The most shameless alchemist in history

"Hey, what's going on? Don't run away!" Although Lance was completely confused, his instinctive reaction upon seeing someone running away was to chase after them.

"Lance, don't chase after him!" Dure was also quite taken aback. He wanted to figure out what was going on, but Kashu was still standing there, and he couldn't ignore him. If Lance acted rashly and Kashu attacked from behind, the consequences would be severe.

"Boom boom boom boom boom..." Just then, the ground suddenly shook violently, and the walls were quickly covered with cracks, which seemed to be forming a line. It came very suddenly, catching everyone off guard. Dure reacted quickly and grabbed Liana, who was trying to chase after him.

"Please don't go!" Liana was a little anxious. She was much more excited than Lance because this matter was very important to her. However, the other party had already disappeared, and the shock came suddenly. Dure dared not let her take any risks.

"Liana, stop! This place is about to collapse!" Dure shouted a warning to her. He was also confused about what was happening and said urgently.

"This power... there's nothing we can do. It seems our contest has to end here. Let's have a proper fight next time we meet." Kashu really wanted to continue fighting with Durei.

But the man in black had already escaped, so there was no point in him staying any longer. Besides, the commotion was sudden, and the place was about to collapse. He had to leave quickly, or he would be buried in the sewers.

"Hey, don't go, stop right there..." Lance was getting a little anxious. He had only been there a short time, and these two guys had already run away, which made him very unhappy.

"Lance, don't chase them, let them go, let's get out of here quickly." After seeing Kashu leave, Dure felt a sense of relief, because he had long been exhausted of magic energy. If Kashu hadn't left and continued to fight him, there would have been only one outcome for him: he would inevitably die at Kashu's hands.

“Okay, I’ll listen to you. Let’s get out of here quickly.” Lance nodded, and soon he, Dure, and Liana left the sewers from another direction.

()

805 turned into bones

Not long after their figures disappeared, the sewer where they had been standing collapsed, and a large amount of rubble fell down, turning the place into ruins in an instant.

Lance and his companions ran frantically through the sewers, unaware of the situation on the surface. However, Wenli saw everything clearly. Today was supposed to be the day of their departure. The Northern army was to leave Winter City and head to Winter Valley to fight a final battle against the Southern army. But before they could even set off, a bone dragon suddenly appeared in Winter City. Under the devastation inflicted by the bone dragon, the vast city almost completely collapsed.

Even with Letitia of the Griffin Legion personally leading her troops into battle, she was caught in a fierce struggle. It was clear that she was about to give up, and Winter City was on the verge of falling. Suddenly, the Bone Dragon crashed down, smashing a huge hole in the ground. After the hole was created, its skeleton scattered on the ground, turning into piles of white bones covered by snowflakes. This change left everyone completely bewildered.

"What, what happened? Why did the bone dragon suddenly fall down?" a guard asked in a low voice.

They had no way to fight the bone dragon and could only help the residents of Winter City evacuate to a safe place. Just when they thought they were about to be doomed, the bone dragon encountered a problem.

"I'm not quite sure either, but judging from its appearance... it seems to have suddenly become unable to move?" an officer replied uncertainly, after all, he was just a soldier and did not know anything about magic energy.

"It can't move? Wasn't it so powerful just now? How come it suddenly can't move? Or has something happened?" This is especially suspicious. Most people can only watch from a distance, they can't see clearly, so they don't know what happened.

However, some of the bolder ones cautiously ventured over. They were very curious about what had happened and wanted to find out the situation as soon as possible. These people quickly approached the large crater created by the bone dragon and saw scattered white bones on the ground. These white bones were rapidly weathering, becoming thinner and darker.

"Look! This bone dragon has turned into a pile of bones! What happened?" Someone saw the bone dragon's appearance and was very surprised. Just a moment ago, they were living in fear and shadow of the bone dragon, but suddenly it turned into this. It was too strange and too fast.

"I'm not entirely sure either, but now that it's like this... it shouldn't be attacking everywhere anymore, right?" The guards around looked at each other, none of them understanding what had happened.

