In the tavern.
Seeing a large group of ascetics walk out from the gates of Clayde's manor, Lin Lei felt a surge of wild elation. At a single glance he could tell there were more than fifty ascetics. With so many leaving at once, it was likely that every last one of them had departed.
"It's been six or seven days already. Shaku has most likely told Clayde about me by now. Clayde must have guessed I'm somewhere nearby."
Lin Lei casually tossed a few gold coins onto the table. Wind currents immediately swirled around his body, and he surged out of the tavern like a gust of wind — effortless and light.
Even burdened by the heavy sword, with the aid of wind magic he was as light as drifting down. Of course, this was only possible because Lin Lei had reached the level of a seventh-ranked mage. A third-ranked mage attempting the same trick would not enjoy nearly the same effect.
"Bei Bei, watch the back door." Lin Lei transmitted the thought directly into Bei Bei's soul.
"Got it, Boss."
When Lin Lei reached the far wall of Clayde's manor, he silently recited a spell — Wind of Detection.
"Whoosh!"
Centered on Lin Lei, a current of air spread outward in every direction. He closed his eyes and sensed everything the Wind of Detection revealed.
"Hm? Gathering toward the back door?"
Wind of Detection could only detect objects and human shapes — it could not make out anyone's precise appearance. But through it, Lin Lei had already discovered that the people inside the manor were converging toward the back courtyard. They were clearly preparing to flee in a hurry.
"Hmph, everything going according to plan." Lin Lei pushed off lightly and drifted into Clayde's manor's front courtyard like a gentle breeze, making his way silently and familiarly toward the rear.
xxxxx
"Hurry! Move it!" Clayde snapped.
The members of the Wild Thunder Squad gathered quickly. The slowest among them were the queen and her daughter. Once the queen and princess had assembled—
"Go! Out through the back door. We leave immediately — we're getting out of Hesse City," Clayde ordered flatly.
The queen asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, isn't our current residence perfectly fine? What's the—"
"Slap." Clayde swung his hand across her face.
"Save your breath," he snarled.
"Move it. Never mind the horses. You two — you're responsible for the queen and the princess." Clayde pointed at two knights, and one of them moved to open the back gate.
Lin Lei had been hiding behind the artificial rockery the entire time, watching all of this. He let out a cold laugh.
"Not a single ascetic, just as I expected." He pushed off lightly and retreated swiftly, pulling back beyond Clayde and Caesar's line of sight. He then leaped silently over the courtyard wall and hurried toward the back courtyard gate — but when he reached the corner of the turn, he stopped abruptly.
Bei Bei was right there beside the back gate.
"Creak!" The gate swung open.
Bei Bei immediately ducked into the weeds by the wall. Given his palm-sized body, the overgrown grass completely concealed him.
"Bei Bei, tell me when Clayde comes out." Lin Lei hid around the corner. Black scales began emerging all over his body — "tsss, tsss" — spikes jutting from his forehead, his back, his elbows, and his knees.
That steel-whip-like dragon tail sprang forth as well.
Lin Lei's black eyes shifted to a dark gold, like the Spiny-backed Iron-armored Dragon.
Full dragon transformation!
"Wind auxiliary magic — Rapid." Lin Lei simultaneously cast a wind spell upon himself. After fully transforming, he felt that endless power surging through every inch of his body.
The three-thousand-six-hundred-jin Black Jade Heavy Sword meant absolutely nothing to him now.
To a warrior who could easily lift hundreds of thousands or even millions of jin, what were thirty-six hundred jin? It was like a normal person who could lift a hundred jin — what difference would a single jin make?
"Hurry!" Clayde urged. One by one, the Wild Thunder Squad warriors filed out.
Clayde himself followed Shaku through the gate, and the queen and princess came right behind under the protection of two Wild Thunder Squad members. Caesar brought up the rear, guarding the back.
"Boss, Clayde's coming out."
The instant Clayde stepped through the back gate, Bei Bei's voice rang directly through Lin Lei's mind. The dark-gold pupils of Lin Lei, who had been hiding around the corner without daring to peek, blazed bright.
"Haaah—!"
He pushed off hard with his feet, the surrounding air currents surging to propel his body even faster.
"Zip!"
A black afterimage of a human figure crossed seventy or eighty meters in the span of a blink, arriving directly at the back gate of Clayde's manor.
Clayde glanced to the side with a jolt of alarm. The moment he looked—
A human-shaped afterimage was already before him. That familiar appearance made Clayde's heart clench. Before he could even resist or shout, a terrifying force bound him completely.
"Don't move. Move, and you die." Lin Lei's voice drilled directly into Clayde's ear.
"Ah!" The queen, having just walked through the gate, saw Lin Lei's appearance and immediately screamed in terror. But all that followed was a wet "pfft" — and the queen's head flew clean off.
Lin Lei withdrew his claw.
Blood sprayed wildly from the queen's severed neck, and then her body collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
"Mon… monster!" The princess stumbled backward in terror.
"Release His Majesty!" The Wild Thunder Squad warrior who had departed with Shaku earlier rushed forward, but a black shadow flashed past—
The Shadow Mouse Bei Bei, his body now swollen to half a meter in length, stood on the ground. The two warriors who had just charged forward lay sprawled there with their throats nearly severed through.
"Don't resist. Resistance is futile." Lin Lei's frigid voice rang out.