Under the sun, Thales and Monty looked at the uninvited guests in front of them with great vigilance and uncertainty.
Why is it him?
The Fallen Star dismounted from his horse with an expressionless expression.
He walked slowly into a spit rock, and tied the reins naturally as if nothing happened.
It puts endless pressure on people.
"I heard you, Big Mouth."
"Why, are you too confident in your level?"
Nicolai slowly tied the reins, turned to Monty, who was facing a formidable enemy, and glanced back and forth at the short knife in his hand.
"Do you think that after Isaiah left the White Blade Guards?" Meteorite tied the reins. His eyes were bloodshot. It was obvious that he had worked hard for many days, but the meaning in his eyes made people shudder. "There will be no more Longxiao City."
Is there anyone who can keep up with you?"
He gently shook his shoulders and moved the handle of the Rising Sun Saber to the position where it was easiest to release it.
Monty's pupils shrank!
"Ah, I have to say," the experienced scout said softly, slowly turning the short knife in his hand: "I have thought so to a certain extent."
Monty stared at his old comrade, motionless, with ice almost forming on his face.
His eyes once again flashed that light that made Thales extremely uneasy.
"You are an excellent scout, Monty," Nicolai said coldly: "From the fake appearance to the route chosen and the concealment method, almost no one can match it."
"But it's just 'almost'."
Nicolai stepped forward slowly, slowly closing the distance between him and Monty, and spoke gloomily: "Just like now, starting from Longxiao City, we chased so many miles...from the Stone Tomb to the Muxue River,
Then we went to Spear City, and even chased us here, to the rocky land of Qiyuan City, and almost chased us into the desert..."
Thales retreated subconsciously.
But Monty stood there, motionless, with only the short knife in his hand constantly adjusting its angle.
But Nicolai didn't pay attention, he kept approaching.
Thales' breathing became smaller and smaller.
Finally, when he was still a few meters away, Nicolai stopped.
"But we still caught up with you."
He raised his eyebrows lightly and said calmly:
"Ned Monty."
The eyes of Fallen Starman and Deathcrow met in mid-air.
One side is indifferent, the other side is dignified.
It was as if an invisible shackles were placed on the air.
Thales didn't dare to utter a word. He could only hold his breath and look at the two people in front of him, thinking quickly about countermeasures.
This situation...
The two men stood still, facing each other like heavy icebergs.
The pale face of the Fallen Starman clearly brought out the blood color in his eyes.
The Death Crow's eyes remained motionless, solemn and seemingly indifferent.
The sunlight shone on Nicolai's knife handle and Monty's blade, reflecting a strange light.
After a while, one party finally moved.
"Hey hey hey..."
Monty blew hard and the seriousness on his face disappeared.
Instead, there was a helpless smile.
"I have to admit, Thornhead, you have made progress, and so have the White Blade Guards." The old scout shook his head, as if he were seeing an old friend again, and put the short knife on his waist back into its sheath with a smile:
"How did you do it?"
Nicolai watched his old friend take the initiative to put away the knife, his eyes finally no longer so scary.
At that moment, Thales, who thought a war was about to start in the next moment, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Since six years ago, the Grand Duke's personal guards have reduced the training content of charging into battle, commanding troops, and even fighting alone."
Although he had done nothing, but his scalp was numb, the meteorite man said coldly: "The extra energy and money were all invested in the training of another skill."
Just listen to him calmly say: "Sentinel reconnaissance, stealth tracking."
The air was quiet for a moment.
Monty frowned: "Six years ago..."
"So exaggerated?"
Nicolai stared at him for a long time, then nodded slowly:
"It's so exaggerated."
Thales' eyes were fixed in mid-air.
The death of the king had a far greater impact on the former Blade Guard than imagined.
Monty sighed.
"Well, that's a good thing, really."
"Guard reform," Monty sneered, raised his hand and waved it in the air: "You know, the old guard... Kaslan's shadow is too heavy. Even if you have been the captain for twenty years, everyone is still the same.
Just remember him..."
