Chapter 303: 303 won’t let you escape
"Huff———"
A somewhat noisy wind blew across the now silent square, raising a moderate amount of dust and sand.
All the knights, clad in standard armor and carrying standard long swords, gathered together, watching the figure bathed in the wind and holding their breath.
Although the figure appeared to be just an ordinary person, exuding no aura of a strong warrior, the bodies of his companions that had been pierced by lightning scattered around him told the knights that this was no ordinary person.
Rather, being able to fly in the sky and summon lightning, such a person was undoubtedly a powerful Magic Singer—totally unrelated to the term "ordinary person."
"Who, who are you...!?"
Belius swallowed his saliva, his voice betraying his inward terror.
Lundes, standing beside him, did not speak, his face gravely serious.
Unlike Belius, who was merely a pretentious fool, Lundes clearly knew the caliber of the person standing before him.
"Third-tier magic———’Thunder Strike’."
"Third-tier magic———’Flight’."
"This person is undoubtedly a high-ranking Magic Singer capable of wielding third-tier magic."
Lundes was keenly aware of what this meant.
In a world where typical Magic Singers could only use magic up to the second tier, anyone able to wield third-tier magic was undoubtedly among humanity’s elite.
By the standards of adventurers, bronze and iron rank Magic Singers typically used only first-tier magic, silver, and gold ranks could usually cast second-tier magic, while third-tier magic was the domain of platinum and mithril rank Magic Singers.
The highest level of magic humans could use was sixth tier; fifth-tier magic was accessible only to those who had entered the Heroic Domain. Therefore, a user of third-tier magic was already considered a powerful individual among humans.
Regrettably, there was no one of that caliber among this troop of knights.
In other words, they were facing an enemy they could not hope to match.
Lundes’s heart sank continuously.
After a while, Lundes made up his mind and stepped forward.
"We are knights of the Bahar Empire. Unnamed Magic Singer, please withdraw immediately!"
Lundes announced their affiliation thus.
However, upon hearing him, before Reiger could even respond, the villagers started shouting.
"They really are knights of the Bahar Empire!"
"Why are you slaughtering us?"
"Is it because of the war?"
The villagers were not surprised by the knights’ identity.
The knights’ armor bore the emblem of the Bahar Empire, so the villagers had long suspected them to be from the empire.
Yet, that was precisely why they were angry.
The Bahar Empire, a neighbor and frequent aggressor against the Re·Yestijie Kingdom, had a fraught relationship with the kingdom, even outright hostile, having battled countless times near Yelan Tier alongside the Steles Theocracy, making them sworn enemies.
However, in previous invasions, the fires of war unleashed by the empire typically only spread around the fortress city of Yelan Tier, rarely affecting the common villagers.
These knights, however, were not just affecting; they had actively initiated a massacre in the villages near Yelan Tier, crossing the line from warfare to slaughter.
The villagers’ rage and grief, however, did not alter Lundes’s expression in the slightest.
"From your appearance, you seem to be a civilian and not a significant official of the Re·Yestijie Kingdom,"
Seeing Reiger’s attire, Lundes made such an assumption and pointedly said so.
"If you are uninvolved, it would be best if you depart now to avoid being entangled in the war between the two countries, lest not only you suffer but those around you as well."
Lundes tried to scare Reiger off this way.
Unexpectedly, as he said this, Belius beside him started babbling rashly.
"That’s right! I am the captain of the elite knight squadron of the Bahar Empire! If you dare raise a hand against me... the empire will never let you off!"
Belius’s blustering made Lundes wish he could thrust his sword through the fool’s skull.
Trying to scare someone off was one thing, but making threats was quite another.
Lundes simply wanted the opponent to be cautious and withdraw on his own, but Belius’s words meant that if the other party did back down, it would be seen as admitting fear of the empire’s retaliation.
A person capable of using third-tier magic and appearing so youthful, provoked by such words, would likely let pride override caution, stubbornly standing ground just to save face.
"Why would they make such an idiot a captain?"
Lundes felt enraged at those in the upper echelons who had made this decision.
Just as Lundes was about to speak again to prevent his foolhardy companion from continuing his folly, the young man opposite them spoke up first.
"The Bahar Empire?"
