Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 331 Encountering a Ghost
"and many more!"

Just as Thales and Nikolai were talking, Ada, who was watching from a rooftop, suddenly looked down and exclaimed, "I'm down there..."

The next second, a huge sound came!
boom!
The wooden roof beneath Ada's feet suddenly shattered!
Amidst the elf's gasp, she tumbled from the roof into the house.

In the queue on the street, everyone's expression changed drastically!

Thales looked worriedly at the house where Ada had disappeared, but was pulled back by the furious Nicolai, who yanked on the reins: "Defense formation!"

thump!
The sound of something heavy falling to the ground.

Amidst the hurried, orderly footsteps of the northerners, a furious shout from the elven guard echoed from inside the house: "Who are you—"

But before Ada could finish speaking, the sound of weapons clashing rang out rapidly!
"Ding-clang-clang-ding-ding-clang-clang..."

Thales's expression suddenly changed: within a second, the sound of metal clashing together rang out more than a dozen times!
There wasn't even time to breathe!
Like a wind chime ringing incessantly in a strong wind.

Nicolai and Justin were also shocked, exchanging an incredulous glance.

Fifteen exchanges?
That means, in a single second, the two people who clashed...

"Ding."

With the final sound, the sounds of the battle abruptly ceased!

boom!
Before Thales could even process what was happening, a strange, black figure burst through the window with a whooshing sound!

Head straight for Thales!
Thales' expression changed drastically: Ada lost?

From the moment Ada fell into the house to the moment the black figure broke through the window and attacked, less than four or five seconds had passed!

In fact, from the moment the metal weapons clashed, it was only a second of contact...

Did Ada lose?
A chill ran through Thales’ heart. In that instant, he remembered the terrifying assassin who had broken through the encirclement six years ago: Baannet Sarridon.

But there was no time for Thales to think: amidst Nicolai's furious shout and the Grand Duke's orderly formation, the figure that had suddenly attacked landed just in time.

Because the surrounding area had been cleared before their arrival, Nikolai placed most of his guards on the outer perimeter, thus lowering his guard against the intruders who appeared on his return journey.

The black figure landed somewhat unsteadily, but when he shakily got up, he was only a few meters away from Thales.

He was tall and narrow, even a head taller than the medium-sized Nicolai. He was completely covered in a dark black robe, so that his face and skin were not visible.

It was like the purest night.

However, he held two thin, long swords in his hands, the blades of which were less than two fingers wide.

"Do it!"

Nikolai dismounted decisively and roared.

The Rising Sun Saber was drawn from his back.

Justin, arriving from the rear, also had his weapon in hand, ready to intercept.

The six Grand Duke's guards surrounding Thales stood firmly in his way.

Just then, with a loud bang, thick gray smoke suddenly billowed out from around the intruder!

"It's an alchemical orb! Stand back!"

From within the obstructing gray smoke, Nikolai's furious shout rang out: "Protect the prince! Find cover! I'll deal with him!"

The northerners swarmed around the assassin, while some of the Grand Duke's guards covered the prince as he retreated to the other side of the street.

As the smoke thickened, Thales's vision blurred, and he could only barely make out the black figure and Nicolai's back.

"Your Highness!"

Wyatt struggled to pull Thales off his horse and, together with Rolf, dragged him backward. Willow and Jenard, along with the other Star People, stood firmly behind the Grand Duke's guard, blocking the way.

Thales, keeping his feet firmly on the ground, broke free from Wya's tight grip: "Let's get the formation set up first..."

Just then, through the hazy vision of the smoke, the prince could barely make out that the black-robed intruder had raised his twin swords.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding-"

The next instant, Thales' ears twitched.

He had only one feeling:
Is it raining?

The air was filled with a continuous, incessant, and almost never-ending sound of fine metal clanging!

Like an endless downpour, violently pounding against the fragile eaves in a terrible gale.

"Clang, clang—"

Pleasant to the ears.

Thrilling.

The torrential sounds of the clashes almost drowned out the angry shouts of the northerners rushing forward.

However, at this moment, in the heart of the thick smoke, no one was more shocked than Nicolai himself.

Without him.

He was suppressed.

In the instant he drew his sword to engage in battle, Nikolai had just swung his first blade, parrying an enemy's slash—

"Ding!"

The enemy's other blade arrived immediately, ready to strike again!
Without a pause.

Nikolai's heart tightened, and a unique twist of fate suddenly arose from his bones: at the last moment, his blade immediately bent upwards to block the second blow.

"clang!"

But this is not enough.

Because the opponent had just pulled back the first sword, and then, as if without any buffer, slashed out with the next sword!
"Keng!"

The Fate's Curve was unleashed once more, and Nikolai, his face flushed, desperately blocked the third sword strike.

not enough.

The enemy's fourth sword strike broke through the thick smoke from another hand and came at once again!

