Chapter 416: Retreat
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Nightingale followed the path she had scouted out before, passed through three rooves, and landed straight in the dungeon that the Marquess was held.
Spear Passi heard the sound and stared up with wide eyes. "How... did you get in?"
Nightingale raised a finger to her lips as a sign for silence and limped out of the steel door. Judging from their clothing, the two guards in the pathway were probably followers of the church. She used the Mist to instantly move behind the two men and slit their throats with a dagger—they would never have expected an attack from within the dungeon, so they didn't even turn their heads as they lay dying.
After returning to the dungeon, Nightingale finally had a chance to examine her wound.
The wind-resistant pants that Soraya made for her were cut open, and blood was gushing from a wound on her shin that was half an inch deep. Her enemy's magic whip must have scraped through the pants and cut through her flesh, but thankfully it had not damaged any bones. If not for the sturdy coating on her pants, she would have been injured even more seriously.
"You're hurt," Spear said with a frown.
"It's not too bad. We have to leave before you turn into a corpse." Nightingale did not tell the Marquess about the Saint's plans of taking her to Hermes, for it seemed just as bad as dying, or even worse. "They had no idea that you were a witch before they captured you, so it must be the church's conspiracy to gain control of Fallen Dragon Ridge."
"How about my brother..."
"He's probably already become the church's puppet. There's no time to waste, so I'll explain to you on the road." Nightingale tightly tied a sash right above the wound. "Where is the God's Locket of Retribution?"
The Marquess pointed at her neck. "At first, they only tied my legs with a chain, but then they replaced it with this."
Nightingale's heart immediately sunk upon seeing the metal ring as thick as her thumb—this kind of God's Locket of Retribution was made by stuffing magic stones into a metal tube and sealing it with a special technique, making it practically impossible for someone to undo it.
"Do you remember where the locking device is?"
"It's inside the dungeon near the entrance, where they brought me to be locked."
It was obvious that after discovering the Marquess' real identity, the Saint decided to use the strongest restrictions that could almost trap any witch except an Extraordinary.
She would have to remove this contraption in order to take Spear into her Mist and escape.
"Let's go to the first dungeon," Nightingale said decidedly. "Come with me."
She fought against the stabbing pain in her shin, returned to the fallen guards, took their keys, and opened the cell door.
Suddenly, the tolls of ringing bells broke the silence and echoed throughout the tower, which made her heart race.
"That's the church's alarm," Spear said with a panicked expression.
"I knew they would come eventually," Nightingale whispered. "Our only chance of surviving is to move faster than our enemy."
The alarm might have actually helped her because all the men in the basement would swarm towards the only entrance at once, making it easy for her to eliminate them together.
She descended on them with her Mist and aimed her gun at these men. After her bullets pierced her first target, they immediately struck her second, splattering blood everywhere. The God's Stones of Retaliation that they wore served as clear targets in her black-and-white vision, while her invisibility rendered the men clueless about where to attack. After two rounds of shooting, there was not a single living guard left in the dungeon.
However, she knew that these were the lowest-rank followers and that an armed Judgement Army was headed their way soon. If she couldn't take off the God's Stone of Retaliation before their arrival, it would be very difficult to escape.
"Come here!" She quickly spotted the locking device—a metal instrument resting against the wall with two rusty clamps stretching outwards, resembling a terrifying torture device.
Spear pressed her neck against the clamps, and Nightingale fastened the device onto her and furiously turned its handle. With the help of the pulleys, the clamps pulled in opposite directions and created an opening in the God's Locket of Retribution.
At the same time, the sound of the Judgement Army's armor rattled near the cell door.
"That's them right there!" Someone yelled.
"Take aim—shoot!"
"Let's go!" Nightingale brought Spear into the Mist, but small black holes shot towards her and tore her Mist apart.
There were God's Stones of Retaliation on the bolts! Nightingale felt a cold sweat break on her forehead as she and the Marquess became completely visible to the Judgement Warriors—it was clear to see that these men were trained very differently from regular followers. They shot their first round of bolts all throughout the passageway to close off their exit, and only half of the men participated in the first attack.
Meanwhile, the other half waited for the witches to expose themselves.
After spotting their target, the second wave of arrows flew towards them.
Nightingale heard the buzzing of arrows behind her and pulled the Marquess in front of her body, yelling. "Duck!"
A searing pain spread like fire through her back as she was hit by countless arrows, but she didn't stop running.
As they rounded a corner, Nightingale tasted blood in her mouth, probably from biting her lip in pain before. "Are you OK?"
"I'm... I'm fine," the Marquess said blankly. "Did, did you just block the bolts for me?"
"If you were shot, you would be gone for, but I might make it." Nightingale reached behind her and found that none of the arrows had pierced through Soraya's windbreaker—although her back hurt like it was on fire, there were only bruises, and no stone powder had entered her body.
The Judgement Warriors hurried towards them. They probably did not expect the two witches to survive the second wave of bolts without a shield, so they were a considerable distance away.
After escaping the binds of the God's Stone of Retaliation, Nightingale grabbed Spear and entered her Mist. She rushed upwards through the floorboards and soil to the outside of the tower, took a bamboo tube from her bag, and pulled the string on its end.
A blinding red light shot out of the tube into the sky and exploded into a shower of sparks that looked like stars dotting the sky.
When His Highness gave this to her, he kept boasting about how one flare would summon a thousand troops to her aid. Right now, she didn't need a thousand troops and only prayed that Maggie could see her signal.
Soon, a giant shadow descended from the sky as Maggie landed next to the tower, her large body crushing its walls and her wings fanning away the fog around them.
"What... what is that?" Spear Passi stared in awe.
"That's my friend." Nightingale had Lightning fastened the Marquess onto Maggie, used the last of her strength to crawl onto her back, patted her body, and said, "Let's fly."
"Aooooo... aoooo... " Maggie roared at the incoming Judgement Warriors, flapped her wings, took off, and disappeared into the night with the two witches.