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After a visit from her daughter, Duchess Eleanor sat dispirited in her office as that argument completely went out of her hand. She stood up against the window to watch the first sun rays of the morning illuminate the heaven as the storm slowly started to dissipate.
Leon was still missing.
This face left a hole in Eleanor's head. She couldn't hear of anyone she sent to extract Leon and after what happened last night… hell, she is not even sure if Leon is alive or not.
"Any news?" She asked.
"Nothing, your Highness." Devon replied.
It wasn't going anywhere at this rate. She needed to move somehow while keeping the Royal Family in place. House Dark is also involved against their son and will stop at nothing to keep wagging their tails to the King.
"Your Highness…" A Knight knocked on the door and walked in urgently with Devon's permission.
"What is it?" Eleanor asked and Devon paid attention.
"Lord Henry has personally intercepted an official message from the Palace. It was meant to arrive here." The Knight said
Eleanor knew what this meant. If there is a royal envoy with a message directed to her then the King is brewing his own scheme again and wants to force it on her. Eleanor was good at evading those schemes but this wasn't good timing thus her husband, Lord Henry, must have taken matters into his hands.
"What did it say?" She asked.
"The King wanted to invite Miss Alice to the Royal Palace for…" The Knight said but Eleanor raised her hand wanting to hear of this no more.
It was plain and simple at this point. Her brother, the King, wanted to switch hostages now that Leon is potentially out of the picture. Alice seemed like a good candidate to pressure the Eastern Duchies since she is the daughter of the House of Shadow and the…
Eleanor stopped thinking at this point with a feeling of spite crawling up under her skin.
"How did my reckless husband handle it?" She asked.
Knowing her husband, he must have used one of the most infuriating ways to get to the messenger of the Royals.
"The Lord used a citizen riot to instigate chaos and chased down the messenger then handed them to the people to burn on the stake." The Knight reported.
It was a vicious and cruel way to kill the messenger but the Royal Family and the Ducal Houses are not the biggest fans of each other these days. The Royal Family had long since started to lose control and trust among both the Eastern Aristocracy and the People, such an alliance between the political opposition and the revolutionaries was already bound to happen.
But the question is, how many punches will the Royal Family take before starting to punch back?
… And where the hell is Leon?
***
*Last Night - The City*
He may have used all his supply of luck after that "jumpy" chase with the ridiculously powerful knight but he gained an invaluable ability just from baiting the Knight to do the moves a few times. He was still sorry for the families who live under the roofs which probably need fixing by now… and probably for the families of those whom he killed but they got it coming.
Either way, Leon never understood why there was such a delay between every jump when the Knight performed a leap. When he saw this message…
< You have learned [Combat Magic - Leap] >
… he was already up in the sky performing jumps on a ridiculous scale compared to the Knight.
He remembers the action of Jump from the game but there was this hack which allowed the players to "Double Jump" which was very useful for exploration purposes. Funny enough, the moment he tried it for the first time, it almost worked.
The jump was so high that it scared the hell out of him when he was landing but to his luck, he landed on a very steep roof which acted as a slide. He carefully took the slide down, dropped into a narrow street and instead of leaping back up, he recklessly leaped ahead like a grasshopper.
Once, Twice, Thrice…
< You have learned [Rush] >
"Seriously?"
It didn't matter if it was the same skill but using [Leap] was already taxing on his Stamina and after a fight and a chase, he was starting to feel dizzy. While hoping it is a better alternative to [Leap], he stepped forward and evoked [Rush].
*Swoosh*
Like nothing he ever experienced, the wind seemed to have stopped defying him as he moved like a loosen arrow. It was indeed not as consuming as [Leap] but…
*Crash* *Crash* *Meow*
… There was no way to navigate with it in a narrow alley without crashing into something that by its part crashes you into another thing leading to a pile of trash.
"… Perfect!"
Still, he lost all of the Knights thanks to that newfound ability.
Feeling the pain from every inch of his body, Leon suppressed it and stepped out of the trash pile dusting himself off and walked back to the main street. There were a lot of people coming and going meaning that he managed to bypass the search area and from that, blending with the public seemed like the best course of action.
His Pain Resistance kept him going despite the shitty encounter he's been through but even he realized that with this weak undeveloped body of a 16 years old, it will be difficult to survive another encounter…
"Leon you cur!"
And as if life was just trying to slap him right on the face, someone discovered him without much effort even with no magic. As he walked with the flow, a patrol of guards riding on horses passed by and they shouldn't have noticed him in normal cases but the one on their lead was obviously no guard.
