"Hah! Do you think foot soldiers' words like yours have any credibility when it comes to something so serious? If you know them, then you are probably one of the accomplices anyway! Catch them too!"

Fanning the fire, the gang members were actually hurling more and more crimes onto the heads of young men and women.

But it was then that Aurelia took a few steps forward, making her presence known.

"Wait a minute! Aren't they actually acquaintances of Sir Kaoran? I remember seeing them at the tea party that my grandfather hosted."

With confidence, Aurelia stepped out of the shadow. Her countenance was pale, and she seemed sickly, but authority emanated from her presence.

"Young miss!" The man who spoke the harsh words earlier stopped as he bowed.

"Young miss, don't be deceived. The young physician could have some fingers in it too!"

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be so easy to persuade the crowd, especially since the people pretending to be your allies were going against you.

But that was exactly what Illyan wanted.

Looking through the illusory boundary, he could see that the scurrying soldiers also turned their attention toward Aurelia—at least the ones from the Heart Bearer Gang.

"Don't waste your time! Prepare the crossbows and poison! The sword-drawing squad and Saber-Throwing Squad, form a line in front of the door!"

Gordon, who assumed the leadership position, yelled out as soldiers secretly formed a formation prepared for any enemy.

People with spears stood in front, while the ones behind them had crossbows.

Of course, soldiers like that were easy to defeat for Illyan.

However, they prepared more. Everyone gulped down a bottle of a certain liquid while spraying poison in the air.

'This will be difficult.' Illyan could tell that the poison they prepared was probably very strong.

While it wouldn't kill him, it would hinder him, which the gang members could use against him.

'Not to mention…' Illyan looked at the last line of defense that was behind all of this.

Gordon and other members of his gang held the hilts of swords that were sheathed, crouched in preparation.

For a normal person, it would look as if they were just preparing for combat, but in Illyan's eyes, there was something else brewing inside.

'Three of them, including that driver, are Flow Masters… It seems they are trying to hide them among the normal guys. But what are they doing?'

Illyan saw how their Flow circulated through their arms to the swords inside the sheaths.

Flow couldn't be released into anything that wasn't solid, but inside the sheaths, it was compact and tight.

Because of that, Illyan could see the Flow accumulate slowly inside the sheaths as the swords started to show signs of shooting up, held only by the hands of the swordsmen.

'I see… That is an interesting technique. Also kind of easy to replicate as long as one accumulates a lot of Flow.' Illyan sighed in regret.

At this moment, his Flow was just a spark of ember inside the storm. It could extinguish at any moment with no sign of recovery.

His new aura devoured his Flow permanently, as it seemed.

However, there was no time to ponder this as he realized how strong this technique could be.

'This could be dangerous. In a one-on-one battle, it wouldn't be good as it takes too much time, but when there are three of them with many others in front, they could catch me off guard if I couldn't see through their bodies…'

After confirming the number of Flow Masters, he turned his attention to Heart Bearer's Saber-Throwing Squad.

They didn't wield sabers but rather daggers coated with a dark crimson color.

Illyan didn't need to think hard to realize they were similar to the sabers Aurelia owned.

'They even have Blood Energy. So their main power is throwing these? Can they control them like Aurelia? Although probably not, since even she could barely turn the direction once thrown… But speeding it up during the throw is viable.'

Seeing all of this, Illyan realized it would be difficult to fight all of them.

Thankfully, he didn't need to. He just needed to pass them.

But even that would be difficult.

'Sigh… If only I had time to learn how to control the aura properly. It is much more difficult than the flow… I guess I will need to use the rest of this.'

Illyan took out all of his centipede's acid sludge alongside the sleeping powder.

He had only a bit of the powder left from the underground arena incident. Originally, he also wanted to take the powder at the entrance of the mine; however, it disappeared when he came to check it out today. Either the trap was taken back by the owners or Aurelia took it for herself.

