YM778.TV Chapter 102: 98 Pre-War
A few days ago, Irene had already discerned through Listening for Malice that a merchant frequently visited the port was problematic.
When he respectfully greeted Lady Irene as he passed by her, his inner voice had already exposed the fact that he had been bought.
Such incidents were not uncommon; Nasir Town had always been probed by various family clans, and their most common tactic was to bribe some Nasir citizens to gather intelligence, create chaos, and spread rumors.
Naturally, the Fischer family had their countermeasures.
Dealing with the former town chief was an important test, and from then on, Chris and Archibald were responsible for eliminating those who needed to disappear.
And this merchant who frequented the port was their next target.
Under the pitch-black night, Chris and Archibald dragged the desperate man out after binding him, bringing him to the water’s edge at the port.
Chris swiftly slit his throat with a knife blade, and then Archibald forcefully threw the merchant into the sea.
“Phew, it’s done, hahaha! Good riddance! To think he was a Nasir citizen, and yet was bought by outsiders!”
Archibald was elated; he had a quick temper, and naturally applauded the death of an enemy.
Every time they killed someone, Archibald would get very emotional, maybe being prone to emotion was a common trait of those apt for the ‘Path of Calamity.’
Chris, on the other hand, remained completely silent, simply feeling as if he had done something very ordinary.
“Let’s go.”
He shook his head and turned to leave, Archibald nodded and followed.
“I don’t know how long we’ll rest this time, but actually I quite like these missions. Normally, there’s always pent-up anger in my heart that I can’t release.”
“Only at times like this do I feel truly excited!”
Archibald’s face turned slightly red as he continued speaking, not minding that Chris didn’t respond at all.
“We must not let off anyone who intends to harm us!”
Suddenly, Chris felt a sense of vigilance, a strong sense of crisis emerging deep within his heart.
He realized in a flash what it was!
It was a reminder from the Lord of the Lost!
“Be careful!”
Chris immediately warned Archibald, and the normally chatty young man paused, then nodded repeatedly.
“Yeah, I understand.”
Having followed Chris for several years, he knew very well what a change in his tone represented.
Now, the two of them were in some kind of extreme danger!
“Back home.”
Chris made a quick judgment, the most correct decision now was to go back to Fischer Manor first.
There were many guards in the Fischer family, and there were several Extraordinary Exponents who commanded the Powers of Consecution. Even if the enemy was a Transmutation-level powerful expert, they could find a way to fight back.
But they had no clue where the enemy was or who it was, and from the port area to their home was a long distance to cover.
Chris was very aware that if the two of them had already been targeted by the enemy, this road would be fraught with danger.
[On the ship.]
Suddenly, the voice of the Lord of the Lost emerged very rarely deep within Chris’s heart.
He turned his gaze sharply towards the large ships not far away, where in the pitch-black night, it seemed as if each ship had a pair of eyes staring at him.
They were indeed being watched!
Chris and Archibald began to run, desperately heading towards the location of Fischer Manor, without hearing the sound of the enemy giving chase behind them.
Standing on the ship was an elderly man in a black robe, silently watching the two figures disappearing into the distance.
He was a follower of the Sea God Cult, come to Nasir Town to avenge the Isaac family, who were also followers of the Sea God.
This was just the beginning!
“The East Coast will sooner or later be in the palm of the Sea God Cult!”
The false god, who proclaimed himself the Tempest Overlord, was gone without a trace, and the Tempest Church had fallen into complete chaos. On the other hand, the Sea God had granted even more powerful strength to His devoted cult!
Although the East Coast Province was the smallest and most remote province of Cyart, much smaller than the provinces of Elphinia, Glenborough, Ahornblatt, and Emerald Lake,
it was of extreme importance to the Sea God Cult.
To occupy the East Coast was the longstanding wish of hundreds of thousands in the Sea God Cult, generation after generation. Countless individuals dreamt of returning to this land, no longer to dwell upon the vast seas.
“Fischer family, you will not be the first of our avenged, nor the last.”
In fact, there were many extraordinary operatives from the Sea God Cult involved in the large-scale disruption of the East Coast this time, and the old man was just one of those participating in this destructive mission.
The old man had obtained important intelligence through the secret organization ‘Black Eyes’ that dealt in information. The patriarch of the Fischer family was not in Nasir Town, and these few days presented a good opportunity for vengeance.
He was a formidable spellcaster who had reached the low-level Transmutation rank and, theoretically, as long as he ambushed from the shadows, he could kill all the members of the Fischer family in one fell swoop!
In fact, the elderly spellcaster had no intention of showing himself for the battle.
“Have they discovered me?”
Although not entirely certain of this, the old man decided to be even more cautious and aimed to resolve all problems from a distance.
