Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

"First, Kouma was surrounded by almost everyone in the arena. Jin went to support her, but she was also trapped in the encirclement. Then it was the rest of us, one after another... Those Popenos were not enough to defeat us, but just when we thought we were about to win, that person appeared, once again."

Last time, it was that person who defeated the five of them. Although the dragonborn had made some progress this time, they were still no match for the opponent due to the preemptive exhaustion caused by the human wave tactic. In fact, they suffered an even more miserable defeat than last time and could not even escape.

At this point, Poison Wing's pupils involuntarily contracted due to fear.

“You have no idea what he did. In order to completely defeat us, he started to gain power by killing the Popenos around us, like a vampire. With each member of his family who died, his power grew stronger. When he had killed more than half of the Popenos, we were no match for him at all.”

This sounded somewhat similar to the power of Raslaufer, and the group couldn't help but turn their gazes to Dople. But they all knew that finding a second person like Raslaufer wouldn't be so easy.

Moreover, Soul Eaters are not low-level demons that can be found everywhere. If there really is a similar being causing trouble in Western Inathas, even those far to the east would surely hear about it.

“Interesting,” Raslaufer grinned, his expression showing interest, as the death clouds surrounding the bloodthirsty plants had dissipated and the group had shaken off their pursuit and encirclement. “They only become stronger when killing members of the Popenos family? How did you come to that conclusion?”

Poison Wing hesitated for a moment before speaking definitively: "Well, the main reason is that that person is also a spellcaster, and most members of the Popenos family have the talent for spellcasting. Xiao Nu's arcane power should also originate from this. As for the others, those guards are just ordinary warriors or even ordinary people who have undergone training. Although that person killed quite a few of them, no obvious increase in strength was observed."

“Perhaps the person you’re talking about is just using this to replenish their magic,” Daisy speculated. “After all, you are all sorcerers, and you are all very young. No matter how strong your talent is, your spells and magic power are limited. If your opponent maintains a good state, it will inevitably seem to you that they are getting stronger and stronger.”

This speculation is reasonable. If that's the case, in terms of similar strength alone, Raslaufer might even be superior, and the opponent is not an invincible enemy.

“But…who exactly is this person?” Angelita asked. “You’ve already clashed with him twice, and I’m sure you’ve investigated his background—who exactly is he?”

When this was mentioned, Poison Wing looked a little confused, but quickly came to his senses: "His background... Yes, we found out the possible circumstances, but we really can't believe it's true. After all, if that were the case, this person should have been dead long ago."

"The Popenos family members addressed him as their ancestor to his face, but when we infiltrated and eavesdropped, they called him 'the one who came back from the dead,' 'the vampire,' and 'the freak who died without a lineage.' In short, there wasn't a single term of praise for him. This led us to suspect that he might be a stain on the Popenos family history, a disgrace, so we launched an investigation. Onuma meticulously traced the clues of every generation of his maternal grandfather's family from beginning to end, but in the end, all the suspicious members were ruled out as suspects."

"why?"

"Why? Well, there are quite a few reasons, the most common being that we found the Popenos family themselves in their family cemetery—dead beyond dead. Absolutely the real people, and absolutely dead."

For a few genius sorcerers, such a judgment is almost impossible to be wrong.

Raslaufer suddenly stepped forward, swinging his sword to cleave a gnarled, withered branch that had suddenly leaped out of the grass, sending it flying ten meters away. Only then did he stop, his expression unchanged, and asked, "But that person is indeed alive, isn't he?"

“Yes,” Venomwing raised his claws and scratched the scales on his neck with his fingertips. “We have to consider a broader scope. The branches of Inasas gave us this idea, and eventually we turned our attention to the period before the Popenos family appeared—when they weren’t called that yet.”

“In the long, long past, around the same time as Emperor Richard the Great, their clan was called the Popazobote family.”

The sorcerer Chargigi, and the childless Jochi Popazobote.

"What do you know?" Poisonwing observed everyone's expressions. Although understanding the emotions of these scaleless, fangless creatures was just as difficult for Dragonborn as it was for other races, she still sensed something. "Please, can you tell me? This is important!"

“Of course, there’s no point in hiding it,” Raslaw took the map, looked at it, and then casually handed it to Mary. “We suspect that your new adversary, besides Dragonfinger Fidel, may not be ‘other.’ It’s very possible that he is part of Dragonfinger’s entire plan—possibly including the elimination of you.”

