Chapter 218
Ray stared at the two men he encountered in the middle of the mountain range, deep in thought.
It was possible that they were agents belonging to the Empire’s intelligence division.
But if the Empire was conducting espionage operations near Phillip’s County, wouldn’t Ernst or the Emperor have informed him? Ray thought this way.
Of course, there was also a chance that neither Ernst nor the Emperor had been able to pay attention to such details.
The number of operations conducted by the Imperial Intelligence Bureau and Espionage Corps couldn’t possibly be counted on one hand.
Still, Ray tentatively assumed that these men were not combatants affiliated with the Empire.
‘Then… why would they pretend to be imperial soldiers and wander around here?’
The two men could have been spies sent by the Rubia Kingdom to the Empire.
‘Pretending to be from the Empire, then got unlucky meeting me while crossing the Sigini Mountain Range… Or if not that…’
Ray glanced at the man’s sword.
On the blade, there was still fresh blood that hadn’t fully dried yet.
Could it really be animal blood?
Dangerous beasts and monsters did indeed roam the Sigini Mountain Range.
However, Rangers possessed numerous techniques capable of easily deceiving even the most sensitive of monsters.
If it were human blood, who had they cut down and come here after?
‘Mataoire… an internal false flag operation… is that what this is? Or do they have another intention? Perhaps they killed someone, pretended it was the Empire’s doing, and tried to confuse the investigation…’
Many possibilities came to mind, but there wasn’t enough information yet to make any definitive conclusions.
Assuming his opponents were spies, Ray put away his concealed sword and drew an ordinary iron sword.
“Alright, stop overthinking and just attack already.”
Ray revealed his fighting spirit.
He planned to subdue them first and then extract information or think things through further.
The two spies, trying to concoct a plausible explanation for which Imperial unit they belonged to and their purpose for being there, eventually drew their swords.
Three swords, imbued with sword aura, gleamed in the dark forest.
The two spies spread out before simultaneously charging towards Ray.
Clang!!
Their swords clashed.
Intentionally generating weaker sword energy, Ray allowed himself to be pushed back slightly.
After exchanging several more blows, the spies grew confident and pressed forward aggressively against Ray.
The frantic exchange of sword strikes forced Ray to take several steps back.
Clang!! Clang!!
While defending against their attacks, Ray focused on analyzing their swordsmanship.
There were a few famous types of Imperial standard sword techniques known outside the Empire, and the sharp, linear style of his opponents seemed to match one of them.
‘…but something feels off.’
Ray muttered under his breath.
Considering their ability to generate stable sword energy, the completion of their sword techniques felt surprisingly lacking.
Just as Ray’s focus wavered while pondering this, one of the spies lurking behind him grinned in the darkness and swung his sword.
‘I’ve got you…!’
The spy believed this strike would surely slice across Ray’s shoulder.
Indeed, the spy’s sword made contact with Ray’s shoulder.
However, the sharp sword energy slid off, unable to cleanly cut through the cloak covering Ray’s shoulder.
Grinding teeth!
“?!”
The spy didn’t know that Ray’s cloak was crafted from dragon leather, a top-tier artifact.
Even a sword imbued with sword energy couldn’t possibly pierce through such a rare top-tier artifact found only in the Empire.
Startled, the spy attempted to withdraw his sword and strike again, but Ray was faster. He drew his second sword.
Whoosh!
With the sound of the sword cutting through the air, blood spurted from the spy’s shoulder.
Due to the limited visibility caused by the cloak, the spy barely managed to roll away in time.
Leaving the rolling spy alone, Ray charged straight at the other spy approaching from the front.
Clang clang clang!!
As Ray began wielding both swords simultaneously, the spy quickly lost momentum and retreated step by step.
Feeling as though his head might be severed at any moment, the spy could no longer continue using unfamiliar sword techniques.
The moment Ray closed the distance and crossed his swords, the spy’s sword technique changed.
Haha!
Ray chuckled softly.
‘Figures.’
Clang!!
The spy’s once sharp and linear sword technique now flowed in soft curves, aiming for vital points.
Believing he had revealed his true strength, the spy thought he could now dominate Ray.
However, Ray had no intention of playing along anymore.
BOOM!!!
Ray intensified his sword energy, mercilessly pressing down on the spy’s sword until it nearly shattered.
In the moment of panic as the spy gasped for air, Ray kicked him in the temple.
Crack!
Thrown sideways, the spy crashed into a tree and tumbled to the ground.
At that instant, the spy whose shoulder had been slashed earlier foolishly lunged at Ray’s back again.
But Luna, still airborne, activated her magic circle.
Grrr!!
The surrounding mana surged, sending clods of earth shooting up everywhere.
The intertwined chunks of earth wrapped around the spy and slammed him onto the ground.
Boom!!
“Ugh…!”
Trapped beneath the earth with his whole body restrained, the spy struggled to forcibly summon mana within his body.
