Chapter 667: Chapter 398: Confused Like a Wild Beast
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After battling the last group of soldiers, they finally arrived at the house where they hoped the Great Marshall was waiting. However, as soon as they entered the house, they took a moment to settle down, shaking off the overly fervent state that might lead to mistakes. Lord Pan took a deep breath and then motioned for the other Saints to stand beside him. All the Saints breathed heavily, knowing full well that the moment they opened the door, they might find themselves in combat with other Saints. Their attention was fully fixed on the enemies that might lie ahead, their faces stern, their eyes locked in focus.
As he opened the door to the house, Lord Pan summoned all of his mist energy, enveloping his body with it as he stepped inside. The small house was surrounded by windows, letting sunlight stream in. Inside the room were several tables and chairs, one of which held multiple maps pinned with small markers, indicating different army positions. Yet, the house was abandoned.
No soldiers, no Saints, and no Great Marshall. Staring at the empty building, Lord Pan felt somewhat embarrassed, realizing that he and the two Saints behind him had been on full alert in an attempt to confront the Great Marshall, who wasn’t even there. Scanning the house, they discovered no other way in or out aside from the entrance they had come through. When they rushed back outside, they encountered a few soldiers who were still alive, but their questions about the whereabouts of the Great Marshall only elicited confused reactions, as if they were talking to beasts.
"We need to move," Lord Pan finally said, his eyes roaming the city before him. Small fires burned here and there, and beasts could be seen flying above the city. People were fleeing through various gates of the city, gates opened either by the escaping beasts or by soldiers seeking to abandon their posts.
Out of respect for Yan Xiaobao’s promise, none of the beasts attacked the fleeing humans. However, anyone who fought back was killed without exception. Soon, humans realized that as long as they didn’t retaliate, they could continue to flee unhindered. This led to a massive surge of people running toward the city gates, the only exits they knew of.
"The only place I can think of where the Great Marshall might be—if not here—is the Imperial Palace," Lord Pan sighed, speaking as he and the two Saints following him departed the house, heading toward the nearest set of stairs. Every step was littered with the dead—both humans and beasts.
As they ventured deeper into the city, they came across more and more dead beasts—overconfident ones that had been killed in ambushes. Luckily, as they moved further in, the sight of beast corpses became less frequent. Lord Pan decided to lead his forces toward the Imperial Castle. Every soldier they encountered along the way had long since abandoned their weapons and started to flee from the very citizens they had sworn to protect.
As Lord Pan turned a corner, he suddenly found himself staring down an entire street filled with death. Further ahead, he even spotted a fallen Saint amidst the remnants of dead beasts, and between the corpses stood two men cloaked in black.
Both figures appeared as lifeless as the Saint lying among the fallen. As Lord Pan slowly approached the two cloaked bodies, he immediately felt a wave of hesitation. He knew the Crusaders couldn’t be far off, but his curiosity about what these Crusaders might look like outweighed his caution. Just as he reached one of the Crusaders and raised his hand to pull back the cloak, he was struck by a sudden, intense pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw that one of the cloaked Crusaders had raised a hand—a hand that seemed to pierce through his chest. A black, skeletal hand extended from beneath the cloak. As Lord Pan’s vision began to dim and his soul slipped away, the stench of death filled his nostrils.
Standing behind him were the two Saints accompanying him and the remaining loyal warriors. When they saw Lord Pan collapse to the ground, they let out a sorrowful roar. The warriors charged at the two figures, who were slowly rising from the ground. The Saints called out to stop the rush, but they were powerless to hold back the soldiers loyal to the now-deceased Lord Pan. The Saints didn’t know how to react.
Both of them felt deeply unsettled that Lord Pan had been killed so easily. To kill someone like him in such a manner clearly marked these figures as being of Saint rank, but how many of them were there? When they had seen them earlier at the city walls, they had seemed much weaker, but here, their strength had suddenly surged.
"We need to warn Wan Qiao. We have to warn her!" the two Saints said to each other as their eyes met. Casting one last glance at the warriors they couldn’t stop, they closed their eyes in shame. When they reopened them, they were filled with renewed resolve, and they took off, leaving the sounds of Crusaders and combat beasts behind them. The furious roars of battle slowly faded as they fled, never looking back. Everyone feared that they would never again see the beasts who had followed Lord Pan. They feared they had all followed him to the grave.
The two Saints turned and sprinted toward the Imperial Castle. The soldiers accompanying them shared worried glances with one another. If more Crusaders like the two they had just encountered lay hidden along their path, who could say if they would survive the journey? To the Saints, it made sense that the Great Marshall and the Emperor would have considerable protection somewhere—most likely including the Empire’s Saints and additional Crusaders.
The two Saints moved as quickly as they could and soon heard the sounds of battle. This wasn’t the struggle of ordinary soldiers and armies; this was a fight involving at least one Saint. When they finally arrived at the scene, they saw Wan Qiao and a transformed Yan Xiaobao fighting alongside two less powerful Saints from the Spanish Empire. The two Saints rushed in, overwhelmed with gratitude.