Chapter 280 Come at Me, All of You!
Special envoy Basil narrowed his eyes and quietly looked around him. Even though the escorts of the diplomatic corps hadn’t said a word, all of their faces were clearly upset because of the contemptuous indiscretion of that person from Lancaster.
‘Good. I could use this.’
Old Basil nodded almost imperceptibly.
But even if he did recognize the faces of his escort, he did not remember most of their names for the life of him, and in the end only had Sir Monan in mind.
Despite being unaware of Monan’s actual ability, he probably wouldn’t be that weak since he was chosen as a leader of imperial military elites.
But even as Basil was about to respond to the pink flatfish man, he started boasting away. “Forget it. Come at me, all of you! Incidentally, I’ve just put my skill points on the nonlethal False Swipe technique!”
Basil:???
Were the people of Lancaster all so arrogant?
Even if no one asked Basil ‘what do you think’, he was aware that something was strange. However, being an envoy who was able to think calmly unaffected did not mean that his escort could as well.
In fact, Basil’s incitement last night meant that they were already holding in their agitation. Now, with that aberrant wearing the pink flatfish head mask clearly holding them in such disdain, how could these soldiers who thought highly of themselves as elites be able to do nothing?
“Well, I shall see how good you are!”
Monan saluted the flatfish man with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, accepting the challenge.
He really wanted nothing more to fight him alone and break that pink flatfish mask, but since his comrades were extremely annoyed as well, having anyone fighting alone meant that everyone was not going to vent to their heart’s content.
So, instead of stirring trouble with something as trivial as this, everyone should just have at him as he put it, and take down that supreme imbecile!
“Ready your crossbows. Let’s give this Lancaster man a warm welcome, imperial capital-style!”
On Monan’s command, all the other knights handily nocked the bolts on their left gauntlets that were concealed in their left gauntlets under two seconds.
Though the bolts appeared small and fragile, the tips that shimmered coldly made it clear that those weren’t toys but lethal weapons!
Meanwhile, the pink flatfish had also strode forward when they were arming their crossbows, rushing towards Monan at frightening speed!
In that split second, Monan and the others fired-over twenty bolts hence shot towards the Flatfish Swordsman from every direction!
Monan didn’t drop his guard either. He didn’t stop at one bolt—with the skill he had refined in the battlefield, he had let loose four bolts in the blink of an eye.
And yet, the Flatfish Swordsman was unexpectedly agile. Even as he dashed rapidly ahead, he agilely shifted his path, even a.s.suming certain poses to evade the bolts.
Before some of the knights could react, they were already struck on the nape, their eyes rolling into their heads as they fell unconscious!
“No way! Slipping away from so many bolts…” Monan exclaimed in disbelief.
The Flatfish Swordsman heard him and paused in the middle of his rapid evasion.
“You’re imagining things. I can’t parry or evade every bolt when I’m dashing at such high speed.” He explained. “That said, this stuff has low damage, so it wouldn’t matter much as long as there’s no critical hit or instakill.”
And when he looked closer, Monan did see numerous short bolts sticking out of the Flatfish Swordman’s body as if he were a porcupine. But somehow, the silliest flatfish head mask wasn’t struck by a single bolt.
Monan inhaled sharply at the sight.
Having been on the battlefield himself, he certainly knew the weakness of their boltsthe shaft was short, and the bolt itself was made light for convenience of being carried around, which meant lesser damage than ordinary bolts.
Still, weapons are weapons—the crossbows were definitely lethal even if they were not as devastating than normal ones. It would hurt as much as being struck by a typical arrow since bows did not depend on penetration damage anyway.
Even the imperial military elites would have to grit their teeth and endure after struck once or twice, and even if the arrows missed their vitals.
Some of the tougher ones amongst them could still fight on at full force even with five arrows sticking out of their bodies, even if their pain would cause limpness in their movement.
And yet, the person before them now was basically a dartboard and yet he kept stoic (although they couldn’t see his face) and continued striking them down. From the looks of how inelegantly their eyes were rolling into their heads, the Flatfish Swordsman really was holding back from directly killing them…
Monan found that hard to accept at once.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Of course it hurts.” The Flatfish Swordsman answered casually. “There are those who fear pain (Players who completely shut off their pain sensation), but the pain helps me focus (twenty-percent pain allows him to easily understand his body’s condition without splitting his attention to look at the System page).”
Using pain to whip oneself into shape? No way! When had such a fearsome character come to Lancaster?
Monan was speechless. “Done with your questions? Let’s continue then.” The Flatfish Swordsman said, brandishing the single-edged sword in his hand. “All of you would fall before my blood drains dry.”
Once again, Monan caught an unusual meaning in the swordsman’s words.Was that man bent on defeating every knight escort as he betted on albeit without any stake —even at the cost of dying here?
“Why would you go so far… a champion like you would always receive the best offers… Is this even worth it?” Monan asked by instinct.
Even if he didn’t pick up on it, fear was rising in the depths of his heart even when he confronted the Flatfish Swordsman.
He wouldn’t talk so much otherwise.
“It might be not worth it (dying costs EXP after all), but it’s my creed to put my words into action.” The Flatfish Swordsman responded so openly that Monan had the misunderstanding that he was laughing maniacally. “Relax, I won’t kill you—it would be over soon.”
With that, the Flatfish Sworsman rushed toward him.
Even though that head mask was unbelievably hilarious, the Flatfish Swordsman somehow looked unbelievably fearsome in Monan’s eyes. He raised his crossbow, firing bolts even as he yelled. “Don’t come!”
But in the next split second, he felt a dull ache over his nape while his consciousness descended down the dark abyss…