Upon hearing Richard's somewhat bold plan, Bone's mind was in a state of confusion. He tentatively asked, "Boss, are you saying we're going to hunt those bounty hunters?"
Richard nodded: "Yes, exactly. Is there any problem with this plan?"
"Problem... a big one." Bone hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, "Boss, you might not know how many bounty hunters are after me.
We're not in that remote corner where you gave me my name anymore.
We're already in the inner ring of the 'Nightmare Ring'."
"Nightmare Ring?" Richard asked, puzzled. "What's that?"
Bone explained: "I've only heard about the Nightmare Ring. It's said that in our world, the cities that can produce Nightmare Power are distributed like rings, one inside another.
The further out you go, the sparser the cities. Correspondingly, the Nightmare territories also decrease.
I didn't know this before, and when I crossed the wilderness, I headed towards the inner ring, which is why I haven't been able to shake off the bounty hunters despite changing territories several times."
After hearing this, Richard nodded slightly.
He roughly understood what this so-called Nightmare Ring was.
This Nightmare Ring should be the planning of the academies by the Tower of Truth in its region.
Since the Tower of Truth is located at the center of the Wizard Continent, surrounded by four other Towers of Truth, the wizards of the Tower of Truth conducted detailed planning for the academy territories.
Under their planning, as long as the number of Great Wizards in the Tower of Truth does not exceed four hundred, each Great Wizard can have their own wizard academy.
"Alright, I understand," Richard nodded. "But the plan remains unchanged. The more bounty hunters, the better."
"...Boss, there are really a lot of them," Bone repeated softly.
Richard glared at him, frustrated: "What are you afraid of? No matter how many of these lowlifes come, they're all dead.
You, as my subordinate, were driven to suicide by just a few pieces of trash? You're really embarrassing me."
As he spoke, Richard stuffed the collected bodies of the Nightmare creatures into the Nightmare Body.
Soon, a suit of Adamantine armor quickly took shape in Richard's hands.
"I remember your talent allows you to devour armor, right? Hurry up and eat a few more pieces. Next time you encounter such lowlifes, don't hesitate, just charge in and cut them down.
Make full use of your advantages!"
Listening to Richard's reprimand, Bone didn't feel resentful; instead, he felt warm inside.
It's great to have the boss looking out for him.
However, he didn't forget to weakly retort.
"Uh... Boss, I did as you said. But I couldn't break through the enemy's defense, and then they found a flaw in my armor, biting a hole in it.
That's why I got poisoned."
"A flaw?" Richard raised an eyebrow, and the armor in his hands began to transform.
Soon, a suit of Adamantine armor with no weak points appeared.
"If there's a flaw, can't you fix it? Can't your armor change its form?"
Hearing Richard's reprimand, Bone was stunned and hesitated: "Well... it seems not. My armor is like my body; how can I just change it?"
"If you can't change it, then it's simple."
The Adamantine armor in Richard's hands began to melt, and dark golden patterns spread across the armor.
In no time, a full suit of armor produced by Dragon Alchemy appeared.
"If you can't change it, then just wear the armor. That way, you'll have an extra layer of protection."
Bone tearfully accepted the armor and put it on.
After he put it on, Richard made some adjustments to the armor, replacing the conspicuous gold with a matte black, and cast a spell to animate the armor.
The Animate Armor spell is an auxiliary magic that allows the armor to equip itself onto the user.
Although the tree pattern enchantment of Dragon Alchemy cannot merge with the rune enchantment of Wizard Alchemy, Dragon Alchemy products do not reject external spells.
With the armor on, Bone looked more robust, appearing even more burly than before.
Standing behind Richard, he gave off the vibe of an evil wizard and his blasphemous creation.
Richard nodded in satisfaction, then asked excitedly: "Where's the nearest lawless land? The bounty hunters should be there, right?"
"It's to the east. I'll lead the way."
...
The inner ring of the Nightmare Ring is much more prosperous than the outer ring.
There are more cities and people in the inner ring, and correspondingly, these cities produce more Nightmare Power.
With more Nightmare Power, the Nightmare creatures in the territories are stronger.
This not only makes the Nightmare territories stronger but also enhances the lawless lands between them.
Many Nightmare creatures unwilling to submit to the Nightmare Lords enter the lawless lands.
Some top-tier lawless lands even have Nightmare Knight-level creatures stationed there.
Among these lawless lands, Cross Town, if not top-tier, is certainly among the notable ones.
Every lawless land has a Seeker's Tavern, and in each tavern, there is inevitably a demon bartender.
Today, the bartender filled the cups of the patrons as usual, quietly listening to them boast about their exploits.
Bang! At the counter, a Nightmare creature with nine snake heads slammed its cup on the counter, looking somewhat frightened.
"Have you heard? All the bounty hunters who went after the Black Coffin are dead."
"Oh? Really?"
