Autumn's tail has quietly slipped away.

After the first snowfall, the duchy was covered in a blanket of white.

Today is Winter Solstice.

In the far north of the city center, there is a small village called 'Silver Pine Village'.

This area is famous for its silver pine, hence the name of the village located here.

"Hi! Sadie! Happy Winter Festival," the guard knight at the entrance to Silverpine Village greeted.

"Hey! Justin, Happy Winter Solstice. Hehehe, did you get the 'on duty' pick this year?" Sadie, dressed in dark mithril armor and wearing a crimson cloak, greeted her colleague.

Before each winter festival, the knights stationed in the area would tacitly hold a 'lottery tournament'.

Those who drew the red card stayed at their posts, while the other knights could go to Constantinople for the festival.

“Yes, what bad luck. I should have voted in favor when Commander Balk pushed for the ‘All Territories No-Signature Initiative’ last time.”

Upon hearing this, the knight named Sadie laughed, "Try to look on the bright side, lad. You're not as down as Commander Balk."

"That man is the 'miracle man' who won the lottery for eight consecutive years."

Justin: "...Please don't curse me, Sadie."

But he couldn't help but ask curiously, "So, what broke Lord Balk's curse of winning the lottery in a row?"

Sadie grinned mischievously, "Of course it's a promotion. That lord was promoted to vice-commander of the Cold Emerald Knights, and he hasn't participated in the duty lottery since."

Justin: "..."

"Anyway, I'm off! Don't worry, I'll taste the delicacies of Constantinople for you, dance with hot girls for you, and... shit! What's that?!"

A huge fireball came hurtling towards them.

The two knights reacted quickly, swiftly and cleanly falling to the ground and burying their heads in the falling snow.

Only when the burning sensation on their backs subsided did they dare to pull their heads out of the snow. "Enemy attack!! It's an enemy attack!!! There's a spellcaster!"

Soon, a group of masked men dressed in black sprang out from the silver pine forest at the village entrance.

These people have all sorts of professions.

"I'll hold on, you go and ring the bell!" Justin drew his knight's longsword and at the same time pulled a vial from his belt.

The spellcaster who launched the surprise attack on Silverpine Village chanted the incantation rapidly. As soon as the incantation was finished, a long dragon of fire struck Justin's back.

Sadie reacted very quickly, casually tossing the medicine bottle away.

The vial filled with icy blue liquid traced a perfect arc in the air before being engulfed by the fiery dragon…

The reversal happened in an instant.

The fiery dragon was frozen where the potion bottle had disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into an 'ice dragon'.

The power of ice followed the magic and reached the spellcaster's staff. Before the spellcaster could react, he became the one caught in the trail.

The Knight who threw the reagent bottle never expected that the medicine would be so powerful.

"Dog poop...did I throw this??"

At that moment, Justin rushed to the alarm bell, shouting, "Thump thump thump, thump thump thump, thump thump thump!"

The urgent alarm bells summoned all the knights patrolling the village.

However, the man in black who raided Silverpine Village sneered, "Heh! You think we only sent this few people?"

He whistled.

Suddenly, several hundred people emerged from the woods where they had been standing.

Justin and Sadie exchanged a glance.

They tore a necklace off their necks and poured out the black pills that were inside the pendant.

"For the glory of Cold Jade," they said in unison, then closed their eyes and swallowed the black pills in one gulp.

The black-clad assassin grinned maliciously, "We've already investigated. During the Winter Festival, you have at most seven Bronze Knights and one Silver Knight here. What use are they?"

"Do you know how many mithril-level assassins we brought this time...?"

The words came to an abrupt halt.

The two knights guarding the village entrance began to grow larger and larger.

2 meters.

3 meters.

It finally stopped at 4.5 meters.

attacker: "..."

It's one thing to become a giant without any martial ethics, but to grow a stone shell on your body is a bit too much!

Did you think that was the end of it?

Of course not!

The two enormous stone figures seemed to have drunk fake alcohol, first raising their heads and roaring angrily.

The black-clad attackers at the forefront were dumbfounded.

Those who were close by and reacted slowly had their eardrums shattered, and two streams of blood flowed from their ear canals.

After roaring, the stone man immediately started running and launched a swift kick at the nearest deaf man in black.

The leader of the Black Night Raiders saw one of their berserkers, like a Fernando Knight's ball, being sent flying into the air by this kick.

leader:"…………"

The berserker flew 10 meters into the air, then fell freely, landing headfirst in the snow with a 'thud,' before his body slowly slumped down like a soft noodle.

The charging attackers all shuddered.

But the heartless stone man rushed forward, grabbed the unfortunate fellow by the foot, and pulled him upside down like a willow tree.

He grabbed the berserker by one foot and slammed a meteor hammer at the black-clad attacker on the left, then another meteor hammer at the black-clad attacker on the right.

leader:"………………"

Behind him, a henchman asked tremblingly, "Boss, boss, are we still going to fight?"

The chieftain, his face expressionless, retorted, "Those nobles only gave us a few gold coins? Is that enough to buy coffins for all of us?"

The follower breathed a sigh of relief, "That's great! Let's run!"

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!