The hair is grey, the eyes are black, the appearance is a bit close to that of himself but some facial features were completely different. Leon recalled the identity of this young man faster than recalling anything else and with this recollection came a sudden burst of hate and dark emotions.
"Dean… Dean Dark."
His half-brother no less.
"I caught you, you bastard…"
Dean Dark was the second son of the Ducal House of Dark, and the hate he had for Leon is something else. Before a month ago, this was Leon's personal bully. If anything can describe how the two felt about each other then it is nothing but hate… pure irrational hate.
Hate meant that Dean would do anything to expose the current location of Leon. Irrational meant that Leon would do anything to punch Dean in the face.
Dean picked a strange-looking polearm from the guard beside him and aimed it up. Leon simply started running towards Dean.
"Hold him!" The guards dismounted their horses in order to circle Leon safely but what happened next was so fast.
*BANG*
The polearm in Dean's hand exploded with a firing sound causing the people on the sides of the road to panic and made a very loud bang that would soon attract more search parties, on the other hand, Leon vanished from view.
How can a man simply vanish like this? The answer was purely based on skill and purpose.
Lean used [Rush], [Leap] and [Power Attack] in succession. He Rushed towards the Search Patrol, used the momentum of the rush to Leap towards Dean and when he arrived at him, he double kicked Dean with a flying Power Attack.
Dean's level is 11, exactly the same as Leon but the effectiveness of Leon's skills and the piled ability of his past life overwhelmed those of Dean.
This was unimaginable to some but Dean was sent off his horse and terribly crashed on the street.
"Protect Lord Dean!"
The guards noticed and fell into disarray. Some were going for Leon and others were going for Dean. And speaking of Leon, he was already on Dean's horse and he was already riding it to the north. Shady knew very well how to ride horses and this was one of the best horses money can buy, with his Level 6 Riding Technique, he was already making distance from the stunned Search Patrol.
"No! Leave me!" Dean pushed away the guards helping him up and saw Leon taking off like the wind, "Ignite another Fire Lance, he's getting away."
Dean sped to a horse nearby and started chasing after Lean.
The situation became chaotic, Leon at the Lead running between the carriages and crossing the traffic jam recklessly as the crowds of pedestrians who witnessed the clash were making noise of the unexpected turnout. Soon the other patrols followed the noise and questioned the people to get directions on Leon's whereabouts and he was having a tail of chasers once again.
Chase!
It reminded him of something.
Something he did once… the image of the streets overlapped in his visions… neon lights, no, gas lamps… cars, carriages, bridge… bridge?
He needs to stop!
The extraction point is under the bridge, he can remember that…
No!
That's not that time!
And he found himself in the way of a stampede of carriages in the crossroads. Nighs of horses, screeches of wood, screaming of people… all the voices in the world mangled up together in this chaos.
Almost seven carriages bumped into each other and Leon as well as some of the chasers behind him were involved in this massive crash. Other horses and carriages tried to avoid the situation but it all ended up contributing to the mess. Nothing like this happens every day and a wave of panic struck the pedestrians.
"Shit! Look for Leon! Arrest him!"
Dean Dark went off his horse whipping off the blood from his nose again and the imbalance started to strike him now that he landed on the ground.
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With a hateful glare, he put his hand on the sword on his side and walked inside the crash.
Meanwhile and on the other side of things, Leon was standing up almost unharmed but in a lot of pain. He managed to leap and avoided most of the trauma by landing on one of the carriage drivers who flew into him. The unfortunate man was clearly in a critical condition… not that Leon cared.
He struggled off his place and started walking and staggering to the direction of the bridge. It may sound like a stupid plan to still go towards the place where his chasers know where he will be hiding but there was no going back the moment he took that road.
It all ends or starts in this place… for better or for worse.
The bridge was still not too far off him but the road was very slippery thanks to the rain which started pouring… No wonder the accident was so massive.
*Rumble* *Rumble* *Light*
Thunder struck, lightning followed, the bridge was fully illuminated and it looked like an empty road ahead, he only needed to run…
He took his first step but out of nowhere, a punch landed on him from the side.
Forget about the pain, he is now surrounded all over again and at a disadvantage.
"... Fuck!"
Guards, knights, soldiers… the scene started to come to an end now that most of his chasers are here but still, he put his aching arms on the ground and stood up with the dagger in his hand. No one really cared when did he get a sword as it all was ending now.
< [Physical Resistance Lv.1] has been added to your Status. >
< [Sentinel] is now available in your Class list >
Despite the pleasant messages, a young knight came forward.
