Chapter 261: Act 28 – Expansion (9)
“They have retreated.”
Juliette sat across from Antinna, her face covered in blood, panting heavily as she looked at her opponent. In contrast, the noble girl had only a few drops of blood on her fair face; the fear from the earlier battle lingered in her dark eyes, but she had forced herself to calm down.
The girl nodded.
The Silence spell wasn’t as effective as they had imagined; they thought it was a panacea, but in the end, its effects were quite limited. By the time the spell was cast, the battle had already entered a fierce stage—command and tactics became secondary factors—the troglodytes charged forward one after another, trying to break through the human defenses with overwhelming force.
When they realized this, the mercenaries almost missed the best moment. If Vurn hadn’t led his men to push back at the critical moment and forced the enemies off the wall with a slight advantage, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The fiercest wave of attacks was repelled.
The heavily damaged troglodytes finally realized that such casualties were unbearable, and so they retreated, but the earlier peril had left everyone shaken.
The battlefield quieted down, with only the heavy breathing of the mercenaries leaning against the wooden wall. No one bothered to tally the casualties because it was temporarily unnecessary; everyone understood that if there were no miracles before the next attack, hope would be bleak.
“They will come up again,” Vurn said from the other side, his body aching all over. But he looked up at the moon hanging in the sky and calmly said, “The next attack will come before dawn at the latest, depending on when the second wave of troglodytes arrives.”
“What will we do?” Crenshia asked.
Everyone fell silent.
Even the most determined Antinna, after experiencing the life-and-death scene, no longer dared to claim with certainty that they would make it. For the first time, she thought that if the Lord didn’t arrive, would she really die here?
But upon reflecting, she realized that without Brendel, she could have died anytime in Bruglas’ dark and cold broken house. This thought made the noble girl calm down again.
“A mercenary’s job is to do their best and leave the rest to fate,” Vurn grinned, “We’ve seen enough life and death. As for when they attack again, we’ll open the gate and break out separately; whether we live or die depends on whether Lady Martha wishes to bless all of us here—”
Crenshia was slightly taken aback but showed a self-deprecating smile. He shook his head and turned back to the noble girl, saying, “Then, Miss Antinna, I suppose we can give your Lord a proper explanation?”
Antinna was startled and nodded, “Thank you all.”
“No need to thank us,” Juliette interrupted her, “We just happen to believe in that guy this once. But don’t worry, even if he doesn’t come, I won’t abandon you two.”
Romaine, sitting across from them, wrapped her arms around her knees and stared at them with wide, dark brown eyes, seriously saying, “Thank you, you’re really a good person.” But she smiled slightly and replied, “But Brendel will definitely come; he never boasts—if he says he can do it, then he surely can.”
“You believe in him, little girl,” Juliette noted for the first time.
“Actually,” Antinna hesitated, “I also want to believe in the Lord’s words—”
“It seems our Lord has such charm that he can captivate two beautiful ladies,” Vurn said with a hint of a smile on his dark face, playfully teasing, “If I had that ability, I’d die without regrets.”
Upon hearing his words, Crenshia scoffed disdainfully. This silver-haired, handsome man had always prided himself as a womanizer in the mercenary world and couldn’t help but think that if even this romantic fellow faced such a situation, all men everywhere might as well go and slam their heads against walls.
Antinna lowered her head slightly, remaining silent in response to such crude banter characteristic of a noble girl; meanwhile, Romaine raised her little eyebrows, blushing and shaking her hands, “Wrong, wrong, I don’t believe in Brendel for that reason!”
“Then what reason?” Juliette couldn’t help but ask curiously.
This time even Antinna, who had followed Brendel for a while, quietly listened, understanding that long before she met him, this merchant girl had experienced many stories with that young Lord.
She had once inquired about the past tales of this little group, but they only went as far back as the story of Retao. In fact, she had wondered more than once what had happened before Ridenburg and at the very beginning of Madara’s invasion.
This noble girl had a woman’s keen intuition that there must be more stories behind it all, but just like Romaine’s and Brendel’s backgrounds, it was all an unresolvable mystery.
She only knew that there was another significant woman in this group. From Brendel, she learned that the girl was named Freya, currently far from their group—who she was and what she was doing; Brendel had never mentioned, and she didn’t know how to ask.
