It was a dark night with no moon in the sky. A man standing watch under the dark shadows opened his eyes in shock. But his scream was silenced by covered hands.
A similar attack was going on throughout the large garden of the keep. Joonbum let out a gasp as he watched it in silence from distance.
“Wow, so scary.”
Doral scoffed at Joonbum.
“You gave us the night-vision goggles. It’s you who made the Ainos invincible at night.”
“Haha, I suppose so.”
Joonbum nodded as he watched through the night-vision goggles. It was as Doral said. These people were fierce warriors with stealth and dexterity that made them survive through the harsh mountain forest. It was easy for them to move about in an open field like this. Their physical prowess also easily exceeded that of any trained young knight.
They were here, attacking the headquarters of the Red Moon with young warriors. They quietly took down all guards one by one, until they were found out.
“Who are you! Who- ARGH!”
Doral narrowed his eyes.
“He rushed.”
They were still kids, so they eventually made a mistake. A bell started ringing, signaling an attack and all light sources were put out immediately. It was normal for people to brighten up the area when there was an ambush, but it was the opposite for the Red Moon. The keep fell dead silent and dark. But it was then that the arrows were fired upon the Ainos.
“WHAT!”
Jinpok, who was chewing on his jerky as if he were bored, stood up immediately in shock. He loved bloody fights, and so did Hectos.
“Sit down, they won’t die. They have those vests.”
“Huh?”
“The vest! That thing blocks out spears, axes… You know.”
“Oh.”
To prove Hectos’ words, the Ainos stood up without any damage. The arrows fell down to the ground helplessly. It shocked the enemy and forced them to change their tactics.
“It’s Germany-made. Taesoo Park offered it to me for a cheap price so I took it.”
“Taesoo? Oh. That man…!”
Jinpok scowled at the thought of Taesoo. He was a good man to Joonbum, but to Jinpok, he was only a gangster that beat him up more after Joonbum. It was then that a scream ripped through the keep as the Ainos charged in. They tried to fight back from the shadows, but they couldn’t hide from the night-vision goggles.
“Idiots, they should’ve just ran. Or surrendered.”
Jinpok spat and picked up another jerky to chew. The Red Moon headquarter within their city was destroyed so easily. They were disguised as a merchants.
“So, there are two more places like this?”
“Yeah. Two.”
Hectos answered Jinpok. Jinpok then turned to Joonbum.
“You sure are popular.”
“You will too! J.P. Bayne the Berserk. I heard the name.”
“Yeah, but they won’t send assassins to me.”
“Maybe to your wife?”
“I hope they do…”
“Can I tell that to your wife?”
“If you want to kill me.”
They joked at each other. Then, more clashing sounds were heard from within. And there was an angry shout.
“Who do you think we are! We are not some ordinary merchants!”
“Of course, we know that.”
“What! You dare attack us even then? UGH!”
The man who had been shouting fell down, blood pouring out from his chest. Then another man shouted in rage.
“How dare you attack while we are talking!”
Pav looked at the man dumbfounded.
“Huh? Didn’t you guys kidnap Zelda’s parents and cut their fingers? And try to assassinate the count and his family? You deserve this.”
Then a dagger was thrown upon the man’s neck, penetrating the armor.
“Ugh… Red Moon… will not… forget… this…”
He fell with the blood pouring out from his mouth. He was dead.
“We will go before you come. All of Red Moon will die soon. It’s not our way of doing things, but the elders decided to wipe out all the assassins.”
Pav spoke to the dead body. The Ainos and Magnos weren’t having a great time in the land of humans. The countess and Joonbum had their backs, but other people weren’t so fond of non-human beings within their boundaries. Some even accused the count and his families for overprotecting the Ainos. It meant if anything happened to the families of the count, the Ainos’ future was doomed. This was why they decided to take care of the danger against the family.
“All twenty-five men reported have been killed.”
Bisen, one of the leader of the Ainos Guards, came to report to Joonbum.
“Anyone injured?”
“No.”
Bisen checked his vest and shook his head. Then Jinpok came up to him and checked Bisen’s vest.
“Is this? Oh! It’s that!”
“Do you know this?”
Jinpok nodded.
“Yeah… I remember seeing this before. I think it was from the Internet. It’s famous.”
“Oh?”
“That Taesoo… I didn’t know he was that capable. He even got you the Marauder, right? Wow.”
Jinpok shook his head.
“The next headquarter is half a day away from here.”
Joonbum nodded and they got back on their horses. They all began moving out to their next destination.
