Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Trap (1)
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Chapter 39
Chapter 39 Trap (1)
Smack!
A sharp sound echoed through the room.
“Argh!”
Allen collapsed with a scream, writhing in pain like a grilled squid, his body twisting every which way.
But it was effective.
Fully jolted awake, he rubbed his stinging back with both hands and glared at Ariel.
“What the hell was that for?”
“Where’s the first aid kit?”
“In that bag. Why? You hurt?”
Allen, who had been scowling fiercely, saw the grave look on Ariel’s face and obediently pointed out the bag.
Ariel dumped out the contents and hurriedly gathered the medical supplies. Allen watched her like she was some crazy bitch.
Having achieved her goal, Ariel turned back to Allen. He flinched and shrank back.
“Barten got stabbed! Hurry and come see!”
Dragged along half-forcibly by Ariel’s grip, Allen laid eyes on the assaulted Barten. The gravity of the situation rang alarm bells in his head.
“……Who the hell did this?”
“Hold this for me.”
Allen assisted Ariel with the emergency treatment. As they wrapped a bandage around Barten’s waist, their conversation continued.
“Good thing it missed the vitals. There’s bleeding, but he won’t die.”
“What the hell happened all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know. I heard a groan by chance and came to check, and he was like this.”
“Enemies inside?”
“Seems like it. What do we do now?”
The two locked eyes. They needed to alert someone and respond……but with no separate guards in the stronghold, they had no idea who to tell.
“Let’s find Portin first. I know roughly where he stays.”
Allen said. From what he knew, of the three brothers, Barten and Portin were staying at the stronghold.
Barten hadn’t learned the sword, and Portin’s injuries hadn’t fully healed.
In this situation, if Barten had been hit, Portin was the only one they could rely on.
Ariel nodded in agreement.
Finding him should resolve things.
“First, before that, let’s lay Barten down.”
Allen and Ariel carefully placed the treated Barten on the simple bed in the office. Then they sprinted toward Portin’s quarters.
“This has gotta be the place……”
Allen trailed off, staring at the empty room. No response even when calling from outside, so they entered—and the room was cold, without a trace of warmth, impeccably tidy as if no one had ever stayed there.
“……No way Portin got hit too?”
Ariel looked at Allen with anxious eyes. Allen bit his lower lip, his face clouded with worry.
“Yeah…… What the hell’s going on—”
Mid-sentence, Allen suddenly stared at Ariel. She stared back at him, eyes wide.
“N-No way!”
They shouted in unison.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Looks like it!”
A bad premonition flashed through their minds. If there was a traitor inside the stronghold, their move was obvious.
Greed for loot, or selling out their comrades.
But this traitor had stabbed Barten, a top leader.
Many possibilities, but simple greed for wealth seemed unlikely.
Reaching the same conclusion, their faces paled as they bolted at full speed toward the stronghold entrance.
Thud thud thud!
Urgent footsteps echoed through the silent stronghold where everyone slept.
They gritted their teeth and ran.
If both Barten and Portin had been ambushed by the traitor, it wouldn’t end here.
“……Huff, huff.”
Reaching the entrance after a hard sprint, they stood speechless, catching their breath.
The gate stood wide open, and the bandits who’d been on watch lay slaughtered.
Their ominous hunch had come true.
They quickly climbed the palisade and peered outside.
Torches flickered amid pitch-black darkness.
They advanced like a river current.
* * *
Lamps placed around the annex cast their glow. The annex, shrouded in deep darkness, revealed faint outlines.
We looked down at it from a high vantage point.
As Cracker’s intel indicated, the guards were few in number.
“Everyone got the plan down?”
Everyone nodded at Cracker’s question.
Moonlight revealed their tense faces.
The operation divided into infiltration and support teams.
My team with Cracker handled assassinating Itzriel, while the support team distracted the guards and pursued Itzriel if she escaped our failure.
“But what’s with the mask? Looks cool.”
Unlike the masked others, I wore a white lion mask.
When you start something, you make sure it’s known.
