The fat man shivered all over, his fat trembling with fear, and quickly replied, "No, no, instructor."

"Why did you say no?" the instructor shouted, "What on earth is going on? Can you explain it clearly?"

"Yes, instructor."

Luo Hao was startled, but finally managed to calm down and grasped the crux of the issue.

He took a deep breath and replied in a low voice:

"It's the target, instructor."

"Target?"

The instructor was taken aback.

Luo Hao then nodded gently and whispered something into his ear.

The latter was instantly stunned upon hearing it.

...

When the last undead vulture also crashed heavily onto the ground—

It weakly flapped its wings twice, and then the phosphorescent flames in its eye sockets quickly faded, turning into a pile of real bones, motionless. But that wasn't all; soon, a faint black mist rose from the skeleton, like it was melting under the sunlight, and the entire bone structure was gradually fading away.

A faint black dust spiraled up, and with a gust of wind, it completely disappeared from sight.

Fang Hong watched this scene quietly.

It seemed that after the last strength of that bone dragon completely dissipated, these undead vultures born from its corpse's dark aura finally met their end as well—and not only that, no other undead creatures had appeared around for a long time, leaving the neighborhood in complete silence.

He looked up, and the sky above him had also regained its clarity, now a pure azure—meanwhile, the city's defense mechanism seemed to be shutting down, that semi-arc dome was disappearing bit by bit, and the crimson array above it had already vanished. However, many small black dots were flying out from the Elfendo Spire at this moment:

Those were the city defense force's flying dragon knights, as well as combat artisans from the Southern Region Alchemist Guild.

Fang Hong also heard a sharp whistle coming from several nearby blocks, which likely came from the city defense force or patrol cavalry, who were blowing whistles and probably heading in this direction—because the city's puzzle lock barrier should have allowed them to clearly see where that bone dragon appeared earlier.

Although it was still unclear if this current chaos was related to that official, Fang Hong suddenly realized he had to act quickly and find the clue before the others reached the target.

However, the surrounding streets were unexpectedly deserted, which was somewhat surprising, as logically, adventurers should have arrived at this location before him. But after a moment of thought, Fang Hong realized that he was likely not the only one who saw that bone dragon fall towards the southwest.

That was, after all, one of the top monsters of Eteliria, and even though it was killed by city defenses, many precious items would still be on its remnants, so those adventurers were likely heading that way.

This was indeed a pleasant surprise.

He passed through a narrow alley, and further ahead was Cold Raven Street.

But as he stepped out, Fang Hong was taken aback—this place looked more like a battlefield than a street—most of the buildings on both sides had collapsed. Not only were these caused by the bone dragon, but also by the huge scars left by those earlier beams of red light.

The powerful magic power melted everything, forming a layer of high-temperature crystallized matter on the street surface, plowing from one end of the street to the other, dozens of meters long, with countless pits and holes on either side. Even the embers had not yet extinguished, still faintly smoking.

However, the buildings on the left side of the street appeared to be relatively intact, except for one wall that had completely collapsed, yet the internal structure wasn't much damaged. Upon seeing the large claw marks left on the wall, Fang Hong deduced that the bone dragon must have descended from the sky, flying from one end of the street to the other.

Tearing off the entire wall and roof.

He slightly reconstructed the scene at that time, allowing him to easily calculate the position where the bone dragon swooped down.

Fang Hong instinctively looked in that direction, and sure enough, he saw a broken, solitary three-story stone building standing beside the street—this apartment must have been the bone dragon's initial attack point and suffered the most damage, with not only the roof and outer walls missing but about two-thirds of the building's structure altogether gone.

Under the apartment lay the remnants of a carriage, but it was charred and corroded beyond recognition, with two horse carcasses sprawling on the ground, alongside a curled human skeleton.

Fang Hong compared the location Sophie pointed out on the map, realizing instantly that this apartment was where the official was staying.

Seeing this scene made his heart skip a beat, realizing that his premonition had come true.

He was just about to go over to check when he heard a 'crash' sound of collapse; the wall on one side unexpectedly tumbled down. Only to see a cold-faced Miss Maid dragging an unconscious Mr. Bakins out from behind the wall.

Fang Hong was startled at this sight and then remembered what Hilveld had said earlier—he almost forgot that Xiesta and Bakins had been here all along. But if the two of them had stayed here, wouldn't they have personally experienced the previous battle?

He couldn't help but ask, "Xiesta, Mr. Bakins...?"

Miss Maid gently shook her head, indicating no major injuries.

Fang Hong breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "What on earth happened before? Miss Xiesta, did you see the target?"

Xiesta just shook her head again.

Then she told Fang Hong that they had just arrived at this location when the bone dragon descended from the sky and attacked the apartment. She sensed something was wrong and dragged Bakins into a nearby pottery workshop immediately.

As for everything after that, she knew nothing.

However, her words at least helped Fang Hong recreate the situation at that time, and it seemed that the initial target was indeed that official, as he had suspected. But Fang Hong furrowed his brows, realizing he'd still been a step too late, yet who exactly was the attacker? Was it the Dragon Worship Sect? Was this an assassination?

Fang Hong was unsure for the moment, though this time the Dragon Worship Sect's approach was unusually high-profile, attacking the city with a bone dragon in broad daylight and in bustling streets, even triggering Fanric's self-defense mechanism.

This was quite a commotion—

The last time Fanric activated the city defense mechanism was probably during the Battle of Bain more than a decade ago.

Why was the other side acting so high-profile this time? Was it to warn someone?

He was filled with doubts for the moment.

But after thinking for a while, Fang Hong realized that brooding here was not going to help, especially with time running short, so he said to the Miss Maid beside him, "You keep an eye on Mr. Bakins first, Xiesta; I'll go up alone to take a look."

"Wait." But the Miss Maid uncharacteristically stopped him.

Fang Hong turned around unexpectedly.

"Be careful," Miss Maid replied lightly, "You still owe the young mistress a promise."

Fang Hong paused, then smiled and nodded earnestly at her.

...

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