章節 340: Chapter 499
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***
On the day Mary led the fleet and Puberty to Tikan, Yona had nowhere specific to go so she immediately returned to the Nameless city of Samil.
She was in a bad mood all day, feeling sad and upset that she couldn't take a proper walk with her youngest, so she looked at her mission list.
It was to erase distracting thoughts by doing something. The more difficult and complicated the mission, the more effective it would be, so she only looked at requests classified as the highest grade or those decided to be rejected.
One of them was Kinzelo's request.
Owal was just going to tear up the request letter as it was asking to steal an item from Zipfel's second magic tower.
"Heh, Sir Owal. Why don't you accept that?"
"Because it's a perfect job if you wish to die."
"Why?"
Considering the recent unusual trends among major factions, the international situation, the complicated relationship of interest, and the position Samil should take in this flow, etc.
"...So I thought it would be better not to accept it. Do you understand?"
"Even if I hear such annoying stories, I don't really know what you're talking about. You just don't want to do it, right?"
"That's how it may sound. But you still listened, so it's much better than the days when you didn't even listen to what I said and then suddenly disappeared."
"Hehe, anyway, it seems like a very important matter. Why doesn't my clan look for me?"
Perhaps they are planning to use you for an even bigger purpose than this, and there are orders from Sir Chiron.
Owal hid those words behind a sly smile.
"Well, whatever the reason, it's better not to look for it. Especially in cases like this."
"Did Kinzelo's leader personally make the request?"
Leader of Kinzelo.
Ever since Yona was able to control chaos, she became somewhat interested in him. It was because she knew that he understood 'chaos' well.
"Why are you asking?"
"I just wanted to meet him once."
"Why?"
"I wanted to ask him a few questions."
Owal shrugged his shoulders.
Though he complained about the difficulty of the mission, in reality, Owal wasn't entirely without ambition.
'It's an item from Zipfel's second magic tower.'
Owal was convinced that the item was the blueprints of a battleship.
He was also aware that Zipfels had recently intentionally leaked information about a secret shipyard in the Sota Desert.
Getting hold of the blueprint was an excellent deal from Nameless's standpoint. It had a high potential of becoming the best means to negotiate proactively among the major factions.
'Regardless of the request, if Yona, not me, acts unilaterally, the major factions will find it difficult to hold us responsible.'
Especially, Runcandel would never ask for accountability.
No, beyond that, if Yona secured the blueprints, it would actually be a matter of protecting and thanking the Nameless.
Also, in the first place, Yona would not leave even a trace of having entered the 2nd Magic Tower. Her infiltration and assassination abilities had long surpassed Owal's.
'She is not the kind of person who will listen to me even if I try to stop her anyway... It might not be a bad idea to just let her go once.'
Without the need for further consideration from Owal, Yona had already made up her mind.
"I'll take on this request."
"No, you can't."
"Even if you stop me, I'll go, hehe."
"If you really have to go, I have some conditions that you have to follow."
In the end, after having a non-negotiable agreement with Owal, Yona headed towards the second magic tower.
And in the process, she learned that Joshua, Diphus, and the youngest had also participated in this mission. From that moment on, Yona's top priority became not completing the request, but confirming the life or death of her youngest brother.
It wasn't just because her youngest brother seemed to be alone in the middle of Zipfel's territory.
'Wow, can there really be something like that in the second magic tower, it is not even the Drakka? Seriously?'
While stealing and returning the key at the second magic tower, the siblings witnessed a monster that was far beyond what they could handle.
***
This was the background of Yona's arrival at the second magic tower.
She had been watching Jin and Murakan from the moment they first entered the underground shipyard.
And she was searching for the right moment, a moment when she could approach her youngest brother while avoiding the surveillance of the crystal ball, Hedo's senses, and Kinzelo's eyes.
In the end, she did not succeed. Even Yona had her limits, and not everything was possible for her.