“None of your business.”
“……Then let’s move.”
The infiltration team, including me, slipped through the darkness stealthily.
I quietly followed Cracker.
Even saying I’d go alone, they wouldn’t listen, so no choice.
Frustrating, but what could I do.
It was their plan, so I’d play along.
Talk about digging their own graves.
Fortunately, the plan was going smoothly.
We evaded the lax guards, slipped over the wall, and entered the annex without issue.
But something felt off.
That’s when I sensed something wrong.
No signs of life around. Even with few guards, the annex felt like a tomb.
I expanded my hearing to scan the surroundings.
My ears could pick up leaves falling outside the annex.
I realized the situation had gone south.
Damn it.
Countless sounds flooded my ears, but I pinpointed the enemies’ movements.
Armed footsteps filled the area beyond the annex.
We were surrounded.
“Stop.”
I halted the group immediately.
They turned to me in unison, bodies pressed low against the corridor walls.
Cracker gaped in bewilderment.
He was asking why.
“Plan’s scrapped. Looks like an enemy trap.”
“What the hell are you talking about!”
He mouthed silently.
Ignoring his gaping like a fish, I went to the window and peered into the woods beyond the wall.
Small flames flickered in the dark.
The enemies moved with torches now, no longer hiding.
A lot of them, at a glance.
This was definitely their trap. Itzriel wouldn’t be in the annex.
“W-What the……”
Cracker, peering out after me, couldn’t continue. I turned to him.
“Looks like you’ve been living well lately?”
The forces storming the annex were overkill for catching a few bandits.
It showed their intent to absolutely capture Cracker.
Meaning these bandits had been a real thorn in the imperial army’s side.
“Damn it, how the hell……”
Cracker looked utterly defeated.
The others beside him too.
They stared out the window with grim faces, helpless. We were rats in a trap. No escape.
Right on cue, voices calling us out rang.
“You’re surrounded! Come out, you rat bastards, don’t hide!”
A booming voice shattered the night.
At the shout shaking the annex, Cracker looked at me, his face a mix of emotions. He forced a grin.
“Sorry about this. Looks like we’re fucked……”
“No need.”
I cut him off flatly.
As if resolved, he gripped my shoulder with his pot-lid-sized hand.
“I’ll get you out of the encirclement somehow. We might be done for, but you came to help us—you can’t die a dog’s death here.”
He turned to his men behind.
“We’re men of the mountains, after all. Got any conscience?”
They nodded solemnly in response.
“Can’t let a promising young guy die because of us.”
“Yeah. Allen’s waiting back home, dying of impatience for his return.”
They laughed boisterously, pretending to be tough.
Idiots.
Who the hell are you worrying about.
I snorted at them.
Cracker gripped his sword, opening his mouth resolutely.
“Guess we fight our way out the way we came? We’ll clear the path—run and don’t look back.”
Ignoring him, I said,
“Chit-chat later. Let’s get outside first.”
“What?”
“They look like they want us alive. Gotta figure out what’s going on.”
If they just wanted us dead, they could’ve ambushed in the annex.
No need to bring this many troops and make a racket.
Probably wanted to capture Cracker and publicly execute him before everyone.
At my words, Cracker wiped sweat.
“Man, if we don’t run now, it’s too late.”
“Idiot, it’s already too late.”
Ignoring him, I swung my hand, stirring wind. A vortex from my fingertips shattered the window and scattered.
Crash!
Moonlight sparkled on the shattered glass.
“Damn……”
Leaving Cracker’s hollow mutter, I jumped through the open window. Cracker and the bandits followed one by one into the courtyard.
“There they are!”
Spotting us, soldiers swarmed, forming a encirclement with swords drawn.
“These fuckers brought a whole army.”
Cracker growled at them.
As we faced off, swords pointed, a man emerged from parting soldiers left and right.
A blond man with a clean-shaven head.
At his gesture, four severed heads rolled to his feet.
“……”
Heads from the support team bandits.
Cracker ground his teeth audibly. He clenched his fists white-knuckled.