After all, they wanted to use this trap to keep people outside, but that wasn't viable anymore since all of them were inside. It would just startle them to know that he had their sleeping powder.

'The powder is a respiratory poison, while the sludge melts the body from both the outside and inside while spreading black fog that would cover my tracks. This should be enough.'

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Illyan thought as he prepared to jump out of his hiding spot.

Without any more hesitation, he threw a handful of the bottles with the black sludge into the middle of the soldiers' formation while charging forward.

"Enemy!" Gordon, who was still in the middle of managing the people setting off the poison, noticed the flying objects as he roared.

The people who noticed the bottles swung their weapons at them in fear of hidden weapons.

However, the ones who hit them regretted it immediately as the dark mist spread instantly, covering them first.

"Argh-?! M-my eyes!" Yells of pain resounded.

"It is poison or acid! Take antidotes and take position! Don't falter!"

Gordon tried to calm them as much as possible while encouraging them, but it was a difficult thing to do when their faces were literally melting off while being covered in darkness.

It was then that a pouch with powder was thrown.

This time, nobody noticed as the black mist covered the entire area.

And that was exactly what Illyan wanted.

After all, the sleeping powder was the creation of the Venomous Viper Gang.

Once they realize what it is, they will probably use a proper antidote.

Illyan knew that they would eventually realize, but it would take a few of them down by then.

"What was that? Some sounds are coming out of the citadel?"

People outside, who were arguing all this time, suddenly turned their attention towards the door of the citadel.

They thought it was coming from inside it since they couldn't see anything else.

But the gang members were different as their faces turned somber and they unsheathed their blades.

"W-what is that dark mist?!" Suddenly, the dark mist finally spilled from the boundary of the magic scroll, revealing its fangs to others.

Everyone's faces reeled in horror seeing this.

"It is the curse of the people who died here! Run!"

Someone immediately turned on their heels and ran in different directions.

"No! We will not outrun it! We need to sacrifice the ones who did this! Catch them!"

The merchants, nobles, soldiers, and whatnot started to charge at the academics with mad fervor, not even realizing that their thought process was totally skewed.

However, the gang members ignored them as they charged toward the dark mist after taking some antidotes.

Aurelia used this situation to take care of the four guys, as others were focusing on the easier victims.

On the other hand, Illyan didn't care about any of this as he charged forward with the mace in his hand.

"Huh… Why am I getting... so sleepy…" The first row of soldiers finally felt the potent feeling of sleepiness as they barely had the strength to hold their weapons.

Because of that, Illyan just brushed them off as he ran past them.

"Someone's here!" Unfortunately, some of them had good senses, and despite not seeing, they still felt Illyan's presence.

'Using [Nature Breath Method] in the city while using all my power is still a bit difficult…' Illyan cursed under his breath as he deflected the spear thrust and crushed open the head of the yelling bastard.

But at that moment, he already heard air being pierced as a salvo of crossbow bolts rained upon him.

He didn't bother avoiding them as he darted forward, culling anyone who came in front of him while ignoring the rest. He decided to trust Aurelia to take care of the mess that spilling his blood could cause.

'Hmm?' As long as the bolts didn't hit any vital areas, it didn't matter to him, but at this very moment, he felt danger ringing in his head.

'The dagger!' Feeling the large objects flying in his direction, Illyan immediately knew what they were.

'Too fast… I will need to endure.' Illyan assessed the situation as he turned his body mid-run.

Swish! One dagger passed through his shoulder. Another was upon him, passing under his ribs and exiting through his back.

Another passed through his thigh, cutting the major vein. In just a few seconds, five daggers pierced through him.

"Yeah! We got him!" Cheers resounded in the area, but Illyan ignored it all as he continued.

"Don't be complacent! Continue shooting!" Unfortunately, Gordon wasn't a fool as he commanded them to continue.

"But Commander, there is no one else! Why would—What the!? How is he still alive?"

