Death kiss crossbow was a masterfully crafted crossbow with a rare sample of willow. Its string was made from deluxe wolf sinew. The wolf sinew was a fairly rare material around these parts of the world. The crossbow's limbs had been decorated with ebony details and ended in long points ornamented with delicate decorations. The stock was wrapped in dark leather and decorated with sigil decorations. In the hands of a master archer such as Gaya herself, this crossbow was capable of firing arrows up to two hundred meters while still retaining lethal power. The appearance of the crossbow suggested master craftsmanship. Whoever built the crossbow had to be at least a 4-star blacksmith.

Gay held the crossbow firmly in her hand as her index finger brushed the trigger. With a single pull of the trigger, Gaya could find out why the orcs were so interested in this crossbow. But pulling the trigger meant death for those stupid yet poor dwarves. She herself was curious to see what the crossbow was capable of. The dwarves cried, but no words escaped their mouths. They knew they were staring death in the face. At that moment, they regretted coming out of the forest to steal from Valmas. Greed for gold coins blinded them. As a result, they were about to lose their lives.

In her defense, Gaya did warn the dwarves of the danger and gave them a chance to escape. Still, the dwarves managed to get caught. That wasn't her fault. Even if she didn't want to kill the dwarves, sparing them would ruin her disguise and make enemies out of these strange orcs. Despite the orcs' spooky looks, Gaya didn't intend to make enemies out of them. Instead, she wanted to learn more to see if she could recruit them into their army. Furthermore, sparing the dwarves might ruin her chance to learn more about the weapons built by Han Torum, which she couldn't allow to happen. Therefore, the dwarves had to die.

Finally, Gaya pulled the trigger as the steel ball shot out of the crossbow and exploded mid-way into countless pellets. The crossbow surprisingly didn't have any recoil. Gaya didn't even feel like she fired a powerful steel ball until she saw the leader dwarf's head explode into a red mist. The blood splattered on the other dwarves as the air reeked of blood. The leader dwarf's headless body hit the ground with a sickening thud. Blood oozed out of his messed-up neck.

"Headshot!" Valmas shouted excitedly. Everyone was surprised, but what surprised Gaya was how the pellets completely ignored the energy shield.

"Did you see that? A headshot could kill a Core Formation warrior despite any defense shields, as I said," Valmas explained, grinning from ear to ear.

"But not everyone is as good as my sexy bodyguard here," Valmas threw a sly grin at Gaya.

"He wasn't moving," the red orc growled. He wasn't as impressed as Valmas. The red orc was not wrong. Anyone with a little bit of skill could hit a stationary target from a five-meter distance. Even a blind man had the chance for a headshot in that short distance.

"Here's another ball," Valmas threw another steel ball and gestured at Gaya to reload the crossbow.

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The orc threw a dubious look at the dwarf as he tapped the wooden crate.

"One crate contains all the ammunition you asked for,"

After reloading the crossbow, Gaya pointed it at another dwarf and pulled the trigger. She had already killed one, so it wasn't a big deal for her to end the others. One by one, the dwarves lost their heads. Blood sprayed out from their neck as the orcs looked satisfied. Eventually, the golden shield before the dwarves faded away. The crossbow hooked up Gaya. She didn't use a bit of energy, yet she killed four Body Strengthening stages and one Core Formation warrior despite the energy shield.

Now she realized why the orcs were interested in the crossbows. Although Gaya didn't believe these crossbows could do anything to anyone above Core Strengthening stage warriors, these crossbows could change the tide of war since most wars were fought by soldiers who were mainly at Body Strengthening stage. When two powerful cultivators fought, the Guardian Guild would interfere to broker peace or one of the great eight clans. On the contrary, when two kingdoms went into war and thousands of soldiers fought, the Guardian Guild ensured the battle was fought in a controlled environment. For instance, when the Duke of Flamefair waged war against Pen Town and Ice Fair, the Guardian Guild did nothing.

Gaya had already decided to bring the blueprint to Michael and mass-produce these crossbows. Knowing Michael and his talent for building powerful stuff, Gaya was confident he would make changes to the crossbow and build something extraordinary from the blueprint. After she killed all the dwarves, the red orc threw a silver ring at Valmas. The dwarf licked his lips, looking into the space ring.

"Wonderful," the dwarf clapped his hands together. He then took out a parchment worn out by the time and handed it over to the orc. The red orc opened the parchment, took a look at it, and nodded at Valmas.

