玉蒲团之云雨山庄

"A human... And a hobgoblin assassin...?" (Raine)

Noticing the commotion, all of the elite group approached Lyan and the two butler girls, but all of a sudden-

*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*

Black shadows surrounded the whole group. They suddenly appeared at a terrifying speed as a group and surrounded them. The elite group immediately ready their weapons, but they are already surrounded.

(There are about 100 of them, and each of them is emitting dangerous air... Now, what should I do? I can\'t let Ravia and Raine die here, after all...) (Lyan)

"Would you be so kind to tell me who you are?" Winds started to gush out from Surena\'s sword as she asked her question.

Answering her question, one of them approached them. He\'s wearing black cloaks like what William and the others are wearing, while their faces are covered with black masks as well.

"Golden Thrill. It\'s supposed to be at the entrance of the goblin king\'s lair, but it\'s a change of plans. Thank you for your cooperation. As you requested, the share of your rewards will be given in the end, and we\'ll let you slay the goblin king alone and get the recommendation to ascend to the Orichalcum rank," One of them that seems to be the leader said.

"Heh! You surprised me there. If you didn\'t say anything, I would have joined them and killed all of you as well, you know?" The Golden Thrill\'s leader, Martin, said as he slowly walks away with his members.

"Martin?" (Emilia)

"Martin. As expected you..." (Surena)

"Martin, you bastard..." (Alice)

"Sorry, Valkyries. But we\'re mercenaries. Profit is our foremost interest, right?" said him as he raise his hat. The black figures make some way for them to pass before circling the rest of the elite group again.

"Tch! So they sold us. They\'re that desperate to be an Orichalcum, huh..." Alice gritted her teeth.

(These guys... They are...) (Griselda)

(You know who these guys are, Griselda?) (Lyan)

"You... You\'re the [Crows] under Duke Ravindor\'s command, aren\'t you?" Julius the captain of the royal knights asked as he approached them.

"We are not obliged to answer you. Rather, we\'re here to give you an option. Give us the prince, and we\'ll spare you," The man replied coldly.

(The prince... Is here...?) (Griselda)

"Griselda?" (Lyan)

"What do you mean the prince? Julius, are they your friends? You Astellian really love dragging people to your problems, aren\'t you?" (Alice)

"Not my friends. I have never seen them before, but I\'ve heard about them. About the powerful assassins nurtured by the duke. I\'m sorry to tell you, but the prince is not here," Julius replied to them with full composure.

"Don\'t treat me as a fool. Isn\'t he there? Right in the middle of you?" The man points at one of the elite group members.

!?!?

"You\'re... The prince...?" (Emilia)

"Lyan is!?" (Ravia)

(Eh?) (Lyan)

(You\'re the prince, master?) (Hestia)

(P-Prince?) (Sylphia)

(Hm? I don\'t believe I saw that...) (Cynthia)

(A prince? Big bro is!?) (Azelia)

(Of course not! As if this guy is the prince!) (Griselda)

Griselda\'s voice stopped the commotion inside his mind. But the confusion is not just inside his mind, but the comrades beside him are starting to doubt him as well.

"I\'m afraid to say, but I\'m not the prince you\'re looking for," (Lyan)

"There is no need to lie, your highness. I could see your real face hiding beneath that magic cloak of yours. I don\'t really need your answer. We\'ve been ordered to bring you dead or alive. Rather, I\'m giving the option to the ones surrounding you rather than yourself," The man said provocatively.

"I see..." Lyan glanced to his sides. There is doubt on the Valkyrie\'s side, and confusion on the Astellia Kingdom\'s side, but Ravia, Raine, and the group of the guild\'s staff aren\'t responding. Lyan could feel that Ravia and Raine still hold a powerful trust towards him. And suddenly, Lyan\'s eyes meet someone\'s.

"So you\'re the culprit, huh," Lyan uttered under his breath.

"Hm?"

"No, it\'s nothing. Ah... I never thought I\'ll be captured like this. I guess this is the end, huh," Lyan shrugged and was about to went straight to the man.

"Lyan?" (Ravia)

"You..." (Raine)

But when he was about to take his step, his hand got held by someone.

