Cthulhu Gonfalon

His skill was extremely brilliant. Even the God of War, Wenner, who was a master among the gods who were great Divine Powers, was unable to detect his abnormality without close observation. And with his ability, once a great Divine Power managed to observe him at close range, he could immediately detect something and be able to make a timely response.

However, just as man proposes, God disposes. Sui Xiong’s sensing ability was completely different from the ordinary Divine Powers. Sui Xiong’s understanding of the soul was far beyond the level of ordinary gods, so Earl Hauss’ concealing means did not work at all. He was quickly seen through.

If only Sui Xiong was here, perhaps being seen through was not a big deal. Sui Xiong might just feel that this person’s soul was too strong, or probably some devil from hell had invaded this mortal’s body—anyway, given Sui Xiong’s intelligence quotient and this impression of the gods and Holy Spirits, he would never make a guess in the direction of “possession of the body by the Holy Spirit.”

From his point of view, the gods should always follow the rules in everything they did, but there would always be some bottom line. Even if it was a god as evil as the God of Fear... Well, that was not a good example. That fellow really seemed to have no bottom line at all.

But the God of Fear was dead. His followers and allies who like him, had no bottom line to speak of, were all dead as well. The one who had sent them to meet their doom was none other than Sui Xiong himself.

Sui Xiong had always abhorred those people who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. He felt that the most appropriate way out for such people was for them to become corpses, where they could then give back to society in the form of fertilizer.

So he had originally planned to help Earl Hauss and his men complete such a useful process of giving back to society as soon as possible. But that remained his intention only up to the point where he was persuaded by Wenner.

But now, he wanted to do something like that himself. He wanted to help that Holy Spirit of unknown origin give back to society.

“I’ll advise you not to make a move,” said Wenner, who saw through his intention. Wenner advised by saying, “Let’s just watch by the side. It’s not too late for you to step in if your followers can’t subdue him.”

“The mere thought of me breathing the same air as this fellow makes my mind somewhat witless,” Sui Xiong complained. “If my mind is witless, whatever food I eat and whatever wine I drink won’t taste good. Even when I sleep, I’ll feel as though my bed is digging into my back. It’s very uncomfortable!”

“Such an opponent is hard to come by,” Wenner said. “If it wasn’t too late to make preparations, I would have wanted to get the few among my followers, who are at the advanced legendary level, to take part in this battle as well.”

“Why?”

“Holy Spirits are usually at least within the realm of Demigod Masters. There are many Holy Spirits who are even strong enough to compete with real gods without falling behind. For the people of the Legendary Realm, to be able to put in all their might and fight such an opponent in a most courageous battle can allow them to stimulate their own potential. The dangerous battle could also allow them to ascertain the path they should take, and they will be able to feel the Demigod Realm more clearly and intuitively,” Wenner said. “After going through a battle like this, in the future, it’ll be much easier for one to step into the Demigod Realm as compared to anyone else. We have done statistics that show that people who have undergone the skip-level challenges without sustaining serious injuries are at least twice as likely to achieve breakthroughs.”

“I can give them divinity directly and help them break through,” Sui Xiong said.

“Of course you can help, but if you have hopes of them being able to make further progress on the basis of the Demigod Realm and eventually be sealed as gods in the future, then it’d be best if you could allow them to break through with their own strength.”

Sui Xiong was silent for a while, then nodded.

“You’ve convinced me. I’ll show some patience, sit tight and wait to see just how that fellow meets his end.”

They did not wait long.

That night, the weather was fine. The sky was full of stars, without a single dark cloud in sight.

Because they had received Sui Xiong’s reminder, Leon and company had been rushing in the middle of the night. They only stopped when it was about midnight to take a break.

With the help of Nice’s magic spell, all the members of the entire rapid-mobility troop took lodging in a magic mansion—this was another benefit of using a Phantom Colt. If their rides were real warhorses, then setting camp would be quite troublesome. A lot of time and effort would be required just to settle the horses. The knights would have to massage the muscles of their mounts to relieve their fatigue. They also would have to feed the mounts with food made of the finest ingredients to replenish their strength used up from a day’s worth of galloping. If necessary, the knights might even have to use magic to help their mounts recover as quickly as possible. Even so, the condition of the warhorses would still continue to deteriorate, which meant that they would require a period of rest.

It was precisely due to the fact that the aristocratic party’s rapid-mobility troop was restricted by the limitations of their mounts that Leon and company were able to catch up with them.

Though their mounts were single-breed warhorses of demon beasts’ bloodline, their endurance was ultimately limited. Now, after every operation, they would have to rest for at least a full day before recovering well enough for the next military movement.

Yet, even so, the condition of the warhorses was still declining. So it was just as what “Earl Hauss” said, this bloody journey was indeed coming to an end.

Having lost the advantage of mobility, even if this troop had Earl Hauss as their leader, it was unlikely that they could break through the mass of troops closing in on them from all sides. Unless he could make his moves as much as he pleased without any restrictions, but would that be meaningful?

Therefore, he had already arranged the way out to bring the issue to proper closure.

At least to him, it was considered proper.

The next day, at noon, after resting for almost a day, Earl Hauss gave orders for his troop to get ready to set off.

Now, in this army, there was no longer anyone who would oppose his orders, backstab him or slack off at work. The moment he gave an order, 150 men immediately got busy with getting their materials and supplies ready. They sharpened their weapons and ensured their horses were well-fed as they got ready to set off.

In less than half an hour, they were done with all the preparations. With a ferocious aura, they set off quickly from the destroyed village to another faraway village.

An hour or so after they had left, the rapid-mobility troop of the Republic of Northwest that was led by Leon came roaring in. The Phantom Colts galloped soundlessly, without splashing up a single bit of dust. The dead silence in the ruins was broken only by the furious curses of the knights who came to witness the atrocity.

Unlike what he had done so previously, Leon did not get everyone to dismount and scour the area for survivors. Several futile attempts had taught them that these villains would never leave a single survivor.

His eyes scanned the village where the embers had yet to be completely extinguished. Leon’s eyes were as somber as the weather in a snowstorm. He ordered everyone to wait outside the village, while the masters skilled at tracking among the troop entered the village to check to see when the enemy left.

The tracking experts quickly returned with their reports. The enemy had left within an hour to an hour and a half ago.

Leon, who had been sporting a gloomy face without any trace of a smile, finally revealed a grin.

“Very well,” he said. “Let’s rest for half an hour, then we’ll continue to give chase.”

“Clito and Asner, you two shall go ahead as husband and wife to find out more about the road ahead as scouts. Nice, you’re responsible for coordinating with and backing them up. You must make sure that nothing goes wrong. Herman, Night Rain, the two of you shall wait and set off with me. We’ll go first. The opponent has a very formidable master. We are sure to hold him back only if we act together. Gerald, Felix, you’ll take care of the bulk of the force. Expand the circle and do your best not to let any of those scum find the chance to escape!”

After receiving their orders, the cavalry that had been in a frenzied gallop earlier on quietened down within a very short time. Everyone was silently conserving their strength to store up energy and prepare themselves for the next tough battle.

Leon looked in the direction of where the group of devil-like cavalrymen had run off to. Other than the murderous intention shooting out from his eyes, there was also a high-spirited will to battle.

A demigod master who was extremely evil but in bad condition? He felt that even his blade was cheering and rejoicing for the coming battle!