In the twilight of winter, the lead-gray sky is blowing a cold wind, the temperature drops sharply, and the dead leaves fall one after another, adding a bit of chill to this forest.

Javier wiped the dagger from the blood stains with a sword cloth and inserted it into the scabbard at his waist, the most valuable eyes, teeth, claws, and limb bones of the Storm Ape King had been packed in animal skins and laid aside in the shade of a tree.

Glancing at the scarlet in his palms, there was a faint pungent smell of blood, so Javier walked over to the black dragon, removed the water bladder from its body, and began to wash the dirt from his hands with clean water.

After everything was done, Javier looked around and found no shadow of Estes, but then he heard movement from above, and looked up, only to see that Estes had somehow climbed to the top of a towering tree.

She sat on a thick tree trunk, her long round legs swaying gently in the air, her heroic and charming eyes staring silently at the horizon, her long ice-blue hair rising in the wind.

This beautiful scene made Javier's heart tremble, and his eyes froze for a moment, and then immediately came back to his senses.

"Estes, it's almost time for us to go back to the Imperial Capital!"

He shouted upward, and he didn't know what this guy was doing when he climbed so high, probably because he was bored, so he ran to a place with a good view to see the scenery.

"You're done over there? Okay, I'll come down now. ”

In response, Estes jumped straight from the trunk of the tree, and in the middle of the crash, she pressed the beret above her head with one hand to prevent it from being blown away by the wind, while the other hand held her balance in the air.

However, from Javier's point of view, it is a scene of flying skirt corners, and you can see both what you should see and what you shouldn't see.

Belch...... Black.

This thought flashed through his mind, and Javier quickly looked away, a little subtly embarrassed.

With a thud, Estes landed safely, patted the non-existent dust on her clothes, and then stood up, stretching her bumpy and delicate body, and the perfect curve was displayed in front of Javier's eyes.

Looking at Javier, whose eyes were fluttering, Estes wondered, "What's wrong?" Your expression is weird. ”

"No, nothing."

Javier took a deep breath and drained the distractions from his mind, and after thinking about it, he still felt that he should remind her: "The next time you jump down from a high place, I hope you can remember to cover your skirt." ”

"Oh——?"

Estes deliberately dragged out his voice, and a narrow smile appeared on his face: "Na, what did you just see?" Do you say ......"

"Didn't see anything worth mentioning."

Directly interrupting Estes's speech, Javier turned around and walked towards the black dragon, and said without looking back: "Okay, hurry up, it's going to be dark soon, if you hurry up, you can go back to dinner in time." ”

"You're too deliberate in the way you divert the subject...... Oh, forget it, I'll just act like nothing happened. Estes smiled and followed.

Moments later, the black dragon flapped its wings and rose from the ground, then soared into the sky, an explosive current that blew away the clouds on either side.

Estes sat on the dragon's back with her legs bent on her knees, she took off her beret and held it in her hands, the howling winter wind not giving her the slightest chill, but blowing her long hair up, drenching the dreary twilight with a dazzling blue.

When he didn't speak like this, Estes looked a little quieter than usual, like an intellectual eldest lady raised in the boudoir by a big family.

However, Javier, who is well acquainted with her temperament, understands that he must not be fooled by simple appearances, knowing that under this beautiful appearance, there is a mad ghost eager to kill and destroy.

If you approach too closely, you may be injured and even more likely to die.

"I've wanted to ask for ...... a long time ago"

Javier looked at Estes, or more precisely at the black mark on her chest like a tattoo, and said, "That, is that your imperial tool?" ”

"yes, yes." Estes smiled, and seemed happy to explain to Javier, "Demon God Manifestation, Demon Essence, made from the blood of the legendary super dangerous species that inhabit the Far North, can freely make and control ice, and is one of the strongest imperial tools I got from the minister a few years ago. ”

"The strongest?" Javier raised his eyebrows, shook his head, and said, "The Imperial Tool is indeed extraordinary, but after all, it is just a dead thing, and whether it is strong or not does not depend on the Imperial Tool itself, but on the user's ability." ”

"Ah, you actually praise me so much, are you finally conquered by my charm?"

Estes gave him a narrow look, a seductive flush on his face.

"It's true to praise you, as a defeated subordinate, I have to admit your strength." Javier said expressionlessly, "But the one in the back, you better wash and sleep." ”

"Isn't that frank...... Hawkers, anyway, it's still a long time, and I'll make you my minister. ”

"For your inexplicable self-confidence, sometimes I really admire it."

Javier sighed silently, but heard Estes say again: "By the way, let's also talk about your imperial equipment, I was shocked when I fought you last time - the defense was completely ineffective, and this is the first time I have encountered this situation." ”

"It doesn't hurt to tell you."

Javier was silent for a moment, then rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular right arm, which does not look exaggerated at a glance, but only those who have experienced it know what kind of unscientific strange power is hidden in this arm!

And on this arm, engraved a dark cyan pattern, which is a flying bird with a crown of thorns on its head, about to spread its wings to the sky, the pattern is quite delicate, giving people a sense of life.

"Wind King Engraved Ouranos, you must have heard of the name, this is the Imperial Tool passed down from generation to generation by the head of our Salmondo clan, and the wielder of the Imperial Tool is able to control the power of the wind - the absolute slashing power brought by the wind elemental can break through almost any defense in this world."

