Chapter 319: Unlucky Swordsman
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Luckily, we did not have a conflict with them. They are senior swordsmen," Christian commented. He felt a little scared in the aftermath. If this had happened when they just left Sacred City, with their fighting ability and experience, a whole legion could probably be wiped out when they had to fight with a senior swordsman.
"So what if he is a senior swordsman? Suzanna, I am not criticizing you, but..." Blavi suddenly realized something before he could finish talking. He immediately smiled at Suzanna. "I meant, if Niya had not act too impulsively, we would not have to experience that. We can just treat it as we are doing it for Niya to fulfill a wish for her. Christian, what do you think?"
"Baron Fruz has notified Flame Crusaders about our itinerary," Anfey said quietly. "If we are not ready for attacks, we could end up in serious trouble. Right now, the city master in Lagan City is really close with Flame Crusaders."
Flame Crusaders was not a regular troop in the empire. The members of the Flame Crusaders had many different skills. They were cavalry, swordsmen, mages, and even knights of light from Church of Light. They wore uniformed armor when they were called in for a battle, but the organization was nevertheless very loose. There were no rules or restrictions for the Flame Crusader members. It is said that they had the freedom to join or leave Flame Crusaders at their will. Nominally, there was no leader in Flame Crusaders, and no one really knew who the power was behind the scenes. Yolanthe let Flame Crusaders grow without any interference.
Flame Crusaders used to have a free style. Flame Crusaders had a closer relationship with Prince Wester after Yolanthe claimed he was going to pick a qualified heir for his throne. Saul thought Philip must have his hand on Flame Crusaders. In other words, he was their behind-the-scenes leader. When Anfey’s legion escaped from Sacred City, Flame Crusaders were active and passionate in chasing his legion, while magic union garrisons did not bother Anfey’s legion much. If Anfey’s legion thought Philip had nothing to do with Flame Crusaders, they were just kidding themselves.
"It looks like you all want to go to Lagan City. Then let’s go," Christian sighed.
As they were talking about Flame Crusaders, Baron Fruz had slowly walked out of his house. About eight people dressed in swordsmen uniforms followed closely after him. Crazy Dog was one of them. Except for his gloomy face, he did not look any different than the others. He did not wear a swordsman’s badge, so he did not draw anyone’s attention.
Baron Fruz had a habit of walking around Lagan City along the main road after dinner every day. He liked this city. He knew someday he would take over the city. City master was not a hereditary position, but his father had been the city master of Lagan for over twenty years. He had his hand in everything in Lagan. If his dad wanted, he had the ability to have the city budget cut by more than half. In such a situation, it was better to have him to take over the city master job. Other royalty in the empire knew who controlled Lagan City anyway. No one would want to come to such a far-off place to look for trouble.
Baron Fruz’s habit was well-known. After dinner became the quietest time in Lagan City. At that time, people changed their behavior a little after dinner. No one would have any conflict with others on the street. Even the troublemakers and gangs chose to put a hold on their activities during that time. Women who needed to go out would choose to walk around in the alleys to avoid the bright main street.
Baron Fruz’s daily patrol was almost finished. He walked around a street corner. If he walked straight ahead, he could reach his house. He felt regret and sighed. In fact, he hoped there was something happening everyday that could allow him to prove his authority and power. Unfortunately, not only did nothing happen, he barely saw anyone on the street. He felt he could not release his passion.
Before Fruz could complete his sigh, Crazy Dog, who had blended in with the guards, suddenly looked up. At the same time, he started to run towards Fruz and knocked two swordsmen out of the way. He grabbed the startled Fruz as the sword in his right hand, covered in white combat power light, suddenly thrust forward.
An arrow flew towards them. They heard a sharp whooshing sound coming, but the arrow was knocked away by the sword. It looked easy to knock away an arrow, but it was very very hard to do. Sharp eyes, considerable experience, and short reaction time were all necessary. Of course, it was not a big deal for a senior swordsman like Crazy dog. He stared at the person on a roof in the distance.