Therefore, what had just appeared was inevitably a compromise she had chosen. The optimal moment to assassinate the monster named Hedo was far from ideal, but if she didn't step forward now, her youngest brother could really lose their life.
Swish!
Squeak!
Yona's sword, 'Death,' and the longsword, Bale, crossed, leaving sharp traces.
Except for one person, Hedo, who was targeted for assassination, no one else was aware that Yona had appeared. It was a moment when the transcendent power of Hedo's strength became even more apparent.
'Elder sister Yona?'
'Yona!?'
All the Runcandels opened their eyes wide. Yona's sudden appearance was shocking, but even more surprising was the fact that Yona had left a long and deep wound in Hedo's chest with a single sword move.
Tsuuaaak!
A stream of fresh blood gushed from Hedo's sturdy body. The wound left by Yona was much more severe than all the decisive killing moves and secret techniques the group had used to stake their lives.
On the other hand, Hedo's counterattack only cut off the tips of Yona's hair, and she had already thrusted the blade into his side once again.
"Ugh...!"
Death had plunged into Hedo's side for a moment before pulling back out.
It was a clear severe injury. Usually, Yona should have seized this opportunity to finish the target, but she refrained from continuing the attack and distanced herself.
The extremely limited advantage she gained using the 'Silver Dragon's Claw' that Jin had given to Nameless was now over.
The assassins of Nameless had always regarded the Silver Dragon's Claw as a divine artifact. If it was processed in its unique way, it could freeze any target for a blink of an eye.
The reason Yona could easily cut and stab Hedo's body was thanks to the divine power of Nameless's weapon. Of course, her assassination skills were exceptional as well.
"Youngest, ugh!"
"Elder sister!"
As Yona retreated from Hedo, her legs wobbled, and she suddenly swayed towards Jin. A thin stream of blood flowed between her lips.
When she slashed and stabbed Hedo with Death, the longsword, Bale, didn't directly touch Yona, but she still suffered internal injuries from the energy that Hedo explosively released. This was due to the aftermath of using chaos not too long ago and her chaos had not yet completely subsided.
"...It was you!"
The one who stole the blueprints!
Hedo, with blazing eyes, charged towards Yona like a bullet.
Murakan blocked his path with his breath and awl, and then, the siblings and Jane stood in front of Hedo.
Despite being heavily injured, Hedo's formidable strength persisted. Like a wounded beast becoming even more ferocious. The group was astonished by his relentless charge, even after being hit by the shadow force awl and breath directly.
But Hedo was still a human.
He might be close to the strongest among the 10-star martial artists, but he was not a Genesis knight. He endured the accumulated shocks through sheer willpower.
The Runcandels were well aware of this fact.
'We must escape together with elder sister Yona!'
This was the first and last opportunity to shake off Hedo.
The whole group was thinking the same as Jin.
Moreover, since Yona had the blueprints, if they could escape unharmed, this situation would be a victory for the Runcandels.
The long sword veil was falling on the heads of the gathered siblings, with the feeling of a falling mountain.
Kraaaaah!
The screams of martial artists echoed as their swords clashed.
The ankles of the Runcandels who defended against Hedo's strike were driven into the ground, and eventually, the robust space that hadn't collapsed even in the midst of the battle crumbled entirely.
The ceiling was also completely shattered. The shockwaves created by the swords swung by the Runcandels to parry longsword and Murakan's awls were responsible for this destruction.
The entire tower was crumbling. As the Runcandels and Hedo fell, they stepped on the debris, engaging in a mid-air battle.
Every second, dozens of sword energy clashed fiercely, intertwining and devouring the airspace.
'The wound is deep. A pretty extreme poison has seeped into me, and it even spreads every time I move.'
Hedo gritted his teeth and analyzed the situation.
Even Hedo never expected the variable Yona Runcandel.
If he had known about her existence, he would never have engaged in the fight as casually as he did, as Jin had suggested.
'In the end, I need to request reinforcements from the main house.'
As long as the Runcandels kept fighting, Hedo had the confidence to defeat them all.
