One thing Ryu learned when he fought the dragons was to never, ever underestimate the enemies. That's why he nonchalantly cast scout magic when they stepped out on the streets. Still, even this was not enough to avoid the inevitable dilemma.
An unexpected ambush. Two magic circles simultaneously appeared when Yume was separated from the group. A chance the enemies have waited for.
Ryu's scout magic failed to detect the adversaries lurking in the shadows. The only explicable reason was someone within the enemy could use magic. A spell good enough to bypass his.
The enemies were so gallant in attacking them in broad daylight. If not shallow, Ryu assumed otherwise that they were people who had extreme confidence in their own assassination skills. Whether daytime or nighttime was the same for them.
But right now was not the time to guess about their identities. Only a few seconds remained before both spells finished activating. One magic circle was beneath Yiyi and the knights, while the other was under Yume. Ryu was torn.
'I need a quick plan to fix this situation.'
Ryu thought their only target was Yiyi, so he naturally tried to keep himself close to her for protection. However, he made a wrong judgment.
"An ambush!" Ryu shouted and eyed Captain Billy, hoping he would be fast enough to know what was happening. After screaming, Ryu intuitively ran towards Yume, who he deemed more urgent, stretching his arms to reach her.
"Yume, dodge!"
"As yparxei prostasia!"
'Please let my magic be in time... Please... Please!'
BOOM! BOOM!
Two large explosions made the ground shake. Ryu's movement stopped as he tried to stabilize his balance. The foundation started to split, and he leaped and rolled to the left side of the street, preventing the soil from swallowing him underground.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The debris from the damaged walls started to fall. Making Ryu dodge over and over again. Not giving him time to worry about anything else.
Eventually, the walls crumbled. Some people, including Ryu, were buried.
"...Kak!" Ryu squealed, coughing to remove the dust particles he accidentally breathed in. He stood up and saw the thick smoke that covered the surrounding.
He raised his arm, covering his nose as he looked to the right to see a few guards covered in rubbles.
"Afiste ta pragmata na afairethoun."
After a few seconds of chanting, earth magic turned the nearby rubbles into dust while wind magic created an exhaust to suck out the remaining smoke.
When the vision was cleared, Ryu saw some injured guards. He then added lower healing magic to apply first aid to them before leaving.
"Ase me na petaxo."
Flight magic. Ryu flew a few meters above the ground to see the situation better. There, he saw that the incident was trickier than he thought.
Everyone was disseminated. Eight assassins were chasing after Yume, who ran towards the north. Two knights lying lifeless due to the earthquake, some missing, while dozens of enemies engaged with the remaining knights.
Meanwhile, Yiyi, the original target, was nowhere to be found. Ryu anxiously hoped that the debris didn't bury her.
'I have no time to check because I need to catch up with Yume. Using my discretion, I'll let the Shadow Intelligence Group's assassins come for their reinforcement.'
Ryu glided his body horizontally, preparing to burst flying, when a sudden lightning bolt beamed towards him.
Bzzzzt! Boom!
The bolt hit the swords on his waist, making him fly back and drop a few meters away. He might already have been roasted if mana had not protected his body.
Busy recovering, Ryu heard a voice of an old man. "What do we have here, younger brother?"
Not waiting for Ryu, another person with an identical voice replied. Not seeing the two people talking to each other would sound like a crazy person talking to himself.
"What do we have here is a little bug that negated our lightning magic, older brother... but why are you the older and I'm the younger one, brother?"
"A bug who can evade our 3-Star offensive lightning magic?" The older brother pondered while also answering the question of his younger brother. "Didn't you just lose in our bet? That's why you're my younger sibling, brother."
"It seems I had become senile, older brother. I can't remember."
"Of course, we became senile. We're already 135 years old."
"It's 145 years old, older brother... or was it 146?"
"Oh... Who cares about age... Who cares about age? Let's focus on what we will do with this bug, younger brother."
"Right, who cares about age? Instead, let's focus on what we will do with this bug, older brother."
"But since it escaped our offensive magic, it's not a useless bug, but a useful bug?"
"Indeed a useful bug, not a useless bug."
Ryu slowly landed on a roof to recuperate and saw two old people talking on the other side. They looked identical to each other as if they were a doppelganger or, preferably, twins. Wearing black robes with mage staffs that were made from wood. Both were bald with long white beards and white eyes. Even the wrinkles on their face were matching.
The younger brother found Ryu looking at them and twitched. He found it annoying. "Are you done resting? Stop wasting our time; we still have a young lady to kill."
