k
~WHOOSH!~
The caravan was attacked by projectiles a few minutes after Ralyks mentioned the presence of enemy forces in the distance.
The dense cluster of trees in the distance danced back and forth, as if waving at the caravan as the several projectiles charged forth.
The gleaming rain of enchanted arrows descended upon the carriage from the sky.
Their number was overwhelming, and the strength within each arrow was enough to kill a man.
It was also safe to assume they were poisoned as well.
Normally, upon seeing so many attacks charging at a caravan full of valuables, the group was meant to stop, or even turn back as quickly as possible.
Defensive measures ought to be put in place as a result of the imminent threat approaching.
However, none of that was the case.
The group kept advancing as if there was nothing wrong.
As the winds whistled, the uncountable arrows nearing their targets with absolute precision, a sudden glow emerged.
It covered the entirety of the caravan.
~VWUUUM!~
In a single second, a bright golden light illuminated everything within range.
The drivers, the goods, and every single person and thing around the caravan was shrouded by the mysterious golden light.
As soon as the glowing arrows met and touched this barrier, they disintegrated into dust.
The night breeze carried the dust particles away, leaving the cheering caravan members roaring in victory and excitement.
They were assured that, as long as the defensive measures were active, they would be safe.
Yuri in particular seemed to have a wide grin as she stood on top of a carriage's roof.
She had seen everything play out, and now she couldn't resist the allure of what came next.
"Thank you, Sir Ralyks! Please keep protecting everyone while I take care of everything else!"
With a wide grin, she leaped from her position, leaving the golden barrier of light of her own volition.
~WHOOSH!~
Her destination was clear.
'I'll show those fools who dared to attack our caravan! I'll show all of them!'
Her body flickered with bright bursts of energy, and her speed increased tremendously.
A long blade appeared out of thin air, and she grasped it in no time at all.
Her eyes glowed very brightly, causing her to easily sae through the veil of darkness and cover the distance she had with her enemies through sight alone.
In essence; [Night Vision] and [Farsight].
A second volley of arrows flew into the air, raining down on the caravan.
Yuri ignored them, considering the fact that she knew they couldn't break that defense no matter how hard they tried.
"Hehehe!" Cackles from Yuri echoed into the air as she advanced past the several trees.
Everything became a blur as she advanced with power.
And then—
~WHOOSH~
A projectile lunged at her, but she easily deflected it by swinging her sword.
Several more appeared, but Yuri made short work of them just as easily.
Her expert swings caused each weapon to be shredded into bits before they could even reach a few inches close to her body.
'Ranged fighters, eh? I'm guessing you won't do well in a one-on-one!'
She could already see the group that was responsible as they stood in a cluster.
She brandished her trusty Enchanted Weapon, and it began to shine brightly.
It was ready for some bloodshed.
Not long after, Yuri appeared in the clearing, where she met a few dozen men who could barely even gasp as soon as her silhouette made an appearance before them.
She was so fast that they hadn't even registered her presence.
'Just about fifty? I thought they'd be more considering the arrows. Or did they use Magic to duplicate them?'
Either way… Yuri didn't care.
They were all going to meet their end here anyway.
"Huu…" Her muscles bulged as soon as she took a deep breath, and her eyes focused on the men before her as a wild bird would stare at prey.
There was no mercy or hesitation to be found in her eyes.
Just a resolute decision to slaughter.
~VWUSH!~
In swift motion, she twisted her body and spun in the air, slicing through the night wind… and flesh.
Blood sprayed all around her, as fountains rose into the sky.
This eruption of crimson liquid sparkles under the glow of her blade, and with each strike she made, sparks of energy would electrify the air.
She moved from prey to prey, slicing off their arms and legs, with their heads following after, in what seemed like a single strike.
By the time she was done with nearly half of them, the others realized what was happening.
Or… almost.
They could only see a blur—a dangerous silhouette—killing their comrades, and they knew they were next.
