Attack of the Pursuers

At this moment, the train was traveling along a mountain road, with a steep cliff on one side and a towering rock face on the other.

Between the iron-gray cliffs, two steeds were galloping toward the tracks, carrying their riders; they leaped from a crevice in the rock as nimbly as mountain goats, landing with swallow-like precision on another protrusion.

To be able to run along a rock face at a speed capable of catching up to a train—these were clearly no ordinary horses.

The supernatural creatures of this world are roughly divided into three tiers: [Spirit Beasts/Psionic Creatures], which bring great disaster; [Phantasm Beasts/Fantastic Creatures], which mortals regard as mere fantasy; and [Divine Beasts/Mythical Creatures], which exist only in legend.

In this day and age, with mystery relegated to the skin of the world, even Phantasm Beasts are rarely seen.

Taking dragons as an example, Ancient Dragons are Mythical Creatures, Wyverns and Earth Dragons are Phantasm Beasts, while Dragon Beasts are all classified as Spirit Beasts; however, Dragonkin are the most formidable among all supernatural creatures, so they cannot be directly used for comparison.

For instance, Wargs are also Spirit Beasts, but a pack of Wargs is nothing more than a quick meal for a Lion Dragon.

The nimble horses before them are called [Shadow-Flying Colts], bred from the Spirit Beast known as a Pegasus and a pure black mare; they did not inherit their sire's ability to fly in the sky, but they did inherit the talent to reduce their own gravity.

The reason Lude knew this was because, within Siana's memories, the Black Tide Society kept a stable of Shadow-Flying Colts.

In other words, the agents of the Black Tide Society had caught up.

The Black Tide Society's leader has ten personal guards, operating in pairs—a style quite typical of Arcanists.

Arcanists are born from intense, extreme desires; they are essentially neurotic paranoids, often accompanied by significant symptoms of manic-depression, isolation, and schizophrenia. Expecting such people to tolerate one another is essentially impossible.

Therefore, Arcanists usually act alone or in pairs, rarely operating in units larger than five.

It was a pity that Siana was not part of the field team, so she did not know much about the actual situation of the guard unit and naturally could not explain it to Lude; however, she did provide Lude with some quite useful intelligence: teammates in the guard unit often possessed tactical synergy skills.

In other words, regardless of whether they were Arcanists, the coordination of the two guards could produce an effect where 1+1 > 2.

Just as the Shadow-Flying Colts brushed past the train, a shadow leaped high with hands behind its back, landing lightly on the roof of the locomotive Lude was on; another slightly more petite figure followed closely behind, the airflow stirred by the train causing their trench coats to snap and flap.

It looked like a tough fight was coming, but Lude's advantage lay in the fact that the enemy was in the light while he was in the dark; this was a battle that could be won.

Thus, Lude pulled the bell, summoning the head steward.

"Vernon." Lude said, his eyelids half-drooped: "Bring up lunch; I have a few friends to meet in a moment."

"Ah, yes, of course." Vernon bowed hurriedly, greasy sweat slowly seeping onto his cheeks: "Uh, then, sir, how many portions should I prepare? You know, time is a bit tight now, I..."

"One portion." Lude watched the three figures drawing closer: "No need to prepare lunch for them."

"The bullets I carry are enough to feed them."

"..." Vernon clearly choked, and after nodding and bowing in agreement, he turned and ran off in a panic.

Watching Vernon leave, Lude stood up. The reason he asked Vernon to serve food wasn't because he wanted to cosplay Guan Yu warming wine to slay Hua Xiong; in fact, the price of this body's powerful physical functions was the need to consume several times the calories of an ordinary person.

However, this was of no consequence. Lude was a man who loved fine food; he just hadn't dared to eat much in his previous life due to his physique and health.

Of course, this body's absorption ability was also quite impressive. If there was no normal human food, butter and alcohol would suffice; if it really came down to it, chugging two bottles of kerosene would keep him going, though Lude truly disliked abusing his own tongue.

But those were matters for after the battle. Thinking this, Lude's figure flickered and vanished from the carriage.

The so-called [Coal Tender] refers to the part of the train furthest forward, located just behind the locomotive.

This old-fashioned train operated on a steam engine, and for a steam engine to function, coal and water had to be added to generate steam; the coal tender was the carriage used to store coal and water, making it convenient for the stokers to add fuel and water to keep the train running.

Usually, only hardworking laborers would be stationed here, but today it welcomed new guests.

A capable-looking man and woman appeared among the workers, and by the time the workers realized someone had snuck in, the two figures had already moved on, blending into the crowd like ghosts, leaving only a few lingering footprints as proof that they weren't a hallucination.

Upon stepping into the passenger carriage, the two simultaneously took off their coats, revealing their forms.

Of the two, the man appeared slightly older, with short light-brown hair and a resolute face beneath a brown deerstalker cap; his crisp white linen shirt and light-brown suit vest looked quite professional, and beneath his creased dark-brown trousers were a pair of square-toed leather shoes.

In contrast to the man's composure, the girl beside him, who was likely less than half his age, looked much more fashionable.

An ivory-white shirt, stretched tight across her chest, was tucked into the waistband of olive-green bloomers, with the pant legs tucked into a pair of knee-high dark-brown leather boots; her honey-colored hair was cut extremely short, and a crazed smile played on her pale face.

Clearly, this pair, so out of place among the surrounding refugees, were the agents sent to pursue Lude.

The man was named Brandon Bondo Fischer, 36 years old, and had been working for the Black Tide Society for a full 20 years; the girl was named Polina Daining, 16 years old, having only joined two years ago, yet she had already secured a position in the guard unit.

"Hey, Brandon." The girl put her hands on her hips and looked at the man beside her: "Same old tactics as before?"

Brandon sighed with some helplessness: "I am, at the very least, your senior and mentor. Even if you don't use honorifics like 'sir,' at least don't just say 'hey'... Forget it, same as before. It doesn't matter if the tactics are old, as long as they work."

"Got it." Polina raised her hand and flexed her fingers, her pale skin visible beneath her leather fingerless gloves.

Death-Defying—!

A wooden figurine the size of an index finger quietly emerged; this carving was quite crude, lacking even facial features or limbs.

"Find the person over one meter ninety in the rear carriage." Polina whispered to the wooden figurine, and a line of characters instantly appeared on it; then, Polina scanned her surroundings, her gaze landing on a boy of thirteen or fourteen.

She grabbed the boy by the collar, pulling him over, and pressed the wooden figurine into the center of his brow before he could react.

The wooden figurine did not hesitate in the slightest, easily merging into the center of his brow.