It felt so good to be close to the witch!

"North of Greenfield Territory lies a forest called Red Flower Forest. The Black Stone Scout Knights dispatched there have heard news from the locals: since winter began, hunters who entered Red Flower Forest to hunt have never returned, and even the knightly team sent by the local lord to investigate has disappeared without a trace. If they were just ferocious animals, the knightly team would not have been able to defeat them, nor should they have been wiped out before they could even give any warning."

"Therefore, the Blackrock Scout Knight believed there was a high probability that it was a magical beast, so he sent the message back immediately."

Blackrock Scout Knights are a unit of the Blackrock Knights, currently numbering only four. They are sent to gather intelligence around Blackrock Territory and Iron Mountain Territory, forming part of Roy's intelligence network.

Only extraordinary knights can move freely in such harsh weather.

In the dead of winter, even the carrier pigeons that usually deliver messages are unable to go out.

"Red Flower Forest, traces of magical beasts..."

Inside the hall, after listening to Red's report, a glint flashed in Roy's eyes.

Unlike ferocious beasts, even the weakest of these monsters are of the Gold rank, possessing extremely strong destructive power.

More importantly, the Blood Soul Essence transformed from the [Heart of Leviathan] after killing the monster can have a significant effect on him, who is now at the Gold rank.

Therefore, in Roy's view, monsters are both a calamity that destroys his territory and an opportunity to help him quickly improve his strength.

The effect of [Heart of Leviathan] is to plunder the life force and soul power of enemies after killing them to increase one's own physical strength.

Physical strength is related to the burst time and upper limit of [Unquenchable Rage Flame]. If the physical strength is sufficient, Roy can even make the "rage state" of [Unquenchable Rage Flame] a permanent state, greatly improving his own combat power.

"The forest north of Greenfield..."

Roy nodded thoughtfully. He had to admit that the Black Stone Knights were indeed useful.

"Lilia, call Tonnie, let's go take a look together."

“Uncle Red, have the Blackstone Knights increase patrols in the other areas as well. The first monster has been spotted, so there’s no guarantee there won’t be a second one.”

“Yes,” Red replied solemnly.

Behind Roy, Lilia disappeared into the shadows, and when she came out again, she was holding Tonnie's hand.

She took Roy's hand, and the next moment, all three of them vanished into the shadows and disappeared without a trace.

Looking at the empty hall, Red took a deep breath and turned to leave.

……

After being promoted to Grand rank, Lilia's control over shadows increased dramatically. She could move through shadows at several times the speed before her breakthrough. Such speed, when converted to real-world speed, would have already broken the speed of sound!

With Roy and Tonière on board, the speed decreased slightly, but it was still at a subsonic level.

In just a few minutes, the three arrived at the border between Blackrock Territory and Green Territory in the north.

Stepping out of the shadows, Roy gazed at the world covered in snow and sighed inwardly.

The cold of winter extinguishes life in all things, and even the evergreen Greenfield cannot escape it.

The lord of Greenfield Territory is Lord Ramsey, a knight who just entered the Silver rank a year ago. Unfortunately, he is not young anymore. He is 45 years old this year, and in a few more years, he will enter the "old age" of 50.

While the Silver rank granted him greater strength, it could not extend his lifespan, at most giving him a peak period of two or three years longer than a Bronze Three-Star Knight.

Compared to the lords of the surrounding territories, Lord Ramsay is not only strong himself, but also has a son with exceptional knightly talent who has already entered the Bronze realm at the young age of 20.

Including the captain of his knight team, an old knight of bronze level two, it means that Green Field has three extraordinary members, making it a force to be reckoned with among the lords.

With such strength, coupled with the assistance of numerous official knights under their command, beast tides led by ferocious animals are generally no match for them; instead, they become spoils of war under their swords.

However, this time their enemy was an evolved form of a ferocious animal, an extremely terrifying magical beast!

As Roy continued his journey, he soon entered the heart of Greenfield Territory and saw the town of Greenfield Town, where smoke curled from chimneys amidst the heavy snow.

The arrival of Roy and his two companions went unnoticed by anyone, not even the soldiers on the watchtower.

Not to mention him, who was already a Gold Knight, and Lilia, who had the strength of a Grand Rank, even Tonine, who was only a Witch, was not someone that these ordinary soldiers, whose strength had not even reached Bronze Rank, could perceive.

Walking on the empty streets, the patrol teams that occasionally whizzed by ignored the three people walking under the eaves.

