Linde's cold gaze swept across the winding road leading to the mountain pass outside the castle window, a cold smile curving his lips.
Carsas and his group, believing their mission accomplished, nimbly fled the oppressive atmosphere of Blackrock Territory.
As they emerged from the mountain pass and entered the relatively open but still under the control of the Blackrock Territory, a troop of silent cavalrymen emerged like ghosts from the woods on their flank, instantly cutting off their path.
These cavalrymen wore dark leather armor in the style of the Blackrock Guard, but their equipment was noticeably unusual.
Their helmets, breastplates, arm guards, and even certain key parts of their saddles were covered with a matte, dark gray coating that seemed to absorb light, reflecting no luster even in the winter sun, exuding a cold, deathly stillness.
The leader was Aster, who sat upright on his horse, his face as hard as iron and his eyes as sharp as a hawk. He said nothing more than raising his hand and waving it.
"Take it down."
The command was concise and ruthless.
The ease on Caras's face froze instantly, turning into terror:
"What are you trying to do?! We are envoys from the Royal Academy of Mages! You..."
The mages behind him instinctively tried to gather magic power to cast protective or offensive spells.
However, the moment they mobilized their mental energy, an invisible and suffocating sense of "deathly silence" suddenly descended!
It was as if all the active energy particles in the surrounding space had been instantly drained, and the air became viscous and heavy.
The dark gray coating covering the cavalry equipment was like a greedy black hole, frantically devouring and annihilating any spiritual energy fluctuations that tried to coalesce!
"Ugh!" A young mage who was trying to cast [Mage Armor] groaned, his face turning pale. He felt as if his mental energy had crashed into an invisible, thick stone wall covered with sound-absorbing cotton. The magic power he had gathered instantly dissipated, and the backlash made him dizzy.
Carthus also felt a strong sense of magical stagnation. He tried to forcefully cast a powerful [Flash] spell to disrupt the view, but the light gathered at his fingertips was like a candle flickering in the wind, struggling for a moment before being completely extinguished.
“Silence Stone?…” Carthus’s eyes finally revealed true fear, his voice hoarse, “You…you actually possessed this technology?!”
His answer was the cavalry's silent and precise movements.
Specially made ropes, wrapped with the same matte coating, flew out like venomous snakes, instantly binding the mages' wrists and bodies.
The moment the rope touched their skin, the "dead silence" that suppressed the magic became even clearer, completely extinguishing their thoughts of resistance.
Under the overwhelming pressure of anti-mage equipment and elite soldiers, Carthus and his party were like snakes with their fangs pulled, dragged onto horses without any resistance. Escorted by cavalry, they were turned around and sped towards Blackrock Fortress, which they had just fled from and which now seemed even more sinister.
…………
The dungeon.
It was damp and cold, with only the dim light from the flickering oil lamp on the wall casting distorted shadows on the rough stone.
Casas was held in solitary confinement in a relatively "clean" cell, but the iron bars were still covered with that despairing dark gray silencing stone coating.
His face was deathly pale, and he leaned against the cold stone wall, trying his best to maintain the last shred of a mage's dignity, but his slightly trembling fingers and the cold sweat on his forehead betrayed his inner fear.
Footsteps echoed in the empty dungeon passageway, steady and clear.
Linde appeared outside the cell door, followed by two guards clad in silencing stone, like two silent statues.
"Viscount Linde!" Casas cried out as if grasping at a straw, lunging at the fence, his voice shrill with excitement.
"What are you doing? It's a misunderstanding! It must be a huge misunderstanding! We are envoys from the Royal Academy of Law!"
By detaining us, you are making an enemy of the entire kingdom's mage class! The academy will not let this go! The powerful figures in the capital will not let you off the hook either! Release us at once!
He roared fiercely, trying to intimidate the young lord before him with the power of the academy and the kingdom.
Linde stared at him expressionlessly, his deep purple eyes as still and undisturbed as a deep pool in the dim light.
He slowly raised his hand, signaling the guards to open the cell door.
The heavy iron lock clicked open.
Carsas instinctively took a step back, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes, thinking that his threat had worked.
However, Lind's next move made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
Lind did not enter the cell, but stood at the door, his gaze like a cold scalpel, scraping inch by inch across Carsas's terrified face.
"The Royal Academy of Mage Arts? A big shot in the capital?"
Linde's voice was deep and calm, yet carried a chilling quality that echoed clearly in the silence of the dungeon.
"Cassas, you overestimate yourself and underestimate me."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice lower, yet it struck Caras's heart like a hammer blow:
"You think that Tripoli behind you, and those rats hiding in the gutter in the academy, can scare me?"
Casas's pupils constricted sharply! Tripoli! How could he have known?!
A tremendous fear gripped him instantly, as if stripped of all pretense and left naked under the gaze of a ferocious beast.
"What nonsense are you spouting! What Tripoli! I don't know anything about it!"
He vehemently denied it, but his voice trembled uncontrollably.
"have no idea?"
A faint, almost cruel smile curved Lin De's lips. "It's alright. I'm not interested in your testimony."
He straightened up, the last trace of warmth in his eyes vanishing completely, leaving only a pure, indifferent look, as if he were looking at a dead object.
"All I know is that you sent that letter tainted with 'ghostly whispers' to my woman. You wanted to ruin her."
Every word was like an icicle piercing Carsas's marrow.
"No! It wasn't me! It was Tripoli! He forced me to do this! He gave me the mage tower! I..."
Casas completely broke down, rambling incoherently as he tried to defend himself and shirk responsibility.
"It's too late."
Lind's voice shattered all his hopes.
“If you mess with someone you shouldn’t, you have to pay the price. My moral bottom line has never included tolerating threats against the people I love.”
He tilted his head slightly and uttered two words to the guards behind him, his voice soft but like a death sentence:
"Execute."
"Yes, sir!"
Two guards immediately stepped forward, their movements swift and powerful.
One person suddenly covered Carthus's mouth, which was wide open in fear, while another person's hand flashed with cold light—a steel dagger, also coated with Silence Stone, was precisely and ruthlessly plunged into Carthus's back!
"Ugh—!"
Casas's body convulsed violently, his eyes widening in disbelief, horror, and the agony of death.
He struggled in vain, making hoarse sounds in his throat, and blood quickly stained his dark blue mage robe.
The Silence Stone coating not only suppresses magic, but also seems to suppress the sound of life passing by.
The whole process was incredibly fast; apart from the slight thud of the dagger piercing flesh and Caras's desperate sobs before his death, there was almost no other noise in the dungeon.
Lind watched indifferently as the light in Carsas's eyes quickly dimmed, his body went limp, and he finally became a still-warm corpse.
There was no pity in his eyes, only a calm as he cleared away the trash.
"Clean it up."
Lin De gave a curt instruction, turned around, and left the blood-soaked cell without looking back.
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