The bright red Bolai wine in the cup rippled slightly, reflecting pieces of broken light under the light of the magic crystal. Ran sat quietly in a chair beside him, his permed straight tuxedo not showing any wrinkles in his upright position, and his hair combed back with the same meticulousness as his owner's. On the lean face, the gray eyes carefully stared at the wine glass in his hand, a picture of an old monk in a settled position.

It was still not peaceful outside the window, although so many days had passed, but after nightfall, I could still faintly hear the distant firelight, the sound of swords, chasing, and scolding. Then everything was calm......... However, this will not last long, and new conflicts will erupt, continuing the chaos that has existed before.

Ziggy didn't react to this, he just stared at the glass quietly, the half-naked lady next to him was trembling at the moment, just a moment ago, she was smiling and trying to have an intimate contact with this very handsome and dashing looking man, but now the cold and stiff corpse of her companion at her feet was telling her that it was not a good idea with bloody facts——— but unfortunately it was too late. She trembled and stretched out her hands, trying to hold the flask in her hand, while looking at the man in front of her with fear and uneasiness.

There was an eerie silence until the wooden door was pushed open, breaking the eerie silence of the room.

"What the fuck!!"

A burly man with animal skins strode in, he took off the poncho and shook it, then sat down on the chair next to Ziggy, and kicked the stiff corpse on the ground away, and then the man took the wine glass in Ziggy's hand, drank it with his mouth wide open, and then shook comfortably.

"Whew, it's still so comfortable, it's like a goddamn hell outside. Those stupid people, keep saying that they want to control, but after controlling it for so long, it's still a fucking mess, and those city guards are useless, and the fools are embarrassed to tell me that everything is under control? Phew! Do they think Lao Tzu is blind or deaf? I can't finish arguing until two or three o'clock every night, and now I'm embarrassed to talk to me about this? ”

"How's it going?"

Ziggy didn't bother with the other man's complaints, he just stuck out his finger and tapped the table, and then asked. And the voice of Ziggy was heard. The man snorted coldly and spread his hands.

"It's still a little difficult, young master. The place chosen by those bastards was really good, and we attacked several times without success, but instead lost a few more brothers. But luckily we've completely surrounded those guys, as they were. It's hard for them to sneak back into the city, and no one has doubted our actions yet, but I don't think it's going to be the way to go on like this. No one knows what was going on in the minds of those filthy undead, and it was weird that we had already thrown the bait this time and the other didn't...... Do I need to look into it again? ”

"There's no need for that."

Ziggy stood up, picked up the pitch-black cloak and top hat from the coat rack next to him, and put them on from the bottom up in a serious and rigorous manner. The white-gloved hands move in front of them as if they had undergone a rigorous process, and every inch and every millimeter of distance was almost the same.

"It's not long before the meeting starts, what we need is time, as long as there is time......... Delay them, if there is no way to kill them, then at least make them unable to come back, I don't care what you think, what you do, remember. I can only hope that this meeting will take place without incident. Progress, end. Like every meeting, you see? ”

"Don't worry, young master, it's right to leave this to me."

The man nodded, and after receiving his reply, Ziegy straightened the hat and cloak on his head again, and then walked to the door———— which opened silently, and an old man appeared there at some point, holding an umbrella in his hand, standing respectfully beside his master.

"Don't live up to my trust in you, by the way, these clutter are useless, leave it to you to deal with."

The wooden door slowly closed, and it was only at this time that the man sneered, and then he stood up and took off his clothes, and cast a cold and fierce gaze on the other side of the trembling, pale woman, and at the same time couldn't help but stick out his tongue and lick his lips.

It looks like it's going to be a delicious meal.........

The rain is still falling, getting heavier and heavier.

Rhodes stood on top of a pile of rubble, letting the water flow down the edge of his cloak, his gaze casting through the raindrops on the mountains not far away with only black silhouettes, and a moment later, another figure appeared beside him.

"That's right, Mr. Rhodes, I can confirm that they're still on it."

Victor fiddled with a stone in his hand, which was engraved with a clear triangular mark, and judging from the traces, it should have lasted no more than a day, which made Victor breathe a sigh of relief. But when he raised his head again, he couldn't help but feel a little more solemn and tentative in his eyes when he looked at Rod.

