Masked Knight

Arslan had never felt this weird.

The flames of the huge candlelights swayed in the empty hall of the Temple. The shadows on the ground also moved.

The haughty Prometheus was still as mysterious as before. Arslan knelt on one knee and lowered her head. She could feel an oppressive gaze down her back.

She exhaled and lifted her head as she asked, "Is this your order?"

"This is the decision of the Elders," Prometheus calmly replied without a trace of emotion. "The Radiant Empire’s envoy must die in the Roland Continent. You must accomplish your task before they reach the sea. You also know that we have no way to deal with the Sauron Kingdom’s navy at sea."

Arslan suddenly had an extremely strange feeling.

In the past, she had always felt an indescribable pressure when in front of Prometheus. It was as if the man that was set above the masses was an undefeatable existence. Prometheus was just standing there but his gaze looked as though he could see through all of Arslan’s thought. Standing in front of such a person made Arslan feel like a sheep facing a lion. Even though the lion was always calm, in the stillness a kind of fear and foreboding was growing inside...

But on that day, that same feeling of fear when standing in front of Prometheus had seemingly become much lighter... as if...

'Did he become weaker?'

Arslan was startled by her own thoughts. Although her head was lowered, she subconsciously gave a murderous gaze.

'If…if I attack now—or perhaps I still need a sword.'

The idea grew in her mind like weeds growing wildly in summer. Arslan’s body even shook from the agitation and secretly tightened her fists.

But then she felt as if she was glared at more fiercely. The pressure from the penetrating glare made Arslan feel a stab of pain. A drop of sweat flowed down her forehead. She finally sighed and lifted her head gently as she replied in a respectful tone.

"As you wish, Prometheus."

After that, she stood up raising her cloak and walked out of the Temple.

Prometheus watched the strongest warrior of the dragon race walk out. Only he remained in the hall. He sighed in secret.

"These reptiles are getting harder to control." He frowned lightly and then added, "One Paladin does not seem to be enough…Might as well add another."

...

The date of departure had arrived.

The Special Envoy and Earl of the Radiant Empire, Rody, brought his mysterious friends with him on the journey back. The King had shown respect and decorum as he personally accompanied Rody’s group till ten miles out of the capital with the guard of honor.

Soon afterward, the old sorcerer Sith had was also deputized as part of the entourage. According to the King, Sith would be their guard.

Another person following them would be Concubine Ruolan. A high-sounding way of saying it would be that the Empress was the representative of the Royal Family in seeing them off. However, most people would rather believe that Ruolan simply wanted to drool at Rody's three beautiful female companions.

What made Ruolan regret was that Seth, Mouse, and Nedis always sat inside the carriage and did not come out. Ruolan was also too big-sized and was unable to squeeze in with the other three in the carriage.

She wore a formidable set of knight’s armors and was riding a large and specially-selected horse. Rody even suspected that the horse was raised through special methods. Probably it was raised using the method for raising horses for the War Chariot. Otherwise, it would not have been able to carry Ruolan.

From the capital, they journeyed unhurriedly for three days. A subordinate announced that they would reach the southern port of the Sauron Kingdom in another twenty miles. From there, they would take a ship that would only need three days to reach the Radiant Empire.

A mountainous range appeared on the horizon. A narrow valley could be seen in the distance.

Rody rode in front and saw the terrain. He could not help sighing.

'This is a perfect place to set an ambush.'

He had already been expecting an incident. The three calm days had made Rody feel very satisfied. Rody pointed his horsewhip to the front of the canyon and then laughed. "Is this the only way to the port?"

Sith rode to Rody’s side laughing and said, "Yes. Once we go through that place, we would be able to see the port."

Rody laughed. "The terrain here is a bit weird. In the continent, it is very rare to see mountains so close to the sea."

Sith nodded. His expression turned strange. "This is not a natural mountain. It is man-made. This mountain in front of you is created using earth spells by a large number of land-system sorcerors."

"Oh?" Rody’s eyes lit up.

Sith gave him an indiscernible smile and continued, "A few hundred years ago, during the era of Abbas the Great, our two continents were at war. Your country’s Lightning God’s Whip had passed through the Thunderous Straits and fought a war near here. As it was too difficult to defeat your cavalry in the wilderness and the surrounding area was flat plains with no strategic points to base off, he took half of the sorcerers on the Roland Continent to create this mountain as a natural barrier!"

Sith pointed at a gap in the canyon.

"That gap there was created by magic. When the Roland people established a fortress during those years, we managed to keep the Lightning God’s Whip at the coastal areas. As the Lightning God’s Whip crossed the ocean to fight, they were trapped there and unable to come further in."

Sith sounded somewhat proud mentioning these events. After all, the number of times the Roland people had triumphed over the Radiant Empire was too few. The various kingdoms of the Roland Continent wrote volumes of that victory in their historical records.

Rody naturally knew the history and nodded lightly.

It was one of the things in history that made Abbas the Great lose his temper during his later years. In order to conquer the Roland Continent, he had dispatched almost half of the Radiant Empire’s Army. The result was that the powerful Navy of the Roland Continent managed to stop the majority of them at sea. Most of the troops were lost at sea. The groups that landed were also badly injured and lacked supplies. In such a situation and also with this mountain range created by the Roland people as well, it was not a surprise that the Radiant Empire failed.

When the group approached, they saw that the mountain valley was not long. Standing at this end they could faintly see the exit on the other end. Man's capabilities were limited. Those years the mountain made by the Roland Continent’s sorcerers was actually not too big or high.

Seeing that Rody did not reply, the sorcerer also kept quiet. After all, Sith was not so shameless to brag about how powerful they were in front of the Commander of the most powerful army.

On top of that, in the recent war, hundreds and thousands of soldiers were forced to surrender by him. This was a fact that could be seen.

Sith felt anxious. The King had given the command to take advantage of the Temple’s sneak attack on Rody to kill him. But in the past three days, not a single shadow could be seen.

Sith had the same opinion as Rody as he looked at the inaccessible terrain in front of him.

'This place is undoubtedly the most suitable for ambushes. Moreover, this would also be the last opportunity for it'.

Sure enough, as Rody and Sith thought about this, an escort knight suddenly shouted, "Someone is in front!"

A white warhorse dashed out from the valley. On the white horse was a knight wearing a pure black armor. Her red cloak fluttered in the wind. The sword in hand was not the large sword used by the other knights. It was a thin and slender long sword.

The knight was not wearing a helmet. Her hair fluttered in the wind. Her cool and elegant face had a solemn expression.

"Earl Rody, I am sorry, but your journey ends here."

Arslan did not shout. Although she had spoken calmly, her voice traveled far and wide clearly heard by all.

The Paladin immediately waved her hand and a group of fully-armed, black-armored knights filed out from the canyon.

They all wore black armors but unlike Arslan, their cloaks were white.

Their equipment and armor were all standard issues of the Holy Knights. However, their white cloaks showed that they were not ordinary soldiers in the Holy Knights. Instead, they were high-ranked knights.

There were not many of them. At most, they only had about three hundred people. They crowded at the intersection and took up a very packed battle formation.

Arslan raised her sword to the sky and waved it twice. A few figures floated above the mountains. They wore white sorcerer’s robes. Immediately, violent magic waves in the sky floated towards them.

The magic waves even caused Sith’s expression to change.

Five sorcerers floated in the sky. The one in the middle wore a bright red robe as if he was a red cloud.

Sith’s expression tensed up and he exclaimed, "Red Clothed Saint!"