Chapter 313: Hunt

The attackers arrived cloaked and masked, showing not a trace of friendliness.

And what met them in return was the brutal counterstrike of the town's defenders.

While the outer wall burned in fierce combat, another battlefield was also ablaze—and even more critical.

"Run! The wall has been breached; monsters are inside!"

"I told you this place isn't safe—the slave traders came too, and they're here to drag us away!"

"Trust the nobles? Are they trustworthy? In their eyes, we're nothing but rotten stones—used to build walls, and even then, we're too filthy to look at."

The bribed refugees set fires and screamed everywhere, creating chaos while spreading the rumor that the town was no longer safe.

A newly built town can never be fully sealed; infiltration is far too easy.

Many who were also "slaves" were willing to betray, promised freedom or the rank of slave squad leader.

Those who never had loyalty saw only the present; for survival, they would do anything.

"Boom!"

The inner wall had not yet been struck—but it exploded on its own.

Some escaped slaves, driven by fear and lies, chose to flee; the moment they left the underground zone and reentered the city, the slave catchers would re-enslave them.

Then, the Jiaoyi Society would resume immediately; the black market, short on stock, would restart operations, and the withering market would naturally revive.

"Aaaah!"

The rioting escaped slave suddenly collapsed; a hidden shadow assassin appeared in his place.

"Stay where you are. We guarantee your safety and freedom in the name of the Kingdom."

He held aloft the Royal White Lion Medal—a "precious" royal undercover agent.

One by one, assassins and undercover agents stepped from the shadows, cheerfully harvesting the heads of the rebels.

To them, this was a long-awaited achievement.

Outside the outer wall, royal knights, guard warriors, and mercenaries stepped forward.

Led by four Huiguang Guards, the long-awaited hunt began.

Or rather, the suppression of rebellion.

"No prisoners."

"All heretics deserve to die."

The high-ranking warriors' battle cry said it all: this was a well-known "internal struggle," yet it would still be branded as the work of heretics—so convenient, for every conspiracy, every failed experiment, always ended with heretics taking the blame.

The invading transcendent beings had few high-tier practitioners, for the "price" was too low; the greatest losses in the slave market fell to the middle tier, whose influence was limited, while the defenders had hidden many high-tier practitioners.

"How are there so many mages!!"

Li En's appearance may have been accidental, but the appearance of the Grand Mages was certainly not.

"Flame Storm."

The half-elf Grand Mage summoned an elliptical firestorm, unleashing a deadly hurricane across the battlefield.

His presence here was both accident and inevitability; after strengthening his cooperation with Li En, he was considering building a Mage Tower in this town.

His and his apprentices' entry, and the display of high-tier spellcasters' power, made the ambush end even faster.

No prisoners. No "surrenderers." Survivors would become a shared nuisance to both sides.

All churches and organizations wished to avoid entanglement in this web of interests; the Royal House and Li En did not wish to break ties—let the attackers vanish entirely.

Among all the killers and defenders, the Black Rider's Long Qishi was the most dazzling.