Javier's gaze looked at the ever-changing landscape in front of him, and his mind recalled this little-known memory.

"The body of the emperor is an engraved stone enshrined in the family ancestral hall, after the death of each generation of the emperor's holder, the new heir must accept the test from the engraved stone, and only the inheritor who has been recognized by the emperor will appear on the body of this cyan coat of arms that represents the identity of the emperor's envoy."

Lowering his sleeves to cover the pattern of the thorn bird, Javier said with some sighs: "Maybe it's because our family's bloodline fit is not bad, and there have been few examples of inheritance failures for thousands of years, so as the goalkeeper of the southwest gateway of the empire, it has continued to this day." ”

After hearing this, Estes lowered his head slightly, showed a thoughtful look, and said softly: "Salmondo, the gatekeeper family with a long history in the empire, does it turn out that there is such a past, it is really not simple. ”

She tilted her head and thought for a while, then suddenly asked with a smile: "Since your family has been an emperor envoy for generations, has there ever been a stronger family master than you?" ”

"What stupid are you talking about?" Javier looked at her with mentally retarded eyes, and said proudly: "The Salmondo family has lasted for thousands of years, and I am the only one who can be called the strongest family head, whether it was in the past or in the future. ”

As a warrior who pursues the pinnacle of martial arts, Javier never thought that anyone could be stronger than him, even if it was his father, grandfather, or even his ancestors...... Neither.

Although he was defeated by Estes once, Xavier's confidence has never diminished in the slightest.

For him, one or two wins or losses are nothing, as long as he can continue to fight, he will find a chance to double it back next time.

Estes smiled, his ice-blue eyes glinting.

"Your confident eyes are really good, very attractive...... Really, doesn't that make me more and more obsessed with you? How can you take responsibility for my feelings? ”

“……”

Suffocated by Estes's straightforward expression, Javier silently looked away, feeling that it was wiser for him not to answer for the time being.

—

At the same moment, where the battle had broken out earlier, a dusty figure was hurrying from the western horizon.

It was a red-haired man wearing silver-gray chain mail, he was 1.95 meters tall, about mid-middle, full of muscles, wearing a black blindfold on his right eye, which gave his rugged face a bit of fierceness, and on his back he carried two majestic giant battle axes, a standard warrior outfit.

Even though he was bearing such a load, the speed of the big man's running was not weak, and a long storm of sand and dust rolled up behind him, like an earth-walking dragon approaching at extreme speed.

"If the map is correct, you should be able to see the village when you climb over the hill in front of you."

At the foot of the mountain, the red-haired man stopped running, took out the map from his backpack, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He rubbed his pinprick-like beard and complained: "I didn't expect the terrain around here to be so complicated, so that Uncle Ben got lost several times, and the dry food and water he carried with him were almost consumed...... If I knew this, I shouldn't have crossed the border to take on this mission, what a fucking waste of time! ”

Complaining is complaining, but Sigmund still looks at the map while moving forward, as a professional mercenary, basic professionalism is still required, and you can't give up halfway in the face of any task.

After a few days of traveling, he was now physically and mentally exhausted, and all he wanted was to find the damn client as soon as possible, hand over the task, get the commission, and then find a good hotel to sleep soundly, and wake up to the tavern for a few glasses of imperial wine......

Thinking of this, Sigmund suddenly felt energetic, and the pace of progress accelerated a little.

"Huh...... This breath? ”

His nose moved, and Sigmund seemed to smell something suddenly, and his eyes looked in a certain direction, and then without hesitation, he walked that side, through the dense forest overgrown with weeds, and he came to an open area, and saw the remains of the corpse.

"It's ...... Super dangerous species, Storm Ape King? ”

Although it had been dismembered beyond recognition by Javier, the experienced mercenary still recognized the true face of this dangerous species at a glance, and couldn't help but be a little surprised: "Hell, how could the dangerous species of the Crescent Forest appear here?" ”

Although he was puzzled, he did not continue to dwell on this issue, there will always be some unexpected situations in this world, and the so-called common sense exists in order to be refreshed.

Sigmund circled around the corpse of the Tyrannosaur Ape King twice, facing this killing beast that symbolized destruction and destruction, he didn't show any special emotions, but just shook his head with some regret: "All the valuable things on the body have been taken, and the rest are some useless minced meat, it seems that it can't be picked up." ”

"But the guy who killed the Tyrannical Ape King is really amazing."

He looked around, judging the situation from the remnants of the battlefield alone, and couldn't help but sigh: "There is no doubt that it was a one-sided torture and killing, this empire seems to be corrupt, but there are still such ruthless people?" Oh, that's interesting. ”

Sigmund's eyes showed a fanatical fighting spirit, and when he met a strong man, he naturally had to fight with him, regardless of life or death.

"But before that, let's go and hand in the mission first."

He walked away, didn't take a second look at the super dangerous species at his feet, and muttered as he walked: "I don't know which nobleman in the empire is interested in collecting materials for super dangerous species, if it weren't for the high price, who would have come all the way to the imperial capital......

Sigmund ran again, like a chariot on a rampage, bursting a deep pit in the ground with each step, splashing dirt and cracking rocks.

And at the end of the direction he is heading is the imperial capital.