"Qiang!"

Still not enough!

Nicolai almost felt like he was suffocating.

The fifth sword.

"when!"

The sixth sword.

"Qiang!"

Within a second, the enemy's twin swords attacked alternately at an incredible speed.

There are no moves, no fancy tricks, no angles.

Speed ​​is all that matters.

The purest speed.

To Nikolai's horror, he discovered that he couldn't keep up with the speed of his opponent's sword strikes!

The Seventh Sword.

eighth--

"Clang, clang—"

All the Meteorite could do was constantly press its body with the power of termination, desperately trying to catch up with the opponent's sword speed amidst the thick gray smoke!
In the already obstructed gray smoke, his face contorted: he could barely see the enemy's movements.

"Clang! Clang!"

Hearing the multiple sounds coming from the same direction, Nikolai was suddenly startled!
No, it wasn't just him.

At that moment, Justin was also among those fighting the invaders amidst the thick smoke.

On the other side of the enemy, just like Nikolai, he gritted his teeth and struggled to hold on!

Nicolai and Justin, two battle-hardened Grand Duke's bodyguards, two different positions, and one of them is even at the extreme.

However, the enemy used a terrifying sword speed that was like a torrential rain, alternating back and forth, to suppress him when he was fighting two against one!
"Ding-ding-ding-ding-"

The sound continued incessantly.

However, with each swing, the black-robed man's twin swords grew faster and faster!

How can it be?

"Ding! Clang!"

In just two seconds, Nikolai was forced to take a step back from the opponent's ninth sword strike, his heart trembling with shock: How could there be... such a fast sword speed?
This was a situation that the Meteorite had never encountered in his combat career.

His bones groaned, the blade trembled, and his muscles roared!

Conicole knew that his blocking and interception were nearing their limit.

But the enemy's twin swords did not pause at all; on the contrary, they became even faster!
"Keng!"

In the third second, Justin gritted his teeth, his feet trembled, and his body swayed—he failed to keep up with the enemy's next sword strike.

The man in black robes seized the opportunity instantly, leaping up with his right leg and soaring over Justin's head!
"Jingle bell!"

He unleashed three swift sword strikes along the way, countering the attacks of G.K.N.K. and Justin, and even countered with a sword strike!
The Meteorite was shocked. He finally realized amidst his frustration and despair that he had encountered an insurmountable enemy.

It might be an unprecedented power of termination.

It took him three seconds to break through the combined blockade of him and Justin.

Three seconds!
All I could do was block, block, and block again, but I was powerless to fight back—how could this be!

Nicolai stared in astonishment at the black-robed man who had flipped over Justin in the air, watching as the figure rose to a height of three men before gradually disappearing into the thick smoke.

Flying towards the skies above Thales.

The Meteorite gritted his teeth in hatred, and the Rising Sun Saber in his hand erupted with terrifying heat as his anger surged: he was ready to use the legendary anti-magic weapon to crush his opponent.

Just now.

"Ahhhh!"

The elven guard—Eda's distinctive, annoyed, and displeased shout—suddenly rang out from the sky!

"Get down here!"

Nikolai's pupils contracted as he saw a flash of light from the indistinct smoke.

The black-robed figure that rose into the thick gray smoke trembled violently!
As the blade flashed, the black-robed figure was as if struck hard from mid-air by an unseen hand, losing all momentum and plummeting towards the ground!

"Boom!"

With a dull thud as the blade pierced through clothing, the man in black robes fell to the ground.

He remained motionless, pinned firmly to the ground.

"Clang!"

The enemy's twin swords fell to the ground upon hearing the sound, and were kicked away by Ada, who landed with them.

The elf's cursing voice rang out: "Damn it, so what if you're fast with dual swords—"

Nikolai finally breathed a sigh of relief.

fine……

They stopped him.

Huhu——

A strong wind blew up, and Rolf used his supernatural ability to disperse the smoke that was obstructing his vision.

As the thick smoke gradually dissipated, Nikolai frowned and looked around: the Grand Duke's guards, still shaken, rushed over and cautiously surrounded the man in black and Edda.

"Surround him and kill him!"

Nikolai, annoyed, ordered, "Don't let him touch the weapons!"

“Boss,” Justin said, clutching a wound on his arm and looking at him in disbelief, “that guy, that sword speed… how could he possibly do that?”

Nikolai stared at the figure surrounded by thick smoke, lost in deep thought.

“I remember now.” “A long time ago, when Kaslan was still in the guard, he demonstrated it to us,” Nikolai frowned, pulled Justin up, and walked toward the man in black robes: “That kind of fast two-handed sword technique that almost surpasses sound, with instantaneous speed: ‘Rainstorm’.”

"Kaslan? Beyond sound? Torrential rain?"

