Chapter 272: Enhancement and Improvement (Two Chapters in One)

"High Priest, I heard from the Black Flame Church that they found a dormant ancient creature, the Earth Snake, in Mayest County. Do you think this news is true or false?" The middle-aged man with a black Ouroboros pattern on his forehead asked.

The High Priest with a ring-shaped Ouroboros pattern on his lips smiled, stared at the other party with a pair of yellow vertical pupils, and said:

"Aren't we going there to confirm whether it is true?"

"But... I think what they said is true."

The middle-aged man nodded and said excitedly: "High Priest, it would be great if it is true!"

"According to the ancient books in the church, the digging ability of the ancient creature Earth Snake is second to none among all the giant beasts."

"With it, we can quickly dig tunnels and connect the various branches together. In addition, we can also explore the ruins buried deep underground more easily."

"Not bad! Holden, you can think of this, which shows that you have matured a lot. This is something a qualified high priest should consider." The high priest nodded.

The ancient creature, the Earth Snake, is nearly 100 meters long and several meters in diameter when it grows up. It is an absolute behemoth.

Although it is named after a snake, its head does not look like a snake head, but more like a petal with teeth. It has super strong bite and crushing power, and digs underground at a very fast speed.

In less than half an hour, it can dig out an underground tunnel as long as its body.

Of course, the most important thing is that as the Secret Snake Cult, it has a special way to control the ancient creature Earth Snake.

Otherwise, if the Black Flame Cult can control the Earth Snake itself, it will naturally not be so kind to tell them this news.

After receiving the praise from the high priest, Holden laughed, but soon, he frowned and said:

"However, even if this news is true, according to the nature of the Black Flame Church, they will definitely extort money."

The high priest smiled slightly and said: "Holden, this is actually not important."

"What is important is whether the earth snake they found is an adult, what is its condition, and whether it can be awakened by the ritual. This is why I came here in person."

"If there is no problem, then what does it matter even if we agree to some of their requests?"

Holden's brows relaxed when he heard it, and he nodded and said: "Indeed, I heard that their plan in Meister was blocked."

"I guess they are likely to ask us to cooperate."

"Then cooperate. The more they make trouble in Meister, the better it is for us. However, Holden, you need to deal with a few little bugs in the empire first, over there."

The high priest stretched out his hand and pointed to the left rear side of the carriage.

The surface of the back of his hand was all blue-black snake-like keratin, and it was completely impossible to tell that it was human skin, but more like snake skin.

"Hmm? Little bugs from the Empire? Leave it to me!" Holden took off his hood, revealing a bald head with various mysterious symbols, and said with a grin.

The next second, he suddenly opened the door and jumped down in the galloping carriage.

——

Meist, Wolf Hill.

In a hidden cave.

"Lord Blood Burner, the latest news just came from Welsh County, Lord Galina failed!" The black-robed monk who reported the news looked ugly.

"Why? Galina is so careless?"

"Did she not take the earl's daughter seriously and let her escape?" Laxul smiled, shook the dark red aged wine in the transparent glass, and then sniffed it.

Obviously, he didn't take the news seriously.

After all, the other party was a top student of the Imperial Royal Academy and the earl's daughter. She had some means to save her life, so it was easy to understand that she escaped from Galina.

"This." Hearing Laxul say this, the Black Flame monk who was reporting looked strange, and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Huh? What, did something happen?" Laxul's face condensed, and the blood-red flame mark on his forehead flashed.

He quickly judged from the face of his subordinates that there should be unexpected circumstances in this matter.

"Yes, sir, Lady Galina died in the battle!"

"What?" Laxul's pupils shrank, and the whole person stood up suddenly, with an expression of disbelief.

The blood-red flame on his forehead became dark red!

Galina used to be his subordinate, and after he was promoted, she took over his position as the chief priest of the County of Wales. He naturally knew Galina's ability.

When he heard the report just now, several possibilities flashed through his mind, including the escape of the Earl's daughter Claire.

But he really never thought that his former capable subordinate, the current chief priest of the County of Wales, Galina, would actually lose her life because of such a request-like task!

You know, with Galina's attainments in illusion, even if it were him, it might be easy to defeat the opponent, but it would be extremely difficult to kill her.

"How did Galina die?"

"Is Claire, the daughter of Count Habsburg, so powerful?" Laxul, who had calmed down, asked in a deep voice.

"My lord, it's not that the strength of the earl's daughter is so strong. According to the two surviving Protestants, the opponent is probably just a peak knight."