"But it's okay, trust us, he won't escape from me a second time, not even if he turns himself back into a cocoon—come on, girls, we have to speed things up and bury that fool who won't lie still in his coffin back in."

"—It would be best to bury him with these damn plants!"

Chapter 662 Prison Break

At this time, the borders of the Kingdom of Pope were already filled with suspicion and fear.

A group of vicious dragonborn were wreaking havoc in the capital. Even with a concerted effort to suppress them, some still managed to escape. Such news was impossible to suppress, not to mention that the Popenos royal family had no intention of hiding it.

They announced that they would be prosecuting these dragonborn for dozens of serious crimes, including murder and sabotage, and holding a public trial. Although the trial had not yet taken place, everyone knew that there was only one fate for these dragonborn.

The gallows were already set up, but not four, but five. Clearly, the royal family intended to hang not only the captured prisoners.

This is a conspiracy.

Throughout the kingdom, those who were unaware of the Five Friends of the Dragonborn, those who knew them, those who did not support the royal family, and those who did support the royal family were all in a state of chaos. Ultimately, they were roughly divided into two factions: one faction supported the hanging of the Dragonborn, while the other faction plotted how to rescue four of the Five Friends of the Dragonborn. With opinions being expressed in various places, the most nervous were undoubtedly the guards.

They didn't care who should be hanged or not; their biggest fear was whether they themselves would be on the list of those to be hanged. To prevent this from happening, they had to be as vigilant as possible, preventing any suspicious individuals from passing through their assigned areas.

But such efforts were in vain. With the strength of Raslaufer and his men, they were not something that a few guards could discover and stop. If they weren't worried about alerting the enemy, they could have openly charged through the enemy lines—Raslaufer didn't mind doing so, but that would have made things more complicated.

In contrast, sneaking into the kingdom and rescuing the person before the trial was a better approach. Following this line of thought, two days before the trial was to begin, Raslaufer and his group finally infiltrated the capital of the Kingdom of Pope and, under the cover of night, stealthily made their way to the entrance of the dungeon beneath the palace.

"There are six guards in total, two on the outside and four on the inside."

Veruna, who could use the moonlight to conceal her tracks, followed. Through telepathy, she could easily determine how many people were here. According to her, besides the two heavily armored guards at the dungeon entrance, each carrying a halberd but dozing off, there were four more guards behind the door, sitting around a table playing some kind of card game. To rescue them, they would have to take them down first.

“I’ll give it a try.” Daisy plucked the strings. She had used this spell before when she helped Felix, who was still a knight. Now that her power had increased, the spell’s power naturally increased as well. Accompanied by the light and soothing melody, the eyelids of the two already very sleepy guards quickly drooped down like floodgates, while their eyeballs rolled back up, and they easily drifted off to sleep.

While a heavy door could block prying eyes, it could not stop the music from spreading. When the door was pushed open by Raslaufer with one hand, the four guards inside were already lying there in disarray.

The slightly better ones could lean back in their chairs or lie on their desks before falling into a deep sleep, while the less fortunate one had his buttocks still on the chair when he fell asleep with his head on the stone bricks on the ground.

Although their sleeping posture made it difficult to retrieve the keys from them, Mary was skilled at it and easily obtained a large bunch. These passes to freedom were densely strung on the same ring, but when Mary picked it up, it didn't make a sound.

"Little Wing, have you found them?" Angelita called to Poison Wing to search around, trying to locate the other dragonborn. The process wasn't difficult; after all, this was the dungeon beneath the palace, where ordinary prisoners would almost never be held. Soon, they found the four little ones who had been locked up for so long they were practically moldy.

Perhaps to ensure they survived until the trial, or until Poison Wing came to rescue them, all of them had signs of treatment and bandaging on their bodies. They were not in any immediate danger, but their spirits were exceptionally low. To their surprise, each of them had a heavy stone ring around their neck. The faint, flowing patterns on the ring indicated that these were definitely not just random decorations.

"Little Wing! Ah, and you guys too," Jinmian tried her best to suppress her joy like her companions, but the tail behind her, which almost left afterimages, still gave her away. Edward subtly moved to the side to prevent his eldest sister's tail, which was more powerful than a steel whip, from continuing to lash him. "Quick! Quickly help us get this away, it's absorbing our magic!"

While both warlocks and mages are arcane spellcasters, and most outstanding ones possess both talents, they are actually different. A mage's power is greatly diminished if their spellbook and spell-casting tools are taken away; a warlock, on the other hand, can cast spells even as an infant, let alone as an adult. To limit their power, special methods are required.

