Dalian leaned against the carriage shaft, the blood from his right arm already running down to his wrist, dripping off the blade of his sword onto the gravel.
He looked at Aubrey. Around them, the elite house guards were closing their perimeter. Gerak was pinned down by two shield-bearing soldiers, unable to budge. Balen was still holding on, though three crossbow bolts were embedded in his shield. Inside the carriage, the pale golden barrier was beginning to shatter.
He tightened his grip on the hilt and forced himself upright.
“Dalian!”
Aubrey's voice suddenly rose. “You have served the Morehurst family for twenty years. I will not kill you—take your men and step aside. I only want Elliot.”
Dalian said nothing.
He raised his sword across his chest, answering with action.
Aubrey stared at him, fell silent for a moment, and then made a gesture.
The elite house guards on both flanks stopped testing their opponents and surged forward at once.
Hit from three sides, Balen's shield was knocked from his grip. He was pinned against the carriage, a sword pressed hard against his throat.
One of Gerak's daggers was knocked away. Though he still held the other, four elite soldiers had hemmed him in completely, leaving him unable to move.
Dalian forced himself forward, trying to rush to the front of the carriage, but Aubrey's sword jabbed into his shoulder joint. His entire right arm went limp, and his longsword slipped from his hand, embedding itself in the gravel road and trembling slightly.
Inside the carriage, the sound of the Holy Light Barrier shattering was like thin ice being crushed underfoot.
Misha shielded Liz behind her. Her lips were pressed tight, and her arms were trembling.
A house guard used the shaft of his spear to pry open the carriage curtain. Cold light flooded in from outside, illuminating her pale face.
Liz peeked out from behind her, trying to use her frail body to shield her older sister, but Misha gently pushed her back.
Outside, Aubrey's rapier rested against the back of Rayne's neck.
He watched the carriage curtain being pried open, watched the pale golden light finally extinguish completely, and took a deep breath before turning his gaze to the front of the carriage.
Elliot stepped calmly out of the carriage and stood on the shaft, staff in hand, its tip not yet glowing.
Before him lay the fallen Dalian and Rayne, the pinned-down Balen and Gerak, and the closing perimeter of guards.
Behind him was the shattered Holy Light Barrier and Misha, who was still shielding Liz.
He said:
“Spare their lives, and I will let you do with me as you wish.”
Aubrey removed his rapier from the back of Rayne's neck and raised it, pointing the tip directly at Elliot's chest.
“Do it!”
The elite house guards on both sides of the carriage raised their weapons, preparing to thrust.
Suddenly, the sky went dark for everyone. A massive shadow plummeted from above, followed by a violent gale. The elite house guards were blown off balance, and the swords thrusting toward Elliot missed their mark entirely.
In the howling turbulence, no one could keep their footing. Even Aubrey had to retreat several steps to steady himself.
Everyone looked up to see a ghastly white Bone Dragon flapping its wings as it slowly descended, the thin membranes between its skeletal wing bones whipping up a tempest with every beat.
When its massive body touched down, the ground shook violently, its two giant claws carving shallow craters into the gravel road.
Atop the dragon's back, Lu Mao looked up and grinned.
“Everyone, I'm not too late, am I?”
Lu Mao slid down from the dragon's back, smoothing out his clothes and hair, which had been thoroughly mussed by the wind.
He first looked at Elliot on the carriage shaft, then glanced at Balen and Gerak, who were scrambling up from the ground. Confirming that his teammates were all alive and that there was no need to trigger a reset, he finally turned around to scan the surroundings.
“Where's your leader?”
Lu Mao asked, his eyes searching the crowd for the figure in the crimson coat. “I saw him around here just a moment ago...”
Before he could finish, he noticed everyone staring behind him with very complicated expressions.
Agrix shook his massive skull, the ghostly green flames in his hollow eye sockets flickering into a cool trailing effect as he slowly lifted his left claw and took half a step back.
On the gravel road, a human figure in a crimson coat was embedded right between the two claw prints. His rapier lay discarded a few paces away. He was splayed out flat on his face, the back of his head covered in gravel dust kicked up by the Bone Dragon's claws.
“Oh... sorry about that.”
Lu Mao looked down, then up at the Bone Dragon, speaking in a highly sincere tone. “I thought that was a speed bump...”
The Bone Dragon's giant claw moved away. Just as Aubrey rolled over, a dark golden ripple of light pinned him to the spot.
Novia sat regally on the dragon's back, without so much as lifting a second finger.
The battle was decided.
The remaining elite soldiers looked at their commander, who had been stomped into the dirt by a Bone Dragon and then effortlessly restrained, and then looked at the others on the dragon's back—
A skeleton mage holding an oversized staff, a thoroughly bored succubus, and a troll with a vacant, hollow expression. One by one, they threw down their weapons, clasped their hands behind their heads, and squatted.
The troll gathered the scattered weapons on the ground like firewood. Lumu hummed a tune as she bound the captives one by one. Within moments, all thirty-plus prisoners were tied up securely.
Balen rubbed his chin as he walked up to the prisoners, a cold snort escaping from his thick beard.
“Which one of you pointed a sword at my neck just now? Step forward. I promise I won't beat you to death.”
Ignoring Balen, who was busy handing out slaps to the prisoners one by one, Lu Mao got a quick rundown of the situation from Elliot and the others, then decided to leave the fate of these men to him.
After all, this was someone else's family business; it wasn't his place to meddle.
“Let them go.”
“???”
Lu Mao almost thought he had misheard.
“They only did what they thought was best for the family. They didn't do anything wrong. If I were in their position, I would have done the exact same thing.”
Elliot's expression looked rather weary, as if he knew that he could never truly escape the vortex of this power struggle.
He had originally chosen to travel far and wide precisely because he didn't want to be dragged into the power struggles of the great noble houses. But clearly, it was unavoidable.
As long as he lived, his uncles would never let him go.
It couldn't be helped. Who else was the eldest legitimate grandson of Duke Severus Morehurst?
If these matters only affected him, he could still choose to back down.
Elliot glanced back.
His teammates and the guards were currently receiving treatment from a skeleton mage.
But now, the other members of his party had been dragged into this because of him.
This was something Elliot could not tolerate.
He frowned and pondered for a long time, finally letting out a soft sigh.
“Aubrey, go back and tell my greedy uncles this—in the past, I chose to run away and avoid everything because of my father.
“But now, not only will I reclaim everything that belongs to me, but I will also surpass my father in the field of necromancy. I will show everyone, in my own way, that necromancy is not some evil, harmful art.”
His brow smoothed as he looked at Aubrey, his voice calm yet exceptionally firm.
“I will use it to save people—to save terminally ill patients like Liz, who have been abandoned by the Church.
“When the time comes, the incurable diseases that even those high-and-mighty clerics of the Temple of the Goddess of Life cannot cure will be healed by my hands.
“I want them to see that what truly allows the dead to rest in peace has never been the prayers of the Church, but the necromancy of our Morehurst family.
“I will make necromancy the future glory of our family. Once I return from this trip, I will settle the score with them one by one.”
Hearing Elliot's impassioned speech, Sorge, who was in the middle of casting "Life Transfer", froze slightly and turned to look at him.
Rate on N.U.
