Chapter 48: Heartless night (Third part)

Each continent and country has its own precious resources.

Its own special commodity giving it an edge over other Kingdoms.

However, no matter the country, the most precious type of commodity wasn’t necessarily money or magical items.

It was information.

In a world without any common means to record or diffuse knowledge, only books, oral teaching and rumors could pass down these pieces of information.

Even in the Dorell Kingdom, only rumors could pass down information among common people. They were like wildfire spreading at an incredible speed across the towns and villages to bring various types of news.

Some became deformed or exaggerated, but most of the time, the essence of the information didn’t change by much.

That was the case for Vated.

His cruel actions against defenseless townsfolk and even children long spread across the Kingdom. He was almost as nefarious and feared as another man known as the ‘Red murderer’ rampaging across the continent without anyone able to do anything to stop him.

His name alone inspired fear among most of the common inhabitants of the Dorell Kingdom.

Even in Tegralle, the name of Vated and his nefarious reputation long spread among the inhabitants.

Idlan also heard about him, but he didn’t pay it much mind as a famous figure like him wouldn’t be interested in their isolated small town.

However, with Vated standing before him, all those rumors he had ignored before, were rushing into his head crushing his will and determination.

For a second, Idlan even had the irresistible desire to give up on the girls and flee for his life.

However, he didn’t do it.

His feet remained firmly planted on the ground while he was gritting his teeth to fight his fear.

“Oh, not running away?”

The mocking voice of Vated echoed in front of him and seemed to crush his courage.

Idlan was at a loss about what to do.

He wasn’t strong enough to defeat him and obviously wasn’t skilled enough to fight while carrying three unconscious girls.

Vated’s mocking voice was right. His only choice was to run away.

However, even before he could make his move, Vated took a step forward.

“Then let’s play together!”

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At the same time, Millodas was still facing his opponents to prevent them from going forward.

However, there were no longer three opponents.

Seven of them were already surrounding him, and others were clearly on their way.

If he had to face ordinary soldiers then, not even counting seven of them, even if fifty came together they still wouldn’t be a match for Millodas.

He was a true Saint earth mage and spent a long time fighting with his life on the line after all.

Even if he wasn’t at the level of Seledia or Vated, he was skilled enough not to be defeated by ordinary soldiers anymore.

However, he wasn’t facing ordinary soldiers.

Even Millodas had troubles holding seven of them. It wasn’t that their individual strength was overwhelming, but rather that they lacked neither experience, bloodlust, or the ability to coordinate.

Due to this, they could display capabilities far greater than normal.

After several minutes of fighting, Millodas was already cut and burned at several places. His breathing wasn’t as steady as before either.

“You’re quite fierce, but you won’t be able to win against all of us on your own.” One of the mercenaries holding a large axe finally spoke to Millodas.

His breathing was quite rushed, but his expression was still relaxed as if he was already sure of their victory. Just as he finished speaking, three other men rushed together from behind and joined the group of assailants.

"Surrender. We have our orders so we won’t kill you.”

“Won’t kill me?” Millodas, who was feeling the pressure brought by his opponents, couldn’t help but snort coldly when he heard the mercenary's words.

“Yes, we won’t kill you. So step aside.” The axe-wielding mercenary answered as if he hadn't detected the anger and scorn hidden in Millodas’ voice.

Millodas tightened the grip on his sword.

After using several different kinds of magic consecutively, mana was constantly emanating from his body ready to strike at any time. However, after hearing those words, this mana quietly dispersed as if he was finally choosing to surrender.

Seeing this, the mercenaries smirked.

However, despite this apparent calmness, his mana was circulating in his body even faster than before under the influence of his emotions just like the sea retracting before rushing back with a giant wave.

“You won’t kill me if I let you pass?”

“Right, if you’re smart then you…”

“Don’t fuck with me!” Millodas anger erupted in his voice as he cut short the words that the mercenary was about to say.

Millodas was clenching his sword so tightly that his knuckles already turned completely white but he didn’t notice it. Only the words of the mercenaries were circling in his mind.

“You want me to step aside and let you kidnap my daughters?”

This time even the densest person could notice the fury behind his words.

Before another mercenary could speak, Millodas continued as if he was more talking to himself than them.

“I already lost a son. If I lost my daughters while they were under my responsibility and protection, then I wouldn’t be able to face my wife or myself anymore. If that happens then I…”

Millodas took a single step forward before releasing all his pent-up mana and anger.

“...prefer to die right here!!!”

Four years of constant shame and powerlessness erupted in this instant.

Millodas disappeared from his location and swung his sword so fast that none of the mercenaries could react in time.

By the time they spotted Millodas figure again, his sword had already cut the axe-wielding mercenary in two just above his abdomen.

Blood and gore flew everywhere as the corpse fell in two different places.

However, immediately after, the group of mercenaries reacted together.

“How dare you!!!”

Some of them rushed forward to engage in close combat with Millodas while several others were already firing fireballs toward him.

