What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

The count's camp was thrown into disarray once again, with most people backing down at the sight of Ophelia.

If Ophelia were to be killed by a hail of bullets in this situation, it would be hard to say whether they or the other side would bear the Count's wrath afterwards!

This chaos gave Leon's side another opportunity to organize a second volley. The defenders on the city walls switched to their second loaded flintlock muskets and fired. This time, although there were no cannons, they were met with crossfire of poisoned crossbow bolts.

The count, clutching his bleeding neck, forced himself to stand, while screams echoed incessantly.

Some of his subordinates tried to help him up, but he pushed them away forcefully: "Attack!"

He glared and roared. Fortunately for him, the moment he was bitten, his body instinctively activated the God of War's Blessing, which made his physique display strength beyond that of ordinary people. The phantom's bite caused severe bleeding, but it failed to completely tear open his throat and deprive him of the ability to breathe and speak.

The surrounding subordinates were stunned for a moment, and one of them exclaimed in shock, "But Miss Ophelia..."

"I ordered you to attack!!" The count repeated the command, his eyes bloodshot.

He forced himself not to look at his daughter who was standing on the city wall. He realized the situation: they had suffered two volleys of fire for nothing, he was seriously wounded, and if they didn't fight back, they would be finished!

Hesitation wouldn't save Ophelia; it would only lead to his and his men's deaths along with her. He had no choice but to attack!

He could sense that he had been poisoned, and it was very likely the blood of the curse. The holy water of the nineteenth could delay the toxicity of the blood of the curse, and he needed to attack the stronghold and suppress the situation during this time.

The belated counterattack finally arrived. Gunfire erupted, cannons roared towards the fortress, splinters of wood flew everywhere, and Leon lay prone under the wooden frame binding Ophelia, watching his men being thrown out in the explosion.

His position was relatively safe, because the enemy would at least avoid shooting at Ophelia.

He suddenly grabbed the red flag and waved it. At that moment, Lena, who was standing on the watchtower in the fortress, saw the signal, transformed into her succubus form, picked up a whistle, and blew it loudly. The whistle was made for her by Weiss using the bones of a monster. This was a technique that the church had obtained from witches, allowing them to use musical instruments made from monster materials to convey the witches' commands.

Accompanied by a sharp whistle, several low doors suddenly opened in the fortress, and a pack of wolves poured out of them, charging furiously towards the Earl's camp.

"You must die here today, Count Frey!" Leon roared.

Chapter 181 Death on the Battlefield

The moment the wolf charged, the defenders on the city wall launched a third volley to provide cover.

"A demon wolf! It's a demon wolf!"

The Earl's men never expected that the enemy would take the initiative to open the fortress and send out a vanguard, and not a cavalry unit, but a group of monsters!

They hastily engaged in battle, firing at the charging pack of wolves under the cover of the third volley.

The wolves in the front row were all shot, but none of them fell down. Instead, the pain further fueled their ferocity.

As a level three monster, the Dire Wolf has no special abilities, nor does it possess poison or curses. Its strength lies solely in its physique. It has a strong self-healing ability and is extremely resistant to poison and curses, making it difficult to kill quickly with ordinary firearms.

The front-line formation of the Earl's forces was further broken. The total number of dire wolves was twenty-nine. In addition to the dire wolves that already existed in the maze, the other half were created by Leon from the maze.

Thanks to the accelerated growth of the magic potion, these wolves, though not yet adults, are already as agile and ferocious as leopards, making them a formidable fighting force on the battlefield.

Besides the demonic wolf charging at the forefront, six petrifying lizards followed closely behind, constantly tearing at the enemies in front of them and injecting venom that paralyzes and petrifies them.

A superhuman blessed by the Creator aimed at the demon wolf charging at him, and with a flick of his wrist threw a paper packet at the wolf. The flying dust enveloped the wolf, and then he snapped his fingers, and the flying dust turned into flames that instantly set the wolf ablaze. The wolf howled and collapsed to the ground.

"Good!" Just as he was about to aim at the next wolf, he suddenly felt a tremor under his feet, and the ground rose up around his feet.

Then a serpent-like monster burst from the ground at his feet, spewing acidic mist that splattered onto his face before biting down, its sharp dragon teeth easily piercing through his armor.

The creature that attacked him was a young earth dragon. Even though it was a newly born earth dragon, it still posed a threat level comparable to a level three monster.

Besides the earth dragons, demon wolves, and petrified lizards, the count's soldiers soon discovered that many small monsters had appeared at their feet. Poisonous giant scorpions and giant spiders kept trying to climb onto their bodies, attempting to attack all exposed parts of their bodies with their fangs and venomous tails.

