Chapter 456: I’ve found the enemies. (2)
What Ereneth saw was a small forest near the lord's castle. The forest seemed to have been newly planted after cutting down the previous trees, as there were many young saplings.
Within that forest, figures clad in black robes were hiding, blending into their surroundings. It would have been difficult to detect them with the naked eye.
However, since they were still part of nature, they could not escape Ereneth's sight.
Among the assassins, one figure stood out his face wrapped in bandages. The moment Ereneth saw him, she drew in a sharp breath.
That man exhaled an ominous black energy with every breath.
Through her attunement to nature, Ereneth could sense even that sinister energy.
“This… This is the energy of the Salvation Church! Is that man Melchior?”
Melchior, surveying his surroundings, furrowed his brows. True to his nature as an assassin, his senses were exceptionally sharp.
"I sense something unsettling."
"Master, what should we do now?"
"How many have we lost?"
"Three have been killed."
"I see. It took longer than expected. I didn’t think the inspections would be this thorough."
Smuggling themselves from the south to the north was no easy feat. Even taking dangerous routes to avoid detection wasn’t enough.
The ongoing war had intensified patrols everywhere.
The assassins of the Black Moon had been discovered several times along the way, forcing them into battles.
Although the members were highly skilled and Melchior himself was a superhuman, avoiding all harm was impossible.
Suddenly, Melchior’s shoulders shook with laughter as he spoke.
"By now, news of our presence will have reached the ears of Count Fenris and the Marquis of Ferdium. We must act before they arrive."
"You’re saying we won’t wait? But our goal is to lure out Count Fenris, isn’t it?"
"There’s no need to wait foolishly. If Fenris is already on the move, we’ve achieved our goal. If he hasn’t moved yet, we’ll kill his family and make an example of them. Isn’t that right?"
"Then…"
"Yes, take your final rest now. We’ll move when the night deepens."
"Understood."
To Melchior, the mission was as good as complete. Their strength had been revealed during the numerous inspections, and Count Fenris would have no choice but to respond to the news.
Now, the only thing left was to see how deeply they could plunge him into despair.
"It’s time to enjoy ourselves until our target arrives. I can’t wait."
As Melchior laughed, the moon began to disappear behind dark clouds.
A sudden flash!
Ereneth opened her eyes. A green glow flickered across her pupils.
“Ugh!”
She coughed violently, spitting out blood, and looked at the tiny raven that had been waiting ahead of her.
Dark had grown weak over the past few days of waiting, his mana nearly depleted, leaving him significantly diminished.
“I’ve found the enemies.”
“W-What should I relay?”
Dark, a self-proclaimed King of Spirits, asked nervously.
While Ereneth had been communing with nature, Dark had sensed an overwhelming energy from the real spirits. He began to think that the title of Spirit King suited the elf in front of him far more than himself.
Moreover, he was sure that the energy could easily damage his own core. The realization made him instinctively deferential.
Ereneth, her face pale, replied.
“Where is Count Fenris?”
“H-He has just entered the territory.”
“The assassins are waiting in a forest southeast of the lord’s castle. There are many young trees in the area. They plan to move when the night deepens. Relay the message quickly.”
“Yes, yes! Right away!”
Dark immediately passed on the information through a fragment of himself stationed in Ferdium. The moment Zwalter heard the news, he leapt to his feet.
“Gather the troops! I’ll personally hunt those scoundrels down.”
Beside him, Homerne, Albert, and Randolph hurriedly intervened.
“Ah, Your Lordship! Why must you go yourself? Just because you’ve grown stronger, it doesn’t mean that you should be itching for a fight! You’re becoming more like your son every day! The son is supposed to take after the father, not the other way around!”
“No matter how much stronger you’ve become, it’s said there’s a superhuman among the assassins!”
“Brother, I’ll go! Please, just stay put!”
If the lord were to die, it would all be over. With the possibility of a superhuman being present, they couldn’t let him go.
Faced with their vehement opposition, Zwalter grudgingly sat back down, clicking his tongue in frustration.
