Qiaolin appeared just in time to save Edmond.
To the Balthar people, the Three Flag Challenge was sacred and inviolable.
Consequently, any deaths or injuries occurring during the match were generally disregarded.
However, interfering with the combat was seen as an affront to the solemn ceremony.
Fortunately, Qiaolin surrendered to the opponent, allowing the competition to continue.
Thus, that white flag now belonged to the Black Fang Legion.
As long as the Black Fang Legion won one more round, they would obtain the flag of Lin City, and the challenge would end.
“Damn it, we only have one chance left! I’ll go up for the next one!”
Seeing Qiaolin bring Edmond back, Lockes anxiously stepped forward and spoke to Aurora.
“Wait, Lockes. Let me heal Mr. Edmond’s injuries first. He is gravely wounded.”
Aurora was about to raise her hand to release magic, but Qiaolin stopped her.
“Save your Magic Power. You might be the one going up in the next round.”
“What do you mean?”
Aurora and Lockes asked in unison.
Qiaolin glanced at the arena.
A hunched figure slowly emerged from the crowd of the Black Fang Legion, appearing to be an elderly woman.
Everyone from the Lin City side noticed her.
Lockes curled his lip and said, “What’s this? It’s just an old hag. I thought it would be someone tough.”
“Her strength should be within the Four-Crown range, same as Lady Aurora, but it seems she only recently advanced. Her Magic Power is still somewhat unstable,” Qiaolin said, sensing the opponent’s aura.
“Heh, then there’s even less to fear!”
“But looking at her, she doesn’t seem like a warrior.”
Aurora’s brow furrowed slightly.
She looked at Qiaolin, who was currently healing Edmond.
Golden light transformed into fine threads, wrapping around the injured areas.
While Qiaolin was talking to them, the wounds on Edmond’s body had already begun to gradually close.
In just the blink of an eye, Edmond was fully healed and regained consciousness.
‘Such a fast healing speed? Is this Holy Magic? Master Qiaolin is indeed very powerful.’
A flash of astonishment crossed Aurora’s eyes, and the respect in her gaze toward Qiaolin deepened.
“I’m sorry, I did my best,” Edmond said.
“It’s fine. This was part of the plan anyway,” Qiaolin said with a confident smile.
Behind him, Loki suddenly interjected, “Is that so? Lin City only has one last chance left, you know. If you lose one more round, it’s the same as handing the city over to them.”
“Can’t you just shut up? Or maybe say something encouraging?”
Lockes complained.
Aurora was already under immense pressure.
They had all worked together for hundreds of years; even if they weren’t friends, they were acquaintances.
To offer no help while standing on the sidelines making sarcastic remarks was enough to make anyone criticize her.
Loki shrugged helplessly and slowly shuffled behind Qiaolin.
“People of Lin City, when exactly are you going to send someone up? This old woman has been standing here waiting for ages,” the hunched old woman shouted.
“Are you in such a hurry to find death? I’ll be the one to—”
Lockes was about to take off his coat when Aurora’s hand lightly rested on his shoulder.
“Let me go.”
“Aurora, you… you have to be sure about this.”
Lockes’s expression was hesitant, but seeing Aurora’s determined face, he had no choice but to take a step back.
As Qiaolin watched Aurora head toward the arena, a sly laugh came from Loki behind him.
“That old hag isn’t easy to deal with. She possesses two attributes of Magic Power.”
“You can tell as well?”
Qiaolin turned to look at her, sounding somewhat surprised.
“I’m just relatively sensitive to Magic Power. However, given Aurora’s strength, she should be stronger than the opponent in both experience and Magic Power.”
“Great minds think alike,” Qiaolin said with a faint smile.
Yet Loki continued with a meaningful remark, “As long as the opponent doesn’t use any cheap tricks.”
Upon seeing that her opponent was a red-haired girl who looked no older than 20, the wrinkles on the old woman’s face deepened.
“Why is it a little girl like you? Has Lin City run out of people?”