But Nicolai didn't seem to have any intention of reminiscing with him, and the Fallen Starman glanced lightly at Thales who was standing aside.
Thales showed an ugly smile.
"Give you ten seconds, Monty."
"Disappear immediately," Nicolai's tone was very calm, as if he was just saying a normal greeting: "I'll just pretend I haven't seen you today."
Monty's expression froze slightly.
He lowered his head, put one hand on his waist, and scratched his neck with the other, looking very embarrassed.
"Jitou, you have to let me explain about this prince..."
Nicolai's eye knife suddenly turned and fell on the body of the Death Crow.
"There's nothing to explain."
"This is just a matter between me and him," Nicolai pouted at Thales, his eyes turning cold again: "I don't care where you are or whose hand you cut him off from.
Yes, it doesn’t matter where you plan to send him.”
Thales couldn't help but feel nervous again.
"You can go, old friend." Nicolai said without mercy.
Monty's smiling face suddenly stiffened.
He looked away and let out a breath.
Thales could see it: the Death Horn Crow suppressed his anger and clenched his fist fiercely.
But the next moment the prince was about to get angry because of him, Monty took a long breath and smiled again.
"Listen, Thornhead."
"Longxiao City and Qiyuan City are allies in the Western Expedition," Monty bared his teeth and pointed at Thales with an embarrassed look:
"Sooner or later, he will go to Qiyuan City. You don't want to see him fall into the Black Sand Territory and into the hands of the king, right? For the sake of old friendship, and even more for the sake of each other, this matter
We should stand together..."
But Nicolai interrupted him.
"Big Mouth," Meteor Man said softly, "This is no longer the past."
Monty spoke for a moment.
"We have long since passed the age of jealousy and soliciting prostitutes together."
Nicolai shook his head, his eyes indifferent: "It's useless."
"I said, I will only give you ten seconds and disappear immediately."
Monty's smile disappeared.
The air suddenly became quiet.
A shadow flashed across Thales's heart.
Nicolai's pale face showed no expression. He just looked at his old friend silently.
For several seconds, the muscles on Monty's face trembled slightly, indicating his thoughts.
"You're right, Thornhead," the old scout chewed on these words, nodded slowly, and repeated without emotion:
"It's long gone now."
Nicholas remained silent.
Suddenly, the Death Crow burst out laughing.
"Ha ha ha ha……"
But it's not a happy smile.
It's a sneer.
The Death Crow's laughter had a chilling meaning. He nodded slowly: "Very good, Lord Nicolai."
An ominous premonition invaded Thales's heart again.
"Don't forget," the Death Crow grinned slightly, biting out a faint threat between his teeth:
"This is a wasteland, and it is already the territory of Qiyuan City."
Monty sneered and took a step forward.
He looked directly into his old friend's eyes: "My Qiyuan City."
Thales turned back subconsciously, looking for the horse.
Unexpectedly, Nicolai also smiled.
With smile lines appearing on his pale face, the Fallen Starman gently raised his steps.
Welcome the other person.
"Your Qiyuan City?"
He slowly walked up to Monty, and the two were so close that their foreheads were almost touching, and they could almost kiss each other.
I saw the Fallen Star Man sneer at the Dead Horning Crow, his eyes sharp and his tone unkind:
"So what?"
Monty's sneer gradually became smaller.
"When was the last time we fought against each other, Thornhead? Eighteen years ago?" the Dead Crow asked softly.
With a meaning that only each other knew, the two old friends looked at each other for a moment without showing any signs of weakness.
"Eighteen years." Nicolai nodded.
"But today? I don't plan to fight alone."
"You heard the signal arrow, old friend," Nikolai said coldly: "The Grand Duke's personal guards will arrive shortly."
Monty's pupils condensed.
"There are many of your old acquaintances among them," Meteorite said with special emphasis:
"Later."
"Do you know what this means?"
Monty's expression slowly turned cold.
The two were silent for five seconds.
A second later, Monty closed his eyes suddenly, exhaled heavily, and gritted his teeth and said:
"What the hell."
