Everyone stepped back from Michael as he told them. Michael's emerald green fire lit the hall dimly. Under everyone's curious gazes, Michael kept the fire dancing above one hand while throwing the herbs into the fire using the other.

The herbs and ingredients crackled in the fire and let out their essence. Knight noticed glistening essence beads emerging from the fire in a few blink of an eye.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 10000 badass points]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 13000 badass points]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 10000 badass points]

"How is he doing this?" Amaryll questioned Catalie. She had never seen an alchemist extract essence from the herbs without a cauldron. They were pretty shocked, including Knight.

"Do you think his cure will work?" Catalie whispered to Amaryll,

"We should have hope Catalie," Amaryll liked to have hope in her heart.

If his cure worked, they could wake all the soldiers in the hall next to them. Until now, a hundred and twenty people have been in a coma because of the corroded blades. If it weren't for Don, all of them would have died.

Michael ignored all the whispers and stares at him and continued to brew the cure. It took him almost five minutes to merge all the essence beads and complete the pale jade color potion.

After Michael completed the potion, the vial radiated a dim emerald green light and a sweet fragrance.

"This will do it,"

"Let me do it," Before Michael could pour the potion onto Kotak's mouth, Amaryll stepped forward.

"Go ahead," Michael handed the potion over to Amaryll, put out his alchemy flames, and leaned on the pillar beside him.

After taking the potion, Amaryll took a deep breath. Then, she sat near Kotak's head and gently lifted his head before slowly pouring the green liquid into his mouth.

On the other hand, Knight did not take his gaze off of Kotak. Knight didn't even blink. It was too nerve-wracking.

Little by little, the potion ran down Kotak's throat.

"Give it a second," Michael said to Catalie, who was staring at Michael,

"And also, you should step away from him," Michael turned his gaze from Catalie to Amaryll.

"Quick,"

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"Uwak!"

Kotak suddenly threw up dark blood onto the floor. Fortunately, Amaryll stepped back from him as Michael told her. Otherwise, she would have been drenched in the dark blood vomited by Kotak.

Kotak kept throwing up dark blood for a few minutes before he finally stopped puking blood. After Kotak finished throwing up, Knight noticed the cuts on his body slowly closing up.

"Kotak!" Amaryll hugged Kotak without waiting for a second. She embraced him tightly and patted him on the back.

"Step aside, Amaryll,"

However, Knight was not in the mood to wait. He just pulled back Amaryll and grabbed Kotak by his shoulders,

"What happened?"

"Iwei.."

Plop!

"Knight!"

Michael saw Knight slapping Kotak to make him snap out of shock. Amaryll shouted at Knight, but the latter did not mind Amaryll.

"General Knight," Knight's slap brought Kotak back from his shocked state.

"Tell us what happened," Kotak didn't move his gaze away from Knight. Hence, he didn't notice Michael, who just watched the scene unfolding, leaning on the pillar with his hands folded.

"We were ambushed, General Knight. The cannibals ambushed us on our way to Valencia. GENERAL KNIGHT!" Just as Katok remembered something important, he shouted,

"They got Yuki,"

"No shit!"

Knight pushed him back and punched the table beside him as the table crumbled into pieces.

"Catalie, war room,"

Catalie nodded before waving her hands. Michael knew what was coming, so he just closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them back, he was standing in a room brightly lit with chandeliers.

They stood around an oak table with several maps.

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"How did they know about our route?" Ken asked Kator, who had no time to process what just happened to him or how he survived.

"I don't know, my lord. They just jumped our carriage and took Yuki. I tried my best. Please forgive me for failing you, General Knight," Katrok dropped to his knees before Knight.

"You did nothing wrong. Get up," Knight pulled him up by his shoulder and looked at everyone in the room, including Michael.

"First things first, Ghost can we recreate the option you made us after you leave?"

"Yeah, I can write down the formula and make it easier for them. You should have no problem mass producing them,"

Knight nodded as Catalie heaved a sigh of relief.

While Knight was thinking about his next move, Michael took out the shield from the system storage and admired the beauty and the craftsmanship.

"What kind of metal is this?" Michael mumbled under his breath, looking around the shield. This round shield was made from a sturdy but lightweight metal. It could easily offer heavy-duty protection, especially against crushing attacks and arrows and bolts.

