Margaret provided the news to Shad and smiled as she told him what she had just learned:
"My brother came to the Randall River Valley for other purposes, just like me. Do you remember the piece of gold ore you picked up last week? At that time, I was curious about where the gold mine was found in the local area. I just heard a local rumor that the men of Stone Oxenfurt you mentioned have explored the gold mine in the local area and cooperated with my brother to develop it. Of course, it is only a rumor at present, and there seems to be some problems with this rumor, so we cannot rule out whether it is a trick."
"I heard from Miss Lathers that Mr. Oxenfurt was originally handling some matters for your brother that he himself was not convenient to handle."
"Yes, Mr. Ossenfurt's fortune has something to do with William. He is a very capable and lucky man. However, he is a bit too cruel and ruthless. I will not employ such a person."
Margaret said softly, and Shade nodded, thinking of the warehouse that was burned by fire this evening:
"Let's not talk about that. I got some information about the Stonemasons' Guild from Tobesk. Miss Carina's connections allowed me to get access to some secrets. I'll bring you the documents tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We can confirm that the collapse of the Colossus 20 years ago had nothing to do with MI6, but the instigation of the stonemasons to cause trouble did have the shadow of MI6... The assassination last week had nothing to do with MI6."
"All of this can be guessed. Miss Benannis's test is not easy, but I can always find a way. When the time comes, I may need your help. The reliable and capable people around me are not as good as you."
"It would be an honor to help you, my Lord."
Xia De said with a smile, and the princess with long light golden hair waved at him and offered him a kiss again.
"Since you have urgent business to see Miss Lathers, go quickly. Don't delay your business."
The princess gently pushed Shade and wiped off the lipstick marks on his lips:
"Speaking of which, your kissing skills are really..."
A second before it happened, Shad's intuition caught the danger signal. When he suddenly stood up holding Margaret, the whole house began to tremble.
The books on the bookshelf fell to the ground with a crackling sound. Because of the shaking of the floor, all the furniture seemed to dance together. The teacup on the table fell on the carpet and then clanged against the metal legs of the tea table. The crystal chandelier above the head swayed in a very dangerous arc, and the glass chandeliers collided with each other. Although the crystal chandelier did not fall, some broken glass shards still fell.
"earthquake!"
The music in the ballroom had stopped, replaced by screams. The gas lamp flickered a few times and then went out suddenly, and it took at least five seconds before it came back on, but the brightness was not as good as before.
Margaret felt like the whole world was shaking, but she was held tightly in Shad's arms, and Shad stood still as if he was grown on the ground.
The earthquake lasted for thirteen seconds before it stopped. At this time, the room was in a mess. Only one corner of the painting frame on the wall was still fixed by a nail. Fortunately, the Earl's mansion was strong enough, and the earthquake did not cause any problems to the building itself:
"Let's get out quickly, there might be aftershocks soon!"
Margaret hugged Shad's arm tightly. At this time, the maids outside the door had rushed in, but pretended not to see Shad.
"Margaret, take everyone out first. Something has happened. This earthquake is not normal."
Xia De looked towards the back garden of the manor with a serious expression:
"The nature of this land is changing. Margaret, take your people and leave the manor as soon as possible. Something extraordinary will happen afterwards... I feel it. This time is very unusual. What happened?"
"But Shade..."
"We are not acting out a chivalric play, Margaret, take them out."
The princess bit her lip and nodded. After saying goodbye softly, she watched Shad open the window and jump out - this was the second floor. Margaret wanted to go to the window to see how Shad was doing, but then she also felt some extremely chaotic power trying to influence and infiltrate her. She knew that she couldn't help if she stayed, so she could only leave with her people in a hurry. She was worried about Shad's situation and didn't know what would happen next.
At this time, Xia De, who jumped from the window into the back garden, had landed lightly on the ground. Then he saw a layer of black mist hovering around his ankles and seeping towards the front of the manor.
The black mist was only under his feet, and the way it infiltrated and spread was very similar to the khaki aura that erupted from Shade's Earth Power and Healing Aura. In the black mist, he clearly felt the power characteristics of the black mud that represented the crazy essence of the earth, which had never happened before.
He wanted to go to the source of the black fog, but aftershocks really occurred. As the ground shook, the black fog covering the ground spread at a faster speed. Although this had no effect on Xia De, he couldn't imagine what would happen if the black fog spread to ordinary people who had not yet left the manor.
