Chapter 280: How to Protect What is Precious (4)

Fuan was a celebrated Grandmaster, but he didn’t have much war experience. Because of that, he gave orders exactly as he learned from books.

“Send fifty Masters and knights from the left and right wings that have encircled Sefira back to the main estate to prevent getting taken over. We alone are enough to stop the special forces.”

Since there were fifty people in Sefira’s raid group occupying the Bydent estate, he sent twice the number of soldiers and Masters. As a result, he would directly take on the hundred-strong special forces. It was indeed a textbook-example response.

When the Bydent army got on the move, Sefira immediately reacted as well. Myle received intel from the intelligence agents, extracted only the most crucial information, and reported it to Hissop.

“Fifty Masters and knights of the left and right wings have separated from the main force! They are headed toward the Bydent estate!”

In return, Hissop immediately ordered, “Deploy the Order of the Star. Strike Bydent’s left and right wings at the same time. If there’s any sign the reinforcements try to return, retreat immediately!”

Twenty members of the Order of the Star assembled at the training grounds. The five hundred soldiers under their command stood firm, but tension filled them up to their throats.

Sefira’s army had only five hundred men. However, the forces surrounding Sefira numbered two thousand, four times more than their number. The speech of the Order of the Star commander, who had to break through this situation, was short and firm.

“If each of you fires only five arrows, we will win!”

The Order of the Star commander cracked a joke for the nervous soldiers. They held back their laughter. Then, the deputy commander added to the joke.

“The time it takes for us to run there will be longer than the fighting time!”

“

Ahahaha!

”

“Anyone who doesn’t empty their quiver in this battle is guaranteed a middle shift for night watch!”

“Commander! That’s torture!”

“On the other hand, for anyone who completely empties it, I will buy them drinks and meat out of my own pocket!”

“Is there no limit?”

“Who do you think I am? I’m your commander. Don’t compare me to your pitiful little salaries!”

“You clearly said it yourself! We’ll make sure you regret it today!”

Excessive nervousness stiffened muscles, but thanks to the commander’s humor, the soldiers entered battle with only the optimal amount of tension.

Normally, such news should have reached Bydent immediately. After all, five hundred troops were leaving Sefira. Yet for some reason, Bydent didn’t realize Sefira had dispatched the Order of the Star. And it was inevitably so, as all the intelligence agents who were supposed to deliver that information had been killed, nearly all at the same time.

It was something that should have been impossible. Intelligence agents didn’t reveal themselves and hid with extreme persistence. Moreover, they obviously never stayed within range of arrows, and even if someone tried to catch them, they would run away instead of fighting.

However, it was one man who killed those agents. He stood atop the roof of the highest tower in Sefira.

The man who wielded an absurdly sized bow pressed his hands together and murmured, “There at least would have been no pain.”

Nelson von Misar of the Seven Stars of the North. Normally, he walked around with an eyepatch, but right now, the eyepatch was removed. When his covered eye was revealed, they looked like mirrors. As he stared at the sky, the sky reflected itself clearly in his gaze. He had aimed and killed every hidden agent from at least hundreds, perhaps thousands of meters away, but tears rolled down his cheeks.

“It had to be done, but even so, it is sad.”

Nelson covered his eye with the eyepatch again and lay down. He usually kept an eye covered to focus his vision. That was the secret and the weakness of his extreme long-range sniping. After sniping, his eye couldn’t be used for a while. Of course, even then, he could still hit a target one hundred meters away without missing, but since there was nothing to shoot at now, he chose to simply rest.

Misar wasn’t the only member of the Seven Stars of the North to return to Sefira. In the command room, where all of Sefira’s key officials were gathered, the door was guarded by an exceptionally peculiar man. His pineapple-like hairstyle was strange enough, but the arrows fixed around him drew even more attention. The arrows looked as if they were tied to strings hanging from the ceiling.

Just then, a chef appeared with a cart.

Dudu immediately shouted, “Stop right there.”

The chef flinched in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

“I find you suspicious. Lift that cloth.”

The chef lifted the cloth. Delicious food was revealed, and most of the dishes were food that were easy to digest. The cart was filled entirely with food, leaving no space for anyone to hide.

