The night grew darker. Around forty Black Wolf mercenaries searched through the dense forest, carrying lit torches in their hands. The sudden, unnatural silence made several of them shudder and begin moving more cautiously.
Kael watched their movements from behind the shadows of a large tree. There were too many of them; if he ended up surrounded in an open area, the situation could turn fatal. Not far from him, Lizzy’s eyes glinted dangerously in the darkness of the night.
"?????? ???????????? ????????????????... ???????? ?????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????????? ?????????????????? ???? ???? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ?????????? ???????? ????????????," Lizzy thought with a faint smirk.
After briefly glancing toward Kael, the woman moved silently to the left, blending perfectly into the darkness of the forest.
A soldier on the outer edge of the formation caught a glimpse of a moving shadow. "Someone’s here! Stay alert!"
They signaled to one another with their hands. Some moved to investigate the bushes in the direction Lizzy had gone, while the rest ventured deeper between the trees to search for Kael.
Kael waited for the right moment as the group spread out, targeting the two rearmost soldiers who appeared to have let their guard down.
"That man named Kael is really giving us a headache," one of them muttered. "Ever since he killed Captain Marcus, the organization has been thrown into chaos."
"Have you forgotten what kind of person he is?" his companion replied. "He’s a rebellious mercenary who doesn’t like being given unnecessary orders."
Their footsteps drew closer. Kael readied his sword. As the two rearmost soldiers passed the tree where he was hiding, Kael moved in a flash. From behind the trunk, he reached out, covered the rearmost soldier’s mouth, and struck his neck with a precise thrust, granting him a swift death without unnecessary suffering.
The soldier in front of him, Loyd, continued walking, unaware that his companion had already fallen. "Still, be careful around someone like him. Even so, he’s quite famous among mercenaries for his skills."
When he heard no response from behind him, Loyd turned around. The place was deserted. His companion had vanished without a trace.
"Damn it!" Loyd hissed, cold sweat running down his forehead. "I let my guard down... He’s somewhere around here!"
He cautiously prepared to turn around and run back to report to the others. "????’?? ?????? ?????????????????? ???? ???????? ?????????????? ???????? ?????? ??????????. ?? ???????? ????????!"
However, the moment he turned around, Kael was already standing right in front of him, his sword raised and ready to behead him!
Fortunately, Loyd’s combat reflexes were fast enough. He raised his sword just in time.
Clang!
Sparks flew into the air.
"So you’ve finally shown yourself, Senior!" Loyd shouted, struggling to withstand the pressure of Kael’s sword.
"You still haven’t lost your habit of talking about other people, have you, Loyd?" Kael replied coldly, continuing to press his attack and drive Loyd into a corner.
Realizing he had no chance of winning and could die within seconds, Loyd drew a breath to shout for help. But before he could make a sound, a hysterical, piercing scream rang out from another part of the forest, some distance away.
"?????????! ????’?? ?????? ???????????!" Loyd clicked his tongue in panic.
He could only parry and keep retreating. "?? ??????????????’?? ???????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ?????????????? ?? ?????? ?????????????? ???? ?????? ???????????? ???? ???????? ??????’?? ????????! ???? ?? ?????????????? ??????????????, ??’???? ???????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???? ????????????!"
Kael’s relentless attacks left Loyd struggling to find an opening to defend himself, especially with the dense trees surrounding them.
"Aren’t you being a little too serious with your junior, Senior?!" Loyd shouted as he leaped backward, using the trees for cover. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "He’s here! He’s trying to kill me!"
Hearing his cries, the mercenaries in other parts of the forest immediately rushed toward his location.
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, mercenaries began disappearing one by one in silence. Short screams occasionally rang out before abruptly cutting off.
Witnessing the terrifying difference in the pattern of attacks, the remaining soldiers began to realize something.
"Judging by the way they’re attacking, this is clearly an assassin! So Kael actually has such a skilled ally!"
When the main group arrived at the location of Loyd’s cries, they found him leaning against a tree, his body covered in wounds and his breathing ragged.
"Where is he?!" one of them barked.
"He must be around here! He’s hiding!" Loyd replied, clutching his wound as blood continued to pour from it.