"Pleasure doing business with you. Now, what about the thing I asked?" Valmas kneaded his hands as though he was waiting for something from the orcs.

The orc put his hand into the belt around his waist and pulled out a golden card with some letters embossed on it.

"This will get you inside. Remember, this is the invitation, and whoever holds it gets the right to participate in the auction," said the orc. Gaya glanced over Valmas's shoulder at the golden card. Although the words embossed on the card were nearly unreadable, she was able to make out the words 'Han Torum'. Connecting the dots, Gaya realized she was one step closer to getting the weapons built by Han Torum.

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The red orc signaled his underlings to carry the wooden crates and follow him to the carriage outside. While the orcs were clearing out the crates, Valmas stared at the golden card in his hand with his eyes sparkling. Eventually, the orcs left the warehouse with the crates, leaving Valmas and his bodyguards behind. Gaya waited until the orcs were completely out of the area. Then, she took a step forward, snatching the golden card from Valmas's hand.

"HEY!" the dwarf shouted.

Gaya completely ignored him and read the words on the card.

"Place, the lily hall. Time, morning eight on the tenth," Gaya read the words as the bodyguards tensed.

"What do you think you are doing?" Valmas bellowed again.

"Sorry, Valmas. You should wait for the next auction," Gaya shrugged as Valmas's eyes glistened with anger and disbelief.

"Are you tired of living bitch?" the two dwarven bodyguards behind Valmas growled.

Instead of answering the dwarves, she just closed her eyes as her silver armor faded away and the black Dark Queen armor replaced it. When the transformation finished, the dwarves took a step back. Valmas was terrified. As a weapons dealer, he was aware of everything that had been happening throughout the world. So naturally, he knew everything about the Dark Lord and his better half, the Dark Queen. The dark armor and the red flaming eyes were dead giveaways.

The human bodyguard, on the other hand, collapsed to the ground in utter fear. Even in Awor, many humans were scared shitless of the Dark Lord. Especially those who migrated to Awor from Ozer.

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"The Dark Lord wants this," said Gaya in her demonic voice. She released her suppressed aura of a Half Immortal. As soon as they felt the overwhelming power, they trembled before her. Valmas was speechless. He may not have been as afraid as the human bodyguard of his, but her Half Immortal power left him no choice other than to hand over the invitation he had worked so hard for. He had to call in all the favors to meet the orcs and get the card to participate in the Han Torum auction. Every fiber in his dwarven body told him to unsheath his battle axe and chop her head off. However, he was not stupid enough to do so.

"Can I come with you as your plus one?" Valmas tried to negotiate with the Dark Queen, He couldn't let go of the golden opportunity to participate in the auction.

"You could," Gaya rubbed her chin as a smile merged on Valmas's face. But the next words that came out of her mouth froze his smile.

'But you would be dead by then," said Gaya. She was nonchalant.

Before they could react, a thick green smoke enveloped them. Immediately, the dwarves and the human bodyguard began to cough. Blood dribbled from every hole in their bodies. Their eyes widened as they turned jade. Soon, their bodies began to melt down like wax statues in heat.

"One less weapons dealer for the world," Gaya snickered. No one would shed a single tear for Valmas. Instead, the world would be a better place without him. From this point onward, there wouldn't be anyone to sell weapons to both sides and kindle wars between kingdoms. After killing them, Gaya put the invitation into her space ring.

"Azazel, it's done," said Gaya to Azazel through the earpiece.

"The Han Torum is going to sell their weapons in an auction. I think Noah or one of his underlings will participate and bid for the weapons,"

"You may want to return to the castle and pick a dress for the occasion, my lady," said Azazel.

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Usually, Gaya hated wasting precious gold coins on expensive dresses like the other noble women. But this auction was something special. If Noah or the guardians were attending the auction, she needed to be there. For some reason, she doubted she could steal or destroy the weapons built by one of the great eight clans. She must attend the auction and see who buys the weapons. Unfortunately, the Dark Lord's castle was short of gold coins. Therefore, Gaya planned to steal the weapons or destroy them from whoever buys them in the auction tomorrow.

Meanwhile, inside the demons grave, Michael was sitting before a campfire with Vedora by his side. The demons grave darkened as he heard countless creepy noises in the distance. After roaming around the place for two days, he had grown used to the sounds.

"Get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day," said Michael.