It's not that difficult to reach the Soragon Mountains through the junction, in fact, even on the map, the distance between the two is less than a centimeter, but only when you are in the middle of it will you realize how terrifying and terrifying it is to be located at the junction of the dragon soul, all kinds of monsters that are almost impossible to see anywhere else lurk around you all the time trying to take your life, and you can't even judge its strength and danger by its appearance. Not only that, but what is even more unbearable is the ever-present chaos at the junction point. The power of the dragon soul, which represents light and darkness, is intertwined and stirred here, and the impact produced is simply not something that ordinary people can endure. In fact, after entering the junction point, anyone will feel as if they are walking in the middle of two steel plates that are slowly squeezing and deforming, which is extremely painful, unbearable and almost collapsed, and what is even worse is that this is not just an illusion, but a reality. It will eat away at your body like a virus, making you feel heavy and delirious like a bad cold——— which is good, and maybe you will go crazy directly, and you may dispose of yourself completely without asking others to do it.

Because of this, the road through the junction is not as easy as the eye sees. Theoretically, it only takes a day to a day and a half at most, but after experiencing it firsthand, it can give the illusion that it will not be able to reach the end for decades, or that it is not an illusion at all.

Victor remembered this very well, even he, the leader of a large mercenary guild and a powerful swordsman, still remembered the nightmare left over from these two days of traveling day and night, and Victor even thought that it was very likely that he would never forget this experience for the rest of his life. But even if this experience was a nightmare for Victor, in order to complete the mission. For the sake of his subordinates, he still took Rod and the others back again.

However, the truth is completely different from what Victor thought.

Although he was ready to endure that pain again, Rhodes soon behaved in such a way that Victor felt that his previous heroic death was completely self-inflicted——— and on the verge of the handover, Rod ordered everyone to drink the potion he had taken out of his bag, and although the bottle smelled bad and disgusting, the effect was obvious. After drinking the potion and stepping into the junction, Victor no longer felt the effects of the previously painful impact and the power of the chaotic dragon soul. On the contrary, the vortex of force that had once made him tremble like a rag had now turned into a head-on breeze that did not cause the slightest harm. And Rod's mercenaries did not panic as Victor imagined when they stepped into the junction, instead, they cooperated in an orderly circle and did not make the mistake of fighting to the death in the face of strange creatures born from the endless chaos like many hillbillies. Anne wielded a heavy shield of adamantite gold to clear the way, and the well-armed thieves lowered their steps, sharply and vigilantly injecting their front and back, left and right, and when the enemy appeared, Marlene would be the first to cast a spell to create a defensive wall. Then the archers inside would shoot round after round of uninvited guests under the command of Lando, and then the thieves shrouded in guardian spirit magic would quietly strike, under the cover of bows and spells, to deliver the last blow to those monsters, and continue to move forward without hesitation after their unwilling roar retreated, with no intention of chasing and killing them all.

The whole process is skillful, professional, and without the slightest stagnation, as if the operation on an industrial assembly line is regular, precise and smooth.

This surprised Victor, who was not unaware of Rod's strength. However, the strength of the leader and his subordinates is not necessarily proportional. Especially a guild like Rhodes, which has only been established for a few months. At the beginning, Victor was actually very worried and uneasy about what kind of people this mercenary guild would be able to send. But after passing through the junction point, Victor is surprised to find that these mercenaries are far better than he thought——— they are not as reckless as Victor expected. Lacking experience, on the contrary, these mercenaries are very organized and disciplined, with a clear division of labor and complementarity, and a lot of combat experience. And according to Victor's observation, the strength of these mercenaries is not weak, and even stronger than the elite group in his Cole's Eagle Guild.

How is this possible? Who is this young man?

Victor still knew a little about Rod's guild, but the performance of these mercenaries was completely unexpected at the moment, he never thought that these mercenaries, who had only been temporarily gathered for less than a few months, were now acting as if they had cooperated for several years, and they were so familiar with places like the junction......... Every time he thought about this, Victor wondered if Rhodes was always doing some forbidden things, such as smuggling transactions with the Night Dragon Kingdom through the junction point......... Otherwise, how could his men be so familiar with this?

Of course, now is not a good time to joke.

In the gloomy rain, the sound of Suo Suo sounded again, and a moment later, Joey slipped over like a monkey, his body quickly stepped on the rocks that were smooth and wet from the rain, and there was no pause or shaking under his body——— it seemed that he had gained a lot in the actual combat training these days.

