Chapter 78: 78

As Rhys watched from the side, he was also feeling moved .

This was the air of the draconic hero . In history, anyone who awakened the Dragon’s blood had, without exception, qualities beyond ordinary people .

Whether they became devils or heroes, they had an extremely persuasive sense of charisma that caused people to willingly follow them . Without a doubt, they were natural-born leaders .

And today, Nala was displaying this very quality . As Rhys looked around, the people here were feeling more or less mixed emotions of admiration and adoration towards this Saintress of Salvation .

And he was the same, he who had lived and was molded by darkness naturally did not trust others, but if it was Nala, he would pledge his loyalty and trust her without hesitation .

As night fell, an elite team led by Nala took advantage of the night’s cover and approached the Royas barracks to initiate a raid .

Just as Rhys had predicted, the long-term victory made the aristocrats of Royas arrogant, even though Marshal Kada of Royas had faced defeat just before, they were still holding an impression of Interkam as being a lamb waiting to be butchered .

Despite having people on night patrol, the Royas soldiers who had been holding the initiative weren’t very serious about it, in fact, it could even be said that they were slacking, so the elite team successfully infiltrated the Royas barracks .

“Our goal is to assassinate their commanders, cause internal strife within Royas’ army, and buy more time for our support to arrive” Rhys re-emphasized before they went in: “We only have half an hour, once that time is up, then regardless of whether or not we succeed, we must retreat immediately”

As he looked at the others splitting up, Rhys reached for the small cloth bag that he carried with him . Inside it was the book of monsters that he had picked up in the graveyard of that village . The opportunity that he mentioned in the meeting earlier today was never the act of killing the enemy commanders .

Doing that might cause a certain degree of chaos in the Royas army, but it wouldn’t solve the real crisis . They wouldn’t be able to kill every commander that Royas had . And after a short period of chaos, this assassination would even cause the Royas army to accelerate its offensive in retaliation instead .

So if you really wanted to stall the Royas soldiers, you could only rely on other methods—– such as a plague .

Rhys’ eyes were cold as he walked directly towards his destination . He had asked around earlier and found out that the daily supply of water used by the Royas soldiers came from a small lake, where he attacked and killed a sentry when he arrived .

Looking down at the sentry’s corpse, Rhys took out the book . Although a bit of hesitation flashed by in his eyes, he still turned to one of the pages . An underwater monster was depicted here, this monster was weak enough that a child would be able to kill it with a knife as long as they could overcome their fear, but if it was allowed to play its role, it would be the most terrifying demon known to man .

Sounds of disturbance could be heard coming from the barracks . The others had obviously started to take action, and there was no longer time to hesitate . Rhys pulled out a dagger, plunged it into the sentry’s body, then dripped his blood onto the page of the book .

The maggot-like patterns on the page of the book began to come to life as transparent tentacles began to stretch outwards from the parchment . Rhys quickly turned the page towards the body on the ground .

The transparent tentacles reached into the corpse’s wound, then slowly slithered into the wound until it was completely inside the body . Rhys tied a rock to the corpse’s foot then threw it into the water, as he watched the body slowly sinking into the water, Rhys was hyperventilating .

If the description in the book wasn’t wrong, then his actions just now were downright evil . There was no distinction of good and evil in war, but there were distinctions in the means used for war . Such as massacres or driving peasants from their homes, the use of chemical weapons or poison, etc . were generally frowned upon as being unjust .

And his current actions would not only bring disaster to the Royas soldiers, but it would also spell disaster for generations to come, this lake itself would become a forbidden zone or restricted area .

The monster he just created was called the Floating Corpse Maggot . This monster could easily be killed in direct combat, however its true power lies in its ability to proliferate in the water . When it came into contact with a body of water, it would produce a large number of larvae that could survive and fully assimilate themselves into it, they were odorless, colorless and shapeless, just like ordinary lake water .

However, once a person came into contact with this contaminated lake water, the Floating Corpse Maggot inside would become parasites within their bodies . A host of these parasites would feel their limbs weakening, a sense of dizziness as well as headaches . Furthermore, they would become hungry very easily, if they couldn’t sate this hunger in time, they would drop dead at any moment . Even if they didn’t suddenly drop dead, their bodies and physique would gradually change to look like corpses soaked in water .

Even more frightening was that these maggots could almost perfectly harmonize their rhythm with water, making it so that even expert practitioners of [Respiratory Art] would be unable to discover them .

Unless someone knew about their existence and specifically targeted them, these maggots simply could not be discovered, only through long-term observation would someone even notice that there was a problem with the water .

This place will probably be known as the cursed lake in the future

Rhys felt a chill as he looked at the calm surface of the lake . This small body of water would likely take the lives of countless people, and he would be the one responsible for it .

Looking down at the book of monsters that had another blank page and seven other pages left, Rhys carefully wrapped it up and swiftly returned to Colomier .

…

On the other side, Nala was also facing a tough battle . Her opponent was a middle-aged officer of Royas . She was feeling a sense of discomfort as there was a sort of power flowing within her opponent’s body, this power was related to her Dragon’s blood, yet they were mutually exclusive at the same time .

The middle-aged officer was wielding a cutlass that also gave off an ominous presence that caused Nala to frown involuntarily .

“Interkam’s Saintress of Salvation” Smick said with a sigh: “It should be seven years since we last met, although I knew this day would eventually come”

“Who are you?” Nala held her knight’s sword as she observed the officer . His words suggested that he had met her seven years ago .

“Smick Lancher . Let’s just say I was Chris’ comrade-in-arms, after all, we fought alongside one another seven years ago” a sense of nostalgia flashed by Smick’s eyes, even after seven years, he still couldn’t forget that battle .

“Although I say that, our standpoints are simply different . Since you are the one person who could actually overturn Royas’ war situation, I’m afraid I’ll have you remain here” Smick drew his cutlass and slowly disappeared .

“Is that so?” Nala vaguely remembered Rivers telling her about how they had fought alongside a Royas soldier named Smick seven years ago . If there were no mistakes, then this should be him, but as he had said, since they had different standpoints, there was nothing more to say .

Nala slowed her breathing down . The other person’s breathing had proven to her that he was also a practitioner of [Respiratory Art], so his abrupt disappearance should be an effect of a certain school of [Respiratory Art] .

Right before it arrived, Nala sensed the other party’s attack, so she raised her knight’s sword to block it . She quickly noticed something was wrong and immediately retreated . As she raised her sword again, she found that the weapon in her hand had already been cut in half .