Even more dangerous were the agile headhunting rabbits, which leaped up one after another, trying to slit their vitals with the sharp blades at their leg joints. If most of them hadn't been wearing armor as fine as that of the church knights, these headhunting rabbits alone could have caused them considerable casualties, but people were still injured one after another.

In order to confront the Count, Leon spared no effort in releasing the monsters he had raised in the labyrinth. He released almost all the adult monsters that could be used on the battlefield, and controlled them with the Blood Oath Blessing of Lena and his ability as the master of the labyrinth. Anyone who wanted to attack this fortress would have to conquer the labyrinth he managed!

When humans are at odds, monsters will display unprecedented unity. Even monsters that were once predator and prey will join forces to attack humans. The monster army released from the stronghold will surge like a tide, pushing the battle lines outwards.

A wolf pounced on a musketeer and began to bite him fiercely. At this moment, the count stepped forward and brandished his longsword. The longsword was several meters away from the wolf. A silver blade of light flew out from the trajectory of the count's sword and cut into the wolf's body. Suddenly, the sword light split into dozens of beams and continued to pierce out of the wolf's body.

The next instant, the wolf froze, then its body suddenly shattered into pieces, collapsing into a pile of minced meat.

"Don't retreat, advance! Forward!!" The count, clutching his cloak to cover his bleeding wound, raised his longsword, engraved with the family crest of the sun, and shouted the order.

He was already seriously wounded to the point where he had to retreat to the rear for treatment, but without Beckett or Johnny to supervise him, and without his personal command, the battle line would collapse immediately after such a series of blows.

The second-tier blessing of the God of War allows warriors to retain their combat abilities even after suffering severe injuries, and even unleash power beyond their usual strength. The closer they are to death, the stronger their power becomes.

At this moment, the count could feel that invisible energy supporting him. He had been in a safe position for too long and had not experienced this sense of life-or-death crisis on the battlefield for a long time. He was already a little unaccustomed to it.

But he still forced himself to overcome the fear that he might die there and personally took up his sword to oversee the battle.

Their formation did not consider retreat. With such a large army blocking the narrow mountain road, a hasty retreat could lead to serious chaos and even stampedes. Only by having the troops charge forward wave after wave could they maximize their advantages.

Their forces have an overwhelming advantage, so these casualties are not a big deal. The important thing is not to let morale suffer a devastating blow!

The situation quickly proved the Count's judgment correct. Led by the Count, the extraordinary individuals took the lead and demonstrated their combat prowess, preventing the monsters from carrying out further slaughter.

The cover fire from above the fortress and the attacks from the monsters caused many casualties, but the Count's army kept advancing to reinforce them, while the number of monsters was very limited. Soon the Count's camp began to push back the front line, and the artillerymen launched a second round of bombardment, causing a large section of the fortress's outer wall to collapse.

"Your Excellency, please retreat to the rear to receive treatment!" A guard rushed up to persuade the count.

The count looked ahead and saw that there were very few monsters left. The battle line had begun to push back, and the rest could be dealt with by his subordinates.

His injuries would have caused an ordinary person to bleed to death long ago. He is only able to stand up now thanks to the extraordinary physique bestowed upon him by the God of War. However, if he does not receive treatment soon, he will surely die!

Suddenly, a scream came from ahead. The count saw flying limbs and broken bones, and blood gushing out like a fountain.

The fortress opened its gates, and a group of cavalry charged out, joining the remaining monsters in the assault, tearing another gap in the Earl's lines.

Under their cover, a towering werewolf charged into the fray with uncanny speed, wielding an enormous sword to reap the rewards. With the werewolf's monstrous strength, the sword slashed and killed wherever it went.

"Leon Seth!!" The count's eyes widened in fury.

As the fortress was nearing its breakthrough, Leon chose to personally lead the charge, opening the fortress and coordinating with the cavalry to launch an attack.

The giant sword was specially crafted by him; it was too heavy for an ordinary person to wield, but when wielded by him in his werewolf form, it could cut cavalrymen and their horses in two.

"Focus on the target, kill that werewolf!" The count temporarily forgot about retreating and roared hoarsely.

At this moment, the werewolf glanced at him through several walls of people, suddenly activated time acceleration, and with a speed that others could hardly see, raised his hand and flung out several test tubes containing the blood of the curse. Then, he used his claws to slash his sword-wielding arm, tearing out several bloody marks.

The wound wasn't very deep, but a large amount of purple blood gushed out. This was because Vice, who was hiding behind the gate of the fortress, was casting the Blessing of Blood on Leon, temporarily accelerating blood flow and causing a large amount of blood to gush out through this wound in a short period of time.