That last sentence made Ryu upset. The safety of Yume was his priority. "You'll pay for everything you have done. Ase me na petaxo."
Ryu flew back to the air and dashed towards the north. Later, he would need to protect Yume while fighting the twins. According to his speculations, these old geezers were not to be trifled with.
"Ase me na petaxo."
The twins chanted magic, flying to the air to chase after Ryu. Their flying speed was somewhat equal, so they needed another spell to slow Ryu down.
"As yparchei astrapi!"
Bzzzzzt! Bzzzzzzt!
Two lightning bolts soared in the sky, but now that Ryu was aware of their presence, he quickly dodged by using enough mana to boost maneuverability.
'These two geezers were capable of casting 3-Star magic with ease.' Ryu thought. Assuming they were at least 4-Star Mages, seeing how they could also fly.
Ryu's level was currently at 4-Star Mage, struggling to advance in these past six years. He would have a problem if the two were at least a 5-Star Mage.
'I hope not.'
While flying, Ryu turned his body to face them, casting an offensive spell.
"As yparchoun bales fotias."
Six fireballs came out of the magic circle and were divided into two groups. The two geezers received three balls each.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fireballs successfully hit the two geezers but sadly did no damage. Those explosions were easily stopped with their magic shields.
Ryu and the twins continued to fly north while battling with magic.
"Older brother, this bug is so talented."
"You're right, younger brother. The bug is still a kid but can easily use 4-Star flying magic."
"But it's a shame he will die in our hands."
"It's really a shame he will die in our hands."
"Let's stop playing around, older brother."
"Let's stop playing around, younger brother."
The twins started to cast at the same time. But the magic circles they produced were different from each other. 3-Star wind magic and 3-Star lightning magic. But it didn't end with that. What happened next made Ryu astounded. The two magic circles from two different people suddenly combined into one, a procedure in magic that he had never seen before. Then the spell suddenly advanced to a 4-Star magic circle.
Ryu gulped down and swallowed his nervousness.
Also, the magic chanting time was reduced in half because two people were involved. When the casting was completed, the twins shouted simultaneously.
"Afiste ton anemo kai ton keravno na syndyastoun."
A sizeable flying bird materialized and dashed towards Ryu. Its body was made by wind magic, while bolts of continuous lightning sparked throughout its body. It was deadly.
"Sorry little bug, we have a mission, so we can't play with you any longer."
The Lightning Wind Bird was so fast that it reached Ryu in no time. Its beak, claws, and wings spread, trying to gnaw at the prey.
Whooosh! Bzzzzt! Boom!
Fortunately, Ryu could cast 4-Star defensive magic. However, the spell almost took a quarter of his magic power.
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
"The bug once again defended."
"Defended against... us? The genius Twin Mage of Zen Kingdom?"
"No, no, no, no... Older brother. I hate this bug. Let's kill him! Let's kill him, older brother!"
"Calm down, younger brother!"
While the twin had an argument and distorted thoughts, the three reached the location where Yume and the assassins were fighting on the ground. The place was a large street intersection, and they were currently fighting in the middle.
The situation was a little bit dire because Yume was outnumbered. So Ryu quickly nosedived like an aircraft leaving the two behind in surprise.
Slash!
One assassin was cut in half.
"Yume, are you alright?" Ryu leaned on her back while holding the Fire Dragon Sword. The other assassins surrounding Yume backed down a few meters when they saw how Ryu quickly killed one of their well-trained allies.
"...Ryu?" Yume turned her head to have a little glimpse of his face. Her face looked exhausted as she eagerly held a long metal pipe, a weapon she picked up somewhere.
"I'm here." Ryu could feel that she was already reaching her limit.
When Ryu said that, he felt her back lean on him in desperation, like it was secretly saying she could collapse any minute.
"Careful, Ryu. These people are skilled—Ah! What are you doing?!"
"Carrying you?" Using his left arm, Ryu carried Yume. She was so light that anyone could mistake her for a feather.
"W-Why are you carrying me?"
"Just embrace me so you will not fall off."
Carrying Yume with the left arm and holding the fire sword with the right hand. "You can relax and let me do the rest."
"Aren't you too confident, little bug?"
The twin mages who were following also arrived.
"Little bug is too confident."
"Younger brother, our target and the little bug are here."
"Older brother, isn't this good? We can kill them both together."
"Yes, let's kill them together."
"Kill them together, it is."