I will be crowned king

To the north of Yangfan City, there is a forest in the countryside.

Early morning.

Taking advantage of the bright sky, Louis Bernard raised the monocular telescope in his hand and looked at the invisible dense forest in the distance.

"It's finally almost here..."

The young knight muttering to himself revealed a pair of bloodshot eyes. Although his face looked tired, he could not hide the joy in his eyes.

He turned to look at his companion behind him, his joyful expression mixed with some doubts: "Sir Norton, are you sure this is the direction? It's not wrong, right?"

"Absolutely not." Norton Crosell, who was also not much better than Louis, desperately opened his eyelids that were almost turning black, and said with an extremely certain tone:

"Although I have said it before, please allow me to repeat it again - with my military rank and life as evidence, I guarantee you that the direction Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach went after leaving Sailing City is the direction we are going now!"

"Sorry! I didn't doubt your intention, it's just..."

"I understand, Sir Louis Bernard, I understand, and you have nothing to explain to me."

"…Okay, thank you very much."

Looking at Norton Crosell with a determined look on his face, although the young knight was still a little skeptical, he could not open his mouth to refute anything.

Louis was somewhat curious about the commander of the Third Infantry Regiment of the Storm Division who offered to go with him to "find the whereabouts of the Commander-in-Chief"; after all, even Anson's most trusted cronies didn't know his whereabouts. But this lieutenant colonel was able to produce an accurate piece of information.

Not only that, he was able to quickly gather dozens of mercenaries who were willing to go with him without mobilizing the army, and they were all excellent hunters who were proficient in wilderness survival.

Excessive initiative, and no-nonsense action preparations - even many situations that he had not considered were taken care of by him; in the end, he only needed to inform him when to set off, and everything else was taken care of. The lieutenant colonel is ready.

Could this be the "preparatory plan" prepared by Anson?

Louis was confused. He really couldn't imagine why Anson suddenly disappeared from the world - and he disappeared with Freya.

Compared to the doubtful young knight, the expressionless Norton Crosell seemed more like the leader of this team; considering that he had prepared everything from the action route to the staffing, in a sense, this was actually the leader of the team. That’s right.

But after all, Louis Bernard is the initiator of this action, and the other party is also the governor of Sailing City and the heir to the Principality of Adlan, so a certain amount of respect is also necessary.

So after a brief thought, Norton came up with a best-of-both-worlds suggestion: "How about I take a few people to continue walking along this road, and you lead a large force to advance from the other side: In this way, if someone gets lost, they can still communicate with the commander-in-chief and the others. Convergence.”

His idea was simple: anyway, the target was close at hand, and even if he got lost, he wouldn't be able to get far. Splitting the troops might improve efficiency a little bit, and make it appear that Louis was the leader of the team.

But the moment the words fell, the young knight suddenly showed a somewhat embarrassed expression on his face:

"Uh...thank you for your kindness, but I don't think we need to divide our troops anymore."

"Oh, why is that?"

There was some confusion on Norton's face, and he looked into the distance in the direction Louis pointed: Under the dim sunlight, golden-red firelight was wrapped in billowing black smoke, rising straight into the sky from among the towering ancient trees.

The bright colors and unparalleled height are like an extremely eye-catching signal flag!

Perhaps because they thought this was not eye-catching enough, a series of explosions came from far away, making the two battle-experienced people look so stunned that they thought there was something wrong with their ears, but they actually heard it in such a primitive forest. The sound of a six-pounder.

"We...seem to be late."

Looking at the dumbfounded expression of Norton, who had always been calm, the young knight sighed and raised the telescope behind him:

“Everyone—speed up!”

………………………

"boom!"

The monster made of broken limbs and flesh roared violently, and countless tentacles spurted out from its throat that was constantly overflowing with pus, attacking Lisa.

The girl holding the rifle seemed to be frightened, and still charged forward with the bayonet regardless, without any fear in her eyes.

