Redpine Region's northern border, inside the Shadow Swamp, a group of witches and aura users guarded a hundred-foot black tower.
At a glance, the black tower looked like an ordinary magic tower.
However, the black tower didn't just absorb mana from the atmosphere. Instead, after the tower was fully charged with mana, the tower would blast the concentration of mana into the skies, scattering it.
The construct was indubitably a mana disruptor whose sole purpose was to collect and disrupt mana signals.
Among the group of witches, the strongest were Peak-stage Senior Witches and Peak-level Rank 2 Aura Masters, while the weakest were Early-stage Senior Witches and Low-level Rank 2 Aura Masters.
At that mont, the Senior Witches were clamoring about their poor situation. They didn't have a problem with the task; they only had a problem with the location.
The Shadow Swamp was an unclean region, ho to creatures of the darkness attribute.
Compared to the streets of Blackthorn City, which were clean and high maintenance, the Shadow Swamp was a stark contrast.
"Dammit, if I knew I was going to be sent to the Shadow Swamp, I would have joined the other groups!" a Peak-stage Senior Witch said with frustration, having lost her patience.
"My Lady, we've been camping in this location for many days," a High-level Aura Master ntioned before asking, "Isn't it a bit late to say this now?"
Pak!
The Peak-stage Senior Witch slapped the High-level Aura Master without warning after giving him a glare.
"Shut up, Mongrel! I did not ask for your opinion! You will only speak when I require you to speak! Do you understand?!"
"Yes, I understand, My Lady."
Shortly after, the High-level Aura Master no longer spoke another word, having learned his lesson. He stood guard with his bruised cheek untreated.
The other aura users also kept their silence.
Boom—!!
However, the silence did not last long before the mana disruptor exploded without warning, shattering into countless pieces of burning debris by a sudden attack from the sky.
The attack ca so quickly that no one had ti to react; they all got blown away by the shock wave.
"W-What just happened?"
"T-The mana disruptor got destroyed—!"
Roar—!!!!!
A sky-sundering, earth-shaking dragon roar was shortly heard from the skies, but the source of the mighty dragon roar was nowhere to be seen.
Even so, the imnse pressure of a Rank 5 being was clearly felt, suppressing the entire group of witches and aura users.
Everyone froze in terror; they didn't dare to breathe, let alone utter the slightest squeak.
Soti later, when the dragon's presence was long gone, the Senior Witches and Aura Masters finally moved. They glanced at their hands that still trembled from lingering fear.
"D-Dragon… That was a dragon, wasn't it?! Not a fake one, but a real one. It has to be! Only a real dragon can be that powerful!" a Late-stage Senior Witch uttered.
"That was definitely a dragon's roar. However, I don't know if it actually belonged to a real dragon or not." A Peak-stage Senior Witch shook her head before solemnly saying, "Still, I do know that we need to report this!"
"Right, the mana disruptor was destroyed! We'll be in big trouble if we don't properly explain this to Lord Xena!" another Peak-stage Senior Witch said gravely.
…
anwhile, multiple mana disruptors around the central region were eventually destroyed one after another.
Soon, multiple reports from the royal army blockade reached the ears of the higher-ups, repeating the sa content; dragon roars, possible Rank 5 True Dragon, and destruction of the mana disruptors.
As a result, the higher-ups in the royal army started to wonder whether the mana disruption field had attracted the dragons and angered them.
At the sa ti, news from the central region quickly reached the capital.
In the first hour, less than a dozen witches learned about the current situation in the central region. But by the second hour, the number of knowing witches snowballed into the thousands.
Finally, by the third hour, the news was spread to every mber of the kingdom's upper echelon like an unstoppable fire that could not die no matter the amount of water poured on it.
No matter how much Transcendent Sybil's people tried to downplay the news, they couldn't stop it from reaching every corner of the capital.
Eventually, the whole capital was shocked by the news.
Nurous Senior Witches gathered outside the royal magic tower, hoping to seek an audience with the queen to confirm the authenticity of the news.
However, the doors to the royal magic tower were firmly shut tight. They showed no sign of opening for the gathering crowd outside, no matter their status and request.
On the top of the royal magic tower, a person could be seen pacing back and forth with a panicky expression.
She was the perfect copy of Henrietta Rosegarden, albeit only in appearance. She lacked the sa transcendent breath and nonchalant grace.
As such, her disguise could only be used to trick people from afar.
"What do I do now? It's only a matter of ti before people start suspecting sothing is wrong with Queen Henrietta," the fake Henrietta muttered to herself anxiously.
"Dammit, I really wonder which bastard spilled the beans! The whole plan has gone to shit! I hope Queen Sybil won't bla for this."
The fake Henrietta peeked outside the royal magic tower and saw the growing crowd and chaos. The sight imdiately made her even more anxious.
If the crowd suddenly stord inside the royal magic tower to et her, they would imdiately see through her disguise. And once that happened, she would die without a grave.
"I can't just sit here and wait. I need to do sothing," the fake Henrietta imdiately used her communication-type magic tool to contact her allies.
Unfortunately, she didn't receive any response from them, no matter how many tis she attempted to call them. They were too busy worrying about their own lives to care about hers.
After all, while many people paid a visit to the royal magic tower, others went to the military district to question the upper echelons of the royal army regarding their purpose behind restricting information from the central region.
Fake Henrietta's call would expose their secrets.
"Goddammit!" Fake Henrietta cursed.
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