Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"You dare to mock our leader" the two members fighting the bandits alongside Chuck, became immediately enraged when they heard the blatant insult.

They shouted at their enemies and were about to engage with the two bandit leaders when Chuck hurriedly stopped them.

"Stop, there is no need to argue with them. I can handle these two, you two go and help the others" the former branch leader of the Sea God's Trident said.

While they had absolute trust on Chuck, they still hated the fact that they couldn't smash the enemies with their own, they turned around and obeyed his command nonetheless.

"It won't be easy for you all to take us down" Cuck commented offhandedly and prepared to engage the two when he saw the snickering smiles on their face. A bad premonition hit him but he did not know where it originated from.

"Is that so… but that's alright, our job is only to stop you. As for destroying you, someone is already on to it" Osbin remarked.

Just after his words fell, a stifled cry of a woman rang out from the centre of the formation. In front of everyone's surprised eyes, Cynthia the mistress of the Serene Palace Merchant Guild and also their client, at this moment had her neck tightly clenched by none other than the hands of her own butler.

"Ugh" Cynthia whose entire body was above the ground, couldn't help but emit some painful cries. Her beautiful face that could instantly smitten any man, was pale white and masked with pain.

"Kehehe, Miss Cynthia please do not trouble others anymore and simply accept your fate. Your destiny was already sealed since the moment you entered this northern outlaw forest" Jeeves smiled delightedly.

Perhaps his friendly smile gave others the chill, they all shuddered at this moment.

"JEEVES… you bastard how dare you betray the Miss?" Alvara who was busy pushing the bandits back, cried out loud the moment she saw Jeeves claw the mistress by her neck.

"Kehehe, what is the guard commander saying, when did I ever betray the miss? I was trying my best but I couldn't save her from the hands of the bandits. Kuh, it hurts me greatly to see the mistress die by their hands" the butler explained melodramatically his hands on her neck tightened slowly.

"You scoundrel, I'll kill you" extreme winds generated around the guard commander and her pretty face was no longer calm. She hastily utilised all of her skills and her figure blinked towards Jeeves with the swiftness of a tempest.

The [C] tier long sword in her hand turned a denser shade of green when extreme amounts of gale magic was poured into it. A faint buzzing vibration spread from her sword and travelled across the air causing a faint noise to emit out.

The sword engulfed in wind magic, was hacked towards the chest of the butler with a piercing swift speed. The attack was so powerful that it could easily drill through multiple large and sturdy boulders.

<br/>However, just when the sword was about to contact with his body, Jeeves used his hands like a pincer to grab the edges of the sword.

BANG…  a muffled thunder-like sound rang out and instantly pushed Jeeves a few meters back. The power from the attack was enough to destroy the surrounding area until they were gouged out from the ground.

Nevertheless, other than having a severe bleeding from his hand and his tattered clothes, the attack from the guard commander did nothing else.

"Tch, it seems that I am still not used to my powers… argh dammit it hurts" the butler's eyes became red with pain.

He glared at Alvara and snarled "You stupid woman do you think that I won't kill her? If you attack once again I will crush her throat" he pointing at the purple robed woman who was doing her best to escape his grasp.

"Y..you…how did you..get this much…power all of a sudden?" Cynthia barely managed to form some words from her anguish and asked.

"Kehehe… do you think that I will reveal something as important as that? Even if your fate is to die here, you still don't get the privilege to hear all of that" Jeeves laughingly mocked, his grasp on her neck tightened.

Cynthia's snow white skin started turning a shade of red and made it harder for her to breathe. Even though she was slowly being choked, she still continued to glare and question the butler.

"Is this what my Elder Brother planned?".

Her question, finally evoked a minute reaction from Jeeves who did his best to hastily hide it; nonetheless, Cynthia still managed to spot it.

Realising that he had let something important slip, his hands tightened and was just about to rupture her windpipe when an extremely piercing white halo erupted out from her ring and repelled his hand that was holding her neck.

On the other side of the battlefield, the situation had completely turned, the members of the convoy were getting pushed repeatedly unable to hold their ground in front of such odds. From this, one could see how disadvantageous the silver guards and the adventurers were against the bandits.

At this moment, two more people came from the side of the Chuck to support the other parts of the frontlines, nonetheless, it was just like a drop in a bucket of water.

"What do we do Sir Simon?" the mages in the backline who had involuntarily chosen Simon as their leader asked.

The young man analysed the situation around his surroundings and the people engaged in a fierce fight before giving his command.

"You guys take some rest, recover mana and drink some potion. I'll cover for the frontlines in the meantime, after you are done get back to your position and cast your spells and magic to support them. The only reason the convoy is still holding on, is because there are very few people on the side of bandits who could call themselves a mage".

Hearing his words, these people instantly understood how important their magic was at this moment in time. They swiftly sat on the ground and started taking out elixirs and potions that could help them recover their mana.

While they were doing that, they would throw some astonished glances at the young man who was able to easily cast one magic after another. His powers and mastery over the fire element was so high that even while not being the target of the magic, they could still feel the searing heat from it.

Their hearts would pound greatly when imagining the intensity of the flame created within each flame spear. What was even more astonishing for these human mages were that even after casting so many magic, the young man showed no signs of fatigue or slowing down.

"Is it me or does it feel like Sir Simon is enjoying this to you all too?" one of the mages asked his comrade in a hushed voice.

"What nonsense are you saying, can't you see that he is also covering for us? If you are done recovering your mana, go and help him" the other mage reprimanded. He had stars in his eyes whenever his gaze landed at the valiant back of the young man.

Unknowingly to the person concerned, he had become an idol of worship for these mages.  While the mages had shut the other person down, never would they be able to imagine that they couldn't have been any closer to the truth.

Indeed, Simon was currently enjoying the rush of experience that he was getting after killing numerous bandits with his spells. He was surprisingly profiting after getting dragged on to the chaos between these two parties.

"Hehh~ quite shameless aren't you? Reaping all the benefits that you can amidst this chaos" Adalinda remarked nonchalantly, her eyes capturing the fight occurring all around her. This was the situation she was hoping to see after getting bored out of her mind from this constant travelling.

Simon was sure that the little girl had already forgotten their initial objective of tagging along with the convoy in the first place.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted from behind where the non-combatants of this convoy were. Gasps of surprise and a pained groan of a woman who was suddenly grasped in the neck by an old man donning a butler's suit.

Another blow was dealt to the already frail formation when the client that they had to keep safe at all cost, was suddenly taken as a hostage and that too by none other a person who was travelling with them all this while.

Simon's eyes widened, If he wasn't so busy enjoying the rush of mystical energy within him,  he would have been able to react when the butler suddenly grabbed hold of Cynthia's neck. Thus the moment he realised that the client's life was in danger and the trip might have very well been forsaken it was already too late.

Even the guard commander who had reacted the fastest wasn't able to snatch the mistress of the Serene Palace merchant guild from the butler's hands.

The old man who had repeatedly given him a feeling of foreboding, had finally shown his true powers. Seeing the butler's hand tighten around Cynthia's neck, Simon couldn't help but think of the worst possible situation.

If that woman died here, it would take them longer if they wanted to reach the capital and find that disciple of this little grandaunt thus he couldn't allow the woman to die.

Just when he was deliberating stepping over, the situation took another turn that surprised all the onlookers. A loud sound along with a white flash of light erupted out and forced the butler a couple of meters.