The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 0605 Catching Demons Underground (First Update)

Charging headlong, Liszt dashed directly from the breach in the castle, all the way to the back garden of the castle, where he deployed the Eye of Magic but did not find the figure of Yevich Waterflower.

However, beneath a patch of grapevines, he saw several servants hiding something.

He sharply sensed a problem and rushed over, grabbing a servant to demand, "Where's Yevich!" Without waiting for the servant's response, he had already kicked away the water tank used for storing water, suddenly revealing a square basement hatch.

"I, I don't know..."

"Fool!" Liszt casually tossed the uncooperative servant towards a stone table to the side. The servant smashed onto it and rolled off to the ground, unable to get up for the moment.

Under normal circumstances, he had no desire to kill those outside knights and magicians.

War is a game among nobles, and commoners usually constitute part of the wealth; it is morally unacceptable for knights to kill commoners — unless the commoners dare to resist, in which case they must be put to death without question. Even with moral constraints, there are knights who get carried away, slaughtering civilians indiscriminately.

There would be no punishments afterward.

For example, if Liszt slaughtered all the civilians of Snow Pear Castle now, who would speak ill of him — he simply was not a cruel person and had a touch of compassion for the commoners.

Whether knights adhere to morals.

Depends on self-discipline and the whole honor discourse favored by knightly glory.

Fortunately, Liszt did not need the servant's answer; he directly kicked open the basement hatch and quickly jumped down. It was clear that this basement was a castle's escape route. With Dragon Dou Qi in operation and a crystal lamp in hand, he quickly found the entrance to the passage.

With Dragon Dou Qi shielding his body, he had no fear of traps within the passage, as the world had not yet developed the art of traps.

Even if there were traps in the escape tunnel, they would be straightforward and simple means of harm. Had there been magic equipment applied to the escape passage, his Eye of Magic would observe and solve it.

The passage was somewhat narrow.

With the illumination of his crystal lamp, Liszt's vision was unobstructed, so he swiftly charged along the passage. It was twisting and turning, with plenty of standing water, and he could clearly see fresh, still-damp footprints.

"Not just one person's footprints, they are a bit messy; they should be the footprints of Yevich and those three grand magicians!" Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

With clarity in his heart, his pursuit quickened even more.

Just then, a loud rumble suddenly came from ahead.

Followed by very faint voices.

They seemed to be shouts and curses.

He continued to charge forward.

Soon, at the end of the passage, he saw three faint figures outlined by magic radiance; they were indeed the three grand magicians who had previously cast the combination magic. Their cursing was also clearly audible, quickly informing Liszt of the reason — Yevich had collapsed the gate at the end of the passage.

That is to say.

To escape, Yevich had left the three grand magicians behind as bait.

"Stop the nonsense, Lars, let's join forces and cast magic to blast the top of the tunnel, creating a way out!"

"Cyrille, put up the Firmstone Armor for me, Dulac, put up the Water Wave Shield, I'm afraid if the tunnel collapses again, it'll bury me!"

"Don't worry, you won't die!"

The three grand magicians were trapped in the passage, attempting to save themselves.

Unfortunately, before they could cast their magic, Liszt had already caught up along the passage: "Gentlemen, why the hurry to leave? Come continue your visit to Snow Pear Castle with me."

"It's you!"

"One arrow sent Yevich's knight flying!"

"They really have caught up already, heh."

Liszt's Eye of Magic focused on the three Grand Magicians as he slowly approached, "Since you're already aware of me, let's dispense with formalities. Continue back down the corridor and return to Snow Pear Castle where we can have a good talk... The magician on the left, stop secretly gathering magic power, you can't escape my perception."

The discovered Grand Magician gave a sheepish smile and dissolved the magic power he had been condensing in his palm.

When a magician is approached by a knight, or even more so, a powerful Sky Knight, it's almost as if there's no difference between them and lambs waiting for slaughter. The era of the caster has declined—apparently during the Moon Empire era, magicians were very powerful, dominating the continent and ruling over everything, but unfortunately now it's the era where knights dominate the continent.

Sometimes Liszt doubts those legends, where archmages were said to duel with dragons and, although they couldn't defeat a Dragon Knight in single combat, were still considered representatives of the peak powers in the world.

Why are Grand Magicians and magicians so weak?

Although they can release powerful spells, their true combat ability can't be demonstrated. Especially due to the constraints on casting speed, allowing knights to attack magicians without any scruples. No matter how strong the magic power is, it's useless if it can't hit the knight. Even solid defensive spells like the Water Wave Shield or Firmstone Armor will eventually be hacked apart by knights given enough time.

Not to mention when knights form a team, their Dou Qi merges to shred any stray magic power, creating an anti-magic zone, effectively nullifying a magician's casting abilities.

Watching the three Grand Magicians dejectedly walk back along the corridor,

Liszt couldn't help but be reflective, "When I was compiling "Dragons Fight in the Wild", I read a lot of magic books and knight's novels, all mentioning the glory days of magicians during the Moon Empire. There are even legends that the Moon Empire's magicians built a Magic Array atop Mount Mulagao Ding that reached the moon."

If that era was really as recorded in history, it would have been a truly magnificent and splendid civilization.

The magicians who founded the Moon Empire certainly wouldn't have been as weak as today's magicians.

"So what led to the decline of the magician's era? What differences exist between the magicians of the Moon Empire era and those of today? What happened after the Moon Empire fell apart that allowed knights to rise?" Sadly, history hasn't been recorded.

The fragments of oral history have long since strayed from the truth.

The mystery remains unsolved.

…

Liszt did not continue to pursue Clear Water Sword Saint.

Since the passage was blocked, there was basically no hope of catching up, which was a pity as the reward for capturing the Sword Saint just flew away. However, having three Grand Magicians as prisoners could make up for the loss somewhat, as he believed they would pay a sufficient ransom for their freedom.

When he returned to Snow Pear Castle, the Earl had already sent people to start cleaning up the castle, which wall had collapsed.

"Yevich didn't catch up?"

"He escaped through the tunnel, even collapsing the exit behind him, but he left us three interesting guests," Liszt pointed at the three Grand Magicians clad in Magic Cloaks.

Though they were captured,

they still maintained a proud demeanor, calmly awaiting the trial that was to come.

Liszt handed over the task of judging to the Earl and prepared to search Snow Pear Castle personally, to see if Yevich left anything valuable behind.

According to the previously agreed upon method—battle honors to Li Weiliam, resources to Liszt.

Therefore, all the resources of Snow Pear Castle belonged to Liszt. Captain Marcus had already sorted through the resources once and immediately came to report when he saw Liszt return, "My lord, the castle's reserves of food and other resources have been inventoried, aside from what is needed to replenish the Knight Order, the rest is sealed and ready for transport by wagons."

"What about the elves?"

"We have searched the Worm Room, there are no elves left, they must have been taken away by Yevich."

With Yevich himself gone and the elves taken as well, Liszt felt frustrated, "I really want to chop down all the Cordyceps outside the castle. Isn't this guy supposed to be a potential Dragon Knight? How can he escape so quickly!"