“Try eating the potato soup right there yourself.”

“Alright...”

The chef, his face full of displeasure as if asking why he was being treated this way, cautiously ate a spoonful of the potato soup.

Watching him closely, Dudu stroked his chin and said, “You. Your affiliation and name?”

“I belong to the main kitchen, and my name is Alex.”

“Did you make these dishes?”

“Yes. I made them myself.”

“Then tell me this. Was parsley powder sprinkled on top of the potato soup you just ate?”

“

Ahaha

, you are very meticulous. Yes, it was sprink—”

The arrows floating around Dudu suddenly fired at the chef. Dudu’s bow techniques were the fastest in Sefira, yet the chef deflected every arrow with his fingers. The chef’s face twisted mysteriously.

Eerily smiling, he muttered, “There was parsley powder sprinkled on it, wasn’t there?”

“You think everything green is parsley? What was sprinkled on the soup wasn’t parsley, but celery powder.”

“

Tsk

. Why the hell would anyone grind celery into powder?”

“My name is Dudu. What’s your name?”

“Tell the Reaper that Cray sent me.”

Then, the chef clawed at his own face. It had never been his real face to begin with. The Ghost Face Slayer, Cray. With his hair slicked cleanly back, he swung an empty hand through the air.

Dudu hastily crossed both hands. Aura Arrows rose around him, layering themselves in midair. The arrow barrier that could even block augmented aura was instantly torn apart, and Dudu’s right arm was nearly severed. However, Dudu attacked and defended at the same time. Arrows shot toward Cray at tremendous speed. Dudu’s Drawn Archery, fired with the same principle as drawing a sword, was faster than anyone in Sefira within close range.

However, Cray reacted to it. Blades of energy shot out from his fingers, shredding the arrows and tearing apart the corridor and window. At that moment, arrows flew in from outside the window, pouring down on Cray.

Dudu hadn’t been the only one guarding the command room. The Order of the Galaxy was protecting it from outside as well.

Cray expressed admiration as he caught every arrow flying in from the window with his fingers and hurled them at Dudu.

“Very fast indeed.”

Dudu avoided them and simultaneously fired an arrow he had fixed in place beforehand. Among Dudu’s arrows, this was the slowest. Because of that, Cray yawned and casually slapped it aside.

Boom!

Then, the aura sealed inside Dudu’s arrow exploded. It was a tremendous blast, strong enough to shatter the thick command room door.

It was a secret technique Dudu used, fully prepared to be caught in the blast himself. In fact, he was swept up in his own explosion, his entire body drenched in blood. The wound on his chest was so deep that bone was visible.

“You startled me there.”

Unfortunately, Cray was still alive. However, blood dripped from the right hand he had used to deflect the arrow. Cray lifted his fingers to finish Dudu off, but then his gaze shifted.

“

Tsk

.”

His objective wasn’t Dudu. It was Sefira’s deputy patriarch, Hissop. But now, he saw Hissop hurriedly evacuating. There was no way a command room where high officials gathered wouldn’t have an escape route. Spending even 0.1 seconds finishing Dudu was wasteful. Ignoring Dudu, Cray threw himself toward the command room.

“How dare you!”

With a roar, an arrow shot out. Cray tried to deflect it again, but hastily dodged instead.

Boom!

The arrow he dodged demolished a thick wall instantly. The arrow looked light, but the power it contained was anything but light.

“Elder! Leave this to us—!”

The Order of the Galaxy knights inside the command room stepped forward, but Panir didn’t retreat.

“You can’t stop him on your own!”

“

Hah,

and you think

you

can stop me?” Cray answered instead.

The hand that had been launching blade-like strikes without a sword now held one. Cray stroked the sword with his palm and smiled.

“Consider it an honor to die by a Transcendental’s authority.”

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Authority, the privilege of a seven-star Transcendental. It was being revealed here and now.

“Seen and Slain.”

The moment one recognized the sword’s existence, the target would be slain. No matter where they were, no matter how many people there were, they would be slain the moment they looked at it.