“A little girl like me is more than enough to handle you. Besides, I am the City Lord of Lin City. You should have let General Mode fight me instead,” Aurora countered, refusing to back down.
“Haha, what a silver-tongued brat. It really is a pity…”
The old woman opened her palm, and blue and yellow Magic Power instantly emerged from it.
Seeing this, Aurora’s eyes widened in surprise.
The opponent was actually a multi-attribute Mage, just like her.
“I am Fenris, the Chief Witch Doctor of the Black Fang Legion. I heard you are also a Healing Mage. Why don’t we compete this time to see whose healing skills are superior?”
Aurora froze for a moment.
Although her first impression was that the opponent might not be good at fighting, she hadn’t expected them to have the same profession.
In that case, her chances of winning were even higher!
“Tell me, how do we compete?”
“We will compete in Detoxification. The rule is simple: whoever can cure the patient faster wins.”
“Fine…”
Aurora nodded, then looked around and asked, “Where is the patient?”
“Hehe, aren’t they right in front of your eyes?”
“What…?”
At that moment, Aurora felt a violent throb in her heart.
Her blood surged, and she instinctively bent over, covering her mouth.
Blood sprayed out, and black droplets leaked through the gaps between her fingers.
The vision before her blurred rapidly.
She knew then that she had been poisoned.
As for what kind of poison it was or when she had been infected, she had no time to think.
She could only mobilize her Magic Power to suppress the toxin.
However, the circulation of magic within her body was incredibly slow, as if she were pushing a heavy millstone!
“Damn it, this is…”
“Aurora!!!”
Seeing the girl suddenly spit out black blood, Lockes immediately rushed forward.
“Is this… poison?!”
When Lockes reached Aurora’s side, the girl’s originally fair and rosy face had turned a purplish-black.
The veins beneath her neck were all stained black.
Seeing Aurora’s expression of agony, the Vampire youth flew into a rage.
“You despicable cowards! Hand over the antidote right now, or I’ll kill all of you!!!”
“Hehehe, don’t be in such a hurry, young man. This is part of the chal— Gah!”
A red blood-shadow instantly flashed in front of Fenris.
Lockes grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air.
“Give me the antidote, or I’ll kill her right now!”
The Vampire youth’s enraged red eyes glared at Mode.
The latter gave a faint smile and said, “This is the content of the challenge. Our respective Healing Mages are competing to see whose skill is better and faster. As for the poisoned subjects, of course they would be your people, otherwise you wouldn’t be satisfied.”
“What kind of twisted logic is that! If your person can’t cure it…”
Mode pulled out a potion bottle and explained, “This is the antidote. Your City Lord and the counselor beside her have both been infected with a toxin called Terror Dragon Venom. It is made from the venom of the Nine-Headed Black Venom Dragon-Serpent. I believe you’ve heard of it.”
“The Nine-Headed Black Venom Dragon-Serpent?!”
When that name reached everyone’s ears, they all showed expressions of shock.
Lockes couldn’t help but take a step back, his red pupils shrinking violently.
“The Nine-Headed Black Venom Dragon-Serpent… That’s a Level 10 Magic Beast, a genuine Saint Rank. Wasn’t it sealed by the Demon God Emperor long ago?”
Even Loki’s brow was tightly furrowed.
After all, it was a legendary Great Magic Beast.
Even though it had been gone for 1,000 years, it had never been forgotten.
“But its toxins were preserved…”
Qiaolin was currently checking the condition of the white-bearded counselor.
Almost at the same time Aurora’s symptoms manifested, he had developed the same condition.
The venom of the Nine-Headed Black Venom Dragon-Serpent had circulated on the continent for a long time; therefore, people had researched an antidote.
Its greatest value wasn’t how potent the toxin was, but that it was controllable.
A refined version of the toxin could be made to erupt at any time, even down to the precise second.
The only drawback was that this poison was unstable and could easily transform into other types of toxins when exposed to the elements.
“It was in the… milk tea… from yesterday…”
The counselor struggled to spit out those words.
It turned out the opponent had poisoned the milk tea used to entertain them earlier.