Chapter 97: Shirley and the Young Fox

"The richest person in the kingdom?" Marlin smiled. "Actually, if you wish, you could replace her within ten years."

"When I have enough power, that's something I can consider," Vinnigo replied.

Marlin lowered his head, saying nothing more. As expected, this unfathomable youth harbored great ambition, and that was good. If he were truly a person without desires, this organization would never grow and flourish. After all, the former Prince of Thieves would never meekly serve beneath another.

"What are you thinking about?" Vinnigo tapped Marlin's head. "Stop daydreaming. If you die here, I won't mourn you. Though finding another guy like you wouldn't be easy..."

"Thanks for your concern," Marlin said with a wry smile.

Vinnigo stepped forward and swung his blade. Secret Art: Wind Slash—a blade of invisible wind cut through the air, cleaving a fire arbalist who suddenly appeared in the distance. He grinned and broke into a run.

"Elyu, keep up!" Vinnigo shouted.

Elyu grunted, dragging the saber-tooth greatsword in one hand, unstrapping the heavy tower shield with the other, running at Vinnigo's side.

"Guard me," Vinnigo ordered. Elyu merely nodded, silent.

Whenever arrows flew, Elyu would step forward and raise his shield to protect them. Vinnigo would counter with Wind Slash. This practical sword technique, harnessing wind magic, could perfectly transmit the blade's strike to targets ten meters away.

To be honest, Vinnigo never understood why the fire arbalists chose this place as their stronghold. In such a location, the range advantage of heavy crossbows was wasted.

"Its essence is snow, its duty is sword, decree..." A cold female voice echoed from the end of the passage, and in a blink, two longswords formed of ice and snow shot forth, slashing at Vinnigo's shoulders.

"It's you, Shenny," Vinnigo chuckled, squeezing out from Elyu's protection, drawing his blade and slashing.

Quick Draw!

Quick Draw was the fastest attack of the Samurai—not much damage, but with a chance to strike a vital spot for an instant kill. But Vinnigo wasn't aiming for a vital spot; his target was the incoming ice swords.

The two ice blades shattered instantly. Without pausing, Vinnigo rushed forward, his left hand producing a second blade.

Ninja Blade: Nameless. The favored sword of Hanzo Hattori from the Samurai Soul system. Though shorter, its sharpness and durability rivaled even Blowfish Venom.

The passive skill Dual Blade allowed Vinnigo to wield two one-handed weapons at once.

"Elyu, go support Yuri," Vinnigo called over his shoulder. "The surprise attack succeeded; the fire arbalists must be in chaos. Join Sophie and Marlin for a full assault. Leave this little girl to me."

"You bastard, who's a little girl?!" Sherry, closing in, suddenly changed expression and shouted.

The ice sword she had been wielding fused in her hands within half a second, forming a massive greatsword that she swung down with brutal force.

"Hmph, personality shift, is it..." Vinnigo sneered. "Secret Art: Sun Blaze!"

Fiery light surged up Blowfish Venom, and as Vinnigo drew and swung his blade, it met Sherry's descending ice sword.

"I'm going to kill you, bastard! Split you in two! Turn you to mince, you bastard!" The girl screamed wildly as the giant ice sword cleaved down furiously.

"Not a hint of skill," Vinnigo muttered.

The greatsword melted upon contact with Sun Blaze, but under Sherry's immense magical power, it quickly reformed. Yet Vinnigo had no intention of standing still for her attack. With his left hand, he countered using the Ninja Blade Nameless.

Quick Draw!

Sherry's eyes narrowed; she swiftly retreated, summoning four ice daggers in each hand and hurling them, weaving a web of ice in midair.

Vinnigo snorted, swinging Blowfish Venom in his right hand, knocking away three daggers with brute force. At the same time, a burst of air from beneath propelled him into a spin, dodging the fourth dagger, and he followed up with a slash from his left-handed Nameless.

"Secret Art: Execution!"

Deadly black aura wrapped the blade, imbued with dark magic to drag enemies into the inescapable grip of death. No matter how powerful Sherry was, she dared not let such a blade touch her.

Instinctively, Sherry sensed great danger from the black aura and refused to gamble with her luck. She had no choice but to retreat again.

"You can't escape! Wind Slash!"

The wind technique pursued relentlessly, like maggots on bone. Sherry's expression twisted into panic; she crouched and covered her head, on the verge of tears.

Huh, that movement... It's oddly delicate.

