Chapter 379: Act 135 – The Wolf’s March (Third Update)
Faina covered her mouth with both hands as she watched the scene of the Lionmen’s defeat outside the forest, her expression frozen in shock—she wanted to complain that those guys outside were utterly useless, unable to handle even a small Elruin embassy with hundreds of people—but in the end, no sound came out.
Brendel really scared her.
Only now did she realize that the country bumpkin from this afternoon had actually held back; otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have been able to wait for Commander Veronika and the others to arrive.
However, Faina’s heart began to race. She had caught a distant glimpse of Brendel’s cold, icy eyes—she didn’t dare to breathe—a pounding sound echoed in her chest as fear set in.
“Alman, Alman…” Faina whispered, “He—he won’t discover us, right?”
“Don’t worry,” Viscount Alman furrowed his brow and reassured her, “He can’t react that quickly; even if he has suspicions, he won’t find us.” He frowned as he looked over there; having such a genius emerge from Elruin wasn’t a good omen, especially since he was younger than Alman.
He looked at Brendel, an inexplicable sense of hostility rising within him. Then he patted Faina on the shoulder: “Let’s go, we need to leave quickly.” Alman felt uneasy; the power exhibited by that young man was truly frightening.
“Are we not waiting for the Temple officials?” Rono inhaled sharply and asked quietly.
“The Temple won’t be as hasty to act as those beasts. Although Doha is greedy, he isn’t foolish,” Alman shook his head, but suddenly saw Faina’s mouth open, her expression changed, and he quickly covered the young lady’s mouth.
“Don’t make a sound!”
“Uuu…” Faina widened her eyes, “He… he’s looking over here…”
Viscount Alman froze, raising his head to see Brendel casually scanning in their direction. A shiver ran down his spine: “Impossible, it must be a coincidence!”
“Lower your head, Rono! Don’t let him find us!” Alman whispered urgently.
What he didn’t realize was that at that moment, a Wind Spirit Spider was silently passing behind him.
Brendel turned his head and spotted the Wind Spirit Spider behind the three Cruz nobles; as it halted, his gaze lingered there.
“He… has discovered… us!” Faina grappled in Alman’s embrace, her face pale with fear.
“Don’t act impulsively, Faina!”
Brendel tilted his head slightly; half of his face was illuminated by the campfire’s glow, transforming into a soft golden hue—he merely took a glance deep into the forest, then shook his head slightly, slowly drawing the Earth Sword—its black blade edge reflecting a hint of golden light.
Seeing this, Viscount Alman finally realized what was happening, and his expression changed.
“Run!”
But amidst the panicked reactions of the intersecting Cruz heirs, Brendel remained silent.
At this moment, his left hand fully drew the sword, raising its blade, the white vortex conjured by his White Crow Swordplay immediately converging on the Earth Sword.
He transferred the Earth Sword, Harangea, to his right hand, then gripped the hilt tightly and pointed it forward; a cold glint flashed in Brendel’s eyes—reflected in those icy glimmers were the fleeing forms of the three Cruz noble heirs.
Brendel retracted his sword then swung it out in retaliation.
One swing.
As swift as a thunderous rush.
The white sword aura erupted from the blade, accompanied by a sharp howl; the overwhelming white sword aura instantly unfurled from the blade of the Earth Sword as if spreading a pair of white wings—
The wings surged forward.
The white cyclone pushed the air aside, sweeping across half the forest, causing trees to topple in layers forward, sending a sound that resembled a giant beast awakening echoing far and wide into the night sky.
It was the long cry of the wind beneath the night.
At that moment.
Adventurers, diplomats, or mercenaries, Druids gathered from various locations within the forest instinctively looked up—
Veronika was discussing upcoming plans with her officers, yet upon hearing that distant sound, her expression shifted; she quickly lifted her gaze from the map laid out before her.
The wizard in the silver robe put down the crystal ball in his hand and also looked up.
Gazing in that direction.
The long howl vibrated throughout the entire forest; against the dark night sky, a massive, spectacular, indescribable white serrated vortex swept across from the northern forest.
As if it were the dorsal fin of a primordial giant shark, slicing through half the forest.
Then gradually dissipating, fading away—
“White Crow Swordplay! That little guy, what’s happening over there?” Veronika suddenly changed her expression, turning to fiercely question her officers, “Where are Faina, Rono, and Alman?”
Delphine, sitting nearby, also changed color; the imperial chancellor’s daughter lost all color in her face.
“Delphine!” Veronika instantly saw something was wrong: “Did they go over there?”
The long-haired girl instinctively shook her head, but upon seeing the stern look from the female commander, her shaking motion abruptly froze—then she nodded laboriously.
Veronika’s face darkened; she walked up to Delphine: “What do you know?”
She nodded again.
