“You...”
“No need to say more,” Li Xiuman said, stopping Tedela from defending him.
Continuing to argue at this point would only play into the enemy's trap.
Besides, the truth had never been important, no matter the time.
What came out of the mouths of those in power was the truth.
One's status determined whether the words they spoke were truth or lies.
Truth was not a description of reality.
Rather, it was a privilege tied to one's social standing.
In moments like this, one's only options were to shatter the rules with raw strength to break free from the constraints of the game, or to have an entity of higher status override this truth with their own.
“Well? The evidence is conclusive. Do you still refuse to plead guilty?” the guard captain asked, his face a mask of righteousness.
Li Xiuman's gaze swept over the guards, using Appraisal to check each of their levels.
He did not possess a higher-tier truth wielded by supreme power.
Therefore, his only option was to fight his way out.
He had originally wanted to slowly conquer the White Bear City dungeon.
After identifying the distribution of the guards, the locations of the hidden experts, and the aristocratic pig who stood high above, watching the scene with an amused expression. The noble looked down at Li Xiuman with utter contempt, as if staring at an insect caught in a web.
The probability of killing the aristocratic pig, spreading his Bone Wings, and escaping White Bear City was one hundred percent.
He had to end this quickly.
“I asked you, do you plead—”
Before the captain could finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain in his neck.
“I do,” Li Xiuman replied.
[Ding, killed Heavy Warrior Lv11, EXP +80]
Li Xiuman drew his bone sword and flicked off the blood staining the blade.
“I plead guilty, so now I must commit murder to escape punishment.”
As he spoke, he raised his wand and snapped the neck of another stunned guard standing nearby.
[Killed Human Lv7, EXP +10]
Everyone froze in disbelief. How could he dare?
What did they mean, “how could he dare”? This was his only option. After all, the threat was staring him right in the face. He could only step outside the rules.
Besides, he wasn't human to begin with.
He had been willing to hide within human society and abide by their rules.
Yet humans themselves refused to follow them, trying to bind a skeleton like him with the rules they used to constrain their own kind.
How utterly ridiculous.
“Everyone, go! Stop him! Kill him! Kill him!”
The aristocratic pig's fatty flesh trembled violently.
He had never met someone like this. How could this person dare to lash out so suddenly?
Didn't he have any psychological burden or fear?
Was he even human? What was going through this guy's head?
It wasn't just the noble; everyone present was utterly shocked.
This was... way too fierce.
Anyone with half a brain could tell he was framed.
Yet, he didn't even bother to offer a single word of explanation; he simply admitted to the false charges and drew his sword to fight.
What a terrifyingly fierce individual.
Guards drew their swords and rushed at Li Xiuman one after another.
“Tier 1 Magic, Stone Shield.”
An earth element magic circle expanded over his left arm, condensing into a round shield.
Using the shield to deflect the attacks of several guards, Li Xiuman swung his wand with his other hand, easily crushing a guard's skull.
He then drove the wand into the ground.
“Quagmire!”
He cast Quagmire with effortless ease, spreading the spell outward with himself as the epicenter.
The guards swallowed by the mire suddenly found themselves unable to move, struggling desperately to break free.
But how could Li Xiuman give them the chance to escape?
He raised his wand, pointing it toward the highest concentration of guards.
A red magic circle unfurled at the tip of the wand.
“Stop!”
“Tier 1 Magic, Super Fireball!”
The fireball spun and expanded, transforming into a massive, burning, exploding orb of flame.
Then, the fireball shot forward, rolling along the ground as it blazed ahead.
The guards trapped in the mire could only watch helplessly as the giant fireball rolled over them, burning them to ashes. In an instant, several charred corpses collapsed into the mud.
At this moment, the hidden classholder guards also closed in, making no attempt to conceal their killing intent.
Li Xiuman swung his wand to deflect the attacks of two Swordsmen, kicked away a Heavy Warrior who tried to grapple him, and with a sweep of his shield, batted away incoming Fireballs and Earth Bullets.
“Tier 1 Magic, Ground Spike!”
Ground spikes thrust upward one after another, intersecting to form a cage that trapped the Heavy Warrior who was about to charge.
From his left and right, two Swordsmen unleashed their sword techniques. Their longswords, enveloped in a flowing light, thrust toward Li Xiuman with lethal sharpness.
Li Xiuman defending against one thrust with his left shield, caught the other longsword with his right hand, completely unscathed.
After all, this right arm possessed a durability that had taken a direct Heavy Strike from Ilu without a single scratch; there was no way some low-tier Swordsmen could harm him.
