After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

Nia used her dragon-like exceptional eyesight to observe the elves' progress. After confirming several times that they had infiltrated beneath the city walls and were waiting for her signal, she sighed again.

"Alright, it's time for this hardworking person to get back to work. If heaven gave me a chance, I would definitely rape that regent to vent my anger... Let's get to work."

The black dragon sighed.

After taking a deep breath.

Countless magic circles emitting red flashes appeared around her body. With the help of magic, Nia's dragon transformation was much faster than it had been at sea.

Not only that...

(It seems to have gotten a bit bigger...)

She gazed at her dragon-transformed body and pondered for a long time.

Finally, with the flapping of her wings, she soared into the sky, gathering a mouthful of dragon flame in the darkness.

She breathed a mouthful of dragonfire at the top of a still-operating mage tower nestled among the city walls and towers of the royal capital.

......

"Awoooooo!!!"

When the black dragon that suddenly appeared in the sky spewed dragon fire at the city wall tower of the Roman capital, Yang Hao knew that Nia had begun to act according to the plan.

He could clearly sense the entire process of the garrison troops on the city wall hastily turning around. After the garrison on the east side of the city wall was almost wiped out, the elven masters nodded, then mustered all their strength and whistled like nightingales.

The crisp chirping contrasted sharply with the black dragon's roar. With a dragon openly attacking the mage tower on the walls of the capital, no soldier cared about the bird's chirping anymore.

Everyone was frantically rushing to support the western city walls. Even those who realized something was wrong had already been dealt with by the elven rangers who had infiltrated the capital.

Looking at the corpses of the city wall defenders who had fallen beside him, Yang Hao's lips twitched. With the help of the elf masters, he climbed onto the city wall.

The original team of 21 now includes an elf. This is a ranger who had been lurking in the capital beforehand, and they will have to take her back with them when they leave.

"Your Majesty, Regent, esteemed masters, please follow me now." The ranger calmly stated, glancing back at the black dragon that had ignored the spellcasting attack from the mage tower in the sky. "The Imperial Knights in the palace have also been mobilized, and everyone is trying to deal with the black dragon in the sky—this is the best opportunity."

"Lead the way."

"Yes."

After running down the city wall, the elven ranger led them through the city's alleyways. In this alleyway, which seemed to lead directly through the back gate of the city's noble district, Yang Hao saw many signs of smuggling.

The ranger said that this morning, a caravan loaded with heavy supplies entered the nobles' residential area through the back gate. And if nothing unexpected happens, the nobles probably aren't paying much attention to what's happening outside right now.

"After all, the nobles of Roman felt they were unlikely to be killed—they could pay a large ransom if they lived, and even if captured, they would be well taken care of. They wouldn't give everything for this city anyway, so... they're probably still enjoying themselves in their mansions. This also makes it easier for us to approach the damaged inner wall on the east side of the palace."

"Has that inner wall still not been repaired?"

"The prince didn't seem to care much about the palace's weaknesses—or rather, he knew very well that if even the outer walls were breached, then no matter how strong the interior was, it wouldn't matter. We climbed up the palace's upper wall through that inner wall, and then came to the courtyard from a path on the upper wall."

"Can the little queen and the chief judge come out?"

“No. They are being monitored and are not allowed to appear outside their palaces at night—most importantly, the little empress and the chief justice's bedrooms are separate. They are not too far apart, but not too close either.”

"I understand... please continue leading the way."

They continued their journey through a hidden passageway behind the noble mansion. As the black dragon's roar intensified and the main streets of the capital echoed with the boisterous and terrified screams of the citizens, Yang Hao glimpsed the extravagant lives of the capital's nobles through a window.

They seemed to be local nobles. His second-floor bedroom window was wide open, and through the candlelight and shadows, Yang Hao could clearly see two people piled on top of the same person.

They seemed to be playing with something inside, and soon, a plate of food, incredibly precious to the poor, was thrown out, accompanied by a woman's cursing voice:

"I told you these coastal fish don't taste good at all! Honey, please don't buy any more seafood, okay? Just throw all the fish in the cellar away, we don't like eating seafood!"

"Oh, you and your daughter both hate fish so much? Fine, I'll have them disposed of tomorrow... but if they end up in the market, we'll have to pay taxes... so let's just bury them. We can't leave any evidence that I didn't pay taxes... Come on, let's continue..."

