The coachman ordered the horses to stop immediately. The packhorse skidded sideways, bringing the carriage to a halt at high speed. The screeching sound of the brakes and the wooden wheels of the carriage left two long marks in the marsh near the Spire Palace, splashing mud all around.
Ryan instinctively sensed something was wrong. His eyes sharpened, and his strong arms suddenly grabbed Juan, pulling him behind him.
"Huh?" Juan was puzzled. He looked instinctively towards the carriage.
At this moment, the curtain of the carriage was lifted, revealing five rows of black muzzles, all aimed at Ryan, who was just about to come out to inspect the goods.
Before Juan could react, the five rows of muskets on the carriage fired almost simultaneously at Ryan. The whistling barrage of bullets instantly engulfed his figure!
"Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom boom!"
"Boom boom boom boom!!!"
Over a hundred muskets fired continuously, and the only sound outside the Spire Palace's walls was that of gunfire.
"Lord Ryan...what are you doing, Lord Ryan?!" Juan felt a deep fear rising from within. He looked at Ryan standing in front of him, eyes wide: "How could you, for someone like me?!"
Juan's voice was drowned out by the volley of muskets. The young Sun Knight could hear only the dense gunfire and Ryan's angry roar.
"Ugh! Ah! Ahhhh!!" Ryan's voice was pained and twisted until all the gunfire ceased. One hundred muskets had fired all their bullets.
A light blue barrier completely enveloped the area in front of Ryan. His hand was stretched out in the air, his temples tight, and the psychic light in his eyes spun and shot out like a nebula and vortex.
One hundred musket bullets were suspended in the air. Ryan's psychic power had enveloped all the bullets, holding them motionless within the light blue barrier.
Ryan's performance far exceeded the coachman's expectations. He stared in astonishment, unsure what to do.
"Arghhh!!!" Ryan roared, pushing his hand forward: "Take this!"
The bullets, under the influence of his psychic power, flew backward! The bullet storm, under Ryan's power, shot back at the carriage!
"Bang! Bang bang bang~" The entire carriage was engulfed in the bullet storm. The carriage's exterior and structure were riddled with holes. The coachman and two hidden freemen inside the carriage were killed on the spot, and the frightened packhorse ran wildly into the woods, disappearing.
"Phew!" Ryan stood in place, exhaling lightly. He smiled self-deprecatingly: "My shooting is quite accurate!"
"Lord... Lord Ryan?!" Juan stood dumbfounded behind Ryan.
"Why are you making that noise, Juan?" Ryan panted, standing upright: "I am the Lady's chosen champion, Ryan-Marcador. A few bullets are nothing!"
"But..."
"Protecting my subordinates is my duty!" Ryan's face was fierce. He took a few deep breaths and stood up. With his psychic power, intercepting one hundred bullets without preparation was possible, but it was also exhausting. He felt the veins bulging at his temples: "Damn, what the hell is going on? Why did the transport team suddenly open fire on me?!"
The incident near the castle had drawn everyone's attention. People immediately surrounded the fallen carriage. Several knights and many peasant soldiers cautiously approached under Ryan's orders to inspect the carriage.
The people in the carriage had already been turned into sieves by Ryan's counterattack. The carriage and the ground were covered in red blood. The knights looked at the dead and sensed something was wrong. The expressions on the three people's faces were neither extreme fear nor unwillingness; they were expressionless. They neither had the regret of a failed assassination nor the fear of impending death. It seemed the assassination had nothing to do with them.
"Strip their clothes!" Ryan squinted his eyes and immediately ordered: "Strip them all."
The soldiers obeyed.
When they stripped the three freemen's clothes, the knights were shocked.
On the head, chest, or back of the three, a chaotic eight-pointed star mark was branded.
"Chaos?" Ryan's expression changed as he lowered his head in thought.
The reclamation of Mousilon was a war between humans and the undead. What did the appearance of Chaos here mean? Was Chaos trying to profit from this war? Or had Ryan's presence already attracted Chaos's attention?
"Lord Ryan, what is this?" Gerald came to Ryan's side: "Are you hurt? This looks like an assassination. Someone intercepted the transport team, controlled these three peasants, and loaded a hundred muskets with bullets. This was a premeditated murder. It looks like...Chaos corruption?"