Justin muttered to himself in confusion at first, then turned his head in astonishment as if he had suddenly remembered something: "But that doesn't belong exclusively to..."

“Yes, the lightning-fast dual-sword technique, like a storm, is a skill unique to that contemporary of the End Tower in Caslan,” the Meteorite nodded solemnly, recalling the feeling of their recent exchange: “The legendary Valkyrie of the Battle of Lyleden, the ‘Standard Bearer’ knight appointed by the Hambul royal family…”

With a hint of disbelief in his voice, he murmured, "'Heart in the Rain' Jasmine Lorraine."

"You mean... the female knight Loran?" Justin's expression changed, and he quickly turned to the man in black robes, exclaiming in surprise, "How is this possible—'Heart in the Rain,' she, wasn't she killed in battle in Hambul on the Eastern Continent thirty years ago?"

Nicolai patted his deputy on the shoulder and shook his head: "We'll find out soon enough."

Through the smoke, they walked together toward the black-robed man lying on the ground.

"Hey!"

As the smoke cleared and the view gradually became clearer, Ada's small figure appeared.

She stood with her hands on her hips, pointing at the black-robed figure pinned to the ground by her curved blade, and kept muttering, "Your skills are so-so, you can bully pretty boys, but you even tried to ambush me..."

Nikolai frowned as he looked at Eda.

But the next moment, the elven guard's nagging stopped abruptly!

"Eh—Eh!"

Ada stared intently at the person on the ground, her mouth agape, her face a mixture of innocence and terror as she looked around at the people around her: "This...this...this..."

Nikolai's expression changed.

Ignoring the lingering choking smoke, he rushed over and pushed aside his guards.

Nikolai reached out and grabbed the man in black robes, then his whole body trembled!
He noticed something was wrong.

Nikolai pulled the scimitar from the ground by Edaza, scooped up the "person" on the ground, and stood up with a solemn expression.

The soldiers around him saw what he was holding and erupted in an uproar!
"what happened……"

"Just now, it was clearly..."

Have you checked it?

Amidst everyone's astonished gazes, Justin stepped forward, saw Nicole's hand clearly, and his eyes widened.

The meteorite was holding a black robe in his hand.

An empty black robe.

Its hem hung down without any support, swaying back and forth in the air.

Only black robes.

There are no living things.

Nikolai stared intently at the black robe in his hand for a few seconds before widening his eyes and casting a questioning look at his deputy.

“No, boss,” Justin knew what he wanted to ask and shook his head in equal surprise: “We just surrounded this place completely, we didn’t encounter any enemies trying to break out, and no one was able to escape.”

"What's going on..." Ada stammered, clutching her chest tightly with her hands, looking around nervously as if she'd seen a ghost. "I definitely hit it..."

"Why is it missing?"

Nikolai stared in disbelief, looking at the black robe and then at the confused and astonished faces of the soldiers around him.

He lowered his head and, as if testing the waters, kicked the pair of light, slender swords used by the man in black robes on the ground.

The two swords were obediently kicked away, proving their existence and that they were not illusions.

Nicolai took a deep breath before hesitantly speaking, "Justin, the one who just fought us..."

"It is indeed a living person, isn't it?"

Lord Justin opened his mouth slightly, as if to say something but then stopped: "I..."

No one speaks.

Only the black robe remained, still swaying incessantly, spreading an eerie atmosphere along with the rapier on the ground.

At this moment.

"Your Highness, Your Highness!"

A mournful cry rang out.

Nikolai was startled and quickly turned around.

It's Wyatt.

Not far away, beside Jenny the Black Horse, Wyatt Cassel, the prince's attendant, was frantically shoving away those around him like a madman.

He frantically searched for every figure in his field of vision, his face filled with barely suppressed panic: "Tales... Your Highness Thales!"

"how--"

Startled and uncertain, Nikolai only managed to utter one word before Wyah, noticing him, rushed towards the Fallen Star, only to be firmly stopped by a Grand Duke's personal guard beside him:
"Hey, Northerner... Your Highness, where is Your Highness?"

The attendants asked everyone in a panic, "Has anyone seen His Highness?"

what?
As the smoke dissipated, the Meteorite instinctively turned towards the direction of Jenny the Black Horse.

But all he could see was a group of panicked Star People and their equally bewildered guards on the periphery.

Willow crouched down, anxiously searching in the corners of the crowd. Jenard weaved through the crowd, stopping people from time to time, frowning as he looked them over, then letting them go in disappointment.

One person is missing.

Less...

The thought flashed through the mind of the meteorite.

He immediately froze on the spot.

At that moment, everyone who reacted, whether it was Justin, Ada, or Rolf, changed color!

"Huh?" This was a bewildered Eda.

Rolf stared wide-eyed, gripping Wyman tightly, and frantically gesturing in sign language towards him.

