Chapter 98: Drunken Intruders, Broken Limbs
Seraphina jolted violently in the water her romantic haze instantly vanishing as her fierce combat instincts flared to life.
[Quest Completed Successfully!]
[Your natural masculine scent remains perfectly preserved.]
[Distributing Rewards: +15 Agility, Skill ’Vitality Reading’ Acquired, 500 Shameless Points.]
Leon slowly pulled his hands away from her burning skin masking his deep frustration behind a cold calculating smile.
"Stay in the water," Leon commanded softly his voice shifting from a gentle lover to a ruthless warlord in a fraction of a second. "I will go introduce myself to our new guests."
Leon left the steaming bathroom and walked purposefully down the grand staircase rolling his sleeves down over his heavily scarred forearms.
The heavy oak doors of the main entrance had been violently kicked open hanging awkwardly from their bent iron hinges.
Three large men wearing the bright green tabards of House Vane stood in the center of the foyer tracking muddy boots across the faded rugs.
They were clearly intoxicated holding half empty bottles of cheap wine and laughing loudly at the terrified manor staff.
Corvis the elderly steward was sprawled on the marble floor clutching a bleeding lip while the mousy brown haired maid huddled behind a marble pillar shaking in pure terror.
"Look at this pathetic ruin," the lead intruder sneered taking a messy gulp from his bottle. He was a broad shouldered brute with a thick tangled beard projecting the weak unstable aura of a Tier Two Adept. "The mighty Silver Lioness finally crawls back to the capital and she doesn’t even have the coin to fix her own front door."
"I told you they were finished," the second man laughed tossing his empty bottle against the wall where it shattered into a hundred jagged pieces. "Lord Vane will own this estate by the end of the month. Maybe we should take some of the silver tableware as an early tax."
Leon stepped off the final stair letting his heavy leather boots thud loudly against the stone floor.
The three drunken thugs turned their heads their blurry eyes locking onto the tall dark haired man standing casually in the center of the foyer.
They did not sense any magical signature radiating from his body assuming he was just another pathetic servant.
"You there," the bearded brute barked pointing a thick dirty finger at Leon. "Go fetch your arrogant mistress. Tell her the Emerald Guard is here to collect a toll for entering our city."
Leon did not speak.
He crossed the massive foyer in a single blinding blur of motion moving far too fast for their drunken eyes to track.
He materialized directly in front of the bearded leader and reached out grabbing the man by his thick ugly face. His large hand easily clamped over the thug’s jaw and forehead locking him in an unbreakable iron grip.
"You are tracking mud into my house," Leon whispered chillingly his voice dropping the temperature in the room by several degrees.
He channeled a small surge of mana and activated his Kinetic Weight aggressive pushing raw magical mass directly into the intruder’s skull. The sudden crushing gravity forced the man to plummet face first into the marble floor with a sickening brutal crunch.
The heavy impact cracked the stone tiles and instantly knocked the brute unconscious leaving him groaning in a puddle of spilled wine.
The other two thugs stared at their fallen leader in sheer horrified disbelief. Their drunken haze evaporated in an instant replaced by a cold paralyzing terror.
"He is a martial artist!" the second man screamed drawing a glowing short sword from his hip. "Kill him!"
He lunged forward swinging the glowing blade in a desperate wide arc aimed directly at Leon’s neck.
Leon casually raised his left hand and activated Kinetic Repulsion. A dense invisible wall of raw force erupted from his palm slamming into the charging thug like a runaway carriage.
The massive impact shattered the man’s ribs and launched him backward through the open doorway sending him flying out into the dark courtyard where he crashed heavily into a stone fountain.
The third and final intruder dropped his weapon completely abandoning his loyalties as he spun around and sprinted frantically toward the exit.
Leon let out a soft disappointed sigh. He picked up a solid silver candlestick from a nearby table and casually threw it across the room. The heavy piece of silver spun through the air with terrifying velocity striking the fleeing man squarely in the back of the knee.
The bone snapped with a loud crisp pop sending the thug tumbling out the door with a high pitched agonizing scream.
Leon calmly dusted off his tailored tunic and walked over to the trembling elderly steward offering his hand. Corvis stared at the bloody mess in the foyer and then slowly accepted the gesture allowing Leon to pull him easily to his feet.
"Have the maid clean up this wine Corvis," Leon instructed smoothly his voice carrying a calm magnetic authority. "And find someone to fix those hinges. We cannot have the evening breeze ruining the ambient temperature."
The old steward nodded frantically his eyes wide with intense blinding awe.
The broken demoralized staff finally realized their beautiful mistress had not brought a simple servant back from the wilderness. She had brought a terrifying monster.
Leon walked toward the broken entrance intending to drag the groaning thugs out into the street.
As he stepped out into the cool night air a slow rhythmic clapping echoed from the deep shadows near the front gates.
A tall elegant woman stepped into the pale moonlight holding a long thin smoking pipe.
She wore a highly scandalous form fitting crimson dress that hugged her generous curves perfectly and her dark mysterious eyes sparkled with deep dangerous amusement.
"A very messy welcome for the famous Silver Lioness," the strange woman purred taking a slow calculated drag from her pipe.
"But I suppose the rumors were true. The Sterling family always keeps a highly entertaining guard dog on a short leash."