Lord of the Sky City

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Having entered the Traceless Battlefield for less than half a day, Rocky had already realized how terrifying it was—this battlefield may have been devoid of Demons, yet it was far more dreadful than facing them!

And this gave rise to a question in Rocky's mind: had Karina been deceived?

The intelligence she purchased from the Shadow Alliance claimed that the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group had hidden their base in the Traceless Battlefield, but with such dangers lurking here, could the Air Pirate Group be mad enough to actually reside in such a place?

"The Shadow Alliance would never sell false intelligence."

However, before Karina could respond to his doubts, Orton's voice came from behind Rocky, and as he spoke, he walked up to the two of them.

"Rocky, who is this…?"

As Karina had never seen Orton before, she turned to Rocky.

"This is my teacher, Master Orton."

"Orton... could it be, could it be the Master Orton?"

At the mention of Orton's name, Karina pondered for a moment before turning sharply towards Rocky, clearly having realized something.

To this, Rocky simply nodded in confirmation.

Upon seeing his nod, Karina was taken aback, clearly not expecting such a distinguished individual to be at Rocky's side. After her moment of surprise, she promptly turned to Orton, showing rare courtesy.

"I am Karina, City Lord of Rose City, honored to meet you, senior."

"Hmm, very good, very good."

As Karina treated him with such politeness, Orton seemed as if his vanity was gratified, nodding incessantly. Then, he unabashedly rebuked Rocky, "Stinky kid, look at this young lady, how polite she is! And then look at you, not showing an ounce of respect for your teacher!"

"I, I... I didn't!"

Flushed with embarrassment from Orton's accusation, Rocky protested. He had always respected Orton!

Unfortunately for him, Orton didn't give him the chance to argue, and directly addressed the pair, "If the Shadow Alliance says that Air Pirate Group's base is here, it's definitely here, no mistake."

"But teacher, this environment is simply uninhabitable!"

Rocky couldn't help but question Orton's assertion, as an Air Pirate Group's base wasn't just a simple warehouse. In fact, it served as the robbers' stronghold, akin to their home, where they would hide when not out raiding.

But how could anyone live in a place like the Traceless Battlefield!?

Find your next adventure on empire

No sooner had he voiced this than Orton landed a punch on Rocky's head and said without a hint of politeness, "Stinky kid, if only you'd read more books. The first half of the Traceless Battlefield is indeed very dangerous, but the latter half is relatively much safer. Young lady, is the Air Pirate Group's base located in the latter half of the Traceless Battlefield?"

"Yes!"

Hearing Orton's explanation, Karina quickly assented and promptly took out a map, pointing to it, "Master Orton, the intelligence from the Shadow Alliance did indeed specify that the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group's base is hidden in the latter half, right here..."

"That's correct."

After a brief glance at the map, Orton nodded, "When the Allied Forces decided to unleash the Magical Energy Storm, they already knew defeat was inevitable. Thus, they positioned the storm on their side of the encampment to block the Demons' pursuit."

"And our current location is right near where the Allied Forces camped back then, so as long as we get through this area, the impact and reach of the Magical Energy Storm will lessen."

"Master, is there a way to safely traverse the storm?"

"Hmm..." Pondering Karina's question for a while, Orton finally reopened the discussion, "Let the fleet accelerate, push through with full force!"

"What?"

Upon hearing his suggestion, both Rocky and Karina showed expressions of surprise and confusion.

"You don't understand..."

Facing their bafflement, Orton shook his head and elaborated, "The Magical Energy Storm attacks indiscriminately any target that passes through it with magic attacks—just like the lightning and fireball you recently encountered. However, the storm's contained mana has significantly weakened over time, and it now requires a long duration to accumulate energy for each attack."

"So, by advancing at your leisurely pace now, you are essentially giving the Magical Energy Storm time to gather energy."

So that was it!

With Orton's clarification, Rocky and Karina immediately grasped his point. Their earlier choice to deliberately slow down for caution's sake had played right into the hands of the Magical Energy Storm!

"Thank you for the reminder, Master!"

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So after that, Karina bowed deeply to Orton and turned to fly back to her own fleet, immediately ordering the fleet to advance at full speed.

As per Karina's command, the entire fleet's speed quickly picked up, and just as Orton had said, after the Lightning Storm and rain of fire, there indeed wasn't any attack from the Magical Energy Storm for quite some time.

About half a day passed, and the fleet finally made it through the core area of the Magical Energy Storm, reaching the latter half of the Traceless Battlefield.

Although the fleet suffered two more strikes from the Magical Energy Storm during this process, they ultimately made it through, and once they entered the latter half of the battlefield, they really didn't encounter any more large-scale attacks.

But similarly, after the fleet entered the latter half of the battlefield, it also meant that they were closer to the stronghold of the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group!

In fact, the stronghold of the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group was easier to find than everyone imagined because, after entering the latter half of the Traceless Battlefield, they soon saw the ruins of a city!

"Hongcheng Ruins... this is the place!"

Upon seeing the city ruins, Karina immediately looked down at the map given to her by the Shadow Alliance, and then her eyes shone brightly because according to the map and intelligence provided by the Shadow Alliance, the stronghold of the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group was these ruins!

However, as Karina discovered the stronghold of the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group, the patrolling robbers on the towers of Hongcheng Ruins also spotted her fleet!

......

......

In Hongcheng Ruins, inside a building that was clearly newly constructed, the leader of the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group was cuddling a woman, drinking and making merry with his gang of robbers.

The leader of the Wild Horse Air Pirate Group was named Kilov, a man in his forties, with a rugged face and a towering, muscular physique.

A life of banditry had left deep marks on Kilov, both physically and mentally. He had three knife scars on his face, each one crossing at least half his face, making him look extremely fierce and terrifying.

The aura he exuded was also extraordinary, to the extent that a mere glance was enough to tell that he was a desperado!

"Beauty, come! Have some meat!"

Pulling the woman in his arms closer, Kilov carelessly cut off a piece of half-raw beef with a knife, then stabbed it with the knife's tip and brought it to the woman's lips.

But the woman he held was already scared silly, trembling too much to even open her mouth.

"Damn it! When I tell you to eat, you eat!"

Seeing the woman's pale face refusing to open her mouth, Kilov cursed viciously and kicked the woman away with one foot, sending her tumbling far off.

"Boss, go easy on her! You just snatched this woman, she's not well-trained yet, don't kill her."

"She's yours now, you train her well!"

Glancing at the robber who spoke, Kilov waved his hand nonchalantly, and the other immediately grinned, tossing aside the meat he was about to eat and ran over to the woman, picking her up and walking off, and no one knew what he was going to do—or rather, everyone knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Boss, we got a message from Wild Horse City, they want us to set out immediately. We can't let any merchant ships headed to Fire Elf City go, destroy them all without exception."

"Hmm, got it."

Upon hearing this, Kilov nodded and then started to eat the half-raw beef he had intended to feed the woman.

Just then, someone came rushing in, flustered and panicked.

"Boss! There's an enemy!"

"Enemy?"

Upon hearing this, Kilov glanced at the robber who had come in with the news and sneered, "You must be mistaken, who would come up here to find us?"

"Sir, it's—it's a fleet from Rose City..."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Fuck!"

Hearing the words "Rose City," Kilov immediately stood up and then asked with widened eyes, "How many ships do they have?"

"Thirty, forty..."

"Motherfucker! That bitch actually found her way here..."

Learning about the number of ships, Kilov cursed through clenched teeth, then shouted to the crowd of robbers around him: "Brothers! Suit up in your Armor, get all the warships in the air, and bring me that little bitch Karina!"