The bartender refilled the nine-headed monster's drink while curiously asking.
The bounty hunters chasing the Black Coffin were assembled with his help; their strength was more than enough to capture even a Greater Nightmare.
Logically, they should have returned empty-handed at most; how could they all be dead?
"I heard it too."
The nine-headed monster took the drink from the bartender and gulped it down.
"Damn, I almost joined them."
The bartender didn't comment, just silently noted this information.
It might come in handy later.
Creak!
The tavern door suddenly swung open.
A burly knight, clad in black armor and carrying a greatsword on his back, stooped to enter the tavern.
The Nightmare creatures in the tavern showed a hint of surprise, as this black knight was quite powerful but a stranger.
Had some Nightmare Knight's vassal defected?
However, soon some Nightmare creatures noticed something amiss.
Why did this black knight look so familiar? After entering the tavern, the black knight scanned the room, then strode towards the counter.
"What can I get for you, sir?" The demon bartender greeted with a smile.
The black knight's muffled voice came from behind the armor.
"Nothing, I'm just here to inform you of something. You need to close the tavern."
"Oh?" The demon bartender looked at the black knight with interest. "Why should I close the tavern?"
"Because if you don't, your tavern will be destroyed."
As soon as the knight finished speaking, the demon bartender's face changed drastically. He shouted in a panicked voice: "Everyone, the Seeker's Tavern is closed for today.
If you're still alive later, you're welcome to come back tomorrow."
With that, the demon bartender waved his hand, and the entire tavern seemed to come alive, spitting out all the Nightmare creatures inside.
Then, under the bewildered gazes of the Nightmare creatures, the Seeker's Tavern began to shrink rapidly, soon becoming the size of an ordinary box.
"Is the bartender crazy?"
"Is he moving?"
"What did that newcomer tell him? Did anyone hear?"
"Hey, where did that newcomer go?"
As the Nightmare creatures puzzled over this, they suddenly noticed the sky seemed brighter than before.
"What's that?"
A Nightmare creature looked up at the sky, where something like a meteor shower was approaching.
"Let me see."
A Nightmare creature covered in eyes turned its gaze to the sky, and immediately, all its pupils contracted.
"Run! That's fucking fireballs!"
Boom! A torrent of fire rained down from the sky, instantly covering the tavern and the entire Cross Town.
In an instant, a massive amount of fire elements gathered into a giant fire tornado, and the violent fire elements tore apart almost all the Nightmare creatures within range.
On a high ground ten kilometers away from the tavern, nearly a hundred Magic Support Vehicles gradually transformed into Nightmare Power and entered Richard's body.
"Good effect. I hope Bone is quick."
The fire tornado dissipated in seconds, and on the scorched earth left by the fireballs, a black knight emerged from the ground.
"Whew, the boss's weapon really packs a punch!"
The knight who had informed the bartender to close the tavern was Bone. Due to the tavern's special nature, Richard didn't attack it directly but had Bone give advance notice.
When the fire rain came, Bone used the Magic Equipment Richard had given him to burrow into the ground.
Although the Elemental Storm was terrifying, under the protection of the thick soil layer and the Adamantine armor, Bone didn't suffer a single injury.
After marveling, Bone quickly began to clean up the battlefield.
He took out a Magic Pocket and used Nightmare Power to simulate Magic Power, extracting something like a vacuum cleaner from it.
With the vacuum cleaner's nozzle, Bone collected all the shattered remains of the Nightmare creatures on the battlefield.
The remains of Nightmare creatures take time to turn into dust; by storing them in time, the loss of Nightmare Power can be prevented.
Soon, the vacuum cleaner's bag became full.
While cleaning the center of the battlefield, Bone found the shrunken tavern.
The earlier spell barrage had left the tavern completely unharmed.
Bone knocked on the tavern's roof and shouted: "Bartender, it's done."
Then, the bartender's voice came from inside the tavern.
"Really done?"
"Really done, I've already cleaned up the battlefield."
Soon, the tavern began to expand, quickly returning to its original size.
The bartender opened the door and looked at the leveled Cross Town, feeling a bit shocked.
Good grief, an entire town just gone? The bartender looked at Bone and asked with a trembling voice: "Uh... friend, what should I call you?"
Bone turned to the bartender and took off his helmet.
"What, don't you recognize me?"
Seeing Bone's face under the helmet, the bartender felt dizzy.
He knew Bone too well; he had even helped assemble the bounty hunters chasing Bone.
But the bartender had seen his share of big scenes and quickly calmed down, asking curiously: "Black Coffin, are you here for revenge—"
The bartender's pupils suddenly contracted; he suddenly noticed that the coffin on the back of the guy called Black Coffin on the wanted posters was gone.
Bone grinned at the bartender: "Not revenge, but hunting. And I'm just a hunting dog."
(End of Chapter)