Chapter 127: The Warlord and the Ultimate Knight

Of course, Venigo and Sophie might be able to defeat two Warlords and four Ultimate Knights simultaneously, but against five Warlords, ten mages, and a large number of Ultimate Knights and squire knights, the two of them were far from enough.

"We should always give them some trouble," Venigo chuckled. "Anyway, we’ve already offended them to the point of no return."

Hardly had he finished speaking when an Ultimate Knight spotted Sophie.

Without even a greeting, he drew his sword and struck directly at her.

Sophie’s anger surged, a flush of fury rising on her delicate face. She didn't hesitate to draw the Cicada-Wing Sword from her waist, unleashing a swift, piercing strike aided by the blade’s extreme lightness.

"Sixty-Seventh Style: Six-Petal Bloom!"

The Cicada-Wing Sword pursued extreme speed and sharpness; against the thick, sturdy armor of an Ultimate Knight, it shouldn't have been very effective. However, when Sophie’s swordsmanship reached a certain level, this disadvantage became negligible.

The blade flashed like the strike of a mantis—this was Sophie’s peak attack speed. The light pierced through the Ultimate Knight’s full-face helmet, sliding into the gap of the visor and stabbing deep into his right eye, triggering a spray of blood.

One strike to the brain: critical injury!

Sophie silently withdrew her blade, sheathed it at her waist, and retreated rapidly. As for Venigo, that man who never cared for poise had already started retreating a step earlier and was now ten meters away.

Seeing Sophie succeed, Venigo laughed wildly. He raised his hand and pushed forward.

"Greater Lightning Bolt!"

The armor of an Ultimate Knight could not completely block lightning. The intensity of the Black Mage’s Greater Lightning Bolt was perhaps even higher than the "Flicker Lightning" cast by the Warlords, and it held a clear advantage in range. Instantly, the Ultimate Knight and the four squire knights behind him were charred black.

"That’s a return gift," Venigo laughed sinisterly, "for attacking me."

"Who is she?" the leading Warlord in red asked with a frown.

No one answered. The Ultimate Knight who had recognized Sophie was now critically wounded, and his squires were left unable to speak after being electrocuted by Venigo—and they might not have remembered Sophie anyway.

Venigo didn't intend to wait for them to confer; he turned and ran.

This rogue-like behavior made the Warlords laugh in anger. The leader didn't move, but his two students simultaneously cast the same spell toward Venigo’s back.

"Thunderclap Grenade!"

It involved gathering a large amount of wind elements into a cluster, compressing them to the limit into a violent ball of lightning, and releasing it upon impact with the enemy. It did not spread, but instead dealt maximum destructive damage to the target. Sounds ordinary, doesn't it? But this spell, even for a "rookie" who could just barely cast it, was enough to take down a troll.

And these two Warlords were clearly no rookies.

Venigo moved as if he had eyes in the back of his head, stepping to the left. One Thunderclap Grenade brushed past him, while the other landed squarely on his left arm.

"He’s a dead man!" the middle-aged Warlord sneered.

But Venigo survived, hopping and jumping.

While the power of the Thunderclap Grenade was immense, it wasn't enough to kill a Level 35 Black Mage. His innate magic resistance was enough to halve the effects of most spells, and as for Venigo... don't forget that Venigo’s own constitution naturally reduced the impact of all skills in this world.

As a result, Venigo was left with his whole body numb and nearly critically injured.

"Magic Rebound!"

The suddenly reappearing Thunderclap Grenade turned the stunned middle-aged Warlord into ash. No one saw when Venigo had returned a Thunderclap Grenade of his own!

Venigo turned around, flashing a mocking smile at the Warlords. Gas jets erupted from under his feet, and with Sophie pulling him along, he escaped rapidly.

Should they pursue? The Warlords looked at their leader.

No. The leader shook his head. Although dissatisfied with the loss of a few subordinates, in his eyes, even if these temporarily promoted rookies were wiped out, he wouldn't feel a shred of pity.

He had more important things to do.

At the Galin Ironworks, there was an important ancient magic artifact. The Warlords needed it because that mysterious emissary of the Goat-Bleat Cult needed it to create more and stronger modified creatures.

It was truly magnificent; that fellow, who seemed to have modified himself into something non-human, possessed god-like creative abilities. Look at the Goat-Bleat Cultists he produced! Cheap and effective, they perfectly compensated for the Warlords’ lack of low-end combat power.

