‘That guy really was caught!’
This was Yebul’s first reaction. He made a decision immediately.
“Forget his belongings for now. He never showed his face in public anyway… we’ll just deny everything! We’re retreating immediately!”
He threw all the documents into the fire, grabbed the case containing the Frosted Demon Sword, and headed for the terrace with his trusted subordinates — he intended to escape from there.
The most luxurious suites in high-end hotels were designed to enjoy the widest views.
This design concept was perfectly reflected in the batch of hotels built in Cyrus over the last five years of major reconstruction to host nobles, foreign guests, and other important visitors.
This hotel, located in a quiet corner of the Inner City, was one of them.
Due to its distance from the main streets, the price for the most luxurious suite here was 1,300 Elansian Currency per night — less than half the price of hotels of similar caliber near the Civic Square.
But the price was not the reason Yebul had chosen this place.
He chose it because it was quiet enough, and because the layout of the buildings in the nearby streets was very dense.
From the terrace of this suite on the fourth floor of the hotel, he and his men could easily climb along the terraces or the exhaust pipes of the fireplaces to reach other adjacent buildings and evacuate.
The wind whistled in his ears on the terrace, but the sound of whistles and footsteps in the streets below was as clear as drumbeats — the Duke’s Guard and the City Defense Force of Cyrus were constantly converging on this location.
The icy chill released by the Demon Sword penetrated the Protection Formula, creeping up Yebul’s arm from the surface of the leather case…
His subordinates, who had already jumped onto the roof of the building opposite the terrace, waved at him, wanting him to toss the case over first.
There was no way he would do that. Just as he stepped onto the edge of the terrace, a rapid knocking came from the suite door behind him.
Steeling his heart, he gripped the case and leaped forward.
Fortunately, the distance between the buildings was not very far, and he managed to land on the roof of the building opposite the hotel.
Seeing him swaying slightly, one of his subordinates reached out to steady him.
“Sss! So cold…!”
The moment he touched Yebul’s body, he pulled his hand back in shock, as if he had touched a block of ice.
He looked at his superior’s arm with nervous eyes… and found that the sleeve of the fur coat Yebul always wore had already frozen stiff.
“Lord Yebul…”
“Don’t worry about me. Move!”
The subordinate had no choice but to start running across the rooftops. Yebul followed behind them.
He glanced back at the hotel suite terrace he had left behind —
A petite figure wearing a mage’s hat and a white robe was standing there.
She was locked onto his direction like an emotionless machine.
Several officers of the City Defense Force stood beside her.
One officer stared intensely in his direction just as she did, while another officer gave orders to the soldiers standing by on the street.
“Damn Sage, damn Clones!”
Yebul’s heart sank. He spat viciously and then continued his flight without looking back.
……
This game of cat and mouse lasted until nightfall before reaching its conclusion.
Yebul had actually made extensive preparations for this situation — he had long ago surveyed the street layout of the Inner City and prepared more than five safe houses and over ten retreat routes.
Furthermore, he had arranged several meeting points in the villages and towns outside the city.
In other words, as long as he could successfully leave the city, he could fly far away without being discovered.
‘I already expected the possibility of failure and made full preparations for it… so why has it turned out like this?’
“Gwah!”
As another subordinate was struck down by a bolt of lightning in front of him, Yebul’s heart grew even colder and stiffer.
He looked at the petite figures closing in from all directions, his eyes looking as if they would spit fire.
‘Damn dolls… how on earth are you able to do this?’
Because they were extremely familiar with the terrain, they had even managed to leave the City Defense Force behind at one point.
But every time they tried to continue their retreat along the alleys of their planned route, a Sage’s Clone wearing a City Defense Force uniform would always flash out from the corner of the alley ahead to intercept them.
Thus, the planned evacuation routes were discarded one by one during the pursuit.
When only half the routes were left, Yebul had already planned to seek temporary refuge in one of the safe houses within the city.
But when they reached the vicinity of one of the safe houses with high hopes, they found that the Sage’s Clones had arrived simultaneously with a large number of City Defense Force soldiers.
They were forced to abandon the stronghold they had worked so hard to establish and continue their flight.
By then, Yebul had the illusion of being played with like a bird in a cage — ‘Are they trying to follow us just to root out all the safe houses I prepared in the city?’
He immediately abandoned the plan to go to the next safe house.
Instead, he led his trusted subordinates along the route he considered the safest and most hidden among the remaining options… and then, before a deserted crossroad near the end, they reached the finale.
“You have the right to remain silent.”
The surrounding Clones spoke in unison. They wore different uniforms — most were City Defense Force, while others were workers, drivers, and patrolmen… it truly was 1,000 people with one face.
However, the Magic Arrays representing lightning spells were spinning identically in all their pupils as they closed in on Yebul and the last few subordinates standing in front of him.
“Lord Yebul…”
These subordinates were trusted followers who had accompanied him all the way from the Imperial Capital.
They held small firearms — these firearms looked very much like the long flintlock rifles used by the City Defense Force, only much smaller in size.
Yebul could see that their fingers on the triggers were trembling.
“Don’t fire. These weapons were invented by the original body of these things; they won’t be effective against them. Drop your weapons and surrender — then get away from me.”
The subordinates were stunned, looking at Yebul with disbelief.
“What are you looking at? Get lost! Do you want to die here with me?”
He set down the case containing the Frosted Demon Sword and roared at those subordinates.
Shaken by the deep hatred and madness in his eyes, the subordinates threw down their weapons and fled to kneel before the Clones, begging for mercy.
“Ahhh!!!”
The response given to them was the paralyzing electrical discharge released by the Clones after three warnings, which was sufficient to cause a loss of consciousness.
After they collapsed, several individuals not wearing City Defense Force uniforms dragged the foaming-at-the-mouth subordinates away.
Only Yebul was left within the circle of encirclement.
He was surrounded by dozens, even 100s of Clones preparing to cast spells.
Seeing that he had no intention of surrendering, the Clones continued to close in on him.
The shouts of a large group of people and horses came from all around. He knew it was the City Defense Force and the Guard approaching.
‘Will my revenge end here? I didn’t even get to see that woman’s face… no, that’s not right.’
‘These soldiers might very well be her subordinates.’
‘And this street, even this city, was built by her and the people she was willing to give up everything to protect — in other words, it is what she treasures most, the treasure she refuses to let go of.’
He glanced at the case at his feet… and then he heard a voice whispering in his ear:
“Shall we begin? Use your own hands to destroy everything cherished by the woman who humiliated you and trampled on your dignity. Because this is —”
He stomped violently on the lock of the case, and the formula attached to it to isolate temperature and Magic Power dissipated.
With the disappearance of the formula’s effect, the entire case instantly turned into an ice shell that would shatter at a touch.
“Ah, you’re right.”
The ice shell exploded into powder, and a long sword, blue throughout and as beautiful as a diamond, appeared amidst the light blue mist of ice dust.
Yebul picked it up, and ice crystals grew and burst along his arm like living things… until they covered his entire body.
He became a man of ice. But he did not shatter; instead, he slowly raised the Demon Sword that had become one with him and pointed it at the Clones before him.
” — Because this is my revenge. My revenge alone.”
Frost began to form on the pavement of the crossroad.
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