Chapter 279: Snap

Unfortunately, it was too late for Stan Watson to figure out what was happening.

The red flame passed through the thick Ice Wall, dazzling like the sun. The ice instantly melted as the red incandescence leapt out from within. Stan suddenly lost contact with the ground, and a flaming arm was tightened around his neck.

It was followed by a snapping sound.

The surroundings suddenly went quiet.

Everyone stood there in a daze.

This was a really shocking scene.

The beautiful Expert Swordswoman forgot to send a 5th Crescent Moon Slash, the elites of the Red Dragon Mercenary Group forgot to try to save their employer. They all stood there in a daze, filled with shock and fear.

Stan Watson had already been famous ten years ago. He was considered the Watson Family's future, a 25-year-old High Mage that shocked all of Okland, and he had been steadily progressing over the years. He had been quickly advancing down the path of magic and had already become an 8th Rank High Mage. He might have become an Archmage within three years if given the time.

Stan Watson was like a shadow looming in the minds of all of Okland's young mages. Everyone knew that he was very prideful and arrogant, but no one could deny that he was extremely talented. Anyone that wanted to reach the peak would have no choice but to face Stan Watson.

The beautiful Expert Swordswoman included.

Anna had the bloodline of the War God, she had defeated the famous Expert Swordsman, Rosen, and was now the vice leader of the Red Dragon Mercenary Group. Her sword rarely met any worthy opponents, but she herself had to admit that she was still far from being on Stan Watson's level.

Earlier, Stan had arrogantly claimed that only a Sword Saint was qualified to worry about him. At the time, even if Anna had been angry, she didn't retort, because this was indeed a fact. He was incredibly confident, to the point of being arrogant.

But now...

The arrogant and formidable Stan Watson was dead.

Indeed, that seemingly fragile and slender arm had passed through the thick Ice Wall and snapped Stan's neck in an instant.

Now, Stan Watson was only a corpse that was casually thrown to the ground by that young mage. The Fire Elemental Incarnation had already scattered and the young mage no longer emitted berserk mana fluctuations. He gently looked around at everyone with a smile on his face. If not for the sparks at the tip of his fingers that had yet to dissipate, no one would have imagined that such a gentle and harmless-looking young man had just snapped the neck of the most outstanding genius of Okland Family.

"You... You killed Stan Watson!" Anna stood there in a daze, her hand tightly gripping her sword, but it was clear that her sword was shaking.

The beautiful Expert Swordswoman was already paralyzed. She couldn't stop thinking of the consequences of Stan Watson's death. The failure of the escort mission would be a huge blow to the Red Dragon Mercenary Group's reputation, and the Watson Family would definitely look into it.

Normally, Anna's only choice as a hired mercenary would be to kill the murderer.

But she didn't dare to try.

Anna truly didn't dare, because the power of that young mage was frightening and strange. She simply didn't have the confidence to withstand that power, let alone to kill the opponent. Even just looking at him from far away made her feel unspeakable fear.

Even Anna was in such a state, not to mention the other mercenaries.

In fact, they had yet to react. How could their perfect escort mission suddenly fail? 'Where did that young mage come from, how could he have such frightening power? Wasn't Stan the most outstanding genius of Okland's younger generation? The most talented? How... How could he be completely unable to even resist? How could he stand there as his neck was broken by someone else? This... What's happening?'

But they wouldn't get an answer from Lin Yun.

He didn't leave immediately after cancelling the Fire Elemental Incarnation. Instead, he bent down and picked up the yellow map.

He had seen Stan Watson take it out earlier, and it seemed very important. After he appeared, Stan Watson didn't have the time to hide it, and with his death, that map had involuntarily fallen to the ground.

"Oh?" After picking it up, Lin Yun took a look at the map and became interested.

On the yellow map was drawn the shape of the Aurij Mountains with a red line at the peak. Lin Yun studied it carefully and saw that the end of that line seemed to be on the other side of the Aurij Mountains, close to the Gaugass region.

'It looks like I killed the right person.' Lin Yun smiled and stopped studying the map. He slowly rolled it up before carefully putting it in his pocket.

Looking further at it would be a waste of time.

The red line led to a region that he couldn't enter right now. In the future, a world-shaking fight would happen, engulfing the entirety of Noscent. Countless powerhouses would fall there; Archmages, Sword Saints, they were only cannon fodder in that war, as even more than a dozen Heaven Mages would fall.

Thus, Stan Watson's death wasn't unfair.

Trying to step into that area with the strength of an 8th Rank High Mage...

'He was truly tired of living...' Lin Yun's mouth twitched. He no longer paid attention to the corpse on the ground and nodded at the beautiful Expert Swordsman who was still shaking. "Don't worry, I don't have any evil intentions."

He then walked down the mountain...

At this time, the fifty elite mercenaries and the 24-year-old War God didn't dare to stop Lin Yun on his way down. Let alone stopping him, no one even dared to breathe.

Lin Yun's figure gradually became indistinct in the distance.

"Hold on! Stop!" Anna seemed to regain some courage as she chased after the blurry figure.

But then, she stopped.

Even this beautiful Expert Swordswoman herself didn't know what she was doing.

Chasing him?

Was this any different from courting death? The power displayed by the other side could overwhelm Expert Swordsmen, and she was only at the 5th Rank. Even if she spent a few years and reached 9th Rank, or even Sword Saint rank, she felt that it might be very difficult for her to win.

But...

She felt unwilling to let the other side go.

Anna didn't know what she should do now.

The blonde Expert Swordswoman was at her wits' end as she stood there. She didn't dare to chase, but was unwilling to let it go. A few minutes later, when the young mage's silhouette disappeared completely, Anna sighed and told the fifty mercenaries behind her, "Take Young Master Stan's corpse, let's return..."

...

At the same moment, in the Merlin Family Manor.

"That is quite a coincidence, I came to meet our younger cousin today, but he actually went out. Forget it, it's fine if our younger cousin isn't around, I only wanted to tell him a few things." Ross stood there with his condescending attitude. The young mage from earlier was already hiding behind Ross, afraid of that "Dark Flame" Beastman doing something rash.

"What did you want to tell him?"

"I heard that our younger cousin's business in Thousand Sails City is pretty good, the alchemy shop called Gilded Rose seemed to be doing quite well. It's perfect, I just set up a mercenary group and I'm preparing an expedition on the River Branch Plane and I need a lot of equipment. Wait a bit, I'll have someone draft a list and send it to you, then you can have our younger cousin deliver the items as soon as possible."

"Hehe..." William suddenly understood when he heard that.

No wonder someone was looking for trouble.

It turned out that he was obeying his master.

The matter of the Gilded Rose's wealth had already spread throughout the Merlin Family. It wasn't just Ofran that knew, even Ross and Aube most likely got some information.

It was clear that Ross had heard that the Gilded Rose was thriving in Thousand Sails City, and thus, he sent a group of people to look for trouble, in order to extort some profits from the Gilded Rose.

It wasn't hard to understand.

While they were busy making a mess, Ross would personally appear to clean it up and take the opportunity to ask for a batch of alchemy items. Due to owing a favor and because of Ross' power, even if Mafa was unwilling, he would feel pressured to deal with his request.

Unfortunately, Ross had yet to meet Mafa.

If he had, he would never have dared to blackmail him even if he were a hundred times more courageous...