Toin looked at Barashar, who wore a smile, and awkwardly said, "Serving the country... is indeed the right thing to do."
Theodore had underestimated this Fire Lizard slave he had easily subdued; his arrogance as a wizard made him overlook an important point.
Toin was a Silverhorn Noble. Even though he had become a member of Linksa Eye with the help of the wizards, his past wealth and the pride of being a noble still filled him with resentment towards the wizards.
These Fire Lizards, having been implanted with soul seeds, could only bury their resentment deep within, numbing their spirits through various immoral actions, daring not to reveal their true feelings.
But Theodore mistook these Fire Lizards' behaviors as the inherent flaws of indigenous races.
Arrogance was one of the qualities most detested by wizards.
"Serving the country, haha, indeed it is for the country."
Barashar stood up and patted the little guy beside him with force.
"Don't worry, your intelligence this time is very important, so I won't throw you onto the execution rack."
Toin let out a slight sigh of relief.
"But…" Barashar's tone suddenly turned serious, "Your betrayal has caused significant losses to the Empire, and you need to make amends! There are many Fire Lizards like you in Linksa Eye, and I want you to root them out one by one!"
Toin swallowed hard, his voice trembling, "M-me? How can I do that?"
Barashar chuckled and drew a Black Gold Scimitar from his waist. The cold light reflected on Toin's face, making him shiver.
"Trust me, you can do it. If you sacrifice yourself, the Empire will award you a medal, just like the Flame Medal of Morik's Shield.
Your name will be engraved on a monument, remembered for ten thousand years."
Toin's face fell; he didn't want to be remembered by future generations; he just wanted to live a life of luxury and wealth.
But did he have a choice?
Barashar ignored Toin and picked up the light screen again, wanting to enjoy the sight of the wizards' demise. But soon, he dashed out of the room.
Immediately after, Toin heard a melodious sound of a horn.
"Is this a gathering call?" Toin could hardly believe his ears.
Could it be that ten Holy Guards and so many Dragon Beast Knights couldn't wipe out this group of wizards?...
In the Dragon Beast base, Richard watched the wizards being overwhelmed by the Holy Guards and couldn't help but feel a headache.
He wanted those cultivation pods, but the current might of the Holy Guards was a bit excessive. Even with Ulysses protecting him, Richard feared he might be killed by a casual strike from the Holy Guards.
However, Richard didn't dwell on his headache for long, as soon a Holy Guard spotted him.
[Alert: Biological presence detected in the shadow gap]
[Alert: Biological presence detected in the shadow gap]
[Activate interference system?]
Seeing the marked icons in his field of vision, the Fire Lizard unhesitatingly chose yes, even though he didn't know what the armor was indicating.
In the next moment, the space around Richard suddenly became chaotic, the black and white colors rapidly faded, and the vibrant colors of the material world instantly filled Richard's vision.
"Damn, this mech is going to be outrageous."
Richard cursed and instantly used shadow traversal. Then he heard a "bang" as a fist smashed down where he had just been.
"Didn't expect to find a rat here." The Holy Guard sneered.
He turned swiftly and quickly located Richard after his shadow traversal, then in a flash, appeared right in front of him.
This nearly four-meter-tall giant was terrifyingly fast.
The chainsaw sword swung, its buzzing sound like the tolling of death's bell, but the next moment, a crow claw blocked the chainsaw sword.
"Vile mortal, kneel before me!"
Ulysses' words were like the wrath of thunder; in this critical moment, he used the divine word technique again.
As he finished speaking, the Fire Lizard heard the armor's alarms ringing in his ears, warning of a rule strike and urging him to evade. Meanwhile, he found his legs giving way, and he knelt heavily on the ground.
Seeing this, Richard felt a surge of joy; although the Holy Guards were powerful, they were still a bit lacking compared to Ulysses.
Ulysses didn't say much; the divine word technique consumed faith power. Although their faith power had accumulated somewhat thanks to the Holy Tree Spirits, it couldn't withstand his repeated expenditures.
He extended his crow claw forward, and as it neared the Fire Lizard's head, it grew large enough to completely grasp the Fire Lizard's head.
Under the effect of the divine word technique, the Fire Lizard sat dazedly on the ground, watching the crow claw approach.
Bang! Zzzz...
But the expected easy plucking didn't happen; the crow claw scraped against the armor, producing a series of harsh sounds, but the Fire Lizard's head remained in place.
Ulysses retracted his crow claw and quickly grabbed Richard, flying backward at high speed.
"Damn, their armor is harder than a turtle shell. Don't bother with that stuff; let's focus on saving our lives."
The Holy Guard stared blankly at Ulysses flying away, a flicker of relief washing over him.
It seemed this crow had no way to deal with the holy armor.
"Communications, prepare to intercept!"
The relieved Holy Guard chose not to surround and kill other wizards but activated the armor's communication function, calling the outer Dragon Beast Knight Order to delay Ulysses.
Immediately, Richard saw hundreds of Dragon Beast Knights aiming their javelins at him.
In the next instant, the javelins rained down.
