"I, Sebastian Coro, the mayor of Hook Town, hereby declare, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Empire's "Maholik Code", that Wade, Mestilier, Coburn... and Morpheus, a total of twelve people, shall be sentenced to death!"
Hook Town, one of the most remote towns in the Empire, had its mayor hastily announce the death sentences of eleven bandits and a teenager on this hot summer afternoon.
In this prosperous empire where farmers work diligently, nobles scheme against each other, and there are occasional skirmishes on the border, the death penalty seems like no big deal.However, for Hook Town, which has not carried out any death sentences for over five years, it is of great significance.
Morpheus is fifteen years old this year. At this moment, he is struggling to raise his head while the guards behind him firmly hold his arms. His underdeveloped and frail body stands in stark contrast to the eleven burly men kneeling in front of the guillotine with him.
" Sebastian!! I don't remember when Hook Town had so many mid-level swordsmen. How many gold coins did you take to make you, this old , dare to stick your head out of your turtle shell?!"
Wade, the former bandit leader, is now firmly held down by four or five people, looking like a wrapped zongzi. His body, more than twice the size of an ordinary person, is like a giant, with several scars on his well-developed muscles. Chains tightly bind his body, as if restraining a terrifying beast.
Without even bothering to respond to Wade, Hook Town Mayor Sebastian's gaze only lingered on the thinnest figure for a few seconds, then he waved his hand at the sergeant beside him.
"Begin."
"Kid! Behave yourself!"
Murphys's arms were tightly held, and the guard mercilessly kicked him in the stomach. After a dull thud, Murphys curled up like a cooked shrimp, grunting but not crying out.
His hair, soaked with sweat, hung over his eyes. Murphys opened his eyes wide to keep himself conscious.
Could simply hunting honestly be considered a crime of banditry? He had no interest in investigating whether he was wronged. When a venomous widow spider bites, it doesn't care if you're a wolverine or a mouse. Familiar with the law of the jungle, he wouldn't argue. Reason always lies in the hands of the creatures at the top of the food chain.
"Bang!"
His cheek was suddenly pressed onto the chopping block. The executioner beside him slowly raised his giant axe. Murphys, with his head turned, couldn't see the impending axe, but could only see the row of bandits.
The next moment, Murphys clearly saw that the bandit leader Wade in the distance suddenly showed a strange smile.
"Ya!"
A roar, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking. Among the prisoners, a guy who originally looked extremely listless suddenly became like a viper ambushing its prey. The guards who had been holding his arms were unexpectedly thrown out in an instant. Then this guy quickly drew the sword from the nearest guard and with a flick of his wrist, impaled two of the guards beside Wade!
This was the real reason why Wade had behaved himself all the way! He was the bandit leader's trump card! If this gang of thieves that had been running amok in Hook County for seven years were to be easily taken care of, that would really be a laughingstock!
The penetrated body fell straight down without even having time to spurt out blood, while that huge figure that had been firmly held down suddenly broke free from its restraints!
" it! All of you go to hell!"
High-ranking swordsman strength!
The explosive force was so great that several nearby soldiers were hit by the huge fist without any reaction! Just one punch directly broke their necks!
The sudden change made the executioner freeze for a second, and even the two men holding down Morpheus loosened their grip slightly for a moment.
An inadvertent moment of distraction often comes with a fatal oversight.
What would a child who had been fending off black bears, jackals, and other fierce beasts alone in the forest since the age of eight do after breaking free from his restraints?
His thin body was his disguise, and his body was his weapon. Like a lone wolf, Morpheus' claws would always strike the most fatal blow at the most unexpected moment.
Like an eel, he wriggled forward, twisted his arms out of the guards' hands, and then delivered two ruthless and precise blows. Even though his strength was not great, hitting a snake at its seven-inch point was already fatal, let alone a human?
The groin was not a fatal vital point, but it could directly render a normal person ineffective. Moreover, Morpheus used his elbow with a protruding bone!
"Thud!"
Two guards were directly hit in the . Just as their muffled grunts sounded, Morpheus suddenly rolled to the side. With a "clang", the executioner's giant axe struck the ground where he had just been standing. The huge blade "clang"ed as it deeply cut into the stone slab, missing Morpheus by a hair's breadth and almost splitting him in two!