Exerting force in his right arm, he snapped the longsword in half.
Then, stepping forward in a flash, he drove a knee directly into the guard's groin.
In an instant, his eggs were thoroughly scrambled.
Not wanting him to suffer the agonizing pain of shattered eggs, Li Xiuman stabbed the broken blade into the guard's throat.
[Ding, killed Swordsman Lv13, EXP +160]
Ah, this must be what they meant by returning good for evil.
Ignoring the newly deceased Swordsman, Li Xiuman spun around and held his wand horizontally, blocking a sneak attack from the Swordsman behind him.
Disregarding the Swordsman's terror, he delivered another swift kick to the groin.
He then jammed his wand into the screaming man's mouth.
“Tier 1 Magic, Fireball.”
With a wet pop, the man's head exploded, scattering red and white matter everywhere, staining Li Xiuman's new clothes.
“Tier 1 Magic, Earth Wall!”
A wall of earth rose up like liquid, blocking the ranged attacks of the Mages.
Next, he charged at the trapped Heavy Warrior.
“Immovable Fortress!”
Terrified, the Heavy Warrior hastily unleashed his strongest defensive technique.
But Li Xiuman didn't panic at all as he raised his wand.
“Tier 1 Magic, Explosive Fireball!”
A compressed fireball shot from the tip of his wand, slamming heavily against the Immovable Fortress.
The golden light dimmed abruptly, the armor cracked inch by inch, and the warrior suffered extensive burns—yet he held on.
“Tier 1 Magic, Super Fireball!”
However, another massive fireball followed immediately. This time, there was no holding on. The warrior was crushed and burned to a crisp.
[Ding, killed Heavy Warrior Lv14, EXP +220]
Li Xiuman stared at the remaining guards.
Clack, clack.
They retreated in unison, none of them daring to take another step forward.
Li Xiuman couldn't be bothered with these small fry, so he looked up at the aristocratic pig.
Stared down by Li Xiuman, the noble pig had completely lost his initial composure and disdain.
He barely maintained a semblance of calm, struggling to conceal his terror.
Without any further hesitation, Li Xiuman dashed toward him.
The aristocratic pig's final facade of calm shattered completely.
“Go! All of you, go! Stop this murderer! Stop him!” he shrieked hysterically.
Li Xiuman swung his wand. Empowered by Great Strength, his blows crushed the heads of any guards who drew near before they could even react.
Meanwhile, Li Xiuman's speed grew faster and faster, leaving a dark-red afterimage in his wake.
He was practically within arm's reach of the aristocratic pig.
The two Heavy Warrior bodyguards, who had been standing beside the aristocratic pig the entire time, were forced to step forward to block his path.
Clenching his wand, Li Xiuman cast Wind Magic and Earth Magic simultaneously. The wind element propelled him forward while the earth magic formed a massive hammerhead at the tip of the wand.
[Great Strength Lv2] activated. Boosted by the technique, his 17 points of Strength swung the giant hammer with a deafening whistle, completely unstoppable.
“Immovable Fortress!” both Heavy Warriors unleashed the defensive technique at the same time.
The giant hammer crashed down with immense force.
The ground cracked and collapsed instantly. A visible shockwave swept up rubble from the earth, scattering it in all directions.
Their shields shattered bit by bit, the golden light faded rapidly, and both Heavy Warriors spat out a mouthful of blood in unison.
Seeing this, the aristocratic pig was scared out of his wits. Paying no heed to his bodyguards, he scrambled on all fours to flee.
Upholding his principle of never letting things go to waste, Li Xiuman harvested the lives of the two incapacitated Heavy Warriors.
His EXP bar was almost full again. How wonderful.
“Don't run, Lord Noble. You still have to sentence me.”
Watching the fleeing noble pig, Li Xiuman hurled his wand, pinning the crawling pig to the ground.
“Aaaaaah!”
A squeal like a slaughtered pig echoed.
“How dare you! I'm a noble!”
“You're just a commoner! How dare you lay a hand on a noble?! What do you take the laws of the Lantes Kingdom for?!”
“I am no commoner. I'm just a skeleton,” Li Xiuman said.
Li Xiuman crushed the aristocratic pig's head beneath his foot.
The onlookers stood frozen, completely dumbfounded.
He had killed him without a shred of hesitation.
What kind of madman was this?!
Li Xiuman stood tall. Wherever his gaze fell, everyone averted their eyes, trembling slightly.
“It seems a noble's EXP isn't all that much more than a commoner's.”
Rate on N.U.
