In the darkness, a large pack of wolves surged forth, their bodies existing between solid form and illusory mist, like roaring black fog.
As soon as everyone noticed, these strange wolves howled in unison and pounced.
Before anyone could think, they were already engaged in close combat.
"Enemy attack!"
Although most people in the camp weren't armored, within seconds, everyone had a weapon in hand, fighting the strange wolf pack.
Leike wielded the Star Killer Sword. Although she didn't activate the starlight, the mirror-like sword light easily cut two black wolves in front of her in half.
The two strange black wolves didn't bleed a single drop after being cut open.
Their remains began to shatter in the air, turning into a black cloud that dissipated into the air.
On the other side, Poro didn't use magic, but a hint of red light appeared in his eyes.
The power of [Ring Return: Red Shoes, Dance of Liberation] allowed him to easily tear a black wolf apart.
In fact, Leike and Poro, using their full power, could have slaughtered these twenty or so magical black wolves in a short amount of time.
"Poro, do you mean these wolves are just magic, and the caster is hiding far away?"
Leike asked Poro in her mind.
"Yes, and I think these wolves are just a test. The caster might use these wolves to gauge our strength."
Poro said, dodging a black wolf's pounce, and raised his paw to smash the wolf's head.
"Poro, can you find where the caster is?"
"I can't find them. Perhaps the caster is too far away. These wolves don't seem to be intelligent, but their attacks are still agile—this means the caster might be seeing what's happening here through the wolves."
Poro made a judgment.
"So, these wolves might have perception, or the caster has other means of scouting the battlefield!"
Leike and Poro analyzed quickly. At this time, the team was very close to Starfall City and the Swiss Kingdom.
Everyone was prepared to meet Swiss soldiers on a narrow road.
But this first battle still took most people by surprise.
An ambush that even Leike and Poro's senses failed to detect—from an unknown caster!
"Someone who can use this kind of magic..."
Poro had many guesses, but couldn't be sure.
Although this area was sparsely populated, there were still many refugees within a larger range—his team, though not small, was only a few dozen people, and wouldn't be conspicuous after disguising themselves...
This attack seemed more like a targeted offensive.
And these twenty or so magical black wolves might just be the beginning!
"Why?"
Poro looked at his team. The others in the team, after experiencing the battle against the Swiss Kingdom's invasion, could be considered comrades with him and Leike.
The only relatively unfamiliar and mysterious ones were the Oz Kingdom envoys.
Those envoys were also very skilled, using longswords and shields to form battle formations and cooperate with each other, intercepting the attacks of one wolf after another.
But this made everyone except Poro feel some doubts—
After all, these envoys from the Oz Kingdom didn't possess any extraordinary powers.
Poro's gaze finally settled on one of the Oz Kingdom envoys in the center.
"What's wrong, Poro? Did you find something?" Leike noticed Poro's expression.
"Nothing, just..."
Poro hesitated for a moment, but still said, "I always feel like this attack has something to do with the Oz Kingdom."
Poro keenly noticed that the expressions of the other Oz Kingdom people were identical, but the leader, the green-clothed man who had stepped into the Worry-Free Palace alone, had a strange look on his face.
It was as if...he already knew the identity of this sudden, unknown attacker.
The next moment, the Oz envoy suddenly spoke, loudly saying:
"These wolves are a kind of magic. Pouring water on the sword can weaken the strength of this magic!"
Hearing the Oz envoy's words, everyone immediately took out water pouches from their waists and carriages, pouring water on their swords, and attacked the magical black wolves again.
Leike was stunned for a moment, then kicked up an ordinary longsword from the ground and took it in her hand.
She sprinkled some water on it and slashed at the magical black wolf—
Sure enough, the black wolf began to melt quickly like water where it came into contact with the water.
"This is the weakness of this magic?"
Poro was also stunned for a moment. He thought of the latest Ring Return—
In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West had two weaknesses, one of which was water!
With the help of water, the situation on the field was no longer as precarious as before.
Other ordinary people also had the possibility of fighting against this magic.
As time went by, the twenty or so magical black wolves became fewer and fewer under the siege.
Some people were unfortunately knocked down by the wolves and scratched with many bloody marks, but fortunately, no one died because of it.
Finally, the last magical black wolf's body fell to the ground and turned into a black mist.
"Phew..."
