Appetizer, You Say?

As Ritsuka and Mash were still pondering what actually happened, Romani's voice suddenly came from a virtual screen.

"I've found it! I know how Asterios disappeared!"

"Doctor, what exactly happened?" Mash hastily inquired.

"Someone performed a spatial magecraft on Asterios just now. Based on the trace of the magecraft, it originated from the Holy City of Camelot!"

""Merlin!""

Ritsuka and Mash exclaimed in unison.

"It's likely her." Romani nodded. "Only a powerful mage like her could execute such magecraft over such a distance."

"So, Merlin was aware of our plan and sent Asterios back to Camelot?" Ritsuka sighed with disappointment. "Ahh... then all our efforts were for nothing, huh?"

Mash's mood also dampened.

Even though they were so close to keeping Asterios here.

"Don't be so down, after all, our enemy is a legendary mage. Unexpected mishaps are pretty normal—"

Romani, intending to comfort Ritsuka, suddenly paused as he glanced at the data displayed on the computer screen. After reading the data for a while, he shot up from his chair with widened eyes.

"What the heck?!"

His abrupt yell startled Mash and Ritsuka.

"What's up, Doctor?! Did something happen?" Ritsuka asked in a panic.

"I just traced the destination of that spatial magecraft and found..." Romani seemed to realize something dreadful, sweat trickling down his forehead incessantly. "It doesn't lead to Camelot at all!"

""Not Camelot?""

Mash and Ritsuka exchanged a glance, simultaneously asking with confusion.

"Then where on earth does it lead?" Ritsuka asked anxiously.

Instead of answering, Romani projected an image onto the virtual screen, and soon, the image showed Asterios, currently sixty miles away from their location.

"Isn't this... Cu Chulainn's location?" Ritsuka tilted her head. "Why would Merlin teleport Asterios over there? And wasn't Cu Chulainn taken care of by Arkhan? Sending Asterios there sounds like a death sentence, no?"

However, in the next instant, she seemed to realize something, and her face instantly turned ashen.

Before she could voice her question, Mash asked with a slightly trembling voice.

"Doctor... besides Asterios, who else is there...?"

"Besides Asterios, there are three magical energy signals completely different from Arkhan's..." Romani said in a strained tone.

Upon hearing that, Mash's face went pale in an instant.

"We've been played!" Romani slammed his fist on the table, his expression grim. "Their target from the very beginning was Arkhan!"

===

High above the vast sky, Melusine, adorned in azure armor, streaked across the sky like a shooting star, leaving behind a trail of billowing clouds. Her youthful face, shrouded in a frosty chill, exuded a fierce determination.

"Merlin..."

===

As if cleaved by a giant axe, only half of the mountain cliff remained, strewn with jagged rocks, cracked earth, trees snapped, and the scene desolate as if after a disaster.

Asterios, Medusa, Tristan, and Atalanta perched on a tree branch kilometers away, forming an encirclement from four different directions, surrounding Arkhan.

Unable to open his eyes due to Medusa's Mystic Eyes, Arkhan relied on his magical energy perception and honed combat intuition to discern the positions of the four.

Moreover, with Fenghuang Down's power, he could keenly sense their emotional fluctuations, using them to anticipate when they would launch an attack.

At some point, heavy dark clouds converged from all directions, like a black curtain enveloping the sky, blocking out the sun's radiance. Cold winds howled over the mountain peak, and the ominous sound, heavy as a heartbeat, echoed from the gaps in the clouds, as if an unseen giant stood above, observing the imminent battlefield below.

"Heh, if Cu Chulainn isn't dead, then I suppose I'm surrounded by you guys..." Arkhan chuckled lightly, his face devoid of fear but calm like a tranquil lake. "You guys must be throwing everything you've got at me now, huh? Quite the honor to have all your top-notch forces focused on little old me."

"Well, if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for underestimating us and underestimating Preceptor." Tristan remarked as she stared at him intensely.

The anticipation of vengeance almost broke her composure. The joy she received from torturing others in the past paled in comparison to the satisfaction she felt now. Though she struggled to contain it, an exaggerated smirk couldn't help but creep onto her lips.

"From the beginning, we saw through your plans crystal clear. That guy Cu Chulainn was just an appetizer, while we are the real treat prepared just for you. Be grateful!" Tristan continued with a somewhat gleeful tone.

"Appetizer, you say?" Arkhan shook his head, a hint of cold sharpness in the curve of his lips. "Don't make fun of yourselves. From where I stand, not even a pinky toe of Cu Chulainn surpasses you."

"I admit, your so-called preceptor did calculate impressively this time. I almost want to applaud her, you know?"

After saying that, Arkhan's eyes suddenly snapped open, their black depths resembling an abyss, overflowing with boundless murderous intent, ready to incinerate everything.

"The thing is... in front of a dragon, no matter how numerous the ants, they can't change a thing."

*BOOM!*

The roar of thunder echoed between the clouds as if announcing the trumpet of battle. In an instant, fierce winds rose, and the entire world was shrouded in a solemn aura of murderous intent.

In the blink of an eye, Arkhan activated the Black Dragon Body.

Majestic jet-black scales covered his entire body instantly. Sinister and eerie black tattoos highlighted his face like a demon.

*Ba-dump!* *Ba-dump!*

His heart pounded fiercely, erupting with a heavy drum-like sound, while his expanding pores seemed to instantly suck the surrounding air dry, then convert it into infinite power, injecting it into his extraordinary body.

He was never one to sit idly by even in the face of being encircled and would resolutely choose to take action.

*Whoosh!*

Arkhan's figure suddenly vanished like a ghost, then reappeared in front of Medusa as if teleporting. His fingers, transformed into sharp dragon claws, mercilessly slashed toward her enchanting yet dangerous eyes.

Among these four people, Medusa, who possessed Mystic Eyes, undoubtedly posed the greatest threat to him. For this reason, he even temporarily suppressed his intent to kill Tristan, choosing Medusa as his primary target.

*Swish!*

The sharp howling wind carried a chilling murderous intent.

Medusa's pupils reflected a figure that looked more like a monster than herself. The suffocating pressure crashed down on her face like a mountain, causing her to instinctively hold her breath.

Her heart seemed to pause for a moment, her blood almost stagnating, and her limbs stiffened to the point where she couldn't even move.