The power of these stone rings was not limited to the runes on them. Raslaufer reached out to forcefully break them, but when he actually grabbed them, he realized that the width of the stone rings did not come out of thin air.

"Clang—" The stone ring, under pressure, suddenly hummed, and a crack in the inner ring opened up, spewing out a whole circle of sharp spikes. If it weren't for the Broken Halberd's gauntlets covering Raslaufer's hands, he would have been torn to pieces!

"Be careful...tsk," Jinmian's warning finally came out, but before she could say anything more, there were a few "crack" sounds, and the stone ring that had bound her so tightly that she was even weaker than an ordinary person was crushed into pieces in Reslaufer's hand. "Finally, you're relieved. Are you alright?"

“Just a little trick,” Leslaufer casually rubbed the remaining stone chips between his fingers. “No wonder you all look so listless. Wearing something like this, it’s not easy to even sleep, is it?”

“We’re alright, we can manage a bit,” Jinmian said, patting his neck where the scales and the flesh beneath were a bloody mess. “But Xiao Nuwa is a different story; he’s not as tough as us.”

Although the dragonborn didn't care, Edward's appearance as a black dragon was ultimately fake and could never be real. When Raslaufer looked at him, the boy's eyes were bloodshot, clearly indicating that he hadn't rested for many days.

“Looks like I’ll have to step in,” Daisy said, stretching her wrists and fingers before preparing to play another piece. “Don’t worry, it won’t be a real rest, but it will help you relax. Getting out of here will take some effort.”

As she spoke, she prepared to begin playing, but the moment she raised her zither, Zhengling sounded a piercing alarm in her ear.

A bolt of lightning, flashing with dazzling white light, severed her hair. By the slightest difference, her head would have been pierced through by the sneak attack!

Chapter 663 The Mage Tower Woven with Flesh and Blood

A middle-aged man in a sharp coat strolled out of the shadows, flicked his finger, and extinguished the last remaining sparks of electricity.

Behind this person, countless fleshy tentacles covered in white down quickly severed their connection with him and retreated into the gaps around the stone building.

Having seen such bizarre and chilling flesh before, Raslaw and the others were perfectly capable of guessing the name of the person before them—

"The one who will die without a lineage!" Daisy cried out, instinctively swinging her lyre at the other man. "Georgie Popazobote!"

In her panic, she forgot one thing: this zither was not her matte; it did not have the added thunderous sound!

With a muffled thud, a whip-like tentacle lashed out from the resurrected man's sleeve, easily shattering the musical instrument. As the sound rang out, the man's pupils suddenly narrowed, as if he had just been awakened from a dream, and he coldly stared at the intruders.

"First of all, even if it's my nickname, you should call me the Childless One," the man said, his magical power gathering wildly around him. "Secondly, you all deserve to die!"

Terrifying magic radiated from his body in all directions. The guards, who had just been awakened from their slumber, were instantly destroyed before they could even be surprised. The powerful shockwave pierced through their armor, leaving only mangled flesh and blood inside.

"Scatter!" Veruna immediately withdrew her cover, leaping in front of the group and raising a shield to block the attack for them. "Undead, prepare to face Larri's wrath!"

"A unicorn?" Even Joki was taken aback when he saw the unicorn shimmering with a crystalline white light. "The last recorded unicorn was in Corazond..."

He was unaware that the two incidents were actually the same horse, and Veruna made no attempt to explain. As the storm generated by Joki's energy subsided, white, holy flames suddenly ignited on her hooves, propelling her towards Joki. Her momentum was even more hostile towards Joki than that of Leslaufer and the others!

Undead creatures are the greatest enemies of all living things, and undead spellcasters are among the most dangerous. Every celestial being, and even every good person, has the obligation to destroy them!

There may be rumors of "good" liches in some worlds, but they are only a tiny minority. These beings who return from the world of the dead cannot empathize with the living. Even if they can uphold the justice that most people agree on at the beginning, as time goes by, this belief will inevitably become more and more distorted until they completely degenerate into an unacceptable evil.

But the person in front of us, neither in life nor in death, never went through this step—he must be destroyed here!

Joki immediately waved his wand, using the tentacles around him and on his body to fight back. The wand he used was none other than Edward's Golden Enlightenment. At this moment, the wand in Joki's hand showed neither "golden" nor any "enlightenment" meaning. A series of vicious and vicious spells surged out, forcing Veruna to stop after only charging three to five meters. Even standing still was extremely difficult.

