For the demon Amtils, the feeling of bathing in the moonlight and spreading its wings in the air is indescribable and wonderful.

However, the demon at this moment is not qualified to enjoy this kind of pleasant feeling. After flying easily over the Lana River and the tall walls, the demon is hiding in a large tree outside the royal castle in Onyx, hiding itself with the help of its dense foliage, looking for an opportunity to infiltrate the castle.

The island on which the Royal Citadel of the Holy Asserr Empire is located is quite large, and a full circle of walls has been built along the irregular edge of the island. In addition to the red-peaked arrow towers that are not far away, the wall also has three entrances and exits, namely the assembly island in the center of Onyx, and the stone bridges in the north and east of Agate City, which are the outermost defenses of the royal castle of the Holy Acel Empire. Inside the wall is a small forest of various trees, and after entering the island from the three entrances of the wall, you need to walk along the avenue paved with ceramic tiles for a while to see the castle in the clearing in the middle of the forest.

The castle's white exterior walls are pitch black in almost all the windows. There have been few banquets in the royal castle since Anfil XXXIV was bedridden, so that in the middle of the night there is hardly any awake people in the castle except for the guards patrolling around. In a room in the castle, there will be a demon who will come to target here, and the mage tells his dungeon master that the Book of the Moon is likely to be in the bedroom of Anfil XXXIV.

Although he felt very unwilling to be summoned by his own men, the demon carefully weighed and agreed with the Archmage Akiman's opinion: if Akiman appeared in the vicinity. The mages in the palace must be able to sense the magical energy of the archmage immediately, but the demons who basically only use their own talents to perform magic do not have the reaction of the magical energy that will alarm the mages. In addition, even if you barely sneak into the palace of Onyx City. Face the guards and knights in the palace. It can be quite dangerous for mages who are not good at hand-to-hand combat, and demons who have been mercenaries for several years still have a lot of experience in combat. Therefore, the quest to find the whereabouts of the Book of the Moon at the Imperial Palace of Onyx City is more suitable for demons than archmages who also need to monitor the scenes reflected in the crystal ball, not to mention that the mages can use magic to create a demonic phantom in the demon's room in the Thieves' Guild, so that no one will suspect the demon's whereabouts tonight.

There are not many chances to successfully infiltrate the palace, and due to the recent countless sneak attacks and even murders in Onyx City, the palace has obviously strengthened its security. Hordes of guards patrolled the castle, and two Blood Griffin Knights with conspicuous red accents on their armor and a mage in robes were guarding the entrance to the castle, and the long staircase would be the perfect place for them to intercept an uninvited guest trying to break into the palace.

It's not a pleasant feeling to wait, but patience always surprises people. The opportunity that the demon had been waiting for had finally arrived: the sound of horses' hooves could be heard from the stone bridge connecting the island where the palace was located to the eastern part of Onyx. It didn't take long for three knights in blue armor to cross the walled forest and reach the castle gates.

The blue armor is the basic identification of the members of the Dragon's Tooth Knights from the south, but the guards guarding the gate of the royal castle of Onyx City do not sell their accounts. After several transmissions, several dragon tooth knights were still not allowed to enter. In order to enter the castle, there seems to be a lot of dispute between the dragontooth knights and the blood griffin knights guarding the palace, among which the mage belonging to the guard side has condensed a fireball on the staff in his hand, as if ready to attack these distant knights who seem to want to break into the castle, and the two teams of guards who were patrolling the castle perimeter also ran towards the castle gate when they heard the news.

Such a conflict is for the demons who hide in the forest outside the castle and intend to infiltrate the castle. Naturally, this is a great opportunity.