"Wait, look, it moved, it moved!" Just then, someone exclaimed, which startled the guards. They all retreated in all directions. Some of them were a fraction too slow and tripped over a stone. They practically scrambled away from the dangerous place.

"Cough cough, I was almost buried alive, that was close. But... what is this huge bone?" Amidst the billowing dust, someone crawled out of the crater created by the bone dragon. He pushed aside a large bone blocking his way and complained incessantly.

"This looks like... the bones of a bone dragon." A figure appeared behind them. Through the smoke and dust, it was possible to make out that there were three people crawling out, two men and one woman, all of whom were very young. Although the noise here frightened many people, some people saw that the commotion was not loud and that they could faintly hear voices, so they mustered up their courage and came to investigate.

"Durey, what did you say? Bone dragon bones? How could the bone dragon have become like this?" Lance was startled. Before he went into the sewers to look for Durey, he had seen the bone dragon wreaking havoc in Winter City, which left a deep impression on him and made his scalp tingle. But now, huge dragon bones were scattered around him.

"What, you're still a little reluctant to see it like this? You wish it could stay the way it was before so you could have a nice chat with it, right?" Du Lei said irritably. He naturally knew that the reason the bone dragon had become like this was because the summoner who controlled it had escaped. Without the summoner as its support, it lost its source of power and naturally could not maintain its previous form.

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. It's perfect that it's become like this. Otherwise, it was like a god descending to earth just now. Who could defeat it?" Lance quickly waved his hand. He knew how powerful the bone dragon was. Although he hadn't figured out the situation, this was the best outcome for him.

"Mr. Dure? Mr. Lance? Is it you? What's going on?" Among the crowd of onlookers, someone called out the names of Dure and Lance. The two looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was Winry looking down at them from the edge of the pit.

"Well... I'm not quite sure either. It seems like something happened. Could you pull us up?" Lance knew Winry. He was clueless about what had happened before, but now that they were safely back on the ground, it was a happy thing. At this moment, he didn't notice that Liana next to him was worried and her face was pale and bloodless.

"Understood, quickly pull them up." Wenli immediately ordered the surrounding soldiers to help, and soon they pulled Dure, Lance, and Liana back to the ground. Wenli ordered the guards to guard the area and not allow anyone to approach the bone dragon's skeleton, and then she and Dure and the others went to the nearby command post.

"Mr. Dure, are you alright?" Winry asked about Dure's condition. Of the three, Dure's injuries were the most serious. He was covered in blood and looked very weak. In comparison, Liana and Lance were still unharmed.

"It's nothing, just a minor injury. By the way, what's the situation in Winter Valley?" Du Lei waved his hand, indicating that he was fine. At this moment, he was more concerned about the situation in Winter Valley, because according to the previous plan, today should be the day when the Northern Army and the Southern Front Army would have a decisive battle in Winter Valley.

“Mr. Dure, everything is proceeding according to our previous plan. Generally speaking, there have been no other unexpected events. The appearance of the Bone Dragon can be said to be the only unexpected event. However, it appeared suddenly and was destroyed just as suddenly. What exactly is going on…” Winry was full of doubts about this.

She wasn't directly involved and didn't know what happened in the sewers, but since Dure and the other two had climbed out from where the bone dragon had fallen, it was hard for her not to connect them with the fall of the bone dragon.

()

806 Consider the proposal

"Liana, what just happened? Do you know that person?" Dure didn't answer Winry's question directly. He was more concerned about Liana's condition. Liana wasn't injured, but her face looked so pale. This was naturally related to the summoner she had seen in the sewers earlier. Moreover, Dure remembered that the summoner had fled in panic after seeing Liana.

This puzzled Dure, because Liana was just an ordinary person without strong personal combat power, yet she was able to scare away someone who could summon bone dragons, which really baffled him.

“It’s impossible, he shouldn’t still be in this world…” Liana’s lips turned bluish-purple. She kept shaking her head, trying to deny something. This was completely different from the excitement she had shown when facing the summoner in the sewers. Now that she was safe, she calmed down and thought about the cause and effect of the matter, and found that it didn’t make sense.

