It felt so good to be close to the witch!

"Crash!"

Leaves fell everywhere, and dust rose in the air.

Red fell to the ground, clutching his chest with one hand, blood continuously spilling from his mouth, some of it even mixed with dark fragments.

If the Bronze Knight's vitality hadn't far surpassed that of ordinary people, Red would already be dead by now.

Even if he hadn't died, he wouldn't have had the strength to stand up now. The fact that he was able to stay in a coma was already the result of his best efforts.

In a single, swift clash, before the knights could even react, everything was over.

Looking at the fallen warhorse and the critically wounded and dying Red in the distance, fear was uncontrollably revealed in the eyes of the knights.

But the knights' conviction prevented them from fleeing. Instead, they exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, grabbed their weapons, and launched a desperate attack on the black-robed man.

"Ridiculous."

"The so-called knightly beliefs of Radiance are truly a wonderful thing, saving me a lot of time in the chase."

The gray-robed man sneered. Facing the charge of these formal knights, he didn't even bother to dodge, letting their weapons pierce his body.

"Cang! Cang!"

The crisp sounds rang out continuously. The weapons of the formal knights could not even break through the battle aura shield that appeared on the gray-robed men. They only left slight ripples on the surface. Then, they were shaken by the recoil and their hands bled.

He reached out and grabbed a knight's sword that was aimed at his heart. With a loud "bang," the blade of the sword broke in two, and the flying shards left several bloody holes in the body of the knight who was holding the sword.

With one hand gripping the broken blade, he swung it forcefully, and three approaching knights around the gray-robed man coughed up blood from their throats and fell to the ground with a "hoarse" sound.

Such a horrific scene filled the knights charging from the rear with extreme fear.

But no one chose to run away.

They knew very well that if they fought, they had a sliver of hope, but if they fled and scattered, they would surely die in the face of such a terrifying enemy's pursuit.

Of course, there was an even more important reason why they didn't run away: as official knights, they enjoyed high stipends within their territory, and their families also enjoyed various benefits. But if they ran away and were labeled deserters or traitors, their families would suffer an extremely tragic fate.

This is also one of the important means by which the lords of the Glorious Empire ensure the loyalty of their knights.

With a few casual strikes, the gray-robed man sent the attacking knights flying, moving with ease through the blood.

"Stop playing around, and make it quick and easy."

Suddenly, a cold, mechanical female voice rang out from a tree branch not far away.

Upon hearing this, the gray-robed man's face, hidden beneath his hood, showed displeasure.

Having infiltrated the Radiant Empire for so long, spending so much time in the deserted mountains, he was practically going crazy from being cooped up for so long. Now, even his only hobby of "killing" was being controlled. It was truly extremely unpleasant...

If it weren't for the fact that I couldn't beat this guy...

"Hehehe, I'll listen to you, I'll listen to everything you say."

Letting out a morbid, twisted laugh, the gray-robed man raised his head, his gaze fixed on Red on the ground in the distance.

"Then, let me send you on your way."

The gray-robed man walked step by step toward Red, his earth-yellow battle aura condensing into the shape of a standard-issue longsword.

However, just as the gray-robed man reached a distance of three meters from Red, he suddenly stopped.

Because suddenly, a "small thing" appeared on the ground in front of him, deeply embedded in the earth.

It was an ordinary leaf, but what was attached to it caused the gray-robed man's pupils to contract under his hood, revealing an extremely solemn expression. At the same time, he instinctively took a ten-meter step back.

—It was a cluster of crimson-gold flames.

The flames burned quietly, starting from the bottom, burning away all the leaf tissue and leaving behind the dark green vein structure.

The crimson flames vanished, and a gentle breeze blew, causing the deep green veins of the leaves to scatter and turn into ashes.

A figure appeared silently beside Red, crouched down, and put his hand on Red's shoulder.

As a pale white light appeared, Red's faint, undulating aura immediately calmed down. The moment he saw the figure appear, Red's tense body finally relaxed, and he then peacefully fell into a coma.

"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Red."

"Leave the rest to me."

The gray-robed man stared intently at the figure that slowly rose beside Red.

He was a young man who looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, with short black hair casually draped behind him, and a flame burning in his brown eyes.

The flame was a deep gold color, exactly the same as the flame on the leaf that had blocked his path earlier!

"The Crimson Knight?!"

The gray-robed man said with a look of surprise and uncertainty.

If we were to ask which breathing technique left the deepest impression on the knights of the Radiant Empire, it would undoubtedly be the Flame Breathing Technique.

The knights of the Kolei Empire who die at the hands of the knights of the Flame Breathing Technique each year account for more than 70% of the total number of war deaths!

The gray-robed man had been on the battlefield and fought against the red knight, but the flames used by this mysterious young man were subtly different in color from the flames of the Flame Breathing Technique he had seen before.

While it's uncertain whether this is a Flame Breathing Knight, the crimson-gold flames are undoubtedly more dangerous.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking my grain purchasing team?"

Roy walked step by step toward the gray-robed man and asked in a cold tone.

"Your grain purchasing team? You're the lord of Blackrock Territory!" Roy's words made the gray-robed man instantly deduce the identity of the mysterious young man before him.