"It should be, but why is Chaos here?" Ryan nodded, his brow furrowed.
The appearance of Chaos would add countless variables to the reclamation of Mousilon. Ryan knew Chaos's power very well. If Chaos intended to participate in this war, Ryan's preparations were insufficient.
Was this assassination Chaos's mischief or a test?
"Increase vigilance! Call Sir Bertrand and the Wood Elf rangers to see me!" Ryan immediately ordered the three freemen's bodies to be burned with fire. After careful inspection, no corruption was found on the muskets. Ryan purified them with psychic power and temporarily stored them in the warehouse, awaiting the Dwarf engineers' inspection.
Meanwhile, in a small forest in the swamp two kilometers from Ryan's location, a hunched, extremely old, withered Chaos Great Daemon, transformed into a black two-headed crow, was watching everything. It witnessed its carefully planned assassination thwarted by Ryan. This human hero, the Lady of the Lake's chosen champion, had stopped a hundred musket bullets with warp energy!
Interesting, very interesting. Praise Saint Tzeentch! The two-headed crow spread its wings, cawing praises to the Chaos God.
As the first Great Daemon under Tzeentch, Carlos the Weaver of Fate held many titles, including "Tzeentch's Oracle," "Guardian of Fate," and "Mocker of Destiny." But its most honored title remained "Weaver of Fate."
Among the numerous powerful Great Daemons under Tzeentch, why did Carlos maintain his position as the first?
This had to do with Carlos's current appearance.
In the Crystal Labyrinth of Tzeentch's castle of despair lies a place containing all the knowledge and mysteries of the universe, called the Well of Eternity. Below the well is an unfathomable black water bubbling with foam. This black water holds endless knowledge but also infinite danger. Even Tzeentch himself dared not touch it.
The combination of challenge and risk is the only thing Tzeentch fears. The cunning Lord of Fate did not wish to risk himself, so he decided to use his servants as test subjects. At an opportune moment, Carlos was pushed into the Well of Eternity by Tzeentch.
Since Carlos struggled out of the well, it had become what it is now. It became extremely old, hunched, withered, its once-great wings shriveled into stumps, and grew two heads. Yet, it could see secrets that even Tzeentch could not.
The left head could foresee the future clearly, no plot could escape its gaze, and its immense ability allowed it to see the future in its entirety. The right head could objectively look back at the past. The powers of the past and future fused into its twisted body as it traversed the well, granting it foresight at a great cost. In reality, both heads were blind, unable to sense the passage of time, perceiving only events about to happen or having already occurred.
In the Well of Eternity, Carlos understood true eternity and how the world was destined to be destroyed by the Chaos Gods. Thus, this Chaos Great Daemon became Tzeentch's favorite, often perched on Tzeentch's right hand, stirring the dark waters and whispering secrets only it could see. These secrets deepened Tzeentch's understanding of eternity and control over his plans.
Carlos also gained endless knowledge from the Well of Eternity, knowing all existing spells, and various mystical runes, marks, and incantations. This made it the most valued herald and first Great Daemon under Tzeentch. Tzeentch entrusted Carlos with his most formidable Tzeentchian army, the Eternal Legion, deployed only for the most critical plans and dreadful missions.
Carlos initially thought its meticulously planned assassination would at least harm Ryan. However, the current situation was still acceptable. The Tzeentchian Great Daemon, transformed into a crow, perched on a branch, contemplating its plan.
This was the grand, omnipotent Saint Tzeentch's agreement with Matthew Bard. The Tzeentchian army would defeat Ryan.
And now, the plan was about to begin!
Carlos issued a silent scream, and under its command, the rift between the Warp and the real world began to tear open.
War was about to start!
Meanwhile, Ryan and others were still outside the castle, contemplating the events. Ryan instinctively thought Chaos's presence here must have a reason. However, the few clues available could not lead him to deduce the entire situation. He could only infer that Chaos had already joined the war to reclaim Mousilon.
As he lowered his head to think further, a violent sensation made Ryan look up at the sky.
The sky near Spire Palace was undergoing a terrifying transformation.
