Unam kept tapping his index finger on the table with a deep frown on his forehead. He did his best to delay the Athilia Kingdom from rooting out the Rebel Army. He could only delay it by seven days, which should be enough for his subordinates to assassinate the Queen and The Princess. The Stanion Family's force was out to help them, so the Stanion Family's defense was quite loose. It should be easy to kidnap the Queen and make it like the Rebel Army who did it.
That was why he delayed capturing Ghortakh City, sacrificing thousands of people, only to kill the Queen, who he deemed an obstacle for the current King. After all of that, his subordinates had not returned from the mission. There were two possibilities, either his subordinates were killed, or they were on the way back.
"But they should have returned by now. Two days to get to Stanion Family's territory with the shortcut, so five days should be enough," Strategist Unam muttered in a low voice.
Dokh! Dokh! Dokh!
Someone knocked on his office door, "It's me, Sir Unam." It was the Athilia Secret Force's leader's voice.
"Come in."
The door immediately opened, and the man rushed to meet Unam. The man looked confused and baffled, "My subordinates have returned, but they can't find Queen Melina and Princess Larissa. They stayed in the Stanion Family's territory to search for the Queen, but The Queen was not there."
Unam looked at the man in the eyes as his eyes squinted, "I am not lying, Sir. That's their report, and I can call them to meet you if you want."
"I know you and your subordinates are not lying, but why did Videl Stanion lie to us? If the Queen is not the Stanion Family, that means the Queen is with the Stanion Family's force," Unam made a weird expression, "Do they suspicious of us? Nah, this is our first attempt to get rid of the Queen. The Stanion Family should not be aware of my plan unless one of us betrayed me."
The man was sweating profusely when Unam mentioned the last part. One person betrayed the organization, and it was like thirteen years ago. The man had seen what Unam did to the traitor, and it left a deep impression on him. Death was mercy compared to what Unam did to the traitor.
"That should not be possible either. This is weird,"
At this moment, the bell in the city rang. At first, it was just one, and it followed with the other bells. Then the whole city filled with the bell noise. That was a signal that the city was under attack. Unam stood up and left the office. The temporary office was the main building in the city's center, and he was on the fifth floor.
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" "WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"
"Ah, everything makes sense now. Everything comes together now," Unam nodded his head, keeping his composure even though the city was under attack, "The Gienas Kingdom betrayed us. They want to use Queen Melina as a hostage. I see…."
The leader of the Intelligence Service rushed toward Unam, "Please follow me to the secret passage, Sir. We are under attack."
Strategist Unam shook his head and looked toward the man, "Is it the Gienas Kingdom?"
"Gienas Kingdom?" The Intelligence Service's leader paused for a moment before understanding the question, "No. We don't see the Gienas Kingdom's flag. The Stanion Family's force is also not there. We assume it's the Rebel Army."
"What?" Strategist Unam was shaken by the answer, "There's no way it's the Rebel Army. Their remaining force is in Polaron City. They would not be able to counterattack us this early. What is this? What actually happened?" The Strategist was confused about all these events. Videl Stanion came and lied to them; the Queen was missing, and the unknown force came out of nowhere.
"Are you The King of Athilia Kingdom?" Unam suddenly heard a young and foreign voice. This was the first time he heard the voice, not one of his subordinates for sure. The Strategist turned toward the voice and saw a young man behind the leader of the Athilia Secret Force. His subordinate was dead with his head detached from the body with a single slash.
"Who are—" The Intelligence Service leader's voice was cut off as a sword pierced his heart. Unam turned toward the other side and discovered a woman with purple hair had stabbed his second trusted subordinate. The woman was more brutal than the young man as she cut down the body, ensuring his subordinate's death.
"I don't think he is the King, Sir Lu An. These two people called him Sir," Viona shook the blood on her sword and sheathed it back.
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Name: Viona
Class: ???
Rank: Epic
Level: 1047
Skill: ???
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"A decent assassin," Unam maintained his composure and nodded his head, and used the basic detection on Lu An.
