Assassin's Chronicle

Anfey jumped up and dashed towards the enemy ranks. He was not much faster than the incoming arrows, but before any of the arrows could hit him, he disappeared. The mercenaries behind him had to quickly raise their shields to defend themselves against the arrows.

Anfey reappeared much closer to the enemy soldiers. He kept pressing on through the hail of arrows without hesitation. Loose elements formed into a small storm around Anfey as he approached the Shansa men. The soldiers stood their ground and did not move. Nothing about the attack made them panic.

Anfey did not slow down to deal with the common soldiers. He suddenly disappeared again from where he was and teleported into the ranks of mages. He summoned his ax and swept it around his body, hitting several soldiers at the same time.

Before the soldiers could reform their ranks and attack, Anfey teleported again and reappeared among the archers. He retrieved his magic sword and held it aloft.

Dozens of lightning bolts appeared in the sky and rained down to the ground. The surrounding soldiers had to shield their eyes.

Almost half of all the archers were affected by the lightning. However, the archers Anfey wanted to eliminate seemed to be unaffected and were ready to strike.

Anfey hesitated for a second, then quickly reacted. He could feel that something was different about the archers. He summoned a magic scroll and tossed it at the archers. Another storm of lightning rained down from the sky. This time, none of the archers were spared.

Anfey waved his ax and swept away the flying arrows, then lunged towards the soldiers again. He did not want to clash with an actual army head-on because he knew that the soldiers had advantages the mercenaries did not. The mercenaries hadn’t been working together for a long time and Scarlet’s soldiers were all well-trained.

However, this was Saul’s idea, and Anfey had to support him.

The mercenaries clashed with the soldiers. The mercenaries had been training very hard, but it was hard to make them cooperate. The mercenaries’ movements lacked coordination and they clearly did not work well together. On the other hand, the Shansa soldiers were able to maintain their lines and follow orders quickly and in unison.

Common mercenaries tended to be stronger than common soldiers, but discipline gave the soldiers an edge over the mercenaries.

Normally, an army was led by a senior-level swordmaster or knight. As long as their commander was still alive, the soldiers knew what to do because a powerful figure was providing them with direction and assurance. Anfey was searching for the commander of this army because he knew from experience that an army wouldn’t last long without a commander. However, he could not detect anyone that could be the army’s commander. This was unusual and meant that the commander must be hiding somewhere that could block his power.

A horn was blown in the Shansa army’s camp. On a hill not far from the battlefield, a row of fences was lowered and half a dozen machines appeared.

The machines looked like large crossbows and each had a large arrow in it. The arrows were metal and larger than any Anfey had ever seen. Anfey’s eyes widened when he felt the powerful magic surges coming off of them. He quickly found a teleportation scroll and flew towards the hill.

Before Anfey could reach the hill, however, a ball of light flew towards the hill and crashed into the magic barrier around it. The barrier shattered, and a figure with a longsword appeared. The swordmaster crashed with the light, sending both of them flying in opposite directions. The swordmaster landed and stumbled backward but the light landed on the ground lightly.

Anfey could tell the man guarding the hill was at least a senior swordmaster. There were only a few people who could defeat a senior swordmaster this easily.

The light dispersed to reveal a large eagle. The eagle raised its large wings and flapped, creating strong gusts of wind that swept across the hill. Even the machine crossbows could not stand against winds this strong and swayed in the wind. The swordmaster and dozens of soldiers and mages were blown away.

The eagle raised its head and screeched. A few moments later, more eagles appeared through a cloud. The eagles lunged towards the griffins. Despite having a smaller number, the eagles were larger in size and faster in speed.

As the eagles surrounded the griffin knights, another group arrived to help. Miorich appeared from the Transverse Mountains. His combat power was brighter than any of the knights behind him and looked like a ball of flame on the ground.

The Shansa army was stationed there to keep an eye on the mercenaries and the League. The only defense the soldiers had set up against the Transverse Mountains was a long row of fences. Miorich raised his lance and crashed through the fence easily. The knights streamed onto the battlefield with the banner of the Maho Empire raised above them.

The swordmaster that was guarding the hill watched the arrival of the Maho knights with despair. The enemy outnumbered the Shansa soldiers and there was no point in fighting.

The swordmaster climbed off of the ground and ran into a tent. The tent was heavily guarded with a several dozen soldiers. The soldiers watched the swordmaster enter the tent without stopping him.

Inside the tent was a large table. On the table was a small crystal box. The swordmaster opened the box with shaking hands, revealing a metal disc. Hundreds of symbols were carved into the disc and a bright red magic crystal was set into the middle of the disc. The swordmaster closed his eyes and reached for it.

"Wait a second," a voice said. The swordmaster opened his eyes and saw that someone had stabbed his wrist. The swordmaster groaned in pain and tried to hit the disc with his head. Before he could reach the disc, Anfey caught his shoulder and threw him to the ground. The swordmaster’s body jerked a few times and fell limp.

Anfey glanced at the crystal box and the disc inside. He did not know what it was or what it could do, but he could tell that it was dangerous from the way the swordmaster had acted around it.