Chapter 280: My Hand Slipped
The camp of the vanguard legion of the Southern Unified Empire spent several more days in an eerie calm.
The daytime march continued at a leisurely pace, but the nighttime vigilance became increasingly tight, with an atmosphere of impending storm in the air.
One night, it was no different from the previous ones.
Until the second wave of assassins arrived.
Several dark figures, more concealed and more dangerous than before, pounced on Kurtz and Serie's tent once again.
Their teamwork was extremely cunning; they even used weapons and magical items with anti-magic properties, clearly having learned from their previous assassination attempt, which was completely blocked by Serie's magical shield.
These people even seemed determined to take each other down with them.
However, the result was no different.
They were lucky, or perhaps they were deliberately lured into the tent.
Then, all the magical fluctuations inside the tent instantly subsided, leaving only a few extremely brief muffled thuds and one or two cries forcibly choked in the throat.
Then, everything returned to silence.
Kurtz and Serie walked out slowly, with several bodies that were rapidly cooling down laid behind them, their deaths no different from before.
"It seems that the magic within them is triggered passively, rather than remotely controlled," Kurtz said.
He had lured these assassins into the tent to see if the suicide magic within them was being remotely controlled. In retrospect, it was a very special kind of forbidden magic.
"Are you interested?" Kurtz turned to look at Serie. "It's not difficult to analyze it."
"I am not." Serie shook her head. She had little interest in this kind of magic that controlled people, and besides, she looked down on such methods.
Soon, the legion commander arrived again with his personal guards, his face ashen.
He stared at the corpse on the ground, his eyes twitching violently. Suppressing his rage, he repeated the utterly unbelievable excuse: "I didn't expect another assassin to disturb you two. It was my oversight—"
This time, Serie did not ignore it as she had before.
Her golden eyes turned to the legion commander, a mocking smile curving her lips. Without any warning, she casually flicked her finger forward.
Buzz—!
A beam of blazing white light, radiating an aura of destruction, instantly tore through the night sky and shot straight at his head.
The legion commander's expression changed drastically.
He was not a mage, and his martial arts skills were only considered above average among his peers. Faced with such a terrifying magical attack, he didn't even have time to react and could only feel the aura of death approaching.
Fortunately, he was not alone in facing this challenge.
"Protect the commander!"
The several court magicians accompanying him were on high alert. When they saw Serie make her move, they immediately reacted, roared, and did their best to build layers upon layers of magical shields.
Various defensive spells lit up instantly, barely managing to block the white beam of light.
Rumble!...
A deafening explosion rang out.
The magical shield shattered layer by layer, and the escaping energy shockwaves sent the surrounding soldiers flying.
Finally, after shattering seven layers of defensive magic, the white beam of light finally ran out of energy and dissipated into the air.
The mages were pale, clearly having exhausted a great deal of their magic power.
The legion commander stood there, unharmed, but his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his back was completely soaked.
He looked at Serie, still shaken, his eyes filled with lingering fear and incredulous anger.
"Serie! What do you mean by this?!" the legion commander roared, forgetting even the outward respect and trying to use his imposing manner to mask the fear in his heart.
Serie gently withdrew her finger, glanced at the exasperated legion commander, and shook her head with some regret.
If she killed this legion commander now, it might provoke the vanguard legion to make its move ahead of time. Unfortunately, it wouldn't work out.
Kurtz wouldn't allow her to intervene again; she understood him well. The other party would definitely be willing to give these people another chance to live. Whether they could handle it was another matter.
"Don't be nervous, my hand just slipped," she replied casually, her tone exactly the same as when the other person had just brushed her off.
"Heh! Do you think I'd believe such a flimsy reason? Are you trying to oppose Empire openly?!"
The legion commander clearly didn't believe it.
How could a slip of the hand unleash such a terrifying magical attack?
He had clearly sensed that this damned elf was coming to kill him.
If he hadn't been prepared in advance and arranged for these court magicians to follow him, he would probably be dead by now.
In response to the legion commander's questioning, Serie's mocking smile deepened, and she parted her lips slightly, uttering a few light words: "So what?"
So what?!
These four simple words were more insulting than any reply.
It was as if the behemoth that was the Southern Unified Empire was nothing more than a clay chicken and a dog in her eyes, something she didn't even bother to look at.
The legion commander was so angry that he trembled all over, his face turned from blue to purple, and his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
Utter disgrace!
He had never been so scorned.
But he dared not move.
Because His Majesty's final order had not yet arrived.
Without the Holy Sword's wielder's permission and without the authorization of the entire army, if he were to act directly now, it would only anger His Majesty and might even make him a scapegoat.
He stared intently at Serie, trying to see any sign of bluff in her eyes, but all he saw was cold indifference and a playful anticipation of his move.
That elf did it on purpose!
She was deliberately trying to provoke him!
The legion commander suddenly realized this.
But why would she do that? Wasn't she afraid of going to war with the entire elite army of the empire?
Just when the atmosphere had reached its breaking point and was about to explode, Kurtz's calm voice rang out, breaking the deadly silence.
"Alright, this boring marching game should come to an end now."
His gaze swept over the legion commander and the still-shaken mages behind him: "Your supplies won't last long enough for the northern front. There's no need to pretend to move forward anymore."
"Let's set up camp here. We can take this opportunity to see what tricks your emperor is up to. Or rather, when will he finally reveal the surprise he's prepared for us?"
He paused, then looked towards the southern capital.
"In addition, I am still willing to give you another chance. It's not too late to make a choice now. After all, I consider myself a very reasonable person."
The legion commander's face turned even uglier, as if he had swallowed a fly.
As expected, the enemy already knew about their lack of supplies. Even though they had tried their best to keep the enemy away from the wagons carrying supplies, how did they find out?
As for the following words, the legion commander completely ignored it.
[End of Chapter]
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