Unam's eyes widened in shock after seeing the information about the young man, "How is that possible? The upper limit for an Epic Rank should be level 1500. How can you reach level 1931 but still an Epic Rank?"
Lu An subconsciously looked up above his head, but he saw nothing, of course, "Ah, the [Basic Detection worked on me, huh?" He then used the same skill on Unam. He heard the man's name during the conversation, Unam.
——————————
Name: Unam
Class: ???
Rank: Epic
Level: 1209
Skill: ???
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"He will be a decent match and also exp for you, Viona," Lu An turned toward the purple-haired girl and said, "Do you want to fight him? I can keep a watch for a while, three minutes. He is yours alone if you can kill him in three minutes."
"It's not the time for that, Sir Lu An. We are on a mission. I don't think this is appropriate," Viona shook her head, "It's better to capture him alive and let him lead us to the King. We need to hurry before the soldiers assemble in this building."
"That's true," Lu An nodded and threw a pitch-black dagger toward Unam. The sudden attack caught Unam off guard, but the latter had been working as an assassin too. This was something he could face. A short sword appeared in his hand, and he subconsciously raised the sword to block the dagger.
However, the thing he did not expect happened again. The dagger disappeared, and a young man named Lu An appeared before him. Before he could do anything, Lu An circled around Unam and put the sword on Unam's neck.
The Strategist found the pitch-black dagger. It was on the young man's original spot, meaning it was a skill that allowed the young man to switch places with the dagger.
"You better lead me to the King if you want to keep your life," Lu An threatened Unam. However, the latter smiled as it was funny that the position was swapped. Usually, he would be the one who threatened his enemy to speak up, but for the first time in his life, it happened to him. It was tragic, yet funnily tragic.
"You should kill while you have the cha—" Unam did not finish his words as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. His eyes widened in shock, and he slowly looked down at his chest. A sword pierced through his heart, but it did not kill him. He looked to the sword's wielder; the purple-haired woman was the one who stabbed him. He ignored the woman because he felt that Lu An was the most dangerous one; he did not sense the woman coming for him at all.
Unam was about to say something, but Viona pushed the sword upward, tearing apart the man's chest and face. That was one strike kill, and Viona got the exp, "Don't you sense it, Sir Lu An?" Viona asked.
"I did, but I want to see what this guy does," Lu An nodded in response. He understood what Viona talked about. They sensed something dangerous coming from the man, but he did not stop Unam because he wanted to see that. He felt like it was not an issue for him to defeat Unam.
"Maybe I talk and nag too much, but we must prioritize the mission, Sir. What if this man managed to stall us until the King escaped? That will delay our progress to clear the second floor," Viona said in a solemn voice, "it's fortunate that the man ignored me because my level is lower than him." She added at the end.
"Hah, that's true. There will be a lot of chances for me to witness the same thing later. The second floor is much bigger than the first floor," Lu An nodded, and both disappeared from the room.
The cries of battle filled the city. The Athilia Kingdom noticed the attack, but it was too late because the Tang Empire had taken over the southern wall, and fifty thousand forces were already inside the city by the time they discovered they were under attack. The battle ensued between the Tang Empire and the Athilia Kingdom, but the Athilia Kingdom's force was overwhelmed because more than half their soldiers were asleep.
As the battle broke out, Moonsong and Lu An sneaked into the mayor's manor. The city design made it easier to locate where the King was.
Lu An and Viona worked as a team, looking for the King on the other side of the building, while Moonsong worked with his tribesman to look at the other side of the building. They found King Albertian in the meeting hall with the other four commanders.
"Who are you?" King Albertian raised from his seat and questioned Moonsong, "Beastmen Kingdom?"
"We are the Tang Empire, and we will take over the Athilia Kingdom," Zhang Mengyao emerged and faced King Albertian.
"Oh, we are all here," Then Lu An and Viona appeared behind The King, "It seems we came to the right room."
Lu An's sudden appearance alerted the four commanders. The four commanders rushed to the King's side, protecting King Albertian from all sides. They did not expect the enemy would infiltrate the manor this fast while they were discussing whether to retreat or fight.