White Mask evoked so many of Melgor’s memories. Ever since he returned from Fortress 178, Old Xu became a sore point that bugged him.
After all, anyone who was hunted the entire way back, even getting pursued all the way to their residence, would surely feel a little traumatized.
At that time, the two sorcerers who were trying to assassinate Melgor had been killed by Ren Xiaosu. Melgor did not even get to see those two bounty hunters and had only seen Old Xu.
So in Melgor’s mind, he was always under the impression it was the strange White Mask who was hunting him.
While they were returning to the Kingdom of Sorcerers, someone suddenly cast a spell in the middle of the night that nearly killed him and the sheeple. After returning to York County, the other party even committed arson wantonly in the city.
Faced with such a ferocious assailant, Melgor was really scared.
Since he was not an archmage, it was only normal he would feel afraid when being pursued.
Now, Melgor realized the truth seemed completely different from what he had imagined. The so-called sorcerer who attacked them was actually Ren Xiaosu’s accomplice? In that case, what were Ren Xiaosu’s motives?
Was Ren Xiaosu trying to kill him? No, that was definitely not the case.
It was not that the naïve Melgor placed too much trust in Ren Xiaosu, but he now understood it was actually not difficult for Ren Xiaosu to kill him.
Seeing that Ren Xiaosu was about to demolish Winston City, wouldn’t it be a piece of cake if he really wanted to kill him?
Furthermore, Melgor believed his own judgment that his friendship with Ren Xiaosu was still real!
Thinking of this, Melgor ruled out the possibility that Ren Xiaosu was trying to have him killed. In that case, there must be some other misunderstanding.
But Melgor felt that there were still a lot of things that did not make sense. When they first encountered White Mask, they got buried in the ground by a spell cast by someone. However, Ren Xiaosu and White Mask had just recently arrived from the Central Plains and did not even have any Eyes of True Sight, so how were they able to cast spells?
Melgor was very sure it was the Liquefy Ground spell that nearly killed him back then!
Wait. Melgor slowly stopped in his tracks. Who said there were definitely no Eyes of True Sight in the Central Plains? Wasn’t one of his motives in abducting Ren Xiaosu to ask him some questions related to the black Eye of True Sight?
At that time, Melgor had felt the energy fluctuation when the black Eye of True Sight went through a change of ownership. After that, Ren Xiaosu suddenly appeared at the outpost and even deliberately allowed himself to be abducted to the Kingdom of Sorcerers by Melgor.
Initially, he had said to Ren Xiaosu, “Some people might not even be able to obtain an Eye of True Sight in their entire lives, so you’d better not harbor unrealistic dreams of becoming a sorcerer.”
What was Ren Xiaosu’s reaction then? He looked like he didn’t care at all, and it was as though he knew he could easily get his hands on an Eye of True Sight.
Melgor finally figured out a lot of things!
Was the black Eye of True Sight in Ren Xiaosu’s possession? Melgor felt that he might have guessed the truth!
But even after he figured it out, he still found it a little unbelievable. This was the black Eye of True Sight they were talking about!
And there were still many things that did not make sense regarding this matter. For example, Ren Xiaosu had not mastered the language of the Magi at that time yet. On the night of the attack, Melgor only cast a Fireball by reciting its incantation “fire,” so Ren Xiaosu could not have learned Liquefy Ground.
What was with that then?
“It’s too confusing.” Melgor shook his head a few times and headed off again in the direction of the relay station based on his memory. He decided to return there first.
Melgor made up his mind. After he returned to the relay station, he would pack everything first. Then he would get someone to prepare the horse fodder and hay for the carriage and be ready to flee at a moment’s notice!
…
Thousands of people from the House of Winston had openly gathered at the Winston Manor.
Everyone was either holding a torch or a kerosene lamp, and most of them were from the Knights of the Hymn who came to guard the manor, with a minority being the House of Winston’s sorcerers.
Everyone present looked silently at the three archmages in front of them as they waited for them to come up with a plan of counterattack.
However, it was not peaceful in the manor during this period either. From time to time, people sent by the Knights of the Hymn in the city would relay news back. “Patriarch, your son is dead!”
Awhile later, someone else would come and relay news again. “Patriarch, another of your sons is dead.”
“Patriarch, one more son of yours has died.”
“Patriarch, your son…”
Honestly, this was the bad thing about having too many sons. More than five of his sons had died before he could even meet the enemy. This story would be too tragic if told. It was almost as though their entire clan had been wiped out.
If this happened in the Central Plains, any organization’s leader would probably get a heart attack when they heard this news. But when it happened in the Kingdom of Sorcerers, the Winston family’s patriarch appeared very calm. It was impossible to tell how he was feeling.
The Winston family’s patriarch had just turned 50 this year, which was considered relatively young among all the sorcerer clans’ patriarchs.
Among those of the privileged class in the Kingdom of Sorcerers, youth represented ambition, as well as virility.
Wasn’t it just the deaths of a few sons? At the age of 50, he could make up for it in a fortnight by taking an alchemical decoction and putting in some extra work.
At this moment, the Winston family’s patriarch said to the Knights of the Hymn and his family members in front of him, “Now that everyone has assembled, the perpetrators won’t dare to take us on directly since there’s only two of them. We only need to think about how to surround them. As such, I’ve decided to split everyone into three groups, led respectively by me, Archmage Abel, and Archmage Alston, to encircle those two fanatics.”
Tonight, all of the Knights of the Hymn in the city had turned out in full force. However, Wang Congyang was indeed an expert at fleeing. He even knew exactly how the Knights of the Hymn would react if they encountered an emergency.
Therefore, when the Knights of the Hymn started pursuing Wang Congyang and Ren Xiaosu, they realized that other than being led around in circles, there was nothing else they could do.
In the Kingdom of Sorcerers, cavalry represented mobility. In the history of the Magi, whenever the cataphract brigade was mentioned, they would be described with words such as “blitzkrieg” and “quick raid.”
It might sound very powerful, but in the eyes of Ren Xiaosu and Wang Congyang, that speed of 50 kilometers per hour was a joke.
The Knights of the Hymn also tried setting up roadblocks and splitting up their troops to surround them. But with Ren Xiaosu and Wang Congyang’s strength, it would be a surprise if they were scared of the lance-wielding soldiers.
Every time Wang Congyang saw a roadblock or the cavalry, his steam locomotive, paired with the black cauldron, would run them right over without slowing down.
Under such circumstances, no one was able to do anything about these two unless the archmages made their move.
After the Winston family’s patriarch assigned everyone to their teams, he looked at them with a solemn face. “Remember, they’ll definitely try to avoid us, but your responsibility is—”
Before he could finish speaking, the Winston family’s patriarch could already hear the whistle of the steam locomotive outside the manor.
Choo choo! Choo choo!
A sorcerer hesitated for a moment before saying, “It doesn’t seem like they’re trying to avoid us?”
