"Ugh!" A thug with a dagger sprang out of the darkness and stabbed Rana's waist.

The dagger hit the armor, and then slid aside along the arc. Rana grabbed the gangster's head, snapped it, and threw it aside.

"Don't come here! Don't come here!" shouted a thin gangster leaning against the cold wall, brandishing a broken knife.

On the ground beside him lay four corpses. Equipped with crossbows and daggers, these men lurked around a corner and attacked the Shtoral squad.

However, their inferior weapons could not even leave a scratch on the armor. Before the gangsters could react, the Thutoral team killed most of them.

"Surrender, or die." Griffith pulled out a hemp rope and swayed towards the only remaining scoundrel.

The gangster, who had no way to escape, clenched his teeth, and his bright eyes stared at Griffith in front of him under the firelight. Then, the gangster raised the dagger, let out a shout, and rushed towards Griffith.

"Hey!"

The apprentice knight clad in strong armor slid aside easily, grabbed the bastard's slender arm and twisted it lightly. The little man screamed and fell heavily to the ground.

"Where did these little bastards get them?" Murat glanced at the gangster on the ground, "It looks like he is only twelve or thirteen years old."

"You can join the slaughter package if you are over ten years old. Twelve or thirteen years old is not too young," Rana said while wiping the sword on the corpse. "It's just thinner."

Griffith twisted the little man's hands behind his back, quickly tied it in a dead knot, and carried it to Ophelia from the muddy water: "Is there anything you want to ask?"

"No~ What is there to ask about an ambush of this magnitude," Ophelia tilted her head, "Except for the first few teams to be stronger, the latter ones are just pure children!"

"Nobility's lackey! I'm going to kill you, kill you!" the little man screamed. Before he could shout a few words, Griffith carried him back to him and put his hands on his neck.

The sharp shouting of the little man who was still scolding suddenly disappeared. A strong hand was pressing on his neck, and the cold steel pierced his bones with the chill of death.

The dead body on the ground, a head that has been screwed to the back is staring at this side with empty eyes.

The trembling passed down the hands. Griffith looked indifferently as the teeth of the little man in front of him were pounding up and down quickly, and then the thin body also trembled, as if he had contracted malaria.

"We take this, it may be useful." Griffith put the little man down.

"Aye~!" The apprentice knights agreed unsurprisingly.

...

The Shutoral team has gone deep into the sewers. Based on the estimated distance from the previous map, the Cook gang has nowhere to hide.

"To deal with the mage, you must attack immediately," Ophelia glanced around vigilantly, she seemed to have a good vision in the dark, "the opponent is the fallen mage, who may have special attack spells without systematic training. , but defense is often not a forte."

"My dagger will kill him right away," Rana said. "The space here is small, and the encounters won't be too far apart. I won't give him a chance to cast a spell."

"Kill all the lackeys of the nobles!" Suddenly, a roar came from the darkness, followed by the sound of chaotic footsteps stepping on the water and rushing towards him.

"Oh, it's coming!" Ophelia bent her bow and shot an arrow with lightning speed. Just as someone turned the intersection in the darkness, he was shot through the eye and fell to the ground with his head up.

"Come on! Kill!" A burly man holding a giant axe and wearing chain mail rushed out surrounded by a group of small and large minions.

"Attack, be careful of the mage hiding in the crowd!" Griffins raised a short gun and nailed a gangster to the ground,"Cook in armor is here!"

The other apprentice knights promptly threw daggers, spears, or bows. The gangsters, armed with various weapons, collapsed on the spot like a wheat field blown by a gust of wind.

"Kill!" The strongest and only armored Boss Cook had two daggers stuck in his body, and slashed with a big axe.

Griffith held his guns above his head and stabbed Cook's left shoulder from above the shield.

The armor-piercing spear shreds the defense of the chainmail with a single blow, piercing Cook's sturdy shoulder and piercing it out from behind.

"Oh~" Cook, who was screaming and fighting, stopped shouting at once. He grabbed the spear head that pierced his shoulder, and forcibly raised his axe to slash at Murat's shield.

Griffith's eyes were quick and his hands were quick, and Dang Ji twirled the short gun in his hand. Severe pain exploded on his shoulders with splashes of flesh, Cook shuddered, and the blow to the shield became weak.

