EFB Chapter 175 Rhapsody Under the Moon
Chapter 175 Rhapsody Under the Moon
Chapter 175 Rhapsody Under the Moon
The Northern Kingdom, also known as the Kingdoms.
Thuns is the largest duchy in the Northern Kingdom. It is the fiefdom of the Duke of Thuns, one of the Thirteen Holy Knights.
Men and women born on this land, regardless of their social status, all dream of being knights.
"Hey, you from the Takagi family, can't even hold a sword properly?" The muscular, bronze-skinned boy said defiantly to the panting girl.
The girl appeared to be fourteen or fifteen years old, in the prime of her youth, at that awkward age where her body was just beginning to develop, yet she still acted like a child, clumsy and impulsive. She wore the same coarse cloth short clothes as the boys, her body covered in mud, and her hand holding the wooden sword trembled uncontrollably from exhaustion.
"Shut up, you're just taking advantage of being a man and stronger than me—otherwise, I would have beaten you up long ago."
The girl gritted her teeth and said fiercely, her eyes filled with resentment.
"Knowing full well that he's not strong enough, he still fantasizes about being a knight. His body isn't up to par, and his mind isn't much better."
O
The boy mocked. He was a few years older than the girl, already a grown man with muscles as hard as oak trees and sharp eyes and brows like swords.
The boy switched the sword from his right hand to his left, put his dominant hand behind his back, and smiled at the girl, "I think you should just obediently get married. Instead of using your sword-wielding skills, focus on learning how to please men. Maybe you can marry into a good family, improve your social status, and let your younger siblings enjoy the good life with you. I think that chubby little boy from the Red Baron's family is quite good."
Hearing this, Dove Ennis's face flushed red. She raised her sword in embarrassment and anger, and lunged forward to stab the boy in the ribs. The boy calmly took a step back and used his wooden sword to deflect Dove's blade. The girl's attack shifted her weight forward, and she couldn't regain it in time. The man took advantage of the situation and swept his sword towards her lower body. The girl lost her balance and fell to the ground.
"Oh!"
The girl fell face-first into the mud with a thud, sliding two feet forward and swallowing a mouthful of dirt. She wiped her face haphazardly, picked up her sword, and turned to get up—but a young man didn't give her the chance, stepping on her chest and slamming her firmly to the ground.
The tip of the wooden sword was pressed against Doffin's throat. The girl wrinkled her nose and glared fiercely at the boy who was looking down at her.
"You're dead," the boy chuckled.
"You're a complete bastard, Augustine," Doffin said through gritted teeth.
"For you, it's Sir Augustine Monet," the boy said mockingly, stepping on the girl's chest. Just then, the town bells rang in the distance. The boy named Augustine was distracted, and Dove seized the opportunity, grabbing the boy's leg and twisting his body upwards. Using the torque of his core strength, he turned his body into a spring. The boy couldn't react in time and was lifted 180 degrees in the air, crashing to the ground sideways with the girl!
"Oppa's Buck!"
The boy immediately dropped his wooden sword and fought back with his bare hands. The two wrestled on the muddy ground. The woman's clothes were soaked through with mud, and she was like an eel, impossible to grab. The boy had nowhere to exert force and was caught by Dove, who wrapped his legs around Augustine's waist, shoulders, upper arms and forearms to form an unbreakable guillotine, locking the man's neck tightly inside.
"I give up—" Dove used all his strength to tighten the grip on her arms, while Augustine desperately shoved his hands into the woman's guillotine to free his neck. The two men, their faces flushed, remained locked in a stalemate in the mud.
Augustine's face turned from red to black, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins. He finally couldn't catch his breath and patted the woman's forearm to indicate his surrender.
Dove loosened his grip, and the two clay figures collapsed to the ground, their chests heaving violently.
"—I—I won!" Doffin said breathlessly. "You call yourself a knight?—I, I spit on you—"
I couldn't catch my breath and couldn't spit it out.
"—That's not knightly tactic at all—it's too insidious!" Augustine gasped, trying to defend himself. "By the way, where did you learn these hand-to-hand combat skills—for a moment I felt like you were going to rip my head off, and I saw stars—"
"I learned it from circus acrobats," Dove said, turning around on the ground with a hint of pride, his face covered in mud. "I'm not strong enough, so I turn my whole body into a weapon. Other people's swords are 1.5 meters long from fingertips to blade, but mine starts from my heels and is twice as long."
