Shouts of anger and indignation echoed through the room as the closest patrons charged straight at the two of them. Red didn’t bother reasoning with them.

A large man charged at him from behind, hoping to tackle the youth. Red sidestepped his lunge and used the man’s momentum to push him with a single kick against the crowd, sending them sprawling to the ground. It was a fluid and powerful attack, something the youth would have struggled to do six years ago, but now he could measure up against any adult when it came to pure strength. He didn’t want to fight, however, so he didn’t bother following up on his attack, only buying himself enough time.

His companion, though, seemed to be of a different mind.

Allen was in the middle of punching another armored guard, and already a handful of unconscious patrons were at his feet. Someone approached the drunken young master from behind, though, and shattered a glass mug against his head.

Allen didn’t even stumble, looking behind him with a laugh. “That’s more like it!”

He threw a lightning fast roundhouse kick, hitting his attacker on the side of the head and sending him flying against the tables. However, this gave his attackers an opening to surround him.

One of the armored bodyguards took out his sword to stab Allen from the back. Before he could do anything, though, Red appeared at his side and threw a jab at his extended forearm, causing an audible cracking noise.

The bodyguard dropped his weapon and screamed in pain.

Allen looked over at Red in surprise and smiled. “Thank for the help! I don’t know what I would have-”

The young master didn’t get to finish his sentence as Red dragged him down.

"Hey, what are you-”

An arrow hit the place where Allen was just standing. He widened his eyes in surprise and looked over at the other side of the bar. One of the armored guards had a bow in his hand and seemed ready to shoot at the duo again.

“Get them!” The guard’s scream echoed through the room.

The rest of the patrons, who were at first hesitant, roared in anger as they charge at Red and Allen.

The young master’s expression changed. “Wow, there’s a lot of people!”

Red didn’t respond and charge towards the exit with Allen following behind him. Some unfortunate few patrons tried to block their path, but Red was quick to dispatch of them with a few well-placed blows that knocked them unconscious. Their path outside was uninhibited, but behind them dozens of people were chasing after them with murder in their eye.

Red frowned.

‘If only I could use my sword.’

He wasn’t afraid of taking on dozens of drunken and barely equipped adventurer, but without being able to kill them, Red knew he would eventually be overwhelmed by their numbers. So instead, he chose to run.

Allen laughed as he followed behind him. “Haha, look! They want to kill us!”

Red ignored his companion’s drunken rambles. “We’ll lose them downhill!”

“Lose them?! Let’s just tunnel them in an alley and punch them all to death!”

“Stop talking and just follow me!”

Allen did as much. The duo continued to run through the streets with a trail of bloodthirsty adventurers at their back. The commotion attracted the attention of the entire town, and soon enough, the town guards gathered to see what it was about.

“H-Hey, stop right there at this moment!” A guard pointed at Red and Allen.

The duo obviously didn’t listen to him and continued to run. The guard was angry, but before he could say anything else, he noticed the dozens of people chasing trailing after them.

The guard paled and looked at one of his companions. “Call the captain, quickly!”

In the meantime, Red and Allen continued to run downhill.

The young master looked behind himself, examining the angry crowd. “Aren’t we supposed to lose them?! Why are we still running in a straight line?!”

“There’s someone else following us.” Red said with a frown.

“What?!” Allen’s eyes widened. “You mean…”

The youth nodded. “It’s one of those two.”

Red had noticed it since he left the Adventurer’s Guild. There was a fluctuation of a Lesser Ring Realm cultivator following them from atop the surrounding buildings. He tried to look around for their image, but he had yet to spot them, which left him feeling weary.

The young master seemed to lose much of his bravado. “We should run to the sect, then!”

Red shook his head. “And let Hector know about what you were doing?”

Allen gritted his teeth. “So, what do you suggest?”

“Bide our time and wait for the guards to interject.” Red said.

It wouldn’t be much problem, considering they were faster than most of their pursuers. It was at that moment, however, that he felt another fluctuation appear ahead of them.

“Stop!” Red froze in his steps, and Allen followed his lead.

The youth didn’t need to say anything as they saw a figure waiting for them ahead in the road. A large bald man, wearing a wooden mask and with a strapped saber to his back.

Gustav’s bodyguard.

“Fuck…” Allen cursed to himself as he stared at the man.

Their pause allowed their pursuer to catch up to them, but Red and Allen didn’t dare to move under the bodyguard’s hawkish gaze. The adventurers looked eager to tear the duo apart, but they also all stopped moving as soon as they spotted the giant down the road.

“Mister Saber!” One of the adventurers called out to the man reverentially.