Mura blocked a blow and rammed forward. Cook was knocked to the ground immediately, and even the axe fell into the sewage.

Griffith took advantage of the situation to draw a short gun and stabbed it at Cook's open mouth.

"Woo! Woohoo!" The little captive who was tied behind shouted desperately. But his hands were bound and his mouth was stuffed with rags, and he could only make muffled noises.

Cook, who is more than two meters tall, has been shot through his throat.

"Have you seen him use his ability?" Rana asked, piercing a gangster who rushed over.

"No." Everyone shook their heads together.

The 12 Cook gang members who launched the counterattack were annihilated without causing any damage to the Shutoral team.

"Be vigilant, it's not over yet," Griffith pulled on the rope and dragged the sturdy little man to the front. "You go ahead and see if there are any survivors inside."

The little man with his mouth gagged was pushed forward. Griffith patted his shoulder with the cold gun blade, "This is your chance to live, lead the way."

Until now, the figure of the fallen mage has not appeared. The danger in such a shadow made the Shtorals even more vigilant.

Finally, on a dry platform in the sewer, the Cytolars found two figures curled up together. With the weak light, Griffith and the others could barely see the gorgeous clothes and trembling bodies of the two of them.

"We are apprentice knights of the Guards, and come to your rescue," Ophelia shouted, hiding behind Griffith. "Baron, baroness, is that you? Look up and let us see yours. Face."

The hugging couple continued to tremble, and the baron himself raised his head and glanced at the five rescuers in iron armor: "Yes, I am."

"Ha, great," Ophelia sighed. "Are you hurt? Can you act?"

"I...our feet were frostbitten," the baron shook even more, not knowing whether it was because of fear or excitement, "that fallen mage did it."

"Go on and go to the Baron," Griffith patted the little man on the shoulder.

There were no traps around the baron couple, but their ankles were tied to the ground by silver-white shackles.

"It's ice, the shackles of ice," Rana said, looking up, "give me the torch."

Two torches were handed over, and Rana and Medenmaia carefully thawed at the Baron's ankles. Others stood guard by their side.

"What about the fallen mage?" Griffith asked.

"After he locked us, he left and went further inside," Baron Caen hugged his wife, his expression slightly relaxed, "Earlier, the gangsters tried to dig a way to escape, I don't know if they succeeded or not. ."

"It shouldn't be successful," Griffith pointed to the direction where Cook and others fell, "We killed their boss."

"Shh! Don't talk!" Ophelia suddenly raised her index finger and made a mute gesture.

The scene immediately fell silent. From the dark sewers, there was a rustling sound, and it seemed that something was moving towards this side.

Several bright torches appeared in the passage, and the firelight illuminated a bright yellow armor. The two teams of city defense troops quickly ran towards this side.

"Hey! Guys, you're late!" Ophelia exclaimed triumphantly, "but the rat is still in the hole."

"Sgt. Rex of the City Defense Force came to report, Commander Cody asked us to accept your command," the leading City Defense Force saluted the Cytolars.

"Very well, we are short of manpower," Griffith and Ophelia looked at each other, "arrange a few people to evacuate with the baron couple and the prisoners first, and the rest will go in with us to capture the fallen mages. ."

At this moment, a fierce and violent aura spread from the darkness.

"Beasts? Not exactly, mixed with human breath," Ophelia sniffed in surprise. "It could also be some kind of black magic product. It's in that darkness."

Two fiery red lights appeared in the darkness, like torches, with a stench.

"What is this? A fireball?" Rana looked at it for a while, but didn't think it was.

The two groups of red lights flickered from time to time and slowly approached the crowd. The blood-red core turned out to be like a pupil.

"Rat!" Ophelia suddenly shouted, and the bow shot an arrow at the red light.

Before everyone could understand what was going on, the red light suddenly flashed towards the wall on one side, and then rushed towards the soldiers.

A giant black rat even bigger than a mountain bear opened its bloody mouth and bit off the head of a city defense soldier in one bite.

Without being reminded, everyone present smashed the giant mouse with all the weapons they could find.

Rana threw the throwing knives like lightning. However, after hitting the shiny black fur, the sharp blade deflected directly, causing no damage at all.

