When the plot-skips players into the game world

Yet the Demon Scholars never showed themselves... not a single one approached the barrier even after this batch of more than a dozen Demon Dogs had all perished.

They were just buying time!

Taya understood... but she was powerless to solve it because her subordinates were too weak.

Just then, a dark purple magic Array flashed and vanished, replacing the initial Curse of Fear.

—The third curse, this time striking everyone without exception. Even Director Taya, with her directorial immunity, was helpless to resist it.

Layering curse upon curse is very difficult, yet the enemy seemed to have mastered this technique—they could cast one more curse than others. And each successful curse made it even harder to resist the next.

And this particular curse was the most lethal one.

—Ritual Curse: Energy Drain!

All the Transcendents who were cursed saw their Mana begin to drain at a visible rate, even without using any, likely losing one standard unit of Mana every ten seconds.

In just one minute, the Mana of the Legal Mages would be depleted. By then, the barrier sustained by Mana would collapse on its own, and the Inspectors would only be able to hold out for a little bit longer.

This caused a minor uproar within the Supervisory Bureau, but Taya immediately quashed it: "Keep quiet and continue to maintain the barrier!

"Hold the formation and wait for reinforcements!"

—But there were no reinforcements.

She said so, but her heart was incredibly heavy.

But if she directly stated, "We have no reinforcements", these young Inspectors might lose control.

It seemed as though the enemy had prepared thoroughly, as if they knew exactly what the Supervisory Bureau most feared.

—Moreover, the location of Avalon's Secret Chamber was top secret; aside from Director Taya, only a handful of higher-ups were in the know.

Most people wouldn't suspect that these heinous criminals would be detained in the basement of the Supervisory Bureau. Instead, they'd look in the few fake cages carefully disguised within the Arbitration Hall. And not all detention points were below the Supervisory Bureau; the criteria for selecting the few secret chambers were entirely different... All the processes and procedures pointed to the Arbitration Hall's side, including interrogation records. Except for the fact that the people were not there, there were no issues at all.

Not to mention, the Red Queen District was still a campus area, and the largest building here was the Royal Law University. It was unlikely for most to consider that the most vicious criminals were detained underneath Avalon's best university.

But first, Aleister somehow infiltrated and killed the detainees.

Now, the Noble Red has brazenly attacked—what, could it be that Aleister isn't one of you?

Now, their phone and power lines had been cut, leaving them unable to contact the Great Guardian, nor to receive help from the Supervisory Court and the Arbitration Hall. They lacked stronger Weapons, possessing only Security Pistols which might not even be fatal on impact, and Elf Short Swords which were essentially Sword-type Magic Staves. Even their Gryphon allies had been hastily separated outside by the barrier.

Inspectors were essentially responsible for ordinary cases, and most Inspectors never encountered a live Demon in their lifetimes. After all, stronger Transcendents had already moved to the Supervisory Court and the Arbitration Hall, and whenever they encountered more troublesome cases, they sought help from the Supervisory Court.

It's just that until now, Avalon had never seen anyone bold enough to attack the Supervisory Bureau head-on. And the preparation was too complete—self-deprecatingly speaking, they seemed to have taken the Supervisory Bureau too seriously.

—Couldn't you let Aleister secretly kill someone again?

Their assault was too swift. The Supervisory Bureau hadn't made any noise before being enveloped by the protective barrier.

On other days, there would usually be Gryphon Knights patrolling the sky on behalf of the Arbitration Hall. If they saw the barrier, they might understand what had happened here...

But today, just now, they could not possibly be patrolling...

—There must be a traitor.

Director Taya narrowed her eyes.

The call from the Hall of Silver and Tin had come less than two hours ago. Before that, no one had received notice... Taya had been invited too, but today she felt unwell and decided against attending the memorial service, thinking it would be inauspicious.

Yet, just the ceremony required to summon those Demon Dogs would have taken longer than this.

Not to mention the numerous curse rituals they had prepared...

Director Taya's heart sank as the barrier went out due to the Legal Mages' exhausted mana.

It was really going to be a disaster this time.

She stood erect at the very front of the crowd, wearing a stern face as she watched the strangely shaped Demons surge forward.

In the distance, several missiles emanated a chilling frost and emitted baby-like, piercing wails as they locked onto their target, flying toward her. Explore new worlds at empire

Suddenly, red scorching tentacles burst from the ground, ensnaring the nearest people without warning, tightening as if to snap them in half.

Lurking invisibly until then, small demons launched an attack on the mana-depleted Legal Mages, stabbing them in the chest or lower back with poisonous daggers and short blades.

A few pitch-black Magic Orbs tracing circles in the air flew toward the hall, radiating an ominous dark fluctuation.

From a distance, Taya saw a bald man in a red robe holding a wand, pointing at her. He muttered incantations, and the items laid out before him disappeared one by one as a terrible chill steadily accumulated.

She was utterly fearless.

She hurled her short sword directly!

The short sword, thrown later but arriving sooner—before those lethal spells could reach her, it streaked like a meteor, a flash of white light piercing straight through the chest of the bald man channeling the spell.

The next moment, fierce lightning crackled around him, instantly charring him to a crisp. The ritual spell he was maintaining spiraled out of control, the accumulated chilling wind blasted apart, and the ground around him instantly covered with frost.

"How daring,"

Taya snorted with a sneer.

He dared channel a spell without taking cover?

She tore off the Supervisor badge from her chest with her left hand and raised it high above her head.

Without uttering a single word, the silver triangle, the symbol of Avalon, began to shine with bright light. Those spells categorized as illegal were swiftly unraveled and vanished in midair.

And as Taya raised her right hand, the short sword planted in the charred corpse trembled, then flew back to her hand of its own accord.

Following that, one after another, individuals in red robes stood out. The streets had become eerily empty, and they crowded around like ghosts in red garments.

Taya glanced around and quickly tallied their number.

Just the ones brazenly standing out numbered at least forty.

Her heart sank as she gripped the short sword tightly.

"Fight for Her Majesty the Queen!

"Fight for Avalon!"

She roared loudly and commenced her final charge.

But just at that moment, an invisible giant suddenly materialized in front of her, reaching out to grab her shoulder.

He stood five meters tall, like a mountain. His movements seemed slow but were incredibly swift, scooping Taya off the ground with one motion and with an elegant and natural arc, he swung her around in the air, just like a discus thrower, before hurling her back!

During the entire process, Taya felt as if time had frozen, completely unable to resist. Her body was slammed hard onto the emblem of Avalon, and blood suddenly coughed out of her mouth.

Her body splattered blood, dyeing the silver triangular badge a bright red.

Meanwhile, the giant slowly became visible, his expression remaining calm.

Behind him, another slightly shorter giant, barely over three meters tall, also appeared.

"Stop playing around," the three-meter-tall giant immediately shouted an order, "Team One continues the banishing ritual, Team Two start preparing the Silence Array, activate it in four minutes. Team Three install bombs at all potential secret entrances, timed for five minutes.

"—Detonate the bombs in five minutes!"