Lord of Rot

Chapter 473: Chapter 418: Huh?

Looking down from the city walls, Leech, riding his Horse-headed Eagle, was like an unstoppable chariot. Everywhere he went, enemies were sent flying.

When its momentum began to slow, the Horse-headed Eagle spread its wings again and soared back into the sky.

Down below, the Mercenaries in the midst of battle were stunned.

‘How are we supposed to fight this?!’

‘Ten more dives like that, and all we’ll have left are the severely wounded and crippled.’

“Shoot him down!” Viscount Matthew ordered, looking at one of his men in the mercenary band.

The man’s Extraordinary power provided a huge boost to his archery; he was the one who had been picking off the Soldiers on the wall with long-range shots earlier.

After receiving the order, the Transcendent Mercenary drew his bow, aiming at the diving figure in the sky.

He hadn’t achieved mastery in archery—he hadn’t even studied it for more than a few days—but his Extraordinary power made him a perfect shot. Any arrow he loosed would find its target.

A wisp of wind coiled around the arrowhead. The wind began to spin rapidly around the tip, and the wisp started to split: one strand, two, three…

The strands of wind grew longer and more numerous!

Eventually, they transformed into a massive storm.

WHOOSH!

The sound of wind began to rise, then became a torrential blast. It blew the hair on his forehead about like an octopus’s tentacles and made the clothes of those around him flap violently.

The sand on the ground began to swirl, turning into a cloud of dust.

He was putting one hundred percent of his power into this single shot!

Just as he was about to dive again, Leech suddenly sensed danger.

It was the danger perception ability he had acquired from the young woman of the Monkey Clan, Annel Bill. He yanked hard on the reins, making the Horse-headed Eagle quickly gain altitude to dodge.

The razor-sharp arrow arrived in an instant, striking the Horse-headed Eagle’s right wing and showering sparks.

The Horse-headed Eagle Rocket was hit in mid-flight, its balance thrown off. It swayed from side to side, looking as if it were about to fall.

It beat its wings frantically, and after dropping for some distance, it finally stabilized itself.

It wasn’t injured, but a single feather had been knocked loose, drifting slowly down on the wind.

“Again!” Viscount Matthew was overjoyed. Ordinary people with bows and crossbows couldn’t even get close to Leech, but a Transcendent could throw Leech’s flying mount off balance. A few more shots, and they could definitely bring him down.

He was confident that if Baron Porcupine fell into the crowd, sheer numbers would be enough to finish him off!

‘Without flight, what are you?!’

*THUMP!*

A sound came from the sky.

It seemed as if something had flown by.

“What was that?!” Viscount Matthew’s face went pale. He then saw that the Transcendent archer beside him had vanished.

Looking back, he saw the man pinned to the sandy ground by a javelin that had pierced through his forehead. He couldn’t be more dead.

Glancing quickly back up at the sky, Viscount Matthew was horrified to see Leech holding the follow-through pose of a javelin throw. Leech was already reaching back and pulling out another javelin.

Under the sun, the javelin’s tip gleamed with a cold light.

‘Wait!’

‘Did Baron Porcupine just kill a Transcendent with a hand-thrown javelin?’

‘Even if a Transcendent could throw that far, the accuracy is just too much. How could anyone have such exquisite throwing skills?’

Seeing Leech turn his gaze upon him, Viscount Matthew’s first instinct was to dodge. But then he immediately realized, ‘Why should I hide? He wouldn’t dare kill me!’

“I am a Viscount of the desert!” he shouted up at Leech. “Baron Porcupine, this is not the Eastern Gorge! You have crossed the border! Leave now, before you provoke a conflict between the desert and the Eastern Gorge! If war breaks out between our two lands, you will not be able to bear the consequences!”

His opponent could fly and snipe from a distance. Just one man had been enough to make him back down.

He couldn’t think of a way to deal with Leech. Scaring him away was the best option right now, and he could only hope it would work.

Leech didn’t actually throw the javelin to kill him. He was a staunch member of the peace faction; he pursued not war, but a stable life and farming!

But the Viscount’s threat was pure nonsense to him. ‘If the Lu Leiyi Kingdom hadn’t been unified, and if the desert weren’t so barren, do you really think the other three territories wouldn’t have come to annex you?’

He gently patted the Rocket, directing it to turn and fly back to the walls of Mama City.

Just now, when Leech had appeared to provide support, the city’s defending Soldiers had seized the opportunity to eliminate the isolated Mercenaries who had made it onto the walls without ladders or a path of retreat.

For now, the top of the walls was secure.

However, they were powerless against the assault on the city gate below.

As Leech flew back, he drew the attention of everyone below, and the battle paused once again.

“This is not crossing a border!”

Leech took off his stuffy helmet. He looked down at the bewildered Mercenaries, thrown into confusion by his grand entrance, and then at the wounded Soldiers on the wall. He raised his voice, ensuring everyone could hear him—so loud that the ears of the Soldiers closest to him were left ringing.

“When I became a Knight, I swore an oath to be just and brave, to defend the innocent, and to pursue righteousness even unto death!” His voice was filled with passion. “When I learned that you were attacking the daughter of Princess Sophia, my sense of justice told me that I absolutely could not stand idly by!”

“Sophia’s daughter? Who’s that?”

The situation on the battlefield had taken a sharp turn. Even Viscount Matthew, who had been terrified of being skewered by Leech’s javelin, was stunned. ‘Aren’t those my lines? Seizing the moral high ground before launching a war.’

‘Besides, who would believe such a story? No one’s ever heard of Princess Sophia having a daughter. She’s been dead for over a decade! People only know that a Princess Sophia existed and that, legally speaking, she was the heir to Leon City. That’s it.’

‘But everyone knows Count Buffalo is the real one in power now.’

“Miss Lisu Muma is the new Princess Sophia!” Leech declared loudly.

“Heh,” Viscount Matthew sneered. ‘What a brainless lie. Lisu Muma is the daughter of Lion·Ma Ma. She might be called the ‘Desert Pearl,’ but she’s really just a desert bandit.’

‘Besides, she has a father and mother… wait. Lisu Muma isn’t actually Lion’s daughter. Her mother married him, and she just took on the Mama surname.’

‘But who can say for sure that her mother is her biological mother?’

‘But the age doesn’t add up, either. The most common topic of conversation is the beauties of the desert, and the most beautiful of all, Lisu Muma, is a centerpiece of tavern talk. The Mercenaries here all know she’s fifteen this year. Did Princess Sophia have a child years early and keep it a secret, never revealing it even up to her death?’

‘Absolutely impossible. It’s impossible no matter how you think about it.’

On the city wall, Lisu Muma was also stunned. She had fought on the battlefield, disguised herself as a desert bandit to raid, and would draw her blade to slit the throat of any man who coveted her beauty. Nothing could ever shock her. She had believed herself to be strong enough—until a moment ago, when Leech descended from the sky on his flying mount to save Mama City.

At that moment, she had only been captivated by his heroic and powerful figure. Who doesn’t love a hero?

But now, she was completely dumbfounded.

Her mind went blank, with only a single voice echoing within it.

“Huh?”

‘I’m Princess Sophia’s daughter? How come I didn’t know!’

Never mind that she didn’t know; even Leech had only just found out a few days ago.