Chapter 34 : So many people against just you—why don’t you just surrender already?

The stall owner crossed his arms and looked at the thief with disdain.

As for Ron and Perica’s sudden transformation in appearance—Stall owner Luca wasn’t particularly surprised.

In fact—Ever since Ron had bought out all the Western slaves, Luca had already guessed that these weren’t their true appearances.

Big clients and nobles usually use perception-disguising magic to avoid being tracked or ambushed.

That was common practice.

The only thing that caught him off guard — Was just how stunning the two of them turned out to be.

Especially when he realized that Ron was none other than the legitimate heir of the prestigious Castrellero family—

Stall owner Luca knew:

This was his chance!

For merchants, aside from money, what they crave most is getting in with nobility.

The bigger your business grows, the more you hunger for connections like these!

“Miss Maid, don’t worry!”

“Our merchant caravan doesn’t rely on sweet talk—we survive through brute force!”

Luca’s tone brimmed with confidence.

And he had every reason to be confident.

Fifteen bodyguards—

Six trainee-level magic warriors, Two entry-level magic swordsmen,One veteran-level elder mage seated at the center, Four apprentice shield mages guarding the left and right flanks, And two holy priests on standby as medics.

This was a merchant convoy straight from the imperial capital.

They were fully equipped to go monster hunting in a magic beast forest—let alone deal with a petty thief like this.

“Kid, I advise you to surrender now and spare yourself some pain.”

The one-eyed elder mage seated at the center shook his head with a trace of pity.

The shield mages at the frontline slammed their shields into the ground.

“Once we start fighting, we can’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive!!”

The shield mages pounded their shields rhythmically, steadily closing in on the alchemist Kato.

Faced with this professional encirclement— Kato sneered, pulling a strange mask from inside his robes and beginning to place it on his face.

But before he could fasten it— The one-eyed elder’s pity turned into fury.

“Insolent fool!”

With a barked command— The heavy tome in the old man’s hand floated into the air.

As the pages fluttered with a loud whirr— The elder’s eyes gleamed gold, his voice booming with authority:

“Oh earth, grant me your power to restrain my enemy—”

“Hill-Crushing Bind!!”

As the chant finished— Kato grunted, as though a massive hill had landed squarely on his back, slamming him face-first into the ground!

CRACK—CRACK—

“AARGHH!!”

“Spare me! M-My lungs are gonna pop!!”

As Kato wailed— The ground beneath him splintered like a spiderweb.

Watching Kato’s pitiful state— The one-eyed elder gave a cold laugh.

“If you’d known this would happen, why start trouble in the first place?”

But before the elder could finish mocking him—

Kato laughed too.

“I’m about to be crushed to death… heh, just kidding.”

The elder stared, stunned— As Kato rose to his feet.

Slowly, with difficulty— But unmistakably upright, standing tall.

“Wh-What…?!”

“How… How are you doing this?!”

The elder was completely dumbfounded.

The frontline warriors froze in shock as well.

Finally, the elder was the first to snap out of it— “What are you all standing around for?!”

“Get him—all of you!”

“No one is to hold back—not even for a second!”

At his command— The magic warriors and magic swordsmen charged forward with a roar!

Facing this group of snarling, bloodthirsty warriors— Kato gave a cold, sinister smile.

Click!

With a locking sound, the strange mask snapped firmly into place.

Then Kato extended a hand behind his neck and began connecting several tubes to his mask, one by one.

“Wait—don’t tell me he’s actually…”

Even Perica widened her eyes in rare surprise.

A second later—Multicolored fluids surged through the tubes, flooding into Kato’s mask.

“Still playing around with that broken mask?!”

“Die!!”

One magic warrior, wielding a giant axe nearly as tall as himself, lunged forward.

His axe blade glowed with a faint red aura.

BOOM!!

As the giant axe slammed down, Ron felt the earth beneath his feet tremble as if hit by a magnitude-eight earthquake!

And that wasn’t all—The crimson magic energy seeped into the cracks in the ground, then erupted into searing flames!

“Molten Groundwave Slash!”

The attacking warrior looked pleased with himself.

But before he could confirm the kill—His head suddenly jerked downward!

“Ughhh—aaaah!”

“I’m seriously… freaking buzzing right now!”

Kato was now standing—somehow—on the warrior’s head.

His eyes were rolled back, tears streaming down his face, hands gripping his own throat in twisted euphoria.

“You little—dare mock me?!”

The burly warrior roared in rage and reached up to grab Kato by the legs.

At the same time, the other fighters unleashed their own attacks—all targeting the warrior’s head, trying to strike Kato down!

BOOM!!

Thick smoke exploded outward.

A ghostlike figure darted through the smoke at incredible speed.

When the smoke cleared— The warriors lay scattered across the ground, groaning in pain and coughing up blood.

“Wh-What kind of sick joke is this?!”

The elder mage was in total shock, staring at his fallen comrades.

Before he could even think of a counter-strategy— Kato charged him like a mad dog, dagger in hand!

“Take out the strongest one first. The rest can be cleaned up later!”

The old mage was not suited to fighting nimble assassins.

And after seeing Kato’s terrifying power, he completely panicked!

“Rock Shot—wait, no!”

“Maybe… Stone Pillar?”

“No, that’s wrong too!”

“He’s too fast… I need something like a wide-area ground spell… Rockfall Sandstorm or something!”

“Praise be to the Earth God, your devout servant—”

But before the chant could even begin properly— Kato was already right in front of him!

His dagger was just about to pierce the elder’s throat— When a flash of pale green magic shimmered in front of him.

“Barrier of Wind!”

Perica slammed her staff against the ground.

A barely-visible wind barrier sprang up around the elder mage.

A strange pressure differential locked Kato’s dagger in place—it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he pushed!

“Oh?”

“You’re still standing after breathing in my alchemy gas?”

“Interesting.”

Kato put his dagger away and flipped backward to gain some distance.

By now, purple poison gas had begun to fill the area.

Thanks to Perica’s protection, Ron hadn’t passed out yet and could still watch the chaos unfold.

“So this is the kind of destruction magic can cause…”

“It’s insane—and this is just entry-level combat?!”

Ron couldn’t help but marvel at the near-magical spectacle playing out before him.

On the other side—The elder mage, who had barely escaped death, collapsed to the ground with a scream.

“Th-Thank you, young lady…”

“You’re a mage, aren’t you?”

“Impressive!”

“You actually cast a barrier strong enough to block his attack, without even chanting!”

“It’s just a shame… if you were a warrior, that would’ve been perfect…”