BXBX NOVEL volume 2 - 163
Iamas ignored the mewling man behind him: “But I still have some confidence in holding out for thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes? So that your undead army can march in through the city?” Brendel’s smile spread across his face, getting straight to the point.
“Truly, if you are not my enemy, I would suspect that you were some close friend of mine when I was still living. Even my personal maid doesn’t know me as well as you do.”
Brendel merely smiled at his provocation. This character coincided with the knowledge he had of him in the game. His pride extended all the way to his speech and had offended many people in Madara. Because of that, he was sent to work under Incirsta’s command.
His feet had not stopped moving, and he was less than ten meters away from Iamas. Ciel was right behind him, ready with a spell.
“Lord Viscount, have you received a response from the city’s west gate? I do recall the mercenary commander’s to have quite the pretty features for a woman. But fret not, the forces under my command here are not many and was merely sent out to delay them from setting up a foothold in the west.”
Brendel stopped and listened silently.
“I do believe my kind has breached the city. Of course, they are low-level skeletons led by useless fledging necromancers, but even so, if you don’t rush to that lovely woman’s aid, I’m afraid the situation might turn out to be quite troublesome?”
The youth resisted from wanting to smash his fist onto Iamas’s mask. There was a level of smugness from him that grated on his nerves, but he was quite aware that Iamas had no need to lie to him because the latter already did it.
[If the situation is just as Iamas had stated, then it wouldn’t be just a troublesome situation, forget the damage done to the city, everyone is in danger. Even now I have received no news from the west gate. The fact that I had Ciel create so many bridges ended up as a terrible decision! Shit, this bastard dared to separate his troops from the start of this battle. Does he really care about Graudin’s life— No, that’s not it, the Iamas I know will never do that, he intended to bring Graudin out of here from the very start!]
Brendel’s heart sank.
He had been worried about Jana’s situation since he had not received any news, and now he finally received an answer. He asked himself why Madara had to keep Graudin safe at all cost. He was not even the eldest son, and merely one of many—
He took a deep breath. Iamas attack had indeed struck into one of his weak points. It was fortunate that he did not waste any more time talking and forced him to reveal his secret. There was still room for a choice to be made.
[Damn it. As expected from the Scales of War. If it’s possible, I really want to cut off his head right here, even more so than Graudin’s.]
It was the start of the Black Rose War, but Iamas was already exhibiting the same intelligence and brilliance in predicting the future. If he managed to get the Blood of the Evil Dragon, he would be impossibly hard to kill.
Perhaps the undead general in front of him might even know of his plan?
“Thirty minutes remain. Perhaps we can make a deal instead?” Iamas smiled, golden flames igniting in his eyes.
Graudin sighed with relief, showing an ugly smile from his rigid face. He chortled a few times, delighted at Brendel’s misery. The latter seemed to be caught in two places. He looked like he did not care the undead razed his entire city to the ground. The lowly commoners were like cockroaches after all, and even the city could be rebuilt.
The most important thing was to enjoy how Brendel felt. He could not help but speak with a triumphant smile.
“Young man, you have to pay the price for being rash—” Graudin suddenly recalled the price he paid for trying to taunt him, and hurriedly stopped what he was doing: “But I admit you are powerful. Strength deserves to be respected. If you let things go as it is, I can make a promise on behalf of my father...... To stop our feud.”
He started to relax and continued: “As you very well know, we nobles typically dislike wars that hurt each other so we should make peace. But there is one other thing; I received reports that my adopted daughter is amongst the mercenaries—”
Suddenly Iamas turned around and glared at him. Graudin’s heart beat loudly and realized he had committed an error. He quickly stopped talking.
“Do you mean to give up on the mercenaries and everyone else in the city? I know the skeletons are unable to stop you, and it is no matter to me of might turn out to be their fates. But this is where you are different from me.” Iamas returned his gaze back to Brendel.
Graudin put on a sinister smile. Iamas was using the same trick he had used a few days ago by threatening the men under Brendel. Watching Brendel entering the same trap again filled his heart with malicious glee.
Everyone looked at Brendel and waited for his response—
“Iamas, there is an ancient saying where I came from.” Brendel’s hand loosened its grip on the sword he was carrying. For a moment he looked almost defeated before he continued speaking: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man!”
Iamas’s mind froze when he peered into Brendel’s clear and indomitable eyes. Brendel’s right hand flickered, and the longsword was thrown straight into Graudin’s path in a straight line. The undead general barely regained his senses at the whistling blade piercing through the air and lifted up his scythe. It barely glanced the sword and changed the path of the sword ever so slightly, and it went past Graudin’s neck.
The blade nailed into an oil painting not far away from Graudin’s back, its hilt trembling repeatedly.
Iamas turned around.
Graudin was pressing down on his wound on the neck. He stared at Brendel with a face void of color. Mixed emotions of fear, confusion and fury washed over his heart. He did not understand why the youth was so fixated in killing him.
“Give up cutting Graudin’s head, offer a truce, and surrender Sifrid over? Are you treating me like a complete fool, Iamas? ” Frost was literally coming out from Brendel’s lips.
“...... Was that necessary, Lord Viscount? A momentary pause, please, I am quite interested to know what exactly your quote meant.” Iamas realized that he was tricked into lowering his guard just for an instant. The long string of words had taken away his concentration, and also realized Brendel was completely unaffected by his ability.
“There are many explanations to that,” Brendel replied: “But my favorite answer is how someone wouldn’t commit the same mistake; the same trap wouldn’t apply twice and he is no longer the naive person he once was.”
“That would mean you are choosing to do battle with me?”
“Indeed.”
The undead general gripped his scythe tightly. He stared at Brendel: “Then go ahead and try. I wait with bated breath to see if you are faster than I am—”
He expanded his Element Power and formed into a silver wall that almost appeared in tangible form.
“Are you mistaking something, Iamas?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The truth is— I have already gone past you.”
The youth said with a tranquil expression. His gaze went past Iamas’s shoulder and onto the longsword stuck onto wall painting. A card was pinned onto to the oil painting, not seen by anyone else other than Brendel.
A card with the illustration of a Unicorn Knight—
[The flag of the Elves are raised proudly, with her heart and sword shining brightly in darkness.]
“Come forth, Medissa!”
There was a loud scream—
Iamas turned around just in time to witness a silver lance stabbing through Graudin’s chest. The latter had a look of utter disbelief. He tried turning back to Iamas for help with every bit of strength he had left, but the lance was withdrawn easily and caused a spurt of blood to be sprayed across the floor. Graudin staggered a few steps forward before he collapsed onto the ground into a heap.
“She— How can this be, I have already gravely injured her, why is she free of injuries!” He bellowed at Brendel.
“I’m a summoner,” Brendel’s eyes had a condescending look to them. “She’s a summon.”
Ciel’s body immediately trembled as he refuted this statement with every bit of his mind.
“Impossible, a summoner cannot summon anything past my Soul Barrier!” He roared again.
Brendel’s grin under the dim light seemed almost mysterious and terrifying.
“Have you not realized it? I am quite the extraordinary individual.”