Chapter 66
Chapter 66: Raging Wildfire (Part 4)
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Hiss hiss hiss——
Water rapidly evaporated, and steam burst explosively from where our attacks met, engulfing me. Instantly, a needle-like sensation spread across my face, forcing me to close my eyes and quickly retreat two steps back.
Fire Order? No… that was…
After that burning sensation subsided, I opened my eyes again. Amidst the fog, ice mist and heat waves intertwined, making the wind hitting my face alternately cold and hot.
I stared in shock at the scarred-face man opposite me. He had been knocked quite far by that previous strike, and was now rubbing his right elbow joint, making a “crack” sound as he reset it, before lifting his head.
“Truly impressive indeed, worthy of being… the youngest Pontifical Knight in history. I guessed correctly, didn’t I, Miss Peylo? No, perhaps I should call you Miss Sylvia instead.”
My expression hardened: “Who are you?”
Heaven knows I wasn’t actually very interested in this question, I just wanted to use the opportunity to glance behind me and check on Lafayette’s situation.
The battle there was extremely intense.
Lafayette wielded his sword, cold light flashing repeatedly, each swing bringing forth several sharp ice spikes, forcing Valarr to continuously retreat. He was completely dominating the fight, seeing this I finally felt relieved.
Turning back, the scarred-face man continued speaking to me: “Who I am isn’t important, Miss Sylvia, let’s discuss something, I think we…”
I immediately interrupted him: “There is nothing, to discuss. You have, already lost, surrender.”
Hearing this, the scarred-face man’s mouth twitched, seemingly trying to smile, but it only made his already horrifying face appear even more terrifying.
“You just want to ensure your big brother’s safety, right? As it happens, I also don’t want anything to happen to His Highness the Crown Prince. While there’s still room to salvage the situation, could we stop here and not fight anymore?”
“But you have, already lost.”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
Suddenly, shouts came from my side.
“Ah——!”
“Witch——”
I turned my head to look, seeing three soldiers trembling as they charged toward me. They were covered in ice shards, faces pale, bodies so stiff they could barely manage to raise their swords properly, their faces showing both terror and an inexplicable resolution, their heart-rending cries seeming more like an attempt to boost their own courage.
I frowned impatiently.
These people, I could see from their eyes that they had already lost their fighting spirit. Their actions now, mustering up courage, were merely because they didn’t want to be deserters. Enemies like this had no meaning in battle anymore.
Lightly swinging my sickle to parry their incoming strikes, I raised my leg, producing three “bang bang bang” muffled sounds as the soldiers flew back and fell into the snow. Whether they were unconscious or not, I knew they wouldn’t get up again.
Turning my eyes, I saw the scarred-face man had already lowered his body and was charging toward me.
Heh, talking about not wanting to fight anymore, yet still trying to take advantage of an opening… I’d have to be crazy to believe you.
Left hand raised horizontally at chest level.
Bang——
Ice mist erupted once again, howling as it surged forward. The scarred-face man moved nimbly, dodging my attack with a shift to the left, his right arm muscles bulging as he swung his short sword upward with the force of wind and thunder.
Damn it, where are you aiming!
I stepped forward, feinting with my short sickle in the air before quickly withdrawing the attack, my right foot suddenly transforming into a brilliant blue whip-hammer as I kicked toward his right wrist.
The scarred-face man couldn’t react in time and was instantly struck, his wrist nearly folded in half, broken bone protruding through the skin as his short sword flew several meters high.
The next moment, the short sickle was raised again.
Swoosh!
The blade sliced down from the scarred-face man’s left shoulder, sliding through his chest without any resistance, creating a terrifying wound deep enough to see bone. Sticky blood sprayed onto my face, immediately freezing, as white frost spread from his wound.
“Cough——”
Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
The hit landed surprisingly easily, making me raise an eyebrow as I grew more nervous inside.
I had originally thought someone with his skills shouldn’t have been unable to dodge, and I had already planned my follow-up moves, but unexpectedly he neither dodged nor evaded, his movements completely lacking their previous agility, taking the hit stiff as a board… Did the broken wrist make him too numb with pain to react? No…
As these thoughts flashed through my mind, I worried the scarred-face man might unleash some dangerous counter-attack, so I immediately jumped back, creating some distance between us.
Yet unexpectedly, he continued running forward without slowing down, his steps as nimble as if he weren’t injured at all.