"What do you mean it's impossible? What's going on? Who is he?" Lance was completely bewildered by her and asked hurriedly.

"Could he be... the deceased Mr. Hanks?" Such a person suddenly popped into Dure's mind. He and Liana had gone to the Plantagenet Bank before and found a letter that Kluff had gotten from Grant.

It was around that time that Dure learned some things about Liana, that her father was named Hanks, and that he had passed away a long time ago. He also learned that Hanks and Grant were very good friends and had been classmates.

"What? Mr. Hanks? Who is this person?" Lance was completely confused; this was the first time he had ever heard of this name.

“Mr. Hanks seems to be the name of Miss Liana’s deceased father,” Winry replied after a moment’s thought. She was very familiar with Liana’s situation, given the vast intelligence network in the North that had gathered a wealth of information recently.

"Already deceased? Doesn't 'already deceased' mean 'passed away'? But the person we saw earlier..." Lance was increasingly confused. If the person named Hanks was already dead, then what were they seeing just now? Was it a ghost?

"Maybe I'm seeing things." Liana shook her head gently. Her emotions had calmed down a lot by now. She had accepted this fact many years ago, but now she suddenly saw someone she hadn't seen in a long time, which inevitably stirred up a lot of emotions in her heart.

“You misread it? This…” Lance looked at Liana’s expression, which didn’t seem like she had misread it. He didn’t know what to do for a moment and could only look at Dure, waiting for the latter to give a response.

"Alright, Lance, don't ask any more questions. Let Liana go and get some rest." Dure gestured for Lance to stop asking, since it had been a very difficult process for Liana.

"Okay, okay, I won't ask anymore. By the way, Dure, I came to see you to tell you that I've taken care of what you asked me to do." Lance nodded, realizing that he had indeed been a bit abrupt earlier.

"That must have been tough for you, Lance. What about Kelly and Celia? Have they replied yet?" Dure continued to ask. They had made a detailed plan beforehand, with everyone doing their part. Now that Lance was back, Celia and Kelly had not yet returned.

"They haven't sorted things out yet, but you know how women are, Dure... Um, don't look at me like that, I'm not targeting you, I'm not targeting you at all, hahaha." Lance complained for a moment, but he quickly realized that Winry and Liana were both next to him. They were both women, and Lance realized that he had offended both of them with his words, so he quickly changed his tune.

"I hope nothing bad will happen to them..." Dure looked at the western sky. Today would be a decisive day. The civil war that had lasted for eight years in the Snow Kingdom would come to an end today!

According to Black Wind's plan, he could reach Winter City within a day, and then take advantage of the weakened state of the Northern and Southern armies to seize Winter City in one fell swoop. Of course, this was not his ultimate goal; his eyes were always fixed on Frost City. Once Winter City was captured, Frost City would lose its defenses and be wide open. Utilizing the powerful mobility of his airship legion, he could launch a surprise attack on Frost City within four hours. Once Frost City was captured, it would mean he had conquered the Snow Kingdom, and he would establish unparalleled merit!

However, his chance was completely shattered with the arrival of a message. He had arrived at a place only sixty miles away from Winter City, but he had to slow down and stop, and was forced to accept a negotiation. The place where he stopped was a small town called Orange Town, where two people were waiting for him. They were two women he did not know well, but had met once before.

"So, Mr. Black Wind, we meet again. I wonder if you would seriously consider our proposal this time?" Kelly asked with a smile, though she didn't have a good impression of this guy named Black Wind.

Because when they were negotiating in Winter City before, the representative of the Wind Kingdom did not agree to their agreement, so the peace talks were put on hold. Moreover, no sooner had this representative left Winter City than he arranged for an airship army to launch a surprise attack on Winter City, almost succeeding!

"What benefits did he give you? Why did you have to go to this extent?" Black Wind asked coldly. He had long expected that the other countries would not turn a blind eye to his actions.

To solve this problem, he had previously written several letters and sent them to the central governments of various countries, and reached secret agreements with the powerful figures in these countries. This was the source of his confidence to venture deep into enemy territory alone.