"Leon Dark, you are under arrest for the crimes of…"
"Leon!"
Interrupting the arrest was none other than Dean Dark. He walked angrily through the guards and aimed his sword at him.
"Lord Dean! Wait!"
Dean was blinded by rage and didn't even listen as he walked at Leon fuming like an angry bull.
"You bastard! I'll teach you proper manners! I'll make you beg for forgiveness!"
Dean ran at Leon with the intention of harming him. On the other hand, Leon was counting the people around him and reading their levels. Once he noticed Dean coming, he smiled in his heart for the opportunity that presented itself.
Dean rushed and Leon evaded him but not by much. He chose the angle where Dean's defense will be open the most and in a second, Dean was on his knees facing the knights that were trying to stop him and a cold sensation came on his throat.
"Now! Let us all take a moment and catch some air."
He was under the mercy of Leon.
A hostage.
"Coward!"
The Knights shouted in anger as they wanted to stand up against him but the one leading them raised his fist.
"Stop!"
The air turned even colder with the rain yet not a person in this scene was willing to yield. Leon on top of all.
"Leon Dark, you have resisted arrest long enough. This is as far as you go." The lead Knight shouted.
"I beg to differ." Leon replied, pressing the dagger against Dean's neck.
"You cur! You dare hurt me? You dare put your filthy hand on me? If you don't let go this instant… urgh! You will regret it." Dean was the most uncooperative hostage in the world but a knife pressing further against his throat still made him know he's in trouble.
"Lord Dean is right! Please don't make your problems worse." The Knight tried to negotiate.
"Heh!" Leon smiled as he took full cover with Dean, "I know that's not an option. I've already killed so many of your people. My situation is as grim as it can get."
"We can still…"
"Save your breath and shoot him with something!" Dean shouted.
"Bad idea!"
Leon feared that someone from behind him may try that so he instantly made a small wound on Dean's neck. A small wound but the blood was flowing nonstop.
"You!"
"Stop!"
The Knights tried to move but they were still in a bad spot with Dean in the firm clutches of Leon.
"I'd put my hand on that wound if I were you, second brother." Leon said as he held up Dean.
"Leon Dark, you will not escape!" The Knight shouted trying his last card of using a threat.
Sadly, using threats is Leon's best talent.
"Listen well, six minutes from now, my Second Brother will bleed out to death if he doesn't receive any medical attention." Leon said.
"Bastard!" Even the soldiers were now shouting.
"I believe it won't matter to my crimes if he added one corpse to the pile yet… failing to save the son of the Prime Minister… hmmm… I can see your heads rolling down just beside mine." Leon smiled.
"Hand him over! Now!" The Knight in the lead shouted.
"I suggest a trade!" Leon replied.
"We are not…"
"Five minutes!"
"Damn you! Fine!"
Leon finally felt back in control now that he managed to take a breather and a hostage at the same time.
"You all return back behind those carriages, let go of one of your horses and I will give you this guy."
"Unacceptable!"
"You sure?" Leon hurriedly put another injury on Dean's left biceps, "Hold this with the other hand."
He then looked at the knights smiling.
"Now you have 3 minutes."
Silence… there was no reply at this point.
How to react against this mad dog? Everyone here came for the bounty on Leon's head with one thing in mind… suck up to the Crown Prince.
The Soldiers and the Knights alike, whoever catches Leon will have the favor of the Prince. No one is innocent here.
But the scales were now not favoring them. It is the Prince's Favor against the Rage of one of the most powerful Families in the world.
"Retreat!" The Knight spoke.
The time was ticking and no one was able to believe that they were actually on the losing side now that Dean's appearance was turning paler by the second.
All retreated and the Knight returned with a horse in a few breaths. The exchange was simple, Leon hands Dean to the Knight and takes the horse away all at distance.
"It was nice doing business with you." Leon said.
Dean was kicked towards the Knight and the horse was almost in Leon's reach just before a hand coming out of nowhere holding him from his shoulder. All of a sudden he was lifted from the ground and thrown by the mighty hand as if he was a straw doll.
The Hunter/Rogue combination proved to be useful once again. In an instant, Leon took a bad fall but in the following one, he was up on his feet facing the armored hand again.
"Rush!"
He evaded and took a distance of five meters from the man who was about to punch him.
A knight… no… a giant.
A giant of a man wearing armor was the one who just punched him… probably the one who punched him at the start too.
"Fuck! Where do you come from?"
This behemoth of a man was very stealthy yet with all the armor and size, he somehow managed to stay hidden. Leon looked around to see that the Lead Knight and Dean were also retreating and the horse ran away.
