Anfey clumsily crawled out through the hole Suzanna had hit open for him. Yes, Anfey crawled out. He wished he could gracefully jumped through the hole like a rabbit. The problem was, he felt so weak that he could not even jump.
He had reached the perfect level of the Spirit Refining Stage. He could easily close off his breathing, even to the point where he could become like a baby in the womb; but this only happened when he was meditation. If he was moving and doing things, he could not reach the Spirit Refining Stage. The air in the secret chamber was bad from the beginning. The oxygen he accumulated and stored was exhausted. Now Anfey felt like his chest was going to explode.
"Anfey!" Suzanna screamed in excitement and surprise. She grabbed Anfey and pushed on his back. She neither had time to ask what had happened nor wipe the sweat from his face. She yelled, "Go, hurry up! I got it here."
"Anfey, come out quickly!" Blavi yelled at the end of the tunnel. Riska was there as well. A top power might scare others, but not the friends who had gone through thick and thin with Anfey. Even if Suzanna had asked them not to come, they still would come. Seeing Suzanna bashing further into the tunnel, Anfey grabbed her. He could not even talk. The only strength he had was used to breathe. Anfey’s lips moved as a struggling fish on the land. He looked as bad as anyone could imagine. Anfey was not a gentleman like Christian, but still paid a lot of attention to his looks and behavior. However, at that moment he could not spare any energy on his looks and behaviors.
Seeing Anfey grabbing her, Suzanna thought Anfey did not want her to take any risk. She struggled a little bit and just obeyed Anfey. She still had her back to Anfey, looking at the dark hole. Her eyes had real fire in them. She hoped that the top level power was strong that she could fight him for a long time after she sent Anfey away to a safe place so she could vent her anger.
In fact, Suzanna wanted badly to talk to Anfey. She regreted that she easily agreed like a fool to follow those Knights of Light to the north of the city. She wanted to touch Anfey. Only feeling his body could make her believe Fortune did not take Anfey away from her. She also wanted very much to cry. She was in a fighting mood and needed to tear that top level power to pieces before she could throw herself into Anfey’s arms and cry.
"Let’s go," Anfey said, finally able to breathe. He pulled Suzanna to signal her to leave. He crawled out on his hands and knees.
"Anfey, hurry up!" Blavi walked two steps towards the hole. "Where is that guy?"
"I have killed him," Anfey said as he crawled out. He suddenly felt something was strange. He looked up and saw Blavi and Riska were stunned. Suzanna behind him was stunned as well.
"Anfey, what did you say?" Blavi stuttered.
Blavi did not mean to look down on Anfey’s fighting ability. Ye had told him that it was a master swordsman attacking Anfey. The fight between two top level powers usually took a long time. After they got the news, they tried to get back as fast as they could. They dug the collapsed secret chamber to look for Anfey. It did not take long for them to find Anfey, since they were all worried about him. Even though Anfey had the fighting ability equivalent to a top level power, it was not possible to kill his opponent so quickly unless Anfey was way better than the top level power. It did not seem to make sense either.
"What are you doing?" Anfey was mad but found it funny at the same time. "Let’s talk when we get out. The air is not good here." His chest still felt tight, and he needed to breathe some fresh air.
He pulled the stunned Suzanna out of the hole. Anfey heard the yelling above him. It was Ozzic. He was yelling at someone.
When Anfey pulled himself out of the hole, he saw Ozzic yelling at Ye. Ye’s cheeks were swollen as if he had been smacked on the face. Ozzic had his back to Anfey as he was scolding Ye. Ye was a very capable person, at least he could lead a unit. Every time Anfey hinted that he should lead a unit, Ye politely turned Anfey’s offer down. He told Anfey he would like to continue as Ozzic’s assistant. He also mentioned to Anfey that Ozzic had saved him a few times. Ozzic was nice to Ye as well, even better than his biological brother. Ozzic understood how helpful Ye was to him.
Ye bit his lips with his head down. In fact, he felt the worst right now. He suddenly saw someone crawling out of the hole out of the corner of his eye. He looked closer and realized it was Anfey. Suddenly he looked excited and surprised. He broke into a smile.
"What are you f*cking smiling for? Don’t you feel ashamed?" Ozzic yelled in anger at Ye. His voice was a little coarse. He grabbed Ye’s collar and swung his fist at him.
"Ozzic, I am not dead yet. What are you yelling for?" Anfey immediately stopped Ozzic.
"What the f*ck! Master?" Ozzic’s facial expression was a lot more interesting than Ye’s when he turned around to see Anfey. He looked like he was going to give Anfey a hug, but hesitated because he realized the difference in status between him and Anfey.
