After This, We'll Go Home and Get Married

Texas nodded. She had not let the victory before her go to her head. Or rather, for Texas, even without Bai Ye's divine arts, she could have easily dealt with these opponents.

"They have hand crossbows."

Texas carefully searched the corpses, then handed Bai Ye a bloodstained hand crossbow and several bags of bolts.

"Use your spells and crossbow to cover me."

Bai Ye's lips trembled, but in the end, he said nothing. He took the small black hand crossbow and the bolts that had yet to be used.

The hand crossbow was extremely simple to operate: cock it, load it, aim, fire. In the past, crossbows had been considered dishonorable weapons because they required very little skill to use.

After only a brief period of training, a slave could use a crossbow to kill an armored knight who had undergone years of training. It had to be said that this was an exceptionally vicious weapon.

Bai Ye carefully slung all the bolt bags over himself, stepped over the corpses on the ground, and continued toward the direction with the fewest red dots.

Along the way, they took out another three groups of enemies. Though he trembled with fear inside, Bai Ye's hand holding the sword remained steady. Every one of his attacks was precise and lethal. With basic cold-weapon skills and 16 points in his character attributes, these enemies were no match for him at all.

"Blergh—"

For the fourth time, Bai Ye vomited. He reached out to brace himself against the slick wall, his face pale.

"Are you all right?"

After cleaning up the battlefield, Texas walked over to Bai Ye. She understood his condition very well; it was discomfort of both body and mind.

"I'm fine. You get used to it after throwing up enough."

Bai Ye wiped his mouth and pushed himself upright against the wall. He pointed straight ahead.

"The exit is up ahead. We can climb out from there. There are only four people outside. Once we deal with them, we can break through the encirclement."

Texas nodded thoughtfully. By now, she was no longer surprised by Bai Ye's seemingly prophetic ability.

"Okay."

Bai Ye took a deep breath and raised the holy emblem high.

"God, do not stay far from me!"

A priest was never fighting alone; a god stood behind him. Bai Ye did not believe in any god. Prayer was merely a ritual.

Prayer—Divine Guidance

[You cast Divine Guidance. Your actions will become more precise, and you will gain one additional opportunity to cast a 1st-circle divine art.]

A faint glow flowed around him. By circulating the holy light, Bai Ye temporarily dispelled his physical discomfort. The warmth gave him immense comfort, and the young man raised his weapon once more.

"Let's go. I'm ready."

"Why are we guarding this place?"

The street was empty. At a sewer maintenance entrance stood four Perro men armed with weapons.

The one who asked was relatively young. Perhaps the sunlight was too dazzling, so he stood beneath the eaves and casually set his curved blade against the wall.

"The higher-ups think there may still be members of the Texas Family hiding here..." An old soldier sat beside him. He had once served in the Columbia Federation army and had become a family thug after leaving the service.

"Texas..."

All four fell silent. They had also taken part in yesterday's battle... no, it should have been called a war. Several major families, with the federal government's covert support, had launched a devastating strike against the once-mighty Texas Family.

Even with their overwhelming advantage, they had still paid a terrible price. No, they had underestimated the Texas Family far too much.

Every Texas had to master their family swordsmanship before coming of age—or rather, the art of killing. That was one reason the other families feared them so deeply.

During the final stage of yesterday's extermination, when several families besieged Texas Manor and Texas Castle, their casualties had been especially severe.

"If we hadn't had the numbers, along with snipers and casters providing ranged cover, we might all have died in there."

The four exchanged glances. Whenever Texas was mentioned now, they felt an instinctive fear. That superb swordsmanship, those bizarre techniques and movements that existed solely to kill—everything had left an unforgettable impression on them.

"Shh... I have a bad feeling about this."

The old soldier threw the cigarette from his mouth onto the ground and crushed it beneath his boot.

"It's broad daylight. What's there to be careful about?"

The other three were unconcerned. They were people who had crawled out of yesterday's hell, so naturally, they were no weaklings.

"Once the mission is over, those big shots should give us some time off. What are your plans? I'll go first—I'm going back home to get married."

The others paid no heed to the old soldier's warning and continued leaning lazily against the wall as they chatted.

"Watch out!"

Suddenly, as if sensing something, the old soldier grabbed his weapon and swung it toward the pitch-black tunnel entrance.

A slender figure shot out of the tunnel. In midair, she twisted into an eerie posture to evade the old soldier's strike, then casually slashed open his throat.

"F**k!"

In an instant, the remaining three understood what they were about to face. This was a Texas proficient in the art of killing!

"Alert them! There's still a Texas alive!"

Yet the next moment, another figure ran out of the tunnel. He raised his left hand high, his lips moving slightly as though he were saying something.

A faint white light spread out and enveloped the three men. At once, the area fell silent.

1st-Circle Divine Art—Small-Area Silence!

"What do we do next?"

Bai Ye's face was pale. The holy light within him was nearly exhausted. A 1st-circle divine art still consumed far too much for him at his current level.

"Leave the city!"

Texas wiped the blood from her Originium Blade, then sheathed it. Running through the streets with a deadly weapon in hand was clearly not a wise choice.

Bai Ye put away his rapier. As his mental strength recovered slightly, he activated Eagle Eye once more.

"We're already outside the encirclement. It looks like no one has noticed those unlucky bastards who died in the tunnel yet."

Beyond this block, Bai Ye saw only neutral units glowing white, which let the young man breathe a sigh of relief.

Texas threw all the corpses on the ground into the tunnel, then wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

The girl straightened her clothes again, then took a small canister from her pocket and sprayed herself and Bai Ye a few times.

Bai Ye sniffed, then sneezed.

"This is perfume prepared to mask the smell of blood..." Texas put away the canister and said, "Come with me. We need to find a vehicle, as well as food and water."