From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty

The tranquil forest path was dappled with patches of sunlight that filtered through the leaves, casting mottled shadows upon the path that embellished the fallen leaves covering the ground.

The black carriage of the Fischer family slowly traversed the forest path; the curtain was drawn back, and Byrne gazed at the woods outside the window, his expression growing increasingly somber.

The one driving the carriage was none other than Theo, who had already reached the 2nd Rank of "Butler".

The enhancement of a "Butler's" physical capabilities is 12, and the enhancement of Spiritual Power is 13. Although Theo was gradually aging, his body was now stronger than when he was younger.

"Your Excellency Byrne, you must be careful."

Theo voiced a silent reminder, while in his mind, he pondered that this time His Excellency Byrne was using himself as bait in an arrangement, intending to lure Viscount Garcia into attacking; the danger was undoubtedly immense.

But he believed in the courage and judgment of Byrne Fischer, the patriarch of the Fischer family.

With the wisdom this man possessed now, he would not likely stumble here at the hands of Viscount Garcia; he could still lead the Fischer family forward!

Byrne sat calmly in the carriage, his mind active and alert to any potentially dangerous changes in his surroundings.

In fact, the alliance through marriage between the Fischer family and the Iron Blood Oder family was true.

It was because everything seemed so authentic that Viscount Garcia would not have any doubts after learning of it; he would certainly seize the long-awaited opportunity to kill himself!

Byrne was clearly aware that he himself was the best and most attractive bait!

Indeed, Irene had already used her ability "Listening for Malice" to identify the spies the Garcia family had sent to infiltrate.

However, they did not immediately eliminate the spy but instead used the spy to pass on various pieces of information, particularly those that seemed useful but did not actually compromise the core of the Fischer family.

Thus, over the course of several months, Viscount Garcia had come to thoroughly believe in the authenticity of the intelligence he had gathered.

And so, it was time for the fisherman to finally draw in his net!

He spoke slowly, instructing Theo to stop.

"Theo, this is it, stop here. This is the place I mentioned before we set out, the most suitable for an ambush. With Inna's Bravery Verse and Hymn Verse not yet worn off, I'm actually a little hopeful they'll come and attack right away."

"Chris and Irene have already been waiting here in advance."

Prior to this, Byrne had already given a Treasure class protective rare artifact to Theo.

He himself would not have any problems if ambushed, but if Theo were affected, it would be quite dangerous; Byrne did not want Theo, whom he had watched grow up, to come to any harm.

But to make the ruse convincing, Theo often accompanied him on his travels, and he could not be absent this time; they could not give Garcia any reason to be suspicious.

The carriage stopped.

"They're coming. If they don't come soon, we'll just have to prepare another ambush at a different location."

Byrne thought quietly to himself, taking a deep breath as his mind constantly revisited all his memories of the Garcia family.

Viscount Garcia possessed the power of Bloodline of the "Gale Wings Falcon," which was not the strongest bloodline of the Garcia family but merely that of a common magic beast.

Among "Roarer" Garcia's family, in addition to Viscount Garcia, there were three other extraordinary exponents at the Transmutation Level: Garcia's brother, cousin, and son.

The power ranks and Bloodline of the three were mid-level Transmutation of the high-level magic beast "Roaring Evil Beast," middle-rank Transmutation of the common magic beast "Gale Wings Falcon," and low-level Transmutation of the high-level magic beast "Fire-swallowing Earth Dragon."

"But we cannot dismiss the possibility that they have sought outside help, or that they have obtained some kind of powerful Forbidden rare artifact..."

Byrne was very clear about one thing: there is no such thing as perfect preparation in this world.

Even if his calculations were well-made, there could still be accidents, since the battlefield is ever-changing, and the numerous different abilities and rare artifacts could lead to situations unforeseen by the participants.

Hundreds of meters away, hidden inside the thicket of the forest.

Viscount Garcia closed his eyes, holding the Forbidden rare artifact "Countdown Timer" in his hands, silently sensing the constant movement of the wind direction.

"They're here!"

Viscount Garcia watched coldly from a distance, then ordered his cousin, who also possessed the Bloodline power of the "Gale Wings Falcon," to coordinate with his actions.

"Together with me, Gus!"

The Gale Wings Falcon is a small magic beast capable of manipulating wind and using Wind Blades for slashing attacks.

They resembled birds but lacked wings; instead, they rode on the wind to move about, their true size no larger than a human thumb.

The two of them leveraged the power of the wind to hasten their advance, rushing towards the location of the Fischer family's carriage in an instant, then halting at a distance of about a hundred meters and manipulating the wind drifting around them together.

In the blink of an eye, they transformed into countless Wind Blades, assailing every direction like a storm!

The many trees lining the forest path were instantly felled by the invisible Wind Blades, scattering haphazardly on the ground, creating a cacophony of noise.

"They're here!"

The watchful Theo snapped his fingers sharply!

In the next moment, the sturdy black carriage was destroyed, and Theo was involuntarily triggered by the rare artifact on his person, raising a protective shield-like defense.

He quickly swapped places with far-off objects, evading most of the Wind Blade attacks, and the few that hit him were mostly deflected by the defensive Treasure class rare artifact, sparing him major injury.

