An infinite journey starting from paradise

The border area between the Rufen Empire and the Keludora Kingdom.

The villagers of Shuiliu Village slept poorly last night, haunted by the aftermath of the previous night's massacre and filled with fear for the future. Even though the self-proclaimed king, Lord Lin Shangren, had promised to protect them and even gifted them with delicious food, what would they do if he changed his mind?

With all the commotion last night, the Empire's border troops will surely be sending someone to investigate today. What if they reach Shuiliu Village? Will that lord really come to protect us?

In panic, the villagers welcomed another dawn. Shuiliu Village was still in ruins, with no trace of the gods.

"What should I do? Love does what it wants, but I have to keep living."

Those who have land should water it as usual, those who raise chickens should check how many live chickens are left, and there is still some white bread left that God gave last night. Those who have family should share it with them, and those who have no family should eat it themselves to fill their stomachs, as they don’t know if they will have more.

At this moment, a reconnaissance team from the Rufen Empire arrived at Shuiliu Village.

In fact, the Rufen Empire's border troops had been preparing to send troops to investigate last night, but were deterred by the red giant's imposing presence. Now that the red giant has vanished, and the Empire's border troops have assembled this elite force of knights, mages, and priests, it's time to see what's going on.

If the story develops according to the general Western fantasy plot routine, what will happen next is that the arrogant and domineering military team will violently search and oppress innocent villagers, and the protagonist will appear at the critical moment, save the villagers from danger, eliminate this reconnaissance team, and further consolidate his prestige among the villagers.

And that is indeed how reality develops.

In the reality of modern society, it is rare to find a national regime that can truly achieve or even just declare "the close relationship between the military and the people" and "the people's army". It is somewhat unnecessary to expect an alien army with a background similar to that of medieval Europe to have any civilized military discipline.

Chivalry is for the great men of high society and the respectable folk of the big cities. What are you, a lowly peasant from the borderlands? Why should I treat you with respect? Just answer the questions I ask you, and give a good account! Otherwise, I'll show you what the legend of the killing stick is all about!

In this world, the discrimination of the upper class against the lower class, and the discrimination of the elves against humans will only be more severe, because this world has magic, and learning magic in school requires talent.

Two thousand years ago, before the northern continent collided with Midgard, humans had no talent for practicing magic and no strong physical strength. Although they had wisdom and extremely fast learning speed, the human race could only survive in the cracks.

The northern continent collided with the Midgard continent. After the demons invaded, the elves mutated due to the strange psychic powers brought by the demons and produced dark elves. The upper life limit of the white elves was also greatly reduced, and individuals with magical talents and blessed by the four goddesses began to emerge among humans.

Under the leadership of these human magicians, humanity divided the territory of the Kingdom of Ivlorien with other races, gradually establishing the present-day Rufen Empire. With their own nation, humanity began to divide into different classes: those with magical talent and those without naturally could not coexist equally. The former became the ruling class, while the latter became the lower class.

Some radical human leaders who have not systematically studied Social Darwinism but have learned it on their own even believe that mages and ordinary people are no longer the same race. If these untouchables are not needed to do heavy physical labor and agricultural services so that the bigwigs at the top can concentrate on studying magic, otherwise these ordinary people should be killed to make the human race stronger.

Wizards and wizards will only give birth to wizards. Although poor people and poor people may also give birth to children with magical talents, they are civilians after all, and are not of the same species as us. There is naturally no psychological pressure to exploit and bully them.

With this mindset, the investigation team's actions were no different from those of the thief-like dark elf cavalry. They didn't rape women, but that was out of consideration for their bloodline. They were still very interested in selling women and children as trophies for money.

Therefore, before entering Shuiliu Village, the investigation team was already prepared to conduct compulsory asset management on the villagers of Shuiliu Village.

After hearing the sound of horse hooves approaching the village, most of the villagers subconsciously began to flee and hide. Only a few young men and old men whose families were destroyed last night picked up pitchforks and prepared to fight these beasts on horseback and in armor. The worst that could happen was death.

However, just as the reconnaissance team confirmed that there was no ambush at the village entrance and was preparing to ride into the village, some of the villagers who had gathered at the village entrance and were ready to fight saw a strange scene: several small magic circles suddenly lit up at the village gate, and then several purple lights shot out, surrounding the cavalry team and began to fly at high speed.

