Lord: I have built a witch's sanctuary.

Chapter 40 Silver-Winged Snow Demon

The snow beneath the city walls had been trampled into mud by the headless knight's iron hooves.

The headless knight's greatsword slammed into the wall, sending countless fragments of stone flying.

"rise!"

Olivia let out a sharp cry, and veins bulged on her forehead.

The thorns and vines that were originally obstacles on the ground now looked like venomous snakes that had come to life.

Instead of directly entangled with the headless knight's legs, they moved nimbly, searching for every gap beneath the hard armor.

Hollows in the knee joint, inside of the hand guard, and neck.

Sizzle sizzle.

Under such precise manipulation, dozens of vines slipped and burrowed into the cold iron shell.

At this moment, Olivia demonstrated her amazing talent in manipulating plants.

But that's already the limit.

"Quick! I can't hold on any longer!"

Olivia was pale. She could feel the vines being rapidly corroded by the cold, deathly aura as they entered the armor.

The headless horsemen seemed to have noticed something was wrong as well.

They stopped their siege, raised their longswords, and were about to cut off the green vines that had seeped into the armor.

The blade is about to fall.

However, just a moment before the sharp blade touched the vine...

Lorraine's right hand, which had been raised in mid-air, suddenly clenched into a fist.

"burst!"

He suddenly activated the flame enchantment on the vines.

There was no earth-shattering noise.

Instead, it was a dull, muffled thunderous sound, enveloped in heavy metal.

puff--!

The dozen or so headless knights in the front row suddenly stiffened.

The vines enchanted by the Flame Altar are essentially fuses that deliver explosive fire element.

When they detonate inside the closed, cramped armor, the destructive force will be multiplied exponentially.

Crimson flames shot out through the seams of the armor, like the hiss of a pressure cooker releasing pressure.

The once arrogant headless knights instantly transformed into a dozen or so human-shaped firework tubes.

Crackle, crackle.

In the raging torrents of flame that surged along the inner walls of the armor, no matter where that damned crystal core was hidden, it could not escape this all-encompassing baptism.

Click.

The headless knight swayed, and the ghostly blue flame around its neck went out instantly, like a candle blown out by the wind.

Then came the second body, and then the third.

The heavy armor, no longer supported by magic, turned into a pile of real scrap metal, clattering and scattering on the ground.

The defense line, which was on the verge of collapse, fell silent instantly.

All that remained were the sizzling sounds of the burning armor.

"Dead...dead?"

Victor wiped the blood and ice from his face, looking at the scene before him in disbelief.

That infuriating immortality was broken just like that?

"We won! Long live the Lord!"

I don't know who shouted it first.

Immediately afterwards, cheers erupted like a tsunami on the city walls.

Everyone waved their weapons excitedly, their eyes filled with fanatical worship as they looked at Lorraine.

That is a double surrender to wisdom and power.

Olivia leaned against the wall, panting heavily, looking at the tall, upright man with his back to everyone.

His eyes were complicated.

Is this really the good-for-nothing illegitimate son who was exiled by his family?

Such on-the-spot reaction, such control over the battle situation, is something even the notoriously ruthless city lord of Black Iron City could not match.

Lorraine did not turn around to join the celebration.

His gaze remained fixed on the battlefield, his back ramrod straight.

Not right.

The warnings from "The Witch's Codex" have not been dispelled.

That sense of crisis, like a thorn in my side, was even stronger than before.

"careful--"

Lorraine was about to speak up and warn him.

A strange fluctuation of airflow appeared on the city wall without warning.

There was no sound.

A semi-transparent shadow, like a ghost, leaped over the city wall several meters high and appeared in mid-air behind Lorraine.

"A bunch of ants."

A cold, mocking voice boomed in everyone's ears.

"You think you've won just because you killed a bunch of brainless idiots?"

The Silverwing Snow Demon has appeared.

His vertical pupils were full of mockery, and the sharp claws in his hands gleamed with a pale, cold light as he aimed straight for Lorraine's back.

Catch the thief first to catch the king.

Once this lord is killed, all defensive towers and all magical buildings will be instantly disabled.

This is the prelude to the massacre.

Lorraine could even feel the bone-chilling cold touching the hairs on the back of her neck.

He didn't hide.

Because there's no way to avoid it.

But he didn't close his eyes and wait to die.

And just as that sharp claw was about to pierce Lorraine's neck.

A longsword engulfed in flames, accompanied by a whistling sound, pierced through the air.

𪠽! ! !

The deafening clang of metal against metal was so loud that it nearly caused eardrums to bleed for those nearby.

Sparks flew everywhere.

Victor, who had just advanced to the third rank, was now like an enraged brown bear, standing firmly in front of Lorraine.

His prized molten longsword now bore three deep grooves.

"You want to mess with the lord?"

"Step over my dead body first!"

Victor's eyes were bloodshot, and the earthen-yellow battle aura armor on his body was flashing violently, clearly indicating that the attack just now had put him under tremendous pressure.