Yet Wind Slash failed to break through. Before Sherry, three ice shields stubbornly withstood Vinnigo's attack, protecting the girl who cowered like any ordinary child.

"Secret Art: Sun Blaze!" Vinnigo charged forward, swinging the famed Blowfish Venom; the searing blade shattered two ice shields instantly.

"Secret Art: Sun Blaze!" His left-handed Nameless struck out, blasting away the last ice shield. But what greeted Vinnigo was a storm of icy shards, like buckshot.

Frost Burst—a water element spell with an ordinary name, gathering water into a cluster that shatters upon impact, spraying frozen shards. The more skilled the caster, the greater the number and lethality of the icy fragments.

Sherry's water magic was undoubtedly at the master level. Like Honey's psychic arts, it deserved a rating of "this can't be real!"

Vinnigo was instantly frozen to an icy blue. He awkwardly tried to raise his hands, but they felt bound by a thousand-pound weight, barely able to move.

"Damn it," Vinnigo cursed inwardly. He saw Sherry rise, her gaze shifting back to the cold assassin girl.

Ice dagger, thrust.

Victory seemed within Sherry's grasp. Yet Vinnigo smiled.

Hey, girl, you've fallen for my trap.

At the moment the dagger struck, Vinnigo's slowly rising left hand suddenly shot out a burst of air. Azure Sky—Burst Mode! Dragon Pressure Fist!

The explosive air blast sent Sherry flying, hurling her into the wall more than ten meters away. Caught off guard, her ice armor lacked the ability to absorb impact, and the snow-haired girl coughed up blood and fell unconscious.

Shaking, Vinnigo fumbled at his belt, pulled out a snow-white jelly candy, popped it in his mouth, and chewed hard.

A comforting warmth spread through his body. All abnormal conditions were cleared...

It was truly a fine medicine, albeit troublesome to make. First, a scholar of anomalies purifies various herbs into colored crystals, then Mary the alchemist crafts the potion—using more mercury than buying medicine outright in the shop, by many times over.

But its efficacy and portability far surpassed any ordinary potion.

He bound the unconscious Sherry with synthetic fiber umbrella cord, so tightly her fingers couldn't twitch. Satisfied, Vinnigo continued deeper into the secret stronghold.

Prism's mercenaries had done well. Along the way, corpses of fire arbalists and dragon riders—two notorious bandit gangs—lay everywhere, slaughtered in the surprise attack, while Prism's casualties were clearly far fewer.

An acceptable outcome, considering fire arbalists and dragon riders were rampant in the kingdom, while Prism was only a newly forged force of merged rookie mercenary bands.

Soon, Vinnigo saw the wolf princess who had arrived ahead of him. Compared to her opponent, the wolf princess was like a small terrier facing a full-grown mastiff.

But reality was, this terrier was tormenting the mastiff like a rabbit.

Noticing Vinnigo's arrival, the wolf princess even paused to nod and wave at him, then gleefully resumed her playful humiliation of her foe.

Vinnigo grinned, casually slashing down two enemies charging at him, and pressed onward to the deepest part of the stronghold.

"Elyu, secure the warehouse. Yuri, where's the leader's room?" Vinnigo called loudly.

"Yes!" Elyu replied, then fell silent. He barely moved, only occasionally raising his tower shield to block incoming bolts, or swinging his saber-tooth greatsword to smash aside foes.

Not cutting, but smashing.

Yuri, unlike Elyu, summoned the other Prism mercenaries, forming teams of five to advance in order, storming the leader's quarters.

A sharp cry rang out, and Yuri leaped back in alarm. A massive iron ball crashed down, gouging a crater in the floor!

Two mercenaries were crushed instantly, while two others, retreating and blocking with their swords, were still badly injured and knocked unconscious.

Behind the iron ball came a thick iron chain, scraping across the frozen floor with a chilling sound.

"Elyu, you take him. Yuri, lead your men to the warehouse," Vinnigo quickly changed his mind.

Elyu acknowledged, turning toward the source of the iron ball. He hesitated, then sheathed the saber-tooth greatsword on his back, gripping the tower shield with both hands.

"Take this," Vinnigo said, unstrapping his round shield and tossing it to Elyu.

Elyu caught it, left hand tower shield, right hand round shield, charging forward with a roar.

The enemy leader retracted the iron ball and stepped out of the room, flanked by two fire arbalist heavy gunners, each loading their crossbows.

Vinnigo snorted. He raised Blowfish Venom, and a silent Wind Slash struck toward one of the heavy gunners.