Unsurprisingly, Baron Maell wasn't thrilled with the idea of meeting up with his 'loving' uncle. He was antsy even with my presence. He walked back and forth at the cart's rear, his steps hard enough to shake the vehicle. "How dare that traitor show his face… I will kill him," he muttered repeatedly.

I didn't engage with him, nor that I care about the beautiful view that was sliding under us, too busy paying attention to our environment while we went to Town Maell.

I had to admit, their counter-attack was better than I had expected. They wanted to use Baron Maell's uncle's claim to the town, which could be easily used to kick us out of Town Maell, forcing us to abandon most of our infrastructure.

The only problem was that their allies had failed to kill Baron Maell like they were supposed to, ruining that plan. Naturally, the royals were still trying to push some kind of legal battle, especially if they refuse to acknowledge the treachery of his uncle, but it was far too complicated that way.

It was why I was doing my best to pay attention to our surroundings even as we were moving at full speed. The only thing l let distract me was the constant communications with Zolast, Limenta, and Mahruss.

Zolast's side was going relatively okay. He had already met with the army I sent his way, and was arranging the delivery of weapons at that moment. It made Somaton forces intensify their attacks, but at my request, Zolast still stayed hidden. The magic weapons should be enough for the military to defend their extremely advantageous position. The fact that they were still attacking meant that they had other plans.

So, I wanted Zolast to stay hidden. With his most recent upgrade, Zolast had the ability to reverse even the most dangerous of traps. As much as we didn't want to reveal his full abilities unless we had no choice, letting our only reliable ally die was not a good tradeoff for maintaining our secrets.

Everything was going well with Mahruss. They were almost done taking over the Night Blades' headquarters, which removed one enemy camp in our heartland. We were lucky that, with most of the Yoentia forces on the wall, supporting the Princess, they assumed Town Yoentia to be an easy target.

A fatal mistake, finally giving us the excuse we needed to kick the Night Blades out without guild laws holding back our hands.

Unfortunately, we weren't having a smooth experience on Limenta's side. With our political weight practically non-existent at the larger scheme, they had failed at keeping the castle out of the borders, with every request to leave the castle and approach the town with flying carts repeatedly denied. The flying castle would arrive at Town Maell not too long after us.

Then, I noticed a movement on the horizon, followed by a buildup of mana.

Could it be technically a mere coincidence, and something unrelated to us? Certainly. Was I naive enough to believe such was the case?

Certainly not. "Stand still," I ordered as I grabbed Baron Maell's armored neck and jumped down. Before we could even land, a mana arrow hit against our cart, destroying it. However, as we dove down, I could see several figures on the ground, ready for our appearance.

I had to give them credit. They were persistent. I created a mana platform to slow our descent, while also taking a note of the approaching forces. Not exactly a large team. Eight in total, though they paused the moment they noticed me, disguised as the Lord Crusader.

Apparently, they expected me to continue with the army rather than escort Baron Maell.

"Stay still," I ordered as I reached for my pocket, and pulled out one of the advanced smoke bombs I was carrying with me, doused it with mana, triggering the explosion.

The smoke covered the area, though, rather than spreading limitlessly and without direction, it created a large sphere with a hollow center with a cloak around us to cut the view, growing steadily. "Close your eyes," I ordered Baron Maell, who was obedient enough to follow that suggestion.

And, I let my Concealment flare at full speed as I started flying. Unlike the last time, where I had to deal with the siege, I had discovered how to fly. It wasn't as fast or efficient as running, as I still had trouble merging it with my speed, but still, it allowed me to cast a mana wall in front of a random cave before escaping from another side.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

By spreading my Concealment to Baron Maell, its effectiveness decreased significantly — a trick that I could only pull thanks to the benefits of my advanced training — but the combined impact of fake defenses and the unexpected ability to fly allowed us to get away unnoticed.

