Summoning the Holy Sword

Everyone could see up to three meters ahead under the crackling flames in the ferocious storm. They scanned the surroundings and the unbounded darkness of the night sky as though it formed into thick, solid walls around them.

The ground was unusually slippery on this abandoned mountain filled with gravel and rocks and the group advanced carefully to avoid falling to their deaths.

Mercenaries lined by both sides had oil lamps and swords in their hands while they were accompanied by their fully-armored companions. After all, everyone knew that the enemy had to extinguish the light sources in their hands if they planned on ambushing in this dark night. Meanwhile, the Chairman was protected in the middle of the group as they moved forward.

Everyone advanced slowly to coordinate with the Chairman’s pace. In ten minutes, they covered a few meters of slippery, steep mountain slope. The storm and pitch-black darkness before them seemed as though it was impossible for any enemies to lurk.

Viktor gripped his sword as he scanned the surroundings vigilantly. On the other hand, Rhode had disappeared into the forest. Come to think of it, the Chairman’s group was actually playing the same ‘drawing the snake out of its hole’ game as Felwood. Felwood waited for the Chairman’s group to sneak out of their cave to cut off their retreat while the Chairman’s group was luring their catchers to attack and wipe them all out.

This was a ‘life and death’ game and only one side could survive.

And now, it would depend on their opportunity.

Viktor turned back and gazed at the cave that they had exited. At this point in time, they were a distance away from the cave. However, the cautious enemies hadn’t launched their attacks yet. It was apparent that those guys were also waiting for the best chance to strike. Without a doubt, Viktor knew what they were up to. The enemies might think that Viktor’s group was only probing and they had purposely let them off while waiting for the chance to catch the tiger by its tail. If Viktor’s group had the intention to probe the situation, they might hesitate to go even deeper after they discovered that there were no ambushes before them. If that happened, the enemy would use the chance to wipe them all out.

This was truly treacherous.

“—!” A sharp whistle sounded and a few whistles responded back almost immediately. In Felwood’s line of sight with the ‘night vision’, the backup that he had arranged was drawing closer. Meanwhile, those damn runaways had darted for a distance and stopped once again. They are trapped now…

Felwood stood up in his hiding place with a satisfied expression and decided to join the battle. Those runaways weren’t as easy as they seemed and his traps weren’t efficient. Felwood revealed a sinister smile and suddenly, someone patted his shoulder.

“What the hell do you…” Felwood turned around and before he finished his sentence, a sharp dagger pierced through his throat effortlessly. Felwood widened his eyes at the sudden agony. He gazed at the man who was in full black and a pitch-black mask. Who is he? Why is he here?

The ‘night vision’ in Felwood’s eyes flickered and vanished entirely. He could no longer see his enemy and had fallen into the darkest abyss.

Rhode withdrew his dagger from Felwood’s throat, at the same time snatching the pendant around his neck. He examined it and twitched his brows.

This Night Vision Pendant was a great find. It seemed like these lackeys had access to all these wonderful treasures… However, this wasn’t the time for that. Rhode lifted his head and the corners of his mouth twitched. Dozens of figures in black cloaks were darting towards Viktor’s group. It seemed like Viktor’s group couldn’t hang on anymore and were about to be devoured by a pack of jackals. However, Rhode saw them as moths fluttering into a sea of flames.

Rhode placed the ring on his right index finger on his lips. “Our bait has fallen into the net. Move out.”

Viktor’s group was in a treacherous situation. After a desperate breakthrough, they were now slammed more violently than ever. Viktor strained himself to cast his most powerful skills to disperse the damned hungry jackals. His arms were starting to fail him. His mercenaries leaned against each others’ backs while brandishing their swords and defending with shields. The Chairman was half-kneeling in the middle, surrounded by the mercenaries protecting him.

The situation was utterly chaotic.

“Get lost!” A burly mercenary brandished his two-handed sword and struck off an assassin in full black. He roared and slashed straight for the assassin while striding forward. The assassin couldn’t dodge his ferocious attack and the sharp blade hacked into his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, the unlucky fellow collapsed to the muddy ground. While the burly mercenary withdrew his sword, another assassin darted towards him with a dagger and pierced his arm.

“Argh!” The mercenary groaned in pain and he retaliated with a punch innately. Although the assassin was punched in the gut, the mercenary couldn’t settle his scores because two other figures pounced on him at the same time…

As expected by Felwood, lack of manpower was their fatal wound. It was true that Viktor had brought his guild elites to Soraka Mountain, but the Light Parliament’s men weren’t weak either. Both sides were almost equally divided in terms of strength and equipment.

Good luck came late.

Soon, Viktor realized that there were some slight changes to the situation. The enemies seemed to be disoriented with their attacks and they weren’t as aggressive. However, it didn’t affect the overall situation too much.

This was only the start.

Joey lowered his body and tossed a corpse to the side. He scanned sideways and spotted a target darting towards the dim flames in a distance. Joey darted forward and caught up with the target instantly. The assassin sensed that something was off. He turned around quickly and was startled to see Joey behind him. Although Joey was also clad in a pitch-black cloak, his strange mask gave away his outsider identity. The assassin reacted quickly by brandishing his dagger towards Joey before dodging to the side successfully… Until another dagger penetrated his chest from behind.

Joey nodded at his companion as they gazed at the corpse on the ground. After seeing his companion’s hand gesture, Joey raised the ring on his right index finger.

“Boss, no problem in the surroundings. Settled!”

“—” A resplendent, multi-colored ice wall emerged all of a sudden and blocked all the attacks.

With weapons still in the mercenaries’ hands, they stared at the ice wall in bewilderment. They suspected that this was an attack from the enemy, but they were quickly proven wrong.

“An ambush!?” The assassins began to retreat at the sight of this ice wall. They realized that things were amiss because there were no Mages among the mercenaries who could cast this ice wall. What does this mean? Damn it, could it be…

“Firsy!” Marlene gazed at the battlefield secretly while she hid behind Anne’s shield. At the same time, her slender fingers drew a horizontal line in the darkness to connect the magical runes hovering in midair. The heavy rain concealed the chanting of her spell.

Bam! A column of flames emerged behind the assassins while scorching flames erupted from the empty ground as though responding to her summons. The flames were like ocean waves sweeping on the seacoast, smacking the surface violently. Gillian emerged within and pointed forward with a smile. “I’m so sorry; this road is blocked. Go from another way.”

“—!” The sea of flames formed a circle and enclosed the assassins. This was the first time tonight that the assassins were so frightened and although there were about 40 of them with excellent equipment left, they were nothing more than naked children standing before the raging flames.

The burning flames whizzed towards the assassins.

From a distance, one could see scarlet radiances flit in the mountain range.

Then, everything returned to complete darkness.