The attacked giant rat rushed into the crowd like lightning, knocking a team of city defense troops into pieces.

Mura swung a large shield and slammed towards the giant rat that ran past him.

"DUANG!"

Unspeakable fluctuations spread, and the soldiers nearby all staggered. The giant mouse was also knocked to the ground, and the fiery red eyes were dull.

Griffith resisted the dizziness, stepped forward with the gun and stabbed hard at the red eye.

"Squeak!" The giant rat made a scream like an ordinary rat, and its long tail, which was comparable to a crocodile's tail, swept over.

Griffith just felt like he flew out like a cloud, and he couldn't move when he hit the cold wall.

Midianmaia roared, and shoveled the shovel in his hand to the other eye. The blood-red eyeballs burst open on the spot.

The giant rat, who had lost his eyes, started to attack wildly with its huge tail, opening its bloody mouth and roaring.

Midianmaia and Rana swarmed up, grabbed the giant mouse and tried to push it to the ground. But the monster's power far surpassed the two of them, throwing them away in the blink of an eye. Mura's eyes and hands were quick, and at the moment when the two were thrown away, he slammed his shield towards the giant mouse's face.

Another dizzying wave came, and the strong giant rat was sluggish again.

Ophelia calmed down, took out a feathered arrow engraved with a flaming magic pattern from her quiver, and shot the bow into the giant mouse's mouth. After shooting the arrow, Ophelia rolled on the ground with her head in her hands.

"spread!"

Before the others could react, the giant rat's mouth exploded with a "bang". The sharp fangs mixed with flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the city defense army, who couldn't dodge, fell down on the spot.

"Kill it!" Murat was the closest to the monster, but miraculously stood up first. He glanced at the sticky flesh and broken teeth all over his body, pulled out his saber and stabbed the giant rat who was still twitching.

"Huh~ The fur of this thing is a good thing," Murat turned the long sword inserted into the giant mouse's head, "Hey! Griffith, are you still alive? Move it when you are alive."

"I, I finally returned to the capital of the world alive..." Ophelia stood up in embarrassment from the sewage and flesh and blood, and wiped a mask that was covered in something she didn't know, "I didn't do it for the sake of Fight this shit!"

Before the other Shutorals could laugh, the abdomen of the dead giant rat suddenly began to wriggle violently, as if a naughty child was hiding under the quilt and digging around.

"Murat! Get out of the way!"

The abdomen of the giant rat burst open, and countless large and small mice splashed out from it. Each of them stared at scarlet eyes and swooped towards those present.

The screams and roars suddenly rang out, and all the Shutorals who were still able to stand swung their weapons frantically, and slammed towards the rat that was pouring out of the black pressure.

"Bang!" The first mouse that was killed exploded, and a cloud of white cold air came out. The surrounding sewage was immediately frozen into hard ice. The densely packed little mice exploded into white ice mist.

"Oops~ Oops!" Ophelia watched as a cloud of ice mist burst open, just sticking to the gap in her visor to block her sight. Immediately afterwards, she went to consciousness before she understood what was going on.

...

One wounded after another was carried out of the sewers on stretchers.

Whether it was Shutoral or the city defense army, their clothes and armor were covered with thick flesh and sludge, and these filthy things were frozen solidly and stuck to them.

"Five Cytolars were injured, one of the twenty-five city defense troops was killed, and thirteen were injured." Cody, the commander of the scene, reported to Chief Heinz with a black face, "I'm sorry, although the Baron was rescued. Husband and wife, but also let your Excellency's Cytolar elite fight such a bad battle."

"They suffered a loss but they are all alive," Heinz Wilhelm's cavalry chief spread his hands, "Don't say these are useless, hurry up and send your city defense army down, be sure to catch this damn mage."

Not far from them, Ophelia, covered in a mess, limped towards the pool on the far corner. A city guard who was in charge of vigilance tried to come up to help her, but was rejected.

"How's Miss Apprentice Knight's injury?" a medical officer asked the apparently female Sottolar.

Ophelia wiggled her arm with difficulty, then pointed to her frozen visor. The medical officer frowned at the frozen dirt, shook his head and walked away.

"Phew~!" Ophelia came to the pool at the corner of the street, picked up a bucket of water and poured it over her body, then turned around and rested against the corner of the wall.

