“Did I knock him silly or something?”
Osekul shrugged, his face full of helplessness as he looked at Vistada, who was completely dazed and hollow-eyed.
Leoro slowly released his grip on Vistada’s collar, took a deep breath, and tried to calm his racing heart. He stared intently into Vistada’s eyes, his gaze brimming with hope, and said, word by word:
“Ahem… Anyway! Pull yourself together. Don’t forget, you were the one who built this team with your own hands. It was your passion and unshakable conviction that brought us all together, and it was you who led us onto the path of rebellion! Every single one of us has high hopes for you. We expect you to lead us to victory, not watch you drown your sorrows in drink like a coward!”
“And besides… win? Why do we have to win?”
“War is inherently cruel. Victory and defeat are simply unavoidable truths of it. If we lose, then we lie low, conserve our strength, and bide our time. But that doesn’t mean we give up hope. As long as the spark in our hearts never dies, as long as we still have the courage to resist, we will surely win in the end!”
Yes…
Yes!
A flash of insight suddenly streaked through Vistada’s mind like lightning. He realized he had been thinking about everything the wrong way. What determines the course of a war is never just a single victory, and one defeat does not mean absolute failure.
He was still here. The workers were still here. They had not lost.
Even if there were only two or three people by his side right now, as long as they stood united, they could still grow stronger—from a tiny, insignificant ant into a lion mighty enough to shake a great tree!
“We haven’t lost yet, have we?”
Vistada raised his head, the flame of hope reigniting in his eyes.
“Lose? That’s just the prelude to winning!”
With that, Leoro snatched the bottle, tilted his head back, and downed the remaining liquor in one go. He exclaimed loudly:
“Haven’t had a drink in ages—that hits the spot!”
The heartfelt words Osekul and Vistada had been about to say got stuck in their throats thanks to Leoro’s outburst. The two looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Nearby, the workers had also brought out a medical kit from Antina’s room. Inside were pliers, scissors, a small bottle of high-proof alcohol, and some clean hemp cloth.
Seeing Vistada pull himself together again genuinely cheered the workers up, but right now, treating the worker whose bullet wound had become infected was the top priority.
Vistada hurried over to help, disinfecting the tools with alcohol while asking Leoro and Osekul how they had managed to escape from such a perilous place.
“…We don’t really know why either.”
Osekul recalled the scene, his brow deeply furrowed.
“Originally, we had Vistada evacuate first, while the rest of us withdrew along another alley. We deliberately slowed our pace to let the enemy pick up our trail and draw their attention. After buying enough time, we planned to shake them off in one decisive push.”
“But although that wall of corpses blocked their movement and also put some distance between us and the enemy, so all they could see each time was our backs, we still couldn’t shake them—even with that positional advantage.”
Osekul sighed helplessly.
“Those soldiers seemed to guess what we were up to. They left four or five men to guard each corner, while the rest played a cat-and-mouse game with us in the alleys, running us in circles.”
The Baron hadn’t acted. Perhaps he was worried these people still had magic scrolls, or perhaps he was toying with his prey, deliberately stalling for time.
“We had no choice but to keep circling through the alleys. But if it went on like that, our stamina and ammunition would eventually run out, and all the exits would be completely sealed off by those soldiers. At that moment, it seemed like our only option was to stake everything on one desperate fight.”
“If we were going to fight head-on, we needed cover.”
Osekul had no desire to be riddled with enemy bullets like a sieve.
Speaking of cover, everyone thought again of the barricade Leoro had made from corpses.
“The previous barricade got knocked over by the enemy when we used it to block their pursuit. But if we go back there now, it could still barely be used. Also, there were quite a few wooden crates along the alley we passed earlier—that could also make a decent spot for cover.”
“Let’s go back to the previous spot. Getting to the wooden crates would probably take quite a detour, whereas the place where Leoro piled up the bodies is right on the way.”
Osekul quickly weighed the pros and cons.
“Dammit, I didn’t even remember it that clearly!”
Leoro said, somewhat annoyed.
“I’m not in the mood to argue with you about this, given our current situation.”
Leoro was about to flare up, but then he considered that Osekul had a point, and remembered the pursuers still behind them. So he swallowed all his words back down.
“Let’s move.”
With a sweep of his hand, Leoro took the lead, heading toward the destination.
Following Leoro and Osekul, the group carefully crept back to the previous alley. Everything went smoothly. The pursuers were behind them, but separated by a whole alley, which gave them enough time to rebuild the barricade.
“Sorry about this, brothers.”
As he spoke, Leoro moved the corpses, laboriously stacking them up.
The four of them lay prone behind the corpse pile, while the others hid around the corners of the side alleys. If things went wrong, they could flee immediately.
The sound of collective footsteps grew closer and closer, like a death knell tolling, making everyone’s hearts involuntarily race.
“Ready… fire!”
At Osekul’s command, they pulled their triggers without hesitation.
Bullets flew. They expected them to be blocked by that strange power as before, but…
No—they pierced right through!
The eerie force protecting the soldiers’ bodies had vanished. The bullets smoothly drilled into their bodies. The scent of blood instantly filled the air, and the ground was stained crimson.