"But there is a young man next to her who is very strong. It is said that he killed 'Bison' Bildas with one punch, and also resisted the giant axe golem guard and destroyed it"

As his subordinates told the story, Laxul's expression was only solemn at first, but after hearing that the Golem Guard was destroyed, he was shocked!

"What! You said that Galina even used the secret weapon Golem Guard, but in the end, she was killed by the opponent before she could defeat him?" Laxul looked like he had seen a ghost.

He thought that Galina didn't take it seriously enough and was killed by a sneak attack due to carelessness.

Now it sounds like that's not the case at all!

Galina took his request very seriously this time, bringing a strong man like 'Wild Bull' Bildas, and also brought the secret weapon 'Golem Guard'.

The key is that this guy was killed?

He will definitely be questioned by the higher-ups!

Moreover, the Golem Guard was exposed this time, and the Empire should pay more attention to the activities of the Church. Perhaps, the subsequent counterattack from the Empire is already brewing. It's really troublesome things one after another.

Laxul found it difficult to accept this answer for a while!

"Uh, yes, Lord Blood Burner." The Black Flame Monk bowed slightly and said.

"I didn't believe it at first, but after using telepathy and truth serum on the two surviving Protestants in Wales County, they found that their statements did not change."

"So, Lord Bloodburner, although it is hard to believe, it seems to be true."

When the Black Flame monk who reported the news learned about it, he was also shocked for a long time.

After reading the content written on the intelligence several times, he immediately came to report.

At this moment, Laxul's heart was in turmoil.

What the hell is going on?

How can a daughter of an earl have such a powerful master guarding her?

Imperial Royal Academy

That's right! Could it be

Could it be that the young master is the legitimate son of a great noble in the imperial capital, and is pursuing this earl's daughter Claire?

In this case, everything makes sense

Laxul's face suddenly became clear!

The background of the great nobles of the Dragun Empire is hard for ordinary people to imagine, and it is not surprising that they can cultivate such a powerful young man.

But in this case, things become tricky. If I take action myself, I may not be able to deal with the other party, but I may fail.

"Karam, so the other party should have arrived in Meister now, right?"

"Yes, Lord Blood Burner. According to intelligence, the team escorting the earl's daughter Claire just arrived in Meister County this afternoon."

"In addition, I have asked several insiders in Earl Habsburg's mansion to secretly investigate the other party's origins."

"Well, very good."

"Investigate the other party's origins and report to me as soon as possible." Laxul nodded and said.

"Yes, sir." The Black Flame Monk slowly retreated.

However, a few minutes later, Black Flame Monk Karam came in again to report:

"Sir, we received a message from the Secret Snake Cult. Their special envoy in charge of this connection, the Secret Snake Cult High Priest Abad, has just entered the territory of the Minster Province from the Nome Province. In about two days, he will arrive in Meister."

The status of the High Priest is similar to that of the Archbishop of the Goddess Church. He is responsible for church activities within a province and is an absolute high-level person.

"Oh? Will the people of the Secret Snake Cult arrive in two days? And it is a High Priest who is coming?" Laxul looked thoughtful, and he had a plan in his mind.

"It seems that I have to go to Lord Freeman. The Secret Snake Cult is coming at the right time." Laxul seemed to have thought of something, and his serious face relaxed a lot.

——

Meyster County City.

In the Earl of Habsburg's mansion.

With the cooperation of Viscount Selier, Ryan came to the indoor training room on the first floor of the main building of the villa after making preliminary arrangements for the defense of the Earl's mansion.

As the residence of Earl Habsburg, the highest executive officer of Mayest County, there are naturally training grounds, and there are two indoor training rooms, as well as an outdoor training ground that should be the largest in the county.

At this time, Shadiya, dressed in a black maid outfit, came over with a brown wooden box in her hands, and said with a smile:

"Lord Ryan, this is the special potion "Strengthening Secret Medicine" that the lady prepared for you before going to the secret room. Usually, only the Earl is taking it in the mansion, which is quite beneficial for the training of the Great Knight."

"Hmm?" Ryan raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect Claire to be so thoughtful.

"Miss Claire, don't you use it yourself?" After Ryan took it, he looked at Shadiya and asked.

"Miss, she is not a great knight yet, so she cannot take it for the time being. Besides, although this secret medicine is precious, the stock in the mansion is also very small, but it is more than enough for two or three great knights to practice."

"In addition, the lady also said that you are her guardian knight. The stronger you are, the safer she is, so please don't be polite."

