Chapter 1 Things Get Out of Control

For Count Willie, a high-ranking "Agent" of the Annihilation Order and a former Taros nobleman, many things had spun out of control days ago.

Looking back, the beginning of everything could perhaps be traced back to several months ago—when the whispers of the Great Lord, Lockmarton, in the Nightmare World brought revelations to his followers. What followed was exhilarating. The prophesied Day of Ending seemed imminent. The power of Chaos prevailed after the day of decline. The borders of the ordered world teetered. An unprecedented surge occurred in the Sea of Carnos, bringing unparalleled power to all followers of Chaos. At the same time, a calamity akin to divine punishment descended upon the "Sanctuary," destroying the foundation of the Sanctuary Order, the Annihilation Order's greatest enemy. It was just as the great prophecy foretold: the world was a monotonous, meaningless spiral, but one day, the power from the Great Lord, Lockmarton, would break the cycle and reveal the true future of Coro.

And then, Veronica brought back a baffling "Ancient Guardian" from the depths of the Chaos Lands.

That was when things started to spiral out of control and become bizarre.

The sacred relic from the Kasuan Temple, a supposed lost artifact, reappeared. The hope of breaching the holy land was within reach, but the unexpected combat prowess of the "Ancient Guardian" almost ruined everything. After a tortuous escape from the Taros heartland, they encountered a strange surge of order from the direction of the White City just as they were about to cross the Southern Hills, injuring everyone. They finally found a place to recuperate in a Chaos Rift and even completed a crucial ritual with the help of an ancient energy node, only to be besieged by a group of suddenly appearing knights and monks. After finally breaking through, they encountered a berserker woman as strong as an ox and as mad as a dog…

Count Willie racked his brains but couldn't figure out when he had offended such a berserker woman. Although followers of order and chaos were always at odds, he had never encountered one so full of bitter hatred!

"Thief!" Lily roared, hacking down another unlucky soul in her path. "Give back my plate! It's mine!"

"Cover the Agent!" a black-armored warrior shouted, covered in blood as he charged forward. "Lockmarton is supreme!"

Lily was already seeing red. She practically tore the high-ranking warrior, who was as strong as a werewolf, in half. Then, she pounced and bit another black warrior blocking her way. Using her sharp teeth and claws, she tore at him until he was half-dead. The nearly lifeless black warrior was tossed in front of Count Willie like a broken sack. He looked up in horror, meeting a pair of beastly golden eyes.

Even the cultists were shocked by this fighting style—though they were known for their madness and cruelty, their insanity clearly stopped at the human realm. In fights between people, no one had ever seen Lily's style!

But Lily was actually more frustrated than anyone else.

She found it difficult to stop those detestable "thieves."

Although each of these humans was weaker than her, their weakness didn't reach the level of complete suppression. And although they were intimidated by her aura, they showed no sign of retreating in fear. The cultists charged forward as if unafraid of death, delaying her each time—allowing the two thieves in the center of the group to run further and further away!

And her assistants, including the Black Raven Knights and the Sanctuary warriors, were entangled with the other cultists. It seemed no one was coming to help her.

The melee was spreading across the area outside Hogus's cottage, and the entire hill was covered in magical explosions.

The Black Raven Knights and the Holy See knights formed a solid line of defense, resisting the suicidal attacks of the fanatical cultists. Under their protection, battle mages and church monks bombarded the earth with magic, making it difficult for even the most reckless cultists to move freely. But the cultist mages had already occupied the advantageous position on the second floor of Hogus's cottage. They launched attacks from above, making it impossible to approach for a time.

The Direwolf Praetorian Guard, composed of sub-races, was perhaps the only team on the battlefield that still retained some mobility. With their innate anti-magic skin and steel-hard fur armor, they withstood the cultists' attacks and were now desperately trying to rush over to support their leader—however, Lily had charged too quickly. A group of berserk black warriors now separated her from her praetorian guard. The fighting power of the berserk black warriors was comparable to that of magical beasts. After charging for a while, the Direwolf Praetorian Guard not only failed to reach the Direwolf, but one behemoth and two dire wolves had to withdraw from the battlefield due to severe injuries.

