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Carmel, whose world had spun around, opened his eyes only to find himself lying on the ground.
He felt he hadn’t landed a single hit on the man.
"How are you like Laowu, ready to fight at a moment’s disagreement..."
Yet the black-haired man had opened a Magic Shield on his right, stepped back two steps, his lips slightly parted, his eyes showing a hint of astonishment— as if he had just been struck and had barely blocked the sneak attack.
"I don’t care who Laowu is."
Carmel’s forehead veins throbbed, and in the next instant, he burst forth, claws raised, aiming for Professor Landry’s throat.
The opponent’s weak demeanour, his mocking stance, his air of superiority lit a fire in his heart.
He felt he could no longer bear such humiliation.
The showdown in the dark alley was on the brink of igniting.
A deafening explosion suddenly erupted deep within the alley.
Blasts of air lifted the ground debris and container fragments high up, like a sudden black typhoon.
"..."
Ursula guarded herself vigilantly, watching the intense Sixth-order battle between Professor Landry and a member of the Blood Clan in the alley.
This combat was highly educational.
Professor Landry was stronger than she had anticipated, truly capable of breaking into the Mafia’s port area.
But something felt off.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
The fight itself was flawless.
Truly spectacular.
But in terms of their mentalities, it felt as if one side couldn’t fully exert their power while the other seemed to be torturing their opponent in a rigged match.
"Come on!"
Elsa’s heart raced.
If she saw Landry get hurt because of her, it would break her heart.
"Meow..."
Cat Boss in Elsa’s arms was somewhat speechless.
It figured it out.
Lanci was playing a rigged fight again, with one goal:
To make Elsa and Ursula believe they were witnessing a give-and-take Sixth-order battle.
It was as if the Goddess of Destiny always sided with Landry. Despite Viscount Carmel’s escalating urgency, he kept failing to gain the upper hand, gradually falling into a disadvantage.
"Landry, you indeed are strong. You were lucky to arrive today."
Viscount Carmel, increasingly agitated, at last forced himself to calm down.
The more he thought, the more something seemed amiss. n𝚘𝚟𝚙u𝚋.co𝚖
From the initial intuition, when he hadn’t known the man gripping his shoulder from behind was Landry, he instinctively sensed this man was extremely dangerous.
Only when he confirmed he was facing the Sixth-order Landry did he believe he could win.
But, after truly engaging in combat, victory seemed perpetually just out of reach—like it was right before his eyes yet afar in the distance. Moreover, there was a baffling adoration in that man’s eyes, as if he had spotted a treasure or a fine ingredient, making him all the more disturbed!
As the saying goes, the soft fear the hard, the hard fear the twisted, the twisted fear the reckless, the reckless fear the deranged.
Despite himself being from the Immortal Blood Clan, Carmel somewhat detested humans who seemed mad.
"Hmph, let’s meet again next time, then you’ll understand the true terror."
Viscount Carmel snorted coldly, his form gradually turning translucent, almost blending into the air.
This mission had already failed; continuing to fight was meaningless.
"Damn it!"
Ursula shouted in fury.
As a Scout, she understood all too well this unreasonable Concealment Magic.
The opponent possessed such magic that allowed them to forcefully retreat when outmatched, and letting him go now would mean endless anxiety for the Washington Siblings!
"Come back here."
Lanci reached out his hand and directly pulled Viscount Carmel from semi-transparency into solidity.
"...?"
Carmel was completely befuddled.
He blankly stared at the figure of this black-haired man under the Blood Moon, who seemed like an eclipse, blocking the pale crimson light, or as if he himself was a black sun completely overshadowing the gleam of the Blood Moon.
"I’m going to turn you into a gift, for..."
Lanci murmured to himself, a tiny, almost imperceptible smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
"Professor Landry?!"
Viscount Carmel’s expression twisted as he shouted in shock.
Until this moment, he had slowly come to realize something.
His initial instinct had not been wrong.
"You, you can’t possibly be..."
You can’t possibly be Landry!
He hadn’t finished his words when he felt his throat cease to produce any sound.