"Enemy attack, prepare to meet the enemy. Priest, bless!"

Before the captain could finish his orders, two well-trained priests began chanting: "Eternal Shield, Mother of All, hear the call of your servants. May your holy light descend upon us to protect us from the encroachments of evil. Goddess of Temperance, in your sacred name, I pray for a barrier to rise, impassable as the stars, indestructible as the mountains."

As the priest chanted, a translucent light curtain enveloped the armor of the reconnaissance team members. Three of the battle mages also began attacking the purple light swirling around them with fireballs and wind blades. However, the amethyst bat familiar was too fast, and their magic was unable to reach it.

"I want to see what the hell this thing is!"

The leading knight captain, holding a sword and shield, raised his shield.

"Quadruple magical enhancement? Strong? Alert? Iron bones? Pain reduction, wind spirit barrier, blessing of the goddess of courage, magic and martial arts skills? Shield charge!"

After stacking a bunch of buffs, he raised his shield and rode forward, trying to break through the encirclement woven by the flashing purple light.

"clang!"

With the sound of metal clashing, the once confident knight captain was abruptly pushed back. A large dent was left on his shield by the amethyst bat, and his shield-holding arm was painfully hurt. If he hadn't used strengthening magic beforehand, his arm would have been broken.

However, the destructive power of his full-strength shield attack was comparable to that of a full-speed collision with a full-throttle semi-trailer. At least it hindered the actions of the amethyst bat familiar. The members of the reconnaissance team could see clearly that the purple light that had been flying around them was actually just a few small bats.

"Don't be careless. This thing is very powerful!" shouted the knight captain.

"What is this? A demonic object or an alchemical artifact?"

"It should be an alchemical product. The magic circle just now seems to be some kind of hidden storage formation." The alchemist inside shouted.

"Damn it! How can there be such things in such a remote place? Jerry, do you have any way to deal with them?"

An alchemist named Jerry said, "This kind of sophisticated alchemical equipment must be operated closely by someone. Let's find the controller!"

Seeing these five or six knights just shouting and dancing at the village gate, the villagers who had originally wanted to fight to the death found the scene a bit ridiculous. When they saw the villagers walking towards them with weapons, the mages of the reconnaissance team immediately killed them.

"What are you looking at, you untouchables? Die! Lightning Strike!"

"Wind Blade!"

The blue-purple lightning and the whirlwind compressed into sharp blades shot towards the villagers not far away. The villagers had no time to dodge, but the bat familiars left by Lin Shangren to protect the village quickly formed a formation, spinning and weaving a protective net, blocking their magic attacks.

"It worked! They're back on defense! Keep attacking!"

The knight captain excitedly gave the order, and then he heard a language he had never heard before.

[A malicious attack has been detected, and the defense counterattack mode has been activated.]

To prevent indiscriminate killing, the Lin Shang people placed restrictions on the four remaining amethyst bat familiars. For those who invaded the village, if they did not attack the villagers, they would simply restrict their movements and keep them out of the village. However, if they dared to attack, they would be annihilated.

Two of the four amethyst bats continued to protect the villagers with magic shields, while the other two unleashed their power and began to charge at full speed. If the collision failed to work, Lin Shangren had reserved magic rings in their bodies that were enough to trigger two [Destruction Sounds].

As one of Hayashi Naoto's ultimate moves in Kamen Rider form, [Destruction Sound] was powerful enough to instantly demolish a skyscraper and level an entire city block. Hayashi Naoto was certain that even if it couldn't repel the invaders, it would at least delay them until he could arrive.

It can only be said that Lin Shangren still overestimated the average martial ethics of this world. There is no need to activate the [Sound of Destruction]. Just a simple full-strength collision is enough to break through the knights' defenses and shatter their protective magic and armor.

In just a moment, one-third of this elite team of only fifteen people were knocked off their horses. One of them had his brain directly smashed by the amethyst bat and died on the spot. Three others were hit in the chest and back, and their hearts were hit hard and they fell into coma. The remaining person barely stood up, but was hit by a fireball from his teammates and fell to the ground. His life or death was unknown.

"Monster...Priest!"

