Chapter 327 – Successful Attack

The gap between Formal-Level and Master-Level, while not as insurmountable as transcending realms, manifests most directly in soul-level attributes through differences in reaction speed and cognitive processing.

In fact, the Level 14 warrior standing to Huai’en’s left hadn’t even registered what happened when the warrior named Gelu abruptly disintegrated into dust beside Huai’en.

Or perhaps this warrior did sense the sudden descent of lethal intent in the air, but his mind remained trapped in the “warm” nostalgia of moments earlier. The shift from starlit serenity to life-or-death combat was too abrupt, too violent – such sudden intensity naturally caused the warrior to hesitate for a split second.

However, combat is work that permits absolutely no errors. When facing sudden assassination, a millisecond often determines the boundary between life and death.

Indeed, that hesitation lasting less than a second completely robbed the warrior on Huai’en’s left of his final chance to sound the alarm.

To his credit, the newly alerted warrior lived up to being a death soldier trained by the Dragon Roar Kingdom. Within a tenth of a second of hesitation, he realized his grave mistake. As penalty for this error, he didn’t even have time to shout a warning.

Thus, the desperate warrior could only choose to burn his life force like Gelu had, then unleash his Combat Skill with full power:

“Formal-Level Combat Skill – Charge”!

A Formal-Level expert’s Charge exceeds sonic speed by over tenfold. Compared to shouting, the sonic boom generated from instantly breaking the sound barrier from standstill might transmit faster – at least that’s what this warrior believed.

But just as the bricks beneath the warrior’s feet cracked into powdered dust, just as cyan light from Wind-Type Battle Aura saturated every inch of his armor, just as the straining warrior’s bulging veins tore from muscles overstressed by extreme Battle Aura eruption – the warrior who had already taken his first charging step froze mid-air as if frozen in time.

“No! Move! Move, damn you! Aaaaaah”!

The wide-eyed warrior desperately unleashed his power, torrential Battle Aura shredding his skin as it overflowed. Repeated, all-out activations of his Charge Combat Skill strained space itself to the breaking point… but! Nothing worked.

“Master-Level Conjuration Spell – One-Way Kinetic Shackles”!

During that tenth of a second when the warrior hesitated, the mage who had just used Dual Casting to instantly kill Gelu had already completed another new spell.Within the area enveloped by the One-Way Kinetic Shackles, everything became frozen statues within an invisible energy rune prison—whether it was the air compressed by the shockwaves from warriors’ Charges, the ground-shattering rocks flying faster than sniper rifle bullets, or most crucially, the warrior who should have been Charging at twenty-five times the speed of sound. Not even the slightest trace of the sonic boom that should have echoed throughout the city or the energy fluctuations managed to escape. Under the flickering starlight, the world outside the shackles remained as tranquil and peaceful as ever, the serene night forming an ironic contrast with the “statues” frozen mid-air yet still surging with violent energy inside the shackles.

The warrior was given neither opportunity nor time to break free. Before the sickly green semi-energy powder once named “Gelu” had even dissipated, a rather dim yet enormous blazing sphere enveloped the still-suspended warrior.

Finally, in the dead silence of the night, the warrior vanished forever into ashes without leaving so much as a whisper behind.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Young people these days are so careless. The more peaceful and tranquil an environment appears, the more likely it conceals danger. How come so many warriors who survived the Battlefield fail to understand this?From the darkness of the night emerged a playful yet hoarse, deep voice.

“Actually, it’s precisely because they’ve been on the Battlefield too long that they develop such flaws. These warriors always assume the peaceful rear is a safe harbor… How ignorant! Nowhere in this world is ever ‘safe.’ Warriors who don’t understand this are far too easy to deal with.”

Beneath the faint starlight, a chilling voice responded. Unlike the other’s mocking tone, this voice carried only coldness and emptiness, as if merely stating a simple fact without any emotional color.

It was only now that two completely unexpected, unfamiliar voices jolted Huai’en from his contemplation. With his Apprentice-Level reaction speed being pitifully slow, it wasn’t until the pile of sickly green powder was blown onto his face by the wind that he realized the fact: “Enemies are attacking.”

In Huai’en’s mind, everything had happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, the guard who had been sharing sentiments about the nation’s prosperity with him had abruptly turned into powder and ashes, utterly annihilated the next.

Grief? Rage?

Of course! Huai’en had always regarded these two loyal guards as brothers. To witness someone familiar, who had just been chatting and laughing moments before, suddenly vanish into thin air—while two clearly responsible enemies mocked the fallen guard—filled Huai’en with such immense fury that it felt as if he might combust, the anger instantly saturating every drop of his blood.

If this were the Huai’en of his youth, he might have already drawn his sword and charged forward recklessly.But he was no longer the impulsive young lad he once was. Having experienced adventures, Huai’en was always prepared to die an unclear death. Moreover, now as the Deputy Consul of the Dragon Roar Kingdom, he quickly regained his composure and realized that the powerful enemy invading was beyond his resistance. The best course of action now was to preserve his own life first, then find a way to leave useful clues for “Your Majesty.”

Yes, Huai’en knew he was doomed today. The fact that he hadn’t been killed yet only meant the enemy wanted to extract information from him. But what worried him more was that the two enemies who had concealed their aura could instantly kill his two Level 14 guards. This indicated that the invaders were undoubtedly Master-Level experts on par with “Your Majesty.”

“I must buy as much time as possible. Your Majesty is proficient in Divination Spells—perhaps he has detected some omens. Even if I ultimately cannot survive, I must ensure ‘Your Majesty’ knows powerful enemies have come, so he can remain vigilant.”

With this thought, Huai’en forcibly steadied his mind. Facing the darkness, he raised both hands high and spoke calmly and steadily in flawless Common Tongue, neither subservient nor arrogant:

“Please mind your words, both of you. The two royal guards you just killed—Gelu and Longduo—were loyal warriors devoted to His Majesty the King. Their sacrifice is honorable and sacred. Respecting the enemy is equivalent to respecting yourselves. As spellcasters, you surely understand this principle!”

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(End of Chapter)