The demon seized the opportunity of the guards and the knights guarding the door to focus their eyes on the dragontooth knight who had come to him, and spread the pair of giant red wings behind him and glide through the air for some distance. Then it gently landed on the outer wall of the castle. Holding his balance on the lookout hole in the tower, the demon adjusted his balance and looked back in the direction of the castle gate: a figure who appeared to belong to the high-ranking knights came out of the castle, listening to the three dragon tooth knights who were about to meet the castle guards. None of the guards seemed to notice the dark shadow that had just swept between the forest and the castle, and the demon gently kicked the castle's stone façade and silently rolled to the top of the tower in the southern corner of the royal castle.

Although the demon's movements are unusually light, things on the continent are always unexpected. When the demon observed in the forest outside the castle, there was no guard on the tower, and when the demon reached the top of the tower, he was confronted by a heavily armed guard.

It seemed that the guard didn't pay much attention to his appearance, the straps of his armor were completely unfastened, so that both the breastplate and the shoulder armor looked baggy, and he didn't even pull down the steel mask attached to the helmet, so the demon could see the frightened expression on the guard's face directly.

The outer wall of the fourth floor of the Royal Castle of Onyx City can be climbed by no one without alerting the guards patrolling around the perimeter, and dangerous creatures that can fly in the air, such as dragons or griffins, as long as they approach the perimeter of Onyx City, the guards guarding the walls and arrow towers on the edge of the island will sound the alarm sound throughout the Agate City in advance, and the magic array set up in the castle, as well as the two mages from the Mage Guild who have been stationed at the gate of the castle and the guard room for a long time, will ensure that no foreign mages or other magical creatures will directly invade the castle。 So the poor guard who had slept lazily and then woke up to the roof of the tower to blow the wind on the top of the tower with the help of the Archmage Aqiman's invisible scroll, and then with his flying talent and without using the slightest magical energy, was startled by the poor guard.

The guards, who hadn't even brought weapons or shields to the top of the tower, faced the demon with their bare hands on the terrifying red wings stretched out on their backs. I was stunned on the spot. Turn around and run away. Or bravely step forward to fight the demons, and the scales in the guards' hearts are placed on both ends of the scale, life and duty. At the moment, it was wavering, and the demon solved the guard's problem very simply.

Instead of tearing the guard apart in his usual brutal ways, the demon rushed directly to the guard, reaching out and lifting the guard's helmet. Unsurprisingly, this guard's helmet was just casually draped over his head, so the demon could easily pull the guard's neck armor open and cut his throat.

Because the giant scythe was too conspicuous, the demon left his usual weapon in the dungeon, so it was a long dagger in the demon's hand that killed the guards at this moment. These long daggers were often the favorite of thieves and assassins. After easily dealing with the hapless guard, the demon found a spear, a sword, and a tower shield scattered on the stone staircase behind the doorway at the top of the tower, which may be where the guard slept lazily.

Bypassing the weapons left on the ground by the slain guards, the demon made his way up the stairs to the fourth floor of the royal castle. The general castle structure on the mainland is usually built from the bottom to the top with a storage room, a guardhouse and a hall belonging to the owner of the castle, and the highest floor is the bedroom of the castle owner, which is no exception for the royal castle of Onyx. From the hallway that connects the staircase to the bedroom doorway, the wall panels are carved with intricate patterns, and the two walls are adorned with beautiful murals. All show that the demon has touched the right place: behind the two carved mahogany doors in front of him is the room of the Holy Emperor of the Aserr Empire, the thirty-fourth emperor of Anfil.

Didn't alarm anyone in the castle. The demon gently pushed open the door of Anfil XXXIV's room, and was greeted by a full set of luxury. Eight ornate tapestries adorn the surrounding walls, a purple canopy embroidered with silver stars adorns the Anfil XXXIV bed, and the blue and purple cushions, purple curtains and bedside rugs illustrate the value of the entire set. The room full of utensils was either made of gold or shining crystal,

Even the wooden frame of the huge portrait that hangs on the wall is studded with sparkling gemstones.

The demon began to search the room for chests, treasure troves, or secret doors that might contain the Book of the Moon, but after some effort, the demon found nothing. There were a lot of jewels and coins, and a few rings and jewelry that seemed to contain a lot of magic power were not what the demon was looking for, so the demon decided to stop and see the things in the room again.

