A sound like tearing cloth echoed through the air as a dozen bloody wounds suddenly appeared on Pallida’s body.

    A thick, suffocating death aura seeped into her body through the wounds, relentlessly corroding her flesh and bone. Grayish blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the ground.

    “Aahhh!”

    Pallida let out a piercing scream.

    The heavy negative energy imbued in the Calamity Claws instantly invaded her vital organs, blood, and bones.

    One Calamity Claw could easily kill a peak Great Knight. Being struck by four Calamity Claws simultaneously, without any preparation, inflicted severe injuries even on Pallida, despite her legendary strength.

    Before she could catch her breath, Su Nan tossed a high-grade rune gemstone.

    The instant it left his hand, the gemstone erupted in a dazzling flash of light, transforming into a blue-green lightning spear. It pierced the air like a released arrow, making a ‘shhh’ sound as it went through Pallida’s forehead.

    Crackle!

    A violent burst of lightning followed, turning her into a charred husk.

    In less than a breath, Pallida had been reduced to ashes.

    The sight sent chills down Yusula and Carolaina’s spines, and their eyes filled with fear as they looked at Su Nan.

    After eliminating one enemy with lightning speed, Su Nan’s assault continued relentlessly. A torrent of silver metal liquid erupted from his pores, falling and quickly forming into numerous sharp cones in mid-air.

    With a slight pause, the countless cones shot out in a storm, cascading towards Yusula and Carolaina like a hailstorm!

    The Lion-Faced Nobles were all legendary knights.

    And the Lion-Faced Nobles who could serve as lords of a city at least had the strength of a Second-Ring legend.

    Two First-Ring Legends and one Second-Ring Legend working together could stand toe-to-toe with a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

    So, Su Nan went all-out from the start, aiming to eliminate one or two enemies as quickly as possible.

    Sssshhhh!

    Sharp, piercing sounds of tearing air exploded one after another.

    The frequency was so dense, it made one’s scalp tingle.

    Feeling the intense threat of death, both Lion-Faced Nobles turned pale and let out piercing screams.

    The crystal spheres on top of their staffs suddenly lit up with a deep, dark light, spreading rapidly until they encased them entirely.

    The next second, the storm of countless cones slammed into the sphere.

    Pfft, Pfft, Pfft!

    The muffled sounds of sharp blades piercing leather echoed continuously.

    After only ten seconds, Carolaina’s sphere shattered. The countless cones swept over her, causing her to explode in a bloody mist. Her tattered body then tumbled to the ground.

    Another one down!

    Su Nan turned his gaze to Yusula, the only one left, and with a thought, he redirected the cones that had been attacking Carolaina to target Yusula.

    She instantly found herself under immense pressure.

    The battle had reached this point, and Yusula knew she was completely defeated.

    Neither her city nor herself could stand against this young wizard.

    If she continued fighting, she would undoubtedly meet the same fate as Pallida and Carolaina.

    Escape!

    She had to escape!

    Her mind racing, Yusula made her decision. A cruel glint flashed across her beautiful face, and she gritted her teeth as she swung her staff towards her tail.

    A ‘pffft’ sounded as her tail snapped in two at the middle.

    Yusula endured the excruciating pain, muttering under her breath, as her severed tail exploded into a thick blood mist, enveloping her entirely.

    Boom!

    The sphere burst, sending a powerful shockwave that pushed back the surrounding cones.

    Seizing this opportunity, the blood mist shot out like lightning, vanishing towards the distant darkness.

    Its speed was as quick as lightning!

    However, just as the blood mist was about to disappear into the darkness, a huge, monstrous figure suddenly emerged from the nearby shadows, opening its blood-red maw and spitting out a searing ball of fire towards the blood mist.

    It was the Hidden Dragon, lying in wait!

    Sizzle!

    The flames clashed with the blood mist, annihilating each other. Crimson and blood-red intertwined, then quickly shrunk.

    In a blink, the blood mist had thinned considerably, revealing the terrified face of Yusula within.

    Whoosh!

    A figure flashed, and Su Nan reappeared in front of Yusula, his gaze as cold as ice as he stared at her.

    Seeing this, a look of despair appeared in Yusula’s eyes. She understood that she had missed her last chance at escape.

    Who would have thought that this wizard had a Sub-Dragon magical companion that could go invisible?

    Both parties had to agree willingly to sign it.

    Once the soul contract was signed, Su Nan could completely control Carolaina and wouldn’t have to worry about her betrayal.

