The Card Apprentice

“Kill them!” the triggered Sir Elmo looked utterly pale. He broke down mentally under the immense fear and shouted hysterically.

Military orders could not be disobeyed. The city army initiated their attack immediately despite their fears.

The reason Fort Mendelssohn could keep their independent stance was because of Sir Elmo’s well-trained city army. Since the fort was placed on the outskirts of the Hundred Depths, every flexster recruited into the city army was extraordinary and skilled.

The archers and the sling shooters were the first attackers. As bows and slingshots were the flexters’ primary ranged weapon, many majored in these two weapons. Rondoch and Hofn were the most prominent ones among them. Rondoch was the leader of the archers while Hofn led the sling shooters.

Chen Mu, who was running with high speed, lifted his head suddenly. He sensed many streams of perceptions that were trying to lock onto him. Two of them had the strongest perception of the people he had met in Hundred Depths; they were even stronger than Zara’s. Calculating using the Federation’s grading system, these two perceptions reflected a perception strength of grade six.

This astonished him. With his understanding of flexsters, they normally don’t require much perception as they depended more on their body strengths. Therefore, perception was usually their weakness. He couldn’t believe that he actually met flexsters with grade six perception. This prompted him to be more cautious. His figure became erratic and uncanny as he kept changing his pace.

“Cover fire!” Rondoch’s deputy shouted in rage. He took over command for the moment.

Rondoch had a robust body and a sturdy build. His face tensed while he stared at Chen Mu, who seemed like a shadow. In his left arm, he held a gigantic bow that almost reached his shoulder while he clasped three blood-red arrows in his right hand and set it onto the bow. Beside him, the short-statured Hofn stared at Zara the demonic woman coldly. He held a small silver slingshot on his left, while his right hand was resting in the bag at his waist.

Aside from these two, the other archers released their attacks at the same time.

Swish! Swish! Swish! The sharp and terrifying swooshing noises poured toward the two like rainfall.

Such absurd speed! Chen Mu was a little shocked. The speed of these arrows was comparable to energy forms released by card artisans. If they were hit, their bodies would no doubt be penetrated. With his sharp eyesight, he could see clearly that the arrow tips were bluish, clearly dipped in poison.

Today, he finally faced the power of the flexsters of the House of a Hundred Depths. No wonder this House could resist the Federation for so long. Compared to the Nine-tailed Bandits, these flexsters were a cut above.

He rolled his body into a ball while holding the Lotus Leaf Shield in front of him with his right arm. Although the archer flexsters couldn’t lock their target on Chen Mu’s body, some of the arrows still hit his shield due to the dense hail of arrows.

Thump!

Five arrows hit the shield at the same time, and a clang echoed from the knocking. The five arrows combined their impact to form a stronger and more terrifying attack. The force coming from the shield caused Chen Mu’s figure to fall back uncontrollably.

That was intense!

He maintained the indifference on his face, yet he was speechless. The force from one arrow was enough to penetrate through common 3-stars power shields. Five arrows together could definitely affect someone even as strong as Chen Mu. Another thing that awed him was the uniformity of the archer flexsters. Five arrows actually hit him at the same time. How scary is that?

Andre stared at the Lotus Leaf Shield in Chen Mu’s arms from the city wall. As someone who came from the Sword and Shield Sect, it was strange to see an outsider possessing a treasure of his sect.

Right when Chen Mu was stunned, two bright rays were suddenly emitted from Rondoch from the city wall. Nobody could clearly see how he pulled the gigantic bow in his arms.

Thump!

The noises of bowstrings were like thunder. Three bright red rays remained in the crowd’s vision.

Chen Mu, who was in State Zero, could sense Rondoch’s perception locking onto him. The combat skills he honed from countless battles in the past two years enabled him to respond immediately. His 18 Blood Eyed Darts were activated in an instant. As if waking up from a deep sleep, they opened their bloody eyes, which resembled death.

Clink! Clink! Clink! A clear of crisp colliding noises echoed like the chimes of wind bells.

The Blood Eyed Darts spun eerily with high speed, drawing one strange arc after another nonstop. The three sharp and unblockable arrows released by Rondoch slowed down as if they were in water.

When they almost reached Chen Mu, they were as slow as paper planes. Chen Mu reached out lightly and grabbed the three arrows firmly!

It was as if time stopped at that moment. All noises disappeared, everyone stopped what they were doing, all eyes were assembled on Chen Mu’s hands with his Power Gloves on.

On the city wall, Rondoch’s face was pale as ash as his body trembled. He spent all his energy on the three arrows he shot! He was so spent that he couldn’t even pull the string of the most common bow.

