The First Magic World War

Baron Fabolais has received one piece of bad news after another these days.

First, some of the famous paintings he had collected disappeared. In place of each missing painting, a signature tag from the mysterious thief Cyrus was left. In fact, Charles hadn't taken them away; these fragile paintings would have been ruined by the terrible environment of Machu Picchu in just a few days—it was just that they were hidden, leaving Baron Fabolais unable to find them.

Baron Fabolais absolutely refused to believe that this guy named Cyrus had such extraordinary powers.

Having lost all Gold Eglus and banknotes, he could still say this guy named Cyrus was highly skilled in thievery, as gold coins and banknotes are easy to hide, but stealing items under the heavily upgraded security levels and the close watch of countless guards—especially paintings which are not easy to transport—made the Baron suspicious of an insider at Silver Pigeon Fort.

He no longer trusted the original servants of the fort; even after several rounds of investigation, no suspects were found, so he simply drove out all the old staff, leaving only those who had come with him from Strasbourg.

Then, some of his everyday items, such as cutlery and valuable jewelry, also disappeared one by one.

This time, the signature left behind was: "The Handsome Virgin, Cyrus."

At first, it was minor items that were missing, but soon even large items started to vanish, such as furniture, and even his favorite carriage mysteriously disappeared.

At the time of the carriage disappearance, the signature in the stable was changed to: "The Fresh and Delicious Handsome Virgin, Cyrus."

This audacious thief, originally a relatively decent temporary leader of the South Ceraph Reclamation Army, became the mysterious "Handsome Virgin, Cyrus," then "The Fresh and Delicious Cyrus," morally declining step by step.

Baron Fabolais was truly enraged. He had no interest in the evolution of Cyrus's signature tags, seeing them as mere clownish provocations. He suspected the traitor came from his inner circle; he thought it must be the knighthood and the servants brought from Strasbourg who had been bribed. He personally pressed several suspects and even killed some servants, but to no avail.

In a few days, all of the carriages at Silver Pigeon Fort had disappeared, along with a batch of supplies and weapons. Every time something was lost, a signature from Cyrus was left behind, frightening Baron Fabolais into moving to live with Augusladin High Priest during the night.

The High Priest reluctantly let him stay for a night, disdaining him for being neither young nor beautiful, nor a virgin, and certainly not fresh and delicious. He evicted him the next day.

Fortunately, as the things continued being taken, Baron Fabolais found Silver Pigeon Fort quiet once again. He planned to wait for the next tax collection day, take a sum of cash, and then hastily return to Strasbourg to weep and beg his sister for another loan.

Leading his own Knighthood to fight the Restoration Army led by Cyrus outside Silver Pigeon Fort for a decisive battle to reclaim his wealth was never an option for the Baron.

Charles also didn't focus all his attention on transporting wealth. Every day, he was still cultivating, cultivating, cultivating, waiting for the third "Maze-ification" of Machu Picchu. Except for the fact that the Hunchback Red Bear Warriors ate a bit too much, life was quite stable.

The third "Maze-ification" of Machu Picchu proceeded without any significant disturbances. On the eighteenth day, there was no activity in the morning, but at dusk, a strand of thought came from the diary: "Machu Picchu has completed its third 'Maze-ification', having reached its limit and no longer able to ascend. It can now transform a hundred Labyrinth Guardians."

Charles had never encountered such a situation before and hesitated for a long time.

He was somewhat puzzled, wondering why he would need Labyrinth Guardians if there were already NPCs?

Charles didn't realize that as an Earthling, the labyrinth transformed according to his will, which is why NPCs existed; the orthodox labyrinths had Labyrinth Guardians. These beings were neither human nor entirely of the labyrinth, wandering its depths, protecting it, and slaying all intruders.

Agmilas was an overseas Labyrinth Evil God, adept not only at creating labyrinths but also their guardians.

Even though Charles didn't know what a Labyrinth Guardian was, he had no intention of using the Westwind Knighthood for it.

After contemplating for a moment, he jumped up, pressed his hand on the ground, and through his control of the labyrinth, sensed the eighteen Hunchback Red Bears. He whispered softly, "Transform them into Labyrinth Guardians."

For this group of Hunchback Red Bear Warriors, Charles had considered two options: one was to kill them to enhance the Bloody Glory, but he had recently planned to try and consolidate a Blood Core. This method of drawing life force from others to form a Blood Core could result in a mixed and impure core, affecting its future growth. The other was to present them for commendation; he had even convinced the Hundred Bear Chief and the others by promising them a visit to Silver Pigeon Fort, but as favorable as commendations were, how could they compare to the value of eighteen Hunchback Red Bear Warriors transformed into Labyrinth Guardians?

Well, they were enemies anyway.

No need for pity.

This squad included three Transcendent Beastmen, aside from the Hundred Bear Chief and the other strong bears, there was the oldest one, a Transcendent old bear named Honey. This old bear had loved eating honey when he was young, hence the effeminate name.

What was most valuable was that these three Transcendent Beastmen were all above Tenth Grade Intermediate rank Beastmen. Due to their sturdy bodies and immense strength, and their use of heavy weaponry, they could unleash might on the battlefield comparable to a High Order.

The Hundred Bear Chief, the strong bears, and Honey, these Hunchback Red Bear Warriors, had been living extremely well these past few days, with plenty to eat and drink, then practicing their martial skills, completely forgetting their task to investigate Archduke Ferdinand's death.

At first, they kept their guard up, but after staying in Machu Picchu for over ten days, enjoying good food and drink every day and growing more trusting of Charles with each passing day, they were no longer so keen on heading to Silver Pigeon Fort.

Since Archduke Ferdinand was dead, their mission was considered complete. The Bear People were a race that adapted to circumstances easily; they were not in a hurry to return to the southern continent and even felt that living in Machu Picchu was not too bad.

When Charles transformed them into Labyrinth Guardians, at the bottom of Hundred Bear Chief's heart, a voice seemed to ask him, "Would you choose to stay in Machu Picchu forever?"

He answered without hesitating, "If I can eat my fill every day, practice martial arts with my brothers, I am willing to stay in Machu Picchu forever."

It seemed his words were acknowledged. He felt a slight weight upon him, and suddenly he was donning a set of armor, looking very majestic.

The Hundred Bear Chief noticed his comrades were all experiencing the same thing. Each had changed into a new suit of gleaming armor, which fit them perfectly.

If Baron Fabolais were to see this, he would definitely recognize these armors; these eighteen sets of armor were all his, meant to be worn by his close bodyguards who would cluster around him when he went out, for both protection and display.

After Charles transformed the eighteen Hunchback Red Bear Warriors into Labyrinth Guardians, he didn't feel anything had happened, so he went to check on them personally. When he saw the Hundred Bear Chief, the strong bears, and Honey, a sudden chill ran through his heart…