Volume 4: The Orc Butcher

Chapter 39: Bait (1)

After leaving the manor, Donald did not take the usual road outside Redmap Town. Instead, he planned to cross the wilderness forest between the manor and Stone City directly. There was a rugged path, carved out by hunters and adventurers, leading toward Stone City.

Besides being the shorter route, Donald had his own reasons for this approach. He knew that since the failed assassination and raid, every move he made must be under surveillance. The fact that they could orchestrate an assassination in public and even deploy a rare profession like a sorcerer meant his enemies were no ordinary forces—possibly even the governor of the North County himself.

However, Donald had no concrete evidence, so he decided to lure them out by first dealing with the threat of the sorcerer, thereby deterring them from taking further action. Once he returned from battle, he would confront them head-on and have his revenge!

That’s why he chose this remote area as his route—using himself as bait to lure them out and catch them all at once.

In fact, Donald’s plan was highly effective. In a tavern in Redmap Town, the sorcerer Goman had been staying there for two days since the failed raid. Besides recovering from his injuries and regaining his strength, he also wanted to keep a close eye on things.

Using the Eye of Demons he summoned daily to monitor Darknight Manor from the air, he had already noticed that his target had left.

“Alone, with only two followers—this is the perfect chance to take him out! There’s still time. This time, let those two foolish mages take the lead; I’ll step in at the critical moment! Hehe!”

Goman said this with a sinister smile, only to suffer misfortune as a result.

Inside Darknight Manor, Bronze Mage Chris, who had been studying the three alchemical puppets, suddenly sensed something and looked up at the sky.

In his room, Goman heard a sound like an egg breaking, with liquid splashing out. His mental strength was once again damaged, and his face paled slightly.

“Damn those mages! I never expected that little mage’s manor would have such a powerful mage guarding it. In my prime, I wouldn’t fear him, but now, even with a Silver Demon, I can at most draw a tie. Luckily, I didn’t rush in yesterday; otherwise, I might have died there!”

Fearing those mages, he cursed loudly in his room.

Meanwhile, in the manor, after using a mental piercing technique to destroy the eyes watching from above, Chris rubbed his itchy nose and devoted himself once again to the study of puppets. The sorcerer Gorman cursed loudly, venting his frustration from those days, before immediately sending the information about their target to spies from the Black Knight Brotherhood living next door via messenger birds. Then he set off alone on a fast horse toward Stone City.

Not long after, a carriage emerged from the gates of Stone City. Unlike other ordinary travelers, instead of heading along the road to Red Maple Town, the only human settlement to the north, it turned toward the uninhabited wilderness to the north once no one was around. After a while, the carriage stopped in an open area, and two figures covered head to toe in cloaks got out. Then the carriage turned around and returned to Stone City.

This was a necessary passage along the main route from the wilderness forest to Stone City; the other directions were dense forests and wildlands, difficult for both horses and people to pass through. If anyone wanted to reach Stone City from Red Maple Town or Dark Night Manor, aside from the road opened years ago, this would be the only remaining remote path.

Half an hour passed, and just as the two cloaked men grew impatient, a group of three riders arrived from the northwest. Seeing the two masked men waiting at the entrance of the wilderness forest to block the way, Donald thought to himself that the fish had bitten the hook. He promptly ordered his horse to stop in front of the open area.

“Clinton, protect Eric. You two can’t get involved in this fight. Eric, stay here and watch how I fight the enemy!” After instructing Clinton to take care of Eric, Donald stepped forward alone to face the two enemies blocking the road.

Although their faces were covered, Donald recognized them by the wooden staffs in their hands. “Isn’t this the respected Snow Mage? Then this must be Mage Naron. I knew mages would come after me, but I didn’t expect it to be you two. Haven’t you learned from last time? Do you really think two of you can be my match?”

In other words, he meant that the two of them were clearly not strong enough to deal with him.

The Snow Mage and Naron were furious upon hearing this, but they themselves were not entirely confident in defeating Donald. Since they had been recognized, the two mages simply removed their cloaks to avoid hindering the battle ahead.

“At the brink of death, all you can do is talk tough. Without absolute certainty, how would we dare risk being discovered by that old bastard Messel just to hunt you down, you little scoundrel, Mr. Gorman? This is the perfect place for you to die—please go ahead!” As the Snow Mage spoke these resentful words, three terrifyingly looking demons emerged from the forests on either side. Calling them “emerged” might not be quite accurate, as two of them resembled giant wolves with four paws; aside from their size and claws, they were identical to wolves, with the only difference being their blue-red fur and even more ferocious claws and fangs. Donald had carefully read books about common abyssal creatures in the club’s collection and knew that these wolf-shaped demons were dog demons, which could transform into wolves or goblins. Their true form was more like a hybrid of a goblin with terrifying jaws and sharp claws and a wolf. As juveniles, dog demons were hardly distinguishable from wolves, but once they reached adulthood, they grew larger and stronger, their skin darkening to blue-red before eventually turning completely blue. Judging by these two dog demons, they were clearly already adult. Juvenile dog demons usually had the strength of the early Bronze level, and upon reaching adulthood, they would advance by a small rank. These two demons at the mid-Brass level were indeed very troublesome, but Donald’s attention was mostly on the demon that emerged in the middle of them. It was a slender human-like creature with blood-red skin and a pair of degenerated, skeletal wings on its back. Its entire body was engulfed in flames whose colors kept changing, giving it a semi-transparent, hazy appearance. “It’s a Fire Fiend! To go to such lengths—you really think highly of me! Are you just the few of you? Is that sorcerer hiding in the shadows, too scared to act?”