With a swift movement like a carp leaping, Morpheus, like a leopard in the jungle, instantly sprang under the execution platform using his limbs. At this moment, the bandits had already engaged the guards in a melee. The surrounding villagers were thrown into chaos by this sudden turn of events, and the fleeing civilians seemed to him like the sea to a fish. Bending forward and somersaulting, this extremely agile hunter moved as nimbly as a rabbit, quickly crossing the open area and getting only ten meters away from the distant crowd and buildings...
"Ha!"
At the sound of this fierce shout, Morpheus instinctively curled up his body, instantly changing from running to a forward roll. A long sword from behind him skimmed past his fluttering long robe, tearing a large piece of coarse linen cloth but not hurting him at all. Rolling up to his feet, Morpheus moved as smoothly as a soaring eagle, suddenly leaping up. His slender body twisted in mid-air, and with a fluid motion, he used the strength of his whole body to kick the swordsman who had swung the sword!
His body's flexibility was beyond imagination, as if he were not human. One could even say that these movements were only possible for real beasts in the jungle! All his strength was concentrated in one place, and his explosive power at this moment was comparable to that of an adult saber-toothed leopard ambushing its prey!
"Thud!"
The swordsman, who had no time to raise his sword to block, never expected that this seemingly just a child would have such terrifying attack speed and tricky angle. He was kicked squarely in the diaphragm just below the sternum from below, and the leather armor simply couldn't withstand this force comparable to a full-power punch from a low-ranking swordsman. The intense pain made him gasp, and his body involuntarily bent forward.
Murphys, with a cold expression, landed and pressed both hands on the opponent's head, then without hesitation, his right knee rammed into the opponent's nose!
"Bang!"
Releasing the unconscious guard, Murphys, who still looked like a child, was no less ruthless than those bandits who drew their knives and fought desperately with the soldiers. But he clearly knew what he should do now. A good hunter never confronts a powerful prey head-on. Even though he could instantly take down a guard with the strength of a low-ranking swordsman, it didn't mean he could ignore the military force of the entire Hook Town.
Murphys didn't hesitate at all and rushed towards the nearest tailor shop. Before getting off the prisoner transport cart, he had already calculated the shortest escape distance from the guillotine. It wasn't that he knew in advance that the bandit leader Wade would do such a thing... but even if he knew he was doomed, he would still calculate all possible escape routes before his death!
Even when the world gave up on him, he would never give up on himself.
Murphy's rapid sprint caused the torn clothes behind him to expose his bare back. At this moment, no one would notice the black demonic patterns on his pale skin that had been out of sunlight for a long time, let alone delve into the meaning of those esoteric patterns.
Of course, perhaps some people's initial target was this young man with the taboo patterns on his body, such as Mayor Hook, who was loudly ordering the guards to search for the fugitive.
Amid the chaos, Murphy successfully flipped and leaped behind the counter of the tailor shop. In less than fifteen seconds, the back door of the tailor shop was pushed open, and a figure in a brown linen robe calmly walked out. Then his steps began to become erratic and slightly panicked, just like the panicked crowd running around. Several guards who were looking for him passed by without noticing anything strange on the face of this young man, who had been dirty just now but was now clean and tidy.
The sound of horses' hooves came from afar. Murphy didn't feel any relief after narrowly escaping. A tiger that can kill a wild boar might be killed by three milliliters of venom from a snake due to letting down its guard. Having never let his guard down, he held his breath and quietly trotted towards the edge of the town. After dodging left and right, he hid in a corner and carefully listened to the sounds around him.
Everything seemed to be over. The angry shouts and panicked screams were already more than a hundred meters away from Murphy. Gasping for breath from the strenuous exercise, Murphy tried hard to calm his breathing, but he could still hear his heart pounding in his ears.
There was a strange sensation in his body, as if his entire back was on fire. Morpheus was certain that he had been experiencing this more and more deeply during his hunting trips in recent weeks, but he had no idea what it meant. There were no mirrors in Nair Village, and Morpheus had never even known what a "mirror" was since childhood, so he couldn't see what changes had occurred on his back.
Morpheus was just an ordinary hunter, but today he was arrested in the forest by the suddenly appearing guards along with a group of fleeing bandits. No matter what coincidences were involved, he could sense the smell of conspiracy.
Just like the traps he made while hunting, even if they seemed flawless on the outside, there were always telltale signs that couldn't be hidden inside.