Lines formed across the necks of everyone present, including Hissop and Panir. They were lines of death. But at that moment, one knight charged at Cray. He was a head shorter than the others. Because Seen and Slain had a time delay based on distance, the closer the target was, the faster they were slain.

Countless blade marks carved themselves across the small knight’s entire body. In that instant, blood splattered into the air, but it didn’t belong to the charging knight.

“What...?!”

It was Cray who spewed blood. His body was slashed, and blood scattered everywhere.

At the same time, the charging knight shot an arrow. Its speed and power weren’t exceptional, yet it flew at an angle that was strangely impossible to dodge. However, Cray had no intention of dodging. He sliced the arrow with his sword, and used Seen and Slain again to slash the small knight before him. However...

“What?!”

The slash had certainly struck the knight, yet the one being cut was Cray.

Hissop and Panir were stunned at the sight.

“Sir Luke!”

“Why are you here?!”

The small knight was none other than Luke Blendere.

***

Luke had hidden his ability of misfortune detection and reflection.

The fewer who know about a trump card, the better, even if they’re allies.

Thanks to Keter’s advice, no one in Sefira knew about his abilities. As a result, Luke had been regarded merely as a somewhat talented knight within the Sefira family.

“Sir Luke! Weren’t you assigned to the attack troop?”

Originally, Luke was a Holy Knight included in the hundred-person attack unit. Yet he suddenly appeared in the command room and saved them with mysterious techniques.

As Cray was being momentarily stalled by the misfortune reflection, Luke quickly answered Hissop.

“I had a bad feeling, so I withdrew. I’ll accept whatever punishment for disobeying orders.”

“An ability user... Impressive.”

Having deduced Luke’s power, Cray readied his stance again. Seen and Slain had already been dismissed.

Hmph. A terrible matchup for me. I can’t designate a specific target for Seen and Slain.

Just using it briefly had caused over a dozen Sefira knights to suffer severe wounds or death, and even two high officials had died. However, Cray had originally intended to slaughter everyone inside the command room, so the result left him greatly unsatisfied.

I never thought Sefira had an ability user with a troublesome reflection ability. This isn’t worth the cost.

Even if Luke was an ability user of reflection, killing him was still possible. The ability wasn’t invincible. It certainly had weaknesses, and Cray was confident he could find and exploit them.

However, this was the heart of Sefira. The encirclement would soon be completed, and then thousands of arrows would rain down on him. If he could use Seen and Slain, it wouldn’t matter if thousands surrounded him, he could slash them all. But he couldn’t use it now because of a single knight named Luke.

I’m at a disadvantage, and I dislike disadvantageous conditions.

Cray immediately changed his plans.

“Luke, was it? I’ll remember that name.”

“Are you running away?”

Luke provoked him, but Cray merely shrugged.

“Let’s call it a strategic retreat.”

Despite being covered in blood from his reflected slashes, Cray moved at a speed that made it impossible to believe he was injured. His overwhelming speed set everyone on edge, as no one believed he would leave peacefully.

Thus, everyone surrounded Hissop. If Cray targeted someone before running away, it would obviously be Hissop. Guided by his ability to sense misfortune, Luke also moved to protect Hissop, but in that instant, Cray targeted an entirely different person.

“I’m simpler than you think. This is enough to satisfy me.”

The one he targeted wasn’t Hissop. In the blink of an eye, he knocked out the second son, Myle, and slung him over his shoulder.

“Myle!”

“Lord Myle!”

The knights aimed their arrows but couldn’t shoot. Cray was using Myle as a shield.

“Well? Why don’t you try?

Hehehe

. If you won’t shoot, I’m gonna get going.”

He intended to use Myle as a hostage. However, the one he planned to threaten wasn’t Sefira.

“If I can fight with an advantage, there’s no reason not to.”

His final goal had been Keter. His infiltration of Sefira had been to kill Keter’s entire family and shatter his mind. Though that plan had failed, he instead kidnapped Myle, someone who was close to Keter. Using Myle as a shield, Cray escaped Sefira and licked his lips as he laughed.

“Keter, can you shoot me? Me, who holds your brother as a shield?!

Hehehe

.”

Cray was already thrilled at the thought of seeing Keter’s twisted expression.