From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

"Your Highness, all electronic devices in the vicinity have been jammed. The message has already been relayed to the Grand Duke via the 'Beacon Tower'."

Upon hearing the report from the guard, Conrad anxiously inquired, "How is it? How long until reinforcements arrive?"

"The Grand Duke's people were intercepted by an unknown force, and it seems that cultists summoned a high-ranking being at the headquarters of the Principality Bank."

The guard's face was grim: "Our message came too late. The bishops of the three orthodox churches had all gone to support the Grand Duke and the bank, and they missed it..."

"Damn it!" Conrad slammed his fist against the wall.

After escaping from the Silver Bell Palace, he immediately sent a warning inside, but received no response. Knowing something was wrong, he contacted the forces stationed outside the palace, but was unable to gather sufficient support.

The Duchy has clearly been subjected to a premeditated attack today, and all the supernatural forces have been diverted. Without reinforcements, how can we fight our way back to the Silver Bell Palace to rescue our mother, brother, and sister?

Just as he was extremely anxious, he suddenly sensed a powerful spiritual fluctuation coming from outside.

Immediately afterwards, he heard an extremely loud shout: "Where is His Highness? Come out and meet us!"

Conrad strode out of the command room and saw a short, stout figure standing in the center of the courtyard, holding a mace... armor?

Seeing the astonished crowd, the empty helmet spoke in a male voice: "Just think of me as a spirit creature and call me 'Strategic Master.' I am an assistant sent by His Highness the Grand Duke."

Conrad was overjoyed. Just as he was about to explain, the armored figure raised his hand and tapped the air. A cloud of sand gushed out and quickly spread out to form a sand table.

"Put your hand in, then recall the situation at the Silver Bell Palace and the route you took to get out."

As Conrad reminisced, the sand quickly began to construct the structure of the Silver Palace on its own. The route of Conrad's escape continued to extend, and several runic nodes he had destroyed lit up with silver-white marks.

The armored figure nodded, accompanied by a clicking sound: "When I arrived, I discovered that the attackers had constructed a ritual inside, pulling a specific area into the spirit realm rift. It seems this path is the breakthrough point. By the way, judging from the scale of the ritual, there's a traitor among you."

Without waiting for Conrad's reaction, he waved his hand, scattering sand everywhere, and then headed straight for the Silver Bell Palace: "Come with me, we're going to rescue people."

Conrad quickly summoned a group of guards, and the group jogged to follow the armored figure striding forward into the palace.

Seeing the damaged runes on Conrad's escape route, the armored figure nodded again: "It seems these cultists' concealment has some flaws; this has actually made things easier for us."

The group proceeded without hindrance until they arrived at a tightly closed door.

The guard was about to step forward to open the door when the armored guard stopped him: "This door is conceptually closed. Let me do it."

With a single blow, the hammer smashed the door apart, and through the hole, Conrad saw a terrified crowd cowering behind it.

An elderly nobleman stood in front of the richly dressed guests, using his body to shield them from the crowd along with his guards.

Conrad recognized the nobleman: "Lord Swabian, what are you doing here? How is the banquet hall?"

"It's Your Highness! We just escaped from there—the banquet was attacked by cultists, and His Highness the Crown Prince detonated the golden sword bestowed by the 'Lion of Glory.' Her Highness the Princess is still helping to evacuate the crowd. Please be careful; there are enemies there even more powerful than His Highness the Crown Prince."

Following the direction of the guards who were evacuating the guests, the armored man entered through the gate: "Your Highness, please take these people away."

"No, I'll keep going with you!"

The armor jingled and clattered as it shook its head: "A knight's virtues shouldn't include stubbornness... Never mind, Your Highness, the resolute one can keep up."

The guards led the rescued, terrified guests out of the palace, while Conrad, with a small number of guards and armor, followed the escaped guests' directions deeper into the palace.

The closer you get to the banquet hall, the more severe the spatial distortion becomes.

As expected of a 'strategic master,' the armored figure broke through the endless corridor with the phantom of a galloping horse, swung a spiked mace to solve the problem of the connecting staircases, and took out a potion from the empty belly of the armor and splashed it on the wall to resolve the distorted spiritual rift.

The tremors inside the palace grew increasingly pronounced, and black water seeped continuously from the walls. In the distance, shouts, the clash of weapons, and the crashing of furniture echoed incessantly.