The wandering knight explained in a low voice that now that the capital is the safest place, many nobles who have been cooped up in the capital for too long have developed unusual and peculiar hobbies.

They seemed no longer content with simple...ordinary playful interactions between men and women. Under their closed-off conditions, some nobles had begun engaging in bizarre acts that crossed the line of family morality—of course, if it were just such things, the elves could still dismiss it as a private family matter; after all, it wasn't uncommon for young elves in elven society to idolize their fathers...

The problem is that the nobles in the capital have gone too far, to the point that the ranger even suspected that a demon was lurking in the city, corrupting it wantonly.

"Although we have no direct evidence... we can speculate that it's only a matter of time before this city falls into its final corruption: they are too depraved, Your Majesty. Not just ordinary depraved."

"...I know."

In the distance, the black dragon was still roaring, tormenting the garrison on the city wall, and spewing a second breath of dragonfire onto another mage tower.

Nearby, Yang Hao witnessed firsthand the extravagant and decadent lives of the nobles in the capital. He even saw guards in those mansions secretly luring starving poor people over with food that the owners didn't want, and then taking advantage of them when they weren't looking.

Although he had long understood that Roman was beyond redemption, seeing him in person still brought Yang Hao countless surprises...

He now desperately wanted the black dragon to come over and unleash its fire on the nobles' encampment—but he also knew that the goal of this trip was not to eliminate these nobles.

Finally, they arrived at the foot of the broken city wall on the east side of the Roman Palace. This broken city wall, which was corroded by vines, had footholds for the elves to climb, but for Yang Hao, he could only stay at the bottom and wait for the elves to climb up before secretly sending himself up.

Fortunately, this wouldn't consume magic power, nor would it attract the attention of those inside. Thus, he and the elves climbed the upper walls of the palace. Faced with the choice between infiltrating through the courtyard and entering the palace itself, Yang Hao chose the latter.

He was very familiar with the Roman Palace and knew that the courtyard was the furthest point from Anna's bedroom. He also knew that under curfew, Anna and Natalia could not possibly wait for them in the courtyard.

“Go in from here,” he said, pointing to the door leading inside. “Cast invisibility spells, and then try not to be discovered by the Imperial Knights guarding the interior—at least not until we rescue the people.”

"Yes."

The masters cast invisibility spells on the team, and under their protection, they cautiously entered the Roman Palace.

The palace interior remained unchanged. Yang Hao knew the sentry posts, the rooms, and the passageways all too well—he knew everything about the place and even where the Empress's bedroom was.

Whether it was Prince Garsen's intention or due to the Black Dragon's disturbance, a large number of Imperial Knights were now guarding the Empress's bedroom. Their orders were to protect their Empress, but in reality, they had no idea how she was being treated.

A bunch of useless knights—Yang Hao led the elves around the passage ahead. When Azi passed the maids' dormitory area, he signaled the ranger to knock on the door of the chief judge's bedroom.

The wanderer nodded, then walked up and knocked on one of the doors.

dong dong dong.

After the knock, there was complete silence. The wanderer silently counted to three, then another round happened.

dong dong.

Then came the wary voice of the former presiding judge from inside:

"who is it?"

"Guests of the Forest".

"I don't know what kind of guest is in the forest."

"Those are the guests from the beach."

The two exchanged a secret signal, but when the haggard judge, dressed in a maid's uniform, opened the door, all she saw was the ranger—Yang Hao and the others hadn't canceled the invisibility spell, so they were completely invisible to the judge at this moment!

She looked around blankly at the empty space, then subconsciously said to the dark figure in front of her:

"Are you alone? You can't possibly break through the Imperial Knights' protective perimeter by yourself..."

“No, that’s not it.” The ranger pointed to the air beside him. “His Majesty the Regent and his entourage are also here.”

"His Majesty?!"

The presiding judge's expression changed drastically. Before she could instinctively shout anything out, Yang Hao stepped forward, covered her mouth, deactivated his invisibility, and slightly loosened his disguise.

In front of the excited Natalia, Yang Hao gently gestured for her to quiet down. They needed more intelligence, especially information on the number of Imperial Knights currently guarding the palace. If Natalia knew, it would be of great help.

