On a craggy road, a troop of horses hurtled forward.

It had been half a month since Merlin left Holy Dragon City. Every day, he hastened on his journey. Now, he could finally see Cedar City which was not far up ahead.

"I'm approaching Cedar City. I just don't know if Orsato is still inside."

Merlin growled to himself. Naturally, his current target was Orsato.

Merlin reached the top of a hill. This spot overlooked the entire Cedar City. It was merely a small town, not a prosperous city. Nonetheless, the Python Army could only occupy such a small town for now.

"Hmm? There's someone?"

Merlin narrowed his eyes. His vision had spotted a few young men and women outside Cedar City, who seemed to be observing Cedar City as they suspiciously discussed something.

"It looks like I'm not the only enemy of the Python Army!"

A cold smirk gradually grew over Merlin's lips, following which he released his horse while he sped down the slope, alone, toward Cedar City.

…

In a grove outside of Cedar City, three young men and women had gathered, peering at Cedar City from time to time anxiously.

"Mary, with just the three of us, it's dangerous to go into Cedar City and rescue your sister. Orsato is very formidable, and we…"

One of the young men appeared rather hesitant. The three of them were planning to rescue someone in Cedar City.

"Otara, if you don't wish to go, you may leave now. No matter what, I must rescue my sister!"

This woman named Mary spoke in determined tones. Without liberating her sister, she would not leave Cedar City.

The other two men exchanged a glance before finally clenching their jaws. "Then we'll give it a shot. If something goes wrong, we'll withdraw immediately. After all, we mustn't get trapped in Cedar City!"

Otara spoke through gritted teeth.

"Alright, we'll go in now."

Mary needed help too. Wanting to save her sister by herself was no different from a lunatic's plan.

Therefore, the three of them disguised themselves as ordinary people, and walked out from the grove, heading toward Cedar City. They did not notice at all the figure behind them who was trailing them at a distance.

After entering Cedar City, Mary seemed to have figured out the situation in Cedar City in advance. Thus, she said softly, "As Orsato's bloodline is the Golden Python, he requires an obscene number of women each month. Moreover, he's built a place where he keeps the numerous women he's captured. It's in the west of the city. The security there is relatively lax, so we'll go now."

When Mary mentioned Orsato, she clenched her jaw. Her younger sister was also brought to Cedar City in such a manner.

Orsato liked his women indeed. Every day, he would have a few women waiting upon him. Nevertheless, his bloodline was the Golden Python, which was lascivious by nature, so a few women were nothing much.

Just as always, Orsato went to this castle in the afternoon where he had imprisoned many women.

The castle held no less than over three hundred and eighty women. The Python Army had captured these women from each city it had seized, to be offered to Orsato.

Orsato now stood before a few dozen women. In one sweep of his gaze, he instantly took a liking to a few of them who had full figures and gorgeous features. Thus, he offhandedly pointed at these few women and said, "Follow me."

These women exchanged a glance but dared not resist. Orsato was cruel indeed. He would immediately kill the women who had disobeyed him, and feed their corpses to the wild dogs. He was that heartless.

Therefore, these women dared not go against his command.

Orsato was feeling pleased and was about to leave with these women when his face suddenly changed as he barked out a cold laugh. "You want to assassinate me with just the few of you?"

"Roar…"

Orsato immediately shapeshifted, and his massive body viciously smacked a few trees in the distance.

"Crack."

These trees were snapped by Orsato directly. Three figures leaped out pathetically, wearing distressed expressions. It was Mary and the rest who had planned a rescue.

"Oh no, we've been noticed! Mary, let's flee quickly!"

Otara's heart jolted. Orsato's casual blow could contain such might. They were all third-form shifters but even though they had exceptional mid-tier almighty beast bloodlines, the disparity between Orsato and them was too huge.

"It's too late to run! Orsato, I'm here to rescue my sister. Since you've discovered us, there's nothing to do but fight. Shapeshift!"

Following that, Mary unleashed a mighty snarl. She instantly transformed into a colossal fox covered in blood vessels, which looked quite a beauty. As for the other two men, their almighty beast bloodline was the same – a black Giant Wolf King.

Giant Wolves were merely a low-tier bloodline but a Giant Wolf King could reach the mid-tier bloodline. All three of them had mid-tier almighty beast bloodlines, which surprised Orsato somewhat.

"They all have mid-tier almighty beast bloodlines. Since when were there so many mid-tier almighty beast bloodlines?"

These three who popped out from nowhere possessed mid-tier almighty beast bloodlines as if such bloodlines were of little value. However, it was not easy to possess a mid-tier almighty beast bloodline. One must at least be a descendant of some aristocratic lord.

Nevertheless, after the Holy Dragon Empire had descended into chaos, many lords and aristocrats had died in the scuffle. Naturally, the later generations of these bloodlines fell into abjection. Therefore, it appeared as if mid-tier almighty beast bloodlines could pop up at any time.

"Kill!"

The three of them followed Mary's furious cry. The two Giant Wolf Kings were the fastest, dashing directly toward Orsato like lightning. Furthermore, the gigantic fox behind them lightly swayed its tail, and a peculiar perfume drifted into Orsato's nose, causing him to feel dizzy.

"Poison?"

Orsato's expression finally turned serious. Poisonous almighty beasts were difficult to deal with. It was not that their strength was immense but the invisible poison was very troublesome. Even if one had defeated his opponent, one might die from being unable to neutralize the poison.

"Stamp!"

Orsato gave a deafening roar. His snake body, thick as a bucket, jerked forward abruptly. The entire castle seemed to tremble as the massive snake swept forward.

"Bang bang."

Orsato violently whipped the two Giant Wolf Kings. No matter how fast they were, they could not dodge the blows from Orsato's snake body. They were beaten back, and could not get up due to their heavy injuries.

Mary's face paled. Orsato's battle powers had far exceeded her imagination, and hence, she unleashed her poison more frantically.

Orsato felt that his dizziness had grown more intense, and fury flashed in his eyes as he laughed icily. "You're asking for it!"

"Swoosh."

Orsato's speed was incredible. There was only a golden flash of light, and he was in front of Mary. Just as before, the snake's tail whipped forward viciously.

This time, he had used his full strength to whip at Mary. She would soon be smashed to a pulp.

Mary's eyes revealed her despair. She could only watch helplessly as Orsato's tail swung forward ruthlessly.

"Roar…"

Suddenly, there was a thunderous cry as if an ancient almighty beast had awakened. A dark shadow had emerged behind Orsato at an unknown time, causing Orsato to feel overwhelmed by acute uneasiness.