The gushing cursed blood immediately began to atomize, while in the test tubes thrown by Leon, the cursed blood also boiled and vaporized, causing the test tubes to shatter one after another. The blood in the test tubes had been collected a few days ago and its activity had been temporarily preserved thanks to Weiss's technology.

With the acceleration of time, the speed at which the cursed blood atomized and spread was astonishing, like detonating a poison gas bomb. Before anyone could react, the purple poisonous mist spread out over a range of more than ten meters around Leon and continued to advance forward.

The cavalry covering Leon quickly turned around and withdrew from the poisonous fog as planned. Leon can now control the cursed blood to only poison specific targets, but with so many people on the battlefield, chaos is inevitable.

The Count's soldiers, shrouded in the poisonous fog, were gripped by terror. The cursed blood had awakened their primal fear, and the accelerated time caused the poison to take effect at an exponential rate. Amidst cries of agony, ordinary people fell in droves, and the remaining superhumans gradually stiffened. Leon was now the Grim Reaper on the battlefield.

Leon accelerated and sprinted forward, swinging his greatsword repeatedly at the superhumans who weren't quite dead yet, easily killing several of them. A superhuman blessed with "Iron Body" rushed forward, fearlessly grabbing his greatsword and withstanding the attack.

But his bravery did not buy him much time. Leon accelerated and thrust his claws at his face, piercing his eyes with his sharp claws.

As many people collapsed in the poisonous fog, the suppressed monsters turned their offensive, using a siege to overwhelm the remaining superhumans under the count's command.

The count was also besieged by the dire wolves. He was the only person still standing in the area covered by the poisonous fog. He was poisoned when the shapeshifter bit his neck and was only able to survive thanks to the slow-release agent. Now, inhaling the poisonous fog again would not make much difference.

He brandished his longsword, slicing through two more demonic wolves that lunged at him. Just then, Leon appeared behind the shattered wolf corpses, aiming his gun at him. The count dodged thanks to the quick reflexes granted by his blessing, but was still shot in the leg by Leon.

"Ugh!" The count nearly knelt down, barely managing to support himself with his sword.

Leon's first priority was to ensure that the Count could not escape the poisonous fog. The fog killed those around Leon and prevented the soldiers behind him from rushing in to rescue the Count.

The cursed blood, now a mist, would quickly dissipate. The poisonous fog that enveloped the count for those few seconds left him isolated and helpless, providing the perfect opportunity to kill him. Compared to the count's immense power, the cunning count was like an elephant to an ant, but in a life-or-death duel, whether a mafia king or a petty thug, everyone only had one life to live!

The count felt as if his heart had been suddenly clenched, and his blood began to rush out rapidly from the wound on his neck.

A woman's figure was faintly visible in the poisonous fog; Weiss was using the Blessing of Blood to accelerate his blood loss.

After both guns were used up, Leon, wielding his greatsword in both hands, charged towards the Count, his body blurring into a blur. Engaging the Count in close combat prevented the soldiers behind him from easily providing ranged support, lest they hit the Count. The Count gritted his teeth, preparing for a desperate last stand. He drew his gun and fired, but Leon, accelerating, dodged it before he could.

Leon instantly circled to the other side where he wasn't holding a sword, and swung his greatsword at the count's waist. In the nick of time, the count didn't have time to parry with his sword, so he swung his empty gun as a blunt weapon to strike the greatsword. The blessing of the divine weapon came into play, and the flintlock pistol, as a blunt weapon, exerted great destructive power, actually smashing the greatsword's blade and breaking it in half!

kill!

The count felt he had finally seized the only chance to win and swung his sword to counterattack with all his might. At that moment, Leon suddenly swung his arm and splashed the blood on the count's face. Under his control, the cursed blood accelerated and burrowed into the count's eyes.

The count's vision instantly turned purplish-red. He swung his longsword down, but missed everything. The silver blade only carved a deep trench in the ground.

The next instant, Leon's claws, which had transformed from his hand into a knife, plunged deep into his throat.

Chapter 182 Icarus Leaps Over the Sun

Leon withdrew his claws and retreated, while the Count also retreated, clutching his neck and trying to catch his breath, but only blood and foam kept gushing from his mouth.

so cold...

At this moment, the count had only this one thought.

He had imagined many times what he would feel when death approached, but when the moment actually came, he found his mind blank, without regret, remorse, anger... nothing at all.

He had almost bled to death. Leon had pierced his throat, rendering him unable to speak or breathe. His body was now certainly doomed.

