Evolution game, nothing more than that!

Even in this hall that symbolizes the highest power in Camelot, many Knights of the Round Table drank and ate meat in a carefree manner, and even King Arthur was no exception.

While eating and drinking, the knights couldn't help but talk about the battle that had just taken place.

Some knights boasted about how they defeated powerful enemies, while others talked about the dragon that fell from the sky.

But more people were talking about the powerful dragon-chasing feat of Yi Shen and the other two wizards.

Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming increasingly heated, King Arthur knocked on the wine glass. After a few crisp "ding ding" sounds, the hall became quiet and everyone looked at the king, waiting for his speech.

"Everyone, you have all witnessed this battle, and you all know that our victory this time is largely due to the contributions of the three wizards from the East. Let us raise our glasses and pay our respects to them!"

"To the wizards of the East!"

"To the great magic!"

"To the one who drives away the dragon!"

The knights laughed loudly, shouted their respective greetings, and raised their glasses to greet Yi Shen and the other two.

Yi Shen and the others naturally raised their glasses in response and also said:

"To the great Camelot and her loyal and brave knights!"

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became more heated.

After this round of toasts to each other, Yi Shen and the other two officially joined Camelot and were recognized by everyone.

Only Merlin, who was sitting on the other side of Arthur, was still looking at the three outsiders with a scrutinizing gaze, as if he was still worried about them.

There was no way. The wizard who could not be foreseen by his prophecy and the dragon who was also not foreseen happened to appear in the same battle. He really couldn't regard it as a coincidence.

But it doesn't seem likely that the other party has any conspiracy.

After all, as a half-incubus, Merlin believed that he had some ability to perceive other people's emotions.

He only felt a strong curiosity and a little kindness from Yi Shen and the other two, but he could not sense any malice at all.

And even without mentioning his feelings, from a logical point of view, the other party's actions did not seem to be harmful to Camelot.

By rescuing the army, expelling the dragon, and treating the wounded, Camelot's side gained tangible benefits, while Vortigern's side was truly severely damaged - an entire army fell on the doorstep of Camelot's territory, and Vortigern himself only escaped with his life. For any country in Britain, this would be a huge loss that would be devastating.

This at least proves one thing, that is, the other party should not be from Vortigern's side, and is not a spy deliberately planted.

So, is it related to dragons?

Perhaps they did come from the same place as the dragon, and had chased it to Britain?

And it was because they knew that the dragon had joined Vortigern's side that they joined Camelot and became enemies of the dragon?

Merlin thought of this possibility, but it was hard to be sure.

……

On the other side, while Merlin was observing them, Yi Shen was also observing each other.

This wizard, who plays an important role in the legend of King Arthur, has long aroused Yi Shen's curiosity.

According to legend, in addition to possessing the blood of a nightmare and being able to use magic, the other party's most powerful skill is the art of prophecy.

And this is exactly what Yi Shen is most concerned about.

You know, in the real world, there is a mastermind hidden somewhere who is eyeing the world covetously. This guy is too cunning. Even if AI is used to monitor all networks and communications 24 hours a day, no clues can be found.

Since technological means don't work, we can only turn to mysterious means - that is, skills such as divination and prophecy.

Although Yi Shen learned a lot of mystical knowledge from Van Helsing's character card, and was even able to create some very useful props and small formations on his own, he was still at a loss when it came to divination and prophecy.

There was no way. In the knowledge left by Van Helsing, abilities such as prophecy and divination were always related to God. They were either descendants of God with divine blood, or people favored by God who received divine revelation. But in his era, there were no real descendants of God or people favored by God!

As for the Yi Dao divination in the Eastern mystical system... although Van Helsing did understand some of it, it was far from being able to use it for actual divination and calculation.

Yi Shen, who had acquired Van Helsing's knowledge, naturally couldn't do it either.

Although theoretically he could learn and develop the Yi Dao divination foundation by himself through the Yi Dao left by Van Helsing, the Yi Dao was so profound and extensive that there was an extremely huge gap between learning and mastering it. It was definitely not something that could be mastered by self-study in two or three years.

But the Merlin in front of him gave Yi Shen another hope.

I wonder if he can use the other party's prophecy skills?

So, taking advantage of the banquet, Yi Shen frequently talked to Merlin, trying to establish a good relationship with him.

The latter did not ignore Yi Shen'ai because of the doubts in his heart, but responded very appropriately.

"We are from the East and are very curious about the magic system here in Britain. Could we ask you for some advice later?"

