My older sister is a villainous rich girl

Brutus, who had clearly entered the village, never appeared.

"It seems the entrance and exit are inside there."

He glanced back and saw, in the increasingly dim light, the burly man who had led them into the village seemed to realize something was wrong and hurriedly led a group of people back into the crooked house.

"The show is about to begin."

This is a battle that only mages can control. The clash of magical elements is magnificent and dazzling, but hidden beneath the beautiful, colorful lights is a deadly trap.

The surrounding roads have been blocked off, and now not even a bird can fly out.

Finding a quiet moment when no one was watching, Wayne broke into the warehouse that held a secret.

Behind a seemingly ordinary wooden door lies a long staircase, as if leading to a bottomless hell, where even the lighting has a dim green hue.

"Using magic stones for lighting? They must have some financial resources."

The aesthetics are really bad; it looks like a demon king's castle from a legend, not warm or sunny at all.

The long staircase and the walls on both sides were made of stone bricks. The further you went in, the larger the space became, almost like an underground castle.

A series of hurried footsteps approached from the opposite direction, and another group of people dressed in mage robes rushed towards them, presumably to reinforce the battle on the ground. Wayne dodged to the side, brushing past them one by one, none of them noticing the danger that was so close at hand.

Chapter 713 Who Looks More Like the Villain

After walking another hundred meters or so, the view opened up, and Wayne realized that he was actually on a circular platform, half-suspended in the air above the deep cave.

On either side of the platform, two enormous humanoid stone sculptures, clad in the old armor of the Principality of Milistan, stood silently, one holding a sword and the other a lantern, illuminating a section of the underground dome. Opposite them, a spire-shaped fortress resembled a sharp blade piercing from the darkness, its sharp outline outlined by magical light from every angle, as if to pierce any enemy who dared to intrude upon the semi-circular platform.

Due to the alarm of enemy invasion, the underground castle has entered a state of emergency alert, and the drawbridge connecting the platforms is slowly rising.

The sight before him shocked Wayne for a moment. He never expected that the rebels had actually built an underground fortress here. The manpower and resources required to complete it would not have taken more than ten or twenty years, yet no word of it had leaked out.

Multiple magic circles below were in effect, distorting the surrounding air like ripples on water, and the temperature was subtly rising.

Still trying to make a final stand with magic...?

However, if everything is destroyed in the battle, it may be difficult to find the clues you want in the ruins.

……

Inside the fortress where a defensive magic circle has been erected.

The twelfth floor.

Because it is underground, the levels here are counted from top to bottom, with the twelfth level being the lowest. Below that is a bottomless abyss of darkness. It is said that when this fortress was first built, a dark mage was commissioned to set up the most evil magic circle in the world at the bottom of the cave, summoning demons that feed on human flesh and blood.

Brutus didn't know if the legend was true, but he knew that countless people had thrown it down and never heard a sound again.

In this place closest to the devil, he felt a chill that penetrated to his very bones.

“Brutus, don’t blame me. This is Boss Inofan’s order.” The man opposite him put away his blood-stained whip and washed his hands with clean water in a silver basin. “I’m not trying to be mean, but you’re really as stupid as a pig! In Bufania, you were a high-ranking officer with powerful connections, but what are you here? A piece of trash who can’t even use a fireball properly. This beating is my last reward for you. Blame yourself for not only running back but also bringing the enemy here.”

He scoffed, "After today, all our past grievances will be wiped clean."

Brutus has almost lost all feeling of pain.

"Don't be too happy yet, you may not have... tomorrow, maybe soon... come down and keep me company."

The man's expression turned cold, but then softened. "That's none of your business."

He was about to signal his men to throw Brutus out of the two-person-wide window when a dark light flashed by, as if a gentle breeze had blown in from outside. The two burly men carrying Brutus suddenly stopped moving.

"Huh? What are you guys up to!"

Seeing that the two of them were not moving, the man habitually raised his leg and kicked the subordinate on his left.

The other person was kicked to the ground, and Brutus also rolled on the ground like a mushy clump of noodles.

“Actually, I really find it strange that when people are about to die, they fight even more fiercely.” Wayne’s figure suddenly appeared, sitting leisurely on the windowsill.

"Who...who are you?!" he demanded.

However, the man didn't hear a reply. The moment the words left his mouth, his head lolled to the side and he collapsed.

For a moment, all that could be heard was the sound of Brutus, who was lying on the ground with wounds all over his body, panting.

"Did you have any last words?" Wayne asked him.

Given Brutus's unremarkable abilities and family background, it must have taken unimaginable effort and sacrifice for him to reach this point. Regardless of morality, he is certainly a remarkable figure.

Brutus didn't ask him how he got there; there was no point in being curious at this point.

