Free Web Novel"Hold on tight!"
Muen gave an order toward the carriage. Before there was any response from inside, he suddenly snapped the reins.
It was actually difficult for the reins to inflict any pain on the dragonblood horse’s rock-hard hide. Yet at this moment, deep within Muen’s pupils, at the edge of the darkness that flowed there, one or two faint golden star-points flickered—something even Muen himself did not notice.
Compared to that pitch-black sun, the golden star-points were so tiny as to be negligible, to the extent that even Muen failed to perceive their existence. And yet, the vague pressure they gave off was, to a horse with dragon blood flowing through its body, like a true superior descending in person!
The dragonblood horse neighed and bolted forward at a nearly suicidal speed.
A faintly pungent smell spread through the air.
It came from a kind of beast-repelling potion. For most mindless magical beasts, it had the effect of driving them away.
Naturally, the dragonblood horse was no exception.
But this time, the galloping dragonblood horse acted as if it had not smelled that loathsome odor at all, plunging headfirst into the dark, narrow alley.
The shadows that had been steadily closing in froze for a moment. It seemed that even they had not expected their carefully prepared measure to have no effect whatsoever.
But they reacted very quickly, surging forward at a speed that nearly turned them into afterimages!
Those figures gradually emerged from the shadows, still dressed head to toe in black, to the point that one could not tell whether they were ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) men or women.
"It looks like the ones being used next aren’t the kind of disposable small fry from before."
Seeing the intent behind their concealing attire, Muen stiffly tugged the corner of his mouth and snapped the reins again.
Sorry, Ma-chan. I’ll feed you the best fodder afterward and find you the wildest mares, so for now—squeeze out that little universe of yours one more time!
"Neigh—!"
The dragonblood horse’s cry grew even more piercing. It actually managed to boost its speed by another twenty to thirty percent, and in a short span was about to break out of the encirclement.
But at that moment, a sudden metallic hum vibrated through the air, accompanied by a flash of cold, sinister light.
A pitch-black longspear shot toward them at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
"Clang—"
The black spear passed straight through the defensive formation around the carriage and nailed itself into the carriage body. And with a shudder of the carriage, that sturdy compartment failed to fully withstand it—half the spearhead had already plunged directly into the cabin!
"It was anti-magic arrows before, now it’s straight-up anti-magic spears?"
Muen’s eyelid twitched.
Same material; with greater mass, a spear naturally carried more kinetic force than a small arrow, and its penetrating power was stronger.
But forging something like this out of such precious anti-magic material also meant it was even more expensive!
"Dammit—having money doesn’t mean you get to waste it like this!"
Duke’s son · playboy · rich second generation · estate seller · Muen expressed strong condemnation and disdain for this kind of extravagant behavior.
Relying only on external tools, what kind of real strength is that? If you’ve got guts, come swing fists like real men and show off your manly spirit!
Then in the very next instant, almost every one of the black-clad figures quietly drew a black longspear from within their wide robes.
They clearly did not care whether they were real men or not.
"Shit!"
Muen’s face stiffened for a moment as he yanked the reins, rapidly steering the carriage to evade.
"Your Highness, next it’d be best not to touch the carriage walls, or you’ll turn into a hedgehog!" Muen shouted toward the cabin.
"I understand the logic."
After a brief silence, Prince Albert’s pained voice came from inside the carriage:
"But tell me—how am I supposed to sit still and keep my balance without touching the walls?"
"...Then you’ll have to make use of that brilliant brain of yours, Your Highness!"
With no time to worry about Albert inside, Muen’s movements grew increasingly practiced. Pulling the reins, he sent the carriage into a high-difficulty fishtail drift, doing his best to increase the difficulty of the enemy’s aim.
But with the carriage’s massive silhouette, quite a few spears still slammed hard into the cabin. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
The most worrisome outcome—blood flowing from inside the carriage—did not occur, and Muen continued urging the carriage forward.
After one round of concentrated throws failed, someone finally reacted and shifted their aim to the galloping horse.
"Clang—"
But with a clear sound of impact, the spear aimed at the horse was actually deflected in midair.
A trace of shock appeared in the thrower’s eyes. To precisely strike and intercept a high-speed spear in midair—what kind of outrageous reaction speed and accuracy would that require?
"Heh. Trying to kill my horse right in front of me? Just how little do you take me for?"
Muen sneered, toying with a spear he had casually pulled from the carriage.
The body of the man who had thrown the spear stiffened, as if all the strength had been instantly drained from him, and he slowly collapsed.
He lowered his head, staring at his own chest in disbelief. At some point unknown to him, a spear had already pierced straight through.
When... did it happen?
The question was destined to go unanswered as his life force gradually dissipated.
"The timing should be about right."
Muen cast a sidelong glance at the surrounding black-clad figures, who seemed to have been intimidated by his move.
Before the echo of his words could fully scatter into the wind, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out.
Then, a thick smell of blood spread.
Another group of black-clad figures, their forms concealed, burst out from the shadows and immediately engaged the blockers in fierce combat.
The ambushers naturally held the advantage over those whose attention had been fixed on the carriage, and their strength also seemed noticeably greater, so the balance of the fight shifted almost at once.
Muen, however, did not focus on those thrilling, dangerous clashes. Taking advantage of the opening, he hurriedly drove the carriage out of the danger zone.
"It should be temporarily over. Are you alright?"
Once the carriage steadied, Muen lifted the curtain and asked inside.
"Sh-should be."
Inside the carriage, the two people, disheveled and tangled together like they had just been through some intense two-person exercise, panted heavily.
"As long as you’re fine."
Muen lowered the curtain with studious discretion. "Hurry and recover a bit. No idea what we might run into next."
"Hopefully not this again."
Looking at the sharp spearheads only a few centimeters from his scalp, Albert said tearfully.
"You should feel fortunate," Muen said. "The fact that they still need tools like these shows they’re not the real trouble yet."
"Then...the real trouble..."
"Don’t worry. Truly troublesome things aren’t that easy to send right in front of us. After all—"
Muen let out a meaningful cold smile as he continued:
"Sometimes, the cards everyone can play are actually pretty much the same—we just have different suits, isn’t that right?"
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"Captain, what exactly is the mission we’re going to carry out this time?"
In the Lower District, on a remote street, within a team galloping hard on horseback, Sineel ultimately couldn’t suppress his curiosity and asked cautiously.
There were not many of them—only around a dozen riders—but the fine horses beneath them, despite having no special bloodline, were astonishingly fast, as if skimming over the ground.
They were draped in black cloaks and wore hoods. Their appearance was no different from the other black-clad figures throughout the city, except that when the wind lifted their cloaks, one could glimpse beneath them a noble platinum-white uniform inlaid with gold thread.
On the collars, a blooming golden iris symbolized that they all belonged to the same illustrious organization.
The Royal Mage Corps.
