Subsequently, a second, third, and fourth mana beam shot through Kal's body.
"Kuhurk!"
"Sir Kal!"
Kal fell to the floor, and the hope in the eyes of the remaining three knights flickered away. If Chukon also turned on them, then they had no hope for survival.
"Ch-Chukon… You—!"
"I merely returned the favor. Keke."
The moment Jin shrugged, the magicians under Chukon's barrier began to cast offensive spells. As expected, they didn't aim towards Jin, but towards Kal, who was now slumped on the ground.
"Chukooooon!"
Before the scream could end, the Zipfel knights and magicians all died out.
The moment Jin targeted Kal, Chukon chose to turn on him, which was expected.
"I can see you can read between the lines, Chukon. Didn't think you'd be so cooperative. Tess didn't even need to do anything."
As Kal whimpered and twitched, Jin lifted him with his injured arm and tossed the body towards Chukon. The moment Kal fell at his feet, the Kinzelo Group's magicians began to heal him.
They didn't want their precious hostage to die of blood loss.
"Don't you think that you're next?"
"I don't think the strongest of the Anz Plains is that dumb. Well, not the dumbest, at least. I know for a fact that you don't stand a chance anyway."
"You still bluff. You think I'm powerless before Tess when you're in that state?"
"Hahaha…"
Cawwww, caw-caw!
Jin and Tess laughed simultaneously.
"Chukon Tolderer, you aren't really confident in killing me. So you chose the most beneficial choice for your group. The path that I basically lead you to take. I read you like a fucking book, so shut the fuck up."
For a while, Jin and Chukon had an icy staredown.
Both of their statements were correct, however; Jin was bluffing, and Chukon was uncertain.
'Even if I use all of my spiritual energy, fighting him is not an option. I probably can't even beat him at full power and with all kinds of advantageous variables. If he really wants to fight me, then I gotta dip.'
'The unknown lightning sword and magic worthy enough for Tess. I don't know what else he has up his sleeve. Retrieving the Compass is already impossible, so let's just retreat with Kal Zipfel.'
They had lost five assault-general White Wolf tribesmen as well as most of their upper division soldiers. They also lost the Compass.
However, it was nothing compared to losing everything like Kal Zipfel did. In the boat at the port, there were other artifacts from Bouvard that they had in stock.
And Jin had been a disaster that no one expected.
'Things might escalate if I play this game too long. Then even the Leader will definitely crack down on everyone. And if the Leader hears of this, he'll definitely try to recruit this guy. We have enough information to track him down.'
Chukon backed off first.
"Alright. Let's gather our stuff and take our leave."
"You didn't age for nothing. Maybe your leader might like that Zipfel more than the Compass."
Jin recalled Tess.
'The first floor's been too quiet. I don't know if the fighting ended or it continued outside.'
Thud!
With his thoughts trailing, Jin stomped and broke a hole through the wooden floor.
"Then, I'll catch you later."
Jin jumped down the hole and immediately understood what happened on the first floor. It was a heated battle, just like the one that occurred on the second floor. Lots of corpses, blood, and broken furniture was scattered everywhere.
He wasn't too worried.
The opponents probably needed everyone on the second floor to deal with the people on the first floor: Murakan, Quikantel, Kashimir, and Alisa.
'Did everyone escape? Or did they leave to deal with the people outside the casino?'
He didn't feel too good.
'No, if they cleaned up everything inside, they would've come up to help. Something else definitely happened.'
As soon as he opened the exit, he could see Murakan in his cat form.
"Meow."
He hadn't joined the battle and had been hiding his identity in case he needed to help Jin.
"Murakan."
Poof!
Murakan turned into a human and embraced Jin.
"Hey, kid, how strong did you get?! I watched everything. Oh my goodness! I'm so proud, I might cry. Strawberry Pie will definitely start wailing. Your sleeves are a mess. What the hell did those Illustrious bitches do to you?"
"Do you think the Illustrious Legends did this?"
"Well, your ability to pick up on a joke is worse."
"How's the situation?"
"Your biggest fan is out of the island. With the Compass, of course."
"Phew. So our half year of planning didn't go to waste."
"The rest aren't doing so well."
"How is it?"
"There were two more groups that we didn't know about."
"There were two more?"
"The Vermont Special Forces and Runcandels."
