The First Magic World War

There was another reason he recently delved into the study of the Agmilas Labyrinth and needed a place to test his findings—Machu Picchu was an ideal testing ground.

To control this group of adventurers from various backgrounds as much as possible, Charles, on the road, adjusted the team structure on the pretext, "There might be dangers along the way, and we need a battle formation." He gathered the leaders of more than a dozen small adventure groups and divided the remaining members by gender—the male adventurers were responsible for carrying the gear, and the female adventurers were in charge of the food and water.

Charles's personnel adjustments were not drastic and were explained as temporary, so they encountered no opposition.

In small adventure teams, the leader is typically the highest in combat power and the core of the team, with the members heavily reliant on the leader.

By temporarily separating the leaders from their members, Charles naturally weakened the leaders' influence and slightly enhanced his own "authority," allowing him a bit more control over the team.

With over a hundred people, the adventure team was considered medium to large-sized, requiring Charles to continually seize various opportunities to strengthen his position throughout the journey.

After a day's journey, this temporarily assembled adventure team chose to rest in a place called Maple Leaf Village. The village was quite small and did not have enough vacant houses; fearing robbery, they refused to let so many people enter.

Charles once again demonstrated his adept social skills, negotiating with the villagers to allow all the female adventurers to rest inside the village, while he and the male team members camped outside.

As soon as Charles had arranged everything, a team dressed in black windcheaters appeared from the direction they had come.

"People from the Liemar Detective Agency!?"

The detectives from the Liemar Agency were quite noticeable in their iconic black coats.

They had once encountered the Giant Axe Adventure Group in Charles's village and then went their separate ways. Charles thought he had escaped a calamity, but these detectives had still followed them.

Charles schemed internally, "These adventurers are unreliable; should a conflict arise, they might not side with me. I must strike first to give them a solid reason to fight."

He beckoned with his hand, gathering the leaders of the small adventure groups and said softly, "These are detectives hired by my cousin. They too want to go to Machu Picchu, and if they find the treasure first, we will return empty-handed and watch them get rich off our prize."

"I cannot allow that to happen. That is our wealth."

"We outnumber them. Let's capture these detectives and imprison them within our group until we find the treasure, then we can release them."

Typical adventurers are reluctant to provoke powerful forces. The Liemar Detective Agency had hired over a hundred detectives, in addition to two to three hundred detective assistants and a significant number of trainee detectives, and even more than ten Transcendents; small adventure groups dared not conflict with them.

Moreover, the president of the Liemar Detective Agency, Aubrey Barrington Atwood, was not just a High-Level Transcendent but also very influential, famous throughout the Fars Empire.

Having these small adventure group leaders kill the detectives from the Liemar Agency was out of the question, but Charles's instigation to capture and temporarily imprison them got some considering the move, especially since they indeed had the advantage in numbers at the moment.

An adventure group leader named Yasi said, "Although they have only seven people, there are at least two Transcendents among them! Especially the leader Winterburn, I know him, he is a Fourth Order Transcendent, a genuine Flame Dragon Knight."

Charles smiled slightly and said, "I will take care of this one, you five assist me."

Charles was willing to take on the toughest fight, which sparked interest among the leaders of these smaller adventure groups. Under the direction of this "temporary leader," they quickly gathered their best members and divided the combat targets.

Winterburn had a stern face. He was actually very annoyed. The wizard of the Liemar Detective Agency was far inferior to the diviner Wells in locating people, and he was certain that the mission had failed, having lost the target already.

Not capturing Charles and also losing an important Transcendent detective meant a loss for the Liemar Detective Agency. Wells's role in the Liemar Detective Agency was irreplaceable, as many cases depended on his diviner profession, and it was impossible to replenish such high-level special ability manpower in the short term.

He noticed that there was a medium to large size adventure group in the distance, but as a seasoned detective of the Liemar Detective Agency, he was not afraid of these rabble, especially since there was no conflict between the two sides.

Just as Winterburn was about to bypass these adventurers, he heard someone call out, "Is it Mister Winterburn?"

Although Winterburn possessed strong Battle Qi, he lacked the ability to see in the dark. Furthermore, he did not recognize the voice of the speaker and was momentarily stunned before he responded, "It's me!"

Being a seasoned detective, he was experienced and did not let his guard down.

But then he heard the other person say, "So it's you who seduced my wife?"

Suddenly, over a dozen men charged at him. Winterburn was shocked, thinking to himself, "When did I ever seduce so many men's wives?"

Although Charles had confidently claimed that he would lead against Winterburn, when more than ten men surrounded the seven detectives, he drew out Blood Rose and thrust his sword at Addison.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Even the Liemar Detective Agency could not boast Transcendents everywhere. Of the seven detectives that came to chase him this time, only Winterburn and Addison were Transcendents.

Charles, after all, was a Chinese, having grown up reading comics like "Thirty-Six Stratagems." Before making a move, he had already decided to take out Addison first. With this Transcendent knight gone, only Winterburn would remain, significantly reducing complications.

Addison had not expected someone to strike at him directly. As a Third Order knight, his reactions were extremely quick. He drew his sword to block Charles' strike, but he did not anticipate Charles' complete disregard for martial ethics. Charles pulled out the Magnum Hand Shuttle and fired twelve shots, forcing Addison to let out a ferocious howl. His Flame Battle Qi erupted, swirling around him in a fiery tornado and narrowly blocking the incoming bullets.

Charles had calculated this step before making a move. While a knight's Battle Qi could protect the body, the distribution of strength during combat was uneven. Addison was fully resisting the bullets coming straight at him, which meant the defense at his back was likely inadequate.

As he fired, Charles stabbed Blood Rose into the ground and activated his Insight Ability, targeting the weakest part of Addison's Protective Battle Qi and threw the Vampiric Hand Axe.

Under the control of Blood Flame Qi, the Vampiric Hand Axe traced a bizarre arc, breaking through Addison's protective Flame Battle Qi.

It had only been a few days since they last met, but Charles had advanced to a higher order, and the power of his Blood Flame Qi had increased significantly. The impact of this strike was far more powerful than last time, cleaving into the back of the Transcendent detective's skull and burying the axe blade three inches deep.