"Sir Julius?" (Lyan)

"If he really is his highness, then I\'m afraid I can\'t you take him that easily. I believe you have no intention of letting any of us go alive anyway. Aiming for the crown prince is a great sin. Does the duke aware of this when he gave out the order? Is he trying to make a revolt against his majesty?" Julius pointed the tip of his sword towards the leader of the [Crows].

"His intention is his excellency\'s privacy. We\'re only here to fulfill his wish. Are you sure you want to foolishly resist, captain of royal knights, Julius Tergimand?" The man asked with a condescending tone.

"We are the royal knights of the kingdom. It\'s our pride to protect the kingdom and the royal family," Blue mana aura started to gush out of his body as he replied towards the man.

"Your highness, please stay back. We\'ll face them," Julius and the knights circled around Lyan.

"We\'ll help as well," William and the group of guild\'s staff also circled Lyan.

(H-He is...!) (Griselda)

(Help, my ass) (Lyan)

"Us too!" (Ravia)

"Yeah!" (Raine)

The remaining are the Valkyries.

"Surena?" (Emilia)

"It\'s not like we have other choices, right? Just like what that Julius said, they wouldn\'t let us go that easily anyway," Surena slowly joined the others, making Lyan in the center of the defensive formation they all made. Their number is about 38, while the [Crows] surrounding them are about 100.

(And judging from their skills, they are at the very least as strong as Ravia and Raine, huh...) (Lyan)

(Lyan! Summon me! If we let this continue-) (Griselda)

(There is no need to worry, Griselda. The situation is under control) (Lyan)

(Under control? What are you-) (Griselda)

"Argh!"

"Ugh!"

Suddenly, groans and cries of the [Crows] member at the furthest position could be heard. They could see the silhouette of ten people rushing to them.

"Hm?" The leader shifted his gaze behind.

"Now!" (Julius)

Following Julius\'s signal, everyone rushed to the assassins as they got surprised by the sudden commotion.

"Those... Aren\'t those the men from the guild\'s staff as well...?" Surena uttered when she saw the men that drew the attention for them after killing one of the [Crows] down. When she shifted her gaze, she saw that there are suddenly ten people less surrounding William.

(Their weapons are poisoned. As expected of assassins, I guess. I can\'t let Raine or Ravia got even a single scratch, I need to finish this quickly. I guess I\'ll be using all of Arturia\'s portion of mana left in me) (Lyan)

*Whoosh!*

"W-What with this guy- Argh!"

"Surround him! Just a single slash is fi- Ugh!"

"You\'re... The prince...? Kuh!"

As a white mana aura covered Lyan\'s body, he finished off the assassins around Rania and Ravia quickly in several seconds.

"You... Die!" One of the assassins threw five knives toward him. But in Lyan\'s view, the speed of the knives is very slow. Rather than their throwing speed, everything around Lyan is currently moving very slowly.

(Amazing. The mind acceleration effect is the same as the mind magic. To think that this is a non-attribute mana...) (Lyan)

Lyan deflected all of the knives with his sword, but there are already assassins approaching him from the right, left, and back ready to slash him with their poisoned blades. But in the midst of danger, the assassins widened their eyes as they saw the curve on the corner of Lyan\'s mouth.

(He\'s grinning!?)

"Looks like the experiment rats approached me by themselves," (Lyan)

!?!?!?!?

Even though they are supposedly in an advantageous position, the three assassins felt an indescribable terror from the man before them.

*Whoosh!!!*

A spinning slash that is not just powerful, but faster than even their blink made the three assassins widen their eyes to the point where people would expect their eyes to fall from the sockets.

Blood splurted as the upper bodies of the three assassins got completely separated because of Lyan\'s blow. But because of the power of the slash, the bodies got sent flying powerfully to the rest of their comrades, soaking them with their dead comrades\' blood.

(The duration of using this strength is short, let\'s finish this quickly) (Lyan)

"You bastard! Everyone! We have to finish this one quickly!" Following the man\'s words, more than a dozen of the assassins jumped and dashed towards Lyan.

*Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!*

They couldn\'t see the movement of his arms. But one thing they do know after hearing the sound of his blade whistling as it slice through the air at a frightening speed.

\'Ah. I\'m dead\'

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Gold-ranked Mercenary

Money: 49,722,400 Elnes

Weapon: None

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, Shadow Hobgoblin, Papilio Slime, Galewing Butterfly, Rock Golem, Deadlight, Moonlight Butterfly, Ice Golem