Chapter 65 - First Blood (2)

Six people had been killed by the attack earlier and one was too severely wounded to fight anymore. This naturally weakened the psychological and physical strength of the escort group, which at first consisted of two girls, twenty-five bodyguards, and forty-eight mercenaries.

Of those who died, four were bodyguards and two were mercenaries. All three wounded were among the bodyguards. Mercenaries were more experienced in such situations, so they were superior in terms of experience, which naturally increased their chances of survival in the face of such a situation.

After the girl in the black dress spoke in a cold tone, everyone in the group looked around with their eyes extremely alert, trying to figure out how many people and where the people who ambushed them were.

For a few seconds after her speech, there was no sound from the perimeter, but then there was a footsteps sound in front of the escort group. These footsteps became increasingly close, and a few seconds later a silhouette appeared in front of the escort group.

This silhouette was wearing all-black robes and had a white mask on his face that concealed all his body lines. This man had no characteristics, including his age, and his hazel-colored eyes were the only thing that could be seen.

The man in the mask approached slowly and stood about twenty meters ahead of the group. After he stopped, he slowly glanced at the group. Then he turned towards the girl in black and said calmly: "Young Lady, you are not wrong in what you say. Further dealing with these weak attacks would be unnecessary. But there's one thing I don't understand. How does a little lady like you intend to make us pay for this with our blood? If you trust those behind you, I suggest you don't."

The masked man sounded like a middle-aged man. He shook his right hand when he finished his words, and something unexpected happened at that moment.

Twelve of the surviving mercenaries and four of the bodyguards in the escort group marched to the man's side. When they came to him, they turned towards the escort group with ominous smiles on their faces, waiting for the man in black to speak again without making any movement.

The bewilderment on the faces of the people who stayed in the escort group who saw this incident soon turned to anger. Clearly, some of them had betrayed the escort group and had previously provided information to this mysterious man, causing this situation.

After coming to the side of the people who had changed ranks by betrayal, the masked man spoke calmly again: "Young Lady, you must not trust people even if they serve the family to which you are connected, as you can see. I'm standing here alone talking to you, but you can understand that I trust the odds that I am in. I'm not alone here. The arrow attacks just now probably proved that. So you understand the situation you're in, right?"

Although the seeds of fear began to sprout at the heart of a few of the bodyguards in the escort group after the masked man's words, the mercenaries had not changed at all.

At that moment, the girl in black spoke very briefly: "So? Does that mean I should be afraid of you?"

After her short answer, a strong aura of profound energy formed around her, causing the facial expression of everyone around her to change. Also, this sudden release of aura caused a fracture of several inches on the left side of the white mask that the masked man was wearing.

When the girl in black unleashed her aura, there were only a few who could understand her true power, even though all those around her instantly understood that her power was too high, there were very few that truly understood the level of her power.

Following this sudden change in circumstances, the masked man briefly remained silent and then spoke: "Young Lady, although I thought you were strong I never imagined you could be so strong, to speak frankly. It's really unexpected to have someone like that in the Vesta family. So you are in the fifth level of the Core Profound Realm. While I think I'm the most powerful in terms of profound power here, this is a really unexpected and unpleasant change. Your ability to retain your power is truly extraordinary and commendable. But do you still think you can be the winning side in a battle here?"

The masked man stopped talking after speaking this much and then whistled. A few seconds after the sound of this whistle dissipated, numerous footsteps were heard through the dense trees in the vicinity, and within a few seconds, silhouettes in black robes and white masks appeared on all sides. All of these silhouettes had different weapons in their hands, and their numbers seemed to be around two hundred by rough observation.

The escort group was originally seventy-five but due to the sudden attack, six were dead and three were injured. So the number of battle capable was reduced to sixty-six now. A total of sixteen people from the group who were in the escorting group after the first masked man spoke, had changed sides by betraying the group. So there were only fifty men in the escort group who could fight with all their power, and out of those fifty, there were only one seriously, three wounded.

On the other hand, the masked group that appeared in the vicinity was roughly two hundred people. In other words, it was four times the number of escort group!

When the people in the masked group appeared, the man who first appeared and whose mask had just cracked, began talking again: "Young Lady, your power is quite high. Besides you, there are powerful people in your group. I can even say that your group is much stronger than my group as the average force. If this were a battle of equal numbers, surely your group would have won it by a clear margin. Unfortunately, the current situation does not look good for you. Even though the average profound power levels of the men in your group are higher than mine, our numerical superiority can cover that disadvantage and even turn it into an advantage. A lot of my men will die in the war between the two factions, but a lot of your men will die in the same way. Naturally, in a situation like this, we'll be the victorious ones."

After talking this much, the masked man paused and looked at the mercenaries and bodyguards and continued to talk: "I think you are capable of understanding the situation you are in. But still, I'm a guy who wants to finish my job very quickly and more easily. So I'm giving you two options. Your first option is to join me and fight alongside me against those who remain. If you do that, I'll give you a good opportunity to play with these two young ladies after we've won this battle. Rumor has it the young lady Nyks is very pretty. And there's a young lady here who's so strong. You can't see a young lady like her everywhere. Even if you can see it, it's never easy to get people like her. But I'm offering you this opportunity. Join me and have fun with them as you wish when we win the battle. If you choose this, it will be good for you and for me. And if you don't choose that, you'll have a second choice. This will naturally be your death!"

There was a silence in the vicinity shortly after the masked man's offer, and many in the escorting group began to look at the two young girls who were around them and started to think about what to do. The masked man's offer was a really good one for them. If they accepted this offer they would have a greater chance of survival and could unexpectedly do whatever they wanted with these two young girls they would not normally reach.

The masked man remained silent and watched them calmly. On the other hand, Nyks, the young lady of the Vesta family, the girl in the red dress who was protected by the escort group, saw a passionate lust in the eyes of several people when she looked at the people around her, causing her to be exceedingly frightened. She was a young girl, and something like that scared her naturally.

After a brief look around her, Nyks gathered her hands around her chest unconsciously out of fear and tried to protect her chest area that was really vague because of her loose dress, spoke with a trembling voice: "If... If you protect me and fight... and win this fight, I swear upon the honorable name of the Vesta family... that when we get back to the city, all of you will be rewarded greatly. You.... You can be sure about that."