However, the Runcandels were not fools. Escaping was the only natural course of action.
Therefore, Hedo could no longer tolerate this.
Thud!
Among those falling, Hedo was the first to reach the ground.
At the same time, the thick gold ring on his index finger, engraved with mysterious runic characters, began to emit light. His ring was an artifact, a type of signaling magic similar to that inscribed on the staffs of each tower master.
The signal was immediately transmitted to Drakka, the main house of Zipfel. Even before three seconds had passed since the ring emitted light, a large-scale alarm magic was activated from afar.
'I am sorry, young lady. I can only hope that the 12th flagbearer have a heavenly luck beyond the rumors. Hopefully, he can survive even the pursuit from Drakka's main force.'
Hedo still had no intention of killing Jin. However, in this situation, if he let the Runcandels go, he would not only raise suspicions about himself but also potentially incur disadvantages for Sandra. It was an unavoidable choice.
Now Hedo had only one thing to do.
To eliminate the 'witnesses' who had seen him offer to spare Jin's life.
The plan was to either let them die as a warning to Octavia or deal with them directly.
The Spectres were either exhausted and still falling, or were gasping for breath while trapped in the cracks of the broken tower.
Hedo raised his head to confirm their positions and prepare to shoot sword energy, but he was surprised to see the ceiling of the tower was completely open.
'Certainly, the rooftop didn't collapse? Why is it open like this?'
Throughout the fight, Hedo controlled his energy to ensure that, even if the inside of the tower was destroyed, the rooftop would not suffer much damage.
In other words, someone had damaged it.
Hedo had a feeling he knew who the culprit was, and the thought gave him a throbbing headache.
Hedoo-!
The owner of this incredibly loud, sharp and irritable voice was none other than Sandra Zipfel.
She had been waiting for Hedo to bring Jin the whole time, and upon realizing the activation of the support signal, she broke through the floor and threw herself into the battlefield.
"You stupid, useless muscle pig! Are you insane!? Are you out of your mind!? Why did you call the main force!? Are you planning to kill my Jin!?"
While vehemently shouting, Sandra, who had just landed on the ground, made eye contact with Jin. Afterward, she spoke in a different tone.
"Honey! I've been waiting for you. Where do you think you're going? Let's go together!"
Even in the midst of the urgency, Jin felt a shiver down his spine at Sandra's words.
Yet, at the same time, he had an intuition that she might be of significant help in escaping from this place.
章節 341: Chapter 500
[Support me here:- https://bmc.link/punisher87 ]
Sandra had her arms wide open as she fell, wearing a radiant smile.
To those who did not know her circumstances or her eccentric personality, it seemed as if she was welcoming her lover whom she had not seen in a long time with an absolutely earnest heart.
'Is that Sandra Zipfel...!?'
'Just now, did she refer to the youngest as 'my Jin'!?'
'Is there some kind of relationship between the 12th flagbearer and Sandra Zipfel?'
Joshua, Diphus, and even Jane couldn't help but squint their eyes while looking up at Sandra.
It was absurd for her to appear out of nowhere and call Jin 'her', and it was shocking to see Hedo, who seemed like a monster, had an awkward reaction to her words.
Thud!
Sandra landed about ten steps away from Jin with agile and light movements that were uncharacteristic of a mage.
"Kyahaha, I thought you would catch me and hug me coolly. Are you going to avoid me like this?"
"In this world, there are people who consider avoiding a wise move."
"How about my outfit today? I ordered it with a special recommendation from the Golden Pengi's upper echelons. Is it okay?"
Jin's eyes were not on the black coat and shirt that looked similar to her Runcandel ceremonial uniform, but on the golden prosthetic hand. He could also recognize that the picture engraved on it was his own face.
-A right arm... it seems just right.
-What do you mean by 'just right'?
-I feel it's a bit too early to give away everything I have. A right arm is neither too much nor too little. We're just on our first date.
