Chapter 145: Xu Wen Kidnapped

The stranger in the black robe who abruptly appeared on the scene not only subdued Elder Xie, the strongest fighter on the ground, with a single move, but a powerful spiritual shock also swept across the entire area, causing all members of the Royal Mercenary Corps to collapse to the ground without exception.

This scene instantly sent waves of immense pressure and threat to Luffy and the others in the air, who quickly pulled away from the battlefield and shouted sharply, "Who goes there?!"

"..."

The black-robed figure lifted half of his aged face, revealing two white teeth:

"You don't need to know."

With a flick of his hand, a violent burst of energy surged along his arm and crashed into Elder Xie's body. Without even a groan, Elder Xie's head slumped to the side as he was casually tossed onto the ground by the black-robed figure.

Except for the black-robed man, not a single person remained standing on the ground.

"Who are you?"

In the air, the four eight-star experts who had been fighting Luffy's trio also wore expressions of shock, frantically trying to guess the identity of this suddenly appeared mysterious powerhouse.

Only a peak eight-star expert could so decisively subdue a group of mercenaries with seven-star strength!

For the opponent to accomplish this so effortlessly, could it be... At that moment, the black-robed figure suddenly issued an order to the other four: "Who I am doesn't matter. Stall them! The Royal Mercenary Corps reinforcements are almost here!"

"Yes!"

Hearing this, the black-armored warriors easily guessed which side the newcomer belonged to. Their faces lit up with joy as they shouted in unison, their figures flashing to guard four different directions and sealing off all escape routes for Luffy and his companions.

Luffy, Qin Lang, and Angus turned as pale as death. Now that the battle below was decided, with the addition of this mysterious powerhouse, the three of them no longer had the slightest chance of winning:

"Charge!"

Moving in perfect synchronization, the three of them targeted the Beastmaster in the southern position and struck simultaneously.

Under the joint assault of three captain-level experts from the Royal Mercenary Corps, the destructive force was unimaginable. The early-stage eight-star Beastmaster instantly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

However, the other three seized the opportunity to catch up, using their respective abilities to forcibly intercept Luffy's group.

For a moment in the air, the sounds of sonic booms, the crossing of sword auras, and dazzling flashes of light erupted as the astonishing shockwaves of a head-on collision between eight-star warriors suddenly whipped up an invisible dragon tornado within the forest!

Down below in the forest, the black-robed figure quietly watched the suddenly brutalized battle in the air, his hands rapidly forming hand seals while a faint, imperceptible sneer quickly crept onto the corners of his mouth... Three miniature black tridents briefly materialized in front of the black-robed figure before swiftly and eerily vanishing into thin air.

The aerial combat continued, but the black-robed figure had already ceased his hand seals, smiling faintly as he gazed at the seven injured individuals in the sky, his eyes flickering slightly.

Although the black-robed man made no further moves, Luffy and the two others kept a close eye on him, their hearts tightening abruptly ever since the black tridents disappeared.

"You guys go! I'll cover our retreat!"

Luffy let out a hysterical roar as tens of thousands of cards suddenly flew out from beneath his clothing. Dense and numerous, they instantly filled the surrounding space, each emitting a red glow that caused his momentum to surge severalfold.

Seen from a distance, Luffy appeared to be encircled within a giant red sphere.

"Want to leave?! Not that easily!"

The four opponents knew Luffy's formidable reputation and instantly recognized that the current Luffy was not to be trifled with. They lunged forward, preparing to intercept the other two from the flank. But the moment they moved, Luffy let out a cold snort, accelerating even further. Countless red cards instantly converged to form a grayish-brown giant dragon dozens of meters in length.

The sound of clashing metal rang out.

The grayish-brown giant dragon composed of cards sprouted countless sharp, black metallic spikes all over its body.

The ordinary illusionary demonic dragon instantly transformed into a metallic-textured spiky dragon, its momentum instantly escalating by more than one level. It abruptly swept right in front of one of the opponents, its massive body ruthlessly whipping and sending the latter flying sideways, trailing a brilliant mist of blood in the air. Having killed an enemy with a single blow without the slightest hesitation, the metallic dragon whipped toward the heavily injured Beastmaster who had retreated to the edge of the battlefield... Ah!

Another person was swept down from the sky.

Qin Lang and Angus knew very well that Luffy was heavily mortgaging his own vitality to buy them a chance at survival. Although he currently looked terrifyingly powerful, the duration was extremely short. Once his energy was exhausted, there would be no escape from death.

"We go together, or not at all!"

"I'll hold the rear! Angus, you clear the path!"

The mysterious black-robed figure remained eerie in his calmness, making no move even after two of his allies died. Qin Lang lunged fiercely at the remaining two, intending to wipe out the final pair using their temporary advantage, after which the three of them should be able to join forces and escape from the mysterious black-robed man.

"Why?!"

Among the black-armored warriors, two were instantly sacrificed, and the rapid shift in the situation—coupled with the mysterious black-robed man's inaction—shattered the remaining two's composure. Roaring in anger, they hurriedly tried to withdraw.

Unfortunately... it was too late!

The might erupted instantaneously by a Card Master going all out was no less formidable than that of a nine-star expert. Combined with Qin Lang and Angus—two eight-star powerhouses whose individual strength already surpassed theirs—

One was killed and the other injured, both plummeting toward the chaotic ground below.

Thud!

One of the corpses crashed right beside the black-robed figure, the crimson, splattering droplets of blood instantly evaporated into red mist before they could even draw close.

