As a good ruler concerned for the wellbeing of his citizens, Rino decided to launch a sudden attack on his territory to see how they would react.

This was probably the last thing he wanted to do before leaving Noir Province for an indefinite period. His new daily quest arrived, and Rino had all the reasons to leave this village in search of a new territory space.

He did not want to break the barrier he painstakingly set up, but there was a need to scare his army. The strength of a kingdom's defence depended on how ready for an attack the army at the border was. Distant water cannot put out a near fire, and Rino hoped that his shadow army was prepared for the worst in his absence.

Just a few hours earlier, Fronzo presented Rino with the sapling of a magic tree from cross-breeding World Tree Rino and the Cypress Ghost Tree. There was no longer a reason for Rino to remain lingering in Noir Province once the villagers passed this test.

Conjuring an image of a young wyvern, Rino took his position in the illusion to cause mayhem a few mountains from where Noir Province was. The wyvern's howls echoed far enough to reach the watchtower of Noir Province's borders, and the pixie on duty shrieked when he heard it.

Fast as a teleportation spell, the pixie on watch triggered the warning alarm spell and reported back to the elemental syph in charge that day.

Yes, Rino chose to attack his village during the day when it would be at its weakest. He felt slightly sluggish, but this wasn't something he couldn't deal with. His shadow army was a lot stronger than before, and a little sunlight shouldn't kill them.

Besides, it was more likely that their enemies would choose the strongest sun at noon to attack them when they found out how the village was inhabited by undead.

The alarm sent everyone into action like a fallen house of cards as one thing led to another. Rino observed with pride how the emergency magical barrier defence was boosted and activated by the four elemental sylphs within seconds. At the same time, the Cypress Ghost Tree's shared conscience told him how Kragami reacted in less than a minute to do the same and take over command of the situation, prioritising evacuation of the weaker non-battle faes from his territory before supporting his appointed territory baron.

Fronzo might be a non-combatant, but he did not back away from participating in the war against the young wyvern approaching their village. The lesser ghoul was busy organising the storemen and faes to carry kegs from their underground storage, redirecting farming faes and helping hands into logistic carriers to assist the warriors in gearing up for the battle.

With less than five minutes before the young wyvern reached their territory, the village scampered into full alert, and Rino recognised with pride that all the hobgoblin guards with longbows stood at their respective watchtowers, waiting for a coordinated signal from Goblin Lord Gnut.

The shaman stood beside the baron and buffed the warriors prepared to fight.

More importantly, Rino could see a sense of unity between Fowler and his friends with the other members of the village for once. The lesser vampire was geared up and taking his stance at the forefront with the faes. His job was to guard the world tree cave while the four elemental sylphs reinforced the defence barrier. Rino felt proud that he was not wrong in entrusting this duty to the dislikeable archer. He might have a disagreeable personality, but he was loyal when duty called for it.

Rino did not go easy on his villagers. The young wyvern spewed a powerful tier-five spell right off the bat, razing the surrounding forest into ash and turning the peaceful scene into a sea of flames.

Hell fire. Rino used the spell to terrorise his villagers. Nobody knew where he was, and Mutt was missing from the action. However, nobody had time to question it. They had a more pressing emergency to deal with as the wyvern struck the magic barrier once.

The barrier withheld the wing slam, and Rino retreated a little, making the illusion howl in rage at the failed attempt to destroy the village. The wyvern flapped around in the air, trying to find an angle to break into the village, spewing fire everywhere without much success.

"Fire!" Lord Goblin Gnut announced, and Rino watched the fairy-archer pairs work together to form a terrifying artillery rain on his illusion wyvern.

The attack was more powerful than Rino thought it was. Even as he flew and twisted through the air trying to evade them all, he only managed to escape half of those arrows. The other artillery arrows embedded themselves in Rino's exposed ribs.

