Chapter 011: Monsters

In this room filled with blood-red hues, a piercing cold seemed to emanate from all directions. This feeling was even stronger than when he was at the door earlier. Du Fan could even faintly sense a hint of murderous intent and fluctuations in magic energy within that cold. He immediately realized that the cold here was by no means harmless; if anyone dared to break in, there would surely be deadly threats hidden within it.

As he watched carefully, a sudden short, cold laugh rang out, as if exploding in Du Fan’s mind. He felt his vision go dark, and an extreme sense of distress overwhelmed his body, as if an animal had encountered its natural predator—instantly giving him the urge to flee. Fortunately, this feeling came and went quickly. By the time Du Fan regained his senses, his entire body was drenched in cold sweat.

It was then that Du Fan noticed that around the blood-red magic circle, a magician in black stood in every corner—six corners, six magicians in total. These magicians were completely different from those he had seen outside. Their entire bodies seemed wrapped in magic robes, with a faint black aura surrounding them, obscuring their faces. Yet even so, Du Fan could clearly sense that within those dark auras, several pairs of eyes, like cold electricity, were staring at him.

In those gazes, Du Fan felt a fierce murderous intent! It was an unhidden desire to kill, surging at him like a tidal wave. His once-prideful mental strength kept retreating under this pressure, until finally, Du Fan felt as though he was entirely enveloped by that murderous intent. Despite having received no actual attack, he seemed unable to move at all.

Du Fan tried to use his mental strength to create a protective barrier around himself, but found that although he could barely move it, it was utterly useless. Under the opponent’s murderous intent, he felt completely defenseless.

Du Fan was drenched in cold sweat. He had encountered many powerful beings in his life, but even when he faced an angel back then, he had never felt such oppression that he couldn’t move. The feeling he experienced today was something Du Fan had never encountered before. The mental strength of these six mages didn’t seem particularly strong, but combined with their intense murderous intent, it carried a chilling aura that pierced through Du Fan’s defenses like needles. He could sense that his own mental strength was even greater than that of all six mages combined, yet he was even more aware that if a fight broke out, he would be no match for them at all! Gradually, Du Fan began to feel dizzy, with stars appearing before his eyes and his forehead covered in cold sweat. He felt on the verge of collapsing. At that moment, Kristy, who was leading the way, seemed to remember something. She turned to look at Du Fan, her expression changing instantly. She quickly said, “Six Enforcers, this is a distinguished guest whom President Edward wants to meet. You must not treat him like this!” Hearing Kristy say this, the six mages almost simultaneously snorted. Du Fan felt a sharp pain in his head and nearly fainted. Fortunately, after that snort, their murderous intent and pressure subsided, and Du Fan felt a sense of relief. He immediately wished he could find a place to rest properly. After a while, Du Fan finally felt a little better. He secretly glanced at the mages, only to feel their gazes piercing into him like needles, making his scalp tingle. He quickly averted his gaze, not daring to look again. Those six mages were truly strange—monsters or perverts! Given the current situation, he definitely couldn’t afford to provoke them. After another while, one of the mages spoke coldly, “It has been the rule of the Mage Guild for a thousand years: except for mages of level five or above, no outsiders are allowed to enter this mage tower. Kristy, you haven’t forgotten, have you?” After saying that, the man snorted coldly again. His voice was extremely awkward, as if he had never spoken before. Hearing his voice made people feel uncomfortable and their scalps tingle, as if even his words carried murderous intent.

Kristi quietly walked up to Du Fan, forcing a smile as she said, “Lord Enforcer, I know bringing this Du Fan here today goes against the rules, but it was President Edward’s order, and I had no choice but to obey. I hope you, the lords enforcers, can make an exception.”
The same awkward-speaking person still said coldly, “Since it’s President’s order, then go…”
With that, the magician waved his hand, and the remaining five magicians stepped back at the same time.
Kristi let out a long sigh but didn’t dare say more. Instead, she pulled Du Fan along and quickly stepped onto the blood-red magic circle. Suddenly, the surroundings changed, and the two found themselves in a square-like area.
Only then did Kristi seem to breathe easier. “Alright, Lord Du Fan. This is already inside the mage tower. President Edward is waiting for you in his room… I’ll accompany you.”
Du Fan merely nodded slightly, still pondering those magicians he had encountered earlier. In front of them, he couldn’t even move, let alone fight back—it was truly strange… He had no idea what level those magicians were, but how could they possess such killing intent and pressure? Such people were probably rare even in the Holy Church’s Divine Prison!
“No need to think about it, Young Master Du Fan,” Kristi said, seemingly reading Du Fan’s thoughts. She gave a wry smile. “Those guys are real monsters. You definitely can’t judge them by ordinary standards. When I first came to the mage tower, I also suffered greatly at their hands…”
Du Fan glanced at Kristi, his mind stirring. He pretended to be indifferent and asked, “Who exactly are these people? How… so powerful?”

Kristi clearly had no intention of hiding anything. She merely frowned slightly and said, “These mages are all part of the Enforcement Team. Only the presidents of the Magic Guilds through the ages have had the authority to command them, like their personal guard…” At this point, Kristi glanced at Du Fan intentionally or unintentionally before continuing, “This force has been passed down within the Magic Guilds for over a thousand years, similar to your Holy Church’s Divine Punishment Corps… There might be a slight difference, though. While your Divine Punishment Corps deals mainly with heretics within the Holy Church, the Enforcement Team usually handles only rebellious mages… As for other situations, they’re not responsible for those. Of course, this is also uncertain…”

Du Fan’s heart skipped a beat. It seemed the people of the Magic Guild knew quite a lot about the Holy Church, even knowing about the existence of the Divine Punishment Corps… They must have put in a lot of effort to investigate this, right?

But then, why would Kristi tell him about the Enforcement Team?

After pondering for a moment, Du Fan suddenly understood. If the Magic Guilds could know about the Divine Punishment Corps, why couldn’t the Holy Church know about the Enforcement Team? If he really wanted to investigate, he could probably find out too. Kristi must have seen through this, which was why she told him everything without hiding anything, perhaps even as a gesture of goodwill!

“But…” Du Fan looked at Kristi. “Why do I feel that they aren’t extremely powerful, yet they can still…”

“Fully suppress you, right?” Kristi said calmly. “That’s certainly true. The Enforcement Team exists precisely to deal with rebellious mages. So, the magic manuals they use are naturally quite peculiar—designed specifically to counter mages. Not to mention you, Young Master Du Fan, even those mages said to be near the sacred rank would suffer greatly in front of the Enforcement Team…”

She stopped speaking after that.

But Du Fan’s expression changed involuntarily. Remembering the feeling he had when encountering those mages from the Enforcement Team earlier, he broke into cold sweat.

Kristi had no need to exaggerate in front of him. Based on his own feelings, he believed that even mages near the sacred rank would be at a severe disadvantage against them. After all, battles between experts often decide in an instant. Under their pressure, even if one reacted quickly, their bodies couldn’t keep up, rendering their reactions useless…

An existence specifically designed to counter mages! If such a monster can effortlessly defeat mages, doesn’t that mean it’s invincible across the continent?
However, Du Fan then thought of another possibility: since this enforcement team is meant to counter mages, it’s unclear what their combat capabilities are. What would they do if they encountered warriors?
He also wondered whether he—using only combat energy instead of magic—could be a match for them.