Filed To Story: Queen of the Battlefield Her Return to Glory Novel Online Free
Oliver’s anger flared. “If you had such suspicions, why didn’t you inform me?”
Timothy thought to himself that Oliver’s emotions were always on display. If he knew, it would be easy for Victor to sense it.
Victor had grown suspicious of Oliver’s decisiveness, especially with the mention of Rafael. Timothy wondered if Louis could hold him off.
Regardless, even if they could delay for an hour or half an hour, it would at least buy Rafael more time. Today’s negotiation was the best chance for carrying out the rescue mission.
“It’s just a guess. How could we dare to inform you of something so uncertain?” Timothy said.
Oliver glared at him, his expression severe. He pondered for a moment, fearing that it wasn’t just a guess and that the Hell Monarch was indeed on a rescue mission.
If Rafael succeeded, Starhaven wouldn’t need to trade anything with Sandoria or spend a single coin. Then, the Hell Monarch would gain even more prestige in the military.. Thus, Oliver couldn’t do something that would go against Rafael’s plans. Even if Oliver couldn’t get a substantial reward, he should at least benefit in some way.
Softening his tone, Oliver said, “Regardless of whether your guess is correct, we can’t take risks. We should delay as much as possible. Let’s go. We need to keep Marshal Crow occupied with Simonton City.”
Timothy breathed a sigh of relief and followed him.
However, they couldn’t delay for long. Victor’s suspicion had grown too strong. The moment Oliver mentioned the Hell Monarch, Victor had sensed something was off.
Victor kept his doubts to himself and continued talking for a while. But when he saw that Oliver didn’t seem too concerned and was just dragging things out, he decided to stop the discussion immediately. “We’re done here. Let’s head back to the city,” said Victor, having been driven to his breaking point by Oliver’s superficial demeanor.
If the Hell Monarch was indeed attempting a rescue, it would likely occur when the guards changed shifts, which was around midnight. They should still have time to return to the city now.
He grabbed his cloak and marched out, followed by his men. They quickly mounted their horses and left.
Oliver turned to Timothy. “We’ve done all we can. The rest depends on the Hell Monarch’s abilities. If the rescue is successful, he will have achieved a great feat. If not, we cannot be blamed.”
–
Louis and Timothy were both frustrated.
How could they possibly have kept Victor at bay with such a lack of sincerity in the negotiations? Now, they could only hope that Rafael would complete the rescue mission before Victor returned. If not, the consequences would be dire.
Meanwhile, Rafael had successfully rescued Law.
Upon exiting, he discovered that a fierce battle raged outside. Several of Thomas’ group were already injured, but they hadn’t suffered too much with Everett present. However, the enemy’s numbers were increasing rapidly. They needed to retreat quickly.
As Rafael dashed out, a dozen enemies closed in on him. With a swift leap into the air, he handed Law off to Dylan, who carried the injured man on his back and quickly disappeared into the night.
Rafael used his Lightfoot Skill to return and assist the others in their escape. If they managed to rescue one person only to have several others captured, the mission would be considered a failure.
With Sunstrike in his hand, Rafael flew straight to Jacob’s side. He cut through the soldiers surrounding Jacob with a powerful swing, driving them back with sheer force.
Everett was facing off against the enemy’s elite forces. Even though Victor had taken many of his top fighters to the negotiations, a dozen had stayed behind. Seeing that Rafael had already rescued Law and they no longer needed to guard the iron door, Everett unleashed his full strength and fought in earnest.
His and Rafael’s combined skills were nearly unstoppable. However, the sheer number of enemies made it difficult for everyone to escape. They could only help one person at a time, rescuing each in turn.
Rafael knew they couldn’t afford to delay any longer.
Worried about Victor’s return and the possibility of enemy reinforcements arriving, he held nothing back. Using his golden sword, he unleashed a whirlwind attack, cutting down several enemies with a single powerful swing. It consumed much of his energy, but he had to push the attackers back quickly to buy them a chance to escape.
