After looking for a while, Shad and his group finally found an empty lot at the corner of the flattened man-made ground. They took out their tents from their magic pouches and began to set them up.

" Hey hey, you there! who gave you and your group permission to set up camp here? Hurry up and tear them down." A middle-aged man came into view and stared angrily at Shad and the hundred of lightning Corps around him. This man was rather well built and gave off a powerful aura. There was an arrogant look on his face as well.

Everyone turned to look at the noise and some of them began to smile at Shad and his group.

This middle-aged man was a mid 7th rank warrior and was the commander of the Red Flame mercenary group from the Bartolo Empire. The Red flame mercenary had over seven hundred members and was considered as one of the top five mercenary group in the Bartolo Empire. Their power was not something to be trifled with.

" This group of people sure have some balls. Could it be that they didn't see how many people were afraid of setting camp here? If everyone was able to set up tents in this area, I would have been the first one to do so as I was there long before most people here, I wouldn't have to sleep in this damn forest." A man muttered as he drank his wine gourd from a tree branch not too far away.

" Well, they are newcomers to this place and don't know the rules. Nonetheless, they should have seen how many people were here but only a few tents. This isn't a place that just anyone could have a tent." Another man spoke up from his tree branch.

The middle-aged man walked up to where Shad was along with the Lightning Corps.

When he saw that Shad had no intention of tearing down his tent, his face distorted in anger and released the overbearing and powerful aura of his 7th rank warrior as he shouted " Are you deaf? Did you not hear what I said."

At the same time, more than five hundred well-armed men quickly appeared and stood behind the middle-aged man. They all wore the same red robe as though they were from the same organization. There were three 6th rank warriors among them while the others were just 4th rank and below. They all had a determine and bloodthirsty look on their faces.

" Commander Gil, what happened." Asked one of the 6th rank warrior among the group with a perverted smile on his face while he was looking at the four girls behind Shad.

" This little fucker and his meager group dared to take our spot while we were away checking out the perimeter of the endless mist." Answered the middle-aged man angrily.

" Hehehe, don't be mad commander, it seemed like they are a bunch of newcomers and didn't know that this spot belonged to the Red Flame mercenary group, why don't we take this four women from them as compensation and spared them ." Said the 6th rank warrior as he was sizing up Monalisa's body from head to toes while licking his lips.

After listening to this his subordinate, the commander suddenly looked at the four women behind Shad. Before, he was so angry that he did not notice these four angels. However, once he saw them up close, his eyes lit up.

As for Shad, he was looking at them as though they were a bunch of clowns and didn't even bother to answer them.

" You are right Holdorf. Hey, you little shrimp, leave these four women behind and I'll spare your dog life for taking out spot." Said the commander while he was looking at the twin along with Viviana and Monalisa, and undressing them with his perverted glare.

" Commander don't forget about me. I want that one." Said another 6th rank warrior as he was looking at Viviana.

While the members of the Red Flame mercenary group were discussing who gets which of the four girls, they didn't notice the look of pity on some of the spectators' faces.

They've truly felt sorry for them because they didn't know who they were messing with. For them, the commander of the Red Flame mercenary group along with his subordinates were already dead.

" Enough." Suddenly, a cold powerful voice emerged.

" How dare you?."

Everyone was startled by this newcomer. It was a middle-aged man wearing a black robe. He had a tall and impressive figure, and his facial features had a firm outlines and his body was emanating a powerful noble aura that was cold as ice.

This man was accompanied by a youth who had a somewhat similar facial feature as him, and behind them were more than three hundred valiant soldiers.

This person coming out nowhere and berated the Red Flame mercenary's commander left the crowd puzzled because not many of them recognized who he was and why he suddenly came into the defense of the 4th imperial prince.

Of course, Shad and his group were able to recognize this person in a single glance. He was the head of the Kalel family, one of the Grand Dukes of the Djage empire and also one of the commanders of the Imperial Army, Gomez Kalel.

" Who the fuck are you!" The commander coldly asked: " And how dare you meddle in my business. You aren't the one calling the shots around here!"

" You dared to threaten the 4th imperial prince of the Djage empire and the princess. Yet, you have the audacity to ask who I am "

" The.... the.... the... imperial Freak." The commander stuttered with fear and almost choked on his own saliva when he heard who he was messing with.

He felt his quivering legs losing strength as he almost fell down to the ground. The name imperial Freak truly frightened him.

He secretly lamented about his lack of fortune at this moment. He had really kicked an iron wall this time. Why did he have to meet with this ominous star?

Even though their Red Flame mercenary group was strong, they weren't strong to the point where they could mess with an imperial prince from one of the four great empires, not to mention that young prince in front of him was a little monster who could cripple their mercenary group by himself.

" Your highness , I'm sorry. I didn't know that ..." Agast, he quickly swallowed a gulp of saliva as he felt that his mouth was drying up and tried to explain himself to Shad.

However, before the commander could even finish talking, a blue light suddenly flashed in Gomez's as he uttered, " Frost Domain."