This conjecture only made the gray-robed man more shocked and puzzled.

How could a mere lord of a marquess have such power?

The young man before him gave him an extremely heavy sense of oppression, a feeling that reminded him of the scene when he encountered the Golden Knights of the Radiant Empire on the battlefield in the past.

That time, if it weren't for the cover provided by his many companions, and the timely arrival of one of his own golden knights, his squad would have been wiped out!

A noble gold knight as the lord of a minor noble lord? That's utterly ridiculous!

No matter how much the gray-robed man didn't understand, the facts were already before him, and there was nothing he could do about it, no matter how unwilling he was to believe it.

Watching the gray-robed man retreat in silence, Roy gently shook his head: "It seems you're unwilling to speak."

"It's alright. Once I capture you alive, I'll have plenty of ways to make you talk."

Roy's words caused the gray-robed man's eyes to narrow sharply. Instinctively, he looked in the direction of his companion, wanting to call for her help.

Faced with such a formidable enemy, only by working together can the two of them have any chance of survival and escape.

But that one glance only deepened the despair in the gray-robed man's heart.

Not far from her companion on a distant tree branch, a woman wearing an ice crystal mask appeared. Just by standing there, she made the slender figure in gray robes feel as if she were facing a formidable enemy, and dared not shift her attention even for a moment.

The other side has accomplices?!

The man in the gray robe knew that this time, his only chance of survival was to rely on himself.

"Boom!"

He stomped hard on the ground, using a special technique to propel his body backward at high speed. During this process, the spatial ring on his finger flashed, and a long, silver-white weapon that looked rough but was extremely finely crafted inside appeared in his hand.

The gray-robed man narrowed his eyes, locking onto the young man in the distance with his crosshair. In a very short time, he channeled his earth-attribute battle aura into the weapon's unique energy storage and conversion chip, and then decisively pulled the trigger.

"boom--!"

With a loud bang, a bullet, cylindrical in shape with a conical tip, shot out, breaking the sound barrier and hurtling towards the young man's forehead.

The man in the gray robe was very confident.

This "Breaking Gun-203," developed using the latest technology from the Magic Energy Machinery Research Institute, not only features an advanced energy storage and conversion chip embedded within the gun body, achieving an astonishing 90% utilization rate of battle aura, but also utilizes a new bullet design, abandoning the previous spherical shape for enhanced penetration and higher attack power.

Even a newly ascended Gold Saint would not dare to ignore such an attack.

The fact that the gray-robed man, a Silver Two-Star, could unleash an attack powerful enough to threaten a Gold One-Star Knight demonstrates the terrifying nature of this weapon!

Of course, this thing is not without its drawbacks. Each shot requires a 30-second "reload and cooldown time" and consumes a huge amount of one's own battle qi. Even when the battle qi is full, the gray-robed man can only fire three shots at most before his battle qi is exhausted.

But the gray-robed man's confidence shattered into countless pieces the next second.

His wide eyes reflected the horrifying image of the young man holding a bullet in one hand.

Such a magical scene made the gray-robed man's eyes almost pop out of their sockets!

This is a bullet that exceeds the speed of sound and is no bigger than a fingertip, yet it was caught by someone while it was flying at supersonic speed.

Although the "Breaking Gun-203" wasn't at its peak power due to its own fighting spirit limitations, achieving this level of power is still a bit too exaggerated, isn't it?!

Even a Gold 2-Star Knight might not be able to do this!

Just what kind of strength does this young man possess?

Upon witnessing this scene, the gray-robed man felt no lingering hope; he knew that a powerhouse of this caliber was far beyond his capabilities to contend with.

escape!

must escape!

……

Roy stared at the bullet he was holding between his right index finger and thumb, his eyes filled with curiosity.

Wisps of white smoke rose up, a result of the bullet spinning at high speed and rubbing violently against his fingers.

The bullet's surface is etched with exquisite patterns using a micro-engraving technique, and it gleams with an earthy yellow sheen.

"Sniper rifle? Bullets?"

Seeing such familiar weapons in this strange world brought a look of emotion to Roy's eyes. At the same time, he also deduced the identities of the two gray-robed men who attacked the grain-buying team.

"A spy for the Kolei Empire..."

Why did the people of the Kolai Empire choose to attack Red and his group? They would love to keep their identities completely hidden, so no one would discover them.

Unable to find an answer, Roy simply stopped thinking about it and figured he could interrogate the man slowly after capturing him.

He was very interested in this otherworldly version of firearms.

In this world, once knights reach the Silver rank and their fighting spirit acquires attributes and reaches a certain level, they can release it to form a fighting spirit shield, which provides extremely strong resistance to various kinetic attacks, such as sword slashes, thrusts, and arrow shots.

If it were a pure kinetic energy weapon like the one on Earth, it would be difficult to break through the aura shield. However, the exquisite patterns on the bullet that the gray-robed man just fired, as well as the aura attached to it, gave the bullet the ability to break through the aura shield in a way that he could not yet understand.

Roy's aura shield was as fragile as paper in front of this "magic sniper bullet," passing right through it.

If his physique hadn't far surpassed that of a normal Silver Knight, that attack would have severely injured him, if not killed him.