<h4>Chapter 165: Coronation II (Prelude)</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio


    The gates of Babus City was wide open, as all of the nobles streamed in from every corner of the Mara Kingdom. They hade to witness the coronation of the new monarch king.


    The entire city was decorated with many lights. As this was an important time for the monarchy, all of the forces in the city were on maximum guard.


    Cardinal Peter from the Mara Kingdom had already arrivedst night with a squad of knights and priests. Many other lords had already gathered in the city. Warhorses and soldiers also numbered in the thousands.


    It was almost dawn. An urgent meeting was taking ce within the City Defense meeting hall. The attendees of the meeting included both members of the Defense force and various nobles from the Mara Kingdom, as well as an aged priest from the Church of Light.


    “The other side has arge army of high-ss ghouls, as well as an unknown number of ordinary ghouls. At the very least, they are two-thousand strong. I surmised the headcount from the number of missing persons. It is rming that we didn’t notice such arge number of disappearances.”


    “The enemy is very cautious, as they had chose targets that few people would pay attention too. We never expected them to target poptions that came from outside of the city.”


    “Are our people already in ce?”


    “They are already in ce at several locations. I can guarantee that the ghouls in the sewers will not be able to crawl out.”


    “So, what about the King’s Guard, since they are above the high-ss ghouls?”


    All of the meeting participants began expressing their opinions. However, when the topic of the King’s Guard came up, a representative of Cardinal Peter spoke up.


    “The third army of the Church has already deployed 3,000 knights. They are currently stationed in the forest nearby. We also have thirty members of the priest corp within the city of Babus. They can coordinate with your actions at any time. Cardinal Peter has stated that our priority is to keep civilian casualties to a minimum,” the priest said firmly as the crowd began to settle.


    The City Defense chief Hans rubbed his bald head with relief. “That means that victory is already within our grasp. So, we must focus on minimizing civilian casualties. With the slightest error on our part, tens of thousands of civilians may perish. I don’t want to end this operation like that.”


    The sky was getting brighter, but there was no time for rest. All of them were a bit fatigued, but they dared not rx. Instead, they looked at the setup of all of their troops from all angles, searching for the best way deal Adonis a fatal blow during the Coronation ceremony.


    Edward suddenly spoke up, assuming the role as Hans’ consultant. “The n is well thought out, but there is one issue.”


    By now, Edward looked as if he was beyond his breaking point. He had not slept in a long time. Perhaps Hathaway’s death had affected him more than he had realized.


    Edward knew that his sole purpose in life was to find Adonis and question him as to why he wasmitting such heinous acts. At the same time, he also knew that, in terms of wizardry and power, he was not Adonis’ match.


    After all, Adonis was a level two wizard, while he was only at level one. Furthermore, Edward was far from leveling up.


    Although the mind power gap between them wasn’t too big, the level gap that existed between the two men had a tremendous impact on theirbat abilities, especially since Adonis specialized in lethal witchcraft and had developed his own path with the Mortuus Magna bloodline and the strength of the ghouls.


    As such, the likelihood of Edward’s defeating Adonis was extremely low. However, armed with Lu Zhiyu’s dream witchcraft notes, Edward just might be able to aplish the impossible.


    Edward had been pouring through Lu Zhiyu’s notes day and night. Although the booklet was fairly thin, it was crammed full ofplex witchcraft concepts and equations that detailed the uses and taboos of dream witchcraft. Thus, dreamcraft and curse witchcraft would be Edward’s secret weapons in his confrontation with Adonis.


    He was even creating his own trump card ording to Lu Zhiyu’s dreamcraft. Although it was iplete and he had no idea about its power and side effects, he knew that it should be quite effective. This would be Edward’sst option and he was hoping that he would not have to use it.


    Edward’s interjection had caused all eyes to fall on him. Before, he had provided arge amount of intelligence about ghouls, which had allowed them to take the initiative. It was also Edward’s antidote that had saved countless infected civilians and controlled this terrifying epidemic. As such, people began to respect his views, especially because he had been a disciple of the progenitor of medicine, Bohr Kelermo.


    Hans asked, “What’s wrong?”


    Edward immediately replied, “Although the enemy does not know our specific ns, they definitely know that we’re onto something. As such, they will not wait around like sitting ducks as we coordinate our ns. That would be illogical. I am afraid that they will have already formed numerous countermeasures against us.”


    The crowd murmured. Atst, Hans replied, “So far, we haven’t detected any enemy countermeasures. Our men are also surveilling their actions day and night, taking note of the changes happening within the city. It would be difficult for the enemy to act without alerting us. So, our current n should be the safest one.”


    By the time everyone left after the meeting’s conclusion, it was already bright outside. Arge number of men were discretely deployed within the city. The ordinary people of Babus continued on with their lives, utterly oblivious to the forces moving in the shadows.


    ————–


    Hidden in a valley deep in the woods, there was a temporary military camp with countless armored knights. Many of them had brought their steeds to the creek for water at the break of dawn.


    Several of them had taken off their helmets. The creek was close to a swamp, and they had chosen this site precisely because of its easy ess to drinking water. After all, with thousands of troops and their steeds, clean water was a must.


    “Gyaa..”


    An oddly deep voice echoed from the rocks beside the swamp. The soldiers went to check the situation, finding that it was only a red-eyed crow. Yet, since the crow was a symbol of death, they still felt a sense of unease.


    “Go away!” The soldiers hit the water to scare it away before returning. What they did not notice was the specks of crimson in the water that gradually faded away.