Chapter 1 Hao Ren's Knowledge of Lavinia

Lavinia Duson Kant. Hao Ren was now familiar with this name. She was Count Willie's sister. During the journey through the desolate wilderness, this freckled female knight had taken the initiative to approach him, this "ancient guardian." Her enthusiasm was like that of an admirer with great reverence for the people of the Holy Domain. Her performance was so special that she left a deep impression on Hao Ren.

Count Willie had been confirmed as an Annihilation cultist lurking in the Realm of Order. His Kant family was likely to be incriminated from top to bottom. As his sister, Lavinia would naturally be under suspicion.

So, after the incident at Kant Manor, the "Guardian Knight" was immediately taken into custody by Rudolf III's inner court knights. However, His Majesty underestimated the scale of the Annihilation cultists' operation, as well as Lavinia's position in the secret cult. She was rescued by a large group of cultists on the way to a secret prison outside the city. Not only that, but she also took advantage of the Kingdom Knights' slow reaction to attack the standard-bearer she had guarded for many years, seizing the "Ancient Holy Artifact" from him.

Hao Ren wasn't too surprised when he heard this news. It could even be said that this was partly in his plan. After learning Count Willie's identity, he immediately suspected Lavinia, who had taken the initiative to befriend him. After Willie escaped, he expected Lavinia's escape. After Rudolf III finished speaking, he simply nodded. "I was going to ask earlier. It seems you knew all along that Count Willie and his Kant family were members of the Annihilation Order?"

"Annihilation cultists infiltrate the various Realms of Order everywhere, but we're not helpless against them," Rudolf III said calmly. "We can grasp some clues about the cultists hiding within the kingdom, but some of them have burrowed too deeply, even into the foundations of the kingdom. To eliminate these people requires long-term preparation and the right timing. More importantly, we can't let them notice before we take action, otherwise all our efforts will be in vain. I've had my eye on the Kant family for years, but only today have I completed all preparations to wipe them out in one fell swoop—unfortunately, I didn't foresee the situation with the Chaos Tide, nor did I foresee the Annihilation Order's subversion this time. When I took action, I ultimately left many regrets."

Annia looked at Hao Ren's reaction curiously. "Guardian, you don't seem to care about the stolen Ancient Holy Artifact?"

"Rather, it suits my intention that they stole that thing. It proves I guessed some things right," Hao Ren grinned. "After they tricked me into going over there, besides making up lies to fool people, they also inquired about the two artifacts of the Caswan Temple. I knew as soon as I heard that those two artifacts must be of great significance to them—at that time, I didn't know they were cultists, but I could guess the motive for them to seek the artifacts."

Old scholar Alfred became interested after hearing this. "The two artifacts of the Caswan Temple? What are they?"

"One is called the 'Radiant Disk' by them, and the other is called the 'Heart of the Sky,'" Hao Ren described the situation at the time in general terms. "... That's how it is. They seem to attach great importance to these two things, even at the risk of being seen through by me in advance, they actively brought up the matter."

Veronica seemed to finally react. "Then Lavinia stole..."

Hao Ren shrugged. "Hehe, if they're planning to use the 'Radiant Disk' to hold some kind of ritual, then they're in for a big surprise."

The atmosphere in the room became strange for a while. Several people looked at each other, and the expressions on everyone's faces were particularly subtle. The gravity of the moment seemed to linger in everyone's hearts, but now they couldn't help but feel a little amused.

Annia looked at Hao Ren, who had a rogue expression on his face, with a smile. "Guardian, this... really doesn't suit your identity."

Hao Ren chuckled. "This is wisdom!"

While the atmosphere in White City was tense due to the cultist incident, and Rudolf III's secret room was discussing topics related to the fate of the world (at least most of the topics were), in the south of the kingdom, a massive legion had gradually reached the border of civilization.

Accompanying a rustling sound of flapping wings, a flock of dusk nightjars were disturbed from the twisted canopy of the Black Forest, scattering a large number of feathers and leaves into the cloudy sky. Among the dense bushes under the canopy, a pair of small, round eyes shining with orange-yellow light blinked twice. The owner of these eyes warily watched the movements outside the forest. After confirming that there was no danger, a slender creature covered in scales, like an upright lizard, emerged from behind the bushes. This lizardman was draped in crude armor made of animal skins and some kind of carapace, and held a sharp obsidian spear in its hand. The dark red pattern on its forehead showed that it was a lizardman tribal warrior from the depths of the Southern Forest, and the obsidian spear in its hand showed that this lizardman warrior was a brave warrior in the tribe.