After the javelin rain, Richard's face turned pale; just a moment ago, his Magic Barrier had nearly drained all the magic power from his body.
But before he could catch his breath, he saw hundreds of Fire Lizards aiming their javelins at him.
"Damn, this is ruthless! Ulysses, save me!"
"Got it!"
An energy barrier instantly appeared beneath Richard, blocking the javelins from getting through.
Seeing that these Dragon Beast Knights were ineffective, the Holy Guard suddenly raised his hand and chanted:
"Capture mode!"
In the next moment, an energy chain shot out from the chainsaw sword, heading straight for Richard below.
He realized that this wizard below was the key; as long as they could hold the wizard, the crow above wouldn't escape.
Zzzz...
The energy chain made contact with Ulysses' energy barrier, producing a sizzling sound, and in the energy vision, the two were engaged in a fierce clash.
In other words, Ulysses' energy was being rapidly consumed.
"No, I need to deal with this thing."
Richard carefully observed the Holy Guard; Ulysses' claw hadn't been without effect. On the Holy Guard's helmet, Richard saw two clear scratches.
"Is this really a turtle shell? Just one claw and it's only scratched a bit?!"
The things from the Forerunners were truly unreasonable.
Richard took a closer look at the two scratches and noticed golden patterns emerging beneath them.
Golden patterns?
Richard instantly thought of the golden patterns on Dragon Alchemy products. Combining this with Ulysses' earlier speculation, he suddenly communicated with Ulysses through mental messages: "Ulysses, can you temporarily restrain this armored guy? I might have a way to take it down."
"Got it! You still have this ability? Just don't get yourself killed."
With that, Ulysses paused, lowered his claws from Richard, and with a flap of his wings, a mass of black-blue flames spread along the energy chain toward the Holy Guard.
And he himself engaged in a fierce battle with the Holy Guard.
In an instant, Ulysses was engulfed in black-blue flames, using all sorts of bizarre methods to attack the Holy Guard.
The effects of these methods were manifested by the continuous alarms ringing in the Fire Lizard's ears.
[Alert: Under strong radiation attack, please activate protective stance]
[Alert: Under shockwave strike, please activate protective stance]
[Alert: Under shadow penetration strike, please activate protective stance]
...
The Fire Lizard in the armor didn't know what this so-called [protective stance] was. In the inheritance he received, there was no "spell" regarding this matter at all.
In ancient times, the Holy Guards deliberately avoided using protective stances to prevent their armor's energy from depleting too quickly. Because in the Crimson Sun World, battles were divided into two types: one where the armor's basic protection was sufficient for easy fights, and the other where activating a protective stance would still lead to being broken through, or the stance was utterly useless in life-and-death struggles.
The latter was rare over the long years.
Over time, the command to activate a protective stance, which was also the "spell" learned by the Fire Lizards, became lost.
So now, he could only rely on the armor's sufficiently excellent basic protection to withstand these attacks.
Suddenly, Ulysses spat out a chain, tightly binding the Holy Guard and creating a mass of shadow beside him.
"Now's the time."
In the next moment, Richard's figure appeared beside the Holy Guard.
"Scrub, take this giant dragon alchemy palm!"
Richard's hand glowed, and a mysterious power wrapped around his spirit, flowing through the gap Ulysses had created and entering the armor's shell.
[Severe alert: Undergoing Alchemy strike, please activate protective stance!]
[Severe alert: Undergoing Alchemy strike, please activate protective stance!]
But the Fire Lizard didn't know how to activate it; he could only futilely shout all the spells he had learned.
"Tactical invisibility!"
"Energy-saving mode!"
"Chainsaw sword level three speed!"
But these unrelated spells did nothing to solve the current problem. Sweat began to bead on the Fire Lizard's forehead, and for the first time, he was filled with fear.
Was he going to lose?
As the power of Alchemy seeped deep into the armor, the complex components inside the armor instantly entered Richard's mind. If it were any other time, Richard would have cherished these structures and even recorded them one by one.
But in this critical moment, Richard didn't care about anything else and directly used Alchemy to completely destroy these structures.
[Severe alert: Armor damage has exceeded eighty percent, armor paralyzed, automatically requesting rescue]
[Severe alert: Armor damage has exceeded eighty percent, armor paralyzed, automatically requesting rescue]
At the same time, the other Holy Guards received a message.
[Combat sequence u341 armor has been paralyzed, please provide immediate rescue]
"Ignore!"
...
Looking at the immobile Holy Guard, Richard was overjoyed.
"Hahaha, I've got a good thing!"
He grabbed the now motionless Holy Guard and opened a rift in the secret realm to throw him in.
At this last moment, the Fire Lizard in the armor finally realized which spell he should chant.
"Self-destruct!"
[Please confirm the command]
"Yes!"
[Command confirmed, countdown initiated]
[Three]
The world sensed that the thing being thrown in was a bit off.
[Two]
A mass of mycelium tendrils wrapped it tightly into a ball.
[One]
The mycelium tendrils penetrated the armor, finding the already melted and about to explode reactor.
Then... boom.
The armor fell silent.