The second-tier blessing of the God of War could actually support him to continue fighting in this hopeless situation, but he had already lost his will to fight.

His eyes were splashed with the blood of the curse, and the slow-release medication he took could not completely reduce the toxicity of contact with the mucous membranes. He could barely see anymore, and even after wiping away the blood on his eyes, he could only see a white blur.

But most importantly, his fighting belief was for everything he had accumulated while he was alive. Now that he was certain he wouldn't survive, his fighting belief collapsed.

In the end, he could only use his sword to support himself and prevent himself from collapsing immediately.

Leon used the count as cover to retreat, controlling the remaining poisonous fog to continue drifting forward, forcing the count's soldiers back in the distance.

His breathing was also rapid. The release of such a large amount of poison gas had consumed a lot of his blood, and his blood loss was actually quite serious.

Fortunately, the count eventually died.

At that moment, he saw the count raise his face towards him. Whether it was a final burst of energy or something else, the count's eyes brightened for a moment, as if he had seen him.

The count weakly raised a finger, pointed upwards, and opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out.

But Leon saw the other man's lips clearly. In his dying moments, the count murmured a name as if in a dream: "Icarus."

Icarus, the boy in the mythical fable that Leon once told the Count, flew into the sky with wings made by his father, but because of his arrogance and getting too close to the sun, his wings were destroyed by the sun, and he fell into the sea and died.

In the Count's eyes, Leon is now like Icarus, who has flown too high, and he should be the sun that destroys Icarus's wings, making Icarus pay the price for his arrogance.

The count couldn't understand why Leon, who had told that parable, would choose to be as arrogant as Icarus in trying to challenge the sun.

He couldn't understand why reality had turned out this way; the sun ultimately failed to destroy the arrogant boy's wings.

“Icarus…” As if hearing the Count’s question, Leon replied softly, “All you need to do is fly higher than the sun!”

He told the count about the parable of his original world, but he didn't tell the count that in his original world, later poets also endowed Icarus with new spiritual symbols, believing that he challenged authority, pursued freedom, and was willing to risk his life for it!

Icarus lost his wings to the sun because he flew too high, but if he had the chance to fly even higher, soaring into the sky, higher than the sun, to a place the sun could not reach, then nothing could stop him from flying freely!

A self-deprecating smile suddenly appeared on the count's face.

He finally understood. He had thought Leon Seth had no ambition, that he had seen through the man, but in reality, he knew nothing about him. This man wasn't without ambition; it was just that his ambition was so great that he hadn't even seen it.

Perhaps even he himself couldn't see clearly; he only wanted to fly upwards. In truth, the Earl himself was once like that, but after paying the price that day, his wings were broken by Bernard Rogers. From then on, he lost that ambition to soar over the sun, and no matter how much power he gained, he could never regain it. He felt that his current position was just right—not too high, not too low. But he had never forgotten the pain of his broken wings, which is why he sought revenge against Rogers at any cost.

With that self-deprecating smile, Count Isaac Mustang's life came to an end.

As his life ended, the delaying agent also lost its effectiveness in his body, and Leon felt the cursed blood that had been parasitizing this body begin to activate again.

Leon stared at the man who was both his teacher and his enemy. Before the man fell, he used the Cursed Blood to petrify the body, turning him into a stone statue.

The poisonous fog finally dissipated and faded, but outside the mountain pass, the Earl's army still kept the mountain road completely blocked.

The soldiers in the front row held their guns tremblingly. They couldn't see the details of the battle from such a distance and through the pervasive poisonous fog, yet they had no way to charge into the fog to fight.

They knew by instinct that rushing into the poisonous fog would only result in death.

When the fog dissipated, they saw corpses lying haphazardly, several wandering demon wolves, and a man standing motionless with his back to them, leaning on his sword. From the cloak on the shoulders of his knight's armor, they could tell that it was the count, but the count was motionless and lifeless.

Leon had already retreated to the vicinity of the stronghold, reverted to his werewolf form, and his men once again surrounded him, confronting the troops outside the mountain pass.

The Count's men were still exchanging bewildered glances. At that moment, Leon spoke up, loudly announcing, "The Count is dead! Our reinforcements are on their way. You still have a chance to leave quietly, or surrender! Of course, you can also choose to attack and die with the Count!!"

The count is dead...

These words resounded like thunder in the hearts of everyone outside the mountain pass.

Even after seeing the count's motionless body and hearing Leon's shouts, many people still couldn't process what was happening.

The Earl, their master, the most powerful lord in the East, the emperor of the underworld, just like that... died?