"Someone like you will never understand. My whole life... I had to pretend in front of all sorts of people, never daring to reveal my true feelings, scheming and plotting every step of the way, otherwise I would be doomed. But I don't regret it, because someone like me... can only get what I want by doing this."

“You’re not me, how do you know I don’t understand?” Wayne replied casually, climbing down from the windowsill to the man who had just been executed, bending down and taking several sets of keys from his pocket.

He suddenly realized that he and the villain might have more in common than he had imagined.

"Is Inofan here?"

Upon hearing Inofan's name, Brutus struggled to sit up, seemingly regaining some of his energy.

“If it were before, I would never have betrayed Boss Inofan. But now he has betrayed me first, so I can tell you that his room is on the innermost part of the seventh floor. You can use the key in your hand to open the iron door on this floor to go to the elevator, but there are many guards along the way.” His eyes were fixed on Wayne, and a glimmer of hope rose again. “If possible, could I meet Boss Inofan? I just want to ask him why I have ended up like this.”

"Oh, I see, but I don't want to help you." Wayne weighed the keys in his hand, deciding that it would be easier and faster to climb over the wall from the outside of the window.

"you……"

“Sometimes it’s inevitable to feel like you can do whatever you want without paying the price. Everyone has that侥幸心理 (a sense of侥幸, a feeling of taking chances), and I’m no exception. To be honest, I think you’re surprisingly similar to me in some ways, which is a really disgusting trait,” Wayne remarked.

"Things that can't stand the light of day will always be scheming and plotting in the shadows. If their schemes fail, they'll have to accept a miserable end in the shadows, which is a perfectly reasonable outcome. So I won't interfere with your deserved fate."

He stretched out his hand, and magic gathered.

"What happened to the promise of non-interference!" Brutus roared angrily.

“This is what you deserve,” Wayne said calmly.

He would never allow Brutus to reveal the secret of how he infiltrated this place; that was something that [Wayne] could never do, so Brutus had to die.

The same reasons, the same silencing, only he still believed he had a righteous and honorable moral code.

Eliminating villains, quelling rebellions, and upholding justice—no one can claim there's anything wrong with what they're doing. But Wayne knows his motives have never been so pure. He wants to ascertain before anyone else catches up whether anything here could affect him, such as secrets about dark magic or the Laird family.

If these secrets are revealed, they will destroy everything he owns in the capital.

Chapter 714 Omens

Carefully avoiding the thin lines of condensed magic, Wayne counted down to the seventh floor and climbed over an open window.

There were indeed quite a few guards pacing back and forth on this floor, all of them looking tense and on high alert.

However, where there is light, there will be shadows.

As the two tall guards brushed past each other, their shadows overlapped. Under the light, their elongated shadows briefly swept across the closed door at the end of the corridor before gradually receding into the distance.

Behind the door, Wayne's figure slowly emerged.

The room was furnished more simply than he had imagined. There were some documents on the empty desk and a map of the southwestern province made of sheepskin hanging behind the chair.

A single bed was placed in the cubicle behind the curtain. The rebel leader, Inofan, was nowhere to be seen. The clutter was kept very clean, suggesting that he did not live there often.

Wayne frowned as he looked through the things on the desk. They were some opened letters, unsigned, and mostly about news from Buffalo.

There were also two letters, one from the capital and the other from the Papacy.

"King Lornes doesn't trust the Wincher family, so if Wayne Wincher makes very good progress, the king will try every means to bring him back to the capital as soon as possible..."

Another letter:

"The Vatican is still searching for the Dark Mage, but the sacred relic 'Triple Ring of Light' was taken away by a Chosen One who suddenly appeared not long ago. Now, the two factions of the Cardinals have disagreements on the route and are arguing endlessly..."

Tsk, the rebels have quite a long reach; they even manage to gather information from within the Papacy. I wonder if Tasia, the lone pope, can keep those seasoned veterans in the Cardinals in check.

Suppressing his worries about Tasia, Wayne realized that his own situation wasn't much better.

Having taken control of Buffalo and then stormed the rebel headquarters, the capital city could indeed consider it a "very smooth progress." Furthermore, Count Sivers' statement that he would write to the king would likely not be favorable to him, meaning the capital's next message might be detrimental to him.

I can only hope that my father and Minister Franz can help me buy some time, or at least allow me to arrange manpower for several key positions.

He searched through everything as quickly as possible, finding some records of the rebels' income and expenditure, and the castle's internal work logs, but he didn't find the bribery records he wanted most, nor the secrets about dark magic or the Laird family.

"strangeness……"

Could this not actually be Inofan's lair, and that he has other hiding places?

"Boom—" An extremely loud explosion came from outside, and the entire castle floor seemed to shake.

Those on the surface did not hold out for long; the kingdom's magicians had already invaded underground.