In attempts of desperation, they opted to cast Spells and bombard this shadow-like demon with their combined might.
Unfortunately for them…
~SWISH!~
Before they could even get a word out, their heads were already flying in the air.
Each man could see the head of his comrade ascending as his own head soon joined.
It was only at that point, as they descended into death, that they could see the entity that wreaked such havoc and caused such carnage.
She was nothing more than a young woman.
"E-eh…?" They must have thought as everything in their mind went blank.
Death welcomed them into its embrace, and they were happy to escape the horrors of fear that Yuri offered.
With all the bodies plopping to the ground, she stood above all of them and gave a heavy sigh.
"Huuu…"
Her cold eyes watched the sticky blood cling to their multilateral bodies, and she watched the terror stricken expressions that decorated all the severed heads.
She felt nothing like remorse or pity for the fools who dared to defy her family.
Only purpose filled her blood-stained face.
"Subjugation complete."
With those words echoing in the air, she returned to the caravan, and into the carriage that Ralyks sat in.
Upon seeing his imposing mask of darkness, and his completely shady demeanor, Yuri couldn't help but grin with happiness.
"Hey, Sir Ralyks… you won't believe what just happened!"
*
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*Chapter 206 Dead Of Night [Pt 3]
fгeewebnovёl.com
'Strange…'
As Rey listened to the story that Yuri force fed to him, he felt something off about the entire situation.
'From how she described them, they don't seem like mere bandits.'
Their coordination, gear, and most of all… their abilities.
It was true that bandits existed in tiers, but it was very unlikely to see an entire group of bandits have that level of consistent power.
Besides, this was an established path by the KariBlanc Group, which was a big deal in the criminal underworld.
Rey found it strange that a mere group of bandits would want to attack their caravan and risk pissing off thr KariBlanc Group.
'Last but not least, their mode of operation—or should I say their method of attacking—feels shady.'
Bandits employed several strategies, but the one Rey had seen wasn't one of them.
At least, according to what he had studied on the subject.
'A bombardment of projectiles is used during times of war or intense conflict—where the goal is to obliterate your opponent.'
Yet…
'Why would bandits use such a method that risks harming the merchandise?'
Sure, the bombardment could also be used for ambushes, but it was almost always fatal and destructive,
Bandits could not afford to have their prospective items be damaged. It would reduce in value if that happened, or it could even have none.
As Rey stared at Yuri's face, he could tell that she wasn't thinking about any of these things.
She just seemed to be looking forward to the next fight.
"Your face…" Rey found himself blurting out as he noticed a splatter of blood around her cheek.
"Hm?"
Yuri didn't know what he was referring to, causing Rey to sigh.
It was too distracting, so he swiftly brought out a black linen fabric and used it to scrub her face.
In no time at all, the stain vanished.
"A-ahh! T-thank you… Sir Ralyks." She mumbled, suddenly acting flustered for the first time since they met,
'What's her deal?' Rey wondered to himself as he immersed himself back into his thoughts.
In no time at all, he arrived at a conclusion.
"I don't think those men were bandits."
The moment he said this, Yuri raised her brows and waited for him to explain.
"If I had to guess, I'd say they're more interested in making us fail, or destroying us and our goods, rather than plundering them."
"Oh? Why do you think so, Sir Ralyks?"
Rey wanted to yell the details at her, or tell her to use her head a little.
Considering the fact that she had been doing this job for much longer than he was, wasn't she supposed to be the expert here?
'I guess she was just their muscle.'
Rey eventually had to explain everything to her.
"A-ahh! I see. You're right!"
He wanted to roll his eyes so badly, but Rey gave in to his self control.
"So who do you think is responsible?"
The moment he was asked this, there was only one thought that came to his mind.
"The enemy side—specifically the Mercenary Gang."
Upon hearing this, Yuri's face began to form a frown. All the cheerfulness from earlier faded away.
"They're most definitely the ones responsible for your missing packages. I'm sure they hired a lot of Mercenary Gang members to block all your major travel paths, which means we would have encountered that same problem if we chose a different location.
