Ⅺ
Your Eminence?
A deity!
Hazlitt's heart lurched.
As a river pirate and one of the "Red Knights," Hazlitt naturally knew certain secrets ordinary people did not. Thus, he treated deities with caution and kept his guard up around them.
The fanaticism of Blood Axe Danny, one of his trusted men standing before him, pushed that wariness to its limit.
Because-
Descent!
He had clearly heard Danny say that word!
Yet he had sensed no overwhelmingly powerful presence.
Are we going to become sacrifices for that deity's descent?
The thought came to one of the Red Knights almost instinctively.
At the same time, footsteps sounded outside-
Tap, tap, tap!
The scrape of boot soles against the dirt made one of the Red Knights' spirits lift.
It's Sadi!
The other, slightly heavier set of footsteps belonged to his Contact, Maha.
If it's Sadi...
One of the Red Knights hoped Skullsplitter Sadi could create an opening for him.
He believed Sadi could do it.
In fact, if Sean had been the only member of the [Black Cat Followers] present, Sadi truly could have done it. Unfortunately, the true Black Cat Faction had sent two people to accompany Arthur.
Besides Sean, there was Bont.
Bont was older than Sean.
He had more experience.
His skills were more refined.
Perhaps he had not truly reached Entry Rank yet, but with the enhancements provided by the Black Cat Faction's various mystic arts, Bont had already come infinitely close-
The tent flap was lifted.
The night breeze blew in.
The candle flame flickered.
As light and shadow shifted, Sadi narrowed his eyes almost instinctively, trying to adjust to the light more quickly.
At that very instant, a minuscule blind spot appeared in the Skullsplitter's field of vision.
Within that blind spot, a figure emerged soundlessly from