Wayne casually put away the letters, no longer bothering to conceal his presence, and pushed open the door. What came into view was a human-shaped stone sculpture deeply embedded in the wall.

The magic lamp it was carrying had rolled to the side, as if it had deliberately flown over from the opposite platform to plunge its longsword into the enemy's chest. The edge of the helmet, half-shattered, seemed to have deep pupils staring at itself.

A large section of the ceiling above where Wayne was standing had collapsed, revealing the dark top of the cave.

"Who is so inconsiderate? This place is quite unique; maybe it could be developed into a tourist destination in the future!" Wayne grumbled somewhat discontentedly.

Of course, his discontent was of no concern to others, as the remaining rebels had already engaged in a fierce battle with the kingdom's magicians on the other side.

Magical elements splashed everywhere, occasionally brushing against the rock walls, and the falling specks of light could briefly illuminate the dark cave. The cave's edges bore numerous traces of human carving, unlike anything naturally formed. Stone pillars of varying lengths spiraled downwards in a stepped fashion, winding their way to the unseen depths.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, Wayne launched a rapid attack from behind the battle line, destroying the magic array nodes throughout the fortress.

At one moment, the magical light surrounding the fortress suddenly dimmed, and the already damaged defensive magic array became completely ineffective under the powerful offensive. In the distance, one could hear the confused and angry shouts of several rebels.

Echoes reverberated within the cave, the shattered stones and the aftershocks of magic weaving together into a chaotic yet eternal symphony.

The war has never changed.

Several kingdom magicians quickly and successfully stormed into the castle.

Seizing the opportunity, Wayne suddenly stepped forward and reached out to support an injured kingdom mage.

The other party was astonished to see Wayne.

"When did you come in, Your Excellency Wayne?"

"Just now."

The Kingdom's magicians were significantly stronger than the rebels, and even though the rebels had the home-field advantage, they were still able to hold their own. However, after a long battle, they inevitably began to show signs of fatigue.

Wayne turned around and spread his palm towards the stone sculpture embedded in the castle wall. The refined magic flowed like threads, first binding the giant's limbs, then seeping into the stone sculpture's body. The stone sculpture emitted a series of muffled sounds, then seemed to come alive and began to move again, raising its hand and smashing its sword against the broken outer wall of the castle. Soon, a large number of building fragments fell into the dark and lightless abyss.

It was like delicious food falling into a giant mouth that was opening wider and wider.

The long, narrow stone pillars embedded in the surrounding rock walls detached themselves from the walls and poured towards the giant like continuous raindrops, attempting to shatter his body.

But before they could even get within two meters of the giant's stone pillars, they would explode one by one, dissipating into clouds of dust.

As the two sides fought fiercely, a layer of grayish-green smoke gradually rose from the darkness. In the instant the smoke enveloped the stone sculpture, it suddenly lost control, and its magically enhanced body immediately disintegrated, scattering into pieces that rolled deep into the cave.

Wayne paused, then immediately ordered, "Avoid the gray-green smoke! Everyone retreat!"

He carried the wounded mage away from the fortress. After a brief moment of surprise, the others reacted and followed him, disengaging from the battle and retreating back to the platform at the entrance.

The grayish-green smoke at the bottom of the cave grew thicker and thicker, like floating algae covering the water's surface. Wayne keenly sensed a familiar aura emanating from it.

It wasn't someone I knew, but a familiar way of manipulating magic—this was... dark magic.

At this moment, everyone noticed something was wrong. The atmosphere of the fierce battle just now fell into an eerie silence. At the bottom of the pitch-black cave, something seemed to be brewing.

"Could the legend be true?!" A rebel soldier asked, his expression a mixture of fear and joy.

Chapter 715 The Reappearance of Dark Magic

"This substance can dissolve all types of magic; it must be dark magic!" Wayne shouted a warning. "Anyone who doesn't want to die, get outside the cave immediately!"

However, for the stubbornly resisting rebels, the battle, which was already at a disadvantage, was unlikely to last much longer, and the things that were reviving below might still offer them a glimmer of hope.

Some of them not only ignored Wayne's warning, but instead hid deeper into the fortress.

Olive had just come down from the ground and was still confused about what had happened when Wayne asked first, "Have the devices we brought been installed yet?"

That was a magic enhancement device created by Professor Conley, inspired by light magic. With the cooperation of multiple magicians, it could mix different types of magic and gain a certain enhancement. Although it was still not as good as real light magic, it was much better than dealing with a single type of magic.

"It's all set up, and the magicians outside are ready to go."

“Alright, now you take everyone else back outside and immediately activate the device to set up a sealing array. The moment I lift the dome of this cave, I will gather the power of all the mages to suppress it.”

"Wait, Wayne!"