Just when it was about to be restrained by the tentacles, the huge monster suddenly stagnated; the flesh and blood of the broken limbs all over its body suddenly began to ooze pus, swelled, rotted and fester, and quickly turned from a "healthy" dark red to liver purple.

In the thick fog, a wisp of gray smoke turned into a "smoke arrow", tearing open the flesh and blood of the cyst and taking the opportunity to drill out.

Before the flesh-and-blood monster took shape, Anson used [Smoke Entertainment Home] to stuff nearly five grams of blasphemous fog (only three hundred grams in total) into its body before it evaporated.

Originally, this was actually a "surprise" prepared for Phil Cressy, but he ran away too decisively and escaped Anson's casting range; in order not to poison himself to death, he had to use it on this monster.

The thick fog dissipated, and the flesh-and-blood monster that didn't even have time to scream had melted into pus, carrying a stench and flowing freely in the mud. The "disappeared" Phil Crecy reappeared in Anson and Lisa's house. Within sight.

The missing left arm and left leg were replaced by ugly sarcomas, and half of the smashed face was still leaking pus, and traces of ulcers could even be seen. Only the dark socket of the left eye remained. My skin tone also turned an unhealthy liver-purple color.

Obviously, even though he was not directly attacked, the "fog of blasphemy" swallowed by the flesh and blood monster still left a considerable impact on him.

But Anson is also dying... In addition to the power of blood, the consumption of the continuous use of [Smoke Entertainment Home] and the injuries caused by Mrs. Camille, it is difficult for him to stay awake now - otherwise there is no need to use fake ones just now The "jewelry box" scares Fair.

Anson chewed his pipe feebly, put his hands in his pockets, and deliberately pretended to be calm; Lisa beside him was holding a steam gun with a bayonet, vigilantly observing each other's every move.

"It seems like you're not going to let me go, right?"

Looking at the angry girl and the revolver hidden in Anson's pocket, Feier's swollen face showed an ugly smile, and a trace of regret flashed through his remaining right eye: "It's such a pity, we could have had many opportunities to cooperate. .”

"I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in dishonest collaborators." Anson shrugged, turning his eyes to constantly change the casting range, extending it long enough to cover Phil Crecy:

"To be honest, compared to you, even Ian Clemens is a quality ally."

"The leader of the Faithless Knights?" Feier's pupils shrank:

"He is indeed a good person - before I officially inherited the position of the head of the Cressy family, he was always managing the Faithless Knights and the family industry in the New World. After that, he did not resist handing over power and was always loyal. hard working."

"oh?"

Anson raised his eyebrows, straightened his hat and opened the revolver hammer with his right hand hidden in his pocket: "Have you ever doubted that he was pretending this on purpose?"

"Never." Phil Cressy shrugged his right shoulder and raised the corners of his mouth slightly:

"If you want to sow discord, please save it - the Faithless Knights' loyalty to the Cressy family is beyond your imagination, and it is not so easy to be destroyed."

"I just want to confirm. After all, it's hard to imagine that someone like him would be so loyal to you." Anson still said in an indifferent tone: "Did he tell you about the Black Reef Port?"

"What happened at Black Reef Port?"

"Ah...that's why he didn't say anything."

Anson snorted and exhaled a puff of smoke naturally: "It's nothing. Maybe he didn't mention it because he didn't think it was important - of course, it wasn't an important thing in the first place."

"You are really not a person who gets discouraged easily, Commander-in-Chief Anson Bach." Phil Cressy smiled helplessly.

"Each other."

Anson raised his eyebrows and said with a half-smile: "I also thought you were a trustworthy person, but there is still a gap between reality and imagination."

In the deathly silent darkness, the two chatted "happily", as if they were not guarded against each other at all.

That is impossible.

The moment he exhaled the last puff of smoke, Anson suddenly pulled out the "Dagger" revolver hidden in his pocket and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Almost at the same time, milky white water vapor hit him head-on; Phil Cressy's incomplete figure was not only not as fast as his appearance, but also nimbly dodged and had once again escaped from Anson's casting range.

