Chapter 65: The True Sacred Slash
Ambrose had never truly intended to assassinate the paladins. In his judgment, the odds of success were poor, and failure would only expose his own hand too early.
His assessment of Starfall's strength had been precise. Even against a single paladin, Ambrose could not be certain that he would win. Furthermore, Starfall's equipment alone multiplied his combat power severalfold. Killing him outright would be extraordinarily difficult.
With ten paladins acting together, if Ambrose had left his castle and struck first, he would basically have been committing suicide.
Not to mention those wretches in Alkhemia, who offered no help whatsoever and merely watched from the sidelines. Ambrose had no idea what schemes they were harboring.
Making use of the castle's terrain and fighting defensively had always been his plan.
A spellcaster should not leave his tower. That was only reasonable.
But a few days ago, Black Rose had sent him a message informing him of Starfall's efforts to recruit mortals and warning him that the Lyon Empire had methods to draw upon their strength.
Ambrose didn't much care about the paladins training the commoners. Whatever power they gathered would ultimately be brought to bear against the castle's defenses. If it worked, it worked; if it failed, it failed. That was that.
But how had Black Rose known what the paladins were doing?