By projecting his senses, Roy could feel the anxiety in the hearts of the ordinary people in the surrounding houses. Even the Blackstone Scout Knights, who were outsiders, knew about the abnormality in Red Flower Forest, so naturally, the local residents would also know.

The deaths of the hunters and the disappearance of the knights filled the people with terror, but they had nowhere to escape and could only hide in their homes, waiting for the lord's "good news".

Soon, Roy, Lilia, and Tonnie arrived at the center of Greenfield Town, at a mansion that was "magnificent" compared to the surrounding houses.

This is the lord's mansion in Greenfield Territory.

Come to think of it, this is the first time Roy has ever visited the lord's mansion of another territory in all the time he has been in this world.

Logically, having just inherited the title of nobleman and the position of lord, he should have held a celebratory banquet and invited the lords of the surrounding territories to witness the occasion.

Unfortunately, one thing after another came, leaving him no time to attend to these "red tape" matters, to the point that he doesn't even know what the lords of the surrounding territories look like.

Without entering the Green Field Lord's Mansion, Roy stood outside, spreading his senses and quickly scanning the three battle qi fluctuations inside—one strong and two weak.

It was Lord Ramsey, the lord of Greenfield Territory, and his son's captain of the knights. The three of them were standing close together, probably in the same room, and were likely discussing something.

"Miss Tonnie, how is it? Can you feel the fluctuations of 'mechanical colonization'?"

Roy enveloped himself in his fighting spirit and transmitted his voice to Tonnie's ears.

Standing still, she closed her eyes and concentrated for more than ten seconds before opening them and gently shaking her head at Roy.

"No...that's a good thing," Roy muttered to himself.

The reason he didn't head straight to the Red Flower Forest in the north, but instead visited the Lord's Mansion in Greenfield Territory first, was because he wanted to see if the magical beasts that left traces in the Red Flower Forest of Greenfield Territory were related to "mechanical invasion".

Previously, the grey-robed Miarko and Toni, controlled by the alternate personality, entered the Radiant Empire to test the "mechanical colonization core," and such combinations are not isolated incidents.

The target of the "Mechanical Invasion Core" is ferocious animals. If a ferocious animal infected with "Mechanical Invasion" scratches a person, it will turn that person into a crazed, bloodthirsty, and irrational being.

If we allow "mechanical invasion" to spread unchecked, it will be an incredibly terrible thing.

If a ferocious animal that has been "mechanically corrupted" were to evolve into a magical beast, the consequences would be even more terrifying.

Roy's scan confirmed that Lord Ramsey and the other two's battle aura fluctuations were perfectly normal, and Toni didn't detect any "scent" of "mechanical invasion" on them. This double confirmation proved that, at least for now, the magical beast that appeared in Green Territory was not a special species that had suffered from "mechanical invasion".

Since that's the case, there's no need to do anything more here.

"let's go."

Roy took a step and headed north, with the two witches following closely behind him. The three of them quickly disappeared from sight, and even the footprints left on the snow were gently smoothed away by their fighting spirit.

Inside the Greenfield Lord's manor, Lord Ramsey, who was about to speak, suddenly felt a pang in his heart. He frowned, rushed out of the room, jumped onto the roof, and looked around, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

All around was a vast expanse of white, with not a single pedestrian in sight, except for a patrol of knights in the distance, diligently patrolling the area.

Lord Ramsay, his hair streaked with gray, shook his head, letting the snowflakes fall on his brow and hair. Looking at his son and the captain of the knights who had chased after him, he sighed, "Perhaps it's just my imagination..."

"Red Flower Forest, magical beasts..."

Lord Ramsay looked toward the distant forest to the north:

"I just hope the special envoy can wipe them out or drive them away as soon as possible."

……

Honghua Forest is located eight kilometers north of Luyin Town. It covers a vast area and is home to many animals. In the past, hunters often ventured deep into the forest to hunt. If they were lucky enough to catch a wild deer, they wouldn't have to worry about food during the winter. Of course, if they were eaten by wild bears or even tigers in the forest, they couldn't blame anyone else.

If you want to become a hunter, you must be prepared to be the prey.

As the name suggests, the majority of trees in the Red Flower Forest are tall trees called "Red Flower Trees". Except in spring, the leaves of the Red Flower Trees turn bright red in summer and autumn. When a gentle breeze blows, the red sea of ​​trees ripples and sways, creating a magnificent sight from afar.