The man paused for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter.
"Acrobatics? Hahahaha—no wonder your footwork is so comical!"
"Ha ha—ha ha your mother." Doffin, supporting herself on the ground, stood up and tapped the man's breastplate with her wooden sword. "I surrender."
"Hahaha—I lost, I lost." The man laughed until his stomach hurt, waving his hands repeatedly.
"Tell me, who should obediently get married?"
"Haha—it's definitely not you, who would dare to marry you!"
"O, Gu, Si, Ding!"
"Just kidding, just kidding—" The boy sat up, rubbed his neck which was red from being strangled, and reached out his hand to Dove.
The girl put away the wooden sword, wiped the mud off her clothes, and then took the boy's hand, trying to help him up.
But the boy did not get up.
"Hey, Dove."
"Hmm?" the girl asked, puzzled.
"When you come of age, marry me—our child will surely be the most powerful knight in the kingdom."
The air froze for a moment. The words flowed into the girl's left ear, turning her brain into a complete mess.
The paste is heating up, bubbling, and boiling.
The girl's cheeks flushed, and she released the boy's hand as if she had been electrocuted, leaving him standing there.
Goodbye!
Dove left after saying only half a sentence!
The boy left his hand in mid-air, watching the girl's back turn from a small walk to a long stride, and then to a jog.
The jog turned into a slow walk, and then the girl stopped at the end of the boy's line of sight.
She turned around, hesitated for a moment, and then shouted at the boy, "Let's talk after you beat me!!!"
Then it disappeared behind a row of targets.
Silver Moon Corridor, second floor.
Bloodstained flowerpot shards were scattered all over the ground, broken front teeth were nailed to the wall, and the head of a man with a raven-like face was stuck in the gap of the stair railing. He had already passed out, and his two companions were groaning on the ground, clutching their groins, emitting high-pitched whimpers.
In front of the spiral staircase on the second floor, the first group of crow-beaked people who rushed up were beaten and left in a sorry state.
"You're not our target—why are you stopping us?" one of the remaining four raven-faced men growled at the swordswoman.
"Come on! You want to get past me?" The twenty-four-year-old mercenary, Dofinennis, panted as she defiantly challenged the raven-faced man before she spoke. "You can talk after you beat me!"
The four masked men were three meters away, locked in a stalemate with the knife-wielding woman. In the previous conflict, she had also taken several blows, her hair was disheveled, and her cheek was cut by an elbow, with blood smeared all over her face.
"Pooh."
The swordswoman spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. At that moment, a man with a crow's beak rushed forward, launching a flying kick straight at the swordswoman's abdomen!
The mercenary took a step back, and just as the man's leg landed, she delivered a vicious whip kick to the man's ankle!
Snapped!
With a loud bang! The man with the crow's beak grimaced, his front leg throbbing with pain, and he staggered forward. The woman with the sword retracted her whip kick, turned around, and delivered an upward flying kick that struck the man with the crow's beak squarely in the chin!
The man's head lolled to the side, and his body went limp and collapsed to the ground!
The Crow-Beak Man's companions were not idle. Taking advantage of the gap in their partner's attack, the two men rushed forward. Although the Sword Woman knocked down one opponent, she did not have time to create distance. By the time she returned to her stance, the two men were already close.
Straight left punch!
The swordswoman dodged, but the enemy on the other side pounced on her, grabbed her left arm, and punched her in the stomach!
Well!
A sharp pain shot through my abdomen! It felt as if my internal organs had been displaced by the impact!
The pain instantly enraged the mercenary. She used the elbow of her still-flexible hand to repeatedly strike the man's temple. The mask of the man with the raven mask was cracked, and he was knocked to one side. At this moment, the man who was throwing punches from the other side caught up and hit the woman with a hard punch to her left eye socket!
I'm seeing stars!
The mercenary's head buzzed, and she couldn't see anything for a moment. She was knocked back a step, her back hitting the second-floor railing. The woman grabbed the railing and, relying on her senses, got up and unleashed a series of flying kicks. She felt her shin hit something soft with a dull thud!
The man with the raven-like face who threw the punch was kicked and sent flying down the spiral staircase, where he stumbled and tumbled down.
The swordswoman covered her left eye socket. After being hit twice, she had lost all perception of the outside world and could only see a dark shadow rapidly approaching in her blurry vision!
