Chapter 313: Hunt

The attackers, cloaked and masked, showed no sign of friendliness whatsoever.

The townsfolk's defenders struck back with crushing force.

While the battle raged outside the walls, another battlefield was also burning, one even more critical.

"Run! The city wall has been breached; monsters have poured in."

"I told you this place was never safe. Those slave traders have come too; they mean to take us!"

"Trust the nobles? Are they trustworthy? In their eyes, we are nothing but rotten stones, used to build walls and despised as filth in daily life."

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

A newly built small town could not be sealed off; infiltrating it was far too easy.

Many who were also of "slave" status, promised freedom or the position of slave squad leader, were enough to make them choose betrayal.

People with no loyalty to begin with, seeing only the immediate present, would do anything to survive.

"Boom!"

Though the inner wall had not yet been struck, it exploded on its own.

Some runaway slaves, already uneasy in their hearts, driven by fear and lies, chose to flee; yet the moment they left the underground area and returned to the city, the slave-hunting teams would turn them back into slaves.

By then, the trade would resume immediately; the "black market," previously short of goods, would start operating again, and the withering market would naturally revive.

"Ahhh!"

The rebellious runaway slave suddenly collapsed; a lurking shadow assassin appeared in the same spot.

"Remain where you are. In the name of the Kingdom, we guarantee your safety and freedom."

He held high the Kingdom's White Lion Badge; he was a "precious" royal spy.

One by one, assassins and spies emerged from the shadows, cheerfully harvesting the heads of the rebels.

For them, this was a long-awaited performance record.

On the outer wall battlefield, Kingdom knights, guard warriors, and mercenaries stood forth one by one.

Led by no fewer than four Radiant Guards, they began this long-awaited hunt.

Or rather, the suppression of rebellion.

"Take no prisoners."

"All cultists must die."

The slogans shouted by the high-level warriors explained everything; this was a "civil strife" everyone understood, yet it would still be covered under the label of "cultists." They were simply too useful; various conspiracies and failed experiments were all blamed on the cultists.

The attacking transcendent beings included few great professionals, because the "price" was insufficient; the slave market's greatest losses fell on middle-tier interests, whose ability to mobilize power was limited, while the defenders had concealed many great professionals.

"How can there be so many mages?!"

Li En's appearance might have been coincidental, but the appearance of the Archmages was not.

"Flame Storm."

The half-elf Archmage summoned an oval-shaped flame storm, raising a deadly hurricane across the battlefield.

His staying here was both coincidence and inevitability; after further strengthening his cooperation with Li En, he was considering whether to build a mage tower in this town.

With his entry and that of his apprentices, and the display of high-level spellcasters' abilities on the battlefield, the speed at which this raid ended was even faster.

No prisoners, no "surrenderers." Any survivors left would become a shared problem for both sides.

The various churches and organizations did not wish to be dragged into this dispute of interests, while the Kingdom and Li En did not wish to openly break relations; thus, let the attackers become missing persons entirely.

Among all the killers and defenders, the Dragon Knights of the Black Cavalry were the most dazzling.