After leaving the forest, Merlin quickly took out the slave contract. Using it, he could easily contact Wizard Banmou.

Sensing that Wizard Banmou's location was still quite a distance away, Merlin communicated via the slave contract, "Banmou, come to Kingswood in the Imperial City as fast as you can."

Wizard Banmou had just entered the Imperial City when he felt the message emanate from the slave contract. A look of helplessness flashed across his face.

He had not wasted a single moment in rushing to the Imperial City, and now before he could even catch his breath, he was again galloping at full speed towards the royal forest. As it was an order from Merlin, Wizard Banmou did not dare disregard it.

Moments later, Banmou finally rushed to the fringes of Kingswood. Even from a great distance, he could see Merlin standing outside.

"Master!"

Wizard Banmou presented himself before Merlin. His face was slightly pale, betraying the tiredness he felt from the arduous journey.

Merlin nodded in relieve. Banmou had arrived. Seeing that Banmou must have exhausted his magic powers in rushing here, as well as for the sake of the upcoming battle; Merlin reached into his ring and extracted thousands of elemental crystal stones. He handed them to Banmou. "The reason I have summoned you to come to the Imperial City is for something immensely important. After this, there may be a fierce battle, you must quickly replenish your magic powers!"

"A fierce battle?"

Wizard Banmou grimaced and shook his head with an air of helplessness. He had already guessed it in his heart. If Merlin made him rush all the way from Prakash City to the Imperial City, something big must have happened.

Since Merlin had termed it a 'fierce battle', then Wizard Banmou would not dare to underestimate the situation. He took the elemental crystal stones and nodded deliberately. "Don't worry master, I will recover my magic powers as fast as possible."

"Alright, let's go. You should follow me inside without alerting anyone. Once we enter the Kingswood, you will quietly hide yourself and follow me closely. No one besides me should know of your presence, so in the upcoming battle, you can wield an unexpected edge!"

There was a flash of sorrow in Wizard Banmou's eyes. He completely understood what Merlin meant. He nodded his head.

Seeing that Wizard Banmou had fully understood his intentions, Merlin felt slightly relieved. With Wizard Banmou by his side, he also felt more secure. In addition, the eighth prince's chance of victory had also increased.

Merlin entered Kingswood with Wizard Banmou, after which the latter curiously disappeared into the crowd. Wizard Banmou was so skillful that even Merlin could not locate him. If not for the fact that he could still sense Wizard Banmou via the slave contract, Merlin might even wonder whether Wizard Banmou was still inside the forest.

"It seems like Banmou's concealment skills are quite advance, this plan is even more foolproof than I thought!"

Merlin stopped trying to search for Banmou's physical location and returned to the square. He took his place behind the eighth prince.

The eight prince turned around to give him a slight nod, before resuming his full attention on the grandiose ceremony.

The ceremony continued for another two to three hours before it finally ended.

After the ceremony, King Bhutto XVI slowly stood up and regarded the many princes, princesses and nobles with affection. Softly, he spoke, "Recently an elk king has appeared in Kingswood. It is very rare. Whoever succeeds in hunting this elk king will be the winner of this hunt!"

This practice was largely similar to the past annual hunts in Kingswood. At times, victory was determined by the highest number of kills, and at other times, victory was determined by whoever caught a specific creature first.

The elk king chosen this time was extremely rare. Even normal elks were uncommon in the Kingdom of Blackmoon, what more the elk king.

Many of the noblemen's sons appeared to be excited to start the hunt. After all, the winner would receive a handsome reward from King Bhutto XVI.

The fourth prince and eighth prince, on the other hand, did not move a muscle. Both princes were staring daggers at one another. The measly reward did not mean anything to them. It was not the hunt that they were fighting for.

It was the throne!

King Bhutto XVI's gaze suddenly landed on the fourth prince and eighth prince. For just a moment, a complicated expression flashed across his face, but disappeared almost immediately. He waved his hand, "Alright, go! Start the hunt!"

"Rumble."

Almost everyone stood to their feet and gave a small polite bow to King Bhutto XVI. A few noblemen's sons could no longer reign in their patience and immediately sprinted off into the deeper parts of the royal forest.

Princess Chyne's expression was grave. Taking one look at the fourth prince, she lowered her voice and whispered to the eighth prince, "Be careful!"

The eighth prince narrowed his eyes as he watched the fourth prince lead a battalion of men into the deep forest. He took a deep breath. There was a glimmer in his eyes as he smiled back at her, "Don't worry, I'll be back!"

"Let's go!"

Upon the order of the eight prince, Wizard Leo, Merlin and numerous other Sixth and Seventh-level Spell Casters began to enter the deep forest.

Some of the noblemen immediately sensed something amiss. Both the eighth prince and the fourth prince had brought a large battalion of powerful Spell Casters deep into Kingswood. There was no way that the mere task of capturing an elk king would require such powerful wizards.

