GIGGADON EMPIRE, GREAT HALL.“My name is Cyra Branigan, the first daughter of Viscount Branigan. Our Grandfather Rufus Branigan was a knight who fought for the emperor in the war to unify the North. He was a distinguished knight who earned many outstanding achievements on the battlefield. One, including capturing a major defense line of the Golden Empire, the Pillar City. It was a city that had twenty thousand enemy knights and mages, defending it. But with only five thousand knights under his command, he was able to bring the city to its knees. But unfortunately, while fighting in one of the many battles that occurred in the war. An arrow that was coated with a deadly poison hit him. And before he could be treated, he died. Seeing this, the emperor decided to pass the reward of my grandfather’s achievement to my father, the youngest and only male child my grandfather had.The rewards given to my father were the title of a viscount, the city that grandfather conquered, and more than f

GIGGADON EMPIRE IMPERIAL PALACE.THRONE ROOM."Is what you said true?" Izzak asked the envoy in a confused tone."Yes, every word I have just spoken are the words of the emperor himself," Ralphye, the envoy sent by the Thorka Empire, replied.The room fell into silence as Emperor Maximus, Izzak, and the lord chamberlain stared at Ralphye intently.*TAP**TAP**TAP*Emperor Maximus tapped the edge of his throne's armrest three times, his gaze fixed on Ralphye with an amused expression."Heh, from how fast his heart is beating, I can tell he's afraid of exposing the fact that the old man is dead. However, I already found out that, through Shadow... Though the old man wasn't as strong as I am, he could unite all the kingdoms and empires in the south to prevent my army from conquering the South. And with him serving as the leader of 'SOTO,' I had to stop my conquest of the South. But now that he's dead, the 'SOTO' is like a snake who lost its head. So, why..."Emperor Maximus pondered i

"Keuk!... It hurts... it really hurts," Grace murmured to herself, lying on the ground, trembling with pain. Her injuries began to heal rapidly, and as seconds passed, she felt the throbbing ache subside.*THUD* *THUD*While still on the ground, waiting for her body to fully recover, Grace sensed heavy footsteps approaching quickly from behind. Realizing she couldn't remain vulnerable and waiting to be attacked, she mustered her strength and forced herself to stand, despite not being fully healed yet."Kukuku... what a surprise. I thought I shattered every bone in your body. How are you still able to stand?" Cobra said, his tone amused, upon witnessing Grace rise even after his attack, which would have paralyzed an ordinary person.Hearing Cobra's words, Grace turned to face him, her eyes filled with determination and a glint of bloodlust."Even after using 80% of my strength to attack him, he is still unscathed. Unlike me, who almost died from one of his strikes... and the other on

AT A MANOR A FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE SILVERWOOD MANOR.*VROOM*“This one has also been deactivated,”Draven said with a concerned expression, revealing the manor’s barrier formation with his mana.“That’s what now? Like three manors, all with their magic formations deactivated. This cannot be a coincidence,” Aldric commented.“Yeah... you’re right. It’s too much of a coincidence for all four manors we’ve been to, to have their magic formations deactivated. Someone must be behind this, but why? What is their purpose in deactivating the barrier formations?”Draven said, his expression mixed with wariness and curiosity.“This situation seems suspicious. Should we request backup from Team 2?”Orion suggested.“No, we can handle this on our own. The team leader and the others are taking care of things at Silverwood Manor. So, our task is to gather any clues we can find about the identity of the person or group responsible for deactivating the manors formations,”Draven asserted with a d

AT THE SILVERWOOD MANOR.*WHOOSH**BOOM**BOOM*“Keuk!... how is it so strong?”Galen thought in his mind while flying through a wall after being tossed from the east side of the manor to the west.*CRASH*“Urgh…”Galen groaned in pain as he crashes onto the floor. But quickly got back on his feet, sword in hand and his guard up. Glancing around, he noticed he was back at the center of the manor’s entrance hall, bathed in moonlight.“What the hell was that beast? Blocking its attacks sent me flying across the manor… Ugh.”Galen muttered, with a pained expression. He looks down at his hands and noticed them tremble from the impact of blocking the beast's attacks with his sword. Then he realized that if he hadn’t blocked the attack he would have gotten seriously hurt.“Taking more attacks like that would be dangerous.”Galen thought in his mind with a cautious expression.*WHOOSH*“RAAAAAAAOORR!!”Grace's deafening roar pierced the air as she appeared in front of Galen, launching an inc