Furious, red veins bulged in his eyes as he glared at the man.
The blond grinned wide at the sight.
“Friends of yours? Saw ’em strolling at night, so I kindly taught ’em forests are off-limits late.”
His white teeth gleamed sickly.
“Why the long face? Don’t like my gift? Fair, it’s kinda meager. Cheer up—I’ll string up your followers’ necks soon enough. Hope you like that one. Heh heh heh.”
The bandits’ faces hardened at the mockery.
“You must wanna die bad.”
“Aw. Still got spirit? Shouldn’t you catch on by now? How’d we know to set this trap for your ambush?”
The blond slowly smirked. Seeing that victory-drenched smile, I felt a chill for the first time in a while.
And I wasn’t the only one with a bad feeling.
“Those faces say you’re not idiots.”
“Fuck off. Think I’d fall for that shit?”
Cracker bluffed steadily, but I caught the faint tremor in his voice. He shook more than when facing his own death.
“Wish it was fake, huh? Tough luck. Since I’m spilling, one more: even if you survive, no home to go back to.”
“……”
Cracker fell silent, and the blond threw his head back laughing.
“Puhahaha!”
His words meant the main stronghold was gone.
Where Ariel and Allen were.
After cackling a while, wiping tears, he spoke.
“Getting it now?”
Cracker and the rest stared casually, but no one spoke.
Hard to believe, right.
“Can’t buy it? Fine, I’ll spell it out. Portin sold you out, you dumb fucks.”
……Damn it.
Portin was the traitor.
I’d suspected betrayal, but not him.
I knew how much Cracker cherished him, and he was still at the stronghold.
If true, the main base faced the raid unprepared.
Plus, all the commanders were here.
Huge loss in forces.
Without leaders, even a natural fortress like the stronghold would fall easily.
They’d planned this trap aiming for that.
“Shut up! We won’t fall for your lies!”
Cracker raised his sword and yelled.
His voice echoed through the mountains.
But the blond didn’t seem to be lying.
“Still trusting that punk? Acted tough at first, then clung to my leg begging mercy. Spoiled the baby too much. Cried like a damn kid.”
“I’ll rip your mouth—”
Thwack!
Cracker, lunging forward, crumpled on the spot. Everyone stared at me in shock. I’d knocked him out with a hand chop to the neck.
“W-What the hell!”
“You traitor too?!”
Thwack!
The one calling me traitor went down from my fist.
I looked at the rest.
“Fight them, and you all die.”
“No, wait—”
Thwack!
I silenced the arguer.
No time for persuasion.
“Surrender quietly, stay alive. I’ll save your comrades and come back.”
The last one eyed me anxiously. That’s all I could say now.
“Trust me.”
Thwack!
The final one dropped. The blond laughed heartily at me.
“Pahaha! Giving up? Smart choice.”
They might only need Cracker, but without resistance, they’d keep them alive for execution.
So they weren’t the priority.
Breaking out with them would take time, so I chose.
Sorry, but Ariel and Allen mattered more.
I swung my sword at the ground.
A long flash sliced the earth horizontally in an instant.
Boom!
The ground erupted violently, dirt piles burying the frontline soldiers.
“Wah! What the—!”
As they panicked, shielding faces, I charged. Using their shoulders and heads as stepping stones, I vaulted the encirclement in one go.
“What are you doing! Chase him!”
The blond’s savage bellow came from behind. But they’d never catch me.
Heavenly Spirit Divine Art: Lightness Chapter.
Chapter 1: Phoenix Wings.
Boom!
Stamping hard, space shoved backward.
A gale from phoenix-wing flaps whipped behind my steps.
My form cleaved the darkness like a soaring bird.
One step to the wall, over it, into the forest.
Soldiers’ shouts faded into the distance.
I ran at full speed for the first time in ages.
The enemies had prepared thoroughly for this.
No time to waste.
Allen and Ariel’s survival window: max three hours.
Beyond that, no hope.
I had to cover half a day’s distance in three hours.