This group was caught off guard. With that strange power gone and standing packed in the narrow alley, what difference was there between them and mere targets?
At that thought, a flash of excitement gleamed in Leoro’s eyes. He quickly emptied his magazine. As the enemy fell into chaos and screaming, he surged forward like a fierce tiger, seized their rifles, and then slit the throat of the enemy right in front of him with his knife.
Blood splattered onto his face, but he paid it no mind. He swiftly retreated back behind the barricade, pulled the bolt, and fired…
The whole sequence was fluid, all in one breath.
Inspired by him, everyone fiercely charged to kill the enemy, until the entire squad was annihilated.
“Hah… hah… I could brag about this for the rest of my life.”
Leaning against the corpses behind him, Leoro panted heavily and boasted to Osekul, who was behind the barricade, about his extraordinary feat just now.
“If the enemy had reacted in time, you’d be dead.”
Osekul threw cold water on him flatly.
“Dead’s dead… wouldn’t be a loss either.”
Leoro said, utterly indifferent.
“Don’t just sit there—we need to run, now.”
Hearing Osekul’s voice, Leoro took a deep breath and abruptly got to his feet.
They all knew deep down there wasn’t much time to rest. News that this squad had been killed, and that the mysterious power had disappeared, was bound to reach the Baron. They would have a much harder time achieving results like this from now on.
“Now that there’s one squad less, our chances of escape have increased… We could split our forces…”
Leoro mused thoughtfully.
In the end, two squads were led by Leoro and Osekul respectively. One squad was tasked with harassing the enemy and drawing their attention, while the other focused on escaping.
That night, Leoro’s squad successfully got away.
Osekul and his group decided to split their forces once more. Amidst fierce combat and a harrowing flight, only a scant few ultimately managed to struggle their way out of the alley.
Those soldiers didn’t pursue. It seemed like they had urgent business elsewhere, or perhaps they felt that continuing to tangle with them was pointless, so they withdrew.
Yet even after escaping that heart-stopping, narrow alley, Leoro, Osekul, and the others faced another serious problem—the surrounding territory had already been taken by Kolke’s forces. They were being hunted like rats, scorned everywhere, their movements severely hindered.
They struggled to flee for two more days. During that process, they lost a few more workers. Finally, Leoro and his group broke through. They were utterly exhausted, but their eyes revealed the deep relief of having survived a catastrophe.
“That’s how it was. If that strange power hadn’t vanished, we’d be dead.”
“You all did exceptionally well… truly.”
Vistada’s gaze slowly swept over the people before him. Every single one of them was a resister worthy of the name.
“Thank you.”
Vistada bowed slightly, expressing his gratitude to them all with utter sincerity.
Yet one question lingered persistently in his heart.
“Still… why did that eerie power suddenly disappear?”
Vistada and his people would probably never figure out the reason behind it in their lifetime. They could only chalk it all up to the Baron scheming behind the scenes.
Relying on “Refraction” magic, Ranice clung tightly to Kolke’s trail.
Logically speaking, as a Marquis, Kolke should be much stronger.
However, Ranice faintly sensed something was off.
She carefully observed Kolke’s every move, yet no matter how she looked, she couldn’t detect any sign that Kolke was hiding his true strength.
Still, Ranice’s intuition had always been exceptionally sharp. She firmly believed her feeling wasn’t wrong—there was definitely something not quite right about Kolke.
Just then, following the hidden markers Ranice had left earlier, the Viscount hurried back.
He walked with urgent steps and immediately spotted Ranice hiding in the street corner. Hastening over, he approached her.
Seeing the Viscount arrive, Ranice didn’t hesitate at all. She told him her speculations in detail.
After listening and pondering for a moment, the Viscount also agreed that Kolke indeed seemed suspicious.
“A Viscount who rose to Marquis just by spending money?… From the information we’ve gathered so far, Kolke possesses his own fief. That doesn’t seem like a Marquis title bought with money… And come to think of it, can a Marquis title really be purchased outright?”
“Why don’t you go test him and find out?”
The corner of Ranice’s mouth lifted slightly.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared? He’s just a Viscount as well. Even if he really is hiding his true power, I have a thousand percent certainty I can pull you out safely.”
Seeing the Viscount hesitate, Ranice deliberately goaded him.
The Viscount still felt a bit uneasy and glanced involuntarily at Ranice.
“Wouldn’t it be better if you… went, for this probing matter?”
Ranice shot back an annoyed look at the Viscount.
Immediately after, she cast her magic, manipulating a Mage Hand with lightning speed and directly tossing the Viscount in front of Kolke.
The Viscount felt the world spin around him. By the time he gathered his wits, he was already standing right before Kolke.
He looked all around but saw no trace of Ranice anywhere.
Now, he could only focus his attention tightly on the Kolke in front of him.
Running away now? Wouldn’t that just boost the enemy’s morale and make him look like a coward?
And besides, right now, the arrow was already nocked—he had no choice but to let it fly.
“Kolke, prepare to die!”