The first thing the defenders saw were dozens, then hundreds, of Pink Horrors, the lowest-tier Tzeentch Daemons, displaying chaotic and mottled colors on their bodies.
Most humans had no idea what they were but still
sounded the alarm.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"
The entire Spire Palace's defenders immediately mobilized. Soldiers on the walls prepared for battle. Peasant archers, crossbowmen, and musketeers raised their ranged weapons and fired at these strange creatures.
The Tzeentch Daemons seemed fragile, quickly shattering under arrows and bullets. Even the few Pink Horrors that reached the walls were swiftly killed by the soldiers.
"What are these?!"
"Don't know, maybe some cute little creatures from the forest?"
"Just shoot them."
The peasant soldiers on the walls soon found these shape-shifting Pink Horrors were incredibly weak. As the battle progressed, they began to relax.
This proved to be a grave mistake.
Massive numbers of Pink Horrors appeared from the Warp. Their numbers grew so large that even after starting the cannons, thousands were slaughtered, unable to pose a sufficient threat to Spire Palace.
But they had gathered enough energy!
As more Pink Horrors died, the chaotic winds they released began to converge near Spire Palace, forming a giant crystal gate.
The colorful but turbid winds of Chaos continually poured into the crystal gate. The cunning Chaos Daemons had placed the gate just out of cannon range.
After losing twenty thousand Pink Horrors, the gate opened.
The Tzeentchian army emerged from the gate. When the gate opened slightly, smaller, flat-bodied Daemons with wings and tails swarmed out. Their blue forms nearly blocked out the sky, gliding directly toward the defenders on the walls!
Ryan and the others had already retreated into the castle. He raised his warhammer, Thunder's Hammer: "Those are Screamers! Fire! Soldiers, concentrate fire! Take cover!"
"Yes, sir!" The peasant infantry responded loudly. The soldiers concentrated their fire on the flying creatures. Amidst the dense barrage of bullets and arrows, the flying Daemons fell in droves, their fragile bodies unable to withstand any attack from mortal weapons. But as they neared the walls, Ryan immediately shouted: "Take cover, soldiers! Get down!"
Most of the peasant soldiers obeyed Ryan's order, but many were too slow.
In the blink of an eye, these soldiers were sliced like by a blade, turned into pieces by the sharp teeth, spikes, and stingers of the flying Daemons. In the bloody carnage, over twenty human soldiers were reduced to heaps of flesh.
The defenders' ranged firepower was heavily suppressed. None of the ranged infantry dared to rise from behind the parapets to face these creatures, with only the Dwarf infantry barely able to fight back.
"What is happening?!" Sorceress Teresa and the Lady of the Lake, Morgiana, arrived at the walls. Before Teresa could react, Ryan pulled her into his arms.
The spot where the sorceress had stood saw five Screamers fly by, and an Ice Witch apprentice was cut in half by a Tzeentch Daemon, blood spraying everywhere.
"Tzeentch Daemons!" Morgiana immediately recognized the enemy. The Lady of the Lake cast a life spell: "Thorn Shield!"
A shield of thorns covered the wall, blocking the attacks of the flying Daemons.
"Frost Nova!" Teresa chanted a spell, her magic freezing dozens of Screamers.
The pressure on the walls eased. The human army realized the gravity of the situation. Knights and their squires joined the battle, the prophets of the Lady of the Lake chanting spells to fight back.
"This is the Tzeentchian army!" Ryan gathered psychic energy in his eyes, raising his hand: "Psychic Storm!"
Just as several blue lightning bolts shot from his hand, Ryan sensed danger. He pushed Morgiana and Teresa away, wielding Thunder's Hammer to strike the transparent air around him.
"Crack~"
"Clatter~"
The anti-magic runes on the hammer's tip flashed. Between the torn realms of reality and Chaos, the Tzeentchian Great Daemon, Carlos the Weaver of Fate, appeared. Aside from its hunched and ugly appearance, it wore blue Daemon armor, its staff spewing colorful flames.
"Discovered? Interesting!" Carlos shot a multicolored flame at Ryan: "Chosen champion of the false god! Nice to meet you. I am the first Great Daemon under True God Saint Tzeentch, Carlos the Weaver of Fate."
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