As darkness fell, citizens on the street quickened their pace.
The curfew order had been in effect for some time, and the citizens were initially puzzled by it, but soon after, several horrific assaults occurred in various residential areas.
Looking at the houses that had been almost completely demolished into ruins, the citizens learned from the priests that a monster invasion had occurred.
Those rebels accepted evil power; they could barely maintain their human form during the day, but at night they would reveal their true forms.
If anyone's house is not tightly closed at this time, they will gather together and kill the entire family, leaving no one alive.
That's what the priests said, and after repeated admonitions, some citizens quickly came to believe it. So, in the winter when the days were short and the nights were long, many citizens would rush home as soon as the sun began to set, and then keep their doors and windows tightly shut all night to avoid making any noise.
Among the hurried citizens, one person stood out as somewhat out of place.
The man wore a common brown coat and walked very naturally, but his eyes kept glancing back and forth at the surrounding buildings with a deliberate glimpse.
Most importantly, he was going against the flow of people, and the direction he was heading was towards a military camp on the edge of Fir City.
"Civilians, back off, go home!"
As the man drew closer, a Holy Crusaders soldier brandished his weapon and uttered a threatening remark.
The man nodded quickly, turned around, took two steps, and then turned back.
"My lord."
He said humbly:
"Is Lord Howard currently at the military camp?"
The two guards exchanged a glance, and one of them asked:
"Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of Grand Knight Commander Howard. I have something I want to discuss with him. This... should be the Second Order of Knights ' headquarters, right?"
The soldier glanced around, then leaned closer and whispered:
"You don't know? The rebels airdropped rats into the city a while ago, Lord Howard, uh..."
The soldier had just brought his mouth to the man's ear when his throat was grabbed, rendering him unable to make a sound.
The ordinary citizen, whose back was slightly hunched, had shed his feigned fear at this moment. He kicked the Holy Crusaders soldier in the stomach, sending him flying, and turned to attack another dumbfounded soldier.
The next moment, his body flew backward, straight towards the wall of the military camp.
The man who had dealt with the guards began rushing towards the military camp at full speed, while the soldier who had been sent flying backwards, though a fraction slower in his movements, had already shouted out:
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
After a very brief silence, shouts erupted throughout the camp as a large group of fierce-looking Holy Crusaders, weapons in hand and without even properly donning their battle robes, charged out, looking around for the intruders.
Seeing that he was still a step too late, the man sighed regretfully after running only a couple of steps.
Seeing that some enemies had already locked onto his location, he calmly took out a ball-shaped object from his pocket, pressed it hard, and threw it at the few enemies closest to him.
Then came the second, the third... The man dodged the pursuit and interception from the surrounding enemies while continuously throwing out the strange objects in his hand.
Until he held the last fancy little trinket in his hand, felt its texture, and then a slight smile appeared on his lips:
I like this.
After saying that, he squeezed it hard and then threw the spherical object towards the largest tent in his field of vision.
The spherical object shattered in mid-air, and the flammable grease from the Oil Vine spread evenly across the largest tent under the impact of the core explosion.
The man, who had turned his back to the area as the enemy approached, pointed slightly behind him, and a spark, seemingly from nowhere, landed on the fuel-soaked canvas.
The flames spread much faster than usual; in just a few breaths, the entire camp became a giant torch.
Some Holy Crusaders, under the command of their squad leaders, turned back to fight the fire, but at least thirty or forty men still followed closely behind the man.
The eyes of these Holy Crusaders soldiers were bloodshot, as if they were about to tear the arsonist in front of them to pieces at any moment.
The man ran through the streets and alleys of Fir City, his breathing gradually becoming uneven due to exhaustion.
In this situation, if he insisted on running in a straight line, he would definitely be tackled to the ground and arrested on the spot, so the man ran into a narrow alley without thinking.
Although the physical disadvantage still exists, at least it can slow down the Holy Crusaders behind them due to the crowd.
On the rooftop of a house, the two men had a clear view of the chase unfolding not far away.
"You've got some skill, don't you think?"
"He's really good. Should we recruit him?"
"I think it's a good idea. All we're missing right now is a teammate who focuses on Constitution and Agility."
"That's feasible, but we can't defeat so many Holy Crusaders. If he can come here, we'll lend him a hand."
"No problem."
After discussing their plan, the two jumped off the roof of the house and used the wall opposite the narrow alley to get themselves into the window on the other side.
After turning two more corners, the man could no longer see many Holy Crusaders soldiers behind him, but their shouts and curses were still clearly audible.
The man seemed to have reached his physical limit. Just as he reached out to lean against the wall to catch his breath, a door a dozen meters ahead suddenly opened, and a young man with an anxious expression waved rapidly at him, saying:
"Come in quickly, come in quickly."
The man staggered two steps, forcing himself to follow the young man into the house.
The young man gently closed the door, and the sound of chaotic footsteps of Holy Crusaders soldiers came from outside.
The two listened anxiously for several minutes, only letting out a sigh of relief when they were sure the footsteps were fading into the distance and disappearing completely.
A creaking sound came from the floorboards, and the man then noticed that there was another young man upstairs. He waved for the two to come up, and the three of them sat around a small table as they climbed the rather simple wooden stairs.
The young man who appeared later clicked his tongue in amazement:
"Damn, you really pulled off something amazing. How did you manage to mess with so many Holy Crusaders?"
The clear pronunciation reached the man's ears, but he did not react to it.
The reason was simple: it was a language he had never heard before. Apart from being able to roughly discern the other person's current emotions from their tone and speed of speech, he was completely unable to understand any of its connotations.
To cover up his problem, he forced himself to breathe heavily and slowly drank the large glass of water in front of him.
At this moment, the young man who opened the door for him said:
Why is Fir City so lively today?
He was speaking the Kingdom Language, and although his lip movements looked a bit strange, this time I really understood him.
The man placed the cup on the table and sighed:
"The original plan was to raid a military camp, but I was a little slow in dealing with the guards, and they alerted me..."
"You dare to go all out by yourself? You're amazing, bro."
It was another language he couldn't understand, but the man felt that the other person's tone and manner of speaking were praising him, so he smiled and nodded.
The other person asked:
"Dude, did you turn on the hidden ID option? Can you tell me your name?"
" Duma."