What’s going on? Such a serious wound, yet he can still move… What is he trying to do? Does he not care about his life… No, something’s not right.
When I slashed open his chest earlier, the inside seemed unnaturally red, as if it was glowing… Not good, his target is Lafayette!
Realizing this, I immediately raised my hand, ice spikes whistling through the snowflakes like arrows, moving so fast they were nearly invisible to the naked eye, making two “thud thud” sounds as they pierced through the scarred-face man’s left shoulder and chest, leaving terrible bloody holes.
The scarred-face man staggered from the force, groaning as he seemed about to fall, yet stabilized himself with an odd posture and stood up again, continuing to run without a word, his speed actually increasing rather than decreasing as he rapidly closed the distance with Lafayette.
A bad feeling rose in my heart as I looked toward Valarr who was engaging Lafayette, suddenly remembering that not long ago I had pierced his shoulder with ice spikes, that injury… was quite serious.
Under normal circumstances, even a battle-hardened warrior would be gritting their teeth in pain, face pale, their movements somewhat affected by such a grave wound. However, looking at Valarr, although he was at a disadvantage in the fight and now had several additional sword wounds, his movements… were completely unaffected.
Things seemed to be beyond imagination, but… now wasn’t the time to worry about all that.
Snow fell continuously as the sky gradually darkened.
Hastily surveying the entire battlefield, the city guard troops whose morale had broken were now scattered across the snowy field, having been repeatedly charged through by the escorts, blood staining the ground, their spirits frozen. Even those who raised their swords in resistance posed limited threat under the escorts’ readied formation.
More soldiers were slowly gathering around Edward’s position, some helping him lean against the damaged rear half of the carriage. He was now gesturing and constantly saying something to the soldiers, though I couldn’t hear clearly from this distance. However, it looked like he was reorganizing the troops.
As for my area, no one dared to approach anymore.
Next, as long as we dealt with these troublesome assassins…
Having roughly assessed the current situation, I took a deep breath, changed my footwork, and sped forward with continuous Moon Steps. The wind roared in my ears, my cheeks stinging from the gusts, and in the next instant, I had appeared blocking the scarred-face man’s path.
“Don’t think about getting through.”
The scarred-face man finally halted his steps, once again pulling his face into an ugly smile.
“Hahaha!”
I frowned, then heard footsteps.
“Leader——”
“Surround her, surround her! You guys go around from the right… damn it, how did it turn out like this…”
From the position to my side and rear, over ten black-robed assassins broke through the escorts’ defense line, emerging from the chaotic battlefield and charging straight at me.
“Don’t get close, you’re no match for her!” the scarred-face man shouted at them, “Throw the black spheres——!”
The approaching assassins hesitated for a moment, their movements showing brief uncertainty, then heard the scarred-face man continue: “There’s no time for hesitation! If we delay any longer, Scalliger’s people will arrive, and none of us will be able to escape — throw the black spheres!”
To hell with you!
Stepping forward twice, I swung my short sickle roaring toward the scarred-face man, who still neither dodged nor evaded, his eyes showing nothing but fierce brutality as he raised his broken arm to block.
You think you can block this!
Zing——
Cold light flashed, and the broken forearm flew skyward.
At the same time, several black spheres flew toward my head, and my heart suddenly jolted as I recognized these as the things Valarr had tried to throw at me earlier.
A blazing white light flashed by, and in the next instant——
Bang, bang, bang!
The spheres exploded in mid-air, mysterious gray-white smoke surging toward me with the fierce wind. In this critical moment, I suddenly pushed forward with my right foot, my form instantly darting over ten meters away, avoiding the smoke’s coverage area by a hair’s breadth.
After stabilizing my footing, I stared in horror at the scarred-face man who had already been engulfed in the clouds of smoke, hearing him still shouting: “Valarr!! Stop hesitating, kill him——!”
“Ah——!!!!!”
On the battlefield to my side, Valarr suddenly went berserk, spreading his arms and lunging forward in a suicide attack. Lafayette, noticing something was wrong, immediately retreated, but it was too late.
With a “squelch” sound, the long sword pierced through Valarr’s chest, but his face showed no sign of pain as he raised his hand with a vicious smile.
Bang!
Gray smoke exploded in Lafayette’s face, and Valarr eagerly brought his head close, taking a deep breath of the smoke.
“Haha… haha…”
Boom——
Crimson tongues of flame burst from his chest.