Seeing Rafael’s determination, Everett spared no effort himself. The two of them worked seamlessly together, gradually retreating to the platform atop the surrounding walls.
The surrounding walls were high. Thomas could barely manage to climb up with his Lightfoot Skill, but the others had to use iron hooks and chains to scale them. That made them vulnerable to being struck by enemy blades.
Rafael and Everett exchanged a glance. Everett held the line while Rafael guided the others to safety. After getting three people out, they heard the ground shaking from the sound of horse hooves.
Rafael’s heart sank.
Victor was back.
Ignoring the exhaustion from overusing his inner force, Rafael swung his golden sword to create an opening. He grabbed one person in each hand and soared out, carrying them with him.
Seeing Rafael’s actions, Thomas also attempted to carry someone to safety, but his own injuries made it difficult, He was barely able to lift off on his own, and carrying someone further slowed him down. As a result, the enemy’s blades struck his back.
The intense pain only fueled his determination further, and he managed to get Ben safely out.
With only three people left, Rafael took two of them. After covering their retreat, Everett quickly scooped up Felix and soared into the air before vanishing from sight.
Victor charged in on horseback, taking in the sight of the blood-soaked ground. His men were either dead or wounded. Septimus had already been rescued, and he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of Rafael.
In a fit of rage, he roared, “Pursue them! Send word to the garrison. Conduct a city-wide search-leave no corner unchecked!”
Under the cover of night, Rafael led their escape. Having been wounded in the back, Thomas collapsed after running only a short distance. Rafael helped him, staunching his bleeding, and then carried him while leading the way with his Lightfoot Skill. They had to reach the safe location Jacob had chosen and reunite with Dylan as quickly as possible.
The location was one Victor wouldn’t think of searching immediately. If they could evade the city-wide search, they would have a way to leave.
After an hour, they arrived at a cemetery for Sandorian soldiers.
It was a location carefully selected by Jacob. The cemetery was located near a mountain. If everyone was unharmed, they could cross several mountain ranges from here to reach the grasslands, where a path fed directly to the mountain where Liam had previously captured Freya.
Once they reached that place, they would be safe.
The other reason for choosing this location was that Victor wouldn’t immediately think to look here. Without his orders, no one would dare to search the cemetery.
The cemetery was vast, with most of the fallen soldiers buried here. A large gravestone stood prominently at the entrance of the cemetery.
As they moved further in, they passed several small buildings where the cemetery guards lived. These guards had been captured and confined in one of the buildings. They were bound and gagged, unable to call for help.
Before Rafael and his team began their rescue mission, they had prepared supplies of food and water. The reason for this was mainly due to the anticipation that Septimus would be tortured. After all, the Sandorians had suffered a great defeat, so they would seek vengeance. Assuming Septimus would have severe injuries, they would not be able to travel immediately.
However, Rafael and his team hadn’t anticipated that there would be so many injured, so the amount of supplies they had prepared was insufficient.
When they returned, Dylan was already tending to Law’s wounds.
Rafael set Thomas down. Without pausing to take a breath, Rafael handed the medicinal supplies and bandages to Everett and Jacob. “Treat the wounded first.”
Thomas had been injured on his back and had staggered for a while. But by the time they reached the cemetery, he had already lost consciousness.
Rafael crushed the pills and gave them to Thomas with water, then tore open the back of his shirt. A gaping wound extended from his shoulder blade to his waist, nearly exposing the bone.
Fortunately, they had performed acupressure to stop the bleeding in time. Otherwise, Thomas would have bled to death. However, keeping the acupressure points closed for too long could also cause damage. Rafael hoped the damage would not be too severe. After attending to the wounds, Rafael looked at the group of men before him. Besides Thomas, he didn’t recognize any of them. Lawrence was still unconscious from severe torture, and Rafael scrutinized him for a long time but still could not determine his identity. Thomas was barely able to hold himself up, but he raised his hand. “Thomas Farrell, reporting in!”