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Cedar City had been occupied by the powerful rebel army, and the leader of this rebel army was called Orsato.

Orsato was considered strong but he was not a full-shifter. He was at the peak of the fourth-form, and his bloodline was the mid-tier almighty beast – the Golden Python. Among the mid-tier almighty beasts, it was considered very powerful and was not inferior to Count Stanwin’s Deinosuchus bloodline. It might be even more powerful.

Orsato took advantage of the chaos in the Holy Dragon Empire to quickly gather a group of people to capture several cities. With the rapid growth of his forces, he soon led an extremely powerful rebel army.

At this point, Orsato was standing on the ramparts of Cedar City. In the skies were special reconnaissance scouts comprised of soldiers with flying almighty beast bloodlines. Scouts like them had a higher status in the Python Army.

“Swoosh.”

A reconnaissance soldier in the sky flew down to the ramparts and said respectfully, “Honorable General, we’ve found a merchant group ahead.”

“A merchant group?”

Orsato’s eyes brightened. His army had spent a lot of money and captured several cities, but there was not much that was replenished. Their supplies were almost exhausted.

Merchant groups happened to be very rich. Occasionally posing as bandits was nothing new for these rebels.

“Did you see how many people were in that merchant group?”

“There are around five hundred people. Three hundred of them were wearing armor and riding horses. They’re heavy knights and are likely hired by the merchant group.”

The scouts were very detailed in their reconnaissance. Orsato hesitated for a moment before asking, “Did you see the flags they used? Most famous mercenaries have flags, and that’s even more so for powerful mercenaries.”

Orsato was very cautious. Mercenaries hired by large merchant groups were often not ordinary, and were usually a standing army. Furthermore, the Python Army only had a few strong rebels and were no match for them. Orsato himself had failed to become a full-shifter, and could not be compared with the most powerful rebel armies, so he naturally had to be careful.

“Honorable General, we saw a huge red crocodile.”

“A red crocodile? Could it be the Deinosuchus?”

Countless thoughts flashed in Orsato’s mind. He had heard of the Deinosuchus bloodline before. It was also a mid-tier almighty beast bloodline, similar to his Golden Python bloodline.

Moreover, the Deinosuchus bloodline rarely appeared on the continent. In the Holy Dragon Empire, the relatively powerful one was the Hilderbrandt clan from Boulder City.

Particularly, Count Stanwin of the Hilderbrandt clan was a fourth-form shifter and was not inferior to Orsato. If Boulder City had not colluded with the barbarians, some difficulties might have risen there.

“It should be Count Stanwin. Hehe, rumor has it that Count Stanwin’s Deinosuchus bloodline is extremely strong. This is a good time to find out if it’s true. He’s here to escort the merchant group, so he shouldn’t know about our situation and thinks that Cedar City hasn’t fallen. Alright, we’ll let them in and then capture them all in one go!”

Orsato had made the decision. Although his twenty thousand strong Python Army soldiers did not undergo strict training, they had all experienced battles and were all elite.

Of course, Stanwin’s cavalry was superior. However, when they entered the city and were ambushed in advance, then even elite cavalry would be useless.

“Pass the order to all members of the Python Army. Hide well and let this merchant group into the city. Make sure the residents of Cedar City cooperate or kill them all!”

A cruel smile appeared on Orsato’s face.

...

On the wide road, a merchant group slowly moved along the continent. This merchant group seemed to have many goods, so the perimeter was protected by heavily armed heavy knights.

“Count Stanwin, Cedar City is just ahead. At present, Cedar City is still in the hands of the empire, so we can enter the city and have a good rest to recuperate. After all, we’ve been traveling for half a month now.”

The one who spoke was the head of the merchant group. He had paid a large sum to hire Count Stanwin along with the powerful mercenaries.

At first, some people had doubts. After all, although Count Stanwin’s mercenaries looked strong and powerful, who knew how they would fare in actual combat? The current Holy Dragon Empire was not peaceful, and they had to deal with bandits, refugees, and even some rebels along the way. Weaker mercenaries would not be able to protect the merchant group at all, and Count Stanwin’s mercenaries had only just been established.

After a final discussion, it was agreed upon to hire Count Stanwin. Along the way, Count Stanwin and his three hundred heavy knights had driven away countless bandits, and the merchant group was safely escorted to their destination. With a full inventory of goods, they were ready to return to the Holy Dragon City.

As for Count Stanwin and the mercenaries, the merchant group was very satisfied.

Count Stanwin did not listen to the merchant group head’s suggestion but instead, sent several heavy knights to investigate the situation in Cedar City. He had to be careful regarding everything.

“Mr. Gir, let’s stop for now and rest. We’ll enter after the scouts have ensured that nothing has changed in Cedar City.”

Count Stanwin was still very cautious, preferring to reach Cedar City later than take the risk now.

Although the merchant group’s head, Mr. Gir, felt that Count Stanwin was being too cautious, he nodded as there was no harm to the suggestion. “Alright, take a look first.”

After a long moment, the scouts returned and reported to Count Stanwin, “There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual in Cedar City. The imperial flag is still flying on the towers, and many people are going back and forth. There’s no sign of a rebel army occupying the city.”

“Haha, Count Stanwin, you worry too much. There’s nothing wrong with Cedar City. Let’s go. We should hurry and get to Cedar City so we can rest earlier.”

Mr. Gir glanced behind him. Many people were already exhausted. Not everyone was able to travel for half a month like Count Stanwin and still be in high spirits.

Count Stanwin also believed in his heavy knights. Since there were no problems during the scouting, he nodded and said, “Alright, everyone has worked hard. We’ll go to Cedar City and rest. After half a month, we’ll reach the Holy Dragon City.”

Then, under Count Stanwin’s escort and his three hundred heavy guards, the entire group quickly moved toward the nearby Cedar City.