CHAPTER 153: 146: HYMN

Hagrid and Ave discussed plans all day, devising numerous strategies, but they seemed all in vain.

After the brown bandit was shot down, the invading robbers fell into chaos. Under the coverage of the electromagnetic crossbow’s firepower, most were killed or injured upon sight, leaving only a small group to flee in panic.

The situation was completely different from what they had anticipated.

This was supposed to be an effortless victory, yet even as the battle reached its conclusion, the high-level magical creatures promised by the Witch did not appear. The Witch had never mentioned the extremely penetrating crossbow arrows used by the town’s guards either, which could cause mortal or crippling damage with just a graze.

The militia team hastily assembled in Ximu Town ambushed for half the night, but suddenly learned that the robbers from Wolf Head Castle had been utterly defeated and repelled.

Baron Gledin was particularly agitated; these robbers had always been a nagging concern for him, and right now was a perfect opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop. He wanted to personally lead the team straight to Wolf Head Castle. According to the information brought back by the caravans, there were many kidnapped slaves besides robbers.

He delivered a speech in the town square, and the residents of Ximu Town united as one, split into two groups: one staying behind to handle the corpses, and the other heading towards Wolf Head Castle to annihilate the last of the rebels.

Ethan proactively joined the anti-bandit troop, leaving Lindong and others in Ximu Town.

He felt that everything seemed a little too easy; Brown Bandit and the robbers he led couldn’t mount any effective counterattack and lost most of their force.

The Witch who incited the plague still hadn’t shown herself, and no one knew her next plan.

Before dawn arrived, the Expeditionary Army led personally by Baron Gledin reached Wolf Head Castle, everyone ready for a bloody battle.

Only...

Wolf Head Castle looked somewhat bizarre, with its gates wide open and no sign of robbers, the castle eerily silent. From a distance, some unusual figures seemed to be scurrying within, moving quickly, appearing to climb, and with leaping capabilities so strong that they could almost jump onto rooftops.

Coming closer, they finally saw traces of human activity.

Due to the distance, it was unclear whether they were slaves or bandits fleeing back.

They seemed to be pursued by something, and as they passed houses, a bizarre creature burst through a broken window and pounced on one of them, straddling him and using sharp forelimbs to disembowel him.

"Retreat."

Seeing this, Ave reminded the somewhat stunned Baron Gledin.

The occurrences in Wolf Head Castle made the Baron indecisive; these were scenes he had never witnessed. The fleeing people ultimately couldn’t escape; as they were about to exit the castle, something sharp seemed to sever their heads, and those headless bodies continued running, stumbling forward a step or two before collapsing heavily to the ground.

If listened closely, one could also hear gunfire echoing from deep within the castle.

"Retreat!"

Baron Gledin immediately ordered a retreat, relieved that the unknown entities in the castle did not target them.

Ave gave Ethan a look, signaling him to quietly leave the team.

After the militia group from Ximu Town had left, Ethan concealed himself in the forest, commissioning ice elements to gather intelligence.

"Metal people... and animals."

The ice elements returned with unexpected news, revealing that the scenes within Wolf Head Castle were more dire than Ethan had imagined. He asked, "Do you mean magical tech?"

"What’s magical tech?"

The ice elements couldn’t comprehend overly complex knowledge, so Ethan had to ask, "Besides the metal people, what else?"

"There’s a woman, she’s commanding those metal people. Um, she’s having the metal people skin people alive, truly cruel!"

"No need to describe details."

Ethan disliked overly detailed descriptions of executions and asked, "Does she look like a Witch?"

"A Witch? What does a Witch look like?"

"Should be that kind of... uh, wearing a Magic Master’s robe, with a mask, looking very evil."

Ethan thought his description might not be accurate; the only Witch he’d seen was Lindong, so he tried using Lindong as a model, adding some malicious elements.

"She’s not wearing a mask, dressed like the people you encountered at the church, seemingly looking for someone. Quite strange, clearly she’s peeled off that person’s skin, yet she’s still interrogating them."

The ice elements eavesdropped a bit more, saying, "She seems to be looking for the person you mentioned, a bad woman wearing a Magic Master’s uniform, looking very wicked."

Church people?

Ethan pondered for a moment, unable to determine identity, suspecting this was the Witch’s ploy to incite a conflict between him and the church, deciding to temporarily return to Ximu Town.

Upon returning to town, all bodies including Brown Bandit had been cremated, and Baron Gledin was delivering a victory speech in the town. Residents of Ximu Town raised their weapons joyfully; it was a grand victory with no casualties, and Wolf Head Castle’s bandits would not pose a threat for a long time.

Baron Gledin decided to host a celebration banquet to reward everyone; it was his happiest day ever, repelling the invading bandits, making him feel like a hero like his grandfather, successfully defending family honor.

He instructed the steward to prepare for the banquet and allowed the people who had been up all night to return home and rest, intending to invite everyone to his estate as guests in the evening.