But the Meteorite was even more brutal and decisive, shoving Rolf aside, grabbing Wyman by the collar with both hands, and demanding with a ferocious expression, "What happened!"

"The prince—where is the prince?"

But Wyatt looked like he was about to collapse. He shook his head, his voice filled with fear and worry: "No, no, the assassins came too fast... the smoke was too thick, the noise was too loud, it was too chaotic... I pulled His Highness off his horse, and when I went to grab him, I could only catch Jenard..."

Jenard's face was grim: "Impossible, the prince was right next to me just moments before you were fighting... how could this be..."

Nikolai suppressed his anger and growled, shoving the out-of-control Wyatt to the ground.

But no one had time to deal with the relationship between the Northerners and the Star People at that moment.

"Was she kidnapped by that assassin?"

"He dodged my throwing knife when he jumped up and kidnapped Thales from mid-air?" Ada said to Nicolai in horror.

The pale-faced Nikolai suddenly looked up at the rooftop closest to them.

There stood a Grand Duke's guard who had previously climbed onto the roof to keep watch, holding a crossbow.

"No, boss!"

The guard, standing on higher ground, said with a puzzled look, "From the moment we left until now, even when the smoke was thick... whether it was the streets, alleys, rooftops, or any slightly elevated place... I swear on the honor and lives of the White Blade Guard, I haven't seen anyone leave! The same goes for everyone else!"

Nikolai gritted his teeth and turned to look at the Grand Duke's personal guard who was rushing up from behind.

The guard simply shook his head: "The entrances and exits around the ground have been well guarded by the sentries we just set up. From the time the assassin appeared until just now, no one has entered or left—we checked the passwords and faces, and no one has impersonated one of our own."

Nikolai was completely stunned.

On this street, whether they were from the North or from the Stars, they were all dumbfounded, looking at each other in disbelief.

The meteorite took a deep breath.

He turned to the soldiers around him, almost grinding his teeth to powder, and angrily gave the order:
"Form ranks, search! From here, to our outermost cordon, every wall, every alley, every house, every ditch, and even behind every person!"

"Stop every suspicious person—our posts and blockade are still in place; no one can leave here silently!"

In the heavy and eerie atmosphere, the patrol team and the Grand Duke's guards, whose faces were equally pale, responded with a resounding roar.

They took their positions and carried out their duties with discipline: moving, forming ranks, spreading out, and searching. Everyone looked around anxiously and nervously, searching for their target and not wanting to miss any corner.

The Star People, led by Wyman, were also preparing to take action, but were firmly stopped in place by several cold-blooded Grand Duke guards, and could only wait anxiously in place.

Awaiting the results of the Northerners' search.

But a few minutes passed.

"There's nothing in the four alleys to the east!"

"The area around Luxelakes Residence is very clean!"

"The intersection between Axe District and Spear District is deserted!"

"We've searched everywhere, inside and outside the chess and card room!"

"All the houses in the south have been searched!"

"No clues found in the ditch on the left!"

"We practically tore down the house where the assassin appeared, and apart from the broken roof, there wasn't even a fly in sight!"

Neither the patrols nor the Grand Duke's guards found anything during their search.

As he listened to his subordinates' reports, Nikolai's expression grew increasingly grim.

Finally, Justin and his men emerged from the last alley and shook their heads at Nicolai, whose face was ashen.

"When the assassins appeared, our outposts and blockade were intact. From the high ground to the main road on the ground, within a radius of two hundred meters, there was no leak. The assassins' smoke had no effect on them," Justin's voice sounded strained.
"But...they didn't see anyone break through."

"Anyone".

Nikolai's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he stared blankly at his deputy, frozen in place.

how come?
There's none in the sky, none on the rooftops, none on the ground, none in the alleyways...

Within a radius of several hundred meters, no one entered or left, and no one was pretending...

The prince was just kidnapped out of thin air?

Everyone was silent.

The situation is clear: there's nothing around, and nothing outside.

They couldn't find that figure.

That fourteen-year-old figure.

That figure who can influence the future of the two great powers of the Western Continent.

It's as if they disappeared without a trace.

“Damn…” Nikolai breathed heavily, his eyes flashing with a fierce light as he looked at the surrounding buildings, as if he suspected what lay behind every wall.

what happened……

what happened……

Wyatt and Rolf looked at each other with concern and shook their heads.

“Impossible,” Ada said gravely, “This is too strange…”

Beside him, Lord Justin frowned deeply.

"Boss..."

Nicolai, his face contorted, turned to his deputy, who stared blankly at the ground.

"The 'Heart in the Rain,' which has been dead for thirty years, suddenly appeared and then vanished into thin air, and now Prince Thales is added to the mix..."

Lord Justin stared, pale-faced, at the empty black robe, then at the two swords dangling on the ground, blinking rapidly as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"We...could we really be..."

Did you encounter a ghost?

(End of this chapter)