At that instant, all civilians in the city were startled to see the city-protecting magical array that had been floating above their heads gradually dim and then dissolve.
And in the next moment.
Long cries suddenly echoed from the distant sky.
In the far distance, a formation of at least a hundred griffin riders crossed over the city walls, charging into Moonlily City and heading toward the central castle.
All civilians' faces immediately showed expressions of shock.
"Look! That appears to be Sky Knight Howard! Heavens! What on earth is happening in our Moonlily City?!"
"The second-ranked knight order of the Xiyue Kingdom has all come!!"
Leading the formation was a handsome man with golden hair and blue eyes, wielding a long spear while riding atop a massive griffin.
His expression was cold, his entire being radiating a sharp brilliance.
Behind him, the numerous griffin knights appeared magnificent and emanated a fierce killing intent.
Clearly, this was an iron army that frequently saw battle.
The fierce winds stirred up by the griffins' passing swept people on the streets away in waves, like wheat being cut down.
The crowd stumbled in panic, unable to stand steady, frantically grabbing onto anything they could to maintain their balance.
"So powerful! So powerful!"
"This is my first time seeing such legendary creatures - those are griffins! Real griffins!"
Lynn also shouted: "Amazing! Amazing! Showing off while riding griffins is so cool!!"
In an instant.
Something inexplicable happened.
The massive griffin in the lead suddenly froze in mid-air, as if someone had pressed a pause button.
And the crowd was even more shocked to see.
Sky Knight Howard, riding that griffin, also trembled.
And in the next moment.
That huge griffin suddenly dropped from the high sky like an airplane running out of fuel, plummeting in free fall with a whoosh.
BOOM—
A tremendous crash.
All the civilians present fell into complete silence.
"..."
"..."
"Commander!!!" All the griffin knights were shocked.
As fate would have it, Sky Knight Howard and his griffin crashed exactly where Arnold had fallen earlier.
The impact created a large crater in the ground.
In the crater, Howard and his griffin lay piled together, their eyes spinning in circles, their bodies twitching.
The entire scene fell silent.
"..."
"..."
"This has to be a joke!!"
Everyone around went (ΩДΩ).
"Is this place cursed or something?!"
"Two top-tier knights have fallen in less than ten minutes!"
This defies science! This truly defies science!!
And just as they hadn't yet recovered from the shock of the griffin knight's fall, shouts from the city gate guards rang out once again.
"Open the gates! Prepare to welcome the Raptor Knight Order!!"
In the distance, people were shocked to see.
A group of mighty knights riding raptors was charging toward this location with great momentum.
All the surrounding civilians were stunned.
"Don't come here! Quick! Someone warn those knights to stay away!!"
"They'll fall! They're going to fall!"
People screamed frantically.
BANG—
A huge crash.
Then under everyone's dumbfounded gaze, the raptor under the leading knight's legs suddenly went weak, stumbled forward,
The knight slid several dozen meters, ultimately crashing right into Howard, who had just regained consciousness and was trying to climb out of the crater.
BOOM—
Dust billowed up from the crater.
The entire scene instantly fell into dead silence.
"..."
...
Meanwhile.
In the central castle of Moonlily City.
First Princess Vivian of Moonlily City sat on her throne, staring blankly at the Silver Knight Order Commander Arnold as knights carried him in.
The grey-haired knight's legs were weak, he was covered in sweat, and gritting his teeth - completely unlike the mighty warrior she remembered.
Princess Vivian immediately stood up and asked in shock:
"Uncle Arnold, what happened to you? Why do you look so... haggard?"
Arnold struggled to sit down in a chair, wiped the cold sweat from his brow, and said:
"Vivian, I know you're a good girl, but please tell your uncle honestly - have you recruited a God-tier Mage? Was this meant to be a show of force against your uncle..."
Upon hearing this, Vivian was completely bewildered.
God-tier Mage?
Show of force?
What was this all about?!
If she really had the ability to recruit a God-tier Mage, why would she still be confined to this tiny Moonlily City?
She would have conquered the continent and established her own empire by now.
Vivian asked in confusion: "Uncle Arnold, I don't understand what you're saying. What God-tier Mage? What exactly happened?"
Arnold took a deep breath, his face showing traces of lingering fear and distress.
He turned his head to look back in the direction they had come from, and said:
"Actually, I'm not very clear myself. When entering the city, passing through the marketplace, I suddenly felt as if some terrifying being had its eyes on me..."
He involuntarily shuddered, took a deep breath, and continued:
"That terrifying feeling... I hadn't experienced anything like it even when facing dragons. Although it lasted less than a second, but... but..."
He suddenly bent over and started retching repeatedly.
This scene frightened Vivian deeply.
Arnold wiped his mouth, gasping for breath as he said:
"My heart actually stopped for a second... my body showed signs of imminent death."
Upon hearing this, Vivian was greatly alarmed: "This... how is this possible!"
She was very well aware of Uncle Arnold's strength.
In the knight hierarchy, ranks went from First-Order Knight to Ninth-Order Knight, and above Ninth-Order were the successive ranks of: Earth Knight, Sky Knight, City-Breaking Knight, and Royal Knight.
Uncle Arnold was a top-tier powerhouse ranked as a Sky Knight!
In terms of power ranking, he was on par with Grand Archmages!
For someone of his caliber to experience signs of imminent death...
This... this...
Vivian felt her mouth go dry, unable to utter a word.
Arnold gasped: "A knight's control over their body is second only to the warrior class. This feeling couldn't be false, and to cause such terrifying suppression to me..."
"I can only think of a God-tier Mage, no... at least a World-class God-tier Mage could make me feel so powerless..."
Vivian's mind went blank.
World-class God-tier Mage...
She had almost no concept of beings at this level.
According to the mage hierarchy, above Ninth-Order Mage were the successive ranks of Archmage, Grand Archmage, and City-Breaking Mage.
Only above City-Breaking Mage were the God-tier Mages.
And World-class God-tier Mages were the pinnacle of even the God-tier ranks.
Even Winter Spring Valley had never seen a being of this level!
Vivian swallowed hard and said blankly:
"Uncle... could it have been your imagination... I mean, if there really was a being of that level... how could they possibly come to a small city like Moonlily City..."
"After all, the Purple Rose Lord has been dead for a thousand years..."
Arnold took a deep breath and said: "I wish it was just imagination, but you know, Vivian, a knight's body is extremely sensitive to external forces... I can't think of anything else that could make my body feel such fear..."
"And most importantly..."
Vivian asked blankly: "Because of what..."
Arnold closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said: "I soiled myself."
The surroundings instantly fell into complete silence.