Then, the demon's gaze rested on the portrait on the wall.

It is a portrait of Anfil I, the legendary founder of the Holy Acer Empire, in which Anfil I, dressed in an opulent robe and crowned with crystal and silver, sits majestically on the throne. The expression of the founding emperor is vivid, from the drawing of the background to the outline of the lines, this portrait can be regarded as a rare treasure, but I don't know why, the demon with no artistic cultivation feels that something is wrong from the first sight of this portrait.

After taking a closer look at the portrait, the demon immediately realized what made him feel that the portrait was so unnatural. The problem is not the gesture of the king in the portrait or the scepter of the king that looks like a hook, or the pattern of the robes worn by Anfil I, but the eyes of the protagonist in the painting, not looking straight ahead, as in a typical portrait, but slightly upward, as if looking at somewhere on the wall near the ceiling.

Following the gaze of Anfil I in the portrait, the demon noticed a nail in the wall. It seems that it is just a nail used to hang tapestries or door curtains, but now the curtain of the emperor's bedroom is tightly nailed to the door frame, so only a lone nail is left silently clinging to the wall. So the demon jumped up with a light touch and reached out to gently pull the nail down.

The stressed nail suddenly sank down, and the demon, who had been prepared for it, quickly spread its huge wings behind it and landed lightly on the floor covered with a plush carpet. Turning around, the demon noticed that the portrait of Anfil I on the wall had silently moved up about two or three feet, revealing a hole in the wall, inside the hole, on the old wooden cabinet. Shiny gold and silver threads make up the coat of arms of the Holy Aserr Empire.

The large rusty golden locks on the cabinet, decorated with a few round pearls, were hard to beat the demon who had been a mercenary for several years. Destroy doorways, chests, and even chests that protect all kinds of treasures or treasures. It's usually a trick for mercenaries who go around looting for money in addition to their missions. Instead of starting from the lock, the demon tiptoed the entire cabinet out of the hole in the wall and placed it on the floor, then pulled out the long dagger beside him and easily removed the wooden plank on one side of the cabinet.

Although there was no light in the sleeping Emperor's bedroom, the demon could clearly see the box wrapped in soft black velvet through the moonlight through the purple curtain outside the window, and if I guessed correctly, this was all the demons had been searching for in the royal castle: the Book of the Moon.

It is worthy of being a sacred object handed down from the Grim Reaper. There was a dark aura from the inside out, and even the demons from the Abyss Demon Domain didn't dare to reach out and touch it. Just as the demon was considering whether to move back to the Thieves' Guild's room with the cabinet, there was a sudden gasp behind him.

The demon, turning his head sideways, happened to avoid the attack of a long sword that had been slashed from behind. Although the sword looked quite heavy, the slashing motion was unusually weak, and the demon recognized at a glance the person in front of him who was attacking him from behind. With a face similar to that of Anfil I on the wall, dressed in expensive pajamas that bordered on extravagance, this withered but dignified old man was the master of this room, and indeed of the entire Holy Asserr Empire: Emperor Anfil XXXIV.

The long-term illness seemed to have almost worn out the emperor's body, and the momentary anger made the emperor's face flushed, but he could not make a sound to call the guards downstairs. It's just that I can't suppress my anger. The Emperor tried to protect his dignity and wealth and that of the Crane family by using the sword that had been placed at his bedside and that had accompanied him on his battlefield.

No matter how much land and wealth you control. No matter how many guards and knights were in the downstairs room ready to rush in, now in the emperor's bedroom, facing the powerful demon was nothing more than a sick and frail old man who had been bedridden all year round. The demon knew this very well, and the demon also knew that it was likely that a guard or attendant would soon come to the room to check the source of the sound of wood cracking, that is, the long sword in the emperor's hand had slashed into the wooden cabinet containing the Book of the Moon, and although the long sword that came out of his hand fell on the thick carpet with almost no collision sound, the sound of the long sword coming into contact with the wooden cabinet was unusually loud in the middle of the night. The demon decided to do his best to deal with the emperor in front of him, otherwise if the emperor's guards and mages arrived in time, the demon would have no chance to escape easily.