Unexpectedly, the arrow actually was a magic arrow. The Wind Blade on the arrow was not affected by Crazy Dog’s block. It flashed and went in Baron Fruz’s thigh. Baron Fruz screamed in pain. He could not help falling to the ground.
Crazy Dog did not think Baron Fruz could get hurt. He was shocked for a second and started to look fierce. Seeing his master getting hurt, he knew he most likely would get blamed for it later, when Baron Fruz asked them to take responsibility for this accident. He could not think too much at that moment. He held his arms open and rushed in front of Fruz. His combat power had been performed to the maximum. He walked straight at the shooter in the distance. The rest of the guards stayed with Fruz. They did not want to make their master mad either.
Seeing Crazy Dog getting closer, the shooter did not seem to run away at all. The shooter casually pulled the bow. Crazy Dog could not help but feel worried. He had released his combat power to the maximum without holding anything back. Anyone could see he was a senior swordsman, but the shooter did not seem to care, nor had the intention to back off. Obviously, he had confidence to kill Crazy Dog. At that moment, Crazy Dog had no other option but to face the fight. He had enemies everywhere. If he made his master mad, he could end up having nowhere to go.
Thinking of this, Crazy Dog roared as loud as a tsunami. He jumped high and raised his sword to thrust forward. A crescent shaped sword radiance with many shadow tails shot out at the shooter’s chest. At the same time, Crazy Dog slowed his rapid advance. He speculated that the shooter would not just be a shooter. He wished to make the shooter make moves once he used his sword radiance.
Anfey let go of the bow. The arrow shot out fast. Anfey moved one step to the side to dodge Crazy Dog’s strike. He avoided Crazy Dog’s sword with almost no gap in between. Crazy Dog’s heart suddenly dropped. He felt desperate now. He had many risky moments in his life. If Anfey had avoided his sword in such a risky way, it showed that Anfey had amazing visual judgment and great confidence. If it were him, he would have moved a lot further away from the sword to feel safe.
A powerful opponent! Crazy Dog immediately made a judgement. He waved his sword to hit away Anfey’s arrow. Crazy Dog just let the Wind Blades hit against his combat power. To judge if a person was powerful, a person did not have to rely solely on combat power. Sometimes, one could tell from the way the opponent looked and behaved. Crazy Dog’s name had "Crazy" in it because he was so hot tempered that nobody could understand him. When he was in a fight, especially with a powerful opponent who could make him very sharp, he did not look crazy at all.
Crazy Dog paused for a second before he stepped onto the eaves. The tiles quickly turned to powder under his feet. He borrowed the momentum from it and rushed forward. The tip of the sword reflected bright and cold light and thrust towards Anfey’s chest. This move meant to test Anfey instead of attacking him, because Anfey looked too calm. Crazy Dog had a different attitude this time than with his first strike. He did not dare to attack with full force.
A person suddenly came up behind Anfey about eight yards away. She shot high into the sky like a Firework Flag. She fiercely swooped at Crazy Dog while he had all his attention on Anfey. When he realized he was at a disadvantage, he forced himself to stop running. Luckily, he did not attack Anfey with full force. He immediately turned from attacking to retreating. He slightly raised his sword. He posed as if he was ready to defend himself. He had to take some of his attention from Anfey in case the two of them attacked him together.
Two swords with the same radiance clashed together and made a huge clanging sound. The intense combat power stirred up the air currents around the swords. The air currents were clashing everywhere. Suzanna jumped high and did a backflip. She landed firmly on the roof. Crazy Dog jumped off quickly. He still looked like he was in a disadvantaged position.
However, Crazy Dog actually felt relieved. The eaves blocked his view and he did not see where Suzanna jumped to, but that did not stop him from sensing where she was. Crazy Dog sensed that there was another mage in the dark and the swordswoman was more powerful than him. Putting all this together, Crazy Dog already wanted to escape. He did not think he had any chance to win this fight. If a person could save a situation, he would be a hero, but it never would be him.
