1330 Into Tiger's Den
Looking at Baldur who was wiping the sweat of his forehead and working tirelessly on the offensive formations and failing successfully, Varian's lips twitched.
"We're changing tactics," He said.
"B-But!"
"Are the defense formations working properly?"
"They shoud?" Baldur raised an eyebrow. "Ouch!"
Varian smacked the Prince's head. "Check! This is going to be more dangerous than the planned tactic."
"Okay." Baldur nodded with an aggrieved expression and activated the defenses.
Varian's eyes lit up and he chuckled.
"We have a chance…"
Outside, the Orions launched attacks on Princess Sonya, aiming to end her for good.
'Why isn't Romanov in the fortress? Who's even that guy? And Baldur, what the hell is he doing here?'
She didn't understand what was going on. She didn't have the luxury to pause and think.
Like a snake esacping sticks striking it down, she slithered through the collapse of space, barely avoiding another 'death'.
"Oye! Princess, come in!"
That annoyingly self-assured voice sounded directly in her mind.
"Don't worry, I granted you entry access. This won't malfunction…probably."
Sonya coughed out blood at his words.
'Who the fuck is this bastard? Hijacking my fortress and inviting me in?'
Unfortunately, she didn't have any options at this point.
She could see no other way. If death was inevitable, then she decided to die after slapping this bastard's smug face.
'But how do I get I—ah!'
The space around a drop of her blood fluctuated and it disappeared.
Sonya's body glowed with a soft light before she found herself in the familiar environment of her own fortress.
"You!"
"Hi, little sister-in-law." A very…handsome but very smug man greeted her casually.
Sonya's hand that was about to slap him froze as if time stopped.
"She's in another fortress," Varian said.
"Are you crazy? How dare you spout such words?!" Sonya's face flushed with anger and her aura flared.
Even though she's heavily injured, she didn't think she could fail at killing a mere rank 6.
"I'll show you hell before I di–"
"You stupid brute! You better shut up!" Baldur, who looked pale as a sheet of paper and thin as a twig, shouted at decibels that didn't match his appearance.
"I've seen her highness! She's his wife! You better respect your brother-in-law!"
After saying those words, Baldur honestly sliced his wrists and emptied blood into two glasses before sending them to the other two fortresses. After all, Sarah and Sia needed the blood to operate the fortress.
On the other hand, Sonya looked at Varian in disbelief.
Baldur had no reason to lie about such an obvious thing. B-But how…
"I misunderstood you, Baldur. You aren't a disappointment for your mom or dad. You're a good person," Varian patted Baldur on the shoulder with an appreciative gaze.
"B-Bosss!" Baldur wiped the tears at the corner of his eyes and nodded with a teary gaze. "Always, Boss! Always!"
"T-That, my sister is real—"
"Let's talk later." Varian rudely interrupted and picked up something that resembled an outdated device—a microphone.
The Orions who were searching for Sonya and failed, paused at these words.
"You Orion bastards, she's here. With me, under my protection! Come inside and get us if you can. Or you fuck off to your moms! Ask your dads to come figh—oops, I forgot you don't have any. Sorry, Sorry!"
The space seemed to freeze.
A deathly silence filled the entire region.
Orions were a highly trained group who dealt with some of the toughest opponents all year round.
The ones they fought were either famous powerhouses or dangerous warriors.
But this…
"Fuck you!"
"Son of a bitch, I'll cut your face in half!"
There was rarely anyone as vulgar as this man. Were these really words someone at their rank could utter?
Inside the fortress, Baldur looked at Varian with admiration while Sonya gawked at him.
'He's crazy!'
Following Varian's words, all four gates of the fortresses opened.
"It could be a trap…"
The Orion knew.
But their senses didn't detect anything beyond a few defensive formations and a rank 6…
A fucking rank 6!
Even if there were some traps, it wouldn't matter!
They had to kill this bastard at all costs.
"Destroy!"
With the order of the strongest, four light beams shot towards fortresses.
Two entered the central fortress with Varian while one each entered the other two.
As intended, the strongest picked this fortress while the most injured picked the other two.
"Full defense!" Varian's expression underwent a complete change in just a moment and his aura spiked.
Sonya thought she was seeing things but the man gave off the feeling of a cold-blooded, ruthless warrior.
'What the hell?'
"Attack!"
The moment the two light beams landed in the fortress, countless formations lit up.
A heavy pressure fell on the Veyans and the space in the region grew abnormally rigid. Their very source of power was impacted and their strength was drastically cut down.
The Veyans didn't show any panic, however. "Do you think this is enough?"
With a simple sweep of their hands, two thin lines of cracked space encircling the fortress appeared.
With a push of their fingers, these two lines overlapped.
Boom!
A powerful explosion drowned everything.
It was enough to kill even the strongest of peak rank 6s and injure Princess Sonya in her current state.
Most of the defensive formations in the fortress were destroyed in a single attack.
The few that survived were the absolutely critical ones that were protected at the very core of the fortress.
But the damage was done.
The aura of the Orion soldiers rose to a dangerous rank and they raised their hands for another attack.
"Huh?"
The silhouette of a young man appeared in the rising smoke.
"It's you!"
As Varian stepped into their view, the two Veyans stared at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Yes, it's me." Varian's clenched snapped open and a sword materialized in his hands. His clothes glowed in a purple light and the ring on his finger gave off a dangerous aura.
Under the incredulous gaze of Sonya who focused on recovery and the confused gaze of Orions who couldn't fathom a mere rank 6 standing up against them, Varian swung his sword.
