CHAPTER 493: HOSTAGES (2/2)

“Well aren’t you confident now?” Umbra smirked back at me. “Unfortunately, that’s nothing compared to my Undead army.”

“Oh? How about we try it out then?”

“No need, my goals are soon to be met?”

“What?”

I did not know what he meant by those words, but the moment I tried to ask, something happened…

Signal flares from the remaining three entrances of the village lit up the night sky simultaneously. They had all been attacked at the same time.

Blast, we don’t even have the manpower to take care of those three areas.

Soon after that, the six Assassins whom I had dispatched as scouts all came running back to report. However, I stopped them in their tracks with a quick glare; there was no need to report something so obvious at this point.

Umbra wasn’t likely to outright slaughter the villagers immediately. However, there was a high chance that he would use them as hostages to force us to comply. If he tried that, I would have to forcefully take Nicole away with me. As long as I had my hundred Assassins to cover us, there’s no way he could ever hope to stop us.

However, that wasn’t even the worst case scenario right now…

“There’s quite a number of villagers here, I see. Not bad at all.” Said Umbra as he looked intently behind us… The villagers who were previously hiding out in their homes were now slowly walking up to us. However, they didn’t do so willingly, but were forced to.

Three young looking Lycans each led a team of Undead towards us, herding the villages in our direction in the process. Every one of them had on a look of abject terror, with the children all wailing as they marched onwards. One of the older folk amongst them even fell to the ground because he wasn’t able to keep with their pace. He looked to be over seventy; definitely old in a setting like the Western Human Realms.

Being as scared as they were, none of the villagers tried to help him up at all. The bony whites of the Skeletons and their eerie green flames were an effective deterrent against anyone who even dared look in their direction. Just like that, the old man was trampled to death by the Undead…

Watching a shrivelled old man cry for help while his flesh splattered about had to be one of the most gruesome sights in this world. I had initially wanted to save him, but the moment I saw that first Undead step on him, I knew his fate was sealed.

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I couldn’t bear to look at his wide, bloodshot eyes any longer. I turned to Umbra and yelled, “what are you trying to accomplish here?!”

Unlike me, Nicole was a lot more direct. She wasted no words at all, instead electing to draw her sword at the Vampire. However, the Vampire merely smiled in her direction and said, “if you dare to draw that sword, I dare to kill those villagers.”

“…” Her teeth had practically ground themselves to dust at this point. Unfortunately, it was a fact that they now had the entire village as their hostage and we couldn’t do anything about that.

I gently patted her on the shoulders, signalling for her not to act rashly. On my part, I shielded her eyes from the Vampire, standing between the two of them. “Why have you captured these innocent villagers? If it’s a fight you’re looking for, I am more than happy to oblige.”

“Hahaha. How amusing. Truly. Such an amusing sight to see an Occultist teaming up with Demon Hunters.” He sneered in our direction. “O how have you fallen.”

Naturally, he was referring to both Nicole and I, two diametrically opposed occupations somehow working together right now. Ironic, actually.

There were legally registered Occultists in the Western Human Realms. However, these Occultists often had the backing of the royal family or some major aristocratic family. The majority of those that did not had to endure strict surveillance and discrimination on a daily basis. What was even more egregious had to be that any punishment meted on them would be double that of an ordinary person’s. Thanks to that, most Occultists weren’t openly registered. And I was pleased to announce that I was one of them now… meaning anyone who took my head could turn it in for a reward.