The shield's edges were enhanced with thick metal plating and decorated with a scaly texture. In addition, the one who forged the shield painted the edge with crimson red paint to match the skull engraved in the center.

With the first look, the shield seemed to have yet to see its first battle. There was not a single scratch on the surface. But Michael had difficulty believing this shield had never seen action.

One thing was sure, Michael would soon test the shield in action. But although the shield would provide a great defense in a battle, carrying it around would ultimately restrict his swordplay. That's where Draven's retractable shield device comes into the picture.

"I need to place a summoning rune on it," Michael quickly recalled how Eve summoned her hammer after throwing it at her foes. It would be troublesome if Michael had to find the shield after he threw it at his foes. Therefore, Michael planned to make Elidyr place a summoning rune on the shield. Of course, to do that, he had to first leave Don's universe. Unfortunately, it was not like Michael had a choice. Rather it was up to the Shadow realm. Until it decides to take him back, he was stuck in this universe.

"What are we still doing here? Let's send our men to rescue Yuki. We know where she is," Amaryll raised her concern and tried to rush Knight.

"It's not that easy. First, we don't know for sure that's where they are keeping Yuki. Second, it's obviously a trap to capture Don. The withered forest is a void zone. Not even Don can use his powers there," Knight's brows arched up as he explained,

"They expect Don to come alone, and I won't let him go alone. He has enough problems as it is. We will figure this out on our own,"

"Brother Knight is right. We can't let big brother walk into a trap. If he tells him about Yuki, he will go there. Although I believe the cannibals have no chance against big brother, it's not rational to walk into a trap knowing its a trap,"

Ken nodded after hearing Catalie.

"General Knight," Ken called Knight,

"Only our men knew about the carriage and Yuki. So how did the cannibals manage to ambush it? Could it be just a coincidence?" Ken couldn't help asking the obvious question.

After Ken's question, the hall fell into silence.

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"Isn't it obvious?" Michael finally broke the silence and didn't even take his gaze away from his new shield.

"What is?" Amaryll asked Michael.

"You have a spy among your men,"

Michael expected some kind of rebuke from one of them, especially from Amaryll, who seemed to love her people a little too much. However, they surprised Michael by staying silent.

Michael had no idea how much they went through and suffered to get to this position. They were not naive people, not even Amaryll as Michael thought.

Although everyone was thinking about the same deep down, hearing it out loud from Michael churned terrible feelings in their guts.

"We are running out of time. The note mentioned the cannibals would kill Yuki if they didn't see Don in two hours," Knight's voice stunned Amaryll.

"Then we all go swords blazing and kill every single piece of scum. I will reduce them to the ground if I have to,"

"Calm down, Amaryll. Even if we send thousands of our elites, they would be sitting ducks once they entered the withered forests,"

"General Knight is correct, Lady Amaryll. The withered forest is their domain. They hold absolute power there,"

"Then what do you suggest? Let them eat Yuki while we stand here doing nothing? Do you think Don would sit still if he knew Yuki was in danger?"

Hearing their conversation, Michael's respect for these people reached a new height because they knew he was immune to the void array, yet none of them asked him to risk his life. Instead, they were trying to figure out a solution on their own.

"Don saved my life. So let me return the favor," Michael's calm words swept across the hall, immediately drawing their attention.

"Don't even think about it. You're our guest. We will not ask you to risk your life for us," Catalie appeared before Michael in an instant, shaking her head frantically.

"You are not asking me. It's my choice. Just show me where they are," Michael stepped towards the table, facing Knight.

Unlike the others, Knight could see the confidence and sense the power radiating from Michael. The magical fluctuations around Ghost were crazy. Thus, Knight was confident Ghost could rescue Yuki and survive in the withered forest.

Michael couldn't wait to get drenched in badass points and show what he was capable of to the people of Everlight. Besides, he might even get a chance to test his new shield.

"Catalie, go with him and show us everything happens," Michael almost wanted to kiss Knight. If they could see him in action, that would make the system rain badass points which he could use to get stronger before reaching the shadow realm.

"Will she be in danger?" asked Michael,

"No. They can't hurt me, and I can't hurt them. But I'll be able to shadow you and let Knight see what I see," Catalie explained to Don as she prepared to teleport him to the withered forest.

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