Chapter 11: Infiltrating Nettle By Night

At some point, the rain picked up again. The torches in the Duffus bodyguards' hands nearly guttered out, but a night wind swept through and the flames flared even higher. Miles glanced at Taylor, a faintly contemptuous smile on his lips. "Well, well, Mr. Jauncy. Loyal to a fault. But if you've come this far, you've walked right into our trap." Taylor didn't answer. He stepped into the courtyard, his gaze, cold as a blade, swept over the crowd. "If you burn, kill, or pillage on Nettle soil, you die." "Hahaha, is this kid out of his mind? Doesn't he see every gun is trained on him?" Keanu burst out laughing. Miles shrugged, snorted, then flicked his hand. "Take him alive. I want him kneeling at my feet." At his word, more than a dozen bodyguards surged forward. Taylor kept walking toward the Duffus father and son. He didn't even pause. "He's begging to die, isn't he?" Keanu's lip curled. "Though I didn't expect that cripple could even stand." "So what if he stands? Tonight, he dies all the same." Miles' voice hardened. "Maim him." A bodyguard lunged, driving a heavy fist. Taylor neither dodged nor flinched. He lifted his hand and swung a casual slap. Smack! The guard's head flew clean over the courtyard wall. The headless body toppled into the rain, scarlet gushing, blood and rainwater mingling on the ground. "What!" Miles' eyes went wide. "Go! All of you!" As they rushed him, a crushing presence rolled off Taylor as he advanced. Even the rain seemed to slow around him. Thud! Another punch blasted straight through a man's chest. With every step Taylor took, a bodyguard crashed to the ground. In moments, he had cut down nearly all of them. The pooled rain in the yard had turned a deep red. Keanu, staring at Taylor's steady approach, staggered back a step. Miles, however, appeared composed, a small smile still playing at his lips. He lifted his chin. "Mr. Hayden, your turn." "Right, we still have Mr. Hayden!" At that, Keanu exhaled in relief. He had almost forgotten they had hired Niven's foremost fighter, Hayden. "With Mr. Hayden here, he dies," Miles said, a brow cocked in derision. Whoosh! A chill gust knifed into the yard. The rain thickened instantly; a downpour hammered the tiles as the wind howled on. Taylor came on, letting the rain sheet across his face, his soaked clothes whipping in the wind. Suddenly, a shadow dropped from the roof. Boom! Both feet hit the ground with a thunderous boom. Water exploded two meters high; the spray flashed coldly, lighting a ferocious face. A man well over six feet tall stood before Taylor. Long hair hung to his shoulders; his dark features radiated menace. He gave Taylor a scornful once-over. "Hayden of Niven?" Taylor narrowed his eyes. "As expected from the Jauncy family; you've got an eye for it," Hayden chuckled. "But your whole clan's already in the ground. Go join them." He slammed a massive fist, the very wind seeming to coil around it. "Careful!" Ariel, who had always despised Taylor, couldn't help but gasp. Taylor's expression stayed calm. At her voice, he glanced over, a glimmer of reassurance in his eyes. Then, as the hammering fist closed, he shot up a hand and clamped Hayden's wrist. Hayden blinked, tried to push through with more force, then his expression shifted. Taylor's grip was an iron vise; Hayden's wrist couldn't budge. Impossible! Crack! There was a sickening crunch. Hayden's body whipped around 180 degrees, twisting backward. Fabric tore; skin split; white bone jutted out. "Ah!" His scream ripped through the rain. With a wet pop, his head burst like a watermelon, and blood and brain matter sprayed everywhere, his skull reduced to pulp. In the downpour, a mist of blood hung in the air. "Holy shit..." The Duffus father and son stared, thunderstruck. How could he be this terrifying? A chilling thought hit them. "Move! Fall back!" Miles shouted as he bolted for the gate. The few bodyguards still breathing scattered like startled birds, sprinting for the exit, some tumbling and scrambling in panic. Taylor's eyes went colder. With a backhand flick, several silver needles shot into the rain, glinting with a cruel light. One after