There's no escaping it!
The swordswoman felt the emptiness behind her—a six-meter fall, equivalent to the height of two stories, could easily break her neck.
In that split second, a sharp piano note pierced through my eardrums!
"Obak above!"
The rapidly approaching shadow suddenly stopped, clutching its head in pain. The woman with the sword, judging by the sound and distance, took a step forward and delivered a straight kick!
The kick landed squarely on the man's chest, sending him flying several meters! The last of the crow-faced man's lungs were forced dry, and he landed heavily on the ground, gasping for breath. He tried to get up, but then heard a whoosh of wind behind him!
Buzzing—
Yvette held the banjo upside down with both hands, using it as a sledgehammer—the strings hummed loudly, and the raven-faced man fell to the ground.
The swordswoman covered her eyes and kicked the groaning man on the ground. Just as she was about to say something to Yvette, hurried footsteps came from down the stairs. A dark-skinned half-elf immediately reacted and shoved Doffin into the corridor.
"The guards are coming! Sister, you should hide for a bit—I'll come find you later!"
The woman with the sword couldn't quite see the expression on the person in front of her, so she just nodded, leaned against the wall, groped her way to a room, and disappeared around the corner.
First floor.
Ding-dong, ding-dong.
boom.
A man tumbled down the stairs, lying on the ground groaning, his raven mask split in two on his face.
"May the Rose Saintess protect us!" a passing female customer screamed, clutching her chest as if she were about to faint.
Two faceless guards immediately rushed forward; one helped the female guest up, while the other went up to check on the person who had fallen down the stairs. Finding that the person was still alive, he looked up at the stairs and quickly gathered several companions to rush upstairs together.
The crow-faced man, who had fallen, leaned against the wall beside the stairs, groaning in pain.
A slender and tall figure came up in front of him.
"—What happened?"
"Ugh————"
"Speak, soldier."
"Woman, upstairs," the man murmured in anguish.
The person in front of him frowned and continued, "You're a mercenary, your mission is to find the goblin wizard, what woman—have you found the goblin?"
The wounded, raven-masked man raised his head, looking at the man who had asked the question through his shattered mask. The man's figure loomed above him, his shadow completely obscuring him.
He nodded, and the man suddenly became excited.
"Where?!"
"First floor dance hall — Fox —"
Upon hearing those two words, the man didn't waste a single second on the wounded man. He resolutely got up and walked towards the ballroom on the first floor—the gray eagle-beak mask was like a ghost in the dark night!
Gebu weaved through the dance hall; there were just too many people on the dance floor! The lights flashed, and colorful skirts fluttered. Gebu hated that he was too short; all he could see were thighs—a blinding white expanse.
Where is the pigeon mask?!
After seeing so many masks, all of them look pretty much the same, and it's hard to tell them apart.
As midnight approached, the music became faster and more energetic, the air filled with the smells of alcohol and perfume, and the crowd descended into a irrational frenzy amidst the tapping of dance shoes.
"Dance! Like it's the end of the world!"
The young nobleman poured champagne on his head, while the uncle who had argued with him grabbed his face and licked the sweat and champagne off the young man's face.
He's gone mad—he's gone mad—
Amidst the dazzling and psychedelic scene, Gebu felt a little dizzy—he stepped on the hem of a fat woman's skirt and nearly fell.
"I'm so sorry!"
The fat woman turned around, picked up Gebu without saying a word, and then gave him a hard kiss on the forehead!
"You are forgiven, my little darling!"
"Long live Opak! Long live the Rose Saintess!"
The fat woman gave him a suffocating hug. Gebu was completely bewildered and realized he could hardly breathe before he started to struggle.
He stumbled out of the fat woman's embrace and crashed into the center of the dance floor. Geb rubbed his temples, forcing himself to concentrate. He squinted, dodging the dancers' thighs as he searched for the man with the dove mask.
As the piece reached its climax, the musicians' movements became increasingly exaggerated, and the violin strings screeched in the air, almost snapping—and at the same time, people's reason was about to snap as well.
Midnight, dancing, a revelry under the moonlight!
In the crowd, Gebu's eyes met those of a guy who had just entered the dance hall!
Neither of them could see their faces through the masks, but when Gebu's amber irises met the man's eagle-like eyes, they simultaneously recognized each other.
Wizard Geb!!
Witch Hunter Vulture!!!