Chapter 37: I Got the Wrong Script

Chapter 37: 9. I've Got the Wrong Script

After some idle chatter, Corwell shouted, "They're here!"

The nobles ceased their conversations one after another and looked over.

Manurial took another small sip and said indifferently, "Hagar Greve's Valahar, the bastard son of Lehan the Fallen Blade."

Dacus felt the force of destiny once again. He picked up the monocular from his belt and began to observe. Thirteen cold lizard riders, led by a female rider—likely Lunara, Marus Blackblade's little girlfriend—and over thirty Duruchi mercenaries, were marching grandly into the plaza, driving over a hundred human slaves and over thirty Assur slaves.

"Perhaps my arrival allowed these Assur cousins to live half a year longer."

Manurial snapped his fingers and added, "He should have sold this group of cousins at Kalonde for a high price instead of coming to Krakalonde to look for trouble." Having said that, he stood up, leaned against the battlements, and watched the plaza.

A roar erupted from one of the cold lizards in Lunara's procession. Even from atop the city walls, Dacus heard two heavy thuds; crossbow bolts had struck the cold lizard.

The ambush had begun!

A bolt also struck Marus's pauldron, glancing off just two centimeters from his nose. He quickly scanned his surroundings.

Chaos instantly engulfed the entire procession. More crossbow bolts tore through the air, accompanied by the wailing screams of the slaves. The mercenaries began wielding whips and clubs to maintain order, forcing the slaves into lines, while the mercenary captains on both sides began issuing commands.

More furious roars echoed from the mouths of the cold lizards. Two black bolts were lodged in the right shoulder of Marus's cold lizard, *Malice*; thin streams of pus seeped from the small wounds, though the beast's scales had clearly absorbed much of the impact.

Marus spotted the attackers. They were crouching among the boulders on the right side of the road, firing uneven volleys at Marus's procession with repeating crossbows. They wore dark brown and gray robes that blended perfectly with the rocks.

With fluid motion, Marus pulled the repeating hand crossbow from behind his saddle and drew his sword from its sheath.

Pointing his sword tip toward the attackers' position, Marus shouted loudly, "Lunara! Repeating crossbowmen on the right!"

Lunara turned and saw the attackers. Through the telescope, Dacus could clearly see her face contort before shifting into ecstasy. She raised *Soul Eater* and signaled her cold lizard riders to charge.

The air echoed with the piercing shrieks of the riders and the roars of the cold lizards, a bone-chilling sound. They drove their lizards to dodge boulders and leap over smaller stones, running clumsily across the rugged plaza, the tip of *Soul Eater* still pointed toward the sky.

The mercenaries began forcing the slaves to lie flat on the ground, while spearmen, under their captains' command, set up shields facing the direction from which the bolts were flying.

Marus paused to observe the scene once more before taking control of *Malice*. The beast let out a roar and began its charge.

Over twenty robed repeating crossbowmen lay in ambush among the rocks. They maintained their line, unleashing a volley at the charging cold lizards. Bolts struck the lizards' heads and shoulders, but the beasts had already entered a bloodthirsty frenzy; nothing could stop their charge.

The skilled riders held *Soul Eater* level only at the very last moment, thrusting them into the enemy. From the city walls, Dacus could clearly hear the sounds of tearing flesh and crushing bone.

The leader, Lunara, charged toward the crossbowmen as they were reloading their quivers. The crossbowmen had little time left; they wouldn't be able to fire another volley, and only then did they realize their mistake.

The crossbow captain let out a hysterical scream and drew his sword, but Lunara's *Soul Eater* had already pierced his chest. The half-meter spear-tip pierced through cloth and mail like paper, crushing the captain's sternum and ribs with a sickening crunch before emerging from his back and impaling the head of an ambusher behind him.

The Duruchi's head exploded like a tomato, spraying blood, bone, and brain matter onto his comrades.

"Whoa!" Dacus marveled at the R-rated imagery.

Lunara discarded *Soul Eater* and drew two serrated longswords, beginning to hack left and right, while a cold lizard bit another screaming crossbowman clean in two.

As Marus charged, he saw another group of crossbowmen hiding behind a massive boulder against the city wall. He glanced up at the nobles on the wall. Gripping his sword tightly, he drove *Malice* straight at them. At the last moment, he crouched low in the saddle, pulling the reins tight, shouting something unintelligible.

*Malice's* powerful hind legs lunged forward, landing on a boulder before leaping onto another. Marus caught a glimpse of a group of terrified, pale faces staring at him; he selected a target, stood in his stirrups, and raised his longsword high.

With a thunderous impact, *Malice* slammed into two Duruchi. Marus swung his sword at a Duruchi's face, cleaving the man from crown to groin. Viscous blood sprayed across his face, and the stench of spilled entrails filled the air. The beast's hind leg stomped heavily onto the fallen corpse. A severed head rolled across the cold ground like a ball, leaving a bright red trail in its wake.

At that moment, a javelin struck Marus's chest, glancing off his breastplate with a shower of sparks. Two surviving Duruchi ran toward the city wall, and *Malice* pursued them without needing Marus's command. After three leaps, the beast caught up, clamped its jaws onto one Duruchi, and shook its head like a massive hound. Flesh and blood flew everywhere as the man's limbs spun through the air. *Malice* slammed the man's lower torso heavily against the city wall before it slid to the ground.

