But where could he run?
Whenever he tried with all his might to break out of the encirclement, a Taunt Totem landed precisely on the Skeleton Warrior.
The Taunt Totem couldn't control him for long, but it was enough to pull him back into the fight.
Whenever he finally managed to destroy the Taunt Totem carried by the Skeleton Warrior, another was already prepared, ready to fall.
With six Skeleton Shamans carefully tending to him, Blood Crow had no chance of escaping the battlefield.
The Blood Crow mercenaries followed him up onto the city wall. But reaching the wall changed nothing.
Kurd City had more than just Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Shamans. On the wall, Skeleton Knights, Bone Spirit Assassins, Spirit Cat Warriors, and other Transcendental Skeletons were waiting to deal with the Blood Crow mercenaries.
While Blood Crow was under attack, his men were dying one after another on the Workshop District's city wall, unable to join him.
The outcome of this battle was already clear. Blood Crow wouldn't escape the attrition wrought by the Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Shamans.
The Blood Crow mercenaries were dwindling in number. The Bone Spirit Rangers and other Transcendental Skeletons would wipe them out.
This powerful mercenary group, one of the most prominent in the Pioneer Territory and boasting a low-level Second-Rank Knight, was about to be wiped out in Kurd City.
"Repulsion!"
A mental voice rang out from the top of Kurd City's wall.
Centered on Medivh, a ring of fire spread in every direction.
As the Repulsion Fire Ring expanded, it forced a hidden assassin into view. Her clothes were riddled with holes burned by the flames.
The assassin was none other than Night Crow. She had drunk a stealth potion and tried to assassinate Medivh.
"You actually made it all the way here. Impressive!"
Medivh offered a rare compliment as he watched Night Crow being forced back by the Repulsion Fire Ring.
Night Crow's stealth skills deserved recognition; she had managed to get past the Transcendental Skeletons guarding the perimeter.
Unfortunately, she hadn't expected Medivh to have a Flame Skeleton Mage at his side. Her stealth hadn't been enough to evade the Skeleton Mage's mental detection.
"Die!"
Night Crow was an exceptional assassin. When she realized there was no escape, she showed the courage to fight to the death.
She pushed forward through the fading shockwave of the Repulsion Fire Ring, braving the magical flames as she lunged for Medivh.
Clang...
The clash of dagger and longsword sounded like a death knell. Only then did Night Crow realize that Medivh was a high-level First-Rank Knight.
She was a First-Rank Knight who specialized in assassination, and she couldn't match the strength of Medivh, an Earth Knight.
"Grasp of Flame!"
"Fire Dance!"
As Battle Qi clashed and Night Crow's body stiffened, the Bone Book in the Skeleton Mage's left hand lit up. A flaming hand seized Night Crow.
At the same time, Audrey, standing beside Medivh, drew her sword and attacked, unleashing a fire-based combat technique.
An assassin struck with a sudden burst of force, but the second strike was weaker than the first.
After two failed attempts to kill her target, Night Crow had nowhere left to retreat. She was soon gravely wounded and captured by Audrey.
"Medivh, what should we do with her?"
With a sword at her throat, Night Crow said nothing. Audrey glanced at her, then looked up at Medivh and asked.
"Kill her."
Admiring Night Crow didn't mean Medivh intended to take her on as a subordinate.
Night Crow was capable and easy on the eyes, but he hadn't raised her himself, so there was no reason to trust her.
Besides, the Bone Spirit Assassin who had devised the plan to set one enemy against another was no less capable. He already had loyal skeletons at his disposal; there was no need to bring in a prisoner whose intentions were unclear.
Medivh's decisiveness surprised Night Crow. She had thought the Necromancer would try to persuade her to surrender.
After all, a high-level First-Rank Knight counted as a strong fighter in the Odyssey Region.
With death upon her, Night Crow didn't beg or plead for mercy. She lifted her chin slightly and let the sharp sword slice across her throat.
She remained silent until her vision went black.
"She was a good warrior!"
Night Crow's behavior left Audrey feeling a little regretful.
It was a pity they served different masters. If Night Crow had been born and raised in Kurd City, Audrey would have befriended her.
"Master Mage, I'm willing to swear loyalty to you!"
After Night Crow died, Blood Crow was the only one still fighting within Kurd City.
He couldn't win, and he couldn't escape. The Transcendental Skeletons watching from the sidelines put him under immense pressure.
Blood Crow knew he would die if the fight continued. He shouted to Medivh, hoping to join him.
Medivh didn't respond. The fighting continued.
"Master Mage, I'm willing to sign a slave contract with you!"
The fight went on for a while longer. As his injuries grew worse, Blood Crow abandoned all his pride and begged to be spared.
Still, he received no response. Medivh was only a half-trained mage and didn't know how to form a mental contract.
Even if he did, Medivh wouldn't have accepted Blood Crow's surrender.
Medivh was only a mage apprentice. He didn't believe a mental contract could fully control a second-rank knight as formidable as Blood Crow.
Medivh could create Transcendental Skeletons and had a bright future ahead of him. There was no need to risk taking in an unstable element.
Faced with death, Night Crow and Blood Crow had reacted differently, but their endings were the same.
Blood Crow's death marked the destruction of the Blood Crow Mercenary Group.
"So they'd already decided to move?"
While the skeletons cleaned up the battlefield, they unexpectedly found a great deal of money in the Blood Crow Mercenary Group's temporary camp.
Medivh had thought the group's wealth would end up in the hands of random people from the Pioneer Territory. He hadn't expected Blood Crow to be so confident he could take Kurd City that he'd brought all his belongings along.
The Blood Crow Mercenary Group really had sent everyone. They'd left almost nobody at home, bringing their valuables with them. They hadn't worried that someone might rob their treasury while they were away.
It was a pleasant surprise. Medivh gave the haul a brief look, then left Audrey, his little steward, to count it.
Very little of it interested him. A batch of old bones would have been far more useful.
"So it was you, Wester!"
The Blood Crow Mercenary Group's members hadn't all been killed. The skeletons had captured some prisoners and tortured them for information about their origins and why they had been looking for Medivh.
The mercenaries weren't tight-lipped. They honestly explained why the Blood Crow Mercenary Group had attacked Kurd City.
Only then did Medivh learn that Wester had prepared a surprise for him before he'd even arrived in the Odyssey Region.
A second bounty. Wester really had gone out of his way for him!
Medivh repeated Wester's name coldly. Wester was an enemy he was determined to kill.
To deal with Wester, Medivh would have to prepare for a confrontation with the Hobarton Family.
The Hobarton Family wasn't some unaffiliated gang like the Blood Crow Mercenary Group. It was an ancient noble family.
Take Medivh's father, for example. He had died fighting on a foreign battlefield and had been a high-level Third-Rank Knight.
Medivh's father hadn't been the strongest in the family. The Hobarton Family had Fourth-Rank Knights.
The Hobarton Fourth-Rank Knights wouldn't let Wester order them to attack Medivh.
The family's upper ranks wouldn't interfere in the competition among its lower ranks.
But if Medivh wanted to kill Wester, he definitely couldn't avoid the Hobarton Family's Fourth-Rank Knights.
The Hobarton Family encouraged competition, but that didn't mean it supported its members killing one another.
Wester, for instance, had to pay someone to assassinate Medivh in the Odyssey Region.
At least in public, he couldn't use the Hobarton Family's power to attack Medivh.
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