With a rustling sound, the bushes next to it also swayed, and then more lizardman warriors emerged from behind the bushes, eventually numbering as many as ten.

This was clearly a scout troop, but if an experienced human commander saw this scene, he probably wouldn't believe it: the lizardmen in the Black Forest were just undisciplined inferior creatures in human eyes. Their low intelligence and level of civilization were their biggest labels. These lizardman tribes hid in the depths of the forest, not to mention coming out to scout the human kingdom's borders. They usually didn't even dare to approach the human cavalry patrolling the forest.

But now there were ten lizardmen appearing on the kingdom's border, and they looked like scouts who had come out to investigate the situation. This scene was truly incredible.

"The human... city... has the smell of smoke."

The first lizardman to stand up said in a low voice, with a hissing sound in his voice. Its nostrils flared in the air, carefully sensing the changes in smell and temperature from afar.

The second lizardman to stand up stretched its neck, with magical light flowing in the dark blue folds under its neck, and the weapon in its hand was not an obsidian spear, but a stick made of animal bones. This was a lizardman shaman. Its crude, almost instinctive magical skills were childish and ridiculous in the eyes of human mages, but they were rare and valuable in the lizardman tribe.

The lizardman shaman concentrated its energy and cast an Eagle Eye spell on itself. It carefully observed the human territory across the forest, making a hissing sound in its throat. "There are plumes of smoke rising from behind the city walls. The city walls... have fallen. The human city has been breached."

The other lizardman soldiers started discussing among themselves:

"It was probably many days ago."

"The plumes of smoke are still rising, it shouldn't be too long, probably two or three days ago."

"The humans have probably all run away, to their cities further north."

"But maybe there are still humans left on horseback. Those humans are very fierce and not afraid of monsters."

"Those humans have run away too. They need to be near the city to be active, but now their city is gone."

"Should we scout further ahead?"

"No, the Dire Wolf only allows us to scout the edge of the forest," the lizardman shaman interrupted the soldiers' conversation. "And that new leader said that the amulet might fail if we get too far away."

The other lizardmen immediately quieted down when they heard the shaman's words, looking at the amulet hanging around the shaman's neck with some awe.

It was a crude handicraft, made of sturdy leather cords, two colored stone beads, a feather, and a tuft of wolf fur, but the only thing that really worked was the tuft of snow-white wolf fur, which came from the downy hair on the Dire Wolf's tail.

The wolf fur emitted a faint light in the darkness, the light was very soft, but it was enough to drive the surrounding chaotic forces away. The lizardman soldiers could move freely in the Black Forest, which had been contaminated by chaos and seriously distorted, precisely because of the protection of this powerful "magic item."

The lizardmen's magical knowledge was quite crude. In their eyes, the amulet worn by the shaman was already a very powerful magic item. If their civilization level was a little higher, they might enshrine this amulet as a divine artifact and write it into their mythology.

The Chaos Storm that landed in the southern part of Ansu Continent had crossed the migrating army led by the Dire Wolf, turning the entire southern forest into a twisted and corrupted Black Forest. Sixty percent of the creatures in the forest had died or been transformed into claws of chaos, and most of the remaining ones had buried themselves deep underground, trembling and waiting for the end of the Chaos Tide. More than seventy percent of these buried refugees would die soon after, and there were very few lucky ones who could survive the Chaos Tide.

At the forefront of the Chaos Storm, the human city had been baptized by it a few days ago, and it seemed that the solid human fortress had not lasted too long.

Seeing this scene, the lizardman shaman felt a sense of sincere joy in addition to deep fear.

Faced with the Dire Wolf's pressure, the lizardman tribe chose to surrender decisively and become a member of the Dire Wolf's massive beast army. Facts proved that this was absolutely wise: they had lived until today.

"Go back and report to the Dire Wolf," the lizardman shaman's sallow eyes rolled, and it turned around and walked towards the forest. "The human city is finished."