Chapter 194
C194 - Operation Compa.s.s Theft (6)
Immediately, the second, third and fourth bolts of magical energy penetrated Karl"s body.
"Kuah...!"
"Lord Karl!"
The eyes of the three remaining knights and mages were filled with despair as Karl fell to the ground. If even Chukon attacked them in this situation, they would have no way to defend themselves.
"Chu, Chukon, you...."
"I"m just returning your own actions, haha."
At that moment, the mages under the protection of Chukon"s barrier cast an attack spell at the same time. Of course, they were aiming not at Jin, but at Karl"s few remaining subordinates.
"Chukon!"
Before they could finish shouting, all of Zipple"s knights and mages died. Since Jin decided to target Karl, the death of Karl"s subordinates was a predictable outcome since Chukon decided to stay as a spectator.
"You"re not completely dumb, Chukon. I didn"t expect you to be so cooperative, but this way Tess won"t have to do much."
Karl collapsed and Jin gently picked him up and tossed him towards Chukon with his injured arm. As soon as Karl fell to Chukon, Kinzelo"s mages deployed healing magic to make sure the valuable hostage didn"t bleed to death.
"Don"t you think that after Karl, it"s your turn now?"
"I don"t think the absolute ruler of Ans is that stupid. Well, I did consider it. I just decided I didn"t care if you came after me."
"You keep bragging all the way to the end. Do you really think you can deal with me calling Tess, even with a body that isn"t even fully healed?"
"Hahaha..."
Gah, gah, gah!
Jin and Tess burst out laughing at the same time.
"Chukon Toldurer, you"re not convinced that you can kill me, and that"s why you"ve chosen the path that suits Kinzelo best. So don"t talk nonsense that you don"t even believe."
For a moment, Jin and Chukon exchanged distrustful glances. They were both saying things that were true. Jin was bluffing and Chukon was unsure of himself.
"Even if I pull out everything I have, it would be crazy to fight Chukon in this state. He"s an opponent that can"t be beaten without creating all sorts of variables, even his body is in its best state. If he really wants to fight, he should run away".
"He has enough magic to use that unknown lightning sword technique and to summon Tess, and he might have some other hidden power. Retrieving the compa.s.s has already become very difficult, and we must return safely with Karl from Zipple at least so that the leader won"t kill us".
They had lost five a.s.sault general level White Wolves, most of their senior members, and have had their compa.s.s stolen.
But they didn"t lose everything, like Karl Zipple, as the ship in the harbor was loaded with all of Bouvard"s other works except the compa.s.s.
In any case, the Jin variable was a disaster no one could have foreseen.
"If we go ahead with this unnecessary pride and things get worse, even the leader won"t let it go. Besides, when the leader gets the report, he will surely try to turn him into one of ours somehow. We already have enough information to track him down."
Chukon was the first to step back.
"Very well, we"ll take care of each other"s business today."
"You have not wasted your youth. Maybe your leader would like catching Karl Zipple better than the compa.s.s."
Gone was Tess"s invocation.
"The first floor just went silent. I don"t know if it"s over or if the battlefield has expanded outward."
Boom!
Immediately, Jin created a large hole in the ground with a strong foot strike. Even this was part of the basic Sword of Legends (Sword of Glory for friends) technique, with electrical energy zigzagging through his body.
"See you next time then."
As he descended through the hole, he immediately saw the chaotic scene on the second floor.
As on the second floor, there were bodies, blood and broken objects everywhere, as if there had been a rather intense battle.
He wasn"t too worried. With a group the size of Murakan, Quikantel, Kashimir and Alisa, all the power of the second floor had to be on the first.
"Have they all gone to the escape point, or have they gone to deal with the henchmen outside the game room?"
Jin felt a twinge of suspicion.
"No, they must have gone up to help me if they had emptied inside. Something"s wrong."
As Jin exited the game room, he was greeted by Murakan, who was transforming into a cat.
"Nyan~."
He hadn"t partic.i.p.ated in the battle on the second floor, but had kept his ident.i.ty a secret until now in case Jin was in trouble.
"Murakan~"
Poof!
Murakan transformed into a human and approached Jin.
"Hey, brat, how much stronger have you become! I"ve almost seen everything you"ve got in this fight, you"re brave to the point of making me cry! Strawberry Shortcake would probably cry too. And your arms are a wreck, how did those Legends b.a.s.t.a.r.ds roll you?"
"Are you talking about the injuries the Legends inflicted on me?"
"Hmm, I guess this is no time for jokes anymore."
"What"s the situation?"
"Your crazy fanatic escaped the island unscathed, taking the compa.s.s with her."
"Phew! Well, at least the six months of effort weren"t in vain."
"Yes, but the rest of the situation is not so good."
"What"s wrong?"
"There were two other forces we haven"t identified."
"Not one, but two?"
"The Vermont task force and Runcandel."
"Hmm..."
"They weren"t moving in with reliable information like we were. They only knew that Zipple and Kinzelo were meeting here. They didn"t know what they were trading. So they ran here after they heard the casino had been flipped."
"They could get us in trouble in the end."
"In the meantime, the little guy* (*: Probably Kashimir), Alisa and your lover are trying to deal with them or drive them away."
That was a relief. The compa.s.s had already been stolen, so it was just a matter of getting off the island without revealing himself.
