Chapter 35: Siege

“I’ll fight him,” Vladimir’s appearance boosted Valentina’s fighting spirit.
Vladimir glanced at Valentina with a smirk, “The two of you can fight together.”
“Fighting together? Is that such a funny way to brag? If you can beat Valentina, I’ll obediently follow you,” Neo said, his tone full of mockery.
Vladimir raised his eyebrows and said darkly, “Is that so? Then get ready to leave obediently.” With that, he stepped forward and plunged straight down from the roof, landing on the snow with only a faint imprint left behind.
Neo pressed on, “What if you lose?”
Vladimir held his head high, “How could I possibly lose?”
Neo also laughed, “Can’t promise that? Dog! Watch my lips—dog!”
Vladimir’s forehead veins bulged as he gritted his teeth, “When I have time, I’ll pull out each one of your teeth.”
“Tch!” Neo spat on the ground, not even giving Vladimir another glance. He walked over to Valentina, patted her back, and said, “Make him cry!”
Valentina gave Neo a meaningful smile. Not only had Neo provoked Vladimir into fury with just a few words, but he had also used the gesture of patting her back to channel the power of the Life Pearl into her body—providing her with every possible help.
With a grunt, Valentina drew her knight’s sword and stared at Vladimir as she walked calmly toward the open space.
Vladimir wielded a long, broadsword. With a casual swing, his scabbard flew out and pierced into the stone wall with a thud.
Neo waved at the terrified crowd huddled there, unwilling to move. The people began to run toward the castle one after another, fearfully.
On the rooftops, there were at least 40 demons, magic users, and transformed beings. After confirming Neo’s presence, at least half of them focused on him. As long as Neo stayed obedient, they didn’t even bother with the ordinary people.
As she walked and watched, Valentina’s knight’s sword pointed at Vladimir. A blue glow slowly emanated from her body and weapon—soft, like rippling water.
Vladimir was slightly surprised. He was experienced and perceptive; compared to last time, Valentina’s strength had clearly risen by one level. “Not bad…” Vladimir grew even more excited.
With a flash of illusion, Valentina lunged at him, her knight’s sword drawing a brilliant arc in the air.
Vladimir acted as if he didn’t see it and thrust his sword forward, even faster than Valentina.
His sword struck first, and when the tip was less than 50 centimeters away, it suddenly emitted black sword energy.
Bang! Valentina’s shield in her left hand appeared just in time, blocking the sword energy and pushing Vladimir’s sword aside. She then spun and slashed. Vladimir stepped back to dodge, and as her sword swung, it emitted a thin yet dense arc of light. With a sharp sound, sparks and metal shavings flew everywhere as a deep cut appeared on Vladimir’s side armor, and dark red blood gushed out.

“Vladimir, you’ve regressed!” Valentina continued Neo’s tactics. Although Vladimir’s strength had dropped by at least three levels, his experience and insight were still beyond Valentina’s comparison. Fortunately, the principle behind controlling dark evil forces was to amplify the evil side of human nature as much as possible, which led to a serious problem: impaired reason, paranoia, and irritability, causing him to lose his composure and making it difficult for him to utilize his combat skills.

In just the time it took to say a sentence, the bleeding from Vladimir’s side had stopped. Negative emotions intensified his strength, boosting his overall power. But before he could act, Valentina launched a preemptive attack, delivering another slashing blow…

Neo, seemingly uninterested in the battle, continued to strip off his clothes layer by layer until he was left in just his underwear. Then he took out a towel and calmly wiped his sweat, drawing several glances from the enraged Vladimir. Valentina seized the opportunity to strike him twice more.

On a large roof over 30 meters away, Fad sat steadily on his Nightmare Warhorse, chuckling. “This guy is quite interesting too.”

So far, Fad was very satisfied. Although the battlefield situation differed from what he had imagined, his primary goal had been achieved. In Fad’s view, Neo was now trapped with no way to escape. He was also quite interested in Sarug. When he arrived with his troops, he happened to witness the entire process of Sarug leading the Red Ghosts to taunt the Blue Ghosts outside the southern city. Now, he watched leisurely as the Red Ghosts and Blue Ghosts fought each other, waiting for the best moment to intervene.