Seeing the look on Ozzic, he knew he trusted the right person. Ozzic did some not-so-decent things, but he was super loyal to Anfey, which was enough for Anfey.
"I asked Ye to leave. Don’t blame him," Anfey said slowly. Ye always returned his favors, so Anfey wanted to him to be able to do so to Ozzic, and tried to clear up any misunderstandings between them.
"Huh." Ozzic realized something and suddenly jumped up. "Guys, are you ready? What about the master swordsman. I do not think a master swordsman could hide in the tunnel and never come out. When he comes out, let’s kill him."
"F*cking kill him," a mercenary said.
"F*cking kill him," another mercenary agreed.
Hundreds of mercenaries surrounding Ozzic raised their weapons and said it loudly together. They looked like they had found a common enemy. It was very impressive that they had stayed there even though they knew there was a top level power. Only well-trained military dared to surround the top level power. The lives of mercenaries were dangerous, but they could choose what they wanted for the future. They could take on dangerous tasks, but no one was required to take on tasks that could cost them their lives. With their fighting ability, it was like suicide to surround a top level power.
"Stopping yelling. The master swordsman has died," Blavi said.
After they heard that Anfey had killed the master swordsman, Suzanna, Blavi and a few others had become very strange. They had doubts and questions, but just could not ask Anfey, otherwise it would look like they doubted Anfey’s fighting ability. It was common sense that a paladin could be equivalent to a top level power, but never be able to break through. How could Anfey kill a top level power? What confused them most was the timing. Even a herbivore Three-Eyed magic bull took some time to chase and slay. This guy had been a top level power; and Anfey had killed him too quickly. He was a top level power, not a chicken or small dog.
"Yes, we will f*cking kill him." Ozzic turned around and said to Blavi as he waved his fist. He looked excited and was ready for the fight. He looked like he agreed with Blavi. When he turned around, he was shocked. He slowly turned back after a moment. He stared at Blavi and then turned to look at Anfey with a weird look. Ozzic did not want to look like a clown, but he was really shocked.
"What are you looking at? Didn’t you understand me? Anfey killed that master swordsman," Blavi yelled as he grew more cheerful.
The mercenaries at the scene all heard what Blavi said. The yelling and cheering suddenly stopped. It was completely quiet. The air felt quiet serious.
Most mercenaries had never seen top level powers before. They seemed to be so far away from their lives, like gods. They had seen Ernest and Fernando since they joined the League of Mercenaries. They were all proud of that. The advancement of Suzanna made everybody excited as well. Master swordsmen were so powerful. They wondered how he could die so easily.
"What are you doing? Why don’t you believe me?" Anfey felt uncomfortable. "Ozzic!"
"Yes!" Ozzic stuck out his chest. He had followed Anfey for quite a long time. They always kept a casual relationship no matter when they talked or when Anfey asked him to do something. Ozzic had no idea why he acted so formally.
"Can you take some people to dig open the hole? Let it air out for a while before bringing that guy’s body out of the hole," Anfey said. "He is my enemy, but he is already dead. We’d better let the hatred go. He was a top level power. We could not let him die without a tomb." Anfey sounded upright and forgiving, but in fact that was not the case. At that moment, what did he lack the most? It was fame! He wanted to be seen stepping on his dead opponent’s body. This was a great opportunity to be a hero and increase his fame.
"Yes, master!" Ozzic answered loudly. He strode over to the hole where it had caved in. When he passed by Anfey, he paused for a second and asked timidly in a low voice, "Master, Master Alice has told us your previous teacher is a supreme power. Is it true?"
"Keep it to yourself. Don’t tell others," Anfey said calmly.
"I understand." Ozzic’s voice trembled from excitement. He had doubted it when Alice told him the secret. There had been no supreme power on the Pan Continent for the past thousand years. How could Anfey have such an amazing background? What had happened made him realize it was true. It was like being slapped on the face. Anfey did not have terrifying combat power nor destructive magic power, but his fighting ability was beyond a top level power. Otherwise how could he so easily kill a master swordsman. It looked like he would leave his footprint on history. The people who worked with him would be marked in history as well. What glory that people would still recognize his name in thousands of years!
Anfey laid his eyes on Ye and smiled. "I am sorry you had to take all the blame."
Ye did not pay too much attention to Anfey’s words of comfort. "After this battle, Master, you will be making a name for yourself," he said, emphasizing each word.
"Making a name for myself?" Anfey shook his head and smiled.