The wyvern used freeze magic to stop the arrows mid-air, startling the shaman, who urgently reported the situation to the goblin lord. Young wyverns were powerful, but a wyvern who could use more than one elemental type of magic was far more dangerous than anything they prepared for. Their lich king was still missing, and it was a dire situation.

Lord Goblin Gnut gritted his teeth and grabbed his spear, raising it above his head. Over the last few weeks, the goblin warriors and some farmhands practised what they learned from Rino. They might not be as good as their king, but certainly, they would be better than ordinary swordsmen. Not to mention, they were undead born from shadows with high regeneration magic.

"Our King entrusted us to protect this land. Our souls belong to him. Even if you have to burn ten thousand times, protect this land with everything you have!"

Rino heard this from the sky and witnessed what a true Goblin Lord could do for the first time. He knew that Gnut's charisma was important in uniting everyone. However, he did not know that his Baron was capable of buffing everyone in his territory. The battle aura of non-combatants rose, and even Fronzo looked more like a greater ghoul than a lesser ghoul with that unknown ferocity in his eyes as he grabbed a spear and yelled.

The archers and fairies stood their ground to fire a new round of artillery while those who had spears rushed out of the protective barrier with the help of fairies to participate in an aerial battle.

The sight of flying goblins and skeletons was so unreal that Rino had to ask himself if this wyvern would survive in an actual situation. The fairies who gave their souls to World Tree Rino were not infinitely regenerating like his shadow army. Yet, they were here, risking their existence and evolution to assist his warriors in a war they knew they might not return from.

The lich had to admit, he was touched beyond words.

It was more amazing to see how the three farm manager sisters geared up and put their differences aside. They lead the fairies in three different groups to battle. Knowing that the wyvern could conjure fire and ice, the fairies grouped themselves accordingly to deflect fire and ice. A new group of wind fairies battled with the wyvern in the air to make it lose its aerial advantage.

Spells rained on Rino from every direction, and even he found it hard to deflect both physical and spell attacks from the all-out effort from his villagers to defend their territory. The fairies were relentless, and Rino was hit with more artillery arrows now than before.

The illusion wyvern twisted awkwardly in the sky, trapped by the onslaught of spells, and Goblin Lord Gnut charged towards the creature when he spotted an opening.

"Now!" he ordered as spearmen threw their spears.

Rino was not prepared for so many enchanted spears to be aimed at him. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so he used another card up his sleeve and blew everything away using wind magic.

Thoroughly terrified that it was a tri-elemental wyvern, the villagers became more desperate. Rino wanted to drop the illusion and come clean, but the two magicians in his village did not allow him any break to do so.

Kragami arrived on the scene to see the wyvern neutralise all the warriors' attacks. Where did such a powerful opponent come from? In his long life, he never saw a wyvern who could cast two different types of magic, much less three. Something nagged at the back of his mind that this was simply too strange. Yet, he had little time to think as he coordinated a spell to immobilise the wyvern with the goblin shaman.

Rino hardly had time to react when he felt a dangerous catastrophe spell build up. Even if he did not recognise the spell, the sheer amount of mana it was gathering would put it up in the forbidden tier. The sky changed, and the sun was covered by looming dark clouds within seconds.

Rino watched how his Baron ordered for a hasty retreat as the fist lightning flashed.

Boom!

Rino recognised this ritual now as blood rained down upon them. This was a forbidden spell that would eat at the caster's lifespan. Kragami was staking his lifespan to call upon the darkest hour, sacrificing his life to the Cypress Ghost, and Rino could not allow it.

"Cease at once!" he boomed and unsummoned Kragami's magician partner to forcefully end the ritual. The ritual was not fully initialised, so there would be no backlash on Kragami. Rino was thankful he wasn't too late to end this.

The villagers marvelled in shock, confusion and surprise when the wyvern illusion disappeared, and their king hovered in the air, pulling arrows from his exposed ribs.

Proud of them, Rino smiled warmly. "You passed the test."