Naquel naturally could not slap her scatterbrained deputy commander. In fact, while she was shouting and making a fuss, the guards outside had already entered the inn.
The innkeeper immediately abandoned the attendants he had summoned and shouted at them, "Grab that troublemaker!"
The guards froze for a moment, then raised their spears and prepared to charge in from outside. But they had all forgotten someone's existence. Huang Huo raised the longsword in her hand and flicked up her thumb. With a clang, the green-steel blade sprang from its sharkskin scabbard. She gripped the hilt with her right hand, drew the blade, and swept it forward. A crescent of flame swept toward the doorway.
The blaze landed at the guards' feet with a sharp hiss, scorching a crescent-shaped mark into the floor less than an inch from their toes. It was a clear warning.
The guards were merely ordinary people, with uneven levels of strength. They were not even as capable as Naxin, a Cleaner. They were immediately frightened stiff and did not dare take a single step forward.
But the guards stopping did not mean the knight among them would stop as well. A figure pushed through the guards in front and shouted as he swung a sword at Huang Huo with both hands.
Huang Huo had noticed the knight among them long ago. She crouched, letting the sword sweep over her head. Her mind was as calm as still water, as though everything around her had been reflected within it. The knight's greatsword slammed into the counter amid the innkeeper's screams, striking it with a series of cracks as wood chips flew everywhere.
At the same time, the longsword in her hand glowed red-hot. She thrust upward toward the gap between the knight's chest and abdomen armor. Clang,