He intended to release the binding by discharging mana, but before he could even attempt it, a massive wave of mana pressure crushed him.
The resisting spy soon spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
Ray waved casually toward Luna as she landed on the ground.
“Thanks, Luna.”
Now what should I do?
After briefly pondering, Ray decided to wait where he was in case visitors arrived.
Not long after, his wish came true as visitors began to appear.
Sensing the faintest trace, Ray looked beyond the dense forest.
A Ranger noticed Ray’s gaze and stepped forward to ask.
“Who are you?”
“The Imperial Special Operations Division.”
Ray brazenly replied.
*
Upon hearing “Imperial Special Operations Division,” the ranger’s brow furrowed instantly.
Ray stared intently at the revealed ranger and nudged the unconscious man with his foot.
“Ah, I belong to the Imperial Special Operations Division, and I don’t know these guys. Their imitation of imperial soldiers was clumsy, so I suspected they were spies and subdued them just now. Are they your friends?”
“…”
The ranger surveyed the situation again.
The target the rangers had been tracking was already subdued, and a man and woman introduced themselves as members of the Imperial Special Operations Division.
The ranger couldn’t tell what was true.
Their statement could be factual or another deception.
Nevertheless, the ranger clearly understood what needed to be done right now.
“…We’ll find out the truth about your words later.”
This meant they intended to subdue everyone and take them along.
The surrounding rangers, who had been hiding, started moving stealthily.
Ray pondered how to respond and drew his previously sheathed sword.
“I have two requests.”
As Ray manifested his sword energy, he twirled the sword in his hand.
“This is imperial territory.”
The sword energy that had enveloped Ray’s sword disappeared suddenly.
“If you came crawling here, I won’t question why, but at least show some respect before I sever your limbs.”
When the sword energy vanished, the rangers relaxed their tension momentarily, but in that instant, the air tore apart.
BOOM!!
Before the first ranger who revealed his face, a blade of sword energy dropped.
The ranger froze upon seeing the deep gouge formed beneath his feet.
‘Spatial Blade…?’
The ranger, recalling an incident from quite a while ago, looked at Ray with a pale face.
Back then, Ray was much smaller in stature.
However, size could easily be manipulated with various means.
Since the rangers also possessed subtle disguise skills hard to detect without close inspection, they couldn’t definitively conclude that Ray wasn’t the same person just because of the difference in size.
Thus, the ranger looked directly into Ray’s eyes.
In Ray’s chilling gaze, the ranger saw memories of the past.
“You’re… from that time…”
“Ah, seems I’ve met a friend who recognizes me.”
Ray slowly approached the ranger.
Realizing that collision with Ray would mean annihilation, the ranger swallowed hard.
Ray smiled faintly at the highly tense ranger and requested,
“My second request: Can you call someone higher up who can reason with? Bringing more friends for a fight is fine too.”
This was inside imperial territory.
Therefore, Ray had no intention of assuming a submissive stance.
The ranger hesitated but eventually stepped back and gave an order to his subordinate.
Soon, one of the hidden rangers pulled out a long object from his sleeve and blew into it.
Ray heard nothing.
It was the rangers’ method of communication utilizing frequencies outside the commonly referred-to audible range.
Not long after, Ray faced someone with whom he shared considerable history.
*
Special Operations Group 2, colloquially known as the Rangers.
After the death of the previous captain during an incident a few years ago, Robbie has held the position of captain ever since.
Robbie groaned in the conference room.
To his right, Baron Oakes, who served as the logistics battalion commander, was venting his anger.
“How do you plan to take responsibility for this situation?!”
Oakes had suffered a severe wound on his waist, tightly bandaged.
An intruder had infiltrated the rangers’ base and ambushed several key figures, including Oakes.
Had the slash been a few centimeters off, it would have been fatal, but fortunately, Oakes survived.
Of course, not everyone was as lucky as Oakes.
Several deaths occurred during this attack, including a royal inspector sent by the kingdom.
“How in the world did the base security fail so miserably?!!”
Most of the base’s defense and troop deployment were carried out under the command and decisions of the captain.
It was difficult for Robbie to evade responsibility.
Furthermore, there was suspicion involved.
The rangers’ base, located high in the mountains, was far from an easy place to infiltrate.
Without assuming internal assistance, it would have been challenging to carry out such an attack.
While Robbie frowned deeply and continued contemplating, a ranger entered the conference room.
“We’ve captured that imperial bastard…!”
Oakes was shocked, and Robbie visibly relieved.
“Ah, thank goodness.”
By “imperial bastard,” they referred to the attacker.
They had already identified that the attacker used imperial sword techniques and weapons.
The general consensus was that tracking the attacker would take significantly more time, so it was pleasantly surprising when the prediction turned out wrong.
“Good job by Squad 2, it seems.”
“Ah, well… There’s actually… a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“The Imperial Special Operations Division handed over the imperial bastard.”
“…What caught what?”
Robbie asked in confusion.