“Ugh, I’ve just reached the entry-level of the highest class.”
Though Randolph had not yet reached the level of a superhuman, he was not weak enough to be taken down easily. Thanks to Ghislain, Randolph had also reached a similar level, enough to face formidable opponents though it was still a shame not to have reached the pinnacle.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Randolph shouted energetically as he led a group of knights and soldiers in force.
The knights glared at Skovan as they passed. Another problem had arisen in Ferdium, and they instinctively held him responsible.
Skovan felt utterly wronged.
“Why does trouble always come to the estate… No, how is this my fault!”
He had done nothing, and yet, he continued to suffer harassment from the knights of the estate. Retirement sounded more appealing with each passing day. Recently, there had even been talks of transferring him to the Northern Army.
Skovan made up his mind. Physical hardship was better than emotional torment. If it came to this, he thought it might be better to work himself to death beside the Young Lord.
“Fine, once this is over, I’ll join the Northern Army. And I’ll drag Ricardo with me.”
Next to him, the root of all the rumors, Ricardo, yawned, oblivious to Skovan’s thoughts.
Thud, thud, thud!
The Ferdium knights and soldiers set off. As they rode, Randolph turned to his adjutant.
“Where exactly is the location?”
“It’s the forest where the Young Lord took the timber a few years back.”
“Ah, the one we recently just replanted and restored. What a pity.”
Since there was a possibility that a superhuman might be among the assassins, Randolph had mobilized 2,000 soldiers and 100 knights. The forest would be reduced to ashes in the ensuing battle.
The forces of Ferdium reached the forest swiftly. After a brief moment of consideration, Randolph gave his order.
“Hey, they say there’s a really strong guy in there. Let’s save the head-on fight for later. Just burn it down first.”
“B-Burn it down?”
“Yeah, just torch the whole thing. Fighting inside the forest puts us at a disadvantage. The trees would be destroyed during the fight anyway, so who cares?”
Even this small restraint from charging in recklessly showed that Randolph had grown somewhat as a leader.
Moreover, with Ferdium now wealthy, burning down a single forest was no longer a significant concern. Randolph felt quite satisfied with his decision.
“This is what being a rich estate allows us to do.”
The soldiers, preparing to shoot their fire arrows, were filled with a mix of excitement and disbelief. Burning their own forest was something they could never have imagined in the past.
“Wow, I never thought the day would come when I’d set fire to our own forest.”
“This kind of thing used to be the Young Lord’s specialty.”
“Rich estates sure are something.”
“Loose!”
At Randolph’s command, a rain of fire arrows was launched toward the forest.
The flames spread rapidly, devouring everything in their path. It was a sight that would have horrified Ereneth and the elves.
“What are you waiting for! Smoke them out! Shoot until they come out!”
The fire arrows rained down incessantly. Ferdium had quite a considerable supply of arrows.
The assassins resting at the forest’s edge stood up. True to their training, they neither panicked nor reacted hastily. They simply looked to Melchior, waiting for his orders.
“How do they know we’re here?”
Melchior couldn’t comprehend the situation. The forces of Ferdium had found their exact location within the vast estate.
“How could they find us so precisely in such a large territory?”
“Could it be that they have an exceptional mage?”
One of his subordinates took a guess, but Melchior shook his head.
“The eyes of a mage shouldn’t be able to detect our concealment. They can only see far, nothing more.”
Even here, the assassins had remained harmonized with their surroundings to avoid detection by surveillance spells.
To have pinpointed the hiding place of a superhuman, even visually, would require an extraordinary mage. Yet, such an individual was not supposed to exist in Ferdium.
“It seems they had other means to detect us. No wonder this forest felt off somehow… It can’t be helped.”
“What should we do?”
“Scatter. Each of you must infiltrate the lord’s castle by any means necessary. Kill the Marquis of Ferdium and his daughter if you can.”
“Understood.”
The assassins were the elite strike force of the ducal family. Though their numbers were merely thirty, their confidence stemmed from their unparalleled skills.
“Go. I will follow shortly.”
