Chapter 139: Stay close to me, Yuri.

What Vinigo did not say was that his true goal was to stand at the very pinnacle of power in this entire world, to reign supreme over all forces. Only with such power, and at such a height, would it be possible to shatter the infinite barriers between distant planes and return to the home he so deeply longed for.

To return to that person’s side...

"Keep working hard, don't let that fool Iru outshine you," Vinigo said, patting Yuri on the shoulder. "You understand that I am not a person who trusts others easily, so keep working to earn that trust. Rest assured, what I can give you is far more than just a few trinkets like rings or necklaces."

Yuri understood.

He was well aware that the youth before him possessed bizarre and unfathomable abilities. Not only could he fight, heal, tank, and escape, but he was also highly capable of generating wealth and crafting magical items that even the Chief Archmage, Sir Newton, marveled at.

"Let's move quickly, before the Temple of the Moon or Diya discovers us," Vinigo said, giving Yuri a tug with a smile. "Oh, and we have two wounded to manage..."

After a moment's thought, he had Arcana bring over the pack horses hidden in the distance. Unfortunately, during the chaotic battle earlier, one horse had its leg shattered by a stone blasted away by the lich's dragon breath, leaving them no choice but to "dispose" of it on the spot.

With the remaining horse and a makeshift cart, Vinigo had Yuri transport the wounded first. He and Arcana stayed behind to slowly erase every trace that could lead back to Prism Manor.

This included both physical and magical traces.

Such professional work was clearly a bit difficult for Vinigo. However, he had a clever solution. Using his "Fantasy Construction," he mimicked the persona of the forensic expert Miles Edgeworth—though traces still existed, for this world, they were rendered practically unsolvable.

As for the magical aspect... Vinigo knew that most divination and space-time spells were extensions of water element magic. Therefore, he constructed the persona of a Black Mage and unleashed a flurry of ice spells, thoroughly scrambling the local water elements.

In this way, no matter how great a magic master might be, they would find it immensely difficult to reconstruct past events or divine the identity of the attackers.

***

A few days later, the Temple of the Moon was conquered by the Temple of the Sun. Shortly after, the Temple of the Sun accepted Sir Stone’s reorganization, and through a series of purges and restructuring, it survived as a subsidiary force of Sir Stone’s.

The Temple of the Divine Fist, meanwhile, had its supplies cut off by Lady Fris and was surrounded by heavy troops for several days. Finally, following the precedent set by the Temples of the Moon and the Sun, the Temple of the Divine Fist also surrendered to the High Council.

With that, Bootgray Bay was cleared of those small, independent religions.

At Lady Fris's invitation, Vinigo participated in the purge of a nearby cannibal tribe.

During this battle, the strength of the Prism Mercenaries drew the attention of the High Council.

There were not many of them; a mere twenty-man elite squad, plus the two captains, Yuri and Iru, was only equivalent to one of the High Council’s elite swordsman squads. The remaining hundred or so were roughly on par with the High Council’s infantry phalanxes.

Yet, in combat, the performance of the Prism Mercenaries greatly astonished the haughty kingdom swordsmen.

These mercenaries were silent and efficient. Their seemingly odd equipment effectively protected their vital organs while sacrificing less critical areas to keep their load light. Consequently, the Prism mercenaries were swift, advancing like a gale with the lethality of a raging fire. To the cannibal warriors, who carried only large wooden shields, they were far more threatening than the elite swordsmen.

Moreover, Prism surprisingly possessed five Thunder Lizards!

Although these "little ones" were not yet fully grown, their thick, scaled hides, immense brute strength, and specialized beast-tack meant that every charge easily tore a bloody path through enemy lines. While the juvenile Thunder Lizards could not yet spit lightning bolts, they were still capable of imbuing their bites with electrical power to increase their lethality.

Thunder Fang... Crush!

What surprised the High Council was the method Prism used to train these juvenile Thunder Lizards. One had to realize that Thunder Lizards were near the top of the food chain in the Dragon-Fly Desert—ferocious and bloodthirsty. Even as juveniles, only a rare, genius beast-tamer would have the capability to domesticate them.

Yet, those tamers could never reach this level. They could not make five juvenile Thunder Lizards coordinate with such tacit understanding, execute clear and effective tactics, or distinguish friend from foe, moving in and out of enemy lines without needing whips or whistles, never falling into chaos.

Rumor had it that this was another masterpiece of that miraculous little fellow from Prism Manor: the Young Fox.