Reiger’s voice carried a hint of mockery.
"Did you think that donning a disguise would prevent anyone from recognizing you? Lapdogs of the Steles Theocracy!"
With that declaration, everyone froze in place.
"The Steles Theocracy?"
The villagers of Kain Village were stunned.
Belius, Lundes, and the knights widened their eyes, frozen in uncertainty.
Reiger stepped forward.
"I know what you’re trying to do."
The calm voice rang out across the venue, reaching everyone’s ears.
"You plan to kill an important figure from the Re·Yestijie Kingdom, so you secretly collaborated with some of the kingdom’s nobility, arranging an inside-outside scheme to draw the tiger away from the mountain, didn’t you?"
"First, by disguising yourselves as knights of the Bahar Empire, you appeared near Ye·Lantier and began a massacre, providing grounds for those nobles to propose to the king to dispatch the important person here."
"This is the reason for your massacre here, isn’t it?"
Reiger’s speech not only stunned the villagers of Kain Village but also revealed the fearful expressions of the knights wearing the armor of the Bahar Empire.
"Who are you?"
Lundes could no longer remain calm and shouted his question loudly.
Unfortunately, Reiger paid him no mind.
"You are just the advance troops coordinated to act, but the real force intended to assassinate that important person belongs to someone else, right?"
Reiger’s gaze swept over Belius, Lundes, and each of the knights as he spoke indifferently.
"The Slyn Church’s special intelligence squad, directly under the Holy Priests, one of the six canons of the ’Sunshine Scripture.’
"That is the power you are preparing to use to ambush Kingdom Warrior Commander Gejiev Storunov, isn’t it?"
"Where are they?"
When Reiger voiced these words, Belius, let alone Lundes, immediately gave the order.
"Attack! Kill him!"
His order was delivered in a mix of shock and rage.
"Oh, ohhhhhhh...!"
At once, the knights of the Slyn Church, clad in Bahar Empire’s armor, let out a war cry, gathering their courage and charging towards Reiger.
"Kill him! And then kill all the villagers here! We must not let the crucial operation above be exposed!"
Lundes roared at Belius, who stood frozen in place, and then he too raised his sword and charged towards Reiger.
"Wait, wait! Leave some men to protect me!"
Seeing the knights around him charging forth, Belius suddenly panicked and shouted such words.
But at that moment, who was listening to him?
"It would have been better earlier."
Reiger watched the charging knights with a mocking expression.
In the corner of his eye, he could see a corner of the village, where a young mother and her child lay motionless.
The mother was very young, around eighteen or nineteen, probably newly married.
In her arms, she clutched a baby, both pierced through the heart by a sharp sword.
Seeing this, Reiger was reminded of the village he had seen burnt to ashes yesterday, recalling the women, elders, and children who had been slaughtered without exception.
All because of some so-called dignitaries, those in high positions, who just like this, claimed precious lives through their scheming and planning.
Such actions...
"Are simply nauseating."
Reiger, who despised these deceitful schemes the most due to his past life experiences, maintained a cold and terrifying expression throughout.
"Thunder Strike."
A white electric strike like a flying dragon suddenly appeared in Reiger’s hand, violently surging across his arms and shoulders, emitting a blinding light.
The dragon-shaped lightning flew out from Reiger’s raised hand, instantly striking the leading knight.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...!"
The knight was instantly engulfed in lightning, emitting a dazzling white light and wild thunder, screaming in agony.
In no time, the knight fell down smoldering like charred wood.
————!
At that moment, all the charging knights paused in their tracks.
Fear crept into their hearts.
Lundes was no exception.
"Fifth-tier..."
Lundes couldn’t believe his eyes and roared inwardly.
"Damn! How could it be fifth-tier...!?"
Only a hero who had transcended humanity, reaching the Heroic Domain, could use fifth-tier magic.
Now, such a person appeared right before them, on the opposing side.
"What’s wrong? Not coming anymore?"
The hero, his arm wrapped in lightning, gazed at them, the words he spoke suggesting a verdict.
"If you don’t come to me, then I’ll come to you."
"Don’t worry, I won’t let you escape."
"Just like when you slaughtered those villagers."
And so, the judgment began.