"Making a name! Making a name!" The mercenaries around them started to cheer together. If Anfey could make a name for himself, their League of Mercenaries would make a name for itself as well, and so would they. They were worried whenever the issue came up about unifying the Country of Mercenaries. Four super mercenary groups had been there for hundreds of years, so much stronger than other, smaller mercenary groups. Master swordsman Anthony led the best mercenary group. It was unclear whether they would win if they fought his mercenary group. But the result was no longer in question. Anthony might now be able to beat Master Suzanna. If Anfey joined the fight, he could easily take Anthony’s life. They thought to themselves that they had nothing to worry about.
"What are you yelling?" a female voice called from the distance. "Did you save Master?" After a brief moment, a bloodied Shinbella showed up in front of everyone. She was leading a priest by the collar. That priest looked really miserable. His hands were cut off and one foot was missing. He was in coma.
A few mercenaries pursed their lips. They wondered when Master Shinbella had started to talk nonsense. Anfey needed no one to save him. What a joke.
Anfey cleared his throat.
Shinbella had not seen Anfey until that moment. She looked happy and surprised. "Master, are you ok?"
"Why did you all hope to see something happening to me?" Anfey said with a curious smile.
"Good. That is good." Shinbella was even worse than Suzanna in terms of articulating herself. She did not know how to respond to Anfey’s joke and tossed the priest to the ground. "Master, those Knights of Light and priests were all killed. He is the only one alive. Well…the mercenaries in my unit were too worried about your safety so they were a little too harsh on him."
"They did a good job!" Anfey nodded with a smile. He slowly walked over and kicked the unconscious priest.
Even though she was a woman, Shinbella was a lot harsher than Anfey. She hit the priest with the sheath of her sword and yelled, "Get up, don’t play dead."
That priest vaguely moaned. He did not play dead. He was indeed in a coma. Even if he was conscious, he could not follow Shinbella’s order to stand up, not before he could get artificial limbs, if there were any on the Pan Continent.
"Master, I will do it." A mercenary ran over, smiling. He tossed a snow ball at the priest’s face.
In fact, Knights of Light and priests deserved it. According to Anfey’s plan, he should have moved against those Knights of Light and priests first. However, except for Ye, who was cruel, the mercenaries would hesitate or develop a feeling against killing Knights of Light and priests, since they had fought together and received help from them during the battle. At that moment, though, it was different story. Knights of Light and priest even went to attack Anfey. They had become mutual enemies. No amount of torture of Knights of Light and priests would be unreasonable.
The coldness from the snow ball made the priest open his eyes as he made moaning sounds. When he saw Anfey, he was shocked. Seeing anyone except Anfey would have been reasonable. "Master Deswright was there. How could Anfey be alive? Am I in the hell?" the priest thought to himself.
"Tell me why you attacked me," Anfey asked calmly.
That priest did not answer. He wanted to rub his eyes, but saw Anfey right in front of his face. His limbs moved a little bit before he realized he had lost his arms. He tried to look up to see what was around him. He looked like he was looking for someone.
"Are you looking for Deswright? Don’t bother. He is dead. Can you answer my question now? Why did you attack me?" Anfey asked calmly.
That priest spit at Anfey. This was his only way to attack.
Anfey looked casual, with a smile. He gave Ye a look. He was actually nervous. There were things he had to know. Shinbella told him this priest was the only one alive. If this priest lied to them, it would be hard for them to prove he lied.
Seeing Anfey’s smile, the priest hated Anfey with passion. He suddenly yelled, "Anfey, you don’t have to act so proud. You killed Archpriest Slanbrea. The Church will never forget it. You will pay for it!"
"Huh!" Ozzic, who was checking the caved-in part of the hole, slipped and almost fell into it. He pulled himself back to his feet. His eyes were open wide, staring at the back of Anfey. What happened? What happened? Had Master really killed Archpriest Slanbrea? Oh my God. Master is so powerful. If he had any doubts before that Anfey tricked that master swordsman and killed him, he finally realized that a master swordsman was not up to Anfey’s fighting ability; Anfey killing a famous archpriest should be enough to prove Anfey’s fighting ability had reached an amazing level. Ozzic badly wanted to shout to show how excited he was.
Suzanna and Blavi looked more normal than Ozzic because they knew what was behind the story. If Anfey told them he killed the Archmage Yagor, they would look as shocked as Ozzic did at that moment. If Ozzic knew Anfey had killed three top level powers in total, he would probably pass out.
Anfey quietly watched the priest. After a while, he said quietly, "Master, I will always remember your help and support. Thank you so much!"
"Help and support"? The mercenaries all looked at each other. They did not understand what Anfey meant. Neither did the priest. He just stared at Anfey.
"I do not understand how you came to know that secret?" Anfey replied.
The color on the priest’s face kept changing from blue to purple. His bloody lips were trembling. He was not sure whether it was out of anger or regret. He closed his eyes and passed out again.