CHAPTER 89: THE THREAT

Instantly, the guard’s eyes flashed red, and he moved closer to the courier. It drew his sword from its sheath, preparing to finish off Mr. Courier, who was lying on the ground.

"The threat... must be eliminated."

"Wait, wait." Mr Courier quickly crawled backward, trying to distance himself from the officer. "This is a misunderstanding. I never intended to—"

’Cling!’

"Mr. Courier, are you okay?"

"Sh-Shaan?" Mr. Courier slowly opened his eyes. "What are you doing? You shouldn’t have done this. They’ll see you as a threat now and-"

"No. We won’t let you be in danger," Shaan said, pushing the guard away with all his strength.

"Yes, I agree with Shaan." Chelsie nodded. "We’ll all protect you, Mr. Courier."

"... Besides, this guard was the one who started the attack, so we’re not at fault at all."

"Another threat detected." The guard’s eyes immediately turned toward Shaan and the others. "The three of you are now a threat to the Twilight Sanctum, and we must eliminate anything that endangers the security of the Twilight Sanctum," the officer said, stomping his foot heavily.

"Threat elimination mode activated."

Within seconds, all the guards were silent, and their eyes suddenly emitted a red glow. They all simultaneously turned their gaze toward Shaan’s group and drew their weapons without uttering a word.

"Oh no... it looks like th-they’re going to attack us," Chelsie whispered while slowly stepping back and gripping her staff tightly. "So, what should we do now?"

"Stay calm as usual. We’ll try to explain everything first. I’m sure if we talk nicely to this officer, he won’t...

Suddenly, one of the other officers near Mr. Courier swung his sword, ready to kill him. But Nalira immediately stepped in and shielded Mr. Courier just before the blade could strike his head.

"Mr. Courier, are you okay?"

"Yes, I’m fine." Mr. Courier nodded. "Thank you."

"Shaan, this is pointless. They won’t hear us anyway." Nalira slowly drew her sword, glaring at the officer with a cold stare. "We can’t just stand here and do nothing. The only way we can reach the Twilight Sanctum is by fighting back."

"Uhm... I agree with Nalira." Chelsie nodded her head. "We have to get past all these guards, no matter what, before the doppleshade appears and kills us all."

"Wait, guys, I think we can come up with another way without having to fight them. Right?"

"No, there’s no time to think of another way now." Nalira shook her head. "We have to fight, and the quickest way to defeat them all is to take down the leader of this group of guards." Nalira pointed her finger at the back row of guards. "That’s him. The only guard was wearing a red robe and holding a spear. I’m sure that’s their leader."

"Nalira, don’t act recklessly. We can’t—"

Before Shaan could finish, Nalira dashed forward at full speed toward the group of guards. With sharp movements, she slipped past several of them and immediately struck down anyone who tried to block her path.

’Slash! Slash!’

Nalira’s slashes successfully knocked out the guards one by one, and unfortunately, she was getting closer and closer to the red-robed guard. As a result, all the guards began to target Nalira and consider her a threat. This was serious; Shaan had to stop Nalira as soon as possible before things got worse.

"Cling! Cling!"

"Argh, damn it!" Shaan tried to fend off another officer in front of him. "How can I chase Nalira if these officers keep blocking me?"

[Shaan, we need to fight back against these officers just like Nalira did.] Robin Hood suggested. [That will make it easier for us to catch up with Nalira.]

"No, we can’t hurt these officers. If we hurt them, they’ll see us as a threat. Everyone in the Twilight Sanctum will find out, and they’ll see us as criminals."

Robin Hood fell silent for a moment. [But we can’t keep hiding like this. How can we stop Nalira, who’s getting closer to the red-robed guard?]

’What Robin Hood said is true; we can’t keep doing this.’ Shaan bit her lower lip. ’There must be another way I can do this—Oh my God, I know what I have to do.’

"Robin Hood, use the Swift Quiver while I try to sneak into the crowd of guards. I have to catch up with Nalira before it’s too late."

[I get it]

"Chelsie, take the courier and hide in one of the trees around here. Try to keep avoiding the guard’s attack without fighting back."

"Uhm... okay. I understand."

Without further ado, Shaan pushed the officer in front of him and immediately activated his dash skill. Robin Hood also fired his arrows simultaneously, instantly paralyzing all the guards who were trying to block Shaan. Good, at least Shaan could finally chase after Nalira, who was already very close to the officer.

"Nalira, stop!"

Shaan managed to catch up to Nalira and quickly swung his sword, blocking Nalira’s attack aimed at the red-robed guard. This startled Nalira, causing her face to tense up.

"Shaan? What are you doing?"

"Nalira, stop this. We shouldn’t be attacking these guards. They’re not our enemies."

"Not our enemies, you say?" Nalira laughed derisively. "Your thoughts are too naive. They nearly killed Mr. Courier and harmed us. How can you still think they’re not our enemies?"

"Nalira, listen to me. These guards are just following their master’s orders. If we attack them, we’ll only be seen as a greater threat by everyone in the Twilight Sanctum."

"..."

"Now, what we need to do is—"

"Shaan, watch out!"

Shaan turned his head forward and saw the red-robed guard standing close by. He was swinging his spear and launching an attack toward Shaan. Fortunately, he immediately used his weapon to block the guards’ attacks.

’Goodness, that was close.’ Shaan exhaled deeply. ’Fortunately, I responded well to Nalira’s shout.’

Glaring at the guard with anger, Nalira instantly used her dash milk skill to swiftly dash toward the guard. She continuously launched her attacks repeatedly until she managed to break through the guard’s defenses, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Now it’s your time to die."