    And he indeed needed someone to help him manage the city.

    To put it simply, someone had to manage the slaves.

    Magic Puppets were definitely useless in this regard.

    The students in the base were still growing, and they weren’t ready for this yet.

    As for asking Kei for people, that was also impossible.

    The officials in the territory were not familiar with the underground world. Letting them manage the underground city might backfire.

    After much consideration, using natives to manage the city was indeed the best option.

    “Alright, sign a soul contract, and I’ll spare your life.”

    Looking at Carolaina’s pleading eyes, Su Nan hesitated for a moment before finally nodding in agreement.

    Hearing this, Carolaina’s face lit up with the joy of being rescued from a desperate situation.

    Su Nan flicked his wrist, and a gemstone appeared in his palm.

    He rubbed his thumb and index finger together, and the gemstone instantly melted into a semi-transparent thread. As he traced the thread in the air, it gradually formed into a series of mysterious and bizarre patterns.

    When he finished the last step, Su Nan pointed his finger, and the pattern floated towards Carolaina’s forehead, slowly disappearing into it.

    The next second, Carolaina’s body trembled slightly. She felt an intangible connection between herself and the wizard in front of her.

    This was a one-way connection.

    From this day forward, her life was in the hands of the person in front of her.

    After the contract was complete, Su Nan tossed Carolaina a few bottles of healing potions.

    After taking the potions, Carolaina finally regained some mobility.

    “My lord... my people...”

    Carolaina glanced at her people not far away and asked Su Nan cautiously.

    Su Nan’s lips curled into a hint of a smile. He went to the Lion-Faced warriors kneeling on the ground, tapped his finger on the group, picking out fifty of the weakest warriors. Then, he turned to Carolaina, who was looking at him with a confused expression, and said, “I’ll only leave these fifty. You kill the rest!”

    Since he needed someone to manage the city, he had to leave Carolaina with some people. He couldn’t let her be a lone commander.

    But he didn’t need too many people, just enough to manage the slaves and handle some miscellaneous tasks. Fifty Lion-Faced warriors should be enough.

    As for guarding the city, the Magic Puppet Legion would handle that.

    Although there was a soul contract, he wasn’t afraid of Carolaina betraying him, but he didn’t want to give her the means to act.

    Hearing Su Nan’s words, Carolaina’s face turned pale.

    Not far away, the Lion-Faced warriors who hadn’t been chosen also changed their expressions, and they tried to resist desperately. But as soon as they stood up, an invisible wave enveloped everyone.

    Group Terror!

    It could instill terror in all creatures within a certain range.

    This was a Second-Ring spell that Su Nan had recently mastered.

    In an instant, all the Lion-Faced warriors were filled with terror, as if they had seen something truly terrifying. Some collapsed to the ground, while others hugged their heads and trembled, all of them losing their will to fight.

    Su Nan turned his head and looked at Carolaina with indifferent eyes.

    Carolaina’s expression changed slightly. Her hesitation disappeared from her eyes as she picked up a scimitar from the ground, gritting her teeth as she walked towards her terrified people.

    It had to be said that the Lion-Faced warriors were all skilled killers. Even though she was badly injured, Carolaina’s movements as she killed were still extremely clean and efficient. Every time, she simply sliced open their throats with a single blow.

    The sudden pain jolted the Lion-Faced warriors out of their terror, but it was too late.

    They let out a gurgling sound from their throats, their faces full of disbelief as they glared at Carolaina, then they collapsed to the ground, motionless and silent.

    It didn’t take long before all sixty or seventy Lion-Faced warriors had fallen to the ground, turning into corpses.

    Carolaina, with a blood-stained scimitar in hand, was panting heavily, her face pale.

    The Lion-Faced warriors who had been lucky enough to survive looked at her with complex emotions.

    Anger, indifference, sadness, hostility...

    Seeing this scene unfold, Su Nan nodded secretly.

    This was also one of his goals in making Carolaina do this.

    He planted a thorn between them, so these guys wouldn’t easily band together.

    After that, Su Nan made the remaining Lion-Faced warriors sign soul contracts one by one. It cost him fifty gemstones in total.

    The spare gemstones in his space ring were almost completely depleted.

    When that was done, Su Nan ordered the Lion-Faced warriors to clean up the battlefield and gather the escaped slaves.

    Luckily, the island was surrounded by the lake, so even if the slaves escaped, they wouldn’t be able to get far. Sending a few groups of Lion-Faced warriors to round them up would be enough.

    (End of Chapter)