But just when he thought he was safe and sound, something unexpected happened. The incident stemmed from intelligence that the allied forces of the Land of Rain and the Land of Swamp had marched toward the border of the Land of Wind a day earlier.

Because the main force of the Wind Kingdom was transferred to the front line by Black Wind, deep into the heart of the Snow Kingdom, the Wind Kingdom's defenses were extremely weak. Facing the combined forces of the Swamp Kingdom and the Rain Kingdom, the Wind Kingdom's defenses were as fragile as paper. The combined forces of the two countries reached the city of Light Wind almost without bloodshed, which put the Wind Kingdom in the face of an unprecedented catastrophe!

()

807 Speed ​​is of the essence in warfare

"So, Mr. Black Wind, are you finally willing to sit down and have a proper talk with us?" Kelly maintained her polite smile. Compared to their negotiations in Winter City a few days ago, this meeting consisted of only three parties: Black Wind, representing the Wind Kingdom; Kelly herself, representing the Rain Kingdom; and the representative of the Swamp Kingdom. Originally, the representative of the Swamp Kingdom should have been Lance, but Lance was not here; he was in Winter City assisting Dure, so the representative of the Swamp Kingdom was someone else.

"Hmph, you've already reached Qingfeng City, and you're asking me if I'm willing to sit down and negotiate? I thought I was fast enough, but I didn't expect you to be even faster!" Black Wind said coldly. He was very unwilling to negotiate, but Qingfeng City was under such immense pressure that he had no choice but to return. The news had already spread, and the soldiers knew that their hometown had fallen. People were panicking, and under these circumstances, he could no longer lead them into battle. At the same time, Black Wind also realized something.

That means the other side was prepared in advance. Among all the countries, the Wind Kingdom has the most mobile airship army. If the other side only attacked Light Wind City after noticing his actions, then in terms of time, there would be no time at all. So there is only one possible explanation.

That is, the other party had long been eyeing the Wind Kingdom. Just after he left the Wind Kingdom, the army that had already assembled launched a surprise attack into the heart of the Wind Kingdom. Such intentions were undoubtedly malicious, which made Black Wind especially angry.

"Isn't there an old saying that speed is of the essence in war? So, Mr. Black Wind, could you please retreat?" Another girl next to Kelly asked softly. She was about the same age as Kelly, and the two seemed to be very close.

"Who are you?" Black Wind frowned, because he didn't remember seeing this girl when he was at the meeting in Winter City.

“My name is Messiah, Messiah of the Swamp Country,” the young woman said, revealing her name.

"People from the Swamp Country? But I wrote a letter to General Bron of your Swamp Country..." Black Wind had some doubts about this. His entry into the Snow Country with his army seemed very risky, but Black Wind had made a lot of preparations beforehand, including informing various countries to avoid resistance from all sides.

“Oh, you mean General Bloom? General Bloom was arrested a week ago,” the girl named Messiah said with a smile.

"What? Arrest? General Bron is the Minister of the Army of the Swamp Kingdom, how could he..." Black Wind was greatly surprised by this, because he had not heard a word about it beforehand, which made him feel both surprised and terrified.

"General Bloom was arrested on charges of espionage for allegedly colluding with an enemy country. It was a secret arrest. The General Bloom seen in public was just a stand-in," Messiah continued to explain.

"How could this be... But are you sure you're not mistaken? Cooperating with our Wind Kingdom will bring even greater benefits. I can give your Swamp Kingdom and Rain Kingdom four... no, five provinces each!" Black Wind assumed that these people were acting out of self-interest.

It must be that guy Dure gave them a generous reward, which is why these two countries did this. For this reason, he did not hesitate to raise the price, hoping to buy off these two countries and turn the situation around. Once the armies of the Swamp Country and the Rain Country withdraw their troops, he can still continue to advance and take over the Snow Country!

"Is there still something General Blackwind doesn't understand?" Messiah asked Blackwind in return.

"What is it?" Black Wind frowned and looked at the young woman in front of him. This was the first time he had met Messiah, and he didn't know what Messiah meant by those words. Was she complaining that the price he offered was too low?