"I'm not worthy of your advice, but let's just exchange ideas! I'm also very curious about the magic from the mysterious East. Please let me see it for myself."

The two parties seemed to be communicating enthusiastically, but deep down, one was thinking about how to trick the other into using their prophecy magic, while the other was thinking about how to figure out the other's true identity and purpose. It cannot be said that they each had their own ulterior motives, but it can also be said that they were inconsistent, saying one thing in public and another in private.

However, King Arthur, as the master, was unaware of this.

He couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw the new wizard being so close to his closest chief wizard.

He had originally worried that Merlin would be angry because he recruited other wizards, but now it seemed that he was just being too worried.

However, Queen Guinevere, who was standing beside him, slightly noticed the strange atmosphere between the two wizards.

But she also said nothing and pretended not to see it.

After all, this is a matter between wizards. What does it have to do with an ordinary woman like her?

She turned her gaze to Lancelot, who was talking to other knights, and a strange look flashed in her eyes.

Chapter 179: Vortigern and the Dragon

Compared to the joyful celebration party in Camelot, the atmosphere on Vortigern's side was somewhat gloomy.

In this battle, the entire army he led was wiped out, and only he himself was brought back by the dragon.

Although Vortigern did not have only this one army, the remaining troops were not even enough to guard the royal city. It could be said that they were really badly injured.

What's even more terrible is that the army he lost did not belong to him alone - among this army, only about 40% were directly under Vortigern himself. Of the remaining 60%, half belonged to the nobles who were his vassals, and the remaining half were barbarian mercenaries hired by him.

Those mercenaries who only cared about money and spoils were easy to deal with. Although Vortigern, a Briton, used them, he was also wary of them and even hoped that more of these mercenaries would die.

But the knights and soldiers under the command of those vassal nobles are not a small problem.

You know, in this era, the reason why those nobles were willing to submit to Vortigern and recognize him as the so-called "King of All Britain" was, on the one hand, because Vortigern was indeed a good fighter, and on the other hand, it was profitable to follow Vortigern.

In every war, every victory, and every conquest of new territory, Vortigern would certainly take the lion's share and eat the fattest piece of meat, but the nobles who joined the war could also get a share - whether it was territorial fiefdoms, gold and silver spoils, or even simple prisoners of war and slaves, all were tangible benefits.

However, once this kind of bulk country that gathers together for profit encounters failure and many franchisees suffer huge losses, the backlash will come immediately.

After learning the news of the defeat, a large number of nobles sent questions to Vortigern, asking him what happened on the battlefield and why he was the only one who came back?

Although he didn't use overly harsh words, the dissatisfaction in his words was extremely obvious.

Vortigern was certain that after this failure, it would not be as easy as before for him to ask these nobles to send troops to support him in launching a war.

Even because he had also lost a large number of troops and could no longer form an overwhelming advantage in terms of military strength over other noble lords, he had to start guarding against these nobles, lest one of them suddenly want to wear his crown one day.

Perhaps the only good news is that in this battle, most of the most valuable knights have been killed by the Camelot people, and not many have been captured, so there is no need to pay too much ransom.

But Vortigern was not at all happy about this.

In fact, if those knights were really captured, he might be happier - even if redeeming these people would inevitably cost him more, but as long as these people were still alive and could be redeemed, his army could be quickly reorganized without losing too much combat power.

But now, the backbone knights are almost all dead. Even if the captured soldiers are redeemed, without enough knights to lead them, they will just be a group of rabble and will be of no use at all.

In other words, it would take more than one or two years for the army under his command, especially the part directly under him, to restore its combat effectiveness.

Of course, although the situation was so bad, Vortigern was far from at the end of his rope.

Apart from anything else, the existence of the dragon is a card in his hand that everyone has to take seriously.

Outsiders did not understand why the dragon was willing to obey his orders, and would think that they were controlling the dragon in some way. However, those ambitious people who were ready to make moves because of their heavy losses, whether they were restless nobles or disobedient barbarian mercenaries, had to continue to obey his orders as long as they did not want to taste the scorching dragon flames falling from the sky.

But only he himself knew that the relationship between him and the dragon was not one of master and servant, but a relationship of partners in which they were equals and the other even had more dominance.

Vortigern couldn't help but think of his first meeting with the dragon.

The story goes back to a year ago.

That day, Vortigern saw a meteor falling from the sky in his castle, and it happened to land on a hill in his territory.