"He's already in intensive care...Ah!!!"

"Garman, how are you? Pfft..."

In a blink of an eye, four more people were elbowed off their horses.

"Raise your shields and form a formation!"

At the knight captain's command, the remaining six people hurriedly raised their shields and gathered back to back, chanting prayers or spells. Magic circles for physical strengthening, magic shields, powerful healing, and pain reduction lit up one after another.

Their protective shield was still effective, and the Amethyst Bats were unable to break through it by physical means for the time being, so they prepared to use some magic on them.

[Super awesome, shattering sound, the best, superb!]

The two amethyst bats opened their mouths.

"not good!"

In the center of the shield formation, the female knight next to the knight captain suddenly cried out.

"Run! There's something wrong with the magic fluctuations here. There's a wide-area annihilation magic strike. We've been tricked. There's at least a full tactical magician regiment hiding here! Run!!!"

Shouting, the female knight's body had already taken action before her words. Using the wind magic enchantment, the mount under her crotch bounced up and jumped out of the shield formation formed by the knights.

Recalling that the bats would protect the villagers just now, she released a powerful fire explosion at them with all her strength while running away, intending to divert the bats' attention and prevent them from hindering her escape.

However, her fireball was extinguished by an unknown force the moment it was thrown out, and she herself was knocked to the ground by a giant black shadow coming towards her.

"receive."

At Lin Shangren's command, the two amethyst bats stopped charging.

Seeing Lin Shangren suddenly appear at the village entrance, the nearby villagers cheered like thunder: "Sir, you are finally here!!!"

Chapter 443 Now, Shout Long Live

"Is this guy the mastermind behind this?"

The knight captain at the center of the shield formation stared vigilantly at Lin Shangren and the three witches beside him.

"Black hair, smooth features, and radiant skin. The clothing he's wearing is a style I've never seen before, but the materials are definitely high-end. He's surrounded by three incredibly beautiful women, and he has an alchemical creation so powerful it could directly suppress our team. This guy is definitely a reclusive noble mage. Could it be that this mage was responsible for last night's giant vision?"

He muttered to himself and prepared to reveal his identity to Lin Shangren to see if he could ask for his forgiveness.

"Sir, we are a reconnaissance team directly under the border defense forces of the Rufen Empire's Jellal Province. We are merely visiting your village as a matter of routine and have no intention of causing any offense. We...we sincerely apologize for our rudeness. Sir..."

"Run away!"

The female knight who was knocked to the ground by Lin Shangren suddenly let out a hysterical howl.

The moment she looked up and saw Lin Shangren, the moment her eyes were fixed on the blue, red and pink spiritual energy emanating from Lin Shangren's body, her spirit almost collapsed, as if she was a mortal investigator facing the body of an ancient god, and her SAN value fell below the bottom line.

"Run! He's a monster! He's the Demon King! The Demon King is coming! Quickly inform Lady Lilia, quickly! Quick!!!"

Looking at the female knight pretending to be crazy, the knight captain was a little at a loss, but he had heard that this female knight who once served in the knight order directly under the kingdom's princess Lilia had the "True Eye" which was quite rare among mages. She could see the flow and changes of magic power, and use this to judge a mage's strength and the intensity of a magic.

With this talent, she holds a high position in Lillia's Knights. If she had not offended the First Prince Diruk and was demoted and exiled by the king himself, she would not have ended up in this desolate border area.

If even she, who had seen countless important figures with her own eyes, thought that the man in black in front of her was a monster, then the other party must be really terrifyingly strong.

"Big...big...sir..."

The knight captain said tremblingly.

"shut up."

As soon as Lin Shangren finished speaking, the female knight who was screaming hysterically had her mouth sealed by the materialized black shadow.

"How dare you, little knight, be so arrogant as to stand before me and answer me, and even attack my subjects! Get off your horse!"

Lin Shangren's tone was calm, yet it exuded a majestic aura that seemed to tower above all things. Not only the five remaining knights, but even their horses felt the pressure, like a blade against their necks. Their calves cramped, and they dropped to their knees, throwing the knights to the ground.

The knights who fell to the ground did not dare to get up and just lay there. Some of them even wanted to crawl forward and kiss Lin Shangren's shoes to ask for his forgiveness.