"Hey, boss, the brothers have finished investigating, there are really a lot of people in that group of guys, from the mountainside to the bottom of the mountain, there are their people everywhere, we have completed the investigation just now, plus the sentry at the mountain crossing. There were sixty of them, and we didn't re-investigate them, but as things stand, at least in the area of contact, they only had that manpower. ”

"Good."

Hearing Joey's answer, Rod nodded slightly, and then he stared at the dusty mountains in the rain and mist not far in front of him. There was silence for a moment before he asked.

"What do you think, Mr. Victor?"

"For now, I think we can either quietly go up the hill to join them, then catch them off guard, and then take the council chief and the others back to the city to seek refuge while they don't come to their senses. Or just launch a raid on them right outside. As long as it can get their attention, then I think I can get my people to join you inside and out, and to attack them head-on. In this way, there will not be enough of them, and the encirclement will naturally disperse, and the next thing will be much easier for us. ”

"That's right, Mr. Victor."

Hearing Victor's answer, Rhodes nodded, and then he suddenly spoke.

"But in my opinion. Your approach is a bit riskier, these guys are able to lock this place down with impunity, and it's certainly not just because it's so far from populated areas, Mr. Victor, as you said before, that these guys have a very close connection with the people in the city who are trying to seize the power of the council right now. Then in the event of a head-on battle, the other side is likely to send warnings and signals to their allies in the city, and then we will be in trouble........."

"And Mr. Rhodes, what can you do?"

Hearing Rod's words, Victor couldn't help but nodded. In fact, he was worried about it. But there is no way for Victor to come up with this plan. Because this time Rhodes brought less than thirty people, before he left. There are more than a dozen of his subordinates left, and they can't compete with the other party in terms of numbers alone, but...............

"Kill them all."

"Huh?"

I don't know if it's because the rain is too loud, Victor even felt for a moment that he might have heard it wrong, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and looked at Rod again. But by this time, Rhodes had already continued.

"Although Mr. Victor, your method is not bad, but in order to avoid long nights, I think it is a good choice to raid directly, attract the attention of those guys, gather them together and catch them all, now there are two days left before the meeting starts, we have no extra time to waste playing hide and seek with the pursuers, in order to prevent future troubles, we must launch a surprise attack on them, and kill them in an instant. So they don't have time to signal ........."

With that, Rhodes turned his head to look to his left, where the rolling mountains were now leaving a dark shadow obscuring Rhodes' vision. Behind this mountain is the city of the Soragon Mountain Territory, although in the past, such a mountain range can be regarded as a great obstacle for Rhodes, but for now, it has become the best barrier.

"Tonight is a good time......... The rainstorm was very heavy, so it would have been much easier for us........."

At this, Rod paused.

"Mr. Victor, this is my plan, I will go to the hideout with you two in a while to communicate with your subordinates, and then we will make a gesture of trying to force a breakthrough, so that at least we can attract most of the opponent's manpower, as long as we grasp it properly and catch them all while they are concentrating, then it shouldn't be a big problem——— what do you think?"

Hearing Rod's proposal, Victor was silent for a moment, and had to say that this is indeed a very good solution, Victor has not considered it before, but because there are too few people, it is difficult to completely eliminate the other party, so Victor did not propose it. And now Rhodes actually made this suggestion......... Was he really that confident in his men?

Victor didn't know that the reason why Rhodes made this suggestion was not just to prevent problems in the city, he knew better than anyone what the Radiant Dragon Kingdom wanted to do, so even if the other party was defeated here instead of completely eliminated, it was difficult to guarantee that these guys would not fight to the death and do something to exacerbate the conflict. Therefore, in order to avoid all kinds of possibilities that may jump off the wall, Rhodes naturally hopes to eliminate these vital forces to the greatest extent. As long as the limbs can be cut off, then even if the crooked brains of the Radiant Dragon Kingdom are rich and cannot become a reality, then it will be meaningless.

"No problem, I agree."

Without thinking too much, Victor nodded vigorously, now he had no other way to think about it than to trust Rhodes and his men.

"Good."

Hearing Victor's answer, the corners of Rod's mouth curled slightly, he turned around and whispered something to Joey next to him, and soon, the young thief turned around and disappeared silently into the rain. Then Rhodes reached out and took out a black mask from his cloak and put it on his face.

"Let's go, then, Mr. Victor."