"How dare you desecrate my grave?" It seemed that Dragon Finger Fidel had told him a lot about his own grave, which was why he was so agitated when recounting the crimes of Raslaufer and the others. Even when Dople charged at him with his sword, he did not stop his questioning.

"You even sold my journal?!"

Among the antiques that the spotted cat siblings sold off were naturally rubbings of his notes. And as his calligraphy circulated among the nobility, Jogi, upon hearing the news, felt no joy whatsoever.

That wasn't ordinary "calligraphy"; it was his further understanding of arcane arts after each act of patricide! Although it was written in cipher, once it was deciphered, its destructive power against him would be immeasurable!

"And now, you're planning to kidnap prisoners from me?!"

Joki ducked sharply, dodging the swords that Angreta and Marie were simultaneously attacking. These fleshy tentacles, a result of his resurrection, granted him a physical strength he could never have in his previous life. Even in close combat in the dungeon, he feared no opponent whatsoever.

Except for this greatsword!

"Boom!" The black flame greatsword slammed three or five tentacles twisted together to serve as weapons into the ground. Another tentacle wrapped around his hilt and guard, seemingly intending to disarm him. But who was Leslaufer? With a sudden pull of his arm inward, he actually pulled Joki's heavy body toward him and then slammed it into the warlock's forehead!

Even the one who had no offspring was dizzy from the headbutt, as if his soul had just returned to his body after a long journey from the astral plane. But he was not defeated. A large amount of flesh and blood surged up his body and formed a giant cocoon of flesh and blood around him. Inside, he took the opportunity to begin his chanting.

Fidel was in such a hurry to take him away that he didn't remember to bury Raslaufer and the others in a grave, but this time, the effect will be no different!

Chargigi's prophecy is about to be fulfilled by Fidel, and he cannot tolerate any mistakes! All those who stand in his way must die!

Dark, inky tentacles, entirely composed of magical energy, extended from the amorphous flesh and blood, reaching for Angelita's ankle. The girl dared not be careless, but the surrounding fleshy tentacles blocked all her escape routes. Just a touch from the spell was enough for Angelita to feel her life slipping away.

This spell can drain one's own life force!

This was not the end, but just as the dark tentacles were about to continue clinging to Angelita's ankle, a beam of light suddenly illuminated her, causing the tentacles to tremble violently like vampires that couldn't stand the light, and then vanish into thin air.

"Thanks!" Angelita turned around and saw Shardstone, who was still managing to cast spells. She thanked her aloud and then rejoined the attack on Joki. The Blue Dragonborn was not just a sorcerer; she was also a follower of a powerful dragon, and this power would not be completely worn away by a few days of torment.

"Sir Raslaufer, we must break this cocoon!" "I don't need you to remind me!"

Angelita becoming the target of the attack ignited Raslaufer's anger. While responding to Mary, he fiercely slashed at the cocoon of flesh in front of him. However, the flesh seemed endless. As soon as one layer was opened, three more layers would immediately wrap around it. No matter what he did, he could not break through it, which made Raslaufer extremely anxious.

Are they really helpless against this thing?

“Miss Anne!” At this moment, the unicorn, having failed in her charge once again, retreated and stopped Angrita, who was about to take over. “This won’t work. Our top priority is to rescue the dragonborn. Delaying with him like this will only make the situation worse!”

“But he’s blocking our way, what can we do!” Mary frowned. She had lost count of how many times she had changed her sword techniques, but she still had no idea what to do with this coward who was hiding in his cocoon and showing off his ability to cast spells at will—and neither were Leslaufer and Angelita.

Veruna's voice was calm and collected: "Haste won't kill him, but there is a way to stop him from blocking our way—Miss Anne, I need to borrow the power of your sword!"

Angrita naturally wouldn't refuse, and as the long poem of the Guardian Spirit approached the unicorn, the celestial creature immediately raised its neck and let out a long howl: "In the name of the Queen! Silver Moon, spread your wings, please have mercy on this place—"

Between her sides, a pair of broad, semi-illusory silver-white wings suddenly unfurled, forming a suspended magic circle with the single horn on her head, aimed directly at Joki.

"Send this spirit to where it belongs—drive out evil!"

Chapter 664 The Devil's Aid

Countless pieces of flesh lost their support and collapsed to the ground. When the blood cocoon in the center bloomed like a flower, the Joki inside had vanished, leaving only a patch of white and red mottled fur.