‘Slap’, a loud slap rang out.
The female commander took a deep breath, looking at the long-haired girl, who was now holding her face and falling backward to the ground, slowly and deliberately asking, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Delphine covered her face; blood trickled from the corner of her mouth down her palm, glistening like bright beads of blood against her pale wrist. The girl lowered her head and remained silent.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Veronika coldly huffed; she was now extremely worried that Brendel might attack and kill Alman, Faina, and Rono.
That would truly be beyond recovery; the Cruz might very well go to war with Elruin over this, and although she threatened Brendel with war, she understood that the empire wasn’t suited for involvement in a war at this moment.
Especially a war with Elruin—
“Regroup,” Veronika shot a cold glance at the others present: “Follow me.”
……
Indeed, Brendel had the opportunity to kill Alman, Faina, and that black-haired boy, the war alchemist.
Even at the moment he struck, Ouding and the noble woman scholar beside him hadn’t reacted at all; however, when they saw the three young people on the other side of the forest running for their lives, their expressions immediately changed.
They recognized who it was—at that moment, Ouding instinctively wanted to stop Brendel, but it was too late. But when he saw that terrifying sword aura erupting from the young lord’s blade.
His limbs went cold.
It’s over.
Although Ouding was an experienced general, at this moment, only one thought remained in his mind; he couldn’t imagine what consequences would arise if Faina, Alman, and Rono were cleaved to death by Brendel’s sword here.
War would be the least of it.
Elruin would certainly suffer Cruz’s thunderous wrath.
At the same time, the three young people shared the same thought; Faina was so terrified she fell onto the ground, even forgetting to cry, staring wide-eyed at the sword aura charging toward her.
Alman’s mind turned blank; he immediately dropped Faina and shoved Rono in an attempt to have him shield himself. However, turning around, he collided with a black pine.
And the black-haired boy also ended up having a rough fall.
Then the white sword aura swept past them.
With a soft ‘swish’, the belt of Alman’s sword, Rono’s cloak, and Faina’s shawl were all neatly cut in half and fell to the ground.
And at that moment, all three noble youths were stunned, too frightened to move even a bit.
The forest beside them had been cleaved by Brendel, creating a path nearly ten feet wide; wherever the sword wind passed, grass and trees were obliterated, stout trunks split in two.
Faina knelt motionless on the ground; after waiting for a while, she reluctantly lowered the hands covering her eyes and raised her head, seeing the cold-faced Elruin country bumpkin slowly walking over.
Brendel raised his sword and gently slid its edge across Alman, Rono, and her neck respectively, saying nothing, but the cold breath emanating from the blade caused each of them to flinch slightly.
“Next time, you won’t be so lucky,” Brendel said, “If I see you again, your heads probably won’t still be on your necks.”
Alman and the black-haired alchemist remained silent, or completely paralyzed with fear.
Meanwhile, the noble heiress dared not retort at all, simply crouched on the ground, trembling.
Brendel looked at them; he certainly wasn’t mad enough to draw Elruin into a war with Cruz. However, he understood that as long as he didn’t go insane, the likelihood of that happening was still very small; Elruin was currently facing internal and external troubles, but the Cruz Empire wasn’t necessarily all smooth sailing either.
The era of war and chaos still had several years ahead.
However, allowing these young masters to stab him in the back didn’t fit his character; the best way to deal with these spoiled brats was to scare them a bit.
Only the threat of death could make these guys genuinely feel fear.
But Brendel’s true purpose behind this sword wasn’t merely that; in fact, he didn’t want to kill these three; he saved their lives instead.
He raised his head, looking towards the end of the path the sword wind had carved out—
There,
A black wolf, nearly the size of a coach, stood there, this beast appeared as imposing as in its lifetime, yet it remained utterly still.
Then it wobbled slightly, suddenly splitting in half from the middle, collapsing with a crash into a pile of bloody flesh sliding to either side.
Rotting innards scattered on the ground, the air instantly filled with a pungent odor.
“Role killed: Lord-class Black Wolf.”
“Gained experience: 2300 points.”
Brendel immediately saw two lines of green text appear on his retina, but he felt no surprise. The young lord rested the long Earth Sword on his shoulder, turning back to look at the dark mountain on the other side.
A distant wolf howl echoed in the night—
Then more wolf howls responded from the forests near and far.
Moving red dots began to appear in the forest.
Brendel stared at that direction for a moment as if confirming something; finally, he turned back to raise his hand high at the young men beneath him:
“They’re coming—”
Prepare for battle.
……
(PS: As the moon rises, the first outbreak will last for several long nights; the monthly ticket howls beneath the moon, running wild, seemingly heralding a disaster. Thus, the civilization’s first calamity is the calamity of monthly tickets！！！！！！！！！！ Do you believe it!! (To be continued; for what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!)
