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Chapter 71: Banquet of Blood (4)
The banquet hall was thrown into chaos by the gang’s attack.
People scattered in all directions, rushing through the corridors to escape the hall.
“…!”
However, the thugs weren’t just in the center.
Maids, waiters, palace guards, even the guests attending the event.
They blocked the entrance to the hall as if they had planned it.
“What are you doing? Get out of the way!”
A nobleman shouted, finally drawing their attention.
“…!”
As they looked up, they were t with a white mask.
“Aaah!”
They too indiscriminately attacked innocent people with their weapons.
“Protect the princess!”
The guards from the royal palace imdiately focused on ensuring Arin’s safety in the hall.
“You need to get away. Princess!”
As the two girls who hadn’t yet grasped the situation watched in horror,
A massive red light erupted from the center of the hall occupied by the thugs.
“What’s that?”
A summoning circle.
It was a kind of magic circle that appeared when summoning magical creatures.
The spreading red aura and rising vitality.
As the masked figures surrounding it chanted unknown incantations, soon a gigantic summoned creature appeared within the summoning circle.
“Grrrr…”
Sharp forelegs, black fur, eyes glowing red.
Resembling a hellhound overall, but much larger in size.
It seed artificially enlarged during the summoning process, but the problem was that it wasn’t the only one.
-Shoong
Demonic beasts consecutively summoned from the maintained summoning circle.
The appearance of frontline demonic beasts within the palace was an unprecedented event in the empire’s history.
“Summoning circle, demonic beasts…”
Even amidst this, Luna diligently observed the summoning process of the demonic beasts.
The one who grabbed her hand was Arin.
“Co on, Luna! It’s dangerous to stay here!”
Under the protection of the knights thereafter, Arin’s group hurriedly fled the hall.
“Kuwaah!”
As if in response, the summoned creatures roared and swiftly chased after them to where they had fled.
“Stop the monsters!”
The once glittering banquet hall, now stained with blood, had turned into a grueso scene of slaughter.
* * *
The masked thugs weren’t just in the hall.
Continuously appearing as if tracking Arin and Luna’s movents, each ti their appearance dwindled the number of guard knights.
“Hurry, take the princess to shelter…!”
However, as if not willing to allow it easily, this ti thugs burst through the ceiling and attacked Arin’s group directly.
-Clang!
They weren’t easy opponents to deal with, and yet, they weren’t exactly a walk in the park either.
Even the knights, who were tasked with protecting those in danger, found them to be extrely challenging adversaries; one mont they’d charge in with intent to kill, but the next, they’d retreat at the slightest hint of threat, making them quite difficult to handle.
As Arin, who could only watch the situation unfold, her feelings couldn’t help but be complicated.
“Where on earth did these thugs co from?”
“Well, who knows? Maybe they’re not even human…”
While Arin was anxious, Luna managed to maintain a considerable calmness.
“What do you an, Luna?”
“Everyone has their own amount of mana and strength, but those masked individuals all emit a consistent energy. It’s as if they’ve copied the power of a single person…”
“Grrrr!”
To make matters worse, a hellhound appeared from around the corner.
“The summoned creature is here!”
“We’ll have to confirm that.”
Luna extended her hand forward, concentrating her mana.
“Blaze forth! Torrent of icy waters!”
As she chanted the spell, a surge of water shot out from Luna’s hand, accompanied by a whirlwind.
The fusion magic of water and wind, ‘Aqua Blast.’
While not a high-level magic, it wasn’t easy to wield either.
The demanding precision required in combining two elents into one.
The more intricate the process, the more powerful the magic beca.
“Kuaaah!”
The hellhound, hit head-on by the gust, was sent flying into the wall.
However, whether due to insufficient power or not, it got back up, revealing its nacing fangs once again.
“Oh no. Looks like I didn’t have enough strength.”
Cold sweat trickled down Luna’s cheek.
“Blaze forth! Torrent of icy waters!”
Along with the sa spell, another gust of wind blew from behind, but this ti, the force of the water surge was much more violent than before.
-Thud!
It wasn’t just a simple bounce back; it was a force that shattered the wall upon impact.
The hellhound, now completely knocked out, showed no sign of getting up again.
Although it was the sa spell, the level of power was on a completely different scale.
For a mont, both girls were speechless as they watched.
Then, a familiar voice was heard from behind.
“Are you two alright? Any injuries?”
It was Silica.
“Teacher Silica!”
Although they briefly cheered with joy, Arin’s gaze shifted to another woman standing nearby.
Judging by the situation, she seed to be the one who had just sent the hellhound flying with magic.
There wasn’t any particular reason for the shift in attention.
She was just undeniably beautiful.
“First, let’s assess the situation in front of us! Alice! I’ll leave the princess to you!”
“Yes, teacher!”
Upon hearing the na Alice, Arin’s heart sank.
‘Alice? Could it be Alice Vert? Then she’s Cyan’s sister?!’
Upon closer inspection, her features bore a striking resemblance to Cyan.
Both Luna and Arin couldn’t help but stare at her intently.
‘Trendous mana… I sense a similar aura to the senior.’
While looking at one woman, they couldn’t help but think of a certain man, creating a sowhat subtle situation.
-Rip!
Alice suddenly tore her dress boldly.
“I can’t fight properly like this. Let’s get going, everyone!”
“But, what about Teacher Silica?”
“It’s okay! Teacher Silica is incredibly strong, even more so than we think!”
With an air of assurance, she pushed the two girls forward.
“We’ll escort you to the shelter!”
With that, the knights regrouped and headed towards the shelter with the princess.
Left alone, Silica faced five thugs brandishing swords at her.