Just as Runcandel and Vermont didn"t have all the information they needed about Zipple and Kinzelo.
Zipple and Kinselo were also unaware of their presence on the island.
"How did you know that the task force and my family didn"t know about the compa.s.s?"
"They said that if they had known all about it, they wouldn"t have just sent them."
"Okay, so the three of you split up and are heading to the escape point?"
"Yes, but unfortunately, there"s one more problem. The biggest one, to boot."
"d.a.m.n, nothing is ever easy. Tell me."
Murakan frowned in annoyance.
Then, he pointed his finger toward the sea that stretched out behind Jin. As he turned his gaze, he saw something dense and small floating in the sea in the distance.
"They"re all warships. Soon, this island will be completely surrounded. Even if we gather everyone scattered and board a ship in 10 minutes, we won"t be able to escape the pursuit."
There were no gates in or out on this island. You could only enter or leave by boat, swimming or flying.
And, of course, being an island, there was nowhere to flee or hide, and the escape boats that Jin"s group had prepared were not fast enough to outrun the pirate or warships that would pursue them
"...They were sent by the Bella Empire, to support the members waiting on the island in case of a similar situation. There, there will be special forces prepared by the special unit headquarters."
That left Jin and company with only one option: jump aboard Murakan.
That was the last escape option they left at the meeting half a year ago.
While they could escape immediately if they revealed Murakan"s true appearance, they would become special targets for eternal tracking by Vermont and Zippel and Kinzelo.
There would be nothing more exhausting than that in the world.
"This is really crazy.
It"s almost as if the fight on the second floor is the easy part.
"What are you going to do?"
As usual, Murakan decided to follow Jin"s decision.
"If there"s only one option, there"s nothing to think about. We"ll escape aboard you. We will have to accept the fact that we will be special tracking targets."
"Then, we must first find those who are scattered. Should we search for them while flying?"
"No, that"s too dangerous. We"ll search in the vicinity of the escape point and reconvene here in 30 minutes. If there are any comrades who have not joined up by then, we will initiate an aerial search."
Swish...!
Crack...!
Within five minutes of searching for his companions, the sound of something cracking in the distance echoed in Jin"s ears.
It was the sound of Runcandel"s Guardian Knights in the northern harbor destroying a ship.
"Destroy all ships! Don"t let anyone escape until the Bellard Empire"s reinforcement ships arrive.
"Especially you must not lose sight of the woman named Zelia. She is undoubtedly the key figure in this matter."
Indeed, Runcandel was doing something very Runcandel.
They were trying to prevent the escape of the main target by destroying all the ships at the location of the enemy ships coming from foreign lands.
It was the kind of vileness that was only possible by Runcandels. Damage of any kind could be paid for later with a pet.i.tion to the main family, and once the warships arrived and those involved were identified, the necessary people could be taken by force.
"It"s a Family that will one day be mine... but what can I say? In every way, it"s amazing."
The plans and opinions of Vermont and other factions were not important in the process. Especially in a place where these great powers were fighting each other.
"Oh, gentlemen, why are you doing this!"
"We are honest people who catch fish to earn our daily sustenance. But if you destroy our boats like this...!"
The men who appeared to be the owners of the boat approached the Guardian Knights and lowered their heads.
"Do you think I hadn"t noticed that there are only pirates, beggars and drug addicts on this island? From now on, I"m going to execute every one of you who tries to bulls.h.i.t or play a trick on us."
Indeed, every one of them was a pirate ship.
But from the pirates" point of view, there was no such extreme cruelty as this. On the other hand, they couldn"t take on Runcandel"s guardian knights, which made them feel frustrated.
"Hey, hey. Even if it"s Runcandel"s Guardian Knights, will only ten of them catch us? They don"t seem to be purebloods, they just seem to be ordinary guardian knights. Let"s just get on our ships and run away! The ships are our life and soul! We can find another island!"
A pirate who was trying to hide from the Guardian Knights shouted out loud.
"Exactly! Even if there are only ten of them, Runcandel"s Guardian Knights can"t capture all of us - there are over fifty ships in the northern harbor!"
"It"s even possible that we"ll be sent to prison in any case. Either way, get aboard a ship and weigh anchor, you d.a.m.ned maggots!"
"Only those who board the ships will escape with their lives!"
Waaaaaaaah!
Suddenly, the pirates who were hiding in different parts of the harbor joined in large numbers.
They were underestimating the "Runcandel Guardian Knights" too much. The low-level pirates had no idea who the strongest Swordsmen in the world were.
"Idiots. We"re the ones who control this place, even if you try to escape, you won"t be able to."
There were three of the ten Guardian Knights in the northern port.
With just those three, the Guardian Knights had the power to camp the pirates running like dogs.
A few pirates managed to crawl onto the ship, running like mad, not caring whether their comrades were dead or not. The problem was that they didn"t even make it to the anchor before the sword swept them away.
"There"s nowhere to run. There don"t seem to be any companions nearby.... Anyway, is the guy who urged us to get on the ship at first running away now?"
Just as that pirate was about to turn around.
Bang! Bang...!
Bang! Bang, Bang, Bang!
The Bellard Empire"s warships began firing sh.e.l.ls towards the island.
They seemed to have the same idea as Runcandel"s Guardian Knights. First of all, they wanted to sink all the ships on the island so that no one could escape.