So long as the routes led outside the Capital, they could have more enough muscles guarding everything.
'Looks like I learned a new Skill. [Lesser Object Enchant]. It's a D-Tier Skill, so it's pretty useless.'
Rey decided he would simply use [Merger] and combine a Skill like [Greater Weapon Summon].
"In any case, we should be on guard. If my guess is correct, then we might face even more formidable opponents as we travel."
"Hahahaha! They should come!" Yuri raised her arm and gave a wild smile. "I'll beat them all up!"
Rey found himself smiling for some reason underneath his mask, though he merely stuffs externally.
"Well… at least one of us is excited." He whispered as he gazed outside the window.
'I wonder what awaits us ahead…'
********
Fabian was a member of the esteemed Mercenary Gang.
He had regular brown hair, and slightly pale skin that couldn't be properly detected under the moonlight
He had just joined a few years ago, but thanks to his hard work and dedication to the group, he was promoted to 'Captain!'
That meant, for this group of fifty, he was the man in charge.
Fabian didn't allow this achievement of his to fuel his ego, but he knew he deserved every last bit of his success.
Just as in any respectable organization, the Mercenary Gang operated on a strict hierarchical system, and he had managed to climb the ranks.
Wasn't he just amazing?
"Sir, it seems the first Squad was wiped out." One of his subordinates came to him and spoke.
"W-what?! Already?!"
A head of sweat appeared on his face as soon as he heard that.
'What the hell did Miller do? How did he let them get past so easily?'
To be honest, Fabian wanted his comrade—Miller—to fail, but not before whittling down the numbers of the KariBlanc Group's traveling members.
He would pick apart the rest and end up with all the glory.
Unfortunately, things didn't seem to be going down that route.
"Miller isn't fodder, though. How would he and his squad lose so quickly?"
Sure, they excelled in long-range attacks, but he expected some time to be drawn out.
'But Jack's Exclusive Skill doesn't lie. If that's what happened, then that's what happened…' Fabian sighed.
He just had to ensure that he took care of the mess by himself.
"S-sir, something's coming!" The voice of Jack, his right-hand man, soared through the air.
"W-what are you—?"
~SWISH!~
Before Fabian could complete his words, he saw a slit that completely encircled Jack's neck.
And then—
"E-eh…?"
Blood splashed everywhere, dousing Fabian in the crimson liquid of the man he had just been speaking to.
He looked around him and noticed that more heads were flying in the air and bodies were collapsing to the ground.
'W-what is happe—?"
Before he realized it too, his own head floated above his body.
Before Fabian even got to do anything, he realized the reason why Miller had lost.
'… FUCK!'
The enemy was too strong.
*
*
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Chapter 207 Dead Of Night [Pt 4]
[STATUS WINDOW]
- Name: Yuri
- Race: Human
- Class: Berserker (C-Tier)
- Level: 99 (99.99% EXP)
- Life Force: 10 [50]
- Mana Level: 30/30 [100]
- Combat Ability: 61 [150]
- Stat Points: 0
- Skills (Exclusive): [Sword Mastery]
- Skills (Non-Exclusive): [Combat Application]. [Warrior's Mantle]. [Farsight]. [Night Vision].
- Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
[Additional Information]
A sword genius who was found and raised by the KariBlanc Group. She considers everyone in the company as family and would do anything for her family.
Even if it means killing anyone who stands in her way.
[End Of Information]
As Rey concluded his use of [Absolute Appraisal], he smiled slightly.
'Looks like she took care of them very quickly again.'
As Yuri returned into the carriage, Rey found himself observing her. First with [Absolute Appraisal], then a close investigation on her muscular body hidden underneath the baggy clothes.
'I guess she's pretty strong by this world's standards…' His thoughts trailed while seeing her excited grin.
Since he began his travels with Yuri, there were three things he had learned about her;
One was that she was very loud and playful.