The moment my feet touched the ground, I used my full speed to get away, avoiding the assassination attempt completely. From there, I could have rua away. Instead, I stopped at a cave three miles away. "You can open your eyes in ten seconds," I said to Baron Maell. "However, make no noise, and wait for me obediently. I'll return in just a moment."

With that, I was out once more, rushing toward where that arrow had came from. I was going there, because while its impact was higher than our best ballista bolt, I didn't miss that it was just an arrow.

Meaning, either it was shot by someone of very high level, or they had an incredible weapon. Either way, it was an asset I wanted to deny their forces, since they were kind enough to operate in such a dangerous manner.

I approached them from the side, as I expected whoever was capable of shooting an arrow from such a distance should have a decent Perception. And, while Concealment was useful, it was far from unbeatable.

Which was why I wasted some of my precious time to circle around the attack point and slowly approach further. They were well prepared, two defensive wards, one detection ward, and four scouts.I couldn't help but smile as I recognized one of the scouts. He was one of the Greens that had plagued us back when we were still building Town Yoentia.

An old friend.

It looked like one of our old friends had shown up once again.

I dealt with the scouts silently, which was easy enough with their attention captured by the huge sphere of smoke, waiting for it to disperse. Then, I unraveled the wards and stepped toward our prospective assassin, alone and without protection.

I approached silently, trying to ambush him and take him down with one blow. It failed. When I was still more than two hundred feet away, he flinched slightly, showing that he had noticed my presence. To his credit, he managed to hide it very well. Other than his flinch, the only thing that showed his awareness was a tightening of his fingers around his bow. Even with my Perception, I barely noticed that from a distance.

I rushed forward, even though it revealed the full extent of my Speed.

A good choice, as before I could cover up the distance, he shot three arrows with one pull, their mana glow thick enough to wound me seriously. Worse, when I tried to dodge, I realized that my body was reacting more slowly. Like my Agility had been reduced significantly.

I still dodged the arrows, but I wasn't sure I could have been that successful if I gave him the time to properly charge his attack. He was a dangerous opponent.

He started moving back to widen the distance. He was fast, but his movements were choppy enough for me to suspect that it was attained through Stat stones … still, his speed was at least sixty, leaving me to wonder about the condition of his soul.

The closer I got, the weaker my Agility had become, which was certainly not good news. As if there was some kind of pressure landing on me, blocking its effectiveness.

I decided to cheat.

[+20 Agility]

[-20 Stat Points]

The moment I pushed my Agility higher, I felt my body regain its mobility. Not just by twenty point's worth, but more. As if, whatever that was pressuring me had lost some of its effectiveness.

"Impossible," he gasped the moment I increased that, marking him as the responsible party. "How can your Agility increase so suddenly? You're already at the limit! Let alone speed. What kind of a knight are you?"

As much as I wanted to answer him, hoping that he would slip some valuable information, I decided against it. He had revealed too many dangerous tricks for me to feel safe while trying to imprison him. No, I would have much rathered take him down quickly. I threw my sword, and just as he was dodging the predictable attack, I followed up with a swarm of mana bolts, cutting his path to escape. None was dangerous enough to hurt him, but the unexpected magical display was dense enough to slow him down for a second.

[-582 Mana]

A second was enough for me to catch up with him. He tried to slam his foot against my chest, trying to put some distance. His Strength was not a joke either, making him the most dangerous opponent I had ever dealt with.

I would have hated to fight against him under his terms.

Unfortunately for him, at this range, with such a great difference in Strength, he was helpless. He was dead a second later, his body bloodier than I would have preferred.

However, I was too caught up with the differences to pay attention to the changes. First, the field that was keeping my Agility suppressed disappeared at the moment of his death. Second, his weapons started to lose their luster, the power I could feel from them fading.

Interesting failsafe.

Still, before leaving, I packed and sealed them before dropping them into a random cave. They had potential research value, but I wasn't ready to take possession of them before Zolast went through them to make sure there were no traps or a tracker embedded in them.

Then, I went to pick off the Baron before he got bored from waiting and started to get ideas.

He was very important for what was about to happen.