Viscount Carmel was ten thousand percent certain that the man disguised as a sixth-order was definitely at a supernatural level!
Otherwise, it would be impossible to forcefully interrupt his finely crafted escape magic with such a brute force technique!
"Hmm, hmm, hmm!"
Viscount Carmel’s pupils contracted sharply as he struggled with all his might.
Now being choked by Professor Landry, he completely felt that the other was no longer holding back, or perhaps he felt it was time to finish him off. His entire nervous system seemed to have been deprived of control, and resistance was gradually becoming ineffective.
Hadn’t the Blood Clan taken control over the core of the Cerryti Empire?
Why, in the capital of South Crayney, had such an odd creature suddenly appeared?
When he realized the gravity of the situation, it was already too late.
Even though the opponent still behaved like a sixth-order human, Viscount Carmel was certain that the man would always appear just a bit stronger than him, always just that slight bit.
He could not accept falling victim to this sort of black fist match!
Viscount Carmel’s eyes burned with a frantic rage, as if telling Landry, just you wait, no matter who you are, once the Marquis finds you, both you and your sister will end up dead!
"Lanci, the magic power I used just now was a bit serious, the Magic Fluctuation that spread out might be sensed by nearby Powerful Ones."
Talia communicated in her mind to Lanci.
Although she wasn’t known for bullying weaker opponents, the idea of a sixth-order trying to escape from her was quite preposterous.
But nonetheless, they were in Mafia territory, and with a dozen Mafia bodies lying in the alley, they might run into fresh trouble with another strong Mafia group shortly.
"No worries, relax Tata, this area has a powerful Barrier, the Imperial Army headquarters is a long way from here, and the Sixth Military God Violet isn’t around either."
Lanci responded to her in his mind.
The closer they got to the inner areas of the Mafia harbor, the stronger the Barrier’s effect.
And the Mafia boss, being a seventh-order material-class professional, wasn’t so sensitive to magic, so he probably wouldn’t track them down just because of this.
"No, Professor..."
Ursula, who was watching from a distance behind, felt something was off.
In normal circumstances, a foe like this should have been able to make a swift getaway after dropping a fierce threat, right?
What right did you have to bring him back from facing his own death?
"Did we win?"
Ursula deftly jumped to a spot not far from the Professor. As she saw the Bloodline Viscount caught by the Professor’s right hand around his neck, yet still glaring menacingly, she instinctively averted her gaze and positioned herself on the other side of Landry.
"It really was dangerous; it would be fair to say it was a close call."
Lanci reassured Ursula, responding breezily.
Ursula was the bravest student he had ever seen. As a third-order, she had nearly been dragged into a sixth-order battle but had always managed to remain calm.
"I see you aren’t looking very tired, you haven’t even sweat..."
Ursula felt this was the most unbelievable part —
No injuries after the fight was one thing, no dirt on your clothes another, but not sweating at all was just outrageous.
What a serene battle.
Forget it.
Ursula sighed and no longer disdainfully scrutinized this Professor Landry.
Regardless, he had not hesitated for a second and had successfully rescued Elsa, this guy really was a man of his word.
"Accept discipleship!"
Cat Boss was delighted, lying down after another round.
Lanci told it that if, at the end of a game, the weakest player on our side sent out a "Accept discipleship," it could serve to console the other side well, displaying the victor’s mastery and magnanimity.
So from now on, each time, all Cat Boss had to do was shout "Accept discipleship."
"Brother..."
Elsa hadn’t fully recovered from her near-death experience and felt that this both familiar and strange man was incredibly strong, capable of defeating a Blood Clan member with a seven-figure body count.
And...
She looked down at the naïvely innocent-looking cat in her arms saying such things, thinking it might have been duped again.
As everyone knows, seeing the weakest goon on the opposing side saying "Accept discipleship" after you’ve lost undoubtedly messes with your psyche.
Well, Cat Boss was strong, having learned the taunt skill to attract fire should be relatively safe, as long as it didn’t taunt eight and ninth orders.