“He’s got them!”

“Now they can’t escape!”

The adventurers continued to jeer at the duo’s misfortune.

The bodyguard, however, made no moves yet and continued to stare at them.

“You have made quite a mess, haven’t you?” he asked.

“They’re the ones who attacked first!” Allen glared at the man.

“That’s a lie! You punched us first!” A voice came from the crowd behind them.

“That’s because you insulted my friends!” The young master didn’t relent. “And I would do it all over again!”

“So you admitted you struck first?” the bodyguard asked.

“Uh…” Allen looked at a loss for words.

“None of this matters.” Red interjected. “Just tell us how you want to resolve this.”

His interactions with the bodyguards over the years were very limited, but he knew above all else they were professionals and weren’t emotionally invested in anything they needed to do. As such, he knew they could always be reasoned with.

Not to mention, he also sought to buy themselves enough time.

The bodyguard seemed to be deep in thought beneath his mask. “… You know we can’t do anything to you inside this town.”

Red frowned. Although these words seemed reconciliatory, the youth didn’t like the undertone behind them.

“So you’ll let us go?” Allen asked in a guarded tone.

“Of course.” The man nodded. “However, Gustav gave me some instructions in case something like this was to happen again…”

The bodyguard took his saber out of his back, making the youths take a step back. Red’s hand wandered towards his weapon and Allen entered a combat stance, but none of them made any moves yet, examining the man’s movements through narrowed eyes.

To their surprise, the bodyguard stabbed his saber into the street pavement and looked back at the duo.

“It is customary in the cultivation community for seniors to test the capabilities of the new generations.” the man said.

Allen frowned in confusion. “What do you-”

Before he could finish speaking, the bodyguard charged forward. With a single push of his feet, he was already upon them, throwing a punch at Allen.

The young master put his arms up to block it, but it was a futile effort. He was sent flying, crashing against the side of a building with a thud from the sheer force of the blow.

Red didn’t have the time to check on his companion’s condition as the bodyguard’s attention was placed on him, throwing a punch. The sheer pressure of the man’s gaze made it difficult for the youth to breathe, and as his opponent’s fist approached him, it looked as if he wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

However, all of a sudden, Red felt a wave of energy wash over his body, clearing him of this accumulated tension and shocking his muscles into action. The fist was almost crashing against his chest when the youth crouched down, making the blow miss him by a small margin.

The air pressure gathered by the man’s blow still had its effect on Red’s body, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from counterattacking. He drew his sword from its sheathe in a lightning quick motion, drawing an arc up against his opponent’s wrist.

There was the sound of metal clashing against metal and a shower of sparks came from the man’s arm. Red saw the glint of steel from beneath the bodyguard’s sleeve.

‘Armor.’

Before Red could do anything else, a wave of yellowish energy exploded from the bodyguard’s body, pushing him back much in the same way as it did to Allen. Still, the youth at least managed to hold himself back before he crashed onto the side of a building.

He stared at his opponent, feeling a tightness in his chest as he tried to recover from the blow.

The man clenched his fist a few times, looking at the area where Red’s sword slashed against his armor.

He looked over at the youth. “You make it difficult for me to hold back.”

“Go to hell!”

Allen, who had recovered from the initial impact, charged at the man with a flying kick. The bodyguard raised his arm, grabbing the young master’s leg midair and throwing him against Red.

Allen screamed in midair as he was sent flying. “Red, catch me!”

Red didn’t stay still and sidestepped his companion’s body, letting him crash against the ground. It was the right decision, seeing as in the next second the large bodyguard was already upon him, throwing another punch towards the youth’s chest.

Red didn’t have the time to dodge this time around, so he simply put his sword in front of the blow to block it. It did little to diminish the force of the punch as both weapon and its wielder were sent flying down the street.

The bodyguard had done his best to hold back, using strength just shy of breaking his bones. Still, it was a painful impact, and Red found himself unable to gather enough breath for a few seconds as he tried to get up.

Once again, the youth was forced to come to terms with the sheer difference in strength between a mortal and a Lesser Ring Realm cultivator. Even after all these years of training, he was still short of being able to contend with one in a straightforward battle.

The fight wasn’t over yet, though, as he felt the bodyguard’s fluctuation charging towards him. He looked up, seeing the man’s fist in a trajectory to crash against his face.

“Enough of this madness!”

A familiar voice echoed through the streets and the bodyguard’s fist froze just shy of hitting Red’s nose. The youth looked over, spotting Captain Orvin’s figure running towards them while flanked by a handful of guards.

Never was Red so glad to see the man’s figure before.