Jin got goosebumps once more as he remembered the conversation they had in the Gaifa Archipelago.
The ongoing battle came to a halt, and everyone fell silent for a while, with only the noise of debris and shattered stones falling to the ground.
Jin just nodded his head.
It wasn't a difficult decision. It suited his taste, and more importantly, it seemed like it could be of some help in getting out of this dreadful crisis.
"I'm relieved! If you had deceived me, I was planning to order that stupid muscle pig to kill those cute little rats... Damn muscle pig!.... Damn it! Hedo! How are you going to handle this? How are you going to take responsibility!"
Waaaang-!
The alarm sound was getting louder. In the sky above, Drakka's dragons had already begun their flight, and the battleship Kozec was preparing to move out.
"You said you would definitely let me have dinner with Mr. Jin!"
"...There was a bit of a setback, young lady."
"A setback? A setback! At this crucial moment, really, I'd rather die! How long have I waited?"
The Runcandels couldn't comprehend it at all. The sight of that monster being so helpless in front of Sandra was surreal.
And in that moment, Jin understood why Hedo didn't actively display his battle prowess.
'It's because of Sandra's orders.'
His feelings became complex.
The fact that he might be alive thanks to Sandra was more of a humiliation than a sense of relief.
He had no choice but to think so because her eccentric behavior, which did not seem like an enemy's prank, was beneficial in some way.
If it weren't for Yona and Sandra.
This mission was already a failure. It was probably possible to escape, but Runcandels had undoubtedly suffered a significant blow without any substantial gain.
'It wasn't just Zipfel and Hedo who were complacent. I and other Runcandels also thought it was too easy.'
But it wasn't the time for regrets or self-blame.
The problem could be fixed later, and today's humiliation would be repaid with an even greater disgrace.
'What's somewhat fortunate is that the enemies didn't calculate all these unexpected variables.'
So, even now, he had to be the first to read through the unexpected variables perfectly.
'I don't know why, but Hedo values Sandra Zipfel's orders the most. However, today, Sandra and I won't really be able to have dinner together. So he probably just tried to keep me alive to avoid Sandra's resentment.'
-If you have anything you picked up here, leave it and go. If you do so, I'll let you live for now.
As Hedo spoke those words, Jin couldn't help but feel uneasy about the phrase 'I'll let you live for now.'
'After retrieving the blueprints, Hedo planned to kill everyone except me and Murakan.'
Not only Joshua, Diphus, and Jane but also the Spectres who were pitifully acting like shrimp. Jin was convinced of that.
'The reason he wants to deal with the Spectres is either to erase evidence that he prioritized Sandra's orders over the clan or because he didn't want to be bothered. And the reason he called the main house even though I could die, was because if it's revealed later that we stole the battleship's blueprints and escaped unscathed, Sandra could also be in trouble.'
Jin felt his mind was about to explode with consecutive thoughts about the assumptions.
'Not only me and Murakan but everyone in Runcandels must survive. At least until we escape the 2nd tower!'
Drakka's main force would provide support, and after escaping the 2nd tower, there might still be a challenging battle.
Yona, Diphus, Jane, and even Joshua needed to survive in order to have even the slightest chance of breaking through that and escaping the Lutero Magic Federation.
'How should I do this? I need a way to negotiate with the Tower Keeper.'
As he pondered up to that point.
Jin saw far behind Hedo, through the fleet filling the open sky...
He could see something familiar.
And the word that came to mind at that moment was precisely this.
Heavenly luck.
'The heaven is helping me. No, perhaps this was already foreseen from the moment they arrived.'
Jin immediately concluded on how to use this newly revealed variable in the sky.
Furthermore, it seemed crucial not to miss the opportunity to grasp as much information about Hedo as possible.
Jin held his sword against Sandra Zipfel's throat. Even as the blade touched her neck, she seemed pleased to be closer to Jin.
"Open the way, Tower Keeper."
Hedo shrugged his shoulders at Jin's words.