“You don’t understand,” the merchant girl said, unconsciously revealing a slight, proud, and mysterious smile on her face, her eyes sparkling, “When Brendel brought me out of Buche, I saw the look in his eyes and knew he had become a real man—”
“Because my aunt often tells me that a real man is one who is willing to take responsibility for his promises, so little Romaine must find a man who is willing to protect her,” Romaine answered slowly while rubbing her hands.
“That’s it?” Juliette asked, somewhat incredulously.
Vurn listened silently, connecting what the young Lord had done one by one. Only Crenshia scoffed, “In all the places I’ve been, I’ve never seen a noble lord who could be called a real man; in fact, if I could find one with guts among those guys, I’d give him a thumbs up—”
His words garnered much agreement from the surrounding mercenaries, but Antinna did not refute; she quietly registered Romaine mentioning the word Buche.
She raised her head and was about to speak when a mercenary hurried over from the other side of the wooden wall, interrupting their conversation. The newcomer brought bad news:
“Captains, it seems there’s movement in the forest. The scouts say the troglodytes are preparing to attack again.”
Everyone was taken aback. So soon? The earlier harmonious atmosphere instantly vanished, leaving a deafening silence as mercenaries exchanged glances, a shadowy cloud silently looming over each person present.
Antinna had once told them to wait for victorious news from the young lord, yet now dark clouds seemed to obscure the moonlight, with not a trace of hope in the darkness.
At this moment, even the noble girl felt a sense of suffocation.
……
But in the valley, the battlefield changed in ways that exceeded all the troglodytes’ expectations.
The metal steed leapt lightly over the center of the battlefield, and as its silver hooves touched the ground, Xi was the first to jump off the horse. She landed gracefully beside Tagib, then looked back; her amber-like pupils reflected the troglodytes turning around, rushing toward this direction.
The angels summoned by Brendel blocked those rushing troglodytes at the front; those daring to get close were stabbed down to the ground one by one.
Xi furrowed her brow, sensing the urgency of time. She immediately positioned her war spear back, emitting a soft click as she rested it against the neck of the prostrate troglodyte leader—
“Make them surrender.”
“I… am dead,” Tagib replied in broken Cruz language, “You won’t live either.”
This guy’s cunning surprised the girl; after a brief moment of shock, she coldly snorted, feigning calmness as she answered, “Don’t get too clever! Don’t forget, we have flying horses,” she pressed the spear blade tighter, “I’ll give you one more chance; make them stop attacking!”
Internally, Tagib hesitated. It certainly feared death, but things weren’t as simple as it seemed, so it decided to take a risk: “Then please arrange for me to meet Lord Xiya—”
Xiya is the deity of the troglodytes in myth, rumored to be a giant lizard living in the elemental plane of earth. However, players among the amber had already proven that it was just a mythical dragon-like creature, unrelated to any deity.
“Don’t think I won’t kill you!” Xi felt a surge of anger within and couldn’t help but kick out; the kick was heavy, sending it rolling on the ground several times.
But this kick solidified Tagib’s guess; it wasn’t afraid. Instead, it dusted itself off and stood up leisurely, replying, “I think… you may run away, but your companions left in the forest… may not be safe, right?”
“You—” Xi was momentarily speechless. She didn’t expect this shrewd troglodyte to guess what they were thinking right away, but of course, she could not admit it, leaving her at a loss for a moment.
“Do you belong to that faction?” Brendel took over the conversation, looking down at the troglodyte from atop his horse, “Troland City or Dragon’s Tongue City?”
His words immediately had an effect, causing Tagib to cautiously shut its mouth—though it had no eyes, the troglodyte instinctively lifted its face towards the young lord—if the expression on its face could be described, it would likely resemble that of someone afraid of a venomous snake.
Troland City and Dragon’s Tongue City weren’t well-known in the underground of Jotungrund, but they were the archenemies of the underground city lord Tagib had once belonged to. This indicated that the young man was familiar with the underground world, and Tagib suddenly realized that its advantage had vanished, as if some vague superiority had been extracted from its body.
It had to reassess the two humans it had always looked down upon, feeling for the first time that they were on equal footing. But where did they come from? Why mention Troland and Dragon’s Tongue City? What did they have to do with their lord’s enemy?
However, since it had left the underground world, it had no further ties to its original lord; in Jotungrund’s underground world, changing allegiances was quite common, and it couldn’t figure out why they would have any reason to pursue it relentlessly. (To be continued. To know what happens next, please log in for more chapters and support the author for legitimate reading!)
