Haera and the group strolled along the cliff's edge, moving around using a rolling patch of earth she conjured using her earth magic.
"It's too fierce out there.", Lucan broke a sweat, glancing at the bloodied stronghold full of people fighting at every corner.
He saw a northerner warrior grabbing his enemy's head and throwing it to the building's rooftop, crashing the entire thing from top to bottom. Another one endlessly pounded the body of a traitor, turning him into meat paste.
Olivia couldn't bear the stress of seeing the people of Norva Assili killing one another. The fact that she was about to confront Erik made her nervous feeling worse.
'Did it have to resort to this…?', she knew that her father wouldn't allow such betrayal unpunished. However, something ticked off deep inside her once cold heart.
Perhaps it was her realization upon experiencing the casual rifts of reality. When people were drowning in their mundane life of theirs, a sudden disturbance, no matter how big or small, would cause them to collapse all over.
Jinmu glanced over her figure and noticed her unstable emotions.
'This girl… is on the edge of violating the fourth tenet…', making him sigh and shake his head.
Emi saw his actions and looked over, "Big brother Jinmu, is something the matter?"
"Nothing, Emi."
Haera overheard their conversation and interjected, "Say, you must have a plan on how to rescue this girl's big sister, don't you?"
She only persuaded the elder to get them onto the battlefield but she didn't expect that these young fellows would use it as an opportunity to voice out their plans.
"I do have, sister Haera.", Jinmu replied, "The four of us will hold the enemy while Olivia and Emi charge further inside and rescue Emi's big sister."
"Why do you not want me to go inside with them?", Haera wondered. She was the second strongest amongst them and could deal with any situation.
"Oh, sister Haera, I would rather let you be outside so that you can take a look out of any danger coming towards us.", Jinmu answered, "You have a better sensory than everyone else here, so you could respond faster and get us out of there before tragedy strikes."
He told half the truth rather since he planned to mend the relationship between the junior and the senior sister.
Emi will have no choice but to cooperate, fighting alongside the woman she hates. Meanwhile, Olivia could seize this opportunity to help Emi save her big sister.
Haera doubted Jinmu's reply but since he was the man here, she had to oblige his wishes.
"I see. We're nearing our destination. Ready yourselves."
Just as she finished, Solordo dashed out and jumped high at a 200-meter drop, landing in front of the mansion is a very alerting manner.
"Hey, prickheads! Stop cowering behind these walls and come out to fight me!", Solordo shouted, brandishing his halberd in front of the stupefied Siegfried clan guards.
He was aching for some action after not being able to participate in the northerner army's assault against the traitors.
Two warriors lunged at him, hacking their swords towards this arrogant nobody who came crashing on their doorstep.
"Die!"
"Hmph!", Solordo pulled back his halberd and fiercely slashed at the two warriors. Both of their attacks were countered, sending them flying back. They collided with the wooden gates, smashing them into ruin.
The other warriors were alerted and rushed out, confronting Solordo who was all alone. The latter smirked and gestured for them to come at him.
Jinmu and Lucan palmed their faces at the sight.
'He's no damn different to those northerner warriors!', Jinmu cursed but he let it go for now. He would be needing that muscle-headed guy's strength later on.
"Uh, sister Haera, I think we should descend now…", he embarrassingly advised. Haera was taken aback as well and followed right after Solordo's lead.
Lucan prepared himself, casting several fireballs and launching them toward the approaching guards.
Jinmu remained at the back, analyzing the situation as best as he could.
The three girls were the last to join, only to see bodies of beaten-up warriors laying on the ground, unconscious.
"They…", Haera was speechless. She was unable to measure how talented the students from the Heavenly Magic Academy were but she didn't expect that they were this talented.
She had no idea how advantageous it was for the students of Heavenly Magic Academy quickly adapt to the nameless spell casting system. After all, the people of Aludia would normally expect youngsters of their level to use magic circles in order to unleash magic spells.
This was the edge that chivalric will cultivators, or otherwise known as warriors, had over any magic cultivator in the earlier stages. The latter would become immobile, giving the warriors an opportunity to kill them before they could cast anything.
But seeing Lucan easily cast spells now and then without delay terrified the guards. The tables had turned against them and the previous advantage they had was lost.
"Fire Whip!"
A long whip extended out from his right hand. Lucan lashed it on the fleeing guard who was slow to react, inflicting a severing lash upon its left shoulder.
The guard shouted in agony but Solordo kicked his face and knocked him out.
"Ah, no good at all! These opponents are too weak!", Solordo complained, making the five other members cuss at him with extreme silent verbality.
'Too weak my ass! Does he want a radiant knight to fight him off instead?!', Lucan felt that bringing this muscle-headed guy with them was a mistake. He should have carried on with the northerner army instead where he could let off freely and slaughter every opponent he didn't like.
In the middle of Solordo's melancholy, a spear shot out to his position.
