Linley stretched his arm out, catching Bebe in mid-air, and Bebe jumped onto Linley’s shoulders. Linley was now covered totally with dark scales, while on his shoulders there was a black Shadowmouse.
It really was quite a matching sight.
“Bebe, time for you to experience the flight speed of a true Saint-level expert.” Linley laughed loudly, then exerted himself to his utmost, transforming into a black blur as he streaked across the skies, disappearing into the horizon.
The snow continued to fall across the night-shrouded wilderness.
Only the corpses on the ground gave testament to the battle that had been fought here.
The straight-line flying speed of a Saint-level was extremely fast. In an hour, Linley was able to cross over a thousand kilometers. In a very short period of time, Linley saw Cloudpeaks Village up ahead.
Tonight, the snow-covered Cloudpeaks Village was very quiet.
Linley flew directly to the western side of the village, dropping down at high speed like a meteor as he landed into the middle of the courtyard.
“Who comes!” A low roar as several shadows flashed out.
Linley had been flying so fast that he had been creating sonic booms. Naturally, he attracted the attention of experts such as the Barker brothers. But once they saw that the person in front of them was the Dragonformed Linley, they all secretly sighed.
“Hrm, you entered without even opening the door?” The fifth brother, Gates, said in astonishment, then he stared at Linley. “Lord, could it be that…?”
Laughing, Linley glanced at Gates.
Gates was the most intelligent and mentally agile of the five brothers, and was the first one to grasp the concept of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light.’
“Ah! Saint-level!” The others now realized as well, and the five brothers stared at Linley in astonishment.
“Big brother Ley returned?” Jenne’s voice rang out, as she ran out as well. But as she saw Linley’s transformed appearance, she was so scared that she immediately screamed, “Monster!”
Rebecca and Leena, who shared the room with her, quickly consoled her.
“Jenne, that’s big brother Linley. That’s his Dragonblood Warrior transformation.” Rebecca laughed.
Linley returned to his normal human form. Badly frightened just now, Jenne stared stupidly at the transformation, then looked at Rebecca. “Dragonblood Warrior? What’s a Dragonblood Warrior?”
“Haha, Dragonblood Warriors are one of the Four Supreme Warriors. We five brothers are also Supreme Warriors. We are the Undying Warriors!” Gates said arrogantly.
Jenne looked at the surrounding group of people.
When she had arrived here tonight with Haeru, she temporarily took up residence with Rebecca and Leena. But when Rebecca and Leena were introducing everyone to her, they had only gotten around to introducing Zassler.
Jenne hadn’t even finished getting over her amazement at hearing that Zassler was an Arch Magus necromancer before, suddenly, this ‘Dragonblood Warrior’ and these ‘Undying Warrior’ concepts popped up as well.
“This…you all are…” Jenne’s mind was in chaos.
“Jenne, go back and get some rest.” Linley laughed as he spoke.
Barker and his brothers were all stunned by Linley’s breakthrough. The second brother, Ankh [An’ke], laughed helplessly. “Lord, you broke through at such speed. Big brother Barker has reached the Saint-level as well, but still wasn’t your match. Now…the difference between us has increased even more.”
“If he wasn’t powerful, would he be our Lord, and lead us against the Radiant Church to seek vengeance?” Gates said arrogantly.
“All of you are close to having the power of the Saint-level.” Zassler’s face had a smile on it. “Fortunately, this old fogey has finally gained some certain insights. I trust that within ten years, I should be able to break through and reach the Saint-level.”
Ten years?
Zassler was over eight hundred years old. To him, ten years was a fairly short period of time.
“A Grand Magus necromancer? That is an incredibly terrifying idea.” Linley’s eyes shone. “By that time, you’ll be able to summon Saint-level undead, and lead an army of millions of undead!”
An Arch Magus necromancer of the ninth rank was already very frightening.
But a Grand Magus necromancer was as terrifying as an entire Empire, all by himself.
“Haha, everyone, keep growing stronger. F*ck, does the Radiant Church still dare send people over? If they send one, we’ll kill one. If they send ten, we’ll kill ten. Then we’ll let Zassler create undead slaves out of their corpses and use them to counter-attack.” As Gates spoke, he grew excited over his idea.
Everyone was very happy. Their strength increasing meant that they were now becoming more qualified to fight head on against the Radiant Church.
Linley was very happy as well.
Raising his head towards the sky, watching the snow drift about, Linley then turned his gaze to everyone present. “Alright, there’s a blizzard tonight. Everyone should go inside the main hall if we want to chat.”
“Right! Tonight, we won’t stop until we are all drunk.” Even the reliable and steady Barker was roaring loudly in his happiness.
The party went on for half the night. In truth, whether or not they would be able to fight against the Radiant Church depended entirely on their power. The reason Linley was their leader was because he was the most powerful amongst them.
Time passed. In the blink of an eye, three days had gone by.
Jenne had grown to fully understand everyone’s background, and she slowly came to accept it all. Only now did Jenne truly understand that to these people, the city governor of a prefectural city was nothing at all.
In fact, not just a prefectural city; even the mighty Jacques clan, the rulers of the Northwest Administrative Province, didn’t trouble Linley’s group. They only viewed the Jacques clan as equals, and that only because of the existence of McKenzie.
“Barker, his brothers, and big brother Linley are all so hard working.” Rebecca, Leena, and Jenne, these three beautiful ladies, were chatting amongst themselves while carrying baskets through the manor.
But just as they entered the courtyard, they suddenly saw….
The Shadowmouse, Bebe, floating in mid-air. Seeing Jenne and the others, he winked flirtatiously towards the three of them. Bebe opened his mouth, and out of it came crisp, clear human speech.
“Wow, three pretty girls. Hello, ladies!”