Nicolai sneered slightly and showed the unique smile of a winner.
"Yes, what a heck."
He looked at the uncontrollable Monty in front of him and said softly:
"I only count to ten."
Monty seemed irritated.
He suddenly opened his eyes and said excitedly: "You"
But Nicolai was not moved at all. He just looked at Monty coldly and uttered the next word:
"ten."
Monty suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed the collar of the Fallen Star!
Nicolai just smiled.
Monty seemed to be trembling with anger. He took a step forward, almost holding Nicolai's forehead and roared: "You! Sting the head!"
"Hold!"
But Nicolai still just smiled, his pale face as before, without any blood.
Thales sighed secretly: It seems that Monty's old friendship can no longer be counted on.
Monty grabbed Nicolai angrily and ferociously, and growled uncontrollably: "I remember you, Thornhead, I remember you!"
Death Crow gasped heavily: "One day, I will get back to where I am today."
boom!
Nicolai also stretched out his hand suddenly!
His arms crossed with Monty's, and they also grabbed each other's collar.
"Then you have to leave first," Nikolai said coldly, tit for tat:
“Then there was the talk of ‘getting back the ball’.”
The sights of Deathcrow and Fallen Star crossed again, each burning with unknown flames.
The next second.
As if there was a tacit understanding, the two snorted at the same time and let go of each other.
Monty turned around without hesitation and walked towards his horse.
Nicolai looked at him coldly.
Thales, who was watching, was surprised:
"Are you leaving now?"
Monty untied the reins, mounted the stirrups, and turned back angrily:
"if not?"
"Are you waiting here to be wrapped up?"
Thales looked at the angry Monty, then at Nicolai, who was radiating cold air, and rubbed his forehead in pain.
God.
"Aren't you very good at talking nonsense, boy?" Monty turned the horse's head and stared at the silent Nicolai through gritted teeth: "Help me, be a competent gray magpie and don't shut up. You'd better be annoyed to death."
he."
Thales showed an awkward smile.
The next moment, Monty flicked the reins angrily, and the horse raised its hooves, heading west quickly and without hesitation.
His back disappeared into the rocks and left their sight.
Until the sound of horse hooves also disappeared.
His Royal Highness, who had held his breath in the tense atmosphere just now, turned back in annoyance.
Look at the only person left.
"I'm really impressed, Lord Nicolai," Thales sighed: "You caught up with me so quickly."
Nicolai crossed his arms and showed a chilling sneer.
It's like the first time they met.
The Fallen Starman glanced down at the dagger in his hand and said nothing.
The young man shook the jc in his hand and smiled helplessly.
"So, before you wait for your companions to come and catch me back, can you tell me?" Thales put the jc dagger back into its sheath and stuffed it back into his arms: "How did you do it?
of?"
"I thought you had sealed off the city and were busy dealing with big shots, screening people who might kidnap me."
"Why did you suddenly appear here?"
Nicolai smiled.
With a determined expression as if he was determined to catch his prey, he nodded gently: "Yes, your plan is good, little prince."
"Arrange people to attack the team and create the illusion that you were kidnapped out of thin air."
"When the situation is at its most complicated, it makes the entire Longxiao City suspicious of each other." At this point, the Meteorite's eyes turned cold: "It greatly slows down the efficiency of the search and misleads our direction."
"In fact, he escaped secretly."
"If we really fall into your trap, we won't be able to find you even if we search for more than half a year."
Thales felt sad.
He still discovered the truth.
"Then how did you find out?" Thales raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, seemingly giving up resistance:
"When did you become so smart, dead face?"
Hearing this nickname, Nicolai's smile became even colder.
"It's true that I'm not that smart," he said indifferently, "but compared to someone like you who comes up with ten weird ideas every second, my more than twenty years of career in the Guards, especially the last six years, has taught me at least one thing.
thing."
Thales frowned.
"That's it," Nicolai put his hand into his arms and said softly:
"When it comes to things you don't understand, you can never be too cautious."
The meteorite took out something from his arms.