Despite this, Theo's body still displayed several gashes and bled profusely as he collapsed powerlessly to the ground.

"Without that Treasure class mysterious rare artifact, every Wind Blade would have had the power to kill me instantly..."

Then, some sort of healing green energy quickly took effect on his body and, gradually recovering, Theo rolled and crawled away from the battlefield, aware that the ensuing events were not something he could intervene in!

"Byrne" inside the carriage was struck by a barrage of Wind Blades, turned to smoke, and just dissipated into thin air.

It was a "Body Double"!

Viscount Garcia's brow furrowed instantly, noting something was amiss even from a hundred meters away, he called out in a deep voice, "That's a decoy, they definitely have an ambush!"

"Got it!"

His brother Andrew transformed in an instant, roaring as he turned into a more than ten-meter-tall evil beast, resembling a towering wolf beast standing upright, its body covered with thick grey-white fur, its agile form displaying an elegant pure violence, its eyes filled with pure murderous malice.

The Roaring Evil Beast.

It was the representative bloodline of the Garcia family, possessing extremely powerful strength and speed, and a terrifying life force that made it very hard to kill unless its vitals were destroyed.

"Byrne Fischer, is he really not here?"

Viscount Garcia muttered to himself, watching the carriage driver running off into the distance without acting rashly, instead sensing the movements of the wind around him.

At the same time, he extended his hand to release a powerful Wind Blade, cutting towards the carriage driver with extreme precision despite the great distance.

However, Theo, without even turning his head, once again activated his "Shape-shifting" ability granted by the "bestow," and completely vanished from sight.

Stunned by this eerie scene, the three Garcias froze.

"Why? How can any random coachman from the Fischer family possess such a level of ability?"

He closed his eyes, only to realize that the coachman's presence was fading away, and beyond that, Byrne Fischer's presence was completely untraceable.

Had the enemy used some method to erase their presences?

They were in the light, while the enemy was in the dark.

The more Viscount Garcia thought about it, the more he felt it was a trap, but deep down, he wasn't surprised, for Byrne Fischer was indeed a clever man.

"The people of the Fischer family, they shouldn't be far from us."

"Find them! And kill them!"

He had just issued the order when he lifted his head in shock, and next saw something falling rapidly from the sky!

It was a meteorite!

It released a dazzling light, like a magnificent firework blooming in the sky, and as it drew closer to the ground, thunderous roars and piercing explosions could be heard!

"Is this the hidden power of the Fischer family?"

All three of them were filled with astonishment and disbelief, then they immediately scattered and fled!

Viscount Garcia and his cousin Gus harnessed the power of the wind to move quickly, while Andrew, transformed into the Roaring Evil Beast, ran on all fours, bolting away, but in his panic, he headed in a different direction from the other two!

Just as he was about to escape the meteorite's impact zone, he suddenly seemed to be disrupted by some force, his speed noticeably slowing down!

That was the power of the "Arrest" by the sheriff.

"Ao!"

When the meteorite hit the ground, it lifted a plume of soil and rock, then formed a deep, vast crater with rising smoke that glowed with searing heat!

"Andrew!"

Viscount Garcia roared angrily, knowing Andrew must have been seriously injured by that hit, but relying on the terrifying life force of the "Roaring Evil Beast," he might not necessarily die.

So, he immediately used "Countdown Timer" amidst the smoke.

After thinking it over, Viscount Garcia wound the minute hand of "Countdown Timer" back by three minutes, so after those three minutes, everything living within a five hundred meter radius of the "Countdown Timer," except for him, would be frozen for three seconds!

Three seconds were brief, yet in the combat between the strong, it was enough to be fatal!

At the same time, Viscount Garcia paid a hefty price.

His body trembled violently, suddenly spitting out blood, feeling part of the blood inside him vanish, offered as a sacrifice to the Forbidden rare artifact, his life force notably weakened.

Viscount Garcia calmly took medicine to treat himself, as the smoke before his eyes gradually dispersed.

"Fischer family, how many of you have come? It doesn't really matter, no matter how many there are, I will kill you all!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than he saw his cousin Gus slowly collapsing beside him, eyes wide open, trembling all over, as if he had seen something utterly unbelievable!

Viscount Garcia, battle-hardened, was familiar with most situations on the battlefield and immediately deduced his cousin's condition.

"A mental magic powerful enough to easily restrain a Middle Rank Bloodline Knight? Could the way they erase their presence also be the power of a powerful mental spellcaster?"

Or perhaps it was some kind of powerful Forbidden rare artifact?

Viscount Garcia shivered, the meteorite from earlier and the mental magic at this moment increasingly unsettling him.

The hidden powers of the Fischer family were truly too numerous!

"Because they know I possess a Mysterious rare artifact that counters mental magic, they did not attempt to control me, did they?"

He reacted swiftly, immediately reaching out to take out an alchemical tool specially designed to counter mental magic to lift the special condition affecting his cousin, but suddenly felt a danger had already approached!

Who!

Unbeknownst to when, Chris, brandishing a pair of daggers, had appeared out of nowhere about a dozen meters away from Viscount Garcia.

The next moment, he arrived expressionlessly in front of him, swinging his daggers, aiming for Viscount Garcia's throat!