another, the men were hit with needles at the base of the skull. They pitched into the water, blood streaming from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. "Evildoers don't deserve to live." He turned toward Keanu, whose legs had given way long before. Keanu had gone slack with shock. He had never imagined his father would run and leave him behind. "Mr. Jauncy, it's all a misunderstanding..." His knees knocked; his whole body shook. Taylor didn't speak, nor did he kill him at once. He walked toward him. "W-What are you doing? Stay back..." Keanu collapsed fully, landing on his backside in the puddles. He finally understood that talk of relying on Alchemist's Haven had been hollow bravado. This man's strength was monstrous. It felt as if the old days had returned. "Back then, in front of the Jauncy family, your Duffus clan were just tail‑wagging dogs. And now you dare strut and spit?" "No, no... it was my father... I-I won't dare again…" Keanu shook his head frantically, tears pouring. "Mr. Jauncy, I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong. Please don't kill me. From now on, I'm willing to serve you loyally." "Begging now? Don't you think it's too late?" Taylor stood over him, looking down with icy indifference, as if he were watching an ant. Thump! He lashed out with a kick. Keanu rocketed backward like a cannonball. A chain of brittle snaps followed. Almost every bone in his body had broken. He sprawled in the rain, blood bubbling from his nose and mouth. Taylor flicked his fingers; a silver needle hissed out. "Ugh... you..." Keanu writhed, his face twisting with pain he couldn't endure. Taylor's gaze stayed flat. "You won't die before dawn. You'll feel every bone splinter, and knives twisting through your insides. That's the fate you deserve." He turned his back on Keanu and walked toward Ariel, whose clothes were disheveled. He said nothing. He set his bloodstained coat over her shoulders, then looked to Kayden. "Kayden..." Kayden wiped the blood from his lip and let a knowing smile spread across his face. "Taylor, your leg's healed? Commander Jauncy must be smiling down from the heavens." Taylor eased him up. "It healed a while ago. I just couldn't say anything. Kayden, let me help you inside." Kayden nodded, relief softening his features. "Good. By the way, about Roland..." Taylor glanced at Roland's severed head, eyes like ice. "I'll hang his head up high to warn anyone in Nettle who'd move against the Jauncy family." "Good!" Kayden nodded again and again. Meanwhile, news that Roland had fallen in Nettle spread like wildfire. In Highplain, the city bordering Nettle, the city's leadership went into an uproar. "What? He died in Nettle?" "An army of ten thousand vanished into thin air. Are you kidding me?" "Who did this? That's a direct challenge to Magnus." In a plush private room at Autumo Pavilion, Highplain's premier club, the heads of several top families sat at a round table, each wearing a look of shock. The door opened. A middle-aged man in a traditional jacket stepped in. "Oh? You're late," said the head of the Hauk family. "Late?" The man gave a small laugh. "I've been here for a while. I just took Magnus's call outside." "What? Is it about Roland? What are Magnus's orders?" The man nodded slowly. "Yes. Magnus has decided to send Daniel to Nettle to investigate his death." At the name Daniel, everyone drew a sharp breath. Twenty years earlier, Magnus had found Daniel as a baby on a battlefield, then sent him to a martial arts sect until he turned eighteen. When he returned to Highplain, Magnus adopted him as a son and honed him into one of Highplain's top assassins.  Daniel not only possessed extraordinary power, but his footwork was unmatched. He had carried out dozens of killings in Magnus's name, even taking down someone just shy of Grandmaster level. That was why the heads of Highplain's top families reacted so strongly when they heard Magnus was sending Daniel to Nettle. Clearly, Magnus was enraged. He wants the one who killed Roland taken care of in Nettle. Late that night, in the chill wind after the storm, a cold‑eyed, strikingly handsome man in a black coat slipped quietly into Nettle.