The snow demon's figure paused in mid-air for a moment, a hint of surprise flashing in its eyes.

"Oh? There's actually a newly promoted Tier 3 knight?"

He shook his slightly numb wrist, but the sneer on his face did not fade.

"Unfortunately, brute force alone is useless."

Before he could finish speaking...

The snow demon's figure blurred again.

This time, he disappeared completely.

It's not a low-level illusion like invisibility, but a perfect invisibility achieved by manipulating light refraction and high-speed movement using magic.

Victor immediately raised his sword to protect himself, his mind tense to the extreme.

But in the next second.

laugh.

A bloody gash appeared on his thigh.

Next came the back and arms.

Victor roared and swung his sword, but only managed to strike air.

"Too slow, too slow."

The snow demon's voice darted left and right, filled with the thrill of a cat playing with a mouse.

"Why can't you humans just obediently die?"

"It's common knowledge that monsters are far superior to human professionals of the same level."

Victor felt like he was fighting a gust of wind.

An invisible wind, sharp as a blade, seemed intent on tearing him to pieces.

"Here it is!"

He turned abruptly, and his molten longsword, carrying the force to split mountains and shatter rocks, slashed to the left.

It didn't work out.

At the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his right rib.

The snow demon's claws easily tore through Victor's newly formed battle aura armor, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound.

Blood instantly stained the tattered leather armor.

At the same time, the cabbage swordsmen created by the plant factory also rushed up with a roar, waving their leaves in an attempt to help.

however……

Bang bang bang!

Before they could even touch the enemy, these plant soldiers were instantly chopped into pieces, their green sap spilling all over the ground.

The gap between the two sides is too large.

Although both are at the third tier, and he has the help of the Cabbage Swordsman, he is a novice who has just broken through to the third tier through simulated training.

The opponent, on the other hand, was a third-tier peak demon who had fought countless battles and crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

In a head-on confrontation, Victor could hold out for a long time thanks to the defensive power of "Unbreakable Rock".

But this invisible and intangible adversary left him powerless.

"Huff... huff..."

Victor, leaning on his sword, knelt on one knee, blood dripping from his chin onto the snow.

The fast-moving snow demon inflicted too many wounds on him that caused continuous bleeding.

My vision started to blur.

All around were the desperate cries of his companions and the monster's piercing laughter.

Are we going to lose?

Will I be driven away like a stray dog, just like back then, and then die drunk in some dark alley?

No, this time we've encountered a monster; we don't even have a chance to get drunk and die.

It was left to him, and to everyone in the territory.

Only eternal death.

"Is this all you've got?"

The snow demon's mocking laughter came from all directions, sometimes near, sometimes far, making it impossible to predict.

"A cowardly turtle that only knows how to take a beating, and a lord who hides in the back and trembles with fear."

These words were like a red-hot needle, piercing Viktor's mind.

A turtle that shrinks back.

These four words accompanied him for five years at the Knight Academy.

They had to swallow their anger and keep quiet, even when humiliated by noblemen or looked down upon by their teachers.

Just for a graduation certificate that's practically useless.

For some reason, perhaps due to excessive blood loss, several images suddenly flashed through his mind.

On the day he left his hometown, his elderly parents, with their calloused hands, held his last copper coin and said:

"Victor, you must study hard at the Knight Academy so you can make a name for yourself."

But he let his parents down.

Even with all A grades, he still failed to join any major knightly order.

He remembered when he was young, the first time he picked up a wooden sword, and the vow he made to the scarecrow.

Become a knight who protects the weak.

To become a legend.

But reality slapped him hard, turning him into a useless alcoholic.

He even let himself down.

Until... she met the man behind her.

洛林

The lord who gave him dignity and hope.

If we cower now, as we have done countless times before, to avoid the snow demon's attack.

If the snow demon is allowed to attack the lord...

Do I still deserve to have dignity?

"My name isn't Turtle..."

Victor roared, and the earth-yellow battle aura on his body not only did not dim, but began to burn fiercely, a sign of overdrawing his life force.

He slowly raised his molten longsword, its tip pointing directly at the empty air in front of him.

So what if they have overwhelming combat power?

So what if you can't even see its shape?

Should we give up because of this?

He decided to fight to the death.

It's like Don Quixote, the foolish knight who rode a skinny horse and charged towards the windmill.

To do something knowing it is impossible.

They fought knowing they would die.

"I am... Victor, the Knight Commander of the White Wolf Territory!!"

He launched an attack.

This is a Don Quixote-style charge.

Facing the invincible opponent and the unseen death, they launched a desperate charge.

"Like a mantis trying to stop a chariot."

A disdainful sneer echoed in the air.

If they can't even find my position, what's the point of this charge?

He hovered silently to Victor's side and slightly behind, an ice sword forming in his hand. He slowly raised it, aiming it at Victor's vulnerable back.

With that, the sword struck.

The heart will be pierced, and that ridiculous dream of being a knight will shatter.

At this critical moment.

Lorraine, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke.