The second Duruchi turned sharply to the right, eyes wide, screaming hysterically. Without a second thought, Marus leaped from his saddle and gave chase, a roar escaping his blood-stained mouth. After nearly twenty meters, the Duruchi suddenly turned; Marus reacted instinctively, swinging his sword in a horizontal arc to deflect a serrated dagger thrown at him.

Marus lunged forward with the speed of a viper, but the Duruchi blocked Marus's blade with his own and lunged forward. Marus attempted to strike the man's thigh, but only heard the harsh screech of metal clashing against armor.

Marus quickly countered, nearly slicing the Duruchi's throat, but the man suddenly thrust upward in a counter-attack aimed at Marus's own throat.

At the last second, Marus twisted his body, feeling the cold blade slide across the surface of his neck, before thrusting his sword into the Duruchi's thigh.

The Duruchi wailed hysterically, looking down to see the blade piercing his leg; bright red arterial blood pulsed from the wound with every beat of his heart.

Marus withdrew his sword, and the Duruchi collapsed to the ground. He roared, preparing for a finishing blow, but suddenly *Malice* slammed into him, the massive impact sending him tumbling through the air. He hit a boulder and lost consciousness.

"Brilliant!" Corwell exclaimed, clapping his hands.

When Marus regained his sight and breath, he saw *Malice* tearing a wounded Duruchi into pieces. The beast's pupils rolled frantically in its sockets, and it shook its heavy head as if exhausted by pain. Suddenly, it turned back, letting out a piercing roar and revealing rows of dagger-like crimson teeth stained with flesh. It spun in a circle, snapped at the air, and then its nostrils flared; it began to run backward, letting out angry bellows.

The cold lizard had gone mad!

The great beast was lost in a bloodthirsty frenzy, searching for the source of the scent in the air. The remaining twelve cold lizards shook off their riders and turned their heads toward every living thing they could find. The riders themselves remained unharmed because they had applied a specific ointment, causing the lizards to treat them as kin, but others were not so lucky; they were about to become prey.

The mercenaries tried to fight the frenzied lizards, but their formation shattered like glass under the violent onslaught. Dozens of mercenaries were crushed or torn apart; their black steel armor was useless against the powerful teeth and claws of the lizards. Spearheads pierced their bodies, but the lizards were unresponsive to pain or injury.

The cold lizards charged into the slave crowd, and the bloody carnival truly began.

Marus let out a desperate cry as the plaza instantly transformed into a boiling slaughterhouse.

Dacus should have felt nauseated or looked away, but he kept watching the plaza below. He knew that to survive in this world, one had to face such things. He suddenly let out a chuckle, and his laughter was infectious, causing the other nobles to join in with boisterous laughter.

Marus heard the laughter from the walls. He looked back, his face filled with hatred, before quickly turning to run toward *Malice*. As he ran, he signaled the riders to follow him. He saw the bolts in *Malice's* shoulder. The bolts were poisoned! This poison was designed to drive the cold lizards into madness.

The purpose of this ambush was never to kidnap the slaves, but to ensure their deaths.

Marus dodged a sweeping tail from a cold lizard and rushed to the side of *Malice* where the bolts were lodged. The beast was currently gnawing on the torso of a dead slave. Marus leaped forward and pulled out the two bolts. The beast shuddered, turned to look at Marus, froze for a moment, and then began to circle to the left of the road, sniffing the air. After a while, it crouched down from exhaustion. Marus raised the blood-stained arrows, shouting something angrily.

The other riders nearby also began approaching their respective lizards, finding opportunities to pull the bolts from their scales.

The plaza was stained red with flesh and blood. Pale bones and reflective shackles glinted in the snow. Fragments of black steel armor from dead mercenaries lay scattered on the ground, their bodies twisted into unnatural shapes, and the air was filled with the cries of the wounded.

Marus Blackblade's trial of the Haksiye Voyage had failed at the final step.

The sound of clashing armor and weapons drifted from outside the city gates. A squad of city guards marched into the plaza, forming a line with spears and repeating crossbows aimed at Marus. Following closely behind on horseback was the noble dock district administrator who had previously greeted Dacus.

The administrator glanced at the horrific scene in the plaza, then walked toward Marus and spoke a few words.

Marus looked up at the nobles on the wall with a face full of loathing. Dacus and his brother waved at him. Marus spoke a single, calm sentence, then pulled a repeating hand crossbow from his saddle and fired directly at the administrator's face.

Marus signaled the riders, and they broke through the city guard's line to make their escape.

Manurial snorted in dissatisfaction, "A bunch of useless trash, mud that can't even hold a wall."

"Good afternoon, Krakalonde! That recent 'dead man's lottery' really lived up to its name—the final count is two hundred, give or take! But a noble administrator is also dead; I think you'll all be paying compensation!"

Dacus walked to his cousin's side and asked, "When will the auction for my batch of Assur slaves be held?"

Manurial continued to watch the plaza, nodding repeatedly, and smiled sinisterly. "I don't want his name to be grouped with the House of Hell's Calamity and become the subject of noble gossip, so I have agreed to Ferlan Bar's request."

Hearing this, Dacus also let out a dark, cold laugh.

A known BUG had appeared: Marus had appeared prematurely. He was supposed to appear after 2300, as he had not participated in the Battle of Finnuval.