He spread it out and gently let go.
Thales's pupils shrank!
That thing floated in the air for a few seconds.
Until it fell at his feet.
"This is……"
The young man stared blankly at what the Fallen Starman took out, almost unable to believe his eyes.
Lying at his feet was a piece of paper.
A piece of sky-blue expensive tissue paper with ugly wrinkles.
Thales looked at this thin piece of paper, feeling unspeakable in his heart.
It's that piece of paper.
The invitation written by Asheida to him.
After being intercepted by the very suspicious Nikolai in the Palace of Heroes, the Fallen Starman angrily crumpled it into a ball due to Thales' teasing and cover-up.
but……
"I thought you had thrown it away."
Thales frowned and looked at Nicolai: "Didn't you read the joke written on the paper? Do you need me to repeat it?"
Nicolai laughed coldly.
He took a step forward and stepped heavily on the sky blue tissue paper.
There was a line of large, faded characters written on the paper, which was particularly eye-catching:
【The meteorite idiot.】
"Yes, but that's just an appearance."
Nicolai shook his head slowly.
The image of Thales was reflected in his eyes. No matter how much Nicolai shook his head, he never left the center of his pupils: "You can't imagine that I spent two full months, paid a lot of money, and mobilized almost all intelligence resources. , from the raw materials to the source of the goods, I traced the details of this piece of paper wholeheartedly."
Thales was horrified.
"Leland paper," Nicolai repeated word for word, without any vitality or rhythm, as if he was reciting knowledge that he knew nothing about:
"The raw wood is produced in the Principality of Norton, and the manufacturing and dyeing techniques are from the Land of Dragon's Kiss. The quality is excellent, durable, and can even be erased and written over and over again. It is a special paper for the court of the Principality of Anrenzo in the south of the Western Continent, and is specially used for writing noble invitations. "
Thales looked at him solemnly.
Nicolai smiled, with a hint of pride in catching his opponent: "In the North, the rich and powerful nobles may spend a lot of money to build a sharp sword, or raise a good horse, but no one will use this You can't buy this kind of luxury paper anywhere, and even the merchants from Camas are too lazy to transport it to the North."
"And we have also searched the missions of the stars before, including Viscount Putilai Niemann, and there is no trace of this thing."
Facing Thales' complicated look, Nicolai pointed to the crumpled cardboard on the ground: "This thing."
"It shouldn't appear in the Palace of Heroes and in your hands."
The next moment, the Meteorite's voice turned cold: "This can only be something brought in from the outside, from a channel we don't know about, and it must be deliberately hidden from the eyes and ears of the Palace of Heroes, because it must bear some secrets. A special mission.”
Hearing this, Thales closed his eyes gently.
A secret and special mission...
well.
"Little prince, it's obvious that you have been hiding something from us for a long time."
Nicolai grinned and revealed a cruel smile: "Although I don't know clearly, you are indeed secretly planning to go out of the palace to play chess every month to complete it. Obviously, there is something wrong with that chess and card room."
"So after you disappeared," Fallen Star's eyes became sharper than ever before: "When Earl Lisbane was still thinking about who abducted you, when the major forces were still testing each other in confusion."
"I know it, and I have no doubt about it: you were neither kidnapped nor kidnapped."
"But he ran away on his own!"
Nicolai closed his mouth and looked at Thales with contempt.
"At that time, I knew: all this must be a drama written and performed by you, nothing more."
At this moment, a light wind blew on the rocky ground, bringing up sand and dust, making Thales's mood become colder and heavier.
"When you think about it, it's obvious where you went after you disappeared," Nicolai's words have never seemed so powerful, almost as powerful as his blade:
"At that time, everyone was suspicious of the deeply suspicious forces, the Black Sand Territory, Qiyuan City, the Dark Room, and the forces of the vassals of Longxiao City. These have become the places you are least likely to go to."
One sentence after another, Thales even had the feeling that Nicolai's words had almost pushed him into a desperate situation.
"So, the Grand Duke's bodyguards blocked the city on the surface, pretending to be suspicious of these forces, and had no time to worry about themselves."