"Okay, then thank you Miss Claire!" Ryan smiled and said.

"By the way, Lord Ryan, is there anything else you need my help with?"

Ryan looked thoughtful, thought for a while, and said: "There is indeed one thing, Maid Shadiya, I may need to trouble you to send someone to my mansion to invite a young knight named Has to come here."

"Knight Has? Okay, Lord Ryan." Shadiya slowly retreated.

When Ryan walked into the training room on the first floor of the main building of the villa, he found that there were almost all kinds of weapons in it, such as swords, hammers, axes, shields, bows, etc.

All kinds of training dummies and archery targets were not left out.

This training room was originally a training room for Earl Habsburg and Claire. Now that one of them was seriously injured and the other had a breakthrough, they naturally couldn't be used.

Ryan didn't have to worry about other people disturbing him here.

In addition, since last night, Ryan had always wanted to test the newly learned Arcadia swordsmanship elementary secret, 'Blade Storm'.

Now, he planned to try it right away.

In order to test the effect of the Blade Storm, Ryan first placed four ironwood dummies in front of, behind, and around him, four or five meters away, and then placed four more dummies ten meters away.

Then, he came to the center of the ironwood dummies and took a deep breath.

The next second, the hardened adamantium covering his knight's hand guard instantly turned into a two-handed sword.

'Blade Storm'!

In an instant, Ryan held a two-handed sword in a gyroscope shape, spinning at high speed. A strong whirlwind like an airburst was generated out of thin air in the open space, and quickly swept around in the form of a shock wave!

"Bang! Bang! Snap! Snap!" A sound came.

Whether it was the four ironwood dummies at five meters or the dummies at ten meters, they all fell to the ground.

A few seconds later, when the smoke and dust cleared!

Ryan walked over to check, and saw that the four ironwood dummies at five meters had more than ten horizontal sword cuts several inches deep on each dummy.

Ironwood has both hardness and toughness. If it can leave sword marks several inches on it, even steel that has been tempered a thousand times can almost produce a similar effect.

Ryan nodded slightly.

Then, he checked the four ironwood dummies ten meters away.

However, there were only more than ten faint white stripes on the dummies. Ryan frowned slightly when he saw this effect.

What caused the damage to the Ironwood dummy was not the greatsword in Ryan's hand, but the force on the greatsword that affected the air at super-fast speed, and the high-speed airflow cut formed in an instant.

If the greatsword directly hit the dummy, there is no doubt that the Ironwood dummy would be cut into several pieces.

"The power is quite strong, but the attack range does not seem to be as wide as I imagined."

"The effective attack radius is only about five meters, which is too limited."

"But it seems that it is indeed difficult to spread too far with just high-speed airflow."

Ryan immediately called up the system panel and focused his attention on the blade storm.

"If it is upgraded to the intermediate level, it should be much more powerful."

". To upgrade to the intermediate secret, the breathing method has already been satisfied, and the Arcadia swordsmanship level 14 or above and the consumption of 2 gold skill points are required."

"This calculation requires a total of 3 gold skill points, which is just enough."

After thinking for a while, Ryan decided to add it to try the effect.

A few minutes later, Ryan looked at the iron dummies lying around and nodded slightly.

"The damage radius has only expanded to about seven meters, which is still much lower than expected, but the lethality within the radius is indeed considerable. The iron dummies within a range of three to five meters were directly cut off!"

Ryan thought for a moment, and a flash of inspiration flashed through his mind.

He focused his mind on the two-handed sword in his hand.

The next second, four-cornered darts similar to those used by ninjas in previous lives appeared on the surface of the two-handed sword, and there was a very thin metal wire connecting the four-cornered darts and the two-handed sword.

"Blade Storm!"

In an instant, Ryan held the two-handed sword and spun like a gyroscope. While the strong sonic boom swept around, there were also some black things in the airflow.

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

With this performance, the seventy or eighty densely packed four-cornered darts on the sword, due to the strong inertia of rotation, broke the metal wire from the surface of the sword blade and shot rapidly around.

"Ding Ding Clang Clang!"

The ironwood mannequins in the distance made dense sounds like frying beans.

When the dust cleared, Ryan went forward to check again. This time, he found that there were seven or eight or three or four four-corner darts nailed to the surface of the ironwood mannequins placed against the wall 30 meters away.

The depth also reached more than five centimeters, which was similar to the cutting effect of high-speed airflow within the range of six or seven meters before.

In other words, after Ryan's improvement, the attack range of the blade storm was increased from the original six or seven meters to thirty or fifty meters!

Seeing this effect, Ryan smiled.

As for why the four-corner darts were chosen?

That's because Ryan considered that the stability of the four-corner darts after rotation is better than that of the kunai or willow leaf darts, and there is no need to worry about the angle of the greatsword when performing the blade storm.

The four-corner darts can achieve 360 ​​degrees without dead angles and sweep around.

Of course, this is not without disadvantages.

It's very expensive!

The seventy or eighty square darts shot out were all transformed from hardened adamantium. Every time a blade storm was performed, it meant that Ryan lost about ten kilograms of hardened adamantium!

It was quite expensive.

Ryan adjusted it several times and adjusted the thickness of the metal wire to the right degree. It was neither too thick to break free from the rotation inertia, nor too thin to cause it to fall off as soon as it rotated, thus lacking power.

Half an hour later, Ryan finally showed a satisfied smile.

Suddenly, the system prompt sounded:

[Ding! The intermediate ultimate skill ‘Blade Storm’ and the innate magic ‘Metal Transfiguration’ have been successfully combined and improved, and the power has reached the effect of the advanced ultimate skill. Please name the new ultimate skill. ]

Huh?

Can it be like this?

Ryan’s eyes lit up!

As for the name

Since it is an improvement, it will be called ‘Blade Storm·Change’!

A lazy way of naming.

[Ding! ‘Blade Storm·Change’ has been named successfully, and the original Blade Storm-related ultimate skills have been adjusted synchronously. ]

Immediately, Ryan focused his attention on the Weapon Master (Legend) profession panel and checked it in detail:

Blade Storm·Change (Advanced Ultimate Skill) Effect: Based on the arc slash, it exquisitely combines the Force and the innate magic metal transformation, wields the special sword in the hand, mixes metal in the high-speed airflow, and attacks all enemies around.

(Note: Bladestorm·Change is a secret skill and cannot be upgraded through skill points.)

(To upgrade Bladestorm·Change to the top secret skill, the following conditions must be met: 1. Arcadia Sword Skill lv16 or above; 2. Bear King Breathing Technique lv16 or above; 3. The innate witchcraft is Metal Transfiguration; 4. Strength 42 points, Agility 38 points, Constitution 38 points or above; 5. Consume 4 gold skill points.)

"That's good. Conditions 2 and 3 have been met, and the attribute points are not a big problem."

"In this case, it means that only 6 gold skill points are needed to upgrade 'Bladestorm·Change' to the top secret skill."

"As a top secret skill of group attack, it costs 2 gold skill points less than 'Crushing Hammer'. This is the benefit of combining the innate witchcraft 'Metal Transfiguration'" Ryan thought to himself.

"Dong Dong Dong!"

At this time, there was a knock on the door outside the training room.

"Come in!"

The maid Shadiya came in. She looked curiously at the ironwood mannequins lying on the ground, which were covered with metal darts, and said:

"Lord Ryan, Knight Has is not in your mansion, but he left a letter for you."

"The servants left in your mansion said that Knight Has had just left this morning, and this letter was originally intended to be sent to Munster. The person I sent was quite smart and brought it directly for you."

Shadiya handed Ryan a letter while speaking.

Huh?

Left?

Could it be because

Ryan raised his eyebrows and opened the envelope.

"Ryan: Larchmond Fishing Port was attacked by sea giants, and the situation is not good. Your family was in the mansion before, so I couldn't leave, but please forgive me now! Has."

It's human nature.

Ryan nodded slightly.

It was indeed the reason.

Haas's family was all in Larchmond Fishing Port, unlike himself, who had already sent his parents and sister to Munster.

Early the next morning.

The messenger of the Sword Bearer Division, the tough leather-armored man, arrived again.

"Lord Ryan, the two lords are very sorry."

"Ms. Veronica can't come to help you this time. She is currently one of the information transmission channels between the imperial coast and the navy. No other suitable replacement can be found in a short time."

Ryan nodded slightly to show his understanding.

Yes, Veronica is a disciple of Master Enius, the naval advisor, and has a natural familiarity with the navy's contact.

In large-scale battles, keeping information flowing is of great significance.

"That. You mentioned last time, Lords Angus and Vieri, they all suffered varying degrees of injuries in the last mission, and are currently recuperating. I'm afraid they won't be able to recover in a short time." The leather-armored man said apologetically.

Hmm?

Hearing this, Ryan frowned and said:

"So, no one can come here in a short time?"

"Not really." The man in leather armor thought for a while and said.