Eirithus stood on the roof of another large building with his ten Corpse Guards. Besides the guards, he was also accompanied by a set of “Soul Armor” — exquisite chainmail and gorgeous plate armor, but empty on the inside. Poisonous green smoke slowly seeped out from the gaps in the armor, giving it an indescribably eerie appearance.

“Datha, is it him?” Eirithus stared coldly at Neo Eirithus.

The Soul Armor nodded, with a screeching sound as its gauntlets tightened too much.

“I always thought he was a cunning fox, but turns out he’s just a stupid and greedy pig. He actually hoped to rescue the humans from Wurtzburg in the chaos — truly overestimating himself and seeking his own death.” Eirithus stroked the few hairs on his head, frowning. “But according to the intelligence we have, wasn’t Neo seriously injured and forced to rush here overnight to seek treatment from the Gale Team’s healers?”

On another roof stood three men led by the Eternal Night Warrior Gorton. Imotun, a shapeshifter who had once worked with Eirithus in Tures, and another shapeshifter named William were Gorton’s right-hand men.

“Imotun, have you seen this Neo before?”

Imotun shook his head. “He might have participated in the Gale Team’s operation against Tures, but I think he’s just a man who follows orders.” That was Imotun’s true feeling. Thinking about the Gale Team’s actions in Tures and then seeing Neo’s foolish behavior now, there was a huge difference from a tactical standpoint.

William, with his weed-like “rusty hair,” spoke in a mocking tone with his duck-like voice, “At least he’s a good guy. Quack!”

Gordon was an Isaacian, with dark skin, golden pupils, and a tall, burly build. He appeared to be the kind of idiotic fool, but in reality, he had some intelligence and liked to show off. When William teasedNeo, Gordon sneered, “Do you know why good people don’t live long?”
“Please enlighten me, sir.”
“Because being good often puts oneself in danger.”
“Brilliant!” Imotun gave a thumbs up. “When a wild horse charges, a good person pushes those around them aside, delaying their own chance to dodge. When they see someone drowning in rapid currents, they jump in to save them without hesitation, inevitably falling into crisis! Repeatedly putting themselves in danger—how many lives does it take to die?”
“That’s why fools become good people! Ha ha!” William’s laughter was even uglier than a crow’s caw.
It was already daylight, and the extreme cold had lessened somewhat, though it was still below minus 20 degrees. The wind was light, butNeo could still easily smell the strong scent of blood in the cold, damp air.
The shrinking crowd of refugees was the last 50 to enter the castle. Their speed was pitiful, but the real issue wasn’t their speed—it was the attitude of the dark minions. Even if these refugees could run fast, what would that help?
He wiped himself with snow, wrapped his wet underwear and tight clothes as a seat cushion, and put on his leather jacket and pants properly this time, feeling warmth return. His arm and leg guards were reattached, but his weapons were left aside.Neo chewed on a piece of dried meat slowly, occasionally stuffing handfuls of snow into his mouth.
From initial anxiety to calmness, onlyNeo knew how difficult those fifteen minutes had been. He was waiting, waiting for the perfect moment to act—his life would be decided in one strike.
Howl! Vladimir transformed amidst furious roars. Valentina’s repeated attacks finally enraged him completely. Vladimir abandoned pure skill-based combat and began to show his true strength.
Black light enveloped this massive werewolf with a white nose and black mane, making his fur appear to be on fire. He threw away his broadsword; his sharp, giant wolf claws became his new weapons. Unlike ordinary werewolves who used their claws in combat, Vladimir’s claws were held tightly and extended straight, with sword-like black light shooting from their tips, forming a several-meter-long beam—this was his sword, the Sword of Dark Light.
After transforming into a werewolf, Vladimir became extremely fierce and brutal. Every strike carried terrifying power and a dreadful aura. With his wild swings, snow and frozen ground debris flew everywhere in a radius of over 5 meters. Valentina couldn’t withstand his attacks head-on, dodging left and right, looking in grave danger.
“Is that all you’ve got? Huh? You stinking woman! Come on! Come at me! Slash me! Fight me with a sword…” Vladimir was mad and frenzied, spitting and pressing forward step by step.
Skill seemed completely overwhelmed by his overwhelming strength. Even if Valentina took a few risky strikes, Vladimir didn’t care at all. The wounds healed rapidly—wounds 5 centimeters deep and 20 centimeters long stopped bleeding in 3 seconds, leaving only a scar in 1 minute. He was like an immortal monster.