Soon, the strategist shattered the last spatial barrier, and everyone rushed into the main banquet hall, only to find that half of the hall had been submerged in black water.

The lion crown emblem atop the Grand Duchess's head maintained the final barrier, through which court knights engaged in close combat with the strange monsters outside.

Jacob, shrouded in black water, stood beside the rift in the center of the dance floor. Only a few core followers remained around him; most had already been swallowed by the black water.

A gigantic monster loomed above the hall, its tentacles churning in the black water, each contraction causing the fissure in the center of the banquet hall to tremble.

Conrad immediately saw that Crown Prince Leopold was entangled in the black water and was supporting himself on the ground with his now-dimmed, broken golden sword.

The armored figure glanced at the scene before raising his mace: "Everyone still able to move, the controlled evacuation route leads from the east gate of the banquet hall to the outer court garrison tower. Evacuate immediately!"

The hammer fell heavily to the ground, and the sand and gravel stretched outwards along the banquet hall floor, coalescing into soldier statues wherever it passed, and the corridor immediately stabilized to form a passageway.

"Another busybody." Jacob pointed to the doorway, and a large amount of black water surged in.

Undeterred, the armored figure struck the ground once more with its mace: "Gentlemen, I love war!"

Gravel surged from the ground, and the rushing black water seemed to crash into an invisible dam and be quickly absorbed, while the gravel formed channels on the water.

*Don't even think about it!*

Ignoring his recently scorched body, the divine messenger, entrenched in the hall, thrust his endless tentacles toward the strategist, engaging him in a fierce battle with the armor.

Upon seeing reinforcements arrive, the guards of the sanctuary fought back the monsters to create an opening for the guests and protect them as they moved away. Matilda also helped an elderly lady to the door.

Conrad crossed the Blackwater along the armored path, cutting through two waves that attempted to attack the guests, and headed straight for the protective circle.

Just as he was about to get close, the seawater at Matilda's feet suddenly swelled up.

Matilda only had time to push the old lady inside the barrier before she was swept away by the black water and slid towards the center of the dance floor.

Just as Wang Mei was about to be dragged into the rift, Leopold, who was struggling to break free of the black water, grabbed her wrist: "Hold on tight to my hand!"

Matilda's face had lost all color. Leopold pulled his sister to his side, but several ripples simultaneously entangled the two of them.

The Crown Prince proclaimed, "The Iron Crown bears witness! I am a descendant of the Glorious Lion, the rightful heir to the Duchy of Plichni!"

Using the Seal of the Crown, the main suction force of the rift quickly concentrated on the Crown Prince, and the princess's pressure was suddenly relieved.

Upon seeing this, Jacob laughed loudly and said, "A crown prince, a prince, and a princess who has completed her testimony—it seems that God the Father is still looking after me today."

But his triumph was short-lived; he was soon entangled by the surging sand soldiers and unable to escape.

Conrad lunged to the edge of the crevice, grabbing Leopold's wrist as he gripped the broken sword, while the guards pulled him back from behind. The three siblings were briefly linked in a line at the edge of the ever-widening chasm, as the guards and courtiers were pulled backward together.

The cracks widened rapidly, extending along the dance floor toward the guest area, with more and more gray arms emerging from underwater.

The Crown Prince pushed his sister out with all his might, and Conrad and his guards quickly dragged Matilda away from the abyss and rescued her.

The sand and gravel barely held back the surging black water, and almost all the guests evacuated.

The armored warrior brandished a giant sword transformed from a mace, severing the tentacles, and shouted, "Your Highness, this rift is out of control! If we continue to fight it, the entire banquet hall will be dragged into the spirit world!"

Conrad didn't let go: "Then smash it completely!"

"I could smash the entrance, but that wouldn't protect everyone else inside!"

The crown prince glanced down at the cracking ground, clearly understanding the situation.

"I'm sorry, I have to break my promise."

The crown prince grabbed the golden sword covered in fine cracks, and without anyone knowing what he did, the sword broke in two with a snapping sound.

Before Conrad could react, the Crown Prince threw the half-hilt of the sword, with its guard and royal crest, at him.

"I'll find a way to make it up to you!"

After saying this, the crown prince fell into the crevice.