Where did he go?

The unseen enemy is far more terrifying than the visible one, Jinmian shouted immediately, adopting a defensive stance—although magic was no longer effective, she still had claws and teeth…

“I’ve taken him to where the dead belong,” Veruna exhaled white mist from her mouth and nose, as if from her expended energy. “It wasn’t easy, but those who pursue evil always face this situation. Now, before he returns, let’s get out of here quickly!”

Even for powerful spellcasters, crossing from one plane to another without prior preparation is no easy feat. The time taken might not be long, but it was enough for everyone to escape and gain a chance to catch their breath. Although Joki's spellcasting caused quite a commotion, no one dared to pursue or delay them until they had truly escaped.

The recent rampage by the five dragonborn had truly terrified the remaining members of the Popenos family. If Joki could handle it, then they naturally wouldn't need to come out; but if Joki couldn't handle it, then their presence would be useless.

Why send them to their deaths? Everyone knows perfectly well that although the Five Friends of Falin have always been primarily focused on doing good, for some reason, they leave almost no survivors when facing members of the Popenos family.

"It seems Joker hasn't discovered your true identity?" Leslaufer said to Edward as they escaped danger. "If he had realized you were also of Popenos blood, he certainly wouldn't have kept you alive until now!"

"Wh...why?" Although Leslaufer and the others knew why the Extinct Ones had this title, the Dragonborn did not know the reason. After the explanation, they finally understood who this Joki was.

"The Popenos family is actually... a descendant of the sorcerer Chargigi?" Even the relatively composed Frostbone was astonished upon hearing this. "So, the Popenos family's so-called forceful seizure of the inheritance was merely a facade, and in reality..."

“Their entire family possesses a talent for spellcasting, and the fewer the members, the stronger the survivors,” Poison Wing frowned. “In that case, it’s no wonder that Swampthroat, despite not having dragon blood like us, has been able to keep up with us…”

Although Edward is very talented, he probably wouldn't have grown so quickly if he hadn't been constantly reducing the number of Popenos family members along the way—after all, he is actually a human, and the Maple Spring family's ancestors didn't have much of a connection with the dragon race.

“So, after confirming that the other party was the extinct Jogi, it makes sense that he killed family members while fighting you,” Daisy nodded. “But why didn’t he kill everyone? That way, he could transform into his most powerful form, right?”

The reason the progenitor is progenitor is because he slaughtered all his close relatives, leaving only a small group of survivors who became the Popenos family. If Joki were still the same Joki, he should have wiped out all these descendants first. The bard recalled the marks on the coffins in the cemetery; the engraved spells showed that this progenitor, in his prime, had reached level thirteen or even higher solely through the power of his bloodline. After his resurrection, whatever his purpose, reclaiming his power would undoubtedly be the optimal solution.

Unless... someone prevents him from taking it back, or he discovers it's pointless.

Raslaufer and the others already knew from the halfling Finnan that Joki was probably the most powerful member around Fidel, and Fidel was unlikely to restrict him, as there was no reason for that. So there was only one possibility: Joki would not be able to regain much power by targeting these "descendants" in the Kingdom of Pope, at most he could only replenish what he had lost.

"But he will absolutely stop at nothing to achieve this."

As the group retreated to the wilderness outside the kingdom's capital, two voices simultaneously and confidently delivered their conclusions. One was the unicorn Veruna, and the other was the projected Zheng Ling.

"A devil?" Veruna immediately reared up on her forelegs, alert. "What are you doing out here again?!"

"Get the order straight! I was with them first!" Zheng Ling said, hands on her hips. "And what makes you think you're so great? When I was still a mortal, I once had a unicorn mount—but what did he do when the Abyss targeted my world? In the end, he just left me to die alone!"

Veruna stared at Zhengling for a moment, then figured out what had happened: "So it was him... he went back to get reinforcements! You have no idea how much he went to get help as quickly as possible—"

"But the Grand Duke saved me!" Zheng Ling's eyes burned with fire. "Until it was all over, I didn't see a single celestial creature! What about Lari's unicorn herd? What about the messengers of the gods? Nothing! You think cleaning up the battlefield counts as participating in the war?"

"Alright, alright, Miss Zhengling, calm down," Daisy quickly pulled Zhengling away from her raging temper. "It's all in the past, right? There's no point in bringing it up now. You can't just drag Merika off and ride Larry yourself, can you? What exactly did you come out for at this time?"