Lide spoke slowly, "Generally speaking, I never allow an enemy to draw their sword before me, but you, Galvin, you and Arthur are exceptions."
"Hmph, what an honor."
Galvin firmly pressed down on his arm, which was trembling slightly due to instinctive fear.
Fear? No, to succumb to instinct is to become a slave to the body.
If one can't even overcome mere instinct, how can one talk about surpassing Arthur, how can one talk about stepping into the Extraordinary?
He, drew his sword.
[Gray Eagle Slash]
The knight's sword emitted a hum, its blade instantly surrounded by howling gales. Before it even descended, the sharp sword wind had already made the knights standing guard around them feel a stinging pain on their skin, causing them to instinctively take half a step back.
Yet, faster than the wind was Lide!
He crashed through the stone wall at the edge of the courtyard, landing heavily on the ground. He couldn't help but cough violently, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
And in his original spot, only Lide's calmly standing figure remained, appearing so tall and imposing.
Instantly, the entire courtyard fell silent.
A long-established elite knight was sent flying without any ability to resist before a true Extraordinary, unable to withstand even a single move.
This level of power was simply despairingly strong.
Just as everyone was still stunned, only Arthur moved.
He seemed unaffected by this duel, walking straight to the collapsed stone wall and silently helping the injured Galvin to his feet.
Glenn also stared blankly for a good while before forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart and hurried over to help.
Galvin coughed a few times, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, looked at Arthur beside him, and actually revealed a carefree smile on his face:
"Arthur, there is ultimately something you are inferior to me in. I dare to challenge... what you dare not challenge."
After hearing this, Arthur fell silent for a moment.
In fact, he was still trying hard to remember who this Captain Lide was, his mind was a bit slow. He had just snapped back to reality when he saw Galvin flying out.
So, was he praising himself for his quick reaction, or for being thick-headed?
Glenn, however, was extremely anxious.
"Galvin, you muscle-brained guy, don't you know who you're facing?"
"Cough, cough..."
Galvin coughed out another mouthful of bloody foam and said slowly, "I know... It's precisely because I know that I wanted to see with my own eyes just how big the gap is between me and a true Extraordinary."
At this moment, Lide slowly walked over. His footsteps were light, yet they seemed to tread on everyone's heartbeat.
"So, what is your conclusion?"
Galvin raised his head. Although his face was pale, his eyes were not as confused as before. He coughed lightly and said, "It's not necessarily... unattainable."
Hearing this, Lide wasn't angry at all. Instead, he smiled.
"It seems I didn't pick the wrong person."
"Since you are unwilling to voluntarily disclose the whereabouts of the crown and the princess, then come with this little fellow from the Snow Jackal Family and return with me to Shield River City."
"Until Princess Louisa and the stolen sacred relic are found, all three of you will be criminals, to be imprisoned in the legion garrison."
...
Soon, tall warhorses were ridden out from the baron's territory by knights. Arthur, Galvin, and Glenn were loaded onto prison carts with iron bars.
This knight team would be personally led by Lide and, under the strict escort of other knights, would return in the direction of Shield River City.
Although these prison carts and the surrounding knights couldn't possibly restrain elite professionals like Arthur and Galvin.
They all understood that as long as Lide, this Extraordinary, remained with the team, they had no possibility of escape whatsoever.
Inside the prison cart, Glenn, his hands bound by special handcuffs, sat opposite Arthur and Galvin.
He let out a long sigh of relief, a look of relief on his face. "Good, at least our lives are spared. As long as we're alive, there's always hope..."
Leaning against the cold iron bars, Galvin said in a low voice, "But the situation isn't much better either. Once we're escorted back to the main base of the Border Garrison in Shield River City, a place with tight security, we'll almost certainly never come out again."
Hearing this, Glenn couldn't help but sigh deeply, a bitter expression on his face. "Although we knew long ago that these demonic forces lurking in the shadows would be vast, we never imagined they would be vast to this extent. Even Her Highness the Princess has been framed and persecuted by them."
"I don't know what situation Her Highness is in now. I can only hope she escapes as far as possible and never returns here."
