The house seemed extremely quiet and calm. In the house, Rody shouted loudly for Randt several times. However, there was no reply from the outside.
"Bastard!" Rody cursed and his heart sank. It was possible that Randt was already dead.
In the dark, Rody again felt a strong wind in front of him. He quickly raised his sword in front of his face. He then heard the sound of metal clashing. After that, Rody felt a heavy force hit his chest, and he tumbled to the floor.
Without having the time to panic, he immediately got up from the ground and looked around as he gritted his teeth.
"Andy! What's going on?" Rody desperately asked the skeleton.
"An invisibility spell! A strange invisibility spell!" Andy hastily and loudly replied, "I cannot see him with my see-through spell! You must be careful!"
"Careful my ass!" Rody could not help but curse. How was he supposed to fight something he could not see? He was worried about Randt's safety and continued to shout. However, it remained completely quiet outside of the house, and there was not a single reply. Rody was secretly surprised. There was the sound of fighting, and he had also repeatedly shouted. This should have already alerted the mountain people outside. Yet somehow, nobody came to check up on him.
Is Wuya trying to kill me? Rody's mind was struck by this idea and then denied it. This was Wuya's territory. If Wuya had the intention of killing him, he would not be able to escape. Wuya would not need to use this kind of sneaky approach.
He quickly thought of a solution as he vigilantly looked around. Since his opponent was invisible, he listened attentively.
Feeling another cold wind rush, Rody gritted his teeth and his sword suddenly burst into a pale golden light. Rody quickly gathered his fighting energy. His whole body was wrapped in a pale golden flame as he rushed forward. He heard the sound of metal clash again as his move succeeded. However, before he could take any further actions, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. After being ferociously hit, Rody grunted. He moved backwards, again and again, groaning softly. The blood in his chest had started to churn and had gathered in his throat.
Rody gritted his teeth so that he would not cough out blood. He then knelt down and closed his eyes as he could not see his opponent anyway. He listened carefully as he relied on his outstanding response ability that he had acquired when he trained with Instructor Carter.
When he heard a faint sound from the right, Rody suddenly opened his eyes. He slashed before his opponent could sneak up on him. The sound of metal clashed as Rody's sword was blocked. At the same time, Rody opened his mouth and spat out the blood. He heard a cry as the blood slammed to a stop in midair and revealed the face of a suspicious person.
"Hmph! Let's see if you can still run!" Rody shouted angrily. Now that he could see his opponent, Rody's reactions were faster. Rody struck consecutively and pushed back his opponent. He could hear the sound of metal clashing as he attacked. After that, he heard the sound of metal breaking as a section of a dagger dropped to the ground and revealed its shape.
Rody shouted. The longsword in his hand transformed into a golden flame as he slashed downwards. The man had tried to block with the remainder of his weapons only for it to fly out of his hands. That man spat out a mouthful of blood and his body staggered back a few steps. Rody placed the sword at the man's neck and ordered, "Kneel!"
Suddenly Rody felt a cold and sharp pain at the back of his neck. He then heard a cold husky voice coming from behind him. "You kneel!"
The voice sounded indifferent, but it was in the language of the Empire.
There were two of them! He placed his sword closer to the man's neck and coldly demanded. "Put down your sword, or I will kill your companion first!"
The cold voice behind him replied, "Go ahead! Since we are here, we have already prepared to throw away our lives!"
Rody secretly applied more strength into his sword. The sharp blade cut the person in front of him, and the blood that flowed out gradually revealed more of that person's body. That person grunted silently.
After that, Rody felt a pain in his neck as he felt the other person behind him cut a little more into his skin. That voice repeated coldly, "If you do not kneel, I will cut your head."
Rody sighed and slowly let go of the sword in his hand. After that, he slowly knelt down with one knee.
The man in front of Rody then picked up Rody's sword and placed it at Rody's neck.
Rody closed his eyes and coldly asked, "Who are you?"
The voice behind him said, "Duke of Tulip. We came here to discuss something with you!"
"Discuss?" Rody sneered. "If I had not avoided the first attack quickly enough, my head would have long been chopped off already!" He paused for a moment and then asked, "What about my guard? Have you killed him?"
"No," The voice replied calmly. "We came here to discuss things with you. How could we kill your men? He is still resting next door. We did not do anything to him!"
He paused for a moment and noticed that Rody was puzzled. He then explained. "We have already isolated the sound from your room. The people outside would not be able to hear our fight! There is no point calling for help!"
Rody felt relieved and coldly asked, "Alright. What do you want?"
The voice behind him was still cold but this time, it revealed a hint of agitation. "Duke. I want you to help us eliminate Wuya!"
"What a joke!" Rody cut him off. "Eliminate Wuya? How can I even help you? How am I supposed to eliminate Wuya?"
The voice behind him did not care about Rody's flat refusal and continued. "If you help us, I promise you that the mountain people will pledge allegiance to the Empire, forever.
Rody's heart stirred as he asked again, "Who are you really?"
"Can you promise us that or not?" The voice snapped back.
Rody laughed. "Are you a child? Do you think that this is something that can be settled with a few words?"
The voice ferociously replied, "Be a man. Decide whether you will agree or you will not agree! There is no need for so many words! If you do not promise us this, I will cut off your head!"
Rody could not help but coldly said, "Inexplicable!" He suddenly thought of an idea and bravely tested it out. "No wonder Wuya extinguished your tribe!"
