The sky was dim. Two black dots flew in from the distance, slowly landing in a stretch of woods near Shore City.

They were two Griffins of about the same size.

Ramsay jumped down from the Griffin’s back and said to Angus, the Leader of the Third Knight Order, "You just wait here with the Griffins for me."

"Don’t we really need to get a bit closer, Viscount Ramsey?"

Angus gazed at the city in the distance. They were still quite a ways from the castle in Shore City.

"There’s no need. It’ll be more crowded if we get any closer. We could easily be spotted."

He was here for an assassination. Not only did he have to conceal his face, but he also had to completely hide his movements.

Griffins weren’t exactly a common sight.

If a Griffin were to appear in Shore City, the first person people would think of would be Jesus Oduin of Moonlight Valley.

In that case, Moonlight Valley would be unable to shake the suspicion of having tried to assassinate Ronin.

Ramsay had the Griffins stop here just to be on the safe side.

He changed into coarse black linen clothes, slung a package containing a mask onto his back, then strode out of the woods toward Shore Fort.

「Night fell.」

After Ronin finished dinner with Ridder and the others, he returned to his courtyard.

After becoming a Meteor Knight, he gained the ability to learn the Secret Skill, Scorching Beam.

On the way back from Golden Feather City, he had asked Melonika about the process of cultivating a Secret Skill.

Whether one could master a Secret Skill formed from the fusion of two Attributes depended on two key points.

The first was Attribute Affinity, which, in Melonika’s words, determined the ease of mastering an Attribute Power. The higher the Affinity, the greater the chance of successfully learning the Secret Skill.

Ronin’s Affinity was superior in two attributes, so that was naturally not an issue. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The second was the Knight’s perseverance and willpower.

Learning a Secret Skill was a process of constant trial and error. If one gave up and lost confidence after a few failures, they would never be able to master it.

Following the method Melonika had taught him, Ronin had been trying to fuse and compress the two types of Fighting Qi.

Perhaps because he was a Great Mage with exceptionally high Spiritual Power, his control over the two different types of Fighting Qi was remarkable.

He had now managed to fuse and compress these two streams of Fighting Qi into a sphere in his palm.

Although the sphere looked harmless, the pressure inside was immense. Its power, once unleashed, was not to be underestimated.

’The next step is to control it, making it shoot outward through a tiny aperture to form an extremely fast, ultra-hot ray.’

Ronin looked at the sphere of fused wind and fire in his hand, and his mind began to wander.

’Scorching Beam is a long-range attack. If I were to compress this ball of wind and fire in my palm while making the Fighting Qi inside rotate at high speed, could I use it for close-range strikes?’

Ronin decided to give it a try.

WHOOSH~

Suddenly, the night wind gusted stronger.

Ronin frowned slightly.

His Spiritual Power was extremely high now, so the slightest disturbance couldn’t possibly escape his perception.

Just a moment ago, he thought he’d detected something amiss on the wind.

’It can’t be, can it?’

Ronin quickly cast the Wind of Inquiry Magic, and his perspective instantly shifted.

In the sensory world of the Wind Elements, he perceived a figure landing inside his small courtyard.

Although Ronin hadn’t brought Tom or David with him on this trip, Ridder had still arranged for Joffrey to post two guards at the courtyard gate, with more guards patrolling nearby.

For this person to have snuck into his courtyard unannounced, they not only had ill intentions but must also possess considerable strength.

Through his senses, he perceived the person ascending the stairs with practiced ease, as if they were very familiar with the building.

’Looks like someone very familiar with Shore Fort. A remnant from the Polante Thief Gang?’

Ronin dismissed the vision from the Wind of Inquiry and fixed his gaze on the door. The intruder was already right outside.

"Whoever you are out there, since you’ve come all this way, there’s no need to hide. Come in."

Outside, Ramsay had been about to peek stealthily into the room when he suddenly heard words that made him freeze.

He had made it all this way, bypassing every guard by relying on the cover of moonlight and his own exceptional skills. How was it that the person inside discovered him right at the door?

’Don’t tell me this Ronin has some sort of perceptive ability?’

Though puzzled, Ramsay was bold in his superior skill. He strode forward, appearing in the doorway.

Ronin’s eyes twitched. The newcomer was tall, but he wore coarse black linen and a jet-black, dog-faced mask that completely obscured his identity.

"How did you discover me?" The voice was slightly hoarse, nothing like Ramsay’s natural tone.

"My hearing is exceptionally sharp. I can hear a bedbug crawl with perfect clarity."

Ronin stood up. "Who are you?"

Ramsay chuckled coldly. He was extremely confident in his own stealth; there was no way his target had discovered him just through sharp hearing. It had to have been some other method.

"You’re impressively composed, I have to admire that. But don’t think you can stall for time by talking."

SWOOSH!

Ramsay’s voice had barely faded. He moved with such extreme speed that the floorboards where he’d been standing splintered.

"I’m the one who’s here to kill you!"

In the next instant, he appeared at Ronin’s side, his longsword slashing horizontally at Ronin’s neck.

’So fast!’

Ronin was inwardly alarmed. The move his opponent used had to be the Seventh-level Wind Attribute Combat Skill, Wind Instant Step; that was the only way he could have achieved such explosive speed.

Gripping his Flame Stream Sword, he moved to block the attack in alarm.

Ramsay sneered inwardly. ’Even if the rumors were true that Ronin had killed the leader of the Skull Society—the Golden Knight Mundo from the Screaming Sea—it didn’t matter. Before a Meteor Knight, he was powerless.’

As the blade neared his opponent’s neck, Ramsay could already envision the scene of blood spraying and a head being severed from its body. But a sharp sound shattered his fantasy.

CLANG!

The longswords collided with a piercing shriek. To Ramsay’s horror, he found that his blade had been blocked.

’Impossible!’

His expression changed drastically. Although he hadn’t used his full strength, not even a Golden Knight should have been able to block that strike. How in the world did Ronin manage it?

"Surprised?"

Ronin twisted his blade, flicked the other man’s longsword aside, and thrust straight for his face, attempting to knock off his mask. "Let me see who you really are."

"You wish!"

Ramsay unleashed his full power, his entire body seething like boiling water. The sheer force of the Fighting Qi radiating from him whipped up a powerful wind inside the room, sending the table, chairs, sofa, and other furniture tumbling everywhere with a series of loud CRASHES.

Hearing the commotion, the two guards at the courtyard gate turned in surprise and looked up at the second floor.

One of the guards ventured a guess, "What’s all that? Could the Count have a woman in his room?"

"Don’t be ridiculous. When did you see the Count bring a woman in? Besides, would having a woman over make that much noise?"

The other immediately shot him down. "If you ask me, the Count is probably practicing his swordplay in there."

Both of them found this explanation more plausible and couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. As expected of a nobleman, practicing his swordplay indoors without a care for the expensive furniture.

But they quickly realized something was wrong.

They heard a rapid series of clashing swords. The shockwaves from the colliding Fighting Qi even ripped the windows from their frames, and the entire building began to tremble.

"No, something’s wrong!"

The guards’ eyes flew wide. "The Count is in a fight!"

They hastily drew their longswords and charged into the courtyard, but just then...

BOOM!

A searing torrent of flame blasted through the second-floor roof and walls, shooting into the sky and lighting up the night.

The resulting shockwave sent the two men who were about to charge inside flying backward into the courtyard wall.

Horror filled their eyes. They knew this was a battle on a level that Intermediate Knights like them couldn’t possibly approach.

"Quick, go get Lord Ridder!"