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Sweat streamed down Laud’s forehead, and these thirty seconds were undoubtedly the longest he had ever endured.

“Fine!” At the last moment, Laud sighed, reached out slowly to pick up the wine glass on the table, and pretended to drink. However, at the final moment, his expression changed dramatically as he flung the red wine towards the guard closest to him.

The crimson liquid immediately smeared across the man’s face, sticking to his skin like thick mud, clearly more than just wine.

More than a dozen fully armed guards had already swung their swords at him.

Laud ducked down, shamelessly crawling under the table to evade the slashing blades, coolly assessing the situation.

...

Though the enemy had numerous men, they were all of mediocre quality, and the corpulent William was even less agile. Laud felt he might still have a chance!

As he was thinking, the table above was suddenly flipped over, and it was then that Laud saw that it was William who had done it!

To think that a solid wood dining table, along with all the food on it, likely weighing over a hundred pounds, was tossed aside effortlessly by William.

Fortunately, Laud was not just any cripple—the dexterity of his alchemic prosthesis exceeded that of a normal person. Almost tumbling and scrambling, he avoided several slashing swords and charged directly towards William, who was very close.

Then, a fully armored guard stepped in front of him, his bulky figure like a heavy, tall wall.

Laud didn’t slow down, lifting the cane in his hand and placing it on the hidden compartment.

The next moment, a piercing sound of thunder echoed through the enclosed hall. The lead bullet, traveling at more than 300 meters per second, had pierced through the helmet and mangled the guard’s head into mush the instant the gunfire sounded.

Blood and bits of flesh splattered on Laud’s face, but he had no time to care about that now. Before the dozen guards could surround him, he had already pressed the cane gun against William’s head.

“Surrender, William! You should have already witnessed its power. Even if your head is as hard as steel, it’ll still get another hole,” Laud spat venomously.

Although the cane gun couldn’t be fired a second time in such a short period, that didn’t stop him from using it as a threat.

However, William simply ignored the threatening cane gun pressed to his head and said in disappointment, “Is this your reliance?”

A sense of alarm rose in Laud’s heart, and immediately the ground beneath his feet collapsed. Caught off-guard, Laud lost his balance and tumbled down into the hole along with the bulky William.

Laud quickly got up from the ground, and upon seeing his surroundings, cold sweat poured down his face.

This was an underground palace lined with countless holes on the walls, each holding numerous sharp crossbow arrows.

William too had fallen hard, completely unable to stand up. Shaking like a different person, he said, “The entire hall’s walls are made of two-meter-thick boulders, and traps like this are everywhere. The underground is filled with oil; unless a great Wizard or a Cardinal themselves come, no one can leave here alive!”

“You are not William!” Laud finally realized something was amiss, for the real William would never allow himself to be in such a perilous position.

Unless, this was a decoy!

Damn!

Laud immediately thought of this, never expecting that he would have to die here alongside a double.

Accompanied by a faint mechanical sound, the crossbow arrow at the entrance retracted, signifying the sound of it being cocked!

Facing thousands of dark crossbow pits all around, Laud had no choice but to close his eyes and await death, for even if he could fly, escape was impossible at this point.

However, after waiting for quite some time, the sound of the crossbow arrow being fired never came, and both present were at a standstill.

Has the mechanism… stopped?

…

A few minutes earlier, outside the fortress gate, Murtle, who had confiscated Laud’s belongings, walked alone towards the deeper parts of the manor. After several twists and turns, he entered a concealed compartment, the actual hiding place of William!

Apart from a very few trusted confidants, no one knew that William had cultivated a lookalike double who dealt with external matters on daily basis or attended noble gatherings.

Compared to the double outside, the real William appeared even fatter, making one wonder if he could even breathe properly.

“My lord, just as you anticipated, it seems Mr. Laud is not prepared to negotiate with us in good faith,” Murtle said submissively as he approached, displaying two daggers and a small crossbow seized from Laud before William.

“You’ve done well, Murtle,” William commended.

Although intelligence indicated that Laud was an ordinary person who did not know magic and posed no significant threat, the wizards’ spells were very bizarre. Who knew if there was any contingency placed on him? Naturally, William did not intend to confront him personally.

“Go call Kodi, I have orders for him,” William said with a grave voice.

But Murtle stood silently, showing no intention of moving, as if he hadn’t heard the command.

“Murtle!” William’s already small eyes narrowed almost into slits, filled with murderous intent.

It was at that moment a voice, both unfamiliar and frightening to him, sounded within the compartment.

“Forked Lightning!”

Blue-violet electric arcs burst around Murtle, the speed of the lightning far exceeding what was normal. William had no time to react; the guards standing in front of him were already enveloped in lightning. Their sturdy iron armor, far from protective, acted as the perfect conductor. @@novelbin@@

In just a brief encounter, they collapsed, convulsing under the ten-thousand-volt current, with William also within the radius of the thunder magic.

Because the guards wore iron armor, which was an excellent conductor for lightning, William was affected much less. Still, as the current passed through, his flesh couldn’t help but quiver.

“So the conductivity affects the outcome? That’s a not-so-insignificant flaw.”

The unfamiliar voice echoed in the compartment once more, followed by Lynn’s figure emerging out of nowhere. He glanced at the guards who had fallen to the thunder magic and then at the unscathed William.

His new magic, it seemed, still needed some refining…