Nicolai's smile became more and more terrifying: "Essentially, within an hour of your disappearance, we invested all our energy and resources in the only direction."
He spoke slowly and spoke clearly:
"Star Kingdom, Secret Science."
Nicolai sneered again and again: This was an expression he had never shown before in outdoor training.
It seemed that this was the moment when he completely defeated Thales.
"Yes, Thales, we caught up with you outside the city in the bush where you stayed. We found the tracks of you and the packhorse within half an hour after you left."
Thales's heart tightened.
"If it weren't for Monty's interference, you would be in the Palace of Heroes by now."
Nicolai shook his head, as if he didn't care: "But you have to know: you can't escape."
The meteorite's sneer continued.
This made Thales feel even more depressed.
The young man silently looked at the paper that Nicolai had stepped on under his feet without saying a word.
As if it wasn't paper.
It's his pride.
After a long while, Thales said with difficulty and hoarsely: "It's actually this."
"I never would have thought that it was this piece of paper. There was something wrong with the source of this piece of paper."
He sighed dejectedly:
"damn it……"
damn it……
Thales, the puppy of Aida, added numbly in his mind.
Nicolai responded with a chuckle.
"Look, once the key is exposed," the meteorite's boots slowly turned and slowly ran over the tissue paper:
"The famous secret science of the kingdom is nothing more than that."
"Your escape plan is full of mistakes and is childish and ridiculous."
Thales took a deep breath.
The sun finally passed overhead and began to set in the west.
The wilderness is still silent, with only the gentle breeze blowing through the cracks in the rocks and a few scattered birds chirping in the distance.
"Very powerful, Fallen Star."
"You said you were cautious," Thales sighed, "You did not underestimate me, and you made me pay the price."
He slowly raised his head and spoke word by word:
"But you underestimated the secret science."
Nicolai's eyes narrowed.
Thales did not continue speaking. He turned around with a smile and his eyes lit up.
"Wow, he left me a horse before he left," Thales said happily, looking at Monty's only remaining horse:
"And a sword and a shield."
"I guess he did it on purpose or because he was unhappy with you."
Under Nikolai's increasingly evil eyes, Thales walked towards the horse without hesitation.
"Humph," the meteorite's smile was quite special this time. He smiled and shook his head:
"real?"
"you and me?"
Thales also laughed.
He took out his sword from the saddle, picked up his shield, and turned to Nicolai, who looked strange.
"Speaking of which," Thales looked at the other party with interest, swung his long sword, tried the weight of the shield, and nodded happily: "We have been sparring in the course for so long, and it seems that we haven't really made it yet.
, fought with real swords and guns, risking one’s life?”
The next second, Thales put away his smile and assumed the starting stance of Northland military swordsmanship.
He raised his shield and moved forward, his sword at the ready.
The young man's expression was solemn, and he was facing the most powerful opponent he had ever challenged except the magician.
The ultimate meteorite.
Seri Nicolai.
This was probably not the most disparate battle he had ever experienced.
But it will definitely be the toughest battle.
You only have one chance. Thales looked at the person in front of him with all his attention and silently said to himself:
Thales.
Only one time.
Seeing Thales with the weapon in hand and ready, Nicolai's smile slowly faded.
"This is a bad idea."
His face was expressionless and concise: "How can you defeat me?"
Thales snorted coldly and shrugged: "Why, at this point, you still expect me to just surrender?"
The Fallen Star frowned fiercely.
The wind howled, and the cold sword edge reflected the hot sunlight.
Nikolai's eyebrows relaxed and he suddenly said:
"You eat...with your right hand, right?"
Thales narrowed his eyes: "What?"
Nicolai's pupils slowly narrowed.
"rest assured."
He pressed his knuckles, twisted his neck, and moved all the joints in his body, making a terrible crackling sound between his bones.
The Meteorite clenched his fists and walked slowly towards Thales, who was waiting for him.
"No matter how hard the beating is later..."
The former commander of the White Blade Guard said coldly: