The town hall of Brakada has been converted into General Sanders' command post. The general is now sitting in one of the small rooms, staring blankly.

  The room was filled with the stench of blood and rot, hundreds of flies buzzing around in the cramped space. In the center of the room, three bodies lay with flesh blurred together. The blood on their bodies had congealed into a black color, exposed muscles had shrunk, and were twisted together with the dark bloodstains, some places revealing internal organs that looked like dry leather under the high-altitude air, with skeletal remains protruding from the surface. Only one body's head was intact, still showing a clear expression of death, but the body had lost its shape, with flies crawling into his mouth and nostrils, which were stuck together with black blood. Another body had half its face flattened, eyeballs still hanging beside the eye sockets, dry like dehydrated grapes. The third body had no major injuries, but only the lower half of the head remained, or rather, the lower half of the mouth, the upper part cut off neatly.

  Up to now, although the situation of that Ou Fu city has been understood from various channels, there is still no detailed information about the beastman troops. How were they formed? What kind of troops are they? What kind of weapons do they use? How is their combat power? None of these are clear. And that giant monster that only sees ghosts seems to have disappeared in the wilderness, it can't be that those beastmen eliminated it, right? The general absolutely does not believe this point.

  Ten days ago, the general discovered that a small group of beastmen had been lurking in the wasteland. He immediately ordered an elite squad of one hundred soldiers to capture some prisoners for intense interrogation. However, this squad of one hundred disappeared completely without a trace after they left. A few days ago, more people were sent out to search for them, and only these three corpses were brought back.

  These inexplicable corpses are making the general extremely angry and irritable. Just this morning, news arrived that the huge responsibility for the loss of hundreds of magicians has been shifted onto his head due to Naggsar's death without a statement, and the court is already discussing who will replace him as commander.

  The general was furious, almost wanting to lead the troops back to the capital and slaughter the Erni family's politicians. However, all of these were not feasible, he was a minister, could not disobey the imperial decree, let alone the existence of the Holy Knights was to prevent such things from happening.

  At this time, a soldier came in and reported nervously that the new priest sent by the Magic Academy had arrived.

  No military notification was received, undoubtedly this is another one of those politicians' underlings.

  "Take that bastard out and behead him. No...". The general blurted out in a fit of rage, but immediately remembered that it wasn't his subordinate, and according to the rules, he still had to go out of the camp to personally greet him, but with his current mood, such courtesy was naturally impossible to perform. He bellowed: "Call him here to see me."

  In the city hall's great hall, the general met this newly arrived divine officer.

  "Are you the new priest?" The general wanted to intimidate the young man in front of him with a lion-like voice and gaze. "Why didn't I see you bring any attendants."

  "It seems there's no rule that says I must bring an entourage." The new priest showed no reaction to the general's intimidation, calmly pulling out items from his chest. "Here is the appointment letter from the Magic Academy, as well as my identification and token."

  The general's sharp eyes scanned the young man carefully. Unlike what he had expected, the young man's face, covered with dust and dirt, did not have the solemnity of a clergyman, nor did his demeanor have the discipline and vigor of a soldier, but his calm expression and some aura hidden under his clerical attire gave the general a somewhat strange feeling.

  But having already planned it out, the general still decided to give him a warning shot.

  "Archmage has been studying at the Magic Academy for so many years, he must be very knowledgeable and have a broad vision." The general asked.

  "No, not..."

  Another pampered young master with an embroidered pillow. Seeing the slightly flustered expression of the Shinto priest, the general's eyes twitched, and he even felt that his canine teeth were sharper than usual, as if he could bite this waste to death in one mouthful.

  The general coldly snorted and waved his hand, saying: "Please follow me, I'd like to ask you some questions." The general led the Shinto priest to the house where the corpses were placed, pointing at the corpses and said: "These are the soldiers killed by those beastmen. However, so far we haven't seen how the beastmen soldiers fight or what their combat strength is. I'd like to ask the Shinto priest to use your vast knowledge to find some clues from these corpses for us."

  The first time someone sees a corpse on the battlefield, they will be scared shitless. You have to completely subdue this piece of trash that has been pampered and spoiled, let him know that war is not just data recorded in books, nor is it a game for politicians, nor is it a casino where young people can win glory and prospects. Only then will he not dare to be reckless like the previous idiot.

  The officer's face changed, staring at the three corpses in a daze, frowning very hard.

  The general smiled complacently as he waited for the new officer to vomit or wet his pants and collapse.

  But the god official sighed and began to carefully examine it, even using his hands to turn over the corpse.

  "The corpse's ribs were completely crushed inward, and there were severe concave marks on the body. It seems to have been killed by a huge claw... apparently by a bipedal flying dragon... Did you send your soldiers into the Lizard Marsh?" The newly arrived priest asked calmly.

