The enemies had come faster than they'd thought. Hoofbeats could be heard in the distance, and strange noises came from the roof.
"Go, leave the rooms, go to the courtyard!" Trunks kept a calm expression as he raised a longsword and walked towards the courtyard with the manticore.
There was a wide courtyard in the centre of the shop, with various large and small rooms surrounding it. If the enemy attacked and broke through the walls, and then used fire magic to set the rooms ablaze, it would force Trunks and the others to be on the defensive.
Besides, Han Shuo had once told them, after he'd carefully made his preparations, that there was an enormous danger lurking within the Six Pillars. However, if they stood in certain positions next to the pillars, they wouldn't be affected by the formation. The formation wasn't active now, but once the six pillars were violently attacked, the formation would have a natural reaction even without Han Shuo's orders.
"We're not familiar with the things inside the courtyard, so let's not make a rash move unless we have to. If we really can't defend ourselves, we'll hit the pillars and then quickly hide in the six safe areas and play!" Emily said to the other three as she took out her staff and walked into the courtyard.
It had been two days since Han Shuo had cast the Canopy of Necromancy, so it didn't have much of an effect anymore. The sparkling stars were like diamonds embedded in the night sky, and the light from the countless actual stars in the sky added a few traces of scattered light in the night. There was just enough light for those in the courtyard to make out their surroundings.
Suddenly, a sound howled through the air as a small bone dagger with a cold, flashing hilt began its journey across the roof like a lost soul.
The small bone dagger's howl broke the stillness of the night sky. Its glow was especially striking, bringing with it a cold, harsh presence of death. It flew over the rooftops in a beautiful trail with no discernible pattern.
Several faint sounds echoed from the dark corners the small bone knife flew past. Suddenly, agonised screams rang out from those hard-to-see corners. Then three dark shadows fell from the roof into the courtyard.
Trunks and the others knew immediately what had happened when they saw this. Seeing three people lying on the ground not far from them, bleeding profusely, they didn't even think before rushing over to finish them off.
The three on the ground had struggled to their feet when they were put back to sleep under Trunks and Phoebe's two flashing swords.
The group looked in surprise towards Han Shuo's room when the three were dead. They saw a corner lifted from the window blinds, and the swirling purple eye in the little skeleton's left socket,sparkling with an eerie purple light. A purple ball of ghostly flame seemed to be dancing behind the window.
His sparkling, clean hand bone waved incessantly. The weaving bone dagger seemed to be manipulated by his hands as it danced around without any pattern.
"Scary little skeleton!" Trunks looked over and couldn't help but shake his head.
"Look over there!" Gilbert suddenly shouted. The other three looked over to see three clouds of grey mist floating from the heads of the three would-be ambushers. The grey clouds seemed to be attracted by some sort of force as soon as they left their bodies, and were soon absorbed by the two nearest columns.
"If I'm not mistaken, those three grey clouds were the souls of the three who had just died. Normally, people's souls return to Earth after they die, and most people won't be able to see them without the effects of magic!" As a Dark Archmage, Emily's knowledge in this area was a little broader than others, and she explained to the others with a furrowed brow.
"Then why can we see it, and why did the three pillars absorb the grey clouds?" Phoebe asked, confused.
Emily shook her head with a wry smile and turned to look at Han Shuo's room. "How am I supposed to know the reason for all this? If you want to understand everything, wait until he wakes up first. This courtyard is full of strange things and it's all his doing!"
"I don't think I'd understand if he explained it either!" Phoebe had as much trouble understanding Han Shuo's mysteriousness as Emily. She shook her head ruefully at Emily's words.
The small bone dagger was still twirling relentlessly as the four of them talked. The three who had tried to ambush them hadn't even taken a good look at their surroundings before they had been counter-ambushed and died ignominiously. It was so unfair!
However, those three were only a scouting party. Their deaths didn't affect the enemies behind them.
When the dull hoofbeats suddenly stopped, Trunks and the others knew that the real battle was about to begin.
The little bone dagger's howl suddenly grew fiercer. When the four of them looked over, the Little Bone Dagger had already left the vicinity of the roof and was flying towards the sky in the distance. In the direction the bone dagger was flying, two faint shapes slowly emerged. They appeared to be two masses of clouds floating in the starry night sky, driven by the wind.
"It's two archmages, we have to be careful!" Emily began, giving a grave warning.
As soon as Emily spoke, a fierce flame suddenly appeared in front of the little bone dagger. Under the light of the fire, the dagger glowed even more coldly, and it sent an eye-piercing beam in all directions.
Suddenly, several crossbow bolts shot out from the front. Five were fired, but only one hit the little bone dagger. The whirling dagger was knocked off its path and fell, landing with a clatter on the streets not far away.
At that moment, the sound of the doors being smashed in echoed as a rapid clatter of footsteps approached. A dozen or so armoured figures immediately filled the courtyard, wielding all manner of swords, spears, axes and bows.
Two archmages floated down to the rooftops. Now that the dagger was no longer a threat, they cast a cold eye down on the proceedings.
"Trunks, you're here!" The cold voice of the Fire Archmage who'd saved Florida at the gates of the Valley of Sunshine last time rang out, one of the two standing on one of the rooftops.
"Andy, you traitor, how dare you come to me. The old chief treated you well, and that staff in your hands was something the old chief spent a great deal of money to have refined for you. To think you'd still be with that pig Florida after the old chief died! Trunks pointed the longsword in his hand at Andy and hectored coldly.
"The old chief's death was an accident. He died at the hands of bandits in the surrounding mountains and had nothing to do with Florida. You envied Florida's place as chief of the Rainbow Sickles, so you're framing him." Andy looked disdainfully at Trunks and taunted him.
"I think with your intelligence, you'll be able to see what's really going on here. I've come back this time to make sure that all of you traitors pay the price!"
Andy laughed derisively and then looked at Trunks with a pitying look. "You're going to die today, you won't have that chance in the future!"
"Stop wasting time with him, Laureton's men can show up at any time. We must kill them immediately!" The other Archmage who'd come with him said expressionlessly.
On this person's magic robes was the emblem of lightning. He looked like a Thunder Archmage. He looked about 30 years old and had grey-brown hair. He was as thin as a bamboo pole as he paced the roof.
"I know!" Andy said impatiently. He didn't seem to be on friendly terms with this thundermage. Then he cast a strange look down and said in an equally strange tone, "Do it?!"
The enemies in the courtyard were made up of swordsmen, knights and archers. The weakest among them were sergeant knights or journeymen swordsmen. There was also one who was completely covered in a green robe and wore a pointy hat. You couldn't make out his features in the darkness, but he had an enormous presence.
Andy had looked at this person when he spoke earlier, and not really at him. His tone didn't sound like he was giving an order, more like he was asking his elder's opinion.
As Andy's question ended, this person suddenly moved as an enormous, harsh silver combat aura suddenly emanated from his body.
As he moved and the harsh combat aura sliced through the air, the pointy hat on his head flew backwards, revealing a face that Emily and Phoebe were very familiar with.
"Gabriel, it's you!" Emily couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Gabriel was Clark's master and possessed the extraordinary strength of a Great Swordsmaster. He was Bob Ascher's right-hand man, but had turned up here instead!