Arthur looked at him and asked, "So the 'Her Highness' you've been talking about all along is actually that Princess Louisa?"
Glenn nodded slightly. "Although Princess Louisa is the king's seventh child, she has been exceptionally intelligent since childhood, possessing unique insights in both politics and military affairs. Her magical talent is even more astonishing. She has always been considered a strong contender for the crown prince position."
"This time the princess was framed, I think... besides the infiltration within the Border Garrison, it's very likely that a certain prince was secretly fanning the flames behind the scenes."
"Now the princess's whereabouts are unknown, and we are being taken to Shield River City. All the series of actions we planned before are now scrapped."
Leaning against the cart wall, Glenn clenched his fist. "We can only watch helplessly as they push this kingdom step by step towards the Abyss... Damn it!"
The more he spoke, the more indignant he became. He suddenly exerted force with both arms, trying to break free from the seemingly unremarkable handcuffs. The veins on his face even bulged from the excessive effort.
However, awkwardly, the handcuffs remained completely motionless, not even making a single sound.
"Alright then..."
Glenn deflated like a punctured ball, hanging his head dejectedly. "Anger doesn't solve problems."
Arthur, however, looked at him seriously, then at the handcuffs, and asked, "Need help?"
"Forget it, forget it!" Glenn quickly waved his hands in refusal, a trace of lingering fear on his face.
Are you kidding!
If Arthur really broke these handcuffs and the knights outside saw, wouldn't he just get a beating for nothing?
No, when it's time to back down, one must back down.
Galvin lay against the iron bars resting. Feeling his chest a bit more comfortable, he whispered to the slime inside his breastplate, "Your Majesty, what should we do now?"
Chen Yu was also quite troubled at the moment.
What could they do? He couldn't beat that guy for the time being either.
And this place was too far from the Slime Kingdom;
reinforcements couldn't arrive in time.
"Ask that guy opposite, if we can find that Princess Louisa, would she have a way to save you?"
"She's been operating in the kingdom for years, she should have some contingency plans, right?"
Galvin repeated Chen Yu's meaning.
Glenn's eyes immediately lit up, and he perked up considerably. "You can still contact forces outside?"
He cautiously looked at the patrolling knights outside the carriage, then quietly cast a spell, using his mental energy to communicate with the two:
"Her Highness the Princess did indeed establish a secret society called Iris."
"On the surface, it's just a pure magic exchange organization. Its members are only witches. It never involves military or politics, only discusses magical mysteries."
"And its existence is extremely secretive. Most members are connected by single lines of communication. Very few people know about it."
"If we can find the core member of Iris in Shield River City, perhaps there is hope to contact Her Highness the Princess. With the princess's wisdom and the resources she controls, she might really have a way to get us out."
Crossing his arms, Galvin said flatly, "The princess you speak of is fleeing herself. Are you sure she'd be willing to save you?"
Glenn spread his hands. "We don't have any other options anyway, right? Besides, I'm much more important than you think."
"Regardless, let's get the message out first. Her Highness probably doesn't know what happened here yet."
Then he lowered his voice and used his mental energy to convey the crucial information: "As far as I know, that society member in Shield River City lives in the Gardenia Flower District, a place where land is worth its weight in gold. If you ask around a bit in the city, you should be able to find out her specific address."
After saying this, he looked at Arthur and Galvin. "So, what do you plan to do?"
Galvin didn't answer him directly. Instead, he broke free from the handcuffs, carefully took out a lump of slime from his breastplate.
This time, he didn't avoid Glenn anymore and said directly, "Your Majesty, we can only rely on you now."
Chen Yu wobbled his gel body up and down to indicate understanding. To avoid appearing too large, he actively secreted a large amount of gel. His body rapidly shrank, eventually transforming into a lump smaller than a fist.
Then, under Galvin's gaze, he directly jumped out through the prison cart's iron bars, landing with a "splat" on the muddy ground the carriage had just passed over.
The sound of the gel falling was very faint and didn't attract any knight's attention.