"People from the Orthodox Church should be here, right?"
Observing the direction of the black fog, he quickly walked towards the source. Just as he came out of the flower bed, he heard the sound of fighting in front of him. After confirming his disguise, he walked over, but the first thing he saw was not the people fighting, but the white stone fountain in the center of the back garden of the Earl's manor, which was spraying black liquid into the sky:
“Has oil been discovered here?”
The shocking thought was immediately discarded by Xia De:
“It’s that black mud!”
Everyone was avoiding the attack of the black mud, leaving the area around the fountain completely empty. Among the dozen or so ring sorcerers present, there were Miss Lathers and her three companions, as well as the priests of the Orthodox Church.
The two Central Ring priests were hastily arranging rituals and performing divine arts to stop the flowing black mud from spreading to the surroundings. However, all they could do was to slow down the flow of the black mud. They were completely unable to stop the black mist spreading from the "fountain".
Although the situation here is not as bad as that of Saint Perry Cemetery, you have to know that Saint Perry Cemetery is sealed. The violent gushing black mud is the enemy of all flesh and blood life, and as the black mud spreads more and more, the people who are fighting are also constantly moving.
At this time, Miss Lathers and her two companions were fighting against a high-ring warlock and two middle-ring warlocks together with a ring warlock that Shad did not know and three ring warlocks from the Orthodox Church.
Apparently, the priest who was blocking the black mud belonged to the same team as the middle-ring warlocks who were fighting, and among the opponents fighting with Miss Lassus and her team, Shade recognized a middle-aged man from the middle ring. That was the enemy who appeared with the high-ring warlock of the Blood Spirit School when he and Miss Benanis camped outside the city for the night.
And since it is related to the Blood Spirit School, Xia De can be sure that the other party is his enemy:
"Imprisoning Light!"
Five bright silver halos flew out. Although they were immediately shattered by the wind blade of the high-level warlock, they also bought Miss Lathers and others a chance to move farther away.
"No matter who you are, don't get close to that black mud!"
Miss Lathers shouted to Shade. She recognized Shade, but Shade also noticed that the young lady seemed to be inconvenient to move. There was no time to talk at this time. The crackling silver lightning had already appeared in Shade's hand. Just as he wanted to join the battle, a heavy voice came from the depths of the gushing black mud.
Someone is coming.
A humanoid creature, almost three meters tall and covered with gray stones, crawled out of the gushing "spring" stepping on the black mud.
Although the black mud has no effect on the stone itself, the normal soul is still inevitably contaminated by the crazy power of the earth. Therefore, the eyes of this "stone man" have an abnormal red color. As he barely controls himself to walk out, his steps are a little staggering.
"What is this? An alien creature?"
No, the other party is a human. I felt a power that was the same as the "power of the earth", which should also be a branch of the power of the earth.
"He is a follower of the evil god Stoneheart Demon!"
At the moment when Shade was surprised, the priest of the church shouted to Shade. The "Gray Stone Giant" who was obviously mentally abnormal also looked at Shade immediately. This was not bad luck, but the other party also sensed the power of the earth:
"ha!"
With a roar, the stone giant stepped on the black mud and rushed towards Shade. The heavy footsteps made the ground seem to tremble again. Since every ring warlock with the "power of the earth" could be the chosen one of the earth, Shade was also interested in him, so he also went to meet him.
He did not call upon any weapons, nor did he use any magic from the Moonlight series that would reveal his identity, but instead relied on his physical strength to fight back.
The stone fist was raised high and swung from above, while Shade's clenched fist struck back from below. However, there was no sound when the fists collided, and Shade's body was pierced by the stone fist and directly scattered into a group of scarlet butterflies.
The flying red butterflies cast spots of light above the black mud. The "Gray Stone Giant" was in a very bad mental state and could not tell where Shad was from the red butterfly's illusion.
He stood there, yelling loudly and waving his fists at the butterflies in the air, but it was completely useless.
"Elson! We've got the stuff. Don't get entangled with the enemy. Let's go!"
Even if his companions shouted his name and asked him to retreat with them quickly, they were unable to wake up the gray stone giant whose spirit was close to collapse.
The opponent was a Nine-Ring Warlock, which was also a high-level one. Normally, Shade could not fight against such an enemy, but his abnormal mental state gave Shade an opportunity. The flying red butterflies gradually surrounded the "giant", and at the same time, the silver mist summoned by Silver Moon's illusion also enveloped it.