At Melchior's command, the assassins blurred into indistinct forms and scattered in all directions.
They were bait. Whether they succeeded or failed, their role was to create chaos. Melchior intended to infiltrate during the ensuing disorder.
Whoosh!
Several indistinct figures darted out of the burning forest. Randolph spotted them immediately and shouted.
“They’re out! Stop them!”
The Ferdium forces had fortified the forest’s entrance. The knights were the first to charge forward.
Clang!
True to their reputation, the assassins of the ducal family were each at least equivalent to mid-to-high-tier knights, enhanced by their assassination techniques.
Just as the knights and assassins clashed, the assassins’ forms blurred again, slipping away. From the beginning, they had no intention of engaging in a direct battle.
“Catch them!”
Knights were formidable in straightforward combat but struggled to pursue enemies who openly evaded them.
The assassins unleashed their skills, weaving through the soldiers’ ranks like phantoms.
Shhhk! Shhhk!
“Argh!”
“They’re here!”
“Hurry, attack them!”
The assassins struck from the shadows, their movements ghost-like. Ordinary soldiers could do little but form human barriers to slow them down.
While the soldiers held them back, Randolph and the knights joined the fray.
“Out of the way!”
Boom!
Blue mana surged as the knights entered the battlefield. The assassins desperately sought to flee, while the knights tried equally hard to corner them.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Skovan, fighting at the forefront to prove himself, was struck in the side. Poisoned weapons had made his wound swell, and his head began spinning almost instantly.
“Damn it! This is so annoying!”
Slash!
Moved by sheer frustration, Skovan swung his sword with all his strength, decapitating an assassin held by three knights.
His skills had improved significantly compared to the past.
Cough!
Skovan collapsed, coughing blood. Nearby soldiers hurriedly carried him away.
“What… Why are you helping me? Weren’t you praying for my death every day?”
Tears welled in Skovan’s eyes as his lips quivered. He seemed deeply offended.
The soldiers responded with awkward smiles.
“Ah, come on, sir. Of course, we’d save you.”
“Exactly, we’re all on the same side.”
“How could we just watch our captain die?”
Skovan, touched by their words, began to sob. Perhaps he hadn’t been entirely abandoned after all. For now, he decided to postpone transferring to the Northern Army.
Watching Skovan tear up, the soldiers exchanged glances.
“If he dies here, this land will be cursed forever.”
“He has to die somewhere else so he can be buried far away.”
“Ferdium can’t afford more trouble.”
It was a small mercy that Skovan remained unaware of the rumors about him circulating among the troops.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The battle intensified. Against assassins, the Ferdium forces found it incredibly challenging to pinpoint their enemies.
Likewise, the assassins struggled to advance against the sheer number of soldiers and knights. Eventually, they resorted to their final tactic.
Shhh…
The assassins revealed themselves, deactivating the mana technique that had cloaked them and distorted visibility. Now, they began fighting openly, like knights.
Boom! Crash!
Trained for such situations, they executed a coordinated plan some would sacrifice themselves to create openings for others to escape.
Even while surrounded by countless knights and soldiers, the assassins displayed remarkable resilience. In the chaos, a small number of assassins vanished from sight and slipped away.
Randolph, at the forefront, noticed immediately.
“Damn it! Pursue them! They’re heading to the castle!”
About ten assassins had used the confusion to break through. Inside the castle, they would find numerous places to hide, making it far more difficult to apprehend them.
The escaping assassins melded into the darkness once more. Knights on horseback pursued them, but the darkness of the night made it nearly impossible to spot them.
Meanwhile, the remaining assassins were all eliminated. The soldiers and knights mounted their horses again to chase down the escapees.
“Kuhuhu… Time to move.”
Melchior, hidden at the forest’s edge, smirked cruelly as he watched.
The bait had done its job spectacularly. All the forces stationed near the forest were now chasing the decoys.
Melchior’s form blurred as he moved forward. His plan was to swiftly infiltrate the lord’s castle and assassinate the key figures.
As he prepared to leave the forest
Boom!
A spear flew through the air and struck the spot where he had just stood.