His voice wasn't loud, but with some kind of power, it precisely penetrated into everyone's ears.

"At three o'clock, at a 15-degree angle, at a distance of half a meter."

That's not a guess.

That was a trial.

In Lorraine's pupils, a pale golden stream of data was frantically scrolling across the screen.

Under the "omniscient vision" of "The Witch's Codex", the Snow Fairy's proud invisibility is like a clumsy trick of a naughty child.

All the tracks, all the hidden elements, have become naked coordinates.

"Victor, obey orders!"

It's almost an instinctive bodily reaction.

Without a second thought, Victor swung his molten longsword sharply to the side, following Lorraine's voice.

It's no longer about blindly cutting down trees.

Instead, it was an extremely precise interception.

puff!

A cloud of blood mist burst into the air.

The snow demon's figure appeared disheveled in what was once an empty place.

A long gash was slashed open on his chest, and silver scales flew off.

"How is that possible?!"

The snow demon let out a scream, and its haughty composure crumbled instantly.

He looked in horror at the black-haired youth who stood motionless on the wall.

That human who wasn't even a first-tier knight.

How can you see through his movements?

Coincidence? It must be a coincidence!

The snow demon swayed, attempting to disappear into thin air once more.

"Nine o'clock, crouch, stab!"

Lorraine's voice, like a persistent, insidious infection, rang out once more.

This time, Victor is paired with the Witch's Tower.

boom!

A beam of lava, poised to strike, precisely predicted the snow demon's landing point.

If the snow demon hadn't reacted quickly and risked losing a wing to force a change of direction, it would have burned him to ashes.

He is a monster that specializes in assassination and is not good at defense.

"Aaaaaah!"

The snow demon clutched its charred shoulder, rolled around on the snow a few times, and finally fear appeared in its eyes.

It wasn't fear of Victor.

It was not fear of Lorraine, but rather a fear of it.

In front of this human, he felt as if he had been stripped naked, with all his secrets exposed.

This feeling is even more terrifying than facing a high-level fourth-tier monster.

"This is a monster!!"

The snow demon shrieked and desperately waved its icy wings, narrowly avoiding Victor's longsword, but its right wing was still grazed by the beam of light from the Witch's Tower, instantly turning it black.

The excruciating pain brought him back to his senses.

This was not a massacre.

This is a trap!

Although that lord looked weak, his ability to control the entire situation was even more terrifying than that of a fourth-tier monster!

"withdraw!!"

As a scout, the snow demon possesses an extremely strong survival instinct.

The moment he realized the situation was hopeless, he decisively abandoned all dignity and his mission.

Nothing is more important than life.

He didn't even care about the headless knights who weren't all dead yet. With a flap of his wings, he transformed into a streak of light and fled madly into the distant forest.

Victor wanted to give chase, but Lorraine stopped him.

"Don't pursue a desperate enemy."

Lorraine closed the secret manual in her hand, her face slightly pale.

Before reaching the third tier, the city walls do not have the ability to prevent flight, and Victor has just advanced, so it is even less likely that he can catch up with a winged monster.

So at this moment, no one can catch up with this snow demon.

"Consider yourselves lucky!!"

From within the mist came the extremely venomous roar of the snow demon.

"Just wait! The wrath of the Winter Lord is about to descend! Then, I will punish you one by one..."

A cold wind swept across the battlefield.

All that remained were wreckage and embers still burning.

The snow demon escaped.

Although they failed to capture him, it was already a miraculous victory for the White Wolf Territory.

Clang.

The molten longsword in Victor's hand fell to the ground.

The unshaven old knight fell backward and landed heavily on the ground, panting heavily. His wounds were still bleeding, but he was laughing.

He was laughing like a fool.

"I...I've slain a level three monster! Hahahaha!"

"Let's see who dares to call me a good-for-nothing who only knows how to drink again!"

The soldiers around him, and Olivia, did not look at Victor at that moment.

All eyes were fixed on the man who was still standing in the same spot.

His eyes were filled with awe, worship, and even a hint of fear.

Olivia swallowed, feeling a dryness in her throat.

What she just witnessed had a tremendous impact on her.

Even she, a witch, couldn't sense the invisibility of that third-tier snow demon.

But in front of Lorraine, it was as if he wasn't invisible at all.

He seems to possess the legendary "eye of true sight," or some kind of divine power to foresee the future.

"How did you do that?"

Olivia couldn't help but ask, her voice trembling.

"Just a guess."

Lorraine replied casually, then shoved the book, "The Witch's Codex," which was enough to drive the world mad, back into her arms.

He certainly wouldn't explain what thermal imaging or the Witch's Codex were.

In such situations, maintaining mystery is more effective in solidifying authority than any explanation.

He walked up to Victor and patted the blood-soaked knight on the shoulder.

"Well done, Victor."

Lorraine's voice wasn't loud, but it made Victor so excited he almost cried again.

"You didn't embarrass me."

Victor stared blankly at Lorraine.

I have received the lord's approval?

I didn't continue to be a coward.

Am I... worthy of this dignity?