“I’m coming!” Nio shouted and charged forward.
Seeing this, Eirlys shook his head. “A foolish tactic of adding more force.”
“Great! Hehe!” Imorton no longer had much interest in watching the battle; his attention had shifted to the Red Ghosts and Blue Ghosts. The slaughter had reached its final stage, with fierce violence unfolding—blood for blood, wounds for wounds, extremely brutal and seemingly thrilling.
Fad also focused more on the human-beasts, interested in Sarug and wanting to recruit him as his subordinate. The time was right, and he was ready to intervene in the battle.
Nio charged in with bare hands, drawing the first round of laughter from the Dark Handlers.
Originally, Nio intended to take over Valentina’s fight against Vladimir, but Vladimir didn’t even consider him a threat and continued to pursue Valentina. The force of Vladimir’s Dark Light Sword sent Nio scurrying around like a fly under a cow’s tail, while Nio’s punches and kicks had no effect at all on Vladimir. This provoked the second round of laughter from the Dark Handlers, with some even shouting at Nio, “Joker! Joker!”
After fighting for about 5 or 6 minutes, perhaps finding it boring himself, Nio withdrew from the battlefield. Standing aside to catch his breath only drew the third round of laughter from the Dark Handlers.
Meanwhile, Fad used Dark Puppetry on the battlefield where the Red Ghosts and Blue Ghosts were fighting. Black lights sprang up from the ground, reviving the dead human-beasts, who joined in the slaughter of the Blue Ghosts.
“Hm?” Not long after casting the spell, Fad frowned. His Dark Puppetry didn’t seem to have worked perfectly. The undead puppets that rose again under the power of darkness were not only weak but also slow to react. Theoretically, they should have been as strong as level 3 warriors, but even level 1 was a stretch. This had never happened before. Still, the spell had a severe negative impact on the Blue Ghosts.
In fact, both Doge and Sarug had long noticed the existence of the Dark Handlers. The human-beasts were no strangers to these creatures. Their initial incursion into Edrith this winter was indeed instigated by the Dark Forces, and outside the West Wind Fortress, beneath Sol’s City, they had clashed with the Dark Handlers more than once. They knew exactly what the Dark Handlers wanted, and their own goals barely conflicted with theirs. Moreover, the Dark Handlers were extremely dangerous, so they didn’t mind letting them watch from the sidelines.
Their endurance and growing strength had always been the Blue Ghosts’ advantages. By now, the Bloodbone human-beasts had lost their fighting spirit, and with such a huge disparity in numbers, they were in grave danger.
But now, the actions of the Dark Handlers clearly showed their bias toward the Bloodbone clan. Though angry, Doge knew it was not the right time to confront them head-on. So he made a quick decision, leading a few trusted followers and calling out to withdraw from the battlefield first.
The Blue Ghosts had much stronger discipline than the Red Ghosts. Hearing the call to retreat, they quickly pulled back, climbed over the walls, and withdrew in an orderly manner.

At this point, only about a hundred Red Demons were left to fight, all of them injured and exhausted. Yet, seeing that the dark forces were on their side, Sarug refused to give up and, along with his tribe, relentlessly pursued them, killing dozens of the slower Blue Demons. The total number of Blue Demons dropped below 500. Dorgon, already filled with frustration and rage, became even more fierce upon seeing the Red Demons’ persistent attacks. “Damn! Do you think I’m afraid of you?! Form up and kill them!” The Blue Demons organized a coordinated counterattack in the open area outside the inner city walls, reducing the number of Red Demons to less than 30 in just a few minutes. Seeing the Red Demons on the verge of destruction, Fad didn’t want to stand by idly. He ordered Gorton to captureNeo immediately, while he himself, along with Eirlys Thorn and other dark minions, rushed toward the city walls. Gorton was a Level 10 Eternal Night Warrior, along with William and Imorton, who were equivalent to Level 7 warriors, 10 magic mutants above Level 5, and 20 demonized warriors equivalent to Level 4. With such a strong force, capturing oneNeo seemed effortless to Fad. Unbeknownst to him,Neo had been waiting for this moment—he had over 20 Wood Druids hidden in the shadows, Liz was not far away either, along with his magical pets and himself. The time had come;Neo was determined to teach these dark minions a lesson.