Under the Sea God Cult, the myriad of islands had populations in the hundreds of thousands, managed by twelve Deep Sea Priests, and the elder was the deputy of one of them, Deep Sea Priest “Azure.”
The siblings of the Isaac family, in fact, were all subordinates of Deep Sea Priest “Azure.”
The elder was a summoner type spellcaster who had memorized five different summoning spells.
The spellcasting technique he mastered was “Strengthen,” which allowed him to consume a large amount of spiritual power to enhance the final effect of his spells.
And as a spellcaster at the Transmutation rank, his output efficiency of spiritual power was increased several times.
Casting the same spell, even without using the “Strengthen” spellcasting technique, the final effect is stronger than that of a spellcaster at the Beginning Level.
Summoner type spellcasters often summoned their creatures ahead of the battle.
Therefore, the elder, who had not yet prepared, was not in a hurry to pursue those two, lest he fall into a trap.
Even as a Level 2 Transmutation class spellcaster, he had to remain cautious when facing enemies at the Beginning Level.
However, passing through the entire town with summoned creatures would definitely attract a lot of attention, so the elder first approached Fischer Manor nearby before performing the summoning.
Staring into the darkness at Fischer Manor, he silently chanted a spell, summoning a bull’s head demon over five meters tall.
The monster with a bull’s head and human body kept panting heavily, with four robust arms, and its blood-red skin was covered with obscure curses; the madness in its blood-red eyes could hardly be suppressed.
The old man chanted another spell, summoning another, smaller two-meter-long worm-type magic beast.
The newly summoned creature was a huge earthy-yellow worm with a fierce mouthpart that made a rustling sound and quickly burrowed into the ground, disappearing from sight.
The elder skillfully commanded the smaller worm-type magic beast to tunnel underground and attack from beneath, while ordering the massive bull’s head demon to launch a frontal assault.
He was proficient in this tactic; the creature with the bull’s head and human body had tremendous magic power and astonishing life force, making it ideal for attracting frontline firepower and attention.
And the worm, capable of burrowing underground, could deal a fatal blow to the enemy at a critical moment!
The elder muttered to himself, “Hmm, I have two-thirds of my spiritual power left, now let’s see how you respond.”
As a spellcaster, he couldn’t approach rashly but instead, controlled his summoned creatures from the outside.
For a summoner who had reached the Transmutation rank, the maximum distance of control over summoned creatures was five hundred meters, which was also his safe distance.
Compared to Bloodline Knights of the same rank, spellcasters not only had a limited number of spells but also had extremely weak physical constitution; they often sought various ways to protect themselves.
The elder carried with him one Treasure class and one Collectible class mysterious rare artifact.
The former would automatically activate to attack while defending if anyone got close, and the latter could also be used in close to mid-range combat.
Chris and Archibald were very familiar with the roads of Nasir Town, and the two had returned to Fischer Manor several dozen minutes earlier.
The many guards living in the neighboring annex had already poured out, each with a flintlock in hand and carrying alchemical explosives. With Guards Captain Theo not present, the deputy captain was commanding the scene.
Meanwhile, the extraordinary exponents of the Fischer family and other important family members were all gathered in the hall.
“It’s good that you have returned,” Madam Irene said calmly with a nod as she saw Chris and Archibald return safely from outside.
Her face showed no sign of nervousness, untouched by fear over the potential loss of her brother.
Chris sensitively noticed this and felt vaguely uncomfortable in his heart.
Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Chris unharmed, truly glad that he was okay.
Irene knew that in the absence of Byrne at home, she was the only pillar for everyone.
She looked around at everyone and slowly said, “I’ve already sent people out to request assistance from the various powers in Nasir Town.”
“The enemy won’t expect our response to be so quick because they won’t understand why they were discovered immediately.”
Continuing, Irene paused and then said, “We’ll respond as we have rehearsed for the second scenario.”
The tense people nodded and each went about their tasks according to the drill, while the two youngest children were taken by Vanessa to a secret room in the cellar.
Having studied at the military academy in Fein City for a whole year, Byrne insisted, upon his return, that the Fischer family perform drills to teach everyone how to deal with various dangers.
Initially everyone thought it was nonsensical, finding the training boring, and faced punishment for poor performance.
After Byrne’s strong insistence, however, everyone had to persist with the training.
He also gave a series of military training to the guards, improving the overall combat ability of the family’s guards.
Byrne sincerely believed that the previous battle at the port with the Transmutation powerful expert was full of errors and chaos, compounded by bad weather, otherwise the outcome might have been a bit better.
“A Level 2 Transmutation powerful expert can also be injured and killed, if our numbers are sufficient, our tactics appropriate, and our coordination seamless, theoretically even without a casualty, we could defeat him!”