Chapter 33

“Huh?” Everyone jerked up to attention.

The conversation came to a complete stop as the four all lifted their heads and listened to the chaotic noises coming from outside the room.

A few moments later, the noises stopped, and it became silent once again.

“Mr. Governor… What was that?” Grandpa Dinran asked after the sounds had died.

The governor furrowed his brows. He didn't know why, but he had an ominous feeling. “I actually have no idea…” He rubbed his chin and glanced toward the door. “I’ll go see.”

He stood up and began to walk toward the door.

However, just at that moment - Bang, bang, bang! There was a frantic knock on the door.

“Who is it?” The governor paused in his steps and frowned. He had specifically instructed that no one disturb him - did something happen?

An out-of-breath servant opened the door and gave a quick bow. “Sir - there are invaders! Powerful and strange masked invaders! You must leave immediately!”

The governor was stunned for a moment. “...what?!”

“Invaders! Invaders randomly appeared outside the mansion and then attacked!” The servant repeated. “You must flee, sir!”

The governor finally regained clarity. He stood up and leaned attentively over the table. “Give me details!”

“Y-yes sir!” The servant hurriedly continued. “There are over ten of them! They came out of nowhere and attacked the mansion without warning! We tried to stop them, but they were too strong, and only a few of them were enough to deal with all of us…! They have already forced their way through the gates, and it’s only a matter of time until some of them arrive here! Sir, you must flee!”

The governor’s eyes palpitated.

Alivia, Finn, and Grandpa Dinran all stared at the servant with stunned faces. Invaders? At the governor’s mansion?

“Are you sure that this is true?” The governor asked.

“Absolutely!” The servant replied immediately, and he held up his left arm, which was bleeding profusely. “I only barely managed to fend one of them off and ran here to warn you immediately.”

The governor was stunned. He stood there silently for a moment, his fists clenched.

“Shit…” he finally grimaced, and glanced toward Alivia, Finn, and Grandpa Dinran. “Looks like we’ll have to cut this meeting short - we need to get out of here, now!”

The others looked back at the governor, their faces still in disbelieving expressions. Was this really happening?

The servant quickly nodded in agreement and gave the governor a hurried expression. “We need to leave now! They'll...”

“-guh!” Before he could finish his words, he suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood. A moment later, a sword tip pierced out of his chest.

"...guruuru...." After gurgling for a second, his eyes glazed over and his body dropped to the floor.

Behind him appeared a black cloaked, bronze masked figure.

Everyone in the room stared in shock. What just happened? Who was this bronze masked figure?

Yet, they didn't have time to think about it. At that moment, the bronze masked figure spotted the governor.

“You’re…!” The figure pointed at the governor in surprise.

The governor grit his teeth and then suddenly charged forward, a fist extended forward!

“Wha…!” The figure tried to dodge to the side, but was half a beat too slow, and the governor’s fist caught the side of his mask.

BANG! The assassin was sent soaring through the air. A second later, his body crashed into a wall and slid onto the ground, slumped forward.

Alivia and Grandpa Dinran couldn't help but gawk. What inhuman strength!

“Quick! Before others arrive,” the governor turned toward the others in the room and said frantically. “We have to go.”

Finn, Alivia, and Grandpa Dinran all simultaneously nodded. After witnessing such a gruesome series of events, they didn't have any doubts about the weight of the situation.

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“Have you found him yet?”

A gold masked figure asked. He was standing in the middle of a clearing outside the central square. In front of him was a kneeling silver masked figure.

“Not yet,” the kneeling figure replied. “The governor doesn’t seem to be in the the central square. However, we found a mansion near the edge of the square. We believe that there is a strong possibility that it is where he lives.”

“A mansion?” The gold masked figure inquired. “Have you sent men to attack it?”

“Yes, I sent some twenty bronze masks just a little while ago. However, they haven’t yet returned. I’m expecting to hear from them now.”

Just at that moment, a bronze-masked figure rushed into the clearing. He immediately knelt down in front of both the silver and gold masked fighters. “Urgent news!”

The silver and gold masked fighters looked over.

“Sir! As suspected, we’re discovered the governor residing in the mansion! He is together with three others who don’t seem to have any fighting capabilities,” the bronze masked-man gasped, clearly out of breath. “As soon as they saw us, they fled northward. Many of our men are chasing them now.”

If one could see under his mask, they would be able to see the gold-masked figure’s eyes light up.

“Great! Call the others! It’s time to put an end to this.”

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Deep in the forest, the governor’s group of four was quickly fleeing. Running past countless thick bushes, trees, and foliage, the governor effortlessly carried the two children on his shoulders as he hastily ran. Grandpa Dinran ran steadily beside them.

The children agreed to be carried belly-down on the immensely strong governor’s shoulders so that the group wouldn’t be impeded by their slow speeds.

As for Grandpa Dinran, even running at his top speed, he wasn’t traveling especially fast. However, because his leg had been healed, he was still barely able to keep up.

“Stop, governor! You cannot escape us!” A distant voice screamed.

The fleeing group bristled at the threat. Seeing that their situation was dire, the governor grit his teeth. ‘We have to hurry!’

After escaping and fleeing from the governor’s mansion, at first, it had seemed that they had lost the masked fighters, and were free to escape. However, their hopes were almost immediately completely crushed: they quickly discovered that the woods outside the mansion had been saturated with lookouts. The group was spotted immediately.

Before they knew it, a whole group of bronze and silver masked men were chasing after them.

Although the governor knew he was likely physically capable of taking care of this group, he didn’t want to delay, because he knew that stronger enemies were likely on the way.

He grit his teeth and looked forward.

‘The best chance we have of shaking them off is to reach the nearest city, where I can call the militia for help. However, the nearest city in Sunrise City, which is nearly 40 miles from here… it would be a miracle if we could make it!’