Solordo grinned, moving his halberd as quickly as he could, flinging the spear to the sides.
"Oh, good reaction.", a young voice remarked. Six figures walked out, bringing an oppressive aura to the scene.
Olivia shivered upon catching a glimpse of them.
"How?! This couldn't be!", she pointed at them.
"Oh, isn't that the prized daughter of the high king, Olivia Winterice?", the burly person besides the leading man drooled.
His words incited lust upon his acquaintances, beckoning Olivia to come over and surrender. The group ignored them and worried for their safety instead.
"Olivia, what happened?", Lucan and the rest looked at her.
"Elder Flock only said that the strongest aura he felt was someone at the higher blade of the imprint realm. These guys… are someone at the consolidation and the enlightenment realm!"
The leader of the newcomers laughed at Olivia's bewildered response.
"Hah, you fools! You think that you can bypass our lord's great illusionary techniques?!"
He caressed the spine of his saber while talking to them.
'An illusionary magic array formation that even the system couldn't detect?', Jinmu was confused. The system should have been able to recognize such hidden threats but now…
'I hope that this case rings only when facing the Otherworld or else…', he shook his head, 'They sure are sneaky bastards.'
"Olivia, who are they? And please try to be brief as possible.", he called out.
"The-they are one of the special guards of the Siegfried Clan, tasked to protect the heir to the throne, Erik Siegfried, and are known as the Band of the Six Cold-Blooded Brothers here in Norva Assili.", Olivia stuttered in reply.
"Band of the Six Cold-Blooded Brothers, huh? So it is them…", Jinmu recalled all the information he gathered about this infamous mercenary group.
Scarface, the leader. He was the leading man, with a blade scar spanning from his right lip to his cheek. This warrior was skilled but cruel in his strikes, carrying a light saber made of frostal ice.
Brickman, the right-hand man. This guy was the definition of a brick, sturdy, and packs a punch. The tallest of the group, sometimes people would underestimate his speed due to his physique. It costed many people their dearest lives.
Scypher, the eagle-eyed bowman. His sharp ranged attacks never fail to amaze his brothers and enemies. Rumors about his incredible flexibility gave him the ability to strike at any body position, whether it was upside down or stretching his muscles to the extreme. Moreover, he seemed to be able to control the trajectory of his arrows even when they were already shot out, making him a dangerous threat to mages and wizards.
[ Author's Note: Pronounced as Cipher/Cypher ]
Llurrello, the dual swordsman. He was carrying two chipped swords of varying lengths, causing one of them to be shorter than the other. Despite this, the swords were fatal because the edges were rusted, and a slight scar could threaten the life of anyone who was scratched by him.
Carruva, the trapper. He was noted for being deceptive, making a trap room appear as if someone was wandering through a normal room of sorts, only to find themselves surrounded by traps a minute later.
And lastly, Bulfrang, the scavenger. He was so skilled in his job that nothing remained of the corpses of their victims, or in the treasuries of their clients. If he hadn't been a part of such an infamous group, the League could have recruited him to harvest the corpses of demonic and magical beasts instead.
These individuals were famed for their brutal crimes of massacring their clients if the latter did not give a dependable reward for their efforts. They would then raid their clients' homes for any resources they could find and additionally commit other wicked deeds.
They had no tolerance for differences and were instantly angered by any minor dispute with them.
Many speculated that the 'brothers' didn't care about one another and instead kept the sword to themselves and their enemies because they understood that the extra hand would allow them to target bigger targets and get more resources.
As for the authority coming over to confront them, Jinmu snorted and stopped thinking about it. Some underhanded tactics were in play, allowing them to continue living off in this world.
Regardless, these people were now working under the banner of the Siegfried Clan. As for how they managed to employ a bunch of degenerates, Jinmu was rather interested in knowing.
"Jinmu, what should we do?", Lucan worried.
The six cold-blooded brothers were out of their league considering that all of them were in the higher blade realms, a rank where only master wizards and above could contend against. Worse, there were seven of them, and they only got Solordo to compensate for their lack of strength, which was greatly insufficient.
Jinmu remained silent while blankly staring at the air. Lucan and Olivia saw his actions and were enlightened.
'He is using that messaging function now?', Olivia wondered. After all, his message recepient was the dumbest of them all and she wouldn't be surprised if something different happens.
Scarface overheard the question earlier, mocking the group.
"No matter what plans you brats come upon with, you aren't going to leave this place in one piece, dead or alive. And you, our dearest Princess Olivia. If you want to not die, surrender now. Lord Erik is awaiting for you upstairs."
"Hah! He can wait there for eternity!", Olivia retorted, "I would rather die than live in agony under their rule!"
This short exchange distracted the six brothers who were angered by Olivia's reply. Scarface suddenly felt a presence behind him.
It was Solordo, grinning from ear to ear and readying his attack.
"Tail of the Flame Dragon!"
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