Just as the battle reached a stalemate, an odd piercing shriek suddenly came from outside the battlefield.

Lily kicked away an enemy and twisted her head to find the direction of the shriek. She quickly spotted a small black dot streaking across the sky—the small black dot trailed a long fiery tail and plunged straight onto the roof of Hogus's cottage. It smashed a large hole there. A moment later, a deafening explosion erupted inside the cottage. A large amount of building debris, mixed with smoke and the dismembered limbs of cultists, was blasted away, and the northwest corner of the house was completely sheared off.

Everyone was startled by the sudden explosion, but Lily's eyes lit up.

"That sound… that style… the Landlord is here!!"

As if to confirm Lily's guess, a second shriek soon pierced the air. This shell landed in the open space next to the building, and a burst of light erupted, blasting three cultists away before they could even scream.

The two explosions brought a strange silence to the battlefield for a moment, and then someone heard a strange mechanical roar coming from another nearby hill. This time, everyone finally knew where the two attacks had come from. They looked towards the sound and saw a bizarre war chariot covered in heavy armor, resembling a double-layered bunker, with a cannon barrel on top, rushing down from the opposite hillside, spitting flames from its cannon barrel as it charged—and then a third explosion appeared on the hill.

Lily jumped up more than two meters: "It's the Landlord's Type 59, charging down the hill!!"

The cultists were initially confused about what was happening with this sudden attack, but even the dullest person could now tell which side the war chariot that had broken into the battlefield was on. In contrast to the demoralized cultists, the Black Raven Knights and the Sanctuary warriors instantly cheered—they didn't recognize the tank, but they knew there must be a reason why the Direwolf was so happy. The loud steel monster was probably related to the "Landlord" that the Direwolf was always talking about!

The melee continued, but the scales of victory were shifting towards the side of order. The war chariot that had charged down from the opposite hill had arrived nearby and was now climbing the hill. The hatch on top of the war chariot was opened, and Hao Ren poked half his body out. He looked in surprise at the husky spirit dressed like a jungle warrior and immediately waved his hand. "Lily!!"

"Landlord, come help!" the husky girl jumped three feet high. "Someone's stealing our stuff!"

As a husky who always ran off, it was quite rare for her to have heightened her awareness of guarding the house to this extent.

Hao Ren had already spotted two familiar faces in the melee. One was Count Willie, who had escaped from him that day, and the other was Lavinia, the former guard knight who had defected and then disappeared. And the fruit plate from Erli Bridge Plastic Factory that had been stolen was being held in Lavinia's arms—this was truly a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road!

Willie and Lavinia had also seen Hao Ren by now. They had probably cursed every dirty word they could think of in their hearts, but after cursing, they still mustered their strength and prepared for a desperate fight: as professional cultists, they knew the consequences of falling into the hands of their enemies, so they had abandoned any possibility of a peaceful resolution from the start. At this moment, the only option was to fight desperately.

The remaining cultists around Willie also thought of the same thing. They realized that if they wanted to break out now, the only and greatest threat was the "berserker woman" blocking their path. Stimulated by the unprecedented crisis, the cultists swarmed forward and actually managed to suppress Lily in a short time!

Hao Ren saw this scene from afar and wanted to open fire but was worried about friendly fire. But at the critical moment, he found something in his pocket. He took it out and smiled happily: spicy sticks.

He tore a small opening in the package and aimed it at Lily's direction, throwing the bag of spicy sticks over with all his might: "Open your mouth!"

Lily was irritated by the group of cultists, but when she heard the Landlord's words "Open your mouth," she immediately turned her head instinctively and jumped up to catch the bag of spicy sticks.

Familiar recipe, familiar taste.

A loud wolf howl resounded on the hill, and a strong wind suddenly rose. People who heard the howl seemed to have a hallucination. In a daze, they saw a bright moon appear in the sky. This hallucination was fleeting. When the wind stopped and the moon faded, they only saw a huge silver wolf standing on top of the hill.

The Direwolf's wolfskin cloak fluttered and fell to the ground.

Kalaxius was stunned for a long time and muttered to himself, "It really is… the Direwolf…"