  The general was stunned. The corpse was the one he had been unable to determine what kind of weapon it died from.

  "No." Unbeknownst to the general, his momentum had already decreased by half. "This is a troop that was dispatched ten days ago. According to the scout horse's report, there is a small reconnaissance team of beastmen on the barren land, so I sent out troops to try and capture them...... This place is still far from the Lizard Swamp, and it's absolutely impossible for bipedal flying dragons to appear."

  "It was those two-legged flying dragons that the beastmen had domesticated themselves," said the priest.

  "It's impossible, no one has ever tamed such a monster, let alone a beastman." The general thought this kid was completely talking nonsense.

  "The lizard people can sneak eggs out of the swamp, just like we train hunting dogs from a young age. Since they have the ability to build a city, they naturally have the ability to do such things." The tone of the high priest was affirmative, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

  It sounds like it also makes sense. The general had nothing to say and could only listen.

  The new official continued to examine the corpse, seemingly as casual as a butcher inspecting pork, and continued to make deductions that left the general stunned: "This one was killed by a werewolf. From the wounds on the body, they were all struck to death with very large and heavy weapons, probably something like a meteor hammer or wolf-tooth club. You see, there are still traces of sharp spikes being dragged here. Since it's just a scouting party of beastmen, there shouldn't be any giant clumsy guys like ghouls inside, so the one who can use this kind of weapon must be a werewolf. This one has no other injuries on his body, only his head was cut off cleanly and neatly in half, which should be a lizardman, they are the ones with such agility and strength."

  The general listened, all his bluster had been completely replaced by astonishment. Even he himself could only see what kind of weapon caused the damage, and nothing else was known.

  "With the convenience of having flying dragons for reconnaissance, it's easy to observe the situation from above. There's no need to send out a scouting party. This small group of beastmen must have come to probe our military's attitude. And since we took the initiative to attack them, they naturally didn't want to be captured by us and had no choice but to counterattack. The combat power of fully equipped beastmen is not something ordinary soldiers can withstand." The priest shifted his gaze from the corpse to the general and said calmly, "You shouldn't have rashly sent out troops."

  The general was stunned for a while before reacting. He nodded and said in a low voice, "Alright, please go deal with your own matters first, God Officer. I'll handle the military affairs myself." The dejected and disappointed expression on his face was replaced by some respect, and he nodded again. "Thank you for your guidance."

  Asa walked out of the city hall and let out a long sigh, wanting to blow away the stench of death that had seeped into his body.

  The once bustling streets of Brakada were still crowded, but now they were filled with soldiers carrying knives and guns. The creative inns were all piled high with weapons and grain. The entire city was shrouded in a murderous atmosphere.

  According to Bishop Ronis, the lives of these people on the streets may be in their own hands, and just thinking about it makes him feel tired.

  The sunset dyed the clouds a deep red, and it seemed that the stench of corpses still lingered in my nostrils. This blood-like dusk looked especially ominous.

  An owl perched on a nearby tree stared at him blankly.

  "Why is he here?" Vedrina exclaimed, staring at the image in the crystal ball.

  "That's the divine officer Ronis sent there. I was wondering where he mysteriously found someone, and it turned out to be that person you mentioned." A necromancer said while looking at a crystal ball.

  Vedrina and four other necromancers sat around a beautifully crafted large round table, although the number of people seated was less than half of the total seats available, this was already a rare grand occasion for the Necromancer's Guild. Normally, members of the guild were scattered all over doing their own things, they had their own identities and ways of life in different places, only occasionally gathering together during meetings and events.

  "Is this the little brat who fell into the Sun Well?" "The Elf tribe is wanted everywhere. It seems that he also stole the leaves of the World Tree and ran out. This thing is interesting." The other three death spirit masters discussed.

  The necromancer who knew Asa said to Vidina, "I heard that you used the World Tree's leaf to create a true Dark Dragon, but in the end it was destroyed by someone else and even the World Tree's leaf was snatched away. Is this true? You really are generous. If we get it back, everyone can study it carefully and maybe use it to create several treasures."

  "What I do is my freedom," Vidnya said coldly.

  "Women truly are luxurious creatures." The lich, surprisingly not losing his sense of humor, looked at Vedenina with a smile. "Even if they're no longer animals, they still waste so much. Hehe, sorry, just a joke. Although old Ronis wants to calm down this war, we don't want him to succeed, after all, it's been a long time since there was a decent war, and the smell of blood and corpses is almost extinct from the continent's air. We're all waiting for the excitement. However, we can no longer be as extravagant as this lady, let's use some more economical and efficient methods." He turned to another lich. "Hey, lend me those golems you just researched."