She retrieved a small dagger hidden in her thigh without hesitation.
-Swish!
For an assassin, hesitation is a luxury.
Silica charged at the thugs in front of her and swiftly wielded her sword with unseen speed.
It was like a srizing dance of blades.
However, those struck by her sword rcilessly poured out blood as they fell.
It took less than 10 seconds to deal with the thugs in that area.
-Swoosh
Approaching one of the thugs’ bodies, she removed their mask.
“…!”
The face was so decomposed that it was hard to believe the person had been alive until recently.
In essence, they were no different from a corpse that had been dead for quite so ti.
Silica imdiately recognized their true identity.
“Marionette…!”
Also known as puppet dolls.
This wasn’t a command to resurrect the dead, but rather a spell that infused magic into a soulless corpse to manipulate it as the caster wished, literally controlling it like a doll.
Once the mask was removed, the body soon dispersed into dust and disappeared.
“Leader!”
As the situation settled, so Mist mbers who had infiltrated the palace rushed over to her.
Silica issued imdiate orders.
“Spread the word to all nearby mbers. Get out of this palace, if not this entire fortress, as soon as possible! Sothing unknown is happening here that Mist isn’t aware of…”
Upon receiving the orders, the mbers quickly left their positions.
“What on earth could have prompted this…?”
Eyes ablaze with determination and lips tightly sealed in anger.
It wasn’t just the loss of their comrade that angered her.
It was the sheer enormity of what was happening, beyond even her ability to comprehend.
Their frustration stemd from feeling utterly powerless in this situation.
“Where are you, Cyan?”
She couldn’t help but worry about her one missing disciple.
* * *
The appearance of thugs and demonic beasts showed no signs of abating.
Despite attempting to run blindly towards the underground shelter, they encountered barricades at every turn, making it impossible to get any closer.
In the end, Arin’s group had no choice but to evacuate outside the building.
They found themselves in the central garden of the palace, surrounded by sculptures.
Deciding to hide in a pavilion surrounded by flowers, they sought refuge.
The surroundings were so quiet that not even the sound of insects could be heard.
“We may have temporarily evaded them, but we can’t let our guard down just yet.”
Observing the situation, Alice sighed and spoke.
“I wonder if they’re particularly targeting us?”
“Yeah, it’s strange. They seed to be swarming towards us almost excessively. It’s as if they’re chasing after our scent…”
In response to Luna’s inquiry, Alice affird positively.
It definitely felt strange how they were being relentlessly pursued.
It was akin to beasts catching the scent of prey and chasing after it.
Arin voiced her concern with an uneasy tone.
“Is it because of then?”
She seed to think that her status as a mber of the royal family had put everyone in danger.
“We’ll have to confirm that later. Whether they’re targeting the entire royal family or just the princess…”
Alice kindly patted Arin’s slightly gloomy shoulder.
“But wait, Alice, aren’t you Cyan’s sister?”
“Oh? Oh yes, that’s right! I didn’t even properly introduce myself amidst all this chaos. I’m Alice Vert, the eldest daughter of the Vert family!”
Despite the urgent situation, Alice felt it necessary to grasp the hem of her skirt and offer a formal introduction.
“I heard you sent an invitation to my brother? It seems you’re quite close with Cyan?”
“Oh, um, that, it wasn’t anything special! I just felt sorry for Cyan, who’s stuck at the academy even during the holidays!”
“So it was the princess who sent the invitation to my senior?”
Luna’s inscrutable gaze only served to further fluster Arin.
“W-what would he do if he ca! He didn’t even bother to show his face to after coming all this way…”
Was it a sudden rush of resentnt towards Cyan?
Arin’s lips curled in frustration.
“Making soone wait for another woman, even if it’s my brother, I should give him a piece of my mind later. If we get through this situation safely, of course.”
Of course, this was assuming they got through the current situation unscathed.
As for what Cyan was doing, none of the three won had any idea.
-Rustle
The familiar sound of swiftly parting foliage.
The knights imdiately went on high alert again.
“Over there!”
Masked thugs erged from the blossoming flower bed, dozens of them at a rough estimate.
It wasn’t a surprise attack; they seed to be slowly closing in on Arin’s group from all sides, as if patiently cornering their prey.
“How did they all manage to sneak up on us?”
They hadn’t even sensed a hint of their presence.
The sudden appearance felt as if it ca out of nowhere, from what was seemingly just an ordinary flowerbed.
In response, Alice swiftly gathered her mana within her body.
With less than ten enemies, it was practically impossible to protect the two girls against the thugs.
Unable to wield her sword due to the uncomfortable attire, Alice believed that her only option in this situation was magic.
-Rumbling
The surge of mana for casting high-level magic.
She intended to draw upon all the mana she possessed.
“Um, Alice?”
“It seems like the flowers have withered quite a bit. I should water them a bit. Although, with too much force, they might all fly away…”
Of course, after using this magic, she would lose all her energy and collapse.
The rest would be up to the knights.
-Thud!
“….?”
Suddenly, a giant sculpture standing in one corner of the garden collapsed with a loud noise.
As everyone’s attention, including the thugs’, montarily shifted away,
From the billowing dust, an unfamiliar figure rose into the sky.
-Splatter
An unknown entity emitting black fog beneath the golden full moon.
Dressed in a jet-black suit darker than the night sky, with an indistinguishable black mask.
It felt completely different from the pure white masks worn by the thugs.
-Whoosh
‘What, what is this unstoppable force?!’
For Alice, it was an unfamiliar aura she had never encountered before.
With a purple dagger pulsating with bloody energy in hand,
He charged straight towards the thugs.
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