“How is this possible… How is this possible…” he mumbled while his lips trembled. He couldn’t believe what was happening in front of his eyes. He wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t kill the opponent. What hit him the most was the fact that he didn’t even faze his enemy.

That was all of his strength!

He purchased the gigantic bow in his arms with huge amounts of gold. The bow was made with valuable black cedarwood while the bowstring was made from rare silk rattan. He never missed a target ever since he got this bow. The three arrows were made from Blood Frogs Spikes, very poisonous. The bow’s strength was 17 times more magnified than usual under his full force of perception. Moreover, Blood Frog Arrows that were assisted with perception could hit a strand of hair from a thousand meters away accurately! However, his powerful hit didn’t even delay the opponent!

Like a lioness, Zara had the speed of lightning. The downpour of arrows didn’t cause her any trouble at all. Compared to Chen Mu, she was familiar with the skills of the flexsters in the House of Hundred Depths. The powerful yet heavy arrows were like gentle raindrops, pelted away by her Painted Graphistemma in a single swipe. She didn’t stop her pace at all, even when Chen Mu was stunned. She had absolute confidence in him!

Nobody would understand his power as well as she did, after all the fighting they did side by side. Both of them approached the city walls of Fort Mendelssohn speedily.

The people on the city walls became disordered immediately. As if they were suddenly awakened from their dreams, the archers started attacking madly under the pressure of death.

Although the downpour of arrows had gotten more intense than before, Chen Mu and Zara acted more calmly instead, especially Chen Mu. Even though he was disadvantaged because he wasn’t familiar with the flexsters of the House of Hundred Depths, their attacks didn’t threaten him anymore.

He didn’t even need to block them as he already completed analyzing the attacking modes via State Zero. Like a fish, he swam effortlessly in the downpour of arrows.

Hofn’s face was purple with rage, but he didn’t have time to think any further. The two enemies already entered the slingshot’s range of fire!

Compared to bows, a slingshot’s range of fire was a lot shorter as it somewhere between melee weapons and ranged weapons, similar to javelins. Of course, the White Midges Bone was not included as it’s scary enough to outrange many excellent bows.

“Attack!” Hofn shouted.

This time, he was aiming towards Zara as he lost his confidence in attacking Chen Mu. Although Zara’s perception wasn’t strong, she still had ways to escape detection by perception. It should be noted that she was tied with Qing Qing in the Federation, where card artisans were everywhere. Therefore it is a given that she had her own unique skills.

Hofn’s expression changed as he realized that he couldn’t lock on this woman.

Damn it!

Being able to sit in this position, he obviously had some skills. He reacted immediately, and several brown pellets appeared on his palm.

The pellets missed the demonic woman and hit the ground not too far away from her. Hofn’s face was cold, showing no signs of defeat.

Boom!

The pellets exploded the moment they hit the ground! Orange flames rose and crept towards Zara.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several pellets exploded in the middle of the air. A few orange flames engulfed Zara like greedy beasts. Hofn’s icy face finally showed a smile. This was his ultimate skill. The pellets were all custom-made; each pellet was extremely pricey. He shot all his pellets in one go just now. The hardest part of this skill lies in exploding the pellets by perception when they are near to the enemy. He would’ve never used this ultimate skill he invented unless it was a crucial time. However, on this day, the pair has given him uncomparable pressure. This is why he and Rondoch both chose to use their ultimate skill from the beginning.

The crowd on the city walls finally had a relieved expression. The temperature of the orange flames was terrifying. No one could escape from it.

Hofn’s expression froze suddenly.

Zara walked out of the flames calmly. At that moment, she flaunted an intimidating aura, like a devil walking out from hellfire. The Painted Graphistemma was flipping beside her, forming air curtains that separated the burning flames away with ease. She was completely unhurt.

“Aah!” Hofn shrieked suddenly, his eyes protruding outwards. He covered his throat while blood oozed out between his fingers.

Thump!

His head fell to the ground while his lower body maintained a standing posture. Blood sprayed from the clean-cut on his neck all over the people around him. A yellow filament disappeared in the fog of blood.

At the same moment Zara initiated her attack, with an unspoken consensus, Chen Mu also launched his attack. He cast the last White Midges Bone!

In a buzz, the bone penetrated Rondoch’s tired body effortlessly like a strike of lightning, leaving a bloodied hole with the size of a bowl.

“Aah!”

“Oh my god!”

The crowd on the city walls had never faced this kind of situation before. The sudden death of their two leaders sucked away all their courage at once. Those who were weaker mentally limped on the floor.

Andre, who was uncertain before, seemed to have steeled his mind. While the crowd was quaking internally, he snuck inside and grabbed Sir Elmo’s neck suddenly.

“I don’t want to die because of this idiotic fool! This is an order! Everyone drop your weapons! Yield immediately!”