Moreover, that fellow had helped the Warlord Fortress temporarily boost a batch of apprentices to the level of barely being Warlords. Although these guys had no room for further growth, the surge in strength caused the Warlords’ ambitions to swell excessively.

They were only a step away from ruling this kingdom! For Lord Archibald!

For the man who was meant to be the rightful lord of the kingdom, yet was imprisoned by that bitch Catherine and her henpecked, goody-two-shoes husband, Lord Roland, for ridiculous reasons, all because of his ties to the Dark Council of Diya!

Damn bitch! Once we release Lord Archibald, we will surely...

Amidst the Warlord’s head full of complaints, Venigo and Sophie had safely escaped.

"Whatever the Warlords are here for, I’m going to make sure they fail," Venigo said, dispelling his character build and complaining, "Daring to launch an attack on me!"

Sophie didn't speak, merely wiping her belt.

"Alright, the Arena Blade is fine now, you can use it with confidence," Venigo said. "Now, let’s go find Marlin."

Why find Marlin? Intelligence.

The Warlords were not easy to deal with. Although they focused on the lethality of magic, they were, after all, powerful practitioners of mysterious arts. They couldn't be without sufficient scouting and counter-scouting methods; otherwise, relying only on fireballs and lightning, they wouldn't have survived until today.

Yes, an organization without counter-scouting capabilities would have long since vanished into the dust of history.

Did Marlin have a way? In fact, he did. As the former Prince of Thieves, and now with technical and financial support from Venigo, Marlin’s intelligence network was better than Venigo had expected.

"Your long-range glasses... give me five," Marlin reached out without ceremony. "And I want the five fastest people from the Prism."

"Here." Venigo waved his hand in agreement. "Later, I’ll have them take the glasses to find you. What else?"

"One hundred gold coins to bribe lackeys, vagrants, and beggars," Marlin added.

"Here."

"The little vampire, that brat named Sona," Marlin continued. "She’s a naturally gifted scout. Let me mentor her for a while."

"Use her carefully." Venigo didn't pay much mind. Sona was indeed a child with potential, but for now, she wasn't someone Venigo could fully trust as a core member. Besides, letting her take some risks might help her grow faster.

"Then that’s it, leave the intelligence to me." Marlin nodded. He stood up and pushed the door open, then suddenly turned back. "By the way, find some time to contact Lady Fris’s merchant guild. They might have free intelligence."

"You’re right to remind me." Venigo nodded, watching Marlin exit the room and gently close the door.

Looking at his own hands, Venigo pursed his lips.

"Level... 40!" Venigo grunted. "But what is missing that prevents me from taking that step?"

The bottleneck at Level 30 required a divine vessel for divine power injection. When Venigo obtained the Pearl of Purity, he had miraculously mastered the ability to inject divine power. So, what did the Level 40 bottleneck require?

Higher purity or a higher level of divine power? That seemed rather unrealistic.

However, if he encountered it, he would definitely have an intuition, just like when he awakened divine power injection—he would understand it as if it were a natural instinct, right?

Venigo let out a breath, trying not to think about this frustrating matter.

He took out the Eskaton Information Sphere and searched the index for content that interested him.

"Oh, this is it." Venigo snapped his fingers.

This wasn't existing technology, but special equipment used by the natives of a certain planet recorded in Eskaton’s travel diary. They utilized the principle of the Tesla effect to create Tesla coils that could generate magnetic storms, along with corresponding Thundercloud Armor, realizing a combat style that used powerful magnetic storm currents as weapons.

Eskaton didn't have the specific blueprints for the Tesla Armor, but it had instinctively recorded all the physical parameters and the appearance of the armor. With these, Venigo could deduce its principles and general construction.

Of course, it was impossible to build magnetic storm armor based solely on this. But what if he collaborated with Sir Newton to create a weakened magic version?

Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

Sir Newton was in Free Heaven.

During this time, he spent most of his days in Free Heaven, studying the data collected by his magic masters from the crystal pillars. But clearly, the trans-era technology Eskaton used to mobilize magic elements with high-tech means was not something a native caster could easily study.

Of course, he had gained something. Validating the fragments of information revealed in his research against his own extensive knowledge of magic had broadened Sir Newton’s thinking, leading him to ideas that were previously impossible to conceive.

The bad news, however, was that Sir Newton had become even crazier in his daily life.

At this moment, Venigo arrived with Hani and Sherry to visit him.

"Ha, my young friend, little Venia, long time no see." Seeing Venigo enter, Sir Newton greeted him enthusiastically.

Little Venia?