It seemed strange but looking at the Knight he is facing now, the answer seemed to be on this man.
"Read!"
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< Eric Marth - Lv.17 Sentinel >
- Titles: {Man Killer} {Monster Killer} {The Prince's Hound}
- Skills: [Armor Technique Lv.7] [Halberd Technique Lv.5] [Combat Magic Lv.5] [Earth Magic Lv.2]
- Talent: (Proficiency: 51%)
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"The Prince's Hound?" Leon recognized the title both in real life and from the game.
This is the bodyguard of Prince Edward. He may seem a little under-qualified for the position but he was handpicked by the Prince because of his personality. This man was brutal and had a lot of hate towards the Eastern Lords.
On the other hand, the Prince's Hound appeared in the game as a man who can change his appearance and gather intel for the Prince. It was offered as a hint tool. In the official forums, the developers said that he is wearing the [Chameleon Cloak] that helps him blend around. And here he was wearing a grey cloak.
——————————
[Chameleon Cloak]
- Blend with the surroundings. Works better in the dark.
——————————
"Motherfucker!"
Leon may have managed to chase away his pursuers but with this man around, it won't be long before they return. More to it, this man is an Assassin from the Prince who will try to kill him here and now before the other people witness the fight.
A Halberd came from under the cloak and the armored man strode against Leon.
Leon retreated fast and from storage, he took out a loaded crossbow.
*Clank*
Then another.
*Clank*
Then another.
*Clank*
The Knight seemed surprised by the number of crossbows on Leon but none of them even put a dent on him.
"Die!"
"No thanks!"
The Halberd came down striking Leon but he evaded then switched classes from Hunter/Rogue to Warrior/Sentinel.
Sentinel is a Defense class and very common among the Knights. It makes armor way too effective as well as big weapons making its user a machine in steel. Combined with Warrior, the effect was now even better buffing the versatile options of a Warrior to the scale of a knight.
Leon also had a sword in hand and counter-attacked right away.
Eric evaded then struck again with the back of his hand but Leon was swift yet a kick followed. Leon took the kick quite softly by letting it push him back yet still held his ground by holding the leg that kicked him.
This presented itself as an opportunity to injure the knight's leg as he drove his sword into the leg yet barely left an injury. At that moment, the knight hit Leon with the pommel of his halberd knocking Leon away.
Leon lost him stamina all over again but this disadvantage he was in wasn't about stamina or skill or experience in combat. The overwhelming advantage of the knight was thanks to his high stats.
Leveling up is not the key to stats increase. Actually, leveling up for the sake of stats is a shunned practice among the knights. Training is the way to go and putting one's life at risk yields extra stat points at all times.
This body is severely lacking in basic constitution let alone training. In normal cases, this should end Leon in one exchange but the mind leading this fight is Shady, an elite among the elite.
"This is taking us nowhere." Leon said as he took a firm pose.
"No! It will lead to your death!" Knight Eric Marth seemed willing to destroy Leon once and for all with a big side cleave of his halberd but Leon had a different plan.
"Wind Reinforcement!"
A strong aura of wind reinforced the sword Leon's holding and he lowered his posture bypassing the halberd and deflecting it away.
"Magic? Impossible!"
The Knight didn't believe Leon the Magicless was waving an Aura of Wind at him and in a second, the blade he was wielding made a screech against Eric's neck guard.
"You won't harm me!"
The knight wasn't even stepping back let alone hurt but that didn't seem like Leon's intention as he switched the Warrior class to Rogue. Swiftly, he passed behind Eric and held his cloak.
Previously, the slash cut the cloak from Eric's neck and now, it's in Leon's hand. He didn't use it to hide but rather discarded his sword and threw it at Eric's face blocking his vision and…
*Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab*
The Mithril Dagger may have a very limited reach but its ability to cut Armor like soft cloth is undeniable. Not even a magical item yet with each stab, a blood hole was left on the torso of the Knight.
"Got you!"
Yet that wasn't what mattered now.
Knight Eric realized he was outsmarted so he hurriedly used his halberd to hold Leon before he got stabbed. He was going to rely on his armor for defense but that didn't go as planned.
What didn't go as planned too was the place where they were fighting. The edge of the bridge over the river.
And it was almost over if not for one desperate attempt of Eric to drop Leon on the ground. Leon almost broke free by stabbing the Dagger through the opening of the helm but that even worsened the situation.
Now, the two of them are free-falling from the bridge… all the way down to the bottom of the river.
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