So the demon pounced directly, killing an emperor and killing a guard is actually not much different, and even compared to the young guard, killing the emperor in front of him may be simpler. The tip of the long dagger in the demon's hand immediately emerged from the old emperor's back, and the emperor's blood splattered directly onto the walls.

The demon aimed at the heart of the emperor, who was already defenseless after the sword was taken off.

"Anthony Koma, the Governor of Redfish Village, is here to welcome the arrival of Lord Count Brad Klein on behalf of all the residents of Redfish Village. "It was a fat man who spoke, and his belly bulged out like a red fish from the village.

Redfish Village, a fishing village located to the east of Onyx City, is actually a small town in some ways.

The Lena River, which originates in Lake Warren to the west of Onyx City, flows north of Redfish Village, then crosses the valley and turns south of the Holy Acer Empire, and finally flows into the sea in the south of the Duchy of Mrian, the territory of Grand Duke Karen, where the Dragon's Tooth Knights, one of the three major knights of the Empire, headed by Count Brad Crane, the only son of Grand Duke Karen, are stationed at the mouth of the River.

The Lena River flows gently through the village of Red Fish. Every year before the onset of winter, a large number of redfish pass in front of Redfish Village and swim south into the sea for the winter, and the following year at the beginning of spring, they will pass through Redfish Village again, this time to Warren Lake, not too far from Redfish Village. Accustomed to migrating twice a year, the red fish are naturally fat and delicious, and almost any race on the continent of Vestal will not express any dissatisfaction with the red fish on the table. Most of the 1,000 or so residents who live in Redfish Village depend on the twice-a-year Redfish fishing, and the few plots of farmland in the mountains near the village are used only to provide the vegetables the villagers need. Redfish is the greatest wealth of Redfish Village, and it is also the origin of the name of Redfish Village.

Since Redfish Village is located at the turn of the Lena River, and there is a small fishing port that has been weathered for an unknown number of years, almost all boats passing near Redfish Village will choose to anchor next to Redfish Village for one night. For those coming from the south to Agate City, travelers usually want to take a break and get dressed before heading to Agate City, one of the most prosperous cities on the mainland, and merchants usually take the opportunity to carefully inventory the goods on their merchant ships in order to exchange more gold coins in Agate City. Most of the ships coming out of Onyx City will choose to spend the night in Redfish Village, rather than risk crossing the valleys on both sides of the river after Redfish Village, and many merchants will even buy in Redfish Village, and the redfish produced during the fishing season are best-selling in any city on the Vista continent, and the usual dried redfish are also very popular.

It's just that the small fishing port outside Hongyu Village anchored this evening is neither a passenger ship full of travelers, nor a merchant ship piled up with all kinds of goods. More than twenty large warships sailed up the river from the south of the Holy Asserr Empire to the side of Redfish Village. The knights on the battleship were dressed in blue armor and the bow of the ship, and the residents of Redfish Village learned that this was the Dragon's Tooth Knights from the Duchy of Mrian.

Since the small fishing port could not accommodate so many large ships at the same time, the Dragontooth Knights had to take turns disembarking. When all the Dragontooth Knights, who were twice the population of Redfish Village, stepped onto the riverbank outside Redfish Village, almost every resident of Redfish Village felt the shock of the land. Suddenly, as soon as the knights disembarked, the cacophony of armor and weapons clashing melted into the air almost instantly, and even the horses suppressed their neighing.

The head of the Dragon's Tooth Knights, Count Brad Klein, walked through his team and walked up to Anthony Coma, the head of the Redfish Village, who had heard the news and came to greet him. (To be continued......)