A fire wall suddenly appeared when Crazy Dog was about six yards off the ground. The fire devoured Crazy Dog, but he was prepared for magic. With his combat power, the fire wall could not hurt him.
As he continue to fall, Crazy Dog stared at what was above him in case there were more attacks. Just as he expected, Suzanna jumped off the roof and chased after him with her sword. Crazy Dog screamed loudly. As long as he could block this attack, he should be able to run to the alley nearby. He was familiar with the city so he could run in the small alleys. He did not think Anfey and Suzanna would go after him unless they wanted to kill the whole garrison in the city.
When his feet had just touched the ground, he felt something squishy and he kept falling down. Swamp magic? As soon as he realized this, Crazy Dog felt desperate right away. He could not figure out whether Anfey and Suzanna wanted to kill Baron Fruz or him. If they wanted to kill Baron Fruz, they should not have spent so much effort dealing with him. If they wanted to him, why would they attack Baron Fruz first? He could not spare time to think about that question. He roared angrily, trying to jump out of the swamp. However, the more he struggled, the faster he fell. In the blink of an eye, the swamp was up to his chest.
As Suzanna rushed to Crazy Dog, her sword left a white light shadow. She swung her sword at Crazy Dog’s head. Crazy Dog clenched his teeth as he released all the combat power he had left to block the sword. With a loud noise, Crazy Dog’s whole body had fallen into the swamp, with only half the sword swinging feebly above the swamp.
Blavi grinned from the roof on the other side. Swamp was his masterpiece! Although they had planned this out beforehand, Blavi was still proud of himself and felt excited, since what he did was decisive for this fight.
Anfey flew quickly down from the roof. He had a dark black spear in his hand. As the tip of the spear touched the ground, he threw himself at the panicked swordsman.
"Protect the baron!" a swordsman yelled. He pulled his sword out backhanded and positioned it in front of him, but he felt dizzy for a second. Anfey had thrust his spear into his mouth, and it pierced out from the back of his head before he had a chance to close his mouth.
Blavi did not rest. He kept releasing Lightning magic and killed a swordsman who was trying to flee as he saw the situation change. Once Suzanna joined the battle, no matter who wanted to fight back or who wanted to run away, they all turned into a group of feeble people without any fighting ability.
What surprised Anfey was Baron Fruz. He still looked proud, even though his eyes were filled with terror. He did not cry or beg to be let go. He only covered his wound on his thigh with his hand and sat there quietly. He was quiet for a while before he said with a trembling voice, "Why do you want to kill me?"
"It is your turn." Anfey did not answer him, but turned to look at Christian. There was no rule that people needed to know the truth before they died. No matter in which world, there was just no such a rule.
Christian heaved a sigh and chanted in a low pitch. A big fireball flew out and hit Baron Fruz right in chest. Baron Fruz only had a chance to give half a scream as he rolled far away. When he stopped rolling, his upper body was charred.
"Let’s go. The garrison will come soon," Anfey said quietly. After he walked a few steps, he suddenly stopped. He sensed some movement from under the ground. After getting connected with the Heart of Nature, he did not take anything unusual for illusion anymore. He looked around and saw the sword Crazy Dog left on the ground. After the magic elements disappeared, the swamp had turned back into earth. Was it possible that Crazy Dog had not died yet?
Anfey gave Suzanna a look. Suzanna immediately understood. She jumped high and attacked the shaft of the sword on the ground with combat power. Dirt and gravel sprayed. Anfey clearly heard a smothered scream in pain.
"One more," Anfey said.
Crazy Dog was buried underground, but he did not die. He was in incredible pain and agony. He did not know why they would not let him go at this point. As the ground shook intensely again, Crazy Dog started to lose conscious. Everything seemed to fall into darkness.