Behind the blood mist, far from showing any shock or surprise at the deaths of his four companions, the black-robed man wore a chilling, triumphant smirk that crept out from beneath his lowered hood.

"Let's go!"

Luffy's energy had not been entirely exhausted, but he could still sense an increasingly dense aura of danger emanating from the mysterious black-robed figure below.

After severely wounding the enemy, he didn't waste words, turning on his heel to retreat and preparing to fly far away from this place.

Just as the three of them turned around, out of the corner of their eyes, they simultaneously spotted a black shadow appearing nearby.

The black tridents!

Whoosh.

"Watch out!"

Warning bells blared wildly in the minds of the three.

Before they could make any move, the three small tridents had already made a rapid, wide detour from the flank.

Their necks tightened.

"Pfft!"

Angus's head suddenly separated from his body without the slightest warning, a blood-red thread lingering around his neck, beaded with blood. Qin Lang's pupils dilated as he quickly noticed an invisible thread tied to one of the black tridents. He immediately let out a loud roar, golden battle qi coating his exterior, and a thin thread snapped away from his neck with a twang:

"Tricks of a petty skill!"

Down in the forest, the black-robed figure revealed a set of white teeth:

"Is that so?"

Just as the chilling two words faded, one of the small tridents pierced straight through Qin Lang's chest with lightning speed.

Following Angus, Qin Lang plummeted straight down from the sky, perishing!

"As expected of the descendants of the Card Master family; they really are a bit more troublesome..."

Acting as though he had just performed an utterly trivial task, the mysterious black-robed figure raised his hands slightly and waved them in rapid succession. The remaining two small tridents were successively shattered by the metallic giant dragon.

"Soul-Reaping Trident."

Although Luffy had perfectly defended against the mysterious black-robed man's two attacks, his face grew even paler. Gasping for breath, he stared at the black-robed figure below with despair in his eyes: "You're from the Dark Empire—a Nine-Star Dark Mage?"

The nine-star Dark Mage rank was a barrier that countless eight-star experts failed to cross throughout their entire lives. A single line of separation meant a gulf as vast as heaven and earth!

The mysterious black-robed figure merely smiled and gave no answer.

With a tug of his hand, three black tridents materialized out of thin air, instantly piercing through the tattered metallic giant dragon and plunging deep into Luffy's body.

Thud!

The final corpse crashed to the ground.

Without pausing his hands, the black-robed figure continuously flicked out small black beads, striking the heads of the unconscious Royal Mercenary Corps members and blasting open bloody holes.

When he reached the closest ones—Xu Wen, Elder Xie, and Wang Xiaoshuai—the man paused slightly, scrutinizing the connection between Elder Xie and Xu Wen. The black bead spinning on his fingertips abruptly vanished.

"The medicinal pills probably didn't originate from a Dark Mage..."

"Since he signed a soul contract with a six-star fire mage, the pills most likely came from this young man. Oh well, taking two little dark-attribute fellows back with me won't cause any problems."

The black-robed man cast a deep glance toward the northeast direction, flicked his sleeve, and a colossal, imposing black three-headed hound materialized at their feet.

Opening its jaws, each of the three heads gripped one person. The black-robed man gathered the corpses of everyone present into his spatial ring, and man and hound rapidly vanished from the forest.

A few minutes later...

Dois of figures flashed in like lightning from the distance. Amidst a continuous succession of swishing sounds, over forty members of the Royal Mercenary Corps appeared across the desolate battlefield.

Scanning their surroundings quickly, every single one of them furrowed their brows tightly.

"Squeak squeak!"

A small silver beast zipped back and forth across the battlefield like lightning, occasionally stopping at places where blood had been spilled to take a light sniff.

After about a minute or so, the small beast landed in the palm of a blonde woman.

"How is the situation?"

The others crowded around anxiously:

"Did you find Luffy and the others?" The silver beast was a very special magical beast of the Royal Mercenary Corps, possessing extraordinarily strong memory and discrimination abilities, as well as astonishing olfactory senses. Suitable for any battlefield, it was a super scout.

On any battlefield, the silver beast could reconstruct the combat situation based on free-floating elemental traces in the air and lingering traces of blood.

The blonde woman made a gesture for silence, carefully watching the beast's movements and listening closely. However, her expression grew increasingly unsightly with every action of the beast.

Finally... the small beast finished its narrative.

With a pale face, the blonde woman said:

"Six eight-star level experts appeared here at the time. Our side was completely wiped out, including Luffy, Qin Lang, and Angus..."

"..."

Angrily burning with rage in the eyes of several warriors, the scorched earth beneath their feet rapidly fractured into spiderweb-like cracks.

"Which way did they go?"

"The 'Silver Mink' couldn't tell clearly..." The blonde woman shook her head helplessly. "And what's strange is that one of the eight-star experts seemed to be helping our side, killing one of the enemy combatants. However... the few survivors and all the corpses were taken away by someone who appeared at the very end, suspected to be a nine-star Dark Mage. Their direction is unknown."

"Nine-star?"

"Impossible. He couldn't have left through the air."

The blonde woman reminded them: "...It's also possible he possessed a special magical beast capable of masking scents."

"..."

A dead silence fell over the clearing.

"Luffy is dead, and the Shadow Blades didn't manage to seal the perimeter either. How are we going to answer to the Commander? How do we explain this to his family? And... I heard that the kid named Xu Wen is the most promising youth of the Azure Cloud Empire, and even he is missing. We are in deep trouble with this operation!"

(To be continued)