Natalia took several deep breaths to calm her agitation, then gently removed Yang Hao's hand and said in a suppressed voice to the shadowy figure that had once again vanished into thin air:

“Your Majesty… Anna’s situation is alright. There are only about 40 Imperial Knights guarding the gate. If it were you and your elves, you would certainly be able to break through their defenses… But the Night Witch is nearby, and I can’t guarantee that she won’t do anything while we’re rescuing Anna.”

“We won’t teleport in the Queen’s palace. After rescuing Anna, we need to go to the Memorial Hall—it’s spacious with only one entrance and exit, allowing the mages to prepare for teleportation. Natalia, you take the ranger there first. I’ll go and rescue Anna, I promise.”

Both Natalia and Yang Hao were pragmatists. After finalizing their respective plans, no matter how excited the presiding judge was, she still chose to accept the mission and act based on it.

After casting invisibility spells on them again and leaving, Yang Hao led the other elves back to the corridor in front of the Queen's palace.

There were about 40 Imperial Knights guarding this place. Judging from the stripes of the medals on the shoulders of the Imperial Knights, Yang Hao tentatively assumed that those guarding this place were basically elite veterans under Knight Robert.

The fact that a group of veterans were protecting the Queen shows how much Garsen values ​​Anna. Yang Hao knew very well that the elves only had the Japa 1404 rifle, which was capable of penetrating the knights' shields and armor. Moreover, he would never do something as risky as having a small number of elves involved in close combat in narrow terrain.

He decided to have the elves use rifles. Because at this point, there was no longer any need to hide.

Once the young empress's position is changed, Priscilla knows exactly what that means—rather than letting her prepare little by little, it's better to do it this way...

"Raise your gun and aim..."

Let Priscilla lose her will to cause trouble amidst the roar of gunfire—then, taking advantage of her lack of courage, charge forward and rescue Anna as quickly as possible, then make your escape.

Yang Hao's thoughts were crystal clear at that moment. Moreover, in that instant, he also recalled the [corpse soldiers] that appeared during the parish war years ago...

...He recalled the place where he had escaped; the memorial hall still held the bodies of his sworn brother and sister-in-law.

"...Fire!"

boom--!

The elves fired.

The deafening volley of fire jolted everyone still in the Roman Palace awake. Everyone who could hear the thunderous roar coming from the Roman Palace was startled, as was Priscilla, who was observing the outside situation from the mage tower.

"...They've already arrived?" she murmured. Having clearly observed the heavily wounded Imperial Knights lying in ruins in front of the Queen's palace corridor through magic, she rose, leaning on her staff. "...It's time to finish my last work in the capital. Next...I'll go find Cecilia."

But before that—she had to buy herself time to leave.

With this thought in mind, Priscilla slowly left her mage tower. She had already understood her place.

And in the corridor in front of the Queen's bedroom.

The Imperial Knights suffered heavy casualties. They attempted to launch a fierce attack on the invaders, but Yang Hao, who was familiar with the Imperial Knights' manual, had already ordered the elves to begin firing in batches.

If the Imperial Knights suffered ten casualties in the initial volley, then in the second round of continuous fire, only a few of them would be able to stand on the ground, raise their shields, and continue their futile charges.

Times have changed—if the elves were still wielding longbows at this moment, they might be forced into a disadvantageous melee combat.

But the elves were carrying rifles.

Faced with the returning knights, they simply fired another volley, riddling them with bullets, before protecting His Majesty the Regent and rushing to the Queen's palace as quickly as possible.

Without bothering to reveal his identity to the people inside, Yang Hao kicked open the thick door. An elf master rushed in and dismembered the two sword-wielding servants behind the door who had attempted to kill the queen into dozens of pieces. Yang Hao then rushed to the bedside and embraced the coughing little girl inside.

"Anna, it's me! It's me!" Yang Hao dropped all pretense and hugged his sworn brother's poor daughter tightly. "Let's go home—Natalia has been rescued, let's go!"

The empress was stunned for a moment. After seeing Yang Hao's face clearly, she hugged Yang Hao's shoulders and cried out, but she couldn't even utter a clear wail.

The elven mage standing nearby said he could treat the tongue immediately, but Yang Hao said it would be better to leave first.

"We can't waste the remaining magic here! Quick! We must make our preparations before Priscilla drains the magic from the capital region—let's go!"

They left the Queen's palace as quickly as possible, and the moment they left, the head maid, realizing that the Chief Justice's tracking technique was not working properly, arrived with the rest of the Imperial Knights and Guards.