Iru was still wearing the Thundercloud Mark II. Since this armor had been completed with Sir Newton’s help, hiding it was meaningless. Since that was the case, Vinigo naturally intended to put it to its proper use.

With a magnetic storm discharge, a whip of lightning swept through the cannibal witch doctor and her guard warriors with a dazzling blue light, leaving behind nothing but ashes and charred remains. Iru turned silently, heading toward his next chosen target.

Anyone who stood in his way was scorched to a crisp.

The javelins thrown by the cannibal warriors left countless shallow dents on the surface of the Thundercloud Mark II, and the spells cast by the witch doctors left small burn marks. Yet, Iru paid them no mind, marching firmly toward his objective.

*Swish...* Yuri’s figure flashed past. He bypassed Iru, his blade *Kikiushi* stabbing fiercely into the witch doctor’s chest. With a deft twist and pull, he didn't even spare the witch doctor a glance before charging toward his next target.

The witch doctors were the greatest threat to the Prism mercenaries. But to the witch doctors, Yuri was their greatest nightmare.

His speed was so great that the cannibal warriors could not block him, and his short blade was sharp with "anti-evil" properties—the moment it pierced a body, it rendered the internal witchcraft ineffective. The twist and pull upon striking maximized damage to vital organs, ensuring a swift death.

The witch doctors struggled to keep up with his speed. While they could use witchcraft similar to low-level elemental magic, none of it had area-of-effect capabilities, leaving them completely unable to track the ghost-like Yuri.

Even the ordinary Prism mercenaries were enough to make the cannibals suffer.

After several rounds of equipment upgrades and intensive training, the Prism mercenaries had largely adapted to the infantry tactics Vinigo had synthesized from multiple eras and worlds. They had been modified with the lightest gene serums, giving them physical strength approaching that of the swordsmen trained at Temple Castle. After rigorous training, these mercenaries possessed the strength of true elites.

They specialized in longswords and round shields. After blocking with their shields, they would thrust their swords from behind the cover to strike the enemy. They fought in units of three: while one drew the enemy’s attention, the other two launched attacks. Or, one would strike with full force while two covered, dragging strong enemies into a war of attrition until they could form a perimeter to create better openings.

In short, their tactic was simple: make the opponent feel uncomfortable and awkward. In close quarters, they created an advantageous situation of numerical superiority.

Clearly, this tactic had been highly effective so far.

The elite Prism mercenaries served as the reserve, appearing wherever support was needed. These twenty elites had been gene-modified and had gained symbiotic bio-weapons from the golden-red parasites belonging to Ramen. These parasites spread through their blood vessels like silk threads, enhancing the performance of their veins and muscles, granting them several times the strength, speed, and constitution of an ordinary man, albeit at the cost of a greatly increased appetite.

These parasites provided not only explosive muscular force but also stitched wounds shut when injured or coiled around vital organs to act as an internal shield, mitigating damage. Though inconspicuous, they were the guarantee of the elites' surging power.

These elites used weighted, custom-made longswords—the Saber-Toothed Longswords mass-produced by Vinigo using his Blacksmith ability—which were sturdy, sharp, and possessed significant tearing capabilities. They did not use round shields, opting for a pure, aggressive assault, using their speed to slice into enemy vitals and unleashing explosive lethality to clear the field.

To the cannibals, who were numerous but individually weak, these elite mercenaries were a nightmare.

As a result, in this battle, the true main force, including Vinigo, never even had to lift a finger, yet the Prism Mercenary Group became the most eye-catching unit among all the participating forces.

After the battle, the cannibals near Bootgray Bay were wiped out; those who were not captured were killed.

No one wanted the captives.

After all, cannibals were less like humans and more like highly intelligent beasts. They were like a pack of humanoid wolves—hard to tame, cruel, and bloodthirsty.

In the end, Vinigo "reluctantly" accepted the two hundred cannibal captives.

Among them, there were few strong warriors; most were "cubs" who had just reached adulthood or were still children.

The High Council had no interest in these beasts. What they were interested in was the method Vinigo used to train the Thunder Lizards.

The High Council was not stingy. Vinigo copied his methods in detail, sealed them, and sent them to Sir Newton. Of course, the success rate of this method was low, because others could not construct the "Dragon Tamer" system from the Royal Knights or the "Beast Tamer" system from FFTA like Vinigo could.

However, with enough effort, the High Council would likely succeed. After all, they had the Royal Griffin training method that Queen Catherine had brought from Erathia to use as a reference, didn't they?