By the time all of this happened, Illyan was already at the last line of defense. Most of the people had already fallen asleep or died in their sleep.

Surprisingly, they didn't realize what kind of poison it was. They probably thought it was another effect of the black mist.

Thanks to that, Illyan had a great advantage. However, at this point, even he began to feel the poison they used starting to take effect.

He felt dizzy, and his mind grew fuzzy. Thankfully, his spiritual awakening helped him a great deal as he gritted his teeth and ran toward the door.

"Not so quickly!" The Heart Bearer Gang members jumped in front of him, unsheathing sabers while using the daggers that flew away to return through their original trajectory.

One of them grinned as he used blood energy to strengthen himself while charging forward. The others glanced at each other as they charged from different directions.

But Illyan didn't feel that he was his opponent at all as he swung his mace against the saber.

A loud screeching noise resounded as the broken-down saber fell to the ground, accompanied by a whimper of pain from the man with a broken arm.

The others managed to swing their sabers without a problem, but Illyan had already rolled on the ground, cleanly escaping.

"What the—?!" Rising in front of the once-confident man, he grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him at the daggers that were coming closer from behind.

"Wait, nooo—Gwarhgh!" Sounds of blood gurgling came from the flying man as he fell to the ground with holes covering him.

One of the daggers lost its owner and immediately fell to the ground. The other four continued flying toward the intruder.

But at that moment, while the Heart Bearer men took his attention, the others came in like vipers and attacked from his blind spots.

The first attack came out of the sheath at lightning speed, but Illyan ignored it. It was a feint!

Instead, he grabbed the man's sword at lightning speed with a hand covered in blood energy while dragging him in front of himself against the second sword draw as he felt the flow emanating out of the sheath.

The moment he did so, Illyan felt unprecedented danger.

'These accumulation techniques are really something…!' Illyan thought as he quickly leaned back so much so that his head nearly touched the ground behind him.

During that time, the intersection between the hilt and the sheath of the man pulsed with power as his hand trembled. Everything fell silent.

That was until the sound of unsheathing was heard.

Splatter.

The man who was used as a decoy fell to the ground in two pieces as the sword continued on its straightforward horizontal path, just missing Illyan by a nail's length.

Illyan watched the sword pass over his head as he almost fell to the ground.

However, just before hitting his head against the ground, he threw his hands over his head, arching into the perfect bridge.

Just then, the other three vipers arrived and prepared to unsheath their swords at the defenseless man.

They were quite skilled as they stood only in places Illyan could use to escape in his current position. They also stood in such places where the daggers still targeting him wouldn't even graze them.

'Well… This is quite a good combination.' Illyan's eyes turned around as he saw the men staring at him menacingly, while the one who almost cleaved him in half retreated, sheathing his sword and preparing for another try.

'Unfortunately… The technique is too one-dimensional…' Quickly calculating the vectors of their strikes, Illyan smirked.

He used the breathing technique as he felt the trembles inside the tips of his toes and fingers.

Just as swords unsheathed themselves at unbelievable speeds, Illyan flicked his toes, which lifted his lower body from the bridge position into a handstand, allowing him to avoid the vertical slashes aiming at his torso and neck.

When he did so, he felt the swords passing in front and behind him, hitting the ground where they were stuck after passing through it.

Then, he flicked his fingers to push himself off the ground to avoid their next attacks while spinning in the air.

However, the daggers changed their trajectory a bit as they still aimed at his position.

Fast as the wind, the daggers finally found him in the air, but Illyan had already thrown three of his throwing knives, deflecting the daggers for a second.

The fourth dagger passed through all of this only to be intercepted by the mace.

Boom

The dagger fell to the ground without the magical sheen it showed before as Illyan successfully blocked its attack.

Still, the impact was strong enough to send Illyan a few meters backward while still in the middle of the air.

"No! Stop him!"

But that was enough for Illyan. Grinning madly, he disappeared into the darkness of the citadel's door.

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