Just as everyone relaxed slightly, a black crow leading to darkness suddenly fell from the black night sky, stepping on the place where the last wolf disappeared.
Its pupils flashed with a strange magical light.
Looking into its eyes, everyone felt a strange chill.
"Tonight is just to say hello to everyone."
The crow's mouth suddenly opened, uttering human language.
Then, it looked around and focused its gaze on the leading Oz envoy:
"No matter where you invited these people from, don't you think you can hide it from me like this? Stop here and turn around and leave, or you will die here howling in pain."
The crow's voice was an unpleasant, sharp sound.
Poro looked at the Oz Kingdom envoy facing the crow. The envoy's face was gloomy at this time, as if he was trying his best to restrain himself.
"The night protects you, Oz is just a coward—I have never seen him take action, you are just pawns, you should fear me.
Tomorrow, one person come here and return what belongs to me, otherwise, a girl will die."
After the crow finished speaking, it exploded into a black smoke, like those dead wolves.
Watching the crow disappear, most people looked at the Oz envoy with puzzled expressions, except for Poro, who had some guesses.
After all, judging from the crow just now—
It was more like a feud with the Oz Kingdom.
"Sir, what did that crow just mean? What is the relationship with your Oz Kingdom?"
A Goth finally asked.
"That is a witch, now working for the Swiss Kingdom. I thought I could hide it from her, but... I was still discovered."
The leading Oz envoy said with a gloomy face, gnashing his teeth slightly.
"What does she mean by that girl? Who is that?"
Another person asked.
"She is a friend of our king, who was劫持 by her."
Hearing the Oz envoy's words, everyone frowned. Obviously, they all captured some key information from the envoy's words, making them feel vaguely uneasy.
"Why didn't you tell us in advance? We have concluded an alliance, but your actions now, aren't you from the beginning...?"
One person couldn't help but ask.
"So, if we are being monitored, should we move forward tomorrow?"
Everyone looked at each other, feeling a little caught in a dilemma.
If that unknown caster is really involved with the Swiss Kingdom, I'm afraid that if we take a few more steps forward, we will be heavily surrounded by the Swiss Kingdom's army, and be drowned like insects.
"I'm sorry, I thought we would only start to have contact when we reached Starfall City, but we didn't expect to be discovered."
The Oz envoy looked apologetic. He bowed to everyone, and then looked at Princess Marlene and the two Shadi soldiers in the crowd, with a sincere expression:
"Your Highness, can you help us with a favor? If we use your Shadi Kingdom's magic, we can hide it from that witch."
"How do you know?"
Neither Princess Marlene nor the two soldiers of the Shadi Kingdom had used shadow magic just now—most of the time, it was more inclined to auxiliary means. Fighting against magical summons might not be as easy as arrows and swords.
"The great Oz knows everything."
The Oz envoy said without hesitation.
"Then why doesn't your Oz go and solve that witch himself?"
Princess Marlene frowned and said again, "As the strongest magician in the world—this shouldn't be difficult, right? And you look like ordinary people."
Listening to these words, a look of hesitation appeared on the Oz envoy's face.
Seeing this scene, Poro and Leike communicated in their hearts, and Leike suddenly asked:
"The witch who attacked us, might have come from your Oz Kingdom, right? I guess, she should be the Wicked Witch of the West?"
"You know?"
Hearing this, both the envoys of the Oz Kingdom and others showed surprise.
After all, in this world, most people know about the witches of the Oz Kingdom, but they know nothing about the more detailed information of the Oz Kingdom.
"Yes, she is the Wicked Witch of the West—although our Oz Kingdom has four witches, these witches are not subordinates of the great sorcerer Oz."
The Oz envoy breathed a sigh of relief and finally explained, "The Wicked Witch of the West is an evil person, and now she is colluding with the Swiss Kingdom..."
"So, now if we want to safely reach Starfall City, we must first kill her, right?"
"Yes."
The Oz envoy sighed.
"Then why don't you have magic? Doesn't Oz have stronger subordinates?"
Princess Marlene asked with some doubts, "Instead of asking us for help?
You know, most of us are ordinary people. My shadow magic is not good at fighting. Only with the help of Shadi, how can we defeat a witch?"
"Because in the past, we have defeated her once. She knows the appearance of Oz and other people in our kingdom. If it is too strong a person, she will not appear."