A team of city defense troops ran past her and ran towards the entrance of the sewer where the battle had just ended.

Ophelia, who looked exhausted, looked at the soldiers passing by, stood up with difficulty, and walked alone towards the secluded alley.

"Where are you going?" A somewhat familiar silent voice sounded from behind.

Ophelia turned her head and saw Griffith, also covered in mess, standing not far behind her.

Ophelia spread her hands helplessly, and pointed to the visor that was freezing the ice cubes.

Griffith walked over without taking it seriously, came to Ophelia's side and continued to move forward with her: "What do you think?

"The fallen mage hiding in the sewers has such a powerful familiar, and is also very skilled in ice magic. He has such strength, why didn't he cooperate with the Cook gang in the first place?"

Ophelia seemed unable to answer the question, she just walked in silence. Seeing that she was silent, Griffith continued:

"Even if he has such strength, he won't be let go after causing us such a large casualty. The next ones to deal with him are regular knights and big knights.

"With the loss of the familiar, his fate is only a dead end.

"If that's the case, why don't you take the hostages and break out with the Cook gang when you have spare energy?"

Ophelia stopped in place and looked up at Griffith, who had taken off his helmet.

Nearby residents and city defense troops have gathered to the entrance near the sewer. The two stared at each other in the silent alley.

Ophelia lowered her hand, gently stroking Griffith's dented and damaged breastplate with her right hand, like a girl stroking her boyfriend's firm chest.

"That's not good~" Ophelia said in an unfamiliar voice. "The old cat has already caught the mouse but won't eat it. Aren't you afraid that the mouse will bite back?"

White frost spread across Griffith's breastplate wound at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, Griffith grabbed Ophelia's wrist like lightning and turned it over with a "click".

"Ah—!" The female mage in Ophelia's armor shrieked in a low voice and collapsed to the ground.

Griffith stretched out his hand and tore off the loose iron helmet, looking at the fallen female mage full of pain.

"I'll give you a minute to convince me not to break your neck," Griffith grabbed the female mage's hands, raised them above her head and pressed them to the ground, pressing her knees against her chest.

The appearance of the female mage who was pressed down was beyond Griffith's expectations. Her face is quite round, with short brown hair, her facial features are not pretty but quite upright, her shining eyes are full of vitality, and there is no sinister aura of learning ice and black magic.

"Kill me, nobility's lackey," the female mage looked at Griffith without fear, "you kill me, and thousands of brave people will stand up and overthrow this chaotic world! "

"I have no interest in your life. Your mental power is very weak, you are not a professionally trained mage, how did you manage to master frost magic and enchanted giant mouse at the same time?" Griffith seemed to have not heard her speak. asked the same.

"..." The female mage was stunned for a moment, "I have a ring, and I can use low-level ice spells several times every once in a while. The control of the familiar is given by others, and the connection with it is imprinted on my soul. On. Ring...I hang it on my chest with a string."

Griffith took off her armor while holding the female mage's hand, and groped you under her clothes.

The female mage turned her head away and avoided Griffith's eyes: "This is the only thing I have of value. If you take this, you will let me go?"

"I have no interest in your life," Griffith found a pale bone ring from the female mage, and looked at it curiously, "Let's go, cut off your spiritual connection with this ring, give up ownership, Also, tell me the name of the person who gave you the familiar."

There seems to be an invisible barrier on the bone ring, so that Griffith's consciousness cannot reach it.

"OK."

As soon as the voice fell, endless babble suddenly poured out of the bone ring, wrapping Griffith's brain. The babble seemed to be calling for something, but no matter how much I listened, I couldn't hear it clearly.

A huge amount of messy information was rolling around in the apprentice knight's head, and he didn't even understand what was going on before he fell to the ground with a thud, convulsing all over his body.

"Bah! Lag!" The female mage struggled to break free from under Griffith and kicked him hard.

The female mage silently looked at Griffith, who was twitching on the ground, and suddenly grabbed the ring in his hand and held it in the palm of his hand, and said viciously: "Idiot, after disconnecting from me, the will of the Lord of the Rings can crush you. I will not give it to you, lackey! This is our hope to overthrow the old world, it is our power, my power!

"mine……

"baby!"