123: Duke's Palace Battle 4

A soft tearing sound of fibers came as the Dragon King silently flew back to my shoulder.

A few wails seemed to be strangled in the spellcaster's throat—the abruptly cut-off tremor was identical to the sound the Flame Fist Soldiers made when the poisonous mist corroded their windpipes a few minutes earlier.

As we rushed to the second floor, the figures of three mages were frozen in a curled position on the ground within a swirling poisonous mist, unmoving.

The tips of their staffs still held the faint glow of an incomplete spell, but the yellowish-green mist had already seeped into the dark fabric, corroding dense holes in the marble floor.

Within twenty minutes, we had cleared the entire floor.

Scattered resisting private soldiers were quickly subdued by the Allied Forces, while more Gray Scale family members huddled in corners, trembling in silk, their pearl necklaces clinking softly with their rapid breathing.

The former duchess's golden fingernails, tearing at her veil, suddenly froze—five Flame Fist longswords were crossed at her neck, forming a crown of thorns.

"You maggots!" Her curses, erupting from her throat, shook the crystal chandelier, "The Levi family is the blood that permeates the city's very bones!"

"Madam Levi, where is Gray Scale?" Kovenreid asked coldly.

Kovenreid approached, stepping on shattered glass, his steel gauntlet crushing the emerald earring dangling from her temple: "How many evil gods did Gray Scale sell his soul to? The dagger he used to murder commoners, or the secret letter used to abduct Lord Lion?"

"Gray Scale murdered commoners, planned to abduct Lord Lion, colluded with bandits, colluded with Baal Believers and Bane's Believers, and betrayed Gorebest. The evidence is conclusive, and the charges are established!" Kedas's holy staff struck the marble floor, creating spiderweb cracks.

"Is killing a few commoners considered murder?" Her blood-stained red lips suddenly twisted into a smile, and the silver wine pot she kicked over splashed crimson onto Kedas's armor, "What kind of lord is that child? Gorebest's crest should have been branded with Levi a hundred years ago..."

"Enough!" Kedas's furious roar shook dust from the ceiling, "Gray Scale's writ of collusion with cults is still stuck on Baal's altar!"

"Simply outrageous!" Kovenreid's face turned ashen with anger, "Search! Don't miss a single room!"

"You wouldn't dare! Who dares to enter my room!" Madam Levi still shrieked furiously.

However, no one present listened to her at this moment.

Annoyed by her noisiness, I cast a Silence spell from my Cursed Earcuff on her.

The noblewoman, unable to speak, still had her bulging eyes reflecting the tattered family crest tapestry.

I waved my hand as a signal, and Flame Fist Soldiers immediately dragged her towards the spiral stone staircase, her diamond-studded heels scraping messy marks on the ground.

The cold wind from the castle spire whipped up the tattered family banner, and Gray Scale's gold-embroidered cloak flapped fiercely at the edge of the stone railing.

The white-bearded mage beside him was lightly tapping the ground with a vine-wood staff, and three floating arcane orbs refracted rainbows in the sunlight.

Kedas held the morning light lord's holy emblem in his hand, and the robes of the Losanda priestly order behind him billowed like burning golden flames in the strong wind.

Kovenreid's thumb remained pressed against the sword scabbard's clasp.

Everyone stared at the astrological patterns swirling on the mage's robe.

"Gray Scale, surrender!" Kovenreid's voice pierced through the howling wind.

The former duke suddenly ripped off the pearl buttons at his collar, his frenzied laughter shaking loose years of accumulated dust from the stone cracks: "Hahaha! Dream on. You rats who steal glory!" His bloodshot eyes turned to Kedas, "Kedas, ever since you became City Lord, you've been solely focused on developing followers for Losanda, making everyone in this city believe in the morning light lord, trusting you as a divine agent. How many people still remember that I am the true master of this city..."

"Then you shouldn't have stained your scepter with the blood of commoners!" Kovenreid shouted loudly.

Gray Scale staggered two steps forward on the accumulated snow, his jewel-encrusted sword dragging with a grating sound on the flagstones: "Those commoners eat from my granaries yet praise the morning light lord! They deserve it! My ancestors founded this city. They are ungrateful, and you dare to make a big deal out of killing a few commoners!" He suddenly pointed his sword tip at me, "And this child lord, why does he deserve such good refined salt! All of this should belong to me!"

"You shame your ancestors! Your father, on his deathbed, clutched my hand and said that Gorebest must never become an evil god's altar." Kedas suddenly threw open his priestly robe, revealing the unhealed scars from a curse, "With what you have done, how can you reunite with your ancestors in the Divine Kingdom after death? Back then, if you hadn't been so useless, how would your father have pushed me into the position of City Lord?"

"Lies! You tricked that old fool!" Gray Scale's roar suddenly cracked, "This city, this City Lord position, should all belong to me!"

"Esteemed Mage." I took a step forward, "I am Lion Black, Lord of the Cloud Mist Mountain Northern Foothills, and the newly appointed City Lord of the New South City development zone of Gorebest. A person like Gray Scale is not worthy of the allegiance of such a noble mage as yourself. Currently, bandits are eyeing us menacingly from outside, and there's a planar rift in Quagmire Fortress to the southwest, with a continuous stream of Gnolls advancing towards Gorebest and my territory..."

"Hahaha! Excellent! Let it be destroyed! Let it all be destroyed! This is what you get for betraying me!" Gray Scale yelled hysterically, simultaneously pulling out a gilded signal flare from his bosom. Three sulfur-green signal flares, trailing flames, rose into the sky, exploding into the Levi family's stag emblem in the clouds.

"Gray Scale! What are you doing?" Kedas, Kovenreid, and my angry shouts erupted almost simultaneously.

"What am I doing? Haha! Of course, it's the signal flare for the bandits to attack the city! It's over! Gorebest is finished! If I can't be City Lord, neither can you!" Gray Scale said, even gesticulating wildly, almost falling off the rooftop.

The white-bearded mage gently waved his sleeve, and the wildly swaying body was suddenly righted by an invisible force, "I am not loyal to him; I merely promised his father back then to preserve his life and let him die of old age. If only he had no offspring..."

"If the esteemed Mage can help us seal the planar rift, I can drop the matter of Gray Scale plotting to abduct me, and even spare his life." I quickly stated my request.

Kedas and Kovenreid looked back at me in surprise.

"No need, I will take him back to my mage tower and let him die of old age there." The white-bearded mage looked at Gray Scale, disappointment in his eyes, then turned to us, "As for the planar rift, it's none of my business. If you want to firmly hold the position of Gorebest's City Lord, that's a problem you need to solve."

After the old mage finished speaking, he tapped the ground with the end of his staff, and twelve arcane orbs instantly collapsed into anchor points for a teleportation array.

The figures of the two were swallowed by spatial folds, vanishing without a trace, leaving only two gradually cooling magical afterglows on the flagstones.

The opponent's most powerful mage did not engage us, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But Gray Scale's three signal flares...