Listening to the Oz envoy's frank words, Princess Marlene fell into thought.
Facing a witch she had never seen before, or one of the witches of the Oz Kingdom—there was no doubt that it was very dangerous.
But after deciding to face the Swiss Kingdom, everyone was prepared for this.
"Okay, you tell us all the information about that witch."
After thinking about it, Princess Marlene made a gesture of comfort to her soldiers, then said.
"Thank you."
The Oz envoy said seriously.
Due to the Wicked Witch of the West's request, the others needed to stay in place tomorrow, and the Oz envoy would go alone to the location of the Wicked Witch of the West.
And Princess Marlene took two Shadi soldiers and hid in the shadow of the Oz envoy.
Poro looked at the Oz envoy, took out the newly obtained [Ring Return: The Wizard of Oz, Face Fear], and the Ring Return unsealing ceremony was to kill the Wicked Witch of the West.
Seeing this, he and Leike looked at each other.
"Wait, I'll go with you too."
The next moment, Leike stepped forward and said.
"But if you follow, you will be discovered..."
The Oz envoy was stunned for a moment.
"I can also enter the shadow world."
In the Oz envoy's surprised eyes, Leike pointed to Princess Marlene and said, "Her Royal Highness Marlene also knows this."
"Miss, thank you. Whether this time is successful or not, the Oz Kingdom will thank you for your help."
"However, I still have a question."
Leike thought for a while and asked, "What is the name of the girl you want to save?"
Hearing this question, the Oz envoy took a deep look at Leike and still answered:
"Her name is Dorothy."
...
The next day, the sky was clear, and the golden sunlight shone on a broken ruin.
The roofs of many houses have been damaged, and even the interior is covered by light, with not much shadow and hiding place.
A town that may have been destroyed by war.
The green-clothed Oz Kingdom envoy walked into the town gate, holding a locked box in his hand.
Behind him, a long shadow was dragged in the sunlight—
Leike, Poro and Princess Marlene were hiding alone in the shadow.
The map of the town was outlined in subtle shapes by the shadow, but because the time was noon, the details of the map seemed a bit simple.
"The Wicked Witch of the West, she can see very far, the weakness is water and darkness..."
Poro slowly recalled the description of the Wicked Witch of the West in the fairy tale—in the fairy tale, the Wicked Witch of the West died from the water splashed by the protagonist.
And the Oz envoy's statement also confirmed his point.
Darkness and water are indeed the witch's weaknesses.
"This Wicked Witch of the West seems very cautious."
Leike raised her hand and pointed to the terrain of the town in the shadow map. There should have been a river in the town, but for some reason, the riverbed was dry now, without a trace of water, exposing the cracked riverbed.
Plus noon, obviously, this is the location specially chosen by the Wicked Witch of the West.
The Envoy of Oz stopped, looking around, but there wasn't a single person to be seen.
And in the Shadow Realm, it was even more difficult for Lake and Poro to search through the fragmented black and white shadows for a tiny, hidden figure.
"Hmph, it seems you're keeping your word."
A crow, flapping its wings, flew rapidly from behind a dilapidated building, landing steadily in front of the Envoy of Oz.
Its beady black eyes stared intently at the briefcase in the Envoy of Oz's hand, and it shrieked again:
"Open the case and take out what I want."
The Envoy of Oz stared at the crow, slowly opening the briefcase, and a brilliant golden light溢溢 from the case, revealing a magnificent golden crown:
"The crown you wanted is here, where is the person?"
The crow did not answer immediately, but tilted its head, scrutinizing the crown up and down, carefully, not missing any detail.
After a long while, it slowly raised its head, a hint of undisguised joy flashing in its eyes, followed by a burst of sharp, ear-piercing laughter:
"People? Haha—Great Sorcerer Oz? You are truly utterly foolish!"
"What makes you think I would keep my promise?"
As soon as the words fell, the crow suddenly flapped its wings backward, landing firmly on top of a broken stone pillar.
It looked down at the Envoy of Oz condescendingly, its gaze cold and fierce, as if looking at a dead man:
"You are doomed to die, and that hateful girl will not escape sooner or later, and the crown, it was originally mine!"
Around the originally silent town ruins, countless shadows, like a tide, quickly emerged from various dark corners, still black wolves condensed from magic—
But this time, there were more than a hundred wolves!