Unfortunately, no matter how magnificent the scenery is, in winter, all that remains is a blanket of white.

Standing at the entrance to the red flower forest, Roy was about to step inside when he suddenly stopped and looked towards the northwest of the forest.

"Boom... Bang... Crash..."

A violent commotion came from that direction, as if two giant beasts were fighting in the forest, crushing tree after tree.

Because of the distance, Roy could not sense the specific fluctuations and therefore could not determine whether either side in the battle had magical beasts.

He looked at Lilia beside him: "Come on, let's blend into the shadows and go take a look."

Upon hearing this, Lilia nodded slightly with her fair chin, reached out and took Roy and Tonière's hands, and the three of them entered the shadow world together, heading northwest from where the commotion had come from.

Now, Roy is no longer as weak and powerless as he was when he first transmigrated.

After several days of cultivation, his battle qi has risen further. Now, in addition to his kidneys, his heart has also undergone battle qi transformation, with 212 battle qi. In four or five days at most, he will be able to attempt to condense a third battle qi organ and step into the realm of the second-gold star.

Even a peak-level Gold Knight would absolutely not be able to defeat him in a short period of time.

Lilia's improved combat power after breaking through to the Grand rank is secondary; the key is her greatly enhanced survivability. Now, with a thought, she can lead people into the Shadow World. Even if a Legendary One-Star Knight arrives in person, she can retreat safely. If pushed too far, even though her magic power is not as high as it was in the Grand rank peak of the Magic Pulse Space, the Azure Horned Moon Wolf King clone summoned by blood sacrifice should not have much trouble contending with a Legendary One-Star Knight for a short time.

Of course, blood sacrifice comes at an extremely heavy price; the stronger one is, the greater the price. Lilia will not perform blood sacrifice unless absolutely necessary.

Legends are not commonplace; the number of legends in the entire empire is very limited.

In fact, even the Golden Knights are extremely rare, representing the empire's high-level combat power.

Roy didn't think he was "so lucky" that he could run into a legendary knight on a single trip.

……

Led by Lilia, the three who had entered the shadow world quickly arrived at the place where the commotion had occurred.

"Boom!"

Numerous trees, some twenty or thirty meters tall, collapsed with a deafening roar, dust billowing everywhere. Snowflakes and fallen leaves filled the air as Roy stood in the shadows, watching the two sides locked in battle.

One of them was a giant white bear about ten meters tall. Its eyes were blood-red, and there was a snowflake pattern formed by azure magic light on its forehead. Its terrifying claws, which were several meters long, were covered with sharp azure ice crystals. The surrounding trees would break at the slightest touch. Every now and then, the giant white bear would spit out balls of magic the size of basketballs from its mouth, which would explode into craters several meters deep on the ground. The surface of the craters was covered with frost, and cold air rose from them.

The intense magical fluctuations and the terrifyingly enormous body revealed the giant snow bear's identity—a magical beast!

Its opponent was a burly knight wielding a greatsword and wearing crimson armor. The "Bauhinia Sword" emblem on the fluttering cloak behind him made Roy recognize the knight's identity.

A Gold One-Star Knight of the Crimson Knights.

Roy didn't rush to make a move, but instead observed quietly.

The Snow Giant Bear's magical energy fluctuations were similar to those of the Golden-Red Knight, but its physical strength far surpassed that of the Golden-Red Knight. Furthermore, the icy environment amplified its ice-attribute magic, causing the Golden-Red Knight to quickly find itself at a disadvantage in the battle.

At this moment, the golden-red knight was burning with intense battle aura flames, which allowed him to unleash even greater speed and power to resist the giant snow bear's attack.

Roy recognized it at a glance; it was the "Burning Heart" secret technique of the Explosive Breathing Method.

However, the "Burning Heart" technique consumes a great deal of battle qi, and even a Golden Knight cannot sustain it for long when unleashing his full power.

It is foreseeable that, without external intervention, this golden-red knight will soon be defeated here.

Of course, in a battle between equals, if the Golden-Red Knight wanted to escape, the Giant Snow Bear would most likely be unable to stop him.

As the flames of battle aura on the golden-red knight grew weaker and weaker, Roy was about to make a move when suddenly his eyes flickered and he looked toward the woods to the side. At the same time, Lilia also turned her head to look.

A huge black shadow emerged from the shade of the tree and fiercely swung its claws at the golden-red knight who had been knocked back dozens of meters by the giant snow bear.