The noblemen were all intelligent and vigilant people. Looking at the scene unfolding before them, they immediately had a bad premonition. Those who were more cautious even sent people into the royal forest to retrieve their sons.

Perched high above on the throne, King Bhutto XVI too casted his gaze on the eight prince and fourth prince's battalions gradually disappearing into the deep forest.

A personal aide beside King Bhutto XVI spotted an inscrutable look on his face. Unable to hold himself back any longer, he whispered, "Your Majesty, the fourth prince and the eight prince…"

Before he could finish his sentence, King Bhutto XVI interrupted him with a wave of his hand. The king's tone was heavy as he said, "This is their destiny. Even back then, I ascended this throne in the exact same way…"

There was as if a trace of regret in King Bhutto XVI's demeanor. As a member of the Blackmoon royal family, this was their fate!

...

Deep in the royal forest, on a lush green grass-covered slope, colorful butterflies were fluttering about. It was truly a beautiful scenery to behold.

"Whoosh…"

Suddenly, a light gust of wind scared away all the butterflies.

A group of horse riders gradually emerged on the slope, trampling the lush green grass beneath them. Their presence also brought about the noisy neighs of war horses, disrupting the previously tranquil atmosphere.

The horse riders climbed up the slope and stopped. The eighth prince looked around and sneered loudly, "The choice of location is not bad at all! Fourth brother, really, you shouldn't have!"

Following the remark by the eighth prince, a large group of horse riders immediately appeared from behind the slope to face the eighth prince's team. At the front of the riders, leading the men was, of course, the fourth prince, who had been the first to enter the forest.

The fourth prince looked calm and unfrazzled. He spurred his horse a few steps forward and looked down towards the eighth prince in a condescending manner. His voice was calm as he spoke, "My dear brother. After so many years, this is the first time you called me 'fourth brother'. Tsk tsk. This is a nice place indeed, more than sufficient to be your final resting place…"

There was a staggering pause before the fourth prince's expression suddenly turned thunderous. "Everyone says that you're intelligent, but this time you're an utter fool! If only you had pretended to be sick and stayed out of the hunt, I would not have harmed you. It's too bad that because you acted foolishly, I will have to send you to your grave!"

The eighth prince did not respond except with an indecipherable look. He spoke up, "Fourth brother, are you truly that confident?"

"What? Do you think you could possibly defeat me? Haha, just with that one Leo from the Dark Magic Region? He is only a Sixth-level Spell Caster, my dear brother. You are so naïve…"

The fourth prince's tone was stern as he affixed his gaze on the group of men behind the eighth prince, including the cloak-clad Wizard Leo. It seemed that he was well-informed about the strengths of the eighth prince's battle camp.

The atmosphere between both sides began to tense considerably. Even the bright blue sky appeared to darken, perhaps due to the vibration of elements from the large number of Spell Casters.

Merlin, on the other hand, was gauging the surroundings. This place was a barren ground in an open area. The only things nearby was a few big trees growing sporadically along the slope. Other than that, there were only bare rocks and lush green grass all around.

In such circumstances, Banmou should be further away and it would not be easy to hide, yet Merlin could clearly sense via the slave contract that Wizard Banmou was standing close to him.

It seemed that Wizard Banmou had a very unique concealment technique. Even amidst this group of Spell Casters, including two Eighth-level wizards, no one had noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Even though it was a critical situation with both sides ready to draw their swords and descend into a fierce battle at any time, Merlin had no intention of letting Wizard Banmou appear yet. If Wizard Banmou were to appear, then his appearance should be completely unexpected. In fact, it would be even better if it was strategic enough to sound the sweet gong of victory for their side.

Therefore, Banmou must only appear at the most crucial moment!

"Boom."

At this very moment, a deafening noise, like a clap of thunder, rumbled across the sky. It was so loud that everyone's ears began to ring. They looked up in horror. Somehow unbeknownst to them, a Giant Thunder Net had formed in the sky above their heads. The Giant Thunder Net descended from the sky towards them, effectively trapping the eighth prince and all his men underneath it.

Threads of lightning flashed threateningly across the Giant Thunder Net, emitting a dangerous vibe.

"Heh heh, why waste time spouting nonsense? Kill them!"

Wizard Morston said sinisterly, clad in a black cloak. His body was flashing with waves upon waves of endless Thunder Element. This Giant Thunder Net was an Eight-level spell casted by Morston!

No one would have thought that Morston would be so bold as to start attacking immediately. Moreover with just one spell, he managed to trap almost all of the eighth prince's men. In the blink of an eye, the eighth prince's camp found themselves at a great disadvantage.

After all, this was an Eighth-level spell. It would not be easily countered by ordinary spells. If the Giant Thunder Net fell on top on them, then the eighth prince's camp would suffer huge unrecoverable losses. Countless number of Spell Casters would be killed by the Lighting and Thunder spells before they could even cast a single spell.

"Wizard Leo!"

Looking at the Giant Thunder Net in the sky, the eighth prince could not help but change moods, turning his gaze towards Wizard Leo.