Seeing such a strange sight, as the king, he naturally took people to investigate immediately.

Then, he found a severely damaged metal dragon in the crater where the "meteor" fell.

When first seen, the dragon was pierced through the chest by a huge sword, with pale yellow blood (motor oil) flowing all over the ground, and it looked like it was dead.

Seeing this, Futigeng bravely stepped forward and pulled out the huge sword with all his strength.

——This sword is so huge, it is simply a weapon used by giants. It can only be pulled out by Vortigern himself, who is a very powerful knight.

He originally wanted to take this sword, which was obviously a treasure, back to remelt it and forge it into a weapon that could be used by humans. However, he didn't expect that as soon as he stepped off the dragon's body, the latter suddenly woke up - it turned out that the dragon was not dead!

Vortigern thought he was about to die in the dragon's mouth, but unexpectedly, the dragon woke up, shot a beam of light from its eyes, swept across his head, and then spoke in human language, saying:

[Human, you saved me. In return, after my injuries are healed, I will attack you with all my strength three times!]

Vortigern was suddenly surprised and delighted.

He never expected that he would encounter such a good thing just because he came out on a whim to see the falling meteors in the sky!

But then he heard the dragon continue:

My injuries are too severe. Without external help, I'm afraid it will take me ten years to recover. Therefore, I need you to provide me with various steel metals to speed up my recovery. If you don't have any, iron ore will also do.

Vortigern hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded and agreed.

He originally thought that dragons were meat-eaters, but it turns out they feed on metals and minerals.

Although in this era, all kinds of metals are valuable items, if it is just simple ore, there are still some mineral veins in his territory, and there is no problem in mining more to allow the dragon to recover.

But since the dragon had made a request, Vortigern began to bargain, asking the other party to double the number of attacks.

The dragon seemed very dissatisfied with this, but in order to recover from its injuries as soon as possible, it agreed.

Thus, the contract was concluded.

As a medium for summoning the dragon's help and also a witness to this contract, the dragon took the giant sword that pierced its body from Vortigern's hand, and after casting some "magic" that the other party could not understand, the sword shrank to a size that a human could hold, and its weight became the same as that of an ordinary steel sword.

The dragon told him:

[Simply twist the mechanism on the hilt to send a signal to me, summoning my arrival. But remember, every time I respond to your summons, it will be a strike.]

Futigeng took the sword and treated it as his personal sword in the days that followed, never allowing outsiders to touch it.

In the following year, he mobilized the entire country to provide the dragon with various metal ores, and finally a month ago, its injuries were completely healed.

Shortly thereafter, Vortigern launched his attack on Camelot, summoning a dragon for the first time on the battlefield and destroying the fortress that stood in his path.

Chapter 180 Summoning Wizards

Originally, Vortigern's plan went very smoothly.

Summon a dragon to destroy the castle and eliminate the defenders, then station the army there and send part of the army into Camelot to plunder and harass, attracting King Arthur's army while consuming and exhausting the enemy along the way. Finally, summon the dragon again in the final battle, and you can win the battle in one go and completely eliminate this stubborn resistance force.

However, things went wrong at this last step.

A few wizards who appeared out of nowhere actually possessed power that could rival that of a dragon. Not only did they fail to achieve the goal of destroying Camelot's vitality, but they even had most of their power destroyed instead.

In the end, in order to escape, Vortigern had to use up his third summoning attempt and let the dragon take him away from the battlefield.

Yes, although this dragon kept its promise, it was also very black-hearted. It was clearly in the same battle, which should be counted as the same attack, but it was determined that it had attacked twice in a row on the grounds that Vortigern used summoning twice.

What could Vortigern say?

In terms of strength, he is far from being a match for the dragon, so naturally he has to do whatever the other party says.

In fact, the fact that the dragon can keep its promise is itself a very incredible thing. After all, the dragons in the story are all cunning and evil. Just playing word games with words like this dragon is already considered very "innocent".

But this statement obviously cannot comfort Vortigern.

He only knew that he had one less chance to summon a dragon and that he had to use it with caution in the future.

"No, more importantly, those wizards who can defeat dragons! Where did they come from? Why did they side with Camelot?"

When Futigeng thought of what Yi Shen and the other two did on the battlefield, he felt so angry that his teeth itched.

The originally good situation was completely reversed by these three troublemakers!

He really wanted to eat their flesh and sleep on their skin, and he even wanted to skin those three wizards alive.