190. Augmentation - 31

190. Augmentation - 31

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 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.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m