"Hm…"
"They weren't moving on known information like us. It seems like they knew that the Zipfels and Kinzelos were meeting here, but they didn't know what was being exchanged. So they were mingling in the slums, then rushed over here after hearing that it got blown up."
"That's not good. We might get into a bad mess."
"Initially, the runt, Alisa, and your wife are dealing with them."
That was a relief. Since they had already intercepted the Compass, they just had to leave the island without leaking their identity.
Just as the Runcandels and Vermonts didn't know about the Zipfels and Kinzelo, neither did the Zipfels and Kinzelos know about the Runcandels and Vermonts.
"How did you know that the Special Forces and the clan didn't know about the Compass?"
"If they knew about it, their forces wouldn't have been so puny."
"Well, did the others plan to get away from their pursuers and go towards their respective escape route?"
"Seemed like it, but there's another mistake. The biggest one."
"Shit, nothing's easy around here. Tell me."
Murakan looked rather annoyed.
Then he pointed his finger to the ocean behind Jin. Multiple black spots occupied the edge of the horizon.
"Naval ships. All of those. This island will be surrounded soon. Even if we gather everyone in ten minutes, we'll be chased down."
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator – jhei
Proofreader – Eternal
Join our Discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
* * *
This island didn't have any Transfer Gates.
Either they had to flee on a boat, swim, or fly away.
And of course, this island had no place to hide. The ships they reserved were cheap pirate ships. They weren't fast enough to outsail military-grade ships.
"…The Bellard Empire sent them in case something happened on this island. They probably allocated some for safety reasons listed by the Special Forces. I presume those ships are filled with Special Force rats."
The only option was to 'escape on Murakan'. It was the last resort that they had planned six months ago. If Murakan revealed his true form, then they might be able to escape. However, he'd become a special target for the Vermont Empire, Zipfel Clan, and Kinzelo Group.
There wouldn't be anything more annoying than that.
'Shit's gonna go down.'
Jin felt that the fight on the second floor was the easiest part.
"What do we do?"
Murakan chose to abide by Jin's command.
"If that's our only option, then there's no need to ponder. We escape on your back. Becoming a special target is something we'll just have to take on."
"Then we gotta find everyone. Do you want to fly right now to find them?"
"No, that's a little dangerous. We'll search based on the escape points that we previously chose, then meet up back here in thirty. If we don't find anyone after that, then we will begin aerial search."
Krr-Crack!
Within five minutes, Jin heard something breaking in the distance.
In the northern port, the Runcandel guardian knights were destroying all of the docked ships.
"Break every single one! No one escapes before the Bellard Empire arrives."
"Do not let Zelia escape! She must be related to this event!"
The Runcandels, as per tradition, ran their business their own way; blocking every escape route by destroying ships in foreign land when ships were arriving.
It was because they were Runcandels. Infrastructure damages could easily be repaired using the clan's funds, and they could just take every person of interest.
'This clan is about to become mine, but… Tch. Kinda insane.'
The process was never important, so long as the goal was achieved. Especially when it reeked of big powers.
"Oh, please, why must you do this?!"
"We're just honest fishermen. If you break all those ships…!"
The ship owners pleaded to the knights.
"Do you think we don't know that this island only has pirates, beggars, and drug addicts? If you spew more bullshit, I'll kill you."
And factually, every single one was a pirate ship. As for the pirates, they were powerless.
"Hey! There are only a dozen of them on this island. They aren't purebloods and just knights. Just get on a ship and run, you shitters! Ships are our lives—our souls! We can save the island later!"
A pirate hiding from the guardian knights shouted.
"Yeah! Even ten Runcandel knights can't catch all of us. There are still fifty ships left in the northern port!"
"They might send us all to jail anyway. Get on a boat and drop the sail. We pray for survival!"
"If we just get on a boat, we live!"
"Yeah!"
All the pirates hiding around the port emerged.
They thought too lightly of the Runcandel knights. These lowly pirates would never know how strong these knights truly were.
'They truly are the lowest of the low. They're really gonna board the ships when we're in the way.'
There were three guardian knights in the northern port. They could easily deal with all of the pirates rushing towards the ships. The pirates didn't care if their comrades died or not.
However, although they got onto a ship, the knights destroyed it before they could even depart.
'No different than hell. I don't think there's anyone here… Anyway, the first one who shouted to board the ships actually got away?'
Jin turned around.
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Bellard ships began to fire their cannons.
They seemed to have the same idea as the Runcandels: to seal all means of escape.