"You're just a bunch of timid trash. I'll deal with you later."

Lin Shangren waved his hand and grabbed the five people into the dark shadow space, then turned around and looked at the villagers holding pitchforks.

He asked, "How is it? Is anyone hurt?"

"grown ups!"

Seeing them about to kneel down to him again, Lin Shangren quickly said, "Stop! Stand straight! Kneeling down is a waste of time. Efficiency is our priority right now. Go, notify everyone in the village to gather in the open space in the center of the village. They have five minutes to gather."

"Sir," a young girl in a headscarf raised her hand and asked, "What's five minutes?"

"Just count to 300, don't worry about that, the faster the better." Lin Shangren said.

"Yes!"

Seeing that the villagers had already started to act, Lin Shangren also teleported with Wilma and the other three to other villages to clean up the mess.

There wasn't just one reconnaissance team, and the harassment wasn't limited to Shuiliu Village; all the surrounding villages were affected. Fortunately, Lin Shangren had anticipated this situation last night, so he deployed at least four bat familiars in each village.

He'd proven to have overestimated the martial virtues of this world's human armies. While they could harness magical powers to strengthen themselves, their overall combat effectiveness couldn't even compare to a fully staffed tactical squad. Heavy snipers could penetrate armor, but explosive fire wasn't as effective as 40mm fire. Even if they could charge like a dump truck, they'd still be finished off in a single volley at close range. Using four amethyst bats to deal with them was a bit of an overkill.

The small team investigating Shuiliu Village was already the elite of their elite, and even they were easily captured, let alone the others. Some were pierced, some were killed, and some were crushed to dust by the destructive sound. The worst of all were those who were knocked off their horses by amethyst bats, caught by villagers with dung forks, and then fell into the dung pit and drowned while fleeing.

All in all, the Linshang people's Kingdom of Ivlorien won a great victory in its first battle against the human Empire of Rufen.

Soon, Lin Shangren used shadows to bring the residents of several other villages and the captured scout knights to the central square of Shuiliu Village.

Seeing that the gods really came again and saved them from danger once again, the villagers' faith and awe of Lin Shangren deepened several levels.

This time they stood at attention very consciously. Several young men who had worked together to capture the scout knight stood especially straight. They were looking forward to God... er, His Majesty the King to commend them.

"Everyone."

Lin Shangren appeared in front of the villagers. Gloria and Edna, dressed in knight armor, stood beside him. Wilma, still in casual clothes, spread her dragonfly wings and flew over Shuiliu Village, constantly sketching something in her notebook.

"I, Lin Shangren, protected you as I promised." Lin Shangren said slowly.

Some people in the audience wanted to shout "Long live!", but were suppressed by the solemn atmosphere at the scene.

"But just as fledglings eventually learn to fly, you too should master the power to protect yourselves. I know you don't have a natural talent for magic, but that's okay. I will give you weapons that can bridge this gap."

As he spoke, Lin Shangren pulled out a dark elf cavalryman from the shadow space.

Seeing this black-skinned, long-eared bastard wearing the armor of the Keludora army, the villagers, who had been bullied by the dark elf bandits, were furious. Originally, they might still be afraid, but now they were God's chosen people, and God was still present, so they had nothing to fear.

"He's a damn bug. Everyone, who wants to crush him to death with their own hands and avenge their relatives?" Lin Shangren asked.

"Kill...kill him with your own hands?!" The people in the audience were a little surprised.

"I!"

A white-haired old man mustered up his courage and raised his hand: "Sir, my name is Herbert. These beasts killed my son and daughter-in-law and kidnapped my little grandson. I wish I could die with them!"

"it is good."

Lin Shangren raised his hand and used a shadow to bring him to the front of the crowd and handed a Glock to him.

"Hold here, hook your fingers here." Lin Shangren said.

Holding this heavy and strange object, old man Herbert was a little confused, but he still grasped the pistol according to Lin Shangren's instructions and put his finger on the trigger.

"Okay, then, pull here to load the gun. That's right, and then use your thumb to pull the safety off, this thing. Good. Now, point the gun at him."

As he spoke, Lin Shangren snapped his fingers and used the Eagle Finger to awaken the dark elf cavalryman.