"I heard that Mr. Black Wind and Mr. Dure are very close friends. You two grew up together, right?" Messiah asked. Although she did not attend the meeting in Winter City a few days ago, she had learned some information from Kelly, because she and Kelly were classmates when they were still in Maple Leaf Academy and had a very good relationship.

“Yes, that’s true. Both Dure and I grew up in the hot spring village, but what does that have to do with what we’re talking about?” Black Wind was surprised that Kelly would suddenly bring up Dure, and he looked at her in confusion.

“There’s something I don’t understand. Why did you refuse Mr. Dure’s proposal, Mr. Black Wind? And isn’t what you’re doing now a great threat to Mr. Dure?” Messiah continued to ask.

"I only have a personal relationship with him, but the interests of the nation take precedence over personal friendship," Black Wind replied righteously. He had sufficient interests to justify his decision to attack the Snow Kingdom from the perspective of the Wind Kingdom's interests.

"I see. So, if Mr. Black Wind were to stand on the side of our Swamp Kingdom, do you think we would be willing to see the Wind Kingdom grow stronger?" Messiah nodded slightly and then asked again.

"This..." Black Wind stunned her for a moment, because Messiah was right. From the perspective of national interests, once the Wind Kingdom conquered the Snow Kingdom, it would be a good thing for the Wind Kingdom, as its national strength would increase significantly. However, it might not be the case for the surrounding countries.

“Therefore, from the perspective of national interests, we cannot allow the current situation to be broken and we must curb the expansion of the Wind Kingdom. Moreover, from the perspective of personal friendship, Mr. Dure is our friend, and we are willing to listen to his advice for the sake of friendship. However, Mr. Black Wind is a person who can betray even his friends for profit, so we cannot cooperate with Mr. Black Wind. We are very sorry,” Messiah said softly.

"So... what exactly do you want?" Black Wind knew there was no way to continue the conversation with these two women, so he asked directly.

“Mr. Black Wind, you’ve got something wrong. It’s not about what we should do, but what you want to do, Mr. Black Wind. Right now, the allied forces of our Swamp Kingdom and Rain Kingdom are advancing like a whirlwind. If nothing unexpected happens, we’ll be able to take Light Wind City in three days. So, it’s truly admirable that Mr. Black Wind can still stand here so calmly.” Kelly said sarcastically.

"You..." Black Wind gritted his teeth. He was a man of composure, but facing Kelly this time, he was filled with resentment but could do nothing because he knew that he was completely under her control.

.

808 Friendly Reminder

“Considering that you are Mr. Du Lei’s friend, Mr. Blackwind… of course, assuming he still considers you a friend, I suggest that you immediately lead your troops back to Light Wind City. Otherwise, if you fail to conquer the Snow Kingdom and instead lose the Wind Kingdom, it will be a huge joke,” Messiah kindly advised.

"That's quite a 'friendly' suggestion. I hope you won't regret your decision today." Black Wind snorted coldly. He knew there was no point in staying any longer; the others had already made their intentions clear. He turned and left angrily.

"Goodbye, Mr. Blackwind. I look forward to our next meeting." Messiah watched Blackwind leave and soon saw him board the airship docked outside the town. It was a blizzard, and visibility was greatly impaired.

From this vantage point, one can see a large number of airships docked on the leeward slope in the distance. These are the airship legions led by Blackwind, which were about to head towards Frost City. However, he now has to abandon his plans to go to Frost City and can only return to Lightwind City to resolve the predicament.

"Kelly, is this really okay? Just let them leave like this? The weather is terrible right now. If we annihilate this army on the territory of the Snow Kingdom... it will definitely be a heavy blow to the Wind Kingdom." Messiah asked her friend with some worry after watching the black wind go.

“Messiah, you’re right. This army is now deep in enemy territory, relying on mobility to reach the vicinity of Winter City. This is already the heartland of the Snow Kingdom. Their supplies are severely lacking, and with the harsh weather, we can indeed annihilate them at a very low cost. But Messiah, what benefit would attacking the Wind Kingdom bring us?” Kelly asked Messiah in return.