It was as if a sea of flame was rushing toward him. The brilliance of the light emitted by the magic destroyed the surrounding darkness of the night as if engulfing the world alongside them.

Facing this attack, Millodas didn’t avoid it.

With a cry coming from the deepest part of his heart, he rushed forward to meet the attack head-on.

An explosion scarring all the nearby lifeforms resonated.

It was only the first of many others.

Millodas didn’t hesitate anymore.

Sword against sword.

Magic against magic.

Blows were exchanged at an incredible pace, but no matter how hard he fought, Millodas couldn’t take the advantage.

They were too many.

Each time he was about to deliver a fatal blow, another mercenary would rush to block him and another would attack him from a blind spot forcing him to stop his offensive and to move away.

Millodas’ heart was pounding frantically while his mind was racing to find a solution.

"Ahhhhh!!!”

Millodas was still standing strong against his opponents when a terrible scream resonated across the land.

For the first time, Millodas’ expression dramatically changed while he unconsciously turned his gaze toward the too familiar voice resonating beyond the darkness.

This scream was so strong that even the clashing of swords and the explosion of magic couldn’t hide it. The mercenaries all subconsciously stopped their attacks to look in the direction of the scream.

It wasn’t possible to see beyond the darkness, but immediately after hearing this scream, everyone understood what happened.

“Boss is having fun over there.”

“I wanna go see what he’s doing.”

“Me too.”

“Sound interesting.”

Various comments were made one after the other in a totally relaxed manner as if the previous fight with Millodas didn’t matter anymore.

Those words made Millodas frown. He couldn’t hide the concern in his eyes anymore.

“You want to go take a look too, right?” A thin mercenary with piercing blue eyes asked in a mocking tone when he saw the look on Millodas’ face.

Millodas didn’t answer and simply allowed the mercenary to continue his taunt.

“I wouldn’t go if I was in your situation. Our Boss is already there. You know who he is, don’t you?”

Millodas ignored his words, but he knew the answer to this question.

Vated was there.

He was a part of this assault team.

His heart grew colder when this thought crossed his mind.

He was the only one that Millodas didn’t want to confront no matter what.

He knew that Vated was most likely stronger than himself, but he didn’t fear him only because of that. Millodas never refused to challenge someone apparently stronger. If he feared those deemed stronger and acknowledged their superior strength without a fight, then he would have never become as strong as he was right now.

Millodas really hoped that Vated wasn’t the one to lead the assault because of the rumors plaguing his name. His missions were all bloody, ruthless against those who resist but also cruel even toward the innocents near him.

This was almost an established fact that Vated was a monster who already raped and killed many innocents.

Millodas knew that children weren’t safe from his madness.

These worries plagued his mind but didn’t obstruct his judgment.

If Vated showed up then Idlan didn’t have the shadow of a chance against him.

Sellysse, Llynadia and Gaya were in danger.

“You can’t win against all of us and stopping our Boss is nothing but a pipe-dream. We can’t defeat you either without sacrificing several of us. This fight is meaningless.”

“Drop your sword!

After a few seconds of a tense silence, Millodas finally answered to the mercenaries urging him to surrender.

“You’re right.”

Millodas smiled mockingly before slowly releasing the grip on his sword.

“I can’t win against all of you and act against Vated at the same time.”

*Clang*

His sword dropped on the ground at his feet in front of the mercenaries circling him.

“However, it’s not up to you to decide if it’s meaningless.” He suddenly shouted angrily.

Before even finishing his sentence, Millodas raised both of his hands in a flash.

"Earth spike”

Several long spikes of earth left both of his hands in different directions at an amazing speed, but none of the mercenaries were surprised by his action. With his previous attacks, they were already very wary of his short burst of speed.

Therefore they didn’t drop their guard and avoided the attacks easily.

“Hiiiiiiii”

Sharp screams suddenly resonated behind the mercenaries who turned their heads just in time to see three Lovrax dropping to the ground with several bloody wounds on their bodies.

“Bastard”

One of the mercenaries, seeing his mount die couldn’t help but curse and rush forward, but Millodas was already gone from his previous spot along with his sword.

The mercenaries temporarily lost sight of him before spotting him near the last Lovrax.

“Stop him.” Shouted one of them after understanding what he wanted to do.

However, Millodas was already riding the last remaining Lovrax that was also the furthest from them.

His previous goal was to prevent them from going after Idlan and his daughters. However, with Vated fighting Idlan, there wasn’t any point in fighting against these mercenaries anymore.

Therefore, Millodas chose one mount and killed the others before using it to rush toward the screams of his friend. The mercenaries were left in the dust with the speed of this mount and could only powerlessly run after the trail left by Millodas.

This sudden move allowed him to break free from his fight. However, Millodas wasn’t relieved.

On the contrary, he had to tighten the grip on the reins to dissipate his anxiousness.

This horrible scream belonged to Idlan.

There was no doubt about it.

“Please let them be safe!”

His silent prayer escorted him under the thunderous noise of his mount breaking through the deep night.