At the moment when she was about to be split into two, Lisa opened fire decisively, and the water vapor that was hit exploded into a light mist, blocking the vision on both sides.

But there was no trace of happiness on Feier's face for being hidden. Instead, he showed a look of horror - he only heard Lisa, but not Anson Bach's gunshot.

Come again? !

At the moment when he was surprised, a dazzling golden red pierced the mist and hit his chest.

Curse magic, [Hunting].

"boom!"

The golden-red fire penetrated straight through the heart, and the entire body began to burn. The "fog of blasphemy" that had been suppressed immediately broke out and swallowed the entire body.

The expressionless Anson looked at the broken corpse in the distance, turning into pieces in the firelight. The left hand hidden in the pocket still maintained the "pistol" movement, and a small piece of charred black appeared in the pocket held up by the index finger. of holes.

Although he used a revolver from beginning to end, in fact the biggest feature of this spell is that it can be cast quickly through gestures, and it can also activate [Rising Fire] at the same time to enhance its power.

"Fair Cressy", which was burned to pieces and almost turned into coke, was scattered on the ground. The remaining half of his head revealed the haggard face of Mrs. Camille with a fleshy smile.

"Anson, that bad guy...is he dead?"

Lisa turned her head angrily, her expression nervous and scared, not knowing whether she should continue fighting.

"Uh... I don't know, but he probably ran away."

Anson, who was holding a pipe in his mouth, blew out the smoke forcefully, with a helpless look on his weak expression.

An enemy like this that is so tenacious that it is almost impossible to kill and extremely difficult to deal with has to be too restrained - even if it is difficult to catch the opponent's loophole, as long as it cannot kill with one hit, it will still be run away.

Of course, it doesn't matter whether he is dead or alive now; he has also planted the "fog of blasphemy" in his body, and even if he can retain some of the power he got from Nolula, there should be very little left, and it is not enough to rely on. Qualitative changes cause quantitative changes.

Moreover, he is now completely hostile to himself, and he absolutely does not dare to escape back to Sailing City, and it is even impossible to escape south. He has sufficient time to mobilize the Free Confederacy and some "people of insight among the enemy" to clean up all areas of Xinjiang. The remnants of the Faithless Knights of the world.

Finally, Anson felt that he needed someone to explain to him what this strange "Journey to Baker Territory" was all about.

Gently rubbing his burnt fingertips, Anson turned around and looked behind him; in the dark forest, two extremely familiar figures were coming towards him and Lisa.

"Good morning, dear Anson."

With an elegant smile and a red dress, Thalia walked slowly towards the two of them, as if they met by chance while strolling in the garden, and greeted them happily: "You still look so energetic, that's great. ”

"Really?" Anson's face showed a smile that was uglier than crying, as if he had really recovered from the state of nearly fainting.

He glanced at another figure behind Thalia. The elf girl walking with her seemed very absent-minded, with a gloomy expression that almost said "I have something to do" written on her face.

"Of course it's true, absolutely true." Thalia still smiled:

"If it was Anson a few months ago, he would probably be on the ground now, unconscious."

This simple and crude way of "praising" made Anson's mouth twitch. Unable to say a word, he could only change the topic: "Can you tell me by the way, how did you two appear in this place?"

"I think you should answer this question!"

An extremely familiar and powerful voice sounded in the forest.

The alert elf girl was the first to react and suddenly looked up in the direction where the footsteps and words came from; following her line of sight, Anson and Lisa also looked up.

With chaotic steps, dozens of figures soon surrounded the gate of the ruins of the entire village; the young knight walking at the front appeared in front of everyone, accompanied by Norton Crosell, with an extremely ugly look on his face.

He looked at the embarrassed Anson and Lisa holding his thigh, then at the elf girl with complicated expressions and the gentle Thalia, and finally turned his eyes to the messy village.

"I need an explanation." Louis Bernard, who was extremely tired, gritted his teeth and said: "Tell me why you disappeared, why you appeared here after you disappeared, and what happened here - I want to know the answers to them all."

"And now!"