Chapter 174: You lied to me

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

There were many people in the corridor, but besides Lin Li, others were either shivering with fear or cold. The only one who was not shivering, Hank, was busy poaching Lin Li from Jarrosus Guild of Magic. So, out of the many people present, only Lin Li was aware of the anomaly.

Those heavy footsteps sounded really abnormal—they were too precise, as if measured with a ruler. The rhythm of each step was exactly the same, and there was no murmur in the midst. Accuracy was not a problem, but it seemed fake if it was this accurate. Even if the Silver Storm was well-trained, it could never be so precise. It was even neater than the best guard of honor…

As the heavy footsteps approached, Lin Li gradually understood. He was absorbed in thoughts as he looked up at the ceiling. The female captain of the Silver Hand was very interesting…

“Serena, you’d better not mess around!” Rode finally panicked as he saw the Silver Storm about to charge into the inn. The night’s encounter was completely out of his control. He had yet to figure out what had gone wrong. It was well-planned at the beginning, so why was the execution full of loopholes? Not only did Serena escape, but also brought the Silver Storm.

At this point, Rode was afraid to think about what would happen. At present, he was just trying to figure out a way to get out of here. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be any fun if he fell into the hands of that woman…

These few people from the Silver Hand were the only chips he had to get away…

Unfortunately, these people were not willing to cooperate, especially the fellow who was still chatting away. The more Rode thought about it, the angrier he felt. Did the damned fellow have the consciousness of being a prisoner? He thought he was going to the vegetable market. The knife was on his neck, yet he still had time to engage in small chit chat with others. If the darned woman hadn’t pushed too hard, he would have knocked off a few of his teeth again!

“F*ck, you’re kidding me, aren’t you?” As he listened to the approaching heavy footsteps, Rode could not wait any longer. He pulled out the dagger in his boots with one hand, and grabbed Hank’s collar with the other, glaring fiercely at Hank. “There’s nothing here of your business now. Get out of here!”

“…” Hank was startled. This guy really hadn’t died before?

But to Hank’s surprise, Lin Li didn’t have any intention to make a move at all. He merely touched his nose, and stepped aside as he was told, for he knew he didn’t need to make a move anymore…

Through the vision of the Warlock’s Eyes, Lin Li could clearly see several dark shadows sneaking into several open rooms…

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”

The shadows in the room moved just as Rhode grabbed Hank’s collar with one hand. In an instant, a sharp crack tore through the air; a wisp of cold light flashed across the corridor, and then he saw a spatter of blood—the clean corridor was filled with hot, gushing blood in a flash…

Screams rose up, and the quiet corridor fell into a terrible mess at once. Confronted with an enemy of unknown origins, the men from the Rising Sun Mercenary Corp were scared out of their wits as they desperately tried to hide themselves in the corners.

However, where was there any corner along this corridor?

Those arrows were like poisonous snakes hidden in the dark. Wherever they ran with their heads in their arms, they’d end up spattering blood even if they stopped for only a little while.

In a mere moment’s time, a large group of men from the Rising Sun Mercenary Corp were shot down.

As this one-sided massacre fell into the eyes of Lin Li, he knew at once that it was over for the Rising Sun Mercenary Corp.

In fact, they were not without opportunities.

All the dozen of mercenary corps present had decent strength—the weakest of them were at least of level-nine, and the strongest were above level-12. Even if Lin Li had personally made the move, it wouldn’t be easy for him with such a force. Moreover, at the entrance of the inn stood a figure close to the rank of an Archmage. As long as he could find a way to get the message out, the situation of battle in this corridor would be reversed immediately.

Unfortunately, all of them had been thoroughly scared out of their wits. The famous Silver Storm in Alanna was keeping watch, and there was a level-15 Gryphon hovering in the sky. In this critical time, they were met with archers stealthily attacking from the dark. Right now, they hated their parents for not giving them two extra legs to run faster, so how could they still have the leisure to judge how many enemies were hiding and ambushing them from the rooms?

In the face of this sudden attack, the only one who could see the situation clearly was probably Rode, but what role could he play alone? All his men were running around in panic, leaving Rode yelling at the top of his lungs desperately, “There are not many of them, don’t panic!”