Second was the fact that she could be cruel and sadistic.
And then, the third one was that she was incredibly clumsy.
Right now, she was trying to rub off the blood on her face, but she only made things worse for herself.
It almost felt like he was watching a child.
"Here." He muttered, bringing out a dark rag from his Ring.
'I have lots of them in stock in case I need to clean something that gets stained with blood.'
He never expected it to be used for someone else, but more importantly… he never thought they would clean human blood.
'Well, whatever. I've gone past the point of complaint anyway.' Rey shrugged
She had gotten a lot of stains on her attire, and there was nothing he could do about that, so he simply settled for her face.
He also gave her rags to clean her hands.
Once she was done, Rey instructed her to throw the rags to one of the bushes around, much to Yuri's surprise.
"Should we really be leaving traces?" She asked with raised brows.'
"The bodies we left behind are enough traces for those who care to find us. Besides, this can help the KariBlanc Group trace our position and detect how far we've come already."
"Ohhhh…!"
Rey didn't say anything after that, and thankfully… neither did Yuri.
The only time Rey spoke was to alert her of incoming enemies, to which she would dispose of in a jiffy.
They continued this process through the night/early morning, until they finally arrived at their destination.
********
The point of trade was a large clearing within a patch of land purchased by the KariBlanc Group.
It existed in a developing city, so there weren't too many inspections and regulations going on there.
Besides, since this was the KariBlanc Group's private property, they had every right and autonomy imaginable when it came to the land.
Of course, getting into the city was the toughest part of the entire journey—second only to leaving the capital—but even that wasn't much of an issue. freewebnσvel.cøm
The KariBlanc Group wouldn't have been able to survive in the Black Market, talkless of beating one of its leaders, if they didn't have methods of circumventing such problems.
They were able to avoid detection thanks to the combined skills of the caravan members, who shrouded everything in Illusion Magic, while using a massive Enchanted fabric to cover the carriages and horses.
This caused them to be practically invisible as they literally flew into the city—past the tall fence that encircled the entire city.
It required a lot of Mana to achieve all these things, so the effects were only temporary.
Still, they succeeded in their infiltration.
Once they got past the security and got to their patch of land, they were pretty much in the safe zone.
"Good job, everyone!" Yuri grinned at the entire crew as she placed both hands on her hips.
They all smiled at her, charmed by her endearing nature.
These were all members of the criminal underworld, so they weren't turned off by the slight stains of blood that appeared on the girl's dress.
In fact, it sort of added to her appeal.
With everyone dismounted, they began to offload the items they were going to be trading.
Standing in a corner, and watching as everyone did their fair share of work, was Ralyks.
He was resting his back on one of the carriages while folding his arms in solitude.
A few men looked at him, glitters literally oozing from their eyes as they did so.
"I can't believe he could use such a large defensive barrier."
"I don't think things would have gone so smoothly if he wasn't present."
"He's really amazing."
The men who spoke weren't wrong.
Even Yuri had to admit that if she had been stuck on both offense and defense, things would have proven incredibly tough for her.
The only reason they could obtain such a swift victory—with no damage or casualties involved—was for the simple reason that the enemy hadn't expected a man of Ralyks' caliber to show up.
To a large extent, the enemy side had information about the KariBlanc Group.
They were well aware of their military power, their economic and social standing, as well as their specialties.
They even knew their trump cards.
As such, they could prepare the perfect plan to counter the KariBlanc Group's endeavors.
However… with Ralyks thrown into the mix as an unknown variable, the status quo was bound to change.
He was their dark horse that would lead them to victory.
A true hero!
*********
'Looks like it's about to begin.' Rey smiled to himself as he folded his arm.
He was grinning under his mask as he sensed a presence approaching.
'Since they were all over our path, it was clear they knew where we were heading…'
Nothing about what was about to happen surprised Rey in the slightest.
Rather, it just made him more excited.
'This one is stronger than the others. I guess I have something to look forward to.'
*
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