Suddenly a white magic circle appeared beneath his feet as a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering frost energy erupted out.

The frost energy instantly spread out for a hundred meters, causing all red flame mercenaries within that area to begin to tremble as they iced over. The ones that were below the 4th rank warrior were more affected as they couldn't use their battle Qi to protect their bodies.

As for the three 6th rank warriors and the commander who was a 7th rank warrior, their expression turned stiff as they used their battle Qi shields and hardening Qi to protect their bodies from the cold, this turn of events completely surpassed their prediction.

In the blink of an eye, an area of a hundred meters across had become like the dead winter. Icy coldness filled the area, as well as an astonishing frost aura. Everything was frozen over to the point where white snowflakes appeared and began to fall.

" Kill them all." Gomez coldly ordered.

" Wait." Shad retorted in cold voice as the soldiers that were about to attack the mercenaries in the icy field suddenly stop.

" Cut your own throat," Shad said while he was looking at the commander of the Red flame mercenary as his right eye suddenly flashed and a red light shot out from it and directly entered the commander's eyes.

Most people had a weird expression on their faces when they heard Shad's word. However, the next moment they were astounded and watched in disbelief as the leader of the Red Flame mercenary took a small knife from his pocket and actually cut his own throat without resisting.

What kinda frightening power or magic spell was that? The people here knew that there was no way the leader of the Red Flame mercery would cut his own throat willingly. Which meant that the 4th imperial prince must have done something to him to force him to do it. Even though they didn't know when and how he did it, they were pretty sure that the commander didn't kill himself just because the 4th imperial prince asked him to.

This scene was too much to take in. Whether it was the Grand Duke Gomez or the spectators, they all felt their jaws dropping to the ground. They never expected something like that to happen.

The commander of the Red Flame mercenary who was a 7th rank warrior and a well-known tyrant had died just like that. At this moment, all of the members of the Red Flame mercenary were frightened. The ones who criticized Shad and were trying to take the women from his group away were even more aghast and became paralyzed on the ground.

Even their leader was killed instantly with just some simple words without even having the chance to fight back, yet they dared to act pompous before someone like that.

' Father was right, the 4th imperial prince wasn't human. Even without the treasure left by Henry, this freak would still be able to turn this continent upside down sooner or later. I'm gonna have to do my utmost to patch things up with him before it's too late. Plus, what kind of magic spell was that. I didn't even see or heard him chant any magic spell, yet he was able to kill that 7th rank warrior effortlessly.' Thought Grand Duke Gomez as he was looking the young man that looked so harmless as though he could not even kill a fly with a hint of fear in his eyes.

However, what they didn't know was that Shad had used the Lightning-Eye Destroyer magic spell which was one of the most powerful magic spells he had inherited from the memory of the Red Lightning Dragon Emperor to take direct and complete control of the commander's body' and forced him to kill himself.

Even though the commander was a 7th rank warrior, his mental fortitude or his will wasn't that strong which facilitated Shad to easily take control over his body.

" You can kill them now," Shad said while he was looking at the frightened mercenaries with a devilish smile on his face. They dared to mess with his woman and even have an idea about his sister, they deserved to die. Even if he didn't kill them, his old man would have traveled to the Bartolo empire personally to destroy their main base if he had ever heard about it. For some reason, Viviana was like one of the old man's archilles heels.

Without even waiting for their General to give the order, the soldiers that came with Grand Duke Gomez suddenly dashed towards the mercenaries with a loud battle cry as they started to chop them down with their weapons like vegetables.

Because most of the mercenaries were within the Frost domain magic spell cast by grand duke Gomez, their cultivation bases were seemingly frozen solid, especially for the low-level warriors.

Furthermore, not a single person under the 6th rank warrior could escape its effects. After realizing this, the mercenaries' first instinct was to flee.

However, thanks to Frost Domain magic spell locking them down, they were incapable of doing so.

" Please excuse this general for the late welcome, 2nd Protector." Said, Gomez, as he bowed to Shad. Because Shad was now the Sword and shield of the empire, his status and power were similar to his great-grandfather. While his grandfather was responsible to deal with any threat within the Empire, Shad was responsible to eradicate any external threat before it could even make it to the empire.

" Rise." Shad gently waved his sleeve.

After Gomez stood up, he said." I am here on behalf of the kalel family and also from the order of father to support the second protector during this mission."

" With the Ice Demon backing me up, things will be much easier," Shad said with a genuine smile on his face while he was looking at grand duke Gomez. Even though he was surprised by this sudden development, he still kept his calm. When he first saw Gomez, he thought he came to look for the treasure for himself. He'd never thought that he came here to help him from the order of his father, the vice dean of the Kalin magic academy. Gomez was a very strong ice mage with the nickname Ice Demon, so Shad was very happy to have him in his team. Even though he had no idea if they were being sincere or not, but he will play along with them.

" It's been a long time since we've last seen each other. Also, It seemed like you have already broken through the 4th class mage, Clyde," Shad said with a huge smile on his face as he shifted his gaze to the young man that was behind Gomez whose body was emitting a frosty aura.