Regrettably, nobody paid any attention to him…

Everyone was running desperately—some to the rooms, some upstairs. Wherever they could hide, that would be where they ran. They were using all their strength to run, and then they were shot by the arrows that came from the darkness…

“Sh*t…”

Looking at this chaotic scene, Rode knew that it was game over for him. In just a few minutes, these fools, who only knew how to run with their hands on their heads, would be killed by the archers in the dark. Rode was utterly indignant as he listened to the shrill sound of the arrows tearing through the air. He was perhaps the only one among the crowd who had a grasp of the situation. There were not many archers hiding in the rooms—if these idiots could listen to him, how would they end up in such a state?

It was a pity—no matter how unresigned Rode was, there was nothing he could do about the other party. Things had developed to such a point; even if he could once again regain control of this group of frightened men, it was also impossible to bring them out of the inn.

The only thing Rode could do was to retreat toward a window step by step.

This was the only way out for him. What he could do now was to take advantage of the opportunity when his men were delaying the enemies and jump from this window. As for whether he could escape the pursuit of the Silver Storm after jumping down, it would be entirely up to fate…

It was a complete chaos in the corridor. The men of the Rising Sun Mercenary Corp were fleeing with their heads in their arms, and a group of residents were trembling in fear. Nobody had time to look around, and nobody cared about what Rode wanted to do by going near the window. The only one who discovered he wanted to run was probably Lin Li, but Lin Li was not the least bit interested in him now.

After all, it had nothing to do with Lin Li at all.

Disputes between the mercenary corps happened countless of times every day in Alanna. Lin Li had long gotten used to such things. They could fight among themselves, and he would continue his sleep. If it weren’t for Hank, he would’ve already been back in his room, sleeping.

Besides, Rode planned to run? Could he even run…

Lin Li knew very well what Rode wanted to do.

He even knew that if Rode did jump down, it would never be the Silver Storm that was waiting for him…

Sadly, Rode didn’t know anything. He was stepping back to the window, carrying the last bit of hope with him.

“Ah!”

And then, it was a shrill cry.

Rode had just retreated to the window, and before he could turn around, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, followed by sharp pain and a gush of blood pouring from his throat.

“You lied to me…” Rode struggled to spit out the last sentence, then staggered and fell head first to the ground.

A graceful figure jumped into the corridor from the window, wiping the blood on the sword while muttering innocently to herself, “How do I know you’re so stupid…”

Lin Li looked to the window, and saw a tall and beautiful woman standing there, slowly wiping a sword.

After wiping the blood from the sword, the beautiful woman reached out her hands and pulled back her flying blond hair. This feminine movement slightly diluted some of the horror brought about by the previous bloodshed and murder. After casually tying up her blond hair, the beautiful woman turned back, and frowned at Hank and the gang. “What are you guys doing, still spacing out here? Aren’t you coming over to help?”

“Captain, you’re here at last…” Hank smiled obsequiously. “You could just let the Silver Storm storm in and settle those few clownfish at once. Why did you make us take the trouble?”

Hearing this, the beautiful captain’s hand halted suddenly. After staring at Hank for a long while, she said abruptly, “Hank, tell me honestly. Was the man who wanted to escape through the window your brother?”

“…” Hank was bewildered by the question.

“Otherwise, how could you be as foolish as him?” The beautiful captain turned the sword around, and gave Hank a hard knock on the head. “Do you think I can fly? Do you think I can fly back to Alanna and then back here with the Silver Storm in an hour?”

Hank was so frightened by her that he even forgot the pain on his head. He froze there for a while before he finally opened his mouth, and asked, “Then… then… how many people did you bring?”

“Where can I find anyone when all the people are at the Fire Plume Ridge? I met Aragon’s team on the way just now, so I called them here…”

“…” Hank almost lost his mind.

A team of Silver Hand had always been composed of eight people—that was to say, the beautiful captain had created such a huge array, but had in fact brought with her only eight people…

Lin Li leaned on the door, sizing up the beautiful captain with interest.

The beautiful captain of the Silver Hand was a well-known figure in Alanna. Lin Li had heard of Serena’s name so many times that he had lost count. When he first saw her in real life today, Lin Li had to admit that this tall and beautiful woman really deserved her reputation.

The raid tonight was too stunning…

As the beautiful captain engaged in a question and answer session with Hank, the whole process of the raid became clear in Lin Li’s mind.

The awaiting Silver Storm and the hovering level-15 Gryphon were all smoke screen arranged by Serena. In her own words, the Blackhills Town was hundreds of miles away from Alanna, and she couldn’t really fly—so how would she be able to return so fast with the Silver Storm?