"You plan to use the young lady as a hostage? You should know that's not much of a threat, considering what you experienced in Gaifa Archipelago."
"Of course, I know Sandra Zipfel is half-immortal. However, that fact itself hasn't been properly revealed to the outside world yet, has it? Moreover, the fact that Sandra tried to help me escape won't have a good effect on you or Sandra if it becomes known worldwide."
"I've said it several times already, return the blueprints. If you do, I'll let you live."
"I continue to give the same answer. I didn't steal anything. And when I said to open the way, it means not to harm anyone from Runcandel here, not just me and Murakan."
Hedo's gaze hardened.
"Don't you think you're making excessively unreasonable demands in enemy territory?"
"Even if you block the way, I am confident that I can escape this place with Sandra. Then, can you really control the mouth of this strange woman? There must be limits to media control."
"You're crossing the line."
"Even if we engage in intense battles during the escape, Sandra won't die, and the fact that she is half-immortal is actually an advantageous condition for me in the current situation."
"You're speaking with confidence, but I'm sure you're not unaware that it's impossible to take the young lady and leave the Lutero Magic Federation. Only you and Murakan can leave."
Jin shook his head firmly.
"I will say it one last time. Open the way, Tower Keeper."
Seemingly frustrated, Hedo took out a cigarette.
'The reason the 12th flagbearer is obsessed with the young lady is because they need insurance in many ways. Even if I let them go, it's impossible to shake off the main house's pursuit. Why is he insisting on this? I thought he wasn't such a foolish person.'
Regardless of whether I get out of the way or not, unless heaven's luck favors you, everyone in Runcandels here will inevitably face death...
Hedo had been thinking this since the moment he called the main house.
The reason he wanted to kill everyone, excluding Jin and Murakan, was because he needed a pretext.
He needs to have something to say when questioned by Kelliark in the future. Even though he missed Jin and Murakan due to negligence, he can claim that he eliminated everyone else.
"Uh, honey."
Sandra, who was so excited about looking at the side of Jin's face, opened her mouth.
"I roughly know why you're doing this. You hate that damn musclehead, don't you? I feel like tearing him apart today too. How dare he put himself in danger... But shouldn't you also consider Hedo's perspective a little?"
Surprisingly, she had accurately deciphered all the hidden currents between Jin and Hedo in their conversation. The fact that Jin needed insurance and Hedo needed a pretext.
However, she had been unable to notice the change in the sky because she had only been admiring Jin's profile.
"If everyone manages to escape safely, both Hedo and I will have a hard time. We'll definitely be questioned. You don't want that either, right? Our married life hasn't even properly begun, and if I'm stuck in some dungeon of my clan, you would be sad, right?"
"A dungeon? Young lady, you won't end up in a place like that."
"Hedo, just shut up! I'm handling it!"
Sandra yelled vehemently, then giggled and turned her gaze back to Jin.
"So, let's just the three of us, me, you, and the Black Dragon, leave quietly. That way, you can almost certainly survive. I'll be the bait. Then, nobody else will get hurt, right? We'll even have a dramatic escape date!"
She didn't seem to classify the other Runcandels as people, except for Jin.
Instead of responding to her, Jin locked eyes with Hedo.
"It seems the Tower Keeper still doesn't understand why I'm insisting so stubbornly."
Jin pointed his finger at the sky behind Hedo.
"When you see that, you'll think it's not a bad idea to accept my offer."
Hedo turned around.
In the sky, there were over a hundred of Zipfel's mass-produced battleships hovering, strangely, only one of them was illuminated.
It wasn't a Zipfel's battleship.
It was the battleship Grenil.
Kinzelo's flagship that attacked Sword Emperor Castle.
Grenil's cannons were aimed at the stationary mass-produced battleships.
"Wouldn't it be better if you let us go and stop that thing? I don't think there is a better pretext for you and your young lady than that."
Jin smiled, and Hedo's expression wrinkled as he smoked a cigarette.
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