"What!" The man behind Rody cried out. His voice became louder and sharper. It no longer sounded as hoarse as before. Rody noted that the voice sounded familiar.
"What did you say?" The man's voice sank. "I dare you to say it again!"
Rody was sure that his guess was correct. He purposefully replied coldly, "I said that your methods are too foolish! No wonder Wuya was able to eliminate your tribe!"
Rody could feel the sharp sword at his neck tremble. He smiled and continued, "It is good that your hands are still stable. The two of you have swords placed at my neck. If you tremble too much, my head would be sliced off."
The person behind ignored Rody's remark and coldly asked, "You… How did you know?"
Rody snorted and replied, "If you want to beg me you need to show some sincerity! I am the Empire's Duke of Tulip! Have you ever heard of anyone coercing the Duke of Tulip?"
The person behind Rody stayed silent as he thought to himself for a moment. After a while, he finally sighed and slowly said, "It is our mistake. However, you must not turn around. Otherwise…" After saying that, the person behind him took the sword away from Rody's neck. Rody felt secretly relieved as he looked at the person in front of him. That person looked back at Rody for a moment before removing the sword.
Rody stood up and patted off the dust from his body. He then coldly demanded, "Give me the sword!"
The man was surprised and looked behind Rody inquiringly. The person that was behind Rody then coldly said, "Give it to him." After that, the man no longer hesitated to return Rody's sword.
"Alright. Duke. Can we start the negotiations now?"
Rody thought for a moment and then replied, "Fine. Speak."
A sigh came from behind before saying, "Duke. We are from the Silvermoon Clan."
Rody felt that he had heard of the similar name 'Silver Moon Tribe' before. After that, he remembered that he heard of it being mentioned by Wuyu when Wuyu was telling him about how powerful their Chief was. He remembered that the Chief had supposedly used a terrifying spell to destroy a tribe. That tribe's name was 'Silvermoon'.
"Alright. Now please tell me what you want." Rody's tone of voice was not friendly.
The man then slowly said, "Duke. You probably do not know that… there is a fundamental difference between our Silvermoon Clan and the other mountain people." He paused and seemed to hesitate for a moment before revealing a surprising fact to Rody. "Our Silvermoon Clan are not really mountain people."
"What?"
"We are not mountain people." The voice sounded a bit sad. "The people of the Silvermoon Clan are just a group of people that have lost their homes over a thousand years ago and are lost and drifting around ."
"Please elaborate …" Rody replied. He thought that it was strange as there had never been news of foreigners living in the mountains.
The man behind Rody slowly continued. "Duke. Have you heard of the 'Mythical War' that happened a thousand years ago?"
These words surprised Rody. He could not help but blurted out. "Are you talking about the 'God and Devil War'?
"'God and Devil War?'" The man sneered. After that he slowly said. "That name is really just like that shameless fellow. God and Devils? Hahaha."
Rody's mind started to buzz as he remembered about that day with Mouse. He remembered that Mouse had accidentally spoken about the war one thousand years ago before closing her mouth and refusing to say anything more. It was as if saying anything about the war was prohibited.
Rody was confused as he replied, "Please elaborate more."
The man collected himself and slowly continued. "We, the people of the Silvermoon Clan, are not mountain people. We are just survivors from that war. It is just that we escaped to the mountains and integrated with the mountain people after a thousand years. That is why we are also seen as mountain people."
"What happened after that?"
That person suddenly became very serious and replied, "According to the ancient legends of our tribe, the war a thousand years ago had almost destroyed everything. Countless races became extinct in the war. Our tribe that initially lived on the continent was destroyed."
"Wait!" Rody stopped him and asked, "What are you saying? Are you saying that you are all people of the Radiant Continent before being destroyed?"
"Yes!" The man revealed a kind of pride as he replied, "Thousands of years ago, our clan were the masters of the continent! We have built a huge city and we were an extremely magnificent civilization. We had cities at the rivers, mountains and even the skies! The Kara clan had occupied this entire continent! We did it under the protection of the Almighty God 'Kara'. Everything on the continent belongs to Kara and us! In our language, Kara means 'silver moon'".
The man became more excited as he spoke, and his voice became louder. His tone was also full of cherished memories and pride.
Rody became more and more frightened.
Kara?
The Kara clan?
Rody's face had changed.
He knew the name Kara. In fact, there was nobody on the entire continent that did not know the name Kara.
Legends say that Kara was extremely powerful. It was born in the heavens and was capable of destroying heaven and earth. It was capable of flattening the mountains and filling up the oceans. The lightning of the heavens was his servant and the flame of hell was his slave.
The name Kara was recorded in all the religious books on the continent. Almost all the religious books spoke of Kara in an awe-inspiring manner. It was to the extent that even the most powerful magician would turn pale on hearing his name. All the churches also had murals of Kara.
The image of a mural from the church immediately appeared in Rody's mind.
In the picture, there were thick layers of clouds with Kara standing between heaven and earth. Kara's upper body was human while its lower body was the body of six different monsters. Kara held a silver sword in one hand and a giant flaming hammer in the other hand. His mournful howl seemed to fill the space between heaven and earth.
A spear stabbed into Kara's chest and the green blood flooded the Earth.
The first sentence of the 'Book of Creation', the church classic, stated that the Radiant God had killed the Devil. Its flesh and blood had turned into dust, and its heart was forever imprisoned in hell.
In the language of the Empire, Kara did not mean 'Silver Moon', but 'Devil'.
Rody cried out, "You are the Devil's clansmen?"