered to watch him throw his weight around, instead walking off to the side to think about how to deal with the discussion about the final battle.
Just then, he heard Teddy’s voice rise somewhat seriously from behind, "Hey, Richard, something’s not right, come and have a look."
"Hmm?" Richard frowned and turned around.