Pressing down on the frame of the Black Key Crossbow to shove the weapon aside, Raven aimed his palm directly at Klepps. A burst of flame erupted right over the man's head.
Klepps let out a muffled grunt. He thrust his hidden curved blades toward Raven's chest, only to have them parried once again.
The two engaged in a lethal, high-stakes melee mid-air, crashing through a shed before slamming onto the street below. The moment they hit the ground, both leaped back up. Raven pressed a dragonbone dagger against Klepps's throat, while Klepps leveled his Black Key Crossbow at Raven.
"On the count of three, we both lower our weapons. What do you say?" Klepps was covered in soot and scorched marks, looking utterly disheveled.
"Look again," Raven said coolly.
Frozen onto the crossbow's firing mechanism was a jagged shard of glintstone, rendering the trigger impossible to pull.
Raven wrenched the Black Key away and encased Klepps's hands in a massive block of crystal. The man didn't resist; he simply asked with a dark expression, "What is it you want?"
"Lift the siege on my manor."
"Impossible."
"Stop pretending. I can tell that as the head of the Confessors, you value your life quite a bit."
"This operation is of such a scale that if I ordered its cancellation simply because I was taken hostage, what do you think would happen to me once I returned?"
"You are the leader of the Confessors," Raven noted with a frown.
"The Confessors have more than one leader. I don't even know how many others there are, or who they might be," Klepps replied. "These reinforcements, for instance, are not under my direct command. If I were to issue an irrational order, they wouldn't obey it for a second."
Raven surveyed their surroundings. The newly arrived Confessors were all cavalry, and the patterns on their heater shields differed slightly from those of Klepps's subordinates. Only a few riders remained to keep watch over him and Klepps; the rest had dispersed to surround the manor from all sides.
"In 그 case, tell your own men to withdraw first," Raven said, the dragonbone dagger pressing a thin red line into Klepps's neck.
The muscles in Klepps's cheek twitched. Finally, he spoke. "The whistle hanging from my chest."
Raven pulled out a pitch-black whistle and tossed it to him. Klepps caught it in his teeth and blew a specific rhythmic sequence.
Tweet, tweet, tweet—
Spitting out the whistle, Klepps looked at Raven. "You know exactly who is hiding in that manor. If you turn them over voluntarily, your punishment might be lightened."
"Then let's see what charges you can actually make stick." Raven gazed toward the thinning black mist. Having ties to the Deeproot Depths wasn't a crime in itself; that accusation alone wouldn't be enough to bring him down. However, the matter of providing them with explosive stones would indeed be troublesome if exposed.
Raven had expected spies to be embedded within the Deeproot, but he hadn't anticipated the Confessors would be bold enough to launch a full-scale assault on a Demigod's manor the very next day. Logically, even if a spy sent intelligence immediately, it should have required verification and deliberation. There was no reason for such a rapid response.
Currently, Machno and his group were still inside. If they were captured and interrogated, the situation would become disastrous. As he was weighing his options, Raven saw the black mist surrounding the manor finally dissipate.
In the courtyard, Lansseax had revealed her form as an Ancient Dragon. She was currently slamming the slower Confessors into the dirt, one claw at a time. The grounds were littered with deep craters from Dragonbolt strikes, still smoldering with wisps of blue smoke.
Seeing his subordinates trickling out of the estate, the veins on Klepps's forehead throbbed. He began to count the survivors, but he stopped before he even reached halfway. He hissed through gritted teeth, "How is there an Ancient Dragon here?"
Raven ignored him. A spark of electricity crackled from his hair, leaping across the hundreds of meters to merge with the Dragonbolt wreathed around Lansseax.
Gaining a brief understanding of what had transpired, Raven calmed Lansseax, who was intent on hunting down the retreating soldiers. For now, the situation could be framed as self-defense, and the Confessors were in the wrong. If they chased them down and slaughtered them, the nature of the conflict would shift.
Lansseax raised a claw threateningly, and a bolt of Dragonbolt struck the ground near the line of Confessors outside the gate, sending a rain of shattered stone flying. These Confessors, however, appeared more elite than Klepps's men. They merely retreated a hundred meters in an orderly fashion and stopped. Their line did not waver; they maintained their blockade of the manor.
"With so many men lost, we will not rest until our objective is met. More reinforcements will arrive soon, and the Capital Sentinels could show up at any moment," Klepps said.
"Are you so sure the Capital Sentinels will help you?" Raven shot him a glance. "Come. You're going to be a guest in my manor for a while."
Raven hauled Klepps toward the estate but suddenly came to a halt.
On the crest of the manor's side wall, a figure appeared. Then a second, then a third...
Raven narrowed his eyes. He saw nine figures atop the wall, all wearing identical Skeletal Masks, their cloaks fluttering in the wind.
In the next heartbeat, they leaped down from the wall together and charged straight into the Confessor blockade.
"They're breaking out?" Klepps was stunned for a moment before he began to laugh. "Prince Raven, it seems this matter will be resolved very quickly."
Raven pressed his blade down, stifling the rest of Klepps's words. He looked grimly toward the direction of Machno's breakout, but his view was blocked by the swarming Confessors. He could no longer see the battle.
He knew that Machno might have stepped into the "Heroic Realm," but the others were merely ordinary warriors. For them to duel a Confessor one-on-one was dangerous enough; there was absolutely no way they could succeed in a breakout against these numbers.
Three minutes earlier.
"The black mist has begun to clear," Machno said in the main hall, blood dripping steadily from his claws. "It is time we took our leave."
"We have only driven the invaders from the house. The blockade outside remains," Knight Jon said, sheathing his sword. "Stay here. Wait for Prince Raven to return and take command."
"Securing rights for the Deeproot through peaceful means is no longer possible. We must return immediately to warn our compatriots. Furthermore, the enemy wants to capture us to gain proof that Prince Raven assisted the Deeproot," Machno said. "He must not be exposed because of us."
"What are you talking about?" Knight Jon looked confused. "What proof?"
"It's nothing," Machno replied. "Until we meet again, Sir Knight. The Deeproot will never forget your aid."
"Don't be a fool! Breaking out like this is a suicide mission."
Machno shook his head and looked at the three companions lying on stretchers. They were severely wounded; even with emergency incantations and medicine, they were in no condition to fight.
"Don't worry, their lives aren't in danger. Lady Lansseax will tend to their wounds," Jon said, looking out the window. "I never expected an Ancient Dragon to help us. I don't know how it happened, but as long as a dragon stands with us, the enemy cannot take this manor."
Machno remained silent and walked over to the wounded men.
"Comrade Machno, take this stone," one of the wounded said, struggling to pull out a stone with a smoldering flame flickering inside. "I don't think I'll be needing it anymore."
Machno took the stone and then accepted identical stones from the other two wounded men. He bowed deeply to the three of them and turned to leave.
Knight Jon moved to stop him, but a tachi was barred across his path.
"Spare your breath. Do you think they are blind?" Okina said flatly.
"We are brothers-in-arms who fought together! I won't allow them to go to their deaths!" The knight pushed the tachi aside, only to hear a chorus of gasps behind him.
Jon spun around. He saw that the three wounded men had already used their own daggers to take their own lives.
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Elden Ring: The Unborn One's Journey Through Elden Ring(174 Chapter - Ongoing)
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