"?? ??????????’???? ???????? ???????? ???? ???????? ????????’?? ?????????????? ???? ??????????????..."
They raised their torches high. The surrounding trees looked empty and ominous.
"Hey, Kael! Come out and face us if you don’t want your companion to die!"
Kael did not emerge. He patiently waited for the right moment from his perch on a branch, intending to eliminate the easiest target.
However, his enemies’ abilities could not be underestimated this time. When Kael dropped down to kill the rearmost man, they had already anticipated his move and successfully thwarted his ambush.
Kael leaped backward, his position now clearly visible in the dim torchlight. He could no longer return to hiding and launch random attacks.
"You’re pretty skilled yourselves."
Only about ten men remained to surround him. Seeing this opportunity, Loyd smiled faintly and slowly retreated into the darkness to escape.
"??’?? ?????????? ?????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ?????? ??????????!"
The man at the front of the formation raised his sword high.
"Even though we worked together on the battlefield for two years, I won’t hesitate to kill you, traitor!"
"Aren’t you taking this a little too far, Vice Captain?" Kael replied, bracing himself for battle. "Besides, I killed the Captain because my contract had already ended, and this was purely a personal matter."
Kael remained fully alert. The Black Wolf organization’s Vice Captain was considerably more skilled and agile than the late Marcus.
"Even though Marcus was an insufferable bastard, I can’t just stand by while someone kills a close friend of mine, can I? Consider this a personal matter as well."
The Black Wolf Vice Captain advanced alongside eight of his subordinates, while Loyd had already made his escape.
They moved in an orderly formation, surrounding Kael from multiple angles. Even so, Kael could still move freely. Although he sustained several scratches, he managed to slash one man’s neck, sending him collapsing to the ground.
Clang!
When his sword clashed violently with the Black Wolf Vice Captain’s, Kael was forced several steps backward. Mercenaries on every side were ready to charge at him as well. Kael moved away from the Vice Captain and dodged several deadly slashes from the men behind him.
However, just as he was about to protect his back, the Black Wolf Vice Captain had already moved behind him and delivered a close-range slash.
Fortunately, Kael reacted quickly enough to twist his body aside. Although the blade cut across his back and blood soaked into his clothes, the wound was not as severe as it could have been, and he was far from dying.
"Watch your back if you don’t want to die early and join your friends!" the Black Wolf Vice Captain threatened, giving Kael no time to catch his breath.
The wound on Kael’s back slowed his movements somewhat. Now he had to face seven men at once, all of whom continued trying to surround him and restrict his movements.
In the midst of this critical situation, Kael struggled to remain calm. He closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the words of one of his former companions, a handsome man with black hair and sharp eyes.
"Is that all you’ve got? How have you managed to stay alive with swordsmanship as crude and terrible as yours?"
That man was Luis Valerius, a former noble who had lost his entire family after being defeated in a war.
The memory of Kael getting back to his feet in the mercenary camp, sword in hand, came vividly to mind.
"Of course my swordsmanship looks crude and terrible to you. I’m nothing but a commoner trying to survive."
In the past, they had dueled countless times, and Kael had always lost. He had never been able to understand Luis’s movements, which were incredibly fast, fluid, and difficult to predict. The more they fought, the more Kael remembered a strange phrase Luis often repeated back then:
"Water flows from the center of the path, while two cords sway and guide the heart."
Recalling those words amid the enemies’ encircling blades, Kael finally understood their meaning. Calmness and sincerity of intent came from the center of the heart, while the two hands moved freely toward their purpose without hesitation.
Now, with his enemies having completely surrounded him, Kael finally grasped it. Although he was nowhere near as skilled as his late friend, he successfully executed the secret sword technique of the Valerius family, a technique that would otherwise have vanished forever, since no members of the Valerius family remained after Luis’s death.
Kael’s movements suddenly became swift and fluid. Each of his slashes curved sharply, making it difficult for the Black Wolf Vice Captain to predict the direction of his blade.
After killing all the mercenaries surrounding him, Kael delivered a perfect finishing move. He lunged forward with a swift, straight thrust, and the tip of his sword pierced the Black Wolf Vice Captain’s chest.