Through the gap, watching the prison cart procession gradually move away, leaving that tiny lump of slime far behind, Galvin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Glenn, however, looked thoughtfully at Arthur and Galvin, murmuring softly, "So that's how it is, I understand..."
Galvin ignored this guy who was putting on airs of profundity again. Instead, he looked at Arthur and asked thoughtfully, "If the two of us disregard everything and break out with all our might, what do you think the success rate would be?"
Arthur thought for a moment. "Twenty percent."
Galvin raised an eyebrow. "How much do you and I each account for?"
"Nineteen for me, one for you," Arthur said.
Galvin: "..."
He fell into a long silence.
He understood Arthur's personality, knowing this guy never joked. What he said was probably the truth.
Arthur, like him, was stuck before the final threshold leading to the Extraordinary. But it seemed this guy had walked much farther than him, far, far more...
...
Beside the muddy road, watching the knight team escorting Arthur and the others gradually disappear at the end of the road, Chen Yu hopped around and turned away.
To avoid being squashed into slime paste by any carriages that might pass by later, he hurriedly hopped out of the center of the muddy road and hid in the grass by the roadside.
When he had time to carefully observe his surroundings, he awkwardly realized—he didn't know the way to Shield River City at all!
And this avatar wasn't loaded with "Bat Wings" and "Shadow Traversal." Relying solely on hopping, it would probably take months to reach that border city.
Just as he was feeling worried, an excited crowing sound came from the sky.
"Caw hahaha! Your Majesty, your loyal and clever minister has arrived!"
Count Bran, who had been missing for a long time, appeared. It flew through the woods, swooped down from the air, and landed on the grass in front of Chen Yu.
Before Chen Yu could speak, it proudly flapped its wings and began to boast endlessly:
"It just goes to show this Count is clever enough. I sensed the atmosphere wasn't right in advance and decisively made a strategic retreat into hiding."
"Otherwise, this Count would be like that single-minded fool Arthur now, captured and put in a cage."
"But it's not too late now. With this Count, and the great Your Majesty here, we'll charge into the Border Garrison together. Rescuing those two fools will be a piece of cake."
Chen Yu hopped onto Count Bran's head and patted its beak with his gel hand.
"Alright, let's go. Destination: Shield River City."
"The swamp army's infiltration into the White Horse Kingdom will take time. To rescue them, we need to find that Princess Louisa as soon as possible."
Count Bran flapped its wings and took off again, flying along the direction the knight team had left. It tilted its head curiously and asked, "A princess? Like Princess Little Flower?"
"Something like that."
"That might be a bit... plump then."
Count Bran instinctively muttered, then suddenly realized it had said the wrong thing and nervously explained, "Cough, cough, no, this Count does not mean to speak ill of Princess Little Flower."
"What I mean is, slimes... slimes are naturally like this, round and plump, it's perfectly reasonable!"
"So you mean I'm fat too?"
Count Bran's body stiffened, and it squawked, "Caw! No! Absolutely not! Your Majesty, your figure is agile, your proportions perfect, you are the slime among slimes..."
"Just pretend this Count said nothing just now!"
Chatting like this, they flew over forests and fields. Just before reaching the border city, they caught up with the knight team escorting Arthur and the others.
However, Arthur and the others' current situation didn't seem very good.
On the road leading to Shield River City, quite a few commoners who had heard the news had gathered.
They stood on both sides of the road, emotionally agitated, pointing at the prison carts and loudly shouting hostile words like "Traitors!" "Get out of the kingdom!" "Execute them!"
Some even threw rotten vegetables, rotten eggs, and clumps of mud hard at the prison carts, hitting the iron bars with a "pitter-patter" sound.
Glenn sat in the bumpy prison cart, head lowered, not saying a word.
Among the three, his mood was undoubtedly the most complex and humiliating.
Arthur was an undead, and Galvin had never cared about the fate of the White Horse Kingdom. Facing these agitated commoners, he didn't even have an emotional ripple and even sneered